I can't believe it's all over.

A week ago I was so excited about Christmas and seeing everyone. Then Christmas morning I woke up with the sniffles which has turned into a really bad cold. I haven't been feeling my best that's for sure. The weather here has been really crazy. It was freezing here last Monday and by Christmas Eve it was in the 70's. It was actually to warm yesterday for a jacket.

I started taking down my decorations today and I actually felt really sad. I'm not sure what the New Year has in store for us but I will enjoy scrap booking the pictures from this Christmas.

Here is an old window that my hubby found. I put some garland around it and added my Christmas cards to it. I love sending cards.

Here is my 8ft mantel. I wanted to add greenery and lights this year but I ran out of time and money. :)

Oh looks like Santa has been here.

Abby was very nosey this year. She wanted to know where her gifts were. She finally found her goodies. Santa brought her a new toy, a pigs ear, and her very own blanket.

The girls had a very nice Christmas as you can tell by Eleni's face.

Yes, Pepper had to come and see what all the excitement was about. He's looking through the paper for his gifts. Santa brought him and Ms. Pretty new beds and cat nip toys. They have been taking a lot of cat naps.

I hope you all had a Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Donna & Family

It's Starting to feel, look, and smell like Christmas

Well, if you read my last blog my big plans for Sunday were to watch a Christmas movie and take a cat nap. It never happened the nap that is there is just too much to do this time of year. Today was a busy day in our home. We did the usual cleaning and washing but today Jessica was in the kitchen baking her heart out. She wanted to give everyone she works with a little something. SO she baked cookies to take in to work tomorrow. I love that the girls can do this on there own now. I had to assist every now and then mostly cleaning up the mess from one project to the next.

Here are a few of the sugar cookie men she made and decorated. Jessica always makes sugar cookies and they are so good not to mention cute.

She also made a great cookie that is so easy. You just take peanut butter crackers and dip them in chocolate. So easy and so good. This is a good one the children can help with. They can put the peanut butter on the Ritz while you are dunking them.


 

Hmmmm they are so yummy.

Ok one last picture I would like to share. These are my Christmas Cactus they are blooming like crazy this year. I just love everything about Christmas!

Donna

I could use a CAT NAP.

I feel like our cat Pepper I could use a cat nap. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I have been cooking and washing and shopping. Tomorrow I will go to Church then Eleni and I will give Abby a bath and maybe just maybe then I can watch a Christmas movie and try to take a cat nap.

I have been enjoying everyones blogs. I am looking forward to reading them after the holidays to see what kind of goodies everyone gets for Christmas and the new projects there about to begin. I hope to use all the great information I have learned from everyones

 blogs and start some new projects for 2009. 

Donna

Life in the Fast Lane

Wow where has the time gone. I still have shopping to do, presents to wrap and cookies to bake. Then on top of all that I still have to find time to look for a job says Unemployment. What's a poor Mother to do? :) I'm sure we are all in the same boat thought you had plenty of time to get it all done then before you know the time is passed. I have to say the only good thing about losing my job is I sure have learned to appreciate the true blessing in my life. I have spent less money and I have to say that's not been all bad. When I look at what I could have spent compared to what I have spent will it really matter after next week. Do we remember the gifts or the memories we make each year. I think back to Christmas at my grandparents and I don't remember the presents but all the fun I had with my cousins. I remember all of the grandchildren eating at a huge fold out table that seemed like it was a mile long. I remember all the home made food my Grandma would spend days making. I remember being happy and laughing what seemed like for hours. I hope that as my children grow they will have those same great memories from their Grandmother's. I hope they remember the memories we make each year and not the presents.

Donna

Well, I have done a blog about Abby and Ms. Pretty is the header on my blog so I thought I would introduce you to our other pet Pepper. He is actually Jessica's cat and he follows her like a dog would. He is a beautiful black and white short haired cat and he is very photogenic. He's a bit of a scaredy cat. Pepper was a stray when we got him. He was probably 6 to 8 weeks old when he was abandoned by his mother. He was about to be taken to the humane society by a neighbor when we decided to take him in. He took to Jessica right away and that's where he stayed. He's eight now and will be nine next Spring. It's hard to believe we have had him that long. He's a good cat but real shy.

Here he is with his Jessica. He has to be sitting on her or touching her at all times. I think he might be a bit spoiled. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Donna

My Surprise

I'd say for about a week now my husband and daughter have been a little secretive. I have been wondering what they were up to and I knew it had to have something to do with Christmas. Jessica, my mother and I had plans to go shopping today. Jessica informed me she and Eleni had to run an errand this morning. When I asked where they had to go they never really had a clear answer. Teenagers was my first thought. Well, they left and it wasn't long after they were gone I noticed Abby our dog was also gone. I kept asking my husband where did they take the dog and he played dumb. Finally they returned with big smiles and lot's of giggling. Well, I kept asking what they were up to and still more giggling. The joke was on me they counted how many times I walked by my surprise. Finally I noticed the cutest picture of Abby with Santa. 

This is our little Abby. I love my surprise but I wish she had been groomed and bathed. I am a huge picture person and I love to scrapbook so this is by far one the best gifts.

Donna

~The Last of my Christmas Decor~

Before I show pictures I wanted to thank Tammy over at countrygirlathome for mentioning my blog on hers. Also thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog and for the wonderful comments.. Tammy was right writing blogs can be as addicting as reading them. I love reading about everyones  lives and especially  love looking at pictures of your homes.

I have a few more of my favorite Christmas items I'd like to share. I love Santa's but only have a few.

Here is a Santa I inherited when my Nanny passed away. He sings and dances but I think somewhere down the line his wires may have been destroyed. He still dances but he won't sing. That's ok he was my Nanny's so he can just stand there. I put a basket in his hand filled with candy canes. When the neighborhood children come in they always take one or two.

Here are two fabric Santa's I've had for a few years. I really like the Possible Dream Santa's but I don't have any. I like these all the same.

I have a lot of Boyd's Bears and these are my Santa bears and I just love them!

Now here of some of my favorite pieces. I loves Mooses or Meeses now I'm not sure which is the proper word. 

I love this guy. I bought him at a craft store a few years back. He has real heavy feet so he won't tip over.

Here are some of my Boyd's Mooses/Meeses. I can't explain what it is about them I love so much but I do and I can't wait to put them out every year.

It was hard to get a close-up of this picture without cutting out the little clothes. They are the cutest elf clothes I have ever seen. I got these this year from Avon. It came with the clothes, line and clothes pins. What better place to hang them than in the laundry room. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the rest of Christmas pictures. I really love Christmas and try to add a new piece each year. Not all of my stuff is prim but a lot of them I have had for awhile or they were passed down. I guess if I keep them long enough they will be primitive one day. :)

Donna

*Snowmen*

Yesterday I shared my trees with you today I thought I would share my snowmen. I have always loved snowmen and have plenty on my tree unfortunately I could never post pictures of all of them. So I'm going to share some I have on display. 

This little guy greets you as you come in through the back door. He is my skiing snowman that spring makes him rock back and forth. 

This was  an ornament but I like it hanging in my kitchen window. It's actually a very small muffin pan. 

Here is one of my favorites. I bought him from a craft show. He sits in my chair and sometimes he shares the chair with a cat or two. :)

Now here is Tommy and Tina they greet you on the steps in our foyer as you walk in the front door. Tommy has a sensor in his hat and talks but we didn't put batteries in him this year. Everytime the cats walk by him he would say Welcome come inside it sure is cold outside. Which is ok when you are awake but not in the middle of the night.

My Mom bought my sister a set of these a few years back and I fell in-love with them. So the next year for Christmas I got a set. 

This is my fiber optic snowman. I had one and it broke so when my Nanny passed away I inherited hers which makes him twice as special!

This little guy is in my living room on an end table. He is carrying a sign that says let it snow. I wish would snow here and stop raining!

This little guy was a Christmas gift from a friend. 

These are our Christmas stockings. I want to get some new ones that look more prim.

Here is a bigger snowman I got from a craft show. He sits on a milk can on our hearth. 

The skiing snowman, Tommy and Tina, the snowman with the let it snow sign and the fiberoptic snowman all came from Avon. They have really cute Christmas items. My friend Donna will like me mentioning that since she sells Avon. :) I hope to be back agan tomorrow with the rest of my Christmas decor. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

O' Christmas Tree

Well, I wanted to share a few of my Christmas trees with you all. I love Christmas and just the way it makes you feel inside. I usually have just my one big tree but have fallen in-love with all the little trees I have seen lately and actually decided to get a few. So here are a few of my trees.

This is my big family tree. My husband loves the color lights so I gave in and we use the big bulbs. I'm not sure why my picture is blurry with the tree lit? The lights put off so much heat they heat up the living room.

Here is another little tree I use on a shelf in the bathroom. 

Here is a little tree in my bedroom. This was my Nanny's tree and she no longer used it and sold it to my Mom for her Mother to use. This tree is special to me because it was used by both of my Nanny and Grandma.

This tree was about to be thrown away at work.  I kept it simple white lights and some homespun bows then I placed it in a little basket. My daughter Jessica bought me the Santa and yes that is one of my furry friends. That is Ms. Pretty and she thinks the bay window belongs to her. It was real nice of her to let me put my tree in her window.

Here is a little tree that is in my bathroom also. I got it last year for a dollar at Walmart. I kept is simple also. Each of my girls has a tree like this in their rooms as well. This is the first year I have had so many little trees but I love the way they twinkle. 

Hopefully I can post some more Christmas decor pictures tomorrow.

Donna

When You Love Your Job!

Well, as I mentioned my life is never so simple. In my previous post I mentioned I was once a stay at home Mom. Best job ever but it had gotten to the point the girls didn't need me as much as I needed them. So I started volunteering at an elementary school near by and I loved it!  I thought now this seems like the perfect job.Well, it must be because no one ever quits. I didn't let that stop me I started applying for Instructional Aid positions. I had quite a few interviews but they all wanted more experience. So I started volunteering in kindergarten three times a week. I then went to get certified to be a Aid substitute. The same day I was certified a friend called and offered me a job in the corporate world. I thought long and hard even though I loved the schools there was not a gurantee when and if I would get a job. So I took the job with my friend. I never knew how much I was going to love this job.

I started working there Feburary 2007 and right off the bat it felt like home. I worked side by side with two great people Donna and Anthony. They soon became my family away from home. I probably spent more hours in a day with them than my actual family. We worked so well together and we always laughed and had a great time. We were displaced November of this year. I was ok with that at first thinking I can enjoy the holidays with my girls and catch up on all my unfinished projects. Then reality set in and I realized I was unemployed. I think I took it the hardest. I have finally quit crying. I had no idea when I took this job how much I was actually going to love it and the people I worked with. I miss them everyday and I know we will stay in touch even if it's just with an email but I miss seeing them everyday.

Here we are myself, Anthony and Donna. We were a good team. I had the pleasure of meeting so many great people unfortunately a lot of them had already been displaced but a few of my favorites were still around.

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Here is my great friend Tony who always made me smile. I miss him a bunch.

Here are best buds Crystal and Joanne now their two peas in a pod. Great ladies and a lot of fun to be around and they always have great stories.

Heres a great looking bunch. This is our corporate future. I know they will fix everything. They always brought us plenty of work but with smiles like Lauren, Ryan, Lindsey, and Bryan who could get upset. 

And I could never forget our great machine techs Amy and Joey. They always made sure we were up and running.

As I look back at the pictures I am overwhelmed with great thoughts and memories. I am thankful for the job I had because I was able to meet such great people.

Donna