Quote

Just read this quote in a comment on my friend Terri's blog.....

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is awaiting us.” —Joseph Campbell

So true.....need to let go of MY plans and let GOD's plans come to life.

Parents....and holiday wrap-up

My parents are the greatest. They love to come and visit....and they love to help me do projects! Well, at least they tolerate doing projects. I really appreciate that they will come to my house and work, work, work!

After a very laid back Christmas weekend at home, we made the trek back to my house on Tuesday. Wednesday we started bright and early by cleaning out the attic! The previous owners left a bunch of junk -- some of it might have even been left over from the owner before them because it was buried under blown insulation! There was enough scrap plywood that we were able to "floor" the attic without really having to do that project. So now, I'll be able to put empty boxes up there for storage. Thanks Daddy for enduring the dust and mess in the attic!

After the attic project, we set the bird bath that I inherited from my parents and got it filled with water. I haven't seen any birds playing in the water yet, but come spring it should be fun to watch. A few more little projects and watching the repairman not fix my refrigerator rounded out the day.

Then it was time for Christmas! I had cooked a roast and Heather & Phillip came over for dinner and to open packages. It was so fun -- I got lots of things I asked for -- one of my favorites is a flag that I'll be able to put out front of my house. My other favorite is a footstool that is upholstered from a rug that was in our living room all growing up. When my parents remodeled and recarpeted, they retired the rug (it was wearing very thin in places) and they were able to find several places that could be salvaged for stools.

Thursday we ran some errands -- finally found a bookcase for my living room, yay hooray!!!! -- and saw a move (The Holiday).

After meeting my aunt and uncle for lunch yesterday, and a trip to Home Depot in the rain to buy me a ladder, mom & daddy retired to Heather & Phillip's house for the weekend. We met this afternoon for a movie (The Pursuit of Happyness) and dinner after I bought my first grown-up pair of cowboy boots! Such a fun Christmas present to myself. Trying to break them in before we head to the Ft. Worth Stock Show & Rodeo in a few weeks.

Now the rest of my time off will be spent trying to get my Christmas decorations packed up and enjoy ringing in the new year with my good friend Sarah tomorrow night. I might even watch some football on Monday......

Happy New Year, blogfriends!!

Merry Christmas!

Not surprising at all.....

You Are the Furthest Thing From Grinch

You love and live for the holidays. You even love the Grinch!You're in the holiday spirit year round... because you're all about celebrating and giving.

Are You a Grinch?

Party Pics......

Xmas decor pics.....

Front door mat















Tin Snowman Head - front porch decor

Another successful party.....

and the headcount this year......36! Not quite what I had last year, but there were quite a few "regulars" who were out of town or otherwise occupied. I also had several new faces -- folks that are "neighbors" now - since we live closer together. So, I am very pleased overall with the turnout. Everyone loved the house....and as usual raved about the food. Now, all the leftovers are put away and the dishes are drying. I'm too tired to deal with getting photos out of my camera, so that will have to wait for tomorrow....or the weekend. But, I do promise there will be pics! Now, off to bed with my tired feet!

Today's the Day!

Tonight's the big night......T-150 minutes till party time!

I've got my camera out to take "before" photos and final decor photos. I'm going to try and remember to take photos during.....never can quite remember to do this! I'll post an update after the party..... and watch for photos to come!

That'll teach me.....

....to try new things! I think my Sugar Krisp Chex Mix might be salvageable. But maybe not. My finger is slightly burned and my house definitely smells like smoke. Too bad it's not windy tonight....that would help!

So, I decided to try a new recipe for the party this year......a twist on the classic Chex Mix. A couple of issues:

1) my pan wasn't big enough....made stirring along the way VERY difficult

2) multi-tasking -- stirring while talking on the phone....not a good idea. tipped the baking sheet that my roaster was sitting on and dumped cereal, pretzels and nuts into the crevices of my bottom oven door

3) moved roaster to top oven -- turned it on.....somehow, managed to burn top layer of Chex Mix -- even though oven had barely been on tonight! Yikes!!!

So, now, both back doors are open.....fans are blowing full blast.....vent-a-hood is running at full steam and my house is still smoky. Blech.

I scraped off the layer of burnt into the disposal.....we'll see if the remainder is worth saving. May need to do another recipe of the juice to get it all coated -- and split it into a couple of pans. Oh, and another project for tomorrow -- pull out the vacuum cleaner + attachments to suck all the cereal out of the crevices of my oven door!

Is it time to go to bed yet?!?!

Party Progress

Progress made on the party tonight.....

Salsa.....check!
Strawberry Nut Bread......check!
Almond Tea concentrate.....check!
Puppy Chow......check! (p.s. that is chocolate-peanut butter soaked Crispix dredged in powdered sugar)

And I finished all that by 9:00 -- in time to sit down and watch Men in Trees. Now, off to bed.

Riding the Train

Today I had quite the dramatic commute home.....apparently a woman was crossing the DART tracks mid-afternoon and was hit by a train and killed. Of course, I had no idea. I just got on the train at my normal stop and found out that I had to get off at the next stop. Then we headed up to street-level to wait for shuttles to the station two stops north. After waiting for a few minutes, a DART engineer let us know that the trains were back on schedule. So, we headed back down to the platform and cram jammed on the train. At the stop where they were shuttling people, there were crowds probably 6 people deep the whole length of the train to get on. Yikes!

Even with the delays and the reroutes it only took me about 15 minutes longer than usual to get home. I just pray for the family of the woman who was killed.

It's coming......

If you are in my area, send me a message - you're invited too!

Christmas Decorating....Snow....and Canton!

Here are some photos of my Christmas decorating, in progress:












































Thursday, we had some winter weather -- the forecasters were calling it an "Arctic Blast" -- it did go from the mid-70s on Wed to the mid 30s on Thurs. Rain, sleet, snow - we had it all....here's a few photos of my new backyard....with snow!













































I spent today shopping in Canton at First Monday with my good friends Sarah and Sara.....girls - it was great fun. Thanks for helping me carry out my purchases!!