It's Time

When we brought Trixie home last January, she was only 8 weeks old and weighed 2 lbs. The first toy we bought for her was a colorful rope toy. It was on sale and it has been the best $1 spent on her.

Her favorite games are tug-of-war and fetch. She will chase the rope or ball as long as you will throw it.

Now after almost a year, it's time. The poor rope has come apart and no longer resembles it's former self. We tried to twist it back into shape and tie the ends. However, it doesn't last but a toss or shake or two and it's right back in disarray.

I see a visit to our local Petsmart soon.

Later
D

Reflections on Christmas

I have not posted much this month, mainly because I've been so busy. At work there have been lots of layoffs and I praise God, that I still have my job. John and I have also been sick with the flu so it's been a busy stressful time.

Our DIL is very close to delivering the baby. Over the last few days she is beginning to have contractions and her due date is just a few days away. Needless to say, we are very excited.

This Christmas has been a time to remember those that are no longer with with us. John's Dad passed last January 17, so this is our first Christmas without him. However, last Christmas he was in a nursing home and too ill to bring home. Also, my Dad passed in February 2006 so this is our second Christmas without him.

Such is life. There is joy and pain. New life and death. Remembering and making new memories.
I am looking forward to the new year and the blessings God has in store for us.

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. We certainly did.

I love my Daughter-in-Law

I went shopping with my wonderful daughter-in-law today. I always have a great time when we are together. And the fact that we found some great bargains was just icing on the cake.


If I had picked a wife for my son, I couldn't have picked a better person than my DIL. She loves my son and is sweet, kind and she even likes me back. What more could a MIL ask for?

We are on the count down to the new grandchild with just over five weeks to go. My son was born four weeks early so as her due date gets closer I am reminded of his birth and how exciting yet scary it was. We were so thankful that he was fine and did not have to stay in the hospital but one extra day. My greatest fear was that I would have to go home and leave my baby in the hospital. I thank God, that didn't happen and we came home together. I still remember that first look from my son. His look went all the way to my soul. There is nothing like that first look from your child.

This is an exciting time for our family as we look forward to Christmas and New Year and the new baby.

Later
D

A Cat Rug

Our Manx cat Hobbes, is a character. He is now over 13 years old and a very senior citizen for a Manx. The average life span for the breed is 10 - 11 years so we are very glad he is still in such good health. When the weather turns cooler he starts sleeping on our bed at night and wanting to snuggle much more.

Since he was a little kitten he has done what we call "cat rug." He lays with his hind legs stretched out behind him and sometimes his front legs stretched out too. He looks like a small version of a classic bear skin rug.

He still does this but less frequently as he has grown old. I caught him doing this the other day but he had his front legs tucked up under him so he looked very odd. I happened to have my camera handy and grabbed some shots.

I find him greatly humorous.









Have a wonderful Saturday.
Later
D

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

We received several pieces of bad news in the last week. My manager at work had a second cancer surgery this past Tuesday. Another co-worker had to be rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain and is scheduled for surgery in the next day or so. But the most amazing, unexpected and frightening news was that my sister-in-law had a heart attack. Of all my family, she was the last person I would have expected to have this type of health problem. She has always been the one that always ate healthy. That exercised on a regular basis. Life truly has no guarantee.

The good news is she is going to be fine and surgery is not necessary. She has always been active and having to stay home, "take it easy" and no driving yet, is hard on her.

All three of these health issues are expected to have a good outcome. Yet the news could easily have been very different.

With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, my thoughts turn to how truly blessed we are. I can truly say I am very thankful that God has once again shown mercy and grace for us. That we have the hope of all three of these lives be back to normal again.

Life can change in a blink of the eye. Tell those close to you that you love them for we are not promised tomorrow.

In the dirt

IMG_1483
Originally uploaded by bgclicker

I love watching Trixie when she is running free around our back yard. Frequently she will decide there is something that needs to be uncovered and will dig and become covered with dirt. Here is a shot of her during one of her recent adventures.

I love how watching her play.

Later
D

The Kitchen Project is Finished

Well the kitchen project is done. I am very pleased with the finished product. The kitchen is much brighter and it is much easier to see.

As we started the cabinets were a natural wood and I do like natural wood. But the cabinets were old and scared after many years of used and abuse.



We moved on to painting the doors and had some help from our dog Trixie.


But John kept painting and working. Slowly, steadily everything came together.


I am very pleased with the finished product.


What do you think?

New Neighbors

We knew there was a hawk in the neighborhood for a while, but what we didn't know was he had brought his family along. Today we saw Dad, who has gotten rather large. We also saw the rest of the family and now know we have five hawks as neighbors. I was fortunate enough to have my camera at hand and I captured one of the hawks circling over head.

They did some very inspiring floating on the wind currents today. I hope to catch more pictures of them. If I do, I'll be sure to post them.
Later
D

A Rainy Night In Georgia

Well it was a rainy night in Georgia last night but this morning it sure was foggy.

This tree is right across the street from our parking lot. I found it interesting through the early morning fog.



Walking from my car I looked up to see the lights glowing through the mist and they brought me comfort as they provided light for my walk into the building.


How different things look in the fog.


It's still overcast this afternoon, but at least the fog has cleared.

We need the rain and I don't really mind the fog.

Later
D

More Great Savings from Kroger

As I have stated before I love my Kroger Plus Card and the wonderful savings that comes along with it. Recently Kroger sent me a magazine called "Holidays from the Heart" which included recipes and some great coupons. I also received a Plus Card packet of coupons based on my purchase history.

In preparation for grocery shopping I checked Kroger's on-line ad and made up my list. Then I headed out shopping armed with my list and some great coupons. When the dust settled and my purchases had been rung up, my total savings was $43.19. I had around $20 in direct savings from the coupons and the rest in price reductions for using my Kroger Plus Card.

20% off Kroger brand frozen chicken breast
1 Free 12 pack of Coca-Cola
1 Free pack of Oscar Meyer hot dogs
1 Free pack of Oscar Meyer lunch meat
1 Free 24 pack case of Kroger bottled water
$2 off Kroger Private Selection brand Parmesan cheese
These are part of the savings on this shopping trip.


Yeah, I'm loving Kroger.

Later
D

Numb

I don't think I should feel this way, but I can't seem to help it. I do know the election is very important. We are electing a president, senators and representatives across this great nation of ours. These people will guide our government for their elected term and the decisions they make will impact our lives for years to come.

So why am I so numb today? I think it is political news and political ad overload. I hear the candidates accuse each other with out end. Ads run back to back accusing and refuting claims 24/7. I have the same feeling I get when kids fight and ya ya back and forth.

I have a suggestion. In the future when there are debates, have each candidate hooked up to a lie detector with the Truth or Lie meter over their head so we can plainly see whether they telling the truth or not.

Or we could use a gadget called the "Shocking Lie Detector", that I found on the Internet. The subject's hand is strapped into the device and when a lie is detected a "shock" is administered. At least it would add a little fun to the debates of the future.





Of course that's assuming they can tell the difference between truth and a lie. Oh my, I am sounding cynical tonight....

It's all about the timing

Last summer the power went out at the office. After about an hour of being without power, I decided to work from home for the rest of the day. I called home to make sure we had power before making the trip. My husband said we didn't have any power at home either. I noticed his voice sounded a bit odd as we were talking. Then he laughed and said he was relieved to know he hadn't been the cause... I asked him what he was talking about.

It seems he was replacing our ceiling fan and had a problem getting a wire disconnected. He became frustrated and gave the wire a hard jerk. At that exact moment the power went off in the entire house. He checked the breakers and found nothing wrong. He went outside and realized power was off for the entire street. His first thought was "Did I do that?" It just seemed such an unlikely coincidence that the power would go off for the entire neighborhood the exact moment he pulled the wire loose, but how could it be related? Common sense said it wasn't related. Circumstances, looked otherwise.

We both found it very funny that the timing of his pull on the wire was exactly the moment of the power outage at the main transformer.

It's all in the timing.
Later
D

Pumpkin Carving Stencils

I may have waited a bit late to post this but the History Channel is offering some cool stencils for anyone that likes to carve pumpkins. Not just scary ones but more advanced ones too. From simple to advanced. Check it out.



I love pumpkin and hate it when I see carved pumpkins being tossed into the trash. There are much better things to be done with the pumpkin, IMO anyway. Pumpkin pie, muffins, bread, butter..... Yum...





Later
D

Somewhere in the Irish Sea

Some humor for your Wednesday.

At a loss for words

It has been a tough week for our church family, we have experienced three deaths. A mother with grown children. A man in his thirties leaving behind a wife and children. And a young child two and a half years old, that survived Pompe's disease that normally claims it's victims before their first birthday.

Though we are hurting, we know God is in control and He does not make mistakes.

Yes we hurt but we will praise Him in this Storm.



Casting Crowns says it so well in their song "I will praise You in the storm"

My other Blog

I love pictures and have setup a second blog to post some of my favorites. Please feel free to visit, Pictures Just Pictures.

Thanks and Later
D

Black Bean Salsa - Yummy Stuff

I was standing in my pantry Friday night trying to figure out what to fix for dinner. I haven't done my regular grocery shopping due to the kitchen project so the pickings were kinda slim. I found a can of black beans and noticed there was a recipe on the label for Black Bean Salsa. I had most all of the ingredients and I decided to give it a try.

I didn't have fresh tomatoes so I substituted canned diced tomatoes and they worked rather well.

Here is what you need:

• 15 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 oz canned yellow corn, drained and rinsed (The recipe called for 12 oz, but that seemed like too much so I cut it in half and used the other 6 oz as a side dish.)
  
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed (use fresh when in season)
  
• 1 small onion, Chopped fine (It called for red onions but any onion will work.)
  
• 1 tsp lime zest (This was not on the original recipe, but it seemed a shame to waste the zest.)
  
• 1/4 cup(s) fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

Drain and rinse black beans, corn and tomatoes.
Place all in a bowl.
Add cumin and mix
Zest the lime and add to the bowl
Juice the lime and add to the bowl
Mix and allow to set so the flavors will blend.

I used this as my main dish just because it tasted so good, but it is actually a great salsa with chips or baked pita chips. We are invited to a get together this afternoon and I'm thinking I might just make this to take with us. Tortilla chips, a little sour cream on the side and this salsa. Sounds like a party to me. I'm hungry already.

Later
D

PS: If you are on Weight Watchers 1/2 cup = 2 points. But don't forget the chips and sour cream count separate.

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

I found this link to speeches by McCain and Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner and wanted share them. With all the problems in the news and all the political sniping I thought it would be nice to share a bit of light-hearted fun from both candidates.

McCain Part 1


McCain Part 2


Obama Part 1


Obama Part 2

Kitchen Cabinets - Part 4

We are at the home stretch. John has done a wonderful job on the cabinets.



I had to laugh as I was looking at these pictures. We seem to have moved the coffee pot around all over the kitchen and it was the constant during this entire process.


I have also been pleased and amazed at how much brighter the kitchen is now.


I should have pictures of the finished product by this weekend.

It has been a long hard road with the majority of the job falling to my husband. I am so thankful that he is good with his hands and is able to do this type of this task.

Now the job will fall to me to determine where all the things that came out of the cabinets will go back. I have committed to clean out and remove items that we don't use. So wish me luck and I really hope to see an end to the project by this weekend.

Later
D

Wildflowers

While we were at the Armuchee Bluegrass Festival over the Labor Day Weekend, we stayed at a little hotel near by. There was an open field across the parking lot and I took Trixie there for her morning walk each day. While we wondered around and Trixie looked for just the right spot to do her business, I took pictures of the lovely wildflowers that were in bloom. Some of the flowers were obviously from flower beds but the seeds had been scooped up in the fill dirt that had been dumped at the site.

I love the way the sun relfects off the blooms.

More pictures soon.

Later

D

The Rose

When we moved into our house in the fall of 1998 there was a rose bush in the back yard. The summer had been very hard on it and I assumed it would die and we've have to dig it up. My husband however, didn't give up. He pruned, pampered and fed it. Then to my astonishment it revived.

He still spends time caring for this rose and it repaid him with beautiful blooms all summer. It is just as beautiful this year as the first summer when he worked so hard. With fall fast approaching I wanted share this picture from just a few weeks ago.

Later
D

Our Little Helper

A 10 month old dog is about like having a three year old child. They understand much of what you tell them, but they can't or don't always listen to you. With that in mind we have done our best during the Kitchen Project, to keep things out of reach of our Papillon Trixie. Even doing the best we can, she still finds things that could be dangerous. I found a bolt in her bed that she stole from something. We're still trying to identify where it goes.

Yesterday, John was priming the cabinet doors and left them on the patio to dry. Bringing them in for the evening, he found Trixie paid them a visit too.

One door had the undeniable evidence that her curiosity had gotten the better of her.


Since her art work is on the inside of the door, we're debating whether to paint over it...

What do you think?

Later
D

And it's a....

Last Sunday our son and daughter-in-law invited us to their home for lunch. They cooked us a lovely meal and we had a great time visiting.

She is about six months pregnant and just now really showing. (I think I showed more than that at 3 months. At least that is how I felt.) I've enjoyed shopping for maternity clothes with her. Not having a daughter I've never shopped for girlie stuff for anyone but myself, except for the occasional Christmas or birthday gift, so our shopping trip was loads of fun.

They have decided not to learn the sex of the baby. I'm OK with that, after all it's their baby. We'll be happy either way.

Until then I'll just have to love on our "grand-dog" Zeke.
I just love his face. He always looks like he's about to ask a question.

(Oh yes Miss Trixie was extremely jealous when we got home. She gave us the pup version of the third degree, sniffing my pants leg up and down several times.)

Later
D

Kitchen Cabinets - Part 3

I am very pleased with how things are going with the kitchen project. When we removed the shelf paper green paint was revealed. There must have been a sale on this color of green because it was used in several places in the house. I can not imagine why they would have painted the bottom shelf green, but at least the new shelf paper will cover it up.

Of course Trixie had to check out all the newly emptied spaces.


While I liked the original cabinets and their natural wood color. But the new white cabinets are really making me happy.

Yes I think we made the right decision.

Kitchen Cabinets - Part 2

After removing the doors and cleaning the surfaces we began painting.

I am amazed at how quickly Hubs was able to paint the base cabinets.

The kitchen seems much brighter already.

I can't wait to see how the finished job looks. I'll post more pictures soon. I've been putting in the shelf paper and my shoulders and arms are sore and my neck is stiff. I'm so out of shape...