Holiday Greetings

Only a few days left until the "Holiday" madness is over for another year! Don't get me wrong--I love giving gifts! But the fun of Christmas shopping is gone. Shoulder to shoulder with coughing, sneezing, grouchy shoppers while the PC "holiday" songs blare over the public address systems? Yuck. Give me an internet connection, Willy, John Denver, Elvis, etc. in the CD player and THAT works for me, now. UPS is my friend!

Meanwhile, Keith has finished up his second pipeline class and gets a couple of weeks to recoop before hernia surgery! He plans to put a chimney in the garage so he can heat with his wood stove--which means he'll get to tromp around cutting wood for it! Hmmm.... If I put a tv out there, and stoke the fire, he can lay around out there on his couch and complain, instead of being in the RV!!!! I like it!!!!

It's going to take an adjustment period for the dogs and me to get used to having Keith underfoot again! He's been gone 6 days a week since the end of May and it is certainly strange to have him back! Poor thing is back to eating at home, instead of trying out a different restaurant every night, and I'm back to having to COOK! :( But at least I won't be getting those nightly phone calls, telling me he had lobster, or alligator, or a fabulous steak for supper--while I was having a tv dinner, out here 15 miles from the nearest, ho-hum restaurant!

But hey! Day after tomorrow is our 40th Anniversary! We ARE going out to eat--I don't care how far we have to go!

Okay, I'm done rambling....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you--regardless of what Holiday you celebrate!

P.S.

I just remembered a story I wanted to share.

When the new Stuper Walmart opened, they were selling black cloth shopping bags with "Walmart" printed on them in bright green, for a buck each. So, I bought 3 to go with my 2 Save-A-Lot bags and do my little "Going Green" effort. Besides, the plastic store bags are beginning to rule my life!

So, I went to the grocery store a week or so ago, laid the bags down on the belt before I started unloading my cart. The teen-aged checker looked at them and looked puzzled and said, "Do we sell those here?" (black bag/green lettering on both sides) Then she wanted to know what they were for! I told her to put my purchases into them. (duh) THEN she started bagging into the plastic bags and then putting them in my bags!!! I just paid up and came home... :-( Poor, clueless child!

I've got some ugly Holiday fabric stashed away with my quilt fabrics. I think I'll stitch up a few more bags and try again... See if I can find a checker with a clue...

First snow?

The weather gurus think we'll get our first snow starting tonite. We'll see..... Since I've already seen pix of snow in Midland, TX, it would seem to be about time for us!

I started dragging in the Rubbermaid boxes of Christmas geegaws today. Set out a bunch of snowmen dust-catchers, the cute little Avon Nativity kids, and my Hallmark mini snow globes. I had to go to eBay and find the 2002 one of that set to bid on--there's 5 in the series and I have 4. :( Can't have THAT! As for a tree--I am undecided. I have a 4', skinny, fake tree that I've used for several years, but since we're on our 'home ground' this year, I'd like to buy a small, live, potted tree. We'll see....

Keith finished his pipeline dozer school and got his certificate on the 24th of Nov. Yesterday they called and asked him if he was interested in taking it again, since they had some no-shows for the Dec. class. Let's see, free motel, per diem that doesn't count against unemployment, and a gas allowance, plus another 3 weeks of improving his new skills..... So, I'm a Union widow this month, again. Just me and the 3 stooges, who bark hysterically whenever a car or truck goes by...just in case it's 'Dad' coming home.

As for the proposed pink cowgirl shirt--I couldn't find fabric that inspired me, and my pattern isn't nearly small enough, so I scrapped that plan and bought a really cute, barely used shirt on eBay, instead. Almost all my shopping is done, including Keith's gift for our 40th Anniversary!
I think I'll decorate and start another pair of knitted socks... :) And bake something! Maybe a black walnut rum cake. Have to be careful about that 'baking business', tho, since there's just me here to hear the 'call of the baked goods' most of the time!

But first, I have to get those 4 big boxes out of here! They're kind of in-the-way around the RV!


Wait! I nearly forgot! I have to help process our winter meat supply this week, sometime. Our son and family went to church, then directly to our grandson's first piano recital, then home. As they pulled into the drive, he spotted a herd of does beside the machinery shed, slipped into the house and grabbed his gun and bagged and tagged his first deer of the season. Then ended up dragging it for 1/4 mile, in the pouring down rain, back to the shed to hang. Didn't do his Sunday duds a bit of good, but there'll be fresh, corn-fed venison on the table this winter! (Last weekend, he and his dad cut, split and stacked a lot of wood for the furnace, so he's feeling very "manly" these days!)

Today I put out a string of solar-powered lights. Wasn't until it got dark and I could barely see them that I realized just where I'm living this winter! Not a lot of 'solar' in IL in the Winter! Wind-powered--now THAT would make them glow! LOL! It seems to blow here all the time!

Now it's nearly time to snuggle under my down throw and watch Jeopardy... until one of the stooges thinks he or she needs to go outdoors.

DECEMBER?

Big Thanksgiving "Fry" is now History. Yum! 9 adults and 4 kids picked one of those birds clean! Lots of food and a whole lot to be thankful for, as always. We ran heaters all morning and finally got the temp up to about 62 in the garage--hardly balmy, but better than outside!

The night before, our son delivered our old fireplace insert stove and set it in front of the garage.... Better late than never! :) As of last nite, the stove has been relocated to what will become it's permanent place in the garage. Now it's time to polish it up, restoring it to it's former glory (it served us well for several years, when we were still raising our kids!), while Keith installs a chimney--and then begins cutting wood, of course! Guess I'll have to put up a Christmas tree in garage.... LOL!

Meanwhile, Keith is now a certified pipeline dozer operator--waiting for a dozer seat of his own! Plenty of jobs down in MS, AL, and LA, but there's a big one coming down into IL in a few months that could keep us here in the Midwest for a while... I'd kinda like to go to AZ for the rest of the Winter, but he's having "too much fun" being broke and close to the kids and grandkids....

Yesterday was gray, gloomy and in the 20s. Today is gray, gloomy and in the 50s. Just your typical winter, here in 'corn country'. Supposed to rain soon... I got part of the Christmas lites strung on the porch--if I wait for a sunny day, it could be January! Our front yard Christmas tree has grown too tall to light without a bucket truck, so I'm threatening to put all those lights on the front of the garage! Involves a ladder, which I'm not allowed to use, so I don't know if I'll pull that one off....

Our grandson discovered that the jar full of coins was empty and, since he knows that's our Christmas shopping money, went in search of hidden gifts. The joke is on him... his were in the plain brown box that was next to him on the couch! This year's shopping was 100% online--what fun! No crowds, no running through the rain, no fender-benders.... I got some great bargains on some cool stuff! Love the Discovery Channel Store! I'm signed up with BigCrumbs.com, which gets me some 'cash back' when I shop the stores that list with them, including eBay! And for the more cerebral giftees on my list--I found a store called ThinkGeek.com! :)

Meanwhile, Keith has been doing his version of sneaking around to get me the 'perfect' gift for our 40th anniversary on the 24th! Of course, I am the financial goddess here, and so I know he made a down-payment at a jewelry store! :)

No pics this week.... been busy with the little ones. I had to take our grandson to the dentist one day--for a root canal! At aged 10! Poor child was born with bad teeth. Today we're off to his first piano recital.... :) How quickly they grow up!