Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas...

Sorry that I didn't get back before Christmas.  TD and Chelsie came to visit Christmas morning and brought my little friend Mattie Girl with them...

Then he had to run down to his house for something (we live in the same neighborhood) and brought back my other little friend Bubba...

Bubba looks just like a Gremlin, but he's well-behaved.  There is another little black doggy that lives in their house, but she is borderline psychotic and it's sometimes easier to leave her at home.  She looks like a crazed miniature black seal and cannot always be trusted around the general public.

I got several nice gifts (a spice rack and a new Dremel tool)  and had fun giving gifts (I gave TD old timey red long handles with a trap door) which he loved and my sister gave him several different types of sweat shirts and pants (which he liked so much he immediately put on, as seen in this shot).

I hope to get back with you before New Year's Eve, but we'll see.  In any event, all is good here in my neck of the woods and having family and friends about for my first Christmas on my own made it a really good day.

We'll talk soon, ta-ta.


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hey, Y'all...

I know I have been waiting far too long between posts and for that I apologize.  I'm certainly not slammed with chores or worn out from working, I'm just triflin'.

Things are good here.  My Christmas lights look so good under a December moon.  Even my very picky neighbor told me that my lights were the best in the whole subdivision.

I was somewhat surprised that this shot turned out so well.  I used the automatic setting and I braced my arms against my chest as a tripod.  That, in itself, was quite a feat, but I digress.

Inside, I have had superb organization going on, thanks to Shannon (Chelsie's brother).  He has cleaned, and organized and taken a pick up load of trash to the dump.  Next on the agenda is to move some more of my art supplies upstairs and to do that we had to make room in the office.

He took down the extra desk and moved all of my computer peripherals to the other side of the room.

He actually enjoys doing this type of thing and offers up a fist-bump to prove it. He may have been doing a superhero pose, I'm really not sure.  One thing that was for sure is the spaghetti mess of wires that he had to tame.  He finally got everything in order and all the cords hidden.

At first I had been hesitant to have my back to the window, after facing the other direction for ten plus years.  BUT, as you all know, I am flexible and more than willing to try new things and guess what!!! I'm digging it.  The window was totally a distraction and I don't feel claustrophobic at all.

I have been on a raw veggie kick this week and yesterday decided to make some fresh spinach dip to go with the crudites.  I simply tore the bagged spinach into small pieces and then used my kitchen shears to  snip them even tinier.  I took a small container of low fat sour cream, some mayo and that old pantry standby, onion powder and mixed it all together, tasting as I went.  I went light on the salt in case I wanted to also use a cracker for dipping.

It did turn out tasty and as you can see here...

I just cannot seem to create anything without making a huge mess.  Yep, whether it be art supplies, cosmetics, or food, I usually find myself in a tiny space of about ten inches in which to create whichever masterpiece I happen to be working on.  I know if I put everything back as I used it...blah, blah, blah.

It tidied up easily and shucks, Chelsie will be here later this week to do the real cleaning again, so I'm throwing caution to the wind as my creative juices flow.

Keeping with my tradition this year of doing selfies, I'll leave you with another shot of my lights...

...and me in my hoodie.  This smile is for all of you who have been so thoughtful this year.  I thank you for the prayers and good vibes that you have been sending out to and for me.  I had a friend call me yesterday for my address and she reminded that folks are still thinking about me and have been encouraged by my choices and (here it is again) my strength.

I don't think of it as being strong at all.  I think of it as living.  This is my life now and I am living it.  I have never been a weepy, weak kind of gal.  If truth be known, I'm more of the "track you down and make you sorry you messed with me" type of gal.  If that's being strong, then you bet your sweet bippy that I am...as have been all the women in my family for generations.

So once again, I offer thanks to you...my family and my friends...for everything.

Not to worry, I'm not signing off for the month, I'm sure I'll have another post before Christmas, but in the mean time, take a deep breath, be strong and live.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Getting ready for the holidays...

If you remember in my last post, TD had put up outdoor lights for me.  Well his daughter, Chelsie, and I have been hanging out almost daily since she came back to live with her dad and we always do fun things.  After one day of running around shopping or some such thing, we started talking about holiday foods and baking and cookie making and we decided to make some sweet treats.

We went and got all the fixins for white chocolate covered pretzels and covered oreos and peanut butter swirl candy.


My word, we made a huge mess, but Chels cleaned up everything and we had a blast.  Here is the finished product.  The results do not look like those fancy cooking shows, but it's the laughter that matters most.


So now that Thanksgiving is over, Chelsie is helping me clean my house.  I'm pretty sure I won't have a house full for Christmas, but just in case we do I thought the main bath would be the best place to start...


Am I the only one that lets this happen to the storage area under the sink?  I'm so bad about not using all the shampoo or conditioner in a bottle.  I had been meaning to pour all the remaining shampoos in a bottle and creating a "custom blend" in order to keep from tossing them away...I just never got around to it.

My energetic, flexible helper took on this task and many others today and really didn't think a thing about it.  So you saw the before picture of the sink, here is the end result...


 I think it's funny that every time she asked for something I have it.  She says "what you need is a nice basket to put everything in" and I just happened to have the ones that came with the new furniture in the studio. I really don't have everything, so we made a list of things that we need to shop for tomorrow, and that will be fun.

Speaking of shopping, I got an early Christmas gift from my sister Peri.  They found the most wonderful creations by Jay Strongwater and I was the lucky recipient of this sparkly and unique ornament.



My sister knows that I really have mixed feelings about monkeys and when we saw this on the website, she just had to get it for me.  Even though this monkey is a little scary, I still love it. Thanks Sis!

Well, Chels is coming back tomorrow for more house cleaning and her brother Shannon has been helping me, also.  They are both between jobs at the moment and my house is getting clean and organized, so I plan on giving them each a piece of money for all their work.

Well, that's it for now.  Just wanted to let you know what is happening in my world.  I'm sure there will be more fun things in the future.  Just hanging around with a nineteen year old is fun in itself.  Stay tuned for more adventures.  We'll talk soon.