BUSY FRIDAY AND DEACON DINNER

Amen......
Got the morning started with breakfast for all 3 of the grandkids before school. Daughter was a few minutes late this morning so g-son had plenty time to finish his waffles before he left with her.
I did chores then came in and took RL to pre-school . About half way to her school she started complaining with her tummy hurting. When we got to school she looked a little pale but she said she felt better. It's hard to guage her this year as she doesn't like school as much as she did so I never know when she is just not wanting to go to school or if she really is sick.
I let her mom know what she did so she could text the teacher and see how she was.
I stopped by Ingles for gas and a couple things we needed for the kids this morning on my way home.
I had breakfast then did my walking video while IR cheered me on from the kitchen !!
I cleaned house until we left early to stop by the amazon returns place on the way to pick up RL.
It was a good day to find some things there today and we came away with a pretty big haul for very little money.

Also I asked daughter if this mirror would go in IR's new room and she said yes, so that's another Christmas present marked off the list.

We picked RL up and came home with them both  asleep. We layed IR on the couch and hubbie held RL until they both woke up. I got my baking supplies gathered and started baking. I baked 6 caramel, 1 coconut , 1 chocolate, 2 pound cakes and 1 pan of brownies.
I didn't have time for any rest between getting my cakes out of the oven and getting chores done today as we have a dinner for the Deacons at church to attend at 6:30 tonight. Son-in-love came early to pick up IR as daughter has a basketball game tonight.
The dinner was very good and all enjoyed it very much.

We made it home about 8:30 and I spent the rest of the evening icing cakes and getting things ready for market.
On this last day of November as I reflect back over this seemingly very short month I have enjoyed getting ready for the holiday season to begin. After the unseasonably warm October there were  flower's still blooming when the month began but the warm weather was short lived and most days this month have been below average temperatures with a couple ice storms around the area with a lot of rainy days.

We attended the annual drawdown athletic fund raiser at the beginning of the month. We also voted in the midterm election and sat the time back one hour .
Daughter's house finally arrived and they got it set up between rain storms and have been working on it all month.
G-son made the middle school wrestling team and we got to watch him make his first "pin" in his first match.
Daughter's basketball season started as she is the head JV coach and the varsity assistant.
We had a very busy baking time before Thanksgiving that made me truly wonder how many more years I am going to be able to keep this up.
Thanksgiving was a wonderful family gathering and we had lots of good food .
Hubbie and I enjoyed the time spent with all the grand kids this month and the grand daughter's are getting to be so much fun to watch as they become closer playmates and friends.
We had Christmas open house at the Curb Market but had a smaller than usual customer turnout because of a cold icy morning.
I got my Christmas decorating started early this year with the earlier Thanksgiving and had fun with the girls helping this year.
Daughter made the announcement that she is expecting another baby next May public this month as we have known since they told us the first of October but she held off to make sure everything was alright.
One sad note of the month was the loss of one of our oldest market members as Louise Ledbetter passed away on the 27th.
We ended the month with  dinner and fellowship with our church Deacons and their families .
I am thankful for a month of blessings for my family as this November passed us by and we are looking forward to celebrating the birth of our precious Savior in the coming month.
Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ.
God Bless and Good Night

MARKET THURSDAY AND 2008 MEMORIES

Amen....

Up a little earlier this morning knowing I have frozen water to replace for all the chickens and animals. All the kids had breakfast while I got ready for market then I went to get the chores done. By the time I got back inside even with the extra time I gave myself earlier it was already time to leave for pre-school. I finished getting ready and we only left about 10 minutes late.
IR rode with hubbie and they went straight to market. I dropped RL off and then met them there.
It is 26 degrees at 9:00 this morning I forgot to look earlier to see what it was when I went out to do chores.
What a difference a day makes when the sun shines even with the below freezing temperatures as these pictures of Clingman's Dome yesterday morning and this morning show that the snow covering from yesterday morning was short lived.

Market was good today only because a couple of my customers just happened by to see how many cakes I had to sell today and bought 7 whole cakes from me.
Market is a cold place to be on these cold mornings and many of the older than me ladies just can't stay in there and take the cold so there isn't many sellers who come on days like today.
I always wear long handled underwear when the over night temps are below or near freezing. The market lost another older member this week with the passing of Louise Ledbetter who has sold cotton woven rugs for many years and sold them in here. She was 91 years old and I pray for peace and comfort for her family at this time.

I left market a little late after a short board meeting and made a stop at Aldi for baking supplies for tomorrow.

I came home and hubbie helped me get unloaded and get things put away . Daughter met IR's other g-ma to pick her up and stopped by the middle school to see if g-son was going to get to wrestle today in their meet before she brought IR here while she practiced basketball.

G-son didn't get to wrestle so I know he will be disappointed . 

Hubbie and I took turns doing our chores and entertaining IR this evening. At least it is warmer this evening and water is thawed.

I came back inside and the three of us had supper.

Daughter came after IR and they went home to get an early bedtime.

I feel like I need an early bedtime tonight as I haven't gotten enough sleep most nights this week.

I need to get the last month of decade pics on here since tomorrow is the last day in the month. Back in November 2008 g-son was the light of our lives.

 Daughter's college roommate , Megan came to Thanksgiving lunch with us and g-son got to sit beside her at lunch thinking he was big stuff !!

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Good Night.

COLDEST MORNING AND MORE DECORATING

Amen.....
Up to the coldest morning of the season at 20 degrees and dealing with solid frozen water buckets all around brought back bad memories from last winter.
At least we aren't dealing with this amount of snow that fell in Buncombe county and places higher up.

 Mount Mitchell was at 2 degrees this morning !!!

I got back inside just in time to load both girls up and head out to RL's preschool. IR had to go with us today because hubbie has his annual physical appointment at 9:20 this morning in Asheville.
IR is always happy to get to go along with RL to her classroom and was leading the way today as we walked in.

It's harder for RL on the days IR is along because she wants to go home and play with her.
IR and I came home and she missed RL so much that she kept hugging this interactive bear and calling her by RL's name.

Hubbie came in with a good report from his doctor and an idea for some joint pain help on the meds the doctor himself takes called Phi Naturals.  We are definitely looking these up to order some.
Once he got settled with IR I got my baking started. I baked 3 pound cakes and 1 pan of brownies today was all as I expect tomorrow with another low 20's temp will be very slow.
We all had lunch then I started more decorating. I changed my mind about what ornaments to put on the new small tree beside my computer and replaced the larger homemade angels with my collection of Avon ornaments that were dated with each year I sold Avon.
With help from IR and hubbie I took the empty containers back to the storage shed and got the remainder of the decorations to go through.

I decorated all afternoon while IR napped and then her and hubbie went out to let the dogs run for a few minutes as it hasn't warmed up very much today even with the sunshine. I am really enjoying the decorating this year I think in part that this extra week after Thanksgiving gave me more time and it is more fun not to need to hurry. I put a deadline of the end of the first week in December to have everything out that I am going to put out so I can have plenty of time to just sit and enjoy the season.
About 4:00 I took a break from decorating and played with IR while hubbie went back outside to get his chores done and get firewood in for the night. I felt like I needed a boost this afternoon so I had a cup of this and it really hit the spot on a cold afternoon.

I had gotten out this little cloth Christmas tree that all the kids have played with and it was IR's turn this year to enjoy playing with it.

Then it was my turn to get out in the cold and get my chores done. All the waterers were already frozen back with the sun going down and the animals acted glad to be shut up in their warmer houses for the night.
The sun made a colorful sight as it slipped behind the mountain tops tonight.

It felt good to get settled back in the warmth to watch the news.
Daughter picked IR up and then hubbie and I had a snack supper.
I went into my office and did weekly paperwork and paid bills for the week before watching Survivor on TV. Since it was a 2 hour show tonight the last hour I watched from the kitchen while I wrapped and cut cakes and got things ready for market. It's too cold tonight to load things so hubbie is getting up a little earlier in the morning to get loaded before the kids get here.
The warm bath and bed felt good on this cold already mid 20's night.
Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ.
God Bless and Good Night

COLD DECORATING DAY

Amen.....

UP to a very cold, windy morning today. Got the kids all fed and hurried through chores to get back in the warm house.
I took RL to pre-school and then stopped by Petco for some cat wormer for "Meow Meow" , she has tape worms again. It was funny in the store when there was none of the wormer on the shelf and I asked if they had any. The young girl at the front said she had it in a box but hadn't gotten it on the shelf yet. When she brought it back to me another older lady who was going to check me out made a comment about how much of this they sell and if folks would just keep their cats away from rodents they wouldn't get worms. I laughed as I said that is why I have a cat and it is his job to kill the rodents around my house and barns !!!!!!!  The young girl gave me a thumbs up as she walked away laughing but the lady at the register didn't look at me anymore !!!
I came home and had breakfast then hubbie, IR and I went down to the storage shed to bring the first load of decoration containers up to the house for me to go through. IR had to help carry things to the Honda .

After we unloaded the containers into the sunroom hubbie and IR rode with me to make a baking supply stop at Aldi on the way to pick up RL. IR went to sleep so she and hubbie stayed in the car.

We came home after picking up RL . It was RL's turn to sleep and hubbie carried her in and sat down with her to let her finish a short nap while IR and I had our lunch.

When RL woke up she and hubbie had lunch then the girls and I decorated the Christmas tree.

Their attention spans were pretty short and they got so excited they were running from room to room laughing and having the best time while I finished putting all the ornaments on. 

D-in-love picked up RL and then IR and I stayed inside while hubbie took care of the dogs and gathered some firewood in for the night.

Then it was my turn out in the cold to get my evening feeding chores done and get all the chickens shut up.

It is already 29 degrees at 5:00 this evening so it is really going to be a raw night to be outside with the wind that is predicted to blow really hard tonight with single digit chill factor by early morning.

I came back inside and had a cup of hot tea to warm up. IR was napping when I came inside and hubbie and I watched the news. Son-in-love came after IR and after they left I did more decorating. I am enjoying it more this year for a change and it doesn't seem like a task as it has in some past years.

I even decorated an additional tree beside my computer just because I had extra ornaments.

I emptied 2 of the four containers we brought in and part of another one so that was a very good start.

I am very thankful for the blessings of this day and for the Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Good Night

CHRISTMAS DECORATING HAS BEGUN

Monday morning blahs are always worse the longer the weekend. So we have some whiny little girls this morning after they have been with their mamas for the last 5 days.
RL continued her potty training by going to the potty before she left for pre-school.
While I was out doing chores it felt really warm compared to the previous mornings and it had rained about 1/10th inch overnight.
RL reluctantly went into her classroom this morning but she wasn't the only one having a hard time this morning and at least she wasn't crying.
I came home and had a bowl of oatmeal to get geared up for a busy day.
As soon as I finished eating I gathered the weekly laundry and got a load started. I turned on my walking video to try it out since my foot is feeling much better. I did the video without much pain in my foot , I just had to be careful with the side steps.
It felt good to get my heart pumping this morning. And it surely is true that a morning workout energizes you or at least it does me.
I spent the morning alternating between doing laundry and getting all my Fall season decorations put away.
RL is asking where my Christmas tree is as her mom and other g-ma have already put theirs up so I told her I would get it up tonight and she and IR could decorate it tomorrow. That made her smile this morning at least for a minute !!!
I also promised RL that IR and hubbie would come with me to pick her up and she could have lunch at Burger King on the way home.
They both love this place and the cheeseburger happy meals here.

Neither girl wanted a nap today so we came home and they played with hubbie while I did more laundry and put away the last of the Fall decorations.
About 2:00 they both got sleepy so I sat down to hold one of them. After a few changes like musical chairs to see who was going to sit with who they finally settled with IR in hubbie's lap and RL in mine. I really didn't expect her to go to sleep but she did and when her mom came in from work to pick her up she said she went to bed late last night so she is worn out.
We let her sleep about an hour then d-in-love took her home. Daughter came in to spend some time with IR while waiting on late practice and IR woke up shortly after she got here.
I went out to get chores done and had a little easier time this evening when all 6 of my guineas were already in their lot and waiting for their feed. Usually I have to make several efforts to get them all put up.
The air this evening definitely has a chill to it as another cold front moves in bringing the coldest temps of the season over the next couple days. I'm definitely now looking forward to those frozen water pans !!!

The clouds made the sky very colorful in both directions tonight.

Winter storm Bruce is responsible for the cold and he is dumping snow all across the northeastern states.

Hubbie and I cleaned and rearranged some things in the living room to make room for the tree and got it ready for the girls to decorate tomorrow.

We also vacuumed and changed the rugs.

Now we have to tackle the crowded storage shed to find the ornaments and the rest of my decorations in the morning
Thankful for the blessings of this day and the Reason for this Season.
God Bless and Good Night.