Tis The Season!!!

I love this time of year.  Lots of joy and cheer being spread....unless you are in stores or parking lots.  Why is it that people's worse side comes out during the time we should be so thankful??? We just celebrated Thanksgiving....the time we reflect on what we are thankful for...and now we enter into the Christmas season, the time we celebrate the birth of Christ.  Most people act like it's the most evil time of the year instead of the most joyous time.  This time of the year, we just park down at the end of the lot...I am not fighting over a parking space, plus the exercise will do wonders for me.  I don't let others bad attitude get me down.  I find myself humming Christmas songs during the day....I love this time of year.  I love all the get togethers....the ones that don't include a trip to the funeral home.  Truly that it really the only time we see family...when someone dies.  That is why I like this time of year...we see family and friends and no one had to die.  All the festivities just fills my heart with excitement and joy.  I love the baking, the decorating and all the other things that goes along with Christmas.  This is the time that all disagreements and arguments are put aside....love abounds.  I pray this Christmas that love abounds in your life.

Going Green!!!

This year our SIS team is doing a country Christmas.  I am supplying the Leland Cyprus, as we have about 20 trees in our yard.  I decided why not do the same to the outside of my house.  So I spent yesterday just walking the edge of our property to get all my greenery...I was impressed by the way things turned out.  I also spent yesterday planting pansies.

 

My red pot filled with Cyprus, cedar, holly, pine and magnolia

I love the watering can with all the greenery in it.

 

This shepherds staff was missing something after the humming bird feeder came off.  This old pot fit perfect there.

 

Pansies fill all my pots around the deck now.  I love these cute little flowers.

 

 

Mail Call!!!

I recently sent a lady in our church a thank you note for making some door prizes for our SIS event. She surprised me by saying in today's world of Facebook, email and text, it was nice to go to the mail box and actually take out a hand written note.  This got me thinking about my Christmas cards.  I was still on the fence about whether or not to send any out this year.  I mean do people really read them, or do they just open and say this is from Mark and Tracey and toss them in a basket or place them on a holder wreath?? Do my cards make a difference or is it just another card to fill in the spot on the wreath to make it full???  I spend a lot of time picking out just the right cards for people.  I usually have a church folk card  pile, past members card pile, friends card pile and people we haven't heard from in years but want to touch base with this year card pile.  I pour over lots of boxes of cards and individual cards in the store....just the right one for our Pastor and just the right one for the girls at the bank....regardless of what people think...there has been a lot of thought going into these cards.  I especially like the ones I pick to send to wounded soilders...found some last year with the nativity and a flag.  I thought those where cool.  I try to pick one with just the right scene, wording and verse that I want to convey to that person.  I don't do Santa and all my Chrismas cards have a verse in them and the words "Merry Christmas"...not a Happy Holidays kind of chick.  I especially like combing thrift stores for vintage cards...these are my favorites.  They seemed to have a more meaningful message in them.

I actually found a picture of a card I sent out several years ago.  I got 2 boxes of these cards at a thrift store for a quarter each....they open up to reveal the full nativity scene.

I do believe that I will be sending out cards this year...I mean I already bought them last year, so why not send them out.  I even have them labeled to which folks they go to this year.  So watch your mail...you could be getting a card

I'm A Cowgirl...almost!!!

If you know anything about me, you know that the country way of life is a dream for me, but not a reality.  Mainly because I am not really a country girl at heart.  In some ways I am...well, really I like reading about it...not actually living it.  I may actually be more of visit a farm/ranch for a day kind of girl.  As you see exhibit A below...you have got to realize that farm is not really in my vocabulary.

 

Honestly, do these shoes look like they belong on a farm/ranch??? I think not!!  These are my latest show biz shoes.  I wear them to do my comedy routine or emcee an event.  I have the purse to match as well.  Now, I guess you see why I say that the country life might not be for me....totally!!  Most people wonder how I walk in them, but they are not that hard, and I feel right at home in them.  I am definitely a blingy type person...enter into evidence exhibit B.

 

This is my 20th anniversary present.  I have worn it with things it don't even match because I love it so much.  Not exactly farm wear or something you would pick up at the Big Blue Store.

Now enter into evidence exhibit C...and you will see where the almost part comes into play.

 

I've got cowgirl boots!!!  Now, I will confess that at first the only reason I wanted these was because I was emceeing a Country Christmas event.  I like to dress along with the theme.  Here is the best part....I LOVE THEM!!!  The first day they arrived, I told Mark that I was going to go put on my cowgirl boots, and he said, "no you're not, it's 12 midnight and we are in the bed."  Needless to say, the next morning found me clomping around in my gown with cowgirl boots on (sorry no photo of that).  I wore them shopping with my jeans and the most western shirt I have without wearing the one I will wear to the event.  We went to Longhorn for lunch where I thought my boots made me a little more worthy to be in the western themed restaurant.  Now, don't go saddling up the horse yet....still scared of them....that has not changed, but I LOVE MY BOOTS!!! A little Texas might be in me yet.  My cousin lives in Texas and told me to come on over and be a real cowgirl...I said that I might have to come over a take over as the big oil tycoon since we said good-bye to JR Ewing this week.

Larry Hagman...the best villain on TV!!!

 

Wouldn't you know it, now that I got my cowgirl boots this series will probably be cancelled or it won't be as good.  Now I just need to the hat and I will be set to go to Dallas...LOL

A Little Tree a Little Woman

Almost two years ago, I get a call from my Godmother telling me to come and get whatever I want from her house...she was selling.  I tell her that I will be down one weekend, and she informs me to come now.  I go on a Friday and to be honest it is creepy getting things from somebody's house while they are still living.  She had already put a pile of things aside for me that she wanted me to have.  In that pile was Pinkie and Blue Boy statues, a white cat and her prized ceramic Christmas tree...the reason behind all these items is because she made them all the year I was born.  I was born 7 days before her 50th birthday.  I often kidded her that at 40 if anything happened to my parents, would she still raise me...at 90 years old she answered yes.  You see Nanny Sizemore is someone who has always been there...I have never even thought about her not being around. So imagine my surprise when in early October my cousin called to tell me that they were on their way to Chapel Hill and Nanny Sizemore had been airlifted there.  I am thinking stroke or heart attack....she had fell out of the attic and hit her head on a table.  91 years old and still climbing in an attic to get down her winter clothes.  She died the next day.  A wave of emotions washed over me the next few days...mostly anger for her climbing in the attic in the first place.  But it was just her style to go out of this world doing things for herself.  I couldn't stay mad long because she was finally getting to see her love once again after 23 years.  Nanny Sizemore was 4'10" and every bit of 90 lbs.  She was a kid at heart (never having any of her own) and loved by all...she was the historian of our family and kind of the glue that kept us all connected.  One of 14 children who saw lots of things happen in her life, but always looked to God to guide her.  I miss her, but I will see her again.  I put up her little ceramic tree this year minus the phone call to her to tell her it is up and just as beautiful as the day she made it in 1971.  I treat it with care, and put everything around it that she gave me....the ceramic Mr & Mrs Clause, the 3 vintage elves and the little presents that she wrapped years ago to go around the bottom.

Me and Nanny Sizemore Christmas of 1971...I was 10 months old and she was 50 that year.  Notice how she looks the same at 91...she never changed.

This is Nanny Sizemore on her 91st birthday in February 2012.

 

Her little ceramic tree is up again this year.  Mr. & Mrs. Clause, the 3 vintage elves and the little boxes that she wrapped years ago.  I pray it doesn't get broke...it has made it 41 years so far.  Praying it makes it many more years.

 

Everything and Nothing

I should have known when I started this blog several years ago, that it wouldn't last.  Not really quitting, but I don't blog like I use to....the reason is that I am  ADD and the rest of the alphabet. LOL I get bored very easily with something.  I think that is why I am good at multi-tasking...because it doesn't take long for things to get boring to me.  Right now I am gathering things for a Country Christmas Event, putting together goody bags for our Seniors, making Christmas projects, organizing my crafts and decorating my house.  See I can't just concentrate on one thing.  I am hoping that I will start devoting more time to my blog.  It is kind of like an online journal for me.


Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for being able to spend it with family. We met down at my uncle's barn and feasted on all the food that everyone brought. It was a great time.

Update:  Weight loss is still the same....60 lbs gone in a year.  I have not lost anymore, but I have not gained.  I need to get more disciplined like before.  Got really sick this fall and exercising and diet haven't been in my vocabulary much.

I love all the seasons but I am really missing my beach time.  It was such a relaxing time for me this summer.  I got to just sit and clear my mind of everything.  It is almost like I am lost...I have no place to go.  I have plenty to do....I just don't like to do it. LOL

Christmas is just right around the corner and I am trying my best to get ready, but when you wear capri's and flip flops on Thanksgiving, it is hard to get in the mood.

I will try to blog more about things going on around here or just stupid things that fill my mind sometimes. LOL