Happy New Year...2010!

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:1  

It is common to make New Year's resolutions, which individuals hope to fulfil in the coming year. The most popular resolutions in the world include to be to quit smoking, lose weight, and get physically fit.

BHWAAHAA!!! 

Sorry, but I gave up on NewYear's resolutions back in the late 80's! 

I think the longest record I've kept was "maybe", 20 days. 

I'm more like the "go with the flow" type of  person AKA. What will be will be!  And so I continue on in life, overweight, UNphysically fit and still smoking! ALTHOUGH...I really really do wish I could kick the smoking habit!

So for Christmas, Kim and Tim bought Rock and me the new "electric cigarette"

Still working with that.....

Yesterday, Peepers helped me to take down and pack up the 3 Xmas trees and decorations! We now have 19 xmas totes, 5 larger decorations and 2 boxed trees in the living room, waiting to be stored. Saved the "big" tree for Rock to take down, that is all that is left! Oh, and the outside decorations...Rock's job. WHEW!

Next project is to "clean out our closet"!!!!  I really NEED to pass on some of the 57 pair of shoes that are in there and that I no longer wear!

Think of the space I would have...not to mention the size 8 and 10 in clothing that I keep hanging onto! :(

Ahhh...the thoughts and joys of "spring cleaning"! 

And Last thought of the day...

New Years Resolutions for Pets

1. Have a torrid one-night stand with a street mutt.
2. Try to understand that the cat is from Venus and I am from Mars.
3. I will no longer be beholden to the sound of the can opener.
4. Circulate petition that Leg Humping be a juried competition in major dog shows.
5. Call PETA and tell them what that surgical mask-wearing freak does to us when no one is around.
6. Take time from busy schedule to stop and smell the behinds.
7. Hamster: Don't let them figure out I'm just a rat on 'roids, or they'll flush my ass.
8. Always scoot before licking.
9. Grow opposable thumb; break into pantry; decide for MYSELF how much food is *too* much.
10. Get out of the castle more, maybe swim counter-clockwise this year.
11. January 1st: Kill the sock! Must kill the sock! January 2nd - December 31: Re-live victory over the sock. AND the Number 1 New Year's Resolutions Made by Pets...

1. I will NOT chase the damned stick unless I see it LEAVE HIS HAND. 

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December

Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17



December has been very busy and very stressful this year!

Rock had a heart attack, on the 9th. I prayed all the way to the hospital that he would be okay, and immediately sent out word for him to be listed on several prayer chains. And THANKS be to Prayer and God, he is back home with me.

Now I have the stress of, will it happen again??? 

All I can do is put my Faith and Trust in God that it will NOT!

Christmas was extremely skimpy this year,. but stopping to think about it all, it is not the amount of gifts or the amount of money that you spend on the gifts that is important. Although, I'm ashamed to say, that has always been what is expected. With all the commercialism  and  competitiveness in today's world it seems that we all try to outdo ourselves to make this the "best" Christmas possible and yet that is not the meaning of what Christmas is all about! 
I realize all of this and yet I feel guilty that I could not get everyone as much as I wanted to give.

Rock and I did get the "best" Christmas letter from the Diva, telling us how much she loves us, and thanking us for always being there for her, financially, physically and emotionally and everything else we do for her and she is proud to be family.  She is the sweetest, most thoughtful, caring granddaughter a person could ever ask for!  I am SO VERY PROUD of her and the young lady she is growing up to be.

We do have some Good News....Dustin, Rock's (youngest son) asked his girlfriend, Corinne, to marry him, Christmas Eve!!!  She is a beautiful, fun, caring and loving girl and we are excited to have her in our family!
And Peepers got her "ZhuZhu" pet!!  A mechanical toy "hamster" that makes all the noises like a real hamster without the mess :) 

Along with a complete city for it to run in! She also got her "LuLu" kitty, another mechanical toy, cat, that looks and acts like a real cat, even though she has 2 real cats!  PP told me this AM that "LuLu" started meowing under the Christmas tree this morning and Peepers knew immediately what it was and was so excited that Santa brought her "LuLu"
And this was Little Eliza's "first" Christmas. Right now she likes to look at the lights, but I can't wait till next year!
I LUV watching new little ones discovering the wonders all around them.!

SO even though this Christmas was really skimpy, I feel very BLESSED to have my family and I LOVE them ALL!

My Three kids and their families!

and Rock's kids

Christmas mantle.....

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:43-44 
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Romans 2:1 
and I feel great because I trust in the Lord!  :)

That being said,.......while setting out some of the decorations on our mantle...I put up the 3 white xmas trees that I usually use and liked the effect of nothing but trees up there.....so...only having the 3 trees, I ventured out to Hobby Lobby and hit paydirt. I found 2 styles of trees already painted and 2 unfinished trees and a "peace" sign with a tree in it.....PERFECT!!  And all 50 % off....Next went to the $1 store and purchased 2 cans of white spray paint and 1 can of "snow"....and WUALLA....our mantle will have a new and different look this year  :P



On Thanksgiving Day we attended the wedding of Shel's brother and her best friend, .with a Pumpkin Pie Reception in the Fellowship Hall, afterwards. Peepers went with us and got to hold Eliza for a couple of seconds, which made her day.
 






 Jamey and Shel were able to come out to the house for dinner Friday for a few hours and We got to see and visit with Eliza, in-between Rock working on his laptop, that Jamey was trying to fix. And instead of another Turkey dinner, I fixed Jamey's favorite pasta dish.

Eliza is such a joy and we were lucky and blessed to have spent some time with her. It's so hard when the kids live so far away.


Her little Santa hat was still a little too big for her, but all too precious just the same. She looks a little scared here, or uncertain, probably cause I was right in front of her...that's scarey!    I just luv how her little fists are always ready for boxing. She is just too adorable!






On another note, I noticed that PP has not been posting...so I will let you all know that she is done with her externs and tomorrow begins her first day of full time employment.
She still has a few classes to complete, but they are willing to work that out within her hours.  And Peepers is back with us again, during the daytime, till mommy gets off work. Lining up Christmas crafts to keep her busy and going to work on writing our alphabet. :)

Dear Santa....

Every year on Thanksgiving, at my parents (mom's) house, I print out about 15 Dear Santa letters. After we eat, I try to corral all of the kids (neices, nephews and my own grandkids) and have them make out their Christmas wish lists for Santa. I tell them I'm going to mail their letters to Santa for them....they love it!
Then for the next couple of weeks, I go through each and every letter and send them a "personalized" letter from Santa! It takes me at least that much time to put their own personalization on each letter.
This little tradition has come to mean so much to me....every year I get to see what they what and how they have grown in their wants and needs, because even the older kids, that know there is "no" Santa Claus, still look forward to their letters from Santa. And it warms my heart to see that sometimes all they want is something simple, such as a friend to get well that has had an accident, or for them to ask for gifts for the kids that usually don't get to have a Christmas and even peace on earth....
I have even started doing this for some of our friends kids....their parents actually mail me their letters to Santa.
I look forward and LOVE this part of Christmas!!!
SO TODAY, I am THANKFUL that I have a working computer to help make this little process alot easier!!!!!!!

I'mmmmm backkkkkk!!!

Finally after  a week with no computer, I have my "best Friend" back with a new and bigger hard drive!  I tried using Brian's laptop, but it was so darn slow and just not worth the effort, not to mention the frustration! And here are 3 of the many pictures of Brians Buck...I am so proud of him...there is still one more "monster' buck roaming our area! Some of the pictures were too graphic to post...aren"t you glad!!!

oh, and for comparison,  Brian is 6' 2"....                                                   And this last picture is what our Christmas lights on the house will look like this year.....the house on the right will be ours!   Now I'm off to the kitchen, having our Thanksgiving today, out of town, and PP and I are preparing the majority of the food for some 40+ people.......Have a HAPPY Day!

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Exciting past couple of days!
Had a GREAT time at Pepe's for Chase's 16th birthday! I "LUV" their Marguerita's there, they are the BEST! I still can't believe that my grandson is 16, though....WOW! Where did those years go?!

Rock got a Monster, 13 point, 230 lb (field dressed) Buck, Thursday and another Doe today. (2 Does,Total) ( and one coyete)We will start processing this 2nd doe tomorrow. Going to try out a new Summer Sausage recipe.
So far it was the biggest buck that has come in to be mounted, but the season has just begun.  We've been told though, that it (the buck) will definatly make the Pope and Young Record!  And "might" make the state record! Going to have it professionally scored this week! It is massive!  I'm SO PROUD of him! (Rock)
He is still walking on cloud 10! So many of the "local" hunters around here are devastated...Rock got him with his bow 2 days before opening day of gun season. Everyone had nicknamed this Buck, Bullwinkle!
We should get him back February or March....just have to find a place with a lot of space to put him :)

I went to my Aunt and Uncles 50th Anniversay celebration today, it was also my uncles 80th birthday, although he does'nt look or act like 80 by no means! My Uncle has been in a band ever since I can remember. Everyone had a great time..good music, good food, good people! It was priceless to see them walk in...it was all a "Surprise" for them! Heartwarming!

 NOW, The down side is, My computer DIED and I'm having to use Rock's laptop, which is slower than molasses! AND I've "lost" all of my pictures!!!!  :(     I cried!   LITERALLY!
I have all kinds of pictures of Rock and his "buck" which I will post later....have to download them all differently now....I'm at such a LOSS without my computer.....maybe, my house will get cleaned now....I said MAYBE!   I feel like I've lost my very best friend!!!

happy birthday chase!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!
16 years ago today you were born prematurely....now you are a handsome, loving 16 year old!

God Bless you Chase!!!

Bless our Veterans and all Service men of today.

Veterans Day History


On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as "the Great War." Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.

Thank and Hug a Veteran today!

Is there really a Santa Claus?

One of my FB friends posted this today and I thought it was worth sharing;

Is There Really a Santa Claus?


I remember my first Christmas party with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” she jeered. “Even dummies know that!”
My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.
“Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, people who went to my church.
I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's second grade class. Bobbie Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew Bobbie Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat.
I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down."Yes," I replied shyly. "It's ... for Bobbie."
The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobbie. Forty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I believe...how about you?

PP is turning 41 NOVEMBER 3rd

My Baby is turning 41 years old NOVEMBER 3rd!!!

and I am SO VERY PROUD of her....she completed her externs last Friday and will soon be graduating...already has a job lined up!

(they want her back where she completed her externs at, in fact one of the triage nurses thought she was a full time employee!)

I remember the time she was born so well.....

cause I kept thinking.... "I'm missing Sunday night services"

and back where I use to go to church....that was missing alot! Turned out though...most of them came to the hospital to see us!
Very Special moments!

She was and is a BEAUTIFUL baby....INSIDE and OUT!!!

And now she has given me 2 of the "most" PRECIOUS Granddaughters a Grandmother and "Proud" Mother could ever hope and wish for!

Happy Birthday Peanut!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Going backward in time....just picked a small handful of pic's out really quick here...they made me smile...HAD to post the "bachlorlett party" pic....that guy was "awesome"!!  (only because I have a secret thing for guys with long straight hair, with adonis features...guess it's not a secret any more)   THEN....dressing up for Halloween...a Saloon girl...that was a great costume...only one I never made...yet!  And "THAT" hairstyle below is ....well what can I say ;P

and this is when bouncy seats first came out...I think....anyway...they were only a simple plastic construction...look how far we've come....and yes I wish I still had my parents kitchen table!

I LOVE YOU!!!

hAPPY hALLOwEEN!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

at a loss...

I think I'm going to cry!
Today is PP's last day of externs....I have had Peepers 5 days a week for the past 2 months...and it has been so much FUN! I'm going to MISS her smiling little face and her warm little hugs several times a day!
Now it looks like I will only get her on Wednesday nights....
WHATEVER can I do with all this excess time on my hands????

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

(aunt kimmie with her nieces)

Happy Birthday Kimmie!!!

44 years old today!

~WOW~

HALLOWEEN TRAIL...

First "trial run" night for our Halloween Trail in the Woods.....we had so much FUN!!!
So far, we have one more night scheduled for friends and neighbors.
But it already looks like, maybe, we will do this again this coming weekend.
Can't wait for next year though....have aLOT more new and different ideas to add to it already.....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Just a week....

WOO HOO!!  As of today, we again will have venison in our freezer! Rock just came back from the woods with a deer! You have NO IDEA how exciting this is for us.  We live on our venison throughout the year.

Next.... the processing!

Wandering around out back the other day....I looked up in my apple tree and found luffa growing!   Could not see it before because of the leaves...now, how to figure out how to get it down.

Also have been working all week on the "Halloween Trail" that I am setting up out back in the woods.....nothing huge or elabrorate.

Just a fun trail for friends and neighbors.

Made the "mummy" out of newpapers wadded up and stuffed into plastic grocery sacks, stuffed into garbage bags, and lots of masking tape for shape. Ripped apart and tea dyed an old white sheet and he will go in the coffin. (picture of that later).

Peepers is scared to death of anything really scarey....so this is the only decorations I have inside the house...posted before...but now have added the witch..."which" THANKFULLY Peepers has not seen!......Can you see her.

Found the picture on the internet...worked perfectly!

Also made a "Book of Spells" book, out of an Composition Notebook, just laying around....covered with "muslin".

The "diva" even wrote a couple of spells inside...

AND LOOK WHAT PP brought me yesterday....this little kitty was wondering around and after asking about it and finding out it was a stray...she brought it out....I "okayed" it first....She is all black...looks brown in the picture...and has adjusted rather quickly already!

Peepers and I had such a GOOD TIME yesterday, making Halloween cupcakes

You can tell by the traces around her mouth that she enjoyed them.

The Diva was home sick for a couple of days and stayed out here...the second day she was feeling better...and it was so beautiful outside...the sisters went for a walk.

Now...I'm feeling kind of quesy...trying to talk myself out of it!

SOOOO.....if you are in the "neighborhood...........Stop by.........

October is almost over.....

As burnt Autumn leaves fall,

It is a time to ponder...

Hayrides

Apple pickin'

Apple butter

Corn bins

Scarecrows

Crows

Hay bales

Bare trees

Old barns

Walks in the woods

Scampering squirrels

Country roads

Apple cider

Country stores

Fried apple pies

Golden mums

Bittersweet

Jack-o-lanterns

Story-tellin'

Homecoming

Acorns and Walnuts

Hot chili

Homemade jams

Twigs

Pumpkin pie

Birds flying south

Festivals

Dried flowers

Hot chocolate

Dancing bonfires

Logs burning

First frost.......

Quickie post.....

A quick rundown on just a few of the things going on in the midwest....and when I loaded the images, I loaded them backwards....so starting from here.....

the fuzzy picture of the "hut" is something I built last weekend out in the woods....going to try to have a "HALLOWEEN TRAIL" out back this year....we usually go camping with all the kids and grankids, this is the first year out of 10 years that we are not going...and I have "ALL" of these halloween decorations that I use for our campsite that I need to put to use......soooo

WALLLA....a Halloween Trail out in the woods!

(the hut is only the beginning have to make the trails with mower and set up decorations yet...gotta get busy on that)

this jumbled mess is the only halloween decorations I have inside....(eveything else is all "FALL" decorations.)

Tonight we went to the "Diva"s Football game....That is her with her Dad, Step-mom and Mom ( you all know her as PP) and of course Peepers! It was so cold wet and misty...and PP has been sick all week with the start of bronchitis, etc.We have also been to Georgia twice within 2 weeks to see our newest granddaughter Eliza. She is ONE month old already and there is her handsome daddy.This last trip to Georgia was to attend Eliza's Baptism. James and Shel and Godmother, Adrienne and Godfather BEN.  Ben is also their pastor and gave a "great" sermon!!!

and a FOURTH Generation picture.

I really like the picture of the Rock giving lil' Eliza kisses!

Like I mentioned that was a quickie post of just a few things going on.....NOW to get busy on that Halloween Trail..........