What I got for Christmas

Well, for Christmas, I had all my "chickens" home in my nest.  We did have a White Christmas for the first time in a long time.  We had a wonderful Christmas dinner, I put the leaf in my kitchen table, and all six of us sat down and ate pheasant, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, and rolls. I think the girls chose wonderful boyfriends and I just love my little family.

 

For Christmas I got an iPhone attachment that lets me talk like I would on a regular phone. I love it!

 

I also got the Zumba Fitness DVD set (with toning sticks) that I can use at home on the days that I don't go to an organized Zumba class at the YMCA.

As a present to myself, I bought some new Zumba shoes.  I wore them today to my Zumba class.  I like them. I also got an Amazon gift certificate so I can purchase more books for my Kindle.

Kaitlyn and Michael also gave us a Houdini wine bottle opener. 

Waiting for My Family to Come Home

Okay, after a week of my family being gone, I'm ready for them to come home.  Although I have been pretty busy the last few days. Friday, Jann and I left around noon and went up to the city to go furniture shopping for our new office.  We bought a couple more used 5-drawer lateral file cabinets, saw lots of desks and chairs, visited a reupholsterer's shop and looked in several antique shops for unique pieces of furniture.  We also went to a specialty jewelry shop (Silver Leaf Gems) so Jann could get one of her necklaces shortened that she purchased there.  She told me I could pick out anything I wanted up to $200.  I found this necklace and earring set on the 50% off table.  It's really pretty.  I don't have much green stuff, but I already had some red coral and turquoise jewelry so I decided to get something different.

After we got tired of shopping we had our office Christmas party - we went to Mama Rojas restaurant on Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City and watched the sunset as we ate our tilapia with chips and salsa, etc. 

Saturday, I got up early and went to Weightwatchers, then went to Zumba at the YMCA.  I did some grocery shopping in case we have another Snowpocalypse on Christmas like we did a couple of years ago.  Jann had invited me over for dinner with her and Tom. And because I hadn't seen her house in a couple of years and she had it decorated real pretty.  She made Shepherd's pie and a salad.  It was yummy.  We watched a movie and Tom gave me a bottle of wine from the winery to bring home.

This morning I got up and went to church and then one of the ladies in my prayer shawl group and I went to breakfast and went up to the city to see the newest Cirque du Soleil show.  Joe gave me a pair of tickets before he went out of town.  I really enjoyed the show (I think the name of the show was Dralian or something like that) and I thought it was better than the Saltimbanco one I saw several years ago.

Tomorrow I'm going to use my mani-pedi gift certificate from my birthday and pamper my feet and hands while I wait for the family to get home safe and sound before the snow hits tomorrow night.  I'm going to make my Cranberry-jalepeno dip to take over to Joe's Aunt Cindy's house tomorrow night and depending on when the family gets home, I may or may not go to Christmas Eve service.  I may even try to make a Hummingbird cake to eat on Christmas Day.  I've never made one and I had a piece when I went to Guthrie a couple of weeks ago.  The recipe just happened to be in a Southern Living magazine this past fall - so I've got to try it.  I'm making it from scratch so wish me luck!  I'll post pictures later.

I discovered Lorna is on Pinterest and I've started following her.  It's amazing the stuff that we like that is the same.  I even went through my Pinterest boards the other day and re-organized them making more boards so I could find stuff easier.

Oh and this is the recipe for my bourbon balls.....

My Favorite Week

A couple of weeks ago, our Prayer Shawl ministry had our annual Christmas Tea.  I brought bourbon balls again and used the "good stuff".  I also took a big swig out of the bottle while making them - made the experience so much more fun.....hee hee

 

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  The whole family has gone skiing and I have the whole house to myself to do whatever I want.  Last Saturday, I got up early and went to WeightWatchers, then went to Zumba at the YMCA, afterwards I went to the beautyshop to get my hair cut.  I went to a Christmas get together at one of the moms that had a daughter on the Pom Squad in high school with Kaitlyn.  Sunday morning I work up early, and before I went to church I did two loads of laundry, changed the sheets on my bed, swept, dusted, fed the dogs then went to church. When I came home, I cleaned the master bath, mopped the floor, cleaned out some paperwork and cut out a pattern.  I don't know where all that energy came from.

 

Kaitlyn left "puppy" with me so I could wash him (trust me he was black).  He has so many holes in him, the stuffing is falling out and he is in desperate need of repair but there is nothing left to hold the material together, it's so rotten. She still sleeps with the damn thing and Michael encourages it! So after I washed it, I put a sign on it, took a photo and sent it to her in a text while she's in Colorado.

 

 

 

This week, I also finished another scarf.  I think this one is for me.  It's really sparkly.

 

I also made a Christmas Apron that I'm going to give to my friend, Kay.  She gave me a birthday present, and I didn't get her one so I'm giving her the apron and I also made her a pink/white ruffle scarf too.

This coming Sunday, I'm going to the Cirque du Soleil show (Joe got me tickets) with one of the ladies from my Prayer Shawl group.  Jann and I are taking off Monday and Tuesday, so I  may go use my mani/pedi gift certificate Monday and relax and drink some wine (Joe got me the DELUXE package for my birthday). The family will be home on Monday evening provided the snow/blizzard holds off on the plains until Christmas Day.

Busy Week

At the church Advent festival, I worked at one of the middle school tables.  We made necklaces from recycled t-shirts.  Some of the kids necklaces looked very cute!

I've finished my second one of these scarves.  I bought yarn for 2 more. They are quick and easy to make so some of my friends are getting one for Christmas!!

















Yesterday, I took some time off work and danced with some of the ladies from my Zumba Gold group at the YMCA.  We went to the Arbor House Reminiesce Memory Care Center.  We danced to Christmas music and had a good time.  Some of the residents were clapping and singing, and others were asleep in their chair.  The lady in all black beside me on the end was Kristen's 4th grade teacher at Monroe.  She is retired now and she comes to class everyday just like I do.  We've gotten to be good friends.  The lady in pink in the middle is our Zumba teacher.  She is such fun. All of the ladies in our little group have a good time dancing together and we all LOVE Zumba.

Yay, It's December!

Well, now that it is December - I'm not taking any more pictures every day.  That got to be too much trouble.  So I'll just add as I feel like it.  Last weekend Jann and I went to the Norman Philharmonic's Winter Concert.  It was held in my church. We sat in the balcony so we could "see" better. The cost of the ticket ($10) was to help provide free nights at the Food and Shelter for Friends here in Norman (for the homeless families).

 

One of the little girls that Kaitlyn used to play soccer with had a dad that is a dentist here in Norman.  I saw this sign outside his building the other day and told Kaitlyn about it.  Apparently, he doesn't want to hire a Dental Hygienist, only dental assistants, who not only don't have to have a college degree they don't even have to go to college.  So remember that the next time you are going to a dentist, do you want someone working on your teeth that is not a RDH (registered dental hygienist), with a degree to back them up.

 

 

 

I went into Hobby Lobby the other night (I'm getting crafting fever again) and was rummaging around in the fabric department and found some cream/red chevron material.  I bought one yard so I'll have it next football season.....

 

Yesterday, I drove to Guthrie to use my Groupon that I purchased last summer.  I ended up taking a class (mitered square cowl) which I will post a picture of when I get more of it made.  I also did some antiquing in a few of their many antique stores there.  I found this little pitcher and couldn't remember if it was mom or Granny that had the same one.  I vividly remember someone making tea in it.  So I bought myself one.  I also saw many of the brown dishes that mom bought at the grocery store when I was little and that I eventually inherited and left with Merry when I moved to Oklahoma.  They want lots of money for that old stuff!!  I also saw a set of Lorna's dishes that she got when she first got married - Pfaltzgraf "Villager".  I couldn't help but smile when I saw them.  I remember she had EVERYTHING ever invented to go with that set.

I am also making one of these scarves.  It is EXTREMELY easy to make.  You can buy the yarn at Wal-mart and I purchased some more of it at Michael's this morning - it is on sale this week.  There is a video on YouTube that shows you how to do it and you can make one in about an hour - that's how easy it is. 

 

This afternoon, I'm working the annual Advent Festival at my church like I do every year. This year I'm working with middle schoolers making a necklace out of recycled t-shirts.