Sharing Ideas With You

Had an idea that I to share with any readers. I must admit that it came to me after reading a post by another blogger who I know. Tim Holtz is a very creative guy, he has been doing what he calls

"The 12 tags of Christmas" for the last two years. He announced that he will be doing it again this year. So I thought I would take the same concept and put a twist to it and do "Twelve Days of decorating ideas".

I love to decorate at this time of the year. Our homes have always been quite festive. My hope is to give some easy tips and inspiration to others. So starting on December 1st to the twelfth, I will post ideas that I use throughout the house. Please feel free to make comments or ask questions that I will be happy to answer.

Let the holidays begin!

Thankful Wishes To Everyone

At this special time of the year we all have very different things that we are thankful for. For me, I will always be thankful for my family and our home.

I'm thankful for all friends, both near and far. I'm thankful for the creative gifts that I have been given.

May your life be filled with much to be thankful for. May your heart be glad and your home be happy during this season.

A Tradition Continues

The fact that we will not be hosting the traditional family Thanksgiving this year, will not stop us from continuing another family Thanksgiving tradtion ... Cajun Fried Turkey.

This has been something that we have been sharing with the family for many years. It all started some time ago when a former neighbor shared this form of cooking turkey with us. He had created his own homemade fryer. And then shared with the neighbors, the best tasting turkey you could ever have. One year he fried 24 turkeys for a number of people for Thanksgiving. It wasn't long before we had to start doing it ourselves because of the demand for turkey cooked this way.

Each Thanksgiving we would bring a "cajun fried bird" and Mike's sister would provide a "traditional" bird. Funny thing ... each time the fried turkey would completely disappear and the carcass picked cleaned.

So once again this tasty turkey will be shared at tomorrows meal. Can't wait!

Update

Here's the update from yesterday's post:

After sitting on "pins and needles" for two hours, waiting to hear if the closing would go off without any problems this time around, the call came that the "move" would take place.

So we packed up the cars and headed to the kids new home along with the packed trucks that had been ready since Thursday.

Got much accomplished is a few hours. At least the beds were put together for the first night's sleep. Mike and I headed back to our place relieved that another of life's huddles was handled and another new chapter was to begin. Congratulations Kevin, Ali, Tess and Tioga on your new home!

Now onto the next concern ... our grandson Joseph's surgery today. Who said that retirement is boring??

We Both Forgot Our Special Day

So what do you think about two people who both forgot their anniversary?

Early last week we both had talked about going somewhere special on Monday for lunch because we knew that the week-end would probably be too hectic. Something happened to keep us from doing that. The week progressed and there were several things going on to keep us pretty much at home. Friday was going to be another day to celebrate, with Kevin & Ali closing on their little house, following that up with the closing on a newer residence. Things didn't turn out the way we had all hoped. Some problems arose and the closing was postponed till today. We sit here hoping that all will go much smoother this afternoon. Update later!

Needless to say, Saturday came ... a day that has special significance for us, and we both didn't realize till the afternoon, when things quieted down that it was our anniversary. So we laughed about it and gave each other a kiss for our 39th anniversary.

So next year when we celebrate 40 years of marriage, we can look back on many good times with some bumps in the road that we have been traveling together since that day in November.

Decorations Are Up

With the weather in the Chicago area being chilly, but sunny, the outside Christmas decorations went up today. Next week-end the lights go on!

Send out online invitations to the family earlier today for Christmas Day dinner. Responses have already began to come in. I like the whole online invites. If you haven't tried using them you should check them out. So far we have tried "evite" and recently learned of "punchbowl" and also discovered

"pingg".

One of the first things that I set up was our little Christmas village as the photo shows. I'll be sharing more.

Sorry For My Lack Of Blog Posts

Just wanted to make a quick post to keep you informed of what's going on ... LOTS!

Our oldest son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter are in the process of moving. Needless to say it's been very hectic. Way too many details to go into, but it's been a stressful week. Then the other grandchildren have been sick. Maddie had a high fever and went in for tests to see what it could be. Thank heaven she is much better now. Joseph will be having his adnoids removed next week. Hope that will solve his problem with so many sinisus infections.

I'm anxious to share photos and other things with you concerning much more pleasant things very soon.

Never Too Young

The photo is of a "craft box" that I created for my youngest grandchild Tess. At eighteen months old, she already likes playing with art materials. With her first box of Crayola crayons and cans of Play-Doh, she needed something to hold her "art supplies".

The paper mache container was something that I have had on hand, along with all other materials used to decorate it. The handle, closures and back straps were painted with acrylic paint to match the fabric. Some on-hand material was used to cover the container. Beacon's Liquid Laminate was used to adhere the fabric. Once the fabric is applied, rick-rack and decorative ribbon was glued on using Fabri Tac glue.

A tag was cut from Grungepaper, using a Sizzix "Big Shot" machine and a "tag" die. The tag was painted using Ranger's Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in a color to match the fabric. Tm Holtz's Grungeboard letters were used for the name. They are also painted using the paint dabbers in another color. Small strips of ribbon were tied into the tag hole, then the tag was tied onto the handle of the containter.

The inside was lined with more fabric, again using Liquid Laminate. Then filled with art materials for Tess to enjoy. Hopefully her artistic interest will continue to grow!

Busy Time

Since returning home from Houston (almost a month ago) my days have been busy. Once home, I realized that the holiday season was right around the corner. Immediately we began to make plans for the usual annual family Thanksgiving. When I know that I would be hosting a large number of people, I like to get a good start. After sending out the "evite" to the family, it became clear that it wasn't going to be a usual year for this annual family gathering. Instead of hosting, we will be going to be guests this year, and that's OK! Now we are looking forward to hosting the family on Christmas Day.

I never like to rush the holidays, but I find myself doing just that this year. The past couple of days I have been bringing out the Christmas decorations and getting things in place. It may seem a little early, but the next couple of weeks will be busy with a variety of things, and I don't want to be rushed getting things decorated. Another reason to get all this done now is the unseasonable weather. We may as well get those lights up before the winds change, the temperatures drop and the possibility of snow is in the forecast.

This upcoming week will find us celebrating our 39th anniversary and hope to find some time to at least go out for lunch. It will also find us with Tess several days, while mom and dad prepare to move into a new house by the end of the week. The following week we will be on call, if help is needed, when our grandson Joseph, has his adenoids removed. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I also have plans to begin making several cookie doughs, to get a little ahead and help out my daughter and daughter-in-law.

Once the decorating is complete and the baking gets started, I will share photos, ideas and recipes in my posts.

So Much To Do, So Little Time

The list is growing everyday of more and more things to do, so the best advice I can give myself is going to be to take each day and try to assign certain things to each day of the week to complete.

Tonight I will try to get through more of the holiday idea magazines and books. Going to start making a list of the cookies that I plan on baking, then compile a shopping list for ingredients, with hopes that next week I can start making some of the cookie dough.

With the news of some more far weather, heading our way for the week-end, we hope to get some outside decorating done. Better to do it before the "snow flies"!

Beginning To Think Alot About Christmas

Halloween has just a week ago and I have packed away all decorations that relate to that holiday. There are still a variety of seasonal decorations throughout the house to remind anyone of autumn and Thanksgiving. BUT... just like the kids I am having thoughts and visions of Christmas!

For a several reasons, we will not be hosting the "traditional, annual family Thanksgiving Day dinner at our house this year, but in exchange, we will be hosting Christmas Day instead. In part, I think that is one reason I'm excited. Every room in the house takes on a look and feeling of Christmas.

Today I began by switching out the music CD's and movie tapes and DVD's with the holiday collections that continue to grow each year. A large wicker basket overfilled with holiday periodicals has replaced the usual basket of magazines. A stack of holiday recipe books has found its way onto the coffee table for ideas for baking and entertaining.

Hope to find time tomorrow to begin taking out some of the holiday decorations and organize them by rooms. Looking forward to holiday decorating a little at a time.

Some Time For Myself

Today is my first day this week without Tess around. (For those who don't know, Tess is my 18 month old granddaughter.) Love her so much, but Gramma will be enjoying a day of "whatever" I want to do.

So my day started with watching Oprah instead of Sesame Street, watching Martha instead of taping it to watch later, and reading emails, facebook, news on-line and getting time to post something on my blog.

Looking forward to lunch this afternoon with old friends that I worked with. We have a group that meets once a month for lunch, but I have had been unable to attend for some time. It will be nice to see them and catch up with everyone. It's always been a great time with laughs and some serious talk too!

I have many little things going on and I hope to start make posts about what's going on here.

So now it's time to get ready ... "Back after Lunch"!

Fifty-Five Days Till Christmas

Just thought I should remind everyone of the time frame till Christmas. Where has the time gone?

So let's see, it's the first day of November, and Halloween one day behind us, can we say that the holiday season is truly upon us. Walking through the stores is sending us reminders too. It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that summer sales were still going on and school was about to begin.

Only two months left to 2009 ... I hope to make them productive. There already is a list of things that I know that I must do, along with a growing list of "want to do".

Planning for the annual "cookie bake" is in the works. Searching for an "artificial, life-like Christmas tree" this year. Never thought we would do this, but have decided that it would be the best for us at this point in our lives. We enjoy Christmas and the decorations too much. By doing this we won't have to wait like we usually do, to put the tree up and enjoy it along with every other decoration. But finding the one we like is proving to be just as hard as finding the perfect "real" tree.

Many other things in the works for this month and next, so I'll be mentioning them from day to day in this blog.