A Blogger's Vow of 10

As the new year rolls in, I vow:

I will PIN less and

MAKE more.

I will READ the instructions

for my camera.

I will FINISH things

before starting ten new ones.

I will PAINT furniture

other colors than white.

I will LEARN to use

all the wax I have hoarded.

I will STOP buying furniture

for others who may not want it

(even tho it's a good buy)

I will spend MORE time at the gym

instead of claiming painting
to be the perfect all-around exercise.

I will TAKE sewing lessons or get

rid of that *&$$%g sewing machine.

I will re-do rooms

one at a time to AVOID chaos.

I will be KINDER to my spouse who

does not have my creative genius

does not share my love of junk

does not see a masterpiece before him

does not cope well with rickety chairs

does not...oops...

I will be KINDER to my spouse.

So help me God.

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year

Sharing this week at:
Wow us Wednesday...
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2014/12/wow-us-wednesdays-201.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SavvySouthernStyle+%28Savvy+Southern+Style%29



A Little Bit Of Christmas So Far

We had eight of our close family members
staying with us this past Thanksgiving.

Half of them were 5 and under,
which made things quite lively!

Livvie Lula liked reading the paper with
Grampy every morning...

Little Henry tried out some sweet potatoes...

Ben and Lily bonded quickly as usual. Only

10 months apart in age, these two look more

like brother and sister than cousins.

When they all left,
it seems to have left a hole in my heart
right where Christmas should be.

I'm trying to get interested,
but so far the ladder is still imprisoned
in the far corner of the garage.

I put some lights in a kitchen cabinet...

and added a string of lights to the mixer corner...

but I need the ladder to get up higher.

Sometimes small things can be
overwhelming.
I will need to rally soon...

 ...it's December 21st and I can't take
the Jack-O-Lanterns grinning at me
 much longer!

Happy Halloween
Merry Christmas!



Join me here:

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and here:

http://modvintagelife.blogspot.com/2014/12/mod-mix-monday-177.html

My Favorite Christmas Ornament

Tidbits & Twine is having a give away

of this wonderful Balsam Hill ornament set!

And you have a chance to win too!

Tidbits & Twine is a blog that's always

full of easy-to-do decorating advice.

In addition she often shares pictures of

 her lovely guest room (pictured above) and one
of the prettiest dining rooms I've seen.

To enter the give away, she only asks that

you describe your favorite Christmas ornament.

That's an easy one for me...

My favorite ornament is a little eccentric,

but that makes me cherish it all the more!

Who wouldn't want a sparkly ice cream cone,

with a small bite out of it, hanging on their tree?

Oldest daughter Jennifer, who has just turned 41,

was a kindergartner when she presented me with

her wonderful "handmade" creation.

The next year, youngest daughter Jaimee

was only 20 months old when she took a bite

out of the dazzling ice cream cone...glue,

sparkles and all. You can see the bottom of
the cone is missing.

Every time I look at my ornament, I see the

proud eyes of that long-ago kindergartner

 and the toddler with sparkles stuck all

over her chin and mouth.

Here's the link to the give away post.

Good luck and 
thanks for dropping in!

http://tidbitsandtwine.com/gift-ornament-set-giveaway/



One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

In my last post, I was talking about how

houses turn into money pits. Here's just a
few of our issues.

We wanted to change our walkway to our

house because the one the builder put in

was a hazard. Big cement blocks with strips

of space between where nothing would live,

but on which anyone could trip.

We paid to have the blocks jack-hammered

up and carted away. It wasn't cheap.

A new curvy walkway replaced the blocks.

And looking at this picture makes me realize

the solar screens we added to block the sun's

rays match the shutters too much, so we

will need to paint the shutters a different

color at some point.

The walkway made the planting beds around

the house look shabby. We pulled out the worst

plants and added new ones with drip irrigation

to conserve water.

Then we added small river rock instead

of mulch.

The new plants, rock and walkway made

the door look shabby, so Wild Bill

refinished the door.

The new walkway and refinished door

make the cement inside the entryway look

a little sad, so now we're looking at a

non-slippery tile to cover it.

Doesn't it always seem to take much more

product than you expect a project to take?

I thought this was overkill when they delivered

two tons of river rock for our little beds.

But we had to go back and get almost

another ton before we finished the project.

There's a chandelier hanging way up top

the entry that shines through the window

in front of it -- real pretty...EXCEPT...

The birds fly into the entry and sit on the
chandelier up there and poop all night.

Which ends up in a pile on the cement right
in front of our door each morning. Lovely.


We're looking for a replacement light that
offers no place for a bird to sit, unless you
have a better idea.


Anyone out there ever have this problem?

Motivating Action

I'm convinced that houses become money pits

for the simple fact that one thing leads to another.

For example, we would love to replace our

wooden front door with a beautiful metal one.

We even spent hours picking one out...

But, if we added the metal door, we would also

need to upgrade our wall lanterns to bigger ones

that will match the new door. There are five
lanterns around the house.

So while we debated, our wooden door got

dried out and yucky.

This door looks so bad, all I can say is 

it was a loooong debate! 

 Well...we both wanted a metal one, but the price

was just too much.  Finally, Wild Bill taped

up the front door and sanded and stained it.

It's almost like a new door. We had the

tape, sandpaper and stain so the cost was

actually nothing except a few hours time.

What finally pushed him to get it done

you might ask? 

One day I causally mentioned that I

was thinking of painting the front door white.

That put him over the edge!

He's one of those dreaded "wood lovers" who

can't stand the idea of painting a good piece

of wood. Especially painting it white!

So, for all of you out there who also live

with procrastinators, you're welcome
for this tip because it really works!

Thanks for dropping by.

Join me here:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2014/12/amaze-me-monday-88.html#more

That's A Crock

There's nothing I like better than a crock.

I use them to store my cooking utensils

and for decorating.

Three crocks sit on the rolling center cabinet

surrounding the pig.

I still have some Fall and Halloween décor up.

I plan to remove all of it tomorrow and start

decorating for Christmas.

But...here's a secret. One of my crocks is

actually an ugly cookie jar.

I got rid of the lid and just keep it turned around

so no one can see its ugly 1980's-style side.

And if cows and hearts come back into

style, I'm ready!

Thanks for dropping by.

Join me at:
http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2014/12/share-your-cup-thursday-129.html


http://betweennapsontheporch.net/decorating-with-preserved-boxwood-wreaths-2/

Life Lessons

A fellow blogger lost her husband on Sunday.

He suffered a heart attack, and he was gone...

Just like that!

We have become blogging friends over the

course of several years. I sent her my favorite

book when she was dealing with a challenge. She

made me this sign below for my blog when she

was back up again.

She writes about life and always ends her post with
"Stay on the sunnyside of life."
Her husband was her everything.

My heart breaks for her.

Sears is due to deliver a new mattress and box

springs today. At 7:30 a.m. they called to say they

only had the mattress on the truck, no boxsprings.

"Deliver the mattress anyway" I said, without

my usual moaning and groaning...

We have lots of company coming, they need a

place to sleep. As long as we're all here and healthy,

a mattress on the floor suits me just fine.

Wild Bill went to the podiatrist this morning.

His foot has bothered him for a couple of weeks.

The doctor said a couple of small bones are broken.

He needs to wear a stiff boot and stay off his feet

as much as possible. Even with company coming,

as long as we are all here and healthy,

that suits me just fine.

A friend lost her husband Sunday.

It makes you realize that as long as we are here

and healthy, nothing else really matters does it?



Lazy Girl's Pumpkin Cream Cake

Hey there! I'm back with another easy cake

idea based on the "one cake mix and one can of

pure pumpkin" mixture I've told you about before.

I had a hard time getting a good photo due

to lighting issues so you'll have to pretend

it looks good!

I made this cake in a 8 x 8 pan, but found

using a loaf pan really works much better

with this type of cake, so I'll stick with a loaf

pan in the future.

For this cake, use a white cake mix, stir a 15 oz can

of pure pumpkin into it. Remember...no eggs, water,

or any other of the normal ingredients.

Next, pour half the cake/pumpkin mixture into a

greased loaf pan (or an 8 x 8 pan as I did here.)

Mix a stick of cream cheese with about 1/3 cup

of powered sugar and glop it on the cake mixture

in different areas of the cake. The goal is to

make little puddles of sweetened cream cheese

around the cake mixture.

The final step is to gently cover the cream cheese

with the last half of the cake mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 to 40 mins.

To ensure it's done enough, stick a butter knife

into the center of the cake to see if the knife

comes out clean.

My husband really loved this version of the

pumpkin/dry cake mix recipes I've been writing

about. As I said before, I thought using a loaf pan

made a much better cake and I'll stick to making

these in loaf pans in the future.

Thanks for dropping by.

Veterans Day 2014

When I added it up, I realized it's been

45 years since I joined the Air Force in 1969.

Wow, that makes me feel old.

Of course I was just a baby then...

I joined because my family was extremely

patriotic and there was a war going on.
Both of my older brothers had already enlisted.

I had no clue what an Air Traffic Controller

did, but 8 months later I was one.

As the first female controller stationed overseas,

(18 months at Clark AFB in the Phillipines)

I was in an article in the overseas military

newspaper called The Stars And Stripes.

Today Air Traffic Control is full of women,

but being one of the first meant always being the

only woman at work or in meetings.

My father-in-law is one of the real hero's in our

family. He was at the frontline, in the trenches,

at the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. 

My own father lied about his age and joined

the Navy when he learned his older brother Sperry

(U.S. Navy) was captured and was being held in a

prisoner-of-war camp in Japan.

My dad died over 20 years ago, but here's a picture of

him as I remember him best, taken in the early 1960's.

He loved cigars and I think of him whenever I'm

lucky enough to catch a whiff of cigar smoke.

Yes, I love the smell of cigars...

I recently discovered the Government's
website for archived records and was able
to read about my uncle's prisoner of war
camp, Fukuoka POW Camp #1
(Kashii-Pine Tree Camp), which was
on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

If  you're interested in researching about

a family member's military records,

here's the website.

http://www.archives.gov

Happy Veterans Day!

Many restaurants offer free meals for

veterans in honor of their service. In our

area the following are a few of those

restaurants:

International House of Pancakes

Texas Roadhouse

The Rib Crib

Starbucks Coffee

Golden Corral