Spending time with friends

Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day and it was spent with my two friends, one whose birthday was the 21st of November. She turned the nice age of 60. We went to Maggioni's Little Italy restaurant. Sampled some wine. Had a nice meal. I made a version of Black Forest Cake which we had back at my friend's house. She opened her gifts, we talked, had coffee and cake.  It seems around this time of year it is hard to get together. If we see each other, it is usually on the weekends and we have only 3 of those left before Christmas. Wow time is really flying by. So we need to cherish what we have and those we love.

Shopping, me? No way!

I never go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I have always gotten that day off and relish in the joy of being home. I usually do something a little constructive. My daughter called and said they went shopping all night (early Friday morning)--11:00 pm until 5:00 am. They went home took a nap and they were on the road again by 4:00 pm. They will have all their shopping done and decorations up by Sunday (tomorrow). She certainly did not get that from me. So while everyone was out in the masses, I got my oil changed and a free car wash (barely got the grime off) and took a walk over at the college. Such a nice day. It was cool but the sun was shining and life is so good.  Rented a movie and called my friend (she was out in the masses), asked her if she wanted some dinner. She said OK as soon as she could get out of the outlet shopping area. We had a nice dinner and watched The Proposal. This was not my most favorite Sandra Bullock movie.

Well today is Saturday and I will drag all my Christmas boxes out and decide about decorations. It will be a gorgeous day to do this, no rain in the forecast.  My goal every year at this time is to be stress free. I have been successful in this endeavor especially now that my children are grown. My plan is not to spend very much money and being the bargain shopper I am, the plan works pretty good. I do not have peer pressure anymore.  I still have a few things I like to do 1) bake cookies with my grandgirl and give some to the neighbors, 2) go see the Nutcracker (we will be given free tickets, so nice) at the Fox in Atlanta, 3) church on Christmas Eve, 4) find any charity to donate money, food or toys. I never feel like I give enough. I always want to do more.

Life is fragile, handle with care.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Got back last night from our road trip. It was quite a journey. Had some car trouble but all in all everyone including the dog enjoyed the trip.  God was definitely in control.  For this I am thankful.

Everyone have a wonderful day where ever you are. It is going to be a beautiful day here in Georgia.

"Trimming the Pie" by Joseph Christian Levendecker 1935

Together for a short while

My thanksgiving flag.

Everyone was together yesterday. My little family includes my Mom, Jonah, his wife Amber, Alecia, her husband Josh and their 2 girls, Addisun age 2-1/2 and Jorden age 11. We had vegetable tray with ranch dressing, chips with salsa (my Mom's friend brought it to her from Ft. Worth, Tx), Stover's lasagna, garlic bread, brownies with vanilla ice-cream and sweet iced tea.  Everybody was hungry which I like, and ready to eat. The time seems to go so fast. Eat, talk, hug goodbye.  We did exchange names for Christmas gifts. We started doing this last year. We put a $50.00 limit which I think may still be too much. In fact we forgot to say the money amount yesterday.  Since we were getting together for the Thanksgiving holiday I kept thinking it was Thursday. I did get a turkey breast and pumpkin pie to cook for Thanksgiving. My favorite food for TG is white meat of turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. When I cook for myself and Mom, that is all I fix.  Yum. 

Jorden spent the night and we are going on a little road trip for a couple of days. I love spending time with her. She is growing up so fast and I know these little trips won't last forever. She will have her own family one day which I look forward to being a part of.

Happy Monday.

All done with the den

Finished painting. Cleaned all the books out that were unnecessary and needed another home. Did I mention all the tile I had lined up against the wall that I got for free. I have been holding on to this but again cannot use because it is such a big deal to lay it down. Preparation for this is too difficult.  Oh well. I have put it on the deck and may list it on craigslist for free. Hopefully it will be gone before too long.  Sometimes the projects you want to do are not always workable. I find it very hard to find a "handyman". My new front door has been behind my couch in the living room wanting to be put up for probably 2 mo. I guess I will have to get "Home Depot" to do it. I thought I could find a HM but to no avail. Apparently there is work but where are the workers.

How do we collect so much stuff.  I still need to get a handle on it. Free or cheap is not the reason to collect stuff you are not using. If you cannot use it right away -- then don't bring it home.  Right?

All in all the den looks so much better. 


Books before the purge.

Working on moving the bookcases. Condensed down to two.

The tile mess.

Tile on the deck waiting for a home.

The den all cleaned up. Not beautiful but functional.

Now to work on the kitchen, and living room, expecting family over tomorrow for Thanksgiving lunch (lasagna I think still pondering the menu, not turkey). Doing it early makes sure we are all together close to the holiday. As our families grow our time together gets less and less. I love my little family and want them to have their own traditions and not feel pressured to chop up their holidays.

Skywatch Friday

One of my favorites of the sky through the top of the trees in my backyard this summer. For more pictures of the sky go to Skywatch Friday.

http://skyley.blogspot.com

Project Den--the books.

I am in the middle of a project. My den which is really my garage is getting painted by me. I have been putting off cleaning up this room for a while. I decided to start painting and you know how that is, you have to move things around to get to the walls. I had 3 bookshelves completely, I mean overfilled with books. I had to sort through them and decide what to keep. I ended up with 3 huge containers filled with books. I kept 2 bookcases and as I was painting one wall I moved them over to the freshly painted wall. Now 2 bookcases full.  Last night I took the books to Goodwill. I asked him if he was strong, he had to lift the containers which he did. I wanted the containers back. So off I go into the store, you know I have to look. Found a great jean jacket, it was just waiting for me, right size, etc. Oh yeah yesterday was senior citizens day, over 55, yea, 25% off.  Would you not believe I went straight to the books. What is wrong with me. I made myself leave that area. I saw a purse I donated and had to remember not to buy it back.

So what is wrong with a person who constantly thinks she has to have a bargain. I must leave so others can shop. My new motto.  Oh and before going to the Goodwill I went to Walmart, big mistake. Most of my cart was groceries but still the final amount was way too much. I will never be able to semi-retire if I keep going to Walmart.

Will continue my project saga, I even took pics to see my progress. Will post later.

Have a great Wednesday.

Mellow Yellow Monday

http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

Notice the yellow jacket sitting on the leaf. Feel free to tell me what kind of flower this is. I have no clue, was taken at Biltmore Gardens.  Have a Happy Monday.

For more of the color yellow go to Mellow Yellow Monday.

Color Carnival, Navy Pier

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/2009/11/color-carnival-28.html

Navy Pier, Chicago, IL

For more color go to Color Carnival.

This Way Thurs Way, a Thursday Meme

When I was driving around Sunday I decided to go to Rex, about 10 miles or so from me and take pictures of the old grist mill. When I got there I saw they had built a bypass and the road to this mill is hardly used anymore. There is a one way bridge and I guess there became too much traffic to use the road anymore.  The mill has been there a long time.

For more pictures of signs and scenes from the road go to This Way Thurs Way.

My World this Weekend

I have had a truly beautiful weekend. It all started Friday morning when I woke up dizzy. I just could not get it together and drive to work. So I called in sick. No problem. Have not taken a sick day all year. Later in the afternoon I felt better and cut the grass and leaves in the front yard. I felt like a little fresh air and exercise was in order. Friday I had promised my granddaughter we would go to a wedding reception at the local Indian Hindu temple. A young girl was married in India 3 months ago and invited me to a small wedding reception. 

On Saturday I just cleaned up the leaves in the back yard and had a nice relaxing day.

Today I visited a monastery (Monastery of the Holy Spirt in Conyers, GA) and was just planning on taking pictures around the grounds but got to go in the beautiful cathedral and hear The University of Georgia chorus, concert choir and symphony orchestra. Music consisted of the following:  Five Negro Spirituals from A child of our time by Michael Tippet. These are beautiful songs: Steal away to Jesus, Nobody knows the trouble I see, Go down, Moses, By and By and Deep River. Also Dixit Dominus by George Frideric Handel and Mass in B-flat Major, Harmoniemesse by Joseph Haydn. It was beautiful.  Could not have planned it better. The acoustics were terrific.

I did take pictures of the stained glass and the outside gardens.  They had a ginkgo tree. The most beautiful yellow tree. The leaves would fall around you so gently, it was like snowflakes. I really enjoyed my weekned. 

This is the large piece of glass as you look forward. It is just beautiful.

Some very colorful pieces of glass. There were many.

Facing behind you. The balcony. Beautiful architecture.

Yellow snowflakes. Ginkgo Tree.

Mother and Child

A close up. So sweet--just like a mother and her baby.

monochromeweeklytheme.blogspot.com

To see some very creative and wow monochrome pics go to link above.

A nice place to sit on a monochrome monday.

Watery Wednesday

For more watery wednesday pics click on title.

Nice walking path. This is one of the more open spots, most are in the woods with the canopy of trees. 

Went over to a place called Reynold's Nature Preserve. There was a Judge and his wife who lived on this wooded property when I was a kid, it almost backed up to our house. My Dad had some horses and would ride them over there. There was a lake and the Judge would shoot rock salt at anyone who set foot on his property without permission. Needless to say my Dad made friends and would go over there quite a bit. When the Judge died he willed it to the county. They keep it up pretty well. It is a wonderful place to go and walk the trails and enjoy nature. Back when I was a kid I did not know what I had in my own back yard. My Mom still lives in the house I grew up in and I only live about a mile from this place as well as her. Sometimes we have a lot in our own back yard if we just look.

A little something in black and white.

"Do not be fooled I am really hot pink."

For more black and white photos go to monochrome weekly theme blogspot.

Thursday night hockey

This was only my 3rd time going to a hockey game. We had free tickets and good seats. I really enjoy the game even though I do not know much about the plays. I need to read up before the next game. The thing about hockey is it is not too long. I guess the intensity of it makes up for the length. Philips Arena is part of the CNN center in Atlanta.

Atlanta Thrashers played the Washington Capitals. Final score 3 to 4, they won.