Another holiday week and back to work

Happy Monday everybody.  Hope everyone had a wonderful blessed Christmas.  I know that I did, and believe me I got way more than I deserved. (Thank you honey!)
I didn't intend on taking time off from blogging but I guess I did.  :)  I have been so busy enjoying my time off and  being with family that I  haven't had much computer time.  I hope to get back into the swing of things soon.  I am in the middle of making my list and goals for the new year. Do you make new years resolutions?  I sometimes do.  Last year I made one that I really wanted to do and I stuck to it.  I wanted to read my bible in a year and so I went to a online source www.bibleinayear.org and signed up. It made it easy to stick to it, and it was motivating. As of now I have today's reading and tomorrow's and I will have completed my last years resolution. Not sure what I want to do this year. But thinking it should most likely include fitness and getting healthy. There is also some new things I want to learn to do, I also want to update my web page and try to figure out what direction that should go in.

I am back at work this week, having the last five days off was nice, but I have Wednesday and Thursday off this week, and then the weekend will be coming shortly right after so I feel like it should be a good,short week. I am going to concentrate on putting away my Christmas decorations this week too.  Most likely any spare minute will be putting it all away.  Although I know it is going to take me a while to do it. Do you still have your decorations up?  If you have taken them down, when do you take them down.  Do you have to do it alone? or do you have help?  I seem to have to take most of mine down alone, although hubby is great about helping me get the boxes together and put back in place in the garage.  :)  But over the course of the next few days, I will start gathering my decorations around the house and make piles and then it is easier for me to pack back up. Plus it doesn't seem to take as long that way.  Not sure why, but it doesn't.  Guess when you break that big job up into little jobs it goes faster.

Over the next several days I am going to get back to my list making  and try to get my mind organized and cleared out for the new year. Is this a "me" thing or do you all do this too? 

Plan to get around for visits soon, but please let me say thanks for hanging in there with me over the last several months as I know my post have been sporadic.  One thing I plan to do in the new year is be a better blogger buddy. 

Gonna scoot, because as you can tell, my mind is jumbled and I feel as though I am just rambling.  Have a great afternoon!

Hugs!

A little more Christmas around the house.

Just thought I would take a few minutes to share with you some of the other pictures around the house.  I wish I had felt up to doing the village and going all out this year, but with work and life in general there just wasn't as much time as I would have liked between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  I hope to get some pictures of our table laden with goodies, as well as the our tree with the packages.  Hopefully I will remember to get pictures of that before we tear into everything.  But until then, here are a few more shots of my home for the holidays.

Sorry this picture is so light.  But this is the quilt rack in my family room this year.  Simple!

A few trees in crocks in my dining rooms.

A simple little tree on the kitchen counter.  I love the little framed stitchery on the wall. 

My little tree in the guest bathroom.  I was all about simplicity this year, but it puts off the softest glow.

Here is my poinsettia in my dining room.  It looks kinda droopy here, but it is very full and pretty.  Guess it needed water when this shot was taken, huh?

I just really like how this candle is displayed.  The small greenery surrounding the candle is so real like.  Again, simple but pretty.

Here we are in the kitchen again.  Don't you just love the little tree in the coffee tin.  This is one of my favorites.  So country.

This is the wreath that is hanging on my front door this year.  Snowmen!  Gotta love'm!

Well there you have it, a few more snippets of my holiday decor. I know this week will be busy with family and such, but I hope I can add a few more shots, I haven't made any of my front porch, but will try to get to that.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Hugs!

The Christmas Dining Room

One of my favorite rooms to decorate is my Dining Room.  This is where I use my love for snow and snowmen.  Let me know what you think? Got any new ideas for me.  Please share.

My little tree is crooked.  Oops. Guess I need to fix that!

This is my snowman collection.

 

Just a simple tablescape, but I love the simplicity of it.

  

Those are just a few shots of my dining room.  Now for some pictures of my kitchen table and kitchen. Sorry they are blurry. I need to take some different ones. 

I think I will post more later. 

The house tours continues

I hope you all enjoyed having a  glimpse of our family room, now I want to show you my Living Room  and our tree.  In my family room, as you could see, I have a primitive country tree that has ornies, and homemade ornaments, I love the simplicity of that tree.  Meanwhile, in my Living Room, I have my traditional tree.  This is the tree that I have all my children's ornaments on, things they have given/made for me and ornaments from vacations, places we have lived. My sentimental ornaments are on this tree.  I also always use multi colored lights on it, because that is what my kids prefer on this tree. As I have mentioned before, I didn't do as much decorating, and you will notice that my kids kinda skimped on the ornaments.  Believe me when I say, I have at least triple the amount of ornaments that you see on here.  But that is okay. 

Can you see me little sled, I picked this us this summer at a auction for pennies, and knew that I would use it to put under my Christmas tree with my Victorian Boyd's Bear.  Love it.

 

Here is the table that sits at the entrance of the foyer, looking into the living room.

Some of my bear collection in the little cradle.

A little close up of the sleigh. I will have to get a better one before we have Christmas.

 

Stop by tomorrow for the Dining Room.  K?

Hugs!

Luke 1:68-70“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

What a week

This has been one busy week, and I am sorry that I have been such a bad blogger friend.  I just can't seem to stay caught up no matter how hard I try.  Two nights this week I have been out of the house.  Tuesday night I was at the church and last night I got a call that my daughter had been in a automobile accident and I was at the ER.  Fortunately she is okay and is at home taking some pain meds, but overall she is fine and I feel so blessed. 

However I wanted to stay true to my word and at least post some of the decorating that I did.  I didn't do nearly as much this year as I would have liked too, but I just ran out of time and I know I will not have the time to take it down and put it away the way I would like, so suffice it to say, it is what it is.

So sit back and enjoying visiting my home.

This is the mantle in my family room, with some of my Santa Collection.

Sorry this picture is so light, it takes away from the charm of this little display. 

 

Some of the little goodies under my prim tree. Next to the fireplace you can see some of my favorite little stools.  Aren't they adorable.  I have a thing for them.

Here is my dough bowl filled with jumbo balls and pine sprigs. I wish I had a better shot of this.

Again, my prim tree, and then tomorrow I will show you my Living room tree.

I hope you can stop by for the rest of the tour.

Hugs to all.

Cindy

Luke 1:68-70“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Another weekend has come and gone

And I was sick the whole weekend and I still am.  About the only thing I did this weekend but lay in bed and take hot baths and watch TV, between blowing my nose and drinking thera flu.  Sounds like alot of fun huh?  My poor nose is raw, and I have been using tissue with lotion  and Vicks.  Good stuff, but it still hurts to blow my nose.  But couldn't imagine how my poor nose would feel if I hadn't of used it.  I also went  and picked me up some Vicks to rub on the tip of my nose so that I could breath. Have you ever done that.  I used to do that with my kids when they were small because I don't particularly like using inhalants.  I have been a lovely looking lady this weekend.  Good thing Michael loves me, cause I haven't looked to lovable.   Michael has been taking good care of me, feeding me lots of  chicken soup and liquids.  He says I look and sound pitiful. I know I feel it, hoping this is about over.  Not sure how I will make it through work this week if this keeps up.  Please remember me in prayer if you think about it.  I would really appreciate it.

One thing I did do this weekend, although it took me a while and I was exhausted afterwards, is I wrapped ALL my Christmas presents.  They were building up and I knew I would have a marathon of wrapping to do if I didn't start.  So everything that I have purchased is wrapped.  Now I will only a few other things to wrap.   I did finish up my shopping online tonight, so hopefully everything will get here in time.  I think the only thing that is left is my goodies for the kids stockings.  Which I will work on my list during the week for that.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hi.  And I didn't forget about you all.  I just have been really under the weather.  I hope you all are doing wonderful and will have a blessed week.  Will have to get around to visit with you all soon.  Plus I have more of my Christmas decorating pictures to post.  Will try to get them up for you this week. 

Hugs,

Cindy

Luke 1:26-28“[The Birth of Jesus Foretold] In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

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My Prim Tree

Wanted to take a few minutes before I call it a night/weekend.  I promised some pictures of my house, but will tell you that I am not happy with the way that they turned out.  Kinda blurry.  But it gives you some idea.  This year, I didn't decorate the way I usually do, I didn't put nearly the amount of things out this year as years in the past.  But since time is of a essence, I just did a little bit.  First I think I will start in my  family room.

Of course, the tree is the focal point of this room, and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out.   I love this tree.  The soft glow of the gold lights on it makes all the difference.  Years before I have had multi colored and all white, but the gold/amber lights, give it the old 'flame' look of candles.  This tree houses all my handmade type ornaments.  Underneath the tree, I use a old quilt as my tree skirt and this year I filled it with some old toys and bears.  I really wish there was more room, because I have a sled that I like to display under this tree, but this year, I didn't think it would work.  After this picture was made I added a old rusty tin star to the top. 

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek at my prim tree.

Hugs!

John 11:25“Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday Thoughts

I hope this finds everybody doing well and from the little glimpses I have had when reading or visiting your blogs it sounds like all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we did. Traveling to Kentucky was long but we had a wonderful time spending it with family. Of course, the food was plentiful and tasty. Since our actual meal was the fifth one for my sister this year, and my parents were leaving town the day after we left, mom sent all the leftovers home with me. Needless to say I am still eating turkey. Since my days are long and I am so tired when I arrive home in the evening, I have been enjoying not having to cook.

I still don't have things quite back to normal, but fortunately when I left for my moms, I had cleaned my house so I came home to a clean house. Granted since we have gotten home we haven't been doing so well keeping things picked up. But hoping that in the next couple of days things will come together a little bit for me.

I have really been struggling with some personal issues and I think that has had me just a little bit more moody and exhausted than normal. I have been seeking some peace through scriptures and one that keeps popping up for me is "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV This passage over the years has really helped me....as well as the old adage " One day at a time". I know from past experiences that this scripture holds alot of power for me, I have seen it. So why do I always doubt when things seem so "hard, miserable". I pray that God will not let these trials steal my joy during this holiday season. But my body and my mind get so tired.And I know when that happens, I lose joy! Does this happen to any of you, or is it just me? Sometimes it makes me wonder if I don't have enough faith or what I am doing wrong. Is it me?
I read one post this morning that really was beneficial for me. I could see me all over this post. Feel free to read Broken Vessels entry from Dec. 1.

I need to scoot for now, but I hope you all are having a blessed day.

Hugs!
Cindy