Random stuff

It's the last day of the year and I'm just going to throw out some random things for my post today.

Yesterday I asked what your favorite healthy snack was and there were some good ones mentioned. There was one that really caught my attention though and I've got to try it. I'm mentioning it here in case anyone else wants to try it out too.
Sharla of Beaded Tail fame left me this comment: I like to cut up an apple into bite size pieces, put it in a bowl with a Tbsp of peanut butter and some walnuts and heat it up for 45 seconds in the microwave. The peanut butter melts and coats the apples so it tastes like a dessert but it's all healthy ingredients! 

Facebook's messenger has added some pretty fun features. You can add some fun stuff to your pictures like this one.

 The lighting in the living room wasn't very good so it's not the best picture but the masks and other assorted fun stuff to add to the pictures was entertaining.


Wade bought me a Samsung Galaxy Tablet for Christmas and I've downloaded a couple apps. One of them was a coloring app.  It's fun for now but I've noticed the number of pictures you can color is limited. However they do give you the option of more pictures if you want to pay for them. I think not.

I have no plans for celebrating tonight and most likely won't even be awake to ring in the new year. I do hope that whatever you chose to do you enjoy yourself. I'll see you all next year.

For a limited time only

Some things are best when they are limited, some things not. For example over eating should be for a limited time only. Healthy eating shouldn't be limited. Now that I've over indulged for the holidays I'm trying to get back to a more healthy lifestyle. If only Wade would hurry up and eat the rest of the darn cookies.

Yogurt is one thing that I like to keep on hand for a snack and often take it to work with me. I found a flavor I'd never tried before

It wasn't bad but I can't say that it tasted much like orange.

What's your favorite "healthy" snack?

Deep Thoughts...

....by Gibbs Thompson

'nuff said.

Before I get in trouble

I better show you what Amanda gave me for Christmas otherwise her subtle hints about it not being on the blog yet will turn to me being in trouble.

Before Christmas we had been out shopping and she had been showing me dishes she liked. I had said that I wanted a new set because I really don't like the plain white plates that we have. They were Wade's from way back and replaced the set that I had been using. I was kind of eyeing up the pioneer woman dishes and have always liked all the pioneer woman items that Wal-mart sells.

Well she got me these.

She also bought me a spoon rest which I had asked for.

Playing

Another Christmas come and gone. I had a very lazy low key Christmas day and quite honestly I was a bit bored. Monday wasn't much more exciting. I did manage to scrounge up something to use for a post today.
I did some photo editing with photoshop elements. I don't do nearly enough of that any more.

So I took this not so good picture of Gibbs. We'll call this one grumpy face Gibbs.

I added this picture of my Christmas tree taken with the negative effect

And combined the two to make one picture. It kind of looks like maybe Gibbs was playing with paint or markers and made a bit of a mess.

Oh well, it's back to work today. It's only a 4 day work week for me but it's going to be busy because now I'm a day behind in my work for the week.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all who celebrate a very Merry Christmas. And to those of you who don't I wish a most splendid kind of day.

Happy Christmas Eve

While standing at the time clock waiting to punch in the other day I noticed that there was a new employee card. Check out the one on the bottom right.

In case you can't read it, the name on that time card is Santa and that's my boss's writing. I guess he was in the Christmas mood .

For those of you who follow me on Facebook you already saw this picture but I had to put it here for those of you who don't do facebook. Gibbs wants you all to know that he's been a very good boy. I won't even try to say different because I know no one would believe me any way.

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a mouse.

 The drug store next to the grocery store where I work has a great selection of gift items so I stopped in last Monday to pick up a few last minute gifts. The best part was they were already marked down.

 This adorable mouse caught my eye and I had to take her home. Just because I was buying gifts doesn't mean I couldn't buy one for myself.

Sew what

Back in the day I used to do quite a bit of sewing. When my daughter was little I made lots of clothes for her. I also did  some crafty type sewing.

A couple of my Christmas sewing projects were a gingerbread girl and a how to make a snowman banner.
The pattern I bought for this was for a girl and a boy. It took me forever to finish the girl and I never did get around to making the boy. I do still have the pattern so who knows, maybe some day I'll make her a boyfriend.

She's held up pretty good over the years

This hasn't come out in a couple of years for some reason but this year it's out and hanging on the bathroom wall. It's also held up pretty well.

Both of these projects were done maybe 20 years ago. Possibly even longer

Winter wonder

I guess I needed a bit of a break from all the Christmas madness because yesterday for my day off I had a very lazy do nothing kind of day. I even got a nap in.

While sitting on the couch I had noticed the tree by the front door. The icicles hanging off the roof had been dripping on it and decorated it

I did have to make a quick trip to the store and when I started the vehicle I noticed the amazing blue sky with that bright shiny thing in the sky. I'm pretty sure they call it the sun. I haven't seen it in a while and it sure was a welcome visitor. 

Progress

Saturday I made great progress on my to do list. After my morning coffee I headed out to do the weekly shopping.
Once I got home I got the Christmas cards addressed and ready to put in the mail, cooked a big pot of goulash, made meatballs to put in the freezer for Christmas eve and made 3 different kinds of cookies. Oh and I also got my laundry done.

Ugly sweaters

Today we go back to Friday and I'll show you the few pictures I got from our ugly sweater contest. There were only 8 of us who did this and I don't have pictures of all of them.

 Starting top left and working down.
I didn't get a picture of myself at work so this is a bad one I took at home in the bedroom mirror. Below I have pictures of the headband and sweater but not on me. Under me is the front then the back of Janet. She started with the vest and attached flashing bulbs to it. She showed the back because near the bottom there is a little heart that says kiss me. Top right is Jeff our butcher. He had help from his son with his creation and as far as I was concerned he was the clear winner but he only took second place. He used duct tape, red ribbon, garland and battery operated lights. Michelle below Jeff is wearing her elf sweater dress. On the very bottom is the shoes I wore. I attached puffy bows to each of my shoes. They were my favorite part of my outfit.

 I purchased this sweater and then added red and gold garland around the neck and wrists. The headband below I glued on a matching piece of garland, small ornaments and a holiday pick

All of our sweaters made for a fun day and got lots of laughs and smiles from employees and customers alike. I'm thinking we'll probably do this again next year.

Not as planned

I was planning on showing you a few pictures from our Christmas party at work but my phone doesn't want to upload them to google photos so I can't do that.

I can tell you that I killed my diet yesterday by chowing down on way too much food. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs and did very little work.

Alternate plan, you get two old pictures I did who knows how long ago. The angel in each picture is the same one. It's a fiber optic tree topper that I got for a Christmas present years ago from my brother and his wife. I've taken lots of pictures of her over the years and although she's not on top of my tree these days, she is out and lit every night.

White knuckle

Yesterday morning was a most unpleasant drive. It was snowing, it was blowing, I was driving through a wall of white. There is nothing scarier than driving down the road in white out conditions. Especially when it dies down and you discover you are driving on the wrong side of the road. As I write this to schedule for Friday morning I hear it's supposed to be more of the same.

Work should be a fun day. It's our Christmas party. We have it in the back room. Everyone brings food to share and gifts to exchange. We all eat on our breaks or lunches or each and every time we happen to walk by the food table. We'll also be having an ugly sweater contest this year. I'll be sure to get pictures of that.

For now just a little something seasonal

Shepherds

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

This isn't a shepherd, and it isn't night and it's not a flock he's keeping watch over.

It's only Gibbs keeping an eye on his turf and making sure any and all passerby know that he's on watch.

On a rare occasion he'll even pose ever so nice but only for one quick one.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

OK, so maybe I'm not really dreaming about that but the title worked for the post. I pulled out the Christmas cards last night. I got as far as taking the picture and making a list of who I need to send them to. It's a start.

Did it again

Went and skipped another day of blogging. For those of you who have been encouraging me to get that decorating done you'll be happy to know that while I wasn't blogging I was decking the halls.

Sunday was a frustrating, long and busy day at work and when I got home, after a bit of lounging it was time for dinner. Then my daughter came over and was there till rather late (for me). After she left I headed to bed.

Monday I spent the day off doing some more decorating as well as trying to figure out the dilemma I was having with my desktop connecting to the internet. Now the computer is back up and running, the decorating is done and it'll be on to cookies, cards and present wrapping.

For today just a little season picture

I almost wish that I could walk down the street of this old fashioned town. A step back in time to a Christmas long ago when things were simpler.

The weather outside was frightful

We got snow, snow and more snow. Last time I posted I talked about the snow we had. Well that wasn't the end of it. Friday it held off until later in the evening but then it started and it kept all. Saturday I didn't even go out for my usual weekly shopping trip. I stayed home and cleaned and of course shoveled

Just a few pictures of all the snow

 Once the cleaning was done I thought I would show you that I'm not a total grinch with no holiday spirit. As Ginny pointed out though, It's not in the decorations. Christmas is in your heart.

Top left I have a bit of Christmas on my table

Moving down the left side my bathroom wall has snowmen on the shelf and quilted how to build a snowman wall hanging that I made years ago.

My couch got a festive red throw, some Christmas pillows and a gingerbread girl that I also made (years ago)

Top right Wade pulled out the Christmas tree and put it up. It's waiting to be decorated later today

The snowmen are lined up on the steps

A pretty red noel hand towel sits on the bathroom counter

Snow and Christmas

It started snowing yesterday. All day long at work people were coming in and saying how bad it was getting just north of us.  Then we started hearing about a multi car  accident on interstate 90.

After work I stopped at the bank and took this picture while I was waiting at the drive thru

I left the bank and was waiting at the traffic light for the light to turn green. While I was sitting there a card turned the corner too fast, fishtailed and started sliding right towards me. I held my breath and prayed because there was absolutely nothing I could do. Thankfully they missed me. Only by inches but that was enough.


As for Christmas, yesterday Donna  left me a comment challenging me to post something every day showing how I'm getting ready for Christmas. Well I'm still not dragging out those decorations but I am in a Christmas mood.

Last night I read blogs that were posting something Christmasy while I watched a Christmas movie

Except at my house

Gibbs and the human

Saturday Gibbs and I had a little fun with selfies. OK so if I'm going to be honest I should say "I" had a little fun with selfies and Gibbs just wondered why I wasn't appreciating the dog slobber all over my face.

I did get him to look at the phone that was propped up on the counter long enough for a good one.

I should pull out his elf costume and see if that still fits him. He's not nearly as fun to take pictures with as Duke used to be. Gibbs just isn't in to it like Duke was.

Excuses.

I'm just full of excuses lately. They may not be good ones but I'm full of them (along with maybe a little something else)

So yesterday I failed to post because when I got home from work on Sunday I laid down on the couch and fell asleep until bedtime. I was dragging all day at work and was just feeling achy all over. Yesterday I felt a little better but just couldn't get myself moving.

Going back to Saturday and our trip to the craft show. I only bought two things. One was a wooden tray that I don't have a picture of. I think it will look really nice with some greenery and either a candle or maybe one of my snowmen.

The other thing was a little ornament that I couldn't resist. The owl is made out of cinnamon dough

I think my fascination for owls has gotten just as big as my fascination for snowmen.

Still nothing going on in the crafting or Christmas decorating departments.

So many things to talk about..

...and no pictures to go with it.

Yesterday was quite the eventful day. It started off with a flat tire. Apparently I had a screw stuck in my tire. Luckily the garage down the street from me could squeeze me in and the fixed it in no time.

Then My friend Debbie and I went to that craft show, lunch and a few other stops before heading back home. It was a really nice craft show with lots of crafters but it was so crowded and the prices were rather high. I did buy a couple things though.

When we got back to my house there was a woman who had been pulled over around the corner. I'm not sure what she did to get pulled over but it was obvious that it was a DUI stop. The cop went to handcuff her and she started to resist. It didn't take him much to get her under control though.

My tree still isn't up but I did do teeny tiny bit of decorating.

Today it's off to work and hopefully I can get a lot accomplished.

I've got to get busy

There are so many things I want to get done. I really do need to stop procrastinating and get busy. There are crafts that need to be made as well as a few handmade gifts. Then of course there is decorating and cookie baking. We're doing an ugly sweater contest at work at our Christmas party this year so I need to work on that too. That should be fun and I've got a couple ideas.

Then of course there are all the things I should be doing at work to get ready for Christmas. There will be lots of cookie baking there as well as other treats. You've got to have cakes too. These are some simple little cakes I made last week.

Marshmallows for his body, pretzel stick arms and an orange gumdrop sliced into a triangle shape for his carrot nose.  The eyes, mouth and buttons are piped on with black frosting.

Today the plan is to hit a craft show and then after that who knows.

Unexpected deals.

I love a good bargain but I love it even more when I get an unexpected one. Last weekend I decided that since I only have one pair of jeans that fit I was going to buy myself a new pair. I didn't want to spend a ton of money so I chose a pair of black jeans that were just under ten dollars.

When I went through the register as the cashier rang them up she said "OOH, only $3" I replied "Score"

It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the price tag on them.

Lagging behind

Everyone is talking about all the Christmas decorating they've done and yet again I'm seriously lagging behind. Years ago I used to drag the decorations out of storage Thanksgiving night and we would start. Now I just have a hard time getting myself to do any of it.

I don't have any of my decorations out yet but I did have some paper ornaments that I made a couple years ago sitting on my desk. Does that count for decorating?