A holiday tradition

Back when the kids were in elementary school, they made snowflake ornaments with their pictures in the center. I don't recall what grade they did this in but it really isn't relevant to the story anyway. These are the ornaments that they made and every year they continue to go on the tree

 Amanda decorates the tree most of the time and it's become a bit of a holiday tradition that her snowflake goes front and center on the tree while her brothers goes somewhere near the back. In the next picture I have them circled where each of them are

At least she thinks enough of her brother to still make his snowflake visible.

Festival of the trees

Saturday Amanda and I went to a local event. It was the Festival of the trees and a craft show as well. They're really weren't all that many interesting crafts for sale but I did enjoy seeing the trees. Here are a few of them.

You know I love this one because of the buffalo plaid.

Grand cat

 Amanda sent me a text saying "look what your a-hole grandcat did" and she included the following picture.

My response was "Cat mommies should know better than to put pressies under the tree so soon.

Later I told her that Santa will surely forgive Ace because he knows that he meant well but the temptation was just to great to resist.

Real quick

 Just popping in real quick to say that this is all there is for a post today. After dinner yesterday, marathon napping was on the schedule. I fell asleep on the couch, woke up then took another nap and another and another. I finally woke up at 5:30 this morning. 

Cold

Boy has it been cold here. Yesterday it barely got above freezing.

At least we didn't get the snow that they had predicted. It was enough to cover the grass but that was about it. It made me very happy yesterday morning when I woke up and saw that we didn't have much snow at all.

Now we're headed into the weekend and I have very little plans. I suppose it's all going to depend on the weather and how ambitious I feel

Rambling

Happy December. Can you believe we are starting the last month of the year already? 

 Just some random thoughts going through my head today.

When I left for work yesterday morning it was pouring down rain. All day it was rainy and gloomy. By the time I left for the day, the rain had stopped but the temperature had done a nosedive and the wind was killer. We're under another winter weather advisory again. This one is in effect until today at 1:00. Up to 8" of snow is possible. 

I had a few questions on my post yesterday about my village.

Ginny asked if I collected the pieces over many years. Yes, I have. I can't remember when I first started it but I know it was after Wade and I were married so some time after 2006. My first pieces were ones that I found at a yard sale. After that I bought one or two items to add each year.

Sandra said she didn't remember seeing the covered bridge or the lighthouse. The covered bridge was one of the first pieces I got. I don't have a lighthouse but there are two water towers so I'm thinking that's what you saw. Those are both relatively new.

Anni asked if it was a cut mirror for the skaters frozen lake. Yep, it sure is. I can't remember where I found that.

And that will just about wrap things up for the day. See ya all tomorrow.

A new setup

Last year I felt like the Christmas Village was just a little too crowded. I decided to come up with a new setup for this year. I'm using two crates to give it more room. I may adjust this some but here it is for now.

I may string some lights inside the crates and then around the back of the top. I'm also thinking of maybe using a piece of the snow blanket to cover the picture on the wall. It looks like there might be room in there for another building or two now.

Just playing

Yesterday morning I got a text message from the plumber. He wanted to know if I was going to be home so he could come over and do the final sanding on my walls. Since I didn't know exactly when he would be there I really didn't do much of anything. While I was sitting around waiting I downloaded some stickers for the photo app on my phone. Then of course I had to play with them. This one I used for my new profile picture on Facebook 

  

Topper

My normal hat at work is a plain black boring hat. I found one in the store the other day that I thought would be fun as well as festive. I purchased it and started wearing it to work last Friday. Since then I've gotten a variety of reactions. I've had people compliment me on my hat. I've had people laugh. And I've gotten quite a few odd looks. The way I see it, if I can make at least one person smile everyday then looking silly is worth it

I had a customer asked me the other day if my hat kept me cool. I told him you would think being a snowman it would be it actually is a bit toasty.

My day off

My day off was spent in quiet contemplation. I thoroughly debated whether to be ambitious or to be totally lazy. In the end, I couldn't decide, so I did neither.

Actually I did do something, it just wasn't very much. My laundry was taken care of and I decorated the tree in the basement.

Since the Ann cave is kind of my version of a cabin in the woods, this tree is decorated to match that theme. It has snowflakes, icicles, pinecones, felt bears, woodland creatures, and of course buffalo plaid. It also has a red bead garland and grapevine angel on the top.

a really nice day

I was in charge of the pies. There was one Dutch apple and one razzleberry

While Amanda was busy cooking in the kitchen I was on the couch scrolling through Facebook. She asked me if I was taking pictures of her and honestly, at the time, I really wasn't. It's her fault that she put the idea in my head to take a picture of her hard at work.

She cooked up the feast that was absolutely delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving

 Wishing all my U.S. friends a very happy Thanksgiving

Amanda will be cooking dinner at my house today. I have the day off so I'll be enjoying a leisurely day of doing very little and eating way too much.

Pre Thanksgiving greetings.

 Since tomorrow will be Thanksgiving here in the U.S. I thought I would post some of my Thanksgiving themed index card art from way back.

not much

Not much was going on here yesterday. We aren't getting any more snow but it was still rather cold. I spent most of the day listening to the furnace kicking on frequently. I did have to go out for a short while to pick up a prescription. Other than that I stayed home and did very little. 

Found this cute snowman at Hobby Lobby the last time Amanda and I were there. I didn't bring him home with me just took his picture.

I've had enough snow.

What a day. I woke up to a ton of snow again. I went to let Gibbs out the back door and couldn't open it. I took him out the front door and he couldn't find a spot. He fell off the side of the porch twice (don't worry it's not very high) trying to find a spot before desperately trying to get back in the house. Once inside he promptly went to the basement and peed on the floor.

Once again, I knew I would never get out of the driveway. The snow at the end was up over my knees. I was walking to work once again. I would have called off but there was no one there to call because I'm the first one in on Sunday.

Heading down the road at 4:00 a.m. I had to keep crossing the road to get out of the way of the plows.

Finally made it to the store. I'm standing at the front door in this next one. Had I been able to get out of my driveway it wouldn't have done me much good because the parking lot hadn't been plowed yet and there was no way I would have gotten in. 

Once inside I found this mess on the floor. That is a super soggy ceiling tile laying on the floor in a puddle of water

Thankfully everyone who was scheduled managed to make it in to work. It snowed pretty much all day long.

This is looking out the back door at work around 1:00 pm

Then I went up front and took a picture out the front window.

I was so happy to get back home. I plan on hibernating ALL day today.

Another mother daughter fun day

Amanda had to work until 9:00 yesterday morning but after that we had a fun day planned. We started off by going to breakfast at a locally owned diner. Breakfast was delicious

From there we went to a craft show. I purchased a couple more ornaments from that guy I bought from at the last craft show. I also bought my son-in-law another Christmas present. I found a fishing lure made out of cutlery. I had my eye on a little Christmas tree but talked myself out of buying it. Amanda could tell I really wanted it so she offered to buy it for me as an early Christmas present

second verse same as the first

We're on round two of the snow. There is a winter advisory in effect until sometime on Sunday. Not quite sure exactly how much it will dump on us but we already have more than enough. I don't know how much we got the other day but it was at least a foot. Here's a picture I took out my back door last night

They weren't wrong

They said we were going to get snow and boy did we get snow. It was supposed to start Wednesday night but by the time I went to bed there still was nothing. When I got up in the morning I peeked out and yes, there was snow on the ground. I got dressed went to let Gibbs out the back door and that was when I realized just how much snow we got. I went out a few minutes early to shovel the sidewalk clean off the car and let it warm up for a bit. Once I was out there I realized that I was not going to get out the end of my driveway. I walked to work. Honestly it wasn't all that bad my new coat kept me toasty warm. On the walk home from work I snapped some pictures.

It's only a half mile so it really wasn't that bad. The sun was shining and it was rather nice.

The church down the street from me.

I thought these branches with snow looked so pretty against the blue sky.

Back home. I was so happy to see that my driveway was cleared. I thought the lawn guy might stop and plow but this looks like my neighbor came over with his snow blower. I'm so very grateful. I did have to clean the vehicle off and shovel around the car but that didn't take me very long.

The lake effect snow warning was in effect until 10 p.m. last night. The odd thing was that it was absolutely beautiful on the walk home. About a half hour later I looked out and it was snowing like crazy again. Then about an hour after that I looked out and the sun was shining again. I guess it just can't make up it's mind. 

From the comments

Today's post comes from the comments that were made on yesterday's post. 

Grace said:

Wait a minute, you are the bakery manager in a store near your home, you are in that store 5 days a week and you bought bread in Walmart??? LOL

I know it does sound rather silly that I work in a grocery store but go to Walmart for something as simple as bread. The thing is I get whole wheat bread and our store just doesn't have any. We have wheat but not whole wheat. I tried to get a lot of my groceries at work but there are some things that we don't carry, and some things that are so much more expensive than they are at Walmart.

There were some comments regarding the color of my new coat. I know it didn't look like it in the pictures yesterday, but it is actually black.

Sandra asked to see my new Nanook look, so here it is

Impulse buying

My last trip to Walmart I only needed two things. I needed vitamins and bread. I couldn't resist however when I saw the rack of reduced sweaters and noticed they were only $5. One of those went in my cart. I continued through the store picked up the things that I needed and then spotted the winter coats. Our forecast is calling for 6"-8" of the white stuff starting today. The last several years I've been wearing just a fleece jacket with a sweatshirt underneath. Because I've been hearing a lot about how cold this winter is supposed to be I decided to buy myself a winter jacket

 I have to say it's quite warm. I feel a little like Nanook of the north in it.

just stuff

Yesterday was a perfectly lazy day off. I played on the computer, I watch tv, and I thought about doing some crafts but changed my mind. It was cold so that made it the perfect day to curl up under a blanket and chill. Or maybe I should say keep warm.

I never did show you what I purchased at the craft show that Amanda and I went to a couple Saturdays ago. I found this gone fishing wood piece and thought it would make a good Christmas gift for my son-in-law

The guy who made this said he did it all by hand with a scroll saw. He didn't use any kind of electronic cutter or laser cutter to make them. This piece was only $20 which I thought was very reasonable. He also had bins filled with ornaments for $1 and I bought one for myself

Asked and answered

On yesterday's post Ginny asked about my fireplace. She wanted to know if it was a real wood burning fireplace or a gas one. Actually it's an electric. It really doesn't get used much at all it's more just for show

 

Anni asked where I was planning on putting my Christmas tree. This year I decided that it will go next to the fireplace I drew one in for an example

Yesterday we had snow. We didn't really get any accumulation but it was cold. Today's forecast calls for a flurry in the morning but mainly just cold.

Sometimes I surprise myself

I woke up yesterday and spent the first three hours doing nothing but reading blogs, drinking coffee and playing games on the computer. I didn't hold out much hope for accomplishing anything for the day. Around 9:30 I finally decided I needed to get dressed and get moving. I put the laundry in and then decided that I was going to go upstairs and move the living room around. Amanda and I had been talking about where I would put the Christmas tree this year so I thought I would get a jump on that and get everything moved.

Here's 3 different views of my living room

After I finished doing that I cleaned up the kitchen and then went downstairs to clean up the Ann cave. When I was done I decided it was time to call it a day and chill out and relax

Decisions decisions

So I told you that Amanda and I had stopped to pick up some paint chips last Saturday. Now I need to make a decision on what color I want to paint the bathroom. Unfortunately Amanda picked out way too many choices for me. Then again if I were to pick up just a few more I could probably cover the entire wall with just the paint chips. There are actually a few more that didn't make it in the picture.

Let there be light.

When I leave for work in the morning it's still dark out. I've been thinking recently that I needed to put some kind of lighting along my sidewalk because when I walk out the door I can barely see where the edge of the porch is. I mean, let's be realistic here, an old lady like me could break a hip. Well it must be that my fairy Godmother was listening to me because like magic the shop that is on the other side of the street put a big spotlight on the side of their building. And if that wasn't enough my next door neighbor has been leaving his outside light on. I've got lights on the left

And I've got lights on the right.

 I can easily see my porch now and step off safely