Every year when we get together for Christmas eve, I insist on doing a group photo. They aren't great photography but it's nice to see us all in one shot. I set up my big camera on the tripod and set the timer.
Everyone was gathering on the couch and as I was getting the camera ready I told them all that I couldn't sit on the floor but they had already decided that I was sitting in the middle of the couch with Presley on my lap.
This is an edited photo of course.
After the timer went off on this I said how about one more and lets make it a silly one. This is what we got. Notice everyone has their tongue stuck out except for Amanda. We'll have to work on teaching her silly This one is also an edited photo.
So the last time I went to the doctors and had blood work done they told me my cholesterol was high and I needed to bring it down or possibly be put on cholesterol medication. I would prefer not to take another prescription so I'm working on bring it down by changing my diet. I go back 6 weeks from my last time to have the blood work rechecked.
So now, I'm eating lots of vegies, cut out sweets, one cup of coffee a day and no pop. I'm also trying to add more fish. I've discovered that I really like cut up vegies like cucumber, tomato, green pepper with some beans and italian dressing.
Breakfast has been limited since I'm not eating as much eggs and I've cut out sausage. I decided to give overnight oats a try.
I only mixed up two small jars. The first jar I tried was just kind of disgusting. I couldn't finish it. The second one I took to work and added some cinnamon and applesauce. It was better. I think I just need to get the right combination of flavors to make it more appealing.
I joined a group on Facebook for high cholesterol thinking it would give lots of food ideas and maybe some recipes but mostly they just talk about numbers. I have read that things to eat are hummus, tofu, chia seed, salmon and a couple other things that I can't remember. The problem is, although I'm not a picky eater, I won't eat those things with the exception of salmon.
On the bright side, I lost 6 pounds since I changed my eating habits.
This Christmas there were a lot of handmade gifts. The last couple years I've been trying to do more things that are handmade instead of store bought.
One of the things I made was hamburg jerky. I gave some to my son and some to my son in law.
The Monday before Christmas I got started early and used my jerky shooter to form the jerky and put it in the dehydrator.
It was a wonderful evening with my kids on Christmas eve. We laughed, we talked, we ate, we opened gifts.
Here are a few pictures I took while they were opening their gifts from me.
Presley seemed to like all her gifts.
I received lots of wonderful gifts as well but haven't taken any pictures of them. Funny story though. Presley was opening her last gift and it was a pretty light blue sweater that was adult size. She held it up to herself and I commented that it looked like it might be a little big. Then it dawned on me that Amanda had given her a gift that was supposed to be mine.
I'll try and post about our Christmas eve celebration soon but first I wanted to get these out of the way. These are the most recent cakes I did at work. Although the store isn't doing well, I'm still occasionally getting cake orders.
I hope that Santa came to see you all and didn't get stuck in any chimneys.
I'm hoping that your day is filled with
I'm working in the morning and this evening my kids will be coming over for our Christmas celebration. Cleaning up some things in my blog fodder folder today.
This is a shirt that I made for Amanda. It's not the design that she had wanted but I ruined a whole roll of iron on vinyl trying to weed the design that she did want.
This was last weeks work doodles
There won't be many more of these. The store is up for sale again and this time closing is inevitable. New boss isn't even ordering grocery or frozen foods any more. There is hardly anything left on the shelves and we have fewer and fewer customers every day. He's not telling us anything though so we have no clue when it's coming. Rumor has it, we will stay open until the store sells or he can't make payroll anymore, whichever comes first. I'm quite certain, the latter will happen first.
Finally here is my house all lit up at night.
I went out in the cold to get this picture just for all of you.
Last week one day a pick up pulled into my neighbors driveway. They loaded a few small things into the back seat of the truck then loaded up the snowblower
The next day when I got home from work there was a moving truck in the driveway
This neighbor was there when I moved in to this house. As a matter of fact, him and his wife sold us the property that the house was built on. His kids have grown and gone, his wife has passed away but he's been there the whole time I've lived here. Now, we aren't close neighbors. He's not a very sociable person and I suppose neither am I. Yet I'm sad that he's leaving. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing either he's moving in with his son who lives in Ohio or maybe they found him something smaller close by. Either way, I'm happy for him but I'm sad for me. Oh and yes, this is the one neighbor who has kept my driveway clear since Wade passed away.
Both weeks I ending up forgetting at least one day to draw my picture. I did do two one day though. In an effort to get these in before Christmas I'm posting them all at once.
Yesterday morning I realized that the last of my scheduled posts had published. Yikes! That means I need to get busy and start writing some. Next I realized I haven't done the yearly pictures of my Christmas decorations. I've got a little bit of Christmas in every room and I'm going to show it all to you today.
In the Ann cave
