not always so observant

There are times when I notice anything and everything. And other times not so much. Something could be staring me right in the face and I wouldn't see it.
Well I noticed the fact that the living room looks so much better now that the walls are painted and the room is put back together

I noticed that Duke did an excellent job helping decorate the tree

But what I failed to notice was the significance of these pictures that Amanda sent me of her Christmas tree 

Please tell me I'm not the only one who failed to notice that she was being ultra creative in photographing her ring. Now that I know it's there, it sticks right out but the first time I looked at them I didn't even see it. Maybe I was just too tired when I got that email. Yes, that's it, I was too tired. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sorry Amanda. She did do a great job of showing off that ring though.

Grandma's china

When I was putting the dining room back together I decided that I was going to be very selective of what went back in. We moved the hutch cabinet back in and I sorted through the boxes of stuff that I emptied out of it. I have a very old set of dishes that my mother passed down to me with all the junk I had stuffed in the hutch you really couldn't see them. Now all the junk is gone. I put the dishes back in with a few selected wine glasses and a small bud vase and nothing else.

My mother gave me these probably almost 30 years ago (darn I feel old now) and at the time she said that they were over 100 years old. She didn't know exactly. I don't know how many generations they have gone through but I do know that they had belonged to my great grandmother, grandmother and mother before me. Eventually there will come a day when I am ready to let go of them and pass them on to Amanda. But for now they look so pretty sitting in their newly cleaned home.

Saying Grace

Today Duke has something he would like to show you.

No, it's not the fact that we don't have the base boards back up yet. I received something in my e-mail a while back and he's been wanting me to show it to you. It's just the cutest thing I've ever seen. Duke is sure you'll love it.

I'm hoping this works. If for some reason it doesn't, trust me, it was cute :)

changing of the plates

You may have noticed in my pictures yesterday a plate rack hanging on the wall. I have 2 sets of plates that I hang up. One set is birds and the other set is snowmen. Well it's that time of year again to bring out the snowmen plates.

I bought these plates several years ago when I was working part time at the dollar store. For some reason I needed something to do and on top of working full time I was also working about 15 hours a week at Dollar General. It got old fast but it was nice to have the extra money. The only problem was I think half my pay check went back to the store. Of the 4 plates the bottom one in the last picture is my favorite.