Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

 Well, it's time to put Christmas back in the boxes. This year I'm hoping to eliminate a couple of boxes. I already am one less. Some of the things I have belonged to my parents and my sisters are taking them so they will have a bit of Christmas with Mom and Dad.

I have a new mouse and I don't have the hang of it yet. Blogger no longer supports Firefox and I'm trying to use Safari. It sucks because between the browser and new mouse they do stuff I don't know how to fix yet. Next blog will be through Netscape. I can't get this thing to quit centering the type.

Anyway, that's my new handbag that D bought me for Christmas. For those who are fans it is a Dooney and Bourke handbag. On the small side. I find that I don't need to take my checkbook with me much anymore and since I wear my glasses most of the time these days a smaller bag is very nice. But I have several larger bags too. It's very nice to have a selection and I am very lucky to own several Dooneys and one Coach. I have a very generous family.

I also scored a Kindle Fire. I love the thing already but since I already posted photos of it I won't post more.

 And that crafty husband of mine saw one of these abacus bracelets on line and made me a couple of them. I love, love, love them! So now I know why he spent hours in the garage after work.

One of my photos mysteriously disappeared. so you will have to settle for just the one of the yarn bowl. This is a project D and I are both working on. I've been wanting one but am unwilling to spend $30 on the thing. At least until I know I will use it. You put your ball of yarn it it and thread the yarn through the slot or hole, whichever it has, and you can put your bowl on the sofa or floor and your ball of yarn will just roll around inside the ball and not all over your dog and car hair covered floor.

D got the design cut on the one side of the bowl but when he went to do the other side as I asked him to, the brittle plastic broke. But I can still use this and see if I like it until I get over to Target to score another bowl. the bowl is less than $2 so I don't feel bad about experimenting on it. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a wooden bowl. I think it would work nicely and be easier to cut a slot of some sort in.

So, how was your Christmas?

No Pictures Today

Shannon isn't the only one having trouble with Blogger. I have 't been able to modify or change my template since I put it up and couldn't figure it out. It turns out that Blogger no longer supports Firefox, the browser I normally use. So I used another browser and everything went just fine.

Until this morning. For some reason none of my browsers would open. Except Safari. So here I am blogging on a browser I normally only use on my phone.

Today is the foggiest day we've had in years. I can't see the cars going by on the street even with their lights on. Crazy, but true. If it were dark I probably wouldn't venture out at all. But I need to go to the drug store today and I'm pretty used to the fog. As a matter of fact I actually like it if it doesn't last for weeks at a time. It softens everything and makes you feel all warm and cozy if you are in the house.

I hope everyone is just about ready for THE DAY. Christmas. I don't get all this howling and yowling about religious symbols at this time of year. No one cares if I wear a cross necklace anytime of year. I can put anything I want on a t-shirt and my rights are protected. Religious or not the lights are pretty. The season is supposed to be about love and giving. You'd think that would include giving a little extra understanding of other peoples beliefs, no matter what we are. I'll give you the point of religious decoration in a publicly funded building or property. That's not such a big deal to me.

I have to admit that I don't know the meaning of all the Christmas symbols we use. I'm sure that many have strayed from their original meaning. I am not a traditionally religious person. Some may find my beliefs strange and there are some that are sure I am going to hell. But please enjoy your holiday season in whatever way you see fit and be generous enough to let others do the same.

A Season of Miracles!

I have a few plants scattered around my house. Most are doing well. Occasionally an orchid will actually bloom. Very Occasionally. But my African violets never bloom again. They are blooming when I buy them. They stay lovely plants. I feed and water as directed. But they never bloom again.

The same goes for my zygo cactus. It will get buds then the buds just fall off before it blooms again. I baby the things but to no avail. Well, I think I finally figured out what I'm doing wrong because now they are all blooming! Yes, a true miracle. And it's happening to me.

Two out of four of my African violets are blooming. One doesn't even have buds and the other was a sodden sad little thing that is now looking much better. The zygo cactus still has it buds and one is starting to open. Not a single one has fallen on the counter top.

It looks like I've been over caring for the things. I have been pretty busy and have been ignoring the house plants so much that they dry out pretty good between watering's. I give a good soak a sink with warm water (just the smaller plants and orchids) when I notice how dry they are. I just stick 'em in the morning and a couple hours later swap them out for other dry ones. Then I leave them on a towel on the counter top to finish draining. When they all have been suitably soaked I put them all back in their places. Then I forget about it until the next time it crosses my mind to check them or something wilts.

'Tis the season for blooming miracles

Posting in No Sensible Order

Okay, D said we needed a new building in the village under the tree. So I had this 20% coupon for Kohl's and $15 in Kohl's Bucks. But when I went there I was just browsing. I didn't have any idea they had any these small buildings. Well, they do. And they were 50% off. I used my coupon and my Kohl's Bucks and this stable cost me $13. And that's rounding the number up.

And the pictures are out of order but I've been tackling the boxes that have been in my closet for years. All the shoes in boxes are gone. I've emptied a couple clothes boxes. Last week I realized I only have three pairs of jeans that fit okay so I went back to the boxes. Sure enough I found tons of jeans. Some were out of style and will be donated. I'm sure someone out there still wears Mom Jeans. And some just weren't as flattering as they could be. But some were nice and some were old friends from a thinner day. But now I have plenty of jeans now! And I found all these cute jackets in the box too. Okay I opened two boxes. Now there is just one pair of jeans in the box, size 10. I need not say more except that they might be there a while yet. There are only two boxes left in the bottom of the closet. I hope to get it down to just one box of stuff that I only use rarely or can't bear to part with.

So the village is under the tree. Darryl set it up how he wanted. That is the Harley Dealership you see there. He put the Service store waaay behind the tree. And for some reason he has the black smith right next to this Harley place. I suggested next year that we have a city section and a country section. We will have to see if that idea sticks anywhere in his mind. He put some building on foam blocks around the base of the tree. It's looks great! But it didn't occur to us that the huge light and motor in the base of the fiber optic tree might overheat. Well it did. And it's not working. And we have another one. But we'd have to tear the entire village apart to replace it. So the star on top lights and the village lights but the tree is in a sort of more natural state without lights. It doesn't make it less pretty.


And one last photo. This is that very same pretty bush I posted earlier. Only now it looks like what it is: tumbleweed. Quick transition.