Baking Cookies

For my father-in-law's birthday I made some cookies and for the first time ever I messed up cracking an egg. I don't know what happened but here is a picture of the cookies to prove that they turned out good.

Our Christmas Decorations

I figured that we would show off our Christmas decorations this year since we finally have the whole house decorated. So here they are:

A little when you walk in the door Dining room center piece
Our Christmas village that I wish could stay all year round

Christmas card display in the kitchen

More Photos

The wreaths light up The wreaths during the day Christmas card display in the kitchen
Christmas card display in the kitchen

Gingerbread House

Sunday my niece Jamie came over and we made a Gingerbread House. This was the biggest joke. It was fun and frustrating all at the same time. Even though I bought the kit so there would be no baking involved it still got tricky. Like having to hold the house together by packaging tape and then Keith made up some concoctions out of everything in the pantry to hold the roof on so that it would not slide off. All in all it was fun. The best part was doing the landscape. The rock pathway to the front of the house is not real rock, though it might look that way. They are chocolate rock that my sister once gave to me.

Our Christmas Party

Last night we hosted a Christmas party for all our friends. Above and below are some pictures of the party. It was a lot of fun. We had good food and played Dirty Santa. The gifts for the game were all good ones and had fun fighting over them. We are glad everyone was able to come and we hope they had as good of a time as we did.

More Christmas Party Photos

Bulbs

In October Keith and I planted about 100 bulbs. I was very scared that I had wasted my money and that they were not going to come up since everything around us is hard Georgia red clay. But, they are up out of the ground and green but the only problem is it’s not spring, its December. It is the wrong season and month but hey I planted something that wasn’t already a plant and it grew. Hip Hip Hooray!

Marbles

Friday, we had a few friends over and being I don’t have kids yet the toys for them to play with are kinda the ones that you find at Grandmas. But here are what we were able to make with marbles and crayons.

Operation Christmas Child

Before we started,

When we were done.
Me and the True Believers group

So today I had the pleasure of going to Atlanta with my mom and her True Believers group to help out with Operation Christmas Child. Here is a little exert from there web site to better explain what they do.

Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God's love. This program of Samaritan's Purse provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands—on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ. Operation Christmas Child is one way you can make a difference in a young person’s life. Since 1993, this Samaritan’s Purse project has shared the Good News of God’s love with hurting children through the simplest of gifts—shoe boxes! Filled with school supplies, toys, and personal items that are packed by caring people, these boxes help introduce children to Jesus Christ. Local believers follow up with evangelistic programs, and many precious boys and girls later receive Jesus as their Savior.

At my childhood church we would always get a shoe box and fill it, take it to church and I never really understand how much a small box can make a difference. So since I have matured I have caught on that this is truly a special program and I wanted to help more. This year I was finally able to get off work to go and help volunteer at the processing plant. Here we took boxes that were already filled and looked through them to make sure all the items were acceptable. Not only was this touching to think that I was able to pray over every box that was going to a child in need but I had the opportunity to speak with some of the staff and hopefully will be chosen to go to local business and churches to tell them about Operation Christmas Child so more kids will be able to get a box. This would be a great way for me to help others, which I am all about.

Operation Christmas Child Photos

Crocheting

So for those of you that don’t know this here it is… I crochet. You are probley thinking that I am not even a grandma yet and that I am too young. But it is something that I really enjoy doing. If I am not reading a book before going to bed I try to crochet. I love to give gifts to friends and what better gift to give than ones that are home made with love.

Recently I took a class at Michael’s to learn more than what I already know. The first class was very basic just learning the different stitches and how to add tassel and change the colors. The next class I just loved. I learned how to make slippers or booties what ever you want to call them. I know it just some silly thing you wear on you feet during the winter. But when all you know how to make is a boring scarf, slippers become quite interesting. So here are a few pictures. The purple and red is the one that I made in the class with scrap yarn. The multi colored one I am doing for myself. I need to finish it and start its pair.

JT's Visit

Me, JT and Angie

My friend Jennifer (JT) that I used to work and live with came back to Columbus to visit. She and her boyfriend came over for dinner as well as an old friend Angie and her husband. Afterwards we drove the short drive to Callaway Garden's and took a trolley ride through there famous Fantasy In Lights. That is truly a lot of lights. It was good seeing JT and I can't wait to see her again.

Spending Time With Dad

Friday my sister and I went to my Dad's house to spend some good ole' father daughter time together.

He recently went to Apalachicola. Which is in Florida and on his way home he stopped at a oyster distributing company and bought a truck load of oyster shells for only $20. This is where he put them. For anyone that has a gravel driveway or that has priced a truck load of gravel the oyster shells is the way to go. Did you ever think that you would know someone that has a oyster shell driveway?

We went down to his shop and watched him finish a bowl that he started the day before. This bowl is made out of Chine Berry wood and makes a really unique bowl. My dad is great at all things that involve wood.

Happy Fall and Thanksgiving

Happy Fall Y'all

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is a cute and long Thanksgiving story...

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and a terrible vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious, and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to do to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and more rude. John,in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Ladybugs, Ladybugs Everywhere Ladybugs

Please let me know if the area around your doors looks like the above. Every dot and spot is a dead ladybug. We vacuumed last night and I cam home to this today. Our fireplace vent is shut and we have weather stripping around the doors so we are not sure how that many can come in in one day. I was just venting. I hope everyone has a good night.

Visiting my sister

So Amy has settled in her apartment in Chattanooga. I went to visit this past weekend and had a great time. The weather was very nice and comfortable. We went to Signal Mountain and hiked a little and then just hung out, cooked a lot of food and decorated the Christmas tree. Here is a picture of it.