I THINK I’M FINALLY FINISHED!!!!

I finally finished up today!!! Hooray!  Now I can get on with making my cookies and other things that I do.  Here are some final touches that I did.

I I have a scripture  stenciled around my dining room wall.  That is what you above by my tree on the wall.  Here is another view of my tree with just the lights on.   Rather blurry!

 

The next pictures are of some cross stitching that I have done.  These were done several years ago, especially when my daughter was a teenager and I would wait on her to come home at night.  Have any of you been there???

This one was difficult to get a picture of because of where I have it hanging.

This is all for now.  Everyone have a great week.

I love how each and everyone of you have decorated your homes.   They are all different with our own personal touches and I really like looking at each and everyone of them.

Everyone have  a great week and don’t eat too many of those great treats we have this time of year.

Christmas blessings to all of you.

Maxine

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

This is my first time using Live Writer so if there are little quirks here and there, it is because I am learning.


It’s about time I posted a few of my pictures.  I’m not totally done decorating yet, but I have made some progress.  This is the tree in my kitchen.  I just took and used cookie cutters for ornaments.  I have a lot of old cookie cutters and then a lot of brass ones. They don’t show up very well.




This is of the baker’s rack in my kitchen.  I left all of my pitchers up and added some of my pewter.  Please excuse the television but I didn’t know what to do with it.   Here is my mantel with some of my santas.  I have a large assortment of them and this doesn’t even scratch the surface with the number that I have.  Truthfully, I have too many.
 

The lights are not showing up, but I do have lights in the greenery. 

These are just a few of my snowmen.  The one sitting in the chair looks like he has his nose up in  the air.    Once again, they are not showing up like they should.

I have some hand carved carolers that I put out every year.  The lady I bought these from no longer does crafting so I feel fortunate to have these.

  I have a window hanging in my living room that looks real, but  it’s not.  I put a wreath on it, but after really looking at this picture, the wreath needs fluffing. And last, but definitely not the least, is the most important of all, the Reason for the Season.  The birth of Christ our Lord and Savior.  Without him, we wouldn’t have Christmas.   While I was home for Thanksgiving, I got a coverlet for my king size bed.  I just love it.  My uncle had it and he and my aunt are getting rid of things and thinking of selling their home.  I bought this from him for a mere fraction of what it was worth.   

This is all for today.  Have a great weekend.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
Maxine

It's Christmas Time

This is a season that we all enjoy so much.  I am working on my home and should have some new pictures posted in a few days.  I don't know where my time is going, but it is going somewhere.  It is so cold here, 20 degrees below normal from what we are suppose to be. 

Hope you are all enjoying your special time this time of year.

I'll be back in a few days with some pictures.

Christmas blessings.
Maxine

THINGS I'VE DONE

Happy Sunday to everyone -

I was reading some blogs last week, going from one to the other to the other.  I think we all do that.  I was reading a blog and the title was "Things I've Done".  Here is the list of things that I have done, marked in green.    Some of them are interesting and some are not.

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. Let me know if you participated by leaving a comment!



Happy discoveries!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - Hope to do this soon.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - When I was much younger
24. Built a snow fort - We have never had enough snow to do this.
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person - Hope to next summer
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - We should be satisfised with what we have.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (do aerobics count) - sometimes that feel like martial arts
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee


I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving.  I am going to go and see my mother.  I haven't seen her in a long time and she is 83 years old.  It is always good to go home and be with family, especially when you don't get to be around them much.  I wish my sister could come but she will be spending it with her children and 5 grandchildren.
 
I will be back to share pictures of our Thanksgiving and my wonderful family.
 
Blessings - Maxine

P.S. Blogger is not cooperating very well today.  It has highlighted some items in white and I don't know why and put in some spaces for some strange reason.

A Beautiful Fall Day In The Ozarks

Hi Everyone -  It has been a gorgeous in our neck of the woods today so we took advantage of it.   It was in the 70's so I planted 205 spring flowering bulbs.

I planted 50 crocus bulbs

along with 80 tulip bulbs.  The tulips are red and then some spring pastel colors.  I'm not a big fan of pastel colors but I thought these would look good blooming in the spring time.  Then I also planted 75 daffodil bulbs.

On top of a lot of them I planted pansies. 

I think it is so pretty when your bulbs bloom in the spring and you have pansies blooming below them.  Our Lowes had a huge sale on all of their bulbs.  Most of them were half price or better.  Fortunately I got there before they were picked over.  The pansies were also half price so I did well and it will make our yard look pretty in the spring.

We raked leaves and put away furniture cushions and so many things you have to do before the winter weather hits.  We don't have winters like a lot of you do, but they seem bad to us. 

I did a post on our little dog when I first started blogging.  He has now gone blind from the diabetes.  He knows his way around the house but it is really difficult to see him struggle.  He will be 14 in February.  He feels good and tries to play but just bats at his eyes to try and take the blindness away.

He is a special little dog to us and will probably be our last one.  We are pet lovers.  I know a lot of people aren't but we have always had dogs and spoil them rotten.

Everyone have a great Sunday and a great week.

Blessings

Maxine

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

I have not posted in awhile.  Where does the time go?  It seems like I meet myself coming and going and it seems work gets in the way.  I am trying to clean out and get rid of a lot of STUFF and that is what it is, is just stuff.  I don't like clutter and it is beginning to bother me how much stuff that I do have.


Back to the title of my post.  November 11 is Veterans day and each and everyone of our veterans, and those in active duty, need to be remembered for what they have done for our country and what they continue to do.  Those at Fort Hood need to be remembered for what they went through last Friday.  I pray that those that survived will make a complete and full recovery and the families of those that lost loved ones will find comfort.


The service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan need remembering.  Everyday each of their lives is in great danger.  These soldiers get bad press at times, but they keep on giving. 


The company I work for is putting together Christmas boxes for all of the military individuals that have family members working here.  I think that is so great.  We get so many letters of thanks for doing this.  These individuals are all so appreciative.


If it were not for our service men and women, we would have no freedoms at all in our great country.  If any of you are reading this, keep up the good work and we are so proud of you.


I don't have any pictures to share today, but please say a short prayer for our military, for the safety of those who serve and thank them if you see them.


Blessings
Maxine

The Hills Are Alive With Color and A Days Outing

Today is a gorgeous day outside but it not to last.  Tomorrow it is suppose to be cold and rainy and possibly some snow by the end of the week.  What is wrong with this picture?  We don't get that awful stuff here that early, not until January, sometimes December, but not very often.  We don't know how to drive in that stuff.

Anyway, enough of that.  Our hills are beautiful with color.  We took a drive today out in the country and wound up at War Eagle Mill again.  We go there several times a year.  Here are some of the pictures from our area and also the War Eagle Mill area.  This is picture heavy.

These were taken on my way home from work one evening and some of them are from our yard and in our neighborhood.

From the parking lot

I took this while at a stop light. It is by the office.

House across the street

The next ones are of our outing today.

This was taken alongside the road.  The farmer hasn't hauled in his hay for the winter yet.

The colors behind this house have already been at their peak.  They are not as bright as some of the others.

Going down the road.

This family has a lot of wood cut for heating this winter.  Most of these homes are very rural and with the ice storm we had last January and being without power for 30 days, they are now prepared with lots of wood.  It is no fun being without power for that long.

One of the old abandoned closed businesses at Sharp's Farm by War Eagle Mill.

I posted about War Eagle last summer but here are some shots of it in the fall and some interesting views.

This brick pillar plus one more is all that holds up the bridge above.  It is a one lane bridge that is very old.  I don't like driving on bridges but this one is really scary.

The water wheel that powers the grist mill inside.

The fall decorations outside the mill.

The facilities.  It gets mighty cold in there in the winter time.

This is the restaurant on the 3rd floor of the mill.  They serve really good soups, sandwiches and cobblers.  We had lunch in there today.

You have to climb these 2 flights of stairs to get to the restaurant.  There are no elevators here, very primitive.

After lunch we headed home.  We snapped a few more photos on the way home.

I hope you have enjoyed fall in my part of the country.  It is very interesting to see other parts of the country and see your fall and color.

Everyone have a very blessed week.  Hopefully I will be back more often than I have been here lately.

Maxine