Catching Up......Again.....

I've been home ever since I came back from Campo Verde!

My knee seems to be getting more painful with each passing day making me look forward to January 6th when I will be getting a brand new one!

This chair in the corner of the living room has become my favorite sitting spot - not only a comfy chair but that foot stool is perfect since my knee feels better if I can keep it stretched out straight.

It's also the perfect place to have my coffee and prayer time and write in my Country Diary while listening to instrumental Christmas music on the CD player - piano, guitar, and sax. I have continued to get up before Louis Dean ever since before Thanksgiving and have enjoyed looking at the tree.

Wednesday I had my prayer time and then went back to bed and I pretty much stayed there for most of the day. Louis Dean gets a little lonely when I'm out of commission so I got up and ate crackers and milk with him and we watched a little TV before I went to bed for the night - at 8:00.

I'm loving the topper Trystan made for the kitchen tree on Sunday.

I love the creativity of children.

Our utility room is all clean and decorated AND I am experimenting with a novel idea - flat surfaces!

Can you see a few in this picture.

I know. Tiny steps. Tiny steps.

I could even fold a few clothes on that much space!

Washcloths, mostly.

I have a tiny luttle Christmas tree across from the washer and dryer.

It holds all the metal memory ornaments.....

this was Amber's first Christmas.

Benjamin was such a cute little boy and he grew up to be such a handsome man.

Reminds me of Daniel Craig - my very favorite James Bond!

It's like a small community - this Blog neighborhood of ours.

I was visiting my friend, Arlene from Nanaland......

 she has a set just like these!

They are ceramics and I thought I had made them until I went over to take this picture and realized they were a gift from my ceramic teacher. I never did work this good. As a matter of fact, my teacher came over here to visit one day and noticed my oil paintings. She said, "You could do much better on your pieces!" But I couldn't. I have control over my oil paints. That ceramic art requires so much more. The cleaning of the plaster and painting the green ware and then you can never tell what that glazing will do. I do have several things I made back then - it was 1984 - like the Christmas tree napkin rings.

I have been weraing Chinese medicine patches every day and my various braces.

Now I have added Tylenol. I don't make up the ned anymore since I visit it so often during the day.

Last night - Thursday - I started my Christmas cards and Louis Dean dropped the first batch off  at the post office this afternoon. I was multitasking while the Dallas Cowboys played....we are so disappointed. It seems to me that the team has too many gifted and talented players to not be any better than they are. The talk here is all about getting a new head coach and I think that might be a good idea!

This morning I decided to bite the bullet and finish up the sewing room.

I'd been working on it for awhile.

As I've moved from room to room, the decorations that are left are the ones I have to work with.

I like to use tablecloths on the furniture - makes it more Christmasy to me.

The trees are odd trees out so, since they are all different, I decorated them differently - using what was left.

This one is all memory ornaments of all four of my children.

A few are from Summer and Jesse's school years....a couple are of Benjamin's Tae Kwon Do days.

I think this 'tree' was the top of a whole Christmas tree. I plopped it in a vase and stuck it in a basket with colored lights at the bottom. There's one more tree out in the storage building and I am going to ask Louis Dean to get it out for me tomorrow. I just hope I haven't robbed the top off of it thinking it was a loner!

That third tree will go in the trash after Christmas.

It's a poor straggly thing

This is a 'new' wreath from Goodwill to which I added the penguin ornaments and a nice ribbon bow.

This will be Saturday's project!

Tonight I used my new baking dish for the first time!

Louis Dean dearly loves sweet potato casserole and I baked this just for him.

I like sweet potatoes plain with butter myself.

This was going to be my blogging spot tonight but I am in the den instead.

Louis Dean has already gone to bed. He's worn out trying to solve an electrical problem we're having.

I'm watching an Inspector Morse program. I really like this program.

I'll close this journal entry and probably address a few more Christmas cards before I turn in.

It feels odd to take the card, slip it in the envelope, place a postage stamp and return address label on lay it on the stack. The back of the card is black and has the printed greeting so I can't add a personal note. The address is the only thing I am actually writing.

Well, I shall say Goodnight!