Friday, December 9, 2022

Our First Outing in over 10 Days!

 I was surprised when I looked back over my written diary and discovered the last time I had been anywhere was on November 28th when we attended the girls' hockey tournament!

Louis Dean has been to Walmart and Kroger to pick up this and that but I have stayed home until yesterday!


Wednesday I baked cookies and boxed them up to take to the Bells on Thursday.

We left here around 1:00 in the afternoon and did a multitude of errands......
dropped Christmas cards off at the post office...
cashed a check at the bank - we are so old school we don't even have a debit card!
filled the car up with gas....
had the car washed....
shopped Walmart for some essentials!

Louis Dean laughingly says 'we are dangerously close to being out of wine!'
Well, Wednesday he was not only close - he was completely OUT!!
While he only drinks box wine, I usually prefer mine in bottles, so I graciously shared some with him but that's the reason we were at Walmart - mostly - was for the wine!

From there we went to Hobby Lobby where all their Christmas is 60% off!
I picked up nice paper plates to use on  Christmas Eve that will make clean up easier, as well as some other debris!! I should have bought more ornaments as I have tossed so many out and I have so many trees and some are still bare.

I have a shopping day planned for Monday now.


Thursday morning Louis Dean and I had a package apiece of those orange crackers with peanut butter along with our coffee - and that was ALL we had to eat until nearly 5:00!


SO we grabbed a Whataburger and they were good!
I got the smallest one they have and HE got the biggest!

We headed over to the Bells in time to ride with  them up to the school to see the Fall Ensemble Performances!


The three girls were in two different dances and both were so good!
They have been practicing since school started and I have been watching them do their routines out in the front yard when I would be over visiting. All the performers have put an incredible amount of work into this performance.


While the girls are in dance, Harrison is in theater!
Here come 'de JUDGE!!!!

It was fun to sit together as a family - both sets of grandparents and the parents - to watch.

By the time the program was over and we were back at the Bells. it had started to rain so we headed straight home and pretty much straight to bed. I'm still getting so sleepy every night around 6:00!

This has been a Stay at Home day and I confess - I never even dressed! Yup! Still wearing my nightgown from last night! Although I ALWAYS add earrings and perfume - no matter WHAT!!
Tonight I will shower and simply put on a clean nightgown - and I may wear it all day tomorrow as we are planning on decorating the gazebo. That's our last thing to do!

This morning I talked to my sister Deanie on the phone and we had such a nice visit.
We are getting old together and still laugh and talk and have fun and I believe we always will.

I changed sheets and washed all the 13 pillow cases/shams for the bed.
It is ridiculous how many pillows I put on there.
There's the two we put our heads on....then the 11 we have shams and cases for and they all go on the bed in a certain order.
I'll take a pic of it tomorrow but you get the idea. 
That's a LOT of pillows!
As Louis Dean says EVERYTIME he helps me make up the bed.

I also cleaned the fridge in preparation of grocery shopping next week.
Laundry and routine cleaning and then sitting for a couple of hours addressing Christmas cards.
I started from the back of the address book and am not all the way up to the first part of the alphabet.
Last year I ran out of cards but that will NOT happen this year.
What I have left over, I am thinking of taking to the nursing homes and handing them out along with a muffin or some cookies. Maybe I'll drive over to Fort Worth to the Trail Lake Nursing Home where I have spent so many hours in past years. That's a good idea.

I think I have 13 decorated Christmas trees in the house plus there will be one in the gazebo tomorrow.
Not all are decorated as elaborately as this living room tree...... 


It is our favorite this year and Louis Dean claims it's the prettiest one we have ever done.
It looks Victorian to me.


I have a lot of memory ornaments displayed on this one.


It holds my oldest ornaments and most of my hand painted ones.






A Texas theme I did one year.


I painted Big Bird in 1986 as he was Amber's favorite thing that year.
She had a talking Big Bird and loved him dearly!
You may notice this is a glass ornament and there's a hole on the upper top right.
So many of the ones I did broke - not a good idea to paint them on delicate glass balls.


Louis Dean and I went out tonight and drove up to the post office where we dropped a big stack of Christmas cards in the mail.
I hope to finish all the cards this weekend.

Thank you, all my dear readers for being such sweet friends to me. I hope you know what a blessing you are to my life and what strength and encouragement I receive from you. You all have made this year a little easier to bear. I admit to being a bit blue as we approach Christmas. I'm been decorating because that's what I do. It's a therapy and keeps me being 'me.'
I want to honor my sister Nita in all that I do and she would want us to keep doing and being and loving and laughing and talking. Still, sometimes it takes my breath away when I realize I'll never see her face or hear her voice or her chuckle or her laugh. She was so precious to so many. 

I know personally that many of you sweet friends have experienced this same kind of devasting loss and I hold you in my heart and in my prayers.





17 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Your Chrstmas tree is gorgeous!!! I don't know if I have ever seen a prettier one. You have 13 trees!! I would never be able to decorate that many. We both have back problems now. I love your background. I spotted Harrison right away! I wish we had a Whataburger. Not only do we not have one, I have never seen one anywhere!

Unknown said...

I know you miss your sweet sister but she is still with you in everything you do. I'm sure you can feel her there on many days. I still miss my brother and it's been over 25 years. I think about him everyday. Every single day. Not a day goes by that he isn't in my thoughts. But they are always with us and we will see them one day. Of that I know. Wow 13 pillows and 13 Christmas trees? We have 1 Christmas tree and 4 pillows on our bed. That's all I can handle. LOL Your tree is beautiful btw. So glad you and Louis Dean replenished your wine stash. That's important. LOL

Hootin Anni said...

No wine?!! Bud would be frantic. Your cookies look so good!! My batch of pecan cookies should be baked for the holidays if I can just get the 1st bathroom done. 🙂

Your grands' are always a special treat to see. Sounds good to me to keep sleepwear on all day....comfy.

BeachGypsy said...

love all these pretty pictures, Linda! I love that tree too...it does look Victorian for sure! Oh gosh yes, i grew up eating those orange crackers with the peanut butter, love those! Still buy them too. I sure loved a pack of those with a big cold GLASS BOTTLE of co-cola when I was growing up. We always had them on long road trips. That and Toms peanuts. Bottles of Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Coke in a big cooler in the trunk. I'm so OLD I remember when there was no such thing as a "drive-thru". LOL happy weekend my friend!

Kathy said...

I got your card yesterday. Thank you so much for it and for the lovely note. You are a special person to me. I have not even begun to decorate and you are almost finished. I have to get busy today.

Brenda said...

Prayers

MadSnapper said...

I am so impressed with your quads and all they can do. your tree is gorgeous and I am shocked to my core that you did not go out for 10 days. wow, that is a record i think... i can relate to running out of something because i ran out of my french bread and its the only thing i eat that i love, and walmart did not have any. publix did but its not nearly as good. did not know wine comes in boxes

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

My cards are finished and ready to mail out now. I have so much to do with getting the gifts wrapped and a couple to mail out too. Then I have to pack for my trip I'm taking to Florida to visit with one of my sons. It's been dark and cloudy here and I'm looking forward to some sunshine ! Your tree and home are beautifully decorated. Hope you can relax a while and enjoy the celebration !

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

You do so much for others and I know God blesses you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Hugs, Diane

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful Christmas tree. Merry Christmas. Jan

Changes in the wind said...

So glad you were able to go and see the Grands in their performances. All the Christmas decor is very pretty and especially the hand painted ones. Love how you are content being on the go or staying home, it is the secret of life.

Vee said...

Never? No, that's not so. You will see Nita again and you will know her and recognize her and hear her laugh. That's our hope. That's our promise from Him.

You certainly didn't allow any grass to grow under your feet while you were home for all that time. One can't if one does Christmas as you do!

Everything looks Christmas ready to me. Aren't those sales at Hobby Lobby something else? I had a great time there earlier in the week.

Latane Barton said...

No wonder you are sleepy by 6 p.m. It's just 10 a.m. here and after reading about what all you and Louis Dean have been up to.... I'm ready for a nap!!!

photowannabe said...

My Dear Linda, You are such a friend to so many and have such a generous heart.
Love your trees and can't imagine doing that many myself. Some of my favorite and very special ornaments are playing hide and seek with me. Don't know where they are and i miss the memories each brings to my mind when I put them on the tree.
I did manage to get my nativity set up that we bought in Kenya and the nativity set we bought our first Christmas 59 years ago. Anniversary Jan. 31, 1964. That's hard for me to believe.
Glad you shared your wine with LD. (:0)
Sue

Chatty Crone said...

No wine - lol. That is a problem! So tell me - we have two Whataburger's opening here, and the lines are miles long - what in the world makes them so good?

Debby said...

Hmm 13 pillows? I have 6 and my husband grumbles about the same six. Same with the sofas - he always places them on the floor.

I only have the one tree with lights - and 6 little ones sprinkled around. I’d have more but my place is small plus my cat has a thing about chewing the artificial trees.

I wish I could stay home for 10 days then again maybe not. You and Louis Dean make an adorable couple.

Carole said...

Too many pillows, girl! Move some to the guest room! Cheers