back in the saddle . . .

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that I had a hard time typing the post title without laughing.  I know me!

December got busy and then January did too, and now look, only two more days and it's February!  Good gravy . . . please don't tell me 2019 is going to move even more quickly than 2018?!

We had a lovely Christmas time. Our office closed midday on the 20th of December and didn't reopen until January 7!  What a smashing break!  We hung out with family and ate out and did Christmas things. Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to church with Joc and her family, and then go out for dinner, and then head back to her house to for desserts and to read the Christmas Story. 

My contribution towards dessert was a traditional Bûche de Noël . . . 

I hadn't made one in ages and it was so fun to do!  It's a very light cake so while it looks really decadent and indulgent, it's really not!  Win, win!  All our desserts that evening looked amazing!

 

Jocelyn made figgy pudding and fudge, the girls made the gingerbread house, and my mom made the cookie platter and the eggnog cake!

And since I'm doing Christmas, here's my Panter kids! ♥

For Christmas, Todd and I had decided to forego getting each other big Christmas, and instead to get ourselves an Opal Nugget countertop ice maker for the RV.  It makes the pellet--sometimes referred to as Sonic--ice.  We have absolutely loved having it and I'm pretty certain it was the first time I've ever had iced tea on Christmas day! LOL! Of course, introducing such a significant countertop appliance to the RV meant we had to do some rearranging . . . 

So that whole end of the RV kitchen/countertop space is now ... a drink station. Haha! The corner space was pretty useless for anything other than decor, anyway, so I'm enjoying having my tea things there. Eventually we'll be a table to go over the trash can and put the Opal on top of that, and give me back some counter space!

I didn't do resolutions this year.  Or even goals.  Instead, after a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to do "disciplines" -- and even made DISCIPLINE my word for 2019.  

My thought is that each month, I'll choose one discipline that I want to focus on, to improve me -- whether physically, mentally or spiritually -- and by the end of the year, I'll have twelve disciplines under my belt and be the better for it. To help me stay focused, I got this cute little bracelet . . . 

I'm sure it'll make all the difference. Stop spending money was obviously not January's discipline. Teehee! :)

New Year's Day I started with my Stitcher's ETC. group ... we annually have breakfast at Cracker Barrel together, and then go on to an LQS to shop the sales.

It was a great group of ladies that morning -- fifteen of us!  Pretty impressive considering the date! These ladies rock!  :)

We celebrated Ellie's SEVENTH birthday on the 10th of this month.  Where has the time gone?  

It seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little baby, I could hold snuggled up to my chest, with her sweet downy little head tucked up under my chin.  Sigh.

I've not done a lot of sewing this month.  Though Todd did break our Christmas gift agreement and bought me a pretty little Janome for traveling!

I did stitch up a seat cover for his recliner . . . and a heart mug rug or two for our guild's February swap . . . but other than that, I've been lax. I'm saving most of my handwork for retreat in February! 

Speaking of stitching related Christmas gifts, Joc and her crew got me a lovely book by Kathy Schmitz,  Stitches from the Yuletide.  I've had her Stitches from the Harvest, and absolutely loved it, so I knew I'd enjoy the whimsy of the Christmas-themed book.  

She also gifted me with a gift certificate to Attic Heirlooms, which I promptly used on some fun things . . . 

And the Panter crew sent me a set of tiny-tipped clips!  

Mary Corbet, of Needle 'N Thread, had talked about using them in her stitching projects and I thought that was a must-have gadget ... for the win!

I also scheduled my left shoulder surgery for the end of February. The right one is back to 98%  and the left one is nagging me to no end, so it's time.  We go on retreat February 20-24, and my surgery is scheduled for the 28th.  Whew!

I can't think of much else to share.  Slowly switching from snowmen to hearts; does that count?

I mean, I'm sure there is tons, but this is only one post (and it's already heavy laden with photos), so I'll behave.  Auld lang syne!

:)

christmas ornament swap . . .

Greetings!! It's been so CRAZY!  I love this season so very much, but it is time consuming, ya' know?!?

Stephanie, over at The Enchanting Rose, hosted a sweet ornament exchange this year, and I participated in it!  I was gifted to by Deb, a non-blogger, who took some time to get to know me (via my blog) and really found the perfect little ornament for my tree . . .

Isn't that precious?!  A s'more snowman! Just perfect for me!  In addition, she added some fun little happies to go with the ornament:

What a happy package!

I had the privilege of gifting to Cindy at Creations by Cindy -- who, funnily enough, had gifted me in a prior teacup exchange!  So it was fun to be able to shop and gift her!

I chose a snowflake ornament (funny how the theme of both what I was gifted and what I was given was snow!) and a few little happies to go with it.  

This was a fun exchange and I so appreciate Stephanie for hosting it -- linking up to her blog for the swap exchange!

In other news, I went with Ellie and Evey to see . . .

We did the (home)school field trip performance, and it was a lot of fun! The director came out during the intermission and talked to the children about ballet and introduced some of the performers. The girls enjoyed the bird's eye view of the stage and being able to see the orchestra.

The girls took turns sitting next to me . . . and afterwards we went to lunch at a girlie restaurant. Terrific day!

The next weekend I watched the girls while their mommy and daddy went on a date.  We made ornaments!

Aren't these fun?!  They did such a great job making the dough, cutting them out, and painting their own ornaments (and handprints) Even Edith wanted in (and got in on) the action! "Cook -- I cook!"

These are such sweet sister. It's a joy to have them close.

And then there's these three . . . 

Gosh I wish I could be doing Christmas fun things with them!  Look how grownup and beautiful/handsome they are ... I miss them so.  :)

On the homefront, I did get the RV decorated . . . 

Yay!  I love turning on all the Christmas lights and the fireplace and just sitting quietly.  It's my favorite place to do my quiet time!

And I decided yesterday that I wanted to make something to gift to my co-worker ... tomorrow.  LOL!

So I've been busy working on this, too!!

Enough for now . . . if I don't make it back here before Christmas, have a very merry day!

:)

crazy cubed . . .

I had every intention of posting over the weekend, but life is crazy and work is crazy and our weekend was crazy (with Boy Scouts, Disaster Relief training and church picnics all at the camp). Even so, I had time to do a little fall baking on Saturday . . .

I saw a recipe for and Apple, Honey and Brie Crostata in the current issue of Southern Lady and decided to give it a go.

It was very good with a cup of spiced tea as an afternoon snack!

I got some autumnal decorations out, too . . . 

You know it's October when the pumpkins make their appearance!

I won a nifty new gadget from participating in the 2018 Blogger's Quilt Festival!  It's a square set of orange pop rulers by KimberBell . . .

They arrived in the mail this week.  Fun, no??  I love new gadgets!

I also got my first birthday happy of the season!

Janet sent me this fun-filled package with my very favorite pumpkin shaped soaps, some darling prim pumpkin labels, and a tasty treat (which I admit, was opened and 'tested' first thing)!

Only 13 more hexies to baste before I can whip 'em! And I plan on taking care of those 13 while lounging on another early birthday present . . .

Isn't it gorgeous??!  My daughter jokingly told me that I'd pretty much doubled my living space!  I'm so excited, I can't wait for the coming weekend to enjoy it!

And speaking of daughters, the youngest of her's--Edith Rose--is quite the charmer:

I adore pics like this!  She's such a ham (and a pretty good eater, too)!!

Happy hump day -- enjoy the rest of this glorious October week!

:)

happy sighs . . .

What a great weekend we enjoyed! On Friday, Todd and I were able to take the boat out. The weather was just absolutely perfect for it! We launched at Honeycomb, which is a state campground . . .

Which was full for Easter weekend!

After a bit of cruising around, we finally (aka, Todd finally) found a spot that was very fishy! To the point that I put down my handwork and picked up the fishing rod!

Yup ... that's *my* first catch (to keep) of the day! We ended up catching about 75.  WOW! Yes, a very productive day!

And the ride back to the docks was pretty spectacular, too.

Easter Sunday, after church, my folks and Joc's crew came up to the camp for dinner and baskets and an Easter egg hunt . . .

The girls were both so cute and had a marvelous time. The camp is the perfect place to 'hide' eggs in plain sight.

Both Ellie and Evey were quite happy to sit with Neesey and Pawpaw to check out their haul!

And I even managed to do some slow stitching this weekend, too. I've done all the blanket stitching on my 'card tricks' -- now it's on to the decorative stitching.

I love all these colors!

And I worked on my pretty little orange hexie flowers, too . . .

In fact, I'm nearly finished putting together this second flower -- just six and a half more pieces to stitch down . . .

And I'll be ready to applique these to the runner! I haven't even thought about how I'll quilt this project. But I know where I'll put it!  Linking this up to HeLP at sarah did it!

I've had several folks show interest in our RV living space. I've taken some pictures and uploaded them to the RV Living page on my blog. You can take a little tour of our home, sweet home!

I'm on baby watch for the next week or so . . . so if things are quite here for an extended period of time, I haven't gotten lazy (again) . . . I'm engulfed in Neesey-ness!!

:)