Thankful for the small things....

I was just thinking this morning that we don't always remember to thank God for the small day to day blessings. Sure, we are full of thanks when He answers a prayer for us that brings the miracle of healing. We thank Him when He pulls us up out the valley of despair by solving a crisis in our life. We thank Him for getting us through a situation that is our own fault because of the choices we make. But sometimes we just take the day to day tiny blessings for granted. 

So what made me think of that today? Going to the grocery store. Yes, the store. I had a list of things I need for my personal Thanksgiving meal and our work dinner. So I went to get them. Since I go to the same store all the time and all the items were things I buy a lot, I know the prices. I was expecting my total with tax to be a little under $50. So I go to the store and go through my list and get everything I need. I kept seeing the sale prices but didn't pay it a lot of attention other than "Oh cool. It's on sale." When I checked out, my total was $33.46. I had saved $12.49. Woo hoo! I bought 19 things and 19 things were on sale! Gotta love shopping at Food City with their value card.

Then I went to get gas at their gas station. Used the points on my value card for gas discount of .15 cents per gallon. Since it is Wednesday I was allowed to use two for double the discount. So I got gas for $1.95 a gallon today. I am think that those two trips actually were blessings from God.

What's coming up....

I don't mind admitting I am exhausted this morning. An 11 hour day yesterday, an 11 hour day today and facing an 11 hour day tomorrow. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that I am only 6 hours on Thanksgiving and off Friday and Saturday. I do get off in time to have my own little Thanksgiving dinner which I am excited about. I'm going to make me a graham cracker pie. Last one I messed up the meringue so it didn't work out. But found out what I did wrong so I'm trying it again this year. 

I am not a big eater anyway and I don't like turkey. I am a ham girl. So I don't do a traditional meal. I just fix the things that were my favorite from the holiday. I always make potato salad. Soft potatoes and lots of mustard. I'm a yellow potato salad gal.

And my favorite meals always include back beans from Mom's recipe. And obviously they always are made in my Pyrex. Using my vintage Pyrex brings a since of tradition to the holidays. Did you women have used Pyrex for over 100 years? Starting in 1908 when they released the first clear glass ones. 

I don't do turkey. I am more a ham person. However, buying a big ham for just me is a little expensive. But I splurge on Black Forest ham and roll it and cheese up in crescent rolls for my meet dish. These are my absolute favorite.

Of course, I will watch Miracle on 34th Street on Thanksgiving. I always do. I will look at the Black Friday ads and plan my day for shopping on Friday and Saturday. On the sneak peak of the ads I did find this printer. Mine is getting old and I need ink for it which is about $54 for the ink for both cartridges. So I am going to try to get this Cannon at Walmart for $19.99 on Black Friday. The cartridges when I need them will be about $17 each so that's a lot better than what I have.

I have been checking into a Roku Stick for my TV to see about picking up some extra channels. I did away with cable two years ago. My antenna gets 26 channels plus local and I get Netflix. But I want to get some extra channels with more choices and with Roku you can get a lot of free channels.

I am going to see if I can get this small 12" electric skillet at Penny's for $7.99. It is the main thing on my wish list and I may break my stand on not shopping on Thursday. We'll see. I'm on the fence about it.

Saturday will be more shopping with my daughter. We have gone for to Turkey Creek in Knoxville on the weekend after Thanksgiving to shop for years. We always eat at Steak-n-Shake because we love a good burger and fries. 

Sometime Friday evening I am going to decorate the house and do the tree. It's going to be a busy few days but I love this week of the year.

Weekend Wrap Up

I had a great weekend. We got together for our family Thanksgiving since I work on Thursday and the kids go to the in-law families on Thanksgiving day. We had some a great time. Lots of laughter and joy. Lots of funny stories told about the grandkids. Lots of Colby moments (the 8 year old). We never know what he is going to say. Switched back and forth between ball games. Ate too much. But had a blast. 

My son Chris, his son Garret, and my daughter-in-law Jamie.

Shelby and her ever present glass of milk. She will drink water and apple juice, but won't touch anything else but milk. 

Caleb likes to think I can't catch him smiling in a picture. I tried and tried.

Finally caught him when he wasn't looking....even I did cut the top of his head off. I'll take what I can get. At just 15 years old he is probably the tallest in our family. Out ranking his dad by just an inch or two. And he's not done growing yet.

My daughter Diana, my son-in-law Michael and their daughter Shelby.

Chris, Garret, Jamie and the funniest member of the family, Colby. He's the youngest grandbaby and he keeps us in stitches.

The one standing in the kitchen area is my granddaughter Alexis. She's grown up way too fast. I can't believe she is in high school this year.

I was so excited that Garret (L) got to come over. The way he works and with him being 19, I don't get to see him much. He was my first grandchild and when he decided to stay and visit longer when everybody left it just made my day.

Sunday I went to church. We had a small group for Children's Church. I ended up bringing them to the sanctuary early so we could see our new pastor and his family join the church. It was an exciting day. We love Pastor Sam and can already see growth in the church while he has been our interim pastor since the first of September. 

Before I went to church, I decided to get out my tree and put it together to check the lights. It's just three pieces so it didn't take long. Happy dance when you put your tree up and all the lights still work. So I will let it "fall out" some in the heat of the house and then fluff it so I can decorate on Friday evening.

I did get out a few things so my fireplace is starting to look festive. I love my little Believe sign.

I put Rudolph and the snowman in front of the fireplace. But I may change that this weekend. Not sure but I think I want to put real poinsettias there. Just a fair warning. When I am done decorating you will see a lot of poinsettias. They are my favorite flower and they are the flower of my birth month.

We have 4 - 5 shows a day this week at work so it is going to be a busy week. I worked three shows yesterday and came home and crashed. I have to schedule some time to make me a graham cracker pie, potato salad and deviled eggs to go with my ham, baked beans and mashed potatoes for my Thanksgiving dinner when I get home on Thursday. I get off at three so that give me time to enjoy my evening and look at Black Friday ads.

Happy birthday to my daughter-in-law Jamie

Today I want to say happy birthday to my daughter-in-law Jamie. She is a wonderful mother to my grandchildren and wife to my son. She has been such a good friend to me over the years and offered support through some of the toughest times of my life. Me and Allen used to always say that God really blessed us when our son picked her as his bride. And it is so true. Jamie, I hope you have an amazing birthday and may God bless you with many more.

What a great night....

This past week has been a crazy, nutty week with some ups and downs. But Wednesday night was such a great night. I had to attend my mandatory Christmas show at work. I went with these three amazing friends. Charlene, Mendi and Tara. If you wonder why I am on the other side of the table, it turns out my arm wasn't long enough to get us all in a selfie when we were two on each side.

Mendi and I sat beside each other during the dinner and show. She is probably one of the few people in the world who gets my warped sense of humor. Of course, it is because hers is as bad as mine. No one we are besties.

Our server was one of my favorite people. Aaron is such a sweetie that you just can't help but like him. He did an amazing job waiting on us.

The best thing about the night was the love I was shown from all my arena friends. It got kind of funny after awhile. Different wait staff would pass by my row. When they saw me at the show, they would either sit down beside me and give me a hug or stop and tell me how great it was to see me. Everyone that did it acted like I was a VIP and like they were thrilled to see me. I had to laugh because I had worked with them all for the past two and a half years. Not to mention they just worked with me the night before and would be working with me again the next day. But it did make me feel very special and very loved. There are two gals on the staff that I just love to pieces. They are very special to me. One is Sharon. She didn't just want a picture, she wanted to hug me and not let go. 

The other one is Paula who is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.

Then of course they had to get a picture of both of them with me.

I had such a great night with so many of my friends. I really felt like I was special that's for sure.

Throwback Thursday

I wanted to share this picture of me today for a special reason. The other day I posted and ask if anyone remembered Christmas corsages. I said I remembered always wearing one on my little coats when I was a girl. Well in my Facebook memories it popped up today where my uncle had taken me to see Santa when I was 6 years old. I still have the photo. Check out on my coat. It's my Christmas corsage I was talking about. Just thought that was neat and I would share it with you. Have a great day.

Been having fun...

I haven't posted since I went to Dollar Tree. Sunday at work, my buddy and I were in playful moods all day. He went and found him an elf hat and changed his name badge from Jonnie to Head Elf. Well, of course I no longer wanted to be Brenda so he made me one saying Mrs. Claus. Since we were already having a good day, we decided to have our photo made by the Stampede photo department. They did a great job.

Then they gave us a basket of snowballs to choose from and said to act like we were throwing them at the camera, but me and Jonnie being who we are decided he would act like he was throwing it at me since we are always having fun and picking on each other. Jonnie doctored it ups some and added some words and snowflakes and we have had over 70 friends like or comment on it on Facebook. They all know we like to have fun. It was a blast.

Monday I decided to do a trip to Dollar Tree and Target. Target has this $1 - $3 section and I scored a few good things for a dollar each. First was a 5 x 7 notebook that I can keep all my Christmas notes and Black Friday ads in. The pages don't have lines so it will be perfect for whatever I need to get me through the holidays.

I found this Washi tape for my Happy Planner December layouts. I'm going to work on them next week to plan my December.

This little shadow box sign was too cute. I have a display in mind on how to use it when I decorate for Christmas.

The kids always like a tree in their room at my house. Since it is a beach theme decor, I knew a regular little green tree wouldn't work. Then I found this sparkly one at Target. The color is like a shiny sea glass color. Now to find some beachy ornaments for them to decorate it with.

I did make a stop at Walmart and found this set of three bags that I fell in love with.

So I brought them home and stuffed them with fiber fill for an easy peasy craft. I love the way they turned out. I think I will put them under the tree. 

I have been planning on buying letters to spell joy and painting them a washed out color. Target had them already the color I wanted for just a buck a piece. I came home and used a gold frame I already had and some fabric I bought last week and put it together with some little trim from my stock. I am so in love with this. Can't wait to hang it.

I stopped by Dollar Tree for a wreath, ribbon and balls. I got this and made another craft. It's not big and fluffy but where I want to hang it doesn't have room for big and fluffy so it is perfect. I had to check you tube on how to make a bow. It turned out okay.

The fabric is also for an ornament frame I am making. It was a brown frame but I wanted green so I got that painted Monday as well. I found some burlap for the background in a pale green so I got it instead of brown. Can't wait to do this one on my next day off.

It rained the entire day non-stop. When I got home that morning from shopping I put my warm jammies on with my reindeer socks and got warm before I started my crafting. Even managed to watch a Christmas movie and fix a good supper. It was a great way to spend my day off.