Weekend Wrap Up

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a Saturday and Sunday off for a change. I realized I forgot to post this pic from the past weekend. It is the entire family at Dixie Stampede. Top row L-R: Garret, his girlfriend Hannah, Caleb, Me, Michael and Chris. Front row L-R: Jamie, Alexis, Colby, Shelby and Diana. We had such a great time.

Saturday night started off busy with the Spring Premier for our new Thirty-One line. These pics are some I snapped from the catalog page so they aren't great. But these are just a few of the items I am excited about come spring. I am such a fan of the All About the Benjamin billfold. It has so much room and is always a solid color leather. For the first time ever, it is coming in leather with a pattern. Definitely went on my wish list the moment I saw it.

They make a lot of big totes and I have quite a few. But for the first time in a long, long time, they made a tote I fell in love with that comes in the large size or a mini size. It is straw with a navy leather piece down the center that can be personalized. Yes, please.

One of my favorite purses they ever made was a demi purse. I have been asking for years if we will ever get it back. Well, it came back with a few new twists....it now has longer straps so it is a shoulder bag (yay!), it is a little wider at the top instead of same size from bottom to top and the most exciting is it now zips!!! I am in love with the blue stripes.

But I think the thing that has me the most excited is the large utility tote with the starfish on it. Beach bound! I have got to have this for sure.

After premier, I met up with my daughter-in-law and picked up Alexis and Colby. Then went to my daughters and got Shelby. We went to the parade and they got to ride the train in the parade. And I had left my phone down the hill in the car. But afterwards they wanted their pic with the fire truck so I did get that. We had a great time even though it was a very small parade this year. 

Later that night, we had chocolate pudding, but Colby wanted a blue icee. Needless to say, we had to have a face washing after we ate.

I had posted on Facebook Saturday evening a memory about my sister-in-law making the best peanut butter fudge and mentioned how much I was craving it. I go to church Sunday and a friend of mine handed me a bag and had this in it.

Turns out she saw my post right before she was ready to cut the peanut butter fudge she had just made. It is exactly the same recipe my sister-in-law always made. So I ended up with some great fudge. 

I sold my day bed. It was way to big for the room it was in and everything I need anything out of the supply closet, I have to lift heavy boxes up over the end of the bed to get to what I need. So now I feel like an artist with a blank canvas. One half of a room to totally redo however I want. 

I have this really cute jar my daughter got me one year and I have decided to use it for my 2017 jar. Every time I think of something I want to look for (a new shower curtain, a new desk chair, etc.) or any place I want to go, (Esau's Antiques, Clinton Antique Fair, Mom's, the beach) I am writing it on a piece of paper and putting it in the jar. That way it isn't on a list somewhere that I lose or toss out because a notebook gets full. Plus I can write it down the minute I think of it. Even carrying a few scraps of paper with me to jot stuff down on to put in the jar when I get home from work. 

Well, that's it for the weekend. Sunday was a relaxing afternoon and evening. Stopped by the store and then went home and vegged out all evening. Ended up going to bed at 9:30 and slept till 6:45 this morning. I was exhausted. Feel refreshed and ready to tackle whatever this week may bring. 

Happy Birthday to my children...

It was 39 years ago today that the doctor sat down in the delivery room and gave me the surprise of my life. His exact words were "Get another warmer, I think we have twins here." It was four weeks before the due date, but I delivered perfectly healthy, perfectly beautiful twins. My first born was Diana Lynn weighing in at 4 pounds 12 ounces and being 17 3/4" long. Then came my baby boy Christopher Shawn weighing in at 5 pounds 8 ounces and 17 1/4" long. They have brought me so much joy over the last 39 years that sometimes I worried my heart could contain all the love I have for them. 

Happy birthday Chris. I love you.

Happy birthday Diana. I love you.

Sisters.....

I have the best sister ever. We are only 13 months apart in age but sometimes we are so much alike that it is spooky. We always have so much fun when we get together. 

My birthday is next week and I got a package from her yesterday. This is what was in it. 

So many memories came rushing back....after I got over the laughter at how this is SO us. Times of younger days when we would shut the bedroom door and the conversation would start with "Don't tell Mom, but......" We weren't bad girls at all, we were just teenage girls and that is just something teenage girls do. 

We have had many, many, many good times and are always there for each other. We never went through a spell where we didn't speak or where we got mad. We were just always close and still are. I joke that we are so much alike we could have been twins, even though we look nothing alike. 

But she is my sister, my best friend, my confidante. Come next week, she will have been putting up with me as her little sister for 60 years now and it couldn't have been easy. She kept her half of our room neat as a pin. I kept my side messy. She liked to sleep with nothing in her way and I lined the middle and the foot of the bed with stuff animals. She was so happy when we got twin beds. I couldn't care less what the closet looked like. She liked it neat and organized. And I had this pair of turtle pajamas that she despised when I was about 8 or 9 and I wanted to wear them all the time. I blackmailed her into playing LIFE game with me and she despised LIFE game. Mention it today and she will say I hated that game. But through it all, we were always best friends forever.

I don't know what I would do without her. Thanks Rachel for my shirt. I love it. 

Merry Christmas from Rachel's house

Every year, I have my sister, Rachel, send me pics of some of her Christmas at her house. She is such a great decorator. Today, I want to share with you some of her favorite things she sets out at Christmas. Hope you have a great day.

Ugly Sweater Day

We are having an Ugly Sweater Contest at work today. Since I am a group greeter, I will only have to wear the sweater during the contest time. I wasn't going to fool with it, but decided at 6:00 this morning to see if I could throw something together. Checked my closet and found this sweatshirt that I bought for $5 last year that is not that comfortable so I never wear it. 

So I rummaged through my Christmas craft stock to see if I could decorate it in any way.

Had some pretty Christmas ribbon so I made a bow.

Had some felt Santa's and Snowmen so I made one of each.

Took the pipe cleaners and twisted the red and silver shiny ones into candy cane shapes.

Tied the candy canes with ribbon that has peppermint candy and candy canes on it.

Glued the candy canes over top the candy canes screen printed on the shirt.

Glued the ribbon over the ribbon.

Glued some snowflake buttons over the snowflakes.

Stuck Santa and Snowman in the center of the wreath. And there you have it, my hideous ugly sweater.

Weekend wrap up

I am a day late on my weekend wrap up. I tried to post yesterday but got so sidetracked that I forgot to do it before I went to work. Our whole family went to Dixie Stampede Friday night to celebrate the December birthdays that are coming up in the next week. We had a blast. I did manage to get some pictures of the grandchildren during the saloon show. 

L-R: Shelby, Alexis, Colby

Caleb

Garret and his girlfriend Hannah.

We had a wonderful night. On Saturday, I worked 12:00 - 10:00 but the phones were slow so I got to come home at 5:00. I took advantage of getting off early to finish the decor on my dining room table. I had not done the table yet because I couldn't decide what to do on the centerpiece on my tray.

I had some odd and end pieces that I pulled together and put them with my Santa cardinal I found at Target, I think. Can't remember for sure. But I did like how it turned out.

I was off Sunday and got a text from our Guest Services Department with a picture circulating on Facebook saying Dixie Stampede was on fire, which is understandable that people would think that when this is what they saw. In reality, the wreath on the front of the building had an electrical short in the lights and the wreath caught on fire, not the Stampede. Fire department had it out in no time since they are just a few blocks away from us. There was no damage to the building. It was no big deal. But as a result, the majority of our phone calls yesterday were just people wanting to know if we burned to the ground. 

I wasn't working Sunday so I decided to make some cookies. I made oatmeal chocolate chip and brownie cookies. On the last batch of brownie cookies, with just 2 minutes left to cook, I heard a really loud pop from my oven. I went in the kitchen and smoke was coming out of the oven. I opened the door and my element had some flames on it but they burned out immediately when I opened the door. Now all that is left is a badly burned element and no oven...during cookie season! But my landlord is picking one up and replacing it today or tomorrow so I will be back up and running.

I have been making quite a dent in my Christmas shopping and have more to do. I plan to finish up by the end of next week. Then I can wrap everything on my day off and bake all the goodies that I'm giving as gifts. The week after that, I will be busy getting everything ready for our family party on Christmas eve. I just love family time. I am really looking forward to everything coming up this month.

A Christmas Story

I wrote this for my Mom in 1999.

Packages wrapped up with ribbons and bows,

Stockings over fires with embers aglow;

A tree in the corner strung with tinsel and lights;

A soft falling snow on a cold winter night.

Under the tree on a soft woolen skirt,

Sat a nativity scene of the dear Savior’s birth.

As I knelt down close to take a good look,

My mother would read from an old worn book.

She told of a mother, weary and worn,

Looking for a place for her child to be born.

The inns were all full, no room could be found.

They were shown to a stable with hay on the ground.

She read how the shepherds were watching their sheep

When angels came to them with voices so sweet.

She read of their messages of tidings of joy

As they told the shepherds about the birth of a boy.

We’d listen intently, eyes glued on that book

As she told how the shepherds went to go look.

How they found the sweet baby in a manger that night

And how they gave praise to God for the sweet blessed child.

We hung on her words, the picture so clear,

For this was a child the world would hold dear.

She flipped back some pages as we knelt at her feet,

While she read of some wise men and a star in the east.

She told of their journey to see the small babe.

She read of their worship and the gifts that they gave.

We heard about the frankincense, the myrrh and the gold,

As Mom quietly finished her story of old.

As she closed the worn book that she’d just read,

We’d get our kisses from Daddy and scoot off to bed.

As she tucked us all in and kissed us good night,

We’d think of that story as she covered us tight.

For we had been raised to know the Lord’s love,

And we knew that sweet Child was a gift from above.

We knew that a great sacrifice had been made,

That started with the birth of Jesus that day.

So forget all the presents, the ribbons and bows.

Forget all the stockings and lights all aglow.

For the greatest gift you’ll find on your Christmas morn,

Was given by God, the year our Savior was born.

Brenda Garretson Keefer © 1999