sanity saver

Well back to visiting the blog to vent and save my sanity!
This has been quite a rough year. . Last year was a whirl-wind. We had an engagement,bridal shower,,wedding,then a baby shower and a baby! Shew! Our beautiful grand daughter was born Dec. 30th...just in time to wrap up the year in a beautiful way!
Now , cue 2014...we lost our long tome fur friend Angus on New Year's day. ,Jan 9th my mother had a stroke . 71 years old. She worked the day before,made dinner and all th  normal things. It was a "wake up stroke" meaning she ha  It in her sleep. It affected her speech,reading and writing. We did a month or so of out patient rehab/speech therapy and she was making good progress. Then she started feeling poorly.
Poorly went to wretched in a couple weeks. Mom ended up in the hospital. She ha  high blood calcium levels and pneumonia. The fluid to flush the calcium collected in her lungs and we almost lost her. She stayed over a week.
She was ordered to get a PET scan and we went Monday. Yesterday's news was not what we hoped for. . The lung cancer returned. It is in th  lymph nodes and some of her bones. It hurts. Sh  is in a lot of pain. An  they have given my precious mom about 6 months.
And so we will try to deal with this leg of th  journey as best we can. God will have to be

Life has taken us on a wild ride lately! I have need to blog so many times and just not had the energy. I am going g to try to back up to the time of my last post and fill in some of the events. It may take several short posts....
Here goes....
Going I into the end of December and the Christmas season life was busy and rocking along. My daughter had her weekly on appointment and we would go for breakfast or lunch. We shopped for gifts and deco

I took a trip to NC last weekend to go to a lady's luncheon. The event itself was lovely and fun but the trip ...um...not so much. I got there and discovered I had left all my clothes and toiletries at home in GA! I had to shop for EVERYTHING!  I did escape having to spend to much money on makeup. There were two lovely cosmetic reps baRbell that blessed me with samples of many of the items I needed. All I had to buy was eye liner and eyeshadow. Being a redhead I am pretty much a blank canvas with out makeup. You cannot even see my eyelashes.
I found a fun out fit at Bells. They had a great sale going. It is not Christmas-y so I will definitely wear it often. I went to Wal-Mart and pick up the other things I needed. My friend was sad her birthday gift got left in GA too. LOL
I left a day early due to being on baby watch,lack of clothes,and the forecast of a wintry mix. I endured fog and drizzle most of the way home. Not fun!
I considered skipping church since no one knew I was home. But ended up going anyway. I was glad I did too.
My hubby comes home today after 18 days away! We are very excited. (And desperately needing to clean so... so long until next time!

sugar cookies and sweet memories

I got this pretty glass while thrifting this weekend . It is heavy , good quality . There was only one . But I only wanted one anyway . My grandma used to have one that was a much simpler glass but with the same type cut pattern in the bottom of the glass. And it always came out at cookie time! She would Stamp or emboss the sugar cookies before they went in the oven. It was special . Unique. and since I am being blessed with a granddaughter this Christmas it seemed I should have my very own cookie glass. Maybe one day she will want one of her own. you know? For old times sake! Can't wait to make new memories. Oh yeah.I am breaking the glass in with eggnog! And soon ...sugar cookies! :-) Merry Christmas !

My paper plate just buckled!

Well the fall garden I considered just never happened! And I have finally got a bit of a vision for the house but right now it looks worse than I can manage. Every room needs help. I have been helping my daughter with her projects since she is in nesting mode but really need to get back to mine. I want to decorate for Christmas this weekend. And I have a meeting with the church today about Thanksgiving meal. Looking so forward to it , but nervous too! LOL Better go. Today is over full...gotta focus!

trying something different

One of my bloggers friends often posts her frugal Friday finds. Things to grace and bless her home that she has found at thrift stores or rummage sales.
I really like the idea! But....I have been avoiding thrifting and yard sales ! I am trying to get rid of stuff from around here! Purge mode/our cup runneth way over! lol
Well...Saturday was rainy and I had a bit of cabin fever. The hubs had to work , the kid was out with friends . So I braved the rain and hit up a thrift store.
I found ....a beautiful silver menorah ,
a pampered chef apple peeled on the stand! , a Willow tree "new dad" (for less than $2!) , I also got a super cute lantern/candle holder. I couldn't get a picture of it , my room was too dark.
I am very excited about my treasures!
Now back to purge mode. Our church is having another freebie swap shop and Want a big box of what-nots to take!
blessings! Lora

Harvest happiness

There was not much time this summer for my usual harvesting and canning. But last week I was blessed with a gallon baggie of frozen blueberries plus another half. My friend is moving and cannot take some stuff with her ! So I got it to have the berries! Today I am making syrup from this incredible blessing ! :-) I have made syrup every year for about 4 years now and I was a little sad that I was not going to have any for this winter. And besides my new son-in-law loved the jar I gave him last year. My dd said he rationed it out. It is wonderful on ice-cream,yogurt, and of course,pancakes! :-)
This week has been odd. My DH was supposed to be home until Friday but he got sent out early. So I am trying to use this week for things I don't usually get to do. Like paint ,and hopefully move furniture ! I hope to have it changed and tidy by the time he comes back home . I would love to have the front bath painted too but I would not want to over-plan . Then I might crash and burn ! :-( Yea,it's happened before!
I had a classic ADD moment. I was cleaning u the counter prepping to make the syrup . I had a partial bottle of wine on the counter. To make space I emptied the contents into a sobe bottle and stuck it in the fridge. Fast forward 6 hours .... I was putting lunch stuff away and espied the sobe bottle. I thought "yum" ! Spun the top and started to take a sip ....whew! glad I sniff everything first ! This is medicinal wine and not sweet at all so I'd have gagged or spewed it! LOL  I put it back in the fridge , to the back this time ! LOL
Better go , my jars should be ready for filling!
Blessings , Lora