Monday, December 1, 2014

Monday's Musings

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree....

Our tree is up and decorated. Thanks to our sweet daughter who hauled the boxes up from the storage room in the basement and put the tree up while I was fixing Thanksgiving dinner. 


Stormy is wondering if she can squeeze her plump self in between the branches to climb the tree this year.

Our Thanksgiving Day was very, very nice.  After spending the last several years in Branson eating turkey dinners bought at a grocery store, my family declared it to be the best Thanksgiving dinner they had eaten in a very long time.  Everything turned out yummy and the gravy, which is usually hit and miss with me, was excellent.  I made the salad dressing recipe that my sweet aunt always loved and I thought of her while making it.  Memories of my mother and grandmother, also excellent cooks, were there as I prepared the meal.  Our family is small now, but the love is huge between us and the memories of those loved ones who were once part of our lives are always with us.


We always start our morning on the weekends with a big breakfast.   Our favorite breakfast food is bacon and eggs with toast and some kind of fruit.  

Imagine my surprise when I cracked open an egg recently and a second tiny undeveloped egg popped out!  Of course, I had to grab the camera to record this rare sighting.  I've encountered double yolks several times, but this was a first!  Have you seen this before? 

In other news....

The work continues on The Project.  Slowly, but surely.  We have decided that being finished before Christmas is not going to happen.  There have been a few unexpected discoveries along the way which has created additional work.


The hardwood flooring in the long hallway had to be replaced after discovering the dogs the previous owners had must have been confined to that area.  You know what happens when dogs can't go outside when they need to!  We had tried bleaching and sanding, to no avail.  So, BG replaced all that area with new hardwood and also in the shorter hall where a grate that was no longer needed was taken out.  This was our first experience with hardwood flooring and he did a great job.  What did I do?  Well, I fetched the pieces, measured and marked them for him to saw and kept track of the nail set and hammer for him.  Oh, and picked up and cleaned up the mess. 

The house has an extra room that was enclosed on the upper deck but it doesn't have access to heat.  We weren't sure that the one heat vent in the room next to it would be enough to heat it so we had been looking for an additional heat source.  After researching online and reading reviews, I ordered the little electric stove shown here.  It arrived promptly and we plugged it in and found that it does a very good job heating the room.  The electric meter may be spinning but it will help keep the chill off until BG has time to wire for 220 baseboard electric heat.   It's a cute little stove and has a bulb that flickers giving the look of a real fire.  I have to give mention to Brenda of Cozy Little House for bringing my attention to this stove.  She ordered 2 of them for her home.  I love Brenda's decorating style and she is so helpful to many bloggers.

Another problem we have struggled with is the paint on the new front door.  On one of those warmer days, we painted the door black and that turned into one big mess!  I don't know if it was the roller or what, but there were all kinds of little fibers that made the paint job look like textured paint.  Not pretty!  So, we sanded and sanded and repainted.  Same thing happened.  We don't know what the problem is, but we will keep repainting until it looks right!  Only the weather will have to be warm, so it may have to wait a while.  



I'll be working on getting more Christmas things out this week, but I've already decided to cut back on the decor this year.  The front of the house will only see a wreath on the door this year. 
 


I'm hoping to get back to a more normal blogging routine, we'll see.  I haven't taken many photos lately, but I have a hair appointment to go to this morning so I'll take the Elph along and hope I can find something interesting to snap along the way.  Now, if you've made it this far in this wordy post, congratulations!  You deserve a box of chocolates!!  :-)  

Happy Monday to you!
xo Cheryl 

32 comments:

  1. I love love love your new stove..cute as can be. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving...we did, too. Wonderful and we feel so blessed to have our family close.
    xoxo






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  2. Be sure and ship the chocolates overnight mail! Your tree looks beautiful, the part I can see. I love how you snapped it with Stormy looking on. I have seen many double eggs, but never such a thing as this!! Did you eat all of it?

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  3. HI I am waiting for my chocolates!!!! I have never seen an egg like that, double even triple but no that. Your tree and cat look lovely. The work seems to be progressing well apart from the black front door

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  4. How nice to read an update on your project and your Thanksgiving. Glad to hear that you enjoyed a nice day with family and the food all turned out so well. That egg is a new one to me and one that would have sent me running for the camera too.

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  5. Sounds like you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, shared with loved ones and special memories.
    You're making great progress on The Project! You have done so much! Love the new stove. That looks like a great solution.
    Stormy is very photogenic. :)

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  6. thanks, i will go find a box of chocolates, any excuse will do.. LOL. i love that little stove. it is cute and heats. the dogs would love it. my favorite photo is Stormy admiring the tree lights. nope, never seen a doulble egg, have seen a yoke with a baby chick when i cracked it open, the size of a marble. i did not eat eggs for years after that

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  7. Oh, I am so glad that you had such a wonderful Thanksgiving!
    We had one of the best Thanksgivings ever, as well. Seems like this is the year for holiday cheer a-plenty :)

    Never have seen an egg like that... good thing that you took a picture.

    Lovely Christmas tree! I love the red decorations... so pretty.

    Best of luck with your continued renovations.
    Have you tried painting the front door with a sponge roller? I use a small sponge roller on detailed or flat items that I don't wish to show brush marks, and so far it's worked great.

    Great job on the wood floor!! It turned out beautifully.
    Yes, I do know about pets in houses with old wood floors. We had a house we sanded down the oak floors and the smell sent everyone running for the hills.
    Once it was sanded evenly, the smell was gone. We got lucky on that one!

    Have a wonderful week, and take care.

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  8. You are making real progress on your project, finding many solutions to problems along the way. Our old condo was a kennel for a lady raising dogs so we have encountered the same problem with flooring you did. We sanded and bleached too. It's a tiresome task to replace the hardwood floors, I know.

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  9. Morning, such a sweet picture of the Kitty by the tree, love it. Funny about the egg, never seen that before. Blessings Francine.

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  10. glad your home-cooked thanksgiving meal was a treat! and glad the flooring worked out well, too. glad you've pushed your 'finish' deadline so you don't stress too much trying to make it happen.

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  11. Cheryl, Your tree is nice and I love that cat looking at it...so funny. Glad you had a wonderful thanksgiving time. You are doing a great job on the project. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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  12. Good morning, I am trying to catch up with some more of my friends. Your kitten reminds me of one that we had. You had to keep close watch and the other one would sleep under the tree among the packages. Your project is coming along and I know that your daughter will really appreciate all of the hard work that went into it. When remodeling, you always find things that you weren't expecting, but you are lucky that your other half is so talented . Glad you had a good Thanksgiving. It is a time for family. Take care. Hugs and Prayers from your NW Missouri Friend.

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  13. That is a mystery regarding the painted door! Hope you can get it solved as I am sure it is frustrating. Glad you had a wonderful family Thanksgiving.

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  14. Stormy definitely looks like she is planning something.
    I don't think I could fit a chocolate in my mouth. I am still stuffed with stuffing.

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  15. I am so impressed you can have a cat and a tree. That has never worked for me. I am surprised you did all the cooking after all the work you have been doing. Yea super woman. Love that little stove. Wouldn't mind one myself.

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  16. I've never seen an egg like that, but I do get a number of double yolks from the eggs my girls lay.

    Glad it was a lovely Thanksgiving. I'm impressed that your tree is up already! We do a small one now. Years ago I discovered my late great Buckwheat Elizabeth Kitty enjoyed roosting in the Christmas tree, so it was years before we had another one. Bucky Liz lived to be 18.

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  17. Well, it sounds like you had a very bless Thanksgiving. My decorations are still in the plastic bins, cluttering my livingroom. Not putting up as much either since we will be going to Nashville this year....still have to have some up to get me in the Christmas spirit! I love that little stove and I may just be a copy cat! We have been looking for one like that and it looks like it will fit on our fireplace hearth!

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  18. Oh...I forgot...that's is SOME egg, too!! :)

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  19. I have that stove to supplement my bedroom heat. I'm at the end of the line and the ole heat pump doesn't keep it warm enough for me.

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  20. Pretty tree! You are some abitious people! That egg is just wierd! Never seen anything like that before.

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  21. Gorgeous photo! I think that you are all so busy doing so much. I can't imagine making Thanksgiving dinner and decorating, too. Well done! BTW, I need chocolates like a hole in the head, but I want chocolates because the pies are all gone. Oh, and I have never seen an egg pop out of an egg. Strange!

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  22. An egg within an egg..way cool. No I have not seen that before. You are as busy as ever, the "project" seems to be moving right along! I hope you are taking lots of photos of before and after! :)

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  23. i love the cat Christmas tree shot. so fun!! hope you are well. stay warm. we have a wild winter storm coming tonight - calling for ice. no fun. take care. ( :

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  24. Your tree looks lovely. Sounds like you are still very busy.

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  25. No need for the chocolates but thanks . . . I love chocolate! . . . Smile!
    Never have seen the double egg thingy. . . .
    Nice job hubby did on the floors . . .
    Happy you enjoyed a homemade Thanksgiving meal . . .

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  26. I love that cute photo of the tree and your adorable Stormy. I am happy you enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family at home. We had one of our families down so that was fun.
    I imagine you are learning a lot from your projects. I find it amazing the people who renovate and enjoy the process and do it again. Maybe that brings up not good feelings. I am afraid that I wouldn't be so patient about the door. I love the little fireplace heater you got for the room. I want one for my bedroom. We often just heat the room we are in with small heaters to save money on heat.
    I wish my tree was up and decorating done. I like the enjoying the decorations more than actually getting it all up.
    Blessings for a wonderful Christmas month of celebration!

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  27. My mother has an add on unheated room. I'm going to tell her about that little stove. So glad I stopped by this morning to get the tip.

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  28. Cheryl I always think about that picture you posted with Stormy in the middle of the tree.. cracks me up! She sure seems to be giving the tree a good look. Glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  29. Wow!! Busy, busy, busy!!!! But when it's all done, you can sit back and enjoy all the beautiful work you've done. The tree is pretty...and the kitty looks so darned enthralled with it....lol, I know cats will do anything to get into one.

    Sounds like a terrific Thanksgiving too....a home cooked meal will beat a store bought one any day.

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  30. That is such a precious photo of Stormy. I've never seen a egg like that - glad you shared the pic.
    We are not decorating much for Christmas but as you say, memories of loved ones who have gone on to Heaven will warm our hearts. I love the little stove and congrats on the new wood floor. You got the hard part - cleaning up the mess!!!

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  31. Oh you are so busy but the remodel is coming along nicely. Love the new heat source it should work well. Your photo with Stormy is so festive and you will get through this all this in time.:) Hug B

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  32. What a lovely daughter to put up your tree! Fixing up an older house always has surprises. Everything will look so nice once the work is done.

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