A New Year and Christmas Memories

Greetings to my friends and family!  We had a wonderful New Year's Eve at my daughter's house and we saw the new year in with games, food, music and a little impromptu dancing by Kim and me. 

Kim's friend Mike was providing the music and picked out many oldies and goodies that are our favorites.  Stayin' Alive started playing and my daughter and I couldn't sit still.  It was just so wonderful to feel good again after a long siege of something, which thankfully ended just before Christmas, that I felt like dancing.

Thanks to all of you who congratulated me on the weight loss.  I must confess that I hadn't been trying to lose weight.  It just fell off because I had to cut out the sugar and white bread after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.   

My numbers have been really good and my A1c came back in the normal range, so I felt like treating myself to a few sweets over Christmas.  Hopefully I haven't gained back those pounds I lost!  Ha!  But, oh the peanut butter fudge and cashew crunch I picked up at the Amish bakery was so delicious!  

We also had a fabulous Christmas.  We opened our gifts on Christmas eve at my house and had pizza for supper.  On Christmas Day, we went to our daughter's house for a delicious dinner of brisket, cheesy potatoes, crock-pot corn, green beans and salad.  I made rolls to take.  It was just the 5 of us, my family and her friend, Mike.  

Our son was here for the holidays.  He went back to KC for a few days in between Christmas and New Year's, but it was so nice to have him home for several days.  He had picked up a scratchy throat and a bit of a cough, but he got some rest and thankfully he didn't get very sick.

Kim's house was decorated beautifully for Christmas.  Her living room is the first photo in the above collage.  My tree is to the right.   The tree in the lower left corner is in her kitchen.  The photo of Kim and me was taken playing around with Snap Chat.  

Kim has trees in every room and the one above is in her bedroom.  I have already shown the one in the spare bedroom in a previous post.  This tree might be my favorite.  It's all white and blue ornaments.  

My trees didn't suffer too much kitty related damage.  A few ornaments were knocked off.  Stormy kept moving the little tree skirt from around my kitchen tree.  She thought it was there for her to sleep on.  
 
We had snow for Christmas!  It didn't amount to very much but it was nice to have a white Christmas and also have the roads clear for traveling.  But, oh my goodness, has the weather turned bitterly cold!  It is so cold that our furnace runs non-stop.  

My trees are still up and I'm enjoying the lights from both trees as I write this post from my recliner.  I will do the take down and put away this weekend.  My trees didn't get put up very early so I'm going to enjoy them as long as I can!

Wishing each of my friends and family many blessings in this New Year and good health and happiness!   Thank you to all my blogging friends who have visited and commented throughout the past year.  Your friendship means a lot to me.  I'm sorry I didn't get around to everyone to wish you Merry Christmas, but I was so behind on everything due to the illness I had for over a month.  My goal is to be a better blogger this year...and to get organized at home!   

Love,
Cheryl

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

May the true meaning of this beautiful season

fill your hearts and homes with many blessings.

Love, Cheryl

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A Wonderful Time of the Year

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at my house.  I put up 2 trees, one in the LR and one in the dining area of my kitchen.  This year I bought a new pre-lit tree for the LR.  I had new ornaments bought on clearance last year.  Several of my old favorite ornaments such as the one above were used to decorate the new tree.  The ornament above was bought at SDC in Branson several years ago.  It is supposed to be carved from the wood of an olive tree in Bethlehem.

As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't get out my entire collections of Santas and Snowmen but I did have to have a few for the entertainment center.  This little trio always makes me smile when I unwrap them each year.  

This is one end of my daughter's fireplace mantle.  She borrowed a few of my snowmen to add to her collection.  Her house is beautifully decorated and I hope to get some more photos taken soon.

This tree is in the guest bedroom.  She has a tree in every room.  I helped her make some chocolate dipped pretzels this morning.  They had a bake sale at work to raise money for some new tricycles for the younguns.  She had already made several goodies the night before such as dipped oreos and rice crispy treats.  

This is the tree in her LR.  Neither one of us has all of our gifts wrapped so I didn't try to get a full shot of her tree or mine yet.  

I hope to get the wrapping done by the end of the day.  I need to get a couple more things and I'll be finished with the shopping.  

Monday I went to the doctor for a follow-up visit.  I don't mean to bore you with my health issues, but I write these things more for my sake as this blog is a journal.  So please bear with me.  You'd be surprised what I have looked up here in the last 9 years I've blogged because I'd forgotten things. 

Anyway, the visit went pretty well.   I had to have another EKG because she thought my heart rate was much too fast for me and I wasn't the least bit nervous.  

Actually, I might have been smiling because the nurse told me I sure didn't look my age and that is always good to hear!  Plus I've lost more weight since giving up sugar and white bread.  Excuse me while I brag on myself, but do you know how hard it was to give up my beloved sweet iced tea and Pepsi?  And sandwiches?  I love my bread!  Shh, don't tell the doctor but I still indulge in a roll now and then.

The EKG came back fine and I'm still awaiting to hear from the lab work.  She thought my thyroid needed to be checked.  My cough is much improved which is such a relief.  It's surprising how much that can wear one out.  She put me on a probiotic as the flora in my system is a bit out of whack.  Unless something else turns up, I don't have to go back until February for my diabetes follow-up visit. 

BG gets Christmas cards from the DAV and I loved the ones they sent this year.  I've only sent out a few Christmas cards to those friends and relatives far away.  Most people seem to have given up on mailing cards these days.  That's one tradition that I miss and that I think FB and email has ruined for us.  Well, maybe the price of postage has a little to do with it too.  :)  

We have less than a week left to get everything done.  Are you ready?  I love Christmas and the reason we celebrate this special holiday.  It's a most wonderful time of the year!

Happy Wednesday to you!
xo Cheryl

A Tree, Kitties, and Me

The days are going by much too fast for me, but then they seem to do that the older I get.  I'm slowly getting everything ready for Christmas.  Are you ready?

The trees were finished yesterday and there are a few things that will be tweaked as the days go by.  Things added and maybe a few eliminated too.  I'm finding that less is more this year.  

I didn't put out my entire Santa and Snowmen collections, just a few were put on top of the entertainment center.  I need to find a new tree skirt to complete the tree.  The one I had last year was no where to be found.

I love Christmas music and have been enjoying listening to a few favorite CD's.  My sugar-free hot chocolate supply is about gone so that needs to be put on my shopping list.

My daughter has been busy decorating her house and has had a little audience as she works in the kitchen.  See the trio at the door?  They are part of a group of 5 kittens that were moved by their mother to her house in the spring.  The one in the background is Orphan, so named because her mother more or less abandoned her and she took up with the 5 kittens. 

Uncle CT is still around helping take care of them although the kittens are nearly grown by now.  That is Uncle CT in the middle.  Lil Stormy is in front and Orphan is in the back.

I knew this would happen.  Kim fell in love with them all, but Lil Stormy wormed his way into her heart and was the first one she could pet after many weeks, maybe months, of coaxing.  I told her that Lil Stormy would be wanting to come into the house and she said no, not gonna happen.  

Well, guess what?  How can you say no to that sweet little face?  I couldn't either.  We are both soft touches when it comes to our fur babies.  He comes in to visit when she's home in the evenings and weekends, but goes outside the rest of the time. 

As for me, I am still coughing some but otherwise am doing better.  I had to go to the eye clinic Monday for another shot in my eye for macular degeneration.

That isn't much fun but the worst part is getting my eyes dilated and it's hard to see for quite awhile.  I managed to drive to the mall and stopped in at Barnes and Noble and the Cafe Court to wait until I could see better.  The selfie was just me goofing around.  I'd thought to take a pic of my sad looking eye, but it didn't turn out.

You might as well laugh at yourself and have fun when you can.  I  made the gal that took the eye x-rays laugh.  She told me to put my chin on the bar and I said, "which one?"  She then proceeded to talk about the joys of getting older and having everything start to sag, although I'm sure she was much younger than I am.  I didn't tell her that it only gets better, haha!

Then the doctor came in with the same old joke he tells me every time I see him.  Something about telling my husband that I needed to give up vacuuming, that it wasn't good for my health.  The man needs a new joke book for Christmas!

What are you asking Santa for Christmas?  Anything special?  We have told our children that we need to downsize and don't need a thing.  Really, we don't.  I realize more everyday that I need to stop accumulating stuff.  I love dishes for instance, but I have more than enough now.  Now books are maybe the one thing that I can't stop bringing home.  But I do donate many that I've read and won't read again.

I'll hope to visit soon!  Being under the weather for so long put me way behind on things.  I still need to finish my shopping and wrapping.  Maybe a trip to the Amish country will be made to purchase some of their delicious candies and breads.   All those yummy things that I'm not supposed to eat!  

Happy Wednesday to you!
xo Cheryl

Catching Up

It's been a while since my last post and although I strive to be upbeat, I also believe in keeping it real.  So I'll begin with saying the past few weeks haven't exactly been my finest, healthwise.  I've struggled with vertigo, a bad cough which is still lingering and various other ailments.

I even had to go to the Emergency Room this past Saturday night.  You know how it is, something always seems to happen over the weekend or at night when there aren't any doctors available.

I think I'm on the upswing now even though some things still need to improve.  At least there were a few good days here and there the past few weeks and we took advantage of them and went to Branson.  

Silver Dollar City at Branson is a must-see for me during the Christmas season which begins the first weekend in November.  They had added 1.5 million lights to the already 4 million this year and it was just fabulous.  I love Christmas lights and I was like a kid again gazing in awe at everything. 

There were several archways covered in lights like the photo above.
 

As I wasn't feeling the best, I didn't try to walk down the hills toward the back of the park as in years past, but I think I saw most of the new lights as they seemed to be mainly in the mid-park section.   Do you see the suspended tree in the photo above?

I can't begin to describe the beauty of SDC decked out for Christmas and if you ever go, be sure to stay after dark as it is indeed a sight to behold!

Our condo already had a tree up and decorated.  The weather was nice during the time we were there and just chilly enough at night to have a fire going in the fireplace.
 

One morning the fog was still hanging over the lake and it made a pretty sight.  I love fog if I don't have to drive in it!  
 

Here's a photo taken from inside of the fog on the lake.  I think this was the morning we were leaving to go back home.  You can see by the shadows on the deck that the sun was breaking through the fog.
 

I love Branson but it's always good to get home and back with our sweet fur-kids.  Stormy missed us and she has been keeping close to me when she knows I don't feel good.  

My Christmas trees are still in the boxes just waiting to be opened and put together and decorated and I'm behind on shopping too.  It will get done even if a bit late this year.  Our daughter wants to have Christmas dinner at her house this year.  We'll have our gift exchange on Christmas eve here. 

Hopefully I'll get back to visiting and posting more regular soon.  I do hope all of you are staying well and having fun getting ready for the holidays.

Happy Tuesday to you!
xo Cheryl

Happy Thanksgiving!

"But now, on Thanksgiving, we still have the November

sun, and the clear deep blue of the sky, and the white glory

of the stars, and the loving-kindness of friends, just as our

forefathers had.  If only we can preserve the real things--

the love of man and woman, the peace of an evening by the 

fire, the sweetness of music, and the gay sound of children's

voices--we shall not have to hear the sound of the world

disintegrating into chaos."

 

~Gladys Taber, The Book of Stillmeadow

 

The turkey is in the oven, the rolls are rising and the pies are made.  Next, I'll peel the potatoes and put together the garden salad and fix some green beans.  Daughter is making the dressing at house and will bring it.  Son came in last night and he will get to carve the turkey for me when it is done and cooled down.  

 

The rest of this post is a repeat from last year.  I need to get those potatoes peeled!  

This Thanksgiving finds me thankful for so many things....I would have a very lengthy blog post if I tried to list them all.  As always, I am thankful for all my blogging friends.  I am wishing each one of you a very happy Thanksgiving Day and weekend!  And to those who live outside of the USA, I wish you a happy day and weekend ahead.

Love,

Cheryl

Thanksgiving is a week away!

We have clear skies with chilly temperatures this morning.  I'm fixing myself a cup of sugar free hot chocolate and sitting down to make out my shopping list for Thanksgiving next week. 

I'm running a bit behind this year in preparations as I've had a flare-up of vertigo and costochondritis again this week.  The vertigo is much better today and Advil has been helping the chest pain tremendously.

My menu for Thanksgiving is the usual turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans or corn, garden salad, and rolls.  I used to fix extra dishes such as a fruit salad and scalloped oysters, but we just don't need that much food.  I'll fix a pie or two and I'm  hoping I can find the recipe for the sugar free pumpkin pie I used to make for my dad who was diabetic.

Do you fix the traditional turkey dinner or will you skip the cooking and go out to eat this year?  

My daughter got started on blood pressure meds this week and I'm hoping that will help bring those numbers down soon.  She stayed home from work a few days to rest...doctor's orders. 

She's ready to begin decorating for Christmas when she has the time and energy.  As much as I love fall, I'm already getting a bit tired of the orange pumpkins and decor around the house and am thinking about getting the trees out, but will probably wait until after Thanksgiving.  Do you put your tree up before Thanksgiving?  I've seen a few already up and shining brightly in the windows as we drive by at night.

The Pioneer Woman has her new Christmas line of dishes out at Wallyworld.  They are very pretty and oh so tempting, but I don't need more dishes and I still love my Pfaltzgraff Winterberry plates and mugs. 

Do you have Ree's new cookbook?  I'm going to put that on my wish list this year.  It looks interesting and I have a few of her other cookbooks.  Even though I don't cook like I used to, I love to read cookbooks! 

I'm wondering if the squirrel has a nest in this tree.  It's interesting to me to see all the squirrel nests that have been built high up in the trees.  They are much more noticeable once the leaves begin falling.

With the vertigo and being lazy, I haven't been able to fluff my nest as I'd hoped to do.  The painting will most likely have to wait until spring.  I do want to make a few other changes but they won't be as time consuming as painting would be.
 
Such is my life these days.  Exciting, huh?   Trying to get well and puttering around with one thing or another, but not accomplishing very much.  I've been limiting my time on the computer due to the vertigo, so that means I've visited less in blogland and am lucky to get one post a week done.  I'm also hoping to be well enough to take a little road trip soon.

When I get the laundry caught up today, I'm going out to shop for the Thanksgiving turkey.  I have a recurring dream that the day has arrived and I haven't yet bought the turkey.  lol!  That's actually never happened, but I still have the dream each year. 

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Changing Trees and Changing Plans

Let's hop in the car and take a drive and check out a few pretty fall trees and I'll tell you about my week.  

It's a cloudy day on the afternoon of this drive last Tuesday but it was still an enjoyable day as I had spent the 3 previous days trying to breathe without pain in the center of my chest.  I have had this 2 or 3 times before and it is called costochondritis which is an inflammation of the cartilage in the rib cage.

Sleeping was impossible the first night and I stayed in my recliner as lying down worsened the pain.  The second day was only slightly better as the Advil began to kick in.  By the third day, I was beginning to breathe easier.  

And on Tuesday, I was feeling good enough to get out of the house and go for a drive.  While I was out and about, I needed to stop for a few things.  BG and I were planning a little getaway for Friday through Monday.   

On Wednesday, my daughter called and asked if I would come take her to the doctor's office.  Her blood pressure was 142/122 and she had called the office and they told her to get there asap.  

After she got to the office and had her bp taken there, the numbers were down slightly.  They made her wait awhile and took it again and the numbers were down to a more reasonable range.  

An appointment was made for her for early next week.  They will decide the next route to take.  In the meantime, they want her to try to eliminate as much stress as possible.   Which is easier said than done with her responsibilities at work and constantly dealing with staffing issues.

I've stayed with her the last 2 nights, to be on the safe side.  She stayed home from work yesterday and rested.  Her blood pressure is still running too high but not quite in the critical range.  I'm not quite sure why they didn't go ahead and start her on blood pressure medicine.

We were supposed to be on the road to Branson today, which I hinted about in my last post.  But we didn't feel comfortable about leaving town while worrying about our daughter.  That wouldn't make for a very enjoyable time.  

So on to plan B...we'll go to Branson another time.  Daughter is going to work for awhile today and BG and I are going to the Big Town this afternoon to look for some warm, fire retardant clothes for him to wear to work this winter. 

I drove through our park this week and saw a few pretty red trees.  At least they looked red with my sunglasses on.  When I took my sunglasses off, the color wasn't all that great.  So, I held my sunglasses up to my camera lens and clicked.  The above photo is the result.  Have you tried to do this?  I know I learned to hold a sieve in front of my lens to get a sparkly look.  What other tricks to I need to learn?  If you know of something fun, please share!  :)

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I won't be posting again until next week.  I want to say Thank You to all the veterans who have helped to keep our country free.  God bless our veterans and God bless America!

Happy Friday to you!
xo Cheryl

A Few Fall Trees and Etc.

We are still seeing a few pretty trees in our area. 

My favorite trees are those that are a shade of red.  

Our neighbor's trees are prettier than ours but the colors aren't quite as vibrant this year as in others.  

I was sad to see a For Sale sign posted in the neighbor's front yard yesterday.  The woman who lives there broke her hip some time ago and has been in a care facility since.  She lost her husband a few years ago and lived alone.  I know she hoped to be able to come back home.  

This is our huge oak tree in the Back 6.  Most years, the color of the leaves turn a beautiful shade of deep, dark red.  But like most of the trees this year, it doesn't have much color.  

I wish someone were standing in front of the tree in order to give you an idea of just how big the tree is.  There was another just like it to the right and one year a bad storm blew it down.  The storm was so bad that BG and I went to the basement and were looking out the window and saw it fall.  After the storm passed, we could see that the trunk of the tree was hollow.

* * * * * * * * 

After my doctor's appointment yesterday...which was good, by the way.  Doctor was proud of my blood sugar numbers and I've lost 6 pounds.  To be honest, I can't tell it.  I did mention the vertigo and we think the cause is most likely nasal congestion caused by allergies.  

Back to yesterday...I went to the Big Town after the appointment to look for some comfortable shoes to walk in when I go shopping or go to Branson.  Hint, hint.  :)  Wish I could wear my Skecher's flip flops all year long.  After trying on around 2 dozen pairs of shoes, I finally found a pair that were comfortable.  They are a Skecher shoe that is sort of like a tennis shoe.  Do you have a favorite brand of shoe? 

One of the stores I went to was playing Christmas music.  Really?  Already?  I think I said it out loud, too.  I still think most businesses just skip right over Thanksgiving.  

The weather is chilly one day and warm the next.  I turned on the a/c in the car yesterday.  It's a little chillier today, but this weekend is supposed to be in the 70's.  I hope BG will help me this weekend to pull out the dead and dying flowers and put away flower pots.  I also want to transplant some lilacs that are coming up around the main bush and plant a couple of little redbud trees that have sprouted up in a flower bed.

Do you have big plans for the weekend?  Hope you have a nice one.

Happy Friday to you!

xo Cheryl

First Day of November Thoughts

It was November...

the month of crimson sunsets,

parting birds, 

deep, sad hymns of the sea,

passionate wind songs in the pines.

~L. M. Montgomery

 

I reluctantly turned the page on the calendar over and said goodbye to October.  Where did the month go?  Time seems to pass ever more swiftly these days.

November 1 was my older brother's birthday.  He would have been 75 today.  It's hard to wrap my mind around that and I find myself wondering what he would have been doing and what he would look like at that age had he lived.  He passed away at age 49 while he was still relatively young...at least it seems to me now...and so strong and handsome.  Well, until the ravages of ALS took over his body.  He was a good brother and I still miss him so much.  As I also miss my younger brother and parents.  

November seems to be a month when I miss my birth family most.  Maybe it's because one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving, is coming soon and, for many years, it was a time when all the family would gather around my grandmother's table for a delicious turkey dinner and lively conversation. 

I think about the loved ones who attended those holiday celebrations and most of them are gone now.  And I often think now of things that I wish I could ask them.  Things I've forgotten or didn't think to ask when I had the chance. 

During the past week when I was feeling bad with a bout of vertigo, I thought of many things while I was sitting still in my recliner.   And before I go any further, I will say that I am almost back to normal.  I still have to be careful and not turn my head too fast.  Thank you for the good thoughts and advice in my last post.

One of the things that I thought of was how much I have to be thankful for as we head toward Thanksgiving.  Truly.  In spite of feeling lonely at times for my loved ones who are no longer here, I know that I am blessed for having had them in my life.  I am blessed for having a loving husband and children to share holidays with now.  And I'm blessed to live in this beautiful country that I love.

I will close by saying that I hope your November is filled with happy and healthy days.  It's the time for snuggling under a warm throw and reading a good book while sipping on a cup of hot coffee or tea, if you prefer.   Which do you like best...tea or coffee? 

Happy Wednesday to you!

xo Cheryl