Market Day

On Tuesday some of the crew had a shopping day in Woodinville and then we re-grouped with a couple carloads going downtown on the way to deliver Melissa to the airport. She had to fly home on Tuesday for work responsibilities.

My sister Kathy and I stayed behind. We picked up Katie who was done with her workday and enjoyed lunch together at La Corona our favorite Mexican joint on the west side of the Cascades. Sadly because of COVID our favorite waitress only gets 3 days of work and Tuesday was not her day. After lunch we shopped for some dinner items and headed back to Josh and Laura’s to relax before we started cooking dinner. Taco night with pies for dessert.

A very random shot of the clean up after dinner.

On Tuesday night I was feeling under the weather so I made the decision to stay away from the rest of the family gatherings on Wednesday and planned to drive back home on Thursday morning instead of Friday. Even though I didn’t get the chance to see Liliana at La Corona on Tuesday I was able to see her on Wednesday and it was good to get caught up with her and the owner of La Corona. It’s not an easy time for restaurant owners and their waitstaff.

It was good to see Lily!

Wednesday was pumpkin patch day for the rest of the crew.

Are you going to a Pumpkin Patch this year and do you have a Corn Maze near you?

Back in Colville we had our first good frost and this week is bringing more freezing temps so we’ve disconnected all our hoses, closed the crawl space vents, and rolled up the patio cover cloth. On a dry day I’ll be clearing out all the beds and our burn pile will be stacked and ready for the burn ban to be lifted.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to our Canadian neighbors and Happy Columbus Day here in the USA!

Wednesday Medley

1.  National Ding-a-Ling Day is observed across the United States each year on December 12.  Ding-a-Lings on this day call the people they haven’t heard from in a while.  It may be an old classmate, co-worker or neighbor from years ago.  Or perhaps a call will go out to the child who used to mow the grass during the summer.  How about that couple who carpooled for soccer. There are all sorts of people in our lives who manage to slip out of our lives who would love to hear the ding-a-ling of a call from you or me.  So tell us who you want to call today!

Well, this ding-a-ling didn’t know there was such a day. If she were alive, I would love to call my first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Nickolaus.

2. Each year on the 12th day of December, people across the United States recognize National Poinsettia Day. I am including this “National Day” too because my neighbor’s poinsettia from last year is blooming beside their house!!  Have you ever tried to plant a poinsettia outside?

Another day that has escaped me. I always enjoy going to Molbak’s in Woodinville, Washington to see their beautiful display of poinsettias and their poinsettia Christmas tree. We don’t live close enough anymore to pop into this great garden store.

3.  Do you believe in Bigfoot?  What size shoe do you wear and do you have trouble shoe shopping?

 

Well, do photographs lie? I would have loved to buy this huge piece of yard art to put up on our mountain behind our country bungalow but I have grandchildren now and wouldn’t want to make them afraid to go into our backyard.

I am a 7 to 7-1/2 depending on the shoe style. I don’t have a problem finding shoes in my size but it is hard work finding shoes that are comfortable to wear in general. I am way past the stiletto days. Even when I could have managed them I didn’t wear real high heels.

4. What is one thing you refuse to share?

My husband. The only way I will share him is for him to do his acts of service for others. He enjoys helping people.

5. Are you finding that this Christmas is stressful? More or less than last year?

What’s stressful about painting all your interior walls in the month of December? Don’t you love how the Christmas décor intersect with the painting equipment?

But no, thankfully I’m not stressing about the above photo of what real life looks like at our country bungalow.  Things will be back in their proper place before Christmas. Our family of 9 and a half chose to only have stockings this year and all of us won’t be together till Christmas afternoon. The 4 who are flying here on Christmas day are staying until the 28th and we are going to take one day at a time while they are here.

6. Tell us something random about your week so far!

We are having our first December snow that will linger and I’ll be driving in it for the first time since we moved. Our road is a 50mph road and I’m watching cars and trucks going slower then usual. They’ll not enjoy driving behind me because I’ll be going real slow and steady. I’m a wimp in the snow. Our motion sensor light above our garage was on this morning because of the snow falling. The little birds were flying under Dear’s parked truck and congregating there. Where do little birds go ?

I’m happy to report I made it there in the snow and then back home again in the dark. When there is snow on the road it is hard to see where your lane begins and ends. I made it up our kids mile long driveway with switchbacks in the light and then in the dark. She is patting herself on the back. It was sweet to spend time with Addy while her folks went to the hospital to have an ultrasound to see how Addy’s baby brother is doing.

Hope all your preparations for Christmas are going well.

I’m linking up with Terri in Florida for the Medley. She asks the questions and we answer them. Thank you, Terri.

Bushel and a Peck

This little cutie arrived at Baba and Gramps’ home on Friday evening after a long drive with her mommy and granny great. Daddy stayed at home. It was fun to sing to her (I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck) and enjoy some nursery rhymes, too. Her new bibs were waiting for her here from Great Uncle and Auntie from Texas. Yeehaw!

Her aunties and uncles arrived for dinner and some hugs and fun. Photo fail on my part.

On Saturday morning we made a quick trip to Molbak’s in Woodinville for a little shopping and found that they already had their poinsettia tree up and their amazing poinsettia varieties displayed.

The Christmas displays were up already, too, so it was fun to see many new things for the season.

Responding to granny great and smiling and sticking her little tongue out at me.

After our morning together and a trip to Molbak’s they left for a cousin’s birthday party north of us.

We corralled a great play area with ottomans as borders so she could crawl and pull herself up without getting to other hazards in the room.

It was great to have all three in our home for a couple of nights. Thankfully they made it over the pass and through the snow and ice safely home before 5pm on Sunday. Addy will not be happy to get back into that car seat anytime soon!

Update: We are so so thankful that our girls left early and were over the pass by 10am because we just saw the news that 1-90 was shut down both east and west over the pass and beyond at 12:15 today! Whew!

We are again grieving the evil killing of people just going about their day worshiping together. May God comfort all the families and friends of those killed and wounded at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18 

In the Meantime…

See this tree on the cart?

It’s still outside my house in this original state. Saturday is the appointed day to cut the base and cut away some limbs and bring it in the house!

No way is it going to look like any of these great decked out trees I saw at Molbaks nursery in Woodinville, Washington.

I enjoy looking at all these trees decorated with fabulous themes in mind but I’m content with my homey classic tree with all our ornaments that have been gathered over the years.

There were other fun displays in this great store, too.

Today…Saturday…our tree is going up and getting trimmed.

What does your Saturday hold?

FFF ~ He’s Home!

 

My Friday Fave Five is a little slow in the making as I was busy just sitting around and looking at our 2nd born son yesterday. I’ve missed seeing his face for over 9 months. More about that later. In the meantime you can join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and share your favorite things from the past week.

Here are my favorites~

1. Zumba! It’s physical torture for a solid hour that makes you sweat till you’re drenched but it’s fun! I signed up at the YMCA this month and I try to go to the Zumba classes 3 days a week. The other 2 days I do less torturous activity like the treadmill.

2. Molbak’s ~ We have a wonderful garden store in a neighboring city here that really decks the halls for Christmas. I’ve been looking for place card holders and had a Groupon coupon for $30.00 worth of merchandise for $15.00 so I went shopping there last week. I found some holders I really love and got to enjoy their displays of an amazing variety of poinsettias. I’ll share the holders next week after I set our Thanksgiving table. While there I saw this sign that made me chuckle. Just goes to show you how fickle happiness is :0). I much rather choose JOY!

 

3. I was praying all day long on Wednesday for safe travels for our son Dan and Dear. Dan drove 12 hours from Yuma, Az. to Sacramento, California. Dear flew to Sacramento to meet up with Dan and to drive the next 12 hours to Seattle together. Dan left Yuma at 3:00 A.M. and they pulled into our driveway at 2:30 A.M. I heard their voices and fell back to sleep thanking the Lord for their safety. When I woke up on Thursday and pulled out Daily Light (a Bible devotional) the heading for this day was “He led them on safely”. I smiled and thanked God again for leading them safely home.

4. When Dan finally woke up on Thursday it was so good to give him a big hug and then just sit and smile and talk to each other! He was so happy to be back in the state of Washington. Some of the things he enjoyed…

~cold water right out of the faucet. The water is warm coming out of the faucet in Yuma. Not surprising since it’s desert.

~A real nice mattress to sleep on. He’s been living in a hotel for 9 months.

~A house to move around in with more then 2 rooms.

5. TACO NIGHT! We had the whole family sitting around the table last night for Tacos. It was real good. We got to hear lots of stories from Dan and get caught up a bit.

Dan will be heading to Eastern Washington for his full-time job next week so we’ll enjoy a few more days with him before he heads out. It’s good to have him in the same state now with the opportunity to see him on some weekends in the future. We’re having our Thanksgiving meal early this year (on Sunday) so we can enjoy it all together.

I’ll hop around for some visits now before Dan wakes up and before ZUMBA!

6. I’m cheating with one more. Here’s a quote Dear sent me this week that I wanted to share.

“We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.” – Speech to the Graduating Class of 1978 at Harvard by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Mosaic Monday ~ Molbak’s

Wowie Zowie this is my 2000th post! Yep that’s 3 zeroes you see.

Be on the lookout for a giveaway in January of 2010!

My mosaics this week are all from Molbak’s. Shopping at Molbak’s in Woodinville is always such a pleasant experience. Over the years it has been a destination we enjoy taking our out of town guests to. At Christmas time they always have an amazing variety of poinsettia’s and of course their huge poinsettia tree.

 

You can find gifts and ornaments from elegant to whimsical.

 

 

So many wonderful plants and flowers to enjoy as you stroll through. They even have a cafe on the premises.

 

John 1:14 ~ “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

A very Merry Christmas to you all. Wishing you peace and joy in the coming year!

Visit Mary at her Little Red House to see more mosaics or to join in.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Brrr…

Welcome to another Friday. It’s time to join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share your favorites from this past week!

 

1. My house is Christmatized. I sometimes dread the process but I love the result. The biggest thing is getting the tree in and decorated. I love the smell of the tree. It’s so nice to sit in the living room with just the lights of the tree and other decorations. I could have decorated more but I am satisfied with what is done.

2. We finally filled the Cd player with some of our favorite Christmas Cd’s and I’ve really enjoyed having the music fill the house. Some of our favorites are Twila Paris –It’s the Thought, Nat King Cole –The Christmas Song, Amy Grant, Selections from Handel’s Messiah, and The Holly and The Ivy-Clare College Choir-Cambridge.

3. Spending lots of time with my daughter. It’s been good. Next week is her last week of college (everyone join us in this cheer “Hip Hip Hooray we no longer have to pay!”) We are happy to see her complete her degree and finish well. This last month has brought some major changes in Katie’s life and it’s good to see her Joy return.

 

4. It has been freezing in Western Washinton for several days in a row. We are breaking electric and gas consumption records around here. See my icicles coming from the end of my hose? All of that to say that Katie and I were at Fred Meyer yesterday and spotted an end cap display of Snuggie’s. We succombed to the need for warmth and bought a Snuggie! I always laughed at those commercials but now we’re fighting over who gets the Snuggie! A Snuggie or Snuglie is a blanket with sleeves.

5. On Monday night I went to watch our son Josh play an indoor soccer game. He has been playing on a recreational team with some former teammates from high school. It was so much fun to see these boys young men again after 10 years. Lots of hugs and news to share. I spent so many years sitting/standing on the sidelines watching these boys play from elementary to high school. Good times…

Oops…the Poinsettia’s at the top of the post are from Molbak’s Nursery in Woodinville. They always have an amazing display at Christmas of many varieties and they always construct a huge Poinsettia tree. I think I have to go back and take a few more photos…

I’ll be coming around to see what your week held for you. Today I’m braving the cold for a little adventure that I hope will yield some great photos!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Round Robin Photo Challenge ~ Floating

It’s time for the Round Robin Photo Challenge..

Save the date! Saturday, May 16th will be the next time we meet, ready to show off what we find for our next challenge… “Floating!” The idea was submitted by Vicki, who authors the blog, Maraca, during one of our recent challenge pool roundups. Sounds like fun… right? Birds do it. Clouds do it. Feathers off of birds do it. Lots, and lots of things will fit the criteria for the next challenge, so grab your cameras and get to it!

 

 

To see more of the Photo Challenge or to join in visit the Round Robin Photo Challenges Blog!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Today’s Flowers #19 ~ White as Snow…

 

I took these photos of all these beautiful white flowers a couple weeks ago at Molbaks Nursery in Woodinville, Washington. During this Christmas Season they remind me of Christ and His purity from birth till death and what he did for me.

Isaiah 1:18 ~ Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Merry Christmas to all…

For more Flowers from around the world visit the Today’s Flower Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Blue Monday ~ December

 

So for my Blue this week I have 3 photos of fun blue Christmas displays from Molbaks Nursery in Woodinville, Washington. The little birds and the sweet English Bone China Plate are from my own stash.

To see more blue visit our fun hostess Smiling Sally!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.