Happy Belated Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Our weather was gorgeous and I was able to get outside for a few minutes yesterday. It made my heart happy and I'm truly looking forward to Spring! Enjoy the pictures of my sweetest Valentine, ever!!!

Julia AND He's one year old!

I've been sick on the couch since Sunday with a flu-like bug. Feeling much better tonight, but still need a little couch time. I re-watched "Julie and Julia" tonight and loved it all over again. The movie is such an inspiration: Julia's life and Julie's life. If you haven't seen it, I think you should watch it very soon. However, after watching the movie this time, I googled the author and found her blog, as well as a few other blogs belonging to her. I have decided that if we knew each other in person, we probably wouldn't like each other very much. :o( But I still love her movie and appreciate that she brought us the story of Julia Child.

Now for the most exciting news.... this little guy turns ONE tomorrow! What a special year it has been for all of us. Avery is the sweetest little boy, with a great sense of humor already. He loves to make us laugh! I love this child: Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Boy!

Aloha!

This sweet girl is my daughter. She is married to an army man and moved away to Hawaii back in September. Her husband was deployed a few weeks ago to Iraq, so she is spending time with her dog(s) and working. She is an assistant manager at a hair salon and her mom is very proud of her! We talk everyday, several times a day, about this and that... usually about our dogs. (our children) This girl is a carbon copy of her dad... sweet, compassionate, giving, tender hearted... nothing pretentious about her! And she is FUNNY! She loves to laugh and some of my best laughs have been with her. (remember the Christmas party with the turkey hunting group?) I miss her. A lot! She was my shopping partner when she was here and I have not been able to replace her. She was also my Sunday School teacher assistant. (my class still tells me it's no fun without Mrs. April... but I don't believe them.. ha!) Did I tell you that I miss her? A lot! Her best friend is flying out to Hawaii this week to visit her. I'm so happy for both of them and pray that the huge snow storm doesn't interfere with her flight. I love you, Appie!

Friday Night Sewing

My friend, Debbie, at Homemaking Dreams, has started doing her Christmas sewing on Friday nights. I was supposed to work Friday evening, but got a surprising phone call around 11:00 am, telling me they had overstaffed at work, and was wondering if I would like the day off. Well, Lord, YES!!!! So, since I recently gave up Facebook, I decided to spend my Friday evening sitting in the livingroom with my husband and sewing while we watched tv. I thought about Debbie and the others who have Friday Night Sew-in's all over blog country. The yo yo's I stitched up last night were created from my first charm swap that I posted a few posts down. (btw: I'm still looking for swappers if anyone is interested) I was so happy to look in the mailbox yesterday and find this sweet little package from Melissa, at Ardea's Nest. Thanks, Melissa... these yo yo's will add some terrific color to my currently dull collection! Friday night was a sweet night at my house. What did you do?

Longing....

This is an old photo of my patio shortly after we moved into our current home. Sad to say, it isn't this pretty anymore. However, I am longing for spring time... I am ready to get outside and enjoy the patio and make it pretty again. It's winter time now, and as usual, I am in my mid winter depression. This year it is so bad, it took me back to the doctor this week. Medication changes have been made and I'm looking forward to feeling like ME again!!! Number one on my mind is trying to get some things done: Motto: If you do stuff, stuff gets done. I'm off work all next week and I hope to get some stuff done. From cleaning, to organizing, to sewing, etc. My biggest distraction right now is this computer. I don't spend too much time on blogs, but I can't seem to pull myself away from facebook. You know, trying to keep up with family and friends. I've decided this is actually contributing to my anxiety and I think it's time to let it go. Have any of you had to let something go in order to get your sanity back? I would like to hear about it. Longing.... and looking forward to next week! :o)

It's not over... yet

Christmas was wonderful, finally having a little one to share it with again! This was Avery's first Christmas and even though it was very new to him, we all had a great time. We are now looking forward to next Christmas!!! Our Christmas celebrations are not over yet. I'll be packing up the dogs and heading to eastern NC today. My family will get together at my parents' house tomorrow evening for a good old fashioned eastern NC fish stew! Yum Yum!

Avery worked on his big cookie that grandma made for him. He made a nice mess, so I can hardly wait to see what he does with his first birthday cake in two more months. :o)

He's a big big boy now... growing up so quickly!

Santa was good to him and I think he just might like this thing called Christmas! We will definitely try it again next year. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Fun Dish Towels

I've always heard that you are supposed to give someone a gift that you would like to have yourself. So, I've embroidered a few cute dish towels to give away as Christmas gifts this year. I love these chickens! I'm having a hard time letting this one go!

The little cats were fun. I added the fabric and ric rac trim to dress them up a bit. My goal for next year: make myself some of these cuties!

From Sweet Pea

Merry Christmas from Sweet Pea! I bought Christmas outfits for my dogs last year when they were marked down for clearance. I had been looking forward to putting them on the dogs all year. Sweet Pea was the most photogenic, but as you can tell, she wasn't thrilled about me trying to turn her into a reindeer! Ho Ho Ho!

Christmas Cactus

A friend from work gave me a few pieces of her Christmas cactus some time last year. She told me she didn't know what color she had given me, because she had several colors she had pulled from. So, I stuck it in a pot and basically forgot about it.... watering it from time to time. Well, here it is... I've never seen one with such a peachy color and I've never had one bloom this close to Christmas! Thank God for the simple pleasures that make us smile.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I have so much to thank God for this year. I think the best blessing for me this year is this little guy! He is sitting in the rocking chair that belonged to his daddy when he was this small. It was given to his daddy on his first Christmas.... from his great grandmother. Now Avery has the chair from his great great grandmother.

He knew exactly what to do when I placed him in the chair. He grabbed those handles and started rocking the chair like a wild man.

Then he decided to pet the pig. ha ha Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings on me! They just keep getting better and better!

Happy Dinosaur... Happy Grandma!

I'm back! And l want to show you the happy little dinosaur that came to see us Saturday morning. Avery is now (almost) 9 months old and is so much fun!!! I love this baby so much!

Random:

*My husband's friend won the bet. I quit my full time job already. I think some people are made to work full time, others are not. I'm not. Period.

*I'm working two days a week again at the nursing home. My hip hurts this morning after working last night, but I LOVE BEING HOME!

*I'm working on an embroidery project with several more I want to complete before Christmas. Busy, busy, busy!

**Life is good** and **Jesus loves me***

Patriotic Pretty

Check out this neglected barn on the edge of our new little town in NC. This little town boasts that it has the biggest fireworks display in the area on July 4th. I find it hard to believe when I see the size of this town (a.k.a. community, crossroads, hole in the wall, speck on the map,etc). I'll be looking forward to next July 4th, just to see if they are honest! I love this barn!