I Am Not Whining!

I'm really not whining but I was wondering. Does anyone else go grocery shopping and after they have carried all the bags in the house look at the huge pile on the counter and think I just don't like putting all this stuff away. Don't get me wrong I am thankful that I have transportation to go get the groceries, money to pay for them, and am fortunate enough to have a place to store them.

I gladly do other chores in the house and don't mind at all. But, somehow putting groceries away seems to be on my list of things I would rather not do.

Does anyone else feel like this or am I just a little more off beat than usual?

And Still It Snows

If I were a little younger I would be able to use

this sled and the skates today.

Kansas City is frigid with windchill way below zero and wind gusts of up to 40 MPH. We

also were treated to another 4 inches of snow thru the night.

As you can see the little girl who lives in my birdbath is up to her chin in fluffy white stuff.

The view out my kitchen window is a winter wonderland. The snow on my patio table measures 12 inches.

If you read one of my earlier posts you will know we had a fire. What we didn't think about was all of our snow shovels and snow removal equipment was in the shed. When we went to buy replacements most of the stores were already sold out. So we have one snow shovel. We do have a nice Son-in-law who has come and used his snow blower on the drive for us.

Today I am thinking of those who live in warmer climes and are sitting on your porch and admiring your flowers that are in bloom. I know spring is not far away.

Let It Snow

For the first time in many years we experienced a white Christmas here in K.C. The snow started to drift down on Christmas Eve and by the time we left church it was a scary trip home. It continued to snow all through the night and by Christmas evening we had about 10 inches of snow.




















The birds arrived early on Christmas morning looking for their breakfast. Mr. Red Cardinal keeps a lookout to make sure he doesn't miss the lady with the food.

A red-headed woodpecker waits patiently in the tree for me to fill the suet cages. Meanwhile he is busy checking for any insects that might be hiding in the bark.

Mrs. Cardinal greedily plucks the choicest morsels from her perch on the porch rail while the heated water dish steams in the background.

Come one, come all, be ye cardinal, dove, sparrow, or blue jay. Everyone is welcome here.

OK, where did everyone go? They were here just a minute ago.

All the foods gone. Who ate it all? Maybe the nice lady will bring out some more. How can I resist. Off to the store to buy more bird food.

In the front of the house the Christmas lights glow through a veil of pure white bringing a fairy like magic to the entrance.

The snow in our parking lots is piled nearly as high as an elephants eye. While the rest of the world shovels snow and hunt for food my dogs lay content in front of the warm fire.

Mac, says Mom I know you think I'm cute but you want me to hold still for another photo shoot.

While Annie just continues her nap dreaming perhaps of a squirrel to chase.

We had two mores inches of snow yesterday so we are still living in a winter wonderland. Our streets are clear and easy to drive on so the snow is a thing of beauty. I think I will make a cup of hot tea and curl up by the window to do a little bird watching and catch a few chapters of a good book.

Hope you have a good week.

Be Thankful for The Good Things

My computer is back up and running and my husband bought me a new camera for Christmas. Now I can blog again. This is good!

On Friday, Dec. 18 I had invited several old friends to dinner. By old I mean we have known them for over 40 years and yes they are aging very nicely. A lovely vintage sled and ice skates were ready to welcome them to the front porch.

Baby Jesus in the manger gave the reason for the season.

The table was ready to seat all the guests.

The other rooms all sported their best Christmas dress.

The Christmas tree sparkled and set the tone for the season.

The candles all glowed to say glad you could come and sparkle their welcome Everything appeared to well under control.

Then all once in my yard arose such a clatter I ran to the window to see what was the matter. And there I did spy, three fire trucks, 2 police cars, and my garden shed all afire.

So today this is what I have left of my gardening equipment.

The shed still has it's doors and side wall. You can see the back of the shed is completely gone and the firemen tore the roof off to contain the fire.

The good thing is it wasn't my home. No one was injured fighting the fire and the shed just contained things. I still had good friends for company and a nice dinner waiting.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all my cherished bloggy friends. I am without a computer except for an old laptop. I hope to be up and running after my son comes for Christmas. I miss talking to all of you and thanks to those of you who continue to drop by. HAVE A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY. BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU.

On The Second Day Of Christmas

I decked out the kitchen so it was ready for the holidays.

My husband made an island for me that moves but most of the time I keep it against a wall under a black wrought iron pot rack.

On the island I have a small Christmas tree with red lights. The wine bottle dressed in his festive sweater is a birthday gift from one of my dear friends who often shares a glass of red wine with me.

I don't hang pots and pans on my pot rack anymore because after we installed it we found my husband is so tall he was always hitting his head on the pots. So now it usually hold coffee cups and we use the island mostly to serve beverages. Today it holds my Christmas mugs from Hallmark with some holly, red berries, and red birds tucked in to make it bright.

My kitchen table is always ready for Christmas as it is a vintage red chrome set.

I made a quick center piece by using a green glass bowl, nestling together a soft garland of holly and a few velvet poinsettia.

I almost never put a tablecloth on this table as this is where we eat daily and my husband is afraid he will get the tablecloth dirty. So I just add some colorful napkins with Santa riding his reindeer.

On a small rack above the stairway is a small wrought iron rack that usually holds vintage kitchen tools but now is host to my fishing Santa's.

A cubby above my refrigator is full of my more country looking Santa collections.

Kitchen is looking festive time to get out the Sugar Cookie recipe.

December 7, 1941

Here is an update to this blog that I posted earlier. Ok, I was a baby and cried wolf to soon. I figured out a way to go around my problem and did upload a couple of pictures. So here they are.

My two daughter, four of my granddaughters and myself.

Most of the friends who came for brunch. A few just stopped in. This is such a busy time of year to work birthday parties into the schedule.

There may be a few of you who will read this today who will remember what happened on this day in 1941. You no longer see it on the front page of the paper and many won't remember this was the day theJapanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But in a little town in Montana something else took place on this day. I was born to Elma Ester Anderson and Alvin Russel Euell.

My daughters gave me a surprise birthday brunch yesterday. I was totally and completely overwhelmed when 17 of my friends and family took the time to come to brunch and shower me with gifts. I had some lovely pictures I wanted to share with you this morning. But, alas, I can't.

The reason I can't post pictures is a sore point with me this morning and I am trying not to let it intrude on my day. To hopefully make a long story short. I gave my husband a new laptop for his Christmas present (mostly so he would have one of his own). Two computers means you need a router or so everyone tells me. Well since we have had the router installed we have had a technician here twice, I have been with out Internet for two days and this morning I can't download my pictures.

So have a happy Monday everyone and I hope I can share my pictures with you soon.