Christmas around the house....

I finished decorating the inside of our home for Christmas. Still have the outside to do...I tried to post a few more pics but bloggy was having nothing to do with that! I'll try again tomorrow...

later........

Thanksgiving...part II

here is me...worn out!

Everyone tired....Jake and Ziggy worn out!

Friends Melissa and JC

Jacquelyn and Bucky

Jacquelyn helping in the kitchen

Me and my turkeys....haha!!

My nephew Tommy and his new wife Robin

Thier new little puppy....Domino

Maddox and Gabe

We had a lot of fun....so, so much to be Thankful for
later....

Thanksgiving....

Maddox waiting for a ride on the golf cart

This is my sister's home....you can see why our huge clan gathers here! Her house is the only one big enough to hold all of us!

Maddox and Jake playing in the leaves

Jacquelyn

Mom...our queen!

My niece Mallory...who loves taking pictures as much as I do!

Maddox on the drums....
We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family the weekend before..SO MUCH FUN!!

Christmas shopping....

I did something on this Black Friday that I've never done before........I got up at the butt crack of dawn....4:00 am and went and stood in line at Target @ 5:00 am.

A few minutes after getting in line, I hear a familiar "Mom" called out. Looked back and it was my daughter Jacquelyn and her friend Melissa. Funny to think that in all of those hundreds of people, we found each other!

It was def worth getting up that early for their door buster prices. I was very lucky to get everything I went after before they sold out.

Then I came home and took a shower, drank a boat load of coffee and went to pick up Maddox, my 4 yr old grandson. And then, as if I hadn't lost my mind totally, Maddox and I went to the mall. And really, it wasn't even that bad! I actually got a lot of shopping done. We went out to lunch and came home and both of us took a 2 1/2 hour nap....ahhhh!!

I'll put my trees up tomorrow and then post some pics!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.........we did!

later........

Cooking marathon.....

It's almost 11:30 pm and I just finished cooking.......
I made apple cake, snowball cake, breakfast casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry apple stuff, broccoli salad and cut up all of the veggies for my tossed salad.
Tomorrow I will make roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, rolls, gravy and turkey.

I can't wait to eat all of that stuff......haha!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

later........

Tired?

some people can fall asleep in any position.

in Johnny's defense......he worked from 3:00am to 4:00 pm

later

The Thanksgiving table....

I just can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here.

Johnny boy and I went out last night and bought our groceries for the big day....except for the fresh produce. And yeah, that's how we spent our Friday night.....that's just how we roll.

I will have 10 for dinner this year. And we always have dinner at halftime of the Dallas game....no surprise there! It's really nice to have everyone at the same table and the food on the table but it just gets so crowded. So we will have all 10 seated in the dining room but I'm going to place the food on the kitchen table, everyone can walk around it helping their plates and then come sit.

And because I'm doing this, it allows me to have a larger centerpiece. And I went a little bit country this year. I used my old Coca-cola crate and filled it with fake fall leaves and pumpkins. I like the look.....it just looks "comfortable".

One more thing.....my pictures are looking "yellow" lately because I am trying to use my new lens with no flash. I'm learning........if you click on the picture, you get a much better look.

later........

Friday.....

Reason # 217 that I love my husband........he loves my parents so much

later.....

Ida and son....

wow....Hurricane Ida came up the coast and then a wild nor'easter spun off.

we have had rain, wind, flooding and more rain.....crazy rain

Weather folks are calling this a "historic coastal storm"

everyone I know that has a house on the river or the bay is there now, tonight, shoring up their vacation homes.

hope we get to see the sun tomorrow.....

later......

Oh yes I did.....

I decorated for Christmas today!

actually, I only decorated the kitchen

I will probably do the living room and foyer Saturday

I never decorate before Thanksgiving but I just enjoy my decorations so much I didn't want to wait. I love how it makes the house feel so warm and comfortable. Just makes you want to nestle down for the winter. And if you notice the snowmen in the window, you can see what our weather is. We are getting the effects of Ida!

so here ya go...picture overload of my decorated kitchen.

later......

November 9th...

can't think of a title

a lot of stuff going on so we're going to have a bullet point post....

• I did 2 photo shoots on Saturday and it really made me feel my age. My back and knees said only do one at a time going forward :)


• I can't believe we are so close to Thanksgiving. And if I wait until my usual Thanksgiving weekend to decorate for Christmas, then they will only be up for 4 weeks. So I'm starting soon!


• A guy that my kids went to school with had an aneurysm on Monday, wasn't expected to make it through on Friday, and is now showing progress. Power of prayer....don't ever doubt it!


• I'm so aggravated with my cable TV provider...arghh


• I have so many pictures to edit.......


• I'm off of work on Wed....guess I'll be editing :)
  
• I did the treadmill and the Wii fitness tonight.....and I'm going to try and do it every night because I want to be able to eat lots of good stuff Thanksgiving through Christmas!


• pics above are of the floors we had refinished back in September...not very good pics but I couldn't find anything else I wanted to post. And what's a post without pics


• You can't even believe how happy I am with the Dallas Cowboys right now....and loving 1st place so much.

that's it...

later.....

Photography......

I love this photo of Maddox.

I have always loved photography.

I had a really nice 35 mm camera when the kids were little. Film and developing were so expensive so the occasion really had to be "film worthy". But still, I enjoyed it.

So when they came out with digital, Johnny right away bought me a Sony with a Carl Zeiss lens. It was an awesome camera and the pictures were so beatiful, sharp and crisp. And as digital camera's improved, he continued to up grade my camera. I have always felt that Johnny totally "got" my love of photography. And I have always felt so blessed to have a husband who believed and supported my passion.

Over the years, I have read 100's of books on photography.......studied pictures, read about photographers, taken classes and dreamed of taking pictures. To me, if someone can capture the subjects personality, then they have achieved the ultimate. Even with landscape pictures....if you can look at a picture and feel yourself there....I mean really feel yourself there, then the photographer has done a good job.

I have shot so many pictures trying to reach those goals. I may go through 100's of shots and then I find it.....the "money" shot. The one that captures everything I saw with my eyes or heard or felt. I'm getting better....I keep working, keep learning and keep dreaming. And I'm enjoying it...

later........

Tonight.....

we are going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra tonight!

this will be our 4th year of seeing them

we look forward to this show every year...wish it was a little closer to Christmas but that's ok!

and this year is especially great as we will be in a suite, fully stocked with food and drink!

a very Merry Christmas present from our BIL

all of the kids are going and it's going to be great!

later.......

I voted....

I love to vote!

I feel powerful when I vote!

I did not vote for this character though........haha

my son on Halloween.......he was "Joe Dirt"

later.........

November 1st......

November 1st and my little Chrissy girl is 10 years old...........which is 70 years old. She looks pretty good for 70!

we went from the upper 70's yesterday to the 50's today and rain

that extra hour of sleep was awesome!

later.........