The Halls are Decked!

I just wanted to share some pictures of our home this Christmas season!  After looking at a few posts from yesterday's blog hop hosted by the Nester, I realize my home looks pretty plain jane.  But we love it.  Everything has a story and means so much to us!

Here's our home:

Our tree sits in the corner of our living room.  It's small and slender, which is perfect for our living room.  and it's just perfect for us!

Our tree is full of sentimental oranments.  FULL of them!  I am a firm believer that a Christmas tree should be full of ornaments.  As you can tell!

This is one of my favorite ornaments.  It's from an ornament swap about 5 years ago now.  It's a big ornament, so it sits towards the middle of the tree.

Our Expecting a Miracle ornament is from last year.  My precious friend Amy made it for us!

I just got this ornament at our Sunday School class' Christmas party Sunday evening.  The girls do an ornament swap and the guys do a gag gift swap.  It's always a fun time!

We also have a number of nativity scenes.  Tim and I married in December, so we were given lots of Christmas items as Christmas gifts!  This star nativity scene was one of those gifts from a sweet lady I worked with at the bank:

  

This nativity scene was also a wedding gift from some sweet friends of my mother.  I hope to one day get additional pieces of this collection.

And this nativity scene was one my grandmother gave to us.  I just love St. Nick in it!

We gave Molly a manger scene to commemorate her first Christmas and her dedication.  It's a Little People set and is in her room.  It's so precious!

Also in Molly's room is her own tree.  I just love it!  We got the tree, ornaments, and tree skirt all for a great deal!

And then there are a couple of precious picture frames that are filled with pictures of Molly (imagine that!).  This one my best friend Jodi gave me for my birthday.  I just love it!

And this frame was painted by my sweet friend Robyn:

There are also the Byer's Carolers.  This is a collection my mom had, most of which were given to her by my Daddy.  Christmas just isn't Christmas without the carolers around here!

And that's our home at Christmas!  I didn't even go into the kitchen, where there are more fun Christmas dishes, serving pieces, towels and such than you can imagine.  We have LOADS of fun Christmas stuff for the kitchen!  Love it all!

sNoW!!!

Here in Middle Georgia, we don't see much snow.  So, whenever weather seems favorable for snow, folks tend to flip out, rushing to the grocery store, schools close and everyone plans to stay home and wait it out. 

The thing is, the threat of winter weather rarely rings true.

But it did on Friday!  And this nay-sayer was busy working in my office (that has no windows) when I heard coworkers down the hall talking about the snow. 

"It's snowing!  It's snowing!"

I still didn't believe them.  I thought maybe there was snow mixed with the rain, but I seriously didn't think it would stick.

And then, we got an email from HR:  our offices were closing at 3pm in an effort to allow all employees to get home safely before the winter weather.

What?!?!?  Seriously?

Seriously. . .  By 6:30, our street looked like this....

Our home looked like this. . . 

Tim and I decided we'd see what our dogs thought of the snow.  We both pictured them loving it, frolicking through the snow. . . .No. Such. Luck.  They couldn't stand walking through the snow!  Belle would walk only when she absolutely had to and had this pitiful look on her face the entire time we were outside!

We thought the snow was beautiful and enjoyed it while it was here. . . 

The dogs were much happier inside where it was dry and warm.  Here's where I found Buddy while I had the bedsheets in the washing machine. . . 

On our new comforter!?!?!

Needless to say his nap was cut short there! 

What a great weekend full of snow and fun!

Wednesday's Walk: A little of this, a lot of that!, and Blogger Appreciation Week

Whew, lately it’s been like I’ve rushed to get up some blog posts just so I can stay connected. I’ve not really put a ton of myself into this blog, and I miss it!!!

So, in honor of Wednesday’s Walk, I’m going to tell you all about our Memorial Day weekend, how we accomplished oh, so much, about my art project, and maybe even I’ll throw a little blogosphere-games in the mix!! So hold on tight, y’all, here we goooooooo!!!!

This past weekend, Tim and I were stoked to be at home for an entire weekend! Add to that fun that we had Monday off, and we were chompin’ at the bit to figure out what all we could get into! I did work Saturday morning, but other than that, it was all fun times for us! We watched three – yes, three! – movies over the course of the weekend. The best one? Marley and Me. Hands down. If you’re an animal lover whatsoever, you’ll surely enjoy this family movie! Just make sure you have your tissues (or a big ole' comfy afghan will do, if you're like me and you spontaneously cry throughout the entire movie. Cry bigtime. Like Boo Hoo Cry.) handy.

We also painted the final room in our house! Well, actually Tim really did most of the painting. I don’t mind painting the big areas with a roller, but I was little messy on Saturday. Eek?!? So, I was quickly excused from that project to tackle my own arts & crafts. . .

Ah, yes, the door sign. So I’ve sort of seen similar, much more detailed things recently, and since we’ve painted our front door Posh Red, I decided I would prefer something simple, clean, and crisp on our front door and forego a wreath for a little while.

Enter the need to go to Hobby Lobby.

Tim obliged, so Saturday we headed to Hobby Lobby so I could load up on supplies. Only after, though, we visited Lane Packing Company and enjoyed some delicious homemade strawberry ice cream!

So, check out my creation! Whatcha think? Seriously, artsy folks, give me any tips and suggestions you might have. Melissa, be thankful I don’t know your phone number, otherwise I’m sure I would’ve called you a million times asking a million questions as I painted! I really have a new, refreshed admiration for your talent! Only straight lines for this chickadee, and it still has room for improvement!

We also took Belle and Buddy to the dog park and then bathed them, so they’re worn out and clean pups!

As for blog games, this week is Blogger Appreciation Week. This week, we have the chance to share with our readers why we blog, why we write, how reading other blogs has touched your heart, what God’s doing in your life through blogging, mention others you’ve met through blogging, etc. . . Shanda even suggesting including titles of some of your favorite posts so that visitors can see what your faves are. Of course, after posting, make sure to put your post info into Daveda’s Mr. Linky.

Make sure to visit other participants while you’re at Daveda’s site, too! We bloggers heart comments and encouragement!

So, I celebrate Blogger Appreciation Week this week for a number of reasons. In high school, I realized I loved to write. While I’m not stellar at it, I do enjoy every minute of it, and I definitely feel the release from writing is phenomenal! I was hesitant to blog because we currently don’t have kids, so I didn’t know really what I’d talk about. I had no idea when I started blogging that themes exist for virtually every day of the week!

Nor did I know the incredible women I’d meet through this blogging world. I love that so many of my blog chums are folks I’d never meet otherwise. Some of you are big city folks, others live on farms and ranches. Many of you are moms, which I definitely admire. And many of you are amazing Christian women who’ve taught me so many things about my Heavenly Father! And that is amazing!

The blogs I most look forward to reading are those that are so popular their authors definitely don’t read my measly little blog, but who doesn’t crave a good dose of LPM every day? And for goodness sake if you believe Miracles Happen, you definitely know all about precious Harper in Kelly’s Korner! Shanda is one of those incredible Christian ladies who I just know would be a fast friend of mine if we lived closer! And Jeriann, I just eat up her posts every day! I love them! So thanks, y’all, for reading along as I live this crazy thing called life. It’s fun times!

Okay, so this has gotten crazy long, so I’m waiting til tomorrow to talk about another blog award / game! Later, taters!

Show Us Your House Friday: The Kitchen

Kelly's doing this really cool home tour via the blogosphere! I am playing along for fun; if you want to, jump on over to Kelly's site for info. Now, not only do I admire Kelly for her amazing ministry through her blog, but I also admire her for her taste and talent at decorating! And I LOVE her cabinets and her kitchen!

Yep, today's room is the kitchen. Here are some pictures of our kitchen. Now, keep in mind when I bought this house five years ago, I was a young, single girl who cared very little about cooking and being in the kitchen. Since marrying, I've found a love for cooking and baking. But our kitchen. . . . well, it ain't a cook's kitchen. But I get by! It isn't big, there's not a lot of counter space (Tim would argue that's because I have clutter on the countertops. I say it's decor. He says clutter.), and it gets hotter than blue blazes in there when we're cooking.

But it's just fine! And it does the trick! So, here are some pictures of our kitchen. . .

Here's the view of the kitchen from our dining room. . .

A couple of my favorite things in our kitchen are
Our Cuisinart coffee maker! Neither Tim nor I were coffee drinkers when we married. But this bad boy makes the yummiest coffee, and we now drink it every morning! YUM!

My Kitchenaid mixer. I promise you I hear angels singing when I crank up this sucker! Whether it's cake batter or pimento cheese, a good mixing with the Kitchenaid, and all is well!

As you leave the kitchen, you'll see this above the doorway. . .

Tim often comes into the kitchen to see what's cooking - or what he can nibble on until dinner is ready - and always kisses me before he leaves the kitchen! It's the cook's orders, you know.

It might not be a cook's kitchen, but I get by, I get by. . . And I love it!

House Hubby?

This past week, Tim took a few days off work for a much - much - needed time of relaxing and decompressing. Lucky for me, his idea of chilling out is painting and doing house chores!

Wednesday was his first day off, and I came home at noon for lunch to see our television set up all kinds of undone.

And our office / guest room was also destroyed. He was prepping the room for its upcoming paint job.

Tim had first gone to get us DVR. All our friends who have it love it, so we decided we'd check it out ourselves. Just minutes after I got home, Tim returned. He'd also been to his favorite store, Home Depot.

And Kroger. He also ran by Kroger for sandwich meat for our lunch! While unpacking the groceries, Tim was steady giving me his best "I could totally be a house hubby" pitch. He unpacked the fruit and set it in our fruit bowl. As he's setting the fruit, he says, "see, I can even put our fruit out pretty like you do!" No, I don't set it out in such a straight-line, military fashion. Oh but he does. Not surprised, and I loved it!

Friday was also a day off for Tim. He finished painting, and I'm happy to report I'm perched in a freshly painted, totally put back together office. All special thanks to my House Hubby!

He even had the dogs giving me pitiful we-like-dad-being-home-during-the-day looks, too. They loved being inside during the day, which is usually a weekend thing!

Thankfully Tim returns to the grind today. I'm thankful he was able to rewind, relax, and recharge!

Random Happenings

I went with Jennifer to Ellie’s 2 month check up. First of all, Ellie’s doctor is one of 9 in a practice, so it’s definitely Grand Central Station in that office. There were children everywhere! Ellie slept right through the waiting, and once we were in a room, we had to wake her up to undress her. As expected, she’s right on target with her height, weight, and head size. If you’re a mother, you know what’s coming next. . . . SHOTS. 5 of those bad boys. It was awful! The nurse couldn’t have been more compassionate about it, explaining to Jenn how she’d go as fast as she could, then clean up Ellie’s little legs and bandage them. Ellie’s little hand was wrapped around one of my fingers as tightly as she could possibly hold on. My other hand was used to hold Jennifer, who quickly melted into tears as she watched Ellie cry in pain. It was pitiful! I just can’t explain the sadness in Ellie’s little face; it was as if she was looking at her mother like why in the world are you letting this happen to me? She calmed down fairly easily, and even though she sniffled a little on the way home, I have to say it was a successful doctor visit.

* * * * * * *
An actual conversation between mother and me at TJ Maxx this weekend

Me: “These jeans fit! I’m so excited! Not only because they’re $7, but also because they’re a size smaller than I normally wear!”

Mom: “That’s even better! What’s the brand?”

Me: “Willi Smith. Oh, look, Mom, here’s a whole section of Willi Smith.”

Mom: “Oh, good. I love Willi!”

Me: “I love Willi, too!”

We both started laughing and quickly changed the subject. I hope no one walking by heard just those last two lines.

* * * * * * *

My precious husband painted our bedroom and hallway this weekend. Gone is the African Gold that would just about blind you in our room! YAY! It’s now a warm Biltmore Estate Mountain Trail hue that’s the perfect combination of khaki and brown. It really brings out the red in our bedspread and makes our furniture look so nice and rich! I would post a picture of Tim painting, but he made me promise not to post a picture of him in his painting attire, which includes a pair of red flannel UGA pants that are quite sexy. . .

* * * * * * *

Mom and I went to a shower in my hometown this weekend. My hometown is very much like Mayberry. One blinking light, a chalk mine that is the livelihood of 80% of the population (which, I bet isn't over 1,000), and is soooooo 30 years behind the times. It's a little piece of Heaven on earth! Except for the fact that two of those old women asked me if I am pregnant. Apparently what was one of my favorite dresses gives the "blousing" effect of a growing mommy-to-be belly. Blousing is the word one of them used when I quickly corrected her that no, I am not with child. Thanks. I've almost decided to burn the dress.

Healthy Plants and Not-So-Healthy Plants

Someone, please help me understand. . . .

How can these be so pretty and healthy?

and this be so pitiful?

When they're 5 feet away from each other?

Pictures For You!

The TSA Teachers had a shower for Jenn yesterday evening. Thought I'd share some pictures for you all. . .

Ellie's Goodies

Happy Mommy & Daddy

Lovie, Jenn, Aunt B

Our home!

Our window boxes

Now, if I can just keep those pansies, dusty miller, and kale alive for the next 5 months. . .