#59 Friday Fill-in



1. Snowflakes are _____.
2. I'm going to _____
3. _____ is a song whose lyrics have meaning to me.
4. Just one sip and _____.
5. _____ is where I'm happiest.
6. I believe that _____ is a necessary part of life.



******



My choice for meaningful lyrics.


****

Good morning!

Snow day...again.

You may think this is normal for Wisconsin.

But to tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time we had this much snow in December.
This much snow before Winter.

Emma was surprised to see the difference between Wisconsin's amount of snow and Chicago's snow.

It's a winter wonderland, I tell ya!







Here is what's going on inside.

We were able to move the kitchen table back to the kitchen and the family room is habitable, too!

Hooray.

I am a creature of habit and I think God is telling me He doesn't want me to be a creature of habit. Or something.

Emma and I went shopping yesterday and we bought Christmas presents and rugs.

The rug under the table was purchased at our local pottery barn. Just what I wanted and IN STOCK.




This unpractical rug is from Target.

I loved the way it looked and felt and the price was right.

But I am sure I will regret the white. Very soon!

Oh! But it is soft.



Here is our Christmas Card! I ordered it from WHCC. It came within 24 hours of ordering it.
The quality is excellent. I used their Press Printing division.


My next decision is what to write on the back.

Something cheery, friendly, religious, short.

Here are my doodles;


(this snapshot does not do the quality of the picture justice.)


This is the first year since Patrick Jr was a baby that Patrick Sr. and I have been on the Christmas card.

Daring this year, no?

My goal is to get these finished up today and in the mail by tomorrow morning!

I think I can.
I think I can....

ho ho ho

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.
~Jane Austen


The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes.
~Harold Lee


A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
~George Moore

Encourage one another,
Donna

Back in the olden days, before we had video recorders or DVD players
we were at the mercy of the television programers.

We watched what they played.

You saw your favorite Christmas programs WHEN they were shown on television.
And only then.

The Wizard of Oz was a big event.
Sunday night in the spring, once a year.

Gigi, Fred Astaire Movies, and The Waltons Christmas only once in a while.


And in Chicago on WGN we had some very special Christmas "movies" that were played here and there at Christmas time.

And they are a part of my childhood and most little Chicago children know and remember these two videos very well.

They were super special.

Enjoy....and sing along if you can :o)


Suzy Snowflake




Hardrock, Coco and Joe






Encourage one another,
Donna

Again this morning we watch for school closings.

It looks like it's a go.

The predictions for tomorrow are 7 to 10 inches of snow.

I'm afraid the Farmers Almanac was correct.

Aren't you glad Patrick got a snow blower for his anniversary present?

I am :o)

Really, really glad!


I'm going to make a valiant effort to get my Christmas cards ordered and purchase a few more gifts today.

It will be a Christmas miracle if I do not drop a ball or two this year.

Are your preparations coming along well?


We have received a fraction of the Christmas cards we usually get, so I have a feeling I am not alone in my delay this year.




Emma's coming home tonight!! I am so happy.

This has been her first finals week and I'm sure she is exhausted.
She is doing very well at school and we are so proud of her.


If you were to watch only one Holiday movie this year, what would it be?



For those of you who love Elf.
This is my favorite part.
(I'm not too crazy about this movie, but Emma loves it and recites every line.
This makes me kind of like it :o)









Encourage one another,
Donna

P.s. How GREAT that Michelle won Biggest Loser!!!

Yay Michelle! Another win for the good guys!

Here is how the floors look this morning.
The living room looks much darker in these pictures.




This is the family room.


Our construction team is doing a beautiful job.

They will come again today to work on the kitchen and the bathroom.

I am thinking we need a new pedestal sink in the bathroom and this is the time to do it.

Once the banging and ripping and shredding of wood begins I will head to Home Depot to find a sink and faucets.

Faucets. I have no idea what I want in a faucet.

Yikes.

This is what I will get for a sink.





Those faucets look fine to me.

I'll let you know what I find.

I always go looking for home decorating objects with lots of confidence and ignorance....
and then once I get there I can't decide what I want and have 50 questions and get all muddled....
and come home with nothing.

I hope that doesn't happen again today.

(This is the reason we do not have curtains in our family room. I just could not decide and the options put me over the edge. I need my sister Sue.)


Okay. That's all I can think of right now.

I hope you are staying warm and doing well....

Love ya!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Finally, after seventeen seasons, I am happy with the winner on Survivor!
Really HAPPY!

Hooray for Bob the teacher!!!

With the house done tore up
and
school/cupcakes/playground duty
and early release,
I will be gone all day.

Thank you for not leaving and never coming back....



We went to visit Emma and we spent the afternoon riding various modes of public transportation.

Patrick said I could post this picture.

He looks so handsome.

I'm glad he said I could show his picture....
I would like to share with you how thoughtful and supportive and loving he is,
but he is shy and not really into this whole bloggie thing.

But, there he is.

My dh.

My best friend.

The kids get their red hair from him.



See you this afternoon!


Encourage one another,
Donna

I think I would like to have twinkle lights up all year round.




We need to be out of the house all day.
When we return, who knows what we will find.....



Encourage one another,

Donna

Friday Fill-in.





1. Friends _____.

2. _____ health; it's _____.

3. I'm ready for _____.

4. _____ is one of my favorite perfumes or aftershaves or smells.

5. The oldest ornament I have is _____.

6. Take some _____, mix it all together and you have _____.



***



Katie's Christmas program was just delightful.

Simple, sweet, Christ-centered. Just a perfect little program.

The church was packed when we arrived at 6:05. I was able to find two seats near where I thought Katie would be singing
for a portion of the program. When the whole school filed in for their welcome song and recitation of Luke 2, Katie stopped right at our row.




This made me very happy.


****


The other lens could not do this.




This also makes me very happy.

Pay no attention to the chocolate ice cream mustache.


****

Post your oldest ornament on your blog...if you have one. I'd love to see it.
Let us know if you do and leave a link in the comments!

Thanks!


Merry Christmasing :o)


Encourage one another,
Donna

Holy Cow! You should hear the ripping and tearing of wood coming from our living room.

Yikes! It sounds fierce!



Glad I know it's the kindly, hardworking BASK construction team in there preparing the way for some lovely
maple.


Anita's husband and son(s) will be spending loads of time over here for the next few day.

And all I can think of is....

I never have to shampoo my carpet again.

This is what makes me happy.

I'm just so tickled that when I have company coming, I don't have to go rent the rug doctor...

ever.

again.


This is not the reason my husband wants wood floors. He just really likes wood floors.

And so we take on a big (for us) project.

In a week, our house will look totally different.

And all the baskets and piles of stuff that sit along the perimeter of the rooms....

They will be sorted and reassigned to either the garbage, goodwill or a Longaberger basket.

I look forward to a neat and tidy rooms with pretty maple floors.





ttfn

Donna

Veni
Vidi
Vici



Camera store listened.
They tried to convince me the lens was fine.
I finally said, "I have fought with this lens for three months. I think it is a lemon."
The boss came out of his room and gave me a new lens.

I came home and took a few shots of Katie and I can definitely see the difference.

I sent two pictures along to the camera store and thanked them for listening to me and for respecting my eye.

I know I will sleep well tonight.

Do you have days when you don't leave the house?
Not once?

Yesterday was such a day.

Katie found neighborhood children to play with and I sat in house, reading your comments.

And doing some laundry. Tuesday is laundry day.

And toting baskets and baskets upstairs because they are on the floor and I have to clear out the whole lower level
of the stuff that sits on the floor because we are having wood floors laid this week.

The wood was to arrive yesterday but the snow came instead.

I uploaded a clients gallery which was due this coming Friday.
I don't know if I will have my computer available on Friday.

Glad I thought of it.

Phew.



Watched Bonnie.

Read more encouraging, loving comments.

Cooked chicken from Costco.

Watched Oprah @ OCD.

Read comments.

Served dinner.

And watched Biggest Loser.

I have such a love hate relationship with that show, you wouldn't believe it.

At 9:30 Patrick went out to get the mail.
I didn't even go to the mailbox.

I was hibernating.

In the mail was a note from the store where I bought my lens. My malfunctioning lens.

They say it is back. (Why they didn't call, I don't know.)

Nikon attached a note. Said because this is an old lens it doesn't work as well as the new lenses.

HUH?

I just bought it new in Aug.

I called Nikon. They say it is old.

Me thinks I have been swindled by our local camera company.

This caused me not to sleep. (Along with the fact that my hormones are totally out of whack.)

I just keep going over and over what I would say when I went to the camera store today.

I want a new lens. I paid for a new lens. I do not want a lens that is so old it does not work like the new lenses.

It is not good to get bad news at 9:30, is it?



Can you stay in the house all day? Or does it drive you batty?
Do you yell at the television? Or is it just me?

Do you know how much you mean to me?

Your companionship and thoughtfulness and positivity mean the world to me.

Thank you.



Encourage one another,
Donna

Negative comments.

They happen.

On message boards, forums, and blogs.

They almost NEVER happen on this website.
And if something is a bit too negative and I think someone will be offended.
I just delete it.

Delete Away.

Do you know how many times in five years I have had to do that?

Two or three.

So I am happy in my little quite world, surrounded by like-minded people who know that...

if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

Thank you, kind readers.

Thank you, dear Esther.


But not all cyber stops are as aware of this philosophy as we are here.
And when you gad about you are bound to find this out.


The other day, I was told to "get out of the house...there are other subjects out there."

And you know. It is just wrong to defend yourself on the internet.
Mean comments are to be ignored.

So I ignored.

But it still bugs me.



Here is the only subject I have around lately.





And this is the other subject.




I am so thankful for this little subject.

Because of her....I have learned so much.

She is the best little sport in the whole world.

I will just focus on that.

And I will enjoy to fact that today is a SNOW DAY.

First time in 14 years I have been a benefactor of a snow day!

Yay!

It is only 8:30 and my little subject is outside wading thru the new snow.

Better get my camera...



Encourage one another,
Donna

Do you need shoes for Christmas?

Let me do a little commercial here for an online company called Zappos.

Patrick Sr. got on line and ordered a pair of shoes on Thurs. night at 9:30.
At 11:00 the next morning we got a knock at the door.

Shoes arrived.

And the most shocking thing about this service....

It was free.

Free overnight shipping!!!

Unheard of!!!

Check out Zappos


(P.s. I just checked....Patrick bought my Christmas present locally and Zappos has the same item for six dollars less.)






I want to buy these boots for the girls.

They do not want them.

Bummer.



*******



Pioneer Woman Actions, Set Two are available over at Ree's site.

This is really a tremendous set of actions.

Ree is so generous to create these and give them away for free. They are quality actions and they really are wonderful!

The above picture was created using her new Sunshine action plus boost from her first set.








This one is a little more subtle.
But I can tell and I know I will use Ree's "Warm" action a lot.
This time of year things are cool, inside the camera and out.

Ree's warm was super adjustable and really the best I have tried.

I have at least four actions that I use to warm up my cool shots,
and this one is the best.

Yay Ree! You hit the nail on the head! Thanks so much!

(I used Warm, eyes and sharpen on this picture after I had edited it with my regular workflow.)


Pioneer Woman Actions:Set Two




heartland +boost



******


Has anyone read Inkheart?

I saw a movie trailer for the movie and it looks AMAZING!

Tell me about the book.

Thanks!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Happy Sunday!



From the land of snow and sledding and happy little girls.

And the winner for best actor in a supporting role is.....

Mark Walton for his role of Rhino.





Walton does not have a lot of credits to his name...but man, he was hilarious!


I usually dread going to kiddie movies.




Bolt was a total surprise and delight!

We ALL loved it!!!


*******




It's got to be special to make the desktop.

And this one is to me.

I snapped it yesterday afternoon after Katie made the rounds looking for a playmate.

No one around to play with....

But she got some rosy cheeks out of the deal

and I got a new desk top shot!!!







(she didn't want to put her coat on and come outside, so
she is standing in the doorway, facing....north.)

What's on your desktop?


Encourage one another,
Donna

Behold.

My favorite youtube video of all time.





Hat tip goes to April
***






Friday Fill-ins




1. Snow _____.

2. I'm looking forward to _____.

3. _____ is the best _____ ever!

4. One of my favorite old tv shows is _____.

5. I'm done with _____.

6. The most enjoyable thing around the holidays is _____.


Thank you Friday Fill-in girl.



sooc, blurry, shot in the dark

Katie was sledding down our driveway.
If you knew how flat our driveway was, you would find this as funny and endearing as I do.

We was wiggling the saucer so that it would move a little.
And she was talking really loudly to herself.
I could hear her from inside the house.

Reminds me of an old Mama and Papa's song....

Make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along

(correction. Just Cass Elliot)



Encourage one another,

Donna

My kind of hope.


Father Pat writes a column each week for the weekly church bulletin.

This week I actually read it and was so blessed my his message that I thought
it would be of encouragement to many of you.

"It seems hard to believe but this weekend begins our Advent journey-a special season of Christian
hope. Given the state of our country-this season of hope is coming at just the right time-but perhaps not for the reasons we might initially consider. During the presidential campaign, hope was a major theme.
The nature of hope presented during the campaign, although all well and good, did not present the fullness of the meaning of Christian hope. According to the Catechism, Christian hope is that virtue by which we desire and expect from God both eternal life and the grace we need to attain it. Hope is that virtue which allows us to be joyful in the midst of tribulation because of the promise of salvation. In this sense, supernatural hope differs from our natural sense of hope. When we think of natural hope,
we think of hoping for economic conditions to improve, a disease to be cured or put into remission, finding the right person to marry, or placement in just the right college. Although hoping for and praying for these types of natural happiness is perfectly appropriate, supernatural hope is not destroyed if these natural hopes somehow remain unfilled or only partially fulfilled. If the stock market drops to 5000, we still have Christian hope. Our hope is in the name of the Lord and its power to save us....

The season of Advent then prepares us for the coming of Christ and his message of hope. In God becoming incarnate we are assured of the immensity of God's love."
Father Patrick Norris

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
~Wesley



Encourage one another,
Donna

Why do we like to watch these people?
Why do they make us laugh?







He is the king of disfunction.
Yet, we can't turn away.





Archie was outrageous and prejudice.





Suzanne Sugarbaker was self-centered beyond belief?
But she one of the funniest women characters ever on television.





And Scarlet was so very bad. But still considered a classic hero.





These two. They are from Absolutely Fabulous. Watching these nuts was a guilty secret for me in the 90's.
Talk about a hot mess.

Them.

Not me.







And these four ended up in jail for being self-centered and uncaring.

So why are they so funny?





And now we have housewives behaving badly.

From coast to coast.

Another train wreck.



***

I know you can think of more examples....

I know I don't want my husband or children to behave like these characters....

And I don't want to be friends with them....

But why are they so popular?




(Patrick Jr., this one is for you!
One of our very favorite scenes!
You know, Suzanne shoots Anthony in this episode, too!)


Encourage one another,
Donna

Blogging Meme






1. Can you remember without looking what your first post was about?

I think it was a new years resolution type of post and declaration of purpose.

Did you know it is one month until my five year anniversary.


My first blog post


2. Where did you write it?

Right here at this desk.


3. Which was the first blog you read?

I am sure it was someone from The Well Trained Mind boards.
My best guess is Carmon @ Buried Treasure.

Buried Treasure

And soon thereafter, my blog-sistah, MFS.

Mental Multivitamin

4. Who did/do you tell about your blog, if anyone?

I told the women at The Well Trained Mind and my sisters.

I mention it from time to time now...but mostly get odd looks at the mention of a blog in real life.



5. Has your blog ever caused a scandal?

No. I don't think so.
I was sure the clip from Sex and the City would have caused a scandal last week....but everyone took it quite well....
and if they were shocked the didn't tell me.



6. Tell us something random which happened as a result of blogging?

I have met my best friends here in Southern Wisconsin due to blogging and
I got a job writing for P-dub.

7. Snog, Marry or Avoid - pick another blogger for each.

I do not know what a snog is.
It would be wrong for me to want to marry someone else, even in jest, as it would hurt my dear husband's feelings.
And avoid??? Naw. Not that one either.


8. What’s your most amusing blog memory?

Here is my most amusing blog memory and something that few of you know.

I have been banned from a knitting blog called Chic Knits.

I really, really liked her. Left comments in my usual chipper way.
Bought her patterns and linked to her site.

Then one day.

I was banned from the site.

I was not allowed to make comments.

No explanation.

I was shocked and dismayed.

What had I done to be banned?

I still have no answer.

Some little comment I made must have been taken the wrong way is all I can think of...or she stopped by my blog and
didn't like what she saw. I really don't know.

But there you have it.

I have been banned in Chicago....... by a knitter.



Hat Tip to Stacy @ Writing and Living for this meme.




This is how my floor looked this morning after Katie announced that she left one of her mittens at school.

No problem.

We have lots of mittens.

Finding a pair, now that's a different story.






Have you ever been banned from a blog?

Have you lost your mittens?
Mine must be with the marbles.


Encourage one another,
Donna

In my whole life, I have never made a gingerbread house.

I didn't do it as a child nor have I been interested in doing one with my children.

But, this year, as we walked thru Miller's, Katie spotted a gingerbread house in a box.
(Wilton's @ $10.00)

The gingerbread was already baked.
All we would be required to do is decorate.

So.

I said yes.

(because Katie gets everything she wants....not.....well.....)

And then I had the brilliant idea that Emma would do it with Katie.

Emma who has been so deprived for so long could be in on the fun.




I mixed the icing and prepared the decorating bag.

Emma and Katie did the rest.



I took pictures and was on clean up.

(as usual)

It was really kind of fun. I think the girls enjoyed it.
Perhaps we have a new tradition around here :o)






Beautiful White House Gingerbread Houses.













Watch, funny Miss Piggy help Martha make a gorgeous gingerbread house.


Do you make a gingerbread house?



Encourage one another,
Donna