HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE

Here's a toast to the future,
A toast to the past,
And a toast to our friends, far and near.
May the future be pleasant;
The past a bright dream;
May our friends remain faithful and dear.
~ Anonymous

Cheers to you, Cheers to me, Have a Happy New Year’s Eve!

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George and I have never enjoyed going "all out" on New Year's eve. We're not big drinkers and it's crazy being out on the road. Luckily, we usually do something in our neighborhood, if we do anything at all. We still have a drink, we still have fun, and we're usually home in plenty of time to watch the ball drop in NY and to watch the fireworks in the village right from our front porch, usually in our pj's :-) The village is a couple of miles away, but we can see the fireworks easily over the treetops.

Tonight our friend, Carol, is having her annual New Year's Eve party right here in the neighborhood, so that's where we'll be. She lives right across from the village and every year we all plan to walk over for the fireworks right before midnight, but everyone ends up heading home way before then. Who knows...maybe this is the year?

I wish for you all a wonderful and SAFE New Year's Eve surrounded by those you love!

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Well wonders never cease...I'm still full of energy and I'm cleaning and clearing out clutter like crazy. It feels so darn good!




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I have the nicest friends. I really do. You...and you...and yes You too!

Just look at the wonderful "happys" I've received lately in the mail:


Alexandra at Silver Bell Cottage sent me these absolutely gorgeous cards she made. Aren't they incredible? So many details. Every time I look at them, it seems I find something new.

It's hard to pick a favorite, but the one on the left with the "K" has found a home on my desk standing up by my computer. I guess my very, very favorite is the one below. Oh.My.Word! Just look at it. It looked so pretty at Christmas hanging from a cabinet knob.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Alexandra!

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And look what I got in the mail today from Sheila at Gim'Me Memories!

Now how cute is this?!!!!! The straw hat and sunglasses is perfect for this beach cat Kat! I hung it immediately on my pantry door. So darling! Thank you so much Sheila for thinking of me.

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Happy Happy New Year's Eve!!!!

Hugs!

TIRED AND SORE, BUT HAPPY

Church was awesome this morning. Great message for the new year. It was a bad rainy morning. One of those that I was tempted to just pull the covers up and go back to sleep, but George kept bugging me (wink) so I finally got my tired hiney out of the bed. I'm so glad I did. I would have hated to miss today's sermon.

The rain stopped enough after lunch so we took a bike ride, but only got in 6-1/2 miles before we had to stop since the rain was coming back. Luckily, it only sprinkled until we got home.

My energy is still amazing me. George and I got sooooo much more accomplished in organizing and cleaning the garage. It's not finished, but close to it.

I'm tired tonight and a little sore, but still doing a happy dance. It's a thrill to look back and see all I've gotten accomplished since Christmas.

I want to start the New Year off organized and I'm working toward that goal.

Hugs!

STILL GOING.....

No time to post. This Energizer Bunny is still going. Gets loads done. Yeah Me!

But, I'll leave you with this cartoon that gave me the giggles. This is for my cold weather friends...be careful....LOL



Hugs!

I'M GOING AND GOING AND GOING

Just like the Energizer Bunny, I keep going and going and going! Amazing! Where did all this energy come from?! Can it be all the cake, cookies, candies, etc. I've been consuming! Maybe it's just one big gigantic sugar high. Whatever it is, I'm not complaining. I'm getting lots done.

After tennis this morning, I came home and cleaned out the refrigerator. I divided up what was left of the Honey Baked Ham and put it and the ham bone in the freezer for later use. Some slices of that will be r-e-a-l-l-y good on some biscuits when my Mom and Aunt come the first week of January. Oh yes ma'am! I also wrapped up the rest of that yummy Chocolate Chip Cake I made and put it in the freezer too. Then I cut up the rest of the turkey so we could have open face turkey sandwiches slathered in the leftover turkey gravy for lunch. George was in hog heaven... or should I say turkey heaven? Either way, he was in heaven. Then I made a pot of turkey soup for dinner. His all time favorite thing about the Holidays. He wants turkey for Thanksgiving AND Christmas, just so he can have some turkey soup afterwards. I add celery, carrots, rice and pasta to my turkey soup. Yum! I did alot of things around the house too. Organizing. This girl is moving! :-)

Speaking of the Energizer Bunny...look at this cute cartoon I found:

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I heard about Good Riddance Day on Good Morning America this morning. Sounds like a good plan, especially since I'm in the mood to organize, etc. As I'm organizing in the garage and some closets, I mentioned to George I need to get rid of some "stuff". He loves it when I talk like that. He said "Good. You pile it up and I'll make the trips to Goodwill." See...we work well together :-)

"In the spirit of starting anew, a business group and the city's sanitation department are inviting New Yorkers to shred their bad memories of 2007. Everything from photos of ex-lovers to lousy report cards will be fair game when the Times Square Alliance and the New York Department of Sanitation set up shredders in the Times Square Visitors Center for an hour on Dec. 28."

Go here to read more about it.
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Another sweet award thanks to Sandy at I Love to Dream, Live to

Create and Hope to Inspire. Thanks Sandy!

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Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself! I guess since I've been so busy today (and also since it gets dark so darn early), I set the table and dished up our soup and called George in to eat. Bless his heart, he didn't say a thing. I looked up at the clock at some point and it was only 5:05. It seemed like it was at least 6:30!

I bet we'll need a late night snack....

Hugs!

I HIT THE FLOOR RUNNING

Okay, something weird is going on. For some odd reason, I'm suddenly full of energy and I actually want to do things. Things like clean and organize. And cook. Something's wrong people! LOL

I woke up this morning and hit the floor running. Like my tail was on fire. I don't think my feet actually touched the floor though. Seriously, I was moving!

I got sooo much accomplished today around the house and even went out for awhile and did some after Christmas shopping. Once home I made spagetti with meatballs and I've just finished cleaning the kitchen.

Maybe it's because Christmas is over and everything is packed and I have more time to do "my thing". I don't know. I just hope it last. I feel energized! Yeah!

While I was out this afternoon, I went by to check on our condo on the beach. Yep, the one we've been trying to sell. It's the one we lived in until we moved into our new house. I loved living there so much...until the hurricanes made us evacuate so many times. It's in a non-rental building of only 10 units and we were on the top floor. Beautiful view. I just had to take a photo. Just looks how gorgeous it was today! It was pretty enough and warm enough to walk on the beach or sit out with a book. Sure wish I had my things with me. I saw a few people walking, but not many. Where was everyone? Maybe shopping at the after Christmas sales.

We live in Paradise! Look at that white sand. Look at that gorgeous water. Oh My!
I'm off to take a bubble bath and read my book while I soak...just one more thing I haven't done in awhile, but oh boy, I'm doing it tonight!

Hugs!

BOXING DAY AT MY HOUSE

Boxing Day is a holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. It is celebrated today, the 26th of December, the day after Christmas. I've always heard it's called Boxing Day because long ago after all the Christmas parties, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as clothing, food, tools, etc. to the servants who lived on his land. Each family would receive a box full of these things, so it became known as Boxing Day. I guess it's pretty similar to today when employers give their employees bonuses at Christmas. I've never celebrated Boxing Day, but I've had it on my mind today as I've been doing my own "boxing"... Thank goodness George offered to help. Between the two of us, we got everything boxed up and lined up in the back hallway. I want to label the boxes before we take them to the garage tomorrow. I love seeing the house decorated for Christmas and I always have mixed feelings about taking it all down and putting it away. It's alot of work to decorate and things sure do look pretty. It seems there's a slow, long, busy, exciting, frustrating buildup for Christmas and then BAM it's over in a flash! It's kinda sad afterwards, don't you think? Especially looking at the tree, all naked underneath with no presents. That's why years ago, I started putting some "fake" pretty wrapped packages under the tree. It helps when you first put the tree up and you don't have any real presents bought and wrapped yet and it also helps after Christmas when all the real presents are gone. But still....it's sad. I don't always take my Christmas down this quickly, but since my cleaning girls are coming tomorrow, I decided to do it today so they can clean up all the mess of needles and glitter, etc. we've made today after packing things up. So...this time tomorrow night...my house will be back to "normal".

Hugs!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Christmas hugs from Kat, Miss Daisy and George!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Well, just like you I'm sure, I spend the day doing the last minute things like setting the table for tomorrow, buying last minute items at the grocery store, stuffing George's stocking and baking a cake. It looks so yummy. It's a Chocolate Chip Cake that I saw back in September over at Tina's @ Cherry Hill Cottage. Lots of chocolate so you KNOW it's gonna be good.

George made reservations for a special 5 course
Christmas Eve dinner at The Beach Club....so delicious, but oh so much food! Afterwards, we rode around and looked at Christmas lights and then came home and stayed up late curled up on the couch together with Miss Daisy and watched "It's a Wonderful Life". It truly is!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hugs!

TRULY BLESSED

We're home again. How blessed we are! We had a wonderful time with our family.

Of course, Miss Daisy got to go too! She was a very good girl!

Yesterday morning, Eric and Angela had our family to their house for a Christmas brunch.

Here we are with 8 out of our 9 granchildren: Left to right: Kristin, Dalton, Karrigan in my lap wasn't too happy, Sydney Anne, Kaley Grace, Landon, Elizabeth and Carson. Zac, our oldest grandson, had to work :-(

Angela made a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits, cheese grits and we also had donuts. So yummy!

Everyone gave us a new black and white family portrait...all 18 of us.

We decided on the spur of the moment to go to the restaurant where Zac was working just so we'd all be together. We ordered drinks and a few appetizers to hold us over until Mom's party later in the afternoon. He was surprised!

Then we all went to Mom's Christmas party for the entire family...remember I said it would be fun, but chaotic?! Well, it was.....

Here's just part of the crowd

More in the back

More to the side....and there was more in one of the bedrooms....people here, people there, people everywhere!
Zac was able to join us after he got off from work.

Eric's still my "little boy"... playing with Landon's new toy...shooting nerf darts at everyone until....

his MeMaw came to take it away.... LOL

What a wonderful day! The only thing that kept it from being absolutely perfect was that our youngest daughter, Bree, couldn't be there. She's a first year neo-natal intensive care nurse and she had to work. She was with us for Thanksgiving and was also able to go to New York with us, but it was hard not having her there yesterday. We are truly blessed though to be able to spend Christmas with so many in our family. Thank you Lord!

Merry Christmas!
Hugs!

HO HO HO!

Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!

The "sleigh" is loaded to the gill with no room for ONE more thing packed and we're on our way this afternoon for two family parties tomorrow. We're doing our Christmas early with the children and grandchildren at a brunch in the morning. Then in the afternoon our whole "crew" will be going to my Mom's for the BIG chaotic fun party for the entire family...and I mean e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e! It's a zoo and that's putting it mildly. It's hard to move or breath or carry on a conversation. Pray for me!

Like Maxine, I drive a convertible. There is NO WAY we could go in my car!! I gripe sometimes about how big George's SUV is. It's a pain trying to climb into it, especially when I wear a skirt or dress, etc. But, thank you Lord, we have an SUV today!


Somehow, we got all this, plus Miss Daisy's crate, our luggage and my laptop packed inside and there's just enough room for the two of us! A Christmas miracle!

Merry Christmas ya'll!
Hugs!

BUNCO FUN!

We had a Bunco Christmas "gathering" last night...no games, just food and fellowship. Lots of fun!

Hugs!

I GOT TWO GIFTS EARLY!

My heart is full! What a nice surprise.Rhoda of Southern Hospitality has awarded me not one, but two awards. I'm so honored when friends think of me for awards. Thank you so much Rhoda!

I'm passing these on to Tonja at Gatherings and Kari at Just Livin' Large.

Hugs!

A LITTLE CHRISTMAS HUMOR

Christmas Hugs!