Little of this ... Little of that

I never did show or say anything about Christmas.

We had a wonderful day.

It had a couple of firsts.

*First time in 14 years that we were in a different house.

*First time we opened gifts in the dark.  (High winds took out our power till 10:30 am)

*First time it was all cleaned up before 11:00 a.m.!  (We had the missionaries over for breakfast.)

This took a load off!

Layne and I finally decided to tackle the file cabinet the other night.

Looks like we put that off a little longer than we should have.

Layne had a business trip to a city just south of Nashville this week.  Judd and I decided to join him.  It rained and rained (and thundered really big) the whole time we were there, but that didn't stop us from finding some GREAT food.

We now L.O.V.E. Sarge's Shack, just off of exit 14 &  I-65, in Frankewing, TN.

I'm guessing there is more to Frankewing than the three little stores and one motel on the side of road,  BUT that wouldn't even matter because all you need is Sarge's Shack.

Here is my review:

House Dressing:  ROCKS
Ribs:  ROCKS

Fried Green Tomatoes:  ROCKS

Everything thing else we ate that night:  ROCKS

I told Layne that we needed to plan that trip to TN that we've always talked about, just so we can get back to Sarge's for a couple of meals.  He totally agreed!

*I loved it so much I wrote a poem*

Thanks to all at Sarge's Shack. 

100% sure that we will be back.

(Ya, the eight hour drive, in heavy rain the whole time, is starting to show.  I'll go to bed now.)

Gray Hair & Station Wagons

How young is too young for gray hair?

There are two different ladies that I see off and on, and I LOVE their hair!  It is just the right mix of colors of gray.  They both have really cute cuts too.  I imagine that helps the whole gray hair situation, but honestly, the colors they have are awesome! 

So, as I tired not to stare but did anyway, I was thinking to myself...how old do I have to be before I can color my hair like that?  I'm thinking I have about 20 more years I have to wait before it isn't weird.  But just the fact that I've thought about it so much (& now posted about it) that in itself is pretty weird.

Something I saw today - I was driving down the road and saw one of those old, long gray station wagons.  It had really cool yellow & black lightening streaks down the sides.  I'm thinking you really can't make one of those long, old station wagons cool.  I wish I would have had my camera to show ya.

What's It Worth?

Last year our sled's rode their last hill.

Justin has been eyeballing them at Wal-Mart for a good six weeks or so.  And this week the snow finally came.  His joy & excitement was unmeasurable.....until we went to buy one.

A couple days ago, Layne and I were headed out to run some errands, and Judd REALLY wanted to go hoping we'd stop at Wal-Mart so he could talk his dad into buying a sled.

We made our stops and then trying not to have to go into Wal-Mart (it was the day after Christmas) we stopped at Tractor Supply Store and Big Lots.  They had NO sleds.  Justin was getting real nervous.  At this point he had stopped talking and his head was sunk down into his coat.  Kind of like a turtle.  We wanted to call it quits, but Judd was so pathetic it pulled at our heartstrings.  So Layne pulled in and the two of them went into Wal-Mart.  When they came back out they didn't have a sled.

Justin had tears in his eyes, but he was still not making any sound.  I was shocked because last time we took inventory of the sleds there were piles of them.  I asked what happened and Justin said, " They are $40.00.  We can't buy one."  All the cheap ones were gone.

Okay, I'm sorry  he was sad, but I'm totally with Layne on this one.  I am NOT paying $40.00 for a sled.  He was down & out, but when we got home I showed him how we could make some pretty good sleds out of the big cardboard boxes we have from our move.  He was happy with the idea.  Good.  Sad little boy all fixed.

The next day Layne and the boys were at Lowes.  When they came home Mitch & Justin both had sleds in hand and TOTALLY out of their minds excited.  I guess what happened was this lady in line asked Justin if he had been out sledding.  He said, "No, they cost $40.00 at Wal-Mart."  So she said, "You better run over to Dollar General and check there."  Layne was wonering why that never occurred to us.  So off they went.

Why don't I ever think of Dollar General?  We have three of them in our town.  When ever I go in there I ask myself why I don't go in more often.  Sorry, just thinking out loud.

So they got their $5.00 and $8.00 sleds.  They put on all their snow clothes and went outside for a great day of sledding, only to discover this house doesn't have any hills like our old one.  Ha!  I don't know why that made me laugh, but it sure did.  All of our neighbors around us have hills.  Some of them have VERY big hills.  We have no hills.  I knew I forgot to do somehing, and now I know that something was to make friends with the neighbors that had hills.  Oh well.  When it isn't 14° outside we'll go over to the church.  There are some good hills there.

...These Are a Few of my Favorite Things...

This song goes through my head quite regularly.

So today I was driving around town and wanted to document some of the things I have loved this Christmas season.

We have a candy store in a little town just south of us, in West Liberty. 

Marie's Candies.

Cutest little store you've ever been into, not to mention the yummiest candy ever.

This year they have a tree with crystals hanging from it.  It is absolutely beautiful.  When I've gone though town I've stopped just to look at the pretty crystal tree. 

I guess this is their version of "Eye Candy".

Most of you know of my LOVE of snowflakes.

I still love to make the paper ones that I mentioned last year.

But this week I went to lunch with a friend and saw these darling snowflakes made out of wide ribbon.  I'm SO making these next year...and maybe a couple this year.  Okay, ya, I've already started one.

The first snowman of the year. 

They always make me smile.

And lastly, at least for today, pomegranates!  These little jewels are nice and juicy right now. 

yum, yum, yum

Merry Christmas everyone! 

I hope you have been able to see things this season that make you smile.

Where Did He Come From?

We got a couple of Christmas boxes in the mail from family.

Justin and I were going through them (thanks for ALL the candy Dad) and I'd pull out a gift and say who it was to, and who it was from.  Then Judd would go put it under the tree.

When we finished we had this conversation:

Judd - I wish we could live in Idaho.

Me - Ya, why?

(Totally thinking it was because after he saw/heard his grandparents, aunts & uncles, & cousin names it made him miss them.  Besides all of the candy, pretty gifts, and fun things inside the boxes.)

Judd - I could totally get my drivers licence a year faster.

He's 5!

(Oh, the picture isn't about anything.  It just made me laugh this morning so I wanted to use it.)

Pretty Kitty

I've had a hard time focusing, finishing projects and forgetting things lately.

Here is my latest example.

Our stake has the Beehives crocheting hats for the cancer unit at the children's hospital. Okay, I thought. My grandma taught me how to crochet. No problem. I can finish at least one hat.

Well, maybe for my cat.

(This cat looks amazingly like our cat! Here is how to make a cat hat.)

I can't seem to keep count with the stitches and my hands keep going to sleep.

This may be as far as I get.