Still Around...

I'm still around .....on vacation still so haven't had much time to update.......I'll be home later today hopefully and will probably add a lot of updates sometime in the next few days....no news on the truck yet......insurance adjuster hasn't been out to look at it yet....I went to see it yesterday to grab a few more things out of it before heading back to Viginia.....and itdoesn't look as bad as I origionally thought....so hopefully it's all fixable....Hope everyone's Christmas was a good one!r

Mississippi for Christmas

Well the kids and I are in Mississippi right now to spend the Holidays with my family....of course no trip I take to Mississippi can be without incident it seems.......I had a pretty bad accident in SC......we are all ok....none of us were hurt, nor was anyone in the other vehicles.....but...my truck is toast right now......we'll see if it can be fixed....it's stuck at a Dodge dealership in SC and who knows if and when it will be fixed! I got a rental car to finish my trip.....it was raining pretty bad....and I was driving slower then the speed limit...but as I came around a bend there was a car in the concrete divider in the left lane and two cars stopped in left lane waiting for a break in the middle lane to get around...visibility was not good and when I noticed they were actually stopped I went to brake and the road was so slippery that NOTHING happened..... the first car in front of me( actually a pickup truck) tried to pullout around the car in front of him to avoid me hitting him but he wasn't quite fast enough and I clipped the back corner of him and then went on to hit the car in front of him...then Brandon actually hit me from behind as well( we took two cars Brandon was following)....brandon's car is fine ..no damage at all....as a matter of fact the cop pretty much talked us into claiming Brandon never hit me..LOL...he asked about 20 times if we were 'sure" he hit me....cause IF he didn't ...he wouldn't have to write Brandon a citation....etc etc..so we finally got the hint and said yeah ok he didn't hit me.....I was sooo worried about getting into an accident on this trip too...after the LAST trip......instead of celebrating Easter last year we had to plan a funeral....I didn't want to do that to my mother again for Christmas....thank GOD we are all ok......I haven't been able to tell Brad yet because he hasn't called...I was hoping he'd call last night but didn't...I don't really want to call HIM....because I don't call other then emergencies, and I don't want to scare him.....since we're all fine..I could e-mail him but I really want to tell him personally,...I guess if he doesn't call in the next day or so I'll have to just tell him in e-mail....then as if that wasn't enough.....we lost Brandon in Atlanta!! I wasn't paying attention to the signs and almost missed my exit for 85( where 75 and 85 split from each other)....I made the exit but Brandon behind me didn't.....so then he had to turn around try to get back passed where 85 splits off but coming from the other direction you can't get onto 85 there so you have to go past and then get off and on again....but when the got off they were stuck on a one way road and couldn't get back to the highway and so they had to drive around a bit to find a way back......it took them 2 hours of me driving super slow...to catch back up with me...anyway I'm here....and relatively calm

Sad Day Saturday

Saturday was a sad day for our family ..our beloved Cat of 15 years, LeChat....passed away ....it seemed painless and peaceful.....the night before Rachel had found her laying in the tub...I guess she carried her downstairs and placed her near her food and water...she said she tried to take a few steps but stumbled and then just lay where she was ...the next morning when I got up I found her where Rachel had left her...she was still breathing...but unresponsive.....we sat with

her most of the day, petting her and trying to make sure she was comfortable.....I had to leave for a little while to pick up Britt at a friends home ..I was going to take her directly to another friends home for the night...but when I told her about LeChat.....she wanted to go home first...she spent an hour sitting with her and petting her....and then finally she breathed her last.... we buried her under the kitchen window where she often liked to sit and watch the birds in the yard...we aren't supposed to bury pets in our yards in this area...but i couldn't bear to have her 'disposed" of by strangers......

Christmas Tour.

I missed the Tour of Homes BooMama hosted last summer.....so when I saw she was doing a Christmas Tour of Homes I wanted to be sure to participate.....I almost forgot!!!!

so here is a Tour of our Home.......most of these pictures I've already posted during the last couple of weeks....

Here is our front door...Come on in......

And now you are just inside the front door......there's more to the foyer....but this is the only spot I've decorated....

If you look up you'll see our Big Wreath...this usually hangs outside above the front door...but with hubby deployed this year I am too chicken to climb the ladder to hang it...LOL

Come on into the living room and get comfortable

The Stockings are now hung by the chimney with care...

As you leave the Living Room you enter dining room....please ignore the boxes in the corner and the pictures lying on the floor...

Around the corner to your left is the Kitchen.....here you see the window over my sink...I really like how this vigniette turned out..and there you see our kitchen table complete with Advent Wreath

I Wish I had a recipe to share but I've gotten pretty lazy in my old age.....my idea of 'baking" involves buying Pillsbury cookie dough....my favorites are Pillsbury Peanutbutter Cookie
Dough with Chocolate Kisses stuck in the middle while they are still warm....

Chapel Tree

Here is our Chapel Tree...this year we decided to decorate it with family pictures of both congregations.....it turned out really nice....


Here's us!!!

Advent

I found a really cute advent garland at Target the other day....little packages in a string....each one has a chocolate and a little messege inside....once you open them you have a star on the garland...


I also just finished making new stockings for the kids... I had made them some a few years back but they are pretty big....now that they are nearly all grown it's so hard to find things to 'fill" their old ones with.....so I made new smaller ones....plus these go more with my simpler Christmas look...

Busy Busy Busy

What a busy weekend! I did a ton of cleaning and rearranging..and reorganizing and decorating......Britt had a dinner for her gymnastics team tonight...We made Tacos ....and they all seemed to enjoy the evening....whew....am I tired....




































add to that .....this weekend was the last weekend for our present Chaplain... he is being transferred to Japan.....it was also the first weekend for our New Chaplain...she seems very nice...so we had a Hail and Farewell....at church after the Protestant Service....I was asked by our Women's Group to make a photo albulm for them ....I had made one for another couple( very good friends of ours) who recently left...it was fun putting it together....but it made me realize ...I should try to take more pictures...of events at our church...it would be nice to have an ongoing album at Church depicting all the different events and occasions that we particpate in...I think it would be a great project for our Women's Group.also need to try to get pics of some of the Protestant congregation...almost all the pics I have are of the Catholic congregation..as that is what I belong to...







Here Everyone is Waving to Brad ...I took this one for Brad... I'll send it in e-mail ...I also took video of them all singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that I plan to send him...I am feeling ever so much better these days....he was able to Call on Saturday..it was so good to hear his voice.






Also made two more squares on the Deployment Blanket.....one is a Dark Navy from some scraps my secret pal had sent...the other is from a scrap ball I found earlier today( cleaning and reorganzing has benefits..LOL) from one of the first socks I made...I'm not making a whole lot of progress, as I've run out of different scraps....and can't knit fast enough to keep up...I'm at least a month behind in squares( I had origionally wanted to make a square for each day of the deployment...a sortof 'countdown"...each one in a different yarn) I think at this point I will probably have to break down and start making duplicate squares.....

Trying Something New

I just listed a bunch of linens on eBay....you can browse at my eBay store here:

http://stores.ebay.com/shopmaggiibleu


but I also thought why not see if I could sell directly from my blog....so I looked around Paypal and saw where I can make a button for people to purchase from my 'website"...so here's my first attempt.....shippping is included on the total price.....


Spa Collection Warming Trend Green Tea Therapy
This self-heating masque bathes skin in restorative vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C and D. Behold a radiant new glow!
#3587 5 oz SALE $15.00 (normally sells for $22.50)

Early Christmas Gift

I found these at Target( My how I LOVE that store..LOL) so I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas Gift....aren't they the coolest!!!...and although they're kind of Christmassy....they aren't 'overtly" so ...so I should be able to use them after Christmas as well...at least during the 'winter"....



























last year I bought some Tracey Porter dishes..I absolultey love her style and was soo excited to have some of her dishes in my home....they were very beautiful too.....as with these new ones, hers were Christmassy but not overtly so....and I was able to get away with using them all year.....unfortunatley though....they chipped way too easily and now nearly every dish of that set has a chip of some sort.....it was pretty dissappointing too because I expected better quality of her designs....many of the dishes chipped right after I bought them...

anyway here's hoping these are a little sturdier and will last.... couldn't wait to start using them....there's lunch:

My Favorite.....

ornaments......

this first ornament is from Amsterdam, Holland..Brad brought it back from one of his Naval Conferences a couple of years ago...






This one I made many years ago....before the girls were born...










My mother made this one the year Nate was born ...she also made one each for Brandon, Brad and me....









And this one Rachel made for me in Kindergarden.....about 14 years ago?










This is my Tree topper this year...I found it at Target...it reminds me of the Holy Spirit...so I figured what better symbol to have at the top of our tree...

Sunday

Church went well....Britt and I sing in the choir and lately there've been problems with the organist losing his place and not giving us our entrances....he has a lot of health problems and is very medicated and we think he's losing his vision...but being part of our music program is very important to him so what can you do?..his heart is in the right place...and it means so much to him....a decision was made though, that from now on , Britt would lead with guitar and then he can join in with the organ..so this week it all went VERY well....

then after church everyone was invited to write Christmas cards for Brad to hand out to his shipmates......every year the Knights of Columbus sell Religious Christmas cards...they had a lot of boxes leftover this year..soo...they decided to donate them to us, to send to Brad's ship...all the CCD kids got to write out cards for 'any sailor" and all the parents too....I also had my own class make cards for Brad....they are so cute......I teach 3rd and 4th grade....and they are sooooo creative.....even the cards they signed for the sailors were decorated with their own artwork....and very colorful writing....it's really cool to see how caring and loving children are...you could see the Joy they were getting out of it all....

we got tons of cookies donated as well ...so Brad will soon be getting a huge box of cookies to share with his shipmates....

After Church Britt and I did a little shopping, then we came home and we made ClamChowder and Texas Toast....the boys were home as well, so we were all able to sit down to a 'family' meal...gathered around the table, we lit the first candle of our Advent Wreath...it was an enjoyable meal....we dont often get to have real family meal as everyone's schedules are so crazy, it's hard to get us all together ...

So Much to Do...

so little time......what a busy weekend.....first Britt and I baked a few batches of cookies...these will be sent to my husband on the USS Eisenhower to share with his shipmates....other women from our church are also baking cookies to send.....so hopefully there will be lots of cookies to share.....while the cookies were baking Britt brought all the Christmas decorations down from the attic and we finished decorating the tree...it came out perfect!! I LOVE it....I don't think we're going to go too overboard with the decor this year.....we wont even actually BE here for Christmas anyway...plus I jsut want to keep it all simple this year....as Britt was adding ornaments to the tree ..I decorated the mantle in honor of my husband... the large painting is of the Submarine my husband was first deployed on back when Britt was a baby....as is the large Submarine Model...The USS Georgia......the next largest is the USS Norfolk which is the submarine DH was on when we first moved here......and the small one is a Columbian submarine that DH was a guest on a few years ago.....the small picture is a certificate they gave him making him an honorary member of their Navy...


I've also put together an Advent Wreath for the kitchen table.....each Sunday as we sit to have Sunday Dinner we'll light the appropriate candles....