READJUST YOUR THINKING

Out with the old...

In with the new attitude.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2015

to all my blog buddies, 

friends and family.

ENJOY!

SERENITY VISITED

OLD habits die hard. I decided  to do something I haven’t done in awhile. I threw open the curtains in my family room and let the outside light in. The room is small and the dining room chairs have to be moved, to open the curtains. So it had gotten to be such a chore, I stopped doing it. The room has a cabin feel to it and I've preferred it to be dark and a bit foreboding. Makes it comfy, cozy. There is an intimacy there in that room I do not have in the rest of my house. But truth be told, something has been missing. And I knew just what it was. "LET THE SUNSHINE IN, THE SUN SHINE IN." I wanted to change things up a bit. I was itching to see our stained glass windows. I LOVE stained glass. These panels are usually hidden from view behind the curtains. Seeing them again, dancing in the sunlight brought me such joy today. I sat on the sofa with my cup of chai and delighted at the brilliant colors reflecting the daylight. Serenity filled the room. I will never take these beautiful windows for granted again. Do you have a place you can go to unwind from the stress of a busy day?

CHRISTMAS IS HERE

"We ring the bells and we raise the strain

We hang up garlands everywhere

And bid the tapers twinkle fair,

And feast and frolic — and then we go

Back to the same old lives again."

"Like snowflakes…

our Christmas memories gather

and dance...each beautiful,

unique and too soon gone."

From our house to yours...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to family, friends and Blog Buddies

"Christmas gift suggestions: To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To your enemy, forgiveness. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. To all, charity."

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN'S FRIEND

This is the story of a snowman. I saw it at a local craft show. He was roly poly, wearing a blue hat and plaid scarf. He carried a birdhouse and had a big button nose. He reminded me of Frosty, and I was instantly smitten. Made up my mind, there and then... he was coming home with me. I was so excited I could not wait to put him out on my front porch for the Christmas holiday. But... as I was driving home, my enthusiasm waned. I was not the only one with that idea. There, sitting on my next door neighbor’s  porch, was the same exact snowman I had bought. I was devastated. We couldn’t have twin snowmen, we just couldn’t. I’d never hear the end of it. They’d make a big deal, that they got their snowman first, and then they'd say, I was a copy cat. Neighborhood politics can be very  tricky. In my heart, I knew in order to display mine I’d have to alter his appearance. So... I rummaged through my garage and found what I needed to make him a new man, so to speak. First, I removed the birdhouse. This was no easy task, since it was nailed in. But I did it. I then replaced it with a wooden, red and white candy-cane. After that, all I needed to do... was to add a few more color changes. Putting a red scarf around his neck... and a red hat on top of his head... my snowman was now, no carbon copy.  He was good to go. He was uniquely himself, to my hearts delight. And he’s been gracing my front porch on and off, for the past decade. And, my neighbor’s are none the wiser.

LIGHTS UP AT CHRISTMAS, BEWARE

This is the time of the year, when people put up their Christmas decorations… bathing their houses, and trees, in pretty bright lights. Because the plug in lights are UL rated we make the assumption that all lights are safe. That is not the case. I want to tell you a little story about something that recently happened to me. I have alot of little vignettes throughout my house where I put lights. Because these areas are small, I tend to use battery powered lights. This year I bought a few boxes of them at Menards. I was getting ready to put them out and about... But first, I wanted to test them to see if they worked. It’s a good thing I did, otherwise we could have had a BIG problem on our hands. What happened was this. I put the double AA batteries in the control box and flipped the switch on. Normally the lights would light and you’d be all set for Christmas. In this case, I did that… and smoke immediately filled the room, as the lights started to spark. The smell was horrible. I had to yank the batteries out of the control box, asap, to avoid a fire.  It was a scary moment, sitting at my kitchen table. Can you imagine if I had not tested them first? If I had just put them in place and randomly turned them on, whenever, who knows what damage these light sets would have done. Thank heavens, I avoided a potential catastrophe. I tell you this, not to put a damper on your Christmas decorating, but to keep you diligent this holiday season. Accidents happen and you need to prepare to help prevent them. Needless to say, my hubby took the lights back to Menards and told them they were not safe. Hopefully they took them off their shelves to avoid future problems. Meanwhile, we got some new ones at Walmart that work fine.

THAT'S A LOT OF GARBAGE

We have lived here for 28 years. Since the day we moved in garbage pickup has been on a Monday, the beginning of the week. This was always convenient and we were happy with the arrangement. But things have changed. A couple weeks ago, we got a letter in the mail, telling us the pickup for trash was now going to be on Wednesdays… starting on the day before Thanksgiving. Needless to say, this ruffled a few feathers in the neighborhood because that meant we would have accumulated ten days worth of garbage, before their arrival. And because it was a holiday week,  trash being picked up in a punctual manner  was a necessity. Taking all this into account, I told my husband, they would not show. He insisted they would, and said the garbage company insisted they would be here too. I held my breath and guess who was right? Me. I called their office from 1-4 pm on Wednesday afternoon to ask where they were? All I got was a busy signal.  And then... promptly at 4:01pm a nice prerecorded message came on, telling me they had all gone home for the day. And they wished me a Happy Holiday. I left a message thanking  them for the unsightly pile of trash outside in my driveway. Needless to say, I never heard back. But the trash finally did get picked almost 2 weeks late. Have you ever had something like this happen, to ruin a celebration?