We had a nice New Year's Day here at home.  My son Tim and his fiance joined us for dinner. I was making Tim's favorite, Spiral Ham.  We started with shrimp cocktail, salad, then had scalloped potatoes and brussel sprouts with the ham.  Dessert was a platter of Christmas Cookies.  Everything was delicious. I sent Tim and Dana home with a plate of ham so they could have it again for dinner one night. Here's a picture of Tim and Dana taken on Christmas day.

The main event yesterday was our little Jack Russell Terrier, Mickey, caught and killed a squirrel.  This is the second squirrel he's caught.  My husband was right there when the hunt went down and he said he's never seen a dog move as fast as Mickey does.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Welcome 2011

Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 brings everyone inspiration, love, peace, prosperity, happiness, good health, and most of all many blessings from our Lord.

Yesterday was a busy day for Bill and I.  We had been putting off cleaning our bedroom closet and decided yesterday was the day to tackle the job. We started sorting and purging clothes we haven't worn around 9 AM and finished just before noon.  We each ended up with a wash basket full of clothes and shoes we no longer wanted.  Everything was loaded into the car and dropped in a used clothing box.  We grabbed a quick sandwich and then went to BJ's for our bottled water and food items.  BJ's was packed as was the highway to get there.  We managed to just concentrate on the items we needed and we were in and out in less than 45 minutes.

Bill and I are not into the New Years celebrating and partying and are usually in bed before the ball drops.  We did a little early celebratory dinner at a local Longhorn restaurant.  This place was packed also and we waited 30 minutes for a table.  We both had French Onion Soup, Tossed Salad, and then Filet with Lobster Tail, Bill with a baked potato and I had mashed potatoes. Dinner was good but we noticed that all the serving sizes were on the small side and it seemed the pricing was a little higher than normal.  I guess that's what they do for a holiday.

I didn't get to make Christmas cards this year so I decided to send out photo cards for the New Year.  I had the cards printed at Walgreens, they usually do a good job with my photo printing plus they are very fast. This is the photo I chose:

Now I just have to address my envelopes and get them at in the mail.  Well Bloggers that's all for today.  Have a good day!

Time Flies...

Everybody says it, but really where did the year go?  Why is that when you're young time seems to drag, but as you age time just flies?

I can't say I'm sad to see 2010 leave.  It is one year I would not like to repeat for many reasons. I am however thankful for the many blessings I have. In 2011 I will make it my top priority to make sure that my gratitude is expressed fully to those who most impact my life. Not that I have been unkind, or at least I don't think that I have been, but I will be kind to others.  I will also keep my promise and commitment to get to know God.  I feel strongly about this...it is very important to me.  I am committed to weekly services at our new church and learn all that I can from Pastor in the message he shares.

On another note, it seems the snow from the Blizzard earlier this week is melting quickly.  In fact they say we should have a warm up with temperatures in the next few days.  Here's what it looked like at the beginning of the week around here.

Thanks goodness for our snow blower and our son Tim with his quad and the plow attachment, without these the job of clean up would have been unbearable.

Well that's all for now.  Have a good day!

Commitment for 2010

Wow, 2010. That's the first time I wrote that number.

As you can see my commitment to my blog was somewhat lacking last year. I also slacked on a project called Project 365. Project 365 is a scrapbook/journal challenge where you daily document activities and events in your life and that of your family. It's really a neat concept and then in the end there is this great memory book.

Creating Keepsakes offered a kit last year that had all the components you would need to put Project 365 together. I bought the kit and even pre-assembled the book, all I needed to do was add the pictures I took each day and the associated journaling. Well I flunked. I took daily pictures for a week and stopped at that point. I am the world's worst journaler...that would also explain my inattentiveness with this blog. I never wrote or jotted down a single thought. Pathetic...that's what I am.

On the eve of 2010 I want to change my mojo. I want to update my blog on a regular basis and also complete Project 365 for 2010. I'm already thinking and planning what my Project 365 will contain and how I'm going to keep on top of it.

Bill received a calendar sample in the mail and gave it to me. I had one of these last year and carried it around in my purse. Never wrote a darn thing in it except for a few appointments, but this should be no surprise should it? I plan on carrying my point and shoot camera and my new calendar with me where ever I go and use them both for my daily records. As I snap my picture I will quickly jot down my thoughts for that picture. Sounds easy enough...right?

So my desire to complete Project 365 is strong. I even want to post some examples of my scrapbook from time to time here on my blog. Keep tuned...

Donna

It's Been a Very Long Time...

Okay, I know it's been months since my first intial post. I don't know why I can't get started in this...I love blogs. There are so many that I follow, many that I link to. Maybe that's the problem I get lost in blog heaven. But, and this is a big BUT, I am determined to make 2010 my year to keep up with my blog, if at first weekly then perhaps more frequently. I need to get my mind set that my posts need not be novels, but rather updates to what's going on with me.

I'm on my last day of a four day break from work. I go back to work tomorrow and then I'm off until January 4th. The company I work for is closing down for a week because of the economic situation. I work for a commercial plumber in the project accounting department. Here in New Jersey construction has faced a tremendous slowdown. Our company has several projects in the works, but that won't be until late January/early February. Let's hope that the country gets back into a more stable economic situation.

So, it's a few days before Christmas and today I'm baking cookies. I probably will be baking cookies all day. Just couldn't get into the baking this year. I used to make fourteen different kinds of cookies and started baking right after Thanksgiving. This year I'm only making three batches of cookies. My Kate helped bake three batches last week on her day off. She's a sweetie that Kate. Actually she's picking up more and more cullinary talents and offers to cook dinner for us quite frequently.

As for the other holiday preparations...I made my cards and sent them out. I made my gifts and their ready to give out. I am about 60% gift wrapped and hope to finish that later while I watch some DVR programs. I have a story to tell about our Christmas Tree this, but I'll save that for later when I can post a picture along with story.

That's all for now...have a good day!

Off and Running

Welcome everyone to my first ever blog!

It's kinda of exciting as I sit at my computer thinking about the different posts and thoughts I'll be sending your way. I hope to keep you entertained and perhaps share some ideas along the way. Please feel free to leave comments and your thoughts also for I would also like to hear about you and from you.

I guess the best way for you to get to know me would be to start with a little on my life. I am married to the most wonderful man...really I mean that, but please don't tell him. When I tell him how I feel about him he gets all emotional...not a pretty site, just ask any of our children. Bill is kind, thoughtful and hard working. We are fortunate in that our marriage is strong and our hearts are happy. Bill has been a wonderful father to our children and will do anything for them. He is especially thrilled right now for we became grandparents for the first time two weeks ago to an absolutely beautiful little girl.

Our four children are all grown now. Tracy our oldest is married and lives with her husband Erick in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. Both Tracy and Erick work out of their home, Tracy as a digital designer and Erick with his own Internet sports memorabilia company.

Our second is our son Chris who has been married now for about a year and a half to Marcy. Chris and Marcy are the new proud parents of our granddaughter Mackenzie. She is an absolute angel and I can't begin to express how very blessed we feel to have her in our lives. When people ask me "how does it feel to be a grandmother", it's hard to put into words this feeling of heart swelling love. Don't get me wrong, I love each and everyone one of children, but the love of a grandchild is so much deeper.

Our third is Tim. Tim is our surpriser. All through his youth and watching him develop into the person he was becoming I thought that this will be the one of children to settle the furthest away from us. How wrong was I? Tim and his girlfriend, Dana, bought a house right down the block from us...only ten doors away! Chris often teases about the parallels to the TV show "Everyone Loves Raymond", but that's not true...at least I don't think so.

And finally our fourth is our daughter Katie. Katie stills lives at home. She has graduated from college some years back and works as an assistant manager for a local supermarket chain. Her hours are long and her dedication to her job is not surprising, because when Kate makes a commitment to something she holds fast and doesn't give up.

That's a brief little glimpse to the family side of my life. In coming posts I'm sure I'll be sharing more about family. Tomorrow we'll start to get down to the nit and gritty...ME!

Until then, have a wonderful Sunday and keep a smile in your heart.

Donna