Deck the Halls!

Well, decorating continues at our house.  But it is starting to wind down.  I just finished the shelves over the cabinets in the kitchen.  I just add snowmen, trees and other Christmasy things to what is already there--my apple and cookbook collections.  This has been a busy day.  I had school this morning with Isaac, Elijah, Esther, Abigail and Joy.  Joy worked really hard trying to finish her apron.  She came again late this afternoon to work a little more on it.  I think that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel...but it will take one or two more extra sessions to get it finished.  Elijah and Woody went to the Life Care Center this morning.  Elijah juggled scarves for the gentleman that Woody has Bible study with.  After they got home, Woody started in on Elijah's extra time...I turned Elijah's "Grammy time" into "Goosey time."  They made cookies together.  Elijah came back over after lunch to frost them after they had cooled.  Before school even started this morning, Woody headed to the Post Office to mail a Christmas package.  This afternoon after Graham read to me, I headed off to run a couple of errands.  I needed to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy and managed to find a gift that I was needing before I could send off the AZ Christmas presents.  After I was successful there...found present and picked up my prescription...I headed off to JoAnn's to get a couple of things that I needed to finish up my decorating.  That done I headed home.  We had soup and other things that we could scrounge from the refrigerator for supper. Nathan and Graham got our Christmas trees downstairs yesterday afternoon.  Graham came over after he got home from the evening church service and put the corner tree together.  I assembled the living room tree.  Today we started hanging ornaments.  I let the children put ornaments on the tree for a short time at the end of their time with me.  So tree decorating is underway.  I may go down and add a few more this evening...but then again I may not.  I am hustling to get an e-book finished before they whisk it back into cyberspace.  So I "need" to read...but I'm afraid that if I sit down to read I will fall asleep!  Woody is downstairs watching a DVD movie. 'Tis the Season!

Frosty: A Jolly Happy Soul

We have lots of jolly happy souls...when it comes to having lots of snowmen.  The mantel is once again a forest filled with snowmen...or as Isaac calls them: "Happy snowmen."  Isaac enjoyed himself with some of our happy snowmen this afternoon.  I was getting into some more of the Christmas storage boxes and came across some of my snowman serving dishes.  Isaac decided that we needed to have a party...he was ready to use the cheeseball dishes and little snowman spreaders!  As I look at this photo taken another year, I realize that there are still some snowmen that I haven't unearthed yet.  The Byers' Carolers have found their places to chorus us from this year.  I did find my orange angel holding the sheep and he has taken his place with the other angels "on high."  I have found trees that I will put up over my cabinets.  My decorating is getting to the point that I can shortly have Nathan drag our Christmas tree boxes downstairs...hopefully tomorrow.  I have to make a better path for him to drag them through first!  Woody did his normal Saturday errands: Walmart and the library.  Later in the afternoon he took his walk and headed to a nearby grocery store and bought a green pepper that we needed for the soup that I was planning to make.  Later in the afternoon, I made the soup that he got the green pepper for: Spicy Vegetable Beef.  We had that for supper.  Woody turned to after supper and cleaned up my cooking mess.  It rained last night and today has been a bit cooler and breezier...which makes it feel chillier than it really is...definitely a Christmasy nip in the air today.  'Tis the season!

Christmas Is On Its Way!

I have spent a good part of the day climbing up and down the stepladder putting angels on top of the china cabinet.  This picture is from another year.  I am still looking for the big angel holding the lamb.  I have also worked on placing snowmen and trees on the mantel.  I brought down the boxes with the Precious Moments Nativity and also "think" that I have found all the boxes with the Byers' Carolers.  So things are coming along.  I can see both the Christmas tree boxes.  I decorated my first tree this morning while I talked on the phone with a friend...this is a small tree that I use with the carolers. I cross stitched all (more than 50) the ornaments years ago for my Aunt Lois to use on a tree for her doll collection.  After she died I got them back so now I use them and think of her when I hang them on this little tree.  Graham and Kathy came over this morning and moved all the boxes and tubs of K'nex out to the garage till after Christmas.  I got that corner of the living room vacuumed...all ready for our big tree.  While I decorated this morning, I had the tantalizing fragrance of Chex Mix being prepared...one of those fragrances that sets my mouth to watering!  Woody took on that task this morning.  It is yummy, as usual.  Chex Mix means that Christmas is on its way!  Woody stayed with Joseph for a while this afternoon while Kathy and the some of the other children went on a bike ride. Esther and Elijah came over a played for a little while. They used the Fisher Price pirate ship (first pickle present) and played Peter Pan.  They watched Peter Pan, Live last night.  I watched it this morning on my iPad while decorating...I think that I will watch again so I get more of the details. Esther once again took it all in and can repeat some things line for line.  Wonder if this will replace her fascination with Frozen for a while...I doubt it!  Later in the afternoon Woody walked four miles.  I have Christmas CD's playing...Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney...yes, I am of the "old school" when it comes to whom I like to hear sing Christmas songs.  I grew up listening to them...so like to continue that tradition of my childhood.  Off to either get out the Carolers or...the Precious Moments Nativity.  Then I think that I will call it a day for decorating...tomorrow is another day to decorate.  I like not having a party to get ready for...so thankful that our Sunday School class will meet in a different home this year.

Jingle All The Way!

We have just returned from the annual Deacon-Widow Banquet at church.  It was a nice evening of fellowship, good food, and Christmas songs done by a trio of ladies from our church.

It has been another busy day.  My day started out with school with Isaac and Elijah.  After school with them was over, I went on the first part of Woody's...he delivered me back home and continued on his four-mile walk.  Joy came over after lunch for her sewing time.  We are trying to get her apron made for her to wear for their Christmas baking...not sure that we will be that fast...depends on when they plan to bake!.  Today she sewed on two pockets and sewed divisions on one of them.  There is still one more long pocket to be applied.  I took a nap after sewing time with Joy so I would be able to stay awake at the banquet tonight!  Melany called to report on Erin's doctor visit today.  They are having to adjust the amount of insulin (less...which is good).  Erin "crashed" (very low blood sugar) again this morning so Melany knew that it wasn't just because Erin was here and eating differently, etc. Erin is hoping to get a new type of insulin pump soon.  This pump will stop giving insulin in the night if it detects that she is going low.  This is such a different problem for Erin to have to deal with...prior to this new insulin she was often high...rarely low.  Well, we have gotten to experience first hand what it is like when she goes low...and we want that number to rise quite a bit!  Hopefully the doctor has gotten her pump adjusted to having less insulin and Erin will not drop so low again...at least she is on her mother and father's watch and not Woody's and mine!  I can rest easier as they know better than we what to do in situations like she has gotten into these last three mornings.

I have done a little more decorating...took more boxes downstairs...emptied them of their contents and filled them again with everyday decorative items that would fit in.  So at the moment I will say..."slowly but surely the decorating is happening.  

Caroling, Caroling

After I blogged last night, Erin did get the two shadow boxes undecorated and then put in Christmas objects.  I haven't taken pictures yet...I will after I get through more of the mess.  I have started finding the Byers Carolers, but haven't found all of them so the Caroler "scenes" are incomplete still.  We didn't do much decorating yet today as we had another traumatic morning.  I don't think that Erin's blood sugar levels were as low as they got yesterday, but low enough for her to be "out of it."  We couldn't check her blood as soon as we normally would have as she fell out of bed and landed on top of diabetes supplies and I couldn't get to them for a while.  Melany happened to call to check on things just as this morning's drama unfolded and she said to just assume that she was low and give her orange juice to get her back up.  After having this happen two nights in a row, Melany decided that she needed to come and get her.  She planned to come after her school was out, but was convinced by co-workers that she should come sooner so she got here around noon.  She and Erin ate lunch with us and then headed on down the road.  Once Erin comes up in her sugar levels she is fine...but when low...not good!!!  She will be addressing the problem of her levels going so low with her doctor and figure out what needs to be done to regulate this new (for her) kind of insulin.

I started to not feel well last night and didn't have the best night's rest.  I didn't have school with the little boys this morning as we were still dealing with Erin's situation and by the time we got that under control I was rather drained!  Not long after Melany and Erin left, I headed upstairs to "my" recliner and rested most of the afternoon.  I didn't even go to work in the church library this afternoon.  I called one of my co-workers and she said that she would go do maintenance (check books in and out and shelve the books).  After my rest I do feel better.

Woody walked four miles this afternoon.  He made copies of our Christmas letter and got them folded and into the cards and the envelopes sealed and I believe that they are mailed.  He did Wednesday grocery shopping...so we now have something other than "just" turkey to eat.  I wouldn't mind cooking another turkey...we love all the leftovers.

Fa la la la la!

Decorating continues.  We didn't get as much done as yesterday as we had several things that took us away from it.  First this morning we had a scare with Erin's blood sugars being dangerously low when she awoke...or when we prodded her awake!  Erin is a type-1 diabetic...has been since third grade.  Recently her doctor changed her type of insulin as she felt that Erin wasn't responding to what she had been on for so long.  And, at this point they don't have "things" totally regulated and we were the lucky ones to have her drop really low.  I was at a point that I thought that I was going to have to call 911 when she started responding and we were able to get some orange juice down her and also get her to eat a little...and thankfully her blood sugar level began to rise.  I think that I aged quite a few years!  I told Melany that all this might cause me to have a heart attack...Melany suggested that when I call 911 I can just go along with Erin!  Well, hopefully all's well that ends well!  Erin did adjust the amount of insulin that she is getting from her pump.  I hope she wakes up in an "ok" range in the morning!  She did get to feeling well enough for us to go out to Motlow Community College.  Our friend, Linda Hasty, gave us a tour of the campus so Erin could get a feel of whether she might be interested in taking some classes there in the future.  I think that the size of the campus appealed to her.  She went to East TN University after graduating from high school, but just never adapted to the academic world there. So maybe a smaller campus?  Time will tell.  We did pick up several brochures.  We came home and had lunch.  We did a little decorating...putting things in their spots as they come out of their boxes.  Erin took everything out of one of the shadow boxes.  I am hoping to find the Christmas objects soon that go into the shadow box so she can decorate them with Christmas for me.

We got started late with school with Isaac and Elijah this morning due to our "Erin crisis." So in the end Woody took over the last part of Elijah's time so I could get ready to go out to Motlow with Erin.  I introduced Elijah to Snap Circuits yesterday...so he is learning about electrical circuits...he is really interested.  Today we ran into problems trying to find batteries that had enough juice left in them to run a couple of the circuits he built.  He and Goosey (Woody) mainly tested batteries during their time together!  Goosey will buy new AA batteries when he goes to the store tomorrow!  Then Elijah will be all set to learn more about circuits.  Woody spent a lot of time today addressing our Christmas cards and writing our annual Christmas letter. After supper he walked to the prayer room at church and hasn't returned as yet.  He got a call today from Dr. Sosman's office changing his appointment in late January to a different day.

After our traumatic morning, Erin and I both took naps this afternoon...Erin's lasted longer than mine...she will probably be up all night!  I'm going to go see if she will do a little more box shifting up and down stairs for me after I finish the blog.  'Tis the Season!

'Tis the Season

Erin and I have been busy today.  The decorating is underway.  We have mainly been getting things off table tops and bookshelves making a place for the Christmas items.  The dining room table is filled with things that will need to be put away.  Just before supper Erin placed the three Christmas cups and saucers that were my mother's on the cup and saucer display shelves.  So there are a few Christmas items starting to pop up in various places all over the house.  I am having a modified school week.  Isaac and Elijah are the only ones having their regular school time and some time when Joy has an hour or so she is going to come over and sew as she wants to have her apron for their Christmas baking.

Woody walked four miles this morning and was back before it was time for Isaac's school.  A bit later in the morning Goosey (Woody) and Erin went for Woody's weekly visit with a gentleman who lives at The Life Care Center.

This afternoon Abigail, Elijah and Isaac spent some time with us...mainly with Erin.  She is a great sitter.  The children just love her.  They have played games, drawn pictures, played with the Fisher Price nativity, etc.  After supper Abigail came back to finish their game of Monopoly.  She had to go home a little while ago without the game being resolved.  Erin was figuring out how much she owed Abigail because she landed on Boaordwalk which Abigail had  put a hotel on...she owed Abigail quite a bit.  It looked like Erin was going to have a problem coming up with the money, but she managed after mortgaging quite a bit of her property.  I guess the game will continue on tomorrow...after all Erin will pass go on her next turn and start accumulating money once again!

It has been a fairly mild day for our first day of December.  It started drizzling this afternoon soon to turn into a pretty good rain that has continued on...at times fairly heavy.

I made turkey noodle soup for our supper.  We are still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers.

This is the night (a little after 8pm) that the surgeon called Woody six years ago and told him that the place he had removed from behind his ear was melanoma...which put him in the category of having 4th stage melanoma since it had metastasized from the original place.  And, a long journey began...a journey that continues.  I am thankful that I continue to blog about what is going on with Woody's health.  And, most thankful that most days all I have to share is drivel about our none too exciting lives!  To God be the glory!