Works for Candy Canes (and Lunch)!

C

Isaac came over for the morning while Kathy went to her Bible study at church. We had school first and then went downstairs to tackle the tree. I "assigned" him the ornaments around the part of the tree that he could reach and I took off the ones above that line...and packed them into boxes. We sectioned off the bottom part of the tree and after he got all those ornaments off he got a piece of the candy cane that had been hanging on the tree! He was pretty excited about having lunch over here so we stopped a bit before noon to have lunch...he wanted to be sure that he got to eat lunch before his mommy came to pick him up! He had one of those little mandarin ornages as part of his lunch and after I started peeling it for him he finished peeling it. He thought that it was pretty funny that the peel looked like a gingerbread man after he got it off. His gingerbread orange peel man is sitting next to his plate. After lunch I challenged him to finish getting all his ornaments off the tree before his mommy came and he did. I got all mine off and was getting close to having them all boxed up before Kathy came to get him. Isaac is a great little worker! He would have done the work happily without the treat of a candy cane...the candy cane just made it a little more fun! After Isaac left I headed off to get my hair cut. Mid afternoon I got the "tree brigade" (Graham, Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph) to come over. They had the tree apart in no time. And, then carried the branches upstairs to the tree box that resides in the Christmas closet. That box has been dragged down and up the stairs a multitude of times over the more than 30 years that we have had the tree...so the box has seen better days, but we need it to store the tree so...we now just let it stay ensconsed in the closet and we bring the branches to and from it. Today the boys marched (as in hup, two, three, four)up and down the stairs with the branches. Graham packed the branches all up...and that deed is done for another year!!!!! Hip-hip-hooray! If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have met my goal of having the tree undecorated and put away before March 1! Thanks a lot boys!

Oh, and, by the way, Woody officially finished the tree as he took the last two ornaments off the tree that were too high for me to reach. We still have eight boxes chock full of ornaments stacked behind the glider love seat...but my back is screaming, "No, no, no!" So they will wait for another day to get brought up the stairs. At this point I turn all the Christmas decoration boxes (multitudes lined up in our upstairs hallway) over to Woody to be packed back in the Christmas closet. We had a very rainy morning so no going outside to work in the yard for Woody today. He did walk to and from the prayer room this evening. He is home and downstairs in front of the TV with a book and/or crossword puzzles. I am heading into my chair as soon as I hit publish...been a long busy day for me and I'm ready to put my feet up.

Can It Be??? Graham Is 15!!!

Isaac wasn't feeling very well this morning so I had a short time of school with Joseph and then Elijah and Esther each read to me. THEN it was PARTY TIME!!! Graham had quite a pile of presents and he had his own personal assistant who decided which present and then brought it to Graham to open. Well...most of the time the present got to Graham to open. One time it didn't quite make it there and Joseph just opened it himself! Graham just looked on to see what he got. Graham got lots of cool stuff...electronic things, things that have to do with cars, exercising, music, etc. He seemed quite pleased with everything he got. After presents we had cake and rainbow sherbet. We had a nice morning celebrating. After lunch Woody went to the Life Care Center to have Bible study with Jeff. I had a couple of cleaning jobs that needed to be done...things have gotten neglected while I was sick and while I have been attempting to undecorate! A couple of places in the house are a bit cleaner at least. I did get more done on the tree yesterday. All the needlework ornaments are off so the tree is much barer and the filled ornament box pile is much higher. Hopefully the last ornament will come off tomorrow. Isaac is coming over to spend the morning so after I have some school time with him, I'm hoping that he will be my helper. Woody went to Monday night prayer meeting at church and is now home. So we are settled in for another one of our typical quiet evenings. I will end by wishing Graham a BIG HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Emptier!

I think that my progress with the tree is beginning to be evident...the tree definitely looks much emptier! I have another box ready to pack up and the boxes stacked up against the dinint room wall are waiting to be filled. The stack of filled boxes have grown in number. And, the tree is definitely beginning to show bare spots! I think that I may remove all the handmade ornaments next. I like to take them off in categories. After the handmade one get taken off the rest left on the tree pretty much fall into a miscellaneous category. There are still a few that have specific boxes and then it will just be a "free-for-all" as to what box or layer they land in! I may yet meet my "before March 1" goal. Time will tell! Woody headed off this morning with a stop first at the Post Office to mail Cheryl's (my sister's) birthday present. If the Post Office comes through for me, the package will get there before her BIG day...another goal met...if it happens...and I'm pretty sure that it will...at least it is winging its way toward AZ! During his errand running Woody also made stops at the Library, the Credit Union, Aldis, and WalMart. Later in the day he walked four-miles. It hasn't been as warm today so the outside hasn't beckoned him to do much in the yard. It's supposed to dip toward freezing by the early hours of tomorrow. I have split up my time between taking ornaments off the tree and packing them up and resting and finalizing tomorrow's Sunday School lesson that I will be teaching to my ladies' class. We are now settling in for another low-key Saturday evening per usual in this Dorrell's household. I'm heading in to put the final touches on the Sunday School lesson and then I may put a few stitches in my sampler before evening's end. The day is ending just about as quickly as the month! Boy time flies when you are having fun...and...even if you're not! Oh! The elusive box with the bathroom decorations in it has been found! At the moment not hunting for anything specific! Praise God!

Southern Charm

I escaped "the hunt" today since I was whisked away for an afternoon outing with two friends in Bell Buckle, TN. We had lunch at Southern Charm's Tea Room. Yummy! And, I am still full! After lunch we browsed in several of the unique shops that comprise "downtown" Bell Buckle. We had a great time being together...as we always do! Woody stayed home and worked around in the yard. He also took a four-mile walk. We are settling in for the evening. I will admit to being a bit tired...but a good tired after such a fun time! My chair sounds good to me at the moment...heading back in there as soon as I hit "publish!" Beautiful day...though a bit windy...unusually warm temperatures...perfect for the outing. The wind is supposed to blow in rain and perhaps storms in the night as a cold front makes its way through. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow and much cooler on Sunday. Driving through the countryside today definitely said that Spring was arriving...or perhaps already here...couldn't believe how things were starting to green up...afraid that it being so pretty and warm is just a tease. We'll take today for what it was...gorgeous! Nothing new taken off the tree today...just put a few back in their boxes before I left this morning. I'd better get back to work on that "project" since my goal to have it finished is March 1.

The Hunt Goes On and On and...

Well, the tree now has three boxes worth of ornaments removed...can you tell any difference?!? I can tell that it is getting emptier, but...still an awful lot more to go! I have two large boxes loaded and have found all the ornaments for another box (bottom picture). I have all the ornaments on top of their individual boxes so now I just have to put them in their boxes and then pack them into their cardboard box. This is a smaller number than the first two boxes. I did the ornament hunt for a little too long today and have paid for it with my back giving me problems this afternoon and evening. I knew that I needed to stop but I kept seeing boxes that I knew where the ornament was on the tree and wanted to get just one more and then one more...till finally I had them all found for that box and then wanted to get them packed into their large box. It won't be long till the process speeds up as once I don't have to find ornaments for their specific boxes then I just layer them into boxes with tissue paper. But as my back told me this afternoon, I can't go at this for any length of time...so it will continue to be a slow process. I had school with Joseph and Isaac this morning. The others didn't come to read as they had some place to go mid-morning. Esther did come over this afternoon for her long time. It was a good thing that she didn't need me much for her cross stitch project. I sat in my recliner and she sat in the sewing room and did her cross stitch under the Dazor magnifying light that is in here. I couldn't get out of my chair when she got over here. I told her if she needed me to bring her project to me! After she stitched for a while, she went into the school room and worked on one of those intricate coloring pictures that she is doing with colored pencils. Her Auntie Cheryl gave it to her for Christmas and she has kept it over here to work on. She is doing a really nice job...very pretty. While she was working in the school room, Isaac and Joseph came over and started playing downstairs while Nathan talked to Woody. Jospeh went home with Nathan, but Isaac stayed and Esther joined him downstairs to play...then Elijah joined them. They really got involved in their play...lots of "things" got brought out of the toy closet. I told them that they had to clean them up before they left as Grammy had to have a path to the Christmas tree! Well, they took me literally...and just moved them away from the tree and left a path...but most are still in the living room rather than back in the toy closet. Guess I will give them more specific directions when next I see them! Woody has worked some more outside in the yard. I know that one of his projects is attempting to get some grass to grow around the stepping stones that go from our house to Nathan and Kathy's. That seems to be an ongoing project...and each year the grass starts growing, but as the year goes on either drought or trampling stops the growth. Woody went on a four-mile walk this morning. It has been a really pretty spring-like day once again today. I think that we will have warm temps for another couple of days and then they will drop once again...typical for this time of the year...back and forth between warm and cold. I think that I will go down and pack up the ornaments that are on the dining room table (the bottom photo) and then call it a day with ornament hunting/packing up. Woody is ensconsed in his chair in the family room with TV, books, and crossword puzzles. After putting those few ornaments away in their box, I will head to my chair and either read or do needlework. Sounds like a quiet way for both of us to spend our evening.

Mid-Week Doings

It has been a usual Wednesday, busy day for both of us today. I had school this morning with Isaac. Since Joseph decided to play hooky, Isaac got his school time too. Isaac thought that it was funny for him to get two long times with Grammy in the same week! Elijah, Esther, and Joy each had their reading times. Today was Abigail's long time with me. She is making another zipper bag and this time I am taking pictures with the iPad for each of the steps, etc. We will put the photos into a document and print it out for her sewing notebook. That way she will have a reminder of the steps when she comes over and I'm not home to get her into my iPad. She has made quite a few, but the last time there was quite a bit between when she had made her last one...so she got a bit confused when she tried to branch out on her own and make one when I wasn't home. She has a video that she watches that shows her how...but when Grammy's iPad can't be opened without a password that video isn't of much help! While I was having school, Woody headed off for his mid-week grocery excursion. He went to Aldis and Kroger. He used to just go to Kroger on Wednesday, but now that we have an Aldis he likes to stop there first and check out whatever happens to be a good buy before he goes to Krogers. He got home with the groceries before Abigail came over for her time so I was able to put away the cold things and a few other items. After lunch, I headed off to the church library to work for a couple of hours. Once again, Donna, Fran and I got quite a bit done and didn't open up too many "cans of worms!" I did come across one library mystery...it just wouldn't be a library work day without at least one mystery of where a book is or where its check-out card is or...! Woody went on a four-mile walk while I was at the library. I was pretty glad to get home and find "my chair." Woody cooked some pasta to go with the leftover pasta sauce I made earlier in the week...so an easy supper! And, all I want to do tonight is head back to my chair as soon as I hit the publish button on this blog! Only about three ornaments taken off the tree today...not enough to count. And, tonight not enough energy to go find even one more! At this rate March 1 will be here and I will still be on my ornament hunt...I hope not! I'm not even sure that I have enough energy to pick up my needle tonight. I have made some more progress on the sampler...but that continues to be slow progress, also. I keep having to do "reverse stitching" (another name for picking out stitches). I don't know if it would be worth even trying tonight since I am so tired! Tired = asking for stitching problems!

The Hunt Is On!

I'm sure that you have heard of Easter egg hunts! Well, I am in the midst of my annual Christmas ornament hunt! I would guess that between Isaac and me, a hundred ornaments give or take a few have been removed from the tree. Can you tell by the above picture?!? So far I have removed the ornaments that are stored in one of many cardboard boxes. Everything that goes in that cardboard box is back in it with actual room to spare...so I have left that box open behind a chair in the living room so I can add others that might not fit into another box. Along with the hunt there is also the puzzle making (fitting the boxes back into a particular cardboard box).

A little before coming up to blog I emptied the next cardboard box of its ornament boxes.

The hunt will be on till I find all the ornaments that go in these small boxes and then...the puzzle solving will take place when I try to refit them back in the box. There is one thing that I know...each and everyone of these small boxes fit back into that large box...one way or another! It never fails that there is an elusive ornament or two that is difficult to find amongst the hundreds that still hang on the tree. I had been looking since yesterday for one ornament and just found it a little while ago...that made it possible to pack up that first large cardboard box (many more large cardboard boxes to follow)! Part of the time I enjoy this part of the undecorating as I once again get to remember events and/or family and friends as I put them away...other times it gets a bit frustrating when I just can't find a certain one. At least the process is underway! "Maybe" I can have them off the tree and the tree down before March 1? That is sort of my goal at the moment! I have another hunt underway too...I just realized today that I haven't come across the everyday items that go back in the upstairs hall bathroom. I knew when I put away the Christmas towels and a couple of other Christmas things that I didn't find the usual box they go in, but just put them away in another box that had enough room. At the time I didn't think about the things that I needed to put back into the bathroom that I had stored away during the holidays. I realized it today when Isaac needed a hand towel and the towel bar was empty and then realized that the two pictures that hang on the walls weren't there either. So now I will need to look through the stacks of boxes that are in the hallway to see if I can find that particular box...or that bathroom will have bare walls till next Christmas when I'll probably come across the box with them in it. I will need to look through the stacks before Woody starts packing away the boxes in the Christmas closet. A hunt for another day! Isaac and I had our usual "long Grammy time" this morning. We did lots of school things and then he helped me for a while finding Christmas ornaments to store away. Woody worked outside quite a bit today. He said that he was just doing a lot of different things outside. The garage looks so much better after he attacked the clutter out there. Our garbage gets picked up tomorrow and the garbage can is a lot fuller than it usually is thanks to his decluttering the garage. Woody walked to and from the prayer room at church this evening. He has returned and is settling in for tonight.