Getting There

The lights are up on the tree & most of the ornaments have been added, but I still need to put the garland, ribbon & angel on & add the tree skirt, which is blue with silver snowflakes on it.....it's getting there. Maybe I'll have it done by Christmas Eve ;) Okay, just kidding, but like I said in my last post, this week has been crazy busy & last night was the first chance we've had to actually start on the ornaments. It's so hard to put ornaments on the tree at night though because you can't see where you're missing spots. So today, I'll look over it better & add the rest. Jim's lovin' the tree & I gotta admit, the blue & silver theme isn't too bad :) I told him last night that we should have put some black ornaments on it, too since the Lions now have black on their uniforms. I can see another trip for more ornaments on the horizon :)

Now if I could only remember what setting to put my camera on to get a good picture of it. Anyone? Lorrie?? :) I just took these ones real quick last night because I was just too tired to play around with the camera at 11:30 pm. And now I've been awake since 5:30 am because I woke up when I heard Jim get up this morning & I couldn't fall back asleep.....I hate when that happens! I have a feeling it's going to be a LONG day :(
And, of course, here is Jim's favorite ornament on the tree :) We actually bought this ornament several years ago, but this is the first year it's been on our tree. Jim & I have a little bet going for the Lions/Cowboys game this week. I used to be a HUGE Cowboys fan years ago & they're having an excellent season this year, so I don't think that the Lions stand a chance, but we will see.

Here's some more of Sophia's Christmas meme challenge:
6. When do you put up your decorations? Usually the weekend of Thanksgiving, but since Thanksgiving was early this year, we waited to get our tree until the first weekend in December since we only get real trees.
7. What's your favorite holiday tradition? We don't have many 'traditions' really (except for the one in question #9)......unless you consider celebrating our wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve :) This year, we'll be celebrating # 18! I'm getting OLD!!!
8. What's on the top of your tree? Always an angel to honor my sister & brother-in-law.
9. Do you have a nativity displayed through the holidays? Yes.....although it's not up yet. It's one of our traditions and I don't put the baby in the manger until Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed so that's the first thing they always looked for on Christmas morning. Even though I only have 1 child at home now, I will always do that tradition. I purchased the nativity years ago from Home Interiors & just love it!
10. Candy Canes, traditional or flavored? Or Chocolate Covered Cherries? None of the above. Although I do like the Chocolate & the Cherry Cream in Chocolate Covered Cherries, but I throw the Cherry out ;) Now I'm in the mood for some!

Yesterday, I went to the dentist again & had 3 fillings done. You may be thinking....3??? Yep, 3!!! I admit, I was never very good at going to the dentist. When I was growing up, my Mom couldn't afford to take us, so when I had insurance coverage back when I was around 20, I had a lot of work done to my teeth then, but after having an absolutely AWFUL experience with that dentist, I was afraid to ever go to another one! But Jim found us an excellent dentist & now I actually look forward to going (okay, so maybe that's stretching it a bit, lol.....but he really is a good dentist!). And like this dentist said, at least I'm there now instead of waiting even longer. But now my insurance is maxed out for the year, so I can't go back until January & then I'll be getting another crown on a tooth that broke from a filling that I got 25+ years ago. He's also going to slowly be replacing all my old silver fillings with white ones so even though my teeth won't be perfect (like Jims.....he has never had a single cavity in his life!), at least they can look a lot better :) I told the dentist yesterday that he needs to just drill into one of Jim's teeth & pretend he has a cavity just so he knows how it feels! LOL But seriously.....after the novicane wore off yesterday, I didn't feel any pain at all this time or when I had my root canal done a few months back. Yep, I'll keep this dentist!

That's it for now....I think I'm going to try to get some more sleep since I have to get up early tomorrow as Cindy & I are going to WoJo's to make a Christmas Centerpiece.....should be a lot of fun!

Have a great weekend!

Benita

Christmas MeMe & More

Sophia posted a Christmas MeMe on her blog & I just love doing them, but she suggested that we answer a question a day up until Christmas. Since I don't update my blog everyday (usually because I don't have very much to talk about), I thought I'd do 5 questions each time I update my blog. So here are the first 5 questions:

Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all? When we do put up outside lights, it's always colored ones. I wanted to put some up this year, but with the weather we've been having, I haven't had a chance to do them yet & not sure if I will be able to now. Looks like Winter is finally here.
Hot chocolate or Egg Nog? Definitely Hot Chocolate! I can't stand Egg Nog! YUCK!
What's your favorite holiday dish? Homemade cookies ;) I know, that's not really a dish, but I love baking during the holidays!
Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? He definitely wraps them.....gotta have the excitement of opening them!
Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.....I probably should, though.

Jim & I decided to just go to Home Depot for our Christmas tree this year instead of going to a tree farm. The weather has just been so cold lately that I really wasn't in the mood to freeze for a tree. So instead, we went the cheap route (only $29.97 because they matched Lowe's price) & picked it up Friday evening....just in time before the snow storm hit Friday night. We picked out the tree, had the guy cut the bottom off & wrapped it up while we went inside to get the lights & some paint. By the time we got done shopping inside (10 minutes, 15 max), the snow started & had already covered the parking lot!

I was afraid if we waited any longer to get a tree, they wouldn't be any good as they were already frozen as it was. We could literally feel the draft coming from the tree as it was defrosting in the house! We just started putting some lights on it tonight (see pictures), but ran out of blue ones, so we'll have to stop by Home Depot tomorrow to pick up some more. Yeah, it definitely needs more lights!

Jim has been bugging me for years to do a blue & silver tree to honor his Detroit Lions (okay, so maybe honor isn't the best word to use after the way they've been playing lately, lol) & I finally caved this year :) We had purchased some silver ornaments the day after Christmas last year on clearance, but never found any blue ones. So when we went up to Birch Run & Saginaw on Black Friday, I decided to surprise him & bought some blue ones since they were on sale for 50% off. Now I just have to finish decorating the tree & hope it doesn't die on us before Christmas :)

One thing I do miss about our old house was the humidifier that we had connected right to the furnace. Unfortunately, this house doesn't have one & we've all been battling with dry skin, static hair & getting shocked whenever we touch anything metal! OUCH!!! So we decided we needed to buy a humidifier & got a whole house portable one. It's been running non-stop ever since we plugged it in today, but it's starting to feel soooo much better in here already!

I have a busy week ahead: Monday - appointments; Tuesday - shopping; Wednesday - bowling; Thursday - dentist appointments; Friday - maybe some more shopping; Saturday - going to make a Christmas centerpiece at a class at WoJo's Garden Center with Cindy. I'm hoping to get all of my final Christmas shopping done by next weekend. Wish me luck! Everyone already knows that they're not getting much this year & they understand, but I am determined to at least have something under the tree!

Off to bed. Have a great week!

Benita

Laughter IS The BEST Medicine!

Yep, it's the truth.....laughter IS indeed the best medicine! Tonight we went to see Dane Cook at the Palace & I haven't laughed this hard in almost a year since seeing Carlos Mencia last December. Dane is totally hilarious!!! I literally had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard! Jim & I are arguing about who is better.....Dane or Carlos. He claims Carlos is better....I say Dane. It's a tough one, let me tell ya! But Dane is definitely cuter ;)
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any cameras with detachable lenses in (which meant my DRebel had to stay home), but we could take small cameras in, so we brought Cassie's digital that we bought for her trip to Europe & snapped some pretty good pics with it :)

Being 5 rows away from the stage really helped, too :)

Yesterday, we braved the crowds & did some Black Friday shopping up at Birch Run Outlet & also in Saginaw, because I just had to go to Hobby Lobby :). I got some great deals on some scarecrows for next fall.....90% off....can't beat that! But would you believe that the only scrapbook things I bought were 6 sheets of paper & a few packages of the Spare Parts embellishments & that was only because they were 50% off. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought anything.....there was nothing that I needed or that interested me. Even Jim was shocked :)

Thanksgiving was pretty good.....Shawn came over & it was really nice to see him. Toni never made it though, so I didn't get to see my granddaughter :(

Tomorrow I think we'll just be staying home & doing laundry, cleaning & relaxing before Jim has to go back to work on Monday. But who knows.....those plans could change when I wake up in the morning & I may go do some more shopping :)

Have a great rest of the weekend,
Benita

Happy Thanksgiving.....

.....from our white home to yours :) This is what we woke up to this morning.....snow! And now the second year in a row that we've had a white Thanksgiving, although we didn't get nearly as much this year as we did last. I always love the first official snowfall of the year.....just so pretty!
Before we went to bed last night (or should I say this morning since we didn't go to bed until after 2:00 a.m. as Jim was baking his pumpkin pies), we noticed it was snowing when we let the dogs outside, but I didn't think it would stick. Boy, was I wrong! Luckily, the streets aren't covered, so it better not stop Shawn from coming over today.
Just yesterday, we borrowed a friend's leaf vacuum because we planned on cleaning up all our leaves this weekend since most of them are finally off the trees (except for the few that are left on this one, now with snow on them).
Just a pic of the car to show how much snow we actually got....probably only an inch, but it looks so cool :)

Today's blog challenge was to list things that you are thankful for. I'm thankful for so much, even after everything we've been through this year financially! So in no particular order:

I'm thankful that we found a house to rent that feels like "home" to us!

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband Jim & that he still has a job with the way the economy is in Michigan right now!

I'm thankful for my 2 great kids. Even though they're not always the best kids in the world, I'm thankful that they're mine :)

I'm thankful for the wonderful granddaughter that my son gave me & I'm hoping that I get to see her today as well.

I'm thankful for my health, even though sometimes, my aches & pains start showing my age ;)

I'm thankful for my Mom & Dad because without them, I wouldn't be me! :)

I'm thankful for my sisters which are my best friends. This time of year is particularly hard for me without having Karen here :( She always loved Thanksgiving & getting together with the whole family!

I'm thankful that we have food on our table, clothes on our backs & so many other things that I will never take for granted again!

I'm thankful for God. I know that he watches over us & protects us.

And lastly, I'm thankful for Pizza & Chocolate ;)

Happy Thanksgiving......may you & your family be blessed with lots of food, family, memories & leftovers :)

Benita

Very Sentimental Verses

Yesterday when Jim got home from work, he said that he heard on a radio station that Jon Kitna, the quarterback for the Detroit Lions (which, btw, are having an awesome season this year!), was going to be at Circuit City signing autographs. Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday with a very sore back, so I didn't jump at the chance to go to meet him. I'm hoping the back situation will be fixed now, though.....Jim & I took our Select Comfort bed apart last night & had to fix some things in it that had shifted around inside during the move. Don't ask me why we didn't do it 3 months ago!

Anyway, as we were sitting there eating dinner & watching the news, they were interviewing Kitna & he said he would be at Circuit City until 8:00p.m. So I told Jim to go ahead & see if he could get there in time, not knowing if there would be a long line or not. About half an hour later, he called me to tell me he got his autograph. YAY :) Jim & I have matching Detroit Lions suede jackets, so he had him sign them right on the back on the Lion (see above picture). Jim proceeded to tell me that Jon wrote a different Bible verse on each jacket, which I thought was really cool since he is a devout Christian. But talk about a verse that really fits me & not only me, but my blog as well :) Isaiah 40:31 which reads "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." I love it! The verse on the back of Jim's jacket is Jeremiah 33:3: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Yep, another verse that definitely fits!

Jim told me that they were also selling footballs for Jon to autograph & the proceeds were going to charity (Boys & Girls Club), so I told him to go ahead & buy one. The verse that he put on the football truly touched my heart with everything that Jim & I have been through lately. Joshua 1:9 which reads: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Yep, that's exactly the verse I needed to read right now!

Would you believe that I forgot to have Jim take my camera with him? Yep, me, the scrapbooker, forgetting all about having him get some photos of Jon! ARGH!!! But then when Jim called me, I asked him if he took any pictures & he said "with what?" Well, duh, you have a camera on your cellphone! Nope, no pictures! Sometimes I wonder if I truly am a scrapbooker :(

Cassie has been bugging us to go see Dane Cook as he's her favorite comedian, but when the tickets first went on sale, we couldn't afford them. But the other day, we received a surprise check in the mail, so I decided to look on Ticketmaster just to see what tickets were still available. Imagine my surprise when I saw that there were some floor tickets for sale. So I jumped in the car to go to Ticketmaster to purchase them & got 3 tickets, right on the floor, 5 rows back from the stage! Woohoo!!! Cassie is SUPER excited! And she knows that this is part of her Christmas present.....an early one since the show is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Nothing much else is going on, except I bowled like crap this past week :( Jim, on the other hand, bowled really good....203, 218 & 254 for a 675 series. In the 3rd game, he had the first 8 strikes in a row, but then once again, blew it! Ah well.....one of these days he'll shot his 300. We did end up taking all 7 points this week & last, so we should move up. We were in 11th place after last week out of 22 teams. Oh, and I don't think I ever mentioned what our team name is.....I'm actually the one that came up with it, using the first letter of each of our names (Joe, Benita & Jim) for the name "Just Be Jealous" :) Cute, huh?

That's it for now. Got some stuff to do around the house before our card game tonight. Have a wonderful weekend :)

Benita

Happy Halloween

People that know me, know that I'm not a big fan of Halloween at all. I don't know why, really. I just never really cared for the 'holiday' for some reason. Even as a kid myself. It wasn't as bad when my kids were younger, getting them dressed up in their costumes (most of which I made myself because I just never liked the store bought ones). But now that my baby is 17, those days are long gone.

I was hoping to see my granddaughter tonight in her costume, but Toni already made plans to take her out trick-or-treating down in Roseville. Toni said that she's going to be a princess this year. I told her that was the perfect costume for her :) She did promise to send me some pictures, which I can't wait to see!

Anyway, I thought I'd share some fall photos with you. The above picture is of my dining room centerpiece that I put together.....cost less than $15.00 to do since everything was on sale at JoAnn's.

Jim & I have to bowl this afternoon, so I doubt we'll even make it home in time to pass out any candy, so we didn't even bother to buy any. Cassie's a little depressed because she wanted to go up to Traverse City to spend Halloween with Emma, but her parent's didn't want to meet us halfway for some reason, so she didn't get to go. Jim & I are thinking about taking her to a movie or something tonight after bowling. We'll have to wait & see what she wants to do.

Jim & I have really been enjoying our afternoon walks when we get to take them. We found a really nice trail behind our subdivision that leads to another subdivision. So the other day, I took my camera along with us to snap some fall pictures. The first one, above, is of the trail.

The next 2 are of the trees along the way.....the sun was just starting to set & it cast an even deeper orange glow on the trees. Gorgeous!

Then I had to snap some pictures of the maple tree in our front yard (see below). Simply breathtaking! I really do love fall, but I know that winter's not far behind.

The one thing I really like about our new home is the fact that we seem to have a lot more wildlife around here......birds, squirrels & even chipmunks, something we never had back at our old house. This cute little fella was sitting on our deck post the other day, just letting me snap picture after picture of him through the sliding glass door.

Lastly, here is the flag that welcomes you to our home when you approach the front porch:
Hope your Halloween is spooktacular!

Blessings,

Benita

I DO Still Scrap!

It's been a LONG time since I actually sat down & scrapped, so the other day, I decided to just take the time & do some scrapping. And boy, did that feel good! All of the layouts I did are for the Design Team at the Scrapbook Zone. In the above layout, I used the new Daisy D's pattern paper & diecuts along with some Imaginisce Flowers, 7 Gypsies Brads, Bazzill, Hambly transparency & AC Thickers. I love these pictures I took of my son & granddaughter taking a walk one day, holding hands.....this is what it's all about!

The layout below is a 2 pager of my granddaughter eating Oreos :) When it was time for them to leave, she didn't want to go, so I gave her an Oreo, but she didn't want just one....she wanted the whole bag! For this layout, I used Cosmo Cricket paper & alphabet stickers, Bazzill, AC Thickers, Queen & Co Felt Ribbon & brads.











Then I did a layout of Jim & his sister. When we went to Indianapolis back in July, it was easy to see how the two of them are related.....same silly sense of humor & personalities! I told them to give each other a hug & they just looked at each other like "Yuck!" LOL Yep, they're related!

I don't particularly care for these pictures of me, but since I don't see my granddaughter very often, I scrap every picture I do have of her :) Here she was being silly & was trying to hide from getting her picture taken by Grandpa. She calls me "Gamma", hence the title :) More Cosmo Cricket papers, Bazzill, Queen & Co Felt Ribbon, Fancy Pants Felt Shapes, AC Thickers & brads.

Last night, I taught my Crafty Caddy Class at the Zone & had a blast! Everyone picked out their own papers & colors, so it was really neat to see all the different caddies.

Today when Jim gets home from work, we're going back to the old house to get everything set up for the yard sale we're having tomorrow. Whatever doesn't sell, we're going to donate. I just want to get it all done & over with & get out of the house once & for all! Wish us luck!

Have a great weekend,
Benita

Church & a Fire

For the past couple of weeks, Jim & I have been attending the Oakland Christian Church with some friends of our, Joe & Val, who are members of the Church. It has truly been an enlightening experience as well as very uplifting. And today was no exception. The pastor's son just returned from Hiati on a mission & today he preached about the healing powers of God. The pastor told everyone to turn to the person next to you & say a prayer for them. In front of Jim was a very tall, nice-looking black man that prayed for Jim. I had no clue who he was, but then Jim turned to me afterwards & said "I think that was Herman Moore, the former wide receiver for the Detroit Lions." And sure enough, Val confirmed that it was. After the service, we went out into the front of the Church & I thanked Herman for praying for us. It was truly a pleasure meeting him & shaking his hand.

Today, Jim & I get to go to Home Depot to purchase a new stove for the house.....fun, fun! Yes, we're just renting this house & the owners just put all new appliances in back in June, so you may be wondering why we're purchasing a new stove, right? Well, let me tell you, it wasn't planned! Last Friday, Jim & I were starting dinner & I turned on the stove to preheat it. He then went into the living room & I went upstairs to finish drying my hair. When I returned less than 5 minutes later, I saw smoke coming out of the vent of the stove. The night before, Jim put the plastic box that had the rest of my birthday cake inside the stove & forgot about it being in there. When we opened the door to the oven, Jim was able to get the cake & rack out of the stove & took it outside, but there was a small fire inside the stove. Needless to say, I panicked, having been through an apartment fire several years ago where I lost everything I owned! I remembered that I saw a fire extinquisher outside in the garage, so I ran out to get it & called 911. The lady was very calm & walked us through using the fire extinquisher, since neither Jim nor I have ever used one before. We got the fire out, so we didn't need them to send any fire trucks thank God. But in the process, we found out that we've basically ruined the stove because the fire extinquisher that we used was an ABC extinquisher & apparently, the A chemical will corrode things & can also contaminate your food. And even though we cleaned the stove as much as we could, there is still some of the powder from the extinquisher in the cracks of the stove that we can't get out :( Yes, we could probably pay an appliance repair person to come out & look at it, but they charge you an arm & a leg just for the service call! And that's no guarantee that they can even do anything with it! Yesterday, we decided to turn the oven on just to see if anything would happen. After less than a minute, it started smoking like crazy & smelled really bad! Sooooo......that's why we're buying a new stove today. Like I said, fun, fun! NOT! Ah well, live & learn, I guess. And now we also need to buy a new fire extinquisher, but it won't be an ABC one!

If you've made it this far, take it from me.....have a fire extinquisher on hand in your kitchen because you just never know when something like this could happen to you! And ALWAYS check to see if there's anything inside your oven BEFORE you turn it on! The funny part about that is, we never even used to store anything in our oven (except for maybe brownies when they were still in the pan) & now I will NEVER store anything in there again! Lesson learned! And an expensive one at that!

Have a great Sunday,
Benita

Happy Birthday, Karen

Today, my beautiful sister Karen, is celebrating her 55th birthday in Heaven. I'm not sure how old she was when the above picture was taken, but I think she looks just like an angel in it. It's a sad day for me, because I miss her so much! She was my supporter, my counselor, my friend. And now she's my angel!

It seems like every year at this time, I get really depressed (with good reason). But I know that Karen wouldn't want that.....she would want me to enjoy & treasure each day. She would tell me not to worry about the little things & things that you cannot change. The last time that I talked to her, in an email, she was having financial problems herself, but she still knew that she had to enjoy life. And the one thing that her & Jimmy enjoyed doing is what took their lives. But even now, I know she would tell me that she had no regrets because she lived! Really lived! I just hope that I'm able to do that as well!

This afternoon, Jim & I start bowling on a new league & I'm a little nervous about it. It's a UAW league that he got on through work. It's a 3-person team, so our friend Joe will be bowling with us. I've only bowled once all summer & didn't do very good, so we'll see how this goes.

That's all for now.....off to get a shower & run out to the Zone today to pick up some supplies for my upcoming classes along with my design team kit for this month.

Have a great day....and if you have a sister or even a brother, give them a hug for me today!

Benita

Finally Updating

No, I haven't forgotten about my blog. I've just been VERY busy between still moving into our new home & then going to PA last week. I debated about going due to moving & finances, but I'm so glad that I decided to go afterall! I had a really good time, just seeing my sisters, Dad & Mom. We arrived late on Tuesday because we didn't get on the road until 1:30 in the afternoon, but when we arrived, we met my Dad at a restaurant since we didn't get a chance to eat along the way (other than the snacks we brought with us). Then on Wednesday, the 29th, it was off to visit the grave. Both Linda & Donna were sick, so they didn't go :( so it was just Barb, Dad, Jim & I. We made a day of it (like we always do since it's a 2 hour drive one way), first stopping at Perkins for breakfast (love their pancakes!), then we picked up some flowers for both the grave & the crash site.
On the way back, we picked up some permanent markers for the crosses since the writing keeps fading on them & I just sat there & cried as I was writing Karen's name on the cross. We then stopped at a restaurant for Pizza & headed back to Williamsport afterwards. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous day weatherwise compared to last year when it rained all day.
On Thursday, I called Barb to ask her what she was doing for dinner & kind of invited ourselves over after she said she was having ham. I told her I'd pick up some corn on the cob to bring & then called her again & asked her if I could invite Dad & Linda. Then another call (by this time, she thought I had lost it, lol) to see if she wanted to invite Donna. She kept saying that Donna wouldn't come, but to our surprise, she did. It was so good to have all 4 of us sisters together again! We had a blast (as you can see from the picture that Kyle took) & I think for the first time in a long time, we were all able to actually laugh together again.

We left PA on Friday because we had to pick Cassie up on Saturday as she spent the last week before school in Traverse City. Sadly, my Mom isn't doing very good, so it was so hard to leave. She kept wanting me to take her to the SPCA so she could get a kitten. Then she wanted me to go get her car for her (her car was sold & Linda hasn't told her yet). I really hate seeing her just laying there in the nursing home, but there's nothing you can do for her when she won't get up & do things for herself :(

45 years ago today, at exactly 8:00 a.m., I came into this world :) When you start getting closer to 50, birthdays start being just another day. The weird thing is, I woke up at exactly 8:00 a.m. this morning, looked at the alarm clock & rolled over & went back to sleep. Every year, my Mom used to call me at exactly 8:00 a.m. to wish me a Happy Birthday, but she hasn't been able to do that for a couple of years now, so it was just weird that I woke up like that.

Nothing special planned for today except I know that Jim, Cassie & I are going to go out to dinner tonight, but other than that, I'll probably just do some more unpacking & cleaning around the house. My scraproom is almost finished (we got the shelves up & the Primas displayed), so as soon as it's done, I'll be sure to take some pics.

Have a great hump day,

Benita