One Day Closer

Kit from Bellisima Designs called Christmas Delights

https://digital-crea.fr/shop/index.php…
*
http://scrapfromfrance.fr/shop/index.php…
*
http://berryapplicious.com/store/index.php…
*
https://store.alldolledupstore.com/index.php… 


Hello,
 Are you being good? Are you on Santa's Naughty or Nice list? I am on the naughty list this year according to Santa but I will try to be better this coming year lol. 

 This new kit is from my friend Patsy. The image is a free one  from Caroline Blue. The rest of the embellishments are from Christmas Delights.

  I was sitting outside just a bit ago listening to the sounds of the neighbors behind us barbequing and playing music. I was also looking to see if I could see my bats and sure enough they made their nightly exodus. It is so amazing to watch them.
 People say how can you tell them from black birds? Well bats sort of flutter and they have a small point on their backside... like a small pointed tail. You can see birds wings as they fly in an up and down motion. Bat wings sort of flutter like an over grown butterfly. But they are fast!

 Jonathan has just left to take Nathan to work. By the time he gets home it will be almost time to go and pick him up. He just works from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm on Saturdays. Then tomorrow he will work an entire 12 hour shift. His work week will start all over again. So I get to have Nathan home most of Saturday.

 I promised you guys Christmas Tree photos. I am sorry that they are not very good. We were in the car and traffic was a nightmare and coming and going so I didn't get a chance to really get any good pictures.

 The story or I have been told is that this was started by one person. He wanted to decorate a tree so he found one on the loop here in Austin and he decorated it. He took a ladder and 3 large boxes of ornaments and made almost a hundred trips up and down the ladder. 
 Before he was even done there were people stopping and offering to help him and he said.... Go find a tree and decorate it. Come back after Christmas and clean up and take your decorations home so you have them for next year. 
 So that is how the tradition started back in the late 60's. 
 Since then people go out and they decorate a tree. Hospitals, schools, individuals, school groups such as FFA FHA and Bands, football teams, cheerleaders and others. 
 Some are simple and decorated with artwork from pre-schools and elementary and others from even Texas A&M. 

 My camera for some reason had a delay which caused some of my pictures to be delayed by a few seconds and that made me miss a whole lot of them. But Jonathan and I are going back one day this week and park along 360 so I can get some good photos. I will make sure my camera is in top working condition before I go tho... lol.

They have a tree that just cracks me up... It has big huge smiley faces with Google Eyes... then they have one with the M&M little men with arms and legs. 
 They also have one with stuffed animals, Santa hats, Rudolph horns, wreaths, candy canes, and some with lights. Others have the reflective tape made into ornaments so when your headlights hits the tree it lights up in orange, green and yellow. Awesome idea.  I am going online now and see if anyone has an update on it this year. Who knows, I might find a different story than the one that I was told.

Oh wow, I found a bunch of photos.... These trees are really a lot larger and taller than they look. I hope that you enjoy them. Mine are horrible in comparison, but again I was in a car going down the highway lol.

 Isn't this a cute idea? As long as people clean up it will be a great thing to continue and it must be working as this tradition started in the 60's so.... 
 I think that next year I would like to do this. I think that I will make mine with things that the birds and animals can eat so there will not be a lot of clean up to do. 
 I could make some peanut butter pinecones, and figure out some other things to go along with it. Peanuts for one. I will have to search this out and start putting a few things together. 

 News is running short here. The boys did help me today with the back yard. We loaded some more bags and I found 5 more so that will make 15 bags of leaves. Still have a pile in the back yard and the front and side yard hasn't been raked yet. 

 I believe that as soon as Jonathan gets home I am going to shower and call it a night and watch a movie. 

 Take care of yourself and have a wonderful Sunday! Before I go I thought that I would share a few funnies I found online... :)… BB

I really enjoyed this one....

I love beagles. They can just flop down anywhere and be happy. My Cisco was half beagle and he was such a wonderful laid back little man....

Have a good one!!!!

Merry Christmas!

This page is made with the latest free kit from Rosie H... (Private Group). It is called "Christmas Is For The Birds"

Hello,
 Well Christmas is almost here. I can't believe that it is so close already. The days are getting closer!
 I have some photos to share. So I hope that you enjoy them.

A work in progress. Karyn started decorating the tree. When we opened the box we found that there was no tree stand. Well the tree was just a dollar so she didn't really lose anything. It is a 6 foot tree and see the green ceramic vase in the bottom? She improvised with some cardboard and made a tree stand.
 We had to put it up against the wall to stand but it is still close enough to see it from the outside window. She just got the lights on. What a mess. I picked up the lights and when we got home discovered that they were not a string of lights. They were a net. I wanted to take them back but Karyn was not wanting to make another trip back and said she would get them to work and she did. 
 We took the top of the tree off and draped them down the bottom, put the top back on and pulled them up and worked them inside of the branches.
 The good thing about this is when we store it next year we can leave the lights  on and just fold up the branches to go back into the box. We don't have to take all of the branches off. They just fold upright!

Ok so this is the finished product... Now the boys and I agreed not to buy presents for each other before we even moved into the house. We decided that we would buy something we needed for the house and so Hello Washer and Dryer... But I do have presents under the tree.. They just are not visible in this photo... But remember the little green vase the tree is standing in? Yeah... Karyn put this pack of little wrapped gift packages (they were ornaments for the tree) inside the little green vase... snickering she said.. Mama no one can say you don't have any presents under the tree... hahaha... lol.

Karyn put out a few other things in the living room. I had told her to go for it. I was going to do something else but I changed my mind since I really had and still have to finish unpacking things we need that are still packed away. I am working on a box a day. Or was until I sort of twisted my ankle yesterday. Not bad but enough that it hurts if I stand on it for longer than 5 to 10 minutes at a time. So I just left the decorating to Karyn.

 I also have some other photos to share of the house. These are of the day we were moving in.

They are pretty bare. We still didn't have all of the apartment packed up so I was just basically emptying out boxes so the boys could take them back and pack up some other things.
 I had to be here to await for the gas man to come and turn on the gas for us. I know by the end of the first day/night we were all 3 awaiting for hot water so we could shower. 

Our bathroom is not really big but it is big enough. to the left of the vanity we have 2 closet shelves at the very top is great to store things we don't need at the very moment. They are large and deep.
 Under that cabinet is another one that has 3 shelves that are great for our personal items. Nathan has the top shelf because he is the tallest of the three of us and Jonathan the middle and since I am the shortest I have the bottom. They are the same size as the upper cabinet so they have a lot of room.
 Under that cabinet is a clothes hamper.
 I am not sure if you can tell but the walls are painted a really pretty medium gray with white crown molding. We have new vanity, hardware, tub (With my handheld shower) and new water saving toilet. She also sent her handyman over to install a new towel rack just for me.
 The shower curtain she had here I took down and refolded and gave it back to her since Jonathan had just bought a brand new one for us. I wanted to keep it as she gave it to me, but I knew that Jonathan wanted to use the one he bought because it went well with the new towels he got for us. And I knew she would need hers back for another property, so I told her I had it for her. 

This is all of the yard and the front and side of the house in the next photos. 

Well you can see all of the leaves, the front part of our patio where all of the leaves are bagged up and ready to go out next Thursday. We didn't put them out Thursday before last because it was raining and the paper sacks would not have held up so they are sitting in the garage waiting for next week as long as it is not raining. So many leaves. The front yard gets raked this weekend...

You can see the areas before the racking and after. I think every tree was giving us their leaves in welcoming... lol.

Then there are some photos of the front and side yard. I had to fix Jonathans blinds for him. He had no idea how they worked and the photo from the outside makes his window stand out oddly lol. 
The bushes are blooming. One is small red roses. I am not sure if they are tea roses, mini rose bush or a wild rose but it is so pretty and they are still blooming here in December. I will be scattering wildflowers in the side yard and plant something around the tree stump.

 The fence really needs painting but we may not paint it because it is weathered wood so we may just leave it. She doesn't own the other property on the other side of the long fence that separates
us so the paint might leak onto the other side of the fence and then that side would need painting. It isn't bothering us right now. We have a lot of other things to do first.

 The photo of the bags, right behind them is a small area I will use for my herb garden. I have been giving this area a lot of thought and I have pretty much decided to grow my herbs in pots so I can move them in out of bad weather or when it gets cold. Herbs will grow in a window sill so I have places for them.

 Here are some pictures of my bedroom. I have 2 very large windows in my room that gets a nice bit of sunlight.

So this is my room... My bed is just under the window of the bottom photo. All bedrooms and the living room has ceiling fans and Jonathan's room and mine have 2 windows and Nathan's room has 1 large one facing the outside of the front. Jonathans faces the side and front and mine faces the side and the back yard. The living room has 2 large windows in the front and in the kitchen is a glass sliding door going out to the patio. 
 The garage also has a back door going to the back. And... No carpet. We have weathered wooden floor slats. 
 Oh and the blinds... I just put my had under the center of the blinds and lift up. Pull down from the center and to open and close just takes a flick of the hand.

 Can you tell I love it here??? Oh I really do! I have lots of birds, I have my bats here. I have very nice views of the moon and that is just outside.
 The inside is nice too. It looked so tiny when we came to see it and I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough room but we have more than plenty of room. We have the garage for storage and a front closet so all is good. The kitchen does need a bit more cabinet's but we are going to get a metal utility shelf  for the garage and my pots and pans  dishes I don't use all of the time can go out there. 

 So that is all that I have to share tonight. Tomorrow I will share about the Christmas trees out on the loop of 360 and the stories of what I know about them.

 Until then.... BB

Oh My December! Where Did You Come From?

 Wow,
 It is December and I am still behind, I need to go back about 6 months and catch up with everything....

 This is a page I made for my Nephew Eddie and his lovely bride of (Not sure how many years now) Amy. I loved this photo she posted onto Facebook. It was a rare night out for Mom and Dad to be an actual couple. They went to a Christmas party and I was so happy for them to be able to get out there and just have fun... WTG Eddie and Amy... Get a sitter more often!

 So much has happened and yet not all that much at the same time. How can that be? LOL it just is. First of all we have moved!
 Yes no more apartment living. Now we have a 3 bedroom duplex. It is different than most duplex's in the layout. There is a block of 4 duplex's. Mine and one next to me separated by a garage so we don't have to hear our neighbor next to us and the two across the street is built the same way.
 I have met 2 of my neighbors and will meet the other family sometime soon.
 They are at work when I wake up and home later on in the evening and have children so they need to have family time.
 However I did meet the lady diagonally from me. I found out that the family across from me and next to her are her daughter, husband and grandchildren.
 The lady next to me is single and she works varied hours and I rarely see her come in or out but I love just sitting outside and I hear her in her own back yard in the evenings and weekends.

 I love our new house. It is simple, older and set into a really nice neighborhood. It also reminds me a lot of my first house when I lived in Nevada and I think that has a lot to do with how we feel about this house.
 Nathan was the first to point it out but I was thinking it as he said it. We had a 20x20 deck on that house that my boyfriend and the boys built and our back yard is not quiet that big but it is longer in length. Of course the yard in Nevada was huge but this one is just right.
 I have been planning my landscaping. Of course that is what I sit outside and daydream about. I have decided on Fire Cracker sun flowers....

This is the firecracker sunflower. Isn't it beautiful? It is also a dwarf so it will not grow overly tall but I will add some regular sunflowers in the back of these.

 They will go into the end of the back yard and across the fence line.

 I am also going to plant two different types of butterfly bushes....

This one is named Miss Molly..... It will grow really well but take up width so I will have to space this one. I wanted 3 but have decided on just having 2 of Miss Molly and in the spaces I will plant this kind of butterfly bush.....

This one is one of my very favorite. The Kaleidoscope..... I just love this one and believe it or not so do the bees.... So these will be planted at the far back of the yard. 

 And of course Snapdragons. I totally love Snapdragons. I prefer the tall ones but have better luck with the dwarfs. Then of course petunias. The more you pinch those the more they bloom, so I have lots of luck with my petunias.

 Jonathan asked if we could use one side of the concrete porch for strawberries and I had to burst his bubble... Uh No... Strawberries are great but I am not a fan of the tarantula. Tarantula and strawberries go hand in hand. They are not poisonous, but if you get to close to their strawberries they will bite. Usually it takes several years to attract them but I have seen a few in the first year patch.  Mostly they stay in the desert areas (the big ones) and love Arizona... but Texas this close to the Southern Border have them as well. Just not in abundance but since we have sandy soil the conditions are ripe for them most of the time.

 But I will compromise... I am going to order the hanging pot of strawberries. Just for him... it is a surprise.  

 One other thing that I love about my house is my bedroom. Located at the back and side of our home every night when I go to bed I hear a sound that lulls me to sleep and throws me back to a summer that my family spent in Marshall Texas not far from Shreveport Louisiana.

 My dad was working construction and he rented a 2 bedroom trailer house. Back then we did not stay indoors all day in front of the tv. We played outside. 

 The days were hot and long. Shade trees were not plentiful where we were located and neighbors were not close so we were a bit isolated but we could walk to a small store, go swimming at the small pool, get an ice-cream from Dairy Queen and my dads boss had 3 girls around our age not to far away from us.

 This trailer had a small alcove and a twin bed. The second bedroom had bunkbeds. I was the oldest and assigned the top bunk because my parents were afraid the other 2 would fall off. What happened was my 2 younger sisters ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk because the youngest was afraid to sleep by herself even tho we could probably reach out and touch her lol.

 So I ended up in the alcove and I loved it. At night we usually kept the windows open until it got really hot but I can remember loving that small bed and the window where I could actually look out at the stars.

 Early mornings I would wake up with my mom and dad. I would hear mama opening the door and letting our dog Rontu outside. Rontu was a Husky pure bred. We didn't have leash laws so he could roam around.  Daddy would call for him and let him back inside and go to work because Rontu would try and chase him to ride. He loved to ride.

 I was usually up by this time and as soon as daddy left mama and I would go and set on the small steps and watch the train go by. It got to the point that we knew the train schedule and sunrise was coming. We would sit there and count the train cars.... I have seen a lot of trains that had a lot of cars but I still think that those trains had the most. 

 I would go to sleep at night looking at the stars and waiting to hear the train whistle blow.... I would fall asleep listening to the clack clack clack of the train.....

 Here in our new house there is a train track not very far from us. I listen to the sound of the train whistle and the train going by. If I am lucky I do fall into sleep. It isn't close enough that I can hear the clacking but I have such great memories of that summer that it soothes me.

 It is now 7:00 am and I have to get my breakfast and insulin and start my day so I will close.... 

 Wishing you a wonderful day and will try to be back tomorrow.... I am not going to promise but I am going to try harder to sit down and blog something even if it is just a few lines.... Before I go I will share a couple of things I found online... BB

This one is really ME..... I found out that I am on the Naughty List on Facebook for Threatening to End Santa if he didn't bring me Lots of Chocolate.... LOL.... Have a wonderful day....