Love is....

The gift of love! I thought this sweet little love is... presents well for Marydon and all the ladies who participate with Love is...

It is also blue so I may share it with Sally and all the Blue Monday participates!

A blue baby for your morning smile:

I will get my Jayden's Santa photo up later this week! He has such pretty blue eyes that he looks so good in blue! This fellow is happy! I think he adds a nice blue tone here today!

 Blue Christmas tree lights to sparkle your day!

Please visit the ladies who host and all the wonderful participates. Have a "Love"ly day and a blue Monday too!

Let's Get Organized!

All my January 2012 magazines are arriving! They all have the same theme, "Let's get organized". I feel like a slug! My Christmas tree is not up and I am lucky that I have a huge window decal of the Nativity in my front window! I have two Nativity's frame on the walls. One is a cross stitch I found at the thrift store and the other one our middle daughter made 10 years ago ! We are doing a Secret Santa at our house so it means my Sweets, Nick and I just need to shop for one gift each, for our Secret Santa! I guess I need to heed the organizing articles and put them to good use!
My oldest daughter received a cool gift for her birthday December 13th. Here is a google image of it:

Cool pink tools to work with this:

And the ultimate pink kitchen tool:

I hope you stop by and wish Beverly well for hosting each week. Perhaps Christmas week I can post some real pink around my house!

Enjoy more pinks by visiting lots of pinkies this week! Enjoy the weekend!

A Prayerful Request

My friend Teresa is going through a difficult time! She has been getting treatment for breast cancer and had a set back! Ugh! Life is cruel to good people. she is such a wonderful lady. She does the billing for the office where I work. Her husband took a job in Wyoming and they moved there nearly two years ago. She is a first time grandmother with a super sweet baby boy just a few hours away from her. She has a good heart. A kind soul. A graceful woman with tremendous faith. But she is having a rough time. I am asking anyone who would be kind to send her a greeting. A word of encouragement in the form of a card or letter. I know many women have been down this road and I know you probably know the exact words to say to her because you fully understand the set backs, The rigorous treatment schedules. The many appointments with various providers. I just want to brighten her day more often because she is a doll! Today I was at  lunch and she called me. The other gal I work with took a message and said Teresa said it was not urgent. I called thinking I forgot to send a path report with the OP report on a patient she was billing insurance for. She said no, I had sent all the documents she needed. She said she wanted to hear my voice because I was kind! I listened! I said encouraging things to her. Talk about a girl having her day made! I was grinning from ear to ear!

I know I should make this short and sweet but I was going to post a similar blog anyway before I found out what Teresa was dealing with!
Did you know when I was thirteen years old I requested a pen pal from Tiger Beat magazine?

I loved Paul Revere and the Raiders and Peter Noone of Herman 's Hermits (photo above) along with the Monkees. I really wanted to meet a California girl pen pal and received hundreds of requests! My father thought I was insane! He said the mailman was going to be mad at me! Ha Ha! So I selected several and wrote letters to them. All these years later I am still friendly with Barb. She was one of the California girls that wrote to me! I was so excited. I thought I was  a teen celebrity! It made me so happy to get all that mail. There is something aobut a personal message that makes me happy. My friend Lynette is the first person to send me a birthday card and I don't think  she has missed one in all the years we have known each other. Age 3, crashing tricycles on the sidewalk in front of "Annie's" house my neighbor lady as a kid!  We are still friends. It means so much to me when she sends a greeting my way! Karen, my playpen buddy since we were old enough to sit up together! She is in Idaho. She is a colon cancer survivor. Do you know the first thing she did when she recovered from her cancer? She called me to warn me about the perils of colon cancer and she wrote me a letter!
A personal hand written note can literally save someones life.
Take my friend Amelia, I meet her through my doctors office. She lost her only daughter to breast cancer close to Christmas two years ago! She is an exceptional lady. First class and she remembers me each year with a Christmas card addressed to myself and my phamily. I love knowing her!
When our unborn daughter died in 1987 I was devastated yet even today I keep that stack of cards and letters in a box so I can reread them! It still gives me great comfort to know how many people cared about me and still do!
So if you can take a moment to send Teresa a card  or note let me know. I will give you all the detail in sending a card her way. Also Suzanne was very kind and posted on her blog too.
Thanks everyone and enjoy the weekend! It is coming our way soon!

"F" is for Fruitcake

Welcome to the "F" addition of Ms. Jenny's weekly learning lesson! I love participating in this alphabet fun! Keep the brain sharp! I like to use my imagination, I always have, so I put my post up and I start thinking about the next letter! It is so much fun!

Let's talk fruitcakes!

Now I have L O V E D Jimmy Buffett since he sang all these silly songs ! He can have a bit of colorful language so please forgive me! I had to share it! If you can not load the video here go to www.youtube.com/.

You either love a fruitcake or hate them! Now I am talking about the holiday cake many receive as a gift! I was visting Suzanne. She is the Colorado Lady who decided to bake her own fruitcake. Her story involved a cookbook she inherited from her grandmother and inside it, she found a recipe for a fruitcake. By the time she bought all the ingredients she said it cost a small fortune! You should visit her and read the story. I was being very clever and I said to her, "Suzanne, why don't you Texas girls buy your fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas?" She said "I thought they were too expensive until I  made my own!" I know about these fruitcakes because I worked with  a doctor who was a native of Texas and he bought them for us at Christmas. After a few years he starting bringing us fruit, oranges and grapefruits because that seemed healthier but I always enjoyed those fruitcakes and think I may have to order one one of these days!

I hope your holiday season is fabulous, fun and full of family and friendship! Please visit Jenny and all the participates of Alphabe Thursday!

Love is.....So much more

Good morning! Since I was suppose to share my giveaway winner from my birthday giveaway which ran from last Saturday through yesterday. I will annouce that winner first! Drum roll.....
It is Sandie! She is a terrific blogger and her Chatty Crone space is one I know many of you know! Please visit her and wish her well today! Congratulations Sandie! I will e mail you so I can send your giveaway gift on its way! Woo Hoo! Lucky lady! Sandie is a darling angel sharing so much good humor with us! She always has a beautiful share and today is no different. Visit her blog!
I wanted to share these sweet angels too. They fit the season don't they? Plus they are great additions to my birthday giveaway winner Sandie and my share with Marydon at Love is...today. Tomorrow I can share them with Sally for my Blue Monday share! I do have a host of blues to share but I will start with this one tomorrow!
Now I want to share my Spiritual Sunday. I hope you will visit Sweet Charlotte and thank her for her ongoing support of this weekly enouragement. I feel so blessed knowing all of you and I really love the shares I find around Spiritual SUnday. Thank you Charlotte you are a kind heart~
"Then Joseph...did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. " Matthew 124.
Think about Joseph. He was a small player in the greatest role of his life! He was single handedly chosen by the Lord to become the earthly father of Our Lord and Savior Jesus! I though Mary had a tough role! Joseph was mostly in the background but he sacrificed his place in his society to take on this role. He could have said no way! I am not breaking Jewish law! He knew he would be looked down on for marrying Mary although she was already with child.
During this glorious season with all the beautiful festivities please never ever forget the true and most important season for this season! The birth of Jesus Christ is and always will be first and foremost in our hearts!

This is artwork depicting the Holy Family. My middle Rebekah created this when she was in Catholic school and it is dated Dec 2001. It hangs in the living room during the holiday season. My middle girl is an angel!
Now I want to share one final angel. I received my Secret Santa Soiree package from my partner and I am currently trying to figure out who she is! I may have an idea who she is is but here is a glimpse of what she sent to me!

Some Harry and David truffles! Oooh...have to have those before I start my New Year diet plan! :)

A secret surprise!

A sweet cherub/angel! I love it! It matches one I have sitting on my dresser that is a little porcelain treasure box! Secret Santa where you peeking in my window?

A pretty note with a sweet angel guarding my packages all the way from.....Hmmm...Secret Santa where do you live?

A Yankee votive candle, actually a pair, with the intriguing scent of "Over the River". So sweet and Christmas scented! Plus it is a pretty shade of blue!

Some Swiss Miss Carcel Cream! I will have to share this with my Sweets! He is a carmel flavored addict!

A holiday note pad and much much more. I received some candy,a nail file and some tea time items. I am going to show those at a later date! There was a beautiful box of note cards and they are artwork reproductions. So pretty. Thank you so much Secret Santa! I will share more items next time.
I had so much fun playing Santa to my secret pal and I know she showered me with many wonderful gifts. Thanks for being such a generous Santa! Go visit Suzanne. You can see what others received from their Santa's too!
I will close with a love hug to all of you here! Come back soon!

Pink Charm Bracelets

I am having a good day! I am participating in the Secret Santa Soiree with Colorado Lady. I received my swap partners gift box today! Let me say this I L O V E every single thing she sent me! So tomorrow when I announce the winner of my birthday giveaway I will post all my treasures. This was a sweet partner who showered me with some many pretty wrapped gifts! I was tickled pink!
So hop over to visit Beverly and thank her for her gracious hosting of this fun fest each week! Thank you Beverly! I don't think I tell you enough!

So today I want to share one of my passions with you, charm bracelets. I found some pretty pink images and unique designs on google image but I have to say I am a bit out of touch! In the 1970's and 80's I worked next door to a jewelry store! They offered a layaway plan! I am pretty sure you can figure the rest out from there! Ha Ha Ha! If that wasn't bad enough there were two other jewelry stores on the main street where I worked!  I purchased a beautiful sterling silver charm bracelet and when I clear out my storage/garage I will put some photos up! I had so many beautiful charms and back then I paid between $5 and $20 per charm.  I had to catch my breathe when I saw sterling silver charms for sale on line for (gulp) $50, $85, $245 !!!! Y I K E S ! I know the cost of precious metals has skyrocketed but goodness!

I also started a 10k-14k gold charm bracelet with a few charms on it. I am afraid to see the cost of those today! I am not even sure if you can purchase real gold charms today! Unless, of course, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet is covering the tab!

I have a bracelet that my late aunt's sister Katherine gave me when I was in high school. It is a charm bracelet covered with real sea shells. I also have a ten commandments charm bracelet. I will share some photos when I dig my jewelry boxes out of storage!

You have seen some of the things I like so come share your passions too. Make sure you visit some pinkies today and enjoy the weekend!

Secret Santa Soiree Clue II

Words & music by Ella Fitzgerald & Van Alexander

 
And on the way I dropped it

Tisket A Tasket, A Lyrics

A-tisket, a-tasket,
A green and yellow basket.
I wrote a letter to my love,
But on the way I dropped it.
I dropped it, I dropped it,
And, on the way I dropped it.
A little boy picked it up,
And put it in his pocket.

Here is my second clue. I think I really know you? Can you guess who my Secret Santa is?

I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, on the way I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market

  ' on down the avenue
Without a single thing to do
She w

A She took my yellow basket
And if she doesn't bring it back
I think that I shall die

  basket
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it

I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, on the way I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market

(Was it red?) No, no, no, no
(Was it brown?) No, no, no, no
(Was it blue?) No, no, no, no
Just a little yellow b

A Ti Artist: Ella Fitzgerald Words & music by Ella Fitzgerald & Van Alexander

A green and yellow basket
I wrote  all around
When she spied it on the ground

 
She took my yellow basket
And if she doesn't bring it back
I think that I shall die

 
A green and yellow basket
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it

I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, on the way I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market

(Was it red?) No, no, no, no
(Was it brown?) No, no, no, no
(Was it blue?) No, no, no, no
Just a little yellow basket

(REPEAT)


(REPEAT)