Merry Thanksmas Day

Since Phillip is home for Thanksgiving, but he won't be home for Christmas, we celebrated "Thanksmas Day" with him today. Sunday afternoon he'll be on a plane headed back to Tampa.

Tree's Up

Caleb & Alexa came over today to help Grammy, Gramps, and Uncle Phillip put up the Christmas tree. They're a big help for about ten minutes, and if you like all your ornaments on the lowest branches.Afterwards, we swept all the leaves from the front porch. Again. Gramps just did this chore yesterday morning, but it was totally covered again. The worse part is that we don't even have any trees in the front yard. We're sweeping our neighbors' leaves!

Happy Black Friday!

I'm not helping the retail industry recovery efforts today. This is the first year in a while that Emily and I haven't gone shopping at 4 or 5 a.m. Being 8-1/2 months pregnant is an excuse, I guess. (Her, not me.)

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at my house. Phillip's Grandma and Grandpa didn't know that he had come home, so they were naturally delighted to see him. He had acquired another crazy hat in Tampa, and here is Caleb testing it out. The only problem is that it's way to big on him, so he can't see a thing!

Christmas Outfits Update

I have been able to work a little bit here and there on Caleb & Alexa's Christmas outfits. Although I measured both kids before I began, I still wanted to check the fit before I went any further. As expected, Caleb's vest is a little big, but Alexa's dress is a good fit. Obviously, I haven't attached the skirt to the bodice yet. Because the dress is designed with a high waist, the bodice is sort of a midriff top right now. Caleb didn't like seeing the skin around Alexa's middle. He said the dress is too little and she'll be cold. It's really hard to explain the finer (or even the simpler) points of dressmaking to a four-year old!

That looooong, gathered piece of tulle you see is the ruffle on the attached petticoat of the skirt. Gee, I wish I knew about that before I chose this pattern!

Always Thankful

In exactly two days, we'll be pigging out, but I hope we'll also remember to do what the Pilgrims did so long ago: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. In All Circumstances. That's the rub. What were the Pilgrims' circumstances? After religious persecution drove them from their homeland, they endured nearly three months at sea (and it wasn't anything like a Carnival Cruise). Even after reaching America, they continued to live aboard the Mayflower for many weeks, as this was their only shelter from the New England winter. They faced cramped living quarters aboard the ship, then starvation, sickness, fear of Indian attack, and grief as half of their original numbers died. Help came the next spring in the form of Squanto, about whom William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, wrote, "he was a special instrument sent of God for good beyond their expectations." And you know the rest of the story. So let's be thankful every day in which God gives us breath. And especially on Thursday as we celebrate the bountiful way in which He has poured out His blessings on us.

The Problem with Inflation

A $20 bill isn't what it used to be. It's apparently only worth $12.80 now.

Two-Person Job Done Solo

Previously, I had my "design wall" sitting on top of the cedar chest... Which made it really inconvenient to get into the chest. Yesterday, I hung it from the ceiling all by myself, and got it remarkably straight in one try. Ideally, it would be a bit lower, and would be hung with fishing line instead of string. Good thing I'm not an idealist.

In Real Life

Well, my Thanksgiving dinner guest list is up to 17 (and it could go higher), so I thought I should do a little cleaning. Actually, I usually do a little cleaning. That's the problem. I need to do a bit more with company coming. There's a trend in the blogging world, at least in some of the blogs I read, to be more realistic -- tell it like it is -- don't crop the messes out of the pictures, etc. So, in that spirit, I took down the kitchen curtains yesterday to wash them, and I honestly can't remember doing this before in the eight years we've lived in this house. Now it's quite possible that they have been washed and my memory is faulty, and they didn't seem to be eight years' worth of dirt, but there you have it.

I need to wash these as well, but I'm afraid to. I'm afraid I won't remember how to recreate the bunchy, floral-looking knot in the middle.

Doing the Design

I finally made myself a design wall Saturday. It's not really a whole wall -- just about 4' x 5'. It's a sheet of that lightweight, foam, insulating stuff (not the technical name) covered with a small fleece blanket that I got at the half-price day at the thrift store last week. Unstitched quilt blocks can be placed there and moved around until a pleasing arrangement is achieved. It works just like those flannel boards used in the preschool Sunday school. Below is another project of undetermined specificity.

Soaking Up the Sun

Blinky has been keeping me company while I sew. You've heard of a cattle prod, but I have a cat prod that I use to keep her on her window shelf and off my sewing table. Today, she got a bit too relaxed and sort of drifted off the shelf. Since there's an inch or more gap between her shelf and the top of my very messy table, I don't see how she found this to be very comfortable.

Sewing a Secret

I've been furiously sewing for over a week, now, but you can't see it yet. It's a gift. Except that I like it so much, it will be hard to give it away. That happens to me a lot.

The Harvest is Plentiful

It may be the middle of November, but I'm still getting a ton of these sweet, orange peppers. We've only had frost a couple of nights, and I covered the plant with a sheet those nights. There are probably still 10-15 immature peppers left, and they're sure to ripen with the 70 degree days we've been having.

Isn't it Nice to Have Help with the Laundry?

Today and Last Week

I didn't take Caleb and Alexa for story time at the library today due to the pouring down rain. Instead, I took them to the assisted living facility where my in-laws live. The difference between excursions, you ask? Well, today's destination has a double-wide, covered, drop-off, pick-up area, under which you are not supposed to park, but I did anyway. I didn't plan to stay long, and I pulled over as far as I could get so as not to impede other traffic. In fact, I pulled over so far that I had to go out the passenger front door! Anyway, both kids behaved well, and their great-grandparents were glad to see them. These are terrible pictures from my two mega-pixel camera phone, but it's the best I can do.Last week I was in the downtown area of my hometown, so I took the opportunity to walk over to the Veterans' Monument. My in-laws have bricks there.This camera-phone shot, made in daylight vs. indoor light, came out pretty good, except for the mottled, tree shadows.

By-the-way, I have only very basic cell phone service. I can make pictures, but I can't get them off my phone since I have no web service. My techie husband blue-tooths them to his phone, connects his phone to his laptop, and then saves the pictures onto my flash drive. I love being married to my own personal tech support!

Disclaimer: Even though I've blogged two days in a row, don't get used to it. I might not have anything else to say for weeks.

Saved 81% at Publix

Here is what you can get for about $28 at Publix without coupons.Here is what I actually got for $27.65.You can't really see everything because I made the photo on the "shelf" of my PT Cruiser. The garage is in the basement, and the freezer and overflow pantry are in the basement, so I didn't want to bring everything upstairs just for a photo shoot.

Here's the list and what I paid (insofar as I can remember and decipher the receipt):
4 Voila meals - $1.75 each
1.06 lb yellow squash - $1.05
1 small top sirloin steak - $3.14
1 pkg salad topping - $0.50 overage
8 boxes french toast - $0.85 each
2 bags chocolate chips - $0.25 each
5 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes - free
3 packages frozen parker house rolls - $1.50 each
3 bottles Tylenol - $3.00 total overage
11 (what was I thinking?!) packages of refrigerated cookie dough - $0.45 each
1 super giant Idaho potato - $0.93
2 bottles coffee creamer - $0.10 each
2 boxes Special K cereal - $1.00 each
5 canisters bread crumbs - $0.69 each
1 canister oatmeal - $0.01
Plus I used a $3 off $30 coupon

Some of this went directly into the giveaway box. Most, if not all, of the post-baked cookies should be given away as well!

Nothing, Zero, Zilch, Nada

I have nothing to blog about and I have no desire to prattle aimlessly. But if you must have something:

• There's a new Food Lion being built in Austell.
• I went to a baby shower today.
• It didn't rain this week.
• A branch fell off my pepper plant, so I harvested about eight peppers a bit early.
• The only sewing I did was for a Christmas gift so I'm not showing it.
• Angi came by for a few minutes today.
• I paid some bills and balanced the checking account.
• The letter at story time this week was "L" and we read a book about a library cat.

See? A waste of my time and yours!