Friends, Gifts and Surprise Calls from Alaska!

Hello everyone.

I'm a few days behind in Bloggerland.  Actually, I figured everyone is so busy right now, they really don't care if I do a blog post or not.  So much going on with Christmas preparations. 

Phylly and I got together for lunch today at our used-to-be favorite restaurant, TGI Friday's.  It was really good for a long time, but the last few times we went the manager was different every time.  The last time we went the newest manager came over to inform us that the rules had all changed and ALL the other managers had been fired.  He was a jerk, and neither one of us liked him.  We decided we just wouldn't go back.

Today, however, we decided we would go back to see if that mean manager had been fired yet, and maybe a nice one had come on board.  Phylly and I ate there so much we knew the guy at the front desk, and he knew us.  When we walked in today, a different man was there.  We asked about the other guy.  We were told that he had a stroke and was in bad shape.  SO SAD! 

Our favorite waitress, Ashley, was on duty today, and even though we weren't in her section, she told the girl waiting on us to be sure we got our FREE chips and salsa.  Phylly and I had decided we weren't even going to bring that up today as it always sends the manager into convulsions.  The thing is, about a year ago there was a promotion at TGIF's.  If you gave them your life history and filled out a card, you were promised FREE chips and salsa every time you came in.  Well, Phylly and I don't just forget a deal like that.  TGIF did forget it, or change it, and I guess we were the only two on the planet that actually cared.  Ashley cares too, and that's why we like her.  I stuck with my DESM diet and removed the top bun from my Cheeseburger and ate only about 4 french fries that I didn't realize came with the burger.

Last night, Margaret and I went out for dinner at Outback.  We had our usual Mixed Grill with Mahi, Shrimp and Scallops.  It was delightful!  We exchanged our Christmas gifts and talked and talked and talked.  She gave me a tall mug -- the kind you put hot chocolate or fancy coffee in -- and it says "You Are Special" and "You Are Loved".  She also gave me one of those cute little notepads that has the elastic strap around it that you can keep in a small pocket in your purse.  It says, "The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength". 

Love them both.  THANK YOU, MARGARET!!!

Tomorrow is a free day, so I am going to finish wrapping gifts.  I need to do some baking for Christmas day at my sister's.  I am so looking forward to it.  It is such a blessing to have my sister back in my life.  She is a very generous and loving person.  I want to find her something really special for a Christmas gift, but she has everything in the world in the way of nic-nacs and kitchen tools and clothes.  I think everyone does when they reach 60 years old.  I'm easy though.  Give me fabric or notions.

AND GUESS WHO CALLED ME TONIGHT????

Hollie.  All the way from Alaska where it is now FORTY below zero!  We talked for nearly an hour, and we have planned out her and John's whole future.  We have decided -- she and I -- that they can build a house on the five acres next to us.  I can home school all of their children.  Hollie can be a Dental Hygenist (?) or Dentist (she isn't sure yet), and John can take over Family Medical Supply (our business). 

JUST TWO MINUTES AGO, JOHN CALLED.

I told him we had planned his whole life, and he said Hollie told him.  He thought it was a great idea.  They both called to thank me for the Christmas gifts I sent.  They arrived there today.  He also told me that he may be going to Arizona for five weeks because they are changing his job.  Can't the Army make up it's mind??!!  At least, it isn't 40 degrees below zero in Arizona.  It's the complete opposite.  I grew up in Arizona, so I know all about that.

I better go.  I'm sure there is something I need to be doing.

Hugs, Joy

It's a Glorious Sunday!

Jerry is here, and I am here, and the weather is gorgeous once again.  I've been outside raking up leaves.  I enjoy doing that even though Jerry keeps telling me I am wasting my time.  I think of it as aerobic exercise.

The Mr. and Mrs. across the street are playing basketball, and I was wishing they would invite me over even though I probably could not make a basket if my life depended on it.  Seems like more fun than jumping on the trampoline in my living room.

Who knew rabbits played basketball???

One of these days I'm going to do a blogpost on the INSANE clipart I get sometimes when I search for a picture.  I put in "basketball" and I got this rabbit playing basketball.  There was a duck, there were dogs and there were bears -- all playing basketball!

Okay.  I better get to the sermon notes before I get too far gone.

The sermon this morning was "God's Gifts to You", and it was concerning what he has done for us to help us overcome or prevent depression.  Depression is caused by great disappointment or betrayal.  So true!  I can sure vouch for that.  If you cannot get rid of the resentment, then you are building an inescapable prison around yourself.

The solution is really very easy.  Forgive!  Let it go!  Get on with your life -- you and God -- and let Him handle the other people.  You cannot choose what OTHER PEOPLE may say or do to you, but you do have the ability to choose your reaction to it!  You cannot choose what happens TO YOU, but you can choose what happens IN YOU.

STOP being controlled by circumstances and conditions.  God will make a way because HE IS THE WAY-MAKER!

Failure always surrounds the birth of a miracle.  If you can't endure the failure, you will never experience the miracle.  Noone can hurt you without your consent. 

Now that is what Hagee said.  This is me:  I'm not so sure about that last comment that "noone can hurt you without your consent".  I don't think that is true at all, unless your heart is made of stone, and you care about only yourself.  How you REACT to it, of course, is a choice.  I agree with that.

Hagee again:  God is the Maker, Mediator and Master.  He will have the last word concerning what happens to you, if you let Him.  RECEIVING God's love and the ability to GIVE God's love, are two different things.  The ability to give must be learned and practiced. 

I must get ready to go to church FOR REAL tonight.  Our good friends Robert and Deanna are in the Christmas program at their church tonight.  They have invited us many times, and we are so excited to get to go.  I just hope I can sit on the front row.  That is where I LOVE to be.  I like to be able to see into their eyes.  I am a people-watcher, you know.  I am prepared to sit on the back row, however.  It is a very big church.

God Bless You and Hugs,
Joy

I KNOW The Answer and Shopping

What answer?  The answer to "What could we have possibly done to prevent all the children from being murdered in Connecticut?" as I heard some newscaster say. 

#1:  Put God back into our government.

#2:  Put God, prayer and the 10 Commandments back into our schools.

#3:  Get rid of horrific video games that cause our children to spend thousands of hours shooting people.

#4:  QUIT!!!  QUIT!!!   QUIT!!! murdering babies in the womb.  HOW ON EARTH are our children to have any respect for life when it is perfectly okay to torture and murder a full grown baby up to the day of its live birth in the womb??? 

My question is why do all the "freedom of choice" people CARE that children are murdered.  They think it is perfectly fine to murder millions of them every year. 

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

And that is my opinion on that subject, not that anyone asked.

And now on to a happier subject.  Christmas shopping.

Yesterday, I was on my own.  The same thing happened this year as happens every year.  I am SUPPOSED to be shopping for my Mom's birthday, my Mom's Christmas, Jerry's Mom's Christmas and a few other people.  I never go shopping for myself because I am always home sewing.  But when I go shopping for those other people, clothes seem to just jump off the racks and into my arms.  I'm not kidding. 

When I first arrived at JC Penney's, I rushed right over to the jeans department where the jeans I wear are located.  I like just one certain kind, and I am lucky to ever find even one pair, never mind several.  Yesterday, I found 8 pair in my size -- my NEW size that is!  I took the armload to the cashier cubicle and waited in line.  While waiting, I did my usual "stand and stare in disbelief" at the tattoos and body-piercings on the clerks.  One clerk -- who seemed to be the boss of the other clerks -- was a young, thin blonde girl.  She had on a short sleeved tee shirt that showed off her MANY tattoos that appeared to be some kind of oriental writing.  I wondered what on earth they might say, and I wanted to ask her, but she didn't wait on me.  I could not imagine why a pretty, young American girl would want Chinese writing all over her arms.

OH!  That didn't hold a candle though to the one I saw later on when I was at Hancock's.  Hancock's was VERY busy.  Seems like a lot of people are sewing something for Christmas.  There was a very large lady waiting in line next to me at the cutting table.  I would say probably about 300 pounds.  She must have been very proud of her cleavage as most of it was showing.  Not only was her cleavage showing, there was a -- and I SWEAR I am NOT making this up -- pink, purple and yellow cat face tattoo staring at everyone at the top of her cleavage -- as big as my hand, or bigger.  Just the head of a cat.  Put a big boob on either side of this guy, and you'll have the picture. 

Back to JC Penney's.  You won't believe what I bought.  I had run out to the car to put all the jeans in my trunk, and then ran back into the store to buy actual gifts for someone else.  What did I behold?  A rack with coats on it marked 30% off.  You know I just made a red coat for myself, but I'm not wearing it because I need to take it in a bit.  I decided to go look at one of the coats.  It was black wool with a detachable brown fake fur collar.  It was only $60 after the markdown.  I spent way more than that on the coat I made!  I decided to try it on just to assure myself that my coat was much better.  I put it on and found a mirror.  About that time, a man older than myself walked up to me and said, "That coat looks really nice on you."  He said he was looking for a coat for his wife.  I told him how much it was, and I took him over to the rack to pick out the size he needed.  Guess what his wife is getting for Christmas?  And, yes, I bought one too.  For $60, I couldn't pass it up.

So I STILL had not bought a gift for anyone else.  I asked the clerk to hold the coat, and I went off to buy gifts for our Mom's.  My Mom is 85, and Jerry's Mom is 92, so I was shopping in the granny department.  I decided to try on a few things to see if they seemed too big or too small, and I was delighted to find out that they actually fit me perfect -- round back -- high hip -- high shoulder -- and all.  I bought about 10 things for Jerry's Mom -- 4 things for my Mom -- and some more for myself.  I had so many clothes hanging over my arm, I could hardly hold them up.  I had to have the clerk hold my purchases while I went out and got my car and drove it up practically to the cash register!

I thought that would have been about all I had to do, and I sure was glad because I was exhausted by the time I got back to my house.  By the time this morning got here though, I remembered some more people I needed to get something for.  Jerry was here and off today because we were suppose to go to Kingfisher, but didn't, so I asked him if he would give me a day and help me shop.  I LOVE when he comes with me.  It is like having a human clothing rack follow you all around.  Very cool!

I had a real good idea this morning to prevent shopping wars.  I asked him to please let my gift from him be a day for me without questioning where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.  I imitated him getting mad at me because I wanted to go to a store I had not mentioned before we left the house.  He laughed and said I should be an actress because I imitate him so good.

It was a GREAT idea, and it worked beautifully.  He never argued about a thing all day long.  He was really sweet and patient.  He was SO SWEET, and SO PATIENT, look what we came home with tonight from the new Dick's Sporting Goods store:

We HAD to have these because they match the camo pants I just made for myself at Thanksgiving.  Jerry understood perfectly even though he does not have matching camo pants and does not want any.

I better go.  Time to watch some more episodes of the old TV series we found called Jericho.  It is about nuclear war coming to America.  Quite educational as to what one should do to be prepared.

Hugs, Joy

Heavenly Garden

GOOD MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORNING!!!!

Another sunny day has appeared in the sunrise this morning, and I am trying to figure out exactly how much to haul up North to our other house for my trip today.  Plus, am I going to go alone, or go with Jerry.  If I go alone, the trip is SO ORGANIZED and structured.  If I go with Jerry, there is always the "are you going to bring all of that" argument.  If we both go, then there is an extra car up there.  Such decisions.

And when I opened my front door this morning I found these guys also enjoying the wonderful sunshine.  All those girls and only two boys.  Strange how the animal kingdom works.  The girls did not seem the least bit impressed with their ugly wooers.

Tomorrow is the Christmas program at Countrywood where Jerry's 92-year old Mom lives in the Memory Unit.  I doubt she knows what day it is, never mind what season, but she will love that we come.  She loves to get hugs and give hugs, and  I'm pretty sure that for a moment during a hug her mind clears and she knows we are her family and that we love her.  She speaks very little these days, but she looks deep into our eyes when we speak to her.  When we walk away to leave, she watches every single step we take  and follows as fast as she can to try to catch up.  We quickly slip through the locked door before she reaches it.  When she reaches the door, she tries to push the numbers on the keypad like she saw us doing, but she can't get the door to open.  Then she stares out the window until our car disappears in the distance.  She is such a precious lady, and she is very loved by the staff at Countrywood.  I know God has a beautiful garden prepared for her in Heaven that puts Mom's prize-winning gardens here on Earth to shame.

I better get ready for my trip. 

Have a WONDERFUL day. 

Hugs, Joy

Belly Laugh and See What I Made Today

This one makes you feel happy!  How precious is the innocence of a baby.  No worries and no depression and no stress.  Oh, to be like that again.  Thanks, Deanna, for this one.

http://us.f1816.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?clean=0&fid=Inbox&mid=2_0_0_1_488080_AKjTimIAAEe0UMdFrQVD5RoU10A&pid=2&tnef=&prefFilename=factures.wmv&redirectURL=http%3A%2F%2Fus.mc1816.mail.yahoo.com%2Fmc%2FshowMessage%3Fcmd%3Ddownload.failure%26fid%3DInbox%26mid%3D2_0_0_1_488080_AKjTimIAAEe0UMdFrQVD5RoU10A%26pid%3D2%26tnef%3D%26prefFilename%3Dfactures.wmv

That sure is a long link, isn't it?  I need to learn how to just have the Youtube screen come up.  I tried, but couldn't figure it out today.  Maybe it isn't Youtube.

I decided to put the sewing away until I get back to our other house, and I set up all my jewelry-making equipment today.  I wanted to make something to wear with my new black/white blouse.  Actually, it is silver and white on black.  It was practically impossible to get a good picture of this, so you'll have to add your imagination to the pics.

This is SO much prettier than it looks in this picture. It is Sterling Silver, for one thing, and you can't tell that in the pic. 

I made the bracelet first, and it wasn't too complicated.

Then I wanted to make matching earrings, and I really couldn't remember the rules for that, so I experimented.  I broke a lot of wire and a crimp, but I finally came up with these earrings.  The wraps are a little crooked on the one earring, but I doubt anyone in the whole world is going to notice it unless I wear them in the presence of Aga, the teacher.  I may try to fix that tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

THEN, I had 2 of the sparkly sterling silver balls left and decided to try another style of earring, and I came up with these.  They are very cute too. 

All of these pieces are WAY different than anything I own.  That is why I am so glad I learned to make my own jewelry.  PLUS, the silver matches my black fabric perfectly.  I took a pic of that too, but I had to put little scraps of the fabric together, and the picture is awful.  You get the idea though.  Picture SHINY sterling silver -- not yellow.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow is the Kingston office Christmas lunch at Gecko's Mexican Food.  Not what I would have chosen.  I don't think the employees wanted to drive very far, and this place is practically next door to our store.  It is very good and I know all the employees there.  Doesn't seem very Christmassy though.

Headin down to get in my PJ's and watch something on my laptop.

Hugs, Joy

File 13, Sprinklers and TV Series

We waited for File 13 - a shredder company - to show up this morning.  They said they would arrive at 8 AM.  They arrived at 11:15 AM.  I was on the phone with one of the guys for 20 minutes telling him the same directions over and over and over and over.  What is with men and directions!?  They FINALLY showed up with a very big truck and removed 184 file boxes from the barn .  The charge is 15 cents per pound, and they don't weigh the boxes until they get back to File 13 Headquarters -- or whatever you call it.  They drove 100 miles to get here.   There were two guys, and they turned out to be very nice and work extremely hard.  I snapped a pic, of course.



They carried 184 packed boxes down into that truck from upstairs in our barn.  On the right you can see the white file boxes up in the "loft".  That is just a very small section showing in the picture.  The boxes weight between 35 and 40 pounds, and the guy is carrying 3 at a time!!!  By the end of the two hours, the guy could barely lift one.  I felt sorry for him.  He was exhausted.  The other guy worked inside the truck.  Now that we know this company exists, we can have them out yearly instead of after six years of storage.

As soon as these guys were done -- two hours later -- Jerry had to leave to go to our other house because it is supposed to be 19 degrees tonight.  He was afraid the sprinkler system would freeze.  He said there was ice all over the yard when he arrived there this evening.  The sprinklers had come on in the night.

Soooooooo, I'm all alone trying to figure out how Windows 8 works.  Actually, I have figured out a lot of it -- and I am pretty sure I am never going to like it.  Jerry can put Windows 7 back on this for me if I want him to, but I'm afraid I will just be behind on technology if I do that.  It is supposed to be good for your brain to always be learning new things -- or so they say.

I watched the latest two episodes of Hart of Dixie tonight on this computer, and I am sad to say that the writers have turned this cute show into total trash.  Everyone is sleeping with everyone, and the personalities change moment by moment.  "I love you", "I hate you", "I love you", "I hate you", "Wait-I'm not sure who I love".  INSANE!  How on earth are our children supposed to ever learn about a Godly, well-adjusted, committed relationship?!

Jerry and I did find another cute show to watch on Netflix.  An old TV Series that ended in 2007 or 2008 called Wildfire.  It is about a young woman and her race horse.  I think there were 52 episodes.  We watched it night after night after night.  We would watch 4 episodes some nights.  It was a wonderful date each night because we both really liked the show.  Parts of it were really stupid, but overall, it was a great series.  If you like horses, check it out.

 guess I better get ready for bed.  It is SO dark and SO quiet here in the woods.  Makes me want to be underneath some covers!

Hugs, Joy

Sermon and My Own Blouse Design, At Last!

Pastor John Hagee started a new sermon series this morning on depression.  Seems the whole world is depressed these days, and we sure know why, don't we?  The only hope we have for tomorrow is God.  Hagee was going to tell us EIGHT things that cause depression, but I only heard SEVEN.  I'll have to listen to the 2nd sermon to see if he listed #8.

A LOT of people in the Bible were depressed: 

Solomon was so depressed, he wrote Ecclesiastes.  I have often asked God how a man that had so much wisdom could screw up so badly at the end of his life.  When did wisdom leave him?  I think it was women!

Job cursed the day he was born.

Moses came down from the mountain after being in the presence of God, and he became very depressed to the point he smashed the 10 commandments.  The people he had left at the foot of the mountain were worshipping a golden calf and having sex orgies. 

King David was depressed over decisions he had made that backfired.  I'm sure killing the husband of his mistress was one.

Abraham Lincoln suffered depression.  (Hagee says the movie is good and recommends we see it.)

Winston Churchhill said, "Depression follows me like a black fog."

Here's some reasons people get depressed:

1.  Extreme disappointment.
2.  Lack of self-esteem.
3.  Unfair comparisons.
4.  Unrealistic goals.
5.  Biological imbalance.
6.  Post-partum depression.
7.  Hyper mental activity.
8.  ???  He never said.

Some tips for overcoming depression according to Hagee:

Forget those things which are behind.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Phillipians 4:8

Hagee said God's word is a penicillin shot for depression. 

The joy of the Lord is your strength.  Spend time with Christians.  If you hang around depressed, unhappy people, you will become like them. 

And a very good one:  Do something nice for one person every day.  I love this one, and I love to do it. 

Change "I can't" to "I won't" when it comes to all the reasons you have to stay in the funk you are in.  Instead of "I can't" quit smoking -- "I won't" quit smoking.  And put that with a million other things.  I hear it all the time.  Jerry's brother has gone from 4 to 5 packs of cigarettes a day to 2 to 3  , and he actually thinks that is an amazing accomplishment.  If you WANT to quit, you WILL!  Jerry and I both did, so I'm talking from experience on this one.  I never smoked much, and it was for a very short time, but Jerry smoked from 15 years of age to 30 something.  It was very hard for him.

After church, I came upstairs to finish my newest creation.  I wasn't thrilled with my last blouse which was made from the pretty fabric Phylly gave me.  It was okay, but it looks like all my other blouses.  Yesterday, I decided to get REAL BRAVE and change my plain SFD blouse pattern into an original JOYFUL DESIGN.  I've always been afraid to do that, mostly because I didn't really understand how to, but I don't think a person could take any more classes than I have had to date and not, at least, TRY!

This fabric is from the cotton Christmas prints at Hobby Lobby, although I chose it because it is black and white and not really very Christmassy.  I guess it is pointsettias.  Whatever it is, I really like it.

This is not a pattern from an envelope.  It is my SFD blouse REDRAWN with some style lines.  First thing I did was add pleats to the front of  the blouse.  This took several hours because I am a perfectionist, and I wanted to be sure I didn't screw it up.  It looks like an accordion because I had to fold all the pleats to cut the neckline.

Here is what I did to the FRONT of my SFD blueprint.  I did NOT put the waist dart in the blouse.

 Here is what I did to the back of my SFD blueprint.  I did NOT put this waist dart in the blouse either.

And here is my darling blouse, that I really love.  Hopefully, you can see the detail in the pictures I took.  The pleat in the back is ADORABLE, plus it gives me some wiggle room.

Here is the front with TEN pleats and a boatneck.  I think I look best in a boatneck, but I hate that I have to glue my bra straps to my shoulder bones!

And a side view so you can see the pleats a little more.  Fun, fun, fun!  My sleeve has an elbow dart and a notch in the part I have folded up.  This is my favorite length of a sleeve.

It is already 5:30 PM and time to go do something with the hamburger I thawed out.  Spaghetti sounds good.  It has suddenly gotten cold outside.  I'm glad.  It doesn't feel like Christmas when it is 70 degrees outside day after day after day. 

Hugs, Joy