Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! If you plan on being out tonight, please be safe!

I'm still being lazy, but will be back at my desk after New Year's Day.

A Christmas snow ..............

I hope everyone had a safe and joyous Christmas. My Christmas was relaxing and enjoyable. We had our traditional fried oysters on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning the kitties got their gifts. They had lots of fun with their new toys after indulging in some of their new catnip. My cousin and her husband visited at my brother's in the early afternoon. I left hubby at home with directions to get the turkey in the oven while I joined them. We had our Christmas dinner that evening. There were only three of us, so we had lots of food to eat and we all stuffed ourselves.

It began to snow here Christmas afternoon and snowed on through Sunday morning. I measured almost 4 inches on my deck when it stopped. We were lucky that we only got the edge of the storm. I felt sorry for those who were stranded by the snow, but it was so pretty coming down and really made it look like Christmas. Almost all of our snow has melted now and the prediction is for warmer temperatures this weekend.

My computer is in the process of dying, so I've been trying to back up everything and transfer files to my laptop. Other than working on that, I've been lazy since Christmas. Hubby got me a Nook, so I've been curled up under my throw reading. I'm a little over halfway through House Rules by Jodi Picoult and have several more books ready to read. I promise to work on all those items on my To Do list after the first of the year. I've declared this week a vacation.

Happy Holidays ............

Wishing each and every one of you a Joyous Holiday Season filled with love, peace, and special times with family and friends.

Mary, Hubby, and the 3 Kitties (Maggie, Mazie, and Mollie)

Christmas Greetings from the M's - Maggie, Mazie, & Mollie .....

Mommy is real busy so she told us to do a bloggy post. Here is what we gots to say ......



This is Maggie May speakin'. I'm real excited about Santa Claws comin'. I have only one wish this year. I want someone to take away that gray and white cat who came here a few months ago. Mommy and Daddy call it Mollie Ann - I call it Intruder and I hate it. I been tryin' to kill it. but Mommy and Daddy keeps us apart so I can't git to it. Please just make it go find it's own home 'cause this is my place - I was here first. Does anyone want a gray and white cat? I'll give you one for Christmas.
Luv,
Maggie May





This is Mazie Grace wishin' you a Merry Christmas! I've been a good girl this year. I worked real hard keepin' all the mice, rats, and moles away. I been huntin' every night - that's why I sleeps all day. My wish for Christmas is some peace and quiet - please make my sisters stop fightin'. I can't get my beauty sleeps with all the hissin' goin' on round here. Santa Claws can bring me some cheese 'cause I loves cheese. I hope Santa brings you something nice. I can save you a big fat mousey if you want.
Kisses,
Mazie Grace






Merry Christmas from Mollie Ann! I am so thankful this year that I found me a new home. I have lots of food and treats, a warm bed, and lovin' and pettin', from Mommy and Daddy. My new sister Maggie May wants me to go away and tries to kill me, but I'm not goin' nowhere. I'm stayin' right here. I want Santa to brings me some new toys. I have a basket full, but I wants some more. I want some food too 'cause I loves to eat. I hope you get all your Christmas wishes!
Love,
Mollie Ann

It's beginning to look like Christmas .....

The tree is up and decorated.




My collection of Santas are lined up under the tree awaiting the gifts.



Signs of Christmas are showing up all over the house.



Snow has decorated the window boxes on the porch.

Yes, it's really beginning to look like Christmas at our house. It's even beginning to smell like Christmas. I spent the day in the kitchen baking cookies and making candy. We're going to put on at least 10 pounds each if we eat all these goodies.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

An uneventful week ..........

Seems like I've been busy, but I haven't accomplished a thing of interest. I got my Christmas cards done today and actually took them out in the cold rain and put them in the mail. I've begun my decorating, but still have the tree and a few other things to do. I'll have pictures when it is done. I've started some baking, but still have more to do. Do you notice a pattern here? I've started Christmas preparations but need to get busy and finish what I've started.

I did get to the hairdresser last week. I had decided to stop coloring my hair and embrace the natural gray. Well, my hair isn't a pretty shade of gray - it's a mousey, steel grey mixed with brown. It looked so bad I had to get it colored again. It's now back to it's natural dark brown. Tuesday I have an appointment to get my eyes checked. I will need to get new glasses. My lenses are so scratched I can hardly see through them. I'm trying to decide what type of frames I want to get. I hate making decisions.

I'm sure everyone is busy with Christmas preparations and festivities. Have a good week!

Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus .......

My Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus began blooming around Thanksgiving and will probably bloom up until Christmas. I think it was suppose to be a Christmas cactus, but it's always a bit early so I call it a Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus. I keep it in the guestroom which has south and west facing windows. All of my plants thrive in that room.

We had a light dusting of snow last night. It wasn't enough to cover the ground, but it was so pretty coming down. It made me suddenly realize that winter has arrived. I need to get outside and winterize a few things, but it was too cold and too windy today - maybe tomorrow.

I haven't gotten any more sorting out done at my Dad's house. I think the clothes were one of the major clutter areas. I will probably leave most things for my brother to take care of. He was back in New Jersey last week, so I was cat sitting. Sandy (the cat) was lonely, so I sat and brushed him each time I went to feed him.

I'm hoping I can get some of my Christmas decorations up next week. I also want to do a little baking.

Cleaning out the clutter ...........

I've been busy the last week trying to clean out junk at my Dad's. My brother is gradually moving his stuff into the house, so we have to get rid of the clutter to make room. My parents lived in that house for 65 years, so things have been accumulating for that long. My Dad didn't believe in throwing anything away. He believed it might come in handy one day or he might be able to fix it. Mom would try to clean out closets and Dad would rescue his things and put them back.

Then, as Mom got older, she didn't feel like going through and cleaning things out. I would offer to help, but she didn't want the confusion or mess involved. As a result, things kept piling up. Mom often told us she was going to come back as a ghost and laugh at us when we had to clean everything out. I wonder if she did. I listened, but didn't hear her laughing.

My sister came and got most of the valuable family antiques. Some have been in the family for hundreds of years. She has the only children in the family, so everything will eventually go to her two boys. Most of the usable and non-junk items will stay there for my brother to use.

We spent most of our time cleaning out old clothes in closets. We had cleaned out Mom's clothes after she passed away, so all we had to deal with were Dad's. I bet my Dad never threw away any clothes. Some of the suits must have been fifty years old. He had farm work clothes that wouldn't even make decent rags, they were so worn. I know we took at least twenty bags to the dumpster. We still have a pile to take to Goodwill.

While going through closets, we found a box of old curtains that I remember being at the windows when I was little. We also found a doll that I remember. There is a box of letters that my brother and I wrote to Mom and Dad when we were in college. When I get a chance I'm going to read them. I'm sure as we go through other things, we will find lots of memories.