We Need a Little Christmas Right This Very Minute!!!

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Seems that I have been "in absentia" from blogland again. In fact, I've been "in absentia" long enough that I've started getting SOSes from several of you wondering if I'm still alive and well.

I am.

I'm afraid I've just gotten my little life into a very regular and very boring (as far as blog fodder goes) rut. When that happens, I find myself avoiding making a post rather than settling for a ho-hum-who-wants-to-read-THAT one.

But today - - - ho-hum or not - I'm posting so you, my dear bloggy friends, can stop worrying over me.


With Christmas just around the corner, I have tried to bring a modicum of holiday cheer to the old place.

I used to spend several days on the Christmasizing process. However, as I've gotten OLD I've learned a trick or two about putting out a few larger items which evoke the holiday spirit without all the hours I used to spend to achieve the same effect.

Take this (above) genuine antique chamber pot sporting "the holly and the ivy" which are of course actually fake pine and artificial red berry thingies.

But - - - I like it - - - it says "Merry Christmas" to me each time I pass.


My nutcrackers are also good holiday greeters. Here's the "king of them all" standing guard at the front door.


If you look under my antique dressing-table-turned-buffet, you will see - - -

A whole covey of them.

I tossed a Christmas print afghan and an angel pillow on the love seat to give it that little Noel touch.


I just love this washstand that Sister Pam passed down to me when she moved to Florida and didn't think it would blend with her Sunshine State decor.

The white bowl and pitcher live here year round - - - but a little more of the faux "holly and ivy" with a pair of red candles "spruces" it right up!!! Pun definitely intended.


Speaking of the faux "holly and ivy" - - - another strand with a string of lights intertwined through its boughs gives the top of the entertainment center a little "Je ne sais quoi."

I'm especially fond of the spray of cranberries which rise above the whole thing like rooster spike hair on the crown of a baby's head.

Remember - - - "this here's" cranberry country!


Some of my "touches of Christmas" have a very sentimental value - - - if precious little monetary worth. Take this crystal pedestal bowl for example.


The bowl itself was a wedding present way back in the mid 70's. The small glass ornaments in the bowl were among the Christmas decorations Fisherhubby and I bought to decorate our very first matrimonial tree 37 years ago. That first tree sported a string of lights, these tiny red spun glass ornaments, and tinsel. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Of course - - - 37 Christmasses ago they were bright red. The years have faded them to a lovely crackled pink. You'll have that.

The Christmas Critters have come out to play!!!

These are my very FAVORITE kind of critters.

No litter box.

No hair left behind on the furniture.

No smelly food dishes.

No critter spew-ups.

(name that movie - "If you're going to spew, spew in this!)

And of course we have the traditional Christmas Moose.

What, you DON'T have a Christmas Moose???? You don't think a moose is traditional???

Well, go figure.


Early in our marriage we only had one nativity. It was a cheap "one-sided," all one piece, plastic creche which had been given to me in the Christmas gift exchange when I was in elementary school. I don't even know what happened to it.

But when our children came along, we purchased the nativity set pictured above.

It is still my favorite, though two more have now joined it in our holiday entourage.

This one was a gift from my Father-in-Law and his wife, Robin.

This Willow Tree nativity was a gift from my dad the first Christmas after mom went to Heaven. I believe she helped him pick it out before she departed this world.


Since our floor space is very limited in this duplex (which we LOVE, BTW- - - the duplex, not the lack of floor space) this little wooden candle holder table tree is the only tree I put up.

It also has sentimental value to me as I ordered it from a catalog 20+ years ago.

I didn't really miss a big TREE last year - - - but I did SORELY miss the lights.

So, my brain had a storm the other day, and here is what I put up instead of a tree:


A prelit wreath on the patio doors with two more soldiers standing guard at its base.


I decorated the wreath with the bow I tied for the TOP of our former 9 foot tree and a collection of ornaments that evoke various strains of nostalgia for me.


And best of all - - - - it has the tiny white Christmas lights that I love so much!!!

I don't know if I'll do another Christmas blog post or not - - - but just in case - - - let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy your time with family and friends, but most of all I hope you remember He Who is the Reason for the Season.

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When You're the "Butt" of the Joke - - -

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You might as well laugh. Feels a WHOLE LOT BETTER than screaming or crying.

Good thing I learned that lesson a LONG time ago - - - Fisherhubby gives me many chances to laugh at myself.

Just so you know - - - the WHOLE time (and it was a long time) I was working to plunge that marble boulder down, Fisherhubby was lying in bed watching and then filming me.

He's a big help!!

Oh well, the bathroom floor needed a good scrubbing anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! This is ONE more thing for which you can be thankful today - - - you didn't have to flush Mount Olympus down your commode before you went to your Thanksgiving Festivities.


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Little Is Much if God is in It!!!

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Meet Michele with one "L". Here she is with her hubby and children.

She is one busy lady!!!

BUT - - - she has found the time to start a blog. More about that in a skinny minute.

Michele and I go way back. WAY back. Once I was her counselor at teen camp, then she grew up and was my oldest daughter's counselor at the same camp! (She had to sleep across the door to keep my daughter and her friends from sneaking out - - - but that's a tale for another day - - -)

Still later Michele and I were both teachers at Lakeview Christian school.

There she had the "joy" of being teacher to TWO of the Broyles offspring. They weren't "easy" students, but she loved them anyway. Thank you, Michele.

In fact, she and I BOTH lost our teaching jobs there on the same day when the school board made the painful decision that the middle and high school doors would close for GOOD and not just for summer break a little over a year ago.

Since then the Lord has continued to lead both of us into new and varied paths.

Now Michele has started a blog.

She's telling her story over there.

So far it is quite serious and even poignant. Who knew she could be serious and poignant - - - even all at the same time????

Oh trust me - - - she and her hubby had me laughing SO HARD right out in public at our favorite ice cream haunt one May evening that the other patrons in the place thought we needed a quick trip to the looney bin!!!

But I digress - - - - Michele has started a blog. It is serious and poignant. You will NOT want to miss it.

So, without further ado or digression, I give you LittleIsMuch.

Why not run on over, check it out, leave her a comment, and tell her I sent ya!!!

And while you're there - - - be SURE you scroll down and read the post titled "Recalculating."

You'll thank me later.

Go on - - - - hurry on over.

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Familial Resemblance

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These here apples didn't fall too far from the old tree:

(Daughter's brood)

(Some little birdie)

(Diva Dad)

(Big Hair Mack)

(The Big Cheese)

(Leopard Skin)

(BIL Nerd)

(Piper Cub)

(Monster from the hairy lagoon)

(Wild Child)

(Mack the Nerd)

In fact, I'd say they're all clumped together right around the base of that proverbial tree!!!

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Saturday Smiles

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Somebody is just too cute for words!!

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A Matter of Perspective

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Now that we live on the Frozen Tundra, Fisherhubby has re-taken up bow hunting. He disappears for hours on end into the snowy wood and I am left at home to wonder if he has fallen from his tree stand, onto one of his arrows, and is lying amongst the roots with a broken leg or worse.

Today was one of those tree stand days.

Hunters are supposed to come out of the woods a half an hour before sundown, so a while ago when I saw that the sun was down, I gave his cell phone a little jingle to check on his progress.

"Are you lying on the ground impaled on one of your arrows?" queried I when he answered his phone.

"No", said he. "Why do you ask?"

"Well - - - it seems like you've been out there for a very long time." replied I.

"It seemed like a very short time to me." says he.

No - - - he did NOT get a deer, for which I am truly thankful since neither of us even LIKES venison.

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It's BACK!!!!

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I was beginning to feel just a bit left out.


I mean places that don't usually get snow this early, like along the eastern seaboard, have already had mammoth snow storms


And we here on the "Frozen Tundra" had been snowless - - - - until today.

Now we are getting it with a vengeance.


Last Saturday I told Fisherhubby to bring in those solar lights from around our patio. Obviously he thought he knew better than did I.

Oh well - - - perhaps THIS snow won't last on the ground until April.

Then again, perhaps it will.


Cass, my lilacs are leaning every which way but loose too. So far no breakage - - - but I expect it at any moment.


And the roads - - - oh the roads.

As you can see, it doesn't stop us up here on the Frozen Tundra. We can't LET it stop us or we'd be in our hidey holes from now until May.

You think I jest about May????? Not hardly. Last spring we were still getting the occasional flurry into mid May.

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Sunday Reruns - "Live or Memorex?"

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Today is Sunday again, and you know what THAT means!?! It's time for "Sunday Favorites"!!!

Sunday Favorites are RERUNS, not current posts - - - if you want to participate, just repost something you previously posted "back in the day."

Thanks so much to Chari over at Happy to Design for hosting this meme. You may click on the link to find the rules and see more favorite posts.

Did He or Didn't He?
(First posted on 9/25/08)

Our son Kelly - - - you simply cannot get ahead of him mentally. You simply cannot outsmart him.

This is the kid who when he was three wrote a sign "Rocks for sale 5c" (Only it was a cent sign which I can't find on my keyboard) and stuck it in a bucket of plain old limestone gravel. When I saw what he was doing I said, "You can't sell those pieces of gravel." He replied "Uh huh!!" and held out his little fist to show me three nickels!!!!!

That's Kelly.

(My word, he was only THREE - - - I should have KNOWN we were in for a LONG ride.)

Well - - - he went to Vegas last weekend with his girlfriend and this picture is what he put on his Facebook when they returned:


Now the question is: Is it real or an elaborate hoax????? You know - - - live or Memorex?

We all LOVE Cathy. We all would LOVE this to be real.

So - - - is it simply a joke, a hoax to get our hopes all up and then dash them to shreds with a big "Gotcha," or - - - -

Is the joke that it is actually REAL and he wants us to all THINK it's a joke so he can say "gotcha" when we don't believe it.

It's a joke - - - one way or the other - - - but which way???????

Vote Real or Hoax in the comments.

And as soon as we figure out the truth, I'll let you know!!!


Current Addendum: It was "Memorex." But I'm very happy to report that Kelly and Cathy tied the knot for sure and for real On August 27, 2011. We couldn't be happier!

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Finally a Win After Coming in 2nd Twice

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Badgers 62, Boilermakers 17

Wherein I Do All I Can to Rectify 2 "Unwins"

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I'm "ready - set - GO"


Sittin' in my Football cave, remote in hand, ready to "help" my boys beat Purdue.

I ran upstairs to tell Fisherhubby something. He looked at me and said, "Do you really expect me to take you seriously when you're wearing that hat?"

Yes, Yes I do!

On Wisconsin!!

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Saturday Scraps

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It just doesn't sound as good as "Friday Fragments", does it!?!

But since I am a day late AGAIN, it is the best I can do.

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Don't forget to fall back tonight.

I just recently brought home this techno-treasure. It is old technology, though technology nonetheless. It has to be wound every few days and makes a delicious ticking sound which fills the room.

I LOVE it.

I shall be setting it back an hour this evening. I suggest you do the same with all of your clocks, or tomorrow when you show up an hour early for church or brunch or some other event, you will feel like this:

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We've been waking up each morning to the kind of hard frost which etches everything in white.

Later in the day, when the temperatures go up towards a balmy 50, we've been enjoying skies like this.

The other day, when the temperature reached 47, I saw a man riding on his mower wearing a ski jacket, ear muffs, and gloves. I got a big chuckle out of that - - - because OTHER folks are still running around in their t-shirt sleeves and shorts.

I personally have graduated to long sleeves, though not necessarily a coat.

Of course, I don't necessarily wear a coat even when it's 10 below.

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This is how Mackinley went to school on nerd day.

This is one of Mackinley's school projects.

A budding Picasso, if you ask me!


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Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Believe me, two "unwins" in a row equals desperate times.
So I'm taking desperate measures.

Including buying this beauty to wear on my head.

During the game.

Down in my FBC where no one will see me.

But if I were GOING to the game I'd wear it there too.

So today at 3:30 when I descend into my FBC to watch the game,

I shall pull out and don all my BEST Badger gear.

I'll shod my feet,
Wrap up in one of my Badger blankies,
And give "our boys" my BEST armchair coaching.

I can't deal with another unwin.


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Please head on over to Mrs. 4444's place
And check out all the Friday Fragments.

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