Saturday, December 4, 2010

Winter Wonderland!!!

On Saturday, the weathermen in our area said that we MIGHT get a few snow flurries, but nothing to get excited about. The joke was on them. At noon it started snowing and it snowed the rest of the afternoon. We probably got at least 2 inches of snow. Luckily, it did not stick on the roads, so everybody could continue on with their plans, but the ground got covered. The trees were gorgeous and everything certainly looked like a winter wonderland.
This picture is at the Battleground Park, which is right near my house. I loved the way the snow looked on the trees!
The local Christmas tree lot blanketed in snow! Even the big Santa got covered in snow today. People were scurrying around trying to buy their Christmas trees in the snow flurries. It was so festive!!!
In Mom's backyard, her little squirrel was looking everywhere for something to eat. He kept digging in the snow looking for the bird seed that had spilled from the bird feeder. I love to watch the birds and the squirrels!
I took this picture while we were out and about today. I loved the old gate and the trees covered in snow in the background. While Mom and I were out today, we were amazed at God's beauty all around us... Even simple things were so gorgeous covered in snow!

Today was such a fun day. I took my Mom out for the day and we enjoyed our time together. We started out at a local church bazaar. Then we went out to lunch. From there we went to a local "Vintage shop" that has the most gorgeous stuff. They were having their Christmas open house. I bought an old vintage Santa to add to my collection and a hand made Santa ornament. (You know I love my Santas!)

From there Mom and I went to Furniture Land South in High Point to look for a leather recliner for my Dad. High Point is where they have the furniture market twice a year, so the selection there is incredible! ( A bit overwhelming, actually!!!) We found the exact chair that my Dad had and it was on sale at a great price. We were both doing the happy dance over this chair!!!!

Saturday night Tom and I went out to dinner with some of our friends to our favorite restaurant to celebrate my good news and also our friend's birthday. I had a great day!

The only sad note to the day was that my youngest daughter, Adelaide, was supposed to have her White Rose Formal dance with her sorority and it got canceled due to the bad weather where she is in school. The girls had rented houses to stay in where the dance was being held. They were already there settling in to get ready for the dance, when they got news that things had been canceled. Luckily it will be re-scheduled for sometime in January or February, but I know all the girls were really disappointed. Adelaide had a beautiful new dress to wear and she was looking forward to going with her new boyfriend. Oh well, you can't control Mother Nature!

Our first snowfall of the year was so pretty today! I wonder if this is an indication of what is to come this winter?

Friday, December 3, 2010

Early Christmas Gift!!!



I will always remember Christmas 2010 as a very special year. I received the wonderful news today that my CT Scan was clear and there is no evidence of cancer!!!!! Talk about an awesome Christmas present!!! I was beyond thrilled!

And to top it off, my oncologist even called to tell me in person. How about that? He is an amazing doctor and I am going to miss him. When I go on December 17th, he will dismiss me and I will no longer need the services of an oncologist.

As you can imagine, I am doing the "happy dance" here at my house today. God is good and I give him all the glory for my healing! He evidently has great plans for my life! I have 2 amazing daughters to love and spend time with. That is #1 on my list. Life is wonderful!!!

Hope all of you have a blessed holiday season. Take time to enjoy those you love and make lots of memories this Christmas!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Thursday, December 2, 2010

We Interrupt This Holiday Season For.......

A CT Scan!!!!!

On Friday morning I have to get my semi-annual CT Scan. I have to report at 8am to start drinking the contrast and my actual scan is at 10am. The good news is that if this scan is clear (normal), then I will be released from my oncologist's care when I visit him this month. Isn't that wonderful? I am so excited and I pray that I have good results again this time!

I do have mixed feelings about not seeing my oncologist anymore, as he is an incredible doctor! I have seen him for the past 7 years, so we are like family!

I will more than likely not get my scan results tomorrow, but I will let you all know whenever I get them.

We have a nice weekend planned. Friday night my hubby and I are attending a Christmas party with our Sunday school class from the church we used to belong to. Then on Saturday night, we are going to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate one of the friend's birthday. I also have some things I am going to be doing with my Mom. We hope to get to some craft shows/bazaars this weekend.

I hope you have a nice weekend and that your Christmas plans are coming along very well.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving Memories

Our family had a wonderful time being together this year for the Thanksgiving holiday! The time just went by too fast. Adelaide was home for a week, but it seems like she was just here for a few days. Lauren and Thomas got to stay from Thursday until Sunday. I loved all the activity, chatter and laughter while they were all here. Now my nest is quiet again and I sure don't like it that way!!! I miss my girls already!

This picture is from left to right: Thomas (son-in-law), Lauren, Tom, Adelaide & Me
Lauren's little dog, Chi Chi, climbed up on my Santa pillow and took her nap. Our dog, Holly, and Chi Chi enjoyed their time being together too.
Dessert..... the most important part of the meal!!! My Mom's famous coconut cake with 7 minute icing and a fresh pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Yum!
This is my sister, Cecelia (we call her CC) and me. There is almost 12 years difference in our ages. Love time spent with my sweet sister!!!! Glad she only lives 2 hours away.
Hanging out in the den after lunch. Watching football, napping, working on the IPad, playing with the dogs, etc. A great time was had by all.
My brother-in-law, Larry and my sister, CC.
My Mom and Dad. Daddy must have just told one of his famous jokes, because it looks like Mom is fussing at him. They are such a cute couple! Glad I still have them in my life! My Dad had been sick this past week, so we were glad he was well enough to join us for lunch on Saturday. Our family had to wait and have our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, since my niece and her husband had to work Thanksgiving day. And then, wouldn't you know it, my niece got sick and they couldn't even be with us after all. We were sad that they didn't get to come.
Lauren and Thomas. They have been married for 3 1/2 years. I am blessed to have a great son-in-law and he is such a wonderful husband to Lauren!
This is Adelaide and her new boyfriend, Nick. He is a very nice young man and we like him a lot. He will graduate from college in December and is presently looking for a job. They are a cute couple together!
Since the house is already decorated for Christmas, I used my poinsettias on the table for our Thanksgiving meal. I was glad that we could all sit together at one table, so we were able to talk and visit with each other.
Here is the table from the other direction. We had lots of delicious food. We all helped with the food and it wasn't too hard on any of us. I always host now, since it is too overwhelming for my Mom to have us all at her house for a holiday meal.

That night we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The famous movie about the Griswold family. It is so funny! Our family loves to watch this movie each year. It is a tradition to watch it on Thanksgiving weekend. Although we know the movie by heart, it always seems funnier each year when I see it. In some ways, our family is like the Griswold's. There is always something going on around here. LOL!!!

I hope your family had an awesome time being together over the holiday and making memories!!! We sure did! I just hate that the time went by so fast, but I have Christmas to look forward to now. Plus, once Adelaide is finished with this semester, she will only have one more semester of college and will be graduating in May of 2011. I can't believe it!!!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Thanking God today for all my many blessings!

I am thankful for:

- A God who loves me unconditionally!

- 2 daughters who have brought me more joy than they will ever know!

- A wonderful husband who I have known since I was 15 years old. We have been
married for 34 years.

- A son that I never had (my awesome son-in-law)!

- My health. I am a 7 year cancer survivor.

- The greatest parents anyone could ask for. I am so blessed to still have them in my
life!

- A very special sister (and her family)! Love you Sis!!!

- My home.

- My sweet pets. Dog (Holly), cat (Sassy) and canary (Sunny)!

- A great job and a wonderful family to work for.

- My freedom to live in a country where I can worship a God that I love.

- Great friends. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends. I am especially
thankful for my blog friends.

- The joy in my life every day!!!! Thank you Lord!

- I could go on and on............


I saw a saying on a church sign yesterday and it said it all as far as I am concerned:

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR EACH DAY!!!!!!!

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Christmas Decorations!

Last weekend, I got my whole house decorated for Christmas. Inside and out!!! I don't usually get everything out before Thanksgiving, but this year, I decided that I wanted to enjoy myself during December and not be stressed with decorating. I was pooped last weekend, but now that it is done, I am so thrilled that I have that all behind me.

I have ALWAYS loved Christmas and everything that comes with it! I collect Santas and they are all over my house. My favorite Christmas item is my Nativity Scene that I got as a child. I remember Mom taking me to the five and ten cent store to purchase each piece. The pieces were made in Italy, but back when they were purchased over 50 years ago, only cost around 25 to 35 cents each.
This is another favorite Nativity Scene too. It was made at church by my girls when they were little. It is so precious to me, because they signed most of the pieces on the bottom. Each piece is made out of a block of wood and felt. This Nativity sits on the floor underneath the table where my other Nativity is.
I made this Christmas banner when I was a child. I loved making things like this when I was younger and I am so thrilled to have my handmade things to pass on to my own girls. Both of my Grandmothers taught me how to do handwork. This banner is made out of felt, sequins and beads.
An end table in my den. I love the Mary Engelbreit saying... For Christmas, give your heart! My Grandmother made the fabric tree. Adelaide made the little pottery glove. And I love the little pottery Nativity.
This is one of my many Santas. His vest is made from an old quilt. I made the cross stitched pillow many years ago.
This Santa is made out of a bowling pin. He sits by my front door. A friend of mine painted him for me. Isn't he cute?
I love Anna Lee figures and these are a few from my collection. I love my Santas!
This is a tree that is in my entry foyer. A lot of the ornaments are handmade. (Many of them I made). More Santas and his elves are on the banister. Santa even hangs his hat on the post.
My gold & white table in the living room. It looks like a hodge podge in the picture, but it really is pretty. My white/gold Santas, glass Nativity,trees, angels, ornaments, etc. In the very front is a baby Jesus that Adelaide made at church when she was just a toddler. Baby Jesus is a wooden icecream spoon.
I love this old Santa. It is hard to tell from the picture, but his coat is made out of an old quilt. He is sitting by a corner cabinet that was my Grandmother's. The chair he is sitting in is old too.
This is my Santa collection on the top of our entertainment unit in the den. I have loved collecting my Santas and many of them have wonderful stories behind them. My husband is a Postmaster, so a lot of my Santas are mail related. I try not to buy as many Santas anymore, but I can't resist. I usually have to add a few each year.
I made my carolers at church many, many years ago and they sing in the breakfast room.
My tree in the den. Again, a lot of these ornaments were made by me through the years. I crossed stitched the alphabet picture on the wall. I love it!
My mantel in the den. I knitted the stockings (all but the meow one).

Sorry for the picture overload, but I wanted to show lots of my things. I still have some other pictures, but I will wait and post those later. As you can see, I totally love Christmas and all that comes with it. We haven't put up our live tree yet.

I hope you have enjoyed my Christmas decorations! Christmas is such a joyous time of the year. The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Holiday Decorating!

Hey everyone, I am still here. I have just been so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I did try to post this past weekend about my Father's trip to the World War II Memorial, but the computer would not let me upload the pictures that I have on the computer of his trip. Every time I tried to load them, it would post "error". After working with it for hours, I finally gave up. I'll try again when I have more time.

I am hosting my family for Thanksgiving this year, but we won't be eating until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, since my niece and her husband have to work the holiday this year. We will be having both of my girls, my son-in-law, Adelaide's boyfriend, my sister and her husband, my parents and my niece and her husband. There will be 12 of us!

I will roast the turkey and fix some of the food. My Mom and sister will bring some things too. That way it is not hard on anybody. Although the food is a wonderful part of Thanksgiving, I especially enjoy our time together. Looking forward to having everyone here for the holiday.

In getting ready to host my family, I decided to get my house decorated for Christmas. I have already started working on getting out my decorations. I brought all my storage bins upstairs last weekend. I have to pack up a lot of the items in my house in order to put out Christams stuff, so I have already begun to do that. My goal is to get everything put out by Sunday night. (Except our real tree).

Adelaide is coming home on Monday and I want to have everything ready and be able to enjoy my time with her while she is home. Plus, for one year, I also want to enjoy December and not have to be doing so much. I want to enjoy the Christmas season this year and not be so frazzled.

My girls and I have ALWAYS loved Christmas!!! We get so excited decorating the house and making things so festive. I collect Santa Clauses and they are everywhere in my house! I put up a real tree and I also have trees in each room of the house. They aren't large trees, but they each have pretty ornaments on them (many of them made by the girls or myself). I have something "Christmasy" in each room of the house (bathrooms included).

So think of me this weekend. I will have the Christmas CD's cranked up and will be spreading a little Christmas cheer throughout my house!!! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..........

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Blog Friend!!!


On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet my long-time blog friend, Angela.
(Love Being a Nonny) We had the best time and we talked non-stop the whole time we were together!!! I met her at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. She and I don't live but about 30 minutes from each other, but just had never gotten together before. We both stay so busy with work and our families, but I am so glad that it finally worked out for us to meet each other.

Angela is as pretty and sweet in person, as I knew she would be. We just had so much fun being together and talking with each other. Angela has 3 grown children and 2 of the cutest little granddaughters that you have ever seen. She is expecting another grandchild real soon. If you have never read her blog, go over and say hello. She is one precious blog friend that I am so glad to have the privilege to know.

Angela and I have some other mutual blog friends and we said that it would be fun to meet them too. If you have never met any of your blog friends in person, I would highly recommend it. I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of my blog friends.

Sorry for the delay in posting our meeting on Friday, but my computer froze up on me on Friday night, our college daughter paid us a surprise visit on Saturday and Tom and I had a reunion to go to on Saturday night. We have had such a fun weekend!!! And to top it off, I was on vacation last week and just enjoyed being here at home. It was great!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I can't believe that it is already November. Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be here before we know it, but I love the holidays!! Such a festive time of the year!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Flight of Honor!!!


My 89 year old Father is leaving this morning to fly to Washington, DC on the Flight of Honor with 104 fellow World War II Veterans. It is sponsored by our local Rotary Club. They will tour the WW II Memorial, The Korean and Vietnam Memorials, the Navy Yard, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Air Force Memorial.

It will be a day to remember for these WW II Vets. They range in age from 82 to 96. I am so proud of my Dad and all these men who served during the war to protect the freedom that we have today in this county.

I pray that they will have a wonderful and safe trip and that it will be very memorable for all of them. More pictures to come.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Beach Trip - Part 1

In early October, I went to the beach with my sister and some of my girl cousins. One of my cousins has a lovely home at Kure Beach. If you remember, that is where we went on our vacation this summer. One day, we drove over to Wilmington and ate lunch and shopped. This is a view of the riverfront. There are lots of great restaurants and shops along the water.
One of the local sightseeing boats. Wilmington sits on the Cape Fear River.
My shrimp and grits! This version was a bit different, but delicious!! The grits were fried, instead of creamy.
This is my older sister. Her name is Cecelia, but we call her CC. She is a wonderful sister and we love spending time together. She and I live about 2 hours from each other, so we are fortunate to get to see each other a good bit. Nothing better than time spent with your sister!!!
From the boardwalk area we could see the Battleship North Carolina. It has been restored and is a tourist attraction now. We did not go on it. Just looked from a distance. I toured it as a child.
Here is another view of the riverfront area looking back towards the big bridge coming into Wilmington.
It would not be the south unless moss was hanging in the trees.
Isn't this a cute place to eat? Look at the people eating out on their own private balconies. This restaurant was right on the river front. What a wonderful view!!
This was a view from the bridge as we were coming into Wilmington. Such a pretty city. I didn't get any good pictures of the old houses, but Wilmington has lots and lots of beautiful restored houses near the downtown area.
This is a picture from my beach chair as I sat out on the beach one afternoon and read my book and watched the world go by. At the beach, I love to sit and listen to the roar of the ocean waves and watch the seagulls running along the sand.
Notice all the people on the pier. It was wall to wall people!!! Needless to say, the fish were running and there was not an empty spot to stand and fish. We loved walking down to the pier and checking on the activity in the evening. Lots of fish being caught.
This guy and his friends sit on the end of the pier and wait for people to feed them fish that they don't want to keep. It was fascinating watching the pelicans eat their fish snacks!
A view of the beach from the pier. Even though it was October, the temperatures were in the mid to high 80's and there were lots of people swimming and surfing while we were there.
During the 2nd weekend of October each year, the Blues and Jazz Festival is held at Carolina Beach (next to where we were staying). It is a big event, but we did not go. Leon Russell was the headline artist this year.
I loved these big plants that were along the boardwalk near the beach. It is hard to tell from the picture, but they were huge!!!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time at the beach. It takes so long to get my pictures uploaded that I will do this trip in 2 parts. More to come!

Fall Fun!!!!

Just a quick note to let you know that I have not dropped off the face of the earth!! I have just been super busy! October is an awesome month here in North Carolina and the weather has been gorgeous, but boy, has it been busy. I had to go back to work on Monday, just to get some rest...... just kidding, but I'm sure you know the feeling sometimes!

I started off the month celebrating the 7 year anniversary of my cancer surgery, followed by my oldest daughter, Lauren's birthday. That was followed by Mom's second detached retina surgery and a girl's trip to the beach with my sister.

The next weekend my husband and I went to the mountains to attend Parent's weekend and we took my 89 year old father tailgating and to the football game at my daughter's college. Adelaide also announced to us that she has a new boyfriend and we got to meet him. We like him a lot!!

That weekend I attended a blogger brunch with around 15 fellow bloggers. It was so much fun! If you have not met any of your fellow blog friends, I would urge you to do so.

After Parent's weekend, Adelaide came home the following Wednesday and stayed until this past Sunday for Fall break. We had an awesome time having her here at home, but we ran non-stop the whole time she was here.

This coming weekend, my sweet Father goes on a Flight of Honor to Washington, DC to visit the World War II Memorial and I have all my family coming for the weekend, so we can be at the airport for his return celebration on Saturday night. Then throw in Halloween on Sunday night and the month will be complete. Not to mention the fact that I have worked this whole month too and am still trying to get my house back in order following having my new carpet installed earlier in the fall. I am pooped, but life is good!!!

I feel so blessed to have such a full life with lots of fun things to do and a great family and awesome friends to share it with! I promise to go back and share some pictures of my beach trip, Parent's weekend, the new boyfriend, the blogger brunch and I will also post about my Father's trip. There just have not been enough hours in the day recently. But guess what? I get to be on vacation next week. Yea!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

PS I almost forgot, 2 of my sweet blogger friends had Grandbabies this past month too.
Suzanne and Valerie! Congratulations ladies!!!