I've Totally Lost It!!!

In the winter I love to wear my Dansko's. I have a black and a brown pair. Well guess what? Today I decided to add a little excitement to the day and I ended up wearing one of each!!! Didn't I just mention in a past post how busy I have been lately? I know I have totally lost it now!!!

I had to be at work today at 7am, so I was up and out of the house really early. I had my shoes in the hallway and just ran by and slipped them on in the dark and took off out the front door.

I got to work (remember, I am a Nanny) and proceeded to do my usual morning routine at their house. The Mom was there, but was busy doing her thing trying to get the oldest child out the door. We talked, but she or the children never noticed my shoes.

I took the youngest child to pre-school and WALKED in the building! No one noticed my shoes or if they did, they were polite and didn't say anything.

I then went to the dry cleaners and it is one that you walk in to (not a drive-through). Again, no one mentioned my shoes.

From there I went to the grocery store and was there for about an hour. Still no comment from anyone about my shoes. I had not noticed them either! LOL!!!

After grocery shopping, it was time for my morning Bible study group. It was while we were discussing our book, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, that I looked down and noticed that I had on two colors of shoes. I pointed it out to everyone and we all had a good laugh!!! And believe it or not, every lady there admitted to having done that at least once in her life.

I am amazed at God's sense of humor and how He brought laughter and smiles to our Bible study group this morning through something as simple as my mismatched shoes!

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY ADELAIDE!!!

Adelaide turned 22 on Monday, January 24th! I can't believe my baby is that old. It just seems like yesterday that she was born.
What a joy she and her older sister, Lauren, have been in my life! I am so blessed to have such wonderful daughters, who are as beautiful inside as they are outside.
I am so happy to be their Mom!

I hope you had a wonderful day, Adelaide and I'm sorry we were not able to be together! I look forward to celebrating with you real soon. (For those of you who don't know, Adelaide is a senior in college and will graduate in May!) Where have these past 4 years gone?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweet girl!!! I love you!

Love & blessings,
MOM

Belated Christmas Update!

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for not posting in FOREVER, but I have just been a bit on overload since early December and blogging has had to take a back seat. Nothing bad....just more on my plate than I could handle. Not enough hours in the day! I hope you all understand.
This picture was taken of our family on Thanksgiving day. From left to right is our son-in-law Thomas, our oldest daughter Lauren, my husband Tom, our youngest daughter Adelaide and me.
This is my parents when we were attending a local church Christmas musical this year. I am so blessed to have Mom and Dad in my life, but they are really requiring more and more of my time to function on an every day basis. I am not complaining at all, but with working full time and helping with their care, it has really taken up a huge portion of my time. My Mom is almost 87 and my Dad is almost 90.

With Christmas thrown in and other family commitments, plus 4 friends who each lost a parent, I felt like I was on a roller coaster that wasn't ever going to stop. Something had to give and I just decided to quit blogging for a bit. I needed to get reorganized and focus on some of these other things in my life.

A big THANK YOU to all of my sweet blog friends who sent messages, emails, etc. to check on me and make sure everything was OK. I read some blogs on occasion and commented when I could, but not as much as usual. I sure appreciated your thoughtfulness! Thanks so much!! I love all my blog friends and I have missed you all.


Our family had a nice Christmas and for the first time since 1969, we had a white Christmas. We received between 6 to 7 inches of snow on Christmas day. I took this picture on my deck rail in the back yard. This little snowman measuring stick was made in my pre-school class many years ago, but I still love using it when it snows.
I love the house blanketed in snow. I put wreaths on all my windows with red bows. You can't tell from the picture, but I burn a single electric candle in each window on the front and the back of the house. There are also 2 lighted reindeer and a spiral Christmas tree next to the front door. I love to fly decorative flags and this particular time I was flying Santa Claus!

For those of you who don't live in the North Carolina area, we have had 3 major snow storms here in the past month. Needless to say, we are all looking forward to spring! Enough snow!!! They are calling for possible precip on Wednesday, but I am hoping for just rain.

Work for me has been a bit crazy too, recently. The week before Christmas, the family I work for had an older daughter who got married out of state, so that made things busy! Then these past 2 weeks at work, both of the kids have been sick and now the Dad has pneumonia. I am just praying that I stay well.

This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to get away for a ladies weekend with some of my girlfriends for some much needed REST & RELAXATION. It was most welcomed and I enjoyed my time away so much. Now maybe I can regroup and get on with life.

God may throw us a few curve balls every so often, but He promises us that He will never give us more than we can handle. Life may be BUSY, but it is GOOD and I am glad to be back with you all in the blog world!!! I have missed you all. Enjoy your week.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

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?

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

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

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!!!