Less Than A Week Away....

Here it is, the Wednesday before Christmas and I am getting a bit excited.  I gave away candy canes today at work and I need to get some more!  And maybe some chocolate....

Cookies are made and stashed in the freezer:

and yes, we tried them.  And they are good!

I love Christmas Cactus and this guy didn't look so good at Home Depot so I am going to nurse him back to health.

Chocolates from Torii

Amy got me this sign ~ LOVE it!!!!

Our front door ~ it looks like a British call box to me

Loki on his favorite perch looking out the front window

Of course we have the pony ride Christmas village!!!!!!

And yes, I am that person who switches out the regular art for Christmas art.

Look, the snow is all gone!

I have Christmas carols on, may have to put Jimmy Buffett on since we have warmed up a bit.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season ~ and I am sending lots of love to all!!!!!

~Leslie

The Lights Did Flicker.......

On our second day of snow here in North Cackalacky, all is well.  I have gone to the dark side and now have Christmas carols on full time.  I did some more decorating:

Please note the Mom and Dad era Lava Lamp next to Alexa and an iphone charger. 

The lights did flicker last night, but we did not lose power.  After making Amy watch the Ravens vs the Kansas City Chiefs, we settled into HGTV and then Hawaii Life.  Which looked pretty good while the lights were flickering because of the snow and ice.

Much love,
Leslie

First Snow ......

I guess this is the named storm Diego (according to the Weather Channel).  We kept getting "winter storm" warnings but nothing was happening when I went to bed after midnight.  

This is what is saw at  7am:

And yes, I went out and shoveled a bit of the driveway, a path to the bird feeders and a path for Loki.

It is gorgeous but come on it is December 9th!!!!!!!

Oh, and for all you Army fans.....Army won again.  They won their 10th game of their season and if they win their next game against Houston, they will have won 11 games in their season for THE FIRST TIME ever!!!!!!!  Ok, great.  

I had to watch an episode of Criminal Minds (always creepy) and two episodes of the Hallmark channel Christmas movies that had happy endings to get over the Army win.  
Bah Humbug.

Love,
Leslie

Luckily Red Matches......

Today was Get the Greens Up.  Since it is getting colder and there is a chance we may get some snow, I wanted the outside decorated.  

I have wreaths on the back gate, back fence wall and on the front gate.

Of course I jammed a wire into my finger ~ at least the red matches the decorations.

Got the garland up.....

And decided it needed to be adjusted

Now for the great clean up.  And a drink.

Much love,
Leslie

Here We Go ~ The Lights Start Going Out

Ok, I know I got the competetive Chrismas itch early.  I will admit that I love to relax in the dark of the early evenings and look at the lights.  

Two days ago, half the lights on the back porch went dark. And you can twist bulbs til the cows come home and you can't fix it.  

So, I take the lights down.  

I get the icicle lights out.  Now this is the first time I have ever used these.  It is alot easier standing on the porch or the ground putting up lights.

Ladders can be tricky.  

So I get out the ladder.

I have to hammer in nails every 12 inches, to hook the lights onto.  And move the ladder every 12 inches.  Up and down and up and down.  Not easy.

Luckily, there were no unfortunate accidents or missteps.

Amy reminded me of the time when Dad was on the ladder outside of the Sun Room of the house in Statesboro.  Mom and I were going out and she asked me to see if Dad was still alright.

I could see the ladder and told her that he was ok.

Well, the ladder was ok.  Dad was lying on his back, tapping on the window hoping that someone would come and help him.

He overheard the conversation and knew he was on his own.  So he got up and kept working because that was Dad.

It still makes me laugh.  Poor Dad.

Back to the lights.

I got them up and they do look good.

Dad always loved the lights.  These are for you Dad!

Love,

Leslie

You know, it is still NOVEMBER!

I worked on clearing out some of the chaos and tomorrow I will put the bins back in the garage and pull a couple more out.  I am still looking for some of our holiday pillows and a small Christmas tree.  But it will be ok if I don't find them.  I am waiting a week to put up the greenery outside.

Ornaments do make a difference.

If you look closely, you can see the Santa mobile in the window.  Amy made that probably more than 40 years ago.

Ho Ho Ho,
Love,
Leslie

All Cyclinders Are Firing......

Ok, did some more work on Christmas.  I am missing some stuff....I must have either not gotten to the bottom of some bins or I am missing one.  Maybe it is still in the garage.

I got the white lights on the tree and it does make a difference:

There is nothing better than sitting by the fire and enjoying the Christmas tree and all the decorations.  

Much love,
Leslie

I Need More Elves.....or Fairy Dust

In the interest of Christmas and the competitive spirit of the holidays, I got cracking  in the decorating department.  I have decided to have Christmas everywhere.

I am not done yet, I need to put white lights on the tree, it is too dark.  I would have done it already, but OF COURSE I have to go to the store and get some!!!!!!!

Need some white lights

This is the buffet in the foyer

But it is a start.

And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NANCY ~ you are a wonderful sister and a MAJOR LEAGUE holiday decorator!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Leslie

Crack That Whip......It's Christmas!!!!!

Ok, so some of my dearest sister's have their trees up....I just got into the garage and got 99% of the boxes out and have got two staging areas set up.

I was putting away the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations and OF COURSE they would not all fit into the bins they came out of.  Why is that?  I did not get anything new except for a couple of runners.  Do bins shrink?  Do pumpkins swell?

Anyway, I will get started.  I do love the lights and all the hoopla.  And, I am half way done with my shopping.  Happy Holidays!!!!!

Love,
Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

Our first Thanksgiving at our house in Hillsborough, NC was fun.  Jim, Lori, Jesse, Leah, JJ, Nana, Amy and I were the guests.  

Jim and Lori brought a turkey breast, greenbean casserole, sweet potato casserole, a chocolate pie, and gravy.

I made Mom's Cream Cheese Pie and Ambrosia, squash casserole, cranberry relish and my own combination of 3 kinds of stuffing.  

And managed to not give one guest a fork and another a spoon.  That may become a tradition in how not to set the table.

It was delicious. And the best part, Amy loved the stuffing and cranberry relish!!!!!!!!!

The dishes are all done.  The linens are in the washer.  I think today I will NOT go to any Black Friday events or do any on-line shopping.  I may put away the pumpkins and think about putting up Christmas.

Lori and Jim are putting up their tree today and I am practically positive Nancy has her tree either up already or it is going up this weekend. And I just heard from Carole and her tree is up and decorated.  Hmmmmm.

I do love the holiday seasons.  

Much love to everyone.
~Leslie

Caroline's Cake or The Diabolicalness of Amy

For Thanksgiving, I have ordered the ever popular Caroline's yellow cake with caramel icing.  It is Jesse's favorite and I just happen to really like it too.  FYI I found out that Valentine's favorite is the red velvet.  I will just have to try that.

So, I ordered the cake and told Amy to be on the lookout for the cake and that if the cake arrived before I got home to be sure to open the box and get the cake in the freezer.

I got home yesterday from work and noticed several packages on the kitchen counter and one was the box from Caroline's Cakes.  Amy was in her office and I was fussing at her for failing in her mission.  I cut open the tape to the box and lifted out the top layer of the styrofoam ........ to nothing.  

I actually pull the bottom layer of stryofoam out to check but no cake.  I put it back together still fussing and then check the stryofoam AGAIN.  I yell to Amy to come and check out that there is no cake but then a small lightbulb goes off and in mid fuss at Amy I go and check the freezer.

Yep.  The cake is in the freezer.

Amy got me.  

Happy Holidays!  Or to the beginning of them.

Love, 
Leslie

Election Day

We are going to Devine's in Durham for a "brief" celebration of the end of election day and to see how the polls are going.  Jim is running unopposed for his last term as Superior Court Judge ~ and that is good.  And he is tremendously happy.

Here is another photo of the house.  It is the entry way.  

 Can you tell a dog lover lives here?  

Oh and here is the newest photo of Amy's SeaBee:

Amy's friend, Britt Gillis is a photographer and likes the play of light on him.  He does look good.

Much love,
Leslie

Let There Be Light

We had our new favorite electrician, Gonzo, come to the house to install our new lights and ceiling fans.

I LOVE this new light in the foyer!

Amy's new ceiling fan ~ remote controlled ~ does everything except make toast.

The chandalier over Amy's tub

A dimmer switch was put on the pendants ~ which makes a huge difference!

Our favorite dining room chandalier ~ it has been in our last 4 houses.

My ceiling fan that only cools.  No remote, no light. Perfect.

It makes such a huge difference ~ the lights and the fans.  Makes the house more ours.

Love,
Leslie

Happy Halloween!

I am getting things ready for tonight.........

Some of our neighbors got ready last night:

I have been using this as my carry all for a week.

We are ready for the ravening hordes.

Yes, she scared the multitudes.

This is how the last group of Trick or Treaters rolled.  

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Love, Leslie