Quick Weekend Project

Since being unemployed, I have had time to complete several little projects that needed to be done. Especially since we got new furniture after Christmas, I have had to do some major color changing around the house. More on that later. In an attempt to not go crazy from boredom, I decided that since my mother brought my sewing machine from the house (new curtain project) that I would use it for more than just decorating. My goal is to make a quilt. My grandmother gave me pieces of one that she had started and just never felt like finishing. So I want to finish it. But before that happens, I need a little bit of practice. It has been forever since I had sewn anything. I think this dragon costume for Oscar (see post below) was the last thing I made. So I decided to make the puppies a mini-quilt. You can see it below. I picked up the supplies at Jo-Ann's and it is actually for a baby blanket. I had all of the fabric. All you had to do was measure, cut, and sew. Pretty simple!

All the fabric had a dog theme, so I thought it would be perfect for the little babies!! Here they are enjoying their new blanket!

Oscar's Dragon Costume

Click here to view these pictures larger

And the Award for Worst Blogger Goes to........

ME!!! Sorry folks that I have been MIA for such a long time. I have lots to share about projects and whats been going on here. So hopefully, I will get my groove thing on and get to blogging again on a regular basis!!

The Dapper Dachshunds do Christmas!

Just thought that I would do a quick little post about how the boys have been enjoying the Christmas season. They mainly love destroying everything in sight. Trees, ornaments, garland, presents (especially the bows!), you name it, they destroy it!!

It's Snuggie Time!!

A Little Christmas Tree Fun!

And When Things Get Too Exciting, the Babies Need to Rest!

And Daddy, Too!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I'm Baaack!! And Just in Time for Christmas!

I know it has been over a month since my last post. A lot has happened since then! I lost my job (shocking, I know!), so I haven't been plastered in front of a computer all day. Now it is just a TV, so I haven't really thought about my blog that much. But I thought I would take some time today to update on some of my favortie Christmas things that I have around the house!!

Starting with my Christmas Tree. We found a nice 7 foot fraiser fur tree that smells wonderful! It is decorated in browns, creams, silver, and gold colors. There are glittery brown pinecones (Joseph is a forester, afterall, so I tried to keep that theme going!) and gold ones. There are silver leaves and brown tapered glass globes. I tried to keep the tree pretty simplistic.

Here is one of my favorite ornaments on the tree. It is a glass bird with brown feathers. It doesn't show up very well on the picture, but when the light shines through it, it is really, really pretty!!

Now on to my real swags that I have on the TV cabinet. I found these at Lowes.

They smell nice as well, and I added some longleaf pine garland to finish off the top of the unit.

Christmas means that the Christmas china can come out and be displayed. Yay!! It will just be a miracle if it doesn't get broken as many times as I have had to move it to be able to eat at the table. I'm thinking Christmas morning breakfast we will actually use it and sip hot chocolate and/or coffee out of the beautiful mugs, if Joseph promises to be careful. He has a habit of breaking my nice things. That is why there is a chip on my beautiful Waterford crystal pedestal and why it is no longer displayed in the living room.

+Here is one of my new finds this year. I have been looking for some Christmas pillows and I found this one at Espositos in Tallahassee. Cute little reindeer. It is super hard to find pillows that aren't screaming with bright red and green!!

  This platter I ordered special for Joseph. I wanted one and I knew that he would never allow a Florida plate to be displayed, so I compromised and ordered a UGA one. The fight wouldn't have been worth it!     

Here is Brutus and JR's first Christmas ornament. (Yes, I am one of those crazy dog persons!) Behind it is the Christmas bell that my mother gave to us to add to our collection.                                             

Here is another ornament mom gave us. This is a Partridge in a Pear tree. You can kinda make out the pear hanging behind the birdie.

The last ornament mom gave us this year was this santa. Love him!

Here is the last new ornament that I added to my tree this year. It is from our trip to Myrtle Beach earlier this year. Anytime I go somewhere, I always try and get an ornament to remember the trip. Mom got us a Savannah one this year when her and dad went there on their anniversary, and I also brought back a Savannah ornament when Joseph and I went there on our anniversary. I have a feeling that they are hiding somewhere together, because I can't find them. I know that where ever I put them, at the time I must of thought that it was where I would look to find them. Wrong! I hate when I do that stuff!!

Anyways, that is just what I have done to get in the holiday spirit. Just a few more days and Christmas will be here. It's hard to believe. Merry Christmas everyone and always remember the reason for the season. Thank God for sending us His son Jesus. He truly is the best gift anyone could receive!!

Getting Wild and Crazy at Wildcat Creek

The National Park Service doesn't have anything on my parents (correction, father). Nor does an engineer with his fancy, smancy degree. I take it my father has watched one too many episodes of How It's Made or how it's built or how it's anything. My family home is located near the beautiful Wildcat Creek in Calhoun County, Florida. This creek feeds into the even more beautiful Chipola River. (seriously, you haven't tubed until you have gone down the crystal clear waters of the Chipola) We have a small national treasure on our hands, complete with natural springs and our very own "waterfall" that disappears into the ground, just to come out at the banks of the Wildcat Creek. But we are the lucky ones that are the only ones to get to enjoy it.

Waterfall, kinda

My father and his nephew and his sons have been diligently working on their little "mangrounds" or campground, to normal people. It started when they began clearing out a trail from my parents house to the nephews house, which is located across the creek and through the woods a good little ways, so that the boys can ride their four wheeler back and forth between the two houses. The only problem was how to cross the creek. Well...this is what they came up with.

Bridge

That's right, well drilling stem and cattle fencing. Looks safe, right? But I guess it works. And the other ramp is for this.

The doggies can't walk across the bridge because their litttle paws would fall through, so they have their own special crossing. Now for a peek at the "work in progress" campground.

There are a few candle lanterns hung up and then the infamous tractor tire rim grill. The pallets were used in the first attempt at a bridge, but was quickly abandoned for obvious reasons.

My father made this little bench/table to put down there, so that when they have their manly bonding time, they have somewhere to sit and eat.

Pretty nifty, right? Who knew that pops had woodworking skillz up his sleeve! And here are a few more random pictures from down at the creek!

Next time I am home, I will have to go deeper in the woods to the spot in the creek where there is a beautiful sandy beach area. But I had on my good shoes, so that didn't happen on this past trip!!

Over the Mountains and Through the Woods.....

This past week, I had the opportunity to go with my grandmother to Tennessee for a few days. I met her and her cousin and his wife in Pigeon Forge on Sunday. I beat them up there, so I got to get in a little retail therapy before my "Senior Week" kicked off! All in all, I had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to spend time with my grandmother and see the beautiful scenery that the Smoky Mountains are known for. The only complaint I can say is that my idea of a steak house IS NOT Golden Corral and hopefully this week will be my only appearance at one of those establishments again. (Not a big fan of the stop and sweat buffets)

On Monday, we braced from the cold and headed out to Dollywood. It was Gospel Week and there were many Gospel groups there singing. I didn't take any pictures while at Dollywood. My hands were too cold to get my camera out! We left at lunch and then road up through Gatlinburg and hit the road tour through the national park.

On Tuesday, it rained and rained and rained some more. We didn't really do anything on Tuesday, due to the rain. Although I did slip away and went to the huge Christmas shop and picked up some ornaments for me and Mama Bernice. (and maybe one for JR and Brutus to celebrate their first Christmas)

Wednesday turned out to be a gorgeous and warm day. We started out in the morning for Cades Cove. I absolutely loved it out there. I wish Joseph had been there to see all the beautiful scenery and wildlife. Really breathtaking.

Wednesday was a great day, that is until after lunch. Lindy and Marie decided to go back to Dollywood for some more shows, so we decided to just hang back and do a little sightseeing/shopping by ourselves. We hopped in my car and away we went. That is until I heard a CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP. Of course, grandma heard it too. So I pulled over, just thinking maybe I had a limb or something caught under my car. Umm....no. It was my tire. Yes. My front left tire decided that now was the time to start coming off, with my worry-wort grandmother in there with me. To my defense, I knew I needed new tires and was trying to get a new set before this trip, but my tire size is not standard and everywhere I called was out in Tallahassee and Thomasville. So I was hoping that they would be okay until I returned. But they apparently weren't. So we found a nice little tire shop and thankfully, they had my tires. No trip to Knoxville to hunt some down!! So I got to ride home on four brand new tires, so nice and smooth. I was just thankful it did it when it did and not driving 75 down the interstate!

So that was my trip. I had a great time and I was happy to go and let my grandmother enjoy seeing the mountains again. Maybe next year the whole family can go!