You Crazy Kids!

Ok, so they aren't exactly "kids"...Our good friend Derrik married his sweetheart on Saturday. We enjoyed the simple, but beautiful ceremony and small reception they had for family and friends. I always kid about Derrik being the "mountain man" with his burly face and crazy hair, but he's actually a world traveler and successful business man who met his new wife in China awhile back. She's a sweetie and I'm so happy for them both. I kidded him about the language barrier and asked if Shawn knew for sure she was really agreeing to marry him. I think she understood completely! Congrats!
The rings were exchanged after a lovely ceremony. They said a sweet endearment in Chinese after the rings. Both the Bride and Groom had tears...Oh Derrik, you old softie!
After dinner they shared the cake..the traditional "cut the cake and feed it to each other" part. No smeared frosting. That's how a mature couple handles it!
Good luck you two crazy kids! We wish you all the best...if I could say it in Chinese I would. I'll have to ask my Son Craig how to do that!

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday. Like many people I was up early, dressed and ready to hit the road..only I wasn't going shopping. My Black Friday consisted of gall bladders, a broken hip, wrist, hand and a patient who thought having a colonoscopy the day after Thanksgiving was a good idea...We don't usually do those in our operating room but he wanted to be completely out..asleep I mean. I guess his Friday was blacker than mine! Well, I don't ever go shopping on this day anyway. I can't think of one thing I would ever want that much to fight the crowds or lose sleep over! A few coworkers did head out early before work and had some tales to tell but they sounded pretty benign so I'm glad they were able to find gifts at a good price. This pic is of a gift from my hubby last week. I was having a not so great week and coming home to find these on the table did put a smile on my face. They were beautiful! I'm thankful for a great guy like Jack who always tries to cheer me up, or keep me grounded when I'm off on a tangent! Thanks babe, your one of the many things I have to be thankful for in my life. Well, I had a few things to get ready to make yesterday's meal something that would put a smile on everyone's face!
Thanksgiving dinner means getting all the goodies to put this meal on. With my trusty list in hand I headed out. We still had to make a run Thanksgiving morning for a couple of "oh, shoot, I forgot" items.
I made only 3 pies this year since we weren't having as big a group as usual. Mmmmm...more pie for us! Let's see, we had pecan, raspberry, and of course Jack's favorite..pumpkin chiffon.
Lexi was all smiles as she ate herself silly!
Addy had a meal that she said was "delishous"...
Last year for Thanksgiving we had a crowd of about 25..this year just these guys, the little girls and Eddy the wonder dog showed up..but it was a feast anyway and I was as tired this year as I was last year. Go figure!
After dinner I grabbed the girls and we hiked up to the Creepy Woods to work off that meal...we took Eddy too and he made sure we didn't get lost. In this pic I was showing them that if you get lost, just hug a tree and wait to be found. Can you find Eddy in the pic? How about just his stubby little tail?
We came down from our romp in the Creepy Woods and the girls couldn't resist playing on Jack's wood pile that is waiting to be split. Now, if we could teach them how to split and stack the wood instead of playing on it we would be happy campers!
Weather permitting, we always take our pumpkins that are left from Halloween and shoot them with arrows. Well, I shoot them with arrows, the guys usually get out the guns and take care of the leftovers after I'm done! I actually broke an arrow and my bow this year. I'm a tough cookie when it comes to archery. Of course using a bird bath as the pumpkin stand wasn't the smartest thing!
With the guns a blazing in the yard, Eddy found me up at the computer and sat as close as he could get until the shooting stopped. He was a thankful pup when it did! He gets so scared when he hears gunshots..I mean just look at his crazed eyes!

A Jar Full Of Surprises

Tonight we had our Church women's meeting (The Relief Society). We focused on doing something we could give as gifts for Christmas. The committee had everything decorated in Christmas colors. It looked very festive! We do our Christmas meeting in November because we don't have one in December so it's not so busy for us to try and squeeze one more thing in during that crazy month. We made "gifts in a jar"..I'm sure everyone has made these before. We have too, but they are fun and easy and nice to give away. We are just a small branch here in Ohio. So to have about 25 women there is a great turnout for us. It's been a pretty crummy week for me. Challenges at work have been very depressing. I haven't been in the best of humor..just ask Donna (Starkey Hollow)! I wasn't looking as forward to this meeting as I should have been. I have a great committee that did an awesome job of organizing this. Food was prepared, ingredients assembled, and much planning and set up was done. I was grateful I didn't have to stress over this. I was even more grateful for the fun atmosphere that was there. A special feeling of love and friendship that surprised me and brought a smile to my face that wasn't there most of this week! So the real "gift in a jar" wasn't in the ingredients....it was in the air that made it into my heart. I'm glad I was there to enjoy it!
Before we put our gifts in a jar together we had a lite meal of soup, salad and bread and dessert. The salad (made by me) was refreshing and tastey...but I almost forgot to take any pics and when I did finally get around to it, most of the food was almost gone and everything looked sort of..well, almost gone! We also had bread and an assortment of desserts that were also part of what we were putting together in our jar gift project.
We had 2 soups for our gifts in a jar. We were able to sample each soup so we could have an idea of how they would taste. Both were really good. This pic looks funny because most of the soup was gone and it didn't make for a pretty picture! Trust me when I tell you that it was wonderful!
The tables were laid out with all the ingredients and note cards that gave the amount we would need for each step in filling our jars. Funnels, measuring cups and spoons and the finishing touches with material and ribbon were all ready for us.
The finished product looks very cute. It holds most of the ingredients that you need to make a soup or a dessert. But the real gift tonight was the gathering of women of all ages to share a lite meal, fun conversation, working together, laughing, and feeling a togetherness that uplifts us. The month of November encourages us to remember our blessings, and tonight I'm grateful for this small gathering of friends.

Mother Nature Pulls A Fast One

The weather had me fooled yesterday. It was almost 70de.! It felt like Spring...it smelled like Spring..it even rained like Spring. I thought maybe I fell asleep and woke up after Winter was over...no such luck. Today the temps are still mild..but tomorrow it will be a different story. Oh well, I had a right to be confused. These flowers sure are! They continue to bloom close to the house, even with the earlier hard frosts we've had. On top of the warmth, and rain we even had tornado warnings yesterday. Mother Nature is such a kidder!

With the warmer temps came the wind. The scarecrow was almost blown over...his little legs just flapping in the breeze!
I don't know if you can tell from this pic, but the tops of the pines are blowing in the wind like crazy. The pine trees are a great protection from the wind. When we first moved here they were not anywhere near as tall as they are now. We used to be able to fly a kite in the back yard..not anymore..they just block out all the wind!
These two pine cones were hanging on for dear life. No matter how hard the wind blew, they held on. Reminded me of Jack and I...the winds and storms have been trying to blow us here and there, but we're hanging on tight!
I braved the crazy wind and took a quick walk around the yard. When I got up to the Creepy Woods I noticed this pile of leaves.
Those leaves all used to be here under these bare trees...that is until the wind blow all of them into the woods...I laughingly thought: "Hey, God raked my leaves! Thank you!"
If you stand back here it really does look much neater..much nicer...but would expect any less of God than to rake such a nice pile for us?

Let's Not Forget

Today at work they made an announcement over the PA at 11:00am...a moment of silence to remember our Veterans. It's hard to quiet an operating room but we did it. I'm not sure if all our operating rooms were at a point where silence could be observed, but I was glad to take just a minute and say a prayer of thanks for all those men and women who gave their time and/or their lives to keep our freedoms. I was sorry a minute was all that was allowed, but believe me I never forget those brave souls. Men like my Dad who served in WWII. Men like my brothers Phil and Greg who served in Vietnam. Thanks to all who served and continue to serve today. I wish we could have a day to rejoice a time of complete peace in the world. I guess we just have to be content for now for a special day to just remember. Thank You Veterans.

Come Saturday Morning

We headed out to the Farmer's Market this bright and sunny Saturday morning. After getting some goodies there we went to a few places that were having Christmas open house. Ashland has a few really cute shops and to promote them there is a stop and shop promotion. There are even prizes! Our first stop at the open houses was to Annette's Victorian Garden. It's a florist shop but it holds much more than flowers! Annette is a sweet lady who really has built up her business in the last few years. I've never been disappointed at any arrangements I've gotten there. It's very convenient that it's only two buildings down from Jack's office! He often surprises me with beautiful flowers! It's housed in an old victorian home that has had a few transformations over the years.
Every part of the building is decorated. It's a place that used to have a coffee shop and an apartment upstairs. It's worth the stop to see and enjoy all the hidden treasures.
The shop's main floor was lovely but I enjoy going up these beautiful stairs and seeing what goodies await me!
This is the kitchen to the apartment upstairs. It had every nook and cranny full of Christmas cheer and some wonderful spiced cider to enjoy. Needless to say it smelled festive too!
I loved the look of this tree in the upstairs sitting room. It's not one I would put in my house but it looked very fun here!
All the time we were "browsing", Annette's Mom was playing Christmas music on the dulcimer. It was a fun stop!
I took a hike up the street while Jack stayed at his office to do some quick work. This shop is called Backdoor Primitives. It's down a little alley not far from Jack's office. I stumbled across it a few years ago. I've been a regular ever since.
Backdoor Primitives is jam packed with new and old things. They are big on rug hooking and have classes. They have many cute things for little ones too. I just enjoy wandering around in there and it's where I usually get my Lori Mitchell dolls. I've posted about those in the past.
My final stop was at The Gleaner Antiques shop. It's really cute inside but they don't allow any picture taking. The grounds outside are nice too and I wish I could show you how many fun and interesting things that await you on the inside. I guess you'll just have to come visit to find out!
Here's a taste of what I picked up on my ventures today. I thought this painting was pretty. I got it at Annette's Victorian Garden.
I picked these up at the Backdoor Primitives. I collect Lori Mitchell figures and I thought these were cute and different...
Well, the day is flying by and I'd better get on with outdoor work to fill in the rest of today. It's sunny and, not exactly warm, but nice enough to finish off some last minute tasks. I think squeak will just have to lead me in the right direction!

I Couldn't Resist

I'm sorry, really I am. I wasn't going to post anymore Halloween pics. It's November for crying out loud..but I couldn't resist showing these Grandkiddos and a Mom and Dad...Here is a pic that makes me smile every time I see it. It's my Grandson Anthony with his little brother Cameron. Anthony, who's nine, looks so big standing with Cam who's four. We were just about to head out the door to trick or treat in their neighborhood. Two nicer little boys you'll never find..except when you meet my other cute Grandson, Taylor. I stole some pics from their blog and really, I couldn't resist sharing.
I found this pic on my Daughter-in-laws blog and I just couldn't resist posting my son Craig as the Mummy..and my Grandson Taylor as little King Tut...they have a theme going here as you will see in the next pic. Amy is Cleopatra....Craig the mummy...and Sophie is her favorite storybook character, Alice the Fairy. (Who ever that is?!)Hey, she's not following the theme..but we love her anyway! So, I'm sorry that I'm still posting the Halloween stuff but I just couldn't resist..I said that already didn't I?