Until Next Time...

 It's already mid-March.  When did that happen?  Was it when I was busy at work?  Was it when I was trying to do anything but clean the house?  Was it while I spent hours reading? Or while I spent hours cross stitching?  All I know is that I woke up this morning at 4:30 and was astounded that it was already almost the middle of March. And you are probably wondering what is so special about the middle of March, aren't you?  Well, my oldest daughter's birthday is Sunday, the 14th.  And my only grandson's birthday is on Tuesday the 16th.  And let's not forget that I turned the BIG 5-0 on Tuesday of this week!  March is a special month in our family. To celebrate my birthday, Lola got me an amazing Cuisinart stand mixer in a beautiful aquaish Tiffany blue.  Then when I got home that night, Jenna had blown up 50 black balloons and had them all over the house.  Emery has loved playing with them all week. I am ...

 My husband and I started dating on January 29.  Valentine's Day was just a mere two weeks later and neither of us were too sure on what to get each other since the relationship was new.  I honestly don't remember what I got him, if I even got him anything.  He did get me a pink stuffed bear though :) Thirty-two years later we still don't know what to get each other for Valentine's Day LOL  We both like to express the fact that we love each other at any given moment, not necessarily only on Valentine's or our anniversary (and we celebrate both the day we married and the day we started dating).   But this year, I read a book....I know, shocker!  But seriously, I read a book last week, Steal My Magnolia by Karla Sorensen, and the characters did the most adorable things for Valentine's as they were trying to work their way to being together.   The main guy, Grady, framed vintage Valentine cards for Magnolia.  That got me to thinking ab...

  I have a love/hate relationship with Kristen Ashley's books.  I've been reading her stuff since 2012.  Some of them, I have absolutely LOVED - The Gamble, I am looking at you.  Some I have quit reading without even making it to the half way point - the Honey series *shivers* just NO.  I have felt that the last few books I have read/attempted to read by her just haven't been in her style.  Kristen Ashley is wordy and descriptive.  Her characters are some times so aggravating, but at the same time you love them.  Well, with Still Standing I think she has gone back to that type of writing that her followers all across the world fell in love with. Yes, Clara was a bit trying at times.  She seemed a bit lost, and with good reason.  But she had such a good heart.  And let's not forget Buck and his alpha-ness.  But under that jerk he was sweet and loyal.  I loved that he spoke in full sentences - if you are a KA reader, you TOT...

  How is it that it is already the last half of January?  Where has the time gone?  It seems like it was just Christmas.  Of course, it could be that I have been sick since Christmas and haven't left the house.  I got some reading done and some stitching done.  But I still have all three of the Christmas trees and all the Christmas decorations still up.  One year I left the tree up until March.  I imagine I will attempt to undecorate my house this weekend. Did you make resolutions for the new year?  I decided that this year I would improve my baking/dessert skills.  I have attempted some thumbprint cookies that are similar to the party cookies we get at the local Bake Shop.  I was not impressed with my version LOL  This past weekend Jenna and I made a chocolate cake from scratch with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cream cheese frosting - both from scratch.  It was AMAZING!  I have been pouring over Pinterest to s...

 This year my reading goal was 104 books.  That roughly translates to 2 books a week.  That is considerably less than previous years goals.  But, I knew that with working full time and going back to school there was not much of a chance of reading a whole lot more than that.  I managed to finish 113 books for 2020.  Not bad, all things considered.   When I was going through the list of books I read this year to pick my top 3 favorites, I realized I might have to do it a little different because there were quite a few that I loved and several of them were in the same series or stand alones, but by the same author.  These are in no particular order cause I loved them all. First up is the books I read by Ilsa Madden-Mills this year.  All three of them were added to my Favorites list on Goodreads.  I read The Revenge Pact.  I have the review posted here .  River and Anastasia killed me! There was also I Promise You.  Dill...

  December has been busy!  Between work, preparing for Christmas, and Covid quarantines, I have not had hardly a minute.  But, I did want to pop on here and wish you a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We spent Christmas day with all of the girls, even if it wasn't all at the same time LOL  Ashley and Grant and the kiddos got to the house around supper time when we were just getting ready to go on round 2 of the ham and yummies that we had for lunch.  Even though we decided to keep it simpler this year, lots of gifts were exchanged, including some AMAZING blankets - we opted to do a blanket exchange this year.  Billy got a baby Yoda one and I got a snuggly grey one.  I think we all were happy with what was received. It is my hope that you got what you wanted and that you were blessed enough to spend time with family and friends. Until next time....

Thanksgiving Dinner last week was missing Ashley and her bunch. Living in Louisiana makes it hard to visit on the regular. But, she and Grant got some time off this week and came for a surprise visit.  It totally made my heart happy! Ash and I planned to stitch and hang out. We did on Tuesday.  Well, we didn't stitch but I did work from home to be able to see them. And then I went to the office Wednesday.  When I came home, I found another surprise...she and Lauren had put a Christmas tree up in the dining room for us!  The walls still need to be finished, but we have a little Christmas going on here.  They also put out the replica of the ceramic tree that my grandma use to out on her piano every year. I bought the deer this year at TJ Maxx, a couple weekends ago. She is vintage looking so she goes perfect with the tree.  I might get around to putting up the wreath and taking the fall stuff off the porch bow that I do have Christmas ...