My Package of Goodies

Last week I won a giveaway over at Unmatched Socks. I was so excited to get the package in the mail yesterday. Carrie was so sweet to add a couple extra surprises. The little tree is too cute and I love the heart ornament ~ actually I love it all ! It's all such fun stuff and I am excited to use it during Valentine Week at our house. I have some fun things planned for the week starting on Feb. 7. Mostly simple things, but it will be a little more fun than usual around here. Thanks so much Carrie for all this great stuff, for being so generous, and for being such a great
blog friend !:-) Only 7 more posts until my 200th post and a giveaway!I love giveaways, don't you? !

Things I love

Tammy at Country Girl at Home and Joy at Doodlebug made lists of ten things they loved all starting with the same letter. I said I'd play along and Tammy gave me the letter T. So here's my list ~
1.Tidiness ~ I love things to be neat and tidy.

2.Target ~ It's only 5 minutes from my house and I go there very often.

3.Tea ~ Iced sweet tea and hot Earl Grey are my favorites. We almost always have a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge. In the evening I like a cup of Earl Grey. Oh and I can't handle Green Tea, it makes me shiver even to smell it !

4. Turtle Brownies ~Yum !

5. Teaching my kids at home ~ I'm so thankful that I can homeschool my kids and love having them here with me. Couldn't imagine it any other way !

6. Twilight ~ Great movie and I'm waiting on Paige to finish the book, so I can read it. :-)

7.Taking walks ~ My favorite exercise. I love to go walking.

8.TV shows ~ I really do love watching my shows. I don't have very many, but look forward to the ones I do watch.

9. Trips~ I love taking trips back to Illinois, Branson, Disney World, and I have many other trips I want to take one day including a trip to New England. The last time I was there was about 14 years ago and I can't wait to go back.

10. Tax Refunds ! It sure is nice to get a tax refund. :-)

Paige told me to add one more ~

11. Taylor Swift ! :-)

If you want to play along let me know and I'll give you a letter.
I also got a fun package in the mail today . I will post all the goodies that were in my package tomorrow. Have a great night !

Wanna See Where I Blog ?

Earlier today Linda from Behind My Red Door posted pictures of where she blogs. Her room is wonderful ! What a nice cozy place to blog. She invited everyone to post pictures of where they blog . At first I thought no way, my computer room is not a very pretty room and nobody will want to see it. Then I changed my mind and thought what the heck, I'll go clean it up and take a couple pictures. The little bitty room I blog in is our computer room/exercise room/dart room/ and sewing room. We were so lucky to get a 4 bedroom house when we moved in here a year ago. We were used to 3 bedrooms and no good place for a computer desk . My husband Brian loves the St. Louis Cardinals and has plenty of memorabilia , so I told him he could have his stuff displayed in this room since the rest of the house is prim . So above our desk he has the American flag that he flew over Iraq when he was an aeromedical evacuation technician, flying into Iraq to pick up patients. As you can see I need a new comfy computer chair. I'm using one of my dining chairs right now. To the left of the desk hanging on the wall is a small part of his hat collection. The recumbent bike is on the other side of the room from the desk with the dart board hanging behind it. My little sewing area that I set up this past fall is to the right of the desk with the hanging Cardinals lantern above it :-) Then beside the sewing table is a bookshelf with Brian's medical books ,military folders, and our DVD collection. So there is the tour of the room I blog in. Hope you enjoyed it ! :-) Now I want to see yours !

Garden Thyme

Well, it's not Garden Thyme here today, but it is snowing some more ! This weekend I decided to stitch up this Springy bag that can be filled with flowers, sweet annie, or even just left empty.It was so quick to make ! I love the fabric I used for this too. It has names of different flowers all over it. Click on the picture and you can see the fabric better. I finished a couple other stitcheries this weekend, but I can't show them as they are gifts that can't be seen here ! :-) Hope everyone had a nice weekend !

Live In Love

That's what the bracelet says that Paige got in the mail today. She is a huge Taylor Swift fan and that is the bracelet that Taylor wears. We bought it on Ebay last week and she was very excited to get it today. Speaking of love~ I read a book today that I absolutely loved called The Shack. It was a wonderful book and if you haven't had a chance to read it yet then I recommend it ! My SIL Haley over at Everyday Mom had a review on her blog not long ago about it. I have also added a couple pictures of my son from yesterday. He'd be mad if he knew I put these on here. He's showing off his new jacket we got on sale at Old Navy. He doesn't like me to put his picture on my blog, so that's why you don't see him much on here. SHHH ! He'll never know ! I'm off to watch Winn Dixie with Paige. Have a great night !

Whatever you are, be a good one

I love that Abe Lincoln quote, so I decided to stitch it last night while I watched TV. There actually wasn't much on to watch. I sat there for two hours watching/listening to George Lopez ~ pretty funny show:-) Anyway, I stitched this for my living room. One end of my living room where I had my Christmas tree is just not done yet. That is where I plan to put the basket I'm buying from Pam at Baskets N Prims, the Mercantile sign, the peg shelf and candle ledge. After I get it all finished I'll take some pictures, but that will be a couple months probably. I really want a dry sink on that end of the room, but oh well, I'll have to wait a while for that. :-) I love the fabric on this stitchery. I picked it up before Christmas at Country Sampler, a fabric store near here.What do ya think ?

Valentines and Stitcheries

I decided to get back to stitching the past couple days.I needed something to hang on my old window and I had a spot in my room that needed a stitchery. I decided to make a bag with a willow tree stitched on it for the window. I filled it with sweet annie and some red berries. Then I stitched a verse for my room. I made the hearts in the basket and the heart with the crows a couple years ago. That's the only Valentine decor in my house. Today is supposed to be a warm 48 for the high. I think I will do pilates this morning and go for a walk this afternoon instead of riding the bike again. Jamie (Miller Homestead), can you move here to Nebraska and be my walking partner ? It's so nice to have a walking partner ! I always had walking partner's in Illinois. When one would move I was always able to find a new one. Paige can be my partner some days, but she doesn't enjoy it as much as I do ! I noticed that I'm not far from my 200th post. I'll have to start working on something for a giveaway. Maybe I'll do a spring giveaway.I also found out yesterday that I won a great valentine giveaway over at Unmatched Socks blog. I'm so excited to get all those wonderful goodies ! I'll post a picture when they arrive ! Well, that's all for today. Have a happy Thursday!

My Shopping List

Every year in January I feel like my house is very empty after having seasonal things out since September. I usually do pretend shopping online and fill up the shopping cart with all the things I'd like to have delivered to my house to fill up the bare spots. I spent a little over $700 at Piper Classics when I pretend shopped the other day.:-)I do have a real list of things that I'd love to try to buy over the next few months . I thought it would be fun to share my shopping list ~

Kinda Boring Around Here

I've been a boring blogger lately, but I really have nothing interesting to blog about. We dropped Brian off at the airport yesterday afternoon to leave for his deployment. I haven't heard from him yet. Hopefully he made it there safely. He had a couple of long flights, so I'm sure he was super tired by the time he got there.The kids and I are getting back into a routine around here. We enjoyed watching the inauguration this morning. I liked Obama's speech and hope that he does a great job as president. I think Michelle Obama wear's the prettiest clothes! :-) She always looks so nice. I was not an Obama supporter, but I am keeping a positive attitude and staying hopeful. After we watched the inauguration I rode my recumbent bike for an hour. Today I'm starting to count calories and work out every day. I need to lose 50 pounds and would like to have it off by summer. It's an easy goal if I can stick with the plan !I haven't worked on anything for my house or to sell since before Christmas. I need a break from crafting ! I do think I might start working on a sampler for my room this week. We've gone to a couple movies in the past week ~ Mall Cop and finally Twilight. They were both good, but we loved Twilight ! Paige is reading the first book and then it's my turn to read it. She is begging me to go see it again, but I think we'll just wait for the DVD to come out in March. Paige has been practicing on her guitar that she got for Christmas. Boy it's hard at first ! I had to watch the DVD with her a few times before we understood it well enough to start practicing. She's doing good,though and not giving up ! She's persistent, so I know she'll learn it. So that's all that's going on around here. I'm running out to get a few things at the base and then back to clean up a bit before we watch our shows. It's the best TV night of the week for us ~ Biggest Loser and American Idol !I should go check the mail too, I hope my Country Sampler is here ! Have a great week ! Paige and her guitar

Back in Nebraska and Big Cedar Pics

Well, we are back home in snowy Nebraska after our 2 week visit in Illinois. I have been miserable with a terrible cold the past couple days. I can't wait to feel back to normal ! I did get all my Christmas put away Sunday and now have a very empty feeling house. It's kind of nice , but I also have spots that just need something. I have a list of things that I would like to get over the next few months to fill those empty places. We had a fun trip to Big Cedar Lodge. When we got there on Friday afternoon we met Grandma Dixie at the registration building and just got settled in the lodge. That evening we went down to the clubhouse to swim and have coffee. On Saturday we went to The Hard Luck Diner in Branson for lunch. It's a restaurant where the waiters and waitresses take turns singing. Actually, Jason Yeager , a top 20 finalist on American Idol a couple of seasons ago works there. After lunch we went back to Big Cedar and looked around the gift shop, played miniature golf, took a walk ( it was 70 degrees that day ! ) and stopped by the coffee shop before taking the bus back to the lodge. The kids rested a bit while Papa cooked some hot dogs out on the grill. After dinner it was back to the clubhouse to swim again. We weren't ready to go home Sunday morning. Patriot really wanted to just move to Big Cedar. :-) We all love it there. Here are some pictures for you ~
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The coffee shop







Playing miniature golf with Papa




The Registration Building Inside the Registration Building




Lunch at the Hard Luck Diner in Branson



The stables

Taking a walk