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Archive for December, 2020

Busy Sunday

December 27th, 2020 at 10:44 pm

Two days after Christmas and well, you wouldn't know it to see our house. Yesterday DH took down his live tree. It had been up 3 weeks and it was starting to get dry and wasn't taking up much water. This afternoon I took down my tree and put away the rest of the Christmas decorations. I am going to miss the little twinkle lights on the trees; they seemed to make the rooms a little nicer on those gloomy days, but I wasn't going to leave stuff up. We put my tree in the sunroom and I had to pick a day where it was sort of warm to take off the ornaments and lights and garland so I wouldn't freeze. It's done and the house seems a little bigger.

One sad note is I broke an ornament. It wasn't valuable to anyone but me, but it was one my mom bought me years ago -- remember when Campbell Soup would let you buy an ornament and a calendar each year? Oh, well. Life goes on.

I paid some bills and noticed our electic and gas bill had gone up. I think it is because we had some colder days and the heat ran more, but I also think all those lovely twinkle lights probably contributed towards it. 

Leftover ham tonight for sandwiches. Then the rest will be freezer bound so I can make ham and beans at a later date. 

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are happy and healthy!

It's here!

December 24th, 2020 at 09:00 pm

Merry Christmas to you and yours. As I type this, it is Christmas Eve. We are looking forward to Christmas Eve services -- we had to make reservations since we have a limit of how many can attend and we will socially distance and of course wear masks and use hand sanitizer both coming in and leaving. But, at least we have some sort of normalcy and can attend church. Easter just didn't seem like Easter when we had to worship online. 

We have two couples are friends with and this year we made homemade stuff for each other. I gave them banana bread and some jellies and jams. We got candy and a pumpkin pie from one couple. One couple gave us huge loaves of homemade bread. One was wheat and one was dill. I went to town finding ways to use these breads just to change things up. We sitll have part of a loaf in the freezer. But, what great gifts -- something we can use and enjoy and everyone used their talents.

Hopefully we will end December on a positive note financially. Last month was a good one for our investments, Hope December is likewise. 

DH and I have a Christmas Club account and we put money in it every month and then we have cash to spend. We do go all out since we pay cash for stuff. We ask each other what we want and I try to surprise him with other stuff too since he usually just says he wants clothes. I know I'm getting a couple things to replace some things in my kitchen -- I have a Crockpot that is about 25 years old. It still works, but the handles on the outside are starting to break. I looked into replacing them, but they don't make them anymore. So, I picked out a new one in the same size. I am also getting a counter top oven to replace the toaster oven and counter top oven that I have which are old and beat up. The counter top oven I bought to use at school when I baked with the kids and other classes borrowed it as well. Well, it looks like it has been well used. So, shiny and new is coming my way. 

Hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas!

Another cloudy day

December 18th, 2020 at 09:29 pm

Another cloudy day in Central Illinois. I think this is what makes winter so difficult, the gloominess. We won't mention the cold and the frozen precip, but...

I guess the cloud cover tends to make me feel a little blue. I have no reason to feel that way. 

The past couple of weeks have kept me busy delivering stuff for our church's group. In the past we went as a group to deliver hats to schools and non profits, but this year, I did it solo. I delivered hats and scarves to a school, then delivered dish cloths to a food pantry as well as some food and some hats, baby hats to a local hospital, baby and kids' hats to a health care group that works with those in high poverty, hats to our local cancer center, fidget sleeves to a nursing home, and cup cozies, candy, and beverage mixes to our local police department. We didn't make as many hats this year due to not being able to meet, but many of the ladies continued to work at home. Our totals are as follows:

Hats: 1089

Scarves: 291

Baby Hats: 132

Dish cloths: 210

Cup Cozies: 72

Fidget Sleeves: 18

I also dropped off some presents to some of our friends. Most were put on their porch. I delivered them when the weather was milder so stuff could sit out for a bit. I finished wrapping DH's gifts yesterday. He loves Grape Nehi in bottles and our local Cracker Barrel had 4 bottles in their gift shop. I will admit, I chickened out. I put them in a gift bag. But they and a few other items are under the tree. 

It's hard to believe Christmas is a week away.