Christmas at Tuesday 4

I am so excited to be joining in my first group blog post in so long! Thank you so much for allowing new people to join - I look forward to meeting many of you and making even more blog friends.

Here we go…

1. Is your tree up? Absolutely! As soon as my finals were over in nursing school I put my tree up. As I was studying for finals the three weeks before I swore I was not even going to decorate for Christmas. I was super overwhelmed with finals and kept thinking I just wanted to be done with this semester and have a break. Once I finish that last final… It was all about getting the decorations up! Here is my tree. It is fake and about 7 feet tall. My absolute favorite part of putting up the tree is looking at all the ornaments and all the wonderful memories I have from whoever gave me that particular ornament. My ornaments are either gifts or they were purchased as memories from different trips that I took.  Here it is…

2. Got a menu for Christmas Eve and Day? I will be at my parents house with my sister and her husband and children. My other sister and brother will not be there this year which will be a little sad. I believe we are going to have fillets wrapped in bacon and probably asparagus, brussels sprouts, and green beans. 

3. When does it go up and how long does it stay up? So like I said above it went up as soon as my finals were over. It was a lot of work so I think it will come down to days before I start the next semester. We have a dosage calculations test the week before we return to classes so actually it will probably come down right before that test.

4. What is your favorite Christmas memory. My favorite Christmas memory is just when I was a child then we would all get up Christmas morning and run downstairs and open our gifts. It wasn’t even about the gifts it was just because back then I still believed. I think once you know there is no Santa Claus and the magic is gone… Christmas is never the same.  I do believe in Jesus and I do believe that is truly what Christmas is about but somehow a little bit of the magic is gone once you are old enough to know there is no Santa.  These days Christmas is about spending a lot of quality time with my family being grateful that Jesus was born.  When do you open your gifts? We still open presents Christmas morning… But we don’t get up at the crack of dawn anymore. We open them when everyone is up and has had their breakfast.

Thinking out Loud About Plumbing Again/Thankful Thursday Crafting

Hi everyone!!! I hope everyone is having a truly blessed Thursday!!

Today I am joining in with Penny for Thinking out Loud Thursday HERE and Rebecca Jo, at Knit By God's Hand, for Thankful Thursday HERE. Please link up and join us today!!


Well friends - today I am still thinking out loud about plumbing! If you did not read my post last week in this regard...here is a summary! I got a new dishwasher and my neighbor got a new leak! I kept insisting it was not me and asking him to get a plumber to come check it out. How does a new dishwasher leak within a week of install?!?! Well, they do! It was me! So we shut off my water and called Lowe's which is who I purchased from and who also installed it for me. They came out yesterday and repaired my one week old dishwasher!!! UGH!!! I am praying this is it for the issues but time will tell. My neighbor is now getting an estimate to fix his water damage and I will submit that to the Lowe's claim to pay it since it was their issue. UGH UGH UGH! I will keep you posted but I will truly be happy when I am not thinking out loud about appliances - HA!


Here is a picture of the broken part! It is where the fresh water comes into the appliance. The GE installer said that the Lowe's installer did it wrong and there is not supposed to be any of that white goop on there? 

Let's get right to thankful shall we?!?!


I am sooooo thankful that I have crafting to take my mind off the stress of everyday life!!!! 


Here is a new item in my Etsy shop...it is a Christmas tree with beach glass!!! The star in the top is a genuine Michigan beach crinoid which is a fossil that is 350 million years old! It turned out so great - I love it so much!

Also, If you follow along with my blog you know that a very dear friend (and ex-boyfriend) of mine had multiple strokes back in July.  I am very thankful that he is recovering fairly quickly. His writing is coming back slowly and vision is also coming back slowly but everything else is looking great! His walking is getting better and better and speech also. He is thinking clearer and quicker also. I think the scare a few weeks ago made him realize that I am serious about not being around if he chooses to make bad decisions and, although time will tell, I think maybe we are past that. He is not smoking anymore I know that for sure. 

So I am very grateful that we were able to go to dinner last night at one of his favorite restaurants for his 63rd birthday! YEAH!!! A few months ago we were not sure he was even going to live so I am also very grateful for a second chance at life for him and who knows...a second chance for us?!?!! We went to Dellalo's on Fort Couch Road in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and it was as fantastic as I remembered it. YUMMY ITALIAN! They make such great Italian sauces and products; they started selling them in the stores in this area.


I think that is all I have to spout about this beautiful Thursday! 

I love all of you my blog followers and hope you guys have a truly awesome Thursday and rest of the week!  I do not know what I would do without this outlet to vent!!!  Now I get to read all of your thoughts!!! Happy Thursday!

Anyone have any ideas for new beach glass art? Have you ever given an ex a second chance?? Every buy an appliance that had to be serviced the first week after install???  Any exciting plans for the weekend???

 

Eventful Weekend

I am ready for Monday!

This weekend was crazy hectic trying to get a bunch of things done and the only thing that got left out was changing the water in the fish tanks so I guess that will happen after work today.

It was a SERIOUSLY productive weekend!

I got the whole condo decorated for Christmas so when I come home from my sisters after Thanksgiving I can just plug in the lights and enjoy for four weeks!!!

Saturday morning I went to Cardio HipHop and then went and picked out my Christmas Tree at Lowe's.  Here is me with it in my Civic for the drive home....

 

Then I went home, drug it up the steps to the Condo, secured it into the stand (by far the hardest part)  and decorated it.  Below is the completed version...lit and all!!! My favorite part of holiday decorating is getting out each ornament and remembering who or where it is from...LOVE this!!!

Next I went to a meeting at 7:30 and was going to the movies after that with myself to see Catching Fire - since I cant wait to see this movie!!!!!!!! Well, after the meeting was over I came out of the building to two inches of snow and very slippery roads.  I was stuck on the highway for about an hour until the roads were salted and clear enough to drive on so needless to say I went straight home after that...not a fun Saturday night!

Sunday morning I went to Cardio HipHop and then home to enjoy my decor some more.  Here is the rest of the condo decorated...

Sunday night I went to BodyPump at 5:30 and then Zumba 6:30 at StudioFit.

After that I went to my brother's friends house to pick up some clothes for his kids that are hand me downs from his friends kids...catch that?? I will deliver these Thanksgiving weekend to my brother.

Then I went to my home group meeting at 8:00PM and finally to bed......soooooooooooo sleepy!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!!! Anyone else decorate this weekend???

It's the 2008 Christmas Tree

Here is the beautiful 2008 Christmas tree that Walliacha and I picked out and decorated. Best lookin' tree I have seen in a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also.......Happy and SAFE Turkey Day and love to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

X-Mas Tree Found!!

It's official. I have found (not just I, Walt and I), put up and decorated this years X-mas tree!! It is soooooo beautiful!!! The puddy tats love it too!!! We called Home Depot first and no trees yet....then went to Trax Farms and they only had the EXPENSIVE firs so far.....then went to Simmons farm on Route 19 and found our perfect tree!!!!!! I will post pics as soon as I upload them to the computer.
Also, I have found a new gym. Anyone that knows me, knows I love my gym...it is a little hole in the wall where everyone spits on the floor and stares at themselves in the mirror.....the problem is when the hole in the wall gym raises its prices to cost the same as a "real" gym, I gotta go to the real gym!! LOL My membership expires at the end of the year so this weekend I tried a few different gyms to decide where to go. LA Fitness was horrid!!!!!! I felt completely screwed-over when I left there....it was that high pressure sales and just awful!!! I would not go to their gym if THEY paid for my membership!! However, after I had given up hope that there was goodness left in the world I used a trial workout pass at Complete Fitness and I am hooked. I can't wait till the end of the year when I can switch!!!! If you live in Bridgeville, completely bypass even looking at LA Fitness or at least RUN FAST AND FAR when they start leading you to the section to the left of the front door where the negotiate their price (and tell you that today ONLY they will waive the 150 dollar initiation fee-that is the crock they use to get you to sign today)......it is the WORST FEELING in the world......Check out what this poor girl went through there ICKKY
and come down to Complete Fitness - they are soooooo nice and everyone was great!!!!
Oh, and PS, we did not get to ride horses last Saturday as it seems Rolling Hills Ranch has closed for the season.....oh, well better luck next year!!!!!!!!!!