I'm Home!

Thank you all for the loving words of condolence.  They mean so much to me.  I will miss my brother

but he is always with me in my heart. 

 Your prayers were felt and gave me great strength.

I was able to fly home on Sunday.  I had a slight delay due to weather but got home safely.

I picked up Charlie yesterday and he has not left my side nor I his since getting home.

Today I will visit the Grands and see all the new Christmas toys. 

 I need some hugs from them and my daughter.  Speaking of daughters...I was so happy to know that Ashleigh was on her way to me last Wed when my brother passed away.  She stayed with me until Christmas day.  I went to visit family in Houston and she flew to So. Ga. to visit family.  She will be here tomorrow.  We decided to have a special meal on Christmas Eve and went to an awesome restaurant in Huntsville, TX

The Homestead on 19th.  It is a cabin built in 1834 and has quite a history.  We enjoyed the rustic setting combined with fine dining.  We both had steak and it was wonderful.

We decided to celebrate with Champagne.  We toasted to my brother Richard, to being strong and to life.  My daughter made the evening wonderful.

As we left (after an awesome desert and coffee) the house next door looked like this!

Oh my goodness!  It was fun to see.  They had a sign out front that they were a finalist in a Christmas light contest.  Tiger and Scout would have loved it! 

I will be resting and enjoying family this week.

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

I'll Fly Away

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away
When I die, hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away

Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away
To a land on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away

When the shadows of this life have grown, I'll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls, I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away
When I die, hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away

Oh how glad and happy when we meet, I'll fly away
No more cold iron shackles on my feet, I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away
When I die, hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away

Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away
To a land where joy will never end, I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away
When I die, hallellujah by and by, I'll fly away

Today my brother flew away...

I hope he has found the peace that he never found in this life.

We love him and he will always be a part of our hearts.  

A Trip To Texas

This has been a rough week! 

First Charlie getting sick and thank goodness he is better

and now...

I am flying to Texas tomorrow because my brother is seriously ill.  If you remember several years ago he was not expected to live but a few more months.  Well he beat those odds and has done well until lately.  I got a call this morning that he is in the hospital and I need to go.  I am the one who makes his medical decisions when he can't.  My Mom wants to go but at 85 and with her health issues traveling isn't always easy.  She has decided to stay here and let me go and take care of things. 

I am honestly not sure what will happen, but we are probably going to be calling hospice.  

I ask for prayers and good thoughts for my brother Richard 

I ask for strength and peace for myself

Charlie is doing well and I am so thankful but he will be going to board at the Vets and they will watch him and administer his meds.  It is so hard to leave him right now, but I must.  

Since I am flying out tomorrow, my daughter brought the Grands over so I could see them before I go.  I decided to give them their Christmas presents!  Tiger was thrilled with his light saber and star wars legos!  Scout got some hairbows and a car that played music.  She loved it! 

Sara took these photos!  I know they will have a wonderful Christmas and they are visiting the other Grandparents in So. Ga. next week!

I will post updates on Facebook and here when I can.  

Linda

Let's Party

Last week was a fun party week!

It started with our annual Atlanta bloggers luncheon.  Sue of Rue Mouffetard was our amazing hostess.  Her home was decorated to the nine's!

Love her tree

Some of her nutcracker collection

The tables were decorated in such a fun way!

 I love how she used a quilt as the table cloth

Each place setting had a sweet journal and a towel sitting on a plate.  Now Sue has a great collection of state souvenir plates.  We had to find our birth state to find our place at the table (such a cute idea). 

This was Joyce's place.  NYC! 

My Texas plate!  We also got to take home our plate!  

Such a clever place card! 

 Of course no get together is complete without food!

Sue cooked the lunch 

and the rest of us brought something to share!

Our hostess SUE!!

After appetizers we exchanged gifts!

So many cute things were received by all!

These are my fun gifts! 

One of the guests and a neighbor of Sue's is an artist and she gave each of us a tile with one of her artworks on it. 

I love it!   Her name is Maureen Kerstein and she is listed in the Artful Home catalog and on line here.

I took bags of 'junk' to share!  I was downsizing some things (all of it good mind you) and thought instead of buying some little something for everyone I could give them a good bag of stuff.  So I did.  

They loved it! 

Each bag was different and random and so they just picked one and opened it.  So much fun!

Surprise I said!   Now we may make this a new tradition with everyone bringing a bag of good stuff and doing a fun gift game! 

We then had some fun playing BINGO with prizes!

Ladies can get quite cutthroat I might add!  It was all in good fun and I even won one game!

Now on to the main course!

Oh my!

Great food, great friends!

I brought a few of these home!  So good!

I made Tiger fudge!

I love Sue's little Red VW cookie jar! 

Thank you Sue for such a fun time!

Many of you follow me on FB or Instagram and know that yesterday I had a big scare with Charlie Kitty.  He had a seizure and I thought this was it.  I rushed him to the Vet and she examined him and thought he was doing OK.  We decided to give him fluids and some meds and see how he did.  Well he is back to his old self today.  I appreciate all the prayers and good thoughts for Charlie.  At 17 I know we don't a lot of time left together, but looks like he isn't quite ready to cross the rainbow bridge.

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Vicky's Annual Ornament Exchange

My wonderful friend Vicky at Life On Willie Mae Lane has done this ornament exchange for 3 years now and I'm so happy to have been a part of each one!  We send to one blogger and receive from another.  That way we meet two new friends!

This year I received ornaments from the sweet Terri who blogs at  Our Good Life and Christmas Tree Lane.

My package arrived and I was so excited!

Look at all the goodies! 

I love the Christmas card and the ornaments are in two gorgeous little gift bags!  Let's look!

I love cardinals and this little bird is so happy on my tree in the living room!

And this beautiful little house that is on my new white tree in my bedroom!

Here it is on the tree! 

Thank you Terri for the wonderful ornaments and gifts.  Terri and I also decided to exchange pocket letters.  I was so happy to receive the first one she ever did! 

I love it!

Thank you Terri for a fun exchange.  I sent ornaments to Jeanna at Slammin' the Screen Door and here is her blog post.  I have had a busy week and can't wait to share more of it with you! 

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Oh Christmas Tree!

So the big question

Is your Christmas tree...Real or Artificial?

ME, I'm an artificial Christmas tree girl.  I love the convenience, price and less mess.  I miss the smell but can always add a few pine boughs around for that.  I've had faux trees for many years.  I recently downsized from a large tree to two smaller one's.  So much easier for me to decorate and handle.

I have a green tree in the living room

and a white tree in my bedroom

Some interesting information

Do you remember the giveaway I did from Tree Classics awhile back?  Carol won the wreath and my name was put in a raffle for a $300 gift certificate.  Well I found out today that I won!

YIPPEE!!

Now I have enjoyed my little $15 trees but they are several years old and so with this win I'm going to order two trees and a wreath!  I can't believe I am going to get such quality items.  I am so happy! 

Thank you Nick and Tree Classics! 

So Real or Artificial?

Wishing you JOY, 

Linda

A Little Christmas Here and There

I've been doing a little decorating 

and the tree in the living room is done! 

It is a 4ft tree on a table

I put my little kneehugger elf on the top again

Two of my favorite ornaments

I have three leaves that are dipped in gold

this one is the evergreen tree

Of course I have an Eiffel Tower ornament.  While editing the photo I saw the 'peace' ornament in back of it, how appropriate! 

I love homemade and bought ornaments and of course photos of my Grands!

I made this in 1986

and some fun ornaments

Charlie sleeping under the tree near his ornament!

A close up of the Charlie ornament.  A friend made this one for me from a photo of Charlie!

It's been a busy week and I hope to find some time to take some photos and share more soon! 

Wishing you JOY,

Linda

Thoughts On A Sunday

Here it is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I hope all of you had a great holiday weekend.

Mom and I enjoyed a good meal at Cracker Barrel Thursday.  No cooking & no cleaning this year!  Worked for us!  I did buy a pecan pie and have been eating a piece now and then!  

The kids went to the mountains and had a great time.  Here are some great photos they shared!

Diggin in the dirt

Excitement at a waterfall!

I love this photo!  She is so cute!

Shopping for Thanksgiving dinner!

Family photo!!

I am getting better but I am still having this pesky cough.  It woke me up last night and took awhile to get back to sleep.  It has made today a long one.  I have worked on the Christmas decorations today...

A little sneak peek at one of the cubbies!  I have lots more tweaking to do before I share it all with you.  I'm hoping to go simpler this year.  It is honestly getting harder and harder to get all the bins out, put up the decorations and then after Christmas take it all down.  I will continue to decorate, but maybe less will be more for me.  

Of course my 'less' is still a lot to some people! 

I want to try to really relax and enjoy this Christmas season with an emphasis on Faith, Family and Friends.  I have a few get together's and some church activities already on the calendar.  I've decided to keep gift giving simple this year.  Most of the purchases have been made.  I'm hoping to get my health back up to normal and to see Mom get better also.  Lots of things to look forward to and memories to look back on this year.

I hope to post more on my blog but sometimes it seems so hard, but I'll try.  I read your posts every day and enjoy my visits with you.  The friendships I've made through blogging are really precious to me.  Let the season begin! 

Wishing you JOY,

Linda