This Girl!

Yep, it's happenin'!

This girl has graduated!

When she first sent me this picture, I said to Butch, "Oh my gosh! I didn't know nurses still wore those hats!" He replied---in that "I can't believe you just said that" sort of way he has---"Barb! Have you ever seen nurses wearing one? Obviously, it's for the picture!" Duh, he's right! Still, I'm happy to have this photo to remind me of our little nurse!!

She has graduated "Magna Cum Laude." Can you spell P*R*O*U*D?

She presented her grandpa with a rose to let him know how important he is to her and her education. We were all touched by that! She let her mom know ahead of time so she wouldn't be "jealous or hurt!" She wasn't. They all love him!

Things are falling in to place quite nicely for her. She'll be moving back to Nashville in January. Then she starts her adult life with her job at Skyline Medical Center Hospital on February 23rd. She'll be on the Neurology/Oncology floor and is so very excited. She'll be doing real nursing!

We are so very overjoyed for her. She's a big girl now!!!

Best of all?? She'll be off the family payroll! 2 down, 3 to go!

What I Buy Wednesday

I didn't buy much this week, but what I did, I got a bargain on!

 For once, I went to Sam's and bought ONLY what I went for! No impulse. buying this time. Plus, I sent Butch yesterday for few more things---Sister Shubert rolls, Oscar Mayer bacon and frozen meatballs---just so I wouldn't be tempted! My trip included the mixed nuts for the triple batch of party mix I make every year. We need lots of green beans for the bundles that we no longer bundle. And lastly, that cheese and caramel popcorn mix that is so good. Morgan wanted me to get her a bag. So, we'll have some over the weekend (the family moves in on Saturday night and stays until after Christmas dinner). Then, I'll send the rest home with Morgan. Quite a bargain at $6.00 bag and soooo good. Just like Garrett's in Chicago, without all the fat!

After stopping at Sam's---I timed it so that I would get to Michaels when they opened at 9 a.m. (that's the thing I like about Sam's---I can go as early as 7 a.m.!). I've already had an original idea (don't have too many of those) for our family craft NEXT Thanksgiving. Nothing like planning early! Really, I knew that Michaels would have their holiday stuff on sale by now.

 And they did. But you shouldn't be fooled. I'm pretty sure Michael's is the original store to mark things up so they can mark them down. These bottlebrush trees were marked $25.00. Of course they were 50% off which is about what I paid from them from Amazon to make my little cars with Christmas trees on top. To my surprise, as I was filling my cart with assorted goodies at half off, a "guy" came along and changed the signs to 70% off!!! Talk about timing! That never happens!

I got quite a bag full of stuff---including wrapping paper for $1.50 a roll. I ran out this year. I'm sure it's not as good of quality as Hobby Lobby, but at a buck and a half a roll, it will work! I love the non traditional aqua and pink. To see what else I bought and what I plan to do with it, you'll have to hang around until Thanksgiving!! I have a plan. Always!

 Side note, I just noticed that instead of cookies at the grocery store, now they give kids fruit!

Publix takes it even one step further---giving kids a choice of fruit. I think that's a good idea, but the cookie lover part of me feels sad for kids! Do they look forward to a trip to the grocery store if fruit is used as an incentive? I think not. Everyone loves cookies! Poor kids.

That's what I bought this week! What about you?

Travel Tuesday

OMGosh! There's so much to tell. I'm going to try to condense it, but you know me...best intentions...we'll see how it goes.

First I have to say, I want to SEE and DO everything I possibly can!!

We left last Monday to meet up with Walter and Chris for a little festive trip to Santa Claus, Indiana.
We met up in Evansville to tour the LST 325 (Landing Ship Tank). Timing was perfect as W & C pulled up about 10 minute after us. Timing for touring the ship was not so good! Turns out, it's closed on Monday. Sheesh. What a way to start.

Next stop:

The guys were excited about this, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be! It's only open on weekends---contradicting the information on the website.

Not a great way to start this trip---but at least the weather was great! Chilly, but sunny and beautiful.

We skipped ahead to what we were supposed to do after lunch.

 We went to Bosse Field---the third oldest ball park in the country--behind Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Next was a drive by of this tv house. Do you recognize it? It's the house featured on the opening credits of Rosanne. She never actually lived here, but it was the home of her cousin who she visited now and then. Anyway, only the outside is used on the show.

 Next, we stopped here for lunch.

 Butch surprised us with this restaurant--the Gerst House. The original was here in Nashville. It's gone now, but this one remains. It's the only one. The food was fabulous! We're always looking for a good German restaurant---none in Nashville unless you count the big touristy one at Opry Mills.

After lunch, we decided to go to the Abe Lincoln memorial and museum. We had that planned for Wednesday, but found ourselves with all of this extra time.

We walked the one mile loop to see the what remains of one of the houses on the property. Lincoln lived here from the age of 7 to 20.

This was the third house on the property and was to be the biggest. It was never completed. This is all that remains.

That evening, we had dinner reservations at The Patio Restaurant---the number one restaurant in Tell City (where we were staying) and supposed to be a great steak place. Nothing could have been further from the truth! It was a buffet with the types of food you would find at any country style buffets. There were steaks on the menu, but we weren't confident enough to try them. It seemed more like a Golden Coral without so many buffet choices. We went with the buffet. The salad was good. The buffet was about what you'd expect for a $12.00 meal. On the bight side, Walter and Butch had some very good Maker's Mark Manhattan's for only $5.00! That just about made it worthwhile.

Day 2.
Today we went to Ferdinand, Indiana to visit The Monastery of the Immaculate Conception.

 It was gorgeous and we ended up having a private tour. We love that!

What we couldn't understand is how this little town in the middle of nowhere could require such a grand facility. It's still a convent.

We then went on to visit St. Meinrad's Archabbey.

 This place was also very beautiful, but the church itself wasn't as pretty as the first one.

Again, we were baffled that this little German town could support both of these places. St. Meinrad's is still a seminary.

After touring both of these, we went to Freig's Cafe. It was in an old building---we like that---but it was pretty rundown and grubby inside. Butch does a lot of research to find only the best places for us to eat!! LOL!!

The decor was "kitschy." Old ceramic Christmas trees from the 1970's took centerstage in the dining room. By the time we got there--12:30, they were just about out of everything. The fried chicken is the specialty, but all they had left were thighs. They had prepared 90 servings and were sold out by 12:30! Walter ordered the turtle soup. When the waiter (a very friendly retired guy who pulled up a chair and sat down with us a few times) delivered it, he said, "mock turtle soup. You know it's against the law to kill turtles."  After he walked away, Walter said, "It would have been nice to know that the turtle soup would not actually have any turtle in it before I ordered it!"

Then, Butch asked for a tea refill. He got this:

The retired guy put the jug on the table. Butch looked at him funny, so the guy said, "I can put it on another table" thinking we didn't want it here. Butch said it was fine to leave it. The tea wasn't even this---just the jug they used to put their tea in. It was awful tea anyway, but the water was worse. We ended up getting burgers that were supposed to be the freshest of meat. They were okay, nothing to write home about. But the entertainment factor made it all worthwhile!

Okay, I'll stop here as this post is getting way too long! I'm just not good at keeping things brief!

Next Tuesday will be part 2!

More Beautiful Tables!

A couple weeks ago, Karolyn “let” me do her table. I felt so privileged to do it—about my most favorite thing! 

I always start out by asking a few questions. How often do you plan to use your dining room during the season? Obviously,if you plan to use it a lot, then this would not be a convenient tablescape. But if you are only going to use it once or twice, then you can really “junk” it up! And I mean that in a good way!

 
We started with a vintage tablecloth that she inherited from her mother. Although it’s not technically a Christmas design, the colors worked perfectly.

We started with a special Santa and surrounded him with candles and glass trees.

I asked her if she had any greenery. She took me into another room where I got to “shop” from her supplies! I love doing that. We finished with some sparkly pine cones and a few bottle brush trees. The whole thing turned out beautifully! I hope she asks me again next year!

We went to Charlotte over the past weekend to celebrate Christmas with them. On Saturday night, Sandy and Greg made a special dinner---traditional to them. The weekend before Christmas, they have crab legs with melted butter, strawberry pretzel salad, twice baked potatoes, green bean bundles and parmesan puffs. The whole meal was absolutely delicious! We had a Guiness cake for dessert---also so good and rich! But one of the things I liked the most was her table---of course!

I love that not only does she like to set a beautiful table, but she now has passed that love on to her girls. Elizabeth did the tables cape. I love the sparkly balls and glitter snowflakes.

Sandy originally had red candles and Elizabeth told her she needed the gold ones. Sandy ended up agreeing with her. 

We are also a family that loves to do table favors. We always do something little to add to the festivity! Dinner was barely over and Elizabeth had already eaten her little cookies!!

So that's about it for tables---unless anyone has any they would like to share!!

Friday Funnies

This and That Thursday

 We're seeing a lot of this around here.

 Why in the world wouldn't they just tear the whole thing down?

 It seems to me that it would be really hard to build around the roof!

These are brand new houses---pretty darn ugly. That's why I'm not too crazy about modern or contemporary. I don't even know what to call this type of housing. Add to that it's on a busy corner. There's nothing about this that I like. I feel sorry for the neighbors!

I loved that downtown Charlotte had benches lining the streets. I wish every city had them. I love to sit and people watch sometimes. Especially if you are with people who like to shop!

 I really liked the bathroom at Haven Farm. The girls got in on my picture.

And then this. I used to play a joke on the grands when they were little. I'd always asked if they wanted me to turn on the heat seats in the back. They'd always say "yes" and then I'd say, "Ooops, I forgot, you don't have them!" Now they do!!

That's it for today!

What I Buy Wednesdays!

I didn't buy anything this week. In fact, other than the grocery store, I haven't been in any stores. I was too busy getting ready for Mindy's birthday---and seeing movies. Last week we saw Bohemian Rhapsody (absolutely fantastic---everything I though I knew about Queen was wrong!) and Instant Family (Mark Wahlberg says it all---so, so good).

I'm going to use the post for some holiday decor I've seen that has impressed me this past week.

I saw this huge wreath in an office building. I don't think I've ever seen a square wreath. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

 This was at the mall in Charlotte when we got there at 6 a.m. As you can see, there weren't too many people around.

As a matter of fact, I've never seen the Apple Store this empty. Plus it's the hugest Apple Store I've ever seen. There were a few people. Now I know when the best time to go!

 The Christmas lights at Belle Meade Country Club are beautiful.

This picture really doesn't do it justice. I love white lights. I also like it when the lights are all the same. I've never seen that you could buy just red  or any other color lights. It's always just white or multi-colored.

 This was so simple, yet so pretty: a glitter reindeer, Christmas tree skirt and some fresh greens and berries.

 "Nutty" back on the front porch. Butch and I used to carry it around from the garage. Mindy helped one year and proclaimed they were the "Nutty processors!" That girl cracks us up!
After 20 years, we put it in the car and drove it around. Now Nicky helps Butch with it. He's seen better days. You can see his face is starting to crack.

Sara, my garden girl did my winter pots. I just love them. You can see my pansies peeking out from the greens!

There really couldn't be anything simpler---just trim the greens from around your yard and stick them in your pots! Love it.

That's it for today! What unusual decorations have you seen this year?