What I Buy Wednesdays

I've already mentioned that I'm starting to become a Walmart shopper. I recently bought these pillows:

Aren't they cute? They were only $21.00 for the set of three. That's amazing, considering that pillows can be really expensive. You might be wondering what's happened to all of my needlepoint Christmas pillows. Well, I've given several away. Still I have 5 left. They are scattered through the house. 

The new pillows go really well with our flocked tree. This is the second year that we put it in the family room---and didn't get a live tree. Usually this tree is in the living room. I really quite like it!!

Then, this pillow was also from Walmart and only $12.00--but, it was just the cover. You had to actually have the pillow to put it on. Luckily, with the remodel, I bought a set of 5 pillows and 4 covers for the guest room. That meant that I had an extra. Worked out perfectly. I love that pompom on his hat. 

And then there's Target--my favorite store. It can be deadly for me. I don't usually go there because I always find too many things. On the day that Sandy and I stopped there, I found these cute shoes:

Now I can't remember which was which, but one pair was $21.00 and the other was $17.50. Both are pretty comfortable. The silver ones have a shiny side to them. At those prices, you can afford to buy on a whim. I'm good at that!

I guess that's it for this week. 

Tomorrow night, we're having our Christmas party. We've worked like crazy to get as much cleaned as possible. The remodel is not finished, but we are finally well on the way. I'll share some pictures of the party soon.

Travel Tuesday

Well, it's that time of year. The weekend before Christmas. That's when we go to Atlanta to celebrate with Sandy and family. It's always fun. Like I keep telling her, when we go to her house, it's really like a vacation for us! Sandy (and Greg) are great hosts. The go out of their way to make every visit so special. I love it! Even Butch made the comment that he was looking forward to it as it kicked off our holidays.

This weekend did not disappoint. We arrived around lunch time and met at Copelands. 

I just love that place. And I love the fountain full of Christmas ornaments out front. We used to have a Copelands here in Nashville years ago. I look forward to visiting when we go to Sandy's. Greg was off work, so it was a nice way to kick off the festivities. 

After lunch, we did an adventure lab in downtown Marietta. It was such a beautiful day--perfect for strolling the streets. We even stopped and had a drink at an outside cafe. We split up after that with the guys going home while Sandy and I made a stop at Target. A little more about that tomorrow. 

Of course Sandy had her house all decked out for Christmas:

Their live tree is just about as perfectly shaped as I've ever seen. It's a huge tree---they have 10ft. ceilings. Notice that star on top? I needlepointed it several years ago.

I love beautiful tables! Hers is no exception.

The centerpiece is exquisite! It's all sparkly and shiny. Her Christmas dishes are so cute too!

I love that she displays some of my needlework. I did this one in 2003.

This was a cross-stitch project. I remember that it was a really fun project.

Another cross-stitch tree. I don't think I dated it. It's been years since I've done a cross-stitch project. I might have to do another for a change. 

This button tree was one of our family craft projects on Thanksgiving. I think it was about 5 years  ago--maybe more. We really need to date everything. All of the girls made one. Sandy went with green and red.

I went the pastel route.

She had the cutest paper plates. 

They are part of the Pioneer Woman's collection from Walmart. I'm starting to be a big fan of Walmart. Well, maybe not the store, but of a couple of the lines they carry. I think the stores are kind of crappy. But they do have some cool stuff. And very reasonable prices.

She started our evening on Friday with peppermint martinis. The peppermint ice cream made the drink--so creamy and delish.

We spent the evening just hanging out. Sandy made meatball sandwiches for dinner. She always thinks of good things to make. I need to work on that. I feel like I'm in a rut. I need to think harder from now on.

 

Next up was this:

I had no idea there were Advent Calendars for dogs. 

Titan loves his and gets so excited when it's time to open the next window.

Inside is some sort of treat--either food or toy.

Tonight, it was a little blue ball. He played and played with it. I don't think kids get as excited as Titan does about an Advent calendar!

I don't know where Saturday went. But suddenly, it was time for happy hour.

I really enjoy champagne at Christmas--although I did drink quite a bit of it in France. But the problem, I never remember from one year to the next as to what I like. Sandy had three types, so that gave me a chance to try them all. Cooks Brut was my favorite with Korbel coming in second. Andre was number three. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to remember it from now on.

We had our delicious crab leg dinner with roasted potatoes, buttered carrots, spinach casserole and yeast rolls. After dinner, it was time to start gift opening. Sandy had let us know ahead of time that it was going to be a "pajama" kind of night. Hence the stop at Target as I didn't have any p.j.'s that fit me. I found some cute ones:

Okay, Elizabeth wins for cutest. But, I would freeze in that get-up! I opted for a pajama set with a little robe over the top.

Butch went with his Disney p.j.'s. 

We always do pajamas on Christmas Eve. This is sort of Christmas Eve when we visit them.

Afterwards, we stepped outside to admire the lights on the house. 

It looks so pretty! I love all the white lights and then the colorful Christmas tree!

Sandy and family puts up 4 trees! This one is in the rec room. I didn't see the one is Sandy's room this year. I forgot about it. I did get a picture of Elizabeth's.

How much fun it is to have a tree in your own room! It looks so nice. But then, when you see the larger view...

It's kind of shocking!!

Teenagers!!! Now don't get me wrong. I was just as messy as this--as my cousin, Chrissy can attest to. But I do not recall leaving all my drawers hanging open!! Actually, it makes me laugh!

It was a great weekend and we were so happy we got to spend it with them. Actually, it's kind of nice. Having two Christmases, really spreads it out!!

Monday Mystery

Last week, we had a terrible storms and tornadoes that went through the area. 

The next morning, we noticed this on the front porch. I didn't look at it closely, I just thought it was the screen and didn't notice that it was the entire storm window.

If you look closely, you can see the broken glass on the roof. This is looking from the front of the house.

The next day, our workmen were here. They told us that there was glass on the back side of the roof too. We had not noticed that. There was glass all over the walkway to the patio and even up on the pool decking with mostly likely, glass in the pool--since there were pieces right up to the edge. We're not too worried about that since we have a pool cleaner that runs every day and our pool man vacuums too. So by the time pool season rolls around, there won't be any glass left.

But the mystery is this: we lost one entire storm window. How is it that half of it blew out and broke on the back of the house and the other half blew out and broke on the front of the house? We really can't figure out how that could even happen. 

We're hoping that the person who replaces the storm window can clean up the glass at the same time. We'll see...

Something for Sunday

On Wednesday night, we had our annual mother/daughter ornament exchange. We need to change the name since the third generation is now part of the party: mother/daughter/granddaughter ornament exchange. I love that! Everyone looks forward to it--especially this year--it's been two years since our last one.

For 2021, we were at Leigh's. This greeted us as we arrived:

She "decked her halls" with this cute, hand made garland. She cut every leaf by hand! Time consuming for sure.

We all bring an appetizer or dessert, so there is always plenty of food:

Mindy turned her cheeseball in to Rudolph--so cute.

She always tries to come up with cute presentations for her food.

After the game, I managed to get a few photos of the grands.

These are my little rock painting girlies. Parker and Maddie are Pam's grands.

Ooops! How did Mitchell get in here? Oh, yeah, we had lunch with him earlier in the day. 

Here's the gang. The lighting wasn't really conducive for an iPhone perched on the fireplace mantle. Still, I love it. Considering there were several people who couldn't make it, we had a nice turnout.

Little LaRue is the grand of my friend, Nancy and the daughter of hostess Leigh. And of course, Morgan---my girlie! ALL 5 of my grands are taller than me now.

Analise is Connie's grand. She did a great job of orchestrating the group photo. 

I got a few other pictures with some of my friends. But I missed quite a few. I didn't get Nancy or her girls, Leigh who hosted nor Paige, who came in from New York just for the party. And, somehow, I managed to NOT get any photos with my own daughters! As Mindy said, "we see each other all the time, so we didn't really need to hang out!" Oh well, we'll have plenty of opportunities this week. 

The ornament exchange was so much fun this year. I think it was extra special since we hadn't been able to do it for two years. Also, I do love "messing" with the "littles!" I'm so happy to see our group expand. That makes it a bit more exciting. We just love doing festive things during the holidays.

What do you do when things are crazy?

You leave town---of course!! 

There's a lot happening at the house--so many workmen---so we "got out of Dodge!" Actually, it was a planned trip. We are in Atlanta to celebrate Christmas with Sandy and family. Believe me, it's a vacation to be away from the chaos and noise at home. 

Sandy's house is beautiful and so relaxing. She is a fabulous hostess and goes out of her way to make everything special. More on that later...

Friday Funnies