~ FOUR OF SEVEN...AND THEN SOME~

It makes me proud that my children like to go on vacation together. Really, it does!
In the picture below are four of my seven children and their spouses. From left to right bottom is Sandy (the oldest), Erin (third from the youngest, and Maryalice (next to the youngest in our family and next to her is sweet DIL, Cindie. Top far right is son Michael and next to him right to left is Brock, Jimmy and Jeff. All of them in the photo have been married over 20 years. Great, huh? A reason to give thanks!

Had I gone out and chosen spouses for my children..it would have been these.


Some of the Grandchildren..home for the Holiday. Two from college and one from Australia. So many are in college right now..I think..don't quote me...four? :)
Sorry...I forget. :)
And then of course there was busy, busy, VERY busy Emily...sigh! I couldn't run fast enough to get a decent shot of that child..

One of these days...maybe, just maybe I can just say "sit down Sweetie...Grandma wants to take your pictures..and..

....she will just plunk right down! (who am I kidding!)


And then..of course there was FOOD! Here is only one of the four tables.

We always gather in a circle, holding hands and a prayer is said. Each of us says a few words as to why we are thankful this year. Needless to say, the circle was big!!

I hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine. If it wasn't ..there is always next year, I promise...and I never make promises lightly!
Hugs,
Mona

~BITTERSWEET..~

This is the toy corner in my home. There has always been one for the Grandchildren..
Books and dollies..trucks and cars...but they all grew up. However now...another generation of babe's are coming along! Oh, the JOY!



Just in this little cradle alone you see a pillow that was made by Rebecca at A GATHERING OF THOUGHTS a tiny doll blanket made by Tammy at A STITCH IN THYME and I am decorating with toys again!

Here it is, nearly Thanksgiving and the next day begins Christmas decorating. I will tell you why I am so excited about this year! It is because there is a toddler in the family, a tiny girl to make a Christmas wonderland for. I have missed that.
No, not the decorating..but seeing that wonder in a tiny childs eyes.

That is what I have missed. My children as they became adults, would say things like "Oh come on Mom, you didn't decorate just for us..." and I would feel a little guilty because they were right! I did decorate because I loved doing it..but I also did it because of the wonder on their tiny faces.

So..this year..I am using the dollies, yes and all the toys are coming out. Our baby Emily will love it. The dolls are vinyl so she can play with them. I have doll trunks full of baby cloths and when she gets older I hope she enjoys them when she comes to Grandma's house. GREAT Grandma, that is! :)

Am I happy..yes, I really am. It's a bittersweet season..but I love it.

Love and hugs... :)
Mona

~EVERGREEN~

The wonderful Debbi of ALL IN MY COTTAGE introduced us to this artists adorable signs. Her button is on my sidebar. Please visit her if you like these and get more details. As I have said, I am really enjoying the art work of our fellow bloggers. I saw these sweet Christmas signs and immediately bought the two below. I will probably hang them on the front of my china cabinets nestled in the garland.


~I add and change every year and these just stole my country heart~
CarryMe Home is this wonderful artist's name and she sells on Etsy.




The Christmas things are coming down out of storage..and as every year..I smile a lot and cry a little for times gone by.

I watched some old video's today that my sweet son in law put on CD's for me. Suddenly my high school sweetheart and first husband's voice was heard and he was looking right at me grinning and talking away. I fell apart and am still not together. 43 years, from the age of 15, he was my love. Sitting at my computer, he was right there, so close and I found myself reaching out...
No more of that. I thought I could finally look at them. I cannot.

My love and soft thoughts of the Holidays and all it means, goes out to you!
Mona

~SILVER..TO POLISH OR NOT TO POLISH..that is the question~

There is so much I want to do..and can't. I feel this urge to rush, hurry, paint, sew, push furnature around, bake, visit, shop, hug, cry and just roll around in life!

I have no idea why the intense feeling of HAVING to get things done. We are going to my daughters for Thanksgiving and to another daughters for Christmas. It's a good feeling, this urge to creat and plump pillows..and though the urge is strong the bod is weak.

Thank you so much for the sweet compliments on my Holiday blog background. The sweet lady that does and installs them for me, listens to what I want and comes up with lovely creations, has been a blessing to me. I am not..NOT..computer savy! I limp along.

So..below is my Saturday morning find! I was so pleased!

This little pot bellied silver teapot was just sitting there on a table among a lot of "stuff." It was nearly black with tarnish...and took some doing to polish up.
I can use it for holly during Christmas. OR..tea..or...to hold Christmas napkins..whatever the case..I was delighted. The inside is..PERFECT! The sticker on the bottom was very old. Price $1.00!! HONEST!!


I bought a stack of lovely childrens books and the lady threw in these two faux African Violets.. :) Was that sweet or what? I also bought a GREAT pancake turner from her for 10 cents. (I didn't really need it...I mean..but it was a really good one.



so..I clunked them into my teapot for now..


At another garage sale these turned up for .25 each. Tiny vases...I loved the color and Spring is coming and ...anyway...

So now my question. :) I have noticed my daughter using her silver tarnished! I wanted to ask her about it..but...what could I say and not get into trouble? So I just said "Honey, why is your silver all tarnished?!" (it just slipped out!) And she said, with a patient look, "Mom, I like it like that and everyone is doing it!" Sooooo...ok.
Question. IS everyone doing it? DO you polish your silver? Am I out of the loop?
NO matter. I will continue to polish my silver and be "uninformed" :):)

*sigh*
Mona

~PRECIOUS PRIMS...~

These little gingerbread men will be added to my garland of greenery that will adorn my chandelier! I recently found an ebay site of a Prim artist that showcased her entire Prim home, and though it is not my style of Country decor...I LOVED it and find myself adding more and more Prims to my home. They are so warm looking and smell fantastically of cinnamon and spices!

These little guys I just got from a wonderful Prim artist, "Primitive Charms"..which is the same place I found my ghosts and little bats for Halloween and used with the fall leaves on my dining room chandelier.


The china I will be using this Holiday season! I love it! It's Johnson Brothers "Friendly Village" featuring Winter scenes and I am in such a rush to get started decorating. I was so concerned I wouldn't be up to it..but each day finds me more anxious to get things going! What gets me in such a tizzy to decorate for the Holidays?? :)

I found this wonderful African Violet at a garage sale last Saturday for $2.00 and loved it! I thought it was a great buy. even the stems looked real. I have been picking up florals and yard items for pennies.

This lovely find was $5.00 but worth every cent! I found this one two weeks ago on my first Saturday out. It's amazing what I will go through to go to garage sales! :)


The pot is VERY heavy (concrete?) and it obviously was a well made silk. LOVE IT!
I would say it was a good Saturday at the garage sales!

It is such a delight to find so many women in the blogging world that love Holiday decorating like I do! I have wonderful girlfriends, but over the years not all of them were as into it as I was. And now...well...I am in 7th heaven! I could visit all day long...and all night long for that matter...and never get tired of finding delightful homes and ideas and woman! :) Makes me smile!!

Love and hugs...
Mona

~WATCH THE FLOOR LAMPS ON CARPET...~

Many years ago when the Grands were tiny..I wandered into a lovely old building with a huge three inch thick oval door (beautiful!) that sold antiques and came upon this lamp. The cord was wrapped in silk and it was lovely. Not having enough money to purchase it..I reluctanly put it on layaway, which was popular in those days. I hated layaway, but I was desperate to have this lovely lamp. It is a floor lamp...and had been redone to perfection.

The shade was exquisite and etched with tiny roses of pale pinks. finally it was paid for and I brought it home and gently placed it behind my favorite big easy chair. ON CARPET! In those days the little Grandchildren spent a lot of time with us and as toddlers will do, they wandered about exploring pulling this and pushing that.

One day our little Jeffy, now in his 30's, wandered over and pushed on the tall spindly floor lamp and to this day I see it falling...in slow motion! I made a mad dash across the room with my arms outstretched and watched as it crashed to the floor and exploded. Poor little Jeffy heard Grandma scream and dash and ran as fast his tiny little legs would go in the opposite direction terrified at the whole affair!

No matter! It could be replaced with a bit of ...searching. And I have searched....for 28 YEARS! Nothing I found looked right...or fit! I replaced the shade with one that was supposed to go in a ceiling lite fan..and this is it below!


:) not good, but it fit and did the job for all these years!


Saturday, determined to get out and see the world..and what a good thing it is that I did! Above is the lovely old shade I finally found!

We had found nothing so decided to go have some breakfast and suddenly there was another sign in front of a lovely old home. One I used to walk past every day! We stopped for one last look...and in an old cardboard box stuffed with newspapers..there it was!! My lamp shade! No..not like the one that had broken so many years ago...but one that was old..and looked like it would fit...and...it was ONLY $2.00. The woman was about my age and said she had had it for years and years. So..home it came...and LOOK! It fit!

I need to touch up the screws..get a couple of smaller ones...and touch up the cord that Howard replaced..but..IT FITS! AND I love it! Do you?? I hope so! :)




It is so nice to find something that just seems to fit...especially when it takes so many years! Now Jeffy (um..Jeff) is expecting his own first little son in December.. :) What fun they will have...but watch the floor lamps Jeffy and Leah! :)

Hugs to all...what a great life it is..each and every day a blessing right now!
I really do hope you like my new shade as much as I do!
Mona

~SMILIN' ALL OVER MYSELF..~

Yes, I took it myself with my not so trusty little Kodak! Yes, it's a wee blurry..but you get the idea...

What a great day this was! My CT scan came out negitive, NO blockage! NOTHING is wrong with me...I am fine! Getting better every single day.

I am SO pleased! They called and said my test was fine and dandy!.....The doctor put me on a triple dose of Zantac, and will see me on Monday. I am fine. He thinks I ate too much at one time and said to stick to small servings of easy to digest food for a bit longer. Last night and today were fantastic. The surgery is no problem...healing wonderfully AND my tum feels great! I think I will live! :) At least for a while longer. :) I even went out and pulled some weeds..packed away some more Halloween. Even went to garage sales this morning and found something I have been searching for a long time. I'll share it tomorrow! YIPPEE!! :)

Have a wonderful Sunday...
and lotsa hugs!
Mona

~ I KNOW..I KNOW...~

My blog is suffering and I know it and I am SO sorry. I am trying so hard to visit and do some posting..but it is just so difficult for me. I will keep trying though. Never in my life have I found it so hard to get past an illness.
I feel (as Pat used to say) like a gold bricker! :)




I feel like ranting and raving but that would just be so silly and it wouldn't help me get well any faster. I am progressing..but I am having too many moments of less than happy thoughts...and that just isn't like me. Now I think I have some sort of flu. My tum hurts something terrible. It's as though I consumed poison or something. Could that be the flu? I hope so! The stomach flu??


I was going to take a picture of the Halloween containers...and the stack of things to be put away out on the patio...but decided not to. I may be moving slow..but it will get done. :) At least it is out of the house... Oops! I see I forgot something hanging in the front window...shoot!


The children came by this weekend and are going to paint the inside of the house. I am delighted. I will even get my beam across the family room dividing it which I have wanted for a long time. At this time there are THREE different light fixtures. LOL Ah well. The beam will go where the old light fixture is now. Bless their hearts!
I want that "cottage cheese" removed...but...I am too weak to do it...my sweet husband says it "doesn't bother" him... :) I simply cannot ask the children to do it...so perhaps when I am well. We'll see. Then we can get our carpet and hardwood floors! Yippee!
Ok...I will take pictures tomorrow...if I can...and post them. You will see how horrible it is. The ceiling, I mean!
Love and hugs...(if I haven't visited you yet...I WILL be there soon!)
Mona

p.s. Another CT scan at 7:15 this Friday morning. Wish me luck. As you can see by the time...I am up. I gave up and took a couple of pain pills. It's so quiet, not a sound. Perhaps when the pills work I can read a bit. I can't even hear the train in the distance....so quiet..

~AN OLD LADY CRYING JAG.....~

My wonderful grandson married a lovely Columbian girl...and this is the gift they gave me! Now...if only I could catch her!! She is my 18th grandchild and her name is "Emily." We are all so in love with this child! Me? I am in love with all 18 of them. A new one will be here late this Spring...and that will make 19. None are his..or mine. All nineteen come from one single marriage. Makes me smile! :) How I wish their Grandpa could see them. I think he does!



See that blurred little hand...this child was MOVING!! :)
Oops! What's that she has in her little hand?! HELP!!!

I don't think a happier Grandma exists! Well, ok...I can almost hear the Grandma's out there exclaiming how "beautiful!!" their's are! I thought being a Grandmother was wonderful..but it just gets better and better. Being a GREAT is fantastic!
I need to slow down and hugs the little "greats" before they too are grown.
I hate to admit this..but I think I am on edge of an "old lady crying jag!"

Hugs...
Mona