CHRISTMAS IS OVER AND ITS ALMOST THE NEW YEAR

Wow, I cannot believe how fast the holidays have flown by already. I'm beginning to think I might need to take vacation time off the week of the holiday to really be able to relax and ENJOY it. I got almost none of my baking done that I'd hoped to accomplish. Its gotten so hectic and rushed. Maybe that's the reason I am drawn to simpler things and ways not only over the holidays but in general.

I was going through Mary Jane's Farmgirl Wisdom and there's a magnetic board (maybe 3" by 4") with pictures and wise sayings you can mix and match. I took mine into work and have it on my desk. Today's quote I put on it was "There is more to life than increasing its speed. - Mahatma Gandhi". Truer words were never spoken. It seems like my son just flew in but tomorrow he's flying back out. I don't think he'll ever realize how much I miss him. It seems like Christmas flew buy in a blink and in a couple days the new year will be upon us. Yes, there is more to life then speeding it up any faster.

Granted I love the speed of my cable Internet, but sometimes you need to disconnect and enjoy the quiet and your family. No cellphones. No Ipods. No computers. No TV even. I know, I know....have the aspirin and smelling salts ready for any heart attacks or vapors this may cause. My kids and I use to enjoy shutting off all the lights and using only candles or oil lamps to give us lights. Last night after a long day of driving to Frankenmuth, visiting Bonner's, and having a famous chicken dinner for supper it was so nice when I got home to stop the speed and sit and put a puzzle together with Matt. I can't remember the last time I did a puzzle. I know the kids and I use to do them but not in recent memory. So take the time during this hectic, busy, speeding holiday and enjoy your kids and your partner. Do something you've never done before like play a board game or do a puzzle together. You might even try doing the puzzle by candlelight. Pop some popcorn the old fashion way and make some yummy hot chocolate for a special treat and enjoy the taste of a time that moved slower.

THE PRAIRIE GIRL'S GUIDE TO LIFE

I just finished reading 'The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life - How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl' by Jennifer Worick. Overall I'd say it was a good book. I liked the stories that she gives regarding different projects and wish she'd put more of the stories into the book. The crafts and projects were pretty basic, but what one would expect from this type of book. If you're fascinated with pioneer girls or farm girls this book would probably be a good read. If you're a city girl totally and shudder at getting dirty this might not be your type of book. If you're a farm girl wannabe this would probably be the ideal book for a general overview of skills and things a farm girl might need to have.

She describes skills that most pioneer or farm girls need to have including quilting, knitting, and soap making. She also includes things like lacing corsets, recipes for making cleaning supplies, how to brush a horse and directions on how to square dance. Each chapter is a room of the house or barn/outside and includes a wide variety of things to do and crafts. For example in the chapter Kitchen she gives directions on how to make a flour sack apron. I enjoyed reading it even though I know how to do most of the craft projects she gave, which is probably why I enjoyed the stories she wove into it the most. Amazon currently has it marked down to $5.95 if you're interested in buying it.

WHERE IS THE SNOW?

Now that I've got my head wrapped around the fact that it is actually December and we have most of our Christmas decorations up I'm ready for it to snow. It probably helped significantly that I received a call from my oldest son saying he'll be home on Christmas to finally push me over into the willingness to accept that it's December. When I wasn't ready for snow in November, the flurries taunted me with the fact they were coming. Now I get flurries that just tease me but produce nothing. There's nothing more depressing then not having snow for Christmas. It's just one of those mandatory things in life. How can one go dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh? Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house? Make snowmen? I just can't imagine living someplace that wouldn't have snow for Christmas. I don't know if I could get in the mood without it. I also have an issue with cold, cold temps without snow. Those that know me, know how much I hate being cold but at least if there's snow it mentally tells me it should be cold - like an excuse. Besides, the pups love playing in the snow. There's nothing more amusing then watching Tip run into a snowbank and then throw snow into the air. He looks like he's laughing as he does it, just like a kid. He loves catching snowballs too. Hopefully we'll get some snow soon, but hopefully on the weekend so I can enjoy it and not dread driving in it.

NEW ADDITION TO HOUSE - LUNA

I totally forgot to post about our new addition to our household - Luna. Matt's niece found her for us. She works at an animal shelter and when she saw this little girl she instantly knew she belonged to Matt. Matt wanted an orange kitty and I requested long fur. She was 12 weeks when Megan sent us her first picture and we had to wait two weeks until she got up to weight so she could be spade before they allowed us to adopt her. If I recall right we got her on November 13th. She's gotten so big already. We should have named her Trouble though. Curious and hyper at this point. Hopefully she'll calm down. Aren't her whiskers just adorable though! Mouffet (aka Moo-moo), my kitty, is not impressed with this new addition and the transition is not going smoothly but its getting there.

DECEMBER? ALREADY?

Am I the only one not ready for December to be here already? It's like wow, the year is almost over. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Of course to commemorate the occasion it has decided to snow all day - thankfully only flurries with no accumulation. It's pretty to look out the window but doesn't appear to be getting nasty out there, at least not yet. It's on snowy days that I miss our fireplace at our old house the most. My oldest son use to love bringing in wood and getting it going and then watching it so it burned all day. We'd sometimes all curl up on the couches together and watch videos, read, or do crafts. Sometimes we would bake cookies and make hot chocolate and curl up on the couches and watch the fire as we had our snack. They were blessed days with my children that I miss. When we got enough snow we'd take the dogs for a midnight snow walk. It was a weird tradition we had but one we enjoyed. Maybe its the nostalgia getting to me with the kids on their own and rarely getting to see several of them.



This week gets more hectic with the holidays coming up and slows down at least from a work standpoint. This entire week has been super slow at work so I was able to knock out the entire first sock already. Sorry for the poor quality but I'm taking pictures with my cellphone, uploading them to Facebook, saving the pictures to the computer, converting them to jpeg and then uploading to the blog. Hopefully after Christmas I can look at getting a new camera. I'm way ahead of schedule knitting these and hopefully will now have them completed before Christmas. I've got the next one cast onto my needles and ready to start. I'm already planning new craft projects and purchasing books to occupy myself.