A Break With Sunshine!

Tuesday morning was the second day of waking up to find it snowing at our house this week. By noontime it had snowed as much as we had seen during the entirety of the previous day. And then - the clouds parted and allowed sunshine to pour down and triple an already beautiful sight! This was the day we all witnessed former Senator Barack Obama being sworn in as our 44th President of The United States! I had spent the better part of the past four days in front of the television - watching all the various events and celebrations leading up to this very moment. I found myself struggling with wanting to jump up and run outside to get photos while the sun was shining. There were two minutes left before Barack Obama was to walk down and place his hands on the bible, when Dwayne hollered from upstairs. ( I know this because I looked at the clock!) A pickup truck had made it halfway up the road we're able to see from our front porch and erupted into a ball of fire! I'm looking at the clock. My head goes back to the television. I'm thinking about the sunshine. And then - this truck catches fire. What do I do? Which way do I go? I sat in my chair and refused to miss watching Barack Obama put his hand on that Bible and become sworn in as our brand new President! I ran upstairs to see what Dwayne was talking about. And by the time I decided to get a photo of the mess - the fire crews had finally been able to get to the scene and had just opened up the hose. A few minutes later, I began making my way around the property to get some photos of that gorgeous sunshine, blue sky and snow! Kit - A Scattering of Snow created by Wendy Williams at Digital Design Den. Today is Thursday and we had another beautiful day! Not only was it gorgeous, but the temps were up around 50* and we could, actually, step outside without wearing a heavy jacket! Even better was the sight of large, deep patches of snow that still remain! It's so much fun to have two days of snow last over a week - right along with sunshine and mild temps!

What a Surprise!

Well... ask and ye' shall receive. If it's gonna be this cold - it might as well snow. And it DID! Pure fun and chaos Monday and Tuesday at our home kept boredom from entering through our doors. Over the entire weekend I enjoyed watching all the events celebrating the Inauguration of President Obama and Vice President Biden! The temperatures were so low here. I ended up sitting down in the basement with a space heater, a light coat and my wool hat - my head going back and forth from my computer to the television! Had so much fun watching the concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial - thanks to somebody pinching the butt of HBO! They were convinced to go ahead and show the live airing FOR FREE during Sunday - best choice they could make! Come Monday - we woke up to snow. Grocery shopping was out of the question. Whatchya' gonna do? Ta Da! Digital Scrapbooking! As soon as we have coverage of snow on the ground we got outside and began taking pictures. We could not believe the density in the air that kept us from seeing very far away. Tuesday came and - I came out to the kitchen to make coffee and found it was snowing AGAIN! This has been the first time we've enjoyed full snow without it melting in the same day here. And it's been a real treat! The day was full of fun for me! Come 12noon - chaos erupted like a volcano! I'm working on this layout. The actual swearing in is about to happen for Barack Obama - literally - I mean... seconds away! We've had a break in the snow and the sun is shining. And Dwayne opens the door to holler down at me that I should come upstairs to see a pickup truck fully engulfed in flames halfway up the road we can see from our front porch! Naturally - I sat until our new President was sworn in! How awesome was that!!!!! I finally reached a point where I could begin to feel safe about this man becoming President. And by the time he put his hand on President Lincoln's bible - I was absolutely full of life and excitement about our future! The sun is shining this morning and the roads are clearing enough that we can safely get out of here. So we'll be going grocery shopping today. But I wanted to get this layout posted! I'll be doing another one with the photos we got yesterday while the sun was shining and getting that posted as soon as I can! Remember - click on the photo to see a larger view! Journaling reads: Two days of waking up in the morning to find it was snowing outside! This... our First Snow to enjoy at Our New Home! Kit - A Scattering of Snow created by Wendy Williams at Digital Design Den !

The Little Loves of My Life

Lately, I've been saying my husband and I now have equity in the 4-legged love of our life, Zucker. Been tackling a serious fight with allergies since last August. I just wasn't happy with the way things were going against all efforts to help Zucker overcome the agony. Since we moved to another county - I decided to find another Vet closer to where we're now living. Went for a visit on January 5th. Came out of the clinic with my hands plum full of this and that, after handing over $275.00! Had to go home and set up a spreadsheet on Excel for the schedule of all the care and prescription administering. Our expectations were for things not to calm down for at least a month. But it looks like things are resolving much sooner! Got an opportunity to catch a funny shot of the yard varmant last night! Took the time to get a layout completed while listening and watching the Presidential Inauguration Concert that was being shown on HBO for FREE today! Remember - click on the photos to see a larger view! Journaling reads: We bought His 'n Hers Recliners for Christmas this year and... Zucker decided they belong to him! He goes back and forth depending on who is sitting in their chair at any time! Kit - Bit of Wear n Tear, Bit of Wear n Tear Add-On and Bit of Wear n Tear Extras created by Gilda Paterson at Digital Design Den. Our precious little granddaughter had her first birthday this past November. That event in her life just made a few days go by with quite a bit of sadness for me. It is so difficult to live so far away from my kids and grandkids. The hardest part is not being able to have that opportunity to enjoy those spur-of-the-moment things where you can just get in the car and run over to see them. Or, something's coming up and you make plans to meet each other at the Mall. Or, being able to load the yard up with the teeter-totter, playground set and all those neat things that they come over to play on. I just wish I could enjoy all that. But to know my experience of living down in Texas is to know exactly why I wish my kids would just move up here. Anyway.... I finally got a chance to do a layout of photos from Trinity's first birthday! Journaling reads - Trinity Faye had her first birthday party at her Grandpa Bell's house where she, Mommy and Daddy were staying after going through Hurricane Ike. Obviously... she loved her cake! Kit- Birthday Party, Birthday Party Add-Ons and Birthday Party Extras created by Gilda Paterson at Digital Design Den. I only hope I get the chance to have her come spend time up here while she's young enough to enjoy all the playground equipment we will be setting up around here... just for that reason!

Thanksgiving Day Had it All!

Winter is proving its strength with so many of us this year. Compared to the northern areas of the country I don't dare complain. But we have had our share of cold weather. I only wish it was backed with worthwhile substance. You know... SNOW! That's one thing we just haven't received much of in our area. There have been days when the basement has been too cold to hang around and get much done on my computer. But I have managed to get a few more pages done. There were pages from Thanksgiving that I forgot to get posted here. So here goes! Remember - You can click on the photos to get a larger view! Blessed! Journaling Reads - "We had a marshmallow explosion in the oven that set off every smoke detetor in the house. But the candied yams tasted great, anyway! Wayne, Charlotte and Austin spent the day giving thanks with us and we all had a great time! Jen and Austin had a WWE SmackDown match. I got totally slammed with losing points in Mexican Train Dominoes. Austin won the Wishbone Snap. And we had a Gator catch everybody's attention! Turkey Day SmackDown! This was hilarious! Austin decided to challenge Jennifer to a little bit of wrestling. I don't think Jen took it as serious as Austin. And I think maybe she should have? LOL Wishbone Snap! After tearing Jen's up in wrestling Austin came to me wanting the wishbone from the turkey. So the two of us went to town digging and cleaning with care. I felt it would only be most memorable to get shots of him challenging his mom! Kit for all the above pages - Give Thanks (retired) created by Sandy at Digital Design Den. All in all - I have to say that our first Thanksgiving spent in our new home turned out to be a LOT of fun with some really great friends!