A New Day....

...A New Year...

...Have a Safe...Happy...Healthy...New Year...

from

all of us up in the Twelve Acre Wood..

Everyday is a Gift

Today is the Day....

Today is the day we renew CityBoy's contract with the family...

Whhaattt?......you ask...

CityBoy's life insurance premium is due on Jan.1st each year....

and thru the years the kids and i have come to call that payment..

"renewing his contract"

So....once again we took a vote and decided to keep him another year...

After all.......the cat likes him...!

Everyday is a Gift

A Runner..?

Santa read my letter and CityBoy picked up on all my hints

and I got this for Christmas...

Now in my quest to own one....

I never realized how heavy or big these little suckers are....!

(it's bigger than the coffee pot..!)

I have limited kitchen counter space....soooo...some rearranging was called for...

One of the things to go was the "coffee carpet"

(if you remember the coffee carpet was an orphan 12"x12" quilt square that became a sort'a spoon rest, drip catcher, spill wiper, etc and sat next to the coffee pot.)

Enter.....da..daa..

...the "Coffee Carpet Runner"...

took some 6.5" squares...added some odd squares that were just hanging around...

and made a 6"x 20" runner...

Has all the same uses and i like the colors...!!

Everyday is a Gift

Merry Christmas...

I'm off to make meatballs...

Gonna be an Italian Christmas dinner this year....

Everyday is a Gift

Santa...?

Santa?

Is that you...?

Merry Christmas to all my bloggerland friends...

Things here at the Twelve Acre Wood

have settled down for a peaceful quite Holiday...

Enjoy

Everyday is a Gift

Soggy Christmas....

So far we've had a soggy....muddy....Christmas week..

ugh..!

It's been raining for the last three days 

and now

the gurus are predicting drastic temp drops starting this afternoon...

oh boy!

But

the silver lining is....maybe....just maybe...

this rain will turn into snowflakes...

Everyday is a Gift

In the Winter....

...the fur babies play a game called...

"Sunpuddle Hop"

..the object is to find them...

and

Enjoy them...!!

(i think Mia's winning)

Everyday is a Gift

Is There Anything More Beautiful...?

Than a sunrise on a frosty morning...!

this was taken from the front porch Monday at around 6:45am...

I was gonna post it sooner ... 

but 

i got all caught up in the Spirit and a Goose and the crowds at Wal*Marts...

Everyday is a Gift

Finally.....

...after billions of tax payer dollars were spent....

Maybe

We'll have an answer....!!!

This made me laugh out loud this morning when i read it on Facebook...

It's always good to start the day with a chuckle...

Everyday is a Gift

Yes....I have...

...A Christmas Goose...

The goose was originally a Christmas door stop, made for me by a co-worker many....many...many years ago...

At the time she gave me the goose....the kids were some what younger and the holiday TV programs  were a big influence on their lives...

Christmas Gooses (Geese) seemed to be on every Christmas dinner table in the TV world...

Sooooo.....their little minds and mouths started demanding that our family have a goose on the table..

Now....

not caring for the taste of goose...this Mama wasn't gonna cook one...

Soooo....

i grabbed a festive platter....plopped the door stop on it....place it in the center of the table...

and told them their goose was cooked....

My Christmas Goose has graced the table for 28 years...

Tasty...!!!

Everyday is a Gift

Spurt of Spirit.....

The stockings are hung...

the cards are addressed and will go in the mail today..

the teeny...tiny...tree is up and glowing...

the mantel is done...

the hearth is done...

the Christmas goose is on the table...

the shopping is done...

(hey!... don't hate me ... when you've got grown kids and teenage grand kids...

Money is the answer to gift giving..!)

I had a surge of Spirit yesterday and got it all done..

Now

I'm so tired....I'm debating about going to work today...

Hummmmm.....

Everyday is a Gift

Well....shut my mouth....

and stop the down loading....!!

I finally got enrolled in the ObamaCare system yesterday...

Thanks to a lot of help from my new BFF "Hope" at the bank..

and low-and-behold after all the input and calculation...my subsidy turned out to be a lot more than predicted....

Soooooo

My monthly payment will be $176.75...!!!

Which is only about $2.00 more than we paid for the "part-time" cancelled insurance...

Now...we'll see how good the coverage is....plan looked pretty good on paper...

Everyday is a Gift

What a Brat....

Do you remember LulaBelle...?

She's the beagle we are trying to rescue...

She lives by the back door and still will not let us touch her nor will she come inside..

She does like to play with us and has several toys plus she really likes her breakfast, dinner and snacks...

This cold weather put me in a tizzy....worrying if she was warm enough in her dog house with all (3 or 4) blankies and large dog pillow....

Enter the SnuggleSafe....which i read about over on 7SNW blog..

it's a microwavable heating pad about the size of a dinner plate...

sooooooo

I quickly pulled up the ole' Amazon account and had one on the way....

Now  it arrived yesterday...

In a hurry to test it out...i read the directions...popped it in the microwave...wrapped it in a towel and rushed outside to place it in Lula's house....

I very gently place it in a corner...sort'a squished into a blanket...

direction said to place it under the bedding...but....i really wasn't sure...

30 minutes later as i looked out the window.....there was Lula's snugglesafe out in the driveway with it's nice...pretty...clean fleece cover off and in the grass.....

UNGRATEFUL Brat...!!

I ran out and recovered the expensive heating pad.....recovered it....and shoved it under her bedding ... where it should have been all along...

UNGRATEFUL  BRAT...!!

she will be warm this winter if it kills me...

Everyday is a Gift

Guess....

..who likes the new dog beds..?

Maybe .. i should have bought three...

We'll see if there are any left on Saturday...on our weekly trip to Wal*Marts..

if not......~oh well~

Max and Mia prefer our king size bed anyway....

lots of stretch-out room...

Everyday is a Gift

The One We Chose....

This is the one on the 2013 Christmas Cards...

Last years snow...

Very Christmasy...Wintery...Cold....looking...

Burrrrrr.....!!!

Everyday is a Gift

One Picture...

is worth a thousand words...

That's what yesterday looked like...

Ice.....Ice everywhere....thank goodness not enough to make the roads "real" bad..!

 

Today just Rain with a capital "R"...

..all day..

 

Yuck..!!

Everyday is a Gift

Weather Whoas....

Yesterdays thunderheads turned into today's rain...

Today's rain will turn into tomorrow's ice storm...

Tomorrow's ice will turn into Sunday's snizzle...

Ugh

And the beat goes on...!!

Stay save and warm

Everyday is a Gift

Could we....

use thunderheads for Christmas...?

Everyday is a Gift

"Not Christmasy Enough"

That was the comment on this one...!

 

I like all the different colors in the different sunrises ~ oh well ~

Everyday is a Gift

Another reject....

Hummmmm......

Nawww..

This one is too much like the first one we sent out..

Max and Misskitty are still on watch detail..

and

Mia is doing what she does best....being a Diva..!

Hey!!

I might be able to write a whole weeks worth of post with the rejects..!

Hurray..!

All that work was not for nothing...

Everyday is a Gift

Reject....

Well.....

It was that time of the year again..

Time to create the annual photo Christmas Card..

I made several collages and several single shots...

This was one of the rejects...

CityBoy didn't care for it

But

I thought snowflakes on their butts was kind'a cute...

Everyday is a Gift

Shopping..! Black Friday....!!

Started my Christmas shopping last night...

ordered the book the MaleChild wants from Amazon...

Monday i'll go to the bank.....grandsons want money...

and i'll buy the "date night" gift cards for the FemaleChild and her hubby...

everyone deserves a night out...

I should be done by Monday afternoon...

Whewwwww....it was tough...

Hahahahahahahaha.....

Everyday is a Gift

Enjoy your Ham....

All the smart turkeys are hiding out on the Mountain...!!

Happy Thanksgiving...!!

Everyday is a Gift..

No Other Words Needed....

Sooooo... glad i decided to take today off...!

Not much snow on the ground yet...

But

It snowing in Boone, which is 15 miles SW of us...and it's moving NE..

Yikes....!!

Everyday is a Gift

Controlled Dash....

Well......the weather guru's called this one right....

It's 40* and raining....last night we had snow showers....

so

I'm sitting here waiting for it to become light enough outside that seeing the slick spots on the road is doable...

Then i'm making a controlled dash into the park...

doing about 15 minutes of work and then making a controlled dash back home before the really bad weather moves across the mountains...

If the gurus hit tomorrow right..

it'll be 29* for a high and snowing all day...

 

An extra day of Thanksgiving vacation...?

Sounds good to me...

If  your in the path of this storm....stay safe and warm...

Everyday is a Gift

It's official....

...i've gone completely country/mountain...!

On the way home Friday i stopped at a local clothing store and found a jeans jacket very similar to the one pictured....

I've been lusting after one for weeks and it was a stroke of luck that i found it in my size and that i had money in my pocket...

IT WAS MEANT TO BE...!

Now here's the country/mountain part..

I seriously thought about wearing it along with my new dark jeans (in a smaller size...thank you exercise guru's) a turtle neck top in burnt orange and my faux pearls to the funeral of a friends mother...!!

Well...i didn't..

But

I did wear jeans....dress jeans in a nice cranberry color with and appropriate blouse and a sweater vest...

In Florida my fashion sense would have been whispered about for weeks...

Here

They were just glad to see me...

Another reason we moved to the mountains..

Not as much wardrobe competition...

Everyday is a Gift

Fifty Years....

...where has the time gone..?

I had just turned thirteen, in middle school, and my main ambition in life was probably to make my family miserable..

I remember being in Social Studies, when we were all called to the courtyard to lower the flag and then ushered on school buses for a long, very quite ride home......

I remember watching TV from 6AM till midnight...

(yes, kiddies TV has not always been 24/7)

I remember the schools being closed and my Dad not going to work..

I remember the adults having quite conversation in corners....predicting what would happen to our country and sadly shaking their heads...

And

It's only now....fifty years later....that i understand what the sad faces and head shaking was all about...

Where were you and what do you remember...?

Everyday is a Gift

Saturday and Sunday....

Several have asked...well, three....why i don't blog on the weekends...

I need the break...!!

Cruising thru my daily blog list this morning, i found a few bloggers that have decided to take a little break...'cause they've run out of good material or they are just tired...or approaching Holidays...

That's why i don't blog on the weekend...

It takes many quite hours to come up with this daily dribble i put on this blog...

Daily life up here in the high country moves along at an aged snails pace..

Of course the weather and it's gurus...plus the mess in Washington are always available for a few posts...but...there's not much we can do about either...

BORING...!!

Just like this post....  :)

Everyday is a Gift

The Swarm.....

Boy...was i wrong..!

I thought that the tree fields in our area would see little action this year...

Yesterday....a swarm....of workers descended into the field across the road...

There were trucks...tractors....trailers.....and guys everywhere...

One of my favorite things..."Free Entertainment..!"

 

Is your name on one of these trees..?

Look....Look...!

The big trucks are arriving....

Your tree maybe on the way...!!

Everyday is a Gift

Slowly...but...Surely...

...we're getting things prepared for winter around the Twelve Acre Wood...

Yesterday was driveway "snow stake" day...

CityBoy and the Brother drove wooden stakes along the curve in the driveway...so..when/if it snows we'll be able to see where the driveway is and not make a little side trip into the ditch...

We made a few side trips the first really bad winter we spent here...

Not much fun...!!

Hence the "snow stakes"

Does this prove the theory that-"your never too old to learn new tricks...?"

Everyday is a Gift

It's/They're Backkkkkk.....!

Yep...!

The Christmas tree "rubber ducky" people are back..

Seems to be a little less activity at our local tree sorting station this year...

But

There they are ....rain or shine...cutting...hauling...measuring...stacking...

getting ready for the big trucks and sending them on to you....

Plus...

My laptop is home from the computer hospital...

Ohhhhh

I love my own keyboard...!!

It's big...the number pad is on the side...and all the keys are in the correct place...

(I still can't find "delete" on CityBoy's keyboard)

The virus ate a few of my things...but...nothing that i can't replace with just a little time and thought..

I needed to weed out that recipe file anyway...

Everyday is a Gift

It's in the air.....

Smoke...

There's a big forest fire southeast of us and the winds are blowing northwest...

so

it looks and smells like a thousand fireplaces out there...

Not good for a girl with asthma...

Maybe the wind direction will change sometime today...

Still using this tiny little keyboard.....hope my laptop can come home today...

Everyday is a Gift

Raid-A-Bug

Hey!

I'm using CityBoy's laptop and this keyboard is soooo small, but, it's getting the job done...

 

'Ecryptron Locker

Remember that name.....that's the name of the bug that invaded my computer....!!

apparently it's spreading like wildfire.....the tech at the computer hospital was very familiar with it...

I love this picture of the 3M's..

I've used it many times...watching for Santa, watching for the MaleChild to come home, guarding the yard from big bunnies, etc...

..this time they're guarding against another virus attach...

21.8* on the front porch this AM..

Brrrrrr...

Everyday is a Gift

BUG...!!!

Seems a bug has invaded my computer...

After an automatic update...a screen appeared that claims it will encrypt some of my files if i don't sign up for their program and pay upward of $300.00 on a GreenPak Card available at many stores in my area...

Hummmmm....

Funny thing is...the files they want to encrypt are a few pictures...one recipe....and my mailing labels...

Not worth $300...

So off to the computer hospital it goes...

'caused i've tryed everything i know to get raid of this bug...

See you in a few days...

Everyday is a Gift

It Was Overdue....

...The Girls only "Road Trip!"

One of my favorite quilt shops, down in Taylorsville, is going out of business...  :(

and the entire inventory was reduced from 50% to make me an offer...

sooooo

Off we went....the female parental unit and my SIL Joy...

Beautiful drive thru apple orchard country..

trees were still loaded with apples..

Spent about an hour looking in every nook and cranny and of course we each found at least one thing that had to come home with us...

Then made a quick stop at the "Big City" WalMart in Wilkesboro...

our little town WalMart has the same stuff

but

Big City Walmart has a Dunkin Donut inside....hummmmmm

Then lunch at the Red Lobster and back up the mountain to home...

Just what we needed before the winter sets in tonight....!

Snow, winds and dropping temps starting this afternoon..

Stay Warm...

Everyday is a Gift

TGIF...

...can you believe it's Nov. 8th already....?

Everyday is a Gift..

A little left....

Yep..!

There's still some color hanging around...

Everyday is a Gift

Celebration......

...i think that's what i'll name this quilt top...

Made this in a block of the month club at my quilt shop in Florida many...many...many years ago and still have not quilted it or found the right name for it...

"Celebration"

...i think that fits...!!

Also....celebrate... CityBoy got the AOK to go back to work yesterday....

 

Yeahhhhhh...:!!!

He's just not a putter around the house type person...

Everyday is a Gift

Looking back.....

...this is what was in the sky on Nov. 5, 2012...

Where were you this time last year...?

Everyday is a gift

Someone forgot......

...to tell the fur babies that we are now on "Fall Back" time....

they are still running full speed on "Spring Forward" time...

...ugh...

Everyday is a Gift

Something for the guys....

...Big Boy Toys...

Every guy needs a large John Deere with a leaf/snow blower attachment....

Right?

Look close ....you can see the leaves flying in the second pic...

Or

How 'bout one of these little lift gadgets for trimming those really hard to reach branches...

We've also got this little creepy-crawly thingy that has treads instead of tires...

it sort'a looks like an armored tank with out the top.....it's remote control...it's for loading up gravel, sand, rock,etc and reaching those out of the way places where a wheelbarrow just won't go....

And of course...

there's one of these...

the good ole' ATV...this little dude has a snow blade attachment and a removable cab..

Life is never dull up here at the mountain park...

Always something or someone to watch...entertainment on the "down home" level...

Everyday is a Gift

Trick or Treat....!!

Scary...huh..?

No..?

Well let me tell you the prices on the "affordable" insurance packages are scary....

the package i'm considering is $373 a month and that is with $3500 deductible plus the discount..!

Plus did you know there is a Federal Plan and a State Issued Plan...?

Seems the states that are Republican by nature came up with there own plans for the voting population of their part of the country...

Guess what North Carolina is...come on guess...??!!

Affordable..?

Maybe if your in the same tax bracket as Bill Gates and Sam Waldon....

 

Is affordable health care really affordable.....

 

Maybe the sticker shock caused yesterday's asthma attach....hummmmm...

 

Everyday is a Gift

It was nice....

..while it lasted....back into the high 60's today...

Plus

Insurance was nice while it lasted...

Several weeks ago we were notified that CityBoy's insurance thru work did not meet the minimum requirements and as of Dec. 31st it would be going away....

Today is the day we make the trip to town and talk with an insurance agent and see if we can afford to be  healthy....

We need insurance for me only, but we've been told that all the policies have maternity and pediatrics..

Hummm....don't really need either...

 

I'm too old for more babies and my baby is 34 years old....

 

We'll see what happens...

 

Everyday is a Gift

Last Friday.....

morning we had snow on the mountain....

More at the park than here at the cabin..

But

It was the cold white stuff that arrived on Oct. 25th..

Last year we had to wait for Halloween...

Burrrrrr....

Everyday is a Gift

Turmoil....

The barn quilt above reminds me of this weeks weather forecast...

Things have been up -down, warm-cold, windy-still, beautiful-snowy all spinning around and around...

This does not correspond with the bean count...

4 - light beans/light snows

4 - dark beans/heavy snows

1 yellow bean

The yellow bean must be the snow we got last night...

According to the bean count winter should be "not-so-bad"

Hummmmm

We're not off to a good start...

Everyday is a Gift