A Merry Christmas to all

  December has flown by quickly. All the prep and shopping and it's over in minutes.   I kept meaning to post something but blogging wasn't on the agenda so here I am to wrap up the month. mmm can I do in one post, I'm not sure but you're about to find out.

We figure that Bruno and Sadie like each other, even though Bruno doesn't always like to share toys or attention.

They are like this or curled up in separate little balls.  We notice Bruno does shed some but not so much Sadie, but when they're cousins Sophie and Bri come up we notice extra fluff on the floors.

Kelli the other Kennedy (lol) we both like to read and were driving to Navasota about an hour away to the Wildflyer Meadery to enjoy their book club but decided to see if some ladies in Gause and surrounding area would like to start a club and we did. We got book suggestions from the members and then drew a book for each month. We won't officially start until January but for December, Jennifer, one of the members offered up her shop called Harold's Mercantile for a Christmas gathering. Not everyone showed up but 

We had fun! Laughing, talking, eating fun foods that Jennifer created and Kelli contributed too. We had a white elephant gift exchange. Of course the theme was books. Great group of fun ladies and just added 3 more ladies and that closed the membership for now. 
 

On Saturday 12-10 we headed to Houston to attend a wedding reception for one of the David high school buddies daughter. AKA The Taco Bell Gang.  All of the guys worked at Taco Bell in high school and still meet for lunch once a month. Anyway it was fun and we got to hang out with the guys and their wives.  We were missing one of them but the rest of us enjoyed the celebration of Meredith and David Symonds union. It was nice to be included in the celebration.

Robert Hartye Band was the opening band and they were good. Wide variety of songs and they sounded really good. And after a while out comes Cory Morrow.  A Texas musician. I enjoyed his music. I know I've heard him on the Radio before but never really thought about it I guess.  Fred and Kathy were dancing up a storm. She swears she's not that good. They looked good on the dance floor.

And here's the Bride & Groom. 

Mr. and Mrs. David Symonds 💔 

The Bride was dancing with her Aunt Erin here. They were having fun.

Great Evening

Bruno and Sadie had to be boarded for the night so when we picked them up Sunday afternoon they were ready to go home with us. Look at Her face. Aww

They said they were ready for Christmas. Was worried if we'd have a tree left. We don't think either one of them had been around one.  Of course Bruno being a boy he thought " Hey it's a tree" So he tried to Christen it twice. NOOOO.

With the family growing and extended families I started having a Family Gathering the weekend before Christmas. Which so far seems to have worked out well for almost everyone.  The kids all stepped up and offered to bring food which was a great help. One day us older generation will depend on them to hold the gatherings. mmm wonder if that will happening. I was so busy getting things ready as folks were arriving that I never took any pictures but some of the others did Thank Goodness and we didn't take a group picture and I had my iphone tripod pulled out setting in my sewing room.  I guess I should have putting in the kitchen so I wouldn't forget. Grrr.

 

Pictures of my SIL's and nieces                                                    

The Ladies.. Front to back

                                        

Jessica, Glenda, Kendall, Pamela, Alyssa

Back to Front Left to Right  Lynn (SIL),  Jordan  Jessica  Glenda (SIL)  Kendall 

Nephews & Great Nephews -Phillip has his boy Patrick and Nathan has his youngest boy Vance.    And Pamela with her man, Kaleb.T

Sooo I won't make it all the way through Christmas with this post.

Last thing I'll share here is the great group of ladies I found in the area that quilt. They're called the Sassy Stitcher's.  They can be sassy sometimes but we have fun and stay creative. LOL On Monday (12/19) we gathered to sew of course but we also had a potluck luncheon. Good food, good friends and a white elephant gift exchange.

This is Sam. He is Tammy's husband. Sam keeps us entertained with stories.

He's a deputy sheriff out of Cameron and is recovering from being shot not long ago in the face and a couple other places while doing a wellness check. He's one of the lucky men in Blue who survived a bad situation. We thank him for his service. He has a great attitude and is a super nice guy.  The ladies told him to pick a good gift for his wife and he did good until someone stole it from him.  LOL

This picture was painted by one of the quilter's named Brenda. Not only can she quilt but she can paint and not by numbers. The quilter holding the painting is also a great painter. Her name is Donna Kim.  She also is a member of my quilt retreat girls.

Check out the cute gift bag someone made and filled with a gift.

Judy decided to steal the gift for herself instead of picking a gift under the tree.

All the gifts were nice and it was a fun day.

Okay I will stop for now and finish catching up next year. 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. And I hope you have a safe and Happy New Year.

Until next blog...May the Blessings of Christmas be with you today and always.

   

Thanksgiving Catch up

 How's your week going? Mine is about cleaning and starting to get things decorated. Our family gathering is coming up in about 10 days so I'd like to have everything ready and just do my cooking and a tidy up before that day.

But right now I'll play catch up on my blogging journal here. The day before Thanksgiving I picked up Pamela's pups and brought them home with me to stay the night. Pamela left to go to Kaleb's family home to have Thanksgiving Eve with them and of course someone needed to care for the pups.

That was the first time they had met Sadie. Oh boy!  And when David talks they all talked.

      

Pamela and Kaleb came up the next day to have Thanksgiving dinner with us.  I think they got their tummies full. It was a pretty day.

Pamela was doing the secret Santa thing at work and one day was a homemade craft. She was like I don't do homemade, so I volunteered my services and made a Mug Rug which something you put under your drink like a coaster and maybe a snack and T towel for her to give.

The mug rug isn't finished in this picture and I should have used a different font but it's was doable. And embroidering a T towel was a challenge for me. Had a hard time finding the right tension but I finally succeeded.

Hope her secret Santa liked them. I haven't heard yet

On Thursday (12/1) David and I decided to get out and about. It's been a few days since we ran the roads to see what we could get into. We headed to Elgin, TX via backroads. We were ready for some lunch and headed to Southside BBQ.  David ordered the 3 meat plate and I picked off the bit of meat that I could eat. And a bite of beans and potato salad and David ate the rest. Sharing a plate works well. Well as long as we both want to eat the same thing.  LOL  The brisket, sausage and chicken were really good. I'd go back.  

Then I got this weird thought that I wanted some ice cream. I picked one scoop of butter pecan. I know with one scoop I could eat a few bites and pass the rest to David. Small problem or actually a.. big one......David ordered 1 scoop for each of us.  uhhh this is not 1 scoop at least not by most standards. LOL   Check out the problem in the picture....

So I did eat a few bites but that's more sugar than I've had in 7 months. It messed with my head and my stomach grumbled a bit.  Oops.  So then David had to eat all of his own single scoop and the rest of mine. It was a struggle. Even his stomach grumbled after all that ice cream.

From here we hit a couple of antique/thrift stores there in Elgin. Didn't find much but I did find a box of Christmas cards for a $1.  They looked brand new. After being a big spender we went in search of a winery David found on line and wanted to go check out. Twenty minutes down the road we found the Rising Sun Vineyard. it was a pretty place and the owners were really nice. 

Shayna gave us the scoop on the wine and winery. Her husband Steve did most of the cooking when there was food involved. They even had weddings there and a reception/event tent. It was time to head home to feed the pups. 

Tuesday (12/5) I started changing up and doing some cleaning to get ready for our family dinner coming up on the 17th. All I'll have to do the day before is hopefully tidy up. But I got the Vintage Santa quilt on the bed in the vintage guest room and put the unfinished Cowboy Snowman unfinished top on the Texas Guest room bed. Working on the den now (12/7) to get the tree up. 

  
Our bedroom will be last. Back to work.

Well that's it for now.

Until next blog....Stop giving other people the power to control your happiness, your mind, and your life. If you don’t take control of yourself and your own life, someone else is bound to try.  Roy T Bennett

We've gone to the Dogs around here.

 Whew. It's been nice not going anywhere or doing anything. I've been exhausted and trying to regroup.  I think I'm almost back to normal. Well okay as normal as I can be.  Wednesday (11/2) we had to take Bruno to the vet for some shots. I rode a long. We all walked over to the kennels where the lost and found dogs are. There was one pretty guy but he was a boy and very noisy. Geez. But there was a sweet little girl on the end with sweet eyes and she was quiet but attentive. She wasn't available for adoption until Thursday.  

 Thursday 11/3,  David took me to lunch at Hecho en Texas in Cameron. The BBQ was good. I'd go back. Then we went to vote. It's so much easier to vote early. Then we drove through the country. David wanted to show me the Cameron garden and some other sights he found while I was gone.  Driving we found this old bridge. Pretty cool looking but my photo doesn't do it justice. It had a cactus growing on it.

After this we went to check out the girl dog at the kennel and we were too late. Someone adopted her first thing that morning.  

Sunday 11/6, after David helped Kaleb with some furniture hauling, David and I went to look at a playmate for Bruno.  David saw a post for a part Lab and Australian Shepherd that needed a home. She was a pretty girl.  Guess what Bruno has a playmate, her name is Sadie. She's adorable. While Bruno likes a playmate he's like the older sibling who got a baby sister and wants to know when it will go home.  He doesn't like having to share his humans, their love or attention, And he doesn't like to share his toys. LOL The toys have been at the house for 10 years+ but they're his.  

This is Sadie in her 10x10 kennel where she was living. And her in the car coming home with us to her forever home.

And it's meeting time with Bruno and let's play.

David went and bought Sadie a kennel and both of them got soft cushions to sleep on. Bruno found the new bed and opened his cage and decided to take a nap.

Then it was time to help their furless Dad build his work bench and give their approval.

A day or two later Bruno took Sadie on a tour of the property. All 14 acres. When they came in they were were tired and this is how they napped.  I think they like each other but Bruno does not want to share his furless parents attention or his toys. Maybe in time he'll learn to share.  Lol.  Never a dull moment.  Sadie has proven to be a good girl in the house. She knows how to sit. The other night we heard a scratch at the door and then a bark. It was Sadie letting us know she was ready to come back in.  That's what Lilley used to do. They seem to like each other. LOL

Friday (11/18) it was time to get out and about. We needed to pick up our wine from Texas Legato and we needed lunch so off we went. First stop was at The Gin on Nolan Creek. Yummy food and nice view if you sit on the patio which we did. It was enclosed and the heater was on. Thank goodness. I got their Brisket Quesadillas and David got the black and blue burger. 

I had leftovers of course.

I tried to get a picture of the creek running in the background but my head ended up right where the little rapids showed up. Oh well. I tried.

Next stop was at Legato. While there we had some wine. We got a free glass each. I had them pour me a tasting size glass of wine.  One of their little & newest winery pup came in to play and greet us.   Bandit says "HI"  He's a painted Yorkie I think they said. He loved rough housing with David.

After hanging out here talking with the owners and staff we headed to The Vineyards of Florence in Florence. Texas that is. Really a pretty place. David ordered a glass and I got a flight for tasting.  I drank the Rose and the Port. The other two were good but I liked the last two best.  It might have gone to my head a bit.

From here we headed home.
Saturday (11/19) David had to be home for the guys that were coming to clean out/off all the dead trees at the bottom of the property. He was worried that it wouldn't take much of a spark from the train track behind the property to start a fire. Plus he found out 2 of our trees on the East fence line were dead.  

I took off to the Woodlands to celebrate Kaleb's twin boys 3rd birthday. Yep Pamela's man has twins. Killian the little red head and Braxton the blonde love their Aunty Sarah.

They have the same silly smile.  Pamela told Kaleb she wanted to see teeth when he smiled.  LOL

Today David took me down to the bottom of the north pasture to show me how much they cleaned up. Holy cow! This is where the cows used to hide in the trees and vines when we first got them.

We currently have 2 burn piles in the bottom north pasture and one being made in the east pasture by our fence line.  2 huge trees were dead and threatening the fence so they had to come down too.

This is how the bottom area looked when we first got the cows. You couldn't drive through because of all the trees and vines but so many of them have since died due to the lack of rain.

You can kinda see some of the dead trees past the cows.

But this is how it looks now.

There is a fence separating our property from the railroad but there were areas of the fence that the wild hogs could get under so we built a fence out in front of it to keep the hogs off our property. It was cheaper than ripping down the old fence and pulling out the vines and trees that have grown into the fence. Now the area is cleaned off I wish we could move the new fence back several feet.  Oh well. We'll be planting some new trees down there to buffer the noise from the highway and the railroad. It's gonna be our nature preserve area of sorts.

Gotta stop for now. Need to finish some quilt projects and go to the post office. 

Until next blog...At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening

Happy Reading, Quilting or whatever makes you happy.