A cold and cloudy day today. The temps will barely make it to 39 degrees F. We are actually having snow flurries right now. I am one of those odd people who loves winter. I like wearing warm snuggly clothes and snuggling with the fur babies when I get home in the evening. I don’t even mind that it is usually dark when I get home from work. There is just something so cozy about all of it. I love the winter light. It is so different this time of year. On a sunny day the shadows are more pronounced and the light of day just has a different tinge to it. On gray days, like it is today, the entire day looks like it is dusk and night will be falling soon. Maybe I am a vampire. I think I really like the slower pace of everything in the winter. You can’t do that much outside so it’s almost like you get to hibernate inside for awhile.

I love working on projects in the winter. I usually have two or three knitting projects going as well as a couple of different books I am reading. I often have a jigsaw puzzle out so that I can place a few pieces here and there when I get a chance. Kitty Kitty also loves the puzzles. She is fascinated by all the different pieces. I have been working on tapestry earrings and I love making them. I admit the first few pairs I made looked horrible. I may have acted like a big spoiled brat when I threw the first pairs in the floor proclaiming to my husband that I would never get the hang of making them. He reminded me that I had acted the same way when I was learning to knit socks. Patience is not one of my better traits. I will show you those tapestry earrings very soon.

I love baking in the winter. I made a few loaves of sourdough bread last week and two loaves of banana nut bread. My nephew, Tyler, loves the sour dough bread and had been hinting that he wanted some so I had a good reason to make it. There is just something about baking in your warm kitchen, with the winter light shining through the windows, the warmth from the oven, and that wonderful aroma of baking bread, or whatever you have in the oven, that is just heavenly.

Yes the colors are muted and gray and that is okay with me. Time to recharge and regenerate and get ready for the year. I think with all that is going on in our nation today it is good to be at home and get back to nature and nurturing and things that are comfortable for us.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Happy New Year!!! How are you? and how is your new year going so far?

I am sitting at my desk drinking coffee and looking at all of the Christmas decorations that need to be taken down. Mark doesn’t like to take down the decorations until after New Year’s Day. That is o.k. with me but it doesn’t always work out with my schedule and days off and getting everything done. I love to get all of the decorations down and get the house back to normal. I love Christmas and the decorations but when Christmas is over it is over. Time to look to the New Year I say.

I don’t like making new year’s resolutions. For several years I picked a word for the year that I would try and focus on. My word for 2020 was “Discover.” And wow what a discovery it was. I was thinking more along the lines of trying new things and discovering new places and it wasn’t really that type of discovery at all. But you know what? that is ok. It was a different type of discovery and some things I needed to discover.

I think the most important discovery I made this year was about gratitude. I have been so grateful that my family has been safe during this pandemic. I am grateful that I was able to keep my job and that the company I work for is still going strong. I am grateful for the time I had to reflect on things that were really important to me. It has been a humbling year and it makes you realize that things are not to be taken for granted and that life is so very precious and that your day to day existence is one to be treasured.

I decided that my word for the year this year would be “Present”. I want to be present in everything that I do. I don’t want my nose stuck in my phone so much that I am missing wonderful and beautiful things around me. I want to enjoy everything and everyone that I can. I want to listen and learn more than ever before.

Because taking pictures is one of my most favorite things to do I did a recap of some of my favorites through the year.

So how about you? Any resolutions or hopes, other than the obvious, for this coming year?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

Thanksgiving morning and it was 3:00 A.M. I couldn’t sleep. I guess I was thinking about all the things to do before 2:00 PM when I would have my Thanksgiving lunch. It was different this year only four of us. My sister and her husband came to eat with us. Well five if you counted Scruffy who wouldn’t leave my side the entire time I was cooking dinner. I wasn’t sure if there would be four people or eight for dinner. It was a maybe for a few people. At the last minute my nephew was sick and his brother had been around their mom, who had just been tested for COVID and we didn’t feel comfortable with him being around Mark. However, they did call with their to-go orders. HA!!! Mark’s brother and his wife were a maybe and they didn’t get to come at the last minute.

I had to work every day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. That did not leave me with a lot of time to clean my house and shop for food. I did do some cleaning last weekend but you know how that goes after almost a week. It felt like I hadn’t done anything. Plus I put my Christmas tree up last weekend and did some decorating so that took up most of the weekend. I decided to concentrate on my downstairs because I knew no one would be going upstairs for anything.

I did a little cleaning on Monday night. I stopped and bought groceries on the way home on Tuesday night. As soon as I got home on Wednesday and I had a chance to grab some dinner and change clothes I gave Scruffy a much needed bath. After that I made cornbread for the dressing I would make on Thursday. I also made the two pies. Let me tell you making two pies at once is a little tricky. One pie I had to bake, the pecan, and the other I didn’t. I constantly found myself almost putting the ingredients in the wrong pie. Ha! Luckily they both turned out fine.

So there I was at 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning even though I hadn’t gotten to bed until 11:30 PM the night before. I finally got up around 5:00 and started the day which always involves coffee and sitting for a few minutes with whichever fur baby hops on my lap first. Kitty Kitty won out this time and she curled up on my lap and took a nap.

It was just the four of us for dinner and we had a wonderful time. Mark wanted to know why I was cooking sooooo much food. My thinking was, it’s still Thanksgiving and that means food. Mark did not want turkey this year, he is not a big fan of turkey, so we did a spiral ham. I still did dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked beans, rolls, cucumbers, cranberry sauce and two pies, chocolate and pecan.

After dinner my sister and I took a walk and enjoyed the warm temperature, which was about 65 degrees F, and the sunshine.

So yes Thanksgiving 2020 was different as so many things this year have been. But you know what? I know I am even more thankful than ever. My faith and the love I have for my friends and family are something that can never change. I am here and living in a time that will never be forgotten and I am just happy to say I am a part of this big wonderful life. So how was your Thanksgiving???

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!