Peace and Quiet...a Nice Thing

It is 2:35 AM as I type. The fire in the wood stove has died down to a bed of coals, almost beyond retrieval. The dogs are no longer trying to sneak tidbits from the kitchen garbage can, the parrots are snoozing, and the rest of the household is very still and quiet. It is a good thing. It is very peaceful with only a bit of cooling air to interfere with this idyllic state. (Ok, I had to go work the hot bed of coals back into life by feeding it more kindling. In a few minutes, I will throw a log on the fire and let the wood stove warm up the living room again. If I don't shiver it will insure a more correctly typed blog!)

Thanksgiving was a very nice day. The boys took part in preparing the dinner. Aaron wanted to make Marie's green bean recipe, while Josh wanted to brine, smoke, and BBQ the turkey. Steve made his mixed rice pilaf and I made carrot and fruit salads, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. By the time dinner was ready, we were all starving, or so we thought. I truly believe that this was one of the nicest Thanksgiving dinners we have had in years. There was no pressure to have to entertain or keep conversations going. We all just sat back and enjoyed each other's company. And Caleb was challenged by each one of us to play a new dice game. This may have been a mistake if one was thinking about their pride. Caleb succeeded in winnig 2/3's of the time. I must proudly say that he takes after his Grandma! He is pretty darn good at playing games! The only 'downer' to the day, if we had to identify one, was the fact that Sheila and Sean was not with us. That would have made the day perfect.

Steve transfered the photos from the camera to my computer, so I have some new photos to post and share with you. This batch will be from our trip to Washington in September. We were able to surprise Steve's dad for his birthday and we took he and Marie to dinner and then had fun being with them the next day as we took a ferry boat ride, saw the grave site of Chief Sealth (The Indian Chief that Seattle was named after), and eating at a diner on Bainbridge Island that was highlighted on a TV program. And I will post another photo of Steve and I that a tourist took as we visited Kalaloch beach on the Pacific Peninsula. I will also include a couple of photos of Steve and I and Larry and Mona as we enjoyed a day in Virginia City, Nevada. I hope you enjoy them.

Now that the holidays are officially upon us, I have a few projects that need to be accomplished. I have been asked to 'revamp' the church decorations. Once I committed to this, I found out that we were actually needing to redo, from scratch, the entire church!! So, everything has to be bought, designed and hung by the first week of December. It is a huge job and I am very thankful for Jody, who is my partner for this task. The stress of designing something that others can put up and take down each year without further design help is not easy to figure out. Hopefully, the things we created will meet this need.

On the back of the church decorations is the Ladies Holiday Craft Day, that I started two years ago. Jody and I had to come up with eight new crafts for the ladies to make. This eqates to buying all the materials, making kits, having weekly sign-ups at church, and than decorating, and setting up for the Craft Day on Dec. 8th. It will be a fun day, but the effort going into it coupled with the church decorations is a bit overwhelming, at times.

The one added hassle that has been added to all this is that Chloe got into the bags of Christmas picks that I had purchased for the church and chewed her way through each bag she found, leaving fake berries bitten off the picks!!!! I was soooooo angry at her! I can't afford to go buy more and if I could, they are not available because I purchased all that were available. So, tomorrow, I have to glue berries on the ones that are retrievable and repaint and glitter each clump. I hope that I can restore most of them. This type of thing is when I have evil thoughts of hoping the dog will die! But, Chloe just lives on not knowing that it is grace that keeps her alive! Dumb dog!

This bolg is a bit, 'ho-hum', today. It is hard to be witty or entertaining at 3:30 AM. Perhaps, the next blog will have more interesting situations to share and comment on. I do hope that all who take the time to read my missives, has had a very nice Thanksgiving and can appreciate the blessings that God has given to us as we enjoy living in a nation that still allows us freedoms that so many do not have elsewhere. We are still a blessed nation.