... and it HIT me!

Today, I went to the new house with the intentions of puttering around: to hang a jingle bell wreath on the door, set my Nessie to watch over the house, and put up the Christmas tree. When I arrived, I pulled into the driveway and just sat there, looking at the house, and it hit me: this is mine; its MINE! With each of the little touches that get added, it feels more and more as if its mine. Of course, that also means I'm in for the whole nine yards of repairs, replacing appliances and general maintenance every day.

I started lining the kitchen cupboards. When I took one of the boards down, I discovered that the last guy who'd painted didn't remove the shelves, and there's a line where the shelf is. Which means I can't adjust the shelves without having that visible. So, I had to paint a bit inside as well. One thing leads to another...... *grin*



So the tree is up........








and hung a new ornament
to signify buying my first home.
(It's dated, of course!)






And Nessie watches over the house.

Norway's legendary nisse, the elf who symbolizes Christmas to generations of Norwegians, was born of ancient folk beliefs. Most Norwegians have their own ideas about how nissen looks and acts, but he is generally thought of as a short, stocky fellow with a long, gray beard and a red knitted cap. He usually wears dark knickers and a shirt and vest or a sweater, and his eyes always twinkle with mischief.



As a girl growing up, we always had a Nessie watching over the house, but he was around all year, and I always thought it was for good luck, and keeping the bad stuff away!

No matter what you believe ... there's still something magical about Christmas. May you and your family be blessed this Holiday Season and in the new year to come!

Holiday HUGS to everyone!

Tall, Dark and Loaded

Every once in a while, you have one of those days where everything comes together and gels. And for me, I've had two days like that this week. I've been able to cross things off my "to do" list twice! For me, that's the best feeling in the world! There has always been a part of me who gets the best feeling from accomplishing things. Wonder where that came from...... Now the only thing left to do is sort through all the health insurance paperwork I've received back after the surgery -- never a fun chore! The aftermath of all that is knowing how much I owe. :/

On a side note, grades were posted for my classes: a 90 and a 91. Not my best work, as I missed a few assignments when I was out with my surgery; but I worked hard afterward to make up what was missed. (a score of 82 on my presentation was good for me; I am terrible standing up in front of strangers speaking on something I'm not an expert on!!)

Work on the house is coming along .... painting is usually something I enjoy doing. However, the 14ft ceilings are difficult, and I'll need to be doing some touchup to the ceiling in places. Ugh! Today, I ended up at work later that usual, so there wasn't much time left to do a whole lot over there, so I did a really good sweep job of the scraps n stuff that happen when work is being done. Then swept the back patio because being outdoors in MY BACKYARD sounded so good to me. Of course, it was an above average day at 72 degrees, so that just added to the whole experience. Am anxious to get past the painting part and on to some of the other fun things!

I hope all of you are ready for Christmas;
and that Santa slips something terrific into your stocking!
I thought about wishing for "Tall, Dark and Loaded" in my stocking,
but with my luck.... well, I don't want to think about what that could be!

HUGS to everyone!

Prayers for Sale!

There's a sign on the fence that reads:
Prayers for Sale!
A old woman tending her garden
looks up when a young
woman who appears new in town asks:

• How much do you charge?
• Is it more if you're in need than if you're wanting a favor?
• Do sinners pay more than the righteous?
• What if the Lord doesn't answer back?
• Do you get your money back?

In this world, we've learned that we need to pay for things; we've learned that certain conditions or restrictions may apply; and we expect to get a refund if it doesn't work.

But prayer doesn't work that way. Prayers are simple, free, and can be prayed by anyone. When you look up prayer in Wikipedia, or Google, you get "a reverent petition to a deity". There are many different types of religions. But prayer is something they all have in common. There may be different "rules" or ways, preferred methods; but the one thing they all share is someone's need to be heard. All of us long to connect with someone who can identify with our circumstances and share in our day-to-day life. Prayer can be just that.

This is also the title of the latest book I am reading. It's a warm short story about a woman living in a small Colorado mining town. As I was reading, I found the questions the young woman asked brought up some additional thoughts.

Just think if you had to pay for prayers. Could you afford the ones you need? Would you be more cautious about what you prayed for? Saving up for the bigger things and stop praying for the little things? What about prayers for others? If we had to pay for prayers, would we pray for the needs of those around us in our lives? What if we had to pay more because we'd done something wrong? And the last thought about getting our money back if our prayer isn't answered .... how would we know our prayer wasn't answered? After all, as Garth Brooks sings: "just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care ... Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers."

May all your prayers be answered
and your wishes fulfilled this Holiday Season!

HUGS to everyone!

Holiday Spirits

When I sat down at my computer tonight, I realized that I haven't been blogging as often. That's because of a few reasons:
The season, for one. Christmas can be a stressful time of year for everyone, and its no different for those who work retail. In fact, I might dare to add that it can be even more stressful, because who wants to go back out into the crowds to do your own shopping after you've spent the day in a store, trying to help cranky customers? Tis just one of the things that becomes a fact of life if you're in retail.
The second reason: I bought a house! We closed on December 8th, and I've been busy trying to do things over there while still trying to live a semi-normal life in the apartment. Many things are packed, but some aren't, because we're still trying to "exist" as best we can. Besides, who wants stuff in the way when you're going to paint all the walls and trim? Best to leave things be, and paint the rooms empty. We accomplished a lot over the weekend; my aunt and uncle came to help on Sunday, so we did a major portion of the painting. We went back today to see how it turned out, and its pretty good! Love the colors, hate the smell. :)
School is winding down. Last week was my final for one class, Tuesday (tomorrow) is my final for my second class. Luckily, neither of the classes had tests as a final, but papers to write. And here I sit blogging rather than working on my paper... shame on me! {grin}
To tell you the truth, I plan to turn on some Christmas tunes and wrap a few gifts, just to feel like I'm getting some spirit! Otherwise, I'd be crawling into bed and snoozing, as I still need a bit of extra rest. I'm not quite back to 100%, but its getting there. If you haven't been feeling in the Christmas spirit lately, find a CD of tunes and play them, sing along even! It couldn't hurt, and it might be just the thing you need!

Holiday HUGS to everyone!!

Homeownership!

Thursday was a RED LETTER DAY! I signed all the paperwork to purchase my home!!! Most of the papers were reiterations about all the things we've gone over and signed before, only this time it was final. The oddities that stand out in my mind are (a) I had to sign my full name .. been so long since I've signed it that way, I had to concentrate on the task! and (b) it all had to be signed with the same color ink, so my Realtor and I shared a pen! haha So that makes it official.... I am in debt up to my eyeballs and then some! Hurry up January ... 2040 ?? lol .

I'll officially get keys on Tuesday, and then the fun... err... work begins!

Home Owning HUGS to everyone!