A beautiful day!

I started my day today early. I had to open the store and 7:30 came around early. We were busy as usual, but things went smoothly and we had a good time.



So peaceful!

 When I came home, I had a GREAT day! Spring is in bloom. It was 75 degrees out but quite windy. My niece and her family came over. Andy took Barry and all of the kids to the woods with his metal detector. Didn't really find anything but junk, but the trek through the woods was fun. Brookney and I joined them later. To walk along with the trees dancing in the wind, moldy earth crunching beneath our feet, let's just say I am ready for this weather. We stood next to the stream talking and watched out husbands and kids having a great time.

A fun Sunday afternoon activity.

When we went back to the house, the men put pork chops on the grill and we took care of the rest of the food inside. Our kids played Uno at my dining room table. Curtains blew as the smell of dinner cooking was carried in through the window on a warm breeze. And when we were done with dinner, everyone headed outside to play football.


Now I sit here this evening with the front door open, Country Music Awards on the television, and the dog laying at my feet. I just sent my kids to bed with a kiss and my dear husband is laying beside me on the couch. Life is good! It's peaceful and in this very moment as I write this to you, it is absolutely PERFECT!  Days like today make those moments where life goes crazy, seem insignificant.

My hope is that you had a day like this too. I hope that at some point this weekend you were sitting somewhere thinking, It doesn't get any better than this!  Because between you and me......it doesn't.

A quiet evening

I don't have any words of wisdom or information this time. I am only going to post about my day. It has been one of family and fun.

We had our annual 'Candy Making Day' and it was sooo much fun. There were 14 of in my house, all of us doing something, whether it be melting chocolate, dipping crackers and pretzels, making fudge, baking cookies etc. We made enough goodies to put a bakery to shame.

When that was completed, then men brought the children back and we all sat around eating chili and vegetable soup, talking and laughing. When all of the goodies were divied up, everyone headed home.

It has snowed all day, adding to the delight of the day. We are supposed to get 2-4 inches, bitter cold temperatures, and high winds. Needless to say, the kids have a 2 hour delay tomorrow for school. We'll see if they actually make it to school.

I love winter. I love the snow, how it makes the world look, the Christmas lights on homes, the T.V. shows, the songs, everything! As I am sitting here writing this, tucked warm under an afghan on my couch with my Pomeranian laying at my feet, I can see the Christmas lights on my house and watch the snow fall in front of them. Gorgeous!

So , I hope as you are sitting there reading this post, you are having a moment of contentment, like I am. Very peaceful, very happy.

Best wishes to you and your family and a very Merry Christmas!!

My family traditions part 3

I have another favorite family tradition, but am sad to say that this one is slowly coming to an end. My youngest child is 9 and I am not sure how many more years he will believe in Santa Claus.

In our house on Christmas eve, everyone, including the parents, get into their pajamas. After watching Christmas shows and laying out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, we tuck our children into bed for the night.

When we are sure everyone is asleep, our jobs begin. Presents brought out, cookies and carrots eaten, and big items put together. This is normal in any household. Here's something we do different.

When my kids wake up in the morning, the first thing they do is run to the bathroom to look in the mirror. (My older two are very good at pretending since the youngest still believes.) They are looking for the thumb print left somewhere on their face by Santa Claus. Because Santa comes down the chimney, his gloves are dirty and before he leaves any packages, he checks to make sure the kids are asleep.

I have some of the cutest pictures of the kids and their animated faces at seeing what Santa had done. To think, Santa had been that close and they didn't even know it.

Maybe he really does exist?!! ; )

My family traditions part 2

Another tradition that has become a favorite of mine, is Candy Making Day.



(My sister Kim, niece Shelbey, and Sister-In-Law Laura.)

Thanksgiving, Candy Making Day and Christmas Eve are rotated between the family, that way, one person isn't doing the same thing or can visit their family if need be. This year, CMD is at my house.


We usually start around 10 AM. This includes my sisters, my mother, a couple of cousins and any girls over the age of 13. There is usually about 15-20 of us there. Then the men take the kids and will congregate at another house for the day.


Christmas music plays in the background. We make buckeyes, dipped pretzels, peanut brittle, 6 flavors of rock candy, think mint cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, divinity, rice crispie treats, and fudge. Of course, these are the things we always make. Someone usually finds something new to try. Then we take whatever container we brought and split it up.


(My niece Joy)

After we have made an obscene amount of goodies, the husbands and children come back and we have dinner and play cards. It is a fun day to be had by all!!

My family traditions part 1

Thanksgiving has come and gone. So you would think that the day after would be a time to sit down and relax. Not in my house!

My friend Kristie and I go shopping on "Black Friday" every year. Since some of the stores opened at midnight this year, we left our town at 11pm. Now, Kristie and I are die hard shoppers, but we keep it fun. We circle the lot until we get a great parking spot. We keep our eyes open and will change check out lanes to stay in the shortest one. We have a good time and make get a lot of great deals.

When I come home, which happened to be at 11 am this year, (a whole 12 hours of shopping!!!!), it is time for my family and I to put up the tree and outside lights. We play Christmas music and with the dog barking at the string of lights as we test them, it's a lot of fun! We each have a job to do and when we are done we always have a wonderful dinner and watch Christmas shows on T.V.

Most of the time, I'm passed out in the chair by 9 pm. (But do you blame me?)

Stay tuned for the next tradition in our house!

My romance story

15 years ago, on a chilly November day, I stood outside the church waiting to be escorted in to the man of my dreams. Light snow started to fall on my bare shoulders and I shivered. Winter is my favorite season, so I smiled to myself thinking how fitting it was that the first snow of the season would fall on one of the happiest days of my life.

Today is our anniversary and I can't express to you how much I have enjoyed these years or how lucky I feel to be married to my husband. We met at a country bar and I truly believe in love at first sight. Boy, could he dance and I just loved that about him. I told my cousin one night, "That's the man I want to marry." Low and behold, it came true.

Through the years we have had our ups and downs, three beautiful children, and lived in two towns. But through it all, we have had each other and that is the most important thing. The hardest part, as I look back now, is the time he spent as an over the road trucker. The kids were small and having him gone all the time was rough. But I would do it all again.

So I want to honor my husband, my knight in shining armour that makes everyone else look like boys in tin foil, by having a contest. There is a poem that Andy recites to me. Here it is:

If the ocean were made of ink and the sky were made of paper, I could not begin to write how much I love you!

I would like for you to tell me where the poem came from. Where have you heard and seen it before? (CLUE, not in a book that I know of!) If you can correctly tell me where he got the poem, then you could win a $20 gift card to Blockbuster. That way you can rent a movie, have a little popcorn and snuggle with the man you love. Just a romantic night for two!

Good luck!

Happy Anniversary Andy! I love you!

What is tanistry?

TANISTRY-
A custom among various Celtic tribes- notably Scotland and Ireland- by which the king or chief of the clan was elected by family heads in full assembly. He held office for life and was required by custom to be of full age, in possession of all his faculties, and without any remarkable blemish of mind or body. At the same time and subject to the same conditions, a tanist, or next heir to chiefancy, was elected, who, if the king died or became disqualified, at once became king. Sometimes the king's son became king, but not because the system of primogeniture was in anyway recognized; indeed, the only principal adopted was that the dignity of chieftainship should descend to the eldest and most worthy of the same blood, who well could be a brother, nephew, or cousin. This system of succession left the headship open to the ambitious and was a frequent source of strife in families and between clans. Tanistry in Scotland was abolished by a legal system in the reign of James 1 (1406-37) and the English system of primogeniture substituted.
Source cited: Encyclopedia Britannica

It has been said that a female relative could not be a tanist, only a male could. I imagine it wouldn't have been uncommon for older men to marry younger woman or girls in hopes of a male heir. Could/would a chief have more than one wife or was divorce possible if a current wife didn't produce a male heir?

We know that the people of a clan revered their Chief. They looked up to him for protection and guidance. A chief could call an army together amongst his people very quickly and at little or no cost. A chief was judge and jury. He would rule between disputes and decided punishment.

Though the sentence up above says that tanistry was abolished many years ago, it is eveident among the clans today that this practice still lives on in some aspects.