Are You Kidding ... It Can't Be Wednesday Already???

Oh my ... where has this week gone?  I have been faithfully chipping away at my To Do list, day by day, paying very little attention to what day it actually is.  Since I was last here a few days ago, I have accomplished a LOT.  Settle in and let's get caught up.

Saturday.  

Toured four beautifully decorated houses in downtown Fredericksburg during the annual Christmas Candlelight Tour.

Played hostess in the living room of one of the tour houses in the afternoon.

Spent the evening with our grandsons while our daughter and her husband went to her work Christmas party.

This is how our daughter found me (and Grandson #1) when they got home.

Sunday.

Met a greyhound hauler from Florida to pick up three dogs who were going to an adoption group in Maryland.

Missed the Greyhounds Rock meeting, because the hauler ran into bad weather on his trip north and was running late.  Participated in the meeting via cell phone after I dropped off the dogs.

Hung out with some very fun, very crafty women at The Empty Nest ... making Christmas decorations, eating, and lots of laughing.  Thank you, Janet, for hosting us!!

Monday.

Bug out of the house while the cleaning lady is here, and continue to chip away at the Christmas Shopping List.  Made good progress.

Put lights on second Christmas tree ... this one isn't prelit, darn it.

This is our prelit tree in the family room, with shims under the stand because the floors in this old house are uneven in places.

I still have to put the skirt under it.

Edit and print Christmas Letter.  Letters from some people are nauseating brag fests, but ours isn't.  I tried to eliminate the letter years ago, but this was met with protests from everyone on our Christmas Card list.


Tuesday.

Go to Shumate Auction tag sale.  It was the estate of a seamstress, and I thought I'd find some cool sewing stuff.  I passed on the machines, notions, and fabric (though there was one bolt of Waverly toile that I really, really wanted ... but had no use for.)  I left with a wonderful 6-board antique chest that will live in our guest/grandkid bedroom.

Address and mail Christmas cards and packages.  I only had two packages to wrap and mail, and about 30 Christmas cards.  The cards have glitter on them ... and so do I after handling them.

Make dog stew.  I supplement Ruby's commercial dog food with home-cooked veggie-meat-rice mixture ... cooking a large batch every few weeks and freezing most of it.  With only one dog to feed right now, this batch of stew will last for about 10 weeks.

Wednesday (today).

Finish the last few Christmas decorations and get the boxes and totes out of the entry hall.

Go to the vet to pick up a case of Dorothy's cat food.  (she eats prescription food to help with her tendency to develop urinary crystals.)

Write and mail Christmas cards that I forgot about on Monday.

Do laundry and pack for our trip to New York City this weekend.  This is a bucket-list item for The Husband.  We quit putting it off, and this year we have made time to spend a long weekend seeing the New York Christmas sights and a show with friends.  Ruby is spending the weekend with my parents, so I have to pack her things, too.

One of the other items on Monday's list was to de-shed Ruby, since I noticed that she was starting to blow her undercoat.

Even with all of this seemingly-nonstop activity, preparations for this Christmas are fairly relaxed.  I'm not stressing about shopping or decorating.  For shopping, I made a list and have stuck to it, for the most part.  The Husband did most of the house decorating while I was out doing other things over the weekend, and the place looks really nice.

Family room mantel

  

I love Christmas and all that comes with it!!  I expect that this year may be the best one yet!  (I say this every year.)

How are you doing with your Christmas preparations?

Sunday Snapshot ... Random Sunday Stuff

Sunday Stuff #1 
Spend the morning at an auction. 

Auction online gallery showed a couple of items that I really wanted to have ... one for myself, and one for a gift.  I was outbid on a couple of things, but I did bring home this awesome box of random, mixed silverplate.  (not going to show you the gift I bought ... don't want to spoil the surprise for the lucky recipient.)

36 pieces of flatware, 3 small dishes, and 8 napkin rings.

Sunday Stuff #2
How are the baby Wrens doing?

So far, so good.  All five of Mr. and Mrs. Wren's babies are fine ... totally fuzzy and adorable.  You can see from the photo above that they are beginning to open their eyes.  I'm amazed at how fast these little critters grow!

I kept trying to get a photo with all of the beaks open at once, but this was the best I could do.

Sunday Stuff #3
Hummingbird maintenance.

We have had a LOT more hummingbirds this year than usual.  The little guys are sucking down the quart of nectar in my feeder every two days.  Sometimes, it feels like a full time job to make sugar water and keep the feeder filled.  We have had as many as three hummers at a time sitting and drinking at the feeder, and up to three more buzzing in and around trying to get a turn at the buffet.  (In theory, all six of them could drink at once, but they're WAY too territorial to every do that.)


Tonight, we are having dinner with our daughter and her family.  It's been a very nice, very relaxing day.

I hope all of you have had a good Sunday, too!

A Little of Everything This Morning

There's a lot going on right now.  I have already spent some time this morning gathering my thoughts and trying to put things into their place ... getting a plan in place to deal with what I have to (or want to) do for the next few days.

Later this morning, I have an appointment at the periodontist for a dental implant.  Most folks would run screaming from the idea of this, but I welcome it ... I'm to that point with this loose crown of mine.  It's a front tooth, this is the third crown in this location, and the dentist is pretty certain that it's loose this time because the root is cracked.  I expect to come home later today with my head in a sling.

I know that Ruby will be here to comfort me when my anesthesia wears off.  She is such a love!  I never have to worry about where she is, because she's within a step or two of me at all times.  This makes it been really hard to try to get decent photos of her.  I'm working on it.

Right now, she's snoozing in her crate.  I have never had a dog with a crate before, and it's been a learning experience for me.  It's a great sense of security for me, knowing that she's confined and can't get into things and hurt herself when I'm not around.  Oh the other hand, I now have a new decorative element in my family room bay window.

The cats think that they have a new place to nap.  I have pulled both Alice and Maggie out of Ruby's crate multiple times during the last few days.  Ruby defers to the cats (good dog!) and we don't want the cats establishing territory in Ruby's safe place.

Right now, Maggie is napping in her primary spot ... in the south-facing window behind me, watching the birds outside.

The DC Big Flea is this weekend.  I love this show, but I am not planning to go this time.  There's nothing that I need, it's a bit of a drive, and I'm planning a very low-key weekend ... since I have no doubt that my head will be throbbing. 

I read on a blog yesterday that Eddie Ross is in town this weekend and that he will be leading shopping tours through the show ... at $50 bucks a head.  Am I the only one that thinks it's insane to pay someone to show you what kinds of bargains are available at a flea market?  I don't care who Eddie Ross is or what reputation preceeds him ... I can find my own bargains, thank you very much.  Besides, his first tour starts at 1:00 on Saturday.  The best bargains will be long gone by then.  (Do you think he preshops the place so he can 'find' things when he has his entourage in tow?)

Sorry ... that was catty.  It just bugs me to think that there are folks out there who think they have to follow someone else's lead to do something that they are quite capable of doing themselves.  If you need to shop with someone, grab a friend and make a day of it.  Admission to the show is $8, and you'll have $42 extra dollars to spend on treasures.  (Here's some free shopping advice ... Be sure to visit one of my favorite dealers in Aisle H, Booth #412 under the balloons.  She told me yesterday that everything in her booth is half price.)

A much closer to home place for me to shop for great stuff this weekend is Shumate's Auction in Warrenton (only a half an hour up the road from me.)  If my head will cooperate, I plan to be there on Saturday.  Kathy, the owner and auctioneer, puts together great auctions and there are definitely bargains to be had.  For example, I bought a pair of these beautiful English chairs for a ridiculously low bid at her last auction a few weeks ago.

Our friend Janet scored this dresser.  I wonder what it will look like once she works her Annie Sloan Chalk Paint magic on it?

On Monday, I will be shipping out the first rose orders of the season.  This early spring weather has awakened the nursery roses earlier than I expected, and I quietly put my 2012 rose inventory up on the web site last week.

'Glenn Dale'

Because most of last year's cuttings failed, I have far fewer roses available than I usually do.  This first batch was about 150 plants, and I have about 75 more in the greenhouse that aren't ready for their new homes quite yet.  I usually start the year with about 750 plants, so this year's 225 is pretty disappointing.  The plants I do have are large and healthy ... I'm trying to concentrate on 'glass half full' point of view.

"Caldwell Pink"

I should stop stalling, get up from this couch, and hit the shower to get ready to start my day.  My appointment is at 10:00.  My periodontist is awesome, but I could probably still use whatever good thoughts you can send my way.

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Edited at 1:30pm to add:  I've been home from my appointment for a little while now.  This procedure was almost a piece of cake ... didn't feel a thing after the first sting of the needle.  I have most of the feeling back in my face now.  Earlier, it felt like I was numb all the way to my earlobes, which is a good thing for dental work.  The periodontist couldn't place the actual implant today, so I have a bone graft, some stitches, and a tooth on a 'flipper', just like the little pageant girls wear.  This wasn't what we hoped for, but at least I'm not bothered by that awful loose crown anymore.