Parties and Presents!

We had a whirlwind day here! Mr. Skellie and I were invited to a cookie swap and tea party at Marlene's house. Mr. Skellie was so excited that he was going to get to see Marlene that he was hopping all around the shop. He spent alot of time in front of the mirror...he wanted to look just right. While he was primping, I was baking cookies in the kitchen. He came flying in yelling, "I forgot about the cookies!" I told him not to worry, I would share the cookie dough with him. He got to work right away shaping some oatmeal raisin cookies but after only a dozen he said his hands were tired and he was going to take a break. He dug around in my china cabinet looking for something to put his cookies in saying that presentation was everything. He placed his cookies on one corner of the cookie sheet and kept a close eye on them while they baked.

When we arrived at Marlene's, he joined us at the table and showed off his cookies to the ladies.

He spent time with each lady flirting as usual. He laughed with Susie,

made googly eyes at Sharon....he especially liked her hair...

and sighed when he could at last spend time with his beloved Marlene.

I think he's a party animal like his mother...her picture is on Mr. Skellie's Facebook page. After we had all finished our tea and ate more cookies than we should have, we said good-bye and headed home to wrap Christmas presents. The boxes were a little big for him to handle, so I put Mr. Skellie in charge of writing the tags for the gifts.

After he stuck them on the packages, I read a few and rolled my eyes.

He gets creative sometimes. I was getting ready to wrap some undies for myself and he was ogling the picture on the package.

"Is this what you will look like in these!? Wow!" he exclaimed. I told him to calm down and get back to writing tags. So this is the one he wrote for the undies...

Then he saw the undershirts I was wrapping for Bill...

"Whats with you guys and the underwear?" he asked. What can I say...we both needed some. Then he saw the funny surprise that arrived in the mail, so Mr. Skellie thought he would make friends.

I think he was just goofing off, just sayin'. When the last package was wrapped and put under the tree, I sat down and just enjoyed the lights and Christmas music playing and rested from all the things we accomplished.

Can't wait for Christmas! Have a great day!

Back in the Shop! Woo! Hoo!

I had a good Christmas this year. While I was decorating the tree at the beginning of December, I didn't think it would go so well with our son overseas. But I invited my Mom and Bill's sister and her husband came and then their son and his girlfriend came and we had a full house! We made each other laugh, shared stories of our children and grandchildren and ate until we all felt like stuffed turkeys! We got phone calls from all our kids and thoroughly enjoyed the day. My mom and I went out for lunches,

had our hair done together and enjoyed each others company. Since then, the tree has been taken down and put away, Mom is back home, and life is returning to normal. Bill and I started working on the Twice Across America blog and all the stuff that goes with it. Stop by for a look see!
After all the excitement, I was looking forward to getting to work in my shop. I entered quietly this morning...it was so nice to be back! I crept up on the minions, they were all still sound asleep.

I turned to get something out of the closet and all of a sudden, Slash, (yes, that's what he's calling himself now) is pounding on the piano

and the minions are singing and shooting off their fart guns. It was quite a welcome, I assure you. They later apologized for not having any confetti cannons but thought the fart guns would do. I told them I appreciated the sentiment. Later I heard them giggling about a certain person in the shop that had her own fart gun that's built in...I won't go into the details of that conversation...;) Since it was in the teens this morning, I pulled my little heater out of the closet and started that up too.

So, back to the Buns & Roses build! I repainted the front door and glued it in place. Then started on the windows.

I was thinking about glueing the bay pieces on when I realized I have to put all the goodies in there first since there will be no access after. The bay pieces,let's just say, aren't to exacting specifications. There's a good size gap on either side of the center piece.

As I was sitting here thinking about that, (you do a lot of thinking with this hobby too), I thought I could either use pieces of tiny dowel to fill them in or use pieces of cardstock to cover them. I'll try sanding the interior support pieces too as they are a little off also.The exterior of the bays will be painted white like some of the bay windows I've seen on Victorian houses. I think I will add some raised panels to the bottom sections too. I know, I know, enough blabbing, let's get to it! Have a great day!

Christmas Thoughts

I decided to finally hang some decorations on the tree today. I didn't get too many on before the tears came. I wept from my heart and deep from my soul. My children are all far away and one of them is overseas in harm's way. I wept for them all. As I sit here looking at the tree, I realize that sure, Christmas is about family and lots of other things but the primary thing, no, the primary person we are celebrating is Jesus Christ and his amazing birth. It doesn't matter exactly when on the calendar the amazing event took place, we have chosen Christmas to celebrate this perfect gift to us. The baby that would become the child that would become the Man who would hang on the cross and die for you and me. And He didn't leave it at that...He rose from the dead and promised all of us who believe, eternal life. Yes, my focus was temporarily sidetracked by sadness, and I know that there are many others out there who are shedding tears too. Just remember, Christ loves you and came to earth to give us a most beautiful gift. A gift of love, a gift of eternal life in heaven. Hope your Christmas is full of love and family and friends, but most of all celebrate Jesus.

Oh Christmas Tree....!

This was one of those years when I wondered whether or not to put up my tree. It can be alot of work and my youngest son won't be able to be here this year. But then I figured Ben wouldn't want me to go without a tree and then we found out we'll be having company on Christmas day so let the decorating begin!  My Dear Hubby carried in the three bins from the shed and then pulled the box with the tree in it off the closet shelf along with a fourth bin. Good grief, how did I get so much stuff! I put all of it up last year when Ben was here, but this year will put up about half of it. Once the tree was out of the box, here is what it looked like.

Every year, I laugh at this thing and call it my Charlie Brown tree. But after considerable fluffing and arranging, here is what it looks like.

 I've been busy with other things so have only been able to get the strings of bubble lights and the garland on so far. Oh, and a few icicles too.

I have packages to run to the post office tomorrow, so hope I can get to the bajillion ornaments! May these days before Christmas be a time of reflection on the true meaning of the holiday. Have a great evening!