The roads are icy, so we did not go to the closing on the house today. It has been reset for Monday. Dh tried to go to work but did not make it, so he is drawing a house plan for the next spec house, here at home. He has always designed his own house plans.

After more than a week, I have a new heat unit. It is soooooo nice to have heat again. They came and put it in yesterday. They are coming back on Friday to put in the new air conditioning unit. Now, if it would just quit raining. The creek is at the top of the bank!

I guess we are all addicted. I missed SA yesterday too! Glad everything is back to normal.

It was 7 years ago today that I started this blog. I am so happy to be part of the SA familly!

Yes, it is the 10th day of January and I sm (mostly) without heat! It quit running about a week ago. When I play with the switches and/or circuit breaker, it will come on for a while, so I have not frozen yet!
Sadly, I will need a whole new unit and that will come in next Tuesday. Send me warm thoughts!

You know that I am a BIG elvis fan! Today is his birthday!! We are going out to eat to celebrate!

On Dec. 7th, we got an offer on the spec house that my house built. I did not want to count on it until we got all the appraisals done, but they all came thru. It looks like a done deal.
We did not get what we wanted for the house and we had to take a piece of property as part of the deal. I did not want any more land as we bought 7 parcels in the past two years. However, this is a beautiful 2 acres with a great view, so i think it will sell when things pick up.
Hubby is in the middle of spec house two, so we need to get rid of spec house one. The closing is set for Jan. 25th, so I am excited.

p.s., I don't know why I said, "my house built, I meant to say my hubby built, but I don't want to go back and erase everything!"

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas day! Dh and I have already opened presents and have put everything away!
We are joining some good friends this afternoon for a christmas dinner at their house.

There is a funny story about this friend. I met her on line on a local forum in our town. We started having forum gatherings so we could meet each other in person. This all happened about 6 or 7 years ago.

As it turns out, my "new" friend and I graduated from the same high school. She is in my yearbook; just 2 grades behind me. It is a small world. Enjoy your day!

Other than at a restaurant, I don't find many occasions to tip. I have been coloring my own hair for years, so I have not been to a beauty parlor since I was a teenager. I don't ride around in taxis; we don't even have one here any longer.
Today, I decided to give a tip to the girl who does my dog grooming for both dogs.
I gave her a check for $75 and she came out and gave me a hug. It makes me feel good that she was so happy. I hope she has a good christmas!

Is it just me, or are you getting fewer christmas cards this year? I think it must be the economy. I certainly have not sent out many cards myself.

We did quite a bit of christmas shopping this weekend and spent $300. First we bought an artificial tree for $90 complete with lights. We use to always put up a real tree, but that is a lot of work.
I bought one of those pull up trees, but they really don't look very good in the daytime. Dh got the tree all put up and decorated. He got all the lights outside put up a week ago, so we look very christmasy.
I got a good deal on a drill he has been needing. It was usually $189 but we got it on sale for $99. My husband, being a builder, goes thru a lot of tools.

My husband was sick all night Wednesday night. He stayed home from work yesterday; unusual for him. He goes to work even if he is sick.
This morning, he passed a kidney stone. What a relief! This is about the 6th one he has had, but it has been a while.

Or maybe is a a ham day. It is for us. I hate to cook a big turkey for just the two of us. I was born on Thanksgiving day, a long time ago. My mother said that she had fixed a lot of food the night before but did not get to eat any of it!
WE have no plans for the day, dh has even gone to work. I stayed up most of the night to watch Gone with the Wind, one of my favorite movies!

I was an army brat. My father served in both world war one (he lied about his age) and World War two. I don't know where he was in the first war, but he was in Germany and France during world war two.

I had not mentioned it, but my oldest granddaughter got married last month. It was an outdoor wedding and very nice. She looked beautiful! I gave her a wedding gift of cash. Every young couple can use the money! My mother always gave cash gifts on birthdays and christmas and I sure appreciated it.

The stock market is way, way down this morning. I am assuming that it has something to do with the outcome of the election.

I hope everyone voted. I feel like this is a very important election. I know that some of you said you did not like either candidate, but I think it is important to choose one and vote. Voting independent this year would be a wasting of your vote.
So, go and vote!

Happy 1st day of November! November is not my favorite month, even tho I was born on Thanksgiving day! It is getting cold now and we had our first hard freeze last night, so all my pretty flowers are dead.
We only had one trick or treater last night, so plenty of candy left over. I usually buy what my husband likes so it won't go to waste!
I took my puppy to the vets today. She had a lump on her back. It turns out it was only a reaction to the rabies shot. I am glad it is nothing serious!

Hubby and I went down to the courthouse and voted at 8 am this morning. I like this early voting. It is so much easier than standing in line on election day!
Make sure you vote this year! This is an important election.!!

Today is an exciting day. First there is a big car show in town. Dh found his 1933 ford victoria at this show 12 years ago. He is down there looking right now.
At Lunchtime we will go to the Blairsville bash. It is a BIG bar b que party for 800 people. I am honest; I don't like barb que, but I do like desserts and they have hundreds of them!
This afternoon is another car show put on by a different group, down on the town square. (which is actually round) Dh always puts his car in this show. I will probably go with him in his old car so we can go out to dinner afterwards.
This is the last car show until next spring. We don't drive the old car much in the winter cause it has no heat. We also have a big sorgum festival going on this weekend. (sorgum is syrup)

My darling husband is coming home tonight. He has been in Florida this week to spend time with his father, who turned 91 on Monday! I sure will be glad to see him and so will the girls! Especially Molly. Everytime she hears a noise in the garage, she thinks it is her daddy!

I lost a dear friend this past weekend! I have known her since we were in homeroom in the 8th grade. We graduated together; then reconnected in our early 30's! She introduced me to the mountains when she and her husband took me and dh to Gatlinburg, Tn.
When I moved up here a few years later, they sold their house and moved here too.
Our class reunion was last Saturday and that is the day she died.
She was a heavy smoker for all these years and she died of lung cancer. If you don' smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, please quit. I know it can be done. I quit cold turkey 20 years ago and did my dh.

We are going to a full sit down dinner party tonight. It is for a friend whose house we built 11 years ago. He was not a friend when we built the house, but he has become my dh's best friend and biggest admirer!!Tonight is his birthday and I always love going to parties over at their house.

I just applied for a rebate from Windstream. I had to buy a new $120 modem on Monday. The rebate ticket states that they will pay me back $50 as a form of statement credit. That's ok. I can take the cash the credit will free up and add it to my challenge when the credit comes thru.

I have been gone for the entire fist part of October. My computer would not let me connect to the internet since October 1st. I called a computer tech, but he could not get me back on the internet.
Finally, I called again and was advised to get a new modum. I got that yesterday and now I am back in business. I missed you all!

I went to my first bridal shower in over 25 years, yesterday. It seemed kind of strange. They served the food immediately when we got there at 3 pm.
There were several young men there and 10 children under the age of 10. Kind of a family thing, I guess. The shower was for my oldest granddaughter who is getting married in just 2 short weeks! I gave them cash; that is always a handy gift.

I love weather like this. It is so good for my electric bill!

That is what today is, my bridge day! I love laying bridge. I took lessons a few years ago, and 4 of us decided that we would practice what we learned by playing bridge each Monday afternoon. I have never missedd a session! Do any of you play bridge?

I learned to read when I was 3 by reading comic books to myself. My favorite comic book was "Little Lulu" Does anyone remember her?
In one comic book, Lulu said this poem,
"Hollyhock is very smart,
Knows world history by heart,
Knows about the rising prices,
Knows about the far East crisis;
But all the world looks great to me,
So who is smarter, me or she?"

Isn't it amazing that there was a far east crisis more than 60 years ago? And we still have one! I hope that the next president can solve this problem.

(p.s., Hollyhock was Lulu's best friend)

WE got invited out to dinner last Monday night! It was at the home of my bridge buddies and was one of the best meals I have ever tasted! Filet mignon, red potatoes and home made chocolate pie!

I really don't like to cook very much. Maybe cause I have been doing it for so many years??

Now, we just got invited out for tomorrow night's dinner. It will probably be an outside meal cause the weather has cooled off so much. We built a large house for this couple 11 years ago. However, last year they bought a tiny cabin (400 sq. ft.) just 5 miles from their house, and they go there a lot.

I love eating dinner somewhere else!