Autcraft - New Year's Eve

 Happy New Year! 🎆🎇🎉

We ended our night toasting to a new year with Fireworks on Autcraft. Our new neighbors were having a little get together and stopped over to drop off some Tomahawk steak. Oh my gosh, it was so good!!

 

Feline Friday

 

 

Feline Friday is simple to join. All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (They may be silly or cute).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korina getting ready to pounce...😄

 

Work from Home - cleaning time

With the holidays behind us and a new year upon us, I have decided to start going through my file cabinets to rearrange a few things to make my work area a bit more functional. Of course this starts with cleaning out the file cabinets themselves. 😦 So much paperwork! Also, I have decided to start going through storage bins and condensing items. My military bin is first, which means all my military files need purging. I requested new copies of my military records, so these old ones will be put aside until I receive the new ones. Then I can see exactly what needs to head to the shred bin.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

WW is a simple blog post featuring a photo which conveys a message that speaks for itself without using words.

 

 

 

 

 

Image credits: Stephane Olivier

 

 

😍

 

Tuesday 4

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. We offer you 4 questions weekly to get you blogging, visiting and  learning about yourself and other bloggers. The more people join in, the merrier and the better it

Yesterday was the day after Christmas and the final day of Hanukkah. There are only a few days left in 2022... Let's talk about it.

1. Many stay home  and even go to bed early on New Year's Eve. What are your plans and do you have reasons for what you do? Years back, I used to go out on New Year's Eve with friends. My husband and I had a favorite spot to hang out at in the early days before kids. Now, we just pick up a couple of sparkling ciders, some brew, maybe a bottle of champagne, and kick back at the house and bring in the new year.

2. Guy Lombardo was a traditional fixture on TV and then Dick Clark and his Rockin' New Years Eve took over. People ate certain foods, bayberry candles were burned for luck. It seems that lately tradition, and not just for New Year, is being forgotten and lost on so many fronts. What traditions in life are important to you and remain steadfast in your life? I remember watching Guy Lombardo and Dick Clark. I have carried on a few Christmas and New Year traditions from my childhood. We always watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve and ring in the new year with a toast.

3. The New Year is often a time to reflect on what has transpired and many make resolutions in an effort to improve their life. Do you count the cost of time and tradition in your life? How do you handle good times and bad times and do you forge ahead or get mired down? I never make resolutions because they are too easy to break. Every day begins anew with a fresh start. The last few years have been extremely hard on my family, but we just keep moving forward.

4. In ancient Israel, the new liturgical year began in the Spring with Passover.. a new beginning.  The Civil year calendar began on Rosh Hashana and 2022-23 is the year 5783 on the Hebrew calendar as of September. How important is the liturgical calendar in your life? Do you take notice of religious holidays and times? Are the holidays more religious or secular for you and your family? My husband and I were both raised Southern Baptist. His grandfather was actually a pastor and had a small church, and my grandfather was a deacon. I shied away from the church during my middle school years when my parents quit attending. My husband and I stepped away from both churches because of family, but our kids were brought up with the true meaning of religious holidays.

My Christmas Baby

Nineteen years ago I was at the hospital that afternoon on Christmas Day, only to be sent home in the wee hours of the morning, and return to the hospital less than five hours later. LOL! 😊 

Today, I wish my little girl, who is not so little anymore, a very Happy Birthday! She was diagnosed with Autism before she turned three years old, and has made so much progress and accomplished so much that the doctors never dreamed she could. 

🎅 My Christmas Baby!! 🎄

Sunday Blessings - Christmas Day

 

Christmas Sanctus

See the weary pair,
nestled in a stable bare,
gazing at their baby boy,
filled with love and praise.

Earth and heaven sing,
worshipping the new born King,
who has come to change the world.
Join in songs of praise:

Holy, holy, holy is the blessed one.
Heav'n and earth are filled with your glory.
Holy, holy, holy is the promised Son.
Glory be to God in the highest!

See the shepherds run,
searching for God's precious Son;
kneeling at his manger bed,
filled with love and praise.

Ev'ry knee will bow.
Ev'ry tongue confessing now,
Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Join in songs of praise:

Holy, holy, holy is the blessed one,
Heav'n and earth are filled with your glory.
Holy, holy, holy is the promised Son.
Glory be to God in the highest!

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

Merry Christmas

I woke up this morning and made some coffee and cooked breakfast. Then we celebrated with gifts. Hope you all are having a wonderful and blessed holiday weekend! 🎄🎅

 

 

My beautiful Celtic Cross 😊

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

 

From Texas

 

Autcraft Christmas Eve

 Autcraft's annual Twas the Night Before Christmas book reading and visit to Christmas Village.

Baby Jesus has returned

 

Baby Jesus has returned to his manager. Fort Worth police declined to comment on camera but say investigators have identified both suspects. However, no arrests have been made. 

Just in time, too!

Winter is here

 

Blow, blow, thou winter wind
by William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That does not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Christmas Lights

I took a few pics of our yard this year. Nothing fancy. We used to deck the entire house out in lights, but the old ladder doesn't get much use these days since my hubby is not allowed past the 3rd rung. My new favorite decorations this year - my cute little pink flamingos wearing Santa hats and cherry blossom tree!

Baby Jesus Missing

If you have seen any of our local news broadcasts, you may have come across one mentioning that someone stole Baby Jesus. A man has indeed visited the Nativity scene in our Sundance Square and kidnapped Baby Jesus! 

He is seen here running up the steps, grabbing Baby Jesus, and proceeding to leave the scene - all the while with a big grin on his face. Indeed, not a very WISE MAN.

You can read a full article here.

Tuesday 4

 

"Hello and welcome once again to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where we hope that 4 questions help you to blog, meet people and think about things in general.     Sometimes the simplest questions can be a bit difficult to answer. I do hope you are enjoying these questions...but if you can think up better themes and questions, please let me know!   I want to keep this going and make it nice for you."

It's been a while since I posted a Tuesday 4.

 

 

Let's talk about the countdown to Christmas or Chanukah or both!

1. What was the countdown to the holidays like for you as a child?  Special projects at school.. at home.. with friends? Was a big deal made of the month in your family or town?  What does your countdown look like now? My mom always had an advent calendar for the month and it was always exciting changing the days and counting down until Santa visited! I have a little countdown calendar with Christmas card holder that my not-so-little kids still change.

2. As a kid did your family stay home on the holidays or go visiting around ... what do you do now? We would go out and about to view the Christmas lights around town, and the usual family gatherings took place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One of my favorite places to still visit and see Christmas lights is Luther Lake.

3. What foods did Mom and Grandma make for those days? What snacks were out? What is the food situation in your home today? Oh gosh, I always looked forward to Christmas dinner! Both my Nannie and Mom were wonderful cooks! My mom always made her famous baked beans, my Nannie made a wonderful brown sugar glazed ham and fresh sweet potatoes, and my Papaw made his amazing nuts n bolts. Everyone always brought a side. Yummy! Let us not forget the desserts - pink stuff and warm apple pie!! My husband loves to cook and we normally whip up fresh homemade sides like sweet potatoes, mac n cheese, green beans, fresh rolls, etc. A spiral ham or turkey, with pumpkin and apple pie to finish it off.

4. Did you have a traditional way of spending the day with time to open gifts, visit,  special breakfasts, special dinner, guests? What do you do now? As I got older, I realized why my parents, especially my mom was so frazzled. LOL! On Christmas Eve we always visited my grandparents. We would go to my dad's parents first and have Christmas with gifts and snacks, which was usually around 3pm. Then a few hours later, we would get together with my mom's parents for Christmas dinner and gifts. Christmas Day was celebrated with my family at home. As our kids were growing up, we used to get together with my husband's extended family on Christmas Eve and his dad's family. Now, we just celebrate Christmas Eve here at our house. Christmas Day used to be hectic. We used to have to get all our Christmas done before noon, then we would sprint to get to a Christmas gathering with my husband's family usually eating a grand layout of Mexican food and opening gifts. Now, we get up on Christmas morning and have donuts and coffee and open gifts.

 

Happy Tuesday

 

Happy Tuesday!

Post a funny picture. Post a not so funny picture.

Post whatever weirdness you want. That’s it.

 

 

 

 

 

Awww Mondays

 

Linking up with Sandee for Awww Mondays! Post a picture that makes you say Awww…and that’s it.

Photo-bomb! 😂

Sunday Blessings - Lessons and Carols

This evening FWPC put on a wonderful show with readings from quite a few of the children and the choir singing. Justin played It Came Upon a Midnight Clear on his flute accompanied by Dave on the guitar. Beautiful!

Sunday Blessings - 4th Week of Advent

Today, the 4th candle of Advent was lit. Two baptisms took place and ceremony for new members. And the sermon was beautiful. I am so blessed and happy to at least be able to view Sunday services with a church that I enjoy watching and listening to the pastor. Maybe one day I will be able to go up on that stage as I join the church family.

Teeth woes

I guess I jinxed myself with all the talk Wednesday about dental work. Oh my gosh, I woke up Thursday morning with the left side of my face swollen and my left eye watering. I ended up calling my supervisor to work remote and hubby took me by the doctor for a walk in appt. Well, it turns out my upper left gum is abscessed. Oh my gosh, it hurts. I was put on a very high dose of antibiotics and will have to make an appointment to see a dentist quicker than anticipated, which will more than likely be one that does oral surgery. I am not a very good patient when it comes to dental work. I am deathly afraid of any type of needle and it's either gas or sedation for me. 😩 I have had some teeth that needed dealt with for quite some time. Maybe now that I have a dental plan, a dentist office will be willing to work out payments. There is no way I can pay for the procedures that I need done in full. 

To make matters worse, these antibiotics are making me very nauseated and I am running a low grade fever. Well, it's either the antibiotics, or the flu and 2nd round of Covid vaccines. I am going to see if my boss will let me work remote this coming week.

Happy 1 Year

One year ago today, I started my new adventure - and what an adventure it is! Today was my monthly unit meeting and our Christmas get together. Our District Director attended and so did my PA, and I was gifted a cute little APS tote with some office supplies in it. According to my DD, I am now a Veteran of APS. LOL! My workers put on a skit (made by my awesome supervisor) and it was absolutely hilarious. They did a great job! I really believe that should be included in training, as I think it's a great ice breaker. We had Olive Garden and exchanged Secret Santa gifts. Following was another Admin/Supervisor meeting. I work with some of the most amazing people. Today was a great day!

Texas Tornado - too close for comfort

Very eventful morning here! Thankfully no damage in our area, but we did have a few surrounding areas that got hit really hard and sustained quite a bit of damage. This pic was taken less than a mile from our house from the base.

Sunday Blessings - 3rd Week of Advent

Beautiful service today, and quite productive I might add, since we were able to get some of our outdoor Christmas decorations up. Then of course, it rained. LOL! Orion made it back safely, too!

Welcome home Orion and Snoopy!!

Level Up!

Saturday night Christmas fun with my kiddos playing Wizard101. We all finally leveled up past 130. I can finally use my new gear! 😁

Happy Tuesday!

 

Happy Tuesday!

Post a funny picture. Post a not so funny picture.

Post whatever weirdness you want. That’s it.

 

 

 

 

LOL! 😂

 

Sunday Blessings - Happy 2nd week of Advent

 

I really needed scripture this morning! This last week has been so sad and heartbreaking for our surrounding communities and, and the world honestly.

Jesus, give me the faith to believe that nothing is impossible and the courage to face what’s before me today. Even though I may not understand how this will all come together, I put my hope in You.

 

Monday - wear PINK

 

My heart is broken

My heart is broken 💔 for the families of this little girl. Praying for all involved. So glad they have someone in custody and it appears he is from the Lakeworth/Azle area, and he went to the same highschool my nieces graduated from. He appears to be on the spectrum and he has had accusations levied at him that went no where. Now here we are. They need to put him in GenPop and let the inmates deal with him. 😟

DFW Scanner  

UPDATE: Sheriff Lane Akin says Athena's body has been recovered. Police have arrested a contracted FedEx commercial truck driver suspected of her abduction and murder. More details will be updated here:

Time to decorate!

Finally got the tree decorated! LOL! It only took a week. We turned on some classic Christmas tunes, booted up the Arendelle Castle Yule Log on Netflix, and had some family fun! 😊

Explosion

Our house was rocked this morning by an explosion a mile or so away from us. It shook the whole house and freaked my daughter out. 😲 Lots of prayers for this man.

'Tis the Season...