Happy Thanksgiving-A few Days Late!

I sure hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and was able to spend it with family and friends! We spent my week off mostly at Mom & Shorty's with Jeff hunting. We went home Wednesday evening-came back on Thursday evening-back home Friday evening-then back up here tonight after a call from my brother that he had finally gotten a deer-so Jeff's helping him with it and I'll go back to work from here in the morning.

A few of our monkeys-with Randy being the biggest one of all!!

These pictures are of one of the big oak trees that stood in our back yard. It was one of at least 2 that we've lost so far this year to the drought. I was holding out that maybe it would come back in the Spring-but when we got home on Friday-a pretty good size limb was laying in the driveway. So I sucked it up and said Ok-I knew it had to come down. We left for a little while on Saturday morning to run some errands-in the rain!!!!-We got nearly 2 inches-praise God!Anyway-Jeff and I both noticed that with all the wind we were having, that the tree was beginning to lean-so it HAD to go and quickly. Jeff cut it down after Church-it had so many limbs and depending on which way it started to fall-it was just too close to the house for comfort. This one fell right where he wanted it as well-He is so talented!!

We are still waiting on Glory to have her calf-I really thought it would be sometime this last week-but she's still holding on. We've almost run out of meat in the freezer from the last calf butchered-so Diesel's days are really becoming numbered. None of the rabbits kindled-so I rebred them-should be due in another 2 weeks. Our friends picked up the 2 pigs we've been holding for them-boy is it much quieter-those 2 were very noisy! The garden is looking better than any I can remember in years past-too bad that the cold weather is going to put an end to some of it!! We are picking small red tomatoes almost everyday and they are still blooming. We had to cover lots of it before we left tonight cause the temps could go below freezing in the morning. We have tiny heads of cabbage and little heads of brocolli coming on. The snow peas have grown taller than their fence-but haven't started blooming yet and the peppers are still going strong-I put up 2 and a half more pints of them this week as well. These I put through my little chopper with a little onion instead of just slicing them.

I really didn't do any of the Black Friday shopping this year. I did go to Baskin's around 9:30, and there were no more people shopping than normal-so I tried my luck at the Outlet Mall in Livingston and treated myself to a new purse and wallet-just to get back to the camper and have the strap on the old one break-guess it was time for a new one anyway!

We put up the tree on Thursday as well-but I didn't put the ornaments on it until today. We haven't put any lights up outside yet either-but we'll get to it sometime. We also got the flour sifter in that I won off of eBay to go in our Hoosier cabinet. It was the correct measurements-but after a little research, we've found that it has to be taken apart to install it. So now Jeff will have to undo all he did a few weeks ago on it to see if he can figure out how this thing goes in and works. The bin itself will hold nearly 50 lbs of flour! It'll be so cool when we get it into working condition! I just love this piece-we bought it 10 years ago in Montgomery and have always planned to restore it to its' original glory. Jeff did repair the roll tops on it and did a great job-now I'll be looking for the sugar sifter, the recipe book holder a few other gadgets that were kinda standard on these cabinets.

Our high school football team is still going strong and is one game away from playing for the State Championship-same as last year! We are really thinking on making the trip to Dallas this year if they make it that far! We'll take Jordan with us if we go-he is really looking forward to it.

I have 3 weeks and 3 and a half days till my Christmas break. I'm looking forward to it-we won't go back to work for awhile-might even make it to the beach for a few days! The next few weeks are always so busy with Church activities and other things going on-it's easy to lose track of what Christmas is all about. I've really tried to make an effort this year to slow down and not let myself or family get too caught up in everything that's going on. I guess that is why I always enjoy the Christmas Eve Candlelight service. It is a time of worship and fellowship that allows me to slow down and honor Christ first and foremost! May your next few weeks be filled with His love and Spirit!! Have a great week!