I'm back finally!! Can you believe it! Big sigh. Can't believe he was in the hospital a whole week! He got out finally late yesterday evening. We were soooo tired from getting no sleep at the hospital that we crashed as soon as we sat down in the living room. ha He has to be on antibiotics for 2 more weeks and he can't go back to work until Monday, checkup in 2 weeks.
I had to get up early this morning and do the shopping for tomorrow. The grocery store was packed and it took a long time to shop. Cleaned up a little and am trying to catch up on everything. Have to start doing a little prep work on the food in a few minutes. We will just have my parents and one brother coming for lunch. My baby brother will stop by later in the afternoon to visit and eat again since they are doing lunch at SIl's g-mas this year. The other brother and his family will be having Thanksgiving at their house with SIL's family. I'm hoping it will be a quiet day. DH and I are still really tired out.

I know what you mean about the painting books. I have mine separated out into Spring(Valentines,Easter & anything springy),Summer(Americana, 4th of July), Fall(Halloween & Thanksgiving), Winter(Christmas & Snowmen), then Combo Holiday books take up the remainder except for a small file of misc things that don't really have any category. I keep my painting magazines in a separate file in Monthly order. I already have post-it's sticking out of most of mine. ha I am constantly pulling out a file and just going thru them making notes while I'm watching tv at night with DH. He doesn't get why I keep looking at them over and over again, but the more I look at them the more ideas I get and maybe the painting surface will pop out at me for a certain thing I want to paint.

I look forward to seeing your latest project. I hope I get those Halloween bats and hats done next year that I want to do the black glitter on. May actually start working on them after Christmas. I'm gonna be all over the place with my projects this next year. Won't be sticking to the upcoming holiday. Never get anything done on time anyway. ha So you may be seeing Halloween bats in January and Christmas in July. ha Just gonna paint whatever takes my fancy and see how it goes. ha Maybe I'll be able to get thru some of these half finished projects that way.

Well, I'd better get to making pies if I'm gonna get them done tonight. Have a terrific Thanksgiving! I'm glad to be back! =D ~Anj

Good to hear from you! Hope you have a fairly relaxed Thanksgiving so you can sneak in a nap even. I know how tiring it can be when you're at the hospital so long. Glad your DH is doing better, I'm sure he will relax more in his own bed too.

I've puttered around with cooking and cleaning all day today. Still want to cut up some vegetables for the vegetable tray tonight so I don't have to do it tomorrow. I even rolled out some sugar cookies and cut out little leaves and acorns. Found the cutest cookie cutters for $1, so just had to use them. LOL There will just be DS's family and DH and I, so no real pressure here. I tried to find a 12 pound turkey but had to take a 16 pounder! Oh well, we'll just have more leftovers that way, I always send food home with DIL too.

Neighbor's niece came over to visit today. She's eleven and kind of shy, but she loves to come over and see the dogs when she visits her Aunt. I was rolling out homemade noodles, so I told her to wash her hands and she could help me. She really seemed to like that. My GD is just crazy about her, and she is so good about playing with her.

I'm posting my latest project, so you will have to take a look. I want to put a bow and some greenery on the top, but have to wait until I pull out all the Christmas goodies. And this is the first year ever that I have all my Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail before Thanksgiving! This retirement stuff is so great! LOL Now if I could only say the same thing about the gifts--sure wish I knew what to go buy.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm so glad they released your DH before the holiday--I know he wouldn't want to miss out on all that good food. ;o)

Luvs

Hi...hope your Turkey Day went well. Ours was very nice and relaxing. First year I've ever gotten a nap! ha We are eating leftovers and loving it today. I was gonna run over to the library, but I think I'll stay in today and paint some and get my tree put up at least. I'll have to decorate it and the house this weekend sometime. I'm in no big rush. We slept in this morning and are getting a slow start to the day, but we really need that. I was looking at your lovely shutter. It's so pretty. I'm upset though because I sold 2 in a yard sale we had and I've regretted it ever since. Never even thought to paint them back then. ha Oh well, I'm sure I'll come across more one of these days. And it's not like I don't have plenty of things to paint! ha

Anyway, if I'm gonna get anything I'm planning done today I'd better get on it. Hope I can finish up a couple of things today. Talk to ya later. ~Anj

Hi Anj, Glad you had a nice relaxing turkey day. Isn't it nice to have a day when you can sleep in longer? I remember how I used to look forward to those days, seemed like there was always something needing done or somewhere we had to go! That's one of the wonderful things you discover when you retire--you can sleep in more often! LOL

We had a nice day yesterday too. Way too much food, I sent lots home with DIL, and we're eating leftovers today. I think I'll have enough for some slices for sandwiches later, and tomorrow I'll make some turkey vegetable soup with the smaller pieces.

Isn't it funny how we now look at things differently? I know I've gotten rid of things in the past that I would probably paint if I still had them. I've had these shutters in the shed for a couple of years, had something completely different in mind for them. Then I was in Homegoods one day last week and saw a smaller painted shutter and had a "lightbulb" moment and realized that's what I should do with one of these. I had to just look at a picture in a book and sort of do my own thing in order to make it this big--that's partly why I chose a snowman, so it would be easy.

Hope you were able to get in some painting time today. I should have, but instead I gathered up all the Fall decorations. Didn't feel like boxing them up and putting them away today, but at least they are all ready for that-- probably tomorrow if I'm in the mood. Then I'll get the tree set up and start on Christmas decorating.

Well, think I'll go watch a litte television with DH and the two dogs--they always have to lay on my lap! I'll chat with you more tomorrow.

Luvs

Well, I took the opportunity to sleep in again today. Can't believe the kids did too so nobody woke me up until 10am!! Been forever since I've been able to sleep that late 2 days in a row!
I am eating green bean casserole for breakfast! ha I love it sooo much. I fry down my green beans with onions and bacon before I mix in the soups and fried onions and oh...they are just sooo good. I even got up and heated some up for a midnight snack! ha I did a smoked turkey breast besides the regular turkey and I'll be putting those leftovers in a turkey pot pie. Love that smokey flavor in it. Don't you love Thanksgiving! ha No wonder we all gain a few pounds at the holidays.

Good job on doing that shutter freehand! It really is so pretty. I've got to get up in the attic where I stored all my stuff and find a big bag of wooden mittens I got at the TS. I'm gonna see what I can do with them to maybe use for my neighbor gifts since I am running out of time as usual. Wanted to cut out a bunch of things, but no time now. Hoping the mittens aren't too thick for what I have in mind.

I got a little painting done yesterday. Got stuck on some snowmen cheeks. ha I just have such a time with those things. I did them ok, but my stupid watercolor pencil which is a dark pink turned a weird color on this project for some reason. I'm not happy with it, but it is what it is at this point. My brother and SIL came in the middle of what I was doing and she wanted help figuring out some quick ornaments and decorations she could do for her tree and house since she is hosting her family's Christmas party in a few weeks. She usually doesn't even decorate for Christmas since she doesn't like it for some reason. Her b-day is right before and she was kinda forgotten as a child with the rush and hustle of Christmas so I think that has something to do with it. I ended up not getting my tree up either.

We are taking the kids to Toys-r-us today to make their Christmas lists then have to try to find DD a new coat and DS some new shoes and myself some new bath mats. I washed mine yesterday, but I've had them for a while and they came all to pieces this time. ha They were the perfect color and size too so I'm hoping I can find some more like them.

All I can think about is painting so I'm gonna give up doing housework (except the bare escentials) and see if I can get some things knocked out this week. Maybe I need the last minute pressure to perform faster. ha Well, I have a mountain of books piled around me looking for the perfect pattern. Better get these put away and get ready to go. Have a good one. =) ~Anj

LOL, your comment about having the books piled around you made me laugh. DH was just commenting on my pile of books beside the couch. I told him I can't put them away yet because each one has a pattern that I might want to use. If I put them away I might not find it again until next year!

I know what you mean about just painting whatever and not just for the seasons. I still have three or four more things I had wanted to do for Fall, so may just go ahead and work on them after I get Christmas stuff done. There are just so many things I'd like to paint--I don't NEED them, but I just want the pleasure of painting them. Plus it's always good to have items painted and ready to give as gifts when needed, right?

Your green bean casserole sounds yummy. I haven't made it in years since my DH is not a casserole eater. (Doesn't like his food mixed up, he says.) My DIL made it one year but she didn't like it either. The other thing I used to always make because we always had it when I was growing up was the orange jello with shredded carrots and pineapple. My DS pointed out that I was the only one who ever ate it (now I know why it took me so long to eat up all the leftovers!)so I quit making it. I sort of miss it though! LOL How do you do your stuffing? I overcooked mine this year and it was sort of dry. I'm always so afraid it will be undercooked--then I overdo it!

I have enough turkey slices left for a few sandwiches, and the smaller pieces are going into a soup today. I love just going and getting a piece of turkey to snack on. And I love all the leftovers--means very little cooking for a couple of days! Yeah!

Okay, I've got to get busy. I piled all the Fall decorations on the dining room table and around it. Got to pull the boxes out of storage and get it all packed away and back on the shelves. Then I'll vacuum and clean up the glitter and such and then pull out the Christmas things. I think I'll do the tree first and then work on the rest since I now have the faux tree. In the past I always had to wait for DH to go with me to get the tree and get it in the stand and then into the house. Now I can do it all myself whenever I'm ready! Life is good! LOL

Have a good day, and I hope you get in some painting time. Wish we lived closer and you could look through my books for ideas for your mittens. I'm sure they will look really cute.

TTYL, Luvs

Sigh...nothing went according to plan today. As we were getting ready to walk out the door today, some people that we know stopped in to check on DH. They stayed for the rest of the day!! We enjoyed talking to them, but we really had a lot to get done today and didn't get any of it done. We did take the kids to Toys R Us at 7pm after they left because we promised them. We just got back about 1/2 hour ago. Oh well.

Tomorrow morning is church, but I'm hoping to get DH to help get the Christmas stuff out of the attic in the afternoon so I can decorate next week. I'm gonna have to move the furniture around to accomodate the tree. We have a fake tree now too which I like a lot except for missing the smell of the real tree. I'm happy not to have to pick up needles out of my carpet for a year afterward. ha

We do pear salads which are pear halves with grated cheese and mayo mixed together on top with a cherry on top of that. My family loves them, but DH thinks we are nuts to eat them. ha I'm not sure I could do the jello with carrots, but the pineapple sounds good. It's not that expensive to make I wouldn't think so you should go ahead and make it for yourself. ha We don't do stuffing, we do my g-mas recipe cornbread dressing. I helped my DM make it this year so I could learn how and it was soooo good. Perfect with gravy on top. mmmm

I think I have a couple of patterns picked out for the mittens. Just have to get them down and see if I can make them fit. The problem we both have is there are too many cute patterns and not enough time to paint them all and then we are constantly collecting more. ha

Oh dear, I got sidetracked and left this open for a while. It's getting late so I'd better get off to bed. ~Anj

Hi Anj, I had a fun afternoon with little GD today. Tomorrow I need to get the tree in and set up. Wonder how long it will take me to "fluff" the branches back up after I had to squish them back into the box?

You are so right, I keep seeing such cute patterns in all the books and magazines. And I always want more--even thought I'll never get all the ones I already have painted! LOL I think it's an addiction.

Not much news here, my turkey soup was so good, I had two bowls of it yesterday. We had chinese takeout tonight for a break from the turkey. I'll try to get a couple of new painting projects started this week too, so I will have something to share on here. And I should be able to get the bow and greenery on my snowman shutter then I'll post updated pics of it.

Off to find a cup of coffee--just ate a really too sweet piece of baklava. ;o(

Luvs