I Could've Been a Hunter...or a Shark...

I can't believe this is the post I'm writing,

after months of saying I'm going to work on my blog.......

i need to work on my blog.........

today is blog day.

But it never happened.  Until today.

Today is the day I can say...........I'm BAAAACK!  

Lucky You! :)

* * *May include a rant.  

My day started at 6 a.m.  

Got up, made coffee, took the boys out, started a grocery list,

sent my family off to work, ready to start my day with a little quiet "ME" time 

(devotion, pinterest, stretching) 

when out of the corner of my eye I see something.

A smallish lizard runs from my sliding glass doors over to my couch and slips under it.

EEEEEEEK!

I HATE those things.

I work SO hard to keep them from getting in my house and let me tell you,

that is no easy task living in South Florida. 

But my success rate has been pretty good.
However, this changes everything.

My plans are scrapped........I have a creepy lizard to find.

Now, before some of y'all who are big hearted, nature loving peeps start

lecturing me about how they are "harmless".......

that they actually "eat bugs"............PLEASE.  Don't.

Save it for somebody else.

I don't care if they eat bugs.

I kill those too!!!  
Yep.........if they get in MY house they will not survive.

I wonder if this is why I have this crazy fascination with sharks.

Because they must feel this way too.

You go in THEIR home and all bets are off.

Hmmmmmmm................

Maybe instead of my girls calling me mamabear my name should be

MAMASHARK!!! ;)

Back to my plans for the day.........

as I said, they've changed.  

No quiet time for me because I refuse to share it with a lizard.

So, since I saw with my own eyes him crawl under the sofa, I start there.

Now you need to know I really do try to have the house picked up

before I go to bed so I wake up and it looks nice.

It looked so cozy this morning.

Then this.

Immediately I strip the slipcovers and start throwing them in the washing machine.

That sofa is BARE!  

My poor dogs don't know what to think.
 I move everything aside, 

vacuum and mop everywhere.

Inspect the UNDERSIDE of the sofa.

Shake out and vacuum the area rug.

Clean under, in and around the other chairs.

Spray Stuff.  Shut doors.

Basically I go crazy and tear the house apart.

Did I mention I immediately texted my husband as he must've been 

less than a mile away at the time.

You see, I noticed a pesky lizard the other day on our SCREENED porch out back

and I asked/told/requested that he NOT leave the sliding doors open until

we find how they're getting in.  Which he forgets constantly.

He said I was overreacting and that lizards couldn't get in there.

So the first person I wanted to notify of my lizard problem was him.

Bet y'all want to know what he said.

"Wow...guess you were right.  Okay...I'll look later."

Ummmm.........not good enough!

So I go back to my manic search for the culprit.

In my mind I'm thinking I should leave it and maybe, in a perfect world,

it will jump out at him when he gets home.

But we don't live in a perfect world and because of that,

it would jump out at ME, so I search.

And clean.

And move EVERYTHING.

If you're thinking we live with things all the time and don't know it, I understand.

But you see, I KNOW this sucker is in my house.

My ocean.

My little part of the world.

So I hunt for him.

And hunt.

And HUNT some more.
And because I'm talking about hunting,
 I am including my favorite hunting pic for about the 40th time;)

Awesome, right?

Next up, I strip my bed, which I was going to do anyway in order to put my

Christmas bedding on.

And since I'm kinda having one of those days,
one of those manic, ADD kind of days where my mind is racing, 

i'm gonna talk about the Holidays.

I agree the stores should not force us to swallow three holidays 

at once and should slow down.
I don't want PRE-Black Friday deals and besides, I hate that phrase.
It sounds like a massacre or something occurred on "black" friday.

It just doesn't seem right to happily shop for a few special gifts for Christmas on a day that sounds so evil.
And if we NEED these bargains/deals so badly to save a few bucks,
maybe we don't need to spend the money in the first place.
But that's just me...getting old and opinionated! lol
It is something to think about though.

BUT, could y'all PLEASE let me choose which holidays are a priority to me?

Let me just be the bad guy and say Halloween and Thanksgiving are

not a big deal to me.

I love little kids in costumes.

I hand out candy.

I make Thanksgiving dinner. 

(although three of us don't really like turkey much.)

Pumpkin pie?  I'd be happy to have it all year.
And I am VERY thankful for everything I have.
But stuffing my face doesn't make me more thankful. lol
It doesn't upset me in the least that Christmas often overshadows Thanksgiving.

But that's me.  And I have that right just as you can insist pumpkins stay in your
home until the last dish is cleaned on Turkey Day.

Now, Christmas, that's another story.  THAT is the one I'm ready for come September.

I would never impose that on anyone but if I feel like skipping Thanksgiving to go

straight to Christmas, who cares?

I'm just gonna say it...I think people make too big a deal over it all.
Like the Starbucks fiasco.  Who cares what color their cups are?
we need to CHILL and be thankful ALL year long and have some of that PEACE on earth all year too.
Seriously, Is someone preventing y'all from eating turkey?

My sister makes one whenever she feels like it, not on the day she is told to make it.

Besides, it has been so frappin hot here that forgive me if I love to decorate my house 

to make me think of Snow. And Christmas trees.
 And Cheer. Goodwill to men.

Pilgrims don't do the same thing for me.

Neither do Zombies or Skeletons.

However, I love a good Snowman. And ANGELS. 

And being more obviously reminded of our Saviour's birth.

So sue me.  But please stop telling me I'm wrong for feeling this way and that you are right

for following a calendar hundreds of years old.
Please don't try to make me feel guilty for wanting to be a happy elf.

My kids are grown.  Someday I hope to have a bunch of grandchildren and

we'll make oreo cookie turkeys.
(You know, the ones i blogged about long ago when i told of one of my fails as a mom?  Don't remember?  Well let me remind you.  My sweet Taylor proudly carried a box of these that we had made to her first grade class as a Thanksgiving treat, only to be told she had to take them home.  They were made not bought.  Bad mommy!!!  I thought because all the ingredients were bought it was ok but apparently the fact that my grimy hands touched the food it was a no go.  Grrrrrr.....my poor girl was so sad:(  There you have my oreo cookie turkey story:)

But one thing we wont have is green bean casserole.  Kinda yucky.

We will have Thanksgiving dinner by the CHRISTMAS tree with carols playing,

and we'll use my beautiful Christmas dishes.  And maybe watch ELF.

That is OUR tradition.
And I hope you enjoy YOURS!! <3

Christmas Countdowns at WiddlyTinks.com

Okay, now blame the lizard for getting me all wound up.

I really am a fairly happy person.
I'll stop now and continue with my hunt.
Wishing you JOY, my friends!
XOXOXO
Suzanne
P.S.  Now Christmas is right around the corner.

And I realize I held off for a turkey.
And y'all know how I feel about turkey.  (here we go again;)
Are you ready???

Blessed and Thankful..........

confession time.........

i'm not a huge Thanksgiving holiday person.

oh, i love the Fall decor, the side dishes (hate turkey), the pumpkin pie, the family get togethers.

i do believe we have so many things to be thankful for.......

and i hope I am pretty thankful all year long.

i know some think this is the one day to stop and be thankful.

let's face it.......it's the one day to watch parades, football and 

STUFF yourself silly!:)

the day for being thankful is EVERY day.

but.....i do remember fondly those huge family dinners in my grandma's basement.

good times:)

now, i do want to share some little things I am thankful for.

but first, my "blessings".

because more than anything, i am

BLESSED!

i am blessed and thankful that i grew up in a Christian home

 with a loving family.

and i am now blessed with my own beautiful family and friends.

now THAT is something to be thankful for.

so when i don't include the "obvious" in my thankful list,

please know that some things just go without saying.

today, i am going to share a few things i am thankful for

 that aren't the obvious choices.

these are the little every day things that i am blessed with and thankful for

EVERY day.

in no particular order, i am thankful for.......

~~~my life down south

~~~living near the beach/Gulf

~~~sunshine and cool breezes

~~~rainy afternoons

~~~the pure love and loyalty from my 2 dogs

~~~spending every single day with my beautiful girls.

~~~hugs, kisses and i love you's

~~~a husband who works very hard to support his family

~~~morning coffee

~coconut cream for my coffee

~~~seashells and sea glass

~~~twinkle lights

~~~my fluffy slippers

~~~my oversized, cozy fleece tops

~~~finding something COOL at a thrift store

~~~getting "fun" mail

~~~memories.....and photos

~~~banana laffy taffy:)

~~~cupcakes

~~~nice, friendly people

~~~spray tans

~~~a really good book

~~~laughter

~~~double peach hibiscus in my front yard

~~~gardenia bushes

~~~orange blossoms and vanilla.....my favorite scents

~~~warm cookies

~~~a good nights sleep (rare but nice when it happens:)

~~~college football

~~~country music

~~~hallmark movies

~~~italian food

~~~tulle

~~~naps with my dogs!

~~~anything pink or aqua/turquoise

~~~cowboy boots

~~~bling

~~~being a homebody

~~~warm, cozy blankets

~~~down comforters

~~~vacations

~~~really sharp pencils

~~~my glue gun

~~~vintage costume jewelry

~~~charm bracelets and lockets

~~~birthdays

~~~faded, broken in blue jeans

~~~orange cake and moon pies

~~~fresh strawberries and raspberries

~~~a good nights sleep.....did i say that already? haha

~~~my blog.....and the wonderful people who read it!

see a trend here?

the things i'm really thankful for, outside of the important family things,

are just everyday things that i am sooooo thankful for.

every day.

does that mean every day is thanksgiving?

maybe that's exactly what it is.......or what it should be.

so from our family to yours.........

may you have a beautiful, blessed Thanksgiving.

and eat some PIE already.

(ditch the diet for once!;) heehee

xoxoxoxox

Suzanne

Back to Blogland...

Happy Monday...I'm back to my little home on the internet. Amazingly, I managed to pick up about 30 followers in the few weeks I was gone. How does this happen? I don't know but I'm happy it does:-)

Yes, I took a little break. I can choose between writing about my life/family and the Holidays or I can live it. Unlike many of you gifted people out there, I'm not capable of doing both.

The bad news...I had my annual Holiday meltdown. The good news...it's over early and I'm good to go:-) About 2 weeks ago I called my mom and started bawling on the phone about how I feel I let everyone down... Blah, blah, blah. (Martha, this is because of you and my quest for the perfect Holiday:-) I've let go of a few things since then. Since my girls were little, I've always had to have the perfect Christmas card. I know photo cards have been around forever but I think I was one of the first that I know of to go with a "theme" picture for our cards, such as angels, mermaids... maybe I'll do a post about it and show a few. I can't show you the one of them when they were 7 and 5, lounging around the pool in old-fashioned bathing suits with flowered bathing caps on like some vintage bathing beauty, because that was the one card they refused to be a part of...and I never let them forget it! hahaha...

Anyway, this year the cards are ready to go out with a short, sweet note and a simple, fun photo. And it's killing me... lol

Okay, well, this is Thanksgiving week. Hope you're all enjoying this special time of year. Me...I'm not a big Thanksgiving person. In the old days when cousins aunts and Uncles crammed around a long table at my Grandma's...that was Thanksgiving. These days just aren't quite the same. Don't get me wrong, we are very thankful. But we are more than ready to move on to Christmas.
Sorry...one of those people:-) To top it off, I don't like turkey.

(You're safe from me, Mr. Turkey!)
But I do love mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Carbs anyone??? Geez...good thing I am serving dinner at the hospital with my husband instead of eating it! My girls are spending Thanksgiving with their grandparents so I will have my first Holiday with an empty nest...seems kind of strange but they'll have fun.

What else, what else... Well, we are in full Nutcracker mode around here. This is the Flower Fairy or Dew Drop, which is Taylor's main role. And she wears pink:-)



Rehearsals, rehearsals and more rehearsals...long ones...but it's looking good, so it's worth it. And we are making lots of these little cuties...




I know I write about a pink Christmas but the only rooms I can pull that off this year are Taylor's room and maybe the guest room. The great room is mainly a white Christmas with touches of red. Because I am worried about my curious BIG puppy, our tree has only those family ornaments that are not breakable as well as a lot of other sturdy ones, just in case I come home to find the tree toppled over. We glittered some starfish and white poinsettias and it looks so pretty.



One of my favorite decorations was the simplest. I had all of these colored glass ornaments and a huge glass cylinder I picked up for $7 at a yard sale this year so I dumped them in and voila...instant decoration!




I also love, love, love feather trees and here is one by the front door...




Just look at these shells...I'm not sure you can see but they're all glittery. Thanks to Tales from an OC Cottage for the idea!



Guess that's enough rambling for today. I'll leave you with a thought for the Holidays...
"Remember, the more expensive and big the gift, the more kids will enjoy playing with the box it came in more than anything".

Have a great day!
Au revoir,
Suzanne