This Perfectly Imperfect Life

Cozy scents and candle light on this Christmas Day. Another Christmas is once again quickly coming to a close, and as usual I can't quite wrap my mind around that. Felt very different this year, and I'm not sure if that's all on account of the super warm weather we're still having or not. Thankful for a quiet day at home with Hubbs, and later Mom and a neighbor joined us for dinner. We've just finished watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special, and now we're off to sleep!  Hope your day was Merry & Happy! 

Not a creature was... Presents are wrapped and 24 hours of A Christmas Story is under way. (This angle makes our tv look huge thought it's not quite). Still warm enough for open windows & whirring fans. (It was in the 70s here today with humidity in the upper 90%). I always want to stay up as long as possible so I can experience as much of the peaceful beauty of this night as I can.  Quiet blessings to you & yours, and to all a good night!

Knockout Rosa 'Radcon' still blooms. View from the back yard. First candle of Advent is lit. The tree is up! The kitties love snuggling under the tree. Homemade pumpkin & apple cranberry pies. I am thankful for cozy weekends at home, for the first Sunday of Advent falling on this long and relaxing weekend so I could begin to decorate for Christmastime, for more end of the season roses and beautiful late Autumn foliage, and for homemade pumpkin & apple cranberry pie!  Thank you all for joining me again this year for these 30 Days of Thanksgiving! 

Many Blessings! 

So I mentioned in my previous post about my battling various incarnations of the plague since at least Thanksgiving (more like since Veterans Day) and the last couple of weeks being particularly awful.  Well, I went back to the doctor again this morning and as it turns out, I do not have the flu like I suspected. I have MONO!  Well knock me over with a feather! Mono?!  I had no idea you could get mono as an adult. I had it when I was 16 and it was bad enough back then! And thus far it's been no fun as an adult either. I shouldn't be contagious anymore given I've been this way over two weeks now. I do however have to limit my exposure to other people/germs so I don't end up with a secondary infection, which could turn things into a very serious situation for a healthy adult, but for someone like myself...? I don't plan on spending Christmastime in the hospital! (knocks on wood) So, very limited outings, if I must (for Sanity's sake or back to the doctor's off...

Christmastime! Although I'm honestly surprised I'm finished decking the halls and shopping already.  I've been battling various incarnations of the plague over the last month, especially since Thanksgiving, and the last week has been downright awful. Awful! It's made me remember when I was in third grade, and I was sick with the flu for all of December into the New Year. My cousin B felt bad for me and took my mom and I to see one of those drive through Christmas lights displays, and I laid down in the back seat to & fro. I haven't thought of that in years! I started and finished my Christmas shopping on Monday and all of the gifts have arrived as of yesterday! Not only was the budget super tight this year, more so than in recent years by a long shot, but with being so sick, physically going shopping, even locally, for gifts is out of the question this year. I am so thankful for awesome sales, coupons, and free shipping!  I've taken my time since the day aft...

I did post here yesterday but come to find the post disappeared - ah technology! (Perhaps our resident ghost is now tinkering with my online life as well?) I hope everyone celebrating had a very Merry Happy yesterday! Ours was a peaceful, quiet day at home.

Apologies for dropping off the face of the Earth! I've been sick since Halloween, battling an upper respiratory infection that's taken over my throat, sinuses and ears, and I've really had a rough go of it since the day after Thanksgiving. It's rearing its' ugly head once again too, as I was back at the doctor just yesterday and have started a third round of antibiotics. It's likely the upper respiratory infection is a viral infection, but with my immune system, or lack thereof actually, the antibiotics are more of a precaution to keep me from coming down with a secondary bacterial infection along with this upper respiratory infection.  I would say I'm exhausted to tears, but I'm so utterly exhausted, I don't think I have the energy to cry anymore! This happens every few years. I get sick during the Fall and can't shake it until Spring. I'm under strict order to REST this week and I am obeying them. Not that I have much choice in the ma...

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Thanks to a coupon and K's Cash, I was able to pick up a few fun things to today! Oh stop, y'all know how I have a tradition of buying Christmas ornaments before Halloween :-)  It's fun for me. Our weather has finally turned cold, normal Autumnal weather for these parts, and I for one am loving it!  Seeing the trees all decorated and so pretty today only added to my happy mood! What are some of your favorite things from this week?

New favorite slippers in a new color! (Have them in red). Winter sunsets. My kitties, especially when they're extra cute! Amaryllis! Seed & gardening catalogs! My final "Friday Favorites" of 2012!  Here's to many more in 2013! What were some of your favorite things in 2012??

A favorite local spot downtown for last minute Christmas shopping. Stopped for a moment on our way home. Our mantle. We also did a few errands, had a few drinks with friends, opened early presents, I baked a batch of my cranberry almond cookies & made pene ala vodka for dinner and we took a ride around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.  We've also watched A Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life!  (I'm sure I'm forgetting something or other, but that's it in a nutshell!) How have you spent your Christmas Eve?

Happy Eve before Christmas Eve! I spent much of yesterday, the first full day of Winter, nursing an awful migraine and drinking copious cuppa's of tea while going between our bed & my favorite chair in the living room (where I can gaze upon all of the Christmas decorations).  But the day wasn't a loss: I posted my 24th Adventures In Gardening column on The#gardenchatBlog ! (Next Saturday is my first anniversary of writing my column for the blog!)  I also caught the first glorious moon-rise & sunset of Winter. This morning, after watching CBS News Sunday, a longtime Sunday morning tradition, we got out for a long walk at one of our favorite local parks.  I was resistant at first, wanting to stay snuggled in as the kitties were under the tree this morning. Feeling the cold air and hearing nothing but the wind, our feet on the ground and at times the river sloshing against the banks was exactly what I needed! Especially with this darn migrain...

Welcome Winter! Autumn didn't leave us without a fight. The weather turned ugly last night and isn't yet much improved. Over night we were drenched with rain and winds that reached 50mph for several hours, unfortunately leaving some in the dark again, before tapering off as the day has quickly gone by. I am usually sad to see Autumn go, but, this year I'm ready to leave this one behind and move on! On this, our shortest day of the year, I'm gladly snuggled up in my favorite chair enjoying the soft twinkle of the Christmas lights, watching Doctor Who on BBC America with Hubbs, enjoying the peacefulness of it all. How are you passing this day? Blessings to you this evening and all Winter! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

We spent the first part of this dreary afternoon at the doctor's office & pharmacy because yours truly has another nasty sinus infection. After we got home, Hubbs got started on making the 20lbs of chicken wings we're donating to one of the local VFW's we go to often for football Sunday tomorrow and I decided to get cracking on getting the Christmas tree up.  'Course it took me the rest of the afternoon and a better part of this evening to get from the top photo to the bottom, because I was moving in slow-mo, but I'm just happy it's up and lit! Christmas lights, especially multicolored lights, are my favorite part of this season! Since our first Christmas here in 2005, our tree has always been in front of the living room windows, which hasn't been an easy feat since re-arranging the furniture a couple of years back. This year I do not want to feel cluttered. (In previous years, it felt cozy. This year it would be too much). This is an odd t...

Bed and Breakfast by Lois Battle My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the December group read for my Southern Lit Lovers group  on Goodreads and my nomination for the month which means I'm leading the chat! I've had this book on my living room shelf for years , tried it a couple of times & never finished, but I kept it with my Christmas books because, honestly, I adore the cover! Am I glad I held onto it! I so enjoyed this novel! At times it reminded me of other Southern family novels I've read, but that didn't take away from it. I didn't want to put it down and didn't want it to end once I got there. And ever since visiting the Charleston & Folly Beach areas of South Carolina briefly early this year, I have a better appreciation for & now enjoy novels set in SC as a whole. I also liked the fact this wasn't the usual type Christmas novel I end up reading at this time of year; it's a Southern family novel that happens to take place aro...

For my Cranberry Almond Rounds, you'll need: 1 cup melted butter (which is equal to 15 tblspns) I use unsalted butter 1/3 cup sugar *or* 1/2 that amount in regular sugar & 4 sweetener packets 2/3 cup ground sliced almonds *or* 1/3 cup of the almonds & 1/3 cup of dried cranberries 1 & 2/3 cup flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup confectioners sugar 2 tsp cinnamon My step by step appears below in the slideshow. If it moves too quickly for you, just click on it to be taken directly to the web album where you can view each photo individually. You're wondering about the " Happy Accidents In The Kitchen " part?  Well, it all started when I made myself a Bloody Mary (or two!) *before* making these from scratch! Before today, they were just Almond Rounds.  In fact, I posted my bff's recipe for them here for last year's cookie party, but, without photos, which is why I wanted to do them again this year! Well, I messed up today's first batch somethi...

(Said in a whisper (since this is Wordless Wednesday & all): Decorating for any season/holiday now begins with using what I already have at home in new ways). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®