Happy Thanksgiving

From our home to yours, Thanksgiving Blessings to you.  We will be busy today with family and fun, but I hope to get around to say hello later today.
Hugs,
Noreen

Happy Birthday Miss A

Tomorrow is a very special day in our family~five years ago our oldest daughter gave birth to a Thanksgiving baby.  It is so hard to believe that five years have passed.  Miss A is the spitting image of her mama; she has the brightest smile and such a sense of humor. In fact, yesterday she told me that if she plays a joke on someone, she will say "gotcha", so all afternoon she would tell me something in her very dramatic way and then add on "gotcha".  Love her to pieces.  We will be celebrating her birthday with her older sister's in another week or so.  We are so blessed with this priceless little girl; she makes this Nana smile a lot.
I'm off to a restaurant to see if I can find a certain pie-Boysenberry, for my brother and then to the market for more food, then housecleaning, bathing the dog and running to the pet store. Tomorrow my brother and sister of my heart are arriving; we will have a wonderful family Thanksgiving.
I hope your day is filled with an abundance of reasons to give thanks.
Joy to you.
Noreen

Happy Monday to you.  Here it is 5:00 p.m. already; I've spent most of the day helping with a Christmas project that I thought would be pretty easy.  It was a busy day to put it mildly!  After that I headed for our daughter's house and watched her kiddos while she took the oldest to the dentist.  It was so relaxing to go and sit in front of their fire and watch the kiddos play.  I'm home now and Hunter is so happy to see me.  I have no idea what we'll do for dinner-maybe salads.  Tomorrow promises to be another busy day; I'll finish up grocery shopping, do some household chores and bathe Hunter so he is nice a clean.  I'm hopeful to get back to blogland, but I can't promise anything.
Please know that I am sending you warm hugs and wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving.
I'll be back as soon as I am able.
Noreen

Happy Friday Friends. Today, I want to find out what your traditions and favorite things about Thanksgiving are.  
I remember growing up and having the traditional feast of turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, stuffing, gravy, string beans, rolls and of course dessert.  We always had pumpkin pie as well as mince meat pie.  When my brother married the most incredible woman around, Sue took over the tradition of Thanksgiving at their house. I think she did this because it was easier than splitting the holidays; she also hosted Christmas eve dinner.  Sue is a Martha Stewart when it comes to entertaining-she is the hostess with the ability to put on a five star dinner and entertain as well-making sure everyone is happy. It is a trait both my girls learned from her example.  Those were the days that having more people for dinner than our family scared the wits out of me.  Since we now have 17 in the immediate family, I think I've mellowed.  Our meal has changed a little bit-we now have to have gluten free items as well as the regular.  I'm thankful that our daughter Kim and her hubby make the most incredible gluten free dishes from scratch.  Instead of mince meat pie, there will be apple and of course, some gluten free tarts for those of us who are gluten free. There will be two types of stuffing and the gravies will have just plain gravy and another one with giblets. 
We were never into watching the football games, so there will be lots of catching up with everyone.
My brother and sil will be here, as well as Carrie's mil.  After dinner we will play Tripoly, an old family favorite. 
So what are your favorites about this day we celebrate?  What foods can't you do without?  Will you be home or away?  Will your meal and day be formal or relaxed?  We will be relaxed, especially with the snow in the forecast. 
Today hubby and I are hitting the grocery store for the main items; we cook one turkey to take with us, so everyone has left overs.  I also make the sweet potatoes, but without the marshmallows on top. We also need to run a couple of errands; the pie for my brother will be picked up on Monday or Tuesday.  I dread Costco, you know it will be crazy!!!
I hope you have a fantastic day and wonderful weekend. 
Blessings and Joy,
Noreen

Christmas Is In The Air

It's Thankful Thursday and I am so very thankful for this little guy.  Well, all around our house you can see signs of Christmas.  I've still got all our harvest decorations up and right after Thanksgiving, we will begin to see if we have enough Christmas decorations.  Hubby and I got a few things today and there is a craft fair on Saturday, that I will attend, so if I see something that catches my eye it will probably come home with me.  Hunter is always such a good sport with our Christmas shots.  It was much easier to get this photo than to pick out a Christmas Card for hubby and me. 
I hope you are remembering to give thanks every day. 
Blessings,
Noreen & Hunter

Happy Wednesday to you.  I can't believe how tardy I am in posting, but life seems a bit hectic this week.  I haven't even walked yet today and not sure if I will or not.  Hubby's chiropractor is borrowing hubby's old car and so in exchange, he offered to give me a free adjustment.  I have only gone to one chiropractor, back in 1996 and had a very bad experience with it-so swore I'd never let anyone touch my back again.  Well, I went today and it was quite interesting and hopefully beneficial.
I will go back and see him on Friday for the results of a scan he did.  We also stopped at Target and got a couple of Christmas ornaments; I'm getting more and more in the mood to decorate.  The rest of the week is filled with misc. commitments-I volunteer to help with Operation Christmas Child and then of course we will get getting ready for next week.
The weather is still brisk here but so gorgeous, sun is shining and the sky is blue.  Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  Will you be staying put or heading out?  My brother and sil will be here and everyone is so very excited!  Our oldest daughter will be hosting the day, plus we will have games to play and memories to make. 
May your day be filled with joy today!
Noreen

Outdoor Tuesday

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood(do you all remember that song?), actually it is beautiful but cold.  Today will be another easy day-I've got to run to the store this morning and then will walk with my buddy Kam(she was hospitalized last week,so we will take it easy). This afternoon another friend is coming for tea.  Yesterday, I got chores done and was able to sew.  I have 10/15 blocks done on the first square and hopefully will finish the last five today or tomorrow.  Yesterday, hubby and I also took Hunter out for a 2 mile walk-he loved it.  It was brisk, but such a pretty day.  If winter stayed like this the entire season, I'd be very happy.  I do need to encourage Odie's and his mom to pick up their pace a bit, it would be more beneficial for all of us.
Hope you have a warm day today.
I am thankful for blue skies and sunshine.  I am thankful for the love that surrounds me every day.
Blessings,
Noreen

Birds Of A Feather

Happy Monday to you! May this be a day that you walk in gratitude and thanksgiving, for life and love. One of the joys of living in a new home is getting used to different species of birds and wildlife here.  I have always loved Doves and are pleased that they love our Pergola; this was the site that greeted us this morning. The snow is beginning to melt and the sun is shining; it looks like it will be a fantastic day.

Another bird that is new to us is the Black-billed Magpie. I saw these constantly in the islands, but have never seen them here in northern Colorado. They weren't here all summer or fall, but just started making their appearance this last week. I'm thinking I need to research them more; I do know that they are related to a crow, but am surprised they are wintering here.

Photos of the Magpie are courtesy of the Audubon Society.
Today will be a quiet day as hubby is off to the golf course for some misc. jobs and the laundry is calling me. I may even get a few hours of sewing-yippee. I am hoping that the sidewalks are clear enough for a walk with Hunter.
Today I am thankful for: The Giver of Life, life, health, faith and grace, salvation, love and family, Hunter, God's creation and the different seasons, joy in the little things, friends, sunshine and snow, books to enjoy on a cold day, a warm home to shelter us from the storm.  How about you-what things in life are you counting as blessings today?
Joy to you~
Noreen

Comfort Levels In Your Home

O Happy Day!  It is clear and sunny out; there is still lots of snow on the ground, but there is a hope that much will melt by this afternoon.  I love living here with the beauty of the Rockies looming in the distance.  I love the seasons here, but for some strange reason-possibly our long, warm autumn, I'm just not ready for winter quite yet. I don't mind that our routines slow down a lot and it gives me plenty of time for sewing and reading plus visiting you all, but it just feels too early.  I was pleasantly surprised today to find that we didn't have any condensation on the windows this morning.  I will say that we turned our furnace a degree higher last night to see if that helped.  So my question for you today friends is if you live in a cold climate with snow, what do you keep your furnace at during the night.  Back in the late 70's, we were taught that it is healthier to have the furnace set at 55 degrees. So for the past 36 yrs, we have kept it that low; however this year we turned it up to 60-62.  Last night we left it at 63, just to see if it made a difference. I know that it is always the outside air being so much colder than inside that makes for condensation, but wondered if we'd sleep a bit better. 
I know some of you that live in snow country probably have a wood burning stove.  Here in Colorado-at least in our area, people just don't have them.  I know that wood burning fireplaces are outlawed; we have two gas fireplaces and several space heaters.  We will be getting a bigger, more efficient space heater tomorrow.  We do keep the house a bit cooler than some-generally the highest the temp goes in winter is 68 degrees. 
So tell me what your keep your thermostat at. I wonder if that info we got back in the 70's about keeping the temp down to 55 at night is really accurate, or maybe it was for those of us who suffered allergies, could it be that it was for those who live in California verses living in snow country?
I hope you have a fantastic weekend!!!
Enjoy every moment of life.
Noreen

A Heat Wave

Good Morning to you~well this morning the skies are clear and sunny and we are up to 11 degrees. Wow! After yesterday's lows, it will be quite nice out today.  Yesterday, we ran over to our daughter's house to work on some Christmas photos(this is not the one), but I wanted to show you what winter in Colorado is all about.  Another thing we've learned about our house is that we get condensation on the wood windows every morning(ice too), so we've taken to wiping them down each day. I'm hoping this will be the only really bad cold snap this winter.  As for the small bits of ice, I'm thinking we may need to keep the temp up a little higher. 
Yesterday's sewing went really well; I decided to shorten the time to an hour, which may or may not continue. Last night, we had one set of grands over while mom & dad went out to dinner. We watched The Dog That Saved Christmas; I must admit it got me in a Christmas mood.  If you haven't seen the movie, by all means look for it. It is similar to Home Alone, but the story of a dog who literally saves the day.
I hope you are all enjoying the weather, regardless of what the temps are. 
Joy to you!
Noreen

Silly Papa

Happy Wednesday Friends, It is officially winter here with temps colder than Anchorage, North Pole and Fairbanks. In fact, this morning we were the coldest metropolitan area in the U.S. We had a temp of -1, that is cold! On Monday, we went over to our youngest daughter's home to spend some time. Our Little Man has an incredible sense of humor for being just two; he also has everyone in the family wrapped around his finger. He and Papa were sitting at the table when he grabbed Papa's reading glasses and put them on-upside down. Don't you love it, especially the Nuc. Papa, of course, had to follow suit. We were all cracking up. Our grands all bring us such joy!

Yesterday was another busy day, despite the weather.  Our oldest grands had rock climbing last night and we had to help out-isn't that what grandparents are for!  We have as much fun watching and cheering the kids on.  In the afternoon, my best friend here-Kam, was taken by ambulance to our local hospital.  I wasn't able to get there last night, but saw her this morning. We are pretty certain she'll be released today; apparently her potassium levels were very low which caused dizziness and some other symptoms.  She sure had us all scared. 
Today, I have sewing in the afternoon with two granddaughters; hopefully I will have all the supplies ready and the roads won't be too bad-one benefit of having family so close-you don't have to go far.
May your day be blessed.
Noreen

Mr. Chewy

Happy Tuesday to you! The song "Baby It's Cold Outside" is going through my mind this morning, due to the snow that is covering our ground and continuing to fall. Last week, we got a package from our friends at Mr. Chewy and somehow I didn't get a photo of Hunter opening it up. It is always such a wonderful surprise when a package comes for our Hunter. I had seen these treats last month, but didn't choose them; I'm glad for a second chance. I was surprised to see that I had gotten the treats that was designed for large dogs, 25 lbs and over, since Hunter weighs about 11/12 lbs.

Here is some of the information on these treats: "TropiClean Fresh Breath + Plus Hip & Joint Dental Dog Treats, Small Breed, 20-count Supporting joint health keeps our adult dogs playing like puppies. Glucosamine supports healthy joint and cartilage function. This unique supplement also works as an anti-inflammatory, reducing pain and increasing mobility. Other ingredients like Blueberry fight plaque-forming bacteria and support the immune system. Wholesome ingredients help your dog to live a healthy and playful life! Tropiclean's dental treats are proudly Made in the USA. Sizes Small: For Dogs 15-25 lbs. Not suitable for dogs less than 5 lbs. or dogs less than 6 months of age. Regular: For Dogs 25 lbs. and above. Not suitable for dogs less than 5 lbs. or dogs less than 6 months of age."
I'm not sure whether Mr. Chewy's assistants accidentally put in the wrong size treat or if they were out of them. No worries though, I carefully watched as Hunter chewed on it and took it away before he was even half done. I will say that he loved it and wasn't too happy about my putting the rest of it up for another day. Because they are intended for large dogs, I decided to share them with our daughter's 11 year old Newfie mix who has bad joints and arthritis. Here he is happily taking it from me. Isn't he just the biggest fluff you've ever seen. Notice the white stuff falling-it is quite light compared to today.

Sampson loved this treat too and I know it will be beneficial for his legs. In fact, he might just get more of them in his stocking this Christmas. I'm off to bible study, our final one til the New Year, today. I'm ready for the break, but will miss seeing friends every Tuesday morning. I hope you are staying warm!
Noreen & Hunter

Miscellaneous Monday

Happy Monday to you. I hope you had such a good weekend; I certainly did. On Friday I mentioned we were heading to Estes to register hubby's new car; although it takes about an hour to get up there(we were heading up anyway), it only took us five minutes in the DMV to register it. It was wonderful to be in and out so quickly. We had a nice lunch, hit my favorite quilt store-Cottage Bliss, got our youngest grandson pj's and slippers for Christmas at another store and drove through the park. I will say, if we lived up there I would work/volunteer at Cottage Bliss; the owner is a gal name Sheri and she was the cover on Country Woman about 8 yrs ago. This store has become as much of a gift store(with some of my favorite goodies)as it is a quilt store. So when we left DMV, we drove by a home that had this railing on it's deck. We loved it and would love to find one for our deck.

Another beautiful sunset; if I had to choose between getting beautiful sunrises or sunsets, I'd definitely choose the sunsets.

Last night we had such wind and have it today as well. I bailed on walking; I just don't enjoy it when I'm being tosses all around and Hunter really doesn't like it. Our snow didn't arrive yet but the warmest temp was this morning around 6:00 a.m. and it was 55 degrees. Right now it has dropped to 46. By this afternoon it is supposes to drop to freezing; it is raining as I type. So this was one view out of our deck this morning; notice how very dark the clouds are-storm rolling in.

This was looking in the other direction; sunny and blue, but sure to disappear shortly. 

On Saturday, I attended a Women's Jubilee Celebration at church and the speaker was wonderful.  She is an author, counselor, mom, grandmother and a Woman of Faith.  Her life has been marked by so much grief, but she shared lessons learned.
Yesterday, I heard a 90 something lady who was a nurse in WW2.  What a story she shared in honor of Veterans Day.  A perfect weekend.
Today, hubby and I will head to Costco for a few things and see if we can start finding gifts for family and friends.
I hope your weather is pleasant and that you have a fantastic day!
Noreen

Happy Friday

Morning Friends~It is the end of the week and I hope yours has been good!  Ours has been very nice-yesterday I made a Posole soup for dinner, but we decided to go out for Chinese instead. We will have our soup tonight, after I get some sour cream as it is a little spicy for us.  Today we are going up to Estes Park to the DMV; we have one closer but you wouldn't believe the lines, you have to make an appt.  Anyway, hubby thought that since Estes is a small community and part of our county that the wait would be less.  When we got his registration info, it listed Estes as one location.  We will run up there, see what it looks like, get it done, have lunch and even get one Christmas gift for our youngest "Little Man".  He has the cutest one piece thermal sleeper, which has a flap on the bum that says Moose Caboose. He's outgrown it and we all love it, especially him, so thought we'd get a larger size or maybe this one and another design. 
Tomorrow, I have a ladies conference to go to that should be inspirational.  I will go early to help with any last minutes tasks and with registration; it will last until 2:30.
Sunday is another Broncos game-I hope our real team shows up this week. 
Snow is in the forecast for Monday and I'm just not ready; I'd like it to wait until December. 
What are your plans for the weekend?
Blessings on your day and weekend.
Noreen

A New Quilt in the Making

Good Morning to you! In years past, each November I have focused on Thankful posts every day; somehow I totally missed it this year. I do, purposely, try to be thankful for the blessings each day holds. How about you? One of the things I am thankful for is having been born with a love of textures and crafts that would be considered handiwork. As a young girl, I can vividly remember giving my mom an apron one Christmas that I had done embroidery on. Throughout my high school years, I was always trying my hand at macrame, knitting, crocheting etc. In college I got into weaving and crewel. It it no surprise then that this evolved in quilting. I started this passion when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, 35 yrs ago. It went by the way as I learned needlepoint, cross stitch and pulled thread, when my girls were little. Fourteen years ago, I began quilting in earnest and I can say I've loved it, not very good at it or as prolific as some of my friends, but love it. Here is my latest block-one of many; it is called Birds of the Air.  The pic was taken with my IPhone, so is off center-sorry.

So today I give thanks that we are all endowed with certain gifts. Mine has always enabled me to give quilts to my family that are works of love. I hope that you use the gifts you've been given to bless others and find joy.
Give thanks today!
Noreen

Go Climb A Wall

Happy Wednesday friends, Last night a rock climbing class began and although we have four grands that will be taking the class, three were sick-so just our Miss S was there. It's been at least six months since she took a class at the rec center, but you couldn't tell. She seems to have grown so much, almost as tall as me.

Little Man is such a cutie and loves to pose for photos.

It was such fun to watch her scale up the walls.  Can't wait to see the other three climbing next week.
I also found out that at least three, maybe four, girls will be taking Irish clog dancing in the New Year. If they allow adults in the class, I may just have to take it;  since I was an avid folk dancing while in high school and college and I'm 100% Irish, it would be such fun.  We'll see.
I hope you have a wonderful day today.
Hugs,
Noreen

Here's Handsome

Yesterday Hunter went to the groomer, doesn't he look so handsome!  We knew that snow was in the forecast for Denver, but didn't expect any up our way.  Surprise; not much but at one point the rain turned to snow.  Our Sunday night thunder and yesterday's rain reminded me of our life in Ca.
I spent yesterday sewing and reading; we had a fire going and enjoyed just a quiet day at home.
Today, I'm off to bible study and not sure what the afternoon will hold for us.  Maybe a movie; we go to matinees in the winter, it helps break up the day.
Can you believe there is only 51 days til Christmas; guess hubby and I need to start shopping.
Have a great day!  Smile, you might just make someone else' day!
Joy,
Noreen & an ever faithful Hunter

Happy November

Happy November to you!  It's crazy to realize we are already in the holiday season.  Look at this handsome fellow, I believe he is a Coopers Hawk, that greeted us this morning.  We usually only get Doves on the pergola, but this was such a pleasant surprise. One of our girls gets Bald Eagles in her yard and the other gets an Owl; feel like I'm enjoying nature too. 
I hope you all had a great weekend; we had a fair number of children at our door Friday night and by the end of the evening, both dogs had stopped barking each time the doorbell rang.  Yesterday, we had five friends over to watch the Broncos get creamed. We had pizza, salad, veges and beverages; it was fun to hear us all yelling at the team.  I guess they can't win every game and to be honest, they were outplayed. 
Today, our fluff ball is at the groomers-boy does he hate going there.  Once we get into the car, he begins to shake. I finally realized(o.k. so I'm a bit slow)that the only time he has a leash on without his harness is to go to the groomers, otherwise he doesn't have a leash on.  Hello, let's connect the dots-no wonder he knows where we are going.  I also had a in-depth talk with a manager at the pet store on Saturday about dogs and food.  He told me that dogs don't dislike the taste of certain foods as much as they like manipulating mom to feed them people food-such as boiled chicken etc.  So now we are giving him a mixture of kibble and raw with freeze dried tidbits too. He has 5 minutes to eat it and then it is picked up; he then has to wait until the next meal time.  The man said it could take up to a week to get him to eat right away. This  was something the trainer told me when he was little and we were working together.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes him to get the concept.  We also changed from Wellness Grain Free Core kibble to Blue Buffalo Freedom, because Core was a high protein food and being such a small breed like a Bichon, Hunter wouldn't need it.  Any of you Bichon owners out there, let me know what you use. I used to cook for Hunter's meals and add it to kibble, but it makes it difficult if he is going to our daughter's house while we are away. I'd rather he just ate a mixture of healthy kibble and some sort of raw food. 
It is a dreary Monday here, so I'll be sewing for sure today.
May your day and this month be blessed.
Noreen