Happy New Year, Almost!!!

It's just after midnight, so it is officially New Year's Eve here in WV. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog this year. I know it isn't the most productive thing you could be doing with your time, and everyone is so busy these days, so again, I thank you for spending a few minutes with me now and then.

As you probably know, I'll be having a new grandbaby this year. My daughter, Jen, is having a girl to go with her two little boys. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with all of them this summer. My son-in-law will be serving overseas in the Army in 2009, so she will not only be taking care of her sons, but having a new baby while he's gone. Pray for them whenever you think of them - they'll really need it!! My husband thinks they will have their own TV show pretty soon - "Jen & Jake plus eight" I'm sure at times the two boys seem like eight already.

My other four grandkids are growing up too fast. Last time we saw them, only Brandon was still shorter than me!! I'm sure he'll probably outgrow me this year.

I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't begin to list the prayers that God has answered this past year, or the blessings he has provided. I hope all of you have been as happy and as blessed in 2008, and I pray all of you will have a wonderful 2009.

Happy New Year, from the Rhodes family!!

Christmas Eve Lunch

Normally we have our Christmas Eve dinner with my sisters and Mom about 5 or 6 pm, and then we all exchange gifts. But, since Christmas Eve fell on Wednesday, the church was having a candle light service tonight, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve dinner/gift exchange early. I had considered the idea of Italian food, but we finally went with our usual Mexican feast. We all love Mexican food, and besides, I had these nifty new cast iron fajita skillets to try out. They were a gift from my in-laws. So, here's our delicious beef fajitas fried with some onion and poblano peppers.

And we had my favorite, chicken enchilladas. Along with some shrimp poppers. These are large shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeno pepper, then wrapped in bacon. They were absolutely the best part of the meal.

The gravy boat makes a perfect dish for serving your queso dip. Add some chips, condiments for the fajitas, and warm tortillas, and you've got a wonderful Christmas Eve Mexican feast. If you think it sounds like a lot of work, think again. The fajita meat is ready to go in the freezer section of the grocery store. Just add some onion and peppers, heat it all up, and you're done. Even the enchilladas are easy. I start with large taquitos from the grocery freezer, pour enchillada sauce over them and top with cheese. Put them in the oven for an hour and it looks and tastes like you've worked all day. The shrimp poppers were a lot of work, but soooo worth it.

The real job is cleaning up the mess. I make it harder on myself, because I insist on washing my Christmas dishes myself. I'm so afraid someone will break one, so I always wash them and put them back in their boxes personally. So, here's a couple of pictures of the kitchen just after we finished eating. All the Christmas dishes go back in their boxes and back into that bottom cabinet. My cat had been playing with that bubble wrap that's on the floor.

The stove is covered with pots and pans used to make rice and beans and heat other things. Tomorrow morning, all those blue pans will be replaced with my brand new Cook's Essentials eggplant colored pots and pans. I love my Cook's Essentials from QVC. These blue ones are still in great condition after years of daily use, but my Mom got me the new ones for Christmas. I guess I'll have to post a picture of them, if I ever get this mess cleaned up!!

Another idea for wrapping up your gifts!!

Ever have the perfect size box for a gift, but didn't want the recipient to think they were getting a toaster (or whatever was originally in the box)? The other day I realized most boxes are only glued together on one corner. I have taken three different boxes apart this year and simply turned them inside out and put them back together. Now the box is plain white or brown on the outside and has all the features of the toaster on the inside. When they tear off the paper, they see a plain box. If the inside lists all the features of last year's toaster oven, they won't notice because they will be enjoying the gift you put in the box for them.

Investing in one of those packing tape dispensers is well worth the money, too. I've had mine for years and you can ask either of my kids or grandkids - when Grammy tapes it up, it takes an act of Congress to get it open.

These are my Poinsettia & Ribbons Christmas dishes. I started collecting this pattern about 8 years ago when I bought a set half price at K-Mart after Christmas. That year I got a service for 4 of the dishes, as well as a set of salt & pepper shakers and a gravy boat. Naturally, K-Mart never had them again, but I learned that many people had matching pieces on EBay. This is my first year with the stemmed goblets, and I live in fear of breaking one. I have seen them on EBay several times and wanted them, but wasn't willing to pay the asking price of $8 each (plus shipping). A couple of months ago, someone had 12 of them for about $3 each (including shipping) and I couldn't resist. I have many other matching pieces that are not on the table, including flatware, but I decided this year to use the gold flatware my mother-in-law gave me.

There's a funny story about the bowls in the picture. I was at a local store here called Ames and saw a woman trying to return two sets of bowls. When they told her the bowls didn't come from Ames and she would have to return them to wherever they came from, I approached her and offered to buy them from her. I think at first she thought I was a little strange, but when I explained that I had several sets of dishes that matched her bowls, she was happy to sell them. They had been a gift to her and she had nothing else to go with them.

I bid on napkin rings several times and stopped when the price got too high. Then one day, I misspelled "poinsetta" and found a whole new bunch of auctions where hardly anyone was bidding. Since then, I have typed in both versions whenever I search.

Christmas Decorations

I've been completely blown away by some of the decorations on the Tour of Homes that one of my daughter, Jen's, friends has on her blog. I don't know how to do the fancy links to other blogs, but this should get you to hers - http://boomama.net/2008/12/15/christmas-tour-of-homes-2008/ There are over 900 homes on the list, so enjoy yourself if you go there and look at some of them. Meantime, I decided to put a picture of my pitiful little tree on here. In the past, we have put up our 6 ft. white tree with all blue lights and blue/silver decorations, or with all red lights and red/gold decorations. This year, we put up a little 4 ft green tree with very few lights or decorations. We just weren't in the mood to decorate for some reason. I did insist on having an angel, but ours were all too big for this tree, so I got this little one at WalMart on sale the other day (then almost cut her off in the picture).






I got really ambitious the other day and took pictures of all my napkins, placemats, and table cloths. I'm sure right now you are thinking I have too much time on my hands. Actually, I was looking for my blue napkins, and didn't realize how many sets I had, so I decided to organize a little better. I made a folder on my computer and put pictures of all the ones I have so next time I decide to decorate the table, I'll have a good idea of what I have hidden under that china cabinet. Anyway, here are the blue napkins with some placemats that I forgot I had!! I used those blue candles and snowflake candle holders last year with some different placemats. That little plate of cookies in the center is actually a plate of tarts for a tart burner. They smell so good, but look so pretty I couldn't bring myself to melt them.

Tonight, this blue stuff is going back in the china cabinet to make way for my Christmas dishes. I'm going to put the leaf in the table and get it ready for Christmas Eve dinner. In the past we have done Mexican food for our Christmas Eve meal. One year we had chicken fried steak (special request from Todd). This year I'm planning an Italian feast. I'll post pictures of the Christmas dishes tomorrow.

Are you Ready to Wrap??

These are my special Christmas gift wrapping scissors. They always make me smile. I was thinking this morning about some of the things I have learned over the years about gift wrapping and started making this list.

1. Obviously, you want to buy all your supplies at after Christmas sales. I store bags and boxes flat in a plastic storage container and wrapping paper in a tall kitchen trash can in the back of my closet. Tissue paper is kept in a gift bag stored in the container. Tape, scissors, name tags, and pens are all in a shoe box in the storage container.

2. My Mom taught me years ago that the ironing board makes a great place to wrap gifts. It's a good flat surface and the height is easy on your back.

3. I've tried several methods for saving pretty gift boxes. First of all, I never tape them shut. That just ruins a perfectly good box. I tried putting the tags on the bottom one year to save the pretty tops, but it was hard to sort gifts when you had to turn them all over to see who they went to. When I got them out the next year, I had the same problem of old tags that couldn't be pulled off without tearing the box (even if it was on the bottom it looked tacky). Then I had a great idea. The first year I use a box, I use the smallest gift tag I can. Every year, I reuse the box by putting a larger tag over the smaller one. After the third tag, it's usually time to trash the box anyway, but tags do come in all shapes and sizes.

4. I love gift bags. For one thing, I sometimes have to peek to remember what gift is in which package, and bags stuffed with tissue make this sooooo easy. But, I had the same problem as with tags on boxes. When you try to remove one, it often ruins the bag. The first time I use a bag, I use the tag that's attached to the handle. If its a folded tag, you can write on one half the first year, then cut that off and write on the other half the second year. On some bags I used the smaller to larger tags method for a while. Finally, I realized I could put the name tag on the tissue sticking out of the bag and the bag itself remains like new.

5. Be creative with your tags. Years ago my family started giving gifts to each other with tags that said it was from a movie star or someone famous. Kurt Russell gets me something every year. I know that's why Goldie won't marry him. He always leaves it with my sister. Just once I wish he would deliver it in person!!

6. As pretty as bows are, I've stopped using them. I like to stack boxes and you just can't do it with bows on them because it messes up the bow. But for packages that I'm taking to someone else, I sometimes attach a bow just before I deliver it. The bow is fresh, and my packages can still be stacked in my bedroom until I need them.

7. I've already talked about my spreadsheet gift list in an earlier post this year, but I'm mentioning it here to add one thing I didn't mention before. I write ideas for gifts on my spreadsheet. This really helps when I see something on TV but I can't actually go shopping right then. If I don't write it down, I forget about it. Some are eventually bought and some are not. When something is bought, I use a highlighter so I can tell with a glance who I still need to shop for.

Can you tell I spent years working in a law office??? I think I enjoy organizing my gift stuff almost as much as I enjoy buying and wrapping the gifts. Anybody have some tips they want to share? I always appreciate a great new idea.

This is our new cat, Oreo. She's a long haired kitten about 4 months old. She's mostly white, but has a few black spots and a black tail. Her most unusual feature is the little black "beard" she has. It's just a small round black spot right on her chin. Her name comes from the fact that she's black on both ends and white in the middle. As you can tell, she barely gets enough to eat!!

This is Oreo helping me wrap packages. She prepares the tissue paper for me to use in gift bags. Actually, by the time she finishes, her tissue paper is more useful for confetti.

This morning I woke up to find this in my bathroom. Apparently, toilet paper resembles tissue paper to her, so she prepared a big pile for me to use in wrapping packages. Thank you, Oreo. Actually, every cat I've ever had used a litter box, but Oreo is the first to use toilet paper. I'm glad it wasn't a full roll.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

I love that song from Sound of Music. The past 10 days have been so filled with things I love. To begin with, I had a birthday, and since our AT&T cell phone contract ended the same week, I was able to get a new iPhone!! This thing is so amazing. Todd has had one for a long time and I have wanted one, but I wasn't willing to pay the price for one until I was eligible to upgrade. Because we are on the road all the time, we are especially impressed with the GPS feature that shows us as a little blue ball going down the highway. Today I was able to track our progress as we made our way to a customer in Ohio and it was so amazing.



Another of my favorite things is visiting with my son and his family. We got to spend the night with them, which is very rare because (even though we go to Texas about twice a week) we seldom go through that part of Texas. And, even better, we got there the night his twins had their Christmas choir concert. They did some really cute songs and we enjoyed it so much. We got to deliver their Christmas presents (saving a ton of money compared to mailing them). And we also delivered their Christmas yard art that we made for them. All the reindeer riding in the sleigh looked so adorable in their front yard.

Of course, no week is perfect without some shopping. We spent some time at a mall one day while we were waiting for a load, and we found lots of last minute gifts. I always find the perfect gift after I have already bought something for someone. So, they either get two gifts, or I keep the first one for myself. I guess that's sort of the opposite of re-gifting. If you only get one package this year, you'll just have to wonder what that other one would have been!!!

Then, on our way to Ohio, we ran into a blizzard. There was about 6 inches of snow and the roads were terrible. Believe it or not, it happened in Louisiana!! We were so surprised to see all that snow that far south. But we eventually got into Mississippi and it was just rain after that. Check out these pictures that I took with my iPhone while we were sitting in traffic waiting for a truck to be pulled out of the median. That's Interstate 55 but you can't see the road at all in the second picture.

SNOW!!

It started snowing about 30 minutes ago and the ground and road in front of the house are already covered. I tried to take a picture and I was fascinated by the way the flash reflected off the snow flakes. In this picture it looks like stars in outer space.

I love the snow as long as I don't have to go anywhere. I'm glad it wasn't snowing earlier today when we had to take the cat to the vet. My oldest cat (about 12 years old) has been losing weight lately even though she eats all the time. I finally decided to take her to the vet. The office visit was $35. They charged $20 to draw blood. Then they charged $75 to run blood tests. The only thing they found was high levels of liver enzymes, which indicated a thyroid problem. The thyroid test was another $40. Now my cat has to take a thyroid pill every morning. Believe it or not, 30 days of thyroid pills was only $7. If I could get them at WalMart they would probably only be $4.

I just hope she doesn't have any side effects from the pills. I can't believe we're putting a cat on daily medication.


While we were at the vet, two different people came in to pick up their dogs after boarding them for a week. I guess they were out of town for Thanksgiving or something. Anyway, both of them paid nearly $400 for their dog to stay at the vet for a week. My only thought was that I've rented a condo in Myrtle Beach for less than $400 a week, and I know those dogs didn't have an ocean view.