I Can't Believe It Is January and that is almost over!!

Well here we are at the end of January already! Alot of things have been going on and I never got here.  Well better late than never I guess!

I got a promotion at work.  I am now a Clerk at Customer Service at Harris Teeter instead of a cashier.  I love my new job and I'm still learning it.  I started with Harris Teeter in September and I have great managers and co-workers!

My friend, Angie was just here from Minnesota for a visit.  It was like a heat wave for her!  We had such a wonderful time talking, visiting, antiquing, shopping, eating wonderful food, etc. She also had a birthday yesterday (the 27th) so we had a special dinner at Chef Santos in Salisbury.   I took her to the airport this morning and boy do I miss her already!  Riley really loved her.  He keeps looking for her and even was by the guest room door waiting for her to come out.  I had to open the door to show him she actually had left.  Here are a few photos of our visit:

This is Angie.

We were driving around and coming home from White Owl Antique Mall and we saw this house with the cutest conservatory.  This is in Mt. Pleasant, NC.

One of the Antique Booths at The Depot at Gibson Mills Antique Mall.

This is Lower Stone Church on the way back to my house.  I love the look of this church with all the stone!

Angie snapped a photo of me at Gibson Mills.  

Pansies at Pikes Nursery in Matthews, NC

This is the main fountain at Pike's Nursery

This cute arrangement at Pikes had this little cabbage in it along with pansies and stock.  Smelled amazing!!

I made this rose arrangement for Angie's room while she was here.

These roses are so beautiful!!

My amaryllis that I have been waiting for it to bloom, decided to bloom and it is gorgeous!  I bought it from Longfield Gardens and it is a double-just gorgeous!!

I made 2 new wreaths for the winter/spring months for my church.  They turned out nicely.

I started painting the walls in the living room-SW Sea Salt but mixed at a Benjamin Moore store.  I like Ben Moore paint better.  I love how it turned out.  I will continue the same color through the kitchen and eating area.

So as you can see I had alot going on in January!  February looks pretty busy too, but I am going to try and get on here more often.  I love blogging-it gives me so much joy!

I hope you have a wonderful last few days of January!  See you in February.

Sherri

These are the books I read for 2024

 Books I have Read for 2024

1. The Whittiers by Danielle Steel

2. Missing You by Harlan Coben

3. The Wind Chime by Alexandra Walsh.

4. The Women by Kristin Hannah

5. The Beach House on Amelia Island by Hope Holloway

6. The Woman on the Ledge by Rita Mancini

7. Murder in the Tea Leaves by Laura Child.

8. The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin

9. Never Lie by Freida McFadden

10. My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry

11. The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden

12. The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane

13. Go as a River by Shelley Read

14. Hemlock by Kiersten Modglin

15. Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

16. Hot Rocks by Nora Roberts

17. The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances

18. Summers at The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

19. The Perfect Husband by Danielle Ramsey

20. The Perfect Affair by Angela Henry

21. Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake by Sarah Graves

22. The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore

23. I Said Yes by Kiersten Modglin

24. The Mother in Law by Kiersten Modglin

25. The Good Neighbors by Kiersten Modglin

26. Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand

27. The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

28. The Dinner Guests by Kiersten Modglin

29. Without a Trace by Danielle Steel

30. Skyward by Mary Alice Monroe

31. The Wisdom of Winter by Ann Seyler

32. Becoming Mrs. Abbott by Kiersten Modglin

33. The Manor House by Gilly Macmillan

34. First Lies Win by Ashley Elston

35. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

36. Lessons at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

37. How to Destroy Your Husband by Jess Kitching.

38. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine.

39. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

40. The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton

41. An American Beauty by Shana Abe

42. The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine

43. A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

44. A Slow Burning by Paula Hawkings

44. Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings

45. The Sweet Taste of Muscadines by Pamela Terry

46. The Sisters Next Door by L. H. Stacey

47. Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory.

48. The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

49. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

50.. Death by Chocolate Marshmallow Pie by Sarah Graves

51. Monticello by Sally Cabot Gunning

52. Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

53. Home for the Holidays by Sara Richardson

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hi Everyone!  I know I missed the whole month of November and now the month of December is almost over.  I have worked so many hours in November and December, it really left no time to enjoy chatting with all of you.  I have cut my hours down, so now I will have more time to chat on here.

November was a good month.  Thanksgiving I had to work at the store from 9-2.  I came home and ate a full Thanksgiving dinner that I prepared the day before.  I was able to go back home to NJ to visit my Mom, sister, Sue and her family for a few days.  I left the Saturday after Thanksgiving and came home on Wednesday afternoon.  I had fun with my family members and it was so good to see them because I hadn't been home all year!

My sister's house all decorated with wreaths and trees on either side of the door.  Chuck, my brother-in-law put them on a timer and they all come on at the same time each day.

My sister's Christmas tree, so pretty at night. I love the reflection in the window!

 December's work schedule was very hectic and alot of hours also.  I did manage to get the house all decorated.   I enjoyed decorating this house for the first time!  Last year I closed on the house 12/18, moved in on 12/20 and left for NJ for Christmas on 12/22.  I also bought a new chandelier for over my Dining Room Table and I love the new one so much more.  It is more me!  Here are some photos of what I've done:

Cupboard all decorated in my Dining Area.

My dining room table all decorated.

I have a small drop leaf table in my Dining area/Kitchen area and I put this little manger scene I found and the ironstone pitcher that was my Mom's all filled up with greenery and little bell fairy lights.

This is my little Christmas Tree upclose.

My view out the living room window.  I took down the blinds and put up velvet medium gray curtains.  I love how it lets more light in.

I am forcing some Paperwhites too.  They are doing so well!  They will bloom soon and the whole house will smell so good!  I'm using a trifle bowl to put them in.  It is working out well because the height of the bowl is keeping them standing up straight.

This is my front door all decorated.  I love my Moravian Star that I put up this year.  John and I always had a really large one we would put up.  I thought this smaller one would look better on this house.

This is my new dining room fixture.  I decorated it with greenery and small deep red velvet bows on each candle.

I have a long dough board on the ledge of the pumpkin pine cupboard, which I decorated with greenery, red berries and these 2 lovely votive candles I have had for years.  I used the waxed flameless votive candles.  I love them!

I made wreaths for the front door of our church.  I love the way they turned out!

Rockwell (where I live) has a beautiful gazebo and they put a Christmas tree in it this time of year and put up some lighted roping around the top.  It is so beautiful at night.  Just love it!

I was asked at work to help out with flower arrangements for Valentine's Day.  They had me make an arrangement to see what style I had.  This is one of the bouquets I made with peach colored spray roses.  They were very happy with it!

This is a knitting project bag I bought from heidiandlana.com.  I love it and it is perfect for this time of year.  The fabric looks very vintage!  The little gingerbread cottage place marker is so cute too that I bought!  I'm making (and I better hurry up) two dishcloths.  One has an evergreen on it and the other has a candy cane.  They go quickly so I hope to have them by tomorrow night!

Well I better get a move on, the dog isn't going to wash himself!!  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I want to thank all of you who stop by.  I know I don't post as much as I used to but hopefully 2025 that will change!  

Love and Hugs,

Sherri

October is here!

Hi Everyone!  I cannot believe that October is here already!  Where did September go!  Next thing it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I have been hand sewing another shirt for Mason.  I am done with the shirt, I just need to do the buttonholes and the laundry mark (his initials and 2).  This is the best shirt I have made so far.  He should look quite dapper working at Colonial Williamsburg!  He will be coming down this weekend to go hunting, so at some point between me working and him hunting we'll get together and he can pick up the shirt.  It will be good to see him.  I'll post a photo when the shirt is complete.

Boy, it sure gets darker earlier.  The other night it was completely dark by 8!  I did some more decorating for Fall with some pumpkins and things from another Rubbermaid tub I found in the guest room closet.  I found my pumpkin watercolor painting I did.  I was happy about that.  I knew I had hung it in the apartment last year so I knew I had it.  I have another watercolor I want to do (maybe next week) with leaves and acorns.  I haven't painted in so long. 

Pumpkin Watercolor I did in 2020.

 

My Nana's wooden bowl filled with pumpkins and leaves.

Since I had extra pumpkins I added them to my painted little cupboard.

Same with my pumpkin pine cupboard.  I have a wooden piece that they used to let dough rise on here, so it needed some pumpkins!  I made the stained glass pumpkin on here too.  I have since moved it to my white painted cupboard so you could see it better and it was in the way when I open the cupboard.

This cute little pumpkin candle ring and candle were just thing my island needed.

I added some pumpkins to my Green Depression Glass bowl and a little wheat to the fence post vase I have on the white cupboard.  The sampler was from my Dad's family.  I love it so much!

My dahlias have had a resurgence!  The cooler weather has really helped them out.  They like it cooler than it had been anyway.  I just love bringing them in the house.  Makes me happy!

 The roses are blooming again also since it has gotten cooler.  Here is a rose I brought from my house in SC, it is called My First Love.

The last thing I'm going to show is a stool my Dad made for me.  I painted a New England type scene on it in acrylic.  I have another stool he made just like this and I had it displayed on the 4th of July because I painted a flag on it.

I just want to also say that my heart goes out to my fellow North Carolina residents that live in Western North Carolina.  It is so bad up there and so much loss.  I really can't talk about it, it is so upsetting.  All of the people in the Greenville area of SC, some areas in GA and of course, all the people in FL are in my prayers also.  Hurricane Helene will not be forgotton so easily for sure.  

Well that about sums up everything going on here.  I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather.  Again please pray for everyone affected by Helene.

Sherri

September is Just Flying By!!

 Hi Everyone!  I cannot believe it is September 23rd already!!  Where did the month go!

Well first off I guess some things are not meant to be.  I broke it off with Michael on Friday.  He started bossing me around, which he had never done before.  He was becoming very cynical also, which is not good.  He actually told me if he didn't want to do something (like go somewhere on a short trip) and he didn't like the place or just didn't want to go he wouldn't even consider it.  We were supposed to go along the Blue Ridge Parkway on this coming Saturday and Sunday.  When it came time to pick the date, he told me to pick the date and if he didn't like it he would change it.  That just isn't the way you decide things when you are a couple.  There were alot of other signs something wasn't right, so I called it off before it started to be more than it was.  That is why I took it slow and said we have to be friends before we could be more.  I will miss Ivan his dog, he was a sweetheart!

Well my lawn guy aerated, overseeded and fertilized my lawn and today there is a misty rain, which is great for the lawn!  I thought my dahlias were all done but they started blooming again when we had that cool weather a few weeks ago.  They are gorgeous (see below):

I got all my Fall decoration out and decorated for Fall.  I was pretty happy with the way it turned out throughout the house and the front door.

I painted this pumpkin picture in acrylics.

I see the leaves are changing.  I was down at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden 2 Saturdays ago and there was a maple tree that was totally red already!

I started a job on 9/7 at Harris Teeter (the grocery store here) as a personal shopper.  Well that ran me ragged so I switched to being a cashier and I like that much better.  I'm getting too old to be running around the grocery store shopping for someone else at marathon speed for 5 hours with no break!  I really liked when I trained on the cash register.  The people are so nice that I work with and the customers have been wonderful too!

Well that is about all I have for today!  I hope everyone enjoys the last few days of September and embraces Fall!!

Hugs,

Sherri