Happy New Years Eve! Welcome 2009!!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year's Eve! We are going over to Megan and Ken's for a few hours. We will probably be home by 9:30. John and I will probably start watching a movie until the Ball drops in Time Square and the bedtime for us!! No champagne or wine this year for me because I'm still on meds so I'll be the designated driver coming home from Megan's. Not that John drinks alot but we heard there will be roadblocks up all over Charlotte tonight and even 1 beer will be considered over the limit.

So everyone be safe, happy and healthy!! Welcome 2009!!

Feeling much better today!

I didn't go into work again today because I still had a fever this morning but it broke around 1:00. The Realtor Showing Desk called and asked if the house could be shown between 11-1 and then just when I was in the middle of making a pan of ziti for tomorrow night they called and they wanted to show it between 3-5 to the same person. I never say no, so I hurriedly made the rest of the ziti lit a spice candle, packed Teddy and my book up and took off for 2 hours. John has his office in the house so he had to leave too. If he's in the middle of a phone call or something important he stays but this time he wasn't. Teddy and I in my car and John in his car drove over to a group of stores called The Fountains. They always have plenty of parking away from the stores so we camped there for a bit. John had to leave at 4:15 for a closing so Teddy and I continued camping out by ourselves. I read my book for a bit but then I guess Teddy got bored so he started taking his paw and tapping me on the back. He then jumped from the back seat to the front and continued poking his nose in my side and whacking my hand with his paw. Needless to say I stopped reading and paid attention to him! He's such a love! Haven't heard anything from our realtor as to whether they were putting in an offer, if these people are serious, if they have a house to sell, etc., etc. We'll see.

Complete the Winter Holiday Reading Challenge

I have completed the Holiday Reading Challenge. The books I read are as follows:
for me. Here is a list of books I've chosen (hope I can read them all):

1. Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber
2. Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright
3. Christmas Thief by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark-Skipping this one, will save for next year.
4. Shrouds of Holly by Kate Kingsbury
5. Dashing Through the Snow by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark
6. Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton
7. The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren
8.Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber
9. Christmas Cookie Murder by Leslie Meier
10. Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Not feeling very well

I'm not feeling well today and haven't been for the past few days. I went to the Dr. today and she told me I have a viral throat infection and a UTI. I have an antibiotic for the UTI but just rest and plenty of fluids for the throat. Actually that helps the UTI also. Everyone stay healthy!

Christmas is all gone at our house!

Another Christmas has come and gone at the McDermitt household. We had to have all the Christmas decorations and our tree down by today. We have listed our home with a new realtor and a professional photographer will be coming to take new photos. We didn't want our pictures "dated" by having the Christmas decorations and the tree in the picture so we needed to put everything away. I love the tree and the decorations but I must admit I am glad to have the house back to normal. The house got so dusty and needed a good vacuuming (Teddy's hair and Cash's hair was everywhere). When Cash (our Granddog) comes and plays with Teddy what a lot of hair is around here. They play really well though. John is at work now and I bet he'll be so tired when he gets home. After working around here all day and then working at Best Buy from 4 to close he'll definitely love his bed when he gets home!!

Everyone have a lovely evening! Try and relax and enjoy!

I'm at Work Today and I Wish I was Home

I'm at work today. The traffic was non-existent so I got here at 7:30. There are only 6 of us here today. Atleast the phones aren't ringing that much. So far I have only gotten 1 call. I will probably get alot of work done and hopefully the one owner that is in will let us go home early. Atleast I have the weekend to look forward to. John has to work at Best Buy today from 12-8pm. They are calling it the second "black Friday". I don't envy him!

We all had a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas Everyone! John, Megan, Ken, Jenny, Kevin and I had a wonderful Christmas. It started last night with dinner at Megan and Ken's house. Megan made a wonderful leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, crescent rolls and an assortment of Christmas cookies for dessert. Then at 10:15 we left for the 11:00 p.m. service at Church, which was lovely. This morning Kevin and Jenny and Megan and Ken arrived around 9:00 at our house. We opened presents and ate orange danish. We had fun! We received calls from my 2 sisters and we called my Mom. She sounded sad, my one sister wasn't going over to her house until 5:00 p.m. I asked her to come down here but she chose not too. I think she wish she had! We all got so many beautiful and wonderful gifts! It was a day to remember!

Now it is time to rest. I have work tomorrow!

Merry Christmas Eve Day!!

Merry Christmas Eve Day everyone! I hope all of you who are traveling and visiting keep safe and warm! I also want to take this time to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Tonight John and I will go over to Megan and Ken's house for Christmas Eve dinner before Church. Jenny and Kevin will also be there. Megan is cooking a leg of lamb-yummy! She is a really good cook! We will all be going to the 11:00 pm service at our church. Megan and Ken are staying over our house tonight I think but Jenny and Kevin will be going back to their house. Jenny wanted to stay over but Kevin likes sleeping in his own bed and it will be their first Christmas in their new home. This is understandable. They will come down to our house early tomorrow though and we will all open gifts then. I will be cooking the spiral ham from Honeybaked Ham that my company gave us. We will have mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots (both of which will be steamed) biscuits and applesauce. I also made a cheesecake for dessert and have cherry for the top. I usually keep Christmas Dinner simple because we are all so tired from staying up late to go to church and then up early to all have breakfast together.

Our family wishes all your families a very Merry Christmas and holiday season!!

This is what I received from the Vintage Swap that Holly hosted!!

This was the Vintage Holiday Box I received from Lisa. She did a wonderful job with it for sure! In the box she put a Mississippi magazine, 2 cute Vintage Reindeer in the original box, a Noel Banner that was charming, a box of ornaments, a Golden Book, Recipe Cards and a beautiful Merry Christmas painting, which I put in my Kitchen propped up on the one counter. Everything was just wonderful-thank you Lisa!! Thanks Holly for having this! I'll be joining in again next year!!





I love this Christmas Card! It just completes the whole Vintage theme!



This was the Noel Banner that Lisa made-I love it!! I put it on my mantel in the kitchen. It looks great!



These cute little Vintage Reindeer are great additions to my Vintage Christmas decorations!

Some more Christmas Decoration Pictures

Finally our Christmas Tree is complete. I put the "rain" or some people call it tinsel on the tree tonight. I love the way the tree shimmers now!



I just bought these cute cocktail napkins for Christmas.



This Santa ornament was my grandparents and they passed it on to John and I. I put it on our tree every year!



This is an antique Snow Swan ornament I bought at an antique shop about 20 years ago.



This little pinecone ornament is an antique. It was also my grandparents. I have it in blue, silver and pink. These are my treasured ornaments on the top of our tree.



This is a Vera Mouse ornament that I had bought for our tree when the girls were little.



This is a Vintage Deer that I received in a Vintage Christmas Swap this year. There are 2 of them and they are so cute!



This is the stained glass ornament I made about 15 years ago.



This is the Angel of Light counted cross-stitch I did when the girls were little. It is on antique linen and it is 36 ct. linen.

Well that is the tour tonight of the McDermitt House! I hope you enjoyed it!

I had a strange thing happen to me last night!

Well last night I had something happen to me that has never happened before. It was around 11:30 p.m. and DH hadn't come home from work yet. I decided I would turn all the window candles off. I got all the window candles turned off and I opened the front door to turn the 2 topiaries on the front porch and the Moravian Star off. A carolina wren decided to sleep in my wreath on the front door. Well I opened the door and left it open while I went to the outlet to unplug the chord. The little carolina wren woke up and flew in the house! Well Teddy decided I'm going to retriever because I'm a Golden Retriever!! He crashed into the Christmas tree (surprisingly only 1 ornament broke), he crashed into the fireplace, couch, palm tree in the sunroom and the chairs in the dining room almost got turned over! The little wren kept flying into the 10' Christmas tree-hiding from Teddy I'm sure. The little wren then flew upstairs into the office and then I was able to get it to fly into the back bedroom. I thought if I could just get it in there I would open the window and the little wren could fly out. DH came home (mind you I had been battling this situation for an hour!). He open the window and the little bird was coaxed with a lambswool duster out the window into the night. What an adventure!! Teddy was really looked forward to a little bird dinner and I'm glad he didn't get it! What an adventure!

I saw Four Christmases Last Night

Last night John and I had a "date" night. We were going to either see the new Bond movie or Australia. Well the times for those two movies didn't work out for us so we went to see Four Christmases. John doesn't care for Vince Vaughn so he wasn't sure he really wanted to see it. We had no other choices but I was glad we went to see it because it was really funny! We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner before the movie. We had a really wonderful date night! We need to do this more often!!!

Tonight I'm supervising cookie making at Megan's House!

Tonight is cookie making at Megan's. I have opted not to make my cookies tonight but I will be supervising Megan and Jenny. They will probably need help with a few recipes. I think tonight we are making Cream Cheese Cookies, Spritz cookies and my Mom's Gingersnap recipe. Megan is a really good baker and cook, Jenny not so much. I will probably be helping Jenny. She wants to learn so bad, I hope it works for her! It will be nice not to have to rush home, cook dinner, make something for John's clients, cards, etc. Just have some nice girl time with my girls!

Christmas Shopping all done!

I had the day off today from work. I went to the Dr. to find out how my blookwork results was. My thyroid was fine but my bad cholestrol was just a little high. My Dr. said to just exercise more and eat even more healthy.

After my Dr. appt. John and I went Christmas shopping and we got it all done except for some stocking stuffers. We got some wonderful gifts for the girls, I finished my Mom's shopping and I even bought myself a gift with the $ my Mom gave me for Christmas. I bought a watch, the kind with the larger face. I really like those.

Now all I have to do is make some Christmas cookies! I will also enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Busy day today!

Today John and I went to Church. The church was decorated so beautiful! The window sills in our church are deep so they always put greens, magnolia leaves and then a huge hurricane with a pure white candle inside it. They had all of them lit this morning. Our Christmas tree up near the sanctuary is about 40' tall and it is decorated with little white cross, doves, stars, trumpets, etc. It looks beautiful. I think they bought 2 huge new wreaths also for the front of the church because they were absolutely gorgeous this morning! We sang alot of the hymns that I love this time of year.

Then John and I met our 2 friends from the neighborhood for brunch. The restaurant we wanted to go to was closed so we ended up somewhere else. I had the Chicken and Spinach Salad and it was just yummy!

Then we went home and changed into comfy clothes. I have been having trouble with my cell phone, so we decided to go to Best Buy where John works and get me a new one! I am now the proud owner of a LG enV in maroon! Very festive looking! I love it already!!





I decided to take a picture of the outside of our home all lit up. I love candles in the windows. We have put most of them on a chord that you step on to turn off and on and it is so much easier!



This NOEL banner was made by a friend and sent to me about 1 week ago. I just hung it on my mantel in the kitchen. I love it! Thanks Lisa!!

Now I'm headed downstairs to read and hopefully complete the Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke. I will be starting The Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber after that. Everyone have a lovely evening!

The Office Christmas Party was Lovely!

Our office party was held at The Morehead Inn in the Dillworth section of Charlotte. It was a wonderful time had by all! The food, decorations, wait staff and company was just perfect. We had beef tenderloin, salad, artichoke/spinach dip with toast rounds, cheeses, shrimp with cocktail sauce, 2 pasta stations and then a wonderful dessert station on the grand piano! I am so glad they had it there and hope they do again next year!

Some more Christmas Pictures

I had a few moments before I leave for my company Christmas Party, so I thought I would put some pictures on here that I took last night.



Teddy was laying under the tree so I thought I would snap the moment. He loves it under there!



The Grandfather that gave me the Santa statue that I showed the other day, also bought me my first stocking! I still have it 49 years later.



The Christmas Wreath that greets everyone at our front door.



This was the moon last night with clouds swirling around it!

I went Christmas Shopping last night!

Last night I was suppose to go to dinner with a friend and she cancelled at the last minute. I was disappointed but then I decided to go Christmas Shopping! I had a great time! I went to Barnes and Noble first and bought all the gifts I needed to there. I then proceeded to Swooshies, which is a little shop near where I live. I bought a combined gift for Megan and Ken. They really love monogrammed things. So I bought a wine stopper, cocktail napkins, cheese spreader and coasters that all had their monogram on it. They will be so happy. Megan had just told me about the wine stopper, which is crystal. It is beautiful! Then I proceeded to Coldwater Creek. I bought my Mom some bird ornaments. She loves cardinals and in the group of 3 was a cardinal on a pinecone. She loves birds of any kind except starlings and crows. She should really love that. I was going to continue on to Home Goods and Target but I got really tired. I was so busy at work, I had woke up really early and then all the shopping I decided I needed to go home and eat something and then finish the 8 cards I had left to do. They are all done now, stamped and ready to go! I took a picture of one and I'll post it on my blog tomorrow when I have more time. I also took some other pictures and I'll post them tomorrow too. I also have to put all the jewelry on etsy.com too! Tomorrow will be a busy, busy day too! I'm glad I have Monday off. I better get going so everyone have a marvelous day!

I've gotten most of my Christmas Cards done-YAY!

Last night I got my fountain pen, markers, scissors and Christmas cards all out on my coffee table. I changed into really comfortable clothes after work and popped in a movie. I proceeded to get some letters and pictures of the girls weddings printed out to put in our Christmas cards. I completed all the cards except about 8, which I'll finish tonight. Every year since 1982 I have drawn some holly leaves on the envelopes of my cards and then colorize the with green markers and then I add 3 holly berries to each leaf cluster. Some people have thought I stamped them on, but no I draw the on with my fountain pen. I had thought of not doing it one year, because of the time it takes but Megan and Jenny told me (they were 5 and 7 at the time) that it would not be the same without them on the cards and people would be sad. Supposedly a few of my friends told them they love to receive my cards with this little bit of art work on them! I was so surprised because it isn't that hard to do, it's very simple. My husband's uncle that lives in Annapolis also remarked to me that he has saved every envelope I have ever sent him at Christmastime! So the moral here is even if you do something really small and it seems very small to you, you may be brightening someone's life even if it is just a little!

Everyone have a wonderful day!

Tonight John and I decorated the Tree!

John and I decorated our tree tonight. We got all the ornaments on the tree and the stained glass angel I made for the top many years ago. I have yet to put all the icicles on-some people call it rain. I put one strand at a time on and John just doesn't have the patience for that. He lets me do that all by myself. I love it because the light catches every shimmer of silver and it looks like it is winking at everyone!!




I finally found the Santa my grandfather gave me when I was 1 yr. old. That would have been Christmas of 1960! There is a price written on the bottom of $.69. It would be more than that today! I treasure this piece and always put it on the mantel. Every time I look at it, which is every day a few times a day I think of Papa. Merry Christmas Papa!!

Well I am exhausted and will bidding everyone goodnight! Talk to y'all tomorrow!

Today I am sick!

I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach virus! I think I have been getting this for a few days. Friday I was freezing at work, yesterday I was extremely tired. John said I probably have jewelry poisoning! He is just too funny. I did work really hard yesterday, all day making jewelry or drawing designs. Megan's Holiday Open House was really nice but alot of people just came to visit and not buy. I think with the economy, alot of people aren't buying very much. Can't really blame them. I did sell a few pieces and alot of them said after the holidays they want to order some things for themselves. They just didn't feel right buying things for themselves with Christmas shopping to be done. Megan felt bad but I didn't. I made alot of the jewelry with people I need to buy gifts for in mind, so if it didn't sell I could just give it to the person I wanted too! Well back to the couch and some reading in Dashing Through the Snow by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark. Everyone have a great evening!

Jewelry Making in Overdrive Today!!

I will diligently making jewelry all day today to prepare for the Open House Megan is having tonight at 7:00. I made some things over this past week, but I came up with tons of ideas last night while I was at my favorite bead store, On a String! I'm pretty sure I can get most of them done and what I don't get done today, I will create another day and put it on etsy.com. I will let everyone know how I made out with the Holiday Open House tomorrow! Everyone have a lovely day!!

I had blood taken this morning

This morning I couldn't eat breakfast like I normally do because I had to go to the Dr. for bloodwork. They took 5 vials of blood!!!! Bunch of vampires!! They are testing my thyroid, cholestrol and obviously everything else under the sun if they need so many vials of blood! My arm is sore. I will find out on the 15th of this month the results of these tests when I go in for my physical.

Everyone have a great day!

I made a few pieces of jewelry tonight

I made one jacket/sweater pull, which was a sterling silver charm of a poinsettia with a green and red Swarovski crystal. I made a mauve Swarovski glass pearl with a Swarovski Rondelle on either side of the pearl. That was a necklace, which Megan ordered for her friend for Christmas. I also made an initial/birthstone Mom bracelet. I couldn't get any pics to come out really we;; tonight so I'm going to have to do that tomorrow night. That was it for tonight because the Rockefeller Tree is being lit tonight and I have to watch that. I also need some more supplies, which I will pick up on my way home tomorrow night from work. Everyone have a great evening!

I was looking at old pictures and here is Christmas 2002!

I was looking for a specific picture and I came across this picture from December 2002 (sorry my kitchen light reflected in the top right hand portion of the pic). We still lived in Frankford Township, NJ. This is what we used to deal with in the winter in NJ. If you look through the spindles on the deck you can see our pool. No one would be swimming in that pool with all that snow around that's for sure! To the right of the pool there was a hottub and of course, we used that year round! We have not had one snowstorm here in Charlotte since we moved here in 2004! The weather gets chilly but no snow. If we want snow we go from the Piedmont to the Mountains, which is about 2 1/2 hrs. away. I very rarely wear a coat. I did buy my peacoat this year, but I've only worn it 3 times! Everyone have a great evening!

Look what I caught Teddy doing!!

Look what I caught Teddy doing-sleeping on my ottoman! I was typing on someone else's blog when I happened to look over and I saw him sleeping on my ottoman. I guess he thinks this is his high-rise bed! I guess he felt cozy because I had put the gas fireplace on and it is near the ottoman.

The Pottery Barn Holiday Decorating Seminar was great!

I went to the PB Seminar today with my two daughters, Megan and Jenny. We had alot of fun and got some wonderful ideas. The picture above is of the mecury glass candle pillars. They come in varying sizes and range in price from $19.00-$39.00. The had red velvet candles on them and they put the red berries they sell in a spray around them. They looked just wonderful! They used 6 of the pillars though, which would amount to alot. Then They switched out the red candles for silver sparkle candles and switched out the berrie swags for silver, shiny balls on a swag. Absolutely gorgeous. They also did an arrangement on a mantel with their beautiful silk amaryllis, greens and some other silver ornaments. They really knew how to get you excited about decorating!! It was a fun time with the girls. We did a little shopping and then came home and crashed!! Just a note to everyone: PB does these seminars every year all around the country, so check it out next year!

Well Sherri did some Christmas Decorating!!

This is my Willow Tree Nativity Scene. The Bible to the left of the display is my bible I was given in 3rd Grade. I always put it out every Christmas



This is the fireplace in the Great Room. There are alot of stocking this year! I added the 2 son in laws and Teddy, our dog and Cash, Jenny and Kevin's dog! The green antique wooden sled with the Santa on it was painted by me. I used to take decorative painting class and this is my greatest achievement!!



Closeup of the Dining Room Table Decorations.



The whole dining room table decorations.



This is the blue cupboard in my kitchen all decorated with snowmen and a Santa wooden plate.




My Sunroom has a lovely fireplace in it too. So I decorated around my wooden swan.


The Kitchen Fireplace is the all decked out for the holidays!


I decorated the kitchen granite ledger very simple this year. Candles, some shiny Christmas balls and I'll add some magnolia leaves from my tree closer to the holidays.


I had to show off this picture my mother painted for John and I. She does watercolor. I had a card that I had gotten and asked her to put her spin on it and it came out beautiful! This picture doesn't do it justice but it really has alot of detail. I love cardinals and North Carolina has a lot of them. I'm glad she decided to take on the challenge!

That is it so far! I'm not decorating as heavily this year because of the house being on the market. We have yet to put the tree up, but that will be next! Merry Christmas everyone a little early!!

I just won the Bookworm Award!

Lynne at Lynne's Little Corner of the World gave me this Bookworm Award! Thanks, Lynne!

There's a meme that goes with this award. Here's how it works: Open the book closest to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there.

The book closest to me right now is Sugar Cookie Murder. I am currently reading this book.

The Bascombs would put on the appearance of connubial bliss for the crowd of constituents that hd gathered for the party, but it was all for show.

"Lovely dress, Mrs. Bascomb," Hannah said, admiring the white wool dress with white on white wool dress with white-on-white embroidered snowflakes forming a border around the hem and the neckline. Tiny snowflake earrings made of small diamonds twinkled in her ears, and Hannah suspected the worst. It was a well-know fact that Stephanie bascomb bought herself an expensive new outfit every time she thought her husband was cheating on her. And this time she'd bought diamond earrings, too.

Now I need to tag five others (I could only think of 3) for this award and meme. How about:

http://kays-read-scrap-live.blogspot.com/
http://bookfan-mary.blogspot.com/
http://iyamvixenbooks.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Everyone in our household had a great Thanksgiving! This is a picture of Jenny (on the left-our youngest daughter), myself in the center and Megan (on the right-she is our oldest daughter). I was really tired and exhausted from cooking so I don't look so good. I also have this horrible sinus infection, but the girls insisted they have a picture of the 3 of us. We all went to see Bolt in 3-D at the theater near our house. It is was cute. We usually don't go to the movies on Thanksgiving but the girls decided they wanted to do something different. It was a good day had by all. Today I'm resting pretty much. Everyone have a great evening!

Thanksgiving Preparations

The Thanksgiving preparations are all complete for today! I made an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, the dressing, set the table with my Green Depression Glass, peeled the potatoes and clean up a little. My daughters collect yellow and pink depression glass. One year we used all three colors for Thanksgiving. It looked really pretty!

I had a strange thing happen with the turkey. I thawed out the turkey and I always boil the neck and giblets for stock for my dressing. Well I pulled the neck out of the carcass and I went to pull out the little bag with the giblets and it wasn't there! How could a turkey not have the giblets??? Oh well I used just the neck to made the stock for the dressing. Never had that happen before.

I went to the Dr. this morning and I do have a sinus infection and the start of an ear infection. Good thing I went to the Dr. I've only had one call so far from the office.

Now it's time for me to rest, read and take a nap!!

My Bookclub was Great!

My Bookclub read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and tonight we met and discussed it. We had a really great discussion. Everyone liked the book but some of the subject matter bothered everyone. We couldn't believe the children all lived! It was really great to listen to everyone discussing this story.



I won this book tonight! I almost won Knit Two but the person next to me won it. The Knitting Circle was on my to read list and now I've got it to add to my pile of reading!

We are skipping December because of everyone's schedules and obligations. We are meeting in January to discuss Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. I'm anxious to read it. It is suppose to be very good.

February we will be meeting at a little book store near to where I work and we'll be meeting an author. Can't remember the book or author right now.