Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever been on a real sleigh ride? How about the warm weather version - a carriage ride? I've been on a hay ride, does that count? I don't know if I've been on a real sleigh ride, but oh well! I get to ride an ex-carriage horse!!

2. What's your policy on 'chain mail'...you know, the emails you receive that are often some sort of poem/blessing/good wish that ask you to send it on to 10 or 12 friends? Do you delete without opening, read and trash, read and trash and then worry you won't be blessed/lucky/protected? Do you delete the sender from your contacts or just go ahead and send the love onward? It depends on the chain email, there are some that are really cool, and if they have facts in them I automatically go to Snopes.com to make sure it's true, but then there are some that are just cute that my boss will send to me, that just make me start my day off right :) I absolutely love some, but the ones saying that "you'll die if you don't- - -" I delete them usually, don't even read them!

3. Who is your favorite character in any of the Christmas movies and why? My favorite character(s) in a classic Christmas movie would be Mr. Heat Miser & Mr. Snow Miser from The Year Without Santa because the two of them in their songs are just so awesome!

In one of the newer Christmas movies, I like the boy in Christmas Shoes, because he's sweat and all he wants is to buy these shoes for his mom that's dieing, because he wants her to look pretty if she meets Jesus that night.

4. Share a favorite quote. Just one? Okay, I'm giving you a couple because I couldn't just give you one!

"There were six churches:
The Methodist, which had a warm and friendly pastor
The Presbyterian, whose minister was a very proper person
The Episcopal, whose pastor was a born actor
The Lutheran, whose pastor was rigid and pompous
The Baptist, which had a simple, but like-able pastor
The Catholic, whose pastor was aloof and inflexible"-Joshua by Joseph F. Girzone

"Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling 5 balls. The balls are called work, health, friends, family and integrity. And you are keeping all of them in the air; but one day, you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls, family, health, friends and integrity are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked perhaps even shattered."-Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

"Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying "It takes a village to raise a child." Well, I have seen the village and I don't want it raising my child" ~Unknown

5. What's your favorite holiday scent? I love the smell of pumpkin pie and apple pie cooking, or the one that is always in my house a fire (love the smell) or our homemade chex mix. I absolutely hate the smell of pine! BLEH!

6. Does the Christmas season stress you out? In what way? Sometimes, the whole gift buying process is always stressful, especially when it's coming down to December 20th, because then you realize you only have five days to get everything bought, wrapped, labeled, and shipped (okay I usually ship mine like a week before Christmas). Then you have the whole family part, if your family is anything like mine then you'll want to spend Christmas with one, but you'll have to spend Christmas with the other - - - That usually happens here, and you always have the stress of cooking when you have family coming over (especially if it's your in-laws coming)

7. What's the best thing about your life right now? The best thing about my life? Oh, well everything! I have a wonderful family (a few nuts in the extended family, but hey we all do right?), both of my jobs are amazing, my boss is sweet and too nice to me! My friends are amazing and are a great support in my life. My two church families are amazing, they're always there for support if I ever need it. The horses are great and are like my four legged family. My life is pretty great (if you asked me this last Christmas, you wouldn't have gotten such a long list) and I've been blessed into a great family, and although we're not rich and live lavishly, we have the right amount, and it's just perfect!

8. Unkown at the current moment - - - My brain has taken the Christmas holiday off, but a little too early.

Christmas Tree Hunting with Cae & Family

If you like the music, then contact Hunter Foote to order a copy of Sixteen for Christmas. You can email Hunter at HunterFoote@charter.net

If you want to read the story about the women and her black book, click here! Or you can check out my Flashback Friday post from Friday you can click here!

Ken's Christmas Tree Farm is just awesome and really nice, soyou can give Ken an email at connifer2@yahoo.com go and pick your tree up today!!!

Cakettes, is just awesome! So check their website out, click here!

Do you see that really awesome picture up top? Yeah, well that from 2nd Cup of Coffee's blog, see Lid is doing a Christmas Tree/Ornament link up, and you should go and check it out and participate!

Cae

O Tannenbaum

This weeks Flashback (forward) Friday's prompt:

When you were growing up, when did your family put up and decorate the Christmas tree? Was it real or artificial? Who usually decorated it? Were there special decorations? What was on the top? White lights or colored, blinking or steady? How much did your family decorate for the holiday other than the tree (wreaths, dishes, snowglobes, miniature villages, etc.)? Did y'all do outdoor lights? White or colored, blinking or not? Are there special memories associated with decorating for Christmas?

Yay for Christmas!! The most memorable memory would be setting up the Caroler's with my grandmother.

My grandmother loved these caroler's, they always went out in the same spot every year on her coffee table thing. It was only last year, eight years after my grandmother died, that my grandfather allowed Mom & I to take them up to our house and put them up. So this year the Caroler's were the first Christmas items up in the house :) I love putting the Caroler's up, not only because they are just awesome, but because they remind me of my grandmother. It was actually surprising when Bro #1 didn't remember the Caroler's or putting them up! That was a huge part of being with Grandma during Christmas time!

As a family we always go out tree hunting, which with my father can take all day! For example last year, Dad, Bro #1, and I went out Christmas tree hunting, while Mom was at work. We went to 7 different tree farms, spent all day looking, and contemplated driving down to CT twice, doesn't that sound like fun?! Once we get the perfect tree, which has to be rounded properly, not too tall, and has to be a specific type. A type that seems to be unknown in MA >:O So once the tree is up and is perfectly straight we can start decorating it. We put the white lights on it first, and that has to be perfect also, one that is done we can put the ornaments, which have to be spaced and be around the tree evenly, and have to look perfect (have you caught the word perfect?). After that then we get to do tinsel, which is practically illegal in MA to buy we learned this last year, anyways the tinsel have to look perfect and there can't be any clumps on a branch what not and Armageddon might come, and we wouldn't want that to happen, right? Oh and we can't forget the angel that we've had since 1812! That goes on the top, by the time that everything is done and the tree is watered. We're all so tired!

Cae

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What is the most interesting thing you've done in the last year?

Working, I know it sounds totally lame, but working at the library is probably the most interesting thing, plus it's a lot of fun :)

2. What is your most meaningful family heirloom?

To me? It would be my grandmother's rings, which I don't get until I'm 18 :( Or the clock thing, that we have in the living room, which is from someone on my father's side.

3. What food festival would you most like to attend?

Holy cow, there are a lot of food festivals! I would want to go to Belfast Taste & Music Fest, it sounds good :) Or maybe the IFEX Int'l Food, Drink & Catering Exhibition in Ireland.

4. Snow...do you love it or is it considered a four letter word where you live?

If it's really cold, and it's been really cold for a while then I enjoy the snow, but most of the time I don't enjoy the snow, but then there are also times when I do enjoy the snow. It all depends on my mood, I guess.

5. Can you ski? Do you ski? Are you any good?

No, Nope, and Not at all!

6. What quality in your spouse or best friend are you most thankful for?

They're always there and will always listen to me. One of my best friends and I are known for our "Bathroom Chats".

7. Describe the coziest spot in your home.

There are two, for my liking. The first one would be our living room. It has a beautiful fireplace, which I'm actually facing right now, and the couches are a tan suede and very comfy :) The walls are a light-ish brown and the curtains are a dark brown. It's very comfy, and welcoming, especially when the fire place is light :) The second place would be my bedroom. My bedroom is above the garage, so the view our of the side window is looking out into the side yard and you can see the birds flying in front of it, or the bunnies chasing each other. It's all very nice, and my bed is extra comfy, it have a comforter and a blanket that my grandmother made for me. My room's walls are currently white, but on the right to my bed, I have pictures that I enjoy up on my wall. My back wall is a dark purple that is going to have gold starburts on it, but we haven't gotten the gold paint yet.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Since we've been playing Xmas carols in MA for a good months and a half, I've wanted the local radio station to play only four songs. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Dominic the Donkey, and Christmas Shoes. So last night driving to rehearsal for the a Capella group, Santa was taking requests from kids, and I said "You know, it would be nice to hear Christmas Shoes, but no kids know this song, so we won't hear it." So I was debating about calling Santa, but he was askin what was something that we did good this past week, and it's only MONDAY!! So I didn't want to say nothing!! Well, I decided agianst calling Santa, but then this cute little kid came on, and she was very shy, but very cute. So when Santa asked if there was a favorite Xmas song that she would like Santa to play, and she said Christmas Shoes! I was so happy!

Now, I'm going to warn you. If you are a crier, this is not a joyful songs, this is a depressing Xmas song, so if you are going to watch it, please have a box of tissues next to you.

Come and join Joyce From This Side of the Pond and link up yourself!

Cae

Giving Thanks Challenge

Well, the Giving Thanks Challenge has come to an end, and today is the last day in November. This challenge helped me realize what in my life I'm really thankful for. I have to thank South Breeze Farm for thinking this challenge up, because it's a unique challenge, but very awesome. So check out my list below, to see what I'm thankful for!

1. Books2. Born an American Citizen3. The right to vote as a women4. Music5. The Library6. Coffee 7. Laughter8. Starbucks 9. Aunt Florence's Irish Soda Bread :)10. Friends11. Nail polish :)12. My Health13. Horses14. My family15. God and being part of God's family16. Music & Singing17. Horses18. Writing19. Bacon20. My church family (both of them)21. Heat for my house22. Babysitting23. My pets, Max (Bernese Mountain Dog) and Bandit (Black & White kitty cat)24. The Horse Rescue25. God's Love26. Pumpkin Pie27. Clothes28. The Bible29. The Flea Market30. My life
Cae

It's Not Just Thanksgiving

Every American knows that today is Thanksgiving, but today is not just Thanksgiving in my household. It's Bro #1's birthday!!! Last year around this time, some stuff when down between the scouts in our old town and my father. The sad part is that Bro #1 invited some of his friends, who were part of this problem. Our friends, we'll call them the A's, the A's told us that nothing would come between the kids. Well Bro #1 invited the A's, P's, and O's up the MA for his birthday. When this spilt in scouts happened, we later got a phone call a day before Bro #1s birthday, saying that none of them will be coming up.

This was devestating to Bro #1 and I. The A's are great people, they got my father to attend church, and now they're letting a scouting fued get between the kids, something that they said wouldn't happen. Mom & Dad called the S's, the H's, our grandfather, and the nextdoor neighbors and all invited them to Bro #1s birthday. Although the A's, O's, and P's weren't at his birthday, and Bro #1 was kind of down, so was I, we had a great birthday. It also made us all realize what to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! May your travels be safe and keep your blessings in mind.

Cae

ps. this video was from Mocha with Linda - Thanks for letting me borrow it! :)

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. If you had known what they knew then, would you have boarded the Mayflower? Yes I would have, if I believed that going to the New World would help me, or be a better place. Then I would go no matter what.

2. How far have you traveled on a boat and how do you feel about boats in general? I love boats! I've only been on four boats in my life, two were fairies going and coming from Martha's Vineyard, which was probably the longest boat travel for me. One was for school and was over in Mystic, CT I think and it was about all the sea creatures and was pretty awesome. The other one, was in Hawk's Nest Beach, in Old Lyme, CT to dump my grandmother's ashes. It was her dream, and it was all nice, the whole boat was filled with family and it's memory will stay with me forever.

3. What traditions have you kept, acquired thru marriage, and/or tossed? If you're single what are some of your family's favorite Thanksgiving traditions? Trying to make the whole family come here, and in the end we just have 5 Thanksgiving - - -This is the only thing that comes to mind.

4. What time is dinner and how many will be round your table? And what is the one side dish you cannot do without on Thanksgiving day? Pumpkin Pie count as a side dish? ;) Probably Pink Potatoes, because those are great :D And, we don't know how many. It's Bro #1's bday, so we might have some church friends.

5. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher? Do tell.... No I haven't - - - Not yet :D

6. Tell about a situation that caused you dreadful trepidation and feet dragging, only to realize later it was a true blessing. Moving - - - Absolutely I hated the idea of moving, but when I moved up to MA and a couple months into living here, it's become a great blessing.

7. Baked, sweet, mashed, hash browned or french fried...which one's your favorite? Pink Potatoes - - - They're Mashed Idaho Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes mixed together :)

8. Did you know that my dog, Max, is afraid of this duck that quacks. Well this morning when Max was doing his whining routine, he grabbed the duck and made the duck go quack. Instead of dropping the duck and running away, he's running away from the noise, but the noise is still in his mouth - - - Great job dog :)

Go and link your answers up at From This Side of the Pond, Happy Thanksgiving!

Cae