Goodbye 2018

I truly feel like I was just welcoming 2018. It has flown at supersonic speed.

I hope to end it tomorrow with a beach walk. Hubby and I made it out today even though it was a dreary day. We set out to go early this morning only to turn around and head back because it started raining pretty hard. We came back and made breakfast at home and then did a little cleaning and organizing. We went back a bit later.

It has been dreary for the last couple of days and I think we have about two more of those days which hasn't been all bad. I am in that clean up and declutter mode. I have had Hubby working on some things and he is obliging because he can't get out to do much else. 😆

I have been stitching in the evenings. I realized I have quite a few large projects in progress and suddenly it was driving me nuts, so I am back in one stitch at a time until I whittle some of those larger WIPs down.

I started the chickadees and pinecone one right around Christmas, but my heart wasn't in at that moment. Two things: I am ready to stitch anything other than Christmas and winter and I realized I wouldn't be able to finish it to display this winter because it is pretty time consuming. I put it aside until the fall. I had a moment where I questioned it yesterday. There was a group of baby chickadees right outside the living room in the oak that the top of the tree is seen from my top deck. They were so cute, but like I said...
I am ready for something else.

I am working on the schoolhouse series. I am doing them on 28 count 2 over 2 and that was on purpose even though the pattern called for 1 over 1. I just simply can't do that little tiny stitching anymore. I don't think I would even enjoy trying, so 2 over 2 it is.

Progress on the first section which will be the largest. The others are more pinkeep sized.

I have been making all my goals and lists and plans for 2019. I always do this in my planner. It is nice to look back at the end of the year and see what you accomplished. 

I stitched and read quite a bit, but I can tell you I did awful on my gym visits starting late summer. I can totally feel it, so I have been detoxing from the holidays for the past few days and have another week to go and hitting the weights and walking again starting tomorrow.

I will start tracking it again in my planner!

My last note for this evening is blogging. I know it will take a hit after this week keeping Tucker. I have been thinking about much of my day and how I am going to rearrange things to accommodate this blessing.

I love to exercise, read my Bible, then read blogs while eating breakfast and all of that is going to have to be done in the evenings now. I will go back to a schedule much like I did when I worked full time. A quick devotional in the morning because I simply must start with a little bit of His Word and then all of those other items I will work into my evening schedule.

That means I will be reading my blogs most likely at night and even posting my own things. I hope to be able to write at least once a week. We will see how it all goes down I guess.

I will leave you with a Tucker picture. He was at my house the other day hence the pink seat that he is sitting in. A friend gave it to me:)

His mommy dressed him so cute.

Gus was saying hello to him. Lemony has been under the weather. She got an ear infection and didn't feel well at all. Then her antibiotics messed her tummy up, but she is on the mend now and I knew she was feeling better because she played with Gus quite a bit today.

Christmas 2018

Another Christmas has come and gone. I am in clean up mode now. I spent the day yesterday taking down the decorations. I got them down and clean up day is about to go down, so I decided to post before I forget.

Christmas Eve was the usual minus Lindsay, Tyler, and Tucker who visited Tyler's family in Atlanta. His grandparents and aunts and uncles all got to meet Tucker for the first time. I think it was a good idea to wait until this age (10 weeks) to visit. They said he was great and smiled and cooed for all.

Here we had Mom, Jeff's sister and brother-in-law, Paul Allen and Katie for our usual dinner. Since we have always opened presents here on Christmas Eve Paul Allen and Katie opened all of their presents except the ones from Tyler and Lindsay. They weren't sure they would be able to get back over Christmas night.

I think present selections were all good. Both seemed very happy with their loot.

Opening Mom's present...they almost missed the money in the box.

Tyler and Lindsay arrived Christmas Day early evening and we did the same routine all over again. The next night the only thing different about the table was the color of the napkins. Green that time.

Jeff and I both noticed Mom seemed to have the best Christmas she has had in YEARS. Think Tucker might be the reason?

Too many Tucker pictures?

Turns out Paul Allen and Katie did get back over. My heart was happy.

Aunt Donna and Uncle Al came back over for dessert and to see Tucker also.

I got some new cross stitch patterns and floss from Linsay and Tyler, a nifty essential oil bracelet from Paul Allen and Katie, and some new pajamas from Mother. My present from Jeff didn't come in. It is apparently a collectible space thingie. He was downhearted. He wasn't supposed to get anything as we got a new fangled stove/firepit for the Auburn house. I will share it later.

I thoroughly enjoyed my family.

I got a very sweet text from my sister-in-law thanking me for keeping the family traditions alive. Even Kristan, our niece tries to replicate the menu in Houston. They no longer come home for Christmas. Donna and Al do FaceTime and will go out later. I know those days are probably coming for me too. I try to soak up all I can get now.

I am sharing this picture of the Christmas closet. It is now upstairs. I moved it up back before the beginning of hurricane season from the downstairs closet. Funny my thoughts were if we have a hurricane I would be sad if we lost all the ornaments for the tree as most are collected pieces that just tell the story of our family life. I had all my Christmas stuff in a downstairs closet and had thought if we ever had a really big one that water would definitely come in downstairs.

As I put it all away yesterday in the upstairs closet, I couldn't help but think of our neighbors to the east. I am still reeling over that one. It is futile to think you can prepare for that kind of storm. Every home over there has trees all in their homes. No closet up or down is a safe haven for that fury.
A poignant reminder that we can't take it with us. Just enjoy every moment you are given and hold onto memories.

I am in reflection and cleaning mode. I have no idea what January is going to look like on the blog as I will be keeping Tucker.
I will not be going away. I just be even more sporadic. We will see.

I was so sad to see Poofing the Pillows announce she was closing her blog after 10 years. I know they are have an expiration date, but I was still sad. She is going to Facebook only.
My favorite medium is still the blog, so I will just keep on posting. I am sure an ending date will come and I am glad she just didn't disappear.

A few more pictures. My kids were not too dressed up this year for Christmas. One set had been traveling. One set had been out and about at the other parents house in a more active setting. I barely got my usual Christmas picture. Lindsay said I couldn't put it in the frame I usually display. It is perfect to me except for one tiny thing. Katie likes FSU. I guess it could be worse...

Tucker had decided he was hungry, so I was lucky to get one picture.

I even let Jeff take one of me.

and a tired Jeff afterwards.

Oh and the weather was perfect for Christmas too. 

I think it is about to be stormy for the next few days.

Off to clean up,
Sandy