The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 33 trips to carry that many people.
I was shocked when I realized I posted about the broken spring in my recliner on November 26, 2012, http://wp.me/pKNzn-ke. My temporary fix was supposed to be for a few weeks or a month. I just kept procrastinating.
My temporary repair on the broken spring.
It wasn’t until November 22, 2013 that I made it up to Gilbreath Upholstery to pick up replacement springs. He recommended that I replace all of them.
The new spring is in the center.
When we put the new one on, it felt like a new chair! Unfortunately, that year took its toll on another part of the recliner as the broken spring kept poking it.
The broken spring put a hole in the board between the foot rest and the seat.
My New Year’s Resolution is…”I Will Not Procrastinate!”
I wanted to share with you my Christmas decorations. My theme was “Birthday of a King.”
But first, I will share my secret. I did not have red velvet garland, but I had several strips from a large, red, velvet bow that I took apart.
I put strips of red velvet on the tree for garland.
I used those sections on the tree and taped them together!
After I taped them, I made sure the seams were behind a branch.
I used gold crowns and plastic drops that looked like crystal.
This topper was a manger scene in a crown and was designed to sit on a table. I wired it to the tree with a string of lights and branches of the tree.
This was my homage to a jester in the king’s court.
I used glass in the kitchen and crystal in the dining room.
My angel collection ended up in the bathroom.
I used crystal in the dining room and folded the napkins into crowns.
It’s Christmas Eve; and in a perfect world everything would be bought, wrapped and under the tree.
But what if it’s not?
The best gifts to give are the sentimental gifts and value does not matter.
I have a double strand of pearls that belonged to my great-aunt May. She was a single, feisty lady, and as a teenager, I cleaned her house while she followed me around with her walker. (I hope I am as happy as she was when I find myself alone and needing a walker!)
When she passed away, I was given her pearls. They are not real and one string comes loose from the clasp every time I wear them, but each time I hold them I am a teenager again in great-aunt May’s happy little house.
A sentimental gift that always makes me think of great-aunt May.
When you don’t have time for a well-thought-out gift, look for one that has memories attached to it.
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday we had the Christmas party for my home group. I like to make something for them. Last year, I made coffee cozies, (http://wp.me/pKNzn-lD).
This year, as I was unpacking my Christmas decorations, I looked at my favorite Christmas kitchen towel. It is velvety soft and had blanket-stitched yarn on the edges. I decided to make kitchen towels like it for my home group.
I was looking at kitchen towels, and when I saw a velvety one with penguins on it, I had to get it for my friend who collects penguins. I found another one with a snowman sipping hot cocoa for my other friend.
I used green yarn to blanket stitch the edge of the penguin towel and variegated red yarn for the snowman towel. (I thought it needed jazzed up a bit.)
It didn’t take long to do and I enjoyed thinking about them as I added that detail. After all, it’s the thought that counts!
The kitchen towels I added blanket-stitch yarn to for Christmas gifts.
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I have never had a problem with “re-gifting.” If it is something you cannot use, it is better to pass it on than to store it and let it gather dust.
Recently, I was asked if I could use some glass candlesticks. Knowing how much I like to entertain, they were sure I would use them and they are usually at all of my dinner parties so they would enjoy them too.
Imagine my shock when I opened the bag and found they were Mikasa Crystal!
Yeah, you can re-gift to me any time.
The “glass” candlesticks that were re-gifted to me.
When I was a little girl, my father would sing and play the guitar to lull me and my three siblings to sleep. When he passed away a few years ago, my siblings said they would like to inherit his guitar.
Later, I told my husband I would rather inherit Dad’s mandolin. I’ve tried playing the guitar but they are just too large and bulky for me.
I am proud of what my husband did next.
I was in shock when I opened the case and saw the pink towel. That was how I knew it was my dad’s mandolin.
Buying my dad’s mandolin was a priceless, sentimental gift. I appreciated that he also paid full value for it to mom.
If there is a sentimental gift you would like to give, get the appraisal right away.
The mandolin I found under the Christmas tree last year.
I save all the cloth and satin ribbons used to wrap my Christmas gifts. I never know when they will come in handy.
My collection of cloth ribbons, cords and satin ribbons.
I showed you how I embellished a pillow with scrap ribbons (“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” http://wp.me/pKNzn-t6) in October.
I used a cotton ribbon, formerly wrapped around my pajamas when I received them, to use as a tie on some pajama pants I hope to replace soon. I didn’t want to expend the effort to replace the elastic since I plan on throwing them away as soon as I find a pair of 100% cotton pants in a tall size.
Cloth ribbon becomes pajama pants tie.
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I received my first Christmas gift a few weeks before Thanksgiving. My friend gave me home-grown parsley that she had dehydrated and put in a canning jar. She gave it to me early so I could use it on my Thanksgiving dinner.
I remember being able to open a Christmas gift early when I was a teenager. It was a lovely dress and Mom decided I would enjoy wearing it to a Christmas service. She did not go out and buy another gift to replace it; I just had one less gift under the tree. I felt like a princess in my new dress!
If you decide to give a gift early, don’t feel like you have to replace it with another one. It’s not the gift, or when you receive it, it’s the thought that counts!
Homegrown, dehydrated parsley.
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As I was chopping bread and celery for my Thanksgiving stuffing, I came up with a new trick.
My recipe calls for 1 cup of celery with the leaves. Instead of cutting off a stalk of celery, I trimmed the ends and then chopped off the ends of all the stalks until I had 1 cup of celery and leaves.
I got more leaves by chopping it this way and the stuffing was the first item of my leftovers to disappear.
Chopped celery for stuffing.
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