December 28, 2007

Yesterday we spent some of the Walmart gift card Nana gave us. I finally got a bookcase for the upstairs extra bedroom.

Hooray! A new place to put stuff!

December 26, 2007

Merry Christmas from the Hylands!

Ok. I'm a day late. I really meant to post something yesterday, but both cameras crapped out in the middle of taking pictures so I had to wait until they recharged. Then I went into a turkey coma and forgot to post. Ah well.

Here is the bountiful meal we partook of together.

We had turkey (my first ever that I made all by myself and it turned out to be the best turkey EVER), gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, parker house rolls, sweet tea, sparkling white grape juice, and I made deviled eggs just for me. We had pumpkin pie and whipped cream for dessert.

Here's the booty we got from the Washington state folks and my presents to Jamie:

Lots of fun stuff, including stuff that came all the way from Hawaii! And here's what I did with one of the presents:

I made a window treatment for our extra room using the monogrammed hankies Betsy sent us and some red napkins that I got for half price at Target. Ain't I crafty? Hehe.

Christmas will be extended for us because we haven't gotten presents from the NC folks since we couldn't get to Mema's house for Christmas Eve. But Mom says there's a basketful of presents waiting for us. Mema was extra excited about one particular present and told me about it. My cousin Jordan and his wife Sarah got tickets to the NASCAR All-Star Challenge in Charlotte on May 17, 2008 for Mema, Aunt Gloria, Mom, and me. YAY!!!

Jamie has a love-hate relationship with his new job at Target, but that's to be expected since he started working a retail job at the absolute worst possible time of year. But he's been doing a good job and there's a very good chance he'll be able to stay after the holiday season is over. He really enjoys helping customers and he's very good at it. I married such a personable, nice guy. It balances out how not-so-personable I am. Hehe. Hopefully he can grin-and-bear-it for a little longer so he has some work experience for finding a new job or get promoted to a higher position at Target.

I have one more gig before the end of the year, one I just got this past week. I'll get to play in costume at the Tavern in Old Salem next Sunday for a wedding brunch. Fun! I love to play in costume and might get to do some more in the near future.

December 9, 2007

I'm over the halfway point for my Christmas gigs this year. Last weekend I participated in my fourth performance of Handel's Messiah. And I played in costume at Old Salem. This weekend I played for a church cantata. I still have two gigs left, but they're fun-no-pressure ones: being background music at dinner time for one of the retirement homes and being background music at a Christmas party. Four of the five gigs are definite paying gigs. I'll clear a little over $500. Too bad Christmas doesn't happen more than once a year. I like playing!

Yesterday after the church rehearsal we went to the Dollar Tree and Target to look at their Christmas stuff. The dollar store had absolutely nothing worth looking at, much less actually buying. Target was a little better. We picked up a two more boxes of glass balls (LOVE GLASS BALLS!) and a glass pickle for our tree. The pickle is this year's special ornament.

Here's our 2006 ornament with our 2007 ornament.

I ran out of ornament hooks, but I found a nifty place for the extra red and gold balls. This is the crystal egg tray that we bought at Belk's with a wedding gift card. It was the only completely frivolous thing we bought using all the cards folks gave us. I think it makes a marvelous tray for Christmas decorations! It holds 4 red balls, 8 gold balls, a candle, and a candle ring.

Oohhh, and Jamie got a job offer from Target on Wednesday. He starts as soon as they give him an orientation schedule. YAY! And, he has an interview at a construction supply company in town on Monday for a regular day job. But, here's what he's up to today.

Hehe. I think I'll go join him on the couch.

November 27, 2007

I'm finally unstuffed from Thanksgiving dinner. Mom came to see us and we had a nice spread for three. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, collards (thanks Mema!), green bean casserole, corn, parker house rolls, pumpkin pie, and leftover wedding cake.

Once we had moderately recovered from our food comas, Mom and I went shopping at Walmart for Christmas stuff. She brought up all my decorations so we could decorate while she was visiting. Most of our new decorations are part of our Christmas from Mom. YAY! We can think of her every year when we pull out the tree and ornaments.

Here's our pretty new tree:

Here's what the front of the apartment looks like:

Here's our fabulous table:

And, here's the black cabinet that usually has giraffes in it:

I love decorating!!! And Christmas decorating is the best! There are more pictures that I want to share, but I don't want to put them all right here. As soon as we get a paid Flickr account, I'll add all of our pictures from the races, the zoo, the birdie who flew into the door, and the Christmas decorations. (By the way, you can click on the pictures to see a bigger version!)

November 17, 2007

This little guy flew into our sliding glass door this morning. For a good 10 minutes or so he stayed on his back with is little feet up in the air. Then an acorn fell out of the tree landing near him and scaring him so he flipped over. After that, he just sat there for a good long time and I took pictures of him. Isn't he cute!

OH! Yeah. I forgot to mention that my grandpa is finally back home. He came home a few weeks ago after spending over two weeks in the hospital. Mom is coming to see us for Thanksgiving. YAY!