Because I could not stop for Death --
He kindly stopped for me --
The Carriage held but just Ourselves --
And Immortality.
Emily Dickinson

This Friday my guy took me to the very very remote cemetery and catholic church outside of marshall he found many years ago driving around. His driving around is called "Leo's shortcut" by the way. Anyways we grabbed my camera and he drug me out of the house while I said ugh...whateverrrr a cemetery??? oooookkkk
we pulled up and I couldn't speak...I can type a whole lot of words here but I cannot...cannot...give you the absolute awe and peace I felt as I walked through the gate. History...it was a cemetery before the church was built.

The Youree family built the church in memory of their 30 something year old son that died.


Hopefully you will see the love that that these families had for their dearly departed. Families spent so much time and dedication to their lost loved ones back then...and as you will see even generations down they still care for and visit their families grave sites......

I felt so much peace and love i wanted to share these pictures with you all.

The trees were beautiful also!


I found this one particularly moving. Another family amongst many. Only this one had an angel with her eyes open and the name Mary Rose. The place felt so peaceful. It made me think of my mother I lost 8 years ago this month. Her name was Rosemary.

May The Peace Of The Lord Be With You All. Have a Blessed and Happy New Year!

The Best Christmas Ever

Yes, by far this was the best Christmas I have had in many, many years. The love of my life, my precious children and my sister and my wonderful Aunt and Uncle and cousin and her children all made it. The boys spent two nights and we had a wonderful visit. It is so good to see these young men relax and act like kids sometimes. My marine and my middle son, flying the remote airplane they got their little brother.
I am so blessed
>Thank You Lord for ALL you have given me!

CHRISTMAS MEAL

Well, today I did a test drive on a pie my marine asked for. CHOCOCHIPECAN PIE!
First EVER homemade pie I have made! I am soooooo excited!

My Aunt and Uncle are coming in to see my cousin. I haven't seen them in almost 3 yrs I think...and I just recently moved within 30 min of my cousin. So they are all coming for my Christmas Meal. But most of all I am excited to see my Marine! He has been at school far far away! My precious baby....ahem excuse me....my wonderful young adult!


Ok here is my menu....I will show you all how hopefully wonderful it turns out afterwards!


Christmas Meal...
VEGGIE TRAY
baby carrots
celery
cheese cubes
summer sausage
Ritz crackers
black olives
grape tomatoes
cucumber
ranch dip
FRUIT TRAY
cantaloupe
strawberries
peaches
grapes
pineapple
oranges
apples
cool whip
CHIPS AND DIP
HONEY NUT CHEX MIX
MAIN COURSE
Turkey
Honey Ham
Rolls
Glazed Carrots
Whipped Potatoes
Brown Gravy
Pinto Beans
Broccoli & Cheese Casserole
Dressing
Sweet Butter Corn
Green bean Casserole

DESSERT
Apple Cobbler
Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie
Lemon Pie
Chocolate Pudding Pie

BEVERAGES
Whiskey.....haha just kidding
Ok there it is.............. wish me luck and I hope you all have a wonderful blessed holiday and new year!

BEFORE AND AFTER

WHEW! We are finally 3/4 done! I havent been posting much because I have been really busy on the kitchen project. Trying to get it done before Christmas. My initial goal was to have it done before Thanksgiving...harrrrddeeeharrr But...it is almost completely done! Also, I couldnt get my pictures off my camera onto the pc and havent wanted to share just words...
Let me set the stage and then show you the before. This is an old house with very tall ceilings. It has the old paper and mesh wallpaper over actual boards. My guy lived here and I moved in with him and he had started to redo the living room and is almost done with that. Me...I aimed for the kitchen of course! Old house, uneven everything! But I thought hey "old wood" The kitchen had about 4 actual layers of paint on the cabinets and some kind of staple like things holding the boards together. I thought well ok lets sand it down to the original wood and then just stain it. Right.


Day 1: Sand the entire day with a vibrating sander.
Day 2: Go to Home Depot and buy an actual sander.
Day 3: Sand all day with the brand new shiney sander.
Day 4: Call my son and ask how in the hell do I get all the paint off the cabinets.
Day 5: Go to Home Depot and buy some paint striper.
Day 6: Spend about 2 hours in a closed kitchen with paint stripper...lay on the couch sick as a dog for 2 more hours then go outside and watch as my guy happily strips off the paint on the cabinet doors in the beautiful sunshine and fresh air.
Day 7: Sand, Sand, Sand, realize the doors will no longer work, I dont like them they are ugly, get online and try to find new doors. Show the new doors to my guy and his wheels in his brain start turning so I let it go for the night.



I cannot continue with the days because they kind of blend into one but you get the picture...my advice to all. Hire someone. We will be moving next year its not like we have too look at this for the rest of our life. Before, dark dark green...with recessed cabinet doors and fake "antique" knobs.



And a "potato bin"????



My paint striping experience...




This is where I found out that it wasnt "old wood" after all. Someone had built cabinets over the original cabinets. Yeah, really. And did it poorely. So we build our doors and think we can still save it with a dark stain.








After seeing all the imperfections and admiting that we are a family of OCD...obsesive compulsive disorder we knew that we could not spend the next year staring at little white specks that would not sand out...which leads us to this!







I spent the rest of the day painting trim with the tan. We picked out a pretty tile to do the counter top with and a bronze faucet. I love my kitchen already. Guess what! I am having my wonderful family for christmas lunch and I am sooooooooooo excited I will post it of course because I am going to be paula dean for a day! Yay!