Wicked Weather

Beginning Christmas Eve and continuing through Christmas Day we were in a blizzard.  We had winds in the 30 MPH range and near white conditions.  I've never seen anything like it here in Kansas.  I'm sure it's happened, I just don't think I've witnessed it.  We had to postpone our Christmas Day festivities until last night.  The snow plow finally came around 4:00 p.m. and only then could our family make it out to the ranch.  The roads were completely drifted over with 5 foot drifts in some places.  I haven't left the ranch since Tuesday and probably won't until Monday.  Yikes folks!  That's 5 days cooped up.  Talk about cabin fever starting to set in.  It did help to get out and go to my in-laws for the long awaited Christmas celebration with family last night.

Just amazing what nature can do.  Pretty cool, really.

Saturday was the first day I let the girls venture out in the snow.  The winds have just been too fierce.  Just blowing, blowing constantly.  Thankfully we never lost power and have stayed warm.  This is certainly a Christmas to remember, our first Christmas in our little stone house.

White Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!  We are bracing for yet another winter storm.  We're set up for a white Christmas here in the Heartland.  It's raining....yes RAINING today, and then it's supposed to get colder and change over to snow tomorrow with 5"-10" expected.  I could get excited about it if I knew family would still be able to travel out to the ranch on Christmas day.  We always spend Christmas day at hubby's mom and dad's.  This year it's only a 1/4 of a mile trip up the drive way for us.  My parents are coming to our house later in the evening.  I'm going to keep it simple with a nice warm soup, cornbread and a fruit salad.  Of course there will be other goodies, as I've been making lots of cookies and candies that are required this time of year!

Thank you for all of the well wishes from everyone on my last post.  Grandma is supposed to come home from the rehabilitation center today and is doing very well after her knee replacement.  Dad is home for the Holidays, so that is a blessing.  All is well, as I hope it is at your house this Christmas! 

A Christmas DIY Project on the Cheap and a Phone Call

For two mornings in a row , the phone has rung.  At 5:00 a.m.  My grandmother is in the hospital from a knee replacement surgery and you all know the situation with my dad.  Needless to say, the first night I was nervous about answering the phone.  Imagine my relief when it was a recording from the school's superintendent saying that school had been cancelled due to the snow storm.  I think I could have waited until 6:00 a.m. to find that out on the TV.  I think it's more than slightly inconsiderate.  The second night I was prepared.  Oh, well, what can I do.  As I said we were having a snow storm, which progressed to an all out blizzard last night.  The winds were, and still are gusting up to 40 MPH and we've had about 6" of snow.  So, two snow days in a row, right before Christmas.  Heaven!  The kids are having a blast with it and it is so beautiful out here at the ranch.  Snow as far as you can see.  Birds are suddenly in love with my bird feeders and I think I might work on Christmas cards today.  And read my book for bookclub.  I'm reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery, as you may have noticed on my sidebar.  I hope it gets better or it's going to be a long 5 days until bookclub.  Let me know if you've read this one.

Last weekend I had hubby make these barbed wire balls for me and had him cut some wood for their pedestals.  I'd been seeing these neat grapevine balls in magazines and on TV and I checked the price online and they were out of my range.  So, I came up with a free idea!  We had lots of old rusty barbed wire here on the ranch.   I didn't have any large urns to display them in so I used (I mean had hubby get) some old logs and cut them to varying heights.  I think it really turned out to be a good solution.  I may leave them out year 'round. Minus the Christmas lights. 

This is our barn cat, Nellie.  She had to check out what I was doing.  She was completely wild when we moved in in July.  My oldest daughter and I worked and worked, coaxing her with treats and finally she let us touch her and pet her.  She's still skiddish, but no longer wild. 

I hope you're staying warm and cozy.  Tonight it's supposed to be -6.  Brrrr!!

And the Winner Is...

I used my version of a random number generator to choose my winner.  I had 15 comments and asked hubby to choose a number between 1 and 15.  He chose....Lucky #7 = Susan!!!  Email me your address and I'll get your goodies to you as soon as possible.  We are expecting up to 10" of snow tonight, so it may be a couple of days before I can get to town to mail it to you.


Thank you to all that entered and I hope you'll continue to stop by and say hi.  I love hearing from you all and wish I could do a giveaway every week!  It was so fun to make something I knew someone special would recieve.  I hope you have a great week!

Giveaway Day!!!!

Just a reminder that you can still sign up for my giveaway. I'll announce the winner on Monday night.  Just become a follower, if you're not already, and leave a comment on this post to be entered!

Is anyone else having trouble with the new Blogger editor?  Man, it's difficult for me.  It just doesn't work very well.  I guess there is a reason it's free :) 

Well, here's the giveaway!  (Cheering and applause)  I'm working on a little flour sack tea towel with some adorable Christmas elves and I'm going to give it one lucky winner.  I got the pattern on Allsorts.  It is a great place for creative ideas and so fun.

Also, this beautiful glass angel ornament will be included.  I may toss in a couple other goodies that I find.  All you have to do to enter is be a follower (new or old) of this blog and leave a comment on today's post.  If you blog about the giveaway tell me and I'll put your name in twice.  I'll announce the winner sooner or later hopefully on Monday.  Have a great weekend and good luck!

Giveaway Eve

Peekaboo!

I see you!

We're trying to get in the Christmas spirit around here. I spent all of Sunday decorating for Christmas. I worked at the shop yesterday. Today I've decorated some more and added Christmas music to my ipod. There are dirty dishes in the sink, unwashed clothes in the hamper and the floor needs vacuumed. But the house looks and feels festive and I have 74 Christmas songs uploaded to my ipod. What more could a girl want?

Tomorrow afternoon hubby and I leave to spend two days at the KLA (Kansas Livestock Association) convention in Wichita. That's two nights with the girls at Grandma's and no housework or responsibilities. I can't wait! I'm going to eat too much and drink too much and try not to feel too guilty about it. Maybe I can work some shopping into there somewhere too.

Oh! I almost forgot! The giveaway. Tomorrow I'm going to have a giveaway for you. It's about time, I know. It's my first one and it's long overdue. This time I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye promise that I will have a giveaway. Tomorrow. Promise.