Cows Need A New Barn ~ Do You Want Them?

I am wanting to change my Christmas tree decorations.
I have about 36 hand painted cows,
15 'milk cans', and a homemade tree skirt.
The cows and milk cans are about 2 1/2 - 3 inches tall.
The tree skirt must be put on the tree before the tree is placed in the tree stand.

I am wanting to find a new home (Barn) for these items. If there is someone in the US that would like them, I would be happy to put them in the mail as soon as I have an address.

This darling cow Christmas Village belongs to my bff. She asked me post them so she can find them a happy new barn.

If you would like to become a new farmer to the herd, please leave me a comment. I will also need your email address so we can get your snail mail address.

We will give you all a chance to comment until Saturday night. That way she can draw a winner and get them in the mail to you on Monday. MOOOOO

Festival of Trees 2007

Today was Halie's schools performance at the Festival of Trees. I was pleasantly surprised when she stepped up to the mic for a solo part. She loves to perform and we love to watch her.

There are always 100s of trees. This is a Utah tradition that helps kick off the holiday season and also provides help to those in need.

The Festival of Trees was inspired 37 years ago by a group of 15 women from along the Wasatch Front. These women were challenged by Lewis M. Jones, Chairman of the hospital's Men's Endowment Board, to identify a way to raise funds for the hospital.

That first year, there were approximately 60 trees for display and sale in the gymnasium of the old Armory off Sunnyside Avenue. To everyone's surprise and delight, $47,000 was raised!

The trees are decorated and purchased by individuals, families, organizations, businesses, and church groups.

In 2006, the Festival raised $1,567,525.80 for children in need at Primary Children's Medical Center. This years Festival will probably exceed last years generous donations. It is always a fun day when you are enjoying the Feelings of Love during the season.

Six Weeks to Fitness

Today I am commited to get back to my best weight. I have added to my sidebar each days goal. It just shouldn't be as difficult as I seem to be making it. Three years ago, I was so dedicated, I would never eat after 6:00 PM, I only ate healthy foods, (No Goodie sneaking), I counted Weight Watcher Points and I lost everything I wanted to. So here goes! I won't post about my achievements until it is really noticeable. I will keep up the sidebar with the goal for the day. I also found a great blogspot that will calculate points for you on line, it is called WeightWatcher Recipes. Keep me in your prayers...help me be strong. That's a picture of me today... in a few weeks I'll be up and running!

Glad To Be Alive

Today we made a visit to the Ogden Nature Center. We were greeted by Tom and his 2 brothers Tommy and Thomas. Tom was strutting!!! Do you think love is in the air... at least for the wild turkeys? I'm sure Tom was calling his little female friend, but she was no where to be found today. Maybe she just wasn't as lucky as Tom and his brothers. So it might not have been a mating call at all, maybe he was just glad to be alive.

Please Help ~~~

Last week while I was doing the usual blog surfing I came across a post of a remodeled bathroom that was beautiful. Here is what I remember about it: Pictures of grandkids frame hung with ribbon and cupboard nobs used to hold them...monogrammed towels on a wall rack, and drapes hung around the bathroom mirror. It was fabulous!

So I thought I had added it to my favorite list, but obviously I DIDN'T. If there is anyone in my circle of friends who has seen this would you please let me know...I probably should spend one more minute (hour, day) looking for it.

Gratitude and Thanks

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

As I journey through this week of Thanksgiving, I want to thank those people in my life who have filled my life with blessings. The song Count your blessings has been playing through my mind for days…. “Count your blessings, count them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God has done, count your blessings, count them one by one……….” I can hear you all singing it as you read. Enjoy your blessings this week.

BC November 2007

You see if you go to bed at 2:00 AM it is very difficult to wake the next morning and organize your thought patterns into anything intelligent about what you did the night before. So maybe the quote “What happens at BC stays at BC”…not a chance.
…..and I do hope we don’t offend anyone by calling our Book Club “BC”
Especially those folks in Australia who are banning the Christmas phrase HO HO HO… (another topic for another day)

….oh my attention drifted, must be lack of sleep. Back to BC

Our book for November was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

6 of us loved it and would recommend it to someone
2 of us said it was just So – So and probably wouldn’t recommend it.
Everyone had read that book so that must say something for the story.

I was host for BC this month and selected this book because 916 reviews on Amazon.com gave it 4 ½ stars and all this too:
2006 Quill Awards nominee for General Fiction
2007 Alex Awards selection
Entertainment Weekly Best Novel of 2006 nominee
New York Times Best Seller list for 12 weeks in 2006
BookSense #1 pick for June 2006
Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse award for most popular book
The paperback hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list on July 8,
2007
I thought it was a terrific read, which only kindled my love of reading…how hard can that be? Reading is the greatest of great escapes. Reading is permission to simply be, to exist in another world, and Water for Elephants definitely took me into the world of a bizarre lifestyle.
I know there are people out there who are disgusted by the notion of women meeting to discuss books, but after reading a book that totally rocks my world, I would be sorely disappointed if I didn’t have anyone to share my enthusiasm with. We harangue, enlighten, and laugh with and at each other, the conversation usually switching between the book, our careers, our talents we share, -- and occasionally -- our own lives. I LOVE BC.

And the Winner ~

Congratulations to Namck, she is the winner of my 100th blog drawing. Blogging has brought many friends, family, and new acquaintances into my life. I'm grateful to each of you who took the time to stop by and leave me a comment. I promise to have future giveaways...probably for no reason at all. Well, maybe it is because I love to shop.


Today is my Grandmother's birthday, if she were still with us we would be having a big family dinner (at her home, prepared by her, with all the fixins'). Then again on Thanksgiving day she would have done it all again. My grandma was amazing, thanks grandma for teaching me all that you did. She also blessed me with my mother and my aunt, who have given me so much. Thanks Mom and Aunt Rea, your influence has certainly guided me along the path of life. And right now that path says I have to get going...26 children await my guidance.

A Little Prayer

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

Friends

Robyn and Ali have been friends since they were 2 years old....here they are at our annual Pumpkin Carving Night.

This is what Charlotte says about friendship:

"You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that."
"Charlotte's Web"

The True Spirit of Thanksgiving

This is from my daughter's blog ~ Ogden High Colors. She loves her job and all the good things that happen each day with her students. So I'm sharing her story about Thanksgiving Turkeys.

Thanksgiving is a time for giving; Colors of Success and the Utah Food Bank are doing just that ~ giving turkeys to the families of our student.
The first week of November, with everyone working together, we present 20 families with a Thanksgiving turkey. Hopefully this has made someone else's day a little brighter. We can make a real difference and that's what it's all about.I feel very fortunate to work in a community that values quality education and actively partners with our schools to help us ensure that the student have every opportunity to realize their potential. Thanks to the Utah Food Bank this project became a reality.I hope that during the holidays you have the opportunity to encourage your students to dream about their future and to discuss the importance of education as the key pathway to success.
You as parents are their primary teachers, but I am very thankful that I have the opportunity to work with them each school day to help them along the path to success.

100th Blog ~ Oh My!

Yes!!! This is my 100th post:) I'm trying to keep this as a sticky....learning something new everyday! You can scroll down to see updated posts. If you want to that is!

Following the tradition of the blogging world I’m have a giveaway…read on!I started blogging (well, trying actually!) 6 months ago. My first post was about BC. I had many misconceptions about it... I didn't know what blogging was all about... well, until my daughter introduced me to it. She has been my spacing long before I started here and my son has done some pretty amazing things for several years with his flickr photos, Jack and Chet web page, and now his Empty Mind (It’s his new site ~ not his real mind…silly.) I started reading their stuff and I was hooked! I told myself 'Hmmm... I should ~ no I can and will do this'...I’ve tried journaling but always lose interest, but blogging well….I love it! My cute hairdresser told me to print out my entries and then I will have a journal too…hmmm brilliant idea. So there you have it the rest is history!What I love about blogging is the interaction with my visitors. There is still so much to learn, and I will get better. At first I was wondering why I didn't have any visitors since nobody left any comments... well, except for my best friend, my son occasionally, and that was it! Then it dawned on me that I have to visit people's blogs, (which I now do daily) leave comments, and a few really friendly bloggers really responded and now have become my regular visitors! Thank You ~ Thank You.I always find great joy seeing new comments in my blog... it's sort of like getting a letter in the mail! I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have supported me all along and made blogging such an rewarding experience.

Now for the giveaway…..man that took me long enough! Nothing is better than an irresistible fresh-baked pie, well the dish to bake it in anyway. I found this beautiful, whimsical, domed pumpkin pie dish at Cracker Barrel. It has a charming stem, vine, and leaf handle that covers a pie-crust fluted plate for all your autumn baking and serving. The base is microwave, dishwasher, and oven safe!

And a recipe book to go with it ~ 432 pages! Taste of Home is my all time favorite cookbook series. Celebrations is no exception. It has everything you have been looking for in a cookbook. It includes (of course) terrific recipes, directions even the DH can understand, tons of pictures (which I adore), and extra cooking hints. You will love it. If you are lucky enough to already have this book, it would make a great gift, right!

So here are the rules:
I wish I could send a thank you gift to EVERYONE who reads my blog, but of course that would be a little over budget, so this is how I am going to work my RANDOM giveaway.

1. You get your name in the drawing once for commenting on this BLOG post.
2. Your name will go in a 2nd time IF you post this with a link to my blog ON Your BLOG.
3. If you have ever left me a comment, then I am going to add your name again. That makes my regulars really happy!

This is my way of really saying thank you for always being there to help me through the day.
It starts today....Thursday, November 1st...I will draw the winners on Wednesday, November 14th...that is my grandmother's birthday ~ she was a great cook and my inspiration.

If you are the winner you have 48 hours to contact me with your address, which I will keep secure. I will re-draw if you don't contact me....NO EXCUSES... I am using the following email:

lbthompson@dsdmail.net

Feel free to email me ahead of time if you are going to be away from your computer on the 14th.

**If you comment anonymously or do not have a blog, please sign your name or it won't count. Grazie, Grazie, Grazie....blogging has made me smile. (I think it is time the word blog becomes part of the dictionary!)

Blessings,

LeAnn