Making a righteous mess!

I always start out with a big mess in a tiny room. There are two huge bins of stuff and each year I sort it and try to do something different.

The snow men are a new addition to my collection of 'stuff'. I have no idea what the dragon is doing there, however she seems to be looking at the tipsy snow man that has the Jack Daniels bottle. Obviously the other snow men think it is funny. 

Santa looks peeved.

The mess is starting to come alive. I stopped there and quit for a while. I had no idea what I wanted to do.

Charlie as usual decided to help. He spotted the bigger snowmen in the box and thought perhaps I should give them to him as chew toys. To his credit, he left them alone.

Another start and stop. I decided the snowmen and polar bears should have a igloo. I covered a gourd with foil for a shape and used Sculpey Air Dry Clay to make an igloo.

It is still drying! 

Talk about doing stuff on the fly. However. I'm never really in a big rush for getting things decorated. 

We almost never have any guests even pre pandemic so basically this is just for my enjoyment. I say my because I think hubby just tolerates my antics. He smiles and says It looks nice when I ask his opinion. 

I do a lot of experimenting and a lot of re-arranging. I'll set something up and after a week, I'll change it. I need to keep things interesting.

So I leave it here, with my fairly ugly mess of things. The igloo was finished today.

I see that the Elf on the Shelf decided to get in on things.

I don't think his choice of partners was a wise one....

But he doesn't look too worried!

Please feed the dinosaurs before working with them!

The CareGiving Reverse Gift List

What a wonderful idea for people who spend and expend so much energy in caring for someone in their family like a spouse or a parent.
The idea is to ask for some help to make the Holidays and winter [or even just everyday life] a bit easier.

The CareGiver gets out a piece of paper and ....makes out a Reverse Gift List.
The idea is that the caregiver asks for some things that would help them and in the future they can pay it back when their time is not fully occupied by being a CareGiver.
Most people enjoy helping.
Things that are simple like a visit.
Maybe a visit so the CareGiver can have a part of a day off.

So the idea is...


On one side of the piece of paper make a list of people you trust.

On the other side of the paper make a list of Things They Can Do.
Uh oh.
My paper is getting nowhere fast.

I need to set it aside and think about it.
First the needs of the day.
Chores
Meal prep
Visit MIL in the Nursing Home
Errands
Bills
Laundry

And dream about the days when I complained about going to work.

The Day After Thanksgiving

And all through the house...

Oh wait that is something else, that Christmas poem, The Night Before Christmas.

Okay um, wait,...it was the day after Thanksgiving. Smacks forehead and reaches for a cup of coffee. Whoops, tea this time of night!
~~~~~~~~~~

The day after Thanksgiving, chores had to be done just like we do all of the time.

Round bales were put out by hubby and I manned the gates.

Our neighbors are gone for a family get together so I said I'd happily do their chores also.

The goats were so happy to see me.

These are the Nigerian Dwarf goats. Oh I can't recall their names but they are charming anyway.
All four goats greet me with calls of "ma...aaaamaaaa" as I come in to give them grain and let them out to their pasture.

I can remember one goat's name. Sedona. She used to wear a blue collar. Now I can't recall which one she is.

No matter, they were all pleased.

Our weather has been very mild again which feels quite odd. Normally by now we've had at least one or two significant snows.

Next were the chickens. 

I spread some feed out for them in the driveway. There sure was a lot of clucking going on. I checked the nesting boxes and they were full of hens doing their thing.

I thought I'd walk Dexter and see if I could collect eggs after we were done.
Dexter is a pug mix of something. He was pretty lonely the first day his family was gone. But by last night he was sure happy to go for a stroll and enjoy some attention.

This morning we took a fairly nice walk on the road. It is still hunting season and blaze orange is the hip thing to wear.

So, I guess Dexter is pretty hip.

For the past two days my husband and his daughter have been processing two deer that my husband 'harvested' for this season. I suppose there are those who dislike the deer hunt but I will welcome venison in my freezer instead of venison on my car hood any day.

Two deer meant that both households could have a freezer full of meat for the winter. I'd say it was worth it.

After The Dexter Dog Walk, I checked on the cats and checked to make sure everything was okay in the house. 

Well. 
The hens were done doing their thing and I collected a dozen eggs. I'd made scrambled eggs yesterday for the kids and thought I'd make scrambled omelettes today for Rich and I.

Jeeze, I know that omelettes aren't supposed to be scrambled, but that is the easiest way of cooking eggs. What can I say?

I worked on cleaning up the house. Angel the Beagle had visited with Morris for two days too. Morris is sort of okay with Angel. But he is sure that the grand kids belong to him and not to Angel.

Our day was rather dreary and Rich was rather tired after spending two days on his feet. He went for a nice long nap and I took my camera and went to the Dexter Cattle's summer pasture.

You never know how crazy a person can get when they are stuck in the house for an entire 'gun season'. 

So I thought I'd have a bit of fun.
Who thought 'selfie' would be this?

This weekend I may get out the Christmas Chair and work on it.

Or, who knows?

And so holiday decorating begins

I guess I start decorating things just after Thanksgiving.  Sometimes I wait a few days [depending on my schedule] and sometimes I can't wait to get at it.

I moved the Christmas Chair to a different spot this year.  We finally got rid of that butt ugly orange-brown recliner that hubby got from either a grandmother or some far off distant relative.  Let me say I think it was a 1970's model.  No one except Morris really used it.

This year Morris won't have to get used to another spot for his crate, it can stay where it usually sits.  I think that will make him happy.

I purchased some battery operated LED lights that are on a thin wire this year.  I thought I'd try them.  They actually work wonderfully well.

I decorated a dresser top last night and this morning took a shot of it lit up.

Those little bitty lights are really bright!  

Yesterday afternoon I washed windows and walls.  I didn't feel like doing it, but it is the normal thing I do in preparation for putting up some decorations.  Besides, I'd held off washing the windows because I thought I'd have nice new ones by now.
Well, I can see out of the old ones!

This year I'm using not just the old wooden chair, but the Red Mule Crate and the Hillbilly Soda crate which are also both wooden and both pretty old.

Today is the last day of Gun Deer Season, hubby is out hunting and has spent almost every day of the season so far out in the woods.
He did get a doe on opening day.

I can't wait for the season to be over so I can hike the creek and look for frozen water encrusted grasses and other beautiful things.

I took these of the frost this morning.

I love the intricate designs that frost makes. I took these on the north side of the big shed.

And lastly, a couple of shots of the eagle I saw on the way back from recycling yesterday.

He was pretty far away and the zoom on the camera I was using wasn't the greatest, but there he/she was!