Day 360, Monday, December 26, 2022

 

Our final test was negative.  I spent the entire day and into the evening taking down the Christmas decorations.  As I packed things away, I went through all of the totes.  I was able to get rid of one more tote.  We don't decorate as much as we used to, so there is no need to have so much stuff!

Day 359, Sunday, December 25, 2022

 

Our Christmas stockings were the last thing to open.  As you can see there was just a little bit of $$'s in our stockings!

Day 358, Saturday, December 24, 2022

 

We opened our Christmas gifts tonight after the rest of the family left.  There were lots of smiles!

Day 357, Friday, December 23, 2022

 

I made Christmas Crack as we like to call it.  Chex Mix but covered in white chocolate or almond bark!

Day 356, Thursday, December 22, 2022

 

You can see it has already started snowing.  Jim put all the bird feeders out for the birds.  The squirrels think the food is for them as well.  It is supposed to snow and the temp is going to drop really low in the next few days.

Day 355, Wednesday, December 21, 2022

 

We had to do a Covid test from a recent exposure.  Thankful we are negative and will do another test in a few days.

Day 354, Tuesday, December 20, 2022

 

Our light adventure took us to the Barn III in Goodfield.  We have never been here before for the light show.  We also went to the Festival of Lights in East Peoria and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Day 353, Monday, December 19, 2022

 

You can see Coco waiting for his treats to shoot out of the Furbo!  We can talk to him and send him treat from an app on my phone.  Today, he was on the couch in one of his crazy positions.  I turned the Furbo on and he about jumped out of his skin!

Day 352, Sunday, December 18, 2022

 

Jovie has been flying around our house for the past few days.  Today she visited the Nativity Cindy painted for me several years ago!

Day 351, Saturday, December 17, 2022

 

Stacie bought a new car!  She drove it last night to the party, but had to go back this morning for some paperwork and to get this BIG RED BOW photo!

Day 350, Friday, December 16, 2022

 

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with the Smith side of our family.  It has been several years since we were all able to gather together.  We had a great time with our family and a special visit from Santa, too!

Day 349, Thursday, December 15, 2022

 

My great niece, Lily is visiting.  She dumped the dogs toys out of the basket they are stored in and plopped herself in the basket to watch TV!

Day 348, Wednesday, December 14, 2022

 

I don't know why, but I always get behind with my Project 365.  I print the photos and try to update my blog, but I always am behind!  I have to try harder next year!  I have been doing this since 2009!

Day 347, Tuesday, December 13, 2022

 

Tonight our light adventure took us to Washington.  We always go see the Griswold Way display.  We also found some other houses through Facebook, so we stopped at Kep's for dinner.  We have never been there before and really liked it.

Day 346, Monday, December 12, 2022

 

This little guy thinks ALL the blankets are his.  He really loves the fleece ones.  I just put a few new ones out on the sofa.  He had chewed holes in the old ones when he was younger, so we donated them to Taps for the dogs who are there.

Day 345, Sunday, December 11, 2022

 

Stacie brought Jimmy a Starbucks this morning.  She usually will stop by if Jim gets a cinnamon roll from the Sweet Bean for her.

Day 344, Saturday, December 10, 2022

 

Stacie, Kim and I went to the Shop & Stroll in East Peoria.  There was a free carriage ride, too! We also went to a fund raiser where there were baskets, silent auction and raffle tickets style.  Kim and I each won 2 baskets.  Jim and I went to pick them up.  

Day 343, Friday, December 9, 2022

 

I love to have hot cocoa when it is so cold outside.  We went to exercise at Parkside and I had to get something to warm me up when we got home.

Day 342, Thursday, December 8, 2022

 

I love getting cards like this!

Day 341, Wednesday, December 7, 2022

 

We went to Home Goods to find some Carmel syrup for Jim for his coffee.  As we walked in the door, these Santa's were the first thing we saw!  So many Santa's!

Day 340, Tuesday, December 6, 2022

 

My paper trimmer has been giving me a hard time.  I contacted Fiskars and they are sending me a brand new one!  Yes!

Day 339, Monday, December 5, 2022

 

This evening for dinner, I got together with my card swap girls.  We have been friends for about 10-12 years and swapping greeting cards the whole time.  We have 9 of us, but 4 were not feeling well.  We met at Jason's Deli, had dinner, swapped Christmas gifts, talked and laughed for 2 hours!  Merry Christmas friends!

Day 338, Sunday, December 4, 2022

 

Another 5 hours today for the layout class.  But I didn't watch it all at once.  I stopped and started it many times.  I still have lots of work to complete the album and layouts.

Day 337, Saturday, December 3, 2022

 

I think I watched YouTube for 9 hours today.  Vicki Boutin created her December Daily album and I followed along.  It is amazing how she creates all the pages and has very little left over paper.  The cards were last night and the layouts will be tomorrow.

Day 336, Friday, December 2, 2022

 

Jim picked up our Rolan Johnson ornament.  It is a little different this year.  Usually, the ornaments have a mosaic design.  This one is just beautiful!

Day 335, Thursday, December 1, 2022

 

I don't' know how this dog sleeps with his paws in the air like these!

Day 334, Wednesday, November 30, 2022

 

Our outside decorations are pretty much the same.  We didn't put up lights this year, because we got gutter guards and need to figure that placement out.

Day 333, Tuesday, November 29, 2022

 

Since I am doing December Daily, I always use a photo prompt to get different pictures in my album.  This one is from Vicki Boutin, who is a mixed media artist/scrapbooker who lives in Canada.

Day 332, Monday, November 28, 2022

 

Luke, Trisha and Lily went to the tree farm to cut down their tree over the weekend.  We have had a artificial tree for years.  I don't know many families who still get a live tree.

Day 331, Sunday, November 27, 2022

 

I got all the Christmas cards addressed and ready to go!  I have a few that will need extra postage, so I will take them to the post office tomorrow.

Day 330, Saturday, November 26, 2022

 

Lisa, Kellee and I went to the Ottawa Chris Kringle Market.  We had a great time and hope to go again next year and bring more friends!

Day 329, Friday, November 25, 2022

 

We got all the Christmas decor out and about!  Merry Christmas!

Day 328, Thursday, November 24, 2022

 

the six of us enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner.  These are the "mug" shots as Stacie calls them.  These photos will go in the Thanksgiving Mini Album I always do with handwritten journaling cards from each of them.

Day 327, Wednesday, November 23, 2022

 

Baking day for Thanksgiving and I didn't have any messes this year!

Day 326, Tuesday, November 22, 2022

 

Puppy Spa day!  He is such a good boy!

Day 325, Monday, November 21, 2022

 

Peyton our great niece is 1 year old today!  Happy Birthday!

Day 324, Sunday, November 20, 2022

 

We bought Joanna Gaines new book from Amazon and it was delivered today.  It was release on Monday before we visited the Silos.  I should have gotten it there, but I didn't.

Day 323, Saturday, November 19, 2022

 

I went to Timeless Treasure Market to take a few more purses to sell.  I straighten up the rack to get ready for the sale on Black Friday!

Day 322, Friday, November 18, 2022

 

Stacie and Kim went to the Courageous Illinois CancerCare event.  Stacie got to hold up a paddle to donate $10,000!  Between the golf outing and Totes event, we actually donated $35,000 to Illinois CancerCare this year, bringing our 4 year total to $108,000!!  I am so proud of Stacie and the team who made this happen!

Day 321, Thursday, November 17, 2022

 

Jim went to Menard's to pick up a few things and brought the Holiday Ghirardelli chocolate squares home with him.

Day 320, Wednesday, November 16, 2022

 

Jim got my Let it Snow brick out and I took a portrait mode shot of it with the snow in the background.

Day 319, Tuesday, November 15, 2022

 

We made it home last night about 9:30 p.m.  It took us about 11 hours to get home.  When we got up this morning, we had snow on the ground.  While I was sad that we left the Gulf a day early, I would have been nervous to drive in the snow today.

Day 318, Monday, November 14, 2022

 

Our car turned over 60,000 miles in Ponca City, OK.  We stopped to see my Dad this morning and will start home after his PT.  The snow storm is still coming and we are hoping to beat it home.

Day 317, Sunday, November 13, 2022

 

This little guy didn't like it when I went out the door.  I was only gone a few minutes to get ice, but he was sitting right there when I got back.

Day 316, Saturday, November 12, 2022

 

When we got up this morning, the wind was blowing so bad and it was predicted to last all day long.  There was a snow storm heading our way at home, so we decided to leave a day early and head back to Ponca.  We drove on one of the Texas toll roads.  The speed limit was 85, but I didn't drive that fast and everyone was passing us like we were sitting still.  I can't wait to see what our toll bill will be!

Day 315, Friday, November 11, 2022

 

We drove to South Padre Island this morning.  We spent a few hours enjoying the walk on the beach, sand dunes and the end of the informative talk from the park rangers about the beach.  We ate dinner at Snoopy's on the beach and watched a beautiful sunset on the water!

Day 314, Thursday, November 10, 2022

 

Today, we spent the entire day on the San Antonio River Walk.  I had 14,000 steps and my little 4 legged walked every step with me.  We did ride the hop on, hop off bus around town for 1 hour.  We went to the Alamo, then back on the bus to Mexican Market for lunch.  Coco is such a great travler!

Day 313, Wednesday, November 9, 2022

 

We ate lunch in Austin, TX, at El Arroyo's.  When John was in Cancer treatment, he posted this sign everyday and he always laughed.  I had this on my bucket list to tell them in person how much this sign meant to John everyday.  If you want to follow El Arroyo, so you don't miss a sign...go to Facebook!

Day 312, Tuesday, November 8, 2022

 

We spent the entire day in and around Magnolia.  We stopped at the Cottonwood Castle this morning.  We went to the Silos and had a cupcake from the bakery.  Coco got to go everywhere we did, except inside the bakery and coffee shop.  We went back at dusk to take pictures of the lights at the Silos!  Bucket List day for me!

Day 311, Monday, November 7, 2022

 

We are in Texas!  Our plans are to visit Waco (Magnolia), Austin (El Arroyo), San Antonio (River Walk), Padre Island (Gulf of Mexico) and then back to Ponca City, OK to visit my Dad again.