I’m not sure what exactly got a hold of me today but whatever it is, its triggered my sappy side.

From the excitement of having hubby home for the Thanksgiving holiday ~ to enjoying the Christmas Spirit filling our home ~ to thoughts drifting off of home and how over half of our lease is up on this house we call home.  But the one thing I am, is happy and feeling blessed to be right here where we are at this very moment.

We cooked in the kitchen and made pot stickers together and if felt good hanging in the kitchen together.

The plates were prepared…

Hubby watched over our stickers

We sat at the little kitchen table across from each other and the view out our window was a special treat.  Sure we enjoy this view, but perhaps I’m getting a bit sentimental knowing this will not be our view forever.

I took a familiar stroll out back…

And things, even though they’re the same, looked different…

The sunbeams reached through the trees and I soaked them up as much as humanly possible.  I felt like parking it in the backyard all day.

And then I came in and started the wrapping of a few gifts.

When hubby asked what I wanted to do earlier today.  I really thought staying around the house sounded best to me.  I enjoyed our simple day and as the hours weave in and out I’m blessed to be spending it with the one I love.

Blessings – Debbie

As we approach the upcoming Holiday Season, Christmas would be the holiday I push to celebrate.  While I like decorating for autumn and Thanksgiving a couple months before Thanksgiving, I feel a stronger urge to do the same for Christmas.  While Silent Night plays in the background and Christmas tree lights glow in the corner, I feel thankful and blessed  with life, joy, happiness, peace, family, friends and each other.

The family room tree is our special tree, dripping with ornaments we’ve collected together as a couple. The tree holds ornaments from Precious Moments, Lenox and Swarovski. And each year that passes, we add another ornament from each category to the tree.

New Tree topper – I finally got the courage to make this bow.

Mantel – A look up close

The game room was sprinkled with a few decorations.  The doorknobs were touched with jingle-bell decorations, garland was added to the mantel and a little tree tops the chest.

I added some pictures of several ornaments from our favorite Christmas tree.  We love how the collection expands year by year.

Precious Moments 1997 – Our very first Christmas together as a dating couple.

Precious Moments 1998 – Our very first Christmas together as an engaged couple.  Hubby asked if I would be his wife Christmas morning 1998.  This was also the year hubby flew solo. This ornament has very special meaning to us.

Precious Moments 1999 – Our first Christmas together as husband and wife.

Lenox – 2000

Lenox – Cherub

Lenox – Each year we collect dated ornaments as well as some that aren’t dated.  These are a few of my favorite.

Swarovski – we’ve collected these stars annually since 1997.

This is the 1999, our first year as husband and wife.

Swarovski – 2001

Swarovski – 2007

We continue to move into the season embracing the blessings in our life.  So in the height of this week of Thanksgiving, shall we continue to count our blessings and not forget “The One” responsible for these blessings.

Blessings – Debbie

Hubby left for Indy the end of October for a week long business trip.  But his business trip was extended into the second week of November.  That’s when he called to see if I’d like to join him.  We rushed out to secure my flight and I was on that plane the very next day.  That was the best unexpected trip a gal could ask for.

An early morning view of Indy from the balcony of our suite up on the 20th floor.

Another shot of the city

Indy after the sun went down

A little night shot.

Staying downtown provides great shopping during the day while hubby is away at work  There’s also great restaurants for our evening dining experience.  Love those evening strolls with hubby.

Indy is not too far away from family either.  We were able to spend time with our handsome son Ryan and his sweet girlfriend Abbey.

We also got to visit with hubby’s brother and two of his sons and one of my favorite sister-in-laws.

After a fun filled weekend with family, hubby and I made our way back to Indy for another work week.

I had another highlight in the middle of the week.  I got to spend the day with an old friend that I haven’t seen in 11+ years.  We spent time shopping, eating and mostly visiting.  I love how some friendships have a way of reconnecting no matter the distance or span of time between visits.  Our visit truly did my heart good.

For an unexpected trip, I’d say I was blessed to not only be with hubby but to cover some pretty awesome ground that wasn’t planned.

You never know how your plans can be altered and the unexpected can turn into some of the most amazing journeys.

Blessings – Debbie

Blue skies greeted us first thing this morning.

Such abundant blue

Early morning shadows stretched across the lawn

And storm clouds vanished for a little while.  By late morning, the clouds rolled in and our pretty blue was once again hidden behind a sea of fluff.

But nothing stood in our way of getting things done

• Lots of boxes in the garage were sorted through
• Many things got pitched while other things went into the donation pile
• We watched football and enjoyed working and playing side by side all day

After cleaning up, hubby took me out for dinner.  I’m using this picture because I like it, we were joking and I snapped it at the right time.  It’s a shame the quality of the picture isn’t any better.

And we enjoyed the atmosphere from our viewpoint.  Taken without flash.

 

After dinner we hit the mall.  We might be joining the “real world” with smart phones soon!  I keep telling hubby “I’m just dandy with my dumb phone”.  I don’t text and can’t imagine why in the world I would need anything other than what I already have.

TBD on my take of the phones they call “smart”.

And that wraps up my two cents for the day.

Blessings – Debbie

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day.  I could burst into that verse right now, but I won’t.  Oh I want to!  But I’ll spare you.

Way beyond the clouds is the prettiest blue sky and that beautiful sunshine that’s been hiding for days!  It was overcast again this morning mixed with a little rain.  But this afternoon the clouds parted revealing the deepest blue.

This was taken on my way home from a wonderful lunch date with my hubby.

Exciting, it was so exciting to see the sky again let me tell you!  As soon as I got home, I made a beeline for the backyard.

and relished the pretty sun-kissed flora.

It takes the rain to enjoy the prettiest blue skies and takes the prettiest blue skies to enjoy the rain.  But there’s something to be said after the rain.  It makes all things look fresh and new.

As with life.  Sometimes it has to rain in order to see new growth and appreciate the blessings all around us.

Blessings – Debbie

I had a nice little spontaneous stroll through the backyard.

The air was crisp and sounds of raindrops fell from the surrounding foliage.

Flowers of all sorts appeared a deeper shade and I seemed to notice colors I hadn’t seen before.

The roses were bathed in raindrops

and this lone wet bench in the backyard is looking out to beautiful views.

The path may at times be slippery but well worth the journey.

We have a chance of showers.  Considerable cloudiness with a high of 67°.

Until we see the sun again, I will continue to enjoy our rare blessing of rain.

Blessings – Debbie

Shocker, I know, but we here in southern California rarely experience what a nice rainfall is all about that we forget it’s part of the forecast.

This was yesterday…

We forget the sky looks anything other than blue.

And don’t recall the last time water trickled off the roof.  That’s actually a little trickle there on the left.  The fine line can be seen in front of the bushes.

Then came an actual waterfall.  This was a first since we moved into this home last May.

Between downpours, I ventured out…

And saw lot and lots of water-drops everywhere!

Dark skies and beauty…

at each turn, what more could I ask for?

What’s more?  Raindrops again today!

I love this quote.

The rose is not the only beauty with thorns.  The key is to enjoy beauty without getting hurt.

and don’t sit on top of fences like this…

But do appreciate the goodness of all things!

Blessings – Debbie

Hubby and I filled out our ballots last evening and slipped those babies in the mail today!  Yay for not having to stand in line on Election Day!

We had plenty of material to cover, just in-case we were unsure of the issues and we made our voice count.

And we used it such that we didn’t leave anything blank.

Read the instructions and got busy filling out the “Official Ballot” – This is such a great way to vote!

On the down side, I don’t have a sticker to wear today.  But if that’s the only bad thing I can think of, I think I’ll continue voting like this whenever possible.

Blessings – Debbie

There were no immediate plans for myself this morning.  As I went about my morning ritual of making hubby’s lunch and started a fresh pot of coffee.  But there was one thing on the counter that particularly caught my eye…

And there they were looking all ripe and begging to be useful.  I thought, how perfect do these guys look for banana muffins?  Yes, that was the next great adventure on this cool damp autumn morning.

Luckily I had all the ingredients necessary.  The star of the show (IMHO) would be the sour cream.  Oops, I don’t have the vanilla extract in the picture, sorry vanilla, I didn’t mean to leave you out of the pic.  At least you made it to the batch though.  Clearly that’s the main thing, right?

Once everything is mixed, it looks like a beautiful large bowl of creamy goodness.  And it is, I tasted.

Then we have the batter evenly portioned into muffin cups.  This was a recipe for banana bread, but I much prefer individual muffins these days.  So muffins it is.

Then I popped these into the oven and let the heat do the rest.

Lets just say, these are over the top creamy moist and flavorful!  Thank you very much Mr. Sour Cream, I believe that’s your doin’.  Good Job!

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 medium bananas, sliced – (I used 3, just because that’s the way I roll)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared muffin pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  (I did none of the above mentioned as I had mine piping “HOT”!  Just saying, I don’t always play by the rules.)
4. If your baking bread, allow 60 min of baking time in at 350 degrees F oven or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

• Calories: 192
• Total Fat: 8.6g
• Cholesterol: 48mg
• Sodium: 219mg
• Total Carbs: 26.9g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.7g
• Protein: 2.6g

From the time I can recall, this has to be my absolute favorite time of the year.  Autumn provides the best kick off to the holidays and a celebration is in order.

To start with, I dug out my favorite little Pilgrim s and p shakers.  These shakers have special meaning as they are one of the first of the precious little things we’ve collected as a couple.  And I think these were perhaps our very first e-bay purchase.

This little set was sold in the local Publix grocery store, but they were all gone by the time we got around to getting them.  We were beyond excited to find them on e-bay some 11 years ago.

Pumpkin, that’s one of the very first things I think of when autumn arrives.  And muffins/pumpkin bread are in the works around here.

Paradise – Living in paradise this time of year is another blessing.  Hubby and I enjoyed time at the beach this past weekend.  We also enjoyed a lovely meal, my (meal) pictures didn’t turn out for whatever reason.  But yummy none the less.

And Coffee Mugs – This is the best pottery mug I’ve ever laid hands on.  It happens to be the piece of pottery I scored while in Alaska last month.  Check out the nifty little opening there for your paws to slip in.

Cheers to Autumn and all these blessings and more…

Blessings – Debbie

I was beyond excited that my Great Aunt and Uncle were more than up for us to come over for a visit in their lovely log home.

 

Aunt Ida Belle shared her coat so that I could see and experience what a “real” winter coat was all about.  She even zipped it all the way up to enhance the experience.  For a moment in time, I was a real Eskimo.

Uncle David has played the violin for (I believe he said) 65 years.  We enjoyed listening to his wonderful tunes while there.  Amazing talent I might add!

My beautiful Great Aunt Ida Belle

We truly had a great visit all the way around.  Aunt Ida Belle shared our family genealogy with me.  She had an amazing book all put together and I even got to see a picture of my great, great, great grandfather.  What a delight that was to see and read all about our family history!

After our visit, hubby and I headed back to meet up with Dan and Rita for a lovely dinner on the river.

Loved our table and view.

Dan and I went out on the deck while we waited for our meal and took a few shots.

What a peaceful lovely evening.

And after we finished our meal, we enjoyed the pretty sunset.

and this view just outside the restaurant.  This made our very last day and evening in Fairbanks, Alaska. What a great day filled with so many blessings.

We were both very satisfied with our stay and everything we experienced while in Alaska.  We trust we can make it back one day.

In other news:  I apologize for allowing the blog to collect dust.  This Alaska trip sure did a number on me as far as all the pictures go.  I averaged 250 -350 pictures a day and sorting through them became burdensome.  Now I just need to finish wrapping up all the things I need to say and share about Alaska and then call it a day.

I’m hoping to finish up in the next 3 days so that I can continue on with life and times.

Blessings – Debbie