Friday Fill-ins

1. Right now I'm _____.
2. _____ is my well known quirk.
3. Are you _____?
4. _____ first, then _____!
5. That's why _____.
6. _____ is one of my favorite tv shows ever!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!



1. Right now I am resting from decluttering!
2. Not being able to sleep with the closet door open is my well known quirk.
3. Are you sleepy?
4. Family first, then everything else!
5.  That's why I don't like crowds.
6.  Days of Our Lives is one of my favorite tv shows ever!
7.  And as for the weeken, tonight I am looking forward to some moving watching with my granddaughter, tomorrow my plans include seeing my son, daughter in law and grandchildren and Sunday, I want to crash!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!  I do not believe in resolutions but I do believe in goals.  Here are a few of my goals for 2016, not in any particular order.

1.  Break the sugar addiction -- starting today.  So far so good but I have only been up for an hour and half and I have to make cookies.  Yikes!

2.  Increase my step count -- I walk for exercise and I average about 5000 steps a day -- half of what I should -- so that is a goal. 

3.  Become Fort Worth's answer to Marie Kondo -- after trying to facilitate moving my mother in law to assisted living, I am adament about getting my own clutter under control -- her "stuff" is causing me great stress.

4.  Read more.

5.  Blog more.

6.  Visit Facebook less often.  Who knew that scrolling through pages and pages of peoples opinions on things could be so addictive and such a waste of time.  Apologies to my facebook friends but seriously --

7.  Sew more.  I love Irish Chain quilts and I would really like to try my hand at hand piecing one.  In blues and turquoises.

8.  Only join one reading challenge

9.  Cook at home more -- poor hubby.

10.  Take more photos -- which reminds me -- I need to buy a new camera like today!

So, folks, that is my year in a nutshell.  I will start dismantling "Christmas" today even though it is still Christmastide and I still have one more gathering but I am anxious to get on with the new year and see if I accomplish the goals I have set forward.  We will see.

Have A Wonderful New Year and see you back here much, much more often.

Rough Night in Dallas

Rough Night In Dallas -- sounds like a cw song, doesn't it?  I wish it was a song but the reality is that is was a rough night in Dallas with eleven tornadoes --one of them quite large - doing lots of damage.

There has been 11 deaths and many injuries.  Cars were tossed off the highway overpasses as the tornadoes crossed the roads.  It all began in early evening and was still a threat by 10 p.m.  This morning, in the light of day, the damage is vast and they expect the NWS to declare this a F3 or F4 tornado -- the big tornado -- I am not sure about the smaller ones.

So, for any of my readers who saw this on the news, just letting you know that we are fine.  We live in west Fort Worth and this was all on the east side of Dallas.  We got some rain, some lightening and for some reason we lost power for about 30 minutes but we didn't experience anything severe and for that I am thankful.  However, there are a lot of families that weren't so lucky and the new year will be full of trying to put lives back together.  So, so sad.

By the way, have I ever mentioned that I really don't care for the weather in North Texas?  I guess I am just a San Antonio girl at heart and always will be. If my kids didn't live here, I would move back.  The weather wasn't perfect there but at least we didn't have as much threatening weather from tornadoes to ice. 

What is up next?  Well, we are going to have more rain today - and wind -- and then tonight it is going to get cold and we might have a snowflake.  They said if there was any snow it wouldn't accumulate and it wouldn't be a problem.  When they say that, it is time to go to the grocery store and stock up for the blizzard because they ARE. ALWAYS. WRONG. 

So, just wanted to let anybody who was wondering know that we are fine and hopefully the tornado activity is over.

RAW VIDEO: Incredible Large Tornado near Rowlett, Texas | Dec 26, 2015

Merry Christmas!

The last 25 days have been spent waiting for Christmas.  There have been quiet times, candle lightings,  gospel lessons, nativity building and anticipation.  Today was the culmination of all those things as we welcomed the new born babe and celebrated with gifts and food.

I usually have a problem with depression at some point during the holiday season and this year has been no different.  There was one day a couple of weeks ago and then again today.  I don't know why, a let down perhaps.  Even though we try to emphasize the real meaning of Christmas and not dwell on the material side of it there is still that moment of realization that all the planning and working is over in the blink of an eye.  I know that "Christmas" is just beginning with twelve days to follow but being raised in America it was our tradition to celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then it was done and we readied ourselves for the New Year.

So, today, as I was making the final preparations for our dinner and final lighting of the Advent candles I was already thinking ahead toward the New Year and things I want to accomplish.  I don't believe in resolutions -- it is like they are made just to be broken.  I much prefer plans and goals.

I have a few of those for the new year -- some big, some not so big, so long term and some to bring closure.  One of my goals this year is to be a better blogger.  I have a few things I would like to incorporate here at Maison Brinkley -- both personally and for the household in general.  I am going to make a more concerted effort to actually document them here with photographs.

Photographs -- hmm...that reminds me, it seems that three of the four screws in the front of my camera have fallen out and my camera is in grave danger of just disintegrating so I might have to think about a new one.  In any event, I am hoping to do better with the blog.

I am also rethinking reading challenges.  This year I signed up for several and wasn't particularly successful with most so 2016 will find me participating in only one.  I have several series that I would have loved to have finished this year but didn't so I will continue with those this year.  I have learned that reading challenges are sort of double edged sword.  On one hand they sort of force you to read more but I wonder if, in doing that, we don't read as well and get as much out of the books as we could if we took more time.  I don't know but I do know that I am going to do only one.

I am also giving more thought to household things such as tidying, decluttering and meal planning and prepping.  I have recently read an interesting article that takes meal planning a step farther and concentrates on prepping and pre-cooking some things.  I found it fascinating and am going to give that a go and see if it can help me prepare an evening meal with limited time.  The Hubs and I both need to lose a little (haha!) weight and get more exercise so that is a huge goal of the new year. 

But, for tonight, I am taking my book, heading to my bed and going to lose myself in a good read. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to great weekend!

Christmas Eve Eve

Yes, it is Christmas Eve Eve -- the day where I take stock of what is left to be done, what will probably won't get done and start making lists.  Since we only see one child and her family on Christmas, I think I am done with what I need to do for her.  We see our son and his family during the twelve days of Christmas and that has yet to be arranged but I think I am good there as well.  I need to grocery shop and do some house cleaning -- domestic things know no season.  And.....I need to bake cookies.  Lots and lots of cookies.  So, that is what I will be doing tonight.  Hopefully I can get some Welsh Cakes done as well but for sure chocolate chip and sugar with sprinkles. 

So, off to the store in a bit with list in hand -- wonder where I can get a big dose of energy?  Ah, yes...I will have to Google it.

Anyway, just wanted to leave this with you as I thought it was really cute!

The little elf looks like our Tuppy!

Have a wonderful day pulling together all your loose ends if you have any -- stay safe!

Hello! Remember Me?

Hello there!  Remember me -- Melissa -- the blogger gone AWOL?  Yes, well, things have been busy -- I try not to say hectic because that isn't really accurate, just busy.  As the week progresses I feel things winding down and getting a bit calmer -- I mean, time is running out for all the manic shopping and wrapping and all that and I can feel the excitement of Christmas Day creeping in.  I am ready in all sorts of ways -- last gift bought, everything wrapped, the ham ordered and the house cleaned -- well, ok, that is a gross exaggeration -- the house is not cleaned and there is wrapping paper bits everywhere! But, a girl can dream, can't she?

This week has been really crazy -- my mother in law was hospitalized twice in the week and has now been released to a local rehab center.  She was transported by a transport service that didn't get her to the new facility until 11 p.m.  She isn't particularly happy and my husband and I are exhausted.  The original plan was for her to just go home to her apartment but after talking with her she was concerned about being too weak to do for herself and so the decision to go home was re-visited and it was decided she would go to rehab to try to get her back on her feet.  Hubs will check on her this morning and I hope she has a more positive view of the situation than she did last night.  It would help if they can find her a private room.  She isn't the roomie sort. So, yeah, hopefully that will work out better as we go along.

I purchased my last gift yesterday.  It is for a very special little girl named Emily.  This is Lisa, a Ragtales doll that I found at a local, indie book store -- Monkey and Dog -- owned by a friend of mine, Shelley Lowe. 

Lily

I actually went for Odette -- a Jellycat ostrich but Odette had found her forever home.  I decided that Lisa would be a better choice as she doesn't have feathers and even though I loved Odette, I decided that Lisa would be very loved in her new forever home.

Odette

So, that was the last of the shopping -- Hubs and I have each bought one another a couple of things but the fact of the matter is that we are so blessed that there is really nothing we need or especially want -- we have enough -- we have each other, we are reasonably healthy, we have wonderful kids and grandkids, we have a roof over our heads and food in our tummies, some really good friends a wonderful, warm church  and what more could we ask for.

So, as I try to recoup from my long night at the rehab I am going to share this beautiful picture from Christmas past -- about four years ago.  It makes me smile.

Beanie

Happy Birthday, Aunt Linnie!

Today would be my Aunt Linnie's 87th birthday.  She was an integral part of my and JLSHall's life -- she was the glamorous aunt that never married, had a career in fashion and always gave fabulous presents. 

She can be seen on the top row of the photos on this page -- lots of dark hair and very attractive.  I miss her very much.

There is another cousin on this page as well -- Teddy Giles -- the last row, last photo.  We lost him in the recent past -- he was a really good guy and I am so glad to have become re-acquainted with his kids -- family bonds are very important.

So, Happy Birthday, Aunt Linnie!

Shhhh----We Are Waiting

We have come full circle and we begin again--

The first Advent candle

The Little Gospels from the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

The Stable

Quiet Monday, Hectic Weekend, and Everybody is Sick

Last week, oh, I think Thursday, the wind blew.  Like a hurricane.  And I, brilliant soul that I am, was out walking around in it.  Now, I am an old lady (hee hee) and have known for many years that I can't handle real air very well and definitely not windy air. So, I should have known better but I had to walk into the school to get Bean and I had no choice. 

It didn't take but a few hours for whatever blew up my nose to start bothering me.  I was allergy sick.  Then the Hubs followed suit, then Bean and now dear daughter.  We all have it and we all feel miserable but, as they say, the show must go on.

This weekend was a bit hectic.  My mother in law will be celebrating her 94th birthday on Wednesday so this weekend we had a reunion of sorts.  She has four children, all still living, four in-law children, eleven grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.  All but a few came for this little reunion.

We had a lovely dinner at Cousin's Barbecue on Saturday night followed by cake in the activity center at her retirement community.  Yesterday, most reconvened to have lunch -- fajitas from Rosa's -- and more fellowship.  It was a good time and I think she enjoyed it. 

Three of her granddaughters were captured in this lovely photo

Jan, Bri and Jill

My daughter posted this photo on FB saying that all they needed was Sarah, Rachel and Rebecca.  Well, they couldn't attend but they sent their picture to be part of it all and here they are --

Rachel, Sarah and Rebecca

All such beautiful girls -- I wish they could have all been together for a photo.

And, some of the younger generation --

Mateo, Bean and Dante

Nothing like bonding over video games -- Spy Mouse specifically.

It was a good day -- hopefully there will be a repeat next year.

Oh, It's Sewing Time Again.....

Most everybody who reads my blog knows about Bean.  What most people don't know is that I have three other grandchildren -- Nathan, 8 1/2 yrs., Kathryn, 7 yrs. and Emily who is about to reach a milestone birthday -- 1 yr.

I don't talk about these three grandchildren much because their parents don't want their photos on the internet.  I completely understand that and I completely respect that.  I am very careful when putting most any photos up anyway and I certainly don't want to go against their wishes.

However, my daughter-in-law contacted me last week and was wondering if I would be interested in making coordinating outfits for K and E for an upcoming autumnal photo op.  I said sure but time was short so it would have to be something very simple.  I sew but I am not all that great so I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew for the time allotted.

We decided on a simple little skirt for K in autumn colors.  I went to my favorite quilting shop -- Quilter's Stash in Hurst -- and found this lovely French General fabric from Moda.  The finish is almost that of a polished cotton although not quite.  It lost a bit of that finish when I washed it prior to sewing but washing is necessary as I don't want it to shrink the first time out of the box.  So, here is the little 1 hour skirt.

Since I was sewing and going by measurement only, without the children, it is a guess that it will fit.  I went by Mom's measurements though so hoping for the best.

And, for E, I decided on a coordinating fabric to be made up into one of those little jumpers/dresses that lap over the shoulder and button.  I used to make these, romper style, for E's father when he was little -- complete with grippers in the crotch -- so I am familiar with the style.  So, here it is as well.

It is much smaller than it looks here and I am sorry for my glare-y white freezer in the background.  This fabric is from the same French General collection and the colors, of course, match perfectly.

E is going to wear this as a jumper over a tee or onesie in cream and K will be wearing her skirt with a cream turtleneck or something similar.  Our weather has turned colder now and so something long sleeved would be appropriate and I think they are going to be very cute in their fall photos.

I wish I could show you a photo of the girls in the outfits but unfortunately that can't happen.  I am just hoping that the measurements were correct and that they fit them.  I think they turned out lovely and will be a nice complement to a photo session in this nice, crispy weather.