I hope you enjoy it. I share our Winter in February/Valentine Excursions/Snowed in/Driving in the Snow/Trimming Roger/Working on the Pantry/Using my Storage Containers/Pretty Snow Scenes/A Bit of Humor
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Tis the Christmas Eve ya’ll! So far, Christmas is happening! Finished off work yesterday. Left at 4. I got everything done that I needed to do and to be ready for Monday. I ordered a pizza before leaving work through Jet’s Pizza. Went to their website and it gave 20% off if you ordered through text. It made it easy. I did that. So it was ready when I got there. And the large pizza was pretty inexpensive compared to others.
Sausage Ball Recipe
Was pretty tired after the work week coupled with tasks every evening but such is the Christmas Crunch. Last night we ate pizza and I set out in the kitchen to get sausage balls (2 batches) made. It’s a recipe I have had for over 30 years. You probably have seen the recipe. It’s pretty basic. This combination works every time.
I’ve learned to just make 2 batches as that seems to feed our company and give a day or two leftovers. Great with mustard! 😉
Update on Daughter
I was pleased when Katy texted last night….”help, can’t find sausage ball recipe”. I had the recipe laying out in front of me when she asked. Of course I took a pic and then realized 30 min later, I had forgotten to actually SEND the pic of it thru text to her. Hey but at least I realized it so there is hope.
So we are happy that Kate is 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I had to ask “what does that mean?”. Katy began explaining the birthing process and I said, “oh I know that but I mean how long does that mean?” lol And Katy said the doc said it didn’t really mean that you could predict the timing, but did say she may have the baby about a week earlier than due. Remains to be seen. It’s definitely time to get excited as soon we’ll have a new Grandson.
New Global Blog Visitors from Zimbabwe!
New blog visitors. Hey Zimbabwe! I had several of you inquisitively stop by yesterday – something in the blog caught your attention? Thanks for stopping by. It’s always an inquisition on my end too as to why some people pop in suddenly from other countries. Some stay. Someone in China is watching. India is watching. And now Africa. I am shocked to have a global blog. I say “watching” instead of reading. I figure it’s all political. Or information driven. Or someone trying to get inside intel information on something going on in the country. Prove me wrong. Comment. Speak out. 😉 I love to have people visit. Spies, however, will be sorely disappointed in what they find here. However, if you have good intentions, then welcome. If not then “shew fly” off into the sunset? No secrets here. Nothing to investigate. But you might find a sausage ball recipe. lol. Merry Christmas and may the Lord be with you all and He is, in ways you may not even be aware.
Christmas is Happening!
Also made the Christmas Cheez-It’s. It was easy – box of Cheez-It’s and a bit of canola oil (1/2 cup I think), pepper flakes, and 1 oz of dried ranch dressing mix. Mix it in a bowl and then bake for – I think it was about 15 minutes on 250. You can google a recipe just to be sure I got those right. I had a few with coffee this morning.
I slept pretty good last night. I went to bed at 8:30 and got up at 3:30 when Roger needed up. Now George is getting his other end of the night by sleeping in. That seems to work well.
Family arrives a bit after lunch today. We’ll have light snacks available til dinner which will be at 6:00 p.m. We always have prime rib on Christmas Eve. It’s a tradition. One we liked that stuck. Santa will come tonight. I always enjoy his stockings he leaves for anyone here.
I began setting the Christmas table last night. George finally was able to clear off his office from the end of the table after his work day finished yesterday.
We are very excited about today and tomorrow! But we are both pretty tired out from working and dealing with Roger and doing the Christmas Crunch. So we are ready to cook, eat, and enjoy our guests. And see what Santa brought.
Behind the Scenes on the Homefront
The house is fairly clean. I’ve set in to some much needed laundry this morning. I will spritz everything up this morning, light candles about mid day, put on the Christmas fireplace, get folded blankets out and set about for everyone – if needed – although we have been keeping the house warm. Sometimes as you age you need a little throw. I do – although lately George has been keeping the house warmer – now that he has been working from home.
Not really a lot to share today being the last 3 days have been work days. But I’ll take some pics today. My goal is to video some after the house is ready this morning. So I have some Christmas footage of the household and food for the YouTube vlog.
Vlogging Plans
I can’t wait to work on more videos and get that cranking again. It’s been on my mind more and more the closer we get to Christmas. The more you are away from it the harder to get back into it. Now I have to do a catch up video since Maisy passed and work on the new intro. So a lot to catch up on now. My goal had been to set a specific time goal for video, no matter what for 2021 after I saw in 2020 how much time everything will take! I had figured 3 weeks apart while I’m working FT. That was my average! I just can’t get anything done though until after Christmas and likely after New Years and possibly after the birth and our trip. Yikes we are looking at February? This is just always a busy time of year and lots of life happening at once. Maybe I should say “new videos monthly” and set a deadline for the date each month – like the 1st? I need to ponder on that. But that would give me more time. However, I NEED to at least get my plans for video footage together so I can create folders and begin to get some of the video and photos off my phone. And I think I want to be more topic based with each video instead of just “whatever is happening”. I think that will help the ratings and subscriptions.
My phone storage is getting pretty full. Sometimes the camera doesn’t want to work and is slow b/c of it. So I need to get some things transferred over to “files” on my Mac so I can take even more video on my phone as sometimes that is easiest to capture “moments on a whim”.
Supposedly getting an external drive for my videos and materials for Christmas. And a backup drive for the mac. I have to have two separate things, b/c I am not going to keep my videos on the mac anymore. And I have to have a complete back up drive just dedicated to the mac back up. I will still have files on the mac, but the videos need to be kept off of it so it doesn’t slow the mac down as time goes forward. Whatever I don’t get for Christmas or birthday, I’ll buy after Christmas. Need a ring light also for lighting. And I may buy a couple more cheap floor lamps to move about the house when filming certain things. Before long we’ll have a regular filming studio going on, lol.
This next year will be a transitional year for the VLOG – it all evolves anyway as does anything. My plans will deteriorate as God decides what really will happen with it. But I move forward in the direction I think I need to go until he swivels me on another path with it. Excited to continue to learn and develop the new hobby. NO virus is not going to ruin it for me either. Not going to let it. Matter of fact, I’ll use it to my advantage. ;-). For starters, the introvert that I am gets to spend more time at home learning and growing! And more time planning. So in this respect, time is on my side. I need time to develop more skills and learn. And I’m looking forward to the down time after the holiday and our trip to continue to work on it. But I may be February before able to make a lot of progress. I also have to upgrade the Mac. But I’ve got to make sure my security program has provided the upgrade for Big Sur. If not, I’ll wait. I have already paid for a year or so and don’t want to have to buy another security program. However, if Sophos (security) has not upped their game by Feb 1, I may have to. I’m ready to go on to Big Sur. And by now Mac has likely worked out most of the bugs. Just need to make sure iMovie working ok on Big Sur and will do some research before I set about the update.
That is all I have. I am ready to get more coffee, a shower, and get things aligned and set up for company. My clothes are in the guest bedroom, so I’ll need to pack a small bag for the next day so I have what I need when I need it, lol!
Ya’ll have a Merry Christmas! I wish you a happy time with warmth, love, laughter. It’s been a tough year. WE all deserve it. Do you have family coming over today? Tomorrow? Are you cooking something special? What is your food tradition for the Christmas meal? I LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear what YOU are doing!
Yesterday was relaxing. It was cloudy all day for the most part and a bit misty as the tropical storm headed out. The winds were not what they said it would be and neither were the storms. It was mostly just rain.
After finishing my Canon EOS M50 lessons for the day I ironed and ordered the LTD Commodities order. Magazine above. You can order a magazine at www.ltdcommodities.com I ordered a couple of sets of Christmas sacks, some Christmas Socks, a couple of Christmas gifts, some ornaments, and a Thanksgiving plaque. I was disappointed that after ordering I got a reply that at least 3 of the items I ordered was on backorder and out of stock. What? This is a brand new catalog? My guess is —you guessed it —it’s probably on that slow boat from China and they don’t keep it in stock. Big EYE ROLL on that. I was thinking of not ordering from them anymore. I already have something on backorder I ordered a month ago from their fall catalog. If I don’t get these items in before they are needed, I’m going to 1) complain to the company 2) Quit buying from them. Even Amazon is getting bad about this.
We have quit buying from stores, so the stores are limiting items and then you go on line and you can’t get what you ordered. So it’s getting to where you can’t get what you want when you wanted it and that is not acceptable. I think we’ll go back to making our own things eventually, and back to trading my thing for your thing. LOL. Sounds good to me. I’ll take a grocery sack and stick and bow on it and say Merry Christmas. Draw my own design on those brown grocery bags. They are sturdier anyway, LOL. I know I’m being silly.
For some reason, I’m more excited about the holidays this year. I have in the back of my mind that in the next few years we’ll be seeing a grandson in our living room. And we have Momma coming for Thanksgiving and then Momma and Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken will come for Christmas we think. Missing will be our Katy and Cody as Katy will be as pregnant as ever and too late in the pregnancy to travel. So we will miss them terribly. But I am elated with joy that we get to experience the holidays in our own home. YES! I’ve wanted this for years. I will miss Thanksgiving in Texas though as we had a lot of fun out there the last couple of years. Things are changing now.
I had in my head that we would be taking Christmas with us out there in January for them to open then but with the new baby no one will have time for that. I remember how tired I was that week. But George says we will mail their packages. So being that is the case, I guess we will have to consider size of what we are shopping for and it will need to be mailed early in December. So I need to get my game on.
My vision of helping Katy with the baby in January is blurred by the fact that I can’t vision where we will be staying – hotel, car, some combination of both. The dogs will bark at the hotel and they will likely have to stay in the car while we are visiting or one of us stay outside with them but it will be winter. I’m just so confused over it all. We don’t want to leave them here and it’s no good to take them, but we will. We will just have to figure it out I guess as we go. I’d love to trade in my car for a truck and buy a micro minnie with the solar panel option and comfort package option and we could live off the grid including the cold weather. How cool would that be. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about that. But George won’t want that. It would be a solution. Anyway, my mind cannot get past how we are going to handle January. So I just try not to think about it. I can’t stand not being able to plan but there is not a stinking thing I can plan about this trip. Normally I would be looking forward to a trip/vacation. I’m looking forward to seeing my grandson though. But not the trip itself this time. It’s kind of sad. It’s just the way I’m wired. I like to know where I’ll be and what the plans are. Right now so far it’s the car and a dingy hotel and I’m not looking forward to that AT ALL!
But at least there is this:
God will provide. I’m hoping! I’m not even broken but I do know He can figure this out for us. I sure can’t!
Vlogging Equipment
This seems to be the wide angle lens I need for vlogging. They said this was the main one right here. That way you can see more than your face but part of the background. I guess that is what part of my problem has been. The other part is not knowing what I’m doing yet. So this little baby will be key. I am asking for that for Christmas. I think George will be getting it for me.
Then there will be a microphone need at some point. I have been able to control the sound with iMovie though for now. So we’ll see. They come with a wind muff thing on them and that is critical if you are outside. So this is a “at some point” thing. I can save up blow money for that pretty easy by just not eating out as much.
I need a RING light too for lighting in my office or wherever. I haven’t researched yet to see what kind. But I need to get that on my Wish List too. I might even go ahead and get that one. They aren’t much.
I guess I will start trying to put the next video together. I’m not as excited about it and that is not a good sign. LOL I will start to video more in the upcoming days. It will be a hodge podge of things we’ve done since Texas. Mainly eating, cleaning, and such. But we’ll see. It’s at least fun to work on.
I’m feeling down this morning a bit. I am sure it will pass. The coffee is helping! I think I’ll go back for more.
Every Day Lillie - Lifestyle, Early Retirement, Renovation, Travel, Fashion, Beauty, Health and the Occasional Rant about Important Issues like Climate Change
