Here we grow again.

This is the latest business to join the "Green Tree Cash Services" family.





This is our new company truck. It's a four door king cab with a V-8 engine, satellite radio, and a big year end business tax deduction. Hubba, hubba!!!

Mix it up!!!

I love my new mixer. No more using the 25 year old hand held mixer that smells like it is about to catch on fire ever time I used it. This baby mixes by itself and it's yellow. We had a great Christmas!!!

Dogs love Christmas too!

Max and Jack, my sister's cats sent Annie this new toy for Christmas. She just had to open it early because the anticipation was just too much. She has been carrying it around since opened and frequently shoves it up your butt while you are trying to get things done.

Party on!!!

Our party was great. This is Matt's daughter, Jennifer and her boyfriend, Tony. Jen is always great and I like Tony the more I am around him. He has a great sense of humor, a warm personality, and makes a great Tequila Sunrise!!!













A real tree so perfect, it looks fake.





















This is Matt and Smitty, early party participants, fishin fools, and great guys

Oh Christmas Tree!!!

Matt was on a mission to deck the halls and decorate the 12 foot tree that has been in our living room since Sunday.



If I had the ambition, I would ice skate around our tree.

First snow!!!

I tried to take better pictures of my decorations dusted with the first snow of the season. I really need to read the manual to Matt's camera, especially since I am still paying for it.

Deckin the halls!!!

New art work was hung, trees came home.

A

Arrangements were made.














Tippin yet again!

We are going to put blue lights on the fence this year at some point. These are last years pics. At least we had snow. The weather has been unseasonably warm, rainy, blah, and crappy.

Tippin

Annie and I had Bailey's Irish Cream and coffee and went on a tree tippin mission. Well, I had Bailey's, she drank some mud. We both sported our traditional hunting season blaze orange attire and decorated the mini barn.

4 AM conversation with the great white hunter.

Matt: Hon, where's my rattle?
Me: My guess is you left it in your crib many, many years ago.
Matt: Very funny. My deer rattle.
Me: Just what does one do with a deer rattle?
Matt: For 2 to 3 weeks, known as ruttin' season, the bucks have one thing only on their minds, finding a doe.
Me: I find it hard to believe that anything called "buck" only gets horny once a year.
Matt: Yeah, but he has a hard-on for 2 to 3 weeks.
Me: The Viagra commercials warn that any erection lasting more than 4 hours, you should seek medical attention.
Matt: Not when you are called "buck." You use the deer rattle so the buck will think you are a doe and come charging straight for you.
Me: I hope you shoot him before he catches you.
Matt: Not as much as I do.

Don't try this at home.

Thanksgiving Day I put the finishing touches on my wood project. I am very thankful it is done. I am not telling anyone other than my faithful readers that it was a kit. If anyone asks, I am going to say I cut down a tree out back and carved the pieces out with Matt's hunting knife.

Still reading the Bible!

I tried another recipe from the "Cake Mix Bible" I got for my birthday. It's a coconut, pecan thing.













It doesn't look exactly like the picture because I didn't toast the coconut on top. Matt had a piece and said "I would feed this to anyone." I guess that means it is pretty good.

Matt King Cole!

Put some Nate King Cole on the stereo, add a couple of White Russians and you have Matt King Cole and his big dog too!!













Just antoher Friday night in Carmel. Christmas catalog shopping was also appearing live!

Still cleaning up "My pictures"

I have been trying to organize "our pictures." In the process I came across this picture of Christina and I at National Games in Iowa. I know I have blogged it in the past, but it is one of my favorite photos. We were just having such a great time and I was so proud to be there with her representing Team Maine!

It makes a village!!!

Annie and I sported our hunter orange and dug up bulbs and planted tulips on Saturday. Sunday morning I woke up to a mess in the kitchen. Annie was rushed to the ER vet due to frequent urination, blood in her urine, and puckin. I know, too much information. She has a bladder infection and is on 2 new meds. The vet said this is common in older dogs. When did my dog get to be older? I swear she was just a puppy and still acts like one.











I am finally at Step 3, glue the pieces.















gluing those little windows in those little houses requires twizzers and patience.














It's coming together and soon to be done.

Hi Mom!!!

I just this love this picture!!

Run Bambi Run!

Matt put the beans in the crock pot at 4 am and left to chase the elusive white tail deer. I made the rounds to: TJ Maxx, Mardens, and Walmart. Did a little Christmas shopping and treated myself to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. I am in the thick of Step 2 - paint the little wooden pieces.












This is way more than I anticipated.

It's coming!

It might snow any day now! People who have lived in Maine all their lives are shocked! This is the snowman Mom and Dad made when they came to visit last Christmas.




The view from our deck. I think it is beautiful when snow covered!

It's a wild weekend!

It is a rainy, cold, windy weekend. Poor Matt is on-call and has been from Farmington to Island Falls today. I made a big charge of beef stew and was nesting all day. I don't care if I leave the homestead for the next 2, 6, 8 days. This is the hutch Dad made me during his "Silver Lake Period." It was the first piece of furniture I ever finished and has been moved up and down the Eastern Seaboard and managed to survive.

On the cutting edge.

Yet another fine "Uncle Henry's" bargain came home with Matt after golf yesterday. This is a mini-snow blower. It's great for pathways and decks as the blades are rubber. Matt said, "even you can operate it."








I think it will be great for making snowmen. Just walk around in a circle, pile up the snow, shape, and there you go, instant snow person.
Thanks Mom and Dad for Matt's subscription to Uncle Henry's. I never know what he will come home with next.










Little pieces of wood have invaded my space. I am still in the process of cutting out pieces and sorting for painting.











Even my work bench is covered and I am still cutting. Who's idea was this?

How do I get into this stuff?

I numbered all my pieces which not all that easy, by the way. Now I am in the process of cutting them out and sorting by number for painting.










I already miss card making!















I will master this mother of a project!













I take breaks from the project and play my organ.

New project!

Inspired by my sister's desire for mosaic artwork and being tired of scrappin, I cleaned off my craft table and started a new project. This is an art kit Matt got me for Christmas two months before we moved to Carmel. Actually I just found it. You can check these fine art kits out at www.woodscapekits.com. I am doing "Village Church." Tonight I almost completed Step 1, number the pieces.







In other cellah dwellah news:
This is the living room section of my retreat. The futon is the only piece of furniture in the house Annie is allowed on, (that we know of). It's a great place for a Saturday afternoon nap.










This cedar chest we obtained with the sale of the house. Dad put shelves in it for my doll collection. These are the chicks from the Grimm's Fairy Tales. My favorite is Cinderella.