Home-Home, But Snow is on the WAY AAAUUUGGGGHHH!!!!

Well, we made it home from the cottage last night. We arrived home and were pretty thankful that we didn't have snow here at our Home-Home, like we had at our cottage.

. . . BUT, this morning we wake to find out we are now under a Winter-Storm Warning here at our Home-Home for 8 - 10" of snow by morning!! That's the joy of living in Michigan. We just can't seem to escape it. That's OK though. We had planned on staying home and taking down all the Christmas decorations anyways. . . so now we can't change our minds can we? Hubby already removed all the outside lights this afternoon in anticipation of the added snow accumulation. Kinda hard to remove outside Christmas lights when they are buried under 8 - 10" of snow, ya know!

*Edited to add. . .the weather forecast has changed. . . we can now expect up to 12" of snow. Oh hurry Spring, hurry~!!

We're just "Homers" anyways so staying home and staying in is just fine with us. The conditions are right too. Fires going in the fireplaces, kitchen stocked with food, all the family is present (including a bonus member - my niece who is spending the day and night), DVDs from Netflix ready to be watched, gas in the snow blower. . . Ahhhh, this won't be too bad after all.

Oh, yes, why is our youngest smiling in the above picture? Well, she's hoping we get so much snow that she won't have to go back to school after the New Year. (Yeah, right, FAT chance!!! There will be plenty of time to clear the roads. . .but I won't tell her that just yet. . . let her dream!)

Enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations. But, please, if you are going to drink, spend the night, or have someone who isn't drinking drive you home. It only takes a second to change yours, or some one's life forever. Be responsible.

May the New Year bring you all good health, happiness and the love of your family and friends. Thank you all for your visits throughout this past year. I have enjoyed visiting with all of my old, new and (soon to meet) blogging buddies. It's been so much fun inspiring, supporting and just "sharing" with you all. I look forward to your visits and my visits to your blogs in 2008!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Part 2 - Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful, BUT WHAT'S SO DELIGHTFUL???

Well, we're doing our best to keep warm here in northern Michigan. . . burr. As promised, here are a few updated photos of our snowfall here in our Michigan Winter Wonderland.

This photo was taken from the same location as the one I took for my last post. You can see how the pine trees are drooping now. These trees are huge. Our cottage has a walk out basement so the deck I took these photos from is 9' off the ground. The basement walkout is beneath this deck. . . so you are seeing the trees minus the bottom 9'.

This is taken looking out from the other direction on the deck. We have since filled the bird feeder. Poor little birdies need to eat too and this time of year it is difficult for them to find food when it is all snow covered.

This is our oldest daughter all bundled up for the weather and ready to throw that snowball. . . so you'd better DUCK!! Her boyfriend is in the background.

And we leave you with one of the thrills of this winter wonderland. . . SLEDDING!! Our daughter's boyfriend's dog, and our daughter's boyfriend with his dog on the sled going down the hill. And man, after pushing off, it is a steep hill. I would have loved to have been at the bottom of that hill to see that dog's face! But, they tell me the dog LOVED it . . . the boyfriend. . . well. . . I'm not so sure!!

Blessings. . . until next time (and keep warm),

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful. . . But. . . WHAT'S SO DELIGHTFUL?!?

Well, we're here at the cottage for a little after Christmas R&R . . . or so we thought. We didn't know a storm was a brewing!! Of course, the snow blower doesn't start (worked fine when hubs checked it in September - go figure); the guy who plows drive-ways is not answering his cell phone. . . so. . . we, I mean my husband and our daughter's boyfriend shoveled! It's still coming down . . . very, very heavy. 8" is predicted in total.

Gee, maybe we won't be heading home on Monday morning after all? Thank God I purchased a small freezer from Costco and brought it up last summer. So, we're stocked with food if we're snowed in. The first picture is one I took from the Great Room door wall looking out over the deck. In the amount of time it took for me to take this picture, loaded it on my computer and uploaded to Blogger, the branches on our pine trees acquired so much snow that they are now badly drooping! I'll take another picture in the morning to show the accumulation.

The above picture was taken out our cottage front door. I took it tonight as hubs was leaving to take the girls sledding. Not me though. Oh, No, I'm a stay in, light the fire and read, or blog, kinda girl.

I think you can see how hard it is snowing here in Michigan by these pictures.

Oh, yeah, for all of those blogging buddies out west and down south who have expressed an interest in "having snow", you're all invited up for a visit. . . come on. . . and. . . bring. . . your. . . shovels!! I'll meet you by the fire. . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

Blogger Award

One of my blogging buddies, Andrea, from Southern Heart has given me this award. I am truly flattered. . . because I love Andrea's blog too and am so glad I came across it. It is truly creative, wonderful and inspiring. (I do believe deep down inside I have an old soul that longs to live in the south.) Take a moment and check it out for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

I now pass this award on to Rhoda, Southern Hospitality; Tracey, A Cottage Industry, and

Grace from Rose Cottage Lane. It was sooo hard to just select a few of my favorite blogs because I have sooo many. If you have not visited these blogs, please do so. I do think you will "heart" them too!

Our 13 year old always says "I heart you." For "I love you." So I can't wait to show this award to her. She'll think it's cool that her old momma "got it."

I hope all of your Christmas celebrations were wonderful, filled with lots of love, family and friends. So, now let's all rest a few days. . . before. . . we. . . have. . . to. . . take. . . all. . . the. . . Christmas. . . decorations. . . DOWN. Aaaaauuuuugggggghhhhhh!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Merry "Christ"mas and a Pause

Merry "Christ"mas. I'll catch up with you all after the 25th. Thank you to my blogging buddy, Andrea - Southern Heart for a blogger award. I will do that post on the 26th and pass along the award as well.


"I'm" having Christmas dinner this year. . . so at the moment. . . my cup. . . overflow-ith.



Blessings. . . until next time,

Welcome to Our Home and Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to Sher's Creative Expressions Virtual Holiday 2007 Home Tour. Merry Christmas from our home to yours! Thanks to Tracey from A Cottage Industry for hosting this event.

Welcome and come on in. This little stone is at the threshold of our door to welcome all who enter.

REMEMBER, YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT!

I posted small photos to fit them in one post.

I'm so sorry. I tried a new setting on my camera for night time photos because of the dimness of the Christmas light. Obviously, I should have used a tri-pod with this sensitive setting. Some of them are a bit blurred.

Open the door and come on into our Foyer. Lots of things are going on in here!

Lamps, banisters, clocks and even chairs are decorated for the holidays.

Yeah, to sit this time of the year would be "Peaceful" and I would "Rejoice" to be able to rest LOL!!

A poinsettia is resting in an urn by our door with a spray of greens draped beneath it.

I put twinkling lights on my plants whenever possible.

. . . another chair that I'm too busy to sit in.

This is the view of the Foyer, looking in from the Dining Room





Below is a shot into our den. We decorated above the French doors with swags, ribbons and bows. I love to sit in here in the evening and read. It's "my" room. I close the doors, shut out the world and relax. . . it's my *bliss!*

*Sigh* everyone needs a special place in their home to "escape" and "be alone" at the end of the day.






Next we'll enter the Dining Room. We have it all ready for the Holidays too. Twinkling lights above the china cabinet, ribbon and snowflakes hanging from the chandelier.

Our festive table cloth is on the table ready for a gathering.







We light the candles and . . . celebrate!

Next, we'll turn around and head into our Great Room. It's waiting to greet you as well!

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. . . waiting to be filled by someone named "Sher!"














Sofa table display. Singing Santa, The Hallmark Dancing ornament, Cranberry Tree placed in a small urn with a gold bow on top, crystal sleigh with gold, silver and pewter bulbs inside. Just a "little bit of everything here."

I took this picture down into the Great Room from the cat walk.

. . . remember this secretary? It was one of my "finds!" I have a little lamp in here and a small strand of twinkle lights too.




The banister up on the cat walk to our daughter's bedrooms also are decorated with garland, ribbon and bows.

A shot of the decorated garland hanging off of the cat walk. This was the "swaying" ribbon that set off my house alarm motion detector, remember?

And in our Great Room, beneath our Christmas tree, our nativity. . . the reason for all of this Holiday Hoopla stuff we get so caught up in. . . . Decorating is fine to do, but we need to also remember. . . Jesus is the reason for this season!!

Mr. Butler is even sporting his Holiday Hat while serving you an eggnog beverage from the bar.

Next, into the Kitchen. A "little" decorating done in our Kitchen too.




After Christmas with all the junk we'll have eaten, I think we'll be able to relate better to "Mr. Piggy" here! "Mr. Piggy" also has a brother who lives in our basement. I'll show you that later in this post.

Our Kitchen table is decorated for Christmas too as well as the wing back chairs and table behind in the breakfast nook.

A little wreath on the side of the Baker's Rack


Now, it's down the landing and into the basement next. I did some, but not much decorating down there. The girls really, really wanted a tree down there, but no one wanted to put it up. I did the 13' tree that was it for me. They wanted a tree and our village up. I told them to "have at it!" Neither is up :)

This is what you see as you enter my basement landing. A little snowman on the floor in the corner and a little reindeer in a sack of reindeer food. I had a lot of fun with that when my girls were little. Maybe that's why I keep it. . . memories?











When you get down the stairs into the basement I have a sofa table against a wall. It's decorated with yet another small nativity set, greens and a grape vine Christmas Tree. I love this tree. I've had it for years!! It's so simple, natural and lovely. . . just. . . as. . . it. . . is. But, I see I forgot to remove the fall candy corn and replace with Christmas candy. Oh well.


Yes, we even decorate our bathrooms a little bit. Here is a plant with lights, and a little snowman that our youngest made when she was in the 3rd grade. How could I ever not display Mr. Tube Sock Snowman?




Below this is our toilet cover. It's got the snowman theme going as well.

Little Christmas birdies by a small Christmas tree in the bathroom.

And here is "Mr. Piggy's" brother. Mr. "Wiggley." He stands guard over my hubby's popcorn machine and the girls' bubble gum dispensers. He kind of looks like Scrooge, even the Santa Hat can't help him. Bahh Humbug - his face says to me.


Well, I didn't put up a tree in the basement, or the village. but I did put up another nativity display.

Thank you all for stopping by my home for the 2007 Holiday Visual Tour. May your Holidays be full of love, family, and reflecting on the one true meaning of this celebration. . . Jesus and the gift we have through Him - Salvation.

Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2008.

Blessings. . . until next time,