Charms for the Easy Life

Project 365 - December 30

Jedidiah has broken a girl's heart already.

Well, what he actually broke was her bracelet. It wouldn't be overstating things to say he broke her heart if she loved the bracelet. She didn't, but that's beside the point. :)

I've felt bad for a long time about the destruction of her property, and have looked for a similar replacement with no luck. Since the charm bracelets were so fun to do for my nieces, I asked her if she would mind a substitute replacement, and she kindly agreed.

Miss Grace happens to like giraffes and gold, but I also added in antique copper hearts to darken the bracelet a bit.

I'm not sure I'm happy with it yet, but that's what I did today.

We Love the USPS!

Project 365 - December 29

I never thought I would be so fond of a postal worker, but Dave is one of our favorite people in Winthrop.

We try to do our part to keep the USPS working, and it's no hardship when the business is done with such a kind person.

A Little Bling

Project 365 - December 29

I'm happy to report that not only am I reconciled to the colored lights on our tree this year, I've actually grown to like them, a little.

What I really like is how the tree sparkles when the sun is shining through it. Even though it makes the tree look awful skimpy. :)

Scared of the Tooth Fairy?

Project 365 - December 28

And this was the scene this morning. :D

Snaggletooth

Project 365 - December 27

This was the scene on Christmas day.









This is the new scene today. :)






This feels to me like a huge milestone, of the "my little boy is really growing up" variety.

Art for Art's Sake

Project 365 - December 26

This magnet tin is yet another item I made for Christmas, this time for Jed.


The magnets will come in handy to attach his future artwork on his favorite display area, the fridge. :)



The tin turned into its own work of art under the tree.

Christmas Dinner

Project 365 - December 25

One more quick pic, this one of our dining table before dinner.




Table photos always look better before the food arrives.

At least that's the case with my food. :)

With the exception of that little beauty of a mincemeat pie, of course. :D

Jedidiah the Great

Project 365 - December 25

He's quite the little warrior, isn't he? :)

We've been memorizing Ephesians 6:13-17, and Jed knew the names of all the pieces of armor he put on this morning.

He's standing his ground.

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Project 365 - December 25

The Fruit of My Labor

Project 365 - December 24

I spent most of my Christmas Eve cooking and baking. Not exactly my idea of a good time...


with the exception of this little beauty...my first mincemeat pie.

I don't usually take extra time to make food look more interesting, but the recipe called for these little shapes as the top crust and I found I really enjoyed making something fun.

The Road Less Traveled

Project 365 - December 22

Jed and I ran our last pre-
Christmas errands this morning, one of which took us down a road we had never traveled before.

I love old cemeteries. There are so many tucked away on back roads in this state, and I love looking at them as we drive by. This one caught my eye because of the little dollops of snow each of the little square headstones were sporting.

To Mainers this photo may not look like anything special, but I think it epitomizes the soul of our adopted state. The split logs stacked up awaiting their turn at keeping the home fires burning are a thing of beauty in and of themselves, but they also speak to the sense of being prepared which is so prevalent here, which I also think is beautiful.

After meandering a bit taking in the scenery, we headed to downtown Winthrop, which is a thriving metropolis by comparison.

However, as you can see, it's not big enough to take itself too seriously. :)

On How to Win His Heart

Project 365 - December 21








Today is my anniversary.














This is what started the romance.










I first met Tracy when we were in our mid-20s, in a little home church in North Carolina. We were no more than brother and sister in Christ, but I had a great deal of respect for him. Within a couple of years we had both moved away, me to another small town in NC, him overseas.

Fast forward ten years.

I had moved back to the first small town, bought a house and settled down. Tracy's family lived in the same area, and he had come back for a few months to visit them before starting his residency.

Over the years we had both kept in touch with a mutual friend, and it was through her that Tracy contacted me to see if I would be interested in a computer he had to give away. I was thrilled with the offer, as I had no computer, and we set a time one evening the following week for him to bring it over. I was beside myself with excitement at the thought of joining the 21st century online!

In spite of the years that had passed since we last talked, I was my usual chatty self on the appointed evening, and it wasn't until Tracy was starting to leave that I thought with regret that I had nothing to give him in return. It happened to be Christmas time, and I was in the habit of having extra tins of chocolate chip cookies under the tree for just such an emergency, so I grabbed one quickly and gave it to him with my thanks as he headed out the door.

It wasn't until he left that the ridiculousness of that trade occurred to me...I had given him a tin of cookies in exchange for a computer. I was mortified, but that faded as soon as I began surfing the web in the comfort of my own home the next day. :)

I had no idea the full impact of that transaction till several months later, when Tracy asked me to marry him. It turns out he had subsisted for the past 20 years on a diet of milk and cookies, and there was nothing I could have given him that would have hit closer to his heart than a tin of homemade cookies.




I had him at that tin. :)

Another Favorite Part of Christmas

Project 365 - December 20

Jed and I bundled up this afternoon and headed down the street with his little red wagon.

This was no ordinary constitutional...we were on a mission.

Which consisted mostly of not freezing to death before delivering Christmas goodies to our neighbors. :)


Can you imagine having this cutie-pie show up on your doorstep wishing you a merry Christmas?!


It's been interesting once again to watch the lake turn to ice.

We were able to get a better view of the progress from the homes of our neighbors who are fortunate enough to have the lake literally in their backyards.


It won't be long till ice skating and snowshoeing are in order.

Let the games begin! :)

My Favorite Part of Christmas

Project 365 - December 19

I love Christmas cards.

I love the anticipation while opening them and I love reading them.


Nothing is quite as sweet as opening the mailbox this time of year and finding beautiful cards full of happy greetings from dear friends.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Winter

Project 365 - December 17

This was the temp at 7:00 this morning.

A wee bit nippy!

A Maine Tradition

Project 365 - December 16

Jed and I invited ourselves to join Lori and her boys on their annual Christmas trip to Freeport to see the lights display at LL Bean.

Who said uncouthness doesn't pay?? :) It was fabulous!

























The inside of the store was almost as good, especially this part...a huge tank filled with trout and salmon, with this cool bubble inside the tank that the kids could crawl into and get a fish-eye view of the underwater world.



They had a great kids' area, which included a giant stuffed lobster, a wood bridge to run across, and tents to crawl in.

It was a little nippy (15), so we stopped at Starbucks next door for hot cocoa before heading back to the fort.

Woe is Me

Project 365 - December 14

I discovered a secret I'll share with you...buying Christmas tree lights for $1 a box after Christmas is way better than trying to pack them up and having to untangle them each year. I used to dread that chore for at least 6 months before each Christmas, but now for $5 or $6 my holidays are stress-free, and someone else gets free Christmas lights. It's a win-win situation.

Until this year.

In a fit of spiritual maturity and a desire to be a better wife, I bought *choke* colored *gag* lights last year at the after-Christmas sales. To say I detest colored lights is an understatement. However, my dear husband loves them, and it seemed only fair to try them out for his sake.

I have now come up with a new rule for our house: whoever is going to put the lights on the tree gets to choose the lights he/she is going to use.

I think our experiment with color with be short-lived. :)

One unexpected benefit was the colored patterns the lights cast on the first gift under the tree. Totally not worth the whole tree being full of colored lights, but I'm holding on to whatever I can to make it through this ghastly experiment-gone-bad.

Do I still get credit for trying to be a good wife? :)

Full Color Shadow

Project 365 - December 13

I went upstairs this morning to pick out Jed's church clothes. The sun was shining brilliantly and I noticed something I had never seen before...the shadow from his lamp cast on the wall in full color.

So cool!

We Got Our Tree!!

Project 365 - December 12

I love cutting our own Christmas tree, especially here in Maine, in the snow.




Last year we had to wait a little longer for the snow, and we didn't end up getting our tree till just a few days before Christmas. I was thrilled to see the snow coming earlier this year.

I'm probably the only person in the state who says that. :)






















The owners of this farm are kind enough to have a warming shack on the premises, which consists of a wood stove with rocks heaped on top to keep in the warmth. It feels like a sauna in there, after the cold and wind. Saunas are good. :)






Big thanks to Jenny J of Missouri Trouble for the chullo hat I was wearing...I love it! For a better look at the design, click here.

A Tribute to a Dentist

Project 365 - December 8

Jed had a dentist appointment this morning to apply sealant to his six-year molars.



I'm so thankful for this new technology that will help him keep his teeth strong.

I'm also thankful he loves going to the dentist...he said as much when we pulled into the parking lot.

I'm even more thankful I love going to the dentist too, for the first time in my life. I never could have imagined saying that before, but I never had Dr. Seywerd for a dentist before.

She is one of the best things about Maine.



Her hygienists are pretty awesome too. :)

A Strange Sighting

Project 365 - December 7

I was at my desk this particular morning uploading pics from my camera to my computer, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye what I thought at first was a squirrel. This is nothing unusual, since there are woods behind our house.

However, it dawned on me that it was an awfully big squirrel, so I took a second look and gasped. It wasn't a squirrel at all, but a fox!

This is the first time I've ever seen a fox, and the fact that he was trotting across my yard in the middle of the day is a bit troubling. However, it didn't stop me from trying to get a shot of him...just wish it had been better. He was moving too fast for me to take my time. :)

So this is our first real snow of the season. Beautiful, isn't it?

A Real Christmas Treat

Project 365 - December 5

Tracy and I were both sitting at our desks one evening after Jed had gone to bed, enjoying some peace and quiet and stillness.








That is, until the lovely peace and quiet were shattered by the sound of Tracy demanding in an incredulous voice, "Where is Manchester, Maine?"

Considering the fact that my husband is the smartest person I've ever known, this question was a bit perplexing...especially considering the fact that we live about 1 mile from Manchester.

I thought it was some kind of test. :)

When I learned the reason for his incredulity, I was pretty incredulous myself...Michael Card's website said he was performing in Manchester, Maine in a couple of weeks!

Michael Card is so huge in our minds that Tracy couldn't grasp the concept that he could possibly be playing in a little Maine town with a population of 2500. I couldn't either. I said it must be Manchester, NH, and the website just made a mistake.

However, when Tracy said the venue was the North Manchester Meeting House, I knew it was indeed Manchester, Maine...I've been to the meeting house, and even took a picture of it. When I showed the picture to Tracy, he laughed and said there must be some mistake. It looks like it might hold 100 people, if they were all fairly thin.

It holds 180 people, in fact, and they were all there that night to enjoy Michael's song-walk through the Scriptures, lingering just a bit at the incarnation, and finishing up with the glorious hope awaiting us in Christ.

We had some friends from Parkman join us, along with their four children. As if all this wasn't enough excitement, we got our first good snow during the concert!

I hope Michael enjoyed it as much as we did. :)





The two Jedidiahs

Ooo-Wee!

Project 365 - December 4

We visited with Lori and her boys this morning and made a pretty incredible discovery...
peanut butter fluff sandwiches!

(is that the right name for them, Lori?)

I had heard of this Maine delicacy before but the idea of pairing peanut butter and marshmallow fluff just didn't sound appealing. However, Lori made them for lunch today and I decided to be a sport and try one.

All I can say is, where have you been all my life???

They're totally worth the sticky mess, by the way. :)

A Shout Out to MonkeyMom

Project 365 - December 2

I might have misspoken in my last post when I said the bracelets I made for my nieces were my favorites.



I think they have to take half a step behind this book. Sorry, girls. :)

Some of my best memories from Missouri are letterboxing with MonkeyMom, aka ScrappyGurl. We hit it off instantly, and then we began to discover all the things we had in common. It was amazing...I don't usually connect with people that quickly, but she is no ordinary person.

The book is full of pictures from each of our letterboxing adventures. I haven't seen MonkeyMom since we moved to Maine, almost two and a half years ago, but working on this book made me feel like she was right here with me, on the road to new capers.

Happy Trails to you, MonkeyMom! I miss you like crazy.










































To see the complete book, click here.