How Many Days Until Christmas?????

Just ask any kid you know and they'll be able to tell you without hesitation. That's a pretty funny thing about kids too you know... they can say exactly how many days until Christmas but ask them how many days until Easter or Valentine's Day or even their birthday and it's likely they won't have a clue.

It's not too difficult to figure out what's important to them. On the flip side though it is difficult to figure out how to scale back on everything to make it more about the reason for the season rather than "I want, I want, I want." It just gets to be too much.

Sure it's fun to give gifts and it's even better to see the wonder in a child's eye when Christmas morning finally comes. No one would dispute that. It sure is a lot of work and a lot of money to try and get something for everyone and even worse to try and get your hands on the "newest cool toy" or "gadget of the year." 

For us, we're taking it easy this year. It will be enough for Neccy, Jack, Mom, Kain, Rebecca and Jarrett to all be here with us. The time spent just listening to them talk about all that they've been up to and laughing at their antics will be priceless. Of course I'll do my fair share of cooking for them - please, Neccy has already put in her food requests - and we'll show them the property on the 4 wheelers. Mostly, they will get to see me in my new home and witness first hand how happy I am to be here.

It's a beautiful place this time of year (sick of hearing that yet?) what with the trees bare of leaves and proudly showing off their limbs. It's nice to see them in bloom and in all their fine greenery but when a tree is bare, it shows you its true structure. It shows you what holds it upright throughout the years. Looking through the branches you can see the balance and strength of the tree - the leaves are mere decorations from that point on.

The bare trees also show all the nests the birds have built within that you wouldn't even know were there if winter never came. Sure you can sometimes spot a nest or two being held by the arms of the tree but for the most part they are hidden. Those smart little birds know best how to keep their homes secret. What's a tree to do? lol

We have a few winter birds flying around, mostly little, blue birds or big, brown and red hawks soaring in the wind coming off the top of the hill that is our front yard. There has been the occasional Cardinal sighting but they haven't made our trees their home as of yet. Don't worry - I still plan to feed them until they just can't resist my charming ways... lol hey - it worked on most of you :)

As I stand at the front door looking across the hills, the land that seemed to be so evenly laid in summer now looks more menacing with its slopes and dips and drop offs. The snow really helped to more clearly define just how the lay of the land really is. They say that the best time to buy land in Tennessee is when it snows. You can see so much more about it with the white stuff leading the way. In spring and summer when the trees are full of leaves and the bushes and shrubs grow wildly, it's hard to see when your next step could be off the edge. In the snow, you have no doubt where that edge is... lol and it's not like there are rails to keep you from going over. Nope, you're pretty much on your own. It takes some getting used to folks and I'm here to tell you it's a learning experience every day. I wouldn't trade it.

The cedar and pine trees are still green so it's not like we're without all color. The bark on the trees varies as well from the dark, black of the walnut trees to the powdery, peeling, white of the birch trees. In the winter, the county workers come along and clear out all the vines that grew so heavily over the summer so you can see around the corners that were blind spots for so many months. It looks so different that I find my eyes wandering again just as they did when I first arrived. I'd rather Wally do the driving so I can look at every little detail...

So last night I met Wally at Pee Wee's and we had a couple beers before coming back home. It was a pretty big crowd for a Thursday night and everyone was jovial and happy and getting in the holiday spirit. With me and Wally there I think the numbers totalled 15. ha ha ha and trust me, that is a pretty big crowd! I drove us home and as I came around a corner, I saw two deer in the road. I had already slowed to a crawl because it's a pretty tight corner but still I came right up on them before they wandered off into the woods. Had I been speeding like most people, I'd have slammed right into them both. Good thing I'm not a speeder... :)

I understand why so many people speed on these roads. They are likely to be the only person on them at any given time of day. It's not like they're racing to beat a light - ha! not many of those around at all. It's more just the fact that they know the roads, they've lived here forever and rarely do they ever see a cop. I think I've seen a total of two on the way to and from Pee Wee's. Now if you go through the town of Centerville, you're likely to see a few more but we don't go that way often. The back roads are so much prettier. Come on up and I'll show you what I'm talking about... :)

Well once we got back home, we were both hungry and didn't want to wait forever to eat. Here's what I had on hand - a pound of ground beef, a pound of ground venison, a can of dark, red kidney beans, a can of whole tomatoes, some garlic, cilantro, onions and peppers and some left over whole wheat noodles. Here's what I did with it all - I browned the meat with the onions, peppers and garlic. I seasoned it with seasoning salt, adobo, black pepper and garlic powder. It turns out that wasn't quite enough so I added some beef bouillon too. I chopped up the tomatoes and poured them in with the juice from the can, I poured in the kidney beans, also with the juice from the can and then dumped in the bowl full of noodles (the macaroni kind). Once all that got heated up and started to boil, I dropped in the chopped up cilantro, gave it a quick stir and turned it off. While it was cooling, I sprinkled on some shredded cheddar cheese and dinner was served! Talk about your homemade hamburger helper type dinner - indeed this one topped even my own chart...lol

From start to finish it was probably 20 minutes and we were eating. mmm mmm good I tell ya. Kids could make it, it was so easy. If all you had was an electric skillet, it could easily be made in that. If you didn't have 2 lbs of meat to use, you could quickly scale it back to suit what you have. If you don't like kidney beans (hard to believe but whatever...) you could use black beans, red beans, even black eyed peas would work well in this dish. Improvise people and let me know what you come up with!! I will say that the garlic is critical to the flavor. Anything else you could probably substitute with whatever your favorites are. I know I'm looking forward to having this one again and Wally had it both for breakfast and lunch today :) Guess he must have liked it too... :)

It's going to be hard to top it tonight - maybe I'll see if he wants to meet me at the diner... lol!! Friday night is catfish night. It comes with hush puppies, cole slaw, corn on the cob (when they don't run out), green beans and a roll with butter. Way too much to eat but the fish is hot and crispy fried - just what you want on a 34 degree night. Even though I will always order the cheeseburger no matter what... We'll see how that works out for me. If not there's always tuna sandwiches... ha ha ha ha ha!

The weather has been much improved. By that I mean the ice has melted away. The snow is gone too but there's supposed to be more tonight and tomorrow night. Temperatures aren't supposed to get out of the thirties through the weekend and Monday calls for more rain. The snow I don't mind and the rain I don't mind. I don't even mind overcast skies but that ice is some pretty tricky stuff. Just keep in mind, when there's no posting because I can't get to work, it's probably because of ice. lol now you can not like it too...

We have no plans for the weekend which means I might try to catch the Grinder Switch hour again Saturday morning. It's such a small town kind of thing what with their little radio station (we pass it on the way to Pee Wee's lol) broadcasting as far through Centerville as possible...it barely comes in on my radio at home :) The time spent there makes me feel at home even though I don't know anyone - it's just that kind of atmosphere. Plus, I can pick up the Hickman County Times newspaper...woo hoo - get caught up on the local happenings. One of our friends, JR, has a son who made the paper last week. He shot a 15 point buck on his first hunt of the year. Way to go dude! I've only seen two bucks the whole season and neither were that big. I think I have just a month or so left and I'm getting antsy...this was supposed to be the year of the deer for me :(  so much for being nicknamed the great white hunter... boooooooo

You'll think I'm a nerd but I finally found a radio station that is playing all Christmas music, all day long, all the way up to and through Christmas Day. Woo Hoo!! I always listened to the one in FL (I think it was 106.7)and hardly ever changed it to my news channel during that time. The station I found here plays all Christmas music sung by country music singers so it's a little different. Although this morning I heard, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" sung by James Taylor and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" sung by Dean Martin (heart fluttering, face flushing, butterflies in stomach...). Those are the ones I really enjoy!  If you haven't yet, take some time to listen to some Christmas music - it could help get rid of any ba-humbugs you might be harboring, it might even make you smile.

If that doesn't make you smile, think of this, there's a guy sitting a couple cubicles over from me who whistles all day long. He throws in the occasional song but mostly, he whistles. All Day LONG!!! The partitions are high enough that we can't see each other even when standing up. That's fortunate for me because while he's whistling ALL DAY LONG, I'm making faces of anguish, severe pain and silent screeching...he can't carry a tune in a bucket and the whistling is most horrible...aaarrrggggghhhhhh!!! stop the whistling!  lol I think he has one of those music players so he only hears what comes from the headphones - surely he's never heard himself or the torture would end!

I ask you - how do you tell someone something like that? You don't. You sit at your desk and you put up with it day in and day out. Thank goodness he works from home 3 or 4 days a week. I think I would be climbing the walls otherwise and then only because the windows don't open... lol!

So my weekend should be somewhat uneventful, possibly snowy, definitely rainy and definitely home bound if I can help it. How are your plans shaping up? I know some of you will be going to the Oriole's for the Christmas party slash Birthday Bash slash Gift Exchange. If you would please give hugs to everyone for me - especially Mikey and Kaylee, if they'll let you. Give one to Ricky Kline and Pappy if you see them and please don't forget Shawna and Chris and Charlie O. Gosh - just hug everyone and tell everyone I said hi and I miss them and I hope they have a very Merry Christmas and a super Happy, Healthy New Year :)  There are too many of you to try and list all the names here - my wishes are for the entire membership of the Oriole's Nest #278.  How's that? lol

Have a good weekend!

"Christmas gift suggestions:  To your enemy, forgiveness.  To an opponent, tolerance.  To a friend, your heart.  To a customer, service.  To all, charity.  To every child, a good example.  To yourself, respect."  ~Oren Arnold