My annual candle safety warning

Just a friendly reminder on candle safety.
A couple years ago I went to blow a candle out that had been burning most of the day. There was alot of melted wax in the glass container. Somehow when I blew on the candle the flame went back into the wax and hot wax just exploded burning my face and my eyes and all over the table. Trust me, I looked pretty bad for about a week. I still have some small scars but overall I was lucky. So please be careful blowing out your candles.
This candle experience I cringe even to tell you. I was watching a 3 year old (Doodle) and a baby that just turned 1. I put candles in donuts to celebrate the babies birthday. I lit the candle for the 3 year old but not the baby. That three year old is the one with the long red hair in the picture above. I went to take a picture and the next thing I knew her hair caught on fire. I reacted quickly and clapped it out immediately. In the photo I had just taken there was a wild strand of hair sticking out that must have caught the flame. I am such a careful person and couldn't believe this happened. I tried all day to get up the nerve to tell her parents and I kept getting cold feet. When they both got home from work the dad asked if the mom had told me that she was trimming the dogs ear the night before and cut a big gash out of his ear. So that was my open door. Of course they thought it was funny and every birthday since it always comes up. Those that hadn't heard the story are quite shocked. So the moral of this story is......be really careful when lighting those birthday candles with little girls and long hair. (It was only a strand and it didn't even singe it..... but there was a flame instantly.....I was fast( trust me) to react)

Side note. Today I picked up China Girl at pre-school. She refused to hold my hand and was running to the car. She wiped out falling flat on her back in the mud. I was right behind her and tripped but was able to jump over her and not fall. Surprising if you know how unbalanced I always am. She was covered with mud. I had a towel in the car and just told her to sit on it til we got home. She never cried which helped alot. So me and my Motley Crew headed for home in the VW Bug.
Not all that happened today.......I didn't yield in the cross walk and I always do. I didn't see a friend of mine crossing. I was already through when I saw her on the other side of the cross walk. I stopped and yelled that I was sorry and we laughed. Then someone almost sidewacked me a little later. I said outloud, "What the heck are you doing".....except I didn't say heck. Ooops, sorry Olivia I hope you won't tell your mom........but then I told her anyway. I am glad this day is over.
There is SNOW in the forecast, yippee.
Cindy and I are in a challenge to get our decorating done and posted by Thursday. Don't tell her but I had most of it done before she challenged me........she was out of state and I was home all week-end.
Okay I will move on for now. I didn't mean to be so wordy.........but please be careful out there with those candles.

Decorating for Christmas

Is everyone decorating for the holidays? I am. Every year I saw I want to simplify. Then I see all my goodies and want to put everything out. This photo I borrowed last year. I love it.
All I would need is a small tree and a teddy bear and I would be fun. When I am finished I will show you my little trees.
Happy Holidays my friends. Let the fun begin.

Holiday Humor (Hang in til the end for the funny)

Wednesday I baked pies for Thanksgiving at my son and DIL's house the next day. I picked the girls up from school as same son and DIL were Christmas shopping all day (Wed.) How do you do that the day before you have Thanksgiving. They are so organized all the time. This was their first time to host. My DIL said she didn't want to stress like her mom does. She felt that we were the perfect trial run because we aren't fussy.
All we care about is getting together.
So when I picked up the girls they decided to dress Piper up.
As you can see he is less than pleased but he's such a good sport, he will do anything. He loves them so much.

Froggy Boy.

Giraffee/Doggie??????

Not to pleased to be a flower boy.

Blurry but had to post.

Here are the guilty ones that dressed Piper up. (Hubby's ugly chair that soon will be curb side)

Where was Izzy........avoiding the dressup time. Really blurry as she was trying to get away. See Piper in the background. He is so jealous of her getting any attention.

Thanksgiving was alot of fun. Those two cute little girls kept us all entertained. They had Lipton's noodles and peas and they didn't even eat that. They are so picky. With two celiac people and one vegetarian our menu was mixed but oh so good.

Okay, are you sitting down........here is the funny part......

Goose walked out into the kitchen when her daddy was dressing the turkey. She said, OMG (the letters not the words) THAT IS TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE AND I AM NOT EATING ANY OF THAT TURKEY. She is five.

So funny.

Foot notes:

Am I shopping today, no way. Even if I had $ I wouldn't be. Thinking of shutting off the TV as the ads are driving me crazy. Hubby has to work today so I am going to start decorating for Christmas, going to clean carpets (yuck) and let the dogs in and out all day long. Don't you envy me, he he.

Have a good week-end my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving

However you choose to celebrate this holiday, may it be full of blessings. When things look dim let the light shine through. We have so much to be thankful for. God bless each one of you. Thank you for your kind words and prayers they mean so much to me as always.

Sad ending

I need to post this so I can move on. I need to be posting positive, thankful things this time of year. Thank you all for the prayers for "my people." Sometimes so much piles up I have to put it out there before I explode. While most of "my people" are doing better, I am so sad to tell you the recent news on the person that was missing. My adopted son's sister's father (by adoption) has been found. His body was found.
Now they are trying to figure out what happened. Just terrible. Then his sister's dog got hit by a car yesterday and was killed. The puppy was only a year old. My son and his sister have just found each other by facebook this year. The conversations had stopped in the past few months. He called me yesterday to say he was talking to her on FB as he spoke to me. I think she reached out to him. I hope it helps her to heal. I posted this picture because this was the age the two of them were when they were no longer allowed to see each other. My son never got over it. His sister was told that he died. There is always a bond there for a brother and a sister. So give your sib or sibs a ((((((HUG)))))) this holiday season. Even if they drive you a little crazy........

From my heart - caution some sadness involved

I can't post without a picture. So what does this have to do with my post.........my two grandsons.........they are COUSINS. Okay I will number my concerns.........not in any certain order.

1. I so miss my COUSIN. She has been gone nine months now. PLEASE get your flu shots. I hear some many excuses.....if you can't do it for yourselves do it for the people you love. Enough said.

2. This one is so heavy on my heart right now. I know Mr. Cozy is sick of hearing me talk about this. My adopted son has a birth sister. She was adopted by another couple. I was instrumental in that adoption. You might remember me saying how her mother broke our hearts for years but not continuing their relationship....actually blocking us from her. Well, now my heart breaks for his sister and her mother. Yes, the same mother. 7 weeks ago her adopted father never returned home from a day of working on their farm. His truck was found on one of their properties slightly damaged. His splattered blood in the bed of the truck. Other things not quite right around the outside...... No clues to his where abouts. They have offered a reward for any information. They live in a small close community in Northern Ohio where things like this doesn't happen. I saw them on the news this week. The sadness on their faces was so hard to see. They need lots of prayers.

3. My daughter-in-law's little 9 year old nephew had his third hip surgery this week. He has cysts that continue to form on his hip. I don't understand it all but this was supposed to be a surgery to repin this area due to growth. What they thought was the bone where they could place the pins was another cyst. So the surgery was not successful. He has been in alot of pain. Pray for Brett. He is such a sweet boy.

4. Our blogging pal, Maggie from Grandma Yellow Hair blog Just between you and I is hurting badly. Details not known but something happened to her daughter. She supplies us with such laughter and stories on her blog and now she is beyond words. Lifet her up as well, please.

5. Two of my friends are facing foreclosure. I am sure we all know people that this is happening to. So many homeless people and all these houses sitting empty.

6. I saw a man from my neighborhood at the grocery. The last 3 years are so I have noticed how thin he has gotten. I would not of known him at all. He weighed nothing. I don't know what is wrong with him but something very bad. This man once critised our son in the neighborhood swimming pool. Something like calling him "stupid". My older son was so mad he jumped into the pool and carried his chubby little brother all the way up our hill and home. Our son has challenges and that was just not called for. I still feel bad about this man.

7. This is getting long........Luanne and Teresa........also had surgeries this week that will take alot of therapy to heal. I am headed to see Luanne with a tall vanilla latte in a couple of hours. I called to see how she was and she mentioned how she was craving the coffee. Teresa on the other hand lives in Oregon.......so can't drive there.

8. My daughter's husband lost his job. They are doing okay for now. She is a counselor in a middle school and is always gathering money and gifts for other people. One of her co-worker's son was in a terrible accident and is paralized. Money was gathered for her just last week. She takes on families at Thanksgiving and Christmas for her school. She just told me last week that she and my granddaughter were going to deliver turkey meals today after school. Our daughter wanted us to come for Christmas. Yes, I haven't even been home for a week. My hubby has only seen her almost 2 year old two times. She booked tickets for us. We will repay her but just saying how unselfish she is...........like her dad.........always thinking of others. WELL, she found gift cards on her desk this week. She didn't know where they came from. She sent out a memo as she didn't know how she was to spend this on the families. Guess what, her bosses gave these to her for her not the families. She isn't hurting right now and I think that makes it even more special. They did it for her because she is always doing for others.

9. Money is so tight for some this year.
Alot of sad times . With the holidays coming I know that I will appreciate everything just a bit more. It's not about the presents but the time spent with friends and families.

10.
Are you still with me, hah. I will end this not so happy post with : Get your flu shot, give lots of (((((((HUGS))))) and pray for those that you care about. Why, because I care about YOU.

House swap

Have you read about house swapping before. I have always thought that would be fun. You trade homes with someone else in a different location for a couple weeks or so. Okay, that has nothing to do with these pictures.Cindy or Rick Rac and Gingham is having a "house swap".
A few of us are making houses that are supposed to resemble our blog. I couldn't think of any way to incorporate a blanket into a house so I just made mine to look COZY. That will work, right? Well we will see.

The banner is the back side of the house. Mine houses are on their way to Texas now. This will be fun to receive all of the homes and feel a part of a blogging neighborhood. Thanks CIndy for hosting this......she is just the sweetest girl.

The girly girls thought they were gingerbread houses........not my intention but I'm okay with that.

Tell you what, it is cold in my neighborhood right now. Brrrrrr........no flakes yet.........hopefully soon.

Grammy's Visit/Part Two

My granddaughter is a Daddy's girl all the way. (My son)

This little guy is the sweetes little boy. He can talk your leg off about sports. He really knows what he is talking about too.

We walked out of the museum in downtown Denver and the view was breath taking. The lake, the downtown and the mountains. My pictures don't show the beauty as it was overcast at the time. It was so beautiful.

Love this picture. Off and running to who knows where......

Some serious finger pointing.

Mabel's favortie part of the museum. You could throw scarfs up and the air would make them float. She giggled and giggled.

We didn't think this picture would come out. The light was bright coming in the window. That view again. It was pretty but not like when we stepped out of the museum. We had a fun day. I think I am still on dinosaur overload, though. We topped off the evening with a pizza party with the other half of the family. They made plans for their Thanksgiving celebration. They always spend Thanksgiving together. I was there last year with them. So glad if they can't live here near us that they have each other so close by. Five minutes is pretty close.

Hope you are all having a good week. It takes me a few days to get back to my routine........almost there.

Grammy visits Colorado

I am home again after a week in Colorado. So much fun visiting my 4 grandchildren that live there. These are pictures of two of them. In the next post I will post pictures of the other two. I don't want to keep you too long. I am exhausted today. Dishes and picking up toys non-stop can wear a Grammy out.
And it isn't like I'm not used to it. These kids have way too many toys.

This was walking home from the park. You should hear this little guy say "Gooble, Gooble." He talks non-stop. Every now and then you actually understand a word or two. It is so funny as we are always guessing what he is saying.

This is "our" Punky Brewster". Oh my the outfits she chooses. This was a floor length velvet skirt. She has two shirts on and decided to add the flower to her waist. She wore this to school one day. She signs her name followed by an exclamation point. That's my girl. (Groceries waiting to be put away) Snow White had me playing Wii. She said that it would help take my wrinkles away. Didn't work.

This poor dog takes alot from Baby Q. He loves his dog but is always in his face. He will offer him a bite of something and then yell,
"No Maslow".......like Maslow was trying to steal it away.

Doesn't he have the cutest smile. He is a bit onery, can you tell?

A cold evening at the park. It didn't snow while I was there but there was still some on the ground. Mostly the temps were in the 60's and actually really nice.

Snow White made a mad dash for the park and Baby Q. had to hold on tight. Sometimes you wonder how they survive. The baby took three bad falls while I was there. God knew what he was doing when he made babies little heads so strong.

Nice doggy.

I went to Colorado as Baby Q.'s babysitter had to be gone. My son-in-law lost his job a couple of months ago. My daughter was afraid if he got a new job she wouldn't have anyone to watch the baby. So far he isn't working. He did have an interview and it gave him a chance to do some things around the house. I don't need much of an excuse to head West. They grow up so quickly and I want them to know who I am.

Having a day to rest up is so nice.
Never got dressed. I also have tomorrow off but going to the eye doctor. I am also painting houses for Cindy's neighborhood swap. I hope to get them finished quickly to get them in the mail.

Lots of catching up to do...........((((((HUGS)))))

Colorado

Hi there. I am enjoying visiting with my family here in Colorado. The grandkids are so sweet. So nice to be able to hug and kiss them. It has been 5 months but seems like alot longer that I have seen them. There is never a dull moment and not alot of quiet time. The baby is napping right now and so I am sneaking in a post. I am trying to visit blogs very quickly so I don't get to far behind.
It was supposed to snow last night and it didn't. I was so excited........then there was not even a dusting.
I went to Ikea, my first visit. It was terribly crowded, and I really don't do crowds. I must say I wasn't too impressed. I know so many of you love it. Maybe if it wasn't so crowded. All I bought were some paint brushes and paint for the girly girls when I return. Now since I have a carry on, I am wondering if I can even bring the paint home.
Well, on to check out your posts before the bambino wakes up(((((HUGS)))))

A little tour of my home

Just a little tour around my house. My house is not one bit fancy, very lived in and child proof.
No granite coutertops or stainless steel appliances. My kitchen hasn't been remolded for several years now and I still like it the way it is. So here we go........the above picture is from last fall. The cabinet in the back was my grandmothers. I have thought about painting it.

My living room and dining room is combined.
Actually the whole upstiairs is very open.

Piper and the kitchen cabinets. I didn't want the mess of painting the cabinets. I am lazy and didn't want the big mess. I changed out the handles. It was hard to find ones that were the same length as the older ones so we didn't have to redrill holes. I found these a long time ago at Restoration hardware. They still took time adding the new handles and sanding and oiling the cabinets so the original hardware marks weren't seen.

I'd like to get another sofa someday. The dogs love this one to take their naps on.

My antique wagon. You most likely have seen this before. I think it is my favorite piece in my house.

I bought this little chair at the French Hen Barn Sale for $15. I need another chair for my kitchen. Sometimes two isn't enough.

My antique ice chest.
Not liking this picture because it's the microwave you notice. I moved it there to free up counter space.

The littles eat at this table and do all their painting. I bought this table at an antique barn ages ago. It looks like it would fold up but it doesn't. I do plan on painting this one day as well.

The shelves above that table. I loved this wallpaper and still do. It has french words.

I used two tea towels for the curtains. I loved them......they didn't work mid way because I wanted to be able to see out. This way I could still put flowers in the little bottles. I had more pictures of the kitchen but can't seem to find them.

So that's a little bit of my home. Very simple but it's COZY.

Another happenings......today I forgot that it was early dismissal. My DIL called and said that someone went into my son's classroom (different school) and said I was to pick up Tanner right now. I asked my DIL what time it was because my clock said I didn't need to pick him up for 30 minutes.
As soon as I heard "early dismissal" I felt so bad. Tanner was okay but his aide not so happy. Then after he was in the car he said, 'How many more days do we have." I am going to Colorado this week-end for a week. He said, "You can't leave me and it better not be for a year." So I guess he wasn't mad at me for being late.

Then yesterday while riding in the car the girls were talking about having a babysitter. I said, "Well, I am your babysitter." Little China Girl laughed really hard and said, "You're not our babysitter you are like a Mommy to us." I did explain more like a grandma. Made me feel pretty good about what I do.

Today we had a beautiful day. I took China Girl to the park. She ran and ran and had the best time. It was O.'s 5th birthday. I told her she could choose a place for me to take them for lunch. She choose Brews......hamburger and beer restaurant in the village. So that's where we went. I expected her to say McDonald's or for pizza.

I saw a beautiful fox yesterday. So red and colorful. Not far from our house.

I am so excited about heading West. Can't wait to see those grandbabies.

Thanks for listening my friends.

Last of the Halloween Cuties/I think

That is until I get pictures of the Colorado little ones. Here in Ohio this it. I went trick or treating with Doodle's family. She was a bat......a fancy bat. Someone else handed out the candy and got to hold that sweet baby. It was fun though. Most of the kids in her neighborhood I have watched from time to time. The angel in the last picture is moving away. So that was a little sad.Doodle's other baby brother as a dragon. He was so cute. He kept wanting to go into the houses. He's 18 months old and really tall for his age.

This was part of the neighborhood kids.........Mostly those living close to each other. It was a fun night. When I left my town the sky was scary. Dark black and thundering. I guess there was lightening, rain, sleet and snow and then it was over. But the strange thing was it was 50 out. It dropped in temp. and then went back up. Strange weather everywhere.

Happy
November.