Things to be grateful for today

l. Having some time off work from Thursday through tomorrow, a nice four day break.
2. Thankful we both have good jobs.
3. I finished the plum shawl I was knitting last night, so that project is done.
4. I am thankful to be meeting a friend tomorrow morning early at Macy's for their Fragrance Festival (serving an early continental breakfast, with a $10 ticket that you get used back towards any purchase, plus a $5 gift card when you get there. I wear Jessica by Jessica McClintock (Tim's fave perfume) and Chanel No. 5 mainly for perfumes, although I do have Aperge too by Lanvin which is good. I am hoping to find a good deal on a Chanel No. 5 giftset since I am totally out of anything Chanel No. 5. I have plenty of Jessica.
5. Thankful that my mom, stepdad and Tim's parents all came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner and we all had a wonderful time being together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. My husband is cooking dinner and we will have my mom and stepdad, Tim's parents, and two of Tim's adult children over for dinner. Tonight I get to clean the house, get the table set, dishes and glasses ready, help Tim and do clean-up later. Tim is a much better cook than me and he has made Thanksgiving dinner for the past three years. He is making turkey, prime rib, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, dressings, cranberries, green bean cassarole, rolls, etc. His mom, who is 87, is bringing pie and apple crisp, and my mom is bringing olives, pickles, veggies, crackers and cheese. It will be good and we will all be stuffed afterwards!
What is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving? Everything is so good....but I think I love the dressing the most!

Scarf giveaway winner!!

I just had Tim pick a winning name from a bowl and the winner for the scarf is: Marybeth!!!

Budget Beauty Products

Do you have some favorite beauty products that you love that don't break the bank? I love Estee Lauder's face creams but they are really spendy, so I am trying out an Avon one since my Estee Lauder is just about gone. I was thinking that the drugstores really have some great beauty products, one of my favorite on the cheap bath products from Walgreens is the big bag of Epsom salts you can get for something like $5. I can make scented and colored bath salts with it, like lavender or rose scents and color the salts pink or blue with food dye. They make nice gifts too for Christmas, packaged in a pretty decorated see through bag with a lovely ribbon. In fact, I am planning to whip some of those up for little gifts since we are going low budget this year for Christmas. Anyway, I also love those little face masks or foot masks you can get for $.99 too at the drugstore, I think they are by Freeman.
Do you have a favorite low budget beauty product?

Une femme d'un certain age: Class Act

Une femme d'un certain age: Class Act
I love this post! Such great reminders to help us be a gracious and classy society!

Word Filled Wednesday

"A soft answer turns away wrath" Proverbs 15:1

I am reading a lot in Proverbs the past few days...I love the book of Proverbs anyway, and try to stay in it a lot to keep my mind filled with the wisdom and common sense that book contains. I often try to read a chapter a day, depending on the date, so today's reading would be in Proverbs 19. There's always so many good nuggets in any of the chapters. I love Proverbs 15 through a lot, and this proverb about answering softly when someone is raging towards you has helped me out more times than I can remember, if I just apply it in the given situation. It has de-esculated a raging client on the phone, if I answer softly and carefully instead of back in like-kind. Or if a family member or friend has been upset, I've noticed if I respond softly and gently it seems more times than not to calm them down. Another proverb I love is Proverbs 15:28 one about "the heart of the righteous man studies or ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things." I read that one this weekend and I have been thinking about it a lot over the past few days. How important it is to ponder and study before saying things rather than just gushing out with whatever comes out of the top of your head (or heart!) I have been guilty of doing that too many times. Anyway, lots of good common sense wisdom in the Proverbs, and I'll be reading chapter 19 this morning before heading off to work!

My friend over at Cindy at Letters from Midlife is hosting a giveaway for some lovely notecards so check that out! And don't forget my scarf giveway, just leave me a comment today or tomorrow and I'll choose a winner by writing down the names, throwing them in a bowl, and having my husband choose on Friday morning. The picture of the scarf color is in the post from yesterday!

Fun at the beach!

We had a great time at the Ocean Crest resort down in Moclips over the long weekend. I just posted a few pics of the dogs and a video of them and Tim on the beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and sunny the whole time, unseasonably warm. They had just gotten over days of rain and we really timed it right as it didn't rain at all for us. We went down to the beach two times and dug razor clams as the season was open for them, when we got home Sunday Tim made clam strips and yesterday he made clam chowder! Delicious! We took a drive one day up into the Quinault area/rain forest, just driving around. We saw a fish hatchery and let the dogs run around in the woods. Mainly we just relaxed. We had a lovely dinner at the Ocean Crest restaurant on Friday night. I had grilled cod with blackberry sauce and cous cous and creme brulee for dessert and Tim had the duck. The dogs were really great. I was glad it wasn't raining so we didn't have to deal with wet, muddy dogs! They truly loved the beach, being able to run after the ball, etc. You can see on the video how Tank crouches down and tries to get Anna when she is running back. It's pretty funny to see, he reminds me of a panther or a tiger, or a cat, just crouching low for the attack!
I was really blessed too by my husband for our anniversary, as he gave me a lovely pair of diamond earrings...something I have always wanted! They are very pretty and classy. I will try to find a picture online of them or get him to take a picture of me wearing them. I am getting him a fishing trip with an Indian guide to go on the Quinault river to fish for salmon/steelhead. We checked out some names of guides while we were there.
All in all, it was a wonderful time, it was nice to get away and relax and have fun, after going through all the strike stuff.

I just realized this is my 100th post!! So to celebrate, I have a giveaway!
I am giving away a red scarf that I am almost finished knitting. I should be done by the weekend. It looks just like the one that I made for my friend Van in this picture. Just enter a comment from now till Thursday night and I will pick a winner randomly on Friday morning!!

YouTube - Tank and Anna Part two

YouTube - Tank and Anna Part two

Of course, new beach pics of the dogs!

Thought for Monday Morning

"The best way to find out if you have a servant's heart is to see how you react when someone treats you like a servant!" (Unknown)

Tim and Mr. Tank

Tank still thinks he's a little puppy and can fit in your lap. At 80 plus pounds, 8 months old, I don't think he fits anymore!

Happy Monday!

I haven't written for awhile but hope to catch up with my blogging soon. I have tomorrow off work for Veteran's Day, and Tim and I are taking off for the ocean on Thursday for our 20th wedding anniversary...we're making a long weekend of it, since the strike is finally over and we have a little extra money now. We are looking forward to the getaway, and are taking both dogs with us...it's a little extra for the pet fee for the room but worth it. We have loved going to Ocean Crest down in Moclips for the past six or seven years now for our anniversary every November. We've taken Anna, but this year will be the first year Tank goes along. They have a great beach the dogs can run. It's a relaxing place, with an indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, lovely gourmet romantic quiet restaurant nestled in the woods looking down to the waves crashing on the beach. It will be rainy probably but great to just have a fire going in the room, relax, read, watch movies, hang out! We love going there, and this year we weren't sure we could go because of the strike but we are glad our usual room (the one taking pets) was available. I went to the library this weekend and got some books for reading material to take along....a Lori Wick and Karen Kingsbury fiction and some Christmas craft books. I also ordered a book by an author I saw this morning on Life Today, she has a book about climing the ladder in stilettos, and our library downtown has it, so I ordered it to come to my branch, hopefully by Thursday so I can take it with me.

I still need to catch up my reading for Behind Those Eyes. I admit I have fallen behind in my reading and posting.

Off to work now, my prayers this morning are for everyone who reads this, that you have a wonderful day, and watch out for little love notes! What are those? Well, I think it's when God just does some little thing, especially for you, just to delight you! Like Cindy's Grace Notes she wrote about last week, but also, just little special delights, just for you. He does know us inside and out and He longs to delight us. My prayer is that we notice Him this day, and be glad He is always with us and always longing to communicate in all kinds of ways and shapes and forms!

The Day After - Prison Fellowship

I like what Chuck Colson has to say about the election outcome in this article. Thought I'd post it here.
I also read this verse this morning in the Bible: "I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and those who are in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Timothy 2:1-3
The Day After - Prison Fellowship