A Chilly Friday's Letters

I'm Southern. I'm not made for cold weather - and I'm definitely not made for 12 degree weather. I so hate cold weather!! But it does usually give us beautifully clear nights with the sky filled with brilliant stars.

Let's dive into the week's letters!

Dear Downton, I'm soooo happy you are back! I missed you - your characters, your drama, your amazing clothes!  Like an old friend, I'm glad you are back! 

Dear Macy, it's been quite a roller coaster ride. Your dad's surgery, your sickness, your mama's sickness, two weeks staying at MawMaw and PawPaws... It's been a rough ride but tonight, you go back home!! Hooray! 

Dear B-I-L: so thankful this surgery is behind you, you are home from the hospital, the staples are out- so thankful! Lots of people have kept you in their prayers - God is Good! 

Dear cold weather: you can totally pack it up and move on with it now. 

Dear Lord, thank you. Thank you for all you have done for my family these past two weeks. Thank you for being with dear friends in difficult times. Your love is beyond my comprehension. Please help me find Your purpose for me. 

So many are sick right now. Y'all please take care of each other out there. I'm hoping to goodness I can avoid it. Let's get moving. Tomorrow is a massive clean up in my house! Then setting up the new sewing machine!! Woop! Y'all have a great weekend!

Photo Challenge Wednesday: 8

Gracious me, it's been a week already and I'm dying to see Saturday.  Not even Friday - SATURDAY.  Holy Moly.  This photo project is something to look forward to mid-week. Hope ya'll enjoy it, too. Let's hop to it, shall we?

Wednesday, February 19, 2014:  I love this picture.  This would be Mommy asking Macy if she was going to be good today at MawMaw's house (who is also the babysitter).  Hhmmmm... that looks says a lot, doesn't it?

Thursday, February 20, 2014:  I was so happy to visit with my friend, Grace, on Thursday evening.  She's good people. :)  Pics from visiting with Macy before work!

Friday, February 21, 2014:  Sweet niece is sick. Doctor visit for her and for her mama.  :(   Seems this hill can't get on top of the sickies, that is the truth!  But gosh, she's still so dang cute. 

Birthday Girl!!!

Saturday, February 22, 2014:  Happy Birthday Party for Sweet Niece #1!  She turned 12 on 2/24, but we celebrated a little early.  The theme: all about OWLS. She was so surprised to see streamers, decorations, color everywhere, and tasty HOOT JUICE (punch).  And thankfully she liked the LILY BLOOM purse I got her. (whew!)

Sunday, February 23, 2014:  After church, and a family lunch, I crashed on the couch for a Downton Abbey marathon (swoon!).  I did take a break to visit with my sweet nieces and found this beautiful promise of SPRING in my backyard.  Oh thank goodness! I need Spring weather so badly.  I want to wear FLIP FLOPS again. Then, crashed back to the couch for the DOWNTON ABBEY FINALE.  Wasn't that a beautiful ending? Very thankful for a happy ending.

Monday, February 24, 2014:  Yes, I need to find a hobby.  Or clean my house! But instead I make felt "things."  Now that Downton is off and the Olympics are over, I wondered what I would do! But The Voice just came back on - and I'm back to TEAM BLAKE.

My morning drive - so pretty!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014:  My Dad has a unique sense of humor ... that would be the top of his truck.  Two spiders, a frog, snake, lizard, rubber duck, and snowman. I wish you could see people's faces when they catch a glimpse of this... HAHA.  My taxes were done today (ugh) and I discovered I made quite a bit less this year than last year - but I gave more, which is great! Wow, God really did take care of me. So thankful.

I'm ready to see the ending to this week. Nothing planned, it's not like I'm excited about the upcoming weekend or anything. Just want to crawl back in the bed and snooze for a week. :)  Loooovely thoughts. ZZZZzzzzzzz......

Ya'll have a great rest of the week. :)

Photo Challenge Wednesday : 7

This week was quite a blur of snow, snow, ice, and snow!  Wowzers, what a whirlwind! Brace yourself for lots of snow pics because that's pretty much all I saw for several days.  I am so thankful to our SCDOT and our power company workers because they REALLY took care of us - at the expense of their own family time and such.  We had NO wrecks by the house and NO power outages. YAY! God is so good!  AND my company called off work, which I was so very thankful for because I'm terrified of driving on ice.

Ok, enjoy this past week's pics!

You can see my parents' house behind mine

Wednesday, February 12, 2014: We had been warned that the Southeast was going to be hit with quite the winter storm and on Tuesday, we really saw it coming down. Snow piled up everywhere, but thankfully the roads stayed clear until after work (another blessing!).  Snow continued Tuesday, into Wednesday - and here is a picture out my kitchen window. The sun catcher courtesy of Sweet Niece #1! :)

The trees between my sister's house and mine

Mom is under all that cold weather gear

Macy loved snowcream! :) 

Thursday, February 13, 2014:  Wednesday night into Thursday the sleet began, which was oh-so-fun. Then the snow REALLY kicked in. Of course we had concerns about power, but thankfully not a problem! Mom measured and after breaking through the layer of sleet/ice - 10" of snow/ice! Holy cow, Batman! Not the norm for South Carolina. The roads were a Hot Mess of ice.  I can't tell you how thankful I am my sister and parents live within walking distance!

Valentine's Day Cinnamon Rolls - thanks Pintrest!

Friday, February 14, 2014:  Happy Valentine's Day! :) It finally quit snowing and warmed up enough to play with Macy in the snow. She L.O.V.E.D. it and did NOT want to come back inside! She hugged and loved on her snowman, too.  We finally got onto the roads and were so thankful to see SCDOT kept us in good shape. I've never seen so many desperate men attacking the Valentine's Day candy section and cards.  hahahahaha! Later that night I heard the door and windows rattling...I jumped on Twitter to see if my suspicions were correct - and they were - EARTHQUAKE.  Heaven help... what is going on here?

Saturday, February 15, 2014:  Cabin fever officially set in and a trip to Waffle House was on the agenda.  I quickly became sick of snow food. No more soup. No more Debbie Cakes.  No more packaged crap. I needed food. Grease, to be more exact. And no one does grease like Waffle House.

Macy in her Valentine's Day dress

I confess, I didn't take this pic but screenshoted it from IG.
My sister-in-law's wreath that she made!! Isn't she awesome?

Sunday, February 16, 2014:  Finally made it back to church.  I haven't been lately with all the crud I've endured, so it was nice to be back. I wish I could say I did something exciting, but all the snow and ice made me lazy. I did nothing more than watch the Olympics and DOWNTON ABBEY.  *sigh* love it.

Sunrise reflecting in our mud puddles!

Monday, February 17, 2014:  Time to hit the ground running as we missed three days due to snow/ice. It's all good, we worked our booties off and are catching up every minute.  Can you believe we had temps in the 70's today?? It's the South, gotta love it.

I love this house on my way home, but the winter tree makes it look spooky!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014:  I can't begin to tell you how bad my butt is draggin' from staying up late watching the Olympics.  I'm so sad they didn't show the ice dancers medal ceremony with the anthem! I have only seen Bodie watch the flag rise above him, and he was a bronze (so I haven't even heard our anthem yet!). I'm so ready for them to be over so I can get some rest.


Ok, so here is a bonus: a few pics from last Tuesday when the snow started. :) You can tell the roads are clear, thank goodness.

It was beautiful, but I'm so glad it's gone.  Now, because we had a thunderstorm in the winter, the wivestale is that we'll have more snow? Or is it because it laid on the ground three days?? Whatever - I don't want anymore!!!

Photo Challenge Wednesday: 6

This is another week of sickies, but thankfully I'm feeling better.  Especially as I sit here and watch tons of snow coming down with the expectation of up to 5 or more inches over the next few days. Heaven help - I'm Southern, I don't like cold weather!

Anyway... moving on to this week's photos, starting with Wednesday, February 5...

Ready for bed... ZZzzzzz....

Wednesday, February 5: My first mostly full day back at work! Woo hoo! So happy to be feeling better and getting life back to normal. I've been sleeping for up to 10 hours at a time, so it's about time for me to get back to the ho-hum regular life.

Macy concentrating on the Ipad 

Driving to work with a pretty sunrise

Thursday, February 6: I worked ALL DAY! And saw Macy for the first time in ages (or so it feels...) She plopped herself in my lap for me to read to her. Melts my heart.

As soon as Dad laid down in the floor (with a leg cramp!) Macy hopped right on top of him,
like he was her personal jungle gym! hahaha

Driving home - isn't this tree so pretty?

Friday, February 7:  The opening ceremonies for the Olympics! I love the Olympics and thought it was a beautiful start to the games. Yes, I know the stupid snowflake didn't open, but seriously - there was SO MUCH MORE TO IT than just that! Dang... let it go already.  Best wishes for ALL athletes to be safe and compete fairly and ethically.

Susan Branch calendar!! My first, I'm so excited! 

Found this in Books a Million.  Really? Cats love it? Really?!

Saturday, February 8: Mom has been so sick and really wanted to get out of the house but hasn't felt up to it.  So we did a quick run out to pick up some felt and this WONDERFUL calendar by Susan Branch.  Don't know who she is? Oh, please visit her site and check her out. I really enjoyed the outing with Mom... glad she's doing a bit better and back to keeping Sweet Niece #2 again.

Sweet Niece #1's feet sticking out of the Princess Tent.

So good to see her this weekend! She cracks me up!

Sunday, February 9: We all skipped church with the coughs and aches. Lost power briefly, but it allowed Dad to test out the generator for the coming snow this week.  I gave Sweet Niece #1 another Valentine - MadLibs Valentines and she had a BLAST with it! We all laughed ourselves silly over her crazy valentines! She is such a joy and a lifesaver to Katie since she basically kept the baby this past weekend.  Everyone else in the house was sick!  Of course, Sunday night = DOWNTON ABBEY!!!! A.D.O.R.E. that show. 

Will you be my valentine?

Monday, February 10:  I finished up sewing these felt hearts and delivered the last batches this morning.  I counted it up and realized I made more than 50 felt hearts, which were sent all over the country.  I can't explain to you how much joy I received by sharing a little bit of handmade love with friends.  This bowl held the reminder, but now I'm down to just four. :) *love*

Cold feet? My coworkers sock-covered piggies hugging the heater.

Bye Sweet Niece! Aunt Beth has to go to work!

Tuesday, February 11:  The minute I walked out of the house, I was hit with SNOW. Fat wet flakes making the morning a little chilly.  Sweet Niece #1 wished me well on my way to work, blowing me kisses.  Once again, I'm at my desk, watching the snow pour down.  Sounds like we are in for a serious storm here in South Carolina, so I hope all you Southerners stay safe and warm.  I don't plan on leaving my house once I get in it! More Olympics tonight - Eeiikk! Ice skating, which is my favorite in the winter games.  And I so hope we won't be expected to drive in this mess tomorrow... ya'll, say a prayer because I despise driving in snow and ice.

And so, I'm scheduling this to post Wednesday morning in hopes I'll still be home in my warm bed, WITH POWER!  :)  Hope you are enjoying the photo challenge as much as I am. :)

Photo Challenge Wednesday 3

Heavens to Betsy this is hard to keep up with. But I have been successful once more! Woop!

The job on Wednesday. Any clue what these are?? Anyone... Anyone...  

Wednesday, Jan. 15: ENCOURAGEMENT. I'm trying to keep a log of those little things I'm thankful for on a daily basis.  On Wednesday, I received a letter from my penpal that she was praying for me and understands some of my struggles.  Sometimes that's all you need to keep you going.

I remembered I didn't take a photo JUST before midnight on my way home. Whew. 

Thursday, Jan. 16:  FRIENDSHIP! Dinner with Sara, which resulted in getting home about 12:30 a.m. These deer in the business park just hung out with us for a while. Such graceful animals. It had been much too long since I'd seen Sara - must get together again SOON.

Yes, I know my bed looks like a hot mess. But I love the new duvet cover!

Friday, Jan. 17:  FAMILY. I did show up for work, but once Mom dropped in for a surprise visit and I decided to skip out on work and shop with her for the afternoon! Great decision (and thankful I have a job where I can do that). We had such a good time together. And I found a pretty duvet cover for $20! Love it!

Rose

Sunshine

Paulene painting McGill, the snail. 

Saturday, Jan. 18:  MORE FRIENDS! :) My head was in the clouds and I showed up 1.5 hours late for a visit with my friend, Paulene! Ack! Thankfully, she was very patient with my flightiness. What a great visit! Toured her home, OD'd on orange & purple, Lizard Thicket for lunch (yum yum - grilled pound cake - holy cow it was good) and painted pottery! Really thankful for her friendship.

Little Red Riding Hood on the way to church. 

This is the screen I saw through at least HALF of Downton Abbey. Seriously?!?! 

Sunday, Jan. 19:  GOD. I was feeling a little rough and missed Sunday School, but made it for preaching. Glad I did because it was a really good sermon.  Visited with my aunt that afternoon, which was a joy. Napped in a hot bath before DOWNTON ABBEY! EEIIKKK. A.D.O.R.E. that show. :) But let's not discuss the TV going out every 30 seconds, causing me to lose my mind.

As part of cleaning up her house, Mom gave me a stack of papers from a baby shower for me! The game was to take Mom's name and list and boy and girl name for each letter. Some of the names cracked me up! 

These are the felt hearts I kept for myself. :)

Monday, Jan. 20:  REST. Took some time for myself and family.  Played with Macy and just enjoyed spending time with her and my sister. Cleaned up the house, made lots of felt hearts and watched more DOWNTON ABBEY on dvd. I needed Monday to rest.

Some evenings are so beautiful here. 

Tuesday, Jan. 21:  SHARING.  I mailed hearts out to all kinds of friends and delivered a few sets in person. I love sharing something so simple, but something I so enjoyed making.  Want a set? Just send me your address at b_covington (at) yahoo.com

Thanks everyone, for taking this random journey with me each week.  It really is helping me see little things to be thankful for and appreciating those small moments of happiness and joy.  :)