CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS PART ONE AND TWO

Join me over at Debby's Tree for Part Two of the ornaments I bought this year. Part One can be find here. 

I am in Florida at my dads and will be home on Sunday. Amber has been holding down the fort while we are gone. I know Skye is missing us and Mark is off to the UK tomorrow! 

~ Have a wonderful weekend ~

WHAT I BOUGHT THIS YEAR

Join me over at Debby's Tree  and then again next Friday to see these ornaments up close and personal!

You may just see something perfect for someone on your Christmas list this year. 

You will have to hurry on over to your Hallmark store, ornaments start coming out in July and some are already gone.....

Also you may want to check out this years Keepsake Ornament Club pieces which I posted in July!

POST IT NOTE FRIDAY

 

 

Debby's Tree

DEBBY'S TREE

It was 2 years ago in August during our annual vacation to Mammoth Lakes when I came up with the idea for my Debby's Tree blog. I thought it would be a great way to have a record of my ornaments for my children. I use to do a post every Friday and then I started getting so busy reading posts from all my dear friends that I have made that I found I wasn't having much time in my day.

 

It also started to get harder for me to work on it for a few other reasons. I have taken pictures of every ornament I own, I did that two Christmases ago when I set up my tree. It is fairly easy to work with my newer ornaments as I buy them because the information is on the box.

 

The two biggest issues I have is when it comes to all my older ornaments which I have been collecting since the 70's. I must have around 900 now! I have to look each ornament up in a collectible book and it is very time consuming. That's because several years ago I got new containers for all of my ornaments and at that time I collapsed all the boxes each ornament comes in.

 

Believe me it saves so much time in setting up and taking down the tree when I don't have to open each individual box or find each box the ornament goes into when taking it down. It also saves the individual boxes from wear and tare which is important to collectors.

 

The second reason is Photoshop. I have sent each ornament photo over there but they changed their system and I find it very difficult, along with time consuming, to now frame and put the information on each photo. So that is what really slowed me down or pushed me away. When something becomes frustrating you start to become disenchanted with the project :(

 

I want to share all the ornaments that I purchased this year so I will be having posts up at Debby's Tree each Friday starting today! Also you may want to check the Hallmark Keepsake Club pieces that are available this year. Here is that post!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

 

 

 

BITS AND PIECES

It's another Friday and here I am with random bits and pieces again. I actually wrote more here but deleted it. I can't seem to express myself, things start to sound like poor Debby and I don't want to go there. This should be a happy place.

We have a few cable premium channels and I love Starz, it's my favorite. Well they do this thing On Demand where they have early premieres before they actually come to the channel. This week they have Gnomeo and Juliet. I haven't watched it in it's entirety but the Gnomes are so darn cute. You actually think they are the little porcelain figurines talking!

Here are some pictures to share with you. I actually didn't take many at the apple orchards. Also I really don't have a picture of Skye from Halloween. As you can see with the t-shirts they were running small. I had bought Skye and Charlie costumes on clearance after Halloween (online) and the mediums (which they wear) ended up being small on them and not worthy of pictures. Yes I was bummed!

Saw this on Pinterest and I decided to try the benefits with Braggs Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. We shall see what happens. If nothing else I guess you could say I'm starting to pickle myself to stay younger!

I love that I signed up for daily emails from Click for Breast Cancer . When I see my email each day I feel blessed that I can help in such a simple way.

A sweet blog friend of mine named Kerri has a birthday today. I bet she would love to have a lot of comments!

Gmail keeps asking me if I want to switch to the new look. I'm afraid to do it. Has anyone else with gmail done this yet? Why didn't they ask me in my Reader!

Mark is traveling to Brazil on Saturday. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for a safe trip.

New post over at Debby's Tree.

LAST SUNDAY'S TRIP TO CARLSBAD, CA

If you saw my post it notes on Tuesday I mentioned that we went to Carlsbad, CA on Sunday to see the flowers - Not! Now we have seen these fields before in the past but I wasn't a blogger then and I never took any pictures! The information that we had said that the fields are in bloom from March 1st to May 8th. Well we were told that due to the cold Winter things are behind by a few weeks. My guess is that it will be another couple of weeks before they are in bloom. Of course while writing this post on Thursday it was 94 degrees outside so maybe they will be blooming soon. So the first three pictures is what we should have been seeing when we were there.

Well I am currently in love with a new flower. I was able to buy a bunch when we were there and I don't know why I haven't seen this flower before. They are called Ranunculus and are just so pretty. Look at them, they are so full with so many petals. I have had these for almost a week now and they are holding up really well and more buds are still opening. Their name just makes me laugh, it reminds me of something that Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) says in the movie "I Love You, Man" which is "redonkulous!" So Mark informed me that he sees these all the time at the nursery so we will definitely be putting some in the yard.

As we were heading over to the walkway along the ocean we had passed a few houses along the way and I noticed the flagpole between two of the beach houses. I thought I got a pretty good shot of the flag. I am surprised that I actually got the birds in that first picture. Since they don't put view finders in the newer point and shoot cameras you are kind of shooting blind outside! There is a kite flying and also a sail boat in the distance. (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

This is one of our favorites when we go to Carlsbad. Looking at the meals that people order I know that they serve delicious food there but when I find something I like I seldom change my ways so I always get the pepperoni bread. It is actually an appetizer but I have it for my meal with a salad. I had to take the picture of the leftovers at home since I forgot to take one when we were there. I was to excited to eat!

Here are a few other things we saw that I decided to take pictures of. I have seen them all before but since you haven't I decided to share them with you. Often around the beach areas you will see squirrels perched up on something. Isn't he/she cute? I have passed that gate dozens of times but have never taken a picture of it. I just love it, it's like a woven basket. I thought you would also enjoy looking at some of the flowers/plants.

Now this last one is definitely blurry!!! I understand the dangers in stopping along the road, but I really wanted to, but Mark wouldn't have it. So even though I had my camera on action you just can't get a still picture at 75 miles an hour. I was lucky enough that he actually went into the last lane for me to capture these as we were speeding by. So this is what you see along the highways in Southern California in the Springtime. It's very colorful!

Hope you enjoyed our day!

There is a new post over at Debby's Tree today. I appreciate everyone who visits there, it is one of my greatest pleasures.

P.S. Google, as of Thursday, was still giving me issues. I know I am not alone with this issue. As I worked on this post and was almost done I lost everything I had written. Thankfully the pictures had stayed on. I was ready to cry. So this post has really been a labor of love.

RANDOM IS ALL I HAVE

• So Wednesday ended up being a pajama day for me. I keep trying to clear my reader but it's not going away, the posts keep coming! Anyway it was like 4pm by the time I got around to taking a shower so I figured I might as well go back into some clean pajamas.
  

• So this is what happens when it rains, we get snow capped mountains. This was also on Wednesday. It was kind of nice and sunny but as of right now it is evening and it's pouring outside. (Skye says hello) She is in need of a brushing and a bath! Since I was outside with my camera I decided to take a picture of one of our Gerber daisies plants. (I did brighten up the picture of the mountains)

• So if you are an American Idol watcher you know what happened last night. What a show! One of the best performers, Casey, was at the very bottom last night with votes. The judges only get to save one person the entire season and they saved him. I know that I will make sure I vote for him next week. I figured it was to early to have to worry about voting for the good ones right now but I was wrong.

• I have a question and I hope someone can help me. I like to change my backgrounds a few times a year. I have been looking at every one's blogs who are using blogger and looking to see what templates they are using. Here is my problem, when I pick a background it has to have a very dark color in the center because my blog has a dark grey color there. I love all the backgrounds available to us but so many have white in the center so they just become grey centers when I use them. I have emailed several of the people who make the backgrounds but they never respond. I would like it to be white and I'm not sure how to change that. Any suggestions!
  

• Update on my daughter Amber. Her blood work was pretty good. Her thyroid reading was slightly off and her B12 is low. We will be taking her to our regular doctor to talk to him about those two things. Her doctor is weaning her off of her current medication and putting her on a new one. (Pray that it works for her) She can also take the anti-anxiety pill that she was given, when needed. Like I told you she doesn't have medical insurance. The new pill is $210. a month but if it works for her it is worth every penny.

A very Happy Birthday to our son's best girl.
She turns 28 tomorrow.
We love you Tristen!

New Post at Debby's Tree.

Have a great weekend,

I think I left my brain in California....

...that and my fast Internet. The USB port/Verizon connection that I rent works really well but is definitely slower then my house connection.

I am having a wonderful time here in Florida, I have some things to tell you and some pictures to share but haven't had any time.

I am trying to stay up into the wee hours to read some posts tonight while the house is quiet but the slow connection this evening is getting the best of me. I hope to be around to visit with all of you soon. (FYI: I have now been here for 8 nights. Because I haven't been able to read much yet I want you to know that I will most likely only read your latest post in order to clear my reader. I hate doing it that way but I am still reading posts from the 16th)

There is a new post today at Debby's Tree.

Miss all of you.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Love,

I'M NOT HERE......

and you can't find me! Go ahead and try..........do you see me? Well guess what I'm doing today. I know you want to know!

Okay, I'm just being silly. I'm in my family room taking the 800+ ornaments off my tree and packing them away for approximately 307 days. Yes siree bob, that is how many days it is until Thanksgiving in 2011.

All my decorations got packed up last weekend, including my snowman trees and have been put away for safe keeping. I've been meaning to do the tree all week but when dusk hits and I turn the lights on all I want to do is stare at its beauty.

What was different this year is that when I put up my decorations it seemed to just drag on. I just couldn't seem to get organized and done. In packing these things up it was a breeze. Every little thing just packed up so easily, each container was so neat and organized. It was actually kind of strange. Usually I struggle getting everything to fit and it was like each item had a place just waiting for it.

I don't know if I have ever shared this with you but one year after Christmas I had gotten ill. All the hustle and bustle can really wear me down. So that year I didn't get my tree down until February 6th. So that is always my goal each year, no tree should ever be standing in my house after that day! Last year everything was down and packed away by the 23rd of January (yes I do mark it down on my calendar) so I am right on target and should be done with time to spare.

I also got my calendars done, transferring all the birthday information and important dates into the new ones. (one for my purse) I always buy Suzy's Zoo each year, they just make me smile!

There is a new post today at Debby's Tree.

P.S. I want to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes yesterday for my son Adam :)

A LABOR OF LOVE

I have certainly talked about this before but if you are new here I am a huge collector of ornaments. There are over 800 ornaments on my main tree. It really is a work of art. I started a blog called Debby's Tree where I show each ornament Up Close & Personal. So I had this bright idea of taking a picture of each ornament before I actually put them up on my tree this year so I would have them all for my blog. I actually needed to do this but I think I should have done it after Christmas. It has delayed me in finishing my tree this year but it's done now.

I have not taken the pictures of my snowmen ornaments yet. They go up on three small trees in my dining room and those I will take after Christmas along with my large collection of miniature ornaments. The newest ornaments I purchased this year are already posted here on Debby's Tree if your interested in seeing what Hallmark had this year. They are not included in these mosaics.

So I thought you might get a kick out of seeing that I actually did this labor of love. I am also doing this so my children will have a record of what I have. When I post them on Debby's Tree they are large individual picture. I include the name of the ornament, the year, the price I paid and a current value from 2006. (That is the last value book that came out)

Since I usually only post once a week, on Fridays, it looks like I will be set up for years with posts! Not all of my ornaments are Hallmark, I have many from craft fairs I attended, some are from Avon, other sources and some have been given as gifts. I no longer put my children's hand made ornaments on the tree but they are packed away and we do look at them from time to time.

If you looking for Meet Me On Monday it's here.

IT'S A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU ~ FROM ME ~ GIVEAWAY

That's right, I am having a giveaway and you will have a chance to win this little gift package from me. (tree not included) Just leave one comment here for your chance to win. I will pick a winner in a few days. I will need a way to get in touch with you so if your email is not available when you comment (no-reply) please leave it for me in your comment. (i.e. dpucci9972atgmaildotcom)

For a second chance to win this gift package please head over to Debby's Tree and leave me a comment there too so you will have two chances to win! There will be one winner on each blog.

Good luck !

P.S. This is open to everyone near and far.

DEBBY'S TREE

New Post at Debby's Tree today!

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DEBBY'S TREE

I started a new blog called Debby's Tree. I will be posting all the ornaments that go into making my tree each year. I would love it if you stop over and visit.