Author: Wanda

I am a Catholic widow, mother, grandmother, friend and according to my kids just a little bit crazy. My faith is paramount in my life. Spending time with my family, especially my four grandchildren is one of my most treasured blessings. I love Redskins football, Phillies baseball, NASCAR, quilting, genealogy, and am a bibliophile and struggling blogger.

Monday Monday

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Monday, Monday, so good to me;
Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be.

I love this MAMAS AND THE PAPAS song from 1966.  It was their only number one hit in the US. It’s one of those catchy tunes you can’t get out of your head once you hear it.  So, sorry if I have caused you to continue to sing it over and over today.

I woke up this morning with a cold.  I feel awful.  Actually, I didn’t sleep that well last night and so slept in quite late.  Today is going down as a wash.  I have no energy to do much at all.  So, my Monday morning wasn’t all I hoped it would be.

Tomorrow is my quilt guild’s first meeting of the year.  We have grown so much the last couple of years and there are such talented people in our membership.  I hope I am doing better tomorrow so I can start the year out right and attend the meeting.  If you would like to check out Brunswick Quilters, here is a link to our website https://brunswickquilters.com/ and to our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Brunswick-Quilters-1519271921626009/.  We are celebrating our 15th year,  Wow, I have been quilting for almost 12 years!

Going to climb back into bed and keep warm.

Getting A Facelift

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I know I have talked about doing this before, but I finally decided that today is the day to revamp my blog.  I wanted a change, a totally different look.  So, here it is.  I am sure it will take me some time to fine tune it, but today is a good start.  Will be working on it off and on today while I watch the football games.

Every year my family, that is kids and I have a football pool for the Super Bowl.  Bud picked the names and teams on Friday night.  We each get an NFC and an AFC team.  We have been doing this for many, many years.  It started with my husband’s family, his parents, his brothers and their wives and Gary and I.  As far as I know, we are the only ones left that continue with it.

Have a good Sunday!

Happy New Year!

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Twenty Seventeen
May you enter this year ahead with
Exciting expectation and
Supernatural surprises. 
May 2017 be your year of 
Answered prayers,
Fulfilled promises,
Desires received, 
And wishes granted.
Where dreams becomes reality, 
Words becomes manifestations,
And the power of God rules and reigns

© DUTHZ
Published on January 2, 2017

I’m late with this greeting.  But I mean it just the same.  I hope and pray that 2017 is a good year for us all.

I was doing really well after Gary’s death.  Christmas came and I really thought that it would be really hard for me.  I guess because I had my grandchildren to spend the day with it seemed OK.  Don’t get me wrong, it was hard, but I was able to manage.  My friend Iris was here and she kept my busy leading up to Christmas with quilting.  I survived Christmas.

Then came New Years…it hit me that Gary isn’t coming home again.  New Year’s Eve was always our special holiday.  We just did the grown up things..going out dancing, out for dinner, etc.  My daughter had invited me for good luck pork and sauerkraut for New Year’s Day.  I just couldn’t go.  I just felt awful.  Reality had set in.  I knew in my mind Gary was gone, but not in my heart.  What a few days I have had.  I gave myself time for a pity party…then I said enough!!!

It’s 2017 and I am looking forward to a great year with family and friends.  I have been working on the “stuff” in the house again and have thrown so much out or donated it to charity.  I think I have mentioned that Gary was a pack rat.  I am finally making the kind of headway that can be seen.

I am making the house my own.  Transitioning from our home to my home.  If you know what I mean.  I plan to move my quilting room to the back of the house into the big family room which I don’t use.  It will be wonderful when I get it done.  I have a lot of plans for 2017.  Onward and upward.

I didn’t finish my reading challenge for 2016.  I had hoped to read 100 books and only got 95 completed.  I am proud of this accomplishment.  I just couldn’t concentrate the last part of the year. For 2017 I hope to read 101+ books and I have joined in on some of the year long challenges.  It will be interesting to see if I can complete this year’s challenge.  Just like last year I will keep track of my progress here on my blog.

Here in south eastern North Carolina we will be getting a snow storm.  It’s so funny, just whisper the word snow down here and everything stops.  Schools close, stores sell out of everything, and meetings of all types are cancelled.  After growing up in the north east part of the country where snow didn’t stop much from going on, I marvel at how the area handles snow.  Now remember, even if snow lays on the ground, it usually melts within hours.  Of course this area is not really prepared for snow removal so I guess that’s why the “snow panic.”  🙂

Have a good day and keep warm ya’ll.

Shopping Sunday

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I got up early and went to church at 8 AM.  Something I rarely do.  I like to go to Mass on Saturday during the vigil.  I am not known as a morning person.  Worked too many years on night shift I guess. Anyway, I picked up my girlfriend Iris and we headed to Wilmington to do some shopping at Joanne’s.  I needed some buttons for a couple of table runners I made for gifts and needed a long length of Christmas fabric for my guild’s Christmas Party that is on Tuesday.

We stopped at Denny’s for breakfast first.  Oh it was so good.  I haven’t had breakfast food for ages. We both had the pumpkin pancakes.  Can I just tell you they were delicious.  They may have just slipped into the my favorite pancake spot.  So with full bellies we hit the Joanne’s store.

I found really nice fabric for the table cloth I need for the party.  Found my buttons, and picked up a few things I just had to have.  🙂

Of course it seems we can’t leave the house without hitting at least one food store.  I am however, so glad we did.  I picked up some lamb chops.  Oh my word, they were too good.  I haven’t had lamb for a long time.  Gary didn’t like lamb, so we never made it.  Once in a great while I would have it while out to dinner over the years.  I miss my mom’s Lamb and Turnips.  Now that was some good eating.

I only have 19 days to read 5 books if I want to meet my goal of reading 100 books for the year.  I just downloaded some Christmas themed books to finish out the year.  Think I’ll make it?

Gaudete Sunday

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Gaudete Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent. The Introit for Gaudete Sunday, in both the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo, is taken from Philippians 4:4,5: “Gaudete in Domino semper” (“Rejoice in the Lord always”).

In the Catholic Church, Advent is a period of preparation, extending over four Sundays, before Christmas.  The word Advent comes from the Latin advenio, “to come to,” and refers to the coming of Christ. First to our celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas; second, to the coming of Christ in our lives through grace and the Sacrament of Holy Communion; and finally, to His Second Coming at the end of time.  We should keep all three comings in mind as we prepare our souls to receive Christ worthily.

Traditionally the priest wears rose vestments on Gaudete Sunday to signify joy in passing the midpoint of our preparation for the coming of the Christ.  The candle we light on the third Sunday of Advent  is also rose colored.

Happy St. Nicholas Day

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St. Nicholas was born sometime in 280 in Patara, Lycia, an area that is part of present-day Turkey. He lost both of his parents as a young man and used his inheritance to help the poor and sick. He was a devout Christian.  Later, St. Nicholas served as bishop of Myra, a city that is now called Demre.

There are many legends about St. Nicholas of Myra. One story tells how he helped three poor sisters. Their father did not have enough money to pay their dowries and thought of selling them into servitude. Three times, St. Nicholas secretly went to their house at night and put a bag of money inside. The man used the money so that one of his daughters could marry. On the third visit, the man saw St. Nicholas and thanked him for his kindness. He also reportedly saved three men who were falsely imprisoned and sentenced to death.

St. Nicholas is believed to have died on December 6, 343. Over the years, stories of his miracles and work for the poor spread to other parts of the world. He became known as the protector of children and sailors and was associated with gift-giving. He was a popular saint in Europe until the time of the Reformation in the 1500s.

The Dutch continued to celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6. It was a common practice for children to put out their shoes the night before. In the morning, they would discover the gifts that St. Nicholas had left there for them. Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas, known to them as Sint Nikolaas or by his nickname Sinterklaas, and his gift-giving ways to America in the 1700s.

In America, St. Nicholas went through many transformations and eventually Sinterklaas became Santa Claus. Instead of giving gifts on December 6, he became a part of the Christmas holiday.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of bakers, brides, children, Greece, grooms, pawnbrokers and travelers.

Follow this link to discover more about St. Nicholas and the traditions of celebrating St. Nicholas Day.  St. Nicholas Center.

Sewing Sunday

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Today Iris was over to work on my jacket she is making for me for Christmas. I have always wanted a quilted jacket made from a sweat shirt, but was too afraid to try one on my own. Anyway, it’s coming along nicely. We have done our own thing with the pattern, but I like it. We may work on it again tomorrow.

After she left, I started working on the pillow covers for Samantha again. Here’s number 2.

Number 2