Positive Post Tuesday “Laugh”

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Please take a moment to laugh. I now it helps me remain positive.

Christmas Tree

This year has been extra hard for us to get into the spirit of Christmas. Brenda and I have tried to understand why and we struggle to nail down the exact reason. Brenda has been traveling quite a bit, the girls and I have been busy with school stuff, Church has been a challenge this year as a whole and is it me, or is time just flying?It feels like it was just yesterday that we were camping and enjoying the dog days of summer, poolside. The hustle bustle of the stores with the grumpy shoppers, short tempered drivers and cranky cashiers is a great big turn off for me. Why do people get so cranky at what is supposed to be a great time of year? Focus people, on what is important.
I have to confess that guilt is upon me, not feeling filled with the spirit of Christmas, when we are so very blessed with good health,  great friends and awesome family. We have friends and family that have lost children due to illnesses or accidents, and I pray for God’s comfort to fill their hearts through this season of celebration. I can only imagine what they have gone through and are still going through. This is probably why I feel guilty for feeling a little humbuggish this year. I Praise God for the blessing he has given us and pray for those who may be suffering.
On to the Christmas Tree. The girls and I decided that since Brenda had such an intense schedule of business travel just before the holidays that we would wait to put the Christmas decorations up. So yesterday was the day. I put the tree up on Friday and this year I decided to put it in our entry way. I use the entry way as a loose term, it is not used as an entry way at all. Our drive way comes to the back of the house, so the Kitchen door at the rear of the house is where we and everyone else enters. My thinking is since the tree is late going up, it may be up for a longer duration this year. With it in the entry way it wont be in the way.
Wednesday the girls are off but Brenda is not, I feel the urge to bake some ginger bread men……..I love ginger bread men. Maybe we will do a video post…I have also been thinking about making a Birthday cake for Jesus, bringing the focus back to Him. This is something we have never done, but I have heard of a lot of families that include this in their Christmas traditions, which I think is very cool!!
So anyways here are pictures of the tree pre decorated and post decorated. The girls did it all this year except the angel and a couple they could not reach. They really love trimming the Christmas tree.

Brenda got a new ornament this year at her company’s gift exchange, it’s my new favorite. Although I’m not happy with their performance as of late, I’m still a loyal fan!!!

Go Steelers!!

Dinner at Mom & Dads

Last night we went to Mom & Dads to have dinner, we had a wonderful Chicken casserole with some great chocolate cream pie and cinnamon rolls. Here is a picture of my Mom and the girls as they enjoyed singing some Christmas carols.

Notice Misty, their cat sitting on top of the piano. She sits there anytime my Mom plays the piano. We really had a great visit, Thanks Mom and Dad!
Here are a couple of other pics I took with my phone:

Photos- “A storm, Lake Arthur, the girls and friends”

Here are some shots I took throughout the week with my phone. This was of a thunderstorm as it brewed up some hail and high winds.

Yesterday I traveled north to Wendell August Forge for some Christmas shopping. I took back roads to Grove City, PA and stopped by Lake Arthur at the 528 boat launch. The winds were brutally raw. Here are some shots.

I took this at the mall over last weekend, while we waited for Brenda to do some shopping.

These were some shots taken at the Genevans Concert last Friday. Brenda was out of town all last week. The concert was a great way to finish the week. Thanks for the invite, Amy!

We are blessed to have friends like these!

What Romy Does

Almost every morning.

Here I go: Song #1

This is something I have never done before. Singing on my blog. Most of  you know I have been singing in our Praise Team at Church for almost four years now. Recently due to circumstances I won’t go into, I stepped down for a break. I have enjoyed worshipping from the other side of the pulpit. But I have also really missed singing praises to God. These seven weeks have given me a  time of reflection. I know in my heart if I focus on Him, everything else will fall into place. He is ultimately in control of all of this and has a plan. This was simply a part of his plan. I will be working on focusing more on him as I continue this journey.
On to the song, it is called And My Life Song Sings by Casting Crowns. I love to sing this song and the message it contains. A little history about me and my piano skills. I did take piano lessons for a year when I was 11 or 12 years old. So I can read some music, but not read and play both my left and right hand, let alone do it while sining. Keep this in mind when watching the song. I picked this song up by ear, so it may not be exactly like you may hear it on a cd. I  had several takes of this and finally decided if I waited to record the perfect take it would never happen. So it is what it is, flaws and all, kind of like me. I do hope you enjoy.

Family Room (Attic) Renovations Part 16

I can’t believe that I have not posted any progress of the attic since June. But we did need to enjoy our summer and that we did. I recently added two awesome tools to my collection. A Toshiba brad nailer and  Power compound miter saw, Ryobi of course. We recently got back to work on the attic. My brother-in-law was over last weekend and we built the panels/doors to our storage access areas. This enabled me to do the baseboard over to where we have to frame in our custom cabinets we are going to be building and one more door we have to frame in. Here are some before picture:

Here are some shots I took yesterday:

 
So now I will need to paint after I finish that last bit of base board. For this being my first base board job I am very satisfied. The fact that we are painting it makes life a bit easier, caulking hides some of the not so perfect joints. It feels good to be back working in the attic, I mean the family room. It’s is coming along, we can’t wait to be able to use the space. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful week.

Random: “Shuttle Ascent”

Pretty Awesome Video.