25 Days Of Christmas, Day 14

Sadie and Allie got to spend the night last night.  I promised Sadie we could do some crafts after church.  But when we woke up to snow, wind and sub freezing temperatures, church was canceled.  That left lots more time for crafts.  

I can't share all our secrets but we made trees, hats, and wreathes.  We used, paint, hot glue, regular glue, tissue paper, construction paper, toilet paper rolls, pom poms, cotton balls, yarn, popsicle sticks, gems, and I don't remember what else.  

Allie didn't have as much patience with crafting but still participated.  She would much rather play than craft.  

We wrapped everything and put it under the tree.  When Virginia and Mike came to pick them up, Sadie wanted Virginia to open hers.  Surprise, a Santa hat ornament. 
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 13

I have a two parter today. First, the Christmassy part. 

I don’t think I showed  Emily’s finished Barbie tree after she let Sadie and Allie help decorate it. 

Emily had to do a little rearranging to make sure they were in order of most liked to least. The ones with more actual fabric usually rank higher. But hair style and facial expression also plays a part.  

Now for the non Christmassy part. Today we had to work the calves that were weaned 1 1/2 months ago. 

It was 22 degrees and very frosty. 

Since the cattle are use to Joe feeding them every day, he worked on getting them up and I took pictures and worked on not spooking them. 

We both were very successful at our jobs.  (I absolutely love this picture)

Plus, Mike came to help.  We sorted out some of the smaller ones and the heifers to keep for replacements.  Then we gave 3 shots each to 100 head.  They should be ready to head out to the feedlot in a couple of more weeks.  Joe will be excited to turn the feeding over to Circle 5.  

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 12

I think I got a little obsessed with this one.  I saw string art cards on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.   I loved doing string art in middle school.  

I put a lot of effort into coming up with different designs.  I have a couple more that didn't make the picture but I am pretty much out of ideas. 

It is hard to pick a favorite. 

I love all of them. 

I am thinking of making a framed arrangement instead of sending them out as Christmas cards.  

But I have plenty of string (and no, I didn't have to buy any) so I could always make more.   Looks like they sell for $5-$10 on Etsy. 

Merry Christmas, card. 
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 11

It is a little challenging coming up with a new centerpiece every year.  So of course,  I checked out Pinterest for ideas.  

This year, I used the vases that I had bought for Emily's wedding last year.  

I used some Epson's salts at the bottom, then layered tinsel, ornaments, and pinecones.  The pinecones that look like flowers came from Richmond 40 years ago.  My aunt Jean had a friend that lived in a townhouse that had a pine tree in the yard.  The year I lived there, Jean went and picked up a bag full for me.   When I google it, it says they are Cedar Roses from the Deodar Cedar tree.  I had used them years ago to make a natural wreath and have been hoarding the rest ever since.  The beauty of this project is they are still reusable. 

I topped the vases with a sprig of Douglas Fir cut from the Christmas tree.  I think it looks nice for something that I haven't done before.  I might add some more pine branches over the mirror.  
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 10

Today's treat is another Pinterest success.  

I made these cute little trees from, you guessed it, scrape wood.

First, I drilled the hole, then cut the triangle.  I used the circle from the hole as the tree stand, then hung a tiny mirror ball.  Sadie loves mirror balls.  So do I.  

They are very cheerful lined up on the windowsill above the sink. 

The Pinterest linked to an Etsy store where my inspiration piece is priced at $20.  I don't think they have sold very many. 

 Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas holiday season as much as I am.  

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 9

The little bit of snow that we got on Friday was mostly gone on Saturday.  I took the opportunity to work some more on my outdoor decorations. 

I had been eyeing this little grove of white pines along the driveway.   It looked like they needed some thinning. 

My big pots were looking pretty bare.  

But not anymore, instant trees.  

Since I didn't replace the fence in the border garden I thought I would add some height to it too.  

Now I have a temporary forest.  

And I added one to the arrangement at the side door.  

I finished it off with a few shatterproof ornaments.  

And I added some bows to the potted trees.  Everything looked great until...

Monday, when we got 4-5 inches of heavy, wet snow.  

I help Joe shovel out the feed troughs and forgot about the farrier coming.  I had not caught Otoelene and she was up on the steep hill in front of the house.  She apparently did not like me slipping, falling and flailing my arms around trying not to slide down the hill.  It was the first time that I can remember that she was difficult to catch.  The farrier said he had canceled all of his other appointments so he didn't mind the little extra wait.  

After I turned her back out I checked on Clyde and Hugo.  I have turned them together now and they are getting along fine.  You may notice that Clyde's tail is still braided.  I probably need to take that out sometime.  

Even though the snow was cold, wet and slick, it was still pretty.  

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 8

I had a surprise delivery today. 

What could it be?  It was in a very "Fancy" box.  

Was it something for Kit Kat?

No, it was something for me!

Last month I got a notice on my Purina app that they were going to give away a Christmas ornament.  It said when the give a way started that it would sell out quickly.  I wrote myself a note to make sure I would log on and register in time.  Of course it was a day when I was at work.  But I was able to get in and here it is.  I love it.  It was from Fancy Feast. 

Maybe I should put it back in the box.  I just saw where they are selling on eBay for $100.  

2nd update, I have been reading on the Purina Fancy Feast's facebook all the complaints about people not being able to get the ornament from the app.  Apparently, people have been collecting Fancy Feast ornaments since the 80's.  Who knew?