Friday Fill-Ins #160

Well, here we are with just a little more than a week to go in January. I'm finding that really hard to believe. You, too? Somebody - slow this year down, please! Anyway, this is my first Friday Fill-Ins of the new year, so here we go:

1. You have a chance to turn your life around! (Oops! Sorry. Been watching too many late-night infomercials.)

2. I want chocolate right now!

3. There is a time and place for everything. (Or so my mother used to tell me.)

4. Eat that extra spicy chili now, and pay later.

5. It's time to start that fitness program I promised myself I'd start this month.

6. My plans for the future are up in the air but I have no idea where I'm going with this.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching another episode of "Midsomer Murders" (we've been getting the DVDs from Netflix), tomorrow my plans include getting all the errands run and the shopping done before the next winter storm hits and Sunday, I want to stay in, stay warm, and get some reading done!

Outdoor and Wordless Wednesday: Window Washers, Philadelphia

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

For more Wordless Wednesday offerings,
please visit the website here.

Shadow Shot Sunday: Saint or Sinner?

Shadow Shot Sunday is a weekly photo meme hosted by Hey Harriet. To see many, many more shadow shots or to contribute some yourself, head on over to her blog.


This little stone carving is about seven inches tall and was made in Spain. We've had it for over thirty years now, so it is ancient, although not as ancient as it looks. We've never be able to figure out if it's a copy of some bigger statue, or just some modern artist's flight of fancy. I used to refer to it as "The Druid," although it's probably meant to represent a Christian saint or an Apostle. Any ideas?

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Holidailies: Final Musings

I suppose I could have titled this "I Suck at Holidailies"! Even though I "solemnly vowed" to update this blog regularly during the holiday season, I've really struggled just to get in twenty posts during the entire month. Well, there's regularly, and then there's regularly. You know?

So the Holidays are over for another year. We still have our tree up, but that will be coming down soon. We usually leave all the Christmas decorations up until Twelfth Night (which, depending on how you count it, would be tonight), but this year we'll probably leave everything up until this weekend when M is home and can help with the dismantling. He's much better at organizing these things than I am; if I did it by myself, half the ornaments would get broken and the other half would be stashed someplace and never seen again.


The outdoor lights will probably stay up until January 15th – that's the date decreed by our condo association. After that, all Christmas displays must be eliminated from balconies and doorways, or fines will be imposed. Well, in theory anyway. But I'm such a rule follower, I'll never find out if that is or isn't just an idle threat.


One of my Holiday traditions is my annual jigsaw puzzle. I'm a big fan of jigsaw puzzles at any time of the year, but for some reason I always get puzzle fever at Christmas – usually have several new ones. But this year I only worked one – a "vintage" Springbok puzzle showing a wreath decorated with Keepsake Ornaments from Hallmark (another of my addictions). It was just challenging enough to be interesting, but not hard enough to make me want to abandon it halfway through. Most years, M waits until I get stuck towards the end, and then pitches in and finishes everything up. But this year I did it All By Myself! (And, no, that's not a Snuggy I'm wearing – just a woolly red shawl.)



Well, I guess that's about it. Oh, except for the Holiday Movie Wrap-Up. But all I'm going to say about that is that we managed to watch almost all of M's "must see" films this year. The only two we missed were "Miracle on 34th Street" (not one of my favorites) and "Love, Actually." Oh, and once again this year I didn't watch "Prancer," which I always say is one of my favorites, but which I really only watch because it has Sam Elliott in it. Oops! [Note to hubby: Sweetie, if you're reading this – it's really only Sam's voice I'm in love with!]