HAPPY NEW YEARS to one and all

                                                              Hello, I'm ChiChi....Momma and I

Just wanted to drop by and wish everyone a very Happy New Year...as another year comes to a close, We have to stop and reflect on that year. We have had some good times, some hard times, sad times, times when Mom was angry, and times she laughed long and loud. She always says All things happen in God's timing. Take what God gives you and make it be something good for him, He promised he would take care of our needs, NOT our wants.

What do you plan to do tonight to welcome in a new year and a new start? Do you have a big bash planned with Family and or friends? Or will you be celebrating a quite evening with the ones you love?

Mom and I plan on having a wonderful night sipping, well she and papa will, Hot Chocolate in front of the fire. Mom says I can't have any....something about Chocolate not being good for me...Sigh...and it smells so good.

Then we will turn in early so we can get up and cook the traditional New Year's Day Dinner, cabbage..blah, blacked eyed peas, fried pork chops...yummmm, wonder if she will give me any of this? (Probably not). Corn bread and sweet tea and for dessert Peach Cobbler. Humans have it made, Me I'll probably have my same ole can dog food. When are they going to realize I'm NOT a Dog, I'm just a 4 legged kid.

We will miss our Family, but they will not be able to make it down, something about Baby Boy being on call. and Middle boy wanting to stay home and not drive down in the New Year's traffic..silly drunks on the road take all the fun away. I'll miss Baby Girl, she loves to play with me, but MooMoo will be here, I have to hide from her, she likes to tote me around like a Doll, really I'm more dignified than that.

OK, I'm going back to sleep to rest up for the night ahead and MooMoo tomorrow.

..Lord, life is so hard..

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S TO ALL MY FRIENDS
I am connecting to another new Meme today  Camera Critters

My Simple Pleasures...A few good men...uh, Males..

I am joining a new Meme today that just caught my fancy, a simple meme called...Simple Pleasures and it's over at A Collection of this and That...come join us....

My Simple pleasure is watching the many beautiful birds that come to visit and grace my bird feeders..

Hope you have a great Day, I know I will, just watching my daily visitors drop by.

A little this n that

Good morning World..do I feel high today, yes, yes I do and LOL..no I'm not on drugs...I'm just high on life and life is good..life is what we make it and I've decided to make it bright & lite...
I told y'all before Christmas that my husband had got me something special for Christmas it's going to take me a while to learn how to use it but I think, once I've learned how, I am really, really going to enjoy this.
It is called Dragon Naturally Speaking. It's a speak recognition software and once I get all the kinks worked out I think I am really going to enjoy it, just sitting back and doing what I do best, just talking and talk.
The instructions on the box says "stop typing, start talking "Dragon NaturallySpeaking home" makes it faster and easier to create and edit documents or e-mails without typing. Just say words and they appear on the screen .
I can tell right now I'm going to like this but it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of learning on my part. Isn't technology marvelous.
He gave me Photo Shop Elements 9 also, it is sooo much better than 8.
He also gave me a portable scanner, one you don't have to hook to computer, last year and it is really coming in handy this year.
I have started decuttering my life and my home, really decuttering. I have spent the last 2 days doing our bed room, bath and guest room. If I haven't used it in 1 yr it's out of here, I'm also scanning all my paper work and putting it in files on my external hard drive and throwing all the papers out ( shredded first of course).
I have a large file cabinet in my paint room that I haven't been able to get to in 5 yrs..now I can, it will be cleaned out and all important papers and manuals will be going in there where I can find them...instead of a bunch of small portable file or shoe boxes sitting everywhere.
I took a good look at our bills each month and decided they could be pared down too..like our phone bill, why pay $248.00 a month for cell phones, land line, long distance and Internet...does anyone else see the double pay here, $110.00 for land line and long distance and $95.00 for cell phones that do the same thing..duh.. today I am now paying only $128.00 a month for cell phones (that serve the purpose of a land line) and Internet a grand savings of  $120.00 a month, can we say most of light bill each month.
Next my grocery bill, My name is Marjorie Smith and I am a wasteaholic, but no more, I will put left overs in freezer and use them, when I made my dressing this year for Thanksgiving, instead of letting the celery, green onions and parsley I didn't use sit in frig and ruin, I chopped it up put it in a big freezer bag and had what I need for Christmas dressing instead of having to go back to store and buying more..still got some left in freezer for seasoning other stuff.....hey don't laugh, it takes baby steps when you are as old as me and been wasteful for years.
A country girl can survive and I plan on surviving in this tight economy.
Now on a lighter note..I got some more pictures of my mystery (to me) bird, I was told it was a Blue bird, a baby Blue Jay or a Pine Wobbler..does anyone know for sure? I have looked it up and it doesn't look like any of these....I love his eyes...
UPDATE THANKS TO KEETHA, FOR IDENTIFYING MY LITTLE BIRD, IT IS A TUFTED TITMOUSE... go here to check him out

This little feller is in Heaven, DH dropped a large bag of bird seed in the middle of the back yard and just decided to leave it for the birds to eat...
OK back to the organizing....Hope you all have a happy cutter free day.

Show and Tail Tuesday

I am taking part in Tuesday Show and Tail over at West Virginia Treasures, if you get a chance stop by and check out all the cute, funny or amazing pictures of animals..
This morning I was going to Brookhaven to pick my Sis up for our Annul Day after Christmas shopping trip...I haven't been taking my camera with me very much lately but for some reason this morning I decided to put it in the car, just in case we saw something we wanted to snap..little did I know it would be so soon after leaving home that I would use it.

When I passed the lake that is about a mile from my house I happened to glance over to my right and saw something moving on the back side of the lake, it was so small I wasn't sure what it was, so I pulled over grabbed my camera and zoomed way out to see what it was, I started snapping away and even though they were very far away I did get a few shots of a whole flock of Wood duck...I couldn't get over how glass like the water was, and the wind was making ripples on the water causing the back ground to be so very pretty but different almost not like water but glass.

 If you look close you will see the Crane the the picture above..

If you look close, it looks like the bank is right above the ducks and is so blurry, but no it isn't.... look close near the top of the picture and you can see a couple of ducks floating, the bank is right above them, that blur in the middle is not another picture burred in...it is the reflection of the trees on the water..isn't it surreal looking...almost like I murged two pictures together, but I didn't.

 I was amazed at how clear and mirror like the water was, the reflection of the trees and brushes from the bank were fantastic, the pictures of the Hen by herself also were so different, the wind made the water look plum surreal...I wish I could have gotten closer but they were at the very back of the lake a good 1/2 mile from the road...

Good morning, it's time again for Blue Monday over at Smiling Sally's, go by and check out all the other pretty blues by clicking here

I love this time of year, the Birds are everywhere..especially the Blue Jays, Finches and Red Bird..this morning as I was sitting looking out my window hoping the snow that had reached north MS would filter down south and give us a light dusting, I noticed the Blue Jays were out in full force, here are a few pictures I captured.. you can click on the picture to get a better view...

 The Jays would fly down to the ground, get an acorn and fly up on a limb and crack the acorn open on the tree limb... 

I'm not sure what kind this is, DH thinks it might be a female Blue Jay, but it doesn't look like the other ones around here...

I have been Blessed

What a wonderful Christmas I have had, I have been blessed, not with gifts and riches of a big home and lots of money...no not with material things..but with the most precious gift of all. My wonderful family.
This year everyone was actually able to be at my house early and stayed late, no one was on call or had to work. We laughed, eat, shared stories of Christmas pass and simple enjoyed the greatest day of our year. The Birthday of Jesus our Lord. Ronnie and Mindy did leave early around 9 pm to make it home in time to go to Midnight Christmas Mass .
This year we had decided not to buy alot of gifts, just for the little children, so instead of our time being spent opening tons of gifts, that we would either have to exchange Monday or stick back in a drawer somewhere, we could spend the whole time just enjoying our time and eating way toooo much....lol..I had so wanted to get a whole family picture but that didn't happen..sigh..my 3 boys surprised DH and I with a new 46" flat screen TV and you might say everything stood still from then on out...camera was forgotten.
I did get separate family photos so maybe I'll merge them on PSE one day.

The first time in years I have been able to get DH to make a picture..I think he forgot how to smile..lol..

My oldest son Chuck, his wife Lori, and 2 children Moo Moo and Redman..we were blessed that his pain didn't start until late into the night..he tires out so fast, but we all enjoyed the time he was able to stay..

My Middle child Ronnie, Mindy and his son Keifer and their Baby Girl

Again with Hannah...Keifer's special lady..

last but not least my Baby Boy Lance and his wife TT..we all laughingly tell him if anything happens between them, she stays he goes..lol...can you tell we love her to death...but then everyone who knows her loves her...

Keifer and Hannah, we are blessed to have such a sweet Christian girl in love with our Keiferman, they are both 21 now and have been a couple since they were 14..God sent her to him when he needed a friend most. He had moved to Richland away from all of his family and friends, when school was out in May, ....he had promised his Dad he would go to Richland with him & Mindy for 1 yr and if he didn't like it he could come back to his Mom's in Brookhaven, he met Hannah on a day he was really down and missing his family and not sure if he was even going to stay a month, much less a year, it was such a cute story..he had been up there for about 3 weeks, he walked to the softball field 2 blocks from their home, he didn't know anyone..he sat by himself..when he got up to leave, he heard someone say "hey boy, hey, hey you....what's your name, I'm Hannah..do you live around here" turns out, she lives 2 blocks from him in the same neighborhood, we knew after 3 weeks we'd never worry about him wanting to leave his Dad and come back to Brookhaven. Yes we believe Angels come in all forms.

Keifer laughs and says she was attracted to him cause he was the only boy in town taller than she was..he is 6' 2" and she's close behind him...lol..

They are planning a wedding after she graduates Nursing School next year..he will enter Ole Miss in the fall to start Pharmacy School.

I am truly a Blessed Lady My family are my treasures...I hold them close, because I know how fast they can slip away. We have grieved for my Niece Kim, this week, it is the 3d Christmas without her precious face, her 4 girls are growing up so fast and are struggling to accept God calling her home, at 43.  This picture was taken 5 mos before she left us, Kim, her oldest Katie graduating High School and her Husband Kyle, her baby girl will turn 12 in Jan.. one graduates High school in May and one will graduate next May...

Though it is not for us to question why, we know God has a reason, we just know to hold our Dear ones close because you never know when you say good bye if it will be for the last time..

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and received all your wishes and wants, but remember the great gift is love...

Even the Animals know who to turn to for comfort...

I recieved this in an E-mail this morning and just had to post....

A Nativity Scene was erected in a church yard.

During the night the folks came across this scene.

An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep. He chose baby Jesus as his comfort.

No one had the heart to send him away so he was there all night.

We should all have the good sense of this dog and curl up in Jesus' lap from time to time.

No one mentioned that the dog breed is a "shepherd!"

Christmas Break

I will be taking a Break untill after Christmas, but wanted to stop in and wish all my Friends the very Best and Merriest Christmas possible.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY HOUSE TO YOUR'S

.Remember He is the Reason for the Season...

Even the Stars in Heaven Celebrated his Birth....

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
Matthew 2:1

Sunday night the Children's youth group ages 5 thru 11 from Clear Branch Baptist Church, put on a magnificant program, called "Look, up, Look up, something wonderful is Happening in the Heavens tonight". It was so cute and different, it was the story of Jesus's birth as told by the stars. Lucky Star (my MooMoo), Falling star, Rock star, Shooting star, North star, and Super star, all wanted to know what was going on, why was this new Super Bright star in the Heavens, what did it mean? Even the stars were in awe of the Baby born on this night & the Bright Star that brought the Magi to Worship Him.

The Shepards and the Stars were spreading the news,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON