...we volunteered at Toys for Tots...and I HIGHLY recommend it...it was so much fun...this is the warehouse...and after our initial instructions from a marine...we just got to it...you pick up a card with a list of 'wishes'...it has the gender and age as well...and then you just go up and down the aisles of toys 'shopping' for that child...I was able to find everything that was requested on my cards...and I'm definitely signing up to do this again next year...
...and I met up with my old college chummy Amy...it's not quite as easy as it was when we both lived on the outskirts of Charlotte...but we managed it...I made her a little
Cozy Posy ear warmer in her favorite pale blue colour...
...and she got me this crochet nativity set...what fun...and then we wandered around the mall catching up on each other lives...
...then the weekend started off normally enough...a vegan 'croissandwich' for breakfast...
...followed by the weekly shopping...
...the Man wanted to make a pot of vegetable soup...so we got all the fixin's for that...and they had pitas marked down to $1.32 so we got a bag of those and some garbanzo beans to make hummus to go with that...
...after the big freeze earlier this week...I cut off the branches of the Okinawan Hibiscus...and it was perfect timing for the last yard trash pickup of the year...
...and I added a red bow to the mailbox as I noticed that all (and I do mean all) of our neighbors had some sort of decoration on their mailbox...
...and when I was walking back to the porch...I noticed a tiny pink rose on our rose bush...
...so surprising for the third week of December...but it must have been pretty sheltered right up against the brick...
...so of course I brought it inside to enjoy...
...I mended my beautiful pop-up A Christmas Carol...the page with the ghost of Christmas Present had gotten torn somehow...but I glued the pieces back together and held them in place with a clothespin until they were dry and now all of the scenes pop up nicely now...
...after the cold snap it has warmed back up into the 50s...so I put all the plants back out on the porch for some sun...look how tall the paper whites that Mom gave us have gotten...just a week and they're starting to bloom...
...and the Christmas cactus should be in full bloom on Christmas day too...
...I got the hanging basket that Mom gave us (two summers ago now) out of the garage...and gave it some organic fertilizer and water...Mom had told me that she does this periodically over the winter...and since it came back of its own accord this past summer I'm hoping that it does even better next summer...
...we vacuumed and mopped all of the floors...
...I wanted to make some of Mom's vegan Christmas cookies...
...they're super simple to make...first I made the Ritz cracker and peanut butter sandwiches...and then just dipped them into the vegan white chocolate...
...and added some Christmas sprinkles...
...and then we opened all of our Christmas presents early...y'all have already seen the bench of course...
...the Man got a new cast iron brazier and an espresso pot...
...oh...and a pair of winter/snow boots...
...and I got some pretty Japanese sandals...obviously not for winter wear...the Man said he'd also ordered some Tabi socks...they're like mittens for your feet...but they didn't make it in time for Christmas...
...and some Japanese persimmon soap...it smells really nice and it's not supposed to be drying to your skin...
...and then I also got a pair of winter/snow boots...
...they're vegan Doc Martens...
...they came with black laces...
...but the Man also included some yellow ones to match the stitching and tag...so I swapped them out...and they're so cute...
...and this is what our final little rose of the year looks like this morning...
~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!
