The Race To The Holidays Begins This Week.... Here's A Great Way To Make Your Own Gorgeous Wreath

Every year I have the best laid plans for getting ready for the holidays early. I seldom have everything ready on time, but it's not because I don't try. I procrastinate too much I suppose. It's kind of like the Scarlet O'Hara Syndrome. You know. I'll worry about it tomorrow.

So, last night I was kind of looking around the internet and found the coolest wreath to make. The blog is called Thrifty Decor Chick and it is a totally wonderful blog. She is so clever it blows my mind!

Everyone complains about the size of my wreath on the front door every year. Since I'm sick of hearing the complaints, I'm going to replace that one with a new one that is a bit smaller. The big one cost me like $275.00 and I've really loved it. I hate to let it go but I really have gotten tired of the complaining. What's wrong with having to squeeze through the front door because of an over-sized wreath? Okay, fine. I understand, really. I'm seriously not going to get rid of the big one because our next home might need a big wreath. If not, I'll get rid of it then.

So, I found a totally gorgeous recipe for making a wreath, on the one decorating blog mentioned above. I have faith that with the use of my trusty glue gun and following her excellent instructions, I should be able to pull this off. However, I would like to ask all of you to please tell me if it looks bad. No one ever seems to want to tell me when something doesn't look good or right, so I'd really like to have a little feedback here, okay? Sometimes I just can't tell...

I'm going to go finish it now, take a picture, and post this. I MEAN IT WHEN I SAY I WANT THE TRUTH, PEOPLE!! HONESTLY, IF IT'S REALLY BAD THEN YOU NEED TO TELL ME. So, I'm going to cease yelling and put my trust in you, my blog friends. I truly expect you to tell me the truth and I have faith that you will. Don't let me down.

Well, I haven't quite gotten it finished but it's at least to the point where I could take a picture to show you. I thought three long sleeves (54 total ball ornaments) of unbreakable balls would be enough, but it seems I need yet another sleeve to finish.

I also intend to fill in all the gaps with small gold balls and maybe a few green tucked in here and there, but I might just stick with the gold. You can still see the wire hanger, so there is still work to be done.

Basically, all you do is reshape a wire hanger into a round or oval shape and use the hanger wire as your thread to *string* the Christmas ornaments. Then you have to use a hot glue gun to secure them into place. Easy. Peasy. Lemon. Squeezy.

My Little Corner Of The Skiing World....

Ever since I moved back to Texas in 1975, I've been skiing in New Mexico at my favorite ski area, Ski Apache located in the mountains above Ruidoso, New Mexico. Unlike my beloved Colorado, the temperatures tend to stay mild all winter, which makes for comfortable skiing and makes old ladies like me want to get out their boards and take some turns on the hill.

Ruidoso has had some hard hits the last few years but thankfully, they are still there. Last year, not only were they hit with the worst flooding in their history, but they also never accumulated any significant amount of snow, which means the ski area was hurt as badly as the funky little town of Ruidoso. Frankly, they haven't had snow for the last couple of years. Global warming? Perhaps, but I doubt it. They are just located closer to the equator than most ski areas, I suppose. In all my years I've only heard of them not opening at all, just once. They have great snow making equipment and NOW they have a great WEB CAM. Pretty much all of the land is owned by the Mescalero Apache Indian Tribe and they have enough money from other endeavors that they don't really worry. The ski area is located in the Sierra Blanca Mountain Range (also known as The White Mountain Range) of New Mexico, which is really breathtaking countryside.

Of course, we could go to Taos, which almost always has snow, but the drive is too long. Ruidoso is a mere 5 hours from our front door (or 4 hours if I'm alone). Taos is about a 9 hour drive (12 hours if driving in deep snow). Although I prefer the challenges offered by skiing Taos, I don't care to make the long drive, nor does anyone else.

Unfortunately, the Ski Apache Web Cam is a bit depressing at the moment, although a couple of weeks ago it was all totally covered in snow, but I'm going to try to keep a positive perspective. In fact, I've been so positive as to rent a house there for Christmas. Neither of the kids has skied in years (they can't afford it) and we haven't skied together in a very long time so this year we're going away for the holidays. Farmer's Almanac is predicting plentiful snow for that region during the week of December 23rd and since they are seldom wrong in their predictions, I'm going with it. Actually, we can back out by December 1st without paying a penalty, just as an option. Both of our children have reached the point that they would rather be with us than their friends (yes, it does happen eventually if you've done your job right), so they aren't in the least bit worried about not seeing their friends over Christmas. Five years ago it would have been a completely different story.


I'm just praying I don't fall this year while skiing. No telling how that will affect my Osteoporosis. Yikes. It's really kind of scary, but I've never been much for falling anyway. I check my speed constantly ever since turning 50. I had a bit of a *freak out* that year when I was up in Ruidoso skiing alone. I started my descent down a run called *Caliente* (a run I've skied many times and at high speeds) and I suddenly froze. I couldn't push off, or make another turn, or even side-step. I even sat down and cried (okay this was probably due to the onset of early menopause because I cried a lot). It was something like 20 or 30 minutes before I mustered up the courage to continue my descent. It wasn't in the least bit funny. It scared the life out of me, to the point that I left after that and returned to my my hotel room to lick my emotional wounds.

Anyhoo, I found a great house (this isn't the house, but is a comparable option) to rent for this Christmas that has a hot tub to soothe tired muscles after a long day of sliding around on our boards, a wonderful gourmet kitchen, a wood burning fireplace, plenty of TV's, a pool table, and all the other comforts of home, located on a secluded 7 acres. Now, all we need is some snow...