Christmas Pictures

Hey Yall! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did! It was so nice to get everyone together. And it pretty much stayed that way the whole week before Christmas. Linley (and Maeby Shea) had to go back to be with her parents and family. But we had Jamie and Lesley (and Grace Darling), Chris and Julianne here for the holidays. We did one day of touring downtown Savannah and a couple of days of the girls (without me) Christmas shopping. They had a great time together! Christmas day was very relaxed. Jamie and Lesley are heading out early, early tomorrow morning. We are going to miss them.

We didn't get our Christmas cards out as early as usual because we couldn't get everyone together for our annual picture. After attempting to take a picture out by the...ummm....Intracoastal Waterway....we decided to go inside because the wind was blowing to hard and messing up the girly's hair, not to mention distracting the doggies. It is hard enough trying to get the children all smiling and keeping their eyes open (yes, I am talking about you, Jamie!) without having to keep three dogs looking in the right direction. So we moved inside to the living room where we determined that our Christmas picture would not be taken at the house. So we drove downtown to Forsyth Park. If you can't take a good picture there, then you won't take one anywhere.......You know, they should write a song with that phrase....and low and behold, after about 50 shots, we got the one we were looking for. I am sharing with you some of the pictures we took that for reasons that will be obvious, we did not use. And you will also see some good ones. All of them are for your entertainment. Based on my comments, I am here to please you. Enjoy!

Response to Critics

Enough said.

Hey Yall! Have any of you finished your Christmas shopping? Don't tell me if you have.....I don't know why I asked that cause I would probably take you off my friend list if you have finished. I have done almost all of my shopping on-line this year. I still have a couple of things that I need to go to a store to get. But all in all, this year has been easy. We are having a smaller Christmas. BE PREPARED CHILDREN!!!!!! It just gets a little ridiculous after a while. I think we will have a wonderful time together and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

This morning started out with Mr. Frannycakes having to go to work to check on some things that weren't working correctly. When he got home, he fired up his smoker and put some chickens in to cook. Tonight we had smoked chicken, roasted potatoes, butternut squash, brussel sprouts and okra. I love roasting vegetables. It brings out the delish flavor of the vegetables and is so easy to do. The smoked chicken was tender and moist and thankfully we have some for leftovers tomorrow. That Mr. Frannycakes is getting right talented with his cooking. I think I will keep him.

It is about time to turn in for the night for me. Weezie has already started the snoring and I can't even hear the TV.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Lazy Saturday

Hey Yall! It sure has been a lazy Saturday around here. Except for about an hour in the garage sending things to the Goodwill, I have been chillin. Like a villin. I took a little nap late this afternoon and made waffles for dinner. And they were delish if I must say so myself. I have been trying to limit my carbs. During dinner I figured out I must have had at least 250. Maybe more. And they were good.

Do the numbers 39-34 mean anything to you? GO JACKETS!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving - Part 2

Hey Yall! I told you I would be posting about Thanksgiving! Have some faith in me! All the "children" came in, by car or by air, on Tuesday. I can't tell you how great it was to have them all here. Only Julianne had seen the house. It seemed like it had been forever since we had seen Jamie and Lesley AND Grace Darling. We had seen Chris a couple of weeks before at a golf tournament, but we didn't get to visit with him very much. It was just wonderful to have our family together. Unfortunately, Linley Shea was unable to come. She stayed at home and had Thanksgiving with her parents. This will be their last Thanksgiving before they are married!

On Thanksgiving day, GaGa, Grandaddy, Tommy, Doris, Thomas and Hannah came up to celebrate with us. Thomas and Hannah brought me some flowers and a bunny. These babies know what I like! They are both so sweet. Mr. Frannycakes fried a whole turkey and a turkey breast. Tommy wanted to come and see him fry it because Daddy had told him Dick has this special pyro-technique he used when we were living in Maine. It involved large flames and the fear of burning the house down. Luckily, it turned out to be fine and he has learned what NOT to do! The turkey was so delicious and moist! Even after several days it was still just as moist.

Dick put his kayak out by the....ummmmmm......intracoastal waterway(?) so the kids could use it. Thomas is a pro! He paddled around the bend and back. I think his momma and daddy need to buy him one! The hammock was also a hit with all the "children".

We had a wonderful lunch and some delicious desserts made by mom. By that time, it was time for them to hit the road so they could eat their leftovers that got sent home with them. I hope theirs was as good as ours. Delish!

On to the pictures!



Julianne and Jamie




Chris and Julianne



Frannycakes and Julianne



Frannycakes and Julianne going shopping.



Thomas, Chris and Hannah



Julianne and Hannah



Our whole family!



Tommy, Doris, Hannah and Thomas



Weezie hiding from Grace Darling on the coffee table!



Julianne and her Daddy



Tommy, Chris, Jamie and Thomas



GaGa, Julianne, Lesley, Hannah and Grandaddy


Hope you enjoyed pictures from our Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving - Part 1

Hey Yall! I told you I would be back with some pictures from Thanksgiving. Actually, these pictures, with the exception of the last one, was taken the day before Thanksgiving. We had some of Dick's family here for a quick get together. In addition to our family, minus Linley, we had his mother, Vickie and Delma, Debbie and Steve, Josh and Nicole (who will be bringing the newest family member into the world any day now!), Maggie, Ben and Jackson. Of course Jackson was the center of attention while he was here. How could he not be? He is just a precious little thing and so happy and we just all love him. I think he looks alot like Jamie did when he was Jackson's age. We had a nice visit, even though it wasn't very long. Everyone had places to go. Debbie and Steve had rented a house at the beach for the Thanksgiving holidays since Nicole wasn't supposed to travel. The last picture I posted is taken on Friday. We went on a tour of Savannah and met the Debbie's whole family downtown. It was nice to see John and Julie. We hadn't seen them since they were dressed in a wedding dress and tux!



Chris, Jamie, Julianne, Lesley and Gran Gran



Julianne and Jackson



Julianne, Weezie and Jackson



Jackson telling his grandaddy he is ready to get in the water!



Vickie (aka VV) and her grand baby Jackson



Dick, Debbie, Gran Gran and Vickie



Debbie, Gran Gran and Vickie



Julie, Steve, Debbie, John, Nicole and Josh


I have to say that it has been wonderful to live near family again. I didn't realize how much I had missed it. Hopefully, we will be here a good, long time.

Next up, Thanksgiving, Part 2! See you then!

Okay Already!!!!!

Hey Yall! Did you read the title to this post? I AM POSTING!!!!!! ENOUGH of the harassment!

I guess all my 3 readers think I am just busting at the seams (well, those seams too!) with hilarious stories of Frannycakes life. So much has been happening around here in my life that I can't really think of anything hilarious. Sorry. Moving tends to make Frannycakes into an unpleasant person. Somehow we always seem to move around the holidays. Not only do I get to move and put away and decorate, I get to do it for the holidays and have Thanksgiving and Christmas and well, that is just too much for Frannycakes pitiful little brain to process. Last week, I did what I swore to myself I was not going to do......I started throwing things in the closet and pretended that I had finished putting everything in their place. I can lie to myself like the best of them. I also am experiencing the letdown of moving into a new house....with my old stuff. You know, the old stuff that has moved with me the 400,000 other times we have moved. Ugh.

Enough of that! I do have a picture that I took with my pink dingleberry last month. This is a picture of Frannycakes with two of her closest to her heart friends, Beth and Elaine.

These two crazy girls called me this morning and wanted me to drive to Charleston and have lunch with them. Normally, I would have jumped right in my car and gone. But Mr. Frannycakes and I are driving to Georgetown later this week to a funeral for a friend who died. So I had to apologize and then kick myself for not going. Oh well.....I need to do a little shopping around here anyway. Alone. Don't make me start whining again.

Thanksgiving will get a post of its own later today. I swear! Pictures included! I double swear!

I am off to take a shower and get ready to hit the stores.

Talk to you later!

Frannycakes is Tired

Congratulations to Jeb and Brandi!

Hey Yall! Tonight, Jeb and Brandi got engaged! I am so happy for them! Looks like next summer is going to be a busy wedding party time for us.


The Happy Couple!



Awwwwww......aren't they cute?


Congratulations to Jeb and Brandi! Frannycakes loves yall!

Update From Georgia

Hey Yall! I promised someone tonight on the phone that I would do a little update. It probably won't be the kind of update that she wants. But here goes.....


This is a picture of two boxes of "put it together yourself, sucker" shelves that we bought at Tarjay for Mr. Frannycakes office. You know the kind....it has 4,298,321 pieces and takes most of the weekend to put together? Mr. Frannycakes practiced using "special" words in different combinations. Many times. And he is so thankful that he gets to start all over again next weekend with the other box. However, the main reason for the picture was so that you, my three readers, can see that we left the box in the living room because it weighed two tons. Carrying it up the stairs to the second floor was not part of the price, so he carried it up piece by piece. Aren't you glad you didn't come over to visit today or you could have helped?



This is a picture of the Intracoastal Waterway behind our house. Did I say Intracoastal Waterway? I meant lake. Did I say lake? Cause it really is more the size of a pond (or ditch as Mr. Frannycakes refers to it.) But I must say, I can almost see the tide coming in and going out, so I'm gonna keep thinking I will see a yacht going by one day.



I may not have any pictures hung and I may not have my pantry organized and I might not be able to drive my car in the garage because of the boxes, but you can be sure that I will have me a few flowers by the front door. How do you like the new wire thingies in the pots? I found them at JCPenney marked down to $8 from $59. And Mr. Frannycakes, who bless his heart never says one thing (scratch THAT) about anything I buy, had a fit. Cause we didn't need it. Can you imagine? One of these days I am going to do a post on how much money I have saved him! And really? Don't they look fabulous by the front door? I knew you would agree with me!



Since Mr. Frannycakes has an office, we, um I, decided that I would also have an office. There was this teeny tiny room by the front door that needed something special in it. And one of Mr. Frannycakes pet peeves is paper work and bills and junk mail on the kitchen counter. So I have put all my bill paying, files, and assorted other crap in this special room. I have tried several times to go in there and get it organized. But every time I do, I start having hot flashes. That is why there is a fan in there, to cool me off! Unfortunately, when I have one of those horrible things, which I have been having at pretty much every breath since we moved here, the fan does not full fill its promise of coolness. Nothing, and I mean nothing will cool me off. I am a wreck, I tell you. A menopausal wreck.



Okay, how did that get on here? Isn't she cute? If you don't know that I love bunnies, then it is time to learn.

So, aren't you glad you visited me today? We actually did have a pretty productive weekend. I hung curtains in two of the bedrooms. Pictures are coming in the next couple of days. Not the kind on the wall, the kind in the blog.....just needed to set that straight!

And you want to hear some exciting news? Jeb, one of our friends from SC, has come to stay with us for a month while he does a rotation at one the hospitals in Savannah. He only moved in today and has already brought some excitement into the house. Aren't friends great?

I will be talking to you soon!

Happy Halloween!

Hey Yall! Happy Halloween! Once again I have been been bullied by anonymous friends and family for not posting. It seems one young lady, I will call Mini Frannycakes, is deeply disappointed that I have not posted my yearly photos of dogs dressed up in Halloween costumes. And I have been told that I need to post house pictures and blah blah blah. Frannycakes has been extremely tired and irritable (just ask Mr. Frannycakes) and is trying her best to put the house together and decorate it so it will be beautiful. I have made countless trips to stores only to come home empty handed. It is very discouraging and exhausting. I did try and take pictures of the house I have done so far, but the battery in our more "sophisticated" camera was dead. So I took some with my new Dingleberry.....some call it a Blackberry....I prefer Dingleberry cause it make me laugh.....and I will post it later.

So Mini Frannycakes, these are for you!


This is for all my Catholic friends.


He really does look like a construction worker, doesn't he?


I couldn't resist the baby bunny!


Chris and Linley need these cuties to come to their wedding!


Doesn't this look like the most precious little baby?

So.....are you happy Mini Frannycakes? Can you study now?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

Goodbye Maine

 

Today we moved out of our house. The movers finished around 4 this afternoon and I finished around 5. It was so sad pulling out of the neighborhood and heading to the hotel. The leaves are still beautiful. I am gonna miss this place.

Happy and Sad

 

Hey Yall! Remember a couple of days ago when I told you how pretty the leaves are up here? I wish you all could be here to enjoy them. I am feeling a very wide range of emotions right now. Part of me want to grab some pom poms and do cheers that this southern girl is going home. And part of me wants to sit right down and cry because I won't be able to enjoy all the colors and the snow and the cooler temps that Maine has to offer ever again. And I think I can say with relative certainty that we will never be moving up here again. I can tell you that I have not always felt this way when we moved away from an area. One place in particular I just wanted to press the gas pedal as hard as I could so I wouldn't waste any time getting out of town.

The temps are cool today. When I was deciding what to put aside so the movers didn't pack, I only thought about packing hot weather clothes because I know it will be warm when we get to Savannah. What I didn't think about was that I might need some cool weather clothes for days like today. The windows and doors are open and I broke down and turned on the heat because I saw Weezie shaking in her bed this morning. I mean shaking! I had a fleece throw wrapped around me and so I took it off and put her wrapped up back in her bed. She has not waken up yet! And snoring away. The movers are impressed by her snoring. I think we should enter her in a contest.

Hopefully, the movers will be finished tomorrow and we can leave on Wednesday making our way down to our new abode. Closing there is on Friday and move in on Saturday. Whew! Just the thought of all that makes me want to take a nap.....in a room without Weezie, of course!

Talk to yall later!