Hanging of the greens at my parent's house!

On Friday morning (well 11:45 AM-that does count as morning, right?) my sisters and I gathered at our mom & dad's for hanging of the greens!
(Sarah got there at 11 and I got there at 11:30, JoJo got there from out of town at 11:45) Then we had left overs from Thanksgiving. After that we hung the greens!


Sarah had worked the 3-11 shift on Thanksgiving. She woke up early to spend time with mom, JoJo and me; I was so happy :)

I know I am not a very tall person, but in the last few years I begin to feel really tall when we put up the tree. I remember when I was little and could not reach the top- I thought it was soooooo tall!

My mom's kitty cat Pumpkin thought he might help JoJo tie all the bows on the tree skirt. I think he helped untie a few!

This nativity was painted by my paternal grandmother who passed away in 1983. Putting up the nativity is a very special time for my sisters and I. I don't remember a lot about her because I was 3; but seeing the pottery she has painted and painting pottery makes me feel closer to her.

This nativity scene has been part of our Christmas since I can remember. I think my mom made it so we wouldn't want to touch the one grandma painted!

This ceramic Christmas tree is another piece my paternal grandma painted. For a few years this was our only Christmas tree and it sat on the same china cabinet that it sits on today! Mom and dad would place our presents down below on the floor. Two years ago I painted ceramic trees for my sisters- unfortunately the casts were not as detailed as this one, but I know they love them.

My mom's tree (another paternal grandma heirloom being passed down) is getting bare. She has divided all the ornaments that "us girls" received growing up, so all that is left are her red globes and a few family ornaments. We had a fun time walking down memory lane looking at some of the ornaments and garland we had made for our mom growing up. We thought some of the items were a little childish to put up this year, but of course as a mom she wanted them on the tree.

Gotta Love those personality tests!

Saw this from Julia's; Glunt Quartet site. I think it hit me pretty well. What do you think?


You Are An ENTP




The Visionary



You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.

You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.

Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.

You're very clever, but you are not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments.



In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love.

And if things don't work out, you're usually not too much worse for the wear!



You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor.



At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision.

How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful



When other people don't get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

What's Your Personality Type?

Live Simply, Love Graciously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly

I thought this was appropriate considering the holidays are here and Christmas will be here in no time:

"Live Simply, Love Graciously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly"

This was a platter I painted this year and have tried to stay true to it. I repeat this phrase when I am having a particularly "challenging of the patience" type of patient at work. It reminds me what is important.

I am Thankful for Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

Regan always gets extra exercise on Thanksgiving. She love to play ball at the park across the street from my parents' house. Sam, my cousin loves to play with her.

My great grandma will be 99 years old in January. This photo was from last Thanksgiving, I hope she feel up to coming this year.

It has been tradition at Thanksgiving at the Davis Thanksgiving to plan the ideal shopping spree for the next day. We laugh at how we could buy the biggest flat screen and "save" $100s of dollars if we buy it on Friday. It is a fun thing we do after the Thanksgiving meal.

I look at the memories from last year and can't wait to see what this year's memories will be.

My your family be blessed this Thanksgiving and throughout the Christmas season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am thankful for Sushi!

I love sushi! Now, I am not into to all the exotic crazy sushi; but I do enjoy a philly role, california roll, spider roll, rainbow roll, ect. When my cousin and I went up to Omaha this last summer to see a friend we had sushi. One of the rolls there that we ate was an Indian roll- it had curry spices in it and it was sooooooooooo good!

Whenever we go see Matt's mom in Wichita we go to the Hanna Cafe' and have sushi! It is so fun and low weight watcher points!

I am thankful for my pink robe!

I am so thankful for my new pink robe, I love it! It keeps me so nice and warm :) Thank you so much Dory and Shannon; my robe is so special to me! I think I have worn it every morning since I was given it!

I am thankful that Matt and I have owned a house before

I am thankful that as the time nears that we will be relocating we have had the experience of being homeowners before! I am grateful that when we move we will not have to sell a house in Manhattan, but that we have had the experience of homeownership. Our first home had so many memories. We lived in an apt for the first year of our marriage on the Friend's University Campus in Wichita, on April 29, 2003 we signed the papers to own our first home! We both had good jobs and felt like "we had arrived." We lived in a great school district (Goddard) and Matt taught at the rival district, Maize (which is the district we both graduated from). We were so blessed, and felt we could live in our cute little home for the rest of our lives if need be. Granted, the rooms were a little small and with any children the main level would start to feel tight, but we would manage.

Then Matt finished his Master's degree and I finished my BSN. Matt started thinking about grad school. We decided staying in our cute home and Matt commuting to Manhattan, KS for classes and working full time was out of the question. We prayed about it and believed it was time to sell our first home that had so many memories including our first pet, um I mean pets 2 cats, a puppy dog, and an old grandpa dog at one time (Austin had to leave us before we came to Manhattan).

We learned a lot from buying our first home, packing and moving into our first home, maintaining our first home, moving out of our first home, selling our first home, and making home where we are verses home being a structure. Home will be different when we move away from family; but it will still be home- wherever that is!

I am thankful for Differin!

I am so thankful for Differin! I have had issues with acne since I can remember analyzing my face as a teenager. I had done the antibiotic thing in high school as well as some gels/creams that made my skin feel gross! After using the antibiotics along with face wash, toners, lotions, moisturizers, and spot treatments I got through high school okay- I really didn't have it too bad; but it wasn't flawless and that is not acceptable!

College seemed to calm things down, marriage and birth control helped. I stopped using the antibiotics the first year of college because I didn't like the idea of taking an antibiotic for acne! I tried Proactive-it was okay but seemed to stop working after a few years.

In the last 3 years I had accepted that I was going to always have issues with acne, but my break outs seemed more cyclic and wasn't too bad. Then in the last year and a half I started battling what I call cystic, painful, red, deep, dark, pimples along my jaw line and neck. I am talking enduring taking a needle to them just to relieve the painful pressure so I could sleep pain!

I briefly mentioned my plight to my family doctor in October. She offered writing me a script, I held off and told her I would get back with her. I didn't want to be a "baby," I mean I'm adult am I really suppose to still be battling this with prescription medication?

YES!!!!

I had another painful breakout the first part of November, so I called my doctor and she graciously called in the Rx of Differin!!!

It has been about 3 wks and I am really enjoying it. I had the typical breakout time and dryness/redness. I am battling with getting my skin enough moisture due to it being winter time on top of using an acne med; but I can truly feel a difference. When I do get a scary, painful, deep pimple it is smaller and healing in less than 24 hrs unlike before when it would get more painful and take 3-4 days and still hang around. The little bumps on my neck that just didn't seem to heal in the last year are gone! GONE!!! GONE!! GONE!!! I can't believe it! I feel like my adult self is showing and not trying to peep out in between adolescent acne!

I am thankful for POST OPTIONS!

I am thankful for "post options" that allows me to compose multiple posts that I can schedule for different days! If you have noticed some of the posts are posted very early-I obviously do not even know these hours of the day exist I just like having them post early in the day :)

Thank you Blogger for scheduled post options!

Please send your prayers to Matt today!!!

Today is the day for Matt to interview for 2 job opportunities. I know God is in control and He will take care of us, but then the Bible also says he who does not ask, does not receive. So, I know that God watches over the sparrow; but the sparrow also would like to know her husband has a job for the fall of 2009 before the fall of 2009 gets here!

I am thankful for cats that get along!

I think this photo says it all....Two cats that get along.

When NeoTech was gone for 24 hrs last month, Kiker was very needy and wanted to snuggle as much as possible because she didn't have her cuddle buddy with her. They are approx 3 years apart. We adopted Kiker first in the summer of 2003. I had always wanted 2 cats so I talked Matt into letting me adopt a 6 month old male kitten from the KS Humane society a few months after we adopted Kiker. After a 60 hrs of introductions (in only 3 days!!!) these two kitties were able to be in the same room together without any "arguments." They have been together ever since.

The first time we took them to the vet in Wichita and dropped them off for their visits we were told by the vet that the techs had to put them in the same cage together because they were whining when they were separated. As soon as they were in the cage together they started grooming each other and stopped whining. She told us this is very rare. She said whenever she tried to bring home a second cat, her cat would pee on the vet's bed! We are very blessed with our two kittens!

Please send prayers for Friday!

Matt has interviews with 2 colleges tomorrow! We would be happy at either one, but we have our fingers' crossed for one of them. He will be at his first interview (the one we are hoping for) starting around 1:30 PM or so (central time). The second one is around 4PM. Like I said we will be happy wherever Matt gets a job-because he will have job! Matt told me last night that Rochester, NY has postponed it's search due to financial instability (which Matt says means they have closed the search without hiring someone)

I am thankful for my dad/ Happy Birthday Daddy!

The recent death of a friend's father has made me realize even more how thankful I am for the time I have with my dad. So, on his birthday I wanted to make sure I added him specifically to my Thankful List. Though we are both very stubborn and we sometimes have to agree to disagree; I am thankful for my dad (and my mom).

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I am thankful for the Sunshine State!

I am thankful for family that lives in Florida. I love visiting my family in South Florida especially when practically every other state (minus Texas) is having winter. Though, I would and have visited my family anytime. We visited them mid September a year or so ago- for those who don't know that's is still summer in Florida. I received this email forward awhile ago and kept a hold of it. I thought typing this out might make me feel warmer considering winter is trying to come upon us here in Kansas. I am protesting with this post! Though I have to say today there is a warm front or something we have Sunshine here today with very little wind-YEAH!!!

ENJOY:

You know you're a Floridian (or have family there) if...

Socks are only for bowling

You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything about shade

Your winter coat is made of denim

You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites

You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65

Anything under 70 degrees is chilly

You've driven through Yeehaw Junction (I can say I have actually done this!)

You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix (my family goes here)

Every other house in your neighborhood had blue roofs in 2004-2005 (I don't know what this means, but I am guessing it has to do with Hurricanes)

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for

You dread the love bug season

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley or Hurricane Frances. You know them as Andrew, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne

You know what a snowbird is and when they leave

You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average

"Down South" means Key West ( I know this one and I love going 'down south!')

Flip-flops are everyday wear. Shoes are for business meetings and church, but you HAVE worn flip flops to church before-more than once!

You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt (That will be the day!)

You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls

A mountain is any hill 100 feet about sea level (Does that mean Kansas is one big hill?)

You have a bumper sticker: 'This car climbed Mount Dora,' and you know where and what Mt. Dora is. (I haven't researched this one yet, but I bet it's a hoot.)

You know the four seasons are really: hurricane season, love bug season, tourist season, and summer

You've hosted a hurricane party (My family had a post hurricane BBQ with their neighbors)
You can pronounce OKeechobee and Kissimmee

You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat than to have a boat yourself (thankfully we have already learned this one!)

You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas and New Years

You recognize Miami-Dade as 'Northern Cuba.' (the cultures and food in South Florida are grand!)

You not only forward this, you understand it!

My Pottery came yesterday!

Sorry, the photo is a little blurry...


So do you think I captured these two in the below pottery?

There is a difference when painting Bisqueware versus Greenware. The pottery on my pottery page on rebekahskillen.com is Bisqueware-it is greenware that has been fired a second time. In Wichita there is a pottery store that I love. To see the website click here

I am thankful for smores!

A year of so Matt and I went to KC to visit family. On the way home we stopped at T-Rex! I am really a kid at heart so I had a blast hearing all the sounds and seeing all the sights. We had dessert and it was SMORES!!! It is memory I will always cherish.

My passenger, she's too busy looking for squirrels & birds to be my Co-Pilot

I saw Dory's post today and thought is was so cute that I had to post a picture of Regan puppy!

I am thankful for hockey!

My hubby grew up playing hockey and I caught the bug when we lived in Wichita. I am hoping there will be a hockey rink wherever we end up. I actually miss the smell of a hockey rink-I think the smell is sweat and ice; kind of like a sweaty ice maker :) I know, weird....

Thankful for REAL friends!

I am so blessed to meet a group of great women whom I will cherish forever!

I am thankful that I got to experience walking down this hallway.

I am grateful that I walked down this hallway, but let me tell you I am grateful this carpet is not in my apartment! It was a little dicey getting down this hallway if you looked down while walking!

Thankful for a Sidewalk?

Today I continue my list of being thankful. A few months ago (before it started getting cold) the apartment owners decided to finally fix our walk way up to our apartment building. I wish I would have been thinking and got a picture of it before. Most people, including Matt and I walked on the grass instead of the concrete so as not to risk rolling an ankle on the uneven surface! So, needless to say I am so glad we have even, smooth concrete in front of our building now! We don't have pot holes in our walk way anymore!!!!

Thankful for a Sidewalk?

Today I continue my list of being thankful. A few months ago (before it started getting cold) the apartment owners decided to finally fix our walk way up to our apartment building. I wish I would have been thinking and got a picture of it before. Most people, including Matt and I walked on the grass instead of the concrete so as not to risk rolling an ankle on the uneven surface! So, needless to say I am so glad we have even, smooth concrete in front of our building now! We don't have pot holes in our walk way anymore!!!!

Thankful for work

I am thankful for being able to wake up in the late morning to go to work in the afternoon and work until the early hours of the morning. I am thankful that I have an able body to be able to lift patients that need lifting, a brain that is able to learn new things/skills (most days), hands that are able to start IV access, a heart that is able to show caring and compassion, for a team of nurses and doctors that enjoy working together (we all have our days, but 99% of the time we enjoy working together), and having friends at work.