I have been gone for waaaay too long. But... to be fair... everyone got sick. And then they got sick again. Then something else came through. This past Friday, my daughter Faith had a tonsillectomy and an adenoidectomy. She has had a real hard go of it, but she can breathe again. The Dr. said that her tonsils were the size of golf balls and they were also infected, so I know she will be feeling much better. These next 2 weeks might be a little difficult for her though.

One thing I got done while I was sick, and before my husband got sick, was to re-stage the mantel. I have always had a very hard time making my mantel look nice. I am very good at grabbing a bunch of stuff and throwing it up there and pretending it looks good. Well, it usually doesn't. But I think it looks much better now. Please give me your honest opinions... because I know I can always use ideas and guidance. I seem to have a mental block when it comes to the mantel. I am also having issues with the mantel as far as pictures go. It absorbs all the light when I try to photograph it and looks so dark. It really isn't that dark, but the rocks!! It's the rocks!! Augh!! That is ok, because I love the rocks. Really, they are why we bought this house. We bought it for the stone fireplace. And I am so excited that it is almost cold enough to light a fire. I might even fudge on that a little bit. I am really dreaming of hot chocolate and a roaring fire.
The weather today would work really well with my fireplace dreams. It is cold and rainy. Before Christmas, we are going to add some trim and moulding to make it look nicer. Oh my!! I have my 5 year old and my 3 year old bring in a whole bunch of clothes down the hall. Apparently they are packing to go to Pearl Harbor. Methinks we have watched too many WW2 movies lately... let me know what you think... and show me your beautiful mantels!! Sharing ideas is one of the best parts of blogging!! And I will go figure out how to take pictures of my fireplace without it looking like a dungeon.....