Back To The Real World!

Can you believe it?!? It's December already!!! So much to do to prepare for this special time of year, and yet there's never enough time!

Yes, we are home from our Thanksgiving trip to Savannah, GA, and yes, we had a great time! So great we caught ourselves wondering out loud why it had taken so long for us to return to that beautiful city and the equally beautiful state park on Skidaway Island. We are already planning on making that our spring trip in 2009 - probably going down for a week in April or early May. But next time we'll definitely take the canoe. There are so many great places to paddle around there!

Highlights of the trip for me:

• Finding a wonderful campsite that was very private, and that had our own private 'mini-pond' in our back yard. We were visited by great blue heron, wood storks (when researching to verify this was what we saw, I found that this beautiful bird is endangered in GA, but apparently not too badly endangered as we saw 4 or 5 together in our small mini-pond), egrets, numerous songbirds, and what was probably a raccoon that got into one of our coolers one night. All he got was a piece of leftover steak from dinner, but the funny part is he got tangled up in the windsock I kept tied to the corner of the raised bed so we wouldn't hit our head on it! The tails of the windsock were right at ground level, and I kept hearing what sounded like something in a grocery bag right under our bed.
• Being able to ride my Trikke all over the paved surfaces in the park.
• Finding my dream 'home town' in a tiny town called "Isle of Hope" which is just south of Savannah and just east of Skidaway Island. The only commercial business on the island is the marina, and there are narrow little roads and gorgeous houses right on the river. My favorite was up for sale - white wood frame house with a red tin roof, and with views of the river and marshes beyond.
• Stumbling across the Bethesda Home for Boys where Paula Deen was married, and realizing it was literally a stone's through from the state park.
• Having lunch (chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash casserole, assorted breads, sweet tea) at Barbara Jean's on St. Simons Island, then walking around the tiny town and watching two ships pass in the narrow passageway that leads to the Port of Brunswick.
• Taking a back road off of Hwy 17 to a wildlife/waterfowl refuge that wound way back on a dirt road, and then stopping and filling up a 13 gallon trash bag with huge, lovely, pine cones to add to the basket of cones from Coopers Creek on my hearth. I can't wait to get some firewood so we can build a fire and throw on a couple of those resin-y cones.
• Spending some time walking around the riverfront and historic district of Savannah, and having lunch at a great cafe/bakery between Broughton and Congress Streets.
• Having a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch (turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, broccoli rice casserole, assorted breads, sweet tea) at Barbara Jeans on Wilmington Island. Then we drove to Tybee Island and walked the beach and then went up on the pier to join the brave souls standing in the wind and watching the bulldozers and workers working on the beach recovery project.
• Deciding to come home on Friday instead of Saturday because of predicted rain all weekend. A pop-up (or folding trailer) camper doesn't do well when put up wet, and we knew this would be our last trip until next spring and wanted to put her up dry to prevent mold. It was great to be home!

It was a really nice trip, and I'm excited to know we'll be going back in the spring.

I haven't made a thing crafty, although on Saturday I went to Hobby Lobby and got a pattern and some gorgeous fleece to make some stuffed animals to try to sell on Etsy. I've got the yellow bunny cut out, but haven't started the stitching yet. I also got blue and cream fleece, and plan on doing a lamb in the cream and bear in the blue.

I also haven't even started my Christmas decorating, and it will probably be this weekend or beyond before I do start. (Oh wait, I did put out my 'Season's Greetings' flag on the wrought iron flag pole outside the front steps) First, I've got to finish putting up all the stuff from the trip and finish the mounds of laundry. I got about 1/2 of it done yesterday, so I'll finish that today. Wednesday is 'mom's monthly shop-a-thon' day, so I'll be gone all day, and then I need to clean the carpet before I start getting the decorations down out of the attic. I've also GOT to clean this messy office/playroom because it always seems to get the brunt of 'messy' in my house, and is staging area for a lot of things when getting ready for a trip.

So, too much to do to play very much this week. Hopefully I'll have time to get some playing time soon!

I'll leave you with these words: "Remember, you are a powerful person! Your words have power and carry weight, choose them wisely! Your actions and choices are powerful because they never only affect you, but those around you, too! You never know who may be listening and watching and you may be the person who changes their attitude, their day, or their life just by your words and actions." (rfg11/2008)

God Bless!!! Becky