Thank you Candy :). Karen: TY. Mickey is doing very well considering. It's been 3 weeks today and he's getting a bit grumpy but still holding steady. I didn't give him one of the Kong toys as I know he'd make the biggest mess you can imagine. lol Instead I bought him one of those roll around toys you put treats in and they have to work to get them out. He really likes it and doesn't really overwork himself to get them out like I figured he would. He plays with it for a bit, then gets tired and goes to sleep. He's gotton down a good routine now (out of crate, get leash on , get big drinks, go outside to business, come back in , shop toy box - pick toy of choice, and back to crate, yell for cookie - take nap). He does better if we're not in the room with him so I've resorted to living in other parts of the house. It tears me up that he's in the living room alone, but I tried that and he got sooo worked up wanting out that no more of that. :( He goes back on the 14th for the last shots and we do this all over again for at least 4 more weeks and then hopefully!! he's healthy and free from jail on Nov 12th. Thank you for asking about him :).

Wow! CUTE! The only thing missing is one of my prim jute twine spider webs.....LOL! I sold a bunch on Ebay before I left for a 2 week vacation, and came back to find messages waiting for me from others wanting some......didn't plan to relist them, but decided I'd better.......I planned to go up in the woods this week and pick pine, but now it is hunting season, so I have to wait until Sunday. I use the pine to make pine ropes(swags or garlands) as well as pine wreaths. These are real ground pine and smell sooooooooo good and last a loooong time! Most of the winter if it isn't too hot!

Thank you all. Jane I bought the tree (for $5) and put the lights on it. The fireplace in the den has a little electric stove in front of it. I think they call it a holigraphic flame, it looks pretty good, I think. Althought the flames don't always show up well in pictures. Jan, glad you came out of lurkerdom. We got that little ghost light when we lived on an AF base in Alaska. Nearly everyone had one, LOL. Alaska was kind of remote way back then. Thank you Lee, Sybil, and Lynn. Luvs, I do make the baskets myself, I sort of stuff things into until, I think they look okay. And I will turn those jack-o-lanterns back into pumpkins and add a cornucopia after Halloween. Thank you all for lookin'. - Gail

Yes, Luvs, I've been adding a few witch things to my Halloween stuff. I'm really not into all the usual stuff like ghosts n goblins, jack o' lanterns, etc. but I do love witches and ravens. And of course witches have kitties. LOL. How neat, Kathleen, that you (and Candy) also got married in 1970. And Jane, you ate at the Outback too. ;o) Plus, Nana, some of us really like Dancing with the Stars. I think Candy previously nailed it about our Holiday gang having so many little things in common outside of just holiday decorating. Even the same furniture, or same figurines. Maybe this is why we seem more of a family, or a group of really long-time friends. Time, and distance, matters little it seems, some people are just meant to come into your life and make you feel like kindred spirits. I am always in awe of our group here, and the closeness/caring we share so easily with one another. I doubt any of us expected this when we found this Forum, we just wanted to share some Holiday decorating! ;o) By the way, here's the flowers Jas and Suz sent...and the two dolls I kept from my Mom's collection. These dolls come named, so that is Victoria on the left and Rebecca on the right. The photo is my Mom when she was in her early 20's, and the cat pair are very old figurines I found at an antique show about 25 yrs ago. (My mom loved cats) hugs, Karen