On the Porch

Have a Birdie Full Christmas!

Got Comfort http://tinyurl.com/y8w7qcs

Tiger Woods has a lot of stockings to hang this Christmas

I saw this cartoon on Twitter and thought it was hilarious!

© Copyright 2009  Dave Granlund - All Rights Reserved.
* Print artists attribution with the cartoon.

Holiday Shopping Ideas from Private Quarters

Holiday Greetings to Everyone

If you are still looking for solutions for your holiday gift giving, I wanted to let you know you can shop for my lovely Private Quarters products by going to my website www.privatequarters.net/charisse and go to My Events and to the calendar on December 10^th and then to shop online. If you order before December 13^th, your purchases will arrive before Christmas.

Here are some of my favorites: robes, sea cell sheets, featherbed, houndstooth scarf, northwoods blanket, throw booties and tote bags, lavender neck wrap, jasmine lumbar pillow, and doggie bed.

25 Gifts for $25 or under

Birds and Nests Christmas Tee

This is a Christmas tree I decorated with all birds and nests to be donated in the auction for the Festival of Trees event last Saturday. All the lights were LED lights and some of them were LED tea lights covered in moss.  

 

 

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Black Mountain Jewelry Company

My friend Carla from Black Mountain Jewelry Company in Alpine, Arizona is offering a holiday sale of 15% off on her jewelry through December 15th. Check it out. http://networkedblogs.com/p19583529

 

Tree of Life Jewelry Collection

 

Chalcedony

 

Fire Agate

 

Assorted Gems

 

Turquoise

 

Sonora Star Choker

 

Western Heart Drop Earrings

Cross Pearl Choker

The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.
If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.
Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.
My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concept s about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name?....
We just call him, 'TV.'
He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

  

Words of Wisdom from Warren Buffet

Download PowerPoint Presentation about Warren Buffet

Anyway by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.