Wordless Wednesday

Valley Girl

I was a Valley Girl for a day!

But old habits are hard to change. This is the first store we went in.  

Tip Thursday

Now that the Card Writing, Celebrating, Cookie Baking, Decorating, Fudge & Candy Making, List Making, Package Mailing, Partying, Shopping, Traveling and Wrapping is finished, sit back and enjoy each and every minute of this Blessed Day.

Wordless Wednesday

Gonna find out

Who's naughty and nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

State Quarters

Finally after 10 years of collecting I have two maps of the United States of America filled with all 50 states. I am so glad to have this project behind me.

Did anyone else who started finish the entire collection? I've heard a rumor that they may add a 51st, The District of Columbia. I hope not. I would have to tape it onto the map.

WEEKEND RECAP

We got lots of snow over the weekend. I would guess 15 inches. It was beautiful White Christmas snow! Was nice to be inside working on Christmas preparations and looking out at the storm.

Mick spent another weekend in the dining room. This is what two coats of blue tinted primer & one coat of the dark blue paint looks like.He thought using the tinted primer he would only need one coat of paint. OH NO. He ended up having to paint four coats and used two gallons.
I need to have a Tip Thursday on Monday. When painting with a very dark color be prepared to do four coats. I know this applies to red also. Anyway, I love the color. I assume not everyone is going to like this but I never let that stop me from doing what I like when it comes to home decorating. Once the room is put back together I'll have more pictures.

SNOW

We didn't get a lot of snow for where we live but the driving was bad yesterday afternoon & early evening. We had strong winds which made for poor visibility.

It was great to spend Friday evening inside listening to Christmas music, making bark something I've never made before, watching Mick paint the dining room and making a list of all the things I need to get done over the weekend. First on the list - before the work on the dining room starts have the fire hydrant shoveled out.

Hope you have a GREAT weekend.

Do Not Enter

The dining room remodeling is coming along well. Below is what the area where the cupboard used to be looks like now.

Mick spent the entire weekend sanding the dining room & foyer floors. By Sunday night he was ready to stain the floors. Monday he put on the first of two coats of polyurethane.

We have been walking a plank from the front door to get upstairs until everything dries. We go right out the front door and walk around the house to go into the house thru the back door. Never a dull moment.

Now I have to decide PAINT or PAPER???

Tip Thursday

When loading a dishwasher point all items towards the center of the machine for better cleaning. Yes, the plastic lid to the pitcher is not in correctly.

When unloading, always remove the items in the bottom first that way you will avoid water falling onto the dry items on the bottom.

Wordless Wednesday

Cookie Exchange

I made the mistake of not taking the main Route out of town on Thursday. I drove 20 plus miles on snow covered roads. The picture was taken right thru the windshield.

This is who greeted me when I arrived at Moms. She is always appropriately dressed.
The purpose of my trip was the 10th and last cookie & ornament party that Mom hosts.

Oh, a new keyboard & mouse fixed all my computer problems. THANK GOODNESS : )

Computer Issues

My home computer is having hardware issues. Nothing serious, I think. We can't get the mouse or keyboard to work. So sad. : (

When I'm home I actually have withdrawal symptoms since I can't check my email or post on the blog. Maybe since I have so much to do for the holidays no computer time has been good for me but, it doesn't feel like it.

I'm writing this at work. So, until I get the home computer working no pictures for you.

Tip Thursday

Just recently I found out that plastic wrap, wax paper & foil have tabs in the end of the box to keep the roll from falling out.

Make sure you are using them.

Wordless Wednesday

Antique Wallpaper

Mick spent his entire Saturday working in the dining room. He tore out a built in cupboard. It was NOT original to the house. We were surprised to see wallpaper on the wall behind the cupboard.

There was a very large border at the top.
We both loved the paper.
We are now thinking of papering the room instead of painting. Projects always turn into more than expected. The plaster lathe was so bad he had to take it down.

Scrapbook Room

Spent my entire Saturday in my scrapbook room. Although, I didn't work on any pages. My work table is a huge mess & it was hard to craft. I would have not gotten anything done had I spent time to put everything away.

The first thing on my New Year's list will be to clean out the room.

Out My Backdoor

Beautiful, white & fluffy Christmas snow.

Button Tree

Spent hours, hours & hours pinning buttons onto a Styrofoam tree.

Actually, I find mindless crafting work very therapeutic. Now that it's finished it doesn't look like it fits in with the rest of our decorations. So, It will spend the holiday season on my desk at work.

I'm attempting to make more than usual gifts this year and I'm also putting a lot of time & fanciness into the wrapping of each gift. I am so excited to be crafting this weekend. Also, some card writing. Enjoy your weekend!!

Homemade Sofa Table

I saw a picture of a sofa table in a magazine, I ripped out the page, showed the picture to Mick & asked him if he could build it. He did, it looks great in the living room and I love it! I filled one of the trays from inside a picnic basket with mercury glass Christmas ornaments from Crate&Barrel. Oh how I wish they were old mercury glass ornaments.

I think I will add some pine to the basket and tie ribbon onto a few of the ornaments.
You happy Eric? You have your morning fix of GEL-Oh.

Wordless Wednesday

First Blog Anniversary

It's been a rewarding experience blogging over the last year.

I've learned to do a lot of new things on the computer and I've used my camera more than ever! I've always read to get better at anything is practice, practice, practice and I found this to be so true with photography. I enjoy reading the blogs of the family members that jumped onto the blogging band wagon. I got to read & see the happenings in the lives of family members that are so very far away. I only wish everyone would post more!

I really enjoyed when readers left comments. Also, I appreciated those who would give me a call or send an email to comment about one of the posts.

Best of all, I have a written & photographic diary of my life over the last year. So, after one year of documenting my everyday, as boring and ordinary as it is, I'm taking a break. Until....................................

Happy Turkey Day!

Family, Food, Football, and FUN!

by guest blogger team: Mickey and Mau

Nothing's better than a full driveway...

except maybe a full candy jar. This one was full.
Lots of preparation:
The lovely table:
Aunt GEL-oh fretted over the HUGE turkey getting done "in time."

Finally -- and worth the wait!

We had a near catastrophe, but Aunt GEL-oh saved the day -- or at least the gravy.

Food food food...
We had way too many pies.
Dan was hard at work.
Eric returning from a morning of tracking Bambi:
An uninvited guest -- not me, the cat!
The girls walked and ran in the morning.
Don't worry; we had no heart attacks. Only Kelsey ran.

Uggggghhh. Is this the fun?

Joe thinks so; he's a true Dallas fan.

We've also got a puzzle going and lots of crafts planned (in Amie's honor). Don't worry about Dan; he's having fun, now, with the puzzle crowd. He also had lots of good, home cooked, food.

Thanks, Aunt GEL-oh, for another great Thanksgiving! (There's always room for GEL-oh.)