MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Ah, here it is the end of Christmas Day and I actually have time to blog. It must be a Christmas miracle!! Of course it has been great today, no company and all I cooked was a turkey and french fries, yes that's right french fries,,,my hubby requested them so in the spirit of the season he got 'em.
I wrapped presents til midnight last night and managed to sleep in until 7, then I napped from 10:30 until noon. Wa-hoo I feel pretty refreshed.
Last week I made orange marmalade, for the family, peanut brittle, opera fudge, cinnamon cakes {for the neighbors}, and yesterday (Christmas Eve) I made cocoa cinnamon rolls and sweet pastry cinnamon nut swirls and swirls filled with cinnamon and fruit cake dried fruit mix-which ended up being my favorite.
Well I hope everyone had a nice day.
Thank you God for sending your Son as a beautiful little baby -- just for us!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Here are some of the Shrinky Dink necklaces, I have discovered I do not like working with the white shrinky dinks. When you erase it looks OK but when you shrink it, it shows up where you erased. Very touchy stuff.

Overall I am pleased with the way they turned out.

WHY NOT SHRINKY DINK?

It is just so hard to choose sometimes, but I've already changed my mind from felt pins to shrinky dink necklaces for the kindergartners. Sounds like more fun anyway. I have a terrific set of permanant markers that I asked for last Christmas and haven't even used yet. Well I better get the laundry done and dinner going so I won't feel guilty "playin'" with shrinky dinks...

DOIN' THE HOLIDAYS

I just love the Christmas season. Of course there's Christmas play practices, jammin' ALL the good ole tunes on the piano (I would just die not taking time to play 'em), it's such a fabulous way to unwind, baking for family friends and neighbors, shopping, decorating,planning "winter parties" for school, and last but not least trying to get a family picture taken. My wonderful husband suggested we do it at home with our Sony Mavica....here's what we came up with----

I forgot about the glare on the glasses but I am pleasantly surprised with the results. And all with a lot less stress than getting to the studio, waiting etc...I plan on doing some serious cropping too.

I am planning on making some little felt pins for Kaylee's class, or who knows maybe some little drawstring pouches would be faster. I need to figure that out real soon if I plan on getting anything done by next week. I am so relieved to be quitting my job that I can hardly wait 3 more weeks!!!!

Today I got the lights out onto the fence, my Dad had bought us icicle like 4 years ago and last year was the first we used them. This year though I also put out the old fat bulbs that we used years ago...I just love that look of the ceramic lights. I used all blue on those. t\The icicle lights are red and green. Kinda of a strange combo but what the heck I love 'em.

SURPRISE PACKAGE!!!!

It is so hard to believe how fast the time flies. Once again Christmas is just around the corner. Saturdays mail brought a delightful surprise from Laurie over at http://oldschoolacres.typepad.com/ Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Laurie for this sweet little pig....Kaylee loves it too!!

It took me nearly 2 weeks with little scraps of time here and there to sort out the kids' toys. We are also trying to get the spare room cleaned out in order to Titus there. Kaylee constantly complains he snores much too loudly. Which is quite funny because she's pretty noisy herself. The other middle of the night stress is that Kaylee loves sleeping on the floor and Titus just can't stand it. I'll wake to him saying over and over "Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed, etc..." Which requires me picking her up off the floor and putting in bed to quiet him down. My migraines are triggered by waking up too many times. Hopefully we will have him in his own room by Christmas.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

Good news :I finally recieved the call that my machine has gotten it's new computer installed.
Bad news: It still won't work properly, it now needs a new touch screen.
Good news: It's under warranty, parts are free.
Bad news : I get to pay the labor.
I should have known this machine would not be so wonderful, I got a great deal on it. But it was brand new and from a reputable company. I also found out that the lady working on it lives just a few blocks away from me, she was so excited to find someone else who sews. I told her a bit about the blogging world of great seamstresses and craftsmen, she was so surprised to hear there were blogs about sewing, aprons, pincushions etc...I'm sure we will get to know each other better in the next few weeks.
More good news: we have a stray(wild) kitten that daddy has decided we'd keep around - outside only- and we'd take it for shots etc...
Bad news: today a totally sick kitten shows up barely able to move and I had to do what I had to do. Left me feeling rather icky,,,poor little thing.
hope things go better tomorrow.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

I am so proud of my husband, he managed to get the dining room floor laid in two days. Solid oak flooring is not the easiest to work with but it looks beautiful. I'm sure he feels like it took longer being hunched over for so many hours.The next major step is to lightly sand it-this is naked oak- and put the finish on. Right now we're on a hunt for the same kind of finish the flooring company put on the other floors. And as it usually goes with our luck, that company is no longer in business so we're sort of guessing by the floor care product that they gave us to clean the floor with,,,hopefully is the same company who makes the poly finish we need to match it up with the work they did.
I am currently waiting for the call to let me know I can pick up my Brother PC. The computer went out months ago and I finally took it in to get it fixed.I don't believe I'll ever spend that kind of money on a sewing machine again...definately NOT worth the price..Well I better get the kids to school...Take care.

November Update

It is so hard to believe that we are already into November. The first semester of school is over and Thanksgiving is on its way. We've been through a mountain of changes with my husband changing jobs, gutting the old kitchen and tomorrow we start laying the new oak flooring in the soon to be dining room. We need to hurry this along in order to be able to put in the wood stove, right now we have no room in the living room to install it.
I have decided to change to blogger just because,,,number 1 reason is because I rarely post and with typepad I'm throwing money out the window. I will be leaving my job at Lowe's in Jan. due to my hubby's new insurance. I can't work anywhere with part time benefits and still be on his health insurance---what a bummer..I really like Lowe's...