MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that your day was as wonderful as ours!

This morning we woke up to snow, snow and more snow. As a matter of fact it is still snowing. I believe we have gotten about 8 inches of snow and we are supposed to get another 6 by tomorrow!

In the photo is my husband shoveling our sidewalk and steps. He used the snow blower for our neighbors drive, walkway and our sidewalk and our friends sidewalk as well. But this bit you see him shoveling is the spot by the street that has 4 steps leading down to the drive area, so, no snow blower for those!

This is him close up. Can you see his ice-crusted eye lashes and mustasch? (Hmmm, not sure I spelt that word right.) oh well.

Today we begin our annual puzzle. Every year we start a puzzle on Christmas day and the rule is that it has to be completed by New Years Day!

So off I go to begin this stressful yet enjoyable project. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day!

Merry Christmas!

Yay!

Hello, hello!

Yesterday I got my new, old kitchen table! We have an antique shop here in our town and although for the most part I don't purchase from it, (tad expensive), every now and then the guy will give me a good deal on an item I inquire about.

I went in a few weeks ago and asked him... "Corky, I need a round, oak table for my kitchen. It has to be sturdy enough to be able to kneed dough on it, do you have one?" Then we proceeded to haggle away at a price. We finally came to an agreement and he showed me what he had. Then they cleaned it up (you should see his shop! LOADS of stuff EVERYWHERE! Some in great condition and others in need of some serious love. The one he showed me needed some lovin'. And boy did they give it that cuz it looks wonderful now! Anyhow, it is now in my kitchen looking totally smashing!

So now.... I'm in the market for some new chairs. But for now, I'll just recover the two that I have and hopefully I'll find two more somewhere soon. Hmmmm, I think I may stain the chairs a little darker as well.

Fun, fun, fun! I just love my new old table! ;-)

Funny shoes and other stuff.

Good morning all!

I was looking through some of my photo's that I had taken a while back and found this pic of my friends daughter. Actually, it's her feet. She got these "shoes" from her dad. Anyhow, they look hilarious but evidently they are supposed to be good for your feet! They are supposed to help her with her running! (She's a runner, cross country to be exact). I don't see that, myself, (the good for you part). All I see are funny looking shoes. Can you see that each toe is housed in it's own little spot? That just cracks me up! It's kinda like those socks that were big when I was growing up! Ya'll know what I'm talking about! ;)

It's been a while since I last talked to her about her shoes or her running for that matter. I must ask her how well her shoes have helped her with her running and or time. ;-)

So next is the aerogarden. It is doing very well. I was a tad skeptical for the longest time. The plants were growing but... I don't know, they just seemed skimpy. But they are beginning to look like real plants. Plants that I might actually be able to use after all!

The sage is getting a bit tall. But that will be rectified next week when I use the sage in my Thanksgiving meal! I'm sure once I cut it it will become fuller.

As for Thanksgiving, still no word about Baby Girl. Still hoping that she'll be able to make it here. And I'm sure we'll be going down to Kansas to visit family while First Born and Cutie Pie are here.

Oh! Here are a few of the coasters that I made. These are the ones I kept behind because they really weren't so good. But the other's I took to the craft fair. And they all sold so.... ;-)

And I am still working on my crochet table cloth. I am over half way done, but it is slow going lately. I can't seem to find the time to sit down long enough to make a square! But I'm still shooting for December as the finish date. I think I can make that.

Well, that's about it from good ol' Nebraska. I've got errands to run and lunch to deliver to a friend who broke her ankle! Hope you all are doing well and not stressing too much over Thanksgiving. Have a great day!

;-)

Baby girl!

Hello everyone! I have some news about our baby girl! She's engaged!

He asked her this month! And she said "Yes"! We are so happy for her and we so love him already! He's the wonderful young man who chased out the bat from our house! Brave soul! We are so happy that our baby girl found someone to love and who love her so very much! He will be a very welcome addition to our family! And here's the ring! Isn't it just stunning?! Baby girl has such good taste. Of course we all know where she gets that from. ;-)

The center stone is an emerald shaped, radiant cut yellow sapphire. It's gorgeous! I haven't seen it in person yet. Hope to be able to next week. My first born and his wife, "cutie pie", will be flying in on Saturday and will be spending Thanksgiving here with us. If all works out well, we hope to have our whole family together for the first time in... three years! But, we'll have to see. Baby girl is very busy she may not be able to get away. I'm just going to think positive thoughts and maybe..........

Fall back

Hello everyone! How are ya'll doing? How are ya'll adjusting to the time change? Is anyone out there struggling like me?

I must admit though, that I have managed to get quite a lot done these last three days! I get up earlier and I have gotten my devotions done and then gone swimming at the base in-door pool and then run errands and then come home and get my house cleaned and laundry done (and actually put away!!!) I even got a few quilted coasters made for the church Fall Bazaar! AND... I stayed awake for Bible study on Monday night. And today, after my swim and my quick run to the commissary, was UMW in the afternoon then tonight I have chime choir. And if I'm really good I'll try to get some more coasters made. I've got two complete sets of 4 so far and I'm shooting for 6 sets. I also need to make a small grab bag for my honey. He's trying to get the kids motivated to learn scripture and to bring their bibles to class. I thought maybe a little "motivational" something would do the trick. I got small items from our local Christian book store and now need to make a bag to hold them in. Anyhow, lot's of sewing in store for me this week. The Fall Bazaar is on the 14th of this month! NEXT WEEKEND!

This past weekend my honey and I worked on clearing out the garden and getting it ready for the winter AND raking leaves in our yard! My honey had some fun with our boys. He got a huge pile of leaves raked up and then threw them into the pile! He threw Ethan in first. And I'm sure he "threw" him in. Then while laughing, my honey came and got me and told me to bring the camera as well. And then he threw Ricky in.

Ricky was none too thrilled as you can see.

And here's Ethan looking disgusted at my honey.

I should have taken a picture of my honey laughing at the boys... but I didn't.

Well, I need to get some things done before I head out for Chime practice. It's been a loooong day so far, but tomorrow I think I'll be able to stay close to home and not run around so much. Maybe even get more sewing done!

Hopefully, everyone else isn't feeling all messed up with this time change. Enjoy your fall colors cuz I don't think it'll last too much longer. I have a feeling winter is going to be here soon!

Fun, fun, fun! ;-)

Yesterday in Springfield...

Happy Halloween! Is everyone ready for the trick or treaters? Here in Springfield we started things rolling with a Halloween Parade for the elementary kids. The kids walk down Main street all the way into downtown. Along the way the various business's and organizations hand out treats to them. And then they walk back up again back to the school. So our church was the first to see the kids. There were ALL kinds of get-ups. Some of the teachers dressed up as well and its so funny to see some of the costumes the kids come up with! It was a bit chilly yesterday so a few were wearing coats and jackets, but for the most part, the kids were parading around in just the costumes. There was a pink pig....

Not exactly sure what these two were.....

A fireman.....

Joan Jett, tourist and bat girl?

A whole long line of costumes here.....

And this occurs every year! Don't you just love little towns?! There were kids and teachers that I've come to know since moving into town and it is such fun to hear them calling out or just saying "hi"! We had drizzle in the morning and some of it was mixed with little ice balls. But the drizzle let up and we had a little bit of sunshine. Although, it was difficult to capture on film. It was also a little windy which is typical for this area. But, all in all it was a good Halloween kind of day for the parade.

While I was helping to pass out treats at the church. My honey was hard at work finishing up the hall tree installation. As well as installing the new timer switch for the front porch. (he had some comp time. He's been working really hard this week!) The hall tree looks great in this house and the new wallpaper that I got for it looks marvelous! I was able to purchase only the amount of wall paper needed to replace the old wallpaper that was coming off. I didn't know you could do that. I thought you had to buy the whole roll! So this is the bottom half of the hall tree showing the trim work and new wall paper.

And here is the hall tree put in place.

You can see how the trim is on the wall. My honey took it off and then cut it down to fit on either side of the hall tree. I'll have to repaint the areas where the wall shows through on the bottom. But, other than that it's all done and in place and in use! What is amazing to us both is that the long piece of shoe trim that we removed from the space, we were able to re-use to cut what we needed to replace it on both sides of the hall tree and then the left over piece we used to replace a missing area on another wall of the living room. It was nearly exactly the amount we needed to do the replacement repairs. It's like... the hall tree was meant to go into this exact space! Amazing! I'm telling you! I'll be talking about how we were meant to be in this house for years to come, I'm sure! ;-) (just thought I should forewarn you. In case you hadn't noticed how often I say this!)

So, the last thing we did yesterday was go to our friends house for a Boomer night. It's an evening spent with other people from our chuch. Called boomers because it was meant to be a get together for people of the "boomer" age group. But it's sort of just turned out to be a bunch of people who want to get together and socialize outside of the church walls. And we never know just who all will turn up. Anyhow... the theme this time was "Mexican Night" and there was tacos, and enchiladas and chips and dips and rice and salads.... AND.... The Mexican

Chicken! There is a story around this chicken and the boomers night. But I won't go into it now because this post is already terribly long!

As you can see there was alot of food and that is only the part the you can see! There was even more food farther on down the counter and the stove! In total keeping with our get togethers... there's ALWAYS tons of food! We also played Apples to Apples which is a fabulously hilarious game when you have a large gathering of friends. I think we had 14 people there last night!

Once again my honey and I had a jam packed day! And it was a good day. I even got some sewing done! YAY! I'll have to show that to ya'll next time.

I hope ya'll have a fun weekend and I'll catch you again next time!

Pay it Forward & one project completed!

Hey Ya'll!

So, let me just say, I want so much to be a crafty sewer. Actually, I desperately want to be able to sew clothing and craft type items. So, I try by doing little things. And then more often than not, I end up with lot's of little things that are never completed. The reason being... I get too frustrated to complete them. I know, it's a flaw in my character. One I am REALLY trying to overcome. And so... having said that. Here is a completed project that only took me two weeks to complete! Okay, maybe three weeks. In case you can't tell, it's a sewing machine cover. It's a Simplicity pattern #3776 and it's too large for my little sewing machine. So now I'm going to try to adjust the size by cutting it down about three inches. That may or may not actually happen. I may just leave it as is since no-one will ever be around it except me.

The other thing I want to add is this. This is something I didn't think I'd end up being involved in. Although it sounded like fun when I read about it on Corinnea's blog, and I expressed sadness over the fact that I didn't make it in time to be able to play (first three who commented on her blog) I felt safe to do that because I hadn't made the three. AND THEN, she told me that I had in fact made it because one of the three didn't have a blog and that was a criteria. Imagine my chin hitting the floor when I read that, I had indeed made the cut and I was now involved in the "Pay it Forward" game. Initially I panicked. I even felt a little sick to my stomach. How on earth can I make something that is going to appeal to people. I mean seriously, ya'll have seen my sad things that I've made. But then, I began thinking about how I don't have many people who read my blog so I probably will have to forfeit from lack of participation! (sorry Corinnea) So, as much as I fantasize about being "crafty" I'm feeling like I wont have to worry about being put to the test. Phew! But just in case... for the first three people who comment on this post and who themselves have a blog. I will make something and send it to them. I have 365 days to make it and send it, and you must post your Pay it Forward on your blog to keep the fun going. This should be interesting!

The very fact that I have shown you a few of my "completed" projects should reassure ya'll that I am capable of doing this. And having a whole year to do it in. It will certainly give me plenty of time to come up with an idea and complete it! This will be fun! (If I say this often enough, perhaps the knot in my stomach will loosen a bit.) The really great thing is that I'll actually get something from Corinnea. She does such wonderful work! I'm excited about that part for sure!

I don't have many people who read my blog so basically the few that I do have... this is for ya'll!

So that's it for today. I hope that ya'll have a great and productive day!