A New Years Eve Reflection

There is of course more than one meaning to the word, however in this case I refer to reflection as contemplation: a calm, lengthy, intent consideration.

I live in a pretty small town. Most people either know you personally or have at least seen you around and know who you are. There has been a new face appearing in the store in which I work, over the last couple of weeks. Where she came from or who she is I have no idea. I do know that the store manager follows her around when she comes in and watches her. I've also been told that if we see her in the store we are supposed to let the manager know. Apparently, they suspect that she has been shoplifting.

Last week I had put some bakery samples on the counter for customers to try. I saw the new face walk by the counter. She spotted the "try me" sign and timidly walked up and took a sample then walked away. Several minutes later she was back. She looked as though she was trying not to be noticed. She pretended to look at something on the shelf and when she thought no one was looking she grabbed another sample and walked away. She returned one last time and did the same thing.

I found out later that day that she was homeless. Her actions made perfect sense to me then. She was most likely just hungry but afraid that if someone saw her taking more than one sample they would possibly kicked her out of the store.

I saw her in the store again yesterday. We have self serve soup pots and she was ladeling up a cup. Another woman walked up to her and I watched as she handed the homeless woman several quarters. At first my reactions to this woman were more on the negative side. I'm sure that most of you can relate to that in some way.

She was on the other side of the counter and she looked as though she was looking for something so I went over and asked if there was something I could help her with. It was then that I saw the sweetest smile on her face as she asked me if we had any salt. It was in that moment that I realized that she was no different than I am other than the fact that she has no home to go to tonight.

When I was leaving work I saw her sitting on the widow ledge at the front of the store eating her soup. Again I saw that smile on her face as she ate and watched other people come and go. I'm guessing that she was just happy to be warm and fed for the moment.

Because of this woman, tonight as I bid a farewell to the 2009 and welcome in the New Year I will take a moment to thank God for the life he has given me. In 2010 I will make ever effort to appreciate each new day and live it to the fullest.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year

A few from Christmas

I've been so busy being a whiner that I never got around to showing you some Christmas pictures except for that one of Amanda.
A couple of you had said that you were curious what it was that put that smile on her face. Well, she went to a place called Longabergers. She fell in love with their stuff and let me tell you, it's not cheap. Although they do have some tote bags that are pretty nice and very reasonable. Amanda has a couple of them and I really do like them. So anyway, she found these mugs that were $40.00 for a set of 2. I told her that the dollar store sells them for a buck and you don't have to get upset when you drop one and break it. She wasn't buying it so I bought the pricey mugs.

The picture isn't very good but you can make out what the mug looks like. They are nice and they are huge but more than I would pay if it was for myself. They were actually on sale when I bought them so it was only $30.00 for two. Still way too expensive in my book.

Duke dressed up in his festive red sweater that Santa brought for him. He was a little too excited so getting a picture of him that wasn't a total blur was not an easy task.

After we opened gifts Amanda and I were playing with the camera and trying to get some good pictures. I thought it would be nice to get a picture of the two of us in front of the tree so I set up the tripod and used the timer. This first one was really odd. I have no idea how this happened. All I did was set the timer and then jump over next to her. I swear I did not do anything to this picture at all. Check out my face. It looks like I'm a ghost and you can see right through my face.

I wonder if I am the ghost of Christmas past, present or future?....lol

This next one was taken exactly the same way on the exact same settings. I did fix the lighting and color on this one a little but no ghosty look to this one at all.

I'm trying

Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement to my last post. I know it was pretty much a downer amidst all the holiday festivities and I apologize for that. I would love nothing better than to get it all out in one big long post, however for the sake of other people's feelings I can't do that.

I've been thinking a lot about the serenity prayer that goes:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

I've got the acceptance part down. I may possibly be wise enough to tell the difference between what can and can not be changed, but the courage part, I really suck at that.

Enough about all that. How about I leave you on a happier note tonight.

My daughter was VERY happy with one of her gifts. So at least I got something right.

change of plans

My original plan was to bring you a happy cheery post telling you about my Christmas. However, as of 2:00 this morning I am forced to make some decisions and deal with some issues, neither of which I am good at doing. I'll post if I can but rather than bore you all with my problems I will only do so if I can put myself in the right frame of mind. In case I don't get to it before then I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. Lets hope that 2010 brings us all nothing but good things.

Merry Christmas

To each and every one of you

Merry Christmas

From Ann and Duke

Quick and easy ornament

If you are looking for a quick and easy last minute gift to give someone, why not make them an ornament for their tree. This one can be made in a matter of minutes.

All you need is a square piece of paper. The size of the square is up to you. For the one pictured I used a 5" and a 4". You can decorate before you do the folding or wait till after.
If you have a design on your paper like I did (this was a kaleidoscope that I made in one of my programs) you'll want to start with the design side facing down. Now fold the square in half, open it up and then fold in half the other way. Next with the design facing up fold the square diagonally, open it up and fold it diagonally the other way. Open it all up one more time.
Hopefully I can explain this next part without it sounding too confusing.
Fold in half again, like you did the first time. Now holding the top edges gently push down until the bottom corners come together. Now you can either glue or tape your 3 dimension ornament together.
After that, on the top one I punched holes in each of the corners. The top hole I threaded a ribbon through to hang the ornament. The side holes I attached little jingle bells with a small piece of wire. Finally for the bottom hole I used another small piece of wire and attached the second ornament.
You could also use a small amount of glue on the edges and add glitter. You can add extra embellishments to make is super fancy or leave it plain.
There you have it, super simple.

Countdown to Christmas

Well we are in the final stretch, only a few more days to go. I've decided that whatever I haven't gotten done by now just isn't going to get done. I don't care if all the cookies are made. I won't be sending out Christmas cards this year. Stocking are not going to be over stuffed with little goodies. And most of all, if I haven't bought it by now, it's not going to be under the tree this year.

I decided that I probably stretched out the trivia posts as much as I can and since I haven't shown you a before and after recently of one of my photo edits, I thought that would be a good choice for today.

This is what I started with.

I decided that I wanted to put a nativity scene in the opening at the bottom of the bell. Since I don't have a set of my own I couldn't take a picture of one. I grabbed a picture off of  MorgueFile and did an extraction on it.
Here's what I ended up with.

I used a couple different filters and played around with blending modes a bit to make it look more like a painting than a photo.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas or at least finding lots of time to do all the last minute things.

I can hardly wait

Well hello everyone. Mom didn't feel like blogging yesterday and since she still doesn't feel like it today, I'm filling in. Can you believe that it's almost Christmas? I'm very excited about it.

Just in case Santas might be reading moms blog I thought I would put my letter to him here

Dear Santa,

Hi, it's me, Duke. I have been very good this year. I would like some new toys and some chewy things. If it's not too much trouble. I promise I won't eat your cookies or drink your milk. I'll also try real hard not to bark when your reindeer land on the roof.

                                                                             Love

                                                                             Duke

Hey! I have so been good. Who said I haven't?

Round 3

First off I want to thank Lin from Duck and wheel with string for correcting my error in one of the questions in round 2. It seems that the misfit elf is Hermey not Herbie. I guess I must have been thinking of his twin brother when I wrote that. You see Herbie did all the stunts for Hermey in the show so I just got confused. Are you buying that? Nah me neither.
Today all of the questions will be related to Christmas songs. How well do you know your Christmas carols?
Lets get right to it shall we.
1. On Christmas eve why should you jump in bed, cover up your head?
2. If you're not here with me what color Christmas will I have?
3. What Christmas carol is also known as Greensleeves?
4. What did the little lamb say to the shepherd boy?
5. In the song "Jingle Bell Rock" it says, what a bright time, it's the right time to do what?
6. In the song "Sleigh Ride" it says there's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy, when they pass around what?
7. What did my true love give to me on the 7th day of Christmas?
8. Where and when did I see mommy kissing Santa Claus?
9. What Bing Crosby song is the biggest selling Christmas single of all time?
10. What gift did the little drummer boy give to the baby Jesus?

Before I give you the answers tonight I wanted to share a comment left on my last post by Vange of Superficial Gallery 

Olive, the 10th reindeer, cracked me up. I had a kid named Richard in my class and I thought the pledge of allegiance was about him: "and to the republic for Richard stands".
This reminded me of something I used to get teased about when I was a kid. The lyrics to "Hark the herald angels sing" include a line that says "God and sinners reconciled". However I was singing God and sinners wreck themselves. Do any of you have any  lyrics that you've mangled?


If you're ready, here are today's answers
1. Because Santa Claus comes tonight
2. Blue
3. What child is this
4. Do you hear what I hear
5. Rock the night away
6. The coffee and the pumpkin pie
7. Seven swans a swimming
8. Underneath the mistletoe last night
9. White Christmas
10. He played his drum for him

Before I say goodnight, I just want to know which one of the above songs is now stuck in your head?....lol

Christmas trivia, round 2

It seems that yesterdays questions may have been more difficult than I thought. Maybe because I spent so much time with these questions when I was making the game and then playing it several times. Hopefully today the questions that I  chose will be a little easier for you.
Here we go
1. When did Grandma get run over by a reindeer?
2. Like the song says, "All I want for Christmas is..." what?
3. What child actress starred in Miracle on 34th Street?
4. In 1931 what company began a tradition of featuring Santa in their packaging and advertising at Christmas?
5. What year did A Charlie Brown Christmas make it's television debut?
6. Name at least one of the two stars of the 1954 movie White Christmas.
7. What is the most common flower used at Christmas?
8. What is the name of the 10th reindeer?
9. If we build a snowman in the meadow who can we pretend he is?
10. In Rudolph the red nosed reindeer what was the name of the misfit elf?

 Now for a short picture break while you think about your answers.

Alright, are you ready to see how well you did today?

The answers are

1. Walking home from our house Christmas eve

2. My two front teeth

3. Natalie Wood

4. The Coca-Cola company

5. 1965

6. Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby

7. The Poinsettia

8. Olive (you know, all of the other reindeer)....lol If you still don't get it try singing the song

9. Parson Brown

10. Herbie

Let the games begin

That's right today I'm bringing you my first installment of my Christmas morning trivia game. I'm going to be lazy creative and spread this out over several posts.
Ready or not here are the first 10 questions.
1. What legendary actor narrated the TV special "How the grinch stole Christmas"?
2. In the United States gifts are delivered by Santa Claus, who delivers them in France?
3. In Miracle on 34th Street, a department store Santa goes on trial to prove his identity. Name the department store.
4. Sugar plums still exist but are not called that anymore. What are they?
5. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
6. Where did eggnog come from?
7. What year were electric Christmas lights first used?
8. Wassail comes from the old Norse Ves Heill which means what?
9. What is the name of Rudolph's gold digging friend?
10. With every Christmas card I write what am I dreaming of?

Answers are after the picture (Information was gathered through various sources, if there are any errors, oops, my bad)

OK, so lets see how you did

1. Boris Karloff

2. Pere Noel

3. Macy's

4. Chocolate candies with fruit preserves, cream or other sweet fillings in the middle

5. snowflakes

6. The history of eggnog starts in 17th century England. Nog is an old English word used to describe strong beer

7. 1895

8. To be of good health

9. Yukon Cornelius

10. A white Christmas

So how did you do? I think most of these were pretty easy, I only threw in a couple hard ones this time. Come back tomorrow for another installment

A tale of Christmas past

I'll start this off with the edit I mentioned yesterday then I have a story to tell you about how we used to spend Christmas morning.

When my children were growing up I had a habit of over indulging them at Christmas. It wasn't so much for them as it was for me. I loved the holiday and the giving so much that I just couldn't get enough of it. On Christmas morning, the living room looked as though Santa had emptied his entire sack of gifts right there under our tree. It was pure heaven to see the smiles on their little faces as they dove into gifts and ripped open each and every one of them.

As the years went on my enthusiasm started to dwindle. I still loved the giving but it was the fact that I spent so much time preparing and it was over in a blink of an eye once the children woke and ran to the tree. I needed to find a way to hold on to the thrill.

Inspiration hit me one year and I created my very first Christmas morning game. The kids did the typical mad dash to the tree only to find that nothing was there. Nothing, that is, except for a note from Santa. I don't recall exactly what it was but it led them on a treasure hunt through the house in search of their reward. Every year after that a new game was created and each one came with a personal letter from the jolly old elf himself. He would explain how the game was to be played and then end it with some corny message. Each year I heard groans and moans about having to do go through this. I always got a special thrill though, because it always took at least an hour to get through the pile under the tree.

After a few years of this I was pleasantly surprised one day, when shortly before Christmas, my son and daughter asked me what kind of game Santa was going to make up that year. The game they always hated had turned into a much loved tradition. My daughters favorite of all was a trivia game that I had spent months putting together. Some of the questions were hard, some were easy, some were silly but everyone enjoyed the game and that's what counts the most. Making memories that will last forever is perhaps the best gift I ever gave.

Come back tomorrow and test your Christmas knowledge. I'll post several of the questions that I included in the trivia game.

How do you measure success?

Today is the day you've all been waiting for. You've anxiously awaited the moment that I would reveal whether or not I was successful at completing my to-do list over the weekend. (yes you have) Guess what? I'm not going to tell you. Instead I'll tell you what I did and you can decide for yourself.

First on the list was Christmas shopping. I bought Duke's present, bombed on finding a Pittsburgh Steelers scarf for my gift exchange and blew off buying the gift cards that my son wants. I can not believe that all the stores I went in had everything else Steeler's but no darn scarfs. I only have until this Friday to get a gift for that.

My daughter came over Saturday after she got out of work to get started on the baking. This is what she brought with her.

Neither one of us were really into it so we continued on Sunday. I only baked about 1/2 of what I wanted to because she was hogging my oven with her double batches of everything.

Next was the craft projects. I did some of them. Do you remember a few posts back I showed you the paper flowers? Well I came up with an ornament that was made using the same basic thing.

I made two of the flowers but instead of flattening them I left them in more of a cone shape. I stacked a smaller one on top then added the little glass ball ornament for a head and made a bow for the wings. I just hot glued the whole thing together and there you have an angel. For another post I'll show you an edit I did on a picture I took of one of these on my tree.

Other than that I played around with the camera a little and tried to get a Christmas picture of Duke. This one was the best I could get.

 

 So on a scale of 1-10 what score would you give me?

TGIF

YEAH! It's Friday
I'm a little late with my post tonight. My son decided to confiscate my computer when I got up to get a cup of coffee and rather than kick him out I decided to turn on the TV and see what I could find. This isn't something that I do very often (I'm referring to both giving up my computer AND turning on the TV). I found the most delightful movie on the Hallmark channel. It was called Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle. Once I started watching it I just couldn't stop. It starred James Van Der Beek, Erin Karpluk and Doris Roberts.

So we got snow today. Snow, snow and more snow. I don't think it quit all day long. By the time I got out of work I cleaned about a foot of snow off my car. At least it was the light fluffy stuff and not that heavy wet snow that a lot of you have been getting.

I finally did it the other day, I switched from internet explorer to firefox. I also installed the Entrecard toolbar and I'm really liking it. It makes it so much easier to do my drops. I've also noticed that a few blogs that I was having trouble with getting to load now pop right up no problem.

For the weekend I have way too many things I want to get done. I have Christmas shopping to finish, my daughter and I are planning on baking, I have craft projects to work on, I need to find a Pittsburgh Steelers scarf for my exchange gift at work and I know there are several other things too. I wonder how successful I'll be at getting it all done. If it's like most weekends probably not very.

I'll leave you tonight with a picture I took last winter.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. If I'm not around to post the next couple of days you'll know that I'm actually getting something done :)

Cleaning for a reason

The other day I received an email from my cousin Carol that I thought was worth passing on here.

If you know any woman currently undergoing chemo, please pass the word to her that there is a cleaning service that provides FREE housecleaning -- 1 time per month for 4 months while she is in treatment.

All she has to do is sign up and have her doctor fax a note confirming the treatment. Cleaning for a reason will have a participating maid service in her zip code area arrange for the service.

Please pass this information on to bless women undergoing cancer treatment. This organization serves teh entire USA and currently has 547 partners to help these women.

It's our job to pass the word and let them know that there are people out there who care. Be a blessing to someone and pass this information along.
http://www.cleaningforareason.org

My ultimate hope would be that NO one would ever need this but for those who do please share with them. Maybe you know someone who knows someone else who can take advantage of this.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

As I sit here at my computer I can hear the wind howling outside. It makes me shiver just listening. We don't have snow yet but it's in the forecast for tonight so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning. Maybe I should accidentally on purpose forget to set my alarm...lol We've had high winds all day with a mixture of sun and rain and we are currently under a lake effect snow warning.

The reason I'm showing you this really BAD picture is because this is what I've been using for the last couple of edits that I've posted. My mother bought this for me years ago for Christmas. It' animated with a horse drawn sleigh that moves through the town. It has a maypole with kids going around it and various other characters that move slightly as the sleigh rides by. I've taken pictures of this at different angles and then did the edits. I've really liked the way they've come out and I plan on doing a few more.

This is the latest picture that I did and I think it's very fitting for today since I can't stop the snow from coming even if I tried

To close my post for the evening I would like to leave a message to FishHawk of As the crackerhead crumbles The following was the comment that he left on my last blog post.

If you weren't so worried about Duke doing a better job than you, you could have him taking over blogging duties for a while, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you are jealous of a little, sweet, innocent, thrifty, courteous, kind, brave, clean and reverent puppy! (Sorry, I had a Boy Scouts flashback.)

I just want to say that I am not jealous of Duke and I would be more than happy to let him do another blog post but he's sleeping now so he can't....lol

Loved the comment and wanted to share the laugh with everyone.
Have a great night and if you're neck of the woods is as cold as it is here, stay warm. If you are one of the lucky ones to live in warmer climates I AM jealous of you :)

Time Flies

Why is it that you go to work and the day seems to drag on endlessly but when you get home the time just flies by. So many things that I want to get done in an evening and there just is never enough time. I did manage to visit some of my favorite blogs, ate dinner but haven't done the dishes, still haven't touched the craft projects that I wanted to work on and here it is after 7 p.m. already. I know to a lot of you that seems like it's still early but I get up mighty early in the morning so it's early to bed for me.
I only have time to leave you with a picture before I go and start my nightly routine before going to bed.

Have a great night everyone. 

Just another manic Monday

Today I am going to tell you why I hate Mondays. This could also explain, at least in part, why I'm such a cranky witch at work and people tend to avoid me...lol

Lets start by looking at this. Here is where I work every day. This is my table where I do my magical bakery work. I know, you're all drooling over my luxurious work area.  

So do you see that pink paper hanging on my table? Can you read it? No? Well maybe this will help.

Better? Now you probably wonder what that's supposed to mean right? Well I'm going to tell you any way.

I hung this up this morning as a little motivational reminder to myself, and to possibly make other people wonder.

The person who works, and I use that term lightly, on Sunday is making me crazy. He leaves early every week, leaves half the work undone, and what he does do is not done very well. I've complained to the store manager but he just blows it off. We don't quite see eye to eye ever since I dared to go over his head once.

Any way, recently I heard that the store manager told another employee that he was hoping that I would get ticked off enough to quit. HA HA HA is he crazy? I've been there 12 years, it's a half a mile away from home and it pays more than minimum wage. I'm not going anywhere. Besides irritating him is so much fun.

So back to the sign. I'm pretty sure that the Sunday stuff is partially on purpose to try and make me mad. Now every Monday morning when I start to feel the blood boil and steam starts coming out of my ears I've been saying to myself "It's not working, I'm still here" (Sounds really funny if you say it in a sing song nasaly kind of voice) Today I decided that a visual reminder would be helpful as well. Makes me chuckle every time I say it.

And that, my bloggy buddies, is why I hate Mondays. How about you, do you like Mondays?

Frustration

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I am experiencing extreme frustration right now. I decided to switch to the updated editor and it is driving me crazy. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but I just don't seem to get it. I was trying to insert two pictures and then add my text in between them. Not only was I not able to add text between the pictures, now I don't even remember what it was that I was going to write about. 
With that said, I'm off to take a chill pill. You can enjoy the holly jolly, fa la la picture I managed to get in.
I just may end up switching back to the old editor tomorrow, I know how to work that one. If I have any typos please excuse them for I can not even find the flipping spell check

Randomness

I'm going to have to go with some random rambling today because I can't seem to focus on any one thing. It's my day off from work and it seems that the brain has taken the day off as well. Just as well, I need the rest.


I've been playing with the camera quite a bit lately, taking pictures of all the Christmas decorations. It gives me something to play with in photoshop elements and then I have festive pictures to post. Just trying to keep that holly jolly feeling going. (man it's not easy)

For now, I think that Duke has backed off of the blog thing. It may be something I do after the holidays when things slow down and I need something to entertain myself with. It would be a separate blog though. He's not getting this one.

I have several awards that I need to post. I don't know why I insist on letting them pile up like I do. Maybe in the next few days I'll get around to doing that.

I also need to take a picture of that great book I won on Roschelle's blog. I can't believe I haven't done that yet. I got it in the mail last week I think (I'm not sure since my days all seem to run together any more) So the book got here and I haven't really had much time to sit down and do more than skim through it. Another thing for after the holidays I suppose.

I also have a few craft projects done that I want to take pictures of to post here. I just wish I had a better camera or at least a better set up to take pictures. (Maybe that's an idea for Santa, if he thinks of me)

That just about wraps up my random thoughts for the night. Speaking of wrapping up, I think I'll go grab another cup of coffee and wrap up in a blanket. It's mighty cold here tonight.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yes my house finally looks like Christmas. However there are some things going on around here that just do not fit in to the whole spirit of giving.
It seems that a certain little white westie thinks he's a better blogger than I am. Just where does he get off any way.
So I get home from work today and he says that he thinks I should give up snap edit scrap and turn it into a blog all about him. Get this, he wants to call it "Tails of the West(ie). He's just not satisfied with filling in when I don't have anything to post. He also thinks that his material is much better than mine.

So what do you all think? Should I give him the blog or tell him to be happy with what he gets or I cut off his kibble?

(Note to all animal rights activists: I am in no way threatening to stop feeding my dog. This is not a case of animal abuse or neglect. It's a joke, get a life)

Hey everyone, it's me again. Mom wasn't paying attention so I took over the blog tonight. Don't tell her but I'm really the one who runs things around here.


Hey did you see that?



Down there, what is that?


I don't know either. Time for a nap any way.

Maybe I'll let mom blog tomorrow.

Your turn

I consulted with my blog partner Duke on what we should post about today. We decided that since I gave myself a gift yesterday, today I should give one to you. Duke thought that this was a tail wagging idea.

Since this is a gift we aren't going to actually show you what it is. Half the fun of opening a gift is the anticipation of what's inside right? Ok so maybe not, but that's the way we're doing it anyway. I will tell you that there are 15 things in this package.

If you would like to take advantage of this and open an early gift from me and Duke you can pick it up right HERE

I've actually been meaning to do this for several days now but never could find the time to upload the file because I was too busy with the darn dropping.

I'm giving myself a gift

Yes, that's right, I'm giving myself a gift. It's long over due and it's high time I did it.
No the snow men aren't my gift. I just thought that since I was going to ramble on tonight I should throw in a couple of pictures for your entertainment.

For some time now I have had a love hate relationship with Entrecard. I love it because of the exposure it gave my blog and all the wonderful people I have met along the way. I hate it because it's eating up every second of free time I have and taking away all other things I enjoy doing. I've been telling myself that I was going to cut back, yet every night I've felt compelled to do the dropping. First there was the list of favorites to visit and comment on. Then there was the reciprocal drops and after that just filling in with who ever to get to my 300. Even though I was no longer enjoying it I felt like I had to. But why?
Well earlier today when I started my daily ritual I was on Lin's blog Duck and wheel with string
Her post today said exactly what I have been feeling. Here I am doing all these drops on a bunch of blogs that don't even bother to post. I've been on a couple that haven't added a new post since October.

As I continued on with my dropping I finally said enough is enough and I quit right there. I'm going to put a post up on my blog (I still enjoy doing that) then I'm going to spend some time on a few craft projects and maybe do a little on line Christmas shopping. That is my gift. I'm going to burn my fingers with hot glue, spend some money on the people I love and visit the blogs that I enjoy. I'm not giving up Entrecard completely, I'm hanging on to it. I'll drop, just not like I was. Maybe on those long boring winter weekend when there is nothing to do I'll sit and drop away but during the week, after a long day of work, I'm doing something I enjoy.

Before and afters

I did a little bit of playing around with a picture I took of Amanda when she was over doing the decorating. I wasn't going for photographic excellence when I took this picture...lol.


I'm sure that this look may not be to every one's liking but it suited me. Looking at it this small kind of makes her eyes look a little freaky but in the bigger version they look much better.
That's pretty much all I have for tonight. I'm still slacking on trying to put together all of those post ideas I have. Maybe I should just let Duke take over until after the holidays :)

Catching up

For my post today I thought I would do a little bit of catching up on what's been happening around here.
First of all, Thanksgiving day. I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not, but we don't have a huge celebration. It's just me, Wade, and my kids for dinner. It's nice and quiet and relaxed. Mainly just lots of eating. Just because it's small doesn't mean we don't dress for the occasion though. This was a black tie affair.


You'll remember me saying that Friday after work Amanda was coming over to make me holly and jolly. She did a great job of decorating the house and Duke was an excellent supervisor.


Wade's contribution was to put the angel on the top of the tree.


I'm still curious as to why he was looking up her skirt with a flashlight.

Except for the gifts that have yet to be bought all that's left is the waiting.

Isn't it just the most wonderful time of the year.

Lucky Dog

Hooray for me, I'm a lucky dog. Do you know why I'm so lucky?
Look at the picture and see if you can guess.

It's my new collar wear. Mom made those for me today. I was watching her cut and sew but I had no idea it was for ME. I got so excited when she took my collar off and slipped one of these on. So what do you think? Am I styling?

Black Friday

I was on a roll with posting every day until yesterday. I had all day since we really don't have a huge celebration for Thanksgiving. It was just me, Wade, Amanda and Brad. Oh and Duke, of course. Truth is, I just didn't feel like it. I skipped the blog post, and I only did about half the drops I normally do.
I'm back today for black Friday though. So what did I do today? Was it shopping? NO WAY! I had to work but even if I hadn't I would not be caught dead in the stores today. I prefer to do my shopping on line these days.

I got this text message the other day from my daughter.

So after work I came home to get holly and jolly. I may not be any hollier or jollier than I was before but I got a lot of pictures that I'll be able to post...lol
I'll try and get back into full swing with a better post starting tomorrow. I'm also going to see if I can beat my record for consecutive posts. I love a challenge.

I'm in love with a site that I'm talking about

I'm in love with a site that I'm talking about. I'm in love with a site and I just have to shout. Catchy tune huh? But it doesn't sound quite right.
Oh well, on with the post. I found a site the other day that I instantly fell in love with. It's called Peacefully Folding Blog It's loaded with inspiration for someone who loves loves loves crafty things but can't come up with ideas on her own. Hey that's me! Anyway, you'll find all kinds of origami projects here, as well as some other great projects to make from paper. Some of them are her own and some are links to other sites.
I found these really cool paper flowers. The tutorial for making these is at Sunshine Memories

I made a couple just to try it out. I think I'm in a major crafty mood now. You go check out the links and I'm going to go do something crafty.
Have a great night.

Sometimes I get too caught up in all the things I don't have in life. I'm not rich. I don't have a fancy house. My hair is straight, my clothes are old. You get the picture. Basically, I'm a whiner. Aren't we all at times? Today I thought I would take some time to think about all the things I should be thankful for. With Thanksgiving just a couple days away, what better time.
I thought instead of doing the typical list I would name some of the things that I normally complain about and find the good in them.

1. What better place to start than with my job. It doesn't pay enough and the people make me crazy. Thankfully I have a job. Too many people are out of work these days.

2. My roof is in desperate need of repairs but the cost is just not in the budget. At least I have a roof over my head. With the economy the way it's been, many are losing their homes.

3. The couch that has a blanket covering it to hide the hole in the cushion from a dog my daughter used to have. No it's not beautiful but I still have a comfortable place to sit.

4. The pile of dirty dishes sitting on my counter. Thankfully I had something to eat.

5. The pile of bills that came in the mail. Not one of them says past due.

6. The pig stye that is also known as my sons bedroom. Thankfully that one means that he came home from Iraq alive.

7. The aching back that I always have (due to scoliosis) Thankfully I can still get out of bed every day and FEEL every ache.

8. All the things that I want but can't afford to buy. If I had everything I wanted what would there be to dream about?

9. The carpet in the dining room that has been pulled up at the edge and chewed on. That means I have a cute adorable furry little Duke who entertains me on a regular basis. (double points on this one because thankfully he no longer does this)

10. The family that irritates and annoys me on a regular basis. I have people who love me.

I'm sure I could go on but after listing 10 I'm starting to feel like a real schmuck for being such a whiner...lol

HP touchsmart 600 giveaway, don't forget

Hey everyone I just wanted to remind you about getting in on the giveaway for the HP touchsmart computer.
Who wouldn't love to have this either for themselves or for a fantastic Christmas gift. I know that there are tons of entries in for this but someones gotta win it. Who knows it could be you. Or if could be me.

So here's what you need to do. First hop on over to Jolly Mom's blog to get all the details and get in on this fantastic giveaway. If you would like to see what this computer is like you can check it out here http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart

Now what are you waiting for, get over there now.

That reminds me of...

My weekly edition of "That reminds me of..." was interrupted last Sunday by my shopping trip. I'm back this week though with another photo that reminds me of one of you.
Can anyone guess who it might be? Do you think that maybe it's you?

This week's picture reminds me of a blogger who posts lots of beautiful pictures. I've seen many great pictures of fall foliage on her blog so when I spotted this picture in the file I knew exactly who my choice would be.
The picture you see here reminds me of Diane from My world through photography.
You should hop on over there and check out some of her pictures. If you like her work, she also has an etsy store you can find that right here

Question and Answer

Question:
How do you know when a person has either run out of ideas for blog posts, or is not fully prepared to post the ideas they have come up with?


Answer:
When they take a screen shot of their Entrecard stats and use it as the subject for their post.

I know this is really pitiful but I have a semi good excuse for doing it, in my opinion anyway. I've posted every day so far this month and I didn't want to stop the roll I'm on.
Check out the card drops though. The high points are falling about mid week and lows are on the weekends. You can't see it in the picture but my personal drops are exactly the same every single day. Day in and day out I do the same amount. Yes I'm compulsive, so what. What does all this tell me? It tells me that while I'm sitting at home being compulsive about my blog and my drops, other people are out doing fun stuff on the weekends. What about you? What are you doing with your weekend?