Happy New Year

I'm skipping the pictures tonight but I couldn't let 2010 come to an end without wishing all of my friends the best for the coming new year.

Tonight it's a quiet night at home with Wade and Duke just chilling out. Tomorrow we're taking a trip to visit Wade's dad and step mom and then home for the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner.

Wherever you are and however you may be celebrating have a Happy New Year. See you in 2011

Do my eyes deceive me?

The Tuesday before Christmas I had the day off from work. I was washing dishes and looking out the window over the sink at the tree in the back corner of the yard. I saw what appeared to be a large bird. I watched it for quite some time and it didn't move at all. I began to think my eyes were deceiving me and it must be just a clump of dead leaves. (Have I mentioned that I'm a bit near sighted?)
I grabbed the camera anyway and took a couple pictures then went back to the dishes. I kept looking up at the tree and suddenly the shape moved. IT IS A BIRD! I grabbed the camera again and started snapping like crazy. I went out the back door and took some more shots, moved a few steps closer and shot again. I kept doing that until it finally flew away.

Now I know for sure that this is a hawk but what kind I'm not certain of. I thought perhaps a sharp shinned hawk but I'm not sure.

I have the best blog friends ever

That's right, my blog friends are the best and sweetest there is. Not only do you make my day by visiting me but you leave me the nicest comments every single day. There's nothing that brightens my day than coming home from work and seeing my in box full of blog comments.
One of my blog friends reached beyond my email in box and sent something to my snail mail box. Last week I came home from work and found a box sticking out of my mail box. My first thought was that Wade must have ordered something for Christmas. Was I surprised when I saw that it was addressed to me. I didn't recognize the return address though.
I hurried inside to open it up and see just what it could be.

My sweet friend Marie at Spun by me sent me this.

The little card enclosed said that she had found this a couple years ago and bought it with good intentions but thought that I could make better use of it.
Now how sweet is that. It just made my day. I went through the whole thing and found so many neat little designs. My plan is to try each one and do a weekly post showing the ones that I've completed. I probably shouldn't tell  you about the plan because more often than not I don't follow through with most of my plans for my blog. But I'm sure going to give it my best effort.
So thank you again Marie. I just loved it.
And the rest of you, thanks for stopping by and seeing me every day. I just love ya all

Happiness continued

You may have heard me talk about my friend Debbie before. She's the one I go to the craft shows with. Well her husband works with Wade. The other day he comes home with a big gift bag that was from Debbie. She is just the sweetest. Just look what she tucked in the bag.

 
The best was this pair of earrings. I actually have a charm on a bracelet that looks almost exactly like these.

Wade gets an A+ for Christmas this year too. He does very well at listening throughout the year and figuring out what I want. This year he got me this.

Well actually it was more than just the remote controller. It was the whole system.  It also came with the Wii fit plus package.

 I've actually been wanting this for a couple years but last year but it was worth the wait.  We tried out the bowling the other night and I kicked butt. Of course I haven't really used to it too much yet, still feeling rather sluggish but I'm getting there.

Happiness is...

...Having 3 children who know what you like.

For example. Amanda, the oldest child got me new slippers. Comfy, warm and soft. Nothing better than coming home after work, taking off the shoes and putting on these.

Brad, the youngest knows his mother has a weakness for chocolate. A box of chocolate covered cherries was a great choice.

And Duke, my furriest child knows how happy I get when he sits still and poses for pictures. Here he is modeling his gift from Amanda.

Is that not the most adorable scarf you have ever seen? Too bad I wasn't paying attention to the fact that the tag was showing when I took the picture.

Finally, happiness is feeling well enough to go to work this morning and then having such a light load I finished early and left at noon.

I'm off tomorrow so the happiness continues and I'll show you some more Christmas gifts that made me happy.

The blogger who slept through Christmas

That's right, I slept through Christmas. I guess you could say that my biggest gift this year was a wonderful case of the flu that arrived at 1a.m. I don't recall putting that on my wish list so it must have been delivered by  mistake.
Now not only am I dreadfully behind on visiting all of you but I broke my streak of consecutive daily posts.
It's back to work tomorrow so laying around and resting for the day is what I plan on doing today.
I don't even have any pictures ready for you today.
I do hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas, I'll be by to check in on you as soon as I can.

Happy Christmas Eve

From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another
The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.
Emily Matthews

The merry family gatherings –
The old, the very young;
The strangely lovely way they
Harmonize in carols sung.
For Christmas is tradition time
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.
Helen Lowrie Marshall

Heap on the wood!
The wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We'll keep our Christmas merry still.
Sir Walter Scott

So while he's on his flight, we better say goodnight, and wish each other Happy Christmas eve.

Snowfolk

Today is the start of the Christmas blog hop. You should jump on over and check out all the blogs that are participating.
Today a few of the snow folk that reside in these parts want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

I suppose it all started with the snow. You see, it was a very special kind of snow. A snow that made the happy happier, and the giddy even giddier. A snow that'd make a homecoming homier, and natural enemies, friends, natural. For it was the first snow of the season. And as any child can tell you, there's a certain magic that comes with the very first snow, especially when it falls on the day before Christmas. For when the first snow is also a Christmas snow...
Well, something wonderful is bound to happen.
(taken from the first lines from Frosty the Snowman)


This is part of Jackie and Sandees Christmas blog hop.

Gift exchange

Last Friday was our yearly gift exchange and pig out at work. Yes "pig out" is exactly what we call it. Our party is held at work, we exchange gifts and everyone brings a dish to share. We set up a table in the back hall and we grab something to eat while we're on break, or walking by the table, or checking to make sure there are enough plates, or ...you get the idea. Very little work gets done that day but even the boss doesn't seem to mind.
Our gift exchange is usually referred to as a secret Santa thing but most of the time it's not too secret. I was asked a couple weeks ago if I knew who had my name. When I said no they asked if I wanted to know who had me. Well sure, why not. The boss drew my name. WooHoo Jackpot!!!! Our gift exchange is for a $15 dollar gift. Most of us that have been around for a while always go over and buy nice gifts. There are always kids or new people though who think a $15 dollar gift  means a $5 item grabbed at the last minute from the dollar store. The boss however, goes way over the limit. In the 13 years I've worked there, he's drawn my name 3 times so I knew I was getting something good.

 When I thanked him for the gift cards his response was "Is that what I got you?" His wife does the shopping and just reminds him to take it to work with him on the right day.

Another gift I got was from the deli manager. This one just made me laugh and I used that saying all day long

Duke's photo shoot

Something I've been meaning to get to and it just wasn't happening was a little photo shoot with Duke. You see he got something really special to wear for Christmas and he just had to have his picture taken. I did these at night so again not real impressed with them but since you all love seeing Duke I'm showing them. I'll be back in a day or two with a much better shot that we took the next day.

I present to you Duke as Santa Paws

You better watch out

You better not cry

Better not pout

I'm telling you why

Santa Paw is coming to town.

Picture play

Since I didn't have much energy for much of anything over the weekend I sat and played with my photoshop elements. I don't do too many creative edits any more and thought it would be fun. A few nights ago I was playing with the camera trying to produce some ultra creative photographic compositions. I wasn't real impressed with the results. Oh well, nothing lost, nothing gained right?
this is one of the pictures I took. It was almost what I was hoping for except that the ornament was too dark.

I set out to lighten it up but I may have gone a bit too far not to mention that it's looking rather grainy.

Just for the fun of it I thought I would make it look more like a painting. I liked it a whole lot better when I first did it. Maybe my head was a bit stuffier than I thought.

One more thing before I go today. I wanted to point out the badge on my right sidebar to you. For those of you that aren't familiar with Jackie of the Painted Veil her and Sandee from Comedy Plus are having a Chrismtas blog hop. If you aren't already planning on joining in go check it out, it sounds like fun

Compromise

Today Duke and I have agreed to compromise but only for the day. You have the pleasure of seeing Duke and he's going to show you a little project that's on the craft room floor.

I've been looking at all the fabulous wreaths that Jaz over at October Farm has been making and I've been wanting something for my front door.
I stopped in the dollar store again and picked up the wreath that was 50% off and got a container of jingle bells and little ornaments. I already had the white ornaments and silver bells from last year.

 The bow has been sitting around since last Christmas. I made that when I was working on a project last year and got carried away and made a few too many. I'm glad I didn't throw it out because it just seemed to be the right size.
We got out the glue gun and started randomly gluing everything to the wreath. I did this part myself since I didn't want Duke to burn a paw but he did point out spots for placement.

Now I have a super cheap and home made wreath hanging on my front door to welcome all who enter.

Move over Duke, Mom is back

I'm a bit concerned that some of you may become addicted to daily Duke posts and although I love my dog, I'm not ready to turn my blog over to him entirely. Quite frankly I believe that some of you already may be in need of a 12 step program so today I'm going to help you with step one.
1) admitted you were powerless over Duke and missed seeing some of Ann's crafty projects.

Go ahead I'll wait while you admit this to yourself.

Aw, now don't you feel just a little bit better?
Since you also admitted that you missed seeing some of my crafty projects, I'm going to reward you by showing you one.
I can't think of any other word to describe this than as a folio. This was made with one sheet of 12x12 cardstock. It was folded in half both ways and the bottom corners were folded in to create inside pockets

Something I haven't done in a while is tea bag folding so I thought I would do a poinsettia medallion to decorate the front of this 

For the center a cut a small circle, covered it with glue and dropped some little tiny beads all over it. When it dried I loaded it up with glue again and added more beads.

Now I'm afraid I must go back to the couch and nurse my couching aching stuffy head self back to health. I think I just used up all my energy to do this post. "Achoo"

who's a snooper?

Are you a snooper when it comes to Christmas? Do you have that "need to know" feeling when you see bags and packages? Years ago, when I was a kid, I was a snooper but after being totally disappointed on more than one occasion I learned to stop.
There is a snooper in my house though. Can you guess who it is?
Today I stopped at the dollar store on the way home and saw something that I thought a certain little someone might like to get on Christmas morning. I brought it home and put the bag in my craft room.
This is what I bought.

Most of it is unstuffed which is a good thing since Duke shakes the stuffing out of them in a matter of minutes.
About a half hour later I see this.

Hmm, those cute little brown paws sticking out from underneath a certain white dog look rather familiar.

Duke! Were you snooping?

I think Duke just got moved to Santa's naughty watch list.

As for me, I've got bunches of things I want to get to tonight so I'm going to hold off on the blog reading and I'll catch up with you all later tonight or tomorrow. Have a great weekend.

Cuteness counts

Hello everyone. Mom did it again. She didn't get a post ready for tonight so I'm bailing her out. I just don't know what her problem is. I manage to fit everything in to my day. Why can't she get everything done in hers? Geesh, mommies sure are crazy sometimes.

While she's off trying to catch up on reading all of your blogs I'll sit here looking cute and take care of things here. Boy I hope that cute little Rascal in the pink sweater shows up. Is my collar straight?

Almost forgot

I've been so busy since I got home from work I almost forgot that I hadn't scheduled a post for tonight. Oh where has my brain gone.
Oh yes, it's laying in my craft room among the paper scraps, glue and glitter. I see it right over there in the corner next to a couple more completed projects.
Here's another block I did

I could also show you the other thing I finished but then what would I do for tomorrow when I suddenly realize I'm not ready?
To compensate I'll let you all see what Duke thinks of the whole idea.

You can clearly see that's he's not impressed with me at all. Everyone's a critic these days.

Duke vs the snowman

I hope you will all forgive me for the mess in here, my blog is deciding what it wants to wear for the holidays. So far it's not sure about this look so it may change several times.
Now on with today's post

I may have been busy in the kitchen over the weekend but Duke was busy with other things. He was reacquainting himself with some of the snow people who reside here in the winter
He seemed to be totally unimpressed by the happy snow couple who strolled by on their way to the steps.

I can't say that I really blame him. Yes they were polite, they smiled at him, but they were rather shy and didn't speak to him at all.
One particular little frosty however, belted out a happy little jingle for Duke and they seemed to hit it off quite nicely.

This resulted in some rough housing that you might even describe as wrestling.

So I bet you want to know who won this bout right?

Well the whole thing was declared a double knockout. No winner.

Holly Jolly weekend

Yes I did indeed have a holly jolly weekend. If any of you were around last year you may remember we bah humbugging through the holidays. I went through several years of that and finally this year I've broken free and my holly jolly has returned.
I got up early on Saturday, took my time waking up and then headed out for a little shopping. I went to two stores, got everything I needed and headed home.
Next came my cookies. I actually spent Saturday and Sunday working on the baking. There is more than this but they were baked after I took the picture.

I pulled out some of the Christmas decorations. (Sorry Amanda I just couldn't put them all out) I chose my favorites and the rest stayed in the boxes.

Several years ago I bought a pattern for a gingerbread girl and boy. I spent so long trying to figure out the girl that I never did make the boy. Maybe one of these years I'll make her a friend. I suppose by then she'll be too old though and he won't find her attractive.

Some of the snowmen take their place on the steps

Yes, I had a wonderful weekend and I'm loving the return of my holly jolly

I can't drive 55

I know some of you out there have never experienced the joy of winter driving. While you are flying down the highways, we here in the Pennsylvania snow belt have to deal with white outs, black ice and just generally nasty conditions.
It is for the benefit of those of you who say you wish that you could have snow that I went to extreme lengths to bring you a look at our reality.
Last week we were experiencing what was called a lake effect storm. What that boils down to is there's going to be a ton of snow. As much as I wish I could stay inside and just watch said storm through the window, I must venture out. This is what it looked like on one trip

And here is what it looked like a little further down the road.

On top of slippery roads and poor visibility there's always at least one idiot on the roads with a death wish. I must say though that during this past storm the only idiot I saw was the one taking pictures with her cell phone. Seriously though, I was going really slow already, there was no one behind me so I did stop and take these. Wade would kill me if I were to take pictures while I was actually in motion and I don't have a death wish.

All work and no play

You know what they say about all work and no play. If it makes Jack a dull boy I'm sure that it would have the same effect on us girls as well. Not being the type to take risks I took a little break while at work the other day and did some playing.
One of the girls I was working with knocked a couple bowls off the table and they landed on the floor behind me. I turned around and they were laying there right next to each other and I made the comment that they looked like a snowman. Karleen pointed out that it needed a head so she grabbed another bowl and laid it on the floor. Then he needed some arms so I grabbed a couple pieces from the rotisserie. No self respecting snowman would be caught without a hat so we added a colander. Of course the weather outside is frightful so he also needed a scarf. We grabbed one of the rags off the sink and he was properly attired. Something was missing though. Oh I know, head to the salad case and grab him a nose. I know snowmen usually have a carrot nose but this is no ordinary snowman so he shall have a jalapeno pepper nose.

I guess I'm safe from dullness for another day.

Back to paper crafts

I have another block to share with you. I didn't do any quilling on this one. Instead I enlisted the help of my Cricut machine and my stash of odds and ends.

The reindeer was my favorite part on this one and there were even reindeer in the patterned paper for the background.