I'm a big dog

Yes, I am a big dog now. I'm all grown up. So why am I having a puppy sitter today?

 

Mom and dad are going Russel Pa today to see dad's dad and family for Christmas. Amanda is coming over to spend the day with me. I really don't need a puppy sitter but I surely don't mind the company.
The picture today was one that mom took with her new kindle fire HD. She played with it in photoshop a little too.
She said to tell you she doesn't know if she'll have post up for tomorrow or not. She hasn't been feeling too good, all stuffy like and may come home later and just want to go to bed.
Hope everyone has a good day. I know I will

Interesting

I was turning on the wi-fi on my kindle and happened to look at the other networks that were available in the area.
I found one that I've never seen before and thought it was quite interesting

I know this isn't the greatest picture but the third one down is FBI Surveillance Van. Seriously? Made me wonder.

You call that a blizzard?

OK, yes, we got snow and it was a good amount. I don't really consider what we had a blizzard though. Maybe the conditions were right for one but what we got isn't anything we haven't seen before. I don't know the exact accumulation but I know it wasn't 14 inches

A picture out the front window

and one out the back

Happy Friday everyone

Snow Friends

Looks like the snow is trying to make friends here in my neck of the woods. The blizzard warning started Tuesday night and officially went into effect at 11am yesterday morning. I don't know what time it actually started but by the time I got out of work yesterday it was in full swing.
This morning I'll be starting my day early so that I can dig out the car before I head to work. A total of 14 inches is expected from this storm but snow is in the forecast for the next week.

I wish I was a bear. I could be hibernating right now.

Last minute gift

Now that Christmas is over I can show you a last minute gift I threw together for each of my kids. A year or so ago I saw this idea and thought it was pretty cute but never got around to doing it.

For each I bought:
a can of pork and beans
a can of rootbeer
and assorted candy

I enclosed this tag

I found these cute little boxes of m&m's with nice on one side and naughty on the other

Of course I couldn't help having the naughty side showing.  Silly gift but it got at least a slight chuckle. I think I may have even been called weird.

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve

Today I begin the day by heading out to work. I've got a busy day ahead of me. My daughter and son will be coming over this evening for our celebration.

I wish you all a Happy Christmas Eve

I didn't really mean it.

OK, I confess, I'm guilty of singing White Christmas a few too many times. I didn't really mean it when I belted out the lyrics "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas". I just happen to like old Bing's song is all. Everybody knows I would never dream about snow at any time of the year. So why then did we get this?

Not only did we get all this snow but the wind that came along with it sounded like it was going to tear the house down.

I seriously could be happy if the only snow flakes I saw were like this crocheted one

or the only snowman I saw was full of stuffing and sitting on my window sill.

Remind me next year NOT to sing that song.

There's a new kid in town

I've had the Alan Jackson Christmas CD playing in my car the last few days and since these songs have been stuck in my head I figured I may as well share them.
I'll try to come up with something different tomorrow but I'm not promising anything. I'll be sticking close to home for the weekend since we are getting snowed on. If I get bored there's no telling what I might end up doing.

The song today is There's a new kid in town

The Angels Cried

The angel atop Wade's tree in the cave isn't crying

 I was thinking of this song.

Duke's day

Duke wanted to take over the blog today so he asked me to make him a collage to share with you.

I did this at Ipiccy. They're really pretty easy to make.

The smell of pine

Let me start by saying that Wade is not real big on Christmas. He doesn't get in to all the gift buying and decorating. That's why I was so surprised on Sunday when he wanted to go out and buy a tree for the man cave. He said that I had my fake tree in the living room and he wanted a REAL tree for the cave.
Off we went to a local tree farmer to pick one out.

It's not real tall, it's not real big, it's just the right size and it smells wonderful. Now if I would have left it up to him it would have stood there as is because he said he just wanted it for the scent. Silly man. I dug out some decorations and lights and now we're both happy

Merry Christmas to me

Last week we got our yearly bonus at work. I spent the whole thing on ME the same day. I knew exactly what I wanted.

I already have a sewing machine and it does still work just fine for being 30 years old. I've had my eye on one of these computerized embroidery machines though. Thursday night when I was putting my order in with Amazon I think my mouse hovered over the finalize order button for a good twenty minutes before I actually did it.
I took the free shipping which was supposed to be 4-7 business days. I got this on Saturday. Yes just 2 days after I placed the order. It really wasn't even a full 2 days because I placed the order late Thursday evening and this arrived before noon on Saturday. Amazon never fails to impress me.

Meet my other friends Monday

Monday's are so much easier to deal with when I have a little help from my friends. Since I think I've got the greatest friends on earth I want to share them with everyone. Monday's are dedicated to the best bloggers I know, my pals. You could be next.
This is going to be the last Meet my friends post until after the first of the year. But today you will be meeting JP from A Quiet Corner. Now I can’t recall exactly how I found her or if maybe she found me. Either way I find her blog delightful. She shares beautiful pictures, wonderful stories and even takes you along kayaking.
I chose this picture from her blog that was at one time in her header because I think that it is a most beautiful quiet corner.

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start? Hmmmm...Although I can hardly believe it, I've been blogging for about 2 1/2 years and I owe it all to my friend and former neighbor, Lisa of Two Bears Farm. She walked me through the initial set-up along with teaching me the "ins and outs" and continues to help me whenever I reach out to her. She is WONDERFUL...:)
2) What is one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger? Be truthful with what you say and by all means HAVE FUN with it!
3) Do you have any hobbies or special talents? Hmmmm...I would have to say OUTDOORS...NATURE....MY DOGS...EXERCISING (walking, the gym three times a week, Tai Chi) would summarize my hobbies however, I do not consider myself talented in any way. I'm just me...:)
4) Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of those and tell us why we should check it out. I actually have two: Chatty Crone and Forest Walk Art both for different reasons. The former always makes you smile while the latter always makes you think.
5) What is the one things that totally makes you crazy? Pee on the toilet seat.
6) Give one random thought. BE GRATEFUL...it is the mother of all other virtues!

Procrastination 101

Today we will be discussing how to procrastinate. It’s really a quite simple task and can be accomplished in an infinite number of ways. My chosen method was with a camera.
While sitting in front of a lit Christmas tree, simply point the camera at the subject and move said camera up and down while snapping the picture

Now that you have accomplished that you can try some more advanced moves. For example there are large circles

or small circles

If you still feel that you need more practice with procrastinating feel free to load your pictures into your favorite editing program and just see how much time you can waste how quickly your procrastinating skills will improve.

This lesson is being provided free of charge. If you feel you need more instruction please feel free to contact me.

I tried something different with today's post. I'm using Window's Live Writer for the first time. I'm not sure if I like doing it this way or not. I'll have to give it a few days.

Ginger

I don't know if Ginger has ever appeared on the blog before or not so today she is in the spotlight.

This is another craft from the past. I don't even remember how long ago I made her. I purchased a pattern that had a girl and boy and I never did get around to making the other one.

St. Nicholas

I had a request to show a close up of the St. Nicholas that I have on my mantel and how could I pass up the opportunity to play with my camera.

I've had this for quite some time. He is actually a tree topper but I never liked him on the top of the tree. He normally sits on a table each year.

 Saint Nicholas (in Greek: “Victory of the People”) the common name of a Lycian saint and Roman Catholic Bishop of Myra in Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey, though then it was a Greek-speaking Roman Province). He was born during the third century (around 270 AD) in the village of Patara. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, but is now commonly identified with, and often as, Santa Claus. (taken from listverse.com )

Angel

A trio of trees.

A closer look at the mantel today so you can see my new trio of trees.

All three trees were made very inexpensively. I used poster board to make a cone shape because have you seen the price of styrofoam cones? The tallest one I wrapped the cone with jute twine and then added a ribbon garland. The one to the left cut green burlap that I had from another poject, in to short little strips and then hot glued them to the cone. Finally the shortest of the trees was just a piece of green felt that I whipstitched up the side and slid over the cone. I used some white puff paint to make it look like snow. Or at least it was supposed to look like snow but I'm thinking not so much.

For the bases of the trees I used glass candle holders for the two short ones and a taller wood candle stick for the tall one.
There you have it, a trio of trees on the cheap.

Holly Jolly time

So in between batches of cookies over the weekend I also pulled out a few more decorations. Come on in and I'll show you. Amanda had an assortment of my snowmen on their usual place and I added the garland on the railing. I used to add light to the garland before but I skipped that.

Just another shot of the tree. I got that star to finally stand up on the top but now I need to find an extension cord because the darn cord on it isn't long enough.

And I dressed up the mantle on my fake fireplace a bit. I also put a holly leave garland on the picture

The Firplace is flanked by Mr and Mrs Snow who obviously know the flames are of no danger to them.
When I was looking at this picture I couldn't figure out what the little white blur was in front of the fireplace. After looking at it for a while I finally realized that's Duke's tail and you can see his head in front of the coffee table.

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you a close up of the mantel which holds my newest craft project.

Meet my other friends Monday

Monday's are so much easier to deal with when I have a little help from my friends. Since I think I've got the greatest friends on earth I want to share them with everyone. Monday's are dedicated to the best bloggers I know, my pals. You could be next.

This week we'll be visiting with Lorraine from With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart. I found Lorraine's blog a few years back when I came across a video for a paper folded German star tutorial. I was taken instantly with the sights on her blog. She cooks, bakes, and creates some amazing things and her photography skills are superb. She's a warm hearted blogger who welcomes you into her home and shares her beautiful family with you. I'm sure that you will enjoy her blog as much as I do.
Duke said we should snag a picture of the handsome Raider to go along with the post.

Now I'll turn you over to Lorraine

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

This week will be my 4th blogging anniversary and I have enjoyed blogging way more than I ever thought I would. Of course, the creative ideas shared are so inspiring but the friendship and encouragement with other bloggers is especially dear. I began blogging when I saw my long-time friend, Phyllis’s blog and thought I too would like a place to record the activities and happenings of our family. I never thought others would have the slightest interest.

2) What is one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger?

Blog for yourself. Make your blog about the things that matter most to you and you will not grow bored or stressed. Find balance in the amount of time spent blogging. I am still working on balance myself. If you know me, you know I am not the most frequent commenter. I wish I could do better but family and living doesn’t leave as much time as I would like and often I feel guilty about it.

3) Do you have any hobbies or special talents?

I have so many ideas and projects floating around in my head I could use an extra life to accomplish all of them. I find great joy in baking and cooking and think it is one of the ways I show love to others. I enjoy crocheting and knitting especially for my grandchildren. (I have 10 of them, ages 15 years to 7 months)

4) Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of those and tell us why we should check it out.

It is true, I love all of the blogs I visit and each is unique and special. Recently I came across a blog called Dog Shaming that is just sheer fun and almost always makes me smile at the sweet faces of guilty canines, gasp at some of the messes they make, grimace at some of the nasty things they do and thank my little schnauzer that he doesn’t behave so badly. If, like me, you occasionally want to spend a few moments zoning out from all the responsibilities of the day, check out DogShaming.

On a more serious side, the very first blog I followed is about the journey of a young woman with CF (Cystic Fibrosis) written by her husband. Tricia lived in our area and she and her family went to our church before relocating to the Outer Banks. Her story of a double lung transplant, pregnancy, birth of a tiny baby girl (born 15 weeks early, weighing just 1lb 6oz) and faith are amazing. This sweet girl is currently in need of another double lung transplant. The blog is Confessions of a CF Husband.

5) What is the one things that totally makes you crazy?

Using a hot glue gun. If I do manage not to burn myself, I feel like those sticky, almost invisible strings are impossible to get rid of.

6) Give one random thought.

How about a quote from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol “God bless us, every one!”

Marathon day

Yesterday was marathon baking day. I spent ALL day in the kitchen baking up a storm. I did a total of 8 different kinds of cookies and if you can believe it I'm still not done. I have 2 more kinds to do today plus I'm also making some hamburg jerky.
This was a shot near the beginning of the day

In addition to that I also pulled out a few more Christmas decoration and Friday night I made a couple new things. I'll be showing you more of that during the week.

Crazy

Isn't it crazy how far behind you can get when you take one day off from the computer? Thursday I woke up with a cold and dragged through the day. By the time I got home from work all I wanted to do was put on my pajamas and crawl under a blanket. Considering the fact that I had no energy I couldn't even drag the laptop out and keep up with my blog reading. So now I am knee deep in unanswered emails, and a reader full of unread blog posts but at least it's the weekend.

Crazy I tell ya, just crazy. I copied my friend Sandra again with the picture. This isn't a recent one though I dug in to last years files.

Lights, camera...

Snap!

 

I bet you thought I was going to say action didn't you? Oh my stars, no. What I had in mind here was a bit of copying from my friend Sandra of Mad Snapper fame. She did a post the other day about taking pictures and making stars out of lights (the Christmas tree kind) I thought it was very cool so I got out my tripod, camera and turned on the lights.

I first tried it on a string of lights I have on a bakers rack in my craft room.

Yes, I got stars. How cool is that? Since the picture wasn't real attractive I went down and turned on the Christmas tree lights.




You might have to look close at some of these but there are stars there. The two on the bottom left and the blue one bottom center are the most obvious in the picture.

Thanks for the snapping fun Sandra


Snow business

There's no business like snow business like no business I know.


What do snowmen call their offspring?

Chill-dren

Which is harder to make? A blonde, brunette or a red-headed snowman?

A blonde, because you have to hollow out it's head.

Why was the snowman's dog named Frost?

Because Frost bites.

A craft from the past

For as long as I can remember I've been a crafter. Over the years I have made so many different things for all the holidays. Some have survived some haven't. Some I still have but never pull out because they just look so bad but yet I keep them. Who knows why. Any way, when Amanda pulled out some of the boxes Saturday I found one that I made quite a few years back. I think I made one of these for each of the girls I worked with and a few other people as well. This was made from a glass mayonaisse jar so you know it was a few years back since they don't use glass jars any more.

He has actually held up pretty good over the years but you can see that the votive candle holder stuck in the top got a bit dirty while in storage. Wish I would have thought to clean that before I took the picture. Every year one of the girls at work tells me that she still has that reindeer jar that I made her.

Meet my other friends Monday

Monday's are so much easier to deal with when I have a little help from my friends. Since I think I've got the greatest friends on earth I want to share them with everyone. Monday's are dedicated to the best bloggers I know, my pals. You could be next.

After that little break for Thanksgiving I'm ready to introduce you to another blogger friend. This week you'll be meeting Pat from Pat Elliott Paintings. Pat shares her love of painting with all who visit. Not only does she show the finished piece but she will often share the steps she takes in creating it. I find it totally fascinating since I even failed at finger painting. Pat's loyal companion Missy also tends to make an appearance on the blog and Duke finds her quite attractive.

Now I had no idea when I sent Pat the email asking her to be my guest today that this would publish just days after her birthday. Yes, she celebrated her birthday last Friday. So enjoy her interview, and then stop by and pay her a visit.

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start?
I started my blog on the 12th July 2009. I wanted to catalogue the
journey I was making with watercolour and the trips my rescue dog and I
enjoyed in pursuit of something to paint.


2) What is one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger?
Enjoy it! Do what you can when you can, visit others and have fun.


3) Do you have any hobbies or special talents?
My hobbies include enjoying time with my dog, painting watercolours and
recently I've taken up writing!

4) Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of
those and tell us why we should check it out.
I do love all the blogs I visit. One amongst them is special, because
I've met the lady in real life and we've gone to art events together.
Her name is Sharon and her blog is here.
http://sharonwilliamsonart.blogspot.co.uk/


5) What is the one thing that totally makes you crazy?
Someone being cruel to an animal.


6) Give one random thought.

Shine as brightly as you can, every day!

Better than nothing

Well the tree is up and just a few decorations are sitting about. I don't know that I would say my house is decorated, it's more like littered with Christmas stuff.
I started off VERY slow yesterday morning. I never got out to do the weekly shopping trip, didn't get any crafting done and didn't get the cleaning done either.
Oh well, none of that stuff is going anywhere.
So here's the tree by day

 

and one by night

I might manage to catch up with my emails and visits some time today

Deck the halls

Today Amanda is planning on coming over after she gets out of work and we are going to begin the task of decorating. She asked me the other day if I was just going to put up the tree or if I was going to get out the other decorations too. Over the years I have collected far too many Christmas decorations and I've come to dread pulling it all out each year. Yes I will pull out the favorites but most of it will stay in the boxes.

Aside from that there is the usual weekend errands, a little cleaning, a little laundry and hopefully some crafting.

I forgot to mention that I made the decision yesterday to no longer allow anonymous comments. None of annoying spam comments were getting through to the blog but when I opened my dashboard 2 days in a row to find over 30 comments awaiting moderation (all anonymous spam) I figured enough is enough.

Rolled book page wreath

A week or so ago while visiting Ann Martin's blog All things paper, I fell in love with her rolled book page wreath. I knew I had to make one and that's just what I set out to do. I started rolling book pages. I got bored and quit. Later I rolled more pages, got bored and quit. Repeat that same process several times and FINALLY I had enough pages rolled to fill the wreath.

I purchased the tree ornaments at the dollar store and hot glued them to the center. This was accomplished within a matter of minutes, and several bad words followed by a few glue burns, more minutes and more bad words. At last it was finished and due to my lack of patience I quickly picked it up to admire my work. WARNING!!! Wait for the hot glue to dry otherwise ornaments may fall off and you will be picking hot glue out of your rug. You will also be forced to say a few more choice words and likely incur further glue burns.

I direct your attention to the red ornament at the bottom center. Those are not cracks you see in that ornament. That would be a great big hot glue mess. This may not be my biggest craft disaster however it is also not one of my shining craft moments either. At least it looks nice enough from a distance that I can still hang it on the door.

Joy

Maybe it's a little early yet but I think I'll begin now with attempting to spread a little joy for Christmas.

A few little things

I've managed to do a few little crafty things recently. These were all pretty quick and simple projects.

First is the other version on the fabric ornament that I did recently. I liked these too but I think I preferred the other version better.

I picked up some $1.00 candle jars at Wal-Mart and added a strip of homespun fabric, tied some jute around them and then finished them off with buttons and a little greenery on the one

I also picked up a few packs of those really cheap plastic candy canes at Dollar Tree. I wrapped some with homespun and others with jute twine.

I had a go at making my own rusty jingle bells. I don't think I did it quite right or maybe I just didn't leave them in the mix long enough but I used them anyway. They are after all a little rusted.

And that would be it for right now. I'm also working on a wreath and hopefully I'll finish it. With me though, you never can tell.