Thursday, December 24, 2009

Relax time

Made a huge pan of lasagna so it would get us though a couple of days on the go. Im thankful my family will eat leftovers.  Pleanty of cooking tomorrow. 

Missed a day

I spent the whole day shopping yesterday, now it's Charlies job to wrap everything tonight joined with some hot coffee and old movies.  While at Target some man pushing his daughter in a cart almost ran into me, I got out of the way only shaking my head at him, he said something rude, and i just turned and said "Merry Christmas"! It's been hard getting into the mood this year.  I also think businesses will feel the crunch once they tally up their $$$$.  Looking forward to cooking our big Christmas meal tomorrow, Prime rib, turkey and all the fixins. When ever i cook I  reflect back on my father and all he taught me in the kitchen. I'm so thankful for all he's passed on to me.  I also want to pass his kitchen wisdom onto the next generation.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009


Out with the old and in with the new.

I have had the same dining room table for at least 15 years. today I gave it up to my son charlie and his wife jill. It was a old oak table that has been in our family for over 50+ years and been refinished seveal times. Solid, heavy and has definately held up over the years of kids, and several moves. . I told them they couldn't get rid of it but it was theirs to now love and enjoy. It didn't serve our family at our big dinners. someone also got stuck sitting at the bar alone. So I've been looking for a table that would work for us. Yeah today my wish was answered. A casual table that can seat 8. It began here....in the back of our truck, and ended in our dining room.


the delivery



                                                              labeled parts is good


the fun begins




still two more chairs to assemble. thanks babe!

Friday, December 18, 2009


Unsual Contact

Today Charlie and I were going to lunch, we were approached by a young man, maybe 25-30 walking through the parking lot.  He had a plastic gas can in his hand and asked if I had some money so he could go buy some gas. I responded sorry, no I didn't. He immediately moved on to the next car when a young women was getting her small children out of her car to take them to a movie, again he asked, do you have $7 to fill my gas can.  She began to dig in her purse looking for something to give him. She said I know I don't have $7.  I guess with each no he gets, he ups the amount needed to fill his 1 gallon gas can.
Not sure if she gave him anything but it was a new approach to pan handling, as that's against the law.
Funny thing is there was no gas station within a couple of miles from the shopping area he was strolling through.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Reconnect with FB

Have you ever lost touch with a relative and wish you could reconnect? Well I have a cousin that I wanted to locate. So I went to my facebook and did a search. No results, however I knew the name of her son. Searched his name, and 4 came up, so I sent an email to the first one as he actually resembled my cousin. Just asked is your mothers name Nancy. He replied same day with only a "yes". Sent a reply letting him know how I was related to her and named her mothers and fathers name. got another reply, yes they are my grandparents! Amazing. He told his mom and gave her my phone number, so hopefully she will call. He seemed to be excited also as he said he didn't have much family. Well we sure don't lack in that area, as our parents have 13 children combined and probablay around 40 grandkids. not to include spouses and great-grandkids.  I hope we can reconnect as it's been 20 years. We have both lost both parents and have so much to catch up on. My cousin was an only child so hopefully will also welcome the reunion.  Now I want to go through my old pictures and find some with us together that I can share with her. By the end of the day he and I were FB friends.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sunday, December 13, 2009

My Tree Angel


The Angel is On


Charlie put the angel on the top of the tree.  One of the many benefits to have a tall man. My grandson actually said after we finished decorating the tree, "grandma you forgot to put the angel on top of the tree" he actually thought I was tall enough. Through the eyes of a child anything is possible. I told him we had to wait for grandpa to get home.  I made my tree top angel about 10 years ago, and she's still holding up. I made her out of a empty 2 liter pop bottle.

Last week of work, then I need to get busy shopping for the grandkids. It's kinda sad as I walked the store looking for a birthday gift for Ella's 6th Birthday I could find very little that she didn't already have at some point of her life. Ended up getting her a cute little warm outfit for school and a little stuffed kitty. She loves kitty's. glad she is happy and settles for the stuffed kind. Also saw a cute idea on a blog that we may do to welcome Ella home on Monday.  Wrap her bedroom door and stick cute little surprises on the door. ie. dollar store.....

I was going though some old black and white pictures of when I was a child.  They always make me sad because, I can't remember those days, but they also make me happy that at least I have the pictures. I want to start scanning them all and journaling with them. I think they also make me sad because I miss my mom and dad so much. We always had such a good time when they both would come out and visit us durning the holidays. When I lost my father 9 years ago and my mom became ill, I knew there were going to be days like these. Those were hard days but the comfort in just holding my moms hand. This picture was taken durning her final days. The crazy part is that I tried to take the picture of us holding hands, because she always liked someone holding her hand, she had such a strong grip, up to the day before we lost her. Well the camera didn't click or flash didn't go off, so I thought oh no I need to charge the battery and  i try again at a later time....There was no later time. I lost my mother the next day. But some time later I was down loading my pictures from her service and there is was! Us holding hands, I cried but so thankful somehow.....the picture took.......I love you mom and dad and miss you so.


Saturday, December 12, 2009



got 3 projects done today. all gifts. yeah a good day.
Charlie enjoys seeing what effect he can create using PSE. Here he took some of the pictures I took of the grandkids decorating the Christmas tree. He likes making the pictures look like a drawing, simular to a comic strip book.


Friday, December 11, 2009

The Tree is Decorated!



Happy 6th Birthday Ella!



Pizza party, family celebrating my grandaugher's 6th birthday.  We ordered pizza, sang, opened gifts and enjoyed an awesome Chocolate cake from uppercrust bakery. Planned on decorating the tree but I ran out of energy. 

Busy week

Thank goodness I'm off this week from work.  Getting ready for Christmas, finally decorating our tree, finishing my cards, my grandaughters 6th birthday, and now just need to get a few lights up outside.

The countdown contiues. One more week of work next week then off for 10 days... I love my time off!

Thursday, December 10, 2009



This month goes by so fast. Half over......

Wednesday, December 9, 2009



Final finishing touches to the Christmas cards then off to mail. When  I decided this year I was finally going to make my cards, I picked something very simple. Well looking simple and being simple are not necessarily the same.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas Countdown





i absolutely love house of 3. if i had the time i would spend all day playing with all of the awesome digital images i have purchased from them. they can be used in so many different creatative ways, over and over, no mess no clean up just me and my laptop. my recent purchse is the christmas countdown numbers, and christmas boaders. since i still haven't finished making my christmas cards i don't have the time to make this Heidi Swapp Christmas countdown, her dec.5th post, but instead will use the beautiful countdown numbers on my blog and fb. love them. no pressure 17 DAYS, i haven't purchared one gift. well i heard yesterday something funny, mem only need ONE day to shop, christmas eve. i wonder could i ever do that, i think not. one of my brothers uses this method and seems to do just fine every year. this year is going to be simple for me, no added stress, enjoy the moments and memories we create with each other. way to much money is speant this time of year. i understand this is a personal decision as to what christmas means to them. i've been there more times then i care to remember. the commerical side is just nuts. when we must shop, what we must buy and how many.  just have the assembly left to my christmas cards, then mail, so on dasher, on dancer prancer and vixen......comet and cupid donner and blitzen........how did santa's reindeer get their names?

Monday, December 7, 2009

Captain Sully



Remember Miracle on the Hudson? Our company had an employee only event which I had the pleasure of attending. It was a book signing of Captain Sully's new book just released.  It was also my oldest son's birthday and I thought a personalized signed book would make a nice gift.   The landing of the US Airways jet on the Hudson Im sure will be remembered for quite some time.

Barrett's Thanksgiving


December Countdown and November catch up

Ok, needless to say the last two weeks have been crazy busy.  Although it's December 7th, yikes..still have some November catch up with some family Thanksgiving pictures.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

My Lucky Day! Thank You Lyle

I was so excited a couple of days ago  I got an email from Layle whose blog I frequently visit 6 Degrees.  She offered me a 8x11 photo album by Shutterfly.  I've want to make one of these for some time now, as I thought it would make a great gift for my best friend Brenna who has helped me over the last 5 years renovating our 1920's farmhouse in Illinois.  However we are talking 5 years of pictures, memories and trying to put it all together.  Had it just been family pictures no problem, but to make sure I got everything included was a little nerve racking. Unfortuantely I've been a little down and out with a cold/sinus thing, but I figured this would give me something to do as I laid around in my pj's all day.
Charlie was going golfing so it was the perfect project for me to dive into.  Im not very good with words, and the memory is starting to go so it was a bit of a challenge for me.  The process itself wasn't to bad once i learned the in's and outs of the books features. I think it turned out pretty good considering it was my first digital book. Most of all wanted to document the journey that lasted 5 years for us.  It started when my father passed away and my mother came to live with us.  After my mother's health began to fail I knew that I needed to figuure out what I was going to do with 5 acres and a farmhouse in illinois.  It started out small but ended up being a total renovation.  One day I will sit down and add it all up. But what ever the cost,it was worth it. We did the majority of the work ourselves. What we didn't know how to do we hired out.  With the endless help of my best friend from high school who still lives there, took on the project manager job when we were in Arizona.  She is one of a kind and I'm very lucky to have her as a friend.  Thank you Layle for the wonderful gift!

clark street

Click here to view this photo book larger

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving Meal in 45 minutes?

thought I better read this article since I will be working Thanksgivng day. I haven't worked Thanksgiving Day since I got out of the foodservice business 21 years ago.  Thankful for a big enough family to help me still get the job done. hope our meal looks as good as this.yummy  however ....thankful I have a job.


Sunday, November 22, 2009

House of 3 Freebie

Love my new blog header freebie from House of 3.  Lots of new Christmas digital inspiration can also be found on House of 3 blog.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

A New Day


Papervineyard's


MINE
Moving forward from a very difficult week. Trying to be upbeat and productive. Proud to say I have completed my first holiday project. A Christmas Countdown Calendar. I love magnets and projects that include magnets. Saw this cute project at Papervineyard and made it my own as they were out of all the paper products they used to make their display, hate that.  The grandkids love the countdown thing no matter what the occasion.  I covered an old metal book stand, I think that's what it was, (i love to use things i just have sitting around waiting to take on a new life, that's my dad in me!) with Bobunny's St. Nick toyland, St Nick Sugar plum paper. Put my wonderful cricut to work cutting out all my numbers and words.  Still think I need to emblish the magnet clip that holds the numbers, kinda blahhh. Let the countdown begin.....fyi the realo countdown won't begin until Dec. 1st, just put the 35 there for a test run as i was so excited to have it completed and it's only Nov.21st. :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

All Because Two People Fell in LOVE


7/6/1988

thankful

I know it's November 19th and Im way past due on posting what Im thankful for. However on a sad note Its' been a difficult month. Losing a friend and now my son has also lost a friend from high school, only 22, way to young. both funerals same day same funeral home. crazy life......

Thankful.......
This isn't very creative, but is heartfelt.
Grateful for: Our good health- all of us
Charlie, my best friend,and husband of 34 years
Charlie B, my oldest son, Jill (our love for scrapbooking) and Zella B
Andrea, Dallas and Ella
April, soon to be our home nurse and boy could we use one!
Randall, no longer my baby. grown into a fine young ,man
The memories I have of my mother and father
Awesome parents growing up- we never had much but it never seemed to matter
My brothers and sisters who I don't get to see as often as I would like
My friends, my job, although retirement sure sounds good, 20 years at US Airways, but started working 38 years ago.
Grateful I can still see my computer screen and don't have carpel tunnel after 20 years working on a PC
Thankful we have such a beautiful home, and aren't upside down in our mortage.
Thankful for our farm house in Illinois. great summer getaways there.
Thankful that my family enjoys my cooking that they look forward to our holiday meals together.
I have so much to be thankful for, I am blessed.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Good Bye Dear FRIEND



Today we lost our dear friend Linda. Gone to soon from those who love her. She is now our angel.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Linda's Quilt


Say a little prayer


I got a text last night......Linda is a coworker friend who has been fighting lung cancer since June. Unfortunately the doctors never gave her much hope however she still made the decision to fight the battle of her life. She is the person you want to have as a co-worker, and friend. Great personalty, hard worker, always supportive of everyone.  She is an awesome mother of two, a son and daughter who just started her college at ASU. Our work group got together and shared makiing the family meals a couple days every week. We also made a quilt for her to take to her chemo treatments as the room is kept pretty cold. We each got a 8x8 square to add to the quilt with anything we wanted. It turned out awesome.  I understand that with all she has been going through her concerns are for her family. Thats just the type of person she is. Loving and giving. Life isn't fair. What I hate the most is that she started treatments in hopes of giving her more time with her family, however the chemo made her so sick over the last 3 months that this was also taken from her. She deserves that quality time with those she so dearly loves.  Is it to much to ask for a few months of not being so sick you can't get out of bed, I don't think so. How bout just a few days of just holding your kids close to you.  We don't know what having a bad day really is. How grateful we should all be for our health.  There's are no Ordinary moments....
She has had a couple of bad days and the extending family has now been called in.  I pray that she won't be taken from us so soon.  My heart aches so as I remember those last two weeks at my mothers bedside.  As our loved one slowly depart this world from us our hearts break.

3D Christmas Carol



I had a week day off so I wanted to treat the grandkids to a movie and give charie and Jill and few hours of alone time. The only movie the kids hadn't yet seen was the new release 3D Christmas Carol. It was rated PG13 and the trailer I watched looked like it would be an ok movie for them. Wearing the 3D glasses where new to Zella, however Dallas and Ella had been to a 3D before.  We made it though the previews, but then the movie started and it was dark and VERY loud. I could tell right off that it may be a bit much for the girls. I leaned over to Dallas and told him that we were going to have to leave and come back at another time. He didn't want to leave but was a good sport about it.  Gathered up all our goodies and headed to the park to let them burn off some of that boxed up energy that they always have pleanty of.  Thankful they are all healthy and full of ENERGY. We are blessed, feel so grateful after reading my friends new blog post yesteryday here.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Missing my MOM


Not a day goes by that I'm not missing my mom.  How she would of loved watching her beloved grandchildren growing up. They meant the world to her the moment they were born. They always put a smile on her face no matter how bad she may have been feeling that day. She loved them so. These are the things i want each of them to know as they get older. I think it's so important that our loved ones live on in the family they leave behind. Memories should never be taken for granted, as I've seen just how quick they can be lost forever. I try to remember all the good times I shared with my mom, not only as an adult but also as a child. Unfortunately there are a whole lot of childhood memories and that makes me sad. I don't want to forget how blessed I've been. My family, my life....I love you mom and miss you terribly

Sunday, November 1, 2009

NEXT.......


Halloweens over and now onto the next holiday. Have to pack away the decorations and pull out the Thanksgiving decor. Not a whole lot, but a few favorites I will showcase. weather is starting to cool down so that will help get us in the mood for somewhat of a fall season.  I wonder if the one pumpkin I didn't carve will hold out until the end of November. We'll just see...... thankful for the memories I have.

Friday, October 30, 2009



April and Bre

Randall transforming from Peter Parker

Darth Dallas, Zella and Ella kittens

More FUN photos!



Amy and Randall

Halloween Stars



We had the family together for our Halloween party! Decorated the back yard, with spider webs, candles and a bon fire.  Cooked, hot wings, sliders, hot cheese dip, home made mac and cheese, and charlies favorite, texas sheet cake. A few of Aprils friends also joined us, Olivia and her daughter Isa, and Brea, who's just moved back to AZ. The kids all looked great. Charlie got creative with photo shop and put a few pictures on comic book covers.  I made halloween buckets for each of the little ones, filled with treats and a few crafts, plus a little halloween stuffed bear dressed as a kitty cat to top it off.
The little ones are growing up fast. I want to take advantage of the times they still enjoy dressing up in costumes and treasure the memories we make.

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