Shared Thoughts About A Lot

Proud of my college girl :-)

2012-01-09T20:10:00.004-06:00

My momma amazes me. She has so much spunk and more get-up-and-go than most young people and she's 75 years old! I am so proud of her. She was so worried about her finals this past semester. I spent the night one night and got up early to quiz her because she was concerned about how she would do. She is on her second year and the kids at the college love her. Anyway, the pictures below are the results of some of those finals. :-) Of course I had to sneak and take these pics. She just doesn't understand why I'd want to post things about her tests and such on facebook. To her it isn't that big of a deal that she's going to college, why, people would think she's silly. :-)

She has inspired me and once my daughter gets a few years older I want to go back to school. I just hope I can do half as good as she is doing. I am so blessed to have a momma like her. Below is this years school picture! Isn't she lovely? :-)

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

2012-01-08T23:39:00.003-06:00

There are so many different recipes for homemade detergent and using the Fels Naptha bar soap is my favorite. The above pic is what the soap looks like grated. You can double or triple the recipe. This batch I used the whole bar of soap.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 whole bar Fels Naptha (can use other types but I prefer this one) Found in the detergent isle

1½ cup washing soda

1½ cup borax powder

~You will also need a bucket, about 6 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a pan. Add 1 gallon and 2 cups water and heat until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 13 quarts hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 4 gallons plus 2 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load. I stirred it several times while it was cooling. My daughter also liked playing in it. lol http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm (Link where I got the recipe)

The pic below is how it looks while it's cooking and it basically looks the same when it's done.

I just poured this into laundry detergent containers that I had kept. Oh, I put some essential oil in this last batch. I think it was orange. :-)

Now for the scouring powder. My sister makes this and I think it's all she uses now except for straight baking soda. :-)

Ingredients

http://wellnessmama.com/1348/all-natural-homemade-scouring/ One of the links that has more info than I do. :-)

2 parts baking soda

1 part salt

1 part borax powder

Pour ingredients into jar or bowl. (or a styrofoam plate or whatever you have handy lol) Mix or stir until well mixed. I made a shaker out of an empty icing container. I poked holes in the top with an antique ice pick. :-)

Lightly wet surface with water or undiluted white vinegar. Sprinkle powder on and let sit 5 minutes . Scrub with a brush or just a rag like I do, until clean Rinse with water and I read that you can rinse with vinegar for really bad messes.

A pic of the container I used and what it looks like sprinkled on my daughter's school work. ;-)

And you can't forget the puppy who is hoping that you're fixing something to eat. lol

Never Take Life for Granted

2011-11-09T18:28:00.002-06:00

Sitting here at the hospital with Dad Watson and the rest of the family and thinking about how much we need to hold the ones we love so close. If you want to let them know just how much you love them.....do it. You never know what a day may hold. I've been so stressed over all I have to do, Thanksgiving coming, Christmas, I want this done, that done, etc etc. and now........None of that means anything when you realize just how fragile life is.
You know what......all those things will be there later, I can let some things go and probably most would never notice that I did. I keep thinking that I'm eventually going to get it all together and be this organized person that has her house just so, crafts made in a timely manner, blog on a regular basis, and on and on. I may just need to accept me for who I am and quit stressing about it. Now to just actually be able to do that.

I read something today that I really liked..........
When you write the story of your life make sure no one else holds the pen!

What works for me

2011-10-03T23:01:00.004-05:00

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 17 years ago. I was 25 at the time and had went through the horrors of thinking I had cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or who knew what. I actually wondered if they really didn't have any idea what was wrong with me and just made up a name. lol Then on top of it.......I have/had OCD. My daddy broke his back and was paralyzed from the waist down. My uncle had passed away 2 weeks earlier. Life was so out of control and so the dr says.....That was one area I took control in and I cleaned like a fire out of control. I cleaned so much that I was literally making myself ill. I felt like I was going crazy and didn't know what was wrong with me. Thank God, a friend called and read part of an article out of Reader's Digest about OCD and I was like.....that's me! Wow, this could go on to be a book, and I'll add more as time goes on but to make a long story short.......There were more bad days than good and some where I could hardly get out of bed and didn't. I tried so many remedies, herbs, health food things to the point that I was pretty much skeptical of anything. They would give me pain killers but those things scare me. I've seen first hand what they can do. My daughter, Brooke, had asthma so bad that I would sit up and hold her so she could sleep at night and she would have to have treatments several times a day and night. Rev. Beers told me about a product called Juice Plus that had helped one of his grandchildren. If I ordered it, she would get it free for entering a children's study they are doing. I did it! (she no longer uses and inhaler or treatment by the way, and I can't remember the last time she has been sick) I now take 3 tablets a day and have more good days than bad and actually have a life again. I met a lady, Cindy Hartly, who is absolutely amazing. She has MS and a good day for her was getting out of bed and sitting on the couch. When I met her I was only taking one tablet a day and she advised me to go up to two. I couldn't believe the difference it made. I wish I could tell you all about it like she can. I think she should write a book! Basically, in a nutshell.........If we could get all our fruits and vegetables in a day, foods that hadn't been picked before ripe and lost nutrition, that is the best thing!! But, this is not a perfect world and we can't! So to bridge the gap, Juice Plus takes fresh fruits, veggies, and berries and dehydrates them, and puts them in a capsule form. What's funny is I've been taking this for years and now it came out on TV today. Below is a link that will explain so much better what I am trying to say.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2097567154343

https://www.juiceplus.com/nsa/content/Home.soa?site=ew46914

Homemade Dog Biscuits

2011-10-03T22:16:00.008-05:00

First of all, I caved. Me, with my OCD and having said I would NOT have a dog in my house......I ate my words. And Chloe has stolen my heart. She is, of course, the cutest, smartest, most adorable dog ever. lol Here she is wanting a treat! :-) She will now sit, lay, and walk on her back legs for a treat and definitely knows what "treat" means.

I have found that dog treats are quite expensive, especially if you're like me and want them made in the USA. Surfing around on blogs I found the neatest little blog and this girl had a dog, that I think is blind and deaf and she shared the cutest stories and pics of him. Anyway, I got this recipe off of her blog and now........I can't find her blog. I thought I had saved it. :-( If anyone knows the blog, please let me know so I can give her credit for this.

Dog Biscuits

4 C whole wheat flour

1 C cornmeal

1/2 C parmesan cheese

1/4 C milk

1 1/2 C water

2 eggs

1/2 C canola oil

Preheat oven to 350. Oil or spray 2 baking sheets. Combine all ingredients till mixed well. Roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/2 thickness. Either cut into squares or rectangles. (I used cookie cutters.) Bake for about 20 minutes or until biscuits are hard. Let cool. I found that you should really make sure they are completely cool and dry before you put them in anything. These are not to be sealed in a container. Just put them in a bowl or something without a lid. Chloe absolutey loves these and we shared with my friends dog and she loved them, too.

Cooling doggie treats

All arranged in a bowl my father-in-law made and sitting on my buffet. :-)

Update: I found the website.

http://www.jenandcoblog.com/homemade-dog-biscuits/

Tip Me Tuesday

2011-09-05T23:30:00.002-05:00

Loving Tip Junkie's! Tip Me Tuesday sure does have a lot of great ideas!

With school starting and going out of state for a family reunion I haven't gotten a lot of crafty things accomplished. I did do 9 scrapbook pages and started on my cards for a card swap I'm in. I'll have to post some when they are completed.

Pinterest Addiction

2011-08-19T00:24:00.002-05:00

I find that Pinterest is one of my very favorite sites these days. I "am" trying make it a good thing, tho. I have made quite a few of the projects that I have found and yesterday I made a new recipe. It must have been good because tonight Christopher asked what it was I had on the stove and told me it was so good he had 3 pieces. lol I'm hoping it'll motivate me to get some gifts made for Christmas. I did finish one day before yesterday and it was an idea I pinned. I'm loving the cake stands and have made one for me and one for a gift. I guess rather than just telling about it, I should just put pics up. I think I'll do that tomorrow. (Well, later today) I just realized the time and should really get some sleep. :-)

Zucchini Butter and more

2011-08-10T21:53:00.005-05:00

I am so glad it isn't so hot anymore! It's sad when you think 88 feels good! :-) Hoping tomorrow will be a good day, too, since I work for Nancy. At least it's enjoyable to work for her. She spoils me. ;-)

I'm hoping to run across someone sick of zucchini! I made zucchini butter and it is soooo good! You would never know it isn't apple butter.

Zucchini Butter

4 cups cooked and blended zucchini (peel & remove seeds)

4 Tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cups sugar (I use brown sugar)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp allspice (I couldn't find allspice, I really thought I had some, soooo I used pumpkin pie spice lol)

Boil zucchini til tender,

drain and then puree in blender.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients & put in crock pot or oven. (If crock pot, on low. Neither recipe told me what to put the oven on)

Cook til desired thickness.

I cooked it all night. It is delicious! My hubby and momma both loved it!

Put into jars and then hot bath to seal.

1000+ free sewing and craft tutorials

2011-08-03T12:05:00.004-05:00

http://everythingyourmamamade.com/its-all-about-the-free-tutorials/

I haven't gotten a chance to go through them but am looking forward to finding more projects I want to add to my looooonngg list! lol

Make your own Babylegs

How to make a crib / toddler bed sheet

How to make a Pack ‘N Play / playard sheet

Gathering with a serger or sewing machine too!

3-in-1 T-Shirt Dress / Tunic Top/ Skirt For toddlers to adults!

A Personalized Little Girls Apron!

No-Itch Twill Tape Tags & Clothing Labels

How To Use Bento Egg Molds

My Scarf Dress

Free NICU Smock Pattern

Bookmark clean-up! 1000+ free tutorials, patterns & websites FULL of patterns that I have had saved in my bookmarks . (These are not my own tutorials, but links to others I admired & would love to try in the future)

170+ Bags, Purses, Pouches & Backpack Tutorials

78+ Kids Gift Tutorials

80+ Girls Clothing Tutorials

20+ Boys Clothes Tutorials

43+ Maternity, Nursing, & Expecting/New Mom Tutorials

77+ Infant & Toddler Tutorials

36+ Tutorials for MEN & Women!

36+ Tutorials for Women!

47+ Womens & Juniors Clothing Tutorials

98+ Apron Tutorials

84+ Tutorials For The Home!

10+ Quilts & Quilting Tutorials

11+ Crochet Patterns

354+ Edible Gifts (Like jar mixes)

24+ Techniques, Modifications & Alterations!

12+ Sites for free patterns & tutorials

Items I have made from others free tutorials (with the tutorial link of course )

Nylon Chiffon Girls Pettiskirts

Womens Azalea Dress

Emma & Emmy (Or Eddie) The Earthworm

These are not my tutorials but have some links to other great free tutorials & patterns…

Burda Open Source Sewing

Lots of free great tutorials (good for beginners too)

You can also buy & instantly download great patterns from YouCanMakeThis.com. They even have smaller patterns that you can download for FREE as well!!!

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Making a skirt from a pair of jeans

2011-07-31T03:13:00.005-05:00

I had done this years ago for some of my girls at church. It seems it's all the rage now. :-)

I did find some tips to make it easier, tho.

$5 find at Rue 21

Learned that if you want the frayed look just cut along the inside seam instead of taking

all that time to rip the seams out. Love that idea! :-)

My daughter wanted her skirt really long and she's pretty tall so I didn't have

much from the bottom of the legs to work with. I noticed the skirt she had on

was done something like the one above so I was able to fill the front in and part

of the back.

I used some striped jean that I had and sewed strips together to fill in the back.

This is the 3rd skirt I've done recently. I have many more to do thanks to my sons

girlfriend for the jeans to make them with. :-)

Spiced Hot Caramel Cider

2011-07-19T00:53:00.005-05:00

The first time my hubby took me to Starbucks and bought me a Hot Spiced Caramel Cider I was hooked. But.......the price was enough that I refused to spend that much money even tho I loved it. I had a coupon for Starbucks so decided to get something. I watched the girl behind the counter make one of the cider drinks and thought......I can do that at home. So.......here is how I did it. It's great with apple cider but you can use apple juice and it's not as expensive.

Simmer your apple juice and mulling spices using the amount it tells you to on the package.

If you can't find the mulling spices you can get the spices ground and mixed in a little carton

at most little markets.

I used sugar free Caramel ice cream topping. Put plenty in there. :-)

Stir well and put whipped cream on the top. I have little caramel sugar sprinkles that I put on top, too! My hubby loves this and has even taken it in his thermos when he goes hunting! :-)

I know it's summer and this is not when most people are wanting hot drinks but........it gives you plenty of time to find any ingredients you may not have! :-) Enjoy!

How to make marshmallow fondant

2011-07-07T14:42:00.003-05:00

This is probably the easiest way I've found to make the fondant. But....I add 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/8 tsp of almond extract. You can add the coloring in at anytime.

Marshmallow fondant cupcake toppers

2011-07-07T13:59:00.012-05:00

Brooke has a new hobby of making miniatures with polymer clay. She is so creative and does a great job. When my bestie asked for a shopping themed cake or cupcakes for her daughter, making fondant mini shapes came to mind. It was a lot of fun and even more so when Brooke helped me make some of the toppers.

Shopping bag with mini receipt.

Shoe with price tag that Brooke made.

Purse with matching wallet.

Sooooo, after the fun with this, I saw an idea for our 4th of July cookout. Cupcake grills with shish kabobs, hamburger/cheeseburgers, and hot dogs. I did find out that I want a pasta maker for making small rolls of fondant. lol I resorted to making the grill from icing after rolling so many from fondant.

A good blogger.......I am not!

2011-05-07T16:48:00.003-05:00

I so love reading other blogs and getting ideas! I love the tutorials on how to make things and have used so many of them but alas......I'm just not like those other people! lol I kind of got myself so busy that if I could sit down at the computer I didn't want to have to think about what I'm writing, upload pics, etc. That seemed like work! lol (also, went thru one of the worst years of my life and really didn't want to put that kind of thing on a blog.) Cleaning houses, taking Brooke to school 2 days, homeschooling, spending time with momma, etc. sure didn't help me get "our" house cleaned! :-( So....I have decided that a huge deep cleaning and getting rid of lots of stuff is the answer. I am on my way but soooooooo slowly that it is somewhat maddening. lol 2 weeks and school is out and I think I am almost as happy as my girl!!!!

I have learned so many new things craft-wise and I really want to share. I think I will link to some of the awesome people that I have found online that have taught me so much!!!

Well, Happy National Scrapbooking Day from the girl who hasn't scrapped all day and probably won't. That's ok! I will and got the cards from the card swap I was in and loved them and also made my momma pretty happy. I joined extra groups for her and that was a gift from me to her!

LIFE

2011-03-16T10:28:00.004-05:00

You know, as a little girl I dreamed of growing up, getting married, having children, and having a fairy tale life and everything just going great! Well, I wish the rest of the world had gotten the note so it could have happened that way. lol I did get part of my dream, tho! I have a great husband who is a wonderful daddy, 2 awesome kids (most of the time) that I wouldn't trade for anything, a home where everyone loves God and attends church and we love each other. Throw in the fact that my son's girlfriend loves us and enjoys being with us and that makes for some happy times!

But...........sometimes the rest of the world isn't so happy and then our lives are kinda miserable. I wonder why people lie when it's obvious to all around that they are lying. Do they truly think we're that stupid or have they convinced themselves???? I so wish I knew how to help them. It's sad when you love the people but fear being around them because you never know what will be told about you.

Sometimes I think it would be so awesome to move far, far away and take my little family with me and hide out from the world. Then I start to think about how I'd want to take momma, then my sis, and couldn't take her without her hubby and daughter and family, then my besties, then I'd need to take their families..........and the list goes on Why must I love people so much? Why do I care so much when others are hurt? It would be easier if it was aimed at me.

So, I guess I'll just muddle along and keep asking God for wisdom to know how to deal with all that life has thrown me this last year. It has been one of the worst years of my life but yet some of it has been the best, in spite of the bad! In the end, one thing I know.......God is Good!!!

Homemade Magic Shell

2011-02-16T21:00:00.003-06:00

Look what I found???? I am so happy! Chris and well, Brooke and I love magic shell. I prefer the Reeses and so does Chris. Brooke likes the Heath. I plan on trying this soon!!! (Well, when we run out of all Chris got for Christmas!
This is the blog I found it on --------->http://showtellshare.blogspot.com/
Homemade Magic Shell
Who does not love Magic Shell? This week I came across a recipe, that is super easy and we already had the 2 ingredients in the cupboard. Coconut oil and chocolate chips. We tried it out tonight. There are many recipes online, some add a dash of sea salt, and the ratio of the coconut oil and chocolate chips are a bit different. We used 1 c coconut oil and about 2 1/2 c chocolate chips. Mix them together over low heat. In a few minutes we had Magic Shell ready to try. It was delicious and hardened just like the real Magic Shell.
And if you feel like being creative, you could try peanut butter chips, vanilla chips or add toffee bits...
I clean for 3 people tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good day! Trying to fight this bug I caught. Friday and Saturday, I get to be home!!!!! Clean house and make cards/craft! That's what I hope to accomplish! Well, along with facebooking, blogging, etc. lol

What a change a few months can make

2011-02-15T23:52:00.003-06:00

Life has had so many changes and thrown so many things at me that I've never faced before. 2010 was probably one of the worst years I've faced. In spite of that......there were lots of good things. Momma going to Israel thus fulfilling one of her dreams and her starting college was another. Now.....she is on the honor roll and received a small scholarship! And yes, I am very proud!!!! She'll be 75 next month and walks circles around me. She sure inspires me to do more!!!! If you were to ask her......she wouldn't take the credit, tho! She'll tell you that God has helped her all the way! I am learning to rely more on God than ever since this past year!

A few more positive things.....Brooke is homeschooling 3 days a week and goes to school 2. I like it and so does she! :-) I am doing better physically and now clean houses 2 days a week! Who would've thought that OCD me would be cleaning other people's houses. lol

I've been doing a lot more crafting and have accomplished a lot on momma's Israel scrapbook that I'm making her. Altering boxes/containers has become one of my new favorite things to do! I need to post some of the new things that I've learned......just in case someone might happen upon my blog and find it of interest. I think I mostly do this blog for me. It's an outlet! Just a way to get things out without someone having to listen to me ramble on and on. :-)

So..........I decided to focus on the good things instead of posting the bad. Things are getting better in some areas, worse in others! In spite of it all........I find I am very blessed and have a lot to thank God for! Perhaps I'll end on that note and blog more when I'm not so tired and feeling lousy from whatever bug I have picked up!

Link for making gift bags from newspaper

2010-08-18T00:29:00.002-05:00

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-make-gift-bags-from-newspaper.html
I haven't tried this since I just found it tonight but I think I'd like to! Maybe I will and put pics up. Don't hold your breath, just in case! :-)

Crafts, Thoughts, and whatever else I come up with

2010-08-17T14:11:00.009-05:00

I found an idea for making a paper flower and can't remember where. When I find out, I'll try to give credit. Anyway, I took some pics with my cell phone to show it. You basically start out by cutting a circle and then cutting it into a spiral. You can zig zag your sisscors or just cut regular.

Then you get the outside end with tweezers and roll it up as follows........

This one is with two layers of paper. You know me, gotta try something different!

The finished product! The center round part winds up as the bottom and I used sticky dots

to adhere it together.

I've actually been working on momma's Israel scrapbook and I'm liking it! :-) It's not always easy to scrapbook something when I wasn't there. At least, for me! I'll try to take some pics of it and get them on here.

I have been Spring Cleaning!!!!!! For months! lol Momma and I have been trading off helping each other and it's so much easier to get things done! I still have a couple closets, totes, buffet, and china cabinet to go! We won't talk about the garage and attic! lol I'm getting there and getting rid of sooooo much junk! It's much easier to keep house this way! Momma had me help her clean her garage cabinets and I kid you not, her cabinets looked almost as good as my cabinets in the kitchen BEFORE we cleaned them! :-)

I've done some painting and decorating and now it's put me in the mood to do more but alas, work calls for the next few days so the fun will have to wait.

Ah, and now........Life! Change! I don't do well with change! My aunt is dying.........just waiting......she's off of life support and it's just the waiting game now. A dear friend is in the hospital and was improving so much and has now regressed so badly. People who aren't faithful to those that love them, those that drugs have gotten such a hold on! Sometimes, I almost wish I didn't care about people so much! Just almost, tho! My son's new job has him working nights and I tend to be a worry wart! And........I won't bore you with the rest!

One good change........Brooke is going to Salem Park Academy this year. Homeschool for 3 days and go to school 2 days a week. I'm excited about that.

Perhaps, since we won't be running as much when school starts I can actually have a real blog and not wait months in between!

Night, for now!

Random thoughts and ramblings

2010-06-28T02:08:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking lately about how blessed I am and how fortunate I am to have had the parents I have/had! No, life wasn't perfect and we weren't the richest family on the block, but there was love! Lots of love and I was taught to love others, be merciful and compassionate, and not judgmental! I'm learning more and more to be thankful for that! I see so many people so concerned about others and the way that they are living that those same people forget to worry about themselves and live a double standard life! I so hope I'm instilling those same qualities in my children!

I keep saying "When I grow up I wanna be organized like momma and Lisa!" Well, I think 41 is grown up enough and I'm working on it. I'm finding the key is to get rid of as much as possible! Large school projects.......I'm taking pictures of them and then they get thrown away! I'll scrapbook the pictures and still have the memory and story to go with it! Ah, to actually have things always in order so that it wouldn't bother me to open my door to company at anytime! Will I ever get there????? (Perhaps, since I'll have the help of my awesome momma! :-)

http://orgjunkie.com/

Above is a great organizing blog!

After my organizing...................................I have so many things I want to do!

Scrapbooking! Always lots of pictures to do and I love it!

Sewing! Things to repair and so many that I want to make!

Tole painting! A ton of wood and other projects that I want to paint!

Crocheting! I am currently working on pen and tablet holders for my aunt, a shawl, and not sure what else.

Cross Stitch! I have large picture with the words and music to Amazing Grace started for momma.

Cardmaking! I have some started and many ideas I want to try.

Cake Decorating! Graduation cakes due the end of July and I'd love to find somewhere to take more classes.

Piano playing! I'd like to take more lessons.

Now to start getting some of those things accomplished! :-)

Well, I was gonna share some pics but since it's after 4am and I'm still feeling puny from whatever bug I have, I think I'll wait!

Night/Mornin'

Blogging and other stuff

2010-05-24T13:59:00.008-05:00

You know......I love to read people's blogs! I like watching the videos they put up to show you how to make crafts. Love finding new recipes. Enjoy seeing decorating ideas. But......I have become so lazy about doing my own blog! I've learned lots of new techniques in stamping and scrapbooking that I could share. I actually have......on my cell phone! lol Take pics, send 'em to my niece. But then I have to take that itty bitty card out of my phone, put it in my SD card, put that in the printer, wait for it to come up, save them, sign into my blog etc. etc. Like I said......I've been lazy.

Well, I'm gonna try to remedy that! I HAVE succeeded in some of my goals for the year! I have several dr. bills paid off, I'm getting my savings up there, I lost a few (ok, very few but it's still a loss) pounds, and I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff and still organizing. If I'd just quit moving large furniture and then moving bones out of place I would probably have a lot more done!!

I'm actually getting my scrap/craft area fixed up and Chris said he'd put a ceiling fan in! I'm loving it!!

Here's momma and Judy getting ready to fly off to Israel! They had a wonderful time! Prayers sure got thru for momma as she was able to do most everything. Walking for miles, up and down steps, and she'd like to go back! :-)

So proud of a very special nurse, who is a wonderful friend! She won an award in the "Salute to Nurses 2010" nomination! I was asked to write a letter and here it is.........

Donna Austgen: “Salute-To-Nurses” nomination for 2010

It is my honor to nominate Donna Austgen for the 2010 "Salute-To-Nurses". In 1984, when I was 15, I was in an auto accident that splintered my right femur. I was in the hospital and in traction for over 2 months. My bones just wouldn't heal and we were looking at surgery and possibly the surgery not even working. Donna was a bright spot in each and every day that she was there. As a teen who had never been in the hospital, having to have someone help bathe me and do so much for me was not easy. But Donna made me laugh and put me at so much ease, that I was bummed on the days that she had off. She didn't only take care of me, she spent time with me. We talked and laughed as I recorded us on my "tape player", she explained things about procedures on our movie camera, and so much more. She was so wonderful, not only to me, but also to my family. I cannot explain what her fun and laughter and wonderful care did for a very scared 15 year old girl.
6 years later Donna was the nurse who did the pregnancy test and told my husband and I that we were going to have our first baby. Many times she's spent time talking with me on the phone and sent me cards. How many nurses are still in contact with a patient 25 years after taking care of them? Donna genuinely cares for others from her heart! I cannot think of a more deserving person to nominate for this award.

I could make this a super long post but.......I think I'll save some for another day! Hopefully, before two months go by! :-)

Cake Bakers needed!

2010-03-16T20:09:00.003-05:00

I think someone should start a business of doing nothing but baking cakes for decorators to buy! The cake baking is not fun! The decorating is a blast!

So.........6 cakes baked and crumb coated and 7 to go!!!! Getting ready to bake one more tonight and make some fondant and then I'm done til in the morning!

Momma went to Israel and is having such a good time. She'll be back on her birthday and I can hardly wait! I miss her! I can't wait to see her pics and hear her stories. Just talking to her on the phone is so neat. She has absolutely loved it and I'm so glad she got this opportunity to fulfill one of her dreams!

Well, this will probably be one of my shortest blogs.........I have way too much too do to ponder over things to write! Besides, I think my brain has short circuited!!!!

Sleep well!

On the search for.........

2010-02-18T11:03:00.004-06:00

Motivation! Energy, would do! Actually, I'd be happy with just feeling pretty good! I've tried coffee and energy drinks to no avail. It seems if there is a bug and I get anywhere near it.......I'm gonna get it. I recently heard of something called "probiotics". Anyone heard of it? A friend of ours who has beat leukemia but is still taking chemo is taking it and it seems to be doing it's job.

I'm having a Stampin' Up party at momma's tonight and still don't have the cheese balls made, still need to do more laundry, dishes, sort the rest of the girl scout cookies, take a shower, and a whole list of other stuff! (by the way, it's already 12:32 in the afternoon) I'm supposed to go scrappin' tomorrow night and I need to get my stuff together for that. Wow, now this is starting to sound like a whine session! lol! I think I could sleep for a straight 24 hours and still be sleepy. Perhaps I need iron. Perhaps just a swift kick in the behind would work??? UGH!

I read so many stories in magazines about how someone found this awesome pill/drink/powder, you name it, and they have such energy and now they aren't sick/tired/ achy etc anymore! Why can't I find one of those? lol

I was loving all the snow but.......considering that our schools around here rarely believe in 2 hour delay's, let alone snow days........I think I'm ready, almost, for spring. I just don't like the storms spring brings but I think I'm done with snow.

Ok, I think all the coffee I'm drinking isn't doing a thing for my motivation but is messing with my mind! I am getting off of here and I WILL get something done! For real! Seriously! Ta ta for now!

4 months of catching up..........

2010-02-09T14:38:00.003-06:00

Wow! What a bad blogger I've been. lol Let's see how much I can catch up in 20 lines! :-)

1. Chris' work went down to "none" for a period of time.
2. I actually got my tree up and decorated before Thanksgivng!!
3. In Nov. we went to TN and had Thanksgiving and Christmas with family! Great time!
4. Enjoyed family and doing lots of baking/candy making.
5. Matt won in the powdered sugar contest! lol
6. Realized that in spite of getting my tree done early (popcorn and cranberries, too) that I'm farther behind than ever this year.
7. Made caramels, Candy kiss cookies, Chocolate covered cherries, Cookie dough truffles, and so much more for the holidays.
8. Loved having both of my kids home for Christmas break.
9. Had 3 separate Christmas' in Dec. 1 with Rosemary, Alan, and Deborah, 1 with Mark and Elizabeth, and then the big one at momma's on Christmas.
10. Momma fell and broke her arm in 3 places and dislocated her shoulder.
11. Realized that even with student loans we didn't have the money to send Christopher back to college. (couldn't find a job in Cincy)
12. Momma had to have surgery after all due to her shoulder dislocating more rather than getting better.
13. Aunt Lois came and stayed for a week to help take care of momma. Loved that!!!!
14. Hoping momma can still go to Israel in spite of her arm.
15. Christopher got a steady job!!!!
16. All of my jobs fell thru! lol Except for making Angel's wedding cake in March.
17. Chris' work is mostly 40 hours/week and he's working side jobs non stop to try to get us caught up.
18. Lots of snow and loving it.
19. Finally, TODAY, we had a snow day! No school for the first time this school year. And.....today wasn't as bad as the other days that we had a 2 hr delay! lol
20. Feeling better after being sick the last 2 days.

Maybe I will get my act together and get some pics on here. I never did get my Christmas cards sent out. Maybe I'll just send 2 Christmas updates this year! lol
I do have goals for this year..................
1. Get a savings account built up that I won't touch for remodeling!!!! Emergency's only
2. Pay off the other 10 dr/hos bills I have
3. Organize and Simplify my house!!!!!!!!
4. Be even more frugal and get out of debt. (Think Dave Ramesy)
5. Lose 20 lbs
Let's see.......so far I've been working on organizing. Going thru certain areas at a time and it feels good.
We've been more frugal than I've thought of in a LONG time!
I'm working on my diet but been sick and haven't even bothered with weighing.
Working on the dr. bills slowly.
Have a small savings but it needs much work!!!!
Have a great day!

I'm still kicking..........barely! lol

2009-10-17T12:53:00.003-05:00

I have been really neglegent in my blogging. I guess I got out of habit when I had surgery and spent most of the summer at Momma's! Hi i am brooke watson i love you sososososososososososs much! mommy. <----This is what happens when you walk away from the computer and leave your blog window open! lol That's ok, I think it's sweet!
Anyway.........Christopher is doing well at college, I still miss him and love the weekends he comes home, Brooke loves her 4th grade teacher but I don't remember all this work when Christopher was in 4th grade!
My niece, Angel, taught me how to loom knit and I'm truly enjoying it. (even tho I had said "NO MORE HOBBIES" lol) I plan to start cleaning part time and am hoping I'll get some substitute teaching calls since my permit has been renewed.
Christopher is home and the kids are wanting the computer so I'll update more later!!!!!!
Have a great weekend!

When life changes your plans

2009-07-20T14:52:00.008-05:00

Wow, I had so many plans for this summer! I was gonna organize my house bigtime, Chris was gonna get all four floors torn up and redone, I would take the kids roller blading and walk lots with Lisa and her kids, etc. etc. Approx. 6 months ago or more I was having problems with nausea off and on. With a med change and such I blamed it on that, then it kept getting worse and I started getting heartburn. Pregnancy was a thought but no, it wasn't that! So after eating Uncle Rays BBQ chips and almost instantly getting heartburn I think.......I'm getting older and now I just can't eat really spicy stuff! Now I know what it is!!! Not so! We have a 50th birthday party for my sis (complete with Famous Dave's BBQ and about everything they serve, KFC, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge, and a Juke Box cake) and I get sicker than I think I have ever been in my life! (Vomiting like 20 times) Ididn't eat much bbq but figured it must have been enough. Too make a long story short......that was Sat. night. By Monday morn I was still so sick I decided to drive myself to immediate care. (I wasn't sick the whole time, just off and on) The dr told me it was my gall bladder and he made me an appt. at the hospital to have tests done that day. I had an inflamed gall bladder, sludge, and gall stones. He did NOT want me to get one in a duct! I got so bad Tues. night that we went to emergency but they just gave me morphine and crazy pills! (Lortab) Wed. I went to the surgeon and he scheduled surgery for Friday. Sure enough.......a stone had gotten in the duct going into my gall bladder and stopped it up so hence the bad pain! Crazy emergency doc just wanted to get me out of there! 6 gall stones and gall bladder taken out and I was a happy camper! Well, not really! I heard all these awesome stories about how everybody felt so good afterwards that they either went shopping the very same day or had family over for a get together a couple days later etc. that I expected to feel awesome! Not so! It took me a week! Leave it to me!

Chris and Christopher took the oppurtunity to tear up what needed to be of the kitchen floor and put down my new hardwood! Chris cleaned the outsides of my cabinets, fridge, and painted and put up my kitchen border! It looks awesome. Buuuuuttttt.......my element in my oven had went out and when Chris went to pull it out to get the numbers off of the back the whole front glass shattered! Big time! I have to wait 7-10 days to get that in! So back to momma's to bake the cakes for Marilyn and Larry's 50th wedding anniversary! We came back home Friday, got the cakes decorated, went to the party Sat. then to Tab's for Chris to split wood, (mopmma went with us) Sun. BJ and Sam came home with us, and today I am sick with some bug that Brooke so sweetly shared with me! What a summer I have had! lol But I truly enjoyed all my time with momma even tho I was recovering from surgery etc. Chris plans to tear up the bathroom and large hallway either this week or next so that it'll be done before Brooke starts school. Christopher has to be at college by Aug. 18 and I try not to think about that! I will miss him so much!

Now that I have written a book trying to catch up I think I'll add the pics to this post! :-)

New Mexico Mission Trip

2009-06-23T00:24:00.003-05:00

Christopher got a chance to go on a mission trip to New Mexico and while I missed him lots, I'm so glad he was able to go. He not only worked at the Indian Mission but he also went to the Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Colorado Rockies, and lots more. I'll add pics and such later but he'll need to tell me more about them so that I'll label them correctly. I AM glad to have him back home!!!!! :-)

A Wonderful Birthday

2009-06-23T00:19:00.003-05:00

I had such a wonderful time with two wonderful friends! I am so blessed. Bro. Beers funeral happened to be on my actual birthday so Lisa and MiChelle planned a special day just for me a couple weeks later. They took me shopping at Greenwood to the stores of my choice, to Panera Bread for supper, and Coldstone Creamery for dessert! We had such a wonderful time. Ahhh, the memories even now. Lots of laughter, Flying mints, unbreakable water bottles (NOT), etc. This will now be a new tradition for each of our birthdays! I can't wait!!!!!!

Thoughts......

2009-05-12T08:35:00.003-05:00

How in the world do you tell your children that someone so very important in their life has passed away? How do you try to explain the questions when you don't have answers yourself? In the human all I can think of is - But God, We NEED him! Rev. James Beers was so many things in our life. Not only mine and Chris' school administrator but now Christopher's. Friend, Prayer Warrior, Doctor, and so much more. Christopher drank in the knowledge that he learned from Bro. Beers. Bro. Beers even got Christopher to start eating healthier. My son who said that anything fried had to be better. :-) Political things, legal things.........we don't realize how heavily we rely on someone until we no longer have them. What a legacy he leaves and tho no one can fill his shoes it will take many people to help fill in the gaping hole that he leaves behind.
A precious friend of mine helped with this thought - At an airport there was a group of people crying as their loved one was leaving on a long journey, but there was another group cheering and full of glee. Their loved one had arrived home. As is with Bro. Beers. We are so sad to see him go and we're crying tears for ourself, but on Heaven's shore there is a group of people cheering and so happy to see him. God, please help me to be a better person so that I may be able to help fill the tiniest spot and to also be worthy of that honor.

Sunshine.......

2009-04-27T08:10:00.009-05:00

I opened the blinds and the beautiful rays of sunshine peeking through did lots for my spirits this morning! I am so happy to see sunshine! Now......if I can just get over this bug that I have. I am thankful to be feeling better than I was. I might even have a little bit of motivation! lol That is.....after this cough med wears off and I'm not so sleepy. April has been a rough month with sickness. Both kids were sick and then me again.........

Momma is coming over tomorrow to spend the day with me and I so love being with her!

My dear, sweet hubby took Saturday and devoted it to me and took the kids and I out for breakfast and then took me to some stores that I had been wanting to go to. We went to Kohl's and my ragged, jean and pull over shirt wearing son got "Dress shoes, 2 ties, and dress shirts"!!! Wow, did he clean up nice for Sat. night and Sun! :-)

I bought a bunch of totes and plan on organizing Brooke's toys so that she can get to them easily AND put them away easily! lol The putting away being the key part here!!!! I also want to organize my yard sale stuff so that the garage isn't such a mess. I hope to get rid of alot at the yard sale and what's left.......I'll give to Good Will or some such store! I just don't enjoy keeping stuff around that I want to get rid of.

We had a great time camping with the Gilley's and Tooley's and look so forward to doing it again soon! I loved it!

All of us girls on the beach at the campgrounds!

Bubby helping Brooke reel her fish in. He hadn't caught anything yet and we stopped by to see the guys while they were fishing. Brooke just wanted to cast one time before we left. Bubby helped her and within minutes.....she had a fish!!! :-)

Group picture of us without Danny so.......

Here's Danny and Teresa! :-)

One thing Christopher MUST have on any trip! One of his guitars!!!!

Well, lest my post get too boring I'll quit and try to post some more highlights of my most exciting life later! lol

Sick of being sick

2009-03-29T22:10:00.005-05:00

I just want to feel even kinda good! I had so many plans for this past week. I didn't have anywhere I had to go and I was going to spring clean and organize. I have to rest alot of times so I knew it would take all week and more. Then........I get sick. Monday morning I woke up with a sore throat and it all went downhill from there. Finally, on Thurs. I thought I was getting better and got a little motivation to do some cleaning and by that evening I was a mess. So.......after not going ANYWHERE all week and this weekend I still feel yuck. I guess I just made my blog a venting board. lol Spring Break is this week and I'm hoping it goes better. I'll just do what cleaning I can and hope that I feel good enough for us to go camping Thurs. and Fri.

Here is a picture of Brooke with her little monkey she wanted for her birthday. It's so ugly it's cute! :-)

Here is my 53 cent shopping spree at CVS! I'm trying to learn to play the register rewards game, by using those, coupons and sales. Brooke was pretty impressed. She kept saying...FIFTY-THREE CENTS???? lol

And now......my head hurts and I think I'll save anymore exciting news I may have for later! :-)

Peanut Butter Cream Sandwich Cookies

2009-03-16T21:32:00.007-05:00

These are soooo good! I made them for Chris and Christopher and was hoping I wouldn't like them. No such luck!

Peanut Butter Cream Sandwich Cookies
1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Granulated sugar

1 recipe Peanut Cream Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In bowl beat peanut butter and shortening with mixer on med. speed for 30 sec. Add brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in baking soda, salt, and as much flour as you can. Stir in any remaining flour.

2. Form dough into balls, using a level tsp. each. Place 1-1/2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten by making crisscross marks with tines of fork dipped in suagar.

3. Bake 7-8 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack; cool.

4. Spread one tsp. Peanut Cream Filling on flat side of half of cookies. Top with remaining cookie. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. Freeze unfilled cookies up to 1 month. Makes 4 dozen sandwich cookies.

Peanut Cream Filling

In medium bowl whisk together 3/4 cup peanut butter, 3/4 cup marshmallow creme and 3 tbsp. milk. Gradually whisk in 3 Tbsp powdered sugar.

Here is the cake, complete and set up at the reception.

It's a relief that it's over but the decorating part is so much fun!!!

My baby girl is now 9!!!! I just can't believe it! Time is going so fast........the older I get and yada yada! lol

Well, that's enough for now. If I told you all the drama that had been going on in our life lately you probably wouldn't believe me anyway! lol God has answered prayer in a lot of ways and I'm expecting more!

Busy Life

2009-03-13T22:31:00.005-05:00

First of all, Phillip is home and doing well. Pretty good for a guy who was just on life support and little over a week ago and not much hope to live. He will have to make a diet change and such in his life but.......He is alive!

I have been soooo busy this week. I forgot how much work it was to make a wedding cake AND I had Aunt Lois and Momma helping me with washing things when I did Elizabeth and Mark's!

I got the cake done earlier this afternoon and don't have to have it set up until tomorrow at 2pm.

I guess I did good! :-) Here are a couple pics.

The cake topper will be in the center of the circle of roses. The second pic is my favorite of the three cakes!

I took Brooke to violin lessons Tues. and before that went to a couple stores.

Wed. we went to church, Wendy's to meet friends, and Kroger before heading back home.

Thurs. we went to B.J.'s school program

and today I finished the cakes. Tomorrow we set up the cakes and I will probably crash after we get home!!!! It was fun, tho, and I'd do it again! :-)

Next week I get to get caught back up on the housework for company that is coming for the weekend. At least I pretty well kept caught up on the laundry.

I have a recipe to share later for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies! They were Great!!!!

Happy Birthday to Brooke and Update

2009-03-04T10:24:00.003-06:00

First I wanna tell my baby girl "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She's 9 today! She did awesome at her violin lessons last night. I'm so proud of her! There were times that she'd get frustrated and want to quit but since the recital it seems like something just clicked and she's really "getting" it now.
I have awesome news about Phillip! He's off life support and the drain started working!!!!! Momma was so happy when she called. God is Good!

This and That and Update on Phillip

2009-03-03T21:26:00.005-06:00

Someone has come between Debra and Christopher! :-) Jonanthan is a hoot and such fun to be around. This was at Steak n Shake and I had a "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake" It was awesome. That was before this dreaded diet!

One of my favorite spots in our house!

Pancake Puppies! They are awesome! I had them at Denny's the other night. The picture was right side up when I uploaded and goes sideways on here. I tried twice and it's just gonna have to stay sideways!

The drainage tube they put in Phillip is not doing it's job so if things aren't better by tomorrow they have to do another surgery! All prayers are appreciated!

I am missing my momma! I'm sure glad she doesn't LIVE in Louisville or I'd be in trouble.

Bye for now................

Daily Life and Update on Phillip

2009-03-03T09:51:00.010-06:00

Brooke had her first violin recital and did a great job. In this pic she was practicing before the actual recital.

Debra and Christopher. She was describing something and I can't remember what. Her sound effects were great! :-)

Christopher took this one on his cell phone and I have no idea how to make it larger. I like it, tho!

My hanging ladder after I added my miniature kitchen tools to it!

Chris was able to go to work yesterday and today. He left work Thurs. and even made is own dr. appt. I knew he was really sick! lol He had some contagious virus and was down til Monday. He had me worried!

Phillip had a drainage tube put in his lung and if he does ok today they may be able to take him off of life support. He is responding to them. The nurse will tell him to hold up 2 fingers and he will, etc. He tries to move his lips and gets frustrated, I'm sure he's wanting to talk to them. Last night the drain was working well, so if it continues they won't have to do the 2nd surgery. I hope and pray they don't have to!

I felt sick yesterday so didn't get much of anything done. I cannot get warm even tho I have an awesome fire going! I like winter but I am so ready for spring! (except for tornados)

I am ready to get back to my organizing. I am on a mission!

Update on Phillip

2009-03-02T21:46:00.005-06:00

They ran a scope, scraped his lung and that didn't work. They did an MRI and were taking him in to put in a drainage tube and I haven't heard anything since. He was opening his eyes alot this morning. Hopefully, I'll know more in the morning. Momma and Aunt Lois were staying at the hospital till everything was done.

Happenings

2009-03-01T14:39:00.003-06:00

Wow, alot has happened since I last blogged! We went to Washington and spent time with the Tooley's and had a great time and Christopher took the opportunity to take Debra out on Valentine's Day and seal-the-deal of going steady! I'll post some pics later but a certain little girl is wanting the computer! lol
Debra was able to stay with Valerie during Preacher/Lay Convention so we got to spend alot of time with her. The services were awesome and Debra is a sweetheart.
My cousin, Phillip, had to go to the hospital and was in heart failure. He already has emphysema and had pneumonia, and then has the heart failure on top of it. He's been on life support but they were able to turn the oxygen down and now he's breathing quite a bit on his own. He's opening his eyes alot more and it seems to be when momma and Aunt Lois are talking to him or going to pray for him. He's still in ICU but the dr. said he is slowly improving. They have more hope now. Monday they are doing surgery on his lung to clean it due to the pneumonia. I haven't heard more today but will update as I hear.
Thanks for all prayers~

Miracle's still happen!

2009-02-06T13:36:00.003-06:00

Wow, alot can happen in a day! Yesterday, Chris walked in from the hallway and from the look on his face you could tell it was bad. He had just gotten off of the phone from Jeremy and the dr had told him that his leukemia was back. From the bone marrow test the dr was 99% sure it was back and wanted him to start chemo last night. He and Susan didn't have stuff or the kids so wanted to go home and come back today. The dr agreed. Today when they got there Jeremy took off his phone and started to get ready for the dr and the dr came in and told him not to get too comfortable that he was going home. They got the more sensitive test back and it showed 95% that the cancer was GONE! Jeremy is like, ok you tell me last night you're 99% SURE I have it and now 95% sure I don't. How can I get my hopes up when you might tell me the test was wrong and I have it again? The dr said maybe something in the shots Jeremy had been taking could have altered the first test but he said that it wasn't logical and that there was no logical reason that it could show up he had cancer and now that he didn't but if they took his counts and they were up and could be assured the cancer was gone. Well, they took the test and they were as follows......
Yesterday Today
Blood Count 1.8 2.4
Platlets 29 34
Hemoglobon 8.3 8.5
Every one was up. Jeremy told the dr that alot of people had been praying for him and the dr's reply......"They must have prayed all night!" Susan said you hear about this happening to other people but you don't expect it for yourself!

On a sadder note, Granny went home to be with Jesus on Jan. 27, 09! She had a very peaceful home going and I am sure she is enjoying her pain free time with Jesus and loved ones. Please, pray for the family.

Bits and Pieces

2009-01-17T20:08:00.003-06:00

Jeremy has had his last round of chemo but they are having to keep an eye on him still. He has dr appt. about every other day until his counts come back up. His hair is growing back in and his color is lots better. We have had so much fun being with the family. Susan and Taylanee just put up with my craziness. lol Brooke and Karissa have lots of fun playing together and Jonathon and Christopher have fun on the PSP's.
Granny is sure a little fighter. They called the girls in Thurs. night because they thought this was the end. The pacemaker was what was keeping her heart beating. Now her heart has started up on it's own again. As of right now she'll go home and have hospice come in. This is the beginning of the end but she's just not ready to go yet. She plans to be at her great-grandson's birthday party tomorrow. :-)
It's pretty warm here today.....in the 30's! Sad to say, it does almost seem warm. :-)
We're going to my sisters for dinner tomorrow and that's always fun.
Tues. after I get Brooke off to school, Christopher will drive me to the hospital and drop me off. He'll go to school and when he gets out go to momma's. After Elaine's surgery and she's fine, we'll head back to momma's and hopefully be home before Brooke gets out of school. Elaine's surgery is at 10:00am.
Friday, Lisa, Michelle, Karen, and I are going to a crop and I am so looking forward to it. Karen is a new friend I met a few months ago. I have found someone who is funnier than me. She loves to laugh, she laughs loud like me, she's forgetful, and so much more. We have so much fun. All of us went to Karen's fiance's house last night for dinner and games. It was so much fun. We played spoons. Have you ever heard of that? It's a hoot! We used "Swap" game cards to play it.

December and what it can bring

2009-01-08T22:17:00.006-06:00

Reading the Christmas Story!

December was a busy month and so different than what I planned. I was voted in (along with my hubby) to be in charge of the church Christmas Program because of sickness and I have new appreciation for our normal leader! :-) But.....I have to say, our kids did an awesome job and I am very proud of them! We headed to momma's the Sat. before Christmas so we could get the church set up for the play. Elaine had to come get us so because our car wouldn't start and Chris was gone hunting. So, of course, my plan was....... Chris would get home, fix the car, we'd stay a night or two at momma's and be back home to finish all that baking and candy making that I had started in my fridge! WRONG! First of all, we got to momma's and I thought Butterscotch was dead! I know it's sounds dumb but that crazy hamster has won this family over. I checked her and she was in a fetal position, very cold, and not moving that I could see. I knew I had to tell Brooke. Well, I tell her, she starts to cry, and I have this box fixed to put her in so that we could bury her later. I got her out and the silly thing takes a breath. I wrapped her in a towel and called a vet. They said I could try vegetable baby food! So......Here I am running to the store and getting one jar of baby food. I get back to momma's and she had a syringe that I started using to try to get her to eat. Finally, I could see her mouth moving and then her tongue. I would gently press a little at a time. Well, I guess once I wasn't so gentle because green baby food went all on Butterscotch, my top, etc. Scared myself, let me tell ya! Fortunately, it didn't give her a heart attack and she continued to eat a little more and drink some water. I held that thing for probably an hour. Anyone that knows me and my ocd with animals and cleanliness knows I had to be worried. lol After that hour, she was trying to get away and go check things out. I think I'll become a vet! ha! Anyway, when Brooke found out, she took me to the side and told me that she prayed that God would let her live, even if for just a little bit. The faith of a child. Butterscotch is alive and well and fatter than ever today. :-)

Anyway, back at the home front, Chris found out it was the starter and decided to hit it with the hammer to see if he could get it to momma's to work on it. It worked! (He tried to tell me that he decided it would be cheaper and he'd just put a hammer under the seat for me to use when I went anywhere!) He's done starters before but this one was a doozy.

Monday, momma and I were gonna get some shopping done and a few houses down.......her tire was flatter than a flitter. We called Christopher, her ran down, put the donut on, and it was flat. Who knows what it was? Christopher aired it up and it's still up! Go figure. We did get the donut fixed. The seal had broken. Our car didn't get fixed until Tues. night when my brother brought some tools, getting out in the ice storm to do it! God Bless big brothers who come to our rescue! To make this really looonnnnng story shorter, Christopher went home on Wed. and got all our gifts and stuff to bake and headed back to momma's. We had an awesome time and I would not trade one minute of the time I got to spend with momma. We had such a good time together. Drinking hot cocoa, hot tea, baking, wrapping gifts, shopping, and just being together!

Now I think we're getting back to our old routine except I have lots of catching up to do on the house. I hurt my back after we got home and was down for a few days! Leave it to me!

Memorable Moments

2009-01-08T22:01:00.004-06:00

When I was younger it seems like there had to be something big going on for it to be a memorable day but as I "age" (lol) I am finding that it doesn't take much for moments to be so special. Tonight is an example....I was fixing supper (we had a breakfast meal for supper) and Brooke wanted to know if she could make the orange juice. She did it all my herself. Then as I was making biscuits she wanted to know if she could help. She cut them all out, helped knead it together, and flattened it to cut the rest out. I so enjoyed that time with Brooke and look forward to more nights of us fixing supper together. I wouldn't trade the times of our family just being home together, playing a game, reading together, listening to Odyssey together, and much more. Those are truly the most memorable moments to me!

Power of Love

2008-11-25T11:37:00.003-06:00

Well, I found this article in Woman's Day about a contest they are having wanting you to tell how heart disease has affected a close females life and yours. That got me to thinking about what we went through with momma over 10 years ago. I'll never forget!
Daddy had been paralyzed for about 2 years, Aunt Lucille had just passed away two weeks before, grandma was quickly deteriorating with Alzheimers (some of the siblings were taking turns caring for her in their homes), and momma had been named executor of Aunt Lucille's will. We got a call from daddy in the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 1996. Momma was having a heart attack and the ambulance was on the way. They took her to Hendricks County Hos. They gave her meds to thin her blood and the pains subsided, but she was in bad shape. They didn't want to do anything else because they thought she needed to improve first, I guess. They basically did nothing but have her rest and watch her for the next few days. My sister got the ball rolling and on Oct. 28, momma was transferred to Indiana University Hospital. Thank God! She had another heart attack that night and it was a bad one. They rushed her to emergency surgery immediately. My brother was staying at the hos. and he and my sister were the only one to see her briefly as they were taking her down the hall. (My sister was able to get there after she received the phone call as they were wheeling momma to OR) This was around 8:30pm. We got to the hospital and heard nothing till approx. 1:00am. I must admit that this was one of the worst nights in my whole entire life. I have been blessed with not just an awesome mother, a praying mother, but she's also mine and my sister's best friend. Read Proverbs 31, that's my momma. I was upstairs at a canteen when a dr came out and told daddy that they had lost momma. She had a very diseased heart and the 1% chance that they could bring her back she would most likely be a vegetable. When, Susie, my Godmother, came to tell me I was devastated! I started crying and when they tried to lead me away I dropped to the floor and began to pray for my momma like I had never prayed before. I reminded God of all she had done, the people she had prayed for, how faithful she had been, and then I told Him that He raised Lazurus from the dead and that I knew He could do the same for her. I don't know how long I prayed but I didn't quit till I was done! We went back downstairs and waited some more. At approx. 7:00am they came and told us that they had to use the paddles 3 times in order to bring her back. They had lost her for 7 minutes and she was without oxygen to her vital organs for 14 minutes. Her aorta was brittle like an eggshell and they couldn't close things off there, they had to do the artery by her leg. They replaced her aorta and 3 other arteries but couldn't find enough good veins in her leg to replace all that needed replaced. They now said she had a 20% chance of living and they still couldn't guarentee the quality of life she would have. We waited some more until they let us go back to see her. Daddy and us kids went back and it was like a nightmare. Her hair was neat, so typical of momma, but she was so still and pale, the breathing tube taped to her face, the other tubes and needles. They told us to talk to her. We asked daddy if he wanted to wheel closer to the bed. He dropped his head, tears falling, and then just wilted. A nurse had to take him to another room to take care of him and I panicked. I ran for Susie, our Pastor and my Godmother. I needed her. She came to be with us.
The days seem to run together and I remember when she finally opened her eyes. We were so worried that they wouldn't be clear and focused and knew that could mean brain damage, but I talked to her and told her that Debbie was there and kind of moved. Her eyes searched and when she found Debbie they stopped. We knew then that she hadn't lost memory and such.
Another time she was looking at the clock. I asked her if she wanted daddy and she shook her head and finally I asked if she just wanted time to hurry and pass and she shook her head yes. Still another when we told her we loved her she mouthed "I love you" amidst all the tubes.
One of the scariest times was when they were weaning her off of the breathing machine. The machine would beep when it was time for her to take a breath on her own, the nurse would wake her and explain what it was and that she needed to take a breath. Then the nurse left and it was just momma and I. I would stand there and each time, make sure I woke her and tell her to breathe. I was so scared. I didn't know it but my brother was watching me for some time through the glass. He understood my fears but knew I had to let her do it on her own. He came in and took me outside the door and told me just to watch. Sure enough, the machine beeped, momma opened her eyes, turned and looked at the machine, and then......she took a deep breath. I was so proud of her but one of the hardest things was not being able to stay and make sure she took each breath herself.
Eventually, momma was completely off of the breathing machine and doing well. The surgeon came in ICU to see momma and told her, "You know we lost you!" Momma told him that she had been told. He told her that she was a "miracle lady." Another surgeon who was in the operating room came to see her before she went home, when thanked him for what he had done he told her, "Don't thank me, Thank Him" and pointed upwards.
Tabitha, my niece, and I spent alot of time at momma's helping her and daddy. Now, 15 years later, I look back and I'm amazed at my momma and what God did for her. I took her back to her heart doctor for a check up and he told her that she healed back better than most and if it wasn't for the staples you wouldn't even know that she'd had open heart surgery. When we wanted to know what kind of life expectancy she had, the doctor couldn't tell us. He said she shouldn't even be here now, so he couldn't say. Momma had more than just human doctors that day, she had a Master Physician in that room and He just wasn't done with her. So many people were praying that night and numerous people were there for us and her. She took care of daddy till he passed away in Dec. 2000, she pastored our church for approx. 6 years, took care of a little lady that couldn't stay home alone, and did so much more and is still going! As of May 2010, momma fulfilled 2 of her dreams. In spite of a broken shoulder and surgery, whe went to Israel in March 2010. She finished up her schooling and was able to go thru the ceremony to receive her high school diploma. Should you let the fact that you're 74 yrs old stop you? Not at all! Momma has now finished her first year in college with a scholarship and on the honor roll I might add! On August 22, 2011, she starts her second year of college. She has her own dorm room to stay in whenever she wants and the girls love having her. Momma is loved by all and she loves all!
Once when she was in the hospital she heard a little lady calling out and just had to go down the hall, IV trailing behind, to check on her. That is just the kind of person my momma is!
(UPDATED August 3, 2011)

Autumn Days

2008-11-15T22:37:00.000-06:00

Well, autumn has always been my favorite time of the year but it has been a rough autumn for me this year. Maybe it's because we've had so much rain this year and the days are so dreary. I don't know but I've already put my fall decorations away and plan to get out Christmas.

Jeremy and Susan went home on Monday and the last I knew things were going well. They are supposed to come back up on Nov. 24th to start the next round of chemo.

We had a teen get together with our church and Salem Park last night and things went really well. We made several flavors of hard candy and made homemade taffy. Alyssa's turned out the best. She wasn't afraid to use plenty of butter on her hands and she pulled like crazy. I may post pics tomorrow. They are still on my camera right now.

We start revival next week with Bro. Hobbs starting on Tues. He is an awesome preacher. He keeps Samantha awake and that's takes someone really interesting. lol

Chris got a 10-point buck yesterday afternoon and we had deer filets for supper tonight.

That's about it for things going on around here...............for now anyway!

My day and my cakes

2008-11-09T21:08:00.000-06:00

We had a great day with Jeremy, Susan and their family. They have some awesome kids! I wonder if they threatened them! ha! No, really! The kids were great and had a great time today. Hopefully, the dr. lets Jeremy go home tomorrow or Tuesday. Brooke is bumming. She wants them to just stay the whole time and not go home in between. lol I had it wrong and he has 2 more times to come up for treatments. Now you know I'm not perfect! lol He IS doing better than expected tho.

We were getting ready to go to a viewing of a dear friend and my dear daughter wanted to go outside. I told her not to get dirty and this is what I found her doing. Balancing on a 2X4 on the wood pile.

I did a few more cakes. The check one was for Marvin F. for being treasurer of Salem Park for 50 years.

The guitar one, of course, was for Christopher's 18th birthday. He helped me make sure I placed each knob and such in the right spot. Can you belive he's 18 already????? The check I finished on Friday and the guitar on Sat. I made A LOT of fondant! He loved his cake so it was well worth it!

This is the cake from my last cake decorating class. It was lots of fun. It's sad to be done but then again, I'm glad to be done with driving into Avon so much! The daisies on this cake are done correctly using gum paste. I used fondant for the daisies on the yellow and white cake and they aren't near as pretty. I'm learning. :-)

By the way, the homemade fondant is awesome and it's really hard not to just eat it like candy!
Why couldn't it taste nasty like the kind you buy???? Oh, well!
Later!

Short Update

2008-11-09T00:05:00.001-06:00

Best news first. Jeremy and Susan have been coming to church while they are here for Jeremy's treatments. He's still doing well. They are coming to momma's for dinner tomorrow. Brooke and Karissa hit it off at Steak and Shake the other night. Girls......lol
I finished my cake decorating classes and have pics of several more cakes but am way too tired to try to put them up tonight. Brooke had a sleepover with Girl Scouts last night and I stayed with them. I should have slept on Brooke little princess blow up matress instead of a blanket on the floor. lol I was in a log cabin and not in a tent so I won't complain! Today I sewed a pair of pants into a skirt for BJ, decorated a bear cake for Daveena, made a roast, PB dessert, painted on some crafts, and made an eclair cake. (After taking a nap from the sleepover) My house is a disaster and I'm hoping to get caught up on Monday. I won't get to do laundry though. After getting my dryer fixed a little over a week ago, now my washer won't spin the water out. It is NOT fun wringing stuff out by hand.

Updates on this and that

2008-10-24T15:14:00.002-05:00

I finally had class and did a fondant cake. I'm not overly happy with it but it's ok. I was supposed to use gumpaste for the flowers and used fondant. Oh, well! I'll learn. I made 2 batches of fondant yesterday and a double batch of butter cream icing. I baked 3 cakes today. One was a 12 x 18, a guitar, and an 8" round. The first will be a pay check for so many years of service, the guitar is for Christopher's 18th birthday, and the round is for class Monday!!!!
Now for good news about Jeremy.
This is from Susan, his wife.............
We received good news today, The Leukemia is in remission!!Thank God! We will be in Indianapolis on Sunday evening he starts round 2 on Monday, we got the keys to the apartment on Tuesday when he had the bone marrow done. Jeremy shouldn't have to be hospitalized unless he gets sick or develops an infection. So we should see you in church sometime next week!!
Pretty awesome, huh?
A dear friend passed away, Greg Burket's grandmother, Nellie Brinkman. I need to get ready to go to the viewing so this will be short! later!

Just life......

2008-10-13T12:50:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't get to have my cake class because when I got there the teacher had gotten word that a family member had been killed in a motercycle accident. Tuesday was violin lessons, Wednesday was church and I had the lesson for Chris, Thursday was a school field trip with Brooke to Clowes Hall, (they should spell it like it sounds!!!) and Friday I picked Brooke up early for us to go to Louisville. We took momma to see Aunt Lois. We had a great time except I was around alot of cigarrette smoke and got really sick. I mostly lost my voice, which is probably a blessing to my family! lol
Now for the good news...........Jeremy is doing good, he is eating more and quoting Taylanee, his daughter..."he is bald now which i don't care i am just glad he is home now and he went for a check up and he got good news he don't have to go back till tuesday and his white cells are going up and his backmorel is 150,000 which that means that he can drive now!"

Just Stuff

2008-10-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a busy week I had last week and this week isn't much better! I just hope I don't do as many goofy things as I did today. I burnt the chocolate twice on some candy I was making, dumped in too much powdered sugar and had to take some out, dumped in way too many oats in the cookies that Christopher was helping me make (I was TRYING to hurry) and then when I was FINALLY going to get to sit down with my FULL glass of iced tea I somehow knocked it over and spilled it on my skirt, feet and legs, momma's carpet, and.........you get the picture!
Anyway, the last I heard from Taylanee was that Jeremy is doing pretty good. He's home and I'm not sure when he's coming back here for the next round of treatments. He started losing his hair so just shaved it off. I don't blame him. So far so good and when I hear more from Jeremy I'll post it!
Later!

Jeremy Update

2008-09-30T19:51:00.001-05:00

He gets to go home tomorrow. They were waiting to make sure because he had a fever. It went down, and if it's still as planned they will stay home a week and then be back to do it alllll over again. God gave Susan and Jeremy a promise and they are holding on to that. God has been so good. Oh, yeah.......The meds he had to take while at home were thousands of dollars. They were wondering how the were going to manage due to insurance isn't worth much when you have cancer. Well, a nurse got the ball rolling and the meds are going to be taken care of and should already be shipped to their house ready for them when they get there!!!!!!

Good News

2008-09-29T21:51:00.001-05:00

I talked to Susan (Jeremy's wife) and Jeremy was having bad pain in his hip since last night and he was really worried about it. The NP came in and when they asked about it she said it's because his white blood cells are reproducing so quickly. Sat. the #'s were .47, Sun. .61 and today.......97! It's a good thing even tho it's causing him alot of pain. I know prayers are appreciated lots!
Something else (it starts with a g lol) is to be 500 for him to be able to go home for a week. Yesterday the #'s were 30 and today it was two hundred and fifty something. Cool, huh? It doesn't look like God is finished with Jeremy yet.
He has to do this 2 more times but he may be able to stay in an apartment with Susan next time if there is one open. We are praying that there will be!
Now on a rambling note.......I started my Fondant and Gumpaste class tonight. I'm really excited about it. We're going to be doing some awesome stuff. I have an order to make a cake that looks like a check in Oct. and I bought these new edible markers tonight that I think are really gonna help make it look real. Delaney, a girl in cake decorating class, brought homemade fondant that she had made with marshmallows and powdered sugar. It tasted great, which in one way is a bummer because it will not help my diet! lol That's what I'll be using in this class instead of the stinky store bought kind. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pics of my new creations. I just hope they turn out as neat, for real, as they are in my head. lol

Updates and this and that

2008-09-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

Jeremy is still doing well with his chemo and was able to eat just fine until today. He's at high risk for infection right now. They aren't sure his insurance will cover the treatment. They conveniently don't put cancer treatment under medicine coverage. That so aggravates me about insurances!!!!! He should be able to go home in a week or two but they still have to be very careful. He then has to come back two more times for the other rounds. Hopefully, this can be done as an outpatient.
A funny thing......Danny, a good friend, came to stay with Jeremy while his wife, Susan, went home to take care of some business. Danny stayed the nights with us. We gave him Brooke's room and I had put her satin sheets on the bed. He turned over in the night and forgot that he wasn't at home and threw his leg out and fell out of the bed. He said those satin sheets are slick and don't give you much to grab onto. Fortunately, he caught himself before he made a big thud in the floor. It cracked me up. He left cards for us and for Brooke. He thanked her for letting him use her bedroom and sleep on her satin sheets. He put $5 in it for her to buy her some candy. I thought it was sweet. She was so excited!

Brooke is going to be like me when it comes to crafting. She likes for me to go on the porch and craft/Scrapbook/paint or whatever with her. I worked on some pumpkins that I plan to send Mom Watson. Here are some pics......I plan to curl some wire to come out from the stem. I'm not sure if I should do anything else. I'll have to look at some prim fall stuff, I guess.

Here is what Brooke worked on. She painted and worked on the little wooden hearts and then drew and such on the paper. The "Hi" and flower were done with glue and then she sprinkled stuf on them that makes it feel like velvet.

Mom Watson is doing her house primitive and I love it. I wish I had taken pics when I was there. I'll try to remember next time. She and dad have a booth where they sell stuff and dad makes stuff from wood. They gave me this shelf and here is what I done with it.

Right now, I am sick, complements of my sweet husband! He gave it to me and I'm supposed to have a yard sale Thurs. and Fri. I was also supposed to start my fourth course of cake decorating classes today but the teacher told me to just stay home and take care of myself and we'd make it up. I crashed on the couch and poor Chris did a side job and still came home and fixed supper!

Now I am just rambling so will quit for now. :-)

Life

2008-09-17T16:40:00.001-05:00

Life is so uncertain and can change so quickly without a moments notice. Sept. has been a crazy month. Brooke got her yearly illness which she does every year when she goes back to school. She started on the 14th of August and missed the 25th and26th with fever, chills, headache, sneezing and a runny nose. Of course, mommy had to catch it after that! On the 29th we went to TN for the Adams Family Reunion. We always look forward to that. We got to spend the weekend with Mom and Dad Watson and Chas and Bridget and their families. It was a great time! Christopher made several trips to the cave at the reunion and was quite muddy when the day was done.

Came home on Labor Day and had to get things ready for the appraisor who was coming Wed. They are going to widen the road in front of our house so needed to know how much to pay us for the yard they are going to use.

Sat. a cousin passed away from cancer but had such a glowing testimony!!!! About a month ago he was really restless and finally seemed to settle down. (They had thought they were gonna lose him) Betty was relieved and thought he would finally rest. I'm not sure how much later but she went to get something by the bed and he said, "I'm back" And she asked, from where or something like that. He told her Heaven. It was like he was in a valley and he saw light and a form and he knew it was Jesus, there were people behind him and there was such peace. Jesus told him to reach out his hand and He would help Herb to reach there and Herb hesitated. Jesus told him that it was ok if he wasn't ready He would give him more time. Herb said yes and he lived another month. Right before he died, Betty reminded him that Jesus would be there to take his hand and that it was ok, and he died peacefully. Pretty awesome, huh?

We went to my cousin's viewing on Wed. and this same week we found out that Jeremy Tooley, a close friend of the family, has luekemia. He's only 31 and has 3 children. He married his high school sweetheart! On Thursday, Chris, Christopher and some friends left to go white water rafting in West Virginia. They went on Friday and what a disaster that turned out to be!!!
The boat tipped over and all were dumped. Christopher (who can't swim) and Greg (my friend Lisa's husband) couldn't make it back to the boat. Both went under and had to ride the rapids til someone could get them. Chris was trying to get to Christopher but fortunately another boat saw him and got a rope to him. Christohper was picked up way before Greg. Christopher said he swallowed lots of water so I'm sure Greg did, too. Greg was too weak to get in the boat and the guys had to lift him. They had to throw out a rope to Christopher. Greg kept vomiting so they had to take him to shore and a bus took him to the vehicle. He couldn't quit vomiting so he is now in the hospital and the guys had to get another motel room. Come to find out he hit his kidney and lung on a rock. It had to be a rock because there wasn't anything else for him to hit. The doctor said whatever he hit, he hit it hard. He was in kidney failure and still has pnuemonia!
Lisa and Jody went to WV and Lisa didn't get home til Thursday of the following week. Bob fell at the motel the next day and sprained his ankle really bad. I hope and pray my guys don't ever want to do this again. I didn't want them to anyway but Chris had promised Christopher years ago that when he was old enough he would take him. That promise is fulfilled and now.....NO MORE! This wife and momma just can't take it. :-)
One awesome story about how God was looking out for Greg...............The administrator for Christopher's school is also the pastor of Lisa's church. He was walking from the church to his house (Greg's truck was parked in the parking lot) and as he passed the truck he said it was like he saw Greg tumbling. He stopped right there by the truck and told God that he didn't know what was happening but he proceeded to pray for Greg. That was Friday, the very day it happened! God sure had his hand on Greg. Christopher said that you were to stay to the left if you got tipped out of the raft, Greg went to the right where there were rocks that you could be sucked under they said you would drown. I'm so glad so many of us were praying for their safety. It pays to pray!!!!!!!
Well, this catches up on some of what's been going on! I'll keep updating on Jeremy.
By the way, Greg went back to work. He's still having some problems with his lung and has to have tests, so prayers are appreciated.

This and That

2008-08-26T20:35:00.001-05:00

After Elizabeth and Mark's wedding I kind of crashed for a bit. ha! Came home and started getting stuff ready to go to Washington Camp. The kids always look forward to this time of year. We were only able to go from Fri. to Tues. this year but it was great seeing everyone again! I missed helping out in the kitchen!

Brooke started school Thurs. Aug. 14. I don't like school! I miss my kids. Christopher didn't start until Aug. 25, thankfully. But......he's a senior this year. Sarah took some awesome pics of him and Brooke for me. Here are a few of our handsome son! :-)

And one of our baby girl, who isn't such a baby anymore!

We went rollerblading with Lisa and the kids lots this summer and loved it. Well, the kids roller bladed, Lisa and I walked! lol Sometimes we got together and scrapped afterwards! I'm blessed with an awesome friend!

I know I've left lots out, not that it's gonna break anyone's heart,(ha) but that's the most of it.

My sis and I did pass Course 3 of cake decorating and I'll post the pic of that later. I start Course 4 on Sept. 9.

Christopher wants the computer so I guess I'll catch up the rest some other time!!!

Cakes, Cupcakes, and more Cakes!!!!

2008-08-20T23:24:00.000-05:00

7/18/08
We're home. Momma is doing great so far from her cortisone shot.
It hurt when she had it done and she was really numb and couldn't walk at first (almost fell and scared me. lol) We had such a wonderful time this time we were there. Played games, my niece came over and fixed us Chinese food, etc. We laughed so much. We are spending the week home next week and just doing family stuff together.

7/26/08
Heading to Momma's. We're gonna work on flowers for the wedding cake. The lilies have to be made ahead of time so they will dry. We'll be there a few days!

7/30/08
Home but exhausted. I worked another $120 off of the car (we bought it from people I clean for and am paying it off that way) , made 128 lilies for the cake, Baked lots of cakes and cupcakes, made icing, made icing, made icing,......you get the picture! lol Home for 2 days and then back to momma's to assemble and decorate the cake.

Making the lilies!

Peeling the foil off the lilies after they had dried for a few days.

8/1/08
We're heading back to momma's tonight to finish the cakes. We'll work on them tonight and tomorrow. The wedding is Sunday at 11:00. I slept off and on all day yesterday. I just needed to get rested for my busy weekend. :-)

Building the cupcake stand.

Setting up for the wedding.

Almost done!

Elizabeth and Mark's first look!
I love those kids!!!!!
8/5/08
Last Sat. we went to momma's and I started on making the lilies.and got about 25 made. Sun. our church was closed due to the Nascar race and we can't get out (they block the roads) so my sis came over and helped me make some more flowers. After she left, momma helped me finish them up. I would make the flowers, put the green in the bottom, use the brush to smooth it out, sprinkle the edible glitter,(Brooke, also, helped put the sprinkles on) and it took that long for momma or Elaine to just put the stamens in. They were tedious! We made 128. Mon. Elaine and Elizabeth came over and we started baking cakes. We got all of them made and the cupcakes. I made several batches of icing, too.
On Tues. my sis came over and we took all the foil of off the lilies and then after church that night we went home and then back to momma's on Fri. and started on crumb coating the cakes. On the way I went to so many stores trying to find a top and shoes and couldn't find anything. Aunt Lois, momma's sister, was at momma's by this time. Elaine got really sick, vomiting and such and wasn't able to help me any more. Soooooo, everyone pitched in. I iced the cupcakes, momma put the lily on and sprinkled the glitter, I put the leaf on and Aunt Lois put them away. I drew up rough plans for the cupcake holder and Chris cut the wood. Momma and Aunt Lois helped me wrap it in silver, then Chris put it together. Brooke, Chris, and Christopher helped in lots of different ways. Christopher even made some icing for me while I fried green tomatoes. I was so sick of making icing by this time. Sat I iced more cakes and made more icing. Went to some more stores (two different times) had to buy more powdered sugar, ribbon, and other stuff. Actually, finally found a blouse at a USED clothing store that matched perfectly. I had been to C.J. Banks, Christopher and Banks, JC Penney's, Kohl's and couldn't find a thing. It was fun. Went back to momma's and got busy on the cakes. Aunt Lois stayed up with me and done everything she could to help. Anything that needed washed or put away, Aunt Lois was right there to do it. She took lots of pics. :-) I told her I thought I'd have the last cake done by 1:30 am and I was done by 1:25 am. :-)
I got really nervous but by the time we got there and was setting up the cake it was awesome! On the way home after the wedding I told momma and Aunt Lois that I wanted to do it again!!!!
Elizabeth was sooo impressed. I have a pic of her expression when she saw it. I think I wrote a book! lol I'm almost caught up on my blog. Just 15 more days to go! lol
Thanks for listening! :-)

Behind and trying to catch up........

2008-08-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

First I want to share this recipe. I made it for momma for Mother's Day and even tho I don't care for circus peanuts.....It was awesome.

Circus Peanut Salad
2 cups boiling water, add 2 small boxes of orange jello, stir, then add 1 bag of circus peanuts and stir until they are melted. I left some small pieces. Put in the fridge til firm. Take out and add 1 lg can of crushed pineapple with juice, 1 tub cool whip, and walnuts or pecans and stir. You can garnish with fruit on the top. I used mandarin oranges.
Now this is gonna be like sharing my diary.....
6/18/08
We came home this evening. Momma is having trouble with a sciatic nerve and possibly a pinched nerve. They are gonna do an MRI! She was in so much pain and I was so helpless to do anything. I took her to the dr. 3 times and took care of her. She's on steroids and pain meds for now. She's hoping and praying that the meds will take care of it and she won't have to have surgery.

6/22/08
I managed to twist 2 of my fingers up in the beaters of the mixer. The knuckle of my one finger was bent backwards. Chris was laying down in the back bedroom at momma's and momma went and got him. I was trying to be big and brave because I didn't want to worry momma. When her and Brooke saw how they were twisted they got all worried. Chris tried to cut them (the beaters)but it wouldn't work.
By this time I was getting so sick from the pain. Momma was looking for different cutters so I let him know how bad it was and I went to the floor. I tried the release several times and it wouldn't work. He finally tried bending them apart and asked if I wanted him to bend them. It helped so much that I was like "oh, please!" He got them apart enough for my fingers to slide out and I basically wilted the rest of the way to the floor.
The pinky is gonna be ok, just sore and skinned. It cut the next finger and the knuckle is kinda weird. I may have to get it checked. I just wanted to finish decorating my cake so Chris mixed my colors for me and helped me put it in the bags! (It was for our pastor's wife) Brooke helped put the tips and stuff in for me. It hurts! Only me. I forgot to unplug the mixer between icings and had put the beaters in and was pushing on them with one hand to make sure they clicked and my other hand must have slipped and hit the on button!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cake I made for B.J. "before" I got mixed up in the beaters. This was my first time decorating with whipped cream icing.

This cake was after. Chris mixed the icing colors for me and the kids helped fill the icing bags. The color is really a pretty violet but the camera refused to show that!

6/24/08
Brooke wanted to know if Butterscotch can have pecans and I told her I didn't know. She wanted to know if I could go to whathamsterscaneat.com and see what they can eat! lol
Brooke is talking 90 miles an hour this summer. I don't know what's gotten into her! lol She's doing great at violin lessons. Christopher is away at youth camp. His guitar teacher told him that he is one of his top 2 students and the other guy is 44 and doesn't have as many (something, I always get the name wrong) memorized as Christopher does. He wants to give Christopher 1 hour lessons for the price of 1/2 hour lessons. Christopher said he hadn't been this excited since Christmas! lol
Chris hasn't had as many hours at work and sidework is helping us not to struggle too bad. He's worked some evenings and has been in the best mood lately. Such and jokester and so much fun. Maybe he had been working TOO hard. :-)

July 4, 2008
We were on our way to Lisa's mom's for a big get together and Christopher was heading there from youth camp. Chris' cell rings and it was Christopher. He'd been in a wreck. He was getting on the interstate and it was raining. When he got of the ramp he sped up to get in the flow of the traffic and his truck hydroplaned and spun him. He was headed toward the guard rail and enbankment so corrected but overcorrected and a van hit him and spun him around the other way. He was in the middle of the interstate. He checked to make sure he was ok, dialed 911 and talked to them, and then because his door wouldn't open he crawled out the window. A nurse stopped and stayed with him until the police got there. We went straight there and he was helping the police clean up the debris. His suitcase went to the opposite side of the interstate and stuff was everywhere. When I saw the truck and realized how bad it could have been I just about went to pieces. I am just thanking God so much that Christopher is ok. A friend of ours check him over at Lisa's mom's and worked on his neck and back. He has whiplash and his ribs on one side had come loose and he put them back in place. Christopher felt fine until about 15-20 min after we got to Shirley's and then he started hurting. I put stuff on his back and he fell asleep for hours, even with tons of people there.
My heart hurts for my little boy! I can't imagine the terror and now the pain. You just wish you could take it for them, don't you?

7/11/08
I am so behind on emails, my blog, facebook, housework........ I've been busy with helping momma so much. She is better but I will be there from Sat to Wed as I'm doing some stuff for her and also working for Debi and then Wed I take her for her cortisone shot.
Hoping for a miracle so we can still go to Texas! It cost over $300 just to get Christopher's truck, counting the tow fee and it's totaled. He's still paying on it and we only had liability because it was an older vehicle. Chris van got broken into yesterday and over $2,000 worth of tools were stolen. Some were Chris' and some were his boss'. Insurance won't cover unless Chris has all the receipts and Chris doesn't have enough to be more than the deductible.

They busted out a window on the job site. Chris went in, came out 2 1/2 hours later and it was done.
This was in July! Elaine and I did this cake together in class. It's actually fondant on a box. We don't like the bought fondant and didn't want to ruin a real cake! :-)

Well, this catches me up to mid July.........Now I'll try to catch up on the rest later. Making Elizabeth's wedding cake etc. That was a blast!

20th Anniversary and Other Stuff!

2008-06-07T16:32:00.001-05:00

As of May 20, 2008, Chris and I have been married 20 years! Chris surprised me with a trip to TN, a Chalet, and even had a babysitter lined up! We had an awesome time. Here is Chris in front of the chalet. It was called Tranquility.

The jacuzzi inside of the chalet.

Chris and I on the back deck. It was so beautiful.

We went to lots of shops. Anywhere I wanted to go and he didn't rush me AT ALL! Cool, huh?
He even took me to TWO scrapbook stores. They were pretty great! One of them has everything in the store 50% off. I think I have a pretty awesome husband!!!!
We decided that next year we want to go again and take the kids.

Lisa and I are going to the park once a week to take the kids roller blading and we walk! I look forward to it each week. Afterwards, we reward ourselves with scrapbooking! :-) The above pic is Aunt E-Lisa and Brooke.

Our cake decorating teacher had surgery and had to cancel our class. I already had this cake ready and iced so decided to decorate it however I wanted. Elaine had made custard to put in the center and the cake was a butter cake. It was delicious!

Mother's Day, Violin Lessons, High School Teacher, etc.

2008-05-26T19:49:00.001-05:00

I had an awesome Mother's Day! I got a digital photo key chain. It is sooo cute! We spent the day at momma's with my sis and her hubby, my niece, and a friend of momma's. Elaine and I both decorated a cake for momma. We did the decorating there so she could watch us. Momma and Dorothy watching and the finished cakes.

The cakes were so good and moist. There were lots of compliments until I told them that I had made it healthier for momma and that it was reduced sugar!!!! ha!

Here is a pic of Brooke taking violin lessons! She's doing really good! I never realized how much work and time you had to put into it tho!!!

MiChelle, Lisa, Greg, Chris and I were so blessed to have the best high school teachers in the world! Sadly, they moved to Hobe Sound, FL after Chris graduated. I sure have missed them.

Anyway, Carol and Briann came up for Lisa's daughter's 8th grade graduation and I got to spend some time with them. We went to Gray Bro's and ate with them, the Beers, and Burkets and then went to the park. Carol helped Brooke learn to roller blade and Brooke fell in love with her and Briann. It was so good to see Carol and spend time with her and Briann, but.......now it makes me miss them more! :-(

Carol and Aunt E-Lisa putting on Brooke's roller blades!

I love this picture!

Let's see..................Oh, Chris surprised me for our anniversary! Big time! He got help from some friends and planned a trip to Gatlinburg, TN to stay in a Chalet! I didn't have a clue!

20 years and you know what??? I'd marry him all over again! (not just because of the TN trip, either! lol)

We just spent a lazy day home together for Memorial Day and tomorrow we plan to take the kids roller blading and, I HOPE, do some scrapbooking. I gotta go get some housework done so that I can!

Trying once again......

2008-05-22T14:16:00.001-05:00

Scrapbook pages that I did when Lisa came over.......

Yeah! It worked this time. This is Christopher on a school field trip.

This is Brooke at the same place on a different field trip a week or two apart.

Well, it's time to take Brooke to violin lessons so..........I'll try to update more tonight!

Later....

A bunch of updating ATTEMPT 3

2008-05-09T14:25:00.001-05:00

I was not done with my last post and hit the wrong button. I tried again and aol or something froze up and I lost it all. Now, I'll try again.
Here are some of the scrapbook pages.........................
Actually, no there's not! Aol or something will not upload or even go to where I can. I quit for now and will try later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bunch of updating 2

2008-05-09T14:01:00.001-05:00

I was NOT done and hit the wrong button! Now for some pics of my scrapbook pages...............

Wow, that didn't come out very clear but you get the idea. This is Christopher on a school field trip at Glendale. I thought this was a pretty setting for pics. The paper and stickers are Stampin' Up. I love their scrapbook stuff.

Brooke at the same place, different time, on a GS field trip.

A bunch of updating

2008-05-09T13:48:00.001-05:00

Well, I'll start out with the Camporee! Momma and Aunt Lois did some good praying 'cause I got a call and they had someone for me to ride with. I didn't have to drive after all and Chris came and picked us up. I was soooooo glad. We had a really good time. We slept in a yert! That word cracks me up, but it's a round tent on a deck. Oh, and it has a real door. Here are some pics from the camporee.

The Yert!

Brooke and Ashlyn eating a banana boat! Mmmmmmmmm, talk about good! You slice a banana with the skin on it, stuff it with marshmallows and chocolate chips, wrap it in foil, and stick it in the coals. It is so gooey and rich!

Lisa and I scrapbooked May 2 and I got quite a bit done. (Not as much as her, as usual) ha

I scrapped 2 others days, just because my stuff was out and handy. I've made 3 cards, too.

How to edit?

2008-04-18T10:08:00.000-05:00

I see so many mistakes I have made and I tried to edit my posts and it doesn't save my edits!
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? (Besides spelling words wrong, not spacing correctly, etc. lol)
Thanks!

Am I Crazy?

2008-04-18T09:50:00.002-05:00

I am going with Brooke on a Girl Scout Camporee! Lots of girls, sleeping in a tent, 38 years old.....need I say more? I will be happy tho, because it'll make Brooke happy. I learned the hard way with Christopher that kids grow up soooooo fast. I think what I dread the most is driving there. I HATE to drive even more than I hate to mate socks!!!!!!! I'll be ok, tho. Momma and Aunt Lois are praying for me. :-)

May 3, is National Scrapbook Day! I would like to scrapbook the whole entire day and not have to do anything else! Think it's gonna happen? ha!

Here are a couple roses I made. It blurred after I put it on the blog. Oh, well. This is on the cake I made in class.

The red one I made at home before class. Come to find out.....I've been making them backwards. Why am I not surprised?And here is my dear daughter practicing making leaves. She actually did better than a lady in my class. I was impressed! :-)I guess I should get things done before I have to leave for camp. I think I should take a nap. Yeah, that sounds really good right now. It's probably the best thing I could do to get ready. Later.......ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Wanted: Motivation

2008-04-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

I am so looking forward to the kids getting out of school and being home but.....WHY must the last two months be so hectic. I think I'm so behind it'll take all summer to get caught up. lol

I'm enjoying the things that we are doing.......Field Trips, Girl Scouts trips, Revival, School Programs, Fund Raisers,(ok, I DON"T enjoy them, except for Girl Scout cookies. They sell themselves)etc. but it gets old having to rest so much in between so that I'm able to do them. It's like, OK, I have cake decorating classes Tues., church Wed., so I better rest up on Thurs. and Fri. so I can go on the Girl Scout Camping trip on Fri. night. Ugh!
Ok, vent over. I AM thankful that at least my problems aren't terminal but I would like to be normal now and then. (No comments on that one, please! lol)

Anyway, I do have one positive.......I have kept my laundry caught up even tho we are in Revival. THAT is an accomplishment! lol

I did practice rose making this week. My sis and I are making my niece's wedding cake so we are gonna be making a lot of practice cakes. Anyone want some cake?????? Actually, I've done alot on my own and so has my sis. A friend, Sandra, showed me how to do some of it and the rest I learned by trial and error. I love to make gingerbread houses, too. Anyway, my niece went and tried wedding cakes from professional places and didn't like them so asked my sis to do it. Elaine's like, "Sure, and Eddyth will help!" lol I'm excited about it, really. I've always wanted to take Cake Decorating classes so this is something on my list of things I want to do in life that I will be able to mark off.

I need motivation to............go thru all kinds of stuff that's been stored away while we were adding on to/remodeling our house. The hardest part of the house is done but I really just haven't found the motivation to drag stuff out and get rid of. Actually, I did go thru some magazines and other stuff while I was sick because I could do that sitting but now I need to do the BIG stuff. I need my momma. She is a warden (A sweet warden, tho. lol) when it comes to getting me and my sis to deep clean but she's been sick. Momma is soooooo organized! Kinda like Lisa! Hey, my scrapbook stuff is organized! Does that count? lol

I am rambling on and on like someone wants to hear all of this. Oh, well! I'm having fun! lol

Brooke started violin lessons Thurs. and she is so excited about it. I didn't tell her but I am listening and plan to try my hand at it. I'll practice when she's at school! :-)

Christopher got his first vehicle, a truck. My little boy is growing up. I am sooooo sad when I think about him going to college and he still has one more year of high school left. I guess that's normal.

I guess I'll get off of here for now but thought I would share something I did with scrapbook paper. Christopher did his room in electric guitars and I couldn't find a double light switch cover to match so I made one by hodge podging paper onto a plain one. He really liked it so I guess mom did ok. :-)

A little bit of this and that

2008-03-26T19:07:00.001-05:00

I did a little bit in spite of my "sickness"! I am SOOOOOO sick of being sick! If it isn't my crazy fibro then I catch some goofy bug from anywhere and everywhere. It seems like just about the time things start to dry up a little and I start feeling better, they predict rain again. UGH! Ok, enough venting! The shelf and sconces were brown and made to look like wood. It just didn't go with my new wall color so I painted them. I think I'm really gonna like it. I do need to put another candle in there. lol

Two nights ago I went in to tell my DD 8 goodnight. She wanted me to lay down with her for a minute so I did. We cuddled and I told her I needed to get to bed and she said ok. Then I got to talking to her, telling her that I loved her, that she had a special place in my heart that NO ONE could take and she was like "Bubby, too!" I told her yes and then was rubbing her face, pushing her hair back etc and she pipes up and says, "So do you want me to tuck you in, or what?" lol I think she was ready for me to get to bed. She was tired! That's my girl!

Here she is jumping off the wood pile that is waiting for the log splitter!!!! I did get some really cute pics that day.

My niece is getting married and we are having a shower for her Sat. I have been stressing because I'm sick and want to get things done. I'm hoping to make the mints instead of buying them. Homemade is soooo much better! UGH! My body has betrayed me. I even missed church tonight. Phooey!

Anyway, hopefully, next week will be better. The kids are on Spring Break and we have some plans. Let's hope I can keep them. I'm hoping to scrapbook with friends on Thurs. Oh, yeah, Hopefully, I'll feel better by this Friday. Lisa and I are gonna get together and scrapbook while the guys get together! I'm looking forward to it!!!!!

This and That

2008-03-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

Well, my little girl had a birthday and now she's 8! They grow so quickly! Here she is on her birthday playing her "pink" DS. We were supposed to go to grandma's and Uncle Bill, Aunt Elaine, Elizabeth, and Mark were coming to go out to eat with us at CiCi's. Needless to say, with our little ice storm, that got cancelled. She was pretty bummed but we wound up having a great time with just the 4 of us. We're gonna do it this Tuesday instead.

I am so looking forward to Spring Break!!! I love having my kids home with me! Today was a flex day that Brooke's school didn't use for a snow day so she had NO SCHOOL! We slept in and I loved it. I am a night owl, NOT a morning person.

I have done a little scrapbooking. I'm working on Brooke's Girl Scout pictures.

I have done a little organizing, too. Christopher helped me move the LR around and I love it. In the process I did some cleaning and I think this will be so much easier. A friend of the family passed away so I've been a little blah and not done as much as I would have liked to.

Monday, My best friends mom is having surgery so if anyone does chance to read this blog, prayers for Shirley would be appreciated.

I think I'll head over to my favorite organizing blogs and see if I can get motivated. Maybe I'll find a challenge! :-)

Have a great day!

Getting back in the mode......

2008-02-28T11:21:00.001-06:00

Of cleaning! I had a bad few days and didn't work on my organizing but I'm ready to get back to it. My sis is beating the socks off of me! She's on a roll! I think the only way I can get Brooke's room to be easy to keep clean is to organize toys in more totes, label, and put part of them in the garage. When she's in the mood to play with something I can just bring in that tote! We'll see how it works. :-) I even got my friend, Darlene, on the ball. She took pics of before and after to show me. It looked pretty awesome. Lisa...............She is an organizing queen and her house always looks awesome. Well, unless I'm there scrapbooking. LOLOLOL When I grow up I'll have a clean house like her! Bwahahahaha!

Well, I'm gonna share a few sb pages. The first one is one that Lisa likes. I paperpieced an Uno card because I couldn't find anything at the sb store for Uno.

The next one I paper pieced the Phase 10 card as a border.

And this page is my baby boy when he was a Tiger Cub in Boy Scouts. My baby is now 17 and 6'5". :-)

Wow, I wish someone could give me a swift kick and get me going! I have all these ideas I want to do to get organized and I just don't know where to start. Maybe I'll check out some more oganizing blogs to get me jump started. I hope everyone has a great day!

Scrapbooking and More Organizing

2008-02-19T20:51:00.001-06:00

Scrapping fun!

I had a great time over the weekend scrapbooking with friends. My best friend from kindergarten, and another friend from kindergarten got together and we had so much fun. Well, except for the times when I kept having stickers from a prickly pear removed from my hands!!! Did you know that when you buy a prickly pear at the grocery to eat that there are still stickers on there? Big time!?!?!?!?! I got like 15-20! No fun at all! It felt like we were kids again. We went to the scrapbook store and then to Miejer and bought so much junk food and drinks it was unreal. I got quite a few pages done and tried my hand at paper piecing an Uno card and it turned out pretty cute. I'll try to scan some tomorrow.

Now....................I found another organizing blog and they had a challenge .http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm You were to pick an area to clean and I needed to move this scrap stuff to my scrap room so this is what I chose to do. I was a day late but decided to do it anyway today! Here are the pics....

.Before.....

After! I got so motivated that

I took everything but the fake old time radio off the piano and cleaned it and also on the buffet. I feel pretty good about what I got accomplished today and hope I can feel like doing more tomorrow!!!!!

I'm on my way..............

2008-02-15T10:16:00.000-06:00

Well, I started on my organizing yesterday. I may drive my family crazy! lol I started at my computer desk which seems to be a community drop off for things. Here is a picture while I was in the middle of working on it.

....Pretty scary, huh? Here is after..............I still have more out in the open than I'd like but if I put things in drawers they are "out of sight, out of mind" and I have to keep the Girl Scout $ envie out, chapstick, hand sanitizer, and of course my drink, but I have it on a coaster!!! I worked on one of my cabinets and a drawer in the kitchen. I am scrapping all night tonight with friends (well, as long as I last with out a nap) so I'll be organizing some of that to take with me tonight. My sister thinks I should take a pic of my desk every week to make sure it stays this way! lol She might be right!!! I plan to take down all my snowman stuff next week, go through 2 totes of stuff that just need going through, lol, and work on organizing my kitchen more. I don't want to overwhelm myself. :-) I want to hit my bedroom and DD7 bedroom next.

Well, and my scrap/craft area. You know, it's not like anyone really cares about my organizing but if I put it on this blog it'll help me stick to it! :-) And that's ok! Now, if I'm gonna get anything done today I better quit goofing off on the computer and get to it~ Have a wonderful weekend!~ I plan to!

Organizing

2008-02-13T09:19:00.000-06:00

I have found a blog that I truly like!!!! It's on organizing your home and I really want to do this.
Our house has been such a mess with all the addition and remodeling. Chris has been working in the garage and put in cabinets and built a workbench, so...... that got stuff off of the front porch so I can now organize my craft/scrap area. I remember the days when my housework was done by 1 pm and I could sit and do whatever I wanted..........Those were the days! lol
Now, that I'm feeling better I want to really try to follow some of these ideas! I have already made a chore list for the kids and they are doing great! It sure helps me. Anyway, I'm gonna put the website to the right for anyone that would like to check this blog out. Lisa is so organized that I should just hire her, but.........I'm not sure she could take some of the messes she'd find! lol It just might do her in and I need her! I am inspired and I think I'll take pics of before and after to share. My sis is working on organizing her house so maybe we can spur each other on.
I did get some scrapbooking done last night. I want to finish Holiday World so I can start on something else for our big crop Friday night!!!!!! Two more pages and HW is done! Woo Hoo!
Something crazy to leave you with...............We have new kitchen cabinets and we have handles on these. Well, for some reason the other day when I went to open the silverware drawer my fingers slid all the way down to the knuckles on my hand. I could get all of my fingers loose except for my middle finger. I tried and tried. Fortunately, My junk drawer is two drawers under that and I was able to get a screwdriver and loosen the handle so I could get my finger out! Leave it to me, as my sister would say!
Have a great day!

2008-02-08T18:17:00.000-06:00

Well, people that know me know that I have fibromyalgia, bursitis, and arthritis. You never know when it will knock me for a loop. I have been noticing that high stress times, overdoing on things, rainy weather, and below zero weather tend to be factors of high pain. Anyway, I am just thankful that it isn't something worse as I thought before I was diagnosed. At least I can live with this and be with my family! I did find a really neat site on fibro today and I'll post it on the right side of my blog.

Yesterday, I made a pen holder from paper towel and a toilet paper roll. A girl on the scrapbooking discussion message board told about her making one so................I tried it! It turned out pretty cute even tho I'm not the best at altering things. Here are a few pics!

It's so good to feel like doing something again. I did one scrapbook page yesterday and actually FELT like doing some housework!

A friend of mine said life with me is never dull........Well, yesterday I was so cold so I opened the wood stove door, pulled a chair up, and sat reading a devotion book. I scooted a log I had put in with my foot and.............my slipper caught on fire! You should have seen how fast I got that slipper off. lol It went right out and is only missing some of the fuzzy in the front! Then I'm going to make a cup of coffee, the microwave beeps and I get the cup out. It's completely empty! I forgot to put the water in. Go figure.

Anyway, I'm wanting to try to do some cleaning on the porch where my scrap area is so I better get busy while I have Chris here to help me! Have a great evening!

Scrapbook pages

2008-01-28T22:45:00.000-06:00

This is a page I did of my little girl dressed up in grandma's clothes. She looked so grown up!

Time goes so quickly.........................I am so thankful for my children!

This was at Holiday world on a ride that there is no way I would go on. This is of my husband and friends from church. I used chipboard on this page which is another thing that I just love!

I did 3 more pages tonight! Lisa and I talk on the phone and scrapbook together alot of times. It makes it more fun and that's what we did tonight. What a cool friend!

I feel like a beginner scrapbooker again. My pages seem so plain. Maybe it's because I'm doing pages that I'm not really into???? I just don't know!

It is entirely too late for me to still be up so I better go for now! My Jan. 28th post turned into Jan. 29th. lol Later~

Catching Up

2008-01-27T15:44:00.001-06:00

I sure am behind when it comes to blogging. I have been so sick. Dear hubby shared his bug with Christopher and I and it just keeps hanging around. Christopher missed 3 days of school but thankfully, Brooke hasn't caught it yet. I did get to scrapbook some! Darlene came over one day and I did 10 pages. The next day Lisa came over and while the kids had a great time together we got to scrapbook and just enjoy each other's company. But.......I had to get out to go to the post office and pick Brooke up from Girl Scouts and I think a got a back set of my sickness! I need to go to the grocery and do some shopping so bad. Hopefully, this next week I can. I think I'm getting better today!!!! I hope! Poor Chris has cooked dinner two days in a row now!

I'm gonna try to put a couple of the scrapbook pages up that I did this past week. Lisa got me started into stitching on my pages. I was NOT going to do that, but then she found the cutest swirl patterns and showed them to me! The rest is history! Here is what each individual pattern looks like and the packaging in case you'd want to buy some. :-)

I got mine at Ally Scraps. AllyScraps.com

I will go for now and I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Sharing some pictures

2008-01-18T09:36:00.000-06:00

Here are the letters I did for my sons bedroom. They are done with a guitar theme as that is his passion!!! He has 5 guitars now. I will not try to explain them all but I do know that 2 are acoustic, 2 are electric, and one is a bass. I took some close ups so maybe I'll try to post them.

I also did my daughters which is so different! She is ALL girl and it's in the Princess theme with lots of pink and lavendar!

I enjoyed doing these and plan to do some for my scrap area when I get it completed. I have only done 1 scrapbook page this year and I want to feel like scrapping so bad. I do think I feel just a little better today, and even tho it's just a little, I'll take it! :-)

One of those days

2008-01-17T12:07:00.001-06:00

I sure don't have anything exciting to report today! :-) I'm still not feeling well and I'm starting to get frustrated! Last night a friend brought supper to us, that was a nice thing.
I want to scrapbook sooooooo bad! If I just felt good enough to do that it would help me through the day!
I don't really think many people will read my blog and I think I'm basically doing it for me! It's an outlet and I love learning things on the computer. I'll probably post scrapbook pages, projects, and perhaps pics of my house as it gets remodeled. For today..................It'll just be this little ramble!
Have a great day!

A Tribute to a Friend

2008-01-16T08:45:00.001-06:00

This is my first time blogging so bear with me as I fumble through these first few times! :-)

I do have a story to tell about "True Friendship"!

I have a friend that I have been friends with since kindergarten. That in itself speaks well of her! lol We talk several times a week but there are times that life gets in the way and we may not get together for weeks at a time. It doesn't matter, things don't change! (Lisa is on the left)

Anyway, at Christmas time (when EVERYONE is busy) I was getting stressed because I had so much to do so she tells her mother-in-law she's "going to help her friend" When her hubby got home here she came and helped me wrap lots of presents. While we were talking she found out that I had a few more things to buy so............My hubby gets Brooke (our daughter) to bed and we head out. Now mind you, I thought she had shopping to do, too! Nope, not where I needed to go, so she drove me to town and took me to finish up my list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was close to midnight when we got home but I so enjoyed the time with her!

Fast Forward to Jan. 15.....................................I have health problems that sometimes put me flat of my back and I'm unable to get things done. Things have been pretty rough for a couple weeks now. Meds weren't helping, etc. So she came over last night and dusted, not just a swipe but taking everything off, dusting the furniture, and then each piece as she put it back. In my house, that is ALOT! I love country and miniatures! Then she helped me straighten the house, bringing things to me so I could go thru and sort, helped me fold laundry and put it away, etc.

Her daughter helped my Brooke straighten her room, her son swept around our wood stove, and then they both helped my son stack lots of wood on the back deck! In super cold weather!

THAT is a true friend! I am truly blessed and I thank God for such an awesome friend!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3)

To the left is just a sample of my dusting!!!!