{My Corner of Life }

Spinning!

2011-11-02T18:03:00.000-06:00

This past month my husband gave me the most wonderful gift, a spinning wheel. I have wanted one for 30 years, but it always got put on the back burner. Here its is -

She is an Ashford Traditional, single drive, single peddle. I love her!

This is what I have made with her so far, some Romney wool (the scratchy kind)

and 100 % Merino wool (so soft)

Right now I am trying my hand at spinning Merino/Silk blend, that has already been dyed. This yarn is looking so good and is consistant enough that I think I may be able to make socks out of it.

Now I haven't forgotten my first love, knitting. Here are some of my latest projects:

These mittens are for me! I love them! They are knitted out of 100% Merino Wool, and the pattern I found on Ravelry.com

This is my own pattern for baby socks. They fit newborn to 9 months and are really stretchy!

this is also a pattern I made for mittens! If you like the socks or mittens, come visit me at the Rigby Jr High Craft Fair on November 12th! My booth is the Corner Cupboard and it is filled with yummy yarn goodness! Everything from mittens, to slippers and socks, to blankets, dresses, hair bows, hot pads, dish cloths, and more! All made from yarn! We have something for everyone! I only do one of these a year and I bring everything I have worked on during that year.

And this year I think I will bring my spinning wheel, so come and watch!

Have a Yummy day!

Chris

Recounting

2011-09-22T18:13:00.000-06:00

So fall will be here tomorrow. A time when my garden starts to peter out, my yard doesn't need to be watered as much, the kids are back in school and the neighborhood is quieter. It is also the time when I start to recount what I accomplished during the summer and make plans for fall and the holidays. A re-counting of sorts. Of course my to do list and my completed list are very lopsided. I am usually running this way, a day late and a dollar short. Lately I have been on a knitting jag and have accomplished so many things, but have a large list of things I still want to do. What is it about women that make us make such huge goals that we can't finish unless we become 10 people? Oh well.

On the other hand, I got to go to a wonderful class reunion this summer and connect with so many old and new friends. Family reunions were always fun and having our grandkids around is always a blast! Our youngest grandson, Tyson, starting walking (or I should say running) this week and it makes your heart smile to watch the look of wonder on his face as he accomplishes each new thing. And he is only 11 months old!

Best of all, our huge garage is making progress. We just finished the roof. Next will be the garage doors, probably around Christmas. Then a break to next spring and the final push to get it sided and the floor poured. And we will have a wonderful new garage! This has been a huge undertaking for my husband, but it is really turning out so wonderfully! I am really proud of him!

Just to let you see what I have accomplished lately, here is a shawlette which is my first attempt at knitting lace and a knitted purse that I did as a challenge on Ravelry. It actually was kind of fun, which I never thought I would want to do, but now I have plans to do another in the near future. Guess another item just got added to the to do list!

Cindy

2011-09-08T23:40:00.001-06:00

My cousin Cindy Olsen Starr died last Saturday. She was 56. I haven't seen her for years, but it really set me back. When I was growing up, Cindy was 3 years older than me and I looked up to her and wanted to be just like her. Later on we went to high school at the same school, Bonneville. She was a senior when I was a freshman. Around this time she started having some health problems and she had struggles over the next several years. She married, had kids and tried to do everything right. Sometimes she did. Sometimes she didn't. But she never gave up trying. That's what I remember most about Cindy, when she set her sights on something, nothing would stop her. So rest in peace now, Cindy. You can quit trying so hard. You are in a better place and I look forward to the day when I see you again, free of all the things that weighed you down in this life! Love you Cindy!

This is a link to obituary if you would like to know Cindy better.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/postregister/obituary.aspx?n=cindy-starr&pid=153499077&refsvce=google#.TmmktfzPpYg.google

Chris

Blogging issues

2011-09-08T23:15:00.000-06:00

I have been trying to log on for two days to make an entry, but have had issues with my blogspot account. Found out tonight that Google is changing from Google Page Creator to Google sites and that in the process you have to have a new host for your third party widgets. I just spent 2 hours going through the steps to get this done. Apparently, when you enable third party cookies and delete the history under Internet options, it is not making it through to AOL. So I have yet another program that I have to log onto using the internet explorer. I just thought I would let you know in case you are having the same problem. I have made Google aware of it, but who knows when they may address it.

On an up note, I am glad to be back!

Chris

A little knitting

2011-09-06T09:23:00.000-06:00

We stayed home this weekend, worked in the yard, worked on the garage and just napped. It was actually a very nice weekend. I canned soom beans too, which I have been desperately needed. Hope to get more. My patch is late this years because we had to replant everything this spring! Good Lord willing, and it don't freeze, we still should get what we need.

I also did some knitting! I tried a shawl in a KAL on Ravelry and it stoked me, so I decided to try a fingering weight one that has lace. I found this downloaded pattern on Ravelry and so I decided to try it. In case you want to try it, it is the Holden Shawlette. Anyways, I went and bought some nice yarn, Cascade Heritage, and started it last Thursday. I spent about 2 hours a day as an average and I finished it yesterday. So without further ado........................

I can't wait until this fall when I can wear it with my navy sweater and levi skirt!

Chris

Happy Labor Day!

2011-09-03T17:06:00.000-06:00

I am busily working along in my yard and my garden! Canned 10 pints of beans today. Also cleaning for the holidays, although I am not sure we will have anyone around to celebrate. Maybe we'll take a drive, or go to the movies. Not sure yet. All I know is that Gene and I are both needing a relax break, so that's what this weekend will be. Finish a few honey do's, take a nap, knit a little, cook! Sounds like a plan, eh?

Hope you have a great long weekend!

Chris

Busy, busy!

2011-08-31T21:08:00.000-06:00

Well, I guess it took me a few more days than I thought to get back to you! You know how it goes? We have had 2 birthdays this past week and Gene and I both got the flu, so there you go!

Want to see what I have been doing?

A pair of cuddly wool socks for Gene........

A scarf to sell at the craft fair in November

A cuddly warm wrap for me when the fall nights get here.............

And a shawl, don't know who it's for yet! Anyways these are what I have pictures of right now. I also knitted 2 keyhole scaves for the craft fair, another pair of socks, and 3 dishcloths from cotton yarn, but I didn't take pictures of them. Right now I have 2 more pairs of socks on the needles, another keyhole scarf (red!) and today I started a scarf for me. I also have a sweater in a partially done stage, that I go back to every day or so. That one will take til about Christmas to get done, but that's okay! This is how I am battling empy nesting. I really am enjoying it!

So last Thursday was Bailey's seventh birthday and Gene's was on Monday, so the family got together at Kendall and Christy's on Sunday and had a cookout! It was really nice! I have to tell you, it was different! For so many years all the family events have been at our house! And while I love having everyone there, it was alot of work to get ready for and clean up after everytime! It felt good to relax at their house and let them be in charge. I just brought a salad and sat and played with Tyson! At 9:30 we headed home so Conner and Bailey could get in bed for school on Monday morning!

Bailey got a Hello Kitty cake! She is really into Hello Kitty right now, most of her presents had the great Kitty on them. Anyways, when they went to pick up her cake, she made them add Grandpa to the cake since we were celebrating together! So cute!

One last picture for the night! Back in June, we moved Tiffany and Joe into a new house too! They have they beautiful home, on six acres, which is great for their menagarie of animals. Sunshine, the cow came to live at our home's pasture, but the rest of the animals were transplanted at the new home. They have a dozen or so chicks (now mostly grown), a piglet that is growing fast, 2 dogs and this rooster. This rooster is from their last year's batch of chicks. They never had the heart to kill him, so they just let him run around. He has become buddies with the 2 dogs and now thinks he is a dog! He just wanders around the yard all day, eating bugs and crowing at dawn (usually under Tiffany's window). Life is good! I get such a kick out of him, because he has become a master at adaptation! If he needs to, he can run with the chickens, the cows, the pigs, or even the dogs! And now he is such a part of their landscape, it would be downright lonely without him!

Have a great day tomorrow on the first day of September!

Chris

Peek A Boo!

2011-08-23T17:39:00.003-06:00

So you thought I was kidding when I said I was going off radar for a few weeks! Whew! I love August, but then I hate August too! I love reunions, I love my raspberry patch, I love the smell of the fresh cut hay behind my house, I love early mornings working in my yard, I love camping and everyone trying to squeeze in a little more fun time before school starts. But then I hate the heat, I hate the anticipation of the heat going away and winter setting in upon us too soon, I hate school starting up again and everything on our road being so quiet. So I guess you could say August and I have a love-hate relationship!

So where do I start? Well, our class reunion was actually the 29th and 30th of July and it was a success! It was so much work, but so worth it! I think at 52-54 we are realizing our mortality and wanting to get close again. We are already planning a dinner or luncheon around October, because 5 years is just too dang long to wait to get together again!

This is my bf from high school, Melanie Hart Belnap! She was in charge of the reunion and I was her able assistant! Neither of our husbands went to Bonneville with us, but they were awesome! They did all the heavy lifting for us and helped the evenings go off without any hitches! Thanks Brent and Eugene! You are the best (that's why we married you)!

It is hard to realize that Melanie and I are both grandmas! I remember when the most important thing in our lives was deciding what outfits we going to wear so we coordinated with each other! Now we both have awesome (and stressful) careers and blossoming families (mine is a tribe, actually) and suddenly we are looking more like our moms than our high school pictures. Mind boggling!

This is another of my bfs! Holly and I went to high school together and were pretty good friends. Then we decided to be college roommates! There is a bond when you live with someone that you don't get any other way! Holly is our resident artist! When we in college she used to draw the newspaper adds for the Bon Marche and we always had awesome outfits floating around our apartment! She even painted our Bee for our reunion! There was no one better than Holly to play hooky from class with, and let me tell you this woman has the most awesome laugh! You can be on the other side of the store, never see her, but when you hear it, you know Holly is there! I found her once in Walmart with that laugh!

Have you ever tried to get a large group of people to all look at the camera at the same time? Not easy! We had about 75 people from our class attend between Friday and Saturday night! Here are 42 or so of them! Our original class had 305 graduate from it, so this is very small compared to the whole lot, but it's the cream of the crop! Hurray for the Bonneville High School Class of 1976! Go Bee!

And on that note, here is the Fighter Bee! This was our school mascot! It used to lay in tile at the entrance to our school. Stepping on it had consequences! If you were a bee, you would have to scrub it with a toothbrush, and if you were from another school, well lets just say more than fight resulted from insulting our Bee! Holly painted it on clear vinyl so we could lay it out like it used to be! I told you she was an awesome artist!

Well enough for today! Tune in tomorrow for another installment of my July-August travails! There is still much to come!

Chris

Going off Radar

2011-07-28T17:29:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I am going off-line for a couple of days. Tomorrow and Saturday is my 35th class reunion! That's right, The Bonneville Bees, Class of 1976!

Isn't that picture awesome? Holly Hasegawa Nielson, one of my high school buddies and my college roommate drew it! She is so talented! We were a class full of artists, including Greg Olsen, the LDS artist that we all love! I have his pictures all over my house! And we even have a raffle for a new one!

Our whole committee which includes Melanie Hart Belnap, Terri Curtis, Holly Hawegawa Nielson, Michael Herrera, John Jenkins, Tena Jenkins Looney, Gary Mills, and myself, have worked or so hard and we are excited to get this shindig going! So if you belong to the class of '76, we'll see you this weekend!

Be prepared for lots of pics next week, along with a serious walk down memory lane!

Chris

New Tricks or Old Dogs?

2011-07-26T17:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I have knitted since I was 10 years old. I had a primary teacher who taught me and since no one else in my family knitted, it stuck for me. Over the years I have been on again, off again when it came to knitting. But I did know I liked it better than crochet. I actually found it quite relaxing. When I was pregnant with my first baby, stuck at home and bored out of my mind, I sharpened a pencil for a double pointed needle, pulled out the only pair of knitting needles I owned and a ball of yarn and knitted a baby sweater from the newest Family Circle magazine. I was hooked! Over the years I have knitted dozens of sweaters, tons of hats and scarfs, and even mittens. I can do fisherman knits, baby knits, all kinds of knits.

But the one thing I never tried, was double-pointed needles to knit socks. The thought of trying to manage 4 or 5 needles at the same time, especially when they had points on either end, seemed daunting! A couple of years ago I went and bought double pointed needles and they have sat in my needle basket.

Then a few days ago I found this book at JoAnns and it made sock knitting seem fairly simple. So I bought the book, bought a ball of yarn and headed home. I had to dig, but I finally found my needles. This was last Thursday. That night, I sat down with all my equipment. I cast on, knitted, pulled it out and tried again for about an hour. Then it took off! That first night I knitted the top half of the sock! And it looked pretty good! I was pumped! In between all my honey dos, chores and life, I worked on it over the next few days and by Saturday night I had a sock done! I was siked! So yesterday, I knitted for about 2 hours and have most of a sock done! And here they are!

In about a half hour sock #2 will be done! And what is so cool is that they match! Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? I honestly don't remember why I didn't try this before, but watch out, now I am a sock making machine! Makes me think I can try anything!

Chris

Vintage or Old?

2011-07-25T23:05:00.000-06:00

No pictures, crafts or recipes to share tonight, only a random thought. Yesterday my family was all together to celebrate Chelsea's 19th birthday, which was actually Friday. We grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs and finished it off with chocolate cake and lots of icecream. Then Kendall dug out some old fireworks that we had and bottlerockets (probably about 3 years old). It was still light but the kids had a blast, especially when Kendall started shooting the bottlerockets into the water in the ditch. The kids said the water was 'burping'! And because I was enjoying the show so much, I didn't think to grab my camera. So you just have to imagine it.

Later, Tiffany was surfing Craig's List, which she has taken to doing. She is trying to furnish a huge house and needs cheap furniture. Anyways, as she said, she is becoming addicted to Craig's list, because of some of the bizarre postings. So she's reading through them and someone has posted a 'vintage' chain saw for like $180. Now as you read further, you find out the chain saw is a 1970's model! Vintage? I call that old! Probably a piece of junk they cleaned up and hope to pass off as vintage so they can unload it!

So we were talking about this and I started thinking, if you call it 'vintage' does that make it more special, more valuable? I know that everywhere you look, they are using 'vintage' to describe things as if it makes them more special. I was added to the list on Twitter for a furniture company with 'vintage' in it's name. There have been several varieties scrapbooking and crafting paper that has come out lately, with 'vintage' in their description. And I even watched an antiques show the other night that used the word quite regularly.

That is when I decided that I live in a 'vintage' home on a 'vintage' farm and drive a 'vintage' Tahoe. I play a 'vintage' piano and guitar and I watch TV everynight on my 'vintage' TV set. I don't watch Blu Rays, but 'vintage' DVDs in my 'vintage' DVD player and even occasionally in my 'vintage' VHS machine. But best of all, these wrinkles and gray hair, aches and pains, and dimming memories that I am acquiring are not because I am old! Not at all! I am a thing of beauty and value! I am "Vintage"!

HaHa!

Chris

When You Need to Create!

2011-07-19T09:50:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I found the cutest page today! Stay-At-Home Artist shows you how to do a homemade stenciled shirt with freezer paper! It is amazing! You have to check it out!

She gives you all the steps to complete it! Totally awesome!

One more page I got from Tim Holtz. This blog has lots of scrapping goodness on it. Visit Annette's Creative Journey where you see her Vintage Valise album! Here are a couple of pics from it!

This is so cute! Check it out! She has so much stuff on her blog!

Hope you enjoy! I feel creativity flowing today! Hope you do too!

Chris

Grandma Loves!

2011-07-18T12:39:00.000-06:00

These are all of my grandkids! From left to right, Jesson (5), Sarah (8), Conner (8), Tyson (8 months), Bailey (6), Maddie (4) and Sydney (10). I honestly don't remember them not being a part of our lives! It is so much fun when we get them all together, a house full of chatter, noise and fun! So you know this is the pairings of kids, Sydney and Sarah belong to Tiffany, Jesson and Maddie are Jeremy's and Conner, Bailey and Tyson are Kendall's. Last night, Jeremy's ex was kind enough to bring the kids for us to see, since we haven't seen them for months. We ate, played on four wheelers, and they built lego everything and played with our train set! Such a good night!

In the back of our thoughts is Jesson. He has had seizures since he was a baby, but seemed to have outgrown them, not having one for 2 years. Matter of fact, the doctors at Primary Childrens, just released him with a clean bill of health a few months ago. This past week he suffered 2 severe seizures and now has to go back to Primary Childrens for more tests. They are now thinking instead of being the kind of seizures you outgrow (I had those kind as a little kid), this may be more serious, such as Epilepsy. Our family is praying for a good outcome, whatever that may be! If you can spare an extra prayer for Jesson, that would be appreciated! Can't get too much help!

Love your family today!

Chris

Aprons

2011-07-08T19:24:00.000-06:00

My earliest memories of aprons were from my Grandma Sarah Alvey. Everytime you went to her house, she had a different apron on, always bright, always colorful, and always lots of detail to them. I loved Grandma's aprons! She had this huge drawer with dozens of them, and when you were helping her cook, you got to go to the drawer and pick one out! It was the highlight of my day, made me feel so grown up!

When Grandma Alvey died, we went through her stuff and my aunt let us each pick out a couple of aprons of grandma's. These are the ones I picked out for me. The red one was for Christmas, which happens to be my favorite holiday, so that is why I got it.

The black and white one I chose because my grandma put alot of effort into this apron. Not only did she sew it on her old Pfaff sewing machine (which I have), but she hand smocked it too! Look at the detail!

I never wore aprons too much when I was raising my kids. Don't know why really, unless it is because I usually was in such a hurry to get things done and didn't think of it. But lately I have taken to wearing an apron at least on Sunday, to protect my church clothes. A practical matter really.

That's it! Aprons are practical! Necessary! But what we do to them is what makes them special! So anyways, everywhere I turn lately, there are aprons! Ruffled aprons, Smocked aprons. Short aprons. Long aprons. It is all the rage! I decided to try making me a couple of aprons. Now you have to understand that the last apron I made was in 1972 in my 8th grade home ec class with Mrs. Crumbaugh. I make dresses all the time and an occasional baby blanket, but never an apron. So here it is!

Please look only at the apron, not at the model. After all I have been doing housework and sewing all day! If anyone else would have been around I would have had them model it! But isn't it cute?

I put buttons on the straps.............

and rick rack on the pockets!

Makes me want to make another right away! It was really fun and only took about 3 hours to do! Maybe I'll start an apron revolution! No dull aprons to be found! The next one I am making is green and salmon with roses and yes, rick rack.

And next time my grandkids are at my house, I am going to dress them all up in aprons and do some baking with them! More memories!

Happy memories everyone! Hope you find an apron that makes you smile!

Chris

A Baby's Best Friend

2011-07-07T17:16:00.003-06:00

Say Hello to Tyson Scott. He is our youngest grandson and is 8 months old. I took these photos a few weeks ago when Tyson was trying to master crawling. Funny thing is I didn't get any of him crawling! But I did get pictures of him playing with balls of yarn and even him and his big brother, Conner, playing with my measuring tape. Got to love my Blackberry for being so handy for pics!

But the best pictures I got that day was when Tyson decided to make friends with Toby, my miniature schnauzer. Toby loves little kids, and he is best friends with Conner, but we weren't sure how Tyson would react to Toby when they were on the floor together.

I guess we didn't have to worry! Within moments, Tyson was pulling Toby's beard and Toby patiently stood there and took it! Grandma just kept clicking! Have I told you lately how much I love being a grandma?

Since these pictures were taken, Tyson is on the prowl, literally! Nothing below 2 foot is safe at our house! And now he is walking along the couch! Guess I better baby proof again!

Enjoy life today!

Chris

Watch out.........

2011-06-29T16:06:00.002-06:00

I have had an unusual week for accidents. Really, really wierd things! Nobody is hurt or anything, but sometimes I wonder if I am a problem magnet.

First of all, on Saturday, when we went fishing (see Monday post), I didn't feel like fishing and so I sat in the Tahoe and crocheted. I got tired of crocheting for a minute, so I wove my needle through my work and set in on the dashboard. Later, I decided to crochet some more, picked up my work and the crochet hook promptly fell into the air vent on the dashboard! Panic set in and I grabbed a double point needle, shaped like a candy cane, and tried retrieving the hook. Almost had it, when I lost my grip on the double point needle and down it went! Ugh! So I had to admit to my husband what I did. They are still in there, not hurting anything, but making me feel like a dope!

The second thing happened today. I mowed the yard. We have a huge yard and it takes awhile to mow. Got the front yard mowed and set hoses, then moved to the backyard. Got the part behind the house done and moved over to the side yard. There was alot of garbage collected on the fence, so I picked it all up and started to mow. I backed up to my plum tree to get the tall grass underneath it, and promptly mowed an old baby blanket that my grandkids apparently had in the yard and had been hidden in the tall grass. Wrapped that sucker firmly around the lawn mower blade! All 52 inches of it! Ugh, Ugh! Now I have to wait until my husband comes home and fixes my mess. I feel like such a dope! Everything I touch, goes wrong!

So now I am watching the news, sipping on a Coke, and hoping I don't destroy anything else before dinner!

Chris

Where did it go?

2011-06-27T13:21:00.030-06:00

So I am feeling a little nostalgic today. Thirty-three years ago today I became a mom for the first time. I was scared to death. Such a little bundle, dependent on me! I was so afraid I would screw it up!

Tiffany Leigh Scott was born at 3:00 on June 27th. She weighed in at 8 lbs, even though she was a month early! You could tell right away she would have brown eyes, although the hair was a different matter, because she was bald. Because she was early, she had no hair, no eyelashes and only half of her fingernails. And she was very jaundice to boot! I fell in love immediately!

She was a chubby baby and everyone told me she wouldn't walk until she was past a year. But on Mother's day 1979, when she was only 10 months old, she proved them all wrong!

At five, she had the most amazing smile and beautiful brown eyes! I loved sewing new dresses for her! She was quite a smart stinker and could read whole books by the time she started kindergarten! Now she reads constantly, still! Look what we started!

This is one of my all-time favorite memories. In the scrapbook in my mind, this one is at the top. About an hour before Tiffany's commencement ceremony, in 1996, I took this picture of my two girls dancing around the family room. Chelsea was almost 4 at the time and Tiffany 17.

Flash forward 14 years to 2010, and this time you have Chelsea's graduation! Boy how time flies!

Now Tiffany is the mom to her own 2 girls (see earlier post on fishing)! We've been through alot together, her and I and today I would like take a moment to thank her for letting me experiment with her on being a mom! Heavenly Father couldn't have given me a better oldest daughter!

Love You Tif!

Mom (chris)

Great Moments!

2011-06-27T12:52:00.004-06:00

So Saturday we went fishing up to Paul Reservoir by Humphrey. Gene has been dying to go and so we invited Tiffany and her girls to go with us! Now Tiffany hasn't had a fishing license since before she got married, so it's been awhile! It was really windy when we got there, but about 2 hours later it died off and the lake looked like mirror! You could see the hills all around it in the water! If you look close at these pictures, you can actually see it!
So this is the end result, 4 fish that the girls all pulled in! Sarah, left and Sydney hold the catch of the day!

Proud grandpa in the background!

Never a dull moment when you are fishing! Someone's pole was always bobbing! Kept Grandpa hopping!

Happy fishing to all of you!

chris

Evil Grin!

2011-06-24T22:46:00.004-06:00

Okay, so my brother in law lives next door to us. Has for 33 years. Probably will for the rest of his life. He and I have a love-hate relationship. I love him because he is Gene's brother and he does have his good moments. At one time he hated me because I took his brother/best friend away when I married him and had kids with him. Now because their mom is gone, he looks to me for female guidance, at least sometimes. And because he has never married, he relies and on Gene and I to take care of him when he is ill or having problems.

Why am I telling you this? Well so you understand that it is an interesting dynamic between us. Add to that Dean, at 54, has never married and probably never will (altho their dad was 63 when he married). So shall we say he marches to a little bit different beat than the rest of society? Like going to bed at 9:00 at night, or canning beans and weiners for a quick meal, or wearing red jogging pants tucked into his tube socks outside when he does yardwork (I kid you not and he is 6 foot 4). His latest quirk is that he has taken to mowing his lawn at 6:30 in the morning. Yes, that is A.M.! About once a week I am awakened by his poorly tuned riding lawn mower coughing it's way around the yard. The dew has not even left the lawn (and he wonders why his blade won't cut)!

So this morning it happened again. Now I have tried talking to him about it. And he ignored me. So I decided somehow to get even. I have thought about it all day long and finally came up with an idea. We have these awesome bottlerockets that we bought in Afton Wyoming last year. They whistle, then bang and twinkle over everything. So at 10:00 tonight, I took a bottle out on the deck rail and lit off about a dozen of them! What is it my 18 year old daughter says? Buhaaahhhh! accompanied by an evil grin. Hopefully he didn't sleep through them. But if he did and he chooses to mow next week at his appointed time, I also found a box of artillery shells. Buhhahhhaaaaaah!

If you live in my neighborhood I apologize in advance. But come and enjoy the show! You have Dean to thank for it!

Hope you have a great weekend! We are spending ours fishing!

Chris

I love Wednesdays

2011-06-08T18:26:00.005-06:00

After I get tax season over with, I love Wednesdays! I know, I know, most people live for the weekends. Me, I live for Wednesdays! I don't go to the office on Wednesday, I stay home, putter around the house, clean, whatever I feel like. No one else is there, just me and my schnauzer, Toby. Sometimes I don't even get dressed!

So this morning I enjoyed these lovelies! When I was growing up I LOVED spoon size shredded wheat with fruit on it. Last week I bought a box after I don't know how long. Then yesterday I found some wonderful strawberries at the store and there you have it! My ideal breakfast! I actually sat out on my deck and savored this!

While I was enjoying my breakfast I got to look at this beautiful crab apple tree in my back yard. It always blooms about a week later than the other crab apple trees in my yard, and it is such a deep color! I wish trees bloomed all year long!

So let's see what today brings! Good things are happening!

Chris

?

2011-06-06T11:59:00.002-06:00

I used to hear old people say that the older you get the faster time goes. I personally thought they were full of it! But after looking at me blog and realizing that I haven't posted since January, I guess they are right! Because the last 6 months just flew by!

Not that I haven't been doing anything! Since January I have moved a child to college (see earlier post), learned a new tax program for my office, taught everyone else and prepared several hundred tax returns, put on a blue and gold banquet and a pinewood derby as the cubmaster, turned another year older, watched it rain, watched it rain some more, still more rain, then helped my husband begin to put up the walls on his garage/shop. I have also trimmed all the bushes in my yard, rebarked all the planters, put new brick around the house planters and planted a garden. In between I have been a wife, a mom to 4 and a grandma to 7!

In the last six months I have learned a few things too! I learned that I am still pretty good on computers. That I can make a great meal in no time. That no matter how old your kids get, they still need a mom and dad. And the biggest lesson? This is the hardest one to admit. That Gene and I are getting too old to build stuff by ourselves. That one is a hard one! Over the years we completely built our home, by ourselves, with our own 2 hands. The only thing we didn' have was a garage. So after 33 years of marriage, we decided to build a garage. The thing is, building permits have changed. Drastically. It took us most of the summer to get the permit and we barely got the concrete poured when it snowed. So Gene spent most of the winter buying up materials while the prices were down, and as soon as we could, we started building this spring. The taller the building got, the older we felt. Thank heavens our kids, Kendall and Chelsea, and Tiffany, and our son in law, Joe, stepped in. They helped us get the tresses up and most of it sheeted.

Now we are back to hanging a sheet of plywood here or there, but is starting to look like a garage! We went and picked out the colors for the roof and probably in another month, we will be able to park in it! Woo hoo!

So now I am trying to take time for myself, to do the things I like and need for my soul. I got released from being the cubmaster and have a fairly simple church job. And I am taking an art workshop from Christy Tomlinson, from Scarlet Lime products, and really enjoying it! She is making look at myself in a whole new way!

Over the next few weeks I will post pictures of the garage, to let you know how it's going! And I hope to share with you what I am learning about myself.

Go out and make it the best day possible, okay?

Chris

Blessings

2011-01-05T23:20:00.006-07:00

This precious bundle is our newest grandson, Tyson James Scott! He arrived a little early, on October 25, but weighed in over 8 lbs and is adorable and healthy. At last count he had passed 12 lbs and has the most kissable cheeks in town. Last Sunday we went to Kendall and Christy's ward to see him blessed. This coming Saturday we will watch his older brother, Conner, be baptized. It doesn't get any better than this! We are now up to four granddaughters (the oldest 10) and 3 grandsons!

On Tuesday we bacame official full time empty nesters. I go from being extremely excited about this to down in the dumps because I don't want to be done mothering. I have dreaded this day for 32 years. But it came anyways, so I plan on making the best of it. Here is my curmudgeon, Chelsea, in front of her new apartment. It is really cute and can you believe she has a washer and dryer IN her apartment? So spoiled! I always had to have change to go to the laundrymat!

This is looking from Chelsea's buildings onto the foothills of Pocatello. Not a bad looking view! And I bet she and Jarrica (her roomy from our ward) get deer close by, which will be like home!

This is the first thing Chelsea bought for her apartment when she got there. A bamboo plant. Interesting. She posted the picture sideways, so that's how you get it too. She said she needed something to take care of; this from the girl who complained about taking care of anything at home. I asked her if she had scizzors because bamboo grows fast.

Not a very good picture, I downloaded off Amazon, but you get the idea! Gene and I bought Kindles for each other for our anniversary back in October. I thought it was being frivolous at the time, but I have to tell you, this is so much fun! We have downloaded tons of books, including our scriptures and church manuals and it is so cool to pop it out to read. I have about 3 books I am switching back and forth in right now and tho I thought I would miss my paper pages, it is not a problem! Love it, love it, love it!

Again, not a great picture, but my wonderful husband got me one of these for Christmas! I have been a scrubbing fool ever since. With it and my steam cleaner, my carpets look wonderful! I love my spot bot!

Okay, so now you are caught up with my blessings recently, some material, but the most are my family, which is priceless!

The funniest thing is that my husband and I have a date on Friday night! And we don't even have to make sure that someone else is okay with it, has food for the night and entertainment of their own. Maybe this empty nester thing is okay!

Enjoy your moments!

Chris

Joy!

2010-12-06T13:08:00.003-07:00

Honestly, where does time go? I must be getting old (wink, wink)! It only seems like last week I posted, but the date says August 31! Oh well, I could give you tons of excuses, like building a garage, having a new grandbaby, participating in a couple of craft fairs, putting a daughter in college and running a business, but I won't go there.

Instead, I wanted to tell you I broke out my joy earrings! Now I got these earrings about 20 years ago, from avon, and I love them. They are gold and have a big bow, and 3 bell shapes hanging below it with the letters, J, O, Y! They make me happy when I wear them! Little kids love them too! So yesterday I wore them to church! It must be holiday time!

This year we are drawing names to do for Christmas! Seems strange, because I basically have my 7 grandkids and Gene and my drawn name to buy for. Chelsea is heading to Pocatello after Christmas, so hers will be moving her down there for school.

Instead, I am going to concentrate on Christmas goodies! I have been searching for yummy recipes all over and I have found quite a few. Today I am going to a couple from my cousin's daughter, Rebecca Olsen Vest. She shared these recipes on her blog http://barryandrebecca.blogspot.com/ (which is a really cute blog, by the way)! I hope she doesn't mind me sharing! The pictures alone made my mouth water and I must admit that I am stopping at the store on the way home to pick up rolos and pretzels to try those out! So enjoy!

Oreo Balls

1 package Oreos
1 pkg cream cheese, warm or room temp
Semi-sweet chocolate (baking bar or chips)
White chocolate (baking bar or chips)
1 large ziplock bag
1 small ziplock bag

Place wax paper on jelly roll pan (baking sheet with sides).

In a large bag, crush most of the oreos. Pour into large mixing bowl. Mix in cream cheese.

Melt chocolate in separate bowls, using the microwave or double boilera technique. For microwave, place chocoalte into bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for 15 seconds. Stir, Repeat 15 seconds and stir until chocolate is smooth and melted.

Form a small ball and dip in semi-sweet chocolate, using a spoon, and set on wax paper. You can also dip in the white chocolate and then drizzle with the semi-sweet chocolate.

Pour white chocolate in small ziplock bag to be used as drizzle. Cut small hole in one corner of bag and drizzle the white chocolate over dipped balls.

Let cool. To speed up cooling time, place in refrigerator to set chocolate.

Rolo Turtles

Pretzels, mini or square
Rolos
Pecans, Whole (almonds or Cashews work too_

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Place the pretzels on the cookie sheet and top with one Rolo each. Bake for three minutes (not any longer or you'll have a mess). Let cool!

Off to find more recipes! Wait til you see what I have for tomorrow!

Chris

tick...tock....tick.....tock......

2010-08-31T21:06:00.002-06:00

How did I miss July and almost August? I tell you, sometimes I don't know where the time goes! I must be getting old! So here is the quick version! We went camping on the 4th of July in Teton Valley and went to the Glen Beck show, and watched the fireworks and it was wonderful! I slaved in the yard and the garden, which has struggled because of the weather, then got drowned by raspberries! I canned lots of jam! Then my baby, Chelsea (or Chelser-selzer as I call her sometimes) turned 18. Also, Chelsea decided she needed a new car and wouldn't let the subject alone. In the end she bought a Honda Civic (2001) for $3200, a pretty good deal, but then after we put it on the insurance and paid for the license and sales tax, the computer malfunctioned and 2 weeks and $400 later, it was running again! But it really is a cute car and her sister-in-law, Christy, made her the cutest Fox sticker for the back window. My dad also had a bout with pnuemonia, again, and gave us a scare! But he is okay now. August brought the Finn Family reunion, which was lots of fun, even with the gail force wind that roared in on Friday night, followed by buckets of rain! We ended up in the trailer, watching The Time Travelers Wife on the computer. But the rest of the weekend was great! Then back to the yard and garden, where I have onions and peppers and my beans are finally blossoming! Last week, Chelsea started her first day of college at ISU-IF campus, my brother Sean went into the hospital with kidney failure (type 1 diabetes), Bailey (our granddaughter) turned 6, I had a pack meeting at my house where I let 8 and 9 year old boys start a fire ( and put it out), and my hubby had another birthday on Sunday. Everyone came and we celebrated Gene and Bailey's birthday together ( I baked a chocolate and carrot cake) and made homemade pizza! This week is a little quieter and I am learning to be an empty-nester. Not liking it yet, but learning to adapt. I am currently crocheting like a madwoman, making hotpads for a craft fair I am doing with my daughter in law in November. Oh and did I mention we are getting a grandbaby in November? Number 7.

So there you have it! Two months on the fly! I am in the flow again, so I should be here on a more regular basis. Matter of fact I am working on some cute stuff I want to share with you! I am really excited! And I get to go to a crop with Express the Moment at the end of September! That always gets my creative juices flowing!

Chris!

From time to time......

2010-06-21T12:12:00.003-06:00

I like to share recipes! I love to find new recipes! Yesterday we had dinner for the entire family for Father's Day! It was nice! I made ribs and chicken drumsticks, in a special rub, slow cooked in the oven and smothered in barbeque sauce. Then of course we had to have corn on the cob and baked beans with it! And dinner wouldn't be the same without Tiffany's potato salad! To top it off I tried a new recipe from Betty Crocker (http://www.bettycrocker.com/?WT.dcsvid=MjA5NjQ1OTEyMwS2&rvrin=C28C686C-0A83-DC11-920E-00110A5B41E6&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_BC_06_17_2010_Non-GmailYahooControl) for dessert, Key Lime Poke Cake! Can I say it was soooo easy and sooooo good? It was!

Here is the recipe:

Cake
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 eggs

Key Lime Filling
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
4 drops yellow food color
1 drop green food color

Frosting
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
2 teaspoons grated lime peel

Garnish, If Desired
Fresh strawberries
Key lime slices
Lemon leaves
1. Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal or glass pan (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With handle of wooden spoon (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter), poke holes almost to bottom of cake every 1/2 inch, wiping spoon handle occasionally to reduce sticking.
4. In medium bowl, stir together filling ingredients (mixture will thicken). Pour over cake; spread evenly over surface, working back and forth to fill holes. (Some filling should remain on top of cake.) Refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Spread frosting over cake; sprinkle with lime peel. Garnish with strawberries, lime slices and lemon leaves. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.

The only thing I did different was instead of the frosting, we topped it with Cool Whip! Let me say again, it is super yummy!

Have a yummy day!

Chris

Some days.......

2010-06-16T12:46:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I am sooooooo slow, but I actually went to a crop last month, Express the Moment's to be exact, and I got some layouts done! I have been in a serious freeze this past year, where I have convinced myself that I will never make perfect, publishworthy layouts and so I don't even try! But slowly, in the past few weeks, I have begun to feel a thaw. Okay, so I will never be a trendsetter, or an award winning designer! The important thing is to record history for my family! So that someday they won't be facing an entire dresser of photos (yes my mom left behind an entire dresser, stuffed) with no idea who, what, when, where, or why! So you will have to put up with my mediocre attempts at our family history because it is important that I get it done!

Here are a couple of entries for 2009! This was Chelsea's senior picture, that she put in her yearbook. I took the pictures for her, in our corn patch. Then she took the one she liked best and played with it in photoshop until she got this black and white photo with the guitar in color! I love it! We make a good team!
Last fall the colors were so awesome! The pictures on the left page are from my yard. We had all kinds of yellows and oranges! Then the right page shows our resident turkey herd, across the dry bed from our place! The warm sun drew them out that day! I have such fun photographing them! They are a hoot! Anyways, I loved this paper and so the page just fell together! I also loved the title of the page and the play on words: this perfect {fall} day! The play is that is can read this {fall} or perfect day! or this perfect day! or this {fall} day or {fall} day, they all fit!

I am also trying to get back to using my food storage in my menu! I kind of get out of the habit and use alot of fast food when we are in tax season. Anyways, last night I made honey mustard porkchops (mix 1 C honey and 3 Tbl mustard, glaze porkchops and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours) and cornbread (I shared the recipe last year, uses powdered eggs and powdered buttermilk and it is awesome) and the vegetable was frozen carrots I made from our garden last fall! It was all so yummy! So easy too!

Hope you have a productive day!

Chris

Let Me Introduce myself.......

2010-05-20T22:33:00.004-06:00

Okay, so you thought I went away, huh? I know, I have not been a good blogger at all! Life just gets in the way sometimes, you know? Anyways, it was the usual suspects: first tax season that gets longer each year. Then, because life gets boring, we decided that 6 days after tax season ended, we needed to go to Denver with 160 high school orchestra, band and choir students! This is Chelsea's senior year and we decided we needed to be a chaparone at least once before we became empty nesters! It was a lot of fun, but I tell you what, they kept us running (and I do mean literally!) So in pictures, because they say it so much better, here is what the last month looked like!
Recognise the skyline? Only Denver looks like this! This was taken from the parking lot of the Denver Aquarium! Cool place! Some of the other places we went were Buffalo Bills grave (up a long and winding road!), Red Rock ampitheatre (takes your breath away literally!), The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (interesting experience), the 16th Street Mall (electric busses) and Elitch Gardens and Theme park (just an observer) We were rained on, blown around and even got snowed in an extra night! But the kids were so totally awesome!

This is part of the orchestra kids after they received their 1st place trophy! This is the tenth year Rigby has placed 1st at a competition!

This was the last night of the trip and this was the first picture we got to take of Chelsea! The only time we saw her was on the busses.

I was totally exhausted when I got home, but I must say it was a trip I will never forget!

We came back to Chelsea's graduation preparations! I forgot how much goes into that! Where have the 17 years gone?

17 years ago this was Chelsea at about 3 weeks old, on Charlie Girl's back! I think this started her love affair with animals! If I had a dime for every picture I have of Chelsea holding a kitten, a puppy, or even a raccoon, I would be a millionaire!

14 years ago, this was my oldest daughter, Tiffany's graduation day! I had made her that dress, and she was getting ready for the ceremony (see her cap and gown on the cedar chest) and she and Chelsea were dancing around the family room and I snapped this picture! This has become one of those pictures you wear in your heart and this is how I like to think of my girls!

Now here is my rennaisance girl, in one of her senior pics! I took the picture and she photoshopped it to turn it into this black and white with her guitar. That is the real color of her electric guitar.

This is one of my favorite pics of Chelsea, taken my her friend M'Lynn, last fall. Sometimes she wears her goofy spirit on her face, and I love it!

This is another that M'lyn took! This is in the drybed of the Snake River, that runs behind our house! Again it caught that spunk that is only Chelsea!

This is that picture we finally settled on for her graduation announcements. She and I snuck out onto the train bridge at the Jefferson/Madison county line and took these pics last fall!

On next Wednesday, at 2:00 pm, at the Hart Auditorium, my baby will graduate from high school with high honors! She is accepted to ISU this fall, where she is studying Radiographic Science, to become an ultrasound technician.

Today was her first day out of school. She came to work with me, played on her brand new laptop, then we went shopping and ended up at Red Robin's for lunch! It was a wonderful afternoon, spending grown-up time with my daughter! I hope for tons more like it!

Goodnight, ya all!

Chris

Oh my..........

2010-01-30T23:04:00.003-07:00

Bad, bad blogger! I don't have no fun these days! The past 2 weeks have been a blur, but the office is now whipped into shape, the W-2's are done, and we are rollin' doing taxes! This year is going to be interesting with new twists in the EITC rules and the Homebuyer's Credit! Already ran into a problem with that today! Oh well!

My cubscout pack had their pinewood derby last night! It was so much fun! I haven't taken any pics of my car yet, but I will tomorrow, I promise, and then post them! It is pink and says "It's a girl thing" on it! My boys loved it! I had six boys and more parents than I have ever seen there last night! It was awesome! I learned so much and know what I will and won't do next year (if I am still in the job), but the important thing is that the boys loved it and had a blast! Conner and Bailey came too and they had even made cars with their dad. I thought back to how derby's were always so traumatic when my boys were little. I hated them, because we never did well. Matter of fact I used that as a reason why the bishop shouldn't consider me as cubmaster, but he didn't listen! I am glad now, because even though Sister Scott's pink bomb looked great, it came in lastand I was thrilled! I told them I was going for style, not substance! :) Everyone loved the eyelashes on her too!

Tomorrow is the Sabbath. This time of year it truly becomes my day of rest! I love going to church, but I also love my afternoon nap! At 51 it is when I recharge my batteries for the next week!

Here's to restful reflections!

Chris

And so it begins............

2010-01-14T20:40:00.005-07:00

Alas, it is January and Tax Season is upon us. When I was a kid, I used to hate January because that was when I didn't have parents anymore. They would dash off to do taxes and we wouldn't see them but for a few moments at night. I swore I would NEVER be a tax accountant when I grew up.

When I was about 23 I was a stay at home mom with 3 kids 3 and under and needed to make money that didn't mean I needed a babysitter. Mom and dad invited Gene and I to come do tax returns through their office. So we did. I didn't want my kids being raised by babysitters, so we traded nights doing taxes. Gene went out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I did them Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then we hired a babysitter on Saturday. And we have stuck to this for 31 years of raising kids! Now Chelsea is 17, but we still do it, so one of us is home every night!

I found out I was pretty good at doing taxes! I enjoyed helping people keep from paying so much to the IRS, especially when the laws were there to help them keep from doing that! So it began. For 16 years we worked for them. We got our first computer in 1984 and it was my job to learn to run it! It was a dual floppy, 5 1/2 inch, drive. By 1990 we were up to a 80 MB hard drive and I didn't think we would ever ever fill that! I spent most of my time keying in everyone else's returns that had been entered on data sheets.

In 1999 my mom was forced into retirement by MS and Gene and I bought the business from my parents. We also made the leap to actually doing the returns right on the computer, minus the data sheets. This was such a leap! At first Gene and I shared a laptop ( for about 3 years) and then we bought a new one. Now Gene and I can be found most nights playing away or working on our own individual laptops!

This year marks the 28th year we have been preparing taxes! I can't believe it! I found out that I actually do like doing taxes, although I don't always like the hours doing it! We are kind of like farmers. It is feast or famine. We have to "make Hay" while the sunshines, in other words, when we are in tax season it is long days and sometimes long nights. But the plus side is that when tax season is over, my time is mine to do with what I want, like play in my garden, scrapbook, camp, or whatever! Besides, it helps the winters go faster and since I am not a fan of winter, that is okay with me!

So if you live in Southeastern Idaho and need a good accountant, I can do that!

Chris

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T11:11:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! Took the last 6 weeks off for family and Christmas, but I am back! I needed a break and hope you all had a wonderful Holiday! I will be posting about it over the next few weeks?

What are you doing today? We invited all our family who wants to come for Prime Rib, garlic mashed red potatoes and tons of steamed broccoli! Yum! It is snowing and is gorgeous! We now have 3 4-wheelers so that is what we will be playing with today! Grandpa has a huge sled we hook up behind one and we can pull all the grandkids in it! I can't wait!

Hope you have a great day and see you tomorrow!

Chris

When is November over?

2009-11-20T23:53:00.002-07:00

This has been quite a month. Sorry to not post too much. Had my brother in the hospital. Chelsea had an emergency wisdom tooth removal done on Monday, which resulted in the tooth not being pulled after and entire hour and now when she heals we have to go to an oral surgeon. They will probably try again in about 3 months! oh brother!

In between my grandkids had birthdays; Sydney turned 9 on November 4 and Conner turned 7 on November 18! They are all getting so big!

How is your Christmasing coming? I am still in the planning stages, but if you need some cute small gifts, such as homemade hotpads (cute), washclothes (love them) and knitted slippers (simply adorable and warm), all priced under $10, contact me and I will send you pics! I love making these things and my family is tired of getting them for presents! Did I mention I have hair ribbons (corkscrew) and cuddly scarves too? And a couple of awesome granny square afghans (priced to sell at $45)? I am sure I am forgetting something! Anyways, I can mail them to you or you can come to my office in Idaho Falls to see them and buy some!

Hope your holiday spirit is growing!

The Best Plans........

2009-11-02T18:33:00.005-07:00

Okay so for the last 2 weeks life got in the way! Got in the way of all kinds of things! First, I had most of my canning done, the yard work caught up, and was really in the mood to scrap! I was excited to go to Kim Rose's Express the Moment Crop on the 24th! Packed everything up the night before, got up, kissed my hubby goodbye and went to lose myself for a few hours. About 11:00 my husband called to tell me his alternator was gone. No problem I said. Chelsea ran him to the parts store. Problem solved, right? Wrong. At 12:00 he called to say the starter was gone too! Both parts totalled $450! By now my crop was ruined! I couldn't concentrate and felt like I needed to be home at least giving moral support. So I packed up and went home. Got the parts in and everything ran fine, but now we were broke! Luckily, I checked the account and found that I had enough built up in their to cover it and still leave my rainy day fund. But our anniversary was Wednesday and we couldn't even afford to go out. So we rented The Proposal and bought Chinese and had our 32nd anniversary date at home. Which ended up being a really nice evening together!

Then on Thursday I got 2 emails, one from Paypal and one from Bank America telling me someone tried to access my accounts. I promptly went in, changed my user ID's and passwords and added security benefits they offered. Whew I averted that problem, right? Wrong. On Friday I tried to use my debit card and it was declined. Luckily I had my hubby there and he used his. I called the bank and found out that my card had been killed for fraudulent activity. So I ordered a new one and we laughed about it as we finished our shopping. When I got home I checked our checking account and found out that whoever had accessed my account had tried debiting $501 to Western Union. Luckily it was still pending and I called the bank immediately, who forwarded me onto Visa, who killed the transaction. Now I have spent the whole weekend changing every user id and password I own, even on the LDS website! I have also enrolled in every extra security item that my credit cards and dept store cards offered and now get email alerts if someone even sneezes near my account. I have a new debit card and credit cards coming, which means I have to write checks (such a bother) or borrow my husband's debit card. But we were lucky, because we nipped it in the bud. After it is all said and done, I think they got the info from my Amazon.com account, which is the only place I had both info's stored. I changed my password there and notified them of what happened.

So here is my advise to each of you: Check all your accounts, often, say at least once a week. Notify the bank or institution of irregularities immediately. Immediately change you user ID and password on all accounts if you suspect fraud or if you receive an email alert. Sign up for email alerts if your institution offers it. Contact Social Security to see if anyone has requested a new card recently for your number (I never thought of this one). Keep safe!

On the brighter side Halloween was adorable. We did Trunk or Treat at the church and I handed out 120 pieces of candy! I got to see 4 of my grandchildren and then the next day got to see all 6 of them when we got together to celebrate Sydney's 9th birthday! That makes everything else fade away!

So the moral of this story is, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger! I toughened up alot this weekend!

Be in charge of your destiny!

Chris

Will I ever finish?

2009-10-17T16:40:00.007-06:00

Today I boiled,

and I steamed, and when I was done -

I had canned 9 pints of tomato sauce, 3 pints of clear tomato juice

and 7 pints of freezer carrots!

Don't the carrots look pretty? I've never done freezer carrots before but they weren't hard at all and they smell yummy! As for the tomatoes, I just juice them in my juicer for one hour, then wind them through my vitorio strainer and put in bottles. Then I water bath them for 5 minutes to get the lids to seal. I use this sauce to make speghetti sauce or add with crushed tomatoes. I also can some of the clear juice left over from the tomatoes. It is great to add to your stews, giving a great taste to the stock you already have!

Earlier this week I bottled these pie apples. I still have about 14 more quarts to go, but this was the first batch. They are a little labor intensive and I must advise you to buy an apple peeler and corer (the crank kind works best), otherwise you will be peeling and coring for days! Now here are the recipes for the pie apples and the carrots!

Freezer Carrots

8 Cups of sliced or diced carrots

1 Cube of butter

1 1/2 tsp of salt

2 Tbls of brown sugar

Put everything in a large pan, add enough water that you can see it, but not so it covers all the carrots. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Cool and place in containers and freeze.

Pie Apples

6 qts apples, peeled and sliced

4 1/2 C sugar

1 C Clear gel or cornstarch ( I prefer the Clear Gel)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

10 C water

3 Tbls lemon juice

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large pan. Add the water and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until thick. In a clean quart jar add about 1/2 C of filling, add apple slices, using a knife to work them down in. Finish filling with filling to neck, leaving at least 1/2 inch space. Repeat until all jars are full. Wipe mouth of jar with a rag dipped in vinegar (helps the sealing process) put lid and ring on. Process in water bath for 25 minutes. Should make 7 quarts.

We have a bumper crop of carrots and apples this year, so I am sure I will be re-using these recipes over the next week or so. Let me know how they turn out for you!

Chris

I won!

2009-10-13T08:42:00.004-06:00

Imagine my surprise when I went to visit my friend, Kim Roses' blog at http://www.kimrose.typepad.com/. I won a contest! Didn 't really know I was entering one. I commented on what getting back to school meant to me. With it being Chelsea's senior year and all. Well anyways, any of you who read my blog, know I have been having 'senior' moments over Chelsea's senior year! Anyways, thank you Kim, for the lovely prize. I won her September kit!

By the way, Kim has the cutest online store and she has the cutest kits that are a really great value! Her website is www.expressthemoment.com and she a discussion board there too. We have gals from all over the US on it! So go on over and check out both places! You'll be glad you did! And if you want to come to a good old crop, join Kim on October 24th! We always do alot of great projects and then you just get the rest of the day to crop! I always get alot done! And everyone brings pot luck goodies and we just eat, scrap, visit and have a grand time! You can get more information on the website, if you are interested!

Oh, and Kim, after reading your blog about Heidi Swapp, I went to Scrapalicious yesterday and bought the heart box kit and the Secrets Kit. I was hoping to get the Energy journal kit, but she was out. You'll have to bring your energy journal to the crop so I can look at it!

Well, today, after work, I am off to Michaels to buy some Artsy Urban by Melody Ross. Tomorrow, in between canning apples and tomatoes, I am scrapping! Some me time!

Check in tomorrow, I will be sharing pics of my apple pie filling and tomato sauce and I have a couple of recipes too!

Ta Ta

Chris

Beautiful

2009-10-07T12:42:00.003-06:00

I have never tried putting a video on here before, but here goes! I posted this on facebook, but it really touched me and I wanted to write about it here. This is a YouTube Pantene commercial and it lasts 4 minutes. Melody Ross posted it and and I have to tell you, it made me cry. Here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A

Relief!

2009-10-06T22:47:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I know this is boring, but that shows you how boring my life is most of the time! My washer is fixed! I pulled it out today (no small feat since it still had water in it) and when I unhooked the hose some dirt, lint and 2 pennies came out. So I knew there was a clog on the other side of the pump. When Gene got home we tore the back off the machine and he pulled the hose off the other side of the pump. Out popped a coin about the size of a silver dollar that says "Don't quit" on it! Exactly the same size as the opening of the pump! Washer is now getting a work out catching up on our laundry that should have been done Saturday! Had a talk with Chelsea about checking her levi pockets better in the future!

Tomorrow I tackle the apples. I will post my recipe, which is one I got from our Finn Family Cookbook, from Aunt Elaine Finn, my great-aunt. Totally awesome, especially if you like cinnamon! I love old family recipes, they are the best!

Tomorrow is looking up!

Chris

Good Grief!

2009-10-05T21:52:00.003-06:00

I woke this morning to snow! I so did not want my first post of October to be about snow! But it is! I even took pictures this morning (the scrapbooker in me) but I can't bring myself to post them. Maybe if I don't post them, it won't be true! (clicking my heels together three times)

Tomorrow, we get to tear my washing machine apart. I have one of those front load Maytag Neptunes and normally I love it! Saturday however, it stopped pumping water out of it. I am hoping for a clog, but preparing for a new pump! Sometimes everyday stuff just plain stinks!

As soon as the snow melts, I will pick my pie apples and make apple pie filling, but I refuse to pick them in the snow! It is supposed to be sunny and dry tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

Got tO GeT Me sOMe!

2009-09-30T00:25:00.002-06:00

I have a new favorite blog! It is www.gcdstudios.blogspot.com and they are the ones putting out Melody Ross's new Artsy Urban collection. It is so dang cute! I borrowed a couple of pictures from their web site to show you what I mean. She has everything, paper packs, bordrs, buttons, stickers, epoxy stickers, all kinds of embellishments!

I love these buttons!

She has these butterflies and another full set of butterflies! I love butterflies!

Can I just say, got to get me some?! I am on my way to Michaels tomorrow to see if they are in yet! I can't wait! I am breaking my 6 month pledge not to buy anything new. This is my reward! :)

I will be dreaming in Artsy Urban tonight! Thanks Melody!

Chris

Okay, here it is!

2009-09-26T21:08:00.003-06:00

Here is the infamous dress! She chose the colors because they are Ryan's (her date) school colors. I think the dress looks a little like she should be a CanCan dancer, but it turned out cute! There is 12 yards of fabric in this thing! That bodice has to be the hardest thing I ever did, there are 11 different pieces, counting the sleeves! And I have never done so much gathering and not a ruffle on it!

And what makes me the happiest? Last night when we did a trial fit, she said "It is just exactly what I wanted"! I haven't heard that from this child in many years! My heart did a flip flop!

The best part of all? It's done!

Chris

Drumroll......

2009-09-25T23:11:00.002-06:00

.......Am I a tease? Tomorrow, dears, tomorrow! Actually the dress is hanging in the doorway as we speak, waiting for the final fitting to see if the sleeves we stole off one dress will work on this one. I tell you, I cannot design a dress to save me, but give me a box of patterns and I will go to town creating something never seen before!

And did I tell you they are having this dance on the football field? So no high heels? Did I mention this dress was made for high heels? I'd like to know what knucklehead decided on the football field in September for a dance! Oh well.

So until tomorrow, adieu, adieu....................................

Chris

I Survived!

2009-09-16T22:01:00.002-06:00

I went to the store today! That and the Scout office! Spent money! So, you say! I got in the habit of not spending this past week, with the 7 Day Challenge from www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net and it's hard to break out the debit card again! Paid bills too! I almost felt guilty about it! We need to do it again; I might save a LOT of money to keep on doing it!

But I have to admit, the thought of not having to plan everything way ahead is nice! Now if I can get over my first Cub Scout Pack meeting tomorrow night, I will really relax!

Actually not! You see Chelsea is going to homecoming next week and I have been assigned to create her the coolest, most awesome dress that ever existed! I was assigned after I told her no to a $400 (the most perfect dress ever) dress! So for a mere $120 we will whip her up a tea length dreamy creation, in the colors of red and black (his school colors). This boy better be cute! I will try to send occasional messages out from my prison, I mean sewing room! Come looking if you don't see me for a few days!

Chris

Half full, Half empty?

2009-09-11T20:59:00.003-06:00

Okay, so have you been over to www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net? Awesome site! This week they are having a preparedness drill! We have to go without spending money or going to the store for a week, then each day they throw an additional challenge on. Today's challenge was that your husband's boss is an unexpected dinner guest and he is a vegetarian, you have to have an appetizer, main course and 2 side dishes, then dessert. Since we ate mostly veggies from the garden, that wasn't hard, but not sure someone else would like it! So far I have been a 50 percenter! I have achieved about half the challenge! Is my cup half full or half empty? I like to think half full because I am learning what I need to improve. I actually have the food storage down and going to the store is not a problem! However, yesterday was a pandemic and we couldn't leave the house. I had the medical supplies; except for the surgical masks. The day before was a flood that had us evacuating; since I was canning, that didn't work. But the cool thing about all this? It has me thinking! That is always a good thing!

So if you want to follow along, click on the 7 Day Challenge button at the side of my blog. Check out what we all are doing, maybe join us for the last 4 days! Stretch your wings!

Chris

Busy hands........

2009-09-10T17:00:00.003-06:00

Been super busy this week. Been in craft mode, with a break between canning stuff! Here's a hint of what I have been doing!

Don't you love yarn? It makes me excited just to see this picture! More to follow tomorrow!

Chris

Homemade Bread

2009-09-04T17:20:00.003-06:00

Since I got my Bosch Mixer in April, homemade bread has become the norm at our house. I so love making bread now that I don't have wear my arm out kneading it! But so far I have stuck mostly to white bread, even though my husband bought me a Nutramill Wheat Grinder at the same time. I ground up hard red wheat once and mixed it half and half with white flour, but my family wasn't thrilled with it.

I have been buying and storing hard white wheat, but had never used it. so this morning I was feeling brave and got it out and ground up a bunch. Then I mixed bread. Now I must admit I still mixed it with white flour, about 10 C hard white wheat, 6 C white flour. But here are the results!

I have been having my friends telling me it makes almost totally white bread, but I didn't believe them. Here is the results!

It is hard to tell it is whole wheat bread! It has a slightly cream color to it, but that is all. The wonderful thing about it is that the crust is so much softer than white! It is a slightly denser bread; in my case my normal loaves are about 1 lb 4 oz. These ended up weighing about 1 lb 12 oz. But it melts in your mouth! Even though it's 90 degrees outside, I feel a soup and bread night coming on!

Chris

September?

2009-09-01T18:34:00.003-06:00

Happy September! I can't believe it is the 1st of September! I know I haven't been blogging too much lately, but life seems to have gotten in the way! First our pump went out and was oh so fun to get fixed, then we had 2 birthdays in one week, Bailey and Gene! Add to that that I am in the prime of canning time, and it doesn't leave much time for anything else!

Tonight we are going to have my favorite dinner! I have chuck steaks (Black Angus no less) to grill and I am making a pot of green beans! I love fresh green beans! Here is the pot that is cooking on our stove right now!

In our family we like to doctor them up a bit! I fill the big pot about 1/2 full of beans, put about 5 or 6 cups of water on them, add a TBL of salt and a TBL of sugar, then add about a dozen or so cherry tomatoes from the garden and slice up a couple of slices of bacon. Cover, bring to a boil, and let simmer for about 1/2 hour! It is a bite of heaven, believe me!

Speaking of bacon, we have always put bacon in our green beans. This is tradition handed down from my Great-Grandmother Sarah Finn, to my Grandmother Sarah Alvey, to my mom DeeAnn Malone and to me. It is really good, and quite frankly, my family won't touch store bought beans. If I don't can anything else from the garden, I can 80 or 90 pints of beans every year. Here is our family recipe:

Clean jars and lids and rings, pints or quarts
Green Beans, snipped

In pints, put 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, add about 1/4 C hot water, stir to dissolve. (Double this for quarts.) Fill jar about 2/3 full with beans, then add a 1 inch slice of bacon (put 2 in for quarts). Finish packing beans in jar (and I do mean pack, push down firmly until you have it filled to the neck.) Fill to the neck with more hot water, wipe rim, put lid and ring on. Shake to distribute the salt and sugar.

Fill your pressure cooker with jars, either pints or quarts, according to manufacture instructions. Put the lid on, turn heat on and let pressure rise to 12 lbs. Pressure at 12 to 15 lbs for 20 minutes for pints, 25 for quarts. Turn off heat and let the pressure drop on it's own accord. When pressure drops to zero, open lid and remove jars. Wipe off (they may be a little greasy) and let cool overnight. Label and store in a cool, dark environment.

You should smell my house right now! Nothing like a pot of green beans! Yum! Well I got to go and grill my steaks!

Try something new tonight, okay?

Chris

Happy Bday Honey!

2009-08-29T22:11:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to post a quick note for my husband, Eugene! Today is his 51st birthday! For the Next 9 months we will be the same age, until my next bday. He has the exact amounts of minutes and seconds older I am, but I remind I am better looking! :)

Anyways, I just wanted him to know that I can't think of anyone else I would have loved spending the past 32 years with! We really are growing old (that's the yukky part) together. This week has been a trial, with our pump going down and then it not working right when we got it back and having more stuff done. But he has kept his cool and I am so glad I have an expert for a husband, who can fix anything!

Tonight we had everyone here, and it was great! We had a cookout and cheesecake too! I love when we get our family together.

That's all. Now that the house is on an even keel again I should be able to post more! I owe you canning tips, don't I! Check me out on Wednesday!

Chris

Doggone it!

2009-08-23T12:19:00.002-06:00

Last night at about 10 pm my husband went to jump into the shower; but, no water! We ran to check our well and sure enough the pump wasn't working! I ran around turning off all the sprinklers and such. we let it cool all night, then turned the breaker back on this morning. Still isn't working right! Bummer! We filled all our water storage tanks and the tub. Then we started calling for help. Not looking too promising. Our pump is 27 years old, so chances are it will need to be replaced. A new pump? $500 and 4 or 5 day wait. We're trying to get a local to match the price we can find on the internet, but I don't know! Have you ever tried living without water? We gathered up all the disposable dishes from the trailer, put a tank in every bathroom, so you can flush, and have bottled water to drink. Chelsea went over to her friends to shower. This is the life, eh?

Chris

Wheew!

2009-08-22T19:51:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I have had a busy couple of days, not a lot of crafting going on, let me tell you! I had my first pack meeting yesterday, and had to get all the awards, the food for the cookout and get down to the church with everything and set up! Thank heavens for my wonderful husband, who let me drag him along! Here it was 96 degrees and he built me a fire! Then he ran to a friends house to pick up the awards I forgot to pick up! He is a jewel, I tell you what! I knew there was a reason I married all those years ago! Anyways, the cookout went well, and it was really fun, only we didn't have very many there! I am going to have to work on that! It was nice to get to know the families a little better! I still feel like the old filly on the block, but that's okay; I'll just be grandma to everyone! Grandma Cubmaster! What a hoot!

Tomorrow the family is getting together to celebrate Bailey's 5th Birthday, which is actually on Tuesday! Bailey is our total towhead! Here is a picture of Bailey (on the left) with her younger cousin, Maddie. Besides them I have 2 other granddaughter's Sydney and Sarah. then I have 2 grandsons, Conner (Bailey's brother) and Jesson (Maddie's brother). It is so cool to have more girls than boys! I was an only girl (3 brothers) in my family, my husband only 1 brother, and we ended up with 2 boys and 2 girls! So to now have more girls than boys is awesome!

Back to Bailey! She broke her collarbone a few weeks ago, falling of our trampoline! She is doing good and we all are hoping for an awesome, uneventful day tomorrow! Lots of cool gifts too!

chris

Check this out!

2009-08-20T12:51:00.002-06:00

I was just blogging along and came across this cute blog, called My Organized Chaos. It is so cute and she has soooooo much on there. Anyways, here is a link http://www.myorganizedchaos.net/2009/08/sticky-words-vinyl-with-giveaway.html to a contest she is running, giving away some totally cute vinyl sayings! She has a link to the company she is getting it from and they have the cutest sayings! So go, enter!

Chris

Using What You Have

2009-08-20T08:58:00.002-06:00

Let me start by saying, I am a pack rat! I admit it! We have a small room that I use to put my craft stuff in. Let me tell you, it is crammed full! I have an aisle from the door down the center of the room to the craft table, where I have my computer set up right now. The walls on both sides are lined with heavy duty shelves. On those shelves are printers (yes 2), a scanner, a whole shelf of my paper collection, a whole shelf of accumulated designer scrapbook kits, a couple shelves full of fabric, and the rest filled with Sizzix dies, rubber stamps, ink pads, brads and eyelets, buttons, do dads, adhesive, 2 Xyron machines, a laminator and a Cricut and 20 cartridges! Oh and the shelf over the window holds paints, more flowers, more brads, and more buttons! And did I mention my ribbon collection? Or the closet crammed full of yarn?

You get the idea! So about 2 months ago, I decided enough was enough! I cancelled all my subscriptions, as cute as they are, and forced myself to stay away from the craft store. I have been knitting squares from my baby yarn, so I can make patchwork afghans. They are going to be adorable. And if I don't sell them, they will go to the Humanitarian center. And I have started scrapping again. The shear amount of stuff I have overwhelmed enough for awhile, that I couldn't force myself to scrap! Since I began my "Use what you have" campaign, I have felt the old creative juices begin to flow. Here is an example of that ---->

Now the significant thing about these pages are that I used 5 things, paper, flowers, buttons, brads and glitter. That's it. I had this adorable Daisy D paper, but it was really busy, so I cut some of the flowers from it and used them as the basis this page was designed around. Then I made butterlfies from the same paper. Cut them out with my old red Sizzix. Cut 2, stacked them, stapled, then put ribbon down the middle for the body and covered in glitter. Added a button for the head. That's it and they turned out so stinkin cute!

I added color coordinated buttons and flowers and my favorite Thicker stickers, then did the most important thing, told the story of how these pictures all tied together.

So watch as I learn to make do with what I have. This could be interesting! I promise I will buy now scrapbooking supples (with the exception of Kukoyo adhesive, which has been discontinued) until October! Have fun with me and see how well you can do too! Let's see how inventive we get with all we have! And always remember that the reason we scrap is to give our family picture book memories!

Cbris

New Adventures

2009-08-19T22:58:00.002-06:00

Okay, so anyone who knows me, knows I knit and crochet all the time. It is how I relax during tax season and how I stay awake when I watch TV! So I have been stashing hot pads, wash cloths, baby blankets and whatnot, away, thinking that someday I will start selling them! My family can't stand anymore afghans or sweaters and my hands have to be busy. So I have been toying with opening up an online store, or at least showing them here! Tell me what you think, okay? and if you live in Idaho Falls area, keep an eye out, because I decided to take a corner of my office and turn it into the Cosy Corner, where I will display my items! Check back in the next week to see what I come up with!

Chris

Senior Moment

2009-08-19T17:50:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the first day of school. So what you say. And usually I would agree with you. But tomorrow is the first day of my youngest daughter's senior year! I am not sure I am ready for this! Because I am not ready to admit I am that old! Not ready to admit I have been raising children for 31 years. Not ready to have an empty nest.

You are probably going to get tired of me boobing about it this year! Chelsea's senior year is going to be a full, fun year! She is a studentbody officer (Publicity Chairman), Senior Editor of the Yearbook Staff, plays in the school's drumline, and managed to squeeze one semester of orchestra (violin) in there too! All this and she is a 3.9something student! Can you tell I'm proud?

And in the midst of all of that, she is a FOX addict! Now I'm sure any of you who have teenagers, know what FOX is! Only the coolest line of clothing spawned by motorbikers, that ever existed! And right now, includes about 75% of Chelsea's wardrobe!

When Chelsea had her birthday last month, let's just say it was a FOX fest! She got FOX shirts, hoodies and even a purse (which I didn't know they made)! And to top it off, I even made her a FOX cake (not an easy feast since it was 90 degrees that day and buttercream frosting melts)!

Today I ventured into Chelsea's picture files and came up with the first 2 pictures! She seems to spend alot of time in the bathroom with her camera, but I have to admit I love some of the results! These pictures were chosen to complete a scrapbook page honoring her 17th birthday. I'll post back when I have it done!

Now in answer to the title "Senior moment", I'm sure you thought I was referring to her senior year. Actually, I'm referring to my getting older. I am having a senior moment today "facing" another last on my list, the last time I send a kid off to public school! I seem to have alot of these Senior moments with Chelsea, but I guess that's what happens when you wait 11 years to have your last child. Believe me I am trying to enjoy them all, every chance I get!

Chris

Happy BDay Greg

2009-08-17T20:40:00.002-06:00

Today is Greg, my brother's birthday! I was going to say baby brother, but since he is 47, he is not exactly a baby! He lives in California, and works in the State Penal System, which means he is one of those lucky people that they are furloughing! I wish him peace and hope all is going well! I looked and looked for a picture, to show you, but I don't have any that are as an adult, and I don't think you want to see the 14 year old stuck in my son's high chair! (imagination will do!)

So happy bday Greg, and here's to many, many more! I need somebody to grow old with me!

Love your sister!

Better Hurry!

2009-08-14T20:57:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite websites, www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net, has a challenge going on. If you have been trying to get more prepared, for emergencies and such, this challenge is for you! Click on the link in this blog post, or on the button down the right side of my page. Once you are signed up, then sometime in September they will begin this. With no warning (like in real life) you will get an email telling you what creature comforts you get to use for the day! Maybe you'll get electricity, maybe you won't. Maybe you get to go to the store, maybe you don't. You won't know. And each day, for seven days, they will challenge you with something new. The point is to see how well you would do in a real situation and to help you to improve your emergency plans. They want to know your sucesses and even failures; because after all we learn from the failures, right?

So I hope you will join me in September and let's get our Preparedness mojo on!

Chris

Getting around to everything

2009-08-11T18:15:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I think I have my scrapping mojo on. I haven't scrapped much in the past year, I think I burned out on it. I was busy trying to create the most wonderful pages ever, and forgetting that the main reason I scrap is to create memories for my family. Not only that I was overwhelmed by the mess in my craft room. It is 8x10 and no matter how well I clean it, it is still stuffed to the gills! So this spring I took stock of the $1000's of supplies I had and said, make do. Don't buy just to buy. I cancelled my monthly kits, which was hard to do, because I tell you Scarlet Lime's kits are a sensual experience! ETM's are great too, but when I counted I had 42 kits that had never been opened! So guess what? Over the weekend I opened a couple of Scarlet Lime kits, mixed and matched and made these great pages! I discovered I loved SEI paper and anything Bo Bunny! But I didn't try to overdo it, just simple pages that tell the story!
This was a picture I took of my cats. Now they are all outdoor cats and in the winter they like to line up on the back of a bench we have on our front deck. I don't know if they are trying to absorb heat from the window, or if they just want to try and get some pity from you. but this one morning, Cruiser was sitting on top of Shy and I couldn't resist! I grabbed my phone and snapped this picture, then texted it to my husband. We dubbed them the Stackin Cats after this!

This is some SEI paper from one of Christy Tomlinson's kits! I love how she can pick loud, vibrate pages for her kits, then give us oodles of cute, not mainstream, stuff to go with them. Here I used a couple of expoxy stickers from Colorblok and this wonderful flower that looks like it was made for the paper. It took a dismal winter picture, which was how I was feeling in January and made it so cute!

So if you get a chance find a cute set of kits that fit your personality, but do me a favor, use them! Don't hoard like I have!

By the way, if you get a chance, www.diecutdiva.com is doing a Acetate in August blog hop! http://die-cut-diva.blogspot.com/2009/08/acetate-in-august.html I tell you, the stuff on each blog is so stinkin cute! I have been afraid to use acetate, but I think I might try after seeing some of their stuff. Check it out, and why you're there, enter their contest. I think it goes until Friday

Okay, here is a tip today to use your garden produce. My beans are coming on and our favorite way to have our first pot of green beans is this: We pick enough beans to feel a large pot, add about 1/2 lb bacon, sliced in bite sized chunks, and dice up a tomato or two from your garden. Cover with water and put on the stove and simmer until beans are done. I've never timed it, but probably about a 1/2 hour. Be sure and add equal parts salt and sugar to flavor it. I tell you, you will crave beans all year long after you have them this way!

Enjoy the day and create some memories!

Chris

Shocking!

2009-08-10T23:17:00.002-06:00

Okay, so a week ago Sunday, the bishop called me in. Always makes me nervous when he does that. My mind ran through all the jobs opening up in our ward, but something told me not to settle on any one yet. Good thing. We made small talk for a minute, then he asked, " so how do you feel about scouting?" then proceeded to tell me they felt I was perfect to be the cubmaster! I just sat there for a minute, then started to laugh! I don't know if the bishop knew how to take that! But you see, my youngest son is 28 years old. Cub scouting was not my favorite thing to do when my boys were that age, but I suffered through and made sure they completed everything. When Kendall turned 11, I celebrated because I would never have to be involved in cub scouting again (especially the pinewood derby). When Chelsea was born later that year, I secretly thanked God that I had a girl and would not have to do cub scouting again! I told the bishop this, then told him I was willing to try, but don't be surprised if they come to him and ask "Get rid of this woman, please!"

I have a suspicion Heavenly Father is really laughing right now!

Preserving on Wednesday too

2009-08-05T18:39:00.003-06:00

Okay, so August is always a busy time at our house since we have lots of August birthdays, school registration and school starting, family reunions; you get the picture. Add to that this year that Gene went to SLC for union meetings Monday and won't get back until tonight, Chelsea goes to Martin's Cove and won't get back until Saturday night, and I have a roaring summer cold, and I haven't been able to or wanted to post. So here is a catchup:

Jeremy turned 30 on Sunday and he and his family shared it with us. I made enchiladas, which are his favorite and they got a gigantic chocolate cake! Here Maddie and Jesson help him blow out all 30 candles! I can't believe he's 30! He isn't even my oldest! Do you know what that makes me? Don't answer!

Next, are the last minute preparations for Martin's Cove for Chelsea. For those of you that don't know what Martin's Cove is, it is a historic site belonging to the LDS church. Thousands of people go through there each year and hear about the pioneers and get to pull handcarts. Some groups sign up to go on a 3 day trek. That is what Chelsea is doing with our Stake. They have to dress in pioneer clothing and they can only take up to 17 lbs of supplies. No phones, no ipods, no electronic anything! Pretty tough for teenagers! :) Anyways, she made her two long skirts herself, but got stuck on the bonnet, which is required. So I finished it for her tuesday morning. She is packed and ready to go tonight! I will miss her!

Now, for preserving Tuesday, which is a day late due to the afore-mentioned cold. Do any of you have one of these, a recipe tin? I was wondering if they are totally obsolete, or if we all still have one? This is mine. I bought it when I was 16 and worked at a Hallmark store. I started collecting recipes right away! When I got married, my grandma, mom and aunts all gave me cards with their favorite recipes. Later, other young mom's in our ward and I exchanged recipes we got from our families, or magazines in the doctor's office, or through some recipe club in the mail. No internet to go search on a moment's notice. Mine is stuffed pretty full. Truth is I have put most of these recipes in ward cookbooks over the years and really don't need the cards anymore. But they are like an old blanket, they bring me comfort. Some of them are in my mom's handwriting. She passed away 4 years ago. So they are like a little piece of her. Some are from my grandma, and my mother-in-law, and they are gone too. So they are nostalgic to me. So I hang onto my card file.

So in honor of Preserving Tuesday, a day late, here is a recipe from the card file. It is for Oatmeal Cake, and I originally got the recipe from Colleen Scott. I just dug it out on Monday to make one for a funeral. I was reminded how good it is. And when I went down to the funeral to help, it was one of the first gone! Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cake

1 1/4 C boiling water

1 C quick oats

1 stick butter

Mix well and let set and cool a little.

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Mix well, combine with first mixture; blend well. Put in 9X13 pan, bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Put topping on it immediately, so it will melt over cake. Let cool, serve.

Topping

2 tsp butter

1/4 C canned milk

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C coconut

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C chopped nuts

Mix together. Follow instructions above.

I hope you enjoy this yummy, moist cake as much as we do!

Chris

Last day of the month!

2009-07-31T23:15:00.003-06:00

So I don't really have anything to say of much importance, but it is the last day of the month and I am trying to post everyday. So I thought I give a shameless plug to National Geographic. If you go to their website (I have a link on the side), you can download wonderful pics, like these! I download some each month and my grandchildren love to get on the computer and look at them.

The pictures run the gammit from nature, to animals, to amoebas! They are all there and some of the most fantastic pictures you ever saw!

Someday I aspire to take something spectacular enough that they want to publish it! That is like a dream of mine! Do you have dreams and goals! I would like to hear about them.

Go and find your dream today!

chris

Movie night!

2009-07-31T00:00:00.002-06:00

Okay, so Gene, Chelsea and I went to see Harry Potter. What did you think? I think it is not a movie for anyone under 10. I think it was darker, slower moving and not so action packed. Did I like it? Yes, I did! I loved the play on the crushes between characters. Brings back memories! I definitely think they used this to set up for the final movie; this one really ended kind of slowly. My favorite character: Helena Bonham-Carter (Mrs. Tim Burton) She was deliciously wicked and wacky.

Okay so tomorrow is a busy day. Wood hauling in the morning, cherry canning in the midday (they are finally ripe), maybe raspberries too, and finally, groceries and finishing Chelsea's bonnet for the Martin Cove trek! I am getting excited for her to go!

And with that, I am off to bed!

Goodnight

Chris

It's Tuesday!

2009-07-28T18:33:00.002-06:00

I am really excited because tomorrow I get to can cherries! My tree always produces and I love the pie cherry recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago! Besides the cherries I have strawberries in the fridge that need to be jam, my raspberry patch has been raided a couple of times already and I think by next week I will be saucing my Lodi Apples! I love when this time of year gets here because all that hard work we have been putting into our gardens, starts to pay off!

If you were lucky enough not to have a zucchini crop failure (like we did, thanks Mother Nature) I have a suggestion. Go visit the ladies at http://everydayfoodstorage.net/, they have posted some awesome recipes to use your zucchini in. I tried the Speghetti Zucchini Bake last night and it was a definite thumbs up! Easy to make too, and even this winter would be possible with dehydrated onions, zucchini and mushrooms. Good use of food storage!

Hope you have a productive day!

Chris

Celebrate!

2009-07-27T23:01:00.002-06:00

I decided I needed a holiday tomorrow, so I went to http://www.brownielocks.com/month2.html to see what was on schedule for tomorrow. Imagine my pleasure when I found out it is National Chocolate Milk day! I love chocolate milk! Nothing like it and cookies, or toast, or just about anything!

So in honor of chocolate lovers everywhere, open a cold one in the morning!

Chris

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

2009-07-22T13:14:00.004-06:00

This is a self-portrait of Chelsea, my now 17 year old daughter! Today is her birthday! She is my rough and tumble, violin playing, drumline drumming, electric guitar picking, hunting, biking, animal loving, and what ever she can do today, girl! She is not afraid to try anything new, whether it is tomboyish or feminine. I call her my renassance woman!

She would like you to think of her doing something like this --->

But to me she will always be more like this-->

I recently completed a couple of scrapbook pages of her and decided to share them with you. This one is of her at the beginning of school last fall.

This was more recently, when she got to ride in her dream car ( see July 3 post). But the title really fits Chelsea, my classic beauty!

So in honor of Chelsea, I will refrain from posting the baby pictures I had saved up, at least for now! :) I will, instead, embarrass her with sentiment. 18 years ago, I had 3 kids, the youngest 10 1/2 and thought life was grand! Then I found out that I was having Chelsea! From the moment she came into this world in 1992, she has been a source of love, devotion, humor and precious memories for her dad and I. We are so thankful that Heavenly Father gave her to us and we look forward to many future birthdays with her as we watch her develop into an AWESOME woman!

Happy Bday Chelser-selzer!

Love Mom

It's Tuesday!

2009-07-21T11:16:00.004-06:00

Okay today is preserving Tuesday! I was trying to think of a whitty tip to give you. Somehow I don't feel to whitty today. However, it has been a beautiful day today! I got up at 6:30, strapped my tennis shoes on and went out and set sprinklers in the yard. Pulled some weeds. Played with my kittens, Cruiser and Whiner (guess how he got that name). Checked my garden, and found ripe cherry tomatoes! I can't wait until a few more come on. Here is my tip for the day! Do you have a dehydrator? I love mine. Actually after putting it away for a year or two, I got it back out and have been dehydrating like crazy. If you still have rubarb, dehydrate some. This winter you can make a delicious cake. I will give you the recipe at the end. Also, the cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and dehydrate. Keep in a quart jar in the cupboard to add to stews and soups. When you dehydrate the tomatoes, do a couple of trays of celery! That's right, celery! Keep them in a jar and use them in stews and soups or whatever you need celery for. They re-hydrate in 10-15 minutes. I keep them around for when I run out of fresh celery. And if you do the tomatoes and celery together, your house smells incredible.

If you are interested in getting a dehydrator, be sure and buy the Nesco/American Harvester Snackmaster. It is cheap ($59) and you can get extra trays and jerky and fruit leather trays for them! I have gotten them at Bed, Bath and Beyond and also Basic Living in Rexburg, and the Preparedness Store in IF. So check around.

One more tip, when you dry stuff and put it in a quart jar, leave it open for a day or two to make sure there is no residual moisture, then put an 02 pac in the jar and close. The O2 pac will pretty much seal the jar and help keep your stuff fresh longer!

Rubarb Cake

Cream:

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C shortening

2 eggs

Add:

1 tsp vanilla

1 C buttermilk

Sitr in:

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 C flour

1 1/2 C diced rhubarb

Put in 9 X 13 pan.

Topping:

1/2 C brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C nuts

Sprinkle over top. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Have a delicious day!

Chris

Happy Birthday Disneyland!

2009-07-17T22:04:00.002-06:00

I was reading some blogs tonight and went to http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/ and Tim reminded me that it was Disneyland's 54 birthday! My favorite place on earth! I grew up in Huntington Beach, CA and that's only about 8 miles from Anaheim and Disneyland! I am also only 3 years younger than the park and literally grew up with it! When I was little I used to try to get lost on purpose so I could spend the night in the park! Never happened, but I sure tried! I even made my husband take me there on our honeymoon! If you ever see me, it will be with a Mickey Mouse watch on, since I have 6 of them at last count! So in honor of Mickey and Disneyland I have put this clock on my blog!

So happy bday to the happiest place on earth!

Chris

I Found Lori

2009-07-15T11:05:00.002-06:00

I took some time off from blogging (too much life happening, you know) and when I came back and started reading blogs, I was disappointed not to be able to find my friend Lori. Everyone else's blogs lead to the same now defunct blog! Well no more! This morning I found at least one of her blogs http://weedbouquet.blogspot.com/. It is really cute Lori, by the way! She mentioned that someone else had challenged her to tell about the first quilt she made! She has a cute story, so go read it! Anyways, I decided to tell you my first quilt story!

My grandma Alvey was a great quilt maker! Her and all of her sisters (7 of them) used to get together to do quilts all the time! It was a big event, with pot luck dishes and tons of visiting! I went a few times in my teens and loved listening to them! When I was 19 I got engaged! The sisters got together and quilted me a tricot quilt (remember those?) with the Idaho Falls Temple in the middle of it. It was very beautiful and had tons of quilting on it! I decided to try my hand at quilt making, however, I decided to make my first one a tied quilt! So I bought blue gingham check for one side and a blue flower pattern for the other, all cotton broadcloth (got a good deal since I was working at House of Fabrics). We put it on on the back covered patio, since it was summer and everyone came to tie! Now my grandma Alvey may have been the quilter, but my grandpa Alvey was the tie-er (sp)! He taught everyone in our family a neat way to tie, learned from his grandma! Anyways, before it was done, not only did the women tie on it, but my now husband, my brothers and my dad tied on that quilt!

I still have the quilt! As a matter of fact, if you check out my bed, after 32 years it is still on it! However, it has become threadbare in a few spots and is pulling apart in others. the other day I told my husband I needed to get rid of it, and he said no way! So I guess I am going to be making another ginham check quilt soon!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane today, Lori! I am so glad I found you again!

Everyone, make a memory today!

Chris

Preserving Tuesday

2009-07-14T15:27:00.008-06:00

Okay, so I have been toying with this idea for awhile. Tell me what you think. I have been canning all my life, first with my mom, then for the past 30 years on my own. So I have accumulated a little bit of experience and knowledge. I decided that on Tuesdays, I will share a little bit, sometimes some recipes, etc. I hope to get you enthused about canning and preserving food, for health reasons and for monetary reasons. There will be shameless plugs for stores and websites I love, even though I have no part of them as far as ownership. Share with us anything you find that you think will be of interest! Let's get something going!

First off, Tiffany (my daughter) and I went to a Preparedness Fair in April at the Ucon Elementary School (if you were involved, it was awesome!) It inspired me to keep doing the things I do (canning, dehydrating) and try some new ones (sprouting)! One of the ladies had the book, "Putting Food By". As Tiffany and I thumbed through it, we really liked it, so I came home and got on http://www.amazon.com/ ( a great place to find things cheap), and found it and several other books, so I bought them!

Here are the titles of the books shown in the picture:

Putting Food By, 4th Edition, Newly Revised (Janet Green, Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan) This covers all kinds of preserving, has some recipes and has dietary tips to minimize salt and sugar!

Preserving Summer's Bounty (Edited by Susan McClure and the staff of The Rodale Food Center). This has ended up being my favorite book! Talks about what to grow, how to use it fresh and how to preserve it. Clear language and explanations. Lots of recipes! Excellent Book!

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (Edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine) What can I say, 400 recipes! Some wonderful, some really wild (like Jalepeno Jelly that my daughter swears by)! Yummy stuff!

So let's get canning! Most of the vegetables are not ready yet, but the cherries are starting and you can always do jams, either from your garden or hit the local farmer's markets. Today I am sharing 2 recipes with you, Pie cherries and Kidney Beans. The kidney beans are so easy and you can do them any time of year. The cherries are starting on and some of the fruit stands have Utah fruit now. If I had known how easy it is to can cherries, I would have done it years ago. As it is, I was dragged into it, when my husband planted a pie cherry tree about 7 years ago. Let me tell you, they produce! And when you pick them, you better be ready to can right then, because they don't sit. After figuring that out and buying a cherry pitter (a real time and hand saver) I loved canning them!

Cherry Pie Filling ( from Susan Scott)

6 quarts pie cherries, pitted

7 C sugar 2 tsp almond extract
1 3/4 C Clear gel
9 1/3 C water
1/2 C lemon juice

2 tsp red food coloring

In a saucepan, combine sugar and clear gel. Add water, almond extract and food coloring. Cook on medium heat until thickened (boiling), stirring constantly. Add lemon juice and stir 1 minute. Add cherries. Put in jars and water bath for 30 minutes.

Clear Gel can be hard to find, but I get mine at http://www.4seasonsfoodstorage.com/, either on the internet at their local store.

Pressure-Cooked Beans (from Maureen and Colleen Scott)

In quart jars put:
1/4 C chopped raw onion

1/4 C chopped raw celery

1 1/2 C dry beans (kidney or pinto)

1 1/2 tsp salt

fill jars the rest of the way with water, to the rim. Add lid and ring. Pressure cook 12 lbs for 55 minutes. For pints, use 3/4 C beans and pressure for 35 minutes.

These beans can be used in any recipe calling for storebought canned beans. I use them to make chili, refried beans and in bean salads!

My last tip for the day. Go to http://www.pickyourown.org/! It is an awesome site that can hook you up with pick your own farms, has tons of recipes, canning tips, and links to where to get anything you would ever need! Check them out!

Well all this canning talk has made me hungry! I think I am going to make a cherry cobbler tonight! Hope you try something new today!

Chris

Boating

2009-07-11T18:06:00.009-06:00

This is pretty much a dog story!

So we went boating today! We got up this morning and decided to run up to Blacktail and put in for a couple of hours. We just boated around for a bit, then put a tube in the water for Chelsea!

At first she was really full of herself, not holding on or anything!

So her dad sped up and started looping around to hit our own rollers! She got serious really fast!

We pulled her around for about an hour and then she was ready to get back in the boat!

We decided to bring our schnauzers, Toby and Missy, to see how they like boating! Missy spent most of her time under Gene or I's feet! She didn't like it at all and was really glad when we went back in!

The big surprise was Toby! He loved it! He kept getting up on the back seat where he could watch Chelsea, and even stood on the very back until I would yell at him to get down! He is a speed demon, that dog!

Here we are before we took off, Toby and Me!

The picture at the beginning is of Gene letting Toby in and out in the tube! He even loved that!

What a dog! What a fun day!

Chris

2009-07-10T22:07:00.003-06:00

okay we're going to try this. want to see something funny? Watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PHnRIn74Ag&feature=player_embedded

See if that doesn't make you smile!

Chris

Remembering

2009-07-07T08:59:00.006-06:00

With Michael Jackson's funeral and memorial today, I wanted to say a little about him. I was sad when he died, sad for a life lost too soon, sad for his children, sad for the loss of talent. He was very representative of our generation, being born the same year as me. My husband even shares the exact birthdate with him.
Last night when my husband were talking before going to bed, he commented that his time was shorter on this earth, saying at least he outlasted Michael and Billy Mays. After I slugged him, I got thinking about it, and I guess what he was trying to say was he was facing his mortality. This morning I have been doing that. None of us know when we will go, so make the most of life NOW. I know Michael had a lot of controversy in life, but I choose to remember the good stuff, songs like Rock with You, I'll Be There, Billy Jean and of course Thriller. I remember crowding around our TV with my young children, anxiously waiting for the premiere of the video to "Thriller" We wore out a cassette tape of that album. And who could forget "We Are The World", when it premiered that morning on the radio, and you realized as you listened, that all around the world, everyone else was listening! So, to the gloved one, I tip my hat! Goodbye Michael.

Billy Mays had only entered our lives in the last few years, but he was quite a character! I even watched him on "Pitchmen" one night and was awed by his ability to sell anything! He had a way with people and 50 was too young to die!

So I end with a thought for you today, "Remember Yesterday, Cherish Tomorrow, but Live for Today". Make today the best day yet!

Chris

WAW (what a weekend)!

2009-07-06T18:01:00.007-06:00

What else would you call it! We had a jam packed weekend and the time of our lives! Friday night we went over to Jefferson Lake to watch fireworks! Jefferson County puts on a wonderful fun fest the day before the 4th and then an awesome fireworks display coreographed by KUPI.

I am still learning to take night pictures, but here are a couple of the fireworks. Saturday morning we had a flagraising ceremony, where my grandma's cousin, Gail Nelson, spoke. It was really nice! I lead the music and even had the kids march carrying flags while everyone sang You're a grand old Flag! Afterwards, the girls served a yummy breakfast. Then it was off to the Rexburg Parade. We sat with a bunch of friends and really enjoyed it! Saw some people from the ward, and of course Chelsea's friends in the dance team. But the whole reason I go, is for this---->

The car wash men from Ray's Chevron! Every year they have a drill team to the song "Car Wash"! It is a hoot, and they aren't bad to look at either!

After the parade, we rushed back to Menan, where we shopped the booths, ate too much, then sat and visited with friends as we waited for the parade to start at 2:00. Chelsea had to go to work at 3:00, so we parked near the end of the parade so she could park her car just beyond and get out! She got to see most of the parade before she had to go! After the parade, we went home, and took a nap to save up energy for the night! Then we went to Artic Circle and out to wait for the fireworks in Menan! Chelsea joined us after she got off work. There were over 25,000 people there for this little celebration and the fireworks were awesome! I wasn't going to take any pictures, but the fireworks were so good I whipped out my Blackberry and snapped a few. Here they are!

Sunday, after church, we came home and chilled out for the afternoon. Jeremy and Niki joined us later and brought some yummy steaks and corn on the cob, which they cooked for us! It was really nice to have them do the meal! Not very often that I get to relax instead of slaving over the stove! :) I added a couple of salads, lots of veggies and even some swiss chard out of our garden! It was an awesome meal! Later we lit some of our 'illegal fireworks', the kind that shoot into the air! It was so funny, cuz Jesson is just like the rest of the guys in the family, right up there wanting to light them and so excited when they go off! Maddie on the other hand, does not like the noise. After about 20 of them, the wind picked up and we had to stop. But Jesson and Maddie and I sat on the porch and watched the lightening. I told them they were Heavenly Father's fireworks, and Maddie liked that they didn't have any sound with them! What a perfect night!

Hope you sparkle today!

Chris

Go baby!

2009-07-03T17:59:00.003-06:00

Today temptation set in! We were running erands in Idaho Falls, when we happened upon Broadway Ford. There happened to be a blue Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 on the lot. So we happened to stop by to look. And then Gene and Chelsea happened to go for a test drive! The picture above is of Gene pulling out of the parking lot. He tells me they got it up to 145 mph! Glad I wasn't there. Anyways, they both came back drooling and sold. Chelsea was ready to sign on the dotted line! (Yea right)

I did take a picture of her in it! I told her I was going to make a poster of it and she could hang it in her bedroom to remind her of why she should go to college and get a degree!

Happy 4th everyone!

Chris

Kaboom!

2009-07-02T22:50:00.003-06:00

Fireworks a couple of days early! These are over Arlington Cemetery and I got the picture from National Geographic, one of my favorite magazines!

So hope you have lots of things planned for the weekend! We don't exactly have anything planned, some family members have other plans so I don't if we will see them. Hope so, hope they know they are always welcome!

Anyways, I love fireworks! The kind that shoot in the air! This is the one time when I bend the law a little and shoot some off, even though they aren't legal! A girl's got to have a little fun sometime! We are going to fireworks tomorrow night, Saturday night, and shooting our own off on Sunday night! I am so excited and I plan on taking pictures this year! Trying to figure out this whole Aperture thingie on my camera! :)

Hope you have tons of fun and lots of family this weekend! I will check in periodically!

Be safe!

Chris

2009-07-01T11:51:00.001-06:00

My flowers have really struggled this year, with all the rain! But in the last week, with a little sunshine and heat, they are starting to snap out of it!

I kind of feel like them, after a week of warmth and sunshine, I am snapping out of it!

Hope you are enjoying all of Heavenly Father's beautiful gifts today!

Chris

You go, girl!

2009-07-01T11:43:00.002-06:00

We own the ground behind our home and rent it to Gene's cousin, Doug, to farm. Doug and Ty (his son) have hay on it. This year has not been good for hay and we are about 2 weeks behind when it should have been cut. Ty and his wife, Kari, also just started building a house, so Ty is doing double duty right now. Well, last night they started to mow the hay behind us and didn't go too far. Then this morning the mower started up and away it went. I didn't pay too much attention to it, until it got right behind our house. Kari was driving! Woo hoo! You go girl! So I had to grab the camera and take a picture or two! Kari has become a full-fledged farmers wife!

I love Sunshine!

2009-06-30T12:56:00.002-06:00

Today is gorgeous! Hot, but gorgeous! After all the rain, I appreciate the sunshine!

Chris

?

2009-06-15T20:38:00.003-06:00

I didn't have a cutsy title today! Just a lot of little things to post. We spent the entire weekend hanging siding in between rain storms. It went really good until yesterday. After church, we came home and it rained. No, correction. Poured! and hailed! rained more! hailed more! My flowers and garden are in shreds. We got over 3/4 of an inch! For Pete's sake! We have over 3 1/2 inches for June so far! June! 14 days! Enough already!

Anyways, Jeremy finished the back of the family room! We are so greatful! Don't know what we would do without him!

I will try and get more sleep tonight and be back to my perky, quirky self tomorrow!

Productive!

2009-06-12T20:24:00.002-06:00

It has been a productive couple of days, even dodging the rain! Our house has been in the process of being sided for 2 years. One son started, then had to bail because of personal problems. Another son and son in law promised help, but after asking over and over again for the past year, Gene and I started on it in April. We haven't gotten far, about 1/8 of the back of the house. But yesterday we started in earnest, and got the entire back our house where the deck is, done. At least the first 9 feet. The rest our son Jeremy is coming to help us with tomorrow, in between rain storms! This is the hardest part, and we two old people don't have good enough balance to attempt it anymore! Twenty years ago, Gene and I would have tackled this, no problem, but now it is overwhelming. Add to that that all of a sudden we have the plague in our family and no one wants to help us, because they don't need help. They have short memories, don't they. Oh well.

Tomorrow, another goal met!

Want to build an Ark?

2009-06-10T08:57:00.005-06:00

These beauties are to replace the pumpkin plants that I grew in my house for six weeks, then planted outside, only to have 3 different hail storms kill them! Hopefully Grandpa will have pumpkins in his patch this year!

I am so tired of rain! We built this deck 2 weeks ago, and so far we have gotten to sit and enjoy twice!

Every morning there is rain beaded up on the railing! We installed a Rain meter on Saturday and so far we have collected over 1 1/2 inches of rain. Another 1/4 inch last night!

Yesterday, my grandkids, Conner and Bailey, visited me at the office, so I took their picture! Conner has lost 3 teeth in the last month or so, and I told him to smile big so I could see the holes! He is so cute! He just graduated from kindergarten! And Bailey is always the little lady!

Well if this water keeps up, we will need to meet to start the plans for the Ark! I know that we have fasted for water for our needs, but I think we have sufficient for our needs now!

Stay dry if you can!

Chris

Absent

2009-06-09T09:15:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I have absent again! I decided that my problem is that I am not scrapping so much right now and figured I had to be scrapbooking. So officially today, my page becomes about my life. Warts and all. The truth, I have been working on getting back to basics, which means, I am baking bread, making homemade meals and growing a garden. I have a room full of thousands of dollars of crafting materials, so my goal is to use them, not buy new unless absolutely necessary. Like alot of you, I am learning to recycle, reuse and repurpose. I have wasted alot of money and now want to change that. So the focus of this page is going to be whatever I am doing at the moment. Hopefully it is something we can share and enjoy!

On a different note, ENOUGH RAIN ALREADY! I am so sick of the rain! We built a new deck a couple of weeks ago and we put a rain meter on it. In the past 4 days we have received 1 1/4 inches! I have mushrooms growing and the hail has destroyed my pumpkin plants, which I spent 6 weeks growing! UGH! At least the is shining for awhile today! Maybe we'll get the grass mowed, or else I need to find a goat!

May your smile shine like the sun today!

In a groove....

2009-01-31T22:48:00.004-07:00

Well, after a week and a half of frantically trying to get on top of tax season, I hit my groove today! I got up at 7:00 and washed 2 batches of clothes, folded 2 more batches and loaded the dishwasher, all before 9:00! Then I breezed right through 8 tax returns today and put together my ward newsletter tonight. I am printing it out right now, so I am killing time. I love when I get on top of things like this. I am Woman Hear Me Roar! I wish I could be like this all the time! I would get so much done!

Well I went and got my hair done on Thursday, instead of Wednesday! Wednesday was not a good day, and I had a hard time dealing with everything. But luckily, my hair gal, Marie Gardner was very understanding and we did it the next day! I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will try tomorrow! I like it, it is getting closer to the color I want, which is dark ash blonde with very blonde streaks in it. I also had her cut about another inch off it! But now I feel like a new woman, which is probably why I have been so productive the last couple of days! Thanks Marie!

One of the reasons Wednesday was not good? Well I have this friend Mischelle that I ran around with in high school (back in the dark ages). I introduced her to my mom's cousin, Tony and they eventually got married and had 4 children. The oldest, Russ, was born in 1976, during our Senior year. Well last weekend, he took his own life. It was almost as bad as if it had been my own child. My heart hurts for them. I held this child, took care of him, loved his little towhead! He was 33 and the father of 3 children. Words cannot explain how we have felt the past few days. We aren't supposed to outlive our children.

Well on to happier things! I have some pictures to show you.

Awesome, right? Well I didn't take them. Have you ever been to the National Geographic Magazine Web site? It is truly awesome. I subscribe to the magazine, always have (the magazine still comes to the Scott children, even though Chelsea is the last and 16!) and they send me an email each month with a link to their latest wallpapers that you can download for free! They are pictures from the magazine and from an internet column called the Daily 10, and they are breathtaking! These are only a sample; a Cheetah in the Serenghettie, butterflies in Mexico and a bee pollenating a hugh sunflower in Nebraska! Anyways, if you enjoy good photography, look them up, I have a link at the side of my page!

Okay I have rambled enough! Happy Superbowl Sunday and go Cardinals (I am a sucker for the underdog!)

Chris

I thought yesterday was bad......

2009-01-27T19:35:00.004-07:00

I guess I jinxed it last night! Woke up at 6:45 this morning to my phone ringing. It was Jefferson School District #251 informing me that school was cancelled due to extreme weather. You think? At that time it was 18 degrees below zero with a windchill of -35. Not funny! The high today was a whopping 8 degrees. Enough said.

Speaking of the school district, do you just love this automated calling? Within 5 minutes we received a call at home, on Gene and I's cell phones and an email, just to make sure we knew. Works kind of cool! I must congratulate the district on a smart choice in getting this system.

My day just got worse. Had to go to the doctor for my yearly exam. Just love it. I am really healthy, nothing wrong, but I still hate it. A necessary evil. And I have reached the age that I have to talk to her about things like peri-menopause, bio-identical hormones, and such (shudder). I don't want to get old! I don't want anymore children, but why is the option getting old? I can't believe I actually watched a show on Oprah about this last week. Yuk!

Oh well, good news is that I get to go get my hair done tomorrow. That is a GOOD thing! Color for sure and possibly a cut. I will post pics if I like it, okay?

Well I hope you stay warm!

BRRRRRRR.......

Chris

Brrrrrr!

2009-01-26T23:04:00.005-07:00

I hate the cold! I really do! I know, hate is a strong word. I used to chew my kids out for using it. Telling them that you can dislike something, but never hate it! So know that I take this seriously when I say I hate the cold! Tonight as I type this, it is 6 below zero. That's right, 6 Below ZERO!!!!!! It is not fair that it was sunny in Southern California today! Not at all! We have had snow, rain, freezing rain, snow and more snow in the last 3 days. The result? Snow covered roads with a solid inch of hard ice underneath it! Not ideal for driving conditions! Tonight I stopped at a stop sign (good huh?) and then tried to turn right (uphill) onto the Menan-Lorenzo highway. But instead of turning right I went straight; straight for the barrow pit on the other side of the road. I pushed the 4 wheel drive button and suddenly my Tahoe turned right. Then I began my tire spinning ascent up the Annis Butte. I did not take it out of 4 wheel drive until I was safely in my driveway. Oh Brother!

In case you can't tell, I am not a cold weather kind of person. Now mind you, I am better than I used to be! When I first moved to Idaho, I thought 50 degrees was winter coat weather. Now if it breaks 50 degrees I am in shirt sleeves! This is the only time of year that I miss living in Huntington Beach, California, where I spent the first 13 years of my life.

Oh well, I am accountant, so that will keep me busy for the next couple of months. And when I am done, it will be Spring! Woo hoo!

Chris

Oh, What a Day!

2009-01-20T18:24:00.008-07:00

I don't care who you are, you would have to be a total toad to NOT feel some emotions today! Here are some pictures that touched me along the way! First of all, this one, when the President George Bush and Laura invited the Obamas' to tea at the White House before things started this morning. They all embraced and Michelle gave Laura a gift and it was a touching moment.

What experience for these girls to be standing there with their parents, embarking on this great big adventure! I thought it was charming that Chief Justice Roberts and President Obama goofed up on the swearing in! Just shows they are human!

Obama chose to use Lincoln's bible to be sworn in with. I thought that was neat! He seems to be gearing up to follow Lincoln in philosophy. I hope so. I heard that Barack Obama has been studying Lincoln extensively since he was elected.

Here, Obama embraces George one last time before he gets on the helicopter to head to the airport and on to Texas. They both have gone out of their ways to make this inaugauration smooth and friendly. I can't say I remember a president attending the next president's inaugauration, ever! It shows you what an honorable man each president is! I hope that this signals our country making a better attempt to work together!

I found this video on Oprah.com and loved it. It has been posted on UTube also, and that is where I am sending you to watch it! America's Song Enjoy!

Chris

Milestones

2008-12-30T12:32:00.004-07:00

The chubby man in this picture, is my dear husband, Eugene. I call him Gene. He doesn't like his picture taken, so I usually have to catch him with the grandkids or the dogs! We have been married for 31 years as of October 28th, and I love this man! He is a great grandpa, a wonderful husband and a awesome dad!

It was not always that way. There was a time about 15 years ago, I thought we were done. We both had different priorities and were making some pretty bad mistakes. It is not easy for me to talk about. One of those mistakes led to Gene losing his membership in the LDS church.

Thank heavens we both woke up and learned to fight for our marriage and not against each other. It was a difficult lesson, and took us a long time to get right! On December 20th, Gene was re-baptized and confirmed a member of the church. The next day, they gave him a church job, the Cannery specialist! This has been a magical Christmas for me and you will probably catch me tearing up on a regular basis, but they are tears of joy! It is kind of like when you have a new baby, that magic time that envelopes your family!

Eighteen years ago I lost a baby on Christmas day. So Christmas is usually a melancholy time for me! Until this year! I have a new joy to help!

Hug the ones you love today, for me, okay?!

Chris

Christmas Pajamas!

2008-12-30T12:11:00.004-07:00

Ever since I was a tiny girl, my Grandma Alvey made us pajamas for Christmas. Our family would all get together at Grandpa and Grandma's and we had a pizza party and opened presents. The adults drew names and traded gifts, but us kids always got a present from Grandpa and Grandma; pajamas! Actually, us girls usually got flannel nightgowns. I loved those nightgowns. Even when we lived in California and couldn't come for Christmas, grandma sent us pajamas. One year, when I was 10, she even sent my mom scraps so she could make a nightgown for the Barbie I was getting for Christmas. To this day, flannel nightgowns are like comfort food to me! When I feel crappy or sad, I pull on a flannel nightgown, wrap up in a blanket and read a good book!

Well now I try to carry this tradition on with my family! These are my 6 grandchildren! On the Tuesday before Christmas, we all gathered at our house, made homemade pizza, ate Christmas candy and exchanged presents. The adults draw names and trade gifts. And the kids have a couple of presents under the tree; pajamas and toys! I was informed that the girls all like jammies, not nightgowns, so I adjusted! Here they are! The girls, even 21 month old Maddie, are in High School Musical pajamas, and the boys in Optimus Prime (Transformers) pajamas! Just before this picture Maddie was crying, Conner madly running his RC mustang, Jesson his train, Bailey danced in her Cinderella dress-up costume, Sydney played away on her electric guitar and Sarah was headbanging in her Hannah Montana wig! But for one brief moment, they put their jammies on and smiled for Grandpa and Grandma!

I know I am in heaven!

Love,

Chris

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T11:26:00.002-07:00

I know it has been a looooonnnnnnggggggg time since I posted! I guess I just needed a break! But I am back and I will catch you up in the next few weeks! Anyways, Merry Christmas to you and yours and I hope that the weather isn't keeping you from visiting family! We have gotten at least 10 inches of snow today, adding to the 10 or 12 we already have! Who hoo, a White Christmas!

Remember the reason for the season!

Love Chris!

See what I did?

2008-06-28T17:33:00.002-06:00

After months of not really scrapping, just buying more stuff, I finally got my scrap groove back on! I went to the Express the Moments Expo and Conference on June 20 and 21. We made this cute page in a class Amanda Gibson taught! She had us bring a picture of ourselves and make this page for our families to see, since we mom's don't scrap about ourselves very often.

This one I worked on in the expo afterwards. I have about 30 page kits put together so I worked on a few. This one I got done so I wanted to show you. These are my youngest grandchildren, Jesson and Maddy. They have the cutest smiles and I just had to make a page of them, especially Jesson's goofy grin! This paper from Serendipity was a perfect fit! Add some Thickers letters and a few small sticker letters and you have a fast, and adorable page! One of my favorite!

Well we are going on vacation for a week, so I will be quiet unless I get time to post a few things on the road! We will be pulling our 29 ft travel trailer and heading for Glacier National Park and Courdelane Idaho. We will be there on the 4th! Then we will head home through Boise, since Chelsea has never seen that side of the state!

So be watching, I expect to take awesome pictures!

Chris

Happy birthday!

2008-06-27T23:44:00.003-06:00

My oldest daughter, Tiffany, turned 30 today! Happy B day Tif! I know this has been hard for her, but I still can't believe that it has been 30 years since I took that crying bundle home from the hospital! She has been the first on my lists, just like Chelsea has been my last. Now I can check off that my oldest is not a young adult anymore, but is approaching middle age! Wow!

We went to the Express the Moment Scrapbooking conference on June 20 and 21, just like we always do. During the conference on Saturday morning, Kim Rose called some of the ladies to the stand and asked why they scrapbook. Tiffany was one of them, and she said it was because of her daughters and her awful memory (it only gets worse honey). Later, she also got picked to be in a dance contest. Here is a picture of her:

She is the one on the right. Needless to say, dancing is not a talent we excell at in our family! But she was a good sport to try!

So happy b day Tiffany, welcome to being an adult!

Mom

Flying!

2008-06-25T11:09:00.003-06:00

In my next life, I will be a bird! Oh to fly with abandon!

That was what I thought the other morning as this crop duster flew behind my house! Even though I am afraid of taking my feet off terra firma, even though I hate roller coasters! When I watch these planes, I feel a sort of abandon I don't feel any other time! He realized after a few minutes that I was taking pictures and even posed for me, banking right over my house! I could watch these crop dusters for hours! I don't even mind the noise at 6 AM! I jump out of bed and run outside like a child, to watch and dream!

When I was a child, I grew up about 8 miles from Disneyland. In my dreams, I would fly with Mickey and Tinkerbell to the magic castle. It was one of my favorite dreams!

I hope you "fly" today!

Chris

I am not that old!

2008-05-31T22:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday my youngest daughter, Chelsea, got her drivers license! If you live in eastern Idaho, I guess that is a warning!

I have this list I keep in my mind, one where I check off the last time I do things. You know, the last diaper I will ever have to change, the last kid to get ready for kindergarten, the last pinewood derby car I will ever have to make, so on and so on! Chelsea has been involved with most of those lasts. So now, just 2 months short of her 16th birthday, she can drive without her dad and I in the car. Another checkmark!

She was so cute yesterday. She asked me on the way home when she could get her own set of car keys! I looked at her for a moment and then said "When you get your own car sweetie!" She was actually surprised!

The next checkmark comes when my baby turns 16 in July! Slow down, I can't write that fast!

Cherish your family today, okay?

Chris

What A Month!

2008-05-31T16:31:00.002-06:00

Whew! I finally got feeling better and decided that I needed to fix some things, on me, that is! So got a few tune-ups!

First, I got my eyes checked and got new contacts and glasses. It is great to be able to see again.

Then I went to the doctor for a physical. Everything okay.

Then one morning I looked in the mirror and said, "you look 50 years old!" Now I am, of course, but everything looked it, my skin, my eyes, and especially my hair. I had really let myself go!

So, I went to the JC Penney salon and asked for a do over! They gave me to Jody, a wonderful young gal ( and I enphasize young, I have shoes that are older!) and she took care of me! I cut 8 inches off my hair, had her color it, then cut it in layers and help me learn how to straighten it. I love it! Now for those of you that have straight hair, I am sure you can't appreciate this, but for someone who has always battled curls, having straight hair is wonderful! So anyways, look at the picture on the side of this page, that is the before, then scroll down ---

and -------------

Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you think?

I feel at least 10 years younger and bouncier! My husband loves long hair and I wasn't sure how he would take it. The last time I cut my hair short at all was when I was 19 and ever since it has been well past my shoulders and often to my waist. He didn't say anything for a few days, but then one night we were repairing his boat cover and I looked up to him staring at me. He said that he liked my hair, that it made me look bouncier and younger! That made my night!

So be watching, cuz you never know what might change next!

Try something new today!

Chris

Playing around

2008-04-17T21:03:00.001-06:00

I have been playing with my blog today! Trying some new stuff out. So far I have tried dramatic, pink and black, and now this one! I am going to be creating different ones over the next few days and trying them out, so let me know what you think!

Have a creative day!

Chris

Whew!

2008-04-16T10:34:00.004-06:00

Bad Blogger! I can't believe it has been since the end of January since I posted! It couldn't be that I was buried in tax returns and also still being sick! Remember how I wrote that I had had pnuemonia? Well, it kept coming back as a upper respiratory infection, clear through February, March and now into April. Add to that I have coughed so much that I have now bruised my larynx and have this raspy voice. I am hoping that now that tax season is over, I can rest it enough to have it heal! It is not so funny to go to church and not be able to sing! Singing has always been such an important part of my life that I would die if I couldn't sing! Even my dad said this morning that I better get my voice back so he can hear me sing!

Speaking of my dad, today is his 71st birthday! So Happy Bday Raymond Malone!

And speaking of birthdays, I celebrated my 50th birthday on April 5th! I can't believe I am a half century old. I better get a move on, there are still so many things I haven't tried! I need to do everything at least once! Anyways, some of my kids got together and decorated my family room with 50 helium filled balloons! I came home from work to balloons everwhere! So we left them up and the next day everyone came for a cookout and cake and the kids had a blast playing with them!

The weather can't make up it's mind lately! Saturday and Sunday were in the 70's and then yesterday the wind blew 40 miles an hour and we, in Rigby, got 6 inches of snow! And it still hasn't melted off today! UGH!!!! I am so ready for the snow to be gone!

Chelsea went to southern California last week, with her school orchestra. They left Tuesday night, drove all night and had breakfast on the beach at Newport Beach. In 4 days they went to a medival competition, saw the play Wicked, performed in a school contest and spent the entire day Saturday in Disneyland! Then they got on the bus at midnight and drove all the way home! 20 hours on a bus! yuk! She was tired and very glad to be home, but at least now she can say she has been to California! And her orchestra did really well! Thank you Mr. Weed for having the patience to take this big group there! You gave them an opportunity of a lifetime!

Hoping to be back in fine form soon and hope to start scrapping again right away, so I can share it with you! I plan on going to a crop soon to help get my motors revved up!

Chris

A Whole Month?!?!?!?

2008-01-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a whole month! Where has it gone? Wait, I can answer that! Remember when I said I had the flu at the first of December and then that I was sick at Christmas and thought it was pnuemonia? Well I finally went to the doctor on January 2 and it was pnuemonia! I took antibiotics for 2 weeks then, had a small infection flair up and just finished another course of antibiotics yesterday! But I think I am finally getting back on top of things.

I don't know if you remember but I am an accountant, which means my busy time of year has begun. I have spent the past 3 weeks getting the year ends done on my bookkeeping clients and then doing their W-2s. I finished the last of them today, which is good because they are due in the mail today! It has been a struggle to get better and work double hours, but I have made it through. Now we go full steam ahead with tax returns. Full force until April.

Have you been watching the news about the weather? We are getting pounded with snow and freezing cold! It looks like my daughter will be out of school tomorrow for the 3rd time in the past week! And wind! Monday I was snowed in because we had 65 mph winds! And they are about 30 mph tonight, along with about 2 inches of new snow; not a good combination. My husband works at a nuclear lab outside of Idaho Falls and he got held over for an overtime. They left work at 9:15. Now normally it takes him about 1 1/2 hours to get home. Right now we are going on 2 hours and I expect it will be after midnight. When I came home this afternoon, the main highway 20 was polished ice and I could barely do 40 mph on it. So I can only imagine what it is like now! I am keeping my fingers crossed until he gets home!

I haven't scrapped a thing since before Christmas, I haven't played with my new embroidery machine, I haven't done anything fun for sooooooo long! This sick thing really took it out of me! But I have a goal to start something this weekend!

In closing, I would express my sorrow at the passing of the leader of my church, President Gordon B Hinckley. His funeral is on Saturday. He was 97. He has been either a counselor to the president, or the president for over 25 years! It is kind of like when your favorite old Grandpa dies, you know they suffered and needed to go, but you miss them oh so bad! President Hinckley was such a kind man and lived such a wonderful life of service. I can only hope to live mine 1 % as well as he did!

Well goodnight! And sleep well! We will talk again! Share your new stuff with me! I make a goal that my next post will include something new I did with my Cricut and the Design Studio Software!

Make goals! Live and Laugh!

2007-12-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well hello! After a bit of break I am back! I am sorry for the silence, but I had 2 bouts with a serious cold that finally turned into pnuemonia! Christmas was especially tough since I was so sick! We kind of scaled back on the celebration and I had to promise my family that my homemade candy will happen as soon as I am back 100%. I actually went to the store today and didn't lose my breath just walking through the store!

Now I have to tell you about my grandkids! They came for our family Christmas party on Sunday night, the 23rd! Every year I give them all pajamas. Well this year their mom's got their jammies on them and I got to take their picture! Here it is! It was quite a trick to get them all in the picture, and in the end Jesson still didn't look at the camera, but he is still a doll! Anyways, here they are:
(L to R) Maddie (9 mos), Conner (5), Jesson (22 months), Sydney (7), Sarah (5) and Bailey (3)!
Maddie and Jesson are sis/bro, Conner and Bailey are bro/sis, and Sydney and Sarah are sisters! Aren't they adorable?

I was truly blessed this year! Not only did I get to buy a new computer, I got a Singer Futura embroidery machine and the Cricut software so I can hook it up to my computer! Since I am finally starting to feel better, I plan on keeping the next few weeks busy working with my toys! I will show you pics as I learn how to use them!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2007 is full of memories and 2008 is full of possibilities!

Have a great New Year!

Chris

A New Computer!

2007-12-09T00:10:00.001-07:00

And it is 7.7 lbs of screaming speed! I got the HP Pavilion dv 9640 laptop, and the only thing it doesn't do is make dinner! Here is a picture of it tonight, after I got done loading all my software on it and getting it set up! It has a 17 inch widescreen!

The best part though, is the keyboard! It has a 10 key built in, just like a regular keyboard! This will be so nice when I am doing taxes this year! No more plugging an external 10 key in. And did I mention the 17 inch screen! I am almost excited for tax season to begin!

I went and bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 and put it on the computer too! I am bound and determined to learn to do digital layouts! So wish me luck! I am still learning where everything is on this thing!

So go create an adventure today!

Chris

P.S. Chelsea, you aren't supposed to know about this, so mum's the word okay?

So I have this daughter.......

2007-12-08T00:47:00.000-07:00

......and her name is Chelsea. Today I read her last blog and she said that she going to have a contest with me to try and get more blog entries than I have! Good luck, sweetie!

I have to tell you about Chelsea. She was born when I was 34. My other kids were all born in my early 20's. And actually she was planned, 11 years after her brother Kendall! Here she is, on the front row, right. She has kept this family on it's toes since the day she was born! She is very full of life and sometimes a few other things (that I would like to beat out of her) but life with her is never boring! She keeps her dad and I young at heart.

So Chelsea, game on! If you would like to read a truly unique (black and pink) blog and get a teenager's perspective, slip on over to My space on the floor. You might remember what it was like to be a teen!

Something to Talk About

2007-11-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I posted some layouts. I was going through my albums and found a couple of old ones I would like to share. Hope you enjoy!

Have you ever bought one of those huge bottle of bubbles at Walmart? Well I did a couple of years ago and the kids had an absolute blast with it! They blew bubble all summer and I finally threw the bottle away so that I didn't have to clean my sidewalk anymore! So I created these pages to remind me of the fun we had that spring and summer with Bubbles!

Chelsea took dance for 6 years. This was the next to the last year she took, in 2004! They did really well that year and the team won lots of awards! Each picture was from a different performance! Lots of running that year!

When my kids were really little and we were really broke, my husband found this kit to make a rocking horse for Kendall, who was 3 at the time. When Gene got it all done, I painted it like an Indian paint pony, with spots and we gave it to Kendall for Christmas. Costs us about $10. He loved the thing and rocked about a million miles on it! Well the kids grew up and the ol' paint just kept on a rocking! Tiffany's little girls loved our rocking horse and always wanted to take it home. So Grandpa, being a wonderful Grandpa, traced all the parts, then cut them out and made another rocking horse. This one we varnished, no spots! "spirit"!

Lots of Christmas Cheer heading your way!

Chris

Santa's Helper is busy!

2007-11-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

I promised you pictures and here they are! And to think all of this was made with yarn that I had left over from other projects! I hope to give the hot pads with a loaf of homemade bread and the wash cloths with a bottle of dish soap. I am trying to write cute poems to go with them. If anyone has a cute idea, let me know!
My next project, slippers for my grandkids to go with their jammies that I already have! Then I hope to finish a sweater for my hubby that I started last year! Hoping my knitting mojo doesn't run out soon!

Do you like to make Christmas? I do! Unfortunately, we are now in a society where everyone is materialistic and I don't think they want homemade gifts! Some of my fondest memories are of making everything for Christmas! I love the gifts, the candy, the food! We exchange presents with our oldest 3 kids and their spouses each year and we have a rule that at least part of the present needs to be homemade! We have Kendall and Christy this year and although my husband is doing the homemade part, I can't tell you about it cuz they might read this! Trust me when I say it is absolutely gorgeous!

I bought 2 more presents yesterday and did some shopping on Barnes and Nobles this morning. I think I will have everyone's presents bought by the end of the week, except for Gene. Then I will concentrate on him! I am almost scaring myself, because I am never this close to done on Christmas before December! I am excited to think that possibly the 2 weeks before Christmas will be fun just concentrating on candy! It is pretty sad that it has taken me 30 years to figure out how to get Christmas done on time! Slow learner, I guess!

Go out and spread some cheer today!

Chris

Remember Me?

2007-11-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I posted, eh? Well, at the beginning of November I got the creation bug and began to knit. I knitted a sweater for me, then began to crochet. And knit. I have made an afghan, crocheted 35 pot holders and knitted 11 wash cloths! I will take a picture and post tomorrow, but just had to tell you about it today! I have been knitting and crocheting in my dreams, it has overtaken my life recently!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We did! Had most of my family here and the dinner went really smooth. I was so organized, that it is scary! I should have taken pictures, because that will never happen again! I cooked a 26.5 lb turkey! I was afraid I didn't have a big enough pan for it and it wouldn't go in the Reynolds bag, but all was well! We have eaten turkey ever since Thursday! Last night I broke down and made a turkey pot pie, just so we could have something different! It tasted good! and thank heavens, Gene took the last piece of pumpkin pie to work with him!

Did you do Black Friday? I didn't! I did it once, about 10 years ago, and vowed never again! Actually, most of my shopping has been on line or at JC Penneys and Toys R Us! I am about 2/3's done now, hope to finish this week!

Actually, Gene and the kids went tree hunting in the hills and came home with a great tree! We do an artificial in the living room, which I really decorate up and then a big real tree in the family room, which is the family's to decorate! It has plastic ornaments and lots of candy canes on it! Completely kid proof! Anyways the artificial tree is going up tonight and the real tree will go up next weekend! We will be decorating our hearts out this week!

Saturday I did venture into Rigby (just a little town) and bought some garlands and a new nativity scene. We started a family tradition about 10 years ago that we buy a new nativity scene each year. They are all really different, but special! I will take a pic of them when we get them all out! Boy I owe you alot of pictures!

Go out and have a holly jolly day!

Chris