Tuesday, December 22, 2009

So Ready for Christmas

I have been so busy baking that I have neglected my little blog here. This year all of the adults in the family; including my adult children are receiving "goody bags" instead of the normal gift of money. So I have spent the last two weeks getting everything ready for the bags.
I canned 8 quarts of mixed berry jam, 8 quarts of strawberry, 8 quarts of blueberry and 4 of mango. I made 2 big batches of peppermint bark, 3 dozen ginger bread cookies and 7 dozen sugar cookies, and 2 gingerbread houses. Oh, and so far have made 2 double batches of rum balls, unfortunately the hubby keeps eating them before I can get around to bagging them. LOL Now I am on to the breads. I have made 5 loaves of cheddar/garlic beer bread and now am going to take on the scarey task of making yeast breads for the first time ever! I am excited to see how I do :D
I have the house clean and the carpets shampooed for the 20 guests I have invited for Christmas dinner! I live in a small place, well it is a 2 bedroom doublewide with an enclosed porch and a side yard. So, I am incorporating the porch and yard into the party. The porch is set with a table and chairs and will hold the cooler of ice for drinks. The side yard has my gazebo and table and chairs and I borrowed another table and chairs set from the inlaws. I have the tables all prettied up with table cloths and more chairs around my fire pit. I will keep the fire pit going for those that wander out there. Being in Tucson,AZ I am hoping that the weather is mild, but at this very minute it is very chilly, windy and raining! I hate to think of having to cram 20 people into my house :{
We will be opening gifts with the grandbabies on Christmas Eve Night. I want to have the time to really just relax and enjoy watching them and Christmas Day is just going to be to busy with cooking to do that.
I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year! Will post again after the first of the year.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Busy Busy Busy
















So, we got home from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving. We went to a pot luck dinner which was very nice as I had nothing to cook LOL Hubby actually should just be getting out of the hospital, but he wanted to be home for the holidays so here we are.










I have been decorating the house, doing some canning and knitting like a fool. I have a few more batches of jam to make, tons of baking to start, and a few more items to knit. I have most of the actual Christmas shopping done. The only gifts left to get ready are gifts of money. Well, I lied. We are going to be buying things for Christmas stockings.










This is a very special Christmas for us this year. It is our first Christmas in 4 years that we will not be in th e hospital! We will be home for New Years also, which we have not done for 4 years also.










Below are pictures of my tree and decorations.










Monday, November 9, 2009

Been sick,,,,

I have been sick and so has hubby. Actually we are both still sick and hubby is going in hospital today. So will update when I can.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Family time and some crafts Part 2
















Ok so this is not how I wanted this either but will have to do. Ok so you can see the back of Anthony's jacket. And Lil Miss LeAnna eating a marshmallow :D I went and had my nails done or Halloween. I think they are very cute and LeAnna just loves them. And above is a pic of the door wreath that I made this evening!

Family time and some crafts









ok so I am having issues tonight with not doing anything right here LOL and all my pics did not upload. Anyways the first pic is of my son, Chad tending the fire. Next is my grandson, Anthony who showed up sporting his leather Harley jacket that his papa boughty him. Then there is me with the babies and a neighbor. Off to get the rest of the pics up..One of these days I will figure out how to post this stuff the way I want. LOL




Monday, October 26, 2009

Busy busy....

will get on later tonight to update the blog will have loads of pics

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Yesterday was super busy!

Oh my gosh yesterday was non stop! Hubby and I spent the day shopping :D I went and did Christmas shopping for 2 of the grandbabies. I had set myself a limit for each of the kids. Yeah, well that did not work. Once I got to the store that limit went right out the window LOL There was just to much cute stuff that they just had to have :P Over $500 dollars later I was loading up the back of the car!!

After getting all of that loaded into the sewing room I went back out. I picked myself up a firepit for the back yard. It is soooo nice. Once I have it together I will post pics. I also went and got a few Halloween decorations for the side yard and front of the house :D Nothing fancy just enough for the grandbabies and niece to enjoy. Tonight we will be having a smores party in the yard!

Today we will be doing some more Christmas shopping :D I am super excited to be getting it done so early, but bummed that my sewing room will soon be unusable do to all the stuff LOL OH! I am buying a Brothers embroidery machine today!!! Found it on Craigslist brand new in an unopened box super cheap!!! To bad the sewing room is going to be so full LOL

Ok, well hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Will try to get some more pics posted tomorrow :D

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Not much happening today...

I finished the light pink and light brown scarf last night :D Right after I started a hat for my grandaughter. I have been working on it today and am cooking a small "Thanksgiving" style dinner for me, hubby and in laws.

I am still sitting in my pj's LOL Just am not motivated to do much today. I think I have caused some sort of damage to my left shoulder from all of the knitting I have been doing. I can barely lift anything with my left arm and if I move a certain way the pain brings me to tears. I know i should put the knitting down for a while, but everything I am working on or have to make is for Christmas so there is no slowing down. Off to check the turkey

Wednesday, October 21, 2009










































Ok we have my messy sewing room with some of the fall decorations I am working on and somewhere there is the stuff for the grandbabies Halloween bags LOL. Then there are a pair of slipper socks...the first pair I ever made!!! Next is the crazy Romeo who is now 6 mths old. Then there is my handsome 2 yr old grandson Anthony and my beautiful 1 yr old grandaughter LeAnna.

Some of my crafts


















































Ok the top pink and brown is a scarf that is not quite finished yet...should have it done this evening.
Next are a pair of wool slippers that I made for my self.
Then there is a pink and brown hooded scarf that I made for my sis in NY.
Last but not least is a smokey blue scarf that is a X-mas gift.

Internet was down....

yesterday :( And I did not get anything done as far as taking pics.

I completely hauled out my kitchen yesterday. What I thought would take a few hours ended up taking all day. I had to keep stop working on what I was doing to do for others. Hopefully today I can get some things done for myself.

Today I have to take hubby to an appt. and he wants to stop at his favorite Chinese place to eat lunch. We get up late so our lunch time is everyone else's dinner time LOL When we get back I will finally get the material for the grandbabies bags in the washer. I also have a ton of laundry to put away and to clean our bedroom.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Trying to get this started again....

Life has been absolutely crazy here. My kids and whole family have gone to hell and been sicker than dogs for months now. One thing I have been able to do to help me keep my sanity is knitting.

My kids hopefully are getting their lives back where they should be. Hubby has been in the hospital multiple times since my last post and needs to go back in again. My in laws have been doing poorly. I am going down there 3 times a week to help them.

A few months ago we bought a puppy and we have a private trainer so that he can be a handi dog for my hubby. He is doing very well with his training.

I have been doing a lot of knitting and sewing. Tomorrow I will have to take pics of my finished projects and of Romeo the pup and post them. I have a ton more knitting and sewing to do for the fall season and for Christmas but at this rate with everyone being so sick not sure how much I will get done. I am also in the process of pulling the carpet out of the house and laying tile. Wish I had never started this...what a pain in the butt!

I have also started doing some preserving to give as gifts for the holidays. So far all I have made we are eating LOL Next month I will get the gifts done. Today on the way to my daughters for dinner I noticed that the road to their house was jam packed with prickly pear cactus that was full of fruit. I went on line and looked up when to harvest the fruit and how to make and can prickly pear jelly. Will be going back by my daughters later this week with a large box and heavy duty gloves....I am super excited to try my hand at this. :D

OH....we had horrible electrical problems with our house last month. It blew up or flat screen tv, hubby's xbox, my coffee pot and our cooler :( Had to have new wire ran and a larger fuse box put in.

Ok guess that is it....off to pull out all my finished projects to start taking pics :D

Friday, May 1, 2009

UGH!

So after getting hubby home from hospital I came down sick with pneumonia :( Today is the first day in almost a month that I feel human again. I woke up this morning and had my first cup of coffee in like over 2 weeks! Talk about a caffeine buzz lol. I have some crafting to get done, not alot and a few swaps that I need to get mailed. Unfortunately it will all have to wait to get mailed for 2 weeks. That is when I will have swap and craft money again :D

I will soon be looking for plane tickets for my sis and her son to come here from NY in July!!! I am super excited as I have not seen my sis in 12 years. I am going to buy a second sewing machine so that we can craft while she is here. Poor hubby will be run out of the house with our crafty mess :P

Will be doing my best to keep up on this now that I am on the road to recovery, but hubby is now starting to feel bad again :(

Thursday, April 2, 2009

I'm back!!!

Atleast for tonight. I have been in the hospital since March 16 with my hubby. This has not been a good visit. Thankfully I have my cell phone with unlimited talk, text and picture.....My friends and family have been keeping me occupied and amused. We are usually out of the hospital within 3-4 weeks, but this looks like it will be a long stay.

A very dear friend of mine has been a godsend through all of this. Bringing me things, calling me, keeping friends updated for me, having me over for coffee and teaching me to knit!!!!! I have always wanted to learn to knit and now I am :D I have made 2 knit washcloths, a childs size bath matt- it was an adult pattern but I used the wrong size needle LOL. And I have started and tore out 3 scarfs that I was going to design :P I finally got a pattern going and got stuck on exactly how to add a specific element to my pattern and my dear friend came to my rescue and helped; actually finsihed out the pattern for me!! :D It is now completely torn out and I will start over tonight, somewhere I messed up and when I tried to take it apart back to the mistake I had a total disaster :( I am ok with it though as I am learning and this is just one more learning experience.

Unfotunately I can not upload pics but I do have my digital camera with me so when I get home and settled I will slowly get pics posted here. I will do my best to get out on to one of the hospital patterns for a short time each evening, but don't hold me to it LOL

Friday, March 6, 2009

Been MIA...

because hubby is sick. Will be calling Monday am to get him an appt. to go into the hospital. On top of hubby being sick and waiting on him and fretting over him I have not been feeling well.

Today I started ordering things for my oldest daughters baby shower that is set for April 18th. This will be grandbaby number 3 and 2nd grandson :D I also started doing some crafting again today. I have not crafted for days! Today I finished a waffle icecream cup pincushion and I am half done with one of 5 dottees that I need to make :{ I just do not seem to have my crafting bug or inspiration :( I know that it is because I am overwhelmed with everything else, but this is stuff that I have to get done! And it is important that I enjoy it and not just throw something together...hence why the first dottee is only partially done. I just was not feeling it. And I just can not make myself work on anything else either.....ARG!!!

So, I am off to lay in bed and watch tv and hope that tomorrow is a better day.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Been Feeling Blah....

for the past couple of days. Have not been crafting, really have not done anything but lay on the couch. I have a bad ankle that has been bothering me and have not been able to walk. I have to keep it wrapped or my ankle swells to the size of a baseball.

Today I decided it was time to get out of my funk. I invited my middle daughter and her husband and 2 babies and my youngest to come spend a few days with us. And this evening I made a cute little pincushion that brought my craft bug back LOL

My daughter and I went to the store this evening and bought pizza, chips, sodas and I made a salad. The hubby and boys have been playing video games all night and my daughter and I have been on the computer. The babies are sleeping in my sewing room so no more crafting tonight. Tomorrow I hope to get started on a few dottee dolls and maybe a couple more pincushions.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A very boring day.....

I was sooooo lazy :) I've spent most of the day on swap bot and have been working... very slowly....on a cotton dishcloth. I kept walking into my sewing room with intentions of creating something fun and cute and just could not get inspired to do anything. So, back to the computer I would go.

I just finished eating dinner....which hubby has still not touched as he is playing xbox live! I am getting a little irked :{ When he does decide to eat he will reheat it himself! Hmmm.....do I sound a little grumpy today :P Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day :D

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I finished the quilting....

on my mother in laws quilt today!!! I cheated....I decided to finish it on the sewing machine. It was definitely harder to keep everything straight and taught, but it was alot quicker and like the look of it better. Now all I have to do is bind it.

I am very excited that I am getting a Brothers embroidery/sewing machine next month!!! Not exactly sure on what model I am getting yet as I am still not really sure on how much embroidery I will really do. You know how it is....you just have to have some sort of machine to do this or that. I can do all kinds of things to go onto my etsy store, make for the kids, grandbabies.....but when it comes right down to it how much will I actually do LOL

Speaking of kids and grandbabies....My middle daughter and her hubby and 2 babies just left. They came over with the movie "Quarantine" If you are into scarey, creepy movies this one is for you!

Well, I am off to spend some time on my home away from home swap-bot.com.

Slowly Getting Set Up


So today I decided to join the blog wagon. I really enjoy reading others blogs and seeing the awesome things that they make. And hope that others will enjoy reading my ramblings and watch the progress of whatever my current project is.

Today I am was suppose to have a little crafting get together, but my friend has a sick child so I will spend my day working on hand quilting a blanket for my mother-in-law. I have been working on this darn thing since November and am ready to be done with it.


Well, guess that is all. Am off to get sewing and check on the corn beef I have cooking :)