live, love, laugh, create

What's new with ewe?

 

Not much really. We went to Bob's sister & brother- in- law's yesterday for our holiday get together. They have  a few sheep, chickens, dogs,( had horses but no longer) and a big fat pig with an attitude named Darla. I'm not sure what this sheep's name is but it could easily be Stoneface. No smile, not a wink....nothing....what gives?

 

These little cuties were orphaned shortly after birth. Something happened to mom-also known as "Stomp" and she had to go off to that great green pasture in the sky at the ripe old age of 18.

 

L had so much fun feeding the lambs. They are so vocal and really cute. Bob's nephew said there's one male and one female.

They don't mind being picked up at all. Bob's nephew Bryant and his girlfriend had nursery duty and invited us down to the barn.

 

Could the "don't bother me" message be any clearer here?

I got some great pics of the day for scrapping next weekend for sure!

Yesterday was my 1 year Blogiversary. I plan on doing something to celebrate it this weekend. I have to work the next 3 days in a row and I'm on call New Year's Day so I'm a little too tied up for party planning right now. It will be good, you'll see!

Thanks for stopping by!

It was a quiet but Merry Christmas

Truly, it was. Kelle arrived on Christmas Eve and we went to my sister's house for a short visit. I can only take it in small doses. It's a small house and there's a lot of us-like 20, so you can imaging my headache when I left there. There was however a lot of good food and a chaotic Secret Santa gift exchange which was fun. And someone got a brand new bike from her cousin/godmother Kelle...

 

Christmas morning at home was exactly what Bob and I love so much; all of us together. This year I had my camera and was immediately made fun of by Kelle & Sean and was dubbed the "Paparazzi Mom"

 

Hardee har har you guys!

One thing Bob and I quickly realized in raising our kids is that the older they get the more expensive their wish lists get. It was a very manly Christmas

 

with a hint of girliness somewhere among all of the power tools

 

It was a great day and I savored every moment. It's such a chaotic whirlwind to get to the 25th and then it's over before you know it. I've already started thinking about next year because I'm fortunate enough to have 10 days vacation-yea! Hopefully there will be more time to prep, less stress and much more time to sit and enjoy the time with my family.

There is a blog that you need to check out when you get a moment that has an awesome Christmas album made with Cosmo Cricket's "Oh Joy" patterned papers. Totally awesome with a link for all of the directions and pictures too! What's even better is the chance to win $100 in Cosmo Cricket goodies! Stop by here when you get a chance.

Tomorrow is my 1 year Blogiversary. How cool is that? I wasn't sure how I'd do when I started a year ago, but I'm still here so I guess that's a good thing, right? I'll be posting a little giveaway of my own during the week so be sure you stop by and say hello!

Thanks for stopping by!

Meet "Zoeeee"

 

I was introduced to her on Thanksgiving evening. Her full name is "Zoe Precious". She is actually the replacement for "Toby Cherish" who has joined his friends in that great litterbox in the sky. My niece doesn't know that though. As far as she knows Toby Cherish is living at the vet's office where they can take care of him and give him medicine.

It's amazing how CJ can come up with names. Whether it be a live animal, stuffed animal or doll, they are all named with no duplicates and they are all remembered, carefully categorized in that amazing, pretty little head of hers. She's a hoot, that's for sure!

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I think it feels like Christmas now

 

Ya think?? It started to snow here around 11 AM or so. I worked a few hours of OT and got out of work just after the snow started to fall. The news said it was falling at a rate of about 2" and hour. A commute that normally takes me 25 minutes took me 2 hours via lots of back roads because the highway was bumper to bumper. I'm guessing we have about 8" of snow now and they said it would snow until midnight.

We inherited this snow blower from Bob's brother-in-law who can't pass up a good deal especially if it's at the end of someone's driveway for the trash. He got it running and gave it to us. My front yard smells like a bus garage with 50 buses idling all at once and the neighbors must think we're firing off M80's because it's backfired about 1,000 times. Sean's afraid it's going to blow up but Bob told him not to worry that it would probably just combust and start smoking..... Um, Bob, it's already smoking and I don't think we'll have problems with mosquitos next summer-or birds for that matter. And I think all of the deer within 5 miles of our house have run off to the next town in fear they are being shot at.

I received all kinds of packages this week as a result of my on line shopping. I've been trying to say out of the stores and so far it's worked. I got one really great package that was a total surprise

It was another box of Sunshine albums from Cheryl and the Manahattan Scrapbookers Meetup Group. How awesome!! Thank you so much ladies! They are beautiful and will be so appreciated! I'm looking forward to donating them. I'm hoping I can get some feedback from the parents and the hospital staff that I can share with all of you.

We were supposed to go to NY to Radio City Music Hall tonight to see the Christmas Spactacular but our train got cancelled and the next available one would have put us into the city too late to get to the show on time. We're bummed but we're going to spend a quiet night at home together as soon as Sean is done with the driveway. I think we'll be able to hear the TV then!

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating the season Volunteer style

 

Yesterday was our fire dept's annual Santa Run. It has been a dept. tradition for as long as I can remember. Given the fact that I waited on the street corner for the fire truck to bring Santa when I was a kid, one can surmise that it's been a long standing tradition in our neighborhood. The Montrose Fire Dept is a volunteer organization and its members are very dedicated to the community and to eachother.

 

Here are the 2 Santas getting ready for their day. The completely dressed Santa is my husband. The 3/4 dressed Santa is another member Greg. Greg takes the route that brings Santa to his grandchildrens' neighborhood. Incidently, Greg's grandchildren are my cousin Mary and Greg's son Brendan's kids. I wish I could have been in 2 places at once! They are cuties!

It took about 3 1/2 hours to go through the designated area with the truck. I was so glad to be able to see how much Bob loves to participate in this. He interacts so well with the kids and I think given his size (sorry Bob) and the authenticity of the costume the little ones think he's the real thing!

 

The community is so supportive. The parents thanked the guys over and over for all that they do and told them how much their children love fire prevention week and the early visit from Santa. One family in an area at the edge of the district was ready with hot cocoa and home made chocolate chip cookies.

 

Brian said that it hit the spot for sure.

Here's a few more pics of such sweet joyful faces. I really miss my kids being little!

 

 

I do have to mention 1 person who made this all happen yesterday-at least on Engine 121's route.

 

Santa's personal chauffer and retired professional firefighter John Jackson. The guy can fit a firetruck between 2 stacked dimes if he had to! I never really thought about how small a cul-de-sac was for a fire engine until yesterday. Apparently civil engineers and developers don't give much thought to fire engines when they plan roads. And some are totally not meant for anything bigger than a car to go down them

 

So John had to back up to a driveway wide enough so he could turn around...oops...

He was a good sport and followed Santa through a development that had lots of kids waiting at the end of their driveways. Santa's doctor would be pleased to know that Santa opted to walk rather than ride through the development.

I tagged along for longer than I had planned, but I'm glad that I did. It was a great day. Hats off to all of you guys at MFD for all that you do for the people in your community.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbooking your baby

There's a great blog you need to check out if you are interested in scrapbooking about a baby. Whether it be yours, a grandchild, a godchild or a friend's, Jessica Turner is hosting a week's worth of info for you with links and ideas that is pure creative baby bliss.        

                                                             

Just click on her button and have a look. You'll love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

'Tis the season

And it's beginning to look like Christmas here at our house. As I mentioned the other day, I got the tree with my son and had him bring it in and put it up right away. I spent all of Sunday afternoon decorating it and the living room. It's fun to pull out the boxes and decide what to put where and take the stash of stuff that was purchased on clearance after the holidays and incorporate it into the decorating. I think out of everything I do to prepare for the holidays, I enjoy the tree the most.

I turned off the flash to try to capture the ambient light from the dim high hats and the tree lights. I have a huge collection of ornaments that go on the tree each year. Bob and I have been together for 27 years and married for 25, so you can imagine how much is in the 3 boxes of ornaments I have! It's quite the eclectic collection if I say so myself. Here's some of my favorites

 

This was given to me by a friend who went to Disney World during the holiday season and took the hotel resort tour to see all of the decorations in each of the luxury resorts.

 

Kelle loves Winnie the Pooh so I get her a Hallmark ornament every year. Each one that is on the tree is hers- I think there's about 6 or 7 or 8 or more. I've lost track. 

 

What's better than all of the special "gifts" that were hand made with love by your kids when they were little?

 

I won't make you guess what this is. Sean made it in 2nd grade and was so proud when he wrapped it up as a gift for me to open. He put the clay down on the floor in the art room, stomped on it with his sneaker, glazed it and voila! An ornament for mom!

 

And of course there's the famous beaded candy canes threaded onto the pipecleaner. There's 4 or 5 of those on our tree.

 

I made this Raggety Andy in a ceramics class I took about 20 years ago. Back then I actually had the patience to sit and paint-not any more though!

 

A celebration of my passion for horses and horse racing and a tribute to Seabiscuit.

 

Anyone who knows me is not surprised to see this on my tree-there's 2 of them in fact! There's nothing better than a mocha latte first thing in the morning on your way to work.

And finally, Lorrie K, this one is a little tribute to you and your love for Yankee Candles

 

There's so many ornaments on our tree that have a history or a story that goes with them. I really want to do a holiday mini book and feature some of my favorite ornaments as well as other things like decorations, traditions and memories. I'm not sure that it will be a "mini" book though. It is going to be a work in progress like Ali'sDecember Daily album. Time will tell. I may ask my family to either write  about or tell me some of their favorite holiday memories to include in my book. I'm looking forward to starting it soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

I found the cord!

Yippee! I have so much to share! Where do I start? How about with all of the awesome Sunshine albums I have received?!

 

These came with journaling tags. Such a great idea!

 These came from Girl Scout Troop #1426 in Thornwood,NY, which is a neighboring community of my hospital.

 

This one came from Debbie Hodge. Thanks so much Deb!

   These two books are actually for infants, which is something I did not think about. I will forward these to the NICU nurses. Great idea Kris B!!

 

These albums are from The Manhattan Scrapbooking Meetup Group. Here's a note from Cheryl

 

What a nice note and what a great donation. Actually all of the donations were awesome. Angie and I can't thank all of you enough for taking the time to make an album...or 2 or 3 or more in some cases!

Ok, this post is long enough, so I'll save the Christmas stuff for tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuck with no options

Sorry I haven't been around but I have not had any time to myself due to work commitments. Things got easier this weekend and the first thing on my agenda was to get the Christmas tree! We have been going to a great place about an hour north of us in Rhinebeck called Battenfeld's where you can cut down your own tree. So since Bob has to work on Saturdays and the boys both gave it a big thumbs down I was forced to buy a precut tree from the local fruit/vegetable stand. It is nice and full and has a straight trunk. It's up and decorated thanks to the help of Pat's girlfriend Katie. I took pictures of it and some of my favorite ornaments to share with you and to have for a holiday album I want to do. I sat down in front of the computer and realized I did not have my adapter cord to upload the photos. I looked high and low and can surmise that it's packed in 1 of the 4 boxes of books from the living room-which incidently is looking good. Just a few finishing touches like installing the hardware for the curtains and hanging pictures and I'm all set for the holidays. And those projects are on hold because poor Bob is down for the count with a stomach virus. So unfortunately I can't show you pictures of my tree or the ornaments or the last of the Sunshine Albums that arrived last week because they are in my camera. So I am stuck with no other option but to wait for someone to help me search through those heavy boxes. Bummer.

I do have a little news of a neat class being offered by Julie Balzer on her blog. It's called "Pretty Packages" and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Who wouldn't want to dress up their gifts for the holiday season? Check it out when you get a chance!

I'll get that cord found and get the pictures posted as soon as I can. I'm so bummed that I couldn't share them with you today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Deadline extended

Angie and I have decided to extend the deadline for mailing us the Sunshine Albums. We will be taking albums until December 20th. We will be distributing them to the hospitals during the first week of January. If you are still interested in creating an album see my posts from October 12th, 29th & 31st  for info or email me with any questions you may have.

Thanks for stopping by!