Beginning of a New Year~~

Tomorrow will be New years Eve, and then soon, another year will begin. I am looking forward to the New Year. 2009 had it's ups and downs, but I am so thankful for so many things. Too many to list, but I've given thanks to the one who provided or allowed it all to happen. The good and the bad. Soooo, what will 2010 hold in store for me? I have no clue! But I'm eager to see and experience what is ahead.
I'm not one for making resolutions, but I do have some goals for this year. I am going to write them down and then this time next year I will go over them and see how I did. That is if it's God's will that I'm still here. Life is so short, we have no idea what tomorrow till bring. So I'm giong to enjoy each and every day that I have breath.
I really want to live life to it's fullest, and that includes reading on a regular basis God's word. I'd like to further my rug hooking by using more color (yes Joan lol). I'm not talking crazy, just experiment more. I'll be taking a class with Norma Batastini in the Spring, and want to learn something new. Even if it's one little thing. I've had so much fun doing some cross stitching and punch needle, that I want to continue doing that too. Along with doing more penny rugs this year too. So I have a lot planned to make, but also would like to get my house in order and finish off rooms that need it! One day at a time is my plan. But inside each day, I'd like to use my time more wisely. I sit so much in front of this box, that by the time I feel like I want to start something, it's too late in the day. Most of the time that is bed time! I'm hoping that the times I do get back on here to post, I will have something to show for my time I've been away.
I said I want to get started hooking again, but still have not come up with anything yet. My frame is calling me!!! Next Thursday hooking at Grantstreet will start up again after being closed for these 2 weeks for the Holidays. I am determined to either pull a pattern from my pile, or have something drawn up and ready to go. I have a long weekend to put my thinking cap on.
Tomorrow George and I will be going to a New Years Eve party. We won't be staying late, but it will be nice to get out and have a good time with friends.
Since I know I won't be back on for a few days, I just want to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year! May this year bring you much Peace, Joy, Good Health, and Prosperity. I hope it's a start of something "new" for each of you...
We can't succeed unless we fail at something first. And we can't fail at something if we don't at least try!

Hustle and Bustle over???

Aahhh, Christmas day was here and is now gone. What a lovely time we all had. I hope you all had a wonderful day too.
This is the first year that Craig was not here on Christmas morning to open his gifts. He has since moved out and shared his Christmas morning with his girlfriend Lake. They came over later in the day to eat and exchange gifts. So it was just the 3 of us, well 3 1/2 if you want to include Valentino the hamster. Nicole brought him down to join us. He was having a grand old time rolling around in his ball.
Nicole just loves the camera.

She also has the nicest legs. (loved her new boots)
But she certainly knows how to make a mess lol!
Valentino made his rounds.
I have to say he is the sweetest hamster and is so loveable!

Craig and Lake joined in later.

Craig is a true Vikings fan.... Was thrilled with what he found in his stocking.
Nicole is spending her Christmas break sharing it with some of her friends. Andrew came over for a little bit on Christmas day, and today she is out visiting other friends. And then of course Craig and Lake had to leave, and I just wanted a couple pictures. Nothing is ever easy!! lol I love my kids!

I must have been a really good girl this year. I am hoping I will never be lost again~~ I got a Garmin from George!! Along with some other really nice gifts. Also received some wonderful gifts from friends as well. I just love everything. Thank you to Linda and Rick for my #5 cutter for my Townsend (I have all that I need now), and Joan for the table top Ott lite and floss, and Sherry for the snowman gourd that her and her boyfriend made as well as the munchies. You were all so generous.

I relaxed the rest of the day yesterday, and I have to say that I actually was bored, and felt guilty for sitting. It's been so long since I just SAT and did nothing. I wanted to so badly to go upstairs and start cleaning out the chaos of the wool room, but forced myself not too. Today I slept in a little and then decided to go to Target and get a few bags and tags and such for next year. OH MY! I haven't been out on the day after Christmas in a long time. It was worse than Black Friday! The cashier told me that they were lined up outside before the store opened up at 7:00 and they wouldn't let the workers get by to get in the store! She said once the doors opened, the people RAN. I was giggling the whole time she was telling me. I thought wow, they must have had a great deal on something, so I asked her what it was. She said wrapping paper LOL. Too funny. I stopped at a couple other stores, and I ended up having no more patience, so I came home. Dozed off on the couch for a little bit, and now I'm getting ready to reheat some dinner for George and I.

I think tomorrow afternoon I will do something around here. I don't want to get too spoiled lol. Need to go back to work on Monday!

Wishing you all a great week ahead! If you usually make some of your gifts for Christmas presents, why not start off the New Year by making some early while the cold weather can still motivate you. I'm going to try and take some of my own advice. It would be nice to work on some till Winter is over? Can you imagine how many pieces we can get done???

I'm planning on a quiet New Years Eve with movies at home, how about you?

Merry Christmas~~~

Taking this time to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Today was my husband George's birthday. I was able to give George his birthday breakfast before I had to go do his mom's grocery shopping, since tomorrow is the day I normally do it. Oh my goodness, the store was packed! I was happy when I got out of there. When I got back from her house I had lasagna to cook, and a cake to bake for George. We all went back to her house for dinner. It was George's pick and it ended up being Burger King. My son Craig and his girlfriend Lake went over there earlier today since they couldn't make it tonight. They stopped by our house too so Craig could see his Dad and give him his gift. We chatted for a while and that was nice. Weather permitting, they will be back tomorrow for a little while before going to Lake's family to spend time with them.

I couldn't believe how many pictures Nicole snapped with the camera over my mil's. Toooo many lol. So I just picked a few to share. Mom opening up her gifts. Me stuffing my face. She had truffles and I just had to have one. No taking little bites for me lol.

Stealing a Birthday kiss!
Lots of laughs
Can never leave that phone at home lol.

Nicole can always make her Grandmom laugh..

Happy Birthday George~~

When we came home from there, I still had the macaroni and the deviled eggs to make. I just had no time this afternoon to fit it all in. Then I saw that the banana's on the counter were really ripe. Soo, I made 8 small loaves of banana bread. Kitchen is cleaned up and coffee set for tomorrow morning!

I am getting ready to finish wrapping the last few gifts that I didn't get to the other night. Will put them under the tree, and then guess what???? I'm on Vacation! lol. I'm already announcing to my family that the next few days is ME time.. The food is cooked, they can help themselves. Although tomorrow I will get it out first for them, and then they are on their own! I plan on doing some major, major, MAJOR relaxing, watching tv, staring at the tv, just listening to the tv. Doesn't matter which. I will be sitting and not moving. If anyone has a question, they can come to me. I'm not moving! Aaahhh, I'm just envisioning it now. It's going to be awesome!

No matter how you spend your Christmas, I hope you will look to Heaven and thank God for sending His son Jesus to come live here on Earth, to die and then rise again to save us from our sins, so that we may have eternal life. All we need to do is acknowledge that. Without Jesus, there would be no Christmas........

What a Christmas gift that would be to God... to accept His son as your Savior~

Merry Christmas to you All~~ Have a Blessed day. Stay warm and safe travels to all who will venture out tomorrow.

Sit back and relax, it's a long one....

It's a snowy day here today. They are calling for 10-12 inches I believe. All I know is that I'm in for the weekend. Don't plan on going anywhere~ Figured it's time to sit and transfer all the pictures off my camera and onto the computer. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. The blog just wasn't on the top of my priorities. I'm sure it's that way for everyone due to Christmas.

This past Monday, I left work early and headed over to the Blue and Gray hook-in. They were having their Christmas party. I missed the Anniversary party they had last month, and actually I haven't been there since I started working. So I was anxious to go. Glad I did. It was a wonderful time. A great turnout too. When I walked into the room, I saw Mrs. Claus in the back of the room. I knew immediately that it was going to be a fun time. When she turned around, I saw that it was Joan. She is such a hoot! Knows how to make a person smile, that's for sure. So Joan, now it's my turn to make you smile. Ok, giggle, laugh out loud, whatever. Here you are!

Well, then we could see that Mrs. Claus was lacking in stuffing. Joan was trying her darndest to stick out her belly, but it just wasn't working... And sure enough, not enough in the rear either! Can ya believe I was mooned by Mrs. Claus lol?

Here are some random shots of what the room looked like and what people were working on.

Lina with her wonderful piece!


She also did this one too.

Ruth has been using her embriodery machine to make some beautiful things.






Barb's rug, such lovely detailing..
Joan's rug that she made into her Christmas card this year.

Another of Joan's.

Joanne's rug

Ivi's rug.

Becky's rug.
This was started a few years back. They play a game called The Right family I believe. We all stand in a circle and Ann reads the story of the Right family. Whoever wants to participate brings in a half yard of wool. We pass it around as Ann reads the story. It can get confusing at times. This time we all ended up with our own package, but Ann read a little further so we could pass them again. Lots of laughs.

I think Mrs. Claus was giving someone the evil eye for trying to hold on to a package too long lol.

Here Joan is looking at a pin that I got with my package. (you can see me putting my gorgeous blue wool back in my bag.) I was the lucky recipient of Mrs. Santa's wool. The pin was made by Joan (Mrs. Santa....too confusing when there are two Joan's to talk about lol) when she was in bed for a period of time after she broke her back in a car accident. She kept her hands busy!

I'd like to thank Pat for taking these pictures for me since I was participating. Thank you Pat, I really appreciate it!
Ok, that was this past Monday. On Thursday Linda had her Christmas party at Grantstreet Woolworks. There was hooking during the day if you wanted to come. Doris came and stayed for a little bit. She was purchasing some paisley material from Linda. Here they are looking at the piece.
I was busy cutting some material for an applique piece I was planning on working on later in the day. (didn't get too much of it done, but at least it's all cut out and ready to go.) I walked around and took a few shots of the shop. Linda had gotten a new piece of furniture in to display her wool. It's a beauty!! It was delivered in the beginning of the week, and we had a lot of rearranging to do to get it ready for Thursday.


Doris had brought Linda a cake. Chocolate Raspberry. Oh my, I had a piece later in the evening, and it was delicious. Linda just couldn't wait lol.
You can tell it's getting cold. Even Beau had on a coat. Looked like a little Sherlock Holmes lol.
And it's reversible!

Everyone started to roll on in around the time of the party to start. Genny came first. She did a little hooking before everyone else got there. I forgot to get my camera out then. She also won a prize for being the first there. It was a Longeberger basket filled with some items. The last person to arrive got a present too. A candy cane stick!

It seemed that everyone who walked in, had something in their hands for us to eat. What a variety! Everything was soooo delicious. You had no excuse if you went home hungry.


I just have to giggle at this shot. Looks like all Beth, Jill and Allysia are texting to each other lol. I teased them about it.
There was a few that brought some of their work to show us. Beth just finished up her snowman. Just needs to finish whipping it! Way to go Beth, it turned out awesome! Mabel did a wonderful job with her quilt for her husband for Christmas.

And Bert also finished a quilt! They are sisters, both talented.

Linda had games lined up for the evening. She played a few bingo games with prizes. Then there was another game where you picked a snowflake off the tree. It had a persons name on the back and you handed it to them. The last person left was the winner. That was Pat, and she won a gift certificate to Michael's. And each person who wanted to participate in another game, brought along 3 wrapped packages. We each got 3 numbers and Linda called out a number and we went and picked a present off the table. As the game went on, whoever's number was called they could pick a present off the table and then go over to someone else and take their package in exchange. It was fun! We all went home with 3 gifts.

Ok, now the last game of the evening, oh my. Let's just say I made sure I used the rest room before we played. I knew what was coming. Others didn't lol. Linda started by moving tables out of the way. There were two teams to be picked. Each team had a captain and they picked who would be on their team. I won't dwell on the fact that I was the last to be picked. (terrible flashbacks of being in grade school, but really, that's ok. I'll just need a little therapy for a while) lol.. Just teasing. After the teams were picked, the captain had to pick a person who would be the goalie at the end of the room. That would be their position for the rest of the game. Now, I'm not going to go into much detail. Will leave room for your imagination. But let me tell you, most of my pictures did NOT come out because I was laughing too hard. These were the only two safe shots to show. Jill, you will be happy that the packages on the table saved you on this one. Sherry's Aunt is on her way back to her other team mates. It was definitely a race to the finish.

Here is the winning team holding our plunger and toilet paper. Linda had the winners sign the toilet paper for the Hall of Fame. Until next year......... Shall we go undefeated lol????

Well, it's still snowing. Very fine snow too. Means accumulation. Daughter is out in it now with some friends. She just loves the snow. Does not take after me! She could stay out in it all day long. I'll see her when she finally can't feel her fingers or toes. I thought at 16, that would die down a little. But she got up all big eyed just waiting to go out.

I also wanted to share with you a package I received the other day. We are doing a secret Santa on AAPG. I came home Thursday night from the party and saw it on my table. I was so tired, I thought good. I will wait until Christmas to open it. Well Friday came, and the day didn't start off to well for me. I went to move the box to under the tree, and thought no. I need a pick me up. I am soooo glad I opened it. Mary had my name. Oh my what a package. There is a stocking that had some gifts wrapped in it. Two ornaments, a hat and a bird. Then there was a pad, a wonderfully scented handmade bar of soap, a scented wax sheep, a beautiful piece of plaid wool, AND a mat that was hooked by Mary, and it was labeled on the back that was personalized just for me. It is so lovely. I love the simplicity of it. The background is just gorgeous and I love the beading technique of the red and white that she used for the inside border. Thank you so much Mary for picking my day up! I love everything!

I'm just about done with my Christmas shopping, how about you? I will get to the wrapping this weekend. I'm so happy that I'm just going with the flow this year. I have fretted every year of getting things done ahead of time. Well, it's just not working that way, and it's ok! Even though Christmas will come and go on Friday, I will take my time to enjoy my decorations for a little while longer. My main goal is to relax, and that is just what I'm going to do....... Oh and Marian? I got my noodles! (it's going to be a good Christmas lol)

Wishing everyone a good week. Hope you are all done with your shopping and wrapping. And for the little ones in the families, I hope their enthusiasm for the upcoming week brings you many great memories. Stay warm and be safe......