My Nativity Set

This is my nativity puzzle set that my dad helped me make about 6 years ago. It's been hidden in a lost Christmas box and with the move this year it's been found. I found the pattern years ago in a book and my dad cut it out for me and I painted it. I have another nativity set that's a Boyd's bear set but I think I'll use this one because of it being something my dad helped me make.

2006 Ornament Exchange

Here is the ornament that Sombra Knight made for me. He handpainted these and they are just gorgeous. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Check out his blog Shadowlight for more of his great work.

November 27, Monday Menu

Sunday - Grilled cheese sandwiches

Monday - I have class so Erynn will eat at Nana's

Tuesday - Homemade chicken strips, roasted potatoes, green beans

Wednesday - Class

Thursday - Beef Stroganoff

Friday - homemade pizza and start baking my cookies for a cookie exchange I'm in

Saturday - Slow cooked Chicken Cordon Blue

Not a very exciting week of food but after all the food from last week - I'm ready for bland!LOL
Hope every one has a great week. Check out Laura's blog for more menus.

Here is the recipe for the Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu:
4 chicken breasts halves
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
1 T flour
bacon slices

Wrap the bacon around the chicken breasts and secure with a toothpick. Place chicken in the slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix soup, sour cream and flour. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

I got this recipe from someone that does the monday menu's but I forgot to write down who. Sorry! I haven't tried it yet but will this week. I will probably use cream of mushroom instead of cream of chicken - just not a fan of cream of chicken soup!

What a weekend!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh christmas Tree! Ok, so I can't sing a note but I wished I could. We got the Christmas tree up Friday night. It was a chore but I just love all the Christmas decorations. Erynn said our house was to small for all of them and she's right so lots of them were left in our storage building. Last year I changed my Christmas tree from victorian to the Santa tree to make a new beginning when I had remarried. That marriage didn't stick but Erynn and I both love this tree. I sewed the robe and fought very hard for the santa head on ebay last year. Don't ask what I spent for the head - it still makes me sick to my stomach - but it's perfect for the tree.

Here is the start of our lights outside. One of the guys from work came last week and put up the strands of multi-colored icicle lights. I was short one strand and need to finish them over the carport. I bought the two white light trees Friday when Michele and I went shopping. Yes, we were crazy and went shopping. The only store that was really bad was Kohl's and we both had our arms loaded down with stuff and when we saw the checkout line went around the store we decided we didn't need the stuff that bad.

Here is the hat I sewed this weekend for my nephew who will turn 2 next month. It went really quick and was lots of fun to sew!
I made six of these scarves for Erynn and her friends for Christmas. You take 3 strips of fleece (6"x60") and sew them on top of each other down the middle. Then you cut the fringe and they look like boa's. My hands are sore from cutting the fringe! Oh, I also finished the hats and mittens for my nieces. I put big white buttons on them.

Pumpkin, the new puppy is doing really good. Callie, the cat at first was being really mean to the Pumpkin but now they wrestle and have a grand time. I'll try to get a pic of them.

Now for this week. I must work really hard on my Jesse ornaments since Advent starts December 3rd.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As usual during Thanksgiving, it's the one time that I don't take pictures and I have no idea why. I took my camera to my mom and dad's and still didn't take pics.

This year there are so many things to be thankful for. Of course Erynn is very thankful for the new puppy!LOL We are truly blessed with our wonderful family, our new home, all the friends we have (even the new ones in bloggerville), and a wonderful God that watches over us.

We spent the day at my parent's house (Hi Brooklyn and Mom! They told us they have been visiting the blog). It's the first time in 5 yrs that Mom has had all her grandkids and kids (my brother and myself) together for Thanksgiving. We had Mr. and Mrs. Maul (my parent's neighbors) there too. There was wonderful food and conversation to be had. The weather was beautiful so the kids got to play outside in the leaves. Erynn even got to take Pumpkin with her. Afterwards we came home and I took a nap (too much turkey) and then off to the movies we went. Erynn and I saw Deck the Halls and it was a cute Christmas movie to get you in the mood. This has been our tradition for the last six years to go and see a movie on the night of Thanksgiving.

Michele, my best friend, has changed her mind. We are not leaving in the morning at 4:30 but now 5:00am. So this means that I don't have to sleep in what I'm going to wear but can maybe actually get up and be ready by 5:00am. Ok, so I'm not a morning person - I just need a little caffeine and quiet and then I'm ok. Don't ask me to make major decision early in the morning - it makes me grumpy. Erynn and I stay on our own ends of the house in the morning and then when we get ready to leave we meet in the middle!LOL So just remember - I will be out there with all the other crazy shoppers and I hope none of us make the news!

Hoping all of you had a Great Turkey and you have lots of leftovers!

Our newest member of the family

I know I really didn't need to add a new member to our household but I just couldn't resist that face or that puppy breath!

Maria (one of the ladies I work with) has a part time job at the shelter and some one brought this little one in last week. Maria, thought she had it given away last Friday when she showed it to me. I fell in love with her but was glad she had a home. The home fell through and then another one fell through. I just couldn't stand it anymore - so the baby came home with me tonight. Erynn had no idea. She is on cloud 9! I think out of the whole deal I've got her back in her bed now and I can hog my own bed! Who would have thought a puppy could do that for you!

Pumpkin is her name. Erynn had officially stated this. Puppy our older dog is ok, but not happy about it. I've been having to give her extra lovings and the cat - well she's slapped him a few times but nothing scares the cat. Pumpkin has been going around barking at the cat and puppy - so think she can hold her own! I'm in a house full of hormonal females!

Stay tune for more adventures!LOL

Monday Menu November 20, 2006

With this week being Thanksgiving, some of us will be doing more cooking than we normally do in a month. This year, I can say I'm not hosting Thanksgiving at my house. In some ways this makes me sad but in other ways it takes a load off of me. I will enjoy Thanksgiving with my parents and it will be the first time in 4 years that she will have my brother and myself there with his three (under the age of 6) and my daughter. It's been a wild year, but there is so much to be thankful for.

Sunday - My mom cooked for us.

Monday - I have a final but will be home early to cook Stove Top Mac n Cheese

Tuesday - Pancake and eggs - we didn't eat this last week

Wednesday - Tacos

Thursday - Two dishes that I'll make to take to Mom's
Senator Russell Potatoes
Makes 8 servings
3 c cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 1 c sugar 2 eggs 1 tbs vanilla extract 1/2 c melted butter Topping: 1 c packed brown sugar 1/2 c flour 1 c chopped pecans 1/3 c butter Miniature marshmallows
Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, vanilla and butter thoroughly. Pour into buttered 1 qt. casserole. Mix all topping ingredients EXCEPT marshmallows, together with fork. Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the casserole. Place marshmallows on top, covering casserole. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°_________________Thanks Susan for this wonderful recipe.

Pineapple Casserole
20 oz pineapple tidbits 1/2 c sugar 3 tbs flour 1 c shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 - 1 stick butter 1 c ritz cracker crumbs
Drain pineapple, reserving 3 tablespoons of juice. Combine sugar and flour. Stir in reserved juice. Add cheese and pineapple. Combine butter and crumbs. Sprnkle over mixture. Bake uncovered at 350° for 20 - 30 minutes. Thanks for this recipe too Susan!

These are two recipes that just make Thanksgiving for me!

Friday - fried rice with left over ham

Saturday - Potato soup - freezer

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and a wonderful Thanksgiving. Check out Laura's blog for more menus!

Things to do this weekend!

I thought that if I made a list maybe it would propell me to get them done!
My single's group from Church is having their Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night so I have some cooking to do for that but other than that outing that's really all that is going on this weekend. So here's my to do list:

1. Purchase another box of icicle lights and get those finished.
2. Bake pumpkin cake tonight for the pumpkin roll cake for tomorrow night.
3. Print cross country photos of Erynn so I can get started on her album.
4. Work in my scrapbook room - cleaning, finish organizing.
5. Finish hats/mittens for my niece and nephew for their Christmas presents.
6. Laundry!LOL
7. Work on my Jesse ornaments!
8. Let Erynn and her friends make applesauce/cinnamon ornaments.

That's all I can remember for now but I'm sure I forgot a couple! Hope everyone has a great weekend and don't eat too much - remember turkey day is just around the corner!

Ok - Sunday night - I admit that I only got 4 of these done. So I didn't get as much as I wanted to get done - done. I'll have some late nights this week trying to get things done!

New Projects!

As usual I added more stress and another project to my plate this weekend. YIKES! My friend Michele's husband went to the deer woods and she wanted me to come over and sew with her Friday night. I got this hat done for my niece, I just need to add buttons to it and the mittons. I have a purple one cut out for my other niece and a dinosaur one cut out for my nephew. I really shouldn't complain because she had all the fleece she had purchased on clearance last year - so it's just costing me time. Now if you could see my scrapbook table. It was pretty nice and clean but now it's stacked up again with jesse ornaments, my advent wreath (I can't get the cat to leave alone the greenery!), and now the sewing machine and the patterns that have been cut out! I didn't get anything done on my list for the scrapbook room clean up this week but I did get my canna's planted, weeded all of my flower beds but one (my veggie garden is awful)and I got my new recipes that I haven't tried all organized in a binder.

So this week, I need to finish my sewing, work on the scrapbook room projects and work on my jesse ornaments.

On top of all of this, I'm trying to start my Weight Watcher's again and loose this 10 pounds that keeps hanging around my middle and hips! Exercise is my big problem and sodas. I love my Dr. Peppers. So if you see me with a soda in my hand get after me! Weight Watcher's is so hard to do with my daughter because she won't eat anything mixed together. So if you have any ideas I would love to hear them. I'm going to try to eat lots of salads and watch my portion sizes!

November 13, 2006 Monday Menu

As usual Erynn requested Autumn Chowder for our Sunday meal and I must confess that I'm getting tired of it, but we ate it. For my daughter to eat anything mixed together is unbelievable. I tried a new recipe of cookies yesterday called Fudge Crinkles. Oh wow. They are awesome and I will defintely be using them for my cookie exchange this year.

Ok here's the rest of the menu:

Monday: Class - so Erynn will eat at Mom's

Tuesday: Chili Dogs and fries

Wednesday: Class

Thursday: Pancake and eggs

Friday: Pepperoni and cheese crescents - I still haven't fixed these yet

Saturday: Slow cooker chicken cordon blue - this one keeps getting moved too

Sunday: Pizza

I honestly sat down last night and worked on my menu for December and trying to plan all my baking for the holidays too. Check Laura's blog for more great menus.

The Start of my Jesse Ornaments

Yesterday was a great mail day. I got my advent wreath and I got the felt that Patti was so nice to send to me.

Here is a little about a Jesse tree:
The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. The Branch is a biblical sign of newness out of discouragement, which became a way to talk about the expected messiah (e.g., Jer 23:5). It is therefore an appropriate symbol of Jesus the Christ, who is the revelation of the grace and faithfulness of God.
You can check out the web for more information or look at http://www.crivoice.org/jesse.html.

I still have to embellish them with beads and thread, but I am very excited about these. Hopefully I will have these finished and more to share with you after this weekend.

Oh, Thanks ladies for the encouraging words yesterday. I'm feeling better and I exercised last night. Gosh does that make a difference. I feel so great today. Thanks again!

Ever have one of those blahh days?

I'm having one of those weeks and at first I really wasn't sure what was going on but I think I have figured it out. It's the holidays coming up. At first I was worried about the money part of it but my daughter and I have talked about it and she agrees with me that the presents aren't what the whole holiday are supposed to be about. I still don't want to let her down though - know what I mean. I've been thinking about it and I'm feeling better about all of that. No, this is the first time in two years that I won't be hosting Thanksgiving. I won't have the house full of my ex's family, and I won't be doing all the cooking and cleaning. I know it sounds silly but I feel a little lost. My mom is having Thanksgiving this year and it's the first time in about 4 yrs that she will have my brother and his kids and me with her. So it will be a great Thanksgiving but a different one. Three of the eight will be under the age of 6!LOL

I visited Barb's site at http://anewchelseamorning.blogspot.com/ and she had things she was thankful for. It really hit me this morning that I too have much to be thankful for to be mopping around.

1. I have a beautiful daughter who is my world. She is truly a gift from God. I was told that the longer I waited to have children the harder it would be for me to conceive. I not only had that problem but then she was born a month early. She is my lovey, huggy girl and I truely love her and thank God for her every day.

2. I have a roof over my head and it's my very own home. I know that many single parents are not as fortunate as I am.

3. I have the most wonderful parents that anyone could ever ask for. They have been my rock in my life. They are always there.

4. I have a job and it's honestly a pretty good job. They are paying for 80% of my college education - so I can't complain very loud.

5. My car is still running. Pray with me on that one. It's not paid for yet and I would really like to get a year or two out of it after it's paid for.

6. I have my health. In 2001, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I had just gotten divorced from my daughter's dad in 2000 and then was slammed with this. This April was my five year check up and I'm cancer free. What a wonderful feeling that is!

So off the top of my head this morning I can think of 6 things that I'm very thankful for.

Next Step in Organizing my Scrapbook Room

Here is my table looking much better. I took all the paper that I had laying around and will organize it in an idea binder below.


This is a clock that was given to me two years ago and I still haven't put it up. So the plan tonight is to find some photos and get them in the clock and get it hung up in my scrapbook room.


I have unmounted all my stamp sets and have them in clear cd cases. I am lacking a few so cd cases are on my list for walmart. The little red book is how I keep up with what ones I have and these that are piled around the book still need to be stamped into the little red book. I have it broken up into sections such as: Christmas, thanksgiving, Easter, Fall, Valentines, Birthday, Sayings, etc. So one set of stamps could be stamped into several different sections. It's easier to look through the book to get ideas of what I can use.


This is my birthday card lunch box that still needs to be decorated. So that's on my list to do this week. Hopefully after it's done it will help me to remember people's birthdays and get cards sent out to them on time!


This is my idea binder that I'm going to put all my loose pieces of paper in. I love paper and constantly am printing things from the computer. I see a card I like and I print it out and so I'll make dividers for cards - birthday/Christmas/Father's day, etc and projects that I want to do.


These are the Becky Fleck Page Maps that I print out once a month. I plan to cut these out and glue them onto the index cards and then file them away with my other layout maps.

So that's my plan of attack for this week. Check back and see what I get accomplished! Thanks Laura for this challenge!

Last week I posted about my Christmas Traditions since growing up. Today, I thought I would tell a little bit about how they were growing up.
Thanksgiving
As a child, we always rotated going to my grandmothers' houses. My mom is one of 9 children and her parent's house was tiny. There was always a table for the food and then a table for the desserts. There was never enough room at the table to eat so you just ate where you could find a spot. Then the kids would go outside and play and as we got older they would take us to Hill Top to climb - a small hill in the area and we would climb it and work off some of the food so we could go and eat more. Most of the men would go hunting early Thanksgiving morning and early evening. My Dad's family was quite smaller. He is one of 4 with there being a 12 yr age difference between he and his oldest sister(who passed away this August). My dad is the only living survivor of his immediate family and is having a very hard time with it. The holidays mean more to him than ever this year. We would go to my Granny Snead's and she would have everything cooked and it was always so good. We would play Rummy and marbles and just have a great time.

For the last two years, I cooked Thanksgiving and my exhusband's family would come in from Illinois and we would have a feast. His house was big enough that we could all fit around the dining room table. This year is going to be odd, but for once my mom will have my brother and I both home for Thanksgiving. My brother and I have both went through divorces this year and he's back home from Oklahoma. My mom is going to have all 4 of her grandchildren at her house for Thanksgiving and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun with the little ones around.

My daughter and I always try to find a new game to play for Thanksgiving and this year we have two - chicken foot with dominoes and pass the pig. We are excited about getting everyone to play it with us. We also go and see a movie every Thanksgiving night. We have done this for the last 7 yrs and it's a great way to end the day.

Christmas
Christmas was the same at my mom's family as Thanksgiving. It was crazy and crowded but so much fun. Sometimes we went late Christmas eve night and sometimes we went early Christmas morning. When I was little, I always had a pretty Christmas dress for Christmas. We spent Christmas eve with Granny Snead and the Snead family. My Granny Snead would always have a ham cooked and dressing and all the fixing with it. It was just always a great relaxing time. Now on my dad's side of the family we have a dinner at a local restaurant and all get together before Christmas. When we would be leaving my Granny's house we would stop by some friends of my parents (Buster and Opal) and visit with them. They would always have the news on for me so that I could see where Santa was at.

We will probably spend Christmas at my parent's house this year, but my mom's family is hoping to find a place that is big enough for all of them to get together for Christmas next year.

Monday Menu November 6, 2006

Sunday : Black Angus Potato Soup

Monday: Homemade Mac n cheese - didn't get to it last week

Tuesday: Dinner with Single group from church

Wednesday: Class

Thursday: Slow Cooker Tai Chicken

Friday: Tacos

Saturday: Enchiladas

Sorry that I don't have links to my recipes this week but I will post any that you may want - just let me know. Hope everybody has a great week. Check Laura's blog for more great menus.

Black Angus Baked Potato Soup
4 lg baking potato
2/3 c butter
2/3 c flour
6 c milk
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
4 green onions
8 ozs sour cream
12 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 1/4 c cheddar cheese

Wash, dry and prick potatoes with fork. Bake in 400 oven for 1 hour or until done. Let cool. Cut into half lengthwise and scoop out pulp; set aside. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Add milk, potatoes, salt, peppers, green onions (half) and back (half) and half of cheese. Stir until heated through. Add rest of cheese and sour cream. Stir until mixed well. Pour into bowls and top with onions and bacon.

The Clean up!

Well, it's Saturday and I got one or two things done on my list. Want to see?


I got the Halloween stuff put up and I got some of the papers off the table.

Today, I worked on finishing my afghan that I have been working on for over a year.

So I still have lots to do but I got something done at least. Of course, the more I'm in the room the more I see that needs to be done. I need some shelves to display some of my crafts better - they are just piled up. Hopefully, I can get one soon.
Check back later and see what's been done!

Help! I'm drowning

Here is my messy scrapbook room. I'm posting it because I thought if I put up my list of need to do's maybe I would hold myself accountable and get them done.
1. Orange halloween tote to be put away.
2. Finish afghan - it's in the floor.
3. Start Jesse Ornaments - may not get them finished by Dec 3 but get a good start on them for advent
4. Make Advent wreath. - I ordered a very simple one off of ebay and will dress it up with some greenery.
5. Finish birthday lunchbox (on the corner of the table)
6. I have a year's worth if not more of catching up on scrapbooking:
Erynn's Washington DC trip
Erynn's Summer in Germany
Erynn's sports!
7. Pictures that need to be framed - three of them.
8. Becky Flecks' maps - get them cut out and into index card binder
9. I'm sure there is a 9 but I can't think of it.

Help me get these done!

Family traditions

I'm so excited to read everyone's holiday traditions. We have a few but I can't wait to incorporate more this year. This year will be our first Christmas on our very own in our own house. It's a very scary and exciting year for us and I'm sure it will be a very special one. I have been divorced from my daughter's dad since 2000 but we lived with my parents until 2005 and I'm very thankful that they had the space for us. In 2005 I remarried which was a huge mistake and lasted less than a year - hence my dd and I having our very own house this year on our own.

I asked my daughter a couple of years ago what she liked most about our Christmas and she told me when we drove around looking at the Christmas lights. There is a house not far from my parent's "The Brockington House" and each year by Thanksgiving they have everything lit up. You can drive down their driveway and they have Christmas carols playing and you circle around their driveway slowly and then come back out. It's magical and I'm afraid it won't happen this year because they have the house up for sale. So we will have to find another special Christmas place to go.

My favorite is the Live Nativity that one of the small local churches does each year. It's neat because we don't know the kids but we have watched them grow up through the Nativity. They always put a sign up announcing that it will be that weekend and you drive through it with your head lights turned off. They do such a great job of it.

Christmas eve we always watch "The Christmas Story". I know it's a corny movie but I love it. We usually have snacks at my parent's house and I usually have a small present (book) for my daughter to open. Since she is old enough she reads me "Twas the Night Before Christmas". It's a special pop up book that I got her when she was a baby. Then we put out the plate of cookies and Coke (This santa doesn't like milk!LOL) and we go to bed.

Christmas morning we do our stockings and then see what Santa brought (usually one gift) and then the rest are from Mom. Then the day is spent at my parent's house. My daughter's dad is in Germany so these last few years I have had her all to myself. It's hard for her but she's doing pretty well with it.

I want to incorporate the Jesse tree this year. We are getting ready to start making our ornaments for it. I love the spoons game that Laura told about - we may have to try that this year.

Anyway, I can't wait to hear what all you guys do and the many more ways I can make Christ a bigger part of Christmas than Santa.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season.

Check out Sandra's blog for more ideas!