Lap stand and Baby AJ's quilt

Picture from Jack Dempsey Needle Art jdneedleart.com

I am working on this project right now. Baby AJ finally got here and it still isn't done. But I am still working on it. I got a lap stand which was kinda pricey but will worth it once I got used to it. I have the 7"/10" but am really wanting to get the 10"/12". I waited and got a 40% coupon from Hobby Lobby since it was so expensive. It made it easier to buy but I was still wondering if I had just wasted a chunk of change on a set of hoops that I wouldn't use. I love then and wouldn't trade these hoops for anything. They snap together in seconds and separate for easy storage and travel. I have a bag with me at all times that has something for me to be stitching on. I have used the hoop on tea towels, the quilt above but haven't gotten to use it yet on cross stitch. But I am off the subject!!!

I am working on this for little AJ I can't wait to get it done and am still deciding which color fabric to use for the backing. Her room is yellow so I am nixing the yellow that I had been thinking of. Maybe a light purple? We will see. I just finished all my stuff for Christmas so I can pick this back up again and start working on it. I have the dragon fly in the top left done, the hearts on the top right, all of the yellow is stitched and I am starting on the flower that is in the top middle. Maybe I will get a lot of time to just stitch over the next couple of days!!! A girl can wish!!!!

Have a safe new years!!!

Spicy Olives

I know that everyone is rushing around trying to find stuff for New Years Eve parties and I thought that I might help just a little bit. I got this recipe from an ex-family member but I always loved this at the holidays. I am not the biggest fan of green olives but enjoy the recipe. Now black olives I can open a can and eat the whole can in one sitting love them dearly.

Now buy everything to make a couple of batches and sit down and enjoy! And remember to SHARE!!!!

Spicy Olives
1-7 oz. jar olives
½ cup tomato juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano

Drain olives of juice. Return to jar. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over olives. Refrigerate 3-10 days.

Day after Christmas

This was me the day after Christmas.... This was Lilly the day after Christmas. She is my in-laws dog. I had been outside playing in the snow with L and B and their mom. We had been up late Christmas night, getting home at midnight and then up by 6 the next morning. I was absolutely wore out and was sitting on the couch watching the news. Can't you tell???? I was doing a good job watching the news! :) Lilly loves to cuddle with me when I am over there. In fact, she gets so excited that she can piddle when I walk in!!!! It is a wonderful feeling to have a dog laying on your lap and it makes me take a nap every time! It is just an ongoing joke that if we are watching a movie and I cover up I am gone. I will be asleep within a few minutes. Now that they have the dog it is worse, I don't even need a blanket! This was how I spent the day after Christmas. Although us girls did decide to venture out at 9 pm and go to Walmart. I was fun being able to just take our time. I love Eeyore and they had pants and a cute sleep shirt that I HAD to buy! Hope your Christmas was safe and fun.

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My new picture for the top of the post was taken Christmas morning by my wonderful father-in-law! We woke up to about 10 inches of snow and drifts from the 10 inches to 5 foot in places. We had fun driving around, going to the places that were on our list. We saw many cars who were in the ditches. Luckily no one was hurt. L and B loved the fact that we woke up to know on Christmas. We played in it yesterday and had so much fun! Once again, thanks to my father-in-law!!!!

Christmas Blizzard 2009

The beautiful front yard!!
Pure, untouched snow.

Sasha trying to decide if she is liking it.

Roxy getting ready to take off running.

Last night being Christmas eve we were back and forth between family and the snow didn’t stop us!!! We were at my in-laws and L comes up to me and says “Ya Ya, I need your help.” She takes me by the hand and leads me back to the play room. She said “Ya Ya, I need you to get two cots for you and Matt to sleep on.” I cracked up laughing and tried to explain to her that we were sleeping on the blowup mattress and that we would get it out in a little bit. We needed to run home to let our dogs out so we were getting ready to leave and I crouched down and told her that we were running to our house and we would be back but she needed to go ahead and go to bed so that Santa could come. She grabbed onto my hands and said “But Ya Ya!!!! You and Matt have to sleep here so I can come and get you up!” I told her that we would be back and explained that Roxy and Sasha needed to get out and go potty. She understood that then and let us run home so we ventured out into the blizzard.

Blizzard was an understatement. We live 3 ¼ miles from one set of in-laws. It took us a full 10 minutes to get home and getting back was worse. Matt couldn’t see the road so we were “team driving” I could see where the snow was blowing and gathering at the side so I was telling him how close he was to the edge and that is how we got back. We were glad that we were somewhere to stay so we broke open the hard apple cider that I had bought at the liquor store and got started putting stuff together. L got a doll house, dolls and B got a trike, a talking Thomas the train and a table that was a road to drive cars on.

L left a note for Santa : Reindeer love carrots and Santa loves cookies and milk. She left cookies, milk, a bowl of carrots and a bowl of water. (She said that the reindeer needed something to drink.) Santa replied: L, thank you so much for the cookies and milk. The reindeer liked the carrots and needed a drink. Santa.

We spent the night there and at 5 o’clock this morning our bedroom door was flung open and we heard “Matt, Ya Ya, Santa was here!!!!” So we got up and went to look and see what Santa brought (speaking of, my fingers are still hurting from pushing all those brads in!!! ) and then got down to the business of opening gifts. B opened one gift that was an Old Navy zip up hoodie and when his mom asked him if he liked it he was quick to answer no, shaking his head. Matt’s dad made the most wonderful French toast and then we plowed our way home. As soon as the girls got outside Roxy ran around loving the snow and Sasha wanted to run right back inside. They did play a little and enjoyed the snow and now we are sitting in the warm house, enjoying the time to rest. I just made rolls (they rose last night) and am getting ready to start stitching for a little bit! Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and enjoys the time with their families. Remember the reason for this time off is not because of Santa, it is because a little baby was sent here for us....

christmas eve

Ya'll better hurry, crawl into bed and asleep. Santa will be coming soon! And if you hear the tapping and dancing of the reindeer hoofs, it is best to just to roll over and go back to sleep!

Blizzard Warning??????

I just got a text from the weather channel and we are under a blizzard warning. In Oklahoma.... A blizzard warning.... What in the world?????? It is raining pretty heavy here but not snowing or sleeting yet. Hope that you all have a great day and a safe day.

I am sitting here watching Julie & Julia and it is such a great movie. I am loving it so much!!! I love to cook and this is inspiring me. But getting Matt to eat some of this stuff might be hard! But you never know!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Christmas blues

Christmas presents bought - check
Christmas presents made - almost check
presents wrapped - look at above, almost check
Attitude adjusted - getting there....

I love Christmas time but I hate the running. It always seems that I end up crying on Christmas day and Matt is having to tell me to calm down and just enjoy it. When we first met we had fours days of Christmas ( no joke ) since he had great grandparents still living. It was hurry hurry hurry and then you are supposed to relax. Over the years he has lost all his great grandparents so it is slowing down but still seems crazy. We go to one side of his family around 6 Christmas eve, then to the other side of the family around 9ish then back to the in-laws to help put gifts together. We are figuring that the kids will be up by 3 am opening gifts (that is B's normal time to get up it seems) and then we can go back to bed, in our own bed with the girls. We have lunch at his Mema's and then (hopefully) to Kansas for dinner with Farris and Kathy. It is just a super busy schedule and it never feels like we can sit and just enjoy everything.

Just remember that all those who are running around WANT to stay longer but the schedule may not allow it. We are running around a couple more years and then when we have kids we are going to slow down a bit.

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I got to see Brandy, Chris and the new little one last night. She is so precious and small. She has these long skinny legs and these active arms are going constantly. I got to hold my precious little niece and she is so precious. We talked about how she is eating like a little pig and how thankful we all are that everything went well. Like I said before though, it makes me think of how much we are wanting to wait but how much I can't wait to have a little one like that!!! It is amazing that one week ago we were wondering when she was going to get here and we are able to hold her today. And then you think about the birthing process to get her here and it is all just so amazing! If there is any advice or just words of encouragement to send to my friend post them here and I will make sure that they get passed on to her!!!!

Baby fever????

We went and visited AJ, Brandy and Chris on Saturday and little AJ is so precious. She has her momma's chin and maybe her dad's nose. Brandy was lucky and her labor lasted all of 10 minutes. I am serious, 10 minutes!!!! I sat and held her for almost a couple of hours and she is just so beautiful. I love the smell of babies and she was no exception.

I have been around lots of babies or women who are pregnant and it is making me have baby fever!!! I have 3 semesters left of school and I want to be teaching for a year so it will be a little bit but it doesn't help the baby fever!!!! Hopefully I can play and take care of AJ and it won't be quite so bad! Can't wait to see her! Any advice for the baby fever from all of you out there?????

Baby AJ is here!

AJ got here this morning at 3:40 am. She weighs 6 lbs 3 oz, 19 1/2 inches long and is beautiful. Everyone is doing good!!!! Happy Birthday AJ!!!!

cranberry salsa, jalapeno jelly, oh my eye!!!!

I have my last night of class for the semester and have been studying and doing last minute stuff like crazy. I am trying to round up enough stuff for a party and decided to take my jalapeno jelly to have with cream cheese, some fudge and was looking for something else. One of the girls at work had a cranberry salsa that was amazing so she called to get the recipe and gave it to us. I figured that that would be enough for me to bring so I was pumped about making it. I ran and got the stuff at Wal-mart and then walked off and forgot the green onions, cilantro and jalapenos so yesterday at 6:30 in the morning I realized that I had forgotten them and ran back in before work to grab them plus enough to make a double batch. We ate dinner with Matt's dad and step-mom so I was doing the finishing touches on homework stuff while they were playing Super Mario on the Wii ( great game) and when we got home I made the cranberry salsa. Put it in the cooler to chill and marinate together.

When I got up this morning I was running around like a crazy woman trying to get stuff together and I had an itch in my eye. Stupid me like the idiot busy woman that I am used my nail to scratch the rim of my eye lid and kept going.... Until I was stopped dead in my tracks by this burning sensation and started yelling "my eye is burning, my eye is burning!!!!" My poor confused husband jumped up trying to figure out what the heck was going on. (Did I mention that when I seeded the 4 jalapenos for the salsa that I was in such a hurry that I didn't wear gloves????? And although I washed my hands like four times apparently there was still some oil on my nails??????) I was jumping around, running for the saline for my contacts in the bathroom and trying to rinse my eyes out. My husband was laughing at me once I could get out what was going on and when he saw that I was okay.

So the end of this story is..... I am going to give you the recipe for the cranberry salsa. I am going to put it over cream cheese but I keep thinking that it would be good over chicken or pork... or turkey.... or anything!!!! Just one thing to keep in mind- be smart not an idiot like myself and wear gloves to do ANYTHING with peppers!!! Okay, now that that is out of the way, here is the recipe!!!

Cranberry Salsa

2 cans of whole cranberries (chopped or blended)
¼ cup green onions chopped (about 2)
2 small jalapenos chopped and seeded
½ cup sugar (or a little less)
¼ cup cilantro leaves chopped
1 tbsp ginger powder
2 tbsp lemon juice

Mix together and chill for 4 hours. Covers 3 blocks of cream cheese.

Enjoy!!!!

Miranda Lambert and a fun weekend

This weekend was very exciting. I found out that the freezer door has been open so I made a BIG pot of chili last night. It was super yummy... I did nine loads of laundry, normal housework stuff, worked on some Christmas gifts and on Saturday we went to the Miranda Lambert concert!!!!

I want to start this off by saying she is just a beautiful in person as she is on stage. And her voice is amazing. I hate going somewhere to watch someone, only to realize that the studio has done some MAJOR touching up on the voice. I was so pleased to see that this didn't happen with her. She started the show at exactly 8 pm and she rocked the house. We were right by the stage so I go within inches of her and was again pleased to realize that she is a normal size woman!!! YAY!!!!

I have always loved that she was very outspoken on certain issues and is just a normal girl. I will try and get a couple of clear blurry pictures up soon. If you are ever able to see her it is well worth the money. She is a small package that explodes when she hits the stage!!!

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We went to the Park of Lights before the concert and got to see The Redneck Diva's light display. If you are anywhere in the area you should really try to get over there and see all the displays. And when you vote you should just put down Number ONE... That way you don't have to try and remember anything and yo will be voting for my favorite rednecks!!!

Speaking of my redneck friends, I had a dream that we went grocery shopping at Wal-mart together last night..... I don't really know what that means but I can only think that it is a good thing!

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I have class tonight to review for a final and then I don't have to drive down until next Monday to take my final and then on Thursday to turn in my final and have a small class party!!!! I am ready for the break that will ensue... I taught my lesson and got a 45/50 and then got the results back on a five page paper that I wrote reviewing a Spanish text book. I have had this instructor in the past and she grades very hard so I was nervous about the results. I got them Thursday afternoon and was so excited about it.... 88% on it!!!!!! I was so excited about it!!!! I guess that is all that is going on for now! I am gonna go and finish another online class!

Writers Workshop - Dream Christmas

Mama Kat has a Writer's Workshop that is always so much fun! Head over there and check it out and join in!!!

The prompt that I choose was describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor.

If money wasn't a factor I would take us all to Disney World. And I am being serious. I have gone once before and that is the best time of the year if you are from Oklahoma to go. I was wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts while my friends back home were wearing coats and layers of clothes. The other thing is that they have deals for that time of year. They don't want you to stay home and not do anything. Go there and spend your money!!!!

We would have to go to all the different parks but then I would want to also go deep sea fishing. Matt and I have always wanted to do this and it would be the perfect opportunity for us to do that. Killing two birds with one stone basically.

There is no telling what we will see because my wonderful husband doesn't want to fly. He enjoys driving. Let me say that again. He enjoys it when he can sit in the passenger side and no have to do anything when we get into heavy city traffic and not do anything. So there is no telling what else we might see!

What would you do for Christmas if money was no object?????

Head over to Mama Kats and check everything out!!!

Whew......

Today I went to lunch at 1 and felt this stuff coming out of the sky..... but it was harder than rain. Didn't think much of it and ran to eat Charlie's Chicken for Matt's birthday and when we came out it was crazy... It was actually snowing!

Now in Oklahoma it can be called the first official snow as long as there are more than 10 snowflakes. And we had quite a bit more than that. For a few minutes we had quarter size snow flakes falling and they looked so beautiful.

We are running around to all the area casinos for Matt's birthday. So I am hoping that the rain/snow won't be coming down tonight and we can get this done! We always have fun and he always does good.

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I have finished my two week thematic unit, written a five page book review over a Spanish book, am getting ready to teach a 45 minute lesson tomorrow night and am working on finishing an annotated bibliography with 16 sources... WHEW!!!!!!

I have two and a half weeks left of class and you have no idea how excited I am for that. Next semester is going to be even rougher but I have a wonderful husband who is learning to be patient with me. I over heard him saying to someone "it really has been a stressful semester for her but she is handling it really well." It made me feel good to hear him say that. Although he teases me and calls me a *career student* I know that he supports me in what I am doing.

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I haven't gotten to go hunting since I have been spending all of my time doing the assignments above but Matt has been going. He really hasn't seen much. We have one more weekend of rifle season and this may be the first season that neither him or his grandpa get to shoot something down on that land. They have seen a few but are trying to build up the population so it has been hard to decide what to shoot. We have 3 deer in the freezer so that will be enough for us but it could be close still. I am getting ready to make a bunch of deer chili and freeze it so we have easy access when we are wanting some!

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Matt has been swearing that AJ was going to come on his birthday. but I don't think that she will be coming. It will be close to his birthday so that will have to do!

Hope that we do good tonight!!!