Eclipsed

Of course we got up at 2 AM on Dec 21 which just happens to be the Winter Solstice to see the lunar eclipse. I would love to talk to whoever schedules these things. Why anyone would schedule a lunar eclipe at that hour of the morning is beyond me! We stood outside in the cold for over an hour taking pictures and griping about the fact that our rechargeable batteries all bit the dust on their rechargeability at the same time. And of course we had no "regular" batteries here. Why would we?! But it was a sight to see. One not seen since 1638. That is the last time a lunar eclipse happened on the night of the Winter Solstice. And it won't happen again til 2485. I'm glad I was here to see thing one!

More Peeps!

I found some more Peeps! These are Snowman shaped and aren't "flavored" like the Peppermint stars, which I've been buying like a madwoman every time I'm at the grocery store! Yes, I'm just a teeny bit obsessed!

Wings

Got some new CTMH toyz yesterday and had a chance to play. This is a new paper pack that will be available to customers Feb 1 and it's called Wings. CTMH is also introducing a spray pen that you use our Create A Shade Pearl Paint, reinker and water then spray on different elements for a sparkly sheen. So very pretty! And we'll also have a new ribbon that's already gathered. I've also used three new stamp sets with these cards. One is the set that comes with the Wings Workshop On The Go. I also used the January Stamp of The Month called Find Your Style and a cute "A" set called A Game. I took a couple of close up shots so hopefully you can see the shimmery goodness that the spray pen gives.

new peepers

It had been 5+ years since John and I had our eyes examined. (There'll be NO smart comments about having our heads examined! We tried that. There is nothing there to examine.) I'd been having headaches by the end of the day and both pairs of John's glasses needed repair. So we bit the bullet this week and just went and did it. Turns out, the Old Man needs Bifocals. :::insert snort here::: And his lenses have to be special made. He says because he's special. I say, notsomuch! Mine were ready the next day. My old frames were pretty thin wire, so I was ready for a change. The new ones are a bronze-y color and I really am enjoying them and not having headaches any more.

Boo-boo buster

I had to go this morning for my 6 month blood draw. I may be a big girl, but I've got me some Barbie size veins running through my body. They have a hell of a time getting a good vein on me. Usually the right arm is the better of my two. So that's where she started today. And she missed the vein. So she gave me a Garfield band-aid for my boo-boo! That SHE made. We finally got a good vein to stand up and be noticed in my left arm. And tomorrow I'll look like I've been shooting crack in my veins in my arms my whole life. It will take a week for the bruising to subside.

Thanksgiving

Although I have no pictures because the photographer of the family (that'd be me!) forgot her camera, I can attest to the fact that there was wayyyyyyy too much food! Youngest sis Jan's Brother in law and his significant other bought a home this past year and they wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner at their place. And they invited OUR family too! Kathy, Bruce and Kyle had Bruce's dad and step mom here from Atlanta and mom had made other plans, so it was just John and I and the PopPop clan. There was probably 20ish or so of us. Jenn and Jim had TWO turkeys and a roaster chicken that never even got close to a knife PLUS a Honey Baked Ham. Two ginormous crockpots of smashed taters, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and my World Famous soy sauce and lemon juice marinated green beans with sesame seeds, Tastefully Simple beer bread and three other types of rolls, corn pudding, whole kernal corn, stuffing, TWO veggie trays, a cheese tray, a melon/grape/berry tray all with accompanying dips, deviled eggs which the kids polished off in 12 seconds flat! (and I DO mean the kids. Not one single person over the age of 16 got a single one!) They had 5 types of Village Inn pies, plus Jim's oldest daughter baked and decorated a chocolate cake and I made a Cinnamon Chip Banana Coffee Cake and there was ice cream and/or whipped cream to go on/with the desserts. OMG! I thought I saw the Partridge in the Pear Tree running for dear life, but I could have been mistaken! Instead of saying Grace, we went around the room and each told what we were thankful for. Gotta love the kids! One of the nieces was thankful for her IPhone! Joy was thankful for the Beach and Jake was thankful for the Earth. Not too shabby! We ate til we could eat no more. I was miserable and I never even had the first bite of dessert. We all got "go boxes" and I think Jim and Jenn still may not have to cook til mid March of 2011! It was a wonderful afternoon and evening. Family and friends and being thankful to have both. Isn't that what it's all about?

Jeanne...

Sent me this link this morning. Go watch it. Every time the video is viewed, a donation is made to Susan G. Komen.

http://http://www.youtube.com/user/KomenPhilly?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/0/cfRSDbV8Adw

Gift Card Holders

I've found two really cute instructions for Gift Card Holders on the Interwebs this past week. And since that's basically what we give any more for Christmas gifts, I used both ideas!

The stocking holder went together in about 30 minutes. And I found the instructions here: http://http//www.waltzingmousestamps.com/products/freebie-stocking-card-gift-holder

The other is from CTMH sister Tresa Black and can be found here:http://http//www.fabulouslyartsy.com/2010/11/gift-card-holder-to-rescue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FabulouslyArtsy+%28Fabulously+Artsy%29&utm_content=Google+Reader This one was a bit more challenging and took about an hour to put together.

This is my take on both!

My PSA for the day

I've been clicking once a day now for probably three years. In honor and memory of my friend Glo who I never got the opportunity to meet in real life because breast cancer took her too damn early. I have this site in my favories and click once a day. It's not hard. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't cost me one thin dime. And it helps women who could not otherwise afford it, free mamograms. I don't do much asking for anything on my blog. But this is near and dear to my heart. I am asking you to add this to your list of things you do on the computer every day. It only takes a second. Thank you!

http://http//www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

FREE Coffee!

And who doesn't need FREE?!

I found this link online and I printed a few coupons off. Offer is good for a small coffee once a day, and you must have an original coupon, not a copy. I took it this morning to the 7 Eleven I frequent most and the manager told me so long as the coupon scanned, they would accept it. And it did! The coupon is good til Dec 31, so print off a few and you'll be good to go on a free cuppa joe from now til the end of the year.

http://http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/04/hot-free-coffee-at-7-eleven/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7C6%7Clink5%7C23837

The sacrifices I make...

for this blog. It amazes me.

I made a second trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday for their grand opening. Not a whole lot different than when I was there on Friday except more muckity-mucks in suits running around looking important. Which is what they do best. That and interrupt the salesperson who is already helping someone to go help someone else that the other eleventy-billion and one employees who are standing with their thumbs up their asses couldn't do. @@ Lord but I hate the Corporate Suits! I was looking for ONE thing in particular. Couldn't find it. Asked an employee, who asked another, who asked another. I had THREE people plus me looking. Nope. No gots. Will see if they can get it in. Thankeweverymuch! I did manage to find some cute Christmassy "things' I had missed, so I got them to put up for next year. And a beautiful cardinal "welcome" sign that is supposed to be for Christmas, but I think it will be great at my front door year-round. So since I couldn't find what I was looking for, off to Michael's and JoAnn's to see if they might have it. No go for Mike's so across the street to Jo's. They had what I needed! Shoulda walked out the door a happy camper. But no. I had to walk the Christmas aisles "since I was already there!" Didn't have anything that wowed me til I got to the food aisle. FOOD?! At JoAnn's? I didn't know it either. But they have quite a nice selection of Christmas candies and cookies and other holiday-ish noshing stuff. And then I saw them. Peppermint Peeps shaped like stars! Seriously! So in the quest of scientific research for this blog, I bought a package. Now I'ma Peeps purist. They must be yellow and they must be chicks. Nothing else. It's what my father taught me. But chicks and Christmas don't so much go together. So I bought o n e package for my research. You can see by the accompanying picture that three are missing. Research is H A R D. These things are the bomb! There are now 6 missing. It is a pkg of 9. The rest will be gone today. And I'll be making a return trip to JoAnn's for more before everyone realizes how good they are. You can also get them online.

http://http//www.marshmallowpeeps.com/ Click on Products then Holidays. All in the name of scientific research, of course!

Airing out

Mah tummiez so fullz I has to air it owt!

New Craft Store!

We Finally have a Hobby Lobby on the west coast of FL!!! I've been driving 1.5 hours north to Ocala for 3+ years and now I've got one that's 10 minutes from home! They had their "soft" grand opening today, and of course I had to go check it out. Soooooooooo much better than Michael's and JoAnn's! They have their "official" grand opening on Monday morning at 9 AM, so I think I may have to go back and see if they are giving anything good away! I got some things today. New "B" plates for my Cricut that I've been having to order online and pay ungoldy shipping for. Some t!m stuff that I'd not been able to find anywhere else. Thanksgiving AND Christmas craft stuff is already at 40 and 50% off, so I got some things to put up for next year since I'm done with this year's crafts. One of the employees I was talking to say they are expanding their footprint in FL and have plans to go into Tampa next year when they find the right existing storefront that they can remodel. (This one's in an old closed down Winn Dixie store.) She said they will move further south into FL as they find the right places to fit their needs.

Now all I need is for Trader Joe's to move closer than Hotlanta!

Num num!

John came home yesterday with a present from the Pepperidge Farm bread guy. They are always "horse trading" product, so it doesn't surprise me. This is a limited edition, for the holiday season only Cranberry Swirl bread. It's soooooooo good toasted with butter! He says it's available nationwide, so look for it in your neck o' the woods!

Paper Flower Wreath

Fellow CTMH sister Aaron has a great tutorial video on her blog for this wreath. I have nothing to add other than I had no acorns, so mine is plain. But I like it! I used CTMH Olivia paper pack and various buttons, string, raffia and Waxy Flax from my stash. Oh! And I did sponge some Brown Bag ink along the outside edges of the flowers before I folded them up.

http://http//aaronsbooth32.blogspot.com/2010/10/quick-and-easy-folded-flowers.html

This is sister Kathy's birthday gift. We are meeting them later for some BBQ and a beer or twelve! Yummm!

Thanks/Joyful

We have a new item in the Fall/Winter CTMH Idea Book called the Mix and Mingle album. You get 3 clear and 5 white chipboard die-cut shapes along with jump rings to attach them. I've seen different people do different things with them and "borrowed" ideas from each of them to make 5 of these. I've given them to people already as an early Christmas gift. I wanted them to have them to enjoy this holiday season. I didn't want them to hang like my Sue's World Famous Coaster Hangings do, so I used the jump rings to attach them so they can be placed on a table. Once Thanksgiving is over, all they have to do is flip it around and they have a Christmas decoration. And in a nod to sister Kathy who likes "flat" things that store easily from one season to the next, they fold up pretty flat!

I used CTMH Olivia and Mistletoe paper packs along with CTMH Solo Alphabets. There are three or four different leaf stamp sets, which were a major PIA to cut out! I stamped all of the images and cut them out over the course of a couple of evenings watching TV! I used up lots of Christmas themed stuff from my stash as well.

Redneck hedge trimming 101

In addition to the bed weeding, we've pressure washed the pond waterfall rocks, pressure washed the driveway, started replacing the screens, replacing landscape timbers...you know...generally making the outside of the house look like people live here! Things that get neglected during the oppressive summer heat. Temps have started to cool off a bit. We are seeing highs in the mid 80's instead of 90's, so that's a start!

The front hedges needed a trim and since we leave them a bit on the high side, John can't reach the top of them standing on the ground. It would take a year of Sunday's to do it with a ladder, so we came up with the brilliant idea of him standing in the trailer while I move the mower ever so slowly down the hedges! Today he will pressure wash the siding on the gable side of the house and the storage shed out back while I keep watch on the burn pile that we will set ablaze.

On a slightly different note, the Rays lost last night to the TX Rangers 5-1. Such a sad ending to an otherwise great season. Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano and Carlos Pena will most likely be gone to free agency next year, along with some others whose options will not be picked up. It may be a long time before the Rays have another chance at post-season play.

ALDS Playoff game

A friend of John's called yesterday about 10 and said he had 2 tickets to the Rays/Rangers game at 2:30 that he couldn't use because he had to work. John was done for the day, so did we want the tickets? For FREE?! Ummm...does a bear...oh nevermind! OF COURSE we did. Problem was, he couldn't meet us to give us the tix til after 1:00, so with a 2:30 first pitch, that didn't leave a huge window. Traffic on 275 south was horrendous. We were in stop and go traffic from the Gateway area all the way to the Trop. John reclined his seat back and took a nap while I drove. We finally made it to the main parking lot ($20) and were directed to the very last row. The meter maids were out in full force all around the stadium, giving tickets for not parking in authorized spots. This mornings paper said some fines went as high as $286. OUCH! Woulda been cheaper to just pay the $20 to park legally! We got to the nosebleed seats up in the 300 section moments before FL Gov Charlie Crist threw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was a wild pitch and he was wildly boo'd! I think the Rays found the most undamncomfortable seats they could for the 300 section! OMG there was NO way to get situated in the seats. So small and no leg room. If someone in the center had to get out, everyone had to leave their seats to let them out then back in again. Beers were $10 each, up $2.00 from the regular game price. Scorecards were $3.00 each and they are normally free. And the game? Rays lost. 6-0. Rays manager Joe Madden got thrown out in the 5th arguing a controversial call. All the more reason to bring instant replay into baseball. Rangers need only win the Sat game at home and they are in and the Rays go home. Evan Longoria opened his mouth about fan support, or lack thereof and no fans in the seats last week. The Tampa area still has double digit unemployment. The Rays TV revenues were one of the highest in baseball this season. Fans can't afford a $200+ night out on a regular basis. So we watch from home. The Trop was packed Thur afternoon and for the Wed game also. 35,000+ fans both days. Ben Zobrist (mah boy Ben!) had the only run, a solo homer in Wednesday's game. So my thought is, Evan you need to put up or shut up. The fans were there. And you didn't produce. You're the one with the huge contract. It's not nice to bite the hand that feeds you. I love my Rays. I will continue to be a fan and proudly wear my gear and support the team win, lose or draw.

Maginfique

I am loving the new t!m Holtz paper rosette die! Decided to use it on Tami's sketch for this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystem.com/ !

This uses CTMH Magnifique paper and one of the new Shimmer Designer Brads. I made two rosettes, cutting one into 1/4's for the corners.

Delight

The making of Christmas gifts has gotten in the way of my card challenges. And I've missed them. So today I am changing that!

Michelle had a great sketch at http://www.cardpatterns.com/ this week. And I got a new toy yesterday! This card highlights it...the NEW

t!m Holtz paper rosette die. And it is totally cool! I can see lots of uses for this already. Almost makes me sad that I've got the vaycay album done!!

I kept the background pretty simple, using CTMH Olivia paper pack and the small leaf in the Timeless stamp set. The paper rosette takes center stage on this one.

AL East Champs!

The Tampa Bay Rays are the American League Champs. And why wouldn't it take to the last day, and a game that went into extra innings to decide it?! We knew we had won the title when the Yankees lost to the Red Sox (the ONLY time I will ever cheer on the Sox!), but we wanted the best record in the East. We trailed the KC Royals for most of the game, coming back in the top of the 9th to tie. Then it took til the 12th for Rocco Baldelli to score the winning run and then closer Raphael Soriano came in for the save.

The Rays will have home field advantage throughout the Playoffs. We face the Texas Rangers starting Wed afternoon at 1:30. Should be another nail-biter of a series!

Boo!

Getting ready for Halloween. I had some Hooligans paper pack left and I'm loving all the banners I'm seeing all over the Internets, so I decided to do a few of my own. Course John had to help me figure out how to cut the angles! I still have to have him help me when I need to add higher than 1 + 1! Anyway! The paper pack, as I said is Hooligans. The monster guy is an add-on to the Hooligans paper pack and he is felt. Most all of the other schtuff is from Michael's. The black gummy cat, Akiko-san, John's Japanese cousin sent me last year and I just found a use for it! I did add the googlie eyes to it. There's Stickles on the letters and on some of the other schtuff. Now I need to go put my Halloween stuff out so I can add the banner to it.

Mornin' Glory

Sarah at http://fortyfivedegrees.blogspot.com posted a wonderful sounding recipe for Morning Glory muffins the other day. I'd never heard of them, but we love everything that's in them, so I decided to try them. OMG! Such deliciousness you've never tasted! I'm usually a "warm it up and slather some buttah on it" muffin girl, but I've been eating these as-is at room temp and they are wonderful.

Morning Glory Muffins

2 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps cinnamon
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup shredded apples (Sarah and I both left the peels on)
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup sliced almonds (like a good Southern girl, I used chopped pecans!)

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with cups or spray lightly with Pam.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, milk and vanilla together til well mixed. Add flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon and combine well. Batter will be on the stiff side, but no worries! Stir in carrots, apples, coconut, raisins and 1/2 cup of nuts. Mix well.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top. (Sarah and I mixed them all into the batter and skipped this step. I might do this if I were serving these to guests, but for us to nosh on...notsomuch!!)

Bake 20-25 min or til a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

A couple of notes:

I like to put any raisins that I'll be using in a recipe in a small pot of water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes to plump them up. I think they taste better in baked goods when I do this. This recipe made 23 muffins for me. I filled my tins 3/4 full.

Triple Play

One thing I did make while healing that I can share is the Sept CTMH Promo called Triple Play. You get three mini-albums, die cuts to stamp and a stamp set in this promo. Once I finally figured out how to put the first one together, the other two went very quickly. The finished size is 3 x 3, so this would make a great mini album to put a few pics in to share at work or it would also make great Christmas gifts for a hair and nail gal!! Good thing they don't read my blog, huh?! All three are shown closed in the first pic. The colors are Sunset, Indian Corn Blue and Hollyhock. 'Scuse the finger in a couple of the pics! Silly page wouldn't lay down since I just put it together before I took the pic. I also added some round velcro to the front tab and back cover so it would stay closed and not flop open.

Oh hi!

Jeanne emailed me this morning checking on me. I didn't realize it had been 10 days since I posted. Time kinda got away from me!

I am today 2 weeks post-op from the second bone replacement surgery. This one (thankfully) looks like it will be less involved than the first. I just got back from having the stitches removed. I have some sensitivity on the second to the back molar on the right side, which is the SAME molar that gave me so much grief on the left side last year. He seems to think this will "heal itself" once the bone starts growing. The sensitivity on this one is to cold and it's heat sensitivity that usually requires a root canal. So this impatient patient will just have to learn some patients while the new bone grows!

I've been working on Christmas gifts while I've been healing, so I have no art to show you.

John and I spent the last two days in the yard doing the flower bed cleaning. Such a job, but it looks so good once it's done.

Other than that, it's the same old at Casa de Waters! And thanks again Jeanne for checking on me!