Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I'm sure once I sit here & type this all out, it won't seem nearly as bad as it did in the midst of it all. But anyway....here goes. This was going to be a totally lazy, relaxing day.....I only planned on making a run to the dump & doing the necessary laundry.....other than that, I just wanted a day to chill. Well, it started out nicely.....me messing around on the puter with my cup of coffee while the kids all slept in. When I finally decided it was time to head up to the shower....Ashley asked me if I knew that the deer meat in the frige was dripping all over. See, the other day the boys had bagged up a shoulder & something else that still needed to be cut into steaks or ground for burger & it was put in there to wait til after Christmas. Not sure if the bag got a hole or just what but there was nasty deer meat drippings ALL over in the frige. NOT how I had planned to spend my lazy Saturday morning. I had to pull EVERYTHING out....shelf by shelf.....& clean it all. Even the two bottom drawers. I kept reminding myself that instead of grumbling I should be thankful that I had meat in my frige, that I had a nice frige to clean out, that I was actually able to clean my frige. All I can say is that my frige is nice & CLEAN now!! So, off to the shower I go....then out to the dump & Dollar store....back home to have a nice left-over turkey sandwich on rye & then I was going to scrap some. NEXT catastrophe.......I was sitting here at the puter after eating my late lunch, just chillin' when I heard this awful noise. The girls had gone to clean Jonsie's (the rabbit)cage......I knew what I heard was the plastic cage bottom falling down the steps & my heart just about stopped.....I was terrified that Alli had fallen.....most of you understand our paranoia about stairs. I run into the living room to see Alli sitting at the top of the stairs with the cage bottom at the bottom of the stairs. She had slipped & sat down on her butt.....unhurt....Praise the Lord.......but what I beheld as I stood there trying to get my heart to slow down was just totally insane. Now as I type this I wonder why I didn't take pictures first....guess I was just too shaken up. But picture wood chips & rabbit terds ALL over the place! I mean down the stairs, on the piano, down under the Christmas tree. I think the wood chips & terds must've multiplied like the rabbits do! I just couldn't imagine how ALL of that came from one stupid little rabbit cage! So I set about sweeping, vacuuming & mopping.....behind the little bookcase at the bottom of the stairs, behind the piano, under the tree. Needless to say, my living room is now VERY clean too! Sigh......I think I'm just gonna fix me a nice hot cup of Tension Tamer tea now & go curl up in bed with my book & pray that tomorrow will be a better day! ;-)

Frolic & Play

Just love this pic of Alli flouring the chicken for our fried chicken supper one night this past summer. The journaling reads: Homeschool lessons from Titus 2~ The older women...teach the young women to be...keepers at home. A passage of scripture that's very near & dear to my heart!
And just a couple of cool shots that Ashley took of our goats last summer. Toby & Sparky were having a ball running the fields with the kids... even scampering over the bales of hay!

Another Quick Project

Here's another quick/easy/inexpensive little project for a last minute stocking stuffer. I picked up a few of these pocket calendars from Michael's...... And just used some of my scraps to embellish. How simple is that?Check out all the rest of our cool 'Countdown to Christmas' projects HERE

Rudolph, the Cool Reindeer!

What a fun surprise to get in the mail!! Sandee girl.....you are a trip....& we LOVE you! Alli got this little padded envie in the mail the other day addressed from Sandee & in it was this Santa hat with a note saying she had seen how Alli had put the sunglasses on Clay's deer & thought he needed a Santa hat for the season. So, here he is....in all his glory! Merry Christmas, Sandee!! Just a few pics from our Homeschool party this past week at Maw's house. Really wish you could've been here, Sandee... we missed you!
Daniel & Jesse....aren't they just the cutest?!

And the girlies....they are just getting too grown up! Miss Anna will be celebrating her 8th birthday next week!

Here we all are singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.....Maw made the yummy brownie cake for Jesus' birthday cake.

My pretzel treats

And the platter of cookies that Ashley baked for us. I must brag on her here......let me back up....Clay says I can never tell a 'short story'.....he just doesn't understand that you have to have all the background details to make it work. He had worked third shift Sunday night...came home & slept til noon on Monday. He had mentioned that he & I ought to do some Christmas shopping when he got up & I kind of sighed telling him I'd like to, but we had so much to do to get ready for our party the next day.....cookies to bake, pretzel treats to make, Mexican dip, tea, etc, etc. But after he went to bed Ashley assured me she wouldn't mind at all doing the baking & so I thought we'll go & have a fun time & all will be ok. I have to feel that this afternoon was a big part of our Homeschooling even though it didn't involve one single text book. When we got home about 8:30.....the house was clean....kitchen straight, dishes all done....Ashley had baked Neverland cookies, oatmeal, peanutbutter & chocolate chips. Not to mention fixing supper for the others.....chicken nuggets, fries & ronis.....plus there was even a gallon of tea already made up in the frige & ready to go to the party the next day! The boys had tended to the wood stove & brought in firewood while we were gone. I have to feel proud knowing that at 14 & 16 years old they have a pretty good handle on what it takes to run a household. Anyways.....thank you for allowing me a 'proud mama moment'......I just felt like I needed to brag on them! ;-) Also have to say that we decided to share the love with our friends at Chickfila......we have the most awesome CFA....the employees there are terrific & always go out of their way to make our time there pleasant. I sent out another email before the party asking everyone to bake an extra batch of cookies & we'd pile a platter & take it over after the party. I fixed a card & had everyone sign it....even all the kiddos & we took it by there on our way home. They were so excited & tickled that we would think of them. Ashely & I also made a plate full to take out to our library ladies the other day. It's so much fun surprising our community friends with a little treat during the holidays to show them how much we appreciate them!

SNOW!!

We ended up with about 20" of snow.....started Friday afternoon about 3pm & snowed all night Friday night & all day yesterday til about supper time. Drifts were 3-4 ft. in places! This is a drift beside Chris' car.....the Subaru
Our driveway looking toward the house. Clay took this to show the guys at work that he REALLY couldn't get out & go anywhere yesterday!

The pig barn

The back of David's house & Paul's in the background.

Ashley & Michael standing behind a drift down at the barn. Look at that over-hang over Ashely's head!

The drifts out beside the house were really cool-looking! Ashley got some really awesome pics on her camera too. Will have to steal them from her & post some on here for y'all to see.

Books I Want

Need to do a little research & see where I can find these at a good price. I'd love to have these two books by Sharon Jaynes.

Woven Heart Ornaments

I thought I had posted this already......geez, I guess I got it posted on the site & on the site blog but just not on my own blog. This was my 'Countdown to Christmas' project for last week at CUC.
You can find the directions HERE if you are interested. I am giving these to the kids at our Homeschool party Tuesday....filled with little candy treats. They can take them home & hang them on their Christmas tree.

Christmas Crafting

Ashley & I have been doing alot of baking here lately. Well, honestly SHE'S been doing it all. This past Thursday we made banana bread, 3 loaves of apple cake, oatmeal, peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies. Out of all those goodies, we fixed special treat bags for Chris & his room-mates.....kind of a special Christmas treat before they all head their separate ways over break & also to give them some munchies this weekend while they study for finals. This is my first ever attempt at crocheting a sweater....& I'm really pleased with how easy it was & how nicely it turned out. Since this picture was taken, I've added little blue buttons down the front & on each little lapel. This is for Clay's SIL who is expecting their first little one here in a few weeks.

This is one of my crafty projects for our 'Countdown to Christmas' over at CUC. I must admit that I got the idea for this from Inger (she is one crafty lady...full of the cutest ideas!!)

I started with this plain little wooden frame....$1 at Michael's, some scraps of patterned paper from my stash, Modge Podge & whatever little embellishments I thought suited each frame. Then I googled online until I found a site that gave names, their meaning & a Bible verse for each. I just typed up each name/meaning, printed it out & inserted it in the finished frame.

These are done for Ella's kids for Christmas.

And just in case someone wants to know.....here's the link where I learned how to do the little Lollipop flowers that I used on Cori's frame.

Holiday Pretzel Treats

I'm making these yummy Holiday Pretzel Treats to take to our Homeschool party at Maw's house on Tuesday. I first saw these on my friend Inger's blog & thought they'd be so fun to do for the kids. Will post a pic of mine when we get them made. Let me know what you think of these if you decide to give them a try. Enjoy!!

Sketch Challenge

Each week at CUC a Design Team memeber posts a new challenge for the week. This week Patti posted this cool sketch challenge & below is my take on it.

Thanksgiving 2009....the journaling around the edges tells about our tradtional coffee & cinnamon buns for breakfast* watching the Macy's parade on TV* the kids pouring over all the Black Friday sale papers, etc.

December Design Team Creations

This month at Cookin' Up Creations our sponsors are Adornit & 2 Charms flipbooks. I really loved the Adornit collections that I worked with.....Nancy Jane & Gone Fishing.....the papers were so cute & I loved having the cut-outs & stickers to match. Made putting these layouts together super easy! Look at my two little Angel Girls.....Ashley was 6 & Alli was 11 months.
Ashley holding her brand new baby sister.....Jan. 18, 1999

Look at my little Michael man on his 4th birthday. These fishing papers were just perfect since he got a new fishing rod, tackle box & some flippers & goggles. I used the little flipbook on this bottom LO.....attached it with two brads & it enabled me to include ALL his party pics on one page.

And last but not least......I used a scrap of the leftover paper, folded it (seriously....that's all) & added a few of the matcing word stickers & voila! Cool, musculine card.

O, Christmas Tree

Alli put my sunglasses on one of Clay's deer & they all laughed saying he looked like Ella's little avatar she had on her IM last fall.....he was one of those buddy icons that are animated & there was one where he had shades on & he'd say, 'Yep......I'm a deer!'
The kids finally got our tree all decorated last night. They did an excellent job....it looks great!

Here's Gibbs....'helping' me as I put the lights on the tree.

And the little ginger bread house that Ashley & Alli made. Alli did most of the decorating all by herself. Ashley just helped on one side of the roof. This was one of my 'after-Christmas' bargains from last year.......a ginger bread kit for just $2.....including the frosting mix, decorating bag with two tips & all the candy pieces. Not bad! ;-)