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They did a feature article on me over at Queen Kat's Bloggers Club. I'm so excited & very honored that they would ask me. What a nice way to start your Saturday off! I need to get moving though.....we're having our big Family Christmas dinner tonight at Aunt Linda's & I need to make some ronis & bake some Snickerdoodles. Also want to see if I can finish up Daniel's blanket......I've only got one more strip to sew on & then I can do the edging. Will post some pics later of my finished projects & from the dinner tonight.

YUCK!!

Gosh......didn't realize how bad it was out there. Been on the phone off & on to Clay for about 2 hours now.......it is freezing raining out there & just TERRIBLE. Been hanging on about the school closings......started off with a 2 hr. delay.......& then others started closing. Hated to make him miss a day right here at the end getting ready for exams & all, but at the same time Clay keeps telling how bad it is out there.....cars flipped, roads CLOSED, traffic moving along at about 30 mph. This totally caught everyone off-guard. Anyways.....CVCC FINALLY got smart & just cancelled all day classes today....PTL! I will wait til closer to noon & venture out to Wally world for a few things. It's supposed to warm up to 42 today.....so later on should be ok.

I just haven't been in the card-making mood here lately. I would make a few Christmas cards here & there....but after reading a 'Question of the Day' on my scrapping board, I decided to pick ONE pattern & go back to the 'assembly-line' method of doing my cards like I've done in years past. Below, is the result of a few hours time last night. I have the MOST of them done now. Envelopes are addressed....just need to write in them, stuff & send!

Just HAD to snap this picture of Bunny the other day.....thought Kaye would appreciate it. ;-) He NEVER gets up on top of the piano until I put out the Christmas decorations......it's so funny. He has to get right up there next to the little nativity set....as close as he can get....knocking over all the little figures. I guess he just thinks he's PART of the nativity, huh?!

'Christmas in Dixie....it's snowing in the pines...'

Just took this out of my dining room window....you can't even see out past the garden!!

lordy, lordy.....what a day!

Took chris to class this morning since Clay had to work.....came home & did some school with the others. We started on our 'Grinch unit' that I downloaded from the Homeschool Estore. We read the book & Michael & Alli did a Grinch word find puzzle. I also printed off some coloring pages for them too. Realized I didn't have any file folders, so we just did what we could to start with & then I went by the Dollar Store this afternoon to pick some up. On our way home this afternoon....literally just a few miles from home (isn't that the way they always say with accidents.....they happen close to home) some old guy had a coughing spell (he has lung cancer) & crossed the yellow line & hit me on the driver's side. This happened right up here after turning at the Corner Market for those of you who know. It bent my mirror back & dented in the sliding door & the back end!! It's a miracle I swerved when I did or he probably would've hit us head on. It's drivable & all, but now just the pain of dealing with the insurance, getting it fixed & finding a rental WHILE they get it fixed! So thankful though that I was driving & not Chris & that no one got hurt & that it's not any worse than it is. Think I'm going to fix me a pot of coffee now & chill!

Fun Day Yesterday

We had a great time with Ella & the kids yesterday! Worked out just as well that we didn't seriously plan on going to the parade because it was windy & cold & started to rain a little after 1pm & rained all the rest of the evening. But we were cozy & warm in here by the fire. And I fixed a big ole pot of chili & Mexican cornbread for our supper. Also tried a new cookie recipe.....Peter Pan's Neverland Cookies. Basically peanut butter cookies with white chocolate chips in them. And they must've been pretty good.....because they ate the whole bloomin' batch!! Up & at 'em a little earlier than usual this morning....Clay is working some more over-time.....8-4 today.

Christmas Decorations

Just thought I'd take a few pics of some of my Christmas decorations we got put up today. The house is clean & smells oh so nice thanks to a little tart burner that my friend Jo sent me a few years back. Thanks Jo! The decorations are up....except for my village, that is. Could NOT find that this afternoon & I just didn't feel like plundering at that point, trying to find it. Will look harder come the first of the week. Also got the boys' hair cut too. Oh & I even managed to make ONE Christmas card tonight. Ha! Just chillin' a bit now before bedtime.....listening to some of my Christmas favorites. Trans Siberian Orchestra right now. LOVE them!! Maw made this 'Frosty' for the kids WAY back when...when Ashley & Jon were still little terd heads. It's made of felt & has 25 pockets on it to stick little candy canes in & the kiddos get to take one off each day from Dec. 1 til Christmas. Jon got the first candy cane this year.

Grandma Bunner cross-stitched this back in 1988. Then last year Papaw sent us a huge box with some prints that he had framed, some paintings of Grandpa's & some of Grandma's cross-stitched pieces & this was in there. What a treasure! I have two cross-stitched cats that she did in my bathroom too.

Ella gave me this snowman cookie jar several years ago & he sits on my shelf in the kitchen. Sarah gave me those hand-painted mugs last year. My .88 Walmart special mugs from several years ago. I hang them in my kitchen on the pegged shelf that Pop made for me.

I cross-stitched this snowman way back the first year we were married, I believe. He always hangs on the wall in the kitchen right beside my broom closet.

This is Alli coloring......I just couldn't resist Thursday when I went out to the Dollar General. I HAD to pick up a couple of Christmas coloring books. I remembered how much I LOVED getting a new Christmas coloring book each year early in the season & how much fun I had coloring & anticipating Christmas Day. I even sat down with them that evening & colored. What fun! And what memories!!

My 'To-Do' list for today

Need to make myself a list for today. I really NEED to do a good cleaning! Still haven't heard whether Danielle & the kids plan to come to the Christmas parade tomorrow or not AND the weather is kind of up-in-the -air. One place you hear there's a 90% chance of rain & only in the 40s....YUCK! At one point, it had even called for a chance of snow mixed in there on Sunday....so who knows. But I DO know that I need to clean....no matter what. I also plan on pulling the decorations out today & seeing what I can get done there. Still gonna be hard with all the hunting stuff here, yonder & everywhere in my house! Another MUST-DO on my list today is to cut Jon & Michael's hair. Especially Jon's.....he's looking like the 'Shaggy Dog' these days. And, if it's possible, I'd like to work on my Christmas cards. Notice I didn't say FINISH them, but at least work on a few. That would be a nice creative break for me this afternoon IF I go ahead & get busy this morning.

I'm cold.......

Think I'll make some coffee! Busy today....running errands, getting groceries, lunch at Chickfila with my 2 girlies. Supper tonight was left-overs......baked ziti & garlic bread for me & Ashley. The others had chicken tenders, fries & garlic bread. Guess Clay will snag something out of the frige when he gets home...unless he just stops on his way & picks something up. Finished knitting a dishcloth this evening.....LOVE my hand-made dishcloths. Trying to get a nice pile so I'll have plenty to give away for Christmas. Now I'm off to try out a pattern that someone shared with me for crocheting some fingerless gloves. Ashley has been wanting some really bad & I've been having a hard time finding a QUICK & SIMPLE pattern to use. We shall see.... Off the top of my head here..........tell me some of your favorite Christmas movies that your family MUST watch each year. Ours include A Christmas Story, Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life......just to name a few.

Christmas Cards

These are a few Christmas cards that I made yesterday afternoon. Real simple....all made with stamps from the Dollar Bin at Michael's. Need to get busy & make the rest of them here soon!

Crazy thought.....been thinking about how much other folks eat out vs. cook at home.......how often do you eat out...or how often do you actually COOK a meal for supper time...thought it might a fun thing to record what I fix for supper each night. Would LOVE for those of you that leave comments to share with me what you do for supper. Wouldn't mind collecting some new recipes too along the way. I KNOW that Kaye has shared a couple that have become favorites at our house. Anyway....last night we had roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans & biscuits.....along with some applesauce & carrot chips for those kiddos who didn't want green beans. Tonight I am trying a new recipe that Maw shared with me....from Southern Living.....Baked Ziti. Ashley is real tickled about trying something new.....not too sure about the others though. Will let ya know how it goes.

Random Thoughts

Not alot going on the past few days.
Trying to get back into the groove after having almost a week off!
Good news.....Chris got his Biology test back....that he took right before Thanksgiving break......& he got a 100 on it!! WooHoo! Way to Go!
Lunch with Maw yesterday. She fixed pizza for Chris & Alli...hoagies for me & Ashley. With Fudge Ripple ice cream cones for dessert.
While Chris was in lab, the girls & I did some shopping.Picked a few more Christmas stamps from Michaels for our Christmas cards. Got Alli some much-needed PJ pants & a pair of jeans from Target. Also got Jon a pair of jeans from Walmart.
Met Ella & kids while we were in Target.....our usual Tuesday meeting place these days.
Thinking about pulling out the Christmas decorations sometime today. Need to get that done.....especially if Ella & the kids might come down this weekend. The Nelson County Christmas parade is Sunday afternoon & I was thinking about going. Haven't been in several years now.
Really need to get a move on & finish up what crochet/knit projects I need to do for Christmas gifts. Also need to get my Christmas cards done too!
But first I'm thinking I need to get my butt up from here & go get a shower.

More Layouts

Bunny crawled into the cat carrier & had himself a nice little snooze. Kept trying to come up with some different & clever title.....Ashley came up with 'Le Chat'......can you tell she's learning French now?!

Love this pic that I took of Uncle Skippy at the reunion back in September.

Been scrapping today....

Pics of the kids dressed up for their 'Haunted House' at Halloween. Each year, Ashley & Jon, do a haunted house upstairs for Michael & Alli. Ashley was a maid & a witch & Jon was a butler....the bottom photo is pictures they had drawn to decorate the walls up there.

Pictures from our annual Homeschool Halloween party at Maw's house. We always have such a good time!!

These pics were taken about a week before Halloween....Danielle & Alley came down for the day. The kids had a blast playing outside & we had a great time visiting too!! One more layout to do & I will have met my scrapping goal for the year.....to do 275 layouts. For 3 years now, I've set my goal at 365 layouts & believe it or not, for 3 years I've done exactly 275 layouts each time. So, this year, I decided to lower my goal to 275 & see if I could do it. Now, to see how far I can excede it! ;-)

Some pics from our Thanksgiving Day yesterday. My plans changed this morning....talked to Ella & she said that Taylor had a cold & she wasn't going to come out today. So.....I went ahead as planned.......BY MYSELF!! WooHoo! Tuned the radio in the van to our local station with ALL Christmas music, cranked it up & sang all the way to town. It was a really nice day. I wasn't really out to 'shop' at all, so there was NO pressure...ran by Michael's & then AC Moore. The only thing I did purchase was some yarn that they had on sale. I got $60 worth of yarn for $5!! Their 'Fancy' yarn that is normally $5.99/skein was 2/$1 today! I also picked up two new ink pads...one red & one white to use for making Christmas cards. After that, I grabbed a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell...Yum!.....& then picked up a few things from Walmart to tide us over the weekend. It really wasn't bad out today at all. Got home a little after 1pm I guess. Washed some clothes & did some scrapping. Will upload my layout here in a bit. Trying to DL some free school stuff from the Home School Estore.....they are having some great specials! Lots of free DLables today thru tomorrow morning. So far, I've got some 'planners/schedules' & some math stuff. Want to DL a thing about the Vikings that goes along with the Magic TreeHouse book.

back from Maw's

Layout of Alli I did this afternoon before we left for Maw's house. Ashley actually took the picture....she's getting to be quite the photographer around here! I just loved how her purple shirt showed up against the orange of the leaves. We had a really nice time this evening! Lots of good food.....turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry/orange gelatin salad, broccoli casserole, rolls & of course, pumpkin pie for dessert. Home now & Clay is building a fire....the temps are really dropping. Need to go get a little grocery list together for tomorrow.....Clay is working, but I'm going to meet Ella for our annual 'Mommy Shopping Day'. More than the shopping, it's become a tradition & we look forward to the fellowship/shopping/lunch out WITHOUT kiddos!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well, we have had our traditional Thanksgiving cinnamon buns & coffee for breakfast this morning & Clay & Jon have gone out to the woods to look for his (Jon's) deer that he shot last night. He shot a 5 pt., but they never could find it in the dark, so they wanted to go back & look again in the day light. Just praying that they can find it. This is Jon's 3rd deer that he's killed so far.....Clay keeps shaking his head at being out-done by a 12 yr. old! HA! And this is not to even mention the ones that he's shot at & missed. This boy is a HUNTER!! He loves it! Going to get my shower & straighten up a bit & then hopefully scrap some. We are headed to Maw's later this afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner.

Walnut Ink & Quill Pens

Here's a sampling from each kiddo.....Most of them just wrote their name or doodled around. Alli started off writing John 3:16 but decided it would take too long to write the whole thing. Ashley wrote out the lyrics to 'God Bless America' by Irving Berlin. Love how the walnut looks when it dries & how the paper kinda wrinkles up.....like watercolors....such a cool effect. I'm glad they really had a good time doing this!

Ashley & Alli playing in the leaves. They actually took these pics themselves!

Our stack of shoeboxes ready to go to the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. Calvary Chapel was able to pack & send 17 boxes this year.

We're OFFICIALLY on break now......

Chris had his last class this morning! WooHoo!! I plan to take it easy, scrap, watch movies with the kiddos, etc. Clay worked last night...3rd shift....so we kinda started our 'Break' then. When Michael & Alli went to bed...Chris, Ashley, Jon & I stayed up & watched Spiderman 3. It was OK....not as terrible as some folks had said & not as awesome as others said either. Definitely liked the first one the best!! Today was kinda busy.....ran Chris to class & went to Target while he was in class to get Ashley Jordin Sparks' new cd.....she's been working around the house to earn money for this & was so tickled when I came home with it for her. After lunch, I ran to the PO to drop Michael's BB gun off (it's broken & they're going to replace it), to the library to return some books. Then home again, home again, jiggity-jig.....mopped the floors, fixed potato soup for supper & then afterwards I helped the kiddos with their quill pens we made from turkey feathers. They had a blast writing with them using the walnut ink that we made yesterday. This was all part of their Thanksgiving/Colonial unit.

my day

Today, I did several loads of laundry, watched 'Ice Princess' with Alli, scrapped some this afternoon, fixed home-made pizzas for supper & then played Backgammon with Michael. That was a first for him.....he had never played before, but now he loves it & can't wait to play again tomorrow! Clay, Chris & Jon are in there now watching 'Transformers'.....just didn't seem to grab my attention, but I think they are enjoying it. I'm headed upstairs to read now.