I Had a Vision - Christmas 2014 Prep

When I disassembled last year's Christmas decorations, I kinda sorta had an idea about what I wanted to change up and d a little differently this year. I've had this 'prototype' on the library floor for about a week now.  A couple things I did to it looked OK, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind.... well, not quite, anyway. Tonight, though, it all came together! I created that "thing" that was in my head that I just KNEW was going to look like that "thing" in my head!

So!! Out comes all the supplies and away I went!!! Looks like chaos, but production can be messy sometimes :)

 

Got out the bow-making thing-a-ma-jig and set it up in the dining room.  I love this tool!  It makes all kinds of different sized bows quick and easy!

I gathered up all my picks (I told you what that was on an earlier post) and got them all separated out. I like things to be organized, including my chaos! LOL

 

So here is the prototype laid out on the library floor.  I just have things pieced and placed together, nothing is secure until I like how it looks.  Just about right, it needs something....

 

All these really WILL go into this this house..... They did last year and things looked, well, sparse.  LOL  Not this year, though!!! 

 

Getting everything ready to be glued in place....

 

Seriously, though, how did I ever survive without a hot glue gun????

 

The finished pieces.  :) I love how they turned out!  Wait until you see how they are going to look when they're all in their places :)  I'm getting excited!!!

Not a Christmas Post

 I'm not working on Christmas stuff today (at least I'm not planning to, who knows what will happen later!), but I do need to get back in the habit of blogging every day. Even if its just to remember how.

If you didn't know already, one of my new favorite hobbies is quilting. I've liked to watch quilting shows on tv pretty much all my life, and it looked like a really cool thing to do.  My only problems were 1.  I didn't know how to sew. and 2.  I didn't own a sewing machine. :) Two pretty important parts of quilting, huh. A couple years ago, I tried to order some custom-sized curtains for our bedroom door.  Its a patio door that goes out to the back yard and, of course, its humongus! After getting more than a little upset at the woman from JC Pennys for insisting I needed to have red curtains (our bedroom is blue & gold) and trying to dupe me into ordering the wrong thing, I ended up buying a little sewing machine and figuring out how to make my own. They're still hanging up there, so I didn't do too bad!  So I had this sewing machine and my curtains were hung, now what was I going to do with it??

Well, my brother-in-law and his wife just happen to be quilters. :) Can you see the wheels turning in my head? :) They make the most beautiful quilts, belong to a bunch of clubs and guilds, and they're patient enough to listen to all my questions. :) Have I mentioned I love Kathy & Michael? :) The very first quilt I made was for my boss. He and his wife were expecting their first baby, so I thought I'd give it a try :). A baby quilt is a good, small project to work on for your first quilt, but let me tell you, that quilt was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination!!! LOL At the time, though, I thought it was a masterpeice!! I hope they used that one to throw on the floor and let the baby crawl around :) It was pretty, it was soft, but oh my have I learned so much since then! LOL The last few quilts I've made have also been baby quilts, but oh so much nicer!!! Which reminds me.... I have to get the quilts in the mail!! My boss and his wife had their second baby a month ago (today) and its time to get that out to them!! Oh ya!! And Kassi's too!!! Looks like I know what I'm doing at lunch tomorrow!!! LOL

I also use youtube to learn how to do stuff. My favorite quilting channel is The Missouri Star Quilt Company. Jenny just explains things in a way that makes it less intimidating, and easy to understand. :) I've watched the video several times to learn how to make the Missouri Star quilt block and last night I took a deep breath and dove in. :) So far I've finished one 24" block, and have another ready to sew together. Not sure what this is going to be when it grows up, but I like how its starting out!!

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Christmas Decorating 2014 - 11/1/14

The week of Hallowe'en I had 4 people ask me when I'm going to start decorating my house for Christmas. I thought they were joking!! It wasn't even October 31st yet!! But nope, they're serious. Ok then!

Today is November 1st. I thought it might be a little less annoying posting my progress here on my seldom-used blog spot than blow up Facebook with this. If you're interested, then I'm all good with sharing!! I'll just post the link to here with any updates rather than blow up Facebook. :) I seriously had no idea that people were interested!!

So, to answer your questions... Yes. Yes, I have started, but in a small way. I saw a few things on eBay a couple weeks ago that caught my eye. One was a lot of vintage, glass ornaments. I thought they were beautiful! So I bid and won. :)

Unfortunately, not all of them survived the trek across the country from Virginia to California, 9 of the 36 were broken. Ah well, I contacted the seller and she was super nice about it. Refunded my payment and told me to keep what was left. I offered to pay for what survived, but she wouldn't let me. Now THAT's integrity! I still might send her some flowers just to say thanks, though. Good people deserve good things to happen to them. :)

Another eBay bid got me some smaller ornaments from a different seller. They just happen to be the exact same color and style as what I already have, so I bought them. 96 of each color. :)

The last thing I bought before hauling everything out was a couple dozen already-made picks from Beverly's in Modesto. Picks are those little bundles of decorations you can stick in a flower arrangement, in a wreath, a candle holder.. just about anywhere, really. :)

That's all I did before today. :) Today begins the decorating process. I'm actually starting a little early this year. I have been really sad with the girls so far away. Hallowe'en was pretty much a non-event for me this year, it made me so sad. Hallowe'en is Michaela's favorite holiday, and she'd start asking on Labor Day if it was ok to start decorating for Hallowe'en yet. :) We'd always try to hold her off until the day after Dayle's birthday, but you just KNEW she was already planning on what she was going to do! I miss her so much!!

To get motivated for Christmas, I decided we were going to have a Christmas Jam at our house. I think it's going to be December 8th but don't hold me to that! LOL There's a wedding going on that a lot of our jamming friends are going to attend on the 13th so I moved the date. Its going to be on a smaller scale than TeeJ's birthday party, though, that's for sure!! That gives me a month to get the house decorated in time for our jam. :) That's my motivation. :)

So!! Step One!!
Take all the Christmas totes out and assess what I have, what needs to be fixed, what I want to change up. That's where I'm at. I've got a few things in mind to add, but that can wait until I get there. Today, I am un-bunching all the red, green, brown and gold balls so I can reconfigure them into different combinations, adding in the new, smaller ornaments. No small feat, I have about a thousand to look at!!! I also need to make repairs to any broken ones, so I have the glue gun out and heating up. :) I'll be in the library for the next couple hours....

Dayle here. You are joining this program already in progress. Mom and I are driving through Indiana, through the rain, alone. How did we get here?

-Flashback-

July Vacation 2012

Wow, today was a really long day!!! Got up around 8, had breakfast, had a coffee, sat down on the couch... and promptly fell asleep!! LOL

About an hour after my nap, I headed out for the day. I convinced my mother she really wanted to cook some peameal bacon for me, especially if I stopped and picked some up on my way to her place. :0). I could have just called and said "hey I'm on my way over" but really, how much fun would that be???

I did indeed pick up said peameal and she did indeed cook it for me. :0) In return, I connected with Dayle through Facetime and they got to do a video chat. :0) I think they liked that, Mom & Pat. Dayle took them on a tour of our house (they've never been to Cali) and plans were made for August when Dayle gets to Detroit.

Left Mom's and drove up to London to see Shawna. I think that was the best visit we've had in a very long time. I hope she keeps up the work she's been doing lately in/on her life. There's always hope!!! She looked great, has put on some weight, her skin is all cleared up. It really was a good visit. :0)

So here I am at 2am, just got back to my home away from home, feeling pretty good. Ok physically I'm a little stiff and sore still from yesterday (my sunburned back and shoulders did fade to a tan by this morning) but that will go away. I've got all of my visiting done. Tomorrow I'm going to see what I can do to help get things ready for the week end festivities and then go get Kyle.

By the way, if I haven't said it before, I'll say it now. Taylor and Lindsay Myers are AWESOME!!!! Lindsay always gives up her bedroom for me when I come here and this trip, Taylor is giving up her bedroom for Kyle for the week end!!! THANK YOU!!!!!! My best friend raised a couple of pretty incredible kids. :0)

Ok that's about all I have left in me tonight. More to follow tomorrow!!

Vacation July 2012

Got a lot accomplished today!! Went shopping for flowers, saw my Dad for a few minutes, visited with Ken & Kathey for a little while, then went out to Shetland and planted flowers. Of course I picked the hottest day of the summer to do this!! Temperatures here broke all kinds of records. Add to that the fact that where I was planting was in full sun all afternoon and the humidity was well up over 70%. Yuck!!! But I got it done and felt good about it when it was finished. I think I have a sunburn on my back, too, but that will turn into a tan by morning.

Did a little bit of grocery shopping for Kathy before coming back to my home away from home. I was good and managed to walk right past the Hagandaaz Rocky Road ice cream. Even though I was so overheated. I might not have the same will power tomorrow, we shall have to see!! LOL

After dinner we all jumped into the pool. OMG that felt sooooo good!! I almost didn't want to get out. Played a few games of cribbage with Kathy and got to Facetime with the girls while the whole family was in the dining room. That was really great. I love technology!!!

After a quick Facetime with TeeJ, I'm about ready to pass out. I didn't get my peameal today so that carries over to my Must Do list for tomorrow. I think I'm going to try and see Shawna tomorrow. Its supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so it'll be a good day for driving. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Vacation 2012

Yep, my first stop of the day was in Wallaceburg at the Timmie's drive-thru. :0) Really, who is surprised my first stop was for coffee? My plan (it wasn't really much of a plan) was to go visit a couple people, but once I got there I wasn't in the mood for company. On to Plan B (also not much of a plan, but I followed through).

So I drove down the back roads and ended up in Shetland. Not really anything to write home about for most people, but for me, a chunk of my heart is there. I pulled into the church's driveway and around the back. Got out and the first thing I noticed was that all of the flowers looked dead. Great, Jim hasn't kept his promise to keep our son's gravesite neat and tidy. I wasn't mad about it, more like sad. It all looked so neglected, sad and depressing. The fact that my son died is sad and depressing, true, but I take the time to plant flowers, make it nice. Just in case someone goes out there, they will know just by looking for one second that the kid that's buried there is loved and is missed. How hard can it be to go out there once every couple months and pull a weed or two?? Oh well, it just means I'll be going back out there this week to clean it all up and plant something new. One thing seems to have survived from last summer, the miniature white roses. There doesn't appear to be any blooms right now, but its got lots of green. I'll build on that.

When I left Shetland, I headed to my Dad's house. Its not too far away from Shetland. I should have called first, though, he wasn't home. Oh well, worst case scenario is I'll see him on Saturday at the pig roast. :0) I love my Dad, and I'm thrilled beyond belief that this year he doesn't have to "sneak out" to come and see me. My step-mother has no more negative influance over the music, over him. I couldn't be happier. :0) Music is a part of who he is, just like me. Its something we share and it killed me to keep my mouth shut when the negativity and bitchiness started as soon as the music did, sometimes it started in anticipation of the music! With a new woman on his arm who is proud of the musician in him, I will once again have the honor of sharing the stage with my Dad this week end. It's going to be awesome!!!

So speaking of the step-mother, I ended up in Sarnia, just a couple blocks away from her house. I had to stop for gas (because I am assuming that when the "low fuel" message starts blinking and the car is dingdingdinging, I need to get gas asap LOL). So I stopped in to see Trudy, since I was so close. I guess she was still at work, though, no one answered the door when I knocked. I did wait a few minutes and knock again (in case she was in the shower) but no answer. I think I'll try again when/if I get back to Sarnia.

After grabbing another Timmies I thought a ride along the river would be nice. I could also take advantage of having a strong AT&T 3G signal and make a few phone calls. Talked to TeeJ for a few minutes, that was nice, I really miss him. Made a call or two to the people who are covering for me at work, but nothing major is going on and thankfully they are having a quiet week so far, :0). Took a few pictures, updated my facebook status, answered a couple text messages. Got one message from one of Dayle's brothers (on her Dad's side) and got to spend about an hour with him as I gave him a lift home. I haven't seen him since he was a little boy (9 or 10) about 24 years ago. He looks a lot like his Dad. :0) I wonder if he realizes that....

Anyways, after I got back to my home away from home and had something to eat, took a swim and spent a little while on Facetime with my kids, I got to spend a quiet evening just hanging out with my best friend. It was a great night.

So right now, its after midnight and while I'm waiting for TeeJ to facetime me I'm planning my day tomorrow. I think if its not raining I'll get up and go get the flowers for Nick's and Grandma & Grandpa's grave sites. See if I can find some pretty flowers at the nursery in Reeces Corners. Then I want to find a place to get some peameal bacon. Haven't had that in forever!!!! YUM!!!

Ok that's all from me for today, the letters on the page are starting to look like little ants walking by. Have a great night!!

Vacation 2012 7/16/12

Wow, I have really got to remember to keep this thing up to date!!! It's been a year and a half already!!!

Well, lets get started on that right now!! It's July 2012 and I'm on my annual vacation, the same vacation I've been taking for 11 years now.

I left SFO on Friday night and landed safe and sound in Buffalo on Saturday morning. For once I wasn't on the flight with the screaming kids!!! Yayyyy!!! I love it when I can actually get some sleep on the plane. Part of the reason I like to travel overnight is because I always feel gypped out of a vacation day if I have to spend the whole day travelling.

I arrived at my good friend TJ's house around noon after getting the most amazing deal on my rental car. Depending on how you look at it, I either saved $700 or I saved $1000!! Either way I made out like a bandit and the price I'm paying for the car I have is the best price I've ever gotten. Ok besides free. It wasn't free, that would just be a dream. LOL

After visiting with TJ and Thom, I got back in the car, turned the "freeze your face off" air conditioning on full-blast, got my book all set to play and set out on my 6 hour journey to Detroit. Somehow driving all day doesn't bother me as much as it does some people. Especially if I'm listening to a good book. :0)

Kyle's flight into Detroit was delayed about an hour so I got to spend some time playing with all the buttons in the car. LOL I'm loving the electronics here!! Yeah, I know I'm a geek, but its one of the things you love about me, right??

I brought Kyle back to his Mom's, spent the night catching up with my sister and passed out for a while. Thanks, Joey, for letting me take over your room for the night!!! Gave Tina a hair cut before taking off for Sombra. I am sooo jealous of her hair!! I think I have been for most of her life. It just grows and grows and grows!!! I cut about 16 inches off of the length (nope, not kidding. 16 inches!!!), it was down past the waistband of her pants. How much do you want to bet that by Christmas it will have grown half a foot???? She's just lucky that way.

So here I am at my home away from home, Kathy's house. I've been up for about 3 hours now and besides a load of laundry I've pretty much just sat on my butt and relaxed. ;0) But not for long!! I'm about to go jump in the shower, get out of my jammies (not necessarily in that order) and head out for the afternoon. First stop.... Timmie's of course!!!!!

Christmas 2010

To save these pictures in their original size, just click anywhere on the picture, wait for it to open, right click on the opened picture and choose "Save Picture" . That's it!!

Our Trip to Apple Hill

OK Its been just over a year since I posted last. Bad Joey!!!

So to make up for it, here are a few pictures I took last week end at Apple Hill Farms near Placerville CA

Dayle never takes a bad picture

Here are all my girls playing in the trees

Michaela and Gloria

Dayle and Jennifer

What you would expect to find at a place called Apple Hill

So many changes this past year, too many to get into at this moment. My new goal is to post on this blog space more often. Is there an app for this???? :)

Love n' Huggz n' Stuff!

Joey