Oh Baby It's Cold Outside!

These two snowbunnies came after they got off work and I hitched a ride home with them after a stroll in the park and some purchases at the Taffy Shoppe. Clarissa and Sarah have been best friends since high school. They are quite hilarious together and fun to hang with.

I know that this picture of me and my friend Becky make it look as if the sun is bearing down on us but.....no go! Instead look at this picture like we are snuggled together because it's so cold! Miss having my friend in Missouri! Had a great day with her, Amy (her daughter), Mya (Amy's daughter) and Skylar (Becky's granddaughter).

I just couldn't resist taking this picture. So cute of Amy and Skylar just chatting away!

Skylar found some crazy hats to try on. I thought that this one was the funniest of them all.

Mya as we enter the park. She is snug as a bug in a rug! We laughed at how stiff her arms were.

Sweet little face after eating Teddy Grahams! All snug and cozy in her layers of pink!

My Mom's friend was gracious enough to ask if I wanted four FREE tickets to Silver Dollar City. We in the Ozarks call it, "Steal Your Dollar City". My friend Becky was in town visiting over the Christmas break so we all piled in Amys car and headed to Branson for the afternoon. There weren't many rides open but we did get to ride the Flooded Mine and of course the train! The lights were incredible and our customary funnel cake and skillet dishes were so yummy. I loved getting to spend time with Becky and two generations of her gals!

Christmas Gifts revealed

Clarissa...aka Vanna...poses for a Christmas morning picture for Mom. Her recipe box rests upon a little antique table I found at a flea market and spray painted to match her future bedroom. It might be her night stand or she said maybe a table for her printer. It has the two boards that lay at an angle to each other on the lower part of the table to hold books somewhat vertically. P.S. I think that the spray cans are holding less and less paint each year they are produced.

We are a little out of order here with the pictures but you can just scroll down to see the whole finished project. I had to put at least one YO-YO on this as they are one of my passions. The brown "flower" is from a fat quarter that I plan to make yo-yos from but thought it would just be cute to make a circle and draw up some stitches for a raised effect.

I covered this little metal box that I got from Oriental Trading with some Creative Memories papers and matching ribbons. The chipboard letters were painted with acrylics and embellished with dots and dashes of the same.

Here is a shot from the top. Can you make it out with all the ribbon in the way? It says, "Mom's recipes". I made a recipe file for my son and his wife for their wedding this summer and since Clarissa is moving out next week I thought it would be fitting to make her one too. The recipes inside are mostly family recipes from some great cooks! It will be fun for them to have as we pass through generations and sometimes lose the recipes we love most.

Here is the finished canvas that I gave a preview of weeks earlier. It was part of Clarissa's Christmas package of things for her new apartment. What do you think? Do you think it would be a marketable thing for Etsy? I have three other canvas projects going and will share as soon I can call them finished. I have scripture picked out for them but am waiting for inspiration.

Album debut

One of my favorite pictures from the wedding album I put together for Dustin & Katy. It's an 8x8 album that opens like a set of shutters with four 2x3 windows for pictures on the front. To all my scrappin buddies....can you believe it's done? I bet you were sick of me dragging it out everytime we got together to scrap. One more day before you see what else I've been up to!

Roxie getting a bow, a rub down and a hug from her Momma, Katy. Think she loves doggies!

Meet Buckets the Jack Russell who is what we decided is 7 years old here in his Christmas vest. He is truly loved and enjoyed by Katy and Dustin. He's also VERY entertaining but what else would one expect from a Jack? Full of energy and great moves.

Dustin opens a movie that his sister, Clarissa, got him for Christmas. We had some laughs talking about how they used to irritate each other when they were younger. I laughed because Dustin still likes to pester his sister! See the little stinker twinkle there in them eyes?

My newest daughter, Katy, who I love for her sweet nature, calling it like it is and the way she fits perfectly with my son. I sincerely look forward to the future with her as we get to know each other better and make alot of memories.

Tonight Katy and Dustin had us over for dinner. Notice that I put Katy first in the last sentence? That is because we all know that the woman of the house most usually is the one who does all the cooking and preparation needed to have company. She made some really tasty chili with hominy in it....I LOVE hominy. Then for desert there was this platter of snickerdoodles in the middle of the table. I made a little vacant spot. Ok, so I ate three of them while we sat at the table and took one to go. They were so good! You know, the kind that are thick and still soft.

We opened presents with them which meant that the wedding album that I made them had it's debut. It was fun to watch them look through it and make comments. We also got Katy her first sewing machine. She made a quilt for her brother at the Monday nights at Grandma Bulldozer's house. Love the idea of passing down an art/passion that is fading with every generation.

Miss Merry Christmas presentation

Nikki and proud Dad.

Nikki and proud step-Mom.

Erin, Nikki, Brooklyn, Parker and this is so bad but I don't know her name?

Nikki and her escort John Hilton.

Tonight in between the JV and Varsity Basketball game the court of Miss Merry Christmas was presented. Nikki was a senior canidate. They actually voted and crowned the winner four weeks earlier so that she could ride in the Christmas parade....if your thinking that you've seen this before.

Nikki looks gorgeous in her pretty off white dress. Clarissa did her makeup and hair and made her headband. Nikki's got her own private beautician! Her escort is John Hilton.

Graduation Day!

Uncle Jimmy, sista Nikki, step-daddy Shane, Clarissa, Gma Norma, Aunt Missy & Gma Mary.

Clarissa and her largest fan/cheerleader, Mom.

Definitely a double thumbs up kinda day.

Oh to be so pretty, have a degree and be young enough to do something with it!

A long awaited day has finally arrived. Clarissa graduates from MSU today. She has a major in Spanish and a minor in Sociology. In January she will start graduate classes to get her MAT to teach Spanish in High School. Now we have another "walk" to look forward to.

Kudos to her for all the hard work! Such an accomplishment!

Your never too old for Santa

Tuesday afternoon was spent in town running errands and doing a little Christmas shopping. Last stop, Wal-Mart for groceries and such. As I was walking in this cute little couple were in front of me and when I was leaving they were in back of me. So, I grabbed them for a picture with the BABY (me) in the middle! It's so fun to see this cute couple running around making others smile. Their next stop was to a resturant called Ziggy's. If you are local you know this place but for you foreign to Springfield, it's a resturant that stays open 24/7. You can get a wide variety of foods on the menu there and the customers vary even more. It can really be entertaining there late at night just to people watch.

Volunteer Opportunities

It's a cold dreary Saturday that makes it very hard to climb out of my warm bed. But, this morning I had motivation! I was in the Battlefield Mall parking lot (with a primo parking spot) at 7:45 this morning headed in to wrap gifts for the DCO (Developmental Center of the Ozarks). The marketing coordinator, Denise, co-teaches the 12th grade girl's Sunday School class with me so I thought it would be fun to volunteer for a five hour shift making gifts look pretty while making money for the center. What great fun it was to work with such beautiful papers, handmade bows (made at the center), spools and spools of ribbon, double sided tape (industrial strength) and some good company of gals that I had already known and some that I had just met there. The time went by very fast.

Then right afterwards Denise and I walked down to another entrance of the mall to meet our Sunday School class gals to ring the Salvation Army bell for an hour. It was raining off and on and a little windy but we had a fun time doing it. We sang a few corky songs (well, I was backup) and tried to tell everyone who entered Merry Christmas. It is sad to say that there were some grumpy shoppers out there but for the most part everyone gave a Merry Christmas back at us. We even saw some bills go into the pot.

Tiffany Art Group Christmas

December 10th was the second Thursday of the month which means it's Art Group Day! For our Christmas Party we met at the home of Marylou Touth. We were to bring to the luncheon either a salad or a dessert and a Christmas item valued at $20.00. I chose to make a pasta salad. It turned out great for a recipe that I had never made before. I put it in an antique glass bowl for a special touch of flare. The leftovers were put in a plastic container for the family to eat.

I arrived a few minutes early to what I thought was Marylou's home only to discover that I had everything except my pasta salad. So I called Marylou on my way out of the subdivision to tell her that I would now be a few minutes late because I was going back home to retrieve my salad. Being the sweet hostess that she is, she told me to turn around and don't worry about the dish as we would have plenty of food. I arrived back to what I thought was Marylou's home at the same time as another one of our club's members so we walked up to the house together. We didn't even ring the bell but just walked in like we do every month at each other's homes. The house didn't look familiar and just about the time that it was about to come out of my mouth the owner of the home came around the hall corner! We were at the wrong party! Turns out that the owner and one of her guests go to my church! Funny thing is as we headed out the door, several other of our members were pulling into the same "wrong" drive! What a hoot we had when we got to Marylou's (2 doors down) because no one was there yet and we all came at once from the other party house.

The pictures are of Marylou (hostess maxima), the table with some of the other members and the piano player in the background, the awesome homemade desserts and of course, the pasta salad that was left behind. Thanks goes out to Marylou for being the best hostess, best gift exchange hostess and party planner!

Christmas Gifts sneak peak

This little orange canvas is definitely still a work in progress. I am still collecting ideas and materials to bring this one together. It may have to find it's way into Nikki's Christmas for her bedroom.

Loved this fabric that the groomer sent Piper home in as a bandana. I took one look at it when I got her to the car and thought...that there material is MINE! She told me that she was alot more comfortable without it anyways. Ruff-ruff!

"WHO" knows what will turn out of this owl. I got the pattern from Suz at our November Cabin Scrap. Finally finished the needle work and now he just needs a tree to roost in.

I'm loving canvas this year. I first was inspired by my new friend Jodi ,who I met on my latest trip to WA. I painted four canvas 9 X 11's in colors of Clarissa's apartment bedroom linens. It turns out that all four may not go into her apartment now. SHHHH! It's suppose to be part of a little Christmas...the blue one that is.

I will post the completed ones after I decide who and where they will go. It may have to be after Christmas so to not spoil the surprise.

My adopted/stand-in Christmas House

On the way home from grocery shopping last Sunday night I spied these two wonderful trees that seemed to reach to heaven with white Christmas lights. I said to Shane, "Get me to that house. I want to see the lights!" We drove in and out of dead end streets, wrong turns and winding subdivision streets. Finally, we made it. There were a stream of cars that pulled in to the culdesac behind us to view this amazing display of lights.

This is my adopted/stand-in Christmas House for this year. Did you put up any lights? Send me a picture so I can adore yours too!

Teaching the future

Our women's ministry at Second Baptist started a mentor program for our college gals. The kickoff was a major event complete with all the trimmings. The girls wanted to get together before the New Year so a plan was devised. This is where I came in because they wanted to do some cake decorating.

I am sharing a few pictures of the girls and their handy work. They were the best students I have ever taught. Their flat icing was awesome for newbies and the imagination that they extended was beyond my train of thinking. I think that they really had done this before?

Jane Beck helped me in the preparation by baking, making batches and batches of icing and teaching. Did you know that the mixer at our church will make AT LEAST three batches of icing at a time? It makes my big girl blender look like a sissy!

A good time was had by all. A message was delivered by Michelle Howard on how to make your "cake/life for Christ" as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside.