Happy New Year

MAY YOUR TROUBLES BE LESS,
YOUR BLESSINGS BE MORE
AND NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS
COME THROUGH YOUR DOOR

I'm wishing all the best to my stitching & quilting friends for 2011.

We don't do anything special for New Years as a rule and this year especially since we have so much snow. I'm doing a lot of cleaning/laundry - a typical Saturday.

Christmas was a rather simple affair considering all the hassle and prep. The ride over the mountain pass was clear and easy. Two of my three types of cookies were a hit.

Pat (ds#2) had the grandboys for Christmas Eve. We opened gifts early as their mother wanted them by 7PM. Then we all went out for Mongolian Grill which has become a sort of Christmas Eve tradition. Dh & I got to visit with some dear friends.

Christmas morning Pat fixed a great breakfast. DS#3 & DDIL were there. Then all the Christmas dinner prep began. The guys were deep frying the turkey. I kept out of the way, my job was vegetables. DH fetched his 97yo mom to join us. We decided to head home that evening as "there's no place like home" (and our own bed). Good thing too as it started snowing and didn't quit for 4 days. We now have snow up to my waist!!

In my last post I mentioned "a day of rest". Well, it didn't go exactly as I planned - not all rest. But I did get some stitching done. I started Lizzie Kate's Dog Lessons For People. What a fun stitch! Here it is so far...

If you'll ecuse my poor photography, here are also some ornaments I stitched while I was in Alabama. They are from The Gift Of Stitching Magazine. The First Day of Christmas by Nancy Pederson of Tudor Thyme
and Christmas Star Tag by Annemiek Koning of The Needle's Content. I stitched this in two colorways.
I also have another of the Little House Needleworks ornaments; Joy To The World
Have you noticed a trend to my stitching? So far I have thirty-seven ornaments stitched and not one finished. I'm hoping to be bitten by the finishing fairy this year. That's about it for my New Year's Resolutions. OK, maybe finish a UFO/BAP or two. How about you?

I May Be On To Something! Oh yes, Happy Christmas too!

Sorry all for that bit of venting yesterday. The holidays are definitely not a great time of year for me. And, I think I've figured out part of my problem. I haven't made a stitch since the first of December. Matter of fact, I can still barely get into my sewing room so no quilting either. This must change!

This evening DH & I discovered that we were a day ahead of ourselves! Yikes! I was thinking we needed to head over the pass tomorrow morning. (ala "over the river and through the woods...") Soooo... now I get a day of rest. I'm going to get my nails done, maybe a facial and definitely some stitching will be done. Of course, we didn't discover this until after we had exchanged gifts. He was so good to me this year. I got a home docking station for my XM radio (did I say that right?) and a complete set of Moda 3 Sisters Park Avenue fat quarters. Woo Hoo!

I don't have Christmas decorations to show off like the most of you so I will share a few photos from my front porch. This was before our latest blizzard struck.


Moses always comes in with a belly full of snowballs (and wants to cuddle).

Papa and the girls out plowing the drive.


MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BARB, JIM, KELLY, JESSIE AND MOSES May all your wishes come true!

Oh Whoa! Woe!

Dang it all again! I've been home since December 4th & if I may say so, I wrote a pretty great update here. All for naught! Gone! Poof! Somewhere in cyberspace. Obviously, this blog hasn't been my main concern lately as this is the first I noticed. The short of it is...
I had the greatest month visiting my granddaughter in Daphne, Alabama. Wish I could've stayed longer. Much longer!

Today, for a plugged nickel, I'd leave the master of this house and move there. Some men just don't get it! If he's not going to participate in Christmas then neither am I. I have been on my feet all day baking for HIS son's Christmas celebration. AND he left all the shopping to me. My bad! He ordered 3 books off Amazon, but I'm supposed to wrap them! I've had it! Seems every Christmas I swear I'm going to run away the next year. This time I'm booking reservations!

Last Thursday I had minor back surgery again. I'm supposed to be taking it easy!

Ok, I'm outta here! No need to spread any more of my joyous self around.

With any luck and an attitude adjustment I'll be back to wish you all a Merry Christmas. If not, well... do the best you can during these stressful times.

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's Christmas eve and I'm about as ready as I'll ever be. We're heading over the mountains to the 'wet side' in just a few moments. Leaving all our lovely snow behind. Ah well, it'll be a white Christmas here even if we're not.

I'm excited to see our two grandsons, Alex & Tyler. They're at that perfect age (5 & 10) where Christmas is still a wonder. Their dad is the worst, I think! He is soooo over the top about Christmas. Hoping to get some good photos this year. We need a new photo of DH & me. The last one of us together is quite a few years old and many pounds heavier, so I won't show it.

I've spent the past few days making Oregon Ducks stadium blankets. Our beloved Ducks are going to the Rose Bowl on January 1st. I made a blanket for our son and showed it to my friend Debra. This lead to making four more and I could've made dozens. I had to draw a line somewhere as I only had so much time and many Christmas activites yet to do on my list.

So, Dear Readers, it's time to get our sled on the road. (DH is tapping his foot) I want to wish each of you the Merriest Christmas. I do wish blessings on all of you and your loved ones. Stay safe, stay warm.

Merry Christmas to me!

Oh my, I'm so excited! I did get something "stitchy" for Christmas! I was checking my comments and found that I'm the winner of Lynn B's Purple Ornament blog give away. http://happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com/ Lynn, I'm so honored!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my readers! May the true spirit of Christmas be yours today and all year long.

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last entry here. I'll blame it on the time of year, etc, etc. Just a quick note to let you know that all our plumbing problems have been resolved.

We have snow to our knees and more snow storm warnings for the remainder of the week. Jim keeps our drive cleared as he has a blade for his Polaris Razor. The dogs love riding with him (helping). The county plows were here by 0700 today so they must've been clearing the main roads all night. (we live down a dirt road) We also had a beautiful sunny sunrise for Christmas. The sky is now all white & ready to snow again.

We are spending Christmas at home with the pets today. Originally our plans were to be in Eugene, Oregon at #2 son's house. Son #1 & family were supposed to arrive from Juneau, Alaska on Monday but all flights were cancelled due to weather. We drove to Eugene on Tuesday for a family Christmas party (which had a small turn-out). Wednesday morning after a huge breakfast we opened gifts with Son #2 & son #3 & two grandsons. The grandboy's mom gets them this Christmas so we celebrated early. DH decided we should head home before the next promised snow storm arrived. So, here we are!

I didn't get anything from my wish list! Santa must've thought I was a very bad girl this year! I didn't get anything stitching or quilting related at all! Got a lovely lap robe from son #2. My favorite gift was a beautiful scarf my almost-DIL knit for me. Oh well, guess I'll just keep on buying what I want when I can afford it.

I think the son's may have been a bit disappointed in their gifts. Since DH doesn't shop & it was left to me, I bought something useful yet inexpensive for everyone for under the tree. Then I called the USO and made donations in the names of all five adult children. The USO supplied thank you notes to each child which I placed on the tree. They couldn't complain as each of them has been in the service and their dad & son #1 are retired servicemen. With the remainder of my budget I purchased enough goodies to fill two boxes to send to a chaplain in Iraq. My heart is with our servicepeople who are separated from their loved ones.

I'm hoping each of you received you heart's desire this Christmas. As I mentioned before... it looked like snow. Well, it's dropping the white stuff again! So I'm going to check a few messages then spend the rest of the day stitching.

It's Freezing!

Oh my! We awoke this morning to frozen pipes! It's -10F (-25C) and not warming up. Jim's been under the house checking the pipes and hauling water from the pump. Poor guy! We've accumulated nearly a foot of snow.

I love watching our dogs in the snow. Kelly still makes "snow angels" and her coat is so clean & soft. Jessie is obsessed with the bird feeder. Jim puts food on the ground since we have such a huge population of doves. This drives Jess crazy and she eats the seed whenever she's out.

Yesterday Jim tryed out the snow blade on his ATV. Not enough snow to really need it yet. Both dogs had to ride along so he took them for a spin around the property.

I'm all ready for Christmas! (Except the cards) Have to wait 'til Thursday when Jim's at the doc's to wrap his gift. He's in charge of getting (DS1) Ken's gift. Wow! One gift! We're not decorating much this year. Patrick (DS2) wants to host Christmas at his place. So we'll be traveling to Eugene. Ugh! I hate going over the pass in winter. Pat always does an over-kill Christmas but this year all of the boys will be together so I guess it's a good thing!

Both Jim & I have been having back problems. He doesn't complain much and I don't want to carry on about it here. We had a miserable weekend. I'm just tired of running into town to the doc's. Today we'll be discussing laser surgery! Ouch!

On that note, I must get ready to go. Wishing you all the blessings of Christmas.

Christmas Ornaments

Well, I've been busy making Christmas ornaments. Several are for exchanges, most are for charity. It's great fun to be stitching some little charts again. I plan to spend most of my time stitching & making ornaments while we're on our "Grand Motorhome Adventure". You'll need to check out our other blog brainardsbanter.blogspot.com to find out all about that. Soooo... now I'll attempt to add a few photos of the ornaments. CYL
Labels: Ornaments