Our Gift to Christ this Christmas season

Here is the cleaning crew after our two hours of cleaning - look we are all smiling. It was a great feeling to be a part of something that made a postive difference.

After stacking tables, putting volleyball nets in tubs and all other general tidying this is the result. The stage is still an ugly place, but at least it is not a hazardous zone for now.

This is the after photo. As I said - only a woman's touch.

This is the before photo. This is what happens when no one cares.

This was how the stage looked before we started.

Apron #2

This is my second apron. I used the same pattern , but I should try a different view if I make another one. The daughter of my friend who I gave the last apron to really liked her Mom's. I decided I had another reason to sew another one. Found out her daughter's favorite color "electric blue" and this is what I came up with. The button says "smile".

Christmas 2011 humble decorating

Here is my decorating method as taught to me by my Home Interiors Consultants from 25 years ago. You place your decorations among your regular decor. So here you have it.

Fred buys me poinsettas every year. There are three lush and beautiful plants plus the second little scrawny one is the one I took to work and over the first weekend it shriveled up. I brought it home and am trying to revive it.

Scott made this for us one Christmas. By the looks of the tee shirt he is wearing it was around 1997. I think it's the tee shirt that had the name Derek on it. That was the name of Corinne's boyfriend that year.

This is our little 4.5 foot artificial tree. Since Scott is not home to put together our big one....this is it. At our staff Christmas party on Friday, the two little trees there were decorated with just poinsetta picks and I thought how darling and easy that looked. So I dug out my Home Interiors poinsetta candle rings and this is the result. Just as pretty and easy.

This is a little angel star ornament given to me by a work friend in recent years that I found today. I thought it was a perfect topper for our little tree.

The end.

Suzy Foodie Maker

I'm not sure why I got the idea to make a quiche for today. I haven't made it in years.... So I bought the swiss cheese last night. I knew I had frozen pie crusts and chopped up ham at home in the freezer. So before church I pulled out a box of fiber blueberry muffin mix, but it did not include the streusel topping. What's a muffin especially when next to an egg dish without streusel. Suzy came out and looked up a recipe in a cookbook and whipped up a special home made batch of buttery, sugary topping. Thus I walked into the church right at start time.

After church I pulled out the pie crusts - argh - expired like February 2011. Pulled out my mother in law's pie crust recipe. No plain shortening....the can downstairs expired in 2008. So I went ahead and used butter flavor shortening that was good. Do you see a pattern here? I don't bake anymore. boo hoo....

Even though this is a picture of leftover food.....it was quite heavenly and I always feel so good when I go to the extra effort to make something from scratch.

I'm finished!

It's hard to believe, but I bought this fabric I think last Christmas when Shannon and I went shopping at JoAnns. Shannon started making these darling aprons and I thought it was a great little project. So now a year later, I finally finished it. It took two evenings. Just the perfect amount of time for such a cute product.

In case you forgot.....I love PINK!

Aren't these buttons just cute as can be?

Thanksgiving moments

Here is my Dad. I take him for granted. He can do anything. I called him in the morning and asked if he had potatoes because I only had one. He said he would get some and get them ready. Then I called him back and asked if he could bake us a loaf of his homemade bread for dinner. He said sure! He comes over with his electric knife and heavy duty turkey carving gloves. He makes the mashed potatoes, home made gravy and carves the turkey. We actually worked quite well together in the kitchen at the same time. I had the easy stuff to do. I love my Dad. He is a great man. This is Fred and Bryce. We know Bryce from the time we served in the Young Single Adult Ward. He is a Yeoman in the navy. He holds a special place in our hearts. Fred finally had someone to play some Wii games with.

Disney's The Lion King Las Vegas style

Here is Shannon & I after the show.

This is the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino that we went to see the show.

The costumes were amazing and the production was remarkable.

Shortcuts to Inner Peace

I found these rituals in a magazine and I thought they were good. Turn daily routines into stress-busting rituals with these shortcuts.

1) Taking a Shower: The shower is an ideal place to wash away concerns because you're in the water having a physical cleansing experience. In your head or out loud, list some of your worries, then imagine dropping them down the drain. It's called "catch and release". Catch the concern by bringing it to your consciousness, focus on it for a moment, then let it go. There's a huge advantage in identifying what's bothering you and then consciously releasing it. This is an easy exercise that allows you to start your day with a fresh perspective.

2) Writing a To-Do List: You've got a pen and paper in front of you when you're making a list; why not also write a little note to someone in your life while you're at it? Thank someone or tell a friend that you're thinking about her. When you focus on positive emotion and generate love, you feel peaceful and happy. Write a note, drop it on someone's desk, on a pillow, or in a lunch box. It can say 'I'm thinking of you, 'I love you,' or Thank you for helping me.' It doesn't have to say much to be effective.

3. 3) Lying in Bed: As you lie in bed, mentally review three things that happened that day that you're grateful for. Recreate them in your mind and really absorb how they make you feel. The sensation of gratitude will spread over your entire body, relaxing you. Some people recommend writing down things you're grateful for at night. But at the end of the day, that can feel like too much work. This is something you can do anywhere. Gratitude opens your heart and creates an energy of goodwill and happiness that will ease you into slumber a lot better than focusing on all the things you have o do the next day.

An angel in Primary

On Sunday in Primary the children were learning the Christmas song "Angels We Have Heard On High". Try as I could, this little angel would not stand still for a good shot. She was enthralled with her wings. It was very sweet.

The Boat Shed & the new Manette Bridge

On Friday Fred and I went to a late lunch at the Boat Shed in Bremerton. We wanted a good view of the new Manette bridge. A vast improvement over the 80 year bridge that has served our city. By the time we finished the clouds rolled in and rained and rained. This was the beautiful sunlight when we started our lunch.

Fall Cleaning

We had to buy a new electric blanket this year. Installing made it obvious that I needed to vacuum out from behind the headboard.

Clinching cheeks here.

Thanksgiving decorations

This is my exerted effort to decorate this Thanksgiving Season. I have my Thanksgiving CLOTH tablecloth on the table, my pilgrims on the front door and what I call a napkin holder that Scott made for me in cub scouts with Kris Fry. Whew - I'm tired.

A nostalgic journey

The couple in the middle are the reason for our road trip to Spokane the last weekend in October. Annalisa & Ben were sealed in the Spokane Temple.

What makes it nostalgic is this is the Temple that our daughter Shannon and her husband Brian were sealed in on December 30, 2004
Unfortunately both Fred and I forgot our camera so we had to buy a disposable one at Wal Mart. It was hard to know if we were ever getting ourselves in the pictures. Kind of frustrating after perfecting our self portrait posing.

Lots of family photos were taken at this spot.

This is the bridge at Manito Park where Shannon & Brian had many wedding photos taken.

This is also the grounds where more photos were taken.

Despite the rain, I tried to recreate one of Shannon's poses here.

This photo is dedicated to Scott. Beginning the spring of his Freshman year, we traveled to Central Washington University for Scott to perform at State Solo & Ensemble. He qualified every year to compete. All four years on the tuba and the other three on the tenor saxophone. His senior year he placed 2nd on the sax. This is the music building.

That is the end of our Eastern Washington road trip.

the coolest thing

Strange you may be thinking.. but this was THE COOLEST thing ever. Yesterday I went to Seaport Salon & Spa to take advantage of my rewards $50 certificate for a spa treatment.....and added a paraffin dip to my manicure plus hot stone massage....they pull out this contraption and I was duly impressed. I always wonder how dirty the wax dips must be that they use at the "other" places I frequent....well this is a one time use paraffin dip machine. They have these hand shaped baggies with the wax in them that they put in this chamber, add some kind of heating pouch and then close it up. Soon it steaming like this picture. Remove the hand baggies and slip your hand in. .... TaDa instand melted paraffin CLEAN!!! never been touched by another human hand.

Let me add some particulars if you are interested... Spa manicure $32, hot stone massage additional $15 (not worth it), paraffin dip addidtion $15. Seaport Salon treats me like royalty...it's great. It helps that I go there monthly if not more to buy or get services. If you ever go, tell them I sent you!!!

My final project

This is the earring holder I made for a Relief Society project. Shannon shared this idea with me. I had to resort to PINK because it is simply the best color EVER!!!!!!!

Fall colors

I love the colors of the fall season. This is one of our new little lace leaf maples. We hope to get it planted one of these weekends in our front yard planter.

recipes

The Pumpkin Pudding dessert was a little bit more favored.....I'm pretty sure I baked the other dessert too long. I was afraid to pull it out after it had baked according to the recipe. I am positive it should have been gooey. It's basically a dump cake.

So the Pumpkin Pudding Dessert recipe is:
Crust: 1/2 cup of each of the following: flour, crushed graham crackers, oatmeal, brown sugar, milk and butter (I melted it, but I suppose you could just cut it together) Bake at 350 for 15 minutes
Custard: 2 cups canned pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1 can evaporated milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt. Pour over baked crust and bake for 20 minutes
Topping: 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 T butter (again I melted the butter, but I'm not sure now that is the best method) crumble this mixture over the custard and bake for 20 more minutes. I test this recipe like a pumpkin pie - knife inserted comes out clean.

Pumpkin Dessert (Dump cake)
1 large can pumpkin
1/2 tsp salt
1 can condensed sweetened milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 yellow cake mix - dry
Combine the above ingredients and put into a 9x13 pan. Add one package dry yellow cake mix (crumble the cake mix on top of the pumpkin mixture). Melt two sticks of butter and drizzle over the cake mix. Add one cup of chopped nuts on top of it. Bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Homemaking continued....

This weekend is our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. Tomorrow after classes are held during the first hour of Primary, we will be gathering all the primary workers to enjoy a buffet of everything pumpkin. These are my two offerings. The closest pumpkin dessert is one that we use to make for several years back in the olden days of daytime Homemaking. We always had a nice Thanksgiving luncheon which included this pumpkin pudding dessert. The one behind it is a dessert that I ate at a Homemaking Day while living in Japan back in 1986. It was the first pumpkin dessert I ever had that made me melt. I have never been a pumpkin dessert person, but this changed my life. I just hope that it tastes as good as I remember it.

I feel very creative when I "stage" my photo shoots now. How artistic is that?

My Pampered Chef large measuring mixing bowl.

nesting at age 54?

Sunday's dinner salad. I love red peppers, sliced almonds, cranberries, carrots and spring mix with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan cheese on my salads. This is a recipe I have made a couple of times. It actually calls for bowtie pasta, but I didn't have any. Sweet italian sausage, red peppers and 1/2 cup of vegetable soup broth. Easy yet so yummy.

This is a loaf of rustic bread that I made from the dough I came home with from a bread class I took. It's quite delicious. We have been eating way too much bread in the last week. I especially like mine slathered with butter!

My first creative project in ages: This is my baby bracelet from when I was born. I was searching the house for PINK.

This is an earring holder frame project that my daughter Shannon shared with me. I tried to find embellishments that would go with the colors in my bedroom, but everything I found made me think "old lady" so I reverted back to my favorite color PINK. This was a charm that was part of a "happy gift" from my Ross Lake trip.

My work station: my ironing board. Those scissors were given to me by my grandma Waldron when I first started sewing at age 15. She said every seamstress needs a sharp pair of small scissors.

I had a great weekend of creativity and nesting. It felt GREAT! I want more.