My brother has this program on his Mac and it was fun using it. He sent me the photos through email-enjoy!
Dec29
Dec29
Photo Hunt-Messy+ last week
Don’t faint! It’s just a neglected corner near my computer desk. Not seen by many-please don’t chastise me. It holds some eBay stuff, used envelopes (I recycle), a drawing tablet for the computer (birthday gift from a month ago I have yet to try out), paper, etc. I hope to get to this soon-yeah right! It’s the hardest place to clean as someone is always parked at the computer right next to it!
~Update-I actually started to tidy this up! Yes!
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And last week’s topic was ‘light’ and here is my sorry attempt to take outdoor photos on the 27th at Longwood Gardens of multiple lights-only one tree of dozens!
Dec28
Longwood Gardens slideshow
Dec27
Awesome Longwood Gardens
Boy oh boy was it crowded at Longwood Gardens today! We lasted almost 2 hours in the mob, but we mainly went to see the lights, the new children’s garden and the main Christmas display-which we did. My mom is out for a visit and joined us and both Sean and her tried out their new cameras. Here are a few of the 79 shots (wow, I know). I’ll do a slideshow probably tomorrow.
Mom and Sean in the new children’s garden:
Dianne outside children’s garden
The Conservatory decorated for Christmas
A fountain in the children’s garden
Sunshine stained glass window in children’s garden
Gorgeous tablescape with a wintery theme (for Zoey!)
Some of the magnificent lights outside
Dec27
Crash and burn
We’ve all been sleeping in late over the last few days. Staying up until 1-2 is not good for the breadwinner of the family (he is off this week), and it kind of messes up his schedule.
Yesterday turned out to be a gloomy, rainy day. I did get dressed to go shopping and right after I put my boots on, the heavens opened up! Bri and I ran down to McDonald’s a little later to grab a quick dinner and the woman taking the order sounded so different than the usual people working there. Bri got in two orders and the woman said to ‘check the screen’ for the total and that was that. We got up to the pick-up window and the young man there said the woman was on a phone line taking orders for them from North Dakota! Is that weird or what? I think our McDs has so many people working there that use English as their second language, many of the orders are messed up-it’s happened to us a lot lately. We had to add to the order and then forgot a few things as it was.
It cleared up a bit and Bri took me to Peebles department store around 7:30 and I got a few things for 75% off-a Cardinal bird salt (that I wanted) and pepper set and a matching creamer and sugar. We went to Big Lots and their stuff was more picked over.
When I got home I finally watched James Taylor’s ‘One Man Band’ DVD-the show Bri and me saw him perform last October at the Tower Theater. It was up close and personal and a nice way to spend an evening.
Sean and I will probably head over to Longwood Gardens in the late afternoon. My pass expires today (I will probably renew it) and of course the Christmas display is still up. They also have a new children’s garden with special effects like steam and hopping streams of water, just to name a few things. I’ve been watching them build it all year.
Have a great rest of the day!
Dec25
Merry Christmas one and all!
The big day is finally here-well half over. My pot roasts are in the oven and I decided to take a breather. I wanted to see if my friend Barbara was home from the hospital with her new baby, and she was briefly and had to go back again until his blood levels are normal. He’s a precious baby!
I also wanted to upload some Christmas Eve photos. My nephew was hamming it up last night for us all and most are silly shots. My niece had her hair cut shorter and now has Shirley Temple ringlets-so sweet!
We went out to dinner up the road from my mom first. We sat next to a loud table of about 20 which put a damper on our meal. We couldn’t hardly talk to each other and my mom has had hearing issues for a few years and I almost had to shout to her. I noticed one of the owners came and talked to them (like to see how everything was doing), I bet they were getting complaints. It was like a noisy cafeteria in there instead of a nice restaurant. Mom, Sean and I had lobster tail (mom and I had surf and turf) and Jim had chicken and Brian had flounder. The food is really good!
We headed over to my brother’s and visited for an hour. He really did himself proud with the decorations inside and out. Then we went back to mom’s and we opened gifts. She cried when she saw her HP digital camera and printer bundle. She really wanted something special and I am glad I could make her happy. She is suppose to come here today for dinner.
We went to a beautiful midnight mass service in Delaware. The alter and music were truly divine. We hit the sack about 2 am and I was up with the cat at 8:15 and remembered to do the guy’s stockings at 9 am. I am a bit bushed.
My main gift was an emerald necklace in it’s natural form! It’s cool. I’ll have to have Bri take a photo of it. He saw it in a magazine ad while he was waiting on me when I had my procedure done. He also got me a photo frame that is a slideshow of your digital photos. Neat! Sean got me a Celtic cross stitch book, the Sarah Brightman DVD of her Vegas show, and lovely postcards of Pennsylvania (in a book form).
Sean’s main gift was a HP digital camera and he was totally surprised! Yeah! Bri’s main gift was a West Bend coffee/ cappuccino/espresso ‘station’.
I hope you are having splendid days. OX
Christmas cookies:7 layer bars, chocolate chips, coconut cherry, orange macadamia, apricot walnut bars, fudge tarts, Rum raisin cheesecake bars, lemon bars, Russian teacakes and peanut caramel bars (that really didn’t turn out, but they are good).
Then: me and my girl
Sean, Tori and Mom
Ta-da! It’s Kenny and Bri!
WordPress is giving us the ‘snow’ effect for about a week. : )
Dec23
Love/hate cookie baking
I do love making cookies but not when I’m baking down to the wire for a major holiday. I actually went to the grocery store-again!-with Bri so he could get some cheeses and meats for his dad. Every year we give him a food basket. When I got home, I got started on the lemon squares. I had let the butter sit out too long and the bottom part was like icing instead of crumbly. They came out good, but the lemon part separated from the bottom part. I have them really squeezed into a tin, so maybe the two parts will meet again. I also did the macadamia orange cookies and they are delicious! I just assembled a nice variety of cookies in a Chinese take-out container for Mr. Mailman and stuck it in a Christmas Glad bag and out it went to the mailbox. I’ve done that as long as I can remember-cookies for about 4 different carriers now.
I was sitting here thinking that I should make cookies a few times a month and freeze them to have. That way I could try different ones and pick the best for Christmas.
Well off to relax a bit. I was going to tidy up more, but ended up in the bedroom tidying up my clothes-whew-it looked like a cyclone hit!
I slept really well last night as I wasn’t cold for a change! We have some balmy weather and it makes it nicer for sleeping. Someday we will replace the door in the basement that has glass panels in it (that leads to the steps and metal doors) that is directly under our bedroom. It’s cold in the winter!
Congrats to my friend Barbara on the arrival on her new son Arden. Not sure if he was born on the 21st or 22nd. Her husband left a message in her comments yesterday and that’s all we know. Can’t wait to see a photo of him!
Dec22
A little sewing and finishing
Even though I haven’t slept well for a few nights, I decided to get a little sewing out of the way for projects that are due for a lottery (see side bar) and for a Christmas ornament. I never learn my lesson about climbing up and down off my step ladder or squatting too much, so I suffer with a groin pull. I thought sewing would be a quiet activity, though my concentration and mood were a bit off. So I finished a drawstring bag for the Cross stitcher’s lottery that is due for the 31st. I didn’t have too much trouble until I got to the casing stitching and fitting the safety pin through that to find the end. Oy! Anyway, it’s cute and I am glad that’s out of the way.
Snowbunnies by Little Needleworks-Just Cross stitch 2007 ornament issue
And this is The Prairie Schooler cardinal duo I stitched a few months back. It’s on my feather tree.
I have to turn the Amish children and apple tree into a square box top. I just need to find the box. I am sure I have one somewhere! And another piece is a gift I will turn into a flat fold. Hopefully I’ll make them within a few weeks.
My friend Zoey sent me a beautifully quilted piece that she made today. It’s a hot pad. I’ve admired her work for ages (as shown on her blog) and now I get to own something she made. Thanks so much for the lovely gift.
Off to church soon. I hope I don’t take a nap there. ; )
Dec21
Santa Baby
I’ve been an awfully good girl….
There’s one at Kohls…just to let you know… ; )
Update- Ordered the above (white gold-I don’t have any)! It will be a New Year’s gift. Needless to say-yippee! I don’t buy that much good stuff for myself-like once in a blue moon. I saw one similar to this in a tv ad and kept thinking about it. After the events of Nov. 28th (I can’t believe I made it through that day), I deserve a little representation of the universe-this is a galaxy ring. It wasn’t that expensive either. You know I like a bargain.
Sean is home safe and sound and loved the tree and decorations. I have my pre-Christmas jitters a bit today. I did as I said I would do, not do too much. That was the best thing philosophy I could adopt, but I felt like I should be doing something. 🙂
Dec21
Making this the quiet day
Now 6 kinds of cookies is a lot and I can’t believe I want to make 2 more kinds! I must have lemon bars. And then there is the one with those expensive macadamia nuts. I need a breather though. I just can’t do anymore standing on my feet for a day or so. I can’t forget I had that dang procedure only 3.2 weeks ago!
The cookies with the caramel sauce were really sticky and I had to let them set up in the frig. And then I used cheap-o aluminum foil-don’t use that. I have to sit down and make sure the cut bars don’t have tiny pieces stuck to them. I had some in my mouth-I was lucky I don’t have many metal fillings left in there! : )
<—Go check out Alexis Stewart’s cookies and candies on either her mom’s blog or her ‘Whatever’ blog! She really goes to town with some extraordinary treats and packaging! She obviously only makes them and doesn’t eat them-skinny! I sample mine to make sure they are good. That’s usually enough for me until I want a cup of cocoa or tea…and a cookie!
Sean is coming home in the afternoon. His big present came today. I can’t say what it is as I’m getting mom the same thing and hers didn’t come, though hers has an accessory. If you want to guess in my comments what these are, go ahead. Think Longwood Gardens…..or any neat place…..
I have a list here:
Christmas stuff in the bedroom-need to go through stuff I purchased last year at then JoAnn’s sale.
Tidy up near sofa, eBay box and bookcase area (yes, books are on the floor too). The sofa area is doable-not sure of the other places. See all these books? They are the ones I had to move back in September. I think I could have hurt myself doing this.
What’s sad is that one full shelf is all Christmas books-crafts, decorations, those lovely Southern Living ones, and I didn’t open one of them this year. Not to say I won’t during the next year when I want to do more crafting!
Next on the list:
Finish cookies (not today!)
Fudge-takes 5 minutes. I just read that someone makes it the way I do, on the stove, and they whip it before pouring it in the pan! I’ll have to find their post about that again.
Christmas card for a family from our church who was concerned about me and the procedure. I was really touched that they sent me a card.
Bows on gifts-I told you why.
And I forgot to put my mini Belsnickle Santas out! I have to see if their display case can be hung up. I don’t have a ton of table space.
Thanks to all who commented on my decorations. I looked at 100 blogs-no wonder my eyes are tired-and I didn’t see any other snowbabies-yet.
Check out my ‘board of fame’-family, friends, Make A Child Smile kids and their thank you notes, pictures I like, postcards, my 30th reunion name tag! Can you spot the first photo of Bri and me taken in one of those photo booths (on the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ)?
Try to take it easy!
Collages & Creative Goodness 