"Tomorrow is Christmas, It's Practically Here!"

We have several traditions we like to follow every year in the few days leading up to Christmas. One of them involves reading Christmas stories every night during the month, another involves watching the movies in our Christmas collection. One that we have done every year since the year we were married is to make sugar cookies, cut them with cookie cutters and decorate them. This year Tamara spent the day of the 23rd with us, and she got roped into the mayhem.

Here are a few of the resulting cookie designs. (Mine!) 

After we bake and decorate them, everyone gets to pick a favorite to put on the Santa plate. The rest get eaten over the next few days.

Our Christmas Eve traditions have remained fairly constant. After supper, we gather to read the Christmas Story out of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and 3rd Nephi. Then we say a family prayer, hang our stockings, put out the Santa plate and then coerce the kids into bed. Then we climb into bed ourselves to await the arrival of morning. We usually hear the kids scurrying back and forth most of the night, keeping each other awake, until we decide to put them out of their misery, usually about 6:30 am.

Today has been pretty typical of our Christmas Eve days. We finished wrapping presents, slid them under the tree,

remade our bed, put away the clean clothes and fixed pizza rolls for lunch. The kids have spent the afternoon watching "Muppet Christmas Carol" and the afternoon is waning. Soon we'll be finishing dinner and starting into our evening rituals.

"Happy Christmas to All, and to all a Good Night!"

"Soon it will be Christmas Day"

I've had an interesting week, capped by a wonderful anniversary day celebration yesterday with my sweetheart.  We've been married 22 years now, on the way to eternity, and it's been a fun ride.

We are inching ever closer to Christmas, and were able to finish our shopping yesterday. It's so nice to have crossed the last things off the list. We've gotten a few wrapped gifts under the tree, and there will be some more. Scott arrived in the wee hours of this morning, and Tamara will be arriving Monday morning. Jessie and Todd are driving to Colorado next week to spend Christmas with his family. It will be good when we are all where we need to be. I'm praying for safe travels for all.

The Christmas cards have been trickling in from loved ones, and while I love reading all of the messages, I really appreciated the one from Mom and Dad. They are serving a mission in the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor's Center, and are enjoying their time of service. Mom's message in their card was an eloquent reminder that it is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, which we celebrate and remember at this holy season. So I add my testimony to hers..."For unto us a Child is Born, unto us a Son is given..."

Addicted

I have a confession to make. I don't enjoy cooking. I cook whenever I HAVE to so that my family doesn't starve. I can follow a recipe and turn out a good result. I don't live in my kitchen and putter and invent new recipes. I have discovered, though, that I am addicted to cookbooks and recipes. I love to pore over cookbooks, they catch my eye in the store check-outs and on store shelves. When I'm sitting in doctors' waiting rooms, I'll peruse the mags for fun, new recipes, and copy them out if I have time.

My biggest weakness, lately, is Taste of Home cookbooks. I discovered them about a year and a half ago when we were at Sam's Club one day. There was a display of books and among them was a cookbook entitled "Simple and Delicious" by Taste of Home. It had a 12 week plan of menus with the shopping list organized by week. I was enthralled. I'd been cooking the same recipes for the 20 years of my marriage, and had hit a wall. I didn't want to prepare the same dishes from the same recipes. Summer break was staring me in the face and I snatched up that cookbook and began making out my grocery lists. Not all of the recipes were do-overs, but there were enough in the book to keep me motivated for the entire summer. It was wonderful! I was hooked, and began scouring the stores for more of their cookbooks.

I have about 6 of them, now. When I see a recipe in one of the books that I want to try, I put a sticky note on the page. My cookbooks are bristling with sticky notes. Again, not every recipe catches my eye or appeals to my tastebuds, but our range has been expanded. The most wonderful thing about these cookbooks is the pictures. Full color photos of nearly every recipe. When I described my experience to Jennifer, she laughed and called it gastro-porn. She's right. I'm reading them for the pictures.

This is my cookbook shelf.

I also follow a blog titled Our Best Bites. (There's a link to it, right there on the right of the screen.) It's written by two young Mormon girls and I love the way they think. I've tried several of their recipes, and I'm hooked. They have fun recipes, helpful hints and lots of good pictures. (Wink, wink)

Several years ago I had also collected and combined recipes from my mom and my siblings and compiled a Hillman Clan cookbook.

This was a Chrismas gift for family members that year. In the interim, my cookbook had become tattered, spilled, spoiled and nearly ruined, so 3 years ago I reprinted it and put it into a binder with sheet protectors. I've since given copies of the new version to my kids as they've left home. The beauty of the binder format is that it's expandable. There is also a pocket in the front where I can stick new recipes as I find them. My current project is to sort through the odd recipes in the pocket and organize, type out and print them to fit into the sheet protectors in my family cookbook. It's a project I had planned to do while I recuperate from surgery. It'll take a while, but I'm enjoying it. I'm also getting hungry...

I've also discovered that cooking is a lot more fun when you have, in addition to a good recipe, the tools, knives and equipment to make food prep easier. I invested in a nice set of knives early this spring, and a couple more tools and appliances like a rice steamer, several sizes of crock pots, and assorted other items. Now, while I still might not LOVE to cook, it's becoming more enjoyable for me. I don't have to ask the dreaded "What sounds good for dinner" question. By the way, tonight is "Chicken a la King" from the "Busy Family Cookbook" page 95.

Star Light, Star Bright

This is the tree in a better picture. For years I've loved red lights on the tree, but to do the Nativity Tree, I just wanted white lights, to simulate starlight.

Pretty thing, isn't it?

'Tis the Season to Be Joyful

It is a sad fact that Christmas Tree pictures do not turn out well in the daylight. I don't know why I bother, but here we are.

We put our tree up Saturday afternoon. It is the Nativity tree with some of the ornaments I made last month, as well as the ones I collected last year. Do these look familiar?



The tree makes my heart happy.

Here is the completed Joy with the matching star I made last year.

It's snowing/sleeting/raining outside, but warm enough to melt a lot of the snow that fell last week while the kids were trying to get home.

I'm still working on Christmas Cards, but made good progress last week, so I should have them ready to mail next Monday.

Happy December!

I'm working on Christmas cards today. Because I still make some by hand, I have to get an early start, but this wasn't as early as I wanted it to be. They are going at a good clip, though. I have all the major parts cut and trimmed, and can probably start the assembly tomorrow. There are still small parts that I have to punch out of cardstock, but that won't take too much time. My prototype looks pretty good, which makes me feel better.

I put out a little bit of Christmas decor this afternoon, and can put out more when my sweetie brings the boxes in from the garage after work. Current song on the IPod: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". That pretty much wraps it up right there.

Crafty Again

At long last, after what seems like a very long time, I've actually gotten to sit down and craft something besides meals. It feels good. I enjoy working with my hands, and when I don't get to play I feel a little frustrated. Here is my latest project. The wood letter blocks are from "Cut It Out", paper is from "Sweetwater" and "Making Memories". Ribbon is something out of the ribbon jar, and was a gift wrapper in a previous life. The jingle bells are from "The Bead Hive".

I'm SOOO ready for tomorrow. I love putting out the December decor.

Bring It On

The kids all left yesterday for their respective homes, and it got mighty quiet around here yesterday afternoon. It was the perfect opportunity to look ahead to the Christmas season, and start making a few plans. I was able to unlock most of the Christmas music on the computer and synch my IPod with Christmas music, so it's been playing most of today, and I started another craft project. It's another wood letter project from "Cut It Out", and I did the staining of the letters this afternoon. It's my goal to trace, cut out and adhere the papers to the letters tomorrow, then I can take a picture of the finished product. I wanted to work on this while I was recuperating,  but Thanksgiving came right in the middle of my recovery. I've been pretty busy the last two weeks, and it's worn me out. Luckily I had a follow-up doctor appointment this morning and my doctor assured me that I'm doing well in my recuperation. She also reminded me that I had major surgery and I still need to rest and not work too hard.

While Jessie and Todd were here, we found a few things we want to make for the baby, so I have a few future projects to work on after the first of the year. I also have some maternity sewing to do for Jessie, if I can swing it. It'll be hard to sew for her long distance, but I'll try a couple of things. It's not the sewing that is the problem, but not having her here to try things on.

I bought a couple more tiny nativity sets this afternoon, and I can't wait to put them out. I love planning for the holidays, and I'm very ready to finish November tomorrow and get started with December.

Whew!

I'm not sure when Thanksgiving Day ceased to be a holiday in its own right, and became just a milestone to be reached, but while I did enjoy the day yesterday, I'm glad it's over. Maybe it's because there is so much food involved, and I don't enjoy cooking. Maybe because yesterday was one of the very few times that we've hosted and I knew that the bulk of the responsibility for EVERYTHING rested on me. Maybe because I'm still recuperating, and while I'm feeling really well, I still do too much and tire very easily. Maybe because of what looms ahead. Whatever the reason, I love Thanksgiving but I'm glad it's over.

We did have a wonderful day. All of the kids are home, and it's been fun to have them here. Mom and dad came to have dinner with us, and we very much enjoyed having them here. Everyone did help with the dinner, and it came off without a hitch, and right on schedule. It was also delicious. Of course, I forgot to take any pictures of us or the food, so there are no pictures in a  post AGAIN. Maybe I can catch some of us eating leftovers. Or pie for breakfast, or gathered playing games.

There is much for which I'm thankful, and we are very blessed.

Let us eat pie!

And the List Goes On...

I keep thinking of more things for which I am thankful. Today is a good day. I'm feeling well, and that is good. I take good health for granted, and when I'm feeling low, I try to remember to be thankful for a strong, healthy body. It's been reassuring to have undergone a whole slew of medical tests within the last two weeks and find out that the results have been overwhelmingly in the positive. Even a minor, temporary blip on a scan turned out to be nothing, which made my knees go weak with gratitude. I have realized that when our knees go weak and watery, it is to give us the opportunity to thank our loving Father for blessings small and large. So, high on my thankful list is strong healthy bodies for myself and my family members, large, medium, small and smallest.

I'm thankful for a home which houses and shelters my family. It's a small house, not at all pretentious, but it is ours (and the bank's, but they are so willing to share with us) and as our first, especially precious to me. It provides a place for those I love to gather and spend time and create memories.

I'm thankful for my husband's job. It gives him something to do everyday so that he can come home to me in the evenings. It provides us with our home, food, beds and clothing. It is a big blessing, especially in these uncertain times, and I'm glad for it.

My list is longer than this blog posting, and grows more every day, and I am thankful to have a long list of blessings. Grazie a Dio.

"There's So Much to Be Thankful For"

I just looked at the calendar and realized it's only been two weeks since my medical hullaballoo began. What a busy two weeks! I met with my new doctor on the 1st of November, and she was able to answer so many of the questions about my health that have plagued me for years. Some of the answers involved new medication, which I'm more than happy to have, and other answers involved surgery, which was scheduled for the next week, on the 9th of November. It's been a week since the surgery, and as with most major surgeries, it's going to be a long, slow recovery, but I'm feeling very good and am confident that my recuperation will be a successful one. I just need to remember to take things very slowly, not push myself to do too much, too soon and keep taking the meds.

We are coming up on the home stretch before Thanksgiving, and I'm so looking forward to having my whole family home for the holiday. Kids will start trickling in this Friday, and everyone will be here by next Tuesday night. We even get to have our niece, Laura Jean, spend the holiday with us, so we're just going to rope her into the mix. (The big advantage to having 6 other able-bodied people in the house will be that they'll all be a help and won't need to be waited upon hand and foot--they can wait on me!) We've also invited Mom and Dad to have dinner with us, so we'll have a whole pile of people around the dinner table.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I begin my list of things for which I am thankful--A beautiful, loving and supportive family; having the priesthood in my home; modern medical technology and doctors who know how to use it; ibuprofen; the opportunity to be a grandma--soon! There are, of course, many more things, but these head the list. I'll mention more in the posts to come.

Catch You on the Flip Side

I've had some health issues come up recently that I've been dealing with this last week, and it has literally consumed my time and attention. Everything is going to be fine, but I'm lying low for the next week or so, and probably won't be posting for a few days. All is well, all is well.

Third Time's the Charm

This is the complete repair of our closet. About a week after we did the first repair of our closet, Tad noticed the bolts were pulling out of the wall, but nothing had fallen down--yet. Based on our previous experience, it would probably have been in the middle of the night again. Drastic measures were called for, and Tad cut 4 wood braces,

used butterfly toggle bolts to bolt them into the closet wall, and then used more big bolts to support the actual closet rod brackets. Those closet rods are NOT coming down now.

Thanks, again, honey.

So Nice

We replaced our living room window a couple of years ago with a new, better, more insulative model, and have loved it--on the inside. The outside wasn't finished around the edges. The insulation was hanging out, there were gaps, it just didn't look pretty.

(The bottom of the window is complete, the side is not yet.)

Well, my sweet Tad has again worked his magic around the house and now we have this.

Very nice. A tiny bit of caulk will seal those joins and keep out the weather. Now we know how to finish the bedroom windows, too.

Witchy, Witchy, Screamy, Screamy

Today is Saturday, Oct 30, so for us, it's Halloween. Tad, Hailey and I picked out our pumpkins last week, Hailey has her Halloween wig and face paint ready to apply, we bought our traditional pumpkin face pizza from Papa Murphy, we've gutted and carved our jack o'lanterns, baked the sugar cookies and now we are just waiting for the beggars to start knocking at the door.

Have a Happy Halloweenie!

Wash Day

Today is Wednesday, and as such, is my laundry day. I don't  particularly enjoy doing the laundry, but it's not really that hard. Tad carries the basket of clothes to the laundry room before he leaves for work. I have everything close to hand--

An electric, 12 cycle washer, electric 5 cycle tumble dryer, 3 types of laundry detergent, powdered bleach, liquid bleach, fabric softener and stain remover, as well as a clothes rack, a hanging bar and a clothesline to hang things I don't like to put into the dryer. I've been having Hailey do her own laundry for the last year or so, so when I do laundry, it's just for Tad and myself, which usually amounts to 3 loads--whites, colors and jeans. It really isn't that hard to go downstairs, open the washer, put in the laundry additives particular to that load, add the clothes, push the correct button and close the lid. It's not that hard to open the dryer, toss in the clean, wet things, turn a knob and push another button. These machines do all of the hard, heavy work. I just have to load, unload and put away.

Really not hard at all. It's not back breaking, time consuming, hot, heavy work. Not like this.

This is my great grandmother, Emma Edna Croft Freeman. She's my maternal great. I'm not sure exactly how old she is in this picture, but I'm guessing it was taken sometime between 1915 and 1920. Isn't she cute? Note the piles of clothes on the ground next to her feet; the 2 galvanized tubs for rinsing and the HAND wringer washer. She probably thought that it was an improvement over the washboard. I've sure got it easy. I can be done, start to finish, in about 3 hours, with only about 1/2 hour of actual work involved.

I'm done complaining now.

Better

I decided to go ahead and make gingham pillow covers for the futon, and I'm glad I did. The gingham pillow covers match better with the rest of the pillows, and also better with the curtains, foot stool and drum kit cover.

The Cutenesses

I love (I think I start so many of my blog entries with that phrase.) printed paper and cardstock. I love looking at it, shopping for it, collecting it and even, sometimes, using it. This summer I found some paper called the Tree House Collection by Pebbles. I immediately fell in love with it. Then I had the  idea to create books and notebooks and a checkbook cover for my purse, using this paper. I started out with something I call a "Purse Book".

 

My purse book is a little book of lists of things that I need to remember when I'm shopping for things--DVDs we own, library books I want to check out at the library, which sizes of knitting needles I have at the house, clothing sizes for family members--these are just a few of the lists I keep in my book, so I don't have to keep them in my head.

Another necessity in my purse is my "Purse Folder".   

This idea came from Tamara, who got it from a friend of hers. It holds shopping lists, coupons, tithing receipts, store receipts and errand lists. I took the idea and ran with it.

Then I covered a tiny composition book with it. (Thanks, Jen!) 

 

Yay! A place to make notes!

Finally, I made a checkbook cover with it.

 

Now my purse accessories match and I love looking in my purse. 

 

I also have cute purses. Mom and Cheryl gave me this adorable red purse, which I affectionately named "The Luggage", for my birthday. This was actually the purse that inspired the purchase of the paper used for the accessories. It goes perfectly with the little clutch which  holds lip gloss, tylenol, lotion, kleenex and other necessities.

I also bought this darling purse last week at Walmart. Cute, black, rhumba ruffles, I love it.

This yellow purse was a favorite during the summer--bright and sunny and yellow,

and I found this matching yellow wallet as a happy accident at Hallmark.

My purses make me smile, and smiling makes me happy.

Mummy Says, "Happy Halloween"!

This is a little candy jar made from a pint glass jar, strips of muslin torn to about 1.5" wide, glue dots to hold the muslin strips in place, googly eyes and a sharpie pen. Small baby food jars or other condiment jars could also work. For smaller jars, I'd use narrower strips of muslin.

I just wrapped muslin strips around and around the jar, tacking the ends with glue dots and adding more strips until he looked the way I wanted. Then I glued the googly eyes with more glue dots, and drew his mouth with the sharpie pen. He needed some brains, so I filled him with M&M's, but candy corns or anything else works as well.

 



Have a Happy Halloween. Mummy and Dead said so.

Disaster

We were awakened last night by the sound of things falling and falling and falling in our bedroom or bathroom. Tad got up to check and discovered that our closet rods, which we had so lovingly installed a couple of months ago, had all fallen down--pulled the screws right out of the walls. The anchor bolts were apparently NOT.

Now we have big holes in the walls from these screws and anchor bolts, as well as holes from removing the previously installed closet rods and racks. We're a little surprised the anchor bolts didn't hold, but we must not have hit the studs in the walls. We are seriously considering pulling down the sheetrock, finding a way to mark the placement of studs, reinstalling new sheetrock and re-mudding and taping and making it new and lovely. (It would also eliminate the rest of the nasty pink paint in there--the last vestiges of the previous owners' horrible taste in paint colors.) Or we may just decide to repair and reinforce the walls with lumber. We're not sure yet, but something will have to be done, and soon.