Snow Day!

This is the only way I like snow. As it is falling, and I am INSIDE!!!

Daemyan and the dogs went out and played while I fed the horses, so they were out just long enough to come in and make a wet mess in the back room! I guess I'm just a spoil sport, I hate cleaning up wet messes! I wonder if my mom felt like that when it snowed?



It's a Dog's Life...

See what I mean?

Yes, he's alive!

No, Peanut's eyes don't really look like that!

Buddy imitating Max

See?

Peanut calls it a night with her ball...finally.......

Max apparently doesn't want me to unload the last bail of hay...

Nope!

So much for help with getting Max out of the truck!

Christmas Eve 2011

We had a pretty quiet Christmas Eve.
I  am not complaining!
Dan, Sandra and the kids showed up around 4:00, Carl came a little earlier and Don showed up after everyone was gone. (That's Don for ya!)
I got a few pictures taken before my batteries went dead. Thankfully I was able to use Sandra's new camera to take pictures but couldn't upload them to my computer for some strange reason. Hopefully, I'll have more to post when I get them from Sandra.

***Note to self. Self, don't forget to charge your batteries and don't forget your camera today!***

We go to mom and dad's today for Christmas dinner, so hopefully I won't have any camera mishaps!

Here is Dayla sporting her new outfit from grandma Deanna. (Please excuse one of the dog's behinds that also made it into the picture!) She  glammed it up with a Jack-O-Lantern tattoo on her hand! I really had to work hard to get this picture. She was hungry and wanted to make faces. :)

Carl got to snuggle with Corbin by the fire. I don't know who was enjoying it more! Corbin looked so cute with his mom's Santa hat, his adorable little slippers and huge blue eyes!

I took this picture of our tree with the flash, so the lights aren't very noticeable. I kept it simple this year and didn't do bulbs, just ornaments collected over the years. I also didn't put too many ornaments towards the bottom of the tree because of dogs, cats and kids.

This morning, I contemplated Christmas's past and tried to imagine Christmas's future. The season is so full of activity no matter how much I try to simplify. Stopping to contemplate is usually not an option! In the midst of the chaos, I tried to slow down and take time to actually enjoy the season. I took my time decorating, and actually didn't finish until yesterday. I bought a box of cards to finish off my Christmas card list. (However, I believe that I actually got about 2 dozen made!) I made a batch of Nutella fudge with Sea Salt to satisfy my need to try a new recipe. Very quick and easy. My plans for all the other cookies I was going to bake fell by the wayside and instead, we enjoyed some cookies we received  as gifts as well as store bought cookies. I spent a couple days in Seattle helping Miles in his shop. Although he thought I was helping him out, it was actually a huge blessing for me!*wink*
Life changes, kids grow, grand kids come and they grow! Unfortunately, I'm growing older too and I've had to change and adjust traditions and activities to better meet mine and the needs of other family members. Change is painful, but good. It keeps us open and flexible...right?!

Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!!!

Daemyan 2009

Don and Daemyan 2011

Still working on my cards!

I hope to have them finished by this weekend so I can send them off on Monday. We'll see!
I have about a dozen made. Instead of using only scraps, which I had originally planned on, I am doing a combination of scraps and recycling.
I have a box full of cards from Christmases past that didn't quite make the cut and I am repurposing them. for example, a slightly crooked greeting might be cut out and adhered to a different card etc.
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun.

This card started out as a silver embossed tree. I didn't like the way the embossing had turned out so I never used the card. So. I got rid of the tree that was on the the silver, cut out an angel and adhered it to the silver scalloped oval, painted it in (a whole other story!), added a punched border to the left side and adhered it to what the other side of the paper looks like (striped) and than to a white base.

This card was also a smaller size with an ugly mustard oval in the middle with a sentiment. YUK! I used a pretty vintage tag in the middle instead and added some gold cord and adhered it to a pear green base.

I wish i had taken before and after pictures, which I am going to start doing. Well, back to work!

Tis the Season

Time to get out my Christmas stamps and get to work!

I don't know, maybe I don't have a large enough selection....JUST KIDDING!

Christmas cards have always been the most fun for me to do, so I probably have more Christmas stamps than any other theme. The first drawer on the left, as well as all the drawers on the right, and all of the stamps on top are Christmas stamps. There is a mixture of rubber wood mounted, foam, acrylic, photo polymer and wheels. Some are well loved, others used once and some, not at all (yet!).

There are nativity scenes, baby Jesus, Santa, a whole ton of snowmen, which are my faves along with angels, cats, dogs, mice, birds, holly, reindeer, Elsybelles (adorable little girl), Christmas trees, bulbs, mailboxes, bicycles, you name it!

For the last few years, I have been trying to use only scraps of paper (except for the base of the card) to make my collection. This actually has turned out to be a lot of fun, as it encourages me to be more creative. It is fun to come up with new color or pattern combinations that I normally wouldn't think of putting together, and the nice thing is that the paper is usually cut to size!

Some years, I have mass produced the same card. Other years, I've made variations of a theme or variations to many different themes, and other years I have actually bought cards (YIKES!). But for now, I want to challenge myself to try and use up the trillions of little bits and pieces that I already have to come up with some unique and hopefully cute cards! I'm actually enjoying the challenge!

However humble my cards might be, they are made with a lot of love and thought for the recipient, even if the recipient has no idea what my creative process was at the time!

Part II

I thought that I would finish my post on Sue and Lupe's big day before it is their 1st year anniversary!!!
Well, this is what their guests were treated to, as they walked up the driveway to the "big tent".

I just love those balloons! It just makes the event so special and welcoming for guests!

There were also balloons at the walkway leading up to the barn.

And of course, everyone knows that if there is a horse around, it will draw little girls like magnets.

Emmy was surrounded by little girls most of the day and she seemed to enjoy all the attention!

Sue couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, even though it was COLD!

The BBQ truck arrived and set up to feed the masses. Please notice the beautiful split rail fence that Lupe put up from logs that had fallen on the property. ***sigh***

I was so happy to see some old friends from our Northwest Reining Association. None of us are showing horses at the moment, and it was fun to talk about the good old times! We are all, including Sue, charter members of NWRA. We have been there right from the foundation of the club and spent many MANY hours getting it off the ground. We are all happy to hear that it is still going strong, as we all put tons of blood, sweat and tears into that club!

Jeannie, Al, Tony and Kim

This is the best shot I got of the toast. There were people crowding all around and I had to do a bit of cropping and editing to lighten the picture. Sue toasted to "the best thing she even won at the Casino!", to which all the women wanted to know which Casino and were all heading there ;)

A good time was had by all......

............................especially Daemyan when he finally go to get into the hot tub!

These were actually taken Sunday morning. I think that by the time he got in on Saturday night, I was not able to find my camera. Well, better than not being able to find my car, right???

Sue and Lupe's BBQ, Part I

One of my longtime BFF's had a wedding reception BBQ at her home on Saturday.
I can safely say that everyone had a great time, including DGS, because he was off with all the other kids playing in the field on their property.
 
I went up to help her set up on Friday and tried to document the process in pictures, but unfortunately, you get busy and forget :-(  so I don't have a lot ...You should be able to click on them to make them larger!

When I arrived, the tent guys were just starting to set it up, so I got to visit with Sue and another one of her friends for a while before actually getting to work. That was kinda nice and involved wine and pizza. ;-)

front view

rear view

So, after much visiting and wine drinking, strategically planning our every move, we started to set up.

This involved laying down carpet scraps in the dirt and covering them up with straw.

angels watching over us , here.

Sue's son, Brandon and his wife Kat were there as well as her other son, Chad, and his girlfriend Leslie. Cool kids!

Even Jack, one of her senior fur babies "helped".

After the straw was spread out, we set up the tables and chairs.

 Lots of them.....

Each table got a red plastic tablecloth, covered by a white linen tablecloth, a mirror in the middle with a candle. We then scattered little red and clear rocks around and atop of the mirror.

Anyway, part II coming up later!