In Loving Memory

My dear sweet Grandpa Terry passed away this morning. I have such wonderful memories of him. He was a kind, quiet, humble man. He suffered a terrible fall on Friday and has been unconscious since Friday night. Early this morning he slipped away quietly and peacefully.

Ferdin Foch Terry
March 25, 1919 - November 30, 2008

I think I was 19 when we took this picture together.

Grandpa was a wonderful knitter and tailor. He knit this white blanket for Miss S when she was born, and he made this dolly for me when I was probably only 8 or 10.

His organ graces my front room. I remember countless hours playing this organ when I would spend the night with him and Grandma.


And his sewing table graces my bedroom and my heart.

His sewing machine is also on its way to me. A loving gift from him that was sent just a few days ago, before we knew this weekend would be his last. His legacy will live on through his descendants and he will always be remembered. Today I am especially grateful to believe in the eternal nature of families and to know that Grandpa is reunited with his family and loved ones that have passed on before. I know it was a glorious morning for him to be with his beloved wife again, my Grandma, who passed away more than 20 years ago.

Ribbon Giveaway

Remember THIS post? Well I've finally unburied my desk enough to get around to mailing out some of this lovely ribbon to you all!!! But I need addresses for some of you:

Treasures of joy
Andrea
Jess (I need your new address:))
sam D
Bonnie
LaurenSmash (I need your new address:)

I believe I have addresses for everyone else:):) Ladies - please email me at raeshadrz at yahoo dot com

Black Friday

I love Black Friday....not for the shopping...not for the craziness....but because each year I celebrate Black Friday by staying in my pajamas as long as possible, lounging around and getting the house ready for Christmas.
I didn't get out of bed until 10:00 am. Nice:) I didn't get out of my pajamas until 5:00 pm (and only because we were having the missionaries over for dinner). I worked on a few Christmas crafts, and started deep cleaning the office/craft room/crap room. Right now it looks atrocious, but I've already thrown out two bags of trash and I have a huge pile of Goodwill stuff. I'll work on it a little bit more tonight then finish it up tomorrow.
But as for right now, I'm going to lay on the couch and watch movies with Miss S.

Week of Gratitude - Day Five

My heart is full today with gratitude for so many things. For my beautiful family - Hubby and Miss S. For a loving extended family. For kind friends and neighbors. For the scriptures. For a home, jobs and always having enough of everything. For freedom of speech and freedom of religion. For the beautiful rain that is falling outside. For my abilities. For hope. For peace.

Week of Gratitude - Day Four

I am thankful for my friends - near and far, old and new, best friends and casual acquaintances, and blog buddies. You are all so dear to me!!!

Miss S and I spent the evening deep cleaning her room. We are sending three garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill and filled another garbage bag with trash. Her room looks great! These are new (vintage) sheets I just for for her bed...isn't that pattern awesome!!!

And here's another funny to build upon my thankfulness for humor - I was talking to an elderly attorney in town today and at the end of the conversation he wished me a "Happy Easter" I laughed ALL afternoon at that one.

Week of Gratitude - Day Three

Today I am thankful for my sense of humor. My ability to laugh long and hard, sometimes inappropriately. Like today when I got a fit of giggles in the middle of the work day. I don't even remember what set me off. Or my being so prepared and making Thanksgiving cards last month....now I have no idea where I put them. Instead of being pissed off I choose to laugh it off and instead focus on the fact that I have my cards ready for NEXT Thanksgiving!!!

Let's share some embarrassing moments so we can all laugh together. Here's TWO of mine - I have far too many than I should.

My friend up the street had just put in new curtains over her sliding glass door. And they puddled so nicely on the floor like was all the rage a few years ago. Well I got myself tangled up in them, fell over, and took the whole curtain, the whole curtain rod and a big chunk of the wall where the rod had been anchored in with me. All in front of about 10 other ladies from church. I already feel like a dork in most of these ladies' presence and this was just the icing on the cake. Thankfully most of them have since moved.

Or how about when I was playing the organ in Sacrament meeting last month and the settings in the organ had been changed without my knowledge. I started playing the Sacrament hymn, hardly any sound came out, I got flustered trying to change the settings and play at the same time, then I lost my place in the hymn. It took three verses for me to finally recover!!!! That was fun. Especially when the organ is on the stand so everyone gets to see my completely red face.

So come on, fess up and share one of your embarrassing or funny stories and we'll share our gratitude for humor together.

Week of Gratitude - Day Two

Today I am grateful for my beautiful daughter, Miss S. She makes me laugh, keeps me humble, strengthens my patience, keeps life interesting and always fills my heart with love.

I found this note from her on my desk when I got home from work today.

Yesterday at church we were praying. I had my arms folded, my eyes closed and my head bowed. Miss S leaned over and ever so gently kissed my cheek. It's those moments that I will cherish forever.

Week of Gratitude - Day One

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens, and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to his name;
He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side;
All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised!
O Lord, make us free!

Today I am grateful for this hymn, a beautiful reminder of Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I have the freedom to worship the Savior, that I am a daughter of God, and that my faith is a part of my daily life.

Oh My

Perhaps the cutest flannel I have ever seen in my entire life.


From JoAnne's - 1.5 yards came home with me to be made into pajama pants:)

Rockin the Gloves

OH man...this has been a tiring week. I have worked last almost everyday getting ready for trial next week. Today I worked from 7:40 am until 6:15 pm and I am pooped!! Actually make that POOPED!!! I can barely keep my eyes open and I hear my pillow calling my name.

This is going to be me in about five minutes.


But before I pass out...I used the pattern in this book to make my fingerless gloves. I LOVE this book - clear and concise and lots of great projects. I pretty much want to make one of everything in it. And yes, that is my messy desk in the background. Tomorrow is cleaning day:)





I'm 100% positive I'm breaking the law by posting this:) But oh well. If you click on the picture it should be large enough to read clearly.

Sick and Tired

I'm doing so good on my NaBloPoMo!!!!!! But I'm exhausted, sick and worn out from this cold and trial prep at work this week. So this is it for tonight:) I'll be back tomorrow with the pattern for the fingerless gloves I made:) Have a great night!

New Gloves

Something about being sick just makes me want to hunker down on the couch and crochet. So tonight after pack meeting I did just that. Presenting a new pair of fingerless gloves for me - started and finished in the time it took me and Miss S to watch AFV. I can't wait to try these out at work. My boss suffers from never ending hot flashes so even in the dead of winter we have the air conditioner on. It makes it really hard to type in the mornings when your fingers are ice cubes.
PS it is INCREDIBLY hard to take a decent picture of both of your own hands:) Neither hubby nor Miss S could be bothered to help me out:)

Snarfly

NO, not Miss S - me:) My eyes are running, my nose is dripping and I think I have finally succumbed to my first winter cold. yuk. i think i'm drugging myself up and going to bed early.

Miss S had her school picture retakes today and I thought she looked darling:)

Have I Done Any Good?

I may have shared this hymn before, but the words came to mind again today when I received an email from a friend (you'll see why in a minute:)

Have I Done Any Good?

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

Then wake up and do something more
Than dream of your mansion above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love.

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today.
’Tis noble of man to work and to give;
Love’s labor has merit alone.
Only he who does something helps others to live.
To God each good work will be known.

So for today....here's a little good that you can do:

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Copycat

I am such a copycat....I have been drooling over these mini journals for the past month now but I'm too cheap to buy them. So I did the next best thing. Blatantly copied them:)



I love it so much and I have a feeling several of these will make an appearance come Christmas. Here's what I wrote on the first page:

dear diary

today

15 November 2008

i love the smell of

brownies in the oven

i love the sound of

miss S and C-bug playing

i love the taste of

diet Dr. Pepper

i love the sight of

freshly folded laundry

i love the feel of

clean sheets

Super Saturday

Today was our annual crafting day at church...it was a lot of fun and we had about 40 women participating.


Here are two of the projects I worked on (that's a mirror in the mdidle of the I am a child of God plaque). The recipe board is magnetic...super cute!! These will both be Christmas presents. Speaking of which it's almost time to start wrapping!!!! YEAH!!! I love getting everything out that I purchased and made throughout the year, taking stock of what else I need to do, starting our Christmas letter, and wrapping gifts. My big kick off for that is the day after Thanksgiving. I love Black Friday - I never hardly even leave the house and instead just spend the day lounging about getting ready for Christmas.


Even Moki did some crafting:)

For the rest of the day I am doing some serious housework. I've pretty much neglected my duties the last two weeks and it's finally time to get caught up.

My Boy is Back!!!!

I am so in love with this boy:) I can't wait to see Quantum of Solace. If you get to see it before me, totally do please tell me how it is:)

A sneak peek for Monica....

my sweet partner in Apron Thrift Girl's red and aqua swap:) And just WAIT until you see all the goodies Monica sent me:):) Holy moly!!!!!!

Sucked In

All my plans for the evening bit the dust when Hubby and I saw that this was on...oh my gosh I LOVE "Sixteen Candles". It's such an awesome movie.

I can do it!

This book has been on my "gotta buy" list ever since I read about it on a blog...I think it was on this sweet lady's blog. I was thrilled beyond belief today when I found it at the thrift store for $1.50!!! Yahoo!!!

Pin Me

I found these little egg cups on clearance at Anthropologie a few months ago (clearance is the only stuff I can afford there:)) I immediately thought of making them into little pin cushions. So, three months later I finally did it:) I used some Amy Butler charms that I have and I LOVE how they turned out. These were so quick and easy - I started like I was making a big yo-yo, then stuffed it super tight with fiberfill. A little hot glue and you're done! I have three more to make and then I also found some white egg cups too. The possiblities are endless!!!

Saturday

I had planned on crafting yesterday....but instead I spent at least 4 hours completely emptying out, cleaning and organizing my pantry, thanks to the army of sugar ants that decided to move in. The last straw was when we poured cereal for breakfast and ants came out of the cereal boxes. YUCK!!!! So out came EVERY single thing in the pantry. I wiped everything down, threw away almost 2 garbage bags of crap, and filled all sorts of empty Tupperware with stuff. I LOVE the Tupperware pantry organizer storage bins. You can tell from these pics that I have collected quite a few of them over the years. Every once in a while I can find them at the thrift stores but not very often.

So this is what my kitchen looked like pretty much all of yesterday.

My nice clean, empty pantry.

I'll try to remember to post a photo of it all filled up.

Instead of the long list of crafts I wanted to work on, this is the only crafting I got done. We were getting rid of these really nice clipboards at work. I brought three home and spelled "homework" in letter stickers on one for Miss S. Now her weekly homework packet has a nice place to reside, she has a hard surface to work on when she's sitting at the couch, and she'll always have a spot for her pencils. I think it will work out quite nicely. Does anyone have any grand ideas for the other two I have left?

Say Cheese!

We had our family photo shoot with Miss Moki today. I took advantage of us being all dolled up and took a couple pics of myself and Miss S on our way out the door.

Why hello....this is a nice big closeup of myself:)

I LOVE Miss S's little smile in this one:)

More Lunchtime Entertainment

Well not exactly lunchtime - this little accident happened in our front parking lot at work at about 11:30 this morning. A little grandma pulled out in front of this guy, he clipped her bumper, his brakes failed, he lost control, slammed through our sign and hit the tree. Miraculously he was unhurt other than some moderate scrapes on his neck from his seat belt. Little Grandma kept telling the policeman "I have to go - I have an appointment at 11:45." I felt bad for the poor kid that was driving - he was probably in his early twenties and seemed quite bamboozled by the whole situation. When I went back inside his mom and dad were on the way to help him. Our poor law office sign has bit the dust. About two feet behind his front tire is where it used to stand. At least all the damage is merely property damage. Grandma is just fine and the young man will be fine in a day or two.

Lunchtime Entertainment

New Mexico is a very interesting place. My lunchtime today was quite exciting. A friend and I tried out a new little Mexican restaurant. A three piece mariachi band walked in, played three songs, and left. Very odd, but very entertaining. I love mariachi music. I especially love listening to the Spanish words and seeing how much I can interpret.

Then as we left the restaurant we noticed that the movie "The Spy Next Door" was filming at the Chinese restaurant next door. We drove really slow through the parking lot trying to get a glimpse of Jackie Chan.Unfortunately we didn't see him but we did admire craft services, the star trailers, and the security guards patrolling the grounds. Oh and the unmarked police car parked at the end of the parking lot.

A New Recipe

I made this tonight for dinner - I love my crockpot:) I put it all together last night before bed, then cooked it on low all day today. It was ready in time to eat in the 15 minutes I had between getting home from work and having to be at scouts:)

GROUND BEEF CASSEROLE (what a completely un-exciting name)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
6-8 potatoes, sliced
1 medium sized onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
14 oz can green beans, with juice
10 oz can of cream of mushroom soup

Crumble uncooked ground beef in bottom of slow cooker. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, salt, basil and black pepper to cooker. Pour green beans and juice over all. Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over beans. Cover. cook on low 6-8 hours. For a creamier dish, mix half a can of water with the cream of mushroom soup before pouring over beans. Next time I'll add some green chile cause it would be really good with a little extra zip to it:)

Good Morning

Welcome to Wednesday! It will be exciting, a little bit scary, a lot of unknowns but I am SO ready for change. On the other hand I am not looking forward to the two ultra conservative republican attorneys at work yakking up a storm about the election.

Things That Make Me Happy Today

• My outfit - rockin the red white and blue

• My right to vote
• Diet Dr. Pepper
• Filling up my Subaru for only $32.60

• My sweet family
• Halloween candy
  

Crafting

Miss S is sick today so she stayed home from school. That means Hubby and I are tag teaming it today - he'll come home early from work at about noon and I'll head to work for the afternoon. that also means I have a few more hours to clean and craft today:)

Here's what I've been working on......
Inspired by HER who was inspired by HER I started this awesome December daily album. I can't wait for December to start writing in it.

Halloween Fun and a Sneak Peek

We had a little party at work for Halloween - it was a lot of fun!! I'm on the holiday committee (no surprise) and one of the games we played was pumpkin bowling. We decorated empty soda bottles and bowled with a small pumpkin - the winner knocked down 8 pins!! And we only lost two pumpkins in the game:)


Here's everyone that dressed up - our theme was Movie Characters. See how many you can guess:)

Me and my friend, Beverly. Our offices are right next to each other:)

I just realized I didn't take any pics of Miss S - good thing I have some from trunk or treat last week!!!! I took her trick or treating throughout the neighborhood and she got a TON of candy. She pooped out after about an hour so we went home and handed out candy and watched Goosebumps on tv:)

And here's a sneak peek at one of the goodies I'm making for my Red and Aqua swap partner:)

I crafted all morning before church:) But I'll save that for tomorrow lest I run out of stuff to post about the first week of NaBloPoMo:)

Tunes

Miss S is in the shower singing "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me". She cracks me up!!! Today marks the beginning of National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). I've committed to posting every day:) Some days may just be little snippets like this post, but in others I hope to share lots of fun links, projects, and recipes this month. We'll see how that goes:)