Nuevo Zapatas

or new shoes for you non-Spanish speakers:) Actually I'm pretty much a non-Spanish speaker except for little bits and pieces. I have a thing for shoes (and purses too, but that's the next post:))...we're having a "casual week" at work this week so I finally had a chance to break in my new Simple sneakers. The lighting in my bathroom at 10:00 p.m. is horrible, but that's a darling little floral print in blue and yellow. I wore them to work today with my favorite jeans, a white t-shirt and a yellow cardigan and a necklace made for me by Moki and one of my co-workers told me I looked totally hot:) that totally made my day:)
PS I paid $6.99 for these $60 shoes at Goodwill - that's how I justify my ridiculous shoe habit.

Fabric Goodness

Oh my gosh!!!! Look at these new fabric lines available from Sew Mama Sew
I need more fabric like a hole in the head but these lines are SO hard to resist!!!!!

Little Folks Voile by Anna Maria Horner

Little Folks Voile by Anna Maria Horner

Wild Thyme by Carolyn Gavin

Wild Thyme by Carolyn Gavin

Dolce by Tanya Whelan

Dolce by Tanya Whelan

Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt

Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt

Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey

Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey

Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson

Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas day!!!

Our pile of presents....
One of my gifts to me from me....a darling Beatles nesting doll set....
Bed head Miss S opening up her stocking...
Cookies and eggnog for Santa and apples for the reindeer...
We had Christmas dinner with my brother Shay and his family....
Hubby and our canine nephew - Benji...

Christmas Eve

O! Holy night! The stars, their gleams prolonging,

Watch o'er the Eve of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error, longing

For His appearance, then the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was Born;

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts we stand by the Babe adored.

O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,

And come now, Shepherds, from your flocks unboard.

The Son of God lay thus w'thin lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our Lord.

He knows our need, our weakness never lasting,

Behold your King! By Him, let Earth accord!

Behold your King! By Him, let Earth accord!

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Long live His truth, and may it last forever,

For in His name all discordant noise shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

A Different Song

Happy 9th birthday to you!
Happy 9th birthday to you!
Happy birthday my dear sweet Miss S!
Happy 9th birthday to you!!

Modern Carols

One of my favorite "modern" Christmas carols is Where Are You Christmas from The Grinch....it's such a beautiful song. I especially love it sung by Faith Hill and especially when it's on the radio and I can turn up the volume really loud and belt it out and pretend I sing as well as Faith. I love to sing to the radio...I wonder what other drivers think cause I really get into it sometimes:)

"Where Are You Christmas"

Where are you Christmas
Why can't I find you
Why have you gone away
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me
Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing
I'm rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too

Where are you Christmas
Do you remember
The one you used to know
I'm not the same one
See what the time's done
Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here
Everywhere, oh
Christmas is here
If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas
I know I've found you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays here inside us
Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas
Fill your heart with love

Today's Christmas Carol

Some of you know that I drive a Subaru Outback.....I love my little Subaru! And I especially love the Christmas card I received via email from Subaru.

I'm "sharing the love" today with the next installment of my favorite Christmas carols:

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

"Fear not then," said the Angel,
"Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan's power and might."
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Hymns of the Heart

I'm feeling a lot bah-humbuggy this year. In a funk, a little overwhelmed, crabby and in general a big old sour puss. Today was our Christmas program at church and I'm grateful that I felt a little tiny smidgen of Christmas spirit. So let's run with it....I'm going to make myself get in the Christmas spirit by sharing some of my favorite Christmas songs over the next week...

For today it' JOY TO THE WORLD....A beautiful moving hymn, best sung with as much feeling as you can muster -

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more will sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He'll come and make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love

*That picture at the top of the post is the fabulous table scape Monique put together for our Relief Society Christmas dinner earlier in the week. Isn't it fabulous!!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

Miss S's class had their Christmas party today - the theme was THE GRINCH!!! What a fun theme for a party. Miss S wanted to dress up like Cindy Lou Who but after a very unsuccessful thrift store run looking for costume options I convinced her to wear her new Old Navy Grinch t-shirt (which we bought before we even knew about The Grinch theme:)) and a darling Cindy Lou Who hairstyle:





I wove pipe cleaners in with her braids and I think it turned out totally darling!!

Where did this week go???

I had my craft fair last Saturday and it turned out well....traffic was really slow mostly due to the 20 degree weather outside! Made a few sales and had a fun day:)


Miss S had her first guitar concert Wednesday night - they did great!!! She's getting a guitar from Santa this year:) Sorry about the sideways pic. I'm too lazy to fix it.


Friday night we had out awesome Ward Christmas party. I had my camera with me but didn't take any pictures.

Saturday we had Miss S's 9th birthday party!! We did a Twlight themed party and I think all the kids had a really good time. Miss S decided at the last minute that she would like Krispy Kreme donuts instead of a cake or cupcakes. Fine with me! Just less work that I have to get done. The kids devoured the donuts!


After the party I took her to go see New Moon and we both totally loved it.....we left the theater and Miss S said "I can't wait to see the next one!"

This week coming up is even busier than the last...I'm trying to get all my Christmas packages mailed but first I have to finish the Christmas cards to add to the packages. That's my number one item on my to do list for tomorow...FINISH Christmas letter and cards.

Yummy Yummy

Make a Smilebox recipe

Whirlwind

I have so much I want to do, and I feel like my thoughts are spinning at a thousand miles a minute. Currently on my to do list are:

• Finish up pricing and packaging for the craft show on Saturday
• Start wrapping Christmas presents
• Finish Christmas cards and Christmas letter
• Decorate the house - I'm seriously considering JUST putting up the tree this year and nothing else
• Planning Miss S's 9th birthday party!!!

I feel so frazzled and behind and it's only December 2nd!!!

November 30

WOOHOO!!! I made it!! I posted everyday in November - oh yeah...that's right....I rocked the NaBloPoMo!!!! I'm so excited I'm going to have a giveaway:)

Please excuse how my hand looks in this photo - I really don't have leprosy. Seriously, I have no idea why my hand looks so weird.

I'm giving away one of my adjustable rings and hair pin set featuring luscious vintage buttons. Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner on December 6, then lickety split get these in the mail to you in case you want to use them for a Christmas gift. Or you can keep them ALL to yourself - it's all good!! But I need help too - I need ideas of how to display the rings at my craft fair on Saturday (without having to buy anything) - any of you wise souls out there have any ideas??

November 29

Leftovers....one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving:) I made Turkey Tettrazini tonight with leftover turkey and it was really yummy...though Miss S said she didn't like it:(

TURKEY TETTRAZINI

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked spaghetti 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk 1 2/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese 4 cups chopped cooked turkey

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and place in the prepared baking dish.
3.	Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Mix in chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 1 1/3 cups Parmesan cheese, and remove from heat.
4.	Mix chicken broth mixture and turkey with spaghetti. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until surface is lightly browned.

If I make this again I'll probably add a can of green chile to give it a little zip.

Does anyone have any good recipes for leftover mashed potatoes? I have a crap load leftover and I can only make so many Shepherd's pies with them:)

November 28

I've spent a lot of free time this weekend crafting....here's a snippet of some of what I've made. These are all easy peasy, and perfect for crafting at my desk while I'm watching tv on the computer. I watched an episode of NCIS: LA and How I Met Your Mother while I made these....

Vintage button rings:

Vintage button earrings:


Vintage button hair pins:

Notice a trend? I think my favorite part was going through some of my vintage buttons and deciding which ones to use:)

November 27

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We spent the day with our best friends and their kiddos at their house in the mountains, about 40 minutes from our house. We love going up there...

Kiddos acting goofy....


Me and Lisa - we've been buddies since we met when we both worked at Dion's like 20 years ago:) Man we are getting OLD!!!

The boys....I told them both to act natural and instead they act like goofballs....typical of these two when they are together:)

We enjoyed a delicious lazy dinner, let the kids run around like wackos playing hide and seek in the house, checked out all the Black Friday ads together, and just in general had a nice relaxing day together.

As for Black Friday - my tradition is to not leave the house:) I did actually go out to Walgreen's, Michael's and Best Buy at about 2:00 this afternoon. By then the crowds had mostly died down and I did a little bit of leisurely shopping. Other than that I crafted the morning away - I'll show off some of what I did tomorrow:)

November 26

Today I am grateful for YOU!!!! Be back tomorrow with a recap of our awesome Thanksgiving:) For now I'm heading into a deep post-turkey slumber:)

November 25

Today I am grateful for:

• Thanksgiving Eve - I can't wait for tomorrow, for all the yummy food, and spending time with good friends
• Dr. Pepper - I've gone the whole day without it and it's really making me realize how much I love it:)
• Watching TV and cuddling on the couch with Miss S

November 24

Today I am grateful for:

• Big thick winter coats
• My loving Hubby - who came to the rescue of our sweet little abuela next door when her heater wasn't working
• A delicious dinner out with Hubby, Miss S and my baby brother

November 23

Today I am grateful for:

• An unexpected visit from my baby brother, Chad - isn't he the cutest!!!!

• My BFF Tammy whom (who?) I am totally missing this week....

• Thanksgiving treats - aren't these darling!!! And completely edible - YUM!

November 22

Today I am grateful for:

• A short work week ahead
• This lesson at church today
• Sacred music - we sang one of my favorites today:

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

• 
  Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
  To guide the future as he has the past.
  Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
  All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
  Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
  His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
  
  Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
  When we shall be forever with the Lord,
  When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
  Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
  Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
  All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

November 21

Today I am grateful for:

• Hubby's new position at work which gives him EVERY weekend off!!! Woohoo!! He has never had every weekend off in the 18 years he's worked for Target.
• Christmas shopping
• My wonderful, beautiful home - even though it's stuffed to the gills with crap - I'm grateful to have a home and for it to be filled with love
  

November 20

Today I am grateful for:

• A last minute stop at Goodwill and being surprised with a 50% ALL clothing sale today only
• Going out to dinner with Hubby and Miss S
• A new magazine subscription that I can't wait to arrive!

Thanks Lain for the push to finally subscribe to this! You convinced me with your "5 mags you love" post:)

November 19

Today I am grateful for....

• lunch with Miss S for her Family Thanksgiving lunch at school
• how much I look like my dad in this pic of me
• that it's almost Friday!

November 18

A fairly recent "new to me" blog I love is ilashgirls. One of my favorite features is the Wednesday Words of Wisdom. Today's is the one pictures above and it's perfect for the kick off of my Week of Gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving. Each day until Thanksgiving I will be posting three things that I am grateful for. Why don't you join me?

Today I am grateful for:

• New books bought at Miss S's school book fair
• A delicious dinner courtesy of my best bud, Carla
• A freshly vacuumed bedroom courtesy of Hubby

November 17

I participated in Amy's Haunted ATC swap swap this year and I was totally blown away by the cards I received - SO awesome!! I feel like such an amateur sometimes when I see the art work others create. Such cool ideas.

November 16

OOOHHH I have the best friends:) I met Marian through a swap and I just adore her! I was one of the lucky recipients of her "Handmade by Me" giveaway.....


She sent me one of her handwoven scarves! Oh my gosh I love it!!! Marian was so nice to send me this package when the original package arrived empty - those dang postal workers!!! I will treasure this scarf always. Thanks Marian XOXO!!!

November 15

Yes, it snowed in Taos last night!! It was beautiful when we woke up. Miss S and I played in town while Hubby was at his hockey clinic. We drove out to the Taos Pueblo and walked around and enjoyed the scenery. I took tons of pictures at the Pueblo and I think I'm going to make up our Christmas cards for this year with some of the images.