Have an OZsome 2011!

Happy Birthday, Deni!

My hubby's San Jose Sharks birthday cake was AWEsome!

Such a good Christmas morning!

Ahh...the afterglow

Merry Christmas!

Clouds

Photograph by Dawn Walker

I have a childhood memory of looking out the window of an airplane and being in awe of the clouds. We were on our way to Panama (my dad was stationed there in the early 1960s), and I had a very vivid dream of scooping up clouds with both hands and putting them into a bucket so we could make ice cream.

One of Dawn's cloud photos got me to thinking about my 3- or 4-year old self and that dream. I remember not wanting to leave my grandmother and pitchin' a fit. Telling me we were going to make ice cream out of clouds may have been a clever way for one of my older siblings to bribe me onto the plane, who knows?

Funny how I can distinctly remember coming to the realization that it was only a dream. It reminded me of the moment when I discovered my mom had a first name, it wasn't just "Mom."

I have very few of these types of memories, but I'm glad for them, and I would love to hear about yours.

Life

Before...

After...

And That's Why There's A Christmas Day

When I was, oh, about 8 or 9 years old, I started attending church with my new best friend, Lauri. Her mother would haul any or all of us seven kids that wanted to go along with her own four. Well over 40 years later, Lauri is still my bestest friend in the whole-wide world and I love her mom as I loved my own.

I have fond memories about that time in my life, and one of those was a Christmas program I was part of. My Sunday School teacher's name was Edith Darling, and on the printed program we were listed as "Edith and Her Darlings." I have never forgotten the song we performed, even sang it to my girls when they were little.

Each of us was assigned a letter (I was T, Lauri was R) and held it up as we sang our verse:

C is for the Christ Child, born upon this day
H for Herald Angels in the sky
R means Redeemer
I means Israel
S is for the stars that sine so bright
T is for three Wise Men, they who traveled far
M is for the manger where He lay
A's for all He stands for
S means Shepherds came

And that's why there's a Christmas Day

Jim Reeves sings it best.

Turkey and Clover Leaf Rolls

I actually did what I set out to do, get the turkey in the oven so we can get it carved and ready for tomorrow, and make two batches of dough for our traditional clover leaf rolls, go me! Or, I should say, "go us" because my hubby was at my side the entire time! I wish I could have gotten photos, but we were both elbow-deep in dough, so I did the next best thing.

Bagged and in the oven, breast-side down for the juiciest turkey, evah!

There are actually two bowls of dough rising, hubby did one and I did one. I can't wait to taste the first one, fresh out of the oven. The recipe I use is the closest I've found to my dad's, which was filed away in his head, a flavor that brings me close to my father's memory. We'll be making my mom's sweet potatoes, one of the triggers that brings her memory closer to the surface as well.

I use Betty Crocker's recipe for Refrigerator Roll Dough

My dad used to put the entire Thanksgiving meal together for our large family (7 kids w/spouses, kids, and friends), and the first one without him took our entire family pulling together, each making something we learned from him. There will still be a few things missing as we all can't be together, cornbread dressing being at the forefront; the sister who makes it may not be with us much longer.

This will be a time to catch up with those we never seem to see enough of, for farewells and getting to know the newer members of our family (a brand-new nephew!). I'm looking forward to this year's gathering of family and friends, because through sadness and joy, gatherings such as this reminds me how very grateful I am to be blessed with so much love!

Have a meaningful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Stormy Weather

Click on image to enlarge

I came across this poem the other day and it spoke straight to my heart. I snapped this picture from my back door just this morning, and when I uploaded it, I thought the two should meet.

Can't remember where I found this, but I appreciate its message...

READ

Cookie Exchange

 

Photos by Dawn Walker

My niece hosted a Christmas cookie exchange last year and has announced she's going to do it again this year! We had a lot of fun putting ours together last year, so I'm looking forward to seeing how we'll top it.

My Peanut Butter Cookies, photo by Dawn

My Wedding Cookies, photo by Dawn 

Both recipes were taken from my tried and true Betty Crocker cookbook, a wedding present of over 30 years ago from my life-long best-friend Lauri. I can't tell you how many recipes from this one book I've used through the years.

My daughter Dawn photographed the cookies and created recipe cards which we shared with the group.

We packaged them up in Christmasy goodie bags and attached award-type ribbons (see first photo) I bought on sale (super cheap) at Michael's.

 

It was well-worth the extra effort because they were a hit! We enjoyed everyone's cookies just as much (the home-made ones, anyway...it never occurred to me people would actually use store-bought).

This time my niece and I talked about including cupcakes and things like pumpkin bread. I like that idea because, really, there were tons of cookies and it would have been nice to mix it up a bit with other goodies (not a complaint, just an idea). And with everyone watching their waistlines (me, not so much, but it's coming), maybe we can even find a good Weight Watcher's recipe and provide the points.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My Own URL and Some Organization

My daughter Dawn gifted me with my own URL a while back and I never did anything with it. She surprised me the other day by pointing my Tumblr it! Thank you, Dawn, I feel all official now!

While I'm on the subject of my awesome daughters, I want to thank Valerie once again for organizing our DVDs. We pulled the set of drawers and matching cabinet from the living room and moved them into my bedroom because they seemed more at home there along side the eclectic beachy-buttony decor.

We weren't sure what we were going to store our DVDs on, so I was pumped when I came across some bamboo and metal racks at Costco. I bought two of them, assembled them and tried them out for size. Much to my delight I discovered I could actually get four of those suckers to fit on either side of the fireplace! So Valerie and headed over to Costco and bought six more, set them up and while we yacked with my sister Martha, Valerie unpacked the boxes and bins and put everything in place.

This is the shelving before it was discovered
I had it stacked wonky, but you get the idea

The shelves are nothing fancy, but they sure look hecka better than the stacks we had goin' on. We all agree, they open up the living room and actually make it look extra wide. Since the DVDs aren't very pretty to look at, we're hoping to install some type of cover, be it fabric or something along the lines of those drawstring shades made of wood, straw or bamboo. Whatever we decide we're just happy to have finally done something with that wall. Yay, us!

Plenty of Buttons

One of my favorite thrift stores in my neck of the woods is "Class 'N' Trash," usually takes some digging around to find the good stuff. But having made friends with the owners over the years, things are sometimes put aside for moi. (I know, huh?!)

I especially like it when I walk in to find boxes being unpacked, yum. When this empty lamp was pulled out, at first I wasn't interested. But, being the great salesperson the female persuasion half of the business is she told me what a nifty thing it would be if I "filled it with all those buttons you're always buying from me!"

So I did.

32 Years

Married 32 years today! Some days it's a concert...

Other days, not so much...

For richer or poorer, sickness and in health, love reigns. Happy anniversary, babe.

Winnie Rose

My grand-dogger...how can my day be anything but awesome when I wake up to this?

My daughter leaves for work quite early, so Winnie joins me after she leaves and snuggles down right beside me, usually burrowing amongst my piles of pillows. I never know which end of her I'll see when I open my eyes, but there she is, waggin' that tail, ready for some morning lovin'. Sometimes she'll stare me awake, get real close to my face and pounce at first blink. Most times, though, she's right there with me, zonkin' zees.

Part of our morning routine includes a song, of sorts, and I swear that dog waits for it cause she gets all excited after I'm done.

"Winnie the pooh, Winnie the pooh, silly-willie-nillie-ol' puppy dawwwwwg, you."

I know, it doesn't rhyme, but we don't care! She just knows the next thing coming is "Winnie ROSE! With the cute little NOSE!" then it's belly rubbin' time!

Even as I write this she's splayed out on my bed, belly-side up...most definitely queen of my king-sized bed.

Holy-Moly!

Dang if this wasn't too small, so I settled for a photo-op instead. These buttons are so scrumptious I want to eat them up! I love the placement of the colorful buttons, and, yes, they continue across the top of the back (yolk?). People were already looking at me strangely, so I didn't turn it around to get a shot of the back. Should have. Why do I care so much what people think?

I can't wait to give this a try sometime. There are just enough buttons to make it look cute and not tacky. Darling, isn't it?

Vlog Brothers and Nerdfighters

 

Three nerdfighters, three shirts, three kindsa awesome!

Reading In The Car

I love reading in the car. It must be parked, though, motion sickness is my foe. Even though I park in public places, it's usually quiet and gives me a feeling of privacy I can't get many places. It's cozy, and I find it easy to get lost in the world of which I'm reading.

How about you, where do you enjoy reading?

Tumbling Now

I'm finding it's easier to update my Tumbler than it is to post on this here blog cause I'm lazy like that, yo. I dubbed it Usually Nerdy Things and post images I come across that move me in some way, but I do occasionally write something and include my own photographs. It makes for a quick read and a lot less work for me. I'm not abandoning my blog, I just want to hush the nagging I feel when nothing gets posted.

I hope you'll pop in over there so we can stay in touch.

Finding Joy

"Joy is a heart full and a mind purified by gratitude." Marietta McCarty

I am on a mission: to restore my joy. So, I thought I would share a few images that are helping me do just that.

A silly picture my daughters took of me while we were Skyping. I look clueless, which I probably was since I'm new to the Skype thing.

My sister Martha (on your left) makes me laugh, always.

Remembering the bouquet of flowers Dawn recently surprised me with fills me with joy.

As do the Ozzy stilettos Valerie treated me to.

Winning a contest on Twitter, shiny! I have images of my very own planet named "Dawtinium", woot! The contest sponsor was @kidsneedtoread; the prize was donated by @JiminSTLouis (who won the sponsor's auction for the prize then turned around and donated it!), which was a personalized high-def file of my planet created by artist of The Verse (Serenity) poster and so much more, @BenMund. He actually did two versions, one with rings and one without!

Joy also comes along with the feeling of relief. The other day, I couldn't find Patches anywhere. I searched and I searched and was about to push the panic button and burst into tears when I found her in the back yard. Digging. Drenched in mud, but looking every bit the puppy she must have felt like well over 13 years ago. I could not bring myself to scold her. It cracked. Me. Up.

Knowing my family genuinely loves my cooking (most of the time), especially my chicken strips, brings me joy.

I am the youngest sister of four brothers and two sisters, wife of over 32-years, mother of responsible, loving, adult identical twin daughters, caretaker of the furry kind, and friend and helper to many.

Feeling joyful this Mother's Day for I am truly blessed.

Wearin' of the Green

I have been decorating cupcakes for Saint Patrick's Day and thought I'd pop in here and post a photo or two. Valerie did the baking and I did the fun stuff. She took the first batch for her co-workers to enjoy and Dawn will take the latest batch to work with her tomorrow.

One more thing, happy 6th birthday to my grandogger, Clover Grace!

Party on.

This Too Shall Pass

This Too Shall Pass
OK Go

Can't get it out of my head..."when the morning comes..." Favorite part, about 2 minutes into it, had to grab my hankie. Thanks, guys, for reminding me of this.

Get Help

This has been a heartbreaking story to follow:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/25/growing.pains.actor.dead/index.html?hpt=T1


I have so much respect for the father of this man, to make a plea to others who might be going through a difficult time to please, seek help. Listen to him. There is always hope.

Note: I'm trying to get some of my old self back after the accident and making headway. Hang in there with me, I'm working on putting something fun together!

My Search Has Ended

I have been wanting one of those sewing forms for, well, ever. I was at The Discovery Shop the other day and, guess what?! I found her, the woman of my dreams! I thought at first she was a store display, but there was the tag, dangling from the top: $25...YESSSS! This was definitely a screamer (extra special find where I get so excited nothing but a scream wants to come out).

I can usually keep a pretty good poker face, but I was beaming with delight. As I was paying for her, one of the volunteers said, "She was just too chunky for our store."

So, rather than being pissy with the lady for kind of insulting we women of substance (she was chunky herself, though, so I'm not sure she meant anything by it), I said, "That's okay, I'm chunky, too, so we'll get along perfectly!"

I must name her. Any ideas?

The Eight Irrisistable Principles of Fun

Real Quick-like...

I apologize if I'm not following the correct protocol here (I tried to include all of the correct links), but I'm so excited I simply must share something with you right this very minute!

My most favorite tweet I've read today is from dudecraft, which will lead you to a video on Make+Meaning called The Eight Irrisistable Principles of Fun.

I encourage you to watch it and be inspired.

Nifty Thrift Shop Find

Isn't there something about the 7th day being a day of rest? Well, this 7th day of the month was far from it, and from the looks of it things won't be slowing down any time soon. The day began on a high note and then struck a sour one as it went along, but by the end of it things seemed to be back on an even keel. Yay.

I managed a quick trip to Class 'N' Trash (my mini-vacation from reality) and found something pretty nifty.

I found 3 boxes of a product by Stockmar, thin wax sheets in various colors. My mind is a whirl thinking about all the ways their Web site said this product can be used, on "boxes, matchboxes, cosmetic containers, bottles, paperweights, key racks, flower pots, cookie jars, wooden crates, mirror frames, etc."

It's already been used, but there's tons so I won't miss it. I think I'll stick with trying it out on a candle the first time out, and can't wait to try it out using some of my miniature cookie cutters!