Happy New Year!

Stacy and I decided we would rather be sleeping at midnight (can you say 'party-poopers'?) - but we didn't want to be totally boring - odd maybe, but not boring. We decided to make our first-ever snowman. We have seen a few around the neighborhood and thought, it couldn't be THAT hard. Also, we have a nice, shady front yard, so he would last a long time.Here he is, "Jabba-The-Snowman".

It is harder than I thought to make a snow-person. Hope you all enjoy him, he may be here until spring!

P.S. It is now 7:45 p.m. and I'm in my jammies for the night! Happy New Year!

Playing with my Christmas Presents...

Already playing with some of the fun fabrics I got for Christmas!

Yummy.

I think if you aren't a quilter you can't know the delicious feeling I get in my tummy when I walk by this baby up on the design wall. Satisfying. Fulfilling. Okay - I'm weird.

Christmas Tamales, etc.

Last Christmas Stacy and Brooke made tamales. They recruited more help and did it again this year:

Here's Stacy, preparing (watching Youtube)Helpers:

Helper or taster?

Non-helper:
Trouble:
Merry Christmas!!

He's Back...

Shane moved back in this week, until his wedding on January 9:
Enough said.

Christmas Quilting...

Here are some quilts I've stitched up for Christmas gifts this year:

For Jeff and Deanna:

For Doug Bug:

For my new daughter, Becca:

For my dear friend, Megan:

(To become a "dear friend", you just need to get up with me before 7 a.m. for many years and listen to my life story, over and over again on our walks)

This one, Stacy actually made for his Mom:

A pretty quilt-y Christmas for sure!

BUNCO!!

We had a fun, holiday, BUNCO party last night. We always have a big family Christmas party with Stacy's family and there are lots of people and lots going on, some even call it Crazy! So, we had an adults only family party the night before, so we could have a better chance for visiting and seeing each other with a bit of a smaller crowd.

Here are Brady, Jessica and Jen:

Here is Steve, he's HOT tonight:

Here's Randy, holding Austin and Autumn's sweet baby girl:

Grandma brought yummy cookies:

Desirae, the grand prize winner!

I made some delicious snacks:

You get those "Lil' Smokies" (Costco), wrap each one in 1/3 of a piece of bacon, put a toothpick in to secure and put them on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and bake for about 1 hour at 275 degrees. If the bacon is not getting done, turn up the heat to 350 for the last 10-15 minutes. Delicious!!!

Snow...

We finally got a goodly amount of beautiful snow!!! I just love the snow! I have been here 6 years now and I wonder if I will ever get tired of it. I have a "good" car for the snow. I don't have little children that I have to bundle up every time I go out. I don't have a job that I have to drive to early every morning. I get to park in the carport, so I don't have to "scrape" every time I go somewhere. Nope, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
I love how softly it falls. Most weather, you can hear it, the wind, the rain, hail, thunder and lightning. Even if you're warm and secure in your house you know it's storming outside. The snow is like a magical visit from Santa on Christmas morning. I get up, peek out the blinds to see if it has come in the night and I am so delighted when it has! I even enjoy a little shoveling. I am going to enjoy this beautiful weather all winter long!

Obsession...

So, I have been obsessed over the last couple of days with a show on A & E called: "Hoarders". It is about people with the obsessive compulsive disorder of hoarding. I had seen a few of these types of people on Oprah over the years and I am hooked! As I was watching it the other day, I kept wanting to get up and go throw something away! I am such a non-hoarder, it is amazing to me when people hoard stuff - like CATS, trash, even "good stuff". It is also a sad show, these people are really suffering and it is very hard on their families. It seems to get worse as people get older, yikes! There is a house around the corner from me with tons of stuff piled up and in rubbermaid totes all stacked up in the living room and you can see it through the window. I wonder if they are having a hard time? Well, I gotta go catch another episode on Hulu.com...