alone & multi-tasking ...

well all my guys are gone...
Jim is at Steve's cabin hunting ( don't know if he'll be home tonight or tomorrow) ,
Devan & Zach are gone to drama meetings (techie & wrap up crew) today, they'll probably be out till about 2 am.
Sooo it's just me today, trying to play catch up.
Yesterday we did get the main tree up before I was abandoned (Jim left for Steve's & Zach came over), but there is still much to do...
The small tree in the kitchen, the silver tree in the dining room (they didn't even get the ornaments out for this tree) & putting the nutcrackers out EVERYwhere! I also wanted to
hang the ornaments in the bay window this year, hmmm don't remember those being brought in yesterday.
So that's the decorating part (I'm down sizing this year), I still have laundry, cleaning, the quilt (I am sooo determined with this), editing, converting, & uploading pics! Whew!
So much to do, One person to do it...
I am not the busy bee worker type who enjoys doing lots of things by herself so how do I handle a day like today???
One small job at a time, rotating through the jobs till one by one they get completed & knocked off the list.
That means I'll edit a few pics, then prep a row of the quilt, pick an area to work on the nutcrackers, do a few decorations, & so on & so on.
Is this the Most efficient way to tackel my day???
Probably not, but at least it will stay interesting since I'm having to tackel it all on my own & I won't feel guilty working in a little rotation on the laptop doing a little "catching up".
Wish me luck on getting lots done today & I hope you have a Wonderful Saturday! :o)

holiday delusions, hmmm....

maybe- maybe not. Okay now I've just gotten cocky, lol!
I have finished cutting all 896 sqares! Wahhoo!
So theoretically I could start sewing tomorrow & have One of the quilts finished by Christmas...

well that is if we can get all the decorating (cause we don't decorate for Christmas until after we pay homage to the turkey) done today. That's a pretty tall order, I don't know if we've Ever gotten it All done in one day. Maybe that's the delusion at this point, Jim wants it done today so he can go back to his bro's cabin hunting again- I want it done today so I can move on to other things like sewing, Christmas baking & so on.

Well obviously I'm not going to get all that accomplished sitting here talking to you sooo I guess I had better get off my behind & get busy, keep your fingers crossed & wish me luck - it's a pretty tall order but maybe just maybe we can pull it off! :o)

pj's & baking, baking in pj's

that's the way I'll spend my day! LOL! :o)
Well today is the first day of Thanksgiving break for me (no work for subs the day before a break).
I decided to make it a pj day (my Favorite day of the week!)
& to play catch up.
So far today I have baked Six Pumpkin Pies, one Pumpkin Cheesecake, & two pans of sweet potato casserole.
You know what that means ...



that this is what you see in my kitchen ...



& it's warm in there ...
& it Smells wonderful! :o)
The kitchen does look like a bomb went off in there, lol.
But it's all good ...
that's why we have detergent.
I only bake like this once a year
& it brings a smile to sooo many of my favorite people!
I wasn't able to get a pic of the cheesecake ...
Jim took off with my camera.
WHA! Yep I let him take it hunting with him, after all like I told my SIL "it's insured",
besides I would Love it if "the bug" bit him too. :o)
Maybe I'll have time to snap a pic of it when he gets home tomorrow, we'll see.
Tonight he's gone to his brother's cabin hunting so it will be just Dev & me (when he gets home from rehersal). Tomorrow when Jim gets home we'll load up & head to my parents ( I know, I know... I'm not thrilled about her but it's Dev's sr year & he misses seeing his cousins & I miss being with my parents-maybe she'll behave-one can hope anyway).
My brother (Jason) & his wife (Tonya) are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year. I'm in charge of pumpkin pie, deviled eggs. sweet potatoes, & I threw in the pumpkin cheesecake (we tried it for Thanksgiving last year & fell in Love with it) for good measure. It's a Paula Deen recipe, I'll post it after I get it entered.
On another note I'm still busy cutting squares to make the quilts for Devan's beds (that's what I'll be doing now that I'm done with the baking). It's been a loooong road but I'm beginning to see an end in sight.
Started out needing 896 squares & now I only need ... 217! :o)
Hoping to start the sewing process shortly after Thanksgiving (lol) & to maybe have One of the quilts finished by Christmas (LMBO) ...
anyway high hopes & Holiday dilusions are a Good Thing, right?!?
So if I don't talk to you again till after Turkey Day I hope that you & yours have a...
Very Happy Thanksgiving!
I know that I have my fingers crossed that we'll have a peacefull Thanksgiving - now That would definately be something to be Thankful for!!! :o)

the road of life is very rough sometimes ...

so for those who know us this comes as NO Suprise!
After all I've said it from the very beginning...
"within Six months of getting his license that kid is going to put the van in a ditch!"
yep that's what I've said and it has finally come true, I would have prefered to have been wrong on this prediction but I wasn't :o( .
Tuesday night he had rehearsal, when it was over we got the text that he was on his way home.
When his headlights approached the drive the dogs started "barking" their welcome, after a bit I told Jim "Callie sure is barking for a long time" to which he replied "nah, she always barks long".
A while later Devan finally came through the door & qiuetly said
"I need some help"
Us "help, with what?"
Dev "I'm not sure what I hit but something knocked me off the drive"
Us "what? off the drive? how fast were you going???"
Dev " not very fast, only about 25"
Us "25!!! are you crazy! you should barely get up to 10!!!"
blah, blah, blah- you get the picture.
Soooo Jim goes out & after quite a while comes back and says " it's going to take a tow truck to get it out & I'm not sure that it won't end up in the pond" - great just great ...
So Wednesday morning I handed over the money that Devan was saving for the London trip to pay for a tow truck.
Turns out that we weren't even able to get up the drive ourselves, to get to work we had to drive across the nieghbor's yard (thank-goodness that the house is empty right now) & go up their drive.
Jim felt bad for him & kept thinking about it that morning till he realized that his cousin has a diesel dually & a great big chain. So he borrowed the truck, came home, & after a lot of pulling & sweating was able to get the van back on the drive. :o) (Devan owes his dad Big Time! I would have just paid the tow truck & let it be their problem) He said that more than once he was sure that it was going to tip over & end up in the pond before he got it up on the drive again.
You know the kid just hugs the shoulder soooo bad I knew it would happen, thing is since he did it the drive in much narrower now so he has no margin for error- geesh that really doesn't make me feel better.



just before driving across the neighbor's yard to use their drive so I could go to work I jumped out with my phone & snapped a couple of shots just to show you :o)



I appoligize for the glare, it was early morning. The photos don't really do it justice - I'm not sure that you can really tell how far off the drive his tires were but Trust me it was pretty bad!
Ultimately though if this is the worst that he ever does driving I know that we will have gotten off easy ... hey a girl can hope :o)

had a blast!

well we survived last night & actually made it home & to bed Before the sun was completely up, lol. My butt is actually dragging the ground pretty bad right now & I probably have No business typing (seeing the amount of times that I have hit the "back" button to "fix" things, lol).
Tammy is still in bed crashed but I got up 'cause my time is limited here today.
We had a Lot of fun last night & I actually did TWO LOs if you can believe that!!!
Maybe I'll be able to snap a few pics tomorrow after the boy's last shoot (till spring) & maybe I'll actually even get them posted Before the month is up, lol.
I have now "scrapped" Devan taking his permit test,driver's ed, & his taking the driving test- Subject Complete! :o) Hmmmm.... can you tell that I'm pretty dog-gone Glad he got his license! :o)
The girls that scrap at my friends store in Newport were Sooo Sweet! We really had a Blast! And at the end of the night Vaniessa took 40% off your Bill! No Exclusions! Sweet! You would not believe the amount of goodies that I was able to pick up/use for $19.01!!! :o) Definately worth the trip! :o)
Next week is a pretty full week (I'm already scheduled to work Every Day, except for Monday) so I probably won't be worth much for anything else.
I need to get dressed & get my car packed (I have to head home this evening) so that's all for now.
See Ya! :o)

girls night out! :o)

Wow! I can't believe that it's been sooo long since I updated!
No one Ever told me how busy your life got when you have a Sr.-
for those of you who aren't quite there yet let me tell you ...
You won't know wether you need to wind your butt or scratch your watch! lol
Since Devan is going to London over spring break I am begging for & working every day I can get to help pay for it.
I have also become the sr photographer for Devan & his best friend Zach. Do you know what that means ??? EVERY spare minute that I have seems to be sitting in front of a screen editing pics, I am sooo sick of editing pics!!! LOL I really would have LOVED to have handed it off to a real Pro & let them be responsible for making him look Fabulous, but since there is the trip to pay for I get to do it.
I realized today that I haven't updated since the St. Jude crop & that I NEVER showed you any of the stuff that I worked on while there, so here goes ...




this is a LO that I did about Devan Finially getting his license!



yes mom-a-ratzi was in real form that day! you should have heard me ask the woman to let me take her picture "I'm a scrapbooker & I've have the paper to do this Layout for 2 Years! blah blah blah" LOL!




splurged for the qk road die for the border across the top, love it!



and I finished up my nephew Austin's egg colorong LO that I have been working on




between the new Jolee's easter embellies that came out & the new qk egg die I think it came out just perfect :o)




I also did a calendar, but you know me I'm still trying to figure out how to tweek it- something's just not right yet.
Now about "Girls Night Out!" I'm pretty excited!
I used to do this every month!
...Once upon a time long long ago there was a wonderful lss that had a monthly crop till 5 am saturday morning. All the cool chicks (lol) would go and stay out till sunrise & run a "tab" hehe, sounds fun huh!?!
But this lss kind of went down the drain and doesn't really exist anymore
those of us who went really really miss the "all nighters" a lot :o(
But a friend of mine (one of the cool chicks) has been able to open a small store & she now does "all nighters" for her people! I have been wanting to go to one of her crops for a year now & it has finially worked out to go & I couldn't be MORE excited!!! :o)
This also means that I will be seeing my bff Tammy in November! Wahoo! that NEVER happens, it's always too busy with the holidays & everything.
It will be a short trip, Tam has "on call" tonight so I won't leave till tomorrow. We'll be at the crop tomorrow till 5 am Saturday then we'll go back to her place to CRASH! Saturday evening/night I'll need to comse back home so I can take the guys out for hopefully one last "shoot" (till spring at least, lol).
Well that's it for now, sorry it took sooo long to update. How's it going at your place?