Oh my goodness ...

... another year shot to Hell!!! ...LOL!! No it was not that bad at all! Another year gone by with what seems like few changes, but there was stuff happening. I hit the magic age to collect Social Security. My room mate of 15 years moved out - boy, I miss him, but getting a craft studio in exchange. Many camping trips took place close to home to save money but still get out in the woods.

Maggie, my p-i-t-a kitty love, decided that the bathroom sink was nice and comfortable since the heater vent is under the vanity. If it's not the bathroom sink, it's right on top of the heater vent in the craft room. She likes her heat!


And wonders of wonders for our 2009 winter - we finally got some decent measurable snow! In normal years we have 6-10 inches before Thanksgiving, this year we have had a couple of 2 inch snow storms (storms ??). By Christmas and New Years we have had as much as 4 feet. This year is very different.


I've done a lot of crafting, including putting a craft room into usable space. I'm still not completely done, but there is enough usable space for me to do some smaller crafts.




The cowl for my friend Dale - and he has used it when plowing snow, now that we have some, around the neighborhood! I lined it with a forest green flannel and he says that it really keeps the wind out when zooming around on the quad!


Making fun stuff, and I have plans for more chickens and other stuff!


... and REAL chickens! They seem to have settled in no matter how cold the weather is, and I get an egg a day from each chicken = 5 eggs. I'm selling some to pay for the feed, but I still have plenty left over for myself, eggs that is, not feed! Yes, that is a very real baby gate - they would all move into the house if I let them ... that is a definite "I don't think so!"


I could put a lot more pictures up, but I would bore you to death, and that is definitely not my intention! I want you to come back and visit ...

I hope your 2009 was good and not too affected by the whole financial thingy! I hope you all will have a much better 2010. I wish you peace and prosperity, love, happiness, and health.

Hugs

I am done ... ... ... ... almost

Well, I finally finished all the presents. There are only three left to wrap and that's it for this year! And all the beaded ornaments are wrapped and NO pictures taken. I was in such a hurry to get this done and over with that I totally forgot.

I took the hat to my friend Don, and he absolutely loved it. Double warmth for the head and quadruple warmth for the ears with the brim folded up! Can't get better than that if you HAVE to go out in the cold. I told Don that if he goes out in a snow storm that he'd better wear the red side out so we can find him in a snow bank - - - LOL

We had a bit of snow the other night, so we will have a white Christmas. Five inches is really not a white Christmas considering that we should have 2-3 feet! But white Christmas none-the-less!!

I have to make a batch of red cabbage for dinner; I will do that tomorrow so it has a chance to sort of 'steep'. It always tastes better the second day, so I now make it a day ahead.

All the best to all of you this Christmas!

Hugs

busy ... busy ... busy ...

I have been busy, very busy! There always has to be the last minute stuff no matter how well thought out Christmas gifts are. Time just seems to get away from me, all of us I suppose, and then there is one week left, and now only four days!!!!!

Making my beaded ornament covers is a lot of fun, and since I'm in a time crunch now, things seem to go faster. There isn't the time to agonize over what colors, which beads and what size ornament. This picture shows how I figure out what will go into an ornament, try this, try that and make sure I have enough of the 'fancy' beads to finish an ornament. If not, then change a row, change a dangle, or save the idea for another time. I seem to work better when I can see the supplies laid out whether I use that particular item or not. And that piece of blue in the bottom right of the picture is my ratty old flannel shirt ... LOL



This shows the lineup of some of my ornaments, some simple, some very simple and some take a bit of thought. None of them are hard to make - you just need to count beads, and count beads, and count beads. Then where to stick the needle is the next quest ... I love doing this king of work and time seems to fly when I do.



Here is the hat that I showed in an earlier post. Very warm, very thick and two layered so you can have whatever side and color you want shown to the world. I took the hat to my friend and he couldn't believe how thick and snug it was. He will be taking it with him up north for Christmas since it is a lot colder there.
Blue side --



Red side --


I will show some more gifts as I complete them.

Have the best Christmas ever, love and be loved.
Hugs

c.c.c cold!!!

Why is the word 'cold' so non-descriptive? You have to use so many adjectives to really describe a day like the one below. This was last Monday (12/7) about 10 a.m. I've been looking at this kind of temperature for a few days, and thought that I'd better catch it on camera, just for fun and maybe for posterity.



The temp has been below zero too, but there was no way I was bundling up like Nanook of the North just to go take a picture! Mmmm - NO!!! When I took this I was out getting wood for the stove so it wasn't hard to grab the camera on one of the trips into the house.



These two just did not care that the other was there. The four-legged creature is very cute and there are two more out of range of the camera, but they come to visit the chicken food. I have to charge out the back door banging away on a pot with a spoon to get them out of the yard! I don't like for any animal to go hungry, but I can't feed the wild ones or they will really become pests. This was the same day that the temp was really low - it was too cold to snow.

We have snow and warmer temps - all the way to 31 today! Our lows are now higher than our highs were at the beginning of the week! We were suppose to have snow all weekend, but I saw the sun today - briefly, but I saw it!! Hopefully we will get a lot more snow, there isn't enough yet for this time of year. As far as I'm concerned it can snow until we have 5-6 feet on the ground, because the weather will be warmer.

You all stay warm out there!
Hugs