Happy New Year...

Wanting to say to all my Blogging Buddies...Dear Friends....Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for all the Laughter. Thank you for all the prayers. Thank you for all the well wishes. Thank you for all the super sweet comments about my photos even though I probably didn't deserve them. Thank you for caring about me and my family. Thank you for requesting a recipe even though you may not have really needed or wanted it. Thank you for taking the few extra moments to come check on me. Thank you for inspiring me on days that I didn't see any inspiration. Thank you for making me laugh 'til I cried....Thank you just doesn't fully cover what y'all mean to me....but, thank you Anyway. May this New Year bring us safety and comfort, warmth and happiness...and joy. Happy New Year Dear Friends!

What'cha Wanna Do Now?

Well, we made it through our lonely little Christmas...sniff-sniff. My GirlChild and family ran off to Colorado so there wasn't any 6AM squeals to open presents. Hubby and I woke up early as usual and just looked at each other....Wow! What Do We Do Now, kind of look....Hahahaaa.....After waking up to kids in the house for 38 years, I must say, it Was different! Oh well, we proceeded to eat breakfast, drink our coffees and be content with what we had....Us...He and I....alone....LOL....SO, moving right along,(Hahahaa...NO! We cleaned the kitchen!!) for our lunch, we had Gumbo! NO more turkey! Gads, I think we would have really been happy with a BIG HONKING old Pizza...with lots of cheese and olives and bell pepper....greasy and hot and runny! (Suck it up Michelle!)
I have always been one to adhere to tradition. Turkey and dressing was a must. Will this change? Is it a sign of things to come? I don't know! But I think we'd best get use to it. Maybe hubby and I will venture off to Tibet...Morracco...Oklahoma, during the holidays...Hahahaaaa.....Who knows. But there Will be pizza. Soon. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and can you believe it??? It's almost 2011!!! Time is really rolling by fast now. Have a wonderful night Guys!

Little Christmas Love....Ema

I would like you to meet Miss Ema...She is Samantha and Williams half Sister....Miss Ema played Santa Claus today....She sent me flowers! We love Miss Ema and I Know she loves Sam and Will. This photo was taken back in November at William's school lunch of which Miss Ema and her Mom, Aubrey, attended. Crystal took the photo and I Love it! Look at Ema looking at William....Hahahaaa.....Isn't that the Sweetest look??? I can't tell you how, and in all the ways, that God has Blessed our family....but He has. All I know is...that even though you may go through great loss, great joys can be your reward if you'll only look for them...they're there.

May God fill your hearts with Great joy and love this Christmas season....

While The Cat's Away....

Well, the Cat IS away for the week. Crystal and the little family are on a ski trip to Colorado. Right now they're in Durango and really having a good time. In the meantime...That leaves me here at the office muddling my way through my jobs as well as hers. I know I've been a BAD blog buddy lately but...please forgive me and know as SOON as I can, I'll be reading all your great post. Hang in there and have a happy Monday!!

I know...I know...Lolol...can't STOP!

Have you ever gotten started on something and just couldn't Stop???Hahahaa.....That's me today. Leah Staas on her Baptism Day....Yes, I've been playing with more photos...Hahaaaa...but fixing skin, lighting, eyes...noise...saturation...blah, blah....Hahaaa....took more time than I thought! Geez, I've been playing photography for long enough today, but she makes a great subject. I think I like portraits best. Happy night everyone!

Textures...geez...

Brother! You need a degree in Astro Physics to understand this stuff! Texturing...But this is my first attempt at it. This bird was sitting on a fence that Hubby had parked our truck by when we were at Meteor Crater in Arizona. He was huge! This was Not a crow...Edgar Allen Poe would have been proud to have made his acquaintance! Well anyway, I snapped his photo sort of as an afterthought. See the grainy appearence of the photo? That's called...a Layered texture!Hahaaa.....and see how smooth the birds body is? I used the eraser tool. I wanted to use a photo with a baby in it and use a different texture but I couldn't get it to load right. PSElements....geez! Why isn't there JUST an independent program out there in photo land that Just does one thing? Portraits! Oh well, back to the salt mines....Y'all have a happy and safe day!

Santa and a Baptism....

Crystal gave Tim a fancy silk shirt....

I think Ty was getting anxious....Hahaaa

William and Samantha giving me a pose...

And Santa Crystal...Santa Always wears "the hat"......

My nephew, Aaron and Miss Leah, his daughter. It was her Baptism day today.

Hi all....Well, it's been a busy weekend for us. We had our Christmas with the kiddos on Saturday....I'm not happy with the way my little Canon handled the job! Somehow AFTER the event, I found my settings weren't correct...so much for NOT CHECKING!!!Hahaaa....oh well. Hopefully I'll get some time to sit down and start on my tutorials tomorrow and maybe I can figure out how to fix most of the mistakes. I'm taking a day Off! The house is in serious need of attention and so am I!! I've yanked a frozen chicken out of the freezer and will attempt to fix a decent supper for tomorrow night. Hope you all were behaving yourselves while I was out of town! I'll be blog hopping tomorrow in between loads of laundry...Euwwwwww!Lolol

Night all.....

It's Been a Week??

No Way! I've NEVER gone a week without blogging Something!!Hahaa....Well, I DO have an excuse...We are having an early Christmas celebration tomorrow here at the house. The Kiddos will be on a trip during the official holiday so we decided to do Ours, tomorrow. What a whirlwind week it's been! BUT, I'm DONE! Finished! And I can't believe I did it all by the 9th of December! (Peaceful Sigh...). Hubby got the "tree from He**" out Thanksgiving afternoon because the GranBabies wanted to decorate it...Well, after Many branches plugged into place, the decorating began. I think they did a great job! I didn't change a Thing!

Hope you are almost done with all Your "have-to's" and can start your enjoyment of the season!

Happy Friday everyone!!

PS- Miz Nita Jo of Little Grey Gardens is having a Christmas Give-a-Way! Go leave a comment!

No Respect...

Here at work, there's an unsung code of honor regarding the bathroom facilities and their "tools". I'm Sure that, at Your workplace, you have the Same code...."Ran out on YOUR Watch?......Replace it!" We all feel at one time or another that we are the Only one who remembers...the Code. There are only two women that work in this shop...me and my daughter. For the umpteenth time, in my sweet and melodious voice, I casually put my "wishes" out to the Universe...GRRRRRRRR!!!!!Hahahaaa.....This is what I walked in on yesterday morning....Good luck with the Code at Your place....mine is a done deal!

Happy weekend everyone!

No Apologies....

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country`s prior actions, here`s a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60s when deGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. deGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here? deGualle did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop....

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. Powell answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop........

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly... 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships, how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.............

A U.S. Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., England, Canada, Australia and France. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French? 'Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's, and Americans, arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop................

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE....Robert Whiting , an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports upon arrival in France !"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

I am proud to be of this land, called.... AMERICA!

**Hubby sent this to me this morning and expresses how most Americans feel...I don't usually show my political side on this blog but after hearing a few snivelly comments about America on the radio and television from...foreign nations....I thought this was a perfect answer to them. A lot of the nations we fought and died for to free, are blindly giving away their rights TO those freedoms.....My Dad, Mom, Father in law, Mother in law, uncles and Aunts.....Husband...all fought for freedom in different parts of the world, and here at home. Maybe those foreign ...nations... should stop and remember the Next time they think they have something...important...to say!

The only "fix" for my boiling blood this morning is coffee.....Is it Friday yet?

Thank You Miz Donna!

I'm a Winner!! Oh Yeah!Hahaaaa.....I just do Not win things...and if I Do, it's considered a miracle! And just Look at what I won! A Polar Bear Babies calendar, an official Polar Bear Club patch, Churchill, Manitoba Canada! Beautifully hand sewn tissue holders and handmade note cards! Donna from Cottage Days had a giveaway...and I won! She handmade everything but the calendar and with a little push from her friends, I'll bet she could make up a beautiful one! If you haven't seen her photos, you're in for a treat! Hop on over and check out her blog!!
Thank you Donna (and Marty;o)) for holding this giveaway! It was a genuine surprise for me to win!!
PS- I just read about a Blogger Buddy (Ellen) whose Mother was in a bad car accident! Can you please send prayers?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dwayne wants to know what "Free-Range Turkeys" mean and, should he be worried???Hahaa... Here's hoping you have a Wonderful and Blessed Thanksgiving Everyone!

Let the Holidays begin!

Good Monday Morning Everyone! Well, it was a babysitting kind of weekend again. Around the holidays, Will and Sami like to spend nights with the "old folks"...We baked something called Pumpkin flats, made with carrot cake mix and made strawberry and banana smoothies. The flat pumpkin things were really good and the smoothies were...interesting...Lolol. We watched The Christmas Carol (new one) and The Last Airbender. They were both good movies. The main thing we did though, was snuggle and have fun. Hope you all had a great weekend as well. Looks like we're headed into Thanksgiving week. Time to get that frozen turkey set out into the refrigerator....

Update On Dwayne...

I feel confident in saying, that I know you all were wondering about the progress of Dwayne's hair....It's growing...Long...Maybe, in a few more days, I think I'll be giving him an old fashioned Buzz Top. Poor Dwayne...It's getting a bit cold sitting on that ledge all by himself...

Goodnight Dwayne... :o)

Vintage Roses Lesson

Original photo.....

Photo that I worked on...I think it looks much better. I've gotten online and am trying to learn how to use my Photoshop program. I wanted to start out with building my own background but got flippin' sidetracked with all the cool stuff to learn. The reworked photo looks cleaner and brighter and a more true color. I got to play with layers...I LOVE photography....when the photo turns out..Hahaaa...There's SO much to learn, but I'm trying!

Y'all have a great day!

I Be Canning and Stuff...

Here's some 12x12 papers I finally bought and did as a bunch of you suggested, and cut down to 8 1/2 x 11. I'll play with these on the scanner tonight hopefully.

I Canned this weekend....Finally! I had bought several pounds of tomatoes and thought I'd try my hand at it. It Worked!Lolol...I did everything I was suppose to and in the end, those lids all popped just like they were suppose to! I had more jars than tomatoes...but I now know approximates on both. Next, I think I'll try my hand at jelly. Well, hope you all had a great weekend! I'm Also letting all the Brenda Photo Challenge participants know the Blog is Closed for the Holidays! I'll start it up again in January, so check back. InLinkz Also notified me they are going to start charging for the link so I've found someone else to use...It looks easy to use but I just need to play with it. Y'all have a great night!

Happy Dance Here....

To ALL unbelievers...Gamma did the Impossible! She single-handily got Dwayne, our Grandson William's plant project....to GROW! I've been dutifully watering it...singing to it...discussing daily problems with it...and patting it's little bald head. This morning as I was making coffee I happened to look up at those Big Blue Eyes sitting in the window sill, and what do you think I spotted? See the tiny green hairs popping up behind its eyeball??? Silent Happy Dance going on here....I Hate to admit defeat!!Hahaaaaaa.....Thank goodness for those grass hairs. When Will handed it to me to "fix", I Knew my Gamma Reputation was on the Line Here!! You know the one...."The All Knowing One".....I have not failed! Reputation has been saved! For a while longer, at least.

Went to town this morning hunting "papers" to scan into my computer so I can work on a background for my blog...Huhhh! Well, guess what...They no Longer make beautiful papers in the 8 1/2 x 11 size! Only 12x12's! I kid you Not! Won't fit my scanner! When did That happen? I tried to download some yesterday on the computer...Hahaaaa....Me and "Zip File" do Not get along! Zip my butt...Good Lord, why can't it just LOAD! Oh well, I shall persist....Hope you all are having a good weekend! Will is visiting us so I have a playmate tonight. Hubby says he's preparing breakfast for tomorrow....I don't think I'll ask him What he's making. Cabinet doors are popping open and shut so I'll leave him to it. Happy night to all....

The Brenda Photo Challenge (11-13-10) Broken

Broken branches laying on the ground in Sedona, Arizona...

Good Morning everyone! Usually when something breaks around here and it can't be fixed, out to the trash it goes. So...I had a time of it trying to think of something for this challenge! Then I remembered...Daddy's old Rabbit! This "toy" is over a hundred years old. My Grandmother brought it from Vienna, Austria when they emigrated to this country. She gave it to my father as a toy for Christmas one year and he played with it for years. After he grew up, it stayed on his dresser as a rememberence of his childhood. I inherited it from him years ago...I love him. I have Always been partial to rabbits I think, because of him and his "charm..."

Y'all have a great weekend!

To see more entries, go here:

The Brenda Photo Challenge Blog

Hahahahaaa.....yuck...

Oh Brother...It just keeps getting worser and worser.....Hahahaaa.....At least I'll have this weekend to play around with backgrounds...who knows! Hope your Friday is a good one...Going to the grocery this afternoon....FUN!!

Veterans Day

To all the Veterans, I say Thank You for what you did and Are doing for our Nation...God Bless You and God Bless and Keep, America.

It's Fall and I'm Still looking...

Forgive my feeble attempt at changing my background...I do Not like it! Bare with me while I figure out how to upload a nice paper...unzip it...and use it as a background. I have seen some really pretty ones but am ignorant when it comes to loading them as backgrounds. Going in search of a tutorial online. There's bound to be one out there somewhere. I'm tired of having other peoples banners in the upper left hand corner of my blog! I Did manage to Move the banner to the lower left...Way down the page...but it's still there! One of those things that irritates you...You KNOW it's there...Hahaaa

Hope all is wonderful in Your worlds today...It turned out to be pretty here, 75degrees already and sunny. Nice. Well, guess I'll get busy and put on my thinking cap. If you click on and the page looks strange...don't worry. It's just me testing stuff. Why do things Always have to be complicated? Happy day everyone!

FALL BACK!

Good Morning People! It's that time of year again when we need to set our clocks BACK one hour (USA and Canada) before going to bed tonight. We think we're getting that precious hour back when in reality...it just tends to make My day longer. BUT...it will be nice to get up to some light outside simply because I'm still forced...by the Evil forces of Hubby....to work and save the planet by installing the best pottys this side of the Mississippi. The photo above is another snapshot from the museum in Roswell, New Mexico. The Aliens forgot to set Their clocks back last year...as you can see...NOT a good thing to forget!Hahaaa
Hope you have a Wonderful Saturday! Guess I'll go get dressed and hit the Sam's Club. Enjoy your day!

Roswell...

The Museum.....You can see and do all you need to in the museum in about an hour...or less. It wasn't what I'd hoped it would be and they Really need to update it.

Betty Hill and friend....I read the Betty & Barney Hill story...riveting!

Pie Town Cafe....close to the border of Arizona. A "joint" but a Good one!

Wonder who ordered this Delicious Peach Pie???

A rendition of "the Crash" in the museum display case. I believe this really DID happen. I believe the Government has tried to cover it up all these years. There are just too many sightings and witnesses. As usual, America is just about the Last country to disclose its findings...gracefully. We are Not a stupid society....give me a Break! When Generals finally start talking about the truth of it all, I think it's time. Why should we humans think we are the only ones in this Universe? My God made this HUGE Universe...for just Me and my tiny piece of pie?? I don't think so.....I also think Aliens enjoy pie....peach pie. My piece of pie is missing...Hubby denies taking it....This is what I mean by "full disclosure..." Somebody Better Disclose...PDQ!!!!

Morons and Wow.....

Hi Everyone! Well, we're Back! Finally! I only have the strength to load these two photos.Hahaaaa..... The Grand Canyon was Truly, Grand!! How Beautiful it is. It was one of those "take your breath away" moments. I could not believe the beauty that this photo just does Not convey...Of course Hubby and I had a good laugh while taking this shot....

Hubby: Now honey, one more step.....just one more...

Me: Here? Here? One more??

Hubby: Yes my love....just One more....

Hahaaaaaa......but I tricked him...I kept moving Forward!

We Also now know WHY there's been so many deaths at the Grand Canyon! See the top photo??? MORON!!! No Matter how many warnings they are given, they Still do Very stupid things! Unbelievable stunts! We are now no longer sympathetic! If you are told NOT to do something because you could DIE....Don't Do It!! Simple! At this point, it's ONE MILE DOWN!

We traveled almost 2800 miles round trip and still feel like we're rolling along on the road! Most of the hotels we stayed at had hard beds, hard pillows and A/C's that turned on and off using sensors!! Drove us Nuts! I love technology, but this is ridiculous!

I'll post more later about the highlights and lowlights over the next few weeks...Don't want to give you "Trip Overload!" Hope you all are safe and well and enjoying your warm or cold evening!

Another Day, Another Dollar

Well, here's another progress report. The hotel is beautiful And Very expensive! Can you believe two crepes, two cokes for $28 bucks? I'm not cheap but This is ridiculous!! Hubby's seminars are here at The Paris and he needed to be here otherwise we'd be down on the Strip...Hahaa... I can only post one photo at a time on this program I'm using, so I will do a better post when I get home. Hope you all are well and behaving yourselves!! Be safe!

Trip Update from my IPhone

Just a quick note to say we are now in Flagstaff, Arizona. We were a bit concerned when we first crossed into AZ that it was going to be a "barron" ride with nothing but... Nothing!Lol... Not so... Sedona was a beautiful surprise!
Went shopping for earrings and came away with earrings and Chocolate! Good stuff too! Tomorrow, we're headed to the Grand Canyon then onward to Las Vegas. Hope the photo comes out clear.
Have a great night everyone. More later.

Wordless Wednesday...Paris

Paris Hotel in Las Vegas....I Can Not Wait!! Have a great Wednesday everyone!!

The Brenda Photo Challenge (10-16-10) Fast Food

Here's some Fast Fried Shrimp! It was Good, too!

A Schmaltz Sandwich! Lordy, these are Great!

Hahaaaa...I'm not quite sure What it is but she had to go pick it up and was back to the shop in less than fifteen minutes...so...it's FAST FOOD!

Well, these are mine...Hopping over to see all Your FAST FOOD photos! Have a Great Weekend Guys and thanks go to Brenda of What's Up Down South for this theme!

Go check out the other entries!

The Brenda Photo Challenge

Happy Birthday Hubby!

I Love you Honey! I KNOW you're having a Happy Birthday....you're married to ME!!Hahaaa