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?