MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my family and friends. May your new year be blessed.

Shirley

What is your Star Wars Horoscope

Star Wars Horoscope for Virgo

You show efficiency when working for a good cause.But you tend to be a bit fussy when it comes to doing something out of the ordinary.Like many Virgos, you want to stay out of the spotlight.You do well at picking up the smallest details. Star wars character you are most like: C3P0

What Is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

Prescription Prices

I'm on the bandwagon this morning concerning prescription prices. Last Saturday I had to go and get 3 prescriptions filled at our local pharmacy. While waiting for the lady to look up the prices on one prescription I was shocked to see what the pharmacy actually pays for the drugs. One of my prescriptions was billed $97.29 to my prescription insurance..........the pharmacy's cost.....................$2.31. They made a $96.98 profit on just that one prescription. Another prescription was billed for $29.76.............the pharmacy's cost......................$.30. They made $29.46 profit.

To me, this is unexcusable. No wonder our insurance premiums are so expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How are people who have no insurance to cover prescription drugs affording them? It's just not right and something needs to be done about it.

I better get off this bandwagon before I need another prescription to calm me down.

What Kind of Ornament Are You?

You Are a Tree

You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

Soft Rolled Sugar Cookies

Last night I started making my Christmas Cookies. In past years I have baked approximately 100 dozen cookies. This year I won't be baking as many. I love this recipe for Soft Rolled Sugar Cookies. The cookies are soft instead of crunchy. In fact, I think Rich ate about a dozen of them last night. I just can't seem to keep him out of the cookies...he loves them fresh from the oven. I'd love to share my recipe with you.

SOFT ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup soft margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir flour with baking powder and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Divide in half. Cover; chill 1 hour. On lightly floured surface roll each half to 1/8th-inch. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE!! Makes 13 dozen cookies.

Instead of cutting out cookies I roll into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. I take a glass and dip into sugar and press the cookies into rounds. I then sprinkle on colored sugar and bake as directed. Makes about 5 - 5 1/2 dozen cookies.

I hope that you will try my sugar cookie recipe and enjoy them. I will be sharing more recipes during the month.

Happy Baking, Shirley

Time for Chirstmas Movies and Television Specials

It's the time of the year for all the Christmas movies and Television Specials. I love this time of year. Some of my favorite movies are Miracle on 34th Street, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation, Bill Murry's Scrooged, and A Christmas Carol. I love the television specials of Christmas music. Some of my favorite Christmas programs on TV are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and my all time favorite...............The Little Drummer Boy.

Call me old-fashioned I don't care. I don't want to see Christmas movies or programs that are "blood and guts". I want the cute ones that have meaning behind them.

Peace Wreath - Anti-war or Satan???

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_re_us/anti_peace_sign


WOMAN FACES FINES FOR WREATH PEACE SIGN
By Robert Weller, Associated Press Writer
Sunday Novermber 26, 2006

DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan.

Three or four residents complained, he said.

"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up," he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thing of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus?"

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and board "will not allow signs, flags, etc. that can be considered divisive." The subdivision's rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn't say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.

Yes, I'm a baby boomer!!!!!!!! I always thought that this was a universal symbol for PEACE. Have I misunderstood the meaning for all these years???????????

Why is it that it just takes a few people to upset the whole applecart???????? I agree with the lady in the article..........what's next.........Santa and his reindeer, Frosty the Snowman..............maybe the Grinch??????????

It's too bad that some people have nothing better to do than mind somebody else's business and not their own!!!!!!!!

SNOW!!!

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the kitchen window and it was snowing around 8am this morning.. The snowflakes were huge. The middle photo is looking out my kitchen window. By 10am it had all melted. BooHoo!! I love the snow. That is one thing I miss about living in South Lake Tahoe, CA..............the snow.

Thanksgiving

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our's was quiet. Dad and Mae came over for dinner and spent the afternoon. Rich's sister Barb and her husband were unable to make it down to visit.

This year I roasted turkey. The first one I have done in over 6 years. We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Roast turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans, corn, dinner rolls. For dessert we had pumpkin, coconut cream and pecan pie.

November 16 - 30 Menu

Main Entree's

Enchiladas
Lasagna
Pizza
Stuffed Peppers
Spaghetti
Weiner Wraps
Beef Macaroni Skillet
French Toast
Salmon Fillets
Taco Salad
Chili Burgers
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken Fried Steak
Creamy Hamburger Chowder
Chicken Strips
Tuna Casserole
Biscuits and Gravy
Macaroni and Cheese

Desserts and for Lunchs
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pecan Pie
Crazy Chocolate Cake
Ice Cream with Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Extras

4 loaves of Bread
Poppy Seed Muffins
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Bagels
Biscuits
Cornbread

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fall Crop at Scrap101 - Last Day

Challenge #14 - To use paint or paintchips on a layout. I think I'm going to go back and stamp some designs on the 3 paint chips.
Challenge #11 - Distress your layout. Scrapp101 Friends Tanya and Robert Atkinson. I need to learn more about distressing.
Challenge #15 - Create a layout about what you are Thankful for. My awesome hubby, Rich.
Challenge #13 - Use a movie title for you layout's title - Play Misty for Me is a Clint Eastwood movie.
Challenge #12 - Use arrow(s) on a layout. Our handsome nephew, Jermaine. I will finish the arrow when I find out graduation year from Barb.

I had so much fun participating in the Fall Crop at Scrap101. I was able to get all 15 challenges done. I think I was the only one to do all 15 challenges.

Every year at Scrap101 we set a goal for how many layouts we would like to finish. This is the 2nd year that I have participated. The first year I set my goals for 100 layouts and I met that goal by June. So this year I decided to up my goal to 365 layouts.

I met my goal on Saturday. As of today I have 373 layouts done this year.

I think I will set my goal for 500 layouts next year.

I would love to thank my wonderful husband, Rich for being so understanding with me and my scrapbooking.

"Sweetheart,

Thank you for being so understanding with me and my scrapbooking. You are always so excited when I show you my layouts. I also love your suggestions when I ask for help with a layout. I owe you for all the times you have patiently waited for me to shop at Michaels, Rubberstamping and Scrapbooking Too!, ect. I don't know how you put up with me always wanting to take photos no matter where we go. Remember when we went to Virginia City, NV last year and I took over 700 photos..............and we were only gone 5 days.

Love, Shirley"

Fun is over..................back to household chores.

Fall Crop Challenges - Day Three

Challenge #10 - Use buttons on layout.
Challenge #9 - Use chipboard on layout - side dish and brackets are chipboard.
Challenge #7 - Use song lyrics on layout.
Challenge #8 - Ad inspiration

No matter what I do I just can't seem to get the photos uploaded in the order I want. Is it me or is it Blogspot???????????????

I've been having a ball this weekend participating in the Fall Crop at Scrap101.

I'm off to do more layouts. We have 5 challenges today. The next challenge is distressing. I'm not very good at it.........but I'm going to give it a try. There's a total of 15 challenges this weekend and I want to do them all.

More Challenge Layouts

Challenge #5 - use 2 different stamps on a layout. This is the layout I'm going to use as my first page in a Princess Diana album.
Challenge #6 - use ribbon on a layout. I scraplifted this idea from Jen16 at Transparencies and Tags.

We had a Bingo game............as usual I needed just one word and Jen went BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to scrapping!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fall Crop at Scrap101 Day Two

Challenge #4 - use blue, green and brown colors with black and white as accents
Challenge #3 - BOM-layout about something that makes you happy

Yesterday was so much fun at the Fall Crop at Scrap101. We had games, challenges and fun, fun, fun!!!!!!!! I won 2 games and finished 4 challenges. Today we have played Bingo and more challenges. I'm working on Challenge #5 now. It's using 2 different stamp designs on a layout.

Back to the fun!!!!!!!!!! I'll upload more layouts when I get them finished.

Thanks to all Veterans

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze

A young soldier saluted it,

and then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform

So young, so tall, so proud

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him

Had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?

How many foxholes, soldiers' graves?

And remembered then,

No freedom isn't free

I heard the sound of taps one night,

When everything was still.

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times

That taps had meant "Amen".

When a flag had draped a coffin

Of a brother, sister, friend.

I thought of all the children,

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons and husbands

With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard

At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington........

No-----------------freedom isn't free.

Cadet Major Kelly Strong

Air Force Junior ROTC

Fall Crop at Scrap101

Challenge #1 - use a flower on a layout.
Challenge #2 - use a sketch for a layout - left side.
Challlenge #2 - use a sketch for a layout - right side.

This weekend we are having a FALL CROP at Scrap101. So far I've got the first two challenges done and won a game of What Am I? I lost out on Bingo by 1 minute to Barbie. That's okay! I don't want to be piggy and win everything.

Back to scrapping! More to come................

Progress on my weekly goal

I've been making progress on my weekly goal of reorganizing my kitchen. I've had to be real creative in storage of items I don't use everyday..........extra bread machine, crockpot, canner, donut maker, ChipShot, cake decorating supplies, etc. The kitchen is looking better.........but far from finished.

I know that I will never have a kitchen that will make the pages of Home Beautiful. I just want my kitchen to be warm and cozy and be a reflection of me.

I want to showcase some of my collections.........watermelons, baskets, tins, etc. in the kitchen and dining area.

Off to work on my goal.

Weekly Goal

At Scrap 101 we are doing a weekly goal list. My weekly goal this week is to declutter kitchen and rearrange cupboards.

As you can see in the photos I have a fairly compact kitchen. It has been hard for me to arrange the cupboards so they feel comfortable when I'm cooking. The way some kitchens are designed I wonder if the designers even know how to cook. I love to bake so I'm trying to get all my baking supplies in one area.

I think the problem is that I have way too many items I want in my baking area. I have my bread machine, hand-cranked flour mill, numerous baking pans, numerous mixing bowls............see what I mean. I'm going to have to go through and decide exactly how important each item is and where it needs to be.

The photos were taken the day we bought our mobile.

Weekend Warrior Challenge at Scrap 101

This is a layout I did of some of Misty's first photos after we brought her home yesterday. She is very playful. She awoke me at 5am this morning playing on the end of the bed. She played and ran through the house for about 5 hours this morning. Then she curled up on Rich's lap and went to sleep. Seems that she is a early riser. That's okay as we get up at 4am on workdays.

Her Royal Highness Misty

Yesterday Rich and I went shopping for groceries. Rich had already gone to the van and I was coming out of the store.............free kittens. Rich and I have been looking for a kitten for a while. I looked into the box and there was a kitten with Siamese markings and a fuzzy black one. I started asking the man questions...........boys or girls? Both the kittens were girls. Were they part Siamese? Yes! I then picked up the kitten with Siamese markings to check her out. I checked her eyes, nose, and ears. Her eyes were clear, clean little nose, and no ear mites. I then checked out her fur. Her fur was soft and clean and no sign of fleas. I told the man I would love to have the kitten. He told me Thank You for giving her a home.

So off to the car I go with the little kitten tucked under my jacket. When I got to the van I handed her to Rich. He was so excited. He loves any kind of kittens or cats..........no matter how big they are.

Now I have to go back into the store for kitten food and kitty litter. It's been a long time since I have bought pet food.

When I get back to the van...............kitten is fast asleep on Rich's chest. She knew she had found a safe home already.

Rich and I both were thinking of names for her on the way home. I had thought Misty would be cute as she has misty bluish eyes. I didn't say anything. Rich looked down at her and told the kitten that she looked like Misty to him. I told Rich that was the name I thought of too!!!! So we named her Misty. Of course Her Royal Highness goes with it.

We get home and I go in the house first and prepare a box with kitty litter. Rich brings her in and sets her down on the carpet. Shes off and running. She explores the house for a while. We show her where her potty and food are located.

After a couple of hours exploring shes tired and climbs up on Rich's lap and goes to sleep.

I'm sure there will be more adventures with Misty to come.

Favorite Pizza

This is my BOM Challenge I did for last week. I had to do a layout about my favorite pizza. That would be Mushroom with Extra Cheese. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!

Yikes!! It's November Already!!

It's so hard to believe it's already November. Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.

I've been busy preparing my menu for the first half of November. I've been adding more recipes that are heartier to our menu. One of the ones we love in the autumn and winter is Hearty Hamburger Chowder. As we don't eat red meat I use Morningstar Crumbles instead of hamburger. Honestly I can't tell the difference with the veggie meat instead of the hamburger I used to use to make the recipe.

Rich and I spent last Sunday night at Bobbie's. She made Potato Soup in the crockpot for dinner to serve with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Since it had bacon Rich and I didn't want any. She was so sweet to prepare Veggie Chili instead for Rich and I. We always have a wonderful time when we spend a night with Bobbie, Mike and Heather.

On Monday afternoon before we went back home we stopped and had ice cream where Heather works. Of course Rich had to have Black Licorice and I had to have Rocky Road. It was so yummy.

November 1 - 15 Menu
We are Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians that will occasionally eat fish.

Homemade Pizza
Tacos using Morningstar Crumbles
Chicken and Dumplings using Morningstar Chicken Strips
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Lasagna
Chili Burgers
Biscuits and Gravy
Stuffed Peppers
Creamy Hamburger Chowder
Tuna Casserole
Spaghetti
Salmon Patties
Beef Taco Bake
Weiner Wraps
Beef-Macaroni Skillet
French Toast
Meatloaf
Hamburgers
Chicken Nuggets using Morningstar Chicken Strips
Baked Fish

Off to make out my grocery list for Saturday. I've budgeted $150 for groceries this month. That includes all household items.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Wishing all a safe and fun Halloween.

Art Doll Artist Trading Card

This is my first attempt at making an Art Doll ATC. The arms and legs are fastened on with brads so they will fold up within the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 - inch card. They are supposed to be whimsical.

My Beautiful Niece

I thought I would share a beautiful layout that Bobbie did of my niece, Heather. Bobbie, Heather and Sara (Heather's friend) went to Lithia Park in Ashland and did a photo shoot. Bobbie did the photo shoot for Heather and Sara's graduation announcements. Bobbie took over a hundred photos. I can hardly wait to see the rest of them.

Bobbie is a wonderful photographer. She has taken some of the most beautiful portrait and landscape photos. She has a knack of taking beautiful photos of flowers too!!!

Hmmmmmmm!! I wonder if she would take a few photos of Rick and I this weekend? I would love to have a nice photo for Christmas Cards this year.

Bobbie's Book of Me Challenge

This is my layout I did for Bobbie's Book of Me Challenge on Scrap 101 last week. The challenge was to use "Unforgettable" Nat King Cole's song in your title.

Wolves