Where to start ...

First I want to thank you all for your comments and prayers for Cheryl and all of us. I really appreciate hearing from all of you.

The last few days have just flown by. I've been spending most of my days at Cheryl's house doing whatever needed to be done. There's been lots of tears and laughter, people in and out all day and omgosh the phone calls .. the outpour of care and concern for her and the saddness of lossing Larry has made for some long long days .. all leading up to today (Sunday) which will be the memorial service.

This weekend is defiantely bittersweet for me because today is also my birthday. Saturday evening we got together with my side of the family and had a wonderful mexican meal and played some games .. it was a really nice way to celebrate and to also have a little down time .. I didn't have to cook! lol

Back up a couple of days .. Thursday night I got home late from Cheryl's and had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I got home. There was this wonderful stitched envelope waiting for me from Jill. She had my name from the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club. Look at this fun stitching she did for me! All my favoriate things are stitched on this envelope .. first there's this darling reindeer on the front ...

and on the back are more motifs of things that I love ...

What a special gift! But there was more .. a sweet birthday card inside .. but there was more .. there was also a big box from her too.

and here what was inside the box .. more great things like coffee socks, a coffee cup and goodies from Starbucks, a coffee notepad and pen, a beautiful stitch counter that she made herself, a storage box and floss bobbins. And if that wasn't enough, she included Yule Sampler.

Thank you so much Jill .. I just love everything! You really made me smile :)

I hope everyone is having a great productive fun weekend! You all deserve it! I'll leave you with one last picture .. me at my 4th birthday. Can't remember why there was a fire hat there! lol

I'm grateful for another birthday ... 55 will rock!

Tough Day ...

We lost a very dear friend today. Larry and Cheryl moved next door to my parents 24 years ago. They became very close friends of my parents and our entire family. Larry was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor that was wrapped around his stomach about 3 years ago. He outlasted all the doctors predictions ... was still working up until a month ago. It was only a couple days a week, but nothing could keep him down. Larry had a love of life that made him a fighter up to his last days .. even through the pain, and in the last year of his life, the pain was very bad. He was an avid, and I do mean avid hunter and fisherman. Hunting and fishing was something that my dad and he enjoyed together. I know Dad will really miss him, we all will. But we know he is in a better place and finally out of pain.

Larry with my Dad


Larry and I

Please keep his wife Cheryl in your thoughts and prayers .. they never had any children, and Cheryl lost her parents a little over a year ago .. this is going to be a difficult time for her.

I'm grateful for my friendship with Larry and Cheryl ...

Sunday and Snow ...

I'm sitting here sunday night, watching the snow fall, yes more snow!!! and wishing I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow .. my holiday break was great and went all too fast. We had a great time New Years Eve with our friends and family .. yes we rocked out playing Rock Band .. omg it was such fun! I suck at it bad, well I do ok singing .. but me and the drums really didn't work out well at all! While not everyone wanted to make fools of themselves, some opted to play Phase 10. Lisa, Monica and I went back and forth between Phase 10 and Rock Band. I think everyone had a great time .. the margaritas were very very tasty. Here's a few pictures ..


Happy New Year from me and Lisa ...

The Phase 10 table ...

Chris, Robert and Jay rocking out ...

Midnight ... outside in the cold listening to all the sounds of a new year :)

enjoying the hot tub after midnight ... cold but wonderful!

On the stitching front, I finished Lizzie*Kate's Christmas is Special on New Year's Day. This was a fun stitch ...

Today I've been stitching on CCN's Joyful Summer. I have 3 or 4 other WIPs that I would like to finish up soon. Other than a couple of SAL's I will be participating in, I really want to work on stitching stash I already own. Other than fabric and floss, I really don't need any new charts. Yea I know, what does need have anything to do with it! lol .. but with the economy like it is, and with all the remodeling we've been doing .. I really think concentrating on what I already have is best ... wonder if it'll work! lol

We did see a couple of really good movies over the weekend. I would highly recommend both of them ... first was Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. Amazingly good movie. It really wasn't top on my list of movies I wanted to see, but I was really glad DH picked it. The other movie was Yes Man with Jim Carrey. Another surprise movie ... much better than I expected. Jim usually is a little over the top for me, but this movie had just the right amount of Carrey craziness. He really is very funny. Oh and did I tell you we saw Marley and Me Christmas Day? Very good fun family movie until the last 30 minutes ... I don't want to give away the ending, but if you are any kind of animal lover, take a ton of kleenex with you! I had the ugly sobs by the end of the movie, but I did enjoy it.

Thank you very much for the comments on my last post. I enjoy hearing from everyone. The new winter picture on my blog was taken by Monica when she went home to Spokane for Christmas. She took it from her parents house .. incredible view! and lots of snow! as of today, Spokane has had 61 inches of snow and are expecting 6-8 inches more over night. That's the most snow for them in recordable history. The snow around here was actually starting to melt, except for the piles that the snowplows leave. It started snowing again tonight ... we have about 3 inches. It's suppose to turn to rain later tonight ... here's our Christmas tree in the snow. This year after we undecorated the tree, we moved it outside so the birds could enjoy it. I strung some cranberries, hollowed out grapefruit and oranges and filled them with bird seed. During the days, the lights are off, but I love looking at it all lite up outside at night.

Hope everyone had a great weekend ...


I'm grateful for a new year ...

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve. The house is ready for a bit of a party .. we're having a Rock Band party, complete with 20somethings :) Ken, Lisa, Terry and I will be the old folks .. but we can rock out with the best of them! lol Here's my table ... all ready for the festivities to begin! We're having lasgna, ceaser salad, garlic bread, and ice cream and cookies for dessert .. yummy!

I have really enjoyed blogging this year and I'm looking forward to 2009 and all the stitching we will all accomplish! Thank you to all that visit, even if you don't leave a comment *smile* I look forward to staying close to my blogging friends and meeting new blogging friends along the way. May 2009 be a good year for all of us.

Hugs, Michele

I'm grateful for so many things .. my family and friends most of all ...

Is it really over?

We had a really nice Christmas even with all the snow. I've never seen this much snow here, we broke all kinds of snow weather records .. I really liked it, even driving in it .. but I know a lot of people were really tired of it after 5 straight days of snow. I'm hoping for more soon! lol

Santa arrived at our house early Christmas Eve morning .. yea I know, the kids are all grown up .. but we still do Santa, unwrapped and stockings.


Beau was a little put out when Chris open his stocking right where Beau wanted to sleep!

Chris and Monica .. silly grin on his face ...

I got some fun presents. Chris and Monica got me a Rowena craft iron and Robert got me a couple of cd's (July for Kings ... I would highly recommend them) and they made me this wonderful palm tree towel rack for the hot tub area .. I just love it! and it has rope lights wrapped around the trunk. Looks really cute with snow on it!

We headed to my Dad's in the afternoon .. when we got there his power went out and it started snowing like crazy. Here's Robert and Terry getting caught in the snow storm trying to shovel Dad's driveway .. at least they tried :) lol The power came back after about 4 hours. Honestly, it was nice without the power. We started a fire in the wood stove and one in the fire pit in the back yard. We bundled up and sat outside, watching it snow, watching the dogs and Robert play in the snow and just chatted ... Dad has a motor home with a generator, so I got to make some coffee and Dad started the Oyster Stew ... about the time my brother and his family showed up, the power came back .. probably for the best, but it was nice while it lasted.

There's been some stitching going on here too. I finished the Eiffel Tower for Chris and Monica, but because of the weather, I didn't get it made into an ornament. They loved it and decided they want to frame it with a picture of them standing by the Eiffel Tower .. good thing I didn't get it finished! lol

I also stitched this flamingo for my neighbors across the street ... again, didn't get it finished into anything, yet .. I got out today and picked up some fabrics .. hopefully I'll get it done tomorrow.

I've also been stitching on Lizzie*Kate's Christmas Is Forever ... looks like this will be my last finish for 2008 ... hopefully! lol

I'm rotating between the L*K and this ornament by Bent Creek. I don't remember which JCS Ornament issue it's from but I know I've had it kitted up for a couple of years ...

I'm really enjoying my holiday time off, but have found it really easy to stay up way to late and sleep in a little later than I should .. bad me lol.

Thanks for visiting and commenting .. you know I love hearing from you all!

I'm grateful for time off from work ...

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas starts tomorrow morning. Chris and Monica are going to her parents for Christmas this year. They live in Spokane, which is about 6 hours East of Seattle. They wanted to have Christmas with us before they leave, so 9am starts Christmas for me. We're having breakfast and presents and then off they go. In the afternoon, we'll head to my Dad's house for Christmas Eve with my Dad and his girlfriend and my brother and his family. Christmas Eve dinner is always casual for us .. spiral ham and all the fixings to make ham sandwiches, oyster stew (Norweign tradition on my Dad's side of the family), augratin potatoes, veggies and dessert .. along with hot buttered rums and egg nogs. My only concern is the snow that is hanging around here. This is definately the coldest winter we've had in 18 years. I definately hope we can make it to my Dad's .. but if not, we'll just have to move Christmas Eve to another night .. as long as I'm with family ... doesn't really matter what the calendar day is.

Christmas will be quiet for us. We'll have a relaxing morning and than will head to my father-in-law's about 1pm. We'll open presents and then off to dinner ... yep, ever since my mother-in-law passed away, my fil really doesn't like to cook or have anyone else cook. It's ok, we've all gotten used to it .. not what we like, but it's what he enjoys and that's what really is important. Spending time with him is what matters .. not where we are spending the time ... make sense?

We usually don't stay late, he gets tired pretty quickly .. maybe DH, Rob and I will take in a movie in the evening. Soooo that's how I'll be spending the next few days ... as long as the weather cooperates!

Merry Christmas to all my online friends near and far. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of all that warms your heart.

I'll leave you with a few winter pictures from this week ... thanks for visiting and all your comments, I really enjoy reading them :)

Saturday night the snow started ...

This was about 11:30pm Saturday night ...

Sunday morning ...

and when it stopped sometime Sunday evening we had about 10" of beautiful snow ... I say beautiful, even though I've been housebound since last Thursday, for the most part. We don't have a car that is very ice/snow worthy ...

Maddy LOVES the snow!

think they look a little tired? We were out in the backyard for about an hour of hard fun play .. they love to chase snowballs and try to catch them in their mouth! lol

I'm grateful for family ...

Trees and gifts ...

We are still having unseasonably cold and icy weather and we are bracing for a hell of a winter storm. The weather guys say it's suppose to snow from tonight (Saturday) until Monday. This should be interesting! I do have a couple of gifts still get, but if I can't get out, I'll order them online, print out the picture and they can have the item when it arrives :)

My father in law gives us all money for Christmas. This year some of the money went towards new tires for my car, but I splurged and got myself something I've always wanted, but never found the perfect one ... may I introduce y0u to my RED tree! lol It looks crooked in the picture, but it really isn't. I hung all my stitched ornaments on my new tree. I just love being able to see all the ornaments .. usually they get kinda lost in my regular Christmas tree. I found the ribbon and fell in love .. it's got santa hats all over it .. not sure I like it in the tree .. but it'll do this year.

Here's a picture of our family Christmas tree. We got a smaller one this year and set it on our coffee table. I really like it, although I couldn't put all our ornaments on it .. we went through our ornament boxes and picked out ones we wanted to see this year .. maybe next year we'll get a bigger tree But I do love it :) Oh and yes, those are stuffed animals in the windows above. I don't know how this started, but over the years we decided to start putting our Christmas stuffed animals in the high windows .. they now cover the windows in the family room (where the tree is) the dining room and the living room! lol

Here's my favorite two trees with snow on them ...

Now on to a couple of lovely surprises that arrived in the mail last week. The first ornament was tucked inside a Christmas card from Wendy. I was soooo surprised when I open it up .. look at the wonderful ornament Wendy stitched for me .. I just adore it! and the finishing is really nice!

and here's the back fabric .. isn't it great :) Thank you again Wendy for your friendship and this lovely Christmas ornament.

This ornament arrived with a few other goodies from my dear friend Karen. I forgot to take pictures of everything .. but I stole these off Karen's blog, this sweet ornament is already hanging on my red tree. Karen coffee dyed the fabric .. it's it cute :)

Here's the other side ...

Karen also sent me some of her coffee dyed fabric .. last night we were watching White Christmas and I stitched this and finished it too. I think it turned out really cute ... Believe is a freebie from Tanya (The Sampler Lady). I stitched the Belle Soie Cranberry.

Here's the back of the ornament. The reindeer is a freebie from a French site that I can't find the link for ... I stitched the reindeer with Belle Soie Espresso .. I really like how this ornament turned out. Thanks for the fabric Karen :) I found the rusted bells on Ebay .. thanks for the tip Vonna :)

Whew .. didn't expect to have so much to show you all at once! Thanks for visiting and for all your lovely comments! Only 5 more days .. are you all ready???

I'm grateful for my red tree ...

brrrrrrr

Wow, seems like it's cold everywhere in the US right now .. well, maybe not Florida! lol .. we are having unusually cold weather for Washington, some of the coldest temps since the early 1990's. Just gotta love global warming! lol .. looks like we are going to get some snow tonight/tomorrow .. 1 to 6 inches in the lowlands .. that's a lot for us .. not for the mountains, down here .. it'll cause havic everywhere. But ya know what .. I just love it! and it's really easy to get in the Christmas spirit when it's cold and snowy outside .. like I need an excuse to be in the Christmas spirit! lol


Lisa and I did our annual Christmas cookie baking on Saturday. This year we were a bit more crazy than usual, we baked 6 different types of cookies and we make 2 double batches of each .. YIKES! lol the least amount of cookies each got was 80 cookies! lol funny thing is they will be all gone by New Years Day. We made 2 cookies that we've made before, the Eggnog Cookies and Peanut Butter Rice Crispy bars. The other 4 cookies are Strawberry Cream Cheese Rounds, Double Chocolate Espresso cookies, Spicy Gumdrop cookies and Chocolate Carmel Wafers. Here's a peek some of the supplies ...


the cookie bakers ...


and some of the goodies ...


Tonight DH and I went Christmas shopping, with the snow coming tonight, we really wanted to get it all done, or close to it. The one thing DH and I do really well is shopping, really we do! I had a good start already, but tonight we finished up everyone but 3 family members .. and we know what we are going to do for them, so they should be easy to finish. This is my last week of work before Christmas break. Boeing gives us about a week off, paid time off between Christmas and New Years. I took 3 extra days of vacation .. so I'll be off from 12/22 - 1/6 *woo hoo* lol

I've been doing a bit of stitching, but most of it's for Christmas presents, so no pictures to share yet.

Speaking of stitching .. A couple of weeks ago Peppermint Twist was released and I mentioned on my blog and to a couple of other stitchers about doing a SAL starting in January. Well, my dear friend Karen took the lead and started a blog for this SAL. Come join us, we'd love to have you .. or just bookmark this link and come watch the progress. I received my chart, fabric and threads over the weekend .. omgosh I just love it in person! Can't wait for January :)

Thanks everyone for your comments .. I really enjoy reading them. Stay safe and warm out there.

I'm grateful for cookies to give as gifts ...