Pages

Sunday, November 30, 2008

And the winner is...

I used the Random number generator to choose a winner for the hand carved snowman. The winner is:


You'll have to excuse the horrible picture, but it's hard to get a decent picture of your computer screen. As you can see, the winner is #7, and that's Rebekah from Diagonally Parked in a Parallel Universe. I must say this looks a little suspicious because she is the one who originally said Bob should do a carving for a giveaway. I can assure you it was all done fair and square. Thanks to all who entered, I wish I could send you each something! Maybe I can get Bob to agree to another giveaway sometime!
Rebekah - send me your mailing address and your snowman will be on it's way!


post signature

Sticky post


This is just a reminder to sign up for my giveaway which will be running through November 30. Scroll down to sign up!

post signature

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving


Today, we in the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving Day. We have so much to be thankful for and yet we take so much for granted.
I wish for each of you a day of realizing the blessings that surround you and the many things we have to be thankful for.
~~~~~

Andy - We'll be thinking of you today. I hope you don't have to work too long and are able to enjoy some time with your friends. We're proud of you for doing what you do!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!


post signature

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pilgrim name





Your Pilgrim Name Is



Love Soule


What's Your Pilgrim Name?


I found this on Cherdecor's blog. Try it out and see if you get as strange of a name as I did!


post signature

Monday, November 24, 2008

New Plaque


Earlier this year I received a gift from my sister Cheri. She made some of these plaques and gave them away. I was lucky enough to receive one and I just love it. However - because of the remodeling we were doing at the time, I couldn't hang it up. I finally got around to getting a holder for it and Bob hung it up on Saturday. I think it looks great. Thanks Cheri!


post signature

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Giveaway!

Most of you know that my husband enjoys carving. Earlier this year, Rebekah said I should ask Bob to do a carving for a giveaway. She even said she thought a snowman would be good! When I told him this, he agreed to do a carving for my blog readers. He has always been a fan of the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" and he carved a snowman that is a take on the crazy snowmen Calvin used to make. He is about 5 and 1/2 inches tall. Here he is:
This snowman got a little hungry and decided to take a chomp on his nose! You can't see it on this picture, but there is even a bit of carrot in his mouth.

I will be drawing the winner next Sunday evening by using the random number selector and the winner will be posted on Monday, December 1st. Anyone (may be from outside the US) is eligible to win. All you have to do is leave a comment. If you don't have a blog, make sure you leave a way that I can contact you.

post signature

Friday, November 21, 2008

Taking care of business

I've been blessed with a few awards and have a meme to do!

This one came from Bonnie of Simple Beauty. Bonnie is such a sweetie! She is originally from the states but now lives in Australia. I love hearing about her life there and must admit to being jealous of the nice weather they are enjoying when it's freezing here! I've been a blogging friend of hers for about a year now and I feel like we are old friends. Thanks Bonnie - you are pretty cool! I'm supposed to nominate 10 blogs for this award, so here goes.
Kat from Just a BeachKat, Sharon from Quiet Reflections, Sarah from Short Stop, Joanne from Blessed, Rebekah from Diagonally parked in a Parallel Universe, Perri from My Life in Bits and Pieces, Mel from There's no place like home, Jennifer from Zaankali's Adventures, Kayren from Everything's Coming up Daisies, Lyn from Rohal Call, Deb from Riding Free with Deb,

~~~

This bloggy friend award came from Linda of Growin With It. I found Linda's blog recently and am so glad I did. She is funny, honest and a little crazy and is another of my must read blogs! Thanks Linda - you are a great bloggy friend too! Here are a few more bloggy friends that I want to nominate for this award.
Mike from Rambling Stuff, Lara from Prossigo para o alvo, Jamie from Rose Cottage, Demara from Demara blog, Chelle from The World of Chelle, Jean from What's up at the Stauffers, Jennifer from I'm Having a Thought Here, Mary from Mary's Writing Nook, Nancy from In my Neck of the Woods, Sandra from Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, Kae from All My Blessings, Cheryl from Cherdecor and Shelly from Dance like Nobody's Watching.
Awards are great but it's so hard to pass them on. I know I will find I missed a few of my favorites in looking over the list so please forgive me!

~~~
I was tagged for this fun easy Meme by Lara of Prossigo para o alvo. I have to "open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that."
The closest book to me is Fresh Faith by Jim Cymbala

"But the Bible says in Genesis 39:2 that "the Lord was with Joseph". Somehow, standing there on the block in the Egyptian slave market, Joseph ends up being purchased by Potiphar, a man of prestige and wealth."

I'm going to break the rules and not tag anyone, but if you want an easy meme to do, consider yourself tagged!

post signature

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I feel good!

Why do I feel good? Well, there are several reasons.
1) I have 5 days off in a row. That's almost unheard of without vacation. I'm trying to use them wisely and get a few things done around the house.
2) I got a big project accomplished today. We have a spare room I use for scrapbooking. The problem is, it often turns into a catchall room and everything gets tossed in it. We are having my whole family here for Thanksgiving and I wanted to get it cleaned out so there would be a room that the little girls could use to play in and maybe watch a DVD.
Here you can see the state it was in before I started:


And here is the finished project. I even cleaned out the closet! Many things were dumped and I took a bunch of things to our local charity. It feels so good to have that accomplished!

And here is #3)
After all that cleaning I found this in the mailbox:
It's a nice little giveaway package from Linda of Growin' With It. Thanks Linda - you are so sweet. It brought a nice little start to the Holidays!
~~~
Speaking of giveaways, be sure you stop here on Monday because I have one for you!


post signature

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Slow Cooking Thursday


Every Thursday Sandra from Diary of a SAHM hosts a slow cooking recipe exchange. Stop in to see what everyone has in their slow cooker this week. Here's my recipe for this week.

Pepper Beef Goulash

1/2 cup water
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 envelope sloppy joe seasoning
2 - 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat
1 celery rib, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into 1/2" chunks
Hot, cooked noodles

In a 3 quart slow cooker, combine the water, tomato paste, vinegar and sloppy joe seasoning. Stir in the meat, celery and green pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Serve over noodles. Enjoy!


post signature

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Look alikes!

A few weeks ago, Roxy had some of these on her blog and I thought they were funny enough to share with you. Hope you enjoy!


Leonardo DaVinci Totally Looks Like Davy Jones
see famous look-a-like faces


post signature

Monday, November 17, 2008

Tips on Tuesday


I've got a shopping tip for you today. I posted last week about the annual Christmas shopping trip I go on with my sisters. We shop all day and try to keep our purchases separate in the back of a van but that's not always easy. A few years ago I bought 2 large canvas shopping bags. I take them with me when we shop and put all my bags into these as we load the van. It keeps my things separate and makes it so much easier to carry it all in. I've also used them when I am doing shopping for myself and don't want to carry lots of separate bags into the house.
I got mine through a LTD catalog, but I've also seen them in other stores. I don't think you'll regret buying a few if you see them!
For more tips, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

post signature

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Happy Birthday, Laura


November 17 is my oldest daughter Laura's birthday. She is 26 years old and I'm not sure where those years went! It seems such a short time ago that we were being told - "It's a girl", followed by "she has red hair!" I was 21 when she was born and although I thought I knew it all, I really didn't! She says she was our test case. If so - she turned out great! (I must admit, we learned a lot along the way) Somehow she survived having us as parents and has grown into a caring, responsible Christian women. Laura - Dad and I are so proud of you, and we love you lots! Happy Birthday!



post signature

Friday, November 14, 2008

Award


I got this Blogging friends forever award from my friend Ginger. She is a great example of the blessing that blogging can be. Ginger is someone who graduated from high school with me. (Of course, if you saw her now you would think she was much younger than me!) Anyway - imagine my surprise when I was looking at comments on another blog - Short Stop, and I saw a comment from Ginger. How nice to reconnect with an old friend! Since then she has even had the privilege of meeting my two crazy sisters.
I have so enjoyed meeting people through blogging and also reading the blogs of those I already know. I have many family members with blogs and quite a few who are from my church that also have a blog. I've met people from all over the world - Canada, Australia, Japan and Portugal. I have gotten to know bloggers from many different states. I've learned from so many people, prayed for others and been prayed for myself, laughed and cried too. You are all a blessing to me and I can't begin to pick just a few of you. If you consider yourself one of my blogging friends, pick this award up. And - thanks Ginger. You are a great friend, both on and off line!


post signature

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fun at work


Most of you know that I work at a long term care center, more commonly known as a nursing home. People often tell me they could never do that or that it must be a depressing place to work. It's not true! We have often said we could write a book with some of the funny things that happen here. For the most part our residents are happy. It isn't the first choice of where they want to live, but we have had people come back because they are lonely at home and miss the interaction. We joke around with our residents, do special things with them and several staff members take them out on their own time because we really love them. I thought I would share a few stories with you to give you an idea of some of my days.
One of my ladies knows who each staff member is. She calls some people by their correct name, but many have a different name that she consistently calls them. For example - her name for me is Marilyn. She knows exactly who I am and says she is glad to see me again when I have a day off. She thinks my last name is Supervisor because she saw it on my name tag. She also calls me an "officer". When she thinks her things are missing (which happens frequently) she will look for me so I can fill out a report. She tell me there are "juveniles" in the building and that we have to check references better. This lady never seems very concerned about this, as soon as the "report" is filed, she goes about her business. It can be hard to keep a straight face when she starts telling me these things.

Last week I was feeding dinner to another of our residents. She is 97 years old and like many older people, eating isn't one of her favorite things to do. She told me she wasn't very good at it. She gets a supplemental shake and seeing a full cup will often make them refuse the whole thing. I was pouring it into the cup, a little at a time and then letting her drink it. She got a little smile on her face, looked at me and said "I know what you're doing, you know". A few minutes later she said to me - "You're kind of cute". Isn't that sweet? I thought so too, until she said - "for an old lady!" Considering the fact that she is 97 and I am 47, I'm just hanging on to the fact that she is confused with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's!

post signature

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Slow Cooking Thursday


The recipe I'm sharing today is one that my family really likes. I did post it once, but it's been over a year ago. We had it for supper this week and I thought it was time to share it again. Hope you like it too.

Chicken over Biscuits
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken tenders
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
12 oz jar chicken gravy
1/3 cup water
2 celery stalks, chopped
Pillsbury frozen buttermilk biscuits (they come in a pkg of 12)
1 16 oz bag frozen mixed vegetables
Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkle onion, pepper and bay leaf over. Pour gravy over top, then water. Put celery on top. Cook on low for 8-9 hours.
30 minutes before serving, remove bay leaf and stir in mixed vegetables. Break apart chicken tenders with a fork. Turn heat to high and cover. Cook amount of biscuits you want as directed on pkg.
Split biscuits and pour chicken mix over top.

For more slow cooking recipes, stop over at Sandra's place!

post signature

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Embarassing Moments!


I received a "double dog dare" from Kat at Just A Beachkat, to share one of my most embarrassing moments. I had to think a little bit about this, but I decided that the usual way for me to embarrass myself was by being klutzy.
Both of these episodes happened several years ago, but I remember them well. The first one was at a wedding of one of my friends from nursing school. The church she was married in had a big stairway. The bride and groom were greeting people at a door near the bottom of the steps. I was coming down the steps and was about 3 steps from the bottom, when my knee buckled and I slid the remaining 3 steps to the bottom. It was a nice way to attract attention!
The second time was very similar. It again involved stairs and church!
The church Bob and I were members of at the time had big double doors at the entrance with about 5 steps up to the narthex. Again, I was going down the stairs, my knee buckled and down I went. My pride was injured, the rest of me was not!
In my defense, I have to tell you that I have had a lot of knee problems - hence the buckling, but I also have to confess to being a frequent klutz! Oh well - you might as well laugh, right?
So - there's your post Kat! Do any of the rest of you have an embarrassing moment to share? We would love to hear it!


post signature

Monday, November 10, 2008

Tips on Tuesday



We've been painting again and we tried out a new product. It's called Paint Pourri, and is something you put into a gallon of paint to make your room smell nice. Bob has been selling it in his paint department for a while now and we wanted to try it ourselves. Our maintenance man at work has been using it whenever he paints a room and people often comment on how fresh it smells. The scent we got was Simply Clean and that's how it smells - fresh and clean. (I did hear from a friend that they tried this with tropical breeze scent and it was too strong.) There is no paint smell and it isn't a strong or overpowering. It costs $2.95 for one package which scents 1 gallon. Whenever I paint again (hopefully not too soon!) I will use it.
For more Tips, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.


post signature