Twas the Night before Christmas

My Favorite Christmas Story. Enjoy!!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 

by Clement Clarke Moore

or Henry Livingston

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

November 21,2011 - Turkey Project -

This is the turkey project I've been working on for quite some time. He is made out of plastic canvas, yarn, and a bit of fishing line. 

I have been on the lookout for any turkey related items I can find and think I can make. This turkey pattern came from http://www.freepatterns.com/list.html?cat_id=8
My mom collects chickens and turkey things and when I saw this turkey, I thought he'd make a great addition to her collection.
This pattern was pretty easy to follow along with some minor adjustments. The pattern wants you to complete the body before putting the wings and legs, and the tail feathers on. I found that by leaving the closing of the body easier to attach the legs and wings as well as the tail feathers till the end, the attachment of the tail feathers especially, made this project much easier. This pattern also wanted you just glue the tail feathers to the body, I chose instead to attach them with clear fishing line and leave the stitches inside the body. Also instead of using a rock, or some sand in a plastic bag, I used 3 cups of kitty litter in a ziplock bag. Another difficulty I had was when stitching the tail feathers and the bottom of the turkey together, the plastic canvas would tend to shread if pulled real tight. other wise, by using the pattern and my own colors, it made for a more colorful turkey.

Today, mom picked me up and when to a spinning wheel group. There were a few (5) of us there. It was fun to get away from the house. There were three people spinning, one working on different projects and me working on finishing my turkey. The ladies in the group thought it was a pretty neat turkey. Thank you mom for taking me with you today and I really look forward to going to the next with you.

November 11, 2011 - Pizza Party -

Today was our family's pizza party. This was planned for sometime and were really looking forward to getting together with everyone that could attend.  Here are the photos from those that were able to come:

Papa

Kim

Sammy

Sarah

Mom

Alex

Chris

Maxine

Yesterday, I was trying to make a pumpkin spice cake in a bundt pan. The idea was to make two cakes, then when cooled put it on top of the first with the bottom sides together. Then I was going to make up a really nice frosting in orange and a little batch in dark orange, and another batch in green. I've been planning out this cake for some time and new that I would get it to work. After talking with my mom, I decided to instead make just one pumpkin spice cake and decorate it as I was going to do originally. So I made the cake. Normally I don't have any issues with the cake setting up. This one decided to be a problem. I had the oven temp. right, and the cake filled the bundt pan 3/4" as it needed to be and cooked it like it was supposed to be. The outside was done, but the inner was about jelly thickness. So I put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. It didn't do anything but burnt the outside edge of the cake. It just decided that it wasn't going to work for me. So then I decided that instead I'd just make bars.

In the meantime, I made some bread sticks and wanted Chris to make some dipping sauce. They turned out really good. Soft, a bit heavy on the garlic and parsley, but they sure looked good.

This morning, Chris was making the things he needed for his pizza's. It smelled so good in my house. So then I  made up the pumpkin spice bars in a cake pan. At first it wasn't going to work out either, so Chris put it in the oven for another 20 minutes and it was perfect. I then whipped up some plain white cream cheese frosting to cover them. My house smelled like a combination of a pizza place and a bakery.

We got over to moms and just had so much fun!!! We laughed, talked, and just had a great time hanging out together. Then Sarah and Maxine (sister and niece) were able to come and the fun just increased. It was just so much fun to hang out together. It was then time to bake the pizzas and get ready to sit down and eat. Chris's pizza was a big hit. We had that, salad, bread sticks, cookies, bars, pumpkin bread, a snack mix, apple crisp and punch. It was so good and everyone just got stuffed. After we all eaten our fill, then we continued to visit and hang out. We laughed so much from the different stories that were told. Family time was so relaxing.

November 10, 2011 First Day of Snow

It's now 6:30am and while I took my dogs outside to do their business, I snapped these pictures of our first day of snow. The dogs forgot what they were supposed to be doing and instead were playing in the snow.
We received about an inch of snow all over and its pretty.

November 9, 2011 First Snow flurries of the season

It's 10:30pm and its just now starting to snow enough where you can see it. Wonder how much snow there will be. Looking forward to tomorrow morning to find out....

November 8, 2011 - Home style Christmas

So for Christmas this year, I have decided that I was going to see just how many Christmas presents I could make with the things I currently have. Way back in January, before I started the Round Robin Quilts, I had started making Christmas gifts. Then I was so busy working on the quilts that I didn't get back to making more Christmas gifts. So yesterday I went through my room and found all the gifts I had made and figured out to whom they were going to. I was pretty amazed!!! I had made 11 different gifts. I didn't realize that there were so many, so it was really neat to see everything I've made before wrapping them up.

I've decided that one of my biggest struggles is to NOT give them to the people before Christmas. When asked what they are, or what colors, or what do they look like, I struggle with trying to give clues that have nothing to do with the items. It's kinda funny and so when Christmas does come, I hope that each gift will be really liked.

I've been thinking that after I am able to give the gifts, that I plan on making more of each and selling them online. I guess I'm waiting for Christmas time first to see if the people that receive them will like them first. I figure that if they like them, then maybe others will too.

Maybe If someone other then my family responds to this post, I'll give one away. That being said, it makes it really hard to know what that person(s) getting if I don't put any pictures of the items up first. The reason is pretty obvious because they are Christmas gifts to my family. So of course, if I added pictures to this blog or on Facebook, then my family would see what they were getting. Which of course would take away the present.

Till later.....

October 20, 2011 Can You Say OOOOOPPPPPSSSSSS?????

Well what a way to start off the day..... No Water!!!

I was watching tv when I heard a gurgling sound coming from my washing machine and the hot water heater. Chris went to the bathroom and yelled, " This isn't good. We have no water!!!!" So I then looked out the windows to where the main shut off to the trailer park is and there wasn't anyone there. So Chris told me to call the city hall and see what they knew about it. (Dave, our landlord lives in Crystal Bay and as such would be no help.) I called and when I got through, was informed that there was a main water main break and instead of just shutting off the water for the block affect, there was MANY people without water. So I called my mom and told her what was happening. She said that we could go to her house to take our showers. (Chris had to get ready for work and with no water, makes it a bit hard to shower.) So we loaded up and went there. THANK YOU MOMMY!!!!
So after we left my mom's house, we saw a lot of water damage. Here are some pictures that Sammy took....

September 17, 2011 - Done at Last!!!

Well what a day.
OK so my last post left off with us having to wait to mid-week for my chimney to be done. So after Chris left, then the guy that was working on the chimney left I put myself down for a nap. At 3:00pm, the guy called me and said that he has the part and wanted to know if I wanted him to come back today or to wait. I told him that I wanted heat. So he said he'd come and finish it. Around 4pm, the guy came and went to work. He was done around 5-ish and so I then asked him to wait for a full cycle from the furnace to make sure all was working good. He said he would. The furnace worked, but was blowing some cool air into the house. Next thing I knew it was over 80 degrees in the house and we were all sweaty.
I told the guy that I only had the amount of money he said it was going to be for the other part, and that if I took his truck a moment, I could get the rest. Of course he wouldn't let me, so on Monday, I'll have to go to the bank and get a money order for the remainder of the cost. He said that was fine and gave me the address so that I could send it out to him.

It's done and the house is so warm that its hot in here....

YYIIPPEE!!!!

Till later....

September 17, 2011 - Continued Woes...

Well drat!!!

As our woes continue, the furnace chimney has yet to be replaced. The guy came and after removing the rusted out part from the furnace tried to install the new part. Unfortunately the part he brought was 2" to short. So now we wait for his company to get the correct part and for him to come back and install it. Of course, a longer part is going to cost me an additional $25.00 bringing the completed job to cost me $400.00. When they guy left, he not only took his part that he brought, but also took the top part that Chris had installed earlier. So instead we have hole in the roof from where the chimney was covered by some vinyl and a board to hold the vinyl down till about midweek. Yes we are very disappointed that we have to wait, but when its done, will be done right and my furnace should work properly.

Some of you reading this will ask why we are putting up with this, and other's would say that they'd go to someone else. I can tell you if you've read my last post, you understand why we are having the guy from the housing company we bought our house from, doing it. He has been with the company for many years and is a great guy. He knows what he's doing, and not only that, because of all the people I did talk to, he would complete the project with the least amount of cost to me.

While the guy was us there, he assessed our shingles on the roof. He said that they were very brittle and really needed to be replaced. We've never had our roof redone so it is about time. I think that is going to be our next spring/summer project.

Well that's the update to my woes...
Till Later....

September 16, 2011 - Woe to us AGAIN!!

Well its another cold spell and we are having problems with our furnace AGAIN!!!!.
On Wednesday, Sept 14, 2011 in the evening, I had Sammy turn on the furnace. The furnace worked kinda one time and then didn't work right. I reset the furnace and it ran 3 times but still was not working correctly. Earlier this summer Chris replaced the upper section of our chimney with one that was brand new. After taking off the old upper part, he found out the the inner wall of the lower part was rusted completely through. Chris put on the newer upper part anyway and we've left it as that. Now that its been getting colder overnight and into the morning we have once again been using my stove to heat the house up to a comfortable level.

Today I was able to pay my gas bill and put in a request for our furnace to be look at again. Shane (he's the one we really like!!!) came over and the first words outta his mouth were: "What ya break this time....lol" We told him that we replaced the top section of the chimney but the lower inner section was rusted out. After looking it all over, he said that we really need to get that fixed, otherwise there could be some major damage to the heat exchange which would involve getting a new furnace. That wouldn't be so bad to do anyway and it wouldn't cost me anything. We upgraded our service plan to include a better "fix or replace" it plan. So if it came to the time that we had to have a new furnace, it wouldn't cost me anything. COOL!!!!!!

I then called the company that we got our house from and talked to their guy that works on their houses. After doing some measurements over the phone, he is going to look and see if he has what is needed in stock and give me a price. I hope that he does have what he needs and can come and fix it soon. So now we wait to hear back from him.....

Hopefully this won't be to expensive and can be done quickly as I hate to be cold. I don't mind being chilly cause I can always dress warmer, but being cold isn't so easy.

Well till later.......

September 2, 2011 - Shopping Marathon

Well the kids and I are officially done with school shopping!!! YIPPEE!!!!!

Most of the time, we get just enough things to get us started and buy what we need as we go along. It all adds us quickly. This year with some major help from my sister with shirts for the kids, we didn't have to buy a lot of things this time. The kids, Chris and I went through all of our "Inventory" of school supplies that we have gotten the previous years. Like when it comes to notebooks, instead of buying one for every class, it was just easier to buy an entire case (24) notebooks. Pencils, pens, markers (Sharpies and Highlighters) were all bought in bulk in prior years. Same with pocket folders, buy in bulk and have more of them later. So anyway after going through all our inventory, we wrote on my white board things we needed to get. We then go through all the kid's clothes and decide what needs to go and what do we need to replace. My sister has given the kids about 20 shirts that are almost brand new from her shopping sprees. So we didn't need to buy any shirts this time.

Inventory of school supplies?   Check
Inventory of school clothes?    Check
Made up list of things to get for this year?    Check

So this morning we set off on our shopping spree. Knowing that I didn't have much money to work with, it was time to really pay attention to prices. First stop Wal-Mart. Composition notebooks $.40 (The kids didn't want spiral notebooks this year due to having to rip out pages) Kid's clothes....To much! We ended up getting just about everything we needed at Wal-mart. We then headed to my sister's for a visit and came home with about a dozen more shirts and stuffs. Then off to my mom and dad's for a short visit. Then off to ALCO in Moose Lake. Here we found paper dual pocket folders and jeans for the kids. Sammy is so much easier to get pants for. They always have her size. Alex on the other hand is really hard to find pants for. Luckily ALCO usually carries his size. Why can't other stores sell jeans in a 29X34????? Do they think that people only come in big and bigger and not tall and skinny???

Finally got to come home. I've been sitting in my chair just shaking my head at what we got done today. This is the first year that I can remember getting EVERYTHING we needed for the start of the school year instead of getting just enough to get buy. Thank goodness 11th graders don't have a huge school list. Just the basics.

Well now its time to take a nap, then I have to leave and get Chris home from work in a few hours.

Till later......

August 26, 2011

Today was a very hard emotional day for me. I have been spending a lot of time thinking of my Grandpa and wondering what his words of wisdom would of been for me. Most times it's stories that I've heard all my life, and wouldn't miss the chance to hear them again. Now of course, I'll just have to remember them on my own. 

Yesterday I was playing games on Facebook thinking that the games I usually play are getting kinda boring to me. Some of them I've played for several years now. Sure I have all the buildings and almost all the collections completed and waiting to turn in, but as I play these games every day, my mind has been drifting off to other places. Like what and for whom is a certain Christmas present going to be given. At one point I even got off the computer and was thinking that I'd like to take a nap. So as I put my computer away, my phone rang and it was my mom saying that it was time. You see, at one point my papa asked me if I wanted some of Grandpa's things from his house. I said yes of course, but only if he wanted me to have them and when. There is enough fighting and snide comments being made from my relatives that I didn't want to have any pressure on my papa nor my mom to feel like I was making demands. So anyway, mom called and said it was time. So we went over to my mom and papa's, and then up to Grandpa's house. 

Grandpa's house is little but as a small kid, I always thought it was so big. Once inside we started collecting things that would come to my house. I felt like I was going to get into trouble from Grandpa, you know....."What the Sam Well's going on?" and more. I asked my papa if he felt the same way being in there when Grandpa wasn't. Papa said, " yeah, its kinda weird..."  For the first time in my life I felt really strange in Grandpa's house. I can't really describe it, but as we were taking things from Grandpa's house to have come move into mine, I kinda felt like I was "Poking my nose into things that I aunt not have..." I guess I was just waiting for the reprimand that didn't come. 

After loading up what was now going to come to my house to "live," we brought it all home. We set everything out in the yard for cleaning and sorting. My neighbor came home and said, well, now my yard looks just like theirs..... BAHHHH!!!! We were just about done with the cleaning and sorting out when I sat down on one of Grandpa's kitchen chairs and just started to cry and bawl. I couldn't help it and had even a harder time stopping. I guess I felt like a thief in the night with Grandpa's things around me. I just knew that if he was to come home to his house and see his stuff missing and knew I had it, I'd get that willow switch yet. All I could do was cry. I told Grandpa that I was feeling just awful and excited that I was given his things. Awful cause they weren't in his house where they should be and excited because I needed them for my family.  I think Grandpa would like the idea that his things would be cared for and used. Now I just wonder how my papa will feel when he comes to my house and sees Grandpa's things here. 

Till later.........

August 18, 2011

Well some really sad news to tell... On August 16th, 2011 I lost my grandfather. He was 91 years old and very important to me.

Grandpa Don Denton

Grandpa was one of the most important teachers I've ever had. He taught me to be patient, to love, to understand, and not to rush into things. "Sometimes things just work themselves out whether you want them to or not. Don't fight it. Don't rush into anything. Its better to take things slow and right the first time instead of rushing and having to do it all again...."
I've tried to take his teachings and use them in everyday life. I learned that having patience and understanding are the best tools a person can have. When I was younger, I wanted to rush through mowing a yard at home. Grandpa came up to me and told me to just stick to the sides of the mowed grass and not worry about the ends. I tried to go against that, and in the end he was right. My mowing of the yard was all over the place and I ended up having to re-mow the parts I missed.
Grandpa had a way with him that sometimes left me angry. But in the end, if I'd done things his way, it would have all worked out. I guess I wasn't ready to be an adult yet.

Grandpa was always kind to me. Even when I would spend time with him and be angry from something that happened earlier in the day, by the time grandpa had me tell him what was on my mind, grandpa would say, "Now that your not full of hot air anymore, what do you think you need to do to fix it?" After I would come up with ways I thought would fix things, grandpa would say in his quiet way, "Will that do? What other things can you think of that would be better?"

I'm really going to miss him and his words of wisdom. Sometimes his words of wisdom had nothing to do with what we were talking about, but by the end of our chat, things always worked their way out, even in ways that I didn't expect.

Thank you grandpa. Thank you for you as you. Thank you for your wisdom and laughs. I'll miss you terribly.
I love you grandpa. Say hi to grandma for me...

July 9th, 2011 - Birds and more birds

Just when I thought I had pictures of everyone in my garden, I was able to get these pictures too.

Common Grackle

A pair of Northern Flickers

Pair of common Grackles

House Finch

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

July 8th, 2011 - More birds!

This little American Robin baby is just a few weeks old. It landed on my porch table and was calling for its mother. I actually got to rub its breast for a few seconds. The mother was NOT amused. 

American Robin (Baby)

American Robin (Baby)

American Robin (Adult)
This was the mother that was NOT amused to see me close to its baby.

House Finch

This House Finch was talking and convinced me to take it's picture. Pretty neat to have so many birds in my yard at one time....

July 7th, 2011 - Afternoon guests

Here are some new pictures from the afternoon. They aren't as clear as my other pictures, but you can still see them fairly well. Enjoy!

Purple Finch

Chipping Sparrow

Purple Finch taking a sun bath 

July 7th, 2011 - Afternoon guests

 This is Mr. and Mrs. American Gold Finch. I don't think they are from the same couple as there are at least six different couples at my feeders regularly.

This little one is a Black - Capped Chickadee 

Mr. and Mrs. House Finch. 

Red - Breasted NutHatch 

Western Blue-Bird

As I've said before, I've seen many new birds this summer then before. I was thinking that this is like my own treasure hunt. Find the bird then rush inside to find it one one of my three bird books. The hunt goes on.......

July 4th, 2011 - Morning Visitors

I never knew how hard it was to take pictures of Gold Finches. As soon as I have my camera on them, they take off. That being said, I FINALLY got some pictures of both the male and the female. There are about 6 couples that are residing in the trees around my bird feeders. Today the males were fighting and screaming. You can definitely tell the difference in the sounds they make.... Fighting vs. normal chatter......

July 1st, 2011 - Morning visitors

This morning I got the chance to take some pictures of our morning visitors. These are Northern Flickers. They were there for a good portion of the morning.... This year I've seen more birds then in previous years. Its pretty cool to come across them, and if they'll let me take their pictures........lol