The Invisible Woman

This video speak to all women who are asking "Am I invisible?". Truly a good answer.



Well, did this change who you are?

Great Give-a-Way

Go check out the cool give-a-way at Harmony in Motion. It's a $55 gift card from CSN Stores. I found some really cool outdoor rugs and garden planters that I would like to buy if I win. There are more than 200 different stores, with all different categories of merchandise! She'll be accepting entries through January 22, 2011.

The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah

The youngest of three daughters, Angela DeSaria Malone was always "the princess" of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. High School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn't work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams.

After the divorce, Angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love…and meet the girl who will change Angie's life.

Lauren Ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. At seventeen, Lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass.

From the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren. They form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother's love. When Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie doesn't hesitate to offer the girl a place to stay.

But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. In a dramatic turn of events, she and Lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. Together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family.



Don't know how she does it, but Kristin Hannah has another really big hit in my opinion. I can't imagine writing about something unless you can pull from your experience... that's the difference between myself and a true writer, Kristin Hannah. She expands on all of the dynamics of a very involved family, throw in a family member that is the exact opposite of the others and you have fireworks at every occasion.

She really brings out the fact that I've come to believe in strongly... you always want what you don't have. The sister that has never left town and is raising a house full of children vs the sister that has the life, the job and the husband with all the travel and perks that go with it.... except the children. Both think that the other has it all. Great read and thanks Tammy - you always get me great gifts.

Great Way to Start A New Year!

After spending a fun evening with my sister and her husband on New Years Eve we spent the rest of the weekend with our immediate family. Saturday we went to our son and daughter in law's place. We had so much fun with the girls. I'll let the pictures tell the story.


This first one is of Punkin crawling around. She's only 5 months old.


Talk about arresting eyes. And I love the little curl on the top of her head.


Here's Muffin enjoying her new house :)


She thought it would be fun if I came inside with her. I love playing with her.



We'd done a little 'horsing' around on Christmas Eve and she remembered ;)


Her new 'M' needed a ride too lol.

We had lots of fun coloring, reading and playing with all of her new toys... trust me she has a LOT!!

On Sunday our daughter invited us over for dinner and more play time. While the adults played with the racing games we girls had fun dressing up in all the new costumes Peanut got for Christmas. When we started playing she whispered to her Mom "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you and Daddy go out for dinner and I'll stay here with Mimi and Papa." She is such a stitch!!



With each new outfit she changed her shoes and we redid her hair. Think we have a modeling beauty in our future. She is adorable!!


She got this 'Belle' costume from Uncle and Auntie. Yup, she's stylin..


When we finished with her costumes she wasn't done posin so she did this get up with a nightgown, Hawaiian necklace and she was doing a hula dance lol

We had a lot of fun dressing up and then set up her table for some Play Doh time. She is such an imaginative child... just like her mommy was.

Grandpa T takes some amazing photos and shares them on Facebook. I nabbed a few for my own use :)

Punkin in her Christmas finery. Love that smile!


Muffin in her matching dress. She's so photogenic!


This beautiful dress I call the "rose dress" because she looks like she's enveloped in rose petals. Just beautiful!


And finally our smiling beauties.


If this is how our year is going to play out then I'm ready for the year to begin!! I love spending time with our kids and grandkids. They are all so lively and fun and there is never a dull moment. How's your year going so far?

Christmas Eve 2010

We started our evening by going to early service at church. Don't think we'll do that again next year... it's really hard on the little ones and they get tired out too quickly. We'll do all of our family stuff and anyone that's up to it can go to late service. Anyway, the second mistake came in my decision to not put the food in the oven before we left. It was decided that it might dry out and so we'd put it in when we got home. The little ones were hungry and it was hard waiting an hour before dinner was ready. So those two things will be easily remedied next year. Anyway, while we were waiting for dinner we got a few family pictures. Once again, if you have little ones you know how hard it is to get still pictures ;)

This first one is our daughter and her family.



Then we have our son and his family.



Couldn't resist this one of our son and Punkin. I just love it when she smiles.



While waiting for everyone to get downstairs to open gifts we got a couple of snapshots. This first one is at every Christmas with a little one. They just love to put the bows on their heads :) No exception here. Muffin was grabbing bows off the packages and having a ball.



Peanut got a Belle costume for Christmas from her Aunt and Uncle, complete with shoes, tiara and wand. She was stylin!



I'll spare you the videos of the girls riding me as their horsey. Big grins on their faces til they got thrown :(. At one point we had two horses going at once and lots of giggling.

I got a couple of American Girl Miniture Dolls from Peanut. We'll have fun playing with those. We were too busy tonight, but there's always tomorrow.

We were up late into the night learning the ins and outs of the blue ray player. Watched a couple of movies and then had to tackle the learning of programing the Pandora internet radio. The kids set it up before they left, but then we wanted to add stuff to it and since we were playing horsey during the original set up we were on our own. I was all for making a few phone calls, but MM said 'no' he could figure it out. Yup, he did! What a great feature. In case we're not the last people on the planet to get this I'll explain it a little. Using the blue ray device you can set up music according to your likes or dislikes. We set up 'Alabama' and it plays music by Alabama and other similar music. Today we added the Beach Boys and it has lots of artists from that era... The Beatles, Credence Clearwater... you get the picture.

I'll be cruising other blogs to check out your Christmas celebrations. What makes Christmas so special is spending it with our family. The laughter, giggles and cousins growing together is something I'll always remember.

Jiffy Corn Casserole

The girls at work suggested this recipe.... they've used it for years, but it's new to me. It's real quick, easy and delicious.

Jiffy Corn Casserole

1 can whole kernel yellow corn, undrained
1 can cream style yellow corn
1 (8 oz) carton sour cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 stick butter, melted

Mix all together and pour into large, lightly oiled casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. What could be easier? I'll definitely be using this recipe again.



This was before baking.... was to busy to get an after photo :)

Dorky Homemade Christmas Gift

Don't know if I usually post it this way, but every year I like to make a handmade gift for my family. They are usually very nice, but some people would probably describe it as a "Dorky Homemade Christmas Gift" hence the title. Anyway, this year I've really enjoyed the potato bag that I bought at a craft show so I went home and made some up for this year's gift.



The directions are really quite easy. Everything has to be 100% cotton - muslin, fabric, batting and thread. Something to do with the heat of the microwave and chemicals in any polyester fabric or thread. Also everything I've read says that they are washable, but do not use fabric softner because of the chemicals.

You'll need exterior fabric 10" x 22" (100% cotton)
muslin 10" x 22" (100% cotton)
100% cotton batting 10" x 22"
100% cotton thread

I've seen some with a potato appliqued on for decoration, but I found a fabric that was great all by itself. If doing an applique position it on the exterior fabric so it will be on the front side of the bag.

Layer the muslin and fabric right sides together then place the batting on top of that. Stitch the top and bottom in a 1/2" seam (that would be the 10" edge). Turn right side out with the batting sandwiched in between and press. Next, with the muslin side down (the exterior fabric facing up) fold the top down about 3" and the bottom up to just overlap the top about 3/4". Using a zigzag stitch stitch the sides. Turn right side out and viola! You're done.

I also fashioned the following directions for use to go with the bag.



Baked Potato Bag

This bag creates a baked potato that is perfect in your
Microwave oven. The inside of the potato is well done,
yet moist, while the skin is tender. The bag will cook up
to 4 medium size potatoes at one time. Wash the potatoes,
DO NOT PRICK!! Wrap potatoes in paper towels and place
in potato bag. Place in oven. Microwave about 8 minutes.
When serving cut open potatoes with a fork. Potatoes
will be fluffy and so-o-o good! If necessary, let bag air dry.

Christmas Eve Eve

The best part of Christmas is visiting with family that you don't see all the time. Mom had a small gathering today with a few members of the family. She was there and me, my sister, my daughter and her daughter, my sister's daughter and her three daughters and my niece and her two sons and daughter. After a few had left my nephew came over with his wife... no kids with them. The pictures will say it all :)


This first of my Mom, my daughter and Peanut.

Three of the 25 cousins...

The three cousins lined up pretty well with their offspring :)

My sister and my other sister's daughter... they have the same name and their birthdays are a week apart. Happy Birthday!

The kids had a ball... of course they were perfectly behaved :)

A little later... three cousins of the 25.

So that's day one of the Christmas celebrations. Tomorrow is our immediate family... daughter her husband, son with his wife and the three granddaughters. It's gonna be fun :)!!