In between lots of cleaning and reorganizing this weekend, I have been sneaking in working on a Valentine's Day project.  

Here's a sneak preview of some of the pieces........

Hope to finish it this week.

Spent Saturday putting away the pile of Christmas stuff that was left on the porch (outside decorations) and reorganizing the garage while I was at it.  I was getting a little tired of walking around stuff.  Pete put away all the bins but he's not always the best organizer.  In an attempt to have more space I like to get in there and reorganize the bins and get rid of stuff. Finished Saturday around 3:45pm and in to take a shower and get ready for "date" night. 

Pete and I went out to dinner and to see "True Grit", if you haven't seen it yet, don't miss it.  

Edible Photos

I just happened to catch the tail end of Martha on "The Today Show", this past Wednesday.  In the back of my mind I've been planning Rocky's
"Eagle" Ceremony and wanted to do a little special something. 

For Pete's 65th I called Diary Queen to see if they did the ice cream cakes with the edible photo on it, of course none of our Diary Queens have that capability.  So I gave up that (I thought) wonderful idea......until today!

Here is the link to..Sugar Craft!

So what do you think?

One day Cathy Carrier, the Members' Lounge supervisor came in and asked if I thought Rocky would be interested in this poster.............I said "I don't think he would like it, but I know he would LOVE it". 

She purchased it at the Beatles last concert in California.  I kept it until I knew Rocky had completed his "Eagle" project and then I took it to Michael's to get framed.  It was one of Rocky's "Santa" gifts.

I think it's pretty cool and the framing came out really nice.......

Organizing

In my attempt to re-organize spaces, I purchased this ribbon organizer at Michael's in the Scrapbooking section.  I was really surprised at how much ribbon it held!  It fits nicely under my upper cabinet in my laundry room and that is where it lives.  In case you're wondering this is not my scrapping ribbon stash, this is the ribbon I use for wrapping gifts.

Scrapbooking Retreat January 21, 2011

Anita

margaritas and then cosmos

Nicole's copic markers!

cricuts

january tradition - white elephant

 music

Saturday snacks being set up

Sunday bagels from "Key of C"

breaking down on Sunday

A couple of the girls getting ready to leave on Sunday

Linda, Lisa and Monica (White Elephant)

A fun time was had by all!

All photos on Shutterfly

The countdown has begun.........15 minutes and I'm out the door.  Audrey has decided to play bartender again and she will be serving margaritas and cosmos, oh, what is a girl to do? 

Okay, I'm having cosmos, I can have margaritas at home! 

 Actually, we started "Margarita Sunday" back when we lived in Henderson, NV.  Mom would come over and we'd barbeque something and of course a pitcher of margaritas to go with......we still continue this tradition but it's a shorter season here.  This summer mom will be here to enjoy some margaritas with us!

Retreat time is fast approaching............starts tomorrow as a matter of fact!  I am so ready!!!!   After the holidays and all that is going on at home, I need a much needed break!  Instead of exercising this morning I decided to bake my brownies and do a little packing.  Tonight I will make the cornbread casserole and finish packing, including packing the car so I can be on my merry way early tomorrow.  I've opted (as always) to go in at 10am and leave at 3pm so I can meet Anita (and anyone else that will show up early) to help set up. 
Counting the hours........

Mom's little guy, Tedi is 15 years old and only has 4 teeth.  I finally  convinced mom that he needs to be on a softer diet.  I had made "dog food" when I found out poor Shadow was ill and I still had some in the freezer, so Tedi has been eating it.  Of course he loves it and we're almost out so looks like mom will be cooking a little bit.

Weekend

On Saturday, mom and I went to Medford to do a little shopping, believe it or not I still had a return for Macy's and of course a few other stops.
I'm sure you have gone shopping looking for something specific and never finding it.  Every year when I go to cut the tree I struggle to find something to wear on my feet, I really needed a waterproof boot, but something stylish that I can also wear during the Winter season.  While mom was browsing the shoe department there were MY boots.  Who knew London Fog made boots (and of course, waterproof)?!!? And guess what.........Helen Mirren is wearing the same boots in the movie "Red".  Okay, I found them, of course they were on sale but would they have a 10.....that fits?  Yes, they did and they were 1/2 price - score.


We also made a stop at Craft Warehouse, they were having lots of sales.  While checking out we ran into Audrey, Vivien and Lisa.


Decided to venture to the Super Wal-mart in Eagle Point and on the way back Costco, can you say tired?  
Of course on the way home I had to check to see if Rocky was ready to go home and backtrack I did to pick him up.  Will I ever get home?  When I finally got home, all I could manage was grill cheese sandwiches - whew!

Quilt Done....

Yes, finally finished the quilt that is a gift and will get it ready to ship this weekend.

(better photo tomorrow!)  (the plum one)

Vacation Plans for July - done!

 Jedediah Smith

 Sunset Beach

VanDamme State Park

Last year around May (if I remember correctly) I tried to book a mini-vacation on the Northern California Coast: a camping trip, to be exact.
May is not the time of year, if you are being particular or even if you're not particular, because the California Coast gets slammed in the Summer.  Usually around the second week of July it is quiet here (at work) because there are not any matinees in the Bowmer Theatre, so that is the week I was planning around. 
Sooo, yesteday I went "hunting" for sites at "particular" campgrounds and found some!  Went home and sat down with Pete and planned out our trip and got everything we wanted!!!!!  Yippee!!  We get to finally re-visit Jedediah Smith State Park and head down to Mendocino county and further down to the Monterey area.  We will skip San Francisco since we've been there so many times.  Pete and I have been to the Monterey/Carmel area a few times too but we want to share that area with Rocky (hopefully he'll want to come along with us!).
Believe it or not, some sites were already booked, so we're not the only ones booking early.  The Mendocino site we got is right on a river and the Watsonville (outside of Monterey) campground is beach!  
Can't wait!!!!

It's absolutely (crystal) clear that I don't have enough time on my hands! 

I was just over on Audrey's blog and she posted about a Blog Hop that Bo Bunny was having back on January 5th.  I was just blog hopping and was blowing my mind with the creativity out there!  I DO know that there are SO many wonderful and talented bloggers out there, many of whom I follow but you have to go and check out the Bo Bunny blog hop.  The only problem is I don't know how to link, so let's see......http://bobunny.blogspot.com/.  Scroll down to their January 5th post and link onto the next blogger, and so on.  Warning:  get ready to be totally impressed!

Also, I just won another prize from a scrapbook FB page that I follow.  This is the second time I've won something.  I strongly encourage my fellow facebookers to go on the Scrapbooking pages, like them and when they post an opportunity to win something just by commenting...........come on, how easy is that?

This weekend............

Spent the day scrapping with the girls in the library, I sooooo needed that.  Sometimes you need to hang out with the girls and get it all out!  It's amazing how we're all going through the same thing in some way or another. 

 This year I'm bound and determined to get my life going on a better path.
Oh, and I also got a few layouts done, nothing spectacular, so I probably won't share.

Today, I finally got my Christmas decorations put away, oh, my goodness, it was  great.  

In the midst of that, I am finally getting rid of stuff.  I am also finally going through my hall closet and getting rid of stuff.  Next weekend I will be done with the hall close, but today Christmas - done!

Is anyone else out there worn out from the holidays??????  

I was so "gung ho" for a good month, coming home doing things.......now I come home and plop on the couch!   Can't manage anything except sew a binding on a quilt I had to finish a couple of months ago.

So, if some of you are wondering if my house is still decorated...................YES, partially though, mom and Pete took down the tree, but I still have to put away the ornaments. I also took down the wreath and a couple of other things, but they are still piles throughout the house.  

Hey, what's the rush..................

Age

The worst part about getting older is losing your loved ones. 

Pete and I have a dear friend that lived in Bismarck, ND.  Her name was Lorraine Blomgren, she was 89 years old.  Pete met Lorraine and her hubby Bob many years ago when he worked on a project in ND and they had always remained friends.  I got to meet Bob on a trip to Vegas when Lorraine was taking him around the states to say good-bye to all his friends (he was losing his battle with an illness).  It was a memorable trip, we all went to see Sammy Davis at The Desert Inn and I got to meet Lorraine and Bob.  

Lorraine had friends scattered throughout the US and a very old and dear friend in California so we got the benefit of her stopping in Nevada to visit us on those trips.  

She never forgot our birthdays, she always included a newsletter in her Christmas card: she was very active.

The last time we saw her was when we lived in Henderson, about 7 years ago.  She had slowed down tremendously and my guest room was upstairs but she managed.  We had a great visit, her one request was to go to the Liberace Museum, so off she and I went, we had a great time.

When Christmas was done I said to Pete "we didn't get a card from Lorraine, we'll need to call her."  Life sometimes gets in the way of things and I still am trying to recover from the holidays.  

Yesterday we received a letter from a Blomgren, but not Lorraine, so we knew....She passed away in her sleep in October!  October and we didn't know.  I always wondered how we would be contacted, you see Lorraine never had any kids but she did have her nephews and nieces, so I hoped that we would be contacted somehow.  

We are very saddened by her passing and we will miss her.

Organization....................I love it, but it takes time.

I end up accumulating stuff and I think I will use it at a later time and years later still find it sitting there in the linen closet, hall closet, clothes closet, you name it!  

I am in the process of ELIMINATING, let's not say organizing, mainly because of a need for space at this time.  If any of you local friends are interested in anything, ask me, maybe I have it or else it's going out!  

It's so funny I took out an extra blanket (not used for many years) and I was going to donate to a shelter, my mom said "why, are you getting rid of that?"........."mom, I have a few like it"!  

I think it goes back to the old days of not "having".

(What I have: a Cal King comforter set (rust color), Cal King Duvet cover (sea foam green) window coverings)



(I am also getting rid of 4 quilts (not made by me) that I used to hang on the walls in my old house in Henderson, these have never been used on a bed..........but I am looking to sell these and will put them on Craigslist and will not be asking for much.  If you are interested let me know and I will send you photos, they are not very big, one is twin size, the others are smaller.)  

Christmas Day Strata

Christmas eve around 11pm I was preparing a yummy strata for Christmas morning.  I have made french toast over-nighters and many different breakfast for Christmas morning but the breakfast I prefer to make is the breakfast you can prepare the night before.  I also make Christmas dinner so this cuts down on all the cooking I have to do on the 25th.  Here is my recipe (for Kristi & Laurie H.) or whoever wants it!


Make-Ahead Bacon and Kale Strata
8 slices smoked bacon, diced
2 leeks (white part only), chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. kale, chard, greens or spinach, cut into strips (I used Kale)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated (or not) nutmeg
3 cups half-and-half
12 large eggs
8 cups challah bread or brioche cubes (I used Albertson's french bread)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (still have some out back!)
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese (I used swiss)


1.  Coat a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray
2.  In a (very) large skillet, saute bacon and leeks until bacon is crisp and leeks are tender, about 15 min.  Add garlic, kale, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Cook until kale is wilted.  (you need to add kale in batches)
2.  Combine half/half and eggs in a (very)large bowl.  Beat until blended.  Stir in bread cubes, parm, rosemary and 1 cup Gruyere.  Add veggie mixture and stir well.
3.  Pour egg mixture into baking dish.  Refrigerate 8 hrs. or overnight
4.  Preheat oven to 375F.
5.  Remove strata from fridge and let stand at room temp for 30 min.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup Gruyere.
6.  Bake 40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle of the strata comes out clean.  Let stand 15 min. before serving.  
Serves 10.  


I made this for 3 of us and we ate it for breakfast and lunch, for the next couple of days, it was still great heated up.  
Also, this recipe called for 1 cup chopped dates, I didn't want to use them and didn't think they needed them, but if that's your thing add it to the garlic, kale, etc. when cooking the veggie mixture.


ENJOY!  We did!

Happy New Years dear friends and family.
May this year bring you everything you been looking for, want and need.  May all your wishes come true...........