"Betty Homemaker" invaded my house!

Let me just start by saying what a VERY BLESSED Christmas I had.  I was well reminded of how many blessings I have been given.  It was been a while since I have been just overcome with the amount of love that surrounds me.  Thank you to everyone.  Especially thank you for all of the small "insignificant" stuff.  This is where I seem to find the most JOY!!!!!

Now on to BETTY HOMEMAKER....I decided that instead of buying a bunch of stuff from the store I would make all of the desserts and snacks for our family for the entire weekend of Christmas.  My menu included:

apple pie
2 different sweet potato pies
jingle bell pizza
rice krispie treats
both sugar and peanut butter cookies
both sugar and peanut butter cookie bars
chocolate covered pretzels
chocolate covered oreos
fudge

Let me tell you....the goodies were good.  We are still eating pie though.  I think the jingle bell pizza was the kids favorite (of course - it has chocolate chip cookie, marshmallows, m&m's and chocolate syrup! What kid doesn't dream of that???)  Except Brennen whose favorite was the chocolate covered oreos.


Not only did I make goodies but 2 of the kids, Gladys, and I actually made homemade snowflakes that decorated lots of the house.....

It was being able to do these small things and the time that I got to spend with my family that made this such a special holiday.  I got to spend a great evening with my mom and Scotty one evening as we celebrated Christmas (a little early).  I even got to put up two trees this year.....my own big one 

and my mom's small one .  There is just something I love about putting up trees.  Ok, well, since this post has been started like a month ago and edited twice I will close here.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas. 

Traditions

This year (especially - and I don't know why) I am really thinking a lot about traditions. 

Just at lunch today I was sharing a very fond memory of when we were little I remember making sugar cookies with my sister and my dad.  We made tons (it seemed like).  The hours spent just rolling dough and over flouring our kitchen table.  Using all of the cookie cutters (mostly metal - back then).  Then the fun and the mess we would make as we iced each cookie.  I think by the time we were done - we were all way ready to be done.  Cleaning up our mess didn't even seem like a chore because of the fun that we had had. 

Another one of our traditions was decorating for Christmas.  It would take a whole evening - After school my sister, dad, and I would meet in the back yard and go through the shed to pull out all of the Christmas stuff.  The stand for the tree was this huge wood thing.  (My dad had built it and attached train tracks to run around the tree).  It was so heavy.  Then there was the tree.  It seems so massive but actually only about 6 or 6 1/2 feet tall.  That tree was so full.  Then the boxes of nic nacs and ornaments and candy dishes and wreaths and candle holders.  There was so much.  My mom would fix an easy dinner. We either ate while we decorated or sometimes before.  My dad and I would do the tree setup and the lights.  Oh the lights.  My mom like a lot of lights on her trees.  We would go all the way around and up the middel of the tree then.  That followed by all the way down looping lights around EVERY branch.  And then to top it off we would WRAP lights back up around each and every 3 braches off of the main branches.  Needless to say that took the most time but there definately were lights when we were done. 

There were a few ornaments that went on the tree first and some of them had to be hung by certain people.  My dad always put his black bird in the tree (I don't know if it was a crow or blackbird).  And I had my 1979 angel and my sister had her bell with her picture (I think it was a bell).  Anyways, those went first.  Then hours were spent with my mom on the floor making sure each ornament had a hook as my sister and I put each ornament on the tree.  Of course my mom looked for bare spots (I don't know how she saw them with all of the lights - ha ha) and would direct us if something needed to be moved. 

The candy dishes were filled with Hershey miniatures and red and green M&M's.  Then followed the nic-nacs and all of the candles. 

We had the cutest little Christmas mice, Christmas bears, and of course the nativity scene.  The whole while these things were being set up we listened and sang to our Christmas cd's. 

I am very blessed by these memories.  As a grown - up I am glad to realize that some of these traditions I carry on but more importantly how special and warm these memories are to me. 

I have to run to work but I want to share with you some of the traditions that I am embracing now so I will blog more soon. 

The Gift of Giving

So, I had a wonderful time with family over thanksgiving.  I got back on Saturday and spent that evening browsing around town with Amber and her mom.  I absolutely love shopping for GIFTS!!!!!  This is the time of year when I get to go to town (usually by myself) (sometimes preferred) and just look.  When I find something that just SCREAMS out the name of a loved one then I have to get it.  I can't get it out of my mind until I do. 

This is where the thinking part comes in though - are GIFT CARDS really better?  Many people in my life say yea because then the recipient can purchase what they want or something they like hassle free.  But then it really takes away from the joy I get in picking out "that perfect gift".  I love finding just the right things.....but some people always tell me, "what if they don't use it"  or "what if they really don't like it".  I think that I know the people I love well enough to know if it is something they will like or not.  Now using it is a completely different story.  But if after searching all year - I can't come up with any ideas I am not opposed to purchasing the gift card, but........it does make me pretty sad. 

So, if you ever receive a gift from me please know that it is well thought out and bought with so much love.  When I receive a gift I love knowing that someone thought about me enough to spend time picking out something that reminded them of me or something they thought I would love.  Now, don't get me wrong....I will enjoy gift cards too. 

So, as I do some more Christmas shopping this week I just wanted to share with you what was on my heart.  I am about half way done with my shopping - Yea!!!!!!!

Just a little note

I promised myself and my sister that I would try to BLOG more often....the only problems are that I don't want to talk about work and I don't want to talk about depressing stuff.

So, here it is for today - Last Tuesday I woke with a horrible headache...I had it all week long.  On Thursday I tried to see my doctor but they were in Lake Arthur.  On Friday again I tried to see my doctor but he was not in the office.  I suffered on until Saturday morning about 10:30am I could not stand it any longer and it was making me dizzy and sick to my stomache! A trip to the ER is where I went.  YUCK!!!!  Anyways, 2 shots and 3 prescriptions later and my headache is down to a 3 from a 9 (on a pain scale).  Again, today I tried to see the doctor because it still is not gone and I am getting worried about it - But guess what -----still out of town.  UGH!

Anyway, on a lighter note.  Here is what I got to see at work this afternoon - breathtaking beauty!




I guess it is FALL



fall colored leaves

And I just want to share one more picture with you and I close this so that Amber and I can pack for our concert!  We leave in the morning!



Upcoming Events

I have several things coming up that I am SO excited about.

1. I received my tickets for the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert in the mail today.  FINALLY.  I have been waiting YEARS to go.  I plan to go every year but something always happens where I can not attend or even purchase the tickets.  So, I purchased them on 10-31-11 and received them in the mail yesterday.  I am so excited.  (Wish I would have taken a picture of them).  Amber and I will be leaving the morning of the 15th and going to Las Cruces.  The concert is that night and then we will be returning the next day.


2.  Then the following week I will be going to my Mamaw's for Thanksgiving.  I have had to adjust my plans a little for this trip but luckily my mom and Scotty were remarkable and said that I could travel with them both up there and back.  So we will leave on Wednesday and come back on Saturday.  I can not wait to spend time with my family. I miss them so much! 

So, I guess that's all of the exciting news I have today.  Hope everyone has a great week. 

My Fall Festivities

Guess what I have been doing lately.....


I have really been looking for a wreath.  A FALL wreath for my front door.  I can't find hardly any that I like and the ones that I do like are priced between $50 and $95.  That is simply outrageous!  So, I found a solution -
I made one!

 My wreath hanging on my front door!

 And a little closer shot.  

I made this wreath for about $15!!!!!!

I am very proud of this wreath - can you tell?

This weekend I carved a JACK - O - LANTERN!  This was important for several reasons - the smaller kids in my house hadn't really seen a REAL one.  They usually are just helped by their dad to draw the faces on the pumpkins but MOST IMPORTANTLY - just because it was something I wanted to do myself to get me in the mood for fall (since the weather is not helping out any)! 

So, without further delay.....                                                 JACKY

Isn't he just the cutest!

As for Jacky, I don't have him outside - he is in my bedroom on the dresser so that I can enjoy him since I am not outside in the night time and I am not treating trick or treaters (wow - that was a fun sentence).

I also got the pleasure of watching the kids try on about 3 different costumes for Halloween each!  They are so cute - here is one (not very good) picture:

 Zeta (6); Nakomus (5); Kyli (4); and Liah (3)

They have been extremely excited this weekend - all weekend!  Hope everyone has a very SAFE and FUN Halloween.

Thank you Notes and Yard Work

Recently (actually - last weekend) I MADE my son sit down and write thank you notes for the things ($$) he had received for his birthday.  I even let him cheat and gave him the blank thank you cards...all he had to do was fill in 1 side of the card - I was not asking for a 3 page report mind you! - He managed to write 2 very incomplete sentences.  UGH! What gratitude.  I can not handle this laziness!  So, I pulled out the old note book paper and instructed him to write a full page letter.  I told him from the top to the bottom must be complete and he could NOT use the same sentence more than once.  I did not care what the topic was or to whom he wrote.  Low and Behold - my son wrote a whole page letter to my sister.  (Sorry, for you to find out this way Carla - we will get it in the mail as soon as I remember to go get stamps!)  I had not been prouder in some time with him. 

Speaking of laziness - the thank you notes were preceded with yard work - oh my gosh - I have NEVER seen someone NEEEEEEED so many water breaks.  So, guess what we are doing next weekend......THE BACKYARD!!!!!

I VOW TO BREAK THIS LAZINESS!  EVEN IF IT BREAKS ME - HA HA HA!