Catholics ARE Christians

There seems to be a bit of Catholic Bashing going on in blogland again...does it ever stop? Why do they do it? are they threatened by us?? FTR Catholics DO read the Bible...they DO believe in Jesus Christ and that he is our Saviour...We don't worship Mary....we respect and honor her as one SHOULD the Mother of Christ...but we do not worship her....there are soo many misconceptions out there about Catholicism and sooo many who are quick to believe the lies that are told about us...it's sad really...

Pay it Forward

This seems like a such a fun concept ..so I figured what the hey...sign up for this one too....I'm such a 'joiner" today....LOL

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I've actually signed up under two bloggers Noricum over at the Soapbox
and Kath over at Message in a Bottle

I haven't heard back yet wether I'm 'in'...but I only just now asked so it may take them a while to get back to me... I figured I may as well post about it now.....

Joined a Swap

I've joined a new swap...


Deadline is tomorrow..so head over quick if you'd like to join too!!!


Here is my questionaire for my coffee buddy:

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee?I love all kinds so surprise me

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee?ground( I don't have a grinder)

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee?yes ..i do

Do you enjoy special blends?sure
How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf?No to decaf....and I like a little coffe with my cream and sugar..LOL..I'm basically a Cafe au Lait type girl

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer?I like nice thick mugs

Winter and Holidays - PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!

What is your favorite part of Winter?cooler weather...being able to snuggle up on sweaters and cozy blankets

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday?yes, Christmas

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree?yes...usually we get a real tree...but last year we got a really nice fake one..because DH was deployed and I didn't want to mess with a real one on my own......not sure what we'll use this year since DH is home...

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? Holiday items are fine..either way I'm flexible

Do you collect anything?Yes...I have several collections....lately I'm on a bird kick...mainly bluebirds and peacocks........also vintage pyrex...yarn of course...LOL

Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect?I have a few holiday collections.....Santa's , Trees, and snowmen....and I've also been collecting the Lemax Holiday Village Houses and accesories...

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats? Not too often ...it doesn't really get that cold here...I occasionally will wear a scarf..

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat?Hmmnn favorite?? not sure....drinking hot coffee or cocoa on chilly days and evenings...baking holiday cookies ...gingerbread houses...decorating for Christmas...going to parties..

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.I can't really think of an especially fond memory....I do remember one year 'Santa" came to our house....it was my uncle dressed up as Santa in the most Tacky plastic( yes i said plastic...like garbage bag plastic but in red and white) Santa Suit....and a really tacky cotton ball type beard....it didn't help that he was about the skinniest man alive....LOL.....I knew right away who it was...I was about 7....My mom and Aunt kept saying it was Santa and I kept arguing that NO it wasn't, it was Uncle Louis!!! It really irritated me that they kept insisting that is was Santa when I KNEW it wasn't.....I guess they were trying to not ruin it for the younger kids who were were more gullible that I...LOL


Yarn and Crafting
Do you Knit or Crochet? both ..but mostly crochet

For how long?since I was a little girl....I learned to Crochet when I was about 6..I learned in Brownies to make a chain....my mom got tired of me making endless chains so she taught be the other stitches....so then I started making scarves and blankets...as I got older my grandmother taught me some of the more intricate stitches...

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight?I like all kinds...I am a little particular about my crochet hooks....I don't like the ones that seem to be 'flat" in the 'hook" area.....I like the more 'curved" hook...not sure if I'm explaining it properly...there's one brand that seems to make the 'flat' hook..but can never remember which one it is...

What sort of projects do you enjoy making?What are your favorite types of yarn to work with?I enjoy making all kinds of things.....I use all kinds of yarns...I am mostly into the natural fibers these days.....trying to get out of acrylics......I also do a lot of thread crochet...

Do you spin or dye?No...I've tried spinning and was interested in dyeing..but I really don't think I have the patience for it...

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else?Yes, I scrapbook a little...and I do CrossStitch...lately I am into French patterns that I find on French blogs...

General

When is your birthday?April 9th, 1965

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!)Yes.. I have 4 kids ..they are mostly grown ..my baby is Graduating HS this year.....I also have a cat....

What are your favorite colors?I'm really into blues lately...and right now I'm very into fall colors ...oranges and reds and browns...black and white too...

Do you have any allergies?nope

Senior Pics

We got Britts pics in recently ...I've finally scanned them so I can post them......we did Glamour Shots.....she had sooo much fun...they did a small 'makeover"...but we asked for minimal makeup...we wanted Britt to look like Britt...not some completely different person...we were very happy with the results...she felt beautiful and had so much fun with the photographer....

Brittney National Anthem

I know I have been slow in blogging ...there's been so much happening around here these days ..it keeps me pretty busy......in exciting news.....today was Senior Day at Britt's High School and she was chosen to sing the National Anthem at tonights Football game!!
Brad took this video with my cheapy Kodak Camera so it's not of the best quality..it's staticy and he somehow cut if off right before the end....if I can ever figure out how to upload the video from our good camera I'll post that copy instead.....it's MUCH nicer


She was VERY excited....she had auditoned for it for the Homecoming Game and lost out to another student in her class.....and then somehow the student didn't get with the right person or show up at the right spot and never sang it....the Band played it instead....needless to say Britt was quite upset as she'd have gladly sung it that night and been where she needed to be and have talked to who she needed to talk to etc etc....so to be given the opportunity tonight really meant a lot to her...she also audtioned for Virginia's Honors Choir a couple of weeks ago and was one of two students at her school that were chosen......this is quite an Honor as it is VERY difficult to get into....it's similar to All State Chorus ..but only Seniors can audition and they only take the top students thrupout the state.....there are no district quotas so there is no guarantee that anyone in the district will even be picked...All State is for Juniors and Seniors( she made it last year) and they take a certain amount of students from each district so the chances of making it in All State are much higher than for Honors were there are no district quotas..also Honors Choir is aobut half the size of All State so that lessens your chances as well.....as you can imagine Britt is quite excited as am I!!!

Yu-Mi Sushi

Rachel came home for the weekend...it's become a little tradition for us that when she's home we hit a Sushi place at least once....this time we hit a new place that recently opened..yummy...they had these really great Japanese spring rolls( which I didn't get a pic of) they were a little different than you typical spring roll and REALLY yummy...

Thrifty Vintage Fun

So I went on a thrifting spree today.....mainly looking for Pyrex to add to my small collection....I found a Pyrex flicker Group last night and spent a good hour or two lokking thru pics of amazing pyrex...I learned a lot about Pyrex i never knew.....saw items I never realized were pyrex...there were quite a few that I fell in love with and figured it'd b e impossible to find any of them but decided to go hunting today...I hit four shops.....two I shop at regularly and the other two occasionally.....after 3 stops...although I hadn't found much in the way of pyrex( found an old scratched up bowl...and a small FireKing? I think)

but I found a few other cute vintagy type things.....a really kewl vintage sheet that I think

I'll make curtains out of for my craft room.....

and some really cute vintage looking Wizard of Oz sheets that I will offer up on Ebay.....a pretty filipino top/jacket?..I'm going to offer it to Rae first and if she doesn't want it offer it up on ebay as well.....

lets' see what else.....a cute little Cheese shaker( I got it for the French writing on it...LOL)

and a really great find...a Le Creuset pot...I've been wanting some pieces of this for a while but it's pricey..so I was quite excited to see this pot for $7.00.........

I also got this really cute Vintage Decorating book ,

a couple of wool sweaters for felting crafts and two adorable little christmas outfits for my niece's new daughter that was born on Sunday!

Now I bet all that sounds pretty good ....but....that was just the first 3 shops.......I hit the mother load at my fourth stop........First I spied these really cute pink and white plates with ruffly edges....oh my......I learned about these last night as I was browsing the Pyrex flicker Group...never in a million years would I have expected to see them today!!! yes yes yes...

and then behind them I saw the black trimed Fleur de Lis pyrex cups.....and then over to the side those other two pyrex cups( not sure what that pattern is called).....and I saw the cute turkey cruet....I went up to pay and the checker really liked my pink ruffle plates...and said she thought there was more....I hadn't really looked that closely so Ithought I might have missed them ....after I paid I went back over to the dish rack to see if there were more......I couldn't find any, but did happen to notice this set of pink Trimmed Pyrex dishes that I had totally missed..so I snatched those up...LOL...needless to say I was exstatic about these finds....

oh and I also found these cute display plates...

200 Posts?

I just noticed while logging in that my last post was my 200th post! Wow! I had no idea!!!

HomeComing

No Britt wasn't Homecoming Queen or anything...that's not her schtick......but she IS President of the Ballroom Dancing club at school and wanted to have a float in the Homecoming Parade....all she really wanted was to Ride in the back of the truck with her other Ballroom dancemates...but Brad decided to go all out and make her a 'float".....actually she WANTED to ride on the back of the Convertable with a couple of her Dancemates....but the School nixed that idea.....because 'convertables" are reserved for Homecoming Court ONLY @@ <--that's my Eyes rolling ...LOL

BTW

we've heard that Wicked in coming next year.....we are soooooo going!!!

Hair Spray Revisited

I keep falling behind in my blogging....

here is the update on HairSpray...OMG...it was AWESOME!! We had a really great time. We went with 8 other members from our church...a perfect "Ladies Day Out". We all agreed that the actress who played Penny Pingleton( the lead "Traci's" best friend) was the best!! She was just too adorable...and the show was just tooo great for words......definately worth it.....afterwards we all went out to dinner at Paradocks......and had a really great meal...and wonderful fellowship....

The only sour note of the whole day was that as we were parking( right before going in to see the show) I accidently scraped up against my friends van as I parked next to her (and put a really nasty scratch).....sheesh what is 'wrong' with me lately.....that's the third incident in less than a year.....I've driven for over 26 years and never had an accident.....then have three in one year!! ARGG...I'm almost afraid to get behind the wheel anymore...LOL...

Halloween Decor

Been sprucing up the house for Fall and Halloween...I'm not sure what it is about this time of year but I LOVE it..I love the decorations and the colors....





Here's the top of our fireplace and Mantle

and here's the hearth....those are little crocheted pumpkins I made AGES ago....there used to be a few more but I seem to have lost them....

the Chandelier over the dining table...

and here's my spooky village...I've been collecting the Lemax Spooky Village houses for a few years now....after Halloween I'll switch these with my Lemax Christmas Village

Crochet

While we were up in Wisconsin I kept busy as well....I Crocheted a little sweater for my nieces little girl....I managed to finish it on the very last day were there....unfortunatley I didn't take a pic of the finished product...so all I have is this...while I was out on the back deck crocheting...this hay truck passed by.....had to snap a pic of it....farm life in Wisconsin...

Rare Pic

it's very rare that I'm able to get a pic of Brad and I together....I'm hardly ever in any pics as I'm usually the one taking them....and getting him to pose with me is like pulling teeth...

here we are at his Mom's Retirement Party

Wisconsin Trip

Brad and I spent a week up in Wisconsin last month ...His mother Has retired and the family was having a party for her so we decided to fly up for the party and to visit with family....it's so nice to be at that stage in our lives when we can make snap decisions like that...and not have to worry who'll watch the kids or what we'll do with them...Britt is 17 and with her two big Brothers still living at home...it wasn't tooooo difficult to let her stay home with them....it was really nice up there for it being almost October....we are contemplating moving up there in the next year...Brad is thinking of possibly staying in the Navy and working in an ROTC program at a University....he would try to get a placement at a College in Wisconsin preferrably Madison....he has a few other ideas as well....one that could take us to Charleston SC instead.....or he might just go ahead with his origional plans to retire next summer and find a job here...I have mixed emotions about the whole Wisonsin idea......parts of me would love it ...it's pretty nice up there and homes are still pretty affordable...we figure we could sell our house here and have more than enough to buy a comparable home up there and still have some left over...it does get awfully c-c-c-c-old up there though....and I REALLY don't like COLD...but he's assured me we could probably just go south for the winter each year...so I'm game for that...LOL

NO this isn't the latest member of Blue Man

Group......Brad decided to paint his mom's truck while we were up there....he always gets involved in a few different projects when we visit...his mother and her husband had recently 'painted' said truck.....with Bright Blue Tractor paint....and horrors of horrors they used a PAINT BRUSH..LOL...well......Brad just couldn't have his mother driving around in a tractor blue truck painted with a PAINT BRUSH...so he was determined to get it painted properly while he was there....he started the day before her party and expected to get it done in one day...unfortunately she had another house emergency that day....a leaky waterpipe ..that took him away rom the paint job...took him all day to fx the leak......so he painted said truck the day of the party finishing just as guests were arriving.....well silly man that he is...

he parked it right in the drive where guests were milling about.....wouldn't you know...one of the guests decided to lean against the freshly painted truck leaving a nice smudge.....LOL...so Brad spent the better part of the next day painting it again.....LOL