BIG Mistake!!!

For some reason I got it in my head that I would look really cute with 'bangs"......

BIG mistake!!!

Why did I do this to myself???!!!

Oh well ...it 'll grow out in a few months..right??

We Shall Not forget..William Ralph Raub

UPDATE: I was able to find some info ! thanks Laura!!

William Ralph Raub A Student of the Market, 'Focused on His Work'
October 5, 2001
Though he wasn't feeling well and at first decided to stay home on Sept. 11, William Raub changed his mind and went to work anyway, intending to remain only a half-day.
Raub, 38, a stockbroker originally from a suburb of Albany, had his chauffeur pick him up at his Saddle River, N.J., home and bring him to Tower One. He was an institutional stock trader on the 104th floor at Cantor Fitzgerald, a large investment firm that suffered one of the biggest corporate losses of life in the trade center disaster.
A tireless worker, Raub wanted to clear up some important business. "He was very focused on his work," said his wife, Maureen, who grew up in West Babylon. "He was extremely successful. He studied the market and was always on top of what was happening. That was what contributed to his success."
Raub's wife explained that he worked closely with his clients and developed not only strong business relationships but friendships as well. "He was a very generous person. He took younger people in the business under his wing," she said.
Raub graduated in 1985 from Siena College with a degree in finance.
His wife noted that he spent a lot of time golfing and once in a while did a little running. His other leisure pursuit was vintage in nature. "Bill was an avid wine enthusiast and collector," said his wife, whose parents, Pat and Jim Jeffers, live in West Babylon.
Raub is survived by his 3- month-old son, Liam, and a daughter, Rebecca, who is 6 years old. --Bill Kaufman (Newsday)

Man, the thought that he had actually planned to stay home that day really hits hard...if only...

and that he had a small child...and a baby just born....My Prayers go out to his family........{{{{{Maureen, Liam, and Rebecca}}}}}}}}}}]


William Ralph Raub, 38 years old
Saddle River, NJ

William was an Institutional Stock Trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was confirmed dead at the World Trade Center. I was unable to find any other information on William.

Mason Dixon Knitting

I also finally finished my Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono for my nieces new baby boy....although he's not so new anymore and I hope it fits!!

and I finally sewed on the buttons on my Baby Bibs O' Love!!These are also for my nieces new baby.....

SOS #14 and #15!!!

Finally!! Finished my Secret Sock Pal socks...this first pair is a knitted pair for my Secret SOS pal...it's called River Rapids..it has sort of a cabled effect. This was my first time doing such a complicated pattern..I'm pretty proud of myself....the pattern can be found at: http://sockbug.blog-city.com
I used Atacama 100% Alpaca for these ..they are nice and soft and should be VERY warm .....
close-up of the pattern:

The second pair are just another of my crocheted socks..the same pattern I usually use from the book Crocheted Socks...by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood..The pattern is called Jacquard! Jacquard! I used a Lion Brand self Striping for this pair. These are also for My Secret SOS pal...I figured I'd surprise her with a crocheted pair as well....These will go out on Monday!! Hopefully!

Saturday

First we'll start out with my Saturday Sky picture for today...mostly blue skies..a little overcast...doesn't show in the pic though...








and then a few pics of the front yard ...
it's looking really nice now....Dh is putting in a new sidewalk.....we added on a 2 car garage last summer and we are finally getting around to pouring a sidewalk
and concrete slab in front of the garage..




















And finally this beautifully colorful yarn came in the mail today...

it was an e-Bay purchase.....5 lbs of it....it's very thin machine knitting yarn..not sure what I'll do with it...but I'll figure something cute I'm sure....maybe a really finely crocheted throw?? some socks?....a colorful gauzy curtain?? some doilies?? maybe a little of everything...as I think 5 lbs will go a looonnngg way..LOL

.

Today's Thrifty Finds

Here's todays bootie...I tried going to a different thrift store that I'd never been to before..it sounded like it would be a good place..but I was pretty dissappointed...there really wasn't much there...but I did find a few decent things..





The green glasses look vintage...they were $10......the candy dish will probably be used in my bathroom to hold small items ....probably cotton balls or something...the other clear jar is a Princess House piece...I'm pretty happy with that..it was $5.00 and would have cost at least $20.00 new....I have a few pieces of Princess House( which I paid FULL price for....a friend of mine sold it..actually I got some of it FREE for hosting parties...LOL) so this will go well with those...and then the "piece de resistance"......a Chalkware Bluebird from probably around the 1940's...I didn't know anything about it...I picked it up because it was a "bluebird" ...and it looked kinda old..when I got up to the register the cashier told me it had a story...I guess it's from an Old Carousel, "across the water" ,she 'thinks" Buckroe Beach....she said they used to give these away as prizes way back in the old days....How cool is that?!!




Anyway todays total for



came to $19.43......added to yesterdays total of $6.85 comes to $26.28 total for the Thrift Challengeso far!

Todays Lunch

I treated mysef to Sushi today....oh how I LOVE Sushi...

I'm drinking my naturally sweetened, organic lemonade outof my NEW thrifted Tulip glass from yesterday's post. The Purple chopsticks were a gift from Hubby. He brought them back from one of his Japan trips.

How Kewl is This?

My best friends son tried out for American Idol in L.A. and he made the " You're going to Hollywood" cut!!! I'm sooo excited for him.....he has a really great voice so I'm not surprised he made it...

$99 Thrift Challenge

I recently joined another group....the $99 Thrift Challenge from Apron Thrift Girls Blog.. I went to my local Salvation Army and scored!! all this for only$6.85!!!!!

Of course after whining on ApronThriftGirl's blog about not being able to find kewl finds like her pretty glasses....what do I find today....a cute little tulip glass!!! This will be my new favorite drinking glass.... then a vintage pyrex bowl..it's rust colored with sprigs of wheat on the side....3 delicate teacups with black filigree....these will probably go up on e-Bay......then a cute bluebird figurine...I'm really into bluebirds these days.. Next up was a Lobster Souvenier Plate from Maine....a few years ago I started collecting Lobsters and 'Maine" type things...mainly Lobster things with "Maine" on them...as I was born in Maine and my family is from Maine and most of my relatives still live in my hometown in Maine....actually first I started collecting 'Crab" things because I live in Chesapeake Va...then it got me thinking about Lobsters from Maine so I started collecting those too....then I found these cute little dessert plates( there are two) with pink flowers on them...and I LOVED these pink coffee mugs......these will be my new favorite mugs for having my coffee in the morning....and there are two so I can invite a friend over...LOL....and then finally these two silver things which I have NO IDEA what they are...but they looked kewl..and I figure there's someone out there who can tell me what they are for?? Once I know what they are, I'll probably keep one and sell the other on e-Bay...So...does anyone know??? they almost look like they'd be for hanging tea cups but they are too small for any of mine...hmmnn... Close-up of my Lobster Plate

And here is my little Bluebird figurine in a place of honor on my dining table...

Ch-Ch-Ch------Changes...

Well I made quite a few changes to the blog today...took me ALL day to do it too....I'm slowly learning all this HTML stuff....I changed my template to a new one I found online...I downloaded tons of them but couldn't get most of them to turn out right...then I got to this one, and I thought to myself..."it fits" ...so VOILA a NEW Me!!!

In the meantime I have to redo all my links and tags and stuff.....which is a pain....I got the links back in and added a few NEW ones even...and I got most of my tags back in, although I can't figure out how to put my ringcodes back in....I never saved the codes I guess and I have no idea how to get them again...Oh Well.....

Todays Reading....

really spoke to me today....isn't it funny how when you are having issues with one thing or another , then you go to church and somehow one of the readings or the Gospel to reaches out to you and gives you answers ...I've had this happen with me many times over the last few years...today it was with a reading from the Letter of James.....he calls us to "Be DOERS of the word and not merely HEARERS who deceive themselves."

Taken from Today's bulletin:

"Christianity is not a religion of theory; faith must be put into practice. he is concerned about some of the Christian communities where the belief that one is saved by faith alone had been turned onto a mockery of the Christian life.

In modern times this would be the Chrisitian who goes to church ,recieves the eucharist , even goes to confession regularly, but behaves abominably towards others."

"Then the words that neatly sum up his message. Be Doers of the word and not merely Hearers . In other words, practice what you preach. Be a living, breathing sermon. or as St. Francis said " Preach the gospel always: if necesary , use words.

How do we do this? In a verse left out of our excerpt, James admonishes Christians to "bridle their tongues". We forget that we are created in God's Image. Just as God created the world by speakign, the words from our mouths create a world around us. Gossip and other unworthy talk create a hateful world."
Paige Byrne Shortal


I'm sad to admit that, at times, I've been like those Christians who listen but don't necessarily put it onto practice..

What's for dinner Friday......

I call it my Puerto Rican Wannabe Stew......why??? because it's my version of trying to make a Puerto Rican stew and I KNOW I'm doing it wrong...it's close but not close enough....but ...we like it, and that's all that matters...I don't have a recipe ..it's just kind of a throw it together type thing..here are the basic ingredients along with some diced chicken , potatoes and rice....my best friend is from Puerto Rico and she makes authentic Puerto Rican Stew all the time..and she told me basically 'how" to make it....
It's actually pretty yummmy,and again, my picky teen daughter let me know that she really likes THIS meal too.....that's twice in one week that I've gotten positive feedback from the family on one of my meals......I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop..LOL

Cool Breezes

Well.....Ernesto brought with him a nice reprieve from the oppressive heat..it's actually 'chilly" out there today...I've turned off the AC and I've opened all my windows to let in a nice cool breeze.....I Love September!

So We Have a Little Visitor Today...............

.............and His name is Ernesto. Rain Rain Rain....Ernesto has decided to pay a little visit to Hampton Roads and our News Stations are ALL over it with the coverage...I mean 'come on" ..I realize there's a alot of flooding going on in the area...but anyone who lives here KNOWS that,therefore the extensive coverage isn't really necessary ..and it's not even a Tropical 'Storm" any longer ...he's been downgraded to a 'depression"....and yet they still feel the need to give us 24/7 minute by minute , blow by blow coverage.....of course I'm the idiot 'watching" this minute by minute , blow by blow coverage..LOL


The pics didn't come out very well ..but you can see a little of the flooding going on at our house...it's really not much and this happens any time we get a lot of rain...the first pics is of our drainage ditches at the street....by the end of this storm they'll probably have started to flow over the street.....It'll look like we live on a lake...LOL or at the very least, next to a big pond.....

the second is just a pic of the flooding near the trees beside our driveway...my whole yard is just big huge pondlike puddles all over...

And Finally.............

Feeling a bit 'domestic' today.....trying to be the 'good wife" and 'good mother"...


decided to make Easy Southern Banana Pudding from the inside of the Nilla Wafer box...




Viola! the finished product. I love these little dessert cups..I hardly ever use them though....

Another "Presentation"

I couldn't resist these Cookies and Roses at Wally World today....

Yummmmm

I wanted to share what I made for dinner last night...

Chicken Divan


The Recipe is from SusanP. over at

http://home-place.blogspot.com/2006/07/chicken-divan-this-is-wonderful-dish.html


I have to say I've become really lax in my cooking over the last year...although I suppose one could say I'm not a slacker when it comes to knitting and crocheting...the time I spend on those pursuits takes me away from doing other important things like cooking and cleaning....Needless to say I was surprised at the response from my family. I hardly EVER hear anything 'good" about my cooking...LOL....but even my picky teen daughter said it was pretty good....this one's definately a 'keeper"....

I did change a few things for my dish...I used Cream of Mushroom instead of Cream of Chicken..and I used California veggies( broccoli,cauliflower, and carrots )instead of just broccoli...I also added more cheese and bread crumbs then the recipe asked for...

Oh NO!!!

Hmmnn...everyday I check my blog to see if there are any comments and everyday..nope none

........welllllllll.........

silly me, who had NO IDEA how all these settings work, just NOW found out I had my comments set on moderate.....which means I have to actually check my comments in the dashboard and approve them before they'll be posted on my blog!!!! Turns out I've had TONS of comments...LOL!!! and now I feel terrible because people probably think I've been totally ignoring them!!!! and here I've been feeling sorry for myself thinking no one reads my blog ......so if any of you are still checking me out....please know that I didn't intentionally ignore your comments..and I really appreciate all the support ..especially in the religion posts!!

I'd have never have even Known if I hadn't gotten an e-mail from MissRobyn about the chocolate swap...she mentioned in that e-mail that she'd commented on my blog but every time I checked her comment wasn't there...so I finally decided to do a little investigating and sure enough.....there they ALL were......

So Thank You to everyone who has posted lately( except of course you spammers!!!)

and I promise from now on I'll do a much better job of acknowledging and repsponding....

Catholicism

I've been over to another blog recently and feel like maybe I've taken it over with talk of Catholicism. I don't mean to turn her blog into a Catholic debate so I figured itwas time I start bringing my thoughts to my own blog. ......For he most part I agreed with most of what this blogger had to say about how some Christians portray Christianity. My main point of posting about Catholicism was to correct what I felt were some misconceptions about Catholicism...Like her I find myself to be a pretty simple Christian..I don't have tons of scriptures memorized , I don't know the Catechism like the back of my hand. I have a few simple beliefs which I feel are the most inmportant to know as a Catholic and the rest I am actively trying to learn....I've been witnessing a LOT of Anti-Catholic sentimism on quite a few of the Christian blogs I had started reading...I mentioned this few days ago in my Disappointed post. It's really gotten me thinking about my Faith. I dont really feel I have the knowledge and strength at this time to refute most of these bloggers or to defend Catholicism properly on their blogs..so I've mostly just kept quiet in order not to ive them more ammo for their arguements against us. But I o feel that I do need to start sharing more about my faith..and do what I can to dispel some of the misunderstandings other have about Catholicism and some of the outright lies...as I said earlier I'm not an expert apologetic...there are a lot of things even I haven't taken the time to really understand about my own faith. I am a cradle Catholic who like many others just took much of what I was taught at face value and for many years didn't question it.....I did go thru a period where I started to question and really look into what it is we are called to believe...I even went thru my own 'anti-Catholic" period where I denounced the Church for things I had misunderstood...so I can certainly understand how, many non-Catholic Christians have a hard time with our beliefs and practices..the more I questioned the more I began to have faith in the Catholic church. and what it TRULY teaches..I think unfortunately many Catholics really don't take the time to really learn what it is the Church teaches...

Presentation is Everything

Well...maybe not 'everything" but it sure should count for "something". I was browsing another blog the other day and saw a post about 'presentation" ...the blogger showed us an example of how to present even storebought bakery items and make them look like something special....this is something I myself do pretty regularly....as much as my domestic wannabe heart would like me to, I just never do get around to doing all the wonderful baking I dream about....alas it's not because I don't have the time or talent because honestly, I do......I'm just plain lazy sometimes...any way here's my example of "Presentation being Everything"

before

after

Whew!!!

I just spent the last hour and a half updating and adding posts....I had so much I had intended to blog about during the last 2 weeks and just never got around to it....so I added them all today. I put each post under the date it would have been had I done them in real time....so even if you've checked my blog recently, be sure to scroll down ,possibly past the last post you read, as some of what I added happened 'before" my last actual posts...

Installation at St.Mary's

Yet again attending an Installation at another BEAUTIFUL Church...

we attended Mass before hand which again was interesting as each church seems to have their slight differences...I must say I really like this church...we attended the installation her last year as well and I was happy to come back....

this church is beautiful and exactly how I wouldn picture a Catholic Church...They had a fire earlier this year and they've recovered quite well..the Installation was really nice..they also have a Ladies Auxillary which also had their Installation of Officers tonight. and then afterwards we were treated to a Fellowship Dinner...and St.Mary's really knows how to put on a good spread!

Saturday Sky

It was a bit overcast today..but eventually there was some blue skies to photograph

SOS socks for my Sockpal!!!

Here are the socks I'm working on for my sock pal for Summer of Socks.



The Pattern is one I found online called
River Rapids and is really not that hard..I'm pretty new to the sock knitting so at first I worried it'd be too difficult but it's been coming along well...

it can be found at ... http://sockbug.blog-city.com






I've actually finished this sock and am almost finished with sock # 2. I'm using a wonderfully soft alpaca yarn....I love the color...and luckliy for me..LOL..I have enough to make myself a matchingn pair..hopefully I can finish soon...so i have time to add an extra surprise for my pal

Saturday Sky

Another Installation

This time it was at St. Matthew's in Va Beach.

Another really beautiful church inside and out:

My hubby: Worthy District Warden

A kiss after presenting her husband with his Jewel















Newly appointed Officers

a little sad and disappointed....

...lately I have been drawn to Christian blogging...and there are quite a few Christian bloggers that I had enjoyed reading and come to respect....but now I am learning that many of them seem to be extremely Anti-Catholic...As a Catholic myself it is quite hurtful to see that so many of the women I have grown to repsect view Catholism as UnChristian and UnBiblical!?? the sad thing is many of them don't seem to have any TRUE understanding of what Catholism REALLY is....most of their MISinformation comes from propaganda type sites such a chicktracks....

I thought that I had found a wonderful group of Christian Women that I could one day be a part of...but I have a feeling I would not truly be accepted as a "Catholic"...I can never understand how any "Christian" can feel Catholics are NOT when most Christian religions stem origionally from Catholism??

Sweet Sixteen..and never been ....nah....LOL

The thirteenth was Britt's Sweet Sixteen...I can't believe my "baby" is 16!!!

Getting Canned

This year was a good year for beets...DH has been bugging me to can some...his mother makes really great pickled beets and she shared the recipe with me earlier this year...so i finally took the plunge and tried making them and it worked and they were DELISH!!!
Here are the pics from start to finish:
peeling a slicing after having boiled them....
Addding the pickling spices to the vinegar mixture
Ladeling into the jars
Giving them a hot water bath

Voila the finished product , Nine jars of Pickled Beets....YUMMM