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

Bonfire of the Vanities

Teenagers and Fire...what a combination......Britt and Josh grilling Hotdogs on the fire....or at least 'trying' too.....it was so 'buggy' out that night that we were chased back inside pretty quickly...but they had fun while it lasted....LOL

HairSpray

Britt and I are off to see Hairspray the Musical this afternoon at the CNU Ferguson Center theatre...needless to say Britt is quite excited as she lives and breathes musical theatre....should be a fun day...we are going with a group of women from church and then having dinner afterwards....now if only Wicked would come our way!!

My Perogative?

Typical Woman am I...LOL.....I've 'changed my mind"..sorry Laura( I know you changed the link already).....LOL
I've decided I really don't want to lose my history here... so I'm just going to keep this blog going....and will probably delete the new one....

Movin'

to new pastures.......I"ll be closing this blog soon....but don't despair....I've already started a new one.....over here: maggiibleu lifestyles ....I've just been feeling a little uncomfortable about some of the pictures I sometimes post...that maybe I'm invading the privacy of some of my friends and acquaintances....so I plan to be a little more careful about all that, over at the 'New" place...I'll leave this blog open for a little while to give you all( my oh so HUGE readership...LOL)a chance to mozy on over to the new digs.....then I'll be setting this blog to Private...

This Little Piggy Went to Market....

It's been a little while since I had a Shopping Day.....so today I took off to get a few things done.....First I hit Michaels ...to check out their yarn...and then I realized we ARE into September now and fall is just around the corner as well as Halloween.....Britt and I are planning to have an AWESOME Halloween Party so I figured I should pick up a couple things...I got a little Fall Wreath...and a really cute Candlabra..a Halloween Banner( Martha Stewart...I got her Halloween Magazine the other day...lots of GREAT ideas in it!) and I added another building to my Spooky Village....I've been collecting the Lemax Halloween and Christmas Houses for a few years now....

I then Headed over to one of my local Thrift Stores and although the pickin's were slim I did find a few cute things.....I got a wool sweater to felt and use for crafting.....two Cheese boards with domes...I'm going to use the domes with decorative plates.....I got the idea from another blogger but can't remember who.....I'll probably use the wooden bottoms as trivets....maybe I'll decorate them ......and I found a cute little mug.....I've seen similar ones on other blogs and always loved them but never seem to find them...well today was my lucky day.....this one's from France even...how cool.....I LOVE anything French.....

Then I went over to the Knitting Corner for some yummy yarn......I'm in the mood to start Socks again....so I two kinds of Sock yarn and a few hanks of Wool....I plan to use the plain wool on a Ripple Afghan ...I've been collecting various colors for a while now......and with the variegrated one I'll make a felted purse ...I got a few of these skeins at Michaels...the rest from the Knitting Corner.....

Saturday Sky

Been ages since I've done one of these posts....not sure if anyone else is even doing it but what the heck....here's today's sky..LOL

Let's Go For a Ride!

Today was such a nice day...it looks like it's finally cooling off a bit.....DH invited me to take a ride around the block in this:

We've had this car for years...13 to be exact.....we bought it at an Auction in California.....DH started bidding and I nearly had a heart attack...and then he KEPT bidding.....I couldn't believe it when we won.....he drove it everyday when we lived in CA ..but since moving here...it hardly gets driven....lately he's been taking out of the garage occasionally to drive it around the neighborhood.....he invited me today.....I mentioned this would make a nice 'going to Church" car....LOL....so now he's thinking of getting it registered with antique plates.....

and here's a pic of our newest car...the one I posted about earlier...

BTW.....

I did finally get my truck back in February........it looks good as new now.....it was pretty disappointing when I first went back to get it though...at first it 'looked" really nice...i went in to take care of the deductable...and my brother came in tellign me not to sign anything yet...come look at it again....he then showed me a lot of places where the paint job was just total crap...( it looked good straight on....but if you looked at it from other angles...no so much)needless to say i was NOT happy....they were going to let me drive off with such a crappy paint job...and my insurance adjuster even approved the work ....even he didn't 'notice"......so.....they kept it for another day and redid some of it ..and the next day it was MUCH better.....of course my insurance has gone up because of it.....

Oh and a funny( well it is NOW)story....... we bought a new car a month or so ago...not NEW new....but New to us New......a mercedes convertable sportscar......very cute...anyway......we drove all the way to Raleigh to see it...and decided to buy it.....it was a 4 hour trip.....sooooo....we're driving back.....DH in the Benz...me in the truck.......and we get 10 minutes from home...and what do I do??? I REAR END him!!!! OMG....I couldn't believe it!!! it didn't cause THAT much damamge luckily for me....LOL....I Cried all night and DH was not too pleased......but again luckily for me we were still in the 'honeymoon" stage of DH having been deployed...so he didn't stay mad for long...LOL

DH wont let me follow him anywhere though....LOL

Wow!!!

I knew I'd been missing for a while....but since JANUARY!!!!! Bet ya thought I'd never come back...lol.......most likely no one even comes around here anymore so I'm probably talking to myself..LOL...

Any way just popping in to say Hello! and I'm Baaaaccckkkkk.......so much as happened in the last 6 months......more than I could ever re-cap...the Highlight of course is that DH is home safe and sound.......it was a wonderful homecoming and I am soooo glad he's back( even if he IS at sea this very moment...LOL...no worries he'll be home in a few days...it was only for two weeks) Not much else super exciting has happened just regular life.....so I wont bore you with all of those details.....My son Nate moved back home though....he came back about a week ago......he had stayed behind in SC when we visited my brother at Christmas time.....so I'm glad he's back too...

I have a lot of ideas on where I'd like this blog to go from here....so stay tuned......

Where Wool Comes From

I saw this video over at Shelly's Blog and just had to share it...it's Hilarious!

It Snowed!

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning ...although much to Britt's dismay it wasn't enough to close down the schools...LOL.....we had flurries a few days ago but nothing stuck ....but last night we got a nice dusting....it's pretty much all melted away now....except a little still left on the deck that the sun hasn't hit yet.....

Back in the Saddle

Hello???? anyone still out there.....yes I know....I disappeared with no warning.....I am so sorry.....it's just after Christmas and the Mississippi Trip and my accident ....I've just been feeling BLAH again......I kinda huckered down and hibernated a little ....but I'm ready to climb out of my cocoon....and spread my wings again........still haven't gotten my truck back...hopefully sometime next week they'll be finished...or so they told me.....then I have to make arrangments to go get it.....



We've made it past the half way point of the deployment .....I'm really tired of it all...and am ready for it to be OVER! This is the longest we've ever been apart.....and it's HARD.....I have a new appreciation for my husband though......I'd forgotten how important he is to this family.....and how much I rely on him and how much he truly does provide...and I don't mean monetarily....I'm seeing our marriage in a new light.....I guess like they say absence makes the heart grow fonder....

Finally......

Heard back from the Adjuster...only took him 11 days to go look at my truck....well.........$5000 worth of damage....talked to DH yesterday and he thinks that's not too bad...so I'm a bit relieved....it's a relief just to 'know" what the damage is and that it CAN be fixed.......so now we wait ....who knows how long it will take to finally GET fixed..LOL....but at least everything has been put into motion now......I can finally relax.......I have soooo much to still blog about and I just can't seem to get into it......it's been a 'rough" start for the New Year.....

Still Around...

I'm still around .....on vacation still so haven't had much time to update.......I'll be home later today hopefully and will probably add a lot of updates sometime in the next few days....no news on the truck yet......insurance adjuster hasn't been out to look at it yet....I went to see it yesterday to grab a few more things out of it before heading back to Viginia.....and itdoesn't look as bad as I origionally thought....so hopefully it's all fixable....Hope everyone's Christmas was a good one!r

Mississippi for Christmas

Well the kids and I are in Mississippi right now to spend the Holidays with my family....of course no trip I take to Mississippi can be without incident it seems.......I had a pretty bad accident in SC......we are all ok....none of us were hurt, nor was anyone in the other vehicles.....but...my truck is toast right now......we'll see if it can be fixed....it's stuck at a Dodge dealership in SC and who knows if and when it will be fixed! I got a rental car to finish my trip.....it was raining pretty bad....and I was driving slower then the speed limit...but as I came around a bend there was a car in the concrete divider in the left lane and two cars stopped in left lane waiting for a break in the middle lane to get around...visibility was not good and when I noticed they were actually stopped I went to brake and the road was so slippery that NOTHING happened..... the first car in front of me( actually a pickup truck) tried to pullout around the car in front of him to avoid me hitting him but he wasn't quite fast enough and I clipped the back corner of him and then went on to hit the car in front of him...then Brandon actually hit me from behind as well( we took two cars Brandon was following)....brandon's car is fine ..no damage at all....as a matter of fact the cop pretty much talked us into claiming Brandon never hit me..LOL...he asked about 20 times if we were 'sure" he hit me....cause IF he didn't ...he wouldn't have to write Brandon a citation....etc etc..so we finally got the hint and said yeah ok he didn't hit me.....I was sooo worried about getting into an accident on this trip too...after the LAST trip......instead of celebrating Easter last year we had to plan a funeral....I didn't want to do that to my mother again for Christmas....thank GOD we are all ok......I haven't been able to tell Brad yet because he hasn't called...I was hoping he'd call last night but didn't...I don't really want to call HIM....because I don't call other then emergencies, and I don't want to scare him.....since we're all fine..I could e-mail him but I really want to tell him personally,...I guess if he doesn't call in the next day or so I'll have to just tell him in e-mail....then as if that wasn't enough.....we lost Brandon in Atlanta!! I wasn't paying attention to the signs and almost missed my exit for 85( where 75 and 85 split from each other)....I made the exit but Brandon behind me didn't.....so then he had to turn around try to get back passed where 85 splits off but coming from the other direction you can't get onto 85 there so you have to go past and then get off and on again....but when the got off they were stuck on a one way road and couldn't get back to the highway and so they had to drive around a bit to find a way back......it took them 2 hours of me driving super slow...to catch back up with me...anyway I'm here....and relatively calm