Concerts to cabbage rolls

Our little Lamb.

Destiny was the star of the show, " The Little Lamb"
this was a none talking role, but she was on the stage the whole night.

[dec 18,2008]

Destiny and Andre
the end of the play wit Jesus in the manger.
Destiny did so good in this role. she didn't act silly or nervous and was right on cue.
we were so proud of her

Hayze after his sisters play. Tried to get a shot of him in his new vest on stage.. He had no part of it. So again.. a better one with his coat on.

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I want to say, if you are one of our friends that bought tickets for the great DeWalt tool package off of us to support Hayzes hockey, I have good news and bad news.. You didn't win, the good news is you know the person who did.. ME... Isn't that great? I have some projects lined up.. Will see how they pan out.. Jim isn't as excited about owning tools as he was about asking for them for the last 4 years. (be careful what you wish for)
[dec 1, 2008]
Update; money raised through ticket sales went to purchase the whole team matching warm up suits. they look so professional in their matching suits.. go STORM go!!
[dec 20, 2008]

Hayze in the "hard helmet" awarded by the coaches for a game well played.

This was the game against Crossfield on Sunday

1 gaol & 4 Assists

Manager Donna, putting the boys through pregame warm up. she is a tough one. See Hayze down on the ground giving it his all.. While she is yelling out "drop and give me 20" to another kid.. ( I think this had a lot to do with the big win.. they were all scared!)

Or, it could have been the spectator enthusiasm.

Or .. the coaches..

Jim is actually "jersey Mom" but was asked to go on the bench last weekend to help out while the head coach was on holidays. I think he really enjoyed it!.. Well, turns out it is good that I take so many pictures. With 5 days in between posts, I would forget what we have been up to in the last little bit.
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[dec 23, 2008]
I have done a lot of baking.. well for me anyway.. and tonight I tried my hand at cabbage rolls. My mom always served cabbage rolls with Christmas dinner.. My oldest brother Monty's fav. so she always made sure that they were there for him.. Mine are in the oven tonight. I must add, I am a little nerves about the outcome so I thought I would make them a couple days a head so if they need to be redone I could do that. So far, they are smelling good.
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[dec 16, 2008]
I went back to work last week for 4 short days. I didn't work full days but it felt good to get there and do something out of the house. The shop is doing great and it was really good to see all the girls again.

That is it for tonight. My cabbage rolls are done and I am going to relax.

An old project, turned new.

Well you might remember this project from early June. It took me awhile to complete but prior to my surgery I wanted to get it done and out of the basement and up into our sitting room.
I am actually very proud of how it turned out considering it took me 6 months to get motivated about it. The day I decided to finish it the kids and I went to Home Depot picked up all the paint, sand paper and molding I needed. Yes that is right I said molding. I cut it, attached it, ,painted and stained it all my self. (proud moment for me). Take not from the original pictures. The molding I put on top adds a lot to it. Right now it is full of Christmas pictures and decorations but when the season is over I am going to put some velvet print wall paper in tonal colors on the back. It will lighten it up a lot.

Can you see the crackle, Destiny helped me apply the crackle paint in a few spots after the first coat of paint. Then I painted over it to get this effect. I don't think you would want it all over but it does sure add a nice "aged" effect once I added the antique stain (brown) at the end. I then sanded those areas smooth and this is the final effect. I soaked the hardware in a solvent to get the paint off and they returned to their original form.

I now love this old cupboard, if only I could do something to get rid of the "old" smell when I open the doors.

some more creations

Giant Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

I got this recipe for a Chatelaine Magazine that I was give while in the hospital.

The recipe can be found here

If you have a very close look at these two pictures you will notice that I burnt the whole batch

I was really only able to selvage about 8 cookies. Recommend time for cooking was 12 minutes, so I set my timer for 10 min, giving me, what I thought was ample time to check on them.

I don't know if my high elevation or my oven is hot but.. what a wreck.

This whole project was not successful.. I was even going to make up a recipe card for it with the adjustments for myself so that when I attempted them again I could do so accordingly. Well, when I went to upload the file, it said "file corrupt" of course I had already closed off my project in Photoshop.. so I am done with these buggers. If you ever get the desire to make these after reading this post ... let me know how you made out. I wish you the best.

Thursday night our family went to the grade 4-6 performance of "The Town Of Bethlehem".

It was very cute, and their were some great actors and actresses. Hayze was a singer, and that is all he wanted to be. He never tried out for any parts and he just wanted to be a singer.

He did a great job acting out the song they were singing.

He even smiled a time or two.. that is great, considering this isn't really "his thing"

His dad told him he wanted to here him sing nice and loud, he said "ok" Jim said "what song you singing?" Hayze said "I don't know"

Hayzes family waiting for the "big show"

Destiny getting her picture taken after the concert.. Embarrassed because he mom asked her to go up on the stage.. a better shot of her putting on her coat..
[don't smile, oh, I see a smile]

that is it for tonight. I had a great big day. 2 ice times for the kids and a ringette girls party.. I am done.. done!

Holiday Projects

I know! Two posts in one day. That is amazing, but I wanted to show you a couple other projects I have been working on.

Desk Calendars

This is the front and back view of the desk calendar I have been working on for a month or so.

This is a inside view of the month of March and a side view so that you can see how I folded it.This is how pretty it will sit on my family's desk / table.

This project was inspired by Scrapgirls On there website you can purchase templates for 4x6 calendar templates. I then worked with all the current digital paper that I have and added pictures to every month. Personalizing it with the cute little faces of my children. When I got all 12 months completed ( this took me sometime because I worked on it a few minutes here and there) I uploaded the 13 files (cover included) to Costco and requested 12 of each printed on 4x6 photo paper in matte. I was able to pick them all up the next day at the location I chose, this is such a great service. When I got them home the kids and I separated them into a 1 year calender. I then took sheets of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper and and cut it into 4" stripes. I was able to get to easels from each piece of paper, one strip I cut in half to add to the back of the other two once I got them folded so that they would sit in a triangle. If you would like the exact measurements just email me and I can walk you through it. When the stand was complete I then punched holes and attached the ring binding. (thanks to Lisa for the use of your binding machine) WOLA!. The cutes little desk calender this season. My original thought before binding them was to get those cute little picture holders that you just slip the pictures in make of wire. I think that idea would work too and wouldn't be to expensive because I am sure that you can buy then at the dollar store.

Digital Scrapbook Page

[click to see larger]

I just finished this this morning. I was on 2 peas in a bucket web page this morning just browsing around and noticed this weeks digital challenge. " create a background paper using only brushes" So I was inspired to do a layout. This is what I came up with. I got my snow flake brushes for deviantart by a member named MELDIR. This site have proven useful a couple of time for brushes to use in Photoshop. So as you can see,outside of using snowflakes my layout is quite simple. The ripped edges I got from Scrap Girls they add a nice layer to this layout.

well you have it, all my projects.

Christmas Journal

Well remember this post were I said I was going to be so ambitious and do a Christmas journal and document everyday on our way to Christmas 2008. Ya well that failed!. I ran out of time prior to surgery and I haven't had the ability in the last couple of weeks. But with all that said I have realized that we as a family have done some great things on our way to Christmas and I have documented with pictures and get to "journal" about them on my blog. So this.. has become my 2008 December journal.

We have done some great things together so I am going to hi light a couple for you

Poppy Cock

[december 7, 2008]

Caramel Popcorn with Nuts (Poppy Cock)

Ingredients
4 qt Fresh popped corn.

1/2 ts Salt.

2 c Peanuts; dry-roasted, (or any other nut you would like, I used cashews)
1/2 ts Baking soda
1 c Packed brown sugar
1/2 ts Vanilla extract
1/2 c Unsalted butter
lg 5 quart roasting pan.
1/2 c Corn syrup

Instructions for Caramel Popcorn with Nuts (Poppy Cock)Place popcorn in large roasting pan. Mix in nuts. Set aside. Preheat oven to 200F. In heavy sauce pan, mix sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Over medium heat, stir until boiling. Continue to boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, then baking soda (it will foam up). Pour over popped corn and nuts; mix well to coat. Place in oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes while baking. Cool, break apart and store in a tightly sealed container.

This recipe turned out great. Jim loved it. It makes two large zip lock bags full and is crunchy rather than gooey. We loved it.

Saturday Sunshine

Only one ice time on Saturday and after the game Hayze went to the Rycrofts to play and Destiny and her Dad went for a ride. It was a perfect December day for a ride.

[december 6,2008]

Sunday Snow Storm

This turned out to be a great day for the kids to get out and play in the snow. Ringette was cancelled so we stayed home and all three of my kids played out in the snow. [the third being Jim of course]

[december 7,2008]

Our little Lilly, she is so photogenic.


The Scenery in our yard was amazing. I took a ton of pictures but really none of them did the "winter wonder land" any justis.

In anticipation for the falling snow.

The back window of my Avalanche.

I thought it looked so cool with the falling snow and white trim of snow all around it.

Hope you enjoyed some of our December journal , check back for more entries.

While I was blog searching I came acrosse this great poem and had to share. This is totally how I am feeling and in need of some girl time.

and now a holiday wine song.....:)
umm..hmm..
.oh.. once upon a time in the Queen's City..
there was a group a fair ladies whom were very pretty...
they drank wine like water and laughed and sang...some sweetly..some w/ a twang..:)
they mastered board games..and danced a lil'...most succumbed to intoxication and acted quite silly!!
they devoured yummy homemade treats...and swore off food and alcohol for the rest of the week!
YAY WINE NITE 08!!!!!!!

This reminded me of the wine tasting party and pictionary games we played in October here at our home.
I had to share.

2 batch

Well, as I said in my last post, Stacey brought projects on both days. This is what the second day project looked like.

[click on photo to see bigger, if you want the recipe]

I have to ask some of you bakers out there, have you ever added "parowax" to any of you recipes and if you have why.? I must admit I was a little nervous adding wax to a pot of perfectly good choc. My roll in this great tasting, great looking treat was unwrapping the camels (which were the soft Werthers) The camels were so nice and easy to open compared to the original style. I highly recommend this brand when making these.

I didn't give you the recipes for the cookies that we made in the last post but if you are wanting them just let me know and I will get them from Stacey.

I have received some really nice gifts in the last couple of weeks, a very large platter that looks great in my office on my round table, some fun cowboy boot shaped patio lites, Lasagna, chili, wine and wine glass, slippers, magazines and books, coffee and a sparkly room diffuser and flowers. How great is that. Funny how a gift can always make you feel better. Thanks everyone for the pick me ups.

[This is the coffee and room diffuser I received.]

[how cute is that?]

Letter to Santa

The children did their letters to Santa on Wednesday night. Destiny colored and decorated and erased and started again for about a hour. Hayze, wanted to use the computer, he typed a 3 line letter, ending in I think I have been good! Jim mailed them today.. I guess we will see what the old boy thinks.

Have a great Friday.

December Happenings

Well I continue to be at home recovering and feeling quite well. I have had a wealth of friends calling, writing and dropping in. I have found myself doing just a bit to much on days but have went back to relaxing and pain killers to ease the pain. I got my stitches out yesterday and that makes a world of difference in how I feel as well.

I am very lucky that my hobby is my pictures and computer. It feels good to do a few things today. I am going up date you on some of my pictures from the last two weeks.

This is the picture Maureen took for me after dad and Jim put the new hand rails up downstairs. It will be great for guests and us to have the new rails up. I actually haven't been down to see them yet, but thanks to the beauty of technology, I have seen them and so have you.

Maureen and Stacey were sweet hearts the other night and washed little lilly for me so that she could spend more time with me on our bed.. she doesn't like her bath at all.. Look at Mo, I don't think she likes lillies bath either.

This is a picture of my princesses. aren't they so cute.. Lilly is so fuzzy now that she is clean.

Lilly is wearing a build a bear crown for "jasmine" from Aladine. ahhhh!

Stacey visited both Monday and Tuesday, both days bringing stuff to do.

Monday she brought two double batches of cookie dough for us to make cookies.

Ginger bread cookies, and sugar cookies.

Ginger Bread Cookies

I helped roll balls.

A little tip: When the cookies come out they look like this.. tap the pan firmly to get the air out. This will make your cookies stay nice and chewy.Did you know that there is a difference between "ginger bread" and "ginger snaps"? I didn't understand the difference until Stacey explained that ginger snaps are the hard ones, the stuff you would make the houses of. These were ginger bread and nice and chewy.. so great.

Sugar Cookies

This is the cookie mix that Stacey had brought for the sugar cookies.

Cut the dough into Christmas shapes.

We froze these. We will decorate them before Christmas..I got sore before we finished.. Will share the completed cookies when we finish.