~Happy New Years Eve~

I realized I never posted our Christmas Card this year, so here it is a little late (it is a clickable thumbnail). I finished my Christmas "undecorating" yesterday and we are now all snowflakes and snowmen here! I love it. I have taken a bunch of pictures to share, of our little snowmen - I haven't uploaded them yet. Today DH and I went food shopping for New Years Eve and for New Years Day/Birthday Party tomorrow. Sometimes we have family over and play Trivial Pursuit, this year we decided we were going to celebrate with just our little crew so..... we let them decide on what they would like for supper (steak) and what they would like for snacks later (dips and pizza rolls) - and, of course, movies! I am very much looking forward to some comfy sweatpants, warm sweatshirt, a glass of wine (or more), movies, knitting and some downtime with my little family. It has been such a whirlwind couple of months that this is exciting to me! Matt has been working 6 days a week since he came home from College and he is planning on hanging out with us also! YAY! Unfortunately, Lyss (the almost birthday girl) is babysitting for my sister-in-law tonight so she will not be here :( Tomorrow will be spent with various family and friends stopping by to wish Melyssa a Happy 17th Birthday! I'm just doing some stuffed shells, meatballs and salad for those that stick around and get hungry. She requested an ice cream cake (EASY EASY EASY) which is bought and in the freezer. I am off to make dips (Bleu Cheese, Crabmeat and Onion) and Em is going to make the salad. I hope you all enjoy your New Years Eve safely.

~Quick Post and Recipe~

Hi all, Thank you so much for all of your supportive and sweet comments. I am truly blessed to have met some very nice people through this blog. I'm very sorry I haven't visited/commented on your blogs, I promise to be better soon! I was at work all day yesterday making the "move". The new office is WAY TOO small! Thankfully, I'm not claustrophobic, but I will miss the wide open, bright and cheery computer room. Ah well, I have to go back today as the desk that was in the new office is too small so they are bringing my desk upstairs. I need to try and organize the place so it is presentable. The Principal is taking three of us out to lunch today and then I have a dinner to go to with all of my brothers and sisters-in-law (hubby's family) tonight. I really need to get all of this done as my brand new - broken refrigerator is being replaced "some time" tomorrow. Maybe I'll use the time I'm waiting for them to come to "undecorate" the house. hmmmmmmmmm Then my oldest daughter's birthday is on New Years Day so I will need to go shopping for that. Time sure is flying by. I hope you all enjoy your day and enjoy the recipe below...... Cath

~French Toast Bake~

8, 1/2" slices of bread 5 eggs 1 1/2 cups milk 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla (I added cinnamon) Lightly grease a 13x9 pan Slice bread in half and layer in bottom of pan Beat all liquid together for 5 minutes pour over bread cover chill for 4 to 24 hours (I chilled overnight) Bake at 425 until eggs are set and bread is lightly browned - approximately 30 minutes

~It's Over?~

I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas (insert your holiday). It always amazes me how quickly it goes once it finally gets here. So much planning, rushing, worrying, shopping, baking, wrapping and it is POOF! gone so fast! I was sick (truly miserable), but managed to make it through, hopefully without sharing my sickness with anyone. We had a very nice Christmas Eve, spending time with my parents, going to Mass and everyone but me went to my brother-in-law's for some family fun. I just couldn't make it, so Beau and I snuggled up on the couch for a while. I was up most of the night coughing, and my Em woke up at around 5:30, followed by her younger sister at 6ish. The kids all loved their gifts as did Beau. I had put together a "French Toast Bake" the night before and popped that in the oven when we started opening gifts, so we had a fuss free WONDERFUL breakfast. My sister found the recipe and shared, it's a keeper. I had a houseful for dinner and dessert, it was wonderful to have everyone here. It was also wonderful to go to bed that night :) The girls and I made a return today and came right back home. It was a low key day and I have to admit I enjoyed not feeling as though I "had" to be doing something. I have mountains of laundry to catch up on, but that will still be there tomorrow. I haven't knit a thing - but I feel no urgent rush - I never finished the girl's "Knitted Babes" for Christmas, so I will shoot for Valentine's Day on those. I am off work this week, but will be going in to move myself upstairs into my own office. I am somewhat torn over this move as I am one of the Computer Teachers at the moment. I LOVE the kids and seeing the excitement and joy on their faces when they master something new. However, I have been working at two jobs simultaneously for much too long and it is finally catching up with me. Along with working with the kids, I also take care of all of the "computer" work for the school, i.e., emergency contact plans, webpage, handbooks, flyers, pamphlets etc. It is all suffering at this point. I will miss being with the kids every day more than I can imagine - I love them all. They are so much fun and come out with the cutest things. Then there is the Junior High, always a challenge, but some kind of wonderful too! I received a gift with a note from one of the young ladies in the 7th grade addressed to the "bestest computer teacher ever"! (she was kidding about her use of the word bestest) - I've known her since she was in Kindergarten. So I will be hurting for a while over this. On the bright side, I will still be working with the Junior High two periods a week, on the dark side, I won't be working with the little ones anymore. Say a prayer for me. I hope that my having agreed to this is the right course of action for me. I had intended this to be a "quick" post, but here I am spewing my insecurities out to you all! Thanks for listening. Sleep well and enjoy your Tuesday!

~Merry Christmas Everyone~

and for those of you that don't celebrate Christmas (along with all of you who do), I wish you and your families a very happy Holiday (whatever that might be). I pray you enjoy family and friends, good food, laughter and happiness!

~On the 4th day of Christmas~

Update to post below: On the 3rd day of Christmas....the new, broken refrigerator is being replaced..... on January 3rd! lol In any event, the new side by side upstairs is HUGE and I have managed to squish everything in. DH came with me to the store to help carry all the food, which was much appreciated by me and will most likely keep the chiropractor away for a while ;) I have a nasty cold/cough/chills/body aches--- get the idea? I LOVE Advil more than anything else in life right now! I have finally finished my shopping, have a couple more things to wrap and tomorrow morning I will cook as much of Christmas dinner ahead of time as I can so that I can enjoy the morning with the "kids" (somewhere in my little brain they are all still very small children) (sigh). I wish you all love, peace and warm fuzzy hugs! ***************************** On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me two new refrigerators..... a lovely side by side for upstairs and a top and bottom for the basement. On the fourth day of Christmas my true love came to me..... and told me the brand new refrigerator in the basement wasn't working!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won't panic, I won't worry, I won't, I won't, I won't!!!!!!!!!! I just have to go shopping for groceries and Christmas Dinner and I need someplace to put THE FOOD! ugh! Is it me? Is it? or are things spinning out of control everywhere? I KNOW somewhere in my heart that it will all turn out ok and that I will pull this off, I just don't know HOW yet. The Chiropractor has put me back in order (now I just have to refrain from moving the $%$^& wall unit again). Today was my last day at work and the kids have promised to help shovel out the house and get it presentable before Santa comes! hmmmmmmmmm. As for my knitting, I cranked out another 1/2 dozen of my crocheted snowflake ornaments for little "extras" which has worked out well. I have not finished the handwarmers that were going to be gifts, but I will use them as birthday presents, so all is not lost. My sister and I had a great time on Sunday in Connecticut. We went to "A Stitch in Time" which is a lovely "craft store" owned and staffed by wonderful people. I bought a couple of gifts and some Queensland Yarn for myself along with a lovely hank of gorgeous variegated wool to make a wrap of some sort. It was a wonderful day that went by much too quickly! We usually go for a weekend in the fall to celebrate our birthdays but we didn't manage to go this year. We are hoping to make it a mid to late January trip - lots of time to sit and knit :) I would like to take a minute to thank all of the wonderful people I have met through this blog. I didn't know what to expect when I first started this (I guess I wasn't really expecting too much), but I feel truly blessed to have had my life touched by such caring and kind people. I hope you are all coping with the before holiday stresses in your lives and I wish you all peace-filled time with loved ones. Cath

~NINE DAYS!!!!!!!!~

Christmas is in NINE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW did this happen? Where have I been? Did someone take over my brain for the last two months????? Have I been asleep? In another dimension? I have NINE DAYS, well technically eight days to bake, shop, wrap, grocery shop, cook AND finish the knitted gifts that are in various stages of completion (or not as the case may be)! It has been a pre-Christmas whirlwind of a week! One Christmas Concert (I work in a parochial school), one "Holiday" Concert (my kids go to public school) and a Christmas dinner with work. We have an "ice day" today, which isn't helping me with my shopping, but I will finish wrapping what I have and maybe knit???? I cracked a tooth so part of tomorrow will be spent at the dentist (I DO NOT have time for cracked teeth and pain) and hopefully some shopping after the dentist. I am driving to Danbury, CT on Sunday for the day to meet my "sister" - it will be fun, and maybe some shopping too?! Monday night (the only night I was home) I cranked out 5 of the "snowflake" ornaments (crocheted) in about an hour and a half and baked some cookies on Tuesday when I got home from work (they are all GONE - evidently I didn't hide them quickly enough!), so our fantastic dog trainer received cookies and ornaments. One down - a LOT to go! I wrote out and addressed my Christmas Cards this morning - I will be back at some point with pictures from the "Holiday Concert" (if they came out light enough), but right now I NEED to get something accomplished, before any more panic sets in. Oh and a HUGE apology to my blogger "friends" for not reading/commenting on any of your wonderful blogs - I am WAY behind in that department too, please bear with me ok? Oh.... and did I tell you I will be changing positions (at the same workplace) during Christmas break?! AAAAAAAAAAACKK! I am MOST definately "Tightly Wound" at this point - in case you hadn't noticed! ;) So.... as I said in my VERY FIRST blog post...."Welcome to my World"

~The Aftermath~

These were taken during the last phase of the clean up! As you can see on the right side of the pictures, my candy canes are buried and the lights on the bushes are all but invisible! lol These are some "after" pictures. They don't do the scenery justice. It is so pretty outside. The 1st is out my back door, the second is also out my back door and the third looks out over the brook out my kitchen windows. Unfortunately, the picture isn't as good as it could be. These are the stocking decorations that Em and Nicole made on Friday. They are deocrating their room and Matt's (because you just KNOW there aren't enough decorations ;)) I'm so glad they like to do these things. It keeps them occupied on snowy days. Well folks, I finally did it - reality set in and I went Christmas Shopping! I was out for about 10 hours yesterday, got a good amount accomplished. Melyssa took her sisters shopping and they got theirs done! What a HUGE help that is, and they had fun to boot! DH and I bought a new refrigerator, 26 cubic ft. - ours is 20 years old next month (oiy!). It should be coming next week, however, it will NOT fit under the cabinet (same problem we had when we moved in with the one we have (19 cubic ft). So he has his work cut out for him. He will once again have to remove the cabinet and cut it down along with the doors etc. I am so grateful that he can do all of this, we would never be able to get anything done in this house if we had to hire people. He has put in all the ceramic tile floors, windows, hardwood floors, ceilings etc. I also, FINALLY, bought a Duvet cover and dust ruffle for my new bed! I hated to spend the money on things like that, but it needed it so badly! The room is looking so nice now, dh put a laminate floor in last spring and did the windows, he has put up the moldings and I now have the curtains up also! It is so nice to have a pretty (read handsome for him ;)) bedroom. Now I have to get the pictures hung back up and it will look great. I went with a burgundy Duvet cover and Cream tailored ruffle. I have floral curtains that look great in there. I'll take pictures when I get it all set. Can you tell I'm a little excited?! hmmmmmmmmm? lol The girls also got their outfits for Christmas, they chose dress pants and sweaters this year, and we also picked up stockings for Buddy and Beau, because "Santa will leave them goodies too!" :) On the knitting front (because technically this is a knitting blog ), I am finished with one doll body, worked in the round, and am starting the second. I'll do the legs after as they just whip right up. I have hope that I may be able to surprise them with these THIS Christmas! YAY! I also joined a Fingerless Gloves Knitalong, I had planned on making two people fingerless gloves for Christmas, that has not happened and will not happen unless there is a MAJOR miracle here in good 'ole MA! I am dying to make Kimberly's fingerless mitts, they are gorgeous and her own design! Check them out. If you have the time, look around her blog, she is truly multi-talented! Hopefully, I will be able to make them before the end of January. A couple of pictures of stocking, bells, knit and crochet, along with a boot that I made when I was about 16 years old. Well, I have the bread machine going again, and the washing machine is running (as usual), so I'm off to get some things done and have another cup of coffee :). My parents will be coming for dinner later and I'd like to get some knitting time in too. I wish you all a restful, peace-filled Sunday! Cath

~SNOW DAY!~

(all of the pictures in this post are thumbnails - to see a bigger version just click on it) Looking out to the back of my house Looking out the front to the right of my house Looking out the front to the left of my house What a WONDERFUL surprise! I LOVE snow days!! I had HUGE plans for this snow day...... Baking cookies and breads. Getting the house cleaned, or at least the floors washed. Watching a Christmas Movie with the girls! We have accomplished none of these things! We did, however, snuggle in bed a little longer this morning, the girls played/shoveled snow, had hot cocoa and lunch and are now in various rooms doing "crafts". I LOVE this! They are doing whatever they want which usually brings out some fantastic creativity! The snow has picked up soooo much that I can no longer see the house across the street - hopefully my little Beau won't need to go outside! lol I have been plugging away at the Babe dolls for the girls - I have hope! I've been trying to be somewhat realistic in my knitting plans - I'd like to have a few things finished for gifts without working on too many and having NONE done! It's quite a balancing act! lol I'm hoping to get some baking and shopping done this weekend as I will be driving to Connecticut one day next weekend to meet my "sister" with gifts for her and the nephews! Our get togethers are always something I look forward to. She lives in New Jersey and we both get up early and leave our houses to make it to our meeting place for around 8. We have breakfast together, shop, hang out, have lunch, cross stitch and knit and enjoy the day! We used to do this once every month or month and a half, but haven't managed to meet since last spring :( I CAN'T WAIT! As promised, here are some of my Christmas Craft "Phases" lol These are just a few from the "beading phase" I have bread going in the bread machine and am making Pasta e Fagioli [Italian style Pasta and Beans] for dinner, so I'm off to knit for a bit and watch a movie with Lyss! Have a wonderful day!

~Better Late than Never?~

Time is FLYING by! Do any of you feel like time is spinning out of control? There are just not enough hours in a day or days in a week. I think I had better get moving on my Christmas shopping and baking and knitting! Oh My!!!!!!!!!! lol I actually finished a couple of things .... If you look closely you can see not only a finished little Koala, but another set of mini Red Sox earrings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO - two gifts (I REFUSE to dwell on what isn't finished!) and one of my favorite ornaments to make (it's crochet - sorry ;)). These take NO TIME to make and are great for giving with baked goods or attaching to packages etc. I've made quite a few of these and have a bunch more to do. Have any of you seen this ornament. I think it is adorable and would make a great add on gift for my knitting friends! If not this year, then next -- I'm trying not to add more to my already incredibly long list of things to do! lol I am home today with my little Beau - he was neutered yesterday and is somewhat out of it as you can see from this picture. He is the little brown ball on the couch, not caring AT ALL that the cat is right there. They were actually laying side by side (unheard of). This is what they looked like two days ago... Buddy (the cat) laying under and behind the tree and Beau wondering why he isn't allowed anywhere NEAR the tree! He's a bit better today than when the picture was taken last night. He and I were up at 3:30 this morning, outside in the FREEZING 14 degree temperatures - but you know, beauty can be seen at all hours - Beau brought a mother deer and her three little babies to my attention - such a lovely site in the moonlight and snow, that it even made me forget how cold I was for a minute! I plan on doing some knitting today and also some crocheting as I need to make some more of the snowflake ornaments. I was amazed to look around at the decorations in the house and realize that most of them are handmade. I have been making ornaments of various kinds since I was a child and didn't realize how many there were until my daughters brought them to my attention! I had phases though.... the macrame phase.... the crochet phase.... the beading phase... the dough phase etc. etc. etc. I thought that I would share some of the handmade things, here in my little world, with you all over the course of the next few weeks. I also noticed how many Christmas Panda's I have (for those of you that remember the post about collections), here are a few of them.... Matt's Stocking ------------Christmas Bears Bobble Head ----------ornaments Candle ------ -------Snuggly Bears Pins I am off to attempt to make a couple of the Babe dolls for Em and Nicole. I'm going to try to make these in the round because I think they will go more quickly - I don't purl as quickly as I knit. I also have another little bear going. So I am off to knit for a few hours before the girls get home, and then it is off to the costume store to get a Betsy Ross outfit for Nicole to wear for her Book Report on Friday! As much fun as it is for them to get dressed up, I have to admit that I miss the days when a book report was a book report - ON PAPER! I don't have ANYTHING in the house that remotely resembles anything Betsy Ross would have worn and I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that I have time to sew her an outfit - Halloween Costume for next year! lol Have a great day, I'll be back as soon as I can and will post pic's of some handmade decorations! Oh! for those of you that were interested, the Sleep Number Bed is FANTASTIC! We are loving it, and my back feels so much better in the mornings than it has for years!