I feel like a "Jewel"

Actually that is part of the twist this week at Twisted Sketches. We were to make a card and incorporate "jewel" into it. I actually ended up making 3 cards before I came up with the one I liked. It was actually the quickest of the 3. I used lots of sparkle in rhinestone gems. They so remind me of jewelry.

Here is the link.....please take a look and make one yourself. As always there is a giveaway...and again lots of gorgeous cards to look at.

Thanks for "Twisting" with us.  I would normally write tons more...however, Abby and I just finished an 8 hour drive to go and visit grandma & grandma.  We are exhausted.

WOW!!!! Yeah!!! (And yes it has been a long time.

It has been almost a year since I have posted on my blog...a lot has happened and changed. I will get to all tht is going on in another post. However, I have some other exciting news. I auditioned for my first design team and now I am member of the Twisted Sketches Team.

Please check out the site over there to see what they are all about. Twisted Sketches

Here is the card that I submitted for the Challenge. You can also click on this link to see the original sketch. The twist was friends.

For my card I used a photo of Abby with 2 of my bestfriend's kids. They all get along so well and we miss them a lot. So I figured this would be perfect for the challenge and made me miss them even more.

I actually made 2 cards....and I liked one better and Sheldon liked the other one better. It is pretty funny how our tastes differ. I figure I will send one card to Ruby & the other one to Julie.

Thanks for looking...and I hope you come and play with us. Also, go and take a peek at the other talented cardmakers.  My next official challenge is next week. The challenges are normally put up on Saturday and it is something fun to do.

What to be for Halloween

Abby has had a lot of choices of what to be for Halloween. Her first option was a Halloween Pumpkin Fairy...so cute. Until we tried the outfit on. Not going to work. It was way too small.

Then my friend Ruby loaned us her pumpkin outfit that her son Jack wore when he was about her age. She cried and cried.

So I looked and looked today at the store. I couldn't find anything and didn't want to spend any money....so tonight I made her a little outfit. It is cute and she can wear it without crying. I Hope.

I feel like this is a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. I am definitely hoping that the 3rd time is the charm and just right. (Plus it has little froggies in the pattern and Abby loves frogs right now.)

Our Pumpkin Patch visit

Yesterday we decided to take Abb to the pumpkin patch. We want to start creating fun family outings with her and she might be too young to remember but all 3 of us had fun.

Abby's favorite thing to do is watch other people. So she loved watching all the kids run around getting their pumpkins. She didn't like the sound of the corn air cannon. Everytime it went off she started crying.

As we walked around Abby became very excited when we saw a chicken walk by. So we took a little time to hang out and watch her. Then another one came by and wow she was excited. That was the first time I have ever seen her point. After paying for our pumpkins we fed the goats a little and she was memorized by them. I know that next year she is really going to enjoy going to the pumpkin patch.

We ended up getting 3 pumpkins, a daddy, a mommy and a baby. Hopefully we can carve them before next Saturday.

Trying to catch up....

I think the reason that I am not keeping up with my blog like I should....is because I am just plain old tired. I notice that my writing style is greatly compromised and I want write fun and cute stories. I guess writing something is better than nothing.

After going to Red Top Mountain--Abby & I went to my mom's for a week and had such blast. We ended up going to the Pumpkin Patch and drinking coffee. LOL Abby is already addicted. Grandma and Abby were also able to spend a lot of quality time together and they really enjoyed it. Momma was no longer the favorite by the end of the week. Grandma definitely was...one of the reasons is that my mom fed and fed Abby. I cannot believe how much she ate while we were there. (It didn't help that we both got colds when we came home and couldn't eat much and had to start all over again.)

However, by the time daddy came to pick us up...even grandma was no longer the favorite. It was daddy again all the way.

Love you MOm & Rich. Thanks for the wonderful week.

Red Top Mountain

Last weekend we went to Red Top Mountain. Sheldon did some blacksmithing & Abby and I walked around the trail and hung out in the room alot. It ended up raining & storming most of the time. So the iron poor we were going to watch didn't happen. When Sheldon went last time he brought back a great video and I was so excited. However, we still had a nice time.

Crying Pumpkin

We are getting ready for Abby's first official Halloween....or second, depending on how you look at it. Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch and she wasn't very happy. She is still getting over having strep & a chest cold.

However, I think the pictures still turned out cute.

I am so far behind....

That baby is taking up all of my time. But here are some current pics of her...

Crabby Abby & Grumpy Gertie

Abby has started taking an interest in her dolls. Yesterday at FUll Bloom she wanted to play with one of Pat's. So I pulled out Grumpy Gertie for her and she has been playing with her. I put her in one of the cute outfits that Grandma Susan made her.

Which is better....

A cooking spree? Or a shopping spree?

I think they both have their advantages....however; one makes you want to lose weight while the other makes you gain weight. :)

While on vacation at Hilton Head...I went on a shopping spree. Not too much but enough to make me enjoy wearing clothes again and want to look good. Though it is expensive.

Now that I am home. I am trying to do more home cooking and make it fun and exciting. This means we have been doing a lot more baking. Though I am trying to keep it healthy and less caloric.

First, I made some mini muffins. They were yummy, 4 of them were equal to one size muffin…and I went a little overboard in eating them. I had 6 of them. This wouldn’t be so bad, except the muffins had a ton of fiber in them. I used a basic oatmeal applesauce muffin recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. Then I made some creative changes based on what I had around the house. I added some butternut squash, applesauce, carrots & fresh cherries. MMMM…they were yummy!!

Then I made 2 sets of buttermilk pizza dough. One set for us to eat and freeze and one for a friend who has helped me out a lot. I made pepperoni & olive pizza. Not super healthy but better than eating out. Yesterday, I made a nice tomato, cucumber & onion pasta salad from fresh produce I received from Sheldon’s co-worker. The tomatoes were delicious and so ripe. I cheated a bit and added a little bit of pepperoni and cheese and used Italian dressing to marinate the salad. However, to go with the salad and to make a complete supper I made focaccia bread from a recipe on allrecipes.com. It made a ton of it so I ended up freezing over 2/3 of the bread. We will have some more for dinner tonight. I also, ended up making some fresh salsa yesterday. Though I have to finish it….Abby didn’t let me add the cilantro. I am hoping it tastes good. I added a bit of cucumber to it as we had so many of them.

Then today I ended up making a low fat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I modified again quite a bit. Baking Bits, the blog I found them on had such a fantastic picture. Mine didn’t turn out the same way. Probably because I made quite a few changes based on what I had in the house. I reduced the brown & white sugar to half and then added 2 bananas, wheat flour, coconut and butterscotch chips…and a couple of carrots. I figure they were sweet and nobody would notice, however, it would be a nice dose of extra nutrients.

Using scissors instead of a rotary cutter...

well at least for the most part. This morning, Abby decided that 4 am was wake up and stay up time. So after a lot of struggle...daddy & I decided to go shopping and walking. So we did that and came home around 6 am. By this time Abby was asleep, daddy had to get ready for work and I had to fill out insurance paperwork. Not very fun. Then at 10 I had a chiropractor's appointment. So this morning was very busy. Since Abby decided mommy & daddy woke her up really early...she took another nap and I decided to work on a art quilt. I have a few people whom I would like to make something similar for at Christmas time so I wanted to practice. I took a picture I had of Rocky and turned it into my quilt.

I think it turned out cute. I figured too that it would be a go project to work on as I didn't need to use my rotary cutter and I was pretty tired. Here is Abby recovering from her lack of sleep....and right after this was taken we discovered that she had cut her finger. We are not sure how she did it...however, she must have wanted to be like momma. Luckily, we didn't need to get stitches. Though she is wearing a sock on her hand now.