Turkey Day Recap

We had our first official Thanksgiving in our new house. I have hosted Turkey Day before, but this one was so exciting because everyone was so close and could stay as long as they wanted, because we were not living in B.F.E.!!! We had my best friend - Shonna, my mom, Keith's mom, Keith's brother, a family friend - Carlos (and Keith's dad dropped in for a few minutes.) It was nice and cozy and so much fun! Shonna & I had a blast making the sweet potatoes, and Keith even let her help him in the kitchen (which I am STRICKLY forbidden to do when he is on a misson like Thanksgiving dinner!) so Shonna ranks pretty high in Keith's book - let me tell ya! Here are the three of us being silly in the kitchen. I am SO HAPPY that Shonna joined us for Thanksgiving, it made it PERFECT having her there because she is my sister and it just "ain't" right when she isn't around. :o)

We had Chicken & Dressing, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, brocolli/cheese/rice casserole, cranberry salad, beau monde dip served with veggies & hawaiian bread, cocktail franks in a "secret sauce," rolls, brocolli salad and for dessert - Banana Pudding and Shonna's Death By Chocolate (see picture below!!! OMG SOOOOO GOOOOODDDD!)

Here is an up close picture of my centerpiece and the place-cards I made for everyone who attended. I made these with my digital die cutter. The pumpkin was designed by Tammey Brown who graciously posted it to a web group I am on for us to use. I designed the place card around it and then added the names. I inked the pumpkin and I think they turned out pretty good for my first project with my Klic-N-Kut (digital die cutter.)

These next two pictures are all of my festive decorations. (Also the first pic on my blog today.) I made all the pumpkin topiaries. Some hot glue and raffia pumpkins - pretty cute, heh? Also you can see the china cabinet and china my MIL gave to us a few months ago. I LOVE IT! And it was the perfect place to add a little something festive.

Here is how the table looked before we all sat down to eat. I was so proud of all my little things I made. My centerpieces were from The Dollar Tree: leaves, gourds, brass pails and all! I think I spend a total of $10.00 on EVERYTHING I used to decorate with, oh and the little stuffed pumpkins are from Dollar General. I'm so creative!!! (said with much sarcasm!)

Tonight we have worked on taking down all the Turkey Day Decor, and putting up our Christmas Tree. It isn't complete, but I'll have pictures to post tomorrow. It is MUCH TO DO for an OCD girlie girl, b/c I take so much time in how I pack things away, how I take things out, we have a new pre-lit tree and I was VERY picky about putting it up. And the decorations have to go just so. But it is all worth it to me b/c I love how it looks. Now my angel is NOT SO SPIFFY on the top of my new tree, so we are on the hunt for something to top our lovely tree with tomorrow, along with buy lights to put outside. So more tomorrow! I just can't wait for Christmas!!!

Turkey Day is a comin'......

Can you believe that this time next week we will be getting ready to have Thanksgiving dinner with our families? I can't! This year has FLOWN BY! It is so hard to believe that in a month we'll be getting ready for Christmas - YIKES! I guess I need to get busy on my making my Christmas Cards.

My mom is still at the rehab facility here in town. She is staying through at least the end of this week. But she is walking so much better, and she walked up and down the training stairs yesterday. WOOHOO! Tomorrow the occupational therapist is coming to help her learn to do some more things on her own, so when she does finally go home on her own, she will be ready.

Keith went back to work today after a 9 day vacation. YUCK! I miss him terribly, and wish he would hurry up and come home, but he is closing so it will be a while. But during his vacation we finally got our garage cleaned out and organized! It looks so nice, even with the few more boxes that need to go to our local animal shelter & GoodWill.

I am on the hunt for a reasonably priced pre-lit tree, so I can hopefully have it up next week when I host Thanksgiving for my best friend, both our mom's and I think Keith's brother. My brother and his family are spending the day with her family, and Keith's dad will be goodness knows where, and of course Keith's step-dad will be in the Smokey Mountains riding a horse. I am sure my mom's brothers and sisters will have a dinner on Friday, but I am just not up for that since I will be getting ready to host my own dinner all next week.

Well I am off to search for my Christmas tree, and hopefully get some artsy type projects done that are overdue- whew!
Blessings and Love!
Lori

busy little bee, I am.....

My mom had surgery a week ago yesterday (Friday.) I was so thankful they went ahead and did the surgery. It was rough stuff, and we had a bad day or two at the hospital. But she is now at the rehab facility here in Columbia. I am SO SO SO happy everything went smoothly and that she got to have the surgery. She has been at the rehab facility since Tuesday night, and the first night was rough, but we now have her in a private room, and she has plenty of room to move around, a big bathroom and a nice comfy chair. She lifted her left onto the bed by herself on Friday!!! That was SO AWESOME! And today she walked down the hall and back with me. She is still riding in the wheelchair to meals, but I won't be surprised if she is walking next week sometime. She is very independent, and today she said "NO - let me do it - I have to learn to do things for myself." I am SO VERY PROUD OF HER!!!

My birthday was nice. I came home from the hospital on Saturday night and slept in my own bed, so I could wake up here on my birthday. I was VERY upset when we left the hospital, it was nearly 10pm and my brother was still "on his way." Men - I swear! But he got there, and he spent the day with her on Sunday so that I could have lunch/dinner with my husband for my birthday. I want to go to a movie or something else but I was so dang tired! So, we slept till 12:30pm or so, and then got dressed and ate at Outback. Our waiter was so sweet, he brought me dessert and even put a candle in it. :o)

This week I have been going back and forth to see my mom every day, and making sure her laundry is done, and anything else I can do for her. She has gotten so many beautiful cards and some flowers, and a goodie basket. I got her a Jack-O-Lantern full of candy for Halloween, and I fixed a little cell phone holder she could wear around her neck while at rehab. She is using that b/c she doesn't have a phone in her room, so it is nice that she always has it with her when Joey (my brother) or I call. My mother-in-law even stopped by to see my mom and brought her the most beautiful flowers!!! I thought that was so sweet! Mom was in therapy when she came, so mom didn't get to see Pam, but I just was so moved that she stopped by. And today while I was there, our stamping friend - Lynn, dropped in. She brought mom a really cool card idea book to read while she is "rehab'bing". So sweet.

Tomorrow we are having a little football party to celebrate Keith's birthday which is Monday. His dad and a friend are coming over and we are having wings and fries and such. The best part is going to be watching my Colts play! WOOHOO! We have to go to the grocery in the morning to get some last minute stuff, and drop by and see my mom, and then we'll settle in to watch the game (oh and we have to watch the Titans too! LOL!)

I've been playing with my new Klic-N-Kut (computerized die cutter) as much as I can. I cut mom's name out to display in her room, and cut out a couple of simple designs. I am still cutting out of patterned paper, but I feel comfortable with it now, so I think I will move on to Cardstock next. I'll post pictures of some stuff as soon as I cut something I remember to photograph.

Oh and we started down the road to my birthday present from Keith on Friday. I'm not going to say anything more than that right now, I won't be able to get it until the end of November, but I am very excited! It is something I have wanted for a long time and I cannot WAIT to have it!

Have a super rest of the weekend, and oh I found out this today after taking a Desperate Houseswives quiz:

Birthday Cards, ATCs, & Halloween Decorations - oh my!

My mom still has a bacteria infection, so we are winging it with the knee replacement. She is scheduled to have the surgery on Friday - so we will go up, they will test her for the bacteria again (she was positive as of today) and if she is still positive on Friday they will send us home and put surgery off for a week. If she is clear they will go ahead with surgery. So please pray - she and I are both super anxious and she really just wants to go ahead and have it sooner rather than later.

Here are the pictures of Halloween decorations I promised last week or so. It was raining, so not the BEST pictures, but you get the idea. The gravestones, skeletons & Caution Tape are all from Dollar Mart. The pumpkin is a "funkin" I carved - so much fun and I can now use it over and over again! Also my sign - I added some 3-d stuff and ribbon. I'll post pictures of the fur-babies dressed in their costumes as soon as I can figure out how in the heck to fix their "Pet eyes"! LOL!




Below is some art I have been meaning to post. Check out the pretty cards that have been arriving in my mailbox this week & a couple of things I've made lately.

This is a birthday card I received from Nancy P. on my Stamping Group -so pretty andI LOVE THE COLORS (the black is what I had it laying on to take the picture)

Birthday card from Steph on my Stamping Group - love this stamp and the inks used!!!
This is a birthday card that I MADE for my friend Meg. :o)
This is my COTM (Card of the Month) from Lottie on my Stamping Group - so cute!

My mom & dad always called me punkin - so this was so fitting,

plus Lottie even made the ENVELOPE!!! I was recently in a swap and we made ATC's (Altered Trading Cards) with a Wizard of Oz Theme. I printed the picture from the internet, Printed the words on green paper and cut apart and attached, cut the ruby slipper out with my KNK (Klic-N-Kut digital die cutter) and then edged with silver paint by Ranger. I LOVE how it turned out! I was the wicked witch for a costume contest my senior year of high school, so that green lady means something to me - weird I know!!!
Ok I am off to watch a movie Keith rented for me. He is at work closing tonight and I am just going to finish up my housework after my movie and hopefully get to bed early (we'll see how that goes - since I usually don't sleep at all!)

Love & Blessings!

Another day, another obsession

it is so funny how suddenly things become an obsession or a compulsion - at least you THINK it is suddenly. You realized at 31 (well come Sunday - man I hate odd numbers wish I could stay 30) that you have done this something ALL YOUR LIFE, and never reazlied it until now. I do this funny thing with my feet, I knew I did it sometimes, but I realized today I do it WHENEVER I sit still. I just do it, I cannot explain it, I cannot control it - my feet just do this funny little compulsive dance. Doing the same motions over and over and over again. You can TRY to make yourself stop - HA HA HA! But that doesn't work. So I found a kindred spirit online and it made me realized I needed to go in search of others with OCD. So I have found a few things I wanted to share today.

Here is a quote that describes things perfectly:
"Having OCD is like being allergic to life -every waking moment is spent in a state of mental hyper-sensitivity."
This is my life - perfect description.

One is from a website:
I know my hands are clean. I know that I have touched nothing dangerous. But… I doubt my perception.Soon, if I do not wash, a mind numbing, searing anxiety will cripple me. A feeling of stickiness will begin to spread from the point of contamination and I will be lost in a place I do not want to go. So I wash until the feeling is gone, until the anxiety subsides. Then I feel defeated. So I do less and less, my world becomes smaller and smaller and more lonely by the day. You see, you might have touched something and now you are unsafe.This is OCD.


The next quote is from the "I Am Foundation" website:
Sufferers often hide their pain to such a degree that the mental torment experienced effectively becomes a living hell, a prison from which there seems to be no escape.
The quote above describes most of my life growing up. Hiding my OCD. Hiding all those funny little things I do so no one knows HOW WEIRD I really am.

Now on to my next "light-bulb" moment today - and it wasn't so much today, but today was the day I responded. People use the term "OCD" so freely. I am so OCD about this or that. Ok - NO YOU ARE NOT! You might be Obsessive about something, or you might be a perfectionist about something, but you are NOT OCD. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - and it is a mental illness that affects millions of people. So the next time you want to say "I am so OCD about that" rethink the statment and try "I am so ANAL about that" or "I am such a neat/tidy freak". Remember it is not PC to say "That is retarded" anymore - well the same should be said for OCD. If my kindred spirit I met online allows me to I will soon post what she said about OCD on another site. It was very meaningful and touched my heart.

PRAY FOR MY MOM and for ME! She is scheduled to have Total Knee Replacement surgery on her right knee on Friday. She is having a test today to make sure an infection has cleared up and so pray it has. We have planned so much and she has done so much to get ready for this surgery, not to mention that she is worried and scared and wants to get it over with.


Ok I want to start posting all my artistic endeavors here. So I thought I would post some cool stuff that Keith & I embroidered last month.










My purse - I designed the embroidery myself - think it turned out really cute!!!





























Baby stuff. We did these for a St. Jude's Charity Auction at Chili's. The bibs were hand-made by Keith's mom - Pam, she is SO TALENTED! And the burps, blankies and onsies you can find at any store. :o)






Ok I am outta here! Have a super day!

In remembrance

I found out just a little while ago, that our beloved priest - Father "G" (Father Charley Giacosa) passed away around 1am this morning from pancreatic cancer. Father "G" was our pastor from the time I was in Junior high until I was in college. He was a wonderful man, very supportive. But most of all he was warm, funny, caring and a great friend. Our family went through a lot during the time he was our pastor and we couldn't have done it without him. He will be greatly missed, and I just wanted to take today and honor him. Please keep him, his parish - St. Henry in Bellevue, and his family in your prayers.

We love you Father "G"!

such a pretty day!!!

Ok it is SO PRETTY outside today - and my computer has been sick. It is working right now - thank you to my BIL who made some suggestions, so at least we will have the computer for the MINIMAL stuff (like paying bills, checking email) until we can decide what we are going to do. In the midst of the computer mess yesterday we went to see Keith's maw. Who is in her 80's who had a wreck a couple of weeks ago - poor thing she still works at a nursing home - not OUT OF NEED MIND YOU - but she has finally decided that she "might" quit working. This is the closest we have come to ever getting her to quit. She is such a sweet lady - I just love her. And I am SO THANKFUL she is ok, except for her bruised arm and cut on her elbow. In my 80's and working nights at a nursing home taking care of other people - I can only HOPE I am that adventurous and stubborn! LOL!

Keith was off yesterday and we put up Halloween decorations. They ARE NOT finished yet, so not pictures until tomorrow or the weekend. I got the rest of the stuff we needed at Big Lots today - so WOOHOO - it looks so cute, I cannot wait to show it off!

I had coffee with my friend, Lynn, today. We met at 10AM and didn't leave until nearly 3pm. But it was SO NICE to sit and chat with a friend and share some artsy stuff. Lynn is so talented and taught a class at the retreat I attended a couple of weeks ago, but had to leave early because she wasn't feeling well - so I had to show her all the things we did after she had to leave. I was glad to share them with her. :o)

Well, I am off to play with some stamps and paper - my favorite thing to do - and I PROMISE once I get ALL THESE FILES SAVED off the hard drive and I feel safe uploading pictures to a website I will share my halloween decor and my art from the retreat.

HAVE A SUPER DAY! And make sure to RELAX!!!