Happy New Year's Eve!
And last day of 2010.
For this evening's celebration we will be doing.... Nothing.
In fact, hubby hasn't even come home from work yet & I haven't heard from him to know when that time will be.
But it's all good. Whoever decided we should be awake to welcome in the New Year must never have had a sleep schedule anyway haha

Christmas Ornaments

This is what I've been working on lately:



You see, the Baker Family girls get together every year & exchange ornaments. This year these are mine :)
I got the idea here, and am so grateful for a friend pointing out this blog.
Breakdown of cost:
-10 spoons @ 25 cents each (Gotta love DI)
-Elastic silver cord @ 99 cents
-Martha Stewart silver glitter @ $4.99 (Seriously overpriced but it's what I had to work with)
-Mini Silver Hearts @ $1.99
-Krylon 12oz Burgundy satin spray paint @ 5.99
+tax = 17.42
Everything besides the spoons I found at Michael's
And of course I still have the leftover spray paint, glitter & cord with which to do crafts in the future :)
I'll be sending them with the quote she added from Elder Russell M. Nelson.
I'm so grateful for other's brilliance :D

Late nights & baking

Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the houses.... Frantic preparations were still being completed.
Ok. So it doesn't exactly rhyme. At all.
But you cannot tell me I am The ONLY one who is still awake, with eyelids propped open, waiting for this last something or another (in my case, dinner rolls) to finish cooking/baking/being ready. Because of course you can't just wait til tomorrow to do it because the turkey will be occupying the oven & other 'last minute' foods that really do have to be last minute, will be hogging all the counter space & dishes.
So here I am sitting at the computer in an attempt to stay awake long enough to finish tonight.
Meanwhile my darling hubby heads off to bed to catch some shut-eye, (he hasn't been feeling well today so I can't blame him,) and I get the couch with the alarm set for when I need to yet again punch down the dough & wait another hour for it to rise so I can punch it back down again :P
All for the name of a feast of food.
Oh for the love of Americans & their obsession with stuffing themselves.
On the more serious note,
This coming day IS in remembrance of a time when our forebearers didn't have enough food.
I guess.... if you care to put it into prespective like that, waiting til 2 in the morning to go to sleep because you're preparing to celebrate the blessings of food, home & family, is a little more tolerable.
Right?

It's January

Nothing quite reminds you of that more than the smog currently inhabiting the valley floor right? I was driving to my sister-in-law's baby shower last night and it was amazing the difference between Salt Lake and Utah counties. This morning there wasn't much of one, but still, I know what I saw, and it WAS clear in Utah county last night. Makes me grateful I don't live in this yucky air all the time. My grandma's house (where we are staying currently while Sam has work up here) is smack dab in the middle of the city, but excepting the fog you couldn't really tell, here on this sleepy dead end road of a street. I've always loved her house. Just pick it up and move it into the country where it truly belongs (and where it was, a mere 40 years ago) and I would be content to spend the rest of my life is such a house as this.
The wisdom and love from the amazing people who have made this house a home has crept into every nook and cranny of this lovely rambler and it's home to many a pleasant memory for me. It's where I learned the art of cookie making, the joy of the sound of a piano, where I got my first ballet lessons, cake decorating lessons, and so many more lessons on the nuances of life, both adolescent and adult. This is the home that has hosted so many Easter egg hunts, 4th of July celebrations, Christmases and Thanksgivings, and so many more gatherings, even once holding our family as we grieved the passing of a beloved uncle, son, brother, and friend. Yet there was laughter there too, as we recalled so many memories now engraved in our hearts.
This is a place I run for solace, when the world has gone crazy and I'm unsure of myself and the path I should take. For here I regain my bearings and recommit to myself and who I am becoming.
Isn't that what January is all about? Recommiting, rededicating, and recentering.

I'm spoiled

In lots of ways. The most recent one I've realized is that for the past three months of married life, my husband has been blessed enough to have work close enough to home that he is there for lunch and always home at the end of the day -even if that is nine o'clock at night. Now that he has to go out of town to find work I feel slightly gypped (is that how you spell it?) because my best friend and almost constant companion is no longer around even near the amount he used to be. It doesn't help that where he is currently has horrible cell phone reception and so phone calls are a mixture of static and blank spots with words sometimes coming through. Just makes me miss him more. :) I'm not complaining... really. I've simply realized that life is changing and for now at least, there is a large chance he'll be away from home more than at home.
It helps that I get to stay with my parents while he's gone, I think the only thing worse than sleeping away from him is sleeping in our bed away from him. But that is something I'll have to face in the future as well.
Anyway, I hope everyone's New Year started off well and even if it didn't, life always gets better. Trust me. A year ago New Year's Eve I was hating the situation I was in and probably hadn't had such a crappy night in a long while before or since. This year though, was a completely different story. Going through crap makes you grateful for some semblance of normalacy where everything isn't so completely screwed up you feel like screaming.
With that happy thought I'll sign off (haha) but really, remember that the story of tomorrow is yet to be written, and it can contain anything you want it to.

Snowy Holiday (It's March silly!)

Happy Saint Pattie's Day to ya! And that's right, it's snowing.
No baby yet from Lisa. We just know that as soon as James leaves to work over in Helena, it'll be 'that time' but as long as he's around, we're all getting impatient. Haha. Lis didn't ever get an ultrasound later in the pregnancy so we don't know for sure what she's having, but we're pretty sure it's a girl :) A few nights ago the 'she' was kicking so hard you could see Lisa's tummy bouncing up and back with the kicks. Super cute. I can't wait to hold a baby again, and it's not even mine! lol
Having a baby in the house will be wonderful, I've missed my baby sister a lot since moving away.
The snow has been sticking around but James predicts it'll mostly be all gone soon, and the forecast is calling for good weather Thursday, Friday and for the weekend.
Life's just life. I got a letter yesterday. I love letters so much :D
My mom and I were talking about this book my younger sister had been reading that talked about this group of survivors where cannibalism took place... yeah. My sister is 11? Sort of sad that she had to run into that, it was a story about a young boy too, so she thought it would have been a good book. Not so much.
Anyway, we talked about how it seems that when the people turn from God, they begin cannibalism. Apparently there is some sort of cursing the Lord gives to those who forsake him, that they will eat the flesh of their loved ones and those close to them. Really sad.... And really gross too. There are some things worth more than just surviving. Then we got on the subject about those women who die defending their virtue and chastity, it was kind of a, sobering talk. Gives you something to think about for sure. So much of our society is so far from God, that we are running into more gray areas than just plain black and white. Saddening.