Thought I'd Share

It just occurred to me that I hadn't shared any pictures of myself as of yet. I am usually the one taking the pictures so I am never actually IN any of them. Here are a few pictures that were taken at my high school reunion with some of my very good friends from high school.










I am the one on the left in all the pictures. They're not the best of pictures. It was very warm in the room that the reunion was in. But it was so much fun!!!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

12 Days until Christmas ...

So here we are, 12 days until Christmas morning. I have been working hard on projects to give as gifts. My creative brain didn't come up with most of these ideas until last month. And these projects are taking longer than I had planned. I want so much to get them finished before Christmas so that I can get them in the mail to arrive in time. But now I am starting to have doubts that I will get them done in time. So I wonder, is it wrong to send Christmas gifts a little late? I mean these are gifts that we don't normally send. Normally we only send cards to these family members. But I thought of these blankets & thought it would be something they would really like. So why not. So here's my dilema ... do I send the gifts late? Or do I not put so much pressure on myself to get them done & just take my time finishing them to mail for next year? Then I can concentrate on other gift projects. I don't know. I feel bad that I haven't been able to get them finished as of yet. I would have liked to finish them. But I just don't see that happening unless I spend every minute of the day working on them & that's only if my kids will allow me that luxery. Which is mostly why I haven't been able to get them finished in this short time anyway. Not complaining in the least. I absolutely LOVE spending time with my kids. And we do have such a good time!!! :~D When my husband is off of work, I am able to spend more time on my projects than I am when he is at work. So anyway, do I finish the blankets & send them late? Or should I save them to send as gifts next year?

On another note, my kids had such a great time on Halloween. My daughter dressed up as an angel and my son was a lil devil. They looked so cute! Here are some pictures of them from Halloween!
















The other night we decorated our Christmas tree. We were so excited when we got our tree. We were able to get an 8' tree, that is full & smells so good & is just perfect for only $48! Normally trees of that size sell for about $75, but since we go to this lot every year, the lot owner said she would give us a deal & boy did she! It's a beautiful tree. Here are some pictures from the other night when we decorated it.
























As you can see my kids had lots of fun wearing the decorations! LOL!!!

Well, I'm off to work on my many projects.

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Busy Busy Always Busy ...

Yikes, it's been forever since I've posted to this blog! Been so busy with all kinds of things that I just keep forgetting to post here.

So I went to my high school reunion in October & had so much fun!!! It was great seeing everyone again! What I thought was really funny is that even after 20 years, all the clicks were still there. The jocks hung out with the jocks, the cheerleaders & drill team hung out with each other. The band members hung out with the band members. All the groups & people that hung out with each other back then, still did it at the reunion. Craziness! LOL!!! But it was lots of fun!!!

During the trip to California for the reunion, my Mom met the kids & I there, we also went to Ventura Harbor. It was so much fun!!! I have missed the beach sooooooo much!!! And my son had never seen the beach before. He absolutely LOVED it!!! Which of course I knew he would! We had a blast playing at the beach! And it was so funny, Dean was chasing the waves in & out & not getting wet at all! But then ... he ran to chase a wave but before he could run back another wave came in quick & his feet got wet. But then as the water was going back out, he looked down to watch the water & the motion of the water pulled him down on his BUTT! It was so funny! So he got all wet but he wasn't upset at all. He just had so much fun with it! And of course my daughter, Kelli, had been to the beach before but she had fun also! She never did get wet though at all.

Here are some pictures from the beach where I also added magazine covers to them.











We were in California longer than we had planned. Kelli had to miss a whole week of school. The reason for that is bcuz of the Southern California fires that started while we were there. The fires were terrible. They had to close down 2 of the freeways that we needed to drive on to get home. And so we had to longer. Not that we minded too much. And Kelli's school didn't mind that she had to miss school either. So we were all good.

Since we've been home, I've been busy with getting things ready for the holidays & also making gifts for christmas. I am making lots of blankets. One for my cousin, Griff & my son, Dean. Their blankets will look the same with trains on most of the squares and then red, yellow & green squares for the rest. The trains on the main squares have red, yellow & green on them. And then the background for those squares are a light blue. So they will look great with the red, yellow & green squares. Also I have a new baby cousin, Alyssa, and so I am going to make for her a blanket that has pink camo, light pink, medium pink & dark pink squares. All of these blankets are made with flannel squares so they will be nice & warm. For my daughter, Kelli, I am making one that has pink squares & care bears squares. For my uncle (who is more like my big brother, and his wife, I am going to make a blanket that has Marine Corps squares & then black fleece squares. And for my husband, Tomas, I am going to make him a blanket that has wolves on blue & grey camo & then black squares. Those are all for christmas gifts. My mom has her birthday coming up before christmas, and for her birthday I am making her 2 aprons. She has always wanted me to make her an apron. So I thought I will make her one that is for christmas time, and then one for everyday using her favorite color as the main color which is orange/peach. I am really excited about making all of these & hope everyone likes them.

Last week was Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, I spent the day making & baking 15 loaves of cranberry bread. I was up until midnite. Then Thursday morning, Tomas had to get up at 4:30am bcuz he was going golfing with his dad & brothers. And when he got up, I got up. I could have slept at least a couple hours longer, but for some reason, I was WIDE awake! So I got up & made the pumpkin pies & got them in the oven. Then I did a bit of cleaning & washed some dishes. And then continued to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was just going to be the 4 of us, but I made a full feast! We had a wonderful dinner & when Tomas' dad & Tomas came in the house after golfing they said the house smelled so good!

I did have a cross stitch piece that I was trying to get finished by today for a round robin that I am in, but we all decided that it is better to wait to mail our pieces out on January 2nd instead bcuz of everything that we all have on our plates with christmas coming up. So that is now on a back burner to work on later. Blankets & aprons are first.

Well, I think that's all for now. I will type more later on. I promise it won't be nearly as long until my next post!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Going to my high school reunion in October!!!

So in just 2 1/2 weeks, I'm going to my 20 year high school reunion. YIKES!!! Yes, I've just shown my age. But hey, why not. I wasn't able to go to my 10 year reunion, so I definitely want to go to this one. I am really looking forward to this, but at the same time I am very nervous. My husband is not able to get off work to go with me. So I am going solo. YIKES again!!! He is my rock and he will be here in Tucson while I'm in Southern California. The kids are going to California with me. But my mom is meeting us there & she will watch them while I'm at the reunion. The kids and I can't wait to see my mom. Plus we'll go to the L.A. Zoo while we're there. Anyways, so back to the reunion. I have 2 1/2 weeks to go. I haven't bought my outfit yet. They say that it is "dressy casual". Now if that isn't an oxy moron!!! I mean c'mon. What the hell is "dressy casual"?! So my best guess is something a little bit dressier than I would wear to a job interview. Does that sound right? Would that be dressy casual? Someone said that even jeans would be ok. But to me, jeans are just casual. Nothing dressy about jeans at all. So jeans are just out of the question. And I don't really want to wear any type of skirt or dress. I mean that definintely could be dressy casual. But it's really not my style. Except for the long skirts that I like to wear occasionally. But they, again, are just more casual and not dressy. And I always tend to wear sandals with those. Which of course makes them even more casual. So, after thinking about this long & hard for the past couple of months, I have decided that some nice black pants, maybe khakis, although those also still seem casual, and also a nice blouse/top to go with. But then there is the question of what kind of top? And what color? I mean my favorite color has always & will always be purple. But should I wear purple? It could be nice. Then the other nite, my family & I were in a store & I found the PERFECT & cutest shoes!!! So ... my outfit starts with the shoes and now I get to create my outfit to match my shoes! I don't normally wear dressy shoes hardly ever. Especially heels!!! Not that I don't like to wear heels. But we don't really ever go anywhere that I need to wear them. So I think currently I have only one pair of heels in my closet & they are basic black. That's it! But I saw these shoes and they just JUMPED OUT at me & I have to have them for the reunion. These are the shoes that I have pictured here on this post. I'm sure I will also try to find other occasions to wear them bcuz I like them so much! They're not red red. And I like that. They're more of a garnet type red, which I think is really pretty. So now I need to find a top to match the shoes. My mom suggested I go to Stein Mart to look. I have never shopped at that store. Does anyone have any other suggestions for a nice top to go with my shoes? I don't want something that looks blah & old fashioned at all. And once I find the outfit, then it's a matter of how do I do my hair for the evening?!!! OMG so many things to decide on! Should I straighten my hair? Give it more curl than wave? AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! All this for a few hours with some people that I haven't seen in 20 years. Why do we women torture ourselves like this?!!!!!!!!!

Lil Green Patch

I have this game I like to play on My Space and also on Facebook called Lil Green Patch. It's just a fun way to pass the time, other than my stitching, while I'm on the computer. One of my favorite of the cute little "plants" is the Shitaki Mushroom, as well as Bany the Banana plant & Jenny Appleseed. I know this cute picture doesn't show that I saved any amount on the rainforest, but I have. I just now found the code to put this on here.

Hope you have a great day!!!

Some Favorite Photos of My Kids

Well, I am finally starting a blog dedicated to the personal side of my life ... my family, my friends, my good times, my bad times, etc. I have had a cross stitching blog since May. And thought it time to add this blog too!
My daughter started 7th grade this year. She was so happy to be back in school. She has been asking me all summer if it was time to go back to school yet. And finally on the Sunday nite before school started, I told her, "You start school tomorrow". She was absolutely thrilled to pieces! She had missed all her school friends. We had a busy summer, but she was definitely ready. I think spending so much time with her little brother was starting to get to her! LOL! And was beginning to get to me too! Sibling rivalry ... so much fun ... hahaha! So that Monday morning, the alarm went off & I got up to get her ready for school, and to my delighted surprise, she had already gotten up, gotten herself dressed in all her pink fashion, and eaten breakfast. And there was still over an hour until the bus was scheduled to pick her up! I helped to finish getting ready, doing her hair, reminding her to brush her teeth & her face & all that fun stuff. And finally it was time to go out & wait for the bus. You couldn't wipe the smile off of her face that morning! She was going to back to school! She was going to see her friends! These are a couple of photos of her that I took while we were waiting for the bus.






This is a picture of her showing off her "Hannah Montana" backpack! She loves Hannah Montana! Had to get all of her school supplies with Hannah on them.




This past summer we went on our first family road trip. It was a trip to the Midwest. We visited friends & family in three states ... Indiana, Illinois, & Michigan. In total, we drove about 4800 miles. Rather than putting all that mileage on our car, we rented a car. It was a lot of driving, but we had a really great time. The main purpose of the trip was that my favorite uncle (more like my big brother) was getting married. So we drove from Arizona on straight thru, my husband & I taking turns driving, to Indiana for the wedding. We were there a few days, then drove to Illinois to visit friends. We stayed there a few more days, then drove to Michigan to visit some more of our family. Stayed there a few more days and then drove back to Indiana to see family that we weren't able to see the first time. Stayed a couple of days and then drove all the way back home to Arizona. We were pretty wiped out when we got home. But we really had a great time. I was able to introduce my husband & kids to friends & family that had never met them. It was wonderful!!! We are looking forward to making the trip again in a couple of years. Although we're kind of hoping that we'll be able to fly to Illinois, and then only have to rent a car & drive to Michigan & Indiana and then back to Illinois, and not have all the rest of the driving. At the wedding, we got some great pictures of the kids all dressed up. They both looked great! My son looked like such a little gentleman!!! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids ...







Well I suppose that is enough for this entry. As you can see from the time on this post, it's the middle of the nite & I think I am finally feeling sleepy & ready to go to bed.
Until next time!!!