Heaux Heaux Heaux!

Less than a week....yikes! Six days til Christmas!!!

My dinner is planned and shopped, everything is waiting to be diced, chopped and cooked. I have 15 people coming for Christmas dinner but I do 99% of the cooking and baking. My menu is pretty standard (for us), but every year I try to add one new thing. This year it's a new spinach recipe and we'll see how it goes. I get tired of cooking the same things each holiday dinner...I'm trying to add a little excitement, lol.

turkey
honey baked ham
shrimp dressing
oyster dressing
cornbread dressing
beef & mushroom rice
mashed potatoes
macaroni & cheese
green bean & artichoke casserole
bacon wrapped green beans
spinach madeleine
baked cauliflower
corn
tossed salad
rolls
biscuits
pecan pie
christmas cake
brownies
assorted cookies
wine
tea
coffee

Yes, it's a lot. I got in the habit of fixing all this food when my girls were small and extremely picky eaters. And it stuck, lol. I'll do the baking on Saturday, start putting the casseroles together on Sunday. By noon Monday, my refridgerator will be stuffed full with my dinner. I'm hoping to get my table set Monday night, but we are going to the bonfires in Gramercy Christmas Eve night, so I'm not sure I'll get that far. I'm still hoping though.

If anyone would like a copy of one of my recipes, email me. I'll be happy to send them to you.

I still have a few gifts to finish making (altered calendars, pens, notepads and mini photo albums in a coordinating tin) but everything else is wrapped and hidden. Mia is hard on any presents that we've put under the tree, thank goodness nothing she's unwrapped was hers, lol.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas season. I'm not sure I'll have enough time to post anything for the next several days and I wanted to make sure I said that. Joyeux Noel!


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The Day After...

Birthday presents are always wonderful...especially when they are given with a lot of love. My girls always know what I want, lol. I wonder if that's because I have gotten in the habit of giving huge hints and coming right out and telling my dh Jerry and my girls EXACTLY what I want!

Bonnie and Mia gave me these, a collection of Mardi Gras themed ornaments that Bonnie was sure I would love. And she was right. I guess I'll have to do some kind of Mardi Gras "tree" so I can put them on it.

Lore, bless her heart, pays attention. I have collected ceramic and porcelin New Orleans landmark plaques for the last few years. I have quite a few, but the 2 she gave me were very different, and yet, I love them. When I get them all together, hopefully soon, and I'll put them up on the walls in my kitchen. I "lost" a few when we packed the house up in the Katrina aftermath, and I haven't located the box, yet.

Lore also gave me some really great pajamas from The Loft. Ninety-nine percent of my clothes come from there, why not my PJs?

Hallie, well she's a sharp woman. I had dropped hint after hint, left out my Williams and Sonoma catalogs with the BIG RED circles around the things I wanted. She put 2 and 2 together and got me the set of bowls that I wanted. I love them!

I'm a lucky woman. Now I'm wondering if I can convince the girls to help me clean off my scrapbooking supplies from my dining room table. I'm thinking it can be either an additional birthday gift...or maybe an early Christmas present. Think I have a shot???

Well, today was my birthday...

As far as birthdays go (at my age), it was okay.

A nice dinner just my dh Jerry and I at Restaurant Cypress, a cake and presents.

Another year, another birthday...oh well, lol.

Do I like it? Do I hate it?

I'm not sure...

You know how you look at some paper, and a layout just jumps into your mind? How the colors, ribbons, and other embellishments just jump in your hand --- and when you put it all together, it looks great?!?!?! Not this page :(

You tell me...I just finished this layout and I'm feeling very blah about it.



Got an idea?

I'm so proud...

I'm so thrilled! I made my very first handcrafted Christmas cards!

I don't know if I was inspired by the paper, which is gorgeous. I don't know if I just saw the images in my head. What I do know is that I bought the paper to do a Christmas layout for this year's big day (I actually did 2 layouts with it) and just saw potential in the paper.

The cards just sort of flowed out of me...I can't remember the last time I was so inspired, so determined to finish a project. I liked the fact that I have finally found a use for all those little scraps of paper that I've saved for years.

And the creativity just kept flowing.

I had a bunch of tins that I had purchased for future projects (don't ask me what) so I took one that I had painted pink, added some of the same paper and ribbons from my huge reserves (again, don't ask) and voila! Instant card storage box! I can tell just with a glance that there are 24 beautiful Christmas cards with envelopes in there!



I'm so proud of myself!

Now I'm wondering what else I can do like that...the mind boggles :)

Longtime beginners...

Have you ever done something for a really long time that you still don't always feel comfortable doing? Have you ever learned how to do something that still doesn't just "flow" after years of doing it? Well this is me!

I've been scrapbooking for more than 5 years...and there are still some days that I don't feel 100% comfortable. I've been working on Christmas cards (I need lots of them) and yet I feel no discomfort while I'm working on them.

Is it because the scrapbook pages are going into a book for a lifetime of memories? The cards are temporary and I'm sure are tossed at the end of the season or after the occasion...but the pages are going into books for a long time.

Anyway, over the last couple of years I've been working pretty steadily on my scrapbooks. I think I have 5 books in the works. I'll start posting some of my layouts here for you to see. If you don't like it keep it to yourself, but if you love what I've done, please let me know.