2010

Happy New Year God Nyt Ar Feliz ano nuevo bonne anee! happy new year

saga of ZHU-ZHU pets

If you are like I was, you have no idea what a zhu-zhu pet is. This is one. they are small, 3-5 inches long. They come in different colors. They chatter, scatter, scoot, n'scurry like a real hamster. Also they are the hot item this year. Real cute with their own personality. Just like a live hamster only it doesn't eat or poop. It couldn't be better. this is how this story begins.

Last Wednesday I call Melissa to get an idea on what to get Poppy and Phoenix for Christmas. Much was discussed and we came up with the idea to get Poppy some accessories for her zhu-zhu pet she would be getting. All four of them are getting a zhu-zhu pet for Christmas. No problem. We live close to toys R4 Us, and target.

Thursday morning I take off to find some accessories. Toys r4 us have pets but no accessories, Target and Walmart have neither. I now know what they are and what I am looking for. ( car, ball, slide, fun house or boat will do) A truck is coming into toys r4 us, Friday night so come back at 6 when they open Saturday. I arrive back at toys r4 us at 6;15 Saturday and find out when the truck came in Friday they sold all of them in 30 minutes. I am now on a mission to find an accessory. I check the Internet. Walmart will have them and start selling the 7:00 Monday morning. Monday morning, I check toys r4 us on my way to walmat, they have only pets. I get to Walmart and about 10Th in line. I wait my turn and get the second to last accessory not the one I wanted but it will do. I got the fun house. We are told they will do the same thing both Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Poor Jake won't be getting his morning walk either day. I leave at 6:20 Tues and this time I am 16Th in line all the accessories are gone before I get my turn. Wed morning comes and I am down there at 6:10 and 4 in line. I know I will get to pick one this morning not just take what is left. We wait. (What is wrong with all these crazy old grandma waiting in line for a stupid toy for a grandchild. Most of us were grandmas.) At 6:55 they come out and say there are no accessories just pets. So we all leave and no line is left.

The next step for me is to make some things for the kids anyway. I pull out all the scraps I have. Magical all these ideas start to pop into my head and I start creating. A ruff with some trim sewn on some elastic and we have a dress. Aleca do you recognize the pink stuff it was in my suit case when I got home it is now a hamster dress. Red material with a marker and you have a Super Hamster cape. Each pet will get his own sleeping bag out of scraps of fleece and etc. and best yet I didn't need to spend any money on them..

What fun creating little clothes for a hamster. My head is just popping with ideas. I just need time to create them. Aleca you should be here helping me make hamster clothes. Is this not silly making clothes for a mechanical hamster.

I will get them some accessories in the spring when the accessories make it to the store sheves.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who surfs my Blog.

I just got back from Target, I was to Stater Brothers earlier today. People were all over and parking spots were hard to find. But at least I got my exerise walking to and from the car. Has the world forgotten the real meaning of Christmas. Is Christmas really just shopping, eating sweets and going here and there, and partying.

I know that I am as bad as everyone else, what is wrong with us. I too get caught up in the excitement and forget why we really celebrate Christmas. I was to 5 stores today getting the last minute things.

Merry Christmas and I hope for just a minute or two we can all remember the real meaning of Christmas.

Christmas payoff

We don't ever have snow for Christmas, but I do have roses in my garden. I guess my roses are the payoff for no snow.

These roses are the ones that were left after the rain. Most of roses fell off during the rain.

part II homemade candy

The rest of the homemade candy I made. Cashew brittle excellent. Brenda Summer's peanut clusters. Easy and yummy like she said

Divinity. It turned out real creamy and smooth, I haven't made this since I was a kid living in Moroni. It is good and much easier to make with my kitchen aide mixer rather than an egg beater.

Dennis is already making plates and giving it out. Which is good because there is no way the two of us could eat all this candy.

I think my favorite was the marshmallows.

Homemade candy

Aleca asked Dennis and I what are some of the things we have always wanted to do. As I thought about it, I am doing most of them at the present time. Making lace, making patch work quilts, playing with grand kids, going on a mission as a senior couple (we just came home a year ago) are just some of them. As I thought about this I added one more, making candy at Christmas time, but neither of us should eat it now. Well, Aleca gave me a suggestion, made it and let Dennis give it away. So I started looking for recipes that sounded good. I have started making some them.

The first one I made was marshmallows. What fun I wished I had, had the grand kids helping me the day I was rolling them in colored sugar, sprinkles and any thing else I could find in the cupboard. A must again, and they taste really good. Aren't they pretty and colorful. Easy to make. The second kind I made was Almond Rocha. Dennis has eaten most of it already so I will need to make some more before he makes plates to give it away. real good
Peanut Butter cups. These are very tasty and I will make them again. I am sure Dennis will eat many of them.


This one has a different taste. Buttermilk fudge with pecans. Sorry it is fuzzy. Good but not my favorite.

There are still several recipes waiting to be tried. Fudge, divinity, peanut brittle . But I need to go to the store again. If anyone out there have some good recipes let me know and I will try them. I have had fun and I guess that is what it is all about.

SNOW IN WISCONSIN AND DENVER

Every time I go to Tim's house in the winter I wish for snow. I miss the snow in California. My wish came true it snowed while we were there. It didn't snow very much but it was neat watching the flakes fall.

Tim's house the next day. Most of it had melted. Rugs found an icicle and was eating it. Icicles are good and they do have a favor, depending on where you find them. It can be tree, weeds, roof or etc. This brings back memories of my child hood, when I use to love eating them.
The boys playing in the snow.

On the way home we had a lay over in Denver. It was snowing but not too hard, maybe 4 or 5 inches. Not hard enough to delay the plane And it was also only 12 degrees outside. They had the snow plows out and were keeping the runways open. After we got loaded the captain annouced that we need to get the plane de-iced before we could take off. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we sat in the plane and watched them spray it with this pink stuff to melt the ice and keep it from forming on the plane. After they were finished we took off and flew to sunny southern California where it never snows.



This is the best picture I could get of the airport in Denver. Look close and you can see snow.

While in Wisconsin

Not only did we go to their school program we played with them too. See what talented grandkids we have. We helped make a gingerbread village Aleca had bought. Rugby and grandpa made this gingerbread house.

Emerson and grandma G made this house. I think our was the best remember it is all about candy.

Tim and Breckyn made this one.

Zoey and her mom, Aleca made this one.

Aleca is very talented crafter. She was showing me how she has been making monster babies. So Aleca, Zoey, Breckyn and myself made some. Aren't they cute.

Since they are monsters so colors and size doesn't matter. We had fun making them. Any thing is just finde.

School Program in Wisconsin

We just returned home from a quick trip to Wisconsin so see our grandkids in the school's Christmas Program. They all had speaking parts. You of seen prouder grandparents there. I didn't get good pictures they were too far away. But I tried. Check Tim's blog for better pictures.
Here they all are in front of the backdrop. Aren't they good looking kids.
Breckyn and Zoey.

Rugs is down in front. He is the cute little red head.

Zoey doing sign language

Breckyn showing the picture she had made.

The program was outstanding. We were glad that we got to share it with them.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU WHO LOVE TO SURF MY BLOG.

We have been to Mexico twice during the month of Nov. Both times I left my camera at home. Both times we have came home a day early because of the wind. I will take some pictures soon to post.

The second time Melissa and kids went with us. What a fun time the kids had playing in the sand on the beach. The wind didn't even bother them. They tried to fly the kites in the wind, not a good idea. Willow's kite got away from her so she chased it down the beach and caught it. Jake and Lily play like long lost buddies, he let her stick her fingers in his eyes, nose, ears and never even tried to bite her.

Food is always good there. Even Mac and Cheese. Maria's fish tacos. We ate at Chuy's and it was real good this time. All seven of us ate for $27 dollars, you can beat that.

Freeway Lace Days

On Saturday I went to Freeway Lace Days. I loved being there and knowing everyone there loves making Lace.
I took a short workshop on Knotted Lace. Need more practic enable to do that.
Here are some on the purchases I made. Glad that there wasn't more vendors or I would have spend more money. Then on Monday I spent the day at Betty Jo's learning how to make Hungarian Tape Lace. I wish you all could see the Lace that these ladies make.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Mexico.

Finished Projects

In our stake several of the ladies (5-7) meet every Tuesday at the church. Only from 9-12 am. We make quilts, sew, finish projects, etc. Everyone is really good to help any one with out putting them down. They are so sweet.

I started to go, because I wanted to learn how to make quilts. I have learned lots and still have lots more to learn. I mainly work on my quilt at the church. After 3-4 months, I have finish my first quilt. I even quilted it myself on my sewing machine. On Wed I meet with the Cross Stitchers in Redlands to make lace. This is the piece I finished this past week. It is bobbin lace, schneeberger lace.
On the Nov 7, I am going to LACE DAYS put on by Freeway Lace Guild. It should be fun, just being around lots of old ladies who have the same passion for making lace. No, we are not crazy wanting to make our own lace in stead of buying it.

POMEGRANATE JELLY

I made some pomegranate jelly this week.

This bush is in our back yard and it was loaded with fruit. We were lucky and got most of the fruit before the birds did. This is the hardest step. You have to take out the seed/berry by hand for the best juice. Pomegranates stain bad. So your hands are dark blue when you finish. We did a whole bag full for a quart and half of juice.
Aren't these berries pretty. They are good salads too. I love the taste, tart but still sweet.

Crushing the the berries.

The finished product, batch number one. I made two.

yummmmmmm!!!

Some of the little jars will be nice Chistmas gifts.

Now we have ours years supply of jelly.

If you want the recipe let me know, I found mine off the internet.

FRIENDS FROM CHILE, the Snow's

Last week we had the Snows spend a few days with us. Carol and Howard Snow. They were missionary friends from Chile. They were the PEF missionaries. We spent many hours with them in Chile, as we worked with the PEF students, too.Then every Sat morning we went with them to the ferie, dinner Friday night, and cards on the weekend,and etc.. Howard can make the best ribs I have ever tasted. We learned to love them and hated to leave them behind and come home. Corona, Redlands Temple, Anza, and Tom's Farms. Of course I left my camera home most of the time.

Then on Sunday we met one of my old college roommates. Anita Oliver, her husband, Gedge and their daughter. I hadn't seen her for 40 some years. No, I didn't reconized her. I had a sign and told them we would be in a white ford truck. They were arriving here from a 14 day curise and had about 8 hours waist until their flight left from the long beach airport. So we picked them up from the boat in the morning and showed them LA sights and delivered them to the Long Beach Airport that afternoon. Of course I never took my camera to take their pictures It was fun to catch up on families. How our lives have changed as we took different paths to the same place.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday Jake brought in the house a half dead mouse. He was so proud of it. He had taken it away from Zelda, our cat, who had been playing with it. It was almost dead. So I found a kleenex and took it away from him. Threw it in the trash can outside. poor little mouse.

Today, Jake brought in a little baby mouse, that he had taken away from Zelda, too. She doesn't want to eat them just catch them. Jake let it go in the computer room as I was checking my emails. So both Jake and I was on the floor trying to catch it. What a sight!!!!! Both for different reasons. I caught it first and quick took it to the field next door and let it go. This one was still alive. He is still looking for it.

What am going to do with him? I don't want mice in my house.

Last weeks pictures

I noticed how pretty the moon was last night as I stood outside waiting for Jake to potty. Grandpa's pumpkin.,Phoenix and a soccer ball. It only got to be about 80 pounds. It was so hot this summer the plant just gave up and said I can't do this any longer and died. It can still make a neat pumpkin to carve for Halloween.

my chilean Kapallo and the soccer ball. We got 3 and this is the biggest.

Dennis's brother Tim and his wife Sue came down for their class reunion. The brothers got together for a luncheon on Saturday. Terry couldn't make it and was missed). We ate on our patio. The food was good.

the three brothers spent the whole afternoon watching football games. They didn't even care who was playing. Laurie, Sue and I visited and shared picture of grandkids and stories of how cute they were. It is good thing that Terry couldn't make it, there wasn't room for him on the couch anyway.

.

Tim and Sue went to their class reunion Saturday night. They knew lots of the old people there. They enjoyed their selves. Got up Sunday morning had breakfast with us and watched the morning session of conferances and then were off on their way back to Utah.

It was a fun weekend.

SNOW in California

My wish came true. We had snow at our home in southern California and in Sept., too.

This past week we had snow.

A little snow tornado came in Tuesday afternoon amist the Santa Ana Winds and stayed a couple of hours. It was delightful. What a pretty little brown eyed snowbaby.

Then a sweet little quiet snow stayed for two nights. How sweet to have snow for two nights. This little blue eye's snowman makes you melt, that's right a snowman that can make grandma melt.

NOTHING NEW

Nothing exciting has happened here for a long time. So I have nothing to blog about.

It is just hot here. The weather here is hot and hotter. I can't wait until fall, then the temp should drop. It would be wonderful, if it rained once in a while. Sometimes I dream that it has snowed, but always wake up to no snow.

I just sew, make lace, read, cook and get fatter. My quilt is almost finished. I have just started a new piece of lace. The dishes are done. So I will make lace.

I will look for something to blog about tomorrow

DOLL CLOTHES

This week I have been taken back 60 plus years. I have been making doll clothes, for Jake.

I think I must of been born with a needle or etc in my hands. As long as I can remember I wanted to sew and make things, asking who ever I could, how to do this or that. Finding things around the house that I could use. I wasn't very good, at first, but I got better. If I wasn't sewing I was doing some type of hand work. I was self taught and then I figured out how to read patterns. I still love doing all of them, but lace making is my present favorite.

The bad part is I am making clothes for Jake. Poor little guy will have to wear them, too.

He wasn't very helpful when I wanted to fit it either. My dolls never wiggled all over the place when I fit their clothes.

So I just made it and hoped it would fit. Looks like it fits okay.

Now isn't that a cute little shirt. He looks so handsome and spoiled in it. Why isn't he more excited?

The Halloween costume is still being made.

This is what he thought of it . How can I get this thing off . hummmmm it will make a nice chew toy.