My Wonderful Christmas fun!(LONG POST-grab some Hot Coco!

What a wonderful Christmas it has been. I hope every one has had a blessed Christmas Day. We started ours on Saturday with my family all gathering at my Moms. There was some of the family that couldn't make it but we had fun and missed them. Mother made a great lunch and we all brought a dish too. The weather was perfect, nice and warm, and we could sit out on her deck too.

This is my brother Rick, his granddaughter, Sernity and me. We all gathered around the table for a great lunch.
We all gathered in the den to open our presents and have fun!
And below is a cute picture of my baby brother Tony and his wife and their new "baby", taking a nice nap after a good meal and opening presents!
Next is a pic of me and my sweet Mommy! Merry Christmas Mom!
After we got home from Mom's I went to my bedroom and on my pillow was a 1 G memory card. Well I had been hinting to Santa Daniel for the past few months about how I really wanted a new camera. When I saw that on my pillow, I knew my sneaky hub had a wonderful surprise for me. He is really fun how he wraps presents, always in different boxes so I can't guess whats in them. He had wrapped the camera in a big heater box, so I didn't have a clue that a camera was in it.
We went out in the sunroom and proceeded to open our presents. Here is a pic of me tearing into the camera box,,lol.

Next picture is of him taking a pic of me taking a pic of him. The picture of me is from our old camera,,see how badly I needed my deluxo brand new Cannon Powershot with 12x optical zoom? lol.
Now this camera is so much fun. The pictures it takes are excellent. It has alot more "bells and whistles" than my old one had. I really want to learn how to use all of the great settings it has on it. I have been finding tutorial sites online on how to use all of the different features that it has. So,,,,you know that I will be posting ALOT OF PICTURES for the next year, just be prepared,,lol. I guess I got the love of photography from my dear sweet father. He was an excellent photographer and I have many wonderful photographs that he had taken.
Tonite, 20 years ago, my dear, strong, funny, and wonderful Daddy, passed away. And I wish I could talk to him and ask him how to use my new toy. I also think about how much he would have loved the world of Digital Photography and the World Wide Web. He passed away of Leukemia and it was a long, miserable death for him. I stayed with him and so did my brother Ricky. I was pregnant with his last Grandbaby, my daughter Kalyn. I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU DADDY!!

Dad's name was Charles, but every one called him "Charlie".

Yesterday was a really nice day. Very relaxed and did not have alot to do. Just Daniel and I, hanging around the house. The weather was very warm and sunny most of the day. Of course my favorite Football team , my beloved Tennessee Titans, were playing Buffalo at noon.(We won)
Most of the morning I was just cleaning and straightening up. Then I proceeded to play with my new toy. Its going to take me forever to really learn what I want to know about it, but I must experiment in order to learn. So here are a few pictures from my awesome new toy! The zoom is incredible. I stood in my sun room and took these pictures of the birds at our bird feeders in the back yard. It was like being right next to them, just remember I am not a expert yet,,lol.

I Love to make "macro" shots of my beautiful flowers. The next picture is one I took of my winter pansys.
Now isn't that cool pic? Did I say "I Love my new toy?"
Later in the day I re-potted some new plants that I had recieved for my anniversary in Nov. and my "blue" poinsetta that Daniel bought me a few weeks ago. So, Daniel decided to try the new "toy" out, and proceeded to snap some shots of me playing in the dirt (I miss doing that this time of year.)

And now for a close up of our plants in their new pots. Isn't the Blue poinsetta pretty? It had glitter on it too. Only the top leaves are blue, the new growth is the natural green. I baby my poinsetta all the way through winter, and then in the spring after the last frost, I plant it in my garden. They get hugh! I don't dig them up and bring them in as I have never been able to follow the routine of how they must have darkness for a certain amount of hours in order to turn red again. I just get a new one each Christmas,lol. The other plants are calancheos that have little orangish blooms and also some english ivy mixed in with them. Daniel gave me those in a hugh candle arrangement for our anniversary last month.
They all look so much happier in their new pots. After we played gardners, Daniel cooked us a wonderful Lamb roast, complete with fresh rosemary from my herb bed. So far the frost has not killed it. We had the Lamb, and some new baby red potatoes with herbs, and some fresh asparagus,,,yum!
Today when we woke up, it was raining very hard, just a very nasty day. I was so glad that we didn't have to go any where. It was a nice lazy, morning. Then around noon my children, Kyle and Kalyn came over to celebrate Christmas with us.
This year, Kalyn has worked at Macy's department store part-time while she has been going to college. She came in with alot of beautiful packages for us! The is the first time that she has been able to buy some nice presents for her family with her own, hard-earned money. You could tell she was so proud to bring those to her family. She is such a sweet girl, and growing up to be a awesome young lady!
Kyle is wearing sunglasses in all of his pictures because of his eye injury.
The week-end before Thanksgiving, a very strung out, transient, man at the bus station that Kyle was a Armed Guard at, tried to poke his eye out.
His eye is much better now, he is going to a specialist, but they said it will take at least 6 months to heal completely. It bugs him because he thinks it still looks bad, thus he is wearing his sunglasses, he's really not a "gangsta",,lol. He is my big old baby boy. I am so proud of both of my "babies", and loved being with them today!!
They were acting silly in this picture,,they are both clowns,,great sense of humor, and big hearts!
Next pic is of me and my Babies! I LOVE YOU BOTH, K & K !!!

I sure hope everyone forgives me for such a long post. But just had to blog about my Christmas fun! Tonight they are predicting that the rain will turn to a little snow. I sure hope so, as tomorrow I will take the new "toy" out to take some wintery pics. Thanks for letting me share.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of my wonderful friends and family!

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends!!!

Vacation time!!!!

Yes,,I am officially on winter vacation now. I will be until Jan.8th. I am so glad. Now I am really going to try to get into the Christmas spirit. I have really been having the blahs this week, but I am determined to snap out of it.
Today is the Hubby's birthday! We usually eat out, but its a pretty nasty night, raining hard. He is going to stop and get us some Applebees,,he loves that place. I would have cooked for him, but thats what he wanted, so be it. I have him a nice shirt and a couple of cds that he wanted. We will listen to his cds tonight, play a little cribbage, and have a nice cozy night.
Guess I should be glad that I am not flying to Colorado tonight,,but I would love to see some snow for Christmas. I could handle sitting in a warm chalet in front of a fire watching it snow like crazy. Or sitting on the deck of a chalet in a hot tub watching it snow,,lol. But instead we get what we usually get, a nice cold rain. yuck!
Tomorrow morning I will go to the children's great-grandmothers funeral. Its going to be sad. A hard time of the year for this to happen.
I do have plans next week to do alot of artsy stuff. Now for a few more pics for Christmas. I hope everyone are doing good and ready for Christmas!

Yesterday's sadness!

Yesterday my sweet children lost their Great Grandmother. She was 90 years old. Her and their Great-Grandfather kept them for us when they were little while we worked. They spoiled them but were also wonderful to them. This is their father's grandmother. She was a feisty little lady, but a very smart woman too. She also was a wonderful Christian too!
My daughter stayed in the room with everyone last night when she took her last breathe. Afterwards she called me crying telling me how hard it was to watch her "sweet Mammer" leave this earth. It is hard at 20 years old to lose someone you have known and loved all of your life. My son just couldn't handle it although he did visit with her yesterday. It tore him up to see her like that, on a ventilator and hooked up to numerous machines.
She was very poor growing up, with alot of brothers and sisters. Her husband has been dead for over 10 years and I know that she was ready to go be with him.
I stayed at the hospital for a while yesterday. I will go to the funeral home today and the funeral tomorrow. Although though their daddy and I have been divorced for many years, we still get along and I love his wife too, she has been a great step-mother to my children. This was his mother's mother and she is taking it very hard. This is so hard to deal with right at Christmas, I went through it with my daddy on Christmas day. I don't know why some spirits choose the holidays to leave and go home to their maker, but it happens alot. Now I just have to help my children deal with their lost of a wonderful, loving, woman .

My baby son Kyle and his great grandparents, Mammer and Poppa, he was their first great-grandchild.

Kyle, Kalyn and their Mammer, when Kalyn was new to this earth.

Rest In Peace, Sweet Mammer!

My Babies and Santa!

Now how cute are they? I love these pictures! I even made an accordian book with all of these pictures in it. These were the fun days. Just a little post for today,,I have been busy, busy, Beth! Christmas Eve is just 7 days away,,oh my!
Just wishing all my friends a wonderful week ahead!!!

Sunshine, Shopping and Santa

I bet you cannot guess who that is on Santa's lap! Oh,, you guessed it! Its just little Beth, letting Santa know what I wanted and how VERY GOOD I was! Now that was when Christmas was fun and carefree, lol. Oh, those were the days! I think I was about 6 years old in that pic, so it would have been 1968. I wish I knew what I wanted for Christmas that year. I know a new doll was on the list, I always wanted the newest, coolest doll each year, lol. But now that I think on it, I do believe that was the year that I got a "Easy bake Oven". Everyone remembers those cool little ovens , they would cook your cake with a light bulb.

I can actually remember making a cake a piece for my parents and brothers, I think Mom let me put some frosting on them, I guess to help make them a little easier to enjoy them when they had to eat them. Oh yeah,,the good old days!

I have had a busy day today. I had to finish up my packages and get to the Post Office before noon. I just have a couple more to mail out on Monday, then P.O runs will be over.
After the P.O., I went up to Moms, her and I did a little more Christmas shopping. It was another beautiful day again. I am getting kind of use to this weather. Our high tomorrow is suppose to break the record for that date. A nice, balmy 72 degrees. Such strange weather.
My in-laws who live up on the Pugent Sound in Washington state had a nasty, stormy, on friday. Oregon and Washington state had some terrible wind and rain. Alot of folks up that way have alot of damage and major power outages. We haven't been able to reach them by phone yet, hoping all is ok for them.
So, I am almost finished with my shopping. Just a few more little things here and there.
Tomorrow I am going to make some chocolate covered pretzels and ritz crackers with Peanut Butter between them, dipped in white chocolate bark. These are so easy to make, so I don't mind making them, I am not "love to cook" girl, so easy is what I like best.
I am going to make some to put in Christmassy containers for my friends at work. The rest will be for our celebrations at home. I am also going to make some "nuts and bolts" to munch on during Christmas, they are easy too, and Daniel and the kids love them.
Oh, and tomorrow I am going to try to post a pic of the beautiful "blue" poinsetta that Daniel gave me today. Its the first time I have seen a blue poinsetta, but it is quite lovely!
I am going to post a few more Christmassy pics. But first I just want to say "have a great Sunday! Only 8 more shopping days left,,yippee!
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Spring again in Tennesse

Yes, this is my Christmas tree this year. Its so pretty, I have had it up for a while but just haven't posted a pic of it. But Wow,,it sure doesn't feel like Christmas here right now. The weather is so nice. We made it up to the mid 60s today. All week has been so nice. I just can't get use to seeing people out Christmas shopping with shorts and sandals on. I have been saying I just can't get into the Christmas mood with this kind of weather. But after doing some Christmas shopping the past few days, its really nice not having to lug a heavy coat around in the stores, or running to your car with arms full of presents while a cold rain is drenching you, lol.
The weather is suppose to stay this way up until Monday, tomorrows high is going to be in the 70s.
I haven't posted since Tuesday, but work has been hectic this week. I just want to come home and do nothing. Its always this way at the end of our semesters. Next week will be a breeze as exams start on Tuesday and we are out of school on Thursday. I don't have to go back to work until next year, Jan 8, 2007. I still can't believe another year has gone by so quickly. But they do seem to go faster the older you get, lol.
I got a early Christmas present tonight from Daniel. He let me open it early. Its Adobe Photoshop 5.0, I have been playing with it tonight. I am more use to Paintshop Pro, but Photoshop is very similiar. There are alot of different techniques that Photoshop has that Paintshop doesn't have. So be looking for some neat pics that I will be posting as I experiment with this fun toy!
Below is a pic I did of my Spoiled brat Terrier, Lady. I used the water color filter on it.
I think that is so neat looking. Yep,,I am going to be have fun with this!
I have a little more shopping to do tomorrow, and then I should be finished. Next comes the wrapping of the presents.
I hope everyone has had a good week and has a GREAT WEEK-END! I am posting a few more pics below of some of my Christmas deco.
Below is a pic of my Santa collection and reindeer collection.


Next pic is of my nativity collection. I have had to slow down on all my collections until I get a bigger house, lol.

And the last pic that I will leave you with is the sunset behind my simple, little house that is decorated with Christmas lights.

mail surprises!

Now that I am back to normal with my blog I can post some pics of some wonderful surprises that I recieved yesterday. When I got home from work I has some surprises waiting in the mail for me. My Girlie friend Vicci sent me the sweetest ornament and a yummy candle and card. The Post Office tried to destroy the package but they didn't succeed,,nah nah hoo hoo! Heres my prizes from her.

I just love the ornie, Vicci and the candle(I am a candle freak). Thanks, Girlie!!!
Also, from that same talented family, I got a wonderful Christmas ATC and card from Maryellen.

Aren't they so cute? Thanks Sweet Maryellen,,you rock girl!
Then while I was sitting there admiring my prezs,,,I heard a thump on the porch. I went to the door and there was a box on the porch and a UPS truck pulling out of the drive. Well, when I openned it there was a wonderful stack of gift boxes all tied together with a beautiful bow. This was a Thank you present from the delightful Jane! She sent one to my Mom too, thanking us for her our hospitality while she visited with us.
Now your thinking "well what in the world are in those beautiful boxes?" In the top one there are some yummy cordial chocolate cherrie candies,,or should I say there "were" some very yummy chocolate cherries,,lol, but now they are gone,,I ate them all. In the medium box was some excellent nuts,,(they are about half gone now, hey,,I got hungry today). And in the big box was some very delicious pears,,only 1 missing now,,I have to be careful how many healthy stuff I eat right now,,lol.
So wasn't I a lucky chicky yesterday? I must have been a good girl this year. Nah,,I just got some really sweet friends,,thats all.
I stayed home today and worked on some art projects and some are going in the mail tomorrow,,some will go out the next day or two.
Does anyone watch the Rachael Ray show? Is she too perky or what? I love her recipes and tips,,but does she have to be so durn perky? lol But at least she isn't plastic looking,,I do appreciate that.
Well I hope every one has had a good day. Its back to spring again here now. Rain all day and warm temps. Suppose to be in the mid 60s all the way up to the middle of next week. Then who knows,,probably be a blizzard then,,thats the way it is here in Tennessee. Have a great rest of the day!

Back and even Better!!

Yes,,I was trying to be creative last night and get some pretty winter background on my blog. Well I didn't accomplish that at all. What I did was wipe out my friends links. I was so upset. I wrote my dearest friend Rosie,,and whined alot. And being the wonderful friend she is,,she sent a SOS out on her blog for me,,lol.
Well I got up this morning and decided that I was going to figure this out. And I did! So most of you wonderfully, artistic, blogging Buds are back on my lists. And I do have some pretty background too,,thanks to Rosie again. She e-mailed me a cheat sheet this week-end, it just took a little concentration on my part this morning to figure it out. I think I am catching on to HTML coding. But still not a genius on it yet.
So,,,I am now going to go work on some artistic endeavors,,while I have my mojo on.
Hugs to all my friends!

I just learned that my dear friend Lisa lost her mother this past friday. I am so sorry that she had to go through this sad time right here at Christmas. I just know that she will have the best Angel she could possibly have to watch over her and she will see her again one day.
This is the second time that a dear friend has lost their mother in the past 2 months, the other being Sweet Annie. I get so choked up and so emotional because I know that I will have to take that journey with my bestfriend, my precious Mother. Sometimes I just don't know if I will be able to live without her, but I know that I will have too. I think losing your mother will be just as hard as losing a child, and I dread that day again.
I am wishing much PEACE to Lisa,,and very much LOVE!!!

Thursdays treasures!

My goodness, my mailbox has been producing some wonderful art this week. I also recieved some great art last week that I have not posted yet either. I guess I will start with today and work backwards towards last week. First off, its been a bitterly cold day today. Also we saw our first snow flurries today. It snowed pretty good this morning, but didn't last very long. It did get me in the Christmas mood though. Further to the east of us, as you go up the towards the mountains, recieved some pretty good snows, enough to let schools out early. Tonight's low is going to be around 9 degrees out here where I live. Sure dread getting out and leaving at 6 a.m. tomorrow,,not fun.
Here is what I received today in the mail.

Aren't these the cutest ATCs that you have ever seen? And just who is that cute pooch on them? Well its none other than my dear, extremely talented, blogger friend, Cat, and her precious Jack Russell named Blue. We decided to do a ATC trade of our beloved dogs. I have a Rat Terrier that is very similiar to a Jack Russell. I am still working on my "Lady" ATCs, but you will get them soon Cat and Blue. I just love these so much, they are awesome Cat!!!
Also, today I received a very wonderful present from my dear blogger friend Janet. This wonderful lady is so talented too. I just about cried when I saw this beautiful felt heart ornament that she sent to me. And a awesome card to go with it too.

Thank you so much Sweet Janet! Santa will be visiting your mailbox soon! I feel so lucky to have such wonderfully artistic friends!
Also today, I recieved my 9 for 9 ATC Collage. My dear blogger and ATC group friend, Maryellen, hosted this awesome swap. There were 9 participants in the swap. Maryellen swapped our ATCs and then made all of us a really cool collage.Thanks again, Maryellen!

The next wonderful piece of art is from Dotee. She is in the Daisy Lupin Friendship Quilt piece swap. This is the wonderful quilt piece that she sent to me last week. I Love it! It is so cool!
This is perfect for me because I am such a flower fanatic! I wish I was over in warm Australia right now and visiting with Dotee and with dear Robyn! I just hate cold weather! Isn't this piece gorgeous? Thanks dear Dotee!!
Next on the Beth Blogger Art Tour is a wonderful surprise that Jane brought to me last week when she came to visit Mom and I. It is a Ostrich egg that she handpainted. They are aborigine birds. I just Love the colors on it. Daniel has already put it in our sunroom where all of our Southwestern Indian decor is at. It looks great there. I put this little frame around it in Paintshop Pro.

It is on a little stand too. She made one for Mom too, it has a Christmas scene on it that she painted. Jane is very talented too! She also collage a cute little paper machei box too.
While she was here we got together at Sweet Rosie's gorgeous house with our friend from Alabama, Jill. We were suppose to bring ATCs to trade but guess who forgot hers,,yep,,it was me. But they were forgiving and gave me some wonderful ATCs and formica chips too.
Now didn't I have some great art to share with you? I am proud of it all. I do have a few more pieces, but I will wait and share them with you tomorrow. I feel very blessed today. Now I think I will go crawl under some warm covers,,lol. Did I say I really HATE cold weather?

This is me when I was a baby and my wonderful big brother. I just had to share this picture of us as this was how wonderful he was to me. I think his bag was full of my toys, but he loved making me believe in Santa. He is the brother who we went to see on Saturday. He is the brother that has always been here for me and he has always been my hero. My mom said that when he got in from school in the afternoons, she had a instant babysitter. He has always watched out for me and made sure no one hurt me.
We had a great time at his house on saturday. When he got remarried several years ago his wife had a house and he owned one too. So she moved into his house when they got married. Her daughter lived in Sarah's house, but moved out last year. My brother has been remodeling it ever since then and it is beautiful now. The took us over and showed it to us.
This is the lovely living room. He redid the floor and fireplace. The before and after pictures were amazing. They plan on selling the house and should get a very nice price for it. We really had a great visit with them. I love to spend time with my brother.
I went back to work today to a very, very, cold office. We are having some very frigid temps right now and the heat in my office is not working. I spend most of the day huddled up next to a small electric heater, with my heavy coat on. Also had some gloves on,,it is very difficult to type with gloves on. The maintenance men are suppose to come out and work on the heat tomorrow. I hope they get it fixed as we have even more cold weather headed in here by Wednesday. When it gets this cold I wish it would just snow. After such a warm week last week with the highs in the mid 70s, this high of 35 today felt like North Pole weather.
Tomorrow I will post pics of some of my newest art that I created and that I received in the past few days.
I hope every one had a great Monday!

My Little Angel

Today is a day that is very difficult for me. It is my first Baby's birthday. Her name was Candace Elizabeth. I was very sick while I was pregnant with her. I had Toxemia during the latter part of my pregnancy. It makes your blood pressure extremely high and very dangerous. I ended up having her at the end of my 7 month . She was small 4.5 lbs. But she seemed very healthy and was able to come home to Mommy and Daddy after a week in the hospital. She was a very good baby. She gained weight and was very healthy. She was the best early Christmas present that we had ever recieved. And what a wonderful Christmas it was to have a new baby to celebrate it with.
But in late January, on a very cold, snowy morning, we awoke to find that our sweet Angel was no longer with us. She had died of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or as it was called in the old days "Crib Death". She was 7 weeks old. It was the worse day of my life. It still seems like a nightmare. I went through her funeral in a complete fog. And the days that followed were some of the most painful days I had ever experienced.
It took me several months to get pregnant again, I was scared too. I wasn't looking to replace her, just to replace the horrible emptiness that was left in my heart and soul. I had apnea moniters on both my son and then my other daughter when they were babies, but it was still hard to sleep at night.
Candace would have been 23 years old today. And I always wonder what she would be like had she had the oportunity to grow up. I still remember the happiness she brought to my life. I also remember the best comment that one of my dear friends said to me when she passed away. She told me "Just always remember, you will always have a sweet Angel, watching over you the rest of your life." That brought alot of comfort to me. Other people would tell me "your young, you will have more children",,at the time, I didn't find comfort from that, they meant well, but I wanted my baby back. I stayed pretty angry at God for several months. I couldn't understand why my baby had to die, but others were living and being abused and mistreated by parents who didn't want them. Eventually I made peace with this tragic event. And I was able to think that maybe there was something very awful that could have happenned to her and that God spared her by taking her home early.
Today, I still shed tears for her, and I still miss her very much! But I know that she is in a much happier home,,and that one very fine day, I will be with her again.
Daniel and I are going to the cemetary later this morning to put some pretty Christmas flowers on her grave. Then we are going to head to Alabama and spend the night with my wonderful brother and his sweet wife. That will help to ease my pain.
This wasn't meant to be a sad post,,I will always treasure this day and celebrate it. And I am Thankful that I got to spend time with this sweet daughter of mine. And I am so Thankful to know that I will always have a Precious, beautiful , and Sweet Angel, always watching over me.