A Happy New Year wish to all!

I just wanted to stop by and wish all of my friends and family a very Happy New Year!

Rick and I are watching reruns of the Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale, Arizona Auto Auction from last January. It is one of our favorite things to watch. We watched most of it live last year, but it is still fun to watch. We make our wish list each year of the cars that we would by if we had more money (perhaps, if we won the lottery it would be more than a wish list)! Rick's top cars are always Mustangs in some form or another. He had a Boss Mustang and a Mach 1 when he was just out of high school. He also had a Dodge Coranet (sorry if I spelled this wrong) RT. Long before he and I ever knew each other. Rick is 12 years older than I am, so I love to tease him about me starting kindergarten the year he graduated from high school! My wish list is not so grand. I love anything VW. Can't wait to see this year's auction in about 2 weeks.

And we are also watching the Utah Jazz game. Rick has never been known to stay on one channel. He hates commercials, though I do get to watch the Progressive commercials-I love Flo and the Free Credit Report Commercials-I love those guys too. We spend a LOT of time avoiding commercials. Oh, and I am tatting angels for my mom. She gives them to people, which makes me happy. I have 9, almost 10 done; I plan to make her 18.

We will most likely be in bed early tonight. I do have a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge and I am going to serve it in antique champagne glasses. They are wonderful. They are etched glass with real gold rims. If I ever get my computer back, I will post a photo of them. I was lucky to find a service for 8. I told Rick tonight that I will serve champagne in them, because why should you have something so lovely without using them.

I do really hope that the new year brings the best to everyone!
Donnelly

Hi!

Well, I was going to share my photos of Christmas and a photo of Pepper's neck. But the screen on my laptop went completely black while Rick was trying to log onto Facebook. So, I am having to borrow my daughter's laptop and my photos are trapped on my computer.

We have had nothing but problems this week with my laptop and my blackberry. Computer problems started on Saturday with a flickering screen. We took it into Aaron's on Monday. Their tech guy ran a diagnostic on it and said that we needed to restore it to factory settings. So I spent the better part of Monday and yesterday burning all of my photos onto discs. Then reloading them all back onto the silly thing. I had to reload my Creative Memories Storybook Creator, my Itunes, my Picassa, my camera software, printer software. It is a rather scary thing to do! But I managed to get it done. Then, Rick starts to login to Facebook and the screen goes blank. He has promised he will take it back to Aaron's tomorrow on his way to work, so we can find out what the deal is this time.

If you have never been to Aaron's before, I would highly recommend it. Their policy is to cover the products they sell for 60 days past your last payment. They replaced the charger cord on Monday as it was a bit damaged, and we have had the computer over a year. I got it for Christmas a year ago. I just hope they have a loaner if mine has to go away for awhile.

Before Christmas, my Blackberry had issues when the rest of the Blackberry world did. I have been unable to access the internet from it outside our house for the past 2 weeks. Very frustrating. Especially with what we pay to have internet access on it through our phone plan! Today, however, the internet came back. It is slower than Christmas, mind you, but at least I can get on!

Christmas was wonderful for our family. We had 4 of our 5 children here this year. Our oldest daughter, Christy and her family moved to the Phoenix area the day after Thanksgiving, and they were able to come. So we had my mother-in-law, Rick and I, Christy and her husband, Brent. Our granddaughter, Sophie. Jake and his wife, Becky. Our grandson, Jackson. Brady and his wife, Kylie. Hannah. My mom and dad and our niece, Devin. The only people missing were Cassie and her fiance, Chris and our oldest grandson, Isaak. Cass and Chris live in Anchorage, Alaska, and Isaak had to spend Christmas Eve with his dad.

For the last 10 years, Christy has hosted Christmas Eve at her house. This year it fell to me. I was so nervous that it wouldn't meet expectations. The most important thing I feel I gained from this experience is a greater appreciation for Christy. I never knew what went into preparing for this night. Wow!

I was going to make homemade gifts for my girls and my mom for Christmas, but I ran out of time. So, now I can just finish what I started without stress and give a just because gift. I am so relieved that I went with a "No Stress" plan for this year. The only time I freaked out this whole time was when Hannah was passing out gifts at the speed of sound, and I couldn't keep up with the frenzy.

I do have to admit that the photos I have of Christmas Eve were not taken by me. I didn't have time. I was so in the moment. I am so grateful to my daughter, Christy and my daughter-in-law, Kylie. Kylie took it upon herself to be the "Memory Keeper" this Christmas and I am so grateful!

My Christmas presents included a Joann's gift card from my mom, a handmade ornament and calender from Jake and Becky, a AMM/Heidi Swapp scrapbook tote from Christy and Sophie, a brown drip pottery bread plate and vintage Shiney-Brite ornaments from Brady and Kylie and my puppy's life from Rick.

Monday, we took Pepper back to the vet. Dr. Morgan was so pleased with how he looked. We got to have his tube taken out and it is healing very nicely. It is amazing to see exactly what happened, now that everything is scabbed over. He really had to fight for his life. There are so many scabbed over bite marks and punctures. And Pepper and I have come to quite an understanding. He has chosen me to be his champion. He picks me before he picks anyone else.

We got a nice amount of snow today. About 2 to 3 inches. It sure is beautiful. It was warm today, so it melted quite abit. Now the roads are like a sheet of ice. We are suppposed to have snow/rain on Saturday. That should be interesting, to say the least.

We are spending a quite New Year's Eve at home this year. We will be watching a lot of football I am sure. I don't mind that at all.

Hope everyone has an awesome New Year.
Donnelly

Pepper's home!

Pepper, our Chihuahua/Corgi cross, got to come home from the Vet's today after his terrifying ordeal yesterday. I would post a photo, but I feel I need to spare you the image, so instead here is one from a couple of months ago. He has a drainage shunt in his neck to remove the edema. He is not out of the woods yet, but the Vet felt he could come home. He has a follow up appointment on Monday, but Dr. Morgan told us to bring him in before then, if we felt like he wasn't doing well. He is currently snuggled up in multiple layers of towels on Rick's lap and hasn't been much interested in leaving that spot. When Rick gets up he passes him to either Hannah or myself, both of us are greeted with growling until Rick takes him back.

Rick has gone out and walked the backyard fence multiple times to see if he could find out where he got out. I am going out with him in the morning to see if I can spot it, I would have tonight but we are having a small snow storm with high winds which means it is COLD outside and that means I am not going out there tonight!

Hope your weather is better than ours!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

A New Vintage find!

Rick and I have been out and about the last two days working on our Christmas shopping. We had NONE of it done the day before yesterday and now it is all done.

On Saturday, we stopped at the thrift stores on our way home. When Rick and I thrift, we shop different areas of the stores we are in. I am happily hunting for vintage ornaments, when I hear him call my name. I follow his voice to where he is and he says pick what you would like. I love this man! I picked up the following items:

A Pfaltzgraff gravy boat. Now I have 2 of these. So now at family dinners, both ends of the table will have a gravy boat!

Then I got 2 Pfaltzgraff butter dishes. One is larger than the other one; but unless you are really looking you wouldn't notice it. Once again, I will have one for each end of our table at family gatherings. I was happy with these things, but Rick insisted I pick up this next one!

A Pfaltzgraff coffee pot with four coffee cups. I have tons of different styles of mugs, but none like these. I have 3 teapots in different styles, but this is my first coffee pot. These things are my Christmas present and I couldn't be happier!

I don't know what it is about this Brown Drip pottery, but I love it. I have quite an extensive collection that includes plates, mugs, salad plates, a wine carafe, salt and pepper shakers, sugar bowls and creamers, tea pots, large serving plates, large bowls, small bowls, a water pitcher, 2 milk pitchers and much, much more. I have pieces from Pfaltzgraff, McCoy and Hull as well as a few pieces from Canada and a few that are marked California on the bottom.

On a much sadder note our Chihuahua/Corgi cross, Pepper, got out of our backyard today and tangled with a much larger dog. We had to leave him at the vet's as he has a fairly serious gash in his neck with a semi-crushed larynx and a bruised lung. The vet opened up the larynx to clean out the damaged tissue. The vet seems to think that we will be able to take him home tomorrow afternoon, if he will eat wet dog food. Poor Hannah found him, as we were in town finishing our Christmas shopping. I would have done anything to save either one of them from this!

This little guy and I have a love/hate relationship. He definitely thinks he is the pack , aka "family" leader; which doesn't go over well with me. He also marks everything as his territory. There are days neither one of us like each other very much at all. When he is good, he is such a sweet little thing. When he is naughty, he is funny! And I love him. My family and friends would probably fall over if they knew I would sorely miss him if he were gone.

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holidays filled with the things and people you love!

Donnelly

more vintage ornament pictures!

Here are a few of the ways I am displaying more of my vintage ornaments this year.

This is my large thrifted milk glass fruit bowl (or maybe, it is called a compote?). It sets on my great-grandma Stuhlberg's White treadle sewing machine that I bought at my grandma Elsie's (her daughter) estate sale when I was 19. This makes me happy! It now sits on my kitchen table. My small vintage silver tinsel tree now sits on my sewing machine.

Here is a close-up of my little elf. She stays out all year long. She makes me smile!

The sewing machine belonged to the same great-grandma that gave my dad this ornament when he was a little boy.
My next display is an idea that I am sure I got from someone like Martha Stuart. About 10 years ago, my mom bought herself and my youngest sister and me vintage Pepsi crates. For the first 4 or 5 years I had it, it displayed homemade bars of soap and wash clothes in my bathroom. Then it was in storage for a few years until I saw this idea. Now it hangs in my living room at Christmastime . The original idea called for mini teacup hooks screwed into the wood, but both Rick and I tried to put them in and the fact that it is missing them should tell you how successful that idea was!
Last year, Rick bought me 2 metal ornament trees at one of our local thrift stores. I came home one day and found them. I didn't even know that I wanted them until they were sitting on my kitchen table. This one started out in the bedroom, and now resides with the second one in my craft room. I don't have a photo of them in my craft room, but will take one maybe tomorrow.

The blue angel is a vintage Christmas ornament that also stays out all year. He makes me happy, too!

Hopefully, I will be back tomorrow to share the two ornament trees in my craft room as well as my Nativity set and some of my other favorite Christmas decorations. Hannah banana needs the computer to work on her Serious Interpretation for Advanced speech.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

My family thinks I am crazy, seriously!

One of the major reasons is my obsession with vintage Christmas ornaments. Every time I go to a thrift store or a yard sale, I have to check to see if there are any vintage ornaments. I have been known to purchase an entire bag or box, just to rescue one ornament. It is a sickness, really! I have enough vintage ornaments to decorate several trees. I think I am up to 9 large plastic totes full, maybe more.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I have one that my great-grandmother brought with her from Germany when her family immigrated to America. She gave it to my dad when he was a little boy. He gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago when my parents stopped decorating a tree for Christmas. It is all banged up and missing some of it's beads, but I have always loved it.

I have a clip-on cockateil that my mom's friend, Helga, gave me along with a entire box of Shiney-Brites that her Husband gave her for Christmas the year they were married. Coincidentally, Helga is from Germany too.

This little guy came with my husband when we got married. I don't know how old he is. But he has stood guard over our trees for the last 19 years; so if he isn't vintage yet, he will soon be!

Last, I would like to share the gold foil star that I made when I was 5. I am going to date myself and let you know that it has been on Christmas trees for the last 37 years. It was on my childhood trees each year. My mom gave it to me the year Rick and I got married and it has been at the top of our tree each year since then.

In the next day or so, I hope to share some of my other vintage ornaments and how I have displayed them, as well as some of my other Christmas decorations.

Hope the Christmas season is wonderful for you!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Robyn and Clare's Ornament Exchange and Christmasy things!

I love blogland. I have met some of the nicest people through this cool world. Two of them are Robyn from http://daisyquilts.blogspot.com/ and Clare from http://clarescraftroom.blogspot.com/.They have been hosting the Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2009, that I have participated in. These ladies are awesome hostesses! They are quick to answer questions and are so helpful with their reminders, and a Flickr sharing group.

My partner is Linda from http://cottagegardenquilts.blogspot.com/. Linda is a Long-arm Quilter! How cool! I am amazed at the wonderful women out there who take such good care of other women's quilts.

I made Linda a cross-stitch ornament from the Just Cross-stitch Ornament Issue from 2001. The designers are Mary Olsen and Candy Scott from the Workbasket. The pattern calls for Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, which I am a huge fan of. I am not sure if they are still designing patterns or not. I am so pleased with the results!

I used the most beautiful cranberry-colored hounds tooth felted wool from our local quilt store. I used hand-dyed Belfast linen size 36. My favorite parts are everything. I especially love the french knots for the holly and the tree and I love the gold beads for the ornaments and the bells. So festive. Not sure where the ribbon came from. It was in my scrapbook ribbon jar. It is an iridescent red and gold. I made the hanger long enough to use as a door hanger, if Linda wanted to.
I handmade my Christmas cards this year. I downloaded this pattern in 2001, as well. It came in a series of 5 or 6 paper pieced ornament patterns. I have always felt that they should be made into cards. So cards they became! These have been so fun to make! I haven't sent Christmas cards for a long time and I have made whatever lame excuse I could make. This year, I decided that because I love to get something in the mail besides bills and that maybe my friends and family would too!

Here they are together!

Last night was Hannah's last Christmas concert, our last Christmas concert as parents. Hard to believe that we have been going to the same school auditorium for 19 years of Christmas concerts. This year, Hannah is in Concert Choir and Madrigals. The Concert Choir sang 2 songs. They sounded lovely! They sang "Lullaby" by John Ness Beck and "The Snow Begins to Fall" by Sally K. Albtecht. Hannah is in her black and red Madrigal's dress in the front row with the red hair ribbon.

The Madrigals sang 6 songs, 4 of which were acapella. They sang "Carol of the Bells" arr. Wilhousky, "Fum, Fum, Fum" arr. Ed. Lojeski, "We Three Kings" arr. Darmon Meader, "Bidi Bom" David Eddleman, "Masters in this Hall" Gilbert M. Martin, and "O Holy Night" arr. Mark Hayes. All of the seniors had solos in "O Holy Night". It was beautiful! Think about the music from the "Lion King" and you have the arrangement of this song. It was a fantastic way to spend a peaceful night in a hectic season! I will miss this in the years to come!

I have also realized that my last post/RANT about my Christmas tree was fueled by hormones (pms) and one too many glasses of Merlot. It is what it is. I have rethought my feelings about my tree and have decided to embrace it! I am known amongst my family and friends for my love of "Charlie Brown" Christmas trees. You know the ones. They have very few needles and tons of bare spots; but all they needs is a little TLC to shine! So why should this one be loved less than the others? It has many things going for it. It is definitely a conversation piece. It has a new element--the ornament spinners, it has NO icicles on it--a first in 19 years, it has my favorite things in the world on it--thrifted, vintage ornaments, it has the gold foil star on it that I made in kindergarten, it has a gold tinsel star that my daughter, Cassie, made for me when she was about 10 or 11, it has vintage glass bead garland on it-a first, and it has the 'Santa Suit' tree skirt around it that I love so much. I will be taking more flattering photos of it maybe tomorrow. That is, if and only if, I get my Christmas CD party favors done tomorrow afternoon. No, definitely to take photos before I start the CD's. I need good light.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Bah Humbug!

So, I did get my tree up today.

And I think it looks good without the lights on.

At just about any angle, it is the most lopsided tree I have ever had. I love the "Charlie Brown" style trees. And I am usually pretty happy after I get them decorated with all of my favorite vintage ornaments.

This year, as I was decorating it, I thought it looked pretty good. I even found some special ornament things that spin the ornaments around. All you have to do is unplug a light bulb and replace it with the twirler.

But after taking photos of it. I am bummed out. It is horrible. It leans to the right side and to the back. Rick and Hannah worked for over a 1/2 hour trying to true it up, with no luck. So, we are stuck with an ugly tree this year.

I could just cry. Seriously, just cry.

One of my Christmas presents, that Rick gives me each year, is a Christmas party for our family and friends. So, I guess I can have all my friends and family all set on the couch at the same time everyone gets the absolute best view. Don't know how I am going to fit 30+ people on a sofa that sits 3 and have them all stay there for an entire evening.

Good thing everyone likes to be in our basement where our game room is. Everyone will be too busy playing pool, Foosball, poker and boardgames to more than glance at my tree!

Have a great week.

Donnelly

Hello, December!

I for one would like to know where November went. I realize that I lost about a week in October when Rick and Hannah were in Jekyll and Hyde; but November flew by so quickly!

We did have Thanksgiving dinner at our house again this year. It was the second time we have hosted it at our house. This year Rick, Hannah, Verna--my mother-in-law (who lives with us) and I enjoyed the company of my parents, our son Brady and his wife Kylie, our niece Devin, Hannah's friend Keith and our oldest daughter, Christy. The most wonderful thing is my mom and dad brought the turkey, the potatoes, the dressing and the gravy. My dad insisted. I made a sugar-free pumpkin pie, baked yams and apples (my mom's invention), and rolls. Kylie made a fruit pizza that I hear was to die for. I wouldn't know as I have food texture issues and it had bananas in it. Bananas top the list of my food texture issues. I hear the dressing and the gravy were good too. I don't eat them either--texture again.

This Thanksgiving was a bit bitter-sweet. Our oldest daughter's husband, is going through a mid-life crisis (funny to say as he is only 2 years younger than I am!) and moved himself, Christy and our grand-daughter Sophie to Phoenix, Arizona. Not only that, they left the day after Thanksgiving. To make matters worse, our grandson Isaak's father would not agree to let him move to Arizona. Our hearts were and still are very heavy. I totally support Christy's decision not to fight it; but my heart hurts none-the-less.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we bought our Christmas Tree permit and headed for the hills. We got to take our son Brady and his wife, Kylie, with us this year. If we could have waited a few more hours, we would have had our oldest son Jake and his family with us as well as our daughter-in-law's parents and her best friend. But, Brady and Kylie couldn't wait that long as they had a 2 hour trip to get back home and had work and school on that Monday.

Hannah and Kylie

Brady and Kylie with their tree.

Rick and I

Brady broke one of Rick's saws! He is NOT a tool kind of guy!

Rick and Kylie

Rick, Me, Hannah and Brady

Kylie putting their star on top of their tree

It was so much fun. Kylie has never had a "real" Christmas Tree. One or more of her siblings and maybe her mom are allergic to pine trees. We had so much fun listening to Christmas music and playing "car games". We left our house at 8:30 and were back home by 11:30.

I have just gotten my tree in our stand today. I usually stay up way too late the same day we cut it to get it and the house decorated. The last few years it has taken a little longer. I have learned to pace myself or my Rheumatoid Arthritis acts out and I pay for it for a long time. This year, however, I have been ill. I work in a school program for children with severe mental/behavioral disorders. At one time a few weeks ago, there were 2 healthy children out of 10! One of my little ones has Bronchitis and Strep throat. He shared his Strep throat with me. I am just hoping that I don't get the Bronchitis. I just can't wait to get my house decorated. I only have until Friday, as our annual family Christmas party is on Saturday! Rick has promised that we will dig all the boxes out of the storage room tomorrow. This is no big task as that room has become a dump-all for unwanted items. I think I will be putting those unwanted items in the back of our truck and dropping them off at the thrift stores on Monday after work.

I hope to post photos tomorrow night of my tree in all it's glory and then throughout the week as I finish with everything else.

Have a great week!

Donnelly

Life is Good!

I haven't been blogging a lot lately as I have been super busy. I have been quilting on my bed quilt. I have been super busy at work. I have been sharing the computer with my family, which has been an issue in the past!

Today we have snow! It has started to taper off since I took these pictures, but we have a good 1/2 to 1 inch of snow on the ground. I am just hoping the wind will pick up and blow it around a bit, so we can have a snow day tomorrow. That probably won't happen; but a girl can hope, can't she?

Yesterday, we hit the thrift stores. I was on a rescue mission to save as many vintage Christmas ornaments as I could find. I didn't find a single one. But I hit the jackpot anyway!

First I scored some vintage tatting thread. Rick made a point to tell me that he thinks I have hit hoarding status. I love the size 50 or higher vintage tatting threads. Those little balls of thread are so cute and they have the most amazing colors. Colors that aren't made now! I got an unused ball of yellow and pink as well as partial balls of green and variegated pink.

Here they are on my craft room bookcase with their counterparts. This little basket makes me so very happy.
But then, this whole bookcase makes me so very happy!

My next find, is another one of the things I collect. I love antique spools. These ones have been used as candle holders by the person who had them before me. I am not sure if I will use them for the same thing. But I found a home for them for now.

Sorry about the quality of this photo. I couldn't get a decent one with the flash on, so I turned it off. Then the light decided to glare through the blinds. Sometimes I can't win, no matter what I try.

Another one of the things I love are vintage aluminum drinking glasses. I haven't found one in almost a year. Yesterday, I found one in the most beautiful shade of blue! I just love these! In the summertime, iced tea stays pretty cold in these. And if you enjoy a really cold glass of milk, there is nothing better than an aluminum glass! I am not a milk drinker, but I love it in these glasses!

Here it is with it's relatives. When I took this photo, 3 of them were in use by my daughter and her friends with their lunch.

Next, is one of Rick's finds. He teases me about hoarding things, but he has his hoarding issues too. He collects sunglasses. Yesterday, he found a pair of late 50's or early 60's Ray-Ban sunglasses. He thought Hannah would love them and she did. Only drawback is that they have prescription lenses in them. They are super fun though!

Here is a shot of Rick's sunglasses. He repurposed a metal CD holder to hold them all so they wouldn't get scratched. He never pays more than about a dollar for any of his glasses. A few weeks ago, he found a $200 pair of Revo sunglasses for a dollar! And they are still listed as a current product on their website!

And lastly, I came across this bag of yarn. I have a really hard time passing up anything that I can use my crafty skills with. This entire bag of yarns cost me---

$2.50! These are Lang Yarns. I looked them up on the Internet and I got a steal! I am so excited because they are blends of some fantastic materials. There is an awesome linen blend, a cotton/cashmere blend, a silk blend, a Merino wool/silk blend and a few more.

I am going to make fingerless gloves for Hannah's best friends, Keith and Ron. I am going to try my hand at Alicia Paulson's http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/2009/10/stripey-wristwarmers.html
version of Lucy's http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2009/10/wrist-warmers.html wrist warmers.

I am so excited to get started. Keith's are going to be charcoal and light grey with pink Fun Fur. Keith's favorite color is pink. Ron's are going to be a mixture of what is left of the charcoal and light grey with the green and dark red.

We are going to have Thanksgiving at our house again this year. Usually, we have it at my mom and dad's. This year, my mom has had some health issues, so Thursday here we come. It will be a bittersweet time, as our oldest daughter is moving to Arizona. We are hoping that Christy and her family drop by as they are leaving on Friday. Our oldest son has to work. Our middle daughter is in Alaska, where she lives, celebrating with her mom. My mother-in-law plans on spending the day with my niece, Devin and her dad Rodney. But we will still celebrate none-the-less. But we will have my parents, our youngest son, Brady and his wife Kylie and Hannah and possibly Keith and Ron for dinner.

Thanksgiving weekend has to be my favorite time of the year. On Friday, our community has a local toy drive at a local nursery. For the entry fee of an unwrapped, new toy we are treated to a great night. We get a potato/chili feed, Christmas music, all the hot chocolate and coffee you can drink, huge bonfires, and an awesome fireworks display. On Saturday, we are headed to our local forest, permit in hand, to get our Christmas tree. All day Sunday will be spent decorating the tree and the house. I am SO EXCITED!

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving Holiday spent with family and friends.

Donnelly

Happy Anniversary, Webb!

Even though my Rick doesn't read my blog, I want to wish him a Happy Anniversary! These 19 years have been a roller coaster ride!

19 years ago today, I became the married mom of 4 instead of the single mom of one. I became the mom of a 16 year old, a 8 year old, a 6 year old and a 2 year old. Now, I am the mom of a 35 year old, a 27 year old, a 25 year old, a 21 year old and a 17 year old. Not only are there now 5 children, I now have a son-in-law, a soon-to-be son-in-law and 2 daughters-in-law; as well as 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter.

First and foremost, I want to thank Rick for the wonderful gifts he has given me.

Rick has tried to teach me patience; which I might finally master in the next 19 years.

He has taught me to love Christmas and all holidays. Rick introduced me to old Christmas ornaments; thanks to him, they are now one of my obsessions. He has given me the gift of a Christmas Party for our friends and family.

He has given me the gift of music I would have never found on my own. Because of Rick, I love Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Garth Brooks, George Strait and many more.

He has given me the gift of theatre; while I will never step on a stage to act or sing, he has shown me ways to make the theatre mine.

He has taught me to ride on the back of a motorcycle. I have less fear each time we ride. There is nothing like it!

Rick has shown me that dogs are awesome! Before we met, I was a cat person.

He has shown me that I can overcome rheumatoid arthritis with a positive attitude and his help. Rick has given me the gift of not obsessing about housework; it is okay to let it go for a little while if I don't feel well or if I am in the midst of crafting something.

Rick has given me the gift of pursuing my crafts. He doesn't blink an eye when I need new supplies or when I want to learn a new craft. He has even (almost) mastered sitting in the car in front of Joann's or Micheal's!

He has given me sports of all sorts: NY Yankees, Utah Jazz, and NASCAR. I will even watch Pro-bowling and golf on a Sunday afternoon!

He has taught me how to thrift at thrift stores and yard sales. It is not a normal week, if we don't go thrifting on Saturday mornings.

He has taught me to love, when my heart was broken. He has been a great father to all of our children; fair and honest in his love. Rick has taught me to hope for the future.

Next, I would like to thank my children for sticking with me long enough to be my friends. Our first few years were extremely rocky and, to be honest, not very pleasant. But, we have learned a lot through this time and we are a family! I can count my grown children as my friends, how sweet is that? I cannot wait to see how my family grows in the future. When I am a very old woman, I will have children and grandchildren and God willing, I will have great-grandchildren; because of Rick.

I hope that everyone that reads this has as great a ride as I have had these last 19 years!
Have a great day!
Donnelly

Holy Cow!

I just realized how long it has been since I last posted -- 10 days! Where did the time go? I am not totally sure! Not a whole lot has happened since my last post. My son and his wife, Kylie came for a surprise visit on Saturday and my mom and dad took us all out to a local pizza place for lunch. It was an awesome surprise. Brady and Kylie don't get down here much, as Kylie is taking 18 credits and working 2 jobs and Brady is working full time. And of course, neither my mom or I had our cameras.

A couple of weeks ago, Hannah and I went thrifting and I picked up milk glass goblets in my favorite pattern. I would have shared them earlier, but I am sure we were right in the middle of Jekyll and Hyde. That experience was like being on another planet for me. Awesome, but different!

These are in the Grape Vine pattern. They were marked $2.50 each, which I was going to pay. When I got to the counter, I found out that they were 1/2 price! Yeah! I have another 4 or 5 of these in our storage room. We moved from a 1908 farm house with a built in china hutch, to a 1980's house with NO storage at all. So I don't have all my lovely stuff out. But I am going to search some boxes this weekend, so I can set my Thanksgiving table with these!

I also found this little basket in a closet. I bought it sometime after Christmas last year. It is truly lovely! It is made from antique Christmas cards!

I wish they still made Christmas cards like these, in such lovely colors. I think the candles are my favorites. This little basket is blanket-stitched together. I am going to fill it with flavored Hershey kisses and set it on a table at Christmastime!

I am back to working on my quilt for my bed again. I have been really bad at not working on it. I was talking with Rick last night about it and I have come to the conclusion that it is because it is so overwhelming! I have never made a queen-sized quilt before and I have never hand quilted anything quite so large. So, I am going to set myself a goal of at least 1 hour per afternoon and see what I can do!

I am not so patiently waiting for Robyn and Clare's ornament exchange. I am so excited. I almost have one cross-stitch ornament done, all I have to add is the beads. and then sew it together.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Final Night!

Tonight is closing night for Magic Valley Little Theatre's production of Jekyll and Hyde. It is a bittersweet night for our family. For the last 6 weeks, Rick and Hannah have committed Monday-Thursday for this week. There will be a lot of tears I am sure!

We in the Magic Valley are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing talent! I cannot tell you how well the leads have stepped into their rolls and brought this world to life; simply no words.

Opening night we had 420 patrons and last night we had 540 patrons. Word of mouth is spreading like wildfire.

I have had so much fun this week. I have been stretched outside of my normal comfort zones; and I have found out that I rather like it. For starters, I was privileged enough to help out backstage. There is so much energy back there. And God willing, I will get to help out back there tonight.

I have done my usual costume repairs which I enjoy. This show though, I had to repair a lead's corset that was not constructed very well and was falling apart after opening night. I stretched my imagination and was able to repair it and make Liberty feel so much more comfortable in her role.

I have so enjoyed getting to know the cast. They are all such a gracious, friendly, accepting bunch of folk; an extended part of our family, if you will. I have marveled at how much they love Hannah and Rick. I have had the privilege of getting to see my daughter in her element. She has blossomed!

I have enjoyed watching Rick step into the Backstage Manager roll. In Jekyll and Hyde, he is on stage 3 or 4 times. To keep himself busy, he volunteered to do this. He has enjoyed it so much that I am sure he will be volunteering to do it in the future!

I would like to thank our director Lori Henson, her husband Troy and their daughter Madison for bringing this vision to life. We, in the Webb household, have had the time of our lives.

Have an awesome day!
Donnelly