donnelly's obsessions

Jarbidge, Nevada October 01, 2011

2011-12-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Rick and I got to go to Jarbidge, Nevada this day for a birthday party. The birthday party was for the parents of one of his dearest friends. He has known Marianne for about 40 years!

This first photo is of Rick "tailgating". We had assumed that the local watering hole would have the Boise State game on that day, so we went down early. We were told by the bartender that they didn't get the game, which didn't make either of us too happy...

What is a BSU fan to do? Turn on the radio and see if you can get the Boise AM radio station...and yes, we did!

Little did we know that the bartender was mistaken, we got to watch a little of the game before the birthday party.

Here are Rick and Marianne at the party.

Here is the beautiful sunset we got to see on our way home

A wonderful day spent with wonderful people...who could ask for more?

Not me!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

First Snow 2011

2011-12-28T18:07:00.002-07:00

I am still working on my October 2011 updates. One more and I will be caught up with both October and November. That means I only have July and August 2011 to go.
I thought I was going to be able to be caught up during Christmas Break, but time is running out...oh well, I guess I can put catching up for 2011 on my 2012 resolution list, if I don't get done!

Our first snow this year was on October 7th, 2011. Here is Mount Harrison. It is about 60 miles away from our house. It sure was beautiful that day!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Lilly's 1st Birthday

2011-12-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

Our youngest granddaughter turned one on October 8, 2011.

Becky always has the prettiest/coolest themes for kids birthdays. Lilly's was a flower/garden theme. It was so sweet!

Here she is getting ready to blow out her candle.

Lilly is enjoying her cupcake!

Lilly and her cousin, Emma getting ready to open presents

Lilly loving her first baby doll

Lilly enjoying all the attention she was getting

It was a wonderful day spent with family and friends in celebration of our great blessing, Lilly1

Have a great day!

Donnelly

End of October update

2011-11-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

October was a busy month for us.

The end of October especially.

The great thing about having grandkids is you still get to enjoy Halloween.

Jackson went as a pirate and Lilly went as his parrot.

Our daughter-in-law Becky's mom made both outfits.

She did an amazing job!

Jackson and Grandpa had to show off their pirate hats for the camera.

Lilly was NOT impressed with grandpa's idea that she could be the pirate and he would be the parrot!

A lot of October was spent working with one of our local theatre groups on the production of Cinderella.

Rick was stage manager.

I worked in costumes. One of my duties was fancy-ing up the dress as well as altering it.

I added shoulder straps to make our Cinderella more comfortable. Then I added sparkly tulle to try to recreate the look of the dress from the Disney Cinderella.

Then I had to add a back panel to make it fit. I used two different fabrics layered to get the look of the fabric the dress was made of--a sparkly satin and a tulle encrusted in glitter and rhinestones.

Matched pretty good, if I say so myself.

And I got to babysit Gus-Gus and Jaques during the production.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Our anniversary...November 09, 2011

2011-11-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Our 21st wedding anniversary was on November 09, 2011.

I got a dozen roses delivered at work! First ones ever...I have to confess this is my fault. I would rather have craft supplies, or houseplants or a house gadget.

I was floored to get something so lovely.
After I enjoyed them for a week, I decided to hang them upside down in my craftroom closet to dry.

Twenty-one years...where did all that time go? It certainly doesn't feel like a long time at all.

And I must say that I love Rick even more now than I did when we first got married!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Fall Thrifting Finds

2011-11-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

I am back again today, who knew I would post 2 days in a row? I want to share my thrift finds from the last couple of months.

I bought this Salty and Peppy set in October, paid more for them than I should have...but I hadn't seen any is so long.

I found these ornaments yesterday...not sure how old they are, I am assuming 40's or 50's. I don't think I will hang then on my tree, I think I will stand them on a shelf or a window sill.

Christmas Tree Turner. I will be placing my vintage tinsel tree in this base this year. How fun!

I found this vintage 30's/40's tea pot ornament in October...love it!

Vintage made in Japan Santa mugs. I have tons of these that I use to hold candy canes and candy at Christmas time. I am going to put votive candles (inside glass holders) in them and put them in my kitchen window sill.

Milk glass saucers in my favorite pattern-grape vine...thrifted in September.

Vintage Japan Tom and Jerry mugs that Rick found on Craig's List for me. I have a Hall Tom and Jerry Bowl and a Hall cup. Need to find the bowl for the Christmas holidays.

Milk glass shade for my vintage coffee pot turned lamp. A few months ago, our dog knocked the lamp off the end table and broke the original shade for it. Found this on in October and like it better than the original...have I mentioned that I am partial to milk glass?

Vintage tree garland that Rick found about a week ago...love the box graphics!

Wedgewood Vintage Rose plates, found these in September. I also have a partial set of these same plates with the Tudor Rose name on them. I think I now have 8 dinner plates.

Vaseline glass dessert dishes from the 30's. Another lady got the other 8, I feel lucky to get the 4 I got!

Vintage 40's or 50's Pyrex carafe that Rick bought for me. It is missing it's warmer, but it came in it's original box with it's original pamphlet. I will keep an eye out for the warmer. We used it to serve Bloody Marys on Thanksgiving.

Milk glass nesting chicken bowl. I now own two .My first one was the first thing that Rick ever bought me, over 21 years ago. The first resides in my china closet, this one resides in my bathroom holding hair clips. Have I told you I LOVE milk glass?

Another vintage Santa mug...I just cannot pass these up with their hand painted faces. I see so many of them in the thrift stores with no paint because someone ran them through the dishwasher or gave them too vigorous of a hand washing.

Hope you have enjoyed my thrifty finds as much as I have!
Have a great day!
Donnelly

Hello

2011-11-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe it has been so long since my last post, five months...wow.

Can't post everything from the last five months, that would take days! So I will start with yesterday and then work my way backwards from there.

Yestserday, we went Christmas tree hunting!

The drive up was beautiful. We got to see 4 deer, too bad I didn't have my camera out. They were lovely!

I thought these rocks were pretty with their dusting of snow.

The wind was howling! Rick said he had never seen it blow so hard up in the South Hills! The clouds were moving so fast!

Here is a photo of the snow blowing off on one of the little hills in the distance.

Jake and Jackson getting ready to find their tree.

Miss Lilly trying to take her boots off, silly girl! This is actually her second tree hunt, she was about 6 weeks old on her first hunt!

Jackson enjoying a snowball fight with his Aunt Hannah and Uncle Brady.

Jake, Becky and Jackson with their tree. Lilly was in the car with her Uncle Brady. She had had enough tree hunting!

Rick waiting for Brady and Hannah to pick their tree so he could tie them on top of the Expidition. Sadly, I didn't get a single photo of Brady and Hannah. We were in a bit of a hurry as the weather had turned quite nasty all of a sudden.

We got out just in time! Blizzard-like conditions on the way out of the hills

Two truck loads of people and 4 trees made their way safely out of the hills, by the time we got to the foothills the skies were clear and there was so sign of snow, go figure!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Craziness!

2011-07-25T20:29:00.000-06:00

On the first of June, Rick took over the business that we had both worked for over 20 years...I worked with the same business since October of 1988 and Rick worked there since June of 1989. That means that I have taken on another job; which means much less time for all my favorite things.

I plan on doing some catch up blogs within the next couple of days...hopefully...

Have a great day,

Donnelly

Fire Child

2011-07-03T10:10:00.000-06:00

All of my children love fire.

My youngest has learned how to harness fire and play with it.

Pretty amazing if you ask me!
Have a great day!
Donnelly

a check-in of sorts...

2011-05-31T20:10:00.005-06:00

Another post without a photo...not that I haven't been taking photos, I have plenty on my computer. I just haven't had time to sit and blog properly.

The reason I have had no time is varied.

Slow computer...

Weather induced internet server issues...

Taking photos of my grandson, Jackson and Rick mowing the lawn in the weather break on Sunday afternoon...

Impromptu BBQ for family when my Hannah Banana came down this Sunday with her brother Brady's sweet girlfriend, Miss Kacie...

Getting ready for summer school at my work...
Rick taking over the business that he has worked for for 21 years...

Crappy weather, mixed with good enough weather to try to get yard work done...

A day trip for Rick and I to see our Snake River at it's finest display in years...

Hunting for Wild Mama's first batch of babies...

Hoping for a little time later this week to share my favorite photos from the past two weeks.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Happiness!

2011-05-17T20:17:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to say how happy I am that my Hannah Banana came home for the weekend.

Spent some time just relaxing.

Spent a little bit of time having her color my hair.

Spent a girls' day out on Saturday with my mom and Hannah...too much fun!

I have no photos to share...sad excuse for a mom, is what I am!

I sure do wish that she lived in the same town...but I also understand her need to spread her wings.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Easter Sunday

2011-05-03T16:54:00.004-06:00

Easter Sunday found us in church! For those that know us, they know this is a rare occurance! We were there to celebrate Easter with family and to celebrate the dedicaion of our granddaughter, Lilly SheRie.

She is such a good baby! She didn't mind being passed from person to person, even people she didn't know.

After church, we were invited to Becky's Parents' house for Easter lunch. Diana out-did herself. We had sandwhiches, veggies, fruits, deserts and an asparagus salad that was to die for!

After the adults got done eating, Jackson had an Easter egg hunt. Poor little man had 5 adults trailing around behind him, three with cameras. At one point, when he was opening the plastic eggs, he got a little disgruntled with candy being in each one. Rick decided it would be funny to reload a couple that he didn't find with rocks. That made for one very little confused and disappointed little boy. On his own, he decided that Doug and Diana's dog, Jasmine, had traded the candy for the rocks. Then it was a race to find the rest of them so that Jasmine couldn't do that to any more. It was so funny.

The following photos are my favorite ones of Jackson that I took that day. He has such a photogenic face with those gorgeous, long eyelashes!

Hope everyone had as great of a day as we did!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello

2011-04-19T05:33:00.004-06:00

Hello!

Not much happening around here.

I went to lunch with my mom on Saturday for my birthday. We shopped for fabric and she bought me fabric that I am adding to my Cathedral windows quilt.

Saturday was a lovely day! It was almost 60 degrees! It was a bit rainy in the afternoon and I captured a photo of a rainbow. My photo doesn't do it justice.

With the money my mom gave me for my birthday, I bought a Jackamanii clematis root, a bleeding heart, Icelandic poppies, Provence lavender, lemon balm and lemon thyme. Everything but the lemon balm and the lemon thyme are planted.

I need to dig the grass and weeds out of the front flower beds and buy some more perennials. I hope to do that this coming weekend. After the 60 degree temperatures on Saturday, we have had rainy weather with temperatures in the 40's. It poured buckets yesterday!

Got to love living in Idaho!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

RIP Skye kitty...

2011-04-08T21:29:00.008-06:00

My Skye kitty left our world yesterday afternoon.

Rick found him when he got home from work last night. Didn't look like he got hit by a car or attacked by the neighborhood dogs or the coyotes that live across the field...just gone.

I sure will miss his sweet personality. I will miss him sitting in my lap on our front porch, I will miss watching him chase things in the front yard, I will miss him playing with the babies (that really aren't babies anymore).

And I am sure the babies will miss him even more than I do.

He was their protector and their playmate.

He was my friend.

Donnelly

FRUSTRATION!!!

2011-04-04T21:23:00.003-06:00

I don't know what is up with my blogger account lately...but it sure is frustrating me to NO end.

I can't go back and edit my sentences or space my text from my photos...GRRRR!!

I can't even get my text centered which is what I prefer without having to attempt it multiple times.

I need to apologize for not being more clear in my last post. I had a three day work week, not a three work week. And the next sentence was supposed to say any more NOT anymoore.

Hope you have a great day!

Donnelly

More vintage finds!

2011-04-03T10:23:00.005-06:00

Well, not much has happened this last week. I had a three work week this week, that was nice. Not so nice is the fact there aren't anymore school holidays until Memorial Day. It is going to be a long two months!

I got a few new vintage things at the thrift stores over the last week or so, thought I would share them.

First up is lids for my Pyrex Butterprint casserole dishes. I thought they were mixing bowls until I was doing some research for a friend for a broken mixing bowl and found out that mine were covered casserole dishes. Found the lids at our local Deseret Industries for $0.75 a piece. I think I have less than $10.00 in the set with the lids! I love this Pyrex print. My mom had the mixing bowls in this pattern when I was a little girl. She still has 2 of the set of 4. I have the smallest mixing bowl that I picked up a while back.

Next up is my Brown Drip Pottery parmesan cheese shaker. I love Brown Drip Pottery. I don't have a specific maker that I collect, I love it all. Not sure who made this one, the lettering does scream 70's though.

And I got these Ball Quilted Crystal jelly jars for 50 cents. The pink and green match the colors of my craft room. I am going to use them to put buttons or beads in and then put them on my shelf. The lids make me happy! I love the flowers, again so 70's.

I hope your week was as good as mine!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

My Mystery Pyrex

2011-03-28T18:33:00.008-06:00

I found the name of my vintage pyrex that I found over Spring Break!

It is called Blue Doily and the bottom goes with the top.

Need to give a shout out to to a website, but I just sent the email to ask if that was okay to link to them. So the address will have to wait for another post.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello Spring Break

2011-03-23T09:04:00.012-06:00

We have been on Spring Break now since Friday at 1:30, and it sure has been nice. Well nice for me, my hubby is not a fan of Spring Break. This one has been particularly hard on him as we have had the worst weather. Lots of rain, snow, sleet, hail and wind, typical for Idaho in March.

I have been out and about taking photos with my Christmas present. My Nikon. It was out of action for about 3 weeks. My hubby dropped it and broke off 2 of the lens mounts on the lens and I had to wait until his payday to get a replacement. He got me a 55mm-200mm zoom lens with vibration control. I love it.

Here are some of my favorites that I took on Sunday morning. I must have been quite a site, out in my front yard in my leopard print pjs and sweater and pink fuzzy slippers!

I have managed to get some much needed cleaning done as well. Cleaned out a hall closet and our mud room as well as much needed basic house work. Got out of my cleaning cycle for about 2 weeks with working on costumes and working back stage of our theatre group's production of the "Secret Garden".

We have also been hitting the thrift stores. We have gone on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Not today, yet! Here are some of my finds:

Candle Vases. Not sure when they were made, but by the look of the box I would say 50's.

Milk glass goblets. Brings my total up to 14. Rick and I were in an antique store yesterday where they had a set of 4 for $20.00.

A vintage Pyrex container. Not sure if the bottom and the top go together as they are both different shades of blue. I haven't done any research yet, but I plan to either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Hello, again...

2011-03-14T19:37:00.004-06:00

I seem to be missing a lot lately.

Since my last post, I have battled are REALLY NASTY VIRUS that I contracted from my kiddos in my classroom. I am still dealing with the virus moving from a sore throat to a super-nasty head congestion to super-nasty chest congestion, to super-nasty chest congestion combined with the second round of super-nasty head congestion. YUCK!

In addition to the REALLY NASTY VIRUS, I have spent the last 10 days working on costumes and backstage at our local theater group's production of "The Secret Garden". Luckily, I couldn't pass on the crud that I have; everyone else was sick with the same crud too.

Even though I don't have the energy to burn my candle at both ends, I did anyway.

My theater people did an amazing job! From the actors to the costume people, to the make-up people, to the prop people to our amazing director, we all did an amazing job!

I got to hang out with so many of my friends! I also got to make many more new friends.

My theater family keeps growing with each show. Each new person in my life makes me so happy.

And our little ones in lead and back-up rolls; WOW! I will be one of the little old ladies who go to the matinees someday and I will be able to say I watched those actors and actresses grow up in my theater family.

This weekend was also bittersweet.

Our Hannah was not in this production, and she misses theater desperately! She did get to come see opening night with me on Thursday.

Bittersweet because one of our young ladies is moving on to Boise State, Miss Tess will be greatly missed. I can't wait until she is in her first production in Boise. I will definitely have tickets to see her debut in our capital city!

I am counting down the days until Spring Break. It starts here in with a half-day on Friday. We have been having some rather nice weather, I am hoping that Rick and I will take a few motorcycle rides!

I am so excited!

Have a great day.

Donnelly

Coyotes...

2011-03-01T21:44:00.005-07:00

Don't know how to label this blog post...

I am listening to the coyotes howl in the fields right across the street from our house.

Contemplating whether or not it is wise to introduce chickens into our family.

Will that bring the coyotes closer?

I have 3 wimpy indoor dogs and a 3-legged pygmy goat, a super fat donkey and an elderly outside dog.

None of them capable of dealing with coyotes.

I would love to have chickens, but I think the coyotes have helped me rethink things.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

A sudden storm

2011-02-27T12:53:00.008-07:00

We had a snow storm on Friday.

We live in Idaho, and snowstorms are supposed to happen here, especially in the winter. But we have been having Spring worthy temps lately. Even the robins started to come back.

What makes this snowstorm newsworthy?

Well, we were only supposed to get 1-3". It was supposed to be spread out over 3 days; Friday-snow, Saturday-sun, Sunday-snow.

Our Magic Valley got 5-8". We got it all on Friday and into Saturday morning.

This is the sun coming over the clouds to the East of our house.

This my antique grain drill. It was pulled behind a horse or tractor to plant seeds. I love this piece of machinery. In the spring I will plant either flowers or strawberries in it.

This is the chicken coop. I get to have chickens! I have wanted them forever, and Rick has finally said I could have them. However, I won't be using this building. It is small and I am a big gal. I also have rheumatoid arthritis, not a good combination for this little building. There is a bigger storage shed with screened in windows that I think I will be using for the chicken coop.

This is a photo of the building I want to use for chicken coop. Sorry this is so dark, I was out taking photos at 8:30. The blades for the windmill are propped against the building. The windmill tower is right next to this building. Right now the tower has an old TV antenna on it. I would love to be able to convince the landlord to take the antenna down and put the blades back up. But I think I will bring the blades out and use them for a climbing vegetable or vine in my garden.

Icicles on the barn. The barn has a metal roof and creates great icicles. You have to hurry to get photos of them though, the sun on a metal roof slides the snow off rather quickly.

This is a photo of my wheelbarrows. I have no idea how I got to have that many, but I do. In fact, there is another one behind our garage that I just saw this morning.

This is a picture of my photo taking buddy. This is Loki. He is my daughter's dog. He couldn't go to Boise with her so he lives with us. He insists on going out to take photos. He had just bulldozzed his way through the snow and was trying to like the snow off his nose.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Thrifting finds February 2011

2011-02-27T09:32:00.007-07:00

On Friday, I hit our local thrift stores. I picked up a vintage glass flower frog and a box of Shiny Bright christmas ornaments.

I opened the box Friday night to find that it was missing two of the ornaments. On Friday, there had been a second box that I had left there. So Saturday morning, I went back and found the second box and it had the missing two ornaments in them. So now I have a set of 12.

I love Shiny Bright ornaments, have I mentioned that?

I love glass flower frogs. My love affair with them began when my grandma gave me hers when I was in high school. I now have 5. And now that I have a garden, I plan on growing flowers to be able to use my flower frogs. I can't wait until the lilacs bloom and the fruit trees bloom.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Happiness!

2011-02-23T20:09:00.008-07:00

Today I got a text message from my Hannah Banana...

Happiness!

I love this girl a whole bunch! I am so proud of her.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

A catch up is in order

2011-02-21T10:39:00.024-07:00

It has been a while since the last time I posted and I was feeling a little bit (okay, a lot) sorry for myself.

I came to the realization that I have yet to post a photo of the necklace I won on Betz White's blog. I love it! The chain was a little small, so I got extenders at Micheal's to make it more comfortable. I love that I chose the word SIMPLIFY. And I really feel that I have accomplished a lot toward my goal of simplifying my life. Since the first of the year, I have cleaned my house every weekend but one!

That weekend, we took the rest of Hannah's belongings up to her and spent the day with Brady at the thrift stores. We don't have a Goodwill in our town. Our capital city has 2. It was rather exciting. Didn't come home with a lot, but it was still fun!

I have been missing my Hannah Banana something fierce, I am not going to lie. But I love that she still texts me almost as much as she did before she moved. And there is also Facebook. She told me this weekend that she will be here on March 10th and 11th. Happiness is not a big enough word to express how I feel about this.

I had a four day weekend this past weekend, and it was a much needed break. Rick and I reclaimed our house from my mother-in-law.

When we moved in to our new house, Rick set up a small den as our t.v. room. We set up Rick's mom's t.v. in the living room.

Picture 2 large adults, 2 large dogs and a small dog all crammed into a 6 x 6 room. Not comfortable, not condusive to relaxation.
Rick has been so stressed out about being in that small room. We were desperate. Rick told his mom that she was going to have to switch places or go to a managed care facility. Needless to say, she thought that the alternative to switching rooms was not for her.

When we moved in to this house, we had set up the living room with Rick's pool table and the dining room as the living room. This weekend, we moved the pool table into the dining room and moved a loveseat, Rick's recliner and my rocker into the living room.
I bought Rick a 32" Vizio t.v. for his birthday/Valentine's day present. His birthday is the 15th of February. I thought it was only fair as he had bought me a new Blackberry for my Valentine present. Here is a collage of the new arrangement. I am already planning on making it flow better, have to wait until next payday though.

I am loving being able to look out the windows. I am enjoying the light. I love the fact that our record player is in the living room and we can listen to music. I am loving that the dogs can stretch out and not be on top of me and on top of each other.

It is really wonderful!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

When did I get old enough to be an empty-nester?

2011-02-08T19:32:00.003-07:00

I have been seriously contemplating when I got old enough to be an empty-nester.

My baby girl is moving 130 miles away.

Makes me a little sentimental and a whole lot sappy.

I don't feel old enough to be one of those people that only get to see their children when you go to their town or holidays or weddings or anniversaries or funerals. But as of tomorrow, only one of our five will live in the immediate area.

I don't feel old enough to have grey hair and rheumatoid arthritis.

I am not afraid to say that I am 43 years old and that I will be 44 in April.

I don't feel old enough to be in charge of taking care of my mother-in-law.

I have been married for 20 1/3 years. Sometimes I think about that. It really seems like I have been married for less time than that.

I really like my husband. I know that seems kind of silly. Let me explain. I certainly love my hubby with all my heart, no question. But I really like him. If I weren't married to him, I would definitely have him as my friend. He is level-headed he has a kinder soul than I do.

I guess that what I am getting to is that I am sad to see my baby girl move, but I know that I will be okay. I am glad that Rick will be here to see me through it.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

Happiness and Sadness

2011-01-31T19:03:00.003-07:00

Some days... life hurts.

Today is one of those days. Today is full of raw feelings. Today is full of hurt.

My son, Brady, and his wife Kylie have filed for a divorce. Not sure of all the circumstances. I know they have had their problems, wish I would have been able to help.

And my heart hurts.

Hannah, Brady's sister, has gotten a job in our capital and will be moving in with her brother.

Makes my heart hurt...and makes my heart happy.

Happy that they will be together to take care of each other.

Donnelly

Thrifting finds for Monday, January 24th

2011-01-25T18:23:00.011-07:00

There are some days when it is hard to go home from work.

There I said it.

I work with children with emotional and behavior disorders on a daily basis, home some days is not as restful as it should be.

When I have change in my wallet, I give myself a little bit of "me time" and I go thrifting on weekdays. Yesterday was such a day. I went to 3 different stores in our area and found both of my finds in one. Total time spent 45 minutes, total cash spent $1.67!

My first find is an aluminum-ware ice cream/dessert dish. I love aluminum-ware. It keeps things so much colder during the summer. My total count now is 2 cereal bowls, 2 ice cream bowls and 20 glasses!

This ice cream dish is a brighter green, I played with my photo software to bring out the colors of my butcher block and my cooker and it washed out the colors of the bowl.

My next find is a gravy ladle. Sure wish I could figure out the hallmarks. I found items with the same hallmarks on E-bay, but it didn't tell me who made it and when. I love it no matter what, I would just like to know a little bit more.

I am sorry about this next one, I forgot to clear it up a little bit. I do love this view. I love the way the handle was connected to the bowl.

Here are the hallmarks. I am going to spend some time this weekend trying to figure out what they mean.

Today's finds were not huge. I got some plastic hangers 6/$0.50, a Yankee candle votive for .35, a crystal wine glass for 2.00 and a silver plate fork for .25. I will try to post a photo of my fork tomorrow.

Hope your day was awesome and tomorrow is better.

Donnelly

Hello

2011-01-23T13:04:00.005-07:00

I have a photo to share of my Cathedral Windows work that I did yesterday.

I have also been doing a little bit of tatting off and on this week. It is an edging from my favorite tatting book: Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson. It is called Margareta. First row is pink, second row will be aqua. I will be using the edging on pillowcases for our bed.

I had a couple of thrifting finds that I'd like to share.

First off is a milk glass lamp that I scored for 3 bucks! I bought a little black shade for 6 dollars and it now dresses up my desk in my craft room.

Next up is a set of salt and pepper shakers pre-WWII. They remind me of our little farm house and our barn. I love them. Can't wait to use them at Thanksgivings!

We, at the Webb household, are forgoing today's Barrett-Jackson classic car auction for football. We are hoping for a Packers/Steelers Superbowl.

Hope you have a great day!

Donnelly

I had some great news today!

2011-01-22T17:25:00.004-07:00

I had some awesome news today...

I won something! Something awesome!

I won Betz White's my word giveaway! http://blog.betzwhite.com/

I get to have my word for this year on a necklace made by Lisa Leonard!

I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!

My word for this year is Simplify. One of the ways I am Simplifying my life is to clean my house on a regular schedule.

Today, I managed to get my third week of cleaning my house on schedule done, and early.

Our dogs would not let us sleep past 5 this morning.

I am not one who can just sit around in the mornings.

I have to be doing something.

I got all my major housework done this morning before 6 A.M.

That left the rest of the day to craft.

I cut backgrounds for my Cathedral Window foundation. I cut 56 or more background squares and twice that many window inserts. I hope to have a photo tomorrow to show. I would do it tonight, but I am getting ready to cook dinner, and I am watching the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale car auction with my sweetie.

Hope everyone has an awesome day!

Donnelly

More on the great week!

2011-01-15T13:30:00.013-07:00

My great week started with my friend, Robyn, loving her camera strap.

I liked it so much I made myself one using Moda's Basic Grey Urban Chic. And I love it!

The next day that made my week awesome was Wednesday. Two things happened on Wednesday.

First, Hannah and I took her friend, Brittani's senior pictures. Her yearbook photo was due on Friday, not a lot of time but we got 82 pictures between 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. I will share some of my favorites.

In the "Old Towne" area of our town is this amazing blue door. Hannah and I LOVE it. So many people take photos in front of it that someone has built stairs to get up to it. I took Hannah's senior pictures at this door. This is one that I took.

Then Hannah took over and the results are amazing!

This one is at our city park looking toward St. Edward's Catholic church.

This one was taken at our Centennial Water Park in our Snake River Canyon. This place has special meaning for Britt. It was where her Junior Prom photos were taken.

Our Snake River Canyon has springs that leak through the walls. This is just on the right hand side of the road coming out of the canyon. The ice is beautiful! I took my son and daughter-in-law's engagement photos close to this area 2 1/2 years ago.

This one made me very nervous. This is a ledge that the kids climb down to stand under the waterfall in the summer. Hannah tested it before she put Britt on it.The tree behind her has a root base is 30 feet straight down. The tree is covered in ice because of the spray from the waterfall. The coolie that supplies this waterfall is a warm water coolie so it runs all year.

This one was taken on the edge of our canyon rim on a lookout trail. Still made me nervous as there was less than a foot of dirt before there was a sheer drop to the canyon floor. Kids are fearless!

Britt was a trooper. It was so cold and the wind was more than a little brisk. We were all freezing by the time we were done. Who knew you could take Senior photos in the middle of winter?

The second thing that made Wednesday awesome, was my grandson Jackson's 3rd birthday party. It was held at a local pizza joint called Maxie's.

Hannah loving Lily. Lily is sucking her thumb. Hannah and Lily are kindred spirits. Hannah still sucks her thumb.

Jackson in the middle of the present frenzy.

Rick and I gave Jackson the digital camera that he used during his Aunt Cassie's wedding. And he immediately wanted to take photos. This is a boy after his grandma's heart!

This is the amazing cake that Jackson's Nana Diana made. She has some amazing cake skills. He loved it!

Not much else happened that was blog worthy happened this weel. But what happened made it an awesome week!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

P.S. I made my goal of cleaning my house 2 weeks in a row! WooHoo!

An awesome week!

2011-01-14T19:02:00.003-07:00

This week was awesome!

It passed really fast!

And I got to do some really fun things!

Will post all about it tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Saturday and Sunday crafty progress

2011-01-09T20:36:00.015-07:00

I managed to be crafty both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I managed to get a muslin background row made for my Cathedral Windows wallhanging. I would share a photo, however a single row is boring. I will share the complete background once it is the right size.

I also managed to get my Christmas tree and decorations put away. Now I am sad, my house feels naked...

I also managed to clean my house between yesterday and today. I am doing a happy dance!

Today I crafted. I made a camera strap cover. I made it for a friend that had a bad week at work last week. I don't know all the details, just that it was a bad week.

Here it is being modeled on my Nikon strap. It is made with part of an Aviary charm pack.

I hope she likes it.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

My craft for last night

2011-01-07T16:25:00.014-07:00

Last night while I was watching TV, I actually sat and crafted. I finished a Grandmother's Flower Garden flower!

This is a project that I have been working on for a while, at least a couple of years.
I love hand piecing quilts. It is my preferred method of quilting.

My Grandmother's Flower Garden is in batiks. It will have solid black pathways between each flower. I am sure the batiks will pop! Here are the ones I have completed so far.

Tonight I am planning on working on my cathedral windows wall hanging.
Yesterday, my baby girl turned 19!

Somehow she managed to fit 19 candles on her slice of cake!

She treated herself to a new tattoo for her birthday.

This is her third one and probably not her last one. She loves them.

Hopefully I will have progress to show on my cathedral windows wall hanging tomorrow, or maybe Sunday. I have to take my Christmas stuff down and put it away tomorrow. It takes quite a while to wrap all my vintage ornaments.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

My New Years resolution

2011-01-06T16:37:00.005-07:00

My New Year's resolution has a lot to do with my word for the year.

Simplify

I have come up with a plan to do just that. I am resolving to clean my house weekly. I know I should be doing this anyway, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. So that is going to change. If I clean it weekly, it will be less work in the long run. This will simplify my life.

I love to do so many things. So I am going to set aside an evening each week for a craft I love. I will be able to get more of my projects done. I will be able to get back to making homemade gifts for my friends and family for birthdays and holidays. This will simplify my life.

I am going to organize my craft room closet. It has been utter chaos since we have moved into our current house at the beginning of September. I will have my crafty stuff out of boxes and more importantly, out of the basement. I will be able to see what I have and not spend money on items that I know I already have, but can't locate. This will simplify my life.

If these things don't happen for a few weeks, I am not going to stress out. I work in a high stress job. I teach children with behavior and emotional disorders. The less stress I have in my life the better. I will start asking myself before I take on a project, be it for myself or others, "Will this add stress to my life." This will simplify my life.

I plan on updating how I am doing on my resolution from time to time. To keep myself motivated and to see how far I have come.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

Wedding part 3

2011-01-05T16:04:00.018-07:00

I finally got the photos together that I wanted to post. First up is Rick walking Cassie down the aisle. Cassie had one of her mom's best friends walk her part way, her stepdad walk her partway and Rick walk her the rest of the way.Once we get the professional photos, I will show more of that.

Cassie has never heard Hannah sing as she had moved to Alaska in 2000. Singing is Hannah's passion and she is really good at it! Cassie asked Hannah to pick a song to sing. Hannah picked "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts.

It made both Cassie and Chris cry.

Here are our bride and groom just after they had been pronounced man and wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Chapman

Here are Cassie and Chris cutting their cake.

Here they are deciding if they are going to behave while feeding each other their cake.

Chris getting the garter for the garter toss.

Cassie and Chris's first dance

Father Daughter dance

Cassie with her neices, Sophie and Mya. They did an awesome job as the flower girls.

Here they are hamming it up for the camera.

This is Cassie's nephew and our grandson, Isaak. He and a friend were the ushers. He is rocking a pair of vintage Ray Ban's that Rick gave him for Christmas.

The next two are of Cassie's best friend, Melina and Hannah. They had quite a lot of fun dancing!

Here is our son Jake, his wife Becky, their son Jackson and their daughter Lilly

I think I am now caught up on my Christmas vacation sharing. Hope everyone's Christmas was filled with as much chaos and joy as mine was!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Wedding part 2

2011-01-04T19:55:00.028-07:00

I was going to post photos of Cassie and Chris's wedding today, really I was.

That being said, I have a confession to make.

I didn't take any photos during the ceremony. I am feeling so guilty about this.

Our professional photographers are friends of ours, they took our son Brady's wedding photos. The trust in my friends and Cassie's total planning threw me a little off-guard. I was way too relaxed, I was enjoying the moment!

Who doesn't take photos of their child's wedding? Me, I have to admit.

Thankfully our neice, Devin, took some that I can blog with until we get back the professional photos from Paris Studios. Now I just need to go through Devin's photos to see which ones I really want to post. And I can tell you know that I will post quite a few of them. Devin did an amazing job!

I have decided to show the bridal party gift bags that I made for Cassie to give to her maid-of-honor, her bridesmaids, flower girls and ring bearer.

This is a basic burgandy gift bag from Micheals. I forgot to take a photo of just the bag, so here is one with the tulle beginning to be attached with hot glue.

Tulle and gold ribbon, I cut the gold ribbon in half because it overwhelmed the tulle.

Snowflake ornaments from the Dollar Tree

Bridal gift tags/accents from the Dollar Tree

Burgandy bags dressed in tulle

Burgandy bags dressed in tulle and gold ribbon

Bags almost completed, pictured with some of the loot

Bags fully loaded with loot, waiting to be opened

Close-up of a finished bag. None of the "dresses" were duplicated. I used glitter gift tags that I bought at Walmart last year to identify each bag.

The girls and kids loved them. Made for a happy bride. Made a mama happy, happy to have been able to make these for my daugher, happy that everyone loved them.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello

2011-01-03T20:14:00.006-07:00

I was going to post my catch-up photos from Christmas Break today with a post of Cassie and Chris's wedding photos.

Cassie and Chris are leaving tomorrow, Cassie came out to spend time with us tonight so the photos will have to wait until tomorrow.

I sure will miss Cassie and Chris...just saying.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

P.S. Thanks to my neice, Devin. She took some amazing photos.

Christmas, Part 4

2011-01-02T10:06:00.017-07:00

To say that Christmas Eve was chaotic would be an understatement.

We started Christmas Eve at my mom's church in my hometown, 15 miles from where we live. The Christmas Eve service is always so simple and so beautiful. Takes 30 minutes tops. Hannah sang "O, Holy Night" for the service and more specifically for my mom. It is my mom's favorite Christmas carol.

On Christmas Eve, we had 22 people crammed into our house. We had Rick and I, Hannah, Cassie and Chris, Karen, Christy, Jake and Cassie's mom, and her husband Dan, Dan's daughter Bernadette, her husband Chris, their daughter Mya, Cassie's best friend Melina, our neice Devin, Rick's mom (she lives with us), our daughter Christy, her husband Brent, our grandson Isaak, our granddaughter Sophie, our daughter-in-law Becky, our grandson Jackson, our granddaughter Lilly, my mom and my dad.

To say that the present opening was a frenzy would be an understatement! With 4 little ones and two teenagers how could it be anything but crazy?

Here are two photos of the chaos.

This is Karen, my older kid's mom.

Cassie and Karen looking through a photo book of pictures of Cassie from when she was little that my mother-in-law made for her.

Isaak, Hannah, Cassie and Chris in their bomber hats that we got them for Christmas.

Grandma Verna and Lilly, who slept through the chaos

Rick watching the frenzy. Yesterday, I mentioned that Rick and I weren't going to get each other a present. Well, I didn't follow the rules either. Rick has an awesome Resistol cowboy hat that didn't have a hat band, so I bought him one for Christmas. I think it looks really nice.

The outside gang: Chris and Cassie, Karen, Brent and Christy and Rick

Hannah and Jackson in his Christmas jammies. Santas and reindeer in spaceships.

Hannah and Cassie posing for the camera

Here's hoping that your Christmas was as great and happy as mine!

Have a great day.
Donnelly

Happy New Year and Wedding, Part 1

2011-01-01T10:26:00.014-07:00

First off, I want to say Happy New year! Hope the new year brings health and happiness to everyone!

This is my word for 2011.
Simplify.

I am going to make an effort to be happy with what I have, use what I have, organize myself a little more and enjoy the simple things that make me happy!

So, in the middle of Christmas celebrations we had a wedding to prepare for! Our middle daughter, Cassie and her fiance Chris, flew from Anchorage, Alaska to spend the Christmas holiday with us and to get married on the day after Christmas. These photos are from rehearsal on December 23rd.

Cassie chose The Historic Ballroom http://www.historicballroom.com/ in our town as the venue for her wedding. It is a beautiful old building that used to house the Elk's Lodge in town. Now it holds parties, weddings, and concerts.

This is the marble staircase leading up to the ballroom where Cassie and Chris got married.

Here is how Sara, the owner, dressed up the chairs. I love the bows.

This is the stage where Cassie and Chris got married.

Hannah and her niece, Lilly.

Hannah and her nephew, Jackson. Jackson was the ring-bearer. He was very tired. Rehearsals were late and he didn't have a nap. He was not a happy camper. I let him use my purse camera to take photos during rehearsals and he calmed right down.

Here is what Grandma Donnelly looks like in the eyes of a budding 3-year-old photographer. I love it!

Here is Rick walking Cassie down the aisle.

Here is the run-through. Our choice for Pastor, Jenn Miller, is a friend of ours. She did an amazing job!

That is about all for the rehearsal photos.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Christmas, Part 3

2010-12-31T07:26:00.019-07:00

This year, we celebrated Christmas twice. The first time was at my mom and dad's and the second was at our house. We had to celebrate early as our son, Brady and his wife Kylie, were traveling to Seattle to spend the holidays with her family. Our first celebration was on December 17th.

Our younger children have always spent Christmas Eve watching the "Christmas Story" marathon on TBS. This year, Hannah told us about the "leg lamps" that Hastings carried. Perfect gift for Brady, you can tell by the look on Kylie's face that we had fed an obsession.

This is Hannah's best friend and roommate, Amy. We got Amy "Despicable Me", her favorite movie. Notice the hula hoop behind Amy? Kylie makes these for the classes that she teaches at the YMCA. They are weighted to give a maximum impact when you use it to exercise. This year, Amy, Hannah and our grand-daughter, Sophie got them.

Brady loves little ones. The tutu that Lilly has on was made by Kylie. I love handmade gifts. I got 3 wonderful handmade jar lanterns for my front porch. I can't wait to hang them up in the Spring.

Hannah got a hand-drawn Zombie Stormtrooper from Brady. Brady is a Starwars fanatic! Hannah shares the same obsession with Starwars that her big brother does. Hannah is also obsessed with Zombies. She LOVED her gift. Brady is studying to be a tatoo artist. Right now he is apprenticing with a well-known tatoo artist in Boise. He is actually selling his art while he is waiting to complete his apprenticeship. Hannah was so excited!

Kylie and Brady got Jackson a pirate cork gun. He has so much fun with it! He giggled and giggled, while he was shooting all of us with it. Definately his favorite gift!

Here is our daughter-in-law, Becky, with Lilly and Jackson.

Here is my mom with Lilly. My mom LOVES babies! Babies LOVE my mom. Many times since Thanksgiving my mom has been called the baby-hog. She just can't help herself.

Here is my dad with Lilly. Lilly was loving my dad. She was cooing at him and smiling at him. My dad has MS and is a bit shaky and usually refuses to hold babies, but he was so happy to hold her!

I got spoiled for Christmas. Rick said with Christmas and our upcoming wedding, we couldn't buy each other a present. Well, he didn't follow his own rule! I got a Nikon D-60 SLR! I have wanted a digital SLR forever. I love it!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Christmas continued

2010-12-29T12:43:00.012-07:00

Next up on my catch-up blogging is my Christmas Decorations. First up is my tinsel tree. I have had this one for about 8 years. It stands about 3 1/2 - 4 feet tall.

At one of our local thrift stores 2 days before Christmas, Rick found it's best friend - the color wheel. It was marked $30.00. That close to Christmas, I wasn't sure it was something we could pick up. However, the thrift store was discounting all Christmas Items 50%! So it hopped in my cart and came home with us.

I love the base, it is coated in big sparkly glitter.

Next are some of the decorations in my kitchen.

My vintage Santa mugs and vases

These little snowmen came with Rick when we got married. They have been a part of my Christmas decorating for the last 20 years.

And some of my snowmen with my miniature vintage tinsel tree

My milk glass compote with some vintage ornaments in it.
Next are my vintage angel carolers. They are in my bathroom window. They make me smile.

And Santa's hat on my coat rack in my craft room

Have a great day!

Donnelly

My Christmas Tree

2010-12-28T07:04:00.012-07:00

I was absolutely sure that I would have posted photos of my tree by now. But then Christmas and preparations for my middle daughter's wedding got in the way. Cassie got married the day after Christmas. Now that I am off for the next week, I am going to try to get in a post a day to get caught up with everything I have to share. So I will start with my tree.

So here it is before the decorations. Notice the way it leans to the side and to the back? When you get them in the mountains, they are not always perfect. That is just the way I like them. Lots of open space and lots of challenges-a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Here are the ornaments that I chose this year. Not all of them made it on, but most of them did.
This is just a few of what I have. I have tubs and tubs and tubs full of vintage ornaments. Rick and I spend a lot of time at the thrift stores and I just can't leave a vintage ornament behind. This season, I bought 5 boxes alone!

Here it is decorated. This year, I have 2 spinners that also move the ornament up and down. I also have 7 spinners that just spin. It is really fun to sit and watch, especially when it is completely dark outside. Next set of photos are some of my favorites.

I have fallen in love with these! They were made in Japan before WWII. I have two with trees, one with a snowman and one with a bird.

This one was made during WWII. The glass is bubbly is really pretty in the light.

This one was made during WWII also. It has a paper hanger. They came with paper hangers because the army needed all metal for the war effort.

This clip-on cockatiel came from a friend of my moms. She came from Germany as a young bride. She bought this for her first Christmas tree! She gave it to me, along with some pristine 50's Shiney Brights, when she found out that I collected vintage ornaments. I have had them almost 7 years now.

This is my most treasured. It was my great-grandma Stuhlberg's. She brought it from Germany when her family emigrated here in the 1920's. She gave it to my dad when he was a little boy. It was on our Christmas trees as a child. My dad gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Christmas Tree Hunt 2010

2010-11-28T08:03:00.010-07:00

Just when Rick had convinced me that we should have an artificial tree this year, our children informed us that we would ruin Christmas for them if we didn't go to our South Hills to get a tree. So, Rick and I, Brady and Kylie, Hannah and her best friend Amy, and Jake, Becky, Jackson and Lilly went to get our trees.

Hannah and Amy with their tree

Jake, Becky, Jackson and Lilly with their tree

Becky and Lilly

Jake and Jackson, Jackson never quit running!

Brady and Kylie

Our family that went tree hunting

View of the scenery on the way up

Deer in a farmers field at the bottom of the mountain, this was one of two herds in the same field

It was an awesome way to spend a Saturday morning. Now I just have to finish getting my ornaments and decorations out of our storage unit! Not sure that will happen today. We are experiencing blowing and drifting snow today. Winds in excess of 40 mph, not sure we're going to get out. Might be drifted in!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

SNOW!

2010-11-23T06:51:00.006-07:00

We are in a blizzard warning here in the Magic Valley! We are supposed to have another 6 to 8 inches of snow today, and the winds are blowing at 33 mph with gusts of 41 mph right now! And the blizzard hasn't even got here yet! We are supposed to have winds of up to 60 mph winds. We have huge drifts, the wind is blowing so hard right now, I can't get out to take photos of them.

Here are some photos that I took over the last weekend. The snow started Friday night and we have had snow everyday since then!

This is the view out of my craft room window on Saturday morning. I love the light that was coming through. Makes everything so soft!

Hopefully, I will have photos of the drifts tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

2010-11-16T05:44:00.001-07:00

I am getting really excited about getting these in the mail! Shutterfly is so easy!

Classic Without Edge Wedding 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Wedding announcements waiting for approval!

2010-11-14T16:01:00.021-07:00

Our middle daughter, Cassie, is getting married the day after Christmas.

Her love story is sweet! She is marrying her high school sweetie. Funny thing is that we didn't even know she had a high school sweetheart. Chris moved to Alaska to be with her. Now they are coming home to get married since most of both families live in the same area.

Today I have attempted to add the final draft of both the invite (for people who can come) and announcements (for people too far away to come) to my blog. Shutterfly offers a Blogspot link to post your projects to your blog which is cool. But the link keeps posting to a group blog I belong to that deals with quilting instead of my personal blog. And I tried to link it to my sidebar, but that didn't work either. I am uber-frustrated, but determined!

Here is what the invite cover looks like:

And here is the inside of the invite.

Here is the announcement for friends and family that can't join us. I am ordering them through Shutterfly. The prices are great and I a super excited to get these and get them addressed and sent out. I am getting excited for the wedding!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Baby Shower

2010-11-09T16:36:00.011-07:00

This last weekend, I had the priviledge of attending a baby shower. It was for my daughter-in-law, Becky. It was so much fun to be honoring a new mother with a group of beautiful women!

The shower was put on by Becky's good friend, Keisha. I was very remiss in not getting a photo of the two of them. I was having so much fun!

It was held at Becky's mom and dad's house.

First photo is of Miss Lilly wearing the hat that Keisha made. It is adorable!

Next up is the beautiful table that Keisha set for all of us. We had mini-quiches, asian spring rolls, cupcakes, individual pumpkin cheesecakes and spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Yummy.

Keisha made a tutu for Lilly's first birthday and a hair ribbon hanger for Lilly's bedroom. You can see glimpses of them in the table photo! Keisha is an amazing crafter.

The next photo is of Becky with the afghan that my mom made for Lilly. My mom makes the most amazing baby afghans. Lilly's big brother, Jackson, still naps with his!

Next up is a photo of Lilly's big brother, Jackson, in his cowboy outfit that we bought him. Can't have a 2 1/2 year old at a baby shower without presents!

He got a lot of presents which is always fun. Most of them related to Toy Story 3. Jackson is all about Woody from the Toy Story movies and cowboys right now! He was NOT into having his picture taken right now, so I have to sneek them!

There are no photos of me holding Lilly at the shower. I have been trying to recover from the flu and I am still feeling under the weather. I would hate to think that I could pass something on to such a little one. So I will wait until I feel a lot better, just in case.

I was indeed blessed to have had such a fantastic girls' day out! And I would like to thank Keisha and Becky's mom, Diana, for such a great time!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Sheriff Woody!

2010-10-31T18:21:00.009-06:00

Sheriff Woody came to visit us last night for trick-or-treating!

Sheriff Woody looks alot like my grandson Jackson...just saying!

Our daughter-in-law, Becky, wasn't feeling well last night, so we missed seeing our Miss Lilly as a ladybug.

I finally got the flu myself, so it is probably a good thing that Becky and Lilly didn't come to visit, I would hate to pass on what I have. Not fun! Hope Becky feels better soon!
Have a great day!

Donnelly

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-28T19:53:00.006-06:00

Thanks to my friend, Diana (my daughter-in-law's mom), I have plenty of pumpkins for Halloween! Diana gave me these decorative pumpkins, at least 9 pie pumpkins and 4 HUGE carving pumpkins. I gave Hannah and her best friend, Amy, two of the carving pumpkins.

Tomorrow I will be carving our 2. I can't decide on a "fancy pattern downloaded off the internet" or the basic "stick a knife in and carve what amounts to a stick figure" image. Because I don't have young kids at home anymore, I am leaning towards the "stick the knife in mode".

Sometime this weekend, I will be cleaning out the pie pumpkins and baking the flesh to store for Thanksgiving pies and I will be roasting the pumpkin seeds.

I love roasted pumpkin seeds! My favorite is the original Martha Stewart one with sea salt and crushed rosemary. However, I have found a curried Indian recipe that looks awesome as well.

I love Halloween!

Donnelly

Incredible!

2010-10-18T19:45:00.008-06:00

We, in Idaho, have been blessed with wonderful weather in the mid-60's to mid-70's.

Our first snow was on October 4th last year.

This year we are still picking ripe tomatoes from our gardens!

And we are still cutting roses from our rose bushes!

When I was cutting these roses on Sunday afternoon, each bloom was full of honey bees. They seemed to be fighting for the honor of the lady flower. Each bloom had 3 or more bees in each bloom.

I am bittersweet about the honeybees, this time of year they should be hibernating...loved watching them and listening to them. Sad to see they were still out and about at this time of year.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! I am!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Miss Lilly SheRie Webb

2010-10-08T20:04:00.007-06:00

My second granddaughter Lilly was born on Tuesday, October 5th at 1:44 P.M.

She weighs 7 pounds, 14 ounces and is 21 inches long.

She is the daughter of my oldest son, Jake, and his wife, Becky.

Her big brother is Jackson.

Her grandpa is likes her alot.

I kind of like her alot, too!

October 5th was a great day for our family!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

My new kitty!

2010-09-11T18:23:00.005-06:00

We have inherited a new kitty! He is an outside kitty. Don't know what his name was before...

I have named him Skye.

First thing Hannah wanted to know, did I name him Skye after Skye Masterson from "Guys and Dolls". Her very first and most vivid musical memory. Rick was Big Julie in "Guys and Dolls" when Hannah was 3 or 4 years old.

We, in the Webb household, think that Skye Masterson was Marlon Brando's best role!

I named him Skye because he is the color of clouds, all white, grays, and browns. He also has the most beautiful sky blue eyes.

He sits on the front porch in my glider rocker waiting for me to come home in the afternoons to sit with him in my lap. I won't ever get all my stuff out of boxes if the front porch rocker and this kitty keep calling me in the afternoons...

Seriously!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Feeling a bit better than my last post!

2010-09-02T18:35:00.007-06:00

I have re-read my last post and have decided I sounded a bit like Eyeore from Winnie-the-Pooh fame. All gloom and doom and poor me!

We have managed to get most of our stuff out of the old house. I have my craft room, bathroom and most of our downstairs family room packed up and either in storage or at the new house. Our oldest son, Jake, and our daughter, Hannah, have been a blessing! They will be helping us again tomorrow. Tomorrow we are moving the bedrooms. Saturday will be filled with moving the big stuff like the pool table, the kitchen table and the fridge as well as our donkey and goat. Sunday will find Rick and I at the old house cleaning out the garage and the storage shed and vacuuming/cleaning the house in order to give it back to the landlord.

I have taken photos over the last few days. This photo is of Rick's International pickup in the barn. First photo I took! I have always wanted a barn. It will take a lot of work to clean out, but well worth it!

Next is a collage I have made of the photos I took today. They are of the things that I really like about the house and the property!

Well, I am going to go pack more things from my china hutch.

Will post more photos when I get my stuff moved in the way I want it!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Life gets in the way!

2010-08-27T16:53:00.004-06:00

Life sure does get in the way, sometimes, sure has gotten in my way a lot lately!

Last time I posted, was the day before the 4th of July. We sure did enjoy ourselves, I always love the fireworks and spending time with family and friends! I sure wish all my kids could have been there, only Jake and his family and Hannah and her best friend, Amy. No photos, it seems like I never get any photos of our celebrations.

Hannah moved out on the 1st of August. She and her best friend Amy moved into a studio apartment in town. I guess they have to grow up sometime, I just wish it hadn't broad-sided me. I made curtains for the main window. They are brown and white polka dots with a bright blue and orange stripe in the middle. It's a really cute place. I just bought her a coffee maker and a mini griddle so she could have coffee and they could make pancakes. That part has been fun, buying stuff to make their place cozy. I am going to make curtains for the kitchen area. I am using a Moda Bake Shop pattern that uses honey bun strips and wooden beads. The kitchen curtains will be brown, pink and lime green. All of the colors are based on a set of curtains the girls bought to hide the "bedroom nook" area, brown curtains with bright blue, yellow, orange, pink and lime green daisies.

Rick's mom came home at the end of July. It has been a roller coaster ride with her. She refuses to eat a lot of the time and she refuses to take her medications when we give them to her. She has been hiding food in dresser drawers after we take it into her. We have had to put a food ban on her bedroom. Don't need mice! We have had home health coming out as requested by the doctor, but she refuses to participate in what they need her to do about 50 % of the time. Today she refused to do physical therapy and let the bath aide give her a shower. She hasn't had a shower in over a week. It is really very frustrating!

On top of everything, we are moving to a new house, within the next two weeks. A much smaller house. We don't need 5 bedrooms and an $1800 rent payment now that Hannah isn't home and we have huge bills that mom's medicare won't pay.

I really like the new place. It is a farm house that was built in the early 1900's. My kind of house. It has a barn, an orchard and a garden. I am so excited for the garden. I have always wanted a garden space. As soon as we move in, I will be requesting seed catalogs so I can plan what I want in my garden. I know I want scarlet runner beans for sure. I know I want pumpkins. I know I want heirloom tomatoes. And the orchard has everything but citrus trees, citrus trees won't grow here. I will have peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, apples, and cherries. There is also a very large raspberry bush that is full of fruit. I am going to have to learn to can! I have always wanted to learn to do that.

The house itself has beautiful old wood window seats and door frames, a huge kitchen with a fireplace, a cute little area off of the garage that has views of the mountains, and a front porch. I am sure there are hardwood floors, but they are covered with wool carpet. Not sure that is to my liking, but when you rent, there is not a lot you can say about it. I am claiming the front bedroom for my new craft room. It has two windows with window seats. Not a huge room, but I don't need a huge room. I just need a place to escape when things get to be too much. The new house doesn't have a family room like the place we are living now, and the basement family room has been where I have gone when I am stressed out.

Not excited for the moving process. I hate packing and hauling boxes. On top of that, my rheumatologist discovered that I have tendinitis in my Achilles tendon and the tendon is ready to rupture. Had to have an MRI on Thursday, the radiologist found something because he did a second set of scans higher up in my ankle and calf. I have been warned that I will probably need surgery, I am just hoping that it holds out until after we have gotten moved in to our new place.

I have spent the summer, teaching 31 students with behavior/emotional disorders. During the school year, I have a total of 10 to 12. Very draining on any reserves of sanity I had left. I am extremely grateful for the staff I work with on a daily basis, I have them to thank for what sanity I do have.

I haven't looked at any blogs, haven't really done any crafting of any sort. I am trying to tat, but I keep messing up. Must be the stress.

I sure hope that once we get moved and settled in that things go back to normal and I can get back to my happy place.

On a good note, I have the next 10 days off, which will be spent packing boxes and moving. Maybe not such a good thing!

Love,

Donnelly

4th of July Celebrations!

2010-07-03T18:58:00.005-06:00

The 4th of July is on a Sunday, as you well know. In our community, Sundays are sacred as well they should be. This year, our community struggled with whether or not to have fireworks tomorrow or on Monday. We were supposed to split our celebrations over three days, now it is over two. Our community fireworks were supposed to be on Monday, July 5th; but due to overwhelming community support, they will be tomorrow. The small town that hosts the biggest, and maybe the only parade in our area had their parade today.

We were facing the prospect of going to the parade alone. Hannah graduated this year and is out of town. We were facing the prospect of having no kids to watch the parade. Thanks to our son Jake, his wife Becky and our grandson Jackson, we had one of our children (out of five) and one of our grandchildren (out of four; well, two if you count Jackson's sister who is due in October) with us.

The weather this year is so different from previous years. We had to wear sweaters and cover up with blankets. It was pretty chilly this morning. That being said, we have burned crispy in previous years, sometimes before the parade even started (it starts at 10:30). This is the second year in a row there was no military fly-over. Hello? We have been going to this parade for 20 years. 18 years of fly-overs and then no fly-overs for the last two? Sucks!

The parade was nice. We loved the color guard carrying the flag, the civil air patrol youngsters carring the flag, the old cars, the tractors and the floats that threw candy (for the kids)! We loved the 59 buick, we loved the pretty girls (aka rodeo royalty), we loved the wagon pulled by 4 draft horses, we loved the miniature horses pulling the buggies, we loved the Shriners riding the little cars and the little motor cycles. I loved the green tractors (John Deere), while Becky, Jackson and my friend Terri loved the red tractors. Becky's dad and Terri's dad both drive the red tractors (International/Case). Every year there is a guy that rides his John Deere while standing up and spins it in circles, always my favorite. I always stress out that he will turn too sharp and have an accident, every year. A couple of years ago he wasn't there and we were all sad.

We didn't like the black powder rifle association firing their loud, stinky guns, they are always in the parade. They have never been our favorite.

Like I said before, only one of our 5 were home for the parade. Only two of our 5 will be home for the fireworks. Christy and her husband, Brent and our grandkids, Isaak and Sophie, live in Phoenix, Arizona. Cassie and her fiance, Chris, live in Anchorage, Alaska and are camping this weekend. Jake, Becky and Jackson are here with us. Brady and his wife, Kylie, are in Boise, our state capital, where they live. Brady is training for a 1/2 marathon this month and a Reno, Nevada to Sacramento, California bike race in August. They will be spending the holiday with friends. Hannah has spent the weekend with her best friend, Amy's family, in Pocatello and will hopefully be home tonight or tomorrow morning.

Our local college hosts the fireworks. They always start around 10 P.M. It is our tradition to get there around 2 P.M. and stake out a spot. We always bring our grill, plenty of blankets, food, drinks, and games. We always keep the grill going long enough to make s'mores for anyone who wants one! We always are just beyond the bounderies of where the fireworks are let off. We always feel the fireworks in the ground and in our chests. We always have between 30 and 60 people in our spot by the time the fireworks start! We have been doing this for 20 years. We have our family, their extended families, our friends and their extended families. In a couple of our cases, we have our grandchildren. This is my birthday and anniversary presents rolled into one holiday!

Even though I am sad that I won't see all of my kids tomorrow, I am grateful that our children are in good health, our grandchildren are in good health, our friends and their families will be with us tomorrow. I am also grateful that my mother-in-law is in good hands and recovering well. I am happy that my dad made it through hip replacement surgery yesterday.

Hope everyone has as much fun as we will tomorrow and that everyone is safe!

Love,
Donnelly

Too long between posts

2010-07-01T11:36:00.002-06:00

It has been so long since I last posted. My mother-in-law has been in poor health the last little bit and we have finally found out that she needs to have a heart valve replaced and a bypass. We are in our capital city, Boise, at the hospital waiting for her surgery.

We are relieved that she is going to be getting better!

Love,

Donnelly

Graduation!

2010-06-06T15:03:00.011-06:00

Hannah graduated yesterday! I now no longer have children in school. Makes me rather sad, I must say. Graduation was nice. Pretty short compared to all our other children's graduations. Hannah's class only had 79 graduates, our other kids' classes had well over a hundred.

Hannah and her best friend Amy

Hannah and Amy

Hannah, Rick and I

Hannah and my mom

Hannah her oldest brother Jake, his wife Becky and their son Jackson

Hannah her oldest sister Christy, her husband Brent and their daughter Sophie

Hannah her older brother Brady and his wife Kylie

Hannah and her friends Shelby and Kayla. Hannah has know these two since they were all 5!

Hannah, Kenzie and Mallory. Hannah has also known these 2 since they were all 5!

Hannah and her friend Renuka. Renuka is an exchange student from Thailand.

I am going to miss going to school events and school sports, but I am excited to watch Hannah grow and I am excited about what is in store for Rick and I.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Scapbooked, today!

2010-05-09T19:53:00.013-06:00

I actually scrapbooked today!

I hate to admit how long it has been since I have actually scrapbooked for me.

I made a wedding album for my daughter-in-law, Becky, for Christmas 2008. It was of Jake and Becky's wedding photos from June 2006. I will have to ask her if I can have it back for an afternoon to photograph it.

I also made an album for my daughter-in-law Kylie in July 2008, It was of Brady and Kylie's wedding photos from June 2008. Again, I will have to ask Kylie if I can have it back for an afternoon to photograph it.

I haven't scrapbooked for my albums since 2005! I have a ton of excuses, but none seem to really matter much, not even to me. Hannah has been spending a lot of time looking at my albums lately and asking why they end in 2005, why there aren't more pages. So here is the start to what I hope is a ton of scrapbooking to come.

This is a layout of Hannah and Rick at the Filer High School Prom during the Father/Daughter Dance.

Here is a list of the products I used: the green polka dot is Bo Bunny, the pink and green patterned paper is The Girls Paperie by Margie, the circle journaling spots are Heidi Swapp, brads (unknown) flowers are various collections by Prima, cardstock by Bazzill and ribbon by Maya Road.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Slide Scans from my Childhood

2010-05-01T14:54:00.024-06:00

My mom gave me some money for my birthday, so I put a little money with it and bought myself a Film and Slide Converter by innovative technology.

There are some things that really drive me crazy about it. I have had to reload the software every time I plug it in. Visited their website, but it was not helpful. That being said I am still really glad that I got it. It has made me happy, made my mom happy enough to cry, and made both of my sisters happy. One of which I am not close with and we are now talking because I am sharing the photos with her.

A few years ago, my dad gave my youngest sister and me all of his slides from when we were little. There were over 400 of them! He quit taking slides in 1976. Then my mom dug through stuff and gave me as many of the negatives from our childhood as she could find that weren't destroyed in their basement flood last fall. I have noticed some from 1979. Hope there are some between 1976 and 1979, if not I am grateful for what I have!

Here are a few of my favorites of the ones I have scanned so far.

This is me (with the glasses), my sister Dana (on the left) and my sister Deon (on the right) circa 1974. This was the end of June in the mountains around Ely, Nevada.

This is my dad (I have always thought he looks like Elvis), Deon (my youngest sister on the left), Dana (my sister on the right) and me (on the far right) circa 1974. Same trip as the first photo.

This is my sister Dana and I circa 1971. The yellow knee socks make me so happy!

My sister Dana, my sister Deon, and Me circa 1972

This is me, my sister Dana, my sister Deon and my mom circa 1973

This is my mom and me circa April 1967. We both almost died the day I was born. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and I was blue and not breathing. My mom was hemorrhaging badly and almost died. That is why her arms are so bruised, from the hospital.

This is me and my Grammy Elsie, she is my dad's mom. Circa September 1967

This is my Grandpa Haines, me (on the left), Dana (on the right) and Deon (on the far right). We are "mooching" butterscotch lifesavers from him. My grandpa was my best friend for as long as I can remember. He died of a stroke on the 3rd of July 1991. But he knew my daughter Hannah was coming (her birthday was 01/06/92) and he was happy about it. We had told him in June that she was coming. One of these days, I will have to share Hannah's story about my grandpa. It is pretty amazing.

Thanks for indulging my trip down memory lane.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

New Prom Photos

2010-04-13T17:21:00.037-06:00

I have been trying to post this post since Tuesday! Today is actually Saturday, April 17th! Life gets in the way, for sure. Not sure anyone wants to hear the details.

So without further ado, here is my post about Hannah's Prom day.

When I was in school, Prom consisted of your date picking you up, a quick dinner and then going to Prom. When you were at Prom, you stayed long enough to drink some really bad punch, see who was Prom queen and have your photo taken as a memento. No one but the Prom royalty ever danced that I can remember. Fast forward to Prom day for my daughter and her friends. It is an all day event!

Our morning started bright and early on Saturday at 6:30 A.M. Hannah and her best friend Amy's Prom dates came over to our house to cook the girls breakfast. They brought and cooked enough food to feed an army! Cody even brought Hannah a vase full of long-stem pink roses! Hannah's friend Taylor and her date Michael joined the party in time to eat breakfast. The boys even rinsed the dishes and loaded and started the dish washer, how cool was that?

John (Amy's date), Michael (Taylor's date), and Cody (Hannah's date)

After breakfast, the guys took the girls to a couple of local attractions. First they went to Hop-To-It, where they enjoyed multiple bounce houses. Nykole and her date, Derek, joined the group there. Derek is my daughter-in-law Becky's cousin. Then they were treated to Nascart, which is a local go-cart place where they played pool, climbed the rock wall and drove go-carts.

Hannah, Amy and Nykole at Hop-To-It

After that, Hannah and Amy were mine and Amy's mom, Cindy's, for the afternoon. Cindy and I went to pick up boutonnieres first. Then we met Hannah and Amy at my friend Terri's salon for hairdos.

Terri starting on Hannah's hair

I swear Hannah's hair was 3 feet wide! It was huge!

Not sure how Terri got that huge hair to this stage. She is truly a master!

Amy, Terri, and Hannah

The photos I posted on Sunday were from the photos we took when the guys picked up our girls. The following photos are from dinner.

Amy and John

Derek and Nykole

Taylor and Michael

Hannah and Taylor

Cody and Hannah

Grand March started at 8:00 p.m. For those outside our area, Grand March is quite a thing in our school. Grand March is a presentation of all the ladies and their dates to family and friends, as well as presentation of Prom Royalty. Here are my ladies at Grand March.

Amy and John

Nykole and Derek

Taylor and Michael

Hannah and Cody

Cody and Hannah

Hannah said they danced until the prom was over! So different from my Proms!

I would like to thank Cody for making Hannah's Senior Prom so amazing. What an awesome young man.

I would also like to thank Hannah, Amy, Taylor and Nykole for letting me make dresses, alter dresses, help with date tux issues, pin boutonnieres and take lots of photos. Love you all!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Prom is finally here!

2010-04-10T18:05:00.006-06:00

It's officially Prom night. Here are my girls in their finery with their guys!

Hannah putting Cody's boutonniere on

Hannah and Cody

Amy and John

Taylor and Michael

The happy couples

The guys

My girls!

Can't wait to see them at Grand March!

Have a great day, I have!

Donnelly

Prom Dress Photo Shoot!

2010-04-04T15:26:00.005-06:00

So here are the photos from our photo shoot last night. The photos were taken at our favorite blue door and a few at a local park by our Snake River. We would have taken more, but we ran out of light.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

My girls!

2010-04-03T20:38:00.005-06:00

Hannah and Amy have me wrapped around their fingers.

They are two peas in a pod! They both still suck their thumbs when they are bored.

Amy

Hannah

So my girls drug me out for an impromptu photo shoot at around 7 P.M. tonight. They reminded me that tomorrow is Easter and Amy has church and has to work at noon, so a photo shoot tomorrow wouldn't work. That and the fact that the wind had actually stopped blowing and it is supposed to snow tomorrow. Here is a preview of what we were doing.

We went and took photos of the girls in their dresses! More photos to come tomorrow!

Fred Meyer is open tomorrow, so I left my film there!

Have a great evening!

Donnelly

Finished Prom Dresses

2010-04-03T14:07:00.009-06:00

I am finally able to post our finished Prom dresses!

This has been a wild ride. I have made 2 Prom dresses in between March 16th and March 30th! It wasn't really as hard as I thought it was going to be. I was scared the most by the zippers. I hadn't sewn a zipper since I was in Home-Ec in high school 25 years ago. To conquer my fear, I watched videos on YouTube that showed how to do it. Piece of cake! The Internet is awesome!
And I only sewed through one of my fingers one time!

So, first photo is of Hannah's pattern. She chose the 'blue view'.

This photo is of the materials before I started sewing.

Next, is Hannah modeling her dress. I couldn't wait to take a photo, so please excuse the dark, inside basement, late at night photo.

Here it is with the ribbon roses and ribbon streamer. The pattern called for 18 small ribbon roses, Hannah decided that would be just too much. I handmade 3 large ribbon roses instead. Hannah and her friends decided one would do. I still like it with 3, but it is not my dress, and I want her to be happy!

And here are the shoes she fell in love with. She chose white because we are adding pearl/beaded shoulder straps that I found at the fabric store. Hannah just wasn't comfortable with the complete strapless idea.

Now on to Amy's dress! Here is Amy's pattern. She chose the 'blue view'.

Here are the materials before I got started. The fabrics look almost blue, but they are really a royal purple for the over skirt and the lining. Mustard yellow pool table is not really conducive to photo taking!

Next is Amy's dress waiting for her to try it on. She had to ref a soccer game, so she was not expecting it to be done. Hannah and their friend, Nycole, made sure that she had her eyes closed until she had the dress completely on. The look on her face was priceless!

And finally Amy posing for me in her dress!

I am so thrilled that both girls were happy with their finished dresses. Hopefully tomorrow, we will be able to get out and about in the sun with no wind to take photos in natural light. All I need is some good morning light with even a little breeze, so I am crossing my fingers and calling in my karma as we are supposed to have another wind-blown snow storm. We have had 2 of those storms this week!

Oh, and I altered another one so one of Hannah's friends could go to Prom. Nycole's dad wasn't going to let her go because of the cost of the dress she wanted. Well, we had an extra one hanging around that someone gave Hannah, so I made it over to fit Nycole. Now she gets to go! I am so excited for Grand March on Saturday.

Grand March is a tradition at our high school. The girls and their dates are presented to family and friends for photo taking opportunities before the Prom starts. One of my favorite things ever! Bittersweet this year as Hannah is our last!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Prom Dress update!

2010-03-22T07:56:00.003-06:00

No photos yet, sorry!

I have the bodice and the skirt + lining completed for Hannah's Prom dress. I have the overskirt sewn together and hemmed.

I was madly sewing away on the gathering for the overskirt and ran my sewing machine needle through my finger. That ground the dress making to a screeching halt!

I have been sewing on a machine since I was 6 years old, I have never come close to ever doing that! Let me tell you, it hurts. It went completely through my finger once and then the needle snapped in half as it was going through the second time, I am assuming it was because it hit the bone in my fingertip.

I am hoping to get back to working on the gathering tonight after work!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Beauty and the Beast

2010-03-15T07:44:00.005-06:00

Well, Beauty and the Beast is over. I am grateful that it is over and sad at the same time.

Grateful, because my feet are killing me from being on them for so long each night.

Sad because I really loved the cast and crew.

I have worked on costume repairs and alterations for the last 3 plays my family has been in, as well as ushering. This year I not only worked on costumes, I worked on props with my husband and was part of the stage crew. What a rush! I had NO idea how hectic and crazy it is behind the curtain. It is unbelievable. One thing I know for sure is that I will be helping backstage again for the next one.

In this play, Hannah was the milkmaid and a dancing plate.

Hannah as the Milkmaid and Keith as the Bookseller

Hannah as a Dancing Plate and Keith as a Fork

I am so grateful that Spring Break is this week. It will take a week to recover, I am sure.

Hopefully my next post will be about Hannah's Prom dress.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

A Big Surprise for Hannah!

2010-03-07T19:42:00.006-07:00

Today, Hannah and I met my mom in town to have lunch and hang out. We went to Chili's and had a delicious meal and then headed to Hancock Fabrics. My mom needed some thread and wanted to browse Hancock Fabrics fat quarters. Hannah and I were there to decide on fabrics for her dress and to get an idea on how much we were going to have to set aside on Wednesday to buy what we needed to make her dress.

Well, Hannah's surprise is that her Maga (my mom) bought the fabrics for her today, so Hannah wouldn't have to wait. What a lovely surprise for both of us!

Here are the fabrics Hannah decided on:

The Chartreuse green is the underskirt fabric, as well as the waist fabric and the pink is the over skirt fabric. Hannah saw this color combination at a Prom Dress shop in our capitol city of Boise while she was there on Friday for State Championships for boys basketball. She brought me a photo home on her phone to see what I thought. This is going to be one gorgeous dress.

Dress making will have to wait until after Beauty and the Beast, which is done next Sunday. Lucky me, I have Spring Break the following week, so I plan on doing some serious sewing that week!

Now we just need to help Amy, Hannah's best friend, choose her fabrics and I can hopefully start on Amy's dress too!

Have a great week!
Donnelly

Prom Dress Patterns!

2010-03-01T17:33:00.009-07:00

I found Hannah's dress pattern at Hancock's!!! She doesn't know it yet, as she is at the first day of softball practice. Here it is! She is doing dress A (blue) but probably not actually blue. We have a date on Saturday or Sunday to go to Hancock's to look at color choices. There are so many more color choices at Hancock's than our local Joann's Fabrics! I can't wait to see what she chooses!

And this is Amy's choice. She is going with the blue dress, but not in blue. Her favorite color is purple. And not just any color of purple, a deep royal purple. Can't wait to see what fabrics she chooses! Bonus is that all specialty/formal dress fabrics are 30% off through the month of March!

I am so excited that I have Spring Break coming up the week of the 15th through the 19th of March. The weekend before we have Beauty and the Beast. Monday, the 15th, Rick and I are taking rented costumes back to Salt Lake City, Utah. The rest of Spring Break, including the weekend of the 20th and 21st is mine to make dresses.

Tomorrow, I hope to share how Hannah was asked to the Prom.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Prom Dresses!

2010-02-28T18:24:00.002-07:00

Hannah, Amy and I went dress pattern shopping today. While Amy is delighted in her choice, Hannah is not. Joann's did have the pattern she loved in her size, so to surprise her I am going to go to Hancock Fabrics tomorrow to see if they have it. I sure hope so. As soon as I am able to get the pattern Hannah loves, I will post a picture of both patterns.

I also have some great news, but I have to ask if I can share it first.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Prom dresses...as in plural!

2010-02-24T18:02:00.010-07:00

I have to say that these two have me wrapped around their little fingers...Hannah and her best friend Amy.

Monday afternoon, I was bombarded with a huge request.

Both Hannah and Amy want me to make their prom dresses!

Hello, it is their Senior Prom and they are trusting me with their dresses!

Holy Cow!

Two Prom dresses before the 10th of April!

Smack dab in the middle of this is "Beauty and the Beast". The play will take 10 days out of the calendar.

Prom is on April 10th, so I will have about 34 days to come up with two dresses.

Here is a sample of what they are thinking:

I have a date with Hannah and Amy on Sunday to take measurements and go pattern shopping. Both Joann's and Hancock Fabrics have sales this weekend on patterns from various pattern makers. Once we get the patterns, then we will decide what colors, fabrics, trims, etc.

I am looking forward to this challenge!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hannah's Happiness!

2010-02-18T05:57:00.005-07:00

My Hannah has jumped into the blog world with her own blog! I am so excited for her!

Here is her blog: http://hannahshappiness.weebly.com

She has a really good post about getting asked to prom. I am so excited for her!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Happy Birthday, Webb!

2010-02-15T18:52:00.002-07:00

Today is Rick's 55th birthday!

Happy birthday, babe! I love you!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello, Saturday!

2010-02-06T14:58:00.007-07:00

Today brought our first trip out since Rick had his surgery on Sunday!

We met our son, Jake, our daughter-in-law, Becky, and our grandson, Jackson at Agri-Action at our local college this morning. For those outside our town, Agri-Action is a forum for the local agriculture equipment sellers to show their products to the public. We haven't been for the last couple of years.

Rick decided last night that he wanted to take Jackson today; so arrangements were made to meet the kids this morning.

I don't know who had more fun, Jackson or Rick. It took us an hour to meander through all the tractors and machinery and irrigation products and pick-up trucks.

All in all, a fun time. Jake and Becky took Jackson home to take a nap and I took Rick home to take a nap. I don't know about Jackson, but Rick was wiped out.

Hope everyone has had an awesome Saturday, like we did!

Donnelly

We're home!

2010-02-03T17:49:00.004-07:00

In all the confusion yesterday afternoon, I forgot to say that we are home! We were discharged at about 2:30 P.M.

I am so grateful to the following people who have helped us through this journey since Saturday night.

Dusty Blackburn-our E.R. Nurse-He was Jekyll and Hyde in the play Rick and Hannah were in in October by the same name. He took awesome care of my peeps! We couldn't have done it without him!

Tom Burby-an E.R. Nurse-The dad of one of Hannah's best friends, Candice. He has the same warm smile that his daughter has and the same delightful sense of humor! It was nice to have a little humor.

Shawna-our surgery day nurse. The most amazing young woman. Nursing is definitely her calling. Very funny and caring and warm! Even came to check on us when we were no longer her assignment!

Brittnie-our day two CNA. Again, an amazing young woman. Very caring. I think she checked on us more that any of her other patients. She got it! She understood that we just needed a friendly face.

Katrina and Rachel-our day two and three nurses. An amazing team of young ladies. Very caring and no nonsense, but not to the point that they weren't warm and caring. Tried their hardest to prod Rick into doing the things he needed to do to get to go home, such as walking, breathing exercises, eating, showering, sitting in a chair, coughing and so much more. Always on the ready to make sure Hannah and I as comfortable as possible.

We are doing really well today. I went to work today. When I got home, Rick took a shower all by himself. He even ate a real dinner. He hasn't eaten "real food" since Saturday afternoon. Lots of jello, broth, yogurt, eggs and pudding. Tonight he has managed to keep down Stroganoff!

I would like to thank all my family and friends for their prayers and support. I couldn't have done this without you all.

Love,
Donnelly

We might be able to go home today!!!

2010-02-02T09:51:00.003-07:00

Rick was supposed to come home yesterday, but his blood oxygen levels were not great and he had a little fluid on his lungs; so he ended up having to stay again.

Today, he got to eat eggs, yogurt and coffee. He got a shower and took his first walk of 4 for the day. Doc says he will probably get to go home today. I am so very thankful.

We had the most amazing nursing staff helping us. They were all very knowledgeable, and so very helpful! It is nice when you have friendly caring nurses.

I would like to thank all my family and friends for the prayers!

Have a great day!

Donnelly

2010-02-01T14:22:00.004-07:00

As I am sitting in the hospital, visiting my favorite blogs while I wait for Rick to be discharged I have come across "The Simple Woman's Daybook" entry for today and I decided that maybe I would play along.

Outside my window...is blue sky and the other side of the hospital. I haven't been home to look out my window since Sunday.

I am thinking...I will probably take tomorrow off as well, to keep an eye on Rick.

I am thankful for...My daughter sitting here next to me, keeping me company and the doctors and nursing staff that have taken such good care of us.

I am wearing...jeans and a long-sleeve sweater as it is a bit chilly.

I am remembering...how much I really love my husband.

I am going...home soon I hope.

I am currently reading...my favorite blogs.

On my mind...my 4 other children that can't be here with their dad and how stressed they are.

Noticing that...

Pondering these words...

From the kitchen...hoping to cook dinner from home tonight, something simple like scrambled eggs.

Around the house...managing to have the dishes done and the laundry done, despite the fact that I haven't been home much since Sunday.

One of my favorite things...listening to my daughter, Hannah, laugh.

From my picture journal...Hannah and her best friend, Amy, on Hannah's 18th birthday.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello, hospital...Updated!

2010-01-31T11:20:00.004-07:00

Last night, I had to bring Rick into our local emergency room. He had a gall bladder/gall stone attack. Hannah and I are currently in the surgery waiting room waiting rather impatiently for the surgeon to remove Rick's gall bladder and possibly his appendix. Looks like he should be able to come home tomorrow, hopefully.

At least this time, they figured it out. Last time we were here about 8 or so months ago, they couldn't tell us what it was. And we got our favorite emergency room nurse (who is a friend of ours) which cheered us all immensely.

All I can say is thank goodness for WebMD. He asked me to look up gall bladder issues, since it runs in his family and sure enough that is what it was.

Donnelly

P.S. We ended up having to have his gall bladder removed and then a second procedure to remove gall stones from his bile duct. He is resting pretty well right now.

New Musical News for our family!

2010-01-19T16:31:00.003-07:00

Hannah and Keith have parts in "Beauty and the Beast"! Hannah is the Milkmaid and Keith is the Book Seller.

Rick is sitting this one out until dress rehearsals this year. His Diabetes is out of whack, and he isn't feeling well. Didn't think he would have the energy to do this one. But he will be helping out back stage.

I will resume my postition in helping to alter/repair costumes and maybe help backstage, too! It was so much fun in "Jekyll and Hyde", I hope they need me!

The kids start rehearsals on Monday the 25th!

Have a great day.
Donnelly

Finally able to post with photos!!!

2010-01-14T19:37:00.005-07:00

I am SO glad to be able to post with photos again.

So, I am going to share my Christmas photos. These photos were a gift from my oldest daughter, Christy and my daughter-in-law, Kylie. I didn't get my camera out, but my super ladies rescued me!

From the top left corner: 1. My son Brady and his nephew Jackson (our grandson) 2. Hannah and her best friend Amy 3. my dad 4. Brady and his niece (Sophia)
2nd row: 1. Hannah, Rick, Brent (our son-in-law, Sophie's dad and Christy's husband), Amy and Christy (MY SUPERHERO, our oldest and Sophie's mom), 2. my mom (holding the blanket Hannah made her for Christmas), 3. Rick in his Boise State football Santa hat, 4. Sophie and Jackson
3rd Row: 1. Kylie (MY SUPERHERO, Brady's wife) Becky (my daughter-in-law, Jake's wife and Jackson's mom) 2. the photo that Kylie took of my tree, 3. Brady and my mom and dad 4. Jake (our oldest son, Becky's husband, Jackson's father) and Brady (our youngest son and Kylie's husband)

I was also going to post a photo of my Pepper. It is going to have to wait for awhile. He was attacked a second time. He didn't have to spend the night at the vet's this time, thank goodness. But he isn't up for a photo shoot. While the second time he was attacked was not as severe in some aspects, it was in others. He didn't have to have a shunt this time, but there were more bite marks and he had a massive amount of edema. He looks like a body builder on steroids. The vet doesn't seem to feel this is a problem and he continues on his second round of anti-inflammatory meds. His right eye was also damaged a bit. We have to put eye drops in them 2 times a day. Makes me crazy.

My camera is acting up, or I would have posted a photo of the antique champagne glasses that I talked about on New Years. It doesn't matter if I hold it or use a tripod, I still get massive amounts of camera shake. If it isn't one thing it is another. I am hoping to get a new camera for my birthday. I dropped a really BIG hint to Rick tonight. I am hopeful, but I will resort to buying myself a new one if I have too (another BIG hint)!

My word for 2010 is Breathe. I am using it to remind myself to be less of a pessimist and more of an optimist. I am using it as a way to remind myself to manage (nag) my family less. I am using Breathe as a way to live more in the moment. I am pleased to say that I have noticed a difference. Rick and Hannah have noticed a difference, too. I am going to continue to focus on my goal of optimism, less nagging and more living in the moment as the year progresses. I think this will help me on my journey in life!

I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday. I have had a long week at work. I am looking forward to housework, listening to a friend's band at a local pub, tatting on a pillowcase edging, maybe quilting on my bed quilt or maybe even starting a string quilt.

Have a great day.
Donnelly

My computer is home!

2010-01-14T16:16:00.002-07:00

Just when I thought I would never see my computer, it came home!!! Yeah me!
Have a great day!
Donnelly

No Computer News :((

2010-01-14T05:42:00.002-07:00

Well, there is no news on my computer yet. It is driving me crazy.

I want to post photos on my blog, I want to bookmark new blogs I have discovered.

I have been invited to a scrapbook party next Saturday and we have to take a digital 2-page layout we have created to swap with the others at the party; but can't make the layout because I can't load the software on my daughter's computer.

I am bummed out. Rick has promised to check on it today, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Happy Birthday Hannah!

2010-01-06T21:25:00.004-07:00

Eighteen years ago today at 4:00 A.M., my youngest was born. She was as impatient then as she is now. Our due date was January 13th. We managed to make 6 trips to the hospital including 5 trips with false labor. Our first trip was on Christmas Eve! Santa had to work overtime with 4 other children in the house that night. I can't imagine my life without her.

Two weeks after she was born, we found out that she would be the last. Sometime during my pregnancy, we had an issue with our blood crossing the placenta. When the doctor told us that it was a miracle she was born without birth defects, let alone born at all; we knew it was the right choice to make sure she was the last.

Hannah walked at 8 1/2 months and was talking in sentences before her 1st birthday. Must have been having 4 older siblings!

We knew she was going to be a singer because she could sing all the words to any song on the radio no matter what the genre was at a very early age.

On her first day of kindergarten, she told her teacher that her name was Hannah Banana Colleen Webb. We got a call that evening from her teacher questioning whether that was really her name. We still call her Hannah Banana; though most of us have shortened it to HB or just B. I wish I had a $1.00 for every time I have had to explain that her middle name is Colleen not Bea or Elizabeth or Beth!

I love this girl with all my being. She is one of my soul mates. Her happiness makes my soul sing!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Banana Colleen Webb. I love you!
Mom

BSU!!!

2010-01-05T17:03:00.004-07:00

Our Boise State Broncos capped off a great year by winning over TCU last night! Another undefeated season! 14 and 0 again this season! Another Fiesta Bowl victory! It has been so fun watching them this year!

What an awesome game! It was so very exciting to watch. Kellen Moore and the boys fought hard!

Here is a direct quote from my middle daughter, Cassie, on her facebook this morning, "Holy Crap, BSU fans threw up on my facebook wall...Wooohooo go Boise...I think..." Made my whole day. If her facebook page was anything like mine last night and this morning, it is no wonder she felt that way!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Boise State!!!

2010-01-04T21:11:00.002-07:00

We here in Idaho are cheering on Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. It is quite a game so far! Nothing like 2 teams with undefeated seasons playing each other! We have 2 reasons for watching.

First, is our Broncos are going to the Fiesta Bowl! For the second time in 3 years. And our Broncos are undefeated! BOISE STATE! BOISE STATE!

Second, is our oldest daughter and her family are at the game. We are watching to get a glimpse of our Sophie. We gave her a BSU t-shirt and the fancy eye-black for Christmas. Rick got a picture text of her in her getup on the way to the game. She looks so good! We also have other friends and family there. Hannah's good friend Will and his family are there as are our son Brady's in laws.

Another photo free post. I am once again borrowing Hannah's laptop. I got the news on my laptop today. The screen is shot. Good news is that Aaron's is sending it back to have it fixed. I cannot say enough good things about Aaron's! We paid it off on the 15th of December and have 60 days warranty after that.

Hannah is 18 on Wednesday! My baby girl is 18! Not sure how to feel about this. Where did that time go? I remember sending her off to Kindergarten in pigtails; now we have a tattoo and a pierced nose. Not that I would trade the way she is now for the way she was then--I am just wondering what happened to the last 18 years of my life. I don't feel like I have aged that much. Just saying.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

One Little Word 2010

2010-01-02T16:10:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers/creative people is Ali Edwards. I have followed her since she first posted in Creative Keepsakes. Ali is so uplifting as well as creative! I have chosen to take part in her "One Little Word 2010" project.

My word for 2010 is "Breathe".

I was reminded a couple of days ago by Hannah that I am a pessimist. And without much soul searching, I knew she is right. I am the "sky is falling" chicken through and through. I try to over-manage myself as well as my family. Plan for the worst has been my motto for a long time.

So I have decided to change that by reminding myself to breathe, to take life as it comes and live in the moment. Not sure that is exactly how that is going to happen, but isn't that part of living life in the moment?"

So now when I feel the need to yell "the sky is falling", I will remind myself to breathe and live in the moment-no matter what the moment brings.

Have a great day!
Donnelly

A Happy New Year wish to all!

2009-12-31T19:40:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-12-30T20:06:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-12-22T16:44:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-12-21T18:01:00.012-07:00

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!

2009-12-15T16:27:00.009-07:00

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!

2009-12-13T11:50:00.012-07:00

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!

2009-12-08T20:13:00.013-07:00

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!

2009-12-06T20:25:00.006-07:00

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!

2009-12-05T18:41:00.008-07:00

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!

2009-11-22T13:21:00.011-07:00

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!

2009-11-09T18:51:00.008-07:00

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!

2009-11-09T05:56:00.009-07:00

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!

2009-10-31T15:54:00.003-06:00

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

Milk Glass set for Happy Cottage Quilter!

2009-10-30T14:26:00.012-06:00

Happy Cottage Quilter posted her latest find on her http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/ blog.

I have this same set of milk glass salt and pepper shakers. Mine came as part of a condiment set. A friend of mine found them on her mother-in-law's property. She dug them out of the ground. Her former mother-in-law was a horder. Sheila knew that I collected milk glass, so she cleaned them up for me. The most amazing thing is that it is a complete set.

I am posting these photos for her.

Here is the little honey pot, complete with it's lid and dipper.

Sugar and creamer.

Oil cruette with it's stopper!

The tray with it's handle.

And as a finalle here is a photo of the whole set!

Thanks for letting me share with you!
Have a great day!
Donnelly

Oh My Gosh!

2009-10-27T23:48:00.003-06:00

Our Magic Valley Little Theatre's production of Jekyll and Hyde is amazing. I have been at dress rehearsals last night and tonight and I am amazed. Final dress rehearsal is tomorrow night. I am working costume repairs as soon as I get there tomorrow and then I will be taking some more photos. The few that I have taken have been SO blurry. So tomorrow night, I will move a little closer to the stage and see if that helps because my tripod didn't help much tonight.

Tonight was also Hannah's Fall Choir concert. How bad of a mom am I that I didn't know until yesterday that she was in two choirs this year? I thought that the choir director was just sending me grade updates twice. "No mom!" (insert eye roll here) "I am in Madrigals AND Concert Choir this year!" (Insert another eye roll here.) Both choirs did awesome tonight. Hannah sang a solo in "Seasons of Love", from the musical "Rent", and did a fantastic job! When I get a little more time, I will download photos from both the concert and the rehearsals. Right now I am headed to bed. I don't know how Rick, Hannah, Keith, and the rest of the cast stay up this late. It is now 3 hours past my bedtime for the second night in a row and I am exhausted!

Have an awesome day!
Donnelly