Christmas Eve and Christmas Day



Christmas Eve dinner was steak, shrimp and red pepper grilled on the George Foreman grill. The steak was to perfection and was still pink on the inside. No special seasoning except for my "no salt Greek seasoning" also on the plate was fried mushrooms. I tried to plate it to look tantalizing, not sure 'Gordon Ramsey' would be impressed. Also, on the menu was "Crispy Mashed Potato's" (you will find the recipe in the previous blog) salad and celery with dip and onion rye toast. JP had a bowl of fruit and yogurt for dessert. We enjoyed our dinner very much.



Christmas Morning ~ this is JP looking at his new scrape book I put together for him. The original scrape books were falling apart after 40 years!! I thought I would just get a couple of pages done, but managed to get 23 pages done from 1972 and into the start of 1973. Over the years, pictures and newspaper clippings were taken out and misplaced. So I had to really work hard at piecing it all back together again. (just like humpty~dumpty)

I really enjoyed doing this scrape book, so now maybe I won't be so fearful to try another one. I do have plenty of pictures that can be scrape booked using many themes.....my next book, (which I started about 4 years ago) are all my dogs. Now that Hyko has left us, I guess it is time to get that started again.



Here is a page from the scrapbook, I took a picture cause I wanted to see how it would turn out. So maybe during the course of the next couple of months I will take pictures of the scrape book, so you can see the lay-outs and what the book looks like. I know, I know, "you say.....I have seen plenty of scrapbooks" Ah....BUT, you've not seen this one!! Anyways, this is a picture of JP winning a feature race in his old car "169" in 1972.

 As I said, I really enjoyed putting this together as it brought back lots of memories. I was really looking forward to giving it to him......now I can finish it without being rushed. Christmas eve I received some racing paper and stickers that I had ordered last week. So I was able to organize the book a little bit more before giving it to JP for Christmas.



Christmas Day we spent a few hours at Jim and Arlene's house. Ham, dressing, peas and carrots, baked potato, pear salad, berry pie and tea. Then we opened some gifts....Arlene likes to go "thrift shopping" so I got a cook book full of cookies, JP got a doggie calendar and a picture frame with a picture of a cut-out doggie that looked like Hyko. The didn't know Hyko had died, and so the dog looked like Hyko. (sniff-sniff and sigh)

It was a nice visit, as we sat around talking about the Lord and reading and speaking scripture. JP and Jim can really banter back and forth pretty good and JP usually knows what address that scripture comes from. They both know the Word really good.

We left about 3:30pm and came home.......I guess I was tired, cause about 5:00pm I closed my eyes and did not wake up till 7:30pm...........whew, where did that time go?? So about 8:00pm I made a lasagna in my new little casserole dish from Kylie....can you imagine she paid $3.99 for it. Guess that is another picture for another time. (smile)

You are going to like this........so I made the lasagna and put it in the oven about 8:20, set the temperature for 400 degrees and FORGOT to turn the "ON" knob, soooooo needless to say the lasagna sat in the oven for 1 hour without being baked...........GOOD GRIEF where were my brains!!! So when I realized the lasagna was not baking, it was about 9:20pm. So about 10 minutes after 10pm we were eating lasagna............it sure was good, and well worth the wait or should I say weight....I think it was the new casserole dish that made it taste good.

Well, I guess this blog is getting a bit to long and no doubt you are getting bored with all my rambling. So I shall close for now. Hopefully I will get another blog in before the New Year. So you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

A Few New Cards Added to Etsy

Hi everyone........not sure how many that is, but hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday.....so much to do, so little time. Been watching some cooking shows on TV this morning and now I am ready to cook. My direction is towards tomatoes and peppers. Received a great surprise early this morning, JP came home with a big box of tomatoes and peppers from work. On one of the cooking shows, Lydia from Italy made "stuffed tomatoes" gonna try this one today for dinner, I have some big peppers in the frig, so I need to stuff them too. Made a big pot of rice and added some little sausages to that rice. Deydrated some peppers and tomatoes and will make some salsa also.

Was reading on another blog that today is "World Make a Card Day". Well for sure I will be making my Christmas cards tonight, but thought I would add come cards already made to this blog. Hope you like them.

The above card "Happy Anniversary with the two doves" was made a couple of weeks ago and just added it to my Etsy store a couple of days ago. (the card is $3.00 + shipping and postage) It was basically easy to put together. Using Wabashi taped on the card and the 3 silver hearts were punched out and glued on top of the tape. A border punch at the top for added pzazz. The doves were from  an Amuse die set, using the frame from the die cut and dabbing with pink ink to get the affect I wanted. The inside of the card says "Thinking of you on this Special Day"

This is my "The Flying Duck 1" card which I just added to my Etsy store last night the card  is priced  for  $3.00 + shipping and postage. A very fun card to make using a flying duck templates and stamping a scenery stamp on top then dabbing ink around the duck to fill in. A scripture verse added and the lines drawn in and studs added to embellish. 

I added this Christmas decoration along with a few other decorations to Etsy this past week. Little round disks punched out and folded to form the horn like sections then dabbed with gold speckles. Each section is glued together to form the wreath, Peace is calligraphied and speckled and the tree added for embellishment. This ornament can be added to your tree, on a present, on the door where ever you want to display this lovely ornament. The price is $7.00 + shipping and postage.

I have not added this card to Etsy as yet........it's a very fall looking card and looks like the duck is flying into fire or a sunset or sunrise. You can see the scenery stamp pretty clear here. Done pretty much the same way as the above duck card only adding squiggly lines. This card will also be $3.00 + shipping and postage.

As this post has gotten pretty long, I think I will close here for the day. You all take care and enjoy your Saturday and Sunday and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Something NEW in the making..............

This is frame #3 (and my favorite)...........something new I made tonight.........a frame that can hold a picture of your favorite person, a poem, a scripture, an affirmation, or a saying. This frame is actually hanging on the refrigerator.

I was given a challenge the other day at Inches A Weigh by Dave. "Make an affirmation and put it on a card, something that you can look at and read and make it a part of you to help you lose weight"..............I thought, that's a good idea.

Well, while I laid on one of the excercise beds at Inches A Weigh, this thought came to my mind, "Make a frame and decorate it" It can then hang on a wall, or put magnets on the back and hang it on the refrigerator decorateing it anyway I would like.
This is frame #2...................... This is the first frame I made........frame #1

They were alot of fun to make and I am sure I shall make more frames. I am planning on making a few frames for my Etsy store in the near future, so that will be something new for http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/ I probably will sell them for $10, with this you also will receive a one free card and/or a bookmark and thank you card.

Well, time to go to bed, it's getting late and tomorrow comes early~~~~~~Louise