...there's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.

....Well not quite a light, but more like a couple of branches have fallen off.....okay not a couple of branches, but more like half of one side.

What can we expect though....the was given to us for FREE from my mom who bought it if off e-bay for $10....we've had it for three years, but only up for two...last year we put up a little red tree for Andy's Star Wars' ornaments.

So, with a gift certificate from Andy's Uncle Donny, I bought us a new Christmas tree the day after Christmas when everything is half off....probably if I waited a couple more days it would of been 75% off, but then I risk that all the trees are picked over or none at all left. For $30, I think we got nice tree...so much simpler to put up.....instead of a having to put in each branch, all we had to do was install the bottom and let the branches fall down, since it has hinge branches....and too top it off, only three sections......SO NICE!

Oh, you want to know why we took down our Christmas and put up the new one instead? Well, simple, Santa Claus has NOT been to our house yet! He is coming tonight! We had to wait until Andy had another day off, which is tomorrow....Santa wanted to make sure all of us are going to be together.

And YES, I picked up two NEW very cute stockings!

Santa Still Hasn't Made His Stop!

Everyone keeps asking Alex what Santa brought him for Christmas.....Alex just says, "Nothing." You see, Santa Claus has not made his stop here yet.

I told him that we would not be home for Christmas, so he could skip our house for the time being and come Monday night (tonight), instead! I had to explain to Alex who he made all the stops possible....time zone, different religion, family gathering at a relatives house, and families not being home that night.

Even though we were not home for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, Santa still left a couple of presents at Grandma's house.

Christmas Day was a little hectic for us. In the morning, we opened presents at Grandma KayC's, with Uncle Kris & Aunt Andrea and the kids....Kamille, Aidan, and Ayla LOVE their quilts that I made them.

At noon we had to be at Nanna's (my mom's).....first time she has cooked and made an actual meal, where we sat down to eat....usually she just has finger food, which I'm okay with. More toys, but also some coloring stuff as well, which they love playing with.

Later in the day...about 5:30 pm.....we went to Nana & Grandpa's. More & more & more toys....Nana always makes sure that she gets everyone something and spends the same amount of money on everyone....even Andy and me get something from her and it's usually more than what she should of spent on us...I keep telling her not to buy us anything and just buy for the kids, but she will NOT listen to me. Anyways, while there, Jon was playing in the stairwell and there is a door at the bottom, which he smashed his finger in, and not just once, but twice, with the same finger.....he finger nail is all black & blue....I just hope that it doesn't fall off.

So, since Santa is not coming until tonight, this gave me the day after Christmas to get some really great deals. V.Motion games by V-tech were BOGO Free, so I bought four.... I'm going to give Alex all of the games, but I now have them for Valentine's Day and Easter....also video games were BOGO 1/2 OFF....even though it was select games, I got a couple for the Wii and also the Nitendo DS Lite....all at Toys R US. At Target I got a new Christmas Tree....about 15 branches broke off of ours...a few NEW ornaments...the boys get one each year....and also NEW Christmas Stockings.

Until next time....
Claire

Nephew #2 Quilt is Done!

The quilt that I need to mail out tomorrow, is FINISHED! I've been working on it for the last four hours, while also doing laundry (3 loads) and I helped the kids pick-up toys before the went to bed.

I took pictures of it, but I'm too tried right now to get them posted....so hopefully I can get that done sometime this weekend.

Tomorrow we have Family Christmas with my dad's side of the family. It will be different this year...2nd year that he has passed away, and also my oldest step-sister and her family will not be there. They moved to Colorado a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping that they'd be here, so I could at least see her kids.

Anyways, first thing in the morning, I need to go out and find something for my stepmom, but she is the hardest person to buy for. She's not a candle or The Body Shop or one of those pre-though of, pre-packaged gift kinda of gal. She's more of a practical person, but that's I go completely blank. I haven't really been over to see her since last year....it's hard, since everything reminds me of dad.

So, maybe I'll just get her a gift card, even thought I think a gift card is a coop-out. I feel like I was lazy about the gift, but at least I know she's not going to re-gift it or through it out or sell it in a garage sale....

We'll see what happens...I usually find the best gift at the last minute!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Where has the time gone? SERIOUSLY! I can't believe that a week from Friday it will be Christmas Day.

I feel like I haven't gotten any of my Christmas shopping done....oh wait...I HAVEN'T! But, at least I do NOT have to shop for the nieces and nephews this year, because as I have mentioned all year, I making them a quilt....they all have too many toys anyways.

Now this is where I'm starting to get into a bind....I have three quilts left to finish....one to bind, one to quilt, and one to make a bottom for. Well, I think I'll get them all done, but I need to get the one that still needs to be quilted DONE....this one will need to be mailed out. I'm hoping to get it done by Friday and get it in the mail by Saturday. Fingers Crossed!

Maybe, I wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't been distracted, by two birthdays, decorating the house for Christmas, and trying to decide how to juggle all the Christmas' that we'll need to go to on Christmas day.

Turning last years Christmas cards in wall art....

Adding ribbon to basic pieces that I already had in the house.



Putting the tree up...


And creating a fabric wreath that Rachel created for Moda Bake Shop ....

So, that completes the Christmas decorating....I know it's not a lot, but it's usually just the tree...I've gradually adding to the decor every year.

I Believe in Santa Claus

When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I remember seeing Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer flying the in the sky on Christmas Eve.....I know because it was soooo dark out that all I could see was Rudolph's bright red nose.

Now earlier that day, we were at Grandma Scott's for the family Christmas gathering (my mom's side, with 3 bothers and 2 sisters.....Uncle Terry, Aunt Trelby(sp?), Uncle Kim, Aunt Karen, my mom Gail, and Uncle Alan). There was a gift exchanged and I remember I received a Popple, a purple one.

Later on, someone, but I don't remember who, read the book "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" by Golden Books that was based off of the movie, to all the little kids that would sit still and pay attention.

I remember that we got home late and was getting ready for bed and I just happen to walk over to the big bay window upstairs and looked outside..... And there in the far the distance night sky was a bright red light.....Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! I shouted to my mom to come and look and she told me that I better hurry up and go to bed or he might skip our house. I don't remember a time when I ran to bed any faster than I did that night.

Yes, I did make it to bed in time that night, because in the morning there were a ton of Christmas presents under the Christmas tree.


Now I have remembered this memory a couple of years ago and I like to think about every year around the Christmas Season. I think I have to give credit to my mom for not ruining my sighting of Santa Claus that year. I don't remember how old I was when I discovered the truth, but I wasn't completely shocked. And I didn't put two and two together until recently, of what my childhood memory really was.

What I really saw was the red light on top of the water tower that is located on the other side of town. But from that far away and through all the trees what a 4 or 5 year old little me saw was Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer making their way throw the little town of Hicksville, OH.

Happy 2nd Birthday Giovanni

We celebrated LJ's 2nd Birthday yesterday, even though it is technically today.

Cake and Ice Cream...

And of course lots of presents (mostly toys that he really doesn't need, but who can resist giving a little boy a new toy)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

One Quilt Done....4 More To Go

Finished one of my nieces quilt today....


Also, last weekend I finished the top to one of my nephews quilt....

Busy...Busy...Busy!

I haven't posted anything latelyfor several reasons...

#1 - I've been working on the quilt with the plaid material, which is still in the works.
#2 - The WHOLE family has been sick...started two weeks ago, when I got a phone call at work to come pick up Alex because he has a fever of 101 Degrees F. He stayed home with me the whole next day, but nothing...no fever.

So, the boys went to Grandma & Grandpa DiTommaso's for the weekend...and that's when things started to get bad...well actually when they came home. Alex was complaining that his ears hurt and Grandma said that LJ sounded a little raspy throughout the day on Sunday.

And being the good mommy that I am, I have LJ a breathing treatment Sunday night along with a does of some medicine left over from the last time. I also made a doctor's appointment for both of the boys first thing Monday Morning.

Results:
Alex - ear infection in both ears...script for med to get rid of it. Easy-Peezy!
LJ - breathing treatment ever 3 hours with Albuteral and Pulmicort twice daily, also Orapred once a day, which is what I was doing the night before. No script needed since I had meds left over from the last time (back in August). And LJ had a fellow-up Tuesday.

LJ was up every two hours Monday night, which I had to then give him a breathing treatment, which really was not working for him. Tuesday at the doctors again, the doc said that I was doing everything right, but I alone can not do this at home and that he needs to admitted into the hospital where professionals can keep a better eye on him. SO, LJ spent the next two days in the hospital. NOW, he is doing just fine, but still on breathing treament for the whole winter season.

Also, Andy was sick last weekend, which he so was kind about it to give it to me. He's was better in about 3 days, while I've been suffering this nasty cough. The cough is so bad that I haven't been able to concentrate on things.

But thing are starting to look hopeful.....I've been hosing down the furniture with Lysol when the kids go to bed or right before we leave the house....I've never been so obsessive about it, but H1N1 going around, you can't be too careful.

Hopefully, I'll have more pictures of FINISHED projects this weekend.

Last Quilt for one of the Nephews

I had bought material back in April or May, but it was only the backing and another for the front main......so I've been racking my brain trying to figure out with material will look good with the front main.

Well this is what I found at Jo-Ann's...


I'm going to do a Disappearing 9 Patch Design with 1 or 2 pieces of the main material sprinkled into each row.

So far I've got the material cut, the rows sewn together to make the 9 Patch....right now I'm waiting for the iron to heat up so I can flatten the rows before making the final patch...you can visit P.S. I Quilt for a super easy tutorial....I know I did....and boy is it SUPER EASY!

Quilt Top Finished...

...one & a half to go...and then I have to quilt them all.




I'm a little disappointed about the top...my niece's favortie color is blue, but the quilt really shows a lot of brown....so to fix the problem I'm going to find some aqua blue fabric for the backing

Not Quite A Whole Year

My Blog-iversary is almost here (Nov 30)....

I'm thinking about coming up with something new, like personalizing it more. But this is conditional on me finding a CD of files that I created in college, about 6 years ago.

On this CD is a logo or label that I designed for myself to put on the items that I create.

Well, I thought I had found the CD, so I popped it in the laptop.....and here is what is on the CD.

My vacation to Arizona in August 2004 with by boyfriend (now husband), Andy. We flew into Phoenix, AZ and stayed for several days with his Aunt Connie, and then drove up to Kingman, AZ and stayed a couple more days with my Grandpa & Grandma Wofford (my dad's parents).

The pictures are from several locations...Sedona, Oatman, and just walking/driving around...now I really wish I would of paid more attention to what I was taking a picture of.












Now I'm off to find the CD that I was looking for in the first place.

Another Niece Quilt - Off to a Good Start

Well, I have the fabric all cut of for the the 3rd niece.....


.....time to get sewing!

Need to get Crackin'

As you call all see in my Project List, there are several quilts that I need to get finished. Well, "Joy in the New Year Challenge" is what this is all about....getting your quilts finished by January 1, 2010.

Well, I joined the challenge, but I really need to have at least 5 of them done by the Christmas Time. You see, I'm making a quilt for my nieces and nephews for Christmas, since they all have way too many toys as it is.....and for some reason I never know what to get them or what they like....kids' minds change too much.

As of today, I have only completed 1 quilt....1 is ready for binding.....1 top is ready for the batting ans back....1 top is only half way done.....1 the pieces are half cut out....and the last one I have 2 fabrics picked out and that is it. I figure I have about 5 or 6 weeks to get them all finished, since 5 of them will have to be mailed out. (I'm not sure if some of the family is coming home for the Christmas season.)

And then after the season is over I need to get working on a quilt for my Aunt Fay.....she is the only person in the family who did not get a quilt made by Grandma Wofford (her own mom) before she passed away. So, I told her that I'd make her one.

So, as you see I need to get crackin' on all of my projects.

Black Car

Ever since we got the Toys R Us Christmas flyer, Alex will not stop talking about a black car.

He keeps saying that he wants a black car. So I keep telling him that we'll put it on his Christmas List and that he'll have to tell Santa Claus.

Well today he was reminding me, yet again, and that he'll need KEYS for the black car too.

KEYS?!?!?!

Mini Vacation

Andy still needed to take his 3rd week of vacation, and since we, like most people, don't have a lot a moo-la to spend a vacation, we took a mini vacation.

Kalahari Waterpark & Resort in Sandusky, OH

We found a really great deal for $300 + tax:

Includes:

10.	TWO Night stay in a Beautifully appointed African-themed Hut Room for up to four guests.
9.	Admission to America's Largest Indoor Waterpark for each registered guest
8.	Breakfast for two adults and two children your first morning at Great Karoo
7.	Dinner for two adults and two children at Great Karoo
6.	Breakfast for two adults and two children your second morning at Great Karoo
5.	One 14" one topping pizza
4.	4 fountain sodas
3.	4 Safari Adventures Park Passes
2.	$20 voucher for Spa Kalahari services (reservations required)
1.	4 Mini Golf passes

And even though we didn't do # 1, 2, and 3...it was still a great price.

The Boys Having Fun in Tree Top Play Area....dry fun of about 3 stories tall

(Photo from Kalahari website)








Now for the wet part...the indoor waterpark......where we were at the water was a max. of 10 inches deep..prefect for the little ones.






There are a lot more pictures, but because the kids were always on the move, I couldn't get a good picture of them....but I think you get the idea of how much fun they had.

LJ loved the slide, especially when he was going down head first on his belly....that was until he got yelled at....Ohio State Law, can't go down a waterslide head first.

And Alex loved the other water slides, but NO pictures there because there is water coming down everywhere....the life gaurds even let LJ go down once...too BIG for him. He just zipped down the slide so fast he didn't even get time to enjoy what was going on...Andy was at the bottom of the d=slide to catch him and LJ was crying, Andy said.

LJ went down the orange slide, the one next to the blue one...photo from Kalahari website

LuLu

Her favorite place to sleep....

....the boys' chair!

Time for a Break

From Sewing that is!

I was working on a quilt, when I forgot to lift up up the presser foot and I was trying to loosen the thread....while my figure was down there, my foot accidentally hit the sewing machine pedal...

This what my finger looked like after it stopped bleeding. The needle went in through my nail and out the tip of my finger.....OOUUCCHH!

After about a week it started to heal and nail started to snag on things, so I had to suck it up and trim it the best I could....but I still wore a band-aid on it for about 2 weeks.

And to make matters worst, about 30 minutes after all this happened I tripped in the baby gate and clipped the back of my heel on it, which ended up taking a chunk of skin off of my heel. I was limping for about two weeks with this too.

Not quite a month later, my nail still has NOT grown back out and my heel still has a scab on it.

Some Things I Can't Explain

If you know my family, than you know my husband, Andy.



Things Andy Loves:

Anima

Star Wars

World of Warcarft WoW(that is starting to consume his life)

Comics

Star Trek

Computers

Rock N' Roll Music (Late 60's, 70's, & 80's)



Things Andy Hates:

Anything having to do with out doors (Mowing, Swimming, Hangout)

Country Music

Me being on the computer at home, taking his presious time away from playing WoW.



You get the point that I'm trying to make.



So, the other day we were on our way to a restraunt for dinner with the boys, and he was flipping through the radio stations, when we came to one playing "You Belong to Me " by Taylor Swift.



I asked him "You know that this is Taylor Swift?"

Andy: "Yes."

Me: "And that she's a country singer?"

Andy: "It has a catchy tune. I like it!"



I really don't know what to make of this, except for that is out of the "NORM" for Andy.

Sneak Peak of String Quilt

My piles of half finished blocks....




....there's a total of 48, that now, need to be ironed

Now that they're all ironed, they need to be cut into 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" blocks.

Since my square ruler is 9 1/2" x 9 1/2" I need to cut the top and side first,....

....then adjust my ruler to the new edges at the 8 1/2" marks
....and wha-la...my finished 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" block is done....

Only 47 more blocks to go!

But, I went a head to did four of them for right now, to show you where I'm going with this....
NOW ONLY 44 MORE BLOCKS TO FINISH!