Daddy Update #2

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and support. There must be some powerful prayer warriors in our midst, as he has surprised the doctors! He woke up this morning (his 82nd birthday) with clear lungs and was released from the hospital. What a birthday gift that was for him!

His heart is still very weak, and the doctors have said there is no way to fix it, so it’s just a matter of time. BUT, he made it through when they didn’t think he would, so maybe he has longer than the doctor thinks. I talked to him tonight, and he sounded good (although I talked to him the before he went to the hospital and he sounded good then, too.)

Finally I’m back home to the land of bandwidth! I have become so dependent on my computer, it makes me a grumpy girl when I’m cut off. I couldn’t get on at all last night, and I tried long and hard!

Today was travel day, and I’m a bit beat, so I’ll resume with regular posts tomorrow night!

 

Daddy Update

I am having terrible bandwith problems at the hotel tonight…am fighting for every page to load, but I’m so touched by all your comments regarding my Dad’s condition that I wanted to give you a quick update.

He made it through the night, and is actually showing some improvement today. He surprised the doctors, which is always nice. So, it looks like he will survive this episode, and we are grateful for that. He turns 82 on Friday, and I think he really wants to see this birthday.

Thank you all so very much for your kind words, prayers and support. It means the world to me.

It’s Not Happening Tonight…

Well, doing a whole post tonight is just not going to happen.

We flew down to Orange Co. today, getting ready to go to Disneyland in the morning, and I just found out that my dad is in congestive heart failure up in Oregon, and may not make it through the night…

My mind is whirling and I can’t focus.

One Little Word for 2012

Christmas is over, and I am going to be so busy for the next week, that 2012 will be here in the blink of an eye. With that in mind, I am in planning mode.

I have been hearing a lot lately about the concept of choosing a word for the new year that will guide you throughout the year. The idea is to make the word your own. Look at it, explore it, think about it often, weave it into every day of the year – LIVE it.

I have given it a fair amount of thought, and my word for 2012 is going to be “create.”

I have been on a creative journey for some months now, and for the new year the act of actually creating is going to be my primary focus.

It isn’t a real specific word. It leaves lots of room for exploring different mediums, new ideas, but it will remind me that actively creating is my goal for the year. I plan to go to bed every night reflecting on what I created that day, and envisioning what I will create the next, then opening my eyes in the morning anxious to tackle whatever “it” is!

I want to end the year having created a lot – product for my Etsy store, gifts, memories, meals, things for my home, pages for my scrapbooks.

But in addition to “creating” I also want to “re-create.” Part of this year-long project is going to be re-creating myself.

In 2012 I will turn 60. Yep. Six Zero. A huge milestone. I demanded a recount, but there is no escaping the reality. So, if I have to be such an “OLD” sounding age, I want to do it the best I can. I want to feel the best I can feel, look the best I can look and BE the best I can be.

Create. I am excited by the possibilities.

If you haven’t yet heard about my give-away in celebration of my 100th post, be sure to check it out!

A Day Of Rest

Well, I came home last night after spending Christmas Day at my daughter’s house, just a few minutes away, feeling like I was going to zonk out, but I seem to have a gottten a wee bit of a second wind. We had a wonderful day. The girls are at a really great stage where the whole Santa thing is fun. Hannah’s class got the bad news at school last year, but she played along nicely for her sister – not a slip!

The day was spent quietly playing with new toys and modeling the clothes and accessories, and Gaga gave everyone a few lessons on how to win “Bananagram!” Then cooking with my daughter is always fun. We lived with them for a little over a year when they first moved to this area, and cooking together every night is the thing I miss most.

We had Tofurkey with all the fixin’s. And, of course, overdid it again. Not glops of any one thing, just so many choices that even having just a dab of each makes you feel stuffed! I was REALLY glad we had decided against making pies this year (we had sooooooo much dessert left from Christmas Eve) And now all the left over fudge and cookies is at her house and not mine! Woohoo! It’s going to take me a week to get the sugar out of my system!

We noted this is our 40th Christmas together! In fact, the stocking I fill for Mr. Tattered every year is the one I still fill for him every year, including today!

Monday is supposed to be my day of rest. And I need it! After all the preparations for Christmas with all the trimmings, I have one day to adjust back to normal life before we fly down to Disneyland (yeah, I know…again! It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to keep Disneyland in business!) this time with the girls and our son, his wife and our grandson!

Then when we get back, we have our second Christmas with our son’s family, then to see Rain (the Beatles tribute!!!) with my daughter and daughter-in-law, and before we know it, it’ll be a new year! I have so much to do and so little time to do it, I’ll need to spend SOME time prepping for the week instead of being a bum!

Hope you all get to have a creative, restorative day before needing to get back to the world.

Merry Christmas!

As I write this post, it is Christmas Eve. The house is quiet except for the sound of my Carpenter’s Christmas CD, a family favorite for as long as I can remember. I’ve gotten out all the presents and am about to start wrapping. I don’t know why I always wait until Christmas Eve. I keep swearing to do it earlier, but somehow these last few hours of Christmas Eve have become my time to play Mrs. Claus, and I can’t seem to change it.

Earlier our daughter, her husband, his mother and the girls were here for “hors d’ ovres” for dinner and Jesus’ birthday cake.

This year I found a picture of the cutest brownie cake on Pinterest that I modified for us.

I made it out of gingerbread (2 boxes of Trader Joe’s gingerbread mix) and baked it in a sheet cake pan (cooking only about 12 minutes because it was so thin!) Then I cut out eight concentric circles out of cardboard (7 1/2″, 6 1/4″, 5″, 3 3/4″, 3″, 2 1/2″, 2″ and 1 1/2″) laid them on the cooled cake and cut around them with a sharp knife.

The original instructions call for only 7 layers, and started with a deceptively small 6″ bottom layer. I wanted a bigger cake, so I started with a larger base, added a layer, and put frosting between the layers (we’re frosting lovers!) which is hidden by the the green frosting stars!

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!

The girls opened their Christmas jammies…

Then Da read them their book, A Snowman Named Just Bob.

The girls couldn’t wait until tomorrow to give Mommy and Daddy their presents. Mommy and Daddy made a big fuss, and they were soooo proud of themselves!

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Just a bit more wrapping to do while I watch A Christmas Story, and I’ll head off to bed, say a prayer to thank the Lord for sending us our Savior, and join the rest of the family dreaming about 8 flying reindeer and a jolly old elf…

Merry Christmas!

Twas The Day Before Christmas…

*******SPOILER ALERT********

Andra, if you start to read this, STOP RIGHT NOW! I’m about to talk about the Christmas gift the girls made you!

Sorry about that, just don’t want to spoil the surprise!

The last two days were spent in project mode, mostly helping the girls with their Christmas presents for Mom and Dad, and getting the cookie trays together for the neighbors. Both were two day projects, so today felt like a really productive today!

The girls have been wanting to play with my painting supplies, so we decided to do their hand prints on canvas, like Gaga paints on! They lined the canvas with photo copies of the books they most love (Cinderella for Bea, Little House on the Prairie for Hannah) Hannah’s sheet music, Bea’s workbook pages, and copies of other little treasures, then used my textures and paints and stamps and made a background…

They painted wooden tiles, and wrote their names in their own writing and glued the letters to the tiles, mod-podged them onto the canvas, and did their hand prints with paint.

I just love how they turned out! I showed them where to place things, but they did the mod-podging, painting and stamping themselves. They had so much fun!

I also finished and delivered the cookie trays…

Bea was so tempted to sneak a ball of dough!

I have to confess I did a little taste test…they passed.

Now I have the rest of the day to wrap gifts and pick up a few little stocking stuffers, and I’m ready for the big day.

Tonight we have a little “hors d’ ovres for dinner get-together with our daughter’s family. Da reads the kids a couple of Christmas books (including “A Snowman named Just Bob,” “The Night Before Christmas,” and the Christmas Story, then they open their Christmas pajamas and try to go to sleep!

Santa Claus is coming tonight!

My 100th Post!

Wow. Who knew when I started this blog in August that by the end of the year I’d be doing my 100th post?

I knew I liked to write. Prior to beginning my creative journey I had been blogging on a political site where we each had our own “mini blog” within the site. I am a bit of a political junkie, and enjoyed the sparring back and forth, but I’d wander away from time to time when the arguments got to be more than I could take, so I could get centered again.

It was during one of those quiet times that I took Kelly Rae Roberts on-line business class, and began my own blog documenting my creative journey, and here I am!

I have loved EVERY single day of it. The positive interactions with people is so much nicer than the continual arguing that accompanies political discussions.

In honor of my 100th Blog I have decided to do a giveaway of one of my 8 x 10 canvases (a $50.00 value!) I will put the names of all those who “follow” my blog in a hat and draw on January 1st, and you have until Dec. 31 st to sign up! Some of you follow through wordpress (I have no idea how you did that!) and it will be a combination of those followers and e-mail recipients that will go in the hat. If you are accessing my blog through facebook, that will not count (as I cannot track that on my blog!) If  you do not currently receive e-mail notifications, just click the button on the right column that says “sign me up,” it’s as simple as that! You will receive e-mail notification each time I post a new blog. AND, I will enter you into the drawing on January 1st!

When I know who won, I will contact you about the colors you would prefer, as I will be painting  it just for you! To refresh your memory on what my paintings look like, feel free to go back and check out these posts!

https://tatterednworn.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/day-13-art-every-day-month-at-last-completed-canvases/

https://tatterednworn.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/day-16-art-every-day-month-very-successful-day-in-the-studio/

https://tatterednworn.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/we-made-up/

Woohoo! I’m excited, and I hope you are, too!

The Family Fudge Recipe

I think it is possible I have the best fudge recipe on the planet.

This isn’t what I had intended to post about today, but after making two batches without tasting even a single finger full, then finally succumbing to its deliciousness , it’s all I can think about.

So, the recipe was passed down from my grandmother to my mother, to me. Then it got an enhancement from my daughter’s husband’s cousin. Whew!

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 large can evaporated milk

18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts

1 pint marshmallow whip (this is a little tricky because today’s whip comes in 7 oz. containers)

1/2 lb. butter

dash salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1/3 bag toffee chips (optional)

Combine sugar and milk, and bring to a rolling boil (one you can’t stir down) and cook for 10 mins. stirring constantly to avoid burning or sticking. Add remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended and pour into a large butter or foil – lined pan. Chill.

The toffee chips are the ingredient that kicked the fudge up from good to GREAT!

If you decide to try it, let me know what you think!

Ta-da! I Have Tattered ‘n Worn Christmas trees!

Well, I finally finished the Christmas trees I’ve been working on for what feels like FOREVER!

They’ve been sitting on my table waiting for their stars, and I have just NOT been able to find what I want. Today I decided I was tired of waiting for perfect, and opted to make do until I can find what I REALLY want.

I am sorta crazy about them. Well, maybe more than sorta. I tend to get kinda full of myself when I do something I really like, and I really like these! Here they are in their place with the tattered ‘n worn angels!

I may have to watch for spectacular sales on lace and doodads and bases through the year and put some in my Etsy store next year…

This morning I got the girls dolled up in their Christmas dresses and we went in search of Santa…Bea volunteered that she wasn’t afraid of him this year, so that was good! She was very animated as she described the “Prince Daddy” doll that she wanted to go with her Cinderella doll, showing him with her hands how tall he needed to be. I’m sure he had no idea what she was talking about. I mean, how many girls call Prince Charming “Prince Daddy?” (All men are “daddys” to her!) Hannah, unfortunately, got the word about Santa from her school mates last Christmas, but she played along, asking for her American Girl doll. It was quite sweet.

For those who follow my craziness, doing the cookie trays for the neighbors won out, so tomorrow I’ll be up to my arm pits in flour, sugar, butter, chocolate, chopped nuts, coconut, marshmallow whip and who knows what else! The pressure is on, but truly, that’s when I do my best and most productive work!

Tomorrow is also the day the girls will be working on their gifts for Mommy and Daddy (yikes! I almost wrote what they are, but Mommy is a lurker around here…I’m glad I remembered! Whew!) I hope I’m not spending the same time 2 or 3 times…I do that on occasion!

Oh, and one more thing…I found the cutest birdie ornament! It reminds me both of my fly tribe, and to be brave.

Hope all your holiday preparations are coming along as you’d hoped, and that you are taking time to ENJOY the season of good will.