Ahhhh....digital scrapbooking!

I love the finished scrapped paper albums, but I just can't seem to get a handle on it. I have to admit; my area of expertise is fabric, not paper. Both of my sisters are great scrappers and enjoy working with their stack of papers, metal grommets, ribbons, fuzzy tails, stickers and die cuts, but not me.

I have to admit, too, that I started my little collection of paper scrapping and I just didn't catch onto it. Yes, it's still sitting in a pile of Rubbermaid totes in the same place in my room that it was 5 years ago. I think I did one or two pages? I love the idea; I just can't seem to create the wonderful pages my sisters can. Plus scrapbooking takes a huge amount of time; something I never can find enough of.

But, when digital scrapbooking started circulating, that's when it really caught my eye. Technology is right up my alley, so working with digital backgrounds, ribbons, elements and text is a treat! Since being in business online has forced me to improve my photography (still one of my goals this year to improve!) and graphic ability, I can see myself doing this type of scrapbooking.

I've been working with some graphics to fill some business needs and I couldn't resist and started dabbling in just a little bit of scrapping. Ah, yes, this could easily be another hobby I can add to my ever-growing list. But it still is a huge time consuming process. But just look at all the fun papers and elements available and do you know all the tools and things you can do in Photo Elements, let alone, Photoshop????

photo from Scrapbook Elements; Ake's Lovely Daisies Collection

I miss my crockpot!

Yes, I truly do! Before Krissa left for Lexington, she raided the kitchen. In fact, I was terrified to leave her alone in there, knowing that I might find empty cabinets and drawers. She just about went through every room in the house, packing whatever wasn't bolted down! lol!!! :)

Even Jena's room....Jena left for OK City with furniture in her bedroom and when she returned, yeah...it was packed in the van awaiting a 15 hour drive.

Anyway, back to the crockpot....

Krissa wanted one and that was one of the things I let her take. The one I had or actually Mom had, had a broken handle and the lid did not sit down well, so I had already mentioned to Dad when this one gave out, that I wanted a new one. So this was a perfect opportunity to give my old one to someone who was starting her own little stash of kitchen gadgets (Have I ever mentioned I like gadgets for the kitchen just about as much as electronic gadgets???) and for me to buy a new one.

But I didn't realize *just how* much I use my crockpot! The first thing I did when we got home late Saturday evening after traveling all day was pull out my cookbook, thinking that I could put something in the crockpot before church the next day, so it would be ready when we got home.

I gathered my ingredients and then realized as I opened the cabinet that housed my most prized kitchen *gadget*; ummmm....I guess I can't do that. No crockpot.

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I did that three times last week. I think my memory must be failing me, but I guess I didn't realize I use it THAT much. Although I will say I probably use it more at times when I'm busy and have less time to cook. It's quick and easy to throw everything in first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night (yes, I've done that! Set my alarm for 3am, get up, put the ingredients in, start it and go back to bed.) and then it's ready at noon.

And thankfully, I didn't have to take food anywhere, so I didn't miss plugging it into my car.....

One last blast of winter!

After enjoying unusually nice weather for the past several weeks, the winter blizzard that hit us was quite a shock. Not only did we get some snow (our first snow of 2009!), but also high winds which caused blizzard conditions.

Friday basically everything around us was shut down as visibility was 0. Yep, just imagine: 15" of snow with 50 mph wind gusts. Nope, you won't see a thing 6 feet in front of you. Even thought we could have done without the high winds, the moisture is wonderful and we are so thankful for that!

Dad spent just about all day Saturday and Sunday (church was even canceled) clearing driveways, digging out fences and rounding up cattle because of all the drifting snow. By now the majority of the snow has melted, so it was a quick blast of winter and hopefully the last. I'm ready for spring!

Here's a few pics and you can see more here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98600&id=611533155&l=33d7b6081d

Lady and I in the snow!

Those are 6' drifts behind those trees!

Quite a pile of snow!

The triplets are gone and only twins remain

Yes, I knew it was coming, but I hated to give away one of my little furry triplets. Reece's has a new home with two little girls who love him to pieces, so I don't think he'll be missing me that much. Skittles seemed to sense that she was missing one of the three, but Snickers and Scamper are fine as long as they have each other to play with. I have the twins, for now....

Reece's - just look at that cute, fuzzy face?!?!

They love sleeping together!

With Skittles not far away!

Sometime they do find rather unusual places to sleep!

Skittles guarding her babies from Jena when she comes in my room! She hates Jena with a passion! When Jena walks downstairs and picks up one of her kittens, you'll hear growling, screaming and hissing!

Awww.....my little babies!

A quick trip to Kentucky

Krissa is in Lexington, Kentucky and just loving it! When I talked to her today, she said she loves the city already.....more places to shop! That I do agree with; Dodge is lacking in nice shopping places. But I'm not sure I would want to deal with all the traffic Krissa is faced with everyday.

Last week Krissa packed her car full to the brim and the van until it was just about bursting (Dad even managed to fit in an ENTIRE bedroom set in there!) and Thursday morning we set out for the 15 hour trek to Kentucky.

Friday, Krissa moved into her apartment or rather Dad and I moved Krissa into her apartment, since she was off taking care of some other things while we lugged heavy loads up the stairs. But she has a cute two bedroom apartment in a nice area of Lexington with a Wal-Mart close-by. :)

The one day we spent there, we looked at furniture, took care of things such as a bank account, insurance and other necessities. And Saturday morning we were headed back home to Kansas. Minus one vehicle, one person and a van-load of cargo.

Here's a few pics from her apartment and you can see more here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98590&id=611533155&l=2a550ddc3c

talking on the phone, as usual

the tv came with the apartment! nice, isn't it?!

this is just a fraction of what she had!

making plans on what to do...

the real reason Dad came to Kentucky! Lol!!!! ;)

front door, bathroom door, second bedroom door

second bedroom door, living room, dining room

dining room, master bedroom door, kitchen

kitchen

master bedroom with bathroom and walk-in closet

second bedroom with door to bathroom and walk-in closet

And the unpacking begins...

The only place I could pick up a weak wireless signal for about 5 minutes was in the corner of the second bedroom. Sad deal to not be online for 3 days!

Putting Krissa's bed together...did I mention she stole Jena's bedroom furniture?? Lol!!

It was a treat to see GREEN grass and BLOOMING flowers!

Since we had no furniture or mattresses, Dad slept here....

...and Kris and I slept here......I can't say it was the most restful of nights, but we survived!

Crispy Baked Chicken

This was one of our new dishes last week and it turned out rather well. It has the taste of fried chicken, but is a bit healthier and easier to fix.

Crispy Baked Chicken

2 TBSP butter
1 cup crushed cornflakes
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
8 chicken drumsticks or thighs (bone-in & skin removed)
1 egg

Melt and drizzle butter in a 13"x9" pan. In a shallow bowl, combine the cornflakes, flour and seasoned salt. Lightly beat egg in separate bowl. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in cornflake mixture. Repeat with each piece of chicken.

Arrange chicken in prepared dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until done.

Yummmmmmmy!!!!

Original recipe from Taste of Home

A catch-up on Sunday School

Spring is just around the corner and I still have winter decorations up at home and in my SS classroom, but that's just about to change. Before I change to spring (and I'm really excited as to what I have planned for SS, but I'm not giving any details out yet, except to say it will be a hopping fun time each Sunday!), I'm posting Christmas and winter as I realized I neglected to post those in the previous months.

Not that any of you missed that, I'm sure. But this blog is also file reference to me, so many times I will post things so I can come back later and see what I was doing at that time.

January 2009

January 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

I love this Christmas posterboard set - the figures are so cute!

Last year I did a workbook with the kids in my class. We decorated a little foam book and inserted memory verse, activities, lessons, pics, etc into the book which they could take home at the end of the year. They loved being able to write and paste things in their book every week.

some of my ss supplies

They wrote verses which matched the stickers

I read the story of Jesus' birth out of the Bible while they created the nativity scene with all the pieces as I was reading.

Pasted in memory verses

When we discussed Creation, we created a page for each day and listed what God created on that day.

For each Bible lesson, I had a clipart image to paste in their book and they had to write something that they learned about that character.

The next couple of months, I'm planning on continuing with my Old Testament lesson material. I started the OT in fall of 2007, starting with Creation and we've worked our way to Moses. I'm not moving that quickly, but many times I will teach the same lesson for two Sundays, just teaching it a different way or doing a more hands-on activity the second time to repeat it. The more they hear it, the more they will pick up and remember.

But I'm also going to start a mini-series on prayer. Like teaching them what prayer is, how do we pray, why do we pray, etc. We have already been singing some songs on prayer and I'll incorporate some activities and crafts over the next few months.

Plus the prayer topic goes perfectly well with my new spring classroom decor which I had a super-fantastic time creating today! ;)

8 weeks old already!

My sweet little baby kittens are growing so fast and now being 8 weeks old, they are ready to move to their adoptive homes. But how can I choose which one I want to keep and how can I give any one of the three away? They are so sweet and special and unique; each one of them!

As much as I would like to keep all three, I can't. Having four cats in my room, on my bed, in my lap, is just a little too much. Plus there are two people who would like one of my Siamese kittens. :)

Scamper

Scamper is the female and she is an exact replica of Skittles. I mean exact; down to the very image and attitude of her mama. She is full of energy and running around all over, all the time. She's the one who causes all the excitement and the last one to settle down for a nap. Hence, her name - she truly does scamper about! ;) She's also the one that has the short, stubby tail.

Snickers

Snickers is a short-haired, beautiful male cat. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and by far is the bestest looking cat in the bunch with the longest tail! He's just so sweet and lovable as well. Every night, he is the first one to jump on the bed beside me and he's almost always there all night and every morning.

Reece's aka - the teddy bear!

Reece's is the long-haired male. He's a sweet, little, cuddly teddy bear. His fur is so much whiter and fluffier than the other two, that you just want to hug and squeeze him. He also has the sweetest personality of the three and is the most easy going. In the beginning he was the runt and now he's grown into the biggest of the three.

And Skittles, is well, just Skittles. As Krissa has termed her, "She's a possessed cat." Thankfully she is doing much better since I got home. Leaving her for a week with kittens, whom she thought were unprotected from my sisters since I was gone, really was depressing to her.

I didn't think it was as bad as Krissa described to me on the phone, but it truly was. Skittles just felt threatened that her kittens were running around all over and the girls would play with them and I wasn't there for her to feel that they were safe. And I will say, Skittles still hisses and growls at Jena and Krissa when they just walk through the area where her kittens are playing. And it's not just one hiss and one growl; I've never heard her carry on such a racket! And that's with me in the same room or nearby. I can only imagine it was much worse when I was gone.

Here's some more pics:

See the little teddy bear on the right? lol!!!

Whoever said cats don't watch movies??? All four of mine do!

Yep, they're still babies or think they are!

Just sleeping!

All four of my kitties!

How can any work get done when they are on my lap the moment I sit down??

Yes, they may think they are that dependent on their mama, but they are not!

Skittles keeping a look-out on my dresser

You try sleeping when you are invaded by three kittens!!

They just pretty much take-over, but they're sooooo cute! :)

Does this look a bit familiar???? I'm telling you - Scamper is a miniature Skittles!