Cinco de Miles

Happy 5th Birthday

to our ornery - but wonderful - little Miles!

(aka Miles Davis, Miles of Smiles, Mr. Miles 

and, on occasion, Milesyoulittlebastard)

Musical background is "Doxy" by Miles Davis

Louie, Louie Poo Pooie

In celebration of Louie's 4th birthday today ...

Happy Birthday, Louie!


(FYI ... this was my first attempt to create a slideshow, set it to music and export it.)

55 and counting ...

It's the big

for me today. Grateful to be alive, healthy and still laughing at stuff like this. A dear friend gave me this battery-operated singing dancing birthday cake a few years ago. I cannot impress upon you enough how much Hubby seriously hates this thing. It's activated by touch and sound so any little noise sets it off. The Granddaughter will keep this thing going until the batteries have lost most of their juice and it sounds like it's been on a 3-day bender in a karaoke bar. Hubby has threatened to slit its throat and bury it in the trash can so I figured I'd better make a video recording of it just in case ... enjoy!

Happy Birthday to My Baby Sister

Being the die-hard fan of Paul McCartney that she is,

I am going the music video route today.

Let's rock out to a little

"Maybe I'm Amazed"

Happy Birthday, Sweetie ... Love You Bunches!

She's a Real Cupcake

So the Granddaughter is turning 14 on Friday. Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future.

Over the years, we have hosted all kinds of sleepover parties for her ... birthday, halloween costume parties, school's out pool parties. She asked if we could do it again for her 14th and she wanted to hand-make invitations. Cupcake invitations.

We got out the scrapbooking supplies and I drew a template for a large cupcake ...

We cut a 12" square piece of purple (currently her favorite color) card stock in half, then folded it in half with the fold to the left side so it was 6" square, held the cupcake template against the card and cut around it. Also made a separate template for the frosting portion and cut a single piece from some glittery card stock. Then we used a circle punch to make a cherry.

We changed our minds about the solid pink cherry and used a cute pink patterned paper instead. Did the same thing for the little tag on the front that reads Celebrate and used a corner punch on it.

We measured out a piece of patterned paper for the invitation wording inside, rounded the corners and ran them through the printer ...

They turned out so cute!

And if that's not enough cuteness for you ...

Louie and Miles can't wait for the party ... all those giggling girls to cuddle with and snacks ... there will be snacks!

Hoppy Easter

from the Easter Buppies!

and Happy Birthday to my MN BIL ... we love you bunches!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hope your day is

SEW

WONDERFUL

Love you bunches!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Daaaaaaaaaaaad

Happy birthday to you!

Hope it's wonderful!

Love you bunches!!!

Happy Birthday, Bubbles!

Happy, Happy Birthday

to our

Bubbly Niece!

Hope you have a Wonderful Day!

Lots of Love from your Auntie and Huncle!

Happy Birthday Dancer!

Happy Happy Birthday

to our

dancing, prancing Niece!

Hope your birthday is filled with joy!

Much Love from Auntie and Huncle

Happy Birthday to Me

Amongst all the lovely birthday greetings I received were several funny cards. This cute and clever card is from my in-laws. Inside it reads:

Directions

1. Apply bows.

2. Go out.

3. Watch the well-wishers appear!

Get lots of attention on your birthday!

And from my baby sister who knows I love antiques ...



Inside it says:

... but the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town - they'll be able to give you an estimate. Ha!

And one more from my dear friend ...



Inside: Hope you get everything you want for your birthday.

Last Saturday night, hubby and I went on a date to the Glendale Glitters holiday festival. The air was cool -- it rained just a little, just enough to make everything smell clean and fresh. Historic downtown Glendale, Arizona, has been holding this festival for 16 years now. Covering 12 blocks of downtown, they use 1.5 million lights, have craft booths, food booths, live entertainment and even some of the nearby shops and antique stores stay open late. Although I obviously need to learn how to use my camera for night shots, here are a few photos ...







This Santa is made of popcorn and was a raffle for the Marines ...



We shared a Philly Cheese Steak, cheese fries and a funnel cake smothered in powdered sugar. Just yum! And, oh yes, we found this booth and made a purchase ...



We sat down in the amphitheater area and watched a great group of kids sing and dance their way through Christmas songs and Broadway tunes. So much fun!

And we cruised through some of the antique shops, although didn't see anything we had to have ... thank God! Then, on the way home, we passed this house ...



Let me just say that electricity in Arizona is not cheap. While I would hate to pay their electric bill, I definitely appreciate their enthusiasm for the holiday!

Happy Birthday, Slug Bug!

Happy Happy Birthday

to my Sweet

Slug Bug Sister!

Hope it's Wonderful!!!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Happy 13th Birthday

to our sweet

Granddaughter --

our own

Little Mermaid!

Enjoy your

teenage years...

Nana and Bampa love you very much!!!

Happy Birthday, Rock 'n Roll Nephew

Happy 18th Birthday

to our sweetie pie

Rock 'n Roll

Nephew!

Love you bunches!!!

http://www.free-animations.co.uk/

Happy Birthday, Our Tigger!

When our youngest daughter was starting school, she couldn't sit still to save her soul. It was an open classroom setting and she would just get up and wander out of the room. Most of the time, they'd find her talking to the lunch ladies or looking for her big sister. So her first grade teacher called her "Tigger."

Happy Birthday, Our Tigger!!!

With much love,

from Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday, Cowgirl!

Just a quick Hi, Howdy and Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister.

Have a beautiful day. Love you bunches!

Also, mom found and sent a photo of one of my cute Chicken Scratch embroidered dresses from when I was little. See my post from Sunday, August 30th: "The Flow of Creativity - Teach Someone Something Today!"

Thanks, Mom! Love you, too!

As a young cutie pie in my Chicken Scratch embroidered outfit

Cook Yourself Thin

The day of birthday feasting was great. The herb-roasted chicken and roasted veggies that we had for dinner are from my favorite new cookbook, "Cook Yourself Thin."

MyLifetime.com aired a television show of the same title a few months back and I just loved it. The guest of the week would tell the hostesses/cooks about their favorite dishes. Total calories would be calculated and were ALWAYS way over the number of calories the guest should eat in a day to get to their goal weight. So the hostesses would re-make those recipes, slimming them down to usually around half of the normal calories.

While you can get the recipes online -- here is the link for the Easy Herb-Roasted Chicken and Roasted Veggies -- I love the feel of a book in my hands. Had a Barnes and Noble gift card from Mother's Day to spend, so I ordered one. I have repeatedly made several of the dishes from this cookbook and they are absolutely delicious and do not taste de-calorized (is that a word?).

In addition to the roasted chicken, I can recommend the Turkey Mini-Meatloaves, Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas and Turkey Chili Crunch (this one might be my very favorite so far). Instead of the chipotle pepper called for, I just use a small can of mild diced chiles and we scoop the soup with Baked Tostitos Scoops. OMG, I can't even begin to tell you how good this is!

A little cupcake heaven

The cupcakes hubby requested for his birthday cake, we saw on an episode of Food Networks's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: With My Hands." It is a devil's food cupcake (I like the Duncan Hines boxed mix), iced with cream cheese frosting and rolled in sweetened flaked coconut. They are so good! But hubby's favorite part of the show was when the chef (sorry, can't remember her name) made a Cupcake Sandwich ... tear off the bottom of the cupcake, put it on top of the frosting and you have a sandwich with the frosting in the middle. It really is great and fun to do. Little kids, as well as big Old kids love it!!!

This wonderful cream cheese frosting is one of my Mom's recipes:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 T. butter, softened

1 3-oz. package cream cheese (I used Fat Free and it was just fine)

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Blend until creamy.

Yum!

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Saturday Chat

We had a big thunderstorm Friday evening with lots of lightning. The rain smells wonderful and cooled things off a bit. The high temperature today is only supposed to be 98 degrees, which is an 11 degree drop from yesterday. Went to one of our favorite farmers' markets this morning. Have to support the local farmers and get great fresh produce!



Got some nice vegetables. Planning to make stuffed bell peppers next week and found some beautiful red ones. Going to do an herb roasted chicken with roasted veggies for hubby's birthday dinner tomorrow. It's one of his favorites. Got russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, baby bell peppers, onions and mushrooms to roast. We'll also be doing one of the cholesterol laden southwestern breakfasts he loves in the morning with maple bacon, eggs, a pot of pinto beans, tortillas and, yes, more potatoes.

Went off on a tangent yesterday and decided to start knitting a Christmas gift. All I will say is this is the softest boucle yarn -- absolutely yummy!

Also decided I want to learn Fair Isle knitting on the knitting machine. Working on a purse that was one of the learning projects in the book that came with it. I think it went well, although I had a few tense cuss word moments. Will put on a photo of it once completed, but here it is on the machine -- the back of the knitting shows where you can see the floats of yarn.



Have a great weekend, everyone!

Knitted Gift Pouch

My middle sister is having a birthday soon and I know she loves turquoise. We had spent the 4th of July in Prescott, Arizona, enjoying every minute of their wonderful celebration in Courthouse Square. There were hundreds of craft booths and -- as hubby mentioned a few times -- I looked at EVERYTHING in EVERY booth! There was a great booth selling turquoise jewelry and I found some beautiful silver dangle earrings with turquoise stones. Okay, done.



Now, what to send them in to make it more exciting. I decided to knit a little gift pouch. Played with it some and ripped it out and started over a few times. Settled on a moss stitch pattern and a button closure. Used size 6 needles and worsted weight acrylic yarn. Finished size, closed and buttoned, is 3-3/4 x 5-1/2".

Cast on 3 stitches.

First row (right side): Increase in 1st stitch, knit 1, increase in last stitch - 5 stitches total.

2nd row and all wrong side rows of flap only: Purl across.

Row 3: Increase in 1st stitch, knit 3, increase in last stitch - 7 stitches total.

Row 5: Increase 1 stitch in each of first 2 stitches, knit to last 2 stitches, then increase 1 stitch in each - 11 stitches total.

Continue increasing 4 stitches on right side rows until you have 23 -- this forms the pointed flap.

Body of pouch is in moss stitch: knit 1, purl 1 across every row until body portion is 7" long.

Bind off.



Single crochet around entire edge. Crochet a small chain for loop -- length of chain depends on the size of your button. I used a 1" button. Determine where button needs to sit and sew on. Seam sides of pouch together.



You could make this any size by increasing more stitches for width and adding more length. You could use different size needles and/or yarn or change the pattern stitch. You could make it without crocheting around the edge, but would probably have to block it to keep the flap from curling.

You could make a strap for it and carry it as a little "going out" bag. I remember shopping in the handbag section of a department store with my youngest daughter who was in her late 20s at the time. I picked up a tiny, tiny handbag and said, "What could you carry in this?" Daughter replied, "A driver's license and a clean pair of panties." I looked at her, shocked, and we both burst out laughing. Just then, a snooty old lady walked around a display and glared at us. We stopped laughing just until she had walked on by, then laughed even harder. Good times ...

I am posting this because my sister already received her gift in the mail yesterday so I can't spoil the surprise. Happy Birthday, sis!!! Love you!!!