Monday: making Gingerbread Houses
Monday, Leslie had to go out and purchase the food for the food baskets that our church was giving to needy families. Ron & I watched the girls for her, and I figured it was the perfect time to make Gingerbread Houses. I bought these 2 kits at Target's after Christmas clearance sale last year. The kits come with a preassembled house, a tube of royal icing, and an assortment of red & green candy. I don't know if it was due to the kits being purchased last year, or if the royal icing provided is simply horrible, but we ditched the tube of icing in favor of the icing in a tub that was intended for sugar cookies. We couldn't get the royal icing kneaded enough to be usable. Regardless, Maggie, Sophie, and Poppy had fun.
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| Poppy, Sophie, & Maggie decorating the Gingerbread houses... |
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| Miss Maggie rockin' her new haircut... |
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| Miss Sophie was soooo excited!!! |
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| Maggie adding her finishing touches... |
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| Sophie telling Poppy "where to put it"... |
Tuesday: Maggie's Birthday
Maggie has turned 5; unbelievable! Originally, they were not going to have a birthday party because they had decided to travel to McAllen to visit Gerson's family for La Pasada, then stop on their way home at San Antonio for a day at Sea World. But, Maggie started asking about her cake, and having her friends over, so Leslie threw together an impromptu Princess Party. Several little girls from church came over, Becca brought Seth in so that there would be at least 1 Prince Charming, and Ron & I went down for a quick visit. These pictures were taken that day:
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| Awww; they love each other so much! |
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| All of the ladies in waiting under the super cute canopy, busy decorating their little crowns... |
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| Playing Kiss the Frog... |
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| Maggie and her Princess cake pops... |
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| Such sweet little girls... |
Wednesday - Thursday: Setting up the sewing room
Ron is "retired" again, and that means he has a really, really long honey-do list. One of the things on his list was to move the bedroom set that I inherited from my grandmother to Scott's house (it is the one thing Scott wanted us to leave him when we die), move the office furniture into the guest bedroom, and then move my quilting machine from the shop at Mom & Dad's house into the office; which would become my sewing/craft room.
Ron managed to get the furniture all moved, carpets cleaned, curtains & windows washed, and had my sewing room ready for the quilting machine by the time I started my break. We had Ryan & Scott help us move it on Wednesday. Luckily, on Monday Ron & I had found this wonderful entertainment center for sale in a neighbor's driveway. He was asking $25 for it but he took $15. Ron helped me get it all set up in the sewing room before we moved the quilting machine over. I have spent parts of the past few days getting things put away, hanging a few things on the walls, and preparing to get some quilt tops quilted.
When I first bought the quilting machine, I had decided to take early retirement when I turned 55. My rationale was to buy the quilting machine, turn my parent's wood shop into a quilt shop, build up a customer base to generate enough income to off-set my decreased annuity due to retiring early, and be retired in June of 2010. I was doing great; I had a list dependable customers that kept me super busy and had figured out the whole tax issue. But, things didn't work out because TEA changed their retirement options and I missed early retirement BY 4 MONTHS!!! When that happened, and I knew I would have to work until I was 61, I realized I could't keep up the quilting business, be a decent wife, grandmother, and teacher, so I let the business fold. I kept the quilting machine in my parents' woodshop, because Mom was using it from time to time, and I was still able to get over to quilt something for myself once in a blue moon. When we bought this house, one of the selling points was the awkwardly shaped room that has a very long wall, 2 doors, and extra lighting. It was used as a home office by the previous owners. Last summer I realized having the quilting machine at my parents' shop wasn't very convenient and started mulling over moving it here. When Ron "retired" again, I knew it was the perfect time to get him busy shifting furniture. I can't wait to start getting some quilts done.
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| The bargain craft cabinet, before Ron re-assembled it... I was a little worried at this point! |
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| The sewing room from the outside wall. The two doors open on opposite sides of the room; one goes into the front room, the other into the back hallway. |
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| The quilting machine is on EZ sliders so I can move it all around very easily! |
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| The craft closet turned out great and we attached it to the wall so little grandkids won't pull it over on themselves! |
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| View from the inside wall... LOVE IT!! |
Tuesday - ? : Strep Throat
A few weeks ago, Seth missed several days of school because he got strep throat.
Well, Scott was the next person to get it because he stays at Becca's house on the weekend that he has National Guard Duty.
Then, when Becca was at Maggie's birthday party, she started complaining of a sore throat. Yes, she got strep next!
Unfortunately, she gave it to Maggie, Leslie, and Sophie who came down with it while they are in McAllen for La Pasada with G's family.
LUCKILY, everyone is on antibiotics so THANKFULLY, no one else should get sick. SADLY, Mom and Dad have opted to skip dinner on Christmas Eve just to play it safe. (I can't say that I blame them one bit!) HOPEFULLY, no one else gets it because we have an important wedding to attend next week!
Is anyone surprised that I have not done one bit of Christmas baking or candy making?
~Maybe next year.
1 comment:
I could have sworn you had a Gammil long arm! I was surprised to see a Millie in your room! What the heck? How could I be so wrong? We have twin sewing machines :)
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