It's probably time again to update this page...I can't say that I've accomplished big things, just many little things...like sewing some skirts for our daughters, baking, cleaning, sorting & eliminating junk, organizing my projects in order of importance to me or pleasure in finishing...not sure about which it is. We haven't taken pictures recently and haven't gone away, just spent time working away at what needs doing. We've had some good family times, entertaining some, and looking at the next week, we'll be hanging out in one waiting room or the other a bit more. Here's a cute shot of from a couple of years ago...isn't she lovely?

taming of the shrew

Have you ever read the book or seen the movie? Well, neither have I...but it fits this blog....as Janine is finding she has roommates in her residence. She's been able to catch them on film as they are not afraid of her...apparently shrews can not see well, but their hearing is suppose to be exceptional...they must like her music for they come out to play when it's on. So some traps were purchased and as you can see, there was some success in catching three of them...they get stuck on the sticky pad and can't run away and when placed outside, they freeze to death...so humane and clean. And the seed (bait) is left for others to be lured with. Ingenious!!!!

Mexico 2008

Here's a photo of the resort we stayed at...it's the Mayan Palace in Neuvo Vallarta..this view is from the pool looking up at the hotel. We had clear skies everyday all day long. They had put up metal art nativity sets in several locations...I was impressed that it wasn't all Santa Claus and snowmen (artificial of course). Abe amongst some bougainvilleas...we saw white ones, yellow ones, pink ones, fushia ones, red ones, orange ones, blue ones, purple ones...isn't he cute?

Christmas 2008

Wow!!! We've been busy and not...here's some pics of our time away. We left December 12 and drove to Minneapolis, stayed the night and then flew out early Saturday morning, arriving at noon in Peurto Vallarta. We stayed there till Christmas Eve, leaving at noon and flying into Minneapolis by 4 p.m. We drove till Fargo and stayed the night, driving home the rest of the way on Christmas day. The whole family was with us in Mexico , and we had a great time. Here you can see some of the kids playing in the ocean...we really enjoyed the body surfing, and for our son-in-law, it was a first time. The waves were best in the afternoon, and we all got our fill of sea salt...blegh!!!

Hoar Frost painting by God

Can you see all the brush strokes? It looks like feathers...we see this almost every morning, after a colder night, on the window of our patio door. I think it's beautiful!

Winter and Christmas

wow...time flies when you're having fun....well, even if you're not...I'm going from Thanksgiving to Christmas in one blog...that's pathetic but real. I'm putting in some pictures of a past holiday to give you all something to drool over...we are taking the family to Mexico...same resort as in these pictures, for our Christmas/winter holiday. We all very excited. And I baked pappanate (peppernuts) like my grandma's today...enjoy!!Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Thanksgiving

Wow...what a holiday! We had the family home for awhile, and we got some work done and some catching up of our lives done and some eating...good eating! I tried out a few new ideas...a little bit different from the norm and it worked. Potatoe salad became garden salad; duplicated a yummy salad from D.MichaelB.'s restaurant which turned out really well; turkey in the tinfoil wrap instead of plastic bag; cranberry/orange stuffing instead of stove top; garlic mashed potatoes instead of plain m. potatoes; and even a new pumpkin pie recipe and EVERYTHING tasted delicious!!!! Amanda was a big help in the kitchen Monday morning...and a walk later helped the digestion.These are the apple, rhubarb, and pumpkin pies...I use about 3/4 of the recipe of flour as whole wheat flour and cane sugar for healthier pies. They still taste delicious!! These are pumpkin/coconut loaves...great breakfast or snack. They turned out really good.