So overnight, we got more...

...SNOW!

Can you see the huge snow bank created by the plow at the end of our driveway (which appears in this photo on the left...b/c for some reason, when I take photos with this computer...everything comes out reversed)?  All of our windows are covered with snow, so there must have been a fair amount of wind altho isn't much right now.

Needless to say, we got the no school call at 5:30am.  This is only #3 for Katy's school, but now I'm starting to wonder how this will affect the last day of school!

Headed out to try and help with the clean up...Katy knows that for her 13th birthday, she is getting her own shovel.  No time like the present to learn the subtle nuances of snow shoveling! Happy day to everyone!

Snow gently falling...

.....4:30 pm EST
Follow the link below to the actual blog site to see the video!

Kirks Folly on QVC!

Oh....I hardly ever see these shows anymore...it just came on when I was cleaning the basement!  Kirk's Folly was one of the only jewelry makers around to feature stars and moons and fairies...they have been on QVC for 19 years and I think I discovered them shortly after they signed on.  Years passed (and I spent waaaay too much money on QVC) before I got a card inviting me to their factory outlet sale in RI.  Who knew they were based locally??!!!  So for many years, good friend Dot and I would drive down from Boston and go to at least one, maybe two days of the sale.  Man...did my collection grow!  When Katy was little, I took her to several sales and she even had her picture taken with spokesperson (and self designated fairy godmother) Jennifer!  Their jewelry has been such a big part of my life for so long!  They no longer do the factory outlet sale...it is done via their website (www.kirksfolly.com) a couple of times a year (not quite as many crazy mark downs tho).  Their shows are much shorter now, and they don't do the elaborate themes with set decorations and costumes which use to make watching their times on QVC such a treat.

This one is for Deba...

and anyone else interested in Christmas decorations from the past season.  I admit it would have been more timely if I'd sent these out in December!  The North Pole saga has been ongoing in our family for the past 13 years...ever since we moved to Attleboro and had room for a Christmas village.  We'd seen one on Martha's Vineyard years back and Kirk and I though it would be fun to collect when we had space.  Our collection grew astronomically in the space of about four years.  I learned how to carve styrofoam (with a cool hot knife).  We collected so many houses that they stopped fitting on the banquet table in our bay window.  The storage bins for the houses got relocated to our attic...which made them difficult to access.  So the last couple of years...I pretty much lost my mojo to set it all up.  Also...seemed like it became more and more 'my' project...so not as much fun doing it all alone.  Last year...it didn't even go up.  This year, I have to thank my friend Cyndi for getting my enthusiasm back.  She also sets up her own village and we enjoyed talking about how we could modify our displays and helped brainstorm with each other.  My goal was to reorganize all the houses so that I knew what bin contained what house, move the bins to storage shelving in the garage...so everything would be on one floor. I also wanted to add to the display so that I could carve styrofoam again...b/c it is so much fun!  Thanks also to brother Tom, who suggested I face some of the houses out towards the window to make it look pretty from the outside.  I'm enjoying looking at other's displays on You Tube and hope to have more ideas and changes to keep me excited about setting at least some of it up again this year!

Snowing...again...

...and Katy is home not feeling great...so I'm working on my 2010 pages some more.  Here one from Christmas for your enjoyment!

Today is Kirk's Birthday!

Kirk arrived home safe and sound from his conference in LA yesterday morning.  Because Katy's schedule was very busy this afternoon/evening, with her first Triboro Youth Theater rehearsal and Karate class, we decided to do dinner last night at Scorpios to celebrate.  Scorpios ranks up there with the Blackington Inn as being one of the nicer places to dine in Attleboro.  So we had a nice dinner together.

Today Kirk took the day off...slept off his jet lag, then we went to the movies and saw The Green Hornet.  I really liked it and recommend it to everyone...but don't feel pressured to pay for the 3-D version b/c there isn't much in it that takes advantage of the technology (except the ending cartoon credits).  Dinner tonight was a pizza...and now we are just about ready to have birthday cake (this year, i am trying an easy, dulce de leche cake...starts with a mix...) and present opening.  Kirk's big gift was a new pc for his office, so he can game to his heart's content.  He also scored an iPad from a friend...not too shabby, eh???  So Happy Birthday Kirk...we love you and wish you a wonderful year filled with wonderful things!

Troll Beads...maybe TMI???

     So I've had visions of Troll Beads flying around in my head since our visit to the exclusive Troll Bead retail store (usually they are sold in jewelry or gift stores) yesterday afternoon (I literally had to get up and take a pill to get to sleep...but maybe that was the double cap at 3p from the Starbucks)?  And who have thought it would be in Mashpee MA???  Katy and I were visiting our favorite friend Dot, who lives about 3 minutes from Mashpee Commons, a lovely shopping 'village.'  According to the engaging sales woman Judy, who was excited to have 3 addicts in her store and no one else to wait on, there is no other Troll store like this one...guess they are trying it out to see how it goes.  It has been open less than a year.  It is similar to a Pandora store if you have seen those.  Anyway...I have been so tired of looking for a new release bead or rare issue and never finding them in the stores around here...and we have learned by trial and error that shopping on the websites often results in bead miscommunication.  So the best way to buy beads is to see them in person.  Not to mention the wide variation in terms of size and coloration there can be in a single bead...so you always want to choose YOUR bead from the ones offered.  To see ALL the beads currently in production, not to mention ones like the above picture, which represent an exclusive release I hadn't even heard of called 'Christmas in Australia,' was truly breathtaking!  Katy chose the bead on the front left (white, mauve and black) as her early b'day gift from Dot (our shopping host and very good friend) while I was very intrigued but the cherry blossom one, front right (so easy shopping for me for Valentines day Kirk...already ready in its little box..alone with another silver one with hearts on the inside that I had to have)! I treated myself to the new 'Ice bear' which is a polar bear...just fell in love with him when I saw him as a new fall release...but no one around here had him.

Another cool set we didn't know about was 'Christmas in Hawaii,' shown below:

     The whole 'Christmas In...' name comes from the fact that these were limited release 'kits' of 6 beads, offered at Christmas time in the areas mentioned.  This store broke up some of their kits and offered to sell the beads as singletons.  I'm really impressed with the Hawaii ones b/c I love the colors...altho thought the Australian ones were more unique looking.  But I could be tempted to purchase a few of the above beads....
      It seems like a strange addiction...but there is something very zen like about disconnecting all the beads from my bracelets and then spending time mixing and matching the colors and silver to create a new bracelet.  With the beads I currently have, I can create seasonal and celebration combinations...which I'm more likely to do than to try to match an outfit.  Katy and I aren't Troll purists...there are Chamilia and Pandora and Lovelink (and even Kohls...altho Katy seems to draw the line at that...but if I see a bead with the same quality as the better brands as part of Kohls new line...for 50% off and I have a 30% coupon...it is a no brainer for me) on our bracelets...but Troll is still my favorite line b/c of the artistic flair to many of their glass and silver beads.  I never tire of them...maybe it takes me back to the days in the mid 70s when stringing beads on a leather string and wearing them as a necklace to match your clothes was all the rage...for guys and gals.  I still have my little 'kit' of string and beads somewhere....

Lovely, lazy snow day!

Well, the storm hit full force around 6am...I had already gotten up to check on the school situation and FRCS cancelled first in the area for a change!  So I knew at 5:25a I could get back into my warm bed.  I'm getting back in a long forgotten habit of getting up, making coffee, and bringing it back into bed with me on weekend mornings.  So I started our long weekend by doing just that.  Katy slept in until about 8a and then came downstairs to play Sims 3 and do some Fan Fiction writing.  I lazed around, did some laundry and Friday am chores...then zoned off into watching a mini-marathon of  Tabitha's Salon Takeover...she did one in P'town and one on Newbury Street in Boston...so I was revisiting favorite haunts.  Tonight, after our dinner of leftover meatballs n sauce over pasta, Katy and I will be watching Grease (now that she is actually IN the musical, she has renewed interest in the original)!  Anyway...I did get the opportunity to finish the layout I described yesterday...and really like the way it came out.  Hope you enjoy!

Awaiting another winter storm!

Well, the snow is expected to start sometime early tomorrow morning, around 2 - 3am and last until early afternoon.  Predictions for snow are anywhere between 4 - 8" total.  Boston has already cancelled...but no school around here have made the call.  Katy has only had one snow day this year...so I think they should call it...if only b/c getting in and out of her school parking lot has been horrendous b/c of the construction...and huge snow banks...so I can't imagine how navigating all that will be with blinding snow.  So maybe I need to call the snow day! LOL!

So, here is another page I did today...working on getting 2010 done.  But...I had to do the sledding layouts, b/c the pictures were so good, so I cheated and did this one starting 2011:

I actually almost completed one more double page layout today...but needed Katy to send me one of her pictures so I could finish it...will post another day.  I love using the pre-designed pages from CM and pixels2pictures...so nice to have a base from which to start and then customize it with your choice of papers and embellishments.  I hardly ever build a page from scratch anymore (how lazy am I)???  Anyway...for those of you in the snow zone...snuggle in and pray for the early am phone call.  And for those of you in the sunny zone...enjoy!

The Challenge is ON!

So I've given myself until the end of January to finish our 2010 family album. So far, I've gone through the pictures and made a list of the pages I'd plan on completing.  With the completing of these pages, I'm just about done with October.  A little background:  Purgatory Chasm was one of the destinations of the road trips my dad loved to take us on.  All I remember is that it seemed to take forever to drive there from Marshfield...and now that I know where Purgatory Chasm IS (Sutton, MA), I know that it DID take forever.  I'd say, from Marshfield...in the 60s...probably a minimum of 2 hours, maybe longer.  But I remember it as being a very magical place...a geological formation (dad loved his geological maps) that left a huge gash in the landscape filled with boulders and caves...and a trail going through the center of it.  I also remember a simple playground that had great swings (these seem to have disappeared).  Sutton is about 45 minutes from here in Attleboro and we managed to take Katy to Purgatory Chasm when she was little...she managed to get sick about halfway into the trail and poor Kirk ended up carrying her all the way out.  My goal is that sometime in the next decade, we actually walk the entire trail through the Chasm like we use to do with my dad!  Enjoy the pages...and wish me luck with my album challenge!

Just testing the sharing network!

A scrapbook page from this summer...got it off the main iMac via our network...super cool!!!

Just had to add....

that tonight's 'Duggar TT Variation' was one of the BEST ever...I cut the recipe in half, used ground turkey, one can of broccoli/cheese soup and one of chicken...did the dehydrated onion addition...used frozen organic broccoli spears and threw in a little layer of mexican shredded cheese in the middle and on top of the tots.  Katy loved it!

ANOTHER New Year! Welcome 2011!

Okay...here is another try at the family blog. For those of you out there who are interested! Why start again now? Well, it is January, the start of another year...and I wanted to share my delight in making Duggar Family Tater Tot Casserole. You know...the family that is featured in 19 Kids and Counting??? One of my private addictions? My own little family showed great enthusiasm over this casserole and I am taking delight in the variations I have created. Several of my CM ladies have had this at my extended workshops and now make it for their own families. Basically, it is comfort food...in the form of a really quick casserole you can make early in the day and cook at dinnertime, or even make two and freeze one for a busy week. And you could have most of the ingredients on hand to make this at any time. Here is the basic recipe found on the Duggar website:

Tater Tot Casserole:

2 bags Tater Tots

2 lbs ground turkey, cooked, seasoned and drained

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cans evaporated milk

Place browned meat in bottom of two 9 x 13 pans. Cover with tater tots. Combine soups and milk and pour over tots. Bake at 350 for an hour.

Okay...so the fun part is to play with the recipe. Here are some variations that have worked for me so far:

-Use ground beef

-Use 'healthy request, or low fat' versions of the soups and milk (okay...I know it doesn't negate the tater tots...but every little bit helps, right)?

-Use a bag of frozen veggies on top of the meat...I've used mixed veggies and also broccoli spears.

-When using frozen broccoli, use cream of broccoli and cheese soups. Tonight, I'm doing this one and adding some shredded cheese to the casserole.

-Can use any 'Cream of' Soups...have used celery...worked fine.

-Add 1 tsp dehydrated onion to the soup mix.

-I almost always cut the recipe in half...but when I experimented making the full recipe and froze the second casserole, it re-heated just fine...altho it took a bit longer...

Anyway...let me know if you try this and what you think! One of the karate moms was thinking of trying to do an asian version, using soy sauce in the cream of chicken soup, ground beef, maybe some water chestnuts and/or bean sprouts...could even top with crunchy noodles...but then it wouldn't be tater tot casserole anymore, right? Enjoy!