Party like it's 2001!

Welcome everyone! Can you believe we are about to be in a new decade? Seems like just last year we were worried about Y2K. I want to share our 2001 New Year's Eve Menu. We had 6 guests that night and I was trying to be really creative. It was my first attempt at fusing cuisines. The seafood shooters were so good to me, but I found out many of my friends did not like seafood. My creation of the Citrus Sherbet was my pride of the night. We received an exotic fruit basket for Christmas that year and I chopped and blended and created the most incredible citrus sherbet. Just typing this, the memory is making my mouth water. I got it perfect! I scooped the sherbet into my glass sherbet dishes, put them on a cookie sheet. My husband took them out and put them in the freezer for me. The rest of the preparations went great. My schedule went smoothly. I got to take a shower and put on make up and everything. That should have been a clue for me, things went TOO smoothly. My guests arrived to favors for the evening.

I showed my guests to the dining area and served the soup course. It went over well. YES! I was so pleased. I served the seafood shooters. They were not received very well. I told my guests that they were in for a treat. I had prepared a lovely palate cleanser. I described in detail the beautiful mangoes, grapefruits, star fruit, oranges, lemons and limes in my creation. I sent my husband to get the Citrus Sherbet for us. It took him forever, but my guests thought it was worth it. Delicious. Yes another success. I went to check on the cordon blue . I admit it, I was pleased with myself. Then I heard someone yell 'Ouch'. Then a loud 'Darn'. I ran to see what was happening. My guests had napkins up to their mouths. There was blood, yes blood! What in the world? My husband finally spoke up. He said when he went to get the sherbet, the dessert cups had shattered. He did not want to upset me so he simply put the scoops of sherbet filled with glass shards onto another dessert dish. My guests were eating glass filled sherbet, yes I was trying to kill my guests. I gained my composure, took my deadly creation to the kitchen and served the rest of my dinner. I think I held my breath the rest of the meal....

The cheese course had a fun presentation. I think my guests were a little cautious but we did have a fun time, we danced, we laughed, we ate.

These are two friends that shared the evening. They got some wonderful news this year and have some exciting things to look forward to in 2010. Hey wait, they have not been to dinner in years. Hmmm.....

The clock ticked to midnight and we cheered in the new year. Our dear friend Richard is sitting here. Sadly he left us a couple of years after we took these pictures. We miss you Richard. The crazy memories of that evening are so much fun to share.

Ahhh the end of 2001.

Thank you for sharing this time with me! May your new year be filled with health, happiness, good fortune. May your dreams come true.

Now you tell me, have you ever tried to kill your dinner guests? Happy New Year my friends.

Guest Blogger Keelie

Welcome to all Mom's blogger friends! Mom said I did such a good job last time she wanted me to blog for her again. We had a wonderful Christmas. Mom said we were so good because we left the tree alone. Josh and I have a sister named Shelly. It is so very obvious that Josh and mainly me got all the looks in the family. As you can see, she did not inherit the beautiful gene like me and Josh. Dad likes her so we put up with it. Last March she brought Remington into the world and that made Mom and Dad very happy.

They think he is a neat kid. Look at him. What is so great about him? He got a tooth, big deal. He eats, he poops ....so what? He sleeps. Who cares? Josh and I have that down pat, we have made eating, pooping and sleeping an art form. But when Remi does it, dad is so happy. He shows everyone Remi did this, Remi did that. It is quite embarrassing.

Well she finally got something right. Look what she got Mom for Christmas! Josh and I love it! We have already picked out the treats we want Mom to cook for us. Thank you Shelly, we almost forgive you for Remi. Almost not completely.

We will keep you informed of what wonderful creations Mom makes. You can leave a comment. Josh and I are taking a nap.

She's HERE!

Welcome friends and meet my precious niece. She is the light of our lives. She will only be here for a few days and we have so much catching up to do! Now this is the Christmas gift I have been waiting for. Merry Christmas.....

We love comments

Cupcake disaster!

Thank you so much for stopping by. Doug and I are finishing up the last of our gift baking. When I saw these I thought, how cute! Aren't they just precious? At midnight we were trying to make them. We laughed so hard and were just silly trying to make them work. First we could not find any red food coloring. So I decided that Mrs. Claus washed Santa's suit in Clorox. The black 'belt' is licorice. Could not find any thin licorice. Doug tried his hand at piping gel. I did not read the directions properly and Santa's feet are way too big.

Oh and please notice the snow on two chimneys the snow is melting up! LOL. The fur on Santa's boots is sorta melting also.
We are delivering them anyway. I think everyone needs a laugh during the holidays don't you?

I found some really cute ideas on a blog called Homemaking Fun.
Click on the link and you will find some great ideas. And one last little gift. I found these peppermint shot glasses at Target for $1.00. They were in the dollar section in the front of the store. I think with a small bottle of peppermint scnapps they will make some great warm you to the toes gift.

Now to fight the crowds and finish our grocery shopping! We have not even finished our menu so it will fun. Doug and I are baking our Christmas desserts tomorrow. You know I will post them, no matter what they look like! Merry Christmas.

I love Comments...........

There is still time!

Sunday, I had a wonderful impromptu breakfast with my Mom and husband. Please notice my lovely serving dishes. LOL. We talked about how the holiday lists we made in October have been long forgotten. Of course Moms will be Moms...... She had to tweak some of our decorating. And we decided we have done all we can do this year. We will spend this week enjoying friends, family, food and festivities.

But darn, so many things on that list we did not get around to. So many times we miss opportunities. Instead of the basket of oranges for the neighbor. Take a few minutes and juice those oranges. You will have instant friends for life and what a memorable gift!

Oh we wanted to volunteer at a soup kitchen, we wanted to donate to a food pantry, we wanted to do so much this holiday season. But we didn't get around to it. STOP! Check your phone book (OK google it) a nursing home in your city. Ask for the activities director. Tell her please give you the names of some residents that never have visitors. Don't ask a nurse, don't ask the social director. They will probably share the names of the most visible residents. Put the names you are given on some cards. Address the cards while you are on the phone with him/her. Drop a few dollars in those cards. Do you know how happy you will make those people? (Wanna really make them happy, save their name and send them a card every month!)

How many times do we want to help a homeless person? But what to do? First be courteous and polite but always consider your safety. I buy MRE's (meals ready to eat). Our soldiers eat them every day. I live near a military base and purchase them there but I am certain you can find them at sporting goods stores. Keep them in your car. They are high in calories. They contain everything including the means to heat them up. These things are indestructible, they are safe and you make an immediate difference.

Smile, laugh, call a friend. Tell someone you love them. Listen. Teach. Share. Of course volunteer, donate money, donate clothes but don't forget the little things that will change a life that we can do everyday. Merry Christmas my blogging friends. I treasure the bonds we have made.

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

Welcome friends, come on in and see what we have done for the holidays. First, one of Uncle Doug's projects. We saw it on a blog or a thrift store and he had to try it. Since he has tons of these silver plated trays, he sprayed several with chalkboard paint and we used them to put homemade treats on. They really work, you use them just like a chalkboard. The table cloth has beautiful holly cut out. The poinsettia was a gift. This little vignette begins the tour. Come on and join me.

This is a new tradition in our home. Our grandson lives too far away to spend the holidays together. We decided to set up a special vignette just for him. This is what we started with this year. We will add to it every year. Merry Christmas Remi! Don't mind all the throws in the background. We have two dogs and that is everyday decorating!

We did not go all out this year with our decorating but taking a cue from so many blogs and ladies on the Q bulletin boards this is what we came up with. Several years ago hubby and I took on a Christopher Lowell project and we still enjoy it. We decorated both sides of it this year. These are some blues, silver and whites I put together.

These are a few of our snowmen, some gifts, some dollar store, some cherished treasures from grandparents. I wanted a few of them all.
This is our breakfast area. We love to sit here in the spring and summer and watch the hummingbirds. In the winter the dogs take center stage and we watch them run and play and get dirty! It is also another time to read and discuss the precious Christmas cards we have received from loved ones.

The table cloth is actually made to look like a Santa's belt. The curtains above are trimmed in white fur. The gingerbread house is Lori Grener. The napkins I have had forever. Everything else is dollar store. Yup, that is where Aunt Nette and Uncle Doug sit and talk and dream .

We started deliveries today. We gave various things. Cookies, bags of mixes, baskets of baked goods, jellies, salsas, truffles, Chex Mix. These items we packaged with notes and put on trays to take to doctor's offices, our pharmacy, post office, places we often forget how much we appreciate what they do for us.

Another tray of goodies. Josh and Keelie gave everyone a treat bag full of Puppy Chow. That stuff is so good.

A few families we just take cookies. I could not display the cookies pretty enough to cover up this lovely tray. Just imagine cookies. No imagine cookie crumbs, and you do not have an ounce on your hips!

For a few of the very special people in our life we took individual baskets. Mainly mixes, candies and smores kits. I thought they looked cute.

To some exciting news. If you read the post Keelie (our puggle) wrote a couple of days ago, you might have noticed she said we have some exciting news to share. Keelie (our human) found out last week she is pregnant. We have been walking on cloud nine. We got together a morning sickness kit. I printed off ideas from the net to reduce morning sickness, crackers, ginger ale, teas, sea bands and a bag of love! Congratulations Keeli and Josh!

This is our Christmas tree. It does not have nearly the amount of ornaments on it as years past. Again, with 2 dogs you have to make consessions. No frillys on the packages either. But they are still pretty.

Dear hubby wanted a Christmas tree in his man cave. We could not decide which would be better, a Nasca one or an airplane one. We could not decide so he got both. Thanks to the sweet lady that came up with the idea for flags as a topper on the Nascar tree.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit. Grab some cider and a cookie and enjoy your visit.

I would love it if you would leave a comment. Merry Christmas.

Dad and Josh have a turn!

Welcome and see what is going on around here.....

Finally, the Christmas Spirit visited our home otherwise know as MaMaw. She got Dad's Nascar ready to go! Then his airplane tree not so much. But she did a good job based on what she had to work with. The famous angels sit front and center. I think they did a great job His car trees got the most attention but they had an unlimited supply of nascar ideas and it gives them the most advantage. This airplane tree seems to have lots of planes missing, but it still looks nice. Doug decorated the entrance way. It is s huge poinsettia, also with timer candles sitting of a Christmas tree skirt. It is very inviting.
This is my leather rug. It is, hand made strips of leather. Although it is beautiful, it is hot. You better believe your tootsies are warm when they are on this rug.

What things have you gotten done so far....

I would love a comment.

Jeanette
Thank you for stopping in,

I wanna help too!

Fantasy In Lights and a question

Welcome! Our family went on a trip this evening. What a wonderful time we had! Of course Keelie and Josh were excited about any trip. My sweet husband is trying to get me in a festive mood so we went to Callaway Gardens and enjoyed the show. We did not take these photographs, ours had some glare from the windows. You can either ride the trolley or drive through in your own vehicle. This is the entrance. While we were waiting for our turn, Josh decided she wanted to check out the place on her own. Into my lap she jumped, and somehow out my window. It was so funny! I had a slow reaction time and she was half in and half out of the window. I tried to grab her, instead somehow I raised the window so she was truely trapped. Then I tried to lower the window and of course I locked the doors. The kids in the vehicles in front and behind us were laughing like crazy. Of course it is a rainy night in Georgia, so when Josh was finally captured she was wearing a mud jacket. But after the drama, the show began.


It was just lovely, if you are near Pine Mountain, Georgia it is certainly worth the visit. Keelie enjoyed the entire drive, we went to a light show last Christmas in IL and she slept through the entire thing. This year she paid attention and was excited when she heard the doll say Ma-Ma, Josh loved anything in the water. They both adored the ice display.

The music was just beautiful. I have been trouble getting into a holiday mood. I think Dee Dee from d dzine was right on track when she said I needed to get some holiday music playing. I guess several boxes were lost in our move from IL. We have offical called off the search, our Christmas CD's cannot be found.

Along with many Christmas books and other treasures. Oh well, maybe we will find them next year.

Would you please leave the name of your favorite Christmas CD? I am going to pick some replacements this weekend. Have you gone looking at any Christmas lights yet this year?

Merry Christmas.

Here is a link to a little more Fantasy in Lights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbY4DyYqNc

Jeanette

Keelie, guest blogger tonight

Welcome! I am posting for Mom tonight. I can't imagine anyone not knowing who I am but in case someone has been living under a rock I am Kellie, Mom and Dad's 20 month old Puggle. This is a new picture of me Sierena took. But then, I am a great subject to photograph.

Of course she felt she had to take a picture of Josh, who cares about Josh...... my point exactly!

Mom is a little stressed tonight. She had so much she wanted to do. Dad takes all the pictures and he was bitten by a brown recluse spider. He can't move his hand so not much has gotten done around here. It is quite disgusting. Mom was so excited, she went to an auction today to buy a special present for a dear friend of hers. This is what she went to buy:

Mom told me the story, she thought she was bidding on the painting and was excited that she won it at a great price. The only problem is she accidentally bought this:

I do not understand exactly how an auction works, and obviously Mom does not either (hehehe). She is very disappointed but it will all work out. Mom and Dad are very happy, they got some great news that they will share with everyone soon. Dad bought some kind of special dishes and he is going to do a tablescape for Tablescape Thursday. I feel I am living in a parallel universe these days.

Mom has a big week scheduled. She is going to post some last minute inexpensive Christmas gifts, some ideas of small things we can do this holiday season to make big differences in the lives of others, a memory of her family and Christmas long past.

I want to thank Bonnie for the idea to do this post for mom.

Please leave a comment so Mom will know how much everyone loved my post. She gets into those comments for some reason.

Keelie