Happy Haunting!

Good morning, I'm in a frantic rush this morning to get things ready for the trick or treaters tonight and inpromptu halloween party that we are having. Kind of just throwed together at the last second....just Danny and Maggie, Lisa, EJ and Aly, and Mom and Dad, but still....I haven't cleaned house this week because of all of the decor sitting around waiting to go out tonight. Anyways, I wanted to get pics of our deco posted before Halloween is over, LOL! So here goes!

The house from across the street:
Close up of the front porch area:

The haunted cemetary:

New for this year, a cackling witch who stirs her smoldering cauldron: We affectionately call her Broomhilda!

Broomhilda's sister, Matilda, who had, um....a little accident:

NO TRESSPASSING! The attack skeleton's on duty, along with his trusty pets:

T-Bone, straight from the Hell's Skeleton club:

An Eerie warning:

The reason for that eerie warning, a 3 foot animated spider!

Spidey's den:

The Royal Spell Spinner's throne: (ME! LMAO!)

He's pointing the way:

The Spell Spinner's loyal pet, Frizzo:

What a dummy.....

That's one BIIIIIG spider, oh and a big ol' kitty cat too!

The front door:

And last but not least....also new this year, spidercicles!

As for pics of me and hubs dressed to kill, you'll have to wait until tomorrow! That was a great pun....LMAO!

Alright, hope ya'll enjoy, I'm sure I'll have plenty more to share tomorrow!

Have a safe and happy halloween!

Christy

Cha-Ching!

Good morning!

After a long week of being sick, I'm still sick, just not as bad. I at least sound normal, can breathe again without using a half box of snot-rags just to get from one room to another, and my cough is down to a mild back-breaking hack now. *LMAO*

I finally made it to the grocery store....it was either that or start chewing on the woodwork! The cat thought for sure that I was going to starve her to death, EVEN THOUGH she still had 2 cans of food in the cabinet. Hubs was on the verge of delirious, seeing mirages of big ol' steaks and potatoes. Okay, so it wasn't quite that bad, but it was getting there very rapidly. So, I went, and I SAVED! WOO-HOO! It's not like I've never used coupons, I've just never used them like this. I couldn't believe how much I saved by using coupons for sale items and planning my meals around sale items. It was a bit tough, but I did it in less than an hour. So, are you ready to see how much I saved yet? Okay, well here goes!

I spent $189.88 (WAAAAAAY more than usual, but I was out of basically everything!)
I saved with coupons: $24.25 (doesn't seem like much does it?)
I saved with in store savings card: $49.42 (that's better.....)

My total savings was: $73.67! That's a savings of 39%! I was impressed and shocked all at the same time!

Now, I have a challenge for all of you ladies out there...can you beat me? I'm sure you can, I'm new to the game.....give it a shot and see how you feel afterwards. I almost feel like I cheated the system somehow! HA!

In other news, it snowed this morning. Yep. That cold, crisp, white stuff is back for another season of driving hell. YAY! No accumulation yet, but they say we could get an inch tonight. I can't believe that it was 60* F yesterday, and snowed last night. Ah well, that's Indiana for ya!

I'm gonna try to get out and get pics of the halloween deco for ya'll tonight, that is if the 40mph winds subside long enough. I can't take that wind, cuts right though me.

Alrighty, for now, that's it for me!

Have a super Monday!
Christy

Penny Pinchin'

Howdy all!

I am here, barely, as I have a nasty, nasty cold that just won't let go of me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I HATE, (with a passion!!!) to take medicine. So here I sit, snottin', sneezin', coughin', freezin', and having to take meds. UGH! Anyways, I got bored, started clipping coupons last night, then got the brilliant idea to see if there are any available online. Yeah....I could be here for decades. So, one thing led to another and I now have a whole list of blogs that are about penny pinchin' and saving more money with coupons. Some of them I found quite interesting! Some of them even have some great recipes and foodsaving tips. My favorite so far is a recipe for Zucchini Pineapple Bread. Sound yummy? Does to me!

Anyhoo....if your wallets are as empty as mine these days, you may find some of these sites as interesting as I did. I'm hoping to start saving more with coupons....and maybe I'll even let ya'll in on how much I save when (and IF) I ever get back to the grocery store again. I haven't even felt like breathing this past 4 days, let alone shopping.....

So, ta ta for now...enjoy the new links!

Hugs to all,
Christy

Lillee's Sprinkle

Howdy ya'll!

So glad to see that a couple of folks still check my blog! In that case, I think I'll blog a little bit this morning.

Back on October 5 I put on a Baby Sprinkle for my best friend, Lisa. Yes, I said Baby Sprinkle. For those of you who are scratching your head, I called it a Sprinkle because that's exactly what it was. This is her second baby, another girl, and I know that most people consider a shower for any child other than the first to be against the laws of the universe, but I personally believe that every baby deserves to be celebrated. So since she already had all of the big ticket items, we had a sprinkling of necessities, just to help out. It was more for the party than the gifts, but everything she got was greatly appreciated, that is for sure!

Me and Lisa:

The theme was pink and yellow and rubber duckies, and I found some of the cutes stuff! I made diaper cakes for each table as decoration, also made baby booties out of styrofoam cups, and picked up some little round tins at Walmart in the wedding stuff and decorated them and filled them with pink M&M's.



Here's what the tables looked like:



Here's the yummy table, complete with pink butter mints, peanuts and pink hershey kisses that said "It's a girl" on the tags. Too cute! Check out the duckies swimming in the blue punch.

Since it was a sprinkle, I made cupcakes and put sprinkles on them! Pink and yellow, or course!



Look closely at the ice cubes!

Mmmmm.....yummy!

Here's a close up of the 3 tier diaper cake that I made for the gift table.

And here's the 2 tier that was on all of the guest tables.

Baby booties filled with nuts and mints for snacking, and you can kinda see the tins with the m&m's in them.

The fireplace where we took photos. We took a picture of Lisa with every guest alone in front of the fireplace, made 2 copies and then she sent everyone a copy of their picture with the thank you notes. What a great keepsake!

As everyone arrived, they got to sign a huge cloth baby bottle that plays Rock-A-Bye Baby instead of a guest book, and they also got to play their first game. The game was to guess how many M&M's were in a baby bottle. I used pink M&Ms, as that's what Lisa is craving with this baby. For future reference, it is way more than it looks, ours had 236 in it.

As far as games go, I tried to do some different things, so that it would be very memorable for her. We played a game called baby sock match, I had 18 pairs of baby socks, all different but soooo similar in a small basket and I timed each gal to see who could match and fold them all the fastest. Lisa's Mother in law, Terri won this one, doing it in 58 seconds! HOLY COW! Lisa came in second with 1:02. Still faster than me! We also played a game called TV Kids. For this game, I told the gals to split into two teams and each had a rubber ducky to squeak when they knew the answer. I gave the TV shows and they had to name all of the kids on the shows. It was great, everyone seemed to really enjoy that one! I'm happy to report the pink team won by a landslide, the team consisted of Lisa, and her friends Bobbie, Delisa and Hannah. I passed around a skein of yarn and all of the ladies had to eyeball Lisa and cut a piece of yarn that they thought would go around her belly perfectly. Some were real close and others were miles to long. Lisa's Grandma in Law Alta won this coming within an INCH! She cuts fabric for a living, imagine that....HA!

All in all, I think everyone had a great time, and I hope that Lisa had plenty to put in baby Lillee's book!

Have a great day all!

Christy

My Quilty Name Is...

Hi all! Okay, so it's been has been quite some time since I have posted, and quite frankly, I'm not even sure if anyone even checks my blog anymore...and I don't blame them. Life has gotten unbearably busy for me, and well, I just don't have time. I don't have time to do anything I love anymore....email, phone calls, CQ, gardening....it has all gone by the wayside this summer. I'm so disappointed. However, fall is here, and although I'm still busy, things are starting to slow from a 300mph screaming ride to about 175mph or so. Yeah, it's been that bad.

Anyhoo, I'm here today, actually, I should be in bed and that is where I'm heading once I'm done with this. Hey, it's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to! LOL...yeah.....it's my birthday. Turning 30 today. Somehow I thought that I'd wake up feeling something different. So far, nada. Alrighty then. 30 seems to be just like 29, and 29 wasn't too bad, not terrific mind you, but not that bad. I don't think it's 29's fault, it's just that my life has a knack of going drastically insane in very long stretches. 29 was one of those long stretches. Here's hoping that 30 slows down a bit!

On to what I intended to blog...my quilty name. It's cute, kind of fitting and well, I'll let ya'll decide. Here goes: Baronetress, Charter member of quilting in my jammies club.
I do quilt in my jammies....all the time!

Alright, until I get a chance to blog again, have a wonderful day!

Hugs,
Christy

Birthday Babies!

Good morning, just a quick post this morning!

I have two birthday birdies in the house today! Bandanna and Doc are both 2 today. How exciting! We're gonna have a special treat tonight, POPCORN! They just love it! For those of you who don't know, I hand raised both of them, along with Sammy, Pearl and Tuxie, Sammy's birthday is Sunday and the other two are in August. This was the most exciting thing I have done in a very, very long time, and they are truly Mommy's babies too. They love their Daddy, but not like Mom. I am the one who they have looked at every single day of their lives, from the minute they opened their eyes. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Here's Bandanna, he's 3 weeks old here.

And Doc, who is about 4 weeks in this picture.

Another exciting birthday.....Garfield is 30 today! WOW! Our hometown, lasagna lovin' fat-cat is 30! Happy birthday to you, Garfield!

Alrighty, that's it for me, I'm all pooped out from all of this excitement! Off to bed I go!

Have a super day!
Christy

My Life Is A Soap Opera

Good Morning All!

Okay, so it has been eons since I have blogged, emailed, or called anyone. I know, I know....I suck as a friend. Believe me, I know. My life is in constant upheaval these days, and I am getting so sick of it. I want ONE day. Just ONE without something that I have to do, and emergency, or being sick. I know that my life isn't nearly as bad as everyone else's, but for me, I'm on a long road that I'd almost rather not travel anymore. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

So, I guess I should tell you what I have been up to. I have been mowing, planting, weeding, trimming, mowing some more, and weeding some more. Yeah!!! What an exciting life. In between all of this, we have been having rain and more rain, and storms too. So in between mowing and all of that, I'm cleaning up storm damage, cleaning house, doing laundry...you know, the typical domestic chores. We haven't had too much damage, just some big limbs down, but lots of them. And flooding. Lots and lots of water sitting everywhere, breeding mosquitoes the size of Eagles. Again, we don't have near the flooding that others do....but for us, it's a lot. And we are also enduring an early season heat wave that is pretty much gonna kill me soon. HA!

Also, we have had a death in the family, my Hubby's Grandma passed away this past Saturday. She became very sick about 2 weeks ago, and it looked as though she was going to be okay, and suddenly she started going downhill again. It has been a rough couple of weeks in the emotional department too. Grandma Bonnie with truely be missed. Thursday is the calling hours, Friday the funeral, so we are still an emotional trainwreck. I hope we can get back to a normal life soon.

In other news, the babies are all doing well, including Cherokee, although he's not enjoying the heat so much. We are still working on getting his winter coat out of him. He takes forever to shed, and we are trying to help him as much as we can since we have had this early heatwave. I have tons of baby birds and squirrels flittering around the house, just today I saw a baby Cardinal. They look so funny! We also have a very young baby bunny hopping around out here this year again, although I haven't seen him in a couple of days now. The cat keeps me posted on that one..... My gardens are looking decent now, but are still full of weeds. I can't keep up with them after all of this rain that we are having! I hope Mother Nature will give us a bit of a break next week.

Well, I suppose that is it for now, just basically wanted to let you all know that we are still alive and kicking.

Have a great Hump Day!

Christy

For All You Mothers Out There...

glitter-graphics.com

This goes for Critter-Moms too!

I hope everyone has a special Mother's Day!


Hugs to all,
Christy

Sold!

Hello again!

You know, when I started CQing, I had no intentions of making money at it. Hell, I was just happy to have a hobby that could hold my interest for more than a week. However, I have decided to try and make a little cash on the side doing something that I love. So, my neighbor saw my checkbook cover, fell in love, and requested one for herself. I tried to just give it to her, and she wouldn't take it without paying me for it. I know, it sounds like I'm complaining.....

Anyway, she requested one in an Irish theme, and here's the result:


She loves it! In fact, she's peddling them all over town now. Every time she writes a check she tries to sell one! HA! Who knows, maybe I can at least make enough money to pay for some of my fabric! I did get an "order", but not for anything CQed. Someone ordered a crib set! A quilt, sheet, pillow and bumper. Works for me, especially since they told me to take all the time I need, the baby isn't due until later this year. That's a good thing, I can work on it in the evenings when the sun goes down.

Have a super Sunday!
Christy

Blooms, Blooms, Everywhere Blooms!

Good morning!

I have been busier than busy for the past month, and well....that leaves no time for emailing or blogging. But, this morning, it's storming so I decided to catch up on a few things. Probably shouldn't be on the computer, but I'm risking it! HA!

First off, as promised, here's the picture of Swiffer. I know, a little late. He's such a character. Here he was watching the neighbors dogs through the privacy fence.

Next is another critter picture. I have had a herd of Goldfinches all spring, and I am assuming that they are nesting nearby, since this one felt the need to hang on the dandelions and pull the fuzz out of them. Oh, yeah, IN MY FLOWER BED. Sheesh...now I know how they are getting there. I have been trying like heck to stay on top of the weed this year, but I tell you, when Mother Nature works against me like this, it sure makes my job difficult.
The rest of the photos are of my spring bloomers. I love my tulips, they sure brighten my day!

Green Mystery Tulips....

Field irises.....
Purple and white rainbow tulips....
Strawberries and cream peony flowering tulips.....

Ballade lily flowering tulip....

Black Hero peony flowering tulip....
Columbine.....
A unique view of my columbine, ....Flaming Parrot tulip....
Fringed tulips....

Well, that's it for now, I will have some more pictures the next time it storms! Ha ha ha!

Have a super day!

Christy