Simple Rudolph card

This card started out from a scrap (the 2 snowflakes). It's simple and I like it. I think I'll make a few more.

Grrrrrrrrrrr >=(&?@

You've probably read the story of my new camera......well now it's causing me grief!!!! When I put my memory card into my card reader I can not preview or download the pictures from one (only 1 of the 2) of the Nikon files). What is going on??? It is so frustrating!!!!! I can view the pictures on my camera and in my photo printer, but can not download onto my computer.

A couple of cards

I can't take the credit for the design of these cards, they sure are cute tho????

A little of this and a little of that

I haven't been posting because nothing has been happening here. This past weekend we had a family of cats outside, a mother and 5 kittens. They were pretty big already. I LOVED the calico one and wanted him. Hubby says they are wild and I can't feed them. Although I am not an animal lover like my mom and sister I still hate to see animals go hungry. Maybe they have moved on by now.
Saturday Deb and I took my 2 youngest grandsons to help celebrate my oldest granddaughters birthday. I missed the party because of our 'girls get away weekend'. The kids had a good time, we had a nice visit with Connie.
Sunday night we went to my step-sons for a turkey dinner. They made a really nice meal.
Prayers are needed for my sister who is a single mom living on disability and always has health and money problems. She is doing a great job with her son and helps with our mom when it is needed (she lives closeby).
It's pretty quiet where hubby works.........they need an order and are expecting to get one soon.......but won't start until February.....huh???? I don't understand either. The company has laid off the crew every other week. At least that way all the employees can keep the insurance. :-)
I know you are thinking "when is she going to post some cards? or craft projects?" I am wondering the same thing. First of all I need to clean off my stamping table and then I can get to work! Believe me, I WANT to do some stamping and scrapbooking!
Last, but not least: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Girls Getaway Weekend

Our annual Girls Getaway weekend was a success! :-) ......for the most part, that is. My sister in law couldn't come. :-( I am hoping we can do something similar after the holidays. We left late Friday morning. The COUNTRY INN & SUITES by the mall had a special girls getaway package. We each ended up paying a little over $40 for two, yes 2, nights. They had a great free breakfast buffet. Friday night we went to visit my youngest granddaughter. She's 15 months and a real cutie pie with big blue eyes. We ate at my daughters finance's bar/restaurant. I overate and was miserable that evening. We just crashed that night. Saturday we had a date at the spa.......massage, facial, pedicure, and manicure. It was the best massage I've ever had, a deep massage..........I didn't realize my muscles were so tight. I think it did more good than a visit to my chiropractor. Red Lobster beckoned us for dinner that evening and the hot tub got our attention later. We did a little shopping Saturday and Sunday, mostly for ourselves. Sunday we shopped (my bff & I got to stop at Archivers), ate, and got home about 7......I think. Now it's back to the real world.

I love this soup

My daughter got me hooked on this soup, we found it on the recipezaar.com site. I hope you like it too.

Olive Garden Style Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
"This is very close to the Olive Garden soup. There's another recipe on the web which was the basis of this recipe, however it has been changed it to use less cream. Still tastes good! I did end up using a little cornstarch to thicken. I guess you could sub heavy cream for the half and half to make it a little thicker without using cornstarch. The gnocchi is usually in the spaghetti section of the grocery store."
SERVES 8 -10
Ingredients
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half-and-half
1 stalk celery, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped (I used frozen spinach, b/c that is all I had-LJ)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
16 ounces potato gnocchi
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional) (I did not use cornstarch -LJ)
Directions
1. Saute the onion, celery, onion, garlic, carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.
2. Add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.
4. (Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.).
5. Ladle into bowls and serve!
Recipe #348802 35 min 10 min prep .

Click for causes

I think this is important so am adding it to my blog.
Click for Cans.
Click for Cans has a little different format this year, the playoffs. Our Pack is pitted against the Buffalo Bills, who also won their season 17-0. At the time I write this, the Bills are leading the Pack by almost 5,000 votes. You are probably aware that Campbell’s donates many thousands of cans of soup to the food pantry of the winner.http://www.chunky.com/ClickForCansLanding.aspx
Click for Mammograms.
The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing but helps a sister in need. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
Click for Animal Rescue.
The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (about 20 seconds) to go to the site and, click on the purple box 'fund food for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Happy Halloween to me

Yesterday I had some time to kill on my lunch hour and since Shopko is nearby I was wandering around in there. I ALWAYS check the clearance aisle (even though stores move them around constantly), the Halloween items were 90% off. I picked up a centerpiece and some napkins. I like to have the pretty napkins....no-one seems to notice, but I like 'em.

Trick or Treaters

Here are some of my favorite Trick or Treaters. The black spiderman (masked) boy is my nephew.

Red Hat Halloween party

Here are some of the girls from our Red Hat group at the Halloween party. I am the blond Calamity Jane. A fun time was had by all!

Another week begins

Good Monday Morning!
It was a busy weekend here. I picked up my (nearly) 9 year old granddaughter about noon on Friday. She lives about 1-3/4 hours away. Later that afternoon I picked up the 2 boys and took all the kids to the magic show at the library. I have some brave grandkids......2 of them volunteered and were chosen to assist the magician. Saturday T & decorated for the Halloween "party" at my house that afternoon. The boys came over and we played a couple of games then the kids got into their costumes (photos will be posted later) and we went to great-grandmas. Trick or Treating started at 4:30 and it was a chilly day so we layered .......the kids and me were not too cold. We were joined by Michele and Nathan, and Heather and Eastin. The boys tuckered out early so we came home to warm up, but then Eastin and Heather took my granddaughter (who was not ready to quit) and the boys out longer. I was hungry and didn't want to eat too much candy so I made an impromptu dinner for us and Michele. Everyone went home early, but I did have my 4 year old grandson and granddaughter spend the night. They play together really good so it's no trouble. By 9pm we were all in bed...............ahhhhhhhhhhh. Sunday morning we had a lazy start. We stayed home from church and just hung out. The kids got grandpa to take them to the park across the street but they decided it was boring so came back home. They played outside in the leaves and then decided to put on a magic show for me.......after they carved the pumpkins. And that means I carved pumpkins. I hadn't done it before Halloween b/c I didn't have time, but they made sure I did yesterday. So here were are sitting on the wet ground, in my front yard, carving pumpkins. The sun was out so it wasn't really too bad, I had fun with them. T dug the guts out with her bare hands.........ewwww. J wouldn't touch it, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Oh well. They had fun. When the kids are here I try to let them do what they want. They put on their magic show. Then we rushed around to pack up the car, stopped at Aunt Debbie's to get their Halloween treats, stopped at McDonald's for lunch and were off to T's house. Those 2 kids in the back seat were hilarious.......just listen to little kids conversations once, it'll keep you in stitches! We had to stay for a 'little while' at T's house so J could play with T and her brother. Fortunately we missed the Packer football traffic on the way home. J was asleep shortly after we left. On the way home I saw 2 deer, one a big buck (at least 6 points) crossed in front of me, the other one was running in the ditch facing me. Thank you God for keeping them away from my car. J slept all the way home. I finally got home after 7.......was I tired, until I went to bed, then I was wide awake! Now I need to get dressed and I am off to read in my grandson's 4K class. After school he's coming with me while his mom starts her new job. Wish her luck!

later, gator