January 27, 2008

Boy makes good scrambled eggs.

Eggs have become his late-night-just-before-bed snack, especially when he works the 4pm-11pm shift at Target. It's quick, easy, and mild to eat before hitting the hay. I make good eggs too, but I over-hard them on our electric skillet with some sausage and hashbrowns and pancakes for our favorite weekend breakfast. I LOVE our electric skillet.

I worked on a few crafty projects this weekend, only I can't show pictures of them yet because they are birthday presents for folks who occasionally take a peek at this page. But, I can show this:

I've sorta developed a thing for monogrammed stuff (remember the monogrammed hankie curtains I made after Christmas?). This is a "H" burned into a little 5x7 wooden panel. I bought a woodburning tool several years ago. The first project I did with woodburning was to embellish my rebec (medieval precursor to the violin) with a few celtic knots.

I like being crafty! Besides, it gives me something to do while Jamie is off at work.

January 19, 2008

Winter Weather: Round 2

Ok. So you probably can't see it in this picture, but snow is falling! The squirrels don't seem to mind. Here's another picture. The white fog in the background is snow.

You see that lovely picture below of my car all covered with a wintry white blanket? Well, several hours later Jamie and I needed to go to Walmart, but the car wouldn't start! After 10 minutes of gently coaxing, my little Saturn finally sprung out of its winter nap and took us off to Walmart. We decided to head to the Walmart about 7 miles away rather than the one a mile away just to give the car a warm up on the highway. Don't worry all you moms and grandmas who frequently read this. The roads were completely clear by the time we ventured out.

January 17, 2008

What we woke up to this morning:

Needless to say, neither of us ventured much past the front door. Hehe. YAY FOR SNOW DAY!

January 13, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Oops. Forgot to make a New Year's day entry.

I've just been crafty with some Christmas cards. I keep my favorite cards from each year. My piles of old cards always adds up and I never know what to do with them besides stuffing them in boxes with movie stubs and photos. This year I came up with a great idea!

I took three cards of different sizes with the same theme (glittery snowmen), poked holes in them, and attached them all with some ribbon. Best of all -- this project cost nearly nothing! I haven't figured out where I'll put this next year, but maybe I'll hang it from the mini-blinds or tack it to the wall or a door. Hmm...now that I think about it, our coat closet door looked a little blank this year. Maybe that's where I'll hang it.

Another neat idea for old Christmas cards is to frame them for a holiday picture collage. Check out the photo of our dining table at Christmas. The framed pictures on the wall over the table are old Christmas cards. Christmas cards that don't scream CHRISTMAS (i.e., cards without Santa, snowmen, reindeer, etc.) can be left up on the wall all year round.

December 28, 2007

Yesterday we spent some of the Walmart gift card Nana gave us. I finally got a bookcase for the upstairs extra bedroom.

Hooray! A new place to put stuff!

December 26, 2007

Merry Christmas from the Hylands!

Ok. I'm a day late. I really meant to post something yesterday, but both cameras crapped out in the middle of taking pictures so I had to wait until they recharged. Then I went into a turkey coma and forgot to post. Ah well.

Here is the bountiful meal we partook of together.

We had turkey (my first ever that I made all by myself and it turned out to be the best turkey EVER), gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, parker house rolls, sweet tea, sparkling white grape juice, and I made deviled eggs just for me. We had pumpkin pie and whipped cream for dessert.

Here's the booty we got from the Washington state folks and my presents to Jamie:

Lots of fun stuff, including stuff that came all the way from Hawaii! And here's what I did with one of the presents:

I made a window treatment for our extra room using the monogrammed hankies Betsy sent us and some red napkins that I got for half price at Target. Ain't I crafty? Hehe.

Christmas will be extended for us because we haven't gotten presents from the NC folks since we couldn't get to Mema's house for Christmas Eve. But Mom says there's a basketful of presents waiting for us. Mema was extra excited about one particular present and told me about it. My cousin Jordan and his wife Sarah got tickets to the NASCAR All-Star Challenge in Charlotte on May 17, 2008 for Mema, Aunt Gloria, Mom, and me. YAY!!!

Jamie has a love-hate relationship with his new job at Target, but that's to be expected since he started working a retail job at the absolute worst possible time of year. But he's been doing a good job and there's a very good chance he'll be able to stay after the holiday season is over. He really enjoys helping customers and he's very good at it. I married such a personable, nice guy. It balances out how not-so-personable I am. Hehe. Hopefully he can grin-and-bear-it for a little longer so he has some work experience for finding a new job or get promoted to a higher position at Target.

I have one more gig before the end of the year, one I just got this past week. I'll get to play in costume at the Tavern in Old Salem next Sunday for a wedding brunch. Fun! I love to play in costume and might get to do some more in the near future.

December 9, 2007

I'm over the halfway point for my Christmas gigs this year. Last weekend I participated in my fourth performance of Handel's Messiah. And I played in costume at Old Salem. This weekend I played for a church cantata. I still have two gigs left, but they're fun-no-pressure ones: being background music at dinner time for one of the retirement homes and being background music at a Christmas party. Four of the five gigs are definite paying gigs. I'll clear a little over $500. Too bad Christmas doesn't happen more than once a year. I like playing!

Yesterday after the church rehearsal we went to the Dollar Tree and Target to look at their Christmas stuff. The dollar store had absolutely nothing worth looking at, much less actually buying. Target was a little better. We picked up a two more boxes of glass balls (LOVE GLASS BALLS!) and a glass pickle for our tree. The pickle is this year's special ornament.

Here's our 2006 ornament with our 2007 ornament.

I ran out of ornament hooks, but I found a nifty place for the extra red and gold balls. This is the crystal egg tray that we bought at Belk's with a wedding gift card. It was the only completely frivolous thing we bought using all the cards folks gave us. I think it makes a marvelous tray for Christmas decorations! It holds 4 red balls, 8 gold balls, a candle, and a candle ring.

Oohhh, and Jamie got a job offer from Target on Wednesday. He starts as soon as they give him an orientation schedule. YAY! And, he has an interview at a construction supply company in town on Monday for a regular day job. But, here's what he's up to today.

Hehe. I think I'll go join him on the couch.