Sunday, January 10, 2016

Project Life Title Page 2016

Well it's one week into the new year! I've been looking forward to Sunday all week because I made a promise to myself, Sunday's are for church and scrapbooking only! I did help Paul with the village under the tree and we're logging all our Hallmark Ornaments into a spreadsheet (which we did back in '08 I believe) which needs updating. So, I came up into my craft room at about 1:00 in the afternoon and managed to get my title page done for 2016. I really love the simplicity of it...


I found this quote here: pspleasesendchocolate.blogspot. 

I found this quote online and changed a few words to we and us.

The paper I used is from Project Life Picturesque Core Kit. I'm really having fun! Although my pages are by the month, I'm working on my albums weekly to stay caught up. Doing a whole month on the last day of the month or 1st day of the following month has not been working for me.

As always...


Thursday, January 7, 2016

Hello love!

That's my British accent coming through. Bev and I did have our Downton Abbey Premier Tea and it turned out jolly good! Wendy, Lisa and Fran came. Bev surprised us with a little purchase from World Market that had us all laughing our asses off! I'll show you in a bit. Here's some pics from our wonderful tea, although we were disappointed that we forgot to wear our gloves for the picture taking...
Bev & I in our Downton Abbey aprons


Notice my little teacup? It's from Buckingham Palace! (when we went to the U.K.)





On the left you'll see some peanut butter and lemon curd sandwiches. Bev had bought some lemon curd for the party and wasn't sure what to use it for. Wendy and I grew up eating peanut butter and lemon curd sandwiches, so she made some. Yumm!!


The surprise that had us all in stitches! Typical British to come up with something like this. Of course all night we kept asking each other if anyone would care for some spotted dick love? Sheesh!

Me with the Spotted Dick

Bev with the Spotted Dick

Wendy with the Spotted Dick

Me & Wendy. 

Me making the Welsh Rarebit

My sweet friend Bev
Me & Lisa. Not sure what I'm looking at LOL

The gang. back row: Fran, Bev, Lisa front row: Wendy, me 
So, we really enjoyed our evening and the food the ladies brought was delicious! Even the Spotted Dick was tasty. Reminds me of a ginger cake.

Well, the weather here in N.E. Ohio has been sooo mild. Record highs etc. over the holidays. The new year has brought dropping temps and it even feels a bit chilly inside. Winston however, manages to find some sun even if it's just a tad.. Maybe I should put a sweater on him.


I have started back with my exercise plan and I've even tried a few new recipes with my Shakeology.

This one was really good. Greenberry Shakeo, 1/2 a banana, orange juice and almond milk
I've also started saving pennies. I know it sounds silly, but I'm doing this little plan in reverse order. Only because Paul was right when he said I'm not going to want to put $20 or so a week in the jar come November & December next year.

I started on January 1 with putting $3.65 in my savings jar

I joined a Downton Abbey Mystery Knit Along or DAMKAL for short. So far so good. I went to the knitting store River Colors Yarn Studio and bought some lovely yarn although I kind of wish I had gotten a lighter color. Oh well. It's nice to work with. The yarn that the pattern called for was only sold online at Jimmy Beans Wool and with shipping would have cost me a fortune.
The color is Fir Wreath
The color will work as I LOVE greens and I'll be able to wear black with it. So, getting started was a bit of PITA. It was a new cast on method that uses a crochet hook. Once I got the hang of it, it went well..

So I was a bit frustrated with my double points. They aren't sharp like my Knitpick Harmony needles are and when working with small dk or sock yarn, it's very frustrating. I did work about 10 rows and got this far...

before switching to the magic loop method and Harmony needles. I think it will be beautiful when done.

And last, our dinner last night was amazing if I may say so myself.

Salmon with Foxpoint seasoning and warm winter slaw

I finally got some more Foxpoint seasoning from when Bev went to Penzeys right before Christmas. Funny story, she called me from there and asked me if I had said I needed some more spices. I had told her to get me the large Foxpoint and she said "are you sure? It's $37!". I said, uh no. Get me the one for about $15. The funny part is, I got a gift card from Paul for Christmas to Penzeys and he heard me on the phone and was thinking...don't get the big one!

As always from my wordy, heavy photo laden self...

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year!!!


We had a few friends over last night and it was a great night filled with laughter and fun! Our friends Helen & Chuck came over and so did Barb and Joe. Although neither couple stayed very long, it was SO good to see them.
Steve, Brandy, her parents Denise and Mike, her grandma Shelby and later her sister Holly came over and stayed the duration!

We got the dart board up and ready!

Notice the white board on the bottom? Yea, that was put up after my second attempt to throw a dart and it landed in the wall. Oh well, the whole wall will be eventually filled with corks.










Practicing with poppers
Waiting as the countdown continues...






 Like I said, it was a great fun-filled night! These last couple of pics were taken by Denise and I'm so glad she captured some confetti! Those poppers were a blast (literally) and we will definitely have them next year!

As for the new year, the new and final season of Downton Abbey starts on Sunday :(. I'm very sad that it's coming to an end after 6 seasons. But, Bev and I are throwing a Downton Premier Tea on Sunday. I was trying to think of something British to make without going through all the trouble of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. If you remember late last summer when Paul and I went to the U.K. we stopped in a pub in Liverpool and I got to have some Welsh Rarebit. My mom NEVER made it that way although it was always delicious when she made it. I had purchased a couple of calendars while we were in Wales and one was a recipe calendar. Some of their stuff is way too bizarre for me, one reason is I don't cook with lard and another is I don't have a lot of the ingredients they call for. But I do for the Welsh Rarebit recipe. So after making a couple of slices for brunch today, this is my British dish for Sunday...

I had cut my piece before taking the pic but just imagine biting into all that cheese! 

quintessential savoury dish for a high tea..oh yea! 

So, needless to say I do have a few affirmations or resolutions for 2016.

One is to concentrate on getting healthy and in shape. After working out with the Beach Body program 21 day Fix Extreme for a few months and really getting into the groove, I plan on getting back into running. I really miss it but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it in. I will though.

I'm finishing up my Project Life for 2015 and I'm looking forward to actually setting aside time each Sunday to work on 2016. Otherwise I get far behind and with the amount of photos I take, that's not a good thing. I haven't even finished past May. With setting aside a specific time to play in my scrap-room each Sunday, I should be able to keep up.

I hope to write in my journals and blog more consistently. Perhaps set aside a certain time to do these. I bought a daily journal with questions so that shouldn't be a problem for the journaling part.

I'm sure I'll come up with more and more resolutions. But for now these are good. As always....