Christmas 2009

What a fun visit we had with my son Tyler, his wife Karie and our beautiful granddaughter Kaitlyn. I can't get over how big she has gotten and yup .. she is all girl just like her mom. She loves the movie The Wizzard of Oz and she had her ruby red slippers on every day.

We went to Circus Circus and then came home and I got her working in the studio already... Grandma ... what hammer do you think I should use for this project??
Thanks Tyler, Karie and Kaitlyn for making the trip to Las Vegas, I can't wait until I see you all again.

Christmas Party -2009

Yesterday was the annual BeadMetaler Christmas Party. Every year I have a party that includes all the students who have taken classes in that year. The guest list changes from year to year but the fun never does.

We start this party in July when we draw names, the only rule is that the gift has to be hand made. Wow!! you should see the creative gifts that are opened during this party. This year June hosted the party at her BEAUTIFUL house ... did I say BEAUTIFUL? We had a pot luck lunch with lots of yummy food, I smoked a turkey for the first time. Then it was time for the gifts. I started off by giving the gift I made for Sharon Noorda. Sharon has 7 kids and 29 grandchildren so I made her a special family necklace.


Jerry picked my name and OMG .... she made me the most beautiful quilt with a quilted image of HOPE; my eagle I watched last year from hatching to fledging. It is a beautiful work of art ..I love it Jerry!

Thankful for the visit

My grandson Kaleb, my daughter Kori and her boyfriend Jonathan came to spend Thanksgiving with us.
Greg and Kaleb smoked a 24lb turkey and Kaleb made his very first Key Lime Pie and it was so good.

We had too much fun in the studio designing and making jewelry. Here is Kaleb hard at work, he is so much fun to be around, what a great time we had together. Thanks Kori, Kaleb & Jonathan for the visit!

Saturday Night - Concert Night

Tonight Jackie, Tanya and Erin and I went out to Primm (thanks to our driver Charlie) to see Loggins and Messina's "Together again" concert. The concert was great!! the band was great and their voices were still right on. Thanks girls for a great night out and Thanks Charlie taking the time to be our driver.

Kaleb is coming for Thanksgiving

Usually I have lots of photos of my son's daughter Kaitlyn to put on my blog and none of my Grandson Kaleb, I finally got my daughter Kori to send me a few. He is all boy ... all the time and has a great personality, How cute is he? They will be here with us for Thanksgiving.. can't wait to see Kaleb and his mom Kori.

Trick Or Treat

Kaitylyn looks like she was having lots of fun with her Mom and Dad on Halloween ...she's the one in the dinosaur costume.

Nutty Orange Coffee Cake

I made this for a birthday party yesterday and so many people asked for the recipe I thought I should just put it on my blog.

Nutty Orange Coffee Cake
Paula Deen

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons orange zest
Two 12-ounce cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits - 10 count
One 8-ounce pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar,pecans, and zest; set aside.
Separate the biscuits. Flatten them a little and place about 3/4 teaspoon cream cheese in the center of each biscuit. fold each biscuit in half (like a fortune cookie) pinching the edges together to seal.
Dip the biscuits in the melted butter, then dredge in the granulated sugar mixture. Place the biscuits curved-side down, in a single layer in the hollows of a lightly greased 12-cup bunt pan, spacing them evenly (do not stack). Place any remaining biscuits around the tube, filling in any gaps. Drizzle any remaining butter over the biscuits, and sprinkle with any remaining sugar mixture.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Immediately invert the cake onto a serving platter.
Combine the confectioners sugar and orange juice stirring well; drizzle the glaze of the warm cake.

Charm Swap

OMG ... they were, creepy, they were goulish, they were great!! Tanya was the "charmed one" for this exchange and her rules were clear .... nothing cute or else ... we all got the message.

Djuma

If you have never visited the Safari site I am always talking about you are really missing some great stuff.
The link is on the left side of this blog. Keep in mind this is a live web cam in Africa so the timing is important, I normally watch at 7 a.m. which is just before sunset there, I took this shot this morning at 8:00, enjoy

First Day Of School

Can you believe it? Kaitlyn started day care, it seems like she was just born, her mother sent me photos of her today,
this was her first day of school, check out the cute lunch box she was taking to school. By the looks of it seems like
she got through the first day just fine.

Concert Night -Blake Shelton

Do I have to say more?? Last night Greg and I went to Prim to see Blake Shelton . The concert was so great you have to go see him next time he is in town. I bought his new CD the day before we went so I would know some of his new songs ... great CD.
Instead of driving home we had booked a room at Buffalo Bills, it was nice having the concert right there in the same hotel.

Happy Birthday to me ...

What a wonderful birthday celebration I had today! I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the lovely gifts you brought for me. I love each and everyone of them and each and everyone of you. Thank you .... as in the wise words of our dear friend Sopia Lentz ..... I am not worthy!

Tuacahn

Every year Greg and I take a trip to St. George Utah to see plays in the Tuacahn Amphitheatre. This year we saw Annie on Friday night and then Aida on Sat. night. I loved loved loved Aida.

"Tuacahn" comes from a Mayan word meaning "Canyon of the Gods." Built in the shadow of 1500-foot spectacular red rock cliffs, the Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts was created to awaken the nobility of the human soul and transmit light and hope to people everywhere through the arts and education.

The Tuacahn Theatre brings "Broadway in the Desert" to southern Utah! Throughout the warm months, this theatre company features Utah's finest actors (new and seasoned), in some of Broadway's greatest productions! The intimate, outdoor theatre is always enhanced by the brilliant, natural redrock backdrop. A night out at Tuacahn is a night not soon forgotten!

While we were there the lead female and male actors for the Footloose show came down with the Swine Flu and when the producers approached Greg and I about filling for them we jumped at the chance.

Girls night out!!

Tonight Jackie, Jerry, Winston, & I went to the Hilton to see Cheap Trick take us back in time by performing all the songs from the Beatles Sgt. Peppers album, they did a great job and what a fun night out with the girls.

I'm so excited about this!! Dr Oz Show 11 am channel 6

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Last week I went to Portland to visit my Niece, and her family, I had such a fun visit. My niece Erin is such a great person and is a gracious hostess. She has a beautiful home in Portland Oregon that she shares with her wonderful husband and two adorable younger children Peyton and Rylee, she also has another daughter; Ashley that is almost 19 and lives on her own in the city. My sister Denise and her husband Steve were also there, so it was a family affair.
It's so fun to be around Erin's girls they are so funny and always entertaining.
Thanks Erin,Sheldon, Peyton, Rylee, Ashlee,Dennie, Steve and ..... Rossco (the dog) for everything!

To all my charming friends

A great La-Dee-Dah Day out with friends this morning. Today was our charm exchange day and the theme was Las Vegas the charms were all so great! Thanks everyone for all the hard work and beautiful charms.

Dr. Mc-G Practicing Medicine

Lots of lessons learned in yesterdays copper class...Always use wire cutters to cut your copper wire, don't use tin snips.
Yesterday Jerry and the whole class learned that lesson and then Winston taught us the benefits of using honey on cuts and why.
Did you know???
Wounds: The high levels of potassium found in raw honey make it very difficult, if not impossible, for bacteria to survive. Applying a thin layer of raw honey to any cut, scrape or scratch is beneficial.

The Moose Brings The Cheese!!

Okay how did this start? Earlier this week Margaret was over and I invited her to play Bingo with some of the girls. She began telling me how she used to work in some Bingo room; I think in Wisconsin. She starts explaining how serious these bingo players are she says "oh these people line up all their lucky charms and nobody talks or jokes around". She said they even made her change her shoes because they were too noisy when she walked in the room. I told her that we all bring a lucky charm too so don't be surprised. The next day I emailed her to remind her of the place and time and oh yeah....don't forget your lucky charm I say.

WELL.... THE MOOSE BROUGHT THE CHEESE, and the blinking pendant she wore, and the ceramic moose and all the lucky charms that hung from that .... we about died laughing. Then we all brought out out 1 little 1 inch charm. Something gave us luck at that table because Jackie won 3 times and Pat K. won once ... what a fun day!

Hope's Fledging

So many of you have been with me following the Hornby Eagle nest and the live cam for several months now and some of you have just been putting up with my obsession ... well it's just about over until next year. Hope had her big day where she took flight off the nest for the first time yesterday ... or Fledged.
Here is a photo of Hope when she was first Hatched back in April of this year ... there were two eggs that hatched, the other lived for a week or two and fell out of the nest- Freaky accident. If you want to see her first flight, click on the link on the left sidebar of my blog under La-dee-dah-day links.

23 years and still going strong

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary & we are looking forward to the next 23 years together. Check out what just got delivered to me this morning... Thanks honey .... for 23 great years and 24 beautiful red roses.

Lions & Tigers and bears ... oh my

Okay .... I was on Safari tonight and I just had to share what I saw. The link to this real live African cam is on the left hand side. The best time to watch is 9:30 p.m. and as late as you can stay up or early morning before 8:30 a.m. the time difference is a killer but what a exciting way to pass time. This was a lion who had just gotten in a fight with his brother and got a part of his nose bitten off and it was bleeding.

Sam The cooking Guy

Turn off the music player on the right before you watch it.

Okay so my husband watches all kinds of fancy cooking shows and this is the one I watch. If you are into fast,easy,good food; Sam the cooking guy is the one for you to watch. He cooks right out of his own cooking and he is so funny. This is just a quick overview of his show .... I will put one of his cooking videos on next.

Gone too Soon

TURN OFF THE MUSIC PLAYER ON THE RIGHT SIDE ... YOU WILL WANT TO HEAR THIS ONE.

This was one of my favorite songs on the Dangerous Album and Usher did a GREAT JOB.

Happy 4th of July

Pamperd Chef Party

Yesterday I hosted my very first Pampered Chef party. Thanks to all my good friends that came my party was very successful.
Lots of good food and friends and best of all we had Jerry the best Pampered Chef of them all. Great job Jerry, we all wish you good luck and support you in your new venture. If you would like to place an order with Pampered Chef the link to the Pampered Chef site is listed on the left side of this blog under: Networking. Please contact Jerry Buckler to place your order. She can be reached at: jblvnv@cox.net

Downtown Gordie Brown

Click on the music box to the right and turn it off to hear this.

Last night Greg and I headed out for the Golden Nugget to see Gordie Brown, I have been wanting to see him for years. This is the best comedy show I have ever seen. This guy had a full house and he had everyone in room cracking up, heck he even cracked himself up several times. He has a great voice and does impressions of just about everyone. The show room is super nice, ya gotta go see him, I will definitely go see him again. Lots and lots of energy.

On Safari

CLICK ON THE MUSIC BOX ON THE RIGHT AND TURN THE MUSIC OFF FIRST.
Everyday I go on safari, sometimes twice a day, you can find the link on the left hand side of the blog "lions and tigers and bears oh my". Click on the link and go to the top and click on "live now" then find the photo of the leopard & click. Don't forget this is real time and filmed in Africa so the best time to watch is about 10pm and then around 6am- west coast time, enjoy. The U-tube video below is one that someone in the safari chat room recommended. It's amazing and has a great ending.

In memory of .... my memories of

Joan Finneran was an artist and poet, her words on paper were as beautiful as her hand on a paint brush.
Joan Finneran was a woman that loved to read, wife of 50+ years and mother of 5, I being the youngest.
Joan Finneran was my mother, she passed away 8 years ago this month.
My mother wrote this poem for me on my 35th birthday.

You
burrowed in my heart and nested there like some small snuggled swallow.
my little one.
I watched you spread your wings and soar ...
you made me proud.
I gave you all I had to give;
a love of books, and beauty from my mother,
the spirit of adventure from your dad,
the luxury of solitude to be yourself,
the gift of tears, a curiosity for truth,
the talent to forgive ... and to forget.
And I look at you and see the girl I never was,
the woman I had hoped to be
the mother that I should have been.
could this dead tree have brought forth such a lovely bloom?
I thank you for your gifts to me.
You are the keeper of the flame, and like the swallow,
you come back to warm the empty branches of my heart.

Joan Finneran -