And still more Birthday gifts...........

Last week brought more belated birthday gifts to me. This is fun getting gifts when least expected!

The top photo is what I received from Joni, who lives in Pennsylvania. She and I have been friends for a very long time. We both belong to a great cross stitch group of very caring wonderful ladies. She was very generous with her gift for me. She knows I love sunflowers so this gift was very much sunflower related, containing fabric with sunflowers and sunflower buttons, two sunflower scented votives, a sunflower scented car candle, and a small notebook with sunflowers on the cover. I carry the notebook in my purse, as it is just the right size. Thank you so much Joni, you are such a very dear friend.

The other photo shows what Francoise from France sent to me. Francoise does very elegant cross stitch work. Her friends and I don't think she ever sleeps, because she can stitch a chart in almost a day's time. The chart she chose to stitch is from Notforgotten Farms and it is Ruth's pocket. She also sent a bookmark, as she knows I enjoy reading, and the card she sent is in French, and I think it is a recipe for something with chocolate and cherries, but I don't read French, so I need for Francoise to translate the recipe for me. This special gift will be wonderful displayed in my new sitting room.

And yes, we are still in remodeling mode at our house. All the rooms are painted, well all most, the bedroom that is going to be my craft/sewing room won't get painted until after the new year. We still have one small closet to paint. And we need to do some touch up work in some of the rooms. The counter tops are on, the back splash is on, we need to put up a piece of paneling, where we took down a wall. Then on Monday, December 8th the people are coming to put new flooring in the kitchen, back entrance, main bathroom, and front entrance, the rest of the rooms all get carpeting. Then we can start turning this house back into a "home". My goal is to have everything back in order by December 15/16, so I can put up some Christmas decorations and do some baking, as our DS and DIL arrive on the 19th for a weeks visit.

Now, I want to share a recipe with you:


Chocolate Chip Sensation

1 (8 oz) refrigerated cookie dough
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 pint (2 cups) cold half and half
3.9 oz. package chocolate instant pudding
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Press cookie dough within one inch of the edge of a large round baking stone (it will be really thin..but will puff up when it bakes).

Bake 12 - 15 minutes until light brown..COOL 10 minutes and loosen cookie from baking stone with serrated bread knife (VERY important..otherwise you will never get it off the stone).

Mix cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Spread on the giant cookie within one inch of the edge. Mix half and half and pudding together for 2 minutes, let it stand for 5 minutes (it will thicken). Spread chocolate mixture on top of cream cheese mixture.

Top with nuts, if using.

Enjoy!

Blessings,
Barbara

A very complete Thanksgiving.........

Today was a very quiet Thanksgiving for Wayne and I. We painted this morning, went to Joplin for lunch, and ate way tooooooooooooooo much! We ate buffet at Golden Corral and it was good. Of course, it was not as good as you get at home, but still good.

We heard from our son and DIL stationed in Germany, and from our grandchildren in Mississippi. I also visited with my mom, my half-sister, and two of my aunts, so day has been complete.

I hope everyone enjoyed your day. Now on to Christmas............................and I will continue with this never ending remodeling project!

Blessings,
Barbara

Still remodeling.............

We are still in remodel mode here! I was beginning to think it would never end, until yesterday when they installed new Quartz kitchen counter tops. They are beautiful, but we can't put the back splash up until tomorrow and the counter tops have to seal to the cabinets with the product they use. I don't even have a kitchen sink to use, the sink is sitting in the cabinet, but the new faucet and disposal are not installed and hooked up! But, tomorrow they will be and the back splash will be put up, then we get to wait another day for the glue to stick! Tomorrow we will also paint the walls in the kitchen. But it is all worth the effort and it will be beautiful. I also have a RED HOT wall in what will be my new sitting area. I love that RED wall. We have almost everything out of the house, except for the large pieces of furniture that DH and I can't move. The carpet will be coming on December 8 (the day got changed!), and I told them they had better come on the 8th or else!

But, I want to wish everyone of you a Very Happy Thanksgiving and I hope your day is pleasant, where ever you may be and what ever you may be doing.

Blessings,
Barbara

Remodeling..........

Dear Friends,

I'm going to be away from my Blog for a few weeks. We are finally in remodel mode here in our home. A wall is coming down, new counter tops in the kitchen, new floor covering in every room of the house, painting each room, moving furniture from one room to the next to make living more comfortable. After 35+ years it's time for a change. Photo's will come when we are finished, whenever that will be.

Our son and DIL will be coming stateside for Christmas this year. Gordon is stationed in Germany with the Air Force, and has been there for 2 1/2 years now, so time for a visit home. They will be with us a week, December 19 - 26, after spending a week with DIL's mother in Iowa. We are really looking forward to this visit. When they return, they will have another 2 years to be there. Because of chronic health issues with my DH, we are unable to make a trip to Germany. The only sad thing about Christmas this year, is our grandchildren will not be with us.

So until I return, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving season, and I hope to "see" you before Christmas, with many photo's of our new look.

Blessings,
Barbara

More Birthday Gifts.....

This past week brought more Birthday gifts. I love having an extended birthday. But most of all, I want to thank all my wonderful friends for thinking of me. You have each made my birthday extra special.

I haven't felt well at all this week, having colon problems again, just a lot of stress added to my life. We are doing some updating to the inside of our home, and dealing with contractors is not an easy thing.

Anyway, here is what came to me this week...........




From Roberta in Georgia, two lovely kitchen towels, but I will use them for table rummers or for lining in a basket or two. Two packets of stickers which I will use when I make cards, a packet of note cards and envelopes and a packet of self stick notes by Mary Engelbrett and a skein of WDW thread in Trick or Treat and a lovely birthday card, which I think Roberta makes. She also sent a zip-lock bag of pink M & M's for breast cancer. Thank you so much Roberta for these gifts.



The above threads are from Christine, who lives in Canada. She sent two skeins of WDW thread in Trick or Treat and Pumpkin, wonderful Fall threads to stitch with. Thank you Christine for these much needed threads.

My birthday this year has been wonderful. Stitching friends are the best friends of all.

Blessings and Hugs to all of you,
Barbara

A correction.............

When I posted earlier today, I forgot to add some thread to one of the photo's in a birthday gift. Heidi, the one who sent the lovely Halloween fabric and ribbon, also enclosed some thread, it is a beautiful shade of orange, called Mandarin from Carrie's Creation. You can see, in the photo how well it goes with the fabric.

When I opened packages last Friday, I had tucked this thread between the folds of the fabric for safe keeping and simply neglected to mention it. I even had it written down on my gift list.

Again, Blessings to All,
Barbara

Birthday Gifts galore!

My birthday was on Halloween and my dear friend, Nancy in SC, stitched this Hallow's Eve pillow for me. It is a Stach Nash chart. Nancy does beautiful cross stitch work and I will treasure this gift forever, and display it every October. Notice the very rusty pin with beautiful black buttons attached. Thank you ever so much Nancy.


I belong to a very special online stitching/craft group. There are only 15 in this group, and the ladies are all very caring, loving gals. The following photo's are gifts that they sent to me.



The photo on the left is gifts from Hazel. It is a magnet for my refrigerator with an old leg tub full of flowers. Hazel remembered that I have an old leg tub on my patio, that I fill with flowers each spring and summer. This one has sunflowers in it, and I LOVE SUNFLOWERS, but have never put them in my tub. She also enclosed two skeins of DMC threads, which I can always use.

The photo on the right is what Clare sent to me. It is a charm, in the shape of a flower, for my cell phone and she also enclosed some thread from The Thread Gatherer.

Both of these ladies live in the UK.





This gift is from Angela, who also lives in the UK. She made a beautiful bag and embroided flowers on it. In the bag she had a packet of Lavender sachet and a bar of Lavender soap. The package was smelling so good when it arrived, I could hardly wait until my birthday to open it. She also enclosed some thread.




This beautiful fabric and ribbon is from Heidi, our list mom, and Heidi lives in Holland. This fabric will be used for pin keeps, yo-yo's, or maybe even some blocks for a quilt. The ribbon matches exactly and would look great on a pin keep. Now can't you just see a folded yo-yo with black buttons, me thinks it would be loverly!




This gift is from Nancy, who lives in Ohio. Through this group Nancy and I have discovered we have many things in common. We both like witches and snowmen and we both like some of the same authors. Nancy is also Heidi's mom. Nancy has a machine that does all this fancy stitching work and she did the two hand towels for me, aren't they beautiful? She also stitched, by hand, a book mark, and somewhere she found this cute sign. All of these gifts were wrapped in this beautiful piece of fabric, for more pin keeps, yo'yo's, or quilt blocks, and it was all tied up with a lovely piece of ribbon, but it will be to wide for pin keeps, but it went in my ribbon jar anyway!





Now, this gift is from Margaret, who is British, but retired to Spain, doesn't that just irritate you, she posts all these beautiful sunny, warm days, with beautiful trees and landscape on her Blog. Just kidding Margaret. Actually, Margaret was just too kind to me, she makes these lovely bags, and to be honest, I have been wanting one from the beginning, when she started posting them for us to see. Well, I have my very own. The stitched part is a Lizzie Kate chart, that she did and sewed in the bag. The top has drawstings. This will be a forever, ever, treasure.

Ladies, I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for these beautiful, wonderful gifts. Each of you helped to make my birthday a very special day.


Now, the photo below is "stash" that came in the week of my birthday. My "sweet" hubby never knows what to purchase for me, so this year, he gave me money.....and said, "buy what you want", and I did, and I still have money left over! I have so much stash that I don't know what I want to start on first! But, you see, I'm stocking up for Winter, as we are suppose to have LOTS of snow, and I hibernate when it snows. I think the rest of my birthday money will go toward fabric and threads.

And if I haven't bored you enough already, the last photo is what I discovered sitting in my "gathering room" on my birthday morning. I had made a comment, sometime back that I would someday like one of these rockers..........well, low and behold, I now have one. I have a patio and a front porch, but neither are covered, so for the time being this rocker will sit in my "gathering room" to be admired and used by me and me alone!




You can enlarge each photo my "clicking" on it. Thank you for taking the time to view my birthday page, if you care to leave a message, I would love that.

Blessings,
Barbara