Christmas!

Christmas Is Coming...

It's 5 more days until Christmas Day! Woo! Ashley get's to be with her Daddy for Christmas morning this year, But we'll have her that afternoon to give her our gifts and Santa's gifts :o) We'll be doing our Mexican Christmas Dinner with Mom on Saturday Night! I'm looking forward to that :o)

I recieved an adorable Sleeper in the mail this week from my sweet friend Elaine, Thank you so much sweetie!! The sleeper is adorable and I LOVED both cards!! Thank you so much!!!

Ashley's Christmas party at School was Friday... here are some cute things from that. She also brought home a nasty cold, If it get's much worse we'll be in the ER before Christmas.. Poor baby, I hate when their sick!!!

This is an adorable Marshmallow tree her class made...

and a really cute ornament.. hehe!!

My knitting is coming along, I'm working on seaming together the sweater for the baby, I hate seaming!!! it's hard to make it look right, I did finishe Kristi's other glove and got her hat/glove set wrapped and under the tree. I'm working on the hiking scarf with just a little bit to go and I startedd a pair of purple mittins for Ashley out of the leftovers from Kristi's gift.

Coming along even better is my Do It List (aka To do list) Since I'm feeling almost back to my normal self (Aside from the preggo belly & My hip giving out now and then) I was glad to see I felt up to making a Do it List again and actually getting it done. I want to finish everything on the list before the new year... preferebly before Christmas even!! LOL!! There was 24 things on my list yesterday morning and as of 3pm today there are 10 thing left to do! Woohoo!! I got a lot done yesterday and this morning!

Okay I'm outta here before I bore everything to pieces.

Happy Holidays!!!

Howday & Happy Holidays!!!

Hrmmm... It's been just a few days since I posted last, A lot has happened and we've had a few things going on here and there :-) My Computer was being a Jack-A** for the last week and running funny for the last year, I've been using AVG's free Anti-Virus software for awhile and I finally figured out that It is what has been making my fairly new computer act wacky for the last year or soo.. It really bogged it down and made it run slower, I uninstalled it and it was amazing how fast the computer started loading webpages and programs! AWESOME! So no more free anti-virus for us, I downloaded a free 90 day trial of Norton's and we'll pay when that time is up :o)


Let's see.. Where should I Start.. LOL!! Decemberrrr 3rd was my last post so it's been over a week. This past weekend (Sat.) we had the "How The Edge Stole Christmas" concert. The edge is a radio Station out of Dallas, TX that plays awesome alternative and Heavy Metal music, So they were putting on the concert.. Here is a pic with our Tickets and a list of the bands an times they played. The Concert was awesome!! I was a bit worried at first about the baby though.. LOL!! But we had checked online before hand to make sure it was safe. Disturbed was even more awesome than the first time we saw them! Great Show!

Mom had watched Ashley for us for the weekend, So we left early on Saturday morning so we could get some Christmas shopping in at Lewsiville, TX before heading on down for the concert. We Hit Toys R Us first, Wwe bought Ashley the V-Smile video game played for her big gift, some puzzles, a book on being a big Sister, Some Lego's and we got an awesome deal on the Curious George Movie and Over The Hedge, We got them both for $20!! Ashley loves George and we haven't seen over the hedge yet. While we were down shopping I went in Joann's Fabrics, where I managed to find NOTHING!! I wanted some sock yarn but they didn't have any!! Someone please help me find some sock yarn online, Because I'm having no luck finding any in the stores :o( We hit a Half Price New and Used book store they have in Lewsiville also, Normally I dump the guys off there and I head over somewhere else to look, But this time I decided to go in with them and I'm sure glad I did!!! They had a whole slew of nice Cookbooks and Knitting Books!! I hit the Jackpot! I only bought 2 knitting books since we were saving our money for Christmas shopping but I cannot wait to go back to that store!!!! Here are the two books I found for Great Prices Even!!

On Monday Ashley's class took a field trip to the Museum, Where they had "Santa's House" set up, The kids got a Christmas story read to them by a lady and Imagine my surprise when She turned on this wooden puppet show for them to view, These puppet's used to be in our Daube's Department store window downtown when I was a kid every year, When the Daube family sold the building I always wondered what happened to the puppets, It was one of our few family traditions to go downtown every year and see the puppets, It brought tears to my eyes to see them working again and made me think a lot of my Dad. here is a picture, Just because I want to share..

Next they kids got a story read to them by Santa, Decorated a sugar cookie with Mrs. Clause and ate it and then they got to Decorate a Snowman Christmas ornament :o) Ashley is over to the left on the back row with the white sweater on :o)

On Thursday we got a small package from Jake's Mom which contained our yearly Christmas ornaments and a few other things.. One of which was the most beautifully Croched Baby blanket I have ever seen!! It was Crochet by Jake's Mom's friend Barb for us, Even though I'm a knitter who doesn't care for Crocheting This blanket is one of the prettiest hand made blankets I've ever seen..
My knitting is going good. I'm still working on my cabled hiking scarf which I'd like to finish soon and start on the matching hat. I still haven't finished the baby Sweater/Cardigan, I just need to seam it together still and add the buttons. I did put these things on hold because I decided to knit my sweet Sister a hat and some mittens in her favorite color, I think she's going to love them!!!

Well, I guess that about covers it for me, We have a Dr's appointment today, Just a regular check up, I think they'll do some labs today, I always just tell them to stick it in my hand and get it over with, They never can find a vein anyway. I've been feeling a little better, But my back hurts a lot and my hips, I can't raise my legs and getting up a down is a challenge. I'm pretty sure my body is getting to old for this.. LOL!!

Okay that's enough for now, Everyone have an awesome week!!!!

The Weekend Is Ending . . .

Well, It' Sunday evening, The weekend is ending, Ashley will be coming home in a couple of hours from the weekend at her Daddy's and we'll be starting to put up the Christmas tree. It should be interesting since we have NO room in this house, Things will have to be rearranged quite a bit to get it up.. We're hoping to have the tree put up when Ashley get's here and then she can help decorate.. but we'll see.

I wanted to share a picture of the most amount of snow we got, Since Oklahoma Never get's snow, This was a lot for us, I know some of you are laughing.. But We're okies... The snow is all gone now..

Here is another of my sweet Ashley getting ready to play in the snow on the second day, She was so excited, She's 5 and this was the first time in her life She's seen this Much snow!!

Jake and I did a little shopping at Wal-Mart last night, Picked up a few small Christmas Gifts for Ashley and a few Random things, We'll be doing our Main shopping for her Next weekend while we're in Texas for "How The Edge Stole Christmas" Concerts. More on that at a later date.

Has anyone tried the Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers?? YUMMY!!!

We also found some very redneck/funny Christmas cards to send to Jake's family in Washington.. Check them out! LOL!!!

I finally (praise God) got a new big skillet to cook in. Both of the big skillet's I had were in horrible shape from age and I've been begging for one forever.

Still going strong on the knitting...I finally finished the babies blanket.. WOOHOO!!!

I did start one new small knitting project on Friday... finished it in a few short hours... A very adorable hat for the baby.. I have Ashley's baby doll modeling it.. It will fit the baby a bit more snug I hope :o) You can kind of see my huge preggo belly in this pic as well.

So now I'm working on finishing up my hiking Scarf and seaming together the baby Cardigan I knitted. Then I can start some new projects!!! Woohoo!!!! hehe!! I'm excitted I have a few lined up already!! Plus I've been buying some new knitting magazines, I really think next I'd like to knit a sweater or something for Ashley or myself to wear.. hehe!!

Okay enough babble! :o)

Soft Batch Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I made this a few days ago, Baked half and froze the other half, But these were the BEST Oatmeal Raisin Cookies I have ever eaten!! I'm not a big fan of Raisins in general but I couldn't even taste them the cookies had such a great flavor. Of course the recipe would be just as good without them if you wanted to leave them out!

Soft Batch Oatmeal Rasin Cookies Recipe



1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 (4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup raisins



Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar and eggs until creamy.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend well.
Bake until lightly browned.

Cold Weather & Warm Coffee

We awoke this morning to a site we don't see in Oklahoma very often! Sleet mixed with a little bit of snow, It's so odd too considering that it was 70 degrees when we got up to get Ashley ready for school yesterday morning. Crazy Oklahoma weather!! It is a beautiful site & I'd love to see a little more snow covering the ground.. I get tickled at people around here, You'd think it was a blizzard or something.. We never get serious snow or ice around here.. Most people just don't know any better I Guess... So here is a pic from the front door this morning, They are saying we may get more.. So we'll see.

I get a e-newsletter from Kraft foods.com and recently when I visited the website there was an offer for free samples of Seattles Best coffee's. I've never tried it before since we can't really buy it around here So I thought I'd sign up for the free sample. I was very happy when i recieved them in the mail today!! It's four almost 2oz samples of each flavors or Cinnabon, Seattles Best Blends,Henry's Blend and Hazelnut Cream! YUMMY!!! Cinnabon will be my brew for the morning... Here's a pic of the samples I got...

So Ashley is out of School today and I'd guess for tomorrow as well. She is driving me crazy to go outside so when Jake get's back from picking up his check and getting a few groceries for us, We'll be outside.. LOL!! Jake is done with nights for now... I missed him so much those few days and now he's so worn down :o( I hate seeing him like that, But it makes me feel good that he loves us all enough to work that hard for us. At least he is off work Hopefully until Monday. I did have a Dr's appointment in the morning, But they called to make sure I wasn't coming because of the roads and asked how I was feeling and it I could still feel the baby moving and everything.

Okay, I'm bored and Jabbering I guess, I'm maybe gonna make some oatmeal cookies later, It's a good day for baking I guess... Okay back to that baby blanket that I'm determined to finish today!!! Argh!

Happy Winter, Mandi

Jake & Baby Stuff...

I'm missing my sweet husband a lot. The holiday season is in full force so his distribution center is crazy... He's worked from 6am to almost midnight everyday since Thanksgiving :o( I know the money will be great, But I miss him so much!! Tonight Mom, Kristi, Ashley and I went to Pizza Hut for some Pizza and went out to see the Christmas lights set up at the park. it was nice.. better than being home alone for sure...

Mom and I went to the Mall today so that I could go in Hobby Lobby to get one more skein of the yarn I'm knitting the baby blanket with, So far so good on my mission, I'm almost done with the blanket, have worked a little on my scarf and managed to not buy any other yarns or start any other projects! I'm going to finish the ones I have going first! ha! So anyway while we were at the mall we went in Goodies, They were having a big sale and Mom bought these adorable suits for the baby... check them out She got a great deal on them...

Okay I guess that's it for today, I'm worn out, Not sleeping well at night and having to get up way earlier than I'm wanting to these days... I'm off to knit on the blanket and watch some TV :o)

Hugs, Mandi

Banana Nut Cake

I made this for Thanksgiving Day also, It was very tasty, I did have to bake it quiet a bit longer than the recipe calls for, But I got this recipe from a church cookbook I bought at the arts & crafts fair :o) I cooked in a Bundt pan which I prepared with crisco and flour :o)

Banana Nut Cake

1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Shortening
2 Eggs (beaten)
3 Mashed Banana's
1 tbsp. Vanilla
1 Cup Chopped Nuts (your choice)
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
4 tbsp. buttermilk

Cream shortening and sugar: add well beaten eggs.
stir in banana's. Sift flour, soda and salt: add milk and flour alternately. add nuts & vanilla. Cook at 325 for 30 minutes (or more)

Leftover Turkey Casserole.

I made this tonight, invited Mom and Kristi over for dinner, It was yummy, If you are someone who is not so crazy about sour cream, I would only use half the sour cream and use another can of soup or something because the sour cream flavor was pretty strong...

Leftover Turkey Casserole

3 cups prepared bread prepared stuffing (leftover is fine)
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans condensed cream of celery soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans French style green beans, drained
2 (4 ounce) cans sliced mushrooms, drained
3 cups cooked chopped turkey meat

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together sour cream, condensed soups, and dry onion soup mix in a mixing bowl.

Spread the turkey in the bottom of a buttered 9x13-inch casserole dish.

Top with green beans and mushrooms.

Spread the soup over the meat and vegetable mixture.

Crumble the stuffing and spread evenly over the top.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and bubbly.

Luby's-Style Cafeteria Cranberry Fruit Salad.

Made this for Thanksgiving Dinner, It was delicious!!! This was a favorite so I'll be making it every year from now on.

Luby's-Style Cafeteria Cranberry Fruit Salad

8-10 servings
5½ hours 1½ hours prep
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
1 apple, unpeeled (I like jonagolds)
1 orange, peeled and white pith removed
1 banana, peeled
1 cup broken walnuts or pecans

In a saucepan, mix sugar and water, stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil.
Add cranberries. Return to a boil, reduce heat and boil gently 4 to 5 minutes or until most cranberries have popped, stirring occasionally.

Remove cranberries from heat and cool completely at room temperature.

Quarter the apple; core and chop. Add to cool cranberries. Chop the orange and banana and add to cranberries with the nuts.

Mix well and refrigerate until serving time, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Happy Knitty Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving Day, Ours was very small and quiet, We enjoyed it very much, Just Me, Jake, Ashley and My Mom & Sister. Mom and I did the cooking.

Here we are, Mom, Sister Kristi, Daughter Ashley, Husband Jake & Me & Baby :o)

Wanted to share my current knitting projects with everyone... My Mission is to complete these before starting a new project, I have a lot of pretty yarns and new needles waiting to be used, A lot of baby projects as you could imagine since I'm only 2 months from my due date :o)

This is one I've been working on for a long time.. Since I found out I was pregnant... It's a blanket for the baby, I loved the pattern and started thinking after I started knitting that I'm having a winter baby this time, So this blanket will definately need a recieving blanket under it until it warms up a bit :o)

The next project is a baby Cardigan Sweater that I also started when I first found out I was pregnant... The knitting has been done for awhile but I was lazy about getting it laid out between two wet towls to dry flat so I can add on the button holes and seam altogether. This was so easy to knit and a freebee pattern from Bernat I found at Hobby Lobby, I think I'll be knitting another one similiar to this, with different yarn and a different color... I'll of course Share a picture after I get it seamed together & finished.

This is finished project & Don't laugh... but this is the first thing I've ever made without a pattern, I just made it from my head... LOL!!! Ashley was very happy...

This is another finished project, I just finished up last night. My very first pair of socks. They were fun to knit and they knitted up so quick! I love instant knitting gratification! LOL!!! I've gotta find some better yarn to knit socks with though... Hobby Lobby & Wal-Mart are my only two local choices and they don't offer a lot, Gotta find a good yarn site online to order from.

Okay, Last knitting project to Share :o) I'm working on a scarf to match my cabled fingerless gloves, The cabling is so addicting!! I Love it!!!

Now last but not least of course... My darling husband stood in like for 6 short hours for the new household toy and his Christmas Present... The new Nintendo Wii video gameplayer, We've been playing it like crazy!! Can't wait to get some different games for it like we have for our Gamecube :o) The WII plays our Gamecube games.. but we're ready for new games to play!

& in the second picture you will see my early Christmas gift and my new best friend that has helped me to join the land of the modern Domesticated woman... a dishwasher!!!!! It's portable/Convertable & for now I have to use it like a portable because the cabinets in this very old house were built by my Grandfather and he built them way to low for any modern gadgets... But it's super easy to hook up and it's my very first dishwasher ever!!! Now I can enjoy cooking even more without the deaded clean-up of it all! LOL!! As silly has it sounds.. this dishwasher is a dream come true for me... I've waited years for this... LOL!!

Okie dokie, That does it for this time, I want to share two new recipes I tried for our Thanksgiving dinner, I'll be posting those later :o)

Hugs, Mandi

Newbie!

I must be insane, I already have yahoo 360 and myspace.. LOL!! I just copy and paste my blog entry's everywhere.. LOL!! I had to see what this one was about...

If you are interested you can read my past blogs at yahoo 360 but from now on I'll be blogging here :o)

http://360.yahoo.com/missmandigirl