Winter...Gotta Love it!!

Here's the latest picture of my backyard.

It was 10 below zero the other night.

If you don't like the cold, move to Florida!

Or, you can wait until tomorrow when it will be 37 degrees!

Colorado in winter....gotta love it!!

Attention Mr. Blackwell!

I have a new entry for your top ten worst dressed.

If you were still alive, I know this one would make the list.

God love him, he tries.

At least his shoes and socks match the plaid shorts.

Tiger, eat your heart out!

Remodeling Lesson #3

Madden Addition

So I have designed a really nice addition for my house.  Four hundred square feet of Master Bedroom Bliss!  I do this for a living for goodness sake....I know what I'm doing!  I don't have time to do it for myself though, because I am too busy creating Bliss for other people.  I know!  I'll get quotes from my friends in the building industry.  It can't cost that much to have someone do it for me!  Right?  Wrong!

To make a long story short, after four quotes from my friends, I built the thing myself...during the dead of winter...in three months...$25,000 under budget.

Hire a Building Coach!  We will save you money!!

Remodeling Lesson #2

Baldwin Air Conditioning

So, there's a huge hailstorm.  Air conditioning condensing unit gets all banged up.  Insurance Company says they will pay to "comb" it.  I don't even know what that means.  Heating Contractor comes over to look at air conditioner.  "I need to see your furnace."  he says.  Okay, here's the furnace.  Contractor notices that the basement is not finished.  So the verdict to fix the air conditioner?  The furnace and ALL THE DUCTWORK needs to be replaced.  You have got to be kidding me.  Gives a $16,500 price.  He can get a NEW a/c unit for $2000!!  Good thing he called me before he did this work  It was TOTALLY UN-NECESSARY!  He decided to bag the whole thing and get a swamp cooler for $600.  It's dry here anyway.  He could use the humidity....

Hire a Building Coach!  We will save you Money!!!

Remodeling Lesson #1

 Dominguez Kitchen

One of my friends wanted to get granite countertops for her kitchen.  Her kitchen is not very large or complicated.  She had been given quotes for $6000 for granite countertops.  We were talking and she said she had $3000 saved.  I did a little searching and got her bullnose granite countertops with backsplashes installed for $3000. 

Hire a Building Coach!  We will save you money!

Gingerbread Project

Today, the fifth graders at church handed these out to everyone...

It was our Gingerbread Project and Alex's class did it.

We buy a gift for someone who can't afford one

and we get a yummy cookie in exchange.

This is what the Holidays are all about!

Let the Turkey cooking begin,

Overeat with all your kin.

Drink a glass of Holiday cheer,

Christmastime is almost here!

Great Book

I have a new interest in American History. Don't ask me why.  I could have cared less when I was actually supposed to learn this stuff.  Now, I just find it all fascinating!  My friend Susan read this a while back and I bought it fully intending to read it.  This was about 8 years ago....I am such a sad excuse for a reader.

I'm reading it now....Does that count?

Thanksgiving Dry Run!

I am getting ready to make Sweet Potatoes and Cranberry Sauce.  Just call it a dry run for Thanksgiving next week.  David, my brother-in-law, is a pilot and will not be home for the holidays. Can you spell b-o-n-u-s?  ANYWAY....David loves Thanksgiving so Dawn is throwing him his very own private Thanksgiving tonight.  I figure I can never have enough turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy, so why not?

Can't wait!

I hope she likes it!

I can't believe it, but after 2 years of designing and buying fabric and cutting 17 pieces for EACH block and ironing and sashing and batting and quilting BY HAND and washing and crying when it was finished I was so proud.....

ALEX'S QUILT IS FINISHED!

It's Winter Already......

Under This.....

is a whole lotta these.

Anyone for a yard cleanup party in a week?

Fair Maidens

Not wanting to be outdone by the kids.....
Always wishing I had a costume for the Ren Fest.....
Sewing for two weeks......
Odds of me ever wearing this again?
ZERO

(April looks terrific!
I should have picked a different pattern....)

Halloween 2009

Garrett the Bat

Garrett loves bats. "They eat bugs and candy corn. They sleep at the daytime and hunt for bugs at the nighttime. They sometimes eat blood, but not always." There it is.

Miss K the Snow Fairy

She is going to see how many different kinds of Fairies she can be. She's been an Ice Fairy, a Water Fairy and now a Snow Fairy (very appropriate due to the snowy Halloween this year...) I think she is going to sprout wings next!!

Alex the Fire Hydrant

She is seeing how many ways she can use the same Ace trashcan. She was a can of trash first (duh) then last year a flower pot (very cute!) and this year a fire hydrant. What will she come up with next? Tune in next year to find out! One creative kid....

Fall? What Fall!

My poor fountain! Just hooked it up....now it's frozen.

The playset looks like it came from the North Pole!

We eventually got a good 24" of the white stuff.
It's rare to get this much in October, but not unheard of!

We're ready, winter! BRING IT ON!!

Broncos Cheerleader!

Here She Is! Our Own Denver Bronco's Cheerleader!

Miss K is having an absolute blast being a Junior 
Denver Bronco Cheerleader.  She goes to fund raising

events, the blood drive, and lots of home games. She is 
really doing well with her dance and is just 
smiling from ear to ear when she comes 
home from a game.


I hate to admit it....


I'm Jealous!

Hall Wedding

Stephanie & Nick Hall
Married in our backyard
September 20, 2009

Dinner Anyone?

I may not be a Cake Boss, but I certainly can cook other things.

I hope this is as tasty as it looks.

Sage & Fried Onion Crusted Pork Roast

I wonder what wine goes with YUMMO!

My Advice.....

So we ponied up the $4.99 last night and got the movie "Watchmen" on demand as was requested by my sweetie. I didn't know anything about this particular movie and the info was vague at best. I like DC comic movies. I mean the Spiderman and Batman movies are up there in my top 20 favorite movies! How bad could it be?

I'll tell you.....

"Watchmen" is on another of my movie lists now.
It is number one, numero uno, bar none, the WORST movie I have ever seen.

Let us now add insult to injury and add that we got:

the EXTENDED DIRECTORS CUT VERSION

which adds a whopping 24 MINUTES to the pain of watching this movie.

My advice? See "Ishtar"....it's got to be better......

Cake Bosses we are not.....

April and I have been doing a little too much t.v. watching. Maybe we need to cut back. She is hooked on "Ace of Cakes" and I love "Cake Boss". We decided that it just can't be that hard to make a cute cake that you don't have to buy at the grocery store, and we would just bake one up.
The red one was Red Velvet with chocolate ganache filling, the yellow one had raspberry filling and the chocolate had bavarian cream filling. Sounds yummy, right? Well........We Tried.

It's much harder than it looks.
Dirty icing on t.v. is not this dirty....

It never fell over, but it was a little off it's horizon, shall we say. The back ended up looking better than the front. Icing can cover all evils though....

The end result was just as cute as can be. It looked great. Taste......well......We Tried!

The Big 04!

G-man turned the big O4 on the 9th, but it would appear the wedding of your older cousin on that day is more important than your onlyest fourth birthday, so we celebrated today with your favorite, LEGO's! You said you wanted "Red Cake" when asked what kind you wanted, so here it is! 30 people came for Beans & Chili and then, of course, CAKE!

Happy Birthday, my little man!

Man of LaMancha

Well, July just kind of flew on by, didn't it? I am knee deep into the 2009 Phamaly production of Man of LaMancha at the Denver Center. We opened on July 25th and close on August 16th. I will collapse on the 17th. I am the "Wig mistress and makeup coordinator" this year. I am having a blast and learning lots of new things about theatrical makeup and prosthetics. It's been fun. Wish I could make a living at it!