First, thank you for all the sweet email of well wishes for Ansley and Alan. They are feeling better. Ansley did not go to school today as she is still pretty zapped but she is better and should be able to go back tomorrow.  I think I can now take off my nurse cap. To all you nurses out there… Big huge cheers to you… you all earn every cent you make and I’m certain you should be paid more… what a job.

I am so glad it warmed up here a bit over the last few days or we would be having a nasty icy mess right now on the roads. Icicles are not a common site on my birdhouse.

We are having lots of drizzly rain that is now starting to freeze on trees, bushes and birdhouses but thankfully no streets. Not sure about the overpasses but I hope they stay clear. Texans don’t do well with icy streets.

Those of you who have signed up for my Cupid’s Workshop thank you. I am so excited about the response and the projects I have created and cannot wait to start sharing. For those of you who signed up make sure you check in off and on on Cupid’s blog as I have been posting links for supplies as well as some great links for tutorials. Alan is working hard (well not right this second but he was working hard until he got hit by the big bug) on creating the workshop’s vintage valentine downloads. I dug in my personal stash of vintage valentine’s and have some great ones to share. Oh and I have a wonderful Maya Road RAK to give away to one lucky participant. It is all going to be so much fun.

See ya there and stay well!

has hit our family… First Ansley yesterday, poor girl ended up needing 2 bags of fluids… sick sick girl I tell ya, but better today just really weak. Then Alan was hit with it at 5 a.m. this morning… I am spraying Lysol like a crazy woman and scrubbing any and everything they come in contact with… I pray you all miss this stuff because it is bad, bad, bad!

I will be back to posting in a few days. I hope you all started 2009 better than us.

I am hosting a Valentine’s Day workshop starting January 15th and ending February 15th. The cost for this workshop is $14.95 and will include two weeks of creating as well as two weeks of additional access to the private blog. These additional two weeks will allow you time to finish up your projects just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Like my 12 Days of Christmas workshop these projects have been designed so you can use products you already have on hand or exactly as I have created mine since a complete supply list and step by step instructions are provided for each of the 8 projects. Some projects you will need to purchase a few items if you want them to be just like mine. But most of the products you do need to purchase are inexpensive.

In my Cupid’s online Workshop you will receive access to step by step instructions for 8 Valentine’s Day projects (sneak peeks below), including color photos, downloads of children’s Valentine’s Day cards from the 1970’s and 1920’s as well as vintage Valentine’s Day postcards dated 1909, 1910 and 1911. I will also post simple decorating ideas we like to do in our house to make our Valentine’s Day special.

I hope to see you there.

Today I have about as much energy as a slug. Getting back into the groove after all the hustle and bustle of last minute holiday preparations always seems to be hard for me. We open presents at our house on Christmas Eve. I love baking cookies all morning and afternoon, cooking the dinner and watching Ansley go nuts counting down the hours until we open presents.  It is all so much fun and seeing happy faces on our girls is honestly the best gift ever.

We had a wonderful visit with my mom and dad as well as my sister and her family. Alan, Ansley and I left to head down to Beaumont Christmas day. I love going home on Christmas day. Having the car filled with gifts and the excitement of seeing everyone is a feeling I always look forward to. Madelyn and Isabella were very happy with their gifts from Santa which is a good thing since he was sitting right in the living room as we had our family gift exchange. Madelyn always tells Dad/Santa thank you for all her presents. It is so cute. She really does believe. She would call this 1 800 line to track Santa and then call Mom to let her know where Paw Paw was so she wouldn’t be worried. I thought that was so cute.

I think what I love most about these photos is that they aren’t perfect by any means… dark lighting, flash flare, out of focus etc. everything happening so fast you just point and shot and hope you get a photo of someone to remember the moment… they are real life… and they are part of my life with the family I love so much. So to me they are perfect.

So now here I sit trying to get back into the groove of book deadlines, online workshops, CHA and other things in my near future. But all I can seem to do is reflect on the fact that another year has passed. I’m sure I will start moving at a faster pace than a slug sometime around 10 tonight as this seems to be when I get my second wind. If I don’t I’m not going to worry too much about it as I know I will be all set and ready tomorrow.

To all my blogging friends I wish you the most wonderful New Year filled with happiness and love. And if you are in the need for a really quick, simple and yummy dish to bring to a New Year’s Eve party here is the dish for you. It is my Mom’s Beer Sausage recipe. I have never met a person yet that has not loved it.

Mom’s Beer Sausage
Ingredients:
3 Packages of Eckrich Sausage
2 Bottles of Chili Sauce
2 Bottles of Beer (any kind is fine)
1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar

Directions:
Slice sausage into bite sized pieces, brown and drain off fat
In a bowl combine chili sauce, beer and brown sugar, stir until mixed
Place browned sausage into an oven safe bowl, pour liquid mixture over sausage, place in preheated oven at 350 degrees and heat until mixture is hot.  Serve while still hot/warm in a bowl or set out and have guests use toothpicks to pick up the sausage pieces.

Happy New Year my friends!

Gosh… what a bad blogger I have been as of late. I am under a big book deadline so I have been creating like a mad woman. So much so I have thrown out my back. Oh do I ever have empathy for those of you that suffer from chronic back pain.

Since I don’t have any projects to share with you right now (which is torture as I have a huge stack of completed items) I thought I would share a few items I received in the mail last week. Terri who participated in my 12 Days of Christmas online Workshop sent me these three beautiful tags and this wonderfully altered paper star. Talk about a great mail day… I love these and will certainly incorporate them in my holiday decor every year.

Then my sister sent me this ornament… oh my stars is this ever the perfect ornament for me… I LOVE Diet Coke (have lived on this for the past few weeks) and I LOVE glass ornaments. This is just a tad bit larger than a mini sized can of diet Coke… Belinda found it here.

Cheers to you and your family this holiday season. Wishing you all wonderful happy fun filled moments with family and friends.