About Me

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Houston, Texas, United States
Welcome to my Blog Site :) I am so happy you stopped in. I am a part time worker, wife, mom and artist/crafter. I became a grandmother for the first time about a year ago. My passions are Stained Glass and Mixed Media Art. I am a Texas girl living in a house that my father and grandfather built in 1945. I have a loving husband and two teenage boys. My boys are talented musicians who make my life complete. I hope you enjoy reading my posts about music, my boys and grandson and just about life in general. So grab your favorite choice of drink, sit back, relax and happy blogging.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Boxed Lunch & Dinner

Around 10:00 a.m. my neighbor called and said she had a box for me. I was surprised because it was to early for the mailman and besides that we were home. The mailman knows us and would have knocked if the delivery was to large for our mailbox. When I picked up the box it had a Hewlitt Packard label on top. I wondered if my husband had bought some electronic device and did not tell me. My neighbor than informed me that she had cooked too much food and she boxed it for me to take home.
I opened the box at home and was surprised by the amount of food in it. It was enough food for lunch and dinner for the whole family. What a wonderful surprise, especially on this day, you see today I started packing some of the Christmas decorations and really did not feel like stopping to make lunch or dinner.
I have the most wonderful neighbors anyone could hope for. My family is truly blessed to have friendly and loving neighbors who always watch over us and are very giving. By the way, she is an awesome cook.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Not a creature was stirring - not even a Mouse!

I have been making these little Christmas Mice and sharing with family and friends for several years. They are usually the talk of the party and super easy to make.
You will need: Maraschino Cherries with stems, Hershey's Kisses, Chocolate Bark, White Gel, Sliced Almonds First drain Cherries. You can pat cherries dry with paper towels. Just be careful not to break the cherry. LOL
Unwrap Hershey Kisses from silver package. Melt chocolate bark (I melt bark in the microwave for twenty-thirty seconds. Stir chocolate to help melt any large pieces. Repeat in twenty second increments until completely melted. Pick up cherries by the stem and dip in melted chocolate. Unite dipped cherry to the bottom of the Hershey Kiss. The Kiss is the Mouse's head and the Cherry is the Mouse's body with the stem being the mouse's tail. While bark is still melted, place sliced almonds on top of mouse's head (between the Cherry and the Hershey Kiss. Use a dab of white gel for the eyes.
Instead of Bark you can use a Hershey Bar. You only use the chocolate as a paste to bond the Cherry and the Kiss together. You don't use a lot of chocolate for this. You can also use M&M's for the ears instead of the sliced almonds. To hurry the cooling process, I place the mice in the refrigerator for a few seconds. How do you eat a mouse? Grab it by it's tail, drop in your mouth and pull the tail off.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Ornaments

Here are some ornaments hanging on the living room Christmas tree.
Some are old plastic ornaments that I found when I moved into my Grandmother's house. What I like about these little elves are their ears. They are sooo cute.
This is the first ornament as a married couple given to us by my sister.
This ornament represents the first Christmas for my first born, John.
This ornament was handed down to me. I was with my mother at a craft show when she bought this ornament and had it personalized with all our names.
I made this into an ornament. It is a lapel pin that was given out when my dad, nicknamed "Big "O" was running for office at a Knights of Columbus convention in Brownsville, Texas.
I make some ornaments like this snowman made of a styrofoam ball.
All Texans are proud to be from Texas and we like to show our pride any way we can, even on our Christmas tree.
Some are from weekend getaway spots like, Brenham, Galveston and Kemah. My favorite - well I could not choose just one. From the cheap homemade to the expensive store bought, they are all my favorite because each one brings back special memories when I unwrap and place it on that perfect branch on our tree. How about you, do you have a favorite ornament?

Trees, Trees, Trees

Christmas Eve I will host the annual family Christmas Party in my home. It has been several years since I last hosted the party. These last couple of weeks I have been busy cleaning, decorating and moving furniture out of our house to make room for my large family.

Here is a peek at the seven trees in my home.


This tree is on the entry way table. It is made of aluminum and has magnetic ornaments. I like it because it is easy to set up.


We finally had to get an artificial tree which is in the living room. I like that it is not too wide so it does not take up alot of floor space.


The Police Blue Tree is something I started for my husband, who is one of Houston's Finest. This year, I wrapped the blue lights around the center pole.


This small table top tree is placed in my bedroom.


This tree is flat to make it easy to hang on a wall. Don't know where the tree came from, but I hung vintage cookie cutters that belonged to my grandmother. I had the red cookie cutters. It is hung on the kitchen wall.




The small tree belonged to my dad, who would use it in his office. It is placed on my son's piano along side the nativity scene. The other small tree is a mosaic I made with broken mirror pieces.

Did I go overboard with the trees? Maybe, but I really look forward to welcoming my family to my home.

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