SNOW !!!!!!!

First thing this morning I received a call from my brother, he was taking our mother to the doctor. She had a dizzy spell last evening and her blood pressure was sky high.

The doctor said it was more than likely vertigo. Told her to take the pill she normally takes at night so she could get some needed rest today. She called and said she rested for about 30 minutes. She wasn't really sure if she dozed off or not. She had to make 2 pies for tomorrow so the ladies from church could take them to Ronald McDonald house. She said she was feeling better though. Part of her problem is she has anxiety when things like this (vertigo) happens.

The main computer has a "VIRUS" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Something took over the home page. I could use my McAfee scanner, but it disengaged the McAfee siteadvisor. It did find something, but there seems to be more problems than it found. I can't load Spy Bot either. I also can't access anything on the internet that was connected to spyware scanners. Thank heavens I could run the Hijack this log to send to the forum that always helps me out when stuff like this happens. So now I have to work with the forum from the 2nd computer and run back to the other one. It usually takes at least 3 days until they can start to help. So many people with virus issues. Why can't people just get a life instead of making havoc on others.

We woke up yesterday morning to about 4" of snow. This is the backyard, showing the trampoline. The tree is actually in our neighbor's yard. Did I say I "HATE" snow!!!! Better than ice though. We had enough of that last winter.




The lilac trees covered and snow on the birdhouse.

The top portion of the driveway, before the turn, and down the incline. You can see DH's tracks backing up and getting turned around to drive down the driveway. Somtimes I have to park at the bottom because it's just too slippery. Since his truck is 4-wheel drive he can usually make it up.


We had a "L" shaped fence along the bottom edge of the driveway. I had flowers planted there and a metal "Welcome" sign with a flag. This past summer one of the beams needed to be replaced. I told DH that unless he wanted me to slide down the hill and take the fence out with the car he better remove it. He didn't think twice about it.

Last winter when the driveway was icy I started down just inching along and suddenly the car turned sideways and I slid down the hill. I came within inches of hitting the darn fence and going out onto the road. I ended up at least pointed in the right direction. Thankfully we don't have much traffic, but it only takes one.




It's going to be cold for a few days and more snow expected Tuesday/Wednesday.

I took my WorkKeys test on Wednesday at Career Link. They will send me my certificate and my grade in the mail. The test consists of Math, Locating Information and Reading. You are allowed 45 minutes for each category. Each category had between 33 - 36 questions each.

Hope I did well. Time will tell.

Bookworm Award

I have an award to share with you. It's the Bookworm award given to me by my friend Tattingchic. You are so thoughtful, Thank You!

This award has some fun rules with it.

It's like an award/tag combo.

These are the "rules"

Pass this on to 5 blogging friends.

Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book,
but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.

Write out the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that...

Okay, so the book closest to me while at the computer is
"Office 2000 Simplified"
(It's from the library so my DH can practice Microsoft Word. )

The 5th -7th sentence reads ....

The text you selected appears in the new style.
To deselect text, click outside the selected area.
To remove a bold italic or underline style, repeat steps 1 and 2.

If anyone want's to know what steps 1 and 2 say, just drop me a comment and ask for it. LOL

I am passing this award on to (because I am really curious what book they may have near) :

1. Laurie of Lauries Charming Designs - could it be a book of designs....
2. Rengin of Rengins Colors - could it be a book of crazy quilt stitches...
3. Judy of Stitch Along With Me - could it be a knitting book or a child's story book....
4. Wendy of Umi N Tsuru - could it be a tatting book....
5. Jessica of Jessica Sews - could it be a book of gifts to make.....

Have Fun!!!!

More Gifts!

Remember back in September, Pat Winter had a birthday give-away and I was one of the winners. I was so excited! I finally made a decision and selected some hand dyed ribbon. Guess what came in the mail! I did take a moment to take a picture of the pretty package before I carefully opened it. It also smelled wonderful too. What a wonderful surprise!



Inside was this pretty silk bag filled with goodies!



She sent some pretty hand dyed ribbons, along with other items I can use in crazy quilting. Two adorable printed on fabric pictures, venice lace that I can dye, as well as a beautiful piece of dark trim with rhinestones and another decorative ribbon. Thank you Pat for your generosity. I love each piece. Take a look at her Etzy shop to see her beautiful handmade and embellished items.



I also received two lace Hummingbirds from another friend Nicki. They are just so adorable! You are so sweet! Thank you!
You should take a look at the lace she dyes. It is beautiful.

Tatted Cat

I just wanted to share my tatted cat. The pattern is from Be-stitched.com

The only problem I had was finishing the last row of instructions. I need to check with them to see if the diagram matches the pattern. I made a little adjustment, not sure if I should have or not. LOL

Joining the head to the next to last picot on the required chain is where I ran into the most trouble. It is attached as you can see in the picture, :) but I have a twisted picot. Yes, that's right a twisted picot. Can you see me frowning? I thought I followed the instructions correctly, but I guess I will need to practice, practice, and practice some more on that one. I only ripped it out about 5 times, until I could at least get the last few DS going in the right direction. I know it's still wrong because of the darn twisted picot.

I have made hearts, and connecting the picots were not a problem. This one was different and what a time I had. Why would this be different than when I finished the hearts?????? I am so confused. LOL



It looks like I need to trim the right side whiskers a bit. He or she is a little lopsided.

A Birthday Gift

My friend Rengin recently celebrated her 50th birthday. We share a common history together. As we write I realize how much we are alike when it comes to our interests and our families. Although we have never meet in person, I think people are brought together for a reason.

In celebration of such a special occasion I made this small wallhanging for her. I started it early enough, but then life got in the way, and unfortunately it didn't arrive on time for her birthday, but it did get there. Thank you post office. :)




I was pleasantly surprised as she sent me a package too. I positioned the smaller pieces on a piece of brown fabric I had so you will be able to see the little metal sandal charms, leaves, flowers and so much more. You can click on the picture for a better view. They are just so adorable. Also the lovely ribbons, beads and fabrics. Thank you!

Thinking of you....

I received a thinking of you gift from my friend Judy.
A lovely fat quarter, very pretty thread, a pink ribbon bead and another glass bead with a little star in the center. Thank you!





I won this fob from Sonda at stitchinmedic. She had a give-away in memory of breast cancer victim's or survivor's. It is beautiful, made from pink beads and has a silver ribbon attached at the bottom with the word "HOPE". Yes it is a reminder of how precious life is and we do have hope while enduring the trial. It has been 5-1/2 years since my diagnosis. I thank God for my healing.



My next post will show more surprises....

Hexagon Ornament - Patriotic

I thought I would try a patriotic theme for the hexagon ornament. I like both styles, the hexagon and the triangle. They are equally easy to make. You can see the triangle version in the tutorial I posted earlier today.



If you make these ornaments I would love to see them. I have another idea I would like to try out on them. Maybe I will find some time this weekend to experiment.

Triangle Tree Tutorial's

Below are two tutorials for a triangle tree ornament. The first tutorial was provided by Dorie and the second tutorial below was provided by shescrafty217. Both belong to the HGTV Quilting Needlework message board. Thank you ladies for sharing your instructions.

Here is my version of shescrafty217's tutorial. I am still working on Dorie's version. Will post it soon.



How to make a triangle ornament. Instructions provided by Dorie.



How to make your own hexagon:

1. If you want the radius, like in the template above to be 6-1/4", draw a line 6-1/4" long on a piece of paper. **

2. Mark a dot in the center of line, in this case it would be 3-1/8".

3. Position the point of the compass on the center point of line. Extend leg of compass so the pencil touches the outer point of your line.

4. Now draw a circle.

5. Position point of compass at one end of the 6-1/4" line and draw an intersect line through the circle on the left and right of where your compass is positioned. Do the same on the other end of 6-1/4" line.

6. Now connect the intersect points and you have a hexagon. ***

** Let's say you want each of the 6 sides to be a certain length, such as 4". Then draw an 8" line and mark a dot in the center of line at 4". Each side is always 1/2 the radius. Continue at step 3 above.

*** If you connect every other mark, instead of all six marks, you will end up with an equilateral triangle. Which you can use in the 2nd tutorial to make a triangle tree or click on the link provided in that section for another method.



1. Using the template cut out two contrasting color's of material. The template used measures 6-1/4" across from point to point.

2. Cut a piece of ribbon to desired length to use has a hanger. Position in the middle of one of the sides, keeping it tucked in between the two fabrics or attach it when ornament is completed.

3. Sew the two pieces right sides together with 1/4" seam, leave a small opening to turn fabrics right side out.

4. Turn and press.

5. Lay out the shape with a flat edge at the top.

6. Mark the center point on all sides. Using chalk draw a line from each dot to opposite side creating a center point where all the lines intersect. (sorry not shown)

7. Fold left side in using the center side points as a guide. The folded edge should meet at the interest line in the center of hexagon.

8. Fold back corner as pictured above and pin in place.



9. Now you will go to the corner on the right of the fold you just made. Using the center side points as a guide, fold towards the center and then fold back top corner and pin or go ahead and tack those two down at the bottom where they meet. Fold back bottom corner.



10. Continue folding sides in and turning back the corners.







11. When finished you can add a button or decorate it anyway you like.



How to make a triangle ornament. Instructions provided by Shescrafty217.

If you need help drawing an equilateral triangle go to this link:
www.wikihow.com/Draw-an-Equilateral-Triangle


1. Cut two 9" equilateral triangles or choose a size you like.

2. Sew right sides together using 1/4" seam allowance, leave opening to flip right sides out. Flip and press.

3. Mark center points on each side. Draw a line down the center of each side with chalk.






4. Fold each side evenly to center and press.



5. Press one side at a time this will give you the center triangle.








6. Start to pull in the folds to meet in the center.



7. Tack each fold down in the center.


8. Begin to fold the little ears to the back where they will meet in the back center. Carefully tack then down.





9. Carefully tack down the back points.



10. Decorate the front as desired.

Chili Recipe and Job Search

What a title. LOL No I am not looking for a cooking job, at least not at the moment. If it comes to that, you do what you have to do to survive. We watched Fun with Dick and Jane Friday night. It was a good movie, but wasn't the best movie to watch considering you are about to lose your job along with 325 others. Had a good ending though. There have been more new plant lay-offs and two more plant closings in the area since DH was notified he would be out of work. I wish I knew what the unemployment rate is for this county. PA might not be so bad as a whole, but the three surrounding counties have been hit hard.

I called Career Link on Friday to find out what their WIN Skills program was all about. It is an assessment tool and you take a math and reading test. I hesitantly signed up for it wondering if it will help or hurt my search for a potential job. I am ok at math, actually liked Algebra in school. Don't ask how many years ago that was. The use of Algebra helps with writing formulas on my Lotus spreadsheet. Unfortunately I never learned Microsoft Excel. Yes, I can dabble in it but that is about all. So I am nervous about what to expect. If I do too bad I wonder if they will allow me do it again.:)

Now for the fun part. I won a fob from Sonda at "Who has time to stitch" blog, very pink give-away. Thanks Sonda for your thoughtfulness in honor and memory of breast cancer victims and survivors.

Karen South has challenged her blog readers to publish their chili recipes on their blog and link to her blog for a give-away.

Kathy's Chili

1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 med large green pepper diced
1 can (28 oz) Del-Monte tomatoes, undrained (Basil/Oregano flavor)
1 can of tomato soup, with bits of tomato
1 can (15-1/2 oz) Mexican chili beans or regular kidney beans and then add chili powder to taste.
1 Can (15-1/2 oz) black beans
1 can (15-1/2 oz) pinto beans

Optional: 1 T grated semisweet baking chocolate ( or a few chocolate chips)

Macaroni
Shredded taco cheese

Cook and stir beef in large nonstick skillet. Then add onion and green pepper and lightly saute. Drain fat.
Add tomatoes, soup, beans, chocolate; mix well. Can thin with beef broth or water if desired.
Bring it to a boil and then cover; reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Cook macaroni in another pan according to directions. I guess you could do it right in the chili but I always usually make to much so I make it in another pan. Drain

When ready to eat, add macaroni to your bowl and top with chili and sprinkle cheese over it.