I started my vacation on Sunday. I had big plans to get some things done around the house, and do some crafting, visit my dad and my grandparents. Then a 2AM phone call Sunday morning changed everything. My Mother in law passed away. Doris Curley Obit
Her funeral was Tues and Wed. My stepdaughter and her husband came up from Knoxville, TN. It was good to see them although it wasn't for a pleasure visit. We had a nice family lunch after the ceremonies at my sister in laws house. We all ate and talked and watched the grand-kids and great-grand-kids play around. It was almost like old times, except without my husband's parents around. Its so sad, they are both gone now. Sad and strange at the same time.

My dad is doing better all the time. I spent a couple of days last week at his house while my sis was out of town. We ran a lot of errands, did some shopping, and got him out of the house, and had lunch in the backyard. We even went out for Chinese! he is so sick of being "down" as he calls it, and being stuck in the house. His doc said he can finally put some weight on his leg. YAY! one more step to being less of a prisoner in his own house!

I did get to see my grandparents in Indy yesterday. They are 87 and 89. "I'm pushin' 90!" Grandpa says..lol They were happy to see me and I took them out to lunch at Mc Donalds. They really enjoyed getting out and they love "that Mick-Chicken sandwich"...although they were tuckered out by the time we got back. They don't get out hardly at all. I should visit them more often, really I should.

So the next three days of my vacation will be spend baking and decorating some cakes today. and getting started on baking a big wedding cake for next weekend. maybe a little sleeping in..maybe dusting off my craft desk..who knows...

so much for the enjoyable vacation i wanted...oh well..time away from work is time away from work! :-)

I 'm back again trying to keep this blog updated! I found some time to get some scrapbooking done at my dad's house. I packed up some crafty stuff, and photos, and headed to Peoria to visit with my sister. She came up from South Carolina and was staying with my Dad for two weeks to help him out after he came home from rehab from his broken leg. He is doing well, by the way! Thanks for all the well wishes!
Beth and I had a great time scrapping her sons' graduation photos. I also showed her how to make some cards. She loved it!
I posted pictures of the pages we did on my Webshots, in Craigs Album.Here is my favorite page.


Here are some pictures we took.

We don't get to visit very often,so it was really good to see her!
I also got a recipe swap page completed for a swap on Cafe Mom. I used some of my new Stampin; Up stamps for the background. Way cool!

Andrew's baseball season is upon us, and it's in full swing with at least THREE games a week, not including the makeup games from rainouts. Last night we had a double header in Homer, IL and we didnt get home until after 10 PM. We won both games ... yay! :-)
Last night I finally got my deposit paid for a Scrapbooking retreat I am going to in November. Croppin' Train Retreat in Rodgers, AR. Some friends of mine in my scrapbooking newsgroup RCS are going. I am hoping those that live close to there will be able to come! Deb? Kenda? Cyndi Anne? It would be great to meet you! They have options for one day cropping too. I am really looking forward to it!
Ta Ta for now!

My Blog is terribly neglected!

O wow I did not realize just how long it has been since I visited my own blog! yikes!
Well, so much has been happening. Life in general is full of changes and accomplishments especially with my boys. My son Ryan (20) is still a volunteer firefighter, and working full time second shift as a welder. He still lives at home and I hardly ever see him! He recently bought a 4 wheeler and on weekends he goes riding with friends and dad and brother. They love to get muddy and have a great time! Ryan on his 4 wheeler (below)
Andrew (below)
Andrew (13) hates to have his picture taken and refuses to smile, but he let me take this one when they got back fro 4 wheelin', and I just love it! :) I talked him into using it on his My Space...LOL
Andrew is my sports guy. They just finished track season at the middle school and he did very well for it being his first season participating in track. He likes to run and is very fast for his size. His events were hurdles, long jump, 4 x1 relay, and the 100 meter dash. He was awarded Captain of the track team, and he earned FIRST PLACE in Vermilion County, IL in the 100 Meter Dash! woo hoo! He won a gold medal. He went on to sectionals and didn't do as well, but the competition was really stiff with kids from the bigger cities competing. He did place 4th or better in his other events so overall he did well. They had to place 1st or 2nd to go to State competition. One of his other teammates went to State for the shot put and got 5th in State! It was a good year for our track team! Baseball is upon us now.
Some cakes I have made recently:


I survived Mothers Day and Graduation season at work. Normally it is H*ll during the month of May. I think the economy has really cut down our graduation cake orders this year. We weren't nearly as busy as we usually are.
My dad broke his leg in late April while mowing the grass at home. he fell off a retaining wall! He spent a month in a rehab place getting stronger and more mobile to be able to come home and had to be able to navigate 4 steps to get into the house. He came home last week. My sis from South Carolina is there for two weeks to stay with him and my other sis who lives there in Peoria is doing a fantastic job of taking care of things for him too. I live two hours away and wish I could be there more often. I did spend my last three days over there visiting. My sister Beth and I Scrapbooked! over a year ago she gave me her sons graduation mementos and pictures to scrap and I never got around to it, so we did it together and got 12 pages done! I still have to post pictures of them
Thats all for now..three days of me being gone has done a number on my house...gotta get busy! :)

Christmas fudge

'Tis the season to make fudge and bake cookies!
I did some holiday candy making this week, in preparation for my Christmas goodies giveaway trays that I make every year. This year I made some Chocolate Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge (OMG Love it!) Dreamsicle Fudge, Peppermint "Ice" (its a kopykat from Fannie Maes, I made it up myself.) Gooey Butter Coffecake Squares, Chewy Noels nut bars, White chocolate dipped pretzel rings, & White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookies. Keeping the boys and the hubby out of it is beginning to be a problem! haha! Guess that means I haven't lost my touch. I absolutely LOVE to bake especially at Christmas.
I still have all my cooky press cookies, and rolled sugar cookies to bake and decorate. My neighbors church has a cookie bake sale every year to raise money, and I usually donate a bunch of my cookies for it. So my next day off of work thats what I will be doing.
I have some requests from my friends to post my recipe for Dreamsicle Fudge. It's not actually my recipe, I got if off the internet somewhere a couple of years ago, and it's been a hit ever since.
Dreamsicle Fudge

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine
2/3 cup cream
7 oz. marshmallow crème
1 pkg. (12 oz.) vanilla chips
3 tsp. orange flavoring
12 drops yellow food color
9 drops red food color
(or if you have orange food coloring thats ok-color as desired)
Mix sugar, cream and butter into heavy pan and boil until it reaches the soft ball stage on candy thermometer, about 5 minutes or 235-240 degrees F. Remove from heat. Add marshmallow crème and chips. Mix well. Remove 1 cup of mixture and set aside. Add orange flavoring and food colors to mixture in pot. Stir well and pour into greased 11 x 13 or 9 inch dish. Stir in white mixture and pour on top, then swirl with knife. Chill to cool. Cut into squares to serve.
Enjoy!

Seems I have been tagged my M-C ! This should be fun. I am still kind of new to this so I have to find five people that M-C didnt already tag! haha! So lets see...... here are my five to tag: Dee, cpeep, Cathy, Heather, Momma_Lizzie

THE FIVE TAG

5 years ago ...
1. I was introduced to scrapbooking
2. I celebrated my five year anniversary at my job.
3. I turned the BIG 4-0!! My sisters from out of state came up and threw me a surprise party.
4. Went to my first scrapbooking crop party
5. Got drunk at a weiner roast. It was the 1st anniversary of my moms passing

5 Things on today's "to do" list ...
1. Make Phyllis's retirement cake at work for her party
2. Get off work early to go home and change clothes to go an appointment
3. Try my new makeup I bought from Avon at card club last night
4. Send an email to an old friend of my parents
5. fix supper

5 Snacks I enjoy ....
1. Cookies
2 .Lays potato chips
3. Popcorn. Kettle or movie theatre butter..yum
4. Ice Cream
5. chocolate candy, like Reeses, Twix, 3 musketeers

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire ...
1. Buy some land and build my dream home
2. Go shopping to furnish my new scrap room in my new dream home
3. Pay off my car, and get new cars for my DH and sons.
4. Take my family shopping for new clothes and shoes
5. Help out my family & sisters by sharing :-)

5 places I have lived ...
1. Danville, Illinois
2. North Augusta, South Carolina
3. Thomson, Georgia
4. Oakwood, Illinois
5. Indianapolis, Indiana (Birthplace)

5 jobs I have had ...
1. Head Cake Decorator at County Market
2. dishwasher-Waitress-Cook-Caterer-bartender-pastry chef (at the same business)
3. temporary desk job answering phones and sending letters.
4. production line worker at a factory.
5. Cake Decorator and Bakery Deli Manager for Bilo, INC.

Tough guys heartbreak

Today was the Superbowl game for my sons Varsity Youth Football team. We were 6-1 for the season, and we had to face the only team to beat us this year for the title. Unfortunately we were defeated! :-) These boys put so much of their heart and soul into this game, and it wsa so heartbreaking to see them lose. They are 11 and 12 yr olds, and for 1o of our 8th graders, it was their last game EVER with the team. Emotions were so high, and these tough "not-so-little-anymore-boys" have been through a lot the last two weeks. My son usually plays the whole game, and last week was injured and not able to play football until the game today, to give his knee some rest. Our Quarterback broke his arm last week in that same playoff game, and didn't tell his coach (his dad) that it hurt until they won the game, because my son was out for the game with an injury, and he didn't want to disappoint the other team members by losing, so he stayed IN the game to win it. What a tough guy!
Here are our playoff game winners, our Varsity Oakwood Comets! My son is sitting in the front, with an injured leg. QB with broken arm is #12

Here they are winning 2nd place today.Andrew is #27.

Pictured above, their coaches tell them: "There is no smiling in Football!" They never said anything about crying. And believe me..they were crying today. I felt so bad for them, I just wanted to hug them all!! For their efforts today and all their hard work all year!
Football is over for the year..now basketball starts on Monday!

I am starting to get more excited!

I'm going on a cruise, I'm going on a cruise...LOL
Some of the members in the scrapbooking newsgroup I belong to are going on a Carnival Cruise in March '09, and I am planning on going with the group ! This will be a big trip for me. It will be my first cruise, my first time ever on any kind of a boat on the ocean, and my first time visiting another country. How cool is that?! And, I get to go with my friend Barb from work. It should be lots of fun. She is a lot of fun and a nut, and loves to scrapbook, but she is afraid of the water!! I really had to talk her into going and convince her that we weren't sailing on the Titanic!
I am also glad she will finally get to meet some of my RCS friends that I talk about at work. I have met some of the gals in person a couple of years ago at a scrapbook retreat- Lynne, Amy, Sandy, April, Tammy, Amanda, Katrina, M-C ,Deb and Amy, to name a few. I will get to see some of them again, and get to finally meet a few more on the cruise! I gotta give a shout out to M-C, our group administrator and trip organizer. She's such a great person and probably one of the most busy but organized people I have ever known..LOL
Our first deposits are paid, and this trip is really starting to be "real", not just a dream!
The Carnival Inspiration is the name of our ship. Check it out!