Relax with Lotion!

My friend, Joyce, has two kids named Bethany (3) and Charlie (1.5).  For Christmas she had her kids get me the best lotion ever!  Now, I don't normally like anything from Bath and Body Works, but their aromatherapy line is GREAT!  However, it is a bit pricey for my taste.  For those of you who know me, know that I find it hard to spend money on regularly priced items no matter how much I love it.  So, I am very grateful for this gift.  I can't stop smelling my hands..............  I recommend this to everyone!!!!  My favorite is the Stress relief lotion, which is the Eucalyptus Spearmint.  I have the oil to go into the bathtub and that works great too if you want to take an hour long bath.  It is hard to get out when it is so relaxing and it smells terrific. However, it was cheaper for me to get the bath oil from a family run store in downtown Prescott.  5 bucks for a good sized bottle and you only use a couple drops each time.  See, you have to get a bargain no matter what:-)

The true meaning of plants.

I got called off today, so it is PJ's, a couch and a TV for me today.  

I wanted to share my two favorite plants.  The Christmas cactus is in full bloom this year.  It actually decided to bloom at the right time. Last year it bloomed in April.  It may have been stunned from the cold travel in November of 2007, so it waited until April last year to bear it's fruits.  

It means so much to Russ and I because it was one of those things that Russ's dad, Ron, wanted us to have.  We brought it home after his funeral in Nov. 2007.

The other plant is "Our Love Plant".  Russell got me the Orchid plant 3 years ago when we were dating.  It has got bigger and bloomed every year.  It is a symbol of our love (sappy, yes, but cute).  I would hate to think if it died, but we won't think of that.  

In the background you can see some of our other plants.  If you have ever been in our home, you will know that our dinning room is like the botanical gardens.

Merry Christmas

We have been out of town and visiting family and friends for the past two weeks.  I'll list the highlights and some photos below.

1. Harley and Davidson didn't get car sick at all.  The first time we didn't have to clean up puke.

2. Harley and Davidson played in cow manure on the farm and loved it.  They stayed there while we went to St. Louis.  

3. Davidson chased a car and wouldn't come back so he spent 30 minutes in time out.  (He really did it.)

4. Went to Salt Lake City for a couple of days where I saw a nice snow storm.  I haven't seen that for many years. However, driving in it was fun, but Utah drivers aren't too good at it!  We spent time with Russ's family in SLC.

5. I learned how to be a Utah driver. (Try to commit an accident without actually getting into an accident)

6. We ate at the Red Iguana with Jena, Brett and Jovi Raddon in Salt Lake City.  I got to ride the trax system for the first time and see the downtown area at temple square during the day and night.

7. Had a horrible landing in St. Louis.  I thought we were going to scrape the wing on the ground.  Russell thought I was being rediculous and that it was a great flight.

8. We went to the History Museum, Union Station, Multiple Malls and a Ram's 49Er's Football game.

9. Had Christmas with my family.  My brother, Drew, and I made a Ginger Bread House.

10. Had a better landing back in Salt Lake, but we had to drive back to Beaver in a snow storm.

11. Had Christmas with Russell's family.  I made potato salad with Russ's mom Irene.

12.  Roy, Russ's brother, moved in with us and will be going to school here.  He will be getting his degree as an auto mechanic.

13. Last but not least I got to have my burrito from Costa Vida! YUM!

I can't get these pictures to go in the correct order!

 

         Russ, Irene, Me

      Grandma
   My mom and I at the Football game.
Our Ginger Bread house.  The shingles were the hardest part. The ceiling only caved in once,                                                                        which was fixable.
       My brother, Drew, and I.


Davidson in time out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This was not a drill

     This is my neighbors house back home in Illinois.  We have known them for many years.  From what I hear, the flames were raring high and smoke was coming out the second floor.  That is the garage below.

     The investigators or the insurance company thought that a power surge caused the dryer or the fuse box to ignite.  Luckily no one was home.  My brother was home that morning to witness this tragedy and to user in the fire department.  Our neighbors are our dear friends so he stayed home from school to help them collect valuables that were scattered in the yard and driveway.  They weren't allowed to go upstairs due to the floor being unstable.  

These pictures are a look inside.

     The firetruck backed up into my families pond to use the water to put out the fire.  Now I know why every house has a pond in the country.  Very good addition to homes!  When they went to leave, they got stuck, as you can see the tracks below.  A tractor came to pull it out, but got stuck as well.  Unfortunately, my brother didn't capture that on camera.  Drew, my brother, told me that an even bigger tractor came to bail them out.  He hasn't ever seen a tractor so BIG. That mission was then successful.

   It meant so much to me to hear from my mom that they had asked her for another picture of Russell and I.  The picture that they had was on their fridge and it was taken in the fire.  They told my mom that she said good morning to us every day.  I almost teared up.

  The good news is that they are going to rebuild!  They are staying with family near by and the community is helping them with some food and clothing.

   I hope they don't change anything when they rebuild because I absolutely loved their home.  In high school I always wanted to buy it when I got older. 

Santa The Terrorist

   So, I thought it would be a good idea to take the dogs to see Santa. Half of the proceeds go to rescuing abused dogs.  

   I figured I would at least get a cute picture. As you can see that wasn't the case.  Harley and Davidson were terrified. Harley more so than Davidson. Harley was literally shaking. It looked like he was in below zero conditions. On the other hand, Davidson will do anything for a treat.  However, he was still scared because his ears are held back and down.  I'm glad I didn't cause more stress to them and have them wear bows around their neck.  

    After looking at the picture no wonder they were scared! Look at Santa.  His eyes look as if they are ready to kill.  He isn't Jolly old Saint Nick.  He is Santa the Terrorist.  Click on the picture and you can see what I mean.  So in my efforts of getting a cute picture, I probably caused irreversibly trauma to my dogs psyche.

Betty Sue Homemaker

The smell of Christmas is in the air.  For me, that is the smell of many cookies baking in the oven.  I made Chocolate chip cookies, Cream cheese cookies with a chocolate chip center (those are my favorite) and Sugar Cookie Cutouts of Bells, Snowmen and Christmas trees.  So, for the past five hours I baked and sang Christmas songs.  Before my husband left for work he was critiquing my mixtures.  Doesn't he know that real bakers don't measure and that everything always turns out delicious?  He should be Betty Sue Homemaker since he thinks he does such a good job :-)      After the baking, I made the plates and tags for them.  I love an excuse to get my scrapbook supplies out.  Everything always turns out so cute!  Here's the creation below.  I put together about 8 packages that I will deliver to people tomorrow. 

           (The tag says A Merry Christmas To You)

Alert: Going out of business

We went shopping today and noticed that all of the furniture stores were going out of business. Who will supply the furniture for Prescott Valley and Prescott?  Also, I was wondering what job they would get after going bankrupt?  Well, come to find out they get whatever they can get.  We spotted one of the previous owners of Joshua Creek Furniture working at the food stand at Sam's Club. We started talking and She said that she was going to try to get a management spot over the food stand, so she could make more money.  Her son-in-law has a job working nights there too. Her husband got a job at the mattress giant down the road.  Their store was a family business and now they are split apart.  Hmmm....  such a change.  It really makes me grateful for my education and a job that is always in demand!  To those that have lost there jobs, my heart goes out to you.  

This is Davidson at 7 months. SO CUTE! Sometimes we think our dogs can run us into the poorhouse ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my first post, so be gentle!  

     Thanksgiving was sort of non-traditional this year for us.  We were both supposed to be working, but I got called off.  I got out of bed at 10AM and thought that since I got called off, I should jump into the spirit of the day and start cooking.  In order to do that I would have to go to the grocery store. 

("A grocery store on a holiday, bad idea".) However, Russell thought if I wanted to cook, that I should have got up at 6am because that was what his Mom did.  Also, I guess you have to thaw the turkey overnight.  I did not have enough time for that.  Since I didn't meet these specific qualifications, we went to the Cracker Barrel instead.  The food was great and the price was cheap!  I came to find out that there were not a lot of people that cook on Thanksgiving or that have family to spend it with.  In the small town of Prescott Valley there had already been 1000 people served by 1pm at the Cracker Barrel when we left.  Not too surprising was the average age of the population in the Cracker Barrel, which was probably 60-70 years old.  That is my estimation.  It was kind of sad :-(  Russell and I had a great time.  We took home a piece of pumpkin crumb pie.

    That night there was a massive thunderstorm.  The lightning woke me up with the cracking of the sky.  The dogs were in their creates crying.  I asked Russell what he wanted to do about the dogs and we opted to let them sleep with us so that they weren't scared. As soon as they got in bed, they were quiet and drifted to sleep.  However, it wasn't so easy for Russell and I.  We still had to listen to the thunder and watch the lightning.  These dogs are like our children and seem a little bit too much like them at times.