Freckled Star

Feeling the holiday come down....

I tell you I am not motivated to do anything today. I am just feeling sluggish. I don't know why... It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining and it's about 70 degrees but I am just not feeling it today. We are going to the movies to see "YesMan" in a little while maybe that will bring me out of this... Oh wait one minute, a new Ballard Designs catalog. Oh joy. I love the mail!!I feel a wish list coming on...

Would you look at that~

 

And it's on sale!!!

Oh and this~

 

HELLO LOVE IT!

Now this has my name written all over it~

 

It's a mirror:)

And this.. Of course this is already mine but thought I'd share~

 

This holds all the fabric I have bought in the last 2 months for that sewing class I am eventually going to take. Does that sound like resolution??

One last picture~ 

That is the promotion for Close to My Heart this month for details check out my website http://andreavillarreal.myctmh.com/WebSites/Templates/MyCTMH/Template1.aspx?Reload=Yes

I wish that wasn't so long but you get the gist:) Remember I said one day I would figure it out. Just not today:)

Okay. Okay one more picture~

 

From our NEW Spring catalog. The stamp set used is called "Sprinkles" TOO CUTE!

Well this is exactly what I needed. I feel like creating something now. Or at least walking into my studio anyway:)

Have a wonderful and safe New Year! See you on the other side:)

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

I am back and I am definetly done eating and drinking that's for sure!!One thing about the husband and the kids being home for 5 days STRAIGHT! We eat alot:) Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Waffles, omlettes, bacon, sausage, steel cut oats with chopped apple and cinnamon. Paninis, grilled cheese, tuna melts, tamales. Chips and dips. Steaks, barbeque chicken, coleslaw, spiced fingerlings, baked beans, cheese bread. Beer, wine, soda, champagne, sparkling cider. And that's just what I can think of at 6:30 in the morning. So I am done. Yogurt and granola for me this morning. The kids know dad's back at work so they are on their own:) Until Wednesday and then it starts all over again. Heavy sigh:) Another 5 days.........

Here's the Be Merry part:

Tyler is the only one still SUPER excited about Christmas. The teenagers would rather sleep for sure. Tyler can barely wait til daybreak to wake us all up!! At least someone wanted golf clubs for Christmas:)

Someone will be rockin' out all afternoon.

No Justice there is nothing for you. Dumb dog. 

 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!I most certainly did and was once agian very spoiled and very surprised by all my loot. Husband's give the greatest things and my kids are turning out to be pretty good at it too. I am a lucky girl;)

 Well my house is quite now and I am thinking how lovely it is not to hear the sounds of Rock Band, I tunes, Mario Cart, the t.v. in general, legos being pushed around a plastic bucket, the sound of the air horn on Tyler's battle ship, the cries of what's to eat, can we go to Target, can we go to the Garden's, can we go to Game Stop and on and on and on:) I know one day they will all be gone and listening to all that with their own little ones and I will miss it ~maybe~ but for now I think I will just enjoy the peace. Crap I spoke too soon.

A Glorious Weekend!

To begin with Frank came home early on Friday and we took Tyler to the snow. Which happened to be only about 15 minutes from our house. CRAZY!! In the jeep which is probably one of Tyler's most favorite things in the world next to the boat:) You'd have thought that boy had never seen snow before! But I guess he was only 3 months old when we moved from that frozen iceland called Fort Drum New York. Even Zachary was excited later on that day when he and his friends took off for the snow. Why I still have no idea!! 

So Saturday we went to Phelan to get Andrew out. He had been stuck in the house since Wednesday. No 4 wheel drive:( And I gotta tell you it looked a lot like New York. Oh the memories. Yuck!! 

But the kid's had a blast. And so did Frank, I swear sometimes he still acts like he is 16. 

Yes that's a sled he is pulling the kid's around the yard with:)  

And that's Lindsay after being thrown off! Good times:) I think she lost her shoe after that too.

Sunday I decided to suck it up and try making tamales and you know what?? They turned out pretty darn good. Normally I don't want anyone in my kitchen(they always seem to make more of a mess) but when Frank volunteered to chop up all the roast and spread masa I was all for it!!And oh my did we have a mess!! All in all it wasn't too bad. Except for the anticipation of them tasting like crap and there is no way I would ever do it by myself. Anyhow one more tradition carried out this year and speaking of tamales that sounds really good right now.

   

The first picture of me in the snow in like 10 years! I promptly got back in the car after this:)

Happy Holidays!

Winter Wonderland!

Just look at those gorgeous mountains! 

That is what I woke up to this morning. Absloutely stunning:) And as I write this I am looking out the window at this... 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....:)

Well you saw the nasty weather yesterday and this is what happens when I am stuck at home with not a darn thing to do. I cruise the blogs and I found this... 

Is that the cutest thing ever!!?? It's at  http://www.shabbyscrapsboutique.com/. It's the cutest little online store. I have ordered a couple of things from her and if you are into packaging and beautiful presentation you will love all the care she puts into all her orders. LOVE IT!! So this started one of those little ideas to start swimming in my head. It's the stickers that spell out "dream" you see. I have those stickers! I can do something like that!

Voila!! 

Okay so this is the cutest thing ever:) That cleaned out pesto sauce jar had been sitting on my desk for weeks. The moss and rocks I saved from a plant that bit the dust. The fairy is just cut out from a piece of paper. Ribbon was scrap. Twigs I picked up ages ago and knew one day they'd have a home. Laugh charm is Close to My Heart.  

It's beginning to look a lot like a workshop project!! Save those jars ladies:)

Oh Baby it's COLD outside...

My office window...

I think it may actually be snowing in the foothills right above me. I can't even see them. Ho Hum. At least I am done with errands today.

On to workshop pictures. I forgot how much I loved doing this project:)

 This is Char's. It's for her granddaughter, Taylor. It turned out so cute!!

Grace, Elaine and Roxie.  

I've got an album posted to the left of all the beautiful jars everyone made. It was really a fun workshop. I am thinking one with a Valentine's theme would be great. Lord knows I have enough junk!!

So I am off to light the fire place and make some hot chocolate. I have 3 more hours of peace and quiet until Tyler walks in;) I think I will read for a bit. I just finished "Revolutionary Road". What a weird book sort of depressing but not. I don't know I guess that's why I don't get paid to say it was brilliant. I have no idea what was brilliant about it. Really. I think I will pass on the movie version. I just started "Eat, Pray, Love" so far so good. Gotta go I hear a fat dog eating the girls' food:(

Hello Sunshine!!

NOT!! It's raining here today. HURRAY!! Just a short post today. I have a golf lesson in about an hour;) So anyhow just wanted to let you all know that I have posted a NEW Photo Album to the left. The 3 Pea's Cookbooks. We had are gift exchange Saturday and it was so fantastic!! Like every year!! I will post my goodies later when I put up the workshop photos:)

I am thinking about doing these on ETSY. Maybe opening my own little shop after the holidays and the kid's Christmas vacation is over. (Don't know why but I seem to get nothing done when they are here all day:) But instead of putting recipes in I would put in blank recipe cards so the purchaser could add their own recipes. I might do some custom mini books too. I am not quite sure yet these are just baby ideas swimming in my head right now. So many ideas!!!! 

Like fun little Get Well bags filled with all sorts of goodies. This was for Michele. Who is home now and doing great! And one day I will figure out why my pictures seem to get blurry when I post them on the blog part. Probably has something to do with megapixils and blah, blah, blah!! Oh well you get the idea.

That's all for today. I have to go run to my car now. You'd think I'd have an umbrella?? Well I do it's in the car;)

Ninny Pants

That's what we call cry babies around here. And this morning I have been a cry baby ninny pants!I guess it started yesterday afternoon in Vons. I swear I could smell his cologne. And I was the only one in the aisle. Weird I know but things like this happen to me sometimes whether I want it to or not. Then it happened again as I was getting into my car at the Gardens. I can't explain this to anyone in the right way, how these things come to me. It may be just a part of my imagination but I get these signs all the time. Maybe it's because of the way we lost him that my mind plays tricks on me because I can't seem to let go. I have no idea, like I said I can't explain it. So I do what I always do, I welled up and then I sucked it up and moved on.

That night we decorated the tree and I was little sad at first but it passed. Just with the kids and their general silliness and my dad being here. Cleaning up, doing dinner and all that other stuff it just seemed to move on by.

Until this morning........

I had to decorate bags for the 3 Pea's gift exchange tomorrow and I popped my brand new Josh Grobin Christmas CD into the player. All is going well. See here are the bags... 

Anyway I am listening and it's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" but it's got servicemen and some of their families in the background giving little messages. Here come the waterworks. NEXT! And it's freakin' Ave Maria. Excuse me but what the hell!!! The official Rojas family funeral song!! What Josh do you want people to jump off a bridge for the holidays?! What happened to Here Comes Santa Claus?? HUH? So I picked up the CD case and looked at the back ALL depressing songs. Out it came and into the trash it went!! Well I needed to get out of the house, so off to Costco I went!

Hurray I finished all my Christmas shopping!! They had the last things I needed and I am so done! So I am driving and rockin' out to my brand new Taylor Swift CD and a song comes on called 15. What the @#$%!!! This song fits Lindsay to a T. She is so not liking me or Frank right now and the song has a line about how you think you have it all figured out at 15 and you really don't even know who you are to become yet. Once again total and complete NINNY PANTS! Well I managed to make it home in one piece. But that song just tore my heart apart because I know that's exactly how she feels. It's also about a boy. Everything at this age seems to be about a boy. Sorry Lindsay. That's all I can say. Except you will thank us later. You will I promise.

So there it is. My 24 hours of feeling sad are done. Thank god I got that out of the way. I have a fun workshop tomorrow for goodness sake and a gift exchange:) What more could a girl ask for except maybe this... 

It's my bedside table and I love it! My books, my Kielh's hand cream, a yummy candle and my pretty pink carnations. Some of my very favorite things:) Oh I am a lucky girl! I hope you all can find peace and joy in all that surrounds you.

And yes I know that was a big turn from how the post started to how it ended but that's just how I roll;) If I were sad all the time and constantly thought about sad things all the time I wouldn't get out of bed. I much rather appreciate all that I have in the here and now rather than what has been lost in the past. And good hand cream and lavendar candles get me every time!

Sugar Overload!!

Okay so I was supposed to be making a batch of Sugar cookies for Michele to take the hospital so that when she got her appetite back she could have them with some tea. I'd rather eat that than hospital food any day!! And look what happened.... 

And that's not even half of them!! This Sugar cookie recipe made like 4 dozen cookies and me not being the type of girl that wastes precious Sugar cookie dough I had to make them all!!! ALL AFTERNOON!! 

So here is the recipe if you want to make a butt load of cookies:

You know the drill. Two bowls one medium and one large.

In the large combine 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), 1and 1/2 cups sugar, 2 eggs and a 1 and 1/2 tsps. of vanilla. Combine with mixer.

In the other bowl combine 4 cups of flour, 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. salt. Mix together with spoon.

Gradually add to butter mixture with mixer. When it's a crumbly mixture take it all out and knead with your hands to form a large smooth pretty ball. Cut in half, roll out and cut with cookie shape of choice.

Preheat oven 375 degrees and bake about 8 minutes.

Now for icing I have a fondant kit but you can make basic icing with powdered sugar, a cube of butter and a little water. Start with a cup of powdered sugar and 2 Tbls. water and go from there. Mix to desired consistency. Coating the back of a spoon is good. And don't lay is on to thick you want it to dry. It's really just to hold the sprinkles anyway. Which I really don't think I have enough of. 

What do you think:) I am the Cupcake Queen after all.

 Here is some finished product. 

Don't want to make icing but want your sprinkles to stick? Brush the cookie with egg wash (beaten egg and 1 Tbls. water) and put on sprinkles before baking. This also looks nice if you just want to add colored sugars (plain white sugar and food coloring, mix) to the top. The egg wash makes the cookies shiny. 

So there you have it. I had a sugar high all afternoon and a stomach ache all evening:)

It's close up~  

 

Lovely packaging and so easy!  

And yes I have a bag for you Elaine:) 

Wanna see something funny???

Then go to down to Golfsmith and watch me try to hit a golf ball!!! They've got it all on tape. Fantastic! Now some of you may be asking what the heck am I doing trying to hit a golf ball in the first place? Well his name is Frank and for some bizarre reason he wants me to go out and play golf with him and his friends. Say WHAT?? In fact he even bought a brand new set of Callaway golf clubs for me. Like 2 years ago!! Maybe longer. And I am only starting to take lessons now!? Yes he has finally asked me enough times that I am just going to suck it up and do it already!! Merry Christmas Frank:)

Now to begin with I am not very athletic. And what is the first thing Justin asked me? "Are you athletic?" So I am thinking in my head depends on your definition of athletic. Can I run to the nearest bathroom if a kid is about to throw up-yes. Can I run 2 miles in succession just because-no. Can I touch my toes-yes. Can I stand on my head-no. Can I ride a bike-yes. Can I ride a bike without losing my balance and crashing at least once-no. Can I run on a treadmill for 30 minutes-yes. Can I run on a treadmill and not lose my footing at least once-no. So as you can see the conclusion would be NO I am not athletic. No biggie he says. "Have you ever swung a club before?" Well yes to amuse my husband at the driving range a few times but not in like a year. "Good so you have no bad habits yet." Yes I suppose that would be good. "Okay so let's see you take a swing." Do I have to?? "Yes it helps with the lesson." Do you have to video tape it???? "Yes so we can compare your swing to say that of a Ms. LPGA"

Oh and by the way that Is Ms.LPGA. Rabid fans. What the @#$%? It's golf!! Oh and no I looked nowhere near that. I would say what I looked like but it would not be politically correct.

So this thing they have at Golfsmith video tapes your entire swing and then breaks it down second by second and then lines it up with the exact second by second swing of a pro. Again FANTASTIC! "So do you see the differences?" HELLO YES I SEE THE DIFFERENCES! So for a half hour I got to view in full technological color just how much I suck at this. I learned I am standing wrong, pivoting wrong, not using my entire body but only my arms, I am letting my shoulder go in the wrong direction, I am bending an arm I shouldn't be, I am not moving my feet, not using my butt mucsle and basically looking like that politically incorrect thing I was talking about earlier. And all of this was pointed out to me with a laser pointer!! AND to top all that off when we went out front to talk about pricing and schedules there up on the big screen was ME!!!!!!!!! For all the store to see. Lucky for him I am not a 14 year old girl I'd be scarred for LIFE!! Did they get to watch the whole lesson laser pointer and all???? 

So anyway I signed on. A glutton for punishment I guess:) If I can learn to scuba dive I can surely hit a stupid little ball around a beautiful golf course. And besides some of the clothes are really cute:) So I am in I told Justin. You poor, poor man. Every Monday for the next seven weeks. Plus trips to the driving range in between. By myself without all the onlookers. I wanted to take a picture of my clubs they are so cute. But they are in the back of my car which Frank took today so I cannot maybe tomorrow. I should take a picture of them for remberance sake anyway just in case after one of those lessons or trips to the driving range they find themselves being driven to the nearest GoodWill drop off. Well I am off to buy a cute little golf skirt. Oh Frank you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into:) This one is cute. It has a pink pinstripe and it says "I will feel cool and confident as I watch my ball sail across the fairway in this sexy pinstripe skort." Yeah right!!

Do you see what I see......

You know that Christmas song right? I am humming it in my head but those are the only words I can think of. Maybe my brain is fried. That's what happens when you've got a sick kid at home for 2 days and you've got nothing to do. Laundry was done, the house was clean (had to do it after my whirl wind of fa lalla). So I got some gifts done in record time because I had no where to go!! Oh and how I wish I could post them but alas I cannot. Because of two curious pea's that read this blog:) But I will show the wrap and I will share them after our fabulous, wonderful never to be missed gift exchange! 

And it's close up.. 

I love brown craft paper and when I went to Michael's to pick up the pictures I had framed they were wrapped every so neatly in lots of it! Oh joy. Speaking of my pictures here they are.. 

Love it!! http://ipaintpictures.com/ Bonnie Taylor-Talbot is fantastic. She has some great whimsical art. A definite "check her out!!"  And then this.. 

This was in my house growing up. I can't remember if it was my mom who did it or her mom, my grandma Pat. Either way I never knew what happened to it after my mom died and my dad sold the house. I wasn't there to help move. So I thought it just disappeared like a lot of things did when he married the wicked witch of Southern California. Jealousy of a dead woman is never a good thing. But I found it in a my Grandma Mary's back bedroom in a broken frame and in dreadful need of cleaning. It seems my grandma maybe REALLY did swipe a bunch of my mother's things from my dad's new house, from my dad's new bride. But not out of the house you see, but the trash can. Because I also found a majority of my mom's handmade needlepoint pillows in a dirty trash bag back there too. So now the new house is gone, the new bride is gone and my grandma is gone but as I held that cloth in my hands it was if she was right there with me. Take care of it she says. I will. Believe me I will. Bad things come and go but it's the memories of all the good, decent things that will always remain. And some days I live off those memories.