Good evening,
Jess, hope you have a good Friday and then 3 days off again! Sorry about those headaches, does anything help getting rid of them? Our tree is up and the lights are on it. That's as far as we got. I got my tubs with the ornaments out and need to pick a few, will do it on the weekend. I'm glad you don't know how many stamps I already have. I'm sure when 'A' gets their new ones in I will be tempted again. My name is on the list for the Tim H. Valentine 'Blueprint' stamps, I have the bigger ones and am waiting for the small ones in a kit. 'A' had them in a kit with paper pad and embellishments for Halloween and Christmas. They are beautiful. I hope they'll get the Valentine kit soon.
Phyllis, did you get the T.H. stamps too?-- I got a 30% Kohl's coupon too, after I did all my shopping there, figures. Did you find something good for yours? Are all your orders done and mailed? Those late orders are pretty inconsiderate, they did it to Pat at her store, Jess at SC and now to you....
Pat, glad you got your date for the family Christmas set. Please send some baking inspiration to me this weekend, I hope to get mine done this weekend too, haven't even started yet.
Gramma, what is it with your nasty visitors? Send them far away....Truffles....yummy.
Deb, congrats on the S.B. win! Wonderful news about MIL on the shrinking tumor. Is she feeling better? -- Are you done with the baking or was it just the first round? How are your plans for the getaway coming along?
Hello and Merry Christmas to you Claire.
Renate

Morning.....not a good one here since I am about sick...the sinuses are not playing nice in my head.....so with that I am going to call the drs office and see if I can get in after lunch, if not, will go to a doc in the box at 3...usually they are pretty good to get you in and out in a couple hours....can't sit around and wait.....sure don't want to cancel our plans next week.....
Left at 1/2 time last night....DGS's basketball game didn't start on time for some reason (schedule time was the same as other nights), it was about 7 when the game started.....DIL's mom/dad were due to leave for Savannah, GA yesterday but her mom got up with a stomach virus....sure hated they didn't get to go.......
Jess yea for you and vacation time....enjoy some time for 'you'.
Joanne are you home yet? Sending more hugs your way.....
Pat hope your plans for the family gathering will go as 'planned'.....our family time is the 23rd about 4pm....gifts, then eat.....
Renate hoping you get the tree finished this weekend....MIL is about the same.....
DGD is 18th today, sent her a text and she was headed to the dr, she is sick too....maybe she will get something to help her feel better....
Hello to everyone else that drops in, I need to get my coffee finished, call the dr and get dressed......later.....

Edited by user Friday, December 14, 2012 7:59:41 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Afternoon, still waiting to see what time I can head to see the doc....she said they were wrapped up and didn't get out til 11pm last night....oh my......thought I was getting better after I had my shower and dressed, but not so......
Such a tragedy today, so sad to hear of such destruction and death....
Phyllis glad the shop is doing well, but sorry about the house work going by the way side.....I too hope our trip isn't sidelined by 'me'.....sure trying to get something to help rid me of this bug......

A somber hello to all. My heart is broken for all those affected by the tragedy in CT. I can't even fathom how you go on after something like that. God Bless them all.

Renate~Better than three days off, I'm off until Jan 2nd. Hooray. Have fun with the tree over the weekend. Put that 30% to good use.

Deb~Sorry to heat you're not feeling well. Sure hope you were able to get to the DR and get something.

Phyllis~I always have something that puts my housework behind! I bet the customers will be happy to get their orders before Christmas. Plenty of time to use that coupon!

It was nice to get out of work extra early today. I ran a couple errands and then had plans to work on the invites. Until I heard about the shooting and planted my hinder in front of the tv-all day. I got the strangest call this afternoon...two years ago the three of us that did stamp camp together (just two now) had done a few packs of six cards/free stamp camp certificate for a benefit. My friend that was running it said they did well in the auction but we never heard from anyone about the stamp camp and had put a six month expiration date on them. So someone (never met her, no idea who she is) called today asking if we'd still redeem one even though it expired March 2011! Then she said how much she liked the cards and wanted to do one as her Christmas cards and could she borrow the stamp set from me! Very odd! So tomorrow I'll work on invites, make three loaves of bread, a batch of party mix and a pan of date bars. For some reason DH took all the cookies (well, the batch for home & Sunday) with him. Now I need to decide if I should make more. Quickutz is coming to my friends store tomorrow evening to do a m&t and some giveaways so I'm planning on going to that. Sunday is our family Christmas up north so will be driving up in the afternoon (with invites). Yikes. Busy weekend.
G'night.
Jess

I never made it to the drs office last night, when I called back at 4:45 there were still 9 people there to be seen, figure in another 3 hours before I could be seen, so I just went to bed..I didn't want to be on the road by myself and no way hubby could have gone with me...the meds he takes before supper/driving do not go together.....doctored myself up with some ibuprofen, Vick's and kleenix....got up about 7 this morning, even though I have been awake since about 4ish......oh well....if I don't feel any better after lunch, I can go to a walk in clinic at 3pm.....they are open til 11, think the wait is about 2 hours....sad that you can't get in to see a dr without having to wait for hours......ok, off my soapbox.....
I read up on the postings, will check back in later, right now I am going back to bed and try to sleep off this crap.....

Edited by user Saturday, December 15, 2012 7:38:21 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

good Sunday morning.. we are supposed to get some rain today, but not until this afternoon. We have a few things to do outside today, so will be getting it done before lunch.
Managed to get all the shopping done yesterday. Everything I ordered lst week will arrive tomorrow or Tues and one order should be here by the end of the week. I just need to finish wrapping everything. Jim & I shopped for about 10 hrs yesterday. MOST of that was in furniture stores and it was looking and getting ides of what is out there and costs for dining sets. But I did finish up the gift shopping as well as the grocery shopping. Not sure which of the dining sets (if any) we might get and when. I would like to go to a few other stores in the area, but felt I was pushing my limit on Jim, who is so not a shopper.
Today I will start baking. I will do the items that can be done ahead (cookies/breads), and then make a plan for what can't be done until Sunday/Monday.
I have scheduled donation p/u for Wednesday. I have 2 big boxes and bags, plus 2 large 8ft Ficus trees to put out. That will free up a lot of space in the shed.
But enough about me.
Deb, sorry to hear about the bug you got. I hope you can shake it off and your travel plan isn't messed up.
Gramma, I hope Eric has also moved on and you are doing better.
Phyllis, glad you were able to get the orders out to arrive on time. Happy customers leave good reviews.
Jess, hope you are able to get everything done you need to and enjoy your vacation time.
I want to thank Deb, Phyllis, Jess & Renate for the beautiful cards. I have such talented friends.
Time to get busy here. Jim has left to haul paint cans to the recycle. When he gets home, we are going to put some little lit trees in the front island and an old lit garland on the deck railing.
Hope everyone has a good day.

Good Sunday evening castle,
Pat, I don't like furniture shopping either. We haven't bought any in years. We do want a sectional couch for the open area by the kitchen. I looked once but that's all so far.
Deb, glad you are feeling better. You're right, never know what kind of bug you can pick up in a doctor's office. Have a safe trip tomorrow. Hope the weather is good for you.--I'm off this Friday and that's it besides Christmas and the weekend. Of course that can change, might take off an hour here or there.
I did some more shopping this morning and baked cookies in the afternoon. I might make some Spritz cookies yet and a pan of bar cookies and the coffee cake and then that will be done. Later this week I need to do my Christmas food shopping. I better make a list for that.
I'm going to relax the rest of the evening and hope you all will be too. Hello to everyone! Renate

Greetings from a fairly mild temped WNY, but rainy as well.
Finally got all the presents wrapped. I am so happy we had an extra large island put in our kitchen. Its an ideal place to wrap gifts without being a pain in the back(or elsewhere).

Pat a box went out to you this morning. GP cards(58). Look for a couple of little surprises.

Phyllis glad to read you got your orders completed. I can all most hear you sigh with relief from here...LOL

Deb have a great trip. Sorry about the water issue. Dinner sounds great. I made a double batch of Swiss steak in the crock pot yesterday because the kids were coming over and I'll have enough to last til Thurs. or Fri. I made a pan of apple crisp too... that may not last as long.

Hellos to Renate, Jess and Joanne and anyone else I missed.
Hugz,
Gramma

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well.

Phyllis~Did you get the last of your Christmas shopping done? What else have you been up to?

Renate~Hope your work day went well. What time will you have off for Christmas? Oh, I see your update! I love spritz cookies! They love my hips!

Pat~Good job getting the shopping done. Kudos to Jim for putting in 10 hours of shopping. That never would have happened with Brad!! How did the baking go? I hope you're able to get some visiting done next week.

Deb~Glad you're feeling better and hope you continue to improve. Hope your travel plans happened! Oops on the water This is a crazy world we live in. I wish all that need mental health services were willing and able to get it. Og good, I see you're where you were going. Have a nice time!

Gramma~Are you feeling better? Sounds like you're ahead of the game with having presents wrapped.

I have to say again that I've loved everyone's Christmas cards! This past weekend was exhausting. I am so glad to have those invites done and I hope she doesn't need anymore. I did realize the other day that I will now have to make the thank you cards as well. Just my thinking...nice invitation certainly deserves a nice thank you. ~sigh~ The Quickutz party was fun, bought a lot but won a lot too. The M&T was using the Letterpress and I am happy to say I don't feel the need to get it. Am I right in saying Phyllis purchased one a few years back, didn't like it and brought it back? I do want that magnetic platform, my friend can't keep it in stock though. I hate pre-ordering stuff though. Paying ahead for something you may not get for months bothers me. I may have to suck it up if I really want it.
With that lady that wanted to borrow the stamp set, I have to admit I lied and said a friend was already borrowing it. She then asked if I would call her and ask if she was done with it and she'd come pick it up. I called her back later and said it was still being used. Didn't like not being truthful but I didn't know what to say. So I got a little bit done around here today. Not deep cleaning, but surface cleaning, and a few cards. Football tonight and will make more cards (clean up from stamp camp). Have a good evening. Oh, had a nice time with family yesterday. Raquel is getting to big and she's so much fun. I just love her!

Jess

Hello everyone, I'm so far behind here. I'm working on my last Christmas order, have one ready to ship tomorrow and have to get the last one shipped Wednesday. It has rained a lot today, thunder and lightening.

Jess, I agree on the mental health need. I hope more parents will seek help and get it after this tragedy. Yay on getting the invites done. I still have my Letterpress, didn't return it, should have. It's in my scrap closet on the top shelf out of sight out of mind. Little Raquel is a cutie.

Deb, glad you were able to go on your trip. Lights there should be really beautiful. There are so many occasions that remind you of your little pooch. Hugs. Are you doing any Christmas shopping while there?

Gramma, I have an island in my scrap room that I use for all purposes, it is great. Don't have one in my kitchen but would love to have one, although don't know if there is room for one. Not done with orders yet, but almost there, guess it will slow down after today.

Pat, hope your LR furniture plan has fallen into place. I hope to start some baking by Thursday. Hope you got your wrapping done. I don't have anything wrapped, some will not get wrapped as they are either too big or online gift cards. My DH would not have endured 10 hours of shopping either, my hat goes off to Jim.

Renate, are any of your plans coming together? I need to do some food planning and food shopping too.

Hello to Joanne and any others that may stop by the castle. I need to get some rugs out of the dryer, forgot about them until this minute.

Good morning~Hope everyone is doing well.

Renate~That's a good policy to have regarding your crafty things. I borrow things out to only a few people. Glad you had a nice time with your friend. I bet she loved her gift.

Phyllis~Good job on getting the orders out. You'll have lots of happy customers. I'm impressed that you knew where your letterpress was!! I see baking is on your list...what items?

Pat~Looks like you have a few irons in the fire. A little of this and a little of that. Glad things are getting done.

I puttered around here most of the day yesterday. My two SU! orders were delivered, that was fun! Now I need to find room for it all. I don't think it's going to be easy. Met my sis, BIL and nephew in GB late in the day for shopping and dinner. Still working on finishing up stamp camp so I can get some ideas for next month put together.
Hello to everyone else!

Jess

Happy Wednesday, home after a stop in Dalton, GA to visit with a friend of hubby's....he has a rare form of cancer, started chemo this week, his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple weeks ago.....she is really upbeat and said it 'was not going to get her', but he was a bit down....

Lights were very pretty, got a few pics......we slept better last night....Monday night the room next to us must have been in and out/up and down most of the night.....oh well.....

Read the post but will have to catch up later.....my tablet won't let me post to FB now...I can 'like' but that is it....anyway, headed back to the washer to finish up the laundry....apt cleaning early in the morning too....

Edited by user Wednesday, December 19, 2012 3:38:49 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Good evening castle friends. It's been a little empty in the castle lately but I know everyone is rushing around with Christmas. I did get 3 more gifts today, well two of them was gift cards so easy peasy. Got 3 orders shipped out today, I think things will slow down for awhile now but I don't want them to slow down too much, LOL.

Pat, I saw your Russian Tea cookies on FB, I had forgotten about those, I love them so that's on my agenda for cookies, I made some peanut butter fudge tonight. Those pumpkin gingerbread mini cakes sound yummy.

Jess, I saw on our news where you're getting snow, we have about an inch in the forecast but strong cold winds and temps. Yeah, that darn letterpress box is out of my reach, can still see it though and I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I do see it.

Deb, I see you're home, that was a short trip. Hope you're feeling better.

Renate, I need to get out again before Sunday, hope this weather doesn't put a damper on that. I have to get my food stuff for our Christmas Eve get together with friends. It was a madhouse today, I really should have done more shopping way before the Christmas rush.

Hello to everyone else in the castle.

Hello and Happy Thursday and done with Christmas shopping, woo hoo. Just need to wrap one more, bake some cookies tomorrow. The wind has caused quite a few power outages here, very close but we still have power. A little snow in the forecast for tonight and early tomorrow morning. We had carry out food tonight, DH had to go to different places to find one that had power.

Deb, so sorry about MIL, did she have a reason for her behavior? It's not good to be mean to her sitter, did the sitter quit? Is she, perhaps, getting dementia? Sounds like you are still cooking a lot. I haven't made any sour dough bread in a while, I've been making yeast rolls mostly.

Hello to all the other queens.

Morning, a rough evening here and I went to bed before 7 last night.

Phyllis the sitter has not quit, she needs the job, but if I had been her, I would have left as soon as my feet could get out the door......so today could be 'judgement day'.....

Renate she had the sitter spend the night with her on Tuesday night, said she could not bear to see the other DIL sleep on a pallet on the floor.....HA.....she just didn't want to go over there, plain and simple....

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day, I need to finish up my housework, ballgame for Caleb in the morning at 10, today I need to get a last couple things wrapped.....

Later....