My New Hair!!

Hello Friends :o)  I hope you all had a beautiful Thanksgiving.  Ours was very nice.  Mark made his usual juicy and delish turkeybird and stuffing and all the fixings--mmmmmmmm!   I was happy to be feeling good pretty much all week and was able to stuff myself pretty full, lol.

                                                                 (Cancer is Blechy)

I'm on a new chemo now, and my hair fell out again!   Dang it!  Just in time for winter again. but at least you don't look out of place wearing hats in the winter, right? 

                     BUT---my "hair" looks mahvelous, thanks to LoisStifel (aka Foxy G)  who sent me this this fab hat that her Dear Mother knit.  Isn't it fun...when I get bummed about being bald, I can just put this on and                                                                  SMILE!

By the way---Lois herself makes some fantastic hand-knits too---some of the very best I've seen--stop by her shop for some really great , quality gift ideas  FoxyGKnits

Please don't look to closely at these pics--not only has my hair fallen out, so has most of my eyelashes and eyebrows, so I can't wear any makeup--hence the zombieish appearance! LOL.

This chemo has been pretty rough, but I met with the Doc today and we are going to try a few new things to see if we can't make things a little easier to bear this time.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving.... I am thankful to have God, Family, Friends, a good Doc and Nurses, and Crafting to keep me smiling and positive through this.Thanks to you for the love and prayers and support---I appreciate it more than you could possibly know!  ♥♥♥

A Couple Old Favorite Recipes to Share

First of all---the lovely and sweet SouthernLady is sponsoring a Marketplace Monday--start your Christmas shopping now!! There are some really great things for those who love the cottage style!! Stop by :o)

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I often get asked for my Sloppy Joes for a Crowd recipe...and I figure that, with all the office/friend/family parties that are coming up, these make a really good dish to bring to a pot luck . 


Sloppy Joes for a Crowd
5 lbs. hamburger
1 med. onion- chopped
Brown hamburger and onion.  Drain off fat and put in crock pot.

Add in:
2 cans Chicken Gumbo soup
2 cans Tomato soup
1 sm. can Tomato Sauce
2 T. white vinegar
1/4 c. Ketchup
1 T. yellow mustard
3 T. brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook until heated through, in the crock pot. It's even better if prepared the day before.

  (Here's a new little Notepad-n-Pockets wallet that I just listed.  These would make great little co-worker/teacher/pal gifts!)  Aren't  those Scotty dogs the CUTEST?!)

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And for Dessert--an ice cream bucket of Dirt Cake.  I like to bring this in an ice cream bucket, that way I don't have to worry about my dish!

Dirt Cake for a Crowd

1 pkg. Oreo cookies--crushed ( I put them in a big ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to crush them)

2- 8 0z. cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
18 oz. Cool Whip (1 lg container + 1/2 small one)
3 boxes of French Vanilla instant pudding mix
3 3/4 c. cold milk

2 t. vanilla

1)  In a large bowl:  Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Blend in powdered sugar.  Fold in Cool Whip.

2)  Make the 3 packs of pudding with only the 3 3/4 c. milk.   Fold the pudding into the cream cheese mixture.

3)  Layer the pudding mixture and the cookies in an ice cream bucket (or nice glass bowl if you're feeling fancy!) 

I usually try and do about 4 or 5  layers, that gives you a good pudding/cookie ratio per scoop!~

And here's a pretty tag that I just finished this moring--it's listed in my Etsy shop!

Christmas Spirit

So...anyone getting into the Christmas spirit??  It's finally hit me...kinda slow in coming this year, but I've been having a good time crafting some new goodies :o)

Wanna SEE? 

Just this morning I listed this new item---it's a pouch with pockets for holding a small notepad, a pen, and another little pocket for maybe coupons or receipts or a small scissor?  Thought these would be great for teacher gifts or stocking stuffers (or just one for yourself to keep in your purse!)

I've also been working on some 2011 Agenda/Planners -- here is one of them.  So far I've only done 2 different styles, but am working on more.  If you have a color combo that you love, let me know--I'm always up for suggestions, especially from you creative/talented readers!



Then a little something fun for Christmas---a sweet little red wool felt birdie (well, you KNEW I would make some stuff with birds, right?!  LOL)

 AND a Snowbird too!  I really like the royal blue with the white--what a striking color combo!

I guess that's good for now.  I'm thinking about doing a drawing very soon---it's been a while and I really enjoy doing them and giving away a nice little goody to my lovely blog friends. ♥♥♥