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Since most of my updating is done via Instagram these days I thought I'd add a section that links to my feed. Click on any of the pictures to get an enlarged version. I hope you enjoy the pics:

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Pampered Chef Clearance

Hello Everyone, I am finally getting around to sorting through my Pampered Chef products and have come up with a list of items that I am offering at reduced and discounted prices!  Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of what I am offering, but if you want to see most of the items you can visit www.pamperedchef.com and most of them are still listed there.  Quantities are one unless otherwise indicated so items will be sold on a first come first serve basis.  If you are interested in anything, please let me know as soon as possible and I'll let you know if it is still available.  There will be no tax on any of the items as that has already been paid, but if you want or need your items shipped to you, I would ask for a $2.00 shipping charge to help keep my costs down...otherwise, prices are as listed.  (of course, if I can deliver it to you I will, but some of you are too far away to deliver!)
 
All items are in original packaging, even if slightly used, unless otherwise indicated:
 
Items for 25% off:
#2059 Oval Platter w/Cranberry Accents NEW $39.00
#1988 Entertainment Set w/Striped Platter USED $20.00
#1945 Hospitality Set USED $22.50
#1706 Torte Pan Set NEW $21.00
#1536 Plate Art & Stencil Set NEW $7.00
2 - #1329 Oven Mitt NEW $11.00 ea
#2253 Bamboo Snack Bowls NEW $18.00
#2247 Bamboo Cracker Tray NEW $11.25
#2249 Bamboo Square Bowl NEW $14.25
#1003 Bamboo Cheese Board NEW $19.50
#1585 Decorator Bottle Set NEW $9.00
2 - #1976 Simple Additions Coffee & More Set of 2 NEW/USED $14.00 ea
#2517 Suds Pump NEW $8.00
#2704 Basting Bottle NEW $11.25
2 - #2047 Bamboo Small Spoon Set NEW $3.75 ea
2 - #2046 Bamboo Tongs NEW $5.25
#2227 29 Minutes to Dinner Cookbook NEW $11.00
 
 
Items for 50% off - no original packaging/slight wear:
#1946  Small Caddy $7.50
#1375 Small Round Stone $8.00
#2701 BBQ Skewer Set $9.00
#2555 Scoop Clip $2.50
 
 
FREE ITEMS:  Just let me know and you can HAVE THEM!
2 - #1545  Star Forms
#1050 Old Veggie Peeler
#2621 Mini-Server Spatula
2 - #2635 Mini-Whipper
2 - #1265 Grapefruit Knife
2 - F/W 2006 Seasons Best
S/S 2006 Seasons Best
Old Kitchen Sheers
Handy Scraper - avocado colored
Set of 2 Squares Placemat set with Napkins & rings
 
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANYTHING LISTED ABOVE, PLEASE E-MAIL, CALL, OR FACEBOOK ME!  THANKS!
ps..if you got two of these...I'm sorry...I couldn't figure out how to unduplicate!
 

Friday, December 25, 2009

Our Christmas Day story....

I'll warn you ahead of time...this post is LONG because of all the pictures I put into it...so, when it keeps going and going...you were warned :0)!

Well, we woke up Christmas morning to cold temps and blowing snow. As Marion and I were laying in bed reminising about Christmas' past, I reminded him that Nathan's Christmas present was outside in the garage still and SOMEONE had to go get it! ;0) Shortly after that, the kids woke up and were BEGGING to open presents! Not really wanting to go out in 10 degree weather that felt subzero, Marion tried to stall, but the kids' wouldn't cave...so out went Marion, all bundled up to get Nathan's gift! When he came in, Marion said, "I'm sure glad we aren't traveling in this today!" Little did we know how true that statement would be!

Now, as you will see in the following pictures, we had to be creative with Nathan's gift so that there would be SOME surprise, so I made all the kids sit in the living room while Daddy brought the 'wrapped' present in:
Okay..so it wasn't THAT creative... but it was still good enough that he didn't know what it was IMMEDIATELY...he actually was surprised when he lifted the back part of the blanket and saw the wheel!

Here is Nathan with his NEW bike!
Now...before we go on to the other kids' presents...I just have to tell you that Nathan got on his bike IMMEDIATELY and wanted to ride it around the house! The first go around, Daddy helped him along to make sure he didn't run in to anything, but after that, he got pretty good at manuvering around the house on his bike! I got some video of that and might try to post it later on!
The other notable thing that happened is that my 4 year old son...is now very convinced he NEEDS to have a ramp so that he can jump mud puddles...mostly so that his new bike won't get dirty! He brought this topic up at breakfast Christmas morning and has argued the point many times since! Like I said in the Christmas letter...Nathan is ALL boy...always on the move...and will probably be the first to bring grey hairs to Mommy's head! :0)

Well, after Nathan got his bike we moved on to Jonathan. Now, Jonny's gift was something I had tried to pick that was TOTALLY unique! We have so many difficulties with older brother confiscating Jonny's toys that I wanted something we would CLEARLY know was Jonny's! So, this is what he got:In case you can't tell what it is from the pictures, he got a beginners Thomas the Train set...the kind that has magnetic hook ups on a wood track! As you'll see later...he loves it! And YES, we have been struggling with big brother wanting to take it...but at least we have a clear definition of what is JONNY's!

After Jonny came Abigail's present and to be rightly honest, Mommy was very excited to give her her gift! I was also very excited that I caught her experssion when she realized what it was:
NOW...isn't that just a GREAT expression! She was exclaiming "CAMERA!" Yes, my five year old got her first digital camera! And it isnt' a kiddies camera...but an inexpensive real one. She has been 'using' Mommy's camera for a long time and I finally decided it was time she had one for herself! I can't tell you HOW many times I've went to use mine and it's been full or the batteries dead because she LOVES taking pictures!

As proof of this, Abi had taken over 200 pictures and 3 videos within the first HOUR of having the camera...during the duration of the day, she went through THREE sets of batteries (which I had anticipated and had purchased extras for)! As part of a special deal, I got a 2GB SD card for free and I think she about has it full! She has been VERY good about obeying the rules and so far she always puts it back when she's done...I told her if I found it on the floor, Mommy would take it away...I think this will be a GOOD lesson in responsibility!


Moving on to Marion...I tried to be sneaky with his gift cuz I thought he 'knew' what he was getting! So, I took the big box that Abi's gift came in and put a bunch of packing in it with his gift...the next series of pictures is funny...he really put his head IN the box looking for his gift! :0)

He got a watch...something he was need very badly! It is waterproof and has the indiglo feature and hopefully will last him longer than his previous watches have!
Now, if you are wondering "where is Melanie's gift?" It is still in transit. This year, Marion decided I needed something to help organize my clothes better. I haven't had a dresser or chest of drawers since before we had Abi...at first, I could handle hanging all my clothes up in the closet, but with 3 kids and another on the way, that just isn't feasible anymore. So, we went looking and he bought me a new chest of drawers! I am very excited to get it, but it shouldn't arrive until after the new year cuz we had to order it! But, here is a scanned in pic of what it looks like:

I really wanted somthing that had doors and shelves as well as drawers cuz with a baby coming, I might only be able to use one hand at a time and didn't want to have to wrestle with double pull drawers...this will be perfect...THANKS HONEY...I love you!
Now...as I said, this post is gonna be LONG cuz now we have some fill in pics for you! The first pic here is of Jonny playing with his train set...he was so excited about it, he brought it to breakfast and to get dressed for the day!


Next is just a breakfast pic...Christmas morning...since Marion commented about not having a pic of the Christmas Eve snackies....I guess I decided to post breakfast instead! :0) You'll note Nathan is NOT at the table...he was too busy riding his bike!


Here is a picture of the kids all dressed up and ready for church Christmas morning!

Yes, we did venture out for the Christmas service! Marion put the van as close to the door as he possibly could for me and we loaded the kids up! It was blowing and snowing, but really didn't seem THAT bad. When we got to the church, Abi slipped and fell twice trying to get into the church, so then she walked with me in the parking lot where there was a little more snow for grip! There was actually a good turn out but by the time the service was over the storm (later classified as a blizzard) was getting worse so we headed back home straight away!
Here is a shot of Nathan on his bike in his Christmas clothes...Marion thought it was a good picture!


When we made it home, we sat down to a nice Christmas dinner (after Marion finished feeding the cows) and once again he commented on taking a picture...so here is our dinner AFTER we had eaten!

We enjoyed a relish tray of black olives, pickles, carrots, and celery; ham; mashed potatoes; pistachio salad (a tradition from my Grandma Converse); rolls; stuffing; and green beans! As we sat around talking, we realized that this was the FIRST Christmas ever that we have only had OUR family for Christmas dinner! Usually my mother is here visiting and with Marion's parents just a few miles away we usually get together with them as well. Though we missed having the family around, it was kinda nice to just have our little family together.
Well, I hope you all had a great and blessed Christmas as well and look forward to hearing your stories as you get time to share them!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

CHRISTmas Eve...one more day!

One more day till Christmas!

Usually we go to a Christmas eve service but this year, due to weather pretty much all the services were cancelled. I think Dispatch still had theirs but Marion wasn't really up for driving in the freezing, snowy weather to Dispatch on Christmas Eve! So, we stayed home, sang songs, had snackys and opened our Christmas Eve presents!

Marion said I should have taken a picture of the snacky table...he was impressed that I could come up with such fare on short notice! We ended up having shrimp, crab/spinach spread with crackers, sausage stuffed mushrooms, fish sticks, and cheese and crackers! Plus, we had carmel popcorn and banket (a dutch pastry) for sweet dessert!

Here are some pics of the gift opening: (I started to get a picture of Jonathan opening his present but SOMEONE put fingerprints on my camera LENS...so while I was off trying to get that cleaned up, he continued to open his present and I missed it...but I did manage to get a pic of him with his blanket after it was opened!)




Nate and Abi both got kids' snugglies....the blanket with sleeves...Abi's is princesses and Nathan's is CARS...Jonny just got a CARS fleece blanket...though I am considering putting slits in his so he can put his arms through...he desperately wants to be like the older kids!


Mommy's traditional Cherry Pepsi! And Marion got a pot of GOLD...I told him he had to SHARE!! :0)

We had a great time just being together as a family!
(By this time, we had called off the trip to Missouri and though we were saddened by this, we knew in our hearts it was the right decision. The snow was already blowing and was supposed to continue on Christmas Day. The roads that were clear in the morning were gradually becoming partially packed or covered with ice and snow and we just weren't comfortable risking getting stuck or stranded somewhere with three kids and one on the way! Nonetheless...we were happy my mom could still make it and we want to wish Aunt Sharon and Uncle Merlyn a Happy 50th Anniversary celebration!)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Almost Christmas Eve - just two days till Christmas~

Usually we do our count down presents in the morning as soon as we wake up, but this morning we didn't manage to get around to it until lunch time when Daddy came back in from doing chores and stuff. But, here you go...enjoy!



(Nathan was in the middle of passionately telling me something when I took this picture...I thought it was pretty funny!)




Mommy got donut holes today...humm...where did he get that idea from ?!

This next picture is of Jonathan's gift put together...since you couldn't really tell what it was from the above picture, I thought I'd add it in...it is a submarine that you can take apart and put back together. Nathan already has a race car and helicopter that he got on previous years!


Merry Christmas all...Tomorrow is our big Christmas Eve gift that we save until after the Christmas Eve service, so I don't know if I'll get anymore updates until after Christmas but that will all depend on if we get to go to Missouri or not...only time and weather will tell...nonetheless:
Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Day 4 - Two days to go....








That is a snickers if you can't tell...Daddy got lots of CANDY!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Day 2 - Count Down to CHRISTmas








I got FAIR stickers...we've been able to go to the STATE fair in Hutchinson several years now, so Marion thought in ten years when I have time to scrap again, I could use these fun stickers!


You can't really tell what Marion got in the one...but it was a pack of Hershey's Kissables! (all together now...AHHHHH!)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Count down to Christmas - Day 1

As we usually do, we started the 6 day count down to Christmas on Saturday the 19th! Several of the kids' gifts were the same, but I let them pick this year and so they will get them on various days instead of all the same on the same day. Anyway, here are the pics for the first day:








My dear hubby got me a dark chocolate Ghirardelli sample....he knows I'm trying to keep my weight down...THANKS hun...I love you!


(oops...I should have turned this one...Marion got donut holes from Ladows...he is always getting those when he stops in...they didn't make it even ONE day...they were gone in a FLASH! ;0)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

New (though unfinished) Dining room WITH shelf!

For those that know the story behind these shelves...the following picture is amazing!


Below is a picture of what they looked like once I got it all decorated...this picture doesn't have the plug cover on yet, but you can see what they look like in a picture further down. Overall, I am very pleased with how it all turned out. At least now we don't have holes in the walls, the shelves are hung IN THE STUDS, and they are very sturdy!


The top 12 inches or so of the wall is still white, but as I told Marion, I'm not in a rush to get that done, so it may be a while before anything more gets accomplished there! Nonetheless, it looks tremendously better than it did with holes...here is sort of a full shot (notice the laundry is even cleared off the table!):
In this one you can see the black covers...the light switches and plug ins all have black now!
Well, just had to share, especially since several of you know the story behind the shelf catastraphe! Thankfully, it is done and Marion and I are still happily married! :0)