Courtyard

I first asked for a gate eight years ago. I finally got it by asking that it be my Christmas present.  It has turned out to be a very appreciated and useful gift. It keeps Maggie safe while  outdoors along and it permits me to open the gate and shove the excess snow off  the courtyard.

I like some of the jokes going around the internet about the cold snap in the weather:

It is  so cold, I saw a Democrat with his hands in  him own pockets..

It is so cold I saw a teenager with his pants pulled all the way up.

Creative

I decided this year that instead of sending just money for Christmas, I wanted to pick out some presents for the kids. I enjoyed the process, but may not do it again. It was very costly for UPS to deliver them.  I could have given them more money.

But like I said, I enjoyed finding things I thought they would like.  I threw a few small extra things in the boxes and Ashley took advantage of that. Here she has a purse she made from a roll of duck tape and her iPod, which she bedazzled with 'rhinestones'. I love the creativity her work shows.

Creativity can be good, but it isn't necessarily so. Washington has gotten so creative with our constitution, that it doesn't resemble the original in some areas.

Creating the Global Warming, renamed Climate Change Theory, was quite fun for a few elites I'm sure. However, now we might  wonder how they ever got away with such a lie...and for so many years.

Our weather in the states is now more like what we had in the 1970's when the so called scientists were trying to convince us that we were going into another ice age.  God must be up there, in complete control of the weather, laughing at all the 'brilliant' people down here who think they know more than He.  There isn't much funnier that seeing the ships,  that were out to  prove their Global Warming theory with the shrinking polar ice caps, getting stuck in record breaking Antarctic ice.

Our Coast Guard is heading that way to try to save them from being 'gobbled up' by the ice. I certainly don't want to see anyone hurt, but I sure would love to know they had been enlightened and  are ready to renounce that ignorant theory.  And I would really like to hear those big names who have made so much money pushing the theory, such as Al Gore, apologize.

Christmas Ball

Maggie didn't get a whole lot for Christmas this, her first year. As a matter of fact, this ball she has in her mouth was in the box of our last dog's toys stored away in the basement. I found them and gave some of the smaller ones to Maggie. For some reason, I can't figure out what, there are some that Maggie will not touch. She sniffs them and leaves them lay. I've washed them and it didn't help. I guess she is picky about her rubber. In any case, she does like this ball and can entertain herself for a while with it.

Now for a confession. The fancy bows in her hair was a gift for the holidays. I wanted it for her her Christmas pictures. She was adamant that she was NOT going to wear it. She didn't give me a reason, but she wouldn't even let me fasten it.  Therefore she DID NOT wear it. But I was not completely whipped. There is always Photoshop!  If she were human, I couldn't get away with this...but we won't tell her.

The news gets crazier and crazier day by day. Now we have a mom physically attacking fans of 'her' school's rival...right there in the stands.  Check this out  by clicking the title below.

Badly Behaving Bowl Game Mom 

Fever

So many people we know are sick.  Many get on FaceBook when they are confined at home. The same goes for email. We're praying for lots of people.

We have a friend who has two children with  pneumonia. Many people have been returning to their homes sick after the holidays. We have two sets of friends whose kids drove home sick. Chelle and her family did the same. They came back to Tennessee from Florida in no condition to be confined to a car and away from a toilet. Okay, that sounds gross. It was. She hasn't gotten better. Here she is today, bundled up in the house.  I love that Ashley saw her wrapped up like this and went to get what she called, the fever meter. We should coin that one.

My hubby, Ron has been sick as well.  However he never stops running, kind of like a Timex. I've been hiding out at home, since I hurt my knee carrying Christmas decorations to the basement.

The bright side?  I'm still thinking.   lol  The bright side is, I've been catching up on layouts.

Magic and Enchantment

Kaiser Permanente presented a day of magic and enchantment in Ft Collins for Halloween.

I took liberty to put a little magic of my own in this layout of Caleb that day.  I'm hoping he will get  a kick out of it.

How did you do that Caleb?

On the Washington front...please pray for Sonia Sotomayor. The president has chosen to pressure her into changing her mind on the birth control issue in his healthcare bill.  Or he might go over her head, which would be illegal, but that hasn't stopped him before.

Only God can heal this country.

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Camera Man

Caleb is three, so naturally he has a camera.  Well, that is, if he is a real  member of this family, he does. That's all he has known. If you like something, you NEED to take a picture  or more of it.

It tickles this gramma to see him in action.

I have  taken only one picture today. I needed to show friends the amount of snowfall we had here. It wasn't enough to debilitate us, but it was plenty to keep a beautiful fresh white cover all day. I would guess perhaps 5 inches. I haven't really accomplished anything, except I learned how to use brushes in PSE without actually installing them into the program.  Supposedly that keeps excessive numbers of brushes from slowing the program. I did one layout, not this one.  Otherwise (I'm stealing what I saw on Facebook and shared today." I'm as useless as the 'g' in lasagna.

I love Caleb's bright face.

Speaking of bright, a very intelligent young man and student in Tennessee spoke before a local school board meeting in December  on the problems with Common Core standards.

Like with Obamacare, most of our citizens don't know anything about Common Core, the controlls for  public schools these days, foisted on the educators by  liberals in the overgrown Federal Government. 

Watch the video and enlighten yourselves. Your children will profit from your knowledge.

Go here

Baby Oliver

Even though it has been a bad day here...nothing out of the ordinary, but still not good, I  took a nap this evening and am feeling okay right now...one problem: Photoshop Elements was 'acting up' while I worked on this layout...but how wonderful it is to have these sweet pictures of baby Oliver  on the day of his birth and the program seems to be working just fine  now.