Before the month of LOVE is gone

I thought I'd better get these Valentine photos blogged. LOTS OF PICTURES DES!!! :D Des likes lots of pictures.

So I had two families of 5 (our very dear friends) coming to visit for Valentine's weekend (also known as President's Weekend) and my college girl was hitching a ride home with one of the families! Now I always make frosted sugar cookies for Vday for my family, and it is the one time that I don't let the kids help me with the process. It is my Valentine to them. I usually wait until they are in bed to bake and decorate the cookies. Side note - This gets harder to do as they get older and stay up later. Some of the guests were to arrive on Thursday. I needed to get my act in gear since everything had to be done and put out of sight before they arrived.

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This is what I made. A LOT of cookies. More than I usually make. The cutting out and baking is the easy part. I also made a big batch of cake balls on a stick and got those in the freezer.

Oh yeah....did I mention that I was trying to make the Happy Zombie's Pennie Pockets for everyone? Yeah, call me crazy. These are 'supposed' to be embellished and bejeweled. I tried to make a yo-yo and it was more like OY-OY! I knew that was going to be TOO time consuming and I should have started in October. I gave up that dream and just got them all sewn up. I had a few different prints but the other picture did not turn out. I filled these with foil wrapped candies and conversation hearts and hung them on each chair.

I got a reprieve.

The guests that were to arrive on Thursday had a change of plans and would not arrive until Friday. Whew! More time to frost the cookies. (should read - more time to procrastinate on the frosting of the cookies). My plan all along was to use decorating tips and frost each name on a cookie. That did NOT happen. Each person did get a LARGE cookie on a doily, on a plate at their place for breakfast.

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Now if I had started back in AUGUST, I could have made a cute table runner, but I did not. I used my new, clearanced after Christmas at WM, RED place mats and called it good.

I needed two tables so I called this one the kid's table, although there were kids at the 'red' table as well. I see I should have ironed that tablecloth!

Now mind you, ALL of this was set up and set out AFTER my guests had all arrived (some at 11:30pm) and they had all gone to bed! Oh yeah, that was at about 1:30 A.M.! I was going back and forth as quietly as I could, dining room to the garage, as I had the cookies in a big tin in the garage, the cake balls in an ice chest in the garage and the pennie pockets in a box in my closet. I put window cling hearts on the dining room windows too.

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Here is a close-up of the cake ball bouquets. I wish I would have had some shredded, crinkled red paper to fill in at the base of these, but I didn't.

Edited to add link to cake ball recipe/directions. Hey, if you get lost on this site, don't blame ME!

Bakerella is so creative and talented. Go see for yourself.

As I slipped into bed about 2:30 (after I took pictures!), I prayed that neither guest family would let their dog out of their room during the night. That would have made me cry.

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Everyone was so surprised in the morning that the Valentine fairy had visited during the night. I got lots of hugs and kisses and requests for yearly Valentine Day visits. :D

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Prayers - for a friend's mother who is not doing well at all. The family has been gathered around her and are wondering how long they have with her.

Praise - College girl has made it through an especially stresssful week and has registered for the new quarter, getting all the classes that she NEEDS. My son is doing well in school, staying on top of things. Hubby is enjoying his new adventure.

I've been lost in the WAY BACK MACHINE!

What is it with the nostalgia lately??? First of all, someone posed the question - "what music do you listen to while working out?". I started listing my favorites, most of which are from the 70's! I know very little NEW music unless my kids share some tune with me. I like the old songs that I know the words to AND they conjure up a memory or two. Then the very same day Des was creating a 70's romance Playlist to save herself some money. With the exception of 'Brandy' we were pretty much in agreement over the songs chosen and the memories they had attached with them.

I don't know what prompted the dinner conversation the other night but I was sharing with my son about when I was in junior and senior high, calling in to radio stations for their contests. Using a ROTARY PHONE! Now that takes some talent I tell you! I even won a few times too. My very best prize;

(although it should read DisneyLAND not world)


Oh yeah, that was a GRAND prize! My favorite place to go! Do you know who I chose to go with me?? My sister who also loves Disneyland. See, here is proof that we've been loving that place for a long time;

(circa 1960)


Don't you just LOVE how we were dressed for a day at Disneyland?? Just the way things were done back then. That is me on the left :D

We still INSIST that a day at Disneyland is not complete without a ride on Dumbo. Even though the lines are crazy long now. Some things are just worth the wait.


I found this picture online (http://www.davelandweb.com/) - a nice site if you have hours to waste looking at old Disneyland pictures. I miss those Sky Buckets and look at the Tea Cups! Oh I love me some Disneyland.

Oh, back to the Valentine's Day Party at Disneyland! Ya see how I get when I am in the Way Back Machine?? So my dad dropped the two of us off at the park. A couple of high school girls. I remember spending a good portion of the night ditching a pair of young Marines (in uniform no less). Now many, many years later my sister is married to an ex-Marine who was stationed at Camp Pendleton many years ago. I like to tell her that he must have been one of the guys at Disneyland that night. ;)

I don't know why I never applied for a job at the Happiest Place on Earth. It would have been perfect for me! I still think I should. I mean they have OLD LADIES working in the Crystal Shop! They do! I've seen them! The commute would kill me but what a way to go...working at Disneyland.

This is what I REALLY aspired to;

***********the cream of the crop***********

I was only intrested in the uniform style with the knee socks.

I think I have the Disneyland knowledge for the job - just ask Des. ;)

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So besides spending too much time in the Way Back Machine, I have been doing some sewing too. I finished my January Challenge. I finished it on the 3rd of February. :( I will post pictures tomorrow along with a review. I guess I need to decide what my February Challenge is going to be. I have guests coming for President's Weekend (and they are bringing my college girl with them!!!!) AND this is a short month. All things to consider when choosing my project for this month. I do have something else in the works right now but I can't reveal ANY of it at this time.

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Prayers - college girl's schedule is jam packed this week. She has been shorting herself sleep so that she can fit everything in. Prayers that she would get some sleep this weekend but still get her homework done. She totally stresses herself out otherwise. Praise - someone came to look at the house we have on the market! They seem interested. So that is also a prayer request.