I'm exhausted

If anyone thinks that taking care of 9 puppies isn't exhausting, they've never tried it. These little pups wear me out and by the looks of it, they wear themselves out. I'm glad they think my bed is comfy because I sure don't.

They do love the snow but they have the sense to come in when I call them. At least most of them do. A couple of them, Chunk and Max are always the last to come in and that's only when they realize they are the only ones out there and are all alone.

These pictures were taken just this afternoon. Most of the pups were already in but some were playing with Lacy before I called them all in.





Here are a couple of random photos just because I think they are cute.



Yes, she climbed into the bowl all by herself. Thank goodness we don't put water in that bowl. I guess it was just easier to sit in that and eat than try to stand and reach to eat her momma's food.

Time to Catch Up

Well, I failed on my commitment to post at least once a week. As always, I have an excuse. I was able to get all my orders out for Christmas except one. Thank heavens for good friends who understand. I will make it up to her though and her little girls will have beautiful nightgowns to wear for New Years eve. I don't normally sew for children but some friends are worth it. Keersten, If you read this, I promise, they will be done on Friday and I will bring them to you so you don't have to pack the girls out in this cold weather.

Christmas was super crazy this year. I didn't even get my tree up until Christmas Eve and it never would have gone up had it not been for Jessica and her son. Brayden hauled everything up from the garage and Jessica decorated the tree for me. Brayden worked so hard for me. He even cleaned off the deck, including hosing off the floor mat that the puppies had done their deed on.

We had a wonderful party on Christmas Eve with my family; Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, kids, grandkids and anyone else I may not have mentioned. I cooked a ham, olliebollen, soup and provided the chocolate fountain. Others brought crackers, drinks, dips, cheese balls, rolls and fruit for the fountain and we all had a great time together. Me with Kim and Jenny.
From L to R: Ed, Linda, Me, Glen and Ron. Missing my oldest brother Hans, he was not feeling well and my brother Rick who lives in Colorado.


Christmas day, we went to Brent's parent's house and spent time with his family. Everyone got to meet Jeff's Jessica, her two kids Brayden and Avery and of course, Jeffs baby girl Rylie. This is the only picture I got on Christmas day: Rylie did not like wearing this dress and she will most likely never wear it again. She had such an ornery cry the entire time she had it on.

After bowling on Sunday, Jenny's SIL came over to snap a few family pictures. Normally, I ask everyone to dress similar or at least wear nice clothes but this time I didn't even make Brent or Jeff shave. The only rule was that no one could wear a hat. Jessica (Jenny's SIL, not Jeff's Jess) sent me the pictures yesterday and with a few tweaks with Photoshop, I think we'll have a group shot that I can hang on my family photo wall. Below are some of the photos that were taken.


Sunday evening, we had Rylie blessed. Brent's dad performed the blessing. I had plans on making Rylie's dress but I ran out of time. Instead, she wore the dress Jenny wore when she was blessed. (No, I didn't make that one either).


A few other pics I took Sunday night of the other grandkids playing on the stairs at Brent's parent's house. I don't know what it is about those stairs but the kids always love to play on them.






Finally, a little quiet time with me and Rylie. After three exhausting days, she and I sat on my bed the night before Jeff took his family home to Arizona. I am really missing this little angel.

Some holiday traditions to share

Sorry, I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I have just finished my last order of doll clothes and now I can finally get to thinking about Christmas. I have yet to put up my tree or any other decorations but Jeff and is family is coming next week and I have to get ready. We're having the Schippers' Family Christmas Eve party at my house this year and the menu will consist of two of our family tradition recipes.

Oliebollen
1 pkg yeast, 1 tsp sugar, 3/4 c warm (110 degrees) Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let stand in warm place for 30 minutes.

3 eggs beaten
2 c warm milk
3 tbsp light corn syrup
4 c flour
1 tbsp salt (yes, a whole tablespoon but you can reduce to 2 tsp)
1 cup raisins
1 c chopped apples ( I like to use granny smith)

Combine eggs, milk, corn syrup, raising, apples and yeast mixture in a large bowl. Add flour and salt. Mix well for 2-3 minutes. Test a spoonful of dough to see if it will fall into a "lump" from the spoon. If not, add more milk or flour. Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Drop by teaspoons into 375 degree vegetable oil. Fry until light golden brown. Drain on paper towels then sprinkle immediately with powdered sugar while still warm.

This is a Dutch New Years tradition but in my family, it's our Christmas Eve tradition. I'm also including my mom's meatball soup. This seems to be a favorite of every person that tries it:

Oma's meatball soup
Fill up a stew pot about 2/3 full with water. Put in two envelopes of Lipton chicken soup mix with diced white chicken meat and about 7-10 chicken bouillon cubes. (You can substitute about half of the bouillon cubes if you use 1-2 boxes of chicken broth. Of course you would reduce the water by that much too). Bring to a boil. In the meantime, season 1 lb ground beef with salt, pepper, season all and about 1/2 tsp nutmeg. (nutmeg is very important). Mix well and shape into little 1 inch balls and drop into boiling soup. Sautee 1 small onion and two stalks of celery in butter and add that then add a package frozen sliced carrots, 1 pkg frozen brussel sprouts. Simmer for about 15 minutes then add about 4 crushed coils of vermicelli and simmer until the noodles are soft.

If I don't have the chance to post next week, I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas!

Senior Citizen Day

The woman that was cutting my fabric at Hancock's was asking me if I had my coupons with me. I told her no but I had my preferred card. OK, good, that gives me the discount then. Then she said, "Well, today is Wednesday and every Wednesday is Senior Citizen day so you'll get that discount too". Do I look like a senior citizen? How much over 50 do I really look? I've always been told that I look young for my age but c'mon. Was it the wrinkles around my eyes?

Was it the hot flash I was experiencing at the time
I don't know what it was but if it's going to give me a discount at the fabric store, I'll say I'm 55.

Chubba Wubba

Jeff sent some pics of Rylie last night. Every time he calls, he tells me how fat she is getting.

Closer to Reece

Remember how I did that makeover on the magazine website and used Reece Witherspoon's hair on my face? Well, that style has been haunting me ever since and I even tried to go blonde. That didn't go over so well. I just looked washed out. It's really the long hair I wanted, so long hair is what I got. Last Friday, Jenny and I went and got extensions.

After a visit to Ceason, this is my new style:
Unfortunately, I didn't notice how dark the circles under my eyes were until this picture. Boy, I look tired!


Now I know what you are thinking... Why didn't I just grow my hair out? The answer is simple, It doesn't grow very fast and if I were to have the patience to let it get this long, it would take me several more years at the rate it does grow. It also seems to stop growing at a certain point. The last time my hair was this long, actually about as long as in the first picture was when I was in 6th grade. It hasn't been past my shoulders since then.

Puppy update

The puppies are all doing very well. They're well fed and getting fatter every day. The vet suggested that we not let them go before 8 weeks so they won't be available for Christmas. Instead, a fun idea is to wrap up a picture of the pup along with puppy care items and toys and give to the kids or your special someone. Here's just a few shots

Don't read this with your morning coffee

We had an incredible afternoon and knight Sunday. Right after bowling, I dropped Brent off at home and I went and ran some errands. I was gone for nearly two hours and when I got home at about 4, Luke and Lacy were very antsy. I let them outside and a few minutes later, they wanted in again. Lacy started whining and I immediately knew it was time. Her belly was hard and she was panting pretty hard. she took me downstairs and there we sat. If I moved, she was up. I had to sit there with her and pet her or she got upset and nervous. Finally, at 9:30 or so, I noticed it was happening. I yelled for Brent to let him know her water had broken. Lacy didn't quite know what to do. She didn't want to lay down and she kept going in circles. The puppy was half way out and she was about to sit on it. I put on some rubber gloves and helped the puppy out. The sac around the puppy had already broken so I didn't have any time to waste. The minute I showed the pup to Lacy, instincts kicked in and she took over from there. The next pup came about 45 minutes later with the 9th pup arriving at about 12:47 am. All pups appear to be in good health and Lacy is doing well too. Luke's nervous...typical new dad!

Lacy and her NINE pups

Tired Momma

Proud Dad

33 years and still counting

Last Friday marked 33 years of marriage for me and Brent. I'm not going to go into the whole love story because most of you already know it. If you don't and you are curious, check the archives. Anyway, we went to our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. As usual, Brent ordered the prime rib but this time he got the 20 oz piece. Without thinking, he grabbed the pepper bottle and unscrewed the lid. Yes, half the bottle of pepper ended up on his dinner. As he was scraping it off, the server came to check on us. She kept saying she would bring him a new piece but we told her it was our fault and he would scrape it off and eat it. 30 seconds later, the manager came over and insisted on a new piece. Within minutes, a new 20 oz prime rib was in front of him. We ended up taking the other piece home, washed it off and gave it to the dogs. Lucky dogs!

Halloween 2010

In case I didn't mention it last year, we started a family tradition years ago to get the Nielsen family members together on Halloween at our house, serve stew or chili then have the kids to Trick-or-Treating. As the nieces and nephews grew up, Brent's family stopped coming. Soon enough though, we started having grandkids and Kim took on the responsibility of having the party at her house. I still make the stew or chili but she gets to clean up. Here are a few pictures of the kids this year:

Our handsome Zach. He was dressed as Darth Vader.

Beautiful Aubrey. She was dressed as a pretty witch.

Handsome Jase. He was a famous cowboy but I can't remember which one. Wyatt Earp, maybe.

Little Miss Mollie B'Golly. Isn't she so stinkin' cute? Of course, she was a cute witch, just like her sister and yes, I made the skirts and capes and decorated the hats.

My Sweet little Jacob. He did not like that turtle costume one bit.

And here they are all together. As soon as Jeff gets me a picture of Rylie in her Harley Cutie outfit, I will include it in this post as well.

Meet Millicent

Her name is Millicent. I don't have her full family history yet but she's 10 years old and lives in England in the year 1792. I chose this because of the transition of the clothing styles right around this time will give me more options. This gown is her holiday gown. When Millicent saw it at the clothier's she wanted it more than anything else in the world but the price was far beyond what her father could afford. A few weeks later, to Millicent's surprise, a package arrived. In it, was the gown. She later learned that Father had sold his favorite silver cuff links in order to buy it for her.

OK, cheesy, but I'm not that creative when it comes to writing and story telling.

Grounded

There's 6 inches of snow outside today. I took this picture a few minutes ago. This is the snow that's on top of the hot tub cover. Being from Utah, you'd think I would love the snow, skiing, etc but NO, I've never learned to ski and I don't remember the last time I went sledding. Actually, I do but that doesn't matter. I don't like the snow. Sure, it's pretty on the trees and mountains but if you have a car like mine, you will pretty much ground yourself from driving if there's any snow on the streets. The snow has melted off the streets now but I'm still grounded. Why, you ask? Once again, I have neglected my house. I have been sewing and researching stuff and haven't given a thought to my house. I even went bowling all by myself yesterday. I did pretty good too. Three games: 145, 162 and 145. Why can't I get those scores on my league games?
I'm getting antsy and want to go again this afternoon but I've committed to myself that I cannot leave the house until it's clean. Not just the kitchen, but I need to mop the floor, vacuum, dust and fold laundry. I'm doing everything I can to avoid housework. I'm even writing in my blog. Now, that's avoidance!

Recent project

Just thought you'd like to see one of my recent projects. Felicity and Elizabeth will soon be sent to the American Girl archives and since I am kicking myself for not buying the last historical character they archived last year, I decided to get them both. I've been wanting Elizabeth for quite some time. She has a unique face that not many of the dolls have. I never cared for Felicity. I don't know if it is the color of her hair or her name or what but I never really wanted her...until now.

I purchased Elizabeth new from American Girl. Isn't she cute?


Here she is with her best friend Felicity, the way Felicity is supposed to look:


I figured I would save a little money and try to buy a Felicity off of eBay. This is what I won!
Pretty SAD, huh?

The day I got her, the first thing I did was pulled off her hair. That's clump of frizz was way beyond salvage. After I took off her wig, I took off her head, pulled all the stuffing out of her body, washed it very well, cleaned her face and head and since it appeared that someone had tried to paint or scratch off her teeth, I repainted those. This doll is an older doll and I've noticed that dolls older than a certain point have little or no color on their lips so I painted new teeth and lips. I got a new wig for her, tightened her limbs, re-stuffed her, re-attached the head, put the new wig on and Viola! I have a beautiful NEW Felicity (gotta change her name though)
Please excuse her nakey body. This was the clearest picture I have. The ones with her dressed are too fuzzy as they were taken with the wrong camera.