Wow, what a Christmas Eve!!!!

As predicted by the weatherman, we ARE having a white Christmas starting today.  I could hear the wind howling and rain hitting the north window of our bedroom around 4am.  It wasn't cold enough to freeze yet.  At 8am the wind was still blowing 30mph and above and the rain was beginning to sound like  little ice pellets, but still around 35 degrees.  Nick, Jeff and I still needed to get stocking stuffers so we decided to brave the weather and go to the store.  The roads weren't too bad, but the visibility was next to nothing.

We made it to the store, got our shopping done and back home within 2 hrs.  Then Nick decided he needed to mail a package so we got back out and headed to the post office about 4 miles away.  Well this trip was a little more challenging.  The wind was still blowing and it was now snowing.  Drifts were starting to form on the roads and cars were getting stuck. 

Now, I know some people who read this blog are used to this kind of weather.  Well, Oklahoma does not usually get this kind of weather.  They were calling it a "white out".  I have lived here my whole life and never have seen anything like this.  We did finally get to the post office and back home.

 
Once home, we found that our cable/internet was not working.  Called the company and said they were experiencing an outage in our area and were working on it.  Brrrrr...dedicated technicians.   Nick and Jeff watched a DVD.   I went to the sewing room. This was the view out of the window in front of my sewing machine.
I checked the cable around 10pm and it was back on so decided to post.

I did some baking again yesterday (Wednesday). Nick wanted to send some cookies to a friend in New York City.  Made Mexican wedding cakes, chocolate pecan fudge, spritz cookies and snickerdoodles.  Ashlee made some peanut butter fudge also.  Never had any before and it sure was good.

Also made cutout sugar cookies, but did not get them frosted.  May just have to eat them unfrosted.

Well, the wind is still blowing and it is cold, cold.  The heater is working ovetime.  We have snowdrifts all around the house.  I stepped out the back door and took a picture on the south side of the garage.  Impressive for Oklahoma. The other picture was from this afternoon when we got home from the post office.

 

Well, it is now Christmas day in Oklahoma.  Hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas day.  I know here in Oklahoma a lot of people did not make it to their destinations for Christmas because of the weather. Today is supposed to be clear, just very, very cold.  Hope those that can will be able to have Christmas with their loved ones.  Stay warm and safe.

Christmas blessings to all.....patijane

What a busy, busy weekend!!

 Well the weekend just flew by and in four days Christmas will be here.  I hope everyone is ready.  I got up early this morning and Nick and I headed to the mall.. (it opened at 8am).  We got the shopping done we had planned and then met Jeff for breakfast.   Nick went back to the office with Jeff and I headed out to do more shopping.  It was still early, so I got most of my shopping done before it got too busy.  Met Jeff and Ashlee for lunch around 2pm.  After lunch, Ashlee had some shopping to do, so I went with her.  We finished around 7pm.  I took her back to the office and then headed home.  Now for the wrapping.  Think I will do that tomorrow.

Ok, as the title says..I had a very busy weekend.

On Saturday morning, Jeff, Nick and I drove to some land we own to cut our Christmas tree.  This is a family tradition that began in 1980 when Jeff and I got married.  We walked the around the fields looking for that perfect tree.

We finally came across the one tree that would go home with us.  Nick got the saw out of the truck and proceeded to cut it down. 

We drove home and sprayed it with the water hose to get the dust and bugs off and then put it in the stand.  The tree is left outside overnight to dry and  let the bugs find a new home.

We(Jeff, Nick and I) spent Saturday afternoon and evening with Jeff's brother, Jerald and his family(Danna, Brent and Marissa). Ashlee and her boyfriend, Dominic came over with a huge pan of smoked brisket and baked beans.  Danna(Jerald's wife)made cheese dip, guacamole dip,  and a vegetable tray. I brought cheese ball and crackers along with cookies, peanut brittle and chocolate haystacks. We feasted on good food all afternoon.  The guys  shared stories about things done in their younger years.  Lots of laughs.  We watched movies in the evening and finally headed home around 10pm.  It was a most wonderful time together with family.

Sunday came and we brought the tree in. 

I got all my boxes of decorations out in anticipation of spending the day decorating the tree.  Jeff and I had been told earlier in the week that plans had been made for us in the evening and to be ready at 4:30pm for a surprise.

We got dressed and were ready for our big surprise.  We had 5pm dinner reservations at Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse in Bricktown, followed by tickets to the Trans Siberian Orchestra performance at 7:30pm.  Nick was our chauffeur. He dropped us off at the restaurant and advised us to call him when we were ready to come home.   

We felt like two teenagers on a date.  I had chicken florentine; Jeff had salmon on a cedar plank.  The food was delicious.  We finished dinner at 6:30pm and took a leisurely walk through Bricktown.  There is a canal that runs through the area and it was all decorated for Christmas and was really, really pretty.  The weather was perfect for walking.  The Ford Center was about a half mile walk from the restaurant and we arrived about 7pm.  We found our seats...perfect location on the second level and great view of the stage.  The concert started at 7:30pm and was absolutely great!!! The music was fabulous and the light show and pyrotechnics were awesome!!  This picture was at the end of the show. I only had the camera on my phone but you can imagine what it looked like.  Soooo spectacular!!!! 

Nick picked us up around 10:45pm.  When we arrived home,  a little elf (Nick)had decorated the Christmas tree.  What a wonderful son!!!!

It was the best Christmas present our children (Ashlee, Nick, Ellena)could have given us.  I had the best time ever and told Jeff we needed to have date nights more often :-).  Wonder if I can get the children to pay for them...lol.

Well that is it for now.  I feel like I have overblogged this time....but just had a lot to tell and wanted to let everyone know how wonderful our children are.  We love them very, very much.

The weatherman is now saying we might have a white Christmas..of course he is using the ICE word more than snow, but at least we might see some white stuff.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Travel safe if you are heading somewhere for Christmas.  Stay warm and enjoy family time together.

Blessings.....patijane

Cookie Day!

Happy Friday to all!  Hope everyone had a good day.

Nick made it home last night (Thursday) from DC.  He will be here until January 4 and I will so enjoy him being here.

My Mom made it to Brussels, Belgium without any problems. She wrote me on Facebook...can't seem to get her email to work.  Said she was tired, but it didn't stop her from going to the mall to shop today...lol.  Also went to Jonathan's Christmas program, which was outside.  It's super cold there and the program only lasted about 15 minutes.  It started snowing and she said it was a beautiful, soft snow.  Sounds like she is going to have a great time. I know Olivia and Jonathan (niece and nephew) are really glad to have her there, as is my sister, Janice.

Ashlee came over and we did some Christmas baking.  We made gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip holiday tea cakes, and old-fashioned soft pumpkin cookies.  Also made a loaf of pumpkin bread.  We still want to make some spritz cookies and some holiday candies.  Maybe Monday as the weekend is pretty busy.

I have put up a few decorations..still no tree.

We should be going tomorrow to cut the tree.  After putting it in the stand, I spray it with water and then leave it in the garage for a day to dry.  So maybe Sunday can start decorating it.

I still have some Christmas shopping to do, but will not be fighting the crowds this weekend.  I will go out early Monday or Tuesday to finish up...at least that is my plan for now.

Wishing everyone a great weekend and stay warm.  I saw the weather report for the east coast and looks like they are going to have quite a bit of snow.  Told Nick I was glad he came in last night.  He said DC was supposed to get about 14 inches of snow and he probably would have been delayed had he left today or Saturday.

Again, stay warm and enjoy your weekend.

Blessings.....patijane

Holiday Lights!

Thanks to Joanne at AAPG, I got my pictures to download from the camera on my phone.  Thanks Joanne for the tip.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  Not as good as the digital camera, but still got some fairly good pictures.  Hope you enjoy them.

This is the entrance. Large snowflakes over the road.  You drive thru them.   Lots of bright, white lights.  

There were Santas and angels.  Soldiers and villages.  Some of the scenes were like moving pictures.

A saying I have seen at Starbucks...I wish grownups would remember being kids.  Close your eyes and imagine the lights and how excited you were as a kid when you saw the lights. Hope you enjoyed that trip back in time.


It was a nice, long drive around the lake with lots and lots of displays.   Glad we took the time to stop and see the lights.

Hope all your Christmas shopping is done..still working on mine.

Have a great rest of the week.

Blessings....patijane

Back to the cold!

Well, we made it back home from our quick trip to San Antonio this past weekend. 

We left Austin TX this morning.  We stopped at IKEA and ate lunch and looked around for about 30 minutes.  Jeff was ready to get on the road to home.  Temperature in Austin was about 60 degrees.  As we traveled north, it got warmer.  We stopped for gas at Waco TX and the temperature was 75 degrees.  Actually had to turn on the air conditioner for awhile.

Well, when we got into Oklahoma temperature had dropped to 48 degrees and by the time we got home to Oklahoma City,around 7:30pm, the temperature was 28 degrees. Brrrrrr.......  But I am not complaining because I like it to be cold during the holidays.  Just wish we could have snow.  The weatherman is saying not much of a chance this year.  I hope he is wrong.

We stopped in Purcell OK on the way home to drive thru the Christmas lights they have put up around Purcell Lake.  Really, really pretty lights.  I took some pictures with my camera on my phone, but can't seem to get them transferred to my computer, so when I figure it out I will post them.

My  Mom leaves on Wednesday for Brussells, Belgium.  She will be spending 3 weeks with my sister and her family.  My son, Nick, will be home on Thursday, Dec 17 for Christmas holidays.  Ellena and her family will be home Dec 23 for Christmas holidays.  I just saw all of them at Thanksgiving, but can't wait to see them again.  Ashlee, the only child that is still living in Oklahoma, and I are planning on making our Christmas goodies..cookies, candies, and breads this Friday.  Can't wait..she loves to cook.  She has some new recipes for us to try...yum yum...

Well, I  hope everyone has a great week and lots of holiday fun.  Christmas wishes to everyone.

Blessings.....patijane

It's almost the weekend!

It's Friday evening and it has been a busy week.  I still haven't got the house cleaned like I wanted to and the Christmas decorations are still sitting in the backroom in boxes.   This weekend we are headed to San Antonio TX  so it won't get done until next week. 

Tuesday, our rughooking group met at Country Collections for our last meeting in 2009.  We had refreshments and enjoyed hooking and visiting.  Kay, who always has something finished every month, brought two rugs she had finished.

 She also started on the wool quilt in Maggie's new book, Nature's Bounty.  She will probably have it finished by our January 2010 rughooking meeting.

Wednesday was spent working at the office.

Thursday, my friend, Sandra and I spent the day going to the Bernina store for the Christmas open house and then shopping.  I did buy some Christmas presents at the quilt store for my SIL's.  They both are great quilters and so hard to buy for.  But as any quilter knows, you can never have too many books or fabric..LOL.

So here it is Friday.  I spent the day with my Mom.  We had lunch at Jason's Deli and then she wanted to do some shopping.  Headed to the mall....traffic was moving very slow and when we made it into the parking lot..no place could be found to park.  I told her she had the wrong daughter with her for shopping.  I am not a shopper, especially when it is real crowded.  Mom just wanted to check on something in Dillards, so I let her out at the door and drove until I found a place to park and waited for her.  After about 10 minutes, she came out.  They didn't have what she wanted, so we left.  We went to Walmart and picked up a few things and then headed home.  She is going to Belgium to spend Christmas with my sister, Janice and her family.  She had started packing her suitcase, but not sure how many she could take without it costing.  Checked the airline site and found the first bag is free and then $50 for the second.  I think she decided she can get it all in one bag.  Just hope it doesn't way over 50 pounds.  She leaves next week, so she has a little time to rearrange and decide what to take.  So that's my week.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.  Spend time doing what you like to do. 

Blessings....patijane

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone has had a good Monday so far.  Mine has been unproductive.  I had big plans for today but most of them didn't happen. 

Jeff is in a CPE seminar today and tomorrow so thought I would do some housecleaning in the morning and shopping in the afternoon.  I did get the bathrooms cleaned and a load of laundry done but that was it.  Jeff came home for lunch and then headed back for the afternoon session.  Ashlee came by and we went to the grocery store...ugh..I do not like grocery shopping, but needed to pick up a few things today because the weatherman says tomorrow is going to be icy.  It was very crowded and I was glad to be done and head home.  Ashlee and I decided to do Christmas shopping another day.

If the weather does get bad, I will do my Christmas decorations around the house.  A very good reason to stay in and keep warm. 

I belong to the most wonderful ebay group, full of the most wonderful girls.  We did a Secret Santa swap and here are all the goodies I received from my Secret Santa, Ginger.  I was overwhelmed by her generosity.  She is the sweetest person you will ever meet.  Thank you Ginger for such a great pan of goodies.




Have a great evening and stay warm.

Blessings...patijane

We're home!!!

Well, we finally made it home late, late Monday night.  So glad to be back. It took me all day Tuesday to get rested and today(Wednesday)I feel like I'm getting back in the groove.

We had such a great Thanksgiving week.  I sure didn't want it to end, but life goes on.

Here is how the week went:

On Wednesday, we planned our Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, sweet potatoes, salad,  rolls, and of course, pies..pumpkin, apple-cranberry, pumpkin cheesecake, and pecan.

Nick and Andres also carved pumpkins.  Something Andres wanted to do since they couldn't find any pumpkins in Puerto Rico. Carlos also helped by holding the pumpkins until they were ready to be carved.

On Thursday, Ellena and I baked the pies and got the other stuff ready to cook. Alex prepared the turkey and dressing.  Nick and I took an afternoon walk and others watched football. Carlos was helping in the kitchen.

The house filled with the aroma of turkey and dressing cooking.  We finished preparing the meal and ate around 7pm.  It was delicious, and of course, we all over ate.

On Friday, we went to Annapolis to the US Naval Academy Museum.  Nick took the scenic route to Annapolis.  It was quite a nice drive.  We spent a couple of hours at the museum and then headed back to Port Republic.  Stopped at the store and bought stuff to make turkey enchildas with our leftover turkey.  We had homemade salsa, refried beans, rice and margaritas.  Yummy!!!  We all got full,  again!

Saturday was spent watching football games...Missouri vs Kansas, Notre Dame vs Stanford, Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State..those were the important games.

Saturday evening we had a Halloween party.  From the pictures below, you can tell, fun was had by all.

Andres was the Incredible Hulk and then changed to Obewonkanobe from Star Wars.  We had the eyeball glasses that were a hit with the adults.
      

          Carlos was a cuddly bear.    We had a great evening and the boys had a great time at the Halloween party.

Sunday morning came way too soon.  We got up early and packed.  We hugged and said our good-byes and they headed to the Baltimore airport.  Jeff and I took Nick back to DC and we left for Oklahoma City around noon on Sunday.

It was a great week and we are looking forward to next Thanksgiving.  Not sure yet where we will go...Nick and Ellena said it was too cold and they wanted warm weather and beaches.  We will see........ 

Have a great rest of the week and weekend.

Blessings....patijane