lost and found

I just "found" this pix on my camera when I was uploading a new photo. What a fun morning! Christmas is now over, new year come on! The little girls got dolls, the big girls got sewing machines and Jeff got a Kindle. Lots of smiles all around. :)

Test

Testing

Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

this has got to stop

OR WE WILL ALL WEIGH about 200 pounds each.

This is the easy peasy egg nog cake I made tonight. Thought I was going to take it to my small group, but she already has dessert ready. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, don't you?

sick day

Ok...I officially feel lousy, really lousy. I know allergies can be troublesome, but I can control symptoms with antihistamines. Nope, I need other meds. And my bed. This must be an old fashioned cold.
Anyway. I want to post pix from my phone if I can figure this out.

Redder

seeing red

One of my very favorite colors is red.

It's a ....sister thing...

I was blessed with 3 brothers. They are all younger and so good looking. :) I really, really always wanted to have a sister, though. I remember when my youngest brother was born, I was 11 years old. Mom called me to let me know she had just given birth to a cute little baby BOY.

"Really? REALLY? Mom, reeeeeaaaaalllly?

Sorry, I was just a bit disappointed. It passed and I got into helping her w/ a newborn. Girls that are about 11 years old LOVE babies. Have you noticed?

Well, when each of those guys married I got 3, yes, 3 sisters! And my early bonus was when I got married, I got PAM! She is William's sister from Dallas. She's become such a good friend and we love to hang out with each other. She is in such good spirits 99.99 % of the time. She radiates pure joy. My kids love her, too.

Anyway, she drove all the way from DFW area to participate in my almost annual cookie exchange. She made 10 DOZEN cookies and they were very yummy. We got to go to MY favorite place to eat (Maudie's) on Friday night and she never, ever complained. What a SISTER! Then she got up early on Saturday to attend my little party at 10 AM. She did ask me just once, "umm, why 10 o'clock in the MORNING?". She's a champ.

She also brought xxxxxx amount of pairs of shoes. (She's from Dallas, ok?) but she chose to join the game and wore her black sequined shoes. The rest of us have plain old silver. That's Kristen, Tamera and I.

She did make fun just a bit of the Christmas tree decorations on northwest Cap. of TX freeway. We just told her, 'it's an AUSTIN thing'. She gets it. Totally. AUSTIN is kinda weird in her book.

Christmas readiness

Last night I had 3 elves help me clean up the 'place' and make it ready for our annual Cookie exchange. I just had to capture the cleanness of it and prettiness of it this morning in the sunlight! Thanks, Max, Tia and Wm!

Many years ago, my mom made me this nativity set. It has many pieces to it and I love it. Some years I choose to just bring out Mary, Joseph and Jesus. They remind me to prepare the places in my heart for Him. He has already Cleaned it.

very easy chocolate cookies with Tyler...

It's way too cold outside! Tyler and I bagged a few leaves, then took a walk around the block. He is seriously not too crazy about the chilly Texas weather after being in Singapore. He helped me stir these up...Don't worry, the stove was turned off!

Here's the quick recipe:

Chocolate Cookies

2 T. butter

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 can Eagle Brand milk

Mix the above ingredients on low heat to melt. Let cool slightly.

Add:

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

2 t. vanilla (oops, out of vanilla, used 1 t. almond extract)

1 cup chopped nuts

Drop by teaspoons on to greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Don't overbake!

Was this really a WEEK ago?

I can't believe it! This was last Sunday after church when we all met up at Panera to see Mom and Dad and my nephew, Bryce. Mom and Dad came up to see Patrick and Katherine while they were visiting from Singapore....then had a big Vandergriff family Thanksgiving at their home back in the Woodlands. I'm so thankful for my family!

a McKinney Thanksgiving!

We have had such a great time with having all our kids together this last week. It's been such a joy to see our kids enjoying each other and their children at the same time! The cousins really love playing with each other and I know Tyler and Annie will have some great play dates next week. Tyler will be staying with us for a week while his mom travels to see family in other states. Patrick has already headed back to Singapore. We all got out in the front yard to grab some group shots for Christmas cards on Wednesday night, so I want to share a few of those with you. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Tyler time

Tyler and I spent some time playing ball and then he let me do a 'mini' photo shoot w/ the pumpkins...So many times I feel like I'm having flashbacks to 25 years ago. He reminds me so much of Patrick w/ that blond hair and those eyes. We are having a blast hanging out together!

Thanksgiving touches

They are on their way!

Yahooooooo! My formerly Irish, now Singaporian, world travelin', jet setting, son and daughter in law and my grandson, Tyler, are on their way!!! They left about 6:30 pm last night (TX time) and will be here in Austin about 4:30. It's been a year since they were in Texas and boy, are we all excited about their arrival.

We'll have lots of family time here in Austin over the next couple of weeks, then we get to keep Tyler for ourselves for a whole week. We'll have to hit all the kid spots because we want him to have a super good time w/ Nana and Papa and Tia and Aunt K and Annie and Meg. Any suggestions on great holiday activities in and around Austin will be appreciated!

http://austinhomebase.blogspot.com/

Well, my new blog got a name! I am starting out w/ my favorite few people on this blog to let you know it's actually up and running. I need a daughter of mine to help me 'tweak' it a bit, but hope you will enjoy my journey with me!

So, what about the prize money, you ask?? WELLLLLL, I'm picking 2 winners. I am splitting it between Patrick for "The Real and Stated Story" which I give first prize for creativity, and an agent/friend, Adrienne, who gave me the word 'Dream' which I use at the top of my page...

My first blog entry is posted. I'll do my very best to keep it updated! Thanks to everyone for your support.

Dinner swappin'

Yay! I got the girls to buy in on my idea to do a dinner swap. We will start out small...We will start in December! (How great is that for the holiday planning?) We will each make one meal that will feed 6 adults, divided into portions that we can each take home. So, we each have 3 meals prepared and stowed away for just the right busy evening.

If we like how the plan works, we can expand on it the next month. Each of us brings 3 meals so that we can each take home 9 dinners...

So, I'm trying out a new recipe my sister in law, Diana, told me about last weekend. Basically it's chicken breasts, Rotel tomatoes and taco seasoning in a crock pot. Serve it with tortillas, black beans and rice. YUM. It smell so good already.

Please give us any suggestions for EASY and DELICIOUS MEALS! Freezable would be good.

The camp house in Jasper

A long time ago, two brothers had a dream to build a cabin for themselves and their families to enjoy. My grandfather and great uncle built that cabin deep in the heart of East Texas near Jasper. As a little girl, I remember going many times to meet up with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. We stayed up as late as we wished. We played cards almost all day long (sprinkling baby powder liberally thru the deck, so they wouldn't stick) and ended the day with a big catfish fry that the men would fix for us. To this day, when I smell either fried fish or baby powder, I think of those times. ;)

Daddy-pa (my grandfather) passed away many years ago and Uncle Dick passed away within this last year. This camp was their refuge and delight. I know they would have been so pleased to see so much family meet up this past weekend to enjoy their camp. Uncles and brothers worked hard over the last year to spruce it up and make it once again... a refuge and a delight.

We enjoyed bar-b-q, desserts, scrabble and washer tournaments, 4-wheeling, campfires and marshmallows and mainly just each other. We spread ourselves out for sleeping between the local Holiday Inn and the camp and the treehouse out back. GREAT weather for such a weekend. We hope to make this an annual event!

Name my new blog! Win $50

I am considering creating another blog of my journey into becoming a realtor. If any of you fellow bloggers have a creative idea for me that I choose for my title, I will send you a $50 gift card to your favorite shopping place or dining place!

I hope to cover all kinds of topics...my 'real estate school', deciding which broker to work with, finding my niche or market, neighborhoods in Austin, developing a website, etc. etc. I am super excited about this change in my life. My plans are to get licensed by the end of January, 2011.

This is a big change for me ... and I AM loving the possibilities of working with first time home buyers and relocations to Austin, my favorite city in Texas!

SO, get your creative juices flowing today and give me what you've got! I'll leave this open until next Saturday morning at 8 am...So you have plenty of time!

a small gathering

It's been longer than I really want to admit...having a small group of couples over to just share our lives, our concerns, some of our real 'fears' and struggles...but tonight was the night. Just 3 couples that we all met w/in the last year. We started with laughing and coffee and ended (and oh, so comfortably) with prayer. It was just so good to have 2 other couples to share Christ with. What He's doing with us, at times it feels like 'to' us and just agreeing to be there for each other. We came together with no real agenda tonight, but really with the desire to share the God we each know and love with a group of friends.

On our 'future' gatherings (we don't have a name for our little group) we discussed everything we'd like to do with each other. Possibilities were endless:

1. ladies night at Red's Shooting Range (Don't laugh!)

2. serving at a place in the city together that needs our help

3. sharing what we learned from just reading the Bible that week.

4. always ending in prayer for each other

Many years ago, we were part of these type of small groups and some of the sweetest friendships have come from those intentional 'gatherings'. Our kids were little, our homes were little, our finances were small, but we saw God as BIG.

I guess there will be many changes in the way we see 'church' in this new millenium, but tonight it was just plain and simple love for the person sitting next to me in my own living room.

RICH

Just thinking about how very rich I am this morning.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night.

Psalm 63:5

Fall'ing in love...all over again

God,

You do all things well. I love you. Thank you for October in Texas.

me

beach dreams

I got this idea about going to the beach w/ my 'girls' in OCTOBER. It turned out to be really nice weather in Galveston at Pointe West. We stayed in a condo named "BEACH DREAMS"...Kristen and her 2 little ones took over the master bedroom and Tamera and I shared the 2nd bedroom. Tamera is my 22 year old 'baby' and I must say she has really improved at her bedsharing etiquette. I don't think she moved all night long. I don't really know, because I hardly moved all night long! Something about that fresh ocean air!

Kristen is quite the creative mom and this was her themed lunch for Annie on the way down. Isn't that cute?

As soon as we (finally!) arrived, we headed out to kick up some sand. Kristen and Meg in the foreground. Tamera and Annie behind.

We stayed 4 days/3 nights. Plenty of time to soak up some sunshine with Minnie Mouse as our guest.
Of course, I'm the early riser (and early to bed)...so I had the joy of watching the sun come up each morning. Holding Annie in my lap. Nothing much sweeter.

Health...small steps at a time.

About a year ago one of my brothers ended up in ICU with a heart attack. He survived and is doing ok now. He inspired me to make some changes to my lifestyle. I read some books (always helps me to get motivated) and got started right away. Don't laugh, but William and I did P90X and stuck with it!!! WE did it...the whole 90 days. We don't have the killer bodies obviously, but we did each drop about 10 pounds and definitely gained more strength and flexibility. That was really a big leap for us.

The rest of the year has been small steps for me. I tried going vegan and vegetarian...now I'm what I have heard called a flexitarian. I eat meat, but try to opt out if possible. I have found so many other protein sources and also good old fruits and veggies that just keep me filled up better.

I had been riding my bike and I still do, but now I've added Jillian Michael's 30 day shred to my week. I LOVE it. Mainly because I can do it in 25 minutes. That means I can get exercise and shower and dressed in exactly an hour.

I have been using my blender like crazy every single day to make my breakfast smoothie. My cuisinart bit the dust (this is the year for appliances). I really struggled about dishing out the big bucks for a Vita Mix.

But, I did it. And I cannot say enough good things about this wonder. It's such an ice crushing monster. And it's fast. And it cleans up so easily. NO taking apart the canister to clean the blades.

My next step is to continue getting only the salads at Maudie's mexican food on Friday nights. :)

my new desktop image

What an incredible time. What a way to celebrate 30 years of a God given gift of a husband!

Phelps Lake, Grand Teton National Park, September

BRONCOS!

When we moved to Denver, CO in November 2001...it had been a difficult year. William was in the middle of looking for a job. We now had 2 kids in college. 9/11 had just happened. I think that early fall was one of the hardest we faced. So much uncertainty.

God is good. Wm's company had provided a severance package that lasted 7 months, and it was 7 months exactly b/w the day he left his old job and started his new one in Denver Tech Center. Amazing is our God. Always.

One of the perks of living in Denver (and there are MANY!) was picking up a love for the Denver Broncos. Sorry, no Cowboys fans here. WE are Denver orange.

The kids gave Wm this Tim Tebow jersey for Fathers' Day. It just arrived yesterday in the mail. He wears it w/ pride. Can you tell? Looking forward to this fall!

economy make up

I've been tearing out magazine pages...I try to file them, but usually I just reread them and then throw them out. I have found the idea or picture will stick in my mind a little bit more if I do that. And there ARE some great ideas out there. I certainly should be chock full of them with all the ideas I 'get'. (too many magazines, but letting them all expire this year.) I need to get better about copying and pasting my ideas from all the websites to folders on my Mac. I need help in that area.

Anyway, this is one of my tear outs this week. It's from Good Housekeeping, Sept. 2010. Nice and fresh! It's in their 'good looks' section and is titled, "An A -list look for less".

Sounds good to me. I tore it out and took it to HEB yesterday. I already had one of the products and knew it was great, so thought I'd take the recommendations on some of the others.

HEB actually offered a $3 coupon on each of their Revlon products...so I saved $6 right off the bat. :)

I already had tried this... love the way you can apply this eyeliner with a small brush and it truly does not smear and stays on all day. I got the charcoal. I give it an A+.

Next up..L'Oreal Paris True Match Super-Blendable Makeup SPF 17.

You have tons of choices and basically use a little transparent guide against your skin to pick your color option. I made the mistake of holding it against my hand, which is a little bit darker than my face right now. You simply pick the color that 'disappears' from the guide. Next time, I'll try it next to my face. What I love about this is the the way it just slides on and doesn't feel heavy or oily. Give it a B, mainly due to human error in color choice. Not shown, but have been already using ...is their true match liquid concealer. I like it a LOT.

Now, for the eyeshadows. I had actually tried this before in other colors. I think Tamera uses this brand, also. I just needed to pick the brown tones. Stays on all day. You use your pinkie finger to apply it. At least that's what I did. For eyeshadow to stay on all day in Austin, TX, in mid- August qualifies this stuff as miracle shadow.

Have you tried those lipsticks that are supposed to last all day? Well, I have. I end up with dry, cracked lips with creases filled with bits of lipstick. Not a pretty sight. I found this stuff to be a

lot smoother and creamier. I pair it with the NYC lip shine.

It was fun to find make up for less! And to find it all at my local grocery store.

PS I forgot about posting a pix of the mascara...It's the one at the bottom left hand corner of the page. It's Maybelline New York Lash Discovery Mini-brush Mascara. It was so much easier to apply with the tiny brush that's provided.

What do you think about all those 'names'. How would you like to sit around and think up cosmetic names? New and different???? Not ME!

loving words

I have been fascinated with this trendy use of words that you can apply to any surface! I found the 'enter as guests, leave as friends' at Bed, Bath and Beyond and have used it several place. I decided I like it best on glass.

It has stayed surprisingly sticky with all my experimenting! It's final resting place will be on the glass canister that holds soaps in our guest bathroom. You do have to turn it a bit to read it all, but that's part of the fun, right?