CK Blog

Although I live in NY I have grown to dread the winter. Don’t get me wrong~I don’t want to live in the hot, humid climates, just a middle of the road temperature area. But I have to say that when we have our first big snow, it is beautiful, until the dirt and ice take over. Yesterday they were calling for 1-4 inches, then it changed to 3-5, by evening they were saying 5-8 with more in the higher elevations. Since moving we are some of the “higher” elevation people. I am not sure how much we ended up getting-but the snow flakes were like little balls last night, and the wind was almost non-existent so it was a sight to be seen. This morning I woke up to Roger saying “Watkins Glen” schools are closed, along with quite a few others. All after-school activities yesterday had been canceled with the announcement lady saying “you cannot stay at school, go home, go straight home”….which for some reason when I heard her from my car gave me a little chuckle as it hadn’t even started snowing yet. By 5pm I was glad they had canceled all activities as I was safe at home watching the storm unfold. So today I haven’t went anywhere. The boys are getting ready to go out of town with my Dad and brother for muzzleloader, but otherwise I don’t for-see me having to go out today. I have included 2 pictures from our front yard.
If I had boots (you would think I would invest in a pair for weather such as this), I would go out and try to build a snowman. We always did that as kids with the help of my Dad when the balls got too big to set up on top of each other. One year ours was so big he was taller than any of us, even our father. But for now I will just watch as the snow lightly still comes down and be happy in my warm, dry home.

Every year the Sunday after Christmas my WHOLE family convoys to a Tree Farm. In years past we went to McDonald’s Tree farm outside of Savona NY. Kinda near Corning NY (Glassworks Country). We started the tradition when all 3 of us kids lived in Corning as kids with our parents. Back then Mom would make Christmas cookies and hot cocoa and we would get in our vehicle and go to McDonald’s Tree farm to cut our own tree. I am not sure when it started but we started getting Concolor Trees. These have long needles and when cut smell just like an orange. I know we started getting them before I was in the 4th grade as when we moved to the Buffalo area in early 1980′s it was tough to find a concolor and if you did they were over $50. Each year we went to that same place after we moved back to the area.

Concolor Needles

As we started getting married we would bring our spouses to the same place; we started with 1 vehicle, and now we convoy 4 vehicles to pick out our 4 trees. We also usually meet for breakfast beforehand. I am the oldest of the 3 of us, and we are all married and between the 3 of us have 8 children ranging in ages from 18 down to 7. Now the oldest grandchild has a boyfriend and she brought him along for the tradition.

I am thankful for such a close family and something we can rely on as a tradition. Below you will see the picture of our tree-the lights make it look bright…but you will get the idea.

Lastly I am going to include one of my newer “favorite” Christmas songs, but I could only find it on YouTube sung by a very talented 9 year old…

Happy Holidays!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

I am thinking this has been the year to try new things or do something I haven’t done before. In the past I told people “you will NEVER catch me out on Black Friday”. For one it just isn’t my thing on a normal day to enjoy shopping. Two, that is awful early to get up…lol. Well I have a younger sister, and a Mom. They both wanted me to join them this year in this adventure. Being so busy with my business I haven’t really taken time to think about much else. Part of me dreaded it, but part of me longed to just enjoy spending some time with them both. So I agreed. I did take a week to think about it…and I am glad that I went.

My Mom showed up at our house at about 5. Melissa was due there any minute but had stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffees. So she arrived about 5:15a.m. and off we ventured. The “mall” area is about 15-20 minutes away. When we got there I couldn’t believe the traffic. I mean I knew there would be a lot but in the dark the headlights were amazing. So I clicked a picture with my cell phone that I will include with this post.  We went by our Target which wasn’t opening until 6 and the line to get in was from the front door to the END of the parking lot. I wished I had gotten a picture of that. My niece who is 18 is working at Kohls. They opened at 4. Could you imagine? She had to be there at a little before 4. Then they put her on cash register which she really hadn’t been trained for. How is that effective? So anyways. I saw some good deals but NOT good enough to stand in the lines. Our Toys R Us had over 1 hour wait to get checked out. The line was like a snake going throughout the store. People were blocking the things to look at~and when I went to want to “get out”…they had all the aisle’s blocked…I said to my sister “I would really like to call the Fire Marshall” and see if this is legal”…but I didn’t….as we were able to get out without a scratch.  After a lot of lines, people and stores I was home by 3…and took a rest. We enjoyed our Mother/Daughter time together and as I got our of my sister’s van I said “Lets mark our calendars for next year”…..as after all it wasn’t so bad.

I have included a picture of the traffic for you to get an idea of what it looked like.

Black Friday Traffic

Finally, a chance to catch up on my blogging. I am going to start with Thanksgiving and go from there.

This year was my FIRST attempt at Thanksgiving Dinner. You see every other year our Thanksgiving consists of my family of 5 and my parents. Well this year Roger got it in his head that we would host Thanksgiving for my parents. I was a little uptight as the business has been booming with a lot of long days, hours etc. But I am always up for some type of challenge, so I took it.

We had a 14 pound turkey and decided it would be best to roast it in a bag in our oven since we were new at this. Roger made his Mother’s homemade stuffing, and we did mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, Pistachio Salad (pudding, cool whip, fruit cocktail, pineapple, marschino cherrys), homemade rolls, cranberry sauce (2 kinds), squash, peas, & corn. My Mom brought a Sweet Potato Dish, and Pies.

I got up early on Thanksgiving Day-got the rolls ready, made my salad, cleaned and then got the turkey ready. I guess I haven’t ever fiddled with a turkey as I couldn’t find the neck-and then realized~ I was looking in the wrong end….Rog went hunting in the morning and the boys had been away a few days with my father and brother. So it was just Abbey and I at home with the dogs and she was still asleep. Once I got the bird in the oven I was able to relax…and I was even more pleased when I pulled that bird out of the oven and he looked just like a picture and tasted even better. Everyone was pleased which was even better. So after it was all over I was happy despite being uptight that 1) I had went through with it and 2) it worked out just fine. I also enjoyed the time with my family~for which I am very Thankful for.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving

Ok so it is my opinion…but the beauty of this time of year just makes me in awe. I have always enjoyed this time of year-the changing of the leaves, the “smell of harvest”…but this year every time I glance at the beauty I am in wonder of how each tree is picked to be such a color or how is it they didn’t all become yellow or all red-but each were picked to be a certain color.

That brings me to think that just like the trees we are each picked to be/do certain things. I find though it is possible to be more than 1 thing-a mother, a wife, a business owner etc-we have to be careful of not trying to do too many things at once.  Spreading ourselves too thin can cause us to not do as great a job at all the things, when if we picked the most important things and schedule ourselves we are able to do a better job.

Or the saying my Mom has tried to instill in me (notice tried) “do one thing at a time, and do it well”…I tend to think I can juggle many things and do them fine…lol…

So in keeping with this idea-I have decided to “give back” Free BannerXchange to Crystal Martin. She is the owner of The Cinnamon Hollow and GREAT at it…Not that I couldn’t be great-I just couldn’t do it justice with other obligations that I have to my main wholesale business along with my other advertising site.

Since we have moved to our “new” home-I am no longer living with my “at home” business. I have learned to adjust and separate. I go to work at 7:30am and get home at 5:30pm. Except for checking of email or checking my network sites-I help my kids with homework, dinner clean-up or laundry etc. And since I have incorporated getting up at 5:30-in order to beat the “kid” rush-I am now home on Saturday and Sunday. I have baked cookies, cleaned…lol…things that a lot of you may just do-but my one son pointed out I hadn’t made cookies in over a year-like REAL cookies…and when we moved I realized I hadn’t been cleaning as I should. Now I am not knocking ANYONE that works out of their home. I did it for almost 2 years and loved the convenience. But I have gotten to the point where it was either move away from it or give it up. I chose to separate. Right now it hasn’t been hard as the kids are at school during the day-and my kids are now 17, 14 and 12. They still need me-but I am able to give them more of myself by when I am here , I am here…

I am including some pictures that I was able to capture with my phone. A reminder that we are all picked to be different, some colorful, others less noticeable but still present…I thank GOD for what he has given me…and chooses to allow me to SEE.

Until next time-take time if not to smell the roses-to enjoy the scenery around you…

Beautiful Trees in WG NY

Well I just had to stop in while I have a few minutes~as things are going to get crazy. If I am not finishing orders-I will be cleaning/packing-painting…I kinda wish all my friends could be here with me to hang out~and the work would be probably get done quicker…lol.

Anyhow-Rog goes and closes tomorrow. Today we were blessed as our insurance ended up being $40 cheaper a year, our closing costs went from $7800 to $3344…plus $800 for the fuel oil that sits in the tank-which is actually cheaper than if we had to purchase it now-blessing!! So tomorrow at 1:30 est- we will be the owners of our new home…I am excited, nervous, already tired thinking of it all. The new phone/internet here at my “store” comes Friday-and our new set up comes to the new house Saturday-while we will be moving….
We went up tonight for our walk thru-boy-you notice a lot more dirt -and a funny smell I call cat pee..lol…at the new place but I know of a great place where I can get candles….lol…so once things are steam cleaned, cleaned and fresh paint I think it will feel like our own-although I still feel the house is set up backwards when you come in the back door. We found we have a peach tree-all in bloom and the last owners left me some pretty flower pots with flowers around the outside of the house along the driveway side…There is a lot to do-but I know in time we will feel at home-our own home!!

So I just wanted you to know where I will be-and I will get back in touch once we are all moved and somewhat settled if not before. I plan to take “before” pictures and after-so I will share them when I get back to normal…I think that will happen eventually.

Friends-You can’t live without them. Well I guess you could-but wouldn’t that be a lonely existence? Looking back throughout my life I have had many friends. Some have faded off into the distance only to be thought of as a memory-but good ones at that.

I have the friend from elementary school, who carried through until middle school then when we moved to a new area-I made new friends. Those friends I don’t even know where they are or what they are up to.  My best friend from high school only lives down the street from me. Yet we only seem now to keep in contact via email or the occasional wave at the grocery store (if we are lucky). Then there are friends I made when we were stationed at Fort Drum. One of which I still keep in contact with as she holds a special place in my heart. Then there is the friend that I met on the internet and actually moved to our area-only to leave a few years later-but even though we don’t keep in contact as well as I thought we would-I still think of her often and she too holds a specialness in my heart.

 Then there are my internet friends. In the past year I have made so many and each of them touch my heart in a special way. I have the “poetic” friend, the “flower design” friend, the friend who has a deep caring spirit for those that need extra help, a.k.a “the potty watch”, a jewelry maker, a painter, a friend who cares about fellow Wahm’s, one with a great sense of humor and the list goes on-but the one thing these friends have in common is their love, caring and uplifting. I know although I have never met these wonderful people in person that they truly care about me. They are my cheerleaders, my encouragement and when it comes right down to it-how can you ask for anything more than that. Oh yes I have my sister, my sister-in-law and most of all my Mom…but without these friends to laugh with, chat with or comment on-life would be pretty lonely…

So to all my friends…I love you and I just wanted to take a minute to say Thank You for being My Friend!

Here we are almost at the end of July-Where does time go? Time has an odd way of keeping us going without taking a moment to stop and think. We are so busy with this or that-we seldom just take the time to “be”. How many times do you catch yourself thinking of what happened in the past or what is going to happen in the future?

Do you find yourself thinking of your wants, dreams, or needs? Although we all have needs; sometimes isn’t it great to just think about wants? And how you can make those wants into reality? Or are you so busy worrying, waiting for something to happen that you forget to work on the one thing you have been hoping to accomplish?

Procrastination is a terrible thing. You keep putting off today what you think you can do tomorrow-only to find that tomorrow comes and it is the same situation? Before you know it-you are getting ready to go to bed and yet another day has flown by.

Why not make a list of things you would like to accomplish? Write them in order of importance or priority. Does one thing have to happen before another one can be started? Sometimes a list is a great thing to have. You may not get it all done in one day or even one week; but as you start to finish the things you have listed it will feel good to cross them off-and even if one thing leads to another-you can add new things to your list.

I used to think lists were for older people that couldn’t remember. Now I just know that a list is something for anyone that has a lot on their mind; or a lot of things to accomplish-or both.

Start making your list and see how good it feels as you cross your accomplishments off. If you are really feeling like you have everything you want done, try creating a “life list”…those things that you would like to accomplish in the next 5-10 years or where you want to be in 10 years…even things that may sound silly-are really things you have thought about but just not taken the time to realize that they are important to you…

Wants, Needs, Dreams-we all have them-we just need to take time to realize them.

Top of the mornin’ to you. Or at least that is what I think Irish people say. I should know as there is a part of me that is Irish. My maiden name was Ryan and quite a ways back we were once O’Ryan. I even have a child-my oldest that was born on St. Patrick’s day 17 years ago. We named him Aaron-and if he had been a girl Erin. I can’t believe it has been 17 years since I had my oldest. Where does time go? He says he doesn’t care it is his birthday-but I think somewheres deep down he does. He is a typical boy, and has never liked much attention when it came to birthdays or accomplishments. I remember when he was in Kindergarten and we did his birthday at school. I had made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. While we were handing them out to all of his classmates he whispered in my ear-”we are NEVER doing this again” I don’t want to wear a crown-I don’t even want everyone to wish me a Happy Birthday. Well to make a long story short, we NEVER did his birthday at school again. Every year in Elementary school the teachers would send home the note-please decide what day you want to do Aaron’s birthday, and I would write or email back-Aaron does not wish to celebrate his birthday at school-Thank you. Last year was his 16th birthday which fell on a Saturday-so on that Monday we went down and got his permit-I was very proud to share that moment with him-now 1 year later he is licensed and has done a great job with his driving.

I am starting to dislike Mondays-seems anything that could go wrong goes wrong. First my son’s truck is acting up-so that goes to the garage at 3. My husband was called to jury duty-which he might not even get picked but he is a self-employed daycare provider-and with going to get kids from school it usually takes 2 of us to do it. Then to top it off one of our parents needs him tomorrow and wednesday-seems jury duty would realize he is self-employed and just can’t take a whole week off-when there are people that can take personal time or whatever. There, that is my rant.

Well I got Aaron’s cake made-and the house is so quiet-I am not quite sure what to do with myself…I am sure there is something to do with my business that I can do to make the time go by….until school is out and the kids come home-or Rog..whichever is sooner.

I have added some new items to the web site. A new doll, some new dipped tapers…take a minute to look at them if you have a second. One can be found on the Raggedy Seams tag and the other under Grubbies.

Have a great St. Patricks Day-and I hope you don’t get pinched.

I came across this wonderful Chicken Alfredo recipe and made it for my husband on his last birthday….I got the recipe from www.allrecipes.com .

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ready in: 40 minutes

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

6 ounces of dry fettuccine pasta (we use angel hair)  

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves-cooked and cubed (we use left over chicken that we have baked or boiled, even grilled works)

1(8oz) Package Cream Cheese   

6 tablespoons butter  

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli (or frozen that you have run hot water over)

2 small zucchini (julienned)

1/2 cup Milk                                                                             

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder                                                    

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (or any of the peppers work)

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8-10 minutes (if using angel hair you can save this step until later-allowing enough time for the angel hair to cook (about 3 minutes cook time).

2. While pasta is cooking, melt cream cheese and butter in a skillet over low heat. Stir until smooth. Stir in milk, and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes, or until thickened, stirring constantly.

3. Mix in chicken, broccoli, zucchini, and red pepper. Cook 3 minutes over medium heat, then reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Serve over pasta.

Note: we have substituted with frozen green peas, yellow bell pepper,-any vegetable works as long as it holds some type of form.

ENJOY!