It was fun while it lasted...

It was fun while it lasted....joined 8 of my friends on a cruise 2 weeks ago and had a blast!








came home to face the Little Shop of Horrors... still no elves to be found! I have 3 more orders and then I am going to take time to do fun stuff.... Decorating, Shopping, having lunch with my BFF's, Blog.....
Sorry I have not posted in so long! Missed you guys!

Hi there! I had to come up for some fresh air... just have a couple more Father Christmases to finish. I am taking a very well deserved break, going to visit some friends for a couple of days and won't be able to access my blogs... however I have finished putting together my new Father Christmas blog called.... The Santamaker Collection

Please come over and visit...let me know what you think.

(I had some technical difficulties with the text ... I tried to correct it a million times and I have given up... so there it is in all it's imperfect glory.)

Oh... I have to share this with you as well.... So I was combing my hair this morning and I thought I saw some white hairs growing in. I quickly got out the L'Oriel..(.cause I'm worth it. LOL), ..to cover them up and it turns out they weren't white... they were blond! Yeah... who woulda guessed it!
You know how I figured it out?
Well you see, I was trying to put some music on my new blog, so I went to the Playlist site to pick out some nice Christmas music, but all of the links were bad! I was so mad! None of them worked. They had no music ! I thought to myself, they really need to fix their site. I was reporting all the links that I thought were bad and come to find out...................
I had my computer on MUTE !
There you have it friends, who would have guessed that this Andalusian girl would start growing blond roots at age 50!.... LOL... No offense to my blond friends! See you guys later!

Oh... bring on the elves already @#% !!!

Okay... sorry I have been busy "santamaking" and not blogging lately! Thought I'd give you sneak peek at one of my larger finished pieces........" The Teddy Collector".

I have been in " The Little Shop of Horrors" as I affectionately call my studio, working around the clock. The place is a wreck... my poor baby Duchess needs a walk... there have been no hot meals made (not even my NoBrainers) and I'm down to my last pair of underwear (laundry has been put off for far toooo long).... Oh yeah, and a good thing that Halloween was this past week because I told everyone that I left the spiderwebs and dust bunnies ON Purpose for a "spookie effect"..... SO......bring on the elves already!!!!! I need help!

I am creating a new blog to post my Father Christmases... many have requested photos of my creations, so I thought this would be a nice way to share them..... it will come out soon.

HAVE A FUN AND SCARY HALLOWEEN !!!!!
PUMPKIN 10/31/07

More Fall "Eye Candy"...

HA! Gotcha!....have you all seen this halloween eye candy?
I got some in a Boo Bag and thought it was too cute not to share!...

I recently discovered that I had these photos for the Fall Open House and somehow didn't use these on that post!

I love looking out of this window and watching the leaves turn colors...










One of the many garage sale finds that have found a new life in my home. Hubby attached the top of my old sofa table to the old singer sewing machine base that I so happily brought home for a couple of dollars ... Just love it. Reminds me of my Mom's.



This light up pumpkin puts forth such a wonderful glow..


Oh my, I found this great pumpkin tea kettle this summer for $2 on one of my "sailin" expeditions... I couldn't help myself!








I know you've seen this one before, but you know , she thinks this blog is all about her, so, shhhh... let her have her day.



In my family room we have a huge built in , so I have enjoyed "having" to fill them up with whatever strikes my fancy!







The mosaic table and stool were another "steal".... $20 I think I payed for them at church bazaar! I love the old world look that it has... kinda makes me think of Portugal.



You can see the tile work better in this photo. See these birds (not sure what they are, but I like them) were bought for $1 at an auction... (I really wanted the $400. chair, but went home happy as a clam with my birds...well, kinda...















........ So there's some Fall eye candy for ya!

Come one come all for some great NO BRAINER DINNER IDEAS from fellow bloggers

I asked fellow bloggy friends for Nobrainer Dinner Ideas and the following ladies were glad to contribute! I can't wait to see their wonderful quick and simple dinner ideas:

Recipes should appear on Monday

Tardevil at Confessionsofa40somethingmamaqueen.blogspot.com

Diane at Fourpawsco.blogspot.com

Sally at Sallyssalmagundi.blogspot.com

Laurie at Bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com

Donna at Adventureswithtassie.blogspot.com

Judy at Gracioussouthernliving.blogspot.com

Robyn at Thereisalwaysthymefor.blogspot.com

Cheri at geergathering.blogspot.com



Dawnie at Dawnieslifeifbythesea.blogspot.com

Lynette at Lynetteslam.blogspot.com
Marianna at Cardinalacre.blogspot.com

Bo at Blinksnwinksfrombrown-eyes.blogspot.com Bo has promised a delicious no brainer dessert!

This one is from Justine: at justinesfroggybloggy



My no-brainer main dish is roasted chicken breasts. Just made them last night for me and the girls. I buy them with the bone, and skin-on, but I've made it without the skin too.I just pour olive oil over them, lots of garlic powder, salt and pepper, sometimes some lemon, and then for added flavor, Teriyaki. This will kind of burn on the pan, so near the end I pour more over. Baste ocassionally and YUM! Oh, I bake them at 350 for 45 minutes or so, until my thermometer says they're about 170 degrees. Oh, and use the drippings to dip!Justine :o )


Penny's at Alwayssomethingbypenny.blogspot.com No brainer idea:



An easy no brainer is to wrap a couple of pieces of chicken or pork in some foil with fave BBQ or fave Italian Dressing inside. Place foil wrapped product on pan and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Serve with salad or side veggies.


One of Dawnie's at Dawnieslifeifbythesea.blogspot.com
Here is one of my favorite stand-bys that helped me many nights when our 5 kids were young!Fry up a lb or so of Ground BeefAdd onion, little garlic.Dump in a can tomato soup, can of green beans.Mix up a batch of boxed Garlic Mashed Potatos, place on top-cover with Cheddar Cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is nice and bubbly and brown. Adjust to how many your serving!


I hope I didn't miss anyone! Let me know.. I'm having to do this on my new laptop and it's so sensitive, it freaks out on me all the time, so I hope I did it right!

Okay, here are my 3 "go to "entrees from my previous post :

GRILLED CHICKEN PEAR AND PECAN SALAD







Grill chicken, cut in strips.
Place on top of salad greens, top with thinly sliced pears or granny smith apple, sprinkle gorgonzola or feta , add thinly sliced red onions and top with pecans and dried cranberries .
I serve it with raspberry vinagrette dressing.



ROTEL CHICKEN



Place chicken breast in a 9/13 casserole dish.
Pour rotel tomatoes over the chicken. (if this is too spicy you can use mild salsa instead). Bake at 375* for about 30 mins or until done. Take it out, sprinkle with cheese put it back in for 5 min.
Dollop of sour cream, if desired.




TURKEY TACOS






(Of course you can make it with ground beef or chicken).... Brown turkey meat along with finely chopped onion, sprinkle Taco Bell taco seasoning on top and add a tiny bit of water.
Cook until done.
Spoon into taco shell that has been warmed (follow box direction), top with:
lettuce
cilantro
cheese
salsa. (sourcream and guacamole are great if your not dieting)

Please click on the above participants to find solutions to your "dinner dilemmas"... I hope you find a new favorite!

^^ Let's Share" No Brainer" Dinner Ideas ^^

Today, while watching Oprah, Christina Ferrari gave 3 different meals that you could make from a roasted chicken... Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Pot Pie and .....I don't know the third one because I got a phone call and missed it. So that gave me an idea, (I'm sure this has been done to death)....

I want us to share some recipes that are our standbys... no measuring, no thinking and nothing that takes over 10 mins to prepare. Just quick and simple. This doesn't mean cooking time. I'm just concerned with the hands on work here.

So many of you have told me how creative I am, and I truly appreciate that, but when it comes to cooking.....it doesn't apply to me! I don't really like to cook, of course I LOVE to eat (who doesn't )... So if we pick each others brains, you never know, you might find a new favorite, no brainer!



So.... come on, if you have 3 NoBrainer Entrees that are easy and delicious, let's share them! You don't have to have three... you can do one or two...

Let me know if you would like to participate by Sunday 9PM and I'll post the list and links to your blog on Monday.

BON APPETIT....