Life has been busy

Sorry for the lack of attention to the blog. I know some of you have consistently checked for new postings (hi mom) so I appreciate that you haven't given up on me. My time at home as been busy, which equates to less computer/internet/blog time.

Back in November, I decided to have a partial "DIY" Christmas. Instead of buying things as presents, we bought yarn and I made lots of scarves. Now, I love to crochet, but making that many scarves with time constraints was a challenge. I believe I made 8 scarves in all. Just a few days ago, Kelby asked why he hadn't received one. So back to the craft store we went, and he helped to pick out yarn. Now I am busy again :)

Another project I worked on for a few of our relatives, was taking this blog and turning it into a book. I didn't want to just send the whole blog off to be printed, as I wanted to revise the layout to make it more book-friendly. The website I found, and Love! is called Blurb, found here. What was most helpful with this website was that I downloaded a program to the computer, formated each page with the layout of text and pictures, and decided how long I wanted the book to be. Since the price jumped up at page 41, it stayed at exactly 40 pages (have to get the most for my money.) Once I formatted it to my liking, after 6 hours one Saturday in front of the computer, I uploaded it to their website, and ordered books. They came before promised, and look AWESOME. I couldn't believe it was my pictures, and my stories, in this book. The quality was impressive, and turning into great books. It was primarily to give to my Grandma, who doesn't have access to internet :)

And since it is Christmas, Kelby and I spent time decorating the apartment. When I moved to Texas, I promised myself that I would only use real Christmas trees, and not fake, plastic ones. No offense to those who use the plastic trees, as they are more economical in the long run, and much easier to find. This is one area where for me, money isn't the first consideration. The first few years in Texas, I was super tight on money, so no tree. Starting a job full-time helped, along with Kelby's encouragement. This year, we spent a Saturday afternoon driving to, finding, chopping down, driving home, and setting up the tree. Down here, there are not many Christmas tree farms, and the selection is nominal. But we found a tree, and it's pretty! Kelby has been out of school for a few weeks, and unable to work much due to his knee, so he spent a lot of time working on christmas lights for the front balcony. He was creative, and it says "The Reeds" along with a cross and tree.

I have been spending more time reading recipes and trying out new ones, while staying within our food budget. I had 1 flop, but some yummy ones!

Sophie, our puppy, was old enough to get spade a couple of weeks ago. She was tired and sleepy the first few days, but recovered fast. During this time, she wore a cone to keep her from messing with her stomach stitches. As well, one of her duclaw's was misformed, and would have caused issues in the future. So the vet went ahead and removed both of her duclaws (the 5th digit on the side of a leg). Even with a cone on, she could reach her front paws with the stitches, so she needed to watched. She gets these stitches out tomorrow, and should be good to go!

Oh, and how could I forget. We went down to Houston to visit some of Kelby's family. We got to meet his new niece, and exchanged a few Christmas presents. And then after Christmas, my parents flew in to spend a few days with us, and to meet Sophie. I wasn't sure how mom would do with her, but everyone did great. I enjoyed watching my mom and dad play with Sophie's toys with her.

I'll add pictures once I am on the other computer. :)