Curtains ...

As I've said, we have a few finishing touches for the kitchen

one being the curtains

As much as I loved the bare windows letting in all of the natural light

the sun was blinding us

We get the morning sun in the back window

and the afternoon sun in the front windows so we def needed something

to help with that

I had been thinking all along that I wanted something floral with a lot

of red and then some yellow and black

So off shopping I go

Went to the first fabric store and found nothing

On to the next one......didn't see anything

Which meant that I then needed to go to the 3rd store...the expensive one!

haha.....

but as I was leaving the 2nd store I looked over at this rack that

said "50% off" and you know that caught my eye

and there it was....the fabric that just screamed my new kitchen

with no red! haha.....but it works

All I wanted was a topper to shield the sun

see my sewing machine above, I have had that machine for 31 years!

I may end up shortening the length on this one but I wanted to leave it up for awhile first and then decide.

I had enough fabric to make a table runner.

Jake said I was overdoing it on the "coordination" and being

all matchey matchey but I like it

and notice how I still have my Christmas chargers out

well I have found that I love using those instead of

place mats. People just sit their plates down on that

I need to find some spring or summer colors or black

later.....



Bread ...

have you tried this bread mix?

if not, you should

it's easy, easy and oh so good



And once Johnny and Jake came home from work, it was all gone!!

I also bought the Italian herb flavor but have not tried it yet

later......

Where's the snow ...

We have had a very mild winter so far

if we do get some artic air, it only last 2 or 3 days

then we get right back into the upper 50's, low 60's

that's all good for our heating bills and all that stuff

BUT......

I WANT SOME SNOW

please......just one good snow

this past weekend was so cold

2 days didn't even make it out of the upper 30's

and all we got was some sleet and a little freezing rain



So c'mon old man winter...bring the Old Dominion some snow

please

later.....

Clock tower ...

the clock tower at Richmond's old Main Street station

is one of my most favorite buildings in Richmond

We went to a party downtown and the parking lot we were turning

into was across the street from the clock tower

the lot was filled with photographers......probably 20 or so

all with their equipment all set up like they were waiting

for something

I asked them what was going on and they said they were

just photographing Richmond at night.....

cool huh?



and here's a pic of some cool metal art hanging from

the train tracks that go over the parking lot we were in

later....

Catch up ...

I can't believe I've gone this long without blogging

so I guess we'll go with some bullet points...

• My son Jake got a new job. Very excited for him as this could be the opportunity of a real career for him. He starts on Jan 30th

• I've been sick! I don't normally get sick much but this time, it's a real dozey! I think it could be the flu so you know what that means...all of my family and friends that always tell me to get a flu shot, they'll now say "I told you so". haha..guess I will start next year. I am going to the drs today so we'll see if it's the flu...

• The kitchen is still coming along, painting done, I have made the curtains. Johnny still needs to put up the chair rail and we still haven't picked out a back splash

• hoping to snag tickets to see Elton John....fingers crossed

• we have had one of the mildest winters that I can remember. which would be ok if it was mild enough to be outside but it's not, it's still a little chilly and we're just getting a lot of rain. And I just want snow. Give me spring or give me snow!

• I know I'm always putting a lot of pics out there of my doggies but goodness gracious...I just love those pups so much and they give me so much joy!

• Johnny and I have already scheduled out 29 vacation days for this year and I still have 6 days left to schedule....woo hoo!

• My camera is doing an awful job.....and no, it's not user error. I seriously need to have it cleaned but I'm not willing to give it up for 6 weeks. It has dust on the sensor and it's showing up pretty bad now 

and that's it...no pics today

I'm working on my before and after pics of the kitchen to put up soon

later....

Christmas goodies ....

Every year I bake goodies to give as gifts to our

friends and families

and for us to have around the house during the holidays

And the kids always help me...which adds to the fun

but this year we couldn't because of the re-model

so the week after Christmas I baked some of my goodies to take

back to my friends at work
I did haystacks, buckeyes, Russian tea cookies and oreo truffles

Next year though......we're going to start early and add

some new items to what we make

later ...



More kitchen re-model stuff ...

We finally got the kitchen painted

I had thought of painting it silver or a very pale gray but after holding

up paint swatches and looking at them on the wall, I decided

that it made the kitchen look a little too industrial

I needed to add some warmth to the room

So I went with a very pale yellow

and it looks beautiful

Now I need the "pop" of color

Heading out this weekend to look for fabric for the 5 windows

I really want something with red, yellow and black

I've had stripes in the kitchen for quite awhile so I would

love to find a floral pattern.

here's some pics of the paint job

the chair rail is still missing......

we're getting there and we're loving it!

later.....

Christmas prank ... aka Operation Krank!

My family and I pulled off a pretty good Christmas prank this year.

My youngest sister, her husband and their 2 daughters decided

to skip Christmas this year and go to the Dominican Republic

and all of our family was very, very happy for them

BUT....

we decided it was also the perfect opportunity to prank them

just as in the movie about the Krank family attempting

to skip Christmas...they were actually going to do it

They did not put up a Christmas tree but they did put up

a few decorations. So we decided they needed more!

They left for fun in the sun on Thursday before Christmas

so on Friday night, a bunch of us went over there and

raided their attic. We pulled out as many decorations as we could

and put stuff everywhere!! We tried to make it as tacky as possible.

My sister did end up telling us it looked like a 5 yr old had

decorated!!



We had a lot of fun....laughing and coming up with all kinds of crazy

ideas. We also took pictures of everything. Then we all posed in crazy

ways as we were planning all along to make a photo book

of our decorating.

They came home from their vacation on Monday after

Christmas very late......almost midnight.

We sure hoped they wouldn't be mad .... and they weren't!

They loved it and just laughed and laughed.

They even ended up leaving all of it up for their

New Years eve party!!

In the beginning, they were guessing it was a neighbor.

then they thought our brother

then they accused our niece

but the did not have confirmation for sure until this past Thursday

when they received a package containing the photo book.

So we all received phone calls from our little sister

it sure was fun and very glad that they saw the humor and

didn't get mad at us!

so below are a bunch of pics of our crazy decorating....

here's my niece Mallory carting some of the decorations

out of the attic

below is my niece Aimee acting all "evil" about what we were doing..haha!

Mallory and I were getting our cameras all ready

here's my sister Vickie spreading some kind of Christmas cloth on the back
of the sofa

and here's another niece, Abby, getting more decorations out

this photo is really funny .... they had these cut outs in the ceiling of their den as the pipes from the bathroom upstairs had leaked. So the cutouts had to be done to repair the leaks. And I guess with vacation that had not had the time to have these repaired yet. So my brother Tracy put some nails in and we hung some decorations from there....funny! 

We did not put their Christmas tree up...instead my brother went out in the woods behind their house and found this old branch. We stuck it in the Christmas tree stand and put a few ornaments and some ribbon around it. And the 2 black things at the bottom......I guess in their hurry leaving for the airport someone had left behind 2 dirty socks, so my brother added those to the tree!

and everyone needs a pot of ornaments on the stove...right?

Abby, Mallory and my great niece Victoria Ray went up to their cousins

bedroom and had a pillow fight!

and here's Mallory getting the camera ready for our group shots

we all gathered together for these and acted surprised, like we had been caught. We also did the "home alone" arghhhhhhhh!

the group pictures were the ones that we put at the end of the book



It was just so much fun and we were really happy that they

did not get mad at us and seemed to enjoy it!

I think the only thing we need to worry about now is will

there be any revenge!!

later......

Meyer Lemons ....

Have you heard of Meyers Lemons

because I had not

and then I saw a recipe on the world wide web (www) haha...

just had to throw that in!

Johnny and I went to Costco tonight and of course, they had them.
they are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange

here's the recipe that I saw on the internet and
I'm going to try it. I love seasoning food with lemons so
I'll let ya know how it turns out

Wash 6 lemons
Boil whole for 5 minutes
Cut into 8 wedges, remove seeds
Toss in 2/3 cup of coarse salt
Put into a jar.
Place them on your counter for five days and once a day
give them a toss
on the 5th day, add 1/4 cup of olive oil to the top and place
in the fridge
this will keep for a year
you can chop them up fine and use in dips, pasta, roasted on
chicken or fish.......anything that you would add lemon zest to.

later.....



Christmas day ...

I never take very many pictures on Christmas day

I like to enjoy everything going on and feel like I miss out

when I'm constantly trying to catch moments

but I do have a few

here is Jake playing with his remote control car

we gave all of the grown boys toys!

Bucky was still trying to get his ready....

Tom and Lynne spent the night with us and I think they

really enjoyed spending Christmas morning in all of the chaos

or at least I hope they did......we really enjoyed them

being with us

when Nicole, Tyler and the boys show up, it really gets crazy!

and now look.......Jake has the camera

later in the day.....time for naps!

and our doggies were all so worn out

later......

The standoff ....

Jacquelyn and Bucky always spend the night

with us on Christmas eve.....and we love that!

and they bring my granddogs with them

Marley and Ziggy

it's always interesting to watch all 5 dogs interact

and pretty much, they all get along

Nicole captured this picture of Pippa Lou and Ziggy that

I think is pretty funny



later.....

My year in review ... 2011

here's my annual re-cap of the year

here in the Delaney household

JANUARY

In January I shot my first and only wedding! Wow...talk about being nervous.

I did it for a very dear friend of our family but don't care to shoot

anymore. Too much pressure!



January also brought the big time wedding planning for

our daughter Jacquelyn. We made the 6 month calendar for all

of the things to do and just doing that, overwhelmed us a lot!

FEBRUARY

In February I did my one and only photo shoot for the entire year!!

I knew I would be busy with the wedding planning but I

had no idea that our life would take a big turn in March

I was very honored to shoot a local pet photographer in our area, Jenna

MARCH

March knocked us for a loop.....Johnny suffered a stroke

on March 17th and for 4 days they could not tell me that my husband

would recover. I felt like I just drifted those 4 days....I could not focus

on too much, tried to be the rock for my kids but throughout all of this,

I was falling apart. On the 4th day when the doctors told me

that Johnny would be ok and would recover, it was like I was

born again. Like my life was starting back up, like I could finally exhale,

like I could talk about the "next" day....because there was

going to be a next day!

He spent a week in the hospital and a week in rehab

came home and on the 2nd night home had another stroke!

I think we were more terrified by this second one as this time we

knew what was going on!

And then to just add excitement to our life, we had a bridal

shower at the house for Jacquelyn!  Well you know, the wedding was still

in the works and so Johnny insisted we go ahead with the shower.

APRIL

Our son Jake launched his new clothing line ... JDela Designs!

Jacquelyn turned 24 years old

We had a wedding DIY day at the house and we took

a trip to the beach for wedding planning!

MAY

Jake turned 23 years old

We had another DIY day

We traveled back down to the beach for more wedding planning

and Johnny and I celebrated 32 years of marriage

JUNE

June brought a month of so much fun and happiness for our family

Our daughter was getting MARRIED!

Family came from Texas and Georgia

and all of our friends and family traveled to the Outer Banks of NC

for the wedding

It was def one of the most joyus times of our lives! And the

fact that Johnny was with us and able to walk our daughter down

the aisle made it the BEST of times!!

JULY

July 4th we spent an extra long weekend down on the

Chesapeake Bay with family and friends. What a wonderful relaxing

time! We also traveled back down to the beach but no wedding

appts this time.....just fun relaxing on the beach!

AUGUST

In August we added a new baby to the family .... a baby dog, Pippa Lou!

Johnny and I went back down the Chesapeake Bay for another fun filled

weekend!

Our oldest daughter Nicole turned 29!

We had a 5.9 earthquake.....here, in Virginia...wow!!

and then ended the month with a Hurricane....hello Irene!!

SEPTEMBER

Johnny and I headed back down to the beach for our 5th trip this year

and we stayed for 12 days!!!

and loved every minute of it

our grandsons celebrated birthdays....Maddox 6 and Gabe 4

OCTOBER, NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

we decided to re-model our kitchen and that is what consumed

the remainder of our year!

It was fun and frustrating all at once

I cried, I pouted and I acted like a brat at times

but in the end, we have a beautiful new kitchen. And it was

finished in time for Christmas!

Let  me just say, you haven't lived until you live through a kitchen re-model

hahaha

It was another wonderful year at the Delaney house

we feel so grateful, every single day for our blessings

and I thank the good Lord for letting me have another year

together with Johnny.

I hope all of our friends, family and my bloggy friends have a

most wonderful new year .... 2012!

Let's all hope for good things for this year

later......

Happy New Year ...

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope this is one of the best years ever!!!



later....