Happy New Year's Eve!

Teacup Lane all ready for New Year's Eve!

It's New Year's Eve and I just finished preparing everything and getting our kitchen island all set up for tonight to welcome the New Year.  

I decided to just make the pumpkin pie for tonight with the thought of making our chocolate pie for the weekend.  It's just hubby and I to eat all this stuff so it's better to spread it out over a couple of days.  

I made our Pap's Pizza Bread mix ahead of time so all we have to do is slice the bread and bake it.   We will have baby carrots and crackers with Pap's Dip.  And for dessert, of course, is the pumpkin pie and sugar and chocolate chip cookies.   You will noticed that my mixer is sitting out.  I love my Kitchen Aid mixer but that thing is so darn heavy hubby has to put it away for me.   

We forgot to get eggnog at the grocery store the other day so hubby ran out yesterday and had to go several places before he could find regular eggnog.  We aren't drinkers so eggnog is our choice to welcome the New Year in.  

Several bloggers have been posting about photography this week which made me think I should learn more about my Canon PowerShot S80 then just pointing it and taking a picture.  We had to hunt up the user's guide and I started to review it.  I found out it has some special settings for taking photos for certain scenes like portrait, landscape, night scene, night snapshot, kids & pets, indoor, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks, underwater and digital macro.   I will have to try taking photos with these special settings and I also want to learn more about using the "program" setting versus the "manual" setting.  I took the photo above using the new scene setting "night scene" I discovered on my camera.  What do you think?  

I think we will eat around 6 PM and then start watching our new DVDs around 8 PM to take us through to midnight.  Hubby has the firewood in the fireplace all ready to start.   We just watched Toy Story I and II again this week so we are looking forward to seeing Toy Story III tonight.  What delightful movies the first two were...we just laughed all through them.  

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's and I wish you all the best for 2011!     

Reading & Crocheting

Crocheting and Reading!!

Hello!  

It's a beautiful day here with the sun shining and 45 degrees F.  

I have a few things to do today starting with making the chocolate chip cookies for hubby.  I use the Nestle's Toll House Cookie recipe...it makes about 5 dozen.   Hubby finally got to taste his frosted sugar cookies yesterday.  He was in heaven.     

Tomorrow I plan to make two pies; pumpkin (Libby's) and chocolate (a family recipe).  And Pap's Pizza Bread for our supper (another family recipe).  And while we eat we will watch our new DVDs...."Toy Story 3" and "Shrek Forever After The Final Chapter" and welcome in the New Year.   

I have some good reading material thanks to Santa!  New crochet books!!  And I've started another pair of the fingerless mittens in red.    

Our handsome nephew, Bobby, gave me the cute Ty bear, "Sequoia," for Christmas.

Best Wishes to You for A Very Happy New Year!    

Lovely In White!

Lovely in White!

My new fingerless mittens!

I whipped up this pair of fingerless mittens in two nights.   They aren't perfect...but I love them.  I wore them all the way to Ohio and back for Christmas.  

The yarn in white is Loops & Threads Silky Soft Worsted 100% acrylic and is so soft.   I used a G hook.  

The free pattern is Gigi's Fingerless Mittens - Crochet Pattern (here).   I liked her ribbed cuff in front post double crochet (fpdc) stitch.  The body is half double crochet (hdc) stitch.   (US crochet terms)      

I will be making more of these!!!  

Thanks Gigi!

Home After The Snow Blizzard

Hope you all had a wonderful Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Happy and Merry Christmas!  

We sure did!  We had a great time visiting our brothers and their families in Ohio...good food...fantastic company...lovely gifts...oh, my, how we hated to leave.  

We drove home yesterday after the snow storm that hit the East Coast - luckily we had clear roads the whole way.  We arrived home to a very white Christmas in the Philadelphia area with heavy gusts of wind and blowing snow and lots of snow drifts.   They even cancelled an Eagles game so you know it must have been a serious snow blizzard. 

Our driveway is there....somewhere?

After the snow blizzard!

Luckily we have four wheel drive on our car.

   

After that long drive hubby went right out and cleared the driveway with the snow blower.  It took him longer to finish it due to the high snow drifts.  So...why was I the tired one?  I went to bed early last night and slept 12 hours.   

Today is laundry day and I hope to get our thank you cards done too...well, at least started. 

Santa was very good to us.  

Hubby got me the most beautiful pair of earrings in tiny multi-colored precious stones - they are called "flower buds" and that's what they look like.   I also got a cute "Tinkerbell" watch.   

We have new DVDs to watch and lots of new books to read.  One DVD Santa left for me that I'm looking forward to seeing is the old TV mini series from the 1970s "Rich Man, Poor Man" based on the novel by Irwin Shaw.  

For several years I have been watching to see when this series would be put out on DVD and could hardly believe it when I saw that it finally was out this year.  I know most critics go on and on about Nick Nolte's acting but I'm a Peter Strauss fan myself.   I have not seen this series since it first came out on TV back in the 1970s.      

Well, I better finish up the laundry.     

Have a most wonderful day!

The Singing Christmas Kitty

Merry Christmas to all my Blogger friends!  

We're off to spend Christmas with family... traveling via car to the Mid-West (Ohio) to see our brothers and their families.  

Isn't this the cutest little singing Christmas kitty!  

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. 

Thanks so much for visiting me and making 2010 such a wonderful year for me.  

Bless you and yours this holiday season. 

Christmas Lights

I took some videos of our foyer and living room all decorated for Christmas.

I think it is pretty with the lights shining at night.

Hubby says I have to work at not shaking the Flip video camera while filming but it's so light weight that's not as easy as it sounds.   So...sorry about the shaking videos.   

I love the Flip video camera...we got it for our trip to Alaska this summer.  It's so small it fits right into my purse. 

As many of you may have noticed I have been experimenting with videos on my blog.  I finally discovered I can download them on Flickr and then copy the HTML code into Blogger to post.  

When I tried previously to download them directly from my computer it didn't work at all.  And I didn't want to post them on YouTube.  Flickr limits the size of the video so I have to watch that.  Something new to learn every day for this old lady. 

I'm getting excited about Christmas.  We are traveling via car to the Mid-West (Ohio) to spend Christmas with our brothers and their families.  Oh, how I wish we all could live closer together.

When we were working we looked forward to the time after Christmas through New Years to be home...relaxing...celebrating our Christmas...and welcoming the New Year.  Now that we are retired we find we are still looking forward to it. 

Wrapping and packing is all done...dinner is made to pop into the oven tonight and tomorrow we get up early to start our road trip. 

We might come back home to snow....keep your fingers crossed for us.   

   

REDnesday - Christmas At Night

Here's what our outside Christmas decorations at Teacup Lane look like during the day.

You can see the very light dusting of snow we received the other day!

And here's the same view at night.

It was very cold out when hubby took this video for me.

There are more REDs to enjoy with our host, Sue, at 

It's A Very Cherry World

(here) 

for REDnesday!

Christmas Signs

I love these Christmas signs made by Dee at Farmhouse Mercantile (here).   

I thought I would try posting a video rather than just posting photos.  

Mrs. Claus' Corner Cafe sign has glitter all over it...it is just magical.   

What do you think?  

Aren't they just the cutest signs!

Thanks Dee!  

Mosaic Monday - Crochet Time

Courtesy of Flickr

Past Crochet Projects of Mine

1. Pretty Flower, 2. Red with White Flower and Pretty Pearl Button, 3. My Crocheted Throws, 4. One Corner, 5. Merry Kringle Edging, 6. White/Red Doily, 7. Close Up, 8. Jolly Little Goody Bags, 9. Black Beauty All Folded Up

A pretty mosaic of my crocheting for Mosaic Monday!

Here's the most recent crochet project I just finished.  A pretty neck scarf for my niece.  

The body is Lily Sugar n' Cream 100% cotton yarn - color "Pastel Print".

The edging is Loops & Threads Silky Soft 100%  acrylic yarn - color "White".

I made this in a few evenings this week using a G hook.

The body was fairly quick...the edging took a little longer with all the picots.

The body yarn has touches of pink and a little blue throughout it.

All Finished!

The body of the scarf is based on Julia's Isar Scarf free pattern which can be found (here). 

 I modified the pattern from a start chain of 40 reduced down to 20.  I made the length very long (almost 80 inches).  

The edging is #129 of "Around the Corner Crochet Borders" by Edie Eckman.

For the edging first I added to the body a row of single crochet to each end of the scarf and then I double crocheted all the way around before I started the #129 edging.

I hung my Grandma Twinkle Stars up for Christmas too!

Please join Mary at The Little Red House (here) for more Mosaic Monday!

Christmas Home Tour

Our Christmas Angel Doll

Come on in out of the cold and snow!  

Yes, it is snowing - our first snow of the season!

It's so nice to have you here at Teacup Lane!

I cut a fake berry vine into pieces and made berry rings for our kitchen chandelier.

Here's a pretty wreath in our kitchen!

A vintage marble base lamp passed down from my Mother covered with a pretty Christmas lamp shade.

Our staircase all decorated with ribbon, Christmas cards, garland and rope lighting!

The rope lighting is so beautiful at night!

Another view of our decorated staircase.

Santa Claus felt door cover

Another cute felt door cover.

Our dining room chandelier with garland, berries and ribbons.

We bought this beautiful church at Boscov  - it's our first official village building!

Hubby received this lighted home as a Christmas present from his employer one year.  See the little dog house and puppy!

These are teapots I added to the village.  Mickey "Santa" Mouse is ringing in Christmas!

All I had on hand was batting to use as snow!  It's a little thick...looks like lots of snow came down on our village!

Hubby is still hooking up the train track.  It just fits on our dining room table.

The crocheted Santa door knob cover is vintage!  This is Mr. Gingerbread Man.

Another vintage crocheted Santa Door Knob Cover and presenting Mrs. Gingerbread.

Close up of our living room Christmas tree ornaments.

Our living room Christmas Tree - cost all of $25 from Target two years ago!

We love the slim Christmas trees!

Beautiful berry vine garland and huge red and white ribbon topping!

Hope you enjoyed your tour!  Come again soon.

Please join me for:

Make It My Day at Backyard Eden
Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursdays

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Artie at Color Outside the Lines for Vignette Fridays

Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday
 Tammy at Tinsel & Company for Deck The Halls Friday (here). 

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming for the Sunday Showcase Party

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show of Your Cottage Monday

Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday  

Where's The Line for Jesus

This Christmas song is going around the internet via emails and can be found on YouTube too.  

Here’s the story behind the song, Where's The Line for Jesus, as described by - I assume -the author: 

"While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, "Where's the line to see Jesus?"  My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes.  After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends. 

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He sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus. My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it.  I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.  It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus.  With goose bumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special.  The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville .... still no response.

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Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube. The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there. We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CDs, iTunes, anything .... we had nothin'.

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After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious.  We headed back into the studio this past spring, this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs --the real deal -- and here we are today. We set up iTunes, put a website together, and were loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  

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Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults cannot understand.  Hopefully Spencer's observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus.  We all will one day stand in line to see Him; being saved here on earth will make that meeting much more special. We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you.

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Merry Christmas everyone."

And this song has become one of my all time favorites...Alan Jackson's Let It Be Christmas!

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

REDnesday - At Home With Teacup Lane

Christmas at Teacup Lane

Some of our Christmas decorations around Teacup Lane.

"Monty" and Santa Claus

Too Cute For Words!

Gingerbread Ornament

Lots of Reds Here!

A Very Christmasy Painted Pony!

I have always loved horses!  

A Vintage Santa and A Very Red Christmas Platter!

And A Very Merry Christmas To You!

There are more REDs to enjoy with our host, Sue, at 

It's A Very Cherry World

(here) 

for REDnesday!

And Julia's Hooked On Holiday House Tour (here)!