Here is Rufio on New Years Day! We go from a deep sleep between the pillows......to a walk in his little hooded sweatshirt! He is a ball of energy and has had our attentions exclusively lately! His energy makes him a challenge for training......potty wise he is doing GREAT, it is the rest of everything, the jumping, the biting etc. He is aaaaadorable and he will eventually become a super doggie.......(as he is gifted and talented) hehehe, but not without a bit of efforts and consistency from his MOM AMBER!!!!! Who could not fall in love with that face??? :0)
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Gramza's!

My sweet Niece Elizabeth enjoying the snow at her house! SEE, if you are a child, this is fun stuff! :0) If you are ME, not so much!!!!!!
I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Christmas!!!! Here comes 2009..........wow.

Healthy and delish!
This is a crescent roll tree that I made for our Christmas Celebration with my family today! The base is crescent rolls, then the topping (dip) and then the fresh veggies with a red pepper star at the top! :) Fun, pretty and great tasting! The veggies are cucumber, carrot, broccoli, and red pepper.

Then the delicious and not so healthy! It's CHRISTMAS, it is OK! These are the cookies from our annual work cookie exchange! Everyone makes 10 dozen of their cookie and then we swap and come home with 10 dozen different cookies including a new recipe! How fun right?? On this dish is......Mint Chocolate Trees (mine), Snicker doodles, Pecan Fingers, Chocolate Mint Cookies, Malted Milk Chocolate Cookies, Candy Canes, Pumpkin Walnut Cookies, Frosted Eggnog Logs, Peanut butter Blossoms, and a great chocolate bar. We are ready for Christmas morning, Eggnog and cookies now!!!!!!! :0)

Rufio is making himself right at home........:0)

This is a tree skirt I made for Amber's work. She works at Marcus Theaters and the "M"is their logo! I did not have a ton of time, so I did it with glitter felt and added some beads around the holly berries. It is nice and bold and easily seen.

Merry Christmas to Marcus :0)

A new member to our family!
We lost Buddy 2 years ago.....almost to the date!
Amber got a new puppy yesterday. His name is Rufio!!!!!!! She is in love with him and the WORK of training and teaching begins! He is really a sweet little guy! He is a Bichon Frise and Shi Tzu mix! ADORABLE! :0) I think he will fit our family well! HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all!

Here we go.....our Christmas tree for the family room...themed ANGELS and a view of outside this morning! Booooohoooooooo , yup, SNOW! I really am hoping we do not have a winter like last year, because we got soooooo much snow! I really do not like snow....nothing good about it.....except friends of mine seem to think it is lovely, pretty, fun........bahhhhhhhhumbug! Hehehehe! I will survive! :0)Thanks for looking!

This is my entry for the blog challenge for the arch group.......theme Silhouette's, such fun! You can check out the challenge blog here......
http://gothicarches.ning.com/

I hope you are having a great week! Hugs,Patti

Hi everyone! I have been tagged by Beth at
http://beths-babble.blogspot.com/
and I am supposed to tell 7 quirky facts about myself!

I am not too interesting, but here goes......
1. I like PEPSI(diet and caffeine free), and I know when it is Coke.......there is no fooling me!
Diet Pepsi is my favorite dark soda.
2. I used to be called "carrot top" in school because of my natural red hair! :( Now I have to dye it red, because it is getting too gray! Double :(
3. I would love to win the lottery and play art all day long........and cook too. That would be fun.
4. My feet get cold alot, even if the rest of me is hot. Odd right??
5. I dislike WINTER lots! I used to like it as a child--building snow men, sledding, etc., but it has lost all it's sheen to me, since it became all work and no play.......scraping the car windows, shoveling the driveway and walk, and mostly I hate it when my nostril hairs freeze up from the cold! Grrrrrrrr and brrrrrrrrrrr.
6. Fall is my favorite season EVER......and the changing of the colors to me is a miracle, just glorious!
7. I am confused as to what has happened to my sweet baby girl that used to look up at me in the morning from the crib with rosie cheeks and a big droolie grin..........because last time I looked.......she is marching around the college campus and telling me she is too busy with friends, work and studying to barely get a hug in! Waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM my Mother! (That part is ok, my Mom is amazing! :0)
There you go...........7 things about me.........if you feel like playing........do! I don't want to tag anyone and make them feeled pressured. If you play, let me know so I can read your facts!
Hugs! Patti

Halloween at work! We dressedup with the Hawaiian theme and had great fun! Cathy(Owner) made Witches Brew with dry ice and it was spooooooooky! :0)

Pictures: Top-Steve, Ryan and Chris
Next-Cathy and the steaming brew, that was green and had gummy worms too! Muahaha!
Next-Chris, Patti(Being silly) Julie and Steve
Next-Julie and her sweet little grandson Ethan in his adorable Elephant costume and lastly,
Chris, Cathy, Julie and Steve!
FUN! Ryan even brought the palm tree that was in the background, and we played Hawaiian music and that was fun! Happy Halloween!

Witchy Finger Cookies........aren't they scary? The nails are slivered almonds and the red gel is the finishing touch! :0)

A Halloween canvas (6x6)for a personal trade! Muahaha! I hope she likes it.........what a spookie exchange...BOO!

Pumpkin Sculpting time!!!!
Wheeeeee! This year, I was inspired by the food network...they are having a SHOW tomorrow Sunday the 26th with 4 WONDERFUL pumpkin sculptures, and I wanted to try! Of course, I have no tools....so I did this with a SPOON and a pearing knife! Sheeeeeesh! They use tools for clay sculpting which I may go to Michaels to see if they carry them! Anyways, this was great fun and I enjoyed it! Remember, I am just trying because it looked fun! To me this was more interesting than just carving like usual! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! You try and let me know if you do! Happy Haunting!
Halloween Hugs,Patti

These are Row Houses made for a swap. They are cut from matte board and altered with fabric and paper, transparency, silk flowers etc. We are swapping 3/3 and I look forward to receiving these...the small one is for the hostess!

I have a friend who does lots of volunteer work for the Greyhound Rescue in FL!
Petfinders is holding a contest called the $100,000 Shelter Challenge. You can cast one vote every day (this is per computer so you can also vote from your work computer, etc!)
Grand Prize is a $25,000 grant
Runner up is $10,000 grant
State Winners $1,000 grant
Weekly Winners $1,000 grant
Voting started on 9/29 and ends on 12/14/08. Please pass this on to everyone you know and don't forget to vote daily from each of your computers!
Go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Click on the large purple box
At the very top click on the red "Vote Now"
Enter Florida, Enter Daytona Beach
And Select Greyhound Pets of America Daytona Beach

Even if they do not win the BIG prize, with all of their dog's medical expenses any of the above would be a great help. Thanks much!!!!!!

Amber and I went to the Tattoo Convention in Milwaukee yesterday! It was a long and fun day at the Wyndham Hotel. I took my design with me and after meeting lots of tattoo artists, I had a young man named Clynt Costley from Taboo Tattoo in Dallas,TX do my tattoo! I have worked at Martino's since I was 14, making Chicago Style Hot Dogs and my sweet Mary is the owner. She survived Breast Cancer(Pink ribbon) and is now battling Ovarian Cancer(Teal Ribbon back side) so I got this tattoo in honor of her taking me on as a young kid to work and over time becoming like a second family to me.Clynt did a great job of bringing that hot dog to fun life with all the condiments too.....and the ribbon with Mary's name to honor her! I love it and it's above my right ankle. Just a super job and I have made so many of these hot dogs.....this one looks good enough to eat! :0) I think Mary will think it is hilarious too! I cannot wait to show her! I will let it heal first so it looks it's best! By the way, a Chicago style hot dog is a Vienna all pure beef dog, nestled in a steamed poppy seed bun with mustard , relish, onion cubes, tomatoes, pickles and sport peppers! I skipped the peppers, because the tattoo would have needed to be larger to have a clear view of all the greens...and this was large enough for me! Ouch! Hehehehe! (It is my 3rd tattoo and I am actually grateful that they hurt some.......or I fear I would LOTS MORE!)

Two cards for friends.
One is more of a thank you and the other...just a note of encouragement! :0)
Weekends are wonderful....a time to be outside and also get some art finished....always a joy for me!

My letter is "S" for the banner........everyone had a color choice and then some a theme too. Here are my fabric banners for a swap for the word...ARTISTIC.

Today we cut the grass and edged and then set up our Fall fun! The little hay square, skeleton hand(coming from underground), spider on the real pumpkin, corn stalks(from Dad's garden) and little Fall scarecrows! Now, if you look in the left front window, you will also see a ZOMBIE! :0)Muahahaha!

Last weekend I worked on making the second little garden there on the right, and I plan to extend the left one some and then add a walkway in between to join to the sidewalk from the drive! It should look great when it is done! That might not be for another year! That is ok, we will get to it when we can. Everything is always MORE work than one thinks.....you know how that goes. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs,Patti

Amber took this picture! Isn't it beautiful?
We have seen a few monarchs lately and they are grace in the air! And every so breath taking to see up close! :0)
Hope you have a great start to your week!

Sad news at our home this weekend :o( Amber's little pet rat "Sweets" died unexpectedly last night. She was a very sweet and gentle little creature and will be missed. Lots of tears over her here.......sniff sniff. Amber loved her and you can see the happiness she brought in the picture of Amber and Anthony and Sweets. Such fun in a small bundle. Bye Sweets! <3