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Viewing Blog: Marjory Steele Skousen - Writer, Most Recent at Top
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Happenings of getting published in MG world or, just the ramblings of someone who likes to write. Im still deciding...
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26. Santa Claus and Christmas at the North Pole

Santa Claus and Christmas at the North Pole

This is actually the home page for the site I just posted. Sorry. I always say I have a P. H. D. in computers, because it means 'Push Here Dummie', Seems I'm always trying to figure out this darn ole computer thingie.

So try both links to see which one you like better. Once again click on the link.

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27. Toy Shop - Christmas Toys, Christmas Gift Ideas, Holiday Present Ideas

Toy Shop - Christmas Toys, Christmas Gift Ideas, Holiday Present Ideas


Click on this site, and let the kids  have alot of fun. Plus,  alot of recipes for anyone who likes to bake and cook Christmas goodies.

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28. HAVE A TISSUE READY!

My brother sent me this email.  I wish the whole world could see this, there are so many things to be learned from this young man. THIS VIDEO WILL TOUCH AND PULL AT YOUR HEART.

Two little Iraqi boys are born with birth defects in the midst of the chaos of war, and thrown away in a shoe box. They are found, somehow; and an Australian woman goes to Iraq, adopts them, and brings them home. Now, about 17ish years later, the older boy Emmanuel lives his dream by appearing to sing "Imagine" on the X-Factor audition. Talk about staring unbelievable adversity in the face and climbing above it!!! WOW!

                            CLICK ON THIS LINK BELOW.

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=W86jlvrG54o&















2 Comments on HAVE A TISSUE READY!, last added: 11/30/2011
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29. Cinnamon Roll Waffles

Canned Cinnamon Roll Waffles: Heat up your waffle maker and grease it with a bit of non-stick spray. Separate your rolls then place them into a Belgian Waffle Maker. Close the lid and press down slightly.    Set the timer for 2 1/2 – 3 minutes.
Canned Cinnamon Roll Waffles: Heat up your waffle maker and grease it with a bit of non-stick spray. Separate your rolls then place them into a Belgian Waffle Maker. Close the lid and press down slightly. Set the timer for 2 1/2 – 3 minutes.
ahensnest.com

  I found this on Pinterest, it looked so darn good, so last night we tired these for dinner. Oh my goodness they are soooooooooo sweet! We tried them with sryup on top and some with icing. Either way it is a sugar rush.


2 Comments on Cinnamon Roll Waffles, last added: 11/16/2011
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30. 50 RECIPES FOR FOOD GIFTS IN A JAR

Great Christmas gift ideas for those you love, like, or just have to give a present to? Here is a link to one of my favorite blogs. She has some wonderful ideas and projects on all kinds of things. But, I love jars and just about anything you can do with them.

So please hit the link and go check out all 50 recipes.

1 Comments on 50 RECIPES FOR FOOD GIFTS IN A JAR, last added: 11/15/2011
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31. BUYING FOR GRAND BABIES THAT ARE STILL IN HEAVEN

Because I had my first child at 32 and my last at 39, it has created a new challenge. You see, at my age I should be a grandma by now.

I really want my kids to have their college years and time to go out and live without the responsibility of having their own families. Because we all know once you have that first baby, your life is never the same. But, for me I sooooo loved having my children that I would love to be a grandma now.

The other day I was out shopping and I saw this darling aviator outfit and just could NOT pass it! Remember when girls would buy and save things for the day they got married and would save them in a "Hope Chest"? Well, after seeing this adorable outfit, I decided I would start my own "Hope Chest" but this one will be for my future grand babies.

As I was going through the little outfits I had to chuckled at myself. Then in my head I  just imagined my grand kids in heaven saying "Oh look, isn't that cute, grandma is already buying clothes for us".


3 Comments on BUYING FOR GRAND BABIES THAT ARE STILL IN HEAVEN, last added: 11/15/2011
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32. Some Of The Best Advice For Marriage



My sister in law gave me some of the best advice I have ever been given on how to be happily married. At the time she gave it to me she had not even been married yet, and is also almost 15 yrs. younger than me. So what was this advice? She told me to accept my husband who he was.

Now I don't know about you, but as a woman that was SHOCKING to me. Try not to improve the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with?

We had many years of fighting and trying to figure out how to get along. We tease now that the only reason we don't fight like we used to is because we are just too tired and old to fight anymore. But the truth is I kept hearing those words, "Let him be him." The more I tired to back off and try to understand why he said or did certain things the more I began to understand and appreciate him. In fact, it was only then did I realize how really funny and wonderful my husband was. That he actually could handle life on his own without my input and that he was a better human in ways I had never thought to be. Seems I'm not always right! Go figure?!

 Have you heard?  Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between the two of them, they licked the platter clean. Or even the saying  "opposites attract"?

Recently we have been stocking our new camp trailer, getting it all supplied with the necessary equipment needed for our new adventures. My husband was looking for the camping fold out table, when he asked me where it was. I replied, "you mean that one we won at the company Christmas party yrs ago. The one we never even used yet?" He says "yeah".  I had to remind him that HE HAD GIVEN IT AWAY!  As we continued to look for things I had to keep reminding him that he had gotten rid of the items he was looking for.

Now instead of getting upset about having to go out and buying these things again, I stopped and thought about who he was. He was a man who came from a home were his mother kept everything, and things where not always put away or even kept in an organized way. Me? I had a mother who NEVER kept ANYTHING! She didn't even have knick-knacks in our home because they were considered clutter. So for me I keep things around like the camping stuff because even though we don't use it everyday, I know we will use it when we go camping. But when my husband decides to clean  he starts throwing everything away.

This made me realize we really balance each other out. He keeps me from collecting too much, and I help him have more toys and things to play with. LOL.

So you see, if I tired to make him change to my way, we'd probably need a bigger house, and garage. But, if he tired to change me, he'd have no toys and things to play with.

Being opposites is a good thing for us. We compliment each other, we keep each other balanced, and definitely we keep each other guessing.

2 Comments on Some Of The Best Advice For Marriage, last added: 11/1/2011
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33. OFF WITH THEIR HEAD'S!!

   Halloween is upon us, and time to get ready for my annual  party. This year I thought it would be fun to have an 'Alice In Wonderland' party. This will be my first time I'm not going to decorate each and every room with decorations, and I'm not even going to put out any scary stuff. Yes, for those of you who know me and have been to one of my parties you KNOW what a change this will be. Since this year has brought about a new life style (some call it those nasty words, "empty nester's".) I've decided I want to be a mad hatter-est! Be crazy and off the wall with some new things, including all new decorations for the event.
   So of course that means 'off to the thrift stores", look what I got for FREE! The thrift store had thrown these away because no one would buy them. I of course saw the upcycled possibilities and the people who worked the donations area were happy to let me scrounge around in their trash.

 "I'd like to interupt this blogging to give you the lastest. There  will be NO party this year. I repeat there will be NO party this year."

Why you ask? Cause we went out and bought us a lovely little 23 ft. camp trailer! So we will be going camping every chance we can get before we will have to winterize  our new trailer.  It is hard to want to party when your kids can't get home for it anyway.


Not for the faint hearted! Yes, I beheaded these dolls.


 I only needed their poor heads. The bodies will be kept for another Halloween when I will add a really scary new head to each doll.



So here is the top of my piano. It is a Alice in Wounderland theme.... with a little of everything.
                              I still need  to decorate my living room for

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34. SWEETEST PUMPKIN I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!!


Can you tell the real pumpkin here? Yep, it's the one in the middle. How many of us mother's  have not called our own sweet children 'our little pumkins'. Well, here is the proof they really are!
This is my niece who is due to have her first baby this month. She had her baby shower this last weekend, this is really a new and creative activity for the party.


3 Comments on SWEETEST PUMPKIN I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!!, last added: 10/10/2011
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35. WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN BAKING!

When my child who is in the Navy wanted more zucchini bread  to be sent to her, I was delighted because her roommates wanted more also. In fact, they told her "We order your mom to make more".  A plea to send two batches of them was the request.

Well, I also have a child away at college in a dorm room, and I knew this kid loved this bread too. So I thought o.k. I'll make a double batch and send some  bread to to both of them. But, then my hubby and third child said they wanted some too.

Now I have only doubled this recipe, so I thought I'll just triple this recipe and give one to the Navy kid, one to the college kid, and keep one for us here at home.

I was so careful to make sure I had tripled every ingredient  going into the mixer. Six eggs, nine teaspoons of vanilla, you get it, large amounts of each ingredient. When I got to the needed NINE CUPS of flour, only four cups fit into the mixer, still needing five more cups of flour and SIX CUPS of shredded zucchini! Now what? I looked in the pots and pan cupboard and found the largest kettle I had. Now I had to dump the mixing bowl of half made batter  into the kettle and hand stir the rest of the flour and zucchini.  Goodness gracious! Talk about wrist hurting, arm pumping exercise workout in the kitchen. How did I not know how much this would make?! So for the next two and a half hours I baked bread and muffins. 

What was I thinking? This is where I still had another 9 cups of ingredients still to go.


This picture does not really show how FULL and  BIG  thing darn thing was.
If you'd like to make some of these yummy things here is the recipe. But! Remember only double if you have too.


Zucchini Bread or Muffins
3eggs                                         1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup oil                                      1 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 c. sugar                              2 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
3 tsp. vanilla                     &nbs

5 Comments on WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN BAKING!, last added: 10/7/2011
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36. ACORN DONUT- HOLES


Isn't this just the cutest
 .

Here are the ingredients.

Tah Dah! You have Acorn Donut-holes.
One of my daughters favorite sweets is donuts, so when I saw this recipe in a magazine, (Sorry, I forgot which one.) it was a "doer".  We made some today, and I swear it only took 5 minutes to do this. Plus who doesn't like the ingredients!


So run to the store and buy pretzels sticks, English toffee bits, chocolate bar, and of course donut-holes.


Break pretzels in half, melt chocolate, pour the toffee bits into a bowl, then dip away. It's that easy!

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37. CUT, PIECED, SEWN, AND MAILED!

This was truly a labor of love making this. I now have one more quilt to make for my son's dorm room. I just want my kids to feel like mom and dad are with them, holding them when they curl up in their blankets.
The color of the blades look brownish here, but they are actually red with gold in them


 

 Each end of the quilt has a red strip of material and I placed four stars in each panel. The white pattern here is the star I used to trace around. (I pulled the star off the Internet.)


I also added anchors to the boarders. This is actually the same  anchor pattern Katie used for her Navy fondant cake. I just pulled it off the computer  then traced around it also with tailors chalk.

If you look closely at the curved piece of binding I used a decorative stitch
 to sew it down to the quilt.


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38. WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!


This is my son at about 3 wks. old. I was 32 when I had him.


This is that same boy at 22 yrs. old with his dad.
   When my son was born I bought him a journal, I even had his name engraved in gold leaf on the front of it. Inside, I wrote my thoughts and my love for him, even how we named him after my father and his father, so he would do good deeds and follow in their footprints of good works.
   I have sat and read this journal today. My eyes are full of tears at how time has flown and what a wonderful child he has always been.
   I remember how when he was  little and  still on a bottle, how he would take me by my hand, and walk to the couch then crawl up in my lap for his nap. This was done EVERY DAY!! Being an older mother nothing else seemed important enough to not stop everything I was doing, and sit down and cuddle with my little guy.
   Now, that little guy is about to go off into this big ole world and finish his college degree. Where did all the time go?

2 Comments on WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!, last added: 9/15/2011
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39. I'M WORKING MYSELF RIGHT OUT OF A JOB!

Katie's graduation from Pierce College.

Katie's graduation from boot camp.

As a mother our jobs are to raise our children to be self-sufficient, and ready to go out into the world and be successful. Well, I did do that. Now I'm not sure I'm ready to let them go! My sweet Katie did running start here in WA, that is were she did high school and college at the same time. OMG she did so well. A week after she graduated she left for the Navy. She is so strong and determined, I wish I had half of her strength and brains.
Now my son goes off for his junior year of college, he is doing a dual major of Physics-Engineering. I will only have one child left at home. My career as a stay at home mom is about to be finished. This has been one of the most rewarding careers of my life. Yes, I loved aviation, I actually wanted to be an airline pilot, but ya know, motherhood was and is far more exciting than I could ever have dreamed.



Here's the key, "When you know who you are and recognize the gifts you have been given, it is easy to make an impact on the world. Yet, when you can see potential in others and play a role in helping them grow..... it is exponentially rewarding.

2 Comments on I'M WORKING MYSELF RIGHT OUT OF A JOB!, last added: 9/6/2011
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40. LETTERS FROMS BOOT CAMP


Our sweet Katie draws us the pictures of things going on with her in boot camp. They are not allowed to wear make-up except for the day of pictures and graduation.
She said that six girls made a comment on how pretty she was, when they saw her with her make-up on.  Boy, isn't that true of most of us women. We look so different with our faces painted on.


Here she drew a picture of her taking her picture, and her firing her weapon. This is part of what she said,"I passed, but the shotgun freakin hurt like crap. I have a big bruise on my bicep from the kickback, because my arms were too short for putting it along my chest. So Ya, OUCHIE.

In her letter she went on to say she was tired, stressed, and  annoyed, " Last night I woke up expecting that I was in my own room then I saw the rack (bed) next to mine and was like "SON OF A WITCH......."

2 Comments on LETTERS FROMS BOOT CAMP, last added: 8/5/2011
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41. A QUILT FOR MY KATIE


This is a Dresden Pattern that I chose for my quilt. Here is the center of the quilt.

Here I have cut out the blade for the small blades. There is actually around 150 small blades to this quilt not including the medium and large blades! Here I have also inverted the blades to make the points.



After I cut out the blades, each little blade was sewn with a 1/4 seem along the top to create the point of each flower.



19 different small blades are then sewn together to make flower. THEN I place it on a 5" square and top stitch around each of the 19 blades.

I wanted to make this for my daughter, so she could always feel like her parents are there with our arms around her. It is only a twin size quilt, but let me tell ya "I HAVE TAKEN ON A HUGE PROJECT!"  Those small blades sewn up are only  1/2 inch wide and about 3 inches long. Over 150 of those at that size! What was I thinking?!

42. FONDANT CAKES


Katie made her sister's B.D cake. This was her first time using fondant. The fondant comes packaged in a block that she then rolled it out.  With an edible spray paint she painted it pink, then she cut zebra strips out of edible paper. Megan LOVED it. So did we. 


This was her second try, and her hardest yet. She had to cook  5 different cakes, only 4 were used. One of those cakes only made it to the garbage can. The cake was made for her friend who is also going into the Navy in Aug. She will become a fire fighter for them. So on the top of this cake will be a red fire truck.  Katie braided some of the fondant to make a rope, then cut out of the edible blue paper for her anchor.
 My sweet girl only has 9 days left before she goes off to boot camp! We are on the count down.

4 Comments on FONDANT CAKES, last added: 6/16/2011
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43. FLYING WITH MY DAUGHTER

This is Katie with the  Cessna 172 airplane we flew in.


I love it here where we live. We can see Mt. Rainer  everyday that we don't have clouds. (Which is not very much.)

We flew over the Space Needle. As you can tell we were only a few hundred feet from it.

This is a view from the Tacoma Port area, looking toward Seattle, WA. This was only about 1300 hundred feet up.

 Seattle, WA
We only have a couple of weeks left, before my daughter is off  to the Naval boot camp. I wanted to take her flying and show her the view from a small plane to see the area. We have flown alot in the big airliners, but small planes can get closer and go slower to really see things. So I took my girl out for  a "joy ride". At first she was a little nervous, but said after the takeoff  she actually enjoyed it. I've always considered myself a good pilot, so that makes me happy.
2 Comments on FLYING WITH MY DAUGHTER, last added: 6/21/2011
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44. MUST HAVE STRONG STOMACH FOR GROSSNESS AND LAUGHING YOUR HEAD OFF!


Being a pilot and having done aerobatic flying myself, I can truly appreciate this video. I even have a story myself doing one of this maneuvers. But in my case I did it to another pilot who had gone to the back of the plane to fix something. I did a lovely barrel roll and watched him do a barrel roll himself, rolling freely about the cargo area. It was pretty funny too.



 
Now, did you notice her feet running amok in mid-air! Toooo Funny. Then did you notice the other girl, who didn't know what to do afterward? It smelt so bad, she buried her nose into her arm! HaaaaHaaaaaHaaa.
But, I question the pilot, was he not aware that she was already sick! So why would he have been so oblivious to the poor girl, cause every one knows the smell of puke is not something you'd want in close corridors. 

The cockpit  would now smell gross:disgusting, repellent,repulsive, abhorrent, loathsome, foul, nasty, obnoxious, sickening, nauseating, stomach-churning, yuck, icky. Yep, that explains the situation.


Just thought I  would "throw" this your way and share some good times, good times with you. LOLROL

3 Comments on MUST HAVE STRONG STOMACH FOR GROSSNESS AND LAUGHING YOUR HEAD OFF!, last added: 5/26/2011
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45. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

It's that time of year again. ASTRA a local Theatre group here in my area  has started the new production for this years preformance of "Joseph King of Dreams."  I'm on the set production right now and boy it is ALOT of work. We work  four to five times a week, putting in 4-5 hrs at a time, working on the sets.

At one of the meetings the director asked for something that a child could run around on the stage with and pretend to be a goat. She suggested we design and paint a piece of wood. Then we talked about maybe a wall quilt of sorts. Then Nancy, the set director,  had brought a head of a lama puppet in, and as I looked at it, I thought "you know, bathrooms rugs could be used for the material of the goat, add some horns to the head of the lamb, cut and rework the head and we might just have what we need."



 So here is my final prop. Took two tank bathroom rugs, sewed together. Cut down lama neck, and used  remaining piece to make a tail. Added horns. Tah Dah! One goat to be placed over  the back of a child on all fours playing like a goat. Pretty good, huh?


1 Comments on BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!, last added: 5/24/2011
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46. NO THIS IS NOT A ZOO~IT'S A GOLF COURSE!

We went out golfing Sat. with some friends, to a golf course nearby called High Ciders. Look how massive this tree is compared to the men, and the golf cart. I love this tree.


After the first 9 holes you drive by the club house. But, on this day they were sitting up for a wedding so we actually had to drive through the center isle to get out to the 10th hole. How funny is that!

This is MY ball on the 12th hole.

And this is how much further I drove it over everyone else. Go Margie, Go Margie, it's my birthday, it's my birthday. And of course, I'm doing my dance thing as I'm singing this.

This is an eagle's nest, right in the middle of one of the fairways! They said last yr. there was 3 baby eagles in their.



4 Comments on NO THIS IS NOT A ZOO~IT'S A GOLF COURSE!, last added: 5/19/2011
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47. This Is For You NO. 7

         BAKED BLUEBERRY CUSTARD FRENCH TOAST

6 eggs
3 cups milk
3/4 cup maple syrup
pinch salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 loaf French bread, cubed
2 cups fresh blueberries (or thawed & drained frozen berries)


Topping:   3 Tbsp. sugar
                    1 Tbsp. cinnamon


Directions:

1.  Break eggs into a large mixing bowl. Beat well with a wire whisk.
2.  Add milk, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and lemon zest; whisk together.
3.  Cut bread into cubes. Add to custard mixture and mix together.
4.  Stir in blueberries.
5.  Pour into a buttered 13X9" baking dish. Spread evenly.
6.  Prepare topping: Mix together sugar and remaining cinnamon.
7.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over French toast.
8.  Bake at 350 degree oven until browned and set, approximately 40-50 minutes.

Yield:  10-12 servings.

3 Comments on This Is For You NO. 7, last added: 5/10/2011
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48. grrrrrreeAAATTTT MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Yesterday was a great day. Every mother should have this kind of day.

My youngest daughter is taking a culinary class at school, so she got up and made breakfast, oven baked blueberry maple stuffed french toast, with shirred eggs . WOW. You could have gone to the finest restaurant to have such a breakfast. The table was set with my bumble bee doll and flower candle holders. And for a special treat, she made a chocolate heart. My other daughter made a cake for after dinner that night. Talk about a day of food, and calories!

No dishes, no cooking, or cleaning, with delicious meals. An afternoon of movies. What more could a mother wish for?









1 Comments on grrrrrreeAAATTTT MOTHER'S DAY!!!, last added: 5/9/2011
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49. Chasing A Rainbow

We had the most intense rainbow out tonight. I don't think I have ever seen such an intense bright strong colored one like this before. I jumped in my car and wanted to see it up closer. I drove over to the grocery store parking lot, and found that this rainbow looked like it actually was clear to the ground. Notice the difference of the sky in a matter of minutes! WOW.  Wish I had a better camera, or maybe knew more about the camera I have. If you look close you can see the three colors: red, yellow, green.  Pictures don't do it justice, it was just breath taking.



6 Comments on Chasing A Rainbow, last added: 5/28/2011
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50. ALMOST DONE!!!!!

Oh, and check out this little piggy my youngest made for me.
Well, here it is.  Stippling every part of this quilt took hours. For the trees I only sewed the outline of them.



Now I just need to make a binding and put it on. I might do some hand stitching on it,  such as adding some fern like stitches just to give a little more dimension.
This mini quilt was all done on my sewing machine, but seemed harder to me than my hand-sewn Sedona quilt. Go figure that one.

5 Comments on ALMOST DONE!!!!!, last added: 4/29/2011
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