Poohbear, Happy belated birthday from thirdfrt. Sorry I am late with this but, I wanted to be sure to wish a great person a great birthday. "Smiles" thirdfrt!!!

Happy Birthday, Nancedar! it sounds like it was tons of fun, I'll take a cookie please, whatever is left over will do. Let's see, it would be the 51st anniversary of my 16th birthday just a couple of weeks ago too, so I'll also have to thank Jude for being older, it seems that you are a couple of weeks younger than me. Dedtired won't confess, LOL. I should certainly hope you'll be around for another birthday next year, you sure aren't THAT old and I'm not either! Annie

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry I've not been over here to chat with you two! I came by a couple of times but seemed no one had been here so I didn't post. Belle, so glad you are home. What a blessing you are to your Mom and neice. That raffle was a great idea, I would never have thought to do something like that to help the family with all the expenses. So glad it was successful. Anj, the situation with your back sure doesn't sound good right now. You poor thing having to go through so much pain and your family is always so busy too. Loved that your friend thought of you and brought you those bins of wood cutouts, books and paints! Woo Hoo! I would have been green with envy too, but the most I've done with my books for the last year is look at them, so know I don't NEED more. LOL With that said, I did end up buying myself a late birthday present and got another Renee Mullins book. I haven't even painted the designs from the last one I bought, but I can't resist her cute designs. This one is little signs/banners painted on the Roc Lon that Belle had used. Belle, can you tell me where you bought yours? I googled it and got drapery lining sites and I looked at Hobby Lobby online because I have a gift card and nothing came up. Of course I know these can be painted on wood and other things too, just thought it might be fun to try the Roc Lon. Gosh, all three of us have Cricuts now. We are going to have to share pics of our creations with it sometime too. Belle, I haven't made much this past year, but I did make a few cards and was pleased with them. Still want to do more, although they do take a bit of time. Good way to make smaller things and use up scraps too. What do you use for words? So far I've just used some rubber stamps--but I always hold my breath hoping that I get it on straight and it doesn't smear! LOL I love doing the vinyl lettering on glass and I've made several 2x4 block sayings--those get pretty heavy if you put too many sets in one storage box so be warned! Anj, I bet your kids like using your's don't they? Will really come in handy for some of those school projects too. Belle, I want to go back and relook at some of the items you had made for the boutique. You sure did some cute stuff I remember. Anj, I'm surprised you remembered my little sign. It's still hanging on my side gate outside. Will be a cute design on a can. I can't wait to see all the neat projects you are making for the sale. We are doing pretty good here. February was the one year anniversary of DH's diagnoses. We've come a long way in that year. Was a real learning curve for me in so many ways, but with lots of good helpers and prayers, we are doing pretty good. Sort of settled into a routine, and as soon as I finish the rest of my organizing projects, I'll be ready to do some painting projects. Actually, I'm ready now, been thinking about it and wanting to for awhile, but just haven't gotten started. I do feel proud of my accomplishments though. Got the office/computer room rearranged, cleaned, and put a twin bed in there. I still have boxes of cords and wires in the garage to dispose of and a few more file drawers to sort through, but nearly completed. Then I sorted tools and kept only what I thought I might need and gave away the rest. Let son have first pick, then neighbor's nephew, the guy who helped with the motor home and my contractor neighbor on the corner all took some and I donated the rest. Now I'm doing the golf stuff. Kept DH's most recent bag and a few hats, shoes, golf balls etc. just in case he might ever wonder about them. (very unlikely, but makes me feel better to not get rid of all his toys) Have three of his golfing buddies coming on the 5th to see him and I'll let them take whatever they want then probably donate the remainder to one of the schools that have golf classes. DH had way more than he needed, five golf bags full of clubs, six pairs of shoes, lots of gloves, tees, balls, towels, hats, etc. Just no use in having them sit around unused. Anj, I saw the birthday greeting. Thank you for your kind wishes. This one made me officially Medicare old! LOL Mentally, I can't believe I'm that old--but there are days I feel even older! LOL I'll make sure I get by here more often this next week. Need to see Belle's answer about the Roc Lon fabric for sure. Luvs

Morz8, I cooked. It was a simple meal. Two weeks ago I ordered a bag of Russet potatoes. We don't eat potatoes every night and I didn't want them to go bad so I made twice baked potatoes, put them on a cookie sheet and froze them. I put them in a zip-lock bag for future use. I had bought a filet on sale several months ago, cut it up into steaks and froze. The sauce for the steak was 3 T. butter, divided, 1 med. shallot, minced (I did not have...used mine all up so I used white onion), 2 sprigs Rosemary, 2 sprigs of thyme...I had in freezer, 1/2 C. dry white wine, I used Vermouth, 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard. Melt 1 T. butter, add shallot, Rose. & Thyme. Cook 2 min. or until shallot is tender. Add wine and mustard, cook 2 -3 min. Add remaining 2 T. butter and juice from steak that was resting. The whole meal was put together in under 30 min. How easy is that!