Made in america christmas

This year I decided to join the challenge to purchase American made products for Christmas gifts.

1. beauty rest therapeutic mattress topper for us
2. tervis tumbler for Boyd - filled with candy
3. tervis tumbler for Tom - filled with candy
4. tervis tumbler for Sherri - filled with cocoa
5. tervis tumbler for Nathan - filled with candy & cash
6. tervis tumbler for Jordan - filled with candy & cash
7. 8 handmade place mats for Mom
8. handmade quilt for Sherri
9. sinful nail polish for Brittany

This is most of the gifts I gave, the other items were all under $5. I'm happy with how I did.

What I learned.... I could find out where physical products were made, I could not find out where most food products were made. That is so wrong!

With my sewing projects, unfortunately I was not able to find fabrics made in the USA. I have them on the list since I made the finished product.

I did struggle with one thing. Hot cocoa if you can believe it. I heard that we should buy Swiss Miss instead of Nestle, because Swiss Miss is an American company and Nestle is not. While Nestle may not be owned by Americans there are 28 Nestle plants in America, including one in my town. I went with Nestle to support the local division. I have not researched Swiss Miss to know if they make products in the USA or if they are just an American owned company.

Will my purchases make a difference in the grand scheme of things? The news says yes - many of the companies featured on the news are adding employees.

On another note, if you're looking to add cabinets in the bathroom/kitchen, look for made in America - even at the local box stores. Word is they are expanding the Made in America lines since the foreign made cabs don't last as long. - working for an American cabinet company, I know that they will appreciate it. If you happen to buy from the company I work for, I will appreciate it. =)

One little word....

it's that time of year again when I try to think of one little word to live by.

My 2011 word was Build - honestly I forgot it fairly early in the year and I didn't end up building as many things as I had hoped.

In past years I've chosen Live, Dream, Be, and Believe.

Hmm looks like I have a thing for B's. ;) hehe .... Boyd, Buddie and Blume :)

as for this year's word I haven't been inspired.

December 27th

In general today is a roller coaster kind of day for me.

Ten years ago today I received the totally unexpected phone call letting me know my daddy died. He died from the same heart condition his mom did. To this day it frustrates me so much because three months earlier he was here for my wedding and I asked him to be tested for the heart condition. He told me that he wouldn't have it because it generally affected women. Because of the way he died his four remaining brothers were tested and I think three had corrective surgery.

One life lost and three saved, I know I should be thankful.

This has been a rough year for me, with the death of a classmate, 20 yrs since my grandfather passed away and 10 years since my daddy died.

Tonight I learned that one of my best childhood friends (Mark) is in Mayo clinic with severe heart problems. They are currently talking heart, liver, and kidney transplant his liver and kidneys started failing because of congestive heart failure. He is two years younger than me with three children. Such a sad situation...he's been in the hospital since Nov 1. As happens with many childhood friendships, we lost touch when his parents moved out of the neighborhood.

I am so thankful for my hubby and my puppies. DH has taken care of me since I got home, letting me cry when I need to and just making sure I'm ok. The dogs are so tuned into our feelings. I couldn't keep them out of my lap. It is so soothing to have a warm pup in my lap and pet them. Kind of takes the stress of the day away.

My mind keeps wandering from the here and now to memories of my dad and memories of playing wiffel ball, Frisbee tag, and football in the back yard with all the neighborhood boys.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Marks family.

Merry Christmas Eve

This has been a fun holiday week!

Merry Christmas from the Shaffers



This morning I woke up early and finished putting together the gifts for my family. I made some quick envelopes for the cash I decided to give my nephews. I worked and worked on the quilt for my mom but didn't get it finished. Oh well! I'll finish it hopefully this weekend and drop it off. =)

Christmas with my family was fun, we were late cause I was quilting . We had an awesome brunch with way to much food. Egg casserole, frosted cinnamon rolls, pecan rolls, muffins, french toast, and waffles. YUMMY!

Dinner conversation rolled and my brother and I only argued once. I liked that we sat around the table visiting once we were done eating. Hearing memories of holidays from my nephews is always fun.

Mom and the nephews did the dishes, with me monitoring so they got stuff put away in the right spot. :)

Then it was time for gifts. The boys all enjoyed their Tervis tumblers. =) Nathan looked at Tom's and asked why he got the big daddy glass - I said cause he has 2 teenagers and needs a big mixed drink.

Sherri wasn't able to make it - bummed me out cause I wanted to see what she thought of the quilt. I showed it to Tom and Jordan and they thought she would like it.

We ended up staying at moms until almost 2 - totally surprised me but it was a nice visit and Jordan and I had fun playing Uno.

Boyd and I came home and both enjoyed a long nap. Tonight we've enjoyed watching Christmas movies and football. We also did a puppy photo shoot.


Buddie


Emma


Boyd loves his packers tervis tumbler and I love my new pjs. =)

The week before Christmas

This has been a crazy, happy doing what I want to get done for the holidays kind of week. I've had to work all week and I'm amazed at what I've accomplished while I've been off work.

I can't keep track of the days anymore....this is what I've done.

* Got the big tree setup in the living room - still no decs but I love how it looks without them.
* Made 11.5 dozen cookies - in 2 or 3 hours I was totally amazed! Plus I cleaned up as I went. yay me!
* Worked on remaking my mom's quilt - I gave her the top last Christmas and said I would finish it and get it to her. I wasn't happy with it so it never got done. Now I redid the borders and I love it!
* Ordered stuff for the family gift baskets and was happy to get it last night!
* Worked on putting together the gift baskets. Figured out what I still need to get. Seriously considering filling my brothers with pennies instead of a gift card. :)
* Found binding material for four of the place mats and backing for Mom's quilt.

Today I work a half a day, need to run several errands here in town in 1.5 hrs then it's happy hair cut day! After I need to run to the quilt store to find binding material for the other four place mats.

Tonight I need to put together the gifts I have and wrap them. Need to figure out if I can get my mom's place mats done. Not sure on the quilt. I'd love to have it done so I can gift her again.

Busy day at our house!

December 18th

This has been one of those weekends that feels like it's lasted for a week. Especially today, I did so many different things it extended the day.

I slept in until Boyd got home. Then I was up for the day - no naps here. =)

The quilt I was working on is finished, washed, dried and wrapped.

This is the back


This is the front



Since it was 50 degrees, the dogs and I spent time outside, enjoying the sun shine. Of course Emma turned into mud bud .... lol! I can't believe it was so nice on a mid December day in Iowa.

Tonight while watching Christmas movies, I cleaned and got the tree in the living room assembled but not totally lit. sigh! I was covered from head to toe in flock. So was the path from the garage to the living room. That meant pulling out the vacuum, especially once I saw Em eating the flock. :(

Cookie recipes were pulled out and a ready for baking sometime this week. I have everything for a double batch of chocolate crinkle, one batch of peanut butter blossoms and maybe some spritz or shortbread cookies.

Looking ahead at the week I am going to do my best to relax, have fun and enjoy the days before the holiday. I have a few stores I want to go to... I wish I had a longer lunch so I could run a couple of errands then. Instead it will have to be after work. Maybe I can talk Boyd into taking me to work so he can go with me after work. =)

December 17th

Today was a great day for my holiday spirit. I've been struggling this holiday season, feeling kind of grinchy lately.

But today I finally spent a day doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Watching Christmas movies on Hallmark/abc Family. Sewing - finally got my mom's gift quilted and surprisingly to me got my SIL gift mostly quilted.

The art of machine quilting - the stitching that keeps the layers of the quilt together - has never been fun for me. It's usually something I struggle with. Today I'm not sure what happened but everything went smoothly and I had a lap quilt, quilted in an hour.

These are the placemats I made for my mom...



Four of the left, four of the right and the bottom is the back on all of them.

december 16th

Another day at work.... I finally figured out an issue I've been looking at for a few days. After that I was more than ready to go home.

Plus I had some great ideas for Christmas gifts for the family. yay me! I made notes so I don't forget and now I'm so excited to pull them together.

After work my mom called and said she hadn't been able to get a hold of my aunt. So I headed to her house after work. She was fine, just doing house work and didn't hear the phone/didn't feel like calling my mom back. I ended up taking her to the hospital to see my uncle (G).

Imagine our surprise when G said he was getting out that night. I had the truck and knew all three of us couldn't squeeze in the front set. I offered to take my aunt home after picking up his prescriptions.

I do not recommend going to the W across from the hospital in Wloo on a friday night. We were told we would have a 10 min wait. After 20 mins I called a local uncle to see if he could pick G up from the hospital. Luckily he could because we waited at the pharmacy for 45 mins to get the scripts. GRRRR!!!!! Why can't the hospital send patients home with scripts instead of sending them out? We stopped to get my aunt some supper and I hadn't even put the truck in park before my uncles arrived.

Boyd talked to me half the way home - I was so happy - it was only 6:30-7 and it felt like 10 or 11 to me. So much so that I almost turned the corner for my mom's house instead of mine four streets later. =) That made me laugh! I haven't done that in years. All I could think of was getting home and getting puppy licks and hugs from Boyd.

december 15th

so many words, thoughts, feelings have been going through my head it's hard to get things documented.


Today was a hard one for me. With the meds and lack of sleep I was jittery and had total lack of concentration. Luckily my leader 'gets' that and had a side project for me to look at. Lots of different distractions but I got a lot farther than I thought I would.

Plus Santa came to visit us today! lol he and his elf brought us candy canes. then one of the local schools came to sing us Christmas carols. That was cute. I was surprised to see only one little boy really looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

Tonight I had a frustrating drive home in the 15-28 mph winds, a quick trip through the grocery store so I could get milk for mom and get home so Boyd could have the car. sigh! when I finally walked in the door, the pups were acting like they hadn't seen me for a week. I love that!

While supper was cooking, I took some time to putter around the kitchen keeping things picked up and cleaning off my hutch to allow for my santa collection. I ended up picking out my favorites and left the rest in the tote. As I sit here looking at the hutch I really like how it turned out.

Then I stopped over at my moms to see how she and my aunt were. My bro had stopped and taken my aunt home. Unfortunately it sounds like my aunt is worse than my family thought - my uncle has been sheltering her so I was afraid this would happen. Since I didn't pick her up this morning, just after lunch she told my mom she was going to start walking home (a 35 mile highway trip) and hoped that someone would stop and pick her up. My mom finally convinced her that my brother or I would take her home when we got off of work.

It's so hard to have to see my mom go through this with another sister. As the second oldest my mom has always been a caretaker, she has also become the family matriarch with the passing of my grandma in 2005. I worry about how my mom will handle the stress, I know that's she's strong but she's also home alone most of the time. With the holidays it just adds another level of emotions. turning into a grown up bites sometimes!

I went for a short drive around town with the dogs. That helped to improve my spirits. Emmas always trying to sneak a lick and driving with an elbow up gets kind of tiring. Of course I wouldn't have it any other way. She also made me laugh when I was backing into the garage, she would see the exhaust smoke and think someone was out there. She would not sit still.

Once we got settled at home, I decided to work on some more place mats. That I'm hoping to have done for Christmas gifts. I was surprised that it took less than an hour to get four stitched together. Now I'm ready for some quilting over the weekend. =)

Ah Santa Buddies is on, one of our favorite movies! Nice way to end the night.

December 14th

The monday of my week. I kind of like this and it's frustrating at the same time. After resting for three days it was a long kind of day.

An hour before I was off I got a call from my mom. I try not to take calls at work, and knew if she was calling something was wrong. When i got a hold of her I found out that one of my uncles was in the hospital and mom asked if I would pick up her sister on my way out of town.

It was a hard trip for me. I knew that my aunt was/is having memory problems. I told Boyd that the woman I gave a ride wasn't the aunt that I remember. She is my sponsor so I have always felt a special connection to her. They don't have children so that adds to the connection I feel. As I dropped her off at my moms I was left feeling sad, guilty and at a loss for what to do.

Between my emotions, the meds I'm on and Christmas coming and not having our main tree up it was a long night of tossing and turning. Tomorrow will be long. :(

December 12 & 13

Two more days of resting.

Monday I felt yucky again and Tuesday was a bit better.

I did stay up on Tuesday night to watch a couple of shows. Buddie was in my lap almost as soon as I sat down. He hasn't done that in a long long time.

otherwise no exciting info at our house.

December 11th

.... interesting day at our house. Last night the dr point blank said I had to rest today. resting is tiring!

I did a few small projects and Boyd yelled at me when I did. Saying I needed rest. Now it's 6 and I'm tired of watching TV and being online.

Boyd surprised me with a humidifier for the bedroom. He thinks it will help my breathing.

My breathing is 80% better so I guess it was all worth it.

I feel bad though, I had to keep the door closed with the humidifier on. The dogs would follow me up and I had to close the door in their face. :(

December 10th

We had a busy and fun Saturday.

We went to W'loo to the craft show at work and I picked up some fun stuff for me. :) We stopped at a store I had returns at and luckily I realized before going in that I didn't have the receipt.

Then we headed to one of my favorite fabric/hobby stores. They had totally rearranged and added so many products. I spent more time there than I intended but I got some great stuff. More fabric for placemats. Backing fabric for several tops I already have finished. And a natural light on clearance for $10 - woot!

We spent the afternoon watching the spooky Buddies movie I got for the kids at Halloween. Buddie curled up in my lap for the first time in awhile...



Buddies in costume.


Em was in Boyd's lap and wasn't as interested in the movie.

As the night went on my breathing got worse, every breath I took had a rattle. We decided I should go to the walk in clinic. I was worried that I might have walking pneumonia. I can't say how thankful I am that we have this opportunity in my small community.

My favorite NP was working. They did all they typical info gathering and then she listened to my breathing. It's not good when the dr says that your breathing sounds like a ventilator. Luckily she thought it was just my asthma and put me on the good meds to get control back. At the end of the visit she had to get out her phone to show me pics of her three kids. =) Then she stepped back and asked if I had any questions. Love that about her! I really wish she was at the local clinic as she would so be my primary care person.

The dogs were so happy to see us when we got home. =)

December 9th

Friday was a blur. I worked and almost took a half a day vacation.

Boyd worked so I came home and hung out with the dogs.

Seems like I got a lot done but I don't remember anything.

December 8th

Tonight was the big holiday night here in town. The store windows down town are turned into living post cards. Boyd, Mom and I went to the new little restaurant, we all liked the food but they really need more seating and less gift shop.

We had fun walking around and seeing all of the sights. I recognized a few faces and took the time to visit with a few. I also made a stop at the quilt store. They had some great fabric I've been looking for. The clerk told me it was old and they've been trying to move it for awhile. So frustrating! I shop there first and I'd never noticed it before.

My fun, funky new fabric


An old fashioned school teacher, with students in the next window (shoe store)


Elf on the shelf.


Santa...


(all the event pics are courtesy of Boyd from my phone)

Boyd was happy that we made it home in time for the Big Bang Theory. It is my favorite show, although tonight I couldn't concentrate on it. Luckily we record it so I can catch up later. =)

Since it was early, I took the time to cut out the next four place mats for Mom. I'm hesitant about these, I'll have to get a picture uploaded.

The night took a sad turn, I just learned that one of my high school classmates took his own life. He was one of those guys who was quiet but always nice to this wallflower. so sad.

We have lost too many class members and we've only been out of school 20ish years. My mom has been out for 60+ and they lost their first class member in the last three years.

December 7th

Another funky day in my life. I left for work and the car was sounding funny so I turned around and traded cars. Boyd was able to get the car in today and hundreds of dollars later, we have new tires and a few other techy car things. =)

With the late start it turned into a day I didn't feel like working so I took a half a day off.

I ended up doing a lot of busy work, and cleaning trying to get another room ready for decorations. while I didn't get everything done that I wanted, we took the afternoon off to make popcorn and watch a Christmas movie. It was a great day at home!

At one point my cleaning took me to the laundry room. I ended up cleaning off the washer and dryer just so I could add some decorations in the laundry room. I know I have a problem. But I saw this idea online and fell in love with the look. This is my version...


I also put out a couple of settings of my christmas dishes on the peninsula. I'm hoping that will help us keep the counter clean. lol....


We had pizza for supper and it smelled just like a restaurant we ate at as a kid. Supper yummy and now I have lunch for tomorrow. bonus!

Tonight I decided to work on Mom's place mats. I ended up getting the original 4 tops done. yay me! They turned out ok. Now I just need to layer and quilt. Maybe that will be a task for the weekend.

All in all it turned out to be a great day. Just the kind that I needed. A few projects done at home, crafting and it's not even time for bed.

December 6th

Happy 102 Birthday Grandma!

I love you and missing seeing your smile and how your eye would light up. In general I miss the simple things. I always knew you would be there for me and wouldn't judge me. Seven years ... it seems like a lifetime since you left.


Today was an odd, kind of off day all the way around. I realized at the end of the day it was your birthday and how much I miss you.

December 5th

It was a pretty average Monday at our house. I worked until 4, then ran some errands and Boyd worked the night shift.

While I was running my errands I looked around at the streets, side walks and grassy areas and thought to myself it sure doesn't feel like Christmas. It seems more like October or November. The temps are lower this week - mid to low 20s as the high. But we haven't had any significant snow fall. There were a few storms that left us with an inch or two but was quickly gone.

Don't get me wrong, my 30 min commute is so much easier. Especially with all the construction going on around J town. Where they are finally adding entrance and exit ramps. I so don't understand why it wasn't done when they originally built it.

The weather this year has just been a roller coaster. In September Mom and I went to Nathans football game bundled in winter coats and long johns because the temps were below freezing. Two weeks later I went to a game wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and was kind of hot.

As for my errands I went to Joann and got a new quilting ruler to help with Moms gift and some neat fallish fabric for the back of her gift so it can be dual purpose. Then I went to Kohls where I found Tetris for the Wii .... it's currently in my stocking, we'll see how long it stays there. That was my all time favorite game in the 90s. I also got another string of bead garland - it reminds me of what Mom uses on her tree and I've always loved.

Which reminds me I need to figure out which tree is getting tinsel... stay tuned

December 4th

Sunday is a day of relaxing and sleeping in at our house. I really wanted to sleep in but the dogs came in and took over the bed. sigh!

Since I was up I decided to pull out my kitchen decorations for the first time in a couple of years. I'm so happy that we took the time to deep clean the kitchen before the holiday this year. I love how the room feels so much bigger when the counters are clear.

As I went through the two totes of kitchen/dining room decorations. There were so many things I had forgotten about I felt like a kid at Christmas opening gifts. We still need to clean the dining room so I safely packed all my Santas and closed the tote for another day. On the kitchen side of things I actually pulled every item out of the tote and set it on the counter to try and decide what I wanted to use and where. I think I spent twenty minutes trying to figure out what items I wanted in the kitchen window and I'm thinking I want to change it again. =)

Here's the shelf ... I love how the decorations look against the aqua wall.


I finally made the mini Christmas cookie cutter tree. It did not turn out as I was imagining but I'm not sure what is missing. Boyd likes it and with a few tweaks I'm happy with it for now. I'm definitely keeping my eye out for something to add to the tree.



Last year I picked up another slim 4 foot tree for the dining room. I decorated it with red, white, and grinchy green. Again, not what I was imagining and it may change by the time I get to the dining room. =)

I did make a decision about decorations - there are somethings I'm just not sure I want to keep but I have a hard time not thinking I might want them next year. So I'm making a box of the Christmas stuff I'm thinking of letting go. At the end of this season I'll go through it and see if there's anything I for sure want to let go. The others I will pack away and decide next year if they should stay or go.

The afternoon was filled with watching football. My team lost again and after a horrible ref call I'm left wondering if sports are as fair as we think. My gut says no, it's like the high school sports/athletes and who ever complains the loudest/longest is the one who gets the play time or in this case the calls. So sad to see professional sports turning into this.

My day was not all filled with Christmas and football. My mom had called me to say she wanted to go to a funeral visitation and needed a ride. We stopped by a little general gift/craft store on the way. They have some great fabric selections and I was surprised to see some of the fabric I'm using on my mom's gift. She found it and picked it up, I ask what she was going to make and she said she didn't know, but it was too pretty to pass up. =) We do that often - this time it was frustrating until a friend told me at least you know she'll like it. so true.

As I waited for my mom while she was in the funeral home, I thought a lot about how things have changed over the years. How we live our lives so differently than when my mom was a young girl. The woman who passed was the sister of my mom's uncles wife. I asked mom how she knew her and mom said I saw her at all the family stuff growing up. Back when the families of both spouses were invited to everything.

I have an image of what that was like - a house/yard full of people. Tables overflowing, the women wearing aprons to protect their good/Sunday clothes. Little girls in dresses most trying not to get dirty except the tom boys who were in the thick of things with their brothers. Talking and visiting while the afternoon slipped away. No rush or pressure to go off to another task, just taking the time to enjoy life. I experienced some of that when I was younger than 10 and then things started getting busy with everyone being more mobile and on the go.

They say life is like a circle. I hope to someday host events like the long ago summer days - where everyone puts their keys and cell phones in a basket so they aren't pulled away by technology.

December 3rd

This was a great Saturday!

Lots of little projects finished at home and then it was time for the cookie exchange. Jenn asked that we bring a recipe with ingredients. I finally picked a recipe and headed to the store for sprinkles.

I ran into two different friends while shopping and had some nice but quick visits. Plus I got the burgundy paint for the hallway that Boyd's been wanting. And I remembered my sprinkles. :)

The cookie exchange was a good time! Jenn, Cathy and I had a good time visiting and mixing cookies. Laura came later with wine and we enjoyed a small glass. I ended up with 4-5 dozen cake batter pudding cookies and brought home about half. Cathy made peanut butter reindeer cookies that have been the rage on p interest. Jenn's ginger bread had to rest overnight. She said she'll bring me a sampling sometime this week. It will be fun to see her again.

December 2nd

Happy Friday!

Today ended up being a down day for me. It was a frustrating and productive way at work. I ended the day with something that had to be done for Monday morning. Thankfully in the last 45 mins I was able to figure out a workable solution. Now I need to document and make sure that it will work according to T.

When I walked in the door tonight, the dogs ran down the steps to greet me. Buddie is so good, he runs to me tail wagging and as I'm putting things down to take off my coat he sits and waits. Emma on the other hand is totally in my face tail wagging and tongue ready for a lick.

Since all of our usual Friday shows were reruns, we ended up watching a Christmas movie I had recorded. It was cute but definitely not a new favorite.

Tonight I got to dress the bed.... new sheets & comforter, bed skirt and shams all found one sale. I can't wait to jump in bed tonight!

The bed took all of my craftiness. Tomorrow I hope to accomplish a lot around the snow/rain and cookie exchange at a friends.

December 1st

I started off the month, listening to Christmas music on my way to work - TSO one of my favorite discs.

After a long day at work, we are in week 3 of changing to agile development and T is having trouble keeping up with enough tasks for us to work on. Sigh, he gave me a special project today that's 'off' sprint. Nice for me but also frustrating since my time isn't tracked.

On my drive home, I had the urge to go to the local thrift shop. The traffic in town was crazy and there were very few parking spots at the thrift store. That is atypical even though it's the day stores are open late.

The thrift store was running a special on Coats/blazers for $3. I was so excited to find they had some of the blazers I've been eyeing. I almost went to the checkout but something nudged me towards the plates and glasses section. I always take my time going through there as I'm never sure what I will find. Today I scored, they had 2 place settings of my Christmas china. My hands shook when I realized each piece was 50 cents. A few years ago, I broke a dinner plate and knew this year I would get a replacement. All 8 pieces ended up in my arms.

I'm so excited I can't wait to get all my Christmas dishes out!