The SU Bundle 3-Day Sale has been a big hit!! Unfortunately, several of the bundles are already sold out. They were only a limited amount available - SU mentioned putting about 10,000 of the Curly Label aside and they are SOLD OUT. Also sold out is the All In The Family, Star Struck and the Mission Embossable bundle. You can still order these items individually but just not at the bundle savings. When you click on the items (see link below), it will show whether it is still available or not.

Check HERE for pictures of the bundle items still available.

Rub-Ons are on sale HERE.

You can get the Country Living bundle HERE

Thankgiving foods .... start walking and a pie recipe

Below are listed some traditional Thanksgiving food Points. They sure add up fast.  I don't even want to tell you what mine were!!  Look out "Y" - I'll be there next week!!!

• Green bean casserole (¾ cup) *4
• Candied sweet potatoes (1 cup) *8
• Garlic mashed potatoes (¾ cup) *6
• Mashed sweet potatoes, canned (½ cup) *2
• Cranberry sauce, canned (1/3 cup) *3
• Bread stuffing (1 cup) *8
• Pumpkin pie (1 slice) *9
• Apple pie, 1 slice (store-bought) *7
• Pecan pie, 1 slice (store-bought) *10
• White meat turkey, 4 oz, no skin *4
• Turkey leg, 4 oz, with skin *4
• Wine, 2 fl oz *1
• Vodka, 2 fl oz *3

Here's a Thanksgiving calculator to see how far you need to walk next week!!  For example ....

1 piece pecan pie (1/8 of 9-in pie)   -   480 calories

1 piece pumpkin pie (1/8 of 9-in pie)   -  180 calories

A slice of pecan pie, A slice of pumpkin pie, ...that comes to 660 calories. You will need to walk 6.6 miles, 10.64 kilometers, or 13200 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

While we're talking about pies, I tried a new pie recipe Thanksgiving and it was really good!  It was in the Charlotte Observer & called a Twofer Pie because it was a combination pumpkin and pecan pie.  It's definitely NOT a Weight Watcher's recipe!!

If you want to try it, here's the recipe:

• 1 (9") single pie crust, partially baked & cooled
• Pumpkin filling:
• 1 C canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 2/3 c heavy cream
• 1/2 c packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tsp dark rum (or flavoring)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Pecan filling:
• 1/2 c corn syrup
• 1/4 c packed light brown sugar
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted & cooled (I just used marg.)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 C pecan halves or pieces

Position oven rack in center of oven & preheat to 450.  Put pie plate w/crust on a baking sheet lined w/parchment paper or silicon baking mat.

Combine all pumpkin filling ingredients in food processor & process, stopping to scrape down sides as needed, for 2 minutes.  Leave filling in processor for a minute.

Place all pecan filling ingredients - except pecans - in mixing bowl & whisk until smooth.

Give pumpkin filling a final pulse in food processor; then rap the bowl on counter a few times to release air bubbles.  Pour into the crust.  Spread nuts evenly over the pumpkin layer.  Pour the pecan filling over the top, pushing any nuts that float back down.

Bake 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temp. to 300 & bake 350-40 minutes longer, until top is puffy & a think knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Thanksgiving is just a memory

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and I am still stuffed!!  We had a very nice Thanksgiving at my home yesterday.  My sister spent the night with us on Wednesday so she & I got a head start on our cooking when we woke up.  We had done most of the work beforehand so just had to make a couple of salads, pies and casseroles and figure out the timing of cooking it all!  This is the only time of the year I wish I had a double stove!!  We cooked the turkey on high heat and it only took a little over 3 hours .... the only drawback is every time the oven was opened, it got smokey in the house!  We had the doors open and a fan in the window.  Luckily, it was in the 60's and a beautiful day.  Our friends and relatives started arriving about noon and we munched on hors-doerves cheese and crackers - while waiting for dinner.  The guys went outside and played a little football.  After dinner, we sat around the table and played "Table Talk", a tradition I started last year.  It's a game of thought provoking questions.  I put 3 under each person's plate and they can pick one of them to answer or answer them all if they so choose.  The questions are like "What event in the past, present or future would you like to witness?"  What is your favorite childhood memory?"  It's a great way to get to know someone and sometimes you find out more than you wanted to know!!

Here's a pictorial tour of Thanksgiving at my house!

Our table setting .... BEFORE all the food!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't this centerpiece gorgeous?!!  Our friends, Sharon & Bob always order the centerpiece for the table since Sharon doesn't cook!!

Marianne's oldest son, Derek, catching the football!

Harrison going for the ball .... if he doesn't lose his pants first!!

This beer's for ..... Marianne!!  Go Steelers!! 

My daughter, Ashley and her friend, Drew who joined us.

My sister & my husband.

Girlfriends!

 

Both my sisters on clean-up detail!!

After dinner snooze!!  My daughter's friend Drew and my mom.

Some Interesting Thanksgiving Trivia!

Three towns in the U.S. take their name from the traditional Thanksgiving bird, including Turkey, Texas (pop. 465); Turkey Creek, Louisiana (pop. 363); and Turkey, North Carolina (pop. 270).

Originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade—to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season—the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy's employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.
Tony Sarg, a children's book illustrator and puppeteer, designed the first giant hot air balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927. He later created the elaborate mechanically animated window displays that grace the façade of the New York store from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.

The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country--the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.

Though many competing claims exist, the most familiar story of the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.

Sarah Josepha Hale, the enormously influential magazine editor and author who waged a tireless campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the mid-19th century, was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a planned production total of 49 million in 2008. Just six states—Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri and Indiana—will probably produce two-thirds of the estimated 271 million birds that will be raised in the U.S. this year.

The cranberry is one of only three fruits—the others are the blueberry and the Concord grape—that are entirely native to North American soil, according to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long. It was baked on October 8, 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, and included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamon, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crust.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you plan to spend it. I hope that you are with friends and family who appreciate you.

I will have a full house tomorrow and just hope my turkey is thawed in the a.m.!! I spent today making my potatoes, apple pie, green bean casserole (2 different kinds!) and tomorrow will work on the cranberry salad and pumpkin/pecan pie. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Stuffing the Turkey

Before you stuff your turkey ....... read this!

The Turkey Shot out of the Oven
by Jack Prelutsky

The turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed into the air,
it knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.

It ricocheted into a corner
and burst with deafening boom,
then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.

It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
there was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there'd never been turkey before.

It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl,
there wasn't a way I could stop it,
that turkey was out of control.

I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
that I'd never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

Stampin' Up has tons of bundles on sale. Click HERE to see the flyer. Start making your list as these bundles are only available while supplies last. Check it out & give me a call or e-mail me with your wish lists. This sale starts Nov. 26 and will end Dec. 1 so there's not much time to take advantage of these great prices!

Crafty Monday

My sister and her girlfriend came over this morning and we played in my stamp room ALL DAY!!  So much fun!!  To begin with, we each picked out a Color Challenge from Splitcoast and a Sketch Challenge.  I gave them my notebook full of stamp sets & let them pick any one they wanted and we sat down and each made a card!!  They turned out great and they learned they don't need my guidance every step of the way and they could do it on their own!  Here are our cards -

 

This is Sharon's card (Girlfriend!).  She is sending this to a friend who is her final fight with cancer.  Very simple but pretty, don't you think? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my sister's card.  She used a stamp set from Great Impressions.  (She loves snowmen cards!!

This last card is mine.  The stampset is actually one Marianne brought over that I thought was soooo cute!!  And the "Happy Holidays" is a retired SU set that I bought at a sale this summer.

After doing our challenges, they made several Christmas cards from my Tuesday night class.  When I put away all my supplies from my class this week, I kept out 2 sets of each card kit just for this purpose.  So, they were able to work on the cards while I finished up some calendars I am trying to get done by Thursday!!   My sister also went through some of my card samples and found a snowman one (done by Wanda!) and made about 5 cards like it.   It's so cute and easy to do.  We used my Nesties for the Snowman circles and Dazzling Diamonds embossing powder for the sparkle.

 

I snapped this picture while they were working.  They didn't even know I was taking it - not real flattering but you can tell they are hard at work!  I kept trying to clean up their table for them and put things away but they liked cluttered like that .... would have driven me nuts!  Also, notice the quilts in their chairs!  I like to keep my house a lot cooler than most people and they usually freeze & complain!!  I just tell them to put their woolies on and come prepared!!  I actually turned the heat up today for them and I had on short sleeves!!

 

Tomorrow they will be back and we will be working on Christmas Organizers.  I'll post the finished product. 

Sharon

Whew am I tired! Marianne, "Girlfriend" (her friend, Sharon) & I spent ALL day at the Southern Living Christmas Show today. It is a tradition with Marianne to attend the Christmas show every year. She used to take our Mom, but she is just not able for us to drag her around that place. She wants to stop in every booth and "touch & feel"!! We arrived at the Merchandise Mart at 10 a.m. and left around 5!! Boy, do my feet hurt - that darned old plantar fascitis is acting up again and that concrete floor did not help it! But, I got a few items toward Christmas - a few things for Ashley and my grandkids. I got Jayce a book that will be written with his name in the book - all about animals. Can't wait to see it - they were out of it at the show and will mail it to me.

Speaking of Jayce, Darcie had the funniest story on her blog this week. It seems whenever Jeff goes out of town, something seems to happen to her. They live in Tucson so it usually has something to do with the animals in their area. This time, she was jogging with Jayce in his jogger stroller & he spotted a snake. Turns out, it was a baby rattler ... fortunately, a dead one. But, Darcie thought if theirs a baby, there's probably a mama around somewhere close. Later in the day, she was returning from taking Cassidy to school on one of the desert backroads she has to take & a "cat-like" creature crossed in front of her car. She stopped and saw it staring back at her in the woods (or I guess there it's the cactus!). She thought it might be a bobcat. When she got home, she googled it and it didn't look like a bobcat, so she googled another animal, and guess what it was!! A baby Mountain Lion!!! Seems she's always telling Jeff she's afraid to jog in the morning alone in case a mountain lion gets her and he laughs at her and tells her they don't have mountain lions in their neighborhood, but she better watch out because the sky might fall on her. Guess who's having the last laugh this weekend????

Tomorrow, I need to finish up the Calendars I'm making for the gals for Thanksgiving - 3 down & 5 to go!! And next week, Marianne & Sharon will be coming over for Cardmaking 101 so I have to come up with a few projects for them. PLUS .... get working on my Thanksgiving placecards & napking rings, PLUS my menu & grocery shopping.

Have a wonderful weekend!

These cute little boxes are easy to make. Here's the pattern to make the box. Wouldn't they be cute with some little Christmas candy in them? What are you waiting for? Get busy - select your paper - cut out your pattern!!!

Christmas Cards, Part 3

Well, I had my Christmas Card class tonight and I think it was a big hit to the ones who were there.  I had 3 "no shows" - they just don't know what they missed!!  But, I still had a good manageable crowd - about 12 gals and only 1 "newbie" stamper.  My sister took her under her wing and helped her with her cards.  Thanks Marianne!! 

Here's a couple more of the cards we worked on.

 

This one was just not a hit!  I don't think anyone did this card and I like it because it is different.  Judy helped me clean up and commented on it at the time, saying it was really cute in person.  The "pot" is made with punches (square and word window) and I used the star punches for the tree.

 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, but I got this reindeer stamp on Saturday at Michael's in their Dollar Bin!  I liked the reindeer in the SU set, Winter Post, but just wasn't sold on the whole set.  So, when I saw this little stamp, I grabbed it!  It had "Bliss" on the stamp also, but I used my Exacto Knife and cut the word off and put it on the side of the stamp. 

I used the scallop punch for the silver paper and the Curly Label Punch for "Merry Christmas"

Enjoy!

Sharon

More Christmas Cards

My Christmas Card workshop is tonight and so far, my count is for 14 ladies!!  Woo Hoo!! 

Here's a couple more of the cards we are going to be making.

 

This card uses Season of Friendship from the Holiday Mini.  The darker tree is embossed with Copper Embossing powder.  "Merry Christmas" is a rub-on (on sale!!) and the designer paper is from Ski Slope in the mini.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this may be my favorite!!  This card also uses the Ski Slope designer paper.  I used my Top Note die for the white & Baja Breeze piece and embossed the saying in the corner.  I punched out a Sizzix snowflake and put a crystal in the center.  The ribbon is some I found in my stash and I used a little gold cording to gather the ribbon in the center & wrap around the ribbon also.

Sharon

Let's Make Some Christmas Cards!

I've been busy all day getting ready for my Christmas Card Class I am having for my neighborhood on Tuesday night.  Are you coming? Whaddya mean you don't want to hop on a plane, fly hundreds (if not thousands) of miles, rent a car, get a hotel room, just to come?  Oh, well...I know you can't all make it, but a girl can try, can't she? 

I've made 10 different cards to pick from and I'll be posting them this week for you to drool over!  I'll even give you directions if you want to make some of them on your own.  The gals will be making 7 cards out of the 10 so I've tried to do some different things.  It's always so hard to decide!  I've done a lot of the stamping and cut everything out since I don't know what level some of the ladies are on with Creativity!!  Better to make it easy than to spend the night at the Clubhouse!!

This first card I'm sharing with you is actually using retired colors and paper with the little Christmas tree from Punch Pals.  The circle actually swings free (just a glue dot right below the knot so it can be used as a little Christmas ornament for the receiver!  Cute, huh?  I used my Nestabilities to cut the Cranberry circle; my Scallop punch for the green circle; and my 1 3/8" punch for the River Rock (tree) circle.  The holly leaves are actually one of my clear stamps.

 

Sharon

The Swap Nazi!

I used to be the Queen of Swaps!! I loved making cards and swapping them with fellow stampers - usually on Splitcoast. But, since I have hundreds of cards that I need to weed through, I have really cut back on my swaps. The only one I do anymore is with Jami Sipley from Splitcoast. She was a Dirty Dozen gal at one time and she is a strict swap hostess. I always hated it when there was a deadline and the hostess believed all the excused participants would give her and grant them a few days leeway. We refer to Jami as the Swap Nazi!! They are due when they are due and no doubt about it! Another good thing about Jami's swaps are that you don't have to make a whole bunch of cards - usually 8-10 which is not bad. Plus, she does not post the swap on Splitcoast before privately inviting swappers who are really good. I feel priviledged to be included in her group. She recently hosted a Christmas swap and these are the group of cards that I received.

Monday Mailer- Nov #1

This is the Monday Mailer I received from Lynn Griffith when I returned from my trip. Isn't it great!!

I got another one this week but haven't had time to take a picture.

Lynn used the stamp set "True Friend". Our theme this month is Thanksgiving or Thank You cards.

Touring Charlotte

Tuesday Sonny and I went to the Levine Museum of the New South in downtown Charlotte with our Newcomers & Golden Boys Groups. Sonny was not too thrilled to have to go to a museum but I think he changed his mind by the end of the day. I would highly recommend this museum!! You will find Charlotte's heart and soul in the museum's current program, New South for the New Southerner. Historian Dr. Tom Hanchett led a lively educational discussion on Charlotte's history and its future, covering topics as varied and colorful as why so many streets are named Sharon, what business was like in Charlotte before interstate banking, and what food and drinks were originated here (am I the only one who likes livermush???) This lighthearted lesson in local history is ideal for newcomers and natives (such as me). I feel like although I was born and raised in Charlotte, I really don't know her! I left for college in 1966 and basically, never returned except to visit. So, I get very lost in the city and don't recognize anything downtown!!

After the lecture and seeing some of the exhibits (hands on) in the museum, Dr. Hanchett led us on a walking tour of Charlotte. We went into the Bank of America building which houses an impressive traveling art exhibit which is open to the public. We visited the Mint Museum of Craft and Design where I had to fight back the tears. In my day, this building (Mint) housed Montaldo's department store. My grandmother and great-aunt, Love, both worked there. When I was young (12-13 years old probably), every Saturday, my girlfriend and I would take the bus downtown (today, it is referred to as UPtown). We would go to Montaldo's and visit my grandmother & aunt, go to Woolworth's to buy some Tangee lipstick (remember that???), down to Trade Street where my grandfather worked at Stein's Men's Clothing and he would always give me some money and take us to lunch (probably Tanner's hot dogs) and then we'd go to the Carolina Theatre to watch Elvis gyrate!! Such wonderful memories plus Montaldo's is where my wedding dress was purchased!! The walking tour was quite interesting though and we saw things that I wouldn't normally see and learned a little history about my hometown.

If you have guests visiting, I would highly recommend the Levine Museum!! Even if you don't have guests, go yourself! I know I will go back. And, perhaps take a little walking stroll myself to see what else I uncover down .... opps, UPtown!

SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out

Want to win this stash????? If so, go to Sheetload of Cards website and check them out. Every month there is a free downloaded magazine with card samples and sketches. I'll be posting a card soon using one of their sketches.

Gift Giving Guide

Getting in the Christmas spirit yet? Stampin' Up! offers products that make great gifts, whether they're intricate projects for dearest family and friends, or smaller gifts such as party favors or gifts for neighbors. Our products offer you endless options--for any budget or recipient.

Here is a Gift Giving Guide for you. Contact me to order any of these items to make your gift giving easy!!

Use this list to find gifts in your budget, whether it's less than $10, $25, $50, or $100.

Happy Birthday Jeff

Today is my baby's birthday. I don't think he'd like for me to refer to him as my baby, but that is what he is to me even if he is 30 years old (or young) today. It doesn't seem like he should be 30 yet .... it just makes me that old + 30! But, indeed he is with a wife, 3 great step-daughters and a beautiful 2-year old son. He is a great dad and husband. When he married Darcie, he took on the responsibility of raising her 3 girls, Torri, Kennedy, and Cassidy, who has special needs. He never thought twice about it. That is the type of man he is and why I am proud of him. He and I have our difficulties at present, but I hope and pray, some day, we will get past our problems.

For his birthday, I put together a scrapbook of memories for him. I used the theme "Where has the time gone" because that is what I feel!! It seems only yesterday that I was holding him in my lap while he was sucking his thumb and holding fast to his tattered blanket.

Here are a few of the pages from the book.

This is a great quote that I got this summer from Quick Quotes and thought it was appropriate at the beginning of the memories.

I hope he will enjoy taking this walk with me through my memories and remember how much I love him. It was bittersweet making this album. I had tears and laughter all along the way - just like I did when he was growing up. Oh, the memories I have that are not in this book!!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy of mine!

Love, Mom

Joey's Name Frame

Well, I feel like I've been going non-stop for a long time & I'm ready to stop the train and slow down!!  We got back in town late Sunday afternoon and didn't even go straight home!  We stopped off at a local bar/restaurant to catch the Steelers game on tv.  At half-time, I called my sister who told me the game was on our local CBS station, so we headed home to finish watching them LOSE!!  But, I had unpacking, laundry and a lot of catching up to do on the DVR to do.  Monday was bridge day; Tuesday was a Newcomer's event in downtown Charlotte (details later) and Bunco that night.  Today .... was heaven!!  I didn't even get dressed until after noon and just vegged out .... well, actually I worked on a baby gift that I have been needing to get done. 

Our sweet neighbors in Gig Harbor had their first child the day of my birthday party.  Little Joey was born on early Saturday morning, Oct. 18th. 

Joe & Ramey have decorated his room with jungle animals so I thought that would be appropriate for his name frame.  I found some green striped paper in my stash and covered the cardboard backing of the WalMart frame.  Next, I used my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug to cut out the Always Artichoke & Vanilla cardstock ovals.  I stamped the letters in Chocolate Chip and embossed them with clear powder.  The animals are from 4 different SU stamp sets - Wild About You; Unfroggetable; Bugs & Kisses; and Sock Monkey.  The little saying (precious little one) is a SU rub-on.  I added a little ribbon on the side with a round clip from the Hodgepodge Hardware set and a brown plaid button that I found along with a little lady-bug button for accents.  I thought it turned out really cute!  Hope they do too.

Rub On Special

The sentiment featured in the card (above) is from Season of Cheer Rub-Ons (112843).

Get 20% off all Rub-Ons when you spend $20 on Stampin’ Up! products.For only $8.76 per package (regularly $10.95), you can get any of Stampin’ Up!’s fun and unique Rub-Ons that can be used on cards, scrapbook pages, crafting projects, and more!

Item # Rub-Ons Description

111416 - Chateau Bella

111417 - Word Flurries

111414 - Hidden Garden

111277 - A Perfect Day

110283 - Take Note

111806 - Chills & Thrills

111804 - Chit Chat

111415 - Greatest Moments

111805 - School Days

110282 - Anchored

112844 - Old Saint Nick*

112843 - Season of Cheer

112735 - Garden Blossoms**

*From Holiday 2008 Mini Catalog

**From Celebrando Creatividad

Why?

Why Is it?

Why is it that if someone tells you that there are a billion stars in the universe, you'll believe him, but if he tells you that a wall has wet paint, you'll have to touch it to be sure?

Why do we press harder on our remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Deep in the jungle, why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

Why isn't "phonetic" spelled the way it sounds?

If money doesn't grow on trees, then why do banks have branches?

Why is it that people who spend their day sitting down often earn more than people who spend their day working on their feet?

Ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face he doesn't like it, but when you take him for a ride in the car, he sticks his head out the window?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up every two hours?

~Quick & Simple Magazine

5 state in 5 days!

This has been a busy week. I have been in 5 state in 5 days!! Feels like that movie .... if it's Monday, it must be Paris - or something like that!! Sunday we went to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia and then to Virginia to a few wineries. Monday, we were in Maryland for the football game; Tuesday, we had dinner in downtown DC; Wednesday we went to Pennsylvania!

Yesterday we drove to Gettysburg. I don't know what I was expecting but it was really neat. I thought it would be just a bunch of graves and markers but it was nothing like that. The neatest thing was that at the visitor center, you had your choice of getting a map and driving all around the battlefield (which as really huge); boarding a bus for a tour; OR what we did .... get a tour guide to drive our car and give us a personalized tour. Our tour guide was probably about 80 years old and quite knowledgeable. He has been doing this for 16 years - since he retired, so you can imagine! Before we left the Visitors Center, he asked us where we were from and if we had any kin that fought in the Civil War. I wish I had been prepared because I don't know. But Sonny knew he had a relative who was a Butcher and his last name was Gibson. So, John (our tour guide) looked up Gibson in the Pennsylvania book & we narrowed it down to 2-3 men. Then we were on our way to find the monument from the Regiment our relatives were in. All along the tour, John made the battle come alive for us. If you ever get a chance to go to Gettysburg, this is the best way to see it. It was $55 for the 3 of us, but if we'd done the bus tour, it was about $25-30 per person!

After we finished our tour (about 2+ hours), we drove over to York, Pa. That is the home of York Air Conditioning & Heating (now Johnson Controls) which was Sonny's employer until he retired. York was also the first capitol of the US and very historic also. We didn't get there until dark so we just drove by the plant and found a nice restaurant for dinner. We wanted to go to Lancaster and the Amish area, but Ashley had to get back. We'll save that for another time.

Tomorrow, we'll leave here & head to Virginia Beach. I'm looking forward to meeting some of my NC stampin' sisters and learning some new tricks at SU's convention. Ashley will join us later in the day after having to work.

Election Spoiler - We were ready for some ..... football!

One of our signs we were waving proudly!

A sea of BLACK & GOLD & the final SCORE!

I just realized I haven't let you know about our wonderful Monday night WIN in the Redskins home. We started out with a little tailgating. Our cousins from Pittsburgh brought the Pittsburgh beer - IC Light & some kind of Churchyard Brew made locally in Pittsburgh. We provided the kielbasa and kraut plus chips and dips - the artichoke dip in a bread bowl was a big hit!! Of course, we all forgot about me - I'm not a big fan of beer and usually drink Hard Cider, but since there was none, one of Ashley's friends had hot chocloate and Caramel Bailey's. Of course, I had to try a cup!! Yum!

Our seats at the game were fantastic! We were 10 seats up from the field and at the corner of the end zone. We were real close to the Redskins Hog-ettes as you can see from this picture. If you're not familiar with the Redskins, these are men (old men at that!) who dress up each game like women and wear pig noses!! If you are interested, here is the history of the Hoggettes. The game started out a little slow - Washington scored 2 field goals in about the first 10 minutes. I was definately getting a little worried. It seems whenever we go to watch the Steelers play, they usually lose. The local fans were going wild and I thought I was going to have to knock the lady next to me out. But then things turned around during the second half and we never let them get a touchdown. Big Ben injured his shoulder in the first half and when our back-up quarterback came on the field at the second half, Redskins fans thought they had the game in the bag!! We showed them! The stadium was a sea of Terrible Towels waving. It's just amazing that wherever we go to watch a Steeler game, the Steeler fans almost out number the other team's fans. This was definately the case Monday night and especially at the end of the game - we Steeler fans were the only ones left!!

Enjoy my pictures!

This first one is of Ashley (#36) with her Pennsylvania cousins (about 2nd removed, I think!).

This is Ashley & me after the game - smiling big!!

This is Sonny & I - in our seats!