Chatbug Karen

See this cute little dog? Don’t let him fool you. He is rotten. He used to sleep in his own comfy bed, in a cage, at night. He decided he would rather sleep in bed with us. He barked all night long until he got his way. Don’t tell our other dog. Elsie still sleeps in her bed, in the cage.

How do you like my new hat? I know, it is not a Fedora Hat but it is the only hat I have found that looks halfway decent on me. My sister made it for me and I love it!

This thanksgiving holiday, we will be traveling to eastern Kentucky, where my sister lives. I hear that her children and their families will be there too! It is so much fun to get together and see how big the kids have grown. It makes for a houseful and we may need name plates to help us find places to sit when we eat dinner. LOL

Are you traveling somewhere for the holidays?

My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby, due in December. Friends of theirs gave them a baby shower which I attended. It was so much fun!

I noticed that most of my niece’s friends are pregnant which makes it really nice that their kids will have lots of friends the same age. The moms and dads can find comfort in each others struggles and triumphs. Now, at my age, I say, misery loves company but I am sure these kids are enjoying this stage in their lives.

The baby shower was low key with a few games and opening of gifts. I was impressed by the food. There were little chicken salad sandwiches, fruit and vegetable trays and of course the cake. The theme for the nursery is farm animals and so the hostess made a barn cake. Around the barn she had placed cupcakes decorated with a variety of farm animals faces. So cute!

My sister has been visiting for the past week. When she comes, we usually have projects we sew. This time, we didn’t have a set project and got some of our UFO’s finished. I quilted a table runner but I don’t like the way it bunched up the material. I am ripping it all out. arghh.

My sister made these cute little girl and matching doll dresses.

She would like to think of something to make for little boys. I thought of camo panties for little bitty guys. I also thought plaid Bermudas would be awfully cute. Do you mom’s with little boys have any ideas?

My family has been keeping a secret from me. For months, they have been planning this. I have been told that I didn’t make it easy. Buwahaha! Unbeknownst to me, my son, who lives in Missouri, picked up my daughter, who lives in Florida, at the airport last Thursday night. Her flight was delayed which had them walking into our house at 2 in the morning. I thought we were being robbed. LOL

It seems as if we just picked out Graduation Photo Announcements for these two and here they are, adults. Conniving adults, yes. I like their conniving.

My son and his wife are so sweet. They bought me a wonderful mother’s day gift. Now, I am not complaining because they really should not have bought me anything but they waited forever to give it to me! I am not good at waiting but this was worth it. Aren’t these pretty?

I was looking through pictures and found one I had taken while visiting our son and his wife in St. Louis.
I have been thinking how time goes by so quickly. One minute we are ordering baptism invitations from invitationbox.com and the next we are watching our son practice law. It sounds melancholy but my friends who have graduating seniors, really need to give their kids big hugs. They do grow up quickly!

There is a tradition being made in our family. Our son has always been a fashion connoisseur of sorts. When he was 3, he insisted on wearing his black cowboy boots to church. I didn’t mind but he got some strange looks since it was summer and he was wearing shorts. You know, “pick your battles”. When Greg was in high school, he was very clothes conscious and liked to dress up. Whenever there was a special occasion, whether required or not, he wore a suit. He was especially fond of shirts that required cuff links. We have checked out superhero cuff links, fraternity cufflinks and others but my favorite cufflinks are the ones we found in Washington DC to commemorate his internship with Senator Bayh. Just recently, my husband and I sent Greg a pair of Indian head penny cufflinks to commemorate his internship coming up this summer. It is fun to know that Greg likes cufflinks as much as we enjoy finding unique ones to celebrate his accomplishments.

If you haven’t noticed, our dogs rule the roost around our house. I have been bugging my husband by telling him we need to buy a motorhome. Hubby likes to travel and while I also like to travel, I don’t want to leave our dogs at home or put them up at the doggie hotel. Hubby thinks we have to pay for a motorhome! Why is there always a roadblock?

Take a look at this picture. It looks as if they are saying, “what? You want us to write a pronexin review? Do we get bacon for that? Does it require us to move?

When the kids are visiting, any healthy eating goes out the window. I refuse to listen to hemo rage reviews and read information about diet supplements! Life is to be enjoyed and when my family gets together, we entertain around the dinner table. Last Tuesday was my birthday and so, my daughter and I decided to make a cake. I recommended cherry chip because that is her favorite birthday cake and since we didn’t get to celebrate with her in January, we could eat her cake now. My favorite dessert is cheesecake. We put the two together and came up with this recipe. We were in the grocery store looking up recipes on her iPhone. I love being able to do that. Too bad I am too cheap to get a phone like that for myself. My son has web access on his phone too and was able to make us dinner reservations while en route to the restaurant. It was fun being seated ahead of the crowd of people lined up at the door.

Cheese cake recipe
from halfhourmeals.com
2-8oz packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
9in graham cracker crust
chop up cherries
Beat ingredients together, mix in cherries, bake at 350 for 30 min. Add desired topping, bake 10mins, til center is set.