MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I just wanted to stop in and wish a Merry Christmas to everyone. Hopefully you are not on your computer today but having a day with family and loved ones. 

Our kids are coming today and we are having pizza! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

Hubby's 80th Birthday Today!

Winters Bright Birds

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/winters-bright-birds-madonna/

Today is my husband's 80th birthday and of course he is working on an old car for someone! He shouldn't be because he had a very bad night and didn't get much sleep. But this guy needs his car fixed. I worry about him so much.  

We had his birthday party Sunday and all of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids were here. It was so special and we took a lot of pictures. Everyone (21 of us and 2 little dogs) were sitting in the living room talking and laughing and my husband started talking about his life, growing up during the depression with 9 kids and no money, his years working for the US Forest Service, fighting fires, etc. Everyone was listening and learning. Our oldest great grandson came over and sat between us and at one point put his head on his Great Grandpa's shoulder. I feel so very blessed that we have this wonderful family surrounding us with love. And wow, are they loved back! It makes me sad that so many in this world don't have that. Especially at this time of year when family should be together, if not physically at least mentally. So write a note, make a call. Don't wait until the next day because the next day may not come. 

 

I don't have any Christmas decorations up yet. Just on the back door that everyone uses. Christmas doesn't excite me like it used to. As you get older it almost seems like too much work for just a few weeks and then all the work of taking everything down. We always used to have a big old tree we would go up in the mountains to get and I swore we would never have a "fake" tree. BUT it gets harder to do that and the ones you buy at a lot have been cut for ages and are so expensive for something you are going to throw away. So we did buy a big fake tree and then that got to be too much trouble so we bought a small fake tree that already has the lights on it. I decorated it and now we just put a big bag over it, put it up in the attic and then after my husband brings it down, all I have to do is put a few of the decorations back on that fell off! We may put it up Sat. since one of the great grandkids will be here for the day and might enjoy that.

Mozilla still doesn't  have the Theme User Count fixed and I doubt if it is fixed until after the new year. It really doesn't matter but you never know if something you made was worth while or not. I have enough Christmas designs made for next year but I still keep getting ideas and make more. 

Time to call my hubby in for coffee break and get him out of the cold. I am making his favorite dish for dinner, Orange Chicken, so need to start on that, too. 

If I don't get back before Christmas, I want to wish you all 

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas M & M's

Christmas M & M's from Google Store

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/christmas-mms-new-tab/pibhgapikhgmoimhkjnjckbclljpophd?hl=en-US

I just noticed my M & M Christmas New Tab Theme design was on the Google store now so am posting it.

I took this morning off from designing and worked on our County Comprehensive Plan again. The County Planning Commission didn't accept the City's recommendation to leave our area out of the City Urban Growth Area. Which didn't surpise me when I saw the names of the Commissioners. They are known to be Pro-Growth. I can't understand why people think that growing big is something good. Pretty soon there won't be any farm land left. Cities have to start growing up, not out. I will fight being put into the city till my last day on earth and may come back and haunt them after that!

Mozilla still hasn't fixed the user count yet, either! Oh well, no one is perfect.

Have a good week and take some time to take a breath during this busy, busy time of year.

More later.....

Can't Believe it is the Last Month of 2015!

M & M Christmas

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/m-m-christmas-by-madonna/

I decided since I had taken so many hours putting Santa hats on Minions I might as well take some more time and put hats on M and M's so that is what I did most of the day yesterday. Oh, I did go out and help my husband in the shop put a transmission in a car he is working on for a lady. He wants to retire from cars, but these women call him that can't afford to go to a shop to get their car fixed and he can't say No. He doesn't have heat in his shop anymore. He has a big old wood stove our son made for the shop years ago, but we don't have enough wood left to use it for the shop, so...it is cold out there. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to be with family. Our was very small this year. So we had tons of left overs. My daughter in law made up a left over casserole from the bigger dinner a couple weeks ago, so she did it for me on Thanksgiving. She put a layer of stuffing, then layered mashed potatoes, crumbled up turkey and then poured left over gravy over the top. It is very, very good and and easy way of using the left overs.

Wonderland

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wonderland-by-madonna/

Next thing on my agenda is my husband's 80th birthday! I can't believe he will be 80 this month but the calendar tells me it is so! I am having all the kids, grandkids and great grandkids. I am so hoping everyone can make it. The ones that work on Sunday have put in for that day off, but with the cold season here, it will be a mirace if all can make it. It will be the first time we have all been together for quite awhile. One of our grandson's is a photographer and he is bringing his camera and tripod so hope we can get some good pictures. Who knows if or when we can ALL be together again.

I was going to order a big cake from Costco but my husband doesn't really like them with all the frosting, etc. so I am going to make his favorite cake. It is a simple cake that got popular during the depression because it has no eggs, milk or butter in it. It is called Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake. I will have to make 2 and one I will frost and 1 I won't. I was talking about it on Thanksgiving and one of our grandsons mentioned that it would be something they could make for a roomate, who decided to go vegan. And since there isn't any animal products in it, it would. I just did some Googling and found  lemon, spice, vanilla, carrot and Coffee Kahlua cakes using the same general recipe. So I just tried the spice crazy cake and we will try it during our afternoon coffee break. 

Frozen Tribute New Tab Theme
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/frozen-tribute-new-tab/jcooehokdhliahpkpcdgaohdlpefbocn?hl=en-US

I just noticed that the Frozen and the Family Guy themes I made for Brand Thunder are available now at the Chrome Store.

Family Guy New Tab Theme
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/family-guy-tribute-new-ta/kdojpmdpjggbfeiclplfnelgnfgjdlda?hl=en-US

I better get back to work so I will be ready for coffee break.

Have a great week everyone. Will get back soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Minions Christmas Tree

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/minions-christmas-tree-madonna/

Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? I guess I am. We have had one beautiful Thanksgiving dinner already at our son's home and I will cook our smaller Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving. When a family grows it gets harder and harder to get everyone together for one day so we stretch ours and have several! This Thanksgiving dinner will be the smallest I have ever made in the 57 years of cooking Thanksgiving dinner so I am going to have to downsize all of my recipes.  So that will be a challenge!

Brand Thunder  just notified me that my Minions New Tab theme is on line now.  I had so much fun making them and they were a lot of work. 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/christmas-minions-new-tab/bkngoooohceflkgnbjlkffmkamkokhfj

This shows some of the scenes I made for the design.

My Donkey Kong New Tab Theme is available, too. 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/donkey-kong-tribute-new-t/ckembkokkmlopfkbimhoppfdkpegcmfe 

I had a traumatic Saturday! I think I have mentioned that my husband has resurrected my Keurig coffee maker (that we bought for our anniversary about 5 or 6 years ago) many times. Most people would have thrown it away 2 years ago, but he kept bringing it back to life. And I had read reviews on the new ones and they aren't very good. BUT I decided I had to replace it since it wouldn't stop putting out water! I don't like spending that much money. But I got my new one and if it lasts as long as the old one I guess I can't complain. The new ones won't let you use any coffee pods but Keurig brand. If you put in a different brand it will say Oops! And no one likes an Oops! But our daughter told me about San Francisco Bay coffee and it is half the price and they made their pods with no plastic case. They figured out a way to make them work in a Keurig. It is really good coffee. Plus you can get a Freedom Clip from them in a sample package that you can clip into the coffee maker so other brands or older Keurig pods will work. I think Keurig made a mistake by making their coffee maker to only use their brand coffee, which is good but costly.

I am working on a couple more themes fro Brand Thunder besides the Christmas ones for Firefox so better get back to work. 

Mozilla hasn't fixed the User Count yet and it has been "broken" since November 9th so you don't know if anyone likes your theme or not. I guess it isn't top priority for them.

I want to wish you all a wonderful, cozy Thanksgiving and hope you can be with family. If not, make a phone call!

Veterans Day and New Tab Themes!

Wolves New Tab Theme

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wolves-new-tab-gallery/gbgimmhgblfiflbdfhhkdgmjjkfahlpj

This shows some of the scenes from the Wolves New Tab Theme.

 This theme is the one I am most proud of. I love working with wolves and when Brand Thunder asked me to make this I was really pleased. The design that is on the first tab was made with Photoshop brushes and a fade. I hope everyone will like it that tries it our. You have to use Google Chrome to use this and since I am a true Firefox user I can't use it. Wish I could.

Black Ops III Tribute New Theme

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/black-ops-3-tribute-new-t/mikojcoeddbgcloelblmpkbdmlmakbmo

Halo 5 Tribute New Tab Theme

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/halo-5-tribute-new-tab/hfcncnfeacpameggnjjnngahalfdphjf 

I just submitted 13 Christmas Minions New Tab  Themes to Brand Thunder and will post the link as soon as they are on line. They were a lot of work but lots of fun.

I hope everyone is having a nice Veterans Day. I want to take this time to thank all the veterans out there that happen to read my silly little blog. I thank them for all they have done for us that have stayed home safe and sound. They are the reason we can stay home and be safe. Thank you. 

Have a good week end!

 

November, Start of Busy Season!

Majestic

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/majestic-by-madonna/
 

I have been working on holiday themes.  Brand Thunder asked me to make a set of Minion Christmas New Tab Page themes for them so I have started those. Lots of work putting hats, holly, scarves, etc. on those little guys. But I love a challenge.

The only problem I am having is with my hands. Especially my right hand. I have Reynaud's so as soon as the weather starts cooling down I get cold. I dress for inside like most people do when they are outside, but my hands still get cold. Plus using the mouse so much for placement making themes makes them hurt more. I woke up the other night and my right hand hurt so bad I couldn't get back to sleep.

It looks like the local election turned out the way we wanted but we have to wait until the final tally for sure. One proposition and one council member didn't look good yesterday but that changed after yesterday's count so I am hoping it stays this way. 

I better get back to work. Too much to do.

Minions Decorating Christmas Tree

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/minions_decorate_tree_madonna/