it's time for a new year...

happy, happy new year!

let the fun begin....it's 2010!

happy birthday, sweet bee...BUT--

...has it really been 18 {!} years?

a project update

i have been busy with all sorts of projects lately...none of which involve my regular cleaning and cooking duties, of course.

first of all...i must share how 'handy' i have been.  it seems that my sweet corgi, penny, is a chewer.  one evening when she was resting in the laundry room, it seems she decided that the cord and plug that allowed electricity to flow to my shoe dryer was too tempting to leave alone.  she managed to completely chew off the plug from the cord.  well, i love my shoe dryer {it truly is awesome at preventing smelly shoes from dancers and soccer players} so i was determined to fix it.  after 2 trips to the hardware store to get the right size replacement plug, i actually fixed it.  what a sense of accomplishment this gave me...honestly, it doesn't take much to make me happy.

next, i am sure that many of you have seen this book wreath floating around many blogs...

well, that was one project that i couldn't resist.  it is super cheap to make--the creator of this wreath actually bought a book called 'sweet charity' at the dollar store...i was worried that if someone looked too closely at my wreath and saw  harlequin romance pages, they would wonder about me.  so, i went to mardel and looked at their bargain books and was able to find a chronicles of narnia book for $2.50...so i splurged to protect my reputation.  here is my final project-

mine ended up a little more 'tubular' but i like it just the same.  it now has a home in my little, messy office.

then, i tried a 'little' martha wreath...

mine...well, i'm not sure--maybe it's the size of the cards...or maybe it's the number of cards displayed--but it just doesn't have that polished look.  i tried to keep the ribbon simple, just an ivory satin, so as not to clash with the cards, but it still looks rather messy.  oh well, here it is--

now i have a couple of other projects still left to do--some accordion books, a tiny paper gingerbread house, and some gift wrapping surprises.  this Christmas has been really fun in the crafting department--hope you all have found fun things to do, too!

the weekend before Christmas...

the weekend before Christmas, i am certain, is one i do not want to be near any shopping.  i am not a shopper {well, unless you count internet shopping especially at etsy.  i mean what's not to love...shopping with a cup of coffee, sitting on a comfy couch in your jammies, no parking issues, no crowds...need i go on?}.  

so what to do on this weekend?  how about watch movies?  and not just any movies...Christmas movies.  i would like to share with you my favorite Christmas movies.  these are not obscure titles...i am sure they are on everyone's list.  but by mentioning these 5, you may just get a better feel about who i am. 

wait...before i begin, i would like to remind everyone of the best Christmas show (not movie) of all time.

 and in no particular order...my favorites:

national lampoon's Christmas vacation


holiday inn
the one with bing crosby and fred astaire...this is the original movie in which the song 'white Christmas' is sung.  i just love how they do a show for all the holidays at this inn.  what a great idea!


the holiday
with cameron diaz, kate winslet, jack black
i know...it's super cheesy but i can't resist.


love actually
and actually...i only like the version they show on tv--it's edited and so i don't have to watch the one storyline that involves the 'movie' stars. 


now i have saved the best for last...
elf
now...the first time we saw this, my family went with another family to the theater.  the whole movie i was literally guffawing while the other 8 in our group thought it was okay.  well, NOW my family thinks it is so funny--it just took them longer to appreciate this type of sophisticated humor. tee hee 
if you have never seen this holiday classic {well, it WAS made in 2003}, please watch it this year...here is just one of the funny scenes that makes me giggle--

 i hope that even if you will have to do some shopping this weekend, that you can take a couple of hours, curl up with your family, and watch a good movie!

this does make you think...wow!

i came across this interesting article today...

soooo...what do you think will soon become obsolete?

i know one thing that won't -- and that's friends and family!

love you guys!

{just thought i would throw that in!!}

presenting...

the tree...

didn't she do a good job?  and i know i've done my job as a mom when i asked why there were two ornaments not on the tree...she responded with--well, i couldn't find a place for them that didn't throw off the balance of the arrangement!?!  are you kidding me?  you mean all those times we did crafts, etc together she was listening?  ah, i think i can now send her off to college with the knowledge that i did teach her something.  ;D

and also, please enjoy another of my favorite Christmas songs...this one, i promise is not so irritating!

Click To Play

pets only photo challenge

ok...i am not usually one to try contests--and actually i don't expect to win this one, but how could i resist submitting a photo when it involves pets?  for those that know me well...they are all shaking their heads at me these days--how could i go from an 'animal tolerator' to an animal softie?  well, with faces and personalities like my sweet pups, how could you not love 'em?  for this contest at i heart faces, you are only allowed to submit one image...and although this is not my favorite picture of our newest addition {the best one was actually a little blurry, so i decided to not go with it...}, it really captures her sweet nature.  i hope that you all enjoy seeing my corgi, penny...

a little Christmas cheer...

today i started listening to Christmas music...but not your traditional stuff.  sometimes i get in a mood for some fun, festive, and unconventional kind of tunes.  i found the perfect cd for today and i would like to share a particularly good song with you all {which, by the way, i am lovin' all the comments you left about my last post!  thanks...}.  but please be forewarned...don't have your volume all the way up {it starts kind of loud--a Christmas song, you say?...but trust me} and don't push 'play' unless you are willing to hear a potential earworm song.  i hope this makes you smile...



to play my fun song click here

a mother's love

for some who have known me for many years, they will tell you that for some unknown reason i am a bit of a scrooge when it comes to decorating for Christmas.  it's not the idea of Christmas that i have trouble with...i mean, it does commemorate the birth of our Savior.  but if i had to guess where my aversion to the holiday comes from, it might be that there is just so much pressure, self-imposed pressure mind you, but pressure nonetheless--pressure to have your house decked out with a cohesive theme, pressure to have a beautifully decorated tree, pressure to have cute wrappings on your packages, and pressure to give the most creative gifts. there is one really big problem with my reluctance to get sucked in to the madness...MDE!!  

she is what one might call quite the festive girl.  she loves it all...and the tackier the better in her eyes!

anyway, every year she begs for a tree to decorate.  some years we give in...in fact, one year we even got an 8 foot tree which one day actually managed to  fall on me while i was giving it water!  the nerve!  some years we compromise...we have picked up a tree on the way home from church on the 24th {you can really get a bargain!}.  but it remains undecorated for 24 hours and then out to the curb.  last year, the receptionist at her dance studio gave her a small living tree because she felt so bad for MDE.

well, this being her senior year of high school and me being so sentimental...i decided to surprise her and get her a small live tree!  this morning after i went to pilates, i went to a tree lot in the cold misty rain and bought her a 4 foot noble fir.

the tree arrives home...it's still misting outside.  oh, and i have to remove it from my car by myself.  oh joy!

ok...i manage to get it off my car fairly easily {i knew pilates was good for something!} and i placed it in a bucket of water in the garage.  i do know a thing or two about setting up a live tree, right?

while my tree is resting in the bucket and hopefully not closing its' fresh cut with sap...i must find the perfect place to put the tree.  now for those unfamiliar with our pet situation--we have three dogs and one cat.  the cat never ever comes downstairs so she is a non-factor but the dogs...oh, the dogs.  and really to be fair, just my one sweet puppy {well, she is one year old}, the corgi named penny.  she is cuter than all get out {whatever that means, it is a saying, you know} but she is very very mischievous and will play with or eat anything.  so my thought is that it needs to be up off the ground.  the photo above shows where i have chosen to place the tree...just disregard the fact that miss penny can very easily get on the sofa arm to reach the tree--maybe she won't think of that!


next i must climb into the attic to get the tree stand.  talk about excess--for some reason the family that usually doesn't have a tree has three tree stands!  i choose the lightest one...my thinking is that once the tree is in the stand, i have to be able to lift the entire thing to put it on the table.  what i didn't count on was the hour or so that i managed to work on getting the tree into the stand 'just so' and then still having to tie the trunk to the window latch until i can get another set of hands to help me get it secure and fairly straight.


so voila...

now this, of course, is not the final reveal...the quilted tree skirt that my mom made me is obviously not lovingly wrapped around the tree to cover the stand yet...and MDE has not put her touch on it yet--but what do you think?  this is what ems saw when she got home from dance...

 check back...i am more than certain that MDE's masterpiece will be something you will want to see!

my apologies...

ok...i know, i know...if you are a regular reader of my blog--which by the way, flatters me to no end...i mean, do you really care about my simple thoughts?--but i digress.  i know i promised to start to share, alphabetically no less, the things that i was thankful for this year.  well, obviously, i have not followed through.  so, it's regroup time.  i have several blog topics that i would like to share, plus two adventures.  so, for now, those will be the things i write about.  i hope you find them interesting...or that you want to leave me a comment {because if you look at my blog now...i have no recent comments showing!!} let's just see how it goes, huh?

happy birthday, david!

to MHD...

appy, happy day!

as cute today.....

as he was back then!