Apologies

With all the craziness in December a few things got put off until the new year.

Obviously regular blogging on my part was one of them.  I'm not going to declare that "I'm Back!!" or anything that dramatic.  Those of you that have followed me for awhile know that I don't blog on any kind of regular time table.  I apologize however if your December was in any way less grand because of not being able to read my blog.  Somehow I doubt this, but I'll put it out there anyway.

The other thing that got put off was the shipment of naughty bunny mugs.  As soon as the giveaway ended, I ordered them from CSN which shipped them promptly to my house.  The only problem being that they shipped the FOUR mugs I ordered in one box.  Apparently they come from their maker in sets of 4.  Since I had ordered this many, I got four, in their original 4 pack box. That's fantastic, because that left me having to find coffee mug shaped boxes, suitable for mailing, in the busiest shipping month of the year.  So sorry to my winners, I decided to put off this task until the new year.  Tops on my list this week is to find boxes and get these in the mail.

My tree, and all my other Christmas decorations are still up, and I have no immediate plans to take them down.  The amount of work involved hurts my head. I really don't understand how some people decorate for EVERY holiday to this extent.  Most other holidays are acknowledged in this house by a different hand towel in the guest bath.  Yeah, I know, I got all out.  Then there are the gung ho people that take it all down the day after Christmas.  You know who you are, (ahem, cough, Kim, cough).  Really, how do they do it?  I was still nursing a headache from only having about 4 hours sleep Christmas Eve.

Of course, next year, this won't be a problem.  On Christmas morning, when the hubby and I finally dragged ourselves out of bed, after hours of the kids coming in and trying to extricate us from our slumber, we decided that we'd had enough of staying up until the last of the kiddos FINALLY fell asleep so Santa could come, only to be woken four hours later by those same children who somehow require a third less sleep on Christmas.

No, we aren't going to stop believing in Santa.  What we are going to do is wake the kids up right after he comes.  Yup, next year as soon as the kids are asleep and Santa comes, we are going to wake them all up, (the hubby wants to do this with a bull horn) and drag them all downstairs for present opening.  Then they can either stay up and play with their toys or go back to sleep, but we will be able to go back to sleep and not have to worry about being woken up at 6 am by impatient kids.

2010 Wrap Up

The month of December was insane.  First my mom visiting, then my mother in law.  After I was done with house guests it was a mad rush to finish Christmas shopping, mail off gifts that were getting shipped, and prepare for the big day.  On December 23rd, it occurred to me that the family might want something fancier than Hamburger Helper for dinner on Christmas day.
I called Honeybaked and was still able to procure a ham, and on Christmas Eve I set out to grocery shop for all the dinner accompaniments.  

Christmas itself was great.  The hubby had been hinting around at the fact that he had broken our tradition of just buying for the kids and had actually got me something, so I purchased a couple of gifts for him.  I got him some new cologne and DJ Hero2.  He liked them a lot.  

All month long I had been fishing for hints since I'm not good at suspense or waiting for things.  While his mom was here visiting I made her a cheesecake.  As I was getting out my hand mixer
to make it, I asked him "OOooh, Is my present a stand mixer?".  He said "No".  I made a sad face.  My mother in law says "You mean one of those Kitchen Aid things?  You need one of those.
I'll buy you one for Christmas."  Now this ends up being a gift for her too, since she is moving here, and I know is hoping there are a lot more cakes and cheesecakes in her future,
not that I'm going to complain though.  

So it turns out that this WAS what he was planning on getting me, but had not actually gone shopping for.  Now that his mom said she was going to buy me one, he had to come up with something else to get me since there were two presents from me under the tree.
SEE why we usually don't do buy for each other.  It gets so damn complicated.
 On Christmas Eve, while I was wrapping gifts and grocery shopping,

 the hubby took the 3 girls to the mall to shop for a present for me. 

 Before they left I dropped a couple of hints as to what I might like.  

I mentioned that I always liked Willow Tree figurines.

Hubby said "What in the heck is that???"

My oldest said "I know dad, don't worry."

I ended up with a Willow Tree figurine from my hubby and each of my girls.

Perfect!

The hubby also was responsible for picking up the stand mixer from his mom.  

She and I had gone shopping for it before she left, but the store was out of them, 

so she had left the money so we could get it when they got more in.

Hubby went to Kohl's though, and ended up getting me a MUCH better one 

for the same amount of money as the regular one she and I were looking at.  

It isn't pretty red, but it has all metal parts so it will hopefully last forever and ever, 

plus it has a larger capacity and stronger motor too.

Even though I knew I was getting it.  Even though he didn't wrap it.  

He wouldn't let me open the box until Christmas day.

So after presents were opened, I broke this puppy out and set out to make a Red Velvet cake for 

Christmas dessert.  To say it was a miserable failure would be an understatement.  

It's been a long time since I've made a cake from scratch, and I learned that Red Velvet is tricky.  I ended up throwing the first one out and making a second one the day after Christmas. 

It was edible, but still not what I'd call good.  I guess I'll just have to do a lot more practicing.  

Darn.

The last two weeks of December were consumed with house hunting for my mother in law.  

We looked at the good, the bad, the ugly, the smelly, the quirky, the lost in the 70's, 

and the ones that only a match could improve.  

We ended up finding a little cottage on a creek built in 1905 that spoke to her.  It's kitchen consists of one wall of rotting cabinets and a sink.  The single bathroom is the size of most half baths in houses nowadays, and has a shower so narrow that I really have to wonder if super models lived here.  I can't imagine any normal sized person being able to turn around and soap their butt in this thing.  In addition to that, there are parts of the roof that leak and parts of the floor that have rotted away.  It's a really good thing that her sons and I are slightly handy.  It is going to be a LOT of work, but I think it will be super cute once it's done.  You can expect a lot of home remodel blogging starting around the beginning of February.

House Guests

On Monday I picked the winners of my Bunny Mug giveaway.  Since I only had three comments, it wasn't too hard to figure out who my winners were.  In case you were looking for a big announcement, that would be reason #1 why there wasn't one.  I ordered the mugs, and emailed the winners for their addresses.  Now as soon as the mugs show up, which looks to be sometime between Monday and Thursday of next week, I will send them out.

Other than that, I've had house guests.  My mom to be exact.  She's been here since Monday and leaves next Monday.  Then on Wednesday, my mother in law comes.

Right before receiving house guests, I was able to get my tree up and decorate my mantel.

I got new stockings for the older two last year after Christmas at Target.  

They didn't have the little one's initial.  

Plus, hers is pink, and has monkeys, she's kind of attached to it.

There used to be this company called Christmas Around the World.  

They sold awesome Christmas stuff using the home party plan (like Tupperware)

Then they wen't bankrupt.

I was sad.  

These gingerbread houses are the last thing I got from them.

I was so excited this year that I finally had a mantel again 

and could use my "JOY" stocking hangers.

I opened the box they were in to discover that a snow globe had not survived the move.

Other contents of the tote were ruined, the stocking hangers were attempting to rust.

They were able to be saved, but I did have to put new felt under the J.

These hurricanes usually have candles in them.  

I took the candles out and filled them with little wooden ornaments my mom had given me

 from when I was a kid.

 That's about the extent of the decorating around here.  New lights were purchased for the outside of the house, but since they haven't been put up yet and the hubby only has one day off this week, I don't think they are getting done this year.

Homemade Christmas

As I've been exercising my creative muscles this past month, the kids have wanted to play too.  Every time I pull out the craft supplies, they are right there saying "Can I make something?".  That gave me an idea.  They are old enough now, 14, 12, and 9 to really start thinking about Christmas in terms of giving rather than receiving.  So I told them that this year, I want them to make presents for each other, grandmas, and mom and dad.  I gave them a week to plan what they want to make and took them shopping at the craft store this weekend.  They came up with some really good ideas.  It will be interesting to see how they turn out.  I won't post any pics until the gifts are given, but look for them in a future post.

Christmas 2009

Remember last year when I wrote this post. Well I did. At least most of it. I forgot the part about the wine. Mostly I remembered that I could save myself a lot of money by getting the kids these

Seriously. Have you ever seen a happier child. All for a $15 backwards robe contraption.

I also enlisted the help of my oldest who no longer believes in Santa to keep the magic alive for the two younger ones. Have you heard about Zhu Zhu Pets. They are little fake hamsters that come with all the balls, cars, and tunnels to play in like the living kind without the smell and the poop. Really pretty awesome. Except everyone else thought they were awesome too and they couldn't be found anywhere. The littlest one saw me looking at them selling for over twice their retail value on eBay and said "Zhu Zhu Pets. I want those." I told her she might be waiting for awhile because mommy couldn't find them anywhere. To that she said "Santa will bring me

some, and if he doesn't, I'll know he isn't real". So when I saw that Walmart was going to be selling them, one per person, starting at 7 am a couple days before Christmas, I made the oldest get out of bed and go down there with me at 5 am to get in line. Turns out Walmart hadn't advertised this sale very well because there weren't a ton of people there. We bought our two and then rushed over to the next closest Walmart and got two more. We then ran all over town trying to find their toys. Good times. The end result was worth it though when they opened them Christmas morning.

The middle one swears that next year she will catch me putting the presents under the tree. If she only knew how close she came this year. It was after 11 and I was sure they were asleep. I brought all the gifts in and put them under the tree. I had JUST turned off the lights in the front room when she appeared at the top of the stairs rubbing her sleepy eyes. I told her she'd better get back to sleep or Santa wouldn't come. She turned around and went back in her room. If the lights had still been on she would have seen everything. I've got maybe one more year with her. She will be a good helper though once she knows. She doesn't believe in the tooth fairy anymore but has made up elaborate stories about what the teeth do in "Toothland" after the tooth fairy takes them for the youngest one. She's so believable my youngest writes notes to the tooth fairy asking if her teeth are having fun on the roller coasters they ride on Tuesdays, LOL.

Notes to self for next Christmas

1. Don't bother getting expensive video games and mp3 players for the youngest. She will just bitch that you didn't get her that crap she saw on TV that she asked for. The crap you didn't get her because you did that last year (quick gems). You told her it would pull her hair, and she assured you that the commercial insisted that it didn't. Well sure as shit, if you put something with a tiny spring in your hair, it doesn't come out without pulling. So after one quick gems removal session, she didn't want that thing anywhere near her head. This year you thought you'd be nice and not get her crap, and instead got her something expensive and cool, but she had the nerve to come and say "Why didn't you buy me the crap I saw on TV?". Now of course she didn't actually say crap, but since you weren't really listening to which crap in particular it was that she was upset about not receiving, you can't write it here now. Next year remember, the youngest is the TV commercial queen. Get her a Chia Pet, a Snuggie, or that Mighty Putty, she'll be happy.

2. Of all the weeks to forget to put out the trash cans for collection, this is not the one. Yesterday the oldest child actually saw the trash cans inside were full and emptied them without being asked, but when she took the trash out she put it next to the can because the can was full. It was so much fun waking up Christmas Day to the remnants of the party the dogs had the night before with the two bags of trash. Make a note to yourself or something, set up an Outlook reminder now, just don't forget to take the cans out next year.

3. Make the kids wear face masks to prevent infection the week before Christmas. Being up with the youngest child until midnight in a steamy bathroom so she can breathe makes Santa reallllly late. Consequently it's really hard to get up in the morning. Plus it made your hair look so nice for Christmas morning pictures. If you dig the frizzy look.

4. No matter how late Santa ends up being, don't forget to make sure the reindeer eat the food that was left out. Telling the reindeer feeding child that the reindeer were already full from all the other reindeer food they had been eating in all the other time zones didn't fly so well.

5. Use duct tape to wrap packages so the middle child's wrapping doesn't accidentaly on purpose fall off. Or put them in other boxes, like for crock pots like your aunt did to you as a child so even if you peeked, you still didn't know shit.

6. Even though you normally don't give the middle child her ADD meds on weekends or school vacations, today probably would have been a good exception to this rule.

7. Don't try recipes for the first time Christmas day. Although you lucked out with the Sweet Potato Casserole, the Potatoes Au Gratin needed serious help.

8. Make sure you are fully stocked on the essentials before Christmas day, because the only thing open Christmas night will be the little mini market in the ghetto.

9. One bottle of wine was not enough.

Crafty Goodness

Well I've been working on these for a few days and I finally finished them. There is an initial for every member of my family. Covered in the Martha Stewart glitter.

I also thought you might like to see the rest of my tree.

This is Father Christmas sitting atop my tree.

Gold Ribbon

Red and Gold ornaments and beads

Hey I'm a child of the 70's, we have to have a disco ball.

Gold Bows

Red Bows

Santa's coat and boots. I love this one. So much fun.

Angels

More angels. I made these several years ago.

Christmas Wreath

Inspired by my friend Maria, today I made this beautiful wreath.

I started with a plain wreath from Walmart for $10. Added to it about 75 bulbs of different sizes purchased from the 99 cent store. The letter R came from Michaels along with the Martha Stewart glitter. Now I really can't stand Martha Stewart, but she makes a damn good glitter. I also used 3 yards of wired ribbon, and lots and lots of hot glue.

It's a Christmas Miracle

Tip Junkie is having a Virtual Tour of Homes. Some of these ladies have the most amazing decorations. I'm definitely inspired for next year. I hope everyone enjoys checking mine out.

I actually posted this several days before signing up for the home tour, so for those of you that are new to my blog, here's the Cliff's Notes version of my life for the last few months that will make the rest of this post make sense (or you could just look at the pictures). The house that I am renting is being foreclosed on and the owner has had it up for sale trying to save her butt. There is finally an offer on it and we had been told we had to be out by December 30th. So I wasn't going to put up a tree or decorate, and put up a Charlie Brown tree instead.


Yup. That would be my real Christmas tree, up and decorated in my house. If you would like to see more detail of my ornaments, you can click here. Last weekend we got a call from the agent representing the buyer of our house. The buyer who isn't really in any big hurry to kick us out, but was worried we'd give her a hard time because apparently my landlord has been talking shit. Telling the buyer that I was angry and bitter, and had stopped paying rent. Damn Skippy I stopped paying rent. I was pretty sure the landlord already spent my deposit and I wasn't getting it back without taking her to court, so I told her to use it for the rent for the last couple months, and I've been putting my money in the bank instead. So last Saturday the buyer came over and after a lengthy chat she said that she was in no hurry to move in. In fact she said that she wouldn't be able to move in right away because she had 23 years of stuff to go through in her current home. AND she said she would be happy to rent to us month to month until we figure out what we are doing. So with the pressure off of having to move 5 days after Christmas, we went ahead and put up our tree.

And all of these guys. The mini tree that I made 100 of for my kids old school's Christmas boutique. The little sock snowman, and coke bottle reindeer that one of the kids made The origami trees my kids are putting all over my house. The Christmas tree made out of bulbs that I bought at Harrah's after Christmas for like $5 bucks, Score! The 2x4 snowman that one of the kids made, and our advent calendar.

And... my gingerbread villiage.

The Charlie Brown tree is still up too, but it's not the only thing now.

I just made this wreath. For more info about it, you can click here.

This is the birdhouse I've had for about 10 years and finally figured out what to do with thanks to my friend Maria .

And finally, this is what we do with our stockings in Arizona since we have no mantels.

Contest

It's December and Christmas is coming. That means, inevitably, bad Christmas gifts. We all have that one family member that always gives crappy gifts, and that my friends is good blog material. So I'm doing a worst gift ever contest. Up for grabs is a $20 gift card to Target, so you can go get yourself something good.


Here's the deal. Blog about your worst Christmas gift ever and link back to this post. You can even steal my nifty logo that Alisha designed for me. In fact please steal my nifty logo. Make sure you leave a comment on this post so I know to go read your blog. Best story wins the gift card. I'll announce the winner on Friday December 12th.

My story is about my mother. She is incapable of giving a frivolous, enjoyable gift. She is practical to the core and her gifts are always things that she thinks you really need. A couple of years ago she got me a vinyl shoe rack that hangs on the back of a door. She decided I needed one because I had about 20 pairs of shoes stuffed into a spare closet. The shoes were in the closet because I needed to sort out which to give to Goodwill and which to throw away. I wasn't planning on keeping any of them, therefore I didn't need a nifty storage system for them. What I needed was more hours in the day so I would have time to do all the really important stuff that needs done and have time left over to sort shoes. The shoes weren't bothering me, but apparently they were bothering my mother, so I got a shoe rack for Christmas. Then my mom got all butt hurt when I didn't do cartwheels with excitement about this gift. It's a freaking shoe rack. Even if I had needed one, it wouldn't have been cartwheel worthy. So now I don't even bother to hint around about what I want for Christmas, I make sure she knows what I need. At least that way I can try to act excited and at least use the gift she gives me. This year I asked for a memory foam pillow. Still not cartwheel worthy, but at least I'll use it.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, In A Sad Kinda Way

This morning I woke up to two of my three kids barfing. Yay me! Thanksgiving morning my mom called to tell me she was sick and throwing up. She offered that the hubby and I could come over and cook all the food. Yeah sure, and be around all the barf germs, no thanks. So her next suggestion was we just do it on Friday. Ok. Hopefully then we would know if it was a flu thing or a something she ate thing. Friday she said she was feeling better and was sure that it was something she ate. So we went over for dinner. Apparently it wasn't because now the kids are sick. What fun!

Now of course I'm out of Gatorade, Sprite, and all the other things that barfing kids need. I decide to run over to Walgreens and pick some up.

You won't believe what I found!

Remember yesterday when I said I was just going to do a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree?

Well guess what they had for sale at Walgreens, for $9.99.

Yup. It's a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!!

Virtual Decorating

Have I ever mentioned that Christmas is my favorite holiday ever!!! Well it is. And it bums me out to no end that I have to move 5 days after Christmas. Actually sooner, since I actually have to be OUT of the house 5 days after Christmas. Which means I can't even think about putting up a tree and decorating my house. I usually put up a ton of stuff and a giant tree, and once I get it up, it stays up until like the end of January before I have enough energy to take it all back down again. Hell, I just put away my Halloween decorations today! There was also no way I was going to to be able to talk the hubby into putting up lights. Usually it takes three acts of Congress and me threatening to get on a ladder and do it myself before he will do it, and then like the inside stuff, it stays up way too long. Usually until we get nasty notes from the HOA telling us to take them down. So I'm thinking about hitting up tree lots for the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. You know the little stick with one ornament and Linus' blankie for a tree skirt. Yup. That's what I'm doing this year. So since I can't decorate my house, I decided to decorate my blog. I put up a new Christmassy background, and updated my playlist with all my favorite Christmas songs. Enjoy.