Christmas Review

We had a great Christmas. I hope you did, too. We did our usual thing of getting together on Christmas Eve with my family. We had dinner, opened presents and went to church. You should have seen the look on Savannah's face when she opened up the Hannah Montana guitar from grandma and papa. It was a warm evening. I had on short sleeves and didn't have a coat on all night.
The next morning, Savannah slept in until 8:30 when we finally decided to wake her up! Santa still doesn't hold a whole lot of excitement for this 3-year old. We enjoyed french toast for breakfast and then opened gifts. Savannah was excited, however, about 2 bath toys so she wanted to take a bath. She didn't even want to finish opening the rest of her gifts. Oh well. Other favorite gifts include the Hello Kitty umbrella and Hannah Montana watch.
We enjoyed the huge lunch spread at my grandma's. We also do a gift exchange there. I came away with a travel case and Steve got a weed-eater.
It took us a few days to recover from all of it, but that's part of the fun, right? Here's wishing you a Happy New Year in 2009!

Some Assembly Required

Dear Wilton baking products,

I recently purchased and assembled your "Gingerbread Dreams" house kit. While the finished product turned out super-duper cute, getting there took more patience and skill than herding cats.

We we all set to enjoy this activity as a family. My three-old was very excited to get started and my husband even gave into me begging him to turn of the TV wanted to help. Imagine my dismay when the instructions said to assemble the product and then allow to dry for several hours before decorating. I had to shoo everyone out of the house, which is difficult when you have candy and icing all spread out on the kitchen table.

It took quite a bit of work to a. fit the pieces together b. hold them in place while they dry and then c. get them to stay that way! Next time, I suggest you have an emergency hot line number where you can speak with an actual engineer. You know, like the Butterball hot line, but for gingerbread houses?

Also, it would be good if you could include more decorating candy. My daughter ate about as much as she put on the house. I had supplement with my own Hershey Kisses, M&Ms, peppermints, Mike and Ikes, 2-year old Halloween candy etc...

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I have included some photos for verification.

My Life in Pictures

Here is the past 3 weeks in pictures...

-First week of December: finished putting up the new pre-lit tree. Dang thing takes up so much space we had to rearrange the living room. Plus, a section of lights still won't work. Rat bastards!

First Friday in December: craft night at my friend's house. I already showed ya'll the cute palm tree ornaments (made from WINE CORKS). Here is the wall hanging I made for my niece and the Baby Jesus candle. First Saturday in December: Christmas Program at church. I was the head angel- yeah, I know!

Savannah was a sheep, I mean angel! She's the one sitting down...

First Sunday in December: we went to a night-time parade with lights. Here Savannah is cuddled up with our friend Mary Claire.

December 11: last day of my school program. We had been doing a fundraiser and I told my kids if they raised x amount of $, I will give them a popcorn party. But if they raised xx amount of $, I would dress up as an elf on the last day. Well, folks, you see that they did. Charming, aren't I?

December 13: Family Christmas party with the aforementioned "recycled" gift. Pictured is my immediate family. No, Savannah isn't picking her nose. I think she's just smelling her fingers...

Dec. 16: we left for Florida. Steve had a work thing so the rest of us tagged along. It was a lot warmer than I had expected. I wish I had packed more shorts. Oh, what's that you say? It's 10 below where you are? Sucks to be you...

Dec. 19: We went to Disney World. The crowds weren't too bad and we had a good time. We got to see and do some things we didn't get to do when we went in May. Savannah was so into the characters this time, she sat down and practically had a conversation with Stitch.

Here's my little thrill-seeker on the teacups for the first time. You might want to turn the volume down a little...



Dec. 20: Got home from Florida with a nasty cold. I don't have any pics of that. You're welcome.

Dec. 22: Finished up our shopping and met our friends at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. I don't have pictures from that either.

Today: I made one of those adorable gingerbread houses from a kit that you can find everywhere. I don't have those pics yet, either, (ever since Steve re-did our computer, it's like learning to ride a bike all over again!)but its worthy of it's own post later.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the festivities and this time of year like we have. It's hectic and crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

She's Crafty

... that was a nod to The Beastie Boyz in case you didn't know...

Thought I would grace you all with my presence and presents! As I said before, just been real busy.

We had "craft night" ant my friend's house where we whipped out some home-made gifts. She made some gorgeous frames and I made candles, a monogrammed wall plaque and Palm tree ornaments. Some are featured below along with portions of the Veggie Tales Nativity scene (other portions could not be located at the moment). How cute is that?!?! And easy peasy!

I also finished up school for the semester. We had an eventful last day with the kids. When I get those pics I will do a separate post. Clue: Vertically challenged Polar employee. Afterwards I went out to eat with my staff. Oh, and did I mention I baked almost 200 cookies for them?!? I'm not sure what I was thinking but they turned out pretty cute.

We had a family party Saturday night. It was the usual home-cooked meal and gift exchange. Savannah scored a Barbie princess toy. Steve and I didn't fair so well. He got a flashlight, which really, was also a gift for Savannah and I got a recycled holiday bowl. How do I know it was recycled? It said "2000" on the side. Nice.

Finally got the Christmas cards ordered and picked up, successfully, from Wal-Mart. They are so cute! Now all I gotta do to address the little suckers.

Today we are off to Florida and Disney World fora few days. Yes, again! Steve has to go anyway for a work thing so Savannah and I are tagging along. While in that part of the world, we figured let's go to Disney again while we can. I just hope Savannah doesn't think she gets to visit Mickey EVERY 6 months for the rest of her life...

Savannah-isms

Out of the mouths of three year-olds...
- She has this thing about licking pieces of paper as if they were all envelopes with glue. So she's sitting one day with some paper and she asks, "Can I make sumfin wif my tongue and my spit?"
- Steve is always telling Savannah boys don't know how to wipe. So one day she's at my parents' house and she has to go potty. My dad calls from the next room, "Do you need me to help you?" "No," she answers. "Why not?" "'Cuz you don't wipe very good."
-One night as I'm telling her nite-nite, she says, "I love mama and my Dexter and my Daddy and lots of bodies." (everybody)
-We had the church Christmas play last weekend. Savannah was supposed to be a sheep. It comes time to go to church and she comes out wearing her fairy skirt and toting her fairy wings. She says she doesn't want to be a sheep. She wants to be an angel. "Why don't you want to be a sheep?" I ask. "I'm too mean to be a sheep." Oh, really?
P.S. The holiday craziness is upon me. Sorry I haven't had time to visit ya'll's blogs and return some of the comment luv. Bear with me...

The insanity that is Wal-Mart

Man, I really hate Wal-Mart sometimes, but it's one of those necessary evils in life. You hate standing in line forever to check out with your groceries, but where else can you get mac & cheese for 50 cents? I'm sorry somebody probably had to work in terrible conditions in El Salvador to make them, but the Garanimals line is really cute and cheap! I could have found a nicer colander somewhere else, but when your Aunt Sally made the gift exchange dollar limit $10, that $5 colander will be really cute with the speciality bag of pasta. But of course nothing could be worse than that poor person being trampled on Black Friday. I just can't imagine...
Over the years, I've had run-ins with them and I swear them off for a while. In fact, I still will NOT use the 1-hour service at our local Wal-Mart again. ever. MORONS!
So, it's that time of year. I need to go ahead and order the photo Christmas cards so I can get them in the mail. I checked around and Wal-Mart had about the cheapest price for what I wanted. I figured if I stayed away from the 1-hour in store developing I was fine. . . nope. All I wanted to do was order $18.36 worth of photo cards and have them delivered to my local store and I would pick them up. But the on-line check up was so screwed up, I never got that far. UGH!!! I will simply try again tomorrow.
Below is the photo card runner-up pic. Dexter looks like he is screaming in pain and Savannah looks so evil. Yeah, that's about right...

Wordless Wednesday

Excuse me...

I know my "Merry SITSmas" post is actually showing up on Nov. 30- the day I drafted it- but I published it already and I don't have time to figure out how to make it for TODAY because some of us have to LEAVE THE HOUSE AND GO TO AN ACTUAL JOB. So let's just pretend it's up there for today...OK?

Pssst...

Did you know that for Merry SITSmas tomorrow the grand prize is a $200 gift card to Tar-jay? Whoo-hoo! I could get the rest of my Christmas shopping done and some air-freshener for the port-a-john!

Redneck Skiing

This is the post I really wanted to share for my first YAGBTS, but I had to wait on the pictures, then I got busy and I kinda forgot, anyway, here it is...

Several weeks ago, my cousin had a small, outdoor reception to celebrate his marriage (2nd marriage for both of them). There are no outdoor "facilities" and my brother noticed that the port-a-john for the workers at the new house had recently been emptied. Don't ask me how he noticed, he just did. He suggested moving it over to the evening festivities for the guests to use. So, my dad gets a rope, wraps it around the potty, hooks it up to my uncle's golf cart and they proceed to drag it - oh, maybe 50 yards through the woods and mud.
Daddy is afraid it might tip over, so he's holding on to keep it balanced. We decided it looked like redneck skiing!!! Of course Steve decided to follow along on the 4-wheeler in case they needed back-up! I'm just glad somebody had a camera! Kodak moments, I tell ya...

Like I said, Jeff Foxworthy ain't got nuttin' on me...

Merry SITSmas!

Since today is "Merry SITSmas," I am taking this opportunity to say, "You Rock!" to all the other SISTas out there and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

(future SITStas, my daughter and neice)

I also want to share some thoughts on Chrsitmas with you.

Normally I'm one of those people who CAN NOT believe that trees and decorations are in the stores before November. I wonder who in the world decided it was a good idea to start playing 24 hour Chrismas music on the radio before Thanksgiving. I'm mad at the media for talking about Christmas sales being down when most people haven't even put together their shopping list yet. I'm not being a scrooge. It's just too much, too soon, I think.

But this year, I'm looking at it a little differently. If we can have an excuse to be with friends and family and little more and share in the Christmas spirit a little longer, then that can't be a bad thing, right?

It's barely December and we've already gone to see light displays, twice! The Angel Tree tags at church were all taken in one week. I have a list of holiday happenings in the area that we could go to together on almost any given day. Instead of excahnging gifts this year, a friend and I decided to have a "sleep-over" instead. Steve has taken a week off of work not to travel, but just be with us. I have a hard time buying gifts for some people because they already have everyhting they want or need.

We really are blessed. We have each and every day to spend with our families and know that we are loved. (cue The Carpenters)
Now get out there and buy me a present!

Talk Turkey

It's been another busy week. I'm not bragging, it's just that this is usually how my time goes when I am not working. The summers fly by, we're busy going here, there and doing all kinds of things. School starts up and I wonder how I ever had time for a job? This past week I was off and we were out of town like 5 days. Then there was Thanksgiving.
It was a great day of food and family spent at my Grandma's. I made Paula Deen's Pumpkin Trifle. It was pretty good, but I'm not a big pumpkin fan so there is a pile of it still in the fridge. Steve actually cooked a turkey. He wanted an ole' fashioned turkey like back home (that means stuffed with Stove Top) so he decided to do his own. It was fine, but he can have that nasty stuffing.

And we shopped yesterday - on Black Friday. Savannah stayed with mama and Steve and I got up at 4:00 a.m. to hit the stores! We didn't get any super-fabulous deals, but it was still some good shopping and we were home again and it bed by about 9:00 a.m. Whew!
I hope everyone else had a great holiday.

Week in Review

We've been busy lately and that's why I haven't had a chance to post, but I have pictures so that makes up for it, right? So here's why I've been missing lately:
-Thursday: Big fight with the hubby. I considered signing up for "Wife Swap."
-Friday: Wet, cold and nasty out, but I managed to go get a haircut and run some errands.
-Saturday: No, my dears, I didn't mean "blue" as in baby, furniture or paint. I mean the blue Wiggle: Anthony! We went to see the Wiggles last weekend. It beats the heck out of Dora and besides, my friend won tickets, so we went for free! It was a cute show and the girls had fun.

What I want to know is what did this guy do to deserve being drug to the Wiggles? Is his collar "popped" because he's that cool or is it to hide from anyone he might run into there?
-Sunday: church and then lunch at Grandma's. Steve left that afternoon for Boston for a few days.

-Monday thru Thursday: work as usual. Had to suspend one kid. Had to kick out another one.

-Wednesday: USC vs. Clemson ladies basketball game. I soooo did not want to go but it ended up being an OK time. Clemson won (yeah!) and Savannah loved seeing Cocky and the other mascots. Cocky even picked her up and danced with her for a second.

-Friday: went out with my pal Jenn to see a band play. Actually, it was the lead singer of our fav-o-rite band who are no more (sniff). We had a great time, but stayed out too late! Dang, I'm getting old.

-Saturday: left to visit friends and hit a sale! Quoizel had a close out sale and we scored a stained glass panel ($50), a hanging light fixture ($50), some under the cabinet lighting, and 2 towel bars. I've seen similar panels for around $150 and similar fixtures for around $230. Score!

We also went to see some Christmas lights. It was a drive-though event, but you could get out and roast marshmallows, see some artwork and a giant Christmas sand sculpture. Here are the little girls...

and the big girls...BFFs!
-Sunday (today): We went to church, ate lunch out, then headed home. Tonight there was a community Thanksgiving service and a reception afterwards.

Whew! I think that covers it. Oh, some of you have asked about the house. It is coming along quite nicely- despite the fact that someone stole 30 buckets of sheet rock mud!! Anyway, they started to brick up the house this week (view from the back yard).

Sheet rock is up and finished also. I'm not sure what's next but probably cabinets and/or paint. We're also ordering appliances. I haven't heard otherwise, so move in date is still planned for sometime around February. We'll see...

Well, that is all for now. Let me see if I can go catch up with some of you people and your blogs!

M.I.A.

I know I've been a little M.I.A. lately. I'm alright. Just kinda busy. I'll post an update soon. Here's a hint: I like the blue one best.
Hope everyone is staying warm!

To Blog or Not to Blog

...that is the question.
When I first started this blog, almost exactly 1 year ago, my intent was to let off some steam and share some of my mommy stories. I quickly found out that I couldn't be completely honest with my rants. REAL people read this occasionally, some of whom I know in person. I didn't want to come off as a total psycho who couldn't stand her husband and disliked being a mom. But let's face it, being a wife and mother is hard and sometimes those thoughts occur and you have to let them out. I don't communicate well, and sometimes writing it all out makes me feel better.
It's not that I'm afraid to put the "real" me out there, it's that I got a lot of personall sh*t going on sometimes and I don't particularly want everybody and their mama to read about it. While I would perhaps appreciate the input of an impartial stranger, I don't need the mailman to offer his two cents. Or Aunt Susie or my sister-in-law... So I sorta tried being funny and sharing silly anecdotes, like "Blueberry Hell" and "Southern Nectar." I've had some good ones, I think, but even then, sometimes I don't get any response. nothing. nada. It's not that I'm in this for the love, fortune or fame. I have no interest in BlogHer, stats or followers. I'm not an aspiring writer- been there, done that- Okay, maybe writing for a small daily newspaper doesn't REALLY count, but technically I've been published more times that I was ever interesting in.
I do love some comments though, as we all do, so I joined SITS - just a way to get and encourage comments. It's been good and I've come across some fabulous ladies out there, but sometimes it's overwhelming. SO many bloggers and roll calls, SO little time. And even that doesn't bring out the "lurkers,"- yeah, YOU!
But like I said, I've enjoyed "meeting" lots of you and my blog roll has expanded lately. Even my husband started his own dorky blog. I guess now that he reads mine he figured he would get in on the action, too. I don't know. If you happen to check it out, notice his use of theorems and geek-talk. Seriousley, we watch "The Big Bang Theory" and he knows what Sheldon is talking about!
So now I'm kinda wondering, "Why am I doing this?" If I feel like I need to censor myself, knowing that nobody may ever read it, but then again, maybe suddenly lots of people will read it....I don't know. I do know that I enjoy other blogs I can relate to. Everyone wants to feel validated and like they aren't alone. I guess, if I can share my ramblings with people who get something out of it- whether it's a chuckle or a "me, too!"- then that's why I'm here. To make those small connections with people. Uber cheesy? I know, this post sorta went all over the place, but I've found that it's better if I don't over-edit.
So, anyway. It's been a hell of a week and I'm ending with scripture:
"If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete..." -Philippians 2:1-2

YAGBTS

Wondering waht YAGBTS means? Go here.

So we were at the flea market Saturday...I know what you're thinking, "What the hell were ya'll doing there?"

1. We love a good bargain: n. something you don't need at a price you can't resist.

2. We like antiques and old things (a.k.a. junk)

3. The entertaiment value is unbelievable! We saw culture (half of the market were hispanics selling produce or Spanish music), wildlife (dogs and chickens), history ("they haven't made this kind of glass since the factory shut down during the depression.") and art ("yes, ma'm I hand-painted those roses on the T-shirts"). But we had never seen what we happened upon next.

+ =

a fun ride for the kiddos! Only costs a quarter! No sh*t! They had empty plastic bottles taped to the horse with packing tape. You're supposed to put a quarter in the bottle and then enjoy the ride. I am not kidding. Kinda gives new meaning to the term "quarterhorse."

Gorgeous, gorgeous!

I didn't have the time or patience to upload umpteen thousand gorgeous pics from this weekend so I just chose 3 favorites. We did a little tail-gateing Saturday morning and then we were off to the mountains. My parents have a place about 2 hours away for here and that's where we headed. It was so beautiful! The leaves were just amazing! And how about this view!?! That afternoon Savannah, mama and I took a walk down the road and collected leaves. Savannah thought each leaf was gorgeous and derserved to be chosen.

After a big breakfast Sunday, we decided to go....pick apples? no...hike in the woods? nope... go canoeing? unh-uh...pan for gold? not this time. We decided to go to the flea market! Which leads me to my next post...