Happy Halloween!

Good clean fun!

I just finished making Christmas sercys for Savannah class tomorrow and they are cu-ute! I don't have a finished project photo, but I will share the directions here. Basically, you shred Ivory soap and mold it into snowballs, adding a surprise in the middle. If you're like me and you haven't had experience with Ivory soap since you were 5, the soap is surprisingly soft and grated nicely in my mom's 1970's food processor.
I was not as crafty with the teacher gifts, but I did get 65% off what I got them at Kohl's so there ya go.

Bitches and hos

Hey ya'll! It's been a while so I have several random things saved up for you...
- I've gotten on my school soapbox before. Seriously, if people were better parents, crap like this wouldn't happen. A 7th grade kid had to drop out of a program at school in order to care for his infant child. That's right. I said infant child. Why? Because the baby's mother, also a 7th grader, had to go stay at the Dept. Of Juvenile Justice.
-I am loving those new Gap commercials! The dancing is awesome and the chanting is so damn catchy! "How cute are these boots?! How cute are these boots?!"
-There has been some family drama going on for the past several months. Some things have happened recently and I've had my fill. So I called up the family member and told him I'd like to sit down and talk with him about everything and see if we couldn't clear the air. He said, "that's fine, but I don't know what good it would do." We were not able to meet tonight, and maybe we won't get to, but by his words right there, I have peace knowing that I at least tried.
-I am loving Christmas in the new house! I'll have to post some pics soon. It's extra special knowing how fortunate I am to be spending Christmas with my family in our dream house!
-I have one more day of school! Then I am off until Jan. 4!!! Can I get a Whoo-hoo!!!?!?!
-Mama has a little Christmas village set up in her kitchen. It also has a few little figures and decorations with it. One day, standing in front of it, Savannah says, "Why is there a little singing bitch and a big singing bitch?" Or at least that's what WE heard. OMG! We laughed so hard. Finally realized she was saying singing "bench"- her phrase for the little group of carolers.
- just in case you haven't heard this one yet...What's the difference between Santa and Tiger? Santa stops after 3 ho's.

zhu-zhu wha?

Just sitting here sipping a cup of hot chocolate (with Kahlua!) and thought I would visit!
What have you been up to lately? I'm off work this whole week (Whoo-hoo!) and Steve's mom flies in tomorrow for a few days. It will be nice to see her and for her to see the house! She hasn't been here since it was finished and we moved in.
I'm not quite up for Christmas decorating yet, although many folks seem to be doing that early this year! I am probably a third of the way through my shopping. I was hoping to get Savannah some of the zhu zhu pets this year. You know, the cute little animated pet hamsters? She liked them so much when she played with them at her cousin's house last month. That was before I knew they were the "IT" item this year. You remember....Wii, Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Dolls...The toy that is impossible to find before Christmas or if you do, it's at 8x the price, but somehow, they're everywhere by Jan. 2! So Santa's alternative is a dollhouse. Now if we can just get it on sale or with free shipping, we're good to go!
I saw a cute idea in a magazine I thought we might try: Create your own holiday "to-do" advent calendar. Choose a seasonal activity to do each day. Savannah is only 4, so this will be our first year with the idea of an advent calendar. We'll probably suck at it and end up scraping the whole thing by Dec. 9th, but we'll give it a shot! Got any cute Christmas projects or activities planned?

Halloween pics

Some Halloween photos...

Mother Clucker

Savannah is actually napping right now so I thought I would stop by for a minute... I asked her this morning what she was going to get me for Mother's Day. She said, "a wallet." "Why," I asked. "Cuz you have to pay more money." Nice observation, kiddo.
All this Mother's Day talk and sweet posts many of you are writing got me thinking... If you still have your mom, be very thankful. If you have a great relationship with your mom, be very thankful. I know some friends who have lost their mom already. I just can't imagine what that must be like. On the other hand, I love my mom and she's been great but I feel like my relationship with her is strained. For all of high school and college, she was the "fun" mom, silly to be with, fun to go shopping with, sending me all kinds of cute care-packages. She never pried and wasn't at all over-bearing. She let me have my Independence.
But now some years have passed and she just seems different. I think she's had a lot of "demons" to deal with in her life and some are catching up to her. We certainly don't talk about it. No, we are a private family and it's nobody's business. That's her stance, anyway. I dunno. Maybe she just needs some Prozac.
Switching gears...this weekend is the Poultry Festival! That's right! Who doesn't love a Southern festival celebrating some kind of produce/byproduct/internal organ (chitlins, anyone?)!? We kick things off this evening with some live music and the carnival rides. Saturday morning is the fabulous parade and craft vendors. But don't go home yet! Come back that night for a street dance, fireworks and beer trucks! Because nothing says, "chicken industry" like a drunk teetering on the railroad tracks. Ya'll come on! It's going to be a clucking good time!

Whoo-hoo!

It is officially Spring Break! That's right. I don't have to go back to work for 10 days! Whoo-hoo! I'm kicking off the week by going to the beach this weekend with some friends. Steve and I are leaving this afternoon and taking Savannah to mama's. We're only going for one night, but I'll take it.
Next week I'm going to go visit friends for a few days that I don't get to see too often. Whoo-hoo! It's always good to catch up with old friends, not that we're old, yet, although...
It's also my birthday next week. Whoo-hoo! I don't have any plans right now, but I think a trip to the cupcake store is in order. And if you want to get me a present, that would be OK, too.
Then we have Easter. Whoo-hoo! Savannah and I each have a lovely dress to wear to church. Afterwards, we always have a big lunch at my grandma's. Yum! And rumor has it, the Easter Bunny is bringing extra Peeps with him when he comes...
What do you having going on for spring break/Easter?

My New Year's "Rockin" Eve

Had an invite to 3 different get-togethers. Had a babysitter for the whole night; Savannah was spending the night with grandma. Had a cute new shirt to wear. Yep, I was excited and looking forward to the evening...until about 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. That began onset of vomiting and diarrhea for me. So, needless to say, the only thing "rockin" on New Year's were my insides.
Additionally, Savannah's cold has gotten much worse. She's had fever and her cough sounds like the sea lions at the zoo. She did end up staying at grandma's anyway, so I got a break and Steve went to one of the parties. I didn't care. I couldn't go so why should he be stuck home with me?
It was kinda funny- he called around 6:30 or so to say my brother was stopping by the house to get more beer and a meat thermometer (they were cooking bar-b-que). I was so out of it, I could barely drag myself out of bed and when I did I thought he wanted the rain gage (?). My brother returned to the party and told everyone I looked like death warmed over. Nice.
So, I am better today, but not 100%. Savannah is still struggling. Maybe another day on the meds and some rest will do the trick.
Here's hoping your New Year's was better than mine...that's a no-brainer, right?

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...

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

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.

Halloween low-down

We had a pretty good Halloween, which included plenty of treats, chills and frights: treats - the humongous pile of candy Savannah racked up; chills - the fever induced kind from some of us being sick over the weekend; frights- me being scared that Savannah or I will be sick next!
Our church had their Halloween party Wednesday, which was good because we weren't so hurried last night. My whole family was there and we had fun "trick or treating" and playing games.
Friday, Steve wasn't feeling too good so he stayed home while me and Savannah made the rounds. We made a few stops to see some family and then we went to our friends' church festival. There were so many people there! They had games, a super slide, a bouncy house, food, fireworks, trunk or treat, and a DJ. But what did my little ladybug tell me? "I just wanna swide (I just want to slide)." The girl knows what she likes!
Afterwards, we stopped to get a sandwich and then we were home by 9:00.
Tonight, we were supposed to have a birthday dinner for my brother at my parents' house, but my dad was really sick last night and mama's sniffles haven't gotten any better. So, we are postponing that until maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the festivities...

Savannah's "scary" face

Posing on the porch.


Playing the "Go Fish" game at church

My niece, Grace as "Gabriella" from High School Musical (the wig was a trip!), my niece Madeline as a spider and my Savannah as a ladybug

Riding the "train" with our friend Harper as Fern from "Charlotte's Web"