Cereal Anyone???

Bye Bye Christmas!

DH was fiddling with one of the new pre-set settings on our new camera - the ability to only bring out certain colors.  Yes - it can be done with Photoshop but its so easy when it is already on the camera!

Gingerbread! I think....

All the cookie decorations ready for our family!

Without further delay - here are our gingerbread selections this year.

Our theme this year is best described as "Zombie Apocalypse"

See last years selection here

These last two are particularly gross and they can be attributed to my husband.  For the brains he used tiny chocolate balls and covered them with icing.  One of them is vomiting green sparkles and the other - tiny gingerbread men.

Sleeping? Ummm....

So the sleeping hasn't been the greatest.  Aiming to sleep 7-8 hours a night sounds delightful but its a lot more work than I thought!!  Two nights ago I turned out my light quite pleased with myself knowing that I'd get a full 8 hours of sleep.  Of course that turned out to be the night I couldn't sleep!! I tossed and turned, fell asleep and then woke up half an hour later only to toss and turn again.  I think I managed to pull off about 5 hours that night.

Why you ask?  What caused me to do that?  Hmm...2 reasons I think.  The first is that I think I had too much sugar and caffeine.  LOL Yes - entirely my fault.  The second was my own neurotic brain.  That night was the first night in my life that I have ever been on call.  I swear that trying to sleep next to that cell phone was like sleeping next to a bomb that could go off at any time.  I'm not sure why the thought that the phone might ring is so terrifying but it is.  I have procedures printed out and I know exactly what to do if I get a call from work...but its weird having your life kind of on pause...waiting, waiting...

Thankfully out of sheer exhaustion from the night before I managed just a few minutes less than 7 hours last night.  I did spend about 20-30 in the middle of the night freaking out about the phone again. 

It's funny because I wake up in the morning and it all seems so silly and trivial but things in the middle of the night take on a degree of gravity that can not be ignored.  Fears seem magnified, every new idea is more brilliant and thoughts race upon each other like socks tumbling in a dryer.

We'll see what tonight brings as day 3 of being on call commences.  Only 3 more nights to survive and it will be someone else's bomb to sleep beside.  :)


As for shopping - Stellar so far!  I was a little bit pouty about not buying myself lunch on Friday as it my tradition but managed not to dissolve into tears about it.  ;)  Someone bought me a coffee today which was exactly what I was craving as I always buy myself a mocha on Fridays.  Thanks JR!

Crate & Barrel

I bought this in December when shopping with a friend and co-worker of mine. 

I love Create & Barrel.  We sat in some very expensive chairs and trailed our fingers lovingly along some beautiful furniture.  When I saw these cute cookie cutters I had to buy them to make Christmas cookies with.

One cookie cutter that I haven't been able to find yet is a zombie cookie cutter.  :)

On Not-Shopping and Sleeping...

Doing well with the sleeping so far.  Last night I did 7.25 hours and the night before 6.75 hours.

The shopping...well - its ok.  Although I haven't shopped yet - my husband bought me supper.  Does that count?  LOL

Oh Christmas Tree

I let the kids completely decorate the tree this year.  At the very end I lifted the kids up high to decorate where they wanted to and I added another 3-4 decorations on my own.  Here was the the result.

I love how all the lower branches have multiple decorations on each branch.  I think I counted 5 decorations on one branch.

I kept it this way for the whole time that the tree was up.  It just fits how we are.

Mom of the Year!

Should I have hidden this reading material in a better place than in the magazine rack?

Give it Up, Take it Back - Journey for 2012

Two of the books I read in 2011 made me think.  The first was:  "Give it Up! My year of Learning to Live Better with Less" by Mary Carlomagno.  The 1 liner premise is basically - give up something each month and see what you learn from it.  The second book I am still reading.  It's called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  The 1 liner that I got from it was: You have good things - spouse, kids, job etc but you find yourself not taking the time to truly appreciate what you have.

I thought that in 2012 I would combine a little bit of both ideas by giving something up each month and taking something on each month.  Hopefully I will learn to live with less and appreciate it.  ;)

For January I thought I'd start off with an easy? one to give up.  I am giving up shopping.  I love to shop.  Clothes are a huge vice of mine.  I do like my jeans and t-shirts.  Most recently I've moved to work wear.  This month I want to focus on only shopping for necessities: gas, food, bills.  I'm cutting out eating out on Friday for lunch, Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Ricki's, Cleo, the Shoe Company, Scrapbook supplies, Kindle books, junk jewelry and more.  The only reason I thought it might be easy is that its January.  Who has money to shop after Christmas anyway?  LOL

For the "Take it Back" part I am going to take care of me.  This month its sleep.  For the past few weeks I've been going on 5-6 hours of sleep a night and I know that's not enough.  I'm crabbier, I'm tired, my energy level is in the dumps and I have little motivation to take anything new on...even if I had an original idea break through the fog.  For this month I am going to push to get 7-8 hours of sleep for as many nights as I can make it happen.

Last night was night 1 - I made just shy of 8 hours.  Of course I was left feeling exhausted all day. My body is just not used to me sleeping a regular amount of time and it wanted more.  LOL

2011 - A Year in Review

I’ve been neglectful in updating the progress of my bucket list over the last few months.  To wrap up 2011 here’s what happened:

1.     Complete 30 Scrapbook Pages – FAIL.  I ended up getting 14 pages done.  I also made 2 calendars and a bunch of cards.

2.     Try one new Stamping technique – DONE

3.     Go through my scrapbook cabinets and purge – DONE

4.     Go through my scrapbook cabinets and inventory so I don’t buy things twice – DONE

5.     Move my butt three time a week for at least 20 minutes – FAIL.  I failed this one miserably.

6.     Toilet Train my daughter – DONE

7.     Do a Christmas Craft with the kids – DONE

8.     Blog at least 12 new recipes on the Recipe Blog – DONE

9.     Learn to knit – FAIL.  I had 2 lessons from Mom but I can’t honestly say that I learned anything from them.  LOL

10. Knit something recognizable. – FAIL

11. Get a manicure – FAIL.  This one was quite sad because I never did stop chewing my nails beyond that early success back in January.  Maybe this one should go on a life bucket list.

12. Make Valentine Sugar cookies – DONE

13. Go on a scrapbook retreat – DONE (I went to two of them – woot!)

14. Try some recipes from the “Big Cook” or something similar – FAIL

15. Re-Make the nativity scene that molded in the attic – originally made my Mom.  FAIL  I got the pattern from her and then shuddered in fear.

16. Pay down some debt-DONE

17. Read 35 books (combo of e-reader and real) – DONE  I quit counting around Aug /Sept but I think the final count probably sits around 50.

18. Figure out once and for all how to blur backgrounds in photographs-DONE.   I can’t say that I can do it consistently but I am getting faster at figuring it out.

19. Attend one play – FAIL….unless you count my son’s Christmas concert then DONE

20. Host a murder dinner – FAIL

21. Continue my journal from last year – DONE

22. Make at least 24 blog posts – DONE

23. Make it to 2005 in my scrapbooks – DONE

24. Keep the kids scrapbooks current – FAIL.  I am 6 months behind!

25. Take the kids to the library – DONE

26. Camp 3 times – DONE

27. Dance in the rain – DONE

28. Reconnect with at least one friend – DONE

29. Go to the farmer’s market – DONE

30. Visit the antique marketplace – DONE

31. Make my first apple pie – FAIL

So….that’s about 20/31?  Not great – but not bad overall.  Most disappointing would be the failure to  bake a pie.  LOL   My favorite was probably reading and dancing in the rain.  I could have tried harder to do this and if I do this again another year ( and I’m sure that I will) I expect that I will do even better. 

In July of 2011 I experienced a HUGE change at work.  I admit it, I am NOT good with change and it really threw me for a loop.  By December though I had most of my old self back and felt myself becoming more able to focus on my personal life & family again without my thoughts constantly shifting to work.

For 2012 I have a new plan…one that I hope to share later today or perhaps tomorrow.  I have already begun and can’t wait to talk about it.  :)

Halloween Food Fun

We had a little bit of fun with food this Halloween.  Here are some of the  things my husband and I made for our kids:

These are spooky grilled cheese with ketchup faces.

Olive Spiders with sour cream eyes

Spooky Spaghetti & Meatballs

Mini Shepherd's Pie or BRAINS!  Made with pink potatoes the kids had the hardest time tasting this one. They were a little creeped out.

Ghouls in the Graveyard (Kraft)

Books and Books...

A few more books read lately...can't stop!!

My Amazon links aren't working as I write this so you will have to survive without the visual picture.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons - Lorna Landvik
- I liked it.  It was in my bag of books to pass on to others but I decided to keep this one.  It's about a group of friends  who get together to form a book club.  It follows the women in the club over the decades as their lives unfold.  While it wasn't the most amazing book I've ever read, I did thoroughly enjoy it and it will be going on my bookshelf to read again someday.

An Echo in the Bone - Diana Galbadon   I blame my work mate entirely for turning me onto this series.  While she does sometimes go on a little I can't stop reading this series.  This books ends in a bit of cliffhanger and its going to drive me batty to wait until 2012 to find out what happens!!

The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond.  I downloaded this to our Kindle and finished it in a couple of days.  I could NOT put this one down.  What happens in the year when you look away from your daughter for 1 minute and turn back to find her gone?

What about elevators?

As I rode the elevator alone today bobbing my head and in general acting like a fool, I wondered if others do this too.  When you are completely alone in the elevator do you stare at the numbers just as if the elevator was full?  Or...do you twirl, dance, sing, make faces and other goofy things?  Don't tell me that I am the only one....

Crafting With Mom...

Last weekend Mom and I tried out my new stamps.  The top 2 are Mom's and the bottom one is mine. For some reason my phone invented the writing on the bottom one.  Weird.  I did one more card but I didn't like how it turned out so I'll wait until I re-do it before posting it here.  I ADORE these stamps.  Have I justified getting more of them yet?  How many times do you have to use 1 stamp to justify its cost?

A few Lunches recently....