Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!


A few random pictures:


Church on Christmas Eve




My babies (ha!) on Christmas Day at my parents' house.


Our office cat, Millie or Milford (not sure which!)
Happy New Year, everyone. I wish you peace, health, happiness, and love in 2009.

Monday, December 29, 2008

I wish you a Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!


I'm a few days late in wishing that, if you aren't counting those 12 days! I personally think we can say "Merry Christmas" for many days after the 25th. :)


B1 did pass his test so he now has his Learner's permit. I think he's driven exactly once since that day.


B2 wanted a puppy for Christmas very badly. He's had to resort to playing with the neighbors' dogs. I can see him as an adult now: huge farm, 47 dogs.


C was very happy with what Santa brought.


Christmas was a wonderful day -- we spent time together. We spent time with our family. We spent time with our friends who are like family. It was just great.


I have some more pictures of decor to share, though I STILL haven't photographed the half bath. Not that it's incredibly exciting, but it's my holiday/season room. I change the towels/soaps and dishes or dispensers/decorations according to the season or holiday being experienced.


On to the pictures:

a couple of the many Nativities I have collected:

this plastic one is a larger version of one we had when I was growing up.





The breakfast area table and French doors leading to the deck:



The kitchen sink area:




Basement door:









Good kitty, Gabby: Good kitty's stocking:









Cute Santa I found at Dollar General!



Coffee table:



Two tiny Nativities on the coffee table:

(one appears to be missing a few players. Perhaps the aforementioned "Good" kitty has been playing?!?!)




Bayberry candle, ready for Christmas morning:


I have a few other pictures that I'll share this week.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Another day, another day further behind

Yep, you read it right: I'm still behind. Further, even. @@ -- I roll my eyes at myself.

This weekend should be a time to get it all together, but I have so much to do that I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. I'd like to go shopping. I need to go shopping. But my house needs some attention and I apparently can't trust the other people in my house to take care of that. I want to make salt dough ornaments with the kids and put together the Gingerbread house (Snoopy's doghouse!) with them. I'd like to bake cookies since I've made none so far. We'll see what I can accomplish with two short days and a full schedule.

B1 will FINALLY take his test for his permit today. I hope he passes it -- I never considered what he'll do if he doesn't pass. Hmmmmm. . .

B2 seemed a little down this morning.
Maybe he was just being 13. I hope that's all it is.

C and her classmates are attending a production of "The Wizard of Oz" today during school in Mtown. She was excited and yet a little bi***y about the clothes she put on. She wears me out, too.

Yet again I have no pictures of Christmas decor. Maybe by tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Another pic

I do have a picture I can share today! This is a closer look at the tree in the Family room.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

I'm behind! I promised more pictures would be up yesterday, and now they're still not ready today. :(

The weather was just awful yesterday: snow, then sleet, then freezing rain, followed finally by some rising temps and just rain. It was a miserable day to turn 15, but B1 did it anyway!!! We didn't get to the DMV for his permit test, and he ended up with McDonald's for dinner, but it was still his day.

B2 is thrilled that I bought him Cetaphil for washing his face! Who knew? I should have done that ages ago, I guess.

C learned this morning that if your mother tells you 47 times to get up and get dressed and you don't do it in time, you leave the house without any breakfast and you will be hungry. I hope she remembers that lesson.

There are only 8 days until Christmas and I don't know what I've done and what I still have to do when it comes to the gift shopping, nor do I have any time to shop. This is why I MUST do better at following the Organized Christmas way like the expert ladies at Magical Holiday Home next year. I MUST!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Welcome to our Holiday Home!



Welcome!


Come in and see the tree in the Living room. . .




Here's the Advent wreath:




Have a look upstairs. . .





Let's head up to the bedrooms:




That was a look at the boys' bedrooms and their bathroom door.



Here's the bit of Christmas in their bathroom:







Now here are the other bedroom doors. . .








That one is the Master bedroom door. Let's go in there. . .











Through the door to the balcony. . .


The Master bath is festive too:















Back down the stairs we go. . .






Our last stop for today is the Family room:






Tomorrow we'll see the Kitchen, 1/2 bath and Dining room!

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Holiday Home Tour tease





Just a quick look at our house this morning

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The one where my jaw dropped

Ruh-roh, Rorge. Today I stopped by the Magical Holiday Home forums and checked the thread about the Holiday Tour of Homes. Cathymac, the lovely host for the tour, had a link for another tour. A.MAZ.ING. I am SO out of my league. But I still love Christmas and my decorations so I'm going to post my pictures by Monday, no matter what.

So this is the third Christmas in the new house -- which I guess means it's not so new anymore -- and we're still not doing much decorating outside. I have the wreaths, but that's about it. We did put some lights and bows on two trees. (bows fall off ALL the time) Thanks to Sillites we always have the candles in the windows so I guess that's part of the scheme. Next year's focus will be on finding the right look for outside the house.

In addition to oohing and ahhing over the beautiful decorations I saw today on the tour, I was also drooling over some of the layouts on these blogs. I am lucky that I have solid color. I don't know how these ladies have made their blogs so lovely, but I am on a quest for knowledge now. I shall find it and apply it. :)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The one where I admit I'm nuts

So I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. I plugged the Family room tree in a mere seconds before the Rainbow vacuum demonstrator arrived, and AAAAAAAHHHHHH (hear the bright, crisp soprano note), there was light. Who knows what the deal was Monday night. @@



Speaking of Rainbow vacuums, do you have any idea how much these things are?!?!? $2400! Incredible. We did not buy one. My Dyson is working just fine, thank you very much.



Now that I'm ready to take pictures of my decorations to put on here for the MHH Holiday Tour of Homes, I'm thinking of things I could add to make everything just a little more festive. @@. I really am my own worst enemy.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The one where I scream

Great. I decided to join the MHH "Holiday Tour of Homes" and then I got home last night and plugged the family room tree in; NO LIGHTS! I have yet to figure out what the deal is. I hope I can get it working again by Sunday so I can get it in the pictures. I will NOT put a picture of a dark tree in the tour. I HATE that. Which reminds me that the tree was dark when I got home last night, even though M and B2 had been home for a couple hours already. WHY do they just leave it like that? (And before anyone tries to defend them, all the other trees were dark as well. It's not like they plugged it in and discovered that the family room tree wasn't working!)



B1 is on my list. I don't know who he thinks he is, but he had better watch it. Little boys who want to take their tests for their driving permits are nicer to their mommies than he has been.



B2 continues to take Dimetapp for his cold. Last night, he asked how often you could take it:



'You can take Dimetapp every 4 hours, right, Mom?'

'Yes, every 4 to 6 hours I think. When was the last time you took it?'

'This morning.'

'So 14 hours ago? I think it'll be okay to take it again.'



What a goof!!!!



C's dance classes have "open window" week this week. I got to see her work en pointe last night. She's coming along. She needs to work more during the week, though. She'll really see some improvement if she does that.



We're having a Rainbow demonstration tonight -- my friends R and D gave them our names. We're NOT buying one. NOT.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The one where I catch up

So now that Thanksgiving and Black Friday are over and my Christmas weekend with M's family is complete, I can get down to the business of Christmas.

I feel like I can finally relax now. The house is mostly decorated. It was a whirlwind of activity -- tinsel and candy canes and Santas and all the Nativity sets. I managed to place everything somewhere. And I like where I put it all. I mixed things up a bit this year. This is the third Christmas in the house so I decided it was time to alter the decorating plan a bit. It worked well. :)

B1 is well. He has a Christmas parade this Saturday. He had a Greek god/goddess project due today. I had to scrounge to find a white sheet. That's just not something I have in my house. Red, brown, pink, blue -- yep, I have them. But white?!?!? Not really. Somehow, through the grace of the Almighty I managed to find the ONE white flat sheet we own. Whew!

B2 apparently is coming down with a cold as he ASKED to take some Dimetapp this morning. So we drugged him up and off he went to school.

C and I are counting down the days until we leave for our weekend trip to see the Radio City Christmas show. :) Yay! We'll get to do some shopping too!

I have asked to join the Magical Holiday Home's "Holiday Tour of Homes". Yep, I'm putting myself out there with the experts.