Christmas, New Year and Then Some

Hidee ho.  It's been a while.  Christmas was good/bad.  Bad because dd was gone in Chicago.  Good because everyone's well and got what they wanted and then some.  :-)  I finally got a Cricut machine (or as I think of it, a Title-making machine).  I also got 4 cartridges.  LOVE IT.   Hubby bought all of it.  Nice job.  I also got an electric yarn winder!  DH was feeling generous.  Of course he doesn't know to shop with Joann's coupons in tow, so he paid full price for the ball winder.  We remedied that a couple days later.  We returned ds's Xbox game too, thinking we'd get it for $7 less at Costco.  Turns out, there was some instant coupon for $13 off the reg. price, so we saved $20!!  Plus the $36 we saved when we returned the ball winder and bought one with a 40% coupon.  I'm only mentioning this because this kind of money savings is an extra gift all its own!  I love saving money on things we were going to buy anyway.  Weee Heee! 

DS rec'd a DVD of a TV series he loves from his aunt and two CDs of bands that kids my age got as gifts 30 yrs. ago!  It's so weird to see some of the same stuff under the tree, only now I'm the adult.  If my mom were alive she'd get a big kick out of that and call me old.  ha ha

DS bought himself a Santa hat at school to wear (the money went toward some charity-nice one son :-) and when he was done with it, it wound up on our dog Daisy.  She laid there for a good 20 minutes wearing it.

I made some cut out cookies this year along with the Corn Flake wreaths but that's all.  Didn't do the regular amt. of sweets.  I attempted Kringler, but it didn't work out this year.  BIG bummer, that stuff is good. 

I loved having the tree up this year.  So much so, that it's still up on the 5th of January!  It's a tradition for me and mine to have it down before the new year.  I like to start the new year off clean and simple.  This year, we kept it up for dd to get home and open her presents. 

On Christmas Eve, ds, dh and I were at the table working out some brain teasers together and I got an itch to string cranberries and popcorn together.  (I've never done that before.)  It turns out that our darling little boy ate the last of the kettle corn so I used Kix cereal instead.  lol  I have to say it was FUN!  I only poked myself once (to the freaking bone) with the needle and it's still up on our tree.  In the pic it's just above the soccer ball heading upward.  My sister suggested I throw it out on Oakie, our Oak tree when we're done with it so the birds can chow.  Hopefully, after all this cold, there are still some bird friends left.  That's another subject.  Namely, "Why the Hell Are We Living in Mn?"  ha ha



We also went to church on Christmas Eve.   After we had communion we all got candles and lit them.  It was so warm and very cozy in there. 

I bought hubby some tickets to a show at the Brave New Workshop.  It's called Brett Favre: the Second Coming.  Supposed to be funny.  Hope so.  It's this weekend.  I love getting or giving tickets to shows.  I read once that it's best to give children experiences instead of things.  I love that.  I think it's true for all people.  (Especially when we have no room for the things we already have-right?) 

Yesterday dd and I went scrapping at Archivers.  I got a big hug from Mary-Jo, who works there.  Hadn't seen her in a long time.  Very nice to get hugged.  I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped.  Only four pages and one was a dbl. layout.  Nothing fancy, but it's good to have them done:

As you can see, I'm not very adept at arranging pictures on this blog yet.

This morning was great.  I'd gotten a lot of sleep and was rarin' to go.  I came downstairs, made brownies, my son his lunch and put all the clean dishes away, dirty ones in the d/w and then washed by hand the high maintenance ones.  :-)  Made son bacon and french toast for breakfast, got him to school and stopped by Cub and bought things for three dinners, got the cats fed and watered and threw them out for a few hours since it's warmer now and cleaned the bathroom.  I also ate a bowl of baked oatmeal.  (I'll throw the recipe up at the end.)  I adore mornings like these when I have enough energy to do what I need.  It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it sure is.  (sadly.  lol) 

Today the plan is to grout the tile in the upstairs bathroom.



My mom's plant from 10 yrs. ago and Norbert the Duck.



Listello and Mirror surround-ungrouted



I gave my plant in there a haircut and washed its leaves a few days ago and that's all it took to get me wanting to finish the rest of the bathroom.   I still have to get the surface mildew off the top of the wall surrounding the shower (where the wallpaper backing didn't get off completely) and then skim-coat it and repaint it.  NOT looking forward to that.  It's been sitting there with no paint ever since we removed the wallpaper four yrs. ago.  This past year is when the nasty black crap started creeping in. 

Well-first things first.  I'm going to grout the listello and mirror surround stone.  Finally.  Yes, it's been four yrs. waiting for myself to do that too.  I'm such a procrastinator when I don't know how to do something.  lol  Not cool - must change.  (BTW: Pretend not to notice the double chin in the mirror. lol)

 

It feels sooo good when I finish things on time.  Ok, on to another subject. 

 

We found out that we have to ante up $1500 for a new street in front of our house that we don't need!  There's nothing wrong with it, but they just want to keep their contract people happy I think.  I'm slightly pissed about this.  Sorry for the harsh language.  I just hope they take into consideration all the extra traffic due to the soccer park adjacent.  We shouldn't get stuck paying for that I don't think.  On the other hand, we did know that it was there when we moved there.  Hmmm.  Either way we're out $1500!  Booo!

 

I think I'll get going now.  Off to Home Depot to pick up the grout. Oh--I forgot to mention that I painted my awful boring wall too.  The color is called "Scorched" and it's a warm rusty orange.  DH hung the beautiful pic of couples walking in Paris too.  Love it.  Now I just need to put on my new comforter and I'll throw some pics of that up too. 

 

OK--NOW off to Home Depot. :-)  Thanks for stopping by!  Stay warm or be grateful that you are-if you are.  And watch out for those damned crocs in Australia! 

 

Here's the recipe for Michigan Baked Oatmeal, which I found I know not where, but it's from a B&B in...you guessed it...the great state of Michigan!  lol  This is one of my favorite things to gnosh on. 

 

1st- because I used to forget- spray a non-stick spray into a 3 qt. casserole dish or a 9X9. 

 

Then in a separate bowl mix together: 2 c. rolled oats, 4 c. milk, 1/2 c. dried cherries, 1/4-1/2 c. slivered almonds, 1/2 t. almond flavoring, 1/4 c. brown sugar and a washed and grated (peel and all) red delicious apple.  I like to add about 1/2 t. salt too.  Pour into casserole, cover and bake at 400 deg. F for 30-40 min. or 'til bubbling. 

 

Serve with a teaspoon or so of white sugar and some apple cider.  Sooohoho GOOD!  This reheats excellently.  Happy eating!