Winter, the long hard road to spring.

I was looking through my Kindle books that I downloaded during the Christmas season and realized that Christmas went by way too fast. It always seems to, especially this year since i didn't get all of my seasonal books read. There's the huge anticipation, then the relief that the decorations can come down and the house be put back together after a good cleaning. And then there's the long wait until spring. Why even bother with Valentines day and St. Patrick's day? My eyes are set for March 31, Easter 2013.

Tonight I had a Beat the Winter Blues party for a few friends. What's better on a cold February night than hot cocoa, lots of yummy foods and a few goods friends? I don't think hubby is all that fond of my parties since he and the toddler have to spend an evening out of the house. Usually they visit Chick Fil A and maybe a stop at Cabela's.

I didn't get any photos tonight, sometimes people are too busy behind the camera to really live and participate in life. Not today, I fully enjoyed even minute of my friend time. I'm seriously blessed to have such fantastic women around.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Saturday night E spent the night with my parents.  She loves going there.  She would carry her bag to the car is she could and she cries if my parents visit here and leave without her.  These are they kind of grandparents I had.  My grandparents could have given lessons on how to be a grandparent.  My parents must have been taking notes.  Anyway, M and I went to dinner at Houlihan's that night since it had recently opened in the area.  I had heard good things, and the food was good, but the service was TERRIBLE!  It was worse than terrible.  We arrived at 5:20 and didn't leave until after 7 and only waited briefly to be seated!  We didn't have any drinks, so I would think they would be trying to get us to leave faster since our bill wouldn't be much.  M texted for a free dessert, we ordered apple pie with ice cream.  When it arrived, 20 mins later, the ice cream was melted, so it had sat out, waiting to be delivered that long.  Wow.  Won't go back there.  

After we finally got out of there, I wanted to walk around the corner to Pottery Barn.  Last year I had tried to order this:  

The Partridge in a Pear Tree Salt and Pepper Shakers.  Last year they sold out.  M ordered them for me for my birthday last month, they were backordered until Dec. 8th.  Dec. 8th comes and goes and no shipment.  They actually had these in our store last weekend!  M called from the store and canceled the online order, plus he had a 20% off coupon for the day so we ended up saving $17!  Kinda makes up for the crappy service at Houlihan's.  

A visit with Santa

I love the Christmas season.  I love the lights, the coziness and strangely this year, I've really taken to glitter.  I'm certain to be cleaning up glitter from projects, ribbon and decorations until June. 

We went to the mall the week after Thanksgiving for our visit with Santa.  My friend had taken his kids earlier that day and advised us to go early.  I already had E's outfit ready to go, so we went that night after we voted in the run-off election.  My two main questions for my friend were:  Is the set nice, or is it some cardboard background?  And the most important question:  Is Santa's beard real?  I don't even bother with the fake beard Santas. 

Ah Glitter.  I got the idea from Pinterest, which links to this blog.  Plus, my friend Tiffany had done them at her craft day that I was unable to attend, but she was kind enough to bring me the supplies.  This was a canvas that I had from her last craft day that I hadn't done anything with and I have a total obsession with moose.  I also have a deer head that Tiffany brought me similar to the one on the Crazy Wonderful Blog. 

This is our mantle for the holidays this year.  Fresh greenery, pinecones, green ornaments and Al.  I tried a green Banana Republic scarf on Al, but it was just too short. 

I almost took all the ornaments off the tree last week to add more stuff.  It just seemed uninteresting to me.  M didn't want me to put on the regular berry garland, in case E put it in her mouth, and I forgot about the grapevines I had saved to wrap around it.  All the ornaments are shatterproof and I don't have out any of my special ornaments that I have made and collected over the years.  It will be quite a surprise when I get them out (hopefully next year) since I haven't seen them in so long.   After I wrapped some gifts, the tree seemed to look a little better, so I haven't changed anything....yet. 

Kansas City Southern Christmas Train in Noel, MO.  Dec. 8th, 2012. 

 So, it's been a while.  Many things have changed around our house.  Matt wanted to get a new sofa, with a sleeper, since I turned the guest room into a craft room.  Of course, a new sofa means re-decorating the living room, which means repainting the dining room and kitchen.  We went from tan to gray and LOVE it! More on that later.  Here is my latest project:  Elle's growth chart.  I didn't want something really childish-looking so I found this on Pinterest and since my dad has a cabinet shop he was nice enough to cut a board that fit this spot between the dining and living room. 

 

My board was 4" x 6'.  I purchased some stencils at Hobby Lobby, plus a black paint pen.  I started measuring the board at 6", so it hangs 6" off the floor to avoid the base trim. In pencil first,  I marked off each inch with a tape measure and added lines all the way across the board for each even foot.  The inch tick marks are about 1/2" and I used a small lettering triangle I had from college drafting/interior design classes to get the marks straight.  Then, I just traced over the pencil lines with a paint pen.  I stained the board and lightly sanded it once the stain was dry to age it a little.  I added a sawtooth hanger on the back and measure where it was to be hung on the wall.  Pretty simple. 

 

After the measurement.  She's 34" at almost 22 months.  

 I finally finished the apron I started at a friend's craft day back in November.  Matt's mom was the lucky recipient of this one for Mother's Day.  

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution...

..but a metal recycling facility behind your house certainly is. I was looking for some ways to deaden the metal crunching sound in our bedrooms so Elle and I can get our afternoon naps. On Pinterest, I saw that someone had covered foam insulation board with fabric to hang on their walls, so we decided to have some cut to fit our bedroom windows and cover them with fabric. Elle and I went to Home Depot last week to price the boards, we would need 3, and they came in 4' x 8' sheets. Since I couldn't fit them in the car that day, I mentioned it while at my parents that weekend, luckily, Dad had some extra when he insulated the shop several years ago...$50 savings...SCORE! I think I ended up spending about $85 on fabric for the 3, but got home decor fabric for the master, and that's more expensive, but much thicker than regular broadcloth. I have Elle's room done, it turned out pretty cute too, with the matching paisley fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. It helps with the noise and I like it, it's a WIN! Next, to get the master bedroom done.

Shadow box of Elle's newborn pj's, NASA hat from Aunt B and handmade shoes from Tiffany. They look so cute in there!

Here's Elle's Tutu table that mom and I made last fall. I still love the birds I painted, but loathe the look of this chair. It will be in my next garage sale.

Give Me Back My Children!

What I'm about to say is probably one of my most embarrassing things. I am deeply saddened to tell you that I REALLY REALLY miss All My Children. It's like a part of me is missing...people I have "known" for 15 years are no longer in my life. I've tried watching other soap operas, but just can't get into them.

I was chatting online with friend tonight and she reminded me that we used to have All My Children updates when we worked together. I would either Tivo the daily episode or read what happened online and we would get caught up on the goings-on in Pine Valley.

I wish the show had ended better. I understand that the plan was for the show to move online, but that got the ax in November. I want to know who the other person that David was keeping alive. Babe? And I'm dying to know who JR shot, a good idea, when in Dallas the question was "Who shot JR?" But I need some answers. I think Agnes Nixon should write an epilogue to be published online to give the fans the finale they want...and the crazy ones like me, the finale they need.

Kill Your TV

I remember seeing this hippies with "Kill Your TV" bumber stickers and wondering why someone would possibly do that. After realizing that we were paying $80/month for basic U-Verse or cable equivilant with only mediocre programming, we decided to just shut it off and go to Netflix streaming, Hulu, plus we bought a lifetime subscription to PlayOn, which is pretty nice. We could affford cable, but there wasn't much on anymore, HGTV become basically House Hunters (boo) and we just decided it wasn't worth it. It was worth dropping the bill by $70/month....80 cost-10 for Netflix. That's just more in savings and I like seeing that grow!

In the past month, I have finished a book I started last spring Bring Up Girls by James Dobson, read I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy Reagan, and am nearly halfway through Ted, White and Blue by Ted Nugent. I've learned that you need to take Ted in small doses, if not, you could become just like him. I also squeezed in You're Broke Because You Want To Be, by Larry Winget late last week. Larry's awesome! Everyone should read Larry's books. And I'm also still working my way through my camera for dummies book.

Plus, I get a lot more done around the house. I've mopped the kitchen floor twice this week.

So, I'm glad we killed the tv. RIP U-verse, it was nice knowing you.