Whew, made it through Christmas, still up in the air as to whether or not I will survive the rest of THIS WEEK! Note to self: next year take vacation the week between christmas and new years. So just wanted to share a couple of christmas memories, my grown up boy:

The next one is of a carosel horse that my Grandpa bought at some auction or estate sale years and years ago that my mom refinished to display at my older sisters house, I think it turned out absolutely beautiful:

Every year, my parents give my sisters and I a matching jewelry gift, we are so lucky to have such generous parents with such good taste!!

And this is the gift that I made for my sister Lenyse:

I made one similar for my parents and for my sister Amy in different colors, I will post them when I get pictures.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, I will try to post again soon!

its FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Hooray, its friday, boo I still have a lot to do....
I got about half done with my mom AAAAND Lenyse's christmas gifts last night. Had to start over again on my mom's. (yes, that makes hers attempt number 3) And Rich told me I didn't have time to start over again, thanks for the support from the couch honey. This will be my last blog entry for a couple of days, we are leaving tomorrow to visit my family in KC for a couple of days. I finally got my hands on a Wii yesterday, got the inside scoop from a friend and after sitting in my car for about 45 minutes, then standing in line in the cold darkness for about 25 minutes ( I was #3 in line) The manager at Toys R Us came out and handed vouchers to the first eight people in line. 8, that is all they got, 8. I felt sorry for the 7-8 people that were standing there that DIDN'T get one, but not bad enough to give mine up. Such a relief, I seriously didn't think I was going to get one. Well, I have to get back to work, I hope that everyone has a wonderful christmas!!!

Well, I got home from shopping last night, and SUPRISE! I have more presents under the tree (for ME!!) the funny thing is-

"Santa" couldn't find the gift tags, so he used post-it notes. That Santa, he really needs to get organized. (Mrs. Claus must have the flu or something, LOL
I delivered my first baked box this morning:

and I am thrilled with the finished product. I knew the take-out boxes would be cute, but they are even better than I imagined. BTW, that little snowflake in the background is off of my MM snowflake wreath I made last year. It has a B&W photo of Chase, Rich, and I in the middle of each flake, and I guess when Rich got home last night the one with my photo fell off. That pretty much sums things up, huh?

And one more photo for the day, these are the christmas cards that I have done:

Ok, so that was more than one, but I couldn't decide which picture was better. So, I pretty much finished shopping last night. I only have a few little this and thats to pick up and let me tell you how relieved I am. I was exhausted when I walked in the door, there were so many screaming children and cranky adults out. I honestly don't know how I ever survived working retail during the holidays!! Now I just have the handmade gifts to finish and wrap. (sounds so simple doesn't it?) I think I might need a sick day in the near future......

Happy Monday!! (not)
Tick tock tick tock, that is all I hear in my brain today. I had a VERY busy weekend, got tons done, still have tons to do. Christmas cards are almost complete, I started working on them first thing saturday morning, only to find out my printer was out of ink. I have about 3/4ths of them done, addressed and ready the other 1/4, well maybe they will get done. I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday, finished dipping the buckeyes, dipped a whole bag of pretzels, and stuffed the baked good boxes. Altered 5 more tins for money and gift card gifts, scrapped the first attempt at a gift for my mom, started a second attempt. Whew, I am tired just thinking about it. I did make a mad dash to Wichita thinking I might get my hands on a Wii yesterday morning, silly me, no such luck. So I am making lists of things that I have to do before the week is out. Rich actually wrapped my present yesterday, it was so amusing, "where is the tape, where is the scissors, where are the tags" You know he would have preferred I wrap the darn thing myself, but that AIN'T happening. I love suprises and all, but the box looks like it just might contain that beautiful navy blue Coach bag I have been drooling over.....

So, today I am buying gift cards, oh and I have to get hairspray, almost out lord have mercy. I had a hair appt on saturday and Amber asked me if there was anything about the cut that was bothering me and for once I said, "no, not really" She just looked at me really funny, I said well maybe there is just so much other stress going on I just can't be bothered with my hair right now. Ha!!
Is is just me or has this christmas season gone extremely fast? I know every year tends to go faster but seriously, it is like that movie with Adam Sandler where he has the remote? I need a pause and rewind, and maybe even a slow motion. Well I bettery get busy before I get even more behind.

so, my friend Amy Beabout was in today, (repairing a tire AGAIN!)And she brought in a new pillow (not for sale yet) But I had to share, I know at least one person that will go crazy over it. For those of you not familiar with Amy Lou designs, she makes Tooth Fairy Pillows for little kiddos and they are just about the cutest thing I have seen. Wish I had known about these when Chase was a little guy. So if you are interested in a tooth fairy pillow for some little person you know, you can visit Amy's website at: http://toothfairypillow.net/index.php

I am very very busy being bored today, so I thought I would share just a couple of christmas inspirations from my house today. The gift tags that Chase stamped for me this weekend, the 5 wreaths on the wall in the living room, sparkelly stars on the window, and my dear old friend & christmas stocking that carries a charm signifying something from each year of my childhood. Maybe something will inspire you?

brrrrrrr

I would SOOO rawther be home in bed today. No, I am not sick, just cold and tired. Had a pretty productive weekend, Saturday Chase and I did housework, wrapped gifts, worked on handmade gifts, baked banana bread,(with peanut butter chips) made rice crispy treats (with peanut butter), and Chase stamped the tags for our christmas gifts, whew! Then saturday evening we went to dinner at the Palamino Grill at Terradyne for Rich's work christmas party, nice place. Food was really good, Chase ordered fried okra and I swear it is hand breaded, probably the best "Fried Opra" I have had since my grandma used to make it homemade. Yesterday I got up early and cooked breakfast so Chase and I could head over to Angie's to bake for christmas. Last year Angie and I started a new tradition (well-new for me, she's been doing it for a long time) of baking treats to give as gifts. So we got to her house around 9:45 and started the baking. She was MUCH more productive than me, I took a risk and tried all new recipes this year and I will definately rethink that next year. One of my recipes was a COMPLETE disaster, ended up in the garbage-unsalvagable. OH, speaking of recipes, the ham and beans with the pork roast was ok, next time I will use half or even 1/3 of the pork roast. I ended up having to cook it for 48 (yes two days and nights) hours before the beans weren't crunchy anymore, and I fished out at least half of the meat because I couldn't even stir it. But, Rich LOVED all the meat in it. Last night I made homemade chicken and noodles with homemade mashed potatoes. I can't express to you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE comfort food. It is SO worth the time and effort it takes. I just wish I had a little more time and effort to spare, LOL! So it's monday and we are still on the hunt for the Wii, Chase may end up getting the cash or a G/C to buy the darn thing after christmas the way things are going. Got to go for now, need to get to work. Hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!!

PHOTO SHOOT

So here is the photo shoot with my friend Stacy's little boy Cayden. He is such a happy little guy!! I know now why my mom was always saying babies are so hard to photograph!! For the most part it was pretty good but the little guy started having tummy problems that lasted through the night and the next day!!! Hopefully there is a shot in here that she can use for Christmas!!

Here we are at monday again. A slightly bittersweet day for me. I do feel like I got a tremendous amount done this weekend despite having to work on Saturday. I got most of my christmas decorations up, and managed to get a few presents wrapped. (I hate a christmas tree with no presents under it, just doesn't look right!) Rich and I braved the weekend crowds and did a little christmas shopping yesterday. I have pretty much resigned to get Chase a Wii for christmas. He has not asked for a single thing and only talked about that game. So, if I can FIND one, that is what he is getting. Not sure he will be getting anything ELSE, LOL. ( that's what he can use all of his christmas cash for, accessories and games.) Stacy and Sonya brought Cayden over last night for me to take some pictures of, it went pretty well for the first 20 minutes or so, then his belly started hurting and he got a little cranky. I think we got some good shots, when Stacy brings back my memory card I will share them. Did a little more shopping at lunch today, picked up some jeans for Rich at JC Penney's (on sale I might add) I was looking for a very specific gift for our office gift exchange but the store was out of what I was looking for. Left my name and number, hopefully he will call me back. So I had a couple of requests about what I am cooking in the crock pot from my previous post, I will try to remember to post the recipes each time I use it. I will be making ham and beans in the crock pot later this week, I just use a 13 bean mix that I soak in water for 24 hours then cook in the crock pot for 24 hrs. I am trying something new this time, I am going to cook a whole small pork roast in with the beans instead of a ham hock. The ham hocks rarely have enough meat to satisfy the cave man that I live with so I will let you know how it goes. Happy December, hope everyone is having a great week.
Oh before I forget, anyone that knows my sister Amy and wants to keep up with her "bump" she has started a pregnancy blog that you can view at your convenience here:

http://aptimes3.blogspot.com/
(ok, hopefully that worked, it doesn't show up on my preview)

It has been such a busy week, trying to get back into the swing after the holiday. I am still feeling so horribly behind for christmas. I did get a start on my cards this weekend but I still have a way to go before they are finished. I started updating the calender on the wall at home for december last night, and I literally have at least 2 things on every saturday from now til december. I suppose it is a blessing that they have cancelled my company christmas party this year for that reason. I am disappointed only because there are few things that they do for the employees and I personally feel that they just didn't plan things in time to get it done. It does give me just one less obligation for the holiday season-HOORAY! I have slowly but surely getting my christmas shopping done, still have a way to go there too. Chase seems more difficult to buy for this year than ever before. He is old enough that not just any toy will do, and I honestly don't think I can swing $300 for a Wii if you know what I mean, LOL. Yesterday they announced at work that they were considering being open with a full crew on saturday Dec 22nd so that we can be closed all day on Christmas Eve. While this might sound like a fantastic idea to some, I find it a bit confusing to the consumer. We have always had saturday hours half day, oil changes ONLY-now for one saturday we are going to have all the guys here, working on everything. I predict a lot of complaints, or a lot of tech's standing around not doing anything at all. I say, no christmas party? we can afford to have christmas eve off. I guess thats why they don't ask my opinion, right? Oh well, I guess I am done venting now. Want to know what is making me happy today??? The thought that dinner is cooking as we speak and I don't have to do anything when I get home except snuggle with my boy!!!

OK, OK I know I have been a VERY bad blogger the last few days. Honestly, I just couldn't trust myself, I was sworn to secrecy and I just couldn't stand it....I finally got the OK to tell the secret just a few minutes ago. Are you ready??? My baby sister is having a BABY!!! Thats right, I am gonna be an Auntie again, I am so excited I just can't stand it!!!! Whew, I am so relieved, I hate secrets, so difficult not to say anything, especially when it is something as happy as this! The only not so good news is that they aren't planning on finding out what the sex of the baby is. I don't have to agree with it, but I guess I am going to respect it-LOL. So that is my totally amazing, fantastic, exciting news for the week. On a more sober note, Chase's step mom is having a historectomy (SP?) this morning so please keep thier family in your prayers. Have a great day everyone, I hope to be posting a little more regularly now that the cat is out of the bag!!!

I am going to have to agree with Amy, this has got to be a better week. I do have ton's and ton's on my to-do list but I will make it through. I have too, LOL! This weekend was terribly busy, but oddly enough seemed to last FOREVER-whats up with that? Friday night we had Cherri's birthday party, she was very suprised. All in all the night went pretty smoothly but we didn't get home until about 1:00 a.m. Needless to say when my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. I was less than thrilled. Six hours at parts inventory and I was really bushed. But, I made $80 towards christmas so I guess its all good. I immediatly went home and went back to bed, when Rich woke me up at 5 saturday evening I thought it was morning!!! So we took Rich's dad to dinner at Felipe's for his birthday, then home and back to bed for meeeeeeee. Sunday was pretty lazy, cooked breakfast and layed around for a while, then got off my butt and did a little christmas shopping. Even stopped at the 'Attic to buy the paper for my christmas cards. I am still a little up in the air on the exact design, but I have a few ideas. Hopefully they will turn out like they do in my head. (how often does THAT really happen, right?) Well I guess thats about it up to now, I better be getting to lunch before I get stuck.

Normally today I would be all like "TGIF!!!!" When I got to work this morning I realized that out of 4 advisors at work today, there are only 2. And to top it off our "Phone Nazi" as my dad calls her-is also off today. Something about having wisdom teeth pulled. I am prepared for today to be just crazy. Well, I don't know that prepared is the right word...aware maybe? So it is definately going to be WILD, I am already threatening to start drinking early just to make it through the day, LOL! Another busy weekend is upon me, we have a birthday party for Cherri tonight, then I have to be here at work at 7 tomorrow (argh) for parts inventory. If it weren't for the extra christmas money I will be making I might just have to skip it this year. Saturday night we are taking Rich's dad out to dinner for HIS birthday, so that just leaves me Sunday to get caught up on everything from this week-not to mention all the stuff I didn't get to last weekend! WHEW, I am worn out just thinking about it. Well starting to get busy here, better get geared up for work....

Such a crazy busy weekend. Just the first of many I am sure, the closer we get to the holidays. Saturday Chase and I visited the lovely and talented Amber for haircuts. Made a mad dash home to get ready for Cheri and Angie to come over and scrap for a bit. Luckily Cheri was running a little late from Chance's basketball game so it gave me a few extra minutes to clean my house!! So Cheri worked on some Chance birthday pages, I got started on my friend Jill's baby gifts, and Angie came by for about an hour and worked on Christmas cards. All in all I think we were pretty productive. When we got done we met Patrick and Rich at Felipe's for dinner, yum!!(you know we're "regulars" there...) Sunday morning we got up early to head over to the west side of town for a photo shoot of the Dorsett boys. Cheri had an idea to take a photo of the boys and have it made into a puzzle for Grandma Pat for christmas. Well you know what they say about best laid plans right? John and Max were in KC with their Dad putting up a playground and did not get home until 6:30 a.m. sunday morning. So we decide to go to breakfast and let John and Max sleep a little. After breakfast at Hometown Buffet we head back to Pat and Cheri's to get Ryan and Chance dressed for pictures. Still waiting to hear from the other two boys we start a couple of individual photos of the boys that were there. Finally we decide to load up and go over to Jay and Lynette's to GET John and Max. Needless to say they were less than thrilled about waking up, much less having pictures taken. So, I just go with the flow. The pictures could be better, but I went into it knowing that at the ages these boys are, it was going to be a fight. We went back home to take Chase to his dad's and just relax the rest of the day. And here we are at monday again.......sigh.

photo shoot

RECIPE

a recipe from my co-worker Paul:



Baked Stuffed Chicken

6-7 lb whole chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good)
1 cup uncooked popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's low fat)
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush chicken all over with melted butter, salt and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven. Listen for the popping sounds, when the chicken's ass blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room, it is done.

Think I might try this one for Rich tonight.....

Sorry for the absence. There is just not enough Midal to get me through this week.....

Weekend Roadtrip

So Chase and I went on a roadtrip just the two of us this weeekend. We attended a suprise birthday party for Uncle Aaron, the real suprise is his birthday is not until February!! Aaron saw a commercial on TV a while back about Royals baseball Fantasy Camp. It is a package that you can purchase to attend a week long trip to the Royals training camp in Suprise, AZ. His package includes 2 full sets of uniforms, a professional photographer that follows your journey through the week, several scrimages and a game with the Alumni (among many other perks) So my sweet and thoughtful sister decided to purchase this fantastic gift for her husband. The camp is at the first of next year but he had to know ahead of time so that he could make arrangements to take off work and so on. Isn't she the best??? So Rich had to work saturday and wasn't able to take off so it was just the boy and me on the open road. We had a great time just chatting and spending time together. When we got there my mom and I decided to hit the Legends Mall. (If you guys have not been to this place you HAVE to go. It is located up by the racetrack and Great Wolf Lodge) It is a mixture of regular and outlet stores, they have a Banana Republic Outlet, Nike Outlet, Adiddas Outlet, Old Navy Outlet, the list goes on and on and on. Chase and Grandpa hit Oklahoma Joes for some of the best BBQ in KC. I have to admit it was a pretty tough decision for me, BBQ or Outlet shopping. But it all worked out well. We had Aaron's party and then spent the night at my sisters. Then we met up with the folks again Sunday morning at Chris Cakes for breakfast. If you have not experienced Chris Cakes, they are famous for catering pancakes in the KC area and have finally opened up a resteraunt. Breakfast buffet, pancakes made to order, 5 different kinds of meat, eggs, hashbrowns, more pancake toppings than you can shake a stick at, let me tell you! It is almost embarrassing how much of a foodie I am, LOL! Then it was back on the road to Augusta where the laundry and housework awaited :( I was dissapointed to see the weekend end I love to visit my sister and parents and when I get time to have Chase all to myself that makes it all the more fun. Today it is back to the 'ol grind, got to work this morning and the spring is broken on one of the doors, what a way to start the day. I guess since it is monday I shouldn't expect any less, right?

The Day after Halloween

So last night was Halloween, and Chase for the first year ever did not dress up to go trick or treating. He decided that he wanted to stay at home and hand out candy to all the little crumb grabbers in the neighborood. We didn't have a tremendous amount of kids (by the time I finally made it home) I figure there were probably a lot more before I got there. But he took the responsiblity VERY seriously, as Chase always does. The highlight of the evening was Chase's brother and sister coming to trick or treat. Tori was a very cute witch in purple and black, and Nate was a very furry Elmo. That kid just kills me, whenever they come over he is just drawn to Rich. Kinda like cats are drawn to people that don't like them or are allergic. I just have to laugh, before they left both Tori and Nate gave us hugs, but Nate gave Rich at least 3 or 4 hugs, I wish I had it on video!!! So I was a little melancholy since my baby is too old for halloween but it was bound to happen. I guess I might as well accept it, the boy is growing up. Had to be to work early this morning for our "Weekly Meeting" Yuck. I have to get up early every morning, but when I have to get up even earlier than usual it really doesn't make me very happy. Oh I almost forgot, we had food day at work yesterday. Can I just tell you how much I love love love food day?? First of all, I love food. Second of all, I get to make and eat all the foods that I love that no one at home would touch with a ten foot pole!! So we had pulled pork sandwiches, a fantastic pasta salad that Angie made with corn and black beans, peppers, and chili seasoning-YUMMO!! Angie also baked a luscious pumkin cake with a fluffy cream cheese frosting to die for. Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about it right now. And the best part is we have a little left over so I can graze on it today too!!! Well I am off to cut me a piece of that pumkin cake.....

OK, Just a quick one this morning. Wanted to share Chase's pumkin and I finally remembered to take a picture while it was still light outside!!
Isn't he the cutest?? I purchased the kit at Target a month or so ago. Who doesn't love Mr Potato head right? OH, I have also been promising a picture of my pink highlights for my sister who has not seen them yet, forgive my self portrait skills, they aren't so good but at least you can see it. So here is to a better day, monday is over, Thank Goodness, and that just puts me one day closer to the weekend again!!!

For some unknown reason, I seem to have a touch of the Monday blues today. Not really sure why, I just would rawther be tucked in bed sleeping right now. I think that would improve my mood dramatically. Had a good weekend, proud to say I completed one christmas gift, and got a decent start on a second one. I also went through every single sheet of patterned paper, cardstock, and scrap that I own. Wow, I know, even I am impressed by that one. Resorted and re-organized it all by color, one folder for each solid color and one folder for each PP color. I even have a stack that I am getting rid of, not going to use it, might as well not have it taking up space. I seriously wish that I could share pic's of the projects that I worked on this weekend, but I soooo want them to be a suprise so I will hold off for now. I am still feeling so very behind regarding christmas although I should be used to that feeling by now. I always have grand intentions to get started early but they just never seem to happen the way I imagined. Oh well. Well, here's hoping that my mood improves before I rip the phone nazi's head off, chew her up and spit her out,LOL!!

AAAAAH Friday!!! TGIF y'all. So, we took Chase to the dentist yesterday to have a cavity filled, wow that was an experience. I seriously thought he was going to have an all out panic attack when they got him in the chair and started prepping him for the shot. (I neglected to tell him ahead of time because I did not want him over stressing about it.) That boy started sweating like a pig, I thought for sure he was gonna puke. "Needles? I hate needles!!" I tried to tell him the shot would be the worst part, after that he literally wouldn't feel a thing. Didn't work. Dr. Vessali is a really cool girl. Told him that he was just like her son, and offered him some gas. At this point I thought his eyeballs might possibly pop completely out of his head, "GAS?!?! WHAT...IS....GAS?" So she puts the mask on him but he keeps trying to breath through his mouth because of the huge thing on his nose now. Lordy. So Dr Vessali steps out for a minute to let me calm him down just a little. Here I am blowing the air from the tool that they blow your mouth out with on his poor sweaty little face and neck, talking him down all the while. Once he finally calmed down and survived the needle he was ok, but it was quite the ordeal to get to that point. He even admitted without me asking after it was all over with that he over reacted a little. Fear is definately not an emotion to be toyed with. But we had a nice little chat about what he could do to insure that he never had to go through this again, so hopefully he is going to be a little more pro-active with his teeth from now on. Today my allergies are kicking my butt, looking forward to going home after work and making it an early night. Rich is going to attend the Derby Football game tonight to watch his nephew play. Hooray, alone time!!! LOL. This weekend I have GOT to find Chase some jeans that fit,and I might actually try to get some layouts done. Oh and I seriously need to take pictures of layouts that I have yet to post on 2peas. So look for some new posts from me next week girls, I will let you know.

Ok, here it is. After taking, like, FOREVER, I finally figured out, all on my own I might add, how to make my own blog. Maybe the next time I post I will actually have some pictures to put on here. Today is a crazy day. Seems like all of my customers are a bit on the short tempered side. Must be the full moon. Who knows. So it is finally thursday. That means tomorrow has got to be friday, right???? Lord knows I need a weekend in my near future. I have so many things going on now that fall has arrived, Chase is having a cavity filled this afternoon, the normal housework of course this weekend. Trying to get a jump start on the holidays, but it just doesn't seem to be working. So here is my goal, I am such a blog reader, I read about 10 blogs everyday, figured it was about time I did my own. I am going to attempt to keep it updated every day or so, boring as it may be. Hope you guys are having a great week and I will be blogging again soon!!!