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)