Rounding Out the Year

I know I said I would post the other half of my crochet projects
but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

For now I want to show off some highlights from 2009






From my family to yours
I hope you have fun
stay safe
and most of all...





Until next year...

Brag Post
Part 1

Now that everyone has received their gifts,
I can show them off to Bloggy Land.

Enjoy!


Santa ornaments
Santa
I made a boatload of these little buggers!


Rudolph
Reindeer


Frosty the Snowman
Snowman


For those of you who read about my Time Out,
here's the finished product
Flower
it was for my daughter


And finally,
or at least til tomorrow,
the blanket

Made of Granny squares for my Grammie
Blanket



Notice the "Part 1" in the title of this post?
Does that tell you how busy I was
in the weeks before Christmas?
I need 2 posts to show off everything I made!

I'm glad I finished everything on time.
But barely.
1 item wasn't finished til lunchtime
on Christmas Eve.
Talk about cutting it close!

Now I just need a new project!
Any ideas?




Until next time...

Black, Gold, and Cold




Don't know what I'm talking about?
Click here and check 'em out!





Who's MamaJules you ask?
That's me.
On Twitter.

Hint, hint...find me and follow







Today's post-its are brought to you by the letter P and Supah!
I feel like I should audition for Sesame Street now!

Anyway, hop on over to Supah's blog to read some more post-its!

And send her some get better soon vibes!


Until next time...

Follow me to my blog




Powered by CafeMom Toolbar - Get yours today!

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Mother Nature,

Please let me know where I did you wrong? I really do not appreciate what you have done to me! The
6 inches on snow you dumped on us last weekend was quite enough for me. But then you decided to make it rain and turn it all into a slushy, yucky mess. And just when everything clears up, you take a lovely white dump on us again!

What I don't understand is why the South Hills is worse than the North Hills. Isn't the north supposed to get more snow than the south? WTH?!? Need I remind you that we live on a hill and our driveway is a hill. Just because I have mastered the art of picking up enough speed down the hill to pull all the way into our driveway without hitting the truck doesn't mean you should give me a reason to do it!


Thankfully my mother-in-law found the kids proper snow playing gloves. But that just gives them another reason to want to play in the white crap outside! Getting them dressed to go outside is hard enough. Stripping them down when they're done without tracking snow through the whole house - well, that's not a process I enjoy AT ALL!!!!!


I had planned on bringing the decorations in from outside today, but I guess I won't be doing that! I have candy canes staked into the yard and you're making it rather difficult to remove them. I refuse to be one of those people who leave their Christmas stuff up until May! Heck, I've seen people leave them up all year!!! Hello - if you can't take down your icicle lights, than maybe you shouldn't put them up in the first place!


No, no, and NO....
I will NOT
be one of those people!!!

In conclusion, please let me know what I can do to make amends. If I'm nice enough, can we skip straight to summer? I'll even settle for Spring!


Thanks!


What a Great Time

Christmas Eve we get all dressed up and go to my Aunt and Uncle's house.



No, this was not at my house, tho I wish it was.
My Aunt ans Uncle's house is gorgeous!!!

We have an awesome dinner - prime rib!
I don't think my turkey-lovin Uncle and cousins
really appreciated how tasty it was.
I gladly would have taken the leftovers from them!

After church, we head back to their house for cookies and presents.



GG has decided THIS is how she wants to dress next Halloween.
She'll be a present.

Maybe someone else can take her trick-or-treating!


Christmas morning at our house was truly a good day, gift wise.
GG finally got the thing she's been asking for for 2 years now.



And I have discovered that we no longer see her
as her face is now buried in the screen.


Little Dude got the Dragon Tower
he's been drooling over the past few months.
I opened it this morning and I have never seen him so excited.
But I've discovered that certain toys need instructions
on how to open the darn box to get to the toy inside!




So now the only thing left to do is open and put away all the stuff we got.
I also need to undecorate.
I usually leave the stuff up for a while,
but the next few days are supposed to be warmer than normal,
so I might take advantage of it and bring the outside stuff in.

For now, I think I'm going to enjoy some leftover ham while I admire these beauties!



Merry Christmas to me!
I love the after Christmas sales!


Until next time...

Busted!!!

I can't wait to show the kids this picture tomorrow morning!
They're not gonna know what to do with themselves!


Awesome gifts
AND

we got proof that the Fat Man was here?!?


It's gonna be nuts!!!


I caught Santa

Crap! I'm trying to post this while the kids are up
and walking around the house!


Not good!!!!!


Before I go I would like to wish

all of you and your families

a very Merry Christmas!





my favorite commercial
I smile every time I see it


my kids are aware of this

and make sure to call me when it comes on


and if I miss it....

they make me feel like Scrooge let me know



Until next time...

To Do List
Sticky Version

Cookies

Gifts

Target

Panic

Snow

Ice

Happy Holidays




Until next time...

It Must Be Italian


FRA-GEE-LAY


Leg Lamp


This ornament is by no means the prettiest thing, but you have to admit, it is pretty funny. And ugly! If we had a table by the front window, I would SO buy this lamp and show it off proudly at Christmas.

The story behind it... well if you've seen the movie, then no explanation is needed! It's a classic!


I can't wait til Christmas Eve. Starting at 8pm, TBS has a 24-hour marathon of "The Christmas Story". I don't think I've sat down and watched the movie all the way through in years, but after that span of running continuously for 24 hours, I've seen it all. Just not in the correct order!


Oh, crap! Sorry to make this so short, but I think my son is trying to shoot his eye out!

And the damn dogs have gotten into the kitchen.




Now go over the river and through the woods to
SupahMommy's blog to check out some other best/worst ornaments!


Until next time...

As Long as Someone's Happy


I don't care how pretty it looks, I hate the snow!


Last night when I went to bed, the weather morons people said 1-3 inches by Sunday morning. Yet again, they were wrong! I woke up to a four year old asking to play outside. I looked out the window, and lo and behold, there's a good 4 inches! Right now we're up to 5, almost 6 inches. That's nowhere near the amount that the other side of my state is dealing with, thank goodness. But when you're told an inch or less and you wake up to 5x that amount, it tends to put a kink in your day.


I want that job! The one where you get paid to be wrong most of the time. It must be awesome!


But as much as I hate the snow, I know there are some out there who absolutely love it.













I think it's a good night to stay in and make some 7-layer cookies!

Until next time...

A Treat and a Song

It's been a crazy week here! I can't believe Christmas is only a week away.

Everyone who I needed to buy for is done, except for GG. We're going out Sunday before the game while the kids play with Grandma and Pap.


When I realized the other day exactly how close Christmas is, I panicked. The reason I panicked is because I am making a ton of gifts this year. Unfortunately I can't show them off because some of the recipients read my blog. But the week after Christmas, I am showing off my stuff like there's no tomorrow!


Other than that, we've just been preparing for the holiday. I made my first batch of cookies today. I guess technically there bars, not cookies.


4-layer bars

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
3 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces
1/2 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, chopped

Make It

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Combine cake mix, butter and egg. Spread into lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan.

BAKE 16 to 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

TOP immediately with remaining ingredients. Bake an additional 2 minutes or until marshmallows begin to melt. Cool completely. Cut into 32 bars to serve.


The only ingredient I didn't add were the nuts. We were taking some of the to the library's holiday party and with nut allergies being so common, I did not want to be responsible for someone getting sick, or worse. I used mint M & M's and they ended up adding a nice flavor to the bars.

GG was a little upset she couldn't come, but it seems that the stomach flu has hit! I guess tomorrow will be a cleaning day because I'll be damned if anyone else gets sick like that for Christmas. Let's just say it hit her in the car to get C from work and that was not a pleasant drive. The whole 2 hours of it!!!

Oh, and speaking of cars, I am doing a huge, gigundous happy dance. Little Dude is no longer in a car seat. He has graduated to a booster seat! Technically he was big enough in August, but I wanted to wait as long as I could before transitioning him. Once it got cold, I knew he wouldn't fit in his car seat with a coat on. Now the only problem we have is who sits in which seat. Oh, well. If it's not one thing, it's another!

Well, I just realized how quiet my house is. I think it's the perfect time to get some more work done of my gifts. I will leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs, complete with video! The link below the video is the one I actually wanted, but there was no code to embed it and that's just not as fun. If you think the song is as funny as I do, than click the link to watch it again with clips from one of my favorite movies!







He's So Close!

Oh, the dreaded Christmas card! I gave up this year. No one would give me a decent picture.

Eyes were closed

Someone was staring at some invisible thing on the wall behind me

Little Dude Someone looks drunk


I think it all started with this picture...



See, when it comes to kids, once you laugh at something they do, they keep doing it. WTH?!?

So to ease my disappointment of not getting a decent picture for Christmas cards, help me out and vote for this little guy over at parenting BY dummies Merry Effin Christmas contest.

#16

Please?!?

I'll love you forever!!!!

He's so close to the top 5.
Come on people, we can do it!!!!!

The contest ends today so hurry up and get over there! I promise this is the last day I'll beg for some love for my little boy. Isn't he cute? Just wants to make you run over and proclaim your love for
#16!


Assuming I don't burn down the house attempting to make cookies for a party tonight, I'll be back later to post a normal, non-begging post.

Until then, VOTE FOR #16!!!!!!!


Until next time...

Little Helper

I know, I know, I said I was taking a bloggin break. Really I am, but this is just too cute not to share!

I'm sitting here in what has become the multi-purpose room of the house. I'm finishing up the last of the reindeer I'm making, listening to Little Dude and GG play.


GG was having trouble at the beginning of the school year with word searches. Altho I think a lot of the blame fell on the teacher trying to rush the kids through yet another assignment. Anywho, I bought her a wordsearch book to practice with at home. By the way, it's really helped! At the beginning of the year, she was getting F's on all the word searches.


F's!!!!! This from the girl who has never brought home anything less than a B. Except handwriting, but I figure she'll be doing nothing but typing in a few years anyway. And if she takes after her dad in handwriting, heaven help her!!!


Back to the word searches.... She claimed they didn't have enough time to do them. Talking to other parents from her class, I knew that was a lot of truth in that claim. Faults with her teacher... well, that's a whole other post!!!


Anywho, she's trying to have her brother help her find words.




"Ok, Dude, look for a stick. That's the letter 'I'."

"Now, look for a circle. That's the letter 'O'."



Sometimes it's hard to see, I think because they are close in age - she's 8 and he's 4, but they are thick as theives. GG is one of the best big sisters I know of.



And we all know the closer they are, the more they fight. And I just heard my cue to step in! So much for a sweet moment!


Until next...


The Most Important Post-it Ever!!!

It's so important that you need to print this out, cut out the little posty and stick it on your forehead monitor as a daily reminder.


Merry Effin Christmas contest
by parenting BY dummies



You have until Friday so vote, vote, vote. Remember, you can stop by and vote once every day!



I'm keeping tabs.



I have tiaras, glitter, balloons, whatever fancy blingy thing you want if you help Little Dude out!





And because of this one,
I'm going to try to lay off bloggy-land for a few days.

But I will try to stop in and
bribe threaten ask you nicely
to vote for my little man.


#16

Don't forget.
It's a very important number.

Please!!!

Here's the link again,
just in case...
Merry Effin Christmas Photo Contest



Go check out SupahMommy's blog
to see some other great post-its!

Until Next time...