Happy Holidays

This obviously wasn't a picture from this year since I didn't put up a tree.  It is mine though from a few years ago found in my flickr account... which I haven't added to in a long time.  It is handy to have pictures that I have taken all the same.  I love and hate to say that I am taking a holiday break.  I will return to blogging on January 5th.

  So, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! 

Thank you for reading and commenting all year long and hope to see you next year! 

Sunday faves

Sunday was so sunny and beautiful that I didn't have any desire to stay inside.  Despite finally giving in and going to the clinic after two weeks and four days of trying to let my body heal itself from a cold and not feeling terribly good from the steroids and antibiotics I stepped outside and right back in to grab my camera and Tommy.  I finally planted tulip bulbs from Holland in the pet cemetery and my friends all helped.  Then I helped Shaun ready the side by side for our upcoming trip.  I took a stroll through our back field and slightly into the woods.  I didn't venture down the hill to the creek, although I wanted to, because I had the wrong boots on.  Cowgirl boots are too slick on the bottom and no good for walking in a winter creek.  Mine are anyways.  When I did manage to make myself go back inside I made myself rest a bit and then made granola bars and supper.  Happy Winter to all.  The days will now gain a touch of daylight every day and it warms my soul.  I know I will soon be starting seeds because I get so giddy by February to grow something... and I just can't wait.

Kitty always sit on this log when I am working where the dogs are buried.

Cotton Bottom came a runnin when asking "is that brown rice I smell in that bowl?"

Haven't had a sky like this in weeks. 

Black Rose is still down... working on her when every chance. 

Tommy enjoying some sunshine.

Cotton's eggs are so big the lid won't close.  Bless her heart!

merry christmas to me

I know that you're not supposed to buy yourself things for Christmas... so they say.  But who better to know what you want than yourself?  I got my Christmas present from Shaun a couple of weeks ago and believe me I have been enjoying it!  On a Sunday afternoon, he was taking a nap on the couch as I was putting white lights and two small alpine trees above our fireplace and watching a QVC special "deal of the day" that totally reeled me in.  They can usually talk me into just about anything but this one completely made sense.  He woke up to me saying PSSST and needing help getting down from the top of the fireplace.  I had to get up there because there is a plug up on the loft (which I think was a genius idea of mine when we were wiring the house, and it is on a switch) and I had to plug the lights in up there and got nervous about jumping down and scaring the day lights out of Shaun in his afternoon slumber.  So, he easily woke up and after helping me get down said... "what do you want for Christmas?"  I pointed at the Dyson vacuum cleaner being advertised on the tube and said "THAT!"  He said... "order it" and I said ... aaaiiiggghhht!  So and few days later I was happily playing with  my Christmas present from Shaun and doing a chore that I have always loathed doing until now... now that I have the proper tool to use.  It is amazing.  That said... I think he got me enough so the following Christmas gifts are to myself because I know that I will enjoy them tremendously and each in their own way.

I bought myself this little speaker... yes from QVC and you should have seen the hosts dancing and jamming to it!  I feel I've needed one for some time.  It will come in handy at home, on our upcoming vacation and at the day care where our famous dance parties will now be filled with music instead of low, barely heard tunes coming from my pc being drown out by laughter and joy from us all.  

I've talked about the Food Bible lately.  I rented it from the library and loved it and know it will be a fantastic and helpful addition to my world by being able to quickly look up foods to help certain conditions and things to cut out too.

I bought myself the 2015 planner from A Beautiful Mess, which is a blog I follow, sort of on a whim.  I am hopefully going to force myself to use it although I've had planners in the past that I didn't really use.  We'll see.  This was a limited time only purchase.  I didn't know that at the time until I was trying to link it and failing to do so today.  Maybe, along with my scrap spiral and inspiration journal that I carry around all the time, I will find it necessary to log appointments and daily things... maybe.  Or maybe I will use it sort of like this... except in a one year sense.  I love the description of the journal in that ad.

I made a stop at Wal-Mart to buy myself a couple of sports bras for our trip coming up.  It turns out that four wheeling can do a number on a female's uppers being jostled around on rough terrain and a whole week of it without the proper support just sounded insane.  Even small ones need to be still!  I've woke up in the morning on our adventures feeling sore and just holding myself on one occasion or two and feel a little smarter and more prepared this time!  I don't feel it's necessary to spend tons of cash on items like this so Wal-Mart comes in very handy for me!  I bought a two pack (and a three pack) and they even have a bit of padding.  It's going to be a lovely week of muddin' folks!!

Happy Christmas!  See... even though I don't have a tree up this year I still have the feeling of Christmas!  Even Shaun does... I caught him singing Rockin Around the Christmas Tree this morning in the shower.  I somehow found it odd and hilarious that he knew all the words!

Do you buy Christmas presents for yourself?

twelve easy diy's

Need some homemade gift ideas?  I have grabbed twelve simple ideas for you from previous posts of mine that you could almost make with things lying around your house and give as simple gifts to friends or family.  If you don't already have the stuff I bet you could make a quick trip to the grocery and be done with it.  

Nuts & Bolts (with a recipe link!)

Lavender Face Toner

Homemade Granola 

Easy Journals

Lip Gloss 

Magazine Organizers 

Make-It-Box 

Caramel Popcorn 

Recipe Notebook

Freezer Paper Stencil Shirts 

Therapy Pouches 

Tool Pouch

dc stocking stuffers

Every year, instead of trying to pick out something for each child at my day care, I make little stockings for them and fill them with fun (and cheap) small toys.  Seriously, it is easier, more cost effective and they will really be getting more than they could handle from Santa at home.  This is just a little something from Miss Laurie for them to take home.  I sew together little felt stockings for each child and they get to decorate their stockings and we all hang them up in the playroom.  at our Christmas party they get to take the filled stockings home with them.  Since I shared with you last year what was hiding in their stockings I decided to share again this year.  

How much fun is that?!?!  Looks like a finale to a Christmas party if you ask me!

Here is our stocking stuffers from 2013.

And here are our stockings being decorated from last year too.

gingerbread houses 2014

As a follow up post to my Gingerbread House Plans for this year... here are the results.

I don't have pictures of everyone's houses but I am including a video of a few that I am not real sure how my camera or me did it.  But it is kinda of funny and you get to hear me sing a tid bit of a Beatles song.  How embarrassing is that?  Hey.. if you can't laugh at yourself... who can you laugh at?

And this one is mine.  Looks like my log cabin plan turned out OK huh?

My secret weapon of a using a sifter and powdered sugar to top it all off was a hit!

This video sounds a bit like Santa's workshop.  I hear Shaun talking about me, saying my name in the background a couple of times :)

And HERE is my post about the plans for this year's house.

currently

Currently... I am fascinated by fine glitter and modge podge.  Mixing the fineness in with a glob of m.p. and brushing it on any surface brings a glow to my face.  It is simply breathtaking. 

I am anxiously awaiting items ordered online.  I have very few people to buy gifts for and normally prefer to shop online.  However, when Christmas is now two weeks away and I call to check on an order only to be told that they won't receive the merchandise until this week "then" it will be shipped to me, I begin to rethink ordering anything online.  Ugh... Christmas shopping.  I am beginning to loathe it.

I feel I have currently almost kicked a nasty cold by not using antibiotics for once.  It had appeared to take up shop in my lungs after a few days of travelling there.  I have taken over the counter items and several immune boosters, including DoTerra On Guard beadlets.  The key on that is staying on top of it and not letting it get me down.  Rest every chance I get and eating right too.

I have chosen to not put up a Christmas tree or drag out all of my favorite decorations that are normally scattered throughout the house.  In a way it is making me feel like a rebel, which I like, rebelling against the entire over-doing-it world.  Instead I have chosen to simply illuminate areas of our home and may just leave the tiny white lights up all winter.  They make me smile without the ho ho ho.  On the other hand, not going all Christmas-y has led me to not know what to blog about since every other blog that you look at right now is lathered with holiday cheer.  I'm choosing to let them handle it.  Plus we have a four wheeling vacation coming up that I have a mental count down for.

I am currently loving the book by Gillian McKeith called Food Bible.  How to use food to cure what ails you.  It's super.  I have picked up a new morning routine of being nice to my liver by drinking a warm cup of water with lemon to cleanse my liver for the day instead of forcing coffee right away.  I have also picked up a few new eating habits for my skin.  This is definitely a book I want on my shelf that I feel I will go to time and time again.  You can seriously pick a condition or need for your body and it leads you to what to stay away from or add to your diet.  

I have decided to go ahead and dig in the garden at the day care today at the prompting of one of my kids here and plant some garlic.  We discovered yesterday that I apparently missed one when I dug them up last summer and found it's shoots standing proudly.  So I grabbed a handful when I left the house this morning and have intentions of digging in the dirt/mud today with the kiddos.

I am minus two kids at the dc which brings me down a touch not to mention my pocket book.  I am currently on the look out for other income for the meantime but can't seem to motivate myself to do anything about it.  I have my etsy store and things to put in it but keep holding back.  Maybe I feel I need to learn from this.  Being self employed and having times when money is good I should learn to save up for times like this.  I feel Shaun is silently nodding in agree-ance (I guess that's not a word). He is also self employed and follows this rule very well.  But he's been at it a lot longer than I.  If I had saved forharder times I wouldn't be panicking with the lack of children right now.  Lesson learned... manage money better when hopefully the next kids show up and put back for down times.  

I am currently not very good with my camera.  My pictures are turning out blurry or have very poor lighting or I am not seeing any subject matter.  So I wind up not taking it with me and ignoring it.  I have managed to take a few... very few... pictures lately.

literally

i've not forgot.... i just haven't had that much to say... but I am still doing this....

I am a library lover.  I belong to a library that I have to pay to be in because I live outside the county.  It's ok because I use the absolute fire out of it and I guarantee you that they spend more on fuel delivering my uncanny requests for books and movies that I could never gripe about the yearly charge to me.  Yes there is a library in my own county and I have been a member.  But my card is expired and they don't have near the selection and I find myself back again and again.  Currently I have ten items checked out and eleven on hold, none of which are actually ready to be picked up yet but will be by the time my yoga class rolls around on Saturday that is happily located on the block in front of the library (insert my greedy smile), and the total count of twenty one is very low for me.  Oh... I forgot about the winter curriculum kit that has twenty five children's books and five dvds about winter that I have at the day care.  

And here is a quick word about my presently awaited items.

Physik  continuing my reading in the series.  I am really enjoying these as I have gotten to know the characters and enjoy the story line and even feel I know my way around their world.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath  kid book for the dc and because it looks funny.  Also interested to see if I have a new author of children's books to add to my favorites.

The Kinfolk Table because I am into easy and laid back entertaining.  Not the I "entertain" often but when I do it is quaint and I can't wait to look at the recipes.

The Selby is in your place... I like to look in people's homes... mostly online... and this is even of some famous people's homes.  Who doesn't want to see that.  Ideas can be found anywhere.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I told Shaun last night after having him watch another on of my odd movies (odd to him meaning it's not old west... of sorts) that I like to get different movies to keep our minds fresh.  Especially after the one we watched last night which I adored!