No More Secrets

Ok, I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I last posted. I could give you a million excuses as to why, but really it boils down to being busy and having other priorities. So I hope you'll understand. I'll be posting pictures and stories about the events of the last month shortly. But for now, let me tell you about my embarrassing moment and the SLC airport.

I was flying home from Florida with two gals I work with and the CEO of our company. We were all very exhausted and ready to go home. We went to the baggage carousel and waited for our luggage to come off. I grabbed one of the suitcases for someone in our group and then saw my own bag coming up. I saw that it was in a big black tote and could see there was a reason. I could see some clothes peeking out from the top. I tried to grab the tote, but couldn't quite manage. I asked our CEO to do it for me. Now, I'm not sure if he could tell that it was in a tote or if he just didn't understand the purpose of it. Anyway, he grabbed it by the handle and all the contents went flying. Yes, all my underwear, clothing, shoes, and personal stuff lay there on display for everyone nearby...including the CEO. I scrambled to gather the contents and stuff them in the tote. Then I quickly covered them with my broken suitcase (some time during the baggage handlers "gentle care" the zipper had busted). The CEO apologized and asked me to check to make sure I had everything. I was too embarrassed to care to check. I just wanted to get out of there.

Well, it turns out I lost a shoe (it's match is safely at home), my round brush and...of course a bit of dignity. On the bright side, I now have a big black Delta airlines tote at my house...do you think it would make a good sled?

The song I can't escape

This morning I was listening to Christmas music while I was getting ready for work. Suddenly, "Feliz Navidad" started to play. How did that get on my i-pod? (Oh yeah, a friend gave me a Christmas mix and I didn't look it over very carefully before I added it to my play list. Dumb me.) I quickly ran and changed it. Then I sat down to eat breakfast. And while I was watching the morning show, they played that song as an intro to a cooking segment. As I was driving to work, again the same annoying song came on. I thought I was stuck in some weird alter dimension that only plays that song. That is probably one of the worst Christmas songs. It is extremely repetitive and therefore twice as annoying.

A few years ago, I went to a work Christmas party and the band they had there played that song not once, but twice (one with maracas and one without--big difference). I thought I would go insane. And now I can't stand to hear that song. But it seems that anywhere I go, that stupid song follows. Why?!! Is there some conspiracy to slowly drive me insane?

Some Assembly Required

Alright, I realize that its been too long since my last post. The truth is that I was hoping to put up pictures of all my Christmas decorations. Since they still aren't done, I figured I'd at least put up pictures of my tree.

But before I do that let me tell you a little story about that tree... I braved the crowds Black Friday morning to get my tree for a bargain $49. I loved it since it's 7.5' tall, pre-lit, and uses LED's. I love a good deal. Well, I decided to put it up the following Monday. I fluffed the bottom layer and decided I better look for the main cord before it got too hard to find. So I crawled around on the floor and looked and looked, but couldn't find it. I thought, "it can't be this hard to find, there are usually several giant warning tags on a main cord."
C'mon, why did they do such a great job hiding the cord? Fifteen minutes later (did I mention I'm stubborn), I finally decided to look at the directions. They decided to hide the cord in the middle section of the tree. Arghhh!!! (So glad I wasted the time crawling on the floor.) I put the middle section in and fluffed it and gave up. This is what my tree looked like for the next few days.
I lost heart and didn't feel like doing much decorating. I put the top and the ribbon on on Thursday and finally got around to finishing it on Saturday. Here's the end result:
Notice, there's no tree topper. I can't find one I like. I'm fairly traditional about that and want a good star or angel for the top (sorry no fluffies or bows will do). I guess that's not the thing these days so the main stream stores only carry a limited selection. I guess it will have to wait until next year or better yet...after Christmas clearance.

My Current Obsession

Ok, so I've become a bit decorating obsessed...with my porch. I know, it probably seems totally weird. The thing is, I have dreamed of having a porch area since I was a little girl. (My family always teases me that I was the most practical kid ever...bet you didn't know a kid could dream of having a porch.) So now that I'm in my new house and it has a great porch, I've become obsessed with decorating it for the holidays. I found the perfect witch themed decor for Halloween. I also have the perfect fall wreath, pumpkins, and corn stalks that are there right now.

Now that it's coming time decorate for Christmas, I've been on a mad hunt for just the right inspiration. Here are some of my favorite pics I've found.

My porch isn't this big, but I like the lighted trees.

Love the homey feel of this one.

Do you think it would be too obsessive paint my door red? I just love this one!!!

Totally classy idea that could be slightly changed and used year-round.

How cute is this? So simple and yet so great.

I think this one would be fairly cheap and simple to pull off, especially if you already have the pots.

Ok, I don't have the money for these, but aren't they gorgeous?

Fun substitution for a wreath.

So I also got some good ideas at Tai Pan, but I don't have any pictures. I promise to post pictures of my fabulous porch once it's done. I hope these inspired you too.

Mom's Birthday

So I'm really slow about posting. We had mom's birthday last Saturday and I'm just posting about it now. Oh well, life gets busy.

We planned mom's party more like a 6th birthday instead of a 60th. We sent out invitations and planned games and activities around that theme. We decided to make it a princess themed party. Since Michelle and I were in charge of invitations, we decided to add the line "Prince and Princess costumes optional." This was a bit of a joke and more of a way to get the point across that it was a child themed party. We had no idea anyone would actually dress up. I was chastised because I actually have at least 3 princess costumes, but like I said, I didn't know that was part of the plan.


When mom arrived she got a wand, tiara, and cape. We played musical chairs (one kids version and one adult version) and pin the tail on the donkey and had a pinata. We also had a craft table so that guests could make their own princess wands. We ate pizza, breadsticks and salad and we had a cupcake tower. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Although we forgot a few things, I think it all went pretty well. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Musical chairs--the kids version

Adult version (they were more competitive than you might think)

Mom took a few swats at the pinata before the kids took over

Barbie Girls

A couple of Saturdays ago, Michelle brought her girls to my house for a visit. I've always wanted my nieces and nephews to visit often so I made sure I had toys to play with and things for them to do. I pulled out my old box of Barbies and let Abby and Ellie play with them. They loved it! Abby became fascinated with a wind up mixer and Ellie loved the Heart Family bike (you know the one with two seats for the Mom and Dad and two seat for the twins). I noticed how pathetic my old homemade (the ones I made) Barbie clothes were, but I have some great accessories. I also have the entire Heart Family (even if Ken's head keeps falling off). I loved those Barbies and had a very difficult time giving them up when I was younger. Now, it's so much fun to watch them being enjoyed by another generation. And every time they come over, that's the first thing Abby asks about. Good thing I saved them. :)

Why would you knit that?

Many of you will remember the email I sent several months ago with that horrible boob scarf that someone knitted. (If not here's the link). I hope you got a good laugh from that. For more horrible, tacky and gross things that people knit please visit http://whywouldyouknitthat.blogspot.com/. Just be careful of who's looking at it with you (some things are not appropriate for children). I promise a good laugh and you will definitely wonder, "Why would you knit that?"