It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Throughout the month, I have been snapping pictures here and there of festive things. I had the intentions of blogging about all the fun and exciting things that we have been doing, but lost focus and motivation. I found myself finally having a down moment. Can you believe it? I am sitting here on the computer enjoying a hot cup of apple cider, snacking on a Hot Cocoa Pop Tart and blogging while watching Ellen! Life cannot get any better than this.

Speaking of Pop Tarts, I started the holiday season making it my goal to find any holiday related food items! I did that in the Fall and really had fun with it. I am still on the hunt for Peppermint and Cinnamon Pringles, Christmas Captain Crunch and Gingerbread Oreos. I am pretty sure that those are impossible to find and would have to be purchased overseas. I did find them on Amazon, but after adding all of those items to the cart and seeing my total reach eighty dollars, I decided I better not place the order. Seriously not joking about the price.

This is what I have found so far. My favorite were the peppermint M&M's!

I normally do not like to toot my own horn, but...TOOT TOOT! We did such an amazing job decorating our house this year. I think that we might have given Hallmark a run for their money.


The inside

Continued

And outside.
Those are the deer that we got for ten dollars, brand new in the Summer! And my cute little blow up Santa was a Black Friday deal for fifteen bucks. I love a good deal!  

We have been spending our weekends doing holiday crafts, wrapping presents, drinking spiked cocoa and getting Christmas cards ready. Don't worry, we addressed the envelopes before drinking. We also fit in a date night and went looking at Christmas lights.

Every year during the holidays, we like to do a good deed for someone in need. A close friend of ours has been having a rough time lately and was in need of a pick-me-up. She was out of town this last weekend, so we went to her house and cleaned and decorated! Everyone needs a touch of Christmas in their life.

I have a lot of baking to do this week and we have a super fun weekend planned! Dare I say that I am happy? I have had a few things happen in the last couple of days that drug me down, but I did my best to brush it off my shoulders. I want to be able to enjoy the holidays with the husband and not let myself be depressed or negative about the small things that I cannot fix. Life is short, (I think we only have a couple more days until the end..) I am realizing that I cannot change people or make them like me. I cannot control the way that others make me feel. What I do know is that I can make they best out of the life that I do have.

Merry Christmas!

Bazaaring

Let me start by apologizing for my blogging absence. Life has kept me pretty busy lately and I find it hard to squeeze in time to post. So let me go back a couple of weeks to catch you up on life's excited ventures.

At the end of November the best friend and I thought it would be a good idea to do our first bazaar. I had helped out before with bazaars and knew that they were a lot of work and sometimes hard to make a profit. Hearing the excitement in the best friends voice about doing one, made it hard to say no. I asked her what we were going to sell and she told me that people would love my cupcakes and record bowls. I thought she was crazy! There was no way that someone would spend actual money on something that I made! One of my biggest faults is in lacking confidence. I get nervous giving my loved ones homemade items, I could not even imagine selling them to a stranger. We spent three weeks crafting our little hearts out. I am pretty sure that I burnt every single finger with the hot glue gun.

After crunching some numbers and realizing that we had spent a little more than intended on supplies, I soon realized that the bazaar was going to be more for our enjoyment than for making a profit. Normally this wouldn't have bothered me, but considering it was smack dab in the middle of the holidays and money was tight to begin with, it was hard to justify taking this project on. Especially since I had been really busy, it was overwhelming at times to try and fit all of this in. I am more than ready to have a free weekend one of these days! I am praying for after the holidays.

The worst part was that the bazaar took place early in the morning. My alarm would go off at 4:45 AM! My alarm would not normally go off for another six more hours because we are on second schedule due to the husbands job. For three days, my life literally felt like it was flipped upside down. I thought this would not bother me, but found it to be a lot harder than I had thought. I spent the day before the bazaar getting meals ready and everything done around the house so that I would not have to worry about it for the next couple of days. I ate dinner way earlier than I normally would and was in bed before the husband got home from work. I did not even see him for three days! I had been struggling for awhile feeling lonely and let me tell you that this did not help at all.

I found myself getting angry because no one else was sacrificing this much to do the bazaar. To do something that was not even benefiting me. I was upset, lonely, tired and broke. I only got about six hours of sleep during that time, which made it hard to be in the selling/friendly mood. Not everything was negative about doing the bazaar though. I loved the compliments that people would give us on our items. They actually liked the things that we made! We had a to-die-for lunch both days (a tuna sandwich on croissant) and made a few friends! I also learned that I could order a debit card reader for my phone (for free!) so that we could have people pay with their debit cards. I think we would have made more sales had we known this before doing the bazaar. I ordered one and now have it ready for the future (if we even do another one!). The debit card reader will also come in handy for those who might own me money. Whats that? You don't have cash? Well...I now accept debit!! Hahaha

Overall, after making our money back for supplies, paying for our lunches and the table fee, we were ten dollars in the hole. So basically we spent $10 to do the bazaar and made no profit. I really was not that surprised and expected a lot worse to be honest. It was a learning experience and really taught me a lot, not only about bazaars but about myself and also my friendship. I think that I would be willing to do another one, but would spend a lot less time and money on it so that we could actually make a profit. I would set up the table a little differently and have more items to sell. I would also try to get more sleep and drink some coffee in the morning! I also think that if we have more time to prepare, it would not be as overwhelming. We will see what the next holiday season brings, who knows? Maybe this is our new calling? Time will tell...



First on the list to make were cinnamon ornaments. The house smelled like cinnamon for days! It was really easy making the dough, although the kitchen was covered in cinnamon at the end of the day.

I added some glitter to a few of them to give them a little sparkle while hung in a tree.  

Cupcakes were next on the list and lots of them! Making two batches of two different kinds were not my idea of a good time and the sink full of dishes were even worse.

Vanilla cake mix with whipped vanilla frosting. Candy corn decoration.

Chocolate cake with mint filling.

And a peppermint kiss on top!

I individually placed each cupcake into a plastic cup (I found a pack of 10 at the dollar store!) and put into a plastic bag, tied with a ribbon. This made it easier to transport the cupcakes and I thought were more appealing to people. I will be doing this again for future cupcakes, I LOVED how they turned out.  

It only took us two hours to make 25 record bowls!

 

 

 

 

The best friend made these recipe jars, they were quite the hit!

 

I loved how the Scrabble ornaments turned out! I had started collecting Scrabble games in the Summer, the thrift store had some from time to time and were around $2. I wanted to make these to give as Christmas gifts this year and when the bazaar was brought to my attention, I thought these would be perfect to sell. Sawing the tile boards was the hardest part, I made the husband do it :)

 

 

Our table! Not too bad for our first time!

Staycation?

The husband finally got some much needed days off work. He had not had a week day off in over a year! We fantasized about laying on the couch for four days in our pajamas, pigging out on yummy food and watching TV until our eyes hurt. HA! Those four days he had off, went faster than we had expected. I went to my friends house for Thanksgiving, the food was not the best though. It was the first Thanksgiving that I did not have to unbutton my pants at the end of the night!

I made some cupcakes to bring over to her house. I have to say that I think these might have made the top three list! I used a new cake mix called hot chocolate that had marshmallows mixed into the batter.

The mix comes frosting that you can make, I added some White fluffy frosting to it though to thicken it up. I filled the cupcakes with Vanilla Cool Whip frosting that tasted mousy just like I had thought it would. I then used a small heart cookie cutter to make heart shapes out of marshmallows, took a little water to moisten the heart and then dipped it in powered hot cocoa. They were not only cute but super good too!!

The best friend, her husband and daughter accompanied me to Walmart after dinner to get some of the Black Friday sales they had. Normally every year, I dread walking into that store, but this was by far the best year ever! It only took us one hour to get our shopping done AND check out. The store was well organized and I got everything that was on my list! When the husband got home from work, he thought it would be fun to start our vacation by going Black Friday shopping together...at 1AM!. I was really tired and thought there was no way that I would have enough energy to go shopping. Our first stop was Target. The store was empty and they still had a ton of door busters. I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done and even found some yummy holiday treats.

This year I noticed that a lot of the stores were open all throughout the night which seemed to make the crowds not as big. I hope they do this next year too. After Target, we headed to Bath and Body works, my most favorite store in the world. My haul included:

10 soaps
6 wallflower refills
1 car scent holder
3 car scent refills
2 three wick candles
2 mini candles
Snowflake mini candle holder
1 hand sanitizer
1 VIP tote bag filled with stuff

I saved over $200 with all my coupons and the sales that they had going on!

We then went to Game Stop where their deal was to buy two used games and get the third free! Next was Kmart where I got the younger kids in the family clothes for 50% off and I even got a free gift card. I feel like I got some amazing deals and did not spend a lot of money. All my planning had paid off and it felt great to get all my Christmas shopping done.

We did not get to bed until 7 AM that morning. We woke up a few hours later to get our turkey started so that we could make our own Thanksgiving dinner together. After cooking for hours, our dinner ended up not turning out very good :( We sat on the couch and watched three movies while enjoying each others company.

 Saturday the alarm went off early again so that we could get started on decorating the house, inside and out. Our hand and face were frozen, but we managed to get the outside done before dark. I am not one known for tooting my own horn, but..*TOOT* our house looks like a Hallmark store! I am pretty proud and think that we should get an award. I will take pictures soon of the house all lit up at night.

Finally putting the expensive flower box to good use!

 

Our feet and backs hurt, but we trucked along and got the inside decorated too. That was a lot of work for one day! But it was nice to wake up the next morning to a festive house :)

We finished the weekend by going to that yummy buffet I talked about before. The husband loved it there too! Afterwards we thought it would be a good idea to get our grocery shopping done. We had to waddle down the isles and I am pretty sure I split my pants somewhere during the trip. I feel bad that we did not end up relaxing during his days off, but it was nice to spend time together while getting things done. This past weekend really got me in the mood for Christmas. I cannot wait for December to be here and enjoy all the fun things that we have planned. Merry Christmas!

November Craziness

Is it just me or did this month seem to go by really fast? Thanksgiving is in TWO days! What?! I kept putting off my blog because either not finding time or lacking motivation has been a problem. For those of you who have been sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to see what all has been happening in my life, I apologize and will do my best getting you up to speed. *Laughing as I know that no one is actually holding onto their seat in anticipation* Have you seen how many followers I have? Hope Blogger doesn't have a limit on those!

You didn't really just look did you?

Whew! I had been counting down the days for November to arrive so that I could have some wind down time. Making Christmas lists, doing crafts and baking scrupulous dishes. Having my Christmas cards done early, going on an adventure outside to take pictures of the trees dropping their leaves. Reading until my eyes hurt, doing things for "me" that I never make time to do. That all sounded so amazing, and yet...it is the end of the month and I have not done any of the above said. The opportunity of doing a bazaar got thrown into my lap. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to make some money for the holidays, but not that it is getting closer, I am hoping to break even! The husband threated to sleep at a hotel if I asked him one more time to help with crafts. Every one of my fingers have been burnt from the hot glue gun and there is glitter all over the living room. I think that it will be a neat experience, but it has been a ton of work getting ready for this thing and I am really nervous that no one will like what we are selling. We shall see...

I have been making my grocery list off of Pinterest lately and have been having fun making desserts and different dinners. I was feeling like our dinners were getting boring and I was starting to no enjoy myself while cooking. There use to be a time when I would hate going to the kitchen to make dinner, and now I am actually getting excited about the next thing on my list to make! I apologize now for not taking pictures of all my new creations. It is hard to take a photo when you're busy licking your fingers! Follow this link Million Dollar Spaghetti for one of my new favorite dinners that we just made. It was to die for and I cannot wait to make it again! We even made home made cinnamon rolls! It was my first time using yeast, so I was a little impatient letting them rise. I thought they were a little dry, but overall tasted really good!

The best friend told me about this new Cool Whip frosting that comes in cream cheese, chocolate and vanilla. It was under two dollars for a tub of it! It tasted sooo good and fluffy, but I think it would be best used for a filling.

On Monday, the best friend came over to work on some craft projects for the bazaar. It did not take as long as we had thought to get everything done so she decided to take me out for a night on the town to let loose and have fun. We started by going to this buffet restaurant down the road. It was to-die-for. My first mistake was starting with a salad, I will be scratching that the next time. Why would you fill up on things good for you when there are so many other things to eat?? I had two plates full for the main course and not even kidding, had 4+ plates of dessert! They had cotton candy AND a chocolate fountain!!!

Is it bad that I would like to hide in their bathroom all day and come out just to fill my plate for breakfast, lunch and dinner? I could live there. My button even came undone on my pants by the time we left. At least it didn't fling across the room and hurt someone! I can't wait to take the husband there during his mini staycation. The horrible part is that on Sunday I had weighed myself and had lost almost three pounds! Only two away before I am in the 50's!!! However, this was before going to the buffet, where I am pretty sure I packed on a cool fortyish pounds. Whatever. You have to live once! Probably not the best idea to do this during Thanksgiving week, go big or go home right?

Down 53 pounds and 6.64 BMI points. Woot!

After our gluten feast, we went to go see the new Twilight! Can you believe that Edward dies at the end?!!?

Hahaha I would never do that to you and spoil the ending, I hate it when people do that! Edward may or may not still be alive, Jacob eats Bigfoot and Bella files for divorce and leaves town with Brad Pitt. I think I was the only one in the theater who was not impressed with the movie. For crying out loud, the best friend even got blotches! I still think that number three is the best of all the movies. But I did think this was the best that Kristen acted, she isn't really great at that.

Now to get ready to eat even more food this week, go Black Friday shopping, decorate the house and spend some time with the husband. Shall be a fun filled weekend!

*Side note*
This time of year always seems to be an emotional time. It is even harder when you lose someone close to you around the holidays. We recently lost a wonderful woman. She had a heart the size of Texas, the mouth of a sailor and a smile that lit the room. She fought cancer and won, two times in her life. This last battle would be her last. You will be missed Cora.

Misunderstood Frustration

I keep telling myself to sit down and write a blog. I have so many things on my mind that I want to get off my chest, but am hesitant about writing them down. Why is that? I worry about hurting people's feelings by saying what's on my mind. I worry that I will be judged for saying how I really feel and mostly I worry that I will be misunderstood. I am tired of worrying! Literally! I would love to have a full nights sleep, but lay awake worrying instead. I tell myself daily, that life is too short to worry, so why can't I just let things go? The tension I hold on my shoulders physically hurts and my head feels like to explode most days. I just want to live every day to its fullest and appreciate the life that I have. So why is that easier said than done? Maybe I will never know the answers to these questions.

November is a month where many people list the things that they are thankful for. You know, those annoying friends on Facebook that write something they are thankful for every-single-day. Rubbish! I unsubscribed from their news feed :) Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for things. My husband, having a roof over our head, clothes on our back and food in our mouths. But I find it easier to pin point the things that I am not thankful for. I will chalk it up to the holiday blues. I love everything about the holidays, but find myself being in a funk.

Everything and everyone seems to be pushing my buttons. I extend myself to the limits making sure that everyone is taken care of and happy. I do this to the extent that I don't care if I am ok, if the house is taken care of or if the husband comes first. I HAVE to do for others all the time. Well it hit me a few weeks ago, that not only is that a horrible way of doing things, but I will no longer extend myself to those limits. People that I would give the world, I realize would have a hard time giving me the world in return. I know that friendship is about giving, not taking. But it is not healthy to always be giving and getting nothing in return, convenient friendships are hurtful. I thought I had already learned this life lesson. I guess sometimes you have to get a friendly reminder.

I have been on the go busy every day for the last few months. Insert whine here. I know everyone else is tired, busy, irritated blah blah blah. But dammit, I try not to complain and this time I want to! For five months now I have been working from home writing articles as an independent contractor. I can make pretty good money and work on my own time. I can still be in the comfort of my home, cleaning and putting a warm meal on the table every night, but can now contribute financially. I have never felt so proud seeing money being deposited in the bank and knowing that I worked hard for it. The only problem is that I feel like I have to "fit it" working, instead of making it a priority. If that makes any sense. People do not understand that this is my part time job now and that I do not just sit around all day knitting and watching the Maury show. I have to delegate time to working, give myself breaks and when I am done, THEN I can take care of the house and other things that need to be done. Why am I struggling to find a balance?  I was so happy to be able to have a slow couple of weeks this month. Enjoy getting ready for the holidays and spend time enjoying my husband while he gets two days off (he hasn't had a week day off in over a year!). Instead, things get put on my plate and I find myself with not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything on my to do list. I need some down time, and sooner rather than later.

Those close to me have been saying things that surprise me or hurt my feelings. I don't think they even notice. I was originally going to list the things that have bothered me, but that would be tedious. I just want to shake others so that they realize how stupid they are being! Is common sense something of the past? UGH! I thought that writing all this down would release some of the thoughts that I have stuck in my head, instead I am finding myself pressing harder on the keyboard keys. I am ready for the new year to be here. I just want to be happy, can Santa put that in my stocking?

Speaking of Santa, after spending countless hours doing crafts these past  few weekends (post coming soon) we decided to take a break and do something fun to enjoy the upcoming holiday!

Isn't my husband the cutest? He always finds a way to cheer my up and put a smile on my face. I would be lost without him! I mean, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times that I would like to physically harm him. But more than not, I love cuddling with him and spending time together. Isn't that the definition of marriage? We have been having arguments here and there about some aspects of our life. I have to remember that arguments are just that. We need to communicate without saying mean things, we need to be reading the same page and not just the same chapter. I don't ever like going to bed angry. I remind myself that we are in this together and that there are going to be times that we might not agree. I would not want to have anyone else by my side taking this crazy ride with me that we call life. I love him more than anything and know that even when we have little bumps to get over, that we can do it together.

I wish someone would have told me when I was little, that life would be this hard. But maybe if I knew that, would I be where I am today? We all have to live and learn. I am grateful for the lessons that I have learned thus far and cannot wait to see what the future has in store for me. I am glad that I decided to write this all down so that I can move forward and get ready for the holidays! Trying to put things behind me and leave the past where it belongs.

Home Sweet Home

Today, three years ago, we moved into our home! We were first time home buyers and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Word to the wise, do not EVER move on Halloween. Between people running all over the house trying to unpack trucks, the door bell rang every two seconds with kids wanting to get candy. Thank goodness I had bought candy ahead of time so that our new house didn't get egged! We just had new sod put in and it made me cringe seeing people walk on it. Now that same sod is covered in moss and weeds :) Things sure do change.

We were excited to have our own place and to make it a home. We did not know that being a homeowner means that your "to do" list is never done! It just keeps growing and growing. There is always something that we need to buy or fix. I would not change it for the world though. Walking in the door to our home always puts a smile on my face {except when I walk in to cat shit on the carpet}. Because we have lived here three years now, we are no longer liable to repay Obama's first time home buyers credit! Yay! So now the question is...are we going to stay here for many years to come? Or will we be finding somewhere else to call home? Time will tell.

"What I love most about my home is who I share it with."

Resolution

It may not be the new year yet, but it is never too early to make a resolution. I had been making a mental list of things that I want to do differently in the new year. My husband had asked me why I wanted to wait that long to make these changes. I told him it was because the new year would be a fresh start. He reminded me that November first is right around the corner and that could be my fresh start! Not only is he cute, he is smart too! I knew I kept him around for a reason! He was right, there was no reason why I should be waiting around to better myself.

November 1st will be a new start for me.

I need to worry more about myself and do things that make me happy. I want to be able to tell people "No" and stick to it. I no longer want to stretch myself so thin that I find it hard to regain my strength. I need to put my husband and house first before anyone or anything else. I will no longer let myself be in the position for others to take advantage of or use me. I will try Pho and learn how to use my food processor correctly. I want to work out more and make sure that my health is a priority. I will be more physical with the husband {not like that, well...I guess that couldn't hurt either}. I will work harder to provide for my household. When people get me down, I will shrug it off my shoulders faster and know that I do not deserve to be treated poorly.

I am strong and I can do hard things.

Rawr.

*Side note* I may or may not be writing this as I eat some cookie dough straight out of the bowl. It's not the first yet!
  

Thankful

Six years ago today, our lives were forever changed.

My husband was involved in a near fatal car accident.

I almost lost him.

I had to look him in the eyes and say goodbye as they wheeled him off to surgery.

I thought that moment was going to be the last time I was ever going to see him alive.

My heart ached as I had never felt that much love for someone before.

He made it through surgery.

And is well today.

Although, this traumatic event will effect our lives indefinitely.

I smile every morning when I wake up and see him lying next to me.

I will forever be thankful that we are able to spend our lives together.

And that it was not his time to go.

He is my everything.

Busy!

The rath of October continues...

On Friday, the best friend and I went on a lonnnng drive to go take some newborn pictures. While on our way, we had to stop for some lunch. Look at the dolls that we saw in the grab machine game at Denny's...

What the hell?? We tried to win one, because who doesn't want to be able to sleep with an Obama pillow? But the machine was broke. *sniffle*

We got back on the road and soon had arrived at our destination. We had driven so far that we could even see Canada across the water. Too bad I don't have a passport, I would have just made a day of it and went to go enjoy some maple syrup and hockey. I had not had the opportunity to take pictures of a new born yet, he was six weeks old. I was hoping that he would be asleep for a majority of the shoot, but he was wide away and even broke out in a rash. Thank goodness for photoshop! I could have cuddled him all day long! My clock was ticking so loud that I am sure people down the road could hear it!

On the way home, we stopped by the store to get some much needed things. Such as, anything with the word pumpkin in it AND the worlds largest brussels sprout tree!

 

Told you it was big!! 

We know how to have fun anywhere that we go!

Later that night, I had made plans to go see the new Paranormal Activity movie. I LOVE to be scared and watch things that make me jump out of my seat. Five minutes in, I had already screamed out loud! About twenty minutes after that, during a part in which one of the characters are experiencing computer problems, the screen went dark! We thought that was really scary and that something was going to pop out at us...but nothing popped up on the screen...for twenty minutes! THE POWER WENT OUT IN THE MOVIE THEATER! Are you kidding me? I was under my seat hiding for the majority of the time. I am sure that my blood pressure was through the roof by the time the movie came back on. SCARY!

This last weekend was our first weekend in a long time that we had nothing planned! See my last post for details on what I had intended to do all weekend. I did none of that ;) Instead, the husband rented some video games and I had ladies night!

There was a hardware store down the street that was having a ladies night! I know you're thinking "ladies night at a hardware store?" Yep! You read that right. We could get 20% off all purchases,  complimentary fruit, wine, sandwiches and cream puffs! Free eyebrow waxes, massages or your makeup done! It was the most amazing thing ever. It was like Black Friday in October!

I bought myself this cute little hoodie...



Can you tell that I am from Seattle??

We then made our way down the street to eat our weight in mexican food. I had a blast hanging out with the ladies and letting loose! We should definantely do that more often. Believe it or not, I was even reffered to as "shit bomb" by the end of the night. It was amazing to be around good people and to enjoy myself. I can always rest when I die, life is too short to not have fun when you can!