Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt {Part Three}

21. Something I'm grateful for in the month of November.

My dad.
His birthday is in November. I'm grateful for the caring, goofy, crazy, talented, wonderful man he is.

22. Something I'm grateful for that makes my life easier.

Dora the Explorer.
Meet Dora. She is our second vehicle. She takes Joe to work so I can have the minivan at home. After being a one car family for a few years how I love her and appreciate her presence in our family. She makes my life so much more convenient.

23. Something I'm grateful for that makes my belly happy.

Leatherby's hot fudge ice cream sundaes.
I've never been the biggest ice cream fan...until...we found this little family owned gem. The food is terrible, but oh my stars! that hot fudge is truly something to be grateful for.

24. Something I'm grateful for that reminds me of friends.

Rag quilts.
My friend Lana taught me how to make these rag quilts while we lived in Arizona. Even if we don't live there anymore I am still grateful for my friendship with Lana and all the other amazing friends I have made in all our many moves. I have learned that no matter where you may wander in the world, there are good souls out there. And that is a truth that I am absolutely thankful for. 

25. Something I'm grateful for that is indicative of my city.

Temples.
I live in the Salt Lake valley where LDS temples are almost as "common" as Walmart stores. But there is nothing common about them. Because of temples families can be together forever. I love my family and I want to be a family for forever so you can see why I would have a deep gratitude for temples.

26. Something I'm grateful for that represents my country.

Parades.
I love a good parade. I love seeing people's patriotism on display. I am grateful to live in the United States of America. She may have her problems, but for the most part this great country is about freedom and a better way of life.

27. Something I'm grateful for in my Fall/Thanksgiving decor.

Candles.
This time of year has an abundance of good smells. I'm grateful for all the wonderful scents this time of year has to offer my nose.

28. Something I'm grateful for that gets me from here to there.

Prayer.

29. Something I'm grateful for that keeps me healthy and strong.

Vaccinations and medicine.
My children may not agree, but I am very thankful for medicines that keep us from getting sick or sicker.

30. The final photo challenge is to take a photo of how you intend to spread the Thankful Spirit.

Our Thankful Tree.
I ordered this vinyl tree from my friend Sami's vinyl business. It has been adhered to our front room wall. We started our little Thankful Tree for Family Home Evening on Monday by talking about the blessings we are grateful for. We will keep adding leaves to it throughout the week and on Thanksgiving day with our extended family when they come to visit.

Thank you again to Sarah at Sarah Dawn Designs for hosting this Thanksgiving project. We've had a lot of fun this month pondering and searching for our blessings.

Visit my friend ChemistryMama to see what she and her little ones found in their scavenger hunt.

Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt {Part Two}

11. Something I'm grateful for in black and white.

Talents. Particularly the talents of others.
My sister took this picture of me during my first pregnancy. She was using me as a model for practice for her photography class. I have always deeply admired her talents in photography and other creative paths. I have benefited from her talents in having beautiful photographs of my family. I have an appreciation of and gratitude for others talents whether they be photography, musical, homemaking, financial, performing arts, social, etc, etc, etc.

12. Something I'm grateful for in the workforce.

My husband Joe.
Because he works so hard in the workforce I am able to stay at home focusing on mothering our children. I am so grateful he has given me this opportunity. He has an incredible work ethic and I am so thankful for the example and provider he is for our children. And not only does he work hard outside our home, but then he comes home and uses his skills to help our family, such as replacing dead batteries in the minivan.

13. Something I'm grateful for with words on it.

The scriptures.
How grateful I am for the scriptures which bring wisdom and peace.

14. Something I'm grateful for that entertains me.

Blogging.
How can I not be grateful for the medium that not only entertains me but has also given me a creative outlet, a way to record some family history, an opportunity to share myself with others, and the chance to make friends from all over the world? I am grateful for blogging.

15. Something I'm grateful for that is unique to me.

My ancestors.
No one else has my set of ancestors...except of course, my siblings. Regardless, I am grateful for the good people who have made me the unique person who am I.

16. Something I'm grateful for in the retail industry.

Costco.
Where would I be without industrial amounts of toilet paper, bricks of cheese, and cratefuls of batteries? I'm grateful for a place I can go to stock up on things my growing family needs as well as buy a lunch for six people under $10.

 
17. Something I'm grateful for in my neighborhood.

Neighbors.
Shhh. Don't tell our landlord, but I'm pretty sure they should be charging us extra on our rent for the incredible people we get to live by. I'm grateful for such good souls who have cared and loved our family from the moment we arrived in that big orange and white moving van.

18. Something I'm grateful for that keeps me warm.

A garage.
I never knew how much I would appreciate a garage until I had one. I really enjoy being able to hop into my car in the mornings without having to clean the windshields off or warm up the engine. A simple, but wonderful luxury!

19. Something I'm grateful for that makes me laugh.

My children.
These four keep me in stitches every day. How grateful I am to get to live with four little comedians.

20. Something I'm grateful for in regards to the holidays.

My Savior.
How grateful I am for a Savior that loved me enough to come to earth and endure all He did just so that I (and all mankind) could return to live with Him and a loving Heavenly Father. I cannot let the holiday season go by without feeling gratitude for the ones who gave me everything I have and am.

Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt {Part One}

It just never fails. Each and every year the holidays come and go by so darn quickly. After they do, some random afternoon in early January, I find myself finally sitting down, letting out a big sigh of intermingled relief and regret, feeling stunned, and wondering how on earth I let another holiday season go by in such a flurry of chaos and chores. 

It doesn't seem to matter that each October I vow that "this will be the year!", the year I will wring every last ounce of meaning out of the holiday season. And predictably this October was no different. Once again, I found myself vowing "This--THIS! will be the year!".

Of course I mean it more this year than I've ever meant before. This year I'm going to do less shopping. Less stress. Less procedure and protocol. Less guilt. Less "To Do"s. More time. More quality. More actions. More service. More family. More love. This year I'm going to make the time to enjoy the holiday. This year I'm going to do my best to reveal the true meaning of the season to my children.

And it starts today!

Many thanks to Sarah at Sarah Dawn Designs for helping me to do that. The kids and I have had a lot of fun preparing to post and link up to her Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt. And while my 6 year, 5 year, 3 year, and 10 month olds weren't exactly catching on to the idea of finding specific things on the checklist that we are grateful for, this little scavenger hunt opened up the conversation in our family on gratitude and looking for the things in our life that we are thankful for.

I think we might be off to a pretty good start this year.

Over the next 3 days of posts here are pictures of 30 things that I'm grateful for...

1. Something I'm grateful for in color.

Family. We're a pretty colorful bunch.


2. Something I'm grateful for in nature.

Mountains. "What are men to rocks and mountains?" ~Jane Austen
There is something about mountains that connects to something deep inside of me. They stir me up. They set me soaring. They just make me downright happy. This year in particular I am grateful to live in a home where I can open my window blinds and see incredible mountain ranges in every direction. I imagine my window views have had a little something to do with what a good and happy year 2011 has been.

3. Something I'm grateful for in the city.

Cousins!
And they only live a half hour drive away! This is stretching the term "in the city", but after living so far from our family we're very grateful for a teensy tinsy half hour drive to spend time with our loved ones.

4. Something I'm grateful for at the park.

Green grass.
I never realized how much I took grass for granted until we lived in ugly brown Arizona where there was none. Well, there was some, but it was so prickly and ant infested that you couldn't sit on it without being assaulted. I'm grateful for a backyard and parks with lovely green grass that my children can run and play happily on. I'm grateful for summer evenings spent comfortably sitting on grass.

5. Something I'm grateful for that is soft.

Baby cheeks.
How grateful I am for the gift of motherhood. These precious moments spent nuzzling soft baby cheeks are ones I imagine I will remember long after those cheeks won't let me nuzzle them anymore.

6. Something I'm grateful for that is hard.

Running.
I'm getting a little abstract with this one, but I am grateful for running. It is hard, really hard especially as a mom of four little ones. But it has brought me a lot of joy. I've lost 60 pounds this year partly in thanks to running. I've found an escape and a release. I've discovered that I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for. Running has developed my muscles and my self esteem. It's hard, but I can do hard things...And be happier because of them!

7. Something I'm grateful for in my closet.

Guns.
I'm grateful to live in a country where I can legally bear arms. I am grateful that I have something I can protect my family with if the occasion should ever arise. And I'm grateful my husband has finally found a hobby for himself.

8. Something I'm grateful for with texture.

Gluten free food.
It's been an interesting year at our house when it comes to food. When I discovered in September that my three year old Elle has Celiac Disease I was terrified at the thought of not having anything to feed my daughter. While it may have a strange texture and be quite expensive, I am grateful for gluten free food that I can safely feed my daughter.

9. Something I'm grateful for in my kitchen.

My Bosch mixer.
My mom found this little beaut at a thrift store for a few dollars. These things normally cost hundreds of dollars, but last forever. I am so grateful she found it. I could never have afforded a brand new one. I use my mixer all the time. Fruit smoothies, breads, cookies, etc. I love my mixer!

10. Something I'm grateful for in the weather.

Snow.
Along with the green grass, I missed the snow terribly when we lived in Arizona. Snow is magical and fun and wonderful. I love it when it comes and I love it when it goes. I am grateful to live in a place with weather variety. It makes me happy!

There are still twenty more things to show you that I'm grateful for. Make sure to come back Tuesday and Wednesday to see more.

And again, thank you to Sarah for hosting such a brilliant blog Thanksgiving celebration! Make sure to visit her to see what other bloggers are grateful for too.

Blog Swap: Semi-Single Mom

Cannwin from The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin is back to guest post. The poor girl has been waiting on me for another blog swap. Life has been hectic as it always is and I think she gets that seeing as how she is also a mom with four kids and one perpetually absent husband. Thank you to Cannwin for her patience with me! Read on to see what she has to say about married single motherhood.

I guess this is supposed to be one of those whitty, funny blog posts that makes everyone laugh, but the truth is that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't come up with a funny way to say "I'm a Semi-Single Mom."



I have a husband, but he's gone a lot and I miss him.



I miss having someone around to help when the kids start screaming, or vomitting, or crying for no reason beyond pre-pubescence.


I miss having someone to pawn the fraction homework onto and to delegate cub scouts to.



I miss having a warm body to cuddle up to at night. A body who can lift my eight year old son and carry him back to bed at night, so that I don't have to endure a night with him in mine... because I can't carry him.



Having a husband whose not around is like smelling sweets but not being able to find them.



I think Adele puts it nicely when she says:




Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories made.
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?




So that's me. Cannwin the sometimes semi-single mom of four. I'm tired 70% of the time lonely 80% of the time and humorous 99.9% of the time, just not today.

Blog Swap: Welcome Again...The Great and Random Cannwin!

Cannwin of The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin and I are swapping blogs for the next several Tuesdays. She will be gracing Hanging by a Silver Lining and I'll be treading on her chunk of the blogosphere trying my best not to muck it up too much. We've done this before and had so much fun doing it that we figured it was worth another go.

Today...An interview! Here's your chance to get to know the woman behind the greatness and the randomness... (Make sure to head on over and hear what I had to say to the same questions.)



What was the spark that generated the idea that drove you to start your blog?

When my husband and I were discussing places to go to Law School, we talked about moving out to South Dakota (which we eventually did) and I started toying with the idea of creating a blog to keep up with family. I think the idea must have been in my head before then, but that's when it really started to take flight, but I still didn't think that much about it until I came up with the title "The Great and Random Ramblings of Cannwin." Call it slightly egotistical, but I really liked the title and then I wanted to make something that I could use it for. That's when the itch took over and I probably had the blog up within the next week.


What do you find most challenging about blogging?

Getting readers. Everyone says, 'If you want readers you have to be a reader.' I'm not a reader and my blog doesn't really have a niche. I guess you could call it a 'mommy blog' but, to me, it's so much more than that. It's exactly what it says it is--it's my ramblings, be they great ones (like the essay I did about growing up in an angry house) or totally random stories about strange things my kids do.


I would love to make the 'Blogs of Note' or be nominated for something cool that would get my name out there and make people notice that I've actually got something worth reading! (Well, most days at least).


How do you keep coming up with material for your blog?

I breathe writing. My mind is a constant whir of ideas and opinions and philosophies. 9 days out of 10 I have absolutely no problem with coming up with something to write about. I've also been a pretty big journal keeper since I was a child, so maybe that practice has made blogging easier (I don't write in a journal anymore--I just blog it all).


What piece of literature or media has inspired you throughout your life?

Poetry has been a huge influence in my life. HUGE... it was one of the defining characteristics of my teen years and honestly kept me sane. My most beloved poem is "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. The first time I heard that I was in Jr. High and it changed my life, literally.


Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?

There's this one blog that Evelyn actually pointed out to me called "The Noisy Plume," I think she's fantastic. She's poetic, she's a great photographer and she's an incredible artist (jewelry). I adore her blog.


The other blog that I really enjoy is called BS5. He's a British guy who writes maybe 2-3 sentences every time he blogs. And it's just day to day stuff, but I really enjoy it for some reason. I've been following his blog since I started blogging myself, which makes his the oldest one on my list.


What is the ultimate goal for your blog?

I think that ultimately what I would like to see is my blogs made in to books that I can have around my house. I imagine my grandchildren and great grandchildren (and hopefully great-great grandchildren) being able to pick up one volume or another (each would be a years worth of blogs) and reading through the posts and comments and really getting to know me. And maybe even laughing! If you ever look at my blog labels there's one that is just three periods (...) that's my note to self on which posts I want to keep for my 'books'.


What skills do you bring to the Super Mom table?

Are you kidding me? I created the Super Mom table!


If you could have lunch with anybody, living or deceased, who would it be?

My husband.


Which means that half of you just sniffled and dried your eyes, and the other half said that doesn't count... but I haven't seen him since August 1, 2011 and I only get to talk to him for about 10 minutes every night (in which he's typically half asleep during). I would really like to just be near him for a bit... like a refill on the mommy gas gauge.


Ever been to another country or state that you liked better then where you currently live?

I loved South Dakota. I really miss it. Like, super miss it. When we moved there I thought I was heading into the wilderness, but now my opinion is that it's this countries best kept secret.


What are you doing with yourself if you’re not blogging or actively mothering?

Currently? Nothing. I probably wouldn't even qualify under the 'active mothering' status at the moment. I'm sort of just surviving until March. Sounds depressing, but that's what flux stages in life do to a person. :)

The Silver Lining is This

I had a rather clever little post for the day, but I'm afraid it's just going to have to wait. I can't let this day go by without expressing gratitude for all the comments on my post yesterday, the texts of "Hey! You okay?", and the messages of love and support.

Ya'll made me cry again, but with tears of gratitude and love.

Thank you.

Ever feel like the English language just doesn't have the right words to express how you feel? Me too. And that's how I'm feeling today.

So all I can say is...Thank you.

One of my greatest hopes for myself is that someday I can be the kind of friend and family member to others as they are to me. I may be going through a rough spot, but I am truly blessed with family and friendships such as these.

Thank you.

And the 3 for TH Prize goes to...

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Memorable?

I had a great time playing with my family and doing my best to hang on for dear life in the dieting lifestyle change scheme during a holiday weekend.

And of course I am very grateful to all those men and women and their families who have given their lives physically, mentally, emotionally for the service of our country. Thank you more than I can ever say with words.

Now that we are home I have to retrain Cee to go to sleep when I lay her in her crib. Over the weekend she got the idea that she could sleep with Mama again, snacking at will all through the night.

That parenting phrase "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you" never had so much meaning as it does when it comes to the dreaded crying-it-out method. Ugh. Since she is doing that now and I can hardly think straight as I listen to her wailing, I'm going to make this short and sweet.

The winner of last week's Three for Thursday was decided when I asked Joe to pick three numbers between 1 and 10 (7, 8, 9). I added the numbers (24) and divided by 3 (8). This means that #8 K Lind wins this week's 3 for TH prize!!

I already have your address dearie! I will get your 3 for TH: Memorial Day edition sent out ASAP.

Thanks again everyone for playing and ya'all come back now ya' hear?!

Peanut Butter Candy (Like They Made in Elementary School!)

Back in my elementary school days all the kids were absolutely nuts about this stuff called Peanut Butter Candy.

Me...Not so much.

I was everybody's best friend in the cafeteria on Peanut Butter Candy days because everybody wanted to trade something for that distasteful little chunk of peanut butter and chocolate.

Funny how your tastes change as you get older.

When we blessed Cee a couple of months back, my cousin Melissa (who eats gluten-free by the way) brought a panful of Peanut Butter Candy to the luncheon afterwards. People were practically elbowing each other out of the way to get to that pan of chocolaty, peanut buttery goodness. The little kids hardly stood a chance, unless they could reach from under the table and bypass the crowd of adults vying for a piece...or two...or three.

After the blessing and luncheon were over and everyone had gone on their merry ways, Joe and I talked about what a beautiful day it had been. Sure, we blessed our baby and all, but his lasting impression of the day???

Must. Have. Peanut. Butter. Candy. Recipe.

So I asked my cousin for it.

If I had only known how simple it was to make...I'd probably be trying to lose twice as much weight as I already am.

I made some yesterday. In fact I made a double batch yesterday. A pretty rotten thing to do to myself whilst in the middle of a weight loss journey. But I was a very good girl. I ate a few pieces, sent half with my sister who was visiting for the day, and half to the neighbors who had sent over some roast beef for dinner the night before. (Never return a dish empty, I say.)

Since I can't make a habit out of making these little bits of heaven, at least I can share some heaven with you.

Elementary School Peanut Butter Candy

3 cups Rice Chex cereal (for those who eat gluten-free) or Rice Crispies cereal, crushed (I've tried both ways. I thought the Chex made it a little more crunchy than the Rice Krispies did.)
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I bet you could use crunchy too.)
2 TBSP softened butter
1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar
Chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet, but you could use milk chocolate.)

Combine first four ingredients in one bowl. Mix thoroughly then press firmly into 9x9 pan.

Melt chocolate chips in double boiler: Fill bottom of pot with inch of water. Heat to boiling. Place glass bowl over pot of water and pour in chocolate chips. Turn down heat on pot. Chocolate chips will melt quickly. Stir every so often until chocolate is completely melted and creamy.

Pour chocolate on peanut butter layer. Smooth out chocolate. Then just try to resist Peanut Butter Candy while the chocolate cools and hardens. Place in fridge hoping to speed up the process.

Devour. Or share with your neighbors after daintily eating a piece or two...or...Don't.

I'm linking up my peanut buttery, chocolaty memories, recipe, and good behavior with Amy at Involuntary Smiles for Time Out Tuesday.

Stupid

I just wrote a long stupid post telling you how much I missed reading blogs and what a bad bloggy friend I was these days and that you should just stop reading my blog.

I just erased it.

It was dumb. Same old same old stupid excuses and pathetic writing.

Here's the gist:

I am a bad bloggy friend.
I have been really pathetic at reading and commenting.
But I don't want you to stop reading.

I do want you to know I think about you all often. (In my stupid post I had started to name names...Never a good idea.)

I hope this new (and improved?...Doubtful.) post finds you TRULY happy, healthy, and busy, in a good way.

Just like me.

I'm coming to grips with it. I'm busy. I may be JUST a stay at home mom but wouldn't you know it, I went and got busy (maybe why I have four kids...*drum drum cymbal*).

Having four kids will do that to a person.

We got soccer games, dentist appointments, eye appointments, doctor appointments, sick and well, dance classes, piano lessons, kindergarten, play dates, zoo trips, museum visits, piano practice, preschool lessons, scripture study, dinners, baths, bedtimes, potty training, exercising, play time, reading time, wasting time, no time, all the time, crazy time, on and on and on.

WHEW!

LIFE will do that to a person. Life is busy. Life is good. And it just is.

I keep trying to write a really thoughtful end to this post, telling you how I love you all and love your blogs and love your comments and just love your faces, but want to make sure my children are my number one priority, but it just sounds kind of uppity and cold. So forget that.

Not the kids, just the fancy ending.

Love you. Love my kids. Peace out.


P.S. Thank you to all who joined in on the Three for Thursday!! I finally got a chance to visit your links last night. I loved reading everyone's answers! It was a lot of fun! Sounds like few of us have had good experiences with epidurals...(Wish I had known that BEFORE I opted to have one.)

FYI: I'm planning to keep this meme going. I'll post the prompt on Wednesday night and post my answers with a link option on Thursday morning (I'll try to do better than I did this week. Yikes!). AND I'll pick a random winner from those who link up each week.

Speaking of...

This week's winner was randomly decided when I took the third letter of my third child's blog name, "Elle", and looked on my phone to see what number L was associated with on the dial pad.

That would be #5! Congratulations to M (I don't know if you share your name on your blog??) at The Roller Coaster of Life! Send me your address so I can send you your prize (a package of THREE goodies! See how we got a theme going here?)

P.P.S. To She Who Shall Not Be Named and anyone else who had trouble linking up this week: I don't think you could link up because your profile is not public. That's all I can figure out. :(

P.P.P.S. To those who asked where I get my Three for Thursday material...I just make this stuff up. I am the money maker. Got any ideas for me?

Who Says Time Out Tuesday Has to Be on Tuesday?

It's Saturday. Perfect time to link up for Time Out Tuesday with my new bloggy buddy, Amy at Involuntary Smiles.

(I meant to do it last week. But I got busy. I meant to do it this week, but I had a theme going and just couldn't break away from my self-inflicted rut.)

Since Joe has been out of town for the last two weeks there has been no such thing as Time Out. I've tried to squeeze some "Me Time" in after the kids go to bed by watching episodes of The Office on Netflix or getting some writing done. But being on Mommy Duty 24-7 for two weeks straight takes its toll. Even these things did little to make me feel refreshed and refilled.

Joe's home now. And even though I have the chance to escape now...I don't want to.

These are the times that I really love being a mom when I have my husband here and we are working as a team to raise the little family we created together. As soon as he walks in the door I can feel myself relaxing...literally, physically and emotionally.

Happiness is being reunited as a complete family, laying in the grass in our yard, soaking in a mild Spring evening.

Time Out for Mommy will have to wait until later.

breastfreading

If you spend much time in the blogosphere, you catch on to a universal blogging truth pretty quickly.

Bloggers love comments.

Comments equal love, validation, care, concern, friendship, time well spent.

I know this to be true because I blog. I lovecraveneed comments as much as the next blogger.

I also understand the addendum to the previously stated blogging truth.

You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Translation: I took the time to hang out at your little piece of the blogosphere by reading and commenting. Why not come on over to my place and return the favor?

If you are guilty of being a comment hog and not reciprocating the love, you could be seen as a bit of cold blogger. Shame, shame.

I get this. I love the comments. I love to reciprocate the love. And I would do so more often, except I have a little problem.

Meet my new laptop accessory, aka "a little problem".




Sure, sure. This 3 month old model is pretty sweet looking, but don't let it fool you. It hardly increases my blog commenting productivity. If anything, it hinders it. And as my laptop accessory grows in size and squirminess, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to even leave simple, little, one-liner comments.

But I'm still reading.

I've been wracking my brain trying to think of some kind of code word I could leave at the end of a post, something to the effect of "Hey! I was here, reading, and catching up with you and I would love to say something witty and sincere but can't since I am currently breast feeding as I read this and by the time I am done either reading or breast feeding I won't remember what wickedly funny or really insightful thing I wanted to say but hey I love you anyway!"

I tried to make an acronym out of it, but HIWHRACUWYAIWLTSSWASBCSIACBFAIRTABTTIADEROBFIWRWWFORITIWTSBHILYA just didn't have much of a ring to it.

Maybe after I read a post I could just type "breastfreading".

Get it?

Breast feeding + reading

Clever, right?

I know! I got lots more where that came from! I'm just not sure how to get it out there with my lap and hands so preoccupied.

Any suggestions???

Vlog-cent

It was so fun the first time, I just had to do it again.

The vlog this month is an accent/dialect vlog.

The idea it to say these words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Antenna, Root beer, Ambulance, Museum, Milk, Orange, Apricot

and answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped
body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry
groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
Where do you buy your groceries?

So I did.



Then the Show and Tell part is to show your favorite room in your house. Which I tried to do here...



...and horribly failed.

My goal is to do this in one take someday, but I cheated this time and I'm publicly flogging myself by showing you my blooper take. Always good for a laugh. ;)

Here's the "better" take:



Don't you love my little Oscar speech at the end?

I can't believe I didn't notice that mascara smudge on my eye BEFORE I did the video. It was incredibly obvious to me when I watched this after uploading it to YouTube. Oh well. I was kind of lucky just to get some makeup on my face for the day. Who cares where that makeup went.

Thanks for hosting the party Shawn and Mamarazzi!


And make sure to go wish the birthday girl, Sami, a happy 30th birthday!

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My Swap Partner Gave to Me...

As soon as I found out who my swap partner was I started drooling. Drooling because the woman is a baking fiend! Sure, she is a fantastic person for other reasons (a mother of three little men, a criminal law officer, a cancer survivor, a runner, etc), but her blog is overflowing with yummy recipes complete with step by step instructions and pictures.

I thought for sure she would fatten me up this holiday season, but everyday I opened my packages and...no goodies.

Until the 12th day!


A whole bag of candies, cookies, and tasty holiday treats! We skipped what I had planned for our Christmas Eve dessert and dined on these goodies.



Thank you Colleen for being a wonderful swap partner! I hope you enjoyed your 12 days as much as I enjoyed mine! Merry Christmas to you and to all you other bloggers and swappers out there!

{Eleventh Day} fuzzy socks
{Tenth Day} toasty toy
{Ninth Day} Glade candle
{Eighth Day} slippers
{Seventh Day} facial supplies
{Sixth Day} onions and salt and pepper shaker
{Fifth Day} bear
{Fourth Day} Milano cookies
{Third Day} ornament
{Second Day} hot chocolate
{First Day} blanket

And thank you to Sami for hosting this fantastic swap of 12 days! What a marvelous idea! Head on over HERE to see how the other swappers fared.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas My Swap Partner Gave to Me...

When Jeigh opened this she proclaimed "It's a RUG!"

Haha! Not quite Jeigh! This is better!

Much MUCH better than any rug! Aaaaahhhhhhh!

This made me laugh...

It almost sounds like a Public Service Announcement... "Only YOU can prevent cold toes!" Hahaha!

Thank you Colleen! From me AND my very happy toes!

{Tenth Day}
{Ninth Day}
{Eighth Day}
{Seventh Day}
{Sixth Day}
{Fifth Day}
{Fourth Day}
{Third Day}
{Second Day}
{First Day}

On the Tenth Day of Christmas My Swap Partner Gave to Me...

Dee is home from school for Christmas vacation today so he got the honors of opening up the tenth gift.


He could NOT figure out what this was supposed to be. He had all sorts of funny theories about it though.

It's a...a...You know...I'm not sure what you call it, but it's one of those things you can microwave and place on your neck or cold buns or whatever parts needs a little toasty TLC. And it smells wonderful!


Thank you Colleen!

{Ninth Day}
{Eighth Day}
{Seventh Day}
{Sixth Day}
{Fifth Day}
{Fourth Day}
{Third Day}
{Second Day}
{First Day}