christmas

Christmas Survey #1

12 December 2011 / christmas, miscellany monday, pictures, survey

Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Recently, Adam brought home
some dark chocolate hot chocolate.
Not only does it smell heavenly,
it tastes that way, too. Yum.

Does Santa wrap your presents or leave them naked under the tree?
Santa wraps most of the presents,
but he leaves the really big and awkward ones unwrapped.
A variety of people visit Aidan, though.
One year, even Brutus Buckeye left him something.

Colored lights or white?
White.
I think they look classy.

Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

When do you put up your decorations?
First or second week in December.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Cornbread dressing.
Mac & cheese.
Honey ham.
Turnip/mustard greens.
Gravy over everything.
Mmmm.

Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I have a lot.
My mom always went out of her way
to make Christmas extra special for
my sister and me.
Lots of toys.
Good food.
Good music.
Good times.

When did you learn the truth about Santa?
That depends.
What do YOU consider the truth
about Santa?

Do you open any gifts on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
My tree is pre-lit, so all I have to do
is put it together and put on the ornaments!

Snow: love it or hate it?
Hate it.

Can you ice skate?
Sort of.

Do you remember your favorite gift?
I love all my gifts.
Some that come to mind, though, are a 10-speed bike,
Hangin’ Tough Live (a New Kids on the Block video),
the O.C. season 1 on DVD,
the Tiffany necklace Adam got me last year,
the handmade art Cassidy gave us this year.

What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Being with loved ones.

What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Dutch apple pie.
Especially the one Adam’s dad makes.
Gotta have the crumblies.

What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Watching A Christmas Story.
Eating cookies.
Sending Christmas cards.
Receiving Christmas cards.

What tops your tree?
An angel, of course.

Which do you REALLY prefer: giving or receiving?
Equal.

What is your favorite Christmas song?
March of the Wooden Soldiers sang by Harry Connick, Jr.
Christmastime by Michael W. Smith.
Ding Dong Merrily on High sang by Blackmore’s Night
Jingle Bells sang by The Andrews Sisters & Bing Crosby
Joy To The World sang by Whitney Houston
…just to name a few

Candy canes: yummy or yucky?
I’m not a fan.
They are pretty, though.

Feel free to do this survey on your blog as well, but please comment and let me know so I can come check it out.

Will be linking up with:

8 Comments

Christmas Prep Take One

10 December 2011 / adam, christmas, life, marriage, pictures, ronni

I’m just about done decorating. I need to get new stockings for Adam and Aidan. Seems one of the cats left a “present” (in the form of pee) on those two particular stockings, and I didn’t find it until this year, when I went to hang them. Luckily, only those two stockings got hit. Aidan’s was personalized, which was a shame, but the pee didn’t get the name so I cut it out and hung it in his room. Not a total loss. And now I get to go buy more stockings!

My non-peed on stocking

Thursday, I complained on twitter that I failed at being a grown-up. And I had. I’d gotten some disappointing news, which put me in a funk that resulted in me not accomplishing a dang thing except playing on the computer for hours. And reading. And playing “dozer” games on my iPhone. And also Whirly Word. Adam read my tweet and asked why I felt that way, and I told him that it was because I was supposed to clean and I didn’t. He said that there was no point in cleaning now because I’d just be doing it all over again on December 19, the day before Aidan and my mom arrive for Christmas. I tried to tell him that if I cleaned now, that the work would be less by then, but he thinks that if I clean now, we’ll just mess it all back up and I’d have ended up doing twice the cleaning.

I couldn’t articulate that if I cleaned now, then I wouldn’t have to clean the normal mess by then PLUS the accumulation from not cleaning this weekend as well. The words just wouldn’t come. My brain had turned to mush from all the games I’d been playing. So he made me some tea and that was that.

When he cleans, he sees only the obvious, big picture messes and clutter. And he doesn’t see any point in cleaning all the time because the big, obvious messes aren’t always there. I see almost all the messes, and I can especially see the little details. He does the heavy lifting (taking out the trash, cleaning the fridge, scrubbing the stove, mopping the floor) while I handle the littler things (scrubbing faucets, cleaning mirrors, dusting, etc.). So, I guess what I need to say is that if I am not taking care of those little details all the time, or at least every week or so, then the big messes will come sooner and with more impact. And if I waited until the last minute to do all my holiday cleaning, I’d be looking UGLY come December 19. So, it’s always better, in my opinion, to do a little bit every week. Maintenance, if you will. Otherwise, the clutter will just build up and cleaning day will be exhausting and overwhelming. So I cleaned today because I can’t, in good conscience, decorate while the place is messy.

Friday, I pulled out the rest of the decorations and got to work. I even wrapped a few presents! I’m not totally hopeless!

The snow family salutes me.

More ornaments. Why? Because I like them.
See what I did there?

So, all I have to do is stay on top of the cleaning, and all should be OK. 🙂

Disclaimer: I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners.

Ten days till my birthday. God help me.

6 Comments

No Bueno

6 December 2011 / christmas, friends, life, pictures, sick, to do, universe are you listening?, wtf

I’m not doing so well today. I am worn down, exhausted, and have zero motivation to do a dang thing. Mercury is in retrograde and OH WOW is it showing.

1. Web browsers are acting weird. Google Chrome is acting weird with my WordPress dashboard, so I have to use Firefox to add posts. I also need Firefox to work on the newsletter for Moksha because Namaste Light does not play nicely with Chrome these days. However, Firefox is SLOW once it gets going and it really lags on my system. Plus, it doesn’t always play nice with LiveJournal. So now I get to bounce back and forth until one of them gets their act together.

2. Monthly newsletter went out and there were some hiccups AGAIN. I asked them if they wanted me to step down and she said no, that I’m doing a great job, and it was just one of those things. I’m doing a good enough job on everything else that they’re still going to trust me with January 2012. So, I will DO DAMN BETTER. I promise.

3. I ran MacKeeper to get rid of duplicate files, but it decided that many different original files were the same, so it tried to delete all those as well. I caught them, but now it’s a disorganized mess. Fortunately, I have backups of most of the organized folders, so I can just overwrite the messed up ones.

4. My iPod crashed. It crashed and deleted all of my music and playlists. I manually sync because I don’t have the same things on my iPod that I do on my computer. Saturday evening, a Tori Amos song kept erring out, and I think that’s what did it. iPod corrupted. Hours of hard work, selecting and sequencing those playlists by hand… gone. *sigh* The Christmas 2011 mix was the best mix I’d ever made, too. And the yoga practice mix? That was freaking hard to put together and now I have to do it again. But first, I have to get the thing to mount. And also to stop crashing and locking the library. Time to restore all systems, I suppose.

5. Computer battery needs to be serviced. Which likely means replaced. Which means bye bye $130.

On top of Mercury’s retrograde screwing with all my technology (and giving me an inexplicable urge to buy an iPad when I don’t need one at all), I’ve just been feeling like a poop log lately. Worn down, nauseated, and just generally tired. And my ear is hurting again. I have so much I need to do and no motivation to do it. This weekend, I was hit with a double whammy headache, one of them being a migraine that was extremely painful. Little appetite, just not feeling myself. I don’t like it. Oh, and the tip of my tongue has been burning the past few days. Feels like I burnt it with food or bit it a million times, but instead of getting better and going away, it’s getting worse.

I NEED TO GET BETTER!

Just to give you an idea of how worn out I’ve been:

1. I turned down a trip to Target. Adam knows that if I say “no” to a Target run then something’s seriously wrong.

2. I haven’t watched one Christmas program/DVD/movie. Not even A CHRISTMAS STORY. I adore A CHRISTMAS STORY. What is happening?

3. The apartment’s not completely decorated for Christmas. Honestly, Adam and I put the tree up Friday, I decorated it, then I was done. I haven’t made any effort to do anything else since. THIS IS NOT LIKE ME.

To add insult to injury? My new(ish) awesome glasses? They have a chip in the lens. I dropped a plate the other day and thought it had avoided the glasses, but I guess not. So it’s back to the ugly cheap frames for me until I can get them repaired or either get a new pair. I mean, I can *somewhat* ignore the chip, but I don’t know if other people can. Suck.

I have so much to do (in no particular order, it just all needs to be done on or before December 15):

01. Christmas newsletter
02. Christmas cards
03. reestablish iPod
04. finish decorating apartment
05. major litter box cleaning
06. organize closet and clothing
07. wrap presents
08. clean living room (this may as well be a permanent on the list)
09. plan Christmas menu
10. make Christmas food shopping list
11. return library books
12. finish Christmas shopping
13. buy cat food
14. laundry
15. two newsletters for Moksha
16. use Body Shop Groupon
17. send packages

Yea, whatever is bugging me needs to GET TO STEPPIN’. I ain’t got time for this mess.

As much as I love iProcrastinate, I didn’t like that it didn’t give me reminders of when things were due. So I decided to use Producteev. It has a reminder function. Except… it doesn’t seem to be working. I should add that to the list of things screwed up by Mercury’s retrograde. *sigh* Or maybe the software just sucks.

So now I’m on the hunt for another To Do program. I might have to break down and PAY FOR ONE. *gulp* I mean, what’s the point of having a productivity program if all it does it make me panic because it doesn’t tell me when stuff’s coming up, just when it’s due RIGHT NOW?

In spite of all this bleh, I had a good time Saturday night. I hung out with a bunch of former coworkers from Schawk. It was so good to see them all again. One can be glad to escape the craziness of the workplace, but the people will always tug at me.

Brad, JT, Hayley, me, Tyrone, Duane

I’m a homebody. I don’t go out a lot. It’s nice to get out sometimes, though. Although I think Saturday night might have done me in. Maybe I’m still recovering from that.

Also, did I mention that my birthday is in 14 days? No? Well, now you know.

Anyway, I’m off for now. Time for more resting so I can get better once and for all. I WILL get better. Hear that, Universe? I WILL get better within the next 12 hours.

Please send me lots of good vibes for many various things, OK? 🙂

Till next time….

13 Comments

Deck The Halls

4 December 2011 / christmas, pictures

This is the first year I decided to do a themed Christmas tree.

Most years, I throw on a hodge-podge of ornaments: nutcrackers, snow people, bows, candy canes, trains, anything I’ve collected over the years.

It was weird, leaving all of those in the box so that I could stay true to my theme.

I’m happy how the tree came out. I’ve stopped using garland, and I purchased a pre-lit tree a couple of years ago after my poor crooked free tree finally fell in 2009. Here’s my 2011 Christmas Tree:

Any guesses as to the theme yet?

Let me give you a few hints.

Still, I had to add this one:

It wouldn’t be a true tree of mine without the banana ornament.

10 Comments

Hello December/Holiday Wish Meme

1 December 2011 / christmas, crafty, download, meme

My favorite time of the year is here again. It’s officially the holiday season, I’ve had my first taste of turkey and gravy and there’s another holiday involving those foods to come!, the stores/malls are decorated and people have lights on their homes and trees in the windows, I’m listening to Christmas music, Trader Joe’s has yummy Christmas treats everywhere, and my birthday (and my mom’s and Aidan’s arrival) is in 19 days!

For the 2011 holiday season, I have so much to be excited about and thankful for!

– My awesome Aidan. He’s now eight years old, in third grade, and absolutely the best little boy ever. EVER.
– My husband. It’s amazing to have someone so supportive of me, so ready to defend me, and willing to do anything to make me happy. And he puts up with my wackiness, which is no small feat, let me tell ya.
– My families. All of them.
– Two trips to Disney World!!
– My work study opportunity at Moksha Yoga. I get to do work I love in exchange for what I love. It’s a win-win!
– My friends.
– Fi living with me again. He’s the best cat ever. Plus, he’s a black cat, and everyone knows that black cats rule everything. If you didn’t know, then you know now. So I’m thankful I was able to pass that knowledge on to you.
– My Plurk crew. They are hilarious and fun. Love them!
– The abundance and blessings that have been and keep being rained down on us.
– Anywhere Is just got 100 followers!! WOW!! 🙂

It’s now time for the Holiday Wishes Meme. I started doing this in 2006, and I encourage you guys to do it as well.

Step One
– Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered…whatever you’re comfortable with) to your LJ/blog. The post should contain your list of up to 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun (“I’d love a Doctor Who icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
– If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
– Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your entry, or link to this post (it’ll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two
– Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part:
– If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use—or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
– You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not—it’s your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just…wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you’ll have the joy of knowing you made someone’s holiday special.

With that said, here are my wishes for 2011.

1. A gift card, or for you to make donations to, DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose focuses on education. Teachers ask for classroom project materials. We donate. The kids learn. Most of these schools are high poverty, and the teachers are already doing all they can. Any amount is welcome.

2. Donations to Paws Chicago, the shelter where we got Helena. It’s a cage-free, no-kill shelter, and they are run completely on donations; they receive no city, state, or federal funding. It’s a great place. A shelter situation is stressful for the animals involved, and every animal I came in contact with there was happy and friendly. They have an extensive screening process to make sure you’re aware of your decision and commitment, and if somehow things don’t work out, the animal always has a home at PAWS.

3. Anything from my Amazon Let’s Celebrate 2011! wish list.

4. Gift cards to bookstores. I love bookstores. And books. But you already know that.

5. I also wouldn’t mind gift cards to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Target, or Kohl’s.

6. A mailbox FILLED with Christmas cards. Come on, guys. You know you want to indulge me.
Comment with your email address if you’re interested in fulfilling this particular wish and I will email you my address.

7. The Kanani American Girl doll.

The things that I’d like your prayers/happy energy for:

1. My mom to be as healthy as possible and to live a long time.

2. My friends and family to be happy, healthy, and secure.

3. Myself to be happy, healthy, and secure.

4. A mild winter.