goodbye 2009...

See you in 2010! :-)

pccd...

Post Christmas Chaotic Disorder! Anyone else suffering from this?

Please tell me I'm not alone!

can't I just stay in my pjs all day...

...and play with all my new toys! :-)

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waiting for santa...

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done...

...wrapping! :-)

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The kids are off at school this morning -- having their holiday festivities. Since I'm done with this -- I'm going to give myself a little bit of maintenance -- and then wait for the noise and excitement to come home. We still have some baking to do -- and, then -- wait for Santa!

mom...can you help me make a magic circle...

Okay -- I will help you after I finish...

making beds

doing some laundry

vacuuming the kitchen

baking the brownies

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making lunch for you and Nicholas

helping Nicholas with religion homework

wrapping gifts

cooking dinner

hemming your pants

But, mom, I can help you with those things (except I am not doing religion homework with Nicholas at all).

Okay, it's a deal!

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So, yesterday turned out to be not so bad at all. :-) In case you don't know, the "magic ring" is a few crocheted chain stitches surrounding a circle of yarn. Sofia has picked up her crocheting again, and is working on some cute little amugurumi figures. After we figured out how to make the "magic ring" she worked diligently by herself for about an hour and finished the head to the "dogbot" she is making. Both the finished crocheted head and a picture of the dogbot are shown in the picture above. She pulled out the stitches quite a few times and redid them. But now, I think she's getting the hang of it! The book she is working from is: Crobots by Nelly Pailloux

I think I accomplished more than I had planned -- and, we even had a chance to watch some of "The Nutcracker" ballet on TV before falling asleep. It was the "best" snow day ever! :-)

noooooooo...

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We were notified last night that the schools would be closed today. Do the "powers that be" realize this is one of the three days left before the kids are off from school for the holidays? I did not have this planned into my schedule. Now I have to take time to rearrange that schedule which leaves me even less time to complete the items in the new schedule. Remember this ? -- well that's me today -- minus the hearts. :-(

yikes...

...we need the snowblower!

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Anyone know how much snow we got?

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Of course, both of my rulers are missing in action this morning, so, according to the clothing hanger (positioned between the two candy canes in the picture above) we got eleven inches!

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Just enough snow to make the porch look perfect -- and -- to give me a perfect shot for my new header! :-)

oh, the weather outside...

...is frightful.

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but in here...

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it's soooo delightful!

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Today we baked, and, wrapped, and watched the snow fall. Hope you were able to get lots done too!

ready for some magic...

While my little artistic elf is in school today, I baked the sugar cookies for one of her holiday parties in school tomorrow. Since she is not here to "supervise" -- this guy gladly stepped in. Me thinks he is eyeing up that big cookie in the center of the plate!

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These will be decorated as snowman faces. I added two white chocolate chips and some black decorating gel for the eyes, and, a thin slice of orange gum drop for the nose. Sofia will finish them with her swirly twirly magic. The big cookie, in the center of the plate, is for the teacher. Sorry, little elf man! :-)

stress relief...

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Sofia volunteered me to do some Christmas baking for school! :-) Tomorrow we are doing Jolly Snowman Face sugar cookies (for Friday), and, Tuesday we are doing Holiday Tree brownies (for Wednesday). I needed to get my baking days organized anyway -- so I think this schedule will work. Just need to make sure we have all the proper decorating supplies for the little artist! We are using the packaged Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix -- it is really yummy and easy -- and I printed the recipes from bettycrocker.com. Now I'm looking forward to this -- but... today -- the elves are here, again -- shhhh!

running out of time...

...before Santa's arrival. For this year, we are done with the outside decorations. Next year, we will add a little bit more.

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Do you like my "antlers"? :-) These are new for this year.

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These are made from tree branches that we collected the first summer we lived in this house. During that summer there were not many finished houses and alot of construction dust and dirt blowing around. The trees were newly planted and small. We were experiencing very dry weather, so, I took it upon myself to care for the trees at the curb surrounding our house and also a group of trees directly across from us in the conservation area. When we pruned the trees, I kept some of the branches with the thought that I would make something with them. It has taken me awhile -- but I like the result. I already have a sentimental attachment to these branches, so, I am happy to see them and they are just fun for me to look at!

They are simply sprayed with gold spray paint and attached to the posts with clear plastic tie wrap. The ornaments are shatterproof. For extra protection from the elements, I reinforced the top of each ornament with hot glue. Curling ribbon was then double-tied to each ornament and then double-tied to the antlers. If you are going to do this, then make sure your branches are sturdy enough to hold the ornaments without bending. We have very windy weather here, so, I am learning (mostly the hard way) that if something is made for outside it needs to be tough! Not sure if you noticed what I did in this picture back in October. Those were smaller branches that I sprayed with black spray paint. They didn't have the ornaments, so I went for the twiggy, spindly effect in that design.

I plan to expand on both of these tree inspired designs. I know of some very old and lovely birch and oak trees that I would like to add to my collection -- so hopefully some of my readers will save their prunings for me!

it's just me...

...and them! Hope they don't give away my secrets for the day! :-)

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my funky little tree...

Remember this adventure from last week? Here's the one lone tree that I painted -- while Sofia breezed through her 3 projects. I can't show those here yet (shhhh... they're a surprise!) :-)

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Rick suggested I start a tradition and make one tree each year at Christmas. This was fun, so, I think I might just do that!

it's beginning...

...to look alot like Christmas! :-) Yesterday, I was suffering from porch decoration anxiety. We are behind a full week -- but today we accomplished the job! There are a few more things that could be done -- but that would involve making a trip to the store, and, finding what we are looking for. Unless the weather is on our side tomorrow, those extras will have to wait until next year. It was getting dark when we finished, so I will take a picture of the porch when the weather permits. For now, here is the view of the tree in the side yard. Sofia cut lengths of ribbon for each ornament, then we tied the ribbon on the ornaments, then Rick tied each ornament to the tree. There are also white lights on the tree, plus, the deer light up and they are animated. The little white trees in the background also light up. I will see if I can get a good night shot for you -- but no promises!

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the good list...

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If you are not on this version of "the list" and would like to be added, please let me know. I will put a request in to the elf who maintains the list --but I can't make any promises -- she's a pretty tough cookie when it comes to things such as this. :-)

elf alert...

Can you guess who's hat is missing?

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Tsk, tsk, tsk. The head elf is not happy. Will the guilty elf please step forward -- or no swirly twirly gumdrops for you!

who needs a rain gauge...

when this works just as well!

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The troops went out the door this morning wrapped up tight in their hooded jackets and boots. Since I get to stay home today -- I think that a small boat for me might be necessary at some point. In a little bit, I'll take another picture from the same vantage point on the porch -- and you can tell me if I should head for higher ground! :-)

Afternoon update -- double click on the picture to see! The rains stopped a little while after I took the first picture. It's like springtime out there now!

the elves here are busy...

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Hope your elves are busy too! :-)

yes, we had some snow too...

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Yesterday, Sofia convinced me into taking her over to our local Color Me Mine studio. As soon as we got there, it began snowing. Four pieces of pottery and 4 hours later, we had to drive home in the snow -- and the dark! Along with that, the tire pressure light on my car's dashboard decided to pop on. Sooooo, we crawled along the main road at 25 mph and pulled into our driveway 30 minutes later with Sofia in the back seat with her eyes clenched shut. As you can see from the picture -- today is a different story for her. We might have more snow this week. And...the decorations are finally going up. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...!

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where I have been...

This is the last picture I took -- and then we all got the worst stomach virus ever. It's been over a week -- and we are finally starting to have an appetite for regular food.

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The "elves" will be here today working some magic, while Sofia and I go out for awhile. Tonight we will be trimming the tree, and, tomorrow, trimming the porch.

So much to do -- gotta get a move on!