Until Next Year...

Anything I feel like posting right now sounds negative and whiney. So I'm just going to say a "Merry Christmas!" and a "Happy New Year!" and leave it at that until next year.

Love you all! <3

Just Call Me Mr. Grinch

I must say, this Christmas season has been less than jolly for me. Whereas I am looking foward to time spent with family, I am just as eagerly anxious for it to all just be over.

Maybe it would make a difference if our finances were in a different place, maybe not. It doesn't feel like Christmas, and I don't feel very Christmas-spirity.

As we've talked about (and I've thought a lot about) having children, this Christmas has been making me think a lot about how we want to raise our children. It's sad to me (an I admit to doing it as a child) that Christmas has become such a commercialized greed-fest. I don't think that I want to go so far as to not do presents with our children, but I do think I definitely want to focus more on the family and giving aspects of the season rather than the "gimme, gimme, GIMME!" that nearly makes me sick. I already know that I don't want a bunch of plastic, noisy crap littering our home just because we have kids. Part of that is because I don't like random crap everywhere, part of it is because I don't want our kids always after toys and the latest "thing" and part of it is because I'm hoping that our kids will have an IMAGINATION. I want them to play outside and read and make forts.

So Merry Christmas. I'm sorry I'm not in a better mood about it. I really am.

#8- Establish a Yearly Christmas Letter

So I did this. Ya, it's not super fancy and no one is probably going to flip out over my Christmas letter, but I set out to do this this year, and I did.

Maybe next year will be better.

Actually, it has been insanely hard for me to get in the Christmas spirit this year. (Kind of like last year.) I think I'm just really becoming disillusioned with Christmas. I mean, I still see value in the birth of Jesus, obviously, but the rest of it just seems like a huge money-sucking, stress-inducing waste of time to me. Sorry. Maybe I would feel better if there was snow. Or I was gonna see my family. Or we had two dimes to rub together.

Anyway, the Christmas Letter is established. Onward!

Christmas Crafting

Christmas is over and I seem to be back in "no inspiration valley." Of course, this probably has more to do with the fact that I have let myself become a lazy lump, than anything else. I'm justifying it by mumbling things about the "New Year" to myself.

O New Year! Please bring new inspiration to me!

So...as promised. I'm going to post some pictures! Hazah! *please forgive the quality as I took them all with my phone. Yes, I am that lazy*

First some decor:

Yay, our empty little tree. I was not up to buying ornaments, seeing as I was barely up to getting a tree at all, so it is mostly bare minus some candy canes, icicles and a small random assortment from Trey.

I got the idea offline (read: Martha Stewart) to use shaved crayons and wax paper to make little shapes to hang in the window. She did hearts (which I like much better) but I tried making trees, snowflakes and stars. Ya. I like the trees...that's about it. I will also never use thick ribbon like that again. I hate it. Feburary might present a chance for round two.



Pipe cleaners provided us with a mini Santa and some reindeer and trees. This is also thanks to Martha.

Now for some presents!
First off...each family got a homemade card and some snowman poop. The snowman poop is marshmallows covered in glue and glitter and set in a little condiment cup. It took me forever to find something that looked like a bucket to put it in and I finally found these condiment cups (they come in packs of four at Walmart.) I also put a ribbon with a button on each cup. It was supposed to be for decoration but ended up making the little buckets work as ornaments too. Bonus! Snowman Poop goes with this poem:

You've been bad,
So here's the scoop:
All you get is...
Snowman Poop!

Haha. Anyway...


I read about doing these in an All You magazine as hostess gifts but decided to give some of them as Christmas gifts as well. I think I'll always keep them on hand from now on in case I ever need a last minute gift. All it is is teacups glued to their saucers with a candle in it. So easy but so cute. You can also take the candle out and use it for a place to throw jewelry or whatever. Love!



This is what I gave Trey's mother, step-mother and sister. They are heating pillows that you can put in the microwave to warm up or in the freezer to turn into a cold pack. They are filled with rice and cinnamon (to make them smell good):). I was so excited about making them and I made them with my new Christmas present from my mom:

Thanks mom! I've got big plans for this baby. Course...I'm still learning but I'm super excited. I'm keeping a running list of projects! Plus I have a little neice coming along in March. Hello cute little girly stuff! Eeeee!

Last but not least:
I made this for my mom. She requested a scarf when I told her I had picked up knitting again. I'm probably most proud of this because, as long as I've been knitting (since about 7 or 8 years old) I've never actually finished a project. So ya...I'm proud of it. And it's HUGE: about 10 inches wide and probably 7 or 8 feet long. She wanted a long scarf, what can I say? Now I've just got to figure out how to knit something that isn't straight (like scarves and blankets). I've got something in mind and I can't wait to check "Knit something that isn't a scarf or a blanket" off my life list!

Alrighty there ya go. I'm deep into loving crafting right now and I'm hoping to start a craft section of the blog (it's on the 2010 to do list) so hopefully many more projects will show up here. These are just my first attempts and I am very happy. Yay! Ok now have an awesome rest of the holiday!

Bits

I'm going to go ahead and preface this post by saying this: I've got a lot on my mind right now and this is going to be a kind of dumping. I'm not sure what it will look like yet and I'm not sure where this is going so read on, or move on to the next blog on your list. Here goes:

• I love reading "my blogs" in the morning. I don't know what it is about them but each new entry in the blogs I read is like opening a tiny present. I look forward to it so much. I was reading this morning and just thinking about how grateful I am to the bloggers I read for letting me into their lives.
  
• On a related note, as I was reading blogs and looking through the pictures I realized that I hardly ever post pictures. Part of the reason for that is that I hardly ever write from the computer where my pictures are stored and part of that is because I don't take nearly enough pictures. I'm sorry. I'm going to try and post more pictures in the new year. First up I'll be posting some pics of the presents I made. Yay! Anticipation! lol
• I've been thinking about babies, family ect. again. It seems like every time I get on facebook, someone else I know is pregnant. It happened today in fact. I still want to be pregnant. The feeling isn't overwhelming like it was at one time but it is still there on the back burner. I am at peace with waiting right now and know that the future is probably a better, and more practical time for us to have a baby. I'm not going to lie and say I don't think about it. I do. A lot. And with thinking about having a baby comes thinking about how I want my family as a whole to be. Obviously, I have a LOT of time before that happens to prepare (lets start with one please!) but it is still fun to think about. I'm torn between having just a few (which would be easier, probably, and make for a smaller one-on-one feel) or having a lot (which would probably be harder, especially when they are young but leaves me with a lot more options of who to live with when I'm old! haha). Things to ponder...
• I think that the older I get, the worse my milk alergy gets. Yesterday I had a drink in the cafe that contained eggnog and I got so sick after! I might need to think about giving up milk products all together and re-trying soy or other lactose-free options. And I REALLY need to start taking calcium. I don't want my bones to turn to dust before I'm dead!
• Speaking of giving things up, the fast is coming up next month. If you don't know, our church does a 21 day fast every January. When I was in 24/7 we were required to do a total fast (just water) for the first 7 days and then we could choose our own things to fast the last two weeks (guidelines included: no entertainment, no resturants and, I think, no junk food? Not sure on that last one...). I admit, I didn't fast anything last year. Of course, I wasn't going to this church because I lived in Utah at the time, but still. So, the 2010 fast is approaching and the time has come to decide what to fast. I've pretty much already decided not to go on a full fast. It's so different when you work in the real world and, honestly, I'm not up for it. I've been thinking about a Daniel fast or just fasting certain things. I have no idea...All I know is that, considering I want 2010 to be AWESOME, and also considering that Trey and I have a lot of decisions to make and things to pray about coming up, I think fasting is going to be especially important at this time in our lives.
  
• Christmas has been totally weird this year. I'm not sure if I'm more excited or more ready for it to be over.
  
• I have noticed that my interests change almost on a daily basis. One day I want to sew, one day I am interested in food and making meal plans and couponing ect., one day I just want to write all day, one day I want to read all day, one day I want to scrapbook or knit or just do nothing. And now I'm trying to figure out if I've always been like this or if I'm going through a phase....
• My cat is BAD! It seems like we just get over one bad habit of her's and she starts another. First she was driving me crazy by whining at the door and trying to dig her way under everytime we shut her out of a room. That ended and then a few weeks ago she was jumping up on the counter and getting into anything baked (muffins, bread). We got over that and then she was playing in the tree. We got over that and now she is tearing things up. At first it was small and didn't really matter, but then yesterday I came home and my duvet cover was completely tore up! Like, as in holes. Lucky for her it was an inexpensive duvet and I want to replace it anyway. Unlucky for her, I was not planning on replacing it soon. I could have killed her. Moxie is getting declawed after the holidays.
• Holidays as a grownup are not as fun as holidays as a kid. They are stressful and BUSY and don't include a Christmas break.
  
• I'm currently obsessed with photography. I wish I was good at it and I wish I had the time to learn more about it.

That's all for now. Ta.

So much to do! So little to blog

I know I have been absent again. I guess it is becoming the theme of my blog. BUT I have had so many things I've been working on what with crafts to make and the holidays being here now. I plan to post the stuff I'm making on here but most of it is for Christmas so I'm going to have to wait until the holidays are up!

So many parties and crafts! O this season is going to FLY by. I might be out of commission till the holidays are over. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Knitting for stress

I'm knitting. Yes that's right: knitting. And loving it. It's relaxing for me, but I also think it might be making me go cross-eyed. Well, that and starting at the computer. For a while I thought I might need glasses because my eyes weren't focusing and I was getting headaches. Now I think it has more to do with this devil that is the computer than my eyes.

Are the holidays supposed to be stressful? I mean, pretty much everyone seems to get stressed around the holidays. Which I think is ironic because aren't the holidays supposed to be a time when you relax and become less stressed? It is pretty sad how the purpose of the holidays has been so grossly distorted. What used to be a time of giving thanks and celebrating the birth that brought us life, has become a wild, greedy gorge fest. And I'm not pointing fingers because I have definitely done my fair share of wild and greedy gorge festing. Maybe that is why I just can't seem to get into the holidays this year. It's not that I don't love the decorations and the festive-ness of the season...it's just that the thought of the holidays makes me tired. And I don't even have to do anything! I can't imagine if I had to buy presents for a pack of childern as well as possibly hosting relatives or (gasp) preparing a feast! Ah, yet more evidence that I am obviously not ready for children.

I know I wrote in the fall that fall was like my New Year. And that is true, I DO like to make personal changes in the fall. But the new year is my New Year too. I guess I like to double up. So now, is this year fades, I have been thinking of the dawning of the New Year coming up. There are so many things I want for this year! I'm not into making resolutions because I see "New Year's Resolutions" as an interchangable heading for "Impossible Standards Resulting in Failure." So I don't make resolutions but I do try and make changes. And I'm sure this year is going to be no different.

I just think 2010 is going to be great. I hope it brings solidity to our lives and security for the future. I hope it brings new friends and new family members. I hope it brings happiness and FUN. It's funny, when you're young you sort of have the idea that life just happens, and it does, but life also takes work. A lot of work. This past year has been a lot of learning in that area for me. So now I'm hoping that my new-found knowledge will help me make this year better. Now that I have accepted the fact that I have to work (hard!) for the things I want, maybe it wont be such a suprise when life shows up ready to work.

A lot of my life right now is down time. And when I have down time I think. And right now I'm thinking about the future: what I want for me and what I want for us. So well see how it pans out. It is going to be amazing, in a year, to look back and see how far I've come. I can't wait!

Weekend

Nothing much new is going on for me to post. This weekend was super busy but very rewarding and fun.

Friday,Trey and I went to New Moon. WHY we went to it when it was opening weekend and I knew there would be gaggles of teeny-bopper girls there (just the kind that drive me nuts and, incidentily, the kind I probably was) I have no idea. We got there and the line was out the door and down the street. Yes, that's right: down the street. Ugh. At this point I am remembering how the first Twilight movie made me want to rip my eyes out and wondering if it's even worth it.

Finally we get into the movie and I am sitting there expecting to be let down...again. Turns out, I was dissappointed, or maybe the term I'm looking for is "pleasantly surprised." The movie, I estimate, was roughly 1000 times better than the first. As someone who is a fan of the books (yes I admit) I was very much relieved. In fact, I think they actually spent money on this one! Not to mention that Jacob was enough to make every Edward girl question their loyalties. Yum. (um Trey, you're still my number one but us girls are allowed to crush on fake people. Just sayin')

Saturday was spent cleaning the house which was, for me, emmensly satisfying except for the part where Trey said, "But this is how you get your stress out, right?" No. No it's not. Just like I don't like to be found cooking in the kitchen in my summer dress and pearls. Or really, at all.

Sunday started early with both Trey and I working at the cafe and ended late with me getting caught up in all kinds of little craft projects. I love love love crafts and now our apartment has a few bitty decorations to show for it. It got me all excited about other crafts I could do too! O and all the scrapbooking possibilities! O my! In between we celebrated an early Thanksgiving with Trey's family and I was reminded AGAIN how blessed I am in the in laws category. This week is real Thanksgiving with my other in laws and I'm excited about that as well. As a girl who thought the only option was a mother in law who didn't like her, I am happy to report that I have been blessed with TWO wonderful mother in laws whom I love and are splendid to me and I couldn't be happier.

Turkey day is approaching and the Holiday Spirit is finally creeping into my soul. Let the festivities begin!