Ten Things Tuesday- Wishes

When I was younger, Christmas meant I'd get a couple gifts from my parents and a trip to my grandparents' house  for the day.
I always wanted cool gifts, even though Mom tried to teach us that isn't what Christmas is about.

As I get older, I feel more the meaning of what the Christmas is supposed to be.
Same goes for all religious holidays in December.

It's about love.

I don't wish for things anymore.
Things are nice, but they are just things..

OK, maybe I learned that last year when Honeyman got me one gift and it was a cd that I already had.
I was fine.
I realized I don't care so much about the gifts anymore.

Though it still bugs him, because he just brought it up a couple days ago.

This week's Ten Things Tuesday is about the types of things I wish for.

1. I wish for my daughter to stay goofy.
  If she's not goofy, she's not happy so I tell her to stay goofy.

2. I wish for the FDA to mandate GMO labeling.
  If I want to eat pesticides, I'll go buy a bag of Round-up.

3. I wish for at least a few more years with my parents.
  Even though my mom drives me insane. But, they are still my parents. They are getting old and tired though.

4. I wish for Honeyman to be able to enjoy his life more.
  He works hard and gets down about things. It's nice to see him happy.

5. I wish I had some zucchini.
  I wish my plant hadn't died. I could buy some, but it is just not the same.

6. I wish my cat allergy would go away. I love to snuggle with my kitty, but she makes me hurt.
I do it anyway.

7. I wish people would accept other people even when they don't agree.
  Examples include: religion, abortion, same-sex relationships, political parties

8. I wish our family could find time to watch out Christmas movies BEFORE Christmas.
  I can almost hear bobble head Ralphie screaming for me to take him out of the box.

9. I wish I could stay home on Christmas Eve.
  I don't see that ever happening, but I always thought it would be so nice.

10. I wish someone would give me an idea what to fix for supper sometimes.

What wishes do you have?

Happy Holidays!

Yeah, I say it!

Happy Holidays!

I am getting so sick of
" Don't take Christ out of Christmas"
" Say Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays"
" Christ is the reason for the season".

I say "happy holidays" and I am not ashamed to say it.

I said it years ago.
I said it before I had ever met a Jewish person.
I said it before I knew Kwanza was a real holiday.
I said it before my oldest sister embraced paganism.

I said it because I was LAZY.

Yes, that's right.
LAZY

Instead of saying Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year or writing it out, I decided to economize my time and say or write Happy Holidays.

These days I know people are of all faiths.
It's still easier to just give a general "Happy Holidays!".

If I know you and your faith I may say
Happy Yule
Happy(or would it be Merry) Festivus
Happy Hanukkah

Or than again, I may just say

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Demanding December

The end of the year is always a crazy time in this house.
From mid-September on, there is no let up.

This year the super busy waited til the first of December and seems poised to go through the first part of January.

What caused me to be so busy?
Dentist/orthodontist visits
a weekend trip to my parents' home
and a deer.

In one day my poor 15 year old had 2 cavities filled and a nice visit to the orthodontist.
I so cannot wait until March.
The last of the orthodontist payments and the braces should be off.

Yes!

But, anyway ...
after that we ran around getting ready for the trip to my parents/deer hunting.
It was nice visiting my parents, but the spare bed is freakin' hard.
I have not missed my bed so much in my life.
Not only that, the mattress pad is plastic.
Every time I turned over it crinkled.
I don't know why I turned over trying to get comfortable.
It just wasn't happenin'.

So, Honeyman hunted with my uncle and other assorted relatives while Kiddo and I hung out with Dad.

Honeyman got a big buck opening day.
We stayed the weekend so he could hunt and help the group tag out and than we came home.
I'd post a pic, but some people have a thing about dead animals so I won't.

Than I had to do all the laundry I should have done before we left.

The next two days we butchered.
A lot of people have problems with venison.
I don't.
I grew up eating the stuff.

Fun fact: My one sister didn't like eating it so my mom mixed ground deer and ground beef together. She labeled the packages deef. It was either that or beer so she though deef was more appropriate.

We ended up with 100 pounds of meat. All of that is venison. Or good eats, as we like to call it in my house.

After that, I spent what seemed like days, going through my mountain of emails.
All with my internet wanting to go out just at the time I wanted to use it.
By the way, Windstream informs their customers of an internet outage by way of the internet.
Which, is really extremely helpful.

Can't forget the tree. Got it one night and decorated it the next.

I also got gifts. Online shopping is my friend.
Why run around getting all stressed and worried that people will shoot you?

Next week I get to make a pumpkin cheesecake. Someone ordered it from me.
Not a lot of orders for goodies this year.
But, that's OK. I've been busy.

Than I have to make goodies for friends. This year it's whoopie pies. Chocolate, pumpkin, and oatmeal.


If you have never had a whoopie pie, you NEED to try one. They are awesome!





 So, it has been busy and going to be busy. Honeyman may have to work Christmas Eve so we may not be going to the inlaws that night like we usually have to do.
We stay home on Christmas, but will go out to my parent's a few days after.
I hate running around and trying to see everyone on the same couple of days. I get stressed and me stressed is not fun to be around.

Comments, anyone?

My comments seem to working oddly for me lately.


For a while actually. I thought it might quit, but I don't know if it will.
Is anyone else having problems commenting on my blog?

The first time I hit comment, I get a red box above the comment section and my comment is in the box.
I hit comment again and it posts.
Sometimes it works right.
More often than not, it doesn't.

If you are trying to comment and having problems, can you let me know?
Either try and comment or send an email, would you?
My email is on my profile.

I'd like to fix it if it isn't working right.
Thanks.

Ten Things Tuesday- Another Christmas One

I know. I missed last Tuesday. I missed posting any days last week.

I had a bajillion things to do and something had to give.
More on that later.

Christmas isn't really my holiday (It's Halloween), but looking at my house you'd probably never know it.

I mean, we are not like Santas all over the inside and outside people.
But, I do have sleigh bells on my door and decorations scattered around.

So, I though I'd share some of my Christmas stuff with you.
This is how we do Christmas in my house.

The worst part is moving furniture to have a spot for the tree.
A hundred years ago, there was a lot less that went into a living room.
Chairs were smaller.

So, without further ado(or is it adieu?) here is Ten Things Tuesday- Great Christmas stuff.

1. Christmas Movies
  Everyone has their favorites. Mine is A Christmas Story.

We also watch Scrooged every year and most years National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

2. Freebies

  I love my freebies. I used to get tons of freebies for gifts or stocking stuffers. They are a little harder to come by these days it seems. Or, it takes more work to find them. I have even gotten ornaments. Nice ones. This angel one came from some church. It is glass and I love it.

3. Homemade ornaments.

Kiddo made this in pre-K. Well, someone else cut out the wood, but she painted it. She also made me a tree one.

4.Santa

Here is my booty shaking Santa. He spins around and dances and shakes his booty. I love it!

5. Christmas cookies
Every year my sister and I try to get together with our girls to make cookies. Sadly, one niece couldn't make it this year. She works retail. But, it's a fun tradition. It would be neat if my other sister lived closer so she could come.

6. A new ornament every year.

This angel we have had for years. It is one of the first ornaments we bought as a couple.

7. Lights
   I love lights on my tree. I have two different sizes. I have the minis and the bigger ones. I don't do blinking lights- they annoy me.

8. Handmade ornaments/decorations
   I have some ceramic Santas I bought from someone online. They are awesome. This year's handmade ornaments were bought off Etsy from Scrapin Sara's Gifts. She mentioned how to make them on her blog, but as I am not crafty I got a couple from her and they look great.

As, you can see- great job and two different sizes of lights.

9. Penguins
  I love penguins. I have penguin ornaments as well as decorations. Sadly, my dueling banjo penguins refuse to duel anymore. One plays, the other one just sits there like the dud that he is.

Honeyman had this made for the family a couple years ago.

10. Fat Santa
   He always goes near the top of the tree. He's heavy. I have all kinds of Santas on the tree, but this one is a family favorite. We found it at the DAV thrift shop several years ago.

So, do you have any special ornaments
decorations
movies
or other traditions?

Long Lost Cousins?

What do you think? Is Newt really a hobbit?