Xmas Spirit 2012

 

We really outdid ourselves with lights this year. We haven't been the type to really go outside of the house with decorating for Xmas. The most I used to do was put a wreath on the door, hang shiny plastic ornaments from a tree, and frame the bay window with lights. We decided to slowly add to our festive lights by buying one thing on sale after Xmas every year. Last year we started this with the little mini deer. We'll try to find his mate this time around. This year K found the light up candy canes and snowflakes at the dollar store. Score! :)

 

This is also the first year together we got a real tree. K grew up with real trees and this is my first ever.

 

I love my little fiber optic tree my mom in law found for me many years ago. It goes up and gets plugged in every year. I will be sad the day it stops working.

 

The spirit stays strong within me. I started my salt dough ornaments for the holidays. O likes the idea of them but still has a hard time finding a lot of interest in them for too long. I figure I will paint all of them this year with a base color and let her either finger print decorations on them or use objects to imprint different shapes of colors onto them to make it a little different. I've already made two batches of ornaments. One I took to a friends so our daughters could paint together and the second batch just for us to work on and give away as keepsakes.

I'm trying to not stress about anything Xmas related this year. So far, so good.

Salt Dough Ornaments Part II

The painting of the salt dough ornaments were a success! Oli put her markings on all the ornaments and K finished them off with a shower of glitter and then sealed them with Mod Podge. I'll probably end up making another batch of the salt dough and perhaps have some that K and I paint up. We did do a couple of ornaments on our own, which you might have noticed a glimpse of in the first and third photo.

We decided to use tempera paint and mod podge just in case Oli forgot these weren't cookies and stuck them in her mouth. I had thought about doing a spray sealant on them but K convinced me Mod Podge would do well and he was right. It gave the ornaments a nice glossy shine.

I'm hoping this might become a holiday tradition for Oli. I know Thanksgiving isn't here yet but I am dying to put up Xmas decorations!! :)

Finally Crafting!

Well, I dunno if this is called crafting necessarily but it's definitely creating something, which I haven't done in a while.

Two weekends ago I made some salt dough ornaments and they actually turned out pretty decently. I will provide photos when I have several of them painted.

The recipe I used was found at this site: Making Salt Dough Ornaments

I have looked at some other recipes and some call for vegetable oil. I don't know why some call for it and others do not. I don't know what the oil provides to the creation. Does anyone else know?

I have painted just a few of the cut out ornaments with tempera paint and am using a glossy Mod Podge as a sealer. I can't wait to have most painted. I think I will make some more ornaments this upcoming weekend.

I will let O go to town on several of them and give them to her classmates at daycare.

I must say I am heavily addicted to pinterest.com. It's a good addiction, though, because I am actually being more adventurous in the kitchen and I think when it comes to creativity it is revving up my engines.

All of my recipes these days I have pinned on Pinterest and they are so easy to find and use on my phone. It is making "doing" a lot more easier for me.

I must have a million bookmarks that I never look at and have no clue what many of them are. I will someday have a million pins on Pinterest but I am always looking at it because visually/aesthetically it is so pleasing and so easy to remember what is what.

Any who...this wasn't supposed to be an ad for their site. :)

This was just to say yay me for making these ornaments and I will have photos to share soon!

Farewell December, Hello New Year

December has been a pretty hectic month. It was full of new adventures, scary moments, and holiday fun. I don't know how January is going to follow up this month, since December is definitely a tough act to follow.

Moments from December:

- K and I went to Cozumel, Progreso/Yucatan, Mexico on an awesome Carnival cruise that was gifted to us from K's mom.

- Several days of being home from the cruise Toby got really sick, which ended up with him staying at the vet overnight so they could xray his insides to make sure he didn't have an intestinal blockage. Thankfully, he was okay and had a really bad bought of some kind of gut bug. It was a very expensive experience.

- I got horrible food poisoning two weeks after being back home from the cruise.

- Our dogs got into a bad dog fight that required Josie (the older dog) to get stitches. The wounds were very minor injuries according to the vet but getting her emergency care really helped K and I settle our nerves. Our pocket books are very light now after the two incidents with visiting the vet. *sigh* Seriously considering getting pet insurance.

- K's granny fell down while home alone and is now in a rehab facility to make sure she is strong enough to get around on her walker.

- K, me, and the pups went to Houston for the Xmas holiday. We had a great time with his parents and seeing the family on Xmas day and getting to visit with K's granny while she was out of rehab for the day.

So, now I'm interested in what January has in mind for us. Hopefully, it only deals with much happiness, good fortune, and good health all around.

Happy Holidays, Y'all.

*I feel like I left something out.

**Oh yeah. K got a new tattoo this month!

xmas fish

It's not like I'm really into fish or anything but for some reason I loooove this goldfish ornament I found.
(click on the wee fishy)