Honestly? I Just Don't Have to Hunt for Blog Content....

I received an email from my daughter today. This was the P.S. :

Love you, Mom <3>
See you @ 4:15ish or so.
P.S. I just found a dog poop bag in my letter jacket pocket from last year. yuck :(

My response?

"Honey - Why do you give me blog material? Why?"

**and no the bag didn't have anything in it - the email just made it sound like it did.

Snowman Love!

Our candle lit snowman in the foyer.
All our lampshades sport Snowman headwear!
[No. We do not turn the lamps on]
My snowman posse. Ignore the Penguin.

Hanging on every doorknob in our home. YAY!

This was sent to me by a great friend in [um, duh] WVMy big guy - he is up all year long. Because he simply makes me happy.

And? He matches our decor :)

[And I paid 50% off! Bonus!]

Country living.

One of our newer additions. Believe!

Click on this - they are SO cute!
And see my new hand towels? Another gift from my WV buddy.

~

Pooldad's tradition [started this year] is to come home each day with a snowman for me. Either handmade or store bought. I don't know why, but there is just something about snowmen that make me smile and happy. Can you honestly look at them and not smile?

Our Give-A-Way! Comment now!

Most Awesome Homemade Gift Ever

I was reading blogs today and on one the discussion turned to homemade gifts. I read this woman's suggestion [and I can't find it now! I will credit her if I do] but I fell in love with this idea.

Homemade jam, homemade peanut butter and a loaf of fresh baked bread in a basket. For PB&J sandwiches.

How neat is this? I love this idea. I am so excited about this. Especially now that I have a food processor to make the peanut butter. Heehee.

Saturday cannot get here fast enough. The girls and I will be baking, canning and grinding [peanuts]. Oh, even better? We can start Friday as Pooldad has started 4 day work weeks for the winter. See? I do LOVE the Pool business. HA!

Don't forget to enter the give-a-way so you too can get your cooking vibe flowing! Or make a cup of coffee! [And thanks for all the tadpoles that have entered so far - your comments are great!]

It's A Give-A-Way!

We thought we would share with everyone our new found love of Cuisinart. Actually we have always had an awesome toaster and coffee pot - but we have been adding to our collection and Pooldad and I thought it would be neat to send a brand new Cuisinart item along to a tadpole.

The winner of the give-a-way may choose ONE of the following:

• 4 cup coffee maker [perfect for your office!]
• A counter top can opener
• A coffee grinder [stainless steel, so cool]
• A mini prep processor [chop nuts, grind spices, dice fresh herbs]
• A hand blender [We have one of these! SO awesome, easy clean and good for small spaces when you just can't have a blender] and sbiznel is correct - it is an immersion blender.
• A Waffle maker [We have this too - so easy to use, clean up is a breeze, great waffles]

To enter simply leave us a comment. That's it. So easy! You don't have to twitter or facebook or even mention it on your blog - just a comment saying you would like to join.

Bonus! If none of these appeal to you but perhaps would make a great gift for family, a friend or neighbor I will happily wrap it in pretty paper with a gift card from you and mail it directly to their address. How easy is THAT? Otherwise it is going to the winner's home.

The give-a-way ends on Saturday, December 12th [12:00 noon - 'cause I will be awake - YAY!]and we are able to mail it in time for the holidays. We will put all the names in a hat and let Wallene draw the winner.

Everyone is welcome - if you read and comment you are entered! Join! The more the merrier!

Hope everyone's day is going great!

Christmas Stocking Question

HI! Christmas Spirit here!

Kidding, kidding.

I received an email from a newbie tadpole that asked if I filled these little stockings for the kids everyday before Christmas what exactly did I put in their actual [big] stocking on Christmas Eve?

Awesome question!

And I am happy to report I don't stuff their stockings on Christmas Eve.

Now, before you boo me horribly [no booing at Christmas tadpoles!] allow me to explain.

The kids are responsible for this tradition. They fill eachothers' stocking. We take them shopping and they pick out what they think their sister or brother would like. Who knows better what a kid wants then their sibling? And Pooldad and I fill eachothers.

We have had some pretty awesome stockings in the past and it is always fun to see what they select. I know Pooldad and I wouldn't think of half the stuff these guys choose.

I would've posted a picture of our [personalized] actual stockings, but I am still living under the delusion that this blog is anonymous. Giggle.

Merry Christmas! Oh, and come around on Wednesday because Pooldad and I are having a holiday give a way! YAY!

We Fondue! Do You?

Oh yeah baby! What a wonderful, yummy Sunday night dinner!

We ate a concoction of Swiss and Gruyere with white wine and spices melted and served with crusty french bread for dipping and a caeser salad.

I have never made this for the family before [it is not cheap and I am] but I have been craving it. I was a bit leery that the kids wouldn't like it as it is very rich. I told them I would make them sandwiches to go with the salads if they didn't like it, but to please try a few bites. HA! They ate 3/4 of a large loaf of french bread themselves.

Those little fondue forks make great weapons when the bread bowl gets low I have to say. :)

Next up - Beef fondue [Wallene will be frying hot dogs] and then white chocolate. Mmmmm.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. See you Monday!

Purty!

The beginning of our snow yesterday. This is taken from inside our home and those are the steps leading up to our home. Aren't the wreaths pretty? They were covered about 9 hours later in 7 inches of big, fat, fluffy snow. So Christmassy!

But, you see, we have a love/hate relationship with our local weather guy Doug Hill. We love to make fun of him because we hate his weather forecasts. For a few days and up until yesterday morning he kept saying we would be receiving about [no more than] 2 inches.

Needless to say we ended up with 7 inches. It is always this way. I don't mind the extra snow [in fact, bring it on!] - but we aren't the types to run to the store and freak out and buy out the stock of toilet paper, milk and eggs. We know that we will eventually get there [the next day] if we need something - but Doug is so bad at what he does that he completely screws it for people that need a real, true forecast.

Yep - 7 inches of snow is pretty darn neat - too bad it occured on a Saturday and no one gets to stay home from school or work with Skippy for a snow day.

We will wait. It will happen.