Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my fabulous friends! Jack and I rang in the New Year at home. We had gone over to some friends house on New Years Eve, but wanted to ring it in alone together. It was perfect.

Jack is whisking me away for a few days to celebrate the New Year and my birthday. That's right, I'm 29 and holding! I have no idea where we are going because he's being super secret about it, but don't fret, as soon as we return, you will be (after my Shawn of course) the second ones to know what we did and where we went.

HAVE A SAFE AND FABULOUS NEW YEAR!

The picture I picked is dedicated to my Sweet Shawn. WE ALL KNOW YOU LOVE YOUR JOCKS...ESPECIALLY FOOTBALL JOCKS! MUAH!

Love you all! Talk with you soon!

Gingerbread Houses and Sugar Highs

Yesterday marked the first time I've ever made Gingerbread Houses. It might just be the last time I make them, too! LOL!
Shhh...don't tell anyone, but I was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to make them. I tried to steer the kids away from it saying we could be Rock stars instead. But, I guess Guitar Hero wasn't something they were that interested in doing at the time. They had set their sweet hearts on making Gingerbread houses, so of course we did.

The hardest part was making the walls connect together. Of course, I had to make tons of icing to get it to work. We had a vast array of candies to work with...gum drops, candy canes, peppermints, starburst (I'm never without it) skittles, red hots, Hershey bars...you name it, we had it!

The fun of it was how creative they got. The youngest couldn't get the roof to stay on the house, so we just made it look it was craved in from a avalanche. It ended up being my favorite house and by far the messiest.

Of course, we ate more candy than we should have. By the time Jack got home from work we were all hyped up from all of that sugar. He once again, gave us all a hug and a kiss and took us out to eat. He even treated us to ice cream on the way home. It was fabulous.

Today we're headed over to our house. The kids have made us promise to make them a pallet made of quilts, blankets and soft pillows. We're going to all cuddle up together with the worthless dogs and watch Christmas movies all night long, and treat ourselves to and endless supply of popcorn. It really should be fun!

I'm sure our weekend will be busy with entertaining the kids. If I don't see you, have a fabulous weekend and have more fun than you can handle.

See you soon!

If I have to decorate another Christmas Cookie this year I'll...

Jack and I are still watching the kids. We'll have them for several more days, and as many of you know, entertaining children is challenging to say the least.
I got this brilliant idea to bake Christmas cookies.
I love to bake so I thought it would be fun and easy. It was fun, but not so easy.
We had bought some fancy cookie cutters with designs in the middle of them. Candy Canes, Angels, Christmas Trees, Santa, Stars and Reindeer.
I made tons of colored icing and we used toothpicks to decorate them.

Well...

Jack wanted us to make enough for him to take to work, so I doubled the recipe. We ended up making 4 dozen cookies! The kids did a fabulous job of decorating and being creative with their designs. They might not be professionals, but they definitely took pride in their creations.

Let me just quickly point out that the picture I posted looks totally different than our creations! Our were fabulously creative and much more colorful!

It took most of the day for us to get it done. By the time we were finished, ALL of us were over it! I swear next year I'm just buying plain cookie cutters next year! Of course, Jack came home after we were finished...lol!

At least he took us out for Pizza and drove us around to look at Christmas Lights.

Today we're tackling Gingerbread houses...gulp! Am I crazy? Wait don't answer that! Wish me luck!

Our Christmas Tree

This week Jack and I are babysitting his sister's kids. They had no Christmas Tree, so I came up with the brilliant idea to make one out of beer bottles.
It took some effort and a lot of drinking from all of us, but this is what we created. Isn't it fabulous? The kids have a hangover, but they think it was worth it.


Before you call Child Protective services...just joking! Actually this picture was sent to me in an email. Isn't it a riot? I always wonder who sits around and thinks this stuff up??

Everyone have a fabulous day!

I would have continued reading the series if...

Not too long ago, Shawn and I were talking about how we envisioned some of the heroes in movies and in books, should be with paired up with their sidekick, or male counterpart instead of the heroine.
She emailed me a painting of Captain Kirk and Spock together in this heated embrace.

Earlier, I was looking through images of gay couples when I came across this one starring Hatty Potter. I liked it so much, I decided IF Harry had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend, then I might have continued to read the series! LOL! I think they look kind of sweet actually, in a young love-teenaged sort of way.

Tonight Jack and I are going to meet some of our Movie and Game night friends for supper. I'm anxious to see some Christmas Lights as we go to and from the restaurant!

Hope everyone else has a fabulous day!

Our Christmas Tree

I thought I would post the Christmas Tree Jack and I decorated. Just kidding! This is actually a tree that my Beautiful BFF saw and took a picture off. Isn't it huge? Can you imagine putting the lights on that bad boy? I'm afraid our tree is much more modest than this one!

Our tree is in between Charlie Brown's and Clark Griswalds. LOL! We do the multi-colored lights and we have tons of decorations we put on it. I bought some really fabulous peppermint lights I put on it from QVC (yes I love the Q) and it makes our tree fabulously unique.

Isn't it funny how soothing a Christmas Tree is? It's not unusual for me to get lost in thought while looking at our tree. I don't know how many times I've watched our tree and it's twinkling lights and fallen asleep. They're totally mesmerizing!

Jack and I always argue about when to take the tree down. I always take it down on January 2nd. Jack thinks it should be taken down before the New Year. I usually win this argument because I'm the one who takes it down. GO ME! LOL!

I've heard of many people taking it down the day after Christmas. That's very practical. I think I'm just too attached to it to take it down so soon! When do you take your tree down? What does your tree look like? What do you like best about your tree?

Thank you for being Fabulous!

Jack and I had a busy holiday. I spent two days cooking. I don't think I left the kitchen unless it was to let the dogs out or to take a quick bathroom break. Lucky for us, I love to cook! But, by the time I was finished baking pies, casseroles and so on, I can honestly say I was over it!

This is the first year Jack and I had Thanksgiving at our home by ourselves. In the past, we've gone over to his families house, but this year we decided to start our own Thanksgiving Tradition. I have to say that I really enjoyed it.

We still went over to some of our friends house and celebrated a belated Thanksgiving with them. Instead of a big meal, we had dessert and coffee. (tea for me) It was nice to just sit and visit for a while.

Jack wrote a very sweet post on what he is thankful for. There is no way I can be as eloquent as he is, but I will say this year has been a year of ups and downs. It's amazing how much things have changed in our lives just from a year ago. We've had family move away, illness, conflict and other crazy things happen this year. But, we've also had some fabulous things happen this year, too.

Jack and I have formed a stronger bond between us. We've had some trying times, but we have worked through them and come out better and happier than before. Jack has proven time and time again how much he will always be there for me, whether it's good or bad times, he's always supportive and loving. I couldn't ask for a better life partner. We are very lucky to have each other.

When Jack convinced me to join goodreads last year, I admit I was hesitant to do so. Basically, I'm a pretty private person. I've had bad experiences with people in general, just like many other people have. I had no idea by joining a book/reading site that I would become acquainted with and become friends with several of you. I am very thankful for that.

The best surprise was I met my best friend at goodreads! I NEVER in a million years would have thought I would find my kindred spirit there. Shawn has brought many things into my life in which I am most grateful for. She has been my voice of reason and has enabled me to learn to trust again. I will always be thankful for that.

So in hindsight, in many ways this year has been one of the best years I've had in a long time.

So, between Jack, Shawn and my friends online here, thank you for being there for me (us) this year.

Simply put...Thank you for being FABULOUS!