Merry Christmas! (two days late!)

I spent most of this week baking and making candies in order to prepare for the day after Christmas. I made roughly 20 dozen cookies and over 20 dozen candies. Every year I say I'm not doing it again. . . but I always do. . .

December 23rd I not only baked and made candy, but I also finished wrapping my gifts and made a gingerbread house. We had Ricky, so of course I had help doing all of the above. :) He is so adorable.

[I find it so ironic that one of the reasons I was hesitant to date John was because he had a son. I had a list of reasons why that would bother me, and now that little boy has me wrapped right around his finger.]

I had bought a gingerbread house to make for my 101/1001 project back at the beginning of the season. With the move and settling into the house I hadn't had an opportunity to make it. And I kept telling John he was going to help me, he kept telling me he wasn't. I cheated, I got the kid involved. ;) So, the three of us decorated the gingerbread house. Quite possibly the most pathetic one I have ever seen, and I'm pretty sure that was due to the adults. But we had fun, and that's all that matters.

Christmas Eve I had to work until 4, but after that we had our Christmas with Rickers (he was at his mom's for Christmas Day). He opened his presents and we ate dinner. Then we played with his toys for a bit before going home and watching a movie until it was time for him to leave.

After his mom picked him up, John and I our gifts since I wouldn't be around on Christmas Day. He got me a gorgeous necklace, tools and a toolbox. :) When we were done exchanging gifts we walked over to his sister and brother-in-law's for a little bit before I had to be lame and go to bed.

my necklace. :)

tools and box. :)

I was scheduled to work 7 am until 2 am on Christmas Day, but two of my co-workers, Andy and Wesley, love me and worked it out so I could leave at 7 pm. *insert big smiles here* I got out of work and snuck over to John's parents' house. I didn't even bother stopping at our house to change. It was Christmas and I wanted to spend it with people I care about. We were at his family gathering for a while before we headed home for the night.

Baking still wasn't finished. I made my eclairs and called it a night. I was exhausted and knew I needed sleep in order to make it through yesterday.

Yesterday, we got up in the morning and I finished the eclairs and my last batch of chocolates, got ready and headed to my parents' house. We opened gifts with them, then open gifts with Jason and Shawnia and had dinner. Later in the evening some of my dad's family came over for cookies and candies.

Of course, just as we were sitting down for dinner, I got a call from work asking me to come in because someone else was a no-show. I initially told them I would come in right after dinner. John and the family exploded. They are all sick of me being willing to go in at the drop of a hat, no matter what other plans I have, no matter what I am doing, no matter who I am with, no matter how I feel.

They stole my keys.

So I told work I would be in when I could, and only ended up working for like three hours. In that time, John took down our tree and cleaned the living room.

I know. . . I'm lucky.

Merry Christmas ya'll!!

John couldn't find any gift tags. . .

neither could Dad. . . .

SCARY!

♥ Sara

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy
family all wrapped up in each other."
-Burton Hillis

Gingerbread.

Completed - 2. Build a gingerbread house.
Now, when I wrote this list, I wasn't exactly planning on building a gingerbread house with a three year old. So, I'm happy I didn't specify that it had to look a certain way or be a difficult-to-build gingerbread house. And, honestly, making it with John and his son was much more fun than building it on my own anyhow. So, here are a couple pictures of our gingerbread house. . . John is currently in the process of plotting its destruction.

5. Complete a coloring book, cover to cover.

Well, I finally found one I liked, so I bought it! But because of the holidays I haven't had a chance to color at all. I can't wait until my life calms back down.

20. Complete a fill-it-in book without dad taking it over.

I love fill-it-in books, as does my daddio. I have bought many over the years that dad somehow ends up filling most of them. (Not that I mind.) So, the whole "without dad taking it over" was written to get a laugh out of him. It's a little bit more difficult for him to steal them now that I no longer live there and don't even stay the night when I visit.

Well, for Christmas dad bought me my own fill it in and wrote a note on the front of it to remind himself and everyone else that it is all mine. :) One of my favorite gifts this year.

40. Try 101 new recipes.

Thanks to Christmas I had the opportunity to try eleven new recipes! I only had one repeat cookie and one repeat candy this year. And most of my family complained because they didn't get any "normal" cookies. Well guess what, maybe they should have baked them! (Not that we needed another cookie in the house, but I don't particularly enjoy it when my family complains about stuff that I make when I don't ever see them doing it!) When I get home I'll find the websites that I got my recipes from and include them as well. :)

Blackberry Ribbons

They were supposed to be raspberry but I made them blackberry for John. And they looked much nicer once i took them off of the paper that I spilled so much icing on.

Cowboy Chip Cookies

I replaced the nuts with butterscotch chips.

Chippy Cookies (the ones in the back. . . the ones in the front weren't new.)

Chocolate Covered Caramel Cookies

Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge

Snowballs

Oreo Truffles

Peanut Butter Balls

Cookie Dough Truffles

Sugar Free Eclairs

Well, that's all the progress I have made this week on the 101 project.

Merry Christmas!!

♥ Sara

Two Movies. One Postcard. And Long Hair?

Welp, I've been working on a couple of my 101 in 1001 tasks.

16. Watch 101 new movies.
I've watched two this week! I was wrapping gifts and working on stuffing my Christmas cards so I decided to take advantage of my Netflix on demand and watched The Bounty Hunter and Nothing Like the Holidays. Two very different movies. . .

I liked the Bounty Hunter just because it wasn't as predictable as I expected. Plus I like both Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. I knew nothing about Nothing Like the Holidays but it was the only Christmas type movie that I could find on there. It has a lot going on in it and a star-packed cast for being an indie film. I really enjoyed that one as well, although I did have to rewind it a couple times when I got distracted and missed parts.

63. Grow my hair with trims for 1001 days. Donate it when I cut it.
Surprisingly, I'm not having much trouble with this yet. I still have days where I want to chop it all off, but I'm beginning to like the long hair. . .We'll see how long that lasts though!

84. Join postcrossing.com. Send and receive 10 postcards.
I sent my first postcard to a girl (woman?) in the Netherlands this week! :)

Here's a picture of the postcard:

I'm hoping to get my gingerbread house built this week sometime. And there are some of the tasks (such as not eating fast food, or wearing my hair down every day) that I have completed or partially completed but as far as I am concerned it doesn't count unless I am intentionally (not) doing it for the project. :)
♥ Sara

Pre-Christmas Blog.

There's just something about writing at work that is so much more. . . convenient. . . than writing at home. In my defense it has been a busy week!!

Work, of course, took up it's normal forty or so hours. Nothing worth writing about there, as usual.

Home life has been pretty busy as well. . .

I got my Christmas cards out finally!! I was going to write a "Christmas letter" of sorts on here, but have decided to wait until January 1st and look back at the year, like I usually do. :)

my finished cards, waiting to be mailed. :)

I also have all but two gifts that are at the house wrapped. Neither of which are from me. I beg my parents to let me wrap their gifts because I love wrapping so much. And I have most of my shopping done. I just need to pick up a couple more things. . .but that involves finding time to run to town without John. Maybe this week one of the days that he's at work and I'm off. Oh wait, better be this week!!! Christmas is one week away! I have no idea where this year went. Wait, yes, yes I do. Work. >_<

This week I also got everything of mine put away and the house is all cleaned. There's just something about having a clean house that puts me in a very good mood. John is learning to deal with my organizational issues (I think). He was (playfully) upset when he came home and realized his clothes were almost as organized as mine. But hey, I do the laundry and put the clothes away, so I get to keep them organized, right?

Ooh! I never talked about the crazy snow we got here did I?! Last week I came into work and it took me 10 minutes to get from our house to work (usually takes 2) and fifteen to rock my baby back and forth to get her though the snow in the driveway. She's not made for snow that is deeper than her bumper is tall. Haha!

This is right after I pulled in the driveway. The windows were already not seeable.

Covering my lens so it didn't get covered in snow.

You can see where I plowed the snow with the bottom of my car. Bah!

Let's see, what else is going on. I guess just prepping for Christmas.

I offered to work Christmas Day back before John and I were together. I knew there was no way I would be lucky enough to get the entire day off. And the likelihood that I would be able to go to my parents' for any length of time would be slim. So I figured I might as well work and let everyone else have the day off. Well, I got my schedule for next week. And I work from 7 til 2 on Christmas. I know, you're thinking "that's not bad." Now let me put the actual times in there 7:00 AM until 2:00 AM. Yes, NINETEEN hours. *shakes head* I asked for it.

But on the bright side. . . We're having a family get together with my Dad's family on the 26th and I will be spending the 24th with John and his family (or at least Rickers). AND I get three days off to spend baking! :D Well, I'll be updating on Christmas if not before!

♥ Sara

"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves."
-Eric Sevareid

Thought Questions

As promised, I'm sharing another site I stumbled upon today. I intend on doing this more often than I have been. Maybe once my life calms back down. :)

Thought Questions is the new site I found. After finishing my 50 Questions to free my mind, I realized how much I enjoyed answering them, if not for your benefit, for mine. Now this site has 285 questions at this time and adds a new one daily. I am thinking this will be something I do off-the-blog, but share when I feel it's something worth sharing or really important to me.

Looks like I need another notebook! I currently carry one for my personal thoughts that I don't feel like sharing here or that I am not near a computer to write, a planner for 2010, a planner for 2011 and a notebook for lists and quotes. Geez, maybe I write too much. ;)

I just really enjoy deep thinking, reflection and self examination. I always have.

And lately I *love* writing. I guess I always have done that too. But now I almost crave writing. . . so this seems like an opportunity to do both of those for my own benefit. :)
♥ Sara

"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a
new one, check your pulse. You may be dead."
-Gelett Burgess

Dryer.

It's official, I really am settling down and turning into a 90-year old woman. I was just talking to my coworker because he called me at 10 last night and I was wondering what he wanted. He had wanted me to go to the bar with him. (I haven't been to the bar in over a month. And it's been even longer than that since I last drank alcohol.) Irregardless, I was sleeping/watching a movie with John when he called so I didn't hear my phone or answer.

We were talking and he asked if there was anything interesting going on in my life. My answer "We're getting a new dryer tonight!"Followed by the realization that I just sounded stupidly old and responsible. Gah! What happened to me?! *smiles*When I'm done working we will go to Cheboygan and get our new dryer and then I will finish this post! :)

Update time. . . we went to Cheboygan to get the dryer that night, only to find out the hours online were not the correct hours and Sears was closed *insert John's frustrated and my incredibly patient face here*. So, we had to go back on Sunday to get it.

We found a really good deal on one and took it home that night. After a little bit of frustration getting it into the spot it needed to be in, and me having to change the door around so it opened on the opposite side of normal, I am finally drying my last load of laundry! (Mind you, we had EIGHT loads that had piled up due to a lack of laundry services. And I washed a couple and hung the clothes up because some of us don't have enough clothes to go without doing laundry for like three months (hint, that isn't me!))

Here's a picture for ya!

♥ Sara

"Behind every working woman is an enormous pile of unwashed laundry."

-Barbara Dale

Done Moving.

Oh, life, how I love you.

In addition to blogging I keep a personal journal that includes those thoughts that I am not prepared to share with the world. (I know, you're shocked there are any aren't you?) I'm going to start out by sharing a small excerpt from that. . .

"My life cracks me up.
The irony is too much to bear at times.
The timing is amazing.
The way everything falls together (or apart) causes me to believe even more
in fate."

Everything is going great with John. No, it's not all rainbows and butterflies, but then again it shouldn't be. If it was, then it's not real. Life isn't all rainbows and butterflies all the time. After much consideration and discussion between us as well as between my mom and I (you know how I feel about my parents' approval), I moved in with him.

It just made more sense than paying for an apartment that I was rarely at. I'm still not completely unpacked, but I can guarantee I won't be moving or helping anyone move for a very very long time. This makes the fourth official move since June (to Aqua, back home, to the apartment, to John's). I am so over moving!!!

So I have spent a lot of my time outside of work unpacking, cleaning and organizing. It should be all done this weekend. I have banned myself from anymore Christmas related stuff until I get everything done in order to motivate myself to do it.

My cards are mostly finished, I just need a couple more addresses and to decide whether I'm including a letter of some type or not. . . I know, I need to get that done! My shopping is almost done, I just need to pick up a couple more things in Cheboygan and (im)patiently wait for my packages to arrive.

Work is going, well, as good as work can go. I love only working forty hours, but I miss the paychecks that came with 105 hour weeks! I still have a strong desire to actually find myself a job in my field. I miss helping others. I would love to find a job working with kids, especially full families.

I don't think I mentioned this already but I'm putting grad school on hold. My heart isn't in it at all. And I can't force myself to spend that much time doing something that I'm not passionate about. (I think I was in the wrong mentality when I chose what I was going for, I wholeheartedly believe that had I chosen Marriage and Family Therapy, I would still be going to school.)

I think that catches you up on my life! :)
♥ Sara

"May the roof above us never fall in
And may we good companions beneath it
never fall out."
-Irish Blessing

Smoke Stories, Grown-Ups and Christmas.

Ok, you're gonna get a few posts in a row here. . . First and foremost I need to update my situation with the 101 in 1001 challenge.

12. Read and review 50 books.
Well, I finished my first one. (And am close to finishing the second one.) I read Smoke Stories by Mike Davis.

Remember the quilter's retreat we had at the Best Western Dockside a month or so ago? Well Mike's wife, June, was in charge of this retreat. They had a vending area in the garden room and June was selling Mike's book there.

One of the quilter ladies was also a firefighter and we had struck up conversation about it. She told me about the book and I said I'd have to check it out. One of the other quilters ended up buying it for me as a thank you. So, I had to read it.

My review of the book: I would give it 2 out of 5 Stars. I didn't think it was well written *at all.* There was no flow to it. It skipped around a lot, was very vague and just didn't go together well. Luckily, it wasn't very long and therefore didn't take much time for me to read. It did have a couple funny stories, but wasn't worth my time and made me very happy that I didn't pay for the thing.

The Book.

16. Watch 101 new movies.

I've watched two new ones! The first was Grown-Ups with John. It was pretty good. While it was funny, I felt it should have been funnier with the cast, but oh well. It wasn't bad and it's nice to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie with him now and then.

The second was A Charlie Brown Christmas. For some reason, I had never seen this. I know, there's something wrong with me. But it's John's son's new favorite movie, so I've actually seen it a few times and there's a good chance I could quote a few parts of it.

20. Complete a fill-it-in book without Dad taking it over.

I've started it! I finished the first two puzzles. . . it'll help me keep my sanity when I'm at work and it's dead. :)

---------------------------------

That's all I have made any head way on. My life has been fairly busy lately and I haven't spent much time thinking about it or working on it. I'm sure it will get done though!

♥ Sara

"The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from
it."
-James Bryce