So I thought I'd help myself get in the Christmas spirit by posting daily some of my absolute favorite ornaments. While I appreciate some people's monochromatic schemes on their trees, that will never be me. Last night as I struggled over the decision to keep an ornament that I bought or give it as a gift, Mike said, "Well the tree is kind of full." Oh, poor Mike. He has no idea just how many can fit.

You see, decorating the Christmas tree has always been a big deal to our family. Whether it was the days of charlie brown trees that my logger father would never live down, or the days of perfect pine very carefully picked out by my mom, the time to decorate it was always a happy one. Somehow down the road we ended up making it a tradition to invite my aunt over to help and we'd stick in the the movie, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" while we decorated. The sound of my dad laughing hysterically every single year as Clark Grislwold went flying down the hill on his greased up saucer passes through my mind often. We would unwrap each ornament and as we hung it, discuss where it came from, who gave it to us, or make fun of whoever's baby picture was on it (we're sentimental like that). I look forward to passing on to my future family the same enjoyment of the Christmas tree.



These ornaments are some of my favorite. The N was given to me by my friend Holly, a couple years ago. I fell in love with it when I opened it up. Later, I found the same ornaments in my favorite store and bought the M for Mike as the first ornament I gave him. How happy I was to see that the M was in a more masculine color. It was meant to be!

Where packages galore arrive at our door.

Leaving kitties very curious.

Thank you online shopping for making my life less hectic this time of the year.

Anyone else put sad faces next to the things on your to do list that you really don't want to do?

The air filter has arrived!!

Mike and I get very few days off together...very few, that is until it hits about this time of the year and we get to spend our "lazy Sunday" together. November, January, February and March bring us those special Sunday's when the stores I work at are closed on Sundays for the winter. On these days we do exactly what it sounds like. We sleep in, casually make a big breakfast and hunker down with football or whatever else we can find and just generally take it easy. I kind of live for these days. Every other Sunday Mike has to leave for his second job around 4:00pm so I get to continue the progress of the day by myself.

This Sunday I chose to spend my time on the computer...on Facebook....on Lowe's facebook page nonetheless. Weird, right? Let me explain. They were having this big promotion where they were giving away 90% off coupons to random items of their choosing. There were things like Kitchenaid mixers, a refrigerator, vacuums, even a water heater. The way you won these coupons was by being the first 100 or so to click on the link and enter your email address. There were thousands and thousands (10,000 at a time!) of people trying for these and only 100 at a time would get anything. Well, I love a deal and search them out at all times so I spent a few...hours trying to win something. I was texting with Mike as the night went on and told him what I was doing and lets just say he thought it was a little foolish, I guess I can't blame him. The chances were not good.

But drumroll, imagine my surprise (and major excitement) when I got email saying I had a 90% off coupon for this:

What is it?? Ha. Its an air purifier. I can't say that I've honestly put much thought into getting one of these until I had the opportunity to get it for so cheap. Once I thought about it, of course we could use an air purifier. We live in a tiny house with two cats. Why hadn't we thought of it before??? So rest easy friends, next time you come to our home you can breath easier thanks to my non-ability to step away from a possible deal and Lowe's Home Improvement.

So I can quite honestly say the little "vacation" that Mike and I went on over Halloween was the best vacation I have been on in a super long time. It was breath for my soul being able to just hang out with my closest friends without a timetable and relatively stress free. Plus, being able to see my "roomate's" little Quinn for such a lengthy time really made an impression in my heart. What a sweet little Bee he is :) I think he made quite the impression on Mike as well.

One of the things I've always wanted to do in my adult life is have a Halloween "party." Ang was gracious enough to say we could do it at her house while we were visiting. I just really wanted to make some adorable things like I've seen in cookbooks and in magazines. For my own memory I'm going to post the pictures here as almost everyone who reads my blog was at the party.

First up, my favorite. Owl cupcakes that were easy to make and pretty tasty to eat. The directions can be found either in this book, or that one. I can't quite remember which one.


Mikes mummy wieners. What a great job he did. Believe it or not they really did have mustard eyes.


Taco dip with sour cream ghosts


Breadstick bones with blood dipping sauce


And the table:


So thank you again Angie and Dave for allowing us to stay for as long as we did. I came back home feeling refreshed (and maybe a little melancholy about being away from such great friends) and full. I look forward to the day we can all get together again. And oh my gosh. Next time we're all together, there will most likely be two more babies! Wow. Life is crazy.

Naturally, Sunday at work I was sporting my Packers best and a customer asked me, "Want to see a hilarious Packers shirt?" "Of course," was my response. That is when this quiet middle-aged woman pulled out this very worn t-shirt out of her reusable shopping bag. She explained to me how she bought it at a thrift store (she never buys new, she says) months ago before the whole Brett weiner texting thing (my words, not hers). Hehe, weiner. Yes, I'm obviously 12 years old. She said she's never worn it and would have to be totally drunk to do so but couldn't pass the awesome buy up. I'm glad she didn't because I wouldn't have this ridiculous picture. Seriously, that is one nasty fox.