I kind of liked it!

I went to my first UFC fight night on Saturday. I had been watching a few episodes of Ultimate Fighter with Kerry and wanted to see the final fight of the coaches, Nogueira and Mir. I wanted Nogueira to win, he kind of scary looking, see above, but seems to be a super nice guy, really cared for his team, whereas Mir, he's a pretty boy jerk.

Anyway, Nogueira didn't bring his game to the octagon, he got knocked out fairly fast, which I always love to see, the rubber arms and legs, but when it's your fav, it's not as fun. But I have a theory, Nogueira is old as far as fighters go, a whole whopping 32 years old, and if he had won, he'd have to fight Lesner, see below, and well, I wouldn't want to be hit by that bus.

There's too much blood, and elbows to the head for my liking, and there wasn't enough grappling on Saturday so I will have to re-think future fight night invites.

Losing track of time

It's so hard when the holidays fall mid-week to figure out what day it is. And to make it even harder, the regular tv shows aren't on so I really am lost. I do know that Christmas dinner #2 is tonight, so that makes it Sunday.

We made plans to go for a first-thing in the morning dog walk, but it was too early for certain people, you know who you are. So we went out on our own. Emily doesn't usually want to dog walk but the thought of getting in a few snowy downhill slides got her up and ready faster than the Birlew/Liddicoat troop.

I took my little camera, it's finicky in the cold, so I tried to keep it under my coat, but my coat won't zip up for some reason. (and it's not because of holiday eating)

I managed to get a few shots, on SNOW mode, that turned out okay. Linus wouldn't sit still long enough for a group shot so we made do without him.

Although later on, he had to lay down and cool off a few times. You can make out Sally's snowpants in this picture. Poor things!

Kerry took this one of me sliding down the hill on my bum. We couldn't find the crazy carpets and the gt snowracers were too heavy to pack into the woods.

And these too goofs managed to make a few decent faces for me.

My Stomach Hates Me!

We are in need of some fruits and veggies. Or more importantly, our digestive system is! Kerry didn't want to go out on Boxing Day to get veggies so we will suffer another day!

We watched The Dark Knight today. It was really good. I don't consider myself a Batman fan, but I have seen all the movies, mostly because Kerry has seen them. I did notice that Shaw on Demand had Tropic Thunder also, it was good, crude but really funny. Batman was not funny.

I think we have officially gotten rid of 97% of my Christmas baking. I didn't think we had, but then I was trying to find some butter tarts and they are gone, as is the fudge, both kinds, Naniamo bars, peanut butter bars, ginger cookies, tiger butter, and all the other good stuff. I am pretty sure 48% of it is on my hips, but the rest was given away. We do have fruit cakes left, so all is not lost.

We had to do some major kitchen cupboard organization today. We have lots of stuff we never use, and a bunch of new things to stuff in their place, we got rid of 2 large boxes of unused things. Both the panini press and Margaritaville blender are getting good use. I am seriously considering taking up drinking so that I can have margaritas and pina coladas.

Some of our Christmas highlights...
Emily got a billion new Copic markers for Christmas, and a case to hold some of them in. That kid probably has over 60 markers and she uses them daily. It's been a very good investment.
Shaun got an America's Test Kitchen cookbook that I can't wait to try out.
Kerry got a nice little headlight, goes on his head, it's great for late night/early morning dog outings.
I didn't have as much under the tree because I had gotten my flash early, but I still got spoiled. Wallets(yes, plural), socks, a winning lottery ticket, a Raving Rabbid game, pjs, new cuttlery, a baby bear from Saje that has a removable microwavable warming pouch. He's very cute, smells good and warms me up in bed, kind of like Kerry but softer.

If you do one thing on Boxing Day...

go to Sears and see if the Margaritaville drinker maker is on sale. Santa picked this baby up about a month before the big day and did a great job of keeping it hidden. We used our Costco Kona iced cap mix to make iced drinks after lunch. This thing not only blends the drinks but it shaves the ice first so that you have a super smooth, ice-chunk-free drink. If you like iced drinks and you find it for under $200, get it, you won't be sorry.

We were thoroughly spoiled again this year.

Charlie Brown Christmas

I saw this on Cathy Z's blog, and it's from my fav. Christmas special, so I thought I'd share it with you!

Hug Your Loved Ones a Little Harder, and Not Just Now But Everyday!

My dad called late yesterday afternoon, bawling, and asking me to come over. Of course, I know this means a tragedy and with my mom driving home from my grandpa's and my aunt driving back to Vernon and my grandpa being over 90 years old, I'm mentally prepping myself on the way to my parents house. Thankfully, it was none of the above, but it was a family member. My cousin on my dad's side, one I haven't seen in years due to his lifestyle, was killed in a car accident yesterday. The whole thing is so sad, but what brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it, is the fact the accident didn't kill him, it was the snow that came in the window that suffocated him.
My dad, his sister, 2 of my other cousins and some of their kids had lunch together yesterday, my cousin, Shane was supposed to come in to town to join him. Maybe he was on his way when he crashed.
It's amazing how one thing can change the dynamics of your day, your life. I'm so grateful for the way Kerry and I were raised, we hope to be raising our kids in the same way. I know that what we do today will shape their lives for tomorrow, and I so want it to be in a good way. So hug your kids, your parents, your loved ones, say nice things to them, appreciate them, help them, and have a safe Christmas!

Monday! The final countdown!

3 sleeps to the big day! The day that everything a mother ever does in the preceding year leads up to. That's worded funny, but you get the idea. The baking, the late night wrapping, the secrets, the shopping, the stress, the list making, the cleaning, picture taking, planning, primping, etc. will all make sense in 3 sleeps.

And then it will be over by about 9 am at our house. We will be satiated with gifts, chocolate and food. We will watch tv, nap, play with out new toys and get lots of rest because everybody knows that the rat race starts on Boxing Day. It's the beginning of getting ready for next Christmas.

I have to go to work at Fabricland this morning, but I'm not a super comfortable snow/ice driver and would rather not go. The world won't end if I don't go, but I know that I will get teased if I don't go. I also have to work at WW tomorrow, Dec. 23. Do you think anyone is going to show up 2 days before Christmas? I don't think so. And that means that I also have to work Dec. 30, again, I think people will have better things to do on that Tuesday, oh, well, I still have to go.

Kerry's co-workers gave their boss the gift certificate for the strip club. The co-workers thought it was the best, but I don't think the boss and his wife thought the same thing. We waited a decent amount of time before presenting the real gift, but I think the damage was done. The gc looked and felt too real, they seriously thought it was a $120 to use at the strip club, the cheetah patterned paper 'felt furry', the lipstick kiss on the back fooled them too. You could see the shock on their faces, they didn't know what to say, they sure didn't thank anyone. And even after he got the real present, I think he was still in shock. I think that maybe the boss was worried about what his wife might think he is saying to the guys at work to warrant a strip club gift certificate.

I think the dogs are past the point of enjoying the snow and would like the grass back.

Okay, so I didn have lots to say but I didn't get around to blogging a second time.

But I have a good excuse, or a few of them. I made nuts and bolts, I watched Mamma Mia, I also made Nanaimo Bars, I had hives. No biggie. I fell asleep.
But then tonight, I have them again, worse than ever. I put a call into my pharmacist friend and she said it's quite possible that taking my antibiotics at every meal, like the other pharmacist said to, versus every 8 hours like I'm supposed to isn't a good thing. She said it's considered a reaction, probably an allergic one, and that I need to stop the meds. So I'm itching and wrapping presents and watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and wanting to slow bbq everything like they are on the show and I start making 'throat clearing' noise and Kerry starts freaking me out and asking if my throat is closing on me. It's not. It was just a bit scritchy feeling. But now I'm all freaked out.
I also bit my tongue a few times a few days ago, really bad and thought my tongue felt too big for my mouth, my pharmacist friend mentioned something about tongue swelling as a reaction too. Hmmm...I wonder?
And we got our wonderful sausage delivery today! And I've been spelling it wrong for years...It's Stawnichy! http://www.mundaresausage.com/smp.htm Off to have some pepperoni!

Trust me, this won't be my last post today! I have lots to say.

It's still snowing. I can't remember a year where it has snowed so much in a short amount of time, and been so cold at the same time. But I guess beggars can't be choosers. I wanted snow for Christmas. I just hope it's still white snow when Christmas comes.

I'd like to say I've been making things like crazy, like last week, but I'd be fibbing. I have made tiger butter, fudge, peanut butter bars, and a few other things, but I need to get some crafty stuff finished before the big day. I plan on getting my sugar cookies done today, and my pumpkin fudge made, and then I think I need to take a break from the kitchen, we have no more room in the freezer.

I got my annual dogs-in-front-of-the-tree picture. Only they wouldn't sit close to the tree but you can still see part of it. Used my flash, which I still haven't read the manual for. I wish there were manuals on tape.

Emily made the little nut ornament at school. Super cute!

And Yolanda gave me these goodies from My Camera Couture, a camera strap, lens cozy and lens cleaner. I picked the patterns, as you can see I went with the traditional Asian theme, but look at the butterflies. I hate butterflies but both the strap and cozy Asian prints came with butterflies. I'll be covering up the ones on the strap. Too realistic looking for my liking.

Got booze incase we do any entertaining or incase we need some entertainment. Got my hair cut and coloured. Did more shopping. And I still can't say we are finished. Christmas in Disneyland next year is looking pretty good. Bwaaaahaaahaaha.

Spare time - not likely

Kerry and his coworkers are a bunch of goofs. Kerry called from work and asked if I had the computer skills to make a fake gift certificate for Cheetah's, a local strip club. The guys want to give it to their boss for Christmas. So I went to work. First, I researched the place. Then I washed my eyes with eye bleach. Then I copied their logo, maybe that's an infringement, ooops, then I used it to make mailing labels for the envelope the gc will be in. I figured a gift certificate from a place called Cheetah's might be a bit tacky so I found some animal print digital paper and made my envelope liner and gc. I also made a little lipstick kiss sticker to close the envelope with. Kerry loves it.

I had to drive Kerry's truck today while he did some fixin' to my signal lights. His driver side door won't open from the inside for me, he says pull and push and maybe jiggle and say the alphabet backwards to open it. It doesn't work for my kitten arms. Today was no exception, so I climbed out the other door, no biggie. When he took the truck back to work, he couldn't get out either, he said it was frozen, but I had no trouble opening it from the outside. Anyway, long story and lots of muscles later, he pulled the handle off the door. Bwhaaahaaahaaha!

So when I was talking to his coworker, I asked if Kerry had told him what happened. He hadn't so I did. He said Kerry was out in the yard and couldn't talk. I said "He's probably outside crying about his handle or he's outside jerking off your handle." To which he burst out laughing and I said "OMG I can't believe I just said that" and then I said "just make sure he washes his hands before he uses the phone". Kerry figures I might get razzed about it at the Christmas party.

And ...

Kerry's on holidays! Only for a few days. He took a few days a week or so ago. But still. I don't have to drive. I don't have to ...

Oh crap, I have to make lunch, I have to pretend I don't watch soaps, I have to pretend I clean house, I have to occupy him, I'll have to share my bonbons.

Too Cold

It's so cold the snot freezes in your nose the instant you step outside. Right now our thermometer says it's -20 and it doesn't measure windchill. I know there are places that are colder than we are, and that this is winter, but we had no trial period, no leading up to it, no dipping our ftoes in. We were tossed in without warning to the snow and the cold. Someone falsely led us to believe it would be mild and dry like our fall. Although I always wish for snow for Christmas.
The kids don't like it, the dogs don't like it, the vehicles are protesting. Kerry announced we need block heaters for the vehicles, I laughed at him, and said so does everyone in town, and I'm sure they thought of it yesterday and all the stores are sold out. I really don't want to go to work tonight!
My cousin gave Emily 2 huge gabage bags full of clothes, most of which Emily said she would never wear. As I'm going through them I find a bunch of down filled vests and my first thought was "I wonder if Linus will wear this?" Once he stopped chewing it, he might notice that it keeps him warm.
I didn't take my ibuprofen before bed last night, I figured my eye poking headache had to be gone, it's been a week. I was wrong. I woke up with it. I am beginning to think it's not sinusitis. I need a lobotomy.

Don't hate me because I have a hard time doing nothing.

I'm having a very hard time laying around. My head still hurts, but the drugs are helping. Although I think my hearing is going.
Here it is. Cap'n Crunch French Toast. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, like me. Delicious! Make your French Toast like normal, crunch the cereal up, dip the soggy bread in the cereal, and fry it up. The sugary cereal/egg mixture makes a carmalized crunchy coating. Just think of the possibilities, oh we have, Count Chocula cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch...Then we decorated the tree. Our tree always looks like Santa puked on it, we have ornaments from everywhere. It's eclectic to say the least. Almost every ornament has a reason for being on the tree. Most are the kids, we buy them a new one every year and if they ever move out, they get to take the ornaments with them. Providing I deem them responsible enough. Most of the kids' are Hallmark or Carlton ornaments. There's a lot of wood on the tree too. The kids said there were too many ornaments, I said "move out". Maybe we should get a bigger tree. Oh, we found a new star! Then Emily and I started to make melon bread (melonpan) a Japanese cookie wrapped bread treat. And then someone conveniently fell asleep. So I had to make them by myself. I made them smaller than normal because she's taking them to school. But then I had an excess amount of bread do left.

While the melon bread was rising, I made these things we saw on Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives, gotta stop watching that show. They are like cinnamon rolls only savoury! They are biscuit rolls, with ground beef, cheese and a light spreading of spaghetti sauce all wrapped up into warm yummy, goodness. On the show, they used pesto, sausage and cheese. I didn't feel like going shopping again so we got what was in the fridge.

And then with the left over bread dough I made bannock, or dough gods as Kerry was raised on. We called my dad over to help dispose of them.

Lazy Sunday

Iv'e been up for about 2 hours and have done 2 loads of laundry, a double batch of butter tarts, and 5 baby loaves of choc. chip banana bread.

We are putting up the last box of decorations and the tree today. The whole family is home for a few hours so we will also have brunch together. The main dish is something I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and even though it sounds like sugar overload, I've been dying to try it. Cap'n Crunch French Toast. Should be interesting!

I'm hoping to get some half decent pictures of the kids and the tree this year with my new flash.

My sinuses are still killing me, more than yesterday. And I actually enjoyed watching UFC with Kerry and can't wait to try the rear naked choke and arm bar on him or Linus, depends on who annoys me first. But I have to say I could do with out the blood. I mean reallly if you elbow a guy in the forehead and split his forehead open, you should stop. It's only right. I will never get it...these guys actually sign up to get the crap kicked out of them!

The Dr. Says...

...it's sinusitis. So I'm the lucky recipient of antibiotics and Nasonex, the spray that tastes like weeds.

I'm trying to lay low. It really hurts to move my head. But I also have some stuff to do, so I move in slow motion. Little short steps, very Japanese-like. Too bad I made horrible groaning noises while I do it or Kerry might be turned on.

Anyway, I made Peanut Butter Bars just so I could take a picture of them. I am making a cook book for a gift for Kerry's co-workers and want a photo of each recipe.

Here's the recipe...

These taste like peanut butter cups.

Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 cups icing sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

4 tbsp. peanut butter

In a med. bowl, mix together the butter, crumbs, sugar and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into 9x13 pan, ungreased.

In a med. microwavable bowl, melt chips and remaining peanut butter till chips are melted, about 1.5 min. on high. Stir well, spread over crumb mixture. Refrigerate at least an hour before cutting into squares.

I'm off to eat my sweet potato fries and turkey hot dogs while waiting for UFC to start. Don't ask.

Because I FELT like it!

I wasn't going to sew another thing today. I promised to clean up my table and get my cards started. Which I kind of did. I cleaned enough space off do get most of my cards addressed. But then I found all kinds of things under the layers of scrap on my table. And a few of those things got finished or put away.
While watching ER I got the idea to make a cinnamon bun, originally it was for my friend, Terrell. I think we must have made cinnamon buns years ago the first day of the year that it snowed. So now every time the first snow comes, we call each other and wish we were making cinnamon buns, I don't think either one of us actually does. I thought I would make this, scent it with cinnamon oil, that I had from my soap making days, but I couldn't find it and then Emily said it needed a face like her others and she told me to give it "^ ^" eyes, so I figured what the heck, she needs a bun too. ( check out my almost even blanket stitching!)
And then I thought cupcake hair clips would be super cute. But my cupcakes look like the mushrooms from Super Mario.

Now the kid wants felt sushi.

We had Shaun's girlfriend for dinner, she's allergic to wheat so for dessert he picked up a rice cake. Not the Quaker mini rice cakes, but an actual chocolate cake made from rice flour from Choices. It cost him $25 for a 7 inch 3 layer cake. After the initial "this is kind of weird" taste, it was actually pretty good, not $25 good, but the icing was real butter cream and not that lard cream that you find used too often now. Emily even ate her whole piece, Emily of No Chocolate Cake Passes These Lips.

Off to bed to dream of other foods I can make from felt while procrastinating about what I really should be doing.

super cute

I have wanted to try my hand at felt food since I saw some at the Anime Convention in August. I made my own patterns using my Big Shot and dies. Meet my doughnut and my cupcake! They are brown, not black. Emily is going to love them!
I have had what I call the 'icepick in the eye' headache since early yesterday evening and I think I have figured out why. All this sewing is using parts of my brain I didn't know I had and the pain is just the blood flowing through those parts.
Now if only I would quit this creative procrastinating and get my Christmas cards started.

I'm bagged!

I've managed to decipher one of my mom's bag patterns. It's crazy, I have a heck of a time reading these things. I know what the bag should look like, I can see the illustrations on the pattern, but I can't understand the language it's written in. I really have to use my visualization skills. So now I have 3 shopping bags.

Wishes!

I wish I had a real day job, so that I could quit it and stay home to make things. Things like this most beautiful bag! I picked up pile of Amy Butler fabric on the weekend and have been wanting to make my own shopping bags. I made this one this afternoon and Kerry says he will NOT be using it to get groceries. And...
As of January, I probably won't have my once-a-week-for-4-hours-every-Tuesday job. Judy, the most awesomest leader ever, gave her notice and announced it tonight at the meeting. There were many gasps and "what will happen to our meeting?" We don't know. No one is stepping up, and I have been asked to become a leader, but I'm more of a follower, BAAAAHH. I will miss the great people at our meeting, but I won't miss driving at night, or in the snow.

And...
I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow with my new bag. I will only buy snazzy fancy designer food to put in it! Like chocolate covered potato chips, or pesto in a tube, or baby mandarin oranges.

Finishing Touches

I've had a few things on the go for a few days now and I finally had a few minutes in my scrapping space today. I got my Christmas Planner finished. I found the print outs at http://organizedchristmas.com/ I used Basic Grey's Wassail and cut the letters for the cover and the tree inside with my Silhouette.





I unpacked, mounted and opened these goodies from the new catalogue too! This is the Love You Much bundle that will be on sale soon. Love that the punch lines up with that stamp!I made this ornament with ink jet printer transparencies, and rub-ons. This cd case calendar is made using the templates from http://www.heatheranndesigns.com/, she's got some great stuff there. Both the ornament and calendar are gifts for my friend. All photos are SOOC and taken with my new flash. Love it. Even though I haven't read the manual, or touched any buttons other than the on/off switch.

Another thing I'm doing...

I sent this out by email to everyone I could think of. I know a few of you read my blog, but I also know some people I don't know read my blog too. It's always nice to be in a place where you can help those in need and we like to help out our locals at this time of year. Needing help has hit closer to home this year in the form of a good friend whose son is in the hospital with a very rare disease. The following is the email I sent out, if you can help that would be wonderful!


I know it's that time of year when money is a little tighter, but I also know that it's the time of year for wanting to help those in need. I am all for helping people I don't know, but it means a little more when I can do something to help someone I do know.

We know of a family that is too proud to ask for help. Their child has a very rare disease, Wilson's disease, and not all medical costs are covered. I know that Christmas is the last thing on this family's mind because all they want is for their child to improve and to be able to go home.
I'm asking you as a friend of Heather and Kurt Wallman's to help in any way you can. I am sending this to you because I know that in some way Heather or Kurt has been a part of your life, maybe a small part, maybe you purchased crafts from Heather at a craft sale or attended a scrapbooking retreat with her, maybe you know Kurt through his hobbies or work, either way, I am hoping that you might help out.

Some ways you could help that would be greatly appreciated...
-baking an extra dozen cookies
-purchasing a gas card to help relieve the cost of driving to the hospital every day
-making a dozen extra Thank You cards
-making frozen meals
-picking up a few non-perishable products or gift cards to grocery stores
Any gesture that would help ease the stress no matter how little it might seem to you would be a great help to them.

You can mail items to my address...
The Wallmans
c/o Kelli Williams
315 Adventure Road,
Kelowna, B.C.
V1X 1N5
or if you have something to drop off, you can call me at 250-765-4656 and we can arrange something.

Please respect the family's decision to not be contacted directly.

Thank you and have a safe holiday season!


Today, I am making casseroles to freeze so that Kurt and Heather have something easy to warm up after their long days at the hospital.

9 pm.

That's when I hit the wall. I'm done. After making a delicious dinner of chicken, cheesy potatoes and roasted garlic green beans with Shaun, and then making peanut butter squares for dessert, I watched Ultimate Fighter something or other and crashed. (if you watch this show I think I'm not alone when I say I can't stand Junie Browning, he needs his mouth washed out with soap and a spanking)
I also did loads of laundry, vacuumed, and did dishes 3 times. I'm done for the week!

Today's Story ( a true story with lots of brackets)

A long, long time ago, like 20 years ago, maybe even 15, back before people could go to the mall for sushi on a Tuesday or any other day they wanted, sushi was a special thing. We, being my Japanese family, only ever had sushi on occasions, seriously, we didn't eat it every day. I can't say I know any Japanese person that eats sushi every day. Maybe in Japan? I doubt it. Anyway, we had it on occasions like wedding showers and funerals. Not Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, but maybe New Year's, but not every year. (Which is why when Shaun came home from work and saw the sushi, he asked what the occasion was.)

It wasn't because we didn't want to eat it more often, we couldn't find the ingredients locally. The nori(seaweed) we used came straight from Japan, grandpa has a source for seaweed and underwear. And we didn't have a California Roll. Nope, it was the Maki Roll or no roll. If you didn't like the shiitake mushroom, tamago (egg), green veggie, pink dried fish or kampyo(dried gourd) then you pushed it out with your finger and ate the rice and nori.

But now, because of an Asian guy(they all look alike) named Don and his oriental market, probably the largest outside of the lower mainland, we can buy everything we ever needed for sushi making and stuff we didn't know we needed. (Hence the Korean pancake mix I bought.)

Which is what I did today. Not only did I go to Michaels, Walmart, Office Depot, the Oriental Market, and the veggie market, but I made Korean veggie pancakes in the waffle maker, and ate them and then decided I needed sushi too. And now I've taken pictures of it and blogged about it, and I've only had one cup of coffee. I'm sure I will be crashing any minute now. So I better go and make the most of my new found burst of energy before I hit the wall.

Pictured below, maki sushi and inari sushi (rice bags, named after the fox for the little 'ears' the bag makes, isn't it foxy!). And you thought I was just another pretty face!

Must find a way to get my sausage.

http://caffeineinduced.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-heart-fridays.html

That's last year's sausage conversation post. Last year, when we were loved and our order mattered.
Kerry just emailed to say he had some sad news. The Kelowna branch was 'forgotten about' when it came time to place the Steineke Sausage orders. How could they forget?
Hello! I'm pretty sure some sausage maker's kid got a nice Christmas present purchased with the income from our sausage order last year. Yes, I'm bitter. We are talking about the best, hardly any greasy fat, most delicious sausage and pepperoni ever! So good that you probably didn't get any from us because we tend to hoard it. Not long enough to last all year, but we've been ordering more and more and have made it to January I believe. December to January is good. December to December would be a miracle.

Update!
The sausage gods must be smiling on us. Kerry just called and said we had 5 min. to decide what we want and to get back to the sausage people. Yippee! Miracles do happen at Christmas!

Wild Women of Whippoorwill

Love the commentary!

That's what she said!

We watch The Office. I used to hate, and I mean hate it. I couldn't understand how Michael could be so stupid. But Kerry and Shaun loved to watch it. I couldn't even be in the room when it was on. But then it must have been summer and re-run time because I have become an Office addict. Neither Kerry nor I are good at remembering the hilarious dialogue long enough to quote the show, Kerry's co-workers put him to shame every week.
The only 2 lines any of our family can remember...

Kelly: Dwight, get out of my nook!
Pam: That's what she said! That's what she said! That's what she said!

And that's it. And so this is what we can be heard saying on a regular basis, usually for no apparent reason. That's what she said!

That and MOLASSES! Bwaaahhaaaahaaha! Hey! What's that smell? It's molasses! Hey! What's in that carton by the sink? It's molasses. Hey! Why can't I open my mouth to tell mole jokes any more? What's this sticky stuff? It's molasses.
Emily won't say molasses, she says molebums. I asked what she would call cookies made with molasses, like would she say molebum cookies? No, she's say GINGERBREAD! She's just so smart.

And I'm not the only one to think that...see that, it says WORK ETHIC, which means she must actually do work at school and not complain about it like she does at home...I think I can use this against her at a later date.

Oh, and see that, it says Honour Roll, just typing it makes my eyes tear up.
She gets that from me, and from Kerry. For me, it was like this until about grade 10 or 11 when I decided not to use my brain for good. (or at all for that matter!)

And not to take all the good credit, I will admit that Emily gets her love of sports and all things that make a person sweat from me. There is no love for those things for us. Which explains the c+ in P.E. pictured below.But hey, we can't all be smart, good looking, artistic, hilarious, and athletic.

And because we, as parents, are not above that thing called bribery, we will be making a trip to Toy R' Us tonight. We must honour our "If you pull up your socks in P.E. and run your little ass off when it counts, and you bring up your P.E. grade, we will pay for half of that Nintendo DS Lite that you have been saving all your pennies for" promise. She only needed about $10 to buy it on her own, but now she's so excited to have us pay for 1/2 because it means she will have money left over. She's also trying to get us to take her to Burger King because they have "the Nintendo toys I have always wanted". Hey, we're not that stupid.

December 1st!

25 days! 25 days! Even less if the festivities start on Christmas Eve. If you break it down into paydays, it makes me want to puke.

I will admit, I have fallen hopelessly behind in my DYL class. Like weeks and weeks behind. But I don't have classes scheduled for December so I plan to get caught up before this on-line class ends.

I love the idea of a Daily December album, but am worried that that too will get forgotten about in the hustle of preparing for the big day. I guess I have a few hours to think about whether or not I'm committing to the idea of documenting our month of December. Is anyone else going to do a Daily December-like album?

It's the little things...

like Kerry taking 2 days off to help me get caught up, that make me all warm and fuzzy. ( I wonder if I can get him to watch Cathy Z's slideshows and do the assignments for me)

We will be having lunch together, Butter Chicken and Samosas from Deep's. We will be mailing things, shopping, taking dogs out, and maybe even baking. I only think this last thing might be happening because Kerry asked about the molasses situation. He makes these wicked ginger/molasses cookies called Crinkle Tops. And everytime I hear the word molasses, I think of this joke...

A family of moles had been hibernating all winter. One beautiful spring morning, they woke up. The father mole stuck his head out of their hole and looked around. "Mother Mole!" He called back down the hole. "Come up here! I smell honey, fresh honey!" The mother mole climbed up and squeezed in next to him. "That's not honey, that's maple syrup! I smell maple syrup!" The baby mole, still down in the hole, was sulking, stuck behind his mom and dad. "I can't smell anything down here but molasses..."

Get it? Mole asses! Ha Ha Ha.

Got the new Simple Scrapbook's Quick and Easy Photo Albums. I wish I had gotten it months ago, it might have made Christmas shopping easier!

It's time to start the day! All I can think about is Butter Chicken!

Oh, and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOLANDA!!!

Help is on it's way!

Kerry has a week off before Christmas, which is great, don't get me wrong but really, by then, if it's not done, it's not getting done. And by IT I mean shopping, baking, wrapping, planning, making, decorating, etc. So when Kerry said whatever needed to be done could be done that week, I replied that it was too late and that if IT was left until then, it would not be a happy week off!

So he said he'd take 2 days off this week so that WE could get some stuff done together before the rush! YAY! He's a superhero!

Speaking of superheroes, I almost always say Mighty Mom is on the way! when I tuck Emily in at night. I mentioned that it was supposed to be Mighty Mouse the other day and she thought I had actually made up the song. Here I come to save the day! That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way!

Today, I am trying to get a few things done before work at 4 pm, and my class at 7:30 pm. So far, so good. I've vac'd, baked, cleaned oven(it's self-cleaning), uploaded Dad's pics from his camera to my computer, did dishes, 3 loads of laundry, found some questionable stuff in the fridge, tidied up a few things on the deck and in the yard,, filled the bird feeder, and am now blogging and watching Y&R. It's all good.

We were watching a cooking show the other day and we saw this weird concoction on quail so we decided to try it on chicken. It's ground coffee, brown sugar, pepper, and salt. I thought it was okay, but Kerry thought it was delicious.

Linus, kind of blurry, but posing for me and my new flash. This is in my kitchen, with the lights off, it's not great but I can't believe it's not dark. I have not read the manual, it's written in Swahili. All the pictures are SOOC with my new and last piece of my camera puzzle. I told this to Kerry, that the flash was the last piece I needed. It's totally true. I need nothing else for my camera. Now I have no excuse for bad photos, other than the fact I don't know how to use my toys.

Too Much!

I have so much going on in my head! I woke up at 6:30 am. yesterday dreaming about a certain something and then had to write it down because I wasn't ready to actually wake up. It's a Christmas present idea I have for someone, I can't say what incase they are reading this.
I'm 'putting things away' all too often and then not finding them again. It's driving me crazy. Someone told me that maybe my space needs tending to. Well, it does but I just can't find the time to do it. I have also found that my 'favourite' cousin has made my life harder by signing up for my Stamper's Group and my Card Club. I used to be able to make the same cards for these two different nights and now I have to go back to the drawing board and re-do all the cards for Monday! Silly me!
London Drugs had my flash on sale so yesterday when we went to return our broken brand new phones, I saw the big On Sale sign on the flash and almost died. Kerry and I are NOT exchanging gifts this year, we've been on this thing where if we want it, we buy it and then say "no gifts for me at Christmas" or birthdays or Mother's day, etc. Really, the only thing I wanted was a flash for my camera and I knew I would get one as soon as it went on sale. And that's exactly what happened, it's a Canon Speedlite 430 EX II! So now I have to add 'read instruction manual for flash' to my ever growing list of things to do before Christmas.

My list looks something like this...(and I'm sure some stuff is missing)
-read instruction manual for TomTom GPS
-bake a million things, freeze them, don't eat them
-get mom's gift before the sale ends
-find something for Shaun, my dad, and Kerry's mom for Christmas
-bath dogs
-make a whole lot of stuff out of paper and fabric
-don't forget to go to work
-make a dozen or so more thank you cards for H.
-decorate
-read instruction manual for flash
-start Jessica Sprague's class
-stop ignoring Cathy Z.'s emails and get back on the DYL bandwagon
-eat veggies
-finish filling holes in trim and paint it
-play Rayman's Raving Rabbid's TV Party every day
-wish Yolanda a Happy Birthday on her birthday!

Saw him again!

Yesterday when I went to pick up Emily from school guess who else was picking a kid up?

If you guessed Santa Claus, you'd be right!

Either I'm seeing things because I have so much to do and Christmas is coming too fast or there really is a flesh and blood Santa living in my neighbourhood. His vanity plate said Polar X. He did not drive a sleigh.

Sock Monkey Lovin'

I made this today for Emily for Christmas. It took no time at all, I did it between prepping for tonight's class, my Monday job, making dinner, Costco shopping and picking E. up from school.
She doesn't have a name yet. I'm leaning towards Chunky or maybe Funky or Marcy. Socks are from Walmart, buttons are Autumn Leaves.

That Dog! Updated

So I should have known. I didn't notice Speedy Gonzales run past me. I should have gone upstairs when I heard the weird eerie bark/howl but I didn't. It wasn't until he brought his treasure back downstairs that I discovered Linus had been in the Christmas gift stash in my bedroom. This was once a majestic stag, okay, it was just a cute Webkins baby deer but it could have grown up to be a majestic stag if 'destroyer-of-all-things-cute" hadn't gotten ahold of it. I picked it up on the weekend at Chapters, they were buy 2 get one free. This was my free one, they only had one left. This one I secretly hoped to keep, it reminded me of Rudolph, of cute things that don't hurt helpless animals.

I put my anger and Designer Digitals sale to good use, turned it into possitive creative energy and made this layout. I had already purchased the deer paper before the slaughter, I figured it was fitting. I printed the digital papers out on to Bazzills white linen cardstock, the green cardstock is SU's kiwi kiss, love it. I used an Ali Edwards brush for the photo (so VERY you) and my favourite Making Memories stickers for the journaling. Love those little stickers.

Some cards

I tried the faux batik or something like it. The top blue card didn't agree with me or the camera, but it still gets blog time.

The last cards are my fav!

A big THANK YOU!

I want to thank everyone that came out for the Papercrafting Sale on Sunday. Thanks to you, some of us went home with less and hopefully, you went home with some goodies to use in your scrapbooking or cardmaking!
Some asked if it was going to be a yearly thing. I might consider it, but probably not at the church again. I'm glad to say I'm done with the Benvoulin Heritage Church and renting it out!

flower power

I made 21 of these today. No plans for them, just thought they were cute!
And then I made these ones...