Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Day 364, Monday, December 30, 2013

Cindy, Jen and I went to see the movie, "Frozen" at 1:10.  I didn't know the story line, but knew there was a really cute snowman in the movie.  It was a great Disney Production!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Day 363, Sunday, December 29, 2013

I changed my Origami Owl necklace to Snow!  We went to Peoria to do some shopping and returns.  There were lots of cars off the road and a couple of accidents.  We ate lunch at Panera.  For supper we ate some of the pork loin that Jim cooked in his new smoker!  Yummy!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Day 362, Saturday, December 28, 2013

Pinterest, you are killing me!  I found this idea for a winter wreath earlier this week.  I went to Hobby Lobby this morning and bought the supplies to make this for our front door.  It was all Christmas clearance products, except the silver bow.  The ribbon was on my present from John and Stacie, so I recycled it into the ribbon on my wreath!

Day 361, Friday, December 27, 2013

We got a gift card for the movies from Peyton.  We went this morning to see "Saving Mr. Banks".  We really liked the movie.  Thanks, Peyton (mom and dad) for the gift card!

Day 360, Thursday, December 26, 2013

I took the trees down today.  I still have to wrap all of these ornaments in tissue paper.  I always get the Christmas decorations put away the day or two after Christmas.  We decorate the house the weekend of Thanksgiving so I am ready for it to be packed away.

Day 359, Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone!  John and Stacie are checking out the contents of their stockings.  There were lots of lottery tickets this year.  Nate was the biggest winner.  I think everyone won something!

Day 358, Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Jim got to open the first gift tonight.  He got a Blue Tooth wireless speaker.  Do you see Chevy Chase looking over his shoulder?  We have watched Christmas Vacation way to many times this season!  LOL

Day 357, Monday, December 23, 2013

This is my neighbor's tree in their front yard.  I keep trying to take night photos in manual mode with my camera.  This was the best one.

Day 356, Sunday, December 22, 2013

Another copy from Pinterest!  Either I have forgotten something entirely for Christmas or I am way ahead and have time to sit and Zentangle.  I hope it is the latter!

Day 355, Saturday, December 21, 2013

This is a Christmas Card for 2014.  Cindy bought me a Christmas tree stamp set and die for part of my present.  I couldn't wait to make a card with it!  I stamped all the different trees and used a design from our last on-line card class.  I love it!

Day 354, Friday, December 20, 2013

Today was our last day of school for two weeks.  We exchanged gifts, had an all school Christmas sing and got to leave about an hour early to start our break!  It is the best feeling to work with my Best Friend!

Day 353, Thursday, December 19, 2013

I love walking early in the morning.  While I am not walking outside right now, I still get to see the sunrise almost every morning.  When I got home this morning, the sky was pink and blue, just beautiful with the snow on the rooftops!  Couldn't be prettier!

Day 352, Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Puppy Spa Day!  Coco is always so cute when he comes home with his little kerchief.  He usually is so tired from all the attention he gets.

Day 351, Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Stacie got to go on a flight today!  She works for Cat in the plane hangar.  She has never gone on a flight, but today was the day.  They just did some maintenance checks and flew around Peoria a few times.  She isn't crazy about flying, but she looks like she enjoyed it!

Day 350, Monday, December 16, 2013

The children at school are beginning to bring in a few gifts.  I got lottery tickets today.  None of them were winners, but it was fun to scratch the tickets anyway!

Day 349, Sunday, December 15, 2013

Today was my parent's 57th Wedding Anniversary.  We invited everyone over for pizza.  I had a surprise for everyone.  Santa came to visit!  Santa had presents for the kids and gift cards for all of the adults.  Everyone got a chance to sit on Santa's lap and have their picture taken.  My family and Santa!

Day 348, Saturday, December 14, 2013

Jim shoveling the snow.  Jim used the snow blower and went to the neighbors to help them, too.

Day 347, Friday, December 13, 2013

Tonight was the Christmas Party for Morton Buildings.  We had a buffet dinner at the Par-a-dice hotel.  Jim didn't win a prize, but we did enjoy dinner with his co-workers.

Day 346, Thursday, December 12, 2013

Our office elf, Jovie is trying to get the room warmed up.  She is watching the thermostat like a hawk today.

Day 345, Wednesday, December 11, 2013

We ate dinner at Logan's tonight and drove through the Festival of Lights.  It was a very cold night, but there wasn't much traffic so it was a great night to go.

Day 344, Tuesday, December 10, 2013

My boss set this snowflake on my desk today.  It lights up and changes colors.  I caught it when it turned purple...my favorite.

Day 343, Monday, December 9, 2013

We had our Chirpin' Chicks annual Christmas party tonight at Linda's house.  This is her tree and our gifts before we exchanged them with each other.  We draw numbers, pick a gift by number order and of course there is always the option to "steal".  Each gift is about $10 and has to be paper craft related.  We all brought a dish to share and enjoyed the evening eating, talking and laughing!  Love this talented group of girls!

Day 342, Sunday, December 8, 2013

Stacie, my mom and I made 76 glass glitter ornaments this morning.  After we finished the ribbons, we went to Ming's to eat lunch.  My mom loves Chinese food and my dad will not eat it.  The girls go every once in a while and leave the boys at home!

Day 341, Saturday, December 7, 2013

I took this picture of the snowman tree at Michael's.  This tree is made out of mesh ribbon and I am looking forward to buying as much as this ribbon as I can find after Christmas!

Day 340, Friday, December 6, 2013

I didn't want the traditional evergreen wreath for our door this year.  I found this arrangement on a wicker snowflake at Michael's.  And I had to add the Snoopy cling to the glass on the door.

Day 339, Thursday, December 5, 2013

I put the December ornament on my Happiness Is... display.  John and Stacie bought this for me for my birthday.  She said there will be more!

Day 338, Wednesday, December 4, 2013

I mailed our Christmas Cards this afternoon after I got off work.  I think there are 75 of them.  I am sure the post office employee will cringe when they see me.  They all have to be hand cancelled.  Most of the cards are different.  I love making Christmas Cards to send to our friends and family.

Day 337, Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Our small tree in the living room is decorated with Santa ornaments.  The tree skirt has old fashion Santa's on it, too.  There is a gourd light with a Santa face painted on it.  In the back there is a light with Santa ribbon on it and of course there is a stuffed reindeer!

Day 336, Monday, December 2, 2013

Jim pulled our old sled out of the garage.  I bought some mesh ribbon, a few pine boughs, snowflakes and jingle bells and decorated it.  I love this mesh ribbon.  I am going to buy a ton of it when it goes on sale after Christmas!

Day 335, Sunday, December 1, 2013

We added a lighted snowman to the front yard.  We bought it at Lowe's.  We had seen one at Costco and I waited to long.  When we went back to buy it, there weren't any left.  I do like this one better.  It is made from grapevine material and looks better with our other outside decorations.

Day 334, Saturday, November 30, 2013

Jim got the outside decorations done today.  I helped him put the lights on the gutters.  Well, I held the ladder while he put the lights on the gutters.  He is a little unnerved by the ladder in winter, since the New Year's Eve incident.

Day 333, Friday, November 29, 2013

I took my car in for some repairs today.  The air bag light has been on for some time.  My remote doesn't work anymore and the tie rods need to be replaced.  Still better than buying a new car.  I will have to take it back next week to get the new remote programmed and finish the air bag problem. 

Day 332, Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!  I have each family member fill out a card and list the things they are thankful for each year.  We always go back and read the previous ones at some point in time during the dinner.  We each had lots of things to be thankful for this year.  Stacie is filling out her card before we eat.

Day 331, Wednesday, November 27, 2013

These are the ingredients for Pumpkin Cake.  Not just any Pumpkin Cake, but Cindy's Pumpkin Cake with cream cheese frosting.  My family loves this cake and it is the only recipe I can duplicate from my friend and have it taste almost as good as hers.