December Daily: December 3rd

What an amazing day! We had so much fun!

We started with Breakfast With Santa in a nearby town. The food was delicious. The volunteer staff extremely friendly. Santa was great! He had the children sign their names in his Nice Book. That’s Benjamin putting his marks in Santa’s book – that was after we peeled him away from the food. That little boy can eat! I even got a couple of pictures of Christopher (now 16 years old) with Santa! Not sure how many more times I will be able to convince him to pose with the big man in red.

After breakfast we journeyed into the city to run a couple of errands. Then we hit the road for the next surprise in my Christmas Prep Fun List!

I decided we should go to the zoo! Yeah, I thought it might be a little crazy at first because after all, who in their right mind goes to the zoo when there is snow on the ground?!?

Well, we went and we nearly had the whole place all to ourselves. The decorations were basic but very nicely done. I talked with a 20+ year staff member and she said they are trying to make the holidays at the zoo bigger and better every year.

Santa must have followed us to the zoo, because he was the Special Guest Carousel Operator! The kids had a blast and rode the carousel three times. Santa even posed with each child after they picked out their ride. That’s Nicholas on the rabbit.

After pictures with Santa we went to the Animal Stars building. This is where the Animal Ambassadors live. Animal Ambassadors travel to visit schools and do programs. One of the trainers was handling their newest addition – a blue tongued skink. SO COOL!

Christopher talked with the handler for a while and a few of the other zoo staffers. He thinks he might like to get a Leopard Gecko as a pet. Mom & Dad on the other hand aren’t too sure about anything cold blooded with scales.

After the zoo we were all starving, so we ventured to Frankenmuth and found a cute restaurant north of town called DaVinci’s. Great pizza and breadsticks!

Following dinner we decided to brave the crowds and visit Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. I think it must be one of the world’s largest Christmas stores. That place is a mother’s panic attack waiting to happen!! So much stuff that is FRA-GEE-LAY!

Left there, came home… and now… we crash!

Today was a great day! So glad I had the opportunity to create these memories with my children!

December Daily: 2

I have completely goofed up my calendar this week! Thank Goodness It’s FRIDAY!

Plotting a couple of family outings for tomorrow with the whole crew. This is going to be the December to Remember! (I think I just named my album.) We’ll see if the plans come together or not.

I’m about to make myself a second hot cocoa with peppermint mocha creamer for today. Yep, I think these are going to be habit forming and addictive. So yummy!

The Wonder Twins love playing in the snow while they wait for their bus to pick them up for preschool! Not sure what the fascination is with the snow shovel, but they fight over it constantly. One of these days, maybe they will learn to use it properly and my driveway will actually get shoveled properly. With my shoulder still mostly out of commission, it is going to be long winter where shoveling snow is concerned.

I’m desperately trying to find the holiday spirit. Really. I don’t know where it went. Usually the day after Thanksgiving I am ready to bust out the Christmas music and decorations and get the party started. Not so much this year.

I did make an attempt to start the process of decorating for this year. The wreaths are on the front door. French style door means two wreaths. Since they are identical I only photographed one. That photo might actually end up looking really awesome if I can find the right actions in Photoshop. LOL *sigh* That would imply that I’m actually going to process photos and do some scrapbooking. Maybe. Later.

December Daily

If you are anyone who has been a member of the scrapbooking or digital scrapbooking community for very long, I’m certain you have heard of Ali Edwards and her December Daily project. Typically, you make an album ahead of time and work your way through it filling it one or two pages per day for the entire month.

Well, since my December is going to be so blooming busy because of the best most wonderful news we received yesterday… I’ll be keeping track of my Daily’s here on my blog and scrapping them when I have time or when I’m inspired to do so. My goal at this time is just to get the month documented.

December 2011 is going to be a life changing month for our family!

Almost smack middle in the month (on the 12th) we get to go to court to have the adoption of our little girl, “Katie”, finalized! She will officially be a member of our family with our name! We are so excited!

So today, I called our church to set the wheels in motion for her baptism. I overlooked one critical detail – Godparents. *sigh* Patrick and I will need to figure it out by the end of the week.

Our church hall is not available the weekend we are looking at. *sigh* again. I called another potential location for the party, waiting for them to call me back with availability and pricing.

I called our favorite local catering company. Waiting for a call back from them. Might need to use their hall if I don’t here back from the other place.

My favorite beverage for the month of December only to be enjoyed after I have consumed enough water. Hot cocoa with Coffee Mate Peppermint Mocha creamer (and a few mini marshmallows). Yummy!

I plan to enjoy this regularly through the month.

Isn’t that mug gorgeous. It was handmade by someone my husband met in his work travels. It is truly one of a kind. Each and every mug this couple makes, while similar, are absolutely unique. It’s just the perfect size – not too big and not too small!

To begin getting into the holiday spirit, I painted my nails and “Katie’s” with an old glittery polish I found while digging through my polish collection looking for my “winter colors.” “Katie” is so excited to have some sparkles on her nails!

Mary Ann will get her sparkles when she gets home from school.

We’ll be having leftover Lentil & Beef tacos for dinner tonight. So happy to be eating something other than chicken or cheese burgers!

The holiday shopping is mostly finished. That’s a first for the 1st of December. We’re usually scrambling right up until Christmas Eve. Now we just need to tackle Birthday Shopping – Nicholas will be six on the 10th. Mary Ann will be nine on the 21st. PHEW!

I’m absolutely certain this will the best December EVER!

Scrapping Again

Finally feeling well enough, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. to scrap again. Not many people will admit to depression publicly, but I have it. I was being treated for it a while ago, ran out of meds, and went into denial about being better. I was better, for a while. Anyway, I am back on my medication and feeling much better. I saw my doctor today and we decided to try raising the dose for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference or if we need to consider adding another drug.

All of that to say, I finally have an interest in scrapbooking again.

Journaling: I have always wanted to go to Cape Canaveral, Florida to see one of the space shuttles blast off. Unfortunately, my dream never got to come true. My children and I watched, mesmerized by the images on the television being broadcast by CNN on this day. The historic final countdown and lift-off of the United States Space Shuttle Program.

I used the following supplies in the above layout: Template: ZineStyle by Scrapping With Liz from The DigiFiles #17; Kit: TroubleMaker by Studio Flergs from The DigiFiles #1(linked to current store offering); Fonts: CK Windsong and Latin Modern Mono Prop

Honestly, I started the page above back in June. I added the journaling today. Sorry, no list of supplies – would be way to hard to attempt tracking down with my stash.

So I took it upon myself to finish up layouts I started months ago.

Again, no clue what supplies I used. Some journaling done in June, finished it up today. Another page completed!

Template: by MandaGirl; Kit: Lovestruck by Melissa Bennett from The DigiFiles #1; Fonts: MTF Jumpin’ Jack and MTF Stampin’ Rachel by Miss Tiina

I have two more layouts in my “unfinished layouts” folder. I’ll be taking a look at those soon to see if they can be salvaged and/or finished.

Another Week

One more week in the big awful ugly uncomfortable sling with the bulky pillow immobilizer thing. Ugh!

I am allowed to take it off for short periods of time with increasing length and frequency… in other words, I’m free to be rid of it at the end of the  in a week only using when needed. YAY!

My stitches came out. Now I have four reddish/purple little scars. Does that scar reducer treatment work? I think it’s called Mederma or something? Anyone?

I get to start physical therapy next week. I’ll call the PT place in the morning to make my appointment. I hope I’ll get the same guy I had before surgery. He was awesome. He really encouraged me to push further.

My oldest is traveling today with his Cross Country Team to a meet in another city almost two hours away. I’ve asked St. Christopher and my son’s Guardian Angel to keep him and the whole team safe. While I wait for a call declaring safe arrival, I’ll attempt to sweep the floor for the first time in a very long time.

Post Surgery Update

Realized today that I have not been back here to update since I had my surgery on 9/21/2011 for my rotator cuff repair. I have my two-week post-op appointment with my surgeon tomorrow morning, so I’ll bring you all more up to speed then.
A new health concern raised it’s ugly head while they were prepping me for surgery. I have not followed up yet. I will write more about this when I do. I will follow-up, I’m just not ready right now (financially, emotionally, or mentally).
Let’s just say paying for the doctor and hospital bills is weighing heavily on our minds and hearts right now.
This past weekend, as hubby and I were about to spend another ton of money on laundry detergent, dish washing liquid, dish washer detergent, and dish washer rinse aid we decided to check out all the cool “recipes” for making this stuff ourselves that I’ve been pinning on Pinterest.
So, on Saturday, we made a batch of The Duggar’s Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent.

Source: icanteachmychild.com via Lynn on Pinterest

Right now, ours is sitting in the big orange bucket we bought at Home Depot waiting to be poured into smaller containers and diluted.
So simple to make!
Next time we make it, it will be even less expensive because we will not need to buy a bucket or something to stir it with. We still have some enough of the Borax and the Super Washing Soda left to make another batch. Next batch we should only need to buy a single bar of the Fels Naptha soap. (less than $3.00 at Kroger)
My frugal husband found several recipes for dishwashing liquid also. So, we did a single batch of that (almost 1/2 gallon). Basically cost us nothing because we had bar soap (free from the hotels Patrick stays at during the workweek) and we had already purchased the Borax and Super Washing Soda, and we had lemon juice, and no-sugar added drink mix packets on hand. We added the homemade dishwashing liquid to the remains of the store bought stuff (which was almost 3/4 gone). If nothing else, it will certainly stretch the time between purchases.
One of the Wonder Twins is well on the way to potty trained knowing how to use the toilet by themselves. I’ll be happy if the other even shows an interest in following… if we could eliminate diapers from the budget ($60-$80/month) I might be able to pay off my doctor bills a bit quicker! The doctors will love to hear that!
Enough of my rambling for now… I’m going to go “shopping” for a new blog background and header for Autumn. So happy the weather is cooler, but not looking forward to winter.

Saving Dinner

What do you know about that?!? While searching the internet looking for “freezer cooking meals”, “once a month cooking”, and “freezer assests”, I remembered purchasing the Saving Dinner Freezer Mega Menu-Mailer from SavingDinner.Com! This was before Leanne Ely changed how her site looked and worked. For those of my readers that are FlyBabies, they know exactly who Leanne Ely, Saving Dinner, and Menu-Mailers are!

I love that the versions of stuff I have spell out exactly what I will need to buy, how to prepare, and exactly how to cook and in what order. I need the guess work taken out of this process for me.

Printing out the pages of the Menu-Mailers that I need. Going to plan the menu and the shopping lists from there.

I did find some great printables for Menu Planning and Freezer Inventory at ListPlanIt.Com (affiliate link used – which means if you join, I make a small amount of $$)

Next up… actually writing out the menu plan and the shopping lists!