The End

The End of Brown Christmas . . . it's snowing!  'Course it's also 20 degrees, but I'm not going anywhere.  Plus, did I mention it's SNOWING!!!  Soft, fat, floaty, pristine white flakes.  Ahhhh. . . .


The End of the Christmas Season - well almost.  We celebrate until the Epiphany on the 6th. 


Definitely The End of 2010, which went way to stinkin' fast.  But we'll end it nicely, in our traditional Surf 'n Turf fashion.

Following you'll see snippets of "The End" of this holiday season for us. . .

The End of Dear Husband's desire to be reunited with the "one that got away."  His college love.  His Challenger.  I rented him one for Christmas and he, and his brothers while they were here, loved every high flying mile of it.  (Yes, that is what it looked like here in Colorado - Sunny and Brown - on Christmas Eve . . . What up?)

The End of waiting.  "It's Christmas boys!" (Mine are in the hats)  "Hey, I said it's Christmas Eve!"  Hello?  Okay maybe when we're done singing and you can actually touch the presents under the tree.

The End of my waistline as I currently know it. Cookie Bake and Exchange 2010. (and this is all I could fit in the frame, it's certainly not all there was.)

 The End of those seen here who are responsible for the devilish delights seen the previous photo. 

The End of asking for a train under the tree.

The End of clean- what was the mother of this child thinking anyway?

The End of "NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

The End of "My Life as a Social Outcast Because I Don't Have a Phone." 

The End of present opening - time for a nap.  Or coffee.  Take your pick.

THE END!

psst. . did I mention it's snowing?!

Blog-fading? No, Christmas Overdose

Did you think I'd left for good?  It felt like it.  Unfortunately, it just got too chaotic to get in a post during the hectic weeks leading up to Christmas, even though that was not my intention.  I'm sure for most of you, you totally get that.  For those of you who shop, cook, bake, decorate and wrap well before the holiday arrives, I might as well be speaking Gaelic (I'm part Irish, so that reference works).

We enjoyed family in town for the holidays, good food, great gifts and an enjoyable, though much to quick, time to celebrate.  I'll share photos in another post, later.

I managed to keep up on the December Daily challenge this year, with the help of a class I'm taking from Shimelle that has provided some great prompts for journaling and photos.  Did I get my album done?  Nope.  Am I worried about it.  Nope.  Will it get done?  For sure.  Before next Christmas?  One can only hope.

Today is about getting back into the swing of things.  And the first thing on that list is sharing some sneaks of January's kits.  This month, well January, Apron Strings is pleased to have Patricia Moussatche sharing some projects using the Smaller than a Breadbox kit.  You can see more of Patricia's great work on her blog HERE.  Check out her first project, a layout, using the My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy line.  You'll see more of her great work during the month.

I'll get back to challenges after the first of the year.  I have some fun things in mind for the blog, so stay tuned to it and 2011 will be your best year yet!

Also, look for a blog hop the first of the year to announce the 2011 Design Team.

Happy Tuesday - off to scrounge up something for dinner.  Yeah, cooking kinda took a back seat too.

Merry Chirstmas!!

My absence has been unintended, but given the time of year, hopefully forgivable.  Amazon was not my friend; I apparently waited too long.  So Power Shopping became my M.O.  And it worked.  I finished in a day and a half, with the exception of one gift I need to grab tomorrow - hopefully with a great reaction from the receiver because I'm super psyched about it (will fill you in on the results, but only if they're good.)

I'm ticking along with Ali and her December Daily, in conjunction with Shimelle's Journaling Christmas class, which is giving me great journaling prompts and photo ops I may not have typically thought of.  Album?  No.  No album.  My annual Cookie Bake/Exchange was this afternoon and it was a banner year of recipes to share (photos later.)  So many things to chat about, but it's the holidays and holidays are for breaks.  So, even though this week was a major break, this is an intentional break.

I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.  I hope your tables are filled with delicious food, your homes filled with laughter, a camera with a battery that is fully charged and a memory stick that is empty.

I'm Here and I'm Unprepared

You know, it would have been nice if someone warned me that Christmas was coming.  Said, "Hey, big holiday on the horizon!"  But no.  Nobody did.  So I'm left running around, frantic, hair-on-fire . . . so even though I thought often of the blog this week, I just was never able to settle down long enough to get on here.  You'd think with the crazed running around something would have been accomplished, but no. . .not really.

I am again participating in the December Daily on Ali Edwards' blog.  I did this last year and it was so fun.  It's even more fun to look at the album from last year.  I know!  My album was actually done BEFORE I started the project last year.  You can see my album for this year on the December 2nd photo below.  Ah, yeah, it's not completed . . . or even started. . .but you'll see my photos so far for this year are coming along. 

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1)  Abbott, our lovely elf from the North Pole is visiting once again this year.  He was warned to behave, and so far has.  Sort of.  2)  My December Daily albu. .er. . .kit.  3)  Oranges, clementine, Cuties, call them what you will, if the 2 y.o. could eat them every day he would.  And if we have them in the house, he does.  He's even learned to peel them.  4)  Bob Bell JV Basketball Champion from last weekend's tournament and his over-exuberant teen-sister (gotta just love the mood swings!  Really.  You have to or they'll just make you insane.)

5)  Chocolate covered cherries.  Need I say more?  They are a beacon of memories for this time of year for me.  My father always had a box in his stocking on Christmas morning.  6)  St. Nick's day - this is usually a pajama photo, but we opened gifts just before taking off for school and no pajamas made me sad.  7)  Have I ever mentioned what a lovely man St. Nick is.  He brings us things that need to be shared (and new pajamas but we don't share those) - to help us remember the reason for the season.  And this year he brought us a donut maker.  That man knows the way to an overworked mommy's heart!  8)  The two year old loves to cook.  If you have sugar, eggs and a spoon, he's there.  This night nobody was cooking, so he decided to do it himself - a pack of Kook-aid a spoon and a bowl.  No sugar.  A lot of stirring and then the obligatory tasting. . .ah yeah.

9)  These luscious little gems are produced from the new donut maker.  All I can say, besides Yum, is it's a good thing they are smallish, makes justifying eating 10 easier, less guilt. 

I'm sure I had a week's worth of stuff to fill you in on, but that's the gist of it.  Billing and shipping, and apparently the Christmas season, are in full swing, so I'll keep it at this for now.  OOOHHH, there is a new design team ready to go in January - keep your eyes open for a blog hop to introduce them all!

Besides a weekend filled with basketball, I have decorating plans and I think Amazon will be my new best friend this weekend.

Have a great weekend.

Monday - It Was About Me!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving - ate the good stuff, enjoyed family, weren't disappointed by the football games and if you were a Black Friday shopper, weren't trampled by other enthusiastic shoppers.

Here we enjoyed dinner with my side of the family this year - eating all the traditional foods I remember growing up - and really, isn't that half the holiday?  The rest of our Thanksgiving weekend was spent doing nothing.  We sat around, which for us is a rarity.  We watched some TV.  We got out of the house once or twice.  But we were pretty much your couch-potato family.  It was AWESOME!

I was also bound and determined to play.  I was telling one of the Sous Chefs that if I had to drive to the park and scrapbook in the back of my car, that's what I'd do.  Luckily, it didn't come to that and I was able to create the layouts below.

Now, hold on to your socks - for some of you it will require strapping yourselves to your chairs, or if it's too late, picking yourselves up off the floor once you come to, because. . .yes. . .your eyes are not deceiving you. . .I made cards!  Not one, but two, and note:  They are cards using scraps and they are cards using stamps!!  I know!  Stamps.  Cards.  Scraps.  Me.  Those words don't typically work together in a sentence.

The unfortunate side effect of such bliss, such unequalled opportunity to do what I wanted means that I am hard pressed today to want to do anything else.  Hence the fact that as I type up this post, my 2 y.o. is doing the vacuuming.  His choice, but still. . .there's laundry waiting to be sorted, bathrooms starting to yell my name, and the mess from this weekend's creativity that needs to be cleaned up and put away.

I know I have a winner to pick from two weeks ago, since I took off last week, and I'll probably get to that later today or tomorrow.  But so you have something to do, because I trust you've already been to the Apron Strings sale (save at least 30% on your total order - code THANKS10), today's challenge will be short and sweet and inspired by my own craftiness over the weekend (shhh, and a little bit today). . .  Create a layout and then a card or two using up the scraps.

I'm off to try to do something - anything that is on my "should" list.  I mean schools back in, sports are on tap and life continues it's pace with the addition of holiday chaos.

Have a great Monday back.

Happy Thanksgiving

Whether you are here in the U.S. preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving (and are frantically Googling how to thaw a 20 pound turkey in 30 minutes) or are elsewhere in this world, take a moment today to pause and appreciate all we have and be thankful for it; family, friends (cyber and in-person), home, memories and this wonderful hobby that brings us all together to celebrate, through layouts, all that we have.

Sneaks and Sale

Get your fingers loosened up and your eyes ready to scan all the delicious goodies that you can get starting tomorrow during Apron Strings Black Friday, Cyber Monday, After Thanksgiving Sale.  You'll be able to take 30% off your entire order - so load up on products at 30% off, or apply it to already deliciously discounted items to make your savings even greater.  Time to start stocking up on all types of treats to get you through the long winter months while you're cozily tucked in scrapping away.

Enter code:  THANKS10 at checkout to get your savings.

While you're there, catch a glimpse of the December kits.