Inspiration

I've been taking photos on my phone of a few things that have been inspiring me towards decorating for Christmas next year. Here are some of them:

 Big Daddy could make this frame for me.

 I love the simplicity of this look.

 These would look cute in our house.

I love this look too! Pine cones and twigs decorated with icicles, or even a few small ornaments.

Making Some Changes

When I went on college vacation, I started to make some changes. One of my classes really talked about the importance of exercise to help with anxiety and stress. At one point during those 16 weeks, I experienced several weeks of anxiety, which was completely unusual for me. I did take a few walks around campus on my lunch break, but with the approach of winter, I didn't stay with it. Then, our local school opened their new gym/weight room to the residents of the town, and since my kids kept urging me to go with them, I started going 6 out of 7 days a week to walk on the treadmill, ride the bike, and lift weights.

 I've been going for several weeks now, and I'm almost addicted to my daily time there.

 I've even managed to get Big Daddy to go a few times.  His doctors keep telling him he needs to go, but he has to WANT to in order to get him there.  It's a struggle.

I went and weighed yesterday, and even though I've been snacking a lot, I've still lost almost 3 pounds.  Yay!

 I've also started drinking more water. This has been a struggle for me.  I'm not much of a water drinker. But I'm trying.

 I'm also trying to work on my vices - Diet Mountain Dew and smoking.  I don't smoke a lot, but I still smoke.  I'm hoping to give it up completely.  The soda drinking will be much harder to give up, I think.  I love Diet Mountain Dew, which is strange because I detest all other soda.

Then there's the Nerium.  I love these products but won't buy them because of the expense.  Small T gifted them to me and it's my favorite Christmas present by far.  I couldn't believe she spent so much money on me though.  I have to watch her as she loves the day cream and uses it too.  lol  These products work wonders on my sun damaged face from all these years at the pool during the summer.

Next week, on Monday, I'll be going in to get my hair done.  I'm getting it highlighted since all my summer highlights are grown out and my hair looks terrible. I'm also getting my brows and lip waxed.  I can't go without that!

Another change I've been looking at is something that I let go over the years.  That's learning about putting my makeup on correctly and styling my hair differently when I need to change it up a bit.  That's a bit harder since I have shorter hair, but Pinterest has been great with showing different methods of fixing it.  So...2015 is about a "new me" in most cases.  What about you?

Mississippi Here We Come

Small T will graduate from high school in May and has been applying to different colleges/universities for the 2015-2016 school year. Her first choice is Mississippi State University.  After much thought, my husband and I told her she could apply, and listed our conditions IF she would be accepted.  Well, guess what...she was accepted.  Oh boy.

After several days of sitting on the good news, she announced it to the world. She's thrilled, let me tell you.  I'm so-so with it, but it's getting easier to accept with each day that goes by.

She's going to be around a 12 hour drive from us, if anything should happen.  I'll be saving up airfare money this summer when I'm working full time again.  I'm going to miss her horribly.  :(

Happy Belated Birthday

My nephew, Dakota, turned 21 while he was in Afghanistan. On that day, we all got together, had a drink in his honor, and sent him a group photo, as he requested. While he was home visiting, he called all of us that lived here in town, and we met him at the bar for a little birthday party. We were the only people in the bar the whole night and we had a great time.  Actually, too great of a time.  lol Luckily, we all live within walking distance of the bar and Small T came and took all our vehicles home so no one would be out drunk driving.  She's a good girl. We played pool, listened to the juke box, danced, took our pictures with Santa Claus, and had an all around great time. Happy 21st Dakota! I love you mister! Here are a few highlights of our evening.

 Dakota and I.

 Dakota and his mom, my youngest sister, Annie.

 Big Daddy and I.

 Being silly with 2 of my 5 sisters, Dea (middle) and Annie (right).

 My sister Dea was telling me how to make a really good bread pudding.  lol

 Dea and I.

 Annie.

 My oldest son, Medium J, and I.

 Medium J playing some pool.

 Rose (Dakota's wife), Timmy (my nephew, son of Dea), and Medium J.

Big Daddy and I, acting silly for a selfie in front of the Big Pecan on the way home.

Christmas Vacation - Crafting

I was really excited to be able to pick up my yarn and work on different projects during my four week vacation. Here are a few things I have completed during this time.

A Seed Stitch Infinity Scarf for Small T.  I used Red Heart With Love yarn in White.  It's the same pattern I have used previously, just half the width.  I started by casting on 19 stitches, which is just right for Small T's slight frame, and isn't so overpowering. This is finished now, and she loves it.  I just don't have a photo to share.  Sorry.

I made this hat for a friend's son. I used Red Heart Team Spirit yarn.

I completed this Homespun Knitted Baby Doll Blanket.

I finished this Diagonal Striped Knitted Baby Blanket.

I crocheted this Doll Blanket.

And this one too.

I knitted this doll blanket with more of my scrap yarn.

And this one too.

And I made myself some new slouchy hats. This one is Celestial (blue).

I really like this one.  It's Celestial, Autumn Red, and Charcoal Grey.

This one is Autumn Red and Charcoal Grey.  I like it too.

Small T made me clean my book shelves around the fireplace and in the process, I found all my crochet notebooks.  I didn't realize I had so many of them.  I've had a good time looking through them.

When I got tired of knitting and crocheting, I broke out my needlepoint bucket and started on a set of cross stitched pillow cases.

I have one of them done and have started on the second one.

Then I knitted another doll blanket.

I've really enjoyed spending time with my crochet and knitting projects and I'm really going to miss them when classes start again.  I'm going to need to find myself some small projects that I can work on every now and then, in short doses, so I'm not missing it so much these next four months.

Christmas Vacation - In The Kitchen

 I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen during Christmas vacation. Some of it, simply out of sheer boredom. I'm so used to things being hectic lately that I didn't know what to do with myself and all that spare time on my hands. So I baked.  A LOT.

 It started with a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  And a week later, another double batch.

 Then it went to a double batch of oatmeal scotchies.

 I tried something new to our house too.

 Holiday Ritz crackers.

 They were really good!  I ended up making 3 batches of these over the course of 2 weeks.  Medium J loved them!

 Another new thing I made was sugar cookies.  I've never taken the time to make them because of the whole "rolling out and cutting them" process.  I was surprised to see that it wasn't nearly that time consuming (or messy).

 I chose to sprinkle sugar on the top instead of icing them. I got a little too much sugar, I think.  lol

I don't have any photos, but I also made peanut butter cookies and peanut blossom cookies (which are my favorite).

I also made puppy chow (for my uncle and a friend's family too) and soda cracker candy (for my uncle).

 A friend shared a recipe for Cheese Logs.  I didn't make them, but I might next year. I'm not exactly sure what a cheese log is though.

 I also made cinnamon ornaments (for the first time).

 Little Miss E wanted to help.  She loved helping in the kitchen and I had to keep some cookie dough in the refrigerator for when she came by because she always asked to bake something.

 She did a great job cutting them out with the cookie cutter!

 And I chose to dry them over the course of a couple of days instead of baking them.  I love the way they looked when they were done.  I tried painting them, but didn't like it at all.

I Think I Saw An Elf

We watch a LOT of football in this house, whether I like it or not. During one of the games, I saw something I couldn't believe, and grabbed my phone to take a picture. I now know that Santa's elves do exist!

Just look at those ears! One of the KC Chiefs is an elf in disguise!!!