Monthly Archives: November 2008

Deck The Halls With Memes of Holly…

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Snagged this Christmas themed meme @ Trish’s blog, Another Piece of the Puzzle. Now that Turkey Day is officially behind us, I can fully focus my energies on The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

Getting To Know Your Friends – Christmas Edition

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I prefer gift bags but they get expensive so I try to stick to wrapping paper (brown kraft paper) and then splurge on a couple gift bags for the harder to wrap things.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, just seems more sensible and economically savvy to me

3. When do you put up the tree? It’s different every year. I wanted to put it up last night but hubby vetoed that idea. Probably early to mid December

4. When do you take the tree down? Our first Christmas it stayed up for months – it might have been April when we finally took it down. I don’t remember last year but it wasn’t up nearly that long.

5. Do you like eggnog? I LOVE eggnog in no uncertain terms

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can’t even remember which means I either got terrible gifts growing up or the present part just really isn’t that important. I was never really a toys kid though, I preferred books, because even as a child I was a stuff middle aged woman.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Probably my husband or else his brother – who I just make dh pick out presents for. The hubby simply has most anything he needs and doesn’t want and crave stuff to the extent that I do.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My son – there is no shortage of things I’d like to buy him and he is like me and loves pretty much everything.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No but I’d like one, despite not being very religious.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? So far I’m still mailing them but if I were smart I’d just email

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably the Jazzy Santa my son got when he was 1 – I’m sure they thought it was funny but the guy was creepy and really, for a one year old? I just don’t get it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? We just watched The Shop Around the Corner last night and I absolutely fell in love. I also love Elf, White Christmas, and Rudolph

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in November usually, sometimes even as early as October. I’m actually done Christmas shopping, apart from a few more stocking stuffers which I’ll pick up over the course of the month. We kept our list very small this year though so it didn’t take long.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Did I mention that Jazzy Santa? My friend S thought it was hysterical so I gladly passed it on to her that same year.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? COOKIES – I’m a gluttonous cookieaholic!

16. Lights on the tree? Sure, any color is pretty! We usually do multi colored but I like the white lights, too

17. Favorite Christmas song? Baby It’s Cold Outside – I love the version Will Ferrell and Zoey Deschenal do in Elf. Meghan Mullalley and Big from Sex and the City did a pretty terrific version too on her talk show once.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Well we do leave the home, but not out of state, just to visit various relatives. We like to do Christmas morning at home first though.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Maybe if you give me enough time I always mix up a couple though. With the help of Google though I’m golden!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We’ve had a star for the last couple of years because our artificial tree has one permanently placed there, but I prefer angels – but there are a lot of really ugly angel toppers out there whereas stars seem pretty difficult to Uglify. When I find the perfect angel I’ll buy a tree with no permanent topper. Ours is nice and tiny though and fits well in our little apartment – also came prelight with those fiberglass light things. Very pretty. If it weren’t for the tacky star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Well my birthday is Dec 24 so I get to open presents both days usually, but Christmas Presents get opened Christmas day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The crazy traffic and crowds in the stores. It’s insane and can really put me in a grouchy non-Christmasy mood.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love angels, beyond that anything is pretty – I go for a mix matched bunch of ornaments from my childhood, dh’s childhood and a few new ones – plus the stuff permanently fixed on the tree.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Who cares about Christmas dinner? When are the cookies coming out?

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A couple new sweaters and some games for our new Wii

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Whoever really likes memes or Christmas or memes about Christmas?

If you play along, please leave me a comment and let me know, so I can read your answers!

Aloha Friday: Christmas Movies

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It’s time for another Aloha Friday, the day that you take it easy and look forward to the weekend, in Hawaii and blogland anyway. As you should know by now, over at An Island Life, Kailani decided that on Fridays she would take it easy on posting and ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life’s blog. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

So I decided that it would be fun to rent a couple Christmas-themed movies every week and watch them on Friday nights, as a cheesy way to celebrate the season and also to expand my repertoire of Christmas movies – Each week I’m planning to rent one aimed for kids to watch with my son and another more grown up movie to watch with dh. So my question this week is:

What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

Giving Thanks: Happy Turkey Day!

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Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving (or just a wonderful Thursday to my international visitors)!

I’ll be off today visiting family, family and more family, then taking the kiddo to see Bolt which looks soooo cute! In celebration of this Thankful Thursday here are thirteen things I am thankful for this year:

  1. Having a strong marriage to a wonderful husband who I fall more in love with every day.
  2. A smart, adorable son who amazes me constantly and fills me to the brim with love.
  3. A caring, kind hearted family who is always there to help when needed and share our happy memories. I love living so close to them especially while my son is young.
  4. Friends that make me feel very lucky – who I wish I could see way more often.
  5. The luck of being married to an engineer, whose hard work and smarts make it possible for me to stay home with my son.
  6. Being debt free in the midst of our nation’s financial crisis.
  7. The price of gas finally falling for the first time in YEARS – may it continue to do so or at least not rise again too soon.
  8. That my Christmas shopping is almost done, which seems unreal!
  9. Having a roof over my head, food in my refrigerator and a fresh supply of drinking water – not something everyone can say, unfortunately.
  10. For finally finding a “diet” that seems to work.
  11. That my bedroom floor is finally nearly empty – we’ve been cleaning HARD this week and it looks amazing!
  12. My relatively good health – we’ve been blessed so far with few accidents, illnesses and mishaps.
  13. Lastly, I’m thankful that I won’t be hosting Turkey Day – won’t be in the kitchen cooking all day for all my friends and family and won’t be stuck doing all the clean up afterwards (though I’m likely to help the people who are) – I am well aware how fortunate I am to have amazing women already filling that role – and to the women reading this who host Thanksgiving for your families, consider me in awe of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

l,m,n,o MEME

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I was tagged by Jen @ Stuff Jen Says to another alphabet meme – which you now I can’t resist a good meme – so here it is, hot off the press:

A : Attached or Single: very much attached

B : Best Friend: Ange, Linds, Steph, Amanda… actually I could go on and I’m not very good at choosing!

C : Cake or Pie: Typically I’d go for the pie but it does depend on the cake – the Marzipan holiday cake at our local bakery is to die for and I’ve been dreaming about flourless chocolate cake ever since reading about and drooling over the pictures at Andrea’s blog @ Sgt and Mrs Hub.

D : Day of Choice: these days it’s Sunday as we’re pretty much guaranteed not to be baby sitting, it’s usually a day we have to ourselves.

E : Essential Item: probably my dearie little iMac – I’d be hard pressed to live without it (or at least some computer of some kind I guess but I’d prefer it be my iMac)

F : Favorite Color: green, almost any shade… almost…

G : Greatest Accomplishment: my lack of criminal record (Oh I like Jen’s answer, I think I’ll steal it)

H : Hometown: I’ve moved so much it’s hard to say but I guess anywhere in Central MA should cover it

I : Indulgences: good books, good food… good kid?

J : January or July: July definitely – love the warm weather

K : Kids: one for now…

L : Life is incomplete without: family (ditto)

M : Marriage: is so much easier (even when it seems like a lot of work!)

N : Number of Siblings: 1 brother, 1 half brother, 4 half sisters (I think, forgive me if I missed one… Amber, Shayln, Tamara, Erin… ::crosses fingers::) and 1 brother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law lol okay I’m done now

O : Oranges or Apples: oranges but clementines are even better!

P : Phobias or fears: I’m a mother, there’s very little out there I don’t fear at some point – spoons? I can see them being fear-worthy. Sharks? Oh yes. Rubber bands, hoo boy…

Q : Quotes: “There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.”

R : Reason to Smile: dh has the day off tomorrow! (and you know that whole thanksgiving thing)

S : Season: fall

T : Tag Friends: Jean, Andrea & anyone else who wants to!

U : Unknown facts about me: with all these memes I fill out, I’d be surprised if there’s anything left…

V : Very favorite store(s): Target, IKEA, The Container Store, The Apple Store, Trader Joes…

W : Worst habit: procrastinating (yeah me, too… says Jen who should be working on her novel…)

X : X-ray or Ultrasound: I’ll take ultrasound for 400

Y : Your favorite food: anything bad for me will probably do just fine

Z : Zodiac: Capricorn

Your turn!

GIVEAWAY ALERT: Build-A-Bear Wii Game

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Head over to Andrea’s blog @ Chocolate Fingerprints asap to win a copy of the new Build-A-Bear game for Nintendo Wii:

To enter this giveaway, just visit the Build-A-Bear Charity Auction. Then go to Andrea’s blog and tell her which item you will/would bid on. That’s it! You can add extra entries for blogging about the giveaway, twittering about the giveway or putting Andrea’s button in your sidebar.

A Surprising Discovery

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I’m surprised. I can’t believe none of you ever mentioned how insanely hot Jack Johnson is. Here I’ve been all John Mayer obsessed for so long I guess I never bothered to LOOK at Jack Johnson, I mean except for this:

Yeah I’ve seen that – he looks like a tool (forgive me for saying so, but it’s true and it’s awfully sneaky and unfair of him to be covering up like that so that I remained up until this moment unaware that he really looks like this:

I had to wait for Curious George to let me know. The movie ended and we are still waiting for dh to get home (should be any minute now, you know right about when I post something indecent about my thoughts about Jack Johnson now) and MM was all, “I want George,” and I was all, “We just watched George,” but he was insistent and rather than start the movie over again I turned to the special features which I’ve ignored up until now and played the Upside Down music video and this gorgeous hunk jumps into the water after slipping on a banana peel that George so sneakily left on the ground and I’m all, “Who is that hottie, because that can’t be Jack Johnson… can it?”

But I googled and it so clearly IS Jack Johnson and now I’m like, “How could I not have known this? I’ve been deceived all this time – I never knew he looked just as hot as his music sounds amazing – I could have started a fan club. Or at least joined one.” And you should have told me, blogland – I put my trust in you to keep me abreast of these things. Never once have I seen Mr. Jack Johnson on the Friday Eye Candy list – ladies, I expect more than that from you – how have you been leaving him out?

Point is – you ladies need to keep a better eye on all the potential hotness so that we don’t miss out on any more of this. I’m now plotting getting tickets to a Jack Johnson concert because I didn’t know there was such a huge advantage to seeing him live – and if I keep it on the low down, dh won’t suspect a thing…

5 Things…

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Snagged this meme from Jen @ Our Daily Big Top:

Five Things On My To Do List

  1. Finish Christmas shopping – I’m actually almost done for once!
  2. Try to finish Harvesting the Heart asap
  3. Work a bit harder on my nanowrimo novel
  4. Finish cleaning out the bedroom (we’re trying to make more space)
  5. Work on reading my growing stack of magazines

Five Things I Like To Snack On

  1. Wachusett Sour Cream and Onion potato chips
  2. Yoplait Light lemon cream pie yogurt
  3. Trader Joe’s Joe Joes (like oreos but better)
  4. Marzipan Stollen (right now while it’s in stores it’s my rare indulgence)
  5. Ben and Jerrys Ice Cream

Five Things I Would Do If I Was a Millionaire

  1. Buy a house in the state and town of our choice
  2. Replace one or both of our cars – we want to get either a hatchback or a small SUV eventually
  3. Take lots and lots of vacations
  4. Save up as much money as possible for education, retirement, etc.
  5. Donate generously to charities

Five Places I Have Lived

  1. Southern CA
  2. Central MA (several towns)
  3. also Southern CA
  4. Kentucky
  5. more Central and also South Eastern MA

Five Jobs I Have Had

  1. sales girl at DEB Shops
  2. merchandising specialist at Circuit City
  3. every position at college newspaper
  4. children’s manager at local bookstore
  5. stay at home mom

I’m tagging everybody who wants to play along!

What's On My Nightstand

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It’s time for the November addition of What’s On Your Nightstand, a fun book meme @ 5 Minutes For Books. All you have to do is write about what you are reading, what you plan to read, or what you just finished reading. You can take a picture of your actual nightstand or not – the details are up to you!

This month I’ll write about what I’m currently reading and what I’m claiming to be reading and the next book I’m planning to read (for my book club which we are finally starting back up again!). So here’s what’s on my “night stand” or you know scattered around my apartment willy nilly-like:

  1. Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult – I am about 2/3rds through this book about a girl whose mother abandoned the family when she was 5 years old and is now struggling to identify herself as a mother and doubting her own abilities, worried that history will inevitably repeat itself. I’m liking it a lot, but due to the heavy material of the book it’s taking me awhile to get through. I’m hoping to finish it by the 29th when the book is due back at the library.
  2. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick – I’ve had this book for years and as much as it’s enjoyable and I want to read it, I don’t seem to be very good at sticking to non-fiction. This book is like a history book in that it’s chock full of facts and details but it’s written almost like a narrative, making it more interesting. Not interesting enough apparently as I’m still on page 24 out of 358. I never was good at actually reading multiple books at the same time though.
  3. The No-Cry Potty Training Solution by Elizabeth Pantley – I’m “reading” this in preparation for training my son, which could happen any day now or not for months at the rate we’re going. He’s not quite ready yet but could be soon, you know?
  4. Death: A Life by George Pendle – this is the book we’re reading for my book club. We’re planning to meet sometime  in December so I’ll be reading it as soon as I finish Harvesting the Heart. It’s a fictional humorous memoir of Death, which should be very interesting and for sure different from my normal reading selection.

Here are some books I’d love to read soon-ish but have no idea when I’ll actually get to:

So what’s on YOUR nightstand?

Looking Fine 2009: 5 Weeks To Go!

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I didn’t do as well this week as last, losing only .2 pounds, but considering I broke down a bit to celebrate dh’s birthday three days in a row and experienced going out to eat for the first time since starting this whole calorie counting thing, I’m just thankful to have not gained weight this weekend while indulging in Pizzeria Unos or Applebees or all that delicious birthday cake.

Restaurants aside, I think I exhibited excellent portion control this week, even during the various birthday cake celebrations with family. I only ate one of the chocolate chip cookies I made dh for his birthday, that night, and haven’t had another since. I’ve gotten pretty good about my night time snacking and I’m pretty enamored with our new Wii which has become my main source of workout, earning me another one of these:

This week is Thanksgiving which makes me a little nervous but I’m hoping to just remember to be sensible and eat as well as possible the other six days. This weekend is also GAME NIGHT so I’ll need to do the same that night – I have a tendency to throw caution to the wind when all my besties show up for good food and good times. Maybe we’ll all be so busy playing the Wii that we’ll forget to gorge ourselves senseless?

So plans for this week are much the same:

  • Attempt to exercise 5 times this week.
  • Drink plenty of water and stick to my calorie count.
  • Keep my head above water during Thanksgiving and Game Night

How are your diets going? Anybody else pumped to be looking fine by 2009?