November 2011 Archives

Real or Artificial Christmas Tree?

Question. Real tree or artificial tree?

I grew up in Florida, so Christmas trees were usually bought at Lowes or Home Depot. On the couple of occasions when I drove to where ever they keep the woods in Florida to cut down a tree, it just didn’t feel right to swing that axe in 80 degrees and wearing shorts. Holiday spirit shouldn’t cause sweating!

Now that I live in North Carolina, tree lots are everywhere. We would browse through the trees, appropriately freezing our tushies off, looking for the perfect tree. It was a family tradition I looked forward to. Until…

A few years ago on Christmas Eve, my kids said the tree had bugs crawling out of it. Never heard of such a thing before, so I didn’t quite believe them. Then I saw these little creatures all over the carpet and in the tree! Oh Holy Night! I DON’T LIKE BUGS! What was a mom to do except scream for her hubby and call her Mommy! My mom rushed over to help my hubby take the ornaments off the tree and flick the bugs off the gifts that were already under the tree. All the while I’m standing back away from the tree, jumping up and down, screaming like a girl! Not a proud moment for me. The tree finally made its way to the curb. Hundred of bugs were crawling around the tree stand. Its has horrible. Of course all our neighbors saw our Christmas tree at the curb on Christmas Eve and wondered what the heck was going on at our house. We ended up putting a miniature tree on a table in the family room and piled presents in a corner. Ahhh… memories.

So for this girl, fake trees are for me! We bought a beautiful one last year and I love it. And it came bug free!

By Laurie|November 30th, 2011|LOL (humor)|4 Comments

More Holiday Decor

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. My family and I definitely did! I have declared going out for dinner on Thanksgiving our new family tradition. The restaurant, Red Rocks, had a fantastic buffet with traditional turkey day fixings, plus oodles of other yummy options. It was perfect. (And I didn’t have to eat meat!)

I didn’t shop on Black Friday. Back in the day I would have been out the door at the crack of dawn with a game plan. These days, my game plan is waking up after the coffee has been made and the kids have been fed. Sleep has trumped shopping. I don’t know if that is good or sad. : )

But we did get the Christmas lights up outside, and the house and tree was decorated to the sounds of Trans Siberian Orchestra. I made a wreath for the door inspired from ideas I have seen on Pinterest.

The wreath started out as pool noodle that I ducted tape together and wrapped with yarn. The “poinsettia” are made from felt, decorated with small christmas ornaments and dried flowers. Tis the season!

By Laurie|November 28th, 2011|SOS (tutorials)|2 Comments

Why am I Here?

I don’t know if it’s the holiday season, age (nah!), lack of sleep, thinking too much or just being a mom, but my memory is awful. I can’t keep a thought in my head for very long. Yesterday during our normal morning routine, I was prodding my daughter along. I told her to pack her backpack and fill her water bottle. Not five seconds later she said, “what did you tell me to do?” (No one listens to me!) My response to her was “SERIOUSLY?!”… followed up with “well I don’t remember either”! My hubby, who was leisurely having a bowl of cereal at the bar, very nearly had milk coming out of his nose from laughing!

One day I spent 20 minutes looking frantically for my purse that was actually on my shoulder! True story. On a daily basis I run up the stairs on an important mission only to wonder why I’m there. I have called hubby three times from Target because I couldn’t remember what two items I was there to get. I have panicked looking for my cell phone… the very phone I’m talking on. I could go on and on, but… what was I talking about?

While I’m THINKING about it – I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving. I will. I’m going out to dinner. If I can remember where the reservations are. : )