Resolutions anyone?

As the year is winding down, I begin to think about resolutions. Does anyone else?

For Christmas the boys got a Wii Fit. Guess what it told me? That I was fat! It even set me up on a weight loss plan!!!! Now is that pushy or what. I think it should be banned. Of course Hubby and the boys got to see the whole thing! Now, they are encouraging me to follow through. So maybe I will.

My other thought is that I should get back into couponing and trying to save more money. I haven't done so hot the last couple of months. Between work and the holidays I haven't done so well. My work schedule will be hectic in January, but I won't have the holidays.

What are you guys doing for the new year?

More Christmas

After the Rockettes, we went to a late Christmas Eve mass. This is Hubby and the boys dressed up after mass. Brown Eyes, the youngest, still had lots of energy. Green Eyes, the oldest, could barely hold his eyes open.

Christmas morning the boys were waiting on the stairs to go see what Santa had left. They were very patient.

The boys with Nana on Christmas morning.

We went to visit Hubby's family over Christmas. This is Blue Eyes with two of his adorable cousins.

Christmas Eve

A generous person gave Hubby 4 tickets to the Rockettes. We saw it in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Hubby was working, so I took the boys. Photography was allowed as long as you were not a professional or had a professional camera. So, I took lots of pictures that turned out wonderful.

This was a toy soldier scene. The canon shot them, and the soldiers began to fall.

The dancing Santas were a hit with my boys. Lots and lots of Santas.

The seats we were given were fabulous. We were in a box with four seats. The boys thought it was wonderful. They will probably never get to see seats like this again. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful donor.

Christmas gifts

It sleeted here last night, so school has been canceled today. That means I am at home, no work today for me.

I took advantage of the day off to finish Christmas gifts for my co-workers. These are to hang on their wall at work. They are on 20" X30" foam board. I covered it with contact paper, so that they can use scotch tape to put their photos on at work.

I tried to use modge podge on the first one I made, but the foam board curled up as it dried. So, my friend, Paula, suggested that I try contact paper, and it worked. Thank you, Paula. Now I have a scrap one. I am glad I had a scrap one, because each one turned out better than the one before.

My birthday

Last Friday was my birthday. The boys each made pictures for me.

This was my fabulous gift. I have had the Canon EOS for years. It is a 35mm film camera. I got the Tamron 70-300 foot lens. It is amazing. I used it to take pictures at Blue Eyes Christmas program. They turned out great.

Christmas video

I got this idea from my blogging buddy, Trina. If you would like to create your own, click here. Just something fun for the holidays

Twitter

I have been trying Twitter. I think I need more friends to make if fun.
If you Twitter, click http://twitter.com/michaelanns to follow me.
If you don't Twitter and would like to click http://www.twitter.com.
Just click to follow me, and then I will follow you back.

Scrapbook storage

I bought this today at Hobby Lobby for about $30. I think I am going to like it . I scrapbook/craft at the table in the formal dining. I don't have storage in their for my fun things. I can roll this from the closet to the table when I am crafting or scrapbooking. I like all the compartments to sort the papers. What do you use?

Crazy Cat

This is our darling cat, Valentine. She is named Valentine, because that is the day she was rescued from an abusive home. She is a real sweetheart. She does hid from people she doesn't know. Other than that there are no other signs of her former life.

I got tired of stepping on the little pieces of litter every time I do laundry. I purchased the new Breeze litter box system last night. It uses pellets that are bigger, so I am hoping they won't get thrown like the gravely stuff.

I took away her old litter box and gave her the new one. So far she is yet to use the new one. All day she sat by it and cried to me. She looked pitiful. About 6 hours into not using it, I got her a few "nuggets" from the old box, and put them into the new one. I was hoping she would smell it and know it was okay to use.

A couple of hour later, I was more concerned, she had gone at least 8 hours without visiting a litter box. I decided to bring in the old box. The manufactures instructions said to place the two side by side. I should discontinue maintenance on the old box. It would get really bad, and she would decide to use the new one. Then I should get rid of the old one.

When I brought in the old on, she used it. Then she got out and began to purr while loving on it with her chin. Crazy cat. She must really like that old stinky box.

Reality check

It is Christmastime. Our homes are beautifully decorating and warm and inviting to anyone who walks through our doors. Screach on those brakes. That is a myth in my world. I always am beating myslef up for the condition of my home and lack of cleaning abilities.

I thought maybe someone else was like me. So I am posting pictures of my piles, so you would know that you are not alone!!!

The above picture is where I am making gifts and wrapping packages. It usually is where homework gets done, but that has been moved to the kitchen table. This is what someone sees when they walk into my home. Lovely. Want to come in? No run as fast as you can.

These are the barstools. The breakfast bar cannot be used, because once again I have piles. These piles are school papers and mail.

See someone else has as much junk and piles as you do. Actually I probably have much more. And the beauty of this situation is I don't know when I will be to clean it. I am working much more right now. Then there is the little issue of Christmas. I still have much more shopping to do. I am hosting at least one gathering before Christmas, with the possibility of an additional on Saturday (yikes, in 2 days). Somehow it will all come together, I just can't foresee how. I also have a cold, so maybe when I feel better, things will look better, and I'll get some work done!

Christmas card photo

I love what Trina did with her Christmas card. We went with a silly version. The verse I used on the card was "Wishing you a Silent Night and peaceful Christmas." Aren't we silly?

I used pickic to edit the photo. Picnik is a free site that Trina had told me about. I was contemplating purchasing photoshop, and she recommended picnik.

Some decorating

This is the shelf above the breakfast nook window. One of my favorite Christmas decorations is the pictures of the boys from past Christmases. Each year we have chosen one picture to enlarge to a 5 X7 or 8 X 10 and frame. Most of them are pictures that we have taken ourselves. Some were taken professionally, such as these.

This is the boys' tree at the top of the stairs. It has all the decorations that they have made on it. This is the tree that took flight down the stairs yesterday.

I tried to take a picture of the stairs. The garland is tied on with ribbon. Decorations hang from the landing. The stockings are tied on with more ribbon. The cat is going nuts trying to get the ornaments that are dangling. There is also a tree at the top of the stairs.

This is the main Christmas tree. It is downstairs. Santa will visit this tree, and it is where the gifts will be.

Today's mishaps

We did some decorating for Christmas today. My goal was to get the tree up. This is our first Christmas in this house, so I wasn't sure where everything would/could be placed. We put a tree downstairs, but we put it two places before we liked it. Hubby decided we could put another tree in the landing upstairs for the boys. We had an old tree in the attic. To make it fit in the corner nicely, we decided to leave off the bottom back branches. That way it didn't stick out so far. Looked good. Then we had the boys decorating while I was downstairs with my sister. We heard a crash, and then "Dad come quick!". The tree was on its way down the stairs.

We had made the tree top heavy by taking the bottom branches off. We packed a small suitcase full of books and placed on the stand in the back where the branches were. Now it is standing fine. They got it decorated without any further mishaps.

Then I decided to post to my blog. I went to put my SD card into the computer to download some pictures. I put the card into the wrong slot. I put it into a bigger slot. Poor hubby had to take the whole processor apart to get it out. But he did. He's just awesome to have around!

Indoor soccer

Brown Eyes is playing indoor soccer. It is a lot of fun to watch, because it is so fast paced. Play doesn't really stop. They play off the walls. Basically the only time it stops is if the ball hits a net overhead. They aren't allowed to hit the nets.

Boys

I got a few pictures of the boys at my parents. I picked up a new Kodak camera on Friday. It is 10 megapixels with 12 optical zoom. I have been trying it out to see if I want to keep it. I did return the small Polaroid to Wagreens today. They didn't ask any questions. I just told them the pictures were too grainy. It was also 10 megapixels, but only 3 optical zoom.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents on Friday. We waited so that my sister could join us. She is a chef and had a big day at work on Thanksgiving. We had lots to eat. I did sneak out Friday morning to do a little shopping. I didn't leave until about 7:30, so I missed somethings.