2011 in Review

It's hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone. I didn't stick to my resolutions/goals about my weight. :( So here I am, only about 10lbs lighter than I was this time last year. I made it through the holidays again without gaining weight, so that is a plus for sure.

What HAVE I done this year?
Created some WONDERFUL memories with my kiddos and husband
Loved with all I have
Forgiven people, let go of some of the hurt/anger from the past. SOME people, some. It's something I work on daily
Welcomed a new niece into this world
Put my 3rd child into school
Expanded my group of friends
Laughed a lot more
Cried, too
Painted MANY rooms (and spots) in my house
Hung pictures on the wall
Expanded my family meals :)
Started watching someone's child before and after school
Voiced my gratefulness a lot more
Celebrated my mom getting her Master's
Grew closer to some people
Volunteered to work at my church for PSR

These are just some SMALL things compared to what I know others have done or do do or go through. Life is about change and while I may not have changed my outward appearance, I have changed some of my inside appearance. :) Not a small accomplishment at times.

What have you done this year?

Pictures on Past Posts

I really have not gone back and updated them with pics. If you come across a post that has no pics on it, just an exclamation point and a black box, let me know. I will try and find the pics and put them back up. Somehow months ago I deleted all of the pictures that went with the posts. I know they are in my computer, but it's just a matter of linking and syncing them back up.

Thanks!

Cookie Exchange/Swap

Well, I promised pics of it, so here goes. :) Sorry so late. My dining room is one of the last rooms in my house to actually have decoration/photos/pics whatever on the walls, etc. So please don't judge me on the BARE walls. I am not gonna lie, I kinda just stuck that one picture frame up there for now to help "hide" the tape for the "Cookie Exchange" sign I hung up. lol. Lame, I know.

We had Peanut Butter Balls (made by moi) aka Buckeyes in some areas. We had Caramel Macchiato cookies, Snickerdoodles, those Rolo Turtle pretzel cookies, and MnM cookies. Yummm-O. I made labels for the bags (see the ones with the circles on them???) lol.

Confession Monday

This is what I walked in on last night.

As of yesterday, things have just NOT gone my way. lol. I am having a REALLY hard time with it. I get home after seeing my closest friend and the kitchen faucet has finally just crapped out. Mind you, it has been doing funky crap for the last few weeks and I have jumped on the hubby about taking care of it. He never has any time and I feel a bit guilty because I know what hours he is working, etc.
 

Can you say DISGUSTING?

  Thing is, I had plans to have a friend come over today, one that I haven't seen in a year, but talk to almost daily. So I made him go out and buy a new faucet. This house is only 7 years old. Some idiot (whoever put the faucet in) soddered some piece so now DH has to get the electric saw out to get the rest of the faucet out. WTH? I was of course upset and torn. It was 8pm and DH needed to BE AT WORK at 2am. I knew he needed sleep, but I needed my damn kitchen sink/faucet. I mean, I do have 4 kids that have to have breakfast in the morning etc. Besides, truth be told, I was a bit pissy that he didn't take care of it weeks ago. I pretty much said so last night when he said that he was going to bed because there was nothing he could do with it now, hardware stores were closed. He needed to get more copper now, too. He gave me the "we didn't have the tools" BS excuse as to why he didn't take care of it before. I wasn't about to get into the fact that we have family members who have TOOLS. Duh. You'd better believe we have tools now. :)

Yep,had to take all of the cleaning supplies out.

Tomorrow I get my haircut (it's been 8 weeks!) and then Wed is my Cookie Exchange. HELLO???? I am in PANIC MODE. Seriously. So, since I KNOW that there have to be other wives who get mad at their hubbies for procrastinating and then leaving their house/kitchen/garage/whatever space a mess, I thought I would be real and post it.

The Island.

 
"Now serving, Pity Party, table of 1." lol. Yes, that is my bottle of wine that I got out last night and had a glass. Hey, how about some wine with my whine? :)

Christmas Decor

It has been too long, peeps. Once again, life has gotten in the way. lol. Trips to Urgent Care,  school things, sicknesses, trying to decide what I am going to do since Dh's overtime is going to get cut, etc etc.

Today I wanted to show you how I decorated my mantel for Xmas. It's nothing immensely special, but I like how it looks. That's a good thing since I have to look at it daily. :)

I have other little bits of decor up now, too. Next week I am having a Cookie Swap, so I will post how I decorated for that next week.

Dining Room Chandelier

Above the kitchen table

The 3 boys count down to Xmas.

  There is alot more going on in my house with the Xmassy spirit/decor, but I didn't want to overload ya. :)