Thursday, December 25, 2008

So another Christmas is behind us. Hope everyone had a good one. We did but sure wish we could have spent it with our family that lives out of state. Monday and Tuesday I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off and by the end of the night I had everything done and ready to be delivered to co-workers, friends and family. *click on pics to enlarge*


At christmas not only do we celebrate the birth of Jesus but also the birth of our beautiful daughter. She turned 19 on christmas eve. Yes, 19 years ago on christmas eve I was in the hospital giving birth to her. It was one of the coldest days on record in Central Florida. It is such a rip off to be born around christmas. It was hard to have birthday parties for her at this time because everyone was so busy or out of town or had family in town. She had parties before where only two kids showed up. Also she gets all her presents for the year at one time and alot of times her gifts would be wrapped in christmas paper!


On christmas eve we went to our friends house for a party. There was food galore and beautiful decorations. Can you believe the party was held outdoors in their gigantic screened in room? It was 75 degrees outside!



Christmas morning we woke up around 8:30 and the girls unwrapped their gifts. As you can see they had a helper. Actually our 6 month old cat was really annoying the girls. She kept grabbing at the presents they were opening and then once they got the paper off she would attack it and bat it all around the living room. She also had to jump in and out of all the boxes.



Later in the day we went to my parents house for dinner. Here is my dad carving the spiral ham. We also had all of the other traditional dishes: sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pineapple souffle, rice and broccolli casserole and rolls.


My hubby is leaving tomorrow to go visit his mother, father, and brother in North Carolina. I really wish I could go but I have to work and want to save my vacation days for the summer. He is excited to see his family but I will miss him :-( I have to work today until one but as soon as I get home I will take down all my christmas decorations. I am one of those people that the day after christmas I cannot stand to look at the stuff one more day!


Gini


Monday, December 22, 2008

Today I finished all my christmas shopping. First I went to Joanne Fabrics where they were having 70% off of all their christmas items. I saw many, many, many things I would have loved to have bought but I restrained myself knowing I needed to finish buying for others ;-) I did buy a photo album for my oldest to put her pictures in from her trip to NYC with my sister last year. I then went to Walmart which was disgustingly packed and bought the ingredients to make homemade chex mix. It is so easy to make and delicious. I used a recipe that I found online but had to tweak it because it just seemed like it was missing something. Here all the ingredients minus the butter.



I then went to Big Lots and bought these tins to put the chex mix in. They will go to my husbands and my co workers as well as friends at the christmas eve party we are attending and friends and family that will be at my mothers on christmas day. The tins were $2 for the larger ones and $1.70 for the smaller.



At Big Lots I saw this Jelly Belly strawberry daquiri mx that I thought was cute and I bought it to give to my friend Tammy. It was only $3.50.



I also met my hubby for lunch for chinese this afternoon where they gave us enough food to feed an army. There was enough for me, my husband and my daughters lunch plus dinner for the both of us. I then went to a bbq place called Kellers to buy his boss a gift certificate. It was a busy and productive day and I am so glad that I do not have to set foot in a store again before christmas!

Gini




Sunday, December 21, 2008

Merry Christmas from my girls!

Okay I just figured out how to send the video to my blog hence the two different posts for today :-p

Merry Christmas from my girls!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Yay! I am almost done!

I am almost done with my shopping. On monday I will wrap it up. The "big" gift this year was an Xbox 360. My daughter and husband requested this one. Husband likes to pretend he is a nascar driver and 14 year likes to play games. She also asked for and recieved guitar hero. That is pretty fun. The other gifts are the things girls are made of: perfume, clothes, cute pajamas, and jewelry. See that carpet? This coming year it will be ripped up and replaced with laminate wood floors. I made these cupcakes for my wonderful co worker friends. The green things are actually little tiny christmas trees as you can see in the next pic.

Well maybe not....


I cannot believe there is only 5 more days till christmas. What really makes it unbelievable is when it is 80 degrees outside!

Gini

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Weekend get away in Homosassa



This past friday my husband, me. our youngest daughter Rachel, and her friend Bree left right after work to go and visit my friend and her family in Homosassa, Florida. We really needed a break and we always have a good time when we go. Our husbands love to fish and her husband has a boat. On Saturday morning the guys got up early and went fishing and us girls went out to lunch here at the Sawgrass restaurant. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Afterwards we called the guys who said they would be heading through the river soon and they picked us up at a dock and took us to see the manatees in the springs. These are a couple of the houses that we saw along the river.





This is an island called Monkey Island and there are what else... monkeys on it! There is a restaurant on the bank of the river and this island is visible from the restaurant.








Every year Homosassa has a christmas boat float parade. These are a couple of the boat floats. We did not stay to see the parade because we were just too tired.




We left sunday afternoon. We had a great time. Homosassa is old time florida. It is so rural and peaceful and such a change of pace from where we live. I am looking forward to going back in the summer for a few days.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Gift to me :-), Decorating and a project

Today was my day off and I went for some retail therapy. I was actually supposed to Christmas shop but I got a late start and did not have a list made up yet of what to get and where to go to get it. I like to comparison shop prior. So.... I went to my new favorite store for stuff for my home...TJ Maxx and then Ross and Kirklands. I found this really cute "vintage" apron at Ross for $8.99. I just wish it wasn't so wwiiddee on me ;-).



This is the top of my entertainment center. I am not done yet. I need to fill the white bowl with some red christmas balls. I made the monogrammed plaque. I got the idea from one of the blogs I read but I can't remember which one.
My kitchen is green, black and white theme and I bought this lamp post at Goodwill for $3.99 without the shade. I bought the shade at Walmart and hot glued the little white ball ric rac to it. I think it turned out cute.

Tomorrow I will definitely get some christmas shopping done as well as some cleaning. I will be working wendsday and thursday and then this weekend we are going to Homossassa springs to visit my best friend and her family. I am looking forward to it!
Gini


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Christmas Decor and Egg Rolls :-)

I decided to do something different with my tree this year. It has a white and red theme. I don't know why it looks so blurry in the picture it's actually really pretty.


I bought this to hang in my kitchen at Joannes Fabrics. They have all their Christmas merchandise on sale at 60% off.



Tonight I made these for dinner. They are... egg rolls. They are delicious. They are made with pork, cabbage, green onions, celery and soy sauce. They are time consuming but so worth it. My husband loves them. Here they are cooking away in the deep fryer.



Here they are done. Ready to eat. Delicious!





Have a great weekend!
Gini