New Year's Eve

This is what is on the menu for tonight. Mini corn dogs, mini bison burgers, and pizza on a stick! I love mini foods, and put it on a stick and I'm in! I was thinking of my family's traditional potato skins, but that seems like too much food to me.
We (my husband and I) will celebrate the New York New Year (10 pm here) 'cause we're old. This year we have had to take the bitter with the sweet. I lost a dear friend to cancer, but learned a lot about myself and life in the process. I was in an accident, lost "normal" brain function for awhile, but it is sooooo much better now that I have accepted "the new normal". My son had his Bar Mitzvah, and all of our family joined in the celebration, no matter what religions we all are. I'm looking forward to a Happy and Healthy New Year! I wish one for you and your family as well.

Oh, I almost forgot my New Year's Resolutions: Keeping a schedule, writing notes to myself, not hating "the lists" that I have to keep, and getting used to 2010, when I barely realized it was 2009!

Keep Calm and Carry On

The Original

Divine Knock-Offs!

Holiday Card Display

I love to get mail, so this is my favorite time of the year! I display all of the Holiday Cards down my staircase so I can look at them every time I go by. I just use ribbon and clothespins to attach them. Can you find yours?

Merry Christmas

We had a beautiful snowy Christmas here in Denver! My older son and I were "staycationing" at our friends house, the younger son was on a cruise, and my husband was working on Christmas. (If you are Jewish it is only fair that you work on Christmas so the others can be with their families.)
It had all the makings of a fabulous holiday. There was a little drama, but not too much, a ton of delicious treats, Santa's footsteps on the roof, a pajama breakfast at the neighbors house next door, card games, and general merriment! We have such great friends that think to include us in their fun. It was soo nice! Thanks again to our sweet friends Keys, Krista, and Jake!

Hammonds Candy Bar

I put together a "candy bar" in my entry way. I don't really care that much for candy so I'm lucky. I LOVE the Candy Land bucket that my adorable friend Lisa K. gave me on our lunch date the other day. It reminds her of being a Candy Land Cheater, and we have that in common! (Among many other crazy things we share like 48 Hours Mystery shows on tv. Hey there is no mystery....the husband did it!)

I used Hammonds Candy for the display. We are lucky that it is made right here in Denver. Go on the tour it's fun. I was a little sad that it didn't resemble Willy Wonka's factory at all, but it is very interesting!

Family Stone

Do you love Family Stone? (After all this time I finally just got the title...) I watched it last night, and it is a Holiday Movie, but lets get something clear... the dinner table scene is enough to put me in a home for a month. I'm cringing I want to shout out SHUT UP! STOP NOW! AAaargghhh! Holy Moly!
Everyone knows my motto is, "It isn't Christmas until someone is crying in the bathroom!"
Our holidays are tame, for the most part, thank goodness. Watch this movie it is completely "Cringe-worthy".

Speaking of which, my son had "the dreaded H1N1" and watched all 10 seasons of Seinfeld in one week. So at Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house, he says,
"Hey Mom, What is Sponge-worthy again?"
Nice.

Snow Day

Our older son is staycationing with our friends, our younger one is on a tropical cruise with my mother-in-law. What a perfect snowy morning for blueberry scones (I used this recipe here) and hot cocoa! Yum! It is a perfect winter wonderland here.
How's your day going?

These are a few of my favorite things....

Okay, so I'm lounging by the pool at the health club, when a woman walks by in the cutest retro bathing suit ever. It looked like an old fashioned postcard of California. Now I grew up in Central California and I love all things retro so I (very) sweetly say,

"Oh, I love your bathing suit, where did you find it!"

She shrugs and says,

"Oh this is really old, I don't know." and turns around.

(I was going to mention to all marathon runners, who work out more than they should, that if they aren't careful they will grow hair on their face, but I won't 'cause I'm nice.)

Moving along, I go home, check the mail, get the 4 thousandth Victoria Secret catalog that month, open it up and there it is! The cute bathing suit!!

Liar!! Why do you ask, am I telling you this? I bought the matching sarong and framed it for my dining room, and I love it!

(Don't tell fibs, 'cause you might grow extra hair where you don't want it. Just saying.)

December Movie Night

When I told the boys it was "dinner and a movie night!" They were so excited, and replied, "Chilis and Invictus!"
Oh, maybe I should have made myself clear. I meant Christmas Vacation and snacks.

Let's just say they were less than impressed. I personally think brie and crackers with iced tea is a perfect dinner. They do not. So I made them some sandwiches, queso dip, and tons of movie candy to make them happy! I'm a good mom that's why!
Look at the beautiful Christmas lights outside my bedroom window....so beautiful! I set up dinner in my sitting area, so cozy, and hotel-ish!

A fun time was had by all! (or so they told me. my husband is very sweet and tells them to play along with my "fun" ideas) He was working or he would have been all over it. (Until he falls asleep 5 minutes into the movie. It is like clockwork.)

Snow Please

It is 53 degrees here today. You have got to be kidding me. I would like some snow please. Just about a foot or so. Thank you.

Holiday Cards A Retrospective

If you didn't receive a card this year it is because I sent them out with no postage. They came back, I put postage on them and tried it again. Maybe you shouldn't put me in charge of such a large responsibility all things considered. Just making an observation. Enjoy!

Happy Hanukkah Yeeeee Haw

Love this! My MIL sent this to me. She's right, this would have been GREAT at my son's Dude Ranch Bar Mitzvah. Yeee Haw! I've watched it 5 times already.

Santa's Workshop

This is how you travel in my neck of the woods. That's Missy my next-door-neighbor. You can see her Christmas tree from my bedroom window. Very pretty!

She brought some delicious ingredients over for the school bake sale. This is my reaction to her mad kitchen skills. (or lack thereof. )
We had the Christmas tunes cranked, wore my cute aprons, (Thanks Lisa K.!)

Made some dee-licious Christmas treats...

And had a few disasters. These look pretty but they didn't turn out right. Missy claims that, "I used all of the right ingredients, but I didn't put them in the right order, does that matter?"

You be the judge.

I'm nice so I won't show you the picture where I photoshopped a holiday tattoo on her. I am so lucky to have great neighbors!! (Except for the one who calls the cops if kids play too close to her house. No Joke.)

GW Glamour

Well I found another $20.00 table at my favorite little boutique GW!

A little black spray paint and look how pretty she is. The table will be perfect with the dining rooms chairs that I painted earlier! *Tip* Make sure the spray paint is kept inside until you are ready to spray. It was below freezing when I painted the table in my garage. It worked fine. I did have heaters running to warm up the table.

I love how pretty the table looks all dressed with presents!
Here is more detailed post on the materials I used:http://septemberthemarch.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-dining-room-chair.html

Miracle of the Season

My son chose to do some extra credit for his science class. The experiment was showing how crystals are formed. He chose to make a Star of David, but you can make snowflakes, or I think icicles would be beautiful.

What a great way to show the "miracle" of crystal formation with the miracles of the season. They are really beautiful and require very few ingredients. Make some with your kids tonight!

Making ornaments with the kids works for me!
For complete instructions go here :http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnowflake.htm

Marshmallow Fluff-i-licious-ness

I love this picture, the colors are so perfect all marshmallow and caramel. What could be bad. (I would have to move that scary Santos on the right hand side. I just can't risk that thing coming alive in the middle of the night.)

Last night when I went up to my room it was so beautiful. It was snowing and all of the neighbor's Christmas lights were twinkling in the dark.

My new room looked so pretty I thought that I would take a picture to show you, and this is what my bed looked like when I got back.


The culprit.

This is what it is supposed to look like! All marshmallow and fluffiness! I love it. Can you see why I don't really want to leave it in the morning?!

Frost and Flame

I'm getting ready for Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a very minor holiday in the Jewish tradition. It is a celebration of a victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians and a miracle of lights. The Syrians destroyed the Jewish Temple and the only thing to survive was an oil lamp. The light lasted for eight days when it only had enough oil to last one. That is the reason we light eight candles, one for each night of the miracle. Hanukkah is a wonderful holiday of renewed dedication, faith, hope and spiritual light. It's a holiday that says: "Never lose hope."
We are having a special Hanukkah dinner with traditional potato latkes with applesauce and brisket. Yumm!

I made a white snowflake pom-pom on marabou ribbon. So cute and winter-y! My sons have complained that our home isn't decorated enough for Hanukkah so this year I went all out.
Eight packages, one for each night. Isn't the snow outside beautiful? I love it.

I chose to decorate with the combination of Frost and Flame. We are in the midst of a major snowstorm and Friday night starts the miracle of lights. I thought that it is a very appropriate color combination.