touchy-feely

I am not big on online shopping.

In this day and age, I know that's hard to fathom, but I really like to touch my purchases, to weigh them (literally) in my hands and decide if it's really the item I want to get. I will occasionally order online if I've already found what I want, messed with it in a store, and then ordered it for a better price after the fact.

But then there was this ring by vintageandglam:


Which I fell in love with and wanted for my own. And even though it was only $9 (with free shipping!!!), I couldn't justify buying it for myself until I found this beautiful ring to get for my husband's cousin:

So then I needed to do some more shopping. Enter this necklace by The Chartreuse Room for my MIL:


And then this necklace by jjbinx for my mother:

And I thought I was done.

Then I saw a poster on Jennie's blog, and this was finally the end of my Etsy run for this Christmas:

But that's not all! I bit the bullet and also bought my brother a shirt online. I've been looking at these awesome shirts (ps - I'd love the "Tales from the Jazz Age" one myself). I deem this year's online shopping a success! Now to finish the rest of the shopping.

Menu Monday plus photos!

I thought I would try something different this week, and took photos of the meals I actually cooked (I skipped the frozen pizza and the night out ...)

Monday: white bean chicken chili

Tuesday: spicy orange shrimp and rice


Wednesday: roast pork, maple glazed carrots (not great), and pan fried potatoes

Thursday: Digiorno's pizza (mushroom, spinach and garlic)

Friday: Steak, spinach and acorn squash
Saturday: out while Christmas shopping in Orlando (salmon, spinach, mashed potatoes, salad)


Sunday: chicken enchiladas and yellow rice

This week:

Monday: out with my dad for his birthday (Molly Goodheads ... I'm not a fan, but it wasn't my choice)
Tuesday: turkey soup
Wednesday: meatloaf and spinach
Thursday: baked spaghetti
Friday: Charlie and Katie's Christmas party
Saturday: pressed cuban sandwiches

Pieces of Friday

*I was so overwhelmed at work today I wanted to cry. I thought about going in again tomorrow morning, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Also, I'm taking most of Tuesday off after I cover an out-of-the-office thing for a coworker so I can try to do a little cookie baking and finish any extraneous gift shopping and take a little time to myself. I'd take a whole day off, but I already said I'd cover it and I'm a woman of my word.

*our Christmas tree, which I keep referring to as "my" tree, was delivered on Wednesday and I put it together with much gusto -- it's NINE FEET TALL! Now, I knew that when I ordered it but obviously I didn't think about how tall that really was. With the star, there are four inches between it and my vaulted ceilings. It's really beautiful though, and I'm actually quite happy with it even if is fake.

*I do need to get a pine candle though, because I miss the smell of Christmas.

*We're going to test our luck with this whole potty training thing (what, you thought a post was going to go by without me mentioning my Adventures?) and head to Orlando for the day tomorrow. No parks, just some stores (inspired by the Stylelush Gift Guide, I'm headed to West Elm for something for my MIL and to Bass Pro for my FIL.

*If anyone has ANY IDEAS AT ALL for my FIL, I'm all ears. He likes hunting, Nascar, horse racing, gambling and selling things on eBay. I think I've exhausted all gifts related to all those interests, as well as gift cards to Dick's sporting goods and Perry Ellis polo shirts. Every year. It's been 8 years and I'm completely out of ideas.

*Also, I need ideas for my dad (interests: billiards, billiards, billiards, Irish coffee) and hubby's cousin's husband (interests: I don't even know anymore, the man is a total SAH workaholic ... computers? something to make him more comfortable in his office?)

*hubby has been playing Grand Turismo 5 while I write this and listen to Christmas music, and he keeps falling asleep for a few minutes and then he'll wake, look at me and go back to his game. It's very similar to when Henry falls asleep in his bouncer.

*stay tuned for my adventures in Etsy-land! I'm so excited to tell you about my finds for Christmas ... till tomorrow, folks!

The magic of Santa

So ... Santa.

What are your thoughts on the whole Santa thing? I'm personally having a hard time with it. To be perfectly honest it's not a "lying to my kids" sort of thing. I think (selfishly) that it's more of a "take credit for the fun" sort of thing. Plus, I have no idea how to broach the idea of a fat man in a red coat wedging himself down the chimney with toys.

Spencer knows who Santa is, more along the lines of "part of Christmas decor" ... he visited Santa in the mall one morning (where he was awesome and sat on the guy's lap and said he wanted something weird, got his candy cane and went on his merry way. When he sees a giant blow-up Santa in front of someone's house he says "Look, it's Santa!" but he doesn't seem to care about how he relates to getting presents.

By not hyping Santa, am I robbing my kids of some of the magic of Christmas? I know that I have a bias because I was told there was no Santa when I was very young because my parents split up and my mom didn't want me to think I wasn't good enough and that's why I didn't get as much that year.

I try to not go overboard (a little more than some, and not as much as others). I hope to never be the parents that get caught up in the presents and forget about the joy. I really don't want to threaten my kids that they better be good or santa won't bring presents. I want to just enjoy the holiday with my family. But does that take away from my children's enjoyment of Christmas?

Menu Monday

Last week:

Monday: beef stroganoff
Tuesday: chicken bryan and sauteed spinach
Wednesday: chili
Thursday: lasagna
Friday: goat cheese and spinach stuffed burgers, baked beans and baked breaded okra
Saturday: out to Cheesecake Factory for a family birthday (Monterrey burger and sweet potato fries)
Sunday: Steak'n'Shake

Monday: white chicken poblano chili
Tuesday: cajun meatloaf
Wednesday: steak and spinach
Thursday: panini sandwiches
Friday: chicken enchiladas
Saturday: spicy orange garlic shrimp and rice

A different sort of life

I've found myself wistful lately at the descriptions of friends' antics around. Late evenings, spur of the moment nights out ... it all sounds like so much fun. Don't get me wrong, I really love my life. My husband, my kids, my home ...

I started thinking about this on Saturday night, when we got home from an early dinner with family at Cheesecake Factory. I got a glass of wine, chopped up a little cheese and settled in by 8pm to play several (okay, seven) games of Wordfeud simultaneously while reading a book and watching my husband play Grand Turismo 5 (gag me). I was asleep by 9:45pm, which was helpful because Spencer woke me up at 1:30 thinking it was morning and I had to get him to the bathroom and then back to bed, Henry woke up at 4pm angry because it had been ten hours since he last ate, and Spencer woke up again at 6:45am, and again I needed to get him to the bathroom and settle him in on the couch with Disney, cereal and a sippy cup.

So I think, how is this my life? What happened to the sleeping in (moderately, I never really slept past 9am much), going out to the bar with friends, last minute movies, or sex in the daytime ... (okay, well there is a lock on my door but it's hard to concentrate when there's a toddler who didn't care where you were until that lock in engaged and then he's sticking his fingers under the door to find out why he's not allowed in ...)

... did I just write that or did I just think it?

Anyhow, I'm not sure what I'm saying here; I wish I were one of those bloggers that could come up with a succinct and poignant point. I think I just wish I had an occasional night/morning to not be me, with the option to be me on almost every other night and day.

A few of the not so quick

Somehow it’s feast or famine here – Tuesday I posted three times (3!!) and then I haven’t posted since then. I guess I could have just scheduled them out so I had a post every day but obviously I’m not that smart. Anyhow, some confessions/quick takes (whatever you want to call them) on the times (read: mostly Christmas related because that’s what’s on my mind):

1) I have finished all of Spencer’s Christmas and birthday shopping except for a few stocking stuffers (like underwear and cheap toys hot wheels and new crayons). This means that every time I see something else I want to get him I go, “No!” and smack myself on the hand. Most of the time it works. If I come across something stocking-sized though, we’re in trouble.

2) I have not done a stitch of holiday shopping for Henry, but it’s so easy. I want to get him one toy so all his toys aren’t hand-me-downs (I’m thinking something with lights) and some clothes. Maybe some diapers in his stocking? More socks? Any ideas?

3) I haven’t done any of the other shopping: the hubby, my mom and dad (and my dad’s girlfriend), my brother and sister, MIL and FIL and hubby’s grandma, cousin and her husband. These are the people I shop for every year. So far I know that I’m getting fancy chocolate cookies for his grandma (big hit last minute gift last year), thinking of making a fruitcake for my dad (ambitious, might just buy him one last minute), a gift card to a craft store to his girlfriend, and I got some pine cone candles for my MIL so far. For the rest of them I’m stumped. I might order this shirt for my brother, and my sister might just get a gift card that I can use myself if she decides not to show up for Christmas (it’s been that kind of year). I got a phone cradle for the hubby (his insistence) and he’s getting Perry the Platypus stuff in his stocking, and maybe an air compressor if I can find a reasonably priced one. My FIL is impossible to buy for, and my MIL just likes nice house accessories so she’s pretty easy to buy. I'm currently out of ideas all together for the cousin (who is a good friend of mine) and her husband.

4) I bought a cyber-Monday faux tree that I’m still waiting to be delivered and I’ve been completely slacking on my Christmas decorations until it gets here. At this rate I’ll be decorating on Christmas eve. The stockings are hanging from my mantle, I have two snowmen hanging out on top of the mantle and a wreath on my front door. That might be it again this year.

5) Because no post from me would be complete without a potty training update, let me tell you that Spencer has been AWESOME this week. Two accidents on Tuesday with my in-laws, but otherwise he wakes me up in the morning when he needs to go because he can’t get out of his footie pjs by himself. I know it’s another knock on wood moment because we have to see how this weekend goes with no daycare, but I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m finally a believer that just forgoing the furniture and going for underpants is the way to go. The first couple days are frustrating and then it’s so much faster than pull-ups. We’ve been in pull-ups for 2 months, and this week – none. I’ve had him in a pull-up every night and every night he wakes up dry so I stick it back in the bin to use again the next night. Yes, he’s worn the same pull-up overnight for 5 days. Don’t judge me – those things are expensive!

6) My favorite Christmas song is this and my least favorite Christmas song is this.

7) I spent my work day doing some of my work and then doing a lot of my cubical neighbor's work for him - really out of the goodness of my heart. He was out of town for a work meeting so I paid all his bills, found a missing file, sent out a file to an attorney for him, and did all his filing. Plus I did all my filing (PS - the filing is not either of our jobs, but we have a new support assistant and the learning curve seems to be steep), bills and a good amount of actual work. I felt good about today.

8) I'm thinking about going in early on Monday to do my other cubical neighbor's filing, but not really out of the goodness of my heart - I'm just sick of the complaining.

9) Henry can officially turn over from back to front. He did it once last week and then again last night, but both times were on beds so I wasn't sure. As of today, I'm sure. This makes me happy because it means that he's closer to sharing a room with his brother instead of me, because I wanted him to a) be able to turn over to sleep on his belly if he wanted and b) sleep through the night. I'm hoping once he's able to eat rice cereal he'll be more likely to sleep through the night since he's pretty close already, so with any luck they'll be sharing a room by CHRISTMAS!