Passed up

The husband passed on this. It would have matched his dancing Hank. :(

Capitalism at work

We went out yesterday to get a few supplies since I dare not go out on Christmas eve with all the possible people it may bring. We had to get new air vents to go with the flooring we are putting in next week while on vacation. We couldn't go until late morning after the husband was off work. It started out okay going to Lowe's for the vent covers. It was when we got out on the road that we hit traffic and tins of people everywhere else we went. I wanted to just walk around a book store, but there was absolutely no parking. I am glad I didn't have to shop for presents.

I let the husband off the hook and didn't ask to go to any thrift stores today. While we were looking for parking spots I reminded him that they don't seem to run out of parking at thrift stores. It has felt good to not shop for presents like I normally do. It usually a rush to get the sizes for clothes by Thanksgiving, catch deals by mid December and have it packed and shipped. If I can swing gifts for next year I am definitely buying from the thrift stores. I don't check out clothes much since we have enough to fill the closet. Buying a little throughout the year or starting in June I am sure I can get a lot for much less than I've got in past years in retail stores. The husband thinks the children don't need to get anything since they don't say thank you.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas. We are keeping it simple. So simple that we are having sandwiches for Christmas dinner. Yum! 

Holiday Survey

Borrowed from http://rainybutterfly.blogspot.com/2011/12/little-christmas-survey.html

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I drink both, but have a small limit each year on egg nog. Iyty just hasn’t been cold often enough to make hot chocolate this year.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap most, bigger things are put under the tree.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?  I have a tree in the living room and on the porch. Both have white lights. I mix it up some years.  

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, never have.

5. When do you put your decorations up?  The weekend after Thanksgiving. If the lights don’t go up all that day they don’t go up.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I make pizzelles most Christmases. This year I made them twice and in 3 different flavors.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? I remember helping pick out the real tree. One year I dropped a box full of ornaments breaking most of them. I liked the years when there were tons of presents under the tree, especially the tobagon.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think it was the year I found the presents hidden.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I  like to open one present Christmas eve. There aren’t any presents to open the older I get.  Maybe next year. This year presents were cancelled.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I have a smaller tree in the living room. I found a wonderful white tree this year. I decorated it with the smaller and more colorful ornaments. I kept getting more ornaments on sale or at thrift stores so it is getting full. The large tree on the porch has the larger ornaments, snowflakes, stars and bells. It is more metal ornaments. It is more of a tri-themed tree.

My tree before all the thrift additions

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I wouldn’t  mind a little but I am in Florida so that would not work out.

12. Can you ice skate? No! I tried once when I was 11. As soon as I hot the ice I fell and broke my glasses. Never again.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Who can pick a favorite. I love all my gifts.  

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family of course. The decorations and lights help make it more festive.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pizzelles because I only make them at Christmas.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Driving around looking at lights. We don’t have many other traditions.

17. What tops your tree? An angel who has a bulb for a head and lights up blue on the tree inside. On the porch it is a star.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. Presents were cancelled this year, but we still got something for the inlaws. I miss finding deals and neat things for everyone, but this year I do not miss stressing and shipping it all.

19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy?  I don’t really like them.

20. Favorite Christmas show? For my favorite movie I would say National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I need to find it on TV, haven’t seen it this year yet.

21. Saddest Christmas song? That is an odd question. I like the more upbeat ones best.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?  Santa Baby is so cute. I have to listen to The Muppets doing the 12 days of Christmas at least once every Christmas. 

What I am most proud of...

I borrowed this from http://wemaybepoorbutwearehappy.blogspot.com

I thought it was a cute way to sum up some highlights of 2011 in a positive note, since I try daily to stay positive in a negative world. 

Here is my 12 positive things for 2011:

Four things I did right

1. Stopped talking to the drama queen/princess at work before I was sucked in like previous coworkers

2. Got my license

3. Put family first

4. Paperwork - we passed the audit and I got kudos

Four things about me that just rock

5. I'm funny

6. I work hard

7. I am creative

8. I care

Four things I did for myself

9. Recruited my supervisor

10. Started getting healthier

11. Thrifting - it is my new hobby

12. Got serious on improving the house

Star Wars and snowflakes equals.... cool site

The other day I was trying to make snowflakes. I couldn't remember how to cut the things out. Of course I went online and searched to find instructions.

Today I was wandering the net and found this site...

How to make Star Wars snowflakes. Now this is was something I could have used. Isn't the internet amazing.

12 in 2012

I read way too many blogs and this one keeps coming up. I have never been a new years resolution person. If I make a goal it is not just a new years thing. Since I haven't renewed my goals in a while I figured I would give this a try. So here goes...

1. Lose weight - I am not giving myself an amount, just to lose something to start. The husband and I recently started using a calorie counter app and he has gotten serious about making healthy changes with a few medical things that have come up. I know I need to be healthier and think about what I eat. He is doing great on limiting calories. I am doing okay. I could always do better. So this is a very realistic and healthy goal. 

2. Get to selling - I put a few things on ebay this month and besides a few looks I sold nothing. I have been reading blogs and getting plenty of tips, I need to apply them. I have plenty of items to sell so doing it is what I need to accomplish. I have too much stuff in the house and I think I can make a few bucks off my finds. 

3. Pay off my mom - This sounds stranger than it is. My mother died this year and was cremated, as she requested. My oldest aunt put some money towards the bill, but there is still a lot owed. I started making monthly payments. I have until June to bail her cremains out. June we are going up north for my oldest niece's graduation (the first graduation in a long time). I want to be paid off my then so we can pick her up on the trip. My siblings have offered to pay towards it, but I can't depend on either one following through. 

4. Put down flooring - This one should be one of the easiest to accomplish. I already have all the laminate and tile flooring for the dining room, living room, 2nd bedroom and kitchen. We are starting after Christmas to put down the laminate flooring in the living and dining room. I cannot wait. Since we moved last year I have detested the plywood that is never clean. I deserve flooring. Plus all the flooring was found on deals. 

     

5. Paint 2nd bedroom - This room is a mess. It has been mainly a storage room until a few months back when I finally dragged the storage boxes to the shed. It now has the bed (although currently covered with thing) and decor. It is our car/toy room. We have a large collection of matchbox type cars plus several other toy collections. It still stores plenty of things, but in the dresser or closet mostly. It is in desperate need of paint. 

6. Paint and try to start redo on the kitchen - I have had the flooring and color choices for the kitchen for the better part of a year. The blue industrial tile and green accent pieces are just what I want. After we put down the tile I am repainting the cabinets white (that need to be replaced one day) and painting the back wall of all of them blue. I am still debating if I want the wall behind the fridge and freezer painted blue. I think it would look neat. Since I can't afford new cabinets I will take paint and tile. Besides needing new cabinets I also want to tear some down and move the sink and dishwasher. I want a lot. Eventually I will get it. 

7. Get the shed out of the 2nd bath - The husband has taken the second bathroom over for his tools and whatnot. I cleared out some weeks back, but there are still things on the floor and in the tub. I dare not go in there. It is a mess. The second bathroom wouldn't be used a lot, but it would be nice to have. 

(http://paxtonprints.com/index.php?x=process_image_multiple_times)

8. Green it up - I definitely need some more greenery in the house. I planted some in the yard last year, but more would be lovely. The experiment with tomato plants did not work. We need to try different veggies and more flowers. I still have the tub planter to fill up. 

9. Take care of the finances - I want to deal with another big bill. I am further along with that than the cremains. 2012 is the year of financial freedom!

10. Do more, compute less - This is something I have struggled with. The computer has been my go to thing to do. I read news online. I look up anything that crosses my mind. I look for places to go and things to do online. I need to read more, go more places and do something other than sitting at a computer. This a great goal and I am sure the husband would agree. 

1/4/12

When doing my update I realized I cheated and only did 10 goals. Now I have to come up with 2 more. 

11. Downsize - Like most people I have more than I should have in my house. I thought I got rid of a lot before we moved. We moved using pick up trucks but it still seemed like a lot. I have a lot of books. I want to downsize the books. I want to clear out drawers and clean up the closets. 

12. Sew something - Sure I darn holes in clothes. I only have needles and a few colors of thread. I have been accumulating material, even stuffing. I have been meaning to do some projects. I want to do something with what I already have. Use it or lose it should be this year's theme. 

Penny Ante

It was a simple weekend. We took a road trip to Georgia to see lights. We meandered our way there. We stopped by the Resale Store they have in the Penny Farms Retirement Community. Now Penney Farms is just the cutest town slash retirement community. The store had very cheap ornaments. I found 3 for a mere 45 cents. Those retirees have some great deals. We saw 2 projection screens. I didn't have enough money for either one, but would love to go back. Plus we overheard they were having an estate sale across the street next week. I can't wait to check it out.

  

For those who haven't heard of Penney Farms, it is the cutest retirement community. It was established by J.C. Penney as an experimental farming village. The stock market crash caused Penney to scale back his community and made it for retired ministers in honor of his minister father. I like to drive by the community. The houses are lovely and the residents ride around in golf carts.

http://www.penneyretirementcommunity.org/

Memorial Church

Aerial photo of Penney Farms in 1947-1948

I coned the husband into stopping at a thrift store. We found a stereo/tape/8 track player. The price was right. We bought it so I can play my 8 tracks at the house. I wouldn't recommend the One Stop Thrift Store in Jacksonville, FL as most of their prices were high. I dare not say what they charged for an 8 track tape that I usually find for 50 cents or a dollar at most.

On the way north we found a few more thrifts. I found the one in St Mary, GA quite interesting. We didn't buy anything, but the lady was friendly and they had all sorts of things. Plenty of furniture. i can't remember the name of the store. The lady said it used to be an auction house. I even tried to Google it and found nothing close on the map.

Okay, I tapped into the husband's memory and he remembered country barn was in the name. I found Kim's Country Barn online.   http://www.kimscountrybarn.com/

We also checked out the Salvation Army and Goodwill. Not much there. The husband found poker chips. I kept telling the husband that it was about the journey and not the destination. I was just happy to go on a road trip and experience for lights.

First Lights

The husband made sure I got my fix of Christmas lights early this year. I am good at finding things to do, but am not always good about the follow through. So this year he said let's go on the first night of the 4 million lights touted at the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/stephenfoster/

11016 Lillian Saunders Drive
White Springs, FL  32096

We went out to dinner with the in-laws and then off to the Festival of Lights. Since the husband has a bum knee and the mother in-law has had bum knees, we just drove through. I told the husband that next year if his knee if fixed we need to walk around the place. The people and parked cars impeded the view at times. It was beautiful. I wish I had that many tights to wrap around trees. We have lots of bog trees in my yard. The electric bill would kill me though.

Not the best photos since we were moving. They offered a deal on the first night that if you brought a gift you got in free. Normally it is $2 a person. Still a great deal compared to commercial light thing I have been to in the past. 

30 Day Film Challenge #30

30.Your favourite movie of all time


I have always said Clerks. It was a perfect example of my early 20s.

30 Day Film Challenge #29

29. A movie from your childhood

Popeye (1980)

30 Day Film Challenge #28

28.Favourite movie from your favourite director

Clerks (1994)