December Round Up

Here's the Round Up for December. I got the idea for doing this by reading a blog. Katie the Scrapbook Lady posts this each month. I think it's a super idea and am trying to do this myself. Click here to check it out for yourself...

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I keep reading those escapist romance novels. I finished up the series by Debbie Macomber and am currently reading Mending Fences by Susan Wiggs. I need the books to be thick so I don’t race thru them in a sitting or two. This book is about two friends and their families. The kids grew up together pretty much and the son of the one family hurt the daughter of the other family only neither family knows for sure that it happened. It's exploring these relationships and how something like this can tear friendships apart as well as showing how to work on mending the relationship after something terrible happens.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
TV Shows-My Reality shows mostly. Finished up the season on Survivor. I’m not sure if I am going to continue to be so engrossed in this show. The person I feel should win rarely does as they are usually deemed a threat and voted off. Keeping up with the Amazing Race…barely…I keep getting interrupted when it’s on. Most shows are now reruns due to the Writers’ Strike, so I may have the TV on, but as background noise while I’m doing something on the computer.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
Pretty easy this month I guess…Christmas! I let the girls decorate the tree and our big room. I kept up with putting something on my table by getting a photo holder and putting some of our Christmas cards on display. I put the wooden sleigh I painted years ago on the table too, to house the rest of the cards received. It looked nice. For Christmas this year, Grandma Tomshack came on Christmas Eve and is staying until January 5th. We went to Dave and Tracy’s home for a party on Christmas Eve. Amy wrote a letter to Santa and he responded. The girls enjoyed opening up their gifts. We stayed home and played games like Zingo, Cariboo, Dora Checkers, Memory.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
I received a Garmin GPS system from Steve for Christmas. It’s pretty neat. Kelly sent me a butterfly ornament (which Amy opened and put on the tree) as well as a subscription to Digital Scrapbooking Magazine. Gave lots of gifts this month! Amy and Jessica got Fisher Price’s Digital Arts & Crafts Studio, along with two discs; Dora and Diego to go along with it. Games was the theme this year…Zingo, Dora Game Box, Cariboo, Guess Who. Both girls got pajamas with Cars and Princess themes. Amy got the Cars Mack Truck and Jessica got Dora’s Globe. In addition they received two new games for the V-Smile (Diego and Scooby Doo) and a Dora Smart Book. We gave Grandma Tomshack a handheld Free Cell game along with some fashion pins. I also made her a CD Case Calendar from a digital kit I bought. It has pictures of the girls for each month of the year. Steve got a rocket ship and a pair of binoculars. As I said, lots of gifts this month. I made Kelly a home organizer notebook as well as a tin filled with decorated Reece’s Cups. Garrett and Devon got gift certificates in decorated holders. Gram Jones got a decorated gift box with a Starbucks card and Julie got a Gift Certificate in a deocorated gift box. Monica and her boys got a Friends tumbler and gift certificates. I made some goodies to give to our mailman, UPS man and the swim teachers at the Rec Center. Whew! Lots of giving going on this month!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I thought I might be getting a cold, but managed to thwart it by taking lots of Cold Snap. Both girls were sick. Jessica got an ear infection and was up all night one night. The following week Amy got sick with an ear infection/strep. Both girls were on antibiotics.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
Spent Christmas together. Amy’s class made mini gingerbread houses with milk cartons and graham crackers. I went in to help and it was fun. Jessica’s class made Corduroy dolls and I went in to help trim the excess fabric off. That was fun as well. I met a mom whom I’d never chatted with before. It’s always fun meeting new friends. We went to Dave and Tracy’s for Christmas Eve. I had Hostess Club and we made a couple of fun projects. The girls and I baked together this month.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
I made Snowman Cookies for the first time. Nutter Butters dipped in melted white chocolate. The girls helped decorate them. I got a few new cookbooks and have tried one recipe, Chicken Piccata, which was tasty. Oh and I tried making Spiced Tea. It came out a little strong, so will need some tweaking.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
Seemed like I shopped a lot this month, which is to be expected. My most unusual or funny purchase was getting two Taste of Home Cookbooks. First I saw them in the Taste of Home catalog at the party I went to in November. Then I saw them at Kmart. I picked one up for Steve to wrap for me for Christmas. He never did. Then I saw the same books cheaper at Walmart, so I took the one from Kmart back. Right after leaving Walmart with the books I went to Sam’s Club and they were both there (both being the regular cookbook and the baking cookbook) even cheaper than Walmart’s price! So I bought them at Sam’s and turned around and returned the two I had just picked up from Walmart. Thankfully these stores are right next to each other. Anyone who knows me well, knows I will do what is needed to get the bargain. Steve just shakes his head at me. But he’s glad I’m willing to do it.

What were this month's disappointments?
I don’t know if it’s really a disappointment, but I hoped for an external hard drive for Christmas, or the cookbooks mentioned above. Neither was under the tree for me. I talked to Steve about the hard drive and he told me he’s got a network storage system in mind, so I guess it’s something to look forward to instead of a disappointment. And I got the books I wanted. :o)

What were my accomplishments this month?
I’m proud of myself for getting my Christmas cards out by the end of the first week in December. For the most part, I felt pretty well on top of, or at least not stressed out about, Christmas. I let the girls decorate for the holiday, which they thoroughly enjoyed. I am proud of myself for going through all the boxes and purging out holiday items I no longer wanted. I consolidated the number of boxes considerably and even made the trip to Goodwill to donate what is still usable. Took a digi class called Brushworks from Big Picture Scrapbooking. Haven’t finished it yet, though, since Christmas got in the way.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
When we were at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner toward the end of the month, Amy commented that her tooth hurt. After saying Uh-Oh, I looked in her mouth…she’s getting her 6 year molar! Whew! She’s not been feeling well since then, but hopefully will kick the bug before school starts on January 8th.