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.

See, I Knew I'd Forget Something!

Okay, just like I thought, I remembered one of my accomplishments that may not sound like a big deal to you, but it is to me. I have been on another organizing kick and I managed to clean out and purge a bunch of costume jewelry off my dresser, along with the containers for them. Since I don't wear jewelry all that much anymore, they were just dust collectors. This is one of those things that have nagged at my brain for a long time and I'd had enough of it! I also cleaned our room pretty well. That led to me going through our bookshelves in the living room and disposing of several baskets of junky toys cluttering up those shelves. Got those out on trash day, just as the trash collectors were picking up our trash. Made it to the trash just in time.

What a relief to have accomplished those things. My house feels a bit less cluttered.

Oh and for subscribers, I picked up a new blog banner and decided to post it today. You'll have to go to my blog to see it. :o)

November Round-Up

I just discovered this idea from a blog I subscribe to. In this blog entry, the blogger references another blog by Katie, where she posts a round up of each month's happenings. I think this is an awesome idea. Actually, it's one of the reasons I started blogging, so I could write down and remember things that happen for future scrapbook pages/journaling. Of course, I got side-tracked along the way, but I love how this is set up for me and I am going to try to do this. I'm also going to add her to my blog roll, because her blog looks pretty neat.



So, here we go!



What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

I read every night before I go to bed, nothing spectacular, just escapism reading. I am on a Debbie Macomber kick right now and I've been reading her series about a small town. Each new title is an address and I worked through 7 books over the past few months. Now I am reading the second in a trilogy about the Dakotas. Then I have to find a new author because I'm caught up and have to wait until next year for new installments. Magazines read or glanced through...Creating Keepsakes and Papercrafts, Scrapbooks, Etc. (this is what I remember, there might have been others).



What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

We don't go to the movies anymore, but I admit to liking my TV. Continued watching Survivor, the Amazing Race and albiet reluctantly, Grey's Anatomy. I don't much like the storyline with Meredith, or Izzy, but I do love to watch Bailey in action, so I keep tuning in. Although with the current writer's strike, they may be into reruns soon, so that will end that idea. I enjoy Clean House and Jon and Kate plus 8, along with Little People, Big World and How Do I Look? Most of the time those are on in the background though, so not sure if I should really count them. I only want to see the reveals of the makeover shows! I am also interested in Desperate Housewives again. They seem to have gotten back to the roots of the first season.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Digital Scrapbooking offered its first national day early in November and I had a blast doing some online shopping for goodies. Scrapbooks, Etc offered up the Scrapafaire again and I succumbed to taking a digital scrapbooking class. It was okay. Got a couple of neat ideas, but am not convinced it was worth the price of the class. It was less than half an hour in length and kind of light on content. Although, I did save the pdf file, which will probably come in handy later when I want to remember what it was all about.

Then of course there was Thanksgiving! I made dinner again this year, and without a sense of stress. I spread out the making of the meal throughout the day (we still eat at our normal time) and also worked on organzing my digital stash. The girls enjoyed playing whatever they wanted to. Steve went out to a few stores that were open and picked up a couple of good deals. He wanted me to see what I could find, so I went out after the turkey went into the oven, but I wasn't successful in finding anything. However, later in the weekend I found a new coat, so it evened out! The girls and I played several games of Memory together with a new deck of dinosaur cards I picked up at Target.


What gifts did I give and/or receive?

I made cards for my Hostess Club members which were pretty detailed in terms of cutting out all the pieces, but the final effect was worth the effort. I made some acetate boxes for the girls' teachers to say Thanks for all their hard work. They were very well received. I gave Becky a belated (sorry) birthday gift of two stamp sets and designed the above mentioned cards for my club members with her in mind.


What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

My jaw continues to bother me, somedays more than others. I keep wearing that night guard. I probably should go back to the dentist and pursue further action, but the next step would be a more expensive night guard and I'm not convinced it would help. No major illnesses for me, thank goodness, but the girls have had slight colds most of the month. Jessica had her 5 year check up and is healthy, although still under 40 pounds!


What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

I enjoy hanging out with the moms I'm getting to know after preschool. Jill is so funny! An hour can go by in a blink of an eye because she is so entertaining. Susi and I enjoy chatting while letting the kids (Amy, Jess, Hattie and John) play after Amy gets out of school.


One of the coolest things we did this month was go to a birthday party at the Paul Derda Rec Center in Broomfield. We were invited by a little girl in Jessica's class. Anyway, the main part of the party was held in the gymnastics room. (Silly me, I didn't bring my camera and now I regret that) The kids got to hang onto a ring on a zip tie and get pushed over a pit full of foam cubes. They hung on until they were over the pit and then let go. That was the hit of the room. Jessica even did it, which impressed me! There was also a trampoline lowered so it was level with the floor (which was cushiony throughout the room, too) and that was fun. I tried it until I saw myself in the mirror and scared myself. They also had a huge blow up slide the kids could slide. Remembering how I burned my elbow last spring at Amy's Field Day, I opted not to do that activity. Anyway, the kids (Amy was able to join us) had a blast and were quite tired when we were done.


What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
Nothing new here, although I did go to a Taste Of Home party and ordered a new cookbook that is all about celebrations and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Lots of cool ideas in this one. I also ordered a slow cooker cookbook at Steve's request, from a flyer we got in the mail. I know it's not technically something new, but it'll have to do!


What were my accomplishments this month?
I completed the second Jessica Sprague class called Now We're Rocking. I learned so much. I'm excited to sign up for the next one. I've participated in posting my layouts on the Gallery at her website and even participated in creating a layout for a special project for Jessica. I don't usually do things like that, but I really wanted to participate in this one because I've experienced great excitement about scrapbooking since taking her classes and this was a small way to express my gratitude. I hope she'll appreciate the project!


Anything else noteworthy to record?
Way back at the beginning of the month Amy had to get a crown for her molar. She slipped on the play equipment after school one day and knocked a chunk off her molar. She was a real trooper though and didn't shed a tear. Yea, Amy!! Jessica, at her well child checkup, got something like 6 shots all at once, 3 on each leg and she didn't flinch or shed a tear! That was also very impressive! (I don't know why it seems like we are always "catching up" on immunizations, since we do what is required each time we go in for a check-up).

Well, I started this a few days ago and now want to finally post it! Hope you enjoyed this little recap of November. I'm sure after I hit "post" I'll remember something else! I need to work on some new layouts, but being the time of year that it is, I've been busy with other things! LOL