Advents Corner

What do you think of the new theme?  I like this one much better because the words do not seem to be pushed together.  The other one I had a hard time reading sometimes and that was not fun.  No one every complained but maybe they should have and I would have changed it a long time ago.  Hope you like the new theme.

The Christmas tree is up.  I tricked everyone in the helping me put it up yesterday.  I did not ask anyone to help me I just took it out and started doing it then the next thing I knew everyone was helping.  I was so nice and Lani loves it.  I thought she would mess with it much more then she does.  She loves when you first turn it on.  When she woke up this morning she was walking to the kitchen then caught the tree out the corner of her eye and headed straight for it just laughing.  She just stands there and points but she does not touch.  She is such a good girl.

Like I said I have been Christmas shopping and I have found some good deals but I really need is my own little set of christmas elves, now that would be nice. They could take out the tree and sort out all of the ornaments and untangle all of the lights. They would make sure all of the lights on the tree worked and then they would decorate the outside as well. Oh to have just one Christmas elf.

Lani and finished the grocery shopping for tomorrow and I don’t think I forgot anything.  I am sure that I will get half way through making something and then realize I do not have something.  We go through this every year.  I it is not Thanksgiving unless I have Matt running out of the house to go and get something at the quickie mart.  It is just us again this year.  Every year I make a huge meal fit for an army but it is just us.  I don’t want anyone to miss out on the joy of Thanksgiving.

Workbenches can be a life saver and a space saver.  I have a work bench for all of my sewing material and the added space comes in handy for those big projects.  Matt and I have to sometimes share the same space so having the ability to quickly store away projects that are being worked on so that new projects can be started is priceless.  With all of the storage space under the bench we are still able to keep a neat appearance through all of chaos.

I have to admit when the story about Kanye West’s mother passing away after undoing a cosmetic procedure broke I was sad that she died but I did not even know who Kanye West was. Now with Dr. Jan Adams walking off the set of Larry King Live it is all over the news. So this morning I looked up the video to see what was going on. As soon as Dr. Adams started to speak his voice was so familiar to me so I Goggled him.

I was surprised to find out that this is the man that I watch on the Discovery Channel on the show Plastic Surgery: Before and After. I was shocked because now they are saying he is not even a board certified plastic surgeon. With that piece of information I am wondering why in the world does he have is own show about plastic surgery on the Discovery Channel? I watch the Discovery Channel because I thought that was a very reliable source of information for me. Now I find out that the information being given may or may not be reliable. How can this man be a top plastic surgeon in

Beverly Hills and not be board certified? I have also found out that he has had two malpractice suits, he has been arrested for DUI 3 times and botched breast augmentation. I can not believe that it took someone to lose their life before all of this came out. How in the world can you host a plastic surgery show and someone not find out that you are not a board certified plastic surgeon? You know that funny saying, “I’m not a doctor but I play one on TV.”? Well this gives it a whole new light. The first thing you are suppose to do when going for plastic surgery it to make sure you doctor is board certified, how did he get away with it for so long?

Letters From Santa are a great pass time at Christmas.  They help parents keep the belief in Santa alive.  My daughters are 17, 13 and 16 months and I have rule:  Santa does not bring gifts to children that do not believe in Santa.  My two oldest will still tell you that they believe in Santa and that is the way I want it to stay.  Christmas is such a magical time in a child’s life and I think we should do everything we can to keep that little part of innocence for as long as possible. 

I have put Christmas shopping into over drive now.  It seems to be flying by now.  I have found some really good deals so I very proud of myself.  Finally people are starting to give me clues about what they want for Christmas so it is making it a little easier.  Hopefully I will have all of the shopping done soon and then I can just enjoy the holiday.

Applying makeup was never nor is it my specialty. My daughters put on makeup better than I do and I have been doing it longer. I just go for the basics. A little eye shadow, liner, lipstick and mascara, that’s it, I always stick with natural colors like browns and tans nothing crazy. Natural looking makeup tips are something that are few and far between on the web but Makeup Tip has covered all of the bases for you on their site. Pick what look you are going for like sophisticated or dramatic and get the latest and best tips out there. Find tips on how to apply eyeliner and lipstick and even how to achieve the perfect pout.

It is coming down the wire and for some reason Thanksgiving has snuck up on me.  I don’t understand it, by this time I have a planned menu in hand, the cabinets are stocked and I am waiting for the go signal.  This year is so different and I don’t understand why.  I went from Halloween to Christmas like there was nothing in between.  I think it is because the stores have skipped Thanksgiving too.  While the Halloween decorations were still out the Christmas ones were being put up on the next aisle. 

 
Sure if you look close enough you will see a plastic tray with turkeys on it but that is it.  So Thanksgiving is being snubbed in lieu of Christmas.  Do you think it is because Christmas is such a money maker and the only place that makes money off of Thanksgiving are the grocery stores?  At this point the only thing on my menu is ham because we really don’t like turkey.  I don’t know what is going on with my mind, I am just hoping I have this all pulled together come Thursday morning.

I was looking around for Christmas cards and it is getting harder and harder to find good quality cards these days.  I want a card with a beautiful picture and a heart felt verse inside, why do I have to choose one over the other?  Gallery Collection not only meets my needs for a personal Christmas card but they also have Corporate Christmas Cards as well.  They did not forget out the little person, nor did they forget about our soldiers during this special time of the year.  They have teamed up with Soldier’s Angels and donated a card to every soldier that tells them thank you for all that they do.  They also supplied them with a blank card and envelope so that they could write home to their loved ones.

I did not have time to work on the Advent Calendar last night.  Well I guess I had the time but not the energy.  I was so tired last night and I was running a little fever I hope I am not getting sick.  Thanksgiving is 2 days away and I have so much to do.  I would like to have the calendar finished by the weekend but I don’t know if that is going to happen or not.  I always put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and this year will be so special because when Lani sees the trees she just laughs and points.  She did say tree the other day at the airport.

In my husband’s younger days when bones did not crack and muscles did not ache he raced in the motor cross forever believing he would never grow old because he was invincible. On the eve on his 13^th birthday his older brother woke him and asked if he wanted to go to the track, of course he jumped at the chance. Things were going well, the track was a little wet but nothing he had not ridden in before and he went over the third jump and something went wrong. The next thing he remembers is lying on the ground with the bike on top of him and his leg hurting really badly. His brother strolled over thinking this was nothing that had not happened before and lifted the bike off of Matt has he starts to scream. That was when they both realized the foot peddle had embedded itself into his right knee.

They rush home and afraid they would both get into trouble Don put Matt to bed and told him just to stay in bed and he would be fine. They did not bother to clean the wound or anything. Remember, they are invincible. Their Mom comes home after a 12 hour shift at the hospital where she is an orthopedic nurse and finds Matt lying in bed in pain. She pulls the covers back and finds a bloody mess of what is suppose to be a knee and rushes him to the hospital. Now many years later he still wakes up with knee pain when the weather gets cold or he has over done it the day before. Applying Freeze It Gel to the knee before getting out of bed in the morning would help to relieve the stiffness that developed over night.

Winning a years supply of Freeze It Gel would give him the ability to keep a tube of Freeze It at work, in the car, next to the bed and any where else he sits. Sometimes he has issues with getting up when he has been sitting in one spot too long. He could also use it before bed to help with the stiffness during the night. I could also use Freeze It on sore muscles after painting all weekend and on my hip joint that aches from a car accident.

Serendipity 3, a restaurant in Manhattan that introduced the most expensive dessert according to the Guinness Book of World records was shut down due to an infestation of roaches and mice.  The restaurant failed two consecutive health inspections and was forced to close its doors.  What makes this dessert so expensive you ask?  It comes with an 18-karat gold bracelet, 1-caret of diamonds at the base of the goblet, edible gold flakes and truffles that sell for $2,600 per pound.  This just goes to show you that just because you pay and arm and a leg for something does not mean it is better than Baskin Robbins.

I want to thank everyone that voted for Lani, unfortunatly she did not make it to the next round.  That is ok I think she is the most beautiful baby anyway.  If you want to see what babies did not make it to the next round and vote for one of them here is the link.

Everyone these days is trying to make their own home theater system even though the quality of movies coming out now is terrible. I guess you can figure that if you are going to watch a terrible movie it might as well be in the comfort of your home and for $4 verses out fighting the loud teenagers at $9 a pop. Our friend has a projector and it is neat to watch movies on because it really is like you are in the theater the only problem he had was when the bulb went out. It is not like you can go and pick up projector lamp bulbs up at Wal-Mart. My advice would be to have a few spare on hand in case it blows during a movie.

The first piece I did was the tree because I thought it would be the easiest to do. I cut the green felt in half, sprayed the board lightly with adhesive and put Elmer’s glue all around the edges of the tree and laid the tree on the felt. After the felt was dry and I cut the excess off leaving about 1/4 inch around. I then took about 1/2 yard of beaded string and every so often I put a little glue with a toothpick to tack it down. I had some Christmas buttons I had picked up on clearance a couple of years back and I glued them to the top 6 “branches” of the tree.

First Ornament

The first ornament is a reindeer. I cut 2 oblong pieces out of the brown felt. On one of the pieces I used embroidery thread to make a nose. I made the antlers out of the pipe cleaner. I used one long piece and two smaller pieces. The 2 smaller pieces I just wrapped around each end of the longer piece making the antlers. I then slid the antlers in between the two pieces of felt. Then stuffed with a little poly-fill and stitched around using embroidery floss, sewing the antlers in place as I went around. I glued on two of the eyes above the nose. I put a piece of velcro on the back to stick it to the tree.

I bought the supplies for the advent calendar and it cost me $21, I really did not think that was too bad. The supplies that I bought consisted of:

1 pack multi-color pipe cleaners

10 squares of different colored felt

1 package of green felt used for table toppers so it is one solid piece

1 package wiggle eyes (the smallest size)

1 package pom poms black (the smallest size)

I had also picked up a package of white but I guess Lani dropped them out of the buggy because they did not make it home.

1 20X30 white board (it is like poster board except it is about 1/4 inch thick so it has some stability to it

I had my daughter’s boyfriend draw me a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree on the board and I cut it out with a utility knife.

I also have random ribbon, foam board, glue, embroidery thread, buttons, fabrics and stuffing. I will let you know exactly what I use for each piece but just because I did not buy it does not mean I will not use it. Look through your sewing stuff and get creative. This is something hopefully you and your family will enjoy for a long time. Make it yours, give it your own touch and have fun.

Keep checking back because as I complete something I will post the directions, materials and picture. I hope you will join me on this project.

I was talking to my sister-in-law tonight about what everyone wanted for Christmas. She told me Greg wanted a new game for his 360, big surprise there and of course Mom does not want anything. Don’t you just hate that? When you ask someone what they want and they say, “Oh I don’t need anything” My response to that is always the same, “I did not ask you want you needed I asked you what you wanted.” My sister-in-law was wise this year and had an answer at the ready, she want a skinceuticals. Cool that is two down and I don’t even know how many more to go. You have to love Christmas.

I was putting Lani to bed tonight and she was so tired and fussy. I think she misses her Daddy very much. It was early but she would just lie on the floor and whine so I started getting everything together for her and told her to pick up all of her toys. She is getting so smart she will go and pick them up but she get side tracked sometimes. As soon as I open the microwave door she just starts laughing. I believe that child thinks we only use microwave ovens to heat bottles. She still gets a bottle at night because we give her allergy medicine in it. It is easier that way because it is powder so we have always just poured it into the bottle.