My Twinkies

I can't believe I've been watching them for almost three months now, and I have yet to blog about my Twinkies! These two little cuties belong to our good friends Brian & Katie, and they also happen to be our godchildren. I love these babies so much! I can't believe I never offered to be their full-time sitter before, but I live about 25 minutes from where Brian & Katie live and work so it didn't seem like a good option for them. However. Lucky for me, in October, I got to watch the Twinkies for a few days while there was an illness at their other sitter's house. It worked out so well that I let our friends know how much I'd love to have those babies here every day!

Long story short, on November 9 they came to stay with me while Mommy & Daddy are at work, and I couldn't be happier! I look forward to seeing them every morning, and I'm pretty sure they like me, too. *smile*

We do all kinds of fun stuff, like:

Pretending to stir cookies...

Sometimes, we do more than just pretend...

We play in makeshift living room tents while we wait for the weather to be nice enough to play outside...

We, um, actually I'm not sure what this picture is about. But he sure is happy!

We make home-made play dough and have fun squishing stuff into it...

We create beautiful art and have our own drawers of art supplies...


We make big messes...

...and we help clean them up.

We make wonderful (and really loud) music...

We read lots of books, we know our colors and (so far) how to count to two!

And every day is full of laughter and these adorable smiling faces!


I tell ya, I have the best job ever!

What I Did Over Christmas Vacation

How can I explain the total awesomeness that was this week at a Smoky Mountain luxury cabin? Sharing time with family, roasting hot dogs and S'mores over the fire pit on the back deck, go-karts and mini golf in town, playing games, soaking in the hot tub, taking in a few movies on the big projection screen in the home theater room, playing games, cooking together, shopping and lunch with the ladies, enjoying morning coffee outdoors on the porch swing, playing games, ringing in the New Year with champagne and fruity Sierra Mist, spying a "wolf" (which may have been a big dog) right outside our front door on our last night there, playing games....do you begin to see the awesomeness?

It's hard to explain in words, so here are some pictures!










Thanks, Mom & Dad, for an amazing vacation!!

Goals for 2010

Wow, 2010...already? Hard to believe that this is the last year I'll be teenager-less...Alex will turn 13 in 2011. My baby will also start kindergarten that year, so expect me to be a frenzied mess, buying calcium and anti-wrinkle cream in bulk. Surprisingly, the only thing that bothers me THIS year is the fact that my MOM will be SIXTY! That really makes me feel older than anything else...but don't tell her I said that. Love you, Mom!

Okay, I know I've been gone almost 2 months, and my blogging before that was sporadic, at best. I think 2009 must have been my year to take a break from my blog, from my art, from my etsy store, from the internet groups I've always been so active in before. Of course, I'm addicted to too many Facebook games to leave the internet altogether, but I think you know what I mean.

So number one on my list of goals for 2010?

1) BLOG at least ONCE a WEEK.
Since I'm posting this on the 7th day of the New Year, I'm totally within the one week mark.

2) Be in a size 8 (or a 6...hey, it could happen!) by the end of the year.
I've only got 30-35 pounds left to lose, so this is totally possible. I look forward to shopping for new clothes!

3) Edit and organize my pics from this year and last, and get them on Flickr. Also, download a manual for my camera, so I can actually figure out how to use it.
This is a tough one. I'll need prayer.

4) Read 100 books.
Since I received the Twilight series for Christmas (thanks, Rachel & Rick!!), I'm already 2.3 books on my way to meeting this goal! (Technically, I finished Twilight before the New Year started, so I'm not able to count it.) I'm considering a list here on the blog with the books I've read so far. Maybe.

5) Get back into my art again!
Art journal prompts, design team work, schtuff for my etsy store...any and all of those things I've neglected for TOO LONG!!

That's all I can think of for now. I hope you'll come by and visit me once in awhile, you know, to help keep me accountable. Sorry I was so...absent...last year! I'm still a comment junkie, so anything you'd like to say to me here will only fuel my determination to make this blog awesome again!! LOVE my internet friends, and I've MISSED you!! I'd love to hear your goals/resolutions for 2010...Happy New Year!

Latest Scrapiness and a Recipe!

Been busy lately working with the November kit, Grandma's Attic, from Jen's House of Scrap! Here's what I've made so far...




And this potato soup recipe is from my friend Katie, with just a few small additions...

Creamy Potato Soup
1 32-oz box chicken broth
1/2 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
1 pound ground sausage, cooked and drained
1 family-sized can cream of chicken soup (or 2 small cans)
1 can creamed corn
2 8-oz blocks cream cheese
3 pounds red potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
pepper to taste
*********************************************
Place all ingredients in Crock-Pot and cook on low 8 hours.
Top with shredded cheese and serve with cheddar garlic biscuits, if desired.
Enjoy!

Family Picture Success!

It's over. We have achieved the impossible...all six of us made it through a family photo session unscathed and with our sanity intact. (Well, as intact as our sanities were to begin with, that is.) Even the photographer survived, which is no small feat.

These pics are from the Olan Mills website. And no, we didn't order any packages or extra sheets. We'll only receive the first pose, since it would cost an outrageous sum in order to get them all (like, more than we spend on groceries in a month outrageous), and I only wanted the one family pic anyway. But there's some photography studio law that forces them to keep shooting, then try to use their salesmen wiles to get you to buy all 20 amazing pictures for the same low price as a used car. Luckily, I've had lots of practice resisting the forces of salespeople; we've been through the photography studio spiel many times before.

They were all really great shots, though.

I Just Couldn't Stay Away Any Longer...

I know, I know. I'm weak, what can I say? I was trying to ignore the fact that I even HAVE a blog

....but in a moment of weakness, I've decided to return.

After all, who am I to deprive my public?

I'm sure you've all been wandering listlessly through your days, awaiting an update of any kind...just something, anything, from your humble Coffee to get you through your day. And, like the celebrity I am, I've selflessly returned from my sabbatical to grant your seemingly improbable wish.

So what have I been up to, you wonder?

For your convenience, a bullet list:

• Threw a rockin' cool birthday/slumber party for Maggie, complete with personal pizzas, karaoke, and a movie. Have had to suffer through Supermom status ever since.
  

• Got to see my dad when he came up for a visit around Columbus Day, and took the kids to the Pumpkin Farm in Ligonier. Freezing cold, blustery day. Typical. Considered concealing myself in the bed of his truck just before he made the trek back to Virginia, then disregarded plan due to having to go 13 hours without being able to pee.
  

• Got a job (although, I think if you really plan to enjoy it, you can't really call it a J.O.B.) babysitting the Twinkies, starting Monday.

• I'm not even sure what this picture is about. Nothing to do with Halloween, however. But fun just the same.

• There have been multiple doctor visits due to my constant/chronic allergies; so far no miracle cure. I'm currently on an over-the-counter allergy med with decongestant, a nasal spray, an inhaler, and a nighttime allergy medication, in addition to the thyroid pill and dose of Tylenol I take every morning. Might as well add an anti-depressant to the list, seeing as how winter is already breathing down our necks.

• Family pic scheduled for tomorrow evening. Will post results as soon as they're available...will be our first professional family pic since before Jack was born. Timely.

• Listed some new items in my etsy store, and put my folk art dolls on SALE!! Offering a limited-time-post-Halloween sale, hoping to get some Christmas money, since I'm told the children will be expecting presents this year. Typical.

So, lest this blog post be all about ME, what's new with YOU? I've missed blogging, SO much, and will be making the rounds to visit you all throughout the week. Yay! Have a wonderful evening!

Blogger Fairies ROCK

Hello!! It's the blogging fairy here!! Christi has been so very busy here and there and everywhere... and her computer is spooty. It's bit the dust, and she's been using her hubby's computer, which last night, also decided not to cooperate with her...
SO
I figured being the ROCKING blogger fairy that I am, I would bring you all up to date.
She's been busy welcoming new nieces into the world...

and getting new baby rats settled in...

and she's been busy working on scrappy pages...

and the kids have been eating delicious things at fairs...

and she has been accepted into a NEW design team for a kit club!! She's going to be designing for Jen's House of Scrap!!
HOPEFULLY, the computer fairy will get off her arse and bless Christi with some good internets and computer loves... Until then, if you've emailed her, or are waiting for an email back from her, it might be in your best interest to contact her by phone. :)

PS even though this post SAYS that Christi posted it, she totally did NOT. I just have awesome ROCKIN' log in abilities... because like I said. Blogger fairies ROCK.