I read a book!

84% through Bah, Humbug! (A Christmas Street Romantic Comedy Novella) by Horrocks, Heather on Kindle for Android! http://www.amazon.com/kindleforandroid/
I READ A BOOK!
This book is sweet and funny. This is a romantic novel I don't mind reading.  This book has a warm feeling to it and  it doesn't need all that other stuff to be good. You know, 50 Shades of Grey type stuff. (I have read that book too, story line not bad).  If you want a cute holiday romance story for Christmas;  Bah, Humbug! By Heather Horrocks is the one to read.
#readabook

A cup of coffee and a thought. Saying Merry Christmas.

What's wrong with saying Merry Christmas?  Are we all so afraid of causing offense that we all cower in the name and just say "Happy Holidays". People can actually get written up at work for saying it. Things you see on old movies you just can't do anymore. What got me thinking of this is when I watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Everyone said Merry Christmas,  eventhough Mr Hooper was Jewish. He didn't take offense.  He viewed Christmas as a time of giving. Bob did say happy Hanukkah, to him. But now, you say merry Christmas to people and someone is bound to get upset. "I'm offended", well I'm offended that you're offended for being offended. Are you offended because it's a "Christian" holiday? I am not the most religious person, but I still love the holiday and all it means.
Let's have a history lesson.  A lesson that was even mentioned on Foodnetwork's "Good Eats". Christmas was not always called Christmas.  Infact, it had little to do with Christ until the Church,trying to keep people happy all of a sudden said Christ was born in December.  In which many historians believe was actually the spring. The church tried banning the old Celtic and pagan celebration of the Yuletide . Which caused people to do it anyways to the extreme and revolt. Drinking for a week straight and even the church was closed. Seriously,  go to Youtube and search History Channel history of Christmas.  Or "Good eats Christmas carol" .  Or go to the History Channel's website.
But, I say let's say what we want. Why conform? Christmas to me is about family, spending time with them, eating, and savoring memmories. As well as wrapping gifts with a bottle of wine. Traditions.  So I say Christmas has done me good and will do me good. And I say God bless it. If you get the Dickens references you are awesome!

Now here is a fun pic.

A cup of coffee and a thought. Cookies for Santa.

Today was a great day out. Not only did I get some window shopping done,sigh. I also was able to take little man to see Santa Claus. It was a brief encounter with the man of the season. We took him to see Santa in his Starwars shirt and, you know what that was fine. I was not going to be the mom forcing uncomfortable Christmas elf clothing. No Santa hats, no tinsel;just little man as Santa knew him. Comfortable and clean. As well as cute. He was not drowing in red baby Santa attire. And while he was the most dressed down, he was the most comfortable and didn't cry. I figured a better picture would be had this way. However, if you dress your kids up like that good for you,it just isn't my cup of eggnog.  I think the formal Christmas attire is ok, most of my nieces photos with Santa are with that. But, just not elf like costumes.
Anyways, I am so proud of my baby boy. He handled it well.
After photoswith Santa we went on a mission to find a cookies for Santa cup and plate. We found them. For 12.99 -19.99. Why is that so Expensive? Really? Let's pay for something like that, when back in the day it was a glass of the cow and a dessert plate of cookies. So, I have a cheese platter of Santa's head and I have a red cup to match. But, here is my dilema. I am very lactose intolerant and  Hubby could drink the milk. But we could do a bit of the wink-wink, nod-nod eggnog(spiked) . Santa wont mind that, right?  He wont mind the good ol nog.
So, what do you leave for Santa? On Peppa pig it is a mince pie and a "drink".

Christmas lights and jolly time

As I have been promising. Here are some Christmas homes I took pictures of.I should add mine but I am no where near this in Christmas lights. Enjoy.

This was the start of our Christmas walking tour.

 

I need to take better pictures This house was fun.

This house won last year's town light contest.

You can kind of see why they won. Great uses of lights

What fun

Lots of time went into this

Across the street had this to say

one last picture of the other house

They did good too! lots of lights for a small space.

Blow ups are good for those who have back problems. My dad loves them. He just added the arch.

Christmas pains..

Yesterday I burnt my hand with some boiling water. I swear my microwave is trying to kill me. Anyways my day was headed in a horrible direction that morning was full of pain and sorrow. But, thanks to my mom I was able to recover quite a bit. She helped with little man a lot.

While at my parent's house we spent the day watching Martha Stewart. Then we went for a walk and saw some great houses lit for Christmas.  But before that some woman came to their front door asking my mother for money. Money for her friend,  so she could by decorations. She had a print out asking for $100-200. She opened the paper quickly and then shut it just as quick. My mom said no. The woman asked if my mother was sure. Umm what part of no don't people understand?  
The lady walked away and left. This was one strange request.  My dad wished he was there so he could pull an Ebenezer Scrooge. But she handled it well.  I could do less of things like that.

Finally done decorating.

I finished decorating today. Everything is as it should be. All the lights are up and then some. I love it and through all my hustle and bustle I am forgetting all the troubles of this year. Well sort of.
Today I got some sound advice from my mom. "Take half an hour for yourself.  No eBay. No hubby. No worries about little man. Go do for you. Paint or scrapbook." Good advice. I have no time for that. I work on my blogs as best I can and eBay when I am not chasing the baby around.  Then I clean. I have no time until after little man is asleep.  And if I go be by myself and I, my hubby starts asking where I am. He starts saying I am anti social and he misses me. Which I love that he misses me but, darnit I need 45 mins all to myself.  I do it for him. Why can't I get that? I deserve it right? Ladies what would you do? How do you do it?

New tooth and lights.

It has been a very busy and grouchy last couple of days. My baby has now got one of his front teeth. I can now hear all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth, my two front teeth, yes my two front te eth. That song is trapped in my noodle(head). But he has his tooth and all is ok. We finished the lights, well sort of. We still have those darn icicle lights to put up.  But even without them our house looks good. There was a wonderful Christmas house we are going to take pictures of hopefully tonight. Walk there fast take pic and leave. It's dark but we will have a torch. (Too much Peppa Pig)
Stay tuned!

Happy December 1st!

Have a holly jolly Sunday, it is now December. We can now listen to Christmas music without feeling a bit silly. The lights are almost done and I am excited about this holiday season at the same time as not feeling excited about this holiday season. It is going to be my baby's first Christmas, and although I know he will have the best I feel like I can not do as much as I want to. I am not talking about toys per say, he has plenty for under the tree. But for other reasons. Some of the things I used to make each year I can't this year. The money just is not there. And people think it would be OK if THEY pay for part, no. It isn't the same. I can not ask that, we just wont have any.
A bit of  Christmas cheer and the spirit of the season was witnessed yesterday at a local Walmart. By your's truly. I didn't do the cheer, I was the one who was going to recieve it. While at the check out line, I forgot 4 jars of baby food. So, I went back to get them the cashier held my items at the check out. It was 6Am and no one but me and a few other people were there. She thought I couldn't pay for my son's food or for my food in my cart. I just took the cart with me so it wasn't in the way. She assumed that I was putting food back. So, she asked the cashier if she could pay towards my groceries. A nice and sweet gesture. The cashier explained what happened and the lady went on her way. But, think about it. That is really what this season should be about. The spirit of giving and good will towards others. Put them first. I have to say, it put me in an excellent mood and a warm feeling was there. Thank you lady, where ever you are.

Thanksgiving is done, now what?

Thanksgiving was a success.  We had a lot of food and great laughs. The baby was good but in pain from gums. But once he found a tin he was very entertained. But now it is over and now it is time for lights, egg nog, and a fellow in a red suit. Christmas is on it's way. And here below is my first twinkly lights that I took pics of.

We were on the way home last night and saw this

so pretty

I love this tree

What a great end to the day.

The day before, Turkey day.

It is Wens, and it is Thanksgiving eve. This morning I was off to a rocky start, my baby keeps waking up at 3:30 Am each day, takes a bottle and then snoozes until 6-6:30 AM. I just can not get him to sleep all night anymore. Phase? He also is not wanting to eat. After a few bites he just turns his head like "I am full,bleh" He also discovered how to be uber pathetic and act like he is going to puke. Oh the joys of boys.  I know it is partially teething and from what I have been seeing on Babycenter and Circle of moms that this is a normal phemomona that hits between 8-10 months. They are just not as hungry as before or they see too much going on. They want to be in the middle of it. He only has two teeth so it isn't like he can really chew anything. He did, however, try to feed himself. So, maybe that is it. He wants to do it. He did try this morning and we ended up messy. Very messy.  Then the fittings started and he just was not happy no matter what. Over tired little man.

Today, is a cool 70 degrees out. Ahh it feels like fall. But, this is short lived. It will soon be hot as you know where in no time, again. I have to say even though it is FL, it is unusally hot this year. Global Warming much?
So, it being Thanksgiving tomorrow;I thought I would ask what is your favorite Thanksgiving day memory.
Mine?
Growing up in MO, we would have my Grandma and uncle from the Ozarks come up to St Louis to have Thanksgiving. There would be lots of laughs, mashed potatoes, and fart jokes courtesy of my dad and uncle. There would be a fight over the wishing bone and then the night would finish with my dad and uncle playing hockey on the Sega Genesis and the rest of us playing Rummy with grandma. Those sweet memories you just can not replace and it was the best. Also, knowing that dad was going to put up lights the next day. I can still hear the colorful vocabulary as he fell from the roof. Or if the lights would not go on. We never did Black Friday. It was just too much fun at home.

A cup of coffee and a thought, oh my lights.

Helping mama with untangling lights

After a great(sarcasm) morning at the local WIC office, I came home and decided to get some laundry done as well as go into a slight Christmas mode. The week of Thanksgiving I go through my Christmas decor and lights to see what needs replacing and what needs new bulbs. I also go through my ornaments and check for casulties. Which one of my German ornaments bit the dust, I am not happy. But still it could have been worse. My lights are needing some replacing, I have 2 strands that don't work. I am hoping I have enough to go around the front of the house. If not, then I will replace them with multi-colored lights and use them somewhere else. I am not a light fanatic but, I do love decking the halls. OK, maybe I am a fanatic. The one thing I can not seem to find is my solar lights. I will have to go into the attic to get them, I think that is where they are. If not then I have no clue where they are. I tried to go into the attic while my baby is sleeping and um, I can not get the door open. I felt like a monkey hanging from the ceiling. It wouldn't budge. So, after I finish my Miso soup I am going to try again. Why? Because I wanna. I just hope I do not get stuck up there like Clark Griswald.

 This week is a week of firsts for my Little man, it is his 1st Thanksgiving and his first Christmas Tree decorating. And although he can not eat the food, I know everyone around him will be thankful that he is around. I know I am. And that is where I want to leave off with today. I am thankful for this week of firsts for my baby and for the people that will be sharing it with us.

Monday can be fun days.

Today is Monday(no duh) and I am trying to make it a fun day for me an my boy. So far we have rolled around on the carpet. He helped me wrap gifts, and discovered one of his! Now he wont leave it alone. And keeps finding the thing! He will disappear and then I hear the alphabet song...found him. He is laughing and dancing. We have also done some house hold chores while watching Peppa Pig, his favorite. We are getting ready for Christmas decorating. I found my Christmas bins and need to go into the attic to get his white tree for his dinosaur extreme tree. Little boys have EXTREME Christmas trees. It is going to be covered in over $100 in blown glass ornaments....I had just realized he has one expensive ornament selection. I got a discount on them from Hobby Lobby, but still without that each ornament would have been $5.99 to 10.99 per ornament. Am I crazy? Yes, absolutely. But, this is my favorite time of year and I go Christmas tree crazy. How many do I have? Well, I have one in the master bedroom, one in his bedroom, and the main tree. Why not? Anyways, we are prepping for this Friday; where we will be decorating instead of shopping. Ahh, nothing will be better than a glass of sparkling Barefoot Pink Moscato and my Christmas tree being abused by my baby boy. My ornaments will be in trouble and his tree will be safe. He never goes into his OWN room. Just mommy and daddy's room.
But, today we are getting a lot of fun done. He even tried to feed his mommy "pretend" food. This week I hope goes by fast, we have a lot to do this weekend.
If you want my Black Friday survival guide I finally posted on my other blog Gofashiondeals. Read it; it is funny.

Sweet Red with a side order of dinosaur. Grrrawr.

I have started wrapping my boy's gifts and am really excited about his first Christmas.  I know, I know; it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. That's next Thursday.  But, I like wrapping what presents I get early. It gives me time to focus on other stuff.
I may be wrapping early but, I haven't decorated yet. That can wait. So, I popped open a Sutter Home sweet red wine and got to work. I am busy being Santa.
Then it hit me, 3-4 hours of sleep and red wine is like drinking Nyquil. I have realized I am exhausted.  And this wine is making me sleepy.
What to do? Keep wrapping!   When do you wrap presents?  What is "TOO"early for Christmas decor, wrapping,  and music? Do you feel there is not much separation of holidays? While I may kind of feel that decorating now is early, I salute those who do. I have to admit I have been listening to Christmas music since August. 

oh yeah!! MMMMM.

How else can you wrap a dino? 

A glass of wine and some wrapping paper.

I have found my zen. Wrapping Christmas presents is my way of relaxing this time of year. Whenever I wrap a present I can not wait to wrap the thing. Call me crazy, but there is something just so calming to me about wrapping a gift. I just love it. Just love it. I can not count the number of people who hate wrapping. Me, I am obsessed with it.
As far as Christmas shopping, I almost have my baby done. I went with my mother today and bought him some great stuff. I love buying things for that little boy. This year we have a tight budget and I would rather him get things than myself. That baby is all the gift I need. I don't need anything else. Christmas morning all I want is my son, hubby, a cup of coffee, the lights on the tree, and music. Then the fun of watching my son play with every box he unwraps. Thank god he is at the age where his toys are CHEAP and tons of FUN!
I want to get my hubby something, and I found exactly what he needs a wireless Xbox 360 headset. And I can not wait to give it to him. I found it on eBay, and when it comes in I will wrap it. I just hope he doesn't read this. He rarely reads my blogs. But, the headset is within budget. He will hopefully like it.
So, tonight once little man goes to bed, I am going to sneak into the bedroom and wrap his gifts. I try to get this stuff done early.
One more thing I have to share! I went grocery shopping and only spent $120!!! I got a lot of baby stuff and food, snacks,etc. I saved $60.50! I got to continue to save and hopefully my next bill will be smaller!
Now off to butcher the whole chickens I bought.....yum.

Oh three AM wake up time and two pots of coffee later.......

Hello all,
I am writing a very tired blog today. I have been up since 3 Am, thought those days were over when little man started sleeping all night. Nope. I was in denial. He was up and that meant I needed to be up too. He was up and down all night so, I figured a bottle and he would go back to sleep. By 3:30 he was done and was snoozing away. I put little man back to bed and staggered my way back to mine. 1 hour later he was back up. And now he is back to sleep again. Poor little guy, I wish he would let me look and see if there is a new tooth in that mouth, but alas he wont let me. Oh the joys and happiness that is teething. It is tough being little and it is tough being the mama.
So, what did I do this time after getting him to sleep? Work on Chippey's Shoppe, my eBay store and watch "Extreme Christmas Trees" on Netflix. I had my Christmas cup full of coffee and was watching away. Then I figured I have the time and aloneness to list some stuff. So, here I am blogging away and going to list some things to my store. #joysofebay. I am also listening to Bing Crosby on Pandora. #dontjudge
Then it dawned on me, I have no clue where the rest of my holiday mugs are. Or where all my lights are for that matter. I love moving, because it is a treasure hunt to find things 8 months later when you are settled in. Ugh, so that means next week I am going to have to go into the attic and get them. If they are there. I like being prepared. I plan on starting a page of Christmas house decor. There are some homes around here in Fl ready for it. That or I may do Crazy Christmas trees. I am not sure what or how I will do it. But it will be cools.This is something I have been wanting to do since I started blogging and never did. So this year! If you have any you want posted let me know. #crazyforchristmas

A cup of coffee and a thought, where has time gone?

Wow, can any of you believe that Thanksgiving is here next week. Then after that is Christmas and New Years. Where did the year go? It feels like just yesterday was the 4th of July. But no it was Halloween not that long ago. I find it interesting that as adults there are not enough hours in a day, but as kids the days drug on and on. Time entered a no passing zone. It seemed to take forever for Christmas to get here. I mean FOREVER. I would open each piece on the Advent calendar waiting and it just seemed to slowly creep up. Then Christmas eve and then no sleep.
People around here are already decking the halls. There are lights on their houses and I am sure stocking hung by their chimneys with care. I miss having a fire place, for that reason. I'll just tell my little boy when he is older that Santa has his own house key.
I have had many people ask me if we are going to do Elf on a Shelf when baby bear is older. I am not sure. It seems so complicated to me, and we never had it growing up. It would seem to be a lot of fun to do and there are plenty of ideas on Pinterest for it. How many of you do Elf on a Shelf? How do your kids react to each night of silliness? And parents, do you do it every day or is it just closer to Christmas?

When I was little the thing was Saint Nick's day. We celebrated that along with Christmas. Our stockings would have candies and a cheap toy in them. It was exciting and every time I would argue that I needed the day off for the holiday. Mom would just laugh at me. Hey, it was worth a shot right? Only if it were a snow day would that happen. Down here in Fl, we don't have that. So, little man wont be able to get it.  Not too many people know what I am talking about when I refer to Saint Nick's day here in Fl. I guess it is a mid-western thing.

Well, Thanksgiving will be here NEXT WEEK. BE sure to check out my coupon page for some Turkey day savings. It has helped me a bunch. I got diapers and formula for my boy for 22. That was for a big container and a pack of diapers. There are some great food coupons in there! I can not wait to get decorated for Christmas. Next week is decorate time!

True Happiness.

I am happy for a lot of things in my life. I am happy about having an amazing hubby and a adorable house that I can call MINE. I am happy for this coffee I am drinking, although I miss my Keurig. But, most of all I am happy for the happiest little boy in the world, my son. He just loves everything and all things make him smile. He, right now is playing with a sock and is excited about it. He just looks at me or my hubby and breaks out in the biggest cheesiest grin. Something we call "cheese face". He is the joy of my life, and I am truly thankful and blessed to have him. I want to just hug him all the time, and when he gives me that pure look of  "I love you mama." I melt. I truly melt into a thousand pieces, hubby giggles about that.

He is just an amazing little boy and he just keeps getting more and more amazing every day.

He is also a speed crawler, and already tries to walk. Lord help me. My boy is also a cheeky little man and knows when he is being naughty. He just looks at you and gives you a mischievous grin. I giggle at that, knowing darn well that I am encouraging it. But, when you are that cute, you get away with a lot. Little stinker. 

This Thanksgiving while we all give thanks to everything in our lives. I am thankful for this, my little man. I truly am and every day is precious with him. 

What makes you happiest? What are you truly thankful for?

Christmas is just around the corner, and I am freaking out! 

This is still a great deal to not pass up, I am getting a canvas of my little man. 

$25.99 free shipping gallery wrapped Canvas,Printerpix.

And speaking of great deals, I got 10 jars of  Beach Nut jar food for $3.00 after coupons! WHAT?! I guess I really need to get my butt in gear with couponing. What coupon tricks do you have?