Christmas

Christmas was great this year! As I'm sitting here reflecting on 2011, it was so much better than last year. I think we are finally recovering from the layoffs that have happened and maybe we can live like real people soon. Todd and I are both in jobs we love and things are looking brighter.

Mom came up for Christmas and redid the boy's bathroom for our Christmas present. I think it's beautiful. I love the disco ball that lights up sitting on the new cabinet which has been needed in there for a while! I might have to take a shower using that as the only light. LOL Thank you Mom!!

We finally discovered the lights at Saluda Shoals this year! If I recall correctly, the were almost as nice as the lights at Lake Lanier in GA but they were less expensive and just beautiful! There was something new to see around every corner :)

And, we got to meet with Todd's mom and the rest of the family at our traditional spot - Sonny's near Greenville. This was our 3rd year. I wonder if I have pics from the previous two years...

Well, here's the 2010 picture...

I think it's time to get Patch a new coat ;-) It would be nice to get the entire family together sometime!

I am planning on making some New Year's Resolutions this year - something I rarely do.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and gets to spend lots of time with family and loved ones.

We've been as crazy busy as the rest of you but I wanted to take some time to share what we've been doing lately. 

We've been making stuff....

Chocolate covered candy canes

 Laundry soap

Homemade vanilla extract - will be ready in about six months and I'll have plenty of it! If you want to try it, just let me know! :)

We've been going places....

The downtown lights we saw on our way to Todd's Christmas party for work - sorry, no pics of the cool ice sculptures there this year :(

Sorry, terrible pic of Occupy Columbia we saw on our way to the ballet (But, go Occupy a Job, please!)

Twas the Night Before Christmas ballet at the Koger Center - the boys even liked it! :)

One of our favorite things - a full moon hike through Phinizy swamp in Augusta, GA

We've been getting read for Christmas...

I ordered a present from Ebay - I had no idea it was coming all the way from China but it's got Chinese writing and stamps on it - pretty cool!!

My Secret Santa ornament from one of my co-workers at JustAnswer - I think one of the guys drew my name ;-) and the boys thought I should have mentioned the Gamecocks instead of the Wolverines. 

Finishing up school work for the season - you'd think he'd be happier about it!

Todd thought we should stop there with the tree...

The view from my office these days :)

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope to see you sometime soon!

Hi! Remember me?

I'm the girl that got 'restructured' and then had to hunt down a new job. While I was unemployed from a paying job, I had a full time job looking for work and was sort of surprised to find out, not all jobs are found by word of mouth. I also took advantage of the extra time (HA! Not sure there really was any!) to spend more time with the boys and trying to learn some new cost saving techniques.

Patch has been showing some interest in learning how to cook. He has been promoted from grasshopper to apprentice chef and wants to be my sous chef something fierce! I do appreciate the extra help in the kitchen. He can make eggs on his own and keeps trying to find new things to add to the eggs to make them yummy. He has also helped me make a bunch of dinners, laundry detergent and some chocolate covered candy canes today! Franklin does not seem to care to cook too much but he did help with the candy canes today. He doesn't like mint so we made some choc covered pretzel sticks for him. Franklin does seem to almost like school this year. I think it's dawning on him that he needs to know stuff but he really likes doing 8th grade math as a 7th grader.

Patch making soap

I'm trying to buy whole chickens and cut them up myself to save some money. I've done 4 so far and have 2 more in the fridge to work on - making them boneless and skinless, making stock. Saving the chicken wings to make hot wings is going to take a while - 4 chickens worth of wings will feed one of these guys - maybe... (I can hardly wait to see how they'll eat as teenagers!) And, of course, I'm trying to do some couponing. I think I only saved 20% last trip to the store but, I'm trying! I think the most I've saved is 35% but I'm not a crazy extreme couponer either ;-)

My new job is awesome! It's not community oriented like my last job but it's still very interesting and the people are GREAT! I'm working for JustAnswer.com where people get answers to their questions from verified experts. The answer everything from legal and medical, auto and appliance repairs to tarot and dream interpretation. They'll also help you with your homework - don't let the kids get any ideas though - you have to be 18 years old to be on the site ;-) They did open up an AskSanta site though - Patch asked if he'd get what he wanted for Christmas - Santa was non-committal on that answer ;-)  If your kids want to ask Santa a question, or just read what others have already asked, check this out :) http://www.justanswersanta.com  

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays this year!!