HELP SANTA!

OK I think I went overboard this year. You see last year around Christmas, Santa made a rather surprise visit to Alex’s jeep during the night and left a wonderful stocking.

Then at Easter the Easter Bunny also stopped by not just this year, but the year before as well!

So I’ve sort of set a precedent for the whole contacting the appropriate party for a fun gift thing and here we are  a week and a half away from Christmas.

I haven’t even managed to shoot off a proper letter to the red, jolly man in velour suit! (Well except for the one about a dadgumbreak!)

Since we just found out yesterday that Alex will shortly have a job. I could contact the miracle man.

(Quick pause for the heaven’s rejoicing and the loud thumping as I land in a rather ungainly head on the floor from jumping so high.)

Only, I have no clue what to ask for Alex’s stocking. I’m at a loss. Alex SAYS to not worry about it, but where is the magic in not waking up to at least an orange, some chocolates, and a small little stocking gift??

There is no magic to that is what I say!

So, I’m curious. What do you find from Santa in your stocking on Christmas morning?

Merry Exploded Up in Here

Alex and I have been discussing how very little it feels like Christmas to us. I am honestly not sure what it is that is leading to the feeling, but there you have it. We yanked out all of our Christmas decorations and then just let them sit in boxes.

(There are TWO Christmas tree boxes in that photo. Yes y’all, we have TWO trees.) Y’all we have retarded amounts of Christmas decor. Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, so this weekend we decided to yank out all of the decorations and you know, DO SOMETHING with them.

We decorated our fireplace mantel and lit a fire while the rest of the space was decorated. 

I was able to set our little Nativity on the table we had to move in order to fit our Christmas tree.

Lastly, I set up our Christmas tree. (You notice I said “I set up”…)

I set up the tree because Alex and his friend were hanging out at our place watching Indiana Jones movies. LOTS of Indiana Jones movies. I do not like Indiana enough to tolerate 7 hours of movies, yet this is what happened at our house.

Ain’t ya jealous?

What Christmas decor do you have set up?

Forget Black Friday, Hello Sunday!

I’ve been lazy. Very lazy, so lazy in fact that all the Thanksgiving photos that I took much the amusement of my family have been uploaded from camera to laptop but that is it. Ergo I have no photos to share with y’all because I am lazy.

It’s a curse I tell ya.

One are I have not been lazy in is shopping. I am a champion shopper. Well a champion provided I do not have to actually get up and get dressed and you know, DRIVE somewhere. This year our Black Friday shopping was more like Cyber Sunday thru Monday shopping. In our pajamas.

The great news is I have finished ALL of the Christmas shopping and Alex only has a gift for me left (that I am aware of) and we managed to stay under budget. We only bought gifts for immediate family because of the job situation, but we’re making sure Grandparents and the like get cards in the very least. So now I’m just waiting on all of the gifts to arrive so that I can break out the fun wrapping paper and get to decorating.

Speaking of decorating, last night Alex got down all of the Christmas decor and piled it in our living room where we both just stood and stared at it in amazement. I’ll have to take a photo tonight and post it on twitter and Facebook tonight just so y’all can see what I mean.

We are SET for Christmas decor.

How are y’all doing in moving from Thanksgiving to Christmas?

Run Turkey Run!

The time has come for the bird to run. (He hasn’t got a chance y’all. I have cats.) It’s time for the pots and the pans to simmer and bake. It’s for friends and family to gather with laughter ‘round the table groaning under all that weight. It’s time for the belts to come off and the pants to loosen where day time naps are the norm and the cats adorn laps stuffed to the brink.

Translation, it’s time for the feast of thanks otherwise known as Thanksgiving!

As in years past I’ve been asked to make the Apple Pie (recipe is up under the “Recipes” link in the menu bar along with several others). This year I’m also taking on the mashed potatoes and the green bean casserole too.

It’s handy having two households within 5 minutes of one another for big meals like this. It means two stoves, two ovens, and sadly two messes.

My plan tomorrow is take the bag of potatoes and get Alex to peel and dice them. I’ll handle the cooking and the mashing. (Why yes I managed this so I’d get the easy job. Duh!)

I’ll also bake the apple pie. Once that pie is done I’ll bake the green bean casserole so that it’s nice and hot when we head over to my folks house.

Will you be cooking this year? What are your plans?

Lastly – y’all I want to tell you how wonderfully thankful I am for YOU! Your comments, your visits, your friendship make me smile every day. On the crummy moments which I share in the blog, your words of joy lift me up. Your words of camaraderie in the happy moments make me smile too! So just know that this Thanksgiving I’m giving thanks for all of YOU!!

Prepping for Company

I am an emotional cleaner. Which is similar to an emotional shopper (which I also am to the detriment of my bank account and Alex’s sanity) but different in that I achieve something productive when emotional.

Lately however, things have been pretty dang keen.

I mean, sure we’ve had our ER visits and our job loss, but all in all I’ve been pretty dang ok with life. The meds help! What all this means though is my house is um…less than stellar. In fact it’s downright frumpy.

The laundry while done, piles on the couch for days. I don’t care so I don’t say anything and Alex sees no point in putting clothes away when you just yank them back out. (I’m beginning to get this logic.)

The vacuum has sat in the hallway now for almost a week because I got it out to clean, but then I took a nap instead.

(I was very productive that day…beauty needs rest after all.)

Alas, all this is coming to bite me in the bum if we have company next week. Luckily that company is my little taller than me baby brother so I’m not overly worried. I figure we have snacks, drinks, a t.v. in the guest room and we live 10 minutes from my parents. Plus I grew up with him…I know what his room looked (and likely still looks) like so he can just shove the extra pillows on the bedroom floor for a few days.

He will then get roped into helping me back the casserole, potatoes, and pie for Thanksgiving since I know he can cook.

What plans do you have for Turkey Day?

“Yer a Winner!”

Thanks everyone for participating in the Shutterfly giveaway! Winners will need to email me at msmarriageadventures {at} gmail {dot} com by Tuesday to claim your prize.

Congrats to:

Craving Mommyhood

Monica Rinaldo

Laura @ Unpunctuated Life

Save on Your Christmas Budget

I know it sounds crazy to think about it, but the time to order holiday cards is almost here! Luckily Shutterfly is here to help us all.

How? By crossing off Christmas cards on our “To-Do” list and helping us do it FOR FREE! That’s right, Free y’all.

I have to admit I love Shutterfly.  They have the best card collection around. I have used them to make a wedding gift for Alex, anniversary gifts, and print many MANY photos so that we can enjoy our memories outside of a thumb drive. However, as per usual they have surpassed my expectations for the holiday collection.

I thought about doing a stationary card, because a personal note is always welcome during the holidays. Before I quickly realized that for us, the photo cards are the best bet, because I love adding that personal touch of a photo from our year. (Plus it helps family keep track of our aging faces :-p!)

I really love the vintage style cards as it suits our rustic, country ways. (And our cowboy boots)

Clearly not Alex and I

But then again there is something magical about this card. It has to do with the squirrels. And the family crest. We’re the nuts around here!

Not our Boys – Our's are Furrier.

But then again, there is something so wonderfully classic about a good ol’ fashioned card. Simplistic, yes, but also beautiful.

Ain't We Cute? Just kidding!

So how can they help you this year? Well, Shutterfly has teamed up with bloggers and they are helping ME give YOU a chance to win one (1) of three (3) prizes for twenty-five (25) free cards!

I’ll be keeping this contest up and live for a full week so that y’all have a chance to enter as much as you possibly can. Be sure to follow the directions and feel free to do as many of them as you want!

Ways to enter:

  1. Follow Our Marriage Adventure by clicking HERE and letting me know you’ve done so in the comments
  2. Follow Our Marriage Adventure on Facebook and put a comment telling me who you are so I can find ya :)
  3. Follow me on Twitter as @MrsOurMA

You can also gain additional entries by:

  1. Tweet the following message “@MrsOurMA is working with #shutterfly to giveaway #FreeCards. I’ve entered and so should you at http://ourmarriageadventure.com” then pop the link to your tweet in the comments
  2. Blogging about this and linking your post in the comments

The contest will close on Friday, November 4th 2011 at 10 p.m. EST so be sure to enter before then. Winners will then be pulled using Random.ORG based on the number of comments you’ve left. Three winners will be chosen and announced via entry ways 1 – 3 on Saturday November 5, 2011. Good Luck Y’all!

 

 

Getting Crafty

I love decorating my house, I know I’ve mentioned this to y’all before. Alex is content to stand to the side and just shake his head at the crazy that is his wife. So knowing that following the Fourth of July lots of patriotic items go on sale I headed to a Hobby Lobby and went hog-wild.

A little too hog wild. (Alex had to carry most of this because my hands were full with fall stuff. Oops!)

Then I took the glue gun and had a blast! By the time I was done I had a wreath for the front door.

A little bit of bling for the fireplace…

and using some fun decor left over from our wedding reception centerpieces I made a table centerpiece.

 

Now I did all this with silk flowers because I’m cheap. This is also why I made all this patriotic gear after the fourth…everything was on clearance. So next year when Memorial Day comes around, VOILA! I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready all the way through Labor Day.

Now to start working on the Fall wreath.