Homemade Hometown Christmas

Nothing like celebrating the season with all the best family and friends in your hometown!

First up! Our annual Ugly Sweater Party!  The nine of us girls get together every Christmas and dote our ugliest sweaters for a night of love and laughs.  This year will be especially fun, our challenge this year was that our gifts had to be homemade!  And let me tell you, Hubby and I went all out.  I can't post pics of the gifts on here (well because I haven't taken any) but I don't want to let the cat out of the bag...  Someone unexpectedly might read this today...  But I can't wait to see their faces when they open their gifts.  This year we drew names.  Boys drew a boy and girls drew a girl.  It's going to be a great night, I'm pretty sure my stomach will hurt from all the laughing!

Then the next two days will be with our family doing traditional Christmas things, eat a lot of great food, watch the kiddo open their gifts from Santa, watch football, laugh and be merry with family!

And then it we will be off to Florida to enjoy some hopefully 80 degree days.

To all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Or better yet Merry New Year!!!

Let me leave you with not the best picture, but a picture of my hometown lit with Christmas lights.  1) Wish I had a better camera and 2) I could take better pictures...

The Engagement

Has it really been 5 years!  When this happened!

It was five years ago this week when the man of my dreams took that step and ask me the words all us little girls dreamt of hearing! 

"Hey, you want to go to the jewelry store today and pick out that ring?"

What, that wasn't what you expected...  Well that is just the way he and I are.  We had dated 10 years before this moment.  And I'm so thankful that our friend capture it, even if it was on a camera phone from 1982, LOL.
I love that this picture capture us trying on the ring that we walked away with and so truly love!  It fits us, like the way we got officially engaged. I wouldn't change it for the world.
I remember planning our wedding through out that following year.  It was simple and perfect and everything just fell into to place.  From the date to the venue to all the details that evolved.
But one thing I treasure and remember the most about that year during planning was how much in love we were (and still are!).  It was like we were just dating again.  We were two love stuck birds. 
I will always cherish those feeling and go back there when things get tough for us.  Marriage isn't easy!  We've had our ups and down in our 5 years of marriage, but they have made us understand each other more.  I think the hardest learning curve I had was that sometimes it isn't just about me.  There is another person that is affected by the plans or actions that you take.  It's about the team that make you up and that you are trying to build.
We have come a long way, not only in the up coming 5 years of marriage, but also in the up coming being together through all the UPS AND DOWN of 15 years. 

Animal Hats

The craze! 
Yes they are cute.  See cute little girl below:

She is so cute with her puppy dog hat and gloves to match.  So sweet.

(Random little girl picture from Internet)

People!  Please refrain from this:

Not cute on an adult!  (Picture of a random guy off the Internet).

Why adults think wearing these are cute, fun, is beyond me...  Now, I'm the farthest thing from a fashion consultant, but please don't make this same mistake!

This is my public service announcement.  I won't make many of them.



Planning the Vacation

I love the giddiness you get when you're about to leave for a vacation!  But to feel that when planning it, well I haven't felt this giddy about planning a vacation in a long time (Honeymoon ;) maybe).  But for some reason I feel it this year.

Hubby's parents have a beautiful home in Florida.  And just about every year right after Christmas we load up the pups and drive the 18 plus hours to our little vacation home.  Now, do I feel giddy because we didn't go last year?  Or maybe because it's only a couple weeks away?  Or is it because we are doing a little side trip on the way down?  OK, it most likely is all three.  So, this is the first year we are not planning on driving straight though.  We are making plans on stopping in Atlanta, Georgia!  Atlanta is about the half way mark, so it make a perfect stopping point.  But what is there to see?  The Georgia Aquarium!  The worlds largest! It opened November 2005, and I believe that was the first year hubby and I started our trips going to Florida.  I remember wanting to go to it that year.  Well, we were young and just wanted to get to our final destination so we could bass in the warmth of Florida.  Well now that we are 6 years older.  Florida isn't as warm as one would like... Well, not in December.  And any true Floridian would never be caught at the beach that time of the year.  That is where you would find the tourists! 

But we do have one little hiccup to stopping in the Big Peach, and that would be DOGS!  Yup, we have 2, and not little lap dogs, (even though one of them thinks she is...).  So, when reading about some of the hotel pet policys, dogs are WELCOME, fine print reads 40lbs or less.  What is a family of 4 (2 people and 2 dogs) to do?  Google - Dog friendly Hotels.  What pops up?  This very helpful website - dogfriendly.com 
I hope looks aren't deceiving, however after talking to the front desk staff, it made me even more excited to stay at this hotel; Hotel Indigo, Atlanta. It is located about 6 blocks from the Aquarium, and they have a package for doggies!  They donate a portion of our stay to the Atlanta Humane Society and our babies are welcome with their own dog bed and a bowl full of treats!  Oh, and the rate is cheap!  Well cheap to what I expected to stay at a hotel in downtown Atlanta!  I'm thinking our stay will be a little nicer than staying at a Motel 6!

So there you have it!  The front end of our little vacation getaway!  Not sure what the Florida part of our vacation will include, but I will be content sitting by the pool and not having an alarm waking me up for 14 whole days! 

Au revoir!

Cat Scratchin'

Nope, no Cat Scratch Fever here, even though Teddy is a native to Michigan!

I have 2 cats.  I'll introduce them more in a later post, but I have a male and female, brother and sister, Ziggy and Honey. They are mainly outdoor cats, and with that they have their claws.  Now, I'm not sure who's to blame for this:

Yup, they are using my trees as scratching posts.  I tend to blame Ziggy, but he is my trouble maker, boys will be boys!  But I have also witness him doing it. 

This doesn't look too bad, YET!  I just planted this guy in August (snagged him off the clearance rank at our local nursery).  I didn't take a picture of an older tree that I planted about 5-6 years ago, but he was(is) tattered.

Solution - Old drain tiles! We had some left over after we did some cement work around our walk out basement retaining walls. 

We cut it to about 2 to 3 foot lengths.  And then sliced it open, so it would easily wrap around the tree.   And that is it, problem solved!  And with this, there is another perk...  Weed-whacking!  Yup, with this hard plastic wrapped around the base of the tree, it protects the base of the truck from getting abused by the weed-whacker.  Now, that could be operator error on my part, but it sure beats having to be delicate around the trees!


Now the pros suggest using white over black drain tile.  Well, we had black tiles, so next time I think about it, I will pick up a can of white outdoor spray paint and have fun painting these white!

Now, Ziggy, use the scratching post in the garage, thanks!
Love your Momma


P.S.  This also works to protect your trees from deer, you just have to use a longer piece of drain tile.

Thankfully I haven't had this problem yet, just them nibble on my new growth... (I have a trick for that too...!)