Friday, November 28, 2008

Just Fits!

Happy Thanksgiving Yall! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and most importantly survived the plane ride. We were little were not sure if Cookie would fit in the overhead bend but to our surprise...



She just met the requirement! [We kid of course.] We would never entertain the idea of Cookie riding with the luggage. It would cost us to much with all of the new luggage fees they are charging. [Bloggers I am on a roll with the jokes this morning!]

We hope that you and your families had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Cheers to holiday shopping and decking the halls the Christmas.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

It's A Turkey Napkin, You Turkey

In one of my many trips to NM this past month, I came across instructions on how to fold a Turkey Napkin. It is simple and oh so cute. In six easy steps your table will become the gobble, gobble of the town.




The instructions are a little small so here they are a little clearer,

  1. Fold cloth in half vertically so open edge is on the rights.

  2. Fold napkin up one and a half inches from bottom edge, then fold it under itself, accordion-style

  3. Keep folding until 4 inches to 5 inches remain.

  4. Diagonally fold upper right corners (both layers) into the pleated section. Tuck edge into the pleating to create a triangle.

  5. Stand triangle upright on long edge into the pleating to create a triangle.

  6. Get a squash with a 1 to 2 inch stem. Glue on beak (corn husk or nut) and eyes (dried beans or whole cloves) to complete your holiday bird.

Then WA-LA your Turkey is born...






Cheers to creative napkin folding and the five star restaurants that are oh so good at it!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Now That is Romance

This weekend Cookie and I had a fun filled weekend with the family in my hometown. We were able to visit with my Mother and the rest of the family and helped my sister decorate her house for Christmas.

Decorating my sisters house inspired me to ask the hubby to get down our lights and test them so we could be ready to decorate for Christmas when we got home from the Thanksgiving holiday. If there is one thing the Hubby knows is that I enjoy a good count down to Santa's visit and decorating the house with lights!

In between one of the hubby's many football games he called to say that he was having a grand time preparing for our arrival back home on Sunday and that we would get all of the decorations down when we got back. He insisted that this past Saturday was going to be devoted to football. After spending the entire week with Cookie and being in Daddy overload, I couldn't deny him of his request.

On our way home the hubby called to say that he had dinner planned and it was a surprise. I just went with it.

When we arrived home, I was so excited to see that our Christmas lights were up! So, excited that I think I could have peed on myself from that level of excitement.

Later on in the afternoon our neighbor came by to borrow a sharpie. When I stepped out to admire my husbands great work I noticed that we had a new addition to our little reindeer family. This year there is a baby reindeer that is gazing up to our tree with lights.

I said to my neighbor, "hey that is new?" He said, "he didn't tell you?" No, what? "That is baby Cookie admiring her the Christmas tree!"

My heart melted! The tears began to the flow and for that level of thought fullness the hubby just scored a major stack of get out of jail free cards!

The hubby not only put up all of the lights by himself, he went above and beyond this year (even surviving an outing to Garden Ridge) to construct on of the most amazing displays of Christmas lights. Now that is R to the O to the M-A-N-C-E!

As for the lights in the trees this year...I think I might just have to let that one slide.

We may not be the Griswold's, but we are darn near close! Maybe next year we could do this...




Cheers to Christmas lights and the hubby who made it all happen, just to surprise little ol' me and Cookie!


Friday, November 21, 2008

No Dating Before 30

By the looks of this picture I guess you can say that Cookie will not be dating until she is 30!



Cheers to Daddy's little girl!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Misguided Credit Limit

Since Monday I have been in NM for work and have been working like crazy.

After a great week of working hard and successfully completing my user acceptance testing my high quickly came to an end when I nestled into the airport bar booth to catch up on a little work before boarding my flight. After all, cheap wine and airport bars go hand and hand.

After placing my order and receiving my $7.00 dollar glass of $6.00 dollar a bottle wine, the [overly loud] waitress was sure to state for all to hear...

"Ms. I couldn't get your Card to Go Though!"

Yep, I am pretty sure she announced it over the PA, for the whole airport to hear.

But much to my surprise, my reaction wasn't geared to the fact that my credit card was rejected it was the overly joyous laugh and point in my face from the gentleman who was sitting in the booth next to me that caught my attention.

I guess you can say his reaction really chapped my hide! Yes, a chapped hide is the polite way of saying he was being a pain in my you know what.

So, I did what any responsible bill paying citizen would do, I called the credit card company to clear up the confusion and handed the waitress my debit card. After speaking to the customer service rep she explained that my card did not even recognize the location; therefore, it was the locations machine.

After the waitress returned I explained the situation and handed her my credit card to try it again, but this time Mr. Sarcastic just couldn't contain his excitement and he actually had the audacity to say, "Did you just increase your credit limit?"

In a button pushing, oh no he didn't reaction, I politely asked the waitress to put his tab on mine. The gentleman insisted that I really shouldn't since I appeared to be in some sort of Airport Bar Financial crisis.

All I could say was, "Sir, my situation seemed to be your entertaining gain and you should really recognize that though I may have appeared to be experiencing a brief (nano second) financial hardship for a $7.00 glass of wine that you really shouldn't be so quick to laugh at someones hardship. I think you need a little kindness today and I hope that you think of this miss interpreted situation each time you burp your mini corn dogs, because you clearly are misguided by the things in life that obviously bring you joy."

He smirked then left and was well in the land of airport bars and cheap wine.

Cheers to sticky situations and redefining the rules of not judging a book by it's cover!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Darn Bills

Looks like the Hubby is letting Cookie check the mail these days! I wonder if she got anything good?




Cookierama


Now this is cool! A wealth of cookie recipes just for you. Each cookie is linked to their recipes.

What better way to kick off the holidays than to start working on your latest Betty Crocker impressions.

1-2-3 Cookies
7 Layer Cookies
Almond Crescent Shortbread Amish Sugar Cookies
Apricot Fold-Overs
Aunt Edy's Molasses Crinkles
Auntie Linda's Ginger Gems
Banana Drop Cookies
Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World
Boiled Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies
Brown Sugar Shortbread Brownie Cookies
Brownie Delight
Brownies Buccaneer Snowballs
Buried Cherry Cookies
Butter Cookies
Butter Nut Balls
Butterballs
C.O.P. Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cookies
Caramel Shortbread
Cheesecake Brownies
Cherry Buns
Cherry Crowns
Chewy Noels
Chinese Chews/Haystacks
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Christmas Trees
Chocolate Cream Cheese Squares
Chocolate Crinkles
Chocolate Mint Snow-Top Cookies
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (no bake)
Chocolate Snowball Cookies
Chocolate Sundae Cookies
Chocolate Walnut Crumb Bars
Choose A Cookie Dough Recipe
Christmas Crackers
Christmas Crunch Bars
Christmas Ginger Snaps
Christmas Macaroons
Christmas Shaped Cookies
Church Window Cookies
Coconut Cookies
Congo Squares
Cookie in a Jar
Corn Flakes Cookies
Cornflake Christmas Wreaths
Cowboy Cookies (oatmeal)
Cream Cheese Cookies with Apricot Filling
Crescent Cookies
Date Nut Balls
Date-nut Pinwheel Cookies
Diabetic Peanut Butter Cookies
Disgustingly Rich Brownies
Doodles Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Double-Chocolate Crinkles
Eggnog Cookies
Elizabeth's Sugar Cookies
Elves Quick Fudge Brownies
Emily Dickinson's Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Emily's Best Brownies
Famous Oatmeal Cookies
Firemen Cookies
Fluffy Shortbread Cookies
Forgotten Cookies
Frosted Peanut Butter Brownies
Fruit Cake Cookies
Fruitcake Squares
Fry Pan Cookies
Gems Ginger Cookies
Ginger Crinkles
Gingerbread Baby
Gingerbread Cookies with Butter Cream Icing
Gingerbread Men
Gingerbread Men
Ginny's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Glory's Golden Graham Squares
Glory's Sugar Cookies
Grandma J's Butter Cookies
Great Grandmothers Sugar Cookies
Gum Drop Cookies
Gumdrop Gems
Haystack Cookies
Ho-Ho Bars
Holiday Cereal Snaps
Holiday Chocolate Butter Cookies
Holiday Raisin Walnut Bars
Holly Cookies
Hungarian Cookies (Little Nut Rolls)
Ice Box Cookies
Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies
Italian Cookies
Jacob's Peppermint Snowballs
Jam Bars
Jessica's Famous Brownies
Jessie's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Jubilee Jumbles
Juliet's Peanut Butter Blossoms
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kentucky Colonels
Kiefle (cream cheese cookies with jam filling)
Kifflings Kiss Cookies
Lacy Swedish Almond Wafers
Lemon Angel Bar Cookies
Lemon Bars
Lemon Cake Cookies
Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies
Lemon Squares
Linzer Tarts
Log Cabin Cookies
M&M Cookies
Magic Cookie Bars
Melt in Your Mouth Cutout Sugar Cookies
Melting Shortbread
Meme's Cream Cheese Cookies
Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies
Mincemeat Cookies
Mincemeat Goodies
Molasses Cookies
Molasses Forest Cookies
Molasses Sugar Cookies
Mom Mom's Crescent Cookies
Mom-Mom's Ginger Cookies
Mom's Nutmeg Sugar Cookies
Mom's Old Fashion "Puffy" Sugar Cookies
Monster Cookies
No Bake Chocolate Cookies
No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
No Bake Cookies
No Bake Cookies
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
No-Bake Cookies
Norwegian Sugar Cookies
Nut Balls Oatmeal Bars
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Nut Cookies
Oatmeal Coconut Crisps
Oatmeal Cookies
Oatmeal Scotchies
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Ooey Gooey Caramel Chocolate Dunk
Ooey Gooey Squares
Orange Slice Cookies
Parking Lot Cookies
Peanut Blossoms
Peanut Butter Bars
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut Butter Cereal Cookies
Peanut Butter Chewies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut butter fingers
Peanut Butter Reindeer
Peanut Butter Surprises
Peanut Marshmallow Cookies
Pecan Puff Cookies
Peppermint Snowballs
Peppernuts Persimmon Cookies
Persimmon Cookies
Petey's Yummy Spicy Almond Thins
Pfeffernuesse Pffefferneuse Cookies
Pineapple Filled Cookies
Pizzelles Potato Chip Cookies
Potato Flake Cookies
Praline Cookies
Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Cookies
Queen Biscuits
Quick Cookies
Raspberry Meringue Bars
Really Peanutty Butter Cookies
Reese`s Brownies
Reese's Peanut Butter Bars
Rich Flavor Christmas Cookies
Rich Lemon Bars
Ricotta Cheese Cookies
Santa Claus Cookies
Santa's Butterscotch Melts
Santa's Shorts
Santa's Special Squares
Scotch Cakes
Scotch Shortbread
Shortbread
Skor Squares
Snicker Doodle Cookies
Sour Cream Christmas Cookies
Special K Cookies
Spritz Cookies
Stained Glass Window Cookies
Sugar Cookies Sugar Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Swedish Pepparkakor (Pepper Cake) Cookies
Swedish Sugar Cookies
Taralle (Italian Cookies)
Tea Time Tassies
The Best Shortbread in The World
Traditional Christmas Sugar Cookies
Traditional Gingerbread Men Cookies
Triple-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vanilla Waffer Balls
Walnut Butter Cookies
Walnut Crumb Bars
White Chip Chocolate Cookies
Yummy Yummy Peanut Butter Blossoms
Cheers to Happy Baking!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Dear Hubby,


Seven years ago today we ended our long distance relationship and together embarked on the great adventure they call marriage. We had no idea what the future held, but we knew that whatever ups and downs we would endure, we would endure them together.

Today we celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary and today I thought it would only be fitting to dedicate this post to the seven reasons why I love you and why we work…

You never forget a holiday... [Nothing says I love you like a fishing depth finder]
Your family is one of a kind
You are the world’s greatest floor Mopper and the King of the Dirt Devil
You respect my NO Toot Zones
You are the world’s greatest hugger
Your laugh is infectious
You love every flaw about me [Including my need to always ask, “Does this make my butt look big?”]
You know every button of mine to push and know exactly when NOT to push them

And Most of All…

Together we share the love for our little Cookie!

Okay so keeping it to seven is a little hard, but I figured since math was never your best subject I could get away with throwing a couple more in the list.

Hubby, over the years we have laughed a lot, cried a little and weathered many storms together! I look forward to the rest of our lives together and continuing on with this adventure with you by my side.

You are my friend, my partner, the father of our Cookie and most importantly the man that I get to call my Husband!

Happy Anniversary Hubby and Cheers to our future together!

Love,



Your Wife



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My First School Party






Holiday Savings Keep Rolling In

Attention Holiday Savers -

Here is a 30% off Gap coupon for this Weekend! Just click on the picture and print it and you are ready to begin your shopping spree.



If you have trouble printing the coupon, just leave me a comment and I will e-mail it to you.

Cheers to Happy Shopping!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Lillian Vernon 25% Savings

With Christmas advertisements in full swing, I received the perfect letter from Lillian Vernon yesterday. Lillian Vernon is extending their exclusive, special savings offer. All orders placed through December 15th, from both the Lillian Vernon and Lilly's Kids catalogs and websites, will receive a 25% discount!

There is no limit to the number of times you can take advantage of this offer. Just use the media code 008601234 when placing your Internet order. You can also use this offer when placing an order through the mail, or a telephone order from 1-800-545-5426.

At Lillian Vernon I always find the perfect little "affordable" gifts for my family and I love the fact that on so many of their items can be personalized with your little ones name or initials.

Here are a few of my favorite items for Cookie this year...








This item is perfect for your little teethers...



Cheers to Holiday Shopping and Savings!


Saturday, November 8, 2008

100% Marriage Saver

Well hello bloggers! I have missed you while I have been in New Mexico. I have been just dying to get back to the land of high speed and tell you about our past weekend events and share with you a great Christmas idea.

Weekend before last I had a wild hair to change the valances in my kitchen and the draperies in my bedroom. Well, to be honest it was the $13,000 dollar quote from JC Penny custom decorating that inspired me to put on my creative "recessionista" hat.

If case you haven't heard Linen and Things is going out of business and I was able to score these valances and these curtains in latte for less than $250 plus shipping. That is less than 20% of the quote that I received. Needless to say I was floating on my savings cloud again.

Unfortunately, my high ended as soon as I took the hardware out of the car and the hubby saw the nail holes in the wall beginning to flash before his eyes. He insisted that this was 100% my project and he would take no part in the death of our walls. No problem-o, I have it covered...or so I thought!

After trying and crying I realized that Mr. Sheet rock and Mr. Level had formed a conspiracy against little old me Rookie Curtain Hanger. After a few LOUD debates with the Hubby he began to feel my decorating crisis and offered up a little help.

Within 20 minutes my accessories were hanging nice and leveled all because of this 100% marriage saver...



If you have a wild decorating hair and the urge to hammer this is your friend! It is a laser level that attaches to the wall that guarantees not only a perfect line but also a happier decorating experience with the hubby! Thank you GG for this gift you are saying us time and therapy. Because of you Mr. Black and Decker Laser thingy, I now have the perfect Kitchen Valances [BTW, I added the fringe with liquid stitch to sass it up a little]...



This Christmas I highly recommend this gift for those who like to decorate and those who are forced to help them.

Cheers to Happy Decorating, Decorating Savings and Limited Holes in the Walls!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Just a Friendly Reminder

Today is the day, if you haven't heard. Pass it along...




Picture in a Picture


Saturday, November 1, 2008

Perfectly Carved

Before...



After...



Lighting of a master piece!