X marks the spot!

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

Why do I have more fun decorating my fireplace than I do my Christmas tree??  Why do I have a new camera and I still take blurry pictures??  Why do people say they're full of the Christmas spirit and still can't stop COMPLAINING!??

                                      

Remember when you were young, you always heard, "If you write X-MAS it's like taking the Christ out of Christmas!"?  I'm not a kid anymore and I still feel overcome with GUILT when there's not enough room in my checkbook to write "Christmas" and I have to write "x-mas".  Seriously, I look up to Heaven and apologize - for writing an X in my checkbook!!  I picture the Lord with a look on his face like, "Seriously? You think I'm that petty?"  Does anyone else feel guilty about that or is it just me? 

                                       

People complain when the Christmas decorations go out right after Halloween and yet, they complain about having so much to do that they can't fit it all in.  Why do people get so upset when the decorations go out so early?  Christmas music puts me in a good mood and I like seeing the decorations and thinking about church and family and laughter and my favorite Christmas movies ~ seeing the stories come to life.   Plus, I start buying a little at a time then and don't wait until the last minute and charge it.

I love the feelings that come with Christmas ~ people have a pep in their step, they feel like giving, and many people that aren't otherwise in church, go back.  If you think it's gotten too commercialized, you're probably right.  It's up to us who believe in the true spirit to make sure that's what we're spreading and keeping it real...homey.  Turning our noses up to all the holiday kooks isn't what God had in mind, or probably calling them kooks either.  Something tells me there's one or two things you and I do to which people would turn up their noses.   It's not a contest, it's a celebration, whether you do it in a big way or a small way.  I don't want us to all be the same ~ that's what makes it wonderful!  I still can hardly listen to "Mary Did You Know" without getting teary-eyed, it's my very favorite.  Keep the focus of the season ~

Happy Thanksgiving

"When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out."

~ Winnie the Pooh

Count your blessings if you can count that high ~ not just for the big things, but for the small things that God does just for you. You know those times when you see something beautiful or amazing and you think, 'Why wasn't someone here to see that with me?' or 'Why didn't I have my camera?' That was a gift meant just for you ~ enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A day for winners!

As a big "Dancing With the Stars" fan, I am SO excited that Donny Osmond won last night!! I watch very little TV because it's pretty much just a noise box, but once I started watching that show, I was hooked. Then, little by little, my husband started watching with me although he didn't go psycho and call AND go on-line to vote for Donny. I don't know what's wrong with him, I really don't! And seriously, Donny's wife is such a cutie - and they've been married since he was like 20. I have kids older than that who don't even know how to flush so getting married at that age is a mind boggler. He is just a neat, neat guy and I'm so happy for him! If you haven't seen it, go rent "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - he's AWESOME in that, too! I sound like his agent...and be sure and catch his new CD... HA HA Just joking.


Since this is a day for winners, I've also chosen the winner of the Choffy giveaway. That's not true really because I didn't choose - random.org chose for me. And I don't feel at all bad promoting Choffy while I'm doing a post on a Mormon because this isn't coffee, it's chocolate - so don't be mad, Donny, we can still be friends.


The winner was from comment 22, TWILA (is that a pretty name or what!?)! Her blog is a Xanga blog called "ilovecooking", and that's where I got the great recipe for the Fried Ice Cream Dessert. Congrats, Twila, I hope you like it - you're a foodie expert so I'm sure even if you don't like it, you'll turn it into an amazing flaming yummy, gooey extravaganza!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Funny

"Snowmen fall from heaven...unassembled."

~ Anonymous

I know it's Thanksgiving, and this says "Merry Christmas" but I thought it was too cute and had to share. I got this in an e-mail so I guess it's the beginning of all those "You've Been Tagged" e-mails. Bring on the egg nog!!

The good kind of blabbing

You know how much fun getting attention is when you're young, but then when you're older, it's a little uncomfortable?? Today I'm the featured blogger on this AWESOME blog I've found called Blabbing About Blogs. I am in NO way tooting my own horn here because it's sort of awkward, but I want to tell you about it because THEY do deserve the recognition!!

They're a new blog themselves and every couple of days they feature a blog and I love it because I've found some of the neatest new sites to go to that I otherwise wouldn't have found. They do a great job, they're adorable and if you're looking for something new and/or different, this is the place to be.

They're always looking for new blogs to feature, so if you know of a great blog that you think others should know about, head on over ~ they have a place to make suggestions!! I suggested one of my favorite blogs, A Joyful Chaos, and I've got at least a few more in my head that I want them to know about. They call themselves the "Blog Blabbers" so go give them a shout out and have a great day!

"Thankful for YOU" Giveaway

           

I just had to do one more giveaway this year before Christmas gets here and we're all scrambling around saying, 'Next year, I'm going to S-L-O-W down and just enjoy the season!'. 

Have I got a treat for you!  Have you ever heard of Choffy?  It's NOT coffee, it's brewed chocolate - yep, I'm serious.  This has no bearing whatsoever on if you like or drink coffee because it's not coffee and there is no coffee in it.  When you open the bag, you get the most heavenly smell of yummy chocolate.

  My giveaway is for one 12 oz. bag of 100% organic cacao ~ Choffy.  I know this sounds like a commercial, but if you're going to get it, you may as well know a bit about it, am I right?  It's actually HEALTHY for you with antioxidants and contains NO sugar, dairy, sodium or chemicals.  You brew it in a coffee maker if you have one or you can also use a French press as well.  I found you have to use more of the Choffy than you would coffee, so if you usually use 3 spoonfuls of coffee in your coffeemaker, you'd use about 6 spoonfuls of the Choffy.  I like the fact that because of what's in it, it's good for adults, children, teens, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers...

When you think of chocolate, you're thinking of the candy stuff with sugar in it and this isn't sweet like that.  I drank it for awhile just brewed and liked it, and then since I like a little sugar with, well, everything, I added 1 tsp. of sugar and a tiny bit of milk.  When I say 1 tsp., I mean that's all and that was my golden ticket.  I didn't try it with any flavored creamers because my whole point was to keep this as healthy as possible with just a bit of sugar and no fat, but I bet you could add some flavored creamer if you wanted to change it up a bit.  One more thing...my extrememly picky kids liked it and you have no idea what that's saying!

These are pictures without the sugar/milk and then with the sugar/milk - YUUUUUMM!!

Believe me, I like the boxed hot chocolate with all the sugar and sweeteners and marshmallows and chemicals - I mean, who doesn't!?  But if I can have something healthier (that even my KIDS would drink) then I'd much rather do that. 

You know what else I loved?  When I e-mailed the folks at Choffy and asked if they'd help me out with a giveaway, they were right on board!  They were like, "Sure!"  Score one for the nice guys!!  Now it's time for me to break out the cashola and buy some for Christmas presents!  Take a bag, punch a hole in the top part, tie some colored curly ribbon through it - BINGO - instant gift.  Plus it's something different and new (to most people anyway!).  

Check out the video on their website if you want to learn more about it:  http://www.drinkchoffy.com/

Here's what you need to do to enter the giveaway (you can do 1, 2, 3, or all of the above):
1.  Leave a comment saying you'd like to be entered.
2.  Post on your sidebar or blog, then come back and leave another comment saying you did so.
3.  We're all thankful for the Lord, family, health, friends, etc. but I want you to leave another comment saying something small or silly that you're thankful for.  Here's mine...I'm thankful for blogs where I don't have to leave a word verification and jump through hoops to leave a comment!! 

You're able to enter a total of 3 times.  GOOD LUCK and visit their website to start and finish your Christmas shopping!!  I will use random.org to pick the winner on Wednesday, November 25 ~ the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm very thankful to Choffy for helping me do this and I am very thankful for my blogging friends.  If someone told me a year ago that they've made really good friends on the computer, I'd think they were psycho and needed to get a life.  I'm so happy I'm one of them now! 

L8R T8R

               

This post today is nothing more than my gift to you.  You will go away feeling so much better about yourself because I'm sure you would never do something like this.  You will feel SO much more superior to me and that, my friend, is my only goal for today.  

Today they were giving the H1N1 vaccine at my daughter's school and of course I signed her up.  I work from 9-1 usually and I guess she was just text-venting because I can't carry my cell around with me at work so she knew I couldn't answer her.  I completely forgot to even turn my phone on until well into my day.  The following are the 3 texts I got from her...

This one was sent before I even left home but again, I didn't have my phone on so I didn't answer...

This is the next one (at 9:24) - I had to page down to see the time...

Now it's all better!  She got her shot and was on her merry way...(did I mention that she's 18, and not 5?)...

                      

By now, I'm off work and I'm reading the progression of her day so I sent her the following...

                  

And her response...

                   

I was cracking up - I love how she typed "lol" in the middle of telling me she got the shot!!!!!!!  Now, technically is it child abuse if she's 18 and I'm just messing with her psyche and she's not really a child??  I told my poopsie that of course I wasn't serious and I'm glad it all went well and I'm sure she will never be able to OINK with the best of 'em. 

Here is where you fit in and how I have failed as a parent:

1.  I let her text me from school.  Do you know how big of a no-no that is??  They take the teen's phone and charge them money to get it back!  I kind of like that, actually.  It's $25 the first time, $50 plus detention the second, and the third time it's $75 plus detention.   She's on her own there - you do the crime, you pay the dime.  NO, I don't encourage this behavior, but it did happen and I took part.  Guilty.

2.  I'm apparently raising illiterate children.  She said she's not "gunna".  One of my biggest faults is lack of patience when it comes to spelling and grammar.  I admit it and I try not to grind my teeth when I read things from people that don't know the difference between there, their, and they're...or your and you're...or to and too...or a biggie - lose and loose!  Mama mia.  So, anyway, she's not "gunna" and if she wants to say that, can she at least spell it right - gonna??  Dictionary.com - use it, live it, love it.  She also did "good", not "well".  I was very happy that she capitalized the "I" because it's usually "i".   :(

Oh well, I forgot to put a comma after "Shoot" when I texted her back so there you have it.

I don't buy into all the hype anymore about kids never learning to spell and we're all doomed.  Something tells me we're going to have bigger fish to fry when the time comes.

Since I really use the phone as little as possible, texting works for me.  I say what I need to.  Done.  I do understand the other end of the spectrum because most people just say, "I don't understand it, why can't you just pick up the phone and call??"  Is it wrong to say, "Because I have an inexplicably hard time making small talk and acting interested in others' daily minutiae"?   Self-involved?  Possibly.  Probably.  I will try and do better though!  LOL (I mean ROFLOL!)