Getting there...

I am still hanging in there. Yesterday we actually made it out for a few errands. A few too many but isn't that how it always is. I am still very tired and now I have a red sunburn like rash. Joy. Not much to ramble about really so I will leave ya'll with what I think is a pretty cool pic from our Polar Express adventure a few weekends ago. It looks as if the snow globe is glowing as it rounds the tracks!

One Sick Mama

Yep thats me! It stared in on Wednesday afternoon. I was out with the boys shopping for The Nana and The Papa. I could feel the achiness in my muscles and bones and that evening I just chilled. Thursday morning I was still a little achi but made it out shopping with The Hubster in between dropping Littliest off at school and having to be back for his program. After the program it all went down hill. I have NEVER felt so bad in my life!! No, that's not true. I felt pretty bad after I had Oldest but that is a differ story. Every bone in my body hurts as well as muscles and my head.

Last night was HORRIBLE. I did not sleep at all and I went from chills to sweats. Right now I am in the sweats stage. After trying to get to sleep I finally was able to drift off to dream land around one and slept a few hours. I still feel pretty bad but I am at least up and about which is more than I have been. I am praying that nobody else gets sick and that I am better tomorrow!

Be back next week with a new post and pics. Hope your week was a good one!

What a mess....

Hey ya'll! Hope your Tuesday has been a good one thus far and that ya are having fun checking out all the beautiful homes on tour. There are soooo many that I have been adding book marks to my inspiration file because I will never be able to find them on my own again!

Today has been a busy day. Littliest and I ran to Ulta because I ran out of my makeup. Figured it would be a quick in and out. Boy was I wrong! Took 30 minutes in line almost. After that we headed to Hobby Lobby thinking the worse. I needed to pick up a few more things to make my mom a Christmas gift and to finish up the teacher gifts. Surprisingly enough we were in and out of HobLob! That is almost unheard of.

After we picked up Oldest from school I tried to bribe the boys into staying with The Hubster while I ran to WM for a few groceries but that did not go over well. Ended up we all just stayed home. Littliest took a nap while Oldest and The Hubster watched The Discovery Channel.

I made a HUGE mess finishing up the teacher gifts and making my mom one. She said there really was not anything she wanted from a store to just make her a tassel or something. Since the tassel embellishments are not on sale yet I made her a Vintage Santa frame for now. I did find a cute little bird to make her tassel with though once I can collect all the right color scheme in supplies.

This is my huge mess! The Hubster asked me if I had an entire room for just sewing why on earth I felt led to take over the dining room too!;)

Here are the finished frames. I think they turned out pretty nice. It took a little longer than had hoped. I got frustrated with bows and gave up on them. I am glad I had those rhinestone thingys what ever they are called. I think they work. The gold one in the back is moms...shhhh! The two red ones are for Littliest to take to school and then I distressed the white frame with some Rubnbuff for Oldest to take to his teacher. I am also adding some chocolate covered pretzels to their bags. I hope that is enough!? They work so hard with our kids! There are 20 kids in Oldest's class and no aid. Can you imagine!!??

Well have a wonderful rest of the evening. I need to clean up from dinner, get the boys a shower, and do our Christmas cards after they go to bed. Here is hoping for some sunshine tomorrow! We have had 4 days of rainy cold weather and three days straight of fog all day long! Yuck!

The Nester Christmas Tour of Homes 2009 & More

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Ear Infection and Other Stuff

Well I was called for the first time by the school to come and get Oldest today. Ended up he has a MAJOR ear infection and the doc suspects that the ear drum will burst sometime this evening or tomorrow. There is NOTHING worse than watching your baby be in pain! Thankfully it did not take long for the meds to kick in and so we are now on an every four hrs of Tylenol and every 6 hrs of Motrin as well as two doses a day of Amoxi. He has not stopped talking since the meds kicked in which trust me I am thankful for!

In other news I spent the weekend trying to finish all up all of the holiday decorating but of course ya never get it all done. The pics I have thus far are not great and Santa told me he was thinking of bringing me a new camera that I can have early!;) So with that said here is just a few pics till I get a chance to retake this weekend.

Hope things are well for ya'll!

Here is a sneak peek at the tree. I am trying to find some more decorations with an old world/vintage theme. If ya have seen any please let me know! I had found a fella blogger who makes um but she sold out before I could get a chance to snag any. I have a total of 2 so far.

Here is my new coffee table tray from HobLob that I used some RubNBuff on and added some Harlequin scrapbook paper. A total of $10 spent on this project since I had a coupon. Great thing is it easily transforms to everyday decor.

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Day filled with fun in the snow! School was let out at 12:30 and it snowed pretty much for the following four hours. Some would call it a dusting but for Houston was a pretty good amount. It is the first time ever that it has snowed this early and the first time ever that it has snowed two consecutive years. As promised here are some pics!:)

Oldest & Littliest running around after taking Christmas Card pics. Yes we had a winner thankfully! Who knew that after last years card we would get a chance for another snow pic for the card!

Shortly after getting home from school.

Our "hood". Isn't it beautiful!? It all started melting around 5 ish and now is all frozen which is actually the biggest worry for around here. It is super cold! We spent the later half of the afternoon and evening over at our friends house. When I went to load up the mini to go home the door was frozen shut! It took like 10 tens for me to get it open.

Hope your day was a pleasant and joyful as ours! Tomorrow back to the same old same old. Need to finish up decorating and the outdoor lights. Pics coming next week!:)

And We have Snow!

Lots of fun being had! Will post picks later tonight after the excitement has worn off. Already on our first load of wet clothing. Has tapered off a bit but more on the way!

Quick Update

I just HAD to look one last time before getting off and well look at this model!! We are in the light blue and that means we could see 3-6 inches of the white stuff! And to think The Hubster laughed at me for running to WM to buy him some gloves! They even mentioned a possibility of "thundersnow"! Have ya ever heard of such a thing! Okay really heading to bed now....

It's Midnight

Yep, thats right I said midnight and here I sit posting!:) I am getting ready to head to the tub for I am covered in tree sap. The plan was to get our tree tomorrow but we now have gone from a winter watch to a winter warning though school has yet to be canceled or shortened so far. Hmmmm.

So yep that is the tree. Bad pic. Its from my phone. I do suggest though taking a pic so you can see where you need to adjust your lights. I will say I am rather sad. We have had twinkling/chasing lights for 7 years and they died last year. So this year we have all solid and it honestly is driving me insane. I think tomorrow morning before the storm arrives I may head out and find some twinkling white lights.

The Hubster was rather impressed because we went to the local garden center whose sign said MOST Trees $35. We have never paid less than $80 for a tree. Well wouldn't know they were right! Most trees were $35. Of course the one that jumped out at me was uh hm...$170 but don't worry that was NOT the tree we brought home. Ours was only $45!! I think The Hubster was doing a lil' happy dance inside.

Well its REALLY late. Chat with ya'll tomorrow...or later today. Hope ya had a good one!

70%

Okay so that pic is teeny tiny but if ya look real close the rain has snow flurries in it!;) We went from 40% chance of rain to 70% chance of rain mixed with snow by mid day. Still skeptical but still exciting none the less!

I am beyond tired at this point!! I can not for the life of me get Littliest to stay asleep in his own bed at night. I even told him Santa would not come if he was in mommy and daddy's bed. To top it off Oldest was up as well.

Decorating is coming along. I will share pics next week once we get the tree up. Hopefully minor set back with the lights out doors. It was raining so I think we just tripped a circuit. All went dark. I am crossing my fingers that is all that it is!

Well gotta get Oldest off to school. Have a good one ya'll!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Edited Note: Shopping Washers & Dryers. Anybody have a set ya just love that is not overly expensive??? Both of our units have been repaired in the past and now our washer smells like mildew/mold and I can not get rid of it.

We knew it was going to happen. We knew we could not keep it from Oldest or Littliest. Oldest came home talking all about Friday and the weather. We know that it will most likely NOT even happen. And we know we will not hear the end of it either way. The boys are still talking about the great Cajun Blizzard we experienced last year while living in Baton Rouge! We had over 4 inches!! I am sure if it does it will be nothing like last year but it sure is a fun thing to anticipate with the holiday season upon us! I WILL be that 5 yr old waiting at the window just like I was last year!;)

Issued by The National Weather Service
Houston/Galveston, TX
3:29 pm CST, Tue., Dec. 1, 2009

... POSSIBLE WINTER WEATHER EVENT ON FRIDAY FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS TEXAS AND INTO SOUTHEAST TEXAS ON FRIDAY. MUCH COLDER AIR WILL ALSO FILTER INTO THE REGION DURING THE DAY AS THIS DISTURBANCE MOVES OVER THE AREA. STRONG LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISTURBANCE WILL COMBINE WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE AND COLD AIR SO THAT WINTER PRECIPITATION WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS DURING THE DAY FRIDAY. PRECIPITATION WILL POSSIBLY START AS RAIN BUT CHANGE TO SNOW DURING THE DAY AS TEMPERATURES FALL. THIS SCENARIO REMAINS RATHER UNCERTAIN SINCE THERE IS STILL SOME QUESTION AS TO WHEN THE DISTURBANCE MOVES OVER THE REGION AND HOW MUCH MOISTURE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR WINTRY PRECIPITATION. FORECASTERS WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FORECAST DATA AND MAKE CHANGES AS NECESSARY. RESIDENTS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS ARE ENCOURAGED TO MONITOR THE FORECAST AND LOOK FOR UPDATES CONCERNING THE WINTER WEATHER THREAT.

Busy Busy Busy

There have been lots of projects going on around here lately. Sunday I finally took everything down in the living room and made myself finish painting in there.

It took a lot longer than I had hoped.

In the end though it was well worth it! I will take a better pic in a few days. This is all I can show right now. I am going to redo the valances so I did not put those back up yet.

This craziness was inspired by Girly Stuff. You should head over there and check out here beautiful wreath! Lets just say I am having to scale way down after many attempts.

Here is a little peek at the rest of the maddness happening around here. I have bins everywhere and well to be honest I am not quite sure what to do with it all or if I even have enough. The Hubster thinks I am crazy for thinking I need more since I do not even know what to do with what we already have.

So there ya have it ya'll! Whats up around your house these days??

Trying

Well the feast is over and a great time was had by all...just the four of us. The dishes are cleaned and even put away. The Hubster is upstairs playing in his man cave and Oldest & Littliest are out back drawing with chalk. I am sitting here pondering how to talk The Hubster into taking us to see A Christmas Carol. Hmmmm.....while I ponder I thought I would share my Top 10 Christmas Movies/ Shows. These are a must and I know I have missed a few but these are what popped into my head first in no particular order.

Rudolph of course. Been watching it since I was a kid myself.

Polar Express became our fave when Oldest was not quite 2. Both boys just LOVE this movie and we have worn out two copies thus far. I DO NOT recommend the 3-D version.

Yes, most consider this more of a Valentine movie and I would say yes then too but for some reason I enjoy it at Christmas as well. I also like watching When Harry Met Sally and You've Got Mail during the holidays.

This is a must but does not beat out the original. We really wish they would remaster it or whatever it is so that it was a clearer screen. It looks very bad for the time that it was made.
Need I say more on this one!

Fell in love with this one a few years back. Kinda cheesy but I still enjoy it.

This one is not played often enough and I have even asked for it on several occasions from dear Santa but he never seems to remember.

Again another need I say more!:)

My all time most FAVE!!! I have a few tshirts with this guy on it as well as grinchy slippers and of course pjs. I just love this mean rotten hearted fella. Now don't ask why cause no one quiet knows the reason! HA!

Frosty is up there with Rudolph! I was upset when a few yrs back I heard they were thinking of pulling these old faves. That would be tragic!!

Last but certainly not least I have to watch me some Nicholas Cage. The Hubster does not see why this is such a feel good holiday movie but it just is and he enjoys it anyways.

There is also some tv movie with Dolly Parton where she is sent down to be a nanny to some family. I have NO IDEA what it is called but I enjoy that one as well. I think Hallmark plays it every year. Gotta love ya some Dolly during the holidays!

Hope ya'll are feasting well and enjoying the day!!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll from our home to yours! This Thanksgiving we are actually spending at our home here in Tx. It is the first turkey day we have not been back to Ga in 6 yrs and that was because I was on bed rest with Oldest. Its kinda nice but at the same time I would be lying if I said I was not missing our families. It is a little hard for Oldest and Littliest to understand why we are here this year instead of in Ga and it breaks my heart a little to hear them say how they wish they could be on Ma's back porch playing with their cousins or riding the tractor with their Papa.

Things have just been a whirl wind around here. We have been here 5 mths already and I yet feel settled in. I actually am missing Baton Rouge a tiny tad. Oldest & Littliest and I were just talking abt the Christmas parade down Jones Creek that we would go to every year and how Santa always would come by the house on the fire truck. I even miss some of the shopping and there was not much.

Well it is actually 12:30 am and I need to turn in so I can get up and prepare our turkey day ham! HA! Yes I said ham. I am not cooking a big ol bird for just the four of us. That and it has been 8 yrs since I cooked my last bird.

Have a good and safe one ya'll!!

Yummy Yummy Yummy

It's getting cold outside and to warm things up I love making this following dish! I originally found the recipe on Food Network under The Neelys. Well after spending 30 minutes looking for it and the print out of it I have no idea what it is called or the exact measurements for it so I will just call it "Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants" sausage and noodle yumminess! It is SUPER easy and thus can be modified to your personal liking. I only used the original recipe once and then I just flew with it. Ha!

Depending on your fam size purchase anywhere from one to two links of Smithville sausage. Cut into coin sizes and then again in half if you have little ones or if you just want to make the one go further. Boil a box of noodles of choice. It varies depending on who is with me shopping. Most popular choices are bow tie and spiral. You will need EVOO which I just buy the Crisco in a green can. You will also need one to two lemons and some fresh garlic or diced garlic in a jar. After several times using fresh I decided to just go with the jar. You will also need some red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese. Oh and some fresh parsley for looks. I always forget the parsley.

Again this is super duper easy and pretty much make it to your liking kinda recipe. I fry up the sausage. Boil the box of noodles. I then saute the garlic which I just put in abt 1 tbs full along with a few sprinkles of the red pepper in EVOO. Make it to YOUR heat index!! We tend to like it a little hot hot hot. While doing all of that cut up your lemon and pick out the seeds. Again taste preference here. I think the lemon does cut down on the hot though.

After everything is all done cooking up get out a big ol' bowl and start mixin' up some ingredients! Just add it ALL together and mix it up. Make sure you mix it well because of the lemon juice. Be sure not to forget the parm. I usually add in a half a container when I make two sausage links. Then again we love parm so I actually add in half at any time. Ha! Then mix in your fresh parsley if ya did not forget it at the grocery store.

Now you are ready to eat it up! Let me tell ya this is on of The Hubster's fave dinners and it always makes leftovers which to us are even better than the first serving!

If ya make it let me know how ya like it! If ya happen to know what Neely recipe I am talking abt please let me know that too! I know there are some of ya who don't like flying by the seat and want exact ingredients. I will look again to see if I can find um later.

Oh, and in case ya are wondering the bowl is from WM like 5 yrs ago. I have a set in blue and a set in a french country gold color. They reminded me of the Southern Living dishes I was wanting back then real bad. If ya are a rooster lover then ya can get the rooter dish towel at WM now. You get 6 for just $5!! I love um!

Thanx for stopping by and have a good one ya'll!

Little Of This & A Little Of That

Happy Monday ya'll! Geez, it has been a long time since I could say that it has been an enjoyable Monday. Things are starting to look up around here and again thanx for all the well wishes. The Hubster just got the call for his second sleep study so hopefully relief will be here soon for him. Also thanx to my new followers who decided to come along for the ride called my life!

Last weekend..not this past but the one before that...I went to visit the ladies over at The Old Oak Cottage for their Holiday Open House and antiques on the lawn. Oldest and Littliest trailed along as well as The Nana since she had never been to the "cookie store" as the boys like to call it. Doubt they had as much fun as me but they wanted to go.

For the open house all the rooms had been changed up. Look at those beautiful picture frames on the wall. I would take them all home if I could.

Mandy & Marci out did themselves with all the lovely decorations!

When I walked into this room looked what I spied! This was the room where I lost The Nana, Oldest and Littliest. They decided I was taking far too long so they went outside to wait. I debated over and over for abt 30 minutes on whether this beautiful buffet was to come home with us. If you have been reading a few weeks back you saw the to die for hutch that was mine but then was not mine. The lady changed her mind. I was heart broken. So when I saw this piece I was in love. Different ends of the spectrum I know but still would work.

After several measurements and attempting to shove her in the back of the mini van the ladies sweetie pie hubby offered to drive her to our house for me! I WILL BE SO EVER GRATEFUL! Here she sits. (Anybody want a white pillar???) She has required me to change a few plans for the dining room but I will reveal those changes once they are done.

Here is what else I have been working on. I purchased this vintage looking Santa at The Nutcracker the same weekend as the buffet. I knew he was calling out to me to be put on a wreath so home he came. I already owned the wreath which had a few pine cones already on her so after a few pics added and some bells all which I already owned as well this was what I came up with. I am now itching to get the rest of the decorating done. I of curse will share all the fun pics once it is!

I found these cute little guys at HomeGoods. I bought all four. They reminded me of the ones my mom had when I was little which I know where antiques and as luck would have it she no longer owns. I also got the runner from HG as well. I just love that place!!

And here is a pic...bad one I know...of my other gotta have item from the past week. I had seen this lamp a few weeks back at Kirklands and she was $20 I think but they only had one at the time and the beads were all messed up. I am glad I passed because last Friday they had a one day sale and I got her for just $13! They had a bunch. I guess maybe they got a new shipment in just for the event. I just love her and think she was the perfect lamp choice for in the laundry room.

Well off to see if the plumber or air tech has arrived outside yet. Urgh! If it is not one thing it is another but that is the roller coaster of life and in the end it all works out just fine. Have a good one ya'll!