Back In Action

I haven't been up to much since coming back from Chico, just been hanging around the house being sick. It's been snowing a lot too, more snow than we have seen since we've been living here. Most of the main roads stay plowed, so the worst part is getting out to the main street from our house and constantly shoveling our driveway, of course!

We took Tyler this morning to do the monthly craft at the Ace Hardware store. The kids were making snowflake magnets by decorating clear plastic snowflakes shapes with flat crystal beads and sparkly glitter glue.
Tyler got a little distracted with organizing the beads in the bucket, rather than gluing them onto his snowflake, so Rick and I had to help him out with that part. How silly we must have looked, two adults crouched down at the shortest table, glue and beads in hand, amongst a group of children. After we finished up at Ace, we went to Joann's, which is right next door. I got some paper crimpers and a few things on clearance. All the clearance items with with a red tag were an additional 50% of the marked price, so I got some shimmery Heidi Grace paper, stickers, and flowers for a steal!

Back at the house, Rick got to work trying to fix our vacuum, which after 10 years, isn't doing very well.

He took it apart and greased up some of the moving parts, so that it at least sounds better, even if it is still having a little problem with suction. Meanwhile, Tyler was doing his part by plucking all of Rick's sockets off the tray and tossing them about the floor. He was real pleased with himself too, for clearing off the "platform", as he called it.

Snow and More Snow

I went outside to get the paper this morning, but I couldn't get very far. I had to go back and get the shovel. It was snowing all day yesterday and most of the night, so we had about 5 new inches of snow this morning. I had to shovel all the way to the sidewalk before I found the newspaper, I told Rick it was like an Easter egg hunt, but with a lot of snow.

It's too bad there is so much snow out on the roads, because wow, there are some good sales this week. 50% off coupons for Michael's and Joann's, are you kidding me?

My latest creations

For dinner last night I tried a new recipe from a Country Cooking Annual, Peanut Chicken Stir Fry. The chicken is coated in a peanut butter sauce which I thought was a nice change from my normal stir fry recipes. Tyler didn't finish his plate though, and he loves peanut butter. Maybe it's because he's (can you guess) sick again, Ughh! The doctor suggested that we soak his fingers in vinegar so that he stops putting them in his mouth already. All I know is the antibacterial spray I keep in my purse is not doing the trick.


Another anomaly that occurred yesterday, besides Tyler not eating something that was smothered in peanut butter, was that I walked into my scrapbooking room and actually came out with a finished product in one single day! Wow, that never happens, maybe that Basic Grey calendar gave me a little inspiration after all. All the pattern paper is from the Infuse line from Basic Grey and I even used chipboard letters, so how about that.

New Books and Other Festive Things

So Tyler and I went to Borders yesterday with the intention of buying one Christmas book, since I had a 30% off coupon for one item. Well, what do you know, I couldn't decide so we ended up with two books. Tyler wanted Bear Stays Up For Christmas, but I thought Russell's Christmas Magic looked cute too. I also wanted to get Curious George Christmas, but I think that one will have to wait until next year.

While we were there, I had to stop and drool over some of the cookbooks. I had my eye on the Cooking Light Annual for 2009 and I saw a couple of older Rachael Ray cookbooks in the bargain section for $5 each, but I'm trying not to shop for myself right before Christmas. Costco probably has a better deal on the Cooking Light book anyway.

This afternoon Tyler helped me wrap a few more presents, this one is for Ant Susan.

His main job is to help with the tape, but he also likes to show off his writing skills and fill out the to and from labels.

Eggnog French Toast

Christmas is just nine days away, but I still haven't gotten into the Christmas spirit. We put up a tree, but never decorated it...it's a good thing those artificial trees come with lights already on them. I didn't decorate around the house either, everything is still sitting in the garage. And most of all, I haven't done any holiday baking. No gingerbread house, no cookies, no muffins, no nothing. This morning was my first attempt at making anything holiday related. I made Overnight Eggnog French Toast from one of my Christmas Cookbooks. The bread sits in the fridge overnight, soaking up a mixture of eggnog, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then you bake it in the oven the next morning, which makes the house smell crazy good. Yummy!!


It's a rip-roarin' 18 degrees outside right now, a little warmer than yesterday, but not enough to motivate me to get out and do anything. I thought it might be nice to start a tradition with Tyler where we buy a new Christmas book every year, so that we can have a nice collection of Christmas books to read during the holiday season. So even though it is super freezing outside....Borders, here we come!

Trolley Ride With Santa

After a quick attempt at getting a little Christmas shopping done at the mall, we headed downtown to ride the Yakima Trolley with Santa. Usually the trolley only runs during the Summer months, but they were having a special event with Santa this weekend. It's a relatively short ride, but for only $2 per person, it's still a great deal and fun too.

Rick and Tyler boarding the trolley.

Wait Santa....don't forget me!!

Aren't you digging my conductor hat....can you believe that Tyler didn't want to wear it?

Tyler got to ride on Santa's lap on the way back to the station, cool huh? The trolley goes for about 13 blocks in one direction, then the conductor stops, goes to the opposite side of the trolley car and drives back to the station. During the stop, everyone gets up and reverses the seatbacks, so that you can turn around face forward again for the rest of the ride.

Just as we were leaving the trolley station, it really started to snow hard. It snowed a little bit yesterday, but nothing ever stuck. We should probably have a decent amount of snow by the end of the weekend...we'll see.

Gingerbread House

We took Tyler this morning to do the Lowe's Build and Grow craft, it was a wooden Gingerbread House. I think it came out really cute, it came with a set of candy stickers to decorate with. One side of the roof hinges open so you can even keep some candy or something inside. I've been hesitating this year about making a real gingerbread house because I'm afraid the cats will try and eat it, but this wooden one should be safe from those pesky nibblers.