Monday: Christmas cards

Every year I think about sending out Christmas cards around Christmas time. Well, maybe not cards but those cool photo cards. I love getting them from people, so why shouldn't we send some out? Well, normally the answer is because I'm too lazy. It would mean that I would need to pick out the pictures, find addresses for people, and actually get them in the mail. The holidays are stressful enough, and so often another year passes and I haven't sent any out.

But this year I'm hoping will be different. The main reason is that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free photo cards, and it seems like too good of a deal to pass up. Of course, then I'll need to figure out out 49 closest friends and family. (Let's have a vote! Will we easily come up with 49 close friends and family or will the last few be only semi-close friends and family?? Forty-nine is a lot of family units.)

I feel like I'm back at school; I'm at 172 of 200 required words. By the end of this we will easily hit the 200 mark. Tell you about my favorite Christmas cards? Check (second sentence) (but really my favorite Christmas cards are the ones I receive.) (Hint, hint.) Include three links to my favorite Shutterfly products? Almost check...

1. I like the collage Christmas photos that have at least a little bit of room for a note on them:

2) The unexpected photo card that comes in the mail:

and 3) coasters! Who doesn't need more coasters?

If you're interested, fill out the form here by December 10th.

Thank you for helping me get free stuff. :)

Sunday: coats

As you may or may not know, I'm not a huge fan of coats. I understand that they are very important for keeping me warm and so I wear them, but I don't want to. I haven't pin-pointed the exact reason. Sometimes I think it is because I feel so bulky in mine, but that would be a very easy fix...there are lots of non-bulky coats. Maybe I don't like the texture. Maybe I don't like the hassle that comes with having to take it on and off and remember it. Or maybe I just don't like coats.

Anyway, there is a reason to all of this. I was at Kohl's today, spending the last of my birthday money, and saw a sign that said "sweater-coats". I briefly looked, but continued on my way. After finding another grey sweatshirt to replace my beloved one that is dying, I thought I'd look again...it obviously won't work if I need to be in the cold for any amount of time, but for dashing between buildings a sweater-coat would be perfect! And Ben won't be able to tease me about it not really being a coat because the sign said that it was. The only problem is that it doesn't have pockets, but I'll work around that problem. (It does have a hood.)

Saturday: alone

Today marks the day that something new happened. It's something that I've always wanted to happen, but never has quite worked out.

I saw a movie in a theatre alone.

Well, Ben was with me, but there were no random strangers also in the theatre. I've often been really close before, with maybe just one other group, but this is the first time no one else was there. To commemorate, I stood up and stretched during the middle of the movie. I almost felt like I was breaking a rule. :)

Friday: this and that

Tonight we were going to go watch Harry Potter. We knew that downtown was going to be busy so we smartly chose a restaurant that wasn't downtown. So far so good. Then we went to the theatre, which is downtown. Opps. There was no parking for about six blocks. We were rather surprised that the lighting of the lights could bring out so many people. Although if I recall correctly there are also carolers and bands and fireworks, so there are a lot of people involved in the event. Anyway, we changed our minds about the movie and just came home.

I finished all my new quilt blocks and even got one row all put together. It's going much more quickly than expected.

end of Thanksgiving: kids

Well, this is one of the first times I've come home and not been glad that we don't have kids. It's not that I don't love being around the nieces and nephews, but it's always been nice to be alone again.

It seems like a good place to be.

Thursday: drums

Ben got his drum set today! He's been super excited about getting it for these last two weeks. So he put it together while waiting for runs to finish at work. So far it seems really nice...and when he plays it isn't very loud in the rest of the house, so that's been good too.

Flurry has also been very excited that the drums are here because it is a lot of boxes to explore. Last night we got just the bass pedal (two boxes and two bags) and she explored all of them several times. Today the number of boxes increased a ton, but she isn't allowed to be in the room with them for very long as there are too many other things that she could get into.

Tuesday: laughter

Here are some long awaited things from the vacation that I wasn't able to post...

Here's Flurry trying to stop us from going.

And here is a classic home video. If you watch it without the sound it'll be pretty dumb.