2008 in Pictures

You have to go check this out when you have a minute, I have only looked at a few but it's awesome, click HERE. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html

Merry Christmas!

If you haven't gotten a card from us yet, you might still- I ran out of stamps, and I'm losing motivation though, so this is all you're missing. We are having a wonderful, rainy day!

Chubs

Did I mention he's the chubbiest baby ever?
(and I have no idea where I got the paper and template I used, I'm sorry to the creators!)

My favorite

You can't compete with the baby- they will always be my favorite. (until they get to be about 2- then it's anyone's game and can change day to day) I love these pictures, and can't believe my little (big) guy is 8 months old already!
(and for anyone who is into digital scrapbooking, I used Glitz papers and a template off the Glitz templates cd)

Twilight Before Christmas

I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, but this parody is pretty close to the real thing- you'll laugh if you've seen the movie. Thanks Becky for sending me the link!!

New Glitz Cards!

There are some new FREE cards to download and print from Glitz! Go to the Bright Ideas section of their website or click HERE. They have several Christmas and others, just click and print and you have an instantly cute card. If you want more great stuff, go check out the Glitz blog (HERE) and leave a comment to win a stocking full of great stuff!

2 Great things in one post!

First, I found the perfect stocking stuffer for Sam! Luckily he only occassionally checks my blog to be sure I'm not posting any inappropriate pictures, or identifying information, or talking about how much I love him so he shouldn't see this before Christmas: Ok, besides the fact that he is a bald guy, it's FREE, and if you know my husband, you know a free gift is his favorite kind. So go to Walgreens this month and pick one up- it's $5.99 but there's a full rebate if you pick up their monthly rebate book. What? You don't have any bald guys (guyz) in your life? Well I bet you have some kind of White Elephant gift exchange coming up don't you- this would be awesome just for the packaging itself! I went with the Bald Guyz Moisture Gel, because it's all they had, but that bald executive on the front- in the suit is so classy- though I like how the wipes clearly illustrate that they are good for all kinds of bald guyz, suspender wearers, or guyz in suits. If you really want to go for the ultimate gift, they have a Bald Guyz Club! For $20 you get 2 products, a t-shirt, coupons and discounts, and I believe a membership card. I think they have a sense of humor about themselves, you have to check out the website. I think I'm going to submit my husband's picture to the "Bald Guy of the Week". Now that's a great gift.

I said I had 2 great things to blog about- the other great thing, the reason I went to Walgreens in the first place is the new Take Care Clinic. This is a great idea- going to the Dr. at a drug store? I wouldn't do it for something serious or mysterious, but I woke up with pink eye today and found out that you can walk in, sign in on a computer, and within 15 minutes I was in with a Nurse Practitioner who filled out my information on a computer, looked at my eyes, and sent my prescription right over to the pharmacy. It was awesome. It was the 4th Dr. visit and prescription for us this month and by far the easiest.

Wow.

My husband forwarded this video to me from one of his friends. I watch tons of local news, but not much national, so I don't know who this guy is but it's interresting to see everyone laughing at him and calling him crazy when he had it right on.

Priorities

Some things are just more important than others- like applying my Edward tattoo before I go see Twlight. I liked it! I'll see it again if anyone needs company!PS- I am excited about this website that makes To Do lists quickly for you! Click HERE for Ta-Da list.

Grocery Shopping Tip- Stock up time

The holidays are a great time to stock up on all your grocery necessities. Most basics, especially baking supplies, go on sale for cheaper than you'll see them all year. As you can see, I have been stocking up on my most basic supplies.

Go get some free Christmas music

I found this on SlickDeals.net- Amazon has a free download of some classic Christmas songs to get you in the holiday spirit. Click picture or HERE.

Banners by Lyndsay

If you hurry, you can run over to her blog and enter to win your very own blog banner from Lyndsay- they are cute, you want to enter. Click HERE. (through Wed 11/19) And if you don't win, she sells them too!

Giving gift cards this year?

These Christmas Dreams Giftcard Holders from Designer Digitals are so cute! You just print them on some cardstock and then cut them out and you have a custom gift card holder. They're on sale right now for only $2.79- click HERE.

In case you still have any money...

Because I don't, and a lot of people I know don't, but I think there are still some people who do. I think that finding things and showing them to you here is almost as good as buying them and showing them to you in my home. I love this bag- simple, cute, earth friendly and a cheap $4 gift idea:Besides this cute vintage tote bag, they have some fun vintage magnets and stuff too. I think it's actually easier to window shop when you know you can spend NO money, rather than having just a little money, because then you have to stress about what you want the most. Crate and Barrel has the prettiest cake plate I've ever seen:And finally, I don't really want this loopy stocking, but there's something about it I like, I wonder if I could do the same effect on paper, maybe with ribbon? Anyways, there's something really fun about it!

Spoonflower- a great idea!

From my Photojojo e-mail today I discovered Spoonflower- design your own fabric! If you are a designer, this could be really fun, or for us average people, you can send in photos and have them made into fabric. Endless possibilities! This is a purse made by Lauren O'Brien with her own custom printed fabric. It's available in her Etsy store!

Pretty Pier One Holiday

I got a little Pier One catalog in the mail last week and finally went through it tonight and it was so pretty! I'm keeping an extra sharp eye out for cheap-make-it-myself decorating ideas (in case I can actually make the time to do some this year) and I loved this candy garland: Another fun thing was the balloon tree in the picture below. I'm not sure how exactly they did it, but if you have a big bag of green balloons laying around, I bet you could put something together.I liked the pretty paper garland around it too- they had those strung around in lots of the pictures.

A Brand New Day

Breathe in, breathe out, life is good! I love these commercials.
They are a good reminder that tough financial times are not the end of the world- and you can even shop at Target still! It even makes it look fun to be a little poorer, thrifty, spending good time at home with family. There are some smart marketers over there at Target.

Halloween Tricks and Treats

Those are some angry looking Hannah Montana's! (they didn't want to waste any time posing for pictures) Miss G removed all of her costume but the white t-shirt and sparkle leggings about 5 minutes after we walked out the door. We spent Halloween night at the neighborhood carnival and then trick-or-treated down the street with friends and cousins before bed. It was a fun night! Mr Skeleton was an angel all night. I spent the day making treats for the carnival bake sale- my pictures are horrible, (as usual) but I had fun with the tags.

Still Undecided? Not feeling it?

If your mind is made up, I can't change it, (and won't try) so skip this post, (please don't leave me mean comments!) BUT if you are unsure, or even just not passionate about your decision, read on for a minute. It's a tough time to be a republican- a lot of our leaders have let us down. Obama is so eloquent and really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and hopeful, he's intelligent and respectful, I wish he could be my candidate. I used to be of the belief that the President's job is basically to be a good cheer leader. It wasn't until a few weeks ago I became passionate about my decision to vote for McCain. If I thought he was a bad leader, or an evil, corrupt guy, who was only pro-life to try and trick all us dumb people to vote for him, then I would take a look at another candidate, but when it comes down to it, is there anything so GOOD about Obama's (or so BAD about McCain;s) economic/tax/healthcare/education plans, that it puts the value of human life second? (and I personally believe McCain has the better economic/tax/healthcare plans) It's suddenly so clear, please click HERE. And this is the third time I edited this post, but (click) THIS video just arrived in my inbox- it's powerful. Watch it, and go VOTE! It's not over till it's over. I won't get political on here again.

Go get the kleenex

I was late for church yesterday, partly because I spent way too long reading the Republic article by Jaimee Rose about Stephanie Nielson and her sisters. (and partly because I'm just slow.) It was awesome, read it HERE. And there will be follow up articles all week- you can read the one from today HERE. I didn't get to go to the benefit concert this weekend but I wish I could have been there- I bet it was incredible. If you have read their story I'm sure you don't need a reminder to keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if you haven't go read it!