Month: December 2010

Honestly, I’ve never enjoyed New Year’s Eve. I don’t know what it is about the day — whether it’s the slightly depressing fact that another year has come and gone, the pressure to go out and do something absurdly fun, or something I can’t put my finger on — but I get a little grumpy. It’s just the way it is. However… it is an excuse to pop open a bottle of champagne, so I do enjoy that aspect of the evening 😉

2010 was not the easiest year, but we made it through. Here’s hoping 2011 will be great! I hope it will be filled with…

… more reading
… more writing
… more crochet
… more sleep
… more veggies
… more opportunities
… more adventures
… more love & laughter & all-around happiness.

However you celebrate (whether it’s with a giant dish of guacamole and a movie like me or something slightly more thrilling), may the new year bring you nothing but good things.

Did you hear about the snowstorm on the East Coast? Heh! Yes, it did indeed snow and blow last night. It didn’t look like much (honestly), but all told we probably got around 18 inches. The panic everyone seemed to have was a little silly. I mean, it’s winter in the Northeast. Snow happens 😉

At any rate, shockingly we did not lose power and it’s been business as usual here. The boys played outside for quite a while, running around and building a snowman. There was an attempt at sledding, but the snow was too high for it. Now they’re warming up in the den. I’m sure they’ll be back out this afternoon, though.

As for me? Well, I’ll take the comfort of my fuzzy socks and my wood stove. It’s a great day to lounge around in sweatpants (though I used to have a pair of medical scrubs that were really comfy, too). I’m catching up on tons of laundry and once that’s done I’m hoping to organize all of my yarn, knitting, and crochet supplies in the rolling tote that I got for Christmas. (I think it was Drew’s way of politely asking me to stop leaving my hooks and projects all over the house, hee hee).

I’m eager to start getting the house back into order of the chaos of the weekend. I’m excited for January and the new year. It’s such a great time to start fresh and organize! What are your plans for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day?

Goodness — a week from today it will be Christmas Eve! I need to do my grocery shopping for Christmas Day. I am super excited! There are some fun surprises this year. Nothing like Samsung LCD televisions or anything quite that extravagant, but some good stuff nonetheless. I have a BIG one for Drew. I took a chance on a purchase, and hopefully he’ll like it.

Since my MIL will be cooking beef tenderloin for Christmas Eve dinner, I am resorting to my old standard: the spiral ham. Hopefully I can find a small one. I don’t particularly like spiral ham, but I do like ham salad and pea soup, so I have plans for the leftovers at least. I’ll also be serving spinach and Gruyere strata, meatballs, marinated shrimp cocktail, rolls, fruit salad, and other odds and ends. I just arrange a buffet and people can eat what they want, when they want. I like a low-fi, casual, relaxing kind of Christmas Day.

Now I just need to finish wrapping everything!

By now you are probably very familiar with Groupon. You know how it works: every day they have a deal at a pretty good discount, you opt in, and if enough people snag the deal, you all get it for that price. Most of the stuff on Groupon is for local stores and restaurants (as well as some online shopping sites). But there are other similar sites out there. One I just found out about is called groopdealz and wow — do they have some cute stuff!

Today’s deal is for these sweet Rosette rings from Love Stitched. They are only $4 (plus $2 flat rate shipping, no matter how many you buy), which makes them a really affordable stocking stuffer or gift for your girlfriend. I thought they were super cute and wanted to share them with you!

I still can’t believe how cold it is! This morning, things were even a little colder in the house. We realized that a pipe upstairs was frozen. Yes, in exactly the same place as five years ago. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that our wonderful plumber fixed it. Sure at about 6:30 this morning I was wishing I could snap my fingers or click here to fix the situation, but at least we caught it before it turned into a real problem. Home ownership is always an adventure, isn’t it?

In other news, this morning a new neighbor came over for coffee. She brought some pastries from Me Oh My Pie Shop in Red Hook and Me Oh My! Were they ever delicious! I think I’ll have to take a visit over there myself.

This week has flown by and I’m not even sure what I’ve accomplished! I think that the closer it gets to Christmas, the faster they days go by. Our weekend is packed full. It’s better than sitting around, bored, though.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say hello! Hope you all had a great week.