Top 12 of 2012

auld lang syne

/ˈôld laNG ˈzīn/

noun:

times long past.

My Christmas Wish

The gifts are under the tree.

The cookies are on the plate.

The children are nestled all snug in their beds.

The only thing missing is some snow.

The weather man, albeit a nice guy, says we are getting snow tonight. 

I will believe it when I see it.

Snowflakes on the tree seem to be the only way to get my wish.

The only way {sigh}.

Chalkboard paint, glitter paint (on other side, not pictured) and a couple fancy fonts can always fill the void.

A white Christmas is the wish I have for myself.

For you though, my dear readers, I wish...peace, love, laughter, healing, memories, batteries that last longer than 5 minutes, fun stocking stuffers, no cookie belly aches and friendship.

Happy Christmas! Merry Everything!

{Trina}

Fonts Used {from top to bottom}

bearerFond

fontleroy Brown

Pottery Barn

Bellefine    

Peachtree Sundress ~

Mission: Bloggy Secret Santa     

How to make Chalkboard Gift Tags

As kids, my brother and I used to look for our presents at Christmastime.

When my parents left to go for groceries we ran up to my dad's closet to peak.

There we would find the stacks of boxes, usually wrapped without tags.

We searched the boxes for any clue that told who the gift was for.

My mom, in her cleverness, wrote a T or a J somewhere on the box. I don't know why she just didn't put a tag on it.  Maybe she thought we would look. See? Told ya she is clever.

That didn't slow us down though. I figured out how to unwrap said gifts without ripping the paper or tape.
Shh, don't tell my mom, OK? Pinky swear?

Christmas day would come and I knew almost all of my presents.  It never deterred my excitement.  I only worried that my reaction wouldn't be good enough to hide my secret.

To this day, I can't stand waiting to see what I am getting for Christmas.  It's just too much suspense, for me. I will even go out and buy my presents and hand them to the hubs to wrap.  It's all good. I get what I want and I am still excited to open the gift.

So when Julie from redheadcandecorate suggested we do a bloggy secret Santa, I hesitated. For sure I would not know what I was getting this time. But I only hesitated for a second. Then I thought, "While I do not like to be surprised. I sure do love surprising other people. Let's do this!"

Supplies

Wooden Tags (from Hobby Lobby)

Chalkboard Paint

Chalk

Thin jewelry wire (from Joann's Fabrics)

Step 1: Lightly sand all the tags.

Step 2: Paint with chalkboard paint, two coats both sides.  I put two tooth picks wrapped with a twist tie through the hole to hold it in place.

Step 3: Thread jewelry wire through hole.

Step 4: Wrap them beautiful.

Voila...chalkboard gift tags.  And I got to send them to Kimberly over at Serendipity Refined. Can I say, she is a doll. We have so much in common. This was a fabulous way to get to know someone new!

Want to see what I got from my secret Santa, Cheri? Head on over to It's So Very Cheri. I love it! It was one surprise that I couldn't wait to open!


Happy Gifting!

{Trina}

PS...I made a few Miner adjustments to this project. I kept a few tags for myself.  Don't worry. It's not a secret. I already told Kimberly. Wait until you see what I did with them!

The Wicked Elf of the North

The Wizard of OZ. What is not to love?

Yellow Brick Road...love
Glinda the Good Witch...love
Dorothy's ruby red slippers...where can I get me a pair?

To this day, my mom can't understand why the monkeys didn't scare me to tears.

I don't know either.They just didn't.

That witch though. I did not care for her.

via

Our elf, Cookie Crumb McDoodle, thinks he is so clever or creepy.

"I'll get you my pretty. And your little dog too."

Do you see the resemblance?

I don't think that is creepy. Not one bit.

How about you?

{Trina}

A Hand Chalked Christmas Mantel and a Joke

Ellen stole my joke.  

Yep, that Ellen. The one and only.

Back when Hilary Clinton was trying to get a Presidential nomination (circa 2007), I made a joke to my family that maybe it would be good to have women run the world because then there wouldn't be any war. 

We would all just hold grudges and not speak to one another.

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men...
A Christmas Sneak Peak

Down deep in the back closet of the basement there are boxes and boxes of ornaments.

There are ornaments from my childhood.

Ornaments from when I first got married.

Ornaments from when my babies were born.

And ornaments from in between.

Not too many, just the right amount of ornaments.

This year; however, we decided to do make a few Miner adjustments. Much to my boys dismay, we didn't put any of those ornaments on the tree.

(Insert whiny voice here..."But mama what about the red train? We have to put on this star!"...sorry boys, not this year. Insert maniacal laugh here.)

We went neutral and although the house was in total chaos with boxes (OK, it still is in total chaos), the tree is coming together nicely.

So here is to Peace on Earth and hopefully, no more chaos...well once the boxes are gone!

Pinterest Project...Kiss Pie by Picky Palate

There is this pie crust. It has been sitting in my fridge for months. I kid you not. Months. Nothing made from scratch....just a crust all sealed up in a bag from Pillsbury. We (and by we I mean the hubs) probably had plans to make a quiche or an apple pie. But that never happened.

For the love of all things food, something had to be done with this crust. So I searched my Pinterest board, Yummy in my Tummy for a recipe that used crust.

That is when I found it...Kiss Pie by Picky Palate.

I had all the ingredients...Hershey kisses, egg, water, and you guessed it...pie crust. And a project was born. OK, not born, because I didn't make it up, but we sure as heck got to work! 

I did make one Miner adjustment to the instructions while working on these. Instead of using a knife to cut the crust, we used a 1 cup size measuring cup. Flipping it upside down to cut the crust made it super easy for my little guy to help.

For the recipe head on over to Picky Palate.  It won't disappoint!

{Trina}

A Month of Thankful

 Life is just happening around here and I have missed blogging for the last week. 

I count my blessings everyday, especially the first day of this month.

Since I doubt I will be able to sit down everyday and tippity type about my blessings, here is the abridged version...short, sweet and to the point (all 30 of them). 

And they may or may not be in any particular order.

Let's pick up where I left off...

2. My husband...without him I would not eat (he cooks food up real nice).

3. My 6 year old...without him I would not have a thumb war partner.

4. My 4 year old....without him there would not be silly stories.

5. My family...without them there would not be crazy Christmas lists or help remodeling/ cleaning.

Ashley Brown Photography

6. My house...without it I would have nothing to organize (Oh, how I love to organize).

7. My job....without it we'd be living in a van down by the river.

8. Netflix...what is a better way to waste a child-free evening?

9. Our health.

10. My friends...I need them to keep my sanity...they are cheaper than therapy.

11. My freedom...brought to me by many others who have fought for it.

12. Grilled cheese...need I say more?

13. My camera...I have finally figured out how to use other modes besides automatic!

14. My comfy bed...nothing is better after a long day of chasing rowdy boys than my bed.

15. Not having any pets...without them, well there is no pet hair without them.

16. The sun....warm, warm. sunny warmth.

17. Our comfy couch.  Oh man, this thing is so comfy.

18. My eyesight...without it how could I read the most amazing stories or marvel in the cuteness of  my kids?

19. Flip flops. Summer, can you come back please? I miss my flip flops.

20. The good teachers at my kids schools.

21. Target...although I give you way too much money, I still love you.

22. Garden Gnomes

23. The beach at the lake...no better way to spend the summer.

24. Chocolate. Cannot forget the chocolate.

25. Reruns of Friends and 90210...yes I still watch them....a lot...too much...no, it's never too much.

26. Good people who do good things for others.

27. Nick Jr...especially when it keeps the kids entertained (wink, wink).

28. Laughter...the best medicine.

29. Joann...one of the biggest cheerleaders of this blog. Thank you!

30.  Life...it truly is a wonderful life.



Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for?

{Trina}

Socks For Sandy

Back in February 2006 when I was 8 and a half months pregnant with my first baby we had a pretty major ice storm here in the Adirondacks.  I remember coming home from work thinking "Crap, the power is out. But, it will be back on soon." And then I took a nap.

Five or six days later the power finally came back on. During that week we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, came home, borrowed a generator, gave it back, then had to go buy our own. I worried about the baby and I couldn't get warm and we just wanted everything to be normal again.

Everyone is aware of the devastation that the East Coast is going through right now.  I could cry thinking about the people who have lost everything.

No warm blankets.
No comfy couches.
No scrapbooks or beloved stuff animals to snuggle.

I get it. And I didn't lose my house. 6 years later, it is just a bad memory. What happened last week is heart breaking though. I don't know about you, but I have an overwhelming feeling of needing to help. You can too.

Laura (one of my bloggy friends) over at The Shed has found a need and is doing her part.

Socks for Sandy is her project.

She is collecting socks, hats, and mittens until November 9th to take to local shelters in New Jersey. 

Go here for the address to send men's, women's, or children's size socks (or hats or mittens). Even if it is one pair.  It will be one more pair that someone will have so they can get warm.

I'll be sending a package this week. Thanks so much for your help too!

{Trina}

Free Thanksgiving Subway Art 

November is here and this is the month to give thanks for all of our blessings. Truly, I should be thankful all year long. I really try. I think happy thoughts as much as possible. I thank the Universe whenever I can (anyone out there read The Secret? That book changed our lives over here.) However, in the month of November I love to take each day to say an extra thank you for something in my life.

Today, November 1st, I am starting with you.
                My readers. 

Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you for your encouragement.
I love this little space on the inter-webs. 

So to say, "I think you are so cool", I whipped up a little Thanksgiving Subway Art. 

Pin and print to your hearts content.

I hope you like it.

Here is another version without the border.

{Trina}

PS...See the word FOOTBALL? The font I used is FRIENDS...as in that little hit TV show. It reminded me of the Thanksgiving episode where they were all playing football and had to keep setting the turkey timer and it was so cut throat that Phoebe flashed Chandler just to get the ball.  Ah, good times!






I'm partying at: http://debbie-debbiedoos.com/weekly-pinterest-pinning-party.html
and here...http://www.foxhollowcottage.com/2012/11/power-of-pinterest-get-yourself-pinned.html