What I'm up to...

Sitting around my mom's place has got me a little bored and restless, so I've been looking for things to keep myself busy. Right now, I have two projects on the table. This one to the right is an old latch-hook rug kit that my mom-in-law got from her sister. It was sitting around collecting dust, so I said I'd take it off her hands. I don't really care for the design, but you never know, it could look nice when it's all done. I'd honestly forgotten how carpel-tunnel inducing that latch-hooking can be, since the last time I did one of these things I was about ten years old. I'm still thankful for having something to do, because after all, "Idle hands are the Devil's playground," as the saying goes.

The other thing I've been working on is a canvas that I'm hoping to turn into a mixed-media collage of some sort that I can use as wall art. I started out with some apple-green tissue paper that I saved from the trash can after my little girl's two-year birthday party. I love bright colors, and lately I've been leaning toward apple-green and turquoise, so when I saw this paper, I couldn't let it be thrown out. What I did was rip the paper into varying sizes, and glue it down to the canvas decoupage style. Unfortunately, this is as far as I got. I'm not really sure where to go from here. All I know at this point is I want it to have a couple of layers and be kind of textured. I thought about painting something simple like a flower or a heart on it and including an inspiring quote, but I don't know. It'll come to me, I'm sure.

Walk on the Wild Side

So on Monday, my mom, my husband, and I are sitting around spending a typical day doing pretty typical things, when Mom looks up out the kitchen window and lets out a surprised chuckle. When I asked what was going on, my husband (who was also looking out the window) responds, "Your mom's got company." I finally glance out the window myself to see these six wild turkeys strutting across the back yard. I don't know a lot about turkeys, but it appears to be four hens and a couple of jakes. The two birds to the right have featherless heads, small beards on their chests, and spurs (hard to see on this smaller photo), whereas the rest do not. I'll gladly accept correction from any wildlife aficionados out there. Anyway, is that cool or what? I guess these guys felt like stretching their legs a bit and going for a stroll. I don't get to see a lot of wildlife up close, so it was kind of neat to watch them make their way across the yard so nonchalantly.

White Collar Revelation

I don't watch much TV, especially now that my husband and I are staying with my parents. The TV is usually tuned to Disney for my little one's viewing pleasure, or it's on the channel of my parents' choosing. Mom and Dad watch a variety of shows, most of which I don't care for. However, they do tune in to USA a lot, and that's cool because I don't mind watching reruns of House and NCIS. Recently, USA began airing the new season of White Collar. I've seen the show a couple of times because my husband briefly watched it through the "prime time on demand" feature our cable company offered while we lived in NY. I thought it was a decent show, but I'm rarely inclined to follow a TV series for more than a couple episodes (I have commitment issues when it comes to television). At any rate, I found myself watching the season premier, and I've come to a serious realization: I just might be in love with Neal Caffrey. The character is smart, witty, not to mention oh-so devilishly handsome with his striking baby blues, chiseled jaw, and perfectly imperfect tousled hair. He's so very dapper in his custom suits and hats; it wouldn't take a con for him to sweep me off my feet. Mr. Caffrey, you can eat crackers in my bed anytime!

And back again!

Whew! Just got back from a week and a half trip to San Diego to see the hubby's grandmother, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone finally got to see our little one, and a we had a pretty good time while there. I'll fill you in on the details some other time though. Right now, I need to get a little shut-eye after 11 hours on the road. Night!

Going Country!

Well, my husband and I made a monumental decision recently - we're going country! When we get where ever we're going, we're going to scope out a little piece of land and carve out our own slice of country heaven. We're researching gardening, canning, and livestock raising, and when we're done, it's the simple life for us.

That being said, I'm not sure when or how we're going to do this. I'm also not sure when I'm going to get my Etsy business up and rolling again. I need to get the appropriate licenses and such to sell my wares, and I can't do that until I know where we're moving to. I won't know that until my man finds a job. Nobody told us before my husband decided to separate from the Navy in late October that hiring comes to a screeching halt this time of year. Oopsy! Anyway, we have a little bit of savings to pay our bills, and we're taking advantage of the hiring lull to go and visit as much family as possible. We're doing this now because when Niel does find a job, we probably won't be visiting again for a while. We have work to do if we're going to make our Little House on the Prairie (or mountains, or where ever) happen.

*Crosses fingers for a cabin in the mountains near a lake*

Christmas Spirit Found

Just before Christmas arrived, I posted about how I was not ready for this holiday season. Time snuck up on me, I didn't have gifts prepared for anyone, and I was in a pretty bad "Bah, humbug" funk. I found a little bit of holiday spirit the Monday before Christmas, when my husband said, "Hey, let's run down to the mall and find some gifts for one another. Maybe we'll get some dinner and catch a movie, too." This idea shortly turned into a, "Hey, let's sit in Barnes & Noble until almost closing time and then pick out some books for one another" trip (which is actually a pretty good day in my eyes.) We then had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden. The only thing that would have made it better is if I'd had the opportunity to run into the Michael's next door and browse their stuff, as I haven't been to a craft store in what seems like eons. There's something about spending a day out with my husband that always lifts my mood. Combine that with festively decorated stores and Christmas music on the radio, and presto - instant holiday cheer.

It's good that I found my Christmas joy, because the next night, we picked up my mom-in-law, sis-in-law, and nephew and headed down to James Island County Park's annual Holiday Festival of Lights. The night could have gone better, to be totally honest, what with endless delays, getting a little lost on the way, and hella-bad traffic. When we finally got there, it was all we could do to keep my daughter from running off like a maniac. She was so excited about the Christmas lights, I think she actually forgot to look at them. It didn't exactly turn out to be the relaxing, fun family jaunt that I was hoping for, but nothing could beat the simultaneous "Wow's" and "Look at that's" coming from my little one and her cousin.

Daddy and Ciannon enjoying the Christmas light show!

Christmas came and was overall very good. My husband and I actually celebrated Christmas #1 and Christmas #2 this year. My mom-in-law, thinking that everyone would be celebrating on Christmas Day proper, decided to invite everyone over for brunch and presents on Christmas Eve morning. My aunt, quite separately, decided that she would have lunch and presents on Christmas Eve as well. I had already decided that I was going to attend Christmas Eve service at church, since I had missed out on the entire Advent season due to family illnesses. So, as you can imagine, our day was quite full. This was Christmas #1. After it was over, I quite enjoyed being able to relax that evening with some pizza and watch  The Muppet Christmas Carol with my husband, mom, dad, lil' sis, and her fiance. Pizza on Christmas Eve has been my husband's family tradition since he was a child, and since I love pizza, I gladly honor it. Watching The Muppet Christmas Carol has been my family's Christmas Eve tradition since the movie was released in 1992, and though my husband doesn't care for the Muppets, he allows me to carry on this tradition, mainly because he doesn't have a choice.

I knew Christmas #2 was going to be a good day when my two-year-old woke up and the first words out of her mouth were, "Christmas? Presents?" She actually got into ripping open the presents this time, instead of letting the adults do all the work. I believe her favorite gift was a tie between all of them. We then sat down to a nice breakfast of grits, eggs, sausage, bacon, and biscuits prepared by my mom. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying our gifts until dinner, when Dad and Mom grilled up the not-so-traditional Christmas dinner of steak, mac-n-cheese, baked potatoes, and corn-on-the-cob. It was good enough that I almost want to make it our usual Christmas dinner from now on. (I guess that will depend on where we end up living, because no one wants to grill out if there's three feet of snow on the ground.)

And speaking of snow, we didn't have a white Christmas, we did get snow all day on the 26th. None of it stuck, but snow in SC is a rarity in and of itself, so I happily watched it fall and thanked my lucky stars for such a miracle. So, as unprepared as I was, Christmas came and went, and I find myself all the happier for it.

Not now, Christmas.

I love Christmas; it's tied with Halloween as my favorite holiday ever. That's saying a lot, because I LOVE holidays. Not this year though. Christmas is less than a week away, and all I want to do is curl up and hide. I haven't bought gifts, made holiday treats, or anything. I've been forcing myself to listen to Christmas music, and Tuesday we're even going to see our local Festival of Lights, but I'm not really excited. And I don't know why. I guess someone forgot to pass the holiday cheer my way. Go away, Christmas, come back when I'm ready for you.