Ready for the New Year!

I hope you all had an amazingly wonderful Christmas holiday! I know I did. My mom was in town and we hammed it up over at my sister's house for most of the weekend.

Presents were opened and some seriously good grub was shared, which is one of my most favorite parts of the holidays. The dessert was a bit disappointing, but none of it was homemade, and I think that was part of the problem. Note to self for next year... make sure to bake the pies! And insist that my mom let us!

My sister was a wonderful hostess, and her husband was equally as gracious. They let us bring Axel along to play with their boxer Nelly, and one of the first things that Axel did was hike his leg and water one of the presents. Thank goodness it was my present!

I can't wait to share all the deets with you guys and get back into my blogging routine. My days of crazy crocheting to finish up presents are now passed, and I can get back to casually crafting as the need calls me to do so. I was gifted a ton of yarn and fabric this year, so I have lots of plans for making things. And one of the first things on my list to do is make a beautiful little iPad cover! Yes, I got one of those, too! I can't wait to lie in bed tonight and catch up on reading my favorite blogs.

For those of you heading back to work tomorrow (like me) I'm sending my condolences. We can look forward to another extra day off this Friday, I suppose. All my best to you as we are almost to 2011. I can't wait for what the new year brings. (as long as it's happy stuff...)

Where Have You Been?

If you're like me then you've been all over the place this past week! Finishing up Christmas shopping and preparing for family gatherings, putting up lights and decorations before you run out of time, balancing work and family and orthodontist appointments.

And, if you're like me you're struggling to finish up all of those handmade gifts that you intended to start working on so much earlier in the year.

Maybe we'll get a better head start next year!

Internet Moms of the Year

I wanted to share with you a handful of women who I think are the top Internet moms of the year. These are moms who work from home while raising children and serve happily as the number one woman to their spouses. That's a lot to juggle!

I've picked these ladies because not only do they keep up with a blog and their families, but their blogs are successful businesses for them. I'm sure there are so many more I'm missing, but these are some of the ones I follow and are very familiar with. These ladies don't just blog about their days, they post helpful tutorials and tips on how to do things (do you know how time consuming that is???), some of them also interact with their followers using social media, some of them have MULTIPLE blogs and they still manage to run their family. How they do all of this is beyond me. But kudos to them for making it work!

Check out these ladies and tell them hello. And, if you don't already follow them I recommend you start. And be sure to look at their side bars so you can see other blogs they run or assist with. These are seriously busy ladies!

Craftaholics Anonymous

Lyndsay Johnson

NieNie Dialogues

Old Red Barn

Dear cjane

Do you have other Internet Moms of the Year you want to recommend? Just post a link to their site in the comments section and share what you like most about the work they do. Keep the compliments going!

Christmas Shopping Under $40

Sometimes it is so hard to find just the right gift for that special friend who has one of everything. This year give her something that was handmade with her unique style in mind. And, to top it off, all of these handmade accessories are under $40!

Or heck, just buy one for yourself! I don't see anything wrong with a bit of holiday overindulgence when possible. It keeps the Christmas spirit going, right? Give a little... get a little....

How to Go Green With a Real Tree

Christmas Tree decorating was off the charts in my house on Saturday night. We had a blast! You see, we've had an artificial tree for the entire life span of my 12 year old son. I've always felt like it was my contribution to not wasting the life of a tree, even though there are tree lots all over the United States every year with trees that just become mulch or organic matter of some variety.

But this year we had a new plan. We've always missed the smells of Christmas... pine and holiday spices. So we loaded up on cinnamon scented pine cones (which aren't nearly as pungent in my living room as they were in the store) and a real Noble Fir tree. Our living room smells wonderful!

What makes it even more exciting is we seemed to have found the most perfectly shaped tree on earth! It had just arrived from Oregon with melted snow still dripping from it. We were told it was loaded up during a blizzard. True or false it helped to make the sale! It was unwrapped while we watched, we gave it a twirl and made it our own.

So, how is buying a real tree going green, you ask? Let me tell you... Hubby stocked up on beautiful LED lights that we bedazzled our Noble with. You can run so many strands together on one plug and leave them all on for days and not even touch the amount of electricity that traditional Christmas lights use. They also don't get hot and are very break resistant. We are saving a ton in electricity this year and reducing our carbon footprint at the same time. How do you like those apples, Mr. Gore?

And, when it comes time to retire our beautiful Noble Fir as the season winds down I will do my best to make sure that it becomes mulch or a recycled product of some sort so that it doesn't just end up in a land fill. But, even if it does goes straight to the dump, it will help provide the other refuse with organic matter for decomposition purposes.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it! Happy Holiday!