Friday Meme Fun

Thanks for everybody who participated last week! Maybe more will join this week. Don't be shy!! Here is the question for this week:

What was your favorite Christmas gift as a child?

My Answer: I had many favorites, but the ol' Atari 2600 certainly stands out as one of the best. The fun my friends and I had with that game system was endless. Space Invaders, Pac Man, Asteroids. All classic video games and I had them all hooked up to the old console TV in my bedroom... those were the days!

Secret Santa and Some Snow

I had a great Secret Santa! And I was right, she has been on vacation. She more than made up for it though. A great Dunkin Donuts gift card (how did she know??) and a wonderful vanilla scented candle. All put together nicely in a pretty box.

It snowed all day today, as it did all over the Northeast. Finally it wasn't just us! I just came back inside from snowblowing. I'm getting pretty good at it now. It only took about 20 minutes. Then I took Jenny for a run around the cul de sac after the driveway was done. She loves diving through the piles of snow that are taller than her. Which isn't really all that high since she's so vertically challenged.

Just Call Me Sunny

Sunny Snickleifigus. That's my Elf name. Go get yours! It's fun. And then post them back here for us to see.

Ok... do you see anything wrong with the image above?? We stopped at the Dollar Store for Christmas gift bags and this was on one of them. Actually, it was on a whole stack of gift bags that were for sale. I guess in order to get something spelled correctly you have to spend more than $1.

And speaking of money, we're doing a Secret Santa thing at work. Some of the people playing give little gifts along the way and then one big gift at the final party. The person who got me must be saving it up 'til the end. Because I haven't received anything yet. However, the person I chose made out quite well. I gave him a $1 Lottery scratch ticket as one of his pre-gifts and he won $25. Aren't I a lucky Secret Santa!? Tomorrow is the reveal party, so I will find out who has me... I'm thinking it must be someone who was or has been on vacation.

Christmas Baking 101

Last night Alex decided he (we) wanted to make sugar cookies. I had all the ingredients on hand, we got a great recipe off bhg.com and in no time he had the electric mixer in hand. I was pleasantly surprised at his enthusiasm during the entire project. I figured he would show interest early on and then leave the cookie making to me. Nope. Not this time. Start to finish. (Well, minus the washing of the dishes...) He completed the project and proudly ate the fruits of his labor. He had a great time. I think that cooking class he took over the summer really paid off! He did all of the mixing and then the rolling of the dough. He cut all the shapes and placed them on the cookie sheets. I think my only participation was the sprinkling of the sprinkles and taking the hot cookie sheets out of the oven. We only made half of the cookies last night, so we can make the rest once this batch has been devoured.

A case of the Mondays.

This morning was like every Monday morning in our house. I normally wake up early to avoid the usual stress of the daily morning chaos. I take care of the dog, get myself ready, have a couple of cups of coffee, make lunches and check my email. These tasks usually go off without a hitch. My routine is pretty well set. I am ready to go by 8am every morning. And then I wake up my son.

My grumpy little man has never done mornings very well. It almost makes me laugh at just how grumpy he can be. Keeping a sense of humor is really the only way I can survive this daily ritual.

This morning was no different. In fact, it was a truly classic Monday morning. Alex woke up on his own today, which was a miracle in itself. But he only came downstairs to find out why the dog was barking. He was groggy and miserable. And then he started to cry because I told him I was just going upstairs to get him up. He thought he had more time to sleep. Nope. So back up he went, he crawled back into bed, and refused to get up. I followed, to make sure he realized it really was time to get ready for school. Then I left. A few minutes later I heard noise. Thankfully he was getting himself dressed.

He emerged downstairs and plopped himself down on the couch. He curled up into some blankets. He refused breakfast. It was 8:20.

I finished getting his bag packed. I took the dog out one more time. Last night, I forgot to put the car back in the garage, so it was covered with a nice coating of ice. So I got the car warming up and cleared of ice. I go back in the house around 8:30 to see how Alex's progress is going. He announced that he had to use the bathroom. The kind where you have to hang out for awhile and read a book. Great. I gave him 5 minutes. We usually leave the house around 8:40, so he had a few minutes. Knowing he moves at a snails pace, I plan for such things. At 8:44, we're finally departing the house.

I get myself into the car and look over at Alex as he's playing with the tree in the front yard. He's taking the frozen berries off of some of the twigs. I have no idea what he is doing and roll down my window to inquire. He had suddenly remembered that he needed arms for the snowman building contest at school. Huh? Fine time to remember that tidbit of information! So I jump out of the car to help. Otherwise, he'd be there forever trying to rip off perfectly good tree limbs from my only tree. There is probably a good foot of snow in the yard, a lot of it melted over the weekend, so it was wet, icy and very cold on my feet. Which had otherwise been warm and dry. I grabbed a couple of small branches, making sure to remove any frozen berries. I give Alex the "snowmen arms" and we jump in the car. We drive to the bus stop. As he gets out of the car, I notice that he left the tree limbs on the back seat. I asked him why he wasn't taking them with him. "Oh, the contest isn't until tomorrow. I don't need them today."

Perfect.

Soups On!

This is the best soup ever. And I mean that. Seriously. The best. It came highly recommended from a friend and she was sooo right. It is amazing soup. They have a nice variety, I bought the Creamy Potato and the Chicken Noodle. We had the Chicken Noodle for dinner tonight. You don't need to add anything but water, however I chose to add some extra chicken. It was wonderful. If you have a Christmas Tree Shop near you, you can find them there. They are $2.99 per packet. Each packet makes a huge amount of soup. You can also order them online for a very good price. (Not sure about shipping prices though.) I'm sure they are available in various stores, so keep an eye out for them! They're perfect for a winter evening!

Cleveland in April

It looks like Alex and I are going to Cleveland for Spring Break this year! Ok, that doesn't sound very exotic or fun to most people. But wait for the explanation! The Cleveland Indians are playing the Red Sox on April 14. And we now have tickets! It's just a 5-hr drive, which is actually a little closer than going to Boston (where I failed to get tickets). So we will bring our Red Sox gear and head for the Rock n Roll city. Hmm... maybe we'll visit the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame while we're there! I think Spring Break will be a good time. Oh, and I also have 5 other sets of tickets for other various games if anyone wants to go to Cleveland... I'm thinking I might make my money back on eBay.