Why do we Live in the Midwest?!?!

Since we hosted Thanksgiving last Saturday with my family, we weren't able to put up the tree and do all of our Christmas decorating because we wanted everyone to see our Fall decorations. Plus I was absolutely exhausted from hosting the holiday and wouldn't have had the energy even if I wanted to decorate. So last night Dave and I popped in the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie and put up the tree together - which doesn't happen that often! Usually he assembles the tree and I decorate but this year we were both in it together.


Then this morning I got up bright and early (8:00 am - I know surprising huh?!) and helped Dave shovel the driveway and then put up our outdoor Christmas decorations while it was snowing! I know even more surprising - see what happens when you don't get them up when the weather is still nice. I'm really starting to re-think this whole thing about letting Dave buy a snow-blower, I'm starting to see the many benefits that it would provide including being able to sleep in instead of getting up early to shovel so we can get to work and also that is really back breaking work especially since our driveway has a large retaining wall on both sides so you have to lift the snow and throw it versus just pushing it into the yard. I once thought I liked that retaining wall and I'm starting to rethink that too.


As we were working outside together, Dave made a comment to me that was music to my ears. He said, "why do we live in the Midwest where it snows, it's darn cold and just plain miserable in the winter?" and I used that as an opportunity to remind him how nice it would be in San Diego this time of year. Quite honestly other than how pretty the snow looks (only on days you don't have to drive in it to work) I said I really don't know. We don't ski, in fact I absolutely hate snow skiing and we don't ice-skate, build snowmen, or go sledding so what is the point?...... Am I missing something because I would be just fine with having sand between my toes during Christmas instead of knee deep in snow and slipping on ice. So we decided that next year for Christmas that we will go away for vacation to get a taste for what it would be like.

Tanner had a blast outside this morning while we were working as well and was running around like crazy in his bright red winter jacket. His nose was covered in snow and he was just having a hey-day. Then he realized how darn cold it was and insisted on going inside which he never does when we are outside. He waited by the door patiently for us to get done and was happy to retreat inside where he cuddled up with David on the couch on top of a warm blanket. I will say one good thing about the cold winter is snuggling up with David and Tanner but you can still do that in San Diego right?!?!?! The other positive thing is that I'm sure we would get lots of visitors in a warmer climate so I better start looking for work and an affordable house there soon........

I Love Christmas Pictures

Well I am well on my way to completing my homemade Christmas cards and just needed a picture to add to the card this year and my mom to do some sewing on the cards to finish them up. Well getting a good picture is easier said than done but we ended up with a cute picture but not nearly as cute as some of the pictures I have gotten from others thus far. We took lots of pictures with the three of us and I really liked this picture of me and Tanner as well. Isn't he just the cutest dog ever???? And so well behaved - we love you Angel!

My creative friend Brooke just posted this picture on her blog and I thought it was absolutely a beautiful picture with her two kids and the lights that just make this picture look magical. David thought the picture was actually a postcard because it was so good until I pointed out that it was with Chase and Dylan. I would have to take a 1000 pictures to get one that is as magical as this one is. Great job Brooke!

Then I got this picture of my friend Gretchen with her two kids that I thought was just picture perfect. I just don't know how she got them to cooperate and look so adorable all at the same time. I just love getting pictures from my friends and family and seeing how much the kids have grown since I saw them last. If you haven't already - please send me pictures for Christmas this year!

Seeing these gorgeous pictures for Christmas is really inspiring me to get up off the couch and to start decorating. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house on Saturday so we had to keep all of our fall decorations up until after everyone left. Well after endless hours of cooking and cleaning, the last thing I wanted to do was decorate for Christmas and put up a tree. So needless to say, the rest of my weekend consisted of thinking about decorating but not actually decorating. Well at least I have something to look forward to doing this weekend. Stay tuned to see what I am able to come up with for this year.

Happy Turkey Day!

Katie at the age of 20 months already knows the meaning of Christmas. Everytime she sees a Christmas Tree she says "Christmas" and is already working on her Christmas list.

As you can see, Katie would like a Bitty Baby from American Girl from Santa. She got very upset when I took away her catalog and a tug of war ensued. As you can see, she won.

Since we are in Freeport for the holidays this year, I got to spend the afternoon with my adorable niece Katie. She has quite the vocabulary and loves to dance, she sure knows how to "shake it"! Also she has a fast arm or as she says "very fast" when it comes to throwing things at her auntie. I'm trying to teach her to only give hugs and kisses but I think we need to work on that a bit more.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey Day! I am cooking on Satuday for my family and I always look forward to entertaining so I better rest up before the crowd arrives.

Congratulations David!

David just got home from a hard day at work - doesn't he look smart with those glasses?

As you are all aware, David has been working at Quill since June of 2007. Quill is owned by Staples and has other companies under their umbrella including Medical Arts Press. David has done very well at Quill and is on the fast track within the Sales Department and hopefully will have a management position in the near future. David was "highly encouraged" by Sales Management to accept this new assignment which will help him to be more well-rounded and provide more exposure for him within the company.

David started his new position today and I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished. His manager sent out an email to the team announcing the new position he is taking on and I thought I would share her thoughts that she shared. "David was a fast learner and quickly adapted to the furniture culture. His great spirit and dedication to his customers shines through on every call. This style will fair well in his new role working with the medical market for Medical Arts Press."

P.S. I'm sure David didn't expect me to share this with everyone but I'm so proud that I just had to share it with everyone.

I'm on Vacation - whoo hoo!

After a very long week at work, I'm finally on vacation and am in desperate need of some R&R. It's taken me a few days to go from "work mode" into "I'm not even going to think about work mode" and now I'm ready to enjoy my week. We are going to Freeport on Wednesday and Thursday for Thanksgiving at my MIL's house and then back to Wauconda to host Thanksgiving for my family on Saturday. This means I have lots to accomplish before we head back home. Look out Martha, Melissa is on vacation and ready to cook and bake!

What better way to start a week away from work than by heading to the mall? I am going with 2 co-workers tomorrow to the Aurora Premium Outlet Mall and I can't wait to do some shopping for all those good bargains. I love shopping for deals and pride myself on my many finds that cost only a few bucks.

Then Tuesday it's back to reality and I have LOTS of cleaning and prep work to do for the big feast on Saturday. Luckily I did all of my shopping tonight so I have everything I need to make dinner on Saturday. I decided to avoid the crowds at the grocery store so I went at 9:00 pm on Sunday and it was a shoppers dream since I hate crowds at the grocery store. I think I may make this my regular shopping time because you don't have to worry about people banging into your cart, you have plenty of time to ponder the best deals, and no one gets upset when you hand over 50 coupons - yes I'm a cheap shopper remember but then again why was my grocery bill so high - gosh this economy is hitting my pocket hard. Or it could be that I haven't been to the grocery store in months and we were out of everything it seems.

I have a huge list of things that I need to do this week but one of the things is order pictures off of Shutterfly since I have 150 free prints that expire at the end of the month but I can't seem to find the pictures on our new computer. I've checked everywhere since Dave moved them onto the laptop today but I can't seem to find it. You would think that it would be easy right?...well it isn't anywhere that I can find and it's not in the "picture" folder..that would be too easy right?

Dave isn't feeling the greatest today and I think when he moved the files over that he must have done something wrong. His friend Aaron was here this weekend and let's just say - Dave doesn't bounce back after a night out like he used to. At least we had lots of fun and I got to hear my favorite cover band, Hi-Infidelity, which was lots of fun.

Well I should probably get off the computer and get to bed so that I'm not exhausted tomorrow for our shopping trip. Wish me luck shopping for bargains!

Online Again - Finally!

I'm finally online once again and I sure have lots to catch up on. I have so many blogs and websites that I check daily and I've been lost over the last week. We rely upon computers so much that I just didn't know what to do. Our computer has been on the fritz and last week it decided to die on us so we had to quickly back up all of our files while panicking that I couldn't lose all of my pictures. I have been saying for years that we needed an external hard drive to back up all of our pictures but unfortunately it didn't make it to the top of my to do list. Well last Thursday the fire alarm went off and David had to quickly get a drive and back up the 19,000 pictures that we had! Yes we had 25,000 files which even surprised me but it got done. Lesson learned - don't procrastinate when it comes to your pictures - you'd think that as an avid scrapbooker that I would know better. I should sometimes practice what I preach!

While this is terrible timing to need a new computer, we really didn't have a choice since we do everything online. I don't even know how to pay my bills if it isn't over the internet so David was in heaven shopping for computers. He was also very excited that I gave him free reign and let him make this decision on his own. When it comes to electronics he gets to make the decisions because I'm pretty clueless and he is the tech-savvy one in the family. The best thing of all is that we got a laptop so now I can blog from anywhere in the house including in front of the tv. Honestly what did we do before laptops, remote controls, cell phones, and i-pod's...?

Giving Thanks

Now that all of the Halloween decorations have been taken down, it's time to decorate for Thanksgiving which I am hosting for my family this year. The first place I started was with removing the Halloween picture I had in the frame and replace it with something for Thanksgiving and I got my inspiration for this from a Stampin Up magazine. All you need is some cardstock, leaf die-cuts, twine, and some stickers and you have some instant art for Thanksgiving. I think I am going to carry this theme through in my napkin holders, placecards, etc for our dinner. I still have 3 weeks to figure it all out especially since I have that week off from work. More importantly, I love what this holiday stands for and I hope that everyone takes a step back after stuffing their face with turkey and really be grateful for all of the wonders of life. Happy November!

FAMILY Album for Amanda

Lacey, Amanda, and Andrew at Christmas 2006

Thom and Amanda in Colorado

Thom, Steve, Wilma, and David after Winnie's funeral

Amanda, Julie, Wilma, Melissa, and Lacey at Christmas 2007

#1 Lacey, Amanda, Andrew

#2 David and I

#3 The entire Anderson Family after Winnie's Funeral

#4 Amanda and her cousin Tanner

This summer Amanda came and stayed with us for a few days before she moved to Vermont with her Dad. Amanda is full of energy and I was told just keep her busy the whole time and she'll be happy. That couldn't be too hard, right?!?! Well she is a tween/teen and it's been a while since I was that age so I thought I would ask her what she would like to do. Of course I got the typical response of "um, I don't know," so I knew I needed to probe a little bit more. After a bit of prodding and a few ideas she said "well what about scrapbooking?" She obviously knows how much her Auntie loves scrapbooking so this idea was a match made in heaven. We headed off to the Archiver's store and decided on a this mini "FAMILY" album because for a first time scrapbooker, you want to start off easy but it definately had to be a work of art. Each page has a different letter that we covered with patterned paper and when the letters are all together it spells Family. Little did I know how much cutting this was going to take but in the end, I think you'll agree that it's a beautifully crafted album for Amanda to remember how much her family loves her, even though we are miles apart.

We Escaped for Some Fun

Yes, Tanner and I dressed up for Halloween and the little kids loved Tanner because he is just too darn cute! We greeted 37 kids at our door with candy but only if they said "trick or treat," even the kids that are way to old for Halloween.

Here's the "tough boy's" hanging out until the doorbell rings again. David really got into the Halloween spirit and was playing scary music outside which unfortunately I think scared a few young one's away.


Four hours of trick or treating and we are tired, he really is cute ,even if he is a trouble maker that escaped for four hours of fun!

History Has Been Made & I Couldn't be Happier!

I am in sitting in a hotel room in San Diego for a business meeting and I've been watching non-stop coverage of the election all night long and I must say that watching history unfold before my eyes has brought many tears to my eyes as well. I am so blessed to witness such an historical event and only wish I were back in Chicago at the Grant Park rally. While I'm not there in body, I am in spirit and can hardly contain myself in my hotel room.

When you think about how far we have come as a country, you start to realize how important of a role we each play in becoming one united country. This election we just elected an African-American President and also had a female running for vice-president. WOW - this is the type of story that I look forward to telling others about in years to come. This is truly what makes me so proud to be an American!

When I logged onto this blog tonight, I looked at the picture with David and I which was taken just one month ago at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago - where Barack Obama found out he was the President-elect. That was profound to me in so many ways and I hope none of us take this historical moment for granted, regardless of your political preference.

P.S. Don't worry I voted earlier because of this trip.

P.S.S. Dave please be sure to pick up a Chicago Tribune for me tomorrow morning!