Shakin' Up the Holidays

BLURRY PHOTOS ALERT!

(Sorry, I've only had my camera for about a year and haven't read the directions yet)

I just love this picture of the tree and wreath but it's not my tree.  We had a get-together with our friends and this was the first thing we saw as we walked into their house.  SOOO pretty!  The house wasn't spilling over with decorations, but just enough to give it the festive, holiday spirit. 

You know how sometimes you want to try something new and it's WONDERFUL and other times, well, not so much??  That was us this Christmas.  I love the look of Christmas trees and ornaments are my FAVORITE, but decorating the tree just isn't up my alley.  I don't enjoy it, I think it's kind of a pain, and basically I thought we could just do without one this year.  Scott's usually the one who puts it up and takes it down, and he's fine with it.  He agreed with me though and said sure, we'd forgo that tradition this year.  No biggie, right? 

I never had a fireplace in my house growing up so that's my fun thing - I love to decorate it and we still put up our other things around the house to give it that "Christmasy" feeling.  About a week later, however, after seeing tree after tree everywhere else, I really started missing it.  Plus, isn't it so fun at night to turn the lights off and just have the tree on?  Plus, all those sweet memories when we get out the homemade ornaments or ones that have special meaning - priceless.  Then, CRACK ME UP, Sara came home from work with this...(she's 19, by the way)

She said she didn't like not having a Christmas tree and she'd just make one herself.  You go, girl!!  So we all decided that yep, we like having a tree, and even though this one was really easy to take down, we don't mind Scott going through the trouble of putting one up. LOL!  Trying Something New #1 - DISLIKE.

Here's something else we did this year that my mom decided to try.  The grandkids that are in town range in age from 13-23 and she sent a card to each one (this was to my son, Adam):  (click to enlarge)

Out of the seven grandchildren in town, six work in the food industry in one form or another.  Three work for Schnucks (the company my husband works for), and three work in restaurants.  She wanted them to each bring something.  I thought this was such a fun idea!!  So here's what they came up with (and no parents helped out, but a couple girlfriends/boyfriends did) - sorry for the blurriness:

Raspberry/cream cheese dip - BEST dip evah!!!

Garlic/butter mashed potatoes (OH MY WORD!)

Chocolate chip dip (sweets by a sweetie)

Brownies (made by the 13 year old) - PERFECT!

Banana nut bread - brought by someone nutty; Cookies (underneath the brownies) - YUM; and two kinds of cupcakes (made by a girlfriend, but tasted for quality assurance, no doubt, by my nephew).  The ones in back had peanut butter icing and I'm proud to say I did NOT eat all six of them - go me!

The iron chefs:

Trying Something New #2 - LIKE!

Not all changes were a success but at least we explored new waters.  Any time I told someone we didn't put up a tree, they looked at me like I grew an arm out of my head.  Seriously?  Come on, it wasn't THAT big of a deal.  It's not like I went to church and sang "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells".  Sometimes you just gotta shake it up!

Prize time!

I knew I wasn't alone - whew, that's a relief.  It was so fun reading all the ways people either ARE or WANT to get organized.  Apparently we are a BUNCH of list-makers and we all want to get and stay organized.  Isn't it a great feeling when everything is in its place?  Don't you love opening your clean, organized purse with no debit slips hanging out and an up-to-date check book?  Hey, it happens from time to time.  I always feel like I'm the only one who can't get my act together, but nope, life gets in the way all over the place for every one of us occasionally.  I always think the first thing that should go is my blog but then I read so many encouraging, nutty, crazy remarks and nope, I can't part with it just yet.

Without further ado, I want to tell you the winner of the giveaway, but also share some tips people have given me lately to at least get your LISTS going...

 

Comment 25 was by Mimi from He & Me + Three.  Mimi is also part of the Five Moms and a Blog blog so you can check her out both places.  I think organizing is a MUST for her - three very active BEAUTIFUL children keep her on her toes.  CONGRATS, Mimi!

Now a few sites you might want to check out to help you get started with your list organizing extravaganza:

www.tadalist.com

www.evernote.com (you can watch their quick tutorial at the bottom of the page)

www.carbonfin.com (if you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod)

Feel free to share any other websites or ideas that help you to get a grip, so to speak.  And speaking of being disorganized, after I posted this giveaway, I remembered another one I wanted to do that had nothing to do with this so I might have to remind myself to do another one sometime soon (and by soon, I mean in this lifetime). ha ha  I know, lame.  

An Organized Giveaway!

Happy New Year, 2011!

If you blog a little or a lot, no doubt you've read comments galore about making resolutions for the new year.  UGH.  Of course "resolution" sounds so hard-core, so call it what you will.  I love being organized and I whoop it up any time there's an actual reason or date to do something, i.e. make a change somehow.  Be it New Year's, Lent, Advent, a Monday, whatever, I grab it and go.  Even if it's not lasting, I'm no worse off for doing something a bit different.  That's why they invented the word "try".  Oooh, that was good, I have to remember that.

In a perfect world, this giveaway would've been done towards the end of December but seeing as I am not the "Perfect" but rather the "imPerfect" Housewife, the timing is completely off and therefore, just about right for this blog.  That's alright, I forgive me.  OK, enough chatter.  For those of you who like your ducks in a row, I'm having an organized giveaway to help just a teeny bit in giving your life a semblance of structure and order.

 Here's what you'll get (all by Gooseberry Patch):

1.  A Garden Planner
2.  A Ho-Ho Holiday Planner (start now, trust me)
3.  A Holiday Online Organizer
4.  A Favorite Recipes Organizer
5.  A Weekly Meal Planner
and finally for those of us you that grab & go on occasion, 
6.  A Take-Out Menu Organizer
(This giveaway is not sponsored by Gooseberry Patch in any way, I just like their stuff and thought it would be fun).

Here's how to enter - you will have up to two chances (and please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win):

1.  Leave a comment telling me one way that you like to be organized (and if you're a total slob, you're still very lovable so just tell us what could use a bit more organization in your life).


2.  Post the giveaway on your blog sidebar, or Facebook, or The New York Times, or The Yellow Pages, or something that lets your friends know about it.  Then leave a comment telling me you did so.  (#2 is purely optional)  Yellow Pages?  Yeah, I'm old.

I hate to leave anyone out, but this is for the continental U.S. only.  

The giveaway will go through Sunday, January 9th, and the winner will be announced Monday morning, January 10th.  I'll use random.org.

If you've chosen to make any positive changes, whether they were on January 1st or February 23rd, there's never a bad time.  Good luck if you're entering the giveaway and I'm glad you stopped by!