One Last Post Before I'm Off to No Man's Land...

I've decided to link up with Michelle at Fabulous in First for one last post before I go off the grid for a few days! Merry Christmas all and Happy New Years!

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog? 

Hot chocolate. Since I am allergic to eggs, eggnog might not be a good idea! However, I used to drink my Grandma’s eggnog…let’s just say it was less egg and more nog! Lol.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree? 

Well when Santa visited me…some things were wrapped and some where unwrapped…now everything is stuffed in my stocking..which was knitted by my great aunt. Those suckers can hold a lot! When the day comes that I have children of my own gifts will probably be both wrapped and unwrapped!

Colored lights or white? 

I used to love colored lights, but now I am liking the white lights. There is just something magical about them.

When do you decorate? 

Sadly…we don’t decorate! We are never home for Christmas so we very rarely put up a tree. That will all change in the new house. I do however decorate my classroom and that usually happens after Thanksgiving break.

Real or Fake Tree? 

Well I am allergic to the real things, so fake it is!

What Tops Your Tree?

When I put up a tree it is a Purple and Gold Star to go along with my LSU inspired tree!

Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?

Every we go to my Grandma’s and Aunts. Even though all the cousins have grown older and are starting our own families we still stick with our traditions. At some point we all watch Christmas Vacation; because we truly are the Griswolds…we used to pull up in an RV…so I guess my family is Eddie Griswold. Lol. Every Christmas Eve we have my Grandma’s Sauce Piquant (Cajun dish, kinda like Jambalaya and Gumbo together) then we open presents from each other. Then it is off to bed. My Favorite memory would be my cousin Jarred and I sneaking into the living room to see what Santa brought. As we go older we got wiser and used walkie talkies and flash lights. Then Christmas Morning comes and we open presents (and act surprised) then every comes over to my aunts for Christmas lunch with fried turkey and all the yumminess! Then we watch the movies we got in our stockings. My mom and dad’s anniversary is the day after Christmas sometimes we go out to eat other times we stay home.

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child? 

I would have to say it was when I got my dog Muffie, who has since passed. My uncle had gotten a puppy and his nephew had gotten the puppy’s sister and we were all passing the puppies around loving on them, when I went to go give the puppy back to my uncle he already had his, so I went to go give it back to his nephew, but he already had his! I was like well who’s puppy is this? Everyone said she was mine! She was a cute little snowball, even though she was a blue heeler. I had her for 16 years until she died of cancer, she out lived her brother and sister that my uncle and his nephew had.

She did not like her Halloween Costume...

Do prefer giving or receiving? 

Is it bad if I say both? Lol. I love giving to my friend’s kids it is pure joy watching them open their presents.

What is your favorite Christmas song? 

It is actually a new one (well new to me) that my church choir sang in their Christmas Cantata. It is called Heaven Everywhere by Francesca Battistelli.

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum? 

Yuck…I like peppermints, but for some reason I don’t like candy canes. I know I am weird!

Favorite Christmas Movie? 

Christmas Vacation and Elf

Do you shop online or at stores?

Online, I become scrooge when I am in the stores!  

Photo Cards, Letter or Store Bought Card? 

All??? I send special cards to special people, everyone else gets good ole’ store bought ones!

Five for Friday (Ok, Saturday) and Yule Logs?

One of my wonderful coworkers saw that I always had a paper towel or stack of klennex under my glass of water. She bought me the awesome thirsty stone for Christmas! I also got a car candle, LSU Garden Stone, and a bunch of sweets! I work with some amazing people that make me laugh and feel loved daily!

Getting mom's Christmas Present ready! She has a NOOK Color and has been asking (more like hounding) me for an iPad. I have been telling her she didn't need an iPad and my dad told her she could have a Kindle  and she said "I don't want a stupid Kindle" (no offense to Kindle lovers). We bought her an iPad Mini and I had the genius idea of wrapping it in a Kindle Fire Box (hehehe). Again, my amazing coworkers came through and hooked me up with a Kindle Fire Box. 

Every year we drive 6 hours to my Gma's in Louisiana. Since I have gotten older, we open our presents before we leave so we don't have to pack them (don't worry, we still have AWESOME stockings). This is EXACTLY the results I wanted when she opened her iPad Mini....

Her look is priceless! She really really really didn't want a kindle!

When she realized it was an iPad!

We had it engraved with...

"You don't need and iPad"

Bottom Layer: Kitchen Flooring
Middle Layer: My Kitchen Counter top and cabinet stain sample (at the top)
Top: Wall color

Cabinet color and style

Exterior finishes. I will have a metal roof.

Possibly my exterior lights

Finalizing my house finishes. The footings were dug Thursday and poured Friday, it is one big muddy mess right now because of the rain. They are suppose to come frame out the foundation sometime next week!

Ice Storm???? Sigh.... at least we haven't lost power! Had to knock some ice off the satillite dish so we could have TV...at least I can watch my Hallmark Movies now with this snuggle buddy...

Enough said!

Onto the Yule Logs...

In the weeks leading up to our winter break my kiddos and I took a pre-vacation around the world! Thanks to Sarah Cooley at First Grader...at Last! for her AMAZING Christmas Around the World Scrapbook, the kids loved it! We went all over the place but our stop in France was the most memorable. In France they celebrate with Yule Logs, so we made our own! These are some of my favorites that my little darlings made:

Yes those are Swiss Rolls and M&M's. There should of been frosting, but I was pushing our "no sugary snacks" policy. My little darlings made it work and had fun doing it! I truly enjoyed watching them be creative. One of my Autistic Darlings who very rarely expresses anything not in monotone voice or in meltdown mode, wanted to know how to make a real Yule Log, so while they were making them I found this video on YouTube...he told me "Um yeah, mine for sure isn't going to look like that!" (His is the bottom one) we just giggled together. I highly recommend checking out all of Sara's cool things on her TPT Store!


Now to leave you with another funny story...

That same Autistic Darling's class was having hot chocolate in their class when I came to pick them up for my class time. He wanted to know if he could bring it with him and I said of course! As he was walking towards me and his teacher he almost spilled it, but he caught himself and saved it from spilling! I told him "B why don't you hold it with both hands" and without missing a beat he said "Are you kidding me? It's hot!" I replied, "Well would you like for me to carry it?" again without missing a beat he said "What for you to drink it? Think again Tim!" He was on a roll this week! It always makes me happy when he is witty and happy like he was this week!


Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to share my funnies with you! I want to leave you with one last note...

Holy Wow!

It's been a super long time since I have posted something! Sorry! Life and work have been super crazy! Crazy enough to not post for more than a year? Yes! No boring details I promise! 

I will say that for the past couple of years I have been trying to get everything together to build a house. Being a single gal, I thought maybe my Prince Charming would show up and then we could build a house together. Bad news, Prince Charming hasn't shown up yet! I have decided to tackle the having a house built on my own (maybe Prince Charming will show up then!). The good news is, I have started the process. I am acting as contractor (well, ok my Daddyo is helping me out while I work). I know, I think I am crazy at times to add the stress of building a house to the stress of work! Oh well! I'm EXCITED!!!!

I am going to get a jump start on one of my resolutions for the coming year....keep the blog up to date! What better way than getting a fresh new look! Thanks to The Cutest Blog on the Block for the cute new design! You know another good way to kick start this resolution? Linking up with Farley for the December Currently, enjoy! 

Please hang in there with me while I figure out the new layout of everything! I love when Tech companies change how things are done! Now where did my cute buttons go? Well I am off to play around with this thing (yes, more procrastinating!)