Listing

Did you know that over the past week, I've shared approximately 8 stories with you?  Written 10 posts?  Yes, yes I have.  In my head.  Things like "Why is dating friends hard?" and "Meet my new evening companion" and "I have a problem and its that my daughter just keeps getting cuter and cuter and I'm spending far too much time looking at pictures of her".  

Working titles, obviously.

But I've been busy with finals and cleaning and wifing and mothering and remembering that I have a dog, and so I haven't actually put the information down in real words that you can read.  When that happens, it's like I get this huge clog of things, and I want to just dump it out so we can move on to new stuff.  

Consider this the dumping.

Except a title like "dumping" would not convey what I'm trying to say, so we're calling it a listing of things.

And now, in no particular order...

1.  My friend and I recently tried to make this dress.  Recently, as in last night.  It's not quite a pin-fail, but... it doesn't exactly look like the picture, either... hashtag: find a new Christmas eve outfit.

2.  I love hashtags, and I'm not even going to apologize for it.  Hashtags, when used improperly (they're supposed to provide a sort of filing system - BOR-ING, hashtag: jk I use them like that too), can convey emotions that don't translate well in text, like sarcasm (hashtag: is sarcasm an emotion).  They're also funny.  At least, I think so.  I hope you do too (hashtag: can we still be friends even if you do not like my hashtags).

3.  In addition to the sweet little Christmas dress that wasn't, I've got about 8 things left on my handmade Christmas list.  So far this week I've whipped up some personalized gift bags for two of my nephews, started a super secret project for my uncle, and gotten halfway done with my neice's stocking.  I love this time of year.  Its not so much that I'm elfish, as it is that I love staying inside and making things, but if the weather is nice, I feel bad about not being outside.  Enter: December.  High of 42.  Makes me feel not very bad at all about staying inside!  I'd love to know what you're making!  I'm starting to feel like this should be its own post.  But its too late for that, I'm already on number 3, which means I've already created an actual list, and so we're going to forge ahead.  But really.  Have you made/are you making anything?

4. Our real tree is up, and I love it.  I love it so much that I've forgotten to water it for the past 3 days, but I have remembered to feed my dog.  There's only so much memory available, you know?  Anyhow, it's gorgeous, and I'm itching to make an ornament with Riley so that she can have her own ornaments on the tree, and then one day she'll move out and need them for her own tree and our tree, which once felt just fine without any ornaments from her, will suddenly feel empty just like my heart and .... 

Sorry, got carried away.  Goal 1: make salt dough ornaments.  Goal 2: Don't cry.

5.  Hunting season is almost over, and I can. not. wait.  I'm glad my husband has hobbies, and I'm glad that they're active hobbies.  I'm also particularly glad that he isn't involved in any unsavory behaviors, like selling blood to place bets at dog races; he's got a kind of addictive personality, and I feel like that could only end one way.  Luckily, his current addiction is benign (to all but the deer), and has a definite end date (Dec. 15!), and so I'll be getting my honey back sooner rather than later.

6.  I've stopped with my online buying.  Not for good.  Pshaw.  No, but for now.  We've ordered all of the christmas presents/supplies, and now I just need to quit.  While I don't understand the level of Hub's obsession with deer, I'd gladly spend 3.5 hours scouring the internet for exactly the right paper mache deer bust to hang on our wall and mod podge with fabric scraps.  Which is to say, I'm clearly the less healthy of the two of us, and so I've made myself stop.

7.  If you're still shopping, don't forget to check Etsy!  This year, quite a few of my niece & nephew's presents came from there, like a train set and a barnyard animal group from John, a sweet little "make your own fairy" from Tracy.  I got the sweetest "thank you" from Phyllis after I bought Riley some cute little mittens!  I love buying from real people!  Also - the quality so far has been excellent!  Make sure you check the shipping dates, though, to get stuff by Christmas!

8.  I made my #kitchenaidmixer smoke (see!  I used the hashtag as intended!).  And then Handsome looked into it and we lost power for about 10 minutes.  And then it leaked oil.  We're out of warranty, so I've got to call the nice people at #kitchenaid and see what they can do for me.

The dough that broke the kitchenaid's back...

9.  I'm still trying to keep up with the #adventphotochallenge.  I forgot yesterday's picture (feet... hmm...) and haven't looked at today's reference, but I'm definitely enjoying this.  It still feels... off.  Like it's not quite what I was wanting it to be re: preparing for Christmas in my heart, but I'm working on it.  We'll see.  Anybody got any suggestions for that?

10.  Just to make it a nice even ten, let me inform you that I'm 92% sure that I don't have any burns on my hands right now.  With as clumsy as I've been lately, this is nothing short of impressive ( I was going to say miracle, but that's overstating it a bit).  Just so you know.

11.  Ooops!  Guess I didn't need that pitiful #10 after all.  I started sending out Christmas cards, and then ran out of envelopes, and so I've stopped.  And even though I've only made it to the "J"'s in our address book, I kind of want to stop, just because, well, I'm done.  But I've also got 35 pictures left, and you can't mod podge a paper mache deer bust with photographs, so I've got to do something with them... 

Okay friends.  Thank you for sticking with me.  I'm doing a giveaway tomorrow, if I can get my list of to-do's checked off today.  So that should be festive and bright!  Peace, my friends!

<3 M.