Thank You!

Thank you all for praying for me and my family. Though we are not completely through this trial right now, part of it is settling while the other part is not. The Lord will have to do a great work to restore some hurt but I know He is capable. I can't go into much detail but know that your prayers are working!
Happy New Year Everyone!

Tomorrow is January 1, (DUH!) and those of you who remember my calendar post requested that at the beginning of each month I share a picture of it because it was such a neat calendar, so that's what I'm going to do tomorrow.
LOVE you my friends!

Due to some unforseen circumstances that arose in our family yesterday I am in no mood to have Friday Funnies or anything. I covet your prayers though.
Thanks

*Sigh*

Well Christmas is over and we all know what that means. It's time to clean up and undecorate.
The undecorating isn't so bad, it's the cleaning up. My office/craft room/sewing room/homeschool room became the dump all room. You know the room. The one where every thing gets piled up in at the last minute to get ready for a party, or dinner or company etc.
Well the time has finally come to clean it.
That is my goal for the week. Undecorate and clean up my office.
Do you want to feel my pain by seeing a picture or two or three? Of course you do.
Here you go.

You can kind of see the floor. But I won't be happy until all this stuff is OFF the floor. So you can see I have my work cut out for me.
And a better shot of my desk where I made those cute little crafts of mine. What? You don't see a desk in this picture? Look closely at anything that resembles wood. See it now? Okay, good.
Does anyone else have this kind of project to conquer? Please say yes, please say yes!
I'll post some after picture hopefully by the end of the week! Let's shoot for Saturday, because I know you care! LOL.
HUGS TO YOU SWEET FRIENDS!

It just never gets old!

So what do you do with your gingerbread houses after Christmas?
Do you eat them? Throw them away? Do you even make one? or 5? LOL!

Well 3 years ago we started the official Gingerbread House Shoot!
But living on only a half acre, you can't shoot with just anything. So my husband whipped out the BB Gun, safety glasses and away we went. We harmlessly took our innocent, unsuspecting gingerbread houses and lined them up on a board in our back yard.

Some candies flew off using the BB's and holes were put through the walls but it just didn't seem to have too much impact. So what does my husband do? The only legal thing he could do. He got out the fireworks. (What he really wanted to do is take a shot gun and destroy them all at the same time.) But of course he didn't.
No, he resorted to using fire crackers to finish destroying our houses.
We have great video of the process and in the end MY house was the hardest to destroy. It took like 10 firecrackers to finally blow it up. We think it was all the gum on the roof holding it together! LOL!
Anyway, here is an after picture of the houses.Nice huh? And to think we used to just throw them in the trash.
If you never got to see them beforehand go here to see them in all their glory!

So what weird things does your family do? LOL!

HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

Elvis was spotted at Christmas Dinner!

I'm not kidding. He made several appearances throughout the night. We managed to get pictures off and on all night. Want proof? Fine, I'll give you proof.
But first let's start at the beginning.

Christmas morning started out wonderful.
The kids opened their stockings, the coffee was brewing, the breakfast casserole was baking, the outside temperature was rising to 78, Happy Birthday was being sung to Jesus and then the presents were opened. It was a very blessed morning.

It wasn't until dinner time that Elvis started making his appearance. We ventured over to our dearest friends house where my bestest friend Kathy decorated a beautiful table for her delicious Christmas dinner.
Then the first Elvis sightings started. He tried to disguise himself as a girl but the blingy hat and sunglasses was a "dead" giveaway. LOL!
Dinner was then served and was it ever good. Though I did ask Kathy if I could have a "real" knife to cut my meat next time and not a knife that could probably only cut playdough! LOL!

Elvis didn't stay away long. Though this time he was a bit camera shy.

We ate dinner and let it settle a bit before digging into dessert. While we waited we chit chatted and had some silly fun. I know, who would even believe it?!
Being silly makes you hungry for dessert and let me tell you there was plenty of dessert.
Doesn't it all look delicious? Lava Cakes with Raspberry Sauce and Cream Puffs! YUM!
After dessert we opened presents with our friends. Another beautiful time.
But not until Elvis made yet another appearance. He really did get around.
We had our own personal paper shredder on site.
And ribbon organizer!
It was such a wonderful Christmas. A full day of fellowship and fun with friends and family.
But before we called it a night, Yes, Elvis made one last appearance to say good bye.
Uh-a-huh!
I hope you all had a VERY Merry Christmas as well. I can't wait to read all about it!
Thanks for sticking with me through this Christmas recap!
HUGS!

Have a VERY Merry CHRISTmas!!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
There won't be any Friday Funnies this Friday as I will be chilaxin' with the family and celebrating our Saviors birth.
I'll probably be back Monday!!
BIG LOVIN' HUGS TO ALL YOU GIRLFRIENDS OF MINE!

What's YOUR Perfect Christmas Weather?

I'll tell you what mine ISN'T!

It's this....See the little hand? It's pointing to what the weather is supposed to be on Christmas day here. High of 79 and Thunderstorms.
Now I can tell you that this is not my first choice for my perfect Christmas weather. See I had many a Christmas' in Maine where most of the time there was snow or it was at least really really cold.
Not so in Florida. I'd say 90% of the time it's in the mid to high 70's and raining.

But if you really want to get technical about it, Jesus probably wasn't even born in the Winter, but more likely in the spring or summer. But that's a whole nother Google search! Feel free to take that upon yourself. LOL!

But for some reason we've come to the conclusion that it's just not Christmasy unless we're freezing our noses and toes off. But in reality we SHOULD be in shorts and flip flops! LOL! Mmm hmm. Yup!

Just for fun I checked what the temperature is going to be in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. And you know what? It's going to be 62 degrees for the high. Snow can't survive in that.
SO, if I think really hard about it, Florida weather is probably a bit closer to the weather that it SHOULD be!

Just smile and nod your head, because I feel a bit better now.
Love you my friends!!!

Are you a #1 Fan?

Do you have a favorite blog that you have been going to every time a post was written for over 2 years? Has that person also been faithful to visiting your blog every post for over 2 years? Well apparently when you do this, one said person might send you this.Yes folks, my dear friend Lisa from Stop and Smell the Chocolates actually had a magnet made (which is on my fridge) to announce that I, Kim, am her #1 fan. Which I whole heartily admit to. See Lisa and I have this thing. We have established a true friendship that has gone beyond blog land. She is my sweet sister. Though we've never met I know I would feel comfortable going into her home and putting my feet up. (shoes off of course)
It's a rare thing to have such a friendship with someone you've never "met" but Lisa and I are true blue.
I've recently started to get a little more acquainted with some of you sweet gals ( you know who you are) and I'm loving that. Some of you are working on that #1 fan spot, though I don't think Lisa is going to give it up easily! LOL!!


Do you have fellow bloggers that you wish you knew better? Maybe they feel the same way. Don't hesitate to drop them an email or tell them so.
BIG HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

This May Shock You!

I'm pretty much convinced that I could survive without a cell phone. *GASP* I know right? Why do I think this? Well because I didn't even realize my cell phone was missing for 4 days until my friend tried to call me and then called the home phone and asked why I didn't pick up my cell phone.
I finally remembered where I had it last and it was dead in my purse. After 4 days I wasn't surprised. I actually felt bad for it because it wouldn't even come on. It wouldn't even let me use it after I plugged it in. It kept telling me that it was charging it's battery, so I left it alone to sulk.

Half the time I forget to take it with me. Just ask my husband who will try to call me only to have my cell phone ring right next to him! LOL!
I only know how to use the phone part and almost always manually put the number in because it's too much trouble trying to figure out how to get to my address book.

So tell me, could you live without your cell phone or are you attached at the hip? LOL!
(Don't bother trying to wipe your screen of finger prints, they're on my phone! LOL)
Love you my friends!

Friday Funnies!

Happy Friday everyone!
Thanks for joining me for Friday Funnies today.
Do you have a family friendly funny to share? Then go post it and come back and link it up below.

In most parts of the country, Christmas time usually means that there may be snow on the ground. If not snow then at least colder weather.
Here in Florida we've been in the low 80's for most of the month.
So I thought I could at least cool my blog down a little, with a little snow humor.
Enjoy!


Hmmmmm....you know what? After seeing this commercial, I'm not complaining any more! LOL!!

Oh and I have no idea what the commercial was for either!
Have a fabulous weekend my friends!

Have you seen this yet?

We don't watch TV for the most part but I do scan the few local channels that we get during Christmas time to see if there are any Christmas shows on. I have very fond memories of watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman as a kid and yes I am guilty of using my children as excuses to watch them over and over again each year.
So the other night we stumbled across this special called Prep and Landing. It is so funny!
Here's a clip from it.
I think it's going to be the big half hour hit of the season.
Granted we don't do Santa in our house but I still like a good giggle and this produced plenty of them!
Enjoy!

After doing a little research I found out that you can go here and watch the whole special.
It's not that long so grab your cup of coffee and your kids and enjoy. Better hurry though, not sure how long they will have it on there.

Don't forget to come by tomorrow for Friday Funnies Christmas Edition!
Love you my sweet friends!

Gingerbread House Voting Results Are In!

And the winner with (at the time of this post) 9 votes is.......

...The Sugar Shack which was......

MINE!!

Woot! Woot!
Oh I had some of you so fooled! LOL!
I should win something! Maybe I'll treat myself to a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Latte! YUM!

I told my daughter, who by the way decorated the second place winner Methodical Maddess, that everyone is going to think that hers is mine and you did didn't you? Come on admit it. Hee! Hee!

So do you want a run down of the night and all it's glory? Then stick around.

Well after taking family pictures I changed into my gingerbread house decorating attire. What? You don't have special attire for that? Hmmm...
....we then set off to decorating. I have to say that I was very disappointed in the variety of candy this year. My inspiration was squashed and I had to just wing it. As I was over here struggling on what to do.....
.....my daughter was taking the candy from my sons gingerbread house (because it came with different candy) and using it for hers. Hold on now, flag on the play. If I had to use the sorry stuff that was in my gingerbread house kit then shouldn't she? LOL! I kept telling her she was cheating. As you can see it bothered her greatly! Ha! Ha!
Meanwhile on the other side of the table, the boys were having a blast. This was the first time for our youngest to decorate his own. He designed Blizzard barn. And I'm really glad I got this great picture of him with his house. *sigh* What is normal? Oy!
Here's our 7 year old just going to town with those gumdrops. Yes folks he was the creator of Gumdrop Greatness.
And last but certainly not least, my husband. Yes folks he looks completely thrilled in this picture. It could be because he had been holding his roof on for, oh, I don't know, 40 minutes. LOL!! This poor man always has trouble with putting his roof on, or a wall caving in, or pieces breaking off. But he was a trooper and held in there. He as you can see, created The Snowed Inn!
All and all it was yet another fun time of decorating houses!
Let's see if you can guess my house next year! Hee! Hee!
Oh I SO got you! LOL!!

LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

It's in Your Hands Now! .

At one point this started out as bonding time between my daughter and my Husband. Now it's a full blown competition. Yup, Thanks to me! I couldn't just let them have fun and enjoy decorating a gingerbread house by themselves. No, I would hover and lurk and make suggestions as what I would do. And the next year it all started. I got MY own gingerbread house and let them decorate THEIRS. And then my husband decided that it wasn't fair that I got my own and so the next year we all got our own gingerbread houses to decorate. And then someone got the crazy idea to turn it into a competition. AND THEN someone got the crazy idea to blog about it the last 3 years and let people vote on their favorites. I mean what kind of person would do such a thing? *Ahem*
So it is now in your hands. It's time for you to humor me and pick your favorite Gingerbread House. And don't worry, you aren't going to hurt any feelings, it's all for fun! (Unless of course I don't win!) LOL!

These are going to be in no particular order and I'm not going to say anything about them as not to give any hints to who's is who's.
So without further ado, our houses.


#1 Methodical Madness!

#2 Blizzard Barn


#3 Sugar Shack

#4 Gumdrop Greatness


#5 Snowed Inn

Do you know how hard it is to keep my mouth shut and not spill everything that went down this night? Oy! It's HARD!!! So I'm going to have to end it right here.
I love you my friends.

Christmas Tour of Homes!

Grab your cup of coffee or hot cocoa and settle in because today I'm joining in with many others for a Christmas Tour of Homes, hosted by The Nesting Place.

Since most of you won't make it to our Christmas party this Friday, I thought I'd bring my house to you!
So sit back and enjoy the Christmas Tour of Our Home.
(Who knows you might even get a giggle. I know, I know, shocking!)

Here is the view as you would see it driving up to our house.
We got rid of the icicle lights and went with the LED multi colored lights this year.
(Even though I found 6-7 new boxes of Icicle Lights in the attic! SHHHH!!)

Here's what greets you as you walk up to our front door.
Gifts waiting for you on the front deck.
A happy sign hanging on the side of the house to bring a smile to your face.
A reminder to show love, joy and faith this season!
WELCOME to our home!
(My husband made this for me a couple of years ago! Isn't he handy?)
Coming in the front door you immediately see some of my snowmen displayed on the bookshelf.
(I love me some snowmen! LOL!)
Most of these are garage sale and thrift store finds. Yes, I felt the need to tell you that.
I haven't met a woman yet who won't share a good bargain with another. LOL!
The newest addition to my collection.
My Mom said she knew I had to have these! Thanks Mom!
You gotta love a snowman with legs!
Snowmen are everywhere, even on my counter!
Can anyone spot the corn kernel? LOL and the Hershey Kisses?
I got this little metal snowman tub at a garage sale for .50 and decided it would be perfect for this little funny display.
Later that day I found .30 in the little plastic container......
......and then this on the tree! My 7 year old really thought he had to pay .10 a piece for the cotton balls and he really wanted to make this ornament. Isn't he just too cute? He knows his Momma loves snowmen!
Anyone remember the "nostalgic" Christmas pitcher I got at the thrift store?
Well I decided that it needed a beautiful floral display to dress it up a bit.
What do you think? I like it better now! LOL!
Here's what I have displayed on my hutch.
And I'll wrap it up with a picture of our tree! Though they never look as good in a picture!Well I hope you enjoyed your little Christmas Tour of our home.
I wish you could stay for cookies and eggnog!
Why can't you all live closer? LOL!

LOVE YOU ALL BUNCHES!