favorite things (to give)

the nester is doing a fun linky party this week of favorite things.  i've loved reading all the posts and ooh'ing and aah'ing at what everyone's listed.  i thought i'd join in and list a few of my favorite gift items to give, all just happen to be under $15.

$8-$10 a fun and easy gift to give for either a friend or a party host is to buy one of these adorable glass canisters from wal-mart ($7.50) and then fill it with some cookies or dog treats or powdered laundry detergent or my favorite way to give it is with some sugar inside and a fun vintage teacup to use as a scoop.  really cute, but also really functional for the rest of the year.  who doesn't love a useful year round gift?

$11 this is an amazing 365 days devotional that was gifted to me and it has been such a blessing and encouragement i thought this year it might be fun to pass it on.  it's "streams in the desert" by l.b. cowman.  i even need to make sure the hubs gets a copy too.

$14 we love games, especially around this time of the year, so i love giving another family a fun board game.  this is one of our all time favorites...rummikub.  buy one for yourself too, it's a blast!

$11-$15 for the dr. pepper or other caffeine addict in your life...i love the tervis tumblers.  these are bananas...and the best part they're dishwasher safe.  which is a huge bonus for people like me who have a tendency to toss stuff that's not supposed to be in the dishwasher in the dishwasher.

$6 and last we love Christmas movies so i think it's fun for another host gift or family gift to give them your favorite Christmas DVD.  we love both "home alone" and of course "christmas vacation".

thanks so much for stopping by...and happy gift giving!! :-)

the one with the scary tv show

the other evening boy and i were catching up on our tivo'd shows.  first show on the list, the new show "american horror story".  now normally this type of show is far from my cup of tea, but when it first came out we recorded a few and then got hooked.  it's kind of like how "the hunger games" book series was for me....when someone would tell me about it i'd shove it aside because i don't like fantasy books, but then when i read it i couldn't put it down.  sorry that makes no sense, but kind of like that. 

so now i spend my wednesdays trying to figure out why they don't just pack up and leave that scary house and how does connie britton get her gorgeous red hair so perfectly wavy.

two mysteries in one show.

well the other night i was sitting in my chair and boy had the pugs with him on the sofa watching this show.  i was holding my breath because something scary in this scense was about to happen when i hear our front door trying to be open.

are you kidding me?

someone is trying to get into our home. 

during the one scary show (besides all things dateline) that we watch.

i turn to boy, who surprisingly didn't hear it, and the rational thing to do would have been to turn to him and say "turn off the tv, someone's trying to open the door".  instead i look at him eyes bulging from my head and flail my arms up and down.

i learned that day that i'm useless in frantic situations.

he pauses the tv trying to figure out what in the world i am doing when he hears it too. 

can i add our pug security was useless too as they snored away.

so, boy heads to the front door and sees a truck in our driveway and a man getting into it.  he flicks on the porch light and the man turns around and says "so sorry wrong house" and he watched him pull into the neighbor's drive way and explain to the neighbor what he just did.

so to the strange man in the truck thank you for making me near wet my pants and adding a little interactive feature to the horror show.

thankfully my heart rate just returned to normal.

making a list

honestly, i don't think i've ever woken up early and gone shopping on black friday.

each year i do fear i might be missing out on some amazing deal.   but then that friday morning rolls around and i'm sound asleep drowning in my down duvet and i don't think it bothers me so much.

maybe one year i'll go.

thankfully, i managed to get about 90% of our Christmas shopping done already this year.  and i did score some great deals online in the last week with the pre black friday.  so just a few small things to pick up now.

boy and i got to talking the other day about childhood Christmas lists.  and although waking up Christmas morning to see what santa left is such a small part of the season we had fun remembering those lists and if there was ever a time when santa might have failed on a gift.

boy could never think of anything specific except the fact that without fail on Christmas eve he would think of something and ask to write a note to santa last minute just in case he had an extra in his bag (course it was a little late for santa ha)

one year i put on my list a baby brother ha (still an only child) and the big family joke is for years i put a barbie powerwheel on my list.  we crack jokes about this all the time and "santa" has never explained himself on that one, but does insist that it'll be the first gift for his future grandchild just to make me jealous.  i don't doubt that he will either :-)

so i have to ask did santa ever disappoint or maybe even pull a "Christmas Story" and have that special gift hidden?

so thankful

i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving this year!  we had a wonderful day with my family and some delicious food too!

well almost delicious....this is a picture of big daddy's pie before he dove into it alone. 

i say alone because it's mince meat.

it's so gross the pug's pass on it.

so every year mom graciously makes him a mince meat pie and we sit around and tell him how gross it is while he eats a slice.

i pray that your homes are spared from the odor of a mince meat pie.

i honestly am not even sure what's in mince meat and i'm sort of afraid to find out ha!

so thankful for such an amazing day, sadly i didn't bring out my camera once, so sorry for the iphone pictures.

 here's what are evening looks like now...pug in his yearly turkey coma.

city loving

Earlier today I was headed to downtown Fort Worth for an appointment.  I love downtown Fort Worth it has so many amazing shops and restaurants. Sadly, we just don't head that way all the time because a trip from the 'burbs to the city means lots of traffic, one way streets and frankly we've gotten lazy over the years.  We've hit that point where we opt for ordering in in our pj's, rather then dressing up and hitting the town ha!

As I was heading that way a sweet friend of mine called and said "hey I'm headed downtown do you want to drive over and meet for lunch and shopping?"

Couldn't have been better timing.  Love a spontaneous get together to catch up and chat.

We grabbed a bite at Reata, one of my favorites, and then walked around shopping.  While we were shopping I also realized this month marks my 15th anniversary as a Texan!  Crazy how fast time goes.  My family and I moved here from Chicago.  It was quite a weather change as well as an accent change.  Didn't take long for me to pick it up though and make "y'all" an every day vocabulary staple.  Today made me realize how truly thankful I am to be a Texan.  I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Unless it was Fiji.

Then I think I might be able to go for that.

wocka wocka wocka

I'm going to play catch-up a little on my thankful for list.  I was still relishing in my weekend...which brings me to the first on my list.

11.12 i'm thankful for...lazy weekends with no where to be.

followed by

11.13 i'm thankful for...grocery store rotissere chickens.  is there anything better?  i'm thinking i could live off them.

and today

11.14 i'm thankful for...not waiting until the last minute and ordering our Christmas cards.  this might be a first for me.

On a totally different note, who's ready for the Muppet movie?  I am!!

My preschool years and probably far too into my elementary school years (if we're being honest) were spent living and breathing anything and everything Muppet related.  I have some fond memories of growing up with the Muppets.  So, I'm so excited to see they made a movie and I get to relive the days with Fozzie and Gonzo.  Did y'all have a favorite Muppet or Muppet movie? 

image via

11.11.11

today i'm thankful...

for all the soldiers protecting our country, the many veterans and their families.

Source: Uploaded by user via Meghan on Pinterest

day 10

today i'm thankful for my dad.

he makes me laugh,

he makes me proud

and he makes me check out his latest deer sightings from one of his hunting cameras because, bless his heart, he has so much faith that one day i'll care about hunting.

 i am blessed. 

my mama- day 9

today i am ever so grateful for my mom and that she called me this afternoon just to tell me a funny joke.  love ya mama!

the things they sell on tv

I was flipping through the guide on our TV one boring evening and saw a name on one of the home shopping channels that I thought was the chick from "Private Practice" so I clicked on it because it would bug me if I didn't solve this mystery.  I was thinking surely it's not really her...do celebrities show up on this thing?

But, oh apparently they do.

And It was her and it has nothing to do with what I'm about to tell you, I just felt the need to let you know how I ended up on one of this channel.  I don't want you worrying about me.  Rest assured that  I made a promise to myself long ago, that no matter how old I get I will never call in (as hard as it may be to resist) and give a phone review chat.  Nope, not going to be me.

But I do see how watching 5 minutes can turn into 30 because the celebrity and her overzealous sales lady were wrapping up their segment when they start chatting about the next segment.

The YONANA.

Now I'm intrigued.  For starters, please say it out loud.  It's hilarious to say.  Go on I'll wait.  Try to incorporate it into a conversation, it's even funnier.  And two, how long do you own it before you start hating bananas?

So I sat and watched the ENTIRE program before I came out of my Yonana coma. 

I'm going to resist my gadget fascination on this one, although I'm sure it's lovely.

Im just still mourning the failure of the NO NO! and don't know if I'll ever be able to trust again.

blue skies

today i'm thankful for when rainy mornings

turn into sunny afternoons

smushed faces

today i am thankful for smushed faces

& curly tails

thankfully thankful

i know so many bloggers, including this one, are posting each day throughout the month of november blogging something you're thankful for.  i love the idea and really wanted to join in.  only problem i'm a little behind.  so if it's alright i'm going to be a little fashionably late to the party.  also knowing me i wouldn't expect a whole lot of deep and thoughtful thankfulness.  y'all know i can't be that serious for an entire month.

so here we go:

today i am so unbelievably thankful for daylights saving time.  such a joyful moment when i rolled over looked at the clock and was reminded that it's lying and i get one more hour of sleep. 

some randomness

1. my favorite trick-or-treater was the little one that after i placed the candy in his bucket, then sat down right on our doorstep to check out and announce his treat.  purely precious and happy to report he was pleased with what we handed out.

2. big daddy, aka my dad, joined the iPhone world recently.  he refused for quite sometime, and now we're regretting all the convincing we did.  we created an apple addict.  also, we learned that he cannot operate his iPhone while driving a golf cart.   sadly, my mom had to find that one out.

3. how funny is this in the latest wisteria catalog?  can it be used for pugs and husbands?

4. right before "homeland" premiered i told boy i think this might be a series we wished we waited for the whole thing to end and then watch on dvd.  oh, how i wish i wasn't right.  such a great and suspenseful show.

5. prepare your tivos...hallmark channel starts their christmas movies this weekend.  we're going to be so loaded up on christmas cheer by thanksgiving we won't know what to do with ourselves.