My 2009 "To Do" List results

Before I post my annual "to do" list for the new year that is upon us, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the things I strived to complete for 2009. Let's recap, shall we?

1. Put together and implement a budget that actually works and one that I will keep up with regularly (This was about a 60% success. I took the popular Financial Peace University course from Dave Ramsey and learned a tremendous amount of information that is useful in our lives. However, I'm easily distracted and am having trouble breaking some seriously bad habits. The good news is that I have the tools to turn this around in 2010.)
   
2. Eliminate the majority of our financial debt (Heh. Not even close. Actually, I think we moved in the complete opposite direction thanks to emergency gallbladder surgery last April. Sigh.)
   
3. Finally finish the Patten Chapel cross stitch (Editors note: I started this before I got married 12 years ago and made significant progress on this last year. It's a portrait of where hubby & I married.) (Another goose egg. I have a feeling that 2010 is the year of cross stitch.)
   
4. Start & finish the Bambi cross stitch for Little A's room (Well, I selected the fabric and thread and actually made a few beginning stitches. That's progress!)
   
5. Continue the weight loss adventure and wear a size 6 jeans by December 1st (Yeah, that must've been a typo. I was in a size 16 on December 1st. Heavy sigh.)
   
6. Implement date night once a month with hubby (I think we had a total of 3 date nights this entire year. And 2 were on consecutive nights this month. Having small kids isn't easy on the dating life.)
   
7. Make significant progress on my novel and blog regularly (The novel has officially been tabled and my blog took a major hit this year. Things are going to be different in the new year.)
   
8. Finish decluttering the house (I'm happy to say that I did make significant progress on this front! It's not a finished project but I'm definitely feeling a lot better about the situation.)
   
9. Get the scrapbooks up to date (After a LOT of long hours and hard work, I'm thrilled that my scrapbooks are up to date! Now I can actually start spending time making elaborate layouts in our family albums and making gifts for people, which would really make me happy.)
   
10. Be more open with people (This is something that I think I'm always going to struggle with. In some ways, I think I've done a better job of achieving this, but I suffer from verbal diarrhea. Sometimes I just don't know when to shut up.)
    

So, overall I feel like I made a lot of progress this year in many areas. There's always room for improvement and my goals for 2010 will reflect that.

How about you? Do you make resolutions? What's something that you achieved this year?

My Secret Celebrity Crush

I have a secret. One that I've kept for a really long time. And it has to do with this little movie that you might be familiar with.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of this movie. It's also no secret that I enjoy a good looking guy.

I'm here to admit that I have harbored a secret crush on Christopher Plummer for about 20 years now.

He is so dashing in this movie! So strong, yet endearing. And the scene where he finally admits his love for Maria. Oh.my.swoon!

So, there you have it. Now you know why I rarely change the channel when this movie is on. And why I'm trying to figure out some way to install a gazebo in my yard.

Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas MeMe

My recent swap partner, Valerie, posted this meme on her blog last week and since tomorrow is the big day, I thought it would be nice to post my answers to this one. Enjoy!

1. What is your Favorite Christmas Movie?

Hands down, National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. And my hubby can't stand watching it. So, I watch alone and laugh until I cry.

2. What is your Least favorite Christmas Movie?

I know I'm going to catch flack for this one, but, it's A Christmas Story.

3. What is your favorite Christmas song?

I adore Michael W. Smith's version of "Angels We Have Heard On High".

4. What Christmas song(s) drives you crazy?

I abhore that Cheech & Chong Santa bit that always seems to haunt my radio stations.

5. What is your favorite Christmas Drink? (ie. egg nog, hot chocolate)

Hot Chocolate!!!

6. What is your favorite Christmas Memory?

This year, my girls were going to have their picture taken with Santa and the look of sheer excitement and awe in their eyes almost brought me to tears. They thought he was the real deal and couldn't wait to sit on his lap and have their picture taken.

7. What is the best toy/gift you've received on Christmas?

The only gift I remember receiving as a child was the My Little Pony stable when I was about 9 years old. I distinctly remember coming out of my room around midnight and it being under the tree from Santa and my Dad letting me see it for a minute or so before telling me to go back to bed.

8. What is the worst toy/gift you've received on Christmas?

My (wish I was joking) crazy mother-in-law once gave me a brass urn for a gift one year. Not sure what message she was trying to send with THAT gift.

9. What do you LOVE about the holidays?

Baking and shopping for gifts for loved ones

10. What annoys you about the holidays?

That we get so wrapped up in checking things off a "to do" list and forget to stop and enjoy the magic and joy of the season.

11. Do you prefer star or angel on top of a Christmas tree? Or something else?

We have a Disney tree every year and rotate between a Mickey Mouse topper or Snow White topper. This year, it's Snow White.

12. What is your family favorite recipe at Christmas?

My grandma's Christmas cookies!

13. Are you a Grinch or a Who at Christmastime?

A Who!!

14. Christmas light displays - Love them or Hate them?

Love to drive around and look at them but haven't yet done one in our yard. If we ever have a beautifully landscaped yard, then I'll be more apt to dress it up in lights.

15. Santa's at the mall - Fun times or Creepy?

My experience has been creepy for the most part.

16. Christmas cards - do you send them, yes or no?

Absolutely!

17. What is the best thing about Christmas, in your opinion?

Seeing the excitement and joy through my kids eyes.

18. What is the worst thing about Christmas?

Some people's attitudes while shopping

19. When do you put the tree up and take it down?

We usually get it up the week after Thanksgiving and taken down the week after New Years.

20. Out of the 12 days of Christmas, which day and item would you want your truelove to give to you?

Five Golden Rings of course!

21. Why do you think that Grandma got run over by a reindeer?

They have a bad habit of leaping in front of cars in this neck of the woods.


22. Who is your favorite reindeer?

Blitzen

23. Do you believe in Santa Claus?

100%

24. What is your favorite smell at Christmas time?

Cinnamon and Nutmeg

25. What would make you happy at Christmas this year?

Taking a carriage ride with my hubby & 2 girls in our downtown area.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Girls Fall Soccer

I'm slowly catching up with all the Fall activities!

As I've mentioned before, soccer has been a major part of hubby's life since he was a kid. It was only a matter of time before the kids followed in his footsteps.

We introduced Big A to the game last Spring and she took to it like a duck to water. (which was no big surprise to anyone)

Introducing the next in line to take soccer by storm. Could Little A be any cuter?!

Big A shows that her form is still intact

My little athletes with daddy

Big A finally exerted some skills in the scrimmages, which was exciting. She's coming out of her shell!

They both had a wonderful season and are already looking forward to Spring ball. I must admit that I'm looking forward to it as well!

Camping in the Backyard

My girls are like me in a lot of ways, but there are a few ways that clearly demonstrate the contribution of hubby's DNA. The way they look for starters. I can't tell you how often I get the strange looks in stores when I walk in with the blonde hair/blue eyed angels. Forget the fact that their bone structure has "me" written all over it. But I digress.

The A's definitely have their daddy's affection for the outdoors. For quite a while this year, Little A especially was keen on having a camping trip. Since I wasn't down with camping along with them (or hubby taking them out into the wilderness), we agreed that camping in the backyard was a good compromise.

Little A could hardly contain her excitement

Big A was pretty happy also

They loved playing in the tent

And playing some more

And daddy even created a fire pit (of sorts) so that the roasting of marshmellows could happen. The girls were happy as larks!

And much to my surprise, the girls slept the whole night without a peep and couldn't wait to do it again. Meanwhile, the cats & I piled into my bed and slept pretty well ourselves.

So, when's that next camping trip?

Cupcakes & Carousel Rides

This Fall has been full of lots of activities!

One afternoon, Little A & I discovered a new cupcake bakery in our trendy river district. Is it just me or are these cupcake stores popping up in droves everywhere?

Little A was delighted to find a case full of cupcakes, teeming with icing and several with animal faces. She chose a kitty cat themed sugary delight.

And after several attempts, couldn't do much more damage than this.

Just outside the cupcake store is a very popular park in the area. It has a fabulous indoor carousel, complete with many handcarved animals that are amazing to witness. I try to take the girls here a few times a year to recapture my youth let them have a couple of rides.

Little A was VERY excited about riding the fish.

Big A was thrilled to not miss out on this outing! Little A & I often do things while Big A is at school.

One of these days, I'll have to let them girls try to capture a picture of me on one of these carousel animals, because it's quite a sight!

Secret Santa Swap Thanks

This month, I participated in a swap that Amy & Georgie were hosting called the Secret Santa Soiree. This is my first time being a Secret Santa and I really enjoyed it!

Today was very exciting because the package from my Secret Santa arrived and I am thrilled! My many thanks to Valerie for sending me the perfect gifts!

Here are my adorable models showing off the really cute snowflakes ornament, the HOT Edward Cullen bookmark (SWOON!) and a book that's been on my Amazon list for a while now, "The Time Travelers Wife". You rock, Valerie!

Merry Christmas y'all!

It's an actual blog post?

Yes folks, it is. I can't believe it myself really. I've taken some much needed time off from the majority of the online world over the last couple of months. Most of it was involuntary due to birthdays, holidays, and life craziness in general, but I have to say that it really made me realize just how much time I was spending in cyberspace. It's given me time to ponder just where I want to go from here and there are some changes coming in the next few weeks. More on that later.

I wanted to take a quick moment to update you guys that were kind enough to comment on my "Comments for Cans" blog post from Thanksgiving. I had around 15 comments, so I decided to gather up 2 food items per comment and head down to an annual food drive in my hometown. My buds, Shannon & Jane, had comments for cans blog posts as well and we ended up donating close to 100 food items to our food bank. Yay! Thanks to all who commented and thanks to Shannon & Jane for inspiring me to help out in our community!

Speaking of Shannon & Jane, we hosted the 5 Days of Giveaways earlier this month and I was remiss in posting the list of winners. (sorry about that!) Here are the lucky winners!

day 1: Mimi, He & Me + 3

day 2: Megan R, Newly Wed, Newly Bred

day 3: Diana, Appleby Girls & Boy

day 4: Missy, Two Little Monkeys

day 5: Julia, brainella the librarian

Congrats to the winners and my thanks to all who entered and to my 2 partners in crime for doing all the hard work to make this happen!

And for those of you who celebrate a little thing called Christmas, well, we're into crunch time now. I'm sure we all have things on our wish list that we're hoping will be under the tree. Here's 1 of mine.

The Pioneer Woman Cookbook - PW is one of my heroes. And she makes a mean Texas Sheet Cake.

And then there's those things that we wish for that we feel pretty sure we don't have a prayer of receiving (but it doesn't make us want them any less). Here's a few of those.

iPod Touch 32GB

A Trip to Disney World

Oh, and him.

Merry Christmas y'all! Here's hoping that you get everything on your wish list too!

Countdown to Christmas Giveaways - Day 5

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I can just hear the smooth sounds of Andy Williams belting out this fabulous and appropriate song. As the season of craziness, hustle and bustle is upon us, Shannon, Jane & I wanted to take this opportunity to add some fun to your day! And we hope you will play along.

Each day this week, we will be hosting a giveaway on each of our blogs. The 3 items tie together somehow and a single winner will win all 3 items being given away that day. To be eligible to win all 3 items, you have to leave a comment on each of our 3 giveaway posts for the day.

Today, my featured item of the trio is one of my favorite items.

It's a duo of fun holiday kids movies! You will receive a DVD of Merry Madagascar and a DVD of Party with the Penguins of Madagascar in a special 2 pack Collectors Set.

Now, here's how you enter today's giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What is your favorite holiday movie?"

2. Head over to Shannon's Nut House and Jane's Jungle to see what else is in today's giveaway and make sure you leave a comment on each of their posts.

3. Cross your fingers and check your email in the next couple of days as we'll contact the winner by email. (So, make sure you've left a way for us to contact you from your comment)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!!

Countdown to Christmas Giveaways - Day 4

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I can just hear the smooth sounds of Andy Williams belting out this fabulous and appropriate song. As the season of craziness, hustle and bustle is upon us, Shannon, Jane & I wanted to take this opportunity to add some fun to your day! And we hope you will play along.

Each day this week, we will be hosting a giveaway on each of our blogs. The 3 items tie together somehow and a single winner will win all 3 items being given away that day. To be eligible to win all 3 items, you have to leave a comment on each of our 3 giveaway posts for the day.

Today, my featured item of the trio is one of my favorite items.

It's a pair of Celestial Seasonings Holiday Teas! These fabulous flavors of Nutcracker Sweet Black Tea and Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Herbal Tea will make your holiday really festive!

Now, here's how you enter today's giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What is your favorite Holiday beverage?"

2. Head over to Shannon's Nut House and Jane's Jungle to see what else is in today's giveaway and make sure you leave a comment on each of their posts.

3. Cross your fingers and check your email in the next couple of days as we'll contact the winner by email. (So, make sure you've left a way for us to contact you from your comment)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!!

Countdown to Christmas Giveaways - Day 3

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I can just hear the smooth sounds of Andy Williams belting out this fabulous and appropriate song. As the season of craziness, hustle and bustle is upon us, Shannon, Jane & I wanted to take this opportunity to add some fun to your day! And we hope you will play along.

Each day this week, we will be hosting a giveaway on each of our blogs. The 3 items tie together somehow and a single winner will win all 3 items being given away that day. To be eligible to win all 3 items, you have to leave a comment on each of our 3 giveaway posts for the day.

Today, my featured item of the trio is one of my favorite items.

It's a set of 4 mega-containers of Wilton Sprinkles!

Now, here's how you enter today's giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What, if any, kind of cookies do you leave for Santa?"

2. Head over to Shannon's Nut House and Jane's Jungle to see what else is in today's giveaway and make sure you leave a comment on each of their posts.

3. Cross your fingers and check your email in the next couple of days as we'll contact the winner by email. (So, make sure you've left a way for us to contact you from your comment)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!!

Countdown to Christmas Giveaways - Day 2

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I can just hear the smooth sounds of Andy Williams belting out this fabulous and appropriate song. As the season of craziness, hustle and bustle is upon us, Shannon, Jane & I wanted to take this opportunity to add some fun to your day! And we hope you will play along.

Each day this week, we will be hosting a giveaway on each of our blogs. The 3 items tie together somehow and a single winner will win all 3 items being given away that day. To be eligible to win all 3 items, you have to leave a comment on each of our 3 giveaway posts for the day.

Today, my featured item of the trio is one of my favorite items.

It's a $10 iTunes Giftcard!

Now, here's how you enter today's giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What is your favorite Christmas Carol/Holiday Song?"

2. Head over to Shannon's Nut House and Jane's Jungle to see what else is in today's giveaway and make sure you leave a comment on each of their posts.

3. Cross your fingers and check your email in the next couple of days as we'll contact the winner by email. (So, make sure you've left a way for us to contact you from your comment)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!!

Countdown to Christmas Giveaways - Day 1

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I can just hear the smooth sounds of Andy Williams belting out this fabulous and appropriate song. As the season of craziness, hustle and bustle is upon us, Shannon, Jane & I wanted to take this opportunity to add some fun to your day! And we hope you will play along.

Each day this week, we will be hosting a giveaway on each of our blogs. The 3 items tie together somehow and a single winner will win all 3 items being given away that day. To be eligible to win all 3 items, you have to leave a comment on each of our 3 giveaway posts for the day.

Today, my featured item of the trio is one of my favorite items.



Introducing Bath & Body Works Body Cream in my favorite holiday scent of Winter Candy Apple!

Now, here's how you enter today's giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What is your favorite holiday scent?"

2. Head over to Shannon's Nut House and Jane's Jungle to see what else is in today's giveaway and make sure you leave a comment on each of their posts.

3. Cross your fingers and check your email in the next couple of days as we'll contact the winner by email. (So, make sure you've left a way for us to contact you from your comment)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!!

A True Thanksgiving

It's been a whirlwind week.

The joy of visiting with family that I haven't seen in a while.

The warmth of a home full of friends, family and laughter.

The feeling of satisfaction after cooking a large meal and seeing smiling faces and full tummies from those around you.

These are all things that I count among my blessings, but sadly, there are many out there who don't get to experience a fraction of this.

• In 2008, a staggering 49.1 million people lived in food insecure households.
• Of that number, 16.7 million of those people were children.

Statistics like this really have me thinking about what I can do to help.

My buddy Shannon inspired Jane & I to give to our local area food bank, but I want my readers to have a hand in this too. Here's what you can do to participate!

1. Leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do! For each comment that I receive on this post through December 4th, I will donate 1 canned good or boxed food item to my local food bank.

2. Host your own "Comments for Cans" drive on your blog and donate to your local food bank. And please let me know that you're participating so I can leave you a comment!

Thank you so much for helping me give back to my community and I hope this inspires you to give back in any way that you can. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday Morning Eye Candy

Happy Monday Morning! So, my efforts to get back on the blogging track last week weren't exactly successful. And so begins another week and another try to get this train back on track. Let's start with a little inspiration, er, motivation. Yeah.

This week I'm highlighting some leading men who have movies coming out soon. Let's review!

Tim McGraw
He has a movie called The Blind Side coming out and so help me, I cry every single time the preview comes on. I'll definitely be checking this one out. With a box of Kleenex.

John Cusack
This guy is like a fine wine. He just gets better with age. Oh, and his new movie is 2012. It looks REALLY scary. Hubby wants to see it, of course. Not because of John Cusack.

James Marsden
He's just so cute. I loved him in 27 Dresses. His new flick is The Box. His co-star is Cameron Diaz, who I don't really care for. I'll probably skip this one. Sorry James.

George Clooney
Oh my. His new movie is The Men Who Stare at Goats and it looks pretty darn funny. And it also stars the always delicious Ewan McGregor.

Have a great Monday y'all!

Monday Morning Eye Candy and an update

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things this week and what better way to start a week than a little eye candy. Here we go!

Gilles Marini
This French hottie broke onto the scene as Samantha's neighbor in the Sex & the City movie and became a household name during his stint on Dancing with the Stars. He is currently lighting up the screen with a multi-episode arc on Brothers & Sisters.

Bryan Voltaggio
I know I've mentioned my love affair with "reality tv" before. Top Chef is a show that I've seen since it started several seasons ago. This season is a treat to watch each week as one of the best chefs is a total cutie! He's the chef/owner of VOLT in Maryland. One more reason I should plan a trip up north.

Madison Hildebrand
Ok, clearly I watch too much "reality tv". And I happen to love Bravo. And a ridiculous show called Million Dollar Listing. The show is made tolerable by this adorable young hotshot with the dazzling smile. And yes, I know he's very "pretty". Sigh.

Jesse Williams
Oh my head. I was really hoping that Grey's Anatomy would pull it together this season and give me a reason to watch each week. And here he is. This new cutie needs a "Mc" name and stat! And those eyes. Oh my...thud.

Now that we've started our week off with a bang, here's a little housekeeping.

Thank you all for the well-wishes for my kiddos (and me)! The girls are doing much much better and I've made it through with my sanity intact. I'm looking forward to heading back to the grind and sending the kids back to school!

For anyone who missed it and wants to get in on the Thanksgiving Swap that I'm hosting, today is your last day to sign up. Here's the post about it outlining the details. If you're interested in joining in, please send me an email. It's going to be fun!

Tuesday is going to be an exciting day here because I'll be hosting my first product review with a giveaway! And it's a great one for anyone looking to get some early holiday shopping done.

This week is going to have some updates with a few of the many things that we've been doing this Fall so far! The kids and our puppy have gotten so big and there will be lots of pictures to share.

So, with that, thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!

And this little piggy...

...decided to take up residence at my house. Yep, my 2 little "A's" have got the swine flu. And it sucks. So, I'm going to be quiet for a while as I try to take care of my 2 little ones and keep my sanity at the same time. Wish us all luck.

A Change of Scenery

I've been thinking for a while now that I really want to do a blog makeover. Shannon & I have had lengthy discussions about this, as there are many more things that I want to do with my little slice of the internet. And so today, I came across a blog makeover giveaway that has my name written all over it...I hope! My new site is actually going to be titled "Antics with Angie" and I'm excited about the new directions that it might take me.

Becky at Creative Blog Designs is graciously giving away a full custom blog makeover to one lucky winner. Go check it out and enter if you are in the same boat as me. And make sure you tell her that you saw it here! Thanks and good luck!