Introducing...

Harley!

Harley came to join our family today. We got him from a local humane society. He is a German Shepherd/Lab mix. He's a little bigger than our other dog was at this age, so he should get to be fairly big. Everyone is in love with him so far, even fighting over who gets to "play" with him.

Who is playing with who?

Faintly Funny Friday

Ok, so I totally stole that title from Sue. But, I'm linking to her so it's ok, right?? Right? I thought so.

Disclaimer: Just because I put the word "funny" in the title, please don't get your hopes up that I'll actually be funny. I mean, I've never been good at being funny on command. Occassionally by accident, but almost never on purpose. And certainly not UNDER PRESSURE since I just signed up for Sue's Mr Linky.

So, are you all familiar with the comedian Jeff Dunham? (look at that: me writing like more than one person will actually be reading this. Now THAT'S funny) If you haven't, please get out of your non-cable, non-digital, so out of touch that you've waited until the last minute to try to get a "converter box" before the Analog Blackout TV coma and watch Comedy Central.

Anyhoo, if you aren't digitally challenged and still haven't seen Jeff's show, the rest of this post will make no sense. If you have, you *might* find this funny. Or slightly amusing. Or largely pathetic. You pick.

Remember the bit where Peanut makes fun of Jeff's name? "Jeff-fa-fa DunHAM *insert falsetto voice here* dotcom"? And how he tilts his head to the side for the dotcom part?

Well, you know you've watched his show a few too many times when your 4 year old starts pretending his stuffed animals are talking dummies and starts impersonating this phrase from Jeff/Peanut. Complete with head tilt and falsetto voice.

And then it's really gone too far when he starts REPEATING what Jeff/Peanut says...and not the nice words!

Jeff/Peanut: God Dammit!

Sam: God Dammit!

Me: Sam, you can't say that, it's not nice.

Sam: But him faid* it! (*Please see the "Fanta" post for further explaination)

Me: Yes, but him is a big person and you are a little person. And little people don't get to say those words.

Sigh. I guess we have to put Jeff's CD on "after bedtime" viewing status now. Darn it all.

Fanta (no, not the beverage)

For the last two and a half weeks, all Sam can talk about is going to see Santa. EVERY day he has been asking "Mom, is it a Fanta day today?" (our s's are prounced like f's. Please don't ask him to say "sucker" or YOU'LL be on the naughty list).


So finally this past Saturday was SANTA DAY. He was beyond thrilled. We told him on Thursday that we would go to see Santa in "two more sleeps". He kept talking about how he was going to go "see" Santa. And then I started to wonder. Does he realize that when you go to "see" Santa, that usually involves sitting on his lap & talking to him about what you want for Christmas? I wasn't sure if Sam understood this part. I mean, this is the child that we haven't taken to see Santa before because he's normally soooo shy with new people.


After Sunday School program practice on Saturday, we loaded up & drove 30 minutes to the closest mall. It was PACKED. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I haven't shopped on a holiday weekend in FOREVER. I normally do my shopping during the week to avoid the crowds. But for some reason this year it didn't even cross my mind that the mall might be a tad busy. Anyhoo, we got to the mall and got in line. There were maybe 8 families ahead of us. I sent Alex and Nick (with his cell phone) to another store so Sam and I could wait in peace.


You should have seen Sam. He kept trying to peek through people's legs to get a glimpse of Santa. Eventually, I lifted him up so he could see The Man In Red.


Sam: "Mama! I see Fanta!!"


(waves at Santa)


Sam: "Mama! I waved at Fanta!!"


(waves at Santa)


Sam: "Mama! I see Fanta's chair!!"


(waves at Santa)


We were getting close to the front of the line & I knelt down and asked him if he knew that when it was his turn, that he was supposed to go sit on Santa's lap, tell him his name and what he wanted for Christmas. He nodded yes, but I still had my doubts. He nods yes when you ask him anything.



Mom: "Ok, let's practice then. What's your name?"



Sam: "Fam."



Mom: "What do you want for Christmas?"



Sam: "A wacecaw"


(waves at Santa)



Mom: "A race cow?"



Sam: "No, a WAceCaaaww"



Mom: "Oh, a racecar?"



Sam: (nods his head...while waving at Santa)



A few more minutes pass & we inch closer.



Sam: "Mama! Fanta waved at me!" He was beaming from ear to ear.



Finally, it was our turn. We waited paitently in the roped off "entrance" area for the family ahead of us to finish. As soon as the elf pulled back the rope, Sam walked right up to Santa and sat on his lap. I heard Santa ask him his name & what he wanted for Christmas. I'm pretty sure that Sam gave some kind of verbal response because Santa nodded & smiled at him.



Of course, we had to have a picture of this momentous occasion. I had the forethought to put a clean shirt on him since the one he had on from practice was covered with pizza sauce. Props for mom. My little camera ham knew exactly where to look & must've said "Cheese" about 5 times before the picture was taken.

After only an hour of waiting (which I thought was pretty good considering the mall was wall to wall people), we had our Santa picture and a happy little boy.

Now, if only "Santa" knew what *kind* of racecar he wants...

Mmmm...caramels!

What's your favorite Christmas candy? Do you have one? Enquiring minds want to know!! Check out the poll over on the right side ---->

My favorites include homemade caramels, meringue kisses and Mint M&M's. Caramels of course can be made at any time, but somehow they're just more prevalent during this time of year. And I'm not complaining.

Holiday Knitting Update

I've pushed all of my Christmas projects aside in order to finish Nancy's Urban Necessitites Gloves by the end of the week. So far, it's looking like I will accomplish that. But, then I'll really need to plow through my last Felted Stocking so I can get them all felted & embellished before the 24th. If for some reason the knitting gods smile on me & I get them done early, I'll be working on a few more pair of the UN Gloves. If not? Oh well. I promised myself earlier this year that I wasn't going to get all stressed out & stay up until Midnight to get things finished.

I hosted my annual Cookie Exchange last weekend & it was great. There were 7 of us all together & we made 8 dozen cookies each. All of the gals raved about the Olive Cheese Bread, Turkey Salad and Forgotten Pie that I made. The first two recipes are from The Pioneer Woman, the last is from my MIL. I'll try to post it next week. I signed up to be part of a National Cookie Exchange Day via Better Homes & Gardens and they sent me a GREAT pack of party goods...recipe cards, book tote, The Ulitmate Cookie Cookbook, plus some Twist N Lock containers, all I did was sign up on the HouseParty website. I love free stuff.

We got some good news today...hubby's company FINALLY approved his Short Term Disability & Leave of Absence request. So, that means he'll actually get PAID for this past month when he's been off work. Whew, that sure is a load off my mind! Now, if we could just figure out what is causing his chest pain that isn't cardiac related! One thing at a time, right?

Off now to go pick up a few more presents...a Spiderman bike for Sam's birthday and one of his Christmas presents. Did I mention how much I like to shop??

Give Away Day Winner!!

Thank you to everyone who entered! Never in my wildest dreams did I think there would be 200+ comments/entries. I was hoping for 20!



I used random.org to generate the winning commententer and here it is...

#27!

Congratulations to Nancy of The Procrastinator's Needle and THANK YOU to everyone who entered. I will do my best to stop by your blogs in the coming weeks to say thank you in person. This was so much fun, I may do it again!

Give-Away-Day

Oops, forgot to post this first thing! I've been thinking long & hard about what to give away for the Homemade Give Away Day and I think I've come up with it: Urban Necessities Gloves. I don't have a picture of them yet because 1) they're a work in progress at this point and 2) I've misplaced my card reader & can't upload pictures.



So you're just gonna have to trust me that they do exist and I will complete them very soon. I will tell you that I'm making them out of a lovely lavendar-ish colorway of Encore, a superwash wool from the nice people at Plymouth Yarns.



Since I have so *many* readers (ahem), I'm leaving this Give Away open until Friday, 12/5 at 3:00 pm Central. To enter, just leave a comment & tell me if you're going to keep these little lovelies for yourself (highly recommended), or give them to someone else. Good luck!