Festivus 2012

I finally had a Festivus party this year. 

I went in search of the creepiest and cheapest doll I could find one fine Saturday afternoon with my gal pal Aleica. 

Big Lots came through with the win for $5.00  I knew we had a winner that could withstand what I had in mind when she held up like a champ after the first punishing blow to the head at the store. 

People look at you funny when you beat a doll in public, especially during the holidays. 

She was kicked around.  She was stomped on.  She was run over.  She was thrown in puddles.  She was lit on fire, well we tried to at least.  She had eye surgery. 

To this day, yes over a week later, she remains hanging from her noose.  Hey, I got sick and haven't had the energy to take her down yet. 

She no longer creeps me out. 

Another friend was going to come through with pole for the occasion but when she came down with the ick, plan B was put into place. 

My bestie Fiwasan called her husband.  The call went something like this, "Don't ask questions.  I am with Mo and we need a pole." 

To his credit, no questions were asked, he acquired a pole, cut it down to size, and hooked me up with the noose too.  What a champ!

I am not sure if I should be honored or worried that people don't ask questions about my motives. 

There was a gathering around the TV to watch the original Seinfeld episode. 

There were feats of strength. 

There were airing of grievances. 

There was laughter, 

There was a projectile vomiting occurrence.

There was no shortage of memories being made and more Festivus miracles put into the world.

Who is ready for next year?

Peace. xoxo Mo 

10oz vs 32oz

Around these parts hot cocoa is taken seriously. 

Dark, milk, salted caramel, with mini marshmallows, without marshmallows, with mini chocolate chips, without mini chips.

Usually with whip or without is not an option since I don't have whip cream in the house but that is beside the point. 

Just know we don't play when it comes to the hot cocoa. 

I go through a lot of coffee creamer and do recycle the empties but decided to upcycle one of the containers this go around.  

Perfect portion size dispenser and hopefully the container will keep the minis fresh too.  

 I probably should have known 10oz of mini marshmallows was more than 32oz of liquid but I was thinking they would all fit.

Hey, I put them in before the first cup of coffee this morning so gimme a break.

Peace.  xoxo, Mo

13 on the 13th

So, I had this ready to go last night, which would have been the 13th but I failed to publish. 

A day late is better than never right?

On the 13th of each month I will post 13 completely random things, observations, state of being, etc. going on in my life. 

Here's what 12-13 brings at the end of this day. 

1.  I am experiencing the worst "episode" of TMJ I have had in well over 5 years.  It is no bueno. 

2.  I arrived home from an evening out with friends (to celebrate a very special 5 year old's birthday) to discover it was the perfect night to bust out my fleece Rudolph footie pjs.  I was chilled to the core and 'tis the season. 

3.  I'm blessed with a strong support system of friends, loved ones, and co-workers.

4.  I'm currently drinking a hot cup of Trader Joe's candy cane decaf green tea from a white porcelain cup with a reindeer on it.

5.  Lucky is intrigued by the tea.  I think she might be trying to figure out why I am not drinking the usual mug of hot cocoa. 

6.  I was blown away with an aha moment while reading my daily devotional this morning. 

7.  The song that makes me chair dance the most currently is Pitbull's "Don't Stop the Party".  The lyrics and video are somewhat intense, not recommended for a younger audience, but the beat gets me grooving. 

8.  I thought I was done with making my Christmas cards but after I addressed the envelopes I realized 23 more need to be made.   

9.  I hand make, write, and address my cards.  It can get to be a bit much at times but crafty time is a stress outlet of mine so there's the upside. 

10. The gray of Seattle doesn't bother me but if I say I miss dusk being later than 4:00 PM does this mean I am in denial and I really am affected by SAD?

11.  I am looking forward to watching this week's "Criminal Minds" to decompress before calling it a night.  Bless you inventor of the DVR. 

12.  I am planning on downloading one of James Patterson's books this weekend so I can get lost in the written word for a few hours to further decompress.

13.  There are times taking a moment to breathe, really breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, are essential to making chaos peaceful. 

Speaking of peace, Peace.  xoxo Mo        

"Ugly Sweater" Partay

What:  "Ugly Sweater" Christmas Party

When:  Sunday, December 4, 2012

Where: Pammy and Caleb's

Do you "ugly" sweater Christmas party?

We do.

Here is most all of the night's attendees in their finest. 

 Do you know how hard it is to find a not so pretty sweater, especially when these excursions have become all the rage, and you start looking for the goods in November? 

It's not so easy I tell you.

My theory is entrepreneurs snatch them up and sell them at a highly inflated cost leaving us little guys to fend for ourselves. 

Either that or I started looking too early and the stores hold them back until December. 

I hit up some Goodwill Value Village stores the second week of November. 

The best I could find was a tree with stripes. Not ugly by any means and totally ready for a day spent in the ski lodge sipping gin and juice hot cocoa fireside. 

In my minds eye I visualized something.  What that something was I wasn't sure.  I knew with a base like that I could make it work. 

Here is the finished product. 

 56 safety pins later. 

Glitter bow from Michaels meant for a mini tree. 

Stuffed reindeer and glitter ornament balls from the dollar spot at Target. 

Jingle bells and faux fur from JoAnns. 

Not a creature was stirring, not even . . . oh wait. Wrong story. 

No body parts were harmed.  Nope, no pin pricks or hot glue burns to my fingers.

Fiwasan came through with the stuffed animal win.   

I was going to glue him on my shoulder.

She said nah, let's cut him in half and offered to sew him on the sweater for me. 

She made it possible for there to be a party going on in the back too. 

 Now that I look at the stuffy, is it a moose or a reindeer? 

Either way, it made the sweater in my opinion. 

I also felt the need to bust out something on the bottom.  

The Santa hat was already a  given for a holiday party but the socks?  The socks rock and tied the faux fur on the sleeves even more to the outfit than before. 

I placed second in the competition.  Fiwasan took first, rightfully so.  

Pammy might need to watch her teddy bears (as seen in the above snapshot) closely this year.  They could be kidnapped and sacrificed for next year's sweater creation, providing we have another party celebrating the "ugly". 

Peace.