I feel like Christmas has barely passed, but here we are — getting ready for Valentine’s Day! I’m not sure what I’ll get for Drew, yet. Since he’s diabetic, super sugary treats or cakes are out. But chocolate-covered strawberries are a possibility. I got some from www.berries.com for Mother’s Day from my in-laws and they were so incredibly good!!! The berries were huge and the chocolate was perfect. They really were a delectable dessert (or a snack — because let’s be honest here I did sneak a few in between meals). And it’s much easier to just order them than make your own. Melting the chocolate, waiting for everything to harden up… sure I could save money but it’s a lot of work.

Hmm… maybe I know what I’m doing this year, after all!

A couple weeks ago I got this lovely piece of hardware in the mail! No, it might not be the latest and greatest new Mac, but it is better than the nothing I was currently using. My father-in-law upgraded his Mac laptop and wanted to know if we could use his old one.

Why yes! Yes, we could!

The only downside is that I can’t seem to figure out how to get it to communicate with my printer or my scanner software. But that’s not a big deal. I can hook it up to the other printer in the basement. It’s so nice to have a laptop back in the kitchen, right there for me when I’m looking up recipes. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed that!

I’m hoping to do more reading this year than I have in the past. But it’s not easy with a two year old always pulling out my bookmark and losing my page. Maybe I should research Kindles, nooks, or kobo ereaders. Of course, I don’t have a great track record when it comes to electronic gadgets. I also wonder about eye strain. I think for now I’ll just keep my reading old school.

This year, our big family gift was a new TV. This one is a flat screen, which meant that our old entertainment center was not going to work with the new television. But Drew had this all planned out. No worries: we’d move the entertainment armoire and the old TV into our bedroom. Upstairs. So yesterday we did just that. Let me tell you: my furniture moving days are over. This armoire is a beast and I almost died at least twice during this operation! OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit but there were a couple times when I really thought it was going to slip, I would fall backwards down the stairs, and the piece of furniture would land on me. But we moved it and lived, LOL. Otherwise, I’d have been praying for friends with Physical Therapist Jobs!

Of course, today my arms, shoulders, and upper back ache like crazy. I think a hot bath will be in order to soothe these muscles later tonight.

There’s nothing like curling up with a good book and snuggling under a blanket, is there? My favorite is a fleecy one that is just so cozy I could fall asleep upon touching it, but I had friends in college who loved their mexican blankets, too. I think in the new year I’d like to hook up a new, more colorful blanket for the den and/or living room. I have a lot of patterns in mind but I’d like to make another ripple first. So fun and easy — and perfect for doing while watching television! I have a huge hat order to fulfill first, so the sooner I get these spring hats made, the faster I can get started on my own projects.

And another Christmas has gone by just like that! It’s like - you spend all this time preparing for something that goes by in a flash. Still, I love it! I did manage to make gifts for the kids’ teachers: sugar scrubs and crochet washcloths which were sent along with Target gift cards. For the bus driver I took the easy way out: Green Mt. coffee, Kinder chocolate bars, and Tic Tacs (apparently his favorite). Hopefully everyone liked them!

So I am frantically trying to finish up some teacher gifts, a gift for the kids’ bus driver, and run around picking up a couple gift cards. What about you — any last minute gifts on your list? If I knew any smokers, I might pick up some Cohiba cigars, but no such luck. I am working on some crochet items instead — quite the difference, LOL! I will probably get a bag of coffee for the bus driver and of course have the kids draw pictures or write little notes for everyone. Christmas is so close!!! I am so excited!!!

Do you think it’s going to happen? Do you really think we might have a White Christmas? From the weather reports, it seems like a distinct possibility and while I certainly want to see my family and don’t want travel disrupted, there is something so magical about waking up to snow on Christmas Day. So I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I just have a little bit of cleaning to do and a little bit of wrapping to finish, but we are in great shape for the holiday! I’m keeping my menu super-simpler and I just refuse to fuss. I might even use (gasp!) paper plates. Festive ones, though I am so excited for everyone to open their gifts. I think there are going to be a lot of surprises this year!

I really need to make an eye doctor appointment. It’s been probably 2 years since I’ve gone, and it’s time for a check-up. My eyesight, luckily, is pretty good, but I do have a lot of eye strain. Plus, I feel like I need to update my frames. Maybe I’ll check out Clic EyeWear for ideas. If I liked my glasses, I’d probably wear them more often, right? The boys need to be checked, too. At some point at least one of them is going to need glasses. Drew is just about blind without his glasses, so I think that is inevitable. This month is already jam-packed, though so it might have to get pushed to January. I hate to do that, but… there are only so many hours in a day, you know?

My brother’s birthday is in early December and I remember how he often got overlooked, so I am always sensitive to kids with birthdays around the holidays. I’m feeling bad because we got the cutest birthday invitations for one of the boys’ friends who is having a party this weekend, but unfortunately we can’t go. It’s such a busy time of year I hope they have a good turn out. We already had plans that we can’t switch around. Of course, we face similar challenges with summer birthdays in late August. No one is ever around because camps are over so families are going on vacation before school starts. Still, I hope that the little guy has a fun day!