2011 - A Year In Review

I've seen this on a few blogs so decided to join the party. Here's what my year was like...blog-style. All blogs are linked.

January
I compared Disneyland and DisneyWorld after our recent vacation, showed off my excessive collection of Smore ornaments, relayed my love of James Bond, and brought light to the most optimistic man in the world.

February
This was quite a month of weather for us. There were several posts about our snow adventure (that never seemed to end), the Puppy Bowl,  Senior night for Whitney, my collection of gifts, and the dancing panda of Norman.

March
Everyone learned what I want to be when I grow up, expensive wine, the big interview, and Frankenstein.

April
This was a renovation month, scholarship news, extreme couponing, fear of dentists, my big award and the beginning of my tv reviews.

May
It was all about Whitney: Prom, graduation, craft day. We also had tornadoes, and my sister in-law's adoption story.

June
I had more tv reviews, Whitney's final dance recital, hailstorms, big wine review, my love for Whitney's new college, and the beginning of our hottest summer ever.

July
We lost our front tree, more heat, travelling geese, and the dorm was assigned.

August
Whitney went packed up and went off to college and got some fancy clothes, and it finally rained.

September
Football season brought us ugly uniforms, my first blog award, working with great people, fall tv viewing, and our first visit to see Whitney in college.

October
Dan and I took a weekend get-away, airport waiting, and I posted our awesome chili recipe.

November
We had an earthquake, I went to Washington DC for work, I learned a lesson in ergonomics, and actually went to see The Muppet Movie.

December
We see what carpet pooling can do, learned how to cook lasagna noodles, figuring out how to be weather ready, I told you what should be banned (and you weighed in too), and I showed more of my snowman addiction.

And so we end the year with a windy day here in Oklahoma (not unusual). The weather is in the 60's and sunny. I wish all of you a good end to 2011 and health and happiness in 2012.

Friday Fragments - Happy New Year (Almost)

Time for Friday Fragments. Let's end the year with random thoughts!

***I've been watching the OKC Thunder this season. I'm trying to support the local team. This could be a fun year to watch. This NBA team isn't "star" centered (eventhough they have a star). I hate when it is revolving around one person.

***Whitney had to have blood drawn for her pre-op. First time for her. Since she hates needles I hadn't warned her it was probably going to happen. The one hour before the draw was enough torture for her. Luckily we had a young RN who was very nice and talked Glee to her while drawing blood and it was only one vial.

***Why does the week between Christmas and New Year's only have repeats on tv? This is the week so many people are home and watching tv.

***My new dishwasher is finally in. The installers are supposed to call by Monday to come and put it in and take away the old one. Probably just a couple more washes and then this one can retire to where all dishwashers go. The trash pile.

***Lowe's already sent me the bill for said new dishwasher. It is due the 16th. The dishwasher better be installed before I have to actually pay for it.

***I already drank one of my bottles of wine I got from Christmas. Is it too late to ask for more?

***Random photo of the week.

The dog cannot allow anyone to lay on the floor without joining them. Of course she has to lay on her back like a human only it looks sillier on her.

***We are having a belated Christmas with Dan's mother Friday. Having a french toast casserole for brunch since Dan wanted something Christmasy.

***We will be doing nothing for New Year's Eve. I did ask Whitney was she wanted to eat between now and when she needs to go back to school. We have baked (fried) chicken, chicken noodle soup and beer crust pizza coming up for us.

***I've enjoyed reading so many new blogs over this past year. Thank you for all of my new readers. I hope that we will continue to enjoy each other in 2012.

Surviving the Outlet Mall

Since we had to be in OKC for pre-op tests for Whitney, we went to the new outlet mall. We got there at noon and had lunch in the food court. It wasn't too busy when we arrived so it was really nice to go to the stores. They had a lot of clearance sales going on. We tried on clothes and spent some money. We also survived the Disney store without purchasing anything (quite shocking). After three hours of shopping we were done.

Purchases:
2 pairs of Levi jeans - already at the alteration shop since short jeans still aren't short enough for my girl
2 sweaters - one for each of us
1 pair of Nike shorts - Whitney
Earrings - a Christmas gift from Dan

The busiest store was Coach. We walked in and the check out lane was winding around and we couldn't figure out why. Until we were handed a 30% off coupon on all purchases. And half the store was already 50% off. I still can't figure out why I would spend $100 for a purse even after all those discounts. So I didn't buy anything.

Last Hodgepodge of 2011

Last Hodgepodge of the year. Hard to believe but here we go.


1. Share something you loved about your Christmas Day.

I loved being able to go at a slow pace. What a difference it is to not have little kids waking up at 5am so excited that Santa came. We didn't even open anything until after breakfast.

2. You get to put five items in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years, what items would you choose and why?

I've avoided thinking about this answer for a day now. After reading what other people wrote, I'm still not sure. Maybe a newspaper (yes I still read a real one delivered daily to my driveway) that has a year in review section, a list of obsolete electronics from the past 100 years along with a list of electronics that are out now so the people of the future can just laugh at us, a photo of the earth from space so that they could compare it to what it looks like in their era and see if global warming exists or not. That's only three but I can't think of anything else.

3. What do you like on a cracker?

Cheese. Lots of cheese.

4. Do you make resolutions at the start of a new year? How'd that work out for you this past year?

I never make resolutions. I think it is silly because they never stick. So why go through the process just to fail. There is nothing special about January 1 except that it starts off a new year. You can make goals anytime and as long as they are reasonable you can achieve them.

5. What's a song or song lyric you'll associate with 2011?

Party Rock Anthem by L.M.F.A.O. I hated this song when it first came out and then kept hearing it and hearing it. It is so darn catchy and now that those hamsters have it in the car commercial I can't get enough.

Party Rock Anthem

6. How will you ring in the new year?

Just staying home. I hope I can even stay up until midnight. Lucky the big ball drops at 11 here since we are central time and then I can just pretend it is midnight.

7. What is something you look forward to in 2012?

Hoping to finish renovating the kitchen.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Whitney has surgery next Tuesday to fix her deviated septum. The doctors hope that this will finally lessen the pressure on her tear duct so her eye will drain. Let's hope that the third time is the charm.

My Break So Far

Christmas was good to me by adding to my snowman collection. Whitney did an excellent job by buying me not one but two new ones. I also bought myself a new snowman pillow on clearance yesterday at Target.

Snowman Pillow - Clearance at Target

Snowman Family from Whitney

Snowing in the Snowglobe

Yesterday I went to restock my Christmas supplies. First stop was Target. At 10am the parking lot had hardly any cars. There was only one person in line to return stuff. So I went back to the car to get my return. I hadn't planned on returning anything yesterday thinking the lines would be long. So I got that done and went straight to the back of the store where the stocking holders were. I was hoping that they would have the one I wanted. SCORE! I got the last one. They had a couple of others but those weren't what I wanted. I also got a few other things and got out of the store for $20. Not bad for spending $15 on the stocking holders and pillow.

Two of the holders. I made the stockings years ago.

Next stop was Hobby Lobby. This was disappointing. They really had nothing I wanted. So we moved on to Walmart. The parking lot was pretty empty here too. I wondered where all the people were. I knew it was a federal/state holiday so a lot of people had the day off. The return line here was very long but the rest of the store was pretty empty. I got all my wrapping paper, bows and bags for $16. So I'm set for next year.

We went home for lunch and then decided to go to the mall. After all these other stores were empty and I did have a bunch of stuff to return to the mall. Well guess what? Everyone was at the mall. That explains why the other stores were empty. Every single parking spot was taken. We didn't even stop and continued on to Barnes and Noble and Michaels. Both stores were busy but not overly so. Whitney got a paint pen for a project she was working on but then we went home.

I think today we'll try the mall again since a lot of people have to be at work today.

Raisin Bread French Toast

We decided to have homemade raisin bread french toast for our Christmas morning breakfast. We have a great recipe for the bread machine so we made that the night before.

Raisin Bread - For the Bread Machine
   (Electric Bread)

This makes a small loaf which yields about 8 good size slices for french toast. One slice was enough for each of us.

3/4 cup water
2 cups bread flour
1 T dry milk
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 T butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp fastrise yeast

Add 1/2 cups raisins when the bread machine is starting its second knead cycle. I soaked my raisins in boiling water for a few minutes to get them to plump up.

French Toast
  (Better Homes and Garden)
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and soak bread 30 seconds on each side. Cook 2-3 minutes per side.

Always good to have your milk in a snowman mug

Christmas at our House

Well it finally happened. We've gotten old. We all slept in and ate breakfast before we even looked at our stockings. But it was amazing how many presents just the three of us had under the tree. Of course it helps when I wrap each pair of socks I bought Whitney separately and even wrapped a box of Lucky Charms. There are a few things to exchange for sizes but that will be tackled during the week...not tomorrow.

The dog even got a gift but it took her several hours before she would even eat it. I finally had to get down on the floor and pretend to eat it before she would.

As you can see she got a few pairs of socks. She is modeling last year's fun socks along with this year's Christmas pajamas.

We had a very nice dinner. Ham, scalloped corn, mashed potatoes and rolls. Just enough for us and lots of leftovers. We have an apple pie for later tonight.