Thursday, December 31, 2009

Homemade Christmas

This year, I wanted to save some money and make Christmas even more special by giving as many handmade gifts as possible. These are the bags I made for my niece and nephews, I will fill them with cookies when I see them this weekend, and hopefully get a drawstring inserted into the blue bags, but I need a little help from my sister-in-law to do the buttonholes on the sewing machine. Hats galore this year. Actually, a couple are missing from this photo because I sent them out of town before I took the picture. Whoops! I was pulling my hair out with a couple of them. It took me a while to perfect the pattern, and I used an acrylic yarn for one of them which I will never do again. It was not fun to knit with!
Potholders for my sister-in-law.

Chili's monkey robe. This material was a pain to work with, but the end result was well worth the effort!
Had to get creative this year for the "tree." In all the moves of the last couple of years, the artificial tree was lost. We talked about getting a real tree, but have been busy, and that plan never materialized. This was what I engineered to hang our ornaments.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Movie Review: The Visitor

This movie is about a university professor who finds himself depressed and unhappy with his life after the loss of his wife. He is unsatisfied in his job, where he admits it's been a long time since he's done any real work. He tries to look busy and go through the motions, but without any real interest. He is trying to learn piano, I guess as a way of remembering his wife, who was a pianist, only to learn he really doesn't have the talent or love for it that has wife did. When he goes to another city to present a collegue's paper, he stays as his apartment there. When he arrives, he finds an immigrant couple is staying there, presumably someone named Ivan was renting it to them. They apologize and quickly offer to leave, but really don't have anywhere to go. When the professor sees them outside later, he offers for them to stay a few days while they look for something. This begins a friendship that brings him back to life. The two men bond over drumming, something the professor finds he has a passion for. When some unjust events bring difficulty to the lives of this couple, the professor is deeply affected as he sees and experiences the world from someone else's point of view. I highly recommend this movie. It can be found on Netflix watch instantly(for those who have that).

Sunday, December 27, 2009

One BIG Snowman

The snowman Papi made for Chili.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Snowy Day



Chili enjoying some fun in the snow with Papi!
Oh, and this is the hat Mami knit her for Christmas. I love how it looks on her!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Funky Santa


Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 21, 2009

1 Year and Over 100 posts!

Yesterday was my one year blogging anniversary. I've been sharing with all of you my journey to live simply and love strongly for one year now. I hope that my experiences have encouraged or inspired or at least amused someone out there...has it? Now is the perfect time to say hi if you've been reading this! Let me know what you've learned or enjoyed in this last year of live simply, love strongly.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Winter Wonderland???







Looks so pretty from the pictures, but the reality is, the roads have been a challenge to say the least. We are getting a little stir crazy. Personally, I think this winter weather is not so wonderful.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Obsessed

No, not the Mariah Carey song...but toddler obsession. Once a toddler gets something in their head, there is no stopping them. It can be something they want to do or something they like, but whatever it is, the feelings that come about are extreme. They do nothing in moderation. Our recent experiences with toddler obsession have to do with a pair of pink Dora sunglasses and a dilapidated thrift store dog. Wherever she goes, she must have them. Glasses on, dog in arms, she heads about her business. That is until, inevitably, she lays them down to do something, and absentmindedly leaves them behind. Then we hear screams of "wow, wow"(what she calls dogs) and "dentes"(lentes, Spanish word for glasses), as she adamently demands that mami find her lost items. She will not rest until they are found and returned to her. The lentes only come off to sleep, and the wow, wow accompanies us on most of our trips. But everything goes "to the dogs" if during the trip she realizes he's not there. Ah yes, toddler obsession. We know all about that.