Christmas time is here!!

Merry Christmas! The day is here! Opening presents, cooking a meal, being around family- it's such a great tradition with tons of fun. I was very happy with the gifts that I recieved and the reactions to the ones that I gave. I got plenty of sweets! I try to remember the meaning of this day- the nativity- but during all of the excitement, it's easy to forget. Enjoy this lovely day and Merry Christmas!!

The phone-camera photographer

I have this same kind of plant in my backyard. It's called Seaside Goldenrod.

I SERIOUSLY love taking photos! Snap, snap, snap, goes my phone camera. I don't have a good camera, but I still love my phone camera. I mean when I first got my phone, I didn't exactly know how to use the camera and there are SO many special buttons that can make you have an AWESOME pic! I learned about the special buttons on Shaw Academy. Sometimes the lectures were a little technical, but I learned so many handy tools to make my photos look almost professional. Is there anyone else out there who snaps some photos and now has hundreds stored on their phone? Well, that's me. I am always trying to delete photos but some of them are just SO good! I have thought about entering some of my photos into the fair, but I haven't gone to the fair in a couple of years. Anyway if you are a fellow phone-camera photographer, keep clicking away and saving all of the precious moments!

The trials of Christmas shopping, the joys of wrapping!

It is SO hard sometimes to Christmas shop. Trying to hide things, not knowing when to buy candy as a present, worrying about prices, keeping secrets, and wondering if they'll like what you give. I ABSOLUTELY love wrapping christmas gifts! Choosing which paper you want, and tying and curling ribbons! For some reason, this year, it seems harder to shop. It seems like the stores are more crowded. Maybe, it's just me. Anyway, I'm glad that I am OFFICIALLY done with buying presents! I mean I do love shopping for Christmas presents, but sometimes its hard to make up your mind, right? I CAN'T wait to wrap my gifts! Maybe I will soon! My mom taught me how to wrap gifts, and it's super easy! Well, I always have a little bit of a problem with the measuring part of how much you should cut off the roll. I'll talk to you later, and maybe I will have my gifts wrapped by then!

Secret Santa Time

My family does a secret Santa every year, and we put our gifts in the stockings. Have you heard of SS (secret Santa) before? By the way, I am going to start calling secret Santa, SS. SS is when you pick a name of someone from your group (friends, family, co-workers, etc) and then you have to get that person a gift, but remember its SECRET, and for us the gifts normally have to be $10 or less. We make lists of what we want (in case that person doesn't exactly know) and put it in this adorable little mailbox (it's from Dollar Tree! Awesome, right?). It's sort of hard keeping the secret, sometimes. We haven't picked our SS names yet, of who our person is. We already made lists, though of what we'd like. It's a SUPER fun activity for a group to do! I am excited for me to find out who my SS will be!  Bye, for now!

Bring out the decorations!

A few days ago we decorated for Christmas, and I love the way it looks! We have our nutcrackers on our coffee table and our small fake tree in the corner. We got most of our nutcrackers last year at the Nutcracker play. I have the tallest one that has an adorable cake hat. Really, he does! We also have some really short nutcrackers that we call "stubby". Then we have our stockings hung on our t.v stand and extra Christmas lights hung over our living room window. I love Christmas lights; they have such a nice, soft glow. My mom loves the wooden carolers that we put on the bar, that are a girl and boy. She thinks that they were made in a foreign country. We also have a wreath that says WELCOME and it has a snowman and birds carved from wood. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. Later we might put up our light- up, foldable, wire covered in burlap, Mary and Joseph.I LOVE decorating for Christmas! And have fun putting up your decorations!

Thanksgiving is here!

As you know, today is Thanksgiving. It has finally come! We plan on making turkey, stuffing, butternut squash soup, sweet potatoes, and biscuits. We don't have cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. It has some ingredients that my mom can't have. And anyway it isn't that good to me. We've been watching a few Thanksgiving movies, but really, there aren't that many. There are hundreds of Christmas movies though. I have many things to be thankful for and Thanksgiving is the day where you REALLY think about it. I hope that you enjoy your Thanksgiving! And don't forget to count your blessings, especially today!

Frog encounters

I encounter frogs often in my backyard. Do you? They like to eat the moths and other bugs that flitter around our porch light, so that's where they stay. Most of the time, we see them at night, but a while ago, we saw a frog that was under one of our stepping stones,  because it had been muddy lately. She had her own little mud indentation. We would visit her often until she wasn't there anymore. The pictures that are on here are the ACTUAL frogs that I've seen. Speaking of frogs, here's one of my favorite frog's songs: Being Green. So, look for your local frogs; they're everywhere!

Trouble with ants.....again

I have definitely HAD it with those ants! If you read my last post about My Ant Problems, well, then you'll definitely understand. But THIS time.....I am DEFINITELY going to put cornmeal on those guys ( I haven't yet). So, this is what happened.....Yesterday, I was playing badminton again outside in my backyard, and I just thought that it was a mosquito bite (I have a lot of mosquito bites on my foot right now). When I looked at it today, I definitely could tell that it is NOT a mosquito bite. Do those ants love leaving me with something to remind me of them (like Ant was here)? At least this ant bite isn't as bad as the last time that I had THREE. If you have ants in your yard, you now know the secret to kill them without poison- cornmeal. Cornmeal here I come!

My sweet Lottie

     

    Have you ever had an animal make you go a little crazy? Well, that sort of happened to me last night. I mean, I LOVE my, cat Lottie,  but she always climbs up into my bed and if I don't pet her, she nudges, nudges, and nudges my face with her nose. I know, I know, that sounds sweet right? Well, whenever you're trying to go to sleep, it's not received that well.  And, her nose is always wet. Anyways, she's REALLY sweet, but since she is always coming and going from my bed, she expects me to pet her whenever SHE wants me to. Remember, I was trying to go to sleep. Sometimes, whenever I want to pet her and she's sleeping she gives me a little bit of a grumpy-cat frown. I need to teach Lottie the golden rule. We got Lottie as a kitten, and I'll always LOVE her, but if she chose when to try and get my attention better, we would both be better off. No matter what, I'll always love you, my sweet Lottie. Always! 

The King and I

Right now, I'm watching The King and I, and I have always loved this musical. The whistling part where she says "

Whistling makes me unafraid.", is, even though we know it might not exactly be what you would ACTUALLY do when you're afraid, it has it's own charm, doesn't it? And, even though it is sort of sad that in the end, it is understandable that their relationship couldn't withstand their circumstances. Have you ever loved a movie, but it's hard to

explain the feeling about the it? Well, that's what it's like for this movie, for me. Have you watched The King and I? If, so I bet that you can relate. If you haven't, well I think you might want to watch it. It is really good.

Everything's a Dollar!

We are going to Everything's a Dollar! It is a thrift store, where.....well....everything's a dollar! Yay! It's a teeny tiny thrift store run by a Christian husband and wife couple. We always find something to buy in there. I love thrift stores. So, much old stuff that you can't find anywhere else. It's like a store FULL of history (not entirely). By the way, I like history. Anyway, since the store is SO tiny, we can't bring our service dog (Jack). He would knock EVERYTHING over with his swish-swish tail. You, know? So, check out your closest thrift store near you and maybe you'll find something AWESOME!

Talk to you later!

My art for today

I have been coloring this for hours. Really, I have. Hours and hours of worrying if I was using the right colors
in the right spots. It was fun, but I really didn't want to make it too colorful or too dull. Anyway this is how it turned out so far, and I think it looks pretty good. I will be doing the back-ground later.

Talk to you later.

Badminton is super fun!

Have you ever heard of badminton? I LOVE it! It's sort of like tennis, except for there is a shuttlecock instead of a tennis ball and a slightly different racket. I don't know if there are any rules because we just bat it back and forth (or at least we try to). There is also a net, but we haven't put it up yet. Since the shuttlecock is very light, it goes very far, compared to a tennis ball, at least. I hit it VERY far sometimes. I can't help it. I am used to something heavier. If it sounds like a fun game, give it a try! It really is!

Stuffed animal girl forever

I have always been a stuffed animal girl and always will be. Who can resist their big eyes, sweet smiles, and SUPER soft textures? I can't. I especially love my mice family. OK, I'll explain it to you: ever since I can remember, I would get a stuffed animal and then try to put it into the giraffe family, or the dog family, etc. I would choose a certain family member spot for each stuffed animal. Anyway, so I have this mice family and they stand up. They also are homemade (I think they are. I got them from a thrift store.), and are either stuffed or have a bottle frame. Super cute, and I'll always love them, along with many other stuffed animal families, but the mice family gets the spotlight today.

Spicy food is not for me!

I REALLY don't enjoy spicy food. I mean, who wants to set their tongue on fire? So, if you like spicy food, well, sorry. I just don't.  Anyway, my dad is the only person in my family that likes spicy food. He doesn't like how he's always being out-voted, for spicy or mild. Sometimes, we get spicy for him, but he's the only one who eats it. He especially likes cayenne pepper, and he's told me that it is good for you, but I just don't like it. At ALL. So, maybe, one day, I'll try cayenne again.  Just, not right now.

My favorite books

You know how I said that I'm a book-worm? Well, I really am. It's like when you're reading a good book, you're in......a different world. And, I know, I know that happens when you watch a movie, too, but it's not the same. Like when you watch a movie, you're watching the character's life, but with a book....you sort of ARE that person. You can hear the character's thoughts and you understand their emotions like they were your own. I will always LOVE certain books. I mean, it's not hoarding, if it's books, right? So, here is my list of favorite books!

My Furry Family!

My Home is an Animal Rehab Center

     As a TOTAL dog lover here, I will introduce you to my dogs (And my cat. I love her too).  Altogether, I have 4 pets! A German Shepherd (Jack), two chihuahuas (Lydia and Pebbles), and of course, my calico- tabby mix cat (Lottie)! At first, we only had Lottie and Pebbles, then, we got Lydia, and then Jack. When we first looked at Lydia, the lady who was in charge of telling us about her, told us that she was toy aggressive, food aggressive, and basically anything aggressive! Then she told us that in a big yard, an eagle could sweep down and grab her! I mean seriously! Since, we brought our dog Pebbles, who growled at Lydia the minute she saw her, we already knew that they might have a little problem. We were undeterred.

A little early Holiday cheer!

Does anybody get excited about Christmas before it's even Thanksgiving? Well, I do! I love it all! The lights, the smells, the decor, the shopping, the movies and oh, the MUSIC!!! I mean, the music is the best right? So, cheery! Anyway, I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet. It is sort of expected in my family, that we shop early. And since I'm on the topic of Christmas, I love hot chocolate ALL year round! Really, I do!

My Ant Problem

I don't mean to complain, but I have some terrible ant bites. Seriously. I got my bites yesterday while I was outside, and the minute I saw that I had ants on me.......I freaked out. I mean what are you supposed to do? Anyway, so I immediately ran onto our back porch and shook off my flip flops (I know, I know, not the most practical shoes) and then went to our tub and ran the water to hopefully get any remaining ants off.

Hello!

It's great to see you and thanks for reading this.  I will have more posts later. I promise. Enjoy!