If You’re going to play family games, be prepared for the consequences…

I might blog every day this week – there have been so many great things this Christmas weekend.

Tonight, however, I shall share with you our funny faux-pas courtesy of

Apples

to

Apples

(for those of you who haven’t played the game the gist is the judge places a word on the table and everyone else choose a word from their hand that best fits – the judge decides which one wins)

Word:

Intelligent

card accidentally played by our daughter:

Divorce

(hopefully there was no secret meaning there)

Word:

Neglected

The card I couldn’t resist playing that none of the kids understood:

My Lovelife

(my hubby laughed insanely – trying to decide how I should take that one – ha ha)

Word:

Playful

it came down to two choices:

Barbed Wire

vs.

Mafia

Barbed Wire won

and finally, the icing on the cake, so to say…

the word was, well, I don’t even remember actually. The card that won was The Mississippi River and I guffawed and Paul was saying something about Nauvoo being along the Mississippi River to which Em says:

“What’s Nauvoo?”

Dot, full of big sisterly wisdom and love replies,

“That place in Star Wars, Du-uh!”

To which Dad and I reply,

“Uh, Honey, that was Naboo….”

100 Word Challenge – 50/50

Yay! Another 100 word challenge!

This week is quite unique and fun – it’s a

50/50 challenge.

The theme is

“The Season”

Here’s the idea:

you write 50 words now (the beginning) then go read the others and choose one to finish. When you’ve chosen you write a 50 word ending to their 50 word beginning.

Pretty cool!

Here’s mine….

“Season’s Greetings”

Jenna sighed as the doorbell rang. The last time she’d seen him she was a fifteen-year-old klutz with a crush. The sound of male voices and laughter drew her to the door. She smiled at his stunned expression and didn’t notice the puddle of melted snow on the wood floor.

Well, there you go!

Go HERE to read the others.

Hippo the Hero

Whew!

Things have been CRAZY busy.

I THOUGHT I had everything ready for Christmas.

Or at least close to ready.

I WAS WRONG!

Paul and I finished up the last of the shopping Friday night and sat down to total everything up.

Turns out, that those quilts I had decided to post pone making until birthdays were CRUCIAL Christmas items.

So, between late Friday night and this afternoon I have been frantically putting together TWO twin-sized quilts and a fleece blanket.

That explains why I missed Monday.

Anyway, I am officially ready now.

YAY!

and looking forward to doing a new 100 word challenge – but that will have to wait until Friday.

So, tonight, Emily and I went to do her Christmas shopping.

Usually the kids make stuff, but I have been SO busy, that I hadn’t had the chance to help them, so we just went to the dollar store.

We walked up and down the aisles trying to find something for Liz and then stopped dead in our tracks.

I pointed at a toy hippo.

“Give her a hippopotamus for Christmas!”

Emily started laughing. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is her (Liz’s)  FAVORITE song.

I even found the sheet music to it this year and added it to our sing around the piano pile.

After we checked out we went to the car.

The radio came on and

guess what song they were playing??

100 Word Challenge – Christmas Carols (la la la)

so, Limebird Writers issued a challenge, which they snagged from Julia’s Place (not me, another Julia – I like her already!)

The challenge?

to rewrite (using 100 or less words) a Christmas Carol making it be about Christmas dinner. Julia specifically stated (that is so weird saying my own name, I feel like I’m talking in the third person, ha ha – oh wait I am… oh never mind)

” I want you to choose a favourite carol and re-write it with the theme of a Christmas Dinner. You have to tell your readers which carol it is and they have to be able to sing your version back to themselves. That means the right tempo and beat.”

Anyway, it sounded FUN, so I HAD to do it.

I chose “It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas”.

Problem is

it’s a LONG song

so I planned on just doing the first Refrain.

After I did that, I had less than 100 words and I thought the patter would be quite challenging and I had to give it a try.

By then I was at 104 words. I could have left you all to repeat the refrain, but what’s the fun in that? and since I was over the 100 word limit ANYWAY I dove in and finished it off.

So, I broke the rules.

but I promise to do better in the future 😀

(if you’re a real stickler on the 100 words thing, just quit reading after the first refrain and you’re good. 😀 )

“It’s Beginning to Smell a lot Like Christmas”

 

Refrain

 

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Oven is aglow

Take a peek at the ham and then,

Whistling once again,

You snitch a cookie quick so mom won’t know.

 

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

And the hour is late

All the yummiest things to eat

Are pulling you to your seat

But you’ll have to wait.

 

 Patter

 

A slice of strawberry pie and some rolls make you sigh as you wish the meal would begin

Warm Christmas cake and the punch make you ache as the drool de-sce-ends your chin.

Then fin’ly mother gives the call for you-u to dig in.

 

 Refrain

 

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas.

Joy in every bite

Eat some mashed potatoes and ham

Slather some bread with jam

And get so full that all your jeans are tight.

 

It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

Food and punch galore

But the thing that will taste the best

Is the late afternoon rest

Passed out on the floor.

Now, it’s YOUR turn!

(Let me know if you do it, because I want to read it!)

Go HERE to read others – and you can add your own link to the list if you want 😀

I Be Versatile!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you the following special announcement: (it makes up for one of the missed days during my after NaNoWriMo coma)

I’ve been nominated for the

Versatile Blogger Award!

Yahoo!

Tres cool!

Thanks to Limebird Writers for the lovely nomination and award.

(p.s. my favorite color is green and I love limes 😀 )

This is pretty cool and I had a definite “ah shucks” corny smile moment.

So…..  here’s what happens… (ie the rules… there has to be rules :-D)

1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post. Yup! Got that one!

2. Share 7 things about yourself.   – Got that one too – it’s down below – read on, read on…

3. Pass this award along to 15  recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.  – This is the tricky part. I have 6 kids, a husband, a cat, books to write, a house to clean and I can hardly keep up with my friends blogs let alone discover new ones (how lame am I?). Not to mention that my most recent discovery of a cool blog was the one who gave me the award in the first place! Limebird Writers really is awesome. But, I promise to do my best – they may not be super recent discoveries though. Though I would have a fabulous blog to award if she would hurry up and get to writing it (hint, hint, Betsy, hint, hint :-p )

4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

So, 7 things about me:

1. I am ashamed to admit I gave some of my really good friends the birdie – yup – horrible, I know – what??? no, of course not THAT birdie, what do you take me for? I have this little green bird fingerpuppet… (actually it’s my kids, but I found it in my pocket while talking with friends at our Christmas party and so I stuck it on my finger, (no not THAT finger) and … well lets just say we LAUGHED a LOT

2. I like to sing show tunes in my kitchen and dance while cooking/cleaning

3. I tell myself stories in my head to put myself to sleep at night – which is why there’s a notebook at the side of my bed, because often it is the story I am currently working on and my characters clue me in on important events right as I’m nodding off. Rather rude of them, really, but I suppose it’s the only time they get me to themselves – ha ha

4. I am married to the man of my dreams and have six amazing kids who are no where near angelic, but that’s okay, I love them that way and it makes for better stories and blog posts.

5. I like to smell books.  No really… (and other crazy schemes too)

6. I used to be able to stick my feet behind my head ( until my sister told me they’d get stuck that way) I can’t do it anymore – I just tried – but I can at least touch my heals to the top back portion of my head.

7. I am only 99/100 of a whole person. The other 1/100 was eaten by my dog – or just became fertilizer. I curse lawnmowers.

Okay – now that you’ve suffered through that bit – here are a few of the blogs I enjoy reading. I tried to choose some of the newer ones, but a few oldies but goodies snuck in there anyway… (in no particular order – of course – I’m not going to play favorites, guys)

1. The Ear Wax Tastes Likes Crayons blog (the title says it all, really)

2. Nostalgic Nana

3. Zoo Keeping

4. The Other Foote

5. ANWA Blog (American Night Writers Association)

6. Keeping up with the Joneses

7. This Little Miggy Stayed Home

8. Simply, Me

9. Feather Sky

10. April’s World

(erm, I at least made it to 10. How about, I dedicate myself to finding 5 new blogs I enjoy?  I think I’ll peruse Limebird Writers’ list – it look very fun 😀 Besides, 15 is an awful lot…)

12 Days of Christmas

Last year I acquired a new Christmas CD by Straight No Chaser a men’s accapella group.

My sole purpose  for buying the CD was to get a copy of their version of

It’s a kick in the pants.

Just like the rest of the songs on the CD.

The other day Jacob was playing with Dad in his office when their version of 12 Days of Christmas came on.

He gave Dad a funny look.

“Dad, that doesn’t make sense.”

“What, the song?”

“Yes. Where is the real one?”

So, in case you haven’t heard it – here is the song that doesn’t make sense:

Those Little Awesome Moments

Emily was named

Student of the Week!

It’s a really big deal as only one student in each grade is selected.

She gets her photo up for the week and a special certificate as well as gift certificates to some of the local area businesses.

This is what her teacher had to say about her:

Emily is a wonderful person to be around. She is the sweetest, most thoughtful young lady to ever roam the halls of (school name). Her positive attitude along with her caring, thoughtful actions, make her stand out as a super Musketeer. Emily works hard in her classes. She completes her assignments on time and does so to the best of her ability. She is so friendly and kind to everyone. Listen up Musketeers of (school name), if you are looking for a good true friend, you’ll find one in Emily. We are proud of you Emily! Keep up the good work! Congratulations!

Talk about a mom’s

PAYDAY!

We’re proud of our Em too and think she’s a pretty amazing kid. 😀

We are so excited for our super kiddo!

Getting Old

Usually I have Christmas shopping done long before December hits.

I’ve always been the shop through the year, snag things at garage sales, kind of girl.

That was before almost teenagers.

I came to the shocking realization that while I basically have the boys’ Christmas done (over done in fact, I think I’m saving things for birthdays now)

I have virtually nothing

Nada

ZIP

for my girls.

OOPS.

Of course the 12-year-old (and the 11-year-old too) wants things like a

cell phone (nope, sorry)

i-pod (that would be the total of five christmases, well, okay, maybe more like two)

i-pod touch (see above, but go back to the five bit)

sigh.

There are other things she likes and would want.

But, shopping for this age (and I dread the years to come) is infinitely harder than hitting the toy section.

When did my girls stop being little kids?

When did I move from the girls section to the junior/misses section?

Or from kids shoes to women’s shoes?

I love what they are doing and becoming.

They are all stellar young women.

When they were little, the years seemed to last forever.

And now I feel like I am grasping at them as they go rushing past.

I hope I’ve prepared them well.

Now, see where not getting the shopping done before Christmas leads?

I’m all sentimental.

Sheesh.

Where’s the tissue?