A Silver Christmas Tree!!! (and parental divorce)

Over the weekend my stepdad brought this aluminum tree over for me. His mom hits auctions and estate sales and sells on eBay, so she finds some really cool stuff. They think this tree might even be from the 1940s. It's the perfect size since I can't get Aron to commit to a full-size aluminum tree. This way, I get my very own little silver tree. My own little retro piece of fun. I teared up when he brought it over. Callie said, "It's so pretty I just wanna nurse it!"

I was heartbroken when my parents divorced when I was in my late twenties, but I must say they are now both happy and have married very wonderful and thoughtful people.

Target Sucks

I just heard a Target commercial where the mom is telling the kid her Christmas presents before she gets a chance to open them. I also keep seeing a commercial on TV where the kid tells her parents they spent too much on her presents and that she's been a bad girl. Her parents tell her they didn't spend too much (they went to Target).

Unfortunately, my kids saw and heard these commercials, as well, and you should have seen the look on their faces. It was like, "Um, did I just see that? Should I act like I didn't? Is Santa real? What the hell is going on?"

Target sucks. Didn't I hear something about WalMart blowing it for kids last year in their commercials, as well?

Christmas Gift Ideas for Computer Nerds

For some reason earlier this year I got a catalog for a company called Computer Gear. Just for fun, I opened it up and perused it and found some cool crap for computer geeks, engineers, Trekkies, and other nerds like my husband. My favorite item is a T-shirt that says:

"I'll try to be Nicer
If you try to be Smarter"

There's also a T-shirt with the Spam logo on it, which I want to get and save for my son Sam.

No-Bake Drop Cookies

When I'm freaking out for chocolate but have none in the house, I make these 7-ingredient cookies. They're fast and easy, and I usually have everything I need to make them.

You'll need:
1 stick of butter
2 cups of sugar
3 T cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 1/4 cups oatmeal (quick cooking works best)
4 t vanilla

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil (make sure it boils or they won't set up). Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter (stir), then the vanilla (stir), then oatmeal (stir). Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. They should be a little runny ... they'll firm up on the paper.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Eva

Today my baby girl turns 2. We're heading to church, then plan to come home to frost her 2-layer circle Devil's Food cake and dig into it. Later we'll give her a gift, which is a baby doll with a stroller and bouncy seat. Her party is next Saturday.

Eva is our Tasmanian Devil (hence the Devil's Food cake). She writes on the walls and gets into EVERYTHING. She's the reason I can't leave out my scrapbooking stuff anymore. Heck, I can't leave out ANYTHING anymore! But that's okay ... she's our smiley, smart, cute, funny kid who is now starting to make sentences like, "I don't know. Bye bye." Which sounds more like "Unnobyby."

We love you, Eva!