Great Wolf Lodge

Gotta love a waterpark in the winter! It is a time to show your winter body to the world!! How much fun is that? Well, me and my white skinned body bared all that was necessary to all who happened to rent a room at Great Wolf Lodge on Saturday night. The kids had a ball as usual and it really is fun. No one really pays attention to you because they are all totally focused on their kids and whether or not they are having fun. If you haven't been and have kids it should be put on your "to do" list. If you don't have kids, don't go. Seriously, you won't have fun.

The best part about the whole experience you ask? Pierce's Barbeque! Yup! You heard me right. It is right next door and we pick it up on the way home. It is our favorite Barbeque. The place is out of the way and if you aren't going to Great Wolf Lodge then you probably won't know how to get there. They don't really advertise and they don't have to. If you are ever in Williamsburg it is a perfect place to experience.

Flat Stanley Time

Yes, here he is. To my friends, please click on the picture, print it out, cut him out and take him along your travels for a week or so and email me the pictures. Alexandra brought him home on Thursday and asked if I would send him somewhere "good". I have been pondering my brain trying to figure a way to get this to as many places as possible and I thought this venue might be a good idea.

Please comment if you are willing to participate in my daughter's project. I will reply to you with my email address. If I can't reply to your comment in an email then please go to my About Me page and email me.

Thanks all. Oh, by the way, she gave Flat Stanley a Santa cap and really wanted me to send it to Santa Claus. I told her he was on vacation right now and wouldn't get the mail in time for her project. So, I really do need y'all's help with this, as she was expecting Flat Stanley to go to the North Pole.

More Proof...

that my youngest will be an animal expert of some sort. My youngest (5 years old) has always had a love affair with nature. That is nothing new. But recently she has been angering her older sister. Her sister plays with dolls and has clothes for dolls and diapers and such. My youngest has decided her stuffed animals need clothes too so she has been stealing her sister's doll clothes. The most prized loot are the clothes that actually has a tail hole in the back so her lion's tail can fit through. This angers the sister to no end because now she can't find any of her clothes for her dolls and the dolls are all naked.

Hmmm...perhaps her true calling will be as an animal clothing maker. Nope! That wouldn't be quite right for her but I do guarantee that her pets will all have clothes!

My future rock star

Okay, I know that the quality of the sound is bad but you can get the jist of this. My in-laws have a karioke machine and they bought the High School Musical karioke version CD. So my girls were playing with it and my youngest stood up and started singing. Now, she is speech impaired and so it is even harder for you to understand the words but it doesn't matter really. Just watch her expressions as she is singing. I think she is a natural! The best part is the beginning minute or so because she didn't know I was recording her but once she realized that I was videoing she stopped doing most of the animation.

Books in the Mail!

I spent a $25 gift certificate I had to Barnes and Noble and bought a book for me! Well three books! I had to spend $25 to get the free shipping and didn't want to spend the money in the certificate on shipping so I actually bought three books and went over the $25 limit by about 7 bucks.

I am so excited about them that I just had to share. I got one book called "Knitting Rules!" by the "yarn harlot", Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee. I have started reading her blog and man, I would love to be able to knit as fast as she does. I can't wait to start reading it. NO patterns just good reading about knitting.

The second book I am sort of excited about and it was my third choice that I HAD to buy to put me over the $25 mark. It is entitled, "Lion Brand Yarn: Just Gifts". I took a quick scan through the book and there are several things I would love to make. So, being my third choice and sort of a desperate decision, I made a good one.

The third book I am totally stoked about (excuse the 80's lingo). It is "The Shop on Blossom Street: Knit along with Debbie Macomber". As you all probably already know, she is one of my favorite authors right now. I love her stories about women and everyday things. This book is a companion book to her Shop on Blossom Street novel where she writes of a yarn shop and the women who take a class on knitting. This class is for a baby blanket and in this companion books she has the patterns for 10, count them 10 baby blankets. There is only one that I didn't absolutely love the pattern. I want to do them all!!! Too bad I am not having any more babies myself because I would knit one of each pattern. So watch out all you potentially pregnant friends!! There just might be a baby blanket from me in your future if you are planning on having any kids. Just drop the hint and I will begin knitting away....

Kick A spaghetti sauce and Storybook Maker

Oh my God! I made some awesome spaghetti sauce tonight. I usually make a meat sauce which is very good but tonight I decided to do meatballs but wanted a bit more than marinara sauce with a meatball so I made a meat sauce too. The meatsauce had sausage in it and it made a very nice flavor. Then I put in the meatballs after I cooked them in the cast iron pan. It was quite yummy.

So now for the next oh my God! I was scrapbooking last night at a crop over at my friend Gwen's house. She is a Creative Memories Consultant and as I was getting ready to leave I picked up a storybook that she had made. Now I had seen these before and wasn't really impressed with them. But her's made me do some inquiring. So I asked her how easy it was and she went into a ten minute speal showing me on her computer how easy it was. She told me to go home and download the free software and the free templates and play around. I did just that this morning and started playing around with our Christmas pictures from this year. I showed my husband and he was impressed too at how quickly I could make a book. He even told me to order it and see what it looked like. But then he asked if it would replace the traditional scrapbooks that I do and I said no way!! I love my scrapbooks and I love making them. So if you haven't played around with Storybook Maker, take a few minutes to go to the Creative Memories website and click on Storybook Maker Free download. Then once that is downloaded go back to the website and find the free templates and follow the directions to download them too, or at least the ones you like. Then spend an hour and play. It is a lot of fun!!

New Year's Resolutions

This year I have only a few and none of the old ones that I used to have. I have given up on dieting. I figure it will come when it comes and not before, so there is no reason to put it on my list as it has been for many years now.

1. Be more organized. This is one that has been on the list for some time and since I never seemed to make it past the dieting one, this one hasn't seen the light of day. Everything has a place and if it doesn't then it is going out of here. My husband has been on a roll in the past couple of days working toward this goal, so I am picking up his energy and moving forward.

2. Create more and give. I have made the commitment to use my handwork talents to help others and I will be donating more this year than in years past. More newborn hats, blankets and such. I have a few great people and organizations who I have been researching and will be sending off my donations there. I have one box ready to go already with 14 squares to be put together for a baby blanket.

3. Walk more. I have a treadmill which needs dusting and a neighbor who I am going to hopefully convince to walk with me a couple times a week. At Disney World I wore my pedometer and one day I reached 29,000 steps! I want to just get to 8,000 steps a day to start.

4. Plan at least one family outing or trip a month. This past year we didn't use the trailer but twice the whole year. I want to go somewhere at least once a month with the family. We don't have to use the trailer or go anywhere fancy but just go somewhere together. January is already planned!! We are going to Great Wolf Lodge!

5. Boost our savings. This is a necessity for us and while it is number 5 on my list it is no less important than the others. I want to double our savings this year from last year.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

If you haven't already read this, you should! Read my entry below about our New Year's Eve Party.