December Daily 13 and 14

As usual, I am sitting here a few days before Christmas and I have no idea what gifts I still need to get.  The ones I did buy the day after Thanksgiving had been wrapped immediately, which seemed to be a good idea at the time.  However, right now the only one I can remember is the one that continually barks every time I walk past it. So today I need to unwrap those gifts, minus the obnoxious fake barking dog, and make a list.  Then re-wrap, hit the stores and get cracking, because a storm is blowing in and right after that another one is hitting.  It's a good thing the storms are coming, because I work better under pressure and Mother Nature provides the best pressure known to man.

So this past weekend, while I should have been power shopping, I made a few more pages for my December Daily.  I sure wish I was chock full of creativity this weekend, but it just wasn't happening.  Oh well.

Day 13 - a comparison of a decked out house in my neighborhood to my house. While I don't want my house to look like a sticker sneeze of blow molds and air inflatables, I would like it to be a little more decked out than I did.  Maybe half a sticker sneeze.

Day 14.  On this day I met a friend to shop and have dinner at a new Mexican restaurant called Rojo.  A dinner, which has haunted me ever since.  Dang Sticky Rice...how I love you. Sigh.  It was sweet and a bit spicy.  Darn...I need that recipe and Google isn't meeting my needs in my quest.  Sigh. We also shopped at Anthropologie. I love that store.  Sure the clothing would only fit my left cheek, but the bowls, unique gifts and home decor has me squealing in glee.

And glee is what I will be squealing once I am done shopping.  Then I can start on baking Christmas cookies. Mmmmm.

Hallmark Movies : BYOK (Bring Your Own Kleenex) and Suffer

The Hallmark Channel is playing continuous Christmas movies and dang are they depressing.  Why must every holiday movie rip your guts out and spit them out? I think I better turn the channel back to watching Billy the Exterminator or Southern Fried Stings.  At least they leave you feeling jolly, if not a little grossed out and shocked.

Since I mentioned shock, I am still moving along on my December Daily.

Day 11 was supposed to be a day of going to see the Holidazzle parade.  Unfortunately, it was canceled due to the storm.  And so continued the weekend of shoveling.

Day 12 was another day of cancellations. The day was supposed to be the annual cookie Bake-A-Thon with my friend, but snow drifts in my driveway of 2-4 feet pretty much did that in.  I shoveled instead.  Yeehah.  

If these cancellations keep happening, I will have the world's most boring December Daily.  I mean...truly...how many photos of myself can I slap into a book without becoming narcisistic?  Not that it worries me too much.  I am pretty awesome.  Pfft! 

Let's change the subject.

Lauren has been hosting a Twelve Crafts of Christmas Past on her blog.  A couple of days ago she posted about gift wrapping.  I am usually a last minute throw it in a Target bag kind of wrapper.  Deep down I strove to be Martha Stewart.  Not really, but just a bit better than what I was doing.  So surprising myself, I wrapped presents this week and with Lauren's posting in mind the above is what happened.  With saying this, I have to say that I shopped for the first time at Anthropologie.  If for nothing else, that store is worth buying something just for their boxes.  The "Fay" Box above is their box with colorful additions by me.  I cannot believe they don't charge for their boxes.  I bought more than one item. I should have asked for more than one box.  Duh. I was always a bit slow in figuring things out.

Well, time to go catch the ending of the Hallmark movie of the moment.  I figured, if I sat through 1.5 hours of sadness and tears, I might as well catch the happy, tear-filled feel good ending.  Dang...I am going to be ugly at work tomorrow with these puffy eyes. Maybe I will just go to bed.

December Daily 9 and 10

-1 degree.  That was the temperature as I drove to work yesterday. I don't mean to complain, but couldn't my forefathers have chosen a warmer place to set roots?  I know I could up and move, but I think I have admitted previously that I am lazy.  Packing up a room of scrap supplies is enough for a person to get assimilated once again to the frozen state that is Minnesota.  I just want it known that in my next life I am going to live in Hawaii.  Oh and I am going to be a size 5 even when eating all the sweets and fat I wish.

Speaking of sweet and fat, here's a couple more December Daily pages.

Day 9 Santa Claus is Coming to Town was on television.  I grew up with the puppet stop action animatronic (or whatever you call them) holiday specials and whenever they are on my remote control stops working and forces me to watch it again.  Brings back great memories, but it also makes me wonder why anyone would leave a baby outside of Bergermeister Meisterberger's house.  Come on!  He's a creep.  Probably always has been and always will be.  Do you really want to abandon your baby to a creep?  I guess it worked out in the long run, but I think there was a bit of divine intervention helping out on that one.  Thank goodness for Tanta Kringle.  Whew!

Day 10 was the beginning of the snowstorm that hit Minnesota with a vengeance.  Fearing being snowed in for months I had to run to Target to get nothing.  This was all explained in the previous blog posting.  What I didn't tell you is that upon leaving I stopped and stood in line for a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.  It was my turn to order and the 16 year old barista said she was closed.  Now I have a decision to make.  Do I cause a scene and point out I had been waiting for five minutes and stamp my feet at the unfairness?  Do I point out she is closing five minutes early?  Or do I say thanks for saving me the calories and the four bucks?  A little of all.  I didn't cause a scene, but I did give her the hairy eyeball as I left.  Why not let her have it?  I just don't know.  I think deep down I knew Santa was watching.  That tends to keep me from ripping out someone's eyeballs.

SNOMG 2010

It was one heck of a weekend, which all began innocently.

You see...I doubted the TV morons/weather forecasters 

when they enthusiastically and giddily said 24 inches.

After all, it's the only job that you can be wrong 90% of the time 

and still remain employed.  Bunch of yahoos.

As the hours went by, 

it became clear that those morons might be right.  

So I went to Target like the rest of the population 

of the metro Twin Cities area, 

because I needed nothing.

I left $70 later.  Mostly spent on chocolate.  

Then I went to bed and woke up the next day to lots of snow, 

which heavily continued to fall for hours.

And hours.

And hours.

I shoveled.

And shoveled.

Then gave up and went to bed.

Woke up the next day to find I was the 

last survivor of SNOMG (Snow My God) 2010.

And that is when the fun started.

I started shoveling again.

Don't be jealous.

I finally got halfway down my sidewalk and that was it.

  All my energy was zapped, so I walked 

through 3' drifts to get to my garage 

to sit and ponder my existence.

And from inside this is what I saw.

My driveway is about 30 feet long and a double wide.

I realized my current (and future) existence was crappy
and full of snow.

I decided that perhaps becoming homebound until May
wasn't such a bad thing.

OK...in all seriousness it was a calm and peaceful weekend.
All my plans were canceled over the weekend due to the storm. 
No Holidazzle Parade.  No Cookie Bake-A-Thon.
No seeing my Godson's band at the Fine Line. 
But there was time to watch TV and scrap.  Here are the results:

December Daily Day 7.  

The day I was planning the cookies

for the Bake-A-Thon that never transpired.  

December Daily Page 8.  

A layout on what holiday themed books I am reading. 

I lead such an exciting life.  

 Basically, I could have summarized this whole blog
entry into a few words.
SNOMG...the weather forecasters
were right for once and I scrapped.
But what fun would that be?  ;o)

What's KayJewelers Have to Do With Anything???

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but just for the record I have to admit that the Kay Jewelers commercial for the holidays drives me insane.  Enter man and woman in a house on a stormy night.  Big clap of thunder and the woman fearfully turns into the arms of Mr. Macho and he says Don't be afraid I will always be here.   What a sexist...stupid, poorly acted ad.  I love thunder storms.  The louder the better.  It is clear Mr. Macho and I would conflict.  Don't get me wrong.  I'll take the diamonds, but I plan on oo-ing and ahhing at the lightning, while comforting one of my cabana boys.   

Now snow storms are a different story.  Not really.  But I needed a transition.

I am rolling along on my December Daily.  Not quite up to date, but not too far behind that I feel the stabs of wanting to give up and take up golf or some other form of strenuous exercise.  Whew!     

 

First up is Day 5 where my sister, family and I went to a tree farm to get our trees.  Yes, a farm without any cows as I mentioned in my last post.  Sadly, no cows, but lots of options for trees.  Great time.  The rub-on on this page cracks me up.  Obviously the designer does not live in a cold climate, because when you are cold and shivering there is no way you can add in a letter U when saying BRRRRRRRR.  That U makes me love this rub on.  

Day 6 is about "cranky, complaining about everything tonight" me.  This day I wore my brand new green scarf and realized I am going overboard on shopping the sales for everyone, but mostly me.  The journaling mentions that I bought both a Cricut and a Silhouette.  For the record I bought a Silhouette and then was presented with someone doing a favor for me by picking up a Cricut that probably fell off a truck.  Kidding, but what a deal!  Yay Fay! $100 for a Cricut and I didn't have to wait in line at Menard's three hours before opening, fighting hoards of crafters for 15 units?  Well, not a good comparison.  Menards was charging approximately $150.  HA...SCORE!  Whoa...now there's undeniable proof that I am a hoarder.  My mom has claimed the Cricut, so have no fear.  Finally, I can rest easy as I know she has found something to keep her off the streets.  Well, a good snow storm would do that, too, and one is blowing in today.  I better find a man with Kay Jewelers' diamonds to comfort me.  Hmmm...I am beginning to like that commercial. 

December Daily 2010....Days 2, 3 and 4

My dry sense of humor is often taken wrong, so I feel clarification is in order.  Anything that you read on this blog that makes you even remotely wonder, if I am being serious, you can pretty much count on being crap.  For those that emailed me threats in order to get me motivated on doing entries into my December Daily I thank you.  From now on, you can just send me chocolate.  It's kind of  like a dangling carrot to a rabbit.  It will get me to move.  On second thought...either chocolate or a Silhouette will work.  Let me know if you need my address.

With saying the above I did get a few more days completed in my book.  Day 2 was Emily's school program.  The poor girl worried the whole time that I was going to get up and dance once they started singing Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah.  Little did she know I was actually waiting for Silver Bells to "bust a move."  I'm not completely happy with this page.  I tried to get to the concert early, so I could nab a nice color program that would match my pattern paper.  Yeah, I know....most people do that to get the best seats.  Not only did I get a neon "red" program, but I also sat in the nose bleed seats.  Oh well...more leg room to dance the Hora.     

Day 3 was about snow.  Good thing it snowed, because I was sadly lacking on anything interesting happening that day.  I was able to break out my orange shoes (as if they ever really get put away), go to work and get stuck in traffic for a two hour drive home.  A drive that usually takes 15 minutes.  But hey...it makes the December Daily interesting, so I sang along to the Christmas music radio station all the way home.  Remember what I said about a dry sense of humor?  Yeah...this would be a good example.

Journaling will be done on the green tag, if the typewriter ribbon I ordered ever arrives.

Day 4 was more celebration of snow.  We headed to the park and went sliding.  A total blast and let me tell you....the tree that tried to mangle me can take that.  Game on, Tree!  I plan on coming back next time with a chain saw. I put a photo of me after the wipe out on this page.  I want it to go on record that I purposely only showed a quarter of me.  I look like the freaking Pillsbury Dough Boy in my puffy, white jacket.  I am sure the sales people at that store laughed their butts off seeing that jacket leaving in a bag.  Sigh. At least it's warm and I have my orange shoes, if I ever get stuck in a snow bank.

 

So that is that about that.  In a couple of days I will post a few more days.  Day 5 is all about going to the tree farm.  Speaking of which, I don't think you should be able to call yourself a farm when you do not own at least one cow, but I guess my opinion doesn't matter as the men just laughed and shook their heads upon my inquiry.  Of course, I was wearing my "dough boy" suit, so the snickering could have been due to that. 

You Have to be Kidding

Yes, I wish I was kidding, but I tend to fold under peer pressure and when others are doing a December Daily I must follow suit.  So in reality I am not kidding.  This will be the third attempt at creating a December Daily album.  The first year - 2008 - I made it to December 26.  I consider this a success.  I failed miserably on 2009 and made it to day ten.  It sure is pretty though.  I realized I never blogged or even photographed it.  HA...it truly did do me in.  So this is year three and I am up to date.  Kind of.

This is the cover. Color scheme is lime-ish green, red and teal-ish blue and maybe orange. I don't know why orange. I just have to throw in a wrench every now and then. The other day I was texting with Mandie and decided I did such a great job of keeping the Paperkin name out there and not allowing it to fall away into oblivion.  LOL...really? Anyway....due to this, I have declared myself to be the press agent for reindeer.  We've had owl, bird and butterfly trends in scrapbooking. It's time to spread the love beyond the winged.  Think Reindeer people!  It is their time to shine.  Amen and Alleluia!  

Day One is based on my sister and I shopping at a local gift store/plant nursery.  Bachman's is an amazing place in summer.  Surrounded by gorgeous sights and smells of flowers and garden goods, but in winter it is just as amazing.  However, think red, green, neon lights and lots of tchotchkes.  Best of all, there is always some huge winter display to make my sister pose by.  One year I made her snuggle with an ugly elf and boy did she snuggle.  This year I made her kiss a snowman, but we got the stink eye from a tour of blue hairs.  Thought they were mad at us for touching the display.  No, we were in their way of hugging Mr. Balls.  You gotta watch out for old ladies.  You never know how they will swing.

So that's that.  Please send good thoughts my way that I get further than day 1. If you come back in a couple of days and don't see at least day 2, track me down and give me a swift kick in the creative patootie.  I thank you in advance. I think.