I wish I was one of those people who had a ton of extra money that could just shop all day shopping for people. I'm not a huge fan of going out and shopping for hours but I do love to buy people gifts. Every year my family draws names for Christmas gifts. This is so helpful because I would hate spend that much money to buy for 15 other adults plus their kids (this would be just my side of the family btw). I drew my sister Abby's boyfriend, Caesar. He is really into nice clothes and always fixes his hair. He was also born in Mexico and loves Mexico's soccer team. He should be easy to buy for. Travis got our brother in law, Chris. Travis was very excited because they love the same kind of stuff.
Laura and Chris's kids: Caroline (1) and Sophia (8)
Renee's kid (my niece): Jackson (2)
Here is a list of other family members we have to buy for (people not in the drawing):
Travis's Grandma Duann
Travis's Grandparents on his dad's side
Mateo (Travis's half brother)
Saturday, Ciara and I will be attempting a shopping trip. I hope we will be able to find everything that we need and not go insane by the crowds. Wish us luck!
Last post I talked about what I wanted for Christmas when I was 8. Today I'm gonna talk about what I want now (I'm 28 btw).
But first I just want to mention a couple more items that I was totally into as a kid. I'm thinking I was around 12 or 13 years old.
Roll on body glitter. It was amazing and I loved it. Kinda of wish they were popular now. Okay, maybe not.
These smells.
When I was in the 5th grade a girl was rubbing this lip balm on her tongue in the lunch line. It's so weird the things you remember.
HELLO! Caboodles! We had so many of these freakin things! They now sell for almost $50 on Ebay!! CRAZY!
Alright now onto 28 year old Betsy wish list.
1.) Nice pjs. The things I wear to bed are weird. I know some ladies will wear shorts and a tank top and sometimes I wear that too but mostly its old baggy tshirts and gross pajama bottoms. Mostly I look like trash and I feel bad for my husband.
And maybe a robe.
2.) Slippers. Not just any slippers but slippers that almost like shoes.
3.) A new watch. I wear a watch everyday. If I forget to wear it, it drives me crazy the whole day. The one I have currently is falling apart. It also has pink on and I have nothing against pink, I would just like a watch that would go with more outfits.
4.) Vacuum cleaner. My vacuum cleaner sucks and not the way I'm wanting it to (cheesy joke). Sometimes it will even shoot the crumbs out the back and I have to try to sweep it up with a broom. Maddening!
(No photo because I would seriously take any vacuum at this point)
5.) Perfume. I just want to smell nice and I feel like I need to grow up a little from candy scented body sprays. I smelled this a few weeks ago at the mall and it smells very good!
Well, I think that's about it. Man, did I just make this super easy for my husband or what? Hah!
Growing up we never made a Christmas list. Maybe mom or dad would ask what we wanted but usually that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong we got great presents. My dad would work 12 hour overnight shifts, come home at 7am to get us ready for school and on the bus, sleep and be awake for us after school. Then he would make dinner and start all over and he still managed to give us a very nice Christmas. He worked a hard factory job in a paper-mill. My mom always worked retail. And she always worked. Even though there is drama from time to time in our family I am very thankful that my parents instilled in me a hard working attitude.
Saying all of that let's pretend I made a Christmas list when I was 8 years old in 1994. Here's what I wanted.
1.) Baby All Gone. The commercial made this baby doll "eating" fake food look like magic.
2.) Barbie doll house. Even today I'm slightly obsessed with miniature furniture.
3.) Doodle Bear. You color on it, wash it and start over. I think my sister Ciara actually got one.
4.) Easy Bake Oven. Ciara and I always got joint presents and this was one and it was EFFIN' AMAZING.
5.) Lisa Frank anything. Because... Lisa Frank.
6.) Magic Nursery Baby. I remember wanting this baby doll so bad. I can't remember what made it so magic though.
7.) Bottled Emotion Perfumes. Ciara and I also had these. It's just perfume with goofy names but we were crazy about these things. There was a store in the mall called The Icing and that's where we bought them. (Ciara and I shared everything btw)
8.) Polly Pockets. Miniature things were my jam.
9.) Quints. Tiny little baby dolls. See #8 and #2.
10.) Troll Dolls. I think you were suppose to rub the jewel and make a wish. The hair was awesome and also it melted easily but that's another story...
11.) Giga Pet. I know Tamagotchis were the more popular digital pet but this was my favorite! I remember when I was in 4th grade I got in BIG trouble because it started beeping in my backpack at school and they were forbidden.
The list could go on and on but this is a pretty good list.
Next post may be what present day Betsy wants for Christmas. Maybe...
This is not the first time I have started a blog, been very serious about keeping it up and then completely bailing on it. Last time I blogged it was April. Today is December 5. So yeah, I'm a failure. Whatever. I'm over it.
Now that we have moved passed that I just want to show off my decorated house. A few years ago when Travis and I were looking for houses to buy we wanted a Christmas House. To us a Christmas House is a home that in the winter time will be cozy and warm and look great with Christmas decor. I think we made a good choice.
This little calendar may be one of my favorite things. It belonged to Travis's mom and she left it to us. It's probably around 30 years old and it may be a little corny (i.e. angel cat/dog) but I really love it and I can't for Walter and other future children to enjoy it
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That's just a sampling of the decorations. I always go a bit overboard and then I hate taking it all down. Oh well. Merry Christmas!
Monday, Tuesday and Friday I usually will get home from work anytime between 9 and 10pm and then on Thursdays we have youth group so I won't be home until around 8:30pm. So four days out the week I get home pretty late and I do not feel like making dinner. Not making dinner usually means I pick something up or throw something together that's not very good just to have something to eat. I also feel bad for Travis because I'm not thinking ahead about what he gets to eat for dinner.
But I have solved our problem and I have been making dinners ahead of time and freezing them! This is the second week that I have made them and even though its a lot of work, it only takes a couple hours and I will have 5 or 6 dinners done! I know this isn't a new idea but I just never thought of it before.
Here are some tips that helped me make the most out of my time when making my freezer meals!
1. If you have a kid, lay it down for a nap! I didn't do this the first time and it did make it a little harder!
2. Have a mostly clean kitchen. Having a ton of dirty dishes will just drive you crazy!
3. Make some room in your freezer. You're gonna need it.
(One lonely freezer meal left over from last week)
4. Get your ingredients and recipes out and ready. I write out my recipes onto paper because I hate having to touch my phone or ipad while cooking. It's an extra step in prep but for me, it helps!
5. Also get out your containers and plastic baggies to put your meals in.
6. There is a lot of trash when making so many meals at once. For me it was helpful to have a grocery sack close by so I can just throw my stuff in quickly and not have my trash can in my way.
7. When your kid wakes up a lot sooner then you expected, then feed him (or whatever he needs) and put him on the floor with some toys.
8. Then when he freaks out, put him back to bed because he is probably sleepy from waking up early from his nap.
9. Now make your dinners! I didn't take any photos of me making the dinners because I was in the zone and didn't think about ;)
10. Be sure to label your food and also write directions on how to cook them. Some of my meals needed extra instructions on what to serve them with (rice, noodles, salads, etc.) so be sure to indicate that as well on the container.
11. Freeze your meals! Doesn't that look just beautiful!
There you have it! This week having all these meals ready has been so wonderful and I've felt relief when I got home and not stressed about what to do about dinner. I'd also like to thank the internet for it's help with recipes hehe!
P.S. Play some music while making these meals. It may take you around 2 hours and 2 hours of silence will put me to sleep. Here is one of my favorite worship songs:
"I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."
If you must know something about me, it's that I love breakfast. I love to eat it, make it and share it with people I love. Heck, I'd even share a breakfast with someone I just liked!
I've made these before and I will make them again in the future. I'm not really sure what the name of them are but I just call them apple pancake rings. All you do is slice an apple into rings (cutting out the middle), dip them in pancake batter and then cook them just like you would a regular pancake!
Of course, my helper, Walter B; Fellow Breakfast Lover.
I also made some regular pancakes too. Quite the mess I made.
(I made the entire box of pancake mix and froze them! Homemade fast foods.)
Add some butter to your cakes, peanut butter on your apple rings and top it all off with some syrup. BOOM! Breakfast is served.
The longer I stare at this photo the more it looks like a face.
This week has been crazy and I'm still recovering. I'm just going to post a lot of photos instead on going on and on. I also got a lot of video so you know that's gonna get posted soon...ish.
There you go. Maybe from my photos you can figure out what I did last week :)
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