Back To Reality

Well, it's January 2nd and you know what that means. 

A whole lot less of this:

And a whole lot more of this:

Not that I spent my entire vacation laying around on the couch, but I might have spent more time than usual sort of lounging, reading and watching TV.  What else is there to do in the winter?

And I won't get much of a February vacation because I am going to France with some high school kids, so I thought I'd savor what I could get right now.

I have to go, I'm breaking out in hives.  Because I'm going to France in February with some high school kids.

Deep Thoughts As We Move Into 2012

Here are something I've been thinking about as we draw 2011 to a close.  It's been a great year, but I still have some questions that haven't been answered.  I hope I find the answers in 2012.

1.  Common advice for getting the smell of garlic or onions off your hands is to run a stainless steel spoon underwater with your hands and rub your hands all over the spoon.  Does that mean if I eat garlic with a stainless steel spoon, and rub my tongue all over it, the spoon will remove the odor from my mouth as I eat?

2.  In my parents' generation, your father was "the old man" and your wife was "the old lady".  Isn't that weird?  If your father was the old man then shouldn't your MOTHER be the old lady?

3.  Professional hockey that you see on TV is played by MEN.  Why do they say a team has "the man advantage" when the other team has a player out?  Why can't they say the team has "the ONE MAN advantage"?  Everyone who plays is a man, therefore, they ALL have the man advantage!!!!

4.  Are we sure they are called butterflies and not flutterbys?  Wouldn't flutterby make a lot more sense because they, well, flutter by you?

2011 Wrap Up- Your Favorite Posts

We all have favorite posts that we write.  For me, it's the posts that I can read and read and read and they still make me laugh because the events were just so funny.  To me. 

Sadly, we can't always properly convey the images to make everyone laugh.

OR, what I dislike the most, we post them when EVERYONE is out of town, not reading their favorite blogs and it falls on blind eyes (kind of like deaf ears, right?)

Some bloggers end the year with their own top 10 favorite posts.  Instead, with some inspiration from my new favorite blogger , I decided to show YOU what YOUR favorite/most-read posts of 2011 were, according to google analytics.  But what do they know? 


#1  Yes, I Made This But You Can Too, a cute quilt I made for some friends who had a boy.  This quit appears again in the top 10.  I like it too, but I'm surprised that this was the #1 most visited post in 2011!

#2  How To Grow Your Own Clothesline.  Ah yes, I enjoyed this post and mostly enjoyed installing the clothesline.  And it's still standing.  Most sturdily!  The ropes on the other hand....  They've needed to be tightened like eleventy times because they just keep stretching and stretching.  K-ster thinks I will eventually see the light and used metal ropes (oxymoron?) that won't stretch, like he recommends.  What does he know about laundry hanging?

#3  Give Thanks For Meeting Me.  This is really a recipe from my sister, but she doesn't update her blog, so I have nowhere to send you.  Just enjoy the recipe and think of me us. 

#4  Made By Me Monday Times Two.  Two projects I crocheted.

#5  Living Life in Onesies.  Some days, I truly wish we could!

#6  What an Infomercial Can Teach You.  Once a teacher, always a teacher...

#7   Feel Good Friday I'm Your Hostess Welcome Aboard.  Ok, I'll admit that for the top 5, I had linked to a lot of linky parties with those, so that might have had something to do with the numbers of visitors.  But for the life of me, I don't know what is so attractive about this post that it's driving people to my blog.  Maybe it's the new couch.  Everyone thinks I'm going to invite them over since we have so much space to park our butts now.

#8 Trucks, Tractors and Bulldozers, Oh My!  This was the quilt before it was totally finished.  I think.  Or maybe it was finished here and that top post is the one where the pins were still in it.  I still think it's got great colors!!  I especially love the fabric for the wheels.

#9  Does Your Classroom Layout Affect Your Teaching or Does Your Teaching Affect Your Classroom Layout?  Ah yes, the philosophical question we all ponder.  Daily.

#10  Pony Up For Pony Hats  This post must have directed some traffic to my etsy because I've sold about a dozen of these this winter!

I also thought you might enjoy the top 10 key phrases that people use to get to my site.  Watch out, you might see a pattern here....

#10 painted squares on surfboard (I swear, I've been through every post and I never wrote those words together....)

#9  wedinator.com

#8  lia sophia blog

#7  funny wedding clothes

#6  naked bridesmaids

#5  lia sophia

#4  pudding pops

#3  sparkling74.blogspot.com

#2  nude weddings

#1  lia sophia blog

I wrote one post about weddings that I found funny from wedinator.com  ONE POST  And they haven't paid me a single cent for all that advertising!!

And pudding pops!  Who knew so many people also longed for the days of Bill Cosby and his Jello Pudding Pops???

It's kind of sad to think of all the time I've spent writing and this list is what people have googled and fell upon my site.   And now that I posted these words again, even more will come for the very same reason.

Ooooh you know what would be interesting for me?  Leave a comment about YOUR favorite post of mine from 2011.  Not just from the list above, but from any post of mine that you read and enjoyed.  I'm curious....

So off we are to 2012.  Thanks for reading and please stick around for the ride!  No charge for your first trip around!

Feel Good Friday

The GARAGE DOOR edition.

We have what we call "the shop", which anyone else would call a garage.  But, with my parents' house having a garage, that would just confuse things.  We also have the barn and the grey barn, where more things are stored.  Is the grey barn grey?  Well, sort of.  But so is the other barn.  I can't explain, we just know where things are if you say "it's in the shop" or "it's in the grey barn".

We store the lawnmowers and just about anything that's not stored in the house out in the shop.  It's always been a catchall and a place we liked to play in when we were little and had to go play outside.  Ironic because that's not really outside, is it?

We found my mother's old 45 records in there.  We found lots of books from her college days.  At one point, I thought it was a magical treasure trove of past items.


Oh, it's a treasure trove, all right.

One issue I've always had with the shop is the door.  For as long as I can remember trying to open it, it has taken all of my strength.  When I was little, I could get it open about a foot off the floor and then I'd have to let go and pull up as hard as I possibly could, until it was just over my head.

At one point, it got a little easier.  I think someone greased the track or something.  BUt it was still a pain.  And then if it went up over my head, I'd have to perch precariously on a 5 gallon bucket to reach the handle and pull it down.

K-ster eventually put a really heavy duty strap on it that even I could reach.

But sometimes, I could just about hang my whole body weight on it and it just wouldn't move.

And in these past few years, it got really bad.

Recently, I could not open it AT ALL, and was furious. It was yet another thing around here that needed to be tinkered with every time you opened it.  Just press here with your knee while pressing here with your shoulder and then lift it with one hand....

And the glass in the middle was breaking.  One piece was gone, another was on its way.

And this week, some little elves appeared and this is what they left.

I laugh every time I watch this because when I say "I could do this all day" it sounds like the next thing that should happen is the whole thing comes crashing down, or someone drives their truck right through the door, or some other catastrophe.

Sleeping In A Tree

On the Travel Channel, I caught a piece about extreme family vacations.  The part I saw was about climbing way up into these trees and sleeping in them..  It was a father and son and they spent the night sleeping in this sled like contraption where they were harnessed in. 

In the morning, they were sent up breakfast and hot towels by the crew on the ground.  All done by ropes.  I didn't see the beginning, so I don't know how high up they were, but they were waaaaaaay up there.

The father and son raved about how great it was.    It was $400 per night, per person and they thought it was just wonderful.

And the only thing I could think was:  They were strapped in, kind of like being on a stretcher, on their backs, all night.  Where did they go to the bathroom?

Another Thing I Can't Begin To Understand

Have you seen the latest craze- TABLESCAPING???  It seems to be everywhere I go on the internet lately.

Come see my tablescape.

I made this tablescape in 5 minutes flat. 

Isn't this a darling tablescape? 

You have to come see my tablescape!

Basically, you set a table with as many plates and stuff (pinecones, dolls, heirlooms, small children) as you can find, then you take pictures and put them on your blog.  Then you link up with all kinds of blogs devoted to the fine art of tablescaping.

I can't believe people seriously do this. 

I'm not even going to link to any of the sites I've seen.  It's just too ridiculous.  Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Who wants that much stuff on their tables- EVER?

Am I alone in thinking this borders on the insanity suffered by Extreme Couponers, Bridezillas and Toddlers in Tiaras women??  Anyone agree?

How We Do Christmas

For all of my life, I remember lots of presents under and around the tree on Christmas morning.  There are 3 girls in my family and we always made lists from the Sears Wishbook.  I vividly remember being so excited the year I could read through the book and write my own list.  It was all Garfield.  Comforter, trash can, underwear, I think.  I don't know if I got the trash can but I definitely got the comforter and I think I remember actually owning the underwear and until at least 10 years ago, that comforter was still in the linen closet at my mother's!  Talk about durable goods!

After we had started opening some of "Santa's" presents, my grandparents would arrive with lots of their own presents for us.   We always had a good time. 

As we got older and actually got jobs and our gifts for everyone were no longer limited to 50 cent items from the church holiday fair, my sisters and I started giving things to each other that we thought were useful gifts.

I know in some families, lots of lavish gifts are given but they are things like fancy watches or Omaha steaks deliveries.  Not the W girls.  We give practical things.  We ask for practical things.  If you look at last year's 12 days of Christmas posts, you will see all manner of practicality in my gifts.

Things were no different this year. 

When we got to my parents' house, lots of presents still abounded under and around the tree.  True, we now have a granddaughter in the family, but she's just 7 months, so there wasn't a whole lot for her.  And what she did get was, you got it, practical.  Clothes, mostly.

My father says with the amount of kitchen goods we've received over the years, my sisters and I could open a restaurant.  Very true.

My middle sister has taken to giving me food.  I know it sounds like it's the 1800s (and my sister brought me an ORANGE!  I hadn't had an ORANGE since August!), but they haul farm goods from a farm near them because I like organic eggs and chicken.  I already got a chicken when my parents were there for Thanksgiving, so my sister brought me eggs for Christmas.

When I hear about what other people get and give for Christmas, sometimes I think our Christmas must sound strange.  How can you get excited over Calphalon pans, a dozen organic eggs and a bread machine?

L-ster can show you how:

Oooh what's this?

Hey, it's a gadget!  It's the same brand as the rice maker.  Are we going to make more rice?

A BREAD MACHINE???  We're going to make our very own bread at home?  You're kidding!

And that cute outfit she is wearing was made my sister just for Christmas.  Her name is on her butt.  So cute!

Anyway, we do Christmas the way we do and I think we do it right!  Lots of homemade things, lots of things we will use right away and very little of the things we put in closets because we don't know what to do with them.

If you'll excuse me, I have some fruitcake to eat.