Yes, you read that right.  We’re turning it *all* off.

No phones, no internet, no email, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Pinterest.  (I will miss Pinterest most of all. =(  )  This will be an adjustment for all of us, but one that I think will be beneficial.  Three of the four cell phones in our house are iPhones and they’ve made my kids’ laptops and netbooks obsolete.  My four-year-old niece takes her mother’s iPhone to the bathroom with her because, AT FOUR, she needs to be entertained while taking care of necessary business.  Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned magazine, lol?

Anyway, my College Boy is home for the summer, my daughter will be out of school in another week and, with hubby home on Monday’s, it’s an excellent opportunity to focus, without distraction, on each other.  Will keep you all posted on how well it works.

What about you?  Have you ever thought about turning it all off?  Could you make it a full day without looking something up online or on your phone?  (And for the record, I didn’t make it the full day.  I caved at 11:30 and looked at email and Pinterest.  That site is SO addictive… )

into my husband’s car…

and did this.  And then the very next day, my husband drove my car to work and did this…

(He hit a deer. :/  I’m sad to report that the deer did not survive and the jury is still out on our wallet.  =(  )  Also–and this has nothing to do with the car woes, but since I’m whining, anyway–I’ve had a HORRIBLE virus the past few days (one that literally closed our school system city-wide) and have taken so much anti-nausea medicine I think it should be classified as a food group.  I’m getting on a plane this morning and am a bit queasy at the thought.  On the plus side, I’ve lost four pounds. :-) Bright side!

What about you?  Have you ever had one of those months where you just wanted to crawl into a hole with a carton of ice cream, a bag of peanut M&M’s and a gallon-sized fruity alcoholic drink?

Isn’t it gorgeous?  Even the box is vintage.  *jumpy claps* What about you?  What’s the best birthday present you’ve ever gotten?

What about you?  Are there misconceptions about what you really do with your day as well?

What about you?  Do you still write personal notes and thank you’s?  Do you get a little thrill when a note from a friend arrives in your mailbox?

We often had “club houses” when I was growing up, a fixed up corner of the barn or an old outbuilding, but we never had a treehouse.  What about y’all?  Any special childhood spaces?

Inquiring minds…

What about y’all?  How did you bring in 2012?  Have you set any goals, made resolutions?  Anything you’re looking forward to in this new year?

2.) Who is the most difficult person you have to buy for? (My Dad!  If he wants something, he buys it.  Makes finding something he can use or will want a real challenge.  Guess what, Daddy?  You’re getting a gift card this year and a new picture of the grandchildren.)

3.) How much weight do you typically gain over the holiday?  (*plugs ears, sings “la la LA LA LAAAA”*)

4.) If you celebrate Christmas, do you use a live or artificial tree? (Live!  We go to a local tree farm every year, track over acres of ground, argue over which is the best tree, drink hot apple cider while the tree is being cut, shaped, leveled and netted, then ridicule said tree the moment we get it home so that the person who actually found it wishes they’d kept their mouth shut.  This year it was me.  Good times.  Can’t wait til next year.)

5.) What’s your favorite holiday recipe? (The cheese ball!  Two blocks of cream cheese, one small container of canned ham and a packet of dry ranch dressing.  Mix it all up until it’s really combined, wad it into a ball and roll it in chopped pecans.  It’s simple, but AWESOME.  Yes, Brenda, another cream cheese recipe.

6.) Favorite holiday movie? (Not traditional, but still my favorite–Love, Actually.  I *adore* that movie.)

7.) Favorite tradition? (Breakfast casserole and hot chocolate while the kids open their presents.  It’s just our little family and my sweet mother-in-law, who always spends the night with us on Christmas Eve.  Have I ever mentioned that I have The Best Mother-In-Law in the World?  Because I do.  She’s simply dear.)

Your turn.

To make matters worse, I’ve discovered Pinterest and between the home decor, craft and baking tabs, I’m in heaven.  Did you know that you could make a cool bird feeder out of a slinky and a coat hanger?  Neither did I!  Or that stair risers can be painted like the spines of classic books and add a whole new dimension to your home?  One that says something about you personally in the process?  I don’t have stairs, but wish I did just so that I could paint them.  I also found a wreath made out of nothing but round Christmas ornaments and an old wire coat hanger–useful things, those–and I’m on the lookout for the perfect ornaments so that I can try it as well.

 So far I’ve only made these little Santa hats out of brownie bites, white icing and strawberries, but they’re adorable and tasty.  Aren’t they cute?

 What about y’all?  Any cool crafty ideas to share?  Any never fail recipes?

It’s getting my older dog, Ocho,  in from outside after he’s taken his last leak of the night on my Knock-Out rose bushes.  (Which is another post altogether.  Grrr.)  I don’t have as much trouble with him in the summer, but when the winter months roll around, for whatever reason–to torture me, I imagine–he WILL NOT come back into the house, no matter what I do, how much I beg, how many treats I offer.  He likes to run along the back fence line and bark at crickets and coyotes and whatever else he hears.  And he does it incessantly.  I know my neighbors have to hate him because their master bedroom is on the end closest to my house.

I knew that this horrible evening ritual was coming because I could tell that the beef jerky I was offering him just days earlier wasn’t working as well as it had in the past.  Because I thought he might have gotten sick of the beef jerky, I bought some new treats, with the grim hope that this would turn things around.

No.

I spent an hour trying to coax him back into the house last night.  He’d come up onto the deck, but then would bounce away–as though this were a game and I wasn’t freezing my @ss off–and dart back into the yard.  (He’s surprisngly fast for his age.)  And it’s infuriating.  He knows that my main objective is to get him back into the house, where he doesn’t want to be and, despite the fact that I’m the one who feeds, waters and cares for him, he has his own agenda.  Bark and Evade is what I’ve started calling it. 

What about you?  Do your furry friends have any annoying habits which reduce your relatively  decent vocabulary into a series of four-letter words I can’t put in print here?