The Post Where I Tell You I'm Not Dead

Bet ya’ll thought I was dead, huh?

Well, Merry Christmas and call me Lazarus.

In the true spirit of Christmas and all things Holy,

please excuse my absenteeism.

I have no real excuse other than I just didn’t feel like blogging.

And when I set my mind to not doing something,

I am a freight train;

there is no stopping me from not starting something.

I was unstoppable in my not blogging.

This attribute of mine goes well beyond my ability to hold out on blogging.

I’ve been known to be steadfast in my not doing many things.

Like Showering.

Since the invention of dry shampoo and Febreeze, is it really all that necessary?

And Dieting.

You should see my ability to not diet, it’s unparalleled.

And Exercising.

My butt shaped couch cushion can attest to this.

But I am back.

And life is grand.

And Christmas is right around the corner.

Did you know that?

I feel a certain responsibility as a blogger to let you all know that.

We’re having a nice quiet, stress less Christmas around here.

The shopping is done.

The gifts have been wrapped.

Christmas dinner will be easy and almost everything can be prepared ahead of time.

My Christmas gift this year is that my Dad and Sally will be with me.

I can’t remember the last time we spent Christmas together.

They have moved back from New Mexico to the Phoenix area.

My all-time favorite brother Jon will be here too.

He’s my only brother but if I had 237 brothers he would still be my favorite.

But if I had 238 brothers, it would be a tough decision.

I love him because I get to make fun of him.

And he chases me.

And I scream.

And he sits on me and tickles me.

Yes, I am 46 years old.

And of course my beautiful children will be here.

Have a Blessed Christmas!!!

I know I will.

xxx-ooo

Holly

Indiana Love

 

It's been forever since I've posted and I have to tell you

that I have some wonderful friends and followers.

People that are emailing me and asking if I'm alive.

If I need antidepressants.

If I've fallen and can't get up.

I'm going to be honest.

This break was awesome!

I took a break from technology.

Or at least as much as possible.

I found more time to do other things.

I got out of the house.

Did you know that there are things going on out there?

Seriously.

There are.

I wanted to show you an amazing gift
I received in the mail yesterday.
I can barely write about it without crying.
Because I'm a huge baby.

Look and tell me what you see.

I see home.

Those of you that know me at all
know that I love and miss Indiana.
This time of year is especially difficult for me.
I live in Phoenix now.
We don't have changing leaves.
We barely have changing seasons.

I went to the mailbox yesterday,
brought in a large package.
Filled with leaves, acorns, and fossils.
LEAVES!
And they smell like leaves too.

If you live anywhere near these things,
you are now thinking that I have completely lost my mind.
And I probably have.
But I am so darned happy!

Cheryl over at Whosyergirl (get it?  Hoosier girl)
sent me this package of autumn loveliness from Indiana.
She also sent me some of the cutest
handmade paper craft goodies.

I love each and every little thing.

Another thing she sent me was a magazine.

Cheryl is a published author.

She writes articles for this magazine from time to time.

In this particular edition,

she wrote about blogging.

And she even mentioned me in the article.

So I'm sort of famous now.

Which kind of explains why I've been on the down low.
In hiding.
In my big sunglasses.

I'm back in the blogging world.
I may not post as often
but I missed ya'll so much.

Holly
xxx-ooo

Break

I'm taking a break from blogging for a little bit.

Not sure how long.

There are some things around here that

I'm trying to work out in my head

and I need to take a break and give up some computer time.

All is well and I plan to be back soon.

Love you all.

Holly

xxx-ooo

Wonderful Wednesday

Can we talk about this here empty cup?

I love Yoppi Frozen Yogurt.

I had the fat-free

sugar-free

boysenberry with fresh

raspberries and strawberries.

It was delightful.

I ate the whole thing an hour ago.

I'm ready for another please.

On another note,

I won something.

Dina blogs over at

Five Cats From Crazy.

I love the name of her blog.

She held a giveaway for digital scrap booking software.

I won it and downloaded it this morning

but haven't had a chance to play with it yet.

Thanks again, Dina.

Winning is so much better than not winning!

Again, on another note,

(there may be many notes)

I'm going through my closet and sorting through

my fall/winter clothes.

And I've come to this revelation.

I have no idea how to dress.

I didn't get the fashion gene.

I don't know how to put an outfit together.

They should do garanimals for the 40 somethings.

Yet another note,

have you seen the weather here in the devil's playground

that we call Phoenix?

Ok, forget what I said

about not having any fashion sense.

I look totally hot in that red dress.

Ok, last note.

I saw a tutorial this morning on this blog.

I had no idea that the box at the top of our blogs

were search boxes for the blogs we are on.

Example:

If you are on my blog and want to find

all the posts where I mention the word "cookies",

then just type in the word "cookies" up there and

it searches my blog and gives you those posts.

All 10,000 cookie posts.

Or if you are looking for the post where I talked

about how to Live in NYC for under $300 a month

then you could just type in "New York"

and all posts with New York in them will pop up.

You probably knew that huh?

Well, I didn't and I can tell you that

I have spent a lot of time searching through archives

on other's blogs looking for something

in particular.

I think I'm now out of notes.

Holly

xxx-ooo

Quiet Weekend

Not much to report.

We did a little yard work.

The grass thinks winter is on it's way

and has started to turn brown.

Little does it know,

we are back up to 100 degrees later this week.

It's time to clean out the pots

and put them away until spring.

Cleaned out the garage and am finally

ready for my garage sale this weekend.

The rocker and the tool chest aren't for sale

but everything else is.

Major Costco run.

I hate going so I stock up when I do.

Then plopped on the couch to watch NASCAR

with a bowl of this.

Homemade chili on top of Fritos

with plenty of cheese.

Heartburn City.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Holly

xxx-ooo

Crow Tastes Ok with Some Cranberries Thrown In.

I'm a nice person.

We all know that, right?

I mean, I can practically hear you all saying,

"Oh Holly?  Why she's a lovely girl!  Such a sweet nature."

You're kinda saying that in your head right now, huh?

So this might be a little hard to believe.

Yesterday,

I was an Ass Head to someone.

And

it was someone I didn't know.

I know, right?

It all started with a phone call.

I got totally riled up.

I felt all hot and sweaty.

I just felt like being a huge idiot.

And I yelled at the State Farm Insurance Dude.

He wasn't even my agent.

We'd never met.

And he was asking perfectly reasonable questions

and I wanted to kill him.

º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤ºWELCOME MENOPAUSEº¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º

And you know what that guy had the nerve to do?

He got nicer.

And I calmed down.

And then I asked him for a quote.

Home, Boat, and Auto.

And he called me back with an amazing deal.

So much better than what we had.

So what do you think I did?

Come on...you know me by now.

What did I do?

I baked him orange cranberry cookies.

Because that's what I do these days.
I bake cookies.

And then I put them in a container

and gave them to him.

And it's all good now.

Holly
xxx-ooo

Yesterday (Dang, that's a creative title!)

How many times can I talk about cookies

before you stop following me?

Did you know I like cookies?

Did you know my husband likes cookies?

Did you know that I can't stop making them?

Did you know my pants don't fit?

I got out my all time favorite cooking utensils

to make these babies!

What??!!

You don't use a hammer to make cookies?

That's OK, I won't hold it against you.

I couldn't find toffee pieces in my grocery store.

The cashier told me they were seasonal.

I asked what season they would be available.

She told me

"In the Fall."

Oooooookay.

I didn't let that stop me because

I was on a serious cookie mission

and there are very few things that are as important

as being on a cookie mission.

At least that's what I told myself yesterday.

So I bought Heath bars and smashed them to bits.

This may wake your dog up off the couch

who will start barking at you

every time you hit the candy bars with your hammer.

BAM!

WOOF! WOOF!

SHUT UP!!

BAM!

WOOF WOOF!

SHUT UP!!

And so on.

It was worth it.

Once again I will not be posting the recipe.

Again, this is not a cooking blog.

Regardless of what Kris and Genn say.

They tell me that because I have cooking utensils

in my background that this is a cooking blog

 and I should supply recipes.

I will say this once.

Those are not cooking utensils!

They are eating utensils!

I eat!

But I will go ahead and provide the link

to the recipe.

Because I'm nice like that.
You can find it here.
I love this site, she has wonderful
recipes and a great sense of humor.

While waiting for the cookies to bake
I decided to clean out my junk drawer.
I took pictures for you
because I wouldn't want you to miss out.

Before

Don't you have a shower cap in your
kitchen junk drawer?
See that screwdriver?
It's the only one my husband lets me use.
I hate it because it goes all bendy
and I don't know how to lock it into place.

I'm throwing all of these away.
I have no idea what they go to.
My husband doesn't know either
but he told me not to throw them away.
We haven't used them in a few years.
I'm throwing them away.
He's going to need one next week and
I will have to explain myself.
Or I will just get that look on my face and act like
I don't understand English.
I'm throwing them away.

I did a pretty good job of
cleaning out that drawer.
Can I get a high five?

After the cookie baking,
I went out and met Jo for lunch.
having lunch with Jo is one of my favorite things
to do in the whole wide world.

She came loaded with goodies
for my birthday.
Don't you love it when your
birthday lasts for an entire month?

Cute red dishtowels and cupcake holdery thingies.
Love them.
And then I pulled this out of the bag.

A vintage table cloth in near perfect condition.
Does this woman know me or what?
I love it!!
I love it more than cookies.
I love it more than throwing keys away.
I may love it more than Diet Coke.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Holly
xxx-ooo

Priceless Information Just for You

There are many things that I learned

when I was photographing my home yesterday..

I will tell you these things

because I am now an expert

in home photography.

How to Do Your Own Home Tour

1)  Clean your house as well as possible
      because people will notice the stain on your kitchen wall
      next to the trash can where you tried to get a
      3 point shot with that can of tomatoes.

2)  Hoping to get one good photo, randomly start taking
     100's of pictures in every single mode your camera has
     including manual, automatic, TV, AV and A-Dep
     even though you have no idea what those mean.

                                                      

3)  Load the pictures onto your computer and then start to
     edit them in Picasa/Picnik.

4)  Delete the one where your dog is on the couch licking her
     lady parts.

5)  While editing the photo of your school desk,
      notice something strange on the carpet in the photo. 

6)  Go into living room to check it out and notice
      that there is a pile of cat vomit laying there.
      And you took a picture of it.

7)  Wonder if you can just crop the vomit
      out of the picture and carry on.

8)  Clean up the cat vomit.

9)  Wonder how long the vomit has been there.

10)  Wonder if you should be mad at your husband
        since you're pretty sure he saw it and walked past it.

11)  Take another picture of the desk without the vomit.

12)  Post pictures on your blog making people think
       that your couch is not covered in dog hair
       and your carpet does not smell like cat vomit.
      

Home tours are an illusion.

No one lives in a clean house.

If they do, I don't want to know them.

Now, go and give it a try.

Holly

xxx-ooo

My Home Tour

Are you as excited as I am?
Who doesn't love a home tour?

I love to take little peeks into blogger's homes.
They may be showing me a picture of a pie that they just made
but I am looking in the corner of the
picture at the cute little ceramic
cow that you have next to your sink.
I don't care to look at your pie, thank you.
Can you pan out a little so I can see
if you have tile or linoleum?

I don't care if you are a design pro
or if you live in an episode of hoarders.
I just want to see whatcha got goin on over there.

We blog for ourselves and for others.
We have blog friends who know us quite well.
We talk about childbirth
and the benefits of mustache waxing.
We talk about how our children are slowly trying to kill us.
But we rarely get to step into one anothers homes.
And that's a crying shame.
Because don't you think our homes say so much about us?

My home is nothing to write home about.
It's rather small but the size suits us.
There are many things we would change if we could
but we are moving in another year.

Just because you live a thousand miles away
doesn't mean you can't come into my home.

So, here we go:

Let's start in the living room.

If you look closely, you can see the dog's
squeaky chicken under the couch.
Princess Gizaboo is asleep on the back of the couch.
And are you wondering why my bicycle
 is on the back patio? 
I am too.

That coffee table has been in my family for years.
If you lay on the floor under the coffee table
and look up, you will see where a
four-year-old Holly wrote her name in crayon.

The sign above the TV says
"We Are Not Amused."
I like it.
That basket next to the entertainment center
is full of dog and cat toys.

I just recently bought this fall wreath
at Michael's.
I went with the intention of buying supplies
to make a wreath.
I saw this and didn't look back.

That is the most comfy red blanket in history
and one of us uses it every night
while watching TV.
That picture above the light switch was a birthday
gift to me this year from my sweet friend Laurie.
See the dirt around the door handle?
I wash that door once a week.
Which is more often than my husband
washes his hands.

This was my great grandmother Pearl's sewing machine.
The candle was a gift from Kris, Erika and Genn.

The pillows in the basket get used when
I lay on the floor to watch TV.
That bird.
See that bird?
My daughter moves it around the house
after I go to bed at night
just to irritate me.
I never know where I will find it.

I have not killed this plant yet.

Feel free to be impressed.

Let's take a quick look in the kitchen.

As kitchens go,
this one works for me.
Nothing special.
Formica.
Linoleum.
But I have a lot of counter space
with a good sized island.

Those cookies in the jar are my
thumbprint jam cookies from yesterday.
Let's talk about those for a moment,
Shall we?

No!

I did not eat 10 Thumbprint jam cookies Laraine and Laurie.
That would be just crazy.
I did not eat 9 cookies Genn and Beth.
I'm not a barbarian!

Deb guessed that I ate 20!!!

What's up with that!?
It's like she knows me.

I did eat 5 which is a totally respectable number of cookies

to eat when one is bored.
No one guessed 5.

No one gets 100 meaningless points
to spend in my imaginary gift shop.

This maple table is a thrift store find.
I love it.
The chairs are absolutely hideous.
Someone painted them with latex and
the paint is peeling.
I'm pretending that it's not doing that.

And this is where the magic happens.

If by magic you mean
the place where you clip your toenails
and watch reruns of "Mad About You"
before turning off the lights at 6:30 pm.
Then yes, this is where it happens.

And that's where I live.

I would love to see you do a post on your home.

Now, come see it in person.
I'll try to save you a cookie.

Holly
xxx-ooo

 

Let's Be Random

There are many things I want

to cover today.

Please try to keep up

because I don't have time to repeat myself.

I've been caught twice in the past month

sniffing crayons in the school supply aisle at Walmart.

I open the boxes, I smell, I put them back.

No crime committed.

So why do people look at me all weird?

Some people stop to smell the roses,

I stop to smell the crayons.

It's a smell that brings me back to my childhood.

I have no plans to stop.

I've been in the mood to cook.

In the past two weeks I've made three pots of soup.

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chili

I make a huge pot and then freeze it in individual

serving sizes since I'm home every day and I eat lunch here.

I'm loving all of them.

Today I made the Chicken noodle soup.

It is delicious!

I'd love to give you the recipe but this isn't that kind of blog.

You know, a recipe cooking type blog.

It's a different kind of blog.

I'm not sure what kind.

Don't define me.

Let's keep moving here.

I'm not sleeping too well at night.

And for some reason my doctor is frowning on my

doing a couple shots of Nyquil every night.

I love Nyquil.

I love it to the moon and back.

I'm trying to use Sleepytime tea instead.

It's not nearly as much fun as the Nyquil.

I mean, I hardly feel drunk or disoriented at all.

How's a girl to fall asleep all sober like that?

I don't even think I drooled last night at all.

My husband took a picture of a hummingbird

sitting on our ceiling fan on our back patio.

This man does not read my blog

but would like me to post this picture

for your viewing pleasure.

Check out his mad camera skills.

I keep changing my header and blog template.

I think I like this one.

On another note,

every single pair of pants I own decided to shrink

at the same time.

So I am now expected to not only

give up my Nyquil but also to start

eating healthy and exercising.

Speaking of eating healthy,

I made these today.

Thumbprint Jam Cookies.

100 meaningless points to the person who

guesses correctly the number of these I ate today.

I guess that will do it for me today.

Holly

xxx-ooo