Who Wants to Join With Me and Call For...

a leap day in November?! I am somewhat disturbed to think December 1st is tomorrow. My lack of preparedness is simply appalling!

::::::::::::::::Chopstick Rests::::::

We ordered these for our family Christmas dinner from Asian Ideas. The company representative is super polite and quick to respond:





Michael and I thought these chopstick rests would be a fun addition to the table decorations. The dinner menu is still being worked out, but Michael looks forward to cooking for his family. His favorite thing about last year's family dinner was cooking with Stephen and Reuben who volunteered to come early and chipped right in. Their help was invaluable and they were loads of fun to talk to!

I need to design the invite now!
<sub>This is one of my favorite songs by Elvis Costello and The Attractions.


::::::::::::::::::::::::Another Vacation Layout:::::::



This is my daughter, Eve, on the Canadian side of the border at Niagara Falls.


Darcy Baldwin: DJB MICHELLED, DJB Liz at The Digichick
Kate Hadfield: Stitched Flowers, Fabric Flowers, Dandelion freebie, Handstitched
Tiff Brady and Kate Hadfield: Wordy Bits Basics
Emily Merritt: Word Toppers
Nancy Kubo: Owl
Michelle Coleman: Color Me Solid
Kim Christensen: Doodle Tags
Jenna Desai: Whimsical Doodles
Amy Wolff: Chalked Swirls
CK Good Point: Arrow alpha by C.D. Muckosky</sub>

::::::::::::::::::::::::Stage Make-Up::::::

The local high school is putting on a play of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and Rachel's girl scout troop will be taking an hour long introduction to applying stage make-up. The nice thing is that if she has any follow up questions one of my sister-in-law's has a degree in theatre and is excellent in doing stage make-up.

I hope y'all have a fantastic weekend!

Smiles!

Hustle and Bustle:

I know life has been hectic for all and so, I believe, you will bare with me as I blog about events from last Saturday. I appreciate and love my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law! We hosted a Couples Only dinner at our home and couldn't have pulled it off without the gracious volunteer efforts of Reuben, Stephen and Shelene. We had two Mountain Dew fueled men who threw on their aprons and slung a dish towel over their shoulders and got to work. Wolfgang Puck, Rachael Ray, Emeril, and Julia Childs...just to name a few...would have been in fine company with the Reuben, Stephen and Michael. I mentally refer to these guys as Iron Chef Social Circle, Iron Chef Loganville and Iron Chef Lilburn. I was shocked that Reuben rolled such perfect eggrolls using his "sausage fingers". I used a Hmong recipe for the eggrolls he rolled up, while Michael made Vegetarian eggrolls.
I enjoyed listening to and some time joining in to the banter in the kitchen. I think my mood was completely uplifted by the addition of their positive spirits. When all the other couples arrived they were all happy to see each other and the compliments abounded throughout the evening.
I was really impressed by my sister-in-law, Laura, who was bottle feeding Spencer, while eating, deftly, with her chopsticks. Michael found some fun chopsticks at the farmer's market and we tried to find an additional set that I would consider adorable, but we settled for some primary colored ones with stripes. There was a bit of an issue over the monkey chopsticks, but was settled quickly. Stephen was sad, but he took a swig of Mountain Dew and was able to go on cheerily for the rest of the evening, sans monkey chopsticks.
The evening ended with a dessert of vanilla ice cream with almond pockys , which were a surprisingly big hit. After dessert was the gift exchange. Stephen had Michael's name this year. Stephen fabricated individual tiles and ordered a spool of red shoe lace material, so Michael could craft his own Samurai armor. I can't wait to see the finished product! Michael has Justin's name and had to ask Justin's pardon until Christmas so he could finish building the gift. Justin was very gracious. I had Laura's name and I game her a Cuddle Blanket. It is made so you can put your feet in a large cuff at the bottom to keep your feet warm and has a pocket for your remote control, so you don't lose it whilst trying to stay warm. My sister-in-law, Missy drew my name and couldn't have surprised me more with tickets to this wonderfully crazy show:
Here is a description of the play found on Wikipedia:
Spamalot

I am so thrilled to be able to go!!! My mother and Jim already agreed to watch the kids so we could attend the performance. We are going to an early afternoon performance, so I think I will be exceptionally hyped up from the moment my feet hit the floor that morning!

:::::::::::::::::Merry Christmas!::::::::::::::::

Where ever you are I sincerely hope your family is warm, healthy, happy and (((hugged)))!