Christmas Geese

We had two very special visitors over the Christmas holiday.

I would like you to meat Larry and Eugenia 

Oh yes my mother did!

She bought me the supper tacky plastic geese that you dress up for the seasons. I LOVE them. Don't worry she bought them both sweaters to wear after Christmas.

Mr. B says it's official I am now the crazy bird lady.

Blizzard Draco

Did you know they started giving names to blizzards? A few days ago we experienced the wrath of Draco. It wasn't fun, but the acres does look beautiful with a fresh layer of snow. 

We got over 14 inches of snow on Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon. It blanked everything. 

The snow was heavy and wet which was not nice for the We have some saggy pines and one of the oaks lost a limb. 

But it was the perfect snowman making snow. Instead of plowing out the drive on Thursday morning, we built a snow man. Our little ATV and plow wasn't making a dent. We decided to wait for the carvery and his John Deere. You can see Frosty in the bottom left of the picture. He is as tall as me. He still needs arms and a face though.

Thursday night it started to blow and drift. Our yard is very ascetically pleasing in the spring and summer. In the winter there is a wind tunnel effect by the drive way. It drifts, bad. I couldn't get out of the driveway Friday morning. They were up to the hood of the Jeep. 

  

Once again we had to wait for the carvery.  We have to have some of the nicest neighbors ever; I don't know what we would do with out them! Unfortunately since the ground was not frozen yet the blade on the tractor did a number on my yard. See that hunk of brown in the snow bank, yeah that's dirt and sod. 

That's just one pile. There are more all over the drive. Spring is going to be a lot of work next year. But I'll worry about it in a few months. For now we will enjoy the snow and a white Christmas. 

I Got My Craft On

A few weeks ago Mr. B was working nights. That meant I had the house to myself in the evening. I got to eat pineapple and tuna salad for dinner (two things he dislikes). Gus and I snuggled on the couch and watched chick flicks. I also got in touch with my inner craft goddess. I made somethings to make the living room feel more warm and cozy this winter. 

New covers for the pillows. 

I've been seeing sweater pillows all over pinterest. I knew they would be perfect in our living room. When I was at Target the other day I saw a small one in the holiday decor. For the price of one small pillow I made four huge ones for the couch.

I found some thrift store sweaters and hacked off the sleeves and sewed them up. I just covered the pillows we had on the couch. I figured in the spring I will just carefully open the seam and take out the pillow to reuse the sweater for next year.

I have also saw some giant snow flakes while perusing Pinterest. They make the perfect seasonal wall art for be hind the couch.

They were supper easy to make. Hot glue, Popsicle sticks aka craft sticks, paint and some ribbon. And I didn't even burn my fingers with the glue.

Upgrade

Over Thanksgiving Mr. B's sister came to visit. And have the best baby shower evah! While she was here she laid claim to something that was hers; or so she claims, but we aren't going to get into that.  She took Gus's orange chair back to Mississippi with her. 

It was traumatic for Gus. He didn't know where he was supposed to take his pre-nap-nap and his nap and his post-nap-nap. Not to mention where he was supposed to sleep at night. The couch is off limits and the bed has been too, shh Gus has had fleas. They are gone now but, for a time I was leery of letting him sleep with me.  Needless to say Gus was lost without it.

This weekend we decided to get Gus his Christmas present a few weeks early. A new chair. We drove to the big city to check out some furniture stores. We came home with this. 

A new, get this leather, chair for Gus. Yeah he's a tad spoiled. But hey we got a steal on it. I think it's quite the upgrade from the old one. Gus isn't so sure yet. The other one was well broke in, it smelled like Grammy's and him. 

I think in time it will be his new favorite spot. That is if he can keep Mr. B out of it. The past few nights it has been pulled out of the corner. It has been moved to the middle of the living room so Mr. B can sit in it and save the world. (He got a new video game when we took our trip to the city.) He has already told me that someday when the command center/man cave is up and running it's going up there. 

Poor Gus always loosing his chairs.

12-12-12

Today in Wisconsin it is Aaron Rogers Day. In case you didn't know he is the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, only the best football team around. (no I'm not biased)

Yes it is 12 - 12 - 12, Aaron's number is 12. Get it? OK. Just making sure. So any who the Governor made it official, Aaron Rogers Day. And in honor of this special occasion I made cupcakes. With green and yellow sprinkles, GB's colors. 

I took them to work. They boys always appreciate sweeties. They are nom-nom monsters when it comes to cupcakes. 

I'll let you in on a little secrete I wasn't always a football fan. Growing up it wasn't a big deal. But I married into a family of football fanatics. Season ticket holder fanatics.  Between you and me and the fence post, I've seen my MIL cry when the Pack lost a play off game. Yeah it's that big of a deal. So by marring into a football family and working in an all mall environment where sports talk rules the lunch room, I have been converted. 

If you can't beet 'em join 'em.

And make them cupcakes. 

First Snow Fall

It was snowing out this morning when I woke up. The first real snow of the season. None of the gaggle has experienced snow yet.

When I let them out this morning they weren't so sure.  

It took them a few minutes to decided it was OK to go out, and the white stuff was fine to walk on. 

Geese are a resilient bird and can handle the cold just fine. Don't worry we won't have to buy them snow boots. 

Unfortunately their kiddie pool freezes and we cannot get a heater, the gaggle is extremely inquisitive and have already destroyed at least one power chord. So during the winter they have to make do with smaller buckets.

The smaller buckets do make for an interesting bath time when they argue over who's turn it is. 

One Fish, Two Fish, New Fish Baby Shower

Last weekend I had the honor of throwing a baby shower for my dear friend and sister-in-law. Her and her husband were visiting from Mississippi for the holiday. I wanted to go with something bright and cheery, not the typical pastel, it's a boy theme. (yes they are having a boy!!) After getting some inspiration from Pinterest, I decided to go with a Dr. Seuss theme.

I found these adorable invitations. They set the tone for the whole shower. In case you didn't know I'm all about themes and being mathcy-matchy. I blame my mother.

With the theme set it was time to figure out a menu. Keeping with the Dr. Seuss theme we had the following:

Roast Beast - hot beef sandwiches

Who Hash - cheesy potatoes

Yot in a Pot - calico beans

Green Eggs - deviled eggs

Truffela Fruits - fruit tray

Fish Cakes - cup cakes

Yink Ink Pink Drink - pink punch 

Funny story about the green eggs. I died the yolks to make them extra green and pipped them back into the eggs. We gave one to my niece, she's two and is crazy about cupcakes and frosting. She was all excited and grabbed the yolk first thinking it was frosting. She put the whole thing in her mouth at once. You should have seen the look of betray on her face. Priceless!

Not to worry she did get a fish cake, and a few to take home.

For the table decorations I made Truffela Trees, you know from the Lorax. An easy and inexpensive decoration. I used Martha Stewart's tutorial on tissue paper pom-poms. I made them smaller by cutting my sheets of tissue in to quarters. I then hot glued them to some stick and stuck them in mason jars with "grass" (green tissue). They were a big hit.

Especially with all the little girls who ran around playing "cheer leaders" with them.

I also purchased several other printables from the same Etsy vendor that made the invitations. We had signs to put up, labels for the bottled water, and advice cards for the guests to fill out. My printer got quite a work out! 

 We had to play some games, it wouldn't be a baby shower with out them. I found a Dr. Seuss trivia game that we printed off to play. We also did baby shower bingo, of course on Dr. Seuss bingo cards!

All in all it was a great afternoon celebrating. The mom to be had a wonderful time. Now we just have to wait till the little man gets here!