Okay, Okay....

Apparently Mrs. Coastal Nest needs some reading material. So I need to spout off about something.....anything. Well, Auntie Lees? Be careful what you wish for, sister! Here it goes:

1. Christmas around here was very stressful for me. Because I waited until the last minute to do all of our shopping - that's why.
You see, we are not using credit cards at our house. Which sucks at Christmas time because I like to give people stuff, but I can't. Well, not the way I WANT to.
Anyhoo....I didn't get to go crazy with the gifts, so that was a bummer. But we made it through and Santa was kind enough to bring the Noodle a Nintendo DS with the Nintendogs game:



and the American Girl: Julie Finds A Way game:


Which she never gets to play with because she doesn't "do it right".
Only I know how to "do it right".
Yep. I've been taking stellar care of our little puppies. And Julie, the 1974 American Girl? Well, she's thriving - despite her parents' divorce. And she's really making a difference in her community, no thanks to Noodle - who went back to school and totally abandoned Julie in her time of need.
Good thing I've been around to take care of everything.

2. The New Year's Resolutions:
A. I've decided to stick with the exercising 3x a week. It's workin' for me. I like it.
B. I've also decided to ditch all the other resolutions for the time being and I made a new one: To finish up projects that I've already started. It makes sense, right? I'm starting with the Noodle's furniture and the black hutch I've mostly painted but not finished.


3. It's reallyreally hard for me to finish things. Maybe because birth-order wise, I'm the youngest and people have always picked up my slack (Thanks Mom.). Unfortunately, I've also married another last-born. And he is NOT picking up my slack. In fact? He is worse than me at finishing stuff. And this makes for a whole houseful of unfinished projects.

4. I skipped my buddy Liz's New Years Eve party in favor of falling asleep at 8pm. When I woke up at the crack of dawn, there was a finished craft project on the dining room table:



These two stayed up until midnight and rang in the new year with a sissy butterfly craft project:

Ha. Just kidding. Isn't my Zuddy the best daddy?


4. Noodle also got an Easy Bake oven for Christmas:


She ate that little cake all by herself and felt so ill afterward that she had to go and lie down. Probably because we hadn't fed her since breakfast and put her (and ourselves) down for a nap in lieu of lunch. Because we're really good parents like that.

Let's see...where was I?

5. It's been cold here. I don't know why it seems colder than other years, but it just does.
And it makes me want to stay in the house and not leave to do things like: grocery shop.
You know - for food.
To make meals for my family.
Like any Mother worth her salt would do.
I know, I know......you're probably thinking: She tests recipes for a living! How hard can it be? Well, the Noodle is picky and Zuddy doesn't like chicken.
CHICKEN! Who in the world can object to chicken??
Those two totally suck the fun out of cooking for me.

6. I want to further my edumacation. I kind of want to go to culinary school or get a master's degree. I do not have the time or money for either of these ventures. For gawd's sake, I just finished paying off my undergrad degree! Plus? See #3. It's a miracle I got my undergrad.

7. The Container Store. Holy crap. I want to get a job at this place. They just opened a store here in October. I popped over there in November and nearly peed my pants.
Okay.
Fine.
I actually did pee my pants a little bit.
I actually do this alot. You know- since I've birthed a child and all.....
**shaking head**
ANYWAY.
The Container Store.
I've been trying to figure out a way to work there. Purely for the employee discount, of course. Because I want to buy these:


The Portofino Storage box collection.
Made of genuine imitation leather.
Lined in black nylon.
Stylish storage for your paper goods.
$34.99 for the document box.
Includes a delicious packet of silica gel.

I need a bunch of these for the Noodle's school and artwork that I've saved through the years. I thought I'd start with two of them. One for Noodle's stuff, one for all of the crafty stuff I bought for the clipboards I made (but never finished. Michelle...it's coming, I swear.)

Nope.
Couldn't do it.
Couldn't pay $70 for document storage. So I left with these instead:
The Translucent Office Storage document box.
$11.99.
Much more budget-friendly.
But no delicious packet of silica gel.


Mrs. Coastal Nest? Are you sorry yet? Did you REALLY want to hear all of this? Because I can keep it comin', sister. I've got more stupid stuff going through this noggin!