A year in photos

Oh. I know you were waiting for it. Sitting on the edge of your computer chair on pins and needles. I am making my triumphant return to blogging. You see. My darling hubby loves to hog the computer. He seems to have a monopoly on it. Santa did not bring me my own puter, so my posts will be few and far between. I will try to schedule as many as possible.

2009 was a pretty decent year. It was very calm and mellow. Just the way I like it. I am thankful to have the life I do. I am a very lucky person. God has truly blessed me, and for that, I am very grateful.

January- Grace's 9th birthday
February- Moose's birthday (my bro)

March- I have no idea what happened. I think we were deep in the middle of renovating the house. EEK!

April- Easter

Angie's Bridal shower

Crash's first time bowling

May- A and Angie get married

I met my bloggy friend Alyssa!!

T's Birthday Bash

Fishing with my hubby.

June- June was baseball season for Tater. I had photos, but they are gone. :o(

July- 4th of July

Baby shower for my SIL Amanda

A trip to Hermann with the boys.

Our "Wedding Reception"

The arrival of D. Lee!!

August- Baby shower for Danielle

Annoying the fam with my new camera.

September- Tater started football

October- First ever visit to Bigfoot

Crash's first head wound to land us in the e.r.

Crash's nasty tongue after he bit it. Two days after he bonked his noggin.

The birth of my "niece" Lily.

Moose hopped the pond and spend some time in Ireland.

Danielle's 21st bday. It was cuuuuuhrazy.

November- Grace's first choir concert

I got to meet Joshua Radin. Swoon.

Crash's second birthday

December- Tater's seventh birthday

Christmas

Frugal Friday Tip

Shop the dollar stores for wrapping paper

I know that it isn't the highest quality paper in the world. It's wrapping paper and it is going to be torn to shreds any way. Why spend top dollar for the Hallmark stuff?

Frugal Friday Tip

Scale back your cable/satellite service

Yes, it may be very nice to have EVERY single channel known to man, but how often are you really using it? We cut our movie channels a while ago. It seemed like there was never anything on we wanted to watch so we decided to save ourselves $12/month. I'm trying to convince my hubby to get rid of the dish all together. All we watch is the news and sports. We can get the news on satellite radio and we can find several places on line that offer deals for watching sports on your computer. If we did this, we would save a bunch more money. I don't think I will win this battle though. :o)

Craigs List Observations

I love scouring Craig's List for deals. Most of the time, everything is really over priced, but it is still fun to window shop. It's also fun to laugh at some of the grammar and spelling errors people make. I wonder if they edit their ads before they post them? Probably not. Here are a few of my observations:

bedroom suit- Is this like a bedroom suite? Is it some sort of special clothing for the bedroom? If that is the case, isn't it lingerie?

chester drawers- Is this a chest of drawers? Did you name your dresser Chester?

New _______ (only used once)- Pssst....if you use it even just one time, it is no longer new. It is now used.

hot tud- ?? a 6 person one at that.

IS IN GOOD CONDITION STRUCTLY- What the hell does "structly" mean???

retro= vinyl

antique= wooden and very broken down

beautiful=ugly

shabby chic= usually just shabby

mid century=They mean last century, 1950s, not 1800's which is my thinking.

priced to sell- Nope, not for that price. If you really wanted it gone, maybe you wouldn't take a whopping $100 of the price you paid TEN years ago.

What are some funny CL posts you have come across?

HP TouchSmart Give Away at Jolly Mom

My hubby and I were out pricing computers the other day and he fell in love with the HP TouchSmart 600. Well, I stumbled across a fantastic blog and Jolly Mom is actually giving one of these babies away!! Head over to her blog right now to see what you need to do for a chance to win this awesome computer.

Frugal Friday Tip

Set limits for gift giving

This sounds easy, but I have a hard time doing this. I started shopping early this year and have not kept very good track of what I have bought and how much I have spent. Shame on me.

Also, talk to friends and family about using a set dollar amount. Another idea for families is drawing names. This works very well for large families. No one is burdened down with buying 20 gifts. They are just responsible for one.

What do you do to save money around the holidays?

French Onion Porkchops

I found this recipe on Alyssa's blog at the beginning of the year. I immediately bookmarked it because it sounded so tasty. I finally got around to making it this evening. Boy, was it yummy!! Here is my adapted version:

6 boneless pork chops (1-1/2 lb.), 1/2 inch thick
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. A-1 Steak sauce (didn't have Worcestershire)
2 boxes of stuffing mix (used Aldi brand)
3cups hot water


Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Add pork chops and onions. Allow to cook for 5 minutes and turn the pork chops. Cook an additional 5 minutes.

Remove pork chops from skillet. Continue to cook onions until golden brown.

Add steak sauce and pork chops back to the pan. Reduce heat to low.

Mix stuffing and water. Spoon around pork chops. Cover and let cook 5-10.

Enjoy!!!