Top Ten Holiday Movies of All-Time

I know this post will be controversial. This type of thing always is. I'm a holiday movie lover. Below are what I believe to be the best of all time.

10. Charlie Brown's Christmas. I don't think I've watched it in years, but it holds a special place in my heart.
9. Love, Actually. While not a Christmas movie in the classic sense, the hopeless romantic in me does not call the season complete without watching this flick.
8. Holiday Inn/White Christmas. Let's face it. One can never get enough Irving Berlin.
7. Miracle on 34th Street (original). Natalie Wood! Maureen O'Hara. Sigh. I still believe in Santa!
6. The Grinch That Stole Christmas (original cartoon). I wouldn't touch him with a 37 and a half foot pole....in a good way. That crap with Jim Carrey doesn't even deserve to me mentioned.
5. Home Alone. The scream with the spider on the face is perhaps among the funniest moments ever filmed.
4. Elf. Well done, Will Farrel. Creating a Christmas Classic isn't easy.
3. Christmas Story. I actually don't LOVE this movie, but the holiday just isn't complete without watching my hubby get all giggly and watch bits and pieces for 24 hours straight.
2. It's a Wonderful Life. I weep. Every time. Weep.
1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Not only is this the best Christmas Movie ever, I happen to think it's the best movie ever. I quote it all year. I own it, and have to watch it in July, just to get me through. Laughing so hard you snort is such a great feeling.

Honorable Mentions go to The Santa Clause (2 and 3 are watchable, but the first is the only really worthwhile one), Mickey's Christmas Carol (and the animated shorts that came with it on the VHS tape I got when I was 6), Miracle on 34th St. - New Version, and Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Personally, I don't think Muppets should be depressing, but my husband's utter devotion to this film makes me love it.

Miss Face Turns 2!

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old. She stopped with the silent treatment and is now talking up a storm. I'm not really into the giant, expensive party for a 2 year old, so we decided on the theme of the Hungry Caterpillar. KodakGallery.com invites and a few stickers ordered from the Eric Carle museum,$25 supermarket cake (I was going to make cupcakes, but the guest list that topped 30 made me think twice!), and homemade decorations using paper plates (painted Eric Carle style... of course I didn't get a picture of the finished product!) and a few store-bought balloons.
It went over really well (it's easy to impress a bunch of toddlers), was cost effective, and was really memorable. I'm already thinking ahead to next year. I wonder if she'll still be into Nemo!

The Last Few Months.

I'm so bad at blogging. I'm much better at Facebook. But not all my friends (AHEM, MF!), are members, so I feel a need to update this every so often. It's been a busy few months. Summer in New England is terrific. Perhaps I say this because we only got a few truly hot and humid days. What did we do this summer?

We did a lot of blueberry and peach picking.

We saw some baseball.

We had unthinkably awesome seats at the Jimmy Buffett concert.

We visited the aquarium and the public garden.

I went on a girls weekend to NYC.

We spent some time in the pool.

All in all, a fantastic summer... but nothing beats New England in the Autumn. As we celebrate our first year here I love it more and more!

Bathroom re-do.

Our house has only one full bathroom. I have no idea why the contractor chose to set it up like he did, as it doesn't make a lot of sense, but whatever. We worked with what we had.

This is how it started:












And this is it now:

White paint replaced with taupe paint. Cheapo cabinetry ripped out, placed in the basement for laundry folding and paper towel/tp storage, and replaced with a nice, dark wood shelf. New vanity with a granite top. Cheapo chrome/mirror lighting and fixtures replaced with nice oiled bronze ones. Tub regrouted at the base (instead of mildewy clear silicone), and grout repainted throughout.

This project took about 3 days total (and we never worked for more than a couple of hours on any given day), and about $500,

Baby Fever

So, what's in the water these days? I have more friends than I can count announcing pregnancies, or nearly to giving birth. Add to that the fact that I started hearing the biological clock tick (it's LOUD) on my birthday..... it's baby fever in this house.

Hmmmm..... should I get myself knocked up again?

Sweets Reflects on her 20s

Today is my 30th birthday. My twenties have been amazing.

1999- Blood Brothers. I discover what it is to lose yourself and find yourself at the same time. I will forever be grateful to my friends who supported me, especially the ones that were more than capable of playing the role, far more talented than me, and loved me anyway when I got it.

Summer spent in England. This was my first time really being away from my family, and getting to explore a culture and region that I absolutely love. I cannot WAIT to get back there someday.

2000 - Much Ado About Nothing. I love Shakespeare.

First love. Stupid, blind, wonderful first love, and all the crazy things that go with it.

Little Shop. So fun. The best opening night flowers ever. The funniest video ever. (A chickachicka PAIN!)

Summer spent in South Africa. Wilderness, wild animals, and wild boys with accents.

2001 - Canterbury Tales the Musical. Really? Really. Gawdawful show that was SO much fun. Lost inhibitions by showing my garters and chonies, and faking an orgasm that sounded like a rooster in front of 150+ folks a night.

Into the Woods. Experienced my first audition sabotage. I do not miss corsets.

Cruise out. 'Nuff said. Those of you who were there remember. I spent most of the evening with one of you. DAYUM.

Graduated from college. That scared the bejebers out of me. Didn't want to leave Memphis, but did, because the powers that be had an in for a job, and a house.

Got my heart shattered. It's good for that to happen to everyone once. I learned a lot. I made a LOT of foolish decisions following it, but whatever. You live, you learn.

2002- Was promoted within 6 months of starting my first job. Woo hoo.

A wonderful happenstance in Palm Springs changes my life for the better and fixes many of the things that are broken. About the same time, I meet Hubby. Cancel my Match.com membership the next day. Between these two events, I had to make the hardest decision of my life, and ended up hurting someone I loved doing so. Still, it was the right decision.

2003 - Worked my arse off, and spent a lot of time with the hubby. Met the future in-laws.

2004- I decide it's a bad idea to spend all my time working for a jackass. I find a better job and quit.

Hubby gets his PhD. We celebrate in Vegas.

I spend my first Christmas away from the family, but it's worth it. We get engaged Christmas night.

2005 - The rest of this year is eclipsed by the greatest wedding ever, and a honeymoon in Hawaii.

2006- Ted the Cat enters our lives. We become Godparents. We go back to Hawaii (Sometimes I miss two incomes and not having to be responsible).

2007- I get pregnant, and lose the baby days later. Worst experience of my life. But the silver lining is that I get pregnant again, 4 weeks later. We go back to Hawaii again to celebrate. Pregnancy is SUPERAWESOME, and Baby E is even better.

2008- I become a stay-at-home mom. Hubby finds a new job. Baby E turns 1. We move to MA.

2009- Loving our new life in MA. Considwering a sibling for the little widget. I can't wait to see what my 30's have in store.

In all seriousness, I cannot express how lucky I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. My friends and family, and friends I consider family have shaped this wonderful journey. I love each and every one of you dearly.

Veggie Garden, Before and After

Before: This is how we found the veggie beds when we moved in. Kind of overgrown, a weed festival.....

We've been working on it, slowly and surely.


And here are the afters: I was super pleased when the strawberries, and what I believe to be Peonies came back, but I've also turned the soil, added more, and planted a bounty of yummies: Herbs, Heirloom Tomatoes, Zucchini, Rhubarb, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Soy Beans, Onions, and Snow Peas. Yummmmmo. Over the long holiday weekend, we also we also put down weed-preventing cloth and mulch in the pathways. Sunflowers, Nasturtium, Pumpkins and Gourds are seeded in the garage, and just need a few more weeks in their pots before being planted int he garden. I also added two new rose bushes. Hubby put together a large compost bin for the summer months. A lilac tree to round out the backyard is on it's way. I'm starting to pull up the bulbs as the plants die. This year, I'll pull them up and get the rest of my layout complete, and next year's positioning will hopefull be somewhere I can leave them to naturalize. Hopefully this will keep me busy while I wait and hope that all my pretty little perennials in the front grow big and strong and get ready to bloom.

My New Hobby

Now that I have a yard, I have become a little obsessed with gardening. The beds inside the stone wall were sparsely planted when we moved in, and something about that lit a fire. I'm not sure if it's the farmer in my blood (although, this isn't exactly a citrus orchard....), or my dear Papa's influence, but I am absolutely loving it so far.

Last fall, all I had time to plant were my bulbs.... 150 of them, almost all of which bloomed. Sadly, we were on vacation for the best show of tulips, but I have plans to dig 'em up, and add many more for next year.

This spring, it's been nonstop! I ordered over 100 plants from Bluestoneperennials.com, Burpee.com and Harrisseeds.com and got them in the ground after extensive attempts at designing. I went with all perennials in the beds hoping that the work will be more maintenance in future years. I've supplemented with annuals in pots, and will add a few to the border to keep things blooming.

When we were considering the house, I was also excited to see that there were 4 veggie beds in the back. I've started snow peas, onions, carrots (the only thing that's worked from seed so far), herbs, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. My heirloom tomato plants and soy bean seeds should arrive shortly to round out the spring/summer food. I'm also going to keep trying with the lettuce, which is an epic fail thus far. I'm also starting seeds indoors for pumpkins, sunflowers and nasturtium, hoping to add those to the mix soon.

Ill.

Baby E is sick with a tummy bug. This is not amazing. What IS amazing, however, is the fact that her projectile vomiting did not bother me in the least. I don't like that she's sick, I hate that it upsets her, but the vomit itself was the least of my worries. Mop it up, put the towels in the washer. More puke....change her clothes, change my clothes... repeat. No problem. Wow. This is the motherhood.

P.S. It DID really bother me that I spent the last three days cleaning this house from top to bottom, only to have it soaked with puke.

Perfect Springtime Dinner

Mmmmm... I just love spring produce. Last week we had a great and easy spring dinner. Everything made with light, fresh ingredients.

We started with Asperagus on toast, topped with an over-easy egg. Sounds bizarre, but the combo is soooo yummy.

And, springtime means RHUBARB CAKE! I just love the tart taste of that beautiful fruit! I hear it grows well in New England. Here's hoping that the 4 stems I plant this year produce like crazy!

I just don't get it....

What is it with New Englanders and Dunkin Donuts? The coffee sucks, the donuts are mediocre, and yet, the stores are EVERYWHERE. One day, on the way home from Trader Joes, I decided to count. There were EIGHT Dunkin Donuts in the 12 miles I drove. Two were directly across the street from eachother. I just. don't. understand.

Happy Spring!

I'm so pleased that Spring is here. Not that winter was all that bad.... I think I handled it quite well for my first winter. I just love everything that spring comes with... including the successful blooming of all the bulbs I planted. I planted around 140 bulbs, and at last count, baby E and I saw 98 plants. We'll do even more next year, I think!

Also with springtime comes Bunnies! Rather than scare the bejeebers out of E visiting a mall bunny, we had her picture taken with a REAL bunny at the Foto Factory in Haverhill. Seriously, if y'all live near here, you've got to do it. Michel is great with the kiddos, and the bunnies are SO sweet and soft.

For photo presentation, I got E in on the action! She colored blank cards in springtime colors and we affixed the pictures to them. We're going to use this technique for Thank You cards and maybe Christmas too. Family feedback says they are a big hit!

The final picture for this post is E with her many, many bunnies. A few were my grandmother's. When she passed away last year, I got some of her springtime decorations. Having E has added more bunnies. Hopefully we can get this pic every year as we add to the collection as a tribute to Grandma Ruby.

Daring Bakers Challenge #3- Flourless Chocolate Cake

Jeez I hope they haven't checked yet. I'm a morning late in posting. First the required stuff:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I really enjoyed this challenge. As anyone knows. I love me some chocolate. And a recipe that calls for a whole pound(!) and is served with homemade ice cream.... SIGN ME UP!

I did 1/2 the recipe, and did it in two small springform pans. 1/2 of a springform was just enough. I was so excited to try it that I didn't even let the ice cream get quite hard enough. YUMMMMY. Kind of dry, though, especially for something that had so many darned eggs in it. Ahh well. It was still VERY enjoyable. I love pulling out my ice cream maker. It's a great tool and makes great stuff. I'll definitely use the ice cream recipe again, and am glad I tried out the flourless cake.

It made for a lovely Valentine's dessert!

New Year's Resolutions

Now that we've settled in, I can finally set some goals for the next year. I hope that if I write them here, I'll be accountable:

1. Get healthier. Right before we left California, I was doing great. Eating healthfully, doing Bikram Yoga 2 or 3 times per week, walking with E twice a week or more.... and I completely fell off the wagon when we moved. Trying to work out in the winter is a challenge, 'cause it's too cold to go walking, and I don't like the temperature swings involved with doing Bikram.... So, we got a Wii Fit (hey, it's SOMETHING), and I'm looking into a membership at the YMCA, which not only has free childcare, but a kids mat room (like gymboree). Hopefully, once spring hits, we'll be able to afford to put me back in Bikram.

2. Get involved. It's hard to meet people in new places, but Emma and I are doing our best, we're involved in the Newcomer's Club Moms and Tot's group, are going to start going on outings with another local mom's group. I have my first Book Club meeting on Monday, and we have a playdate set up for next week.

3. Finances. While we are in great shape, and so lucky to be so, these troubled times mean everyone should be more careful. The most immediate goals are to complete our re-fi and get the papers in order for taxes. We also need to set a budget and stick to it.

4.House Projects. We own a fixer-upper and we love it. So, we're hoping to do a few things before 2010: radon mitigation, new floor/epoxy in the basement and garage, paint Scott's Basement Bar (which who knows, could become the Jimmy Buffett Tiki Bar if I'm left in charge), paint in the half-bath and upstairs hallway, and replace a few of the ugly light fixtures. If things go very well financially or we get a big return on our taxes (c'mon Mr. Obama!), we want to put in a wood-burning stove.

5. Other Stuff. Hmmm.... Get Emma to say a word that makes sense to someone other than herself, stay addicted to Facebook, continue to read at least 12,000 pages of books per year, and attempt to be more eco-friendly wherever I can.

This is a big list, and likely won't all get accomplished, but hey, I'm going to try!

Winter Living

This whole snow and ice thing is new to me. So far, I'm having a lot of fun with it (perhaps with exception of living like refugees in a hotel when we lost power during the ice storm). Here are some pics of our best moments.

Holidays O8 Wrap-Up

It's been a wild couple of months. Here are the highlights:

Thanksgiving was a small affair - just the Hubby, Baby E and me in our beautiful new home. I only have a couple culinary notes to share. Brining a fresh turkey is really the way to go. After a day and a half in his salt, sugar and spice bath, that bird was so tender and juicy and flavorful. I have forsaken my mother's whitebread spackle stuffing. I am now a Cornbread stuffing girl. Strangely, boxed cornbread is far tastier in the recipe than homemade. This year, I also added pecans and dried cranberries. Very good addition indeed. Speaking of cranberries, I made a simple Cranberry Compote at the hubby's request. I never much cared for cranberry sauce, having been raised on the can-shaped, store-bought variety. This was MUCH better. I still didn't use much, but it was a marked improvement. Also served: mashed potatoes, green beans and Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Pie, for which I made my first-ever pie crust from scratch. YUM.


Later that weekend, we went to a local farm and got our Balsam Fir. WOW! Fresh cut trees are a different experience. Of course, trees that natural aren't as balanced. Ours fell over night one and shattered a few ornaments. Nothing too precious. Hubby and I also got the lights up on the house during Baby E's nap. I'm so pleased with how the house looks with Christmas lights.


Christmas was spent in real snow country with the in-laws, and was in many ways an unmitigated disaster. We dressed E up for Christmas Eve services. She looked beautiful for the 45 minutes we were there early, and the 10 seconds of the service she made it through. Her dress (pictured here) was then shown off only to other parents wrangling toddlers in the coat room. She was fussy all night. We assumed it was because the family party had been that day, and she didn't get a nap. We were wrong. We woke to find her covered in her own vomit. So instead of opening gifts, our morning was spent finding somewhere that was open to sell pedialite, cleaning up stuffed animals and area rugs after a couple more rounds of projectile puke (Seriously, folks. This kid has RANGE!), and doing multiple clothing changes. Emma started to recover quickly, but unfortunately, I could barely move the next morning and spent that day painfully heaving anything I tried to eat. It hit hubby, his parents and the rest of the extended family the next day. None of us ate much for the rest of the trip.

We drove home heavy two nieces for New Years week. While it must be said that I'm thrilled that E won't be a teenager for another 12 years, they were fantastic, and it was the best New Year's I'd had in a long time.

All in all, the holidays were much more good than bad.