Deck the Halls

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by

It actually was a lot easier than I had envisioned it to be. For some reason, I was remembering decorating from Christmases Past as being hard work and taking all day. But not this year! Maybe because I was a woman on a mission – you see, I was trying to get it all done during Munchkin’s nap!

Here is the before picture:

There’s my family – CJ having his coffee, Isabella running around and Samson begging for food. Typical Sunday morning. Also, notice that one of the canvas paintings on the wall, next to the TV,  is upside down. This is where I point my finger at CJ. He does that on purpose to see if 1) I notice and 2) I will fix it. Yes, I’m a little OCD and yes normally that would bug me to no end. But what he didn’t realize is that I actually like it better that way. Ha! In your face buddy!

Anywho, that is how the living room looked around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, right before I laid Munchkin down for her nap. Then I got to work! First we had to re-arrange the furniture. Normally we put the tree in the space where the curio cabinet is but that was before we had a curio cabinet. Now we can’t put it there so we figured it would go in the corner, and hence the bookshelf and couches needed to be moved. So we did that and vacuumed in the process (by the way, we got a new vacuum on Saturday and it totally rocks! This was CJ’s anniversary gift from me. I know that seems akin to a husband giving his wife a blender but believe me, he actually requested it).

Here is the living room after moving the furniture but before decorating:

Then it was time to start bringing up the boxes. Instead of hauling them all up at once, I did it one at a time. Figured that way, if Munchkin woke up during the decorating process, I wouldn’t have this huge pile of stuff taking over the whole room that I had to somehow keep her away from. CJ extracted the Christmas Tree from its storage spot while I did that – no small task either.

CJ left to run some errands and I worked and I worked. I got so into it that I actually forgot that football was on, and more importantly, that the Steelers were playing! In my defense, they weren’t on t.v. so I didn’t actually miss the game. Still, I’m usually johnny-on-the-spot about turning the NFL games on right at noon on Sunday, regardless of who is playing.

God was on my side because Munchkin napped for 3.5 hours!! I was able to get all the decorating done during that time! YES! Here are some of the highlights:

Nativity

Close-up of hurricane vase with ornaments

 

Isabella's friends

 

Dicken's Village

 

Candy dish

 

Stockings

Once Munchkin was up, it was all about spending time with her, which was great. Besides, I needed the break. After she went to bed, CJ and I tackled the tree.

Took us about 2 hours to do it because we had a few bulbs out and we have so  many dang ornaments! But I love going through each one and cherishing the memories. Some I’ve had my whole life (cute story: my parents were closely watching their pennies when my sister and I were babies, and couldn’t afford ornaments. So, my mom took the mobile from one of our cribs and made each dangling animal in to an ornament. We still have them and they are some of my favs), others were gifts from  last year (like the one in memory of CJ’s mom who passed away or the “new mom” one for me). I’ve started labeling them with the year, who it was to and who it was from because it’s easy to forget.

Finally it was done and looked great. I am a stickler for not having any “bare spots” (there’s that OCD again…) and I think we filled it up well this year. True story: way back when CJ and I were dating, we were snuggling and kissing on my couch when all of  a sudden I jumped up, ran to the Christmas tree and re-arranged a few ornaments to cover a bare spot. He didn’t think that was very romantic of me. *shrug*

Here I am hanging the first ornament!

And here’s the finished tree!

I was exhausted by the end of it but in a good way. I love, love, love having the house spruced up for the holidays. Feels so cozy and happy. Munchkin loves it too. She got a big kick out of the talking Santa and the dancing snowmen we have. Seeing her face with all these new discoveries is priceless.

Tonight we tackle the family picture for our Christmas card…last year we had to take like 20 of them because Samson kept hacking or moving or licking or running away. Case in point:

He looks like he’s about to eat the baby! Notice the look on my face that says “I”m going to keep smiling even though I don’t know what the hell you are doing dog!!” Munchkin is even looking at him like “Wha?” Eventually we gave up and cut him out of the pic. Sorry dude. Hopefully both he and Munch will cooperate this year. Lord help me.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by

Again I start a post by saying that I am exhausted. Baking cookies is hard work. I have a new appreciation for those who work in bakeries. I’m a wimp who sits in a chair at work all day. But, it’s fun too.

The Annual Atencio Women Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza commenced at 10 a.m. My mom, sister and I each had a handful of recipes we had chosen to bake and had 7 hours to do it (which was when we were meeting up with the rest of the fam for pizza). No problem, right? Well logistics tends to slow things down. There are only so many cookie sheets, pans, measuring cups, and spoons. Not to mention there is only one oven. So…there were times when we had a line of 5 cookies waiting to be baked and at a stand still until they could get in the oven.

We made a total of 11 today (6 of which were mine). My sis and mom are going to do more during the week but I wanted to get all mine done today because I knew I wouldn’t have much time otherwise. Here is a sampling of some that we did:

Chocolate chip cookie cups filled with M&M’s. The cool thing about these is you can fill them with anything you want, to correspond with the season. Aren’t they pretty?

Biscochitos, which are a traditional Spanish cookie (my dad’s family is from Spain). There are a few cookies we have to do each year and these are one of them. My dad’s mom used to make and ship ’em to us from Colorado. No one makes ’em like her, but we sure try.  

Dark chocolate cookie kisses. A new take on a traditional recipe. My sister also make the traditional ones, which are a peanut butter cookie with regular Hershey’s kisses on them.

Sugar cookies (well, at least a picture of the cookie cutters). Another old standby!

Salted Nut Roll Bars. These are my dad’s favorite so we have to do them. They’re quickly becoming my fav too which is odd because usually I go for anything chocolate. These are a perfect blend of salty and sweet, with marshmallows, peanut butter, peanuts, and rice krispies mixed together on a cake base. Mmmmm…..

The three of us exhausted after all the baking. We always have a lot of fun and I love that we have this tradition. It’s something that both my sister’s daughter and my daughter will join in someday. Just another reason to love the holidays!!

Thanksgiving

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by

I am exhausted. These last 2 days have been packed full and I am feeling it. I’m not complaining though. I absolutely LOVE this time of year and this is a good kind of exhaustion.

CJ "yamming" it up!

It started Wednesday evening after I got home from work. We did our usual family stuff and then after Munchkin went to bed, CJ and I got busy cooking. I made mashed potatoes and CJ made candied yams. It was really fun to be in the kitchen cooking together. We haven’t done that in a while. Usually one of us cooks while the other entertains/watches the kid. So it was nice to have that time together. After the food was prepared, we played Wii for a couple of hours. Haven’t done that in a long time either. Seems like there’s not enough time to play anymore. Nothing like the impending holidays to bring out the kid in you!

Thursday all the family gathered at my parents house (CJ’s dad joined us as well). We ate and played games and napped (well, the guys anyway) and ate some more. There was interpretive dancing (of a cat…long story and I do have video but promised my mom I wouldn’t post it), booty shaking (this was me), Lego building, football watching and at the end of the day, when we were home and tired, lots of snuggling.

Our little fashionista!

Thanksgiving is my absolute most favorite holiday for 2 reasons: lots of yummy food and a kick-off of that magical feeling in the air that comes with the holidays. I also love the time to stop and reflect on what I’m grateful for. There really are too many things to name so I’ll hit the highlights – my wonderful husband, my amazing daughter, my loving family and supportive friends, having a great job, being healthy and happy, and just having an overall awesome life. I am truly lucky.

Another big part of yesterday was scouring the Black Friday ads. My sister and I hit the stores early every year. It used to be we’d go out to get all the great deals. Now we just go for the fun and excitement (and still some good deals). It’s our thing and I like that we have this tradition.

I was up at 2:45 a.m. this morning and out the door by 3:05 a.m. Usually we have a list of 4 or 5 stores to hit and some that we have to get to early for some kind of doorbuster. This year it was narrowed down to 2 stores and there really wasn’t anything spectacular we had to have. I did have my eye on a digital camera so we started at Wal-Mart so I could get it (and I did)!

The first year we did this we met at Younkers at 4 a.m. (that was back when the doors didn’t open until 6 a.m.). We wanted to get some gemstone jewelry that was advertised for $15 each. It was COLD that morning and I was all bundled up in a big poofy yellow coat. My sister almost couldn’t find me because I was like a little Eskimo. When the doors opened it was a mad dash and I literally had to shove people out-of-the-way to get to what I wanted. The jewels were all gone in a matter of minutes. Another year we split up and I went to Best Buy while she went to Shopko. I got to BB a couple of hours before open and the line was already wrapped around the building. Some people had even camped out.

This year was very tame. No elbowing or shoving or madness. We didn’t even have to wait outside because Wal-Mart is open 24 hours so we could go right in. We hit our 2 stores and were done by 7 a.m. Easy peasy. We both commented that we felt the tiredness more this year. Not sure if it’s because we’re getting older or that we have families now or what. It was still a ton of fun.

Now it’s time to get the house ready. Tonight before bed I’ll pull out all the Christmas decorations (won’t put them up until Sunday). Tomorrow is the Family Cookie Baking Extravaganza! This is where my mom, sis and I get together and bake a gajillion Christmas cookies. It will take us all day. I’ll try to take pics of the creations because they are all pretty and yummy!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Cheers to you!

Bonus Annexed: Lennie Lou

Posted in Annexed by

Funny story told to us today by one of the consultants up from Texas. Apparently he has a 62-year-old Aunt Lennie Lou who INSISTS on checking her bag every time before she leaves the house to make sure she has 3 things with her: 

  1. A bottle of wine
  2. Her shotgun
  3. $5,000 cash

Ha! Lennie Lou sounds like a hoot to me! Not sure what kind of trouble she thinks she could get in to but I guess it’s always good to be prepared!

Annexed: Land of the Lost

Posted in Annexed by

Since this is a short week, and today is technically my Friday, I’m moving Annexed up on the docket. Besides, I’ll have much more important things to talk about on Friday, like all the shopping I did and people I had to elbow in order to snag that good deal. 😉

This week, there wasn’t much activity so I decided to walk around the mall and see what interesting gems I could find. I actually found quite a few! This place is stuck in time and totally feels like a ghost town. It seriously is like a zombie movie where everyone just drops everything and runs, leaving behind a snapshot of how life was before the population was eaten alive.

Ghost Town

Walking around the mall you see all kinds of items that are either broken, dirty or just left abandoned in random places. First example is the escalators. They don’t escalate. They don’t move. They just sit. As if after all these  years of moving up and down, they are simply tired and giving a big middle finger to all the mall walkers who dared to climb on for a free ride. Pish posh! You will climb up and down you lazy bums!

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Then there are the carts/strollers.

You’ll be walking and come around the corner and see a cart there. Or is it a stroller? Or is it both? I can’t tell. It might also be some kind of prehistoric wheelchair for all I know. It is a nice pretty robin’s egg blue though. Also, notice the healthy, full plant directly behind said cart/stroller. Sad isn’t it? That plant is a direct reflection on the state of the mall itself.

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Finally, there is this sad lonely basketball game. It’s one of those where you have to try to get as many baskets as possible in a certain amount of time. Only this one no longer works. In fact, if you look closely you’ll notice that’s not even a ball in the basket, it’s a balloon. Man it would be really hard to win at this game if you were playing with a balloon. I bet this came from a carnival. You know how at carnivals the games are impossible to win because they’re all rigged so that no one can get the big prize? That’s what this game reminds me of. How can you possibly get a basket if you’re playing with a balloon! Damn the man! Anyway, it’s sitting off in a secluded corner, all alone, pining for its former glory days when the kids would come squealing up to it begging their moms and dads for a quarter to play. [tear]

Abandoned

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Then there are  the abandoned shops. Most of the bays here are empty and closed up and they don’t have windows to see in, or else the windows have been boarded up. However, there are a few that you can see in to and it’s totally worth the peek!

First there is the chair graveyard. Not sure what this store used to be but it’s now the dumping ground for old blue office chairs. It’s actually kind of eerie to look in and see all these chairs piled up on each other. On the other hand, it might be fun to break in and have chair races up and down the halls of the mall!

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Next comes the old JC Penney Decorating and Design Shop. It seems that not only did JCP have one of the big anchors in the mall, they also had a design outlet. You can see here the stacks of swatches piled up by the gate. They actually still have signs up at other spots in the mall, directing people to come down to the shop and get 20% off! Sweet! I’ve always wanted to buy my very own swatch book and now I can get one at a discount! I just have to figure out how to break down the gate and get in there….

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Next comes a restaurant that was apparently abandoned in the 80’s because the walls have that awesome sponge painting on them. And it’s even done in turquoise and fuscia. FABULOUS (jazz hands)!  Maybe these owners could have used some help from the JC Penney Decorating store. Guess they didn’t know they could get 20% off.

Anywho. This one really looks like everyone in it just vanished into a puff of smoke. All the tables/chairs are still set up and the counter looks ready to serve (aside from the inches of dust on it). I think the trellis is a nice touch too.

Candy

Oddly enough, there is no shortage of places to buy candy around here. There is the GIANT gumball machine, the candy cart and then the regular old collection of candy machines.

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The giant gumball machine is nearly empty so the gumballs (with their “Secret Centers”) must be popular. Or else that machine has been around since the mall opened 44 years ago and it’s taken that long to empty it. At any rate, I’m not sure how old those balls are but they’ve gotta be pretty old. And who wants old balls? I mean, really.

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 Same holds true for this guy. Again, I imagine these candies haven’t been refilled or refreshed in quite some time. Wonder if there is a little expiration date on each one? Some day I will double dog dare one of the Indians into trying one of them. I’ll tell them it’s an American custom or something.

I also like how the candy machine is secured by a cable to the railing. Blast! And I was hoping to take it home and gift it to CJ for Christmas. Sorry honey, no candy machine in your stocking this year. *sigh*

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Candy cart – see comments above. Ditto and ditto. I like the name of it though – Buddy Snacks. That’s very friendly don’t you think? I can see it now….Feeling lonely? In need of a friend? Come on down and get a Buddy Snack! We’ve got all the candy you could possibly want! Never mind that it’s 25 years old and may turn your stomach inside out. For a moment, it’ll make you feel loved and less alone!

Get ya coming and going

I tell ya, they think of everything in this mall. Not only do they have a gazillion candy machines, they also have several scales so that you can see exactly how many pounds you gained stuffing your face (or how many pounds you lost after the candy made you puke).

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 This one is for the person that wants everything. It not only gives you a report of your weight, your ideal weight, and calorie in take, but it also gives you your 6 lucky lottery numbers AND speaks Spanish. You guys, this is frickin’ sweet! All that for only a quarter! You can’t beat it!

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This next one is my favorite. It has a handmade sign, with a picture of a bug on it saying “Don’t bug me about my weight!” The bug is even wearing a collar that says “Bugsy”. HA! Love it! And guess what? It’s still only a quarter! You can’t beat that folks! I don’t think this one speaks Spanish though or gives me my lucky lottery numbers but that’s ok. Bugsy makes it all worth it.

Odds and Ends

Last but not least, we have the other random stuff that can’t be categorized.

Here is a window we found that was boarded up with newspaper. Notice the date on the newspaper – June 24, 2001. That’s 10 years ago! I also like the Ann Landers headline – “Lack of Desire Bedevils Wife”. Tell me more Ann!!

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Directly across the hall from Ann Landers is The F.A.R.M. I had no idea but apparently they do shooting contests here at the mall. Not sure why that surprises me. Maybe “shooting contest” is code for “gang activity”. And the Cryps and the Bloods now belong to a union called The F.A.R.M. Hey, I’m just sayin’…

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Last but not least, we have the mirror framed bay. This bay has actually been turned in to a conference room for our office and the doors are surrounded on all 3 sides by mirrors. Look – there are 2 of me!

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I don’t appreciate how hippy the top image makes me look though. I’m going to go console myself by getting some candy from Buddy Snacks.

Well, that’s it for this week. Stay tuned and as always, you’ve been Annexed!

P.S. On Friday you can find me outside The Mall at 3 a.m. waiting for the doors to open. Gonna get me some good deals! Oh wait, this mall doesn’t have any stores. Ok never mind.