Amy Lou Who

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss

I have a co-worker who calls me Amy Lou Who, haha... not sure why, but he always has! Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (40th Anniversary Special Edition) comes on tomorrow @ 8:30PM! Yay! I love watching this every year... y'know what else I love? The Family Channel's 25 Days of Christmas, when they air the Christmas Classics claymation movies. I have all of these on dvd, but there's just something cozy and familiar about watching them on TV. Good times!

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. - Norman Vincent Peale

Isn't it?!!! No longer frustrated, I changed my header pic and layout colors in the hopes of making my site a lil' more festive! What can I say, I'm in the mood... on Thanksgiving Day, I started decorating for Christmas!

Growing up, I can't recall a single Christmas that my family put up a tree and decorated the house before the second week of December. From my perception, my aunt was wacky-early, always putting her tree out at Thanksgiving... she also had an artificial tree which made her even more strange. We always had fresh, real trees and the bigger, the better. My first Christmas with my husband, I told him we HAD to have a real tree and he agreed excitedly. I waited patiently for the first week of December to pass, and then we went to the nursery. I was looking at 7 1/2 - 8ft trees, he was looking at 4 - 6ft! I finally talked him up to a 7ft. I decorated the tree and the house, inside and out. Seems like we enjoyed it for 2 weeks and then it was time to head out of town for Christmas. The next year we got a tree that was maybe 5 1/2 feet - it was SO cute and full. I'll never forget it b/c I could reach the top! Last year we got back up to a 6 1/2 - 7ft tree. Unfortunately, our tree stand leaked water on our wood floor. Devastated, haha, I vowed to buy an artificial - which I did! (It's 7 1/2 ft by the way!) :)

Needless to say, every year I've started earlier and earlier. Considering the work to pull everything out and put it back up, why not get in the Spirit early and enjoy it longer? Who knew I'd turn into my aunt?! Haha. So the tree is up and decorated, but that's about it. I haven't decorated outside like I'd hoped. I've been under the weather with a cold, so has my husband. I do believe this is the first time we've both been sick at the same time! I've felt like total crap, and he's been taking care of me more than I've been taking care of him! I'm hoping tomorrow is the day of recovery - I'm really sick of being sick!

WHAT is up with this?!!!

Quite possibly one of the most disturbing and strange things I've ever seen...

http://www.tamponcrafts.com/

I'm sure a lot of people think it's hilarious, but I'm not into that kind of humor.
Furthermore, WHO actually spends time doing this?!!! HA!

A Few Things I'm Thankful For...

My husband. My family. My friends. Our health. Our home. Our financial stability. Our jobs. Our freedom. God's presence in my life and His blessings all around me. The rain today - yay!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do with what happens to you. - Anonymous

Yet another desk calendar quote that is so very true...

I'd like to think that I'm a strong person when it comes to lifes little setbacks and disappointments. I do not thrive as a victim to those circumstances, I thrive because I survive them and keep moving. But, there's usually a but, haha - the person that ALWAYS gets in my way is ME. My husband is always telling me that I'm my own worst critic. He's right ... I'm a perfectionist... always hard on myself... always afraid to mess things up or make the wrong move. My sister would chime in at this point and add that I'm uptight... I guess she's right, too. :) All of this to say, as with ALL things, we must constantly let go and let God guide us and move in us. Why is this so hard to do?!

I'm spending my first Thanksgiving away from my parents/family, and I'm already struggling! I would like to think that my husband values the traditions of my past, but I'm not so sure that he does. Yes, he is my family now and we are to create our own traditions, but he's not driven in the same way that I am - he hasn't experienced siblings and grandparents the way that I have. My in-laws, to my knowledge, don't really have any traditions... at all. With that said, at this point, compromise is killing me! I just pray for the strength and patience to make the most of whatever comes my way the next few days. That being, of course, my MIL!

Since I receive so many compliments on my Christmas Cactus year after year, I felt like bragging a bit with a pic. I haven't posted any flower/outdoor pics in a while, so this will do. I assume all good ones look this way? It's 4 years old, and I hate to admit (gasp): it's from my MIL. Who knew?!!! She gave this to me at a wedding shower her friend hosted for me. It's probably the only gift I've received that I didn't have to give back! Did I really just post that? :) My sister was up this weekend and I made a few cuttings for her to take with her. All of my cuttings have done well, so hopefully hers will grow into one like this!

I am being SOOOO unbelievably lazy today... let me get back to that, haha.

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly. - Epictetus

OK, here's something interesting... this quote is at the beginning of Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style. Tim Gunn, of course, is the fabulous contribution to Project Runway.
The interesting part is that this quote was on my desk calendar for today - the very day that Season 4 starts! Seriously.

Lookit - I am a simple person - this is quite the coincidence to me, haha.

I'm not sure "who I am" in terms of my style though... if you look at how I dress, I'd say I'm sort of basic and boring, maybe safe, comfortable... I don't dress snazzy at work or otherwise... my shoes are NOT for looks... they're for comfort. So what does that say about me? I'm afraid to take chances? Yea, that could be true. I do wish fashion came easy for me, but it's not really something I consume myself with either - thank goodness! I'd definitely be broke!

Carry on! :)

Frustration

For the life of me, I canNOT figure out how I did my picture header up there, LOL. Tonight was my second attempt, and I have not been able to remember, haha.... hopefully it will come to me!