Saying goodbye to an old friend

The other day I was vacuuming and I could smell something burning. It was a funny smell like something electrical. I began looking around and didn't see anything so I continued vacuuming. Then suddenly smoke began pouring out of my machine. I instantly turned it off and watched helplessly as my vacuum began dying in front my eyes. The poor thing. It was like watching an old friend passing away.

I purchased that vacuum before I married my husband. Hoover and I've been through a lot of moves, life changing events, and relationships. And here my poor little friend finally gave out on me. I remember when I first purchased Hoover. I was walking through the mall one Christmas and cut through Sears to the parking lot. As I walked past the vacuum display I was taken back by the beautiful machine. It was bag less. That's when bag less machines were just coming out. It was bag less and purple. What gal doesn't need a purple vacuum cleaner I thought. At that time it was one of the more expensive purchases I made for my little apartment. Because the bag less feature was new my little Hoover cost a small fortune. However, I definitely made a good investment considering that he worked his little heart out for the past 10 years, 3 days a week, before he gave out.

Last night my hubby came home and we went vacuum shopping. Not something I looked forward to doing during Christmas but it needed to be done. Funny how I purchased it 10 years ago around Christmas and it breaks down around Christmas. Anyhoo, I found one that I loved at Target. And it was purple. However, they didn't have one in back. Don't you hate it when that happens (It's like playing with your emotions when you get hooked on the display and then....nothing) I really liked it so my husband decided to try Walmart around the corner. I winced at the thought of going to Walmart and especially during the holidays. We did a drive by and saw that the parking lot wasn't too bad. So we decided to go in and actually it wasn't such a bad experience as we had anticipated. We found the vacuum right away at $20 less than Target and we were able to walk right up to a register and check out. It was our lucky day.

Last night I ran my new friend, Bissell, over my floors. She did a fine job. I couldn't believe how much more advanced she was from my old friend Hoover. She gave me a much deeper cleaning and it was easier to use. Today I've become a vacuum maniac. I've been vacuuming every room in the house. I called my husband and told him how much I love my new vacuum. That's when you know you've finally grown up when you're overly zealous for household appliances, lol.

What household appliance or tool are you absolutely in love with?

I also wanted to thank Amy over at http://bamamy.blogspot.com/ for giving me a sweet blogging reward. If y'all haven't visited Amy before you really should. She is a new proud momma of twin baby boys. They are precious!!! Her blog is hilarious. She always keeps me laughing as she blogs about her love for Bama football (Roll Tide), her new adventures in motherhood, and her Martha Stewart crafting abilities. Love ya, Amy!

Favorite Christmas Memories

My favorite Christmas memories are from my childhood. When I was little we would go over to my grandparents house. My Papa was a jazz man and we would wake up to a house full of Christmas jazz. My Meme would be in the kitchen making her famous Swedish pancakes and hashbrowns. Afterwards we opened gifts and my Papa and I would dance around the living room. My favorite gift I received as a little girl was from my Meme and Papa. It was a red Snoopy watch. I was obsessed with Snoopy when I was younger. I even got a Snoopy electric toothbrush. It had a huge Snoopy handle and the holder was Snoopy's dog house. Very cool!

My grandparents have passed on many years ago. However, I still carry on the tradition of playing Christmas jazz and serving Swedish pancakes/hashbrowns on Christmas morning.

What are some of your favorite Christmas memories?

Decorating for Christmas

Y'all, I'm so excited today. We got snow! Not enough to stick or anything like that. At least not yet but we have an entire day of cold weather moving through so you never know. I'll be crossing my fingers for white winter wonderland. We don't see a lot of snow in south Texas so it's pretty exciting.

Since it's all Christmas like outside I thought I'd post some of my decorations on my blog. I'll start with the outdoors.


This hangs above our garage.

Our front porch




Kitchen area. Back in Austin and New Orleans I would keep the rest of the house more of a French traditional Christmas theme and decorate the kitchen table cutesy but that's all. This year I decided to go with more of a retro Christmas theme. I used red and white polka dots to jazz it up and tie everything in together.

Our Christmas tree. It looks much prettier in person than in this picture. Wow, that bird looks big in this picture, lol! We have white doves and butterflies surrounding the entire tree. But that one dove looks more like a hawk in this photo, haha....The torch lamp looks stupid next to the tree but the patio lighting is horrible so I kept it there. Grrr, one of those decorating sacrafices that really drives me crazy.

Some of my favorite ornaments

It's Christmas time....

Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We had a fantastic day full of good food, good memories, and many blessings. Today I'm pulling out the Christmas decorations and getting started on decorating the house for Christmas, YAY! Sending my love and hugs to y'all.

Warm up those ovens, y'all!!!

Yesterday I shopped and shopped for the perfect turkey. It's just the two of us so we obviously don't need a 13 lbs. bird. I normally try to find a 3-5 lbs. turkey and usually don't have a difficult time tracking one down. For the past 5 years I've lived in Austin so I knew exactly where to get one but this year I'm in a whole new city. I thought to myself, "how many people would be looking for a small turkey?" Well, it was hard to find y'all. I had to go to three different grocery stores to find one. And the crowds!!! I'm just relieved we have a small bird this year. That's something to be thankful for.

Tomorrow the sequel to the big Turkey day. I'm gathering all my recipes and tomorrow I begin to prep for the big day. I know most people wouldn't put that much effort into a meal for two people. Although it's just the two of us I want our holiday to be just as special as if we had a huge crowd of people gathered around the table. I think it doesn't matter where you're at, who you're with, what you'll be eating to make a holiday special. I think it's about attitude. Many people ask if we are going home for the holidays each year and when I tell them no they make that expression (like they feel sorry for us). What they don't realize is how much fun we have. We watch our Thankgiving parade, eat orange cinnamon rolls, stuff ourselves with holiday dishes, watch our favorite Christmas movies, and decorate our Christmas cookies. We have a blast. So, for those who might not be celebrating the way you traditionally celebrated in the past; remember that it's all about your attitude. You can make any situation fun by making it your own.

Happy Friday Y'all

Hubs is on his way home from work. Every Friday night we drive down to our favorite 50's style hamburger place and order shakes. It's our way of catching up and talking about the past weekly events. It's a nice way to unwind while listening to some 50's bee bop. It has become our weekly routine and I love it. It sets the mood for the whole weekend. Gotta run, I've got a strawberry shake waiting on me. Have a awesome weekend!

Blonde Episodes

I just recieved an award from Kori over at Blonde Episodes http://blondeepisodes.blogspot.com/ She has the most adorable blog. Really fun to read and great retro pictures. Y'all need to stop by her blog when you get an opportunity. She's a real sweetie. Thanks for the award, Kori!!!