Cheesy Update

Hi. Anyone still here? I hate when people just stop blogging without so much as a see you later, it makes me worry. So what do I do? Just stop blogging without so much as a see you later, of course. Do as I say, not as I do! Actually I've just been busy (as I'm sure everyone is right now) and I've been trying to avoid my internet addiction by keeping my computer off. It is working. I've been crafting and cleaning. Today I even made "Barbie" clothes (if I type it in quotes they can't sue me, can they?) out of some of Cookie's old clothes. I found a fun trick that takes out half the work and I'm taking lots of photos so I can blog about it later.

So, have you been dying to hear about the Nacho Party? We had a smaller group this year (had major invitation problems using evite and old email addresses) and lots more kids than usual but it was a very enjoyable evening. The kids practically disappeared thanks to my basement and our new classic Christmas television four disc DVD set. I took pictures of the food but the party was almost over and it was looking pretty messy so I'm not posting those.

These were my favorite decoration. Some wooden peppers I found for 25 cents at a yard sale that I dressed up with a gold paint pen. I don't think anyone even noticed them but I LOVE them.

Here is Cheeks the reindeer. Egads he is so cute!!! He sat in his high chair being an angel until he blew out his diaper in a major way. Luckily I was chopping tomatoes so Mr. Hotness had to do the honors.

Here Mr. Hotness is being spoiled with female attention by his babysitter and her two sisters.

Here I am with Lucy from An Ordinary Mom (can you tell that I photoshopped my double chin out? I call it digital plastic surgery. Sure, if I didn't say anything you wouldn't know, but then you wouldn't know the mad photo shop skills I have either. Botox=$300 Having Liz digitally fix her face for free=priceless). I also removed all the shiny spots from my face and hid my bra strap. I LOVE the digital age.

Mr. Hotness hanging out with his trusty pal, Jason.

My blogging buddies: 32 flavors, Shark Daddy, Lucy Van Pelt, and Lucy.

I'm not posting photos of the rest of you unless I get your permission first, but if you want me to send you the rest of the pics from that night just email me.

Well, time to get back to the sewing machine to make very very tiny fashion ensembles.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Cheese

'Tis the season for nachos and lots of cheese. And this year I am going to get pictures. Really, I am. I need proof, proof that I can get my house to look clean once a year. Proof that I'm still hip enough to party. Proof that people like me enough to eat my free food.

If you are one of my nearby friends reading this and thinking, "Hey, why didn't she invite me?" then please email me. I sent invites with evite.com and I'm not sure I had everyone's current email addresses. Hope, I know yours bounced back to me yesterday. You are invited, I promise. Please, come eat my cheese. The party is tomorrow (Friday) so I'm going to be up til midnight making Christms candies. I'm eating almond rocca as I type. Oooooh, baby, is it ever good.

I'm Still Alive...

I just survived another birthday party. I'm always amazed to still be standing after these things. I swear it's equivalent to doing 4 straight hours of intense cardio aerobics. It is only 3:30pm and my body thinks it is midnight, I'm so tired. But it was fun.

Little Jedi, here is your mission: To defeat the evil Empire. To do this we must first help the rebellion by building them some fighter ships. I just dumped all of Pablo's legos on the floor and they all made a unique ship.

Next Jedi assignment: To create characters to help us fight against the rebellion, or to create evil Empire people to fight against. I love making clothes pin people. Starting at the top and going clockwise we have: Yoda, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, C3pO (I made these last two. It was my party too.), a rebel fighter, Guido, and another rebel fighter. The best part was trying to figure out how to attach the light sabers. One boy had the bright idea to stick it in the gap at the bottom of the pin. It looked very much like the Schwartz from Spaceballs. He said, "I don't even care if it looks like his privates." I quickly suggested that we glue them to the capes or wrap them around the pin. =)

Last Jedi assignment: To capture and destroy Darth Vader (Sorry Luke, but your dad has got to go!). I announced that I had received a special message from Yoda. "Yoda says he has seen Darth Vader hiding behind the plant in the Living Room." Here are the following messages:

~ Vader was just here but he got thirsty so he went to the cantina for a drink (look by the milk).

~ (taped to the milk jug) The Aliens say that Darth Vader stopped drinking milk years ago and said he was going to go watch some TV instead.

~Darth Vader was here. He wanted to watch Star Wars but Sweet Terror insisted on watching Dora. He mentioned something about riding a bike instead.

~ Dear Pablo, I tried to ride your bike but my cape kept getting caught in the tires. It is all muddy so I'm going to go use your washing machine. Love, Darth Vader. P.S. You will never catch me. Ha ha ha ha!

~ After Vader got all cleaned up he wanted to look at himself in the mirror. There are lots of mirrors in the house. Can you find the right one?

~ You are getting closer. Darth Vader saw you and your Jedi friends coming so he ran to hide under a bed.

And they found the pinata under Pablo's bed.

The kids took way to much pleasure in the thought of bashing in Vader's head. There was a regular Jedi war cry as I strung him up in the tree. Using a wooden light saber, the kids all got turns and he busted open right at the last whack.

I often wonder if Leia would have been as forgiving as Luke.

Last Jedi mission: To celebrate out victory!!! Here is my version of clashing light sabers cake. Not to be compared with others I've seen. But possibly worthy of landing on the Cake Wrecks blog (Warning, this is a very funny blog but has some bad language.)

We had the Star Wars sound track playing in the back ground, put on star wars fake tattoos, and then we were going to blow up those long skinny balloons to have a light saber fight but I forgot to buy the balloons. Instead I let them watch Pablo's Star Wars Lego game until their parents came to get them. Whew!

And now I have to go pack. We are leaving tomorrow at 8am.

Me, four kids, one newborn, and 800 miles. I just can't help it.

I have to go home for my ritual summer with the family.

Say, "Cheese!"

AAAAAAAUUUUURRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

6 years! This makes six years that I have thrown, what I consider to be, an awesome Christmas party and in all those 6 years do you know how many pictures I have to prove its awesomeness??? NONE, ZERO, ZIP, NADA.

It was on the list, "Empty camera card and check batteries." I had it sitting there, ready and waiting to document my once a year coolness. And once again, just like every year, it wasn't until I was walking around my empty house picking up plates and half-full cups that I see it. My perfectly unused camera was just sitting there sadly gathering dust. I was so sure that I wouldn't forget this year because now I'm a blogger, and heavens knows that nothing will get you to take more pictures with a digital camera than becoming a blogger. And what better time to tell people to, "Say, 'Cheese!'" than at a cheesy nacho party?

Ah well, c'est la vie. I remember my parents throwing lots of big parties and I only remember a few that were photographed. It was a lot of fun. I was very unready this year, though, and had guests showing up before the cheese was warm and before I could change out of my grubby cooking clothes and put on some makeup. No one seemed to care and everyone helped me get things finished and out on the table. There weren't as many people here this year but it was a good thing because it gave me time to talk to most everyone more than once. People kept telling me I should sit and relax and enjoy my own party but I have a really hard time doing that. I get very nervous at parties and have learned that if I stay busy I don't freak out. Over all it was a total blast, for me, and I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves. Now, it is time to go and clean out DSSH's office which is where I was shoving, stuffing, and hiding things in that last half hour rush of cleaning =).

***Merry Christmas***

WHEW!!!

YES!!! WHEW!!! I DID IT!!!

2 pounds of chocolate pretzels
100 caramels (or somewhere around that much)
2 big ziplock bags full of cashew rocca
2 big ziplock bags full of almond rocca
Peppermint bark
Cranberry almond bark
DONE

None of it burned, or sugared, and I didn't accidentally use egg nog instead of cream in my caramels this year =). Now, all I have left to do is to mop the kitchen and dining room, clean the master bathroom, keep the kids from getting into the candy, hang up the new towels I bought in the master bathroom (first new towels in 10 years, yipee!), clean and close my computer armoire, hang the rest of the Christmas lights and garlands, set up chairs, make a parking sign, keep the kids clean, use a Mr Clean Magic eraser on EVERYTHING because my hubby invited the landlord and his wife (Thanks a lot, dssh), remember to feed my kids, finish putting away the Mt. Rushmore piles of clean laundry that are still on my couch, scrub the mysterious brown streaks and drips off my front door yet again, vacuum everything again, set up tablecloths and paper goods, make 3 different salsas, my favorite guacamole, and butter black beans, do last minute shopping, take a nap so I will be well rested (yeah right), conduct major plastic surgery on myself so that I will look like I really want to look, try on 30 different outfits and put on too much makeup because I remembered that I can't afford plastic surgery, find something clean for the kids to wear, make sure the bedrooms are presentable, put everything out, and sit and calmly wait for guests to arrive.

Think I can do it all by 6:30? Just you watch me. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures this year...

Have a great weekend everyone!