project 365 - day 338

Formal nights on board ship are always among my favorites. Not only because I love to dress up, but because I really love to dress my kids up! And they do clean up pretty well, if I do say so myself!!

project 365 - day 337

**NOTE** The pictures from the cruise are being posted after the fact, but I am dating them for the date they took place.

This is the skyline as we pulled away from the Tampa ship terminal, on our way for a seven night cruise aboard Holland America's Ryndam. Destinations of Costa Maya, Belize City, Cozumel and Santo Tomas.

project 365 - day 336

The house is all decorated for Christmas! It went so much quicker this year, since we had not only my mom here to help, but Perry's parents, too. It really is easier the more people you have. Much less stressful, too, since we were done in plenty of time to relax afterwards!

project 365 - day 335

When Grammy and I went shopping for a few essentials at Walgreens, we came across this, and as she put it "just couldn't leave it in the store." It plays a bunch of different Christmas songs, and through the wonder of DVDs, my kids actually know who Charlie Brown and Snoopy are.

project 365 - day 334

This year we decided to get a new Christmas tree. Our old one was not pre-lit, which meant a GIANT hassle for my mom and I every year when we had to test lights and string them on there. Call me lazy, but I detest hanging lights. I can handle doing ornaments, but I think lights are nothing but a huge pain in the ass. So we went with a pre-lit one, with those led lights so that they supposedly will not burn out so quickly. I guess only time will tell on that one, but they rock this year, and are so much brighter than the old non-led bulbs. Loving it!

project 365 - day 333

Since we moved into this house in 2001, I have disliked our front door. At times hated it. It just didn't go with the rest of the houes - too dark, too plain, etc. Finally we have a new one, and I completely dig it. I would have liked to get the matching sidelights, but they were insanely expensive, so we took a pass on them for now. Oh, and of course our door opening, with the sidelights, is not standard size (shocking, given everything else we've learned about our house - you might recall this from the shower door replacement) so it was going to be a big custom job to do the sidelights, not just a plug and play like the door is. Thankfully the door itself is normal door size. And super cute, don'tcha think?

project 365 - day 332

When Maura showed me the holiday items PDF from Scentsy, of course I had to have this warmer. Since I go all out with Christmas decorations, naturally it only makes sense to have a red one to pull out just for the season. This will live in the dining room during the month and a half I'm decorated for Christmas.

project 365 - day 331

Forever ago I got an adorable set of red plates and little bowls from Southern Living. I finally decided I had to have this bowl plate stand thingie to accompany it. And isn't it adorable??

project 365 - day 330

So we ordered this shower door for our master bath like summer of 2008. Partly because ours was boring, and partly because ours was just wearing out. We had to special order it, because apparently, like most everything else in our house, ours was not a "standard" size. Apparently the builders here didn't figure we were off the rack type of people. They were wrong, but what can ya do? So we special ordered it, it came in, and then Perry told me he had no idea how to install a shower door. Why would I think he would, I guess is the question. He's not exactly Mr. Fixit. So the door sat in the garage. For over a year. And then finally we had a "guy" (you know, the guy, the one who CAN fix things) in to do some other work, and I said, "hey, can you install a shower door?" And sure enough, he could. One less thing in our garage, and one happy mommy.

project 365 - day 329

We have gotten into the habit of bringing Rico along with us to our various sports practices. Soccer really seems to be a good fit, because it's close by, so not a long drive, and it's only an hour, so he doesn't get too restless. And he seems to be a big hit with the kids, too. Not to mention there are often other dogs there for him to play with.

project 365 - day 328

For awhile now I have been feeding elevated, based on the things I'd read about it helping to prevent bloat, helping digestion, etc. But then the more I read, the more I realized I might not be feeding elevated ENOUGH. So I ordered new bowls, after a long and extensive search online, since most stores locally don't carry anything that is both elevated over 8 inches AND cute. This is what I came up with, and I completely LOVE them. =)

project 365 - day 327

So I came home and drove into the garage, and a bird followed me in. Then didn't want to leave. So, of course, I took a pic of it and left him alone. I figured he'd find his way out when he was ready to leave, and he did.

project 365 - day 326

I got this adorable Scentsy warmer from Maura for the kid's bathroom. Now it smells so yummy in there! I do love me some Scentsy!!

project 365 - day 325

Here's my girl, also ready to brave the cold. Girlfriend is ROCKIN those boots!!

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A shot of my adorable boy, all dressed for the (semi) cold Florida weather.

project 365 - day 323

Today we had to say goodbye to Jasper. He was 12 years old and had been a very sweet boy for a lot of years. It was finally just too much to put him through. He was diabetic, arthritic, senile and incontinent by the end. Still sweet, but just no more life left in him at all. We'll be getting his ashes and his urn will join those of Calvin, Spike, Milo and Sammy on the shelf. I know he's SO happy to be back with his Calvin. There was no other critter in the world he loved as much as Cal.

project 365 - day 322

Another fun day out at the fields. Owen's soccer team is fairly decent. I think he's probably been playing longer than most of the kids, so he tends to do better with the ball. But a couple of them are keeping up with him pretty well.

project 365 - day 321

I am taking a picture of my photo printer because I am mad at it. Do you have any idea how incredible irritating it is that for some reason I can't print TO it from the computer, only from the memory card directly by inserting it. That's just wrong. Because what if I want to print something that is not ON the camera's memory card? Then what? One would think that I could just copy a picture from my hard drive over to the memory card. But no, that isn't working either. I know you're thinking there is user error involved in here somewhere, and you might just be right, but I am choosing to stick with blaming the damn printer.

project 365 - day 320

Another shot of Rico. Can I help it if I have the world's cutest dog?

project 365 - day 319

This is a shelf of guilt. Well, it's actually books, but it represents guilt, because it's a bunch of crafting and decorating books that I've never read. Will I ever? Maybe. Hard to say. They all seem like such a good idea when I get them, but then they pile up (much like magazines - remember the magazines?) and then I never get around to them. I think I would need like a whole month off to catch up on all the little crap around here that I have the best intentions of doing and never seem to have time for.

project 365 - day 318

I just love this desktop background on Perry's computer. The shot didn't come out great, and I even tried taking it a couple times to see if I could get a better one, but luck just wasn't on my side. Aren't they cute!

project 365 - day 317

317 days into this this, and I have officially run out of things to take pictures of. I actually probably hit that point about 300 days ago. This is one shot of Sherbert. I tried about five times to get a picture of him actually looking at the camera, but it didn't work out. Not sure why he was being so difficult today. Usually he's pretty easy.

project 365 - day 316

Since I so rarely get a shot of Lily, when she's out and about and I have a camera handy, I can't resist getting a pic. And I do have to actually have the camera handy, as in already in hand, because if I have to move to go get it, she'll be gone. She's really quite the shy little thing.

project 365 - day 315

I did a vendor show for Thirty-One, and it was a lot of fun. As with any booth, you kind of have to wait and see what will really come of it, but if nothing else it's always great networking!

project 365 - day 314

Once again things are out of control in my scrapbooking room/home office. While much of it is my fault, I will also lay some of the blame on my kids, who drag their crap in here and then leave it until I toss it out or throw it back into their rooms. I would SO love to have a neat, clean house, without all the clutter and crap everywhere, but it just doesn't seem like that will ever happen.

project 365 - day 313

I picked up these flowers for Halloween, and they've done a wonderful job not dying on me. That's not at all typical. I excel at killing plants, flowers, etc. If plant death were an Olympic sport, I would medal every time. But still, pretty, eh?

project 365 - day 312

Nicole and Sherbert. I hate to say it, but of everyone in the house, I think Nicole does the least well with the cats. I'm sure some of it has to be her age and the fact that she's so high-pitched when she talks to them. She's just so excited to cuddle them, so eager. Most of the time they're not thrilled, because she's typically squealing in their ears. Apparently they don't much care for that. I think if they would sit still for it, she'd probably dress them up in doll clothes. Despite the fact that they're boys. On the other hand, though, Sherb and Jeff do love hanging out in her room. Hmmm...I don't know, maybe that blows my whole theory. Or maybe they just like it because her door is always closed so it's a dog-free zone in there.

project 365 - day 311

Perry got this coin from someone up at the airport, and he felt it was photo-worthy. After 300+ days of doing this, I think pretty much everything is photo-worthy (really not sure I can do this again next year, btw. But at the same time, I will feel bad if I don't. Decisions, decisions.)

project 365 - day 310

Just another shot of world's most photogenic dog. I think of all the dogs I've had, he does the best at staying still for the camera when I'm trying to get a shot of him.

project 365 - day 309

Another thing that never seems to be caught up in my household is laundry. I guess that's to be expected with four people, but really, does my son have to use a new towel EVERY night after his bath? And a beach towel, no less. No matter how many times I explain to him just how very wrong the entire scenario is, he still does it. Ugh.