Goodbye 2007.

Part of you was not so good.

Part of you was pretty darned amazing.

All of you was another 365 days that I spent with the two people I love most in the world, not to mention my beloved friends and extended family.

I have a feeling 2008 is going to be amazing. Good stuff is on the horizon! And it’s always nice to feel like you’re getting a fresh start. So, out with the old. In with the new. Tomorrow is not only another day, it’s another year. May it be blessed and happy for my family and for yours.

The holidays are (mostly) over, but there are still some great links popping up, so check out the “Holiday Leftovers” section and save or bookmark them for next year!

Everybody Needs Gadgets

Here’s an interesting variation on the ubiquitous vegetable peeler.

I just like the name of this one: Culinary Laser Thermometer.

Creative Pursuits

The rules of composition in photography.

NaBloPoMo. Holidailies. Both ask you to blog every day for a month. And now? Blog 365! Blog every day for a year. Oh yes, I was tempted. But no. Not gonna happen.

Holiday Leftovers

Great ideas for last-minute gifts.

Easy Christmas crafts and gifts.

More last minute gift suggestions.

How to repurpose used wrapping paper.

You could take this tip even further and color code everyone in the family!

Cheap and tangle-free Christmas light storage.

5 things to do if you aren’t celebrating Christmas.

Techno Geekery

How to set up a new computer.

Watermark your pictures online.

Life Is a Highway

Advice for sharpening knives.

If you actually have free time, here are some tips to improve the quality of it.

12 steps to finding a lost object.

How to get a broken key out of a lock.

20 questions to help you reflect on the past year.

13 uses for cooking oil spray.

Top year-end lists.

For the science junkies among you.

Good Ideas

Uncluttering your refrigerator crisper.

Get creative to get through airport security.

30-minute clutter solution.

A diary for ticket stubs!

Best times to shop for bargains.

Good Reads

How dads can help raise strong daughters.

For the Kids

14 educational games to teach your kids about business.

How to babyproof a hotel room.

Laughter Is the Best Medicine

Airplaneseatreclineology

Too Much Time on My Hands

Online flower maker.

Weekly Features

Pretty recipe of the week

Tip of the week

YouTube video of the week

So yesterday I just sort of recharged all day. Watched a movie or two with LG. Tried to start catching up in computer land (will my inbox ever be empty again?). Rested. Things like that. I’m still not caught up. And I’m still not totally recharged. So, other than a paragraph or two for the purpose of keeping up as much as I can with the Holidailies, I’m going to still be pretty absent from blogland for the next few days. Call it my Winter Break. Tomorrow Surfer Sunday will post as usual, but don’t expect too much other than that. But no worries. I’ll be back.

We had our end-of-the-year choir party tonight - so much fun! We ate lots of food, made lots of noise, played a really fun game and had a great time. Everyone was gone by 9ish, but I’m still exhausted. Probably because I’ve been going non-stop since around Thanksgiving. Now, all the social obligations are finally out of the way (other than hopefully meeting up with some old friends while one of them is in town for the holidays) - I have nothing left to get ready for, and I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. Tomorrow I plan to do pretty much nothing more than I absolutely have to. Next week we have to get ready for Generations, but until then, other than a trip to the cemetery on Saturday (it’s my mom’s birthday) and Mass on Sunday, I’m just going to veg. Tomorrow I might even hang out in bed all day and watch television with LG. And try to get her back on a semi-normal schedule.

So I’ve been a little absent from blogland the past few days…but I have the best excuse - I was enjoying my family. We have one more social engagement tomorrow night and then it should be back to “normal” by next week.

We learned a lesson today. Under no circumstance do we ever let the waiter/waitress take LG’s plate before we leave the table, even if she says she is finished. Oy.

But on the way home, we had fun anyway. For some reason that I don’t remember, I started making “neigh” sounds (like a horse). LG said, “You’re not a horse, you’re Mommy Karin!” And then I went through all the animals I could think of, to which she replied, “You’re not a (insert animal here), you’re Mommy Karin!” Then I ran out of animals and made a snoring sound. To that she said, “You’re not Daddy, you’re Mommy Karin!” which made all of us laugh ourselves silly. Which maybe wasn’t a really good idea since we were on the freeway and I was driving, but we made it home alive. ;)

May your tomorrow be as filled with laughter as our today was.

And a very interesting one as well. LG decided about a week ago that she didn’t “need any pwesents” and every time we brought up the whole “Santa’s coming to visit” thing, she would have a mini-meltdown. But, knowing that three year olds are nothing if not fickle, we went on about our business and told her if she didn’t want her presents, Mommy and Daddy would play with them instead. However, I did coax her into opening a present last night, and she was quite pleased with the red Christmassy jammies inside and wanted to put them on right away. A step in the right direction!

This morning when she woke up, she came out to the living room and saw the Santa gifts (that she had requested) under the tree and had a meltdown. But we remained calm. We had already discussed our plan of action, you see, so we just calmly went about our business. She didn’t want her stocking, so Daddy got his stocking and found white chocolate Reese’s inside. Half a Reese’s later, she decided she might like to look at her stocking. And found all kinds of wondrous things in there. And then she thought she might like to look at her Santa gifts. And then she thought she might like to open her presents. And it seems that getting presents wasn’t so bad after all. ;)

Mike and I don’t really exchange gifts at Christmas anymore, since our anniversary is in less than a month, but it’s more about her right now anyway, so that’s perfectly okay. I’m sure it will change in the years to come, but for the time being, that’s what works for us.

I did get an amazing Christmas gift this year, though. I got to hear my creation brought to life. It brought tears to my eyes, not only because it was sung beautifully by Marlene, but because it was sort of like giving birth. I nurtured it and molded it into something I was pleased with and then let it loose upon the world. Maybe it’s more like your child becoming an adult than giving birth, I don’t know, but either way, it was an amazing feeling. And it was even better that it touched people’s hearts.

So thank you to Marlene who inspired the song and brought it to life and to Mike without whom my songs wouldn’t ever become more than lyrics and a melody line. And who knows? Maybe some day you’ll hear it on a radio near you. ;)

My life has been truly blessed this year. I hope yours has as well. Merry Christmas to all of you who read this blog.

Now it’s time to get ready for Our Lady of All Sales tomorrow! Shop til you drop baby!

I am preparing to make this yummy butternut squash puree with my phallic butternut squash (that’s another story I’ll save for after Christmas), and I was trying to scrape the seeds/pulp/etc. out with a spoon, when I thought - there’s gotta be an easier way. *Light bulb* I grabbed a grapefruit spoon (which has the serrated edges) and used that to scoop it out. Bingo! Much much easier. You can thank me later. Unless of course you figured that out a long time ago. But either way, make the butternut squash puree - it’s divine!

Everybody Needs Gadgets

The ultimate kitchen utility knife.

Food! Glorious Food!

Fat-fighting foods.

Check out the true love roast.

12 twists on instant hot chocolate.

Creative Stuff

Christmas photo tips.

The ultimate guide to time-lapse photography.

Happy Holidays

How to make layered gift bows.

Track Santa on Christmas Eve!

Tips for shipping holiday baked goods.

I don’t really care for eggnog, but if I did, I might try this recipe.

Wrapping gifts can be an art. It can also be called recycling when you repurpose things from around your house.

My aunt always made divinity at Christmastime and I loved it. I’m not sure if I’d still like it now, because I think it might be a little too sweet, but I’ll have to make it someday and find out!

If your kid (like mine) doesn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap, then email him. He’ll even write you back almost immediately.

Make a Christmas Tree hair clip.

Some really cute Christmas commercials.

Low-fat holiday desserts.

Techno Geekery

Dopplr helps frequent travelers stay up to date with their other friends and contacts who travel.

Lifehacker’s 2007 guide to free software and webapps.

How to digitize cassette tapes.

Using Photoshop’s healing tool.

Some of the top new web apps of the year.

I wish I could get one of these nifty printers for my dad.

Life Is a Highway

Find or rate a playground near you.

12 ways to get rid of those butterflies when speaking in public.

Check out these fascinating birds. Yes, birds. Trust me.

How to avoid a cold.

How to prevent lost luggage.

Eliminate unwanted catalogs.

2008 movie release schedule.

Good Ideas

Thumb calendar!

Bucketless car wash.

Take a day to read.

Too Much Time on My Hands

Holiday Food Quiz

I really hope you’re better at this than I am.

Weekly Features

Pretty recipe of the week

Pretty recipe of the week 2

You Know a Lot About Christmas

You got 8/10 correct You know tons about the history and traditions surrounding Christmas. When you celebrate the holidays, you never forget their true meaning - or all the little fun details. Random Christmas fact: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is the first Christmas carol. It dates back to the 12th century.

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

My dad came over to visit today - he brought us our Christmas dolls and I gave him his traditional calendar of pictures of LG. Plus I gave him his copies of the pictures we just got done of her.

He told me that his car died on the way home from LG’s birthday party a few weeks ago and he hasn’t gotten it repaired yet. Luckily they have two cars, even though she who shall not be named isn’t really doing much driving these days.

But here’s the kicker. My dad didn’t have a cell phone to call for help. Why doesn’t he have a cell phone you ask? Well, it’s not elderly fear of technology. He has a computer. He used to have a cell phone, but at some point he got rid of it. Why? Because she who shall not be named doesn’t want him to have one because then we would be able to call him without her knowing.

So, in other words, she’d rather him be out and about with no way to call for help if something happens than for us be able to call him without her knowledge. Ugh.

I really wanted to be done and not have to go out today, but I forgot a couple of things, so I have to make a Target run this morning. Then it’s all about cooking. I need to make potato candy like I did last year, but that might have to wait until tomorrow since you are not supposed to make it when it’s overcast/humid/etc. And it’s supposed to be partly cloudy today and totally sunny tomorrow. So we’ll see.

Edited to add: One should always check one’s list before one goes shopping. Because if you don’t, you forget you have to buy pantyhose (which is understandable since I wear pantyhose only once or twice a year at the most, but still…). And you get home feeling so proud of yourself because you are done! And you don’t have to go out anymore! And then you look at your list! And see you forgot something important! Gah! So, Mike says I can run out when he gets home from work and is unloading/loading his truck. I think Walgreen’s will do the trick. Anyone wanna go buy me some pantyhose? *sigh*

Monday I’ll make a red velvet cake (with my caffeine free cocoa because I have to have some chocolate already) and the lovely pureed butternut squash I made for Thanksgiving. Probably the only one who will eat it besides me is my mother-in-law, but that’s fine. More for me! Ha!

Monday evening is Christmas Eve Mass and Mike also has to do midnight Mass. Christmas Day he has a late morning Mass and then his parents and grandpa come over for dinner. So it should be a lovely holiday. Oh and don’t forget that we have Mass on Sunday as well. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Three days in a row of masses. Although, I’m only doing two of them. Ah well.

I hope to post more this weekend, but you never know.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way
Horses fun, Easter ride
One horse open sleigh hey!

I meant to post yesterday. I had something to write about and everything. I was just so busy, I never managed to actually get the post written. Ah well. All good things must come to an end. But, I’ll try my best to post every other day this month. We’ll see how it goes.

So, what I wanted to talk about was my trip to the mall yesterday. The mall, in general, is not a bad place. Except during Christmas time. Then it’s insane. Okay, it wasn’t so bad a couple of weeks ago when we took LG to get her birthday/Christmas pictures done, but this week? In. sane. (Read on …)

Tonight we had our rehearsal for Christmas Eve mass. I really love our choir. It is filled with really nice people and there is no drama. Just smiling and laughter and joy. Well, okay, our lovely bass girl was bummed out that we are not doing her favorite song, but that type of drama is understandable. It comes from passion about music, and that is something I get.

But otherwise, it’s just really nice to sing and make music with people that I enjoy being around.

And the best part? Well, I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I wrote a Christmas song that Marlene will be singing right before Mass starts. As they rehearsed, I just sat with my eyes closed…listening…taking it all in…and hearing my creation brought to life. It was an amazing feeling. It’s interesting, because I’m a singer, too, as you may know, but with this song…I am content just to experience it…just to listen. And my heart is full.

Oops. I meant to post this earlier, but um. I forgot. So sue me.

Anyway, today I went shopping with my mother-in-law. First to my very favorite toy store ever. Then we stopped at Tuesday Morning where I have never been before.

People! Why did you not tell me about the interestingness that is Tuesday Morning? I found many things I didn’t buy that I wanted to buy. And I will be going back. Oh, it’s opened every day during the Christmas season, by the way.

How about you? Ever heard of/been to Tuesday Morning? And, if so, how do you like it?