White Christmas

It's been a peaceful few weeks around these parts.

Despite the typical holiday rush about this time of year, Southern Maryland received a blessing the weekend before Christmas which slowed everyone down. I honestly can't remember a time in December that we got this much snow. Bobby and I slept in late, drank our morning coffee together in front of the TV, then bundled up to brave the outdoors. We shoveled the driveway to get the Jeep out (and by "we," I mean Bobby) and drove to Panera for lunch! On the way home, Bobby wanted to shake the dust off his 4-wheel drive, so we took the Wrangler up to a local school parking lot and proceeded to "4-Wheel" around the lot. It lasted for a good 10 minutes until I got scared and made him take me back home.

The snow lasted all week and we even had a White Christmas, the first one I can remember.

The week before, we spend cooking and cleaning. I made sure to take some time out to remember the beautiful things about Christmas - to forever engrave them in my memory. This is our first Christmas in our new home and what a beautiful one it was.

Since I'm behind in blogging about our life here in Southern Maryland, here are some pictures from the week leading up to Christmas!

We got 18 inches all said-and-done! This is before we got 6 more inches!

Mmm...our home!




Bobby throwing a snowball. About 10.5 seconds after it hit me, I ran inside crying. (Just kidding)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"




Also, if we didn't get to send you one of our Christmas cards (my address list ran away from me), then this is for Y-O-U!

'Tis the Season to be Merry!

Here are the top 10 reasons why I hate it when Bobby leaves me to go on travel:

10. There's no one to make me coffee in the morning...besides Starbucks.

9. Our electricity goes up those weeks due to all the lights being on during the night.

8. Killian follows me around the house like a lost sheep.

7. I have to sleep with a heating pad.

6. I have to keep a fan on over night to make up for the snoring I've been getting used to.

5. There's no drill sargent to get me out of bed in the morning. Self-motivation, baby.

4. I'm forced to clean up my own messes (i.e. dishes)

3. I have to drive the Jeep to work and literally launch myself to get into the car.

2. Recycling comes tomorrow and there's no way I can lift the bin by myself.

1. Killian thinks he's boss without Bobby here.

The "#1" item on my list brings me to my first point. Killian hates me.

I try to avert his hatred by feeding him EVERY DAY of his life, but it continues and is only enhanced when Bobby is away.

I came home singing Christmas songs and in order to get Killian out from under my feet for two seconds, I offered him a treat.


"How can I possibly pry that treat out of her hands..."

Meanwhile, I'm whistling to myself, trying to catch Killian sitting still... "Deck the halls with boughs of holly..."


Then Killian chimes in: "FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA." Just kidding.

It's just you and me, Boss. About .346 seconds after this, Killian proceeded to jump face-level and snatch the treat out of my hand.

And then I moved on to photographing inanimate objects...like Christmas trees and ornaments. (Please note my reflection in the ornament.)

In other news, I am about 90% finished with my Christmas shopping. And now I pose a question for you: how does one inconspicuously gift-wrap a large broom?

Slow Boat to China

I gotta cut the man some slack though, right? I mean, he can only work weekends. I gave him a raise for working in the freezing snow last weekend. What more does he want?!

Lunch. That's what he wants... and so did his 4 other friends. Greedy, I tell you. (Just kidding)

So our deck is coming along. It'd be great if the weather would cooperate! Poor Bobby has been working out in the freezing cold, sleet, snow, pouring rain, all just to build our deck and have it finished before Christmas. He's actually more than half way through. Please tell Santa that we would like a fire pit for Christmas. Thank you.

(From the inside... it was too cold and wet to actually go outside and take a picture.)

I finally had a less-than-crazy weekend last weekend and was able to start my first craft project in the new house! A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to this Antique Store (The Vintage Source) down here in Leonardtown. Of all the things we need to furnish the house, I procured an antique window, complete with lead paint and a crack. I'm not sure why I was drawn to this window, but now every time I say I'm going shopping, my friend asks me if I'm going "window shopping." Then she giggles. It's very funny, but I'm afraid it's an inside joke. Regardless, this puppy needed to be sanded and refinished, so I worked in the basement for most of Saturday while it mercilessly rained down freezing ice. Oh, what? You want to know whether I wore a mask while sanding my lead paint-infested window? Nope...no. I didn't. I just held my breath ;)

Hello, lead paint.



It has a lot of charm, don't you think? All those cracks, dust, and chips.

Among other home projects, I snuck away to Lowes, where I acquired 4 mini cans of paint, which I promptly brushed onto our new, naked walls to test some colors. And no... this paint color is not black. (Oh, I can hear my mother now!) We will start to paint after Christmas - yay!

In other news, I bought a glass artichoke for decoration today. Don't hate...it's very chic.

Is Christmas here yet? I need a vacation!