For more go here.1. When my blog is broken, I’m basically having a heart attack and frantically trying to figure out why!

2. I saw the most amazing man this morning - he was in my bed!!

3. Enchanted is the new movie I’m most looking forward to seeing. (can you tell I’m a mom!)

4. Work: Necessary and I love it. I’m lucky enough to work from home though.

5. Of all the new tv shows, I enjoy Life Is Wild and Gossip Girl the most.

6. If only there was a third day attached to weekends, I might actually get more done.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to hanging out with my family and watching a video, tomorrow my plans include shopping and trying to get ahead on Christmas and Sunday, I want to start wrapping and finish getting all the decorations up!

Is it seriously already Thursday? Yeesh! Where has this month gone? It’s over tomorrow!

So here’s my Thursday Thirteen. Probably needs a bit of explanation. First, my kids got this book, I forget what its called where it lists all these gross and disgusting facts about all things…well…gross and disgusting. I’m being honest here.
And while they do seem a bit on the g&d side, they are also really interesting and educational albeit I’m sure you’ll never need to know any of them for anything. But hey, if you have kids under the age of 14 - they might enjoy them. No really, it is always possible.

However, it got me to thinking about gross foods people eat - bugs, intestines, etc. Cultural differences play a huge part in that, but regardless they are still disgusting and I’m putting them here for the world to see. (plus my kids enjoyed getting a gross education on food!)

DISCLAIMER: If you are REALLY squeamish, or get repulsed easily, I do not recommend clicking on ANY of these links or you will seriously be running to the bathroom (or the nearest trash receptacle). Just a friendly disclaimer

1. Tripe
2. Certain Ice Cream Flavors (omg I would NEVER eat those!)
3. Haggis
4. Rocky Mountain Oysters (I’ll eat a real oyster before ever sampling one of these!)
5. Czarnina
6. Porramatur
7. Offal (thinking that should be pronounced AWFUL)
8. Andouillet
9. This whole page especially #6 - I’m so GLAD I’m not Icelandic (It’s a cached version)
10. Brawn (any kind - gross!)
11. Insects (especially the photograph shown - OMG that thing is HUGE!)
12. Uhm, enough said. I like Monkeys!!!
13. THIS Sandwich!

Hope you enjoyed this installment of Thursday Thirteen. I promise next week will be much tamer and much better. I just had a lot of disgusting stuff we were learning in homeschooling and thought I’d share. YUCK! (probably wish I hadn’t later when nobody comments) hehehe

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My friend is traveling (read: driving) this Christmas season to her hometown over 675 miles away. First, yuck! Second, she was stressing because she is wondering how she is going to get all the gifts that they have down there. She has young children and many of the gifts are huge. Mailing them seemed silly when they have a minivan that can contain much of the loot. But there are still a few extras that won’t fit in the van. So what was she to do?

Well, we found a solution (as is normal for me LOL) - US Cargo Control is awesome. You can find all types of items to make traveling this holiday season much easier. Whether you are carting a Christmas tree across town or carrying luggage across several states, they have Ratchet Straps, Tie Downs, and several other options to choose from.

The Tie Downs seemed like the best option with what they are trying to do. They plan to purchase an entire installation kit and concoct a tie down system that will keep all of their precious valuables tied down onto the top of the van. Seems smart, huh?

Amongst the awesomeness of the site we also found all kinds of other cool tie downs from securing items into the back of a pick up truck or flat bed, as well as securing a boat (which they also have but won’t be using at Christmas). Besides Tie Downs they have dozens of other products for your car, truck, van or other type of vehicle. They obviously carry high quality items with competitive pricing. What a great solution!

It’s time for my Christmas list. Mike asked me to make one, and tell him what I wanted. I’ve asked him to do the same (several weeks back) and still neither of us ever did it.

But I have a problem. I don’t really know what I want. I’m not longing for anything in particular. Mostly if I want it, we buy it at some point. I’m sure there is something I can think of, but I thought I’d ask others what they are wanting this Christmas. And while happiness, peace, love and joy are all wonderful things and I badly want them, they aren’t going to fly on this Christmas list. He is looking for something he can purchase. LOL

Help!

I’m freaking out a little because I realized there are only 28 days until Christmas. While I have most of my stuff done, I don’t have all my decorations up or Christmas cards signed. Speaking of Christmas cards, I sometimes order my kids Letters From Santa. Have you ever done that?

I can’t remember who I used last year, but I actually think it might have been LettersFromSanta.com.

I loved it because the personalized letter came with our kids names (we only did the two youngest), it listed a couple of items they had specifically asked for on their Christmas wish list, and it listed three things they had done (accomplishments). There was even a P.S. field that was completely customizable. (I think we did something like: P.S. Be good to your brother Ryan. He doesn’t mean to be a big fat meanie all the time.) Oh, AND you can put the city you will be at on Christmas. For instance, if you are traveling to Uncle Alberts for Christmas and he lives in Timbuktu and you live in Calvary, you can put Timbuktu on the letter. It’s cool.

There’s tons of designs and customizable options as well as the fact that they send out a follow up postcard and door hanger that you can also choose the text on. Really cute idea for your little one’s this holiday season. Go, go now. Order one and put a smile on your little sweetie’s face when they realize Santa sent a letter.

Ugh. Photography Tip # 23, 545: If you typically take photos of your Thanksgiving meal, because well, you just always have. Then don’t forget to do it one year. Because then you are terribly tempted to stage a photograph with a whole second Thanksgiving meal (minus the Turkey because for the life of me I cannot handle another 19lb Turkey for awhile).

*sigh* Yup. I forgot to take my traditional photograph this year. I just realized it and as a scrapbooker, it’s going to feel weird not having it. Ah. Big deal. I’ll live. And I promise, I won’t create a whole other meal just to stage a photo. I’m too frugal to waste food and while I love what I made, my waist line did not.

Actually, Max is a great traveler. It’s the places that accept (or don’t accept) him that are the problem. We were very blessed this past week to be able to bring him along on our little Ozarks adventure and stay in our friend Cherie’s condo (thx girlfriend!). He was as good as gold the entire time. Helps that he is completely crate trained so he doesn’t mind spending a little time in there from time to time.

However, what wound up happening is that now we are aching for a real family vacation. Somewhere further than 2 hours away (since we do that a lot - go locally). However, I am one of those pet parents that doesn’t trust just anyone with my pet. The one friend I do trust with him, doesn’t have pets and wouldn’t like the responsibility of taking care of a small dog (frequent bathroom, shedding, etc.)

So my solution? Take him with us, of course. He is certainly compact enough. Now, to find a hotel that will accomodate, because if you have ever tried to find one, they are hard as heck to find!

I wound up discovering a place where you can find Pet Friendly Hotels. Thank goodness for that. Places that don’t allow pets annoy me, but I understand their reasoning. So now, we can actually take the vacation we are longing for with a little help from our friends over at Official Pet Hotels.

So, our little Max will be able to come along on our vacations, not be in the way and be accepted as a member of the family, the same way we treat him.

Here’s a few pics of him watching our little squirrel friend last week in the Ozarks. Isn’t he so cute!

It’s temporary. I promise. I actually miss my other one. LOL
But I thought I’d get festive for the holiday season. It will return to normal just after the holidays.

Oh, and btw: You can wish me a Merry Christmas. Go ahead. Do it. I dare you. In fact, quite honestly, I double dog dare you. Not to mention it will make me smile. Because well, I’m a Christian, proud of it, and remember very well why we celebrate this season.

So go ahead, I dare you.

Most of my regular readers know that we escaped to Lake of the Ozarks for Thanksgiving week. We got home yesterday and had a fabulous time!!

We made a new friend while we were there, providing her with loads of cereal and marshmallow snacks. I’m sure quite healthy, but she kept coming back for more. Every single day at least four times a day! The kids absolutely loved her and we took dozens of photographs. These were rated our favorites of our cute little squirrel friend.