Don't Try This At Home

Noble Excellence Holiday Dishes: No Lead

Last year for Christmas, my mother gave me a beautiful platter and four dinner plates in the Noble Excellence Christmas pattern. I just love them. This year she told me to pick out more and she would give them to me for Christmas again. Don't you just love them? (You can click on the pictures for a closer look.)

Each piece has a part of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

AND! They were on sale! Each dinner plate was $4.49! Each salad plate was $4.49! (These are available at Dillard's, btw.)

And the serving pieces!

To die for right? Except you might not know that they really could be. To die for, that is. Because? They are made in China. So now I have to go by a lead detection kit.

UPDATE: I did NOT find any lead in the dishes. Whoopee!

I Found My Holiday Dress

Now, if you kind souls will send me about $400 I can buy the dress, the shoes, and cover shipping.

You'd do that for me, wouldn't you? I thought so.

Air kiss. Love ya. Mean it.

Thanks to EmilyStyle for coming up with such an awesome ensemble. Too bad I didn't get my invite to the White House Christmas party. Must've been lost in the mail or something. I'm pretty hard to find.

Take Two: New Button for Holiday Shopping Carnival

I'm new to the carnival thing. I've hosted a few, but, really, they're always by the seat of my pants. I'm no Queen o' Carnival, but I'm learning and that's half the battle. So here's the deal. I don't think the original button was conveying the true intent of the carnival--it looked and read more like we were going to compare our own Christmas wish lists instead of giving each other ideas of what to buy or make. So Shannon generously and graciously offered to make another button for me. Here it is if you'd like to use it.

I encourage you to download the image and place it in your post next week and also place it in your sidebar to spread the word! If you need help doing that, visit Blogging Basics 101--I have a tutorial that will walk you through adding a button to your sidebar!

Or, if you just need the code, you can use this:

<a href="http://www.donttryit.com/justdont/2007/11/christmas-shopp.html"><img src="http://www.donttryit.com/christmascarnivalSMLL2.jpg"></a>

IMPORTANT NOTES!

1. I am a carni idiot.
2. You can use either banner. If you've already gone to the trouble of posting the button or banner on your site you don't need to change it unless you want to. I appreciate that you put it on your site.
3. You do not actually have to use either of the buttons to participate. However, if you do put them up, it will help spread the word and thus the participation. The more participants, the more traffic for all of us.
4. This is a Holiday Shopping carnival, not a Christmas Wish-List carnival. You can see the overview in this post.

Thanks! I can't wait to see what your special gifts your list has on it! Thanks for sticking with me people. I'm not making any more changes. I swear. See you on Monday, November 12 for the The Holiday Shopping Carnival!

Holiday Shopping Carnival

Well, now that Halloween is past, I suppose I'll start thinking about what to do about Christmas. Yes, I know there's a holiday stuffed (I'm so punny) in between these holidays, but really, you know we're all thinking about Christmas and what to buy or make for our loved ones.

I have several people on my list that I always stump me. You have to understand that I consider myself an excellent gift giver. I try to really think about what someone would like and then provide that for them. Unfortunately, I'm still unsure of what to give to some people. Every year I hear of something after I've driven myself crazy and bought something mediocre. This year I've had an idea. You all are excellent sources of information and ideas. Let's harness that energy and help each other!

I propose that on Monday, November 12 we all list at least five items that may be a little different than the run-of-the-mill socks and underwear we usually give. It would be optimal if those gifts came with a link where we could buy them. For instance, one of the items I'll be suggesting is a hand-made pendant from Lisa Leonard. I've had many compliments on my necklace and many requests to know where I got it. I think it would make a great gift.

Your list can include pre-made items (like the jewelry from Lisa Leonard) or items to make (linked to tutorials). It would be great, though, if no one would link to the outrageously priced items in Neiman Marcus or the diamond-studded bra at Victoria's Secret. I think we're agreed that we aren't going to buy them and I'd like our carnival to be as useful as possible. Thanks. Air kiss. Love ya. Mean it.

Once you have your blog post written and your list of links ready, come back here on November 12 and sign up on Mr. Linky. My hope is that this will generate traffic for all of us and we'll find some excellent gift ideas in the process!

Halloween 2007

Oh my word, but Halloween was a hoot around here. We had Charlotte's and Anne's families over for pizza, then the men folk took the chilluns Trick-or-Treating while us women had wine and laughed. If Charlotte and Anne give me permission, I'll post pictures of costumes later. In the mean time I'll share mine with you.  Here are all the kids in their Halloween glory:

The day before Halloween I was the Mystery Reader in Wild Thing's class. I dressed myself up with stuff I already had (semi-formal black dress, black heels, shawl) and a fantastic hat my mother made for me. The shawl was necessary because, although I lost about 13 pounds last year, I have since gained them all back. That translates to more cleavage--both back and front. Second graders should never be subjected to that. Thus the shawl.

Here I am relaxing on the couch. The shoes hurt my feet so I went sans shoes. Don't hate me because my toes are absolutely perfect.

Alas, as I was putting make-up (makeup? compound or hyphenated, y'all?) on the goblins I sat my fat hiney on the tube of OPEN white face make-up. It squirted all over the sofa and my dress. Not fun. Tip: Bathrooms are excellent places for applying make-up. Leather sofas while drinking wine, not so much. Your welcome.

So I had to change into another costume. This one, at least, was more comfortable.

Did you all have a great Halloween?

Valentine's = Spin Art

Well, it's February. More than that, it's one day to Valentine's, which, in our house, means the yearly spin art extravaganza. Ever since my children were two and four, respectively, we have made spin art valentines for their friends. Because I am nothing if not predictable, this year was no different. I give you the fruits of Spin Art 2007:

Max's art:

Many of his turned out to be mustachioed men. However, the one below looks like the earth.

Wild Thing's art:

If you tilt your head to the right and look at it like Batman going up a wall, you'll see that the second one up on the left looks like the Eiffel Tower. Holy french fries, Batman!

This one looks like me winking and sticking my tongue out. Who says art doesn't imitate life?

Fifty Cheap Dates

Shalee is hosting an amazing carnival today. She's asking for our ideas for inexpensive dates and ways to reconnect with our spouses.

The thing Husband and I do is go to bed with each other every night. While we are laying in bed, we discuss our day, what the kids are doing, future events, or (more often than not) just make each other laugh. We do this every. single. night.

This may not be considered a date per se, but it is essential for us to reconnect. There are some days when family life is so hectic we barely get to greet each other when he comes home. Our time in bed before sleep allows us to slow down and reconnect.

Head on over to Shalee's to everyone else's ideas. Better yet, write your own post and add it to her list!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2007 to everyone! Time seems to move so fast now that we're adults, doesn't it? As a child the year would seem to drag on and on. Now I blink and it's gone.

I used to make resolutions, but I find they are empty promises to myself. If I make someone else a promise, I will stick to it; if I promise myself, it doesn't stick. So this is what I try to do and it seems to work: I try to be happy and appreciate what I have. Every year I remind myself that Husband and I have worked hard to be where we are and we have a life together that many people dream of.

Life is good at Chez Chilihead. My kids are healthy, happy, and hilarious. Husband is loving and hard-working. I could stand to lose those last 10 pounds, but hey, I like food and I don't like to work out. I see the problem and I know the solution.

Last year saw lots of laughter and I hope to triple that this year. I hope you do too. Laughter is what makes everything OK. You can get up in the morning if you know you'll laugh at least once that day.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday. Enjoy your families today and laugh a lot! Here's a little something to get you started. Remember, I told you I'm an elf.

Don't forget to come back and leave me a little comment.

Secular Boomwhackers!

Remember how Antique Mommy outed me as the next secular handbell sensation? Scrap that. I still love the idea of the handbells, but HERE'S what I think my real calling is: secular boomwhackers. It'll be sweeping the nation y'all.

Seriously. How cool is this? And how in world did they ever figure it out? Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.

I'd be in their band, though, and serve the margaritas. Maybe I'm just supposed to be the secular boomwhacker roadie?