ink

advent and random happy news.

the beginning of december.  the start of advent.  my kids are counting down the days until they can begin opening their advent calendars.  got this one for noah.  got a sparkly old fashioned paper one for anna.  and then there's this -- remember when i bought this last year?

i was pretty excited to pull it out this year.  now, i just need a place to put it. :)

some happy news.  a few weeks ago karly took our family photo.  it's been arranged in our holiday card and sent to the printer already.  the really good news... the envelopes are already addressed, and the cards should arrive sometime today.  at this rate i may just have them ready to go out on the 1st.  now THAT would be a first!

some other happy news.  i found a holiday dress for anna at lands end.  the really great news, however, is that it only cost $19.50.  :)  it arrived yesterday and fits perfectly.  every year i swear i'll be on top of it and get the kids' christmas outfits early.  every year i find myself searching catalog after catalog, site after site, only to find nearly everything in my kids' sizes are out of stock.  who would've ever thought i'd have to buy christmas outfits just as halloween costumes were going on sale?!

that's it from me this morning -- other than this fun photo (also taken by karly):

happy thursday!

a little reminder...

for those who are still considering www.bluedresspress.com for your holiday cards, you have until december 1st to receive 20% off your holiday card order of 100 or more. :)  consider yourself nudged. ;) 

and a full report on the brining of the beast... i mean, turkey, to come.

hope you all had a wonderfully thankful thanksgiving.

and happy monday!

and the winner is... and i'm not teasing!

andrea (as in this andrea)!!!  hey.  if it's good enough for pioneer woman then it's good enough for me.  i'll report back on the details after the big day.

speaking of the big day, i'm spending time thinking about thanksgiving, too.  not just cooking and cleaning.  that's a whole other post which i'll save for a day when i've NOT had my eye's dialated.  ok?

happy monday!

(oh, and andrea -- email me with your address and i'll get something fun out to you.  thanks for the suggestion!)

and the winner is...

seriously, folks... i will have a winner for you after i get a teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny bit of shut eye. ;)

and in the meantime, happy sleeping!

oh dear...

i need more time!  i promise i will make a decision late tonight and post in the morning.  :)  thanks for humoring me, and for your patience.  i must admit, my mouth is drooling at the thought!  oooooooooooo how i love turkey!

cooking a turkey - 101

so i went ahead and told my family i'd host thanksgiving.  i'm not sure what came over me.  i was working at the northwest enterprising moms holiday fair and my aunt showed up.  she asked what we had planned for thanksgiving.  i offered our house.  seriously, it happened that quick! 

now let me preface this all with a couple of facts.  i have hosted thanksgiving before.  it was a few years ago.  mike's family flew out so we could all be together.  i cooked a turkey and all that.  the difference was mike's family was here, so they helped with literally everything!  mike's mom kindly walked me through every stinkin' step of the turkey and the stuffing.  she even made the rolls (squash rolls from scratch - mmm!).  so the facts remain, which i hosted thanksgiving, i had a whole lot of help!

now, make no mistake.  my family is brining a lot of the extras -- the sweet potato casserole, the green bean whatever, the wine, the pies, the appetizers!  so really all i'm left to do is the turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes and the rolls.  i've done it all before.  i know i can do it again -- but i'd really love some help! :)

that's where you all come in.  i'm taking hints.  turkey cooking hints.  i've heard a ton already (cooking a turkey breast side down, bbq-ing a turkey, frying a turkey -- which, by the way, i will not be doing!).  i want to know what you do.  what do you season it with?  what is your little trick for getting the turkey to turn out just right?  do you see where i'm going here?

and just to sweeten the deal, if i use your suggestion, i'll send you a little something (think scrapbooking product) to make it worth your while. ;)  if i have more than one of the same suggestion, i'll put the names in a hat and draw a winner.  make sense?

you've got til the end of the week.  i'll choose a winner friday night.

happy wednesday!

holiday launch and a whole lotta ink.

hi all.

a few days ago, in an effort of speed up my computer a tinge, i cleared out my cookies.  whoops!  i forgot my blog password and a whole lot of others.  oops!  after many attempts, i finally figured it out.

first things first.  www.bluedresspress.com now has updated holiday cards!  you can check them out here.

and in case your inbox is like mine and you somehow missed the fontwerks newsletter, you can view it here. :)

in other news, the halloween fairy came last night and took all but a couple of pieces of candy away.  she left a little toy for each kiddo in place, of course.  nothing fancy.  word has it that the halloween fairy doesn't like chocolate, so mike and i thoughtfully removed (and saved for a later date) all the chocolate from the kids' bags.  don't want to get on the halloween fairy's bad side, do we? ;)

happy tuesday!