Merry Christmas at the Office

Ok so I got a little behind on writing about the holidays. Now here it is the day before New Years Eve and I have sat down to compose a few, whilst I procrastinate on my after the holidays tasks (I.E. Cleaning and reorganizing).

Last year (2009) the recession hit our office very hard, as it did many companies. We had to let go of 3 people, which for a company that only has 10 employees that is a lot: 30%. We had picked back up by October but the recession had his the morale in the office hard. So our account manager (the owner's wife) decided to start a tradition in the office of actually celebrating the holiday's with various tasks that we were required to complete during the day. This year was no different. On Halloween we had pumpkin carving, bingo and pizza delivered. Christmas was a feat. We had to decorate our desks/offices, paint Christmas trees, and make "Gingerbread houses". The Gingerbread houses were not real however due to last years technical difficulties. You see we had a lot of business the week of Christmas and the phone rang a lot. So while we were gluing on our house piece with royal icing (which takes time to dry) we had to jump and answer the phones which cause us all anxiety for the structure of our houses. So this year we had the easier, foam version of the gingerbread houses. We also had foam garland, which I took the liberty of bringing home and adding that Christmassy touch of glitter to. The main part of my decorations was my cubical. As many of you know I am an Interior Designer so we have a vast amount of commercial fabrics in various colors just lying around our office. I took various shades of red and green and push-pinned them to my cubical in a quilt pattern. It really made mine look like the holidays without the use of lights....which were also used in our office.

Lights and Coffee Filter Snowflakes (Lesley and Uli's Office)

Handmade Sign w/ Foam Letters and a wood sample!

Painted Tree!

Quilted Cubical

Cubical w/ foam garland

Wednesday before Christmas we went out to lunch and did a White Elephant. For 5 days before that Los Angeles was getting dumped on by a record amount of rain. We hadn't seen the sun in days. While we were loading up into the clown car (I like to call it that because our entire office fits into one SUV) the sun peaked out of the clouds and we thought that the storm was over. Fil, one of the AutoCad guys asked me if he should bring his umbrella. I replied to him....no I think its over. Boy was I wrong!!!!!! While eating our lunch at The Yard House (I had the best 4 cheese grilled cheese and tomato bisque ever) my boss Nathan points to the windows and said maybe we won't leave yet. We all turned around and saw the sheets of rain coming down outside. When we were leaving the restaurant we had to run to the escalator, which was of course out of order! To which I stated "How can an escalator be out of order? It is just stairs now!" We got completely drenched and were having a fun time running through the puddles. We got into the car in the parking garage and by the time we drove out the dime sized hail started to come down hot and heavy.  This continued through the 3 mile drive back to the office, we all bolted out of the car and as soon as the last person hit the inside of the door the rain and hail completely stopped! Figures! This happened 3 more times over the course of the afternoon. My vinyl boots did not do much to keep my feet warm or dry, so I whipped out my new fuzzy socks that my boss put in my stocking. :-) It was a silly and fun afternoon. We proceeded to do our White Elephant and eat chocolate cheesecake. It was a true WE with a Hello Kitty water cooler, anchovies, A snuggie and various other gifts. I walked away with the Snuggie! YES! Now I can be warm and have my hands free!

I have to say that I am grateful to work in an office that's more like a family. We have fun with what we do and enjoy being around each other. 

Wordless Wednesday (Merry Christmas)

Christmas Cookie's

Here's a continuation of my Christmas traditions. For years growing up, my mom and I would make various types of cookies for our families. But us I mean my mom would make them and I would sit on the counter and add the various ingredients to the mixing bowl, and then of course be the taste tester! I have continued this tradition in my own little family. Every year I have made Darin's family recipe of Scotcheroo's, but it wasn't until last year that Darin and I decided to delve into my family recipe's and made the go to chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies with frosting. This year, after digging deep into my memories I remembered a candy cane cookie recipe that my mom used to make. So I decided with our go to recipes to add this to our repertoire.  Shortly after beginning to make these I realized how time consuming they were. Not complicated, just a long stretch of time to make. Below is a description of how to make these and Darin's favorite as well. Enjoy!

Candy Canes

What you'll need:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix thoroughlt butter, shortening, confectioner's sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla.  Blend in flour and salt. divide the dough in half and blend food color into one half. 

For each candy cane, shape 1 teaspoon of dough from each half into a 4-inch rope. (For smooth, even ropes, roll the dough back and forth on a lightly floured board.) Place the ropes side be side and press together lightly; twist. Place on a greased baking sheet and curve the top of each twist to form the handle of the cane.

Bake about 9 minutes or until set and very light brown. Mix candy and granulated sugar; sprinkle on the hot cookies and remove from the baking sheet.

Scotcheroo's

What you'll need:

6-8 cups Rice Crispies

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

semi-sweet chocolate morsels

butterscotch morsels

Pour Karo syrup and sugar into saucepan over medium to high heat. Bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly. Once boiling take off heat and add peanut butter. Stir until blended smooth. Once blended, pour into rice krispies bowl and fold until well blended. Don't forget to get all the rice kripsies at the bottom of the bowl. Pour mixture onto cookie sheet. Roll firmly into cookie sheet.

In a large measuring cup, put 1/3 cup butterscotch morsel's and 2/3 cup semi-sweet morsels. Heat in a microwave in 30 to 40 seconds at a time. Each time stirring well. Do not over heat. You can do it slower if you desire. Spread over rice krispies treats and put into refrigerator until firm. Cut and enjoy!

We hope you enjoyed baking and traditions as much as we do! Merry Christmas from the Kimball's and Santa's Little Helper (Shelby).

Santa's Little Helper! - "I can lick the bowl for you!"

Spruce Up Your Christmas Cards

As the holidays approach we all realize that it's the time of year that we send out cards and updates on our lives for the past year. In our office we are no exception, however this year we have decided to cut back on our holiday card allowance and use store bought cards instead of ordering. We we saw them they just lacked a certain element so we decided to dress them up. 

Card Before

What You'll Need:
(4) Boxes of store bought cards - 40 count

(1) Bottle of Elmer's Glue

(1) Jar of Red Glitter

Time and Patience

Directions:

Take a card and place a drop of glue on each area you want accented. Shake the glitter over the glue until no white remains. Let card dry for at least 12 hours (you want them to be dry enough to put into the envelopes for mailing). Repeat with all cards. Once dry, sign your cards with your preferred adornment, put into envelopes and mail! A very simple, yet effective way to make your cards special!

Bar Stools and Call Brand Booze

This is a shameless plug. I know I know, but this really means a lot to me and I hope you all can help me out. As most of you know, last year, on July 15, 2009, my father was diagnosed with a stage four glio blastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer. His strong will, access to experimental drugs and faith have allowed him to live a normal life. He is currently cancer free, but will always be on experimental drugs to prevent any return of this cancer. Because of this disease he has decided to check an item off of his bucket list.

He has always had a passion for music and songwriting. This year he decided to copyright, produce and sell his music. He has had the cd's in production and is now up for sale on a cd website. On the site, the entire CD can be purchased or each song can be sold separately. You can also listen to a portion of all ten songs. Read the narrative and learn more about each title. Anyone can buy a copy from CDBaby for $16, however it is less expensive if purchased through my step-mom Daryl or myself. ($10 if you live locally and $12 if you want it mailed). His goal is to sell 700 copies!

Bar Stools and Call Brand Booze by Bob Saunders is now available on CDBaby.
http://www.cdbaby.com/ 

You can find it by typing Bob Saunders into the search box at the top of the screen. Or, you can use the direct link to his CD which is below.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Search/Ym9iIHNhdW5kZXJz/0kZXJz/0 

Please give it a listen and if you are interested in ordering it from me please let me know! You can also order it any time off the website. This means a lot to me and I hope you can help my dad out! It is a great album of country music!

Thank you!

Tis the Season - Decor, Cards and Clocks

As a child, I always looked forward to putting up the Christmas decor with my mom the day after Thanksgiving and keeping it up until New Years. We would pull out the 10 or so large plastic containers and get to work. One year, after many years of me being sick on Christmas my mom decided that it was time to get an artificial tree. As much as I protested this, ever since I have not been sick since. So each year we would set up the 7 foot artificial tree and begin the process. First went up the angel, then the massive collection of childhood and Santa ornaments, and then the bead garland (we did popcorn and tinsel a couple of years, but that was a pain and difficult to clean up). Then, while my dad and I giggled and teased my mom regarding her Santa obsession we then put out the rest of the decor and stair garland.

As an adult however, things haven't been the same. So Darin and I have started to make our own traditions. Every year we go to Color Me Mine and paint a ceramic Christmas decoration. We also have a Home Alone marathon. While pulling out our ornaments I decided that we would only put up sentimental and ornaments that we have purchased together. I have a massive collection of ballerina ornaments, that got left in the box since Shelby thinks they are eatable. This year we decided to start a photo tradition. While listening to holiday music to put us in the spirit, we would take photos of our tree set up in its various stages. This made the task really fun, and Darin put together an animated image to show the various stages. We made our entire holiday set up in a record 2 hour time! (Including putting the boxes away!) We have our stockings hung, lights up and all the music accounted for to be able to keep the spirit alive in our house.

Another tradition that we started was to send out Christmas cards. We took a couple of our favorite photos from the last year and sent them into Costco to get them printed. Then we did the unthinkable! A Costco run, on a Sunday three weeks before Christmas! It was a MAD HOUSE! We did some shopping and got some good ideas for some gifts. Now to address all the cards and get them in the mail this week! All in all it was a productive weekend! Next weekend my good friend Hope and I plan to have a baking frenzy weekend! Cookies and treats galore! This just might be my favorite part!

On a side note, we have a Christmas wall clock that has been sans batteries for years. Mostly because we haven't had any handy during the holidays. On our trip out to the warehouse store Darin decided to buy the jumbo pack of batteries (40 batteries for $15!) When we got home he put batteries in this clock. Now let me tell you that this isn't an ordinary clock. every hour on the hour it sings a different Christmas Carol: 1: The 1st Noel, 2: We Wish You a Merry Christmas, 3: Joy to the World, 4: Angels We Have Heard on High, 5: O Come All Ye Faithful, 6: O Little Town of Bethlehem, 7: Deck the Halls, 8: Jingle Bells, 9: Silent Night, 10: O Christmas Tree, 11: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, 12: 12 Days of Christmas. Needless to say this is one of those hand-me-down gifts that my mom got sick of and gave it to me. If you come over to our house be for-warned that you will either be sung a carol by our clock....or the face will be stuck in limbo because I went crazy and took out the batteries! :-P

Chocolate Cake

Well this week was certainly interesting. After vacation you always have a couple of days of dragging and trying to get back into the rhythm. This return from vacation was no different. As Darin and I headed back to work on Monday we both felt that need to go back on vacation. However Darin had something to look forward to. Before the holiday he got the word that he got promoted to CSSR at Wells Fargo! FINALLY!!!!!! We were so excited and had much to celebrate, but training had to start this week on December 1st. So he said his goodbyes to his current branch and they sent him off with a card and a chocolate cake. Tuesday we had eaten a couple of pieces out of it and toasted his success.

On Wednesday however things took a drastic change. Darin had to start training and went to Woodland Hills all day so our puppy didn't get her usual lunch break from the crate. We had made plans to go over to Don and Linda's (Darin's parents) for dinner that evening so when Darin and I got ready we left and little miss had to go back into her crate. At some point during the 4 hours our Houdini decided that it was escape time and got out of her crate. We came home to a full trash can overturned around our entire apartment and the plastic cake container....EMPTY! Yup, our baby girl ate an entire chocolate cake. If you have pets than you know how dangerous this is, but usually it takes an extreme amount of chocolate to really do damage. I watched her to make sure that she was ok and she seemed fine. She had eaten chocolate before so I figured I could just watch her. The next morning, after sleeping fine through the night and exhibiting no symptoms, I thought we were in the clear. Boy was I wrong! I had to schedule a Furlough Day at work (day off without pay, because our office has been slow so we need to cut back costs. At least I still have a job, but it does suck to miss a day of work.) My mom planned to come down for my cousin's baby shower so we were going to get our nails done and get ready for the shower. I had taken the pup down for her potty time and noticed that she had very dark (chocolate looking) diarrhea. So I thought uh oh. Went upstairs to research chocolate poisoning symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, rapid breathing, hyperactivity, and seizures. Well up until that point she only had the diarrhea. My mom knocked on our door and Shelby went NUTS! I mean bouncing off the walls (Hyperactivity). Then she vomited all over the carpet, and turned around, lie down with her back to me and became very listless. So at that moment I decided off to the vet we go!

Once we got into the car to make the trek to Studio City Animal Hospital, Shelby decided that she was feeling better (after another bowel movement of chocolate poo). We get to the hospital and they start to do tests. The vet had told me that we should have brought her in withing 2 hours of eating the cake (but we were gone for four and had no idea when she ate the thing). They decided that she needed to stay overnight to receive IV fluids and monitoring for her rapid heart rate (to see for an arrhythmia) and watch for seizures. So an overnight stay, and a large vet bill later our puppy came home yesterday. She was very tired, but is doing better. We are glad to have her home!

Doppleganger

When I was in Florida I met a cousin that I haven't seen in 25 years. He kept looking at me strangely then he finally told me "Wow I can't believe how much you look like Fergie!" My first reaction was "No! Not the girl from the Black Eyes Peas!" However he was referring to Sarah Ferguson, The Dutchess of York. I was hoping for some opinions. Let me know! Thanks!

My Angel

I began this blog as a way to describe some of those pent up feelings that are left inside me, and less as a DIY or whats going on in my life, however it seems that it has turned into all three. Up until this point I haven't really talked about any feelings. Here we go. The last couple of months have been strange for me. An odd sense of uncertainty and heaviness has left me feeling quite strange. I can't exactly pin point a particular incident that sparked it, but there it has been, looming underneath in my subconscious. I can't help but feel like I am being a scrooge, but somehow something is missing this year. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I should be overjoyed with all the happenings going on around me, but I am not.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Darin and I went to Florida to visit my father and step mom. Being that Thanksgiving is my step mom's favorite holiday and they are a multi-religion household and Christmas is less important we started this tradition of spending Thanksgiving with the Saunders clan. Last year, on July 15, 2009, my father was diagnosed with a stage four glio blastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer. His strong will, access to experimental drugs and faith have allowed him to live a normal life. He is currently cancer free, but will always be on experimental drugs to prevent any return of this cancer. Because of this horrible disease, I have come to the realization that people don't live forever. Yes all this time I knew that, but its hard to understand it when a person of a young age comes close to it. I haven't really ever talked about how I feel, I just tend to push it down into myself and suppress it. So this is why we have chosen to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with the Saunders'. It is always wonderful to see the other side of my family and for Darin to see where I get the other half of my personality from. That stubbornness had to come from somewhere.


This year my father made the decision to copyright and publish his music and sell it online as to check off a bucket list item. Now the CD isn't up for purchase yet, but it is for sale through me if you are interested. He will be donating some of the proceeds for cancer research. Many years ago, sometime after my mom and father split, he wrote a song for me, which is included in the CD. I still have a hard time listening to the song, because the lyrics are straight from the heart.

My Angel
by Bob Saunders

There’s only two times I’ve seen an Angel
The first time was when your momma became my wife
And the second time, was just as beautiful.
It was the day you came into my life.

It wasn’t very long, after you were born
I couldn’t keep it together and in two short years you were gone
I guess I made some big mistakes back in those early years
I always thought about you as I cried my share of tears

Now you’re getting on in age, you have a whole life of your own
The happiness you’ve made, may you never be alone
Live each day for all its worth, and take life in stride
Just call your daddy now and then, to let me know you’re alright

There’s only two times I’ve seen an Angel
The first time was when your momma became my wife
And the second time, was just as beautiful.
It was the day you came into my life.
Oh it was the day you came into my life.

After the past year, seeing my father overcome such hardships and still have a positive outlook on life, it has made me realize that somethings are not worth the heartache and aggravation. The Serenity Prayer said it right: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. This year as we all make our New Years Resolutions, mine is not going to be your standard I will lose weight and be healthier, or I will save money this year. Mine is going to be to try to understand where people around me are coming from, and to not feel like I am being stepped on. I will go my own path and if other cannot accept it, so be it. I must understand that I cannot make everyone happy all the time (even though I try) but to try and make myself and my marriage to Darin the happiest it can be. To not feel like a victim, or feel sorry for myself. This is a vow I make to myself.