Again, totally not dead.

I'm in that slump.  Not the "I'm sorta sad" slump, but the slump that says "My new job makes me not want to see a computer when I get home."

The only motivation I try for is to get my jiggles to the gym.  And that takes all of my will power because it's so cold out and wouldn't it be so much nicer to cuddle up in a blanket next to my twinkling tree and read?

I do sometimes check pinterest from my phone and occasionally go to google reader on the phone too, but it's not very often, I'm sorry to admit.  There are some blogs that are 100+ posts that I'm behind on.

Boo.

But I promise to do better.

So I decided to share what I've been up to since the Great Slump of 2011. (Yes, that is what it shall be named.)

All were inspired by Pinterest and therefore I don't feel like posting them individually as crafts because really I'm just a big copy cat.

We'll begin with the wrapping paper bows, as shown here: 

Via Pinterest

And now: I shall show you mine:

I seriously love this so much I may never go back to conventional curling ribbon again.  (Aside from the kind I already have on there of course, but that's beside the point.)

And it's WRAPPING PAPER!  Creative, and thrifty and all around awesome.

Hooray for smart people whom I love to copy!

Next up, we have the Candy Cane Wreath, originally inspired by Whipperberry:

Via Pinterest.

Gorgeous right?  Well mine is a little sad compared to this but I'm still keeping it:

It's skinnier and obviously I should have used bigger squares, but I still like it even though it's not as thick and hearty as Whipperberry's. 

My Christmas Mantle.  And yes, my TV is off center, I just noticed that as well.  And the white stocking will NOT hang the way its supposed to.  It's my husband's stocking, and well, it's being difficult.

Last up, we have the cascading ornament centerpiece from Pinterest:

Via Pinterest

These are cute, clumped perfectly, alternating in size and classy.  I still like mine but I executed it differently.  I'm using ornaments I didn't use on the tree and I'm using festive ribbon - also - there's much less ornaments:

See, less, but I still like it.

I think they're pretty.

My husband likes it too.  He came home one evening after I had finished and I made the poor choice in asking the 29 year old man "How do you like my dangling balls?"

Still not living that one down.

They're "Cascading Ornaments!"

Inappropriate share for this time of year?  Too bad.

Speaking of this time of year I'm looking for the right opportunity to gift a stranger in a drive thru.  I've heard of such things before and it just recently happened to my Mom.  She rolled up to McDonald's one morning and the guy at the window said, "The woman in front of you paid for your oatmeal and said to tell you 'Merry Christmas'."

She got to pay it forward last week in the Arctic Circle drive thru,  (If you're not from Utah, Arctic Circle is a Utah staple that's slowly going out of business, but is the supposed inventor of "fry sauce" back in the early fifties.  That too, is a Utah thing.)  Although she had a hard time explaining her intentions to the teller at the drive thru, he got it eventually though.  She said it was so much fun that she hopes she gets to do it again.

So I'm looking for my Drive Thru Christmas Spirit opportunity.  I invite everyone who reads to join me, it's suppose to make you feel like a million bucks.  (They say service often does that.)

And to those who have had this happen, I invite you to pay it forward!  It's the season of giving, right?

For fun, I'll include my tree this year:

Just kidding.  This is from Pinterest.  I wish it were my tree though.

It's probably loaded with no less than 40 strands of white twinkle lights.  It's beautiful though.

No, this is my humble little tree:

It works for us.  It's been doing it's thing for the last 3 years and you've got to respect that.  It holds our "memory" ornaments, ones from our childhood, ones that we've picked up from our travels and milestone ornaments.  Alright, there's one milestone ornament, it's not like they sell a "We made it 3 years" ornament!  

Which by the way, our 3 year anniversary was last Tuesday.  I might as well remind you that it was freezing:

My coat covered my dress!  The dress is not to be downplayed!  Don't you ask me where my coat is on my wedding day!  If I had this thing on in subarctic temperatures, I still would have gone without a coat!

Sorry, but some things just shouldn't have to be explained.

Anyway, that's all I have for today.  I hope you all have a lovely "last weekend to really get it done" weekend.  I too will be looking for presents as well.