Sometimes Good is Good Enough

Are you scrambling to finish Christmas cooking, crafts/handmade gifts, shopping, gift wrapping, cards, etc?  Surely, I'm not the only one.  Why am I blogging and catching up on my favorite blogs instead of getting other things done?  Because I feel like it.  It's not that I don't care about everything else because I do.  If I stress and lose sleep over everything I'd like to get done (because let's be real here none of it needs to be done) for the holidays, then I'm not going to be very good company, am I?  It's time to compromise and reset my expectations.

Cooking:  No more homemade treats just have to be made.  We're done.  Unless I decide to try something super easy like The Country Chic Cottage posted here.  Or, my mother-in-law asks me to bring something to dinner.  :)

Rudolph Cupcakes

My crafts and handmade gifts:  I'm not done.  I have tomorrow off from work and I'll at least finish gifts for my  niece.  Otherwise, I'm simply not going to complete everything else in time.  It's ok.  No, really.  It is ok.  I can use jewelery sized present boxes from the $1 store and inside I'll tuck in a swatch of their gift's fabric with a cute "IOU one      insert cool gift here     " note.  Besides belated gifts will be an excellent reason to catch up with everyone again after the holiday dust settles in January.

Recycled Can Lid Gift Tag

Shopping:  This is mostly done.  I'll be picking up a few random things tomorrow or Friday.  Looking for a gift idea for anyone with a sense of humor?  Knock Knock is awesome but it's too late to order from them online.  Some shops carry their items though so keep an eye out.  I like to give one of my favorite 'fun' shows Firefly, The Big Bang Theory, or Psych.  If you like these shows, I'll be your friend.  :)

Gift wrapping:  Jake makes me an awesome wall of gift wrapping and ribbon organization (my absolute favorite house project this year) and I don't have a single gift wrapped for Christmas morning yet.  I adore wrapping gifts though and will probably do them Christmas Eve morning.

masculine gift wrapping

Holiday Cards:  Monday night I created our 2010 Christmas photo cards online and submitted them to our local walmart's one hour photo center.  I braved the crowds and picked them up during lunch yesterday (entering/exiting through the garden center helped) and realized that I only ordered half the amount I need.  Oops.  I went through my Christmas card list last night and did the ones that should be mailed first.  Then, I went online to order more cards and found that our local walmart's one hour photo equipment is down.  I was bothered at first and considered sending the Christmas card order to another store.  I decided against it so some friends may be receiving New Years cards instead.  :)

simple homemade card

Today, one of Jake's sisters invited us to lunch on Christmas Eve and I'm looking forward to it.  Maybe I could've spent that time completing something on my Christmas to-do list but I'd much prefer to spend the time with her instead.  :)

Masculine Gift Wrapping?

As you can see by looking at my gift wrapping and ribbon wall, I'm drawn to pretty papers and I love to use loads of ribbon.  I try to stay gender neutral in my wrapping paper roll selections but sometimes I feel a bit silly presenting fellas with frilly wrapped gifts.  I had a DVD set to wrap and some fairly masculine looking scrapbook paper was laying around so I decided to give it a try.

One sheet of scrapbook paper almost covered the DVD set but not quite.

I could've just covered that gap with ribbon but I decided to use a second sheet of coordinating paper instead (cut using the middle section of the paper - like trimming triangles off the sides off a diamond).

Then, I simply tied a bit of ribbon around that.  Ta da!

If this didn't work out, I was just going to tie some ribbon on the handles of the Best Buy bag the set came home in. ;)

Have you ever watched The Big Bang Theory?  Jake and I enjoy this sitcom!  Sheldon is our favorite character and the actor, Jim Parsons, who plays him won an Emmy this year.  We're actually watching a favorite episode (The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis) right now as I type.  :) If you want a fun gift for the self-proclaimed nerds/dorks/geeks in your life that seem to have everything, give them this show!

My Gift to You

If you ever find yourself disheartened by your DIY home improvement efforts, we have the perfect cure.  It is a little show called Renovation Realities that airs on the DIY Network and HGTV.  Laughter cures just about everything and I'm pretty sure that laughing at other people works even faster.  After watching people destroy their homes and inadvertently risk their lives, your minor missteps will make you feel like a pro.  I have just one problem with this show.  Alison always assumes that we are much smarter than the people on the show.  While that may seem like a safe bet, it doesn’t qualify us to complete the same projects others have failed.

Most of the projects aren’t that hard, yet they always find a way to fail. Where do they find these people?  Is it the camera?  Do they have to promise to act stupid and overly emotional to get on this show?  They cannot budget time or money, cannot keep track of their tools, and cannot follow instructions.  Ok so they are 99% of the male population.  If you're interested in appearing on our favorite home show, you can apply here.  We'll kick back and have some laughs at your expense.

If watching Are you smarter than a fifth grader? makes you feel dumb or your latest DIY attempt failed, simply tune into Renovation Realities on HGTV Wednesdays at 10:30pm or DIY Network Saturdays at 9pm.  Assuming you wouldn’t try to roll a loaded wheelbarrow down a flight of stairs or risk your life 25 feet in the air while you demo a ceiling from above (yeah above!) like the mother-daughter team in The McFarland Job, you should score a nice ego boost.  Just when we thought it couldn't get any better...all episodes are 'narrated' by snarky written comments (a la VH1 popup videos).  Enjoy!