Aaron got me a nut roaster and three different flavors of glaze for Christmas so we made toffee coated nuts for New Years Eve. Ooooweeee they are good. I have big plans for the nut roaster in the new year.

My mom continues to feed my Pyrex addiction. She found me this small friendship pattern casserole, a yellow casserole with carrying handles, a four set of mixing bowls and one small baby blue bowl.

I love the friendship pattern, it reminds me of Pennsylvania Dutch designs.

Dear Stewie,

You are so lucky that ball of yarn you maniacally unwound on the dining room floor last night was only some extra leftover from a dishtowel. Otherwise I would knit a little pink sweater and make you wear it all winter as punishment.

- Your knitting human

To offset the convience of shopping online is the stress of shipping. Every year I find myself obsessively checking the front porch for an overdue delivery. This year it was these Unazukin decision maker dolls I ordered for Shruti and Aprille. They didn't make it in time and I had to make little cards with the dolls apologizing for their lateness.

They did eventually get here and they were worth the wait. So cute... and so decisive.

I am starting to think all retail establishments should employ dogs. I love it when they greet me at the door and it makes me buy more stuff.

Featured here is Aaron with two cuties at Craft Company No 6, Tom from the Pittsford Dairy Christmas tree stand, a happy fellow at Wickham Pumpkin Patch and Gobi at Whittier Apple Farm.

ShopDogs are better than the greeter at WalMart!

Tina got me I Like You by Amy Sedaris for Christmas and it is hilarious. Between her and David Sedaris, I can't imagine what it was like growing up in their household.

Aaron and I are in PA for the holidays with our family. I look forward to it for months but leaving behind all the decorations I painstakingly hung for the season is a bummer.

Our Christmas tree is especially interesting. We have been very particular about what ornaments we get for it. Each one is carefully considered. As a result the ornaments say a lot about us. You can also sort of tell who picked which ones. Aaron... Boba Fett and Spiderman. Jenny... a mushroom and a tortoise. Aaron would hang a fleet of scooters if he could find them. I would like a whole family of bunnies.

I have given out most of these so I feel safe revealing the Christmas Theme of 2006... CANDY!

Aaron two kinds of chocolates... cranberry & sea salt and cinnamon and chile and I designed 2007 calendars to fit in photo boxes I found this summer.

Everything was packaged in gift bags with a Fimo lollipop and Oscar & Stewie gift tag. There are more pictures on my projects Gallery.

I am already thinking about next years theme.

I was so excited to get Lauren a present this Christmas. At this time last year her mom was laying on the couch on bedrest... no clue as to the roller coaster ride they were in for the next few months.

But now she is here and she deserves the bestest gift ever. A purple rocking elephant. Ok, so she isn't quite ready to ride it yet, but isn't it the cutest thing?

I think the very best thing was that she ripped the wrapping paper all by herself. She is getting so big, I can hardly believe it. Merry First Christmas Munchkin!

More pictures of Lauren ripping wrapping paper are on my Gallery.

A few months ago, Tina had a pizza delivered that infuriated her. It was a thin crust pizza the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and cost her twenty bucks. She sent me phone pics of it, called the pizza parlor manager feeling cheated, ranted and raved for days.

So for Christmas at the Clarks, Aaron and I picked up a Big Piatza! It is the biggest pizza you ever saw. We had trouble getting it in the car, we couldn't get it in Tina's front door, and it barely fit on the counter.

The really frightening thing is we ate two thirds of it, just the four of us.

I was watching my recorded episode of Martha and she was making cookies with Miss Piggy. I love that.

Miss Piggy took a moment to promote her new Christmas CD, A Green and Red Christmas. How could I have missed that til now!?

Sometimes Aaron comes with me to Sit & Knit so to give him something to do I got him the Stupid Sock Creatures book for his birthday. Yes! Aaron can sew! I got him thread, buttons, sissors, everything he would need.

Check out the critter he has been working on. He doesn't have legs yet but he is still hilarious! I can't wait for a whole gaggle of Stupid Sock Creatures.

Then I will get him the Plush-o-rama Curious Creatures for Immature Adults book! I want that chicken with the teeth!

My friend Shruti showed me this amazing toaster online. I have something like this that makes grilled cheese pockets, but it doesn't have a design like this.

I don't think I could eat toast that looked this good!

Today Aaron and I went to the Ridge Road Station to visit the Christmas shop and look at the model trains. We spent about two hours looking at the train sets and almost went home with one for under the Christmas tree. I could totally get obsessed with creating little villages for a train to run through.

We finally got to the RoCo (Rochester Contemporary) to use the Art O Mat (one of several cigarette machines renovated to dispense art). This is what I got....

I call it my angry block.

Pets can be so cute. Look at this... awwww... so cute. So cuddly.

But not always. Here is a harsh dose of reality.

[If you have a weak stomach, do not read further]

This morning I was brushing my teeth, when I heard both Oscar and Stewie munching on something. I thought maybe Stewie knocked over his food container and they were helping themselves. Oh no.

I went into the bedroom to discover that Oscar had thrown up and they were both feasting on the undigested bits of his breakfast kibble. Uggggh. I had to drag both of them out and shut them out of the room while I cleaned it up.

Double ick.

Back in July I posted the very exciting news that I met Martha Stewart. Today I have a funny post on A Thousand Words about some plans I had for the picture from that day. Go check it out!

Note that I got the winter banner up before it is officially winter!

I found an unfinished dog wooden bendy toy (what ARE these called?) at Joanne's and I have big plans to paint him to look like a pug. I kind of like him unfinished too.

Maybe I should go back for more.

There is an amazing Christmas light display in my neighborhood. This evening we walked Oscar down to see them. I took a few pictures and a few video clips too. Neither come close to relaying the overwhelming amount of decorations and level of detail.

I uploaded the videos onto YouTube.

Yesterday we went to the George Eastman House to see the Gingerbread Houses they have on display. I was so incredibly hungry for a cookie by the time we were ready to leave. No one would have missed a little bite taken out of the Leaning Tower of Gingerbread would they?

Here are some pictures I took of the houses... and a bonus at the end... ridiculously cute pictures of Lauren from when we babysat her that morning.

Today when I logged into Blogger I saw the option to switch to the new beta version. It looked good so I started to sign up for it. Unfortunately I was r-e-j-e-c-t-e-d for the beta version because I have over two thousand posts. I have 2,682 to be exact. Wow.

I am kinda bummed though that I can't upgrade because I'm a veteran blogger.

I was standing in a checkout line when I spotted these dark chocolate dipped peppermint altoids. You won't find out anything about them on the Altoids site... that drives me nuts.

But I bought a tin and can say that they are quite tasty.

Several people asked if I got anything at the antique shops over Thanksgiving. The answer is... just this apple. Since it is so close to Christmas I am supposed to be on a "buying freeze" to prevent me from buying myself potential gifts.

So all I came home with was this little apple container.

My mom got me this vintage potato ricer and I thought it looked cool. The other day I was making twice baked potatoes and was wondering how to mush up the potato guts when I remembered this potato ricer.

It worked perfectly! My mom would sigh if she knew I am actually using my antique potato ricer instead of displaying it.

Here's a great gift for the cereal lover in your life. Cereal on the Go holds your cereal, keeps your milk cold and has a fold up spoon. In four stylish colors!

I was adding a comment to one of my posts the other day and this was the word verification I got. Too close to jenny... creepy.

When you start a fire in our fireplace this is all you see in front of it.

Lounging hearth pets. Little heat misers.

Yesterday we trooped out to Wilbert's Tree Farm to get our Christmas trees. This was Lauren's first Christmas tree.

Unfortunately her parents never hear of "Don't shake hands with a Blue Spruce" because they got a killer prickly jaggy tree. It drew blood on Chuck's hands when he brought it in the house.

Here are some pictures of our day on My Gallery. (after we got our trees we feasted on lobster and peppermint sundaes)

While I was home for Thanksgiving my mom, grandma and I went to a couple antique centers. I couldn't tear myself away from this particular vendor that had cabinet after cabinet of Pyrex, Fire King and other vintage dishes.

The vendor did a great job of organizing the dishes by color. Very appealing. I especially liked the pink and turqoise display. I took several pictures.

I just saw an ad for these Dirt Devil Kone Hand Vacuums. I think they look so cool! They come in six different colors. The white one glows when it is plugged in.

I like the pink one of course.