Barefeet in High Heels

I have wanted a pair of cowboy boots since before I moved to Texas. 

This year, these were under the tree...

Thanks mom!!

Mr. and Mrs. K gave us quite an assortment of gifts.  Everything ranging from ornaments to books to...well, lightbulbs.

I loved each and every one but was especially excited by this:

The Red Plate.

From the Red Plate website:

Engineering Man has been plaguing Mrs. K with a new environmental and economical upgrade for their house.

Fluorescent light bulbs.

Mrs. K hates them.

She decided to give us our own "environmental"...

















...and "economical" lightbulbs as a present.

The packaging was the best though...

...I couldn't stop giggling...

...this had to have been my favorite line...

Merry Christmas!

Within the past few months I learned a quick and easy way to wrap shirts, pants, and other "soft" gifts.  

The best part about it?  They look like giant pieces of candy.

So, for those out there that still have a giant stack of presents to wrap, here's the details.

First...lay out a piece of cellophane.

Then lay out a double layer of any color tissue paper.  To keep with my holiday wrapping theme I chose green.

Fold your clothing item and place in the middle on the bottom half of the cellophane/tissue.

Then, roll the item up like a tootsie roll. 

Double over the end of the paper and tape in the middle and on each "end" of the item you're wrapping.

Cut two pieces of ribbon. 

Flip the item over and grab the end of the paper and tie the end.

Do the same to the other and...done!

Happy wrapping.

We exchanged presents with our "host" family yesterday.

I never thought I could have so much fun opening 5 presents.  It was fabulous.

Mini #1 opened a Thomas the train...

...and a Nerf gun...

Mini #2 opened nesting eggs (Mom's favorite)...

Ms. Thing openend some headbands with bling...

...and Mr. High School opened a sweatshirt from his high school...

...and then, well then, Engineering Man and I opened our present...

...it's a Friday's favorites...

Stay tuned!

I've had one wall in my basement that's above Mini #1's toys that I have had major problems decorating.  It's not a well lit corner and is a long skinny space.  Because of the placement, above the toys, I haven't wanted to hang anything heavy, just in case it does fall, or if the mini ones decide to start banging on it.

My grandmother-in-law has the same taste as I in decorating (ecclectic/antique/country) and I told her my idea for using license plates as wall art. 

Ever since I told her, Grandma N has been on the hunt for license plates.  Needless to say, I got just the start I needed for Christmas from her.  And...appropriately enough, she found old Kansas and Nebraska license plates to match my Husker/Jayhawk theme in the basement.

To minimize the holes in the wall, Engineering Man told me to tie the plates together.  Basically this dropped the number of holes by half.

I used the screw holes in the plates, and fishing line to hold  the piece together.

Basically creating a web, and a way to "add" to the collection by just tying other plates to the bottom of the second row.

...my new slippers that Mrs. Claus put in my stocking.

This DIY was actually finished a couple weeks ago, but I couldn't actually post it until now because it was a Christmas gift for the grandparents!

My sister-in-law had the brilliant idea of making stepping stones for my parents for Christmas.

So, off to Hobby Lobby (or as Mini #1 calls it Lobby Wobby) to find the stuff.

We came home with the following...

I separated the mix into two separate batches.

Because I work for the state, I've had the good fortune of having the past 12 days off work.  AMAZING.

Also, because of just needing some down time, and maybe because I've been spending a lot of time on our new Wii, I took the week off blogging.  Here's to catching you up.

(Sorry there are so many pictures...easiest way to explain it all!)

The two weeks included Santa presents...

...Egypt watching us open presents...

...LOTS of Nebraska Cornhusker stuff...

..."digging up" snow...

...playing in snow...

...weighing a ham...