I’m reading along, minding my own business.

And then HOLY HOLY HOLY CRAP!

Guess what’s #1???

(Hint: I wouldn’t be telling you this story if it wasn’t somehow related to me.)

My ruffle butt onesies!

Head on over and check out the rest of the top 10. It’s some good stuff.

Thanks to Kari over at UCreate for asking me to guest blog. And thanks to all of you for reading.

I’m blogging the recipe primarily so I’ll quit losing it. My mom got it from a college roommate of hers, I think. If you like sugar cookies that just taste like sugar cookies (no almond, lemon, etc.), then this is the recipe for you.

1 lb margarine (seriously DO NOT use butter)
3 eggs
2 c sugar
3 t vanilla
6 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Mix, roll, cut, and bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes.

Use as little extra flour to roll and cut them as possible and don’t roll the dought out more times than necessary.

And speaking of recipes….last time I was at my mom’s, we made some salsa that she found by clicking over to one of you readers’ blogs. It was called Finch Family Salsa and it was delicious, but she can’t remember where she copied it from. If it was you, THANKS!

In an effort to prevent fighting injuries, we’ve done quite a bit of movie watching. In no particular order, here are our top 4 holiday movies this year.

Prancer. My mom owns this on VHS and my kids liked it so much we ordered our own copy. Amazon has the DVD for about $7.

Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special. Here’s the part where I admit to setting my alarm Saturday mornings as a teen so my mom and I could watch Pee Wee’s Playhouse together. Pee Wee KILLS me. The humor level on this one is right up Keller and Campbell’s alley. And they’ve been obsessed with yellow snow ever since.

Elf. Keller wanted to be Buddy the Elf for Halloween a couple years back. We love this movie. I think we even have 2 copies…one for the house and one for the van.

And possibly the best Christmas movie ever….The Muppet Christmas Carol. If you’ve never seen this, you really need to find it and watch it. NOW.

What are your holiday must see movies?

Are you ready for the holidays? I’m getting there. I got family trees for both of my grandmas finished. Templates from Erin at Sutton Grace here. I ended up using IKEA frames slightly larger than the ones she suggested, but I think they still look good.

I think my love of spray paint has officially become an addiction. Admitting it is the first step, right? I spray painted in my garage at 9 pm the other night. And it was in the 20′s. And then because it was too cold for paint to dry at that temperature, I brought it inside to dry in the comfort of my kitchen. What was it I HAD to paint at that very moment? The metal bucket my poinsettia came in.

But look how cute!

I’ve also been working like mad on neighbor gifts. (Is this a Utah thing, or do you all do it too?) Yesterday the kids and I dipped 300+ fortune cookies.

Looks delish, right? We put them in Chinese take out containers with a note that said “We’re fortunate to have great friends and neighbors like you!”.

So, what are you still working on? What’d you do for neighbors?

Thanks to everyone who entered the YCMT giveaway.

And HUGE thanks to the two people that bought the camera straps I put up for auction for the Emily Jones Memorial Fund auction over at A Daily Scoop.

Rebekah, who said “What an awesome giveaway! I’d love to win this!”

And our second winner is:

I need both of you to email me at [email protected] with the email address you want your eBooks delivered to!

We made a bunch while we were at my mom’s last week and hung them everywhere.

SERIOUSLY easy. If you have paper, scissors, tape (though I think Glue Dots would be fabulous), and a stapler you’re good to go.

We used these directions from How About Orange.

If you don’t have a printer or don’t trust your kids with an Exacto knife (hint: I don’t), you can fold a square into diagonal fourths and then cut with scissors where I made the lines in this picture:

***Don’t forget to enter the YCMT giveaway here***