Friday Foto Finish Fiesta, 2009.12.11

Lead Reindeer

Reindeer in Training

Elf Eyeballing Cookies

Reindeer Games

1. In your Phriday personal post, include a phavorite photograph (like how I did that?) and a brief description of why it is your phave. Anything at all works for me … one picture, more pictures, a video … even if you participate it another blogger’s Friday event you can double up as long as you link back to me within your post.

2. My advice is that you jump on board now bephore everyone in the nation gets involved and there are no mega-giga-y2k-bytes lepht phor you!

3. As always, if you have any questions or just want to chat about cats or kids or what I am going to do with the ten spare hours I now have every Phriday, you can contact me at candidcarrie at gmail dot com!

5. Try to remember to link back to me, if you don’t know how or would like some help, I’ll gladly assist you!

Let the Phestivities begin!

The Mother Flocker Of All Christmas Trees

As tradition has it, the weekend after Thanksgiving means we need to get our Christmas tree. I kissed my husband good-bye, gave him a huge hug and told him I would see him soon. As I watched him disappear, I let out a heavy sigh. It seems like we just did this, could a year have gone by this quickly?

About two hours later my husband returned to me. He was cold, out of breath and empty handed. “I can’t find anything in that attic.”

We have a decent sized attic, there is a chimney running up the middle and stuff piled in what I thought was a logical order. You’ve got your basics:

* Standard Holiday Region (including but not limited to Easter, Independence/Memorial Day, Halloween, Christmas)

* American Girl Molly and Bitty Baby Region

* The Barbie and Ken Bonanza (featuring full frontal nudity, male and female)

* The My Favorite Clothes That Are Too Small Region

* The My Favorite Clothes That Are Way Too Small Region

* The My Favorite Clothes From When I Was Blond and Sinfully Thin

* The My Favorite Clothes From High School Region

* Dishes That I Really Like But Will Never Use Because They Are Not A Complete Set

I think you get the general idea. I like my clutter, I like my stuff. I like things around me and I can’t get enough!

So, here’s the deal. I no longer do lights because, although I am old, I have been on this earth long enough to make the grown up decision that life it too short to NOT have a pre-lit tree. Therefore, my trees are pre-lit (as I should have been before I started this project) since the year after pre-lit trees were available to the general public. The first year they were too outrageously priced.

The coveted pre-lit tree makes its way through our attic, down the staircase, living room and finally plugged in the socket. Our forever-lit tree was not responding to the forever-running electrical current we had just generously provided.

Apparently, it is not a FOREVER-lit tree because that would be like making a promise to the consumer. It is just an EVER-lit tree because it will last until WHENEVER it decides to stop being lit. This was the year my tree quit being lit.

That’s alright, we’ll get another pre-lit tree and we can deal with this tree later. I have issues about throwing things away. I would rather save them until I find the perfect recipient.

Off to K-Mart we go, Martha’s calling and I can hear her loud and clear. David and I enter the tree area and I am somewhat disappointed by the choices provided by Ms. Stewart. I finally decide upon the Martha Stewart Everyday Holiday 4.5′ Berry Mountain pre-lit Tree.

As we gazed at this tree I realized what a freakin’ grandmother I have become. I am actually looking at a tabletop tree. How pathetic is that? What’s even worse, is that I don’t want a tall tree because the cats will go up into it! So now I am a freakin’ grandmother worrying about my cats climbing my tree. Wait, it gets worse.

It is a flocked tree, the signature tree of all grandmothers! It is the Mother Flocker of All Christmas Trees.

“Grab it, let’s go,” I whisper to my husband who hoists the mighty tree over his left shoulder and proceeds to the checkout. Wow, give the man an ax and a red-plaid shirt and he could be my personal lumberjack and for less than fifty bucks we are back in business.

And as for the cats? I take apart every single one of the gazillion red ornaments and reassembled them back on the tip of the branches without using any hooks. This way my cats wouldn’t be tempted to bat around the little glass bulbs and our tree will not be their playhouse.

Humorous yet necessary disclaimer: Although I wrote this post in a few years ago, I need to stress that I never received a tree from Martha Stewart. When I was doing a quick search for a picture to go with this article I found the actual tree that I had purchased a few years ago. Being the generous soul that I am and since it is the holidays, I threw Martha a bone by included the link within my recycled post.

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta, 11/27/2009

And then there was this one time I forgot it was Friday.

I have no idea how I took this picture. I’ve got a great camera with a gugajillion settings but I haven’t had time to figure them out. But when I get a shot like this, I am really excited!

1. In your Phriday personal post, include a phavorite photograph (like how I did that?) and a brief description of why it is your phave. Anything at all works for me … one picture, more pictures, a video … even if you participate it another blogger’s Friday event you can double up as long as you link back to me within your post.

2. My advice is that you jump on board now bephore everyone in the nation gets involved and there are no mega-giga-y2k-bytes lepht phor you!

3. As always, if you have any questions or just want to chat about cats or kids or what I am going to do with the ten spare hours I now have every Phriday, you can contact me at candidcarrie at gmail dot com!

5. Try to remember to link back to me, if you don’t know how or would like some help, I’ll gladly assist you!

Let the Phestivities begin!

Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta, 2009.11.20

My oldest daughter is fifteen. And is very very short. She is just under five feet tall. Every time we buy pants for her we need to shorten them. The first step is to hack off about six inches from the bottom of any pair of pants.

My six year old daughter was in the room when we cut the bottoms off a black pair of pants. The result shouldn’t surprise you.

The scraps from the bottom of her pants sat around for a few days, until my eight year old son picked up one of the pieces and, of course, here we go again!

And they are mine, all mine.  Ignore the dirty window in the back of the car that is just begging to have someone write “wash me” all over it.

1. In your Phriday personal post, include a phavorite photograph (like how I did that?) and a brief description of why it is your phave. Anything at all works for me … one picture, more pictures, a video … even if you participate it another blogger’s Friday event you can double up as long as you link back to me within your post.

2. My advice is that you jump on board now bephore everyone in the nation gets involved and there are no mega-giga-y2k-bytes lepht phor you!

3. As always, if you have any questions or just want to chat about cats or kids or what I am going to do with the ten spare hours I now have every Phriday, you can contact me at candidcarrie at gmail dot com!

5. Try to remember to link back to me, if you don’t know how or would like some help, I’ll gladly assist you!

Let the Phestivities begin!

Radio City Christmas Spectacular Give Away

Radio City Rockettes. Three words, huge memories.

The earliest I can recall thoughts of becoming a Rockette  involve a tri-fold mirror located on the first floor of our city’s H.C. Prange Co. As soon as I set foot in front of that gorgeous mirror I started a high-stepping chorus line which involved the three of me doing my best interpretation of The Rockettes’ precision dance kicks.

This holiday season, Madison Square Garden Entertainment is giving each one of us an opportunity to bring the Rockettes home with us for the holidays by presenting us with with a colorful and breath-taking pop up book.

My dear readers, when this package arrived on my doorstep my hands shook. When I opened the package, my heart stopped and the little girl in me came rushing back when I opened the fabulous pop up book. The vibrant colors,  the engaging pictures, the intrict cut outs and pop ups were all brilliantly prepared by Brushfire, LTD.

After devouring the book all by myself, I shared it with my six and eight year old children. I didn’t want to zoom in too close to the pop ups, I’m encouraging you to add this to your holiday shopping list so you can be as excited to see the pop ups, too!

But wait, there’s more! Hidden inside the pop up book is a 32-page hardcover storybook of the show. Yup, two books.

If you are lucky enough to be in near Radio City Music Hall, be sure to visit the Rockettes. Tell them I said hi. Don’t tell them about me and the tri-fold mirror. I’m still trying to move past that one.

And if you are interested in purchasing this incredible First-Ever Pop-Up Book of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, I recommend you head immediately to the Radio City Music Hall Official Shop* and order your book today. I guarantee that sharing this book during the holiday season will become a famliy tradition. The price of the book is $35 (which just happens to be the amount you need to spend at the Radio City Music Hall Official Shop that will entitle you to a free reusable solider shopping  bag).

While exploring the RadioCityChristmas.com website, I also found these super sweet coloring sheets.  My kids are busy working on those right now.

I’ve reviewed the pop-up book and the hardcover book. I’ll admit the quality is phenomal, the craftmanship beyond compare, the price of $35 is quite reasonable when you consider you purchasing a book that is about to become a cherished holiday tradition within your family.

Now I am giving you the opportunity to win this pair of books for yourself.

Yup, my kids will just have to be content with their coloring sheets because I am giving away my copy that I received for review.  Are you ready? Entering is simple, for each item you do leave a comment to let me know. Each comment is one entry.

• Follow me on twitter, @CandidCarrie … Leave a comment telling me that you already follow me on twitter or tell me you just started. Each comment is one entry.
• Watch for me to tweet about my spectacular give away and then retweet it at least once.  Alright, I really want you to retweet the heck out of this give away, but once is fine with me. Tell me about your retweet in a comment. Honor system is just fine, I don’t need proof. You’re my people, you wouldn’t lie to me.
• Join the Facebook Fan Page for CandidCarrie.com. Become a fan, tell me in a comment and you’ve got another entry.
• Got a blog? Connect to this post with a link and encourage other’s to own a piece of Radio City Music Hall’s history by joining my give away or purchasing a copy of the book for their very own.

*The book is also available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.

Don’t Worry, It Will Probably Taste Alright

If you only have time in your life to read one blog that isn’t mine, I would recommend you spend some time with Scribbit. She’s got it all. Great giveaways, product reviews, recipes, and much much more.

This is the very first time I’ve tacked one of her recipes. I should have known better but the details sounded heavenly and the picture was fabulous.  You can check it out by clicking here.  Scribbit’s cake looked beautiful. I had cake envy.

I had all the ingredients. I had the time. And even though we are in the middle of what was declared an “Indian Summer Saturday” by local weathermen I was in an Autumn kind of mood and Old Fashioned Caramel Cake certainly sounded like it would meet all of my needs.

I make all my cakes and cookies from scratch. We usually eat the cakes out of the 9×13 pan in which they’ve been baked. I tried to fancy it up a little bit by using a bundt pan instead of the two round pans Scribbit recommended.

My cake was not beautiful but the house smells really good.

I tried to use some old fashioned photography tricks to try to capture my subject (the cake) in the best way possible so that I could truly hide the flaws. Often used with aging starlets, the edges of your subject are blurred ever so slightly and as a result wrinkles and other faults of the aging process are eliminated. Often times, the photographer is so skilled that you may not even notice. I’ve included a few samples as an opportunity to point out the blurring process.

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the blurring process, I present to you my version of Scribbit’s cake.

And as I was reassured by my fifteen year old daughter, “Don’t worry, it will probably taste alright.”  Here’s hoping.

Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta, 2009.10.30

I must be doing something right.

I’ve made scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees look so much fun that my kids are begging to do it themselves.

How old were your children when they started begging to help with housework?

1. In your Phriday personal post, include a phavorite photograph (like how I did that?) and a brief description of why it is your phave. Anything at all works for me … one picture, more pictures, a video … even if you participate it another blogger’s Friday event you can double up as long as you link back to me within your post.

2. My advice is that you jump on board now bephore everyone in the nation gets involved and there are no mega-giga-y2k-bytes lepht phor you!

3. Mr. Linky and I have finalized our divorce. Leave a link to your blog within your comment, we’ll find you and visit your place. I pinkie promise.

4. As always, if you have any questions or just want to chat about cats or kids or what I am going to do with the ten spare hours I now have every Phriday, you can contact me at candidcarrie at gmail dot com!

5. Try to remember to link back to me, if you don’t know how or would like some help, I’ll gladly assist you!

Let the Phestivities begin!

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