Friend Makin' Mondays ~ Survey!

It has been WAY too long since I participated in Friend Makin’ Mondays {I’ve been in a bloggy rut} but I just couldn’t pass up on today’s survey brought to us by Amber at {aefilkins}. I’m emailing my post from my work email because I can’t log onto Blogger from work, so I apologize for any weirdness in spacing and display. I'll fix it all when I get home from work. :o) Here goes…

1. Favorite website ~ Etsy. My garter business wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it’s been without it, and I love browsing through other crafters’ creations for inspiration. Although it does make me wish I could spend all my days crafting rather than stuck behind a desk at work…

2. Favorite color ~ Pink!

3. Facebook? ~ Umm yes. I’m a bit of a Facebook junkie. You can find me at hmccormick3 at gmail . com ~ I would love to be your friend!

4. Favorite Christmas song? ~ Nat King Cole’s Buon Natale (Merry Christmas to You). I discovered it in college on Napster {back before it was a pay~only site ~ yes, I illegally downloaded music back in the day. Whoops.} I’m not sure if it’s one that even gets played much, but I love it {and pretty much everything else Nat King Cole sings}. It’s about a town in Italy where Christmas is celebrated all year. Who wouldn’t want to live there?!?

5. Christmas tree: Real or fake? ~ Fake. In my experience, going with a fake tree is the only way to guarantee a decent~looking tree. My last experience with a real tree was years ago with my parents ~ they decided to cut down a dying tree from the yard and use that instead of forking out some $ for a REAL real tree. It was, by definition, a Charlie Brown tree if ever there was one. I bought my own fake tree a few years ago, complete with lights, and I love how easy it is to get the tree set up and start on the best part ~ putting on the ornaments!

6. Hottest celebrity? ~ I’ve got a bit of a Zachary Quinto crush at the moment… Even as the evil villain, Sylar, I find him completely irresistible!

7. Favorite restaurant? ~ Olive Garden. Incidentally, the O.G. is also my favorite place of employment. I worked there for three summers and two Christmas breaks during college, and it was the best, most fun job ever. Plus the pasta is absolutely delicious and the breadsticks are to die for!

8. Favorite magazine? ~ Any bridal magazine. I’m a glutton for punishment, as I’m beginning to think that I am NEVER going to get married… But they sure are fun to browse, and I like to get garter ideas from them.

9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays? ~ I’m not a big eggnog or cider person, but I never say no to a lemon drop…

10. Favorite Christmas movie? ~ A Christmas Story. And Scrooged. And Twas the Night Before Christmas, a cartoon my dad taped for me back in the ‘80s that I still love to watch. And I do have a soft spot for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Happy FMM!

Clean the House in 30 Minutes?!?

I am 100% embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I am the world’s worst housekeeper. At present, our house gives a whole new meaning to the word “filthy.” There are 3+ days worth of dishes piled up in and around the sink {life without a dishwasher really is the worst}, pine needles from the shedding tree outside all over the floor, and puppy toys and treats scattered everywhere. A clean load of laundry sits in a basket waiting to be folded; another is still in the dryer. Our bed hasn’t been made in weeks, and I’m sure that my sewing room should be declared a national disaster area. And the only reason I can stand to bathe in our scummy shower is that I always shower sans contact lenses and thus can’t see exactly how disgusting the walls, curtain and floor of our shower really are.

I grew up in an immaculately clean house ~ my mom is borderline OCD when it comes to cleanliness {don’t get mad at me for saying so, Mom ~ you know it’s true!}, so our carpets were ALWAYS vacuumed, the floors were ALWAYS scrubbed, the toilets were ALWAYS cleaned, and so on and so forth. And to be honest, I miss being able to eat a cookie or cracker that’s fallen on the floor without a second thought about exactly how dirty the floor it fell on really was. I hate that our bathroom sink almost always has toothpaste stuck to it somewhere, and I am tired of the bottom of all of our white socks turning brown the instant we take a step on the floor. Plus it’s getting really old having to do a speed clean of the whole house so it is somewhat presentable if a family member or friend calls to let us know they’re on their way over for a quick visit. I know that I will never been the housekeeper my mom is, but I also know that I can keep a whole lot cleaner house than the one I’ve been keeping.

My new plan is to do a little bit of cleaning every day. Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful had the same idea, based on a 30 minutes a day checklist she discovered here. It sounds AWESOME! The basic idea is that by doing maintenance cleaning in the main areas of the house on a daily basis, the mess won’t get away from you. We’ll see if I can actually stick with it, but it’s definitely worth a try!

Do you have any special tricks you use to get the house cleaned in a jiffy? I’d love to hear them!

New Garters!

Just wanted to share a few of my new creations!

Since I've Been Gone...

I've been in a bit of a blogging funk lately. I've composed multiple posts in my head but could never find the energy to write them down. I've read many of my favorite bloggers' posts but just couldn't seem to find it in me to leave any worthwhile comments. And I've missed it. I've missed having an outlet to share my thoughts and feelings, and I've missed the interaction with my fellow bloggers. I think I'm finally ready to get back into the swing of things, and wanted to do a little recap of the things that I've been up to in the last month or so...

~ I got my first haircut in 6+ months and decided it was a fabulous idea to get bangs. It wasn’t. ~ I started growing out my bangs.

~ Daisy got her girlie parts removed and we had to deal with two weeks of sleeping with a cone~headed puppy.
~ I was a beer wench victim to Nate's vampire for Halloween. {Somehow we forgot to take pictures, but this is the costume I wore. :o)}

~ I took Mrs. Soup up on her book recommendation and FELL IN LOVE with Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.
~ I admired the photos from Nate’s first maternity shoot.
~ I finally figured out how to make ribbon roses and started adding them to my garters.


~ I gained two pounds. :o(
~ I rejoiced with the rest of the blogging community when Stellan’s second ablation was successful.
~ I celebrated Veteran’s Day with my favorite vet. {Not sure if I’ve shared, but Nate spent a year in Iraq as Intelligence for the army. His older brother was there at the same time as a Scout. I don't know how his mom got through that time without going mad with worry.}
~ Nate and I woke up to puppy poop in bed no less than four times. After the fourth incident in seven nights, we decided to take her into the vet, who determined that she had some sort of gastrointestinal problem. After two days of antibiotics, she seems to be feeling better and we have had two poop~free nights. Hooray!
~ I discovered a fabulous new workout program. {I will share more about it later in the week.}

~ I began a quest to find new white polka dot organza ribbon. My favorite vendor stopped carrying it, and as it is a ribbon I use for many of my best~selling garters, it is a MUST HAVE for me. Fingers crossed that I can find a decent replacement!

~ But most of all, I missed all of you!