{Happy 2012}

Hi friends, Happy almost 2012, we are partying hard here at the Loggins house, I am in the bedroom changing my blog design, Cameron and Jim are playing Xbox and Hannah is watching tv in her room, I told ya, we are partying!  I will catch you up on our Christmas tomorrow!!!

{Wrap it Up}

I wanted to share some easy gift wrapping ideas with you all, and it's very "budget" friendly.  I had already planned how I wanted to wrap my gifts but after seeing some other ideas I really liked them and decided to come up with my own, not entirely copying, but with my own twist, ha!

I used crepe paper, how crazy is that, I love the way it looks, very clean, and I already had the thin ribbon, I got creative and am so pleased, I love looking under our tree and seeing them. And I knew I wanted to have the tags hanging on the ribbon for a great embellishment.

I am so happy with the way it all turned out, and my paper came from Hobby Lobby, they have the best, it's thick, has a ton, and is half price, you can't beat that!!!  Happy Wrapping!

O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful & Triumphant!

{Dining Room Table Re-Do}

I realized that I never did a post about the re-do of my {nightmare} of a dining room table and 6 chairs. We got this table at a resale furniture store, when we saw it on the interenet we knew this was perfect, because we wanted to redo it to make it our own.  It was in rough shape folks, but we were determined, we would conquer the table!!!! Ha! it was not as easy as we thought, it took much sanding, priming, and then some more sanding and priming, when people say lots of blood, sweat and tears were involved it is true...seriously look at these chairs...

The table, it wasn't quite as bad, but a funny thing happened, well, not so funny at the time, one of the legs broke off, we were moving it around and it fell off, we about flipped, but my handy hubby to the rescue, he got his heavy duty glues and held it in with his vice, let it dry overnight, and good as new!!

 The nasty cushions...

Aaaaand...here she is...all pretty in black and dressed up for Christmas!!!

{A Special Day}

Yesterday would have been my dad's 66th birthday, I honestly didn't know how to "be" that day, but I knew I didn't want to "wallow" in it, it's just not how I felt, it didn't feel honest.  I just wanted to take it as it came, planning to be sad or depressed just didn't feel right.  We had a great life with my dad and he died because he was sick, his heart was sick, we did everything we could to make him better, but nothing else could be done, his death was not a shock, we knew at a certain point he was not going to get better.  I am not saying it was easy at all, it was devastating, and I still can't believe he is gone and not coming back to us, not a day goes by that I dont' want to call and tell him something funny so we could laugh together, he had a great sense of humor and laughing with him was such a highlight. 

Yesterday morning at church we sang alot of Christmas songs and Jim and I just cried, Hannah knew how we felt and she felt it too, she looked up at me and said "momma, I miss Papa", and she cried, we held her close, we all felt it without having to say any words.  But in the midst of sadness I still just praised God through song, I felt happiness and sadness all at the same time, smiling through tears, all I can say is it was God...

We had our church Christmas musical last night and we had Doyle Dykes and Babbie Mason as our guest, they were so talented, and such a wonderful addition to our musical.  They gave us a taste in the morning service of what they would do in the evening and it was going to be fantastic.  I was so excited, I could not imagine a better place I would want to be than at church in the presence of God celebrating the Christmas season.  God does know what we need and when we need it, he was so with me yesterday, leading me all the way, I like to think it was just he and I yesterday, I had a good day, thank you God for being you...

{Guest Posting}

I am guest posting at a Randees Organized Chaos, she is very talented, you need to check out her crafts, she can whip out beautiful creations in no time, and she shows you step by step on how to achieve the goodies for yourself! I am so enjoying looking at her work and how she makes her home so pretty for her family!

{Christmas Goodies on a Budget}

While making my list of what holiday goodies I wanted to make this year, I also write the ingredients I will need so that I can keep my eye out for coupons and when they go on sale. Each year I like to add a new goodie to the group, I have several tried and true snacks that I will always make, alot of the snacks I make are very economical and I usually already have all the basics on hand and just need to get add key ingredients. When I say basics I mean, sugar, flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar. oil...  I wanted to share some tips for making baking more economical.

I love to make "Orange Balls", an oldie but goodie from childhood that I rediscovered a few years ago and I love these "too much" haha! I won't write the full recipes, but will hit on key needs.  These cookies need a container of frozen oj, nilla wafers, powdered sugar and coconut.  Easy cookie to make!

Snicker Bar Cookies, a roll of Pillsbury cookie dough in flavor of your choice and miniature snicker bars or several large candy bars and just cut into small pieces.. again, easy

Peppermint Popcorn,  pop some low butter popcorn, spread on paper and remove kernels, finely crush some candy canes, which are so cheap it's crazy, sprinkle over popcorn, melt some white almond bark and pour over popcorn, mix and wala, LOVE IT!! and so pretty I might add!

Chex Mix, oh yeah, my fav!!! we all know the key ingred. in this recipe,  I use chex cereals, cherrios, mixed nuts, pretzels.  I buy my nuts at Dollar General, a can is under $3, this is the best place to buy it for a good price, nuts are so pricey...

Ranch flavored Oyster crackers, again DG has these crackers for a $1 a bag and its a big bag, a packet of dry Ranch dressing, put these in a large baggie add some veg. oil, shake the bag to coat, pour on a cookie sheet and bake for about 30 min. on 250, just to mix the flavors and lightly brown, so good, and makes a great snack for a holiday snack table, my kids love them!!!

I buy alot of store brand products, and that makes it more budget friendly in itself,  I love making goodies and packaging them up all cute and giving them to neighbors, friends, teachers...it makes the holidays so much fun!  As I think of other tips and hints, I'll let you know!!!  Merry Baking!

{Touches of Christmas}

I wanted to show you a couple of pictures of Christmas in our home, my mother takes the credit for both of these beautiful designs.