It's begining to look a lot like New Years!

Christmas was lovely, our little girl destroyed the wrapping paper and was only slightly amused with her presents.

She really enjoyed eating her phone

We went to Aimee’s house to hang out and a torriental storm came from nowhere. We ordered some gross thai food *Boo* We drove past the Venice Canals but it was too rainy to enjoy the houses.

Yesterday we returned from visiting my Mommy and Antz & I discussed my resolutions *and my likeihood of achieving them* I feel very motivated and positive about them all with the exception of Francais!! I have some sort of mental block that will not allow me to retain *and correctly pronounce* le French. I have an app I downloaded on my iphone and I listen to the words but I can’t pick up the accent. I also have a Nintendo DS game but I am much better at written French than spoken. I seem to be the only one who thinks I’ll learn using Rosetta Stone. I even made about 50 flash cards a year ago but I have to find them….sigh! Well, we spent the past 3 day at my Mom’s and I did something that is so random yet amazing! I cooked! I not only cooked but I cooked a complicated recipe and it was super yummy. Antz couldn’t get over how delicious it turned out.

Lizzie’s Louisiana Gumbo

It’s funny because this was not only my first time cooking gumbo, but also my first time eating it. The roux was pretty tricky and I cooked it much longer than 30 minutes as the recipe stated but it somehow turned out perfecto.

We had a rad time at my Mom’s, we played Scattergories *hilarious* and I got to sit by the fire *makes me wish our fireplace worked* Early Tuesday morning guess what woke me up?? An owl!! It was hooting right outside our window. It was too dark to see it but that’s pretty gnarly. We went to Target *I like the one by my Mom’s house* and I was looking for some good deals on clearance Christmas decor but I didn’t find anything. It wasn’t too cold in Apple Valley but it is supposed to snow so much today that the freeway to get to there will be closed. I did take this lovely shot on the drive.

All the surrounding mountain peaks were covered in snow. I really wanted to drive to Lake Arrowhead *40 minutes from my Moms* but Antz needed to have snow tires and Liv didn’t have any super warm clothes and shoes *Gah, I must buy her Uggs!!* When we came home yesterday I did some cleaning but I need to take apart all the kitchen cabinets, the laundry nook, linen closet and my closet and organize, donate and clear out all our clutter. I have a big problem with saving boxes but we sell so much of our stuff that I like to have the original box, but they take up so much space. I wanted to start a project while Antz is off but painting or sanding the cabinets may have to wait until March when it’s not rainy. I started a bathroom mood board but it isn’t finished yet *still searching for new paint*

I was pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive the floor tile is. I am pretty confident that we can install it ourselves but I’ll have to rent a wet saw for cutting. My total bathroom budget is under $5k. We should be starting in March because we have to clear out the garage first so we have space for storing the tools. I feel so Design on a Dime!!

Our lovely ball of sunshine is 29 weeks