I might be getting high off paint fumes...

I opened the sliding glass door to the porch and am sitting with a breeze blowing on me (hello, Arizona in January!), but it's still bad. I guess spraying the clear coat on the picture frame I just painted INSIDE was a bad idea...

Anyway, it's late and I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm not in the mood to go to bed. So here's over a month's worth of pictures, including holidays and vacation. Ready?

Christmas goody preparations underway...I probably went a little overboard, but I love giving.

Anyone want the recipe for those Butterscotch Cashew Bars? I assure you they are sinfully, ridiculously delicious!

This is why I didn't send Christmas cards, even email ones. In Jamie's defense, he was dying to go to the nearby playground, but we couldn't let him because he'd been circumcised a few days earlier and was not allowed on play equipment for two weeks. (And looking again, Jason and I look dorky in this one anyway, so whatever. :))

See the feet poking out of there--one with slipper on, one without?

He reminds me of some sort of bird here.

These are flat iron travel pouches that I made--I gave the pink one to my sister-in-law, Janelle, for Christmas. I actually keep my awesome flatiron in mine all the time, because I live in fear that it will break. (It's expensive, and it was a gift.)

You can find the tutorial for this here at Crap I've Made.

Jamie seems to know that no picture is complete without him in it :)

Salem enjoyed having us home at my parents', for obvious reasons.

Christmas morning--stockings

(That's all. Sorry, I'm not great at picture-taking on holidays.)

We called this "Jamie's Wonderland." On this particular day (after Christmas), we had my twin cousins, Emily and Celeste, over to knit with my mom; Rob and Conner over to play Wii with Jason; Liz and Ali (alias Lexi) over to play with Jamie and me, and Aunt Colli even stopped by at one point! It was great!

This would be my son...NOT sharing. Look at that face. Sheesh.

Every once in awhile, Ali and Jamie would hug--and out came the cameras, with us telling them to do it again and again, trying to get a good shot. :) (Hey Liz, did you get any better than mine? Could you email them to me?)

Muah!
This one actually is on the brink of disturbing me...just a little. Lol.

Michelle and Rob with Jamie

The Lemon Meringue Pie I baked for my dad as his Christmas present--check out the recipe on my recipe blog if you're interested. (I'm not a pie person, but dang, it was good.)

Just for the gross-out factor: this is what it looked like when we came home.

Be really, really glad you can't communicate smells over the internet.

Ugh, just looking at it has me remembering...

We were the lucky recipients of a like-new, comfy loveseat! Our friend's sister got a new one because this one acquired a big ol' ink stain (and the person who caused the stain paid for a new loveseat, having been warned previously not to leave his pen there). She was nice enough to offer this to us for free! We used some AMAZING cleaner, and you can barely tell it was ever there!

P.S. As Jason just looked over my shoulder and noted, the loveseat looks "schlumpy" in this picture taken with my crappy camera, but in reality it's very nice and new-looking.

We're up to the present! This...

...was used for THIS! We bought a white board to write down goals, to-dos, and...well, read the magnets for yourself. :) I really like how they came out, and that I could make my own after seeing "days of the week" ones at Target for like FIVE DOLLARS that weren't even as cute as mine are. They're a tad time-consuming, but really easy.

And, finally, the offending frame...

...and the finished project.
Maybe.
It's kind of a lot of black. That might change.
Anyway, see how the letters are 3-D? Hard to tell, I know.
Tutorial here, with better pictures.

I'm happy because the frame was one of those uber-cheap, maple-looking ones from WalMart, that I simply sanded and painted. I think it came out really nice, and though the sanding is a pain in the neck, it's a much cheaper alternative than actually buying a nice frame. :)

Did you stay with me for all of that? If so, I'm impressed...and flattered!
I seriously feel better now that I'm caught up, so I guess I can go to bed now. Lol. Blogging is such an addiction. Goodnight!