I am in full “HAPPY CRAZY MERRY-MAKER” mode so I thought I would share with you some of my happy right now.  A few weeks ago, my mother sent me this link and I went crazy with the thoughts of decorating my home.  Seriously, click that link.  I mean it.  Her house is AMAZING.

This is basically going to be a photo post much like the lovely lady I linked to with small explanations of what you are looking at.  Seeing how this is only our second Christmas here, there are some muck ups that we will fix in years to come but please enjoy the pictures and get in the holiday spirit!  Haha, it’s like I’m beating you in the face with a jolly stick, folks!

My living room tree.  I call this my fancy schmancy tree.  I love sitting in here in the evenings with the kids and wait for Jessie to get home from work just looking at this.

I always wanted a grand staircase with a grand banister to decorate at Christmas.  While this is not grand, I’ll be damned if that isn’t pretty.

I like jingle bells.  I like to hang them on everything.  They look so festive and are always crazy cheap.  This is hanging on the hutch in my living room.

This is also from the hutch in my living room.  On the left is a simple ceramic nativity scene where the baby Jesus looks like Topher Grace in That 70s Show.  On the right are two kissing angels that my grandmother painted in a ceramics class decades ago.

I always make sure my silver is polished around Christmas.  There’s just something simply festive about silver.  This is the sideboard in my living room.  The candles on the left have trumpeting angels on them and the candles on the right are just bejeweled and sparkly.

The snowflake runner and centerpiece of my dining room table.  The silver tray and candles are the every day centerpiece but I just added some apple and golden pomegranate ornaments to it to make it even more sparkly.

The door leading to the sun room.  Jingle bells hanging on the handle and a bunch of pine cones hanging on the door itself.

Greenery on the sun room mantle.

The little 4-foot tree in the sun room.  I just have it decked out with red berries and a little wooden star on top that I found at Target.

Table in the sun room adorned with a mini tree, carolers made from corn husks and a bowl of candy.  Around the holidays, I always like to have candy all over the house because that’s how it was when I was little.  I love keeping those little touched from my childhood around.

My kitchen windows.  That funky tree used to hang on my bedroom door around the holidays when I was little.  I love looking at it because it was always around as a child.  Of course there is a festive jar full of holiday M&Ms.

This is my family room.  This picture is blurry and terrible, but I love how those huge lights on the tree look all fluffy and soft.  This is my favorite room decorated.

This is the ornament Jessie got me this year.  He said we needed it because it’s our first Christmas as a complete family.  He’s a swell guy.

This tree has all of my antique ornaments that I inherited from my grandmother and that were given to me by Jessie’s parents.  They don’t make them like this anymore and I love them so much.

I’ve also got a sweet collection of funky antique wooden ornaments like the snowman who is missing a nose and this train driven by a dog.  Also if you look at the above picture, you can see my cheeseburger ornament looming behind the train!

Frosty sitting on the bench keeping the pillows company.

The Christmas bears cuddled on the couch.  These are actually bears that were given to my brother and I when we were little.  I’m not sure how I ended up with them, but I put them out every year and will continue to do so until they fall apart.

This angel belonged to my grandmother.  It now sits on the mantle in my family room.

Also on the family room mantle.  My mom calls the one on the right a Who tree (Dr. Seuss) and tried to find one of her own this year with no success.  I love the Who tree.

The front of my house (and Lukas).  When Jessie asked me how I thought it looked, I replied with, “I think it looks like we have a short ladder!”  And we do.  So that top window and the slants of the house are bare and weird looking for this year.  We’ll fix the problem next year hopefully.

I love this lamp post.  Can you believe that the wreath and ribbon together hanging from it cost only $5?  I scored on that one.

My porch.  (Never mind the creepy guy in the door.)If you’re wondering why only half of my front door has garland draped over it, ask Jessie.  I thought 9 feet was plenty and asked Jessie why he didn’t just drape the garland so that it went over the top corners of the door and down half way.  “BECAUSE THAT LOOKED STUPID!”  was his reply.  “You need to buy another garland!”  Another to-do for next year.

My door.  We recently stripped that door down to the wood and sanded years of scuffs and dents from it.  It looks like a new door and I’m really proud of all the work Jessie did on it to make it look good.  That brass about wore my thumbs to the bone with my polishing it.  But it’s clean and happy and festive looking now!

That’s all I’ve got.  My happy festive house!  Seriously, click that link I provided.  Seriously.  Her house is so freaking pretty and festive.

That potentially humiliating post full of pictures of my wrecked body has been syndicated on BlogHer!  It’s part of the Own Your Beauty project going on over there.  Here’s what it’s about according to the home page:

Own Your Beauty is a groundbreaking, year-long movement bringing women together to change the conversation about what beauty means. Our mission: to encourage and remind grown women that it is never too late to learn to love one’s self and influence the lives of those around us – our mothers, friends, children, neighbors. We can shift our minds and hearts and change the path we follow in the pursuit of authentic beauty.

Check it out!

Here’s the link:

CLICKY!

It is a simple phrase that we all utter from time to time, yet every time I say the words “I can do it,” someone yells at me.  I’m still trying to figure this one out.

I’m stubborn.  I’m particular.  Dammit, I want to do things myself!  I appreciate the offers that I get for help.  I appreciate lending hands, or at least the offers for such.  But when I turn the offers down, people get mad at me.  My mom, Jessie, Jessie’s mom, my friends….people get pissed when I utter those words.

I can take this opportunity to explain a few things that would make me look like a broken girl.  We could take a psychological look at my need for control as a means to keep my childhood from happening to me all over again, blah blah blah blah.  I don’t want anybody’s damned pity.  And sometimes I don’t want your help either.  But I try not to come off as an asshole when I POLITELY turn down these offers.  The following is a conversation that I have had many times with many different people and they all seem to end the same way.

Anybody: “Do you need me to help you with [X]?”

Me:  “Oh, no thanks.”

Anybody:  “Why don’t you want me to help?”

Me:  “Because I can do it.”

Anybody:  “Well I’m sure you CAN.  But wouldn’t you like some help?”

Me:  “No.”

Anybody:  “Why?”

Me:  “Because I can do it.”

Anybody:  “SOMER!”

This is when I can be seen running into the nearest wall and slamming my face into it.

When I really need help and help is offered to me, I accept it.  It’s not that I’m being unreasonable here.  I just really like to do things myself.  After I had Ruegen, my mom told me that she was going to come to my house and do my laundry and clean for me.  When she arrived, she found that I had done my laundry and was steering her away from the subject of cleaning.

My Mom:  “You’re not going to let me clean your house, are you?”

Me:  “Nope.”

My Mom:  “Why not?”

Me:  “Because I can do it.”

My Mom:  “SOMER.”

Me:  *FACE IN THE WALL*

But you see, I appreciate the offer.  I see that she offered her help because she loves me and wants to be useful to me.  I see that.  My turning it down doesn’t diminish my appreciation of that.  It just means that I want to do it myself.

Jessie gets particularly irritated with me over this subject.  Like REALLY irritated.  There aren’t many things that I do that irritate him more, actually.  Here is how our exchanges usually go.

Jessie:  “Do you need help?”

Me:  “No.”

Jessie:  “Why not?”

Me:  “Because I can do it.”

Jessie:  “I didn’t ask if you could do it or not!  I asked if you needed help!”

Me:  “No, I don’t need help.”

Jessie:  “Why won’t you let me help you?”

Me:  “Because I can do it.”

Jessie:  “SOMER!”

Me:  “WHAT?”

Jessie:  “Let me help you!”

Me:  “I don’t need help!  I CAN DO IT!”

Jessie:  *Incoherent scream*

Sadly, this exact conversation happens AT LEAST once a week in my house.  He won’t take the hint and I’m not backing down.  It’s a war we’ll always fight I guess.

But you see, I CAN do the things that I’m being offered help to complete.  I can do them perfectly fine.  I don’t struggle.  I’m quite competent at a thing or two in my little life and when I say I can do it, I CAN DO IT.  The offers for help don’t annoy me, it’s the fact that my proclaiming that I can do it annoys people that annoys me.  Why, I wonder?  It can be entertaining.  Sit back and watch me get befuddled with something and laugh.  Watch me try to carry heavy things and giggle when I stub my toe on the corner of the wall.  Go sit on the couch and talk with other people while I wash millions of dishes after dinner.  I’m not turning down the offers to be a martyr.  I’m turning them down because, well, for gosh sake’s I CAN DO IT.