Our Barn Owls

When we moved in back in May, we noticed the pair of barn owls that live in our, well...barn.  Go figure.  Anyways, they are amazing at keeping our mice population down out there.  When we walk out there, the ground crunches with mice skeletons with every step you make.  It's kinda nasty, but I'd rather it be the bones than the actual mice running around by my feet!

I was working out there the other day, cleaning more crap out, so I decided to take pictures of them before they flew out.

There are two, but one of them is kind of bashful

Anyone know how to the tell the difference between male and female owls?

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

CHRISTMAS!! 

I love this time of year.  The smells, the decorations, the family time.  Let me tell you, it's a lot easier living out in the country this time of year.  There is no crazy traffic and insane drivers out here trying to get to the mall for the newest, lastest and greatest item.

I made a comment to Chris last night when the Ove Glove commercial came on.  "It's not Christmas season until they start advertising the Ove Glove, Chia Pet or Salad Shooter."  Cha Cha Cha CHIA!

My family has always had an artificial tree.  And that's great with me because of the meaning behind the one that my family has.  Chris always used to go cut down his tree.  That's cool too.  So for our first Christmas tree, we went and cut one down, Sunday afternoon.  I had never done it before, so I was looking forward to it.  

Took us a while to find the perfect tree.  We don't have a whole lot of space in our living room, so we couldn't get a super fat one and we had to make sure it wasn't too tall either.

Regular ol'(d) lumberjack, ain't he? :)

We took Mallie with us.  She needs to socialize with other people.  She's doing halfway decent on a leash, however she thinks it's more fun to chew on the leash than to walk on it.  She was the hit of the Christmas tree farm!  We were walking out to pay for our tree and I looked down and noticed that she had found her own Christmas tree.  It was too funny and the people that walked by were laughing at her.

She will pick anything up.  Her favorite is sheep turds.  Scrumptious.

We went out to dinner when we got home and were set to put up the Christmas tree Monday night.  

One good thing about having a barn full of crap that the previous owners left is that you find good stuff too.  There was an old tree stand out there so that saved us $20!

I love the way it makes our house smell!

Thanks to Chris's aunt, she saved us a butt-load of money and gave us 5 strands of Christmas lights.  Holy cow those suckers are expensive!  I will hit up the after-Christmas sales to stock up for next year!

Tonight I put the last 2 strands around our front windows.  That's all we have enough for this year, and it's perfect...until next year.

Hope you all are remembering the real reason for this season.  It's way more important than an gift you can give or any piece of decoration you can put up.

Oh Pinterest...

I am probably the least crafty person you will ever know.  Sometimes if I see something, I can recreate it.  Sometimes.  But I can never just pull an idea out of my butt and turn that idea into something cool.  Now, my sister is miss crafty.  And thank goodness she is because if I just keep pinning stuff on Pinterest that I want, then maybe she'll keep making stuff for me.  K, Erin?  

While we were in AZ I was given my birthday presents early, so we could celebrate as a family.  A few weeks ago, I repinned something off of my sister's board, onto mine and she noticed.  Like I said before, if I just keep doing this, maybe I'll get the same result :)

This is what I pinned.

And this is what Erin made me

  

I l.o.v.e. it!  We hung it in our entry way and it looks awesome.  

Since we are on a tight budget this holiday season, we are a little short on Christmas decor.  I saw this wreath on Pinterest the other day.  Couldn't count on Erin to make it for me since we won't see them till after Christmas. :) So I headed to the lovely Dollar Store yesterday and bought the supplies.  Lots and lots of Christmas ball ornaments.  Big ones, small ones, glittery ones and ones that jingle.

I picked up our friend's little boy from day care today and when we came back to the house, I decided I wanted to work on my project.  I opened the trunk of my car to get the supplies out and DJ yells, 'CHRISTMAS!'  I wish you could have heard it.  It was adorable.

Here's my little helper

He kept putting the balls back in the plastic containers them dumping them out and saying "Christmas, Christmas trees."  I love him.  

The beginnings of my project.

And the finished product!

I knew I never should have joined Pinterest.  I'm hooked.