I have resolved that this year I won't make any crazy resolution about losing a certain amount of weight or completely reorganizing my life or running a marathon. Instead, I am resolving to simplify my life and one way I plan to do that is by only eating real food.
So this year I will read more food labels and watch out for partially hydrogentated fat and high fructose corn syrup. I learned a long time ago that margarine wasn't real food so I'll continue to stay away from that and from anything that doesn't list real food in the first 3-5 items on the label.
I'll let y'all know how it goes. What is your new year's resolution?


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My first memories of Doctor Who are of watching it with my dad.

I was a band geek - I know, SHOCKING!! - and I remember coming home from either a football game or a band competition about 10:30 or so and my dad was sitting there watching Doctor Who, eating tacos from Taco Bell.

My dad never just ordered 1 or 2 tacos - he always ordered a dozen or so. Mainly cuz mom and I would sometimes eat 1 or 2 and he also liked them for breakfast.

So I walked in, sat down for a taco and watched the strangest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. Doctor Who in those days was a pretty low budget affair but with amazing writing. I remember watching it, occasionally saying: "what the hell is this?"

I would bitch the whole time we were watching it. Remember I grew up in a post Star Wars world. Where were the special effects? Why were they running down dark halls all they time? And the costumes! Don't even get me started about the silly costumes!

My memory of Doctor Who is of the Tom Baker days - you know, the goofy looking guy with the stupid scarf and dopey wig. I remember seeing kids at school wearing a stupid hat and goofy scarf, but I didn't hang out with them cause I was trying to be cool.

That was my opinion of the series when it started back up in 2005 and I sat down with my husband to watch it. He is an avid Doctor Who fan and was a big fan of the old series. He watched it with his family and friends and appreciated it for it's brilliant writing and somehow overlooked the cheap effects and cardboard scenery.

I watched that first episode with him, purely to pacify him. I had no intention of getting caught up in it or even in enjoying it. But that first episode with Christopher Eccleston, who I had first seen in Elizabeth, was fun and more importantly, well done. And like that, I was hooked.

Since then, Moo and I have watched every episode, we have many favorites, and debate the show with each other and our friends. We have attended and held Doctor Who watch-a-thons (where a whole season is played from beginning to end in one day with friends and snacks). So we're hooked!

Tonight is the finale of the current Doctor, David Tennant - whom we have really enjoyed in the role. But as a enjoy tonight's show, I'll be just as likely to be thinking of my dad and the tacos.

I think he would have liked the show a lot. And it makes it feel like he still here sometimes.

This is the third Christmas that I have thought more about Mary than about Jesus at this time of year.

In particular, Luke 1:38

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

I think about her strength of mind; of her faith in God. I think about how she was challenging everything in her life: her parents, her betrothed, her religion; her culture - in accepting this Holy burden.

How afraid she must have been? What would everyone think? What would they think of her? Would they think she was crazy?

Even after the birth of her miraculous child, she didn't freak out when shepherds - complete strangers - come to see her newborn. Instead she:

... Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

What does this say about her?

Now that I am a mother, I look at the Nativity story differently. Instead of the great miracle of our Lord's birth, I see the strength and faith of a young woman. I see how her obedience to God has prospered us all. I see how her courage has saved us all.

Today, on Christmas day, my wish for you is to find your own strength and courage to be obedient to God.

Ok.. so a couple of weeks ago, I told you that I was sharing my menu with you and that worked pretty good.

2 weeks ago, I did the next step in the whole, domestic goddess path. I did all my grocery shopping for two weeks which meant that I had to do meal planning for two weeks. This was interesting because A) who knew that 2 weeks of groceries would completely fill up the grocery cart? and B) who knew that it could be cheaper to shop for two weeks instead of one?

That second item is technically true. We have a weekly budget that we pretty much follow and that budget has a set amount for groceries. While the cart full of groceries cost more than one week of groceries - DUH - it actually worked out to be cheaper if averaged over two weeks. In fact, it saved us almost $50!!

Why? Because I was able to make a big purchase spread out a little further... I've got to admit that studying the sale paper really helped and so did a couple of other resources:

Coupon Mom lets me know what sorts of things are on sale and how coupons can help. And CouponSuzy actually lets me print out coupons!

Phoebe went to see Santa a couple of weeks ago.

Every time I look at this picture, all I think is: "At least she wasn't crying."

The dress came from Kohl's and was a great deal.