It struck me yesterday as I was going trough the mail that I had only gotten one Christmas card so far this year. In years past I’ve even made my Christmas cards from scratch. I always had a picture of Hannah and Joe on the inside, sometimes the dog would cooperate. I stopped sending cards after Hannah graduated from high school.
Maybe because of e-cards and the cost of stamps, Christmas cards are just dwindling. Do you still send out cards? How many have you gotten so far?
I left my camera on my desk when I walked out yesterday, so my phone and google images will have to save the day. My un-photographed breakfast was a slice of Tony’s pumpkin corn bread, a scrambled egg white and chopped deli ham.
My back was kind of hurting yesterday. I picked up a laundry basket in the basement yesterday morning and I felt a twinge. I only managed to walk for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I’ve since taken ibuprofen and it seems to be okay now.
Last year when I first made my Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza, the very day Mara read that post she made it that night! So when she left me this comment on Monday, I couldn’t wait to try this!
So, I have a homework assignment for you. This week, go to Hunan Beijing. Get an order of hot and spicy chicken dumplings.
You’re welcome.
Mara and I actually met through our blogs – a few years ago we discovered that I worked with a woman – and Mara worked with her sister! She lives near my office, works near my house, and we need to get together more often!
I ordered the hot and spicy chicken dumplings. They came in a broth like spicy sauce. Sadly, I forgot to mention to onions, but they were green onions and they floated on the top. I then had a side order of szechwan green beans and 1/2 a cup of white rice on the bottom. Google images helped me here – this is kind of what the wontons looked like, except they were about the size of a quarter.
From my phone:
Holy cow, was this amazeballs. FLAVORFUL spicy was the theme of this lunch. The wontons were tender, packed with chicken and veggies and the spicy green beans were still crisp tender. Love! Thanks Mara!! Michelle, you should check this place out – its on Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates.
And while I waited for the food, I enjoyed all the snowmen the restaurant displayed!
For dinner I had chicken thighs to cook, or pork chops. I asked Tony which one he felt like and he said he didn’t care. So fried chicken thighs it was! Except mine was buffalo chicken. I had a scoop of rice and leftover green beans from lunch. At least I got two veggies in today!
Sadly though, I undercooked them slightly and they had to go back in the fryer. Normally not a big deal, but I had already taken my insulin and it was already doing its magic, but I wasn’t meeting it with food intake. After dinner I had to sweep and mop the kitchen floor. All of a sudden I started sweating, and it being December, washing the kitchen floor I shouldn’t be breaking a sweat!
Yep, I checked my blood sugar and it was 48. Rats. So I had a mini butterfingers leftover from Halloween and had some of my Chicago Mix popcorn to bring it back up. I have tweaked my Chicago Mix popcorn and after several attempts, we have the best combination. I plan on sending that out as my signature homemade gift to our families. I’ll post the recipe over the weekend – that’s going to be my big baking weekend and I plan on getting the packages out on Monday. 
Oh, and in case you need a last minute gift idea, how about this?
Tony saw it online yesterday. I just can’t wrap my brain around it – it looks so alien, and I just imagine the kid being claustrophobic as his Mom is trying to put this thing over his head! So crazy!
Off to jump in the shower and get ready for work – make it a great day!
That sweater thing is so scary 🙂 We have got 4 cards and I have not sent any out because I am a huge slacker. Maybe I should do that today.
I’m a letter writer so I definitely send Christmas cards (if you want one (and I’d say this years is pretty awesome) send me your address again). But I totally waited until 12/12/12 so mail them for the date stamp… We have gotten a lot less this year than in years past (I think we are at like 10 – most from my husbands parents, aunt, sisters and brother)
I’m not going with that gift idea either – total alien!! I still send cards. I like doing it. I dont’ like the email letters for the holidays nearly as much as getting an actual card in the mail – and if they have pictures of the fam, all the better!.
Ooohh I love the snowmen on your blog. Very cute! That photo, however, is very creepy. It’s like she’s giving birth out of her chest. Weird. I do still send Christmas cards. I make them on Snapfish using photos of Carlos, of course! I used to love getting real mail when I lived in Mozambique. As much as I love email and all the other technology out there, there is nothing like getting something other than a bill or junk mail in the mail box.
That baby/mom outfit is too funny! I can’t imagine one baby that would be happy in that/putting it on. Mine at least wouldn’t have been…
The chicken dumplings sound/look good!
I still send out holiday cards, but now that you mention it, I think I’ve been getting fewer than usual so far. Not so sure what will happen to my holiday cards once the kid is all grown up…
Happy Thursday!
I’d say they’re on the way out.
In all my life I only got a Christmas cards from my grandparents. Sadly I never returned the gesture. I’ve only given them to someone I was giving money or a gift card to so there was something to put it in.