seedlings

i know it really is that time of year; the danger of frost has passed, and i need to get out in my raised bed garden and plant some stuff.  i like my little garden.  this will be year three (!) of living here, and my third attempt at having a real, honest, veggie garden.  the first year was pretty slapdash; we ripped some azaleas out and plunked in some seeds.  the second year, we put in a three raised beds. two did great, one was too shallow.  this year, my plans are pretty modest. i want to grow some beets (i want to grow a billion beets), some peas, some carrots, and a bushel of kale.  the kale from last year actually wintered over! that stuff is amazing. 

i went to my mom's this year for easter.  i love my in-laws, but they get pretty much every holiday, and to be honest, i did not want to have a jesus-easter. i know, i'm a terrible person. the last holiday at their house had a lot of jesus talk (one of D's brothers is getting back into it, and my father-in-law is also very religious) and it just makes me uncomfortable. i'm not like an angry skeptic/slash/atheist, but i had some bad experiences with people who talked a lot about jesus when i was a kid and the whole thing just makes me cringe.  i never say anything, and don't plan on it, but i spend a lot of time worrying at some point i'll get caught rolling my eyes or being an asshole.  i just wanted to eat my mom's ham and be with my sister's kids and my aunt.  it ended up being a very quiet day, and it was great. 

i spent the whole weekend at mom's, which was very nice.  my relationship with my hometown  suffered after my dad passed away.  i used to love going back, but after he died every trip became a nightmare.  i admit, 9 out of 10 times i still burst into tears at some point driving onto the island. weird little things trip me up; baby cows in fields, his favorite grocery store, random memories.  it's probably worse because i drive his truck now and i banked hundreds of hours in that thing with him traveling to and from school. it still smells like his cigarettes on a hot day.  this is really why i will never part with the truck. 

oh, hi!

i have been bad about blogging.  which is okay.  i think it's like any hobby, with peaks and valleys.  i wanted to make sure i caught up on some stuff though, before the new year begins.

 i got a new sewing machine for my birthday! hooray!  i've been making little zippered pouches and practicing my quilting on oven mitts.  although to be honest, i have yet to make an oven mitt that has worked.  all the mistakes have been pretty illuminating, though, and at some point i will make an oven mitt that is both cute and useful.  someday.  sigh.

 

the boys are now a little over eight months old. not quite grown up cats, but still pretty kitten-ish.  they are GIANT.  here is vince in a tote bag.  that face! they both love hiding in bags, boxes, and on top of clean laundry.  what cat doesn't?

i made some tie-dyed tote bags for xmas presents this year.  i love tie-dye.  the hippie part of me is still very active, i guess. 

i was talking the other day of creating a place to store and display my ever-growing collection of tote bags.  my thought was to put it right behind the door of my bedroom, but D said it would be pretty cool in the space by the entryway.  we live in a split-level, so when you walk in, there's a lot of wall space right there.  currently i've been adding photos to one area, which has filled a small area.  the tote bags would look great there, though, and fill the area better.  i'm excited about working on that project.

i think 2014 will see a lot more home improvement projects around here.  we had an issue with a broken pipe out in the driveway (which we were lucky enough to be able to fix ourselves!), which made us think about what we have saved up, what things needs to be done around the house, and make a plan.  first we need a new oven (boooooo), so that will go on layaway at sears.  then i want to finish our bedroom (paint it and lower the bed a bit, maybe make a headboard), and work on the entryway.  we have an honest-to-goodness spare bedroom now too, and we're going to try our hand at laying down laminate and put up some bookshelves.  we've decided it will be a good room to practice in.  when it's done, it will be a room full of books and where we can do yoga and meditate. a nice, quiet spot, as well as a good place for guests to stay. 

the holidays were great, the kids are doing well, and i'm trying to spend less time on the internet and more time doing other stuff.  which makes for boring blogging!  i put a lot of random things over on tumblr, though, if you want to check that out.  i hope your holiday was great, and that 2014 treats you well! 

new year ahoy!

truth be told, 2012 was pretty hunky dory.  we're ending it on a high note, as well; december was wonderful, we all had a good christmas, and we're looking forward to a new year's eve at home. 

as usual, the plan is nibbles, followed by lounging.  this year in addition to all the little bites i make, i'd like to include some traditional good luck foods.  long noodles, for long life, little dumplings shaped like purses, for good fortune, a galette des roi, maybe even some hoppin john.  new year's eve is the first holiday i ever spent with my little family, so while i've always been fond of it, i'm kind of crazy about it now.  i like planning out the meal, i like that we stay home, it's a goofy, no-pressure holiday for us. 

christmas this year was pretty amazing.  D and i bought a new computer, and the screen is huge, it has a ridiculous amount of memory, and it's not in the living room, which is nice.  i need to clean up my laptop and maybe get a new operating system for it so we can use it for the next few years as well.  then! for our christmas present, the boychik got us a new tv and blue ray player! the amazing thing about that, besides the awesomeness of having a kid who buys electronics, is that because of his discount at work (best buy) and the fact that both were "open boxes" he got it all for under $100.  the blue ray player is also wireless, so in addition to being able to watch new, fancy, hi-def movies, we can stream netflix right on the tv. 

it's been so long since we've been able to cozy on the couch and watch a movie or tv show.  i had no idea how much i missed it!  the days after christmas found us all relaxing, watching dvds we'd gotten as presents, and lots and lots of tv shows on netflix.  it was a very thoughtful gift, and i can understand now why he was so excited to give it to us.  what a boy! 

this weekend i might try to clean up the holiday debris and do something crafty.  i might just also watch a lot of tv and drink tons of coffee.  we'll see!

four years

i meant to write this post yesterday, because four years ago yesterday, i had what would end up being the best, and last, date of my life.

i know, i know, i'm ridiculous, but seriously, the date i had with D four years ago was awesome.  he made chili verde, we drank wine, we both wore stripey shirts, and we made out in the kitchen.  don't try to argue with the math with that.  wine + porky goodness + kissing in the kitchen = grow up and get married. true story.

today, four years ago, i met my kids.  they sat on one couch while D and i sat on another, and they played their DS's and gave us sidelong glances, and there was a lot of giggling and happy times. i had literally thought for all of five minutes about being step-parent before that, and while i was not sure i could do it, i knew that day how much i liked them, and that if i already felt that way, then we'd probably be okay.

meeting them right before the holidays was a good thing. i remember that first christmas, after i'd met them, and mom making fun of me because my chin was all pink from making out (!), and making furtive calls outside to tell him how much i missed him, and how much fun we had on new year's eve.  to me, my beginning of my family will always be tied up in happy holiday memories, with us goofing in the kitchen and buying each other presents and having that doofy, newly in love feeling.  shy and happy and spending a lot of time together.  i never forget how lucky i am, how happy i am, how at home i feel with these three amazing people who made me part of their family.  

ouch!

i just burnt my hand on a pan of cookies.  it was worth it, they are delicious cookies, and all i want to do on my four days off of work is bake and drink beers and listen to xmas music.  for real.  i'm living the dream!

currently in the oven are my chocolate cookies with cinnamon, white chips and dried cherries.  awaiting oven time, gingerbread cupcakes.  they smell so good already, unbaked, that i can hardly wait to put them in the damn oven. 

big booty squirrel

this squirrel is both the color and shape of nicki minaj, therefore, it is the Minaj Squirrel.  because it is made of felted wool, it's already 500% smarter than the original nicki minaj, making it the perfect ornament for our xmas tree. 

tried needle felting with my friend anne this weekend.  i had this idea that it was going to be the easiest thing on earth, and then when it took EFFORT to do it right, i got fussy.  i forget to act my age sometimes.  anne was very patient with me, and i worked on it until it looked right, and then i felt like a genius.  it's not even like it's a very hard thing to do, but it does take practice and patience and sometimes that's hard for me.  now that i can make thing that don't look totally ridiculous, though, i love it.  hooray for another craft!

martha stewart conspired to make my weekend with anne a disaster, but she failed.  yes, the candy we made following her terrible instructions turned out too hard, but it was still delicious and we still got to use a candy thermometer.  yes, her felt ornaments needed a lot of stuff we actually couldn't find, but we improvised and our ornaments are cuter.  plus, friendship always grows when you spend time together complaining about martha stewart screwing you.

broke out a whole lot of xmas CDs tonight, much to the girlchild's delight.  she said, "oh, you have so many xmas CDs," and i told her i have like a drop in the bucket compared to my mom.  she seemed even more pleased by that.  what are you doing to get ready for the holiday?

aubergine

i've done nothing tonight but roast a shit load of eggplants.  by that, i mean FIVE.  my mom really likes D's baba ganoush, and so that is what we are contributing to thanksgiving.  are any of us middle eastern? no.  why this has become my husband's go-to dish as far as my mother is concerned, i do not know.  he has to work tomorrow, though, and he insists on making the pitas from scratch, so i thought the least i could do it get the eggplants all roasted and skinned.  after all, that's about all i plan on doing.  not because i don't want to, but because when D gets in that kitchen and gets to work, sometimes it's best to stay out of his way.  also, according to him, i never add enough lemon juice. 

i also mention this every time, but it goes without saying, when we make ganoush, we make mighty boosh jokes.  "the ganoush is loose and it's a little bit raw!"  dorks.

i'm also busy working on our holiday cards.  a few years ago i got this awesome stencil kit from my portland friends, and once again, i'm putting it to use.  this time it's a kraft paper card, and navy blue buck on it, with a silvery-gold buck staggered on top.  the effect is weirdly 3D, modern and not too holiday specific.  i know, we celebrate christmas, everyone we know celebrates christmas, why not making a fucking christmas card?  because i am a jerk. also, i think the whole happy holiday spirit is one i'd much rather invoke than religion-specific sentiment.  what's important about the holiday to me is this: my loved ones knowing that i love them, that i'm thinking about them, that i hope we all make it through another dark winter happy and healthy, and let's get together and have a tasty bite sometime.  to that end, i send out ridiculous cards that people either love or feel completely ambivalent about.  hooray!

the stockings are actually not hung by the chimney with care

but not because i'm a grinch! i'm not sure how to hang them up there without them falling down once full.  i think they'll end up being stockings laid before the chimney with care, if that's okay with you.

the shopping is all done (aside from maybe an eyeliner or two i should buy the girlchild), cookies and festive breads have been baked, all our plans for the next few days have been made and confirmed, and now it's just all about trying to show up on time and vacuuming the living room.  i got a four day weekend, which is exciting, and i spent yesterday napping and goofing off, which felt amazing.  for whatever reason i got a lot of medicare calls this week, and medicare is kind of confusing to everybody. it's a subject that definitely taxes my brain.  

work is going well, though. i feel like i'm getting to a point now where i'm not so overwhelmed that i come home and go to bed early.  i feel more confident about what i'm doing, and have gotten some positive feedback from my bosses.  i had a QC call last week (where they listen to a recording of a call a few times and take notes to give you) that went very well, and the monitor actually told me that she liked how comfortable i sounded on the phone.  "you sound like you've been doing this for a lot longer than you have been."  i always want to reply like jon lovitz on snl, "acting!" honestly, i figure it can't hurt to at least sound like i know what i'm doing, and no one needs to know how new i am.  i feel good at this job; it feels like a place where you're always learning new things, like there are all sorts of opportunities, and like they honestly give a shit about their employees.  it's so refreshing.

i feel like things are going well, both at work and at home.  i love my little house, my little family, and am looking forward to the next few days.  i hope you all have a great holiday, whatever you celebrate, and if i don't get back to you before january, happy new year! 

thankful

we had thanksgiving in our new house today!  it was supposed to be a small event, with just the four of us and my mom and aunt.  then my cousin came, and my sister and her boyfriend, and the in-laws!  it was a fun day, to be honest, and i'm glad everyone got to come over.  our little house was full of people we love, wine, food, and the living room had been vacuumed.  success! 

anyone married to a cook knows this; even if you are not a doof in the kitchen, they will take over and have some prima donna moments, and you will get to cook one, maybe two things if you are lucky.  me, i made the cranberry relish, a few radish roses, and a kick ass cheese tray.  everything else was all D.  he made tiny cornish game hens, stuffed with dressing, a brussels sprout gratin with smoked gouda, mashed potatoes, two kinds of gravy (one plain, one with fancy chanterelle mushrooms, wine and cream), green beans almandine, sweet potatoes with pecans, a giant fruit salad, a ham, and a grape pie.  imagine how tired you are of reading all those words, then eat them, and go take a nap.  whew.  i got fat just thinking about dinner.  needless to say, it was delicious and i loved every bite.  we had champagne with dinner, spiked with a little cherry juice, and afterward ate pumpkin pie my mom brought over.  

i have to say, i have a lot to be grateful for this year.  a happy, healthy little family; a new house; a cat that likes to nap with me; kids who get my stupid jokes and make their own; a job that pays me like a grown up, and all my friends and family.  speaking of, we're going to get a little bigger next year; my sister is having another baby!  i just found out yesterday, and i will admit, i have a bit of a baby high going on right now.  (and maybe a buzz from all the good food and love and knowing i have another three days off to knit and lounge!)  i hope everyone had an equally boss day (boss is my new favorite word, which i guess means i'm a boy from 1972), and thanks for stopping by!  maybe next year you can come over and help us eat some of this food...

felled by an ugly bug

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

the day started out pretty awesome.  i made an old-school potato stamp, and decorated some bags of candy for my little family.  no one got anything too big; just some candy and a cute toy.  i did get D a small book, scenes from an impending marriage by adrian tomine, but let's be honest: that was as much for me as him.

in return, i got some candy and kisses from my sweetie as well. 

i made a beautiful dinner.  roasted some beets for a salad, mixed them with baby greens, candied walnuts (that i candied!), gorgonzola and a homemade vinaigrette.  i had picked up some tiny sirloin steaks to serve as well, which D was on top of. everyone was in a great mood, dinner was coming along beautifully, and then my wedding dress showed up!

it's gorgeous.  simple and pretty and worth every penny.  even without the fancy undergarments, the dress fit well and held all my parts and pieces up and made it all look good.  if i don't lose another pound between here and the wedding, that's okay, because really, this dress looks amazing.  i can see now why a dress that makes you feel so pretty is such a big deal when planning your wedding.  it felt good to wear something so well made and so flattering.

we were all happy about the dress, dinner was delicious and then we got settled in on the couch to watch a little adventure time when it hit me.  my stomach started to feel weird, but i thought maybe i was just really full.  then it started cramping.  then i realized that my chances of keeping down my carefully prepared, lovely and yummy meal were slim to none.  i spent the rest of the night in the bathroom, throwing up any and everything that had crossed my lips for the past 48 hours.  i don't know what caused it, but no one else got it, so hooray!  i spent the night on the couch, awake every thirty minutes, heading to the bathroom, drinking pepto and then heading back to the couch to writhe around in agony.  so romantic, right?  boo.  i'm feeling a bit better now; i spent the day asleep on the couch, ate a little bread and didn't hurl it up (although my stomach did react at first with something akin to indignation), and D is going to bring home some juice for me.  the cat seemed pleased to have a napping friend all day, even if she does hog one whole end of the couch.  i'll go back to work tomorrow, once this bug works it way through my south of the border.  oh yeah, it's that awesome.  ugh.  it was a nice valentine's day, aside from the vomit, but we all know that the vomit will be well-remembered.        

hallelujah!

the kids go back to school tomorrow!  i go back to work the day after that!  i will finally be out of the house for longer than the occasional trip to the grocery store! 

yeah, i know i could have gone outside or found some free activities for the kids and i to engage in, but for one thing it's ridiculously cold out, and for another, going anywhere would have required gas for the car, and we really are kind of super broke right now.  plus, we had a ton of stuff we could (and did) do here.  it's just that no matter how big your house is, it is never, ever big enough for kids home on winter break.  note to self: use up all your float time this year on honeymooning or something.  don't wait until december! 

what did i do with my break? knit.  watched too much tv.  worked on some crafty projects.  cleaned random things, like the front of the fridge.  read a few books.  overall, i'd say i feel pretty refreshed and ready to get the hell out of the house.  i'm also ready for the kids to go back to school and for them to stop hanging around complaining about boredom.  there was literally NO SUGGESTION i made this week that either of them took, and it wasn't too long ago that i started saying "boo fucking hoo" when one of them lamented the lack of stuff to do.  tomorrow i plan on doing all that stuff i didn't do while they were home, washing some scrubs, and cutting up some veggies to pack in my lunches.  we had our last fat farm vacation meal today (pizza!), tomorrow we go back on the wagon.  i'm ready!   

last years resolution round-up

last year i not only wrote down some resolutions, but i put them up here for everyone to see! ha, ha, i suck.  let's look over them and see if i got anything on that list done...

1. learn how to knit intarsia, or fair isle, or any other sort of picture/multiple color knitting. i like cables, i like lacey things, but i'm ready to learn something new. (i still detest using charts, however. i don't know if that will change this year.)  um, nope.  never did this.  although i did hunt my interasia dvd out and put it next to the tv.  i give myself 1/2 a point for that. 
2. learn how to make a homemade, epic, sourdough bread. seriously sour, too, not like some of the wimpy stuff you get in stores.  again, no.  i did find a place that sells sourdough as sour as i like it, but unfortunately, that place is haggen and we all know i won't go in there.  every now and then i talk D into popping in and buying me a loaf.   
3. go back to blogging more often. i've been trying to do something small every day, but i think making it an actual, "i said it out loud" sort of thing will help.  this one i actually did, if you look at my stats.  more entries this year than last
4. get new glasses. and the pre-requisite eye exam to accompany them.  i totally did this!  i rock!  i also got contacts this year too, for the first time in something like five years.  they itch, which reminds me, i don't really like wearing them. 
5. the cyst/tumor/mean pea in my hand has got to go. honestly. i'll have someone help me take a photo; the thing's gotten fucking huge and now part of my hand down to my wrist likes to go numb or burn. not cool.  this one i not only didn't do, but probably won't do for a long time.  i did get off my ass and saw a doctor about the thing, but when i heard what my options were (surgery followed by crazy physical therapy, a wicked scar, and then more surgery a few years later), i realized that while my hand hurts sometimes, surgery isn't going to help.  not any time soon, anyway.  

not too terribly shabby, although when you only make five resolutions, keeping two and half of them isn't too terribly hard.  here's a list of things i did do this year that i'm totally proud of but weren't resolutions:

happy new year!

i made tiny pigs in blankets, a couple of dips, and we watched the ball drop in NY.  seeing dick clark made me tear up, though.  i'm glad he's still around and kicking, and doing what he loves, but it still comes as a shock to me that he's aging.  for most of my life he's looked exactly the same! 

also, if i haven't mentioned it before, i hate jenny mcCarthy!  they should have dropped the ball on that ridiculous, plastic injected dimwit. 

and on that happy note, happy new year! 

gearing up for the new year!

tonight i took D out for a grown-up dinner that involved none of the foods eaten over the holiday.  nothing with bacon, potato, chicken, cold cuts, turkey, or lasagna.  where did we go? we went out for sushi, of course.  awesome, awesome sushi.  there's a place in town that has one of those conveyor belts and jesus h. christ, i love those things.  watching little half-rolls of sushi goodness glide by, swooping in for the most delectable looking ones, watching the tiny plates stack up...it's pretty much my favorite thing ever.  the thing about sitting in front of the space-age conveyor is that you think you'll never get full of sushi.  it all slides by and it all looks great, and you think "oh those plates are so tiny...we can eat one more..." and then you get up to go pee and HOLY SHIT you are full of sushi.  it's like magic!  yummy magic.

tomorrow is new year's eve and you know that can mean only one thing: twilight zone marathon on syfy.  i'll pop out of the house at some point to buy some bubbly wine and crescent rolls for the pigs in a blanket (because champagne and hot dogs together are divine, duh), but i plan to spend the rest of the day on the couch, watching rod serling, and knitting.  does anything sound better than that?  um, no.  D will work part of the day, but he'll be home in time to kiss me at midnight and make a goofy hat to celebrate.  plus, as much as he loves me, no one loves that much twilight zone except for me.  he'll probably also get home in time to save me from the kids, who will want to beat me to death by then.  unless i can somehow convince them the twilight zone is awesome, and i don't see that happening.  kids these days don't dig anything in black and white, let me tell you.  too bad i pay for the cable!      

things we got for xmas

• three cookbooks, one all about making your own cheese.
• an ice cream maker.
• a deep fryer.

who wants to roll me down the aisle?  

hello, darlings

look at this awesome purse my sainted mother gave me for xmas.  it's giant, it's sturdy, it's covered in sugar skulls and it's got a rad flat bottom so it stands upright (making it perfect for knitting).  it's funny how i rate purses now not just based on awesome looks, but whether or not it can carry my yarn and needles, and how easy it is for me to knit right out of the bag. 

there's an oddities mini-marathon on over at discovery, so i've been working on my missoni blanket and watching.  i think it would be totally worth the price of plane tickets to take the kids to NY to see the place in person.  we could go to some museums too, so it would be all kinds of educational... 

i have a house full of quiet

sigh...D and the kids went to a co-worker's going-away, farewell, bon voyage party, and i opted to stay home.  technically, it's a party for two of his co-workers, one of whom i like, the other one...not so much.  plus, and this sounds Catty, capital C, but he never accompanies me to any work functions, and yet i've met every one of his co-workers, and sometimes that seems a little unfair to me. 

it's nice to have a quiet house for a few hours as well.  i took a whole week off work, and now i kind of wonder if that was the best idea i've ever had.  i need to pick a project (or three) to work on, so i don't go stir-crazy.  my pants feel kind of tight, so taking some walks sound like a good idea (dear xmas, screw all your delicious fatty food!), and maybe i'll finally (FINALLY) clean out and organize my sewing/craft/computer room.  i have some stuff that should go in the mail, some that should go to the thrift store, endless expanses of things that need to be dusted or vacuumed or washed, so finding things to occupy me shouldn't be too difficult.

to be perfectly honest, i had a terrible dream last night and woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  everything is rubbing me the wrong way.  i also miss my dad, and i miss my uncle.  holidays are weird now without them and while i love my mom and aunt, i love D and the kids, i love D's folks and siblings and nieces and nephews, there's just something missing.  plowing through this holiday i just pretended everything was fine and i was okay, but now that i have three minutes alone, i feel...bad.  i think all the weird and stressful dreams are just my brains way of letting off some steam, but waking up every morning with a clenched jaw and roiling stomach has gotten old.  i think while i have some time alone, maybe i'll take a nice long bath, listen to some music, have a good old fashioned cry.  i think i just need to get it out of my system.  i'm sorry, i think now i'm rambling.  i'm not a great big emotional mess, i promise.  i think it just occurred to me that maybe putting my head down and powering through was good for a while but maybe isn't a healthy long-term solution. 

oh my gosh, the holidays happened and stuff

sorry for the quiet, all three of my readers.  we had an awesome fun holiday, with a lot of toys given and gotten, too much food made and consumed, and a lot of visitors and visiting.  whew.  being single made this kind of shit a lot easier, but i didn't get to buy satanic xmas gifts and something called jeggings for my semi-step-children then, either.  and honestly?  that was pretty fun.  holidays and kids really are a nice combination.  i could do without all the fucking wrapping paper, but other than that, i'm happy.  i hope you also had a happy/merry/radical xmas and are gearing up for an equally amazing new year.  

jingle bells

this is the last weekend before the Big Holiday, and i plan on spending all of it at home, baking some cookies and doing some knitting.  there are a few things i would like to pick up, but i had a kerfuffle with my bank account, and so those last minute presents will be VERY last minute; like xmas eve.  ugh.  i hate putting it off so long, but the legal firm i'm using for my bankruptcy made an accounting mistake and took too much out of my account this month.  the good news is that since they've got it, they'll use it for some other fees that i won't have to worry about later.  D got fussy about it, and i would have too, but the fact remains that i'm using kind of a cheap law firm.  that's what i could afford, and you know, you get what you pay for.  i'm sure they'll handle all the filing and typing and all that jazz just fine, a little accounting mistake hasn't shaken my faith to the core or anything like that.  it throws a kink into my holiday planning, but nothing serious.  i had most everything bought anyhow!

the kids are now on xmas break; one of them is out riding his bike, one is reveling in watching tv (since she's been banned from it for weeks now).  i'm going to warm up my cup of coffee, work on more tiny knit mushrooms, an afghan, and maybe a batch of eggnog bread.  i might not leave the house or even change out of my pjs today.  so don't come over!

holiday crafting!

one of my favorite things to do is watch hoarders while making a mess in my own house crafting.  watching people cram their houses with useless stuff encourages me to clean up after myself. plus, my house looks fucking amazing in comparison. 

my awesome friends the o'neals bought me this equally awesome card making kit from stencil 1! at first i had kind of a hard time using it (i am impatient! i didn't read the instructions very well, and applied way too much paint!), now that i know what i'm doing, i can't stop stenciling everything in sight.   i also want to buy a lot more stencils and put them up all over town.  the stag stencil is a great holiday/xmas card motif; nice and bold without being too sappy.  if you get one for xmas, please act surprised.  i'm sorry i burst the bubble, they are just too rad to keep to myself.