Project 365: First Picture of 2011

a little scary ... but oh well.

new year's eve is today??

i have thought all along that new year's eve was on saturday -- tomorrow! i don't know why i thought this since christmas eve was last friday, but i absolutely did. kate and i decided last weekend to have an impromptu new year's eve party ... i had no idea just how impromptu it would be. i work all day today and then have to get everything ready for a party? what was i thinking?

goodbye tree.

travis and i took down our christmas tree today. the plan had originally been to leave it up through new year's day ... but unfortunately our lil guy got a little too dried out and droopy. neither of us can understand why it dried out so quickly because we never let it run out of water. i was sad to see the tree go, but the house looks a little nicer now. the needles were starting to fall all over the place, ornaments kept falling off the drooping branches, and the large, plastic storage bins had been brought in from the storage building yesterday and were just stacked up in the middle of the floor. it was all beginning to get to me. the house was a wreck! we still have our garland & lights up and our wreath on the door, and our living room feels really large right now because we still haven't moved the oversized chair back in here. it was moved to the guest bedroom/office to make room for the christmas tree. we'll bring it back out in a few days, but for now, i'm enjoying the cozy glow of the garland and our freshly vacuumed carpets.

a perfectly wrapped present.

do your presents ever turn out looking as crisp as the photo above? i always try, but i don't think mine ever look so nice. while it's a little late, i decided to go ahead and post the link to the mother huddle's instructions for wrapping presents like a pro. i figure it's a great "skill" to learn for upcoming birthday parties, showers, weddings, and christmases to come. and if any presents i give you don't look so nice, please, no judgement.

we wish you a merry christmas.

merry christmsas ...

... from our family to yours.

xoxo, the leach lear household 2010

christmas decorations.

i don't like how a single picture turned out; that's why i've been reluctant to post pictures. the room doesn't glow in the pictures the way it does in real life. i tried taking pictures with the flash, without the flash, with the overhead lights on, with them off ... you can get the idea. everyone continues to request pictures though, so here we go ...

random thoughts.

01. i really don't know how i let so much time pass in between my posts.

02. for the first time in as long as i can remember, i finally know what people mean when they say they don't want to sit in front of a computer when they get home from work. i love being online, but lately when i get home from work, it's not that i don't want to ... i'm just so exhausted. i have an hour drive home from work, and i rarely get home before 7:00. then it's time for dinner, a show with my boys, and time to prepare for the next day.

03. i LOVE this time of year, but i really do feel like it is passing all too quickly. i've waited and waited for the christmas season and now it's at the end of this week!

04. holiday vacations were so much better when you were a kid (or a school teacher)

05. i love. love. love. seeing the apartment all decorated for christmas.

06. i bought a tree at the owasso christmas tree farm all by myself last week. travis and i had decided we weren't going to have a tree, but on the drive home i just couldn't bear the thought of that, so i stopped off at the tree farm, picked a beautiful tree, had the guys load it up on my car, and headed home. travis was in class and i didn't want it to get stolen off my car, so i drove around looking at all of the beautiful christmas lights. travis was surprised to find me at home with a tree, but he got it unloaded. while he was setting it up i went to target to get a stand for the tree. when i got home we got it placed into the stand ... and it.was.humongous. i actually don't think it's that big now, but when we first brought it in, travis kept making fun of me saying i would never be able to pick out a tree by myself again. haha. it made sure it was the right height when i purchased it, but i never thought about the width of it.

07. i never want to take our beautiful tree down.

08. the apartment is so warm and cozy and feels like a home now. we have all of the rooms fully furnished and set up. the office has a desk and bed (and an oversized leather chair for now, while the tree is in the living room). i even have pictures and artwork hung. we still need something for the walls in the dining room and a few finishing touches here and there, but all in all, i'm pretty happy with the way things look. if we have to be in an apartment right now, i'm glad it feels like home.

09. i've been in the mood to bake, but not to gain weight. i've put on another ten pounds since starting conocophillips. something i am not dealing with well. i'm afraid a diet and trainer are in order.

10. travis and i are addicted to smallville. travis started watching season one and somehow we were sucked in. we had never watched it before, so the beginning seemed like the perfect place. last night we started season eight! we've blown through the seasons so quickly ... well, travis has especially. i've watched most of the episodes, but he stays up at night after i'm in bed and watches them and he also watches them during the day on tuesdays and thursdays since he doesn't have any client visits those days.

11. i need to get back to work so i should cut this short. have a very merry christmas if i don't make it back on here before then.

I feel like blogging ...

... but i don't really have anything to say ... so maybe just a "random thoughts" kind of post.


01. the christmas season is rushing by far, far too quickly. this is my favorite time of year. i wish it lasted several months instead of just a few weeks.


02. i'm watching bothers and sisters: a christmas story and loving it. i would love to be like nora walker someday (minus all the children) but with the beautiful house and the fun parties and the never-ending supply of great wine.


03. i love glowing garland, christmas trees, and our lamps.

04. i wish my house was large enough to host family here. i don't think i would ever leave our place if that was the case.

05. i am loving working from home.

06. ... i'm sensing a pattern here: christmas decorations and being at home. a lot.

07. i don't really have time to finish this but will post again soon ...

orange-peel chicken & broccoli.

i've gotten pretty good at throwing a meal together in under twenty minutes or less. granted, tonight was easy, but oh so yummy. i saw this meal in the target supermarket a few weeks ago when travis and i were doing a but of browsing.

you can find it in the frozen food section, and the package says it's enough to feed two. {we actually had leftovers.} travis and i both love p.f. chang's so i thought it would be fun to give this a shot.

on my way home from work, i had to stop off for milk and soda. travis had said he wasn't really hungry when i talked to him on the phone, but my lunch at work today was horrible and i. was. starving.

i remembered seeing the meal before, so i popped by the frozen food section, grabbed this little bad boy, and away i went.

i already had a package of steamfresh broccoli in the freezer that was the perfect compliment to the tangy chicken.

i poured the contents of the p.f. chang's bag into a non-stick skillet, turned the heat to medium-high, and covered the skillet with a lid. it only took twelve minutes to cook. halfway through, i turned on the steamfresh broccoli in the microwave and in six little minutes, i had a delicious meal ready to serve.

i added a bit of garlic salt to the broccoli, put some cottage cheese in a bowl, and served up the delicious orange peel chicken.

it wasn't exactly like the restaurant, but it was pretty good. travis thought the orange was a little too strong, but i thought it was delicious. i'll definitely keep it in mind for the future when i need dinner in a hurry.

baked salmon & mixed veggies.

last night travis and i were ready for dinner, but decided it would be better for our budget if we could make ourselves stay in and eat what we had at home. i pulled a couple of salmon filets from the freezer, a package of steamfresh mixed veggies {broccoli, cauliflower, carrots}, and the carton of cottage cheese.

i didn't really have any lemons or lemon-pepper seasoning, so i wasn't sure what to do with the salmon. i melted a half-stick of butter {i believe that's 1/4 cup} in the microwave. i poured half of it into a small, square baking dish. across the top of the butter i sprinkled garlic salt and sea salt.

i thawed the salmon filets and then added them to the pan. i poured the remaining butter over the top of both filets, added a little more garlic salt, and then black pepper. i put them in the over to bake for about 7 minutes at 375.

while the salmon was baking, i started the steamfresh veggies in the microwave. the food was all ready around the same time. i added a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese to the veggies and mixed them all well.

i wish i would have taken a picture. the pink salmon, the colorful veggies, and the cottage cheese in clear ramekins looked so festive and tasted absolutely yummy.