Elf on the Shelf Day...Whatever

Our elf has been quite the lazy son-of-a-gun lately. It's like he's gotten comfortable in the house. Either that or he's already decided what his report back to Santa will be and he's fed up with "watching" us. Jim decided to clean out our home office file cabinets tonight and when he took the year-end documents upstairs to store, Mr. Marbles took the opportunity to do some office work of his own. If only I was the one reporting back to Santa, I think Mr. Marbles might be on the naughty list...

Elf on the Shelf Day 15

Seeing as how the world is supposed to end tomorrow and all, Mr. Marbles accompanied me to work today and took advantage of the fact that I own my own little skin care practice and can give heavily discounted facials. And by "heavily discounted" I mean free. A) He's an elf and has no money and B) I still feel kinda bad about almost killing him off in day thirteen's post. Call me forgiven after this. Anyway, he chose my "All Organic Facial" due to concerns that anything harsher would take the color right off of those rosy little cheeks of his. Good choice, Mr. Marbles! Now go tell Santa I've been good!

Elf on the Shelf Day 14

Someone pointed out to me that my blog postings had taken on the tone of a lousy soap opera and I have to say I agree. When Bee grabbed Mr. Marbles that should have just been the end of the drama, but nooooo, I got lazy. (Hey, you try being this creative for 24 days in a row and see if you don't take the easy way out once in a while.). Anyway, today Mr. Marbles is enjoying his time of relaxation. I'm thinking as soon as I get the rest of my wrapping, packing, baking, and cleaning done ill probably do the same.

Elf on the Shelf Day 13

Ok, we skipped day 12 but the picture below explains why. It seems Mr. Marbles wasn't dead-dead, only kinda dead. That meant we still had a chance with him. Currently he's in 'elf-tensive' care and is being taken good care of. He's got wires and tubes coming out of him and bless his little heart, he's still got that goofy smile of his. So things are looking up! Stay tuned and think good elf thoughts!

Elf on the Shelf Day 11 AKA Day of Tragedy

It was bound to happen. Mr. Marbles was found this morning, face down in the middle of our living room floor, unmoving, and unresponsive. Right next to him, sat Bee the Beagle, looking...guilty. Jim asked, "Why is he lying face down on the floor like that? Is he planking again?" "No," I answered, "He's dead." "Why is he dead?" Jim asked. "I guess he died because he was so sad by all of the naughty behavior." I answered. (Bee, I'm looking in YOUR direction.) I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, folks. Stay tuned for this continuing saga...

Elf on the Shelf Day 10

Planking. Have you heard of it? Here, allow me to save you the trouble of a Google search: Planking (otherwise known as, The Lying Down Game) is a relatively new fad where participants lie stiff as a board (or plank!), face down, and unmoving, in often unusual places. They then have pictures taken of their planking and post the pictures on social media sites. Umm, fun? Anyway, it seems we have a trendy elf in our house. Today Mr. Marbles was planking on our Christmas tree! Don't worry, Mr. Marbles, I'll post the picture for you...

Elf on the Shelf Day 9

Mr. Marbles obviously took his opportunity of free access in my pantry seriously yesterday. Today he was found building snowmen out of marshmallows. (Jim says, "Oh he needed to build himself some friends, he's lonely." I'm totally afraid of what this naughty little elf is capable of when given a Sharpie marker. Watch out!

Elf on the Shelf Day 8

Well I can see that our little Mr. Marbles wasted no time in getting his teeth back to their sugary state after his cleaning yesterday. Elves love sugar, we all know this. There's plenty-o-sugar in maple syrup so I can't say I blame him for his craving. Gee, I hope he doesn't mind generic brand syrup from The Walmart!

Elf on the Shelf Day 7

After all those marshmallows that Mr. Marbles ate yesterday I figured he should probably get his teeth cleaned. My sister in law just happens to be the world's most fabulous dental hygienist and I was scheduled for a cleaning today anyway, so I brought him along. He was a good little patient and sat very still but wouldn't open that mouth of his, for love or money. I'm not even a hundred percent sure there are even any teeth in that plastic mouth of his. But he did get to flirt with the girls in the office a little and I am now probably going to be known as "that patient who brought an elf to her cleaning." Ah well, at least my teeth feel all shiny and clean!

Elf on the Shelf Day 6

First off, I've had a bit of a stomach flu today so the elf was frankly the furthest thing from my mind. With that said, I also haven't ventured near the kitchen today because the thought of food today, well, it's not pretty. Luckily it seems Mr. Marbles is immune to my flu bug (seems fitting since he's made of cloth and plastic). He was found this evening, helping himself to some roasted marshmallows. My only thought was, how the heck would I explain an accidental kitchen fire to my firefighter husband (who IS on duty today) should it come to that?! Wow that could be a little embarrassing. On a side note, today I discovered a fun (not really) little trick that Bee has picked up. The second picture today shows how clever she is at toilet papering our bathroom. Who needs a naughty little elf when you've got a naughty little Bee?

Elf on the Shelf Day 5

Mr. Marbles has gotten a share of his own medicine today. Instead of pulling one of his little pranks, it seems he's been taken hostage by some of the toys in our game room that the kids like to play with when they visit. Tsk, tsk, even the My Little Pony is in on the act. I'll be honest, I didn't think she had it in her. On a side note, Jim pronounced the elf's name "Mr. Mar-Bells" the other day. It has made me giggle every time I hear it. Tomato, toe-mah-toe I guess!

Elf on the Shelf Day 4.5

I know that technically Mr. Marbles has already made his appearance today but we had our niece and nephew over to make gingerbread men today. They'd heard about this elf living in our house and wanted to see him, so Mr. Marbles had to get up to some extra antics today. We started by searching for him and wouldn't you know it, that crazy elf was fishing in the toilet. At first they weren't too sure of the elf but seemed to quickly get over the creepy factor. (Although I did notice that neither of them wanted to return to the "elf bathroom" without an escort. Smart kids.) I'm also thinking that for parents $34.99 might be a wise investment, as elves go. Today whenever there was even a HINT of rebellion, all I had to say was "Mr. Marbles is watching you." and they would snap back in line. What good little soldiers they are. (Susanne, I apologize if your children need therapy later on in life.)

Elf on the Shelf Day 4

Last night after I put the dogs to bed and climbed into bed myself, I waited a few minutes and whined to Jim, "I heard a noise on the stairs. I'm scared." It's not unheard of for me to occasionally do this (hey, it's quiet in this huge house, I can hear every noise and sometimes the noise is S-C-A-R-Y!) Jim went to check out the "noise" (my hero!) and found Mr. Marbles at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently Mr. Marbles is a dare devil!

Elf on the Shelf Day 3

There was no note from Mr. Marbles today but I guess elves need to shave too sometimes. On second thought, I don't think he needed to actually shave, his face is as smooth as plastic! Don't cut yourself, Mr. Marbles, you cost $34.99!!!

Elf on the Shelf Day 2

Jim was a little confused when he found Mr. Marbles in his truck this morning. I don't think he "gets " this whole elf thing yet. Today Mr. Marbles was found hiding in the freezer, holding onto a bag of meatless soy crumbles. His note explained that he was not used to Idaho's warm weather yet and was a bit homesick for the North Pole. Oh Mr. Marbles, you're killing me!

I'm back!

Well hello there! We are safely back from our trip and glad to be enjoying the comforts of home once again. It was so odd waking up in our bed the first morning we were home and realizing that there was no fancy, delicious breakfast waiting for us! We are both glad to be home but I must admit I'm already dreaming of warm, tropical places...Maybe next year.
Before we left for our trip I had gotten most of our Christmas shopping done (except for a few little things here and there). There is one tradition that I'm starting for Jim this year: Have you ever heard of the Elf on the Shelf??? It's this creepy little elf doll that you purchase
And it comes with a book and you're supposed to tell your kids that the elf is visiting from the North Pole to spy on them and will be leaving on December 24th to report back to Santa whether they've been naughty or nice. Moms are supposed to move the elf around during the night and its a big fun game the next day for the kids to find the elf to see what "naughty" things the elf has done. We don't have kids. We have dogs. In particular we have Bee, a one year old beagle who likes to chew expensive things. The elf was $34.99. Get the picture? Still, I think as long as our elf stays out of Bee's reach he'll be fun. Jim will think he's creepy so there's my fun. I decided I needed some ideas for my elf on where to put him each morning so I turned to the Internet. And you know what I found? Crazy moms who make their elves do things like, pour flour all over the counters and make "snow angels". Or make their elves take all the ornaments off the tree. Uh, guess who gets to clean those little messes up? That's right, me. So I'm thinking my little elf is going to do naughty things like take 50 dollar bills out of Jim's wallet so that I can get spa treatments. Anyway, the book also requests you name your elf. The other night I turned to Jim and said, "If you had to name an elf what would you name it??" Of course his response was, "Kari, I don't know. I'm too tired to think of elf names." So I had to name the thing myself. Everyone, meet Mr. Marbles! I ordered Mr. Marbles a bit late so we only got him yesterday. Jim was at work so the way I decided to introduce the elf into our home was by strapping him into the passenger seat of Jim's truck with a note that said, "Sorry I'm late, my flight got delayed and they lost my luggage, you know how that goes..." I'll be blogging every day until Christmas about the naughty things Mr. Marbles does. I know it's not the same as reading about warm sandy beaches but hopefully it's good for a laugh. Enjoy!