Happy Thanksgiving!!!

For the last 2 years I took the month of November and on each day, I logged in and typed a post on what I was thankful for.

As can be evidenced by the fact that I have not posted since mid October, I have been having a hard time making my way over here to post. And it's not for lack of material. I have a ton of scrapbooking layouts still to post from my scrap weekend in September. I have to finish up posting about Hannah's Nightmare Before Christmas party. There's Halloween pictures. Hopefully some day I will get it all up here.

But I don't want to let today pass without throwing out there in cyberland that I am extremely thankful for all that is my life. My wonderful husband, my amazing two girls, a home over our heads, jobs for both of us, two loving dogs that drive me nuts but continue to only love, that my step mom is residing in Heaven, free of pain, after being plagued with a nasty battle with skin cancer, that my grandma is too up in Heaven after suffering a major stroke on New Years Day 2011, for my awesome friends, for knowing that God is present in my life and the ability to listen to His guidance, for knowing that He forgives me when I don't listen and so much more.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

that picture above is sadly not my porch. I found the picture here.

It's a Good Coffee Life

This is a little project I whipped up for an auction basket donation for my daughter's school. Each class has to prepare a basket for a silent auction that will raise money for the school. Her class's theme is Starbucks. We donated $5 to be put on a gift card, but as each day passed, the depseration in the teacher's voice grew as she pleaded for parents to contribute. Well, I have given more money in the first 8 weeks of school than I thought I ever would, so more wasn't an option. What was an option was all the scrapbook supplies I have lying around. So with great pleasure, I dedicated a few nights to making this fun minibook.

Each page is actually a coffee sleeve you get when Starbucks gives you your order. I took four of them and covered them in patterned paper. Then I sewed the bottoms closed on each sleeve so they could be used as a pocket. Then I punched them with my bind it all and used a 1" white wire ring to turn it into a book. The rest is random embellishments as you'll see. In each pocket, I turned an empty Starbucks gift card into a tag.

I think this could be a great gift for that coffee drinking friend.

Shared on:

Good or Bad?

I am trying to decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that my iPhone 3G screen no longer gives me a clear picture of what's on the screen. I can see the screen but it's blurry, like where there's a whole bunch of extra lines across the picture. I may or may not have thrown the phone down on the ground with some hefty force. Yes, it's been one of those days. And no, I don't normally throw my phone when I have a bad day.

Cons:
- can't really use the phone for leisure activities - checking email, blog hopping, web surfing, game playing, etc.
- GPS is going to be more difficult
- sending text messages will be more difficult

Pros:
- I will no longer stay up at night for extended periods of time checking just one more of my crafty blogs
- I won't have the ability or desire to do a whole bunch of other things I shouldn't be doing on my phone while in the car
- I might actually pay better attention to conversations because I won't be half distracted by the most recent Facebook status update
- Might be closer to getting a newer phone (which will then erase all of the pros above)

I have such a love/hate relationship with the smartphone technology.

Nightmare Before Christmas Party - Zero

I finally got my pictures uploaded of my daughter's Nightmare Before Christmas party decor and thought I would share them here. There were so many more ideas I had for the party that never came to fruition because I ran out of time, but here we go.

I'll start with my favorite piece. Zero the ghost dog that belongs to Jack Skellington.

I got the idea from here.

He was quite simple so don't be intimidated. Seriously, I am have very little experience sewing anything. All you need to do is find a good picture of him from the movie and then follow the tips on the link I provided above. The only additional tips I have are:

(1) don't be concerned about quality fabric - the shearer the better since he's a ghost dog

(2) use white hangers when forming the ears so you don't see too much of the metal in them when done and rather than cutting out the shape of the ear from fabric and forming the hanger onto that, I formed the shape of the ear with the hanger first, then hot glued that to my fabric, then trimmed all the excess fabric but about a 1/2 inch from it, and then hot glued the remaining edges of fabric around the back side of the ear.

And just like that ...

... it is October and my oldest baby is 6 years old.



It is unbelievable to me how quickly the past 6 years have flown. This little girls nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately the poor thing had to suffer her first sickness of the school year and was not at 100% for her party. More on that later. So not fair! But something I think I had better get used to considering her birthday comes just weeks into the new school year with lots of germs making their way around. {sigh}

Stuck

That's what I seem to be. I have had a layout sitting on my table for weeks. Hating it completely. Each day it calls to me and I think I'll give it a few minutes, but I don't. I can't find the time or the energy, especially at the end of the day after everyone is in bed. So today I am going to tackle it. Unfortunately, this is what I have to deal with if I am to follow through. Ugh!!! Real life!

UPDATED: a few hours later, I am done with that layout. Not my favorite by far, but it just needed to get finished. I think sometimes you just have to let it go and say, "So this won't be my best work." On to the next project. Which really should be cleaning my scrap space ... again.

First Entrepreneurial Endeavor

This past weekend we had our first ever yard sale. I am not a fan. I feel like people are judging me and my things. And I know I should not even be bothered because essentially we're getting rid of stuff we don't want anymore so who cares? But I do. I also hate the price negotiation. And watching things that were sentimental to me go for pennies.

But in preparing I asked the girls if they wanted to host a lemonade stand. Hannah of course jumped at the chance and Makaela was willing to follow along. Unfortunately Hannah was pretty sick that day so she came out for just a few minutes when Tylenol was working its wonders. Makaela had to work it by herself and, with Daddy's help, did rather well. Poor girl is plagued with shyness.

We should have had these girls out there a lot sooner. Almost everyone that came by bought a glass. I thought we should have sold them for $0.25 a glass to make change easier but Joel said $0.10. They sold out of their lemonade and made about $5.00. They decided they want to go to Yogurtland with the money. Now if we can just get them feeling better so we can go.

I am so proud of them.

Oh to be a kid again ...

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to dive into sorting through our garage and organizing it. Cabinets were purchased (thank you Craigslist) and work began. Due to the condition of the cabinets, not to mention that fact that our garage has been a nightmare since we moved in over 2 years ago, this job called for some later than normal nights. While we tackled to real work, the girls got to play outside til well after dark.

It will never cease to amaze me what their imaginations can pull together. Earlier in the day, Hannah had a bunch of toys out on the front lawn. She said she was camping and needed a tent. I went into the garage and found and old cardboard box. I cut it up, taped it into a triangle tube, and there was her tent. Not even big enough for her to comfortable crawl through. I figured she'd be into it for about 5 minutes, but no. It was her prized possession for the rest of the day.

So while we were working, they climbed into the back of daddy's truck and set up their campsite. I brought out a blanket and some sippy cups of hot chocolate because it was a cool night. They found the plush purple chair, recently given to us by the neighbors, the toys, and the cardboard tent. And let's not forget Daddy's light. They were entertained for hours. And would have been happy little kids had I let them stay up later or perhaps even spend the night in there.

I remember smiling as I observed them and turning to Joel and saying, "I want to be a kid again."

How cool that something so simple can amuse them so much!

Makes my heart happy

I love this iPhone photo despite the poor quality. Makaela nibbling on a Hawaiian roll, looking over her sister's shoulder to get in on the action.

The other day I up and decided to purchase the Jesus Storybook Bible for my girls. It arrived and to my great surprise, Hannah really took to it. Still unable to read, she's been enjoying looking at the pictures. It would be normal for her to give it a once over and move on, but on more than one occasion, I have caught her with the book, pouring over each page. She even requested that Joel and I read her a few chapters last night as her bedtime story. I couldn't be happier. Sadly, we're not a family who lives and breathes religion so when our kids openly welcome a little bit of faith based stories, we are more than willing to oblige.

In need of some perspective

I woke up this morning and immediately jumped into a pity party for myself. Awesome way to start the day!!!

Let me start at the begininng ...


Friday evening as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed my lower right eye was tender to the touch and a little bit red. I opted for some eye drops and went to bed.


Saturday morning we awoke early to set up for our yard sale. Yes, we finally decided to get rid of much of our baby items. I would say this makes it almost 100% official that we will not be having anymore children. My eye? Red and irritated. Unfortunately, Hannah also woke up not feeling so well, complaining of a tummy ache. She later developed a fever and even threw up that night. I decided at 7:30PM to head to urgent care for my eye as it was not getting better. Diagnosis? Pink Eye. Eye drops prescribed.


I set my alarm for 3AM and 7AM to wake up and give Hannah children's ibuprofen to combat her fever as well as to give myself the eye drops. Joel let me sleep in until 10AM only for me to awake for the day with a sore throat. We battled Hannah's fever all day with ibuprofen. Her mood, energy level, and appetite ebbed and flowed with the effectiveness of the medicine.


This morning she still had a fever though doesn't feel quite as warm. But now I am frustrated!!! Enter pity party. I have Makaela who has been on antibiotics for a sinus infection since last Monday. We discovered that after she had a second recurrence of a fever that she fought all of last weekend. Our 14 year old black lab has a scratched eye that we are treating with antibiotic drops every 6 hours since last Wednesday. I have pink eye and a cold and Hannah and her fever make for a mama who is feeling rather sorry for herself.


Hence my need for perspective. I have it good. I know this. I know there are people in this world right now who would give anything for a chance to nurse their children back to health from a fever because either (1) they lost a child (2) have never been able to have children (3) their child is suffering from something more severe or (4) they themselves are suffering from something that does not allow them the opportunity to administer care for their family.


And yet, all of this doesn't seem to make me feel any less bad about my own situation. And for that I feel guilty and like a bad person. I should admit that as the hours have passed from this morning, my mood has bettered. Perhaps because I am at work and not having to deal with "it" for these few hours. But I feel like I should be able to feel that I am lucky and act as such without a self-imposed reality check. Lucky that I get to wake up with my kids. That I have the means to provide the necessary medicine and medical care for not only my children, but my pets too. That I have a husband who steps in whenever needed without being asked. That my kids get to know that I will take care of them when needed.


I am thankful I, just last night, finished reading a book I picked up at the Good Will. It is called At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. I decided to buy it because I needed something to read and it had "New York Times Best Seller" scrolled across the top and was priced at only $1.99. It's from the persepctive of a 60 something Episcopalian rector and though I am not sure I would recommend it to a whole bunch of people, I really enjoyed it. There's quite a bit of scripture referenced in the book, though I wouldn't call it a pushy religious novel at all. Due to this book, I found it very easy to say a prayer this morning as I was vacuming, to help me be thankful for my situation and to ask for grace in dealing with my kids; and to help my frustration go away. I am not sure I can say that I had that God-to-self connection I would have loved. The kind where you can really feel Him working right away, but I do have faith that he heard me. And I am pretty sure the book helped me remember I can turn to God in those lower moments.

So hopefully that perspective I need will sink in really soon. Forgive me for venting. While I do intend for this blog to be a means for me to share and record my story, I don't mean for it to be a negative place. I'll admit I feel slightly better for getting it out though.

Sidenote: I do think I have some fun stuff to share soon. Once I upload some pictures.

See ya!



This book turns out to be the first of a four-part series. I think if I can find the others for a decent price, I might just pick them up.