It was like I could hear the gun shot that signals the start of a race. Folks, the season is here.
Our season started off with the Thanksgiving Eve baking o' the pie. Tradition is that each Thanksgiving morning is started out with a piece of pumpkin pie. K- even knows this! Mom told me that I've had pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving breakfast every Thanksgiving except for my first, where I ate Cream of Wheat due to my refusal to drink milk as a baby. (True story. I've always hated the taste of milk and Mom put me on Cream of Wheat at 6 weeks old. And yes, Janeen, I can see you twitching.)
Thanksgiving morning came with the smell of rising rolls in the air. While I baked those, I readied the turkey. That was 7 AM and the stove wasn't turned off until 12:30 PM. Everything was ready for a small lunch, as we were going to my mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. (Yes, I cooked everything that I cooked so that we could have leftovers!) We hung out there for a few hours. My sister and I divided the newspaper and conquered creating our day after shopping list.
Leland fell out of the highchair and onto a rug, but is fine.
My brother felt the need to continue to give my sister and me "wet willies" even though we begged him not to. I didn't think it was funny the first time, but the continued "willying" really took my nerves to the end of where they could possibly be. He prepared a plate of leftovers for home, then went off roaming somewhere. I added a note to his plate (under the foil and in a plastic baggy) that said, "My dearest brother, Please know how much I love you. I could have messed with your plate of food, but I didn't. Realize that I thought about it, though. Love, Amy." To think, he never called me about it. Hopefully, that will end his "wet willy" adventures. Unfortunately, he's 6'4" and I'm about 5' 3/4". It's not like I can successfully tackle him.
Thanksgiving evening, my in-law's stopped over for pie. Their dinner had been later than anticipated, so they were with us for about 40 minutes, but it was nice to have them stop in.
When they left, I hopped in the tub and got myself into bed. 3 AM sure comes early!
My sister ended up here at 3:45 AM on Black Friday morning. We stopped by Circle K to get caffeine, then we were off. We went to Kohl's, found what we needed, then stood in line for an hour to check out. No kidding.
We went onward to Target. We were there 1 hour after they opened and almost all of their opening sale items were gone. No big TV that I was going to pick up for my in-law's. (Since I was out!) No $3.00 appliances. (My sister wanted a cheap coffee pot for the garage.) We found a few odds and ends. The line reached around the store. I remembered something, though. I sent my sister to the end of the line and went to the jewelry counter. The kind cashier was cashing out small orders. I called my sister. "RUN!" She did. We were in and out of Target in 39 minutes. The line? 5 minutes or less.
After Target, we decided to hit Walmart. I seriously have to say that I hated my Walmart experience. Things they had advertised ($3.00 jammies or kids jogging suits) were no where to be found. I mean, not a display or anything. The items I purchased were end cap castoffs. I found two Star Wars sweatshirts for K-. One had a smudge of dirt and the other was crammed into a display of men's pajamas. Another item I picked up was Barbie on a bike. My sister found some things, then we went to stand in line.
Folks, never allow me to pick a line if you are ever shopping with me. It is like I always choose the short line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. You know the one! It is for farm tractors or specialty vehicles.
Oh sweet love of all. I ended up behind a family that had three full carts. They were overflowing. It looked as if they were there at start of sale. I figured that it would go quick, since a chunk of what they had were in big boxes. My sister and I talked. We people watched. Then we started really watching. We didn't really notice what was going on until they started checking the girl out in front of me. The family had developed a discard pile on the floor at the beginning of the belt. I noticed that in that pile was a half consumed Starbuck's beverage. (Not paid for, of course.) The girl had the cashier run a subtotal after every item. Then she was switching things. She didn't want this. Well, maybe she does want that. "You overcharged me." Her credit card was declined. The coworkers started moving in closer. I noticed a guard standing 5 feet from the girl, with her hand ON her gun. (No, we weren't in a back alley Walmart.)
The girl and her family were trying to trip the cashier up and walk away with merchandise that confused the lady enough to think that the girl had paid for it.
I admit that before I realized what all the people were doing, I finally said, "Oh for God's sakes! Can't you make a choice?!" The girl was about 10 feet from me and I doubt that she heard me. I couldn't take it anymore! My mom called at the same time telling me about snow, she couldn't see the ground, where were we . . . I said, "Mom, I really don't care about snow. I have 4 wheel drive. I'm stuck in a line at Walmart with a girl that can't seem to make a decision and my nerves are SHOT!"
After the girl left, I'm sure with a line of Walmart employees tagging her, the cashier apologized. I apologized and explained that I couldn't understand what was going on, but I knew it wasn't her fault. She said, "Everytime they come in, they do this."
A known family. Hmm.
To note, I've never had a Black Friday experience like that ever.
My sister and I decided that we were done. We had to go to Lowe's to pick up some items for the men in our lives and we were going home. I picked up an apology poinsettia for my sister. It was on sale for 99 cents. She asked why? "Don't ever let me choose a line again." "But, you did so well at Target!"
I went home, dropped some things off and decided to do another tour. I found items that I bought for K- cheaper, so I took others back and Hubs was loving on a Stainless Steel water bottle that I bought at Kohl's. He wanted one for his stocking. (A not so subtle hint.) Long story short, I ended up at home at about 11:30 AM, feeling as if I had put in a full day.
Hubs and K- were putting the Christmas tree up. They got it lit and passed it on to me. First, I took a short nap.
I started the tree, but admit that it rolled over to Saturday, too. K- and Hubs worked on the lights, which took all day since our mama dear seemed to be having some illumination problems.
Saturday morning came and I started working on the tree. After what added up to probably 9 hours or more, the tree got done. Later in the evening, Hubs noticed that I made the front of the tree so dripping in ornaments, that he needed to tie it to the wall since it had a pretty pronounced lean forward.
For the balance of Saturday, we worked together and managed to decorate the rest of the house. We did a really awesome job!
Our evening ended with us curled up, watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I was so spent, that I fell asleep before K-.
That brought us to Sunday morning. It was our last door greeter morning, so we had to be there at 8:30 AM. Since the Festival Choir sang in the morning service, we had practice at 9:15 AM. I ended up skipping Sunday School, as I would only be there for 15 minutes anyhow. When church was over, we met up with Kim and her husband, as we waited to pick the kids up. They'll be coming over for dinner on Friday, then we'll be going to get the kids their second installment of the H1N1 shots. (K- is beyond thrilled. Add much sarcasm, please.) I left Hubs to fetch K- as I tried to score K- a Star Wars ornament from Hallmark. (More on that story tomorrow.)
On my way home, I decided to loop past Walmart to return a handful of items. I waited and waited, then had a guy line jump right in front of me. Apparently, he had waited before and needed to even exchange pants. It kind of irritated me, but I felt really bad when Walmart gave me an additional $9.96 in refund. You see, I accidentally purchased a Blue Ray disk of Wedding Crashers for Hubs the other day (call it extremely tired), it went through at $10.00 instead of the $2.00 DVDs and we don't have Blue Ray anyhow. It returned at the price of $19.96 and before signing the receipt, I called it to the attention of the sales associate. He told me that it was Walmart's fault, there was nothing he could do about it, he appreciated my honesty, but he was still going to give me the extra money because he couldn't fix it anyhow.
So I picked up some groceries we needed.
I came home, had a bite of lunch, then started to tackle the Christmas cards. I absolutely HAD to have them done this weekend. K-'s birthday is December 20 and I include the birthday invite in with the cards. It is a personal goal to get them out Thanksgiving weekend. (Or at least complete in this case.) I'll stop by to post them on my way to work.
But the printer gave me fits.
I couldn't get the font to download properly and I spent a lot of time on it.
In the end, the birthday invites look okay, though I wished that I had the Star Wars font. That's fine. They are done and Hubs was impressed. K- likes them. They are the only two that matter, right?
I've been cooking this weekend and admit that I've really enjoyed getting back into the kitchen. We ate Thanksgiving Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon. K- and I couldn't take it anymore, so I made us turkey tacos (from ground turkey) and refried beans and cheese. We had that after church for lunch, too. Sunday evening was turkey meatloaf and couscous. Hubs liked it so much that he went for seconds. K- and I still have enough of our half to have it again this evening for dinner.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings will be gift wrapping nights. (I haven't a box wrapped though my shopping is done.) Thursday my goal is to start my holiday baking. I'll let that roll over to Friday, too. I figure that if I can give Thursday and Friday of a few weeks, I'll get my baking pounded out. Saturday is Lowe's and the Santa Shop for K-'s school. She's been busy doing many chores and being extremely helpful so as to earn money to shop with.
We had to institute a new fine system with K- though. I keep seeing her sneaking the sucking of the thumb. I told her that for each time we see her sucking her thumb when it isn't bedtime, it is a quarter fine. So far, she owes us one quarter. She cried and cried. We've got to break her of it. She only does it now when she is tired, but we really need to ditch it altogether eventually.
My smiles for the weekend are included above. Hope that you have a great week!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Checking out for a few.
I'll be out a few days. It's not that I don't love y'all, but I'm going to be loving on my people. I also have to take the extra time to make certain that the child doesn't try to leave in just tights again. :)
So, I feel a little behind. I'm not overwhelmingly so, but I feel I am. When I look over the past 3 1/2 weeks, it looks like this:
- Sick for a week, having had to take off a day.
- Worked 44 hours instead of 24 hours the next week, making up for the day I lost and some.
- This past week was spent on the nature tree demo, including 13 hours worked from home and 2 3/4 hours worked on Sunday.
That brings me to this week. I managed to get to the grocery this evening, though dead beat tired. I decided that though the frozen turkeys were on sale for 59 cents a pound, it was well worth the extra 90 cents/lb to buy a fresh one. To my delight, I found that they ran out of frozen and marked the fresh down to 99 cents per pound to try to soften the blow. That made me so happy!
Though I usually go to the local discounter for the produce for my coleslaw, I opted to purchase it at my local grocery 5 blocks up. I figure that by the time I go to that store, that is time lost I don't have, I'll spend extra I don't need to and they may be out of the items I need anyhow. The buck or two extra it cost is worth the savings of money, time and sanity.
I've also made the decision to dry the clothes in the dryer for another week. Get me past this week. To my credit, I did hang two loads on the line. I just haven't had the time to rotate the laundry.
Hubs has taken on the project of redesigning shelves in the basement, so he is hard at work. The work that he has gotten done! He has our big Target wire shelves set up, so now I look like a grocery. He made one shelf for appliances and little used dishes. I have a food shelf and a cleaning shelf. How that makes me happy.
While at the grocery, I decided to buy a baked good for the Post Office Thanksgiving. Our local post office has a Thanksgiving dinner for any strays that don't have a place to go. As a PTA project, K-'s school provides all of the desserts for the dinner. Though I said I would bake, I've run out of time. They are getting a gorgeous strudel. I'm cheating, but I am providing.
I also decided to purchase Libby pumpkin for the pie, rather than use the pumpkin that I have stored in our basement. Right now, I haven't the time to cook the pumpkin and process it for a pie, but I will in a few weeks. Until then, Libby to the rescue.
Tomorrow is uniform free day, so I have a nice, comfy cotton dress for K- to wear. Hooray for no polyester uniform to have to iron.
I'll be out until Monday, so as to take time to slow down, show thanksgiving and love on my people. My plan Thursday through Sunday is:
Wednesday evening:
Bake pies and cornbread.
Prepare stuffing for turkey (celery, onion, apples, carrots and herbs).
Dress turkey and have ready to place in the oven Thursday morning.
Tidy house and clean bathroom.
Set rolls out to rise before bed.
Thursday:
Sleep in.
Bake rolls.
Roast turkey, bake cornbread stuffing, steam potatoes for mash, cook corn and make glazed carrots.
My parents at 2 PM. Bring 24 rolls and ramen noodle cole slaw.
Enjoy a holiday movie and games with my people.
In-law's over for pie in the evening.
Friday:
Black Friday shopping with my sister. My shopping is done, so I'm going with her as support staff and a fun girl thing to do.
Decorate the Christmas tree!
Saturday:
Jammie day?
Decorating done?
Make some kid bracelets to sell.
Sunday:
Church door greeter at 8:30 AM.
No choir practice in evening.
Roll around in our need to do nothing.
Please have a wonderful balance to your week. Take a moment to stop. Sit and truly think of what you are thankful for. Don't be stressed out. The world isn't going to end if the stuffing is a little smooshy or if your carrots are underdone. Laugh and be happy that you have precious time together.
See you on Monday, my friends.
Smiles are included above.
So, I feel a little behind. I'm not overwhelmingly so, but I feel I am. When I look over the past 3 1/2 weeks, it looks like this:
- Sick for a week, having had to take off a day.
- Worked 44 hours instead of 24 hours the next week, making up for the day I lost and some.
- This past week was spent on the nature tree demo, including 13 hours worked from home and 2 3/4 hours worked on Sunday.
That brings me to this week. I managed to get to the grocery this evening, though dead beat tired. I decided that though the frozen turkeys were on sale for 59 cents a pound, it was well worth the extra 90 cents/lb to buy a fresh one. To my delight, I found that they ran out of frozen and marked the fresh down to 99 cents per pound to try to soften the blow. That made me so happy!
Though I usually go to the local discounter for the produce for my coleslaw, I opted to purchase it at my local grocery 5 blocks up. I figure that by the time I go to that store, that is time lost I don't have, I'll spend extra I don't need to and they may be out of the items I need anyhow. The buck or two extra it cost is worth the savings of money, time and sanity.
I've also made the decision to dry the clothes in the dryer for another week. Get me past this week. To my credit, I did hang two loads on the line. I just haven't had the time to rotate the laundry.
Hubs has taken on the project of redesigning shelves in the basement, so he is hard at work. The work that he has gotten done! He has our big Target wire shelves set up, so now I look like a grocery. He made one shelf for appliances and little used dishes. I have a food shelf and a cleaning shelf. How that makes me happy.
While at the grocery, I decided to buy a baked good for the Post Office Thanksgiving. Our local post office has a Thanksgiving dinner for any strays that don't have a place to go. As a PTA project, K-'s school provides all of the desserts for the dinner. Though I said I would bake, I've run out of time. They are getting a gorgeous strudel. I'm cheating, but I am providing.
I also decided to purchase Libby pumpkin for the pie, rather than use the pumpkin that I have stored in our basement. Right now, I haven't the time to cook the pumpkin and process it for a pie, but I will in a few weeks. Until then, Libby to the rescue.
Tomorrow is uniform free day, so I have a nice, comfy cotton dress for K- to wear. Hooray for no polyester uniform to have to iron.
I'll be out until Monday, so as to take time to slow down, show thanksgiving and love on my people. My plan Thursday through Sunday is:
Wednesday evening:
Bake pies and cornbread.
Prepare stuffing for turkey (celery, onion, apples, carrots and herbs).
Dress turkey and have ready to place in the oven Thursday morning.
Tidy house and clean bathroom.
Set rolls out to rise before bed.
Thursday:
Sleep in.
Bake rolls.
Roast turkey, bake cornbread stuffing, steam potatoes for mash, cook corn and make glazed carrots.
My parents at 2 PM. Bring 24 rolls and ramen noodle cole slaw.
Enjoy a holiday movie and games with my people.
In-law's over for pie in the evening.
Friday:
Black Friday shopping with my sister. My shopping is done, so I'm going with her as support staff and a fun girl thing to do.
Decorate the Christmas tree!
Saturday:
Jammie day?
Decorating done?
Make some kid bracelets to sell.
Sunday:
Church door greeter at 8:30 AM.
No choir practice in evening.
Roll around in our need to do nothing.
Please have a wonderful balance to your week. Take a moment to stop. Sit and truly think of what you are thankful for. Don't be stressed out. The world isn't going to end if the stuffing is a little smooshy or if your carrots are underdone. Laugh and be happy that you have precious time together.
See you on Monday, my friends.
Smiles are included above.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tales from the Trenches: Hodge Podge Day
Quite a few funny and/or neat things. Allow me to share.
1. Remember the Barbie Glam Vacation Home bit with Amazon the other day? Well, we took it as a sign that perhaps we should purchase something else. I saw the Barbie Party Cruise on sale in the Target ad for $29.99. I went up before work and scored it. Hooray! It was a $50.00 boat for $30.00. We were thrilled. The funny part is later on.
2. Both of my bosses were very pleased with the demo I did. Even the big man himself stopped me to tell me how nice my tree was. His wife, my other boss, called me to make mention of it and to say that a compliment from her husband is a big deal as he doesn't hand those out often. :)
3. They used the photographs that I took on the website and their social networking page. :)
4. Hubs and K- came to visit me at work so that they could see my trees. K- came in, took her coat off and made herself at home. I looked at her and noticed something missing. HER SKIRT! Oh sweet Pete! Where was the child's skirt? My husband's response? "You mean, those aren't pants?" as he is pointing at her cotton tights. "No honey, they are tights. They are not pants." He brought my child in without pants to see me. To his credit, she was covered. He didn't even notice that she managed to put her shoes on backwards. Her coat is long enough that I had her put it back on and she looked fine. I'm still laughing about it.
5. He brought me dinner from Wendy's.
6. My co-worker says that Hubs and his loving actions towards me are "dreamy."
7. A few of my co-workers have decided that Hubs is a cute guy. I think so, too. How's that for the kids saying that he was ugly in school?
8. I went by the craft store afterwards and returned some sprigs that I didn't need. (Since they didn't come from my yard, I felt like I was cheating anyhow.) I found that they will have a craft time for the kids on December 4 and 5. Fun!
9. I told my MIL that I would stop by Toys R Us to pick up the Barbie Stable that she wanted for K-. I cruised in and they didn't have it anymore. As I was talking to my MIL, I turned around and laughed. What did they have?
10. The Barbie Glam Vacation Home. Brand new. On the shelf. 5 of them. In front of me. The very item that I couldn't get from Amazon until January 6-21 and the lady at Mattel herself said was delayed for release until 2010. So,
11. With the encouragement of my MIL, I bought the Barbie Glam Vacation Home (she was on the phone with me and talked me through it even though it wasn't on sale.) MIL is buying the Barbie Party Cruise from me, which in the end was the same price as the stable that she didn't get and probably won't find.
12. While at TRU, I looked for the Ariel and Horse that my niece is aching to have. I found one on the shelf. It was $21.00 for the set and as she doesn't need the doll, my sister said to snatch it up since we found it online for $49.00 for the same blasted thing.
13. Then she wanted me to get the Polly water park. Turns out it was a Roller Coaster.
14. Then she wanted me to check out Liv dolls. They were out.
15. So, I checked out, had a total over $100.00, so I saved $10.00. Hoorah!
16. My Target purchases this morning earned me a $5.00 gift card with them. (We also bought her this for her birthday. She'll be so excited, as I purchased Hubs the vintage one for Easter. She's having a Star Wars birthday. Oh, how that child loves Star Wars.)
17. I turned in my homemade work-from-home time card today and they had no problem with paying me my home time. The bookkeeper didn't even question it. In fact, she asked if I had purchased anything because they wanted to be certain that they reimbursed me. How nice!
Smiles sprinkled in above.
1. Remember the Barbie Glam Vacation Home bit with Amazon the other day? Well, we took it as a sign that perhaps we should purchase something else. I saw the Barbie Party Cruise on sale in the Target ad for $29.99. I went up before work and scored it. Hooray! It was a $50.00 boat for $30.00. We were thrilled. The funny part is later on.
2. Both of my bosses were very pleased with the demo I did. Even the big man himself stopped me to tell me how nice my tree was. His wife, my other boss, called me to make mention of it and to say that a compliment from her husband is a big deal as he doesn't hand those out often. :)
3. They used the photographs that I took on the website and their social networking page. :)
4. Hubs and K- came to visit me at work so that they could see my trees. K- came in, took her coat off and made herself at home. I looked at her and noticed something missing. HER SKIRT! Oh sweet Pete! Where was the child's skirt? My husband's response? "You mean, those aren't pants?" as he is pointing at her cotton tights. "No honey, they are tights. They are not pants." He brought my child in without pants to see me. To his credit, she was covered. He didn't even notice that she managed to put her shoes on backwards. Her coat is long enough that I had her put it back on and she looked fine. I'm still laughing about it.
5. He brought me dinner from Wendy's.
6. My co-worker says that Hubs and his loving actions towards me are "dreamy."
7. A few of my co-workers have decided that Hubs is a cute guy. I think so, too. How's that for the kids saying that he was ugly in school?
8. I went by the craft store afterwards and returned some sprigs that I didn't need. (Since they didn't come from my yard, I felt like I was cheating anyhow.) I found that they will have a craft time for the kids on December 4 and 5. Fun!
9. I told my MIL that I would stop by Toys R Us to pick up the Barbie Stable that she wanted for K-. I cruised in and they didn't have it anymore. As I was talking to my MIL, I turned around and laughed. What did they have?
10. The Barbie Glam Vacation Home. Brand new. On the shelf. 5 of them. In front of me. The very item that I couldn't get from Amazon until January 6-21 and the lady at Mattel herself said was delayed for release until 2010. So,
11. With the encouragement of my MIL, I bought the Barbie Glam Vacation Home (she was on the phone with me and talked me through it even though it wasn't on sale.) MIL is buying the Barbie Party Cruise from me, which in the end was the same price as the stable that she didn't get and probably won't find.
12. While at TRU, I looked for the Ariel and Horse that my niece is aching to have. I found one on the shelf. It was $21.00 for the set and as she doesn't need the doll, my sister said to snatch it up since we found it online for $49.00 for the same blasted thing.
13. Then she wanted me to get the Polly water park. Turns out it was a Roller Coaster.
14. Then she wanted me to check out Liv dolls. They were out.
15. So, I checked out, had a total over $100.00, so I saved $10.00. Hoorah!
16. My Target purchases this morning earned me a $5.00 gift card with them. (We also bought her this for her birthday. She'll be so excited, as I purchased Hubs the vintage one for Easter. She's having a Star Wars birthday. Oh, how that child loves Star Wars.)
17. I turned in my homemade work-from-home time card today and they had no problem with paying me my home time. The bookkeeper didn't even question it. In fact, she asked if I had purchased anything because they wanted to be certain that they reimbursed me. How nice!
Smiles sprinkled in above.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
It is finished.
Please, please, o' pretty please, if you can tell where I work from these photos, please do not mention it in the comments. I'm all weird about loving to stay anonymous on the blog. E-mail me about it! I'd love to talk about my lovely place o' employment privately with you. Thanks!
Now with that out of the way (sorry, but I'm sure y'all understand), I had my tree decorating demo this weekend. Mom came to help me. Yes, I have thanked her profusely.
It was a lovely day and I did the demo out in our middle courtyard. I did have a crowd when I started, but I think that I bored them to tears when I had to do the initial tying in of the sprigs and things. I did end up having one couple that stayed for an hour and 45 minutes.
Without further chattering on, here are some ideas of decorating with natural elements:
The Sweet Gum Fruits wreath that I made. My boss loaned me her Martha Stewart Living magazine that had this in it. All it is are Sweet Gum Fruits lightly sprayed with silver (I liked to not have them perfectly silver, so as to keep some natural color in them), lightly sprayed the front of the small straw wreath with silver paint, hot glued enough to floral pins to make the outer and inner rings, then glued the fruits on at a diagonal. When I was finished, I tapped some white school glue on top of the fruits and sprinkled the whole thing with some of the tinsel glitter that Martha Stewart is now selling at Michael's. I would love to cover the earth in that stuff. It. is. wonderful.
The milkweed pods from my yard. They were a little moldy looking, so I sprayed the outside with silver, pulled the inside guts out of some of them with really long tweezers, clear coated the fluffy seeds and finished by painting white school glue onto the interior of the pods and sloshed some of my favorite tinsel glitter in them. Yum.
Rather than going about it in a traditional way, I strung cranberries onto floral wire. The top cap is a drilled whole nutmeg. I just took the floral wire, turned a little curly Q at the top (to keep the nuts from falling off), put either the whole cranberries or drilled buckeyes on the wire and finished them off with an ear clutch (the rubber stoppers for your earrings.)
I also strung cranberries on memory wire used for bracelets. (Cut the memory wire in half or they will be way too long.) Just bend the ends with a little loop for the ornament hook. I also made some bay leaf poinsettias. I admit that they were the last thing I did, thought that they were a little hokey, but people loved them. Who knew?
I filled a lot of clear ornaments. This one is filled with hydrangea. It is a little tricky, but it is possible to get the full flower in there whole. You just need to use your gentle handies.
Lavender. The nice thing about the filled ornaments is that you can smell their scent. I think that the warmth of the Christmas lights will really make them smell lovely. It's a theory, anyhow.
Sedum from our backyard. Lightly and patch-like sprayed with gold, then I tapped some white school glue on the top with a flat ended artist paint brush and sprinkled some fantastic tinsel glitter on top.
Some dried Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate (vase number 1) and some Obedient Plant seed pods (vase number 2) sprayed gold (they looked bad before I sprayed them).
My tools. The glitter I've been singing the praises of (You go, Martha!) and the spray paint I used.
The tree before I loved on it.
The tree after I loved on it and I promise that this picture is dreadful. It looks lovely in person, but it is sitting at a slight angle and I didn't want to put this on there, but I figured that someone would give me flak about not putting a full picture on here. (Yes, the run-on was as exhausting to type as it was to read.)
Here's at least a better picture of the top of the tree!
Some close-up shots. I figure that they are self-explanatory.
My boss seemed happy. The crowd seemed happy. I have reclaimed my living room from what Hubs termed as "the forest floor." Hooray!
Smiles in my weekend:
- Getting the demo done. I'm not a very good public speaker. I was answering questions and tuning out the view of the public so as to not make myself nervous and little did I know that one of my best friends was not only in small crowd, but was asking me questions that I was answering in full! I realized that she was there and we got a good laugh. She told me that she just thought I was being professional. I told her that I was just being an air head!
- Hubs fixed the tub drain. Now the water goes down without coaxing it to do so.
- K- helping me do some of the ornaments for the demo.
- That I didn't burn the house down when the glue gun went out. Thankfully, I was sitting right next to it when it went, "ZZZT! ZZZT!" [Insert smoke, orangeness of light and burning stink.] I looked at the outlet, realized that was fine so I grabbed hold of the cord and yanked it out of the wall. Hubs bought me another glue gun and when looking at it tonight, he realized that it is separating and he is taking it back. We don't need another going out. (He bought me a high temp gun, which is why I think the second one is separating. It got really, really hot.)
I'm tired. I've got school uniforms to iron for the week, then off to bed. 'Night.
Now with that out of the way (sorry, but I'm sure y'all understand), I had my tree decorating demo this weekend. Mom came to help me. Yes, I have thanked her profusely.
It was a lovely day and I did the demo out in our middle courtyard. I did have a crowd when I started, but I think that I bored them to tears when I had to do the initial tying in of the sprigs and things. I did end up having one couple that stayed for an hour and 45 minutes.
Without further chattering on, here are some ideas of decorating with natural elements:
The Sweet Gum Fruits wreath that I made. My boss loaned me her Martha Stewart Living magazine that had this in it. All it is are Sweet Gum Fruits lightly sprayed with silver (I liked to not have them perfectly silver, so as to keep some natural color in them), lightly sprayed the front of the small straw wreath with silver paint, hot glued enough to floral pins to make the outer and inner rings, then glued the fruits on at a diagonal. When I was finished, I tapped some white school glue on top of the fruits and sprinkled the whole thing with some of the tinsel glitter that Martha Stewart is now selling at Michael's. I would love to cover the earth in that stuff. It. is. wonderful.
The milkweed pods from my yard. They were a little moldy looking, so I sprayed the outside with silver, pulled the inside guts out of some of them with really long tweezers, clear coated the fluffy seeds and finished by painting white school glue onto the interior of the pods and sloshed some of my favorite tinsel glitter in them. Yum.
Rather than going about it in a traditional way, I strung cranberries onto floral wire. The top cap is a drilled whole nutmeg. I just took the floral wire, turned a little curly Q at the top (to keep the nuts from falling off), put either the whole cranberries or drilled buckeyes on the wire and finished them off with an ear clutch (the rubber stoppers for your earrings.)
I also strung cranberries on memory wire used for bracelets. (Cut the memory wire in half or they will be way too long.) Just bend the ends with a little loop for the ornament hook. I also made some bay leaf poinsettias. I admit that they were the last thing I did, thought that they were a little hokey, but people loved them. Who knew?
I filled a lot of clear ornaments. This one is filled with hydrangea. It is a little tricky, but it is possible to get the full flower in there whole. You just need to use your gentle handies.
Lavender. The nice thing about the filled ornaments is that you can smell their scent. I think that the warmth of the Christmas lights will really make them smell lovely. It's a theory, anyhow.
Sedum from our backyard. Lightly and patch-like sprayed with gold, then I tapped some white school glue on the top with a flat ended artist paint brush and sprinkled some fantastic tinsel glitter on top.
Some dried Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate (vase number 1) and some Obedient Plant seed pods (vase number 2) sprayed gold (they looked bad before I sprayed them).
My tools. The glitter I've been singing the praises of (You go, Martha!) and the spray paint I used.
The tree before I loved on it.
The tree after I loved on it and I promise that this picture is dreadful. It looks lovely in person, but it is sitting at a slight angle and I didn't want to put this on there, but I figured that someone would give me flak about not putting a full picture on here. (Yes, the run-on was as exhausting to type as it was to read.)
Here's at least a better picture of the top of the tree!Some close-up shots. I figure that they are self-explanatory.
My boss seemed happy. The crowd seemed happy. I have reclaimed my living room from what Hubs termed as "the forest floor." Hooray!Smiles in my weekend:
- Getting the demo done. I'm not a very good public speaker. I was answering questions and tuning out the view of the public so as to not make myself nervous and little did I know that one of my best friends was not only in small crowd, but was asking me questions that I was answering in full! I realized that she was there and we got a good laugh. She told me that she just thought I was being professional. I told her that I was just being an air head!
- Hubs fixed the tub drain. Now the water goes down without coaxing it to do so.
- K- helping me do some of the ornaments for the demo.
- That I didn't burn the house down when the glue gun went out. Thankfully, I was sitting right next to it when it went, "ZZZT! ZZZT!" [Insert smoke, orangeness of light and burning stink.] I looked at the outlet, realized that was fine so I grabbed hold of the cord and yanked it out of the wall. Hubs bought me another glue gun and when looking at it tonight, he realized that it is separating and he is taking it back. We don't need another going out. (He bought me a high temp gun, which is why I think the second one is separating. It got really, really hot.)
I'm tired. I've got school uniforms to iron for the week, then off to bed. 'Night.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
National Adoption Day, 2009
To our goofy little girl who has changed our lives forever,God had a plan for us. He knew that you were our child before you even drew your first breath. He kept you safe with the doctors and nurses for the weekend until we heard that you were here. He helped us to jump through all the hoops to make you legally our child. What a great gift God gave to us. Thank you for being our wonderful little girl!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
National Adoption Day is a day to celebrate all adopted children finding their forever families! K-'s actual adoption day fell on her very first birthday, December 20, 2004. It was so neat that it fell on her birthday! What a great first birthday gift! :)
For information regarding domestic county adoption or foster parenting, please contact your local Children's Board of Services.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Amazon- You are irritating me!
Amazon.com,
On November 8, 2009, I ordered the Barbie Glam Vacation Home for my dear beloved daughter. This item wasn't in yet, as it was so new. You said to order it, get the free shipping and it was to be in your hot little handies on November 15, 2009. I received an e-mail stating that the shipping was delayed. The anticipated arrival time was slated to be December 24. THIS IS A CHRISTMAS GIFT! What's funny is that you still have it advertised for the $34.99 and free super saver shipping. Um, I'm thinking that isn't working for you. Oh, and the ship time you have listed is 4-7 days. LIE!
I decided to get into my account and nose around a bit. Lucky for me that I realize that the ship date on the PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR MY DAUGHTER was moved, again. This time it has a red thing stating that it will NOT ARRIVE FOR CHRISTMAS! When is it slated to arrive? Try MID JANUARY! So. not. good.
Irritatedly so,
Amy at Bailey's Leaf
P.S. Feel free to contact me, as I couldn't figure out how to contact you.
Why am I irritated at Amazon.com? Because they had an advanced sale on the item. I suppose that it was my stupidity for purchasing something with the assumption that it would in fact arrive as scheduled. Why advance sale something when you don't actually have it?
Am I irritated at Mattel? Certainly! Why allow your retailers to advertise something coming when presumably you can't get the production right and it isn't capable of arriving for the biggest shopping holiday of the year?
So, I guess that I am in need of something for K- from my Black Friday shopping extravaganza with my sister. And to think, I thought I was done shopping with the exception of the MIL's crock pot.
ARGH!!!!!
Edited to add:
I just spoke to a lovely lady at Mattel to find the real scoop. She said that the release date has been pushed back to 2010. Ugh. I've officially canceled my order and in the window to tell them why, I did. Thanks for the false hope, Amazon!
On November 8, 2009, I ordered the Barbie Glam Vacation Home for my dear beloved daughter. This item wasn't in yet, as it was so new. You said to order it, get the free shipping and it was to be in your hot little handies on November 15, 2009. I received an e-mail stating that the shipping was delayed. The anticipated arrival time was slated to be December 24. THIS IS A CHRISTMAS GIFT! What's funny is that you still have it advertised for the $34.99 and free super saver shipping. Um, I'm thinking that isn't working for you. Oh, and the ship time you have listed is 4-7 days. LIE!
I decided to get into my account and nose around a bit. Lucky for me that I realize that the ship date on the PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR MY DAUGHTER was moved, again. This time it has a red thing stating that it will NOT ARRIVE FOR CHRISTMAS! When is it slated to arrive? Try MID JANUARY! So. not. good.
Irritatedly so,
Amy at Bailey's Leaf
P.S. Feel free to contact me, as I couldn't figure out how to contact you.
Why am I irritated at Amazon.com? Because they had an advanced sale on the item. I suppose that it was my stupidity for purchasing something with the assumption that it would in fact arrive as scheduled. Why advance sale something when you don't actually have it?
Am I irritated at Mattel? Certainly! Why allow your retailers to advertise something coming when presumably you can't get the production right and it isn't capable of arriving for the biggest shopping holiday of the year?
So, I guess that I am in need of something for K- from my Black Friday shopping extravaganza with my sister. And to think, I thought I was done shopping with the exception of the MIL's crock pot.
ARGH!!!!!
Edited to add:
I just spoke to a lovely lady at Mattel to find the real scoop. She said that the release date has been pushed back to 2010. Ugh. I've officially canceled my order and in the window to tell them why, I did. Thanks for the false hope, Amazon!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
It begins in Kindergarten.
Sadly, a few of K-'s friends have been making fun of her for her speech. These are kids that she went to preschool with.
The one friend has seemed a little bossy. She's the one that we were invited to the roller skating party for. She gives instruction to K- all the time that K- has chosen to ignore. (We talked about it.) Z- told K- that she wasn't to write her last name on her paper, even though I told her that she was to write it on there. She's given her wrong instruction on other things too, but K- has chosen to be her own person and to do her own thing as her teacher has instructed. Thank goodness!
This is Kindergarten, though.
I was talking to Hubs about it this morning and he decided that we had to sit her down and have the talk. We're not talking the bir*ds and be*es, but the one of worth. We talked to her about how kids made fun of us. We talked to her about how everyone gets made fun of from time to time. We talked about how it isn't fun to be made fun of, but it isn't up to us to make fun of anyone.
Hubs told her as I've said before. She can talk to us about anything.
It breaks our hearts, though. She is in speech. She is really trying and her speech is getting much better. When the kids make fun of her and ask her if she's speaking Polish, it makes her sad. She knows that she has some speech difficulty, but I've told her that if the children ask her if she speaks Polish, to tell them what you were trying to say in a little bit different way. I've told her to use different words. This was how we worked it with us prior to speech therapy.
K- is a very likeable kid. I don't say that because she is my kid, but because of the interaction I see with her and the other children. She sees classmates getting out of their car, and they walk to class together. She prays for the kids that are absent. When they return, like D- did the other day, she is so relieved.
She has such a caring heart. I just don't want the other kids to break it. I know it breaks mine just to hear it.
Smiles in my day:
- K- talking to us about what bothers her.
- I slept better last night.
- Going to bed early tonight.
The one friend has seemed a little bossy. She's the one that we were invited to the roller skating party for. She gives instruction to K- all the time that K- has chosen to ignore. (We talked about it.) Z- told K- that she wasn't to write her last name on her paper, even though I told her that she was to write it on there. She's given her wrong instruction on other things too, but K- has chosen to be her own person and to do her own thing as her teacher has instructed. Thank goodness!
This is Kindergarten, though.
I was talking to Hubs about it this morning and he decided that we had to sit her down and have the talk. We're not talking the bir*ds and be*es, but the one of worth. We talked to her about how kids made fun of us. We talked to her about how everyone gets made fun of from time to time. We talked about how it isn't fun to be made fun of, but it isn't up to us to make fun of anyone.
Hubs told her as I've said before. She can talk to us about anything.
It breaks our hearts, though. She is in speech. She is really trying and her speech is getting much better. When the kids make fun of her and ask her if she's speaking Polish, it makes her sad. She knows that she has some speech difficulty, but I've told her that if the children ask her if she speaks Polish, to tell them what you were trying to say in a little bit different way. I've told her to use different words. This was how we worked it with us prior to speech therapy.
K- is a very likeable kid. I don't say that because she is my kid, but because of the interaction I see with her and the other children. She sees classmates getting out of their car, and they walk to class together. She prays for the kids that are absent. When they return, like D- did the other day, she is so relieved.
She has such a caring heart. I just don't want the other kids to break it. I know it breaks mine just to hear it.
Smiles in my day:
- K- talking to us about what bothers her.
- I slept better last night.
- Going to bed early tonight.
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