My pre-Christmas goals

One week until Christmas, and I'm feeling the pressure. It's not really that bad, but I'm glad this kind of thing only happens once a year. Here's what I want to accomplish before the 25th:

1. Finish my crocheted gifts. Last night, I finished two of them. I’m getting really, really good at (and sick of) making these things. Which reminds me – I should probably make a list and figure out exactly how many I need to make.

2. Wrap gifts. This one shouldn’t be too bad. I’m in the mood for some new wrapping paper. Really loving what people are doing with kraft paper. Also, I still need to finish finding my mom’s gift.

3. Stalk the mailbox. Actually, my porch. Because all my orders have shipped!!! Just waiting on one big box from Amazon.

4. Finish my TAAFOMFT December 30 challenge before I leave. By the way, the new challenge is up. Hop on over there when you finish up here. Fave car -- mine is the Toyota, without a doubt. My parents bought one in 1980 (yes, the year I was born), and it became my first car when I learned to drive. A few years ago, Mike and I bought one of our own. Seriously love this car!

5. Visit my in-laws. Spending the weekend with Mike’s family. Opening gifts. Dinner at Bob Evans. Hopefully visiting one of the coolest vintage stores ever!

6. Update grades. Everyone has a time-thief. The end of the semester is mine (and Mike’s). I’ve been so focused on getting some of my kids to pass that I’ve neglected many Christmas traditions. Like sending out Christmas cards. Or putting up the tree. Or putting up any decorations at all. I am currently trying to start the tradition of the Christmas Lamp. Sing with me! "O Christmas Lamp, O Christmas Lamp. The tree’s still in the closet.... O Christmas Lamp, O Christmas Lamp. So energy efficient…" I think it has the makings of a Christmas classic. :)

7. Take a photo of Lola. Not just any photo. A photo of her in her pretty winter sweater. Thankfully, her tolerance level for my insanity increases a little more every year.

8. Make dessert for the Christmas potluck at work. It isn’t Christmastime until I make cake balls. Super, super easy and tasty. Basically, bake a cake. Crumble the cake into a bowl. Mix with a container of icing. Roll into balls. Freeze. Dip in chocolate. I’m making chocolate dipped in chocolate for the potluck. I made red velvet dipped in vanilla last weekend.

9. Make garland. I’ve jumped on the finger knit garland bandwagon. So easy, and so fun! I have another idea for garland that I haven’t seen yet. So it might be an original. But I gotta finish goal #1 first. Side note: I’m pretty much just asking for yarn for Christmas. Seriously addicted.

10. Clean. Okay, so this one isn’t super important to me. We’re clean people…just not particularly good at putting things back in their places immediately.

I hope your holiday plans are coming together nicely. Let's all remember to take a few moments to just breathe.

A fun share...

Our Vocational department photo for the yearbook. We had to bring a prop that represented our subject area. So, robot-arms!!!



Also, I email the student who took the picuture and Photoshopped my arms out, to thank him for doing such a great job. I had him in class a few years ago, and he learned some Photoshop in there. He told me he learned from the "BESS-T". :D

My Thankful List

In honor of the day. I hope yours was wonderful!

1. My faith. I am thankful for a merciful savior.
2. My husband. I have a man who loves and respects me. He is generous, caring, and supportive. And he isn't afraid of the kitchen...always a plus.
3. My family. I am thankful for the strong foundation they gave me, and the constant love and support I receive from them.
4. My friends. I've gotten to know so many great people, through church, work, and my hobbies. Lots of great memories as a result.
5. Our house. Very thankful that we were not only able to buy a house this year, but that we were able to save up a significant down-payment.
6. My job. As frustrating as it can be at times, I am so thankful to be employed right now. And the whole "molding the future" thing isn't so bad either. :)
7. Necessities and comforts. Basic things that I know I take for granted everyday. Clean drinking water, more than enough food to eat, a matress to sleep on, clothing, electricity, a car...and so much more that I'm sure I'm still taking for granted that can be added to this list.
8. Lola. My oh-so-skittish kitty ( Skitty? Scat? Skitten?) who seems to like me on occasion, and doesn't hiss at me like she does to strangers -- even when I know I'm getting on her nerves.
9. Cameras, yarn, and pretty paper. Because they make my spare time fun.
10. Connection. Being able to pick up my phone or turn on a computer, and connect to a great big world.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So what have I been up to?

Too much. Those last couple of weeks before Thanksgiving are crazy if you're a teacher (but those few days of break...bliss).

So, I've posted grades, spent many hours after school getting students caught up, started making Christmas gifts, spent a lot of time kicking myself for deciding to crochet said gifts (even though they're very simple and adorable). I'll share those later.

The new challenge is up over at TAAFOMFT -- favorite decade. You see, I was born in 1980. But I LOVE the 70s. They had the best TV shows. All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda...and of course my all time personal favorite -- Welcome Back, Kotter! Loved that show. I have season 1 on DVD. Would have the other seasons if they were released. Also, I have the Welcome Back, Kotter card game. Seriously. So, even though it kinda felt wrong, I used a few of the game cards on my page. It's okay -- I like the end result. :) And that fabric and lime green eyelet are just fantastic. Also, it's not too late to play along!!! What's your favorite decade.



Also, I really need some bloggy motivation. What do you do when you get in slump? Is there anything you'd like for me to blog about? Any questions you're yearning to ask me that are keeping you up at night? (Yes, you can laugh at that last part.)

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! One more day of school to go!

Some Halloween photos

At school last week, we had a pumpkin decorating competition amongst the 7th period classes. So we made a Robo-Pumpkin, which I have to say, turned out quite nicely. I used a lot of scraps I had laying around in storage. Hooray for never throwing anything away. :)

Oh, and I should probably mention that WE WON BEST OVERALL DESIGN!!! Woohoo!

On Saturday, we did Trunk-Or-Treat in our church's parking lot. Our theme was "Jesus is the Light of the World". We were really happy with the way it turned out...even if we only placed 2nd. The judges gave 1st place to the Wizard of Oz theme that included an 8-week-old St. Bernard puppy. Almost expected us to sing "We're Off to See the Wizard" during services the next morning. That's okay, because Jesus has first place in our hearts.

We were full of little jabs at the Wizard for the rest of the night. I'll spare you any more of them. :)

My friend Jenny was dressed as St. Patrick for her "Jesus Loves the Wee Ones" Ireland-themed vehicle. Because Jenny = slightly obsessed with all things Irish. In a good way.

So for two hours, we gave out candy...

And the guys compared budget. For most of those two hours.

A photo of our trunk at night.

Oh, and we may have borrowed the 1st place ribbon. Without permission. Twice.

It was all in good fun, I promise!

Some scrappy shares

Thank you all so much for the get-well wishes! I am feeling MUCH better now. Still just a little congested, but it's nothing compared to last weekend.

First up, the newest challenge over at TAAFOMFT is up -- your favorite trip. I decided to go with my most recent favorite trip, so I did a page about our Bourbon Chase road trip. Which reminds me that I need to stop slacking and finish blogging the last part of the trip. But anyhoo, the husbands are all planning on running next year, which means the wives will probably be road-tripping again next year. I'm already excited about it! :)




I did this week's challenge over at Scrapping the Music. They picked a great song this week -- "Happy Days". I didn't realize it at first, but there are so many things you could do with those lyrics.



I'll be back tomorrow to share some Halloween fun. Even though I don't particularly care for Halloween. But I'll still admit that I might have enjoyed it just a little bit this year. :)

I love making a mess...

Just wanted to share a page I just finished for this week's Scrapping the Music. Highlighting the mess in my scraproom. Love being able to do that! :)

Keeping this short and sweet, mainly because I don't feel so great. Off to attempt to sleep my way through this upper respiratory infection.