It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Okay, forget Thanksgiving. Seriously,with my family all we do is eat to the point we can't move, and fight. I'm a Halloween straight to Christmas kinda girl. Christmas decorations up? Check! And even if people think I am looney oh well. I would rather stare at my glittering tree than some cornucopia horn on my table. :)
So I am in the mood for Christmas, how about you??
I have been hoarding Christmas ideas and inspirations everywhere!
My son and little brother are really into funky dolls.
Like this one I found at Things I've Made.

Love it!! I love to make dolls so this one goes on my to-do list for Christmas.
Look at these homemade travel mugs!

Harrison is totally going to make a set for his grandparents! Can you believe you can get these babies at Dollar Tree? I love how you can personalize them. I have tons of scrapbook stuff we could use on them,too.
I think it would be fun to decorate a bag like this,too:

Source
Look at these adorable Martha Stewart santa treat boxes! I think these would be really cute for the kids to make in my PreK class, and then we could fill with some candy. :)

Martha Stewart Crafts - Holiday - Treat Boxes - Santa

So what kinda Christmas-y crafting/decorating/shopping have you been up to? I would love to know.
Oh, and one of my favorite vintage arts-y sites is having an Artsgiving Sale!!!


Through Dec 1, get 50% off everything in Artella’s Vintage General Store…plus bonus Gift Certificates and a whole bundle of free artsy eBooks. Check it out, here!
P.S. I am so glad I still have blog readers and friends. Thank u all for the nice comments and support! :) Hugs!

Hi old friend

Hey there! Long time no blog. Sorry to leave you in the lurch. To say I have been overwhelmed is an understatement. I got sick on my birthday and over Fall Break--the one time I planned to have some down time! Grrr! Then my baby Harrison came down with H1N1. UGH!
And I am really have trouble balancing work and life. I have never had to teach two different groups of 20 kids. That's a heckuva lot of report cards to fill out (they were due recently).
So I am not here to lay all my burdens on you.
I last scrapped in August (a layout about my H). I plan on picking up my scissors again soon. In the mean time I have been hanging out in the Tip Junkie Community to get some inspiration. I have also started work on a new card kit club for my friend Jen, called Scrappin Goodies. Links coming soon, luvs!

Thank you all for the well wishes for my birthday and for me to get well.
Thanksgiving Break is coming up and I plan to visit all my friend's blogs soon.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

It was Tina's birthday on Wedsnesday. She was sick and still sick. Luckily it is fall break and she gets the opportunity for much needed rest. She just wanted to update everyone and to let them know that she miss blogging. I will try to post in the future and give my first hand account of being a stay-at-home day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRETTY PRINCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben

Missed.

Can I just tell you how much I have missed my little online community of bloggers and friends? Seriously.
Work is um, work. I had to stay late until 9pm Tuesday and until 7pm Thursday--my day starts at 6am. And there have been so many adjustments. My husband is now stay-at-home dad. He is a much better housekeeper than I ever was! Harrison has had to adjust to mommy working full-time. Sometimes its hard when he is crying at the glass door as I leave the driveway. Sometimes I come home and he's asleep and I feel like bad mom for not being able to spend time with him that day.
My dog Keely has turned into super-stalker! He waits for me and whines at the door all day. When I come home and take my shower, he jumps in and sits.
It feels good to know I am missed.
It also feels good to be back on my feet and into the work force. I think for me personally it has made me a little more independent. I find myself doing so much more on my own whereas before I really always made Ben and Harrison go with me--like when we went to the store, etc. I know it isn't like that with everyone. But I was losing a bit of myself. This is something I had to work through for myself.
One thing I have learned is whether you are a working mom or stay-at-home mom, it does not matter because we are ALL working moms. Seriously, I have been on both sides of the coin now.


So I have 40 students in two different locations. This has been a learning experience! I have to make two sets of everything. I have been living in my car. My feet hate high heels after having baby. I had to buy new clothes and jewelry because I was so year one (behind the times). I eat in my car (sandwich is the easiest). I am losing a lot of weight because I move more (dancing in PreK) and also sometimes I don't have time to eat lunch. I am not losing weight where I want to (my boobies). LOL.

Harrison started soccer. Ben volunteered to be the coach because they could not find a coach.

I have the little boy who kind of wanders around the field. "Hey,look it's a mushroom!" or he picks up grass and throws it in the air to watch it fall.

I know he would listen better if dad was not the coach but he just thinks its fun time with dad. We have a great team of 7 kids. It is co-ed and non-competitive (no score-keeping). The parents are all really nice,too. Soccer started the same day as my first work day. Yeah, we found that out the night before. That was CRAZY!
Then I lost my voice in the classroom for a week. FUN.
Last weekend we took Harrison to the Orr Family Farm.

We do this every Fall. So much fun!


They have pony rides, train rides, hay ride to get your pumpkin from the patch,fishing, giant corn maze, man-made maze, gem mining, campfire, petting zoo, milking a cow, go carts, carousel, free fudge! We spent the whole three hours there. We did it all.

The most funnest thing of all was the addition of something called Jumping Pillows. It is like a giant plastic pillow with air underneath it. Way better than a trampoline! You feel like you are flying in space. Seriously you can jump so high. And all of us as a family were on it, jumping away. My husband turned into a four year old. He was bouncing and falling all over the place. He kept falling off the side of the pillow into the sand pit. LOL
We came home with a pound and a half of fudge. They have so many tasty varieties.
Harrison bought an old-fashioned pop rifle and some sprinkled-covered gummy bears.

We found some small rubies and emeralds while mining. We found tons of crystals. So pretty.
Ben has been really good about taking Harrison to do a daily activity during the day like the park, library, Chuck E Cheese, zoo, etc. He was supposed to write a blog post but he forgot his password.
Today is my day off! Normally I work Mon-Fri but I had to stay late for Parent Teacher conferences (yeah my second week in the classroom) to have Friday off. Yay! We are going to Day Out with Thomas today. I asked Harrison "What are you going to say to Sir Topham Hatt?" "Hello!"

Still standing!

I am still alive and standing! I have 7 days of work behind me. Boy, PreK is another world, let me tell you!!!! And I really,really,really miss being at home. :(
Ben is going to step in as guest blogger and post tomorrow afternoon about how it is being the stay-at-home dad. :) Stay tuned,friends!

Okay students

Raise your hand if you feel like this:

Seriously that is an exact replica of my face right now.
You may wonder why I disappeared from the blogosphere.
MAMA GOT A JOB!!
I got a full time job teaching (yes, again). I am teaching PreK for two different schools so I teach AM at one school and PM at another, Sadly, my craft room is feeling deprived. My son is having to deal with mommy no longer being home and daddy being home.
It has been a twisted week. I got hired Wednesday a few hours after interviewing, and was teaching Thursday morning. Insanity! LOL Not only that we got a phone call Wednesday night saying, "Hey, Harrison has soccer practice tomorrow night and we need you to coach." So my husband is the coach now. Chaos! On top of that, teacher has caught a nasty cold. I guess I have no defense against the classroom cooties since I have not taught in 4 years. Oh, and guess what else happened? Teacher got a flat tire today. And it has been raining all week and the kids have not had recess. Madness!!!
So now you know why I look like a loon. I am going to spend some time this week working in my 2 yes 2 different classrooms so my blog may grow a little weeds but I promise you wildflowers soon. Still thinking of my bloggy friends and readers.
P.S. A new giveaway I found out about. This one is for nursing moms:
http://mommycommunity.com/2009/09/17/is-breastfeeding-difficult/

And I found out All American Direct is having a good sale on lots of stuff like Toshiba and Mistubishi LCD HDtvs. Just go to
http://allamericandirect.com/?cid=400604
Save an additional 10% with the promo code--
the promo code is "SAVE10" and it is good until Sunday, the 20th.

The post that almost wasn't!

We have been dealing with storms here lately and unfortunately, my electricity has been a flashin' so that is why I named this post appropriately: the post that almost wasn't!
I haven't been up to my usual blog stalking but I did manage to visit my friends at Roots and Wings. They made an adorable garland using a free template from Paper Crave.
Now, I am not much of a seamstress. And I have a short attention span. So it took me three days to make my Halloween garland but here it is:

Close-ups:


The template looks something like this (but without the paint)

Harrison wanted to feel a part of the project so I let him paint the patterns. :)
He also made his own Halloween decorations with me:


I love the pumpkin's unibrow!

We ran errands all day yesterday. I really hate it when we are stuck in the car all day but sometimes it happens. We were looking for Halloween decorations, some vintage cowboy shirts, vintage boots, and a new wallet for Ben. I know-an odd mix of things to look for! lol

We started out at the Rink. Our favorite antique store. There is a whole section of cowpoke stuff. We do live in Oklahoma so I guess that kind of stuff is easy to come by.
I scored some amazing vintage Wrangler shirts for Harrison. He put a Little Pony in the cart (for mommy, he said).

So it started clouding up. We stopped at Target and Party Galaxy. I feel like a real Target zombie. I step in that store, gush over the cuteness and new stuff, and totally forget what is on my list. Then I fill my shopping cart with future regrets...it's a fun game!

(cowboy statue)
End up near the stockyards. Old part of Oklahoma City. Real cowboys abound.

See? There is even a skull arch over the cobbled and bricked streets.
We head back home just as it starts pouring outside. It floods a little. The electricity goes in and out. Typical Oklahoma weather. I am still on the hunt for cowboy boots for boy's size 12!
Let's think about something positive...
I think we could use some Flickr inspiration today...

1. ~ DROPS ~, 2. "Our Colors", 3. can you see what i see?, 4. Bom dia* 6f /Good morning*Friday, 5. sweet little things of sweet little child., 6. glow, 7. John come home, 8. Cool Camper, 9. Crossroad, 10. To Smell, 11. My 'Happy Meal' Version...












I was tagged recently by my friend A Little Bit of Scrap. I love going to her blog for knitty inspiration and I love her honesty.
So here are the Rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Write 5 things you are passionate about apart from blogging
3. Tag 5 people on your list and let them know you tagged them

Five Things I Am Passionate About:
1. My family. My son, husband,brother and parents.
2. Scrapbooking. I am a true paper nerd.
3. Candles. I hoard scents.
4. Books. I read daily. Usually before bed but I am always reading something. I would often beg my parents to take me to the library when I was little. I am so glad they always encouraged my literacy efforts!
5.My pets. Keely got a princess hat the other day. :) I love snuggling with my menagerie of pets.

So who am I tagging?
YOU! Anyone who feels like playing along.
Happy Weekend!