The Elves are HERE!!

The kids discovered Tinsel and Crumbs on the porch, 

all tangled up in a blow up decoration!  

I think they were trying to put it together themselves! 

Adam set it up for them...very cute! 

Broken Bird

“Red bird came all winter

firing up the landscape

as nothing else could..."

-Mary Oliver

...then my husband knocked it down with a pillow

and broke it's tail.  Thanks.  Thanks a lot.

Do Not Enter!

This morning was cool, breezy, and felt like the perfect time to do some yard work.  I headed to the shed to retrieve my arsenal of tools and do-dads, but stopped short for fear I'd be killed.  'nuff said.  I went inside.

Pallet Deck

Here's my latest recycling adventure!  I hated walking through the mud when it rained, the rocks when it didn't, and the dirt all the time so I recycled some old pallets into a "deck" of sorts for my recycling cans.  Those two are for plastic and aluminum, respectively, and I'll move a box from the laundry room for the other things.  Cardboard will stay in the laundry room, but what a difference this has made in my life already!

The best part of the whole project was that the pallets were free!  I was at our local recycling/garbage dump and met a man who had a huge trailer he was filling with just a few pieces of junk metal to recycle.  I offered him a large amount I've been collecting if he'd bring me some of the pallets that were sitting out there.  The deal was a good one!  He got more materials to sell and I got my beloved pallets.  Life is good.

Scrapbooking on the cheap

I love love love scrapbooking and any other paper craft I can think of, but I have to stay organized.  I refuse to pay a lot for storage for anything in my home, the least of which being brads and ribbons and paper, oh my!  So, I'm gonna share with y'all my favorite cheapy storage solutions:

Here is a shoe organizer with cubbies the perfect size for pint-size canning jars.  The organizer was on clearance at Lowes and the jars can be found for next to nothing at thrift stores and yard sales.

I like this storage idea for my rubber stamps 'cause I'm a "digger" when I'm looking for something so shelves wouldn't work for me!  The drawers are from Wal-Mart and fit perfectly in Closetmaid stackable cubbies.  My ribbons collection sits on top of these cubbies and it's very compact and efficient.  The labels make it simple to see which drawer I need to dig in to find precisely what I'm looking for.

State Flower

Here we have Ava amidst the glorious bluebonnets in the kids' Godparents' yard. 

How to Train a 3 year old

We took the kids to see How to Train a Dragon and they loved it!  Training Ava to be still in the theater?  Not bad at all!  This was her first time in a theater and she had a great time and was a very good girl.  Andrew really enjoyed the film as well.  Adam and I were just happy to be at the movies together!

 

My new cookie jar.  Isn't he delightful? 

  

I think this guy is a cousin of a cutie who resides in my friend Jeannie's kitchen.

 

I love this guy!

What the heck?

Can someone please tell me what this thing is? I just had to have it!

Here are some of my latest thrift store finds. I paid $2.00 for that fabulous waste basket (or is it an umbrella stand?) The napkin holder was .50 and the Vera silk scarf was...drum roll, please... $5.00! WOOHOO!

Happy February!

It's a new month full of new possibilities and new projects! There's a lot to celebrate in February from birthdays to anniversaries to Valentine's Day of course! I have quite a list of cards to make and I know our little visitor Cupid will be coming to see us soon! I'll need to make arrangements for his arrival and short stay.

The 9th of this month marks the 10th anniversary of when I "came to my senses" or "Orange Day" as I like to call it. Adam had been telling me since we met that he was the perfect guy and that one day I'd come to my senses. Well, he was right! I hope to have a little dinner party to celebrate, complete with an orange menu and decorations!

Latest Endeavors

I got the seal of approval from Andrew about this Valentine's Day treat box for his classmates. I have to make 9 white ones for the girls and 3 Star Trek for the boys in his class. It's fun! I'll fill them with various goodies and post pics as I get them prepared.