It's nice to be...

HOME! We got back into Minnesota at 12:15 pm on Tuesday. What a week! I am not much of traveler. I don't like sleeping in a different bed or using a different bathroom for too long. We arrived 4 days before Morgan's brother and sister and their families. That was nice. We were able to spend some time with just Morgan's parents and they were able to spend some time with just Owen. They have only seen him once and that was in June. After the rest of the family got there it was rather hectic and I get tired of so many people being around. My SIL children are also a bit undisciplined and that is always tiring!

On Thursday we went skiing in West Yellowstone. There is always more snow there than in Bozeman.Morgan pulled Owen in a Chariot that had a ski attachment. He had wanted to get one for our Chariot but now that he's used one he thinks he can do without until Owen learns to ski on his own! I had not skied in a few years and I was rusty. A combination of extra weight (my own!), crusty snow, and poor technique!
Here is a view from Morgan's parents house. They live south of Bozeman just a ways and the view is always beautiful. This is a sunset and the clouds that were rolling in that night. One day we took Owen for a hike while it was snowing. He loved it. I got lots of great pictures. Nature is always the perfect back drop for pictures.We also took him on the tobbogan one day. He loved that too. Just giggled and giggled. He was a very good little traveler. Slept well in the pack and play and didn't fuss on the airplane. He was fussy Christmas Eve though. He got a tooth! And today I discovered another one. So now Owen has his two bottom teeth.

Todays 2P's challenge:
The New Year is almost here.. thinking of any resolutions?? What do u hope to accomplish in this new year of 2007??? Blog about your goals and aspirations.

I like to write resolutions and goals. I also like the beginning of a new year. It's a time for me to start fresh. I always liked that about teaching too. A new week. A new quarter. A fresh start. So I have a little notebook I'm writing my goals in. My first goal is to get rid of my excess weight. I've got a plan. I need to lose it by Owen's birthday. So I have four months. I also want to get our house back in order. I want to get rid of the things we don't need, want or use. This is a challenge for me and Morgan. We are both collectors. Those are my two big goals.

Wishing you...

a Merry Christmas! We are leaving tonight for Montana. I have been remiss in my blogging lately. Just too much to do to get ready for our trip. Here is the picture I sent out in our Christmas letter. Merry Christmas to you all. I'm sure I will have loads to blog about when I return!

Isn't it...

cool! Here is my new vacuum cleaner! I love it. It's a Eureka Altima. Sounds like a car doesn't it?? It does have a headlight. It's a bagless and that's really the part I was happiest about. That way all the dog hair doesn't sit in there and stink. Ludwig is going in for a bath tomorrow so that should help his stinkiness. He's also shedding a ton. The vacuum has a cup that collects all the stuff and when I first used it I couldn't believe all the hair! That just proved what a poor job the other one was doing. So now with a new washer, a new iron and a new vacuum I'm in domestic bliss! Morgan would love it if I learned to cook but I don't think all the cool appliances or gadgets in the world would help me in that department.

I got my hair cut last night. It's a bit shorter with some choppy layers. My stylist straightned it with a flat iron and flipped the ends out. I don't have a flat iron so I just dried it and used my round comb iron to do the ends. Then I pulled it back! She also put a lot of product in it and I don't use "product". It makes me itch!

Last night after my haircut I went to Bonnie's studio party. What fun! Her studio is beautiful. So full of inspiring things. Lots of sparkly things. I love that. I thought I had a lot of supplies. My stash pales in comparision to Bonnie's! She is such a sweet person and her hubby Greg was there helping with all the details.
Now I need to go and work on the book bags for Nikki. I also need to work on some ornaments for my nephews and niece and some other little things. I'll post some pictures of my creations when I'm done.
Oh, one more picture...
This is Baby Evel Knievel. Owen's newest stunt is to roll over on the changing table and then scoots up to the edge and bite down. Then he will just lay there looking over the edge. I don't know what he's contemplating. Today I ran and got the camera. I strapped him down first :) But it's just the funniest thing to see. He just chomps down on the edge (I have a heavy, padded cloth diaper on the edge) and looks down at the floor or the garbage can or whatever toy he's tossed overboard. Such a funny little guy.

Just a quick...

jot! I have not be able to blog in 3 days! I had a crop this weekend. It went well. I did not get enough done though. I need to work on my MIL's album. Two Christmas's ago I did a grandchildren album for her and she wants me to update it for her for Christmas this year. Sure, no problem. I'm not done with my pregnancy album, our family album isn't up to date, and I have one page done in Owen's album, but I'll get right on that!
I decided the nephews and neice aren't getting handmade gifts. I was too stressed out about it. So the little ones are getting an outfit, the big one a Nebraska Huskers T-shirt. That relieved some pressure.
2P's challenge for today...Re the shopping frenzy at this time of year.. what do you do? Do you do the majority of your shopping in stores, make your own handmade items, or shop online??? blog about it!
I like to shop. I just want to know what people would like. Morgan's easy. He usually has a list a mile long. Everyone else in our family isn't easy! I like to make things but I usually get started too late and get stressed out. I would shop online, if I knew what I was buying!
Today I get a haircut! Yippee! And then I'm going to Bonnie's Studio Party!

A few...

holiday questions. These are taken from Bonnie Rose's Blog.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate! With marshmallows and a little Bailey's please!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa always wraps our presents.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights. We don't do any exterior lighting but the lights on our tree are always white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving. Or I try to. Last year it was later since I was pregnant.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I love going to the Cheesecake Factory with The Girls and having Pumpkin Cheesecake!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Going to my grandparents house Christmas Day. Most of my best childhood memories are set at their house or with them.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? One year I got a dollhouse for Christmas. My mom assembled the whole thing. She was working on it in a back bedroom that we didn't really use for anything but storage. I was probably 7 or 8. I went in there looking for something, I don't remember what and found the dollhouse. When it showed up under the tree on Christmas day I knew Santa wasn't real. I was so upset. But I didn't tell a soul. I didn't want my mom to know I had found it! So I kept it a secret. For about 10 years!! We still do Santa.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. With my family we usually open gifts from one another on Christmas Eve and then gifts from Santa on Christmas Day.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With white lights, green and red bows, and a mish mash of ornaments that have some sentimental value or that I just love. I particularly like old fashioned looking glass ornaments. And a little glitter never hurts!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love the snow. As long as it's not super cold and I don't have to drive in it. In Minnesota it's hard to get enough snow at one time anymore to slow people down too much. It's kind of sad really.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes. I used to skate all the time when I was a child.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? From childhood the above mentioned dollhouse and a quilt that my grandma gave me. Now it would be the handmade gifts my sister gives me.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with my family. Remembering the gift that we were given in Jesus. The warm fuzzy feeling of the season.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin pie. But I love all the cookies too!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Spending time with my family. I'm looking forward to Morgan and I establishing some of our own traditions with Owen. I also enjoy going to the Christmas Eve service with my mom at the church I grew up in. There is a man who sings Oh Holy Night like you have never heard it before!

17. What tops your tree? A gold wire angel. She's got glitter!

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love giving the handmade gifts I've crafted for people. But I like to receive too!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Oh, that's a tough question! I love Frank Sinatra's Christmas Collection. But I also love so many of the traditional religious Christmas songs. Amy Grant has a wonderful Christmas collection that I play over and over.

20. Candy Canes? They are pretty. I eat about 2 a year. That's enough for me. They are great for stirring hot chocolate!

Here are two more of my favorite ornaments on the tree. Every teacher needs a little school bus right?? And I just love Betty Boop!

Baby...

it's cold outside! That happens to be one of my favorite holiday songs. The Dean Martin version. But it really is COLD outside! My dashboard forecaster says 2˚. Brrrr! Too cold for me! I've been listening to Christmas music almost non-stop. There is a station here that plays holiday music round the clock beginning before Thanksgiving.

I've been busy working on gifts. I'm doing 3 library bags for Nikki to give as gifts so I'm working on those right now. I gave up on the doll for my niece until I can get the right kind of fabric for the heard. Maybe I'll do that tonight. I don't have much to do at the office tonight so maybe I won't go it. I also have to take Ludwig to the vet for his check-up this afternoon. It occurred to me that I don't have Morgan's car today (a wagon) so Miranda and Owen will need to stay here while I take him because we can't all fit in my car. What a scene that would be. 1 baby and 1 very large dog crammed into the back seat of my Galant!

The 2P's challenge for today is to blog about your perfect hairstyle. Ugh! Hair. My hair was so wonderful while I was pregnant. It was full and obedient and didn't fall out hardly at all. Now it begs to be washed every other day and it comes out in clumps! Oh, and it doesn't do a darn thing! So my perfect hairstyle would be one that was easy, easy, easy! I would love to have it short again but Morgan so politely says it makes me look like a little boy! I also can't afford to have it cut once a month. However, it has been 6 months since my last cut. I have an appointment for next Tuesday to have it done. I wear my up most of the time because if I don't Owen will pull it. There was a chunk that had come loose yesterday and he was reaching for it. So it normally looks like this. I did manage to wash it today! That was the other thing about my hair while I was pregnant. It didn't need to be washed as frequently. That was great. I don't mind the washing part. It's the drying part that takes so long. I don't like to use a hair dryer because it makes my hair dry and dull. But I don't like running around with a head full of wet hair until it's dry either. So I clip it up and it dries on the outside and then later I have to let it down so the rest can dry.
I've also been known to let it grow and grow and grow. Until I found my current stylist I would get my hair cut about once a year because I was so afraid of what they would do to it. I had a few bad hair cutting incidents in my life. Now I keep it about shoulder length, sometimes a little shorter, but it has been waist length several times too. That's too much hair when you're only 5 feet tall!

The 2P's challenge for the other day was to blog about quirks in your family or things that drive you nuts about people in your family around the holidays. I decided to just let that one go! I don't need more stress while I'm preparing for our trip to MT!

So much to do...

so little time! I was incorrect in thinking that since I'm not working I would have all kinds of time to make holiday presents and cards. I was mistaken. I started working on a doll for my niece today. I like to sew. Especially since I got a new sewing machine. But this doll thing is a pain in the ass! It's a pattern in the Martha Stewart Holiday magazine. Well, I couldn't find all the right materials for it so I improvised. Most of Martha's recipes or projects don't seem to lend themselves to improvisation. Ugh! So I had to redo part of it and it's just turning out like crap! CRAP! I made a list of all the things I want to accomplish in the next two weeks before we leave for MT and it was long. Too Long! Ugh!
One bright spot in the week though. Morgan cleaned the kitchen floor last night. This is the second time in as many weeks. This is HUGE! That is more than he has cleaned the floor in probably the seven months that we've had Owen! He also bought me a new iron last night. He went to Target alone, which he never does, and came home with a new iron for me! I was so excited to use it today.
And today is Owen's 7 month birthday! I can't believe it's been seven months! I also can't believe I still haven't lost my pregnancy weight! I actually think I've gained a bit since I've had him. Ugh! Just to shake things up he decided to pull his mobile down today! I was hearing weird sounds while I was in the bathtub this morning and thought "OH NO! Someone's in the house!" So I quietly get out, dry off and open the door to listen. The noises are coming from Owen's room. So I go in and there he is with the mobile in his hands! This is not a small mobile either and it's mounted to the crib pretty tightly. He must have used all his strength!
Now I'm off for some cocoa and some thinking on this pain in the ass doll!

It's up!

Our tree is up. We put it up last night. I was able to get 5 strings of lights on it! This year we borrowed a tree from my mom. She has a newer Douglas Fir that is nicer than the really old tree I have that was my grandparents. I feel bad about not putting it up though. I was able to get 5 stings of lights up on the new one though. I'm going to watch after Christmas sales and see if I can get a new one with the lights already on it. Putting the lights on is my least favorite part. But this tree was so much easier to do than our old one. I love the look and smell of real ones but I can't bear to kill a tree just to put it up in our livingroom for a few weeks. And since we are going to MT for a week we wouldn't be able to enjoy it for as long. When Owen is older we will get a real one.
Owen was napping when we started putting the tree up. He was fascinated when he got up and saw it though! We didn't hang any ornaments on the lower limbs because he will be able to reach them. I also left of the white beaded garlands I usually put on. Our tree doesn't have a theme. Just a lot of treasured ornaments. I don't put them all up either. Some I just like to take out and remember where they came from. Here are some photos of Owen and my favorite ornaments.The star ornament I've had for a long time. I got it when I was little. It's my favorite ornament. The pudding cup with the little pipe cleaner santa in it I made in preschool. The ruby slipper is for the Wizard of Oz, my favorite movie, and the mushroom is just dang cute! It reminds me of gnomes. Which I love. I don't have any gnome ornaments though.
Now I need to tend to my wiggly guy and work on some projects today. Time is quickly slipping away from me and I have a lot of projects!

Ah...

Saturday. When I'm not the only parent at home. I also got to sleep a little bit longer. That's always nice.
Today my mom, sister and I are going to the No Coast Craft-o-Rama craft fair at the Midtown Global Market. If you are in the MN metro area check out the website and come on down. It's a great fair. Not your usual crocheted pot holders and frilly doll dresses craft fair.

Then we are going to the Picture Show Studio Sale. Here is that information if you are interested in going to that. They don't have a website so I scanned the post card I got in the mail. It's a great little sale. It's in an old house in St. Paul. My mom and I have been going for about 3 years now. They are the only rubber stamps I still buy. They have mounted and unmounted. I buy all unmounted. I mount them on foam with a cling back so I can use my acrylic blocks with them. And if you use acrylic stamps and don't have CTMH acrylic blocks you need to have a few! They are the best blocks I've seen. Shaped like a wood block but in acrylic. They have funky images. Some vintage like. A bunch of really cool alphabets. I love alphabets. I need to use them more.

My book club party last night was fun. There are 4 of us with babies and two more expecting next May. The babies are all within about 4 months. When we started the book club 2 years ago there was only 1 baby!
It was fun to see Owen playing with the baby girl who is 8 weeks older than he his. She is sitting up now and crawling and Owen isn't. He's doing his scooting but she gets around much more efficiently. He was chewing on her feet and trying to head butt her! She was definitely going to be the winner in that wrestling match though. I think she had a good 5 pounds over Owen! She's a little bruiser! One of the other girls whose baby is 4 months was saying how she was really enjoying the CEFE class that they go to. I think Owen and I may need to do something like that. I was resisting because I didn't want to commit to something that may interfere with his schedule but he would probably be okay. He is probably getting to a point where he should have some contact with his peers. And I can make some friends with women who have children besides all my bloggin' buddies!
Have a great Saturday everyone!

I needed...

a change. So I put up an alterego picture. I didn't really like my profile picture and I can't get Morgan to take any pictures of me so I decided I would find a cartoon one. This one is from a Wheat Thins ad. I scanned it, Photoshoped it a bit, and her she is! I am! She just looks a little more fun than the old picture! My hair used to be a bit like that and the color is similar so I thought I could pull it off.

The 2P's challenge today is List 5 things you enjoyed today. It's only noon but I'll see if I can come up with some!

1. Breakfast. 2 wheat toaster waffles with PBJ, peaches (canned) and milk. Owen was very patient while I ate.
2. A nap.
3. A card from Maggie that came in the mail. (Thank you Maggie! That was very nice!)
4. The sunshine! Even though it's rather cold out the sun decided to shine and that always perks me up.
   
5. A little time in my craft room after my workout. I'm doing a Christmas Journal. Vee posted on her blog that she is taking back Christmas. I thought it was a fabulous idea. So I'm making a little 6x6 journal to do this too! Thanks Vee!
6. Vacuuming. (I like to clean!)
7. A snuggle with my little man.

That wasn't so hard! Speaking of my little man. Have I mentioned that he is in the beginning stages of crawling!? Watch out world here comes Owen! He started scooting the day before Thanksgiving and he'd been spinning around on his tummy before that. So he put that all together. Now he's getting his little legs up under him and up onto his hands! Then he does a little rocking back and forth. This morning Morgan brought him into my craft room so he could get ready for work. I have my workout mat on the floor in there with some toys so he can scoot and play while I work a bit. Well, he was not staying in one place! I had a drawer full of stamps out a ways from where he was but he go to them in no time. Had a stamp clutched in his hand when I got to him! Then he scooted over to a bag that I had emptied from JoAnn's! Needless to say it was time to get have some breakfast!

Here are a few photos I took of him yesterday. He was much to interested in the camera and the loop handle on it to stay still for a photo! He just kept getting closer and closer to me!
Well now that he's down for his afternoon nap I'm going to go and work on my Christmas Journal! And wrap the book I need to take for the book exchange at my book club holiday gathering tonight.

Watch this...

I found this video while I was blog hopping yesterday. It made me cry. First in a sad way and then in a happy way. It's a good little view for when you think our society is going to hell in a handbasket. And one only needs to turn on the daily news to get that impression.

Here's the Video Description

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person...

Music by Sick Puppies. (Visit http://sickpuppies.net or http://myspace.com/sickpuppies for the music)
-----------------------------------

Thank you Aimeslee for telling me how to post the video!!!

Since today is December 1st I've decided it would be a good day to rededicate myself to losing the rest of my pregnancy weight. I don't want to wait until January 1st because that's too cliche. I think I should get a headstart on the new year. So if anyone else wants to shed a few unwanted pounds I'd be happy to have the company! Now I'm going to go get on my treadmill and then lift a few weights. My goals right now are to exercise everyday and drink 64oz of water everyday. I'll tackle my chocolate obsession next week! But since I ate the rest of the chocolate chips yesterday we don't have any chocolate in the house anymore!!! That makes it a little easier!

a little...

ho ho ho. Here is the card I made with my Holiday Hoopla SEI paper. The inside says Merry Christmas. I made 3 of them. One has red ribbon on the bottom. I didn't like how the red looked so I switched to blue. It's hard to tell in the scan but there is glitter on the tops of the hats that are upright.

The 2P's challenge for today is What is your mantra? That's a tough question for me. There are a lot of things that I use to keep me going. The one that has stuck with me the longest is "A tree is just a tree". My mom told me that when I was in college. I tend to think about things too much and this can lead to over analyzing and that can lead to all kinds of scenarios being created in ones head. During one of these conversations my mom said, "Heather, sometimes a tree is just a tree". In other words, there isn't some hidden meaning or alterior motive that I might need to figure out. Take things for what they are and move on. I am also a bit of a worrier and when I get into a vicious worrying pattern I stop and ask myself some questions. 1. Can I change the situation? 2. If so can I change it now or can it wait? 3. Is worrying going to help? (usually no!) 4. What can I do to stop the worrying? I can't say I still don't worry but I have learned to worry less. There are still times when I get overwhelmed with thinking about things that I just have no control over but it happens less now than it did when I was younger. Maybe that has something to do with learning that good and bad happens to everyone and we deal with it as it comes. I need to enjoy the good in my life everyday so when the bad comes I'm strong enough to deal with it.

On another note.... It is currently 4˚ outside! That is WAY TOO COLD! Yes, I'm aware that I live in Minnesota. It's just that we tend to forget how cold it can get and when it does it just seems REALLY cold! Oh, and I'm a pansy when it comes to being cold. I don't think I will be leaving the house with Owen today. He's pretty good about having his winter gear on but if we don't have to go anywhere then there is no reason to take him out. I'll just have to putter around the house today. There's always dog hair to be vacuumed up!

Today is the last day of November. Today would also have been my grandpa's 90th birthday. Today Owen and I wished him a happy birthday, wherever he is. Hopefully traveling. He loved to go places but my grandma didn't. So they didn't really travel much.

I'll have to think of something fun to do on here for the count down to Christmas. Sissy... any ideas?? If you all have ideas let me know!

The birthday...

card! Here is the birthday card I made for Maggie. I didn't post it yesterday because I didn't want her to see it before I gave it to her. The second picture is the envelope I stamped. The paper and tag are Paper Salon, the rub-on is Making Memories and the stamps are Rhonna Farrer Swirls and CTMH Precious Alphabet.Sometime soon I want to get some Christmas cards made with my new Quickutz dies. I have two new snowflakes that are super cute. Maybe I can work one in with the SEI paper I'm using.

Checkout this blog. It's called Daring Cardmakers. There are some really cute ideas on there for cards. When I started stamping it was mostly to make cards and even though I love to scrapbook I still go back to making my own cards. It takes me less time than a layout and provides a little instant creative gratification!

Yesterday Owen and I had a busy day. I had a doctor appointment at the U and then we met The Girls at the Cheesecake Factory for Cosmos and Cheesecake. I did not have a Cosmopolitan but I did have Pumpkin Cheesecake. One of the best parts of Fall! It was a brief visit. We were late getting there due to traffic but it was nice to see Maggie and Lori. I miss seeing them everyday. We missed Nikki because she had dinner plans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

MAGGIE!!! Today is Maggie's birthday!! As I type she is sitting down to a very exciting meeting! I hope you have a great day Maggie. We will see you later at the Factory for Cosmos and Cheesecake!

I love it when my creative MoJo is flowin'! It makes me happy. Here are a couple cards I created yesterday. The tags and the patteren paper are both by Paper Salon and the rub-ons are Making Memories.

I also started working on more Christmas cards using the SEI holiday paper from last year. I love SEI paper. After CTMH paper I have more SEI paper than any other manufacturer. I also love the Paper Salon papers and Paper Salon is a local company so it's nice to support local businesses.


Here's the 2P's challenge for today:
Do you use a planner in your daily life? Do you have the need to write things down/make lists etc?
If you do, does using a planner enhance your life? if so, how???
Share your thoughts on organizing your life.

Well, the short answer is yes. Sort of. Because I stay home now my daily life is a little more relaxed. However, I make lists almost everyday. Yes, I need to write things down. If I don't I will forget something! I have a chore chart on the refrigerator that I try to stick to. I have a fitness plan on the fridge. Right now it's mostly still a plan! I also schedule all of our activities on iCalendar on the computer. It's another great MAC feature.

Now I need to go because we are having a bit of thunderstorm here in MN and I need to turn off the computer!

A new...

word! I love words. When I was younger I used to read the dictionary all the time. Now I don't read it as much but it's not a family function in my family if we don't get the dictionary out for something. I guess that's what happens when you come from a family with lots of brains who think a lot. Too much sometimes. My mom and my uncle are really smart people and we get into these discussions about weird stuff and the semantics of things and eventually my head starts to hurt.

So anyway, the new word is WONKY. My sister used it the other day. I just love the way it sounds. Quirky and fun. So I'm going to try and incorporate it into my vocabulary. I think I need to stop using DUDE so often. It's a funny word though. I like big words too. And I'm obsessed with making sure everything is spelled correctly when I write on my blog or send e-mail. I've actually always had this little obsession. The unfortunate thing is that Blogger doesn't have a spell check feature that works for me. So if I need to check how to spell something I use my dashboard dictionary. A very cool MAC feature. However, I have to be careful to not be in the Thesaurus mode when I'm looking for a spelling because it will keep saying "not found" even though I've spelled it correctly. There just isn't a synonym or antonym for it so it won't find the word! I've gotten very irritated with this some days!

O'...

Christmas Tree! Yesterday I put up my little fiber optic tree in my craft room. It's not decorated yet. I'm going to make a little pom-pom garland for it.

I plan to put up our big tree next Sunday. This past week was so busy we didn't get a chance to. I like to get started on Christmas decorating right away!

I also need to get started on the Christmas gifts I'm making. I'm going to jot out my list today. I keep forgetting I need to have the ones for Morgan's family ready early since we are leaving for Montana on the 19th.

2P's challenge for today:
Share your gift wrapping secrets with the rest of us.. blog about it.
Well, I don't really have any secrets. I purchase all my wrapping materials after Christmas so I get them cheap. That way I don't feel bad about using a lot of ribbon. I like to stamp gift bags and do funky things with ribbon. I also use basic white or craft colored paper and stamp on that. Usually for smaller gifts. I also make gift tags. I think I will do some digitally this year because I've found some great digital scrapping kits online.

I'm off to work on some very belated Thank You cards and get a little cleaning done!!

The day...

after. Ahhh. It's over. As much as I love Thanksgiving and getting together with family and eating too much, I like the day after too. The cooking and cleaning and planning are done. Over. Finished. Morgan did a wonderful job with all the food. He grilled the turkey which turned out really well. It tasted delicious. It created a rich smokey flavor in the drippings which meant the gravy had that flavor too. I'm so glad I married a man who can cook! Otherwise I'd be in trouble.

Here is part of my contribution to the table. I was in charge of table decoration and arrangement. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the table after it was set. AND I forgot to light the candles! It was lovely though. I tried to sneek off down to my craft room while Morgan was cooking but he figured me out and needed my help. I try to stay out of the kitchen when he's cooking. First, because I usually get stepped on or hit my head on a cupboard door that has been lefted open. And second, because it becomes a scary disaster area real fast and that stresses me out. My mom and aunt helped with the clean up after dinner yesterday. I was so thankful!

The Studio Friday Challenge for today is "I wonder what other artists do to make their studios more comfy. Comfort foods? Family photos on the wall? A cozy spot for an afternoon nap?". Here are a few of the comforts I have in my craft room.

Pictures of my baby above my work space.

My new book shelf and storage shelves. I love things to be organized and accessable. There's Olivia. She makes me smile. A little holiday cheer. I love snowmen.

And this silly girl on my door. A couple of my students made her last year. It's me. I found the amazing sign in the newspaper. It's a Quest ad.

The things that I find most comforting in my craft room are things I can't post pictures of. I love the smell of the room itself. There aren't any cooking smells or dirty dog smells. Just a clean scent. It's hard to describe. I think it's a craft suppy smell. Paints, paper, acrylic stamps, rubber stamps. I love those smells. The room is also painted in a chalk white color with stripes of pale pink, blue and green. It's neat and organized (mostly) and there's just a lot of space. It's not cluttered, well some places are, and it's just a comfortable space for me to create in. I have a radio to play some tunes and the TV is just outside the door so I can listen to that too. It's a place where I can make a mess and leave the mess for days and it's bothering anyone else but me. That is priceless!

Ta dah!

Here are the cards from my card class. The first 2 are 5 x 3 1/2. The second two are 6 x 4 1/4 and 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 the last one is 6 x 3 1/2.

They are all made using white daisy CS as the base and the B & T papers from the Just Chillin' Paper Kit from CTMH. The stamp sets are Glistening Snow, Christmas Scripts, and I can't remember the other one! Ink colors are Ocean and Vineyard Berry. And I would be happy to order any of these products or others if you need them!!! My shameless plug as a consultant!

I have...

but a moment to write. So I'm going to do the 2P's challenge that Bonnie posted for today. It's a pretty good one.

Challenge:

Answer these questions.

1. your worst habit?
2. your best feature?
3. what you like most about your significant other/spouse?
4. if you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
5. what do you admire most in a dear friend you have?

1. My worst habit. Hmmm.... that's tough. I can think of so many. I would say eating when I'm stressed out or bored. I think it's the habit I regret most afterward.

2. My best feature. I'd say my feet. They are large for my body and I have very long toes, also out of proportion with my body! But they are good looking feet!

3. What I like most about Morgan...so many things. But the thing that has always been true about him since the day I met him is that when you meet him he is who he is. When you first meet a person you get a first impression of them. Lots of times that first impression changes after you get to know the person. Whether the impression is good or bad, it often changes. Not with Morgan. He is exactly who you meet. I love that about him.

4. If I could travel anywhere... right now I think it would be Europe. I have always wanted to go and wander around.

5. What I admire most in a dear friend. I have several dear friends and I admire lots about them. But I'm going to pick Lori. I admire her kindness. We are all kind in way. But Lori is the woman behind you in the checkout line who will give you the extra change you need if you are short. She would drive to my house and pick me up for work if I needed her to. Even though she lives 14 miles south of school and I'm 12 miles north of school. She takes care of her parents even though her mom is sometimes not nice to her and doesn't appreciate it. Her kindness is unconditional, the kind that doesn't have strings. I am fortunate to have her as my friend.

Now I need to keep cleaning and getting ready for my bible study dinner. We are having a delicious butternut squash soup that Morgan made. Salad, bread and gingerbread cake with cinnamon whipped cream. My house currently smells of wonderful gingerbread. I think it's my favorite fall baking smell!

Ah...

4am on a Sunday morning! Just when I want to wake up. Not really. But Owen did! He of course is back to sleep after a little nip of the bottle, a little spit up, a clothes change and some playing with his crib mirror. But not me. I needed to do some laundry. Because of the spit up! I know better than to feed him early like that. But I thought he may have gotten over it. Nope. I was wrong. So here I sit. I stayed up thinking I'd write the devotion for Advent I need to do for church. But I haven't yet. I had to check some blogs!

My card class yesterday went well. We had a great time. It took an hour and a half longer than I had anticipated. But I think that was from all the talking we were doing! As I mentioned the other day Nikki is a lot of fun. Her friend Amber is just as nice and together they are a riot. If there had been more people for my class I think I'd still be cutting paper though! I pitched some other class ideas to them. Nikki thought a Valentine card class in January would be good. So I thought and evening class of Valentines, chocolate, and wine. I think Maggie would like it!

Here is a photo of my goodie table.

Hot chocolate. A little Irish Cream. Marshmallows. There were also peanut M & M's and chocolate chip cookies that Nikki brought.
I will post pictures of the cards later. I didn't take pictures yet!

Yesterday I really felt that holiday spirit feeling. Just that sort of warm happiness feeling. It was just a nice day. Although it may have had something to do with not being on Mommy Duty all day. I feel bad about that though. I love being a mommy. Owen's mommy. And I feel bad when I'm not with him and enjoy my time without him. But I also need a little time away sometimes. Otherwise I become a not so nice wife! Morgan is great with Owen and is getting better at tending to Owen for longer periods of time. I just have to relax and let him parent the way he's going to parent. We both have a different style and that's okay as long as the result is the same. Luckily we mostly agree on the results!

Here is a picture I snapped of O yesterday. It's blurry because he isn't still very often when he's awake! I just love this picture anyway. He's started this bubble blowing thing and he's always got his little tongue sticking out. He's also wearing his Twins uniform. He had on a little Gap baseball hat but that was much more fun to chew on!

Today we are going to look for a new car seat. He is close to being too big for the infant one so we need to upgrade. I'm reluctant to do this because we won't be getting one that I can carry him in. So I will have to take him out and carry him around if we go places. He isn't sitting up all on his own yet so I'm not certain how this is going to work out. Shopping could be tricky carrying him around loose like that. He is a squirmy little guy too! Maybe I'll have to put him in the Snuggli!

I'm blogging tonight...

for tomorrow. Tomorrow I am teaching a card class. And all 2 people who signed up are going to have a great time. It's my friend Nikki and her friend Amber. And any time with Nik is a fun time! So I won't have a lot of extra time tomorrow to blog and Morgan likes to use the computer to write when he's home on weekends.

You have to check out the Cupcake Blog. I found this traipsing through blogs. There are a ton of different kinds of cupcakes. The pictures are cool too. I love cake. LOVE IT! I got the cutest birthday card from my SIL today about cake. It has Olivia on the front of it and she says "I will now tell the story of the birthday girl... (inside) She lived a long, long, long, long, long time. And everyone gets cake. The end." That's a good life. Here is Olivia if you are not familiar with her. I got the picture off of Amazon. I hope they don't mind. I've given them credit though!
The Olivia books are written by Ian Falconer. She is very matter of fact. I just identify with her. She keeps me company in my craft room.

2P's challenges for today and tomorrow:

I love the holiday season.. So much to see.. so many beautiful things. What kinds of things do you go and totally window shop?? Maybe things you can't afford, maybe things you can.. what kinds of things really turn your head?
What do you just love admiring, looking at????

Well, mostly things I just don't need. Sparkly things. I love all those cute little tinsel trees they have in stores. I love sparkly things! My sister used to work at Target and one year they had these red tinsel trees about 18" tall for their displays. So after the season was over my sister brought one home for me. I am going to put it up in my craft room this year. I have also seen some that are made of feathers. Those are CUTE! Morgan says my taste sometimes borders on the very tacky! My mom puts up an outdoor tree inside. Christmas is not her favorite season. I'm not sure why. She says it's because of the commercialism but I think there's more to it than that. Anyway, it's a white outdoor tree with the fold down stick limbs with lights. Then she puts ornaments on it. Just a few. We all call it the Charlie Brown tree. I love it. I love ornaments too and holiday knick knacks. But I really don't need that stuff and I don't have very many places to display it but I love to look at it. My friend Maggie does a beautiful job of decorating her house for the holidays. I love to go to her house when it's all done up. Her Christmas tree is decorated with almost all Santa ornaments. She collects them. I love to look at all her ornaments.

How will you make a difference to someone less fortunate this Christmas/Holiday season?

I am going to take Owen to buy some toys for the toy drives that go on here. Usually Toys for Tots. I know that he isn't old enough to understand now but I want it to be something we do together at Christmas so I'm starting now. I want to instill in him the meaning of Christmas. The preparation and expectation of the advent season and the Celebration of Jesus' birth at Christmas. I want him to know and understand that.
Morgan and I are really trying to scale back the gift giving that we do. Keep it to handmade and special gifts. Things that mean something to someone because we took the time to think of them and make something special.

This is me...

The Studio Friday challenge for today is...

I thought it would be fun to create a little collage of all the things we use - tools and supplies both, and even other things like a favorite cd, dvd, cup of coffee, nail polish etc that say "this is me and this is what I do".

So here is a collage of what defines me. Mostly in my work space. The tools I use and what inspires me or makes me happy.

A little self reflection...

Sometimes it's nice to take a little time to take a look at who you are. I was thinking about Aimeslee's comment about my post from earlier today. She said at first she though I was callous for saying I thought those people were pretending to be homeless. And I have to admit, she's a little bit right. I can be callous. I don't believe I was in my thinking about the people I saw, they really didn't look homeless (now I know why!) But with respect to other situations I can be.
I tend to be a suck-it-up/don't-be-a-pansy sort of person. Life is rough all over. Everyone has hard times and you just deal with it. But Aimeslee is reading a book about the people who lived through the Dust Bowl in the 30's. People who had nothing or lost everything. I don't know what that is like. We didn't have a lot when I was growing up but we always had what we needed. Anyway, these situations and books and stories like the one Aimeslee is reading help me to remember to be humble. To keep in mind that EVERYONE is a child of God. I believe very much in social justice. In helping people who need help. Whether it's necessities or my friend Maggie who wants help with a project. I like to help people. It helps me to not be so selfish. Which I can be. I don't know if I'm more selfish than other people or not, but we can all use a little help being less selfish. I've learned more about this in the last six months than in my entire life. It can be daunting when a little person's welfare and well being depends exclusively on you.
I always tell people that Morgan is everything that I am not. He is the kind of person who will give his last dollar to the man on the corner. I on the other hand wonder if the person is really homeless! I am a cynic and an idealist all at the same time. A bit of a paradox. I think what let's me believe I am a good person is that I always want to be a better person. I am able to recognize in myself the things I need to change. As I've gotten older I am more able to change those things. Or recognize when my inner cynic is coming out. I don't want to be one of those people that no one wants to be around. I don't think I am. But I work hard to keep a positive attitude. It's also hard to be cynical and mad and skeptical and all those bad personality traits for very long. It takes a lot of energy.
So I guess what I'm saying is I am callous. But not often. I keep it in check! Mostly I work on being kind and generous. Now I'm going to iron my man's shirt for tomorrow.

And by the way, what would you all wait outside in the cold overnight for??? I'm going to have to think long and hard about this one...

An update...

to my rant below. My friend Michele posted this comment with regard to my post.
Michele said...
I think that they were camping out for the new PS3 or the Wii. People were doing that at Best Buy also. Tis the season!!!!!
That totally makes sense! I laughed my a@@ off when I read her comment. Because she's probably right. But I don't get that either. I've gotten up early to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I waited in line to get into the new Michael's when it opened by us. But I've never slept outside for something! Maybe in college I would have done that. Maybe. Probably not. But maybe. Now, no. I wouldn't do that. I like my warm bed too much!
THANKS MICHELE! For clearing that up for me!

A little rant about...

people. I've mentioned before that I don't get people sometimes. Mostly the things they do. Today Owen and I stopped at Target for some diapers. Sitting outside of Target to the right of the entrance on the bench and in camp chairs were two men and one woman. They had sleeping bags and heavy coats on. I gathered that they were pretending to be homeless. I gathered the pretend part because first, the camp chairs looked pretty new. Like just bought-at-Target new. They also did not have any other items with them besides the chairs and a few books to read and the sleeping bags. Oh, and one guys wife had just showed up with their daughter for a visit.
Now, I'm all for people doing these sorts of protests or sit-ins or sleep outs or whatever they are called. I get that. I've seen high school kids do this a lot. They are usually raising money for it too. I am for fighting homelessness and the causes of it. I am not for people pretending to be homeless by sitting around outside of Target in the middle of the day. They weren't raising money (no signs) they weren't distributing information or protesting. They were sitting around. Pretending to be homeless.
The reason this irritates me so much is because it's useless. They aren't doing anything helpful. I also don't think people who are homeless do that. Sit around in the middle of the day reading a book. From what I've read of accounts of people who are homeless they are usually working, looking for work, looking for food, shelter, clothing... the necessities... during the day. They are not sitting around outside of Target.
Usually I can give people the benefit of the doubt. But there are ways to go about social justice and there are ways that just aren't effective. Sitting around outside of Target in the middle of the day when it really isn't all that cold out, isn't one of them. I just don't get people sometimes.

There's nothing like...

a new pair of shoes! (I know Dana's nodding her head!) Morgan and I both got a new pair of running shoes this weekend. I LOVE a new pair of running shoes. They fit so nicely. These are Asics GT-2120. Several years ago when I started running I tried a variety of different shoes. These were the last ones I tried and they were it. I get the same ones every year. This year I got new ones before the old ones were totally worn out. Reason being so I can wear the old ones for out and about and the new ones just for walking/running. I love them so much that I end up wearing them all the time and then they wear out faster. This way I can keep wearing the old ones for everyday and the new ones for workouts.

Here is the progress on my craft room. This is the corner that is mostly cleaned up. Unfortunately I have 3 sterilite drawer things I want to put over in this area for my papers and I don't know where that's going to work out at. The new shelf is on the right. It only took me about 15 minutes to put together yesterday! I also put up the shelf that is on the wall holding my magazines and books. It's even level! So I will work on all of that more today. Sigh...

So much to do...

so little time! What started as cleaning up my craft room after I had completed a couple of projects has turned into a full blown reorganization. Which will be good in the end. It's just that I started this at a rather inopportune time. I have things I need to be working on but I can't because the room is a mess. And I've discovered that it is time to purge. Which always takes more time. I have lots of wood mounted stamps that I'd like to sell but it's not a good time for a garage sale and that stuff doesn't seem to sell well at my garage sales! It's more of a target market. So after the new year I think I'm going to see if I can figure out how to sell stuff on Ebay.

Owen's doctor appointment went well. He is growing and developing well and the doctor doesn't have any concerns about him. His shots went better than last time too. Not so much crying. Although he was the fourth to get shots while we were there so we listened to one 4 month old gets shots and then several other families with older children get shots. I don't know how those nurse's do it everyday. There was one little girl, probably 4, on one side of us was screaming and screeching. Owen got very quiet during this time and was staring at me with a scared sort of look on his little face. Then on the other side there were 2 or 3 children. The oldest looked to be 4 and the other one was around 2. They were screaming something fierce and calling the nurse names and banging on the wall. This continued after the nurses's left the room and came to us! Owen cried but not for nearly as long as he did the last time. Unfortunately he did not take an afternoon nap after that so he was cranky earlier and had to go to bed earlier. Which meant he was up at 4am instead of 5am!

I have been having a hard time sleeping again so I ended up sleeping on the couch last night. Morgan was breathing so loud I could not get to sleep. And he sleeps like a rock so I couldn't get him to move without waking him up. I think I've had 1, maybe 2, good nights of sleep in say the last year. I'm eating better and trying to get more exercise so hopefully that will help.

2P's challenge for today...Do you send out Christmas cards or letters? what are you doing this year?? Blog about it.. handmade or store bought?

I do a little of both. For people I see all the time I usually send or give card. For people we don't see often I send a letter. Or try to! Morgan likes to edit the letter that I write, well actually Ludwig writes, and for a couple of years he was so picky and slow that it just didn't get sent. So last year I let him look at it again. Then I made the corrections that I thought he wanted made and turns out I didn't do what he wanted! I've tried to figure out a way around him but he wants to help. I try to hand make all the cards I send but sometimes that doesn't happen either.

I'm off for a quick breakfast and then a walk on the treadmill now that Little O is down for a nap!

I love...

a good mail day! Today in the mail I got my MSL, my Papercrafts, an LL Bean Catalog, and an invitation to Bonnie Rose's studio unveiling! Yesterday I got a RAK from Dana. Super cute rub-ons! (Thank you Dana!!)
I'm glad my magazines finally came. I had seen both of them in the store the other day. That irritates me. I don't like to see them before they get to my mailbox.
Today I have to take Owen to the doctor at 1:30pm for his 6 month well check. I don't like these appointments. I know they are important and necessary but I HATE watching him get shots.
I think he's cutting a tooth. I've been saying that for months but he has been really fussy lately and he was up at 2:30 this morning. We gave him some water. Then some baby oragel and a little Tylenol. Held him. Rocked him. Brought him in our room. Then I finally gave him a little bottle. He fell right back to sleep! So maybe he was just hungry in the first place! It seems like when I think I'm doing the right things they end up being the wrong things. I just didn't think he could be hungry! Silly mommy! I need to remember that he's really rather simple to figure out. He's fussy when he's tired and hungry. We knew he was tired. So I should have just given him a bottle right away.

The 2P's challenge for today is:
What's a trip you took as a child that you will always remember. and why???
blog about it.
One year, I can't remember when, I think I was probably 11 or 12 we went to Bayfield, WI and my Grandpa came with us. So it was my mom, my sister, my grandpa and me. We had never been to Bayfield before so it was a new place. It was lovely. I still love Bayfield. But the part that I will always remember was my grandpa coming with us. It was the first time we were with him without my grandma. He was a totally different person. He talked so much more. I think it's interesting how one person's personality can affect another's. My grandparents were an interesting couple. My grandma complained like crazy about my grandpa. I was a grandpa's girl so I was always on his side and couldn't understand why she was complaining about my grandpa like that. But somewhere along the way they sort of stopped communicating. Or maybe they never really did. I like to observe how people affect each other like this though. Some people have a positive affect on us. My friend Lori is like this. It's hard not to be in a good mood with her around because she is a positive person. Sure, she has her bad days but she seems to always look for the bright spot. Some people have the opposite affect on us. When they are around the make us bristle. Gabrielle Union was on Oprah the other day. She was talking about being raped as a young woman when she was working in a shoe store. It was close to closing time and this man came in. She said she knew instantly that he was bad news and that she should get out of the store. But she didn't. She didn't want to offend him. She was raised to be polite. But the whole point of her story was that often our instincts are right. Not that all people who have a negative affect on us are bad. But there is an invisible "something" that we get from people that affects us. Good or bad. So... that was a tangent!

Now I'm off to put together the shelves I got at Target yesterday for my craft room. I'm trying to reorganize. Morgan was in there the other day to turn off the lights and he said he just about killed himself. My reorganizing always consists of making a huge mess and then putting it all back together again. Kind of like a humpty dumpty sort of deal!

Christmas...

is coming! Shhh, don't tell my mom. She gets all agitated about Christmas. I usually do too. But this year I'm not working so I'm hoping to not get all out of sorts. You see by the time Christmas break rolls around I usually feel like Christmas has come and gone because of all the things going on at school. I'm hoping to have a more relaxed feel about it this year. Maybe not though since we're going to Montana for Christmas and my mom is not happy about it. Fired up might be a better way to put it. She's mostly only mentioned it to my sister though. I'm not thrilled about going either but there's not much for me to say or do about it. It's the way the schedule works. I've already started planning for Christmas though. The 2P's challenge for tomorrow...Monday(I'm doing it early!) is What handmade gifts are you thinking of giving this year?
I love to make gifts. I usually make a list of the people I want to give gifts to and then I start trolling for ideas. I go to the library and look at books. I surf the internet. Then I make a list of the ideas. Frequently I've accumulated ideas throughout the year too. So here is a short list of my ideas so far.

1. Mother in Law... a necklace for her glasses. She is forever leaving them somewhere!
2. Older nephew... a box like I saw on Gina's website to keep all his weird little treasures in.
3. Ornaments for some people I know.
4. A doll for my neice.
5. A blanket for Owen.
6. Biscotti for my Father in Law.

I also have some other ideas about things to make. Some slippers, mittens, toys for some friends who are having babies, tote bags, and sets of cards. I have a scrapbook I made for my MIL two years ago. I need to update it for her. I love to scrapbook but I don't have a enough time most of the time for the juices to flow well. So I have lots of scrapbook ideas but not much to show for it! Unless you look at my friend Lori's scrapbook. Then you can see a lot of my work!!

I'm hoping to have a little baking fun with my girlfriends again for the holidays. Two years ago we had a bake sale at school to raise money for one of our students who had cancer. So we used the school kitchen to bake in. We had such a great time. By fate or whatever cosmic karma is working for us Lori, Maggie, Nikki and I have gotten to be good friends. Lori is the big sister. She is the person who has experience and knows lots of things. She is also the nice one. Nikki is the little sister. Mostly because she's the youngest. And being the youngest she knows all the slang and popular stuff. Maggie is the Fashionista. She is always put together and coordinated. She is also a good party planner. I guess I don't really know what I am in the group. But I fit in and I like that. Together we tend to be noisy and goofy and silly. On Friday we had a belated birthday dinner for me at Maggie's house. She wanted to cook for us so she could try out a new recipe that she wants to make for her family after Thanksgiving. We had a great time. Ate, talked and talked. Watchted Grey's. Here's a couple pictures of my goofy friends.
They were singing Happy Birthday while flailing their arms. Hence the blurred photos! And they can't get upset for me posting them on my blog because they are so blurred even if you did see them out in public you couldn't tell who they were because of the bad pictures! Oh, and those of you who do know my girlfriends know that most pictures of them are blurred! Nikki is frequently making a goofy face for pictures. Maggie runs from pictures. And Lori is usually behind a camera so you can't get her picture! Although I did get some great shots the last time we were all at the Cheesecake factory. Maybe I'll post those sometime. What do you think girls!?!?

Behind...

again! (Sorry Michele!) So I have two little 2P's challenges to catch up on. The one from yesterday about my favorite color... it's GREEN. I love green. I don't really know why though. I can tell you why I like or dislike foods. But not colors. I don't actually dislike many colors. Color schemes, yes. But individual colors. No. But green is my favorite. I think it's a neutral color for me. Like black and brown. There aren't many colors that don't go with a shade of green. It just makes me happy. My green pants make me happy. I love them. They fit great. Or they did fit great. I've decided I'm going to work on that though. Since we are going to MT for Christmas I decided I need to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight and maybe a little more. It will be one less thing for me to feel uptight about while we are there.

Today's challege is Blog about the state you would like to live in.. another State.. why would you wanna live there???? Maine. I love Maine. We were there 2 years ago for summer vacation. It's a beautiful state. I love that it is like Minnesota and Montana both. You can be in the moutains with lots of lush greenness and then drive a couple of hours and be on the coast. It's quaint and quiet and just a beautiful place.
There are not big huge billboards while you are driving down the highway either. I don't like that about Minnesota. Billboards are kind of an eyesore. LLBean is also in Maine. I love that place. It's huge and I like their stuff. It would be difficult to get Morgan and my mom and Miranda to move to Maine though. But I think once they got there, they would love it.

Toot toot...

That's the sound of me tooting my own horn!! Last month I entered a Fall Colors photo contest at LinneCards.com and I WON! Here is a link to the page so you can see my picture and the little blurb I wrote about myself. I won a $5 credit towards a purchase!

On a sour note... Morgan did not get the job he interviewed for. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We both appreciated it. I think God and I are on the outs right now. I pray a lot and sometimes, most of the time, I think he's not listening. I know that sounds rather negative but it's how I feel. In the bible it talks about how some people are not going to hear or their hearts will be hardened (can't remember the exact verse). I sometimes feel like that person. I'm used to struggling with faith. I think it's what makes your faith stronger. I just wish sometimes I heard him like other people say they do. Maybe I'm not listening carefully enough. I don't know.

Here is a picture from Owen's photo shoot today. It was such a nice day out and the light was just right. The leaves were a big distraction though! I could not get him to look at me for anything. He was so interested in those leaves. Feeling them. Putting them in his mouth! So I would stop with the camera and get the leaves out of his mouth and then cover up his Bumbo chair so it wouldn't show in the pictures (this one you can see it) and then go back to the camera. Then a plane went over and move leaves in the mouth! So I got a few shots and they are still cute. This one was one of my favorites. I hope it's nice out again tomorrow. I need to get his 6 month pictures done before it gets too cold. I don't know what I'm going to do in February when he turns 9 months! I might have to take him somewhere to have the pictures done (GASP!)

A little...

history. I have not been keeping up with the 2P's challenges. So today I'm going to do a little catch up. Yesterday's challenge was to describe your childhood home. Here it is!This place has a lot of history. My grandparents bought it when it was just a little tiny house. My grandpa, who was a carpenter, added on to it. It is where my uncle, aunt, and mom all grew up. And me and my sister too. It is the place I considered my home until Morgan and I bought our own house. It's an odd house because of some of the ways it has been added on to and my grandpa was not an electrician so the electrical stuff is a little odd but it's a good home. It has wood floors. The only carpet in the whole house are actually just rugs. As a result of this I find carpet stuffy. There are also a lot of windows so there is a lot of light. I always enjoyed that. This house had a lot of influence on me when we were shopping for our own home.

Now I live here. Today's challenge is Let's talk about the place you live in, right now, tonite, this moment.
What do you love about it? What do you hate about it?

This is the first home I have ever owned. It took us a while to find it. We bought it 4 years ago when it was definately a sellers market, but we got a good price anyway.

It's a good house. Just the right size for us. I love that it is ours. It's the place we come home to everyday. The place we brought Owen home to. It's the place where Morgan cooks and I create. Where Owen plays and Ludwig digs. We have good neighbors. There is a lake across the street and the sunsets can be so beautiful over the lake. None of the walls are white! And I have picked out most of the paint colors. It is filled with things we love and good memories. I have my own room to make a mess in while I'm creating and crafting and I can leave it messy and no one says a thing. It's open and bright. Lots of windows. A little drafty, but then it's not stuffy!

There are just a few things I don't like. Actually, 2. There is only 1 bathroom and a 1 stall garage. The rest of the things that I don't like we can work on. I'd like to remodel the downstairs but that's not in our budget right now. So we make due with the things we don't like. We are happy to have a home of our own and not be renters!

first things first...

Happy Birthday to my honey!! November is a big deal in our house. First my birthday, then Owen's 1/2 birthday and today is Morgan's birthday! I told him I would cook for him but he'd rather do it himself! So I ironed him a shirt for the day!

It is also Election day! Here in MN we have a very heated Senate race going on as well as a heated Governors race. I will be happy when this is over because there has been a lot of mud slinging going on. I want to be informed and hear how a candidate stands on issues that are important to me. However, they seem to get wrapped up in belittling or defending themselves and this gets off the topic of where they stand. What a waste of good campaign money. If were a contributor to a campaign I think I'd want my money back.

I am not a fan of partisan politics. I believe that if someone supports my views they are worthy of my vote. While listening to public radio a week or so ago it occured to me that there are people who will not vote because they don't support the candidate their party has endorsed. In my mind you just find someone else. It shouldn't matter what party they identify with. Morgan and I were talking about this last night and he was trying to explain it to me in terms of very leftist or rightist people and how they wouldn't be able to, morally, vote another way. I guess I'm just a little too middle or the road to understand this. My vote is my voice. If I don't vote, I don't speak. I also get very confused about all of this stuff because people don't always do what they say they are going to do and there are also a lot of issues to keep on top of.

I think politicians would all benefit from getting together and sitting in a circle and spending some time meditating on the ideas and thoughts in these two books. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum and The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers. Things like Play fair, don't hit people and say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. So simple. SO SIMPLE! Yet everywhere we go we see unfairness and people hurting. So much of it is just not necessary if people would get over themselves and take others into consideration. I guess it's the elementary school teacher in me. I like to keep things simple. Concrete. Not confusing. I guess my view of the world has always been that way. I frequently say to my mom, "I just don't get some people".
Last week I was almost rearended by the Papa John's delivery guy going 45 down my street. MY STREET! There are children living on this street. One of them is my child. And this guy's pizza is more important than driving the 30 mph speed limit so as not to kill someone. I was PO. I just want to say to people like that "Dude, slow down, back off, and get over yourself." The pizza will get there. You'll get your tip. All will be right in the fast food world.

One that thing. Morgan still has not heard about the job he interviewed for. There was a bit of confusion on the part of others involved. Not uncommon in coporate America! The other person to be interviewed was on vacation and then the manager was out and so the other person wasn't interviewed yet. Hopefully it happened yesterday and they will decide today and Morgan will get the job. That would be a great b-day gift. So please say a couple more prayers and keeps some fingers crossed and such!

Finally...

My washing marchine arrived at 7pm last night! It was supposed to be here between 8am and noon. Then it was going to be here at 2pm. So it finally arrived at 7:00. Then I had to go back to Lowe's to get new hoses to hook it up because the ones it came with weren't long enough. Then we couldn't get the old hot water hose off! Turns out neither one of us is good at the righty tighty/lefty loosey thing! We were turning it the wrong way! But now it's hooked up and it works. I washed all of Owen's laundry last night We were getting down to just the cute bibs that don't really serve a purpose!

And speaking of Owen...yesterday was his half birthday! He is six months old! I can't believe how fast the these 6 months have gone.

Here we are sitting on my mom's front steps.

We were watching a very exciting game of Bocce ball.

And here is Owen with his auntie. He just loves her! Aren't they cute??

Well, now that we have a washing machine I can spend today getting caught up on laundry!