MY what a month!

Hello everyone,
Well it has been quite a couple of weeks. I won't go into details, but we've had a very stressful situation. One of my children has been in jail and unfortunately had to spend Christmas there. We were able to bail him out the day after and he is now staying with us for a while. It is a long story and I'm sure will be a very long haul, but we are taking it one day at a time. We appreciate all the prayers and such that have been offered in our behalf.
Onto Christmas. I love it when we have snow, and we sure did this year, but we also had some wind and that makes it difficult to get places. We ended up kind of rushing the family Christmas Eve party so everyone would make it home afterwards. We didn't even go to Mom's for Christmas dinner the next day, as her driveway was totally buried. We just stayed at home and relaxed. It was kind of nice.
I think everyone was happy with the gifts they received and gave. It's always so fun to see what is given and satisfying to see the happy faces and excitement of the recipients. We actually got our cards out about 3 days before the holiday. Sad, considering they have been done for almost a month. Things just kind of fell apart that last week. But we hope everyone will enjoy them even if they were late.
My work was closed on the day after Christmas and that was nice, so I had 2 days afterwards to get things sort of back in order and take down decorations, etc. I still feel like things are in a disarray, but maybe on New Year's and then the Saturday afterwards I can finish putting the house back in order.
I am looking forward to some crafting time in the next few days. I need to get things ready for my technique club in january - we're doing water coloring projects. I wish I could figure out how to make better use of this blog to advertise and show my stamping stuff, but I'm not too fast at learning and I need to have more time to read all the "tips" out there to help dummies like me get it right.
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday and that 2009 will be everything you could hope for. God Bless!!

December Already

Wow, how time flies. It has been a very busy week, and the first 5 days of December are gone. I have great plans for all these cool hand-made items for gifts, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Good thing I made my cards last month and they are ready to be sent out. I sent the first one today, and plan to address a bunch more tomorrow.
I am helping at the Burley Festival of trees tomorrow. Then I will be spending some time at my craft table trying to finish up more projects. I am trying to have a box of gifts made that can be grabbed and given at a moment's notice to people. I am excited about them. There are a few picture holders (sheet metal standing in a wooden stand) some cute little coaster calendars, some ornaments with rub-ons on them, and maybe some cinnamon stick santas.
Tonight was our church Christmas party. We had a nice dinner and a short program. Very nice and not too long. It is too cold and I wish it would snow so it would warm up a bit. Besides it's much easier to get in the Christmas spirit when there is snow outside.
Our puppy is NOT getting the idea of where to go "potty" and it is getting very discouraging. Too bad the people that had her, didn't let us have her a month sooner, so we could have worked on this when she was younger. I am not sure we are ever going to get her trained. It's sort of sad because when she wets or messes on the floor, and we scold her, she runs and jumps into her time-out box. But she still doesn't understand she should go outside to do her jobs.
I have to get busy filling up my Christmas Count-down book that Lois (my wonderful creative sister) made for me -upon condition that I would do SOMETHING with it!!! If I want other cool stuff I have to follow through on this.
I have finally decided I have to start my Christmas shopping, so I ordered something today for one of my daughters. The time is going fast, so I better keep working on this.

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving is usually one of my favorite holidays, but today has been a rough day. I guess I have too many irons in the fire and I just hit melt down today. I've cried off and on all day, and I'm worn out. But...it didn't start out so bad. My brother's family is the major organizers for the Mini-Cassia Turkey Trot, (a 3-mile run in Paul on Thanksgiving morning every year (this is the third year)). I helped this morning with registration and then the after-race refreshment table. They had an awesome turnout and it was a good start to the day. I should be so diligent as to get in shape so I could run (or walk) next year. Not likely though.
All three of my sons were with us for part of today, and that is always nice. We don't see them nearly often enough and it's nice to catch up a little. The bad part is it means Christmas is right around the corner, and so we have to get going on the shopping. I'm not much of a shopper, so that's the part of Christmas I don't like. I do like making gifts and EATING the yummy things we all make for the holidays, but I DON'T like getting fatter as the days go by. Hum?, wonder where my will-power is?
I did finish my present today, and got a good start on another one, but can't post since they are for the girls I work with, and they may check out this blog?!!!! Maybe I'll get pix and post them right after I give them.
Our puppy is a slow learner and we can't seem to get her trained to go OUTSIDE to do her "jobs." It is a never-ending chore to try and catch her before the pees or poops on the floors throughout the house. I'm not sure I have what it's going to take to get her trained. She is so darn cute, it's hard to get mad at her, but I am discouraged. Anyone with some great ideas?
Hope you all have had a great day, and are looking forward to a great relaxing weekend.

WOW!!

Well Friday came and Melanie finally got her new puppy - that she didn't know she was getting. Calissa has kept this secret so well - way to go!! The puppy is cute as can be, and she named her Bella - wonder where that came from (Twilight?!!) See cute pix with this post.

I figured that to be fair I should post a pix of the 2 kittens we have living at our house right now also. One is Jenna's and one is Ryan's. These are brother and sister and all three pets are learning to get along and even eat at the same bowl. Pretty amazing.

Today is Jacob's birthday - wow big 23! We had a nice lasagne lunch and most of the family and a few friends came. Sean wasn't able to make it and we missed he and Heatherly. Maybe they can come next time.

I wish I had a pix of Jenna last night at the game. Minico's football team is in the playoffs and so last night the HS and both Jr High's cheerleaders did a great show at half time. Jenna is a flyer and so she was right up on top of the formations during the stunting. She was awesome. Unfortunately, being the "not bright techie" that I am, I didn't check the camera before I went and the memory card wasn't in it, and the small memory that is built in was full, so NO PIX. I better do better next time. The stunts were really good though and we were proud of her. The only down side is that she fell before the game when they were practicing and her neck is pretty sore today. She's spent quite a bit of time with the bed-buddy on her neck. But she'll be fine and keep cheering, because she loves it.

Day After Elections - BLAH

OK, so I so disappointed in the election results. I have kids that are on both sides of the fence, and I'm wondering how that happened. But I just hope they stay interested in politics and study the issues and now what they are voting for and that they do VOTE. I think we are going to see some amazing things happen over the next several years and I hope our country comes through with flying colors - RED< WHITE & BLUE!!

We had fun at Young Women's tonight covering clipboards for the girls. I think most of them had fun and they made some really darling clipboards. Too bad I didn't remember my camera so I could show you how creative these girls are. WOW!!

Time to go to bed, this is way too late for my Old Body to be up!!

One More Thing

Here is one more card and tag that I really love. The stamp set is called Winter Post and is from the Holiday Mini catalog from Stampinp Up! It is sort of old-fashioned and I love the feelings it evokes of simpler times. I wish I would be able to live then even though the work was much more physically demanding. They had more grace and in a way, more refinement than we do now. Oh well, such is life.

Halloween Pix and last Craft night pix

Well finally I managed to get the pix of the girls dressed in their Halloween finery uploaded. Melanie was Aerwen, the elf princess from Lord of the Rings. Jenna was a princess also. Of course they were both beautiful and they truly are my princesses. I just love them both.

BUT, I'm glad Halloween is over and we can move on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I am excited for both of those holidays this year. I usually dread the decorating and the shopping and the eating, but I am kind of anxious to start this year for some reason. It certainly isn't because we have any money to go shopping with, but that's OK. It will work out anyway.

I also finished my last project from the family craft night and took a pix. I really like the way it turned out. I will still have to put a dowell across the top so we can hang it up. I am excited about it and the other projects and say thanks again to everyone that came and brought such fun stuff to do.

Now, we're into November, so it's time to start working on "the gifts" for the people at the office. We came upon a great idea on Heather's (YEAH Heather) website for Super Saturday, so we are shamelessly taking it and doing it! I can't tell you what it is yet, but I'll show you when one is finished. There are 17 people in our office and believe me it is hard to come up with something wonderful and unique each year and within the budget. Last year, the 3 secretaries made coaster calendars for everyone's desks. They were adorable (of course) and some of them have been used and some have been on January all year, unless we change them ourselves. So this year, we were wondering what we could do. I promise to share very soon!!

I hate the time changes back and forth between DST and regular time. It just doesn't really make sense to me. We have so many hours of daylight and so much darkness. I don't think it really matters whether we "save" any or not, so why not leave the clocks along - and my poor old body clock and just go with it!!

Tomorrow is election day!! I hope everyone votes and I pray that whoever wins will truly love America and put the country's best interests ahead of anything else!! It is a scary time!!

Pix from Craft Night and Christmas Card & Tag Exchange

I finally managed to get some pix taken tonight of the cards/tags I did for the card exchange last month, and of the projects we did at the family craft night last week. There was one more project, but I'm not quite finished with it. I'll post it later.
Most of the last few nights have been spent trying to make sure the girls had halloween costumes that would work for tomorrow. I never did like Halloween, so it hasn't been too fun. Thank goodness for Aunt Margene - the wonder seamstress. She can make about anything if you just show her a picture, so thus we have Aerwen - the Elf princess from Lord of the Rings. I hope to have a pix tomorrow, when Melanie actually gets totally ready. Jenna is going as a princess also, in a dress that Aunt Margene - once again to the rescue - made for a dance night last year for Melanie. In the morning when they get ready, we'll take some pix and I'll post them over the weekend.

So work has been really slow lately, and it is driving me nuts to be there, when I could be home crafting - or maybe cleaning house. I guess tomorrow night between Trick-or-Treaters, I'll have to get the cleaning done, so it isn't too scary for our Stamp-A-Stack attendees on Saturday. I am excited for that and the cute cards we are doing.

I am thrilled that the price of gas is crawling slowly but steadily down. I just hope it doesn't shoot back up after the election next week. It is nice to not have to spend a fortune to fill up these days. I drive the old rattle-trap Honda in the family, but it gets the best gas mileage. I keep trying to encourage Melanie to give my car back and for her to drive the Honda, but no go. She hates the rattles, and the standard transmission. oh well, she will have to drive it at some point.

Family Craft Night

Well on Friday night our family had a craft night. We had 5 projects and they were all very cute, fun and not too hard. I have most of mine done, and will try to post pix later this week. Of course, what would a get together be without FOOD!! Everyone brought fun things to eat and we enjoyed that immensely.
On Saturday I puttered around trying to get the house cleaned up and then do laundry. We made a trip to Walmart and got a new chair for the computer. Now we all have to sit up straight at the computer - not sure that was a smart move.
Today was church and it is always nice to relax and renew there. Of course, there's many things to do also and so it's a busy day.
Now the day is over and it's time to hit the sack and get some rest for the upcoming week.

Christmas Stamp-A-Stack

Well I'm so excited about the Stamp-A-Stack I am doing with 2 other demos on Nov 1. It will be so fun, and the cards are just too cute.
I am also excited about technique club this week. We are going to use the Big Shot on each of our projects. I think they are fun and I LOVE the Big Shot!! It is so easy to use and Stampin' Up! has such cute dies.
So how are you feeling about the upcoming election? I am still not too thrilled about our choices and am not sure what to do. I feel strongly that we should all vote, but how to decide? Is it going to make a big different? Where are we headed as a country? It is sort of scary to think about it, and I am prone to feel like I am not ready for what may be coming. I was not too thrilled with my 401K statement last week - let's see if we can work for about a million more years, we may be able to retire!! Not a pretty picture. I hope the market comes back or my girls won't have any college funds at all.
Now to the good stuff!! I love chocolate and I like that our boss brings candy during October - which we are suppoed to give out to any kids that come in, but which we manage to eat!! I hate that we are supposed to dress up, but it might be worth it for the chocolate. I'll decide later!!
I am taking a community class on Photoshop Elements - and I feel totally stupid. We have had 2 classes and have 2 more, and I better kick into high gear, because I sure am not feeling very smart, but I love the things the teacher can do with the program. It was my birthday present and my girls can do all kinds of things with it, but I am lucky to resize my scans, and pull up a pix from the camera and look at it. I am crossing my fingers that I can get way better in the next 2 weeks. If I do, then I'll post my cool pix I have "fixed."

Another Week gone

Where does the time go? It seems like school just started and it is already the middle of October or a little past. Fall is upon us and winter is fast approaching. But I still need to a/c sometimes. I was able to spend some time crafting this week, and especially today. It was fun, and I managed to get my exchanges almost completed and the card samples for our Stamp-A-Stack done and posted to my SU website. If you are interested in coming, go there and check it out and call me to sign up. You won't be sorry. (http://janahernstamps.stampinup.net/)

I don't know why I'm still up, except the laundry is just finishing and so then I can hit the hay. Church is early tomorrow - at 9AM, but it's nice to be done by noon. I plan to relax in the afternoon, visit Lois and take a nap and read or something. We'll make a fun treat, and watch a movie.

I did a couple of 6X6 scrapbook pages today of the girls and they are just too cute. The girls and the pages!!!

Oh My

Well my admiration for bloggers is growing by leaps and bounds as I try to figure this out. I guess it is probably easier than figuring out who to vote for in a few weeks though. I got a cute email the other day that poked fun at all candidates and how they are smooth and charismatic during the campaign but change after the election. I liked it alot, but it doesn't help me make a good informed decision.

I am wondering this week, if I will ever have a slow relaxing week again - maybe when I'm old and sit around in a rocking chair all day?!! It seems as though time just continually speeds up and I have a harder time keeping up with all I should be doing. A friend of mine from church is going to Hawaii for the next 10 days, and I would love to join her - doesn't that sound nice? Especially after the 15" of snow we got last Saturday. I can just picture white sand beaches and waves, palm trees, and sunsets...ah...that sounds so lovely.

Well since I can't go to Hawaii, I guess I'll go downstairs to my craft room and work on some Christmas Cards for a Stamp-A-Stack I'm doing November 1. If you want more info about that go to my Stampin' Up! website at this link: http://janahernstamps.stampinup.net

Have a great day!!

SNOW

Well, what a weekend! We got about 14 inches of snow on Saturday. It was beautiful, but so surprising for this early in the year. It was starting to melt a lot by yesterday. I am glad the roads are clearing off. Well it will be a busy week, and I wish all of you the best.

Well here is the beginning of my blog. I have resisted doing this because I have so little time, but my daughters thought it would be fun, so we'll try it.

We will all learn together, how to do this.