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4-3/4" according to my back deck. Not bad for a first snow.
And the kids DO have school! How great is that? It's like Christmas!
The boots are out - and I think everyone has a pair
The snowpants are out
And I put larger rugs at each of the doors.
Bring it!
Sorry about the late post today. My morning kind of slipped away from me what with the kids going back to school, story hour, meeting story hour cousin's at McDonalds for lunch and a run to Meijers to stock up on a few things before tonight's predicted 3 - 9" of snow. (It depends on what channel you plug our zip code into)
So then.
This past week felt like I had a theme of 'keep the kids busy'. They were restless and bickering and, well just - imagine.
I've labeled one of my boards on Pinterest "When my kids are bored" for just these occasions. When people ask me what Pinterest really is, I describe it as visual bookmarks. I can quickly go to this board and visually see all the ideas I've bumped into along the way, and in the upper right corner there is a link bringing me right back to the directions/sight that I found it at. Handy that. I find I utilize it much more than I do regular bookmarks.
Take these ornaments, for instance.
Wendy had a friend over the other day and they were begging to walk to the store, but the weather was icky and I'm not fond of them walking to the store alone anyway with the loose dogs we sometimes have over on this side of town.
Add that to the fact that Brian needed a couple ornaments for decorating their tree in the park - and I fell upon this particular pin. (again - if you see the link in the upper right corner of that pin, it will bring you to the directions)
It was easy, low cost and it kept three of my own kids and two guests ..... and myself ..... busy for a good hour and a half. What could be better, right?
And the kids get so pumped when they can put their own creations on the tree.
Hey - so do I. *wink*
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Other stuffs:
Happy Tuesday!
be good
Good Morning!! Happy Monday!!
To know me is to know that I love Mondays - even if my kids do have today off school. The last of our November company leaves this morning and now we'll recuperate from a busy Thanksgiving weekend and gear up for a busy December. Our lives are blessed and full.
I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!
As for today - Welcome to the Little Treasures Blog Hop! We're blog hopping again!
This month we are playing with Technique Tuesday's Little Treasures stamp sets.
These affordable little stamp sets are a great way to try out Technique Tuesday's stamps. They sell for just $2.99 each. From sets with flowers to sets with Ali Edwards' handwriting, there are a lot to choose from.
As for me - I'm going to confuse the team. My intention was to use the Ribbit set, and the layout I had planned is 85% done, but then at the last minute this layout with the Petite Posies set jumped into my head and I'm going with that instead. I'll try and finish and share the other layout before the week is out. ;)
click on the layout to see it larger/closer up
One of the reasons that this layout worked so well for me this week is because we've had company all week long. How does that work - you ask? Easy. I stamped all the flowers on scraps of paper, and then cut them while I was relaxing and visiting. I have a hard time not doing anything while I'm sitting and visiting - my hands need to be busy, so this was perfect. Way more fun than cutting and sorting coupons which is what I usually do while visiting. I do a lot of my more fussy cutting layouts while I'm visiting or sitting in doctor's office waiting rooms.
I adhered some of the flowers directly, and used pop dots on others to create dimension and make all the overlapping a little easier.
Also, just a bit of random..but I had been reading a report this weekend that said cursive writing is fading off the map more and more because of technology. Because I hand journal 90% of my layouts - and because 99% of those are printed, I decided to make a conscious effort to journal my next batch of layouts in cursive - just so my kids and grandkids will be forced to keep up on it and read it some year down the road.
That's the kind of mom and scrapbooker I am. *wink*
Be sure to check out the other blogs in this month's hop:
Sharyn <------ you are here
We want to give some Little Treasures stamps to two lucky commenters. From the comments received on all the blogs, we will pick one lucky commenter to win the Love Makes the World Go Round stamp set and another lucky commenter to win the A Million and One by Ali Edwards stamp set.
You don't need to comment on all the blogs to be eligible to win, but the more comments you leave - the more chances you'll have!
Comments must be posted by midnight on November 30th and the winner will be announced sometime on December 1st on the Technique Tuesday blog.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Happy Monday!
And on Saturday - I was tired.
I sipped my coffee and watched these guys pack up (which is always entertaining)
I sipped my coffee and said our good-byes.
I sipped my coffee as we sent our daughter off with them. She was nervous. (She took their ride to her grandma over at her other auntie's house, with a bit of entertaining shopping along the way - as she tells it)
I put down my coffee and took a nap
Woke up from my nap and went to Meijers for five items
Was so tired that I had to call home with "honey, what were the other two items I was supposed to get?"
You know I was tired when coffee was one of the items I couldn't remember
Came home and took another nap
Ate a bowl of cereal for supper
Sat on my butt for the rest of the day
This morning I'll change the sheets for tonight's guests (grandma and grandpa) because I was too tired to even walk up the stairs yesterday. There is also a mountain of dishes staring at me.
I'm passing out quarters to anyone who will rub my back or feet.
Holidays are the best!
Happy Sunday!
While I survived Thanksgiving - if I survived the day after is still up in the air.
I didn't go shopping but I cleaned up, put up Christmas lights, rested and then got ready for our evening 5K
I didn't take any race photos. I had dropped my camera off at my insurance agent's office on the way to the starting line. I figured if it got lost there, I could just immediately file a claim. Handy, right? I was very glad to run without a backpack on.
Wendy says she'll never run it again, but she's just teasing. Actually, she's never been a crowd person, and the crowds and back and forth route threw her. She usually runs a 5K about 10 minutes faster than me, but she ended up walking and waiting for me because she was unsure. That's okay. Next year.
We went to the basement of the church afterwards to get our water, granola bar, banana and oranges - but the crowd around the race times was a little thick so I figured we'll just learn ours when they come in the paper tomorrow.
eta: my time was 37:44, so I shaved 2 minutes off my spring 5K and this one was uphill two ways. (true story) I came in 1110 out of 1250. I met my goal of not being last. *pumps fist*
We then fought the crowds a good six blocks over to our people, stopping to pick up my camera along the way. And to the guy that was fighting the crowd in the other direction with his lawn chair bumping and bruising people along the way without a care in the world - MORON!
Back at our people - I was fighting to get my white balance correct.
I also brought the wrong lens. Again.
Our house favorite
Mark and Grandpa
I think I counted four bands. All parades should have bands. Unfortunately - our section of the route seemed to be marked - 'play the cadence here' portion of the route.
Oh-oh, someone is out of formation!
Uncle George bumped into some old friends and was checking out their grandkids.
Santa Clause!
When I prepare for Thursday, I also prepare for Friday. We often enjoy a post parade house full, and we did this time as well. I had a large soup in the crockpot that we all came home too - and the guests sipped it up while I took a hot shower.
People rotated seats, and the music started
My older sister-in-law who has been staying here with her family was trying to narrate the festivities.
People began nodding off
and nodding off
and nodding off
and nodding off
and the music still played
and people shifted and the music still played some more.
The music stopped at 2am
The last of the house crawled up to bed just after 3am
I might be tired.
But life is good.
Our company hasn't woken up yet today, and we switchover company tomorrow for one more night and my sister-in-law and family move out sometime today, and grandma and grandpa move in sometime tomorrow.
December should be a quieter month
*wink*
The rundown....
I put my husband in complete charge of the turkey. He woke up at 7:30 to get it going for 8:30. Mark wandered in at this point and wondered what in the world dad was doing to that chicken's bootie. He had found a recipe online for stuffing the bird with carrots, thyme and onion.
Fast forward a couple hours and my kids bickering was getting on my nerves, so I put them to work making a turkey appetizer, much like I had put them to work the day before drawing and coloring table runners for our feast.
They did a good job, if I do say so myself.
Done with the turkey I had them be quiet with other things.
Our middle of the night arriving guests started waking up at about 10 - 10:30, and my husband took omelet orders for everyone. He runs a pretty good kitchen. My Friday morning omelet is cooking as I type this post.
We weren't doing this to pass the time before dinner twenty years ago.
Then the sale ads and list making began. Lot of disappointment surrounding so many stores opening between 10pm and midnight this year.
Our youngest guest. He reminded me a lot of my own kids - his cousins. My kids weren't much for the dull roar of a gathering buzz. He'd instantly calm down when his momma brought him upstairs to a quieter place. Very much like my own kids.
If you count the youngest guest, we had 19 for dinner. Uncle Calvin - who shared his birthday with Thanksgiving day, was remembering when Greg and I first moved into this house 14 Novembers ago, and two weeks later I had the whole gang over for dinner. I'm pretty sure that I also insisted I could do everything myself, and did.
I've learned a lot over the years, This year I delegated the turkey, the potatoes, the raw vegetables, the green bean casserole and the yams. I hardly did a thing. I even bought paper plates, which I usually don't do.
The little boys learned all about Angry Birds and iPads
My mother-in-law and Aunt Susan made a delicious broth from the turkey remains
We nibbled and laughed well into the night
We enjoyed drop by company from Kathy and her boyfriend Dino
We laughed some more
Played Mad Libs
And at about 11:30 my brother-in-law and four teens/tween went to Kohls and at about 1am my sister-in-law, husband and myself all headed up to bed.
I tried for one sale at midnight on Amazon, but even though I hit the buy it button instantly - it sold out before it ever made it all the way to my cart. Alas and such.
Today I'll make a turkey soup
We're getting company for the Fantasy of Lights parade
I'll probably wander downtown this afternoon and check out the shops, the tree auction, and other events.
Wendy and I will run a 5K
And we'll laugh some more.
Life is good.
Today I have to remember to breathe.
I woke up out of breath - just thinking about all I should try and get done today.
A few moments ago I looked at the clock and had the thought - my goodness, how can it be almost 10 already?
I'm wise enough to realize, I have to let stuff go - I can't do it all anymore, and.that's.o.kay. Hard to stomach sometimes, but okay.
Already this morning I've finished one assignment, packaged up a sold golf ball, photographed and listed a new one, dug out the overdue library book and remembered to eat breakfast.
Now I will wake up a babysitter and run out and do some errands - mail the golf ball, return the library book, and pick up mine and Wendy's 5K stuffs.
Then I will bake
And clean
And bake
And clean
Help Wendy find what she needs for her report
And get two more blog posts ready that are due over the weekend
And make a few more beds for company
And run to the store to get the things that it was too soon to buy yesterday
And bake
That should do it
Be Good!
Happy Thanksgiving!
