Truth Thursday...This is my life in five confessions

Confession #1

I took the Christmas decorations down today. That's right, call me Grinch, but I just couldn't have them up anymore. I did, however, leave up the "Wintery" ones like the Christmas village, and the ice skating people and some snowflakes I had here and there. I know winter will be here for awhile yet, even though we had rain today, which totally took away all the snow we did have, but that's another story.


Confession #2
My husband sent me to the feed mill today to get feed for the chickens. I initially didn't want to go, I wanted to stay at home all day, but I went. I never thought 6 years ago I would be on a small acreage with animals that I would have to go buy feed for at the feed mill. The feed mill is not my kinda place. It's Brent's kinda place. He loves to go and talk the ear off the man who works there. I'll just say it again, it's NOT my kinda place. Enough said.


Confession #3
Brent called me early this morning from work and told me that the first house I had ever lived in, which is only about 4 1/2 miles away, was on fire. Since the feed mill and my old house are on the same road, after I got feed, I drove by. There were tons of people helping out the family that lived there. They were hauling parts of the house away and burning it in the pasture area. I haven't lived there in 19 years, but it made my stomach turn. I couldn't believe that it was gone. It means my first house will no longer be my first house anymore. It will be something totally different, and all it's own.


Confession #4
I'm on vacation from school till next Wednesday, and I feel guilty every minute I find myself sitting down. Strange, I know, but I actually sat down to eat breakfast today with a book, and after I ate and read about 4 pages, I got up and started what turned out to be the rest of my day. Sure, I did a couple loads of laundry, got feed, delivered eggs, folded clothes, changed the sheets, did some scrapbooking, swept the floors, and made supper, but all I really wanted to do was sit in a chair all day and read my book!

Confession #5

I hate board games. There, I said it. For those of you who know me well, you already know this. I don't know what it is about them, but I just don't like them. The kids love to play them, though, so I am eternally grateful when Brent jumps right in and plays them with them. (I DO play them sometimes, but they are not my favorite). I'm really glad I married a man, who it turns out, is my total OPPOSITE! Give me a day with the kids going to the library, going shopping, going and making a craft somewhere, and that same day Brent would be wrestling with them, playing ball in the yard, and playing board games. I guess God knew what kind of strengths we would both have as parents....or does it just mean Brent is really STILL a big kid at heart?

I guess that sums it up for today. You'll find me reading my new Country Living magazine next and NOT feeling guilty about it!

Vacation on Speed!

Lest you all think I forgot you, rest assured, I have not.



I've been busy.



We spent the day Monday 40 minutes away at a mall, waiting in line. Yep. Most of our day was spent waiting in line.



Grace had money to blow, and truth be told, so did I. She had $80, and $80 to a almost 11 year old, is ALOT!



Tuesday found us at home, all day, in our pajamas. That's right. IN OUR PAJAMAS, and it felt GREAT! I worked on some projects like this...

BEFORE


AFTER



Grace's basket...

and Brent's.


I believe when Brent walked in the door last night, he said, "Great, what are the baskets for?" I told him,
"For all your stuff that you don't want to forget before you walk out the door."

To which he replied, "But isn't that what the counter is for?"


NO, IT'S NOT ACTUALLY!


I also finished this craft, which I've held onto since Oct., and haven't had time to finish it.

It hangs above my craft table, and I love it.


I also started working on Grace's school album, and I'm embarrassed to say, I had to go back to 3rd grade. I've kept up on the family album, but let the school ones go by the wayside. I plan on getting them caught up over vacation, though.


And, here's what I got for Christmas. I actually bought it the day after Thanksgiving because it was 1/2 off. I bought it myself. Not very exciting, but I've been waiting FOREVER to use it.

I have big plans for this baby! I realize it's no brand spankin' new camera (which is also on my wish list), but this machine is 60 years newer than my old one.


Here are some things I plan on finishing this week:

I have two separate projects to complete, can you tell what they are?


I picked up these books at the library today to help me get started.

The Feisty Stitcher? Really?



Gotta go....things to do!

Filled with the Spirit

It's 8:00am, and we've already been up 2 hours.


(I forgot to take a picture at 6:00am, so by this time we've already been ripping into
the presents.)

It's been a BIG, no HUGE dilemma around here what time we were going to let the kids get up to open presents.



Grace LITERALLY asked me about 10 times yesterday if 6:00am was too early. It IS, but I know the excitement of opening presents.



However, it's Jesus' birthday, and that's what Christmas is all about. The story never gets old for me. Can you imagine ladies who've had children, just what that would've been like?

The kindergarten teacher I work with kept telling the kids that since Jesus was a king, (royalty), God put him in a place where EVERYONE could come and visit him. If he would've been born in a palace, only certain people would've been able to visit him.


Isn't that a wonderful way to look at it? I've never thought of it that way before.


Brent read the Christmas Story first this morning before the gift wrap started flying.



And then it was totally uninhabited in our living room.


Do you remember the feelings you felt as a child when it was Christmas?


When the pile of presents before you just made you tremble with excitement? I felt that radiating from my kids this year.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE getting my kids presents. I just about can't wait for them to open them!



(Grace is ALL about the labels this year!)

I even got this little guy from Evan for Christmas. Since they don't have money of their own, they've gotten pretty creative.


I got my sewing machine. I've been needing a new one, and the day after Thanksgiving, they were half off, so I bought my own gift, and Brent had Grace wrap it. A little unexciting, but today when I opened it up, I poured over the instruction manual like it was going out of style. I can't wait to make some things over break!


So, now we get ready, and head to my mom and dad's for the day. My sister and her family is here from South Carolina, so there will be plenty of laughter in my parent's house. I can't wait!

I hope you all are filled with the spirit....and I hope you ALL have a Very Merry Christmas!

Today

Today was our last day of school before Christmas Break.

It was a long day.

Here's a breakdown.


7:45 am........Kid's come, WOUND UP for the last day before break.

8:10 am........Pledge of Allegiance and morning announcements, and the day begins.

8:30am.........I get the candy canes ready for Santa to visit school today and pass out to all the students. I'm sorting kindergarten papers to get ready for them to take home today.

9:00am..........Bathroom break and back to the room for a story and calendar time, as well as a short math paper.

9:15am............Morning papers get passed out into backpacks, and snow gear gets taken out of backpacks in preparation for recess. (remember, this is kindergarten recess and it takes us 10-15 min. to get all of them dressed and ready to JUST go out for recess. 24 kids that need help zipping, pulling up, etc.)

9:30am..........We're FINALLY ready to go out! Recess for 15 minutes.


9:45am..........Back inside, and taking everything off. Bathroom break to get ready for our Christmas party at 10:00 am.

By the way, the kids are now OFF THE WALL, and LOUD and REALLY ready for the party. They ask every couple of minutes or so if they will get to eat/open presents soon.

10:00am........Parents start arriving and kids start screaming. We have a snack, game, pass out presents, open presents, more screaming, and FINALLY it's time to go home at 11:00am.

I get a 20 minute lunch, and head back outside for recess duty with 1st and 2nd graders. (yippee...this is NOT my favorite time of day)

When I come back from recess, the afternoon kindergartners are already there, and my day starts over with the same things. However, this afternoon is a little different because we all (whole school) go down to the cafeteria for singing, a skit by the teachers (How the Grinch stole Christmas), and a visit from Santa. We come back for the party, and it's time to go home.

YIPPEE!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!! I'm free!

Hope you all have a joyous time off work (if you're lucky) and a Very Merry Christmas!

It's a book, it's a wreath, it's VINTAGE!

I'm a lover of books. I'm sure I've said that before, so this craft was a little taxing on me.


I had a friend who sent me the link to this little ditty a couple weeks ago.


I wanted to try it, and I had previously seen it done with books.


I searched Goodwill for sheet music, and found NONE, but I did find two old books, one with red speckles on the ends of the pages, so into my cart they went. $.50 a piece!


I brought them home, and they sat on my craft table for weeks. I was too busy making teacher gifts, cookies for an exchange, etc. Life got the best of me.


So, last Sunday I got all the stuff out. Of course I was short on chocolate covered ribbon, so the wreath is a hodge podge of 3 different kinds of ribbon. Who will know right? (Well, except for all of you who just read this...)


It looked so pretty and I thought, THIS WILL BE EASY. HA!


I went through a gazillion hot glue sticks. (That's right, a GAZILLION!) and I think each time I went to roll up the page from the book, it came out differently. The wreath also seemed to be growing.


Really people, it's HUGE!


So, little by little I worked my way around the wreath form. I didn't take any pictures, I was too stressed with the rolling!


This is the end result, and I'm hanging it my living room, with the cool Y hook I found at Hobby Lobby on clearance (Y for Yoder if you didn't already know that). I plan on moving my wooden boxes of books (you know, the ones that move around my living room, like, constantly) underneath the wreath. Kinda poetic don'tcha know...book wreath, books...well, you get my point.


So, I'm headed off to a family Christmas soon, and that's all I'm gonna say about the wreath.


Enjoy your week. May your hearts be in the right place this Christmas season!

Truth Thursday....Who would've thought!?

I know this is Truth Thursday, and these posts are usually about me...I mean, it is my blog....but anyhoo...this post is about my daughter, Grace.



This week, well, I'd say the last several weeks have been a little stressful.


You see, she's in the top spelling group in her 5th grade class, and she found out she was REQUIRED to participate in our school spelling bee tonight. (It is VOLUNTARY for all 5th and 6th graders, but her group was required)


To say she was beside herself with worry and wanted to die on the spot was an understatement.

I even thought about writing a letter to her spelling teacher, opting her out of the spelling bee because she was so nervous.


Grace is not a shy girl at home, but at school, when it comes to things in front of people, she's a different girl. So, this was a big deal, and she didn't want to do it.


Needless to say, I never wrote the letter to her teacher. We talked it over, and told her just to go and see how it was, and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to do it next year as a 6th grader.


So, tonight we came home from school, only to go back again a couple hours later.



There was probably 30 or more kids who came to participate.


They did a practice round with words like cat and dog and go. Easy peasy, right.


Then they got down to business.

I couldn't even tell you what some of her words were. I was just as nervous as she was.


As a parent, these kind of times are so hard. You want your children to succeed in all they do, and no matter what happens, you're still proud of them, and love them to death. But you can't help feeling a little sick inside.


There was a part of me, the whole time we were watching, that was just scared, so I prayed. I prayed though the whole spelling bee..."Lord, just give Grace the courage to go up there. Give her a clear mind, and help her spell the words like I know she knows how to. Just help her." Amen.


The kids, it seemed, in round 2 and 3 were suddenly dropping like flies.

The words got harder and harder, and were definitely from the 7th grade spelling list we DIDN'T study. She got through each round, though, and soon there were only 5.


You could tell each time she went up to the microphone, she was nervous, and I was nervous for her. I saw good spellers fall with easy words. I saw last year's winner, who, by the look on his face, think he was going all the way, only to get out on a mistake.

You could tell a million things were going through her mind the whole time she was up on stage.


I kept praying.


And praying.


And praying.


She went out on the word lackadaisical.


It was down to two kids. Both misspelled their words, so the top 5 were all called back up on stage, Grace included.


You could tell she was relieved.


I was too.


It soon came down to just her and her friend, Ashley.

Ashley misspelled her word, and it was Grace's turn again.

I just couldn't get over the fact she was a finalist. She didn't even want to be in the spelling bee!

She got her word right, and was chosen as CHAMPION!

We were so proud! She was so shocked! She got a trophy, and her picture will be in the paper, and she has to go to the County Spelling Bee in January.

Congratulations Grace! We love you and are so proud!

All Things Yellow?

To say that I've felt in a blog funk lately is an understatement.


I am perplexed everyday about what to write. Do you all get tired of seeing crafts? Do you really want to hear all about my not really interesting life?


I'm feeling unsure of myself.


So, leave it to my beautiful, smart daughter to say to me the other day, "How about doing a color post? How about YELLOW?"


I thought about this for awhile, and decided it wasn't such a bad idea.


I've always liked the color yellow. It's cheery, warm, and makes you feel good. At one time both my kitchen and laundry room were shades of yellow. I don't know what's changed over the years, but yellow seems to have become only an accessory color in my home. Not that there's anything wrong with the color, it's just, well....I don't know.


As I walked around the house the other day with my camera in tow, trying to find things that were yellow, I had somewhat of a hard time. I'll admit, red and tan, blue, green, and black are most prevalent in my decorations. So, I decided to fudge a little. Instead of everything being totally YELLOW, some of these pictures are things in the YELLOW family.


Bear with me.


I found this wonderful broach several years ago, well, I don't even remember where. I've never worn it, but thought about putting it on a purse, or a jacket, but instead, it's remained on my kitchen shelf among my enamelware collection.


I love it for the softness of the velvet, and the vintagey look of it.

Right along with the broach is also this old jar full of sparkly peaches.


I can't even tell you how many years I've had these peaches, but it's been a long time. There was a year when every fruit item you found in stores was covered with colored beads. I jumped right on the bandwagon that year and picked these up. They go great with the red in my kitchen.

And since we're STILL in the kitchen, I have these two signs with yellow on them.


My enamelware collection has grown and then shrunk, and then grown again over the years. I only have one yellow item, though. I wish I had more, I just haven't had much luck finding them. I'm sure at one time this was a refrigerator container with a lid, but there is no lid with mine. This one holds the kid's allowance money for the week.



I'm sure you'll find plenty of yellow fruit loops in your bowl of cereal every morning.


Or a yellow crayon in your crayon jar in the office.

Many years ago for my birthday, my sister got me this poster. I love it, and still display it in my dining room along with a vintage poster of Mae West.



The sash on the snowman's hat, as well as some pool balls fall into the yellow category.
(I know, I'm really reachin' here!)

A pillow on my couch,

my favorite yellow winter village house,

on a sign in my most unfavorite of rooms (the man cave/John Deere room),

and on the library bag waiting to be used.

I found yellow on a hat that desperately needs washing, and

the Christmas card I made for my aunt and uncle.

Yellow has even found it's way onto my most favorite of laundry detergents.

I guess yellow is more prevalent in my house than I thought. And each and every item carries a story behind it.

I might just decide to seek out other "colors" in my home. It's always interesting to take a step back and really look at the things I own and why I own them.

The 12 days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a dog with the name RU-DY.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 2 crazy reindeer and a dog with the name RU-DY.

(Christmas concert December 2010)
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY.

(Lambchop, Lily, and Sally)
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY.

(Evan's 9th friend birthday party, March 2010)
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 5 PINK PE-O-NIES!

4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 6 purple boxes (with girls attached), 5 PINK PE-O-NIES, 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

(Grace's 10th birthday party...Nancy Drew theme...Jan. 2010)

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

(Grace's upwards basketball team 2010)

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 8 ruffles ruffling, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 9 balloons a flyin', 8 ruffles ruffling, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 10 singers singing, 9 balloons a flyin', 8 ruffles ruffling, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

(School Christmas concert Dec. 2010)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 11 sappy Eeyores, 10 singers singing, 9 balloons a flyin', 8 ruffles ruffling, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 12 Star Wars figures, 11 sappy Eeyores, 10 singers singing, 9 balloons a flyin', 8 ruffles ruffling, 7 girls in jerseys, 6 purple boxes, 5 PINK PE-O-NIES! 4 nutty friends, 3 woolly sheep, 2 crazy reindeer, and a dog with the name RU-DY!

Whew....it's been a great year! We've accomplished alot, and had a great time doing it. Hope you all are having a great Christmas Season! Only 12 more days to go!