4 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Well folks...Christmas will be here before you know it. I have NOT done my normal routine at all this year! I have basically ran out at the last minute and purchased the necessary gifts. I've been doing that with EVERYTHING! Food to make for work, food to take to parties, crafts promised to people, etc. etc. etc. Guess it has been a busy year! (That or I'm lazy.)

Here's what I've been doing lately:

UK Game with Matt


Celebrating my friend Barry's 40th Birthday (he's not pictured, lol)


Christmas at Mom and Dad's (their poor dog Casper had a bit of a problem ripping his stitches out, lol)





Crafting:





Clearly I should be purchasing and wrapping gifts to get ready for Christmas!

Thankful for...

I'm not gonna lie...the last several months have been a bit rough. My hubby rehabs houses for a living (and does a great job), but unfortunately nothing has sold in QUITE A WHILE! Showings have picked up recently, but still no luck. I hate feeling guilty about every penny spent (whether it be on groceries or cocktails with a girlfriend) and I hate it even more that it's Christmas and I'm not able to do my usual shopping and giving. It's such a bad feeling to have to rely on anyone other than yourself to get by. I do realize that things could be much worse and I need to be thankful for the good things and keep praying that things turn around when they are meant to turn around. Here are the good things...

RELIGION


FAMILY
















MY JOB

AND the sweet people at my work...they need more than I can imagine.


My boss for allowing me to learn so much and the new opportunity of managing a team! (Me, my boss and our new employee Alison)

FRIENDS








HEALTH


MY ANIMALS




Sure doesn't seem like I have much to complain about does it???????? Hmmm, lesson learned :)

WELCOME friends!

For those of you who have found my blog from the giveaway on Jar of Vintage Buttons...WELCOME!! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about...visit http://jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com (my links are not working today).

My morning has started out rough...bad driving conditions in all this snow, ice, slush, etc! AND I completely ran out of this...

YIKES! It made for a two hour commute! I'm dreading the trip home in the dark!! I hope each of you made it to your destination safely this morning!

It did cheer me up to think of all the new visitors I may have this week!

On a random note...I think I need these...


Sorry...I got a bit side tracked :) I love giving and receiving Christmas cards so since I can't mail one to each of you...here is my card to you! (Can be purchased at Hanna Cottrell Designs.)


Thanks for visiting!

Weekend hooray and CATS GAME!

Hi Friends,

It's Friday! It's been kind of a long week...the new addition to our team started on Monday and she reports to me...kind of weird to get use to, but it's great! I'm ready to be home and have a fun/relaxing weekend!

I put this little baby tree up in my office to give it some Christmas cheer!

$8.00 at Target. It needs a tree skirt and a topper and I would LOVE if I could find a short little string of lights, but this will do for now!

Matt and I are going to the UK vs. IU basketball game tomorrow! Who's gonna win?????



I'm bettin on the C-A-T-S! Maybe you'll see me on TV :)

Have a good weekend!

Christmas, Sarah, Alaska, etc!!

Happy Monday! The weekend always goes by so quickly. My girlfriends and I hosted our Fifth Annual Christmas Party on Saturday and we had lots of fun! The venue we selected is actually an old strip club (yikes!!), so we decided to take our picture in front of the "antique" sign :)

HA...love it! It was so nice seeing all of our friends, enjoying each other's company and saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone! The evening passed WAY too quickly, but it always does.

I signed up for an ornament exchange and my ornament(s) arrived in the mail today! They are so cute and I especially love the BIRD! It's gold with gold feathers on it's tail and the card from my exchange partner said "my mom always said every tree needs a bird" SO CUTE! I love the new additions to my Christmas tree :)

Anyone watching Sarah Palin's Alaska? I am completely and totally obsessed. I love all the emphasis on the wildlife in Alaska and it has me convinced that I WILL visit Alaska someday.


Loving her show inspired me to start reading her book, so I'm also loving "Going Rogue" right now!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Mini Tree...works for me!

This year is a tough one. LOTS of things going on and Matt and I are running on a tight budget! Luckily, Mom and Dad let us borrow a mini Christmas tree so we don't have to go out and buy a real one this year.

Works for me!

I have been crafting a bit lately and thanks to a post on Lemon Tree Creations blog, I modified an idea of theirs a bit and made this little elf!

Love it!

Here is our fireplace this year. Also modified a bit, but it does the trick!


One thing we did have to splurge on was a haircut for Zadeh and Rupp! I will see their new "do's" this evening when I get home! I love this picture, but they are SOOOO shaggy!


It's Cyber Monday...hope you all are scoring some great deals...I have resisted! Happy Monday!

Christmas Goodies!

On of my girl friends asked me to make some personalized letter signs (as I call them) for her to give to sister-in-law for her nieces and nephews bedrooms as Christmas gifts. I love crafting and I was happy to have the order!! I have gotten several more since then and I'll post pictures once they are complete! I'm charging $15 per sign. Take a peek...

B for Bailee


H for Henry


A for Abby


P for Patrick


Here is little Ellison with the E I made her last year...I couldn't resist re-posting this picture...SO SWEET!


Happy Thursday!