50th Post & Holiday Give-Away

Finally, I am back! I've been waiting to do a post until I figured out what I wanted to give away. This morning I finally got some things put together. There is a page from a hymnal, a bingo card, a couple math flashcards, a word flashcard, a vintage holiday postcard, another holiday card with envelope, some trim, buttons and a few other little goodies. I may find some other little things to add also.

So, please leave a comment before Dec. 6 on this post. Tell all of your friends! I want to say "thank you" to everyone who reads this blog. I would also love to make some new blog friends. I so enjoy visiting other blogs and getting inspiration from all of you! Such fun!

Hopefully I will have some holiday decorating to show you soon. Right now I just have boxes sitting around the living room. Not very festive! Maybe the Christmas parade tonight will help me get in the mood to decorate. I'm just not feeling it yet. It might have something to do with it being 60 degrees outside. It just doesn't seem like Christmas yet.

Okay, I need to go. Almost time to pick up the kiddos from school. Don't forget to comment on the post to be entered in the give-away. I can't wait to read all your comments!

Blessings

I hope you all had a chance to count your blessings yesterday. Actually, I hope you do that every day. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and we forget to appreciate all that we have been given. God's blessings are abundant!
This is a journal I made the other day. I love the bird notecards I picked up a while back. So pretty.
This is the inside front cover with a flashcard pocket....
...and this is the back cover with a page from an old diary.

I decided to change the look of my blog. I haven't decided if I am satisfied with it yet. As you can tell, I really don't know how to create a blog header. I just take a picture and try to make it fit. I guess it will have to work for now.

I'm thinking of doing a little give-away for my 50th post. Here's the problem - I really don't know that very many people actually read this blog. If you do, I don't know who you are. So, do me a favor please. Leave me a comment on this post and tell me about your interests (crafting, thrifting, reading....whatever your hobbies may be). That will help me decide what to actually give away. Then check back in a few days for my 50th post and an annoucement of what the give-away will be.

I should have started my Christmas decorating today, but just didn't get to it. Maybe tomorrow.

Give Thanks

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

I Chronicles 16:34

Shiny Brite

I don't know a lot about Shiny Brite ornaments, but I do know that some people collect them. I've found a few at Goodwill and garage sales lately. The silver Christmas tree below has Shiny Brite ornaments on it. I put it in my antique booth on Tuesday and it sold quickly. The box of Holly-Lite lights also sold. Oh, and a couple of the ornaments from the bowl. Now my Christmas display looks a little bare. I will have to look for some more vintage holiday items.

I saw the idea for the Christmas bulbs in a jar last year. I thought it was cute. Not sure if anyone else will. Hey, if nothing else, maybe they will just want the old jars.
I finally made something again this weekend. I crafted a pretty composition journal and then I went and put it in the antique booth before taking any pictures. I'm curious to see if it sells. Trying to decide if I should make more. I love them and think they would make great gifts, but I guess I might be a bit biased.

Not much else to share. Hubby and the boys are at a basketball game and the sweet girl is in bed. I'm just enjoying a quiet evening at home. Well, it is not totally quiet. You see, sweet girl comes alive when we put her in bed. She can't walk or even crawl, but boy can she bounce in that bed! She can't talk, but she sure does jabber and squeal when you turn the lights out. I guess you just have to be here to experience it.

Oh, speaking of sweet girl and beds - she is getting a new bed soon. Special needs beds are hard to come by and really expensive. They also aren't very pretty. A dear man from church is building her a bed. He hopes to have it done by Christmas. It is going to be beautiful! We are so grateful that Mr. Tom is doing this for us. What a blessing!

One more thing....my washing machine broke this weekend. There is never a good time for that to happen. I got the new part today. Now we just have to get it put on. I would love to have a new washer and dryer. You know, those fancy front-loading, water-saving, energy-efficient kind that will hold a weeks worth of laundry in one load. But I guess I can't justify that when all my 12 year old washer needs is a $30 part. Oh, well.

Goodnight and God bless.

Sharing Fall

I grew up on the Eastern Plains of Colorado. For those of you familiar with the area, you know there are very few trees. Fall is just not the same there. So, for those of you from "No Fall" areas, I thought I would share our Fall with you.

There is nothing quite like playing in the leaves - goggles and all!









I love these vines that climb up our trees.












It amazes me how there can be so many different colors on one tree. So vivid.









I thought I would change the look a bit and use small pictures. I chose to put them on the left side of the page. Why, why, why will Blogger not put them where I want them? It just seems to be random. And then I can't get my text to go with my photos. Drives me crazy, but I don't have time to mess with it right now.

Still no new projects to share. I have a list of people I need to make cards for, but I am not sure when I will get to it. It has been a busy week. I was the substitute art teacher on Monday and on Friday I will be the P.E. teacher. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but it is a nice change of pace every now and then. Besides that, the paycheck is nice - especially this time of year.

Is anyone else shocked that next week is Thanksgiving? Where has this year gone? We are staying home this Thanksgiving. That is definitely something to be thankful for. It is just too hard to travel a long distance in a such a short time frame. We will miss our family, but we look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas.

Once again, sorry for the "scrambled" post. Happy Fall wherever you are.

Army Men

Yeah! It's the weekend again! Hubby has been out of town since Tuesday morning. He will be home later this afternoon. Hope he doesn't mind seeing all the great finds I came across the last couple of days. I like Friday garage sales because I can go after I take the kiddos to school. I did that yesterday. Then this morning I bribed the kids with donuts and took them along to some more sales. Gotta get my "fix" before winter sets in and people stop having them.

I found some beautiful children's books for 10 cents each. The ones in the back are those old "plastic" books that you can wipe clean. The bird notecards have scripture on them and are so pretty. I think I will use them on cards, journals, etc.
It is hard to tell in the picture, but this is a pretty olive/sage green shelf. It has a groove for plates, but I think I will put pictures of the kids on it. Isn't the bed skirt pretty? Both of these are for our bedroom.
Some fun vintage Christmas decorations....At the antique mall where I have my booth, most people don't do much for seasonal displays. I'm going to be different and change mine out for the holidays - not a lot, but hopefully it will catch people's eye.

I'm told this is actually something you put underneath a wood stove to protect the floor. I think it looks neat in propped in front of the fireplace. It was $2!
And if I get tired of the front side I can turn it around. It has its own unique look. At the estate sale where I bought the Christmas items I also bought a big box of "goodies" for $3. It was full of all kinds of trim, velvet ribbon and....
...these beauties! Most of this looks to be old lace collars.
This one still has the mother of pearl buckle attached. Just lovely!

And since the kids were with me we had to buy these.

Now back to the regularly scheduled laundry! Have a great weekend!

A Walk in the Woods

I really don't have much to say tonight, but I wanted to post something. I guess I will share some photos from yesterday. While Sweet Girl was riding, the boys and I went exploring. I wish I was a better photographer. I can see in my mind how I want the shot to look, but it never actually turns out that way. Oh, well.






There. Did you enjoy that little walk in the woods? I hope so. I know the boys and I did.

Sorry. Hopefully I will have something more exciting to post next time. Not sure when that will be. Until then....

A Good Report

We made it back from Houston. We had good reports from the doctors. Sweet Girl has gained a significant amount of weight over the last six months. That made for a very happy GI doc! While we were checking in at the neuro appt. we got to visit with some other Rett families. Three of the four girls there (including our Sweet Girl) had birthdays within five days of each other. It was fun to see three 5 year olds there together. One of the girls walks quite well. That was encouraging to see. The other girl was 9 and actually lives about an hour from here. We had never met any other Rett families from Arkansas, so it was nice to visit with them.

Here are the kiddos at the Gulf of Mexico.
The birthday boy with his card that I made him. I just went through my stash and found all the "7"s I could find and attached them to the paper. Pretty simple.
We spent most of Friday at the Space Center. The boys had a great time!
Docking the space ship.

Mission control.

Now I need to get caught up on things here to begin a new week. I'm really wanting to work on making some Christmas things - cards, ornaments, gifts, etc. Hopefully I can find time for some of that this week. I hope you find time for the things you enjoy also.