Christmas time is here

Holly Jolly Spirit Christmas Card

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What Christmas is all about

I can't believe that Thanksgiving has snuck up on us already and Christmas is right around the corner! Today as I had intentions to clean my house in preparation for Thanksgiving guest, I couldn't help but want to climb up into the attic and pull all of my Christmas stuff down. I made myself work most of the day in our bedroom, it looked like a bomb had exploded. I scrubbed baseboards, removed dust webs, and washed 90 loads of clothes it felt like. To reward myself  I got out the white tree I'm putting in our room this year. ( I feel so Christmas-y that I want to decorate everything!!) As I took the tree out of its box my mind went back to a conversation my husband and I had last week as well as the Christmas sermons our preacher gave last year. When I was growing up, Christmas was the most happy and magical time of the year. Everything was just so joyful and full of spending time with the people who mean the most. The older I get I see all around me people getting lost in buying stuff to give for gifts and forgetting what Christmas is all about.  I mean EVERY store puts out displays of JUNK (all of those little gift sets) that no one needs, but people buy it up like there is no tomorrow so that they have something for every last person on their list down to their neighbor's dog. They spend and spend and spend and not once think about why they are even buying gifts to give in the first place.... JESUS was given to us as a free and wonderful gift so that our sins could be taken away and we could live in heaven one day with him and our God. So that we could have someone to lead us through this crazy and scary life knowing that he has gone before us and prepared the way for us, that he has a plan for us, and that he is ALWAYS with us.  We give gifts to the people we love as a earthly representation of God giving us the most precious gift ever. He didn't send just anyone ( junk off of a random store display) he sent his most prized and loved thing, his son. Our preacher brought to light new scripture for his Christmas sermons last year instead of just the Christmas story, and I will never look at my tree the same again. Everything we do to decorate for Christmas represents Jesus and so many people don't have a clue. The Tree-- pretty obvious, Jesus died on the tree because he loved us and wanted to pay the price for us so that we may spend eternity praising him-- the Christmas tree should be our constant reminder of this. The Lights-- Jesus is the light of the world, and as Christians we are supposed to shine our light of Jesus into the dark parts of the world. The star-- the star of Bethlehem to lead the wise men to Jesus as well as a reminder to look up and PRAISE God.
It is so uplifting and de-stressing when you remember that Christmas isn't about what STUFF you give, its about remembering what has been given for you and acting from the overflow of Jesus' love from your heart. <3

Fall Break

I absolutely love fall break! I had a pretty busy first day, and I was in bed by my normal school night bedtime :) When my husband first purchased our house, my best friend Brooke and I were so excited that we would finally have a scrapbook room to make as big of a mess in as we wanted and not have to clean it up every time we were done scrap-booking.  I wanted to paint it a 'fun' color since my mom would have never gone for anything loud in her house, so we chose neon green. It was fun while it lasted, but 2 years later it was time for a change.

Before -excuse the mess I'm cleaning out!!

The closet before

I started cleaning out and though I am sick and tired of this blinding green color, I think I will go to Lowes!!

After browsing the paint for quite some time, I chose Lyndhurst Timber. I thought maybe the once scrapbook room, now office/dog room could use a little manly color. I spend the rest of the day cleaning out and painting the room. Not too bad for day one of fall break, but we still have a long way to go!

did a little re-arranging

much better!

Oh and the best part was when my husband came home. He took some bills into the office and said "oh you put the dogs right beside each other"... and that was it! After dinner I asked if he noticed anything else, and he thought and said "you moved the computer desk over some". I laughed and asked if THAT was all. He thought for what seemed like 5 minutes, walked back into the room, looked around a while and then said "OH you painted". What a typical man!

Don't live too fast

I can't believe it is already fall, my absolute most favorite time of the year! I have been blessed to have been given the opportunity for a long-term sub job at Morgan County Elementary School, so the craftiness and blogging  has dwindled down once again. I feel like this job has been the opportunity of a life time, and I am sad that it is half way over. I believe whole heartily that I was given this opportunity and position for a reason. Even though I am unsure of the reason at this time; I trust that God has a plan for me that is better than anything than I can imagine. By talking with other people who work at the school and people who have tried to get long-term positions there I know it was nothing else other than God as to why I am where I am.

Last weekend Jock and I hosted a couples shower for our friends Brittany and Kyle. I can't believe their wedding will be here in less than a month! I am so glad to be able to be a part of her special day! I hope that her wedding is everything that she dreams it will be plus some.( And she hasn't even had to be bridezilla yet!) I pray that they will continue to be best friends and have a love for one another that will grow last their entire life time. Jock and I have only been married for 2 short years, but those two years have been the fastest of my life. I hope to never take a single day, hour or minute forgranted that we get to spend with one another. We can't wait to celebrate their wedding and dance the night away with them. We love yall!

Yard sale finds

This past Saturday I went to my favorite yard sale of the year. Yes, of course I woke up early just to stand in line to get in the door! I went expecting to bring home a truck load of treasures just like last year, but I was disappointed in the amount of good junk. I did find one steal (or two) these ugly 1975 brass lamps were three dollars a piece.

I thought with a little spray paint and fabric they would be as good as new, an much cheaper than I could find cute lamps for any where else. I paid six dollars for spray paint, six dollars for spray adhesive and I dug out some fabric I had purchased at a fabric sale last year. Fifteen dollars and and hour later this is what I ended up with.

Not too shabby by my standards. I love them and that fact that I only spent fifteen dollars makes me love them even more! This was an incredibly easy project. I removed the old shades and light bulbs, stuffed paper towels in the holes where the bulbs go and gave them 2 coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I rolled the shades along the fabric to make a template, and cut it out and used spray adhesive to adhere the fabric. Put it all back together and presto! This was a perfect project if  you want instant gratification!

-Enjoy!

Sum- Sum- Summertime

After a week of getting our house ready to go on vacation, and a week at the beach (which was fabulous) I was having craft withdrawals. Today I finished my summer/ June wreath, a little late I know, but better late than never. After cruising pinterest for hours on end I decided to try one of those cute coffee filter wreaths, and I was happy with the results. I dyed white coffee filters with red food coloring and hot water, and I covered the wooden "W" with scrapbook paper. I ended up using less than 200 coffee filters (one pack). It was a very economical project and  our front door no longer looks like bla- February which is when my last wreath was from!

Our door mat was looking a little tired as well. I mean we have only had the same one for 2 years :) I decided to give it a face lift as well. I simply printed a W to make a stencil and used some bright blue acrylic paint that was in my craft box and waah-laa a new door mat!

I like monogram can you tell!

Our vacation was wonderful. We went to Manasota Key off the coast of South West Florida. We rented an AMAZING house and practically had the whole beach to ourselves. (Plus the in laws of course) It is my number one favorite vacation spot because there is NO ONE there. Its so private and quiet. My whole week consisted of sleep, eat, tan, read, walk, watch the sunset, and do it all again. I bought the new Mary Kay Andrews book Spring Fling and read it in one day.  I am already searching for somewhere else to go before the summer is over. I could be a beach bum for the rest of my life.

 

School's out for summer!!

So far I have enjoyed every second of my summer break! Most of it has been spent cleaning, but I am SO glad that my house is finally getting back into it's old shape. I have even worked on a few DIY house improvements! The first was to frame the big ugly mirror in our master bathroom. This project was much cheaper than I anticipated which is always a plus. At Lowe's I was able to purchase MDF pre primed paintable trim for $1.80something cents per 8 foot section. I bought four. To attach the Trim to the mirror we used a heavy duty adhesive that said on the label it would stick to glass. My daddy cut the corners for me and helped me hang the "frame" because I cant cut paper or hang a picture straight so I knew on my own it would probably end in disaster. My daddy being the handy man he is also had white semi-gloss paint on hand so that was free as well :) If I would have purchased paint a sample can for $3 would have been PLENTY! Below is the finished product. For very little money I feel this has

added some much needed detail to our rather plain bathroom.  In the living room our bare walls also needed some work. I love all of the photo canvas projects I have seen on pinterest so I thought I would give it a try. I found a sale purchase at Cracker Barrel that worked perfect for the center piece. I printed 5X7 black and whites of our families and put them on 8X10 Canvas that I had painted black. This project was not as cheap as the bathroom project. The canvas was $5 for 2 and I needed 6. The pictures were at least $10 to print and the center piece was $6 . That comes to approximately $30. It most definitely helped our empty walls though!

Hank the Cow Dog

This week a new member was added to our family, Hank the cow dog! On Monday when my little neighbor friends rang the door bell I was excited to see THEIR new puppy... only to find out they came over to see if WE wanted him. They had found him abandoned over the weekend at their Grandpa's house, and brought him back to see if we wanted it before they took him to the Humane Society. Of course we couldn't let that happen so now, here we are with 3 dogs when I had put my foot down at 2! We have no idea what kind of dog he is, but the neighbor kids named him HANK because they said he looks like Hank the Cow Dog... I looked up this Hank character and our Hank looks nothing like him! Oh well the name stuck. Its been so long since Bandit and Jesse were puppies I had forgotten what it was like, but he is worth every second!

On a different note in 19 days my first half a year as a teacher will be over!! Its gone by unbelievably fast. I have learned a lot of t things about being a teacher as well as a little about myself. While I love being able to help out financially and having my "own"money I miss all of the things I did when I stayed at home like cooking and cleaning. Yes I said it! Cooking and Cleaning! Even more than cooking and cleaning I can't wait to be laying on the beach and reading a good book! Operation toes in the water ass in the sand t-minus 40 days!!  Speaking of good books I am currently reading Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews for the second time. I love, love, love all of her books, maybe its because they take place in places where I have been or maybe its because we share a mutual love of junking and Goodwill.  Lucky for me her new book is coming out 4 days before I leave for the beach! I will stand in line at Barnes and Noble for that one! To find out more about Mary Kay and her books check out her blog http://marykayandrews.com/ ! 

Trash Pile Treasures

I am so glad to be out of school on winter break! It has made me realize how much I miss being a house wife, being able to clean and do yard work every day makes me one happy chick. I did take a break from all of that "work" and took a trip to the local flea market, and boy am I glad that I did. In the back room surrounded by ugly yard sale coffee cups were these cute little puppies.

These cute little cups, saucers, and bowls are Syracuse China made in 1972 for the restaurant industry. There were 24 pieces and I paid a whopping $8 and some change for them! Hello cute dessert party!! I haven't been able to establish an actual value yet, but on one website I found 2 of the coffee cups going for $24. Yay me!

My good fortune for the day wasn't over yet! I took leftover chicken pot pie and mac and cheese to my Granny's for lunch. After we ate she showed me some Pepsi bottles she had recently found, of course my question was where. She showed me an awesome treasure hole! I'm glad that my relatives used to throw their trash in the woods so that some years later I could dig through it all!! an hour later, dirty and sweaty I emerged with some pretty good loot!

Cutsie vintage glass

Clorox Jug with top 1940-1960

They are currently soaking in a bucket of Clorox water in the garage with some other things like a Pepsi bottle, a syrup bottle and some little brown one! I plan on returning to the dump soon, but this time I'm wearing gloves and boots and taking a shovel!

-Happy Hunting

A little bit of life and The BEST chocolate chip cookies ever

It has been a whole month since I have written anything. I am still loving my job, and I found out a couple of weeks ago that I will be staying with these children the rest of the school year. I am excited and very overwhelmed at the same time. I pray that I can help these children, and mainly love them in the short time that I will be in their lives. I pray daily that God will show me the best way to show these children that I care about them and that I am there for them. I learn new things about them and myself almost daily.
On a different note I finally got a new car!! I said good bye to the baby blue Honda that has gotten me every where I  needed to go in the past 8 years. We had been through a lot together, but it was time for an upgrade... If you have seen the Honda you know what I mean!

While I do love my job, I very much miss being a housewife. I have dirty floors, dirty dishes, and Mountains (literally) of laundry, both clean and dirty. I miss doing my projects, eating lunch with my mom almost daily, and goodwill trips with my 3 grandmas.  It has been a major adjustment! Trying to keep up my housewife skills, I made some chocolate chip cookies last night and I have to say they are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. They are so soft and chewy, even after they cooled they weren't hard or crunchy at all! My husband was way impressed so I have to share!

Chocolate Chip Cookies:

3/4 Cup Granulated sugar

3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
1 cup crisco.... bad for you I know but it's what makes them soft and chewy
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used the whole bag!)

Mix sugars together, add crisco and mix until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time mixing between eggs. Mix in vanilla and molasses. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Hradia;;u add flour mixture to the batter. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake of 8-10 minutes on 350.

I rolled my cookies into balls and they were kind of big. I also let the cookies cool on the baking sheet of a few minutes to fully set up before moving them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

I'm glad that I didn't decide to make my new year's resolution to blog more often, because that sure hasn't happened! Its the 9 of January and I can already tell its going to be an amazing year. Last week while shopping at Hobby Lobby, my most favorite store in the whole world, I was called and asked to come in for a job interview out of the blue. A long term sub position in the third grade. I was beyond excited, especially since I didn't even apply for the job, it just 'fell' into my lap. When I hung up the phone with the principal all I could think about was how thankful I was for the opportunity, and how humbling, but amazing it was that God worked and wove so many different things and people together to make this opportunity available to ME at exactly the right time! Today was my first day teaching  the group of rowdy third graders, but I loved almost every minute of it. This morning sitting in my teacher's desk I heard the bell ring and little 3rd and 4th grade feet come hurrying down the hall. All I could think was this is it, here we go, please God let me be able to do this I was so nervous. At times I felt as if everything was under control and others I felt like I didn't have a clue what was going on. I just kept reminding myself that it was only the 1st day. It hasn't sank in that I'm all "grown up" now with a job that I spend too long in school to have. I know the next month is going to be an adventure and I can't wait to see where God takes me next!