simple Analogy

Christmas Wishes

Enjoy the blessings this holiday brings your way!  Wishing you a very Merry and Flu-less Christmas.

Rudolf's Worst Nightmare

Wondering why Rudolf is so pale?  It's the prospect of bringing Santa to our house.

Wondering why it's been so quiet around here?  Three letters...

F-L-U.

Chevron Tote Winner

Look who won...

Sue said:  We open our gifts on Christmas Eve. Then we go to the Midnight service.

You'll be receiving an email shortly!

 

Thanks for everyone who stopped by for this giveaway!  If you're really disappointed you didn't win and would like a chevron tote for yourself, I just listed a few in the shop!  Yes, the shop is open!  I'll be adding more items a little at a time and will be sure to let you know what's new.

Have a great weekend!

 

Hooray! Giveaway Day!

****Giveaway Closed****

Hello to all those of you popping in from Sew Mama Sew!  For those of you regular readers that may not know what Giveaway Day is all about, let me explain...

Sew Mama Sew hosts a December giveaway day each year.  Tons of bloggers participate, giving away something handmade or supplies like fabric, notions, etc. It's a lot of fun and a good way to find new blogs to add to your reading list.

This year I'm giving away one of my recent chevron bags.  This is a simple little chevron tote, with an appliqued arrow.  Dimensions:  12 x 14 inch bag.  It also has a wide pocket inside to stash your phone.  It's great as a purse, library bag, activity bag for the kids...

To enter, just leave a comment telling me when your family opens Christmas presents.  (We open ours on Christmas Eve after we come home from the candlelight service at church.)  The giveaway will close December 7th at 5 PM PST.  I'll pick a random winner that evening and contact you by email, so make sure to leave your email address!  You'll have until December 9th to reply with your shipping address.  As soon as you do, I'll get this in the mail to you.  I will ship internationally!!!

Want to see more of the giveaways?  Click on the links below:

Baby and Kid Items

Accessories

For the Home

Sewing and Craft Supplies

Bags

Have fun and good luck!

Homemade Packing Tape Stickers

I mentioned these in last week's Project Thankful post.  So glad I came across Ashley's tutorial on how to make them!  Let me show you a few I made using an old magazine...

The candles, flowers, and pencils are really sticky on the back, but the wellies not so much.  If your image covers the entire surface area of the packing tape it will be less sticky.  Just spray the back side with a little adhesive so that it will stick better.

I store mine on wax paper so that I can just pull them off whenever I'm ready to use them.  They are a little bit addicting!  I have dishpan hands from doing so many!

The State of My Refrigerator

It's been a little quiet around here the past few weeks.  Reason being that we are trying to get back into that homeschool rhythm.  Some years it comes easier than others.  We started using several new curricula this year, so it's been a little bit of a learning curve for us.  Not to mention getting Landon studied up for the PSAT in a few weeks.  I've got to say that the closer he gets to graduation, the more pressure I'm feeling to stay on my toes and keep him on his.

Anyhow, the silence hasn't been because there's been a lack of creativity going on.  Actually there has been a flurry of it.  You saw my new joyful journal yesterday, and along with that one there were several others that I'll be showing you soon.

So in the middle of life as it is, I bring you the state of my refrigerator.  Just the outside of it, because goodness knows the inside needs to be cleaned out.  I read some research (by UCLA in Food Network Magazine) that the way your refrigerator looks on the outside is a good indication of what your house looks like inside.  "Covered refrigerator usually means cluttered house.  Below average fridge collection means junk free house."     

Hmmm... guess what my house looks like.  It proves true :)

We're going to try to have the most relaxing weekend ever!  Here's hoping you can do the same...

Last Week of Summer

trying to get in as much fun reading as I can before I start school with the boys on Monday

sending Landon out the door with a stack, and I do mean STACK, of paperwork to go get his driver's permit

updating the way my feed reads - whole version

updating the tutorial page

getting ready to start pinning now that I can create an account without facebook/twitter - thanks Meg!

beginning my journey to 1,000

watching old Hawaii Five-O series

scheduleing our school year which includes Pre-Calculus and Chemistry - saying a prayer

cutting up t-shirts

eating popsicles

overflowing the nursery kitchen with water - long story

dreaming up Christmas presents

munching Chick-Fil-A cookies with my husband

preparing to teach Bible study

making jewelry

trying new recipes

excercising

reading a magazine - thanks Mom

hosting craft night tonight with the girls

I Showed My Support

A line out the door to get inside. At least 40+ cars in the drive through. Traffic jams announced on the radio.

We love Chick-fil-A!

 

Wherein I Slather My Feet In Banana

I've got major moisture issues.  You've heard me talk about how much I dislike using lotion.  I mean I know I need it, but I just can't get past the feel of it on my skin.  So my body suffers, and no place suffers more than my feet.  I am a barefoot kind of girl; if I can be barefoot, I will. 

The other day I had had it with the feet.  They were starting to look a little elephantine:  dry, hard, cracked, catching on the sheets.  Embarrassing!  I decided I would take matters into my own hands, and then if I couldn't get them in better shape I'd head to the salon for a pedicure.

I soaked, scrubbed with walnut shell scrub, and pumiced them to death.  It helped, but they were still hard and rough.  So I grabbed a banana.  I had skimmed through Real Simple at my mom's a few days before and read that banana was a good natural product for your feet.  It couldn't hurt to try, and it'd be a good way to use up some overripe ones.

I can't even try to tell you how much good that banana did to my feet.  It just peeled  away the dryness and the hardness!  It was amazing!  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!

1. Smash a banana. 
2. Slather your feet with it and put them in a gallon sized ziplock bag. 
3. Read a good book for 20 minutes.
4. Pull them out and wipe of the banana.
5. Rinse under warm water in the tub.

You'll be able to feel the dead skin coming off as you rinse.  Kind of gross to talk about, but amazing to see.  Afterward, I went against everything in me and put on lotion with paraffin and some socks and went to bed.  My feet didn't even look the same in the morning. 

A banana every now and then keeps the elephant away! 

It Happened at the Worst Time

Last week while I was VBS-ing, I got a notice that my site had possible malware.  Some of you probably ran into that too when trying to visit here.  Turns out I did not have any malware, but some old posts had links to Craft Hope which was compromised way long time ago.  Those links have been in there forever and never caused any problems, until  VBS week.  What a mess!

It took me the whole week to figure how to fix it and have Google do a review.  Sorry for any scares or frustration you might have had because of this.  Believe me, I was scared and frustrated too!  But we're back to normal and the site is healthy...  

***The children gave me flowers last week.