Lists.

I love lists. If you know me, you know this. :) The list below was on Heather's blog today and looked like fun...the things I've done are in bold (disclaimer...this is to the best of my recollection at the moment, LOL...I make no guarantees that I'm not forgetting something)...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Held a praying mantis
9. Climbed a mountain
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Hmm. I'm not sure all of the things that I haven't yet done on this list would be on my list of things I yet want to do, but it's definitely interesting to think about, isn't it? So, how many of these have you done?

Busy busy.

Whew. Busy. But it's all good. Yesterday, the boys and I went to our homeschool group "ornament co-op" that I helped organize. We limited the attendance to just 32 kids (and their parents, obviously) and had five ornament "stations" where kids could make an ornament. Plus, we had snowflake rubbings and the stuff to cut paper snowflakes available for those who needed a break from ornament-making or whatever, and we had Christmas music playing the whole time. Honestly, it turned out fabulously! I think it'll definitely become an annual event. Everyone had such a good time and the boys are so thrilled with their five little ornaments (well, Micah only finished two). Noah and Asher even went around and completed theirs without me (as I was manning my own table) and did awesome.

This bodes well for me, given the fact that last year the boys and I tentatively made plans to tackle an ornament a day in December. I've been gathering supplies and know that some of the ornaments will turn out better than others (and last longer) but do think it might be fun. Wish me luck!

Today, we all went to a United Way family volunteer day at our local independent bookstore nearby (that we love). We helped make a bunch of Christmas cards to give in sets to the elderly here in Larimer county who can't afford their own so that they can send some. We also got a fun tin full of information about other ways we can help out. I love that the volunteer activity was so fun and the boys, though not nearly as productive as I was in churning out cards, lol, really enjoyed it and understood why we were doing it.

After that, I finished up most of our Christmas shopping. Yes, really. To be honest, I get most of it done throughout the year...today was mostly finishing up the boys' stuff. I really want to have gifts wrapped and done with by December, though, so that I can focus on other stuff like those daily ornaments and everything else. So, while Nathan watched the boys, here's where I went:

Super Target
Toys R Us
Super Target (forgot something, fortunately they're in the same shopping area)
Learning Express (local toy store)
Linens n' Things
Hobby Lobby
Walmart
Target (yes, a different one than Super Target, because Walmart didn't have some of the things I needed)
Toys R Us (yes, again...like I said, Walmart didn't have stuff I thought they would)

So. I'm going to go veg now. :) Oh, and apparently I should get some bigger suitcases, LOL! I don't think some of the boxes I got will fit in ours, though that's a great hiding place idea! (Thanks for the comments!!) At the moment, I'm thinking my plan is to hide them in a mountain of boxes. I have this crazy stash of boxes in the basement that I keep for no good reason. Methinks, though, that they might just work for this. ;) Now...to wait until they're asleep so I can move them all to the basement from the car...

Hide and seek.

Do you happen to know where my cool October Afternoon chipboard tab book is? I *know* I had it here just days ago and now, for the life of me, cannot find it. I decided to use something else in the meantime anyhow, but it still just irks me to not know where it is, know what I mean? Sigh. I'm going to pretend we're just playing Hide and Seek. Somehow that seems better, right? ;)

Speaking of hiding...where do you hide your Christmas gifts for others? In the past, I've hidden most of my stuff in the basement closets (course, really, only the boys' stuff needs to be hidden anyhow). This year, though, it appears some of the boxes may be too big. What's a mom to do? Hmmm...any ideas?

Making progress...

It's rather overcast here today (and in the 30s after yesterday's almost 80 degrees...yes, really) so no pictures, but I'm thrilled to announce that I can now see the floor in my scrap room!! It's been pretty much buried since the start of the school year but I found it last night. Whew. Feeling pretty good about that. ;)

That was really it. Little things like that make me happy, lol. Oh, and three other quick things:

First, crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!

Second, join me at the CK message board next Monday (11/24) from 8-10 pm MST for Happy Hour (basically just some fun chatting and a few challenges and chances to win stuff). I'll be your "host" for those two hours. You know you deserve a little break before Thanksgiving crazy-ness sets in!

Third, have you seen these cool card kits? I know I've said that I'm going simple this year, but these are pretty dang cool:

You can find out more here. I think the thing I love most is the circles turned cards.

Oh. And one last thing. I really love when you leave comments! I know I'm guilty of just reading and leaving, myself, (on other people's blogs) but I'm trying to do better. Because that little comment at the end of a post really just makes my day. So go ahead and just say hi, okay? :)

Okay, now I'm really done. For now. :) Going to go work on organizing my upstairs storage area so that I can keep better track of what gifts I already have done and purchased. More later...

A gift for you...

Wow. Anyone else feel like November's just flown by? I can't believe next week's Thanksgiving already! Yikes!

Well, in the interest of trying to stay sane this holiday season, I've been making plenty of lists and attempting heartily to cross most items off my list before December so that I can really just enjoy the month with the boys and with the family members we have coming to visit. I'm so thrilled to have crossed a bunch of things off my list last Saturday at the all day crop I went to at my local scrapbook store, the ultra-awesome Treasure Box. :)

Among the projects I finished were these gift card holders for the boys' teachers (both at Options and for piano) this year:

I decided rather than making my own fun envelopes, not doing any envelopes at all or buying those cute gift card holders, I'd use empty CD cases. I just cut some of the flocked Doodlebug paper (very elegant and fun at the same time) to size, added some velvet ribbon (sorry, can't remember who makes it) and a satin reindeer (off of a ribbon roll from here) and slipped it all into the case (that has handy tab things to hold a cover built right in). Yes, I just stapled that reindeer right on there...used some brownish/gold staples I had for some reason. Anyhow, that's the cover. Inside:

Inside is a quick little bookmark from a Hambly transparency (used my Crop-A-Dile to attach that ribbon...yay, me!). I also stamped some cute lines on a piece of Prism cardstock so that the boys can write individual notes to the teacher the gift is for (haven't done that part yet, obviously). Love the stamp...it's by Cornish Heritage Farms and I can tell I'll be using it much more in the future. :) Oh, incidentally, the gift cards are to a fabulous local independent bookstore I'm trying to support, hence the bookmarks. I'll drop the gift cards in once the notes are finished. Then, on the back, I just stamped a couple quick stamps where I'll write the recipient's name, probably in red pen:

Stamps are by 7Gypsies (brackets) and Hero Arts. Yup, so proud of myself...made 9 of these. :) Really trying to focus on the little details this year, as they always make me happy and I feel badly when I get so behind that I neglect the packaging.

Speaking of details, I also made these cute little advent countdown books. All the folks at the crop I was at loved them (thanks, guys!) so I thought I'd share. :) The story behind these is that I have, for unknown reasons, two advent countdown calendars where you open a little door and pull out a wooden ornament and hang it on the tree or calendar thing each day. They're different but good. But. I have three boys. Not two. Hence the problem. :)

So, I made these simple little countdown books for each of the boys...this one, obviously, is for Asher (apart from the letter, they all look the same)...

Each day, they'll get to color a different little picture and know how many more days till Christmas. I used some free dingbat fonts and a couple from ScrapNFonts.com to make the pages, then just printed them out and cut each 8.5x11 sheet into the 8 pages. Thanks to my handy-dandy Bind It All (which, I think, counts as Tuesday's Tool being as I haven't used it but once or twice before and that was more than half a year ago), I bound all the pages and two chipboard covers I cut out (just used some paper pack backing) into these little books that will stand on their own. I added some 7Gypsies metal edging (so cool) and a quick monogram from the vinyl letters we used on the Halloween costumes...voila!

I'm really kinda excited to do these this year and already envision doing more in years to come. I think it'll be a fun little record of the boys' coloring skills as the years progress. I might even add having them write a daily note on the back of each page or something.

And, because I'm so happy to be checking things off my list...and because I love you...here's the file for the pages I made: countdown book pages. Please, just do me the huge favor of keeping it all for personal use only...no selling them or anything, okay? :)

(If you don't have a Bind It All, a simple binder ring or two would work...as would hanging them individually around a room...or clipping them to the tree with clothespins each day...or any number of other ideas.)

Now, one last thing. At the crop on Saturday, I truly found inspiration in a single new stamp that caught my eye. I think everyone should have one. :) Because Saturday, for me, was the crop of the rooster stamp, LOL. I used it about 40 times overall during the day. Silly, yes. But I'll take the inspiration where I can find it. ;)

Oh, and one other last thing. If, like me, you may be thinking that you want to make some cute gift tags this year...and, if, like me, you also happen to be one of those scrappers who keeps all the tag sheets that come with various patterned paper collections but rarely use them...I had an ah-ha moment this weekend when I realized that works well together, eh? So excited to be using them up! (Right now I have a little pile of about 50 Basic Grey tags that I'll be using this year as I wrap gifts.)

Well, happy holiday projects to all!! Comment here with what you're up to...I always love hearing what everyone else is making!