Christmas Christmas Christmas

....Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas!!!

I'm such a kid when it comes to Christmas & Christmas vacation...maybe the fact that I work in a school is perpetuating this childishness towards Christmas break. I can't help it, I'm just SO excited that Christmas break is officially here, I'm not at work and it is a Thursday (!) and I get to see my family later today!

Plus, the kitties are coming home with us this year and they will be wearing these lovelies on Christmas morning:

Doesn't Bella look so happy about being dressed as Rudolph?

My sweet boy Colby

I just love everything about the holidays - the gift-giving (and, okay, the receiving is nice, too), spending time with family, great food, celebrations, and no work! 

Wishing everyone a happy, happy holiday!

Recent Reads

Now that I've posted on my blog for the first time in four months, I figure I'd better stick with it. My goal is to have more than one blog post for the month of December, and I haven't got much time left! I thought I'd discuss some of the books I've read recently (keep in mind: I teach elementary school and don't have the time/energy to read really intellectually stimulating books. This is as good as it gets people).

Book 1: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Yes, I bought into this craze. I had heard a lot of buzz about the books from my students but ALSO (more notably) from coworkers, and I have a soft spot for fantasy/science fiction children's literature, so I figured I'd check it out. 

Let me just say, this was a GREAT book. And a very enjoyable story for adults (in fact, the real depth of this story and its commentary on society probably goes way over most children's heads). I can't wait until the movie comes out!

Book 2: Matched by Ally Condie

I first saw this book on the shelf at our school book fair (Lame, I know). When I read the description, it sounded like a book I would have loved reading when I was younger. After looking up the book online, I realized it was not so much a "kids" book as "teen fiction" (made me feel a little less like a nerd for wanting to read it) and had fabulous reviews. It was compared to The Giver by Lois Lowry and Hunger Games...since I liked both of those books, I had to give it a try.

This was also a great book! A fun, easy read, but the story has enough substance to it that it doesn't make you feel as though your brains are turning to mush for reading it. Which is good.

Both of these books have sequels, so my reading list will be full for a while. Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope I get some of those sequels as Christmas/birthday gifts! (hint hint, family)

Pinterest Day

I am in love with Pinterest. Pinterest, if you haven't heard, is a magical  world of crafting ideas, recipes, design inspiration, and pretty much anything you might enjoy looking at. I can spend hours pinning and collecting a plethora of DIY ideas, but rarely do I actually create any of them. Until today, that is!

Today's projects: Christmas gifts for coworkers, a clothespin wreath for Christmas cards, and Nutella fudge (Yum!!!)

Pinterest Project 1: Christmas Card Wreath 

My finished wreath

Country Living Mirror

I've been trying to come up with a cute way to display the Christmas cards we receive from family, and when I came across this mirror on Pinterest (originally from Country Living), I was inspired! I adapted this design to create a Clothespin Wreath/ Card Holder.

Materials: Embroidery hoop, clothespins, acrylic paint, ribbon.

These pictures chronicle my "creative process" :

I'm really happy with the way it turned out! Of course, after I finished, I discovered (on Pinterest, naturally) that many other people have already come up with this idea, and I was not in fact being original. Oh well! I still like the results!

Detail shot of the finished product

Pinterest Project 2: Christmas Gifts for Coworkers

I saw these adorable Cowgirl Cookies from Bakerella on Pinterest, and I thought that with a little tweaking they would be the perfect gift to make for the other teachers I work with as a holiday gift.

Christmas cookies in a jar!

Of course, having a male teacher on the team, I couldn't make "Cowgirl" cookies for everyone...plus, while the pink is cute, it doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas. 

Instead, I  made "Santa Cookies"....or maybe "Cookies for Santa"...I haven't added the labels yet, but I'm so happy with how they turned out!

Pinterest Project 3: Nutella Fudge 

from  thecrunchymamacita.blogspot.com

When I saw this, I think I drooled a little. I have a major sweet tooth and I love nutella, so when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it. I've actually never made fudge before and this was super easy! I've yet to taste the finished result, although I tasted a lot along the way and I'm pretty confident it will taste delicious!

My fudge, uncut. I had to use kosher
salt instead of sea salt, which is why it
looks a little different.

Well, that's a pretty good summary of my Pinterest day! It felt so good to both start AND finish these projects in one day...and I'm sure my husband is happy that I don't have another half-finished project laying around the house.

 I'll have to have more Pinterest days, but not until after Christmas and my birthday, when I  have gift money to fund my crafting! ^_^ 

Steamer Trunk Pictures

I am sure you have just been dying to see these pictures, right?  Well, as promised, here are pictures of our steamer trunk makeover thus far. (sorry, I added these pics with my phone, so they are all out of order - the one with my kitty sitting on the trunk is where we started, and the top pic is where we are now)

The Great Steamer Trunk Makeover, part 1

By "great" I mean "way more work than I thought it would be," not "awesome" ...though with a little (ok, a lot of) luck it will be awesome when we are all finished.

Are you lost? Let me clear things up. I will start at the beginning of the story. Once upon a time, in a land called the new river valley, I went to a goodwill store to drop off donations. Unable to resist the allure of searching for a cheap-o "diamond in the rough," I had to stick around Goodwill for some shopping. I walked in the store, casually began to browse the furniture section, and that is when I saw it: a big, beat-up, black steamer trunk. My heart skipped a beat. I rushed to the steamer trunk, eager to lay claim on this beauty, which had miraculously not yet been purchased. A mere forty dollars and five minutes later, I was driving home with some very precious cargo taking up my entire back seat. The great steamer trunk makeover was unfolding in my mind.

My poor husband arrived home, walked about ten steps inside the door, and was confronted by a massive black trunk blocking his path. "guess what honey? I have a new project for us!" I exclaimed. This was about a month ago. We are still trying to scrape off the finish so we can actually make the trunk over. It is slow going, but it IS going (for a while there, I wasn't too sure that would be the case).

I wanted to add pictures to this post but my iPad isn't cooperating. So, you'll have to wait for the pics ( I know you are just dying!)

New Blog!

In case that title doesn't make it obvious to you, I'm starting a new blog. I wanted a blog that didn't have my last name anywhere, and I think I've succeeded...it's not in my username, my email isn't shown on this blog or my user profile, and it's not in my blog title. If you happen to know my last name, NO telling! I don't want to have to start another blog =/

You might wonder, what with the big freakout about people knowing my last name? Well, I teach fifth grade. And those kids are like detectives...they can find info anywhere! To make a long story short, I discovered that through googling my full name you could get to my old blog, and I'm not okay with my students having access to that much personal information.  I like to keep the teacher me and the "real" me separate =)

Well, that about sums it up. A new blog, hopefully less google-searchable and better maintained by me. We'll see!