Christmas Presents!

Obviously I have been in a blogging funk the past month or so, but I am hoping with the kids home this week for Thanksgiving break, and us taking a mini vacation later in the week to the Blue Ridge mountains for some family fun, I will be able to spend a little time in blog world while we are there!! Maybe I can pull out some dingbat stories from my "archives" as my mother calls them!! ha! Or more likely something will happen before then that will be worth blogging about!....Nothing crazy has happened in almost two weeks, and I'm pretty sure that sets a record for me, so I'm SURE the universe has something waiting around the corner for me and my dingbat self!! ha!ha!
Anyways, for now I thought I would put up pictures of my Niece's Christmas presents that I made this weekend. I am so happy with the way they turned out. Now I just hope my sister in law doesn't check my blog while she is in Mexico! (Hollie, if you see this, CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!!)

This is Hope's bulletin board. She has a very pink/shabby chic room that I think this will be gorgeous in! She also loves frogs. (or at least she did at one time........hopefully still does!) Oh, and the pom poms on the left side are not crooked, they must have just fallen that way when I took the picture! (had to CLARIFY that lest you think I am sloppy!! LOL!)

And this one is for my one of a kind niece Addie. If you met her, you would know why she is one of a kind. She's a MESS( in the south that means HILARIOUS!)!!! Her room is all different shades of purple, with touches of yellow and green.
I can't WAIT to give these to them for Christmas. Carter LOVES putting pictures/artwork/cards on his, and I think the girls will enjoy it too!

Hopefully I will be much more proactive in blog world this week, but until then, I hope y'all have a great week!!!

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

I took these pictures last week as we were driving to church. The photography isn't great because we were moving, but I just HAD to get my camera out and snap as many shots as I could when I saw how beautiful it was that day. The kids LOVE when the leaves turn colors. We have had some of the best car rides this Fall as we drove around staring at the beauty that SCREAMS God and creation.

Craig and I discussed that day how amazing it is that our great God would be so detailed that he would include color change in the DNA of leaves before they would fall for winter, when he created them.....simply for the beauty and enjoyment of it! God is good. So good. Thank you Lord for the JOY the color change in the trees have brought to our family this year!!

Where do YOU see God's fingerprints today?

These emails are NOT funny!!....(okay, so they are a TINY bit funny....)

So, I love getting emails from y'all, but lately my "friends" and even my MOTHER have been sending pictures with messages like "oh, I thought of you today when I saw this.....", or "this MUST have been for you.....", and "you would SOOOOO do this.....". Hmmmmm, after going through my DELETED folder of emails, I am sensing a pattern, and I'm not sure I like where this is going. My life seemed quite normal until YOU PEOPLE pointed out that I am a complete disastrous MESS!!! Okay, so I have issues, but don't we all??? hmmpphhhhh!!!
Here are a few of my NOT SO funny emails that YOU all have sent me!! Thanks alot!!!! (hee hee hee......)
Okay, so this DOES sound like something Craigo would do (has done...), and something I WOULD say to him.....in fact I think I HAVE told him to keep his "weapons of MASS destruction" away from me before.....
Yeah yeah yeah.......this one goes without saying.....we ALL know where this came from.

I have NEVER done this, and am APPALLED to think that anyone would think that I have!! What kind of a DINGBAT would do that????

Yep! Back to Craigo again.........Y'all love Craig stories don't you? And I thought he was just annoying.....

I'm not exactly sure why someone sent me this.......I have NO intentions of poisoning his coffee.........but he probably WOULD drink it if I did!!:)

Oh dear Lord in heaven, there BETTER NOT had been anyone looking.......but thanks for the added doubt that I DIDN'T NEED!!!!

I don't get this one......where's the corn? My MOTHER sent me this.......still confused.

Okay, and these last two pictures I just thought were funny, but THANKFULLY have nothing to do with me. The caption on this email was how eerily similar the ugly horrible spider was to Michelle.

Wow! That IS eerily similar!

So thanks for all of the ENCOURAGING emails that relate to my life...........I'm going to go stick my head in a bucket right now........of course knowing ME, I won't be able to get it off............

*UPDATE: After I clicked 'publish' on this post, I checked my email and this comment from the previous post was waiting for me "okay.........we have had it!!! ...it is high time for a blog about your air-headed life.....after all, how can we keep laughing without it being at YOUR expense???if nothing is happening.......just make it up........oh i really don't mean that.......pull out one of those stories from your VAST array of ARCHIVES.......come on!" .........FROM MY MOTHER!!! THANKS MOM!!! And to think I shared my life with you in the UTTMOST of confidence..........*

Kristi's Bags Boutique

So my wonderful and very talented friend Kristi who I have mentioned before on this blog is "going solo", and she has a new websight to showcase and sell her amazing bags and other cool stuff!! I have ordered about seven bags from her myself to give as gifts, and I can't say enough great things about her or her work! They are GORGEOUS, and we(Ava) get compliments every time we are carrying her bags. If you are looking for that "perfect" gift for Christmas, then please visit her websight and look around. She also does custom work, and will work closely with you on material,ribbon, etc.....whatever you would like!!!

Check this one out....A STROLLER BAG!!! SO cool!

A Diaper bag/wipes holder combo! Too Too cute!

What a darling changing pad!

Awesome Giveaways goin' on......

Grosgrain is hosting two fabulous giveaways right now!

Here is an example of a water colored painting that Susannah Rodgers painted, and she is going to paint your child if you win. For more information on how to enter go here.

This is a "Little Bo Peep" costume that Grosgrain is also giving away, and it comes with a sheep costume as well. Go here to enter.

Finally, my awesome friend Canela is hosting a HUGE giveaway, with winners everyday, and a grand prize winner at the end of twelve days!! Go here for details and get entered...hurry, she is already on day four!

Painting Project/Prayer Request

So it has taken a week for me to post my painting project, but here it is. Last Thursday I decided to paint the kids playroom but unfortunately like an idiot, I forgot to take before pictures. So there really isn't going to be that WOW factor!! Ha! Sorry!
The "gone bad" part that I wrote about last Friday really isn't too horrible just frustrating.
On Thursday I didn't get started painting soon enough to finish it that day, and because the lighting in there is awful, when the natural light disappeared, I had to quit. I didn't know what to do with my roller to save it for the next day, so I tried to wash it, and then I thought I remembered someone telling me to wrap it in plastic. I did that, but looking back, I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to "wash" it first.
When I went to paint the next day, the roller was so wet, and I had paint literally dripping down the walls on to the floor.........NOT GOOD. After I cleaned up the mess, I called my handy dandy neighbor, and he had an extra roller for me. I finished that day without any other major catastrophes! (BUT, let's just say that A.D.D. and painting do NOT go hand in hand........I seriously considered quitting halfway through without "cutting in" the edges, and then saying that since it was a playroom, I had let the kids do it!! ha!ha!)
Alas, it is finished, and I really don't want to paint anything else for a while........


These are totally cool art display canvases that my amazing sister made for the kids last Christmas, and I was finally able to hang them! They look awesome in there, and the kids LOVE to change out their artwork!

Above the black arts and crafts table, I plan on making them one of my custom made bulletin boards for them to display more of their stuff!!

Look at that adorable horse pillow case!!! My very sweet friend Jayne sent that to Ava because she knew how much Ava loved horses!! It is seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen!!! Jayne has a wonderful shop with the cutest most precious gifts. Please visit her store here to see what other treasures you can find. Thanks Jayne for the awesome gift! WE love it!!!

So that's my painting project. On a very serious side note, I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my family right now. We received terrible news on Monday about my Grandfather, and things have been touch and go ever since. He is still in the hospital, and we are not sure what is going to happen. THEN, today in fact just a few hours ago, we heard that my Grandma from the other side of the family was rushed to the hospital with fluid on her lungs. She had a stroke about three years ago, and has been in a care facility ever since, but was seemingly doing fine. Like I said, the news is fresh and I don't know what is going on there yet, but would just really appreciate your prayers. Her name is Connie and she lives in Pennsylvania. She is my dad's mom. My grandfather lives in Iowa, he is my mom's dad, and his name is Marvin. I just thought I would tell all of my awesome bloggy friends about this and ask for your prayers. Thank you so much for being so awesome here!! love y'all!

NO! No you ditint!......Oh YES I did.

Ummmmmmmmm, so I lied. I said below, BEFORE "THE SHOWER", that I was done blogging for the night, and that I would see you tomorrow. BUT then SOMETHING happened. And I NEED to blog about this......I MUST get some moral support here, and some advice on how I can ever show my face again in my neighborhood.
It all started when....(cue the smoke and dreamlike thoughts....) I went upstairs to FINALLY take a shower after my very sweaty workout this afternoon (by the time I got home, it was time to get dinner ready, get the kids bathed and to bed, so it was 9:00 before I even made it to the shower!).

Please do not ask me what in the world got into me, but for some reason instead of just taking my usual short, very to the point shower, I decided that tonight I would take my time and lolligag in the hot water. Now, I've always hated the design of my bathroom, because you can see yourself in the mirror while you shower! (who in the world would want that?) But tonight for some stupid reason, I decided to take a peak to see if all this exercising crap business was doing me any good. So I did. And boy did I start examining. I was flexing. I was bending. I was turning in every which way. I was lifting things that I am sure God never really intended on having to be lifted in order to view other things.

And then I saw them. My blinds. O.P.E.N. ........FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!!!!.........I screamed so loud my dog started barking. We NEVER have our bedroom blinds open! NEVER EVER....EVER!! ( I guess this would be a good place to add that you can see straight through our bedroom right into the shower from the window...and with it being dark outside, and lit up like a Christmas tree in my room.......well, you get the drift) Sheer panic set in which is the only explanation I can come up with for what happened next. I TORE out of the shower running and dripping towards the window, only to halt in complete horror as I realized what I was doing. Running naked....TOWARDS the open window. I froze. Now people, when I say froze, I mean froze. Could. Not. Move. In that moment I saw the couple that lives across the street from us walking their little white dog ( I briefly thought about waving, forgetting about my predicament.....darn A.D.D). I realized that if I now turned around and ran BACK to the bathroom, my rear end would be exposed as well. So I hesitantly decided that if I dove towards the window I could maybe slam into the blinds causing them to close. Obviously I didn't think this through to the end and instead just went for it.

Dive? Did I say I was going to dive towards the window? Yeah, body slam would be a much more accurate description of what actually happened. Apparently in my quick decision making I didn't account for all of the decorative pillows from my bed that were lying on the floor in my path. So, OF COURSE I tripped over them, and seriously slammed myself into the windows. When I regained conscientious again, I was laying on the floor in front of my windows still dripping wet. And of course still naked (this would have been a great opportunity for God to have miraculously clothed me, but he sooooo didn't). Blinds still wide open. For all of God's beautiful earth to see.

I am going to KILL Craig for opening those ding dang blinds! Why in the name of all things beautiful would he do that? He's lucky I didn't actually go THROUGH the window when I hit it!! (Now THAT would have been a sight........)

So, I'm begging for some reassurance here.....SURELY no one saw right? I mean I was just IMAGINING my neighbors with the little white dog looking up at my window right? And if I was only imagining them being there, then SURELY I didn't REALLY see them nod their heads and wave at me right? I mean surely these things didn't happen. Surely.

The time change doesn't agree with me!

Ok, so I am trying to upload pictures, and blogger has stopped cooperating, so I will go with what I have and will have to post the others later!

For starters, I don't know what has happened to my seemingly casual life. Ever since the time change, I can't get my act together. My body has not adjusted to the change, and I absolutely hate it getting dark so early! I have been so tired it is unbelievable!!! Is anyone else having as much of a problem as I am?
That being said, blogging has had to be put on the back burner for a while. By the time I get the kids down and I am able to relax......I can barely think, and have found myself zoned out in front of the TV the past few nights going to bed by ten!!! (soooooo NOT the norm here!!)
Sick of my complaining and excuses? I am too, so I will stop now.

My awesome friend Melissa had asked me several weeks ago if I would take their family picture for their Christmas card, so on Saturday afternoon we went down to one of the lakes in our neighborhood, and had ourselves a mini photo shoot!! It was so much fun, and obviously the subjects were GORGEOUS, so I didn't have to do much!! This was my first family other than my own that I have photographed.
I am TOYING with photography a little bit, and plan on attending classes after the new year (right after I get my new mac daddy camera that I am getting for Christmas!!! YAY!!!!!) I am pleased with my first attempt, and it really confirmed my desire to learn more and get better!

These are just a few of the dozens we took!

So, I am still trying to upload my painting project (blogger is still on strike apparently), and I owe you an explanation for the shoes in the post below.......but it's 9:00 and I have yet to shower from the gym, and if I don't get in there soon, I am going to throw up on myself from my own stench!!!! SOOOOOOOO............I promise you will get the goods tomorrow! (don't get tooo excited.......)