November 365

November is over. Already?? It seriously flew by!

It's been an interesting month to say the least. Now onto December!

Project Life October 2012

After waiting for some time and decent lighting I finally gave up and took these with my iPhone, at night.  Work with me.

I stuck to all my tricks for playing with Project Life: Washi tape, stamps and letter stickers. 

Simple. Simple. Simple.

My 12on12 for October.

Those top two cards happen to be my favorite on this page....if I do say so myself.

I had a ton of pics from the pumpkin patch (of course) so I narrowed it down to my favorites for the insert.

I like how this page turned out.  I think it has to do something to do with the stamps. I must say I am in LOVE with Kelly Purkey's stamp sets!!  She nails it every time!

This page was hard to do.  Re-living the days through the storm when we had no power for 9 days.  I didn't think it would be hard but it was.  I guess living in the dark can affect a person.  I have a bunch more pics from those days but I think I'll add them in an insert as part of the next month.

Got the idea for this card from Barbara on Instagram. 

I had a few pics that told the story but wouldn't all fit together on the insert so I turned it into a card like Barbara does. She is a genius!

 

On these two cards I used some Knock Knock sticky notes.  So fun and perfect for these!

I'm now working on November, but its been slow going with Thanksgiving and lately Marissa has a ton of homework that keeps her up late.  I try to keep her focused and help with what I can.  I wish she didn't have to stay up so late with that much homework, but she gets great grades so I'm not complaining much.  I'm hoping to work more of it this weekend as well as get the house decorated (finally) for Christmas....wish me luck!!

Thanksgiving 2012

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving.  We did.  I host the family every year, this year we were 15 in total.  It varies a little here or there but generally the house is full.

I wish I had manged to take more pics, but then again my plate was pretty full as it was.  I did mange to get some pics (food mostly) the day before.

I make this White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie that's Joe's favorite. 

Can't have Thanksgiving in our house without apple pie.

And no meal is complete without some chocolate.  The girls made these.

Here are my little helpers the day before.  Both girls made the chocolate covered pretzels, and Marissa made the bacon wrapped water chestnuts.  They were both so much help to me both in cleaning and cooking this year.  I am so proud of their eagerness to help, more so in the kitchen than with the cleaning but I'll take what I can get.

I redeemed myself from last year's turkey!!  That was the first year it was dry but I blame the oven running too hot.  This year I used my bottom oven for the turkey and it came out PERFECTLY MOIST!!  I used a dry rub and butter to give it flavor and color and also went with a smaller bird this year.  There were no leftovers...in turkey at least.

We had a TON of food!  We couldn't fit it all on the table.  I always get "comments" on my over cooking but even though I kept things simple "OTHER" people brought more than they should and the table overflowed with goodness.  Luckily, everyone brought food home.

So now that this holiday is over, it's time to focus on Christmas.  I usually start decorating on Black Friday but both Joe & I were exhausted and didn't dig out the decorations from the crawl space.  I feel behind, but taking it easy felt great after all the rushing & cleaning last week.  Who cares if I don't get the Christmas Cards mailed before Dec. 1??

30 Days of Thanks

Wanted to squeeze in a quick post about the album I've been working on.  I started this during the Hurricane when I was feeling very grateful. I felt a mini album showing what I was thankful for would be nice.  I know it's very similar to a December Daily, but as much as I'd like to make one, I just don't think I'll be able to manage it.  I fell behind on my Project Life since the storm and have the last week of October to work on before I can share that.  I catch up and fall behind...story of my life.

I kept it very simple with a design I repeated through the album.  I dug through my stash and found some old KI Memories papers that I've been holding onto as well as my beloved Bo Bunny Dots.  I like using what I had on hand and actually doing something with it. 

I didn't do anything to the inside cover but I might go back and add some scraps I have leftover to it.  Used a Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards stamp I had plus some Studio G stamps for the "title" on the card.  All the pics are Instagram prints that I printed at home 4x4 size.

I'm only sharing through page 5 since that's all I have done! Things have gotten a bit hectic and well, the holiday always does that to me.  I hope to catch up with this in small snippets of time here & there this weekend.

As for today, I am off to do my food prep for tomorrow.  I host every year and have about 15 people to feed tomorrow. 

What are you Thankful for?

On Repeat

Ever have one of those moments where you have an idea?  And it happens at the right time where you can put it into effect right away?  I did. 

I was thinking about some music playing in my mind & the thought came to me about documenting my favorite songs right now.  I quickly took screenshots on my iphone and printed them out. 

I used more of the Studio Calico "Daydream" kit, again using some pieces that I didn't think I'd use. I even made a card! (share that soon)  I think this kit is down to the last few things that I don't see me using and I'm considering it done. I'll be adding things I want to keep in with my other items and the things I won't be keeping to my donate pile. 

Close up of the pocket holding the list of songs from the albums (it continues to the back).  I could have added so many more songs from P!nk's album but kept it to just what I repeat a lot.  Yes, I'm a HUGE fan of hers.

 I used different Thickers than what was in the kit  but the rest is all kit.  I wonder if I can do it again with some other kits.  I think this was my favorite ever.

A Wish To My Dad

This time of year is always hard for me. 
Eighteen years ago today, my father died from lung cancer. 

I make a point of talking about him to the girls.  To give them an idea of how great he was.  He was the kind of man that would give you the shirt off his back.  He would do anything for his four daughters.  He adored us.  We adored him too.  He would have LOVED all his grandchildren.

I always wanted to marry a man like him....I believe I did.  I wish they could have met each other.

Sometimes I can't help but feel cheated that he didn't get to see us get married and have kids.  So many things would be different if he were still alive.  He was the glue that kept us all together. 

I wish he were still here.

I found this old picture of me following my Dad.  I don't know how old I was but I think I was younger than five.  I think I need to scrap it.  I love how it looks like an Instagram. 

Missing you Daddy. Loving you always.

Love You 2

Awhile ago, I had come across this picture of the girls and printed it out with an idea to scrap it.  It got put aside over and over again, until recently.  I was determined to get it scrapped and out of my "to-do" pile.

Usually I pull colors from the picture to match my papers, but this time I went with a love theme due to the signs the girls are holding. 

 I created the title then cut it out with my Silhouette.  I just love that machine!  I even used stamps on my LO!  It's subtle but it's there.  I've been on a kick of using what I have and not "saving" things anymore.  Like this paper.  It's from Making Memories a few years ago.  Why am I waiting?  Why not USE it??
I really, really have too much stuff, but let's just keep that to ourselves.  HA!

After making this, I realized that I needed to make another so each daughter has one in their album.  Hey, it's my way of using up my stash!  It was quick to do, since there was no thought required and most importantly, both girls will know how loved they are.

12 on 12 November

Is this really November's 12 on 12? Is there really just one month left to this year?  It flew by a lot faster than I like. 

On my way to Shop Rite there was crazy dense fog.  Very hard to see through in some areas.

Did a little damage today.  Got clothes for everyone but me.  I'm keeping the Kohl's cash for myself!

Still re-stocking the fridge & freezer.  Today has been a total errand day.

Still catching up on laundry.  Grateful to be able to do it from home instead of lugging it to a laundromat, which I thought I was going to do during the power outage.

She's modeling the clothes I got her today.  She loved them all!  Not all clothes should be hand-me-downs.  She needs some new items that are just hers.

Needed an afternoon pick me up.  So tired and no time for a nap.

Under attack from fruit flies.  Trying out a trap I found on Pinterest.  Hoping it works, since they're bugging me. HA!

 

Making flash cards to help Marissa study for her vocabulary test.  These words are hard for sixth graders!

 Re-discovered some never been used fun stamps for my Project Life album.

All ready for bed.  She really needs a room makeover.  She looks too tiny in her bed.

Spent some time printing pics for Project Life while having gummi bears.  I eat the red ones first since they're my least favorite, saving the yellow & green for last.

Filling in pages of my 30 Days of Thanks mini album.  Keeping it very simple just so I can keep up with it.  I don't have a lot of time to get fancy with it right now.

This month was hard.  I was so busy with normal, boring stuff that towards the end of the day I realized I wasn't close to having my 12 pics.  It was a very boring Monday.

Project Life September 2012

I know it's now November, but here's my Sept. Project Life pages. Took me forever to be able to get decent shots of these.  They're still not the greatest but better than nothing. 

I think when I did these pages, I was in a "get it done" frame of mind.  Which means I kept it simple.  Seems to be a new theme around here for me, I guess.  I used a lot of washi, stamps, Silhouette cuts & letter stickers. 

Another month of 12 on 12, went with an orange theme this time around.

I had a lot of pics for this week.  I like how they all fit in. 

This is probably my simplest page, but I like it. 

Fell in love with the new Seafoam edition for next year but I could easily make my own from my stash....that is if I decide to do PL again. Still up in the air. I've really enjoyed it this year, a lot more than the first year I did it. We'll see how I feel. 

And Then There Was LIGHT!!

After running some errands today, I felt the start of a massive headache.  I'm not sure if it's a sinus headache or just plain being tired from not sleeping well.  I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and donuts for the girls. I was happy to see this Christmas cup.  It put a smile on my face. I needed a little JOY in my life.

I was at the end of my good humor.  Short tempered and frustrated.  The storm has affected me hard.  It was downright depressing in fact.  The littlest thing could have me choking up in tears.  It was pathetic.  I don't like feeling powerless, who does?  With a new storm hitting us today, I was worried for the kids.  The constant worry was taking it's toll.

Both Joe & I spoke with the power company and got different stories on when we might get power back.  We couldn't get a straight answer, no hope of a "when" or anything.  Joe at least, heard maybe Friday but definitely by Sunday.  WHAT???  We had enough of this.  We are planning on getting a natural gas generator so that we will never be without power again.  Of course then, we will probably never get another storm, but I'm OK with that. 

So once I picked up Marissa from school, the girls and I hung around the house watching the snow start to fall.  We kept occupied as much as we could but it was getting dark.  I finally left the girls in front of the fireplace in the family room to go sit in the kitchen to stare into space, I needed a breather from their bickering.  All of a sudden there was a loud noise & the lights came on!!  Noticing the time it was 6:52 almost the exact same time that we lost power....strange.

I was shocked & almost didn't understand what happened for a split second.  I freaked out (in a good way) & hurried to call Joe who was on his way home.  He couldn't believe it either.  We were all so thrilled to have power back!  We went around the house turning off lights that had been left on & making sure things worked.  I couldn't wait to do laundry!  I am SO thankful that the power came on & we didn't have to sit through tonight in the dark & worry about keeping warm while the snow fell.  I feel like Christmas came early.  I can't express how thrilled I am.  It truly is the little things in life that make you happy.

I pray that the people that lost so much more than I did, feel settled and peace soon.  

Another Day Without Power

Yesterday before heading out to vote, I got a text from a parent at Gianna's school asking me if I got power back. Turns out she did as well as a few other streets near us. I got very hopeful that our power would be restored.

I went off to vote, then took the girls to the library for some new books. I immediately tried the light switches praying they would work, but they didn't. I didn't lose hope. I figured it was a good time to clean the fridge so I can just re-stock it once the power comes back, and got to work. I only managed to get the fridge done before running out of daylight, but now I was losing hope. It didn't help when I got a call telling me where to go if I needed shelter in the new storm that's coming. I figured if we got that message then we were not getting power.

I'm very cranky at this point. Maybe cranky isn't even a strong enough word. I think it'd be safe to say I'm pissed off. I keep telling myself that we're ok and we still have a roof over our heads but its hard when we see houses behind us fully light up, glowing with power. Joe heard we might not get power back until Friday. Lets hope not for my sanity!!!

Our town has 5 schools altogether. And as of yesterday 4 of them got power back. So today schools were open for those schools. Meaning Marissa finally went back to school today but Gianna is staying home with me.

I'll be working on cleaning the freezer today. Then I have plans to play scrabble with Gianna, until pick up time for Marissa.

Running out of patience....

I'm sorry, I'm venting.