Merry Christmas!

Dan and I will be celebrating Christmas together by making some homemade pizza and a gingerbread house. We will close the night by snuggling by the fire. It will be awesome to have my husband home for the holidays this year!!! My thoughts are with all the soldiers and their families who will not get to celebrate the holidays together. Thank you for your sacrifices.

Ike Christmas Party

Friday night Dan took me to the Eisenhower Christmas party. It was our first year attending (and our last chance to go) so I was pretty excited. The party was at a hotel in Portsmouth so we decided to get a room there and not worry about getting home late at night. We met another couple there and headed over to the party around 8:30.

The party was full of eating, drinking, dancing, and laughing. I had a blast. Everyone we went with was so much fun. It was REALLY nice to have a night out. We don't get around to doing it that much. Enjoy the pictures:
Here I am in the hotel waiting for the shuttle to pick us up!


The IKE ice sculpture. Awesome.


My hubby and me at the dance.


The hottest man on Earth.


Dancing with Danielle.


A self portrait to end the night:


All in all it was a GREAT time and I'm so glad we went!

Now for some fun Christmas pictures. Our tree:


Our house all lit up!! We bought the LED lights this year and they're a big hit! People stopped by the house today to ask Dan where we got them. They said they had driven by before and loved them and wanted to find them!! The picture just doesn't do them justice!
That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the update!

Happy Birthday Amy!!

It's my sister-in-law's birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!!!!

Yes, she shares the day with Britney Spears. Is it horrible that I'm excited for her CD? Yikes. I might just be the only person over the age of 12 that's excited. Oh well!


Have a great day everyone!

Thanksgiving

I like my Cuttlebug again. Now that I've learned to use it I'm ok with it :) It's really a lot of fun when you know what you're doing!

I finished my Christmas cards today and am SO glad they're finished. They took forever and had a lot to them. Next year I will make a card that's not so labor intensive.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Dan's parents came down from Ohio and joined us for the weekend. I learned how to make a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner :) We also got a lot of work done around the house. I'm also pretty jazzed that Dan's mom brought me a sewing machine :) Now to learn how to use it.....

Well, that's about it for now. My life is pretty boring at the moment :)

I Hate My Cuttlebug

Or maybe it's my Nestabilities I hate. I can't decide. I can't get the nestabilities to work with my Cuttlebug without it ruining my plates. Every website I've looked at (and I've looked at SO many!!) that explain how to use the 2 together say the same thing.... when I do what they say it doesn't work for me! I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm annoyed and pissed off because I spent $60 on the nestabilities and was SO excited to start using them. They have caused me nothing but pain!!!!! aaaah

Rubber Stamps

Are you a stamper???
If so you have to check out Denise's blog here.. She has decided to open her very own rubber stamp business and has ADORABLE stamps!!! Her company is called, "Whimsy Stamps". All the info you need is on her blog!!! Please go check it out!!!

Christmas Cards

So I managed to make my first 2 Christmas cards! I was playing around to see what I wanted to make to send out this year and these are the 2 cards I came up with:


So which do you like best? I'll take the winning card and send them out this year :) I think I'm also going to make a package of both for my Etsy account. I'm also thinking I'll change the "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" in case people would want that instead.

Yay for being productive tonight!

Navy Strikes Again

Dan has been gone for a week and was supposed to come home today. He called around 3 to let me know that they wouldn't be home until tomorrow due to the bad weather we've been having. Go figure. They're only home until Sunday night anyway. They might has well not even let them come home. I am sick and tired of the Navy. I am not cut out to be a military wife. I am dealing with it now because I love my husband more than anything, but thank God he wants out of it as badly as I do.

I stayed home from school today because I was feeling pretty run down and pathetic. I would have been really short with the kids and made everyone's day miserable had I been there. I've had a sore throat and stuffy nose for a few days so I went ahead and took a sick day. I woke up at 10 and cleaned the whole upstairs. It took me a few hours, but this half of the house looks and smells amazing. I spent the rest of the day napping, showering, reading, and watching tv. Pretty exciting huh?

I've started looking up flights to go home to Canton for Spring Break. Dan will be on deployment and will have been gone for 2 months so it's a great time to fly home. It's also a few days after my brother's baby is due. I'm pretty excited that I'll get to be around to experience his first child with him. I hate living so far away and missing out on important family events.

Enough of the sad story here. I hope you are all doing well.
God Bless.

A Big Hit

Dan asked me the other day to come up with 2 thank you cards for the chief on his boat that was leaving. I was annoyed that he asked for them at 8:00pm the night before he wanted them. I asked him what colors etc he wanted and he told me that his chief is from South Carolina and loves the Gamecocks. I decided to go with the South Carolina Gamecocks colors, but did not have a chicken stamp. I found an alligator stamp and Dan said that would work (I can't remember his reasoning and I don't know a lot about South Carolina). Here's the card I came up with:

The next day Dan came home from work and said one of the guys in his division LOVED the card. Apparently it was a huge hit since this guy asked me to make him a set of these cards so that he could send them out for Christmas! He's buying me a chicken stamp to use instead of the alligator. He also said he thought his family would be interested in purchasing some as well.

I'm pretty excited since he will be my second customer. Who would have thought a simple than you card for a chief would bring in some business????

Rainbows and Lollipops

Well, just rainbows..... Check out what I just saw outside my scrapbooking window:


I ran for my camera and snapped these pictures before it quickly went away. I have never seen a rainbow so big and bright! Amazing!




The pictures just don't do it justice.

Have a great day!

Finally, pictures!

So I'm sitting here watching the election results and I thought it would be a good time to post some pictures. The first are pictures of the candy boxes I made for the other 3rd grade teachers for Halloween. I saw a sample of these boxes on another blog and decided I had to try making one. I made one and loved how it turned out so I made 3 more :)


A closer look:
I made the boxes out of paper from DieCuts with a View. I then used transparency sheets that I found at school for the clear window. I found some crazy spider rub ons at ACmoore to decorate the front. I then filled the boxes with scary chocolate eyes that I found at the dollar store and wrapped them with fun Halloween ribbon!

I put the boxes together with some Halloween paper pads and made cute tags to go with! The tags were cut from my Cricut machine and then embossed with my Cuttlebug. I stamped the pumpkin, colored it with my Stampin' Up markers and then added some black Stickles to make the hats shine. I love how they turned out!

Here is the pumpking Dan and I picked out:

I know, it has character :) I love it! Dan spend 15 minutes while we were passing out candy carving it. Here's how it turned out!

I hope you enjoyed my picture show. I have more, but I don't want to bore you too much :)

A Quick Update

Dan is home until Friday. We've been hanging out which explains the lack of posting.

Today was a staff day at work and I had a lot of fun getting plans together and making copies.

Tomorrow is Conference Day. I am not looking forward to it since I have to tell my parents that their kids are lazy and need to study more.

I made some awesome Halloween candy boxes for the teachers at school. I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance.

That's about it.

A Better Me

I am a horrible blogger. I started this thing so that I would have a place to go when I was lonely. To express my thoughts, vent my frustrations, and keep myself occupied. Little did I know that school would keep me crazy busy during the week and that on the weekends I'd have nothing interesting to say!

Today Valli came down to do some shopping. I haven't been shopping in months so it was really nice to get out. I bought a few skirts and a cute top. How exciting! Is it terrible that I love to acquire new things? I hate that about myself and I'm trying to change it, but I don't see that happening right away.

My countdown calendar says 166 left. How awesome is that? I've already colored 6 boxes! I feel like I just made the countdown yesterday. Wonderful!

I've started reading a new book. It's called, "Become a Better You" by Joel Osteen. I'm hoping he'll help me dig deep into myself. I hope that I can start to understand who I am so that I can be a better me. I've heard good things about the book so we shall see how it goes!

Another Blogoversary!

So remember when I posted about some awesome blog candy a few weeks ago? I told you you should enter for a chance to win it. If you didn't, here's another chance!

Denise is having her Blogoversary this week and is offering a chance for some amazing blog candy! Visit her blog HERE for a chance to win and to see her great projects!

I Voted Today....

and I voted for McCain/Palin.


Flame away :)

I know...

I promised to write once Dan was gone, but I had no idea I'd be so busy/tired! I get home from work around 4ish and am exhausted. I spend about an hour on the couch catching up on Days and other shows from the night before. I cook dinner and eat and then grade papers or lesson plan. By the time I'm finished I shower, dry my hair, and fall asleep with a book in my hand. I also feel that I don't have much to talk about.

Dan left on Saturday morning. I dropped him off at the base airport. He flew onto the ship and won't be home until next Thursday or Friday. *sigh* another 2 weeks without my husband. On a positive note, we only have 4 more goodbyes in the Navy. I can count these on one hand and that it exciting. I made a countdown calendar as well. There are 171 blocks for me to color in. That's 171 more days/nights alone. Coloring in the blocks is amazing. (Can you tell I'm trying to be a more positive person??)

I haven't been able to stamp or scrapbook in a few weeks. Sad. I miss it and can't wait until I have time to create again.

That's it. See, I'm boring these days!

MIA

I'm sorry that I've been MIA.
Dan came home last Thursday and I haven't had much time to sit on the computer!
He leaves again either today or tomorrow so you can be sure I'll start writing again.

Here is all I will Say...

about the election.


I am not one who normally talks about my political views and I am not going to say who my choice for office is, but I would like to say this:

People who try to shove Obama down my throat irritate me to the fullest extent. If I am going to vote for Obama, I'm going to vote Obama and your rants are not making any difference. If I am going to vote McCain, your yelling and insults are not going to change my mind. Infact, the more people shove Obama in my face, the more I want to vote McCain just to make people mad!!!

I completely understand voicing your opinion and feeling strongly about the candidate of your choice, but come on people, enough is enough. People will vote for who they think will do the best job. Your rantings are not going to change peoples minds or opinions.

Ok, I know I will probably get assulted for this blog, but it had to be said. It's been annoying me for a long time.

How many posts is this Today??

So I know I've posted about 3-4 times today :) My apologies! Anyway, I made this spread tonight and wanted to post it so Valli could see it :)

I will be posting it on my Etsy account tomorrow!



Tell me what you think. Honest opinions only please!!!!Do the 2 page backgrounds go together? I can't decide if I like them or not. Maybe it's just me. Should I have used a plain black instead of the polka dots?

Here's a closer shot:

So Fitting!

It's so fitting that I made this card last night:


Why so fitting? I found out this morning that my sister-in-law Beth is pregnant!!!! Remember my post about the adorable nieces I have? Well, she's the mother of 2 of them. She's pregnant with her 3rd and I couldn't be happier for her!!! So, a huge:

CONGRATULATIONS BETH, DAVE, KARILYN, and HEIDI!!!!!!

(I am secretly hoping it's a boy since we already have 4 girls. Little boy clothes are SOOOO cute!!!)

Beth- I would send this card to you in the mail, but I've already posted it on Etsy :p

I WON!!!!!!!!

Remember my post about winning the Penguin Antics set by Hannah Stamps????

Well, I followed the rules and was entered into the drawing and I won!! I am so excited!!!!!
I also won another blog candy stamp set last week!! Boy am I getting lucky this week! YAY!!!!!

Wake Up Little Suzie

Because she was the best roomie in the entire world and she froze our dead turtles...


Bam-a-Lam: I LOVE YOU!!!

I made the biggest mistake of my life when I chose to move into the sorority house instead of rooming with you a second time. What was I thinking and why didn't you try harder to stop me!?!?!? I would not be the person I am today without you. I truly believe that. As corny and cheesy as it sounds, I feel like our being paired together freshman year was fate. I miss you like crazy and hope to hang out with you again soon!!

Penguin Antics!

Want to win the Penguin Antics stamp set from Hannah Stamps before you can buy it!!!???
If so you need to go here and follow the rules of how to play!

So get to it! I know I am!!!

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

Ok readers. It's the moment you've all been waiting for... the reveal of my great find last weekend! (I know you've been on the edge of your seat waiting!)

My sister-in-law, Valli, and I went to ACmoore last weekend for some fun shopping around. I didn't plan on buying much, but their Sandylion embellishments were on sale for $1 so I had to check them out. As I browsed the aisle I was very disappointed in their sale selections. I found 1 embellishment and hated to wait in line for that. Then it happened! I turned the corner and entered the final scrapbooking aisle. There... at the end of the aisle... I spotted it.

The Cuttlebug.

Now, I have been wanting a Cuttlebug for a VERY long time. It's been killing me not to buy it, but I told myself I couldn't buy anymore scrapbooking things (big things...) until I sold something. I also found that it's price had been raised from $89.99 to $98.99 at ACMoore and I couldn't stomach that. I could use a 50% off coupon, but that's still around $50. It must have been my lucky day because the price had DROPPED to $79.99. I had a 50% off coupon and snatched it up for $40.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thrilled. I couldn't even find it online (ebay, amazon, etc) for until $60. I couldn't stop smiling! So, that's it my readers. I am now the proud owner of a Cuttlebug.

Yes, I took a picture of my first embossing :)

I will also go on to show you the projects I have been working on this week. Here is one I made for the "Secret Ghost" at school. You, "Boo" a person and leave them a gift and it goes throughout the school. I made this and then checked my sister-in-laws Etsy account and saw something VERY similar. Now I feel like a goof because it looks like I copied! I swear I had it started before I saw hers!!! (I promise Amy!!!)


The cards were put inside the box for an adorable little gift. I also put some candy in a cute Halloween baggie. I think they'll like it!

I also made another package of Halloween cards for my Etsy shop. I like these ones better than my last. I guess practice does make perfect (or just better in my case!)


And lastly, my first gift from a student this year:

Dan comes home in 8 days :)

School Days

I apologize for the lack of posts. I thought with Dan being gone I would have more opportunities to write. Boy was I wrong. What I didn't realize was that school was going to take over my life.

Tomorrow grades and comments are due for progress reports. This is the worst/most stressful time for a teacher. We are required to put all of our assignments and grades into a program on the computer. Thankfully, the computer will average all of the grades and tell you what letter grade the student has earned. That saves me a ton of work! No longer do I need my calculator! The downside is that I have to transfer all of my grades from me "paper grade book" to my "computer grade book". What a pain. I found that I was a bit behind in my grading today, so I stayed after school to finish my grading, put my grades on the computer, and to start my comments. Comments are the worst. I never know what to say. I never know how to put, "your child is rude, disruptive, and out of control" into nice, kind, helpful words. It takes me a very long time needless to say.

I love those kids who I can say, "Great start to the year! So and So works hard and gets all of their assignments completed on time!" to. Why can't they all be that way? If you're a parent, make sure that's you kid :p

Anyway, I'm starting to miss Dan like crazy. I can't stop thinking about when he'll be home (next Friday) or when he'll be out of the Navy (Sept 1, 2009). It's so close, yet so far away. I think the closeness of it makes it harder for me since I'm so anxious. If only I could stop thinking about it. Fat chance.

Well, I was hoping to post about my awesome over the weekend, but I don't feel like hooking my camera up to the computer to upload pictures. I guess you'll have to wait until later.

**It's not that exciting.

A New Addition

I am a proud aunt to the 4 most ADORABLE little girls.

Laura:

Heidi:

Karilyn:


Lindsay:

(Thank you Beth and Amy for the pictures :) )

These little darlings are the spawn of my sisters in law. I love them to death!

On my side of the family there are no grandchildren.... yet. I have wanted so badly to give my parents their first grandchild. I figured there was no competition since my little brother doesn't have a girlfriend, my older brother Brian had just broken up with his girlfriend of 6 years, and my oldest brother and his fiance are no where NEAR where they need to be financially/emotionally to have children. Score for me! Here I am, happily married, financially stable (with lots of savings!), and wanting to have children. Looking good for me right?



Wrong. A few weeks ago, one of my older brothers called me. I knew something was up since he doesn't call me very often (we both work a lot!) He proceeded to tell me that I was going to be an aunt in 8 months. "Excuse me?" I said. He repeated himself. My jaw hit the floor and my eyes sprang a leak. I know it's selfish and stupid of me, but the first feeling I had was sadness. I wasn't going to give my parents their first grandchild. I then got over myself and listened to my brothers story. To make it short, he got a girl he went out with a few times pregnant. She's older than he is divorced with 2 kids (13 and 10). Obviously it was totally unexpected and threw their worlds upside down. We talked about how this was not the ideal situation, but that he was excited to become a father. He's wanted this for many years now (and was ready to settle with his ex... long story) and is ready. I am happy for him. He and the girl are trying to make things work. They are getting to know each other and are seeing where things go. They are not going to rush into marriage.

It took awhile for it all to sink in. Never in a million years did I think something like this would happen to my family. We are all concerned for my brother and for his unborn child, but we're excited for a new addition to the family. I will have my first "blood" niece or nephew to spoil and play with. I only wish I lived in Ohio again so that I could be a bigger part of his/her life.

So, will I add to my "collection" of nieces or will I get my first nephew? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

My New Love

That is all :)

Day 5

And what a good one!!! I had an awesome day today!

I woke up this morning at 7am with a major headache. This was not going to stop me from having fun today! I got dressed, ate some breakfast, hopped in the car, and drove to Newport News. While there I took some Equate for my headache and began a shopping spree with my sister-in-law Valli.

We drove to Williamsburg to shop at the Outlets. They've added a ton of stores to the outlet mall making it HUGE and awesome. We started by going to JCREW where I proceeded to but my husband a pair of plaid shorts and a polo to go with. Very cute. He will be excited! We then went to the Gap outlet where I bought a pair of dark brown corduroy pants for work. I'm pumped about these pants because they fit nicely and are comfy for work! We walked around many other stores and chatted up a storm. I bought a measuring cup for Dan (he's been wanting it for awhile :p) and a totally awesome corduroy skirt from BASS. My friend Keisha and her friend Victoria met up with us and we tackled the best store of all:

COACH!

Keisha and Victoria were buying 2 purses each and I felt left out. I found the purse I had really wanted at the NEX a few months ago but missed out on. I decided to buy it and return the one Dan bought me for my birthday. He had wanted to get me the one I bought today, but it was out of our birthday price range so he got me the smaller version. The outlet price was just $20 more than the price he paid for the small one so I thought, "What the heck??" and spent the money. Hopefully we can return the small one to the NEX and I can keep this nice big one :) We shall see. My husband may just kill me :)

After shopping we decided to eat lunch/dinner at the Olive Garden. This was a grand time. We ate, chatted, and laughed a lot. "Would you like some boiling water?" Oh my.

We finished our spree with a trip to the Yankee Candle store. Very enjoyable and I didn't spend a penny!

All in all it was a fabulous day out with the girls. I really needed today and hope we can all do it again soon. I sure do miss my husband, but says like today make his being gone a little easier!

Day 1

Day 1

Today was 85% better than yesterday. Everything that could go wrong went wrong yesterday. I cried all morning as I got ready for work, I forgot my lunch at home and had to spend $3.50 on a tiny disgusting salad at school, my class was full of disrespectful children, and I had to drop Dan off at the ship that night for 24 days. I'm glad that day is over.

Today my class was pretty well behaved, I caught myself having FUN teaching *gasp!*, and I got to catch up on all of my DVR shows!!! I did have to remind myself an hour ago that I'm not going to be sad, but all in all it's been a pretty good day. Now I'm getting ready for the Big Brother Finale and bed. 2 of my favorite things!

Here are 2 cards I made recently. Enjoy!


Valli: When someone starts buying my things off Etsy I will gladly post more :)

I'm Still Alive

I'm here! I haven't forgotten about my blog. Dan's been home for a week and school has been in full swing. When I get a free minute I'm snuggling on the couch with my hubby or trying to create a new handmade card for my Etsy shop. I promise to update more starting Tuesday. Dan will be gone for a month so I'll have plenty of time for blogging and hanging around on the computer.

Hanna

Pre-Hanna:

Notice the 2 huge tomato plants next to my cucumber bush. See how large they are??? They have lots of tomatoes on them....

Post- Hanna:
The lost branches and tomatoes....
My sad garden :(
The good news: I still have 2 healthy tomato plants! Woo!
They let Dan come home Friday evening because news was that Hanna wasn't going to be as bad as they had predicted. I was elated. We had some heavy rain and winds for about a half hour to an hour on Saturday morning, but nothing like what they said we'd get. That afternoon Dan and I were out and about in Virginia Beach with no fears of Tropical Storm Hanna. So much for the state of emergency and evacuation plans!!!

I HATE the Navy

I hate hate hate hate hate the Navy.

Dan JUST got home from being gone for 15 days and now they're taking him away again. They gave the IKE a 72 hour warning that they could be called at any time to go underway because of HANNA and IKE. Dan just called and told me they're going underway tomorrow morning and he doesn't know when they'll be back.

Does that make sense? Taking husbands and fathers away from their family when there is a Tropical Storm and a Hurricane coming for their families? What am I supposed to do??? I'm all alone in this huge house... in this huge city. How am I supposed to know what to do or how to keep myself safe? All I want is my husband beside me to tell me every thing's going to be ok. This has got to be the worst thing the Navy has ever done to me.

To top it all off, Dan leaves for a 25 day underway on Sept. 16th... he's home for 4 days... and then he goes on a 13 day underway. COME ON!! Really? Must they do this to me???

Etsy!

I have finally created my Etsy account and posted my new creations! If you're interested in purchasing any handmade cards or scrapbook pages, please please take a look! If you know anyone interested, please please send them over! I would loooove to sell something :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5804061

or go to www.etsy.com and type in username "cporter519"

Thanks ya'll!

Awards!

I was so very lucky to receive this award from a fellow blogger/friend. Colleen thinks I'm cute and a good enough blogger to deserve it :p You should check out her blog. She's got awesome "caption it" days where you can win prizes. She has also quit smoking and is very inspirational :)

Now it is my turn to return to pass on the blog award!....

1. Baby Fat- Erin is one of the sweetest girls I know (and I don't technically know her!) I met her on a wedding website a long while ago and love her to death. I love to read her blog to get updates on her TTC.

2. Tenacious V- This is my sister-in-law so I'm a little bias. I love her blog because she's super funny and always has interesting (and sometimes deep) things to talk about. Her latest post (7 things you didn't know) had me laughing all the way through.

3. Stamp Owl- I'm not sure how I found this blog, but I'm super glad I did. I LOVE to scrapbook and make cards and this blog gives me motivation to do so. Frances is an extremely talented stamper and card maker. Her cards are beautiful and full of technique. I hope to someday have half of her talent.

4. Are you Listening?- I also "met" Andrea on the wedding website. You really get to know people on chat boards!!! I've been following Andrea's journey through life and love the strength that she has. She found out recently she's expecting and I can't wait to read about this journey!

5. Under the Pear Tree- Again, a bias, this is my sister-in-law who just started her blog. She is also an AMAZING scrapbooker and card maker. Her etsy shop is full on incredible work. She blogs about her life, scrappings, and her adorable daughters.

I love all the other blogs I read, but had to choose 5!!!!

Now Ladies, time to pass it on…

1. Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2. Add the link of the blogger who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least 5 other blogs.
4. Add those 5 links to your post.
5. Leave a message for your winners on their blogs.

For Babe-A-Labe

So this one's to you Babe-A-Labe. You should feel loved.

My life has been crazy hectic the last few days. I started work on Monday and never imagined in a million years I'd have so much to do to get ready for the first day of school. As many of you may know, last year I started teaching mid-October. I did not have to get my classroom set up or plan for the first week of school. I did not have to come up with rules and procedures for every little thing the child does during the day. This year, I am in charge of all those things. You wouldn't believe some of the things you have to plan for. How are they going to sharpen pencils, where are their school supplies going to go, how should they ask questions, what color reading groups should I have. It's a mess. Yes, my classroom is set up and ready to go (Pictures hopefully to come tomorrow), but all those little behind the scenes details are not.

I tried planning for the first day of school today and almost pulled my hair out. Explain this, demonstrate that, get to know you, show this procedure, tour the school, etc etc etc. So much to do and no time for much instruction. It's going to be crazy and there's really no way to actually plan it all. So here I am... scared of the shark infested waters, but running and diving in wearing a red one piece.

Is this to your liking Meredith? :P

Boring

It's been a few days so I thought I'd post.
I don't have very much to say other than I started work today and I'm already exhausted. Tell me why I opted to spend the rest of my life going to school???

My classroom is ready to go. I have a lot of little administrative things to do before next week, but as long as the classroom is ready, I'm ready! I love the way it turned out and couldn't have done it without Valli. Thanks Valli! I'll be sure to post pictures tomorrow.

Dan comes home Thursday. I'm super excited about this. I've been missing him like crazy! he won't be home for long, but at least I'll get something.

I told you this wasn't going to be a good one. I promise a better post next time.

Trick or Treat

So tonight I decided to spend an hour and a half creating a Halloween scrapbook page. I had a lot of fun making it, but didn't realize it would take SO much time! I can't wait to see if it sells on etsy!

Check it out.

Left side:

Right side:


Close up:




I'm pretty proud of myself. Now cross your fingers that it sells :)

Update on Life

I figured I'd post since I hadn't in a few days. Not a lot has been going on over here. I've been going into school to get my classroom ready for the kids. It's pretty much the way I want it with the exception of a few posters I still need to make. I'm pretty excited now that it's come together. I'll get some pictures on Monday and post them. My room is about half the size of the one last year. It's depressing. Oh well. Move on Caiti.

They hired a new first grade teacher yesterday. I guess there were too many 1st graders for just 3 classes, so they gave our school MY position back. (If you don't know the story: My 1st grade position was cut at the end of last year because of funding. My school wanted me to stay with them so they offered me a 3rd grade position. I didn't want 3rd grade, but decided it would be easier than switching schools. When I heard my position might be coming back I asked for it. My principal gave me a long speech about how he wanted my personality in 3rd grade or something... I'm bitter)

I was livid when I found out we got the position back and he didn't give it to me. That was my position! I was hired there into that 1st grade position. I should have had the option to take it back. I guess in the long run it's probably better that I stay in 3rd. They'll probably cut the position again next year and then where would I be? I guess the big Man knows what he's doing. It just stinks that I could have had 1st grade again.... I would have known what I was doing and would have so much less stress going into the first day. *Sigh* Everything happens fro a reason right?

If you could, please think of and pray for my sister-in-law Valli. She's been having some random pains and has been told she may have Endometriosis. Pray she won't need surgery and if she does that it all goes smoothly. She really wants to start having kids soon, so pray this will not interfere.

Dan called today. It was good to hear his voice. Just 1 more week until he's home again!

Slumber Party!

It's been a really long time since I've participated in a Slumber Party, so when my sister-in-law suggested we have one I was totally in.

Valli came over around 3:00 on Monday to start the fun. I was really excited to spend some time with her since Dan had been gone for 6 days. We began our slumber party with some late lunch and chatting. We're very good at chatting. We then decided to take a trip to ACMoore to buy a few items for our card making night ahead. When we got home, we went to my scrapbooking room and began the "all night card making" event. We began around 7pm and concluded the night a little before 1am. Here is what we have to show for it:

I made these two after seeing this sketch on another bloggers site. I loved the sketch and decided it was perfect for this stamp set. One is a birthday card and the other is a card for a friend.



These are the 2 Valli made. One is a "Thinking of you" and the other a birthday card.



These are the Halloween cards I made:


I hope to get these cards posted on Etsy sometime soon. My goal is to try to sell some things so that I can buy more! I vowed I would not buy anything else scrapbooky until I have sold something. Wish me luck!