Psssssst.........

hey, look over there..... no not there, over there to the left.....down a little bit....see that! It's me! I'm on Etsy!!! Don't know what that is? Well you should find out! It's a great site for amazingly wonderful, handmade things. A huge setup just for people like me, living a dream, making things on our own, at home. I'm so excited! I have a shop! Come visit me!

Little Miss Manners

Look who finished her first basic manners class at doggy-training school...

Look who got a squeaky present from her instructor for doing such a swell job....

Look who knows she's adorable despite all the naughty things she does....

Fa la la la la....the Christmas Cards!

Well, here they are....

The Christmas turtle drawings turned into cutle little holiday cards. What fun they were to make! I really am quite proud of them. There are so many other ideas I have but this Christmas season was already upon us, maybe next year there will be even more to choose from! Thanks again to Wendy, Frank, and Bob & Carrie for choosing to send out cards from Elena's Easel this year!

Christmas Time

Last Saturday we had our first snow of the season! It was a delightful surprise (I don't pay much attention to weather forecasts, so I'm always surprised...) and when Kita and I went out for a morning walk this is what greeted me....

I know this doesn't look like much to most of you, but my first thought was "Aha, a shoveled walkway...I love condo living!" We didn't have to shovel, salt or do much of anything. We'll be spoiled in no time.

We also set up our Christmas decorations. We're pretty minimalistic (on purpose) so it's not much but just some little touches to celebrate the season.

You'll notice the glowing-eyed Siamese has already appointed himself the tree guardian. Yoshi's not the only one who loves the tree. Lighting up the tree is the first thing Joel will do when he comes home. He just loves to look at it. Makes him feel happy. We are suckers for light. Winters can be especially hard for us light-inspired summer babies. We get through it by turning on lots of lights, drinking way too much hot chocolate and eagerly anticipating summer!

It's always a challenge for me to be content in the holiday season. I enjoy the music, the food, the friendship and family time. But I always feel discouraged by the commercialism and selfishness that is encouraged in our country. I enjoy giving gifts but it is really hard for me to make decisions and I don't like the feeling of having to prove my love through a gift. Family and friends...if you're reading this....I love you very much, even if my gift stinks!

We hope to start creatively making up our own family traditions (in addition to some that we have from our childhoods). This year Joel and I will each be recording our 5 favorite passages about/with Jesus and then sharing one with each other each night leading up to Christmas. Sort of our own advent countdown. This will hopefully help us keep our focus on Jesus and help us get to know each other's hearts a little more! I'm looking forward to it. What Christmas traditions do you have? Any that I can borrow?!

Walkin' in a Turtle Wonderland!

And here they are! The Christmas turtles....

Just a few of the many ideas for Holiday turtles. Thanks to the enthusiasm of a couple of people at the Fitch Craft Fair, these guys are being turned into cards! They wanted a unique and turtle-ly note sent to their family this year! Thanks guys! I'll let you know when the cards are done, I think they're going to be really quite fun!

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

when we strive to overachieve!

After a whirlwind driving tour of New England visiting family for Thanksgiving weekend we jumped headfirst into another busy week without taking a breath. Filled with work, doctor's appointments, work, driving to work, getting ready for another craft fair, driving home from work....well you get the picture. All I can say is, it's a good thing our dog can go 10, 11, sometimes 12 hours in between potty breaks (wow, that's awful) and that we have nothing really expensive to ruin when the cat realizes he's not getting enough attention.

So on the agenda for this weekend....I'll have some collages up starting tomorrow in The Lighthouse Voc-Ed Center Gallery. This is a first time opportunity for me. This exhibit will be up December 5th-29th showcasing various local artists. The open house is Friday the 5th from 12-7pm. Stop by if you have the chance, there's a lot of art to look at and you just might find a special Christmas present for someone!

This Saturday, Dec. 6th I will be at Fitch High School for their Holiday Craft Fair. Stop by if you're in the area!

I have some other surprises I've been working on that I hope will be ready soon! Stay tuned for more.....because I certainly don't know how to stop! I think I should go to bed now....yeah, that's what I'll do....