snapshots

It's Cyber Monday!

Get your {Handmades} here! :)

Recycled Mini Books

 Shameless plug: recycled-upcycled mini books with vintage pages. Perfect for Ali's week in the life project, perfect for a gratitude journal, perfect gifts. :) The Christmas ones would be great for adding recipe cards with holiday recipes or journaling your traditions.

Available here. And here's the one I had fun doing:

 

 

This is why...

I will be spending the afternoon making a few more NieNie Fund Etsy items.  This article says it perfectly. I was one of those 1,000. (Um, except I disagree with the part that says Nie's blog followers are themselves empty. Huh?)

More NieNie love...

I don't know what her voice sounds like. I'm not sure if she wears perfume. I don't know how she laughs. I don't know her mannerisms. I don't share her religion. But, it turns out, I am not the only nut that is deeply impacted and saddened by the accident that has occured to NieNie and her husband, and their pilot friend. The blogging world is strange in that way. Unlike celebrities, bloggers let us into their worlds and feelings and everyday lives. We do get to know them, maybe even better than someone who is next door to them.  And we feel emotion for their pain, joy for their happiness. I think it is good!

On that note, a few more things are listed in my Etsy shop on their behalf. {I think Nienie likes birds. Proof positive.} Check here if you'd like a little reminder to pray for her, and support her cause, and...

Please pray for NieNie & Christian today. :) 

Yo Yo's for NieNie (updated)

Some positive updates on Stephanie and Christian, and their children here.

Not the Etsy update I had planned, but this is even better! If you weren't planning to donate to one of the funds set up for Nienie and family, or, in addition to (even better!) - you can show your love by buying some scrapbooking yo yos. You know you've always wanted some! :)

(Your entire $5 will be passed along to them, I will handle the shipping and listing/paypal fees myself).

Please pray for  Stephanie & Christian and family today.

UPDATED: I am almost sold out of yo-yo's. That was the best $100 (so far!) that I have ever made. The blogging community is awesome! Mady and I are going towork diligently into the night making some sweet 'prayer bracelets' to sell on Etsy to continue to build up this fund. Check back! (Again, we will cover the cost of materials, shipping, and paypal/etsy fees for the bracelets). 

green wrap-slash-torture

 A milestone birthday is coming up around here.   ....and I love to torture my kids by setting their gifts out days ahead of time. :)

100% recycled &  99% compostable gift wrap: newspaper from the bin, free raffia scored at a garage sale, and yo-yos made of recycled bits.

Oh Happy Day (aka: the longest post evah)

I get such delight in the details, sometimes! Today was a great day for me, in that aspect. Let me tell you...

a. Mady and I received our parcel from Sophia'sFlowers (etsy shop). We ordered two very adorable pens. Mine has a sweet bird on top, wrapped in satin ribbon, and Mady's is a white flower, click pen. But then there was an extra pen for Mady included, with a gorgeous orange peony, with her favorite color (green) ink and ribbon! Sophia has a wonderful shop, she is very talented. And she is my cute cousin, too. :)

b. I ran out of coffee this morning. Had to use a mix of half decaf to make enough for a cup. So this afternoon I was getting a wee little headache (yes! addict, I know!).  I headed to the supermarket for some more compost and a latte. The happy part -  on the counter at Starbucks, was a little pail of free samples of coffee beans! Serious delight! AND to top it off, the barista had an extra shot of espresso, and added it to my coffee at no charge. Those little things are true happiness! I get so excited about great customer service, I really do!

c. Jenson was up vomitting during the night. That part, not delightful. But today, he has been fine, and that part is, in fact, extremely delightful, to both Jenson and I! I am wondering if he ate something that didn't agree.

d. Kelly McCaleb is square foot gardening too! Yay, a whole group to learn from! The kids and I have been working on it, and have one box almost complete, two to go. I was dragging my feet on getting it going (all the bursts of snow weren't all that encouraging either!), but now I have renewed energy for it! Go to Kelly's blog is you want to Garden-Along!

e. Great Wolf Lodge. It would be about time that I told you about that! (It was quite nice, although it was over a week ago.) If you go, here are our tips: bring a husband type. I did it with just the kids and I while Frank stayed home to work. It was fine, but another adult would have been even better as far as logistics of waterpark go. The website is nice becuase you can easily see the rates of each day, midweek versus weekend, etc. We went at the cheapest time, a Monday, and stayed in the low-budget room, the Family Suite. I wouldn't have changed that. There are more expensive rooms with bunk beds and separate TV's for the kids, but we were there to get away from TV and separateness anyway! All the rooms are brand new, and I thought it was fine. There was a fridge and microwave, so I highly advise you to take at least your own breakfast if you want to cut your costs a little. The buffett restaurant was expensive, but it was good. You are somewhat a captive audience once you get there. It is in the middle of nowhere, plus you don't want to keep changing your clothes and drying your hair to leave the lodge. My kids did loads of chores before we went, and earned spending money for the arcade and souvenirs too, and they had fun playing skee ball and air hockey. :) As for the waterpark, it was fantastic! Very clean, and no floating band-aids that I saw. (My worst pet-peeve gross thing!) I think our favorite part was the wave pool. And that it was so warm. I only did the waterslides a couple of times myself, because I had to stay with Keston, who was too short/scared for them. There was a little kids area that she really liked. In this photo, you can see the spot where a giant bucket of water tips every ten minutes. That was fun.

Here are scenes from the wave pool. (I had already gotten dressed at this point and was watching them from above). It is a nice gradual deepening, like a beach.

Very Important Tip: At first, when we got in the wave pool, I thought it was going to be too torturous to Keston. The waves were nuts, slapping into us, and going in her eyes. If you are big, that is pretty fun. But if you are little, or have a little person on your lap, just go out into the deeper area, and the waves are much calmer, and very fun for the little peeps.

Here's the little kids' area:

And here are a few, just random overview shots. Oh, and Flat Stanley. And other random things... (No diving, Stanley!)

Ok, I realize this is getting borderline torturous. Like watching someone's vacation slides. But don't you like to know what to expect? Well, that's it. Fun place. And that is all for my happy day. :)

I've got nothing.

I so wish I had something exciting to blog about, I really do. But all I have is this. Someone should have mentioned how addicting and messy it is.

A Winner and an Etsy Shop!

Wow! Thanks for all the comments! My Etsy Shop is open... with more things still being added this weekend. My favorite is the applique kit. I love making sweet little handmade baby gifts, and this kit is perfect for that, plus the baby will be super stylish, and you get to be crafty too! Click here or on the sidebar to check out the little shop. :)

And, drumroll ......

I put mady in charge of picking the winner. She had a system. She picked her top five favorite comments, then drew from a jar of those five. I'd have to say that was a great idea! And, very legitimately, my Auntie Druann wins the prizes! I have a hunch she'll pick the Everyday Foods subscription. What Etsy stuff do you suppose, though?

Thaks again for all the nice comments. Etsy is very simple to order from. Just set up a 'user account' (easy to do), and it will accept Paypal or a personal check. I've set it to have FREE SHIPPING through Sunday. (If you are local, it will always be free.) Enjoy!