It's official...I'm saucy!

Remember when I won this from those fabulous SITS girls? Well, guess what was waiting in the mail yesterday?

My picture doesn't begin to do justice to this beautiful hand stamped piece. Here's a better shot, used with Kristen's permission of course):

I could not wait to wear it, and let the world know "hey, there's a saucy lady!" I think I accomplished just that :)

If you want to be saucy too, be sure to visit Kristen's store and get your self a little happy day to me gift. She has some incredible pieces that would be great Christmas gifts! Kristen- I smiled all day wearing this necklace... Thanks for donating it for blogathon day!

Drug Free?

I wish I could say I'm doing this for the kids, but I jump all over theme days for my own enjoyment. Today was mismatch day, but I renamed it "drugs are tacky and so am I" day. Here's my look (and you can blame the pint sized photographer for cutting off my head)


Because if you can't have drugs, you might as well have spirit(s)!

And not to be outdone, here's how the young un went to school for crazy hair day:

*Funny story about the hair spray color. When we leave home in the morning it's still dark. The hair color was done outside right before we hopped in the car to minimize the mess. I sprayed enough color for me to see it in the streetlight and gave the young un strict instructions not to touch his hair, or to lean his head against the seat. About five minutes into the ride I hear him ask from the back seat "What if it drips?" When I finally got enough light to see him he had bright green drips right down the center of his face rolling off his nose! And purple running down his neck. He looked like the Joker on some crazy rampage. I couldn't stop crying to take a picture of it, and was trying not to laugh directly at him. Needless to say we made a pit stop at the gas station restroom to clean up. Moral of this story- don't put hair color on by streetlight.

A little too much crazy going around.

Today was crazy sock day because I'm socking it to drugs. Tomorrow is mismatch day because drugs and I don't match. At the young un's school today was crazy hat day and tomorrow is crazy hair day. I like the use of crazy to describe how we are drug-free :0 I also find irony in the fact that during drug-free week the teachers have 27 other things to be responsible for. This is the one week we would actually start to think about drug use :)

Here's a couple of shots from today's baby shower. It kept me on a sugar rush for about 2 hours.

Cupcakes and Crazy Socks

Mondays are not my friend. All I can do is think of all the stuff I need to accomplish by the end of the week. Usually by 2 hours into the day I have reached the point of saturation. Seriously. This week is jam packed as usual, but, it's the the appeal of theme days that are allowing me to keep calm and carry on. That and the promise of a rocking baby shower I'm helping host tomorrow. I tried my hand at mini cupcakes (my first baking experience since graduation from the Wilton Course). Don't they look delicious?! And it's the first outing for my handy dandy cupcake carrier too.

I found so many inspirations for party hostessing in the blogosphere, hopefully mine will do them justice. Will post the party pics tomorrow!

Tomorrow is also crazy sock day. I found the absolute perfect pair (even though they do cover up my pretty blue polish). The young un gave them the crazy sock stamp of approval, though he had to be convinced they were not gloves.

I did it.

After looking at my schedule for the next few weeks, I decided today was the day.

You should too. Early voting ends Oct 31st!

Blah Blah Blah

It's October. Burn-out time. Both mentally & physically. At work and at home. The newness of the school year has worn off, and the demands have increased. The weather starts to change ( a few degrees each week) and so do the allergens. It's a no win situation.

The start of the month brings so much promise: pumpkins, baseball playoffs and candy corn. The high fructose corn syrup high alone is enough to inspire countless Halloween crafts that require a scouring of the dollar store bins for just the right diamond in the rough project.

Then mid month rolls around and the candy corn runs out. And you can't buy anymore because you threatened your child with the "once it's gone I'm not buying anymore" speech. That's when you realize that you have grades to enter. And an end of season baseball party to plan. And that baby shower for a co-worker. You wake up one morning to find you have to reach for your inhaler before you get out of bed, and pop cough drops just to make it through the day. The nights get shorter and the days get longer. Christmas items replace the Halloween specials, and you realize you still haven't sent those cards you made last Halloween. Your "day" doesn't end until 9:30 or 10:00, and then you still have laundry/dinner/homework to check. Never mind that it's been a week since you've updated your blog or had time to visit your neighbor's. Oh and did you know it's only 60 days till Christmas? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

I wish I knew it would slow down, but it's not going to. I just keep burning through it with everything I've got, cause I don't know any other way to do it. But hey, at least I've got pretty toes.

A little more spookiness

In the past 4 days I've driven 600 miles, cleaned 3 bathrooms, washed 5 loads of laundry, listened to the NKOTB cassette 14 times, attended 4 baseball games and crafted 3 more Halloween treats. I think I may actually be through decorating by the time Halloween gets here!

Here's my latest batch of crafty goodness. Aren't those white pumpkins just perfect on my candlesticks?

I love these little spooky eye votives. I found the idea in Family Fun Magazine. A little construction paper, a hole punch, some mod podge and presto! Find the directions here.Hobby Lobby had ribbon and wood crafts for 50% off, so I found a reason to buy.

Pay no attention to the dirtiness of the siding :) I think it makes it spookier...
I had plenty of frames left from the garage sale, so I grabbed scrapbook paper, stickers and some ribbon to make these fun little treats. I love the black cat print!

A whole lotta busy...

Wow! Didn't realize it had been that long since I blogged. Please forgive me. There's been a lot of this.

And a little of this.

Oh and can't forget about that.

I promise to make it all up to you. Tomorrow :)

If I could be someone else...

I found this in my un-freakin-believable journey through the blogosphere yesterday. (Ashley.Unscripted) I'm still basking in the glow of comments/vistors and can't get my brain (or fingers) to compose anything of interest, so I'll just go with this:

MY GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of your first name plus “izzle”)

Julizzle (My album drops next month yo)

MY DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Turquoise Penguin (not sure if that's going to work in the yellow pages ad.)

MY SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, name of one of your pets)

Diane Loki (that sounds like a TV reporter)

MY SUPERHERO NAME: (“The” plus 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

The Black Screwdriver (my secret hideout would obviously be Home Depot)

MY NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

J.R. William (we have a lot of initials in the family)

MY WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )

Pearl Martin (sorry mom, but that's the rules)

MY SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)

Summer Daisy (I think maybe that's my hippie name...)

And because I can't go three posts with no picture:

Over too soon

Wow! My eyes are screaming right now. I think I've read/visited more blogs in the past 12 hours than I have in the 6 months I've had my blog! But what fun it was to meet new SITS-tahs and share the comment love. I even found time to teach 5 classes in between :) My fingers lost feeling a couple of hours back, and were it not for spellcheck, I wouldn't be able to type coherently anymore. So thank you for stopping by, and I promise to visit as soon as I can blink again. So excited about all the new blogs to visit...

Blogathon

I am a relative newcomer to the blogging world. I started this blog in June as a way to keep our out-of state family (i.e. everyone) current on our "goings ons". Through the blog world I've been able to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and just be in awe at what people create with 5 minutes free time. One of the sites that has helped me find my way is SITS. That's Secret is in the Sauce, a blog dedicated to recognizing and supporting bloggers. Each day they have a feature blog and link you up to some of their favorite posts, and throughout the week they have various giveaways from some amazing sponsors. You visit the blog and leave some comment love. Because nothing is sadder than a post without comments. It makes me sad to see "0 folks are keeping up". But with SITS, whenever you see the button, you comment away, and make sure to visit all your vistors' blogs. Do you see the bloggy chain of love this creates? I've stumbled into many a blog by way of SITS, but here are my top 5 finds:

1. Heather @ Mindless Junque. She's one of the founders of SITS and I love her quirky observations on life (and her fireside chats).
2. Kat @ Mama's Losin' It. Hi.lar.i.ous. I laugh out loud when reading her blog. She has such a fun and entertaining family, and they are all fair game. And her header alone makes it worth it.
3. Cherry @ Cherry's Jubilee This is where I go to drool. She has such cool and eclectic decor and I have attempted to re-create several things without success.
4. Emily @ Little Momma and Co. Wow! This momma does it all, from cooking, to painting, to sculpting clay jack-o-lanterns, I am worn out just reading through her blog. She has such a fun style. I love her blog layout!
5. Tricia @ Fabulous since 1961. Tricia has such sincere and funny posts. even the most routine thing takes on a whole different flavor when she blogs about it. Her family is sweet and she shares both the the good and bad times they've had.



So thank you SITS! Have a fabulous blogathon day!

Fabulous fun finds

While "taking it easy" on this holiday weekend, I've had ample time to explore the wonderful world of etsy, and handmade items. How excited was I to find a blog dedicated to fabulous fun finds! And even better, they're having a giveaway! 44 wonderful, amazingly creative handmade items, just in time for the holidays. Go check it out .

Frightful and delightful

Columbus Day weekend usually means one thing: a trip to visit Big Tex and all the fried deliciousness that is the Texas State fair. I mean how often can you try crispy fried cantaloupe pie, fried moon pies, fried cake on a stick, fried banana splits, and chicken fried bacon. But, the broken toe from yesterday has made a trip to the fair but a dream. Instead, I treated myself to the Hershey's dunkers from Pizza Hut while working on Halloween decorations :)

Paper Dolls for Boys had some creepy looking specimen jars. The young un and I tried our hand at a few creepy concoctions:

I found some unfinished frames at Hobby Lobby and always have plenty of scrapbook paper begging to be used:

Just a Girl had some fun (and glittery) Halloween inspiration. I didn't have the patience to do all the bones, so I just chose a skull:

I know I have more decorations somewhere in storage, but this is a start. I have one more project to finish up, but just can't seem to get it to turn out how exactly how I want. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it right...

Word of the Day

accident prone (ak-si-duhnt-prohn)

adjective. tending to have more accidents or mishaps than the average person. Example: Breaking your little toe on the strap of your child's crocs.




*** Here's the breakdown: Young un was walking backwards. I turned him around. As he turned, he stepped on my foot. I jerked said foot away, but the poor little piggie got stuck in the strap and snapped. I can assure you that it did not weee weee weeee all the way home.***

Is it just me, or is everyone a bit on the tense side?

Honestly, I don't know of a time in my teaching career when I wasn't stressed (ok maybe there was a week or two at the end of June). Add to that the chaos of an Election year, the current economic fiasco, the storage building search for fall decorations, the aftermath of a garage sale still lingering in my garage, and the end of fall baseball, it's a wonder I even remember where I live most days. A girl needs someway to work out this frustration, even when surrounded by 120 middle schoolers. My solution:

Click here for your own bubble wrap! (But be careful with your volume!)

Giveaway Winner

And the winner is:

Lisa of the flimfam!
Congrats Lisa... I hope you'll enjoy the season 2 DVD and your special surprise! Thanks to everyone that entered. You are gonna love this season :)

I heart Trade Days

If it's the first Monday of the month, we must be rummaging through the yummy-ness that is Canton. Why do I love Canton?

Because it's a little bit

And a little bit



This time of year it can be a little


Since it's outdoors, sometimes it can get a little


Not to mention



At the end of the day our cart was




And we were ready to rest our

A little Fall for you

While I just couldn't bring myself to go all out in September, now that our daytime temps have dipped into the low 90s, I'll give in. But mind you, it's a slow transition. I have seen so many beautiful wreaths on blogs (like here and here) and on etsy (here) that I decided it was time to try my hand. A little hot glue gun, a little fake fall foliage, and one bird later, I have a cute little taste of autumn on my door.