Getting My Craft On

I am sooo making a Faux Curled Rosewood Wreath!

It will be perfect on my front door right after the Christmas wreath comes down... but my Christmas wreath won't make it's debut until after Thanksgiving this year.  (Thanksgiving, I'm committed to you this year!  No skipping over you, PROMISE!)  And I love the $1 pricetag!  This should make up for the $40 in supplies I spent on my shameless copycat of Meredith's copy (did you ever finish it, Hon?) of Tatertots and Jello's Modern Fall Wreath that was a take off of  Amy Butler's door in Mary Englbreigt Home Companion Christmas Magazine!  (And isn't it so funny how we all learn from each other, but put our own fingerprints on what we do?  I love it!)  But it turned out oh-so-cute, at least I think so!

I'm also making some decorative clipboards.  I've started one for each member of the family to hold our routines and the kids' chore charts.  I chose legal sized clipboards so that some of the decoration could hang down below the papers.  We were pretty well on track with our routines at the beginning of the school year, but having them posted in the kids' rooms made it harder to enforce.  So, the new clipboards will find a home in the laundry room near the kitchen and hopefully will add some new life to structure and routine at our house!

I'll show you their routines and chore charts.  I plan on laminating them and use Vis-a-Vis markers to check them off each week, so we can be just a little greener!

Guess I'd better finish up those two projects before I start working on the other ones floating around in my head.  Oh, that reminds me!  Maybe Justus' "10 Things I Love About You" album arrived in the mail.

I might be crazy, but I'm in it for the helmet...

3.2 Miles plus 11 Insane Obstacles

So, Jeremy and I are on our way to take down the Warrior Dash and by take down, I mean "scratch and crawl our way across the finish line."  If we do that, there will be pictures, because you know me... pics or it never happened.  And the good news is that there is a viking helmet in it for each of us.  I may or may not have been the one who talked him into this, but I think I'm the one who is scared out of my mind now.This thing is insane!  Take a look at the obstacles:
Junkyard Jam - clamber over the rusted wreckage, and by wreckage they mean, old cars
Warrior Wall - conquer the wooden barricade
Hay Fever - hustle up and over giant straw bales
Walk the Plank - traverse the gully on wooden planks
Rio Run - dash down the stream
Cliff Hanger - rappel down the steep ravine
Chaotic Crossover - crawl across the tangled nets
Arachnophobia - thread through the tangling ropes (retrieving toddlers in play places is good training)
Black Forest - forge your way through uncharted forest
Cargo Climb - manuever over the cargo nets
Warrior Roast - leap over the warrior fires
Muddy Mahem - scramble beneath barbed wire as you near the finish

Yeah, I'm gonna die.  It was really nice knowing each and every one of you!

I Need a Break!

A little venting and a little daydreaming... (you've been warned.)

I do love my job.  I work for a wonderful company with wonderful people!  In case you don't know what I do, I work in Corporate Events and Meetings for a major oil company.  Basically, I manage one of our Conference Centers.  It's really great, believe me!  Lately, I've just been tired from the work I do.  Here's why... all my work is scheduled on someone else's schedule.  It's kinda tough.  You're having a party/meeting/conference?  As long as there's room in our building, you're in and we'll do our best to accommodate you.  (By the way, I have a great team!  This is definitely a "we" effort.)  It's constant interruptions with constant needs constantly all year long.  But add the end of the year to that "normal" and it means deadlines, and pay determination, and holiday parties, etc. etc. etc.  Everyone is wrapping everything up and

DRIVING ME CRAZY!

I love them.  I really do.  It's just a lot all at once right now.  By the time I got to work today, I had four fires that had to be put out within the first 15 minutes.

Which, brings me to the daydreaming... my co-workers lifelong BFF is taking her to Cozumel for Christmas/her birthday.  Sounds perfect!

I could go for a spot like this... 

and a waiter, towel on his arm, ready to bring me anything my little heart desires!

Although, at this moment, I'd settle for a day where no one asked me for anything.  Wouldn't that be great?

Time to get back to preparing for tonight's after-hours party and figuring out where I'll squeeze in those two glorious vacation days I've been holding on to, assuming the phone doesn't ring... ;)

Mi Casa Tour: Volume 1, The Living Room

For those who weren't able to stop by for our Open House, I'm going to try my hand at the virtual tour, starting with our Living Room.

This is a view of the front door from the Living Room.  I'll be excited to show you the foyer, but we'll save that for another day!  One of the things I love in this house is the curved archways.

To the left is the Kitchen and Breakfast Area.  The windows at the back look out to the middle of the backyard.

I adore the wood floors in here.  We get compliments on them all the time.  They are pretty rustic looking and quite unique with the black and brown throughout.  The top of the fireplace came with a channel for all the cables for the TV.  Totally perfect for us!



A view of the Living Room from the Breakfast Area in the Kitchen.  The lanterns above the armoir were a fun find at last year's Senior Mission Auction at church.  They were used in the Joseph and The Technicolor Dream Coat production at our church.



One of the coziest spots in the house.  I plan on snuggling up with Jeremy and watching a funny movie in this exact spot this evening.  That sounds like a pretty amazing ending to this manic Monday!