$ Dollar Store *LOVE*

The $ store and I have a love/hate relationship! Sometimes I love what I find, but often the lack of any type of quality drives me crazy. I love to be frugal, but not cheap. Buy less and buy quality is what I'd rather do.

That being said... I found a few treasures yesterday to share with you.


Just for fun... kids sized bowls that I used on a runner down the table. The kids think they should be filled with candy... I'm not so sure! Maybe pumpkin seeds and nuts? I think today I'll have them filled with their after-school snack.

Adding an unexpected Pop... I had marbles and clear "disks" surrounding my candles, but I found these mini pumpkins and acorns. While they are plastic and a bit "cheesy" I think they added great color and texture to this decoration.


Just because I wanted them... I've wanted new wine glasses for awhile and couldn't force myself to splurge. Then I saw these last week and I've been thinking about them. I ended up bringing home 6 of them for $6), ran them through the dishwasher and hung them up. I love them! They are nice and heavy and tall... perfect. Would I love something fancier... maybe someday. But these glasses won't cause me any heartache when they get hit by a football (it will happen in my house) or dropped on the granite counter.


Happy Wednesday!

The Party

For 8 years I've thrown Joe's work Christmas party in our home. I'm ALWAYS amazed that I can get it all pulled together. Here is it looking pretty...


The disaster before... does this happen to you? I was stunned by the mess as I pulled out all of the boxes. The kids had so much fun put everything out. I rearranged a little bit, but they did a great job, so I really didn't have to do much.


Beginning to decorate the tree.



As I was wrapping the stairs with the garland and very frustrated, I decided to wrap the bottom of the spindles instead of the top. What a brilliant moment... so much easier and now we can still hang on to the railing as we come down the stairs.

One of my favorite wreaths that I had to "steal" last year during our annual gift exchange... it was so worth it!



My little artificial group of trees... sometimes I add small ornaments, but this year they are adorned with ribbon.



The green room set up for the party. We had a smaller group this year, so I was able to leave the couch in the room for the first time ever.



The tables were set very simply with white table cloths with an overlay of gold toole... just to give it interest. Usually, I bunch up the toole down the tables, but Joe always feels like he has fabric in his food... so we went with simple. My awesome teaching partner wrapped all of the brown boxes for me and tied all of the ribbons. I had them scattered on the tables and around the room... the PERFECT touch!

Merry Christmas
Our self portrait near the end of the evening!

Traditions of Ornaments

I saw on this blog an explanation about their ornaments. I loved it. We all get to enjoy our ornaments and remember the stories behind each one. I remember which ornament "Spencer" gave me as his third grade teacher, and "Kacy" as a friend as well as the oldies from mom. Here is a small assortment of our ornaments.

From my childhood. As many of you have shared, my mom gave me an ornament each year with the thought that when I moved away from home I would have a small collection to get me started. I have many angels.


My mom also, for many years, painted each of us an ornament.

We are big Packer fans at this house (as well as Favre fans). I need a new ornament with a Jets jersey.

For the last couple of years we have made these simple clear ball ornaments. The kids choose paint and drip it inside the ornament to cover the entire surface. They turn out great every time!

An ornament representing Joe and I as a couple... again from Mom.

Do your ornaments have meaning behind them?

I'm Back

What a week it turned out to be. My hope to document my 7 days to Party soon faded (as you can see) with the business of the week. By Wednesday, I was in full speed ahead. I managed to get everything done including:
basketball practice x3
swim team practice x2
homework
set the 5 tables
clean off every surface
field trip
doctor's appt.
wrote 3 short papers
speech assessment
Christmas luncheon
2 school conferences
3 days of early release
oh, and Joe was out of town for 3 days...

I did miss my last Simply Living book class; which completely bummed me out as well as a couple of other things.

We had a very successful party. I forgot to take pictures... next year.

Saturday morning we had breakfast on the Polar Express. Not the real Polar Express, but our version at the church... very fun... a ton of work... but fun! With all of my other commitments for the week, I was not able to help as much as I had originally planned. For that, I felt guilty. The guys and gals did a great job.

And now... we clean and tidy and prepare for Christmas!

The Poinsettias have arrived!

We get poinsettias each year for everyone at the party. For the last two years I've ordered them from the preschool and they are fabulous! I have 18 this year... so pretty.

Decorating Continues

My view this morning... lit trees always look distorted, but it is beautiful. The top of the tree is hidden by the doorway and the picture isn't composed well, but it is my memory. The other memory of the tree that I want to keep this year is of my children decorating it. They worked and worked and worked. Especially my oldest. He was reminding the other two to 'spread out the ornaments... they can't just be in one spot'. He stopped many times throughout the day to add more ornaments... I loved it when I heard him singing Christmas songs as he worked.

The Countdown... I have three advent calendars this year as I have three children. I'm all for taking turns, but this only happens once a year. Below is the Santa. Someone moves the star each day and places it in the pocket. No candy or treats just the joy of moving the star.

Not pictured is a basket of wrapped books. The kids can tell that they are books as they are really smart and well, they look like wrapped books. The books are all about some aspect of Christmas and all but three of them are from their book box. Someone will unwrap a book each day.

Third... I'm not sure what to call this... maybe the word jar?... it is inspired from the Simple Wife. It is also inspired from this book. Someone will pull a tag out of the tin (not pictured) and clip it into the "fancy" clip below (an awesome, simple craft from out Simply Living book club). I'll post another picture after the kids wake up and put a tag in it.

Suddenly, I've acquired many nativity scenes; which I love. We've been married for 11 years, so I guess this just happens over time. The bigger one on the left is from one of my students 3 years ago... we all love it. I should take close-up pictures of them... I wonder if anyone has a nativity "parade" on the internet?

The advent wreath, hanging from the dining room chandelier... oops, I forgot the candles.

The stairs wrapped with garland, lights and ribbons... always a daunting task, except this year... I found these great hooks... I used to use wire... what a pain. These hooks are totally worth it! I forgot to take a picture of them... I will take a photo and post later.

An almost empty green room to make way for the tables.

My couch and bar stools in the garage. Just for the week... the suburban has been left out in the cold.

7 days to PARTY!

Friday morning began and so did Christmas transformation! This is the 7th year that we will host Joe's work Christmas party. Because I've done this before I think... no big deal. And then I get out my lists and look at all of the decorating to be done and I think AAAAAAAGH! How will I ever accomplish all of this?!?!?!?!?!

Boxes to be unpacked.
Joe brings home the tree.
2 trips to Fred Meyer and 6 strands of lights later the tree is lit.
Baby girl helps.
Phinneous helps.
Pepe helps.
It's finished... well, almost. I ran out of ornament hooks and my skinny red garland isn't quite long enough... back to Fred's.
Ah... it really is 9 1/2' tall... Joe is 6'5"... it's a tall tree (and it was a steal... $35)

Giving Thanks & a Birthday!

Paint Day!

This week, the big guy, is home from work. While the kids and I still have 2 days of school this week, he will paint the kitchen and family room... which will then complete the kitchen remodel (well, except the three new lights I want ).

Here are the colors: From barn red and straw yellow (not pictured) to Macadamia Nut and Latte. The kitchen will be Macadamia Nut. The family room has a chair rail... the top half was straw yellow, but will now be continued with the Macadamia nut. The bottom half will be latte. So excited!

In the Patch in Black and White

Proudly, I put away the remains of the kitchen remodel... the table in the living room is gone! Of course, that means it's time to do a little redecorating. I committed to myself, from our Living Simply book group this week, that the living room would transform to my quiet space. My space for reading, studying, being. The space is beautiful and, sadly, never used.

I am a visual person and have learned that I am a very kinesthetic learner, therefore, I need a visual... something to inspire me.

Aagh, beauty. Three things that make me happy; a picture of the boys very little in the Tulip Garden, the pitcher purchased on vacation in WI and carried home on the airplane and my inspirational pumpkin. It looks wonderful... I took this picture for my month of Black and White photos... as I look at it I see all of the little details... but something is missing...

... warmth. I need warmth and color in my life. My kids, my busy, my commitments... my walks with my son, a snuggle and a movie with baby girl, a basketball game with the other son, the hustle and bustle. I need the warmth of my life.

What warms you? What inspires you. This will serve as my inspiration during this season of my life.

Granite is in!

Finally... the granite is in! J worked hard all weekend tearing out the tiles, finding the glue-covered-over screws and ripping out the counter. We are so happy with it... can you find the lobster? How fun is that!?!?!??! Next up, PLUMB THE SINK! I am doing dishes in the laundry room... bleck!



FYI... The color in the above picture is more true, below is too yellow.

Oh.. it's going to be gorgeous!

The workers are gone. The color of the stain is perfect... the kitchen will be gorgeous. Try to imagine this with doors... they will be up next week. I'm giddy with excitement!





Keep in mind that the wall color will change and we still have granite to install. To see the old kitchen either scroll down or look over at the right for the post titled "A Minor Remodel... yeah right!" and click on it.

What a mess!

The kitchen project continues. Four guys have been here all day staining the structure of our cabinets. They will take the doors and drawer fronts to their shop to finish. I had to take everything out of the drawers and since we had a dishwasher leak and a new cabinet built I already had a couple cabinets empty. The rest of them remained full and they taped them off with plastic.

A minor remodel -- yeah right!

The big new is that yesterday we chose our granite. This is a close representation of what we've gone with... color!

Prepping to rip out one cabinet.

Assessing...
Hmm... bye-bye cabinet.

Even better... bye-bye small, white tiles!

More pictures later. We now have a new cabinet in place with a new stove/oven... Yes, I have double ovens now. The original in the wall and a new one here.