A witch lives here with her monsters!

My friend Elizabeth made this for me for my birthday. She scrapped it in a floating frame. I love, love, love to decorate for Halloween. It was a perfect present.

Thank you Elizabeth!

You can see a picture of Elizabeth and I with this spooky house at the Scrapaganza blog http://www.scrapaganzaonline.blogspot.com/

Boo!

Have you ever wanted to have a picture of your child's face when you jump out from around a corner and scare her? I did and now I do. {giggle}

Paralyzed

I'm just here to ramble...

Gene and I talk every once in a while about how much we miss each other. It is hard to describe. We both agree that it can be paralyzing.

I grieve the days because they aren't like they are supposed to be. I am tired. The day to day activities aren't bad... I have gotten used to that... but the emotional exhaustion doesn't end.

I pray that the deployments don't hurt my children emotionally. Am I able to be the parent they need?

Do they know how much their Dad misses them? How it must be so difficult for him to miss the simple things in life like both of them having their front teeth gone at the same time, tucking them in bed, or being at parent teacher conferences.

I wish I was stronger and didn't let things like holidays and birthdays bring me down. Thinking about how much I miss Gene and thinking about things like this can be paralyzing.

I am working really hard at adopting a new frame of mind... only positive. Well, only positive went out the window today.

Tomorrow I'll wake up and thank God for another day. I'll be thankful that Gene is a soldier. We have a beautiful little home with great neighbors. We have been able to see a lot of the United States. My husband has a career that he can be proud of ... we are proud of him.

Tomorrow I will lift up my children and give them only positive attention and love. Tonight, I am paralyzed.

making learning pretty

My light bulb came on!

I can make a cute chip board book with Greta's high-frequency words.

Greta loves girly, frilly, pretty things but she doesn't love sitting down to learn her high-frequency words. So far, so good. She has already studied her words and enjoyed everything in the book.

Here are some pics of the book. I left a couple of pages blank in the back for additional work... maybe math facts.

Halloween Ribbon Wreath

You know those green plastic ring thingys that come on potted Mums? I think they are meant to keep them standing upright and not drooping when they grow too big. I always thought they would be useful for something, so I saved a few from last years Mums.

Viola! One of them became part of my Halloween decorations.

Here's how:

I cut the middle out of the ring thingy.

Then I cut and melted the ends of ribbon from approximately four spools -each piece was about seven inches and I had more than I could count.

After that, I tied them on and scrunch them together.

BTW - that's not a real crow, just part of my Halloween fun.

Great Friends

As we move from place to place during our Army career we are lucky enough to make some life long friends. Some of those friends become adopted family... by choice! This past week our wonderful friends/adopted family from Kansas came to visit.

It was a wonderful visit. It was like we hadn't been away for a couple of years. There wasn't any uncomfortable moments or tension. Just laughs and love. I can't tell you how good it felt to have Margaret and Larry make the trip from Kansas to here. We seldom get visitors. It is the plight of the military family. So, when we do get a visitor it makes us feel special. During the visit I kept on thinking "they love us, they really love us."

The girls ate up the undivided attention. Every little thing they did was gushed over. The individual piano recitals, the books being read, and the little hands being held by adoptive grandparents.

Gigi doesn't do well with goodbyes and usually tries to high-tail it out of the whole uncomfortable business. She barely hugged Margaret and Larry when we left the hotel. When we started pulling out of the hotel parking lot I heard Gigi's small sad voice say "I'm going to miss them." Me too.

But then the girls and I went and ate cheeseburgers and felt so much better. {giggle}

As promised...

here is a pic of the tote that was made with a repurposed $2 curtain from Goodwill and a freebie bag.

Reduce Reuse Recycle Totes

This one wasn't my genius idea. I found it on another blog but I still want to share the outcome. It is such a great way to add some spice to your freebies.

Take one of your plain old totes that you get for free. I didn't have one on hand because I used to send mine to Goodwill, but not any longer. So, I asked my neighbor if she had one that she wouldn't care if I messed it up. I wasn't sure how this experiment would turn out.

You measure the width and height of your freebie tote. Turn your tote inside out (it will become the liner) and sew the new cover on the outside. My measurements were a bit fluid but after a nip and tuck here and a well placed pleat, it worked out.

I did return it to its rightful owner. Now I am making some for myself. I will post another one that I made from material that I found in Goodwill. By material, I mean a curtain I bought for $2 and cut apart.

These are so easy and adorable. Plus, we are really trying to be more environmentally aware so it feels good to make something useful out of something I might not keep around.

When I Bite It

When I die I know my kids will be well taken care of... or that is their plan.

On the drive home from church tonight we were talking about our neighbors. Now, let me define neighbor better. In this case it means: the family you can always count on, friends, people to model and admire, always opens the door when I knock even if I have invited myself over... they also know that my kids will soon follow no matter how many times I told them to stay at home because I would only be a minute.

Back to gossiping about the neighbors...

My beloved children who love me more than grilled cheese and birthday cake said:

Kids: We have two sets of parents.

Me: No, you only have one set of parents, Daddy and I.

Kids: Well, if you die Jamie and Tod will take care of us.

Me: laughing and thinking we'll see about that

It comforts me that my girls have adults that they trust with their lives.

It saddens me that their Dad is gone so much with the Army that they forget that he would be the one to take care of them if I meet my maker.

It sorta concerns me that they have a plan in place.

Hmmmm, I will certainly be saying my prayers tonight and it's a good thing I am a light sleeper.

Sherry trivia: First: I refuse to call my girls sleeping angels when I check on them at night... I don't want to jinx myself.

Second: Each night I thank God for allowing me another day to raise them, knowing that they are really His.

Gotta Have It

So, I saw this on another blog... there are so many creative blogs out there. This book looks so cool and I have blog envy.
Is "cool" still a cool word?
I think on average I have to go back to a post to correct a typing or spelling error three times.
Just a bit of Sherry Trivia.