Retail and Holiday Decorating

Ran into the hardware store with Bella for Duck Tape. 

There are a lot of uses for duck tape, like trying to tape a cone back together (cone of shame for a puppy) that "someone" wiggled his way out of and chewed.  We won't mention your name, Pippen.  Don't worry, your secret is safe here.

As we were waiting in line to pay for the tape, I noticed that they have a couple of Thanksgiving decorations out.  Yes, it's September.  And, yes, Halloween is still 6 weeks from now, which makes Thanksgiving 10 weeks from now?

Thanksgiving is usually a holiday that doesn't have much decorations to it.  Some turkeys, pumpkins, cornucopia's.  Small decorations for the inside of your house.  Some retail stores just bypass the holiday all together and go from Halloween to Christmas.  I think Thanksgiving is a forgotten holiday.

Apparently at the hardware store (and possibly other stores) this is not the case.  I found a couple of items that you can put out and light up your front yard for this big November day.

Your very own lighted Turkey

and a Lighted Maple Leaf

So, finish up making your hand turkeys (the ones that you draw an outline of your hand) and head on over to your local hardware store.  These are just perfect for your fall/Thanksgiving outdoor decorating needs. 

Let's bring back Thanksgiving!

Long Island Medium

The other night, right after we finished watching a show we recorded, the TV came on with a new show called, "Long Island Medium."  I don't have an answer about medium's.  I am not one. 

RT and I watched for a few minutes.  The woman was at a reading with a group and said that spirits are always around us (people we knew that passed).

So, of course, RT looked at me and said, "Always around us?"  Which, of course, got us thinking about what you do in a normal day. 

Are they all in the bedroom when you wake up?  Do they sleep on the floor or just stand around waiting for you to wake up?  Do they join you in the bathroom (you knew that was coming)?  I can just hear it  now,
"Here we go again." 
"Weren't we just here a few minutes ago?" 
"Did anyone bring any reading material?" 

How about when you take a shower? 

I walked yesterday and as I was finishing up my walk, I was thinking about this whole medium and that there are spirits with you all of the time.  So, I'm imagining power walking with a trail of these "spirits" following me.  I can hear them saying,

"Can you tell her to slow down?" 
"Loosen her shoelace again, I need to catch my breath." 
"Does she always have to go on these walks?" 
and, finally,
"I'm having a piece of baklava when we get back, who's with me?" 

Calender Organized using Five Star

My calender normally looks like this:

Papers are sticking out from underneath.  Piles of paper near the calender.  If you take the calender, you have to take all of the papers, too.

Not pretty and not functional at all.

I have the color coding system down. (each child is assigned a color) (guess who is pink?)  That's about all I have going for me right now.

In walks the Five Star flexible binder.

I saw this at the store and thought this might work for me.  I know it was designed for the student in mind, but, I feel it's a great organizing tool, especially for a mom.  (I'm not getting paid by Five Star, but, I probably should)

I can customize the cover (to be done at a later date and time).  I took out the extra notebook paper, added my color pocket folders (yes, there's a pink one) and include all of my extra papers (you know, the ones that you need to remind you about something that is happening in a month from now?  But, you have to bring that paper with you so you can't throw the paper out).  Toss in the school calender and you are good to go.

Neat, organized and very easy!
Now to schedule some blogging time...

Mama and Me

I just found this adorable idea on Pinterest.  I'm linking back to the original person's post so you can read a little more. 

I fell in love with this Mama and Me book idea.  What a wonderful way to communicate with your child.  And what a fun memory to have and keep.

This is my first attempt at trying out a pin on Pinterest. 

Yes, I'm on Pinterest.  It can be a little addicting.  Getting lost for hours and hours, looking at everyone's pins. 

Anyway, getting back to my "pin" and project.

Bella and I are pretty close.  She's a momma's girl.  I mentioned a couple of posts ago about the lunch notes and how she loved getting them in her lunch (even though she reads them when she wakes up in the morning).  Sending little notes in her lunch is something I had in mind before she went to school.  The boys were not really into the notes (it wasn't really a big deal for them).  And, now, I think they would be embarassed if they got a note in their lunch from their mom. 

After seeing this idea on Pinterest, I tracked down the blog and searched for the post. 

This is a book of notes between you and your child.  Bella loves to write and is the one I thought would get the most enjoyment out of this idea.  Good practice at writing and a great keepsake.  :)  I thought I would try it and see what happens.

Tools needed?
Composition notebook
printable label*
pretty paper (to decorate cover)
clear contact paper (to protect book) (I used modge podge)

*Click on the above link and you can get your own printable label for the front of your book.

I used Mama Jenn's intro letter

Dear  ____   ,
Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. Does that sound like fun?
I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my bed when you are done.
You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious! Just write about whatever is on your mind! :-)
I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!
Love,
Mom
P.S. Write back soon! :-)

Here are some pictures of my notebook

my modge podge puckered a bit 

I love hearts, so, of course I had to add a heart to this book

I put this on Bella's bed and she was pretty excited. 

I think this is going to be fun!

Bella's Craft Post

Bella sat down and started crafting.  I was impressed with what she did (without any suggestions from me).  This is something I thought of asking her to make (since she loves Mr. Yellow (Newton) and usually draws thousands of pictures of him).

Bella decided to do a mosaic of Newton using yellow squares of construction paper. 

She drew on a few key features so that you can tell that it's a dog.

She also wanted to make sure that I used it as a post on my blog.

So, here is "Newton"  by, Bella

I woke up this morning, looked at the clock and realized that it was 6:30am.  I didn't hear Nick leave for school.  I hope he didn't miss the bus!
So, I jumped out of bed and ran up towards his room.  As I got closer, I realized.....

it's Saturday.

I turned around and got right back into bed.

This is what happens when I finally get some sleep at night. 

It's a snack

It's amazing how much a teenage boy can eat when he walks in from school.
Today it was a huge piece of lasagna, a few pieces of leftover (homemade) pizza, a yogurt and a huge glass of milk.
"Don't worry, I'll still eat dinner."
Not sure if I'm worried about him eating dinner.  Just worried if we are going to have enough food at dinner for the whole family, and for the rest of the week.
I better go plan another trip to Costco.