My Christmas Craft Project

I recently completed a project inspired by an idea from Jessica Sprague.  I wanted to do something crafty and homemade for Christmas, and this is what I ended up with!

I started by painting some terra cotta pots a deep red color.

After they dried, a put a clearcoat on them, which had red glitter in it.  Who doesn't like glittery Christmas decorations?!

I cut Christmas scrapbooking paper into strips, and started layering the strips around the trees, according to color/pattern.

To assemble the trees, I pained wooden dowels a dark brown, for the trunks.  I placed rocks in the bottomof each pot, because the trees themselves are a little top-heavy.  I put Styrofoam in each of the pots, and covered with artificial moss over the Styrofoam.  Then I just jabbed the dowel into the tree Styrofoam and the pot Styrofoam.

I finished by putting silver bows on the top of each of the trees.  I ended up with 5 trees in varying heights.

These trees are by no means perfect or professional looking, and I like that.  They are uneven, maybe a little crooked, but they are mine.  And I love them!

So Behind Schedule!

I have seriously been slacking lately!  I have so many projects and photos I want to post, but I just can't seem to find the time!  Here is brief rundown of (hopefully!) the posts to come this week:

• My Christmas craft project
• My beignet recipe
• Our recent Leavenworth trip
  
• Our friends' wedding
• Josh's trip to Wyoming
• My Christmas cooking plan/recipes
• My grandma's 75th birthday
• A special blog I think everyone should follow
  

As you can see, I have much to do!  I am going into work late tomorrow, and getting off early today, so hopefully I will be able to get things checked off my list! 

Be on the lookout for many posts soon!

Unfinished Projects and a Hunting Trip

Josh, his uncle, and his 10-year-old cousin Jack left at 4:30 AM today to head to Wyoming!  They going on a big, week long hunting trip every year, and this is the first year that Jack has been able to go.  He was so excited!!  I made cookies last night for the boys to snack on, and Josh took my old point-and-shoot camera and my Garmin GPS with him.  Josh called around 8 AM, and said they made it to Ellensburg, but that they had a flat tire.  The tire place they went to didn't have the exact tire they needed, so they put a used, similar tire on that would allow them to make it to Moses Lake to get the right tire.  Guess what?  Moses Lake didn't have the right tire either!  So, they ended up with a comprable tire that will make it through their trip.  And, as of 12:30 PM, they were 20 minutes from the Montana border!  They are hoping to make it to Billings, MT tonight, sleep for a few hours in the truck, and then head to Hulett, WY.  This is the nearest town to where they will be hunting.  Hopefully, nothing else goes wrong along the way!!

My to-do list is growing.  Quickly.  I seem to have undertaken several projects lately, and have finished none of them. 

• Reading 8 books at once.
• Doing a Bible study
• Doing 2 Christmas craft projects
• Doing a Thanksgiving craft project
• Editing photos from 2 separate occasions
• Finding recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas
• School applications
• Christmas shopping!
• Working towards my fitness/weight loss goal
  

I feel as though I can't stay caught up on any of them!  With Josh being gone for a week, I'm hoping to finish at least some of them. I'll be posting later tonight on the progress of at least of my projects that I'm so excited to share with you!!

Goodbye for now,

Holidays in Hand: Assignments 1 & 2

I recently signed up for an online class offered by Jessica Sprague entitled "Holidays in Hands".  This class focuses on the holiday season, and creating a project that you can use to capture memories.  This is the first class of this type that I've ever taken, and I'm very excited for it!

I will be using my blog to do my class assignments, and to post some of my project!

It seems like the holiday season has snuck up on us all of a sudden; it was nice and warm and still summer, and instantly its fall/almost winter!  My red holiday Starbucks cup sitting next to me bears witness to this fact.

Here is Assignment 1:
Write you values and goals.

My goals for this holiday season are:

• to continue already established holiday traditions
• to start new traditions with my new family members (the Davis')
• to be able to attend church services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (the weather last year prevented me from making it)
• to have Josh attend those services with me
• to spend time helping those less fortunate than me to have a memorable holiday season

So, I will be working towards these goals for the next 6 weeks or so.  My progress will be documented in my project!

And now for Assignment 2:
Commit.

I am committing to spend at least 20 minutes per day in December either recording/writing/photographing/savoring/printing/gluing/scrapbooking/remembering/slowing down.  That is a big challenge to me!  Especially since I blogged yesterday about my lack of time management skills.  But this project is important to me, and so I hope to give it importance on my priority list.

I will either be posting the next assignment's blog later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I'm excited to share with all of you!!

Prioritizing, Organizing, Deligating, and Time Managing

I have a large problem with managing my time properly.  There are so many things that I want to cram into my day, but I seem to be incapable of prioritizing my time well enough to actually do it all.  Here is a brief rundown of all my goals for the day:

1. Workout (1.5 hours)
   
2. Pray (30 min.)
   
3. Laundry (30 min.)
   
4. Tidy up my room/bathroom (30 min.)
   
5. Bible study (45 min.)
   
6. Prepare my lunch for following day (10 min.)
   
7. Pay bills/sort mail (10 min.)
   
8. Edit photos/take photos/do photo projects (1 hour)
   
9. Spend time with Josh and my family (as much as I can!)

In my head, I know that I can accomplish much of what I want to if I just push myself.  Here is what my schedule should be like:

5:00 AM - Wake up when Josh leaves.
5:15 AM - 5:45 AM - Pray
5:45 AM - 7:15 AM - Work out
7:15 AM - 8:00 AM - Get ready for work
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM - Work
6:00 PM - Bedtime - Whatever comes up/needs done

This schedule would allow me to use my evenings to accomplish things from my list such as photography, paying bills, cleaning, etc.  However, what really happens is that after Josh leaves, I either go back to sleep or just lounge in bed until I need to get ready for work.  And then after work, I eat dinner, and lounge around with Josh.  We usually end up playing board or card games.  Or watching movies.  And although I greatly value the time I get to spend with those important to me, I can't help but feeling like I've wasted my day when I haven't gotten anything crossed off my list.

Does anyone have any suggestions for time management and prioritizing?

Just a quick update

I seem to be running out of time lately to accomplish things that I want to.  Maybe my priorities are a little out of order.  Maybe I need to manage my time better.  Maybe I should work on this....

This past weekend, my family celebrated my grandma's 75th birthday party in Randle.  My cousin Jess and I played photographers for the day, and snapped countless pictures.  I have been going through them and editing them as necessary.  I will be sharing more of the photography aspects of that day on my photography blog.

This coming weekend, two friends of ours are getting married!  Josh and the boys went to Portland last Saturday night for a "boys trip", which involved who knows what.  Josh just said they were "good" and stayed out of trouble.  It was the groom's last "hoorah" before tying the know.  I have been busy helping the bride prepare for the big day, and there is still lots to do in the coming days!  Friday night is the rehearsal dinner, and Saturday morning will be a whirlwind of activity, to get the venue set up, the boys dressed up, the girls primped and ready, and then actually sitting back and enjoying the wedding itself.  The photographer isn't going to be there in time to shoot the girls getting ready, so the bride asked me to be there to take photos.  ME.  That scares me!!  I also plan to shoot throughout the wedding/reception, to better learn wedding photography.

I am still working on my Esther Bible study, but just have not found time to blog about it.  But I am loving learning more about Esther, and am thoroughly (as always) loving my walk with God.

We are still looking for a house to buy.  It just seems like no new listings are coming out; its just a repeat of the same ole' ones.  It is slightly discouraging, but we are determined!

And, finally, my knees are better!  They still hurt every once in a while, but not nearly as bad as before.  Which is a relief, because walking in heels for the wedding Saturday would have been impossible if they were still in their initial shape!

I think that's it for now... I will have lots of photos to post in the coming week!

Our Visit to the Roloff Farm

A few weeks ago, my family visited the Roloff Farm in Oregon.  For those of you who do not know, the Roloff's are from the TLC show "Little People, Big World".  We were able to see/meet each member of the Roloff family, and it was such a neat experience!  There are all so friendly, and they make a point to have an actual conversation with everyone and anyone that approaches them.  Here is a slideshow of the photos I took while there - it would take me far too long to upload them all individually. Enjoy!!