Purple Tuesday

If we can have Black Friday, I hereby nominate the Tuesday before Thanksgiving "PURPLE TUESDAY".


It's purpose. Well, I plan on thinking about how AWESOME The Minnesota Vikings are. You do whatever you see fit to do with Purple Tuesday. Maybe it is going to the grocery store just to get some milk and snacks. Maybe it is drinking some grape Kool-aid or holding your breath until your lips turn... PURPLE!

#25 Have I mentioned my panic when I look at #25? Pay-off my credit card debt in JULY of next year?! WHAT?! I am really nervous. About what, exactly? Well, for 9 years, Tim and I have been in serious debt! It has been such a burden that we've pulled around with us.  I can barely believe that in 9 months - it will be GONE.  What does that mean for us? Freedom to save, freedom to buy new socks...



#29 is going great.  I won't go into the store without first sitting in the car & scribbling on an envelope or typing a list into my phone.  It totally helps the extra spending.  and when the kids ask for treats or extra things... I just say "It isn't on the list!"  Of course, one time, Hayley said... "MOOOM-IE! Just write it ON the list!"

#57 - SHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Don't tell Tim! 
I cooked a half-vegetarian meal last week!  I mixed a half-pound of hamburger with a half-pound of soy-crumbles!  The girls gobbled up the dish & Tim liked it, too! 



#90 - I totally forgot! I kind of sort of did this! I went to see "Bert & Ernie: Good Night!" at the Children's Theatre Company in October!  We won tickets at the State Fair.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  The girls loved every minute of it.  They sat on the edge of their seats (or my lap) the whole time.  My mom came with and to be honest... the adults loved it just as much as the kiddos!  But I'm not satisfied with that being my #90.  I want to see a grown-up play.

Mid November

I was at JCPenney on Saturday & the Salvation Army bell ringer was outside.  The girls each dropped in a quarter.  I smiled & said "I am not ready for saying 'merry Christmas', so... have a good weekend."

I'm thinking the bell ringers could be out 365 days a year & I wouldn't mind.  They raise SO much money with the extra change in my pocket.  I'd rather give it to them than the Caribou "Tips" jar!

THE LIST:
I kind of cheated on one of the Dr. Seuss books.  I read it while we were sitting outside the library before I had to return it.  It is an "Inter-LIbrary-Loan", meaning it came from another library in the state of Minnesota (Willmar, to be exact).

That's about it for now.  I need to re-read THE LIST and get working!

A Refreshing Weekend

Just in case you were dying for an update:

I went to camp.  I scrapbooked.  I caught up Hannah's professional-portraits book! That was a small task as I only had her 1-year photos & her 2007 Holiday portrait.  BUT it took me a whole day to do!
I also did some sewing.  I started with the girls' Christmas presents.  I made a little fleece blanket for Hannah with Fancy-Nancy fabric.  A lady in our sewing-room taught me a new fleece blanket making technique.  The traveling quilt store had some "Fairy-Feathers".  Oh, my.  This is like a feathered boa, only not feathers.  They are some soft, frilly, shiny-white material that is absolutely fancy & fabulous.  I sewed that around Hannah's Fancy Nancy blanket. 

I made Hayley a fleece "Rag-Time" blanket out of Bright Green, 2 Pinks & a flamingo fabric.  If anyone knows what a rag-time quilt is - same concept, different material.  It is cute, but after I cut the 9-inch blocks, I realized all my flamingo heads will be in the seams & all Hayley will have is a flock of flamingo-butts. Oh, and for the record, no JoAnn store in Minnesota has the flamingo fleece.  :/   Oh, and the lady at the store in Orlando, Florida didn't know what "Fleece" was.  What?

So, while I can't cross anything off my LIST today, I totally enjoyed my retreat & had some much needed rest. 

(note, I didn't say SLEEP.  I didn't sleep.  My body wants to be awake at 7:30am despite the 2:am bed-time).

11/6/09 ~ November Update #1

CRAZY: (CrAy'-Zee) noun' - See Also: Harriger, Sara Lou
What a few weeks it has been.
(insert icon of person who's head is either banging into a wall, or rolling off their shoulders...)

Today, a great event is happening 50 steps from my work.  A new Trader Joe's is opening!!!

As one resident put it: "A whole building filled with people in a good mood."

I am going down there - just to soak up the good mood (and get a milk-chocolate truffle bar).

Today, I am also going in my semi-annual quilting & scrapbooking trip with my mom!
(I also learned that biannual isn't a word.  It is Semi-Annual).

I get super excited because we are going to Camp Lebanon in Upsala, Minnesota.  I couldn't care less what we are doing - but I get to go to camp.  I'd be happy sitting in a chair on the shore staring at the water. 

The first time I went to C.L. I was 6 weeks old.  I haven't missed a summer or winter since.  Camp's "logo" is: A Meeting Place with God. It has never dissapointed.

I will be working on Hannah's 1st-year scrapbook (#69) and her quilt (#83 & 3/4).  I also have 2 scrapbooks of the girls' professional pictures that I'll be working on.

Bring on the camp food.  Pass me a tall glass of iron-filled, rusty water.  Here I Come!

As far as the rest of the list:

#3 - I have finished my 2nd week of teaching.  I LOVE it.  I am able to get up and attend the 9:30am service as well! the girls enjoy going to sunday-school for 3 hours.  I might just have to do a full-time volunteer.  Shhhhhhhh don't tell.
#5 - I sat in Hayley's Preschool class on Tuesday.  They had "Celebrate Hayley" day for her birthday.  It was really fun to watch her in her own little environment. 

Mrs. Orenge told me at conferences that "Caden really likes Hayley" and she is right.  That little boy followed Hayley, sat by Hayley, was always moving where Hayley was standing, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure Hayley was still there... when they did craft-time, he sat next to her and said "Hayley, your necklace is SO pretty! You did a much better job than I did." *sigh* How precious?!  & yesterday, they were playing together and would NOT leave the class.  His mom was a little annoyed, but I thought it was the most precious thing I've ever seen.

But really, how good or bad can a fruit-loop necklace look?  Mine was awesome because I picked out all the purple & yellow fruit-loops & made an edible Vikings necklace!!

I have failed at #9. Even though they send me an email saying "Renew or Return"... I can't seem to hit the "Renew" button.  Oh, well.  Maybe next week.

#47... Shhhh dont' jinx it.  I did it.

I am doing a bunch of the other challenges - the daily ones are sometimes every-other day... but I have NOT neglected them altogether.

Okay - and if I see one more Dr. Seuss book, I'm going to cry.  I've read one a night for the past couple weeks.