Turkey Day is coming...

and I just finished up the grocery shopping for all the goodies I'll be making. (I even remembered to take my turkey out of the freezer...if you haven't done so, do it now!!!) It'll be at my house this year and we'll have 14 of us. I'm in charge of the turkey, mashed potatoes/gravy, sweet potato casserole and flan. I'd be happy with just that. They are all my favorites...but others are bringing goodies too and I'm sure, as usual, we'll have too much food. It's so nice to have all my siblings and their families together. It doesn't happen often enough. The only sibling that won't be here is my brother in Texas.

To make my life busier and more complicated, I'm having a party two days later. This is for old friends and new and is surely going to be so much fun, I'll regret not having more parties.

I'm finishing up some holiday orders that came in but I'm definitely feeling the crunch and know that everyone is holding tight to their almighty dollars. I, myself, am being very frugal this year for the holidays. We're making gifts for the grandparents...I'll try to post pics once they're done.

In the meantime, here is a sweet pic I thought you might appreciate. Two seconds earlier and their sweet little faces were facing each other and they looked so cute! The other pic is some squishy slime we made. It allowed for hours of entertainment.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

a dreary day...

Not much new to report. It's cold outside and I'm sitting here looking out my window at the soft snow falling, knowing that there's only more of that coming. I'm not ready. I never am. But I have cleared out the garage to make room for my truck and I've pulled out the snowblower so at least, on that end, I am prepared. But mentally, no, I am not ready. I will stay snug in my house today making some t-shirts and pendants and feeling very fortunate that I have the best customers ever.

My weekend was quiet, unless you count Saturday night (which I suppose you do). I had some friends over for a little birthday bash (my friend, not mine). We had some wine and played Taboo. Our plans included going out somewhere but somehow, we never left the warmth of my living room and the comfy couches...all that was missing was a nice fire in the pellet stove...but alas, I haven't stocked up on pellets yet. I guess that'll be on this weeks errands list.

Now that Blockbuster has lowered the price of non-new releases to just .99, I've been catching up on some movies that I always intended to watch but never did. It's a nice way to relax after the kids go to bed and I'm up for a little company...just me and my telly.

Well, I suppose I can procrastinate no longer...I am off to finish up the t-shirts.

We have a winner!

The winner of a FREE Bitty Braille tee from the new Rainbow Collection is Erica! Congrats. The winner was chosen by a very scientifically accurate & fair way...I asked my daughter to pick a number between 1 & 19 and she chose...12. So, there you have it. Thank you all for participating and be sure to check back often for more giveaways!!!

Gearing up for a relaxing weekend away

I'll be leaving in the morning and thought I should post something tonight cuz we all know how hard it is to actually get oneself, 3 kids and a dog out of the house in the morning...so, yes, three days away with my best friend from Ohio who I haven't seen in two years. We'll be staying at a B&B in this darling little town nestled between Lake Erie and Lake Chataqua...beautiful.

You probably don't know that my hubby is in Iraq and has been since May. He'll return next May so it'll have been a year on my own. It's not like I'm not used to it but weekends away from kidlets is a real luxury for me right now. I need this break. I will come back refreshed and in a better mindset.

Hope everyone has a great a weekend as I plan on having :-)

oh those parent/teacher conferences...

Ok, my title sounds like I had a bad parent/teacher conference...but no, it actually went well. However, I haven't had to deal with these conferences for years now since my youngest daughter is homeschooled. My son, however, wanted to give Kindergarten a try and so far, he's enjoying it. Let me tell you, it was hard for me to let him go...not because I'm one of those overprotective moms but because I don't want his curiosity, creativity and passion for life to be squelched via desk sitting, worksheet writing and a myriad of other things I find wrong in public schools today.

Well, he seems to enjoy his classmates and has really gotten into the groove of K. His teachers love him. They find him funny and smart (I knew that ;-) Luckily, his teacher is an old classmate of mine so it makes it that much easier to send him to school. So, for now, my little man is happily going to K and having a good time (that's the most important thing, right?)