lunch break

...four years of family photos

...peer pressure

...there’s a lot of pressure at Christmas-time for paper people. If you see me around and I have huge bags under my eyes and look as sleep-deprived as the mother of a newborn, it’s not that I’ve been up all night with a teething Clara, but I’ve been up all night perusing pinterest, etsy, and google for the.perfect.christmas.card

The thing that’s frustrating for me, usually, is that I find these cards that are super-expensive (but won’t be when I win that sweet Powerball tomorrow night! That will completely change this post). Anyway, I find these cards that are super-expensive and I think, “I could make that.” If only I had A) Time (maybe my time would be better spent learning letterpress than watching Grey’s…thoughts?) and B) Resources.

I did find the perfect card. Here were some of the front-runners.

Merry & Bright by Cheeky Cards

Happy Holidays by HollyWouldPress

Joy to the World by Icing on the Paper

Merry and Bright by Lindsay Letters (this was only an option if I won the Powerball. Maybe I will have her design by Powerball-winning announcement).

Wreath of Hope by My Little Buffalo

Woodland Noel by Minted

Love and Joy by The Valley Designs

Wishing you Joy from Minted

I was thinking a design-on-the-front, photo-on-the-back look. And the perfect card ended up being a variation of one of the cards above. I’ll share it once my family and friends have gotten it. Since I’m going to try to do my fancy font on each envelope, that might be by Christmas 2013. The thought is what counts, right?

...appropriate

...I find it fitting that this is one of Clara's first words, given her mom's hobby and what-not:

(Pardon my stutter. Ch-ch-cheese)

...pretty things and coupon codes

Nest Pretty Things - 20 percent off through Monday with code "Sale20" - love, love this eclectic jewelry.


Sun Drop Clips - buy three, get a free "Darling Bow" - I can attest to how cute these are because Clara has 4,920 clips from here. They are also really well-made, which my washer and dryer can attest to since they haven't destroyed them even when I've tried to several times.


Laurel Denise - 10 percent off through Tuesday with code "Merry" - also check out her glass vases, which are beautiful. I got this bracelet is for Charlie's speech therapist.


Edison Supply Company - 25 percent off through Monday with code "Thanks25" - I've never shopped here before but had to take advantage of that deal.


Festive Home Decor - 20 percent off (not sure when it ends) with code "Friday20" - these are the pillows in our family room and oh lordy I love them. They are beautifully-made. But the price is so reasonable that I don't flinch when Charlie rubs his chocolate cookie covered face all over them.

Ash and Anchor - 20 percent off through Monday with code "CHEERS20" - I've never shopped from this store before either, but man I love this infinity scarf.

Urban Legend - 15 percent off through Monday (sale prices marked) - I've bought many a gifts from here after Carron introduced me to them. The necklace she got me from there is probably my most-complimented piece of jewelry. And the kids love it too, as shown in Clara's glee below:

Clara also gives it an A+ for durability and the ability to withstand toddler teeth.

Feel free to have your husbands e-mail me and thank me for all the good deals I found you! ;)

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Enter your name in the giveaway below by midnight EST tonight (Sunday). I'm going to try and get the packages in the mail tomorrow! Which means I will probably get them in the mail by January.

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Mom is OK. Just OK. Thank you for your thoughts. I'm sorry if I'm a little quiet about it, right now it just feels a little fresh and a little too personal to put out there.

...thanks and giving

...My mom is back in the hospital, hopefully not for much longer. I need a bright spot, so I'm giving stuff away. I have had these boxes in my closet for months. And the supplies in them for months, years, decades (OK, none of it is that old). And I want to send them to five of you. So leave a comment before Sunday night and one of them could be yours. And Brooke from Australia, your box will finally be coming your way. Promise.

There is good stuff in here. It's 99.99% un-used...And there's lots and lots of Studio Calico stuff (stamps too!) Lots of American Crafts too. And possibly a stray Maddie hair or two. Really missed those dog fur embellishments.

...dog

...we have a special friend with us for the week.

Her name is Maddie, but Charlie calls her, "Dog," unless carefully prompted and he will say with great care, "Mad-deeee."

It is amazing, the things that are coming from his mouth these days. When he puts his mind to it, when we remind him, it seems like he can say anything. There is still a long, long, long, long way to go. You probably would not understand what he says (unless he very clearly told you to, "Sit down," which is one very clear phrase he has. Said with authority). Sometimes I find my mind racing to figure out what he is saying. He ran into the playroom yesterday, looking for something, "Tater hea." "Duh," Ken and I said to each other when Charlie finally located Mr. Potato Head.

Sometimes what he says is perfectly clear but we still don't understand him because we can't believe he's saying it.

His first report card.

I imagine sitting during circle time is something quite a few three year-olds struggle with.

...BasicGrey Blog Hop (my first!)

Welcome to the BasicGrey Serenade Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from the blog of Kelly Rasmussen.

Like pieces of fabric sewn together with care, time-tested and much-loved, Lucille by BasicGrey proves that variety is the spice of life. Pull that old dress out of the trunk, dust it off, darn it up and grab your kitten heels, because it’s time to pattern your next project, perfectly.




...for me, this was a page (or pages) that had to be done. They are all the pictures I have from Clara's first year that I just don't have time to scrapbook. So I put them all together on one big great super-duper page. I love, love, love the pins and tags from this collection and the small screen background stamp...(You can also see my very imperfect stitching on this layout. Embrace imperfection, right? Right.)

Want a chance to win a Lucille collection pack? See the giveaway box below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If the chance to win a collection pack is exciting, what about the chance to win one of each product in the Lucille collection? We thought you might be interested! Simply head over to the BasicGrey Facebook page and let us know your favorite product in the Lucille collection! A winner will be selected at random from all comments received today.

Next, it's time to hop over to my friend Shannon's blog. Remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the BasicGrey blog for a list of direct links to all of the blogs in the hop.

...my halloween post, since it's almost thanksgiving

...Clara actually really liked her Halloween costume, this face was more of the "I-only-took-a-30-minute-nap-and-momma-just-plopped-me-here" variety.

(You can also see what our yard looked like two days post-Hurricane Sandy. And what Charlie's "what the hell?" face looks like).

I was jumping up and down to try and make her laugh/smile/not vomit. I think Charlie was patting her on the back to say, "It's OK. I swear mommy's not crazy. Maybe sometimes."

"It's OK. When she's committed, I'll take care of you."

Thank God she stopped jumping. Where's the candy?

...sandy

...So there was a hurricane. Did you hear?

It started raining on Saturday.

We filled the bathtub, I washed clothes as they got dirty, anticipating days without use of my washing machine. Oh, the horror.

And then we waited. Sunday passed and it rained. Monday passed and it rained. That night we got both kids to sleep on the first floor. There are some big trees in the big woods and it was getting windy.

And it got windy. Really, really windy. We started hearing thumps. Trees falling. Big trees falling.

But the lights stayed on. Mother Nature must know how much I love doing laundry.

We woke up to a little tree across our driveway (that's our next door neighbor's house).

The first picture at the top is the street outside our neighborhood. It usually has a shoulder. It didn't anymore.

This was a house we looked at when we first started thinking about buying here. And that's a tree on its roof.

These are the roots of that little tree across our driveway. I'd guess it's about nine feet tall.

And here's the other side of the driveway.

Our family's beach house was not so lucky (our house is just off this picture in the bottom right). There was damage, but nothing that can't be fixed. Just one thing my mom didn't need to worry about right now.

A few days after the storm there was the prettiest rainbow over the Chester River on the way to Charlie's school. Mother Nature is moody.