Just Make Stuff

2007...

I could not wait for this year to start...I was so eager to say goodbye to 2006 and see what 2007 had in store for us....and now on the last day of the year I feel it's safe to say it's been as close to perfect as I could ever hope for. 

It was filled with family and friends...a new nephew...lots of simple happy days and big memories like Sean's birthday weekend...we said goodbye to Camp...we accomplished goals like marathons and straight "A"s.  2007 was the year for us to settle in to who we are and to start in a new direction of who we want to be...it was the beginning.

Now 2008 is going to be the next step...I want more...I want growth...I want to look at a messy collage of photos from the year and feel as happy as I do today. 

I want to learn this year...I want to learn how to be a better wife and mother (this is coming from the girl who managed to carry on a fight simultaneously with both Sean and Mac this morning).  I just want to learn everything...never in my life have I felt such an immense desire to fill my head with knowledge as I do now. 

I also want to cherish...to be even better at living in the moment and concentrating on what I do have instead of what I don't.  I don't want to get caught up in the monotony of days and responsibility and instead be committed to searching out quality time to have fun and enjoy.  I want to revel in my blessings...most importantly my little family...Sean and Mac...the two people I get to share my life with...I want to continue to build on our life this year in every way possible...

Happy 2008!

By the end of today...

I swear this house will be put back together...after four days...and, at last count, five and a half rooms rearranged (the 1/2 is what Sean counted the entryway).  Christmas is all down and packed away in extra organized fashion for next year...gotta love the label maker. :)

I also really want Christmas thank-you notes done today too...so that maybe I can scrapbook at some point...after all I only have 22 days left off and dozens of pages to make if I'm really ambitious.

So my favorite gifts from Christmas...I was lucky enough to get a lot of great stuff, but one in particular from my mom and one from Sean have thrilled me to no end since I got them...

First Sean's...

This from Brookstone...he knows me and my endless interest in temperatures too well...he knew I would love having this sit on our bathroom counter so I could see it when I'm getting dressed...he knows I'm a total geek like that.

Then my mom...

No, not the light switch...the rainbow-brite gloriously soft scarf sitting on top of my little heap of colorful scarves...she knit it for me...I've worn it everyday since Christmas...it is so soft and light that it's like having a cloud around your neck...and it means the world to me that she made it...just a complete and total treasure.

So be on the look-out for house photos this week...I'm going to attempt to find some before photos to match up with the after photos...

After Christmas...

You know how towards the end of When Harry Met Sally (arguably my favorite movie of all time) Harry is leaving answering machine messages trying to get ahold of Sally and says..."If you're there please pick up the phone, I really want to talk to you. The fact that you're not answering leads me to believe that you're a) Not at home.  b) Home, but don't want to talk to me. Or c) Home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy.  If it's either a) or c) call me back." (copied from here since I don't have the movie quite that well memorized...close though)

So I have been home, desperately want to talk to you, but trapped under something heavy.

Christmas was really wonderful and I will share photos in a minute, but right now I'm in the thick of the after holiday depression that I seem to go through every year which means it gets solved with reorganization and rearranging...this year I'm REALLY going for it...like my bedroom dresser is now downstairs in my dining room and other crazy ideas...I'll share photos later when the puzzle is put back together...but first Christmas...

Mac and Sean making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve...

Mac's "okay, is this smile good enough because I want to get to Dad's house for the party"

Here's Mac's "fine it's Christmas Eve so I'll humor you for a minute Mom when you decide to break out the tri-pod even though I'm dying to get to Dad's house for the party"

So off we went to Bryce's family's house to exchange gifts, attempt to discreetly stuff our faces with lumpia, and drop Mac off for the evening's festivities.

And right before 9am on Christmas morning Mac came bursting back into the house all decked out and ready to see what Santa left him up in his room, open stockings, and enjoy brunch & gift opening with my family...

 

And dinner...where for fun my brother tossed salad table-side in our massive bowl I got from my in-law's for Christmas a few years ago that we lovingly call "salad furniture"...and I forgot to take any photos of the meal just the table after the fact...

I'll share about my favorite gifts a little later...but for now I'd better get back to the disaster I've created around this poor house...

Merry Christmas...

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

I wish I could slow down time...

Decemeber 23rd is one of my favorite days of the year...as far as I'm concerned it's the height of Christmas...it's the day that you can really appreciate the holidays right before you're in the middle of it and before you know it they're over...we've been having fun...decorated Griffin's grave...went up to Brea to see the cool Christmas light neighborhood...decorated a gingerbread house this afternoon...and have gone to either Costco or the grocery store six times in the last two days (seriously I need to learn not to forget stuff)...

Here's some photos from the last couple of days...

This year's grave decorating...

Seriously simple and kind of pathetic considering some of Griffin's neighbor's...clearly we are far from the most attentive grave-tending families...

Okay onto less morbid things...Mac wrapped my present from him and was eager to show me his creativity...

And Mac's security detail making sure I don't touch the present...

A scrapbook page I made in less than 10 minutes last night...I keep our Christmas book pretty simple so when I was flipping through paper and pulled this old KI circle paper it occured to me to crop the photos into circles...don't know why exactly, but I have to admit it thrilled me to no end that I thought of that...

A couple from gingerbread house decorating...

And the snowman cake we're taking over to game night at a friend's house right now...

 

 

Lofty goals...

are a specialty of mine...I'm usually not a look-before-you-leap kind of a girl, but when it comes to setting a goal or starting a project I quickly decide that of course I can do it all...do it well..and do it quickly.

For instance last night I invited eight people over for Christmas dinner...it was originally just going to be my mom along with Mac, Sean and I and now the dining room table is at maximum capacity again...which I'm thrilled about...it's almost like a present to me to be lucky enough to have the house filled on Christmas night...and I'm excited to making a meal of prime rib, mashed potatoes and creamed spinach...but now is the time to deal with this lofty goal setting...so what am I doing?

Scrapbooking...deciding that I should try and get all the Christmas layouts that I have planned at this point done before Christmas...so I started with a simple title page for the year...and then decided it was also a good time to make sure all my other scrapbooks were organized with all the photos from the fall that I still want to make layouts with...you know because that really helps me be ready to host a big dinner in a few days, right?  Oh and did I mention we're also hosting our family brunch Christmas morning?  Lofty goals...we can totally do it...but maybe I should put aside the scrapbooking?

Nah. :)

Vacation...

So I set a goal for today...to not get out of my pajamas...this whole vacation thing is great and all but I've needed to be dressed and out of the house every day this week...it's not really a vacation unless I don't have a bra on. :) Granted 99% of the time that I'm home it seems I'm in pajamas...like if I get home at one in the afternoon I'm in pajamas by 1:10pm...but I haven't had a whole day in pajamas in awhile.  Except I'm doing the math on what needs to be done today and it's looking like it's going to require getting dressed. We haven't decorated Griffin's grave yet and since Christmas is in like ten minutes we should get our candy canes and garland up. 

The other reason it's going to feel more like vacation today is because it's Sean's last day at work...cannot wait to hear the garage door open this afternoon and know he's home for two weeks...Sean + no bra=vacation...okay I'll stop with the bra discussion...sorry...it seems my smart-ass sense of humor is in full-force this morning.

So onto other discussions...craftiness...

First a layout from the other night with a photo my sister gave me from Oklahoma...

I need to get back into the scrapping groove since I have a TON to catch up on and would be thrilled if a bunch of it was done before I start school...we'll see...

Then a little project I've wanted to do for awhile...I have my typewriter and sewing machine right behind my desk and the wall behind it needed something...I was going to just stick patterned paper squares right to the wall, but Sean suggested I back it on cardboard and then tack it up with nails...so he constructed it for me while I tried to keep the dogs from walking on the patterned paper all set up on the floor...

It turned out like this...not terribly creative, just a little something happy & colorful...

And finally I'm not the only crafty one around here today...Mac is stamping his Christmas thank you notes...

Oh I almost forgot to share his mom's thank you notes...I'm officially obsessed with those two tree stamps from Paper Source...

Good mom points...

I earned some more today...a couple of months ago we bought tickets to take Mac to see the Rocketts this afternoon...we all had a great time and he LOVED it...then we went to the Clubhouse restaurant where they had a tiny little shopping bag with the kids menu, activity book and triangle-shaped crayons which thrilled him to no end...and he wanted to see Santa while we were at the mall so we stood in line for almost an hour to do that...AND when I went into Williams Sonoma to buy a muffin pan I really wanted with a gift card I was lucky enough to receive earlier this week I also bought him a hot chocolate pot with a frother...truth be told I bought it because he came home a few weeks ago from the neighbor's house, after having had hot chocolate while watching a movie, proclaiming that my neighborhood made the best hot chocolate ever because she had a special frother...I'm far too competitive to let someone else hold my son's title for best hot chocolate ever...so we came home and I broke out the frother to try to win. :)

So here are some photos from today...

Waiting in line outside the Performing Arts Center

My attempt to get a photo inside the mirrored stairs on our way up(way way up in the third tier) to our seats

With Santa...telling him what he wants for Christmas...a cell phone and a laptop...have to admit I LOVE that Santa told him no...Santa told me he's been getting lots of requests for cell phones and he just can't do it

And one more of us since we took like a dozen arm-stretched self-portraits today

I have a little more craftiness to share tomorrow...oh and I got a Christmas gift early yesterday...Cal State Fullerton admission...even before the GPA debacle I was really worried that I wouldn't be accepted in time to register for classes that start on January 20th...I get to register for classes on January 4th...my GPA ended up being 2.11 because I ended up with a 3.9 GPA from the community college...I checked my new CSUF transcript online and they break down the two schools separately so you can easily see the discrepancy in my grades so it doesn't just look like I'm a bad student...it shows I WAS a bad student and am now a good one...much better than my original fear of only a cumulative GPA.

Breakfast...

I never like to keep up my downer posts for too long...but thank you so much all for your support and ideas.  When I mentioned trying to problem-solve one of those attempts was calling the UofR and asking for an "academic renewal" which is where they excuse grades.  Wouldn't you know it's one of the few universities that won't grant them.  Oh well, what's done is done...time to move on.

So we're moving on to a couple random thoughts from this morning...

Right now I'm eating breakfast which is a bacon ranch salad from the other night...don't know why, it just sounded good

And speaking of breakfast my dad was in town last night and stayed with us...when I came downstairs this morning I found him standing over my kitchen sink eating one of the cupcakes I made the other night...it reassured me to know that apparently my cupcake-for-breakfast habit is genetic

Speaking of cupcakes while I'm eating my salad I'm watching the Today show as I always do...Martha Stewart was on talking about food and she had her three cake plates in a tier like the photo I stole from Macys.com...which reminded me for the dozenth time that I really want those but never get around to buying them or remembering to ask for them (just in case Sean needed to get me any last minute gifts)

Okay I'm done with breakfast...time to hop in the shower and get something accomplished today...

Scrap it out...

So after I posted yesterday my academic career went down in a blaze of glory...maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but it's the way it feels right now. 

I have been working on making sure my application gets processed and when I called into the school yesterday I learned that my GPA was too low for automatic acceptance.  I thought it was a mistake at first and then I realized what was happening... 

I had foolishly assumed all along that Cal State Fullerton would figure my University of Redlands grades like the community college did...only taking the units from the few classes I did pass. 

It turns out they take every class (of which the majority are failures)...they take my GPA from Redlands that was an abysmal 1.248 and combine it with my GPA from the community college...which barely, and I mean barely, brings it over the 2.0 minimum GPA requirement for admission thanks to my 4.0 from this past semester.  So I will get into the school after I turn in an official transcript with fall grades, but I will have a cumulative GPA of 2.012.

Honestly, I'm devastated.  I would have never guessed that my mistakes from 10+ years ago could pull me down this much now.  I've been trying to problem-solve with CSUF as much as I can but there is no way to fix this.

So I'm trying to deal with it all...and decided to make a layout about it...it's only about halfway done...I don't know exactly how I want to finish it or how I want to title it...but I want this recorded...I want something to look back on to see where I struggled...and hopefully to see in a few years that I was able to fight through.

It's going to take a lot more "A"s to get that GPA looking even slightly respectable...let alone what a struggle it will be to earn any scholarships or work my way into any honors programs.  I'm going to be spending a lot of time explaining myself and what that GPA really means.  I'm going to have to work even harder to find people to believe in me...to see past the number...

I hope I can do it. 

Wasted day...

Often the first day of vacation doesn't involve much productivity...rather it's a day to revel in the fact that technically I don't have to do anything...but today hasn't been too bad...

I felt the need to sweep out the garage and wash down the front porch after I woke up at 8am

I finished going through seven stuffed file folders of paperwork from classes so that I could condense down what I want to save into one of these (after Christmas I have big organization plans involving a few of those boxes)

I made a batch of my version of ranch dressing (which is basically the same concoction I use to make these but thinned out with some milk)...I baked some cupcakes with Mac...and in a little while will be making this for dinner since we're having some friends over tonight...the stew will go along with a bacon ranch salad and these (hungry yet? I sure am)

I also finished up the wrapping the gift for Sean's secret snowman...the envelope has a few little scrapping supplies, a gift certificate, and Map-quested directions to get there from her house...by the way making a tag with Hambly transparencies and letter stickers will now be my new favorite thing to do

And right now I'm cutting out the birds that were on the J. Jill shopping bag from the gray skirt I found on sale last Friday (they didn't have it on their website but it looks a little like the skirt Meg Ryan wears at the end of You've Got Mail...please tell me I'm not the only one that has every outfit she wears and just about every detail of her adorable New York apartment memorized?) while I'm cutting I'm also dictating dates and spelling so Mac can write down various family birthdays on the calendar in the new planner he was excited to bring home from his dad's house this weekend...if there was ever a doubt he was my child...

Sunday night...

I usually dread them...it's usually full of the last ditch efforts to get everything done before the week starts...but tonight I don't have a care in the world...well actually I do, but I'm grateful to be free of the usual Sunday night stress.

Besides that I have nothing to say...or I have too much too say and I just don't want to take the time to share on a conglomeration of random topics so I will just share one...

Christmas cards.

They officially went out in Saturday's mail...I ended up making fifty which is more than I've ever made, yet I still didn't have enough to send one to everyone I wanted to.  When I was putting them in the envelopes I was looking at the collage of photos from the year and thinking that I should start doing a letter with them...I would never want to risk being cliche or sounding like a brag-a-thon...but I love reading letters from other people and I have a decent amount of confidence from all the blog writing that I could manage to share about our year in a down-to-earth and hopefully humorous manner...so maybe next year...

Here they all are in the mailbox...so true confession...I totally staged this photo...literally piled all the cards in the mailbox, took a photo since I thought it's be cute for when I make a scrapbook page about this years card, and then took them all out of the mailbox and Sean ran them to the post office around the corner since the mailman had already been by for the day...it's a cute photo though, huh? :)

Here's the actual cards...just like my blog banner...and I totally cheated and didn't sign them by hand this year...

So that's it for Sunday night...

I have an anthem...

I took this photo in the parking lot of school today...to commemorate that I was leaving. 

On August 28, 2001 I took my first class at the community college.  I had flunked out of the University of Redlands two years before.  I had also just started working as an instructional aide at the local high school a few months before.  I had originally gone to a meeting at the college with my mom and my brother since my brother was going to enroll in school.  When I spoke with the counselor I thought that maybe I could try a class or two...just see what happens.

I signed up for a Personal Fiance class and a Marriage & Family Sociology class on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  I went to every class...I discovered for the first time in my life I liked learning...and I did well earning two "A"s. 

Then I decided to try to tackle my demons one at a time...Math...I had two remedial classes to take and then Statistics...I got an "A" in my first class...me...an "A" in Math.  I got "B"s in the other two...but that was still a decent accomplishment for me. :)

I just took one class at a time...I figured it'd take me 20+ years to earn a degree, but at least I was slowly working away at it. 

I took Women's Studies which I loved.  I crossed off my English requirement a couple of years ago.  Then I took a year off between the Darby debacle and artificial insemination attempts.  I went back last Spring to tackle one of the final demons...Science...with a lab...and again I learned that when I do the work I can do pretty well.  I lesson I should have learned way back when.

Here we are this past semester...my first time being a full time student...four classes and I'm so proud to tell you today four "A"s.  I did it...earned a 4.0...me.

So I walked off campus today after six years...I left the school where I learned the most important lesson of my life...I learned that I CAN learn...I can succeed...all I have to do is show up and try.  Thirty-one years old and I can finally say I have a love of learning...which I'm going to really need in the coming years.

Today I also walked onto a new campus...carrying the grade card they required to complete my application.  I walked to the admissions office and back to my car all the while wondering what it'll be like...what will I learn there...and how amazing will it feel to walk off that campus in several years knowing my goals are complete.

So I don't remember exactly how it started, but since that first math class in the Fall of 2002 I have had an anthem....a song I listen to on my drive up to school every time I have a test to take...it's my little ritual to play it over and over and over...I'm usually there after it's played three times...it's Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls...my favorite part is...

And I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a b-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free

I listened to it today three times...and, emotional sap that I am, cried a little.  Granted I'm spending a LOT more than "fours years prostate to the higher mind"...but I am one step closer to free.

Love this photo...

My mom, Sean, and I went to Mac's school this afternoon for his tumbling show...otherwise known as Nora-trying-to-stifle-laughter 2007.

My mom also brought along a finished school project she had been helping Mac with.  His class was supposed to knit or crochet scarves to donate to a local homeless shelter and Mac was struggling with learning how to do it.  So my mom went into her usual amazing Grandma mode and helped by making sure he had big, cozy yarn and a huge hook so the scarf would work up quickly and then she taught herself to crochet with her left hand like Mac would that way she could help show him how.  In the end "they" made a scarf that I believe is about six feet long...

He was so proud to turn it in...thanks Mom. :)

Stamps...

Yesterday was a good mail day...I got my Jenni Bowlin kit, my order from Stamper's Anonymous...and a jury duty summons...which I'll be honest I had some choice words about.  It's not that I'm not willing to go fulfill my civic duty, it's just that it's kind of a miserable thing to do...trekking down to the courthouse and sitting around waiting for your jury fate.   However I obediently rescheduled my five day call-in service to a day earlier next month when I'm not back in school yet...wrote out my form and have to admit I was super entertained with myself when I used a jury duty postage stamp to send back to the jury duty office...I had gotten those because I loved how colorful they were.

So that's about as exciting as my life is right now. :) I'm just sitting at my desk eating breakfast with the extra half hour I have before I have to get to school on Tuesday and Thursday...then I'm off to my third to last day of class...

More...

We're recovering from hosting the progressive dinner main course house last night...actually there hasn't been much recovering to do...the house was surprising clean and there weren't too many dishes to wash.  I actually woke up earlier than Sean and ended up getting most everything cleaned up myself before he got up...which never happens...the poor dogs couldn't figure out what was going on and where their Sean was.

Speaking of the dogs we take them for haircuts every few months and get them cut pretty short so that we only have to take them for haircuts every few months and then Sean just gives them a bath every weekend to keep them clean. So it was Paddy's first haircut and I was sad that I forgot to take one last picture of all his puppy hair because he came home looking like Shamrock...all short and clean and cute...poor guy didn't know what to do with himself and we've made sure they have plenty of blankets to snuggle under to keep warm since it's been chilly out.  How cute is he?

So it's Sunday and I should be studying for the three finals I have this week, but instead I'm working on our Christmas cards...and I only have four more days that I will be able to make those type of procrastination statements...woohoo. :)

Friday night and Saturday morning I worked to finish up a bunch of wrapping so I have more gift tags to share...I got all the teacher gifts wrapped for Mac...we got his two teachers and his tutor travel mugs and tea...and then I also made up little bags of tea for the three directors at his school and his tumbling teacher...I had fun making these tags once I finally figured out what I wanted to do...I wrapped the mugs and tied the bag directly to the box...

 

Then here's other tags I crafted up...can you tell I had a little too much snowman-making fun?

Sean and I always write little notes and funny hints on our tags to each other...so these are for him...and Sean Griffin if you are reading this blog you'd better step away now if you don't want to ruin your own surprises because you know I never look at my tags...hahaha...NEVER. :)

 

This little one is for him too...there's something really funny and slightly indecent written on the back...

Okay just a couple more tags...

Off to eat some of last night's leftover's for lunch...I'll study at some point...   

Hunker down...

People have asked me how to stay neat and organized and I often tell them to have a place for everything and be dedicated to putting everything back in it's place.  Well check out my desk...not exactly following my own advice, huh?  I'll have some time to do it tonight though...only because if I don't I'll go flipping nuts. :)

One of the reasons my desk is a disaster is because I quickly put together this last night...

It's a 4"x3" little ornament photo album type thing for Sean's secret snowman at work.  He excitedly brought home the paper they all fill out last week because he managed to pick another co-worker who said her one of her hobbies was scrapbooking & making photo albums (he did last year too and made this as an ornament...scroll down it's in that long post).  She also said she liked snowmen...so Sean, thoughtful guy that he is, didn't want to bug me for help considering the end of semester stress I'm under and went to Hallmark and picked this up...once I caught wind of this last night I was my usual control freak self.and insisted he needed something more personal than that...so a simple little photo album it was...nothing too creative, but it's homemade for her and her family of six kids plus grandchildren.  I was happy to hear that one of Sean's friends at work was nearby when his secret snowman saw it hanging on the tree and loved it...yea for homemade. :)

I'm off to tackle the desk...and to make a pot of broccoli cheese soup for dinner with a loaf of buttermilk dill bread...and be cozy at home in my pajamas waiting for a supposed rain storm tonight.   

Countdown...

The tree in our bedroom with a tiny peek at the Christmas lights along the wall in our backyard...yes we even have lights in our backyard...crazy I know. And yes, the bed is unmade like it is 98.4% of the time and there is a pile of pajamas at the end of the bed like there is 98.4% of the time. :)

So now I'm down to 4 tests and one last presentation...first test is tomorrow then next week is the presentation in art class and the three other tests...I'm happily counting them down.

I also have a ton of to-do's that I should be counting down around the house to straighten up, get some more stuff wrapped, and to get ready for the neighborhood holiday progressive dinner this Saturday...we're the main course house and apparently the guest list is up to 35 people so we have a lot of main course cooking to do later this week...can't wait for the party though.

Since a few of you asked about my presentation and since I feel strongly about the topic, I thought I'd share the amazing website where I got a lot of my information.  If you have a few minutes please read through some of it...there's a great quick PDF to read if you're short on time.  I initially learned about People First Language from Camp during the training that other staff members would run for the volunteers...it is a great way to look at re-framing the words we use and the order in which we use them when discussing people dealing with disabilities.

Off to study...

Bedtime...

Just like Paddington last week deciding to curl up on the folded up skirt under the Christmas tree...right now I am going to go curl up in bed...it's been a looong day and tomorrow is going to be another one.  I have a big presentation to give in Critical Thinking about the casual misuse of the word "retarded" and then I have my last long Political Science lecture of the semester...can't wait for that to be over...the professor means well and is interesting, but it seems I can't help but nod off at 2:36 in the afternoon.

Before I go to bed the number generator said #5, 35, & 46 so here's where the ribbon envelopes are going...please e-mail me your addresses.

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Holy Smokes I just am so blown away by those tags on your packages - what a pleasure to receive a gift from you!

Posted by: Kirsten | December 03, 2007 at 07:32 AM

Pick me........please
I just love your style.

Posted by: Sandy Horton | December 03, 2007 at 03:05 PM

Oh, I would love to get a little present of ribbon in the mail!!

Posted by: Susan | December 03, 2007 at 07:17 PM

Happy December...

It's getting late on Sunday night and I'm up trying to write the last of my flashcards for my Art Concepts test on Wednesday. 

It was a good weekend...could have been a little more productive, but the laziness felt too good...especially late this morning in my pajamas with the fireplace on, Shamrock and Paddy sitting with me under a blanket, flipping through the TV channels and settling in to watch The Ron Clark Story which was so good...it is any surprise though that teacher story-lines always captivate me? :)

I did make a trip out to the ribbon store to get the ribbon and sequins I need to hopefully finish up our Christmas cards sometime this week.  While I was there I decided to pull down several yards of the polka dot ribbon that is my favorite to wrap gifts with so I could share it as a little Happy December surprise and a thank you since you guys have been way too nice to me with all the comments on my gift wrapping. :) I have divided it up into three envelopes...so post "pick me" or anything you want and I'll do the random number generator thing before I go to bed on Monday night.

Back to flashcard writing...