sorry, no posts this week

i'm still dealing with this...

and this...

hope you all had a merry christmas and have a happy new year! see you in 2011!
ba

something useful that came from catholic school!

when i was a kid, i went to a catholic school run by nuns.

by the time i was in school, mass was no longer done in latin regularly. but those dear sweet sisters wanted us to sing in latin.

alot.

us kids didnt know what we were singing, but we said the words to avoid getting hit. we were in survival mode.

some of it actually sunk in, because a few years back i heard the song 'oh come all ye faithful' being sung in latin on the radio and I SANG ALONG!

my kids thought i was weird singing all this jibberish.

but they think im weird anyhow.

im sharing this version of 'adeste fideled' by good old bing crosby. and if you want to sing along, here are the words!

Adeste fideles læti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte Regem angelorum.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.
En grege relicto humiles ad cunas,
Vocati pastores approperant,
Et nos ovanti gradu festinemus.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.
Æterni Parentis splendorem æternum,
Velatum sub carne videbimus,
Deum infantem pannis involutum.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.
Pro nobis egenum et fœno cubantem
Piis foveamus amplexibus ;
Sic nos amantem quis non redamaret ?
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.

so very christmas thrifty!

as i was working on some christmas projects this year, i wanted to use up all of my old holiday scrapbook paper (so i could buy more and not have guilt!)

and, of course, i ended up with a bunch of weird, small scraps.

with the help of my stampin' up  ornament punch (which is so old, it isn't even in their catalog anymore!), i punched my little heart out.

and made some adorable tags for gifts!

so simple, but i cant tell you how many times i ran to walmart just for tags for christmas gifts (and left with much much more!).

but some quick helpful hints...

yea, you should always check the back of the paper to make sure it will actually work.

if not, you risk using more energy than needed.

happiness comes in 3s!

i have 3 friends who work out me with most mornings.

well, actually, i have more than 3 friends who jazzercise with me most mornings, but there are 4 of us who are class managers.

nice title, it just means you get to come early and turn on the heater at 5am.

but when i was out for about 2 months with back issues this fall, i realized how much i loved them

(always knew that) and that i missed seeing them daily.

something about 'girlfriends'...

then one day while at deseret industries i found 3 of these!

each says 'hope, faith, love', and all in the same colors, just different order.

a great all year 'round decoration.

and they were a sweet price for some sweet friends.

and you know they are true friends...they have seen me with my makeup off and still love me!

no peeking!

when i was little, my mom hid our christmas stuff in a black garbage in the storage room.

right next to the box with gloves and scarfs.

seriously, how could you NOT look!?

and i did...

i think i am MUCH better at hiding gifts. and since i buy them all year long, i have to make sure they aren't found when we are looking for easter eggs.

i hide them in my craft room most of the year. the kids call it the 'crap' room, and as you can imagine, they don't go in there much.

but as christmas and birthdays get closer, i move stuff around. and now they are all in my closet.

no, not just sitting out on top of all my discarded clothing and shoes.

this is chris's side of the closet. a mess of jeans, shirts and whatever.

but carefully hidden behind that university of utah sweatshirt is...

a mess.

i don't which is worse...his hanging clothes or this pile of crap.

but, the kids haven't found it yet!

so let me know where you hides your stuff.

it isn't like your kids read this blog, so come on! share your secret!

hey josh-at least the bucket wasn't full of coal!

now this gift i was wrapping but not actually giving. i have a dear friend (holly) that i wrap all of her christmas gifts as a gift to her. she doesn't have the time and i love wrapping, so it works out well!

her 14 year old son wanted cash for christmas. that is all. just cash.

cash isn't fun to wrap.

after thinking about it, i got a fresh $100 bill from the bank (after holly had given me 5, $20 bills. i don't actually PAY for her christmas!) and stuck it in a metal bucket about half way full of water. i rolled the money up and clipped the top (that was not in the water) with a paper clip. after it was frozen solid, i removed the paper clip and filled it up the rest of the way.

then, we made hints all over the house on where he could find his gift. (which was on the back porch so it wouldnt thaw!).

i think holly and i had more fun with this one than he did!

what are those balls for?

when i went to the down town salt lake deseret industries, i found these balls...

and the guy behind me asked me what i was buying those balls for.

(i didn't question the broken crap in his hand, but whatever)

i guess this man never reads my blog.

they were each 50 cents, so quite a deal!

and what did i do with the small one (and some other balls and bells and ornaments?)

this!

top view...

isn't that HUGE bell cool?

i swear as soon as i figure out something to do with the big ones, i will post!