Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We've had a wonderful vacation together - I am bummed that we only have one day left. We've got more family time and couple time than we have in months! I have a short two and a half weeks left of my long-term work assignment, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Ethan and Esme.

Lisa and I braved the Black Friday sales to get new computers, so Ethan and my gift to each other is a brand spanking new laptop. (Thank you Staples!) We are loving being able to access the internet, our music, and our pics anywhere in the house!! It is changing the way we use the internet in general. I also got a free printer, and tonight I am going to try printing photos on it for the first time.

I haven't done too much scrapping since I've been working full time, but now I am happily getting back into the swing. Ethan got me an ATG for Christmas and I am feeling inspired to stick lots of little pieces of paper together. Stephanie invited me over to scrap and I did most of a couple pages over there. I have so many great photos to work on - Esme at Christmas, Charles and Kim's wedding, etc. Hope to post more pages here soon.

I can definitely say this has been my hardest week as a sub. Hasn't been an easy landlady week either I'm afraid. Also, with the holidays coming lots of friends and family seem to be freaking out - we're all overtired and overbooked and it doesn't bring out the best in most of us.

Luckily I am so excited about Christmas that these problems seem insignificant next to the joy of celebrating with my family and giving Ethan and Esme their presents! On Christmas Eve Esme is going to be in her very first pageant! She even gets to do a special dance! I can't wait to see her on stage! Also Ethan and I are very lucky to be on vacation together and have a chance to see each other for the first time in weeks! Also I love making the big meal for my family, and having everyone over to our home.

Sewing turned out to be hazardous to my health. At least to a small part - my fourth toe on my left foot. A few days after finishing the nightie pictured below in progress, I dropped a needle onto my carpeted bedroom floor and couldn't find it. I meant to go back and vacuum it up to find it later, but I got distracted and didn't find it until I tripped and fell and it got jammed into my foot. I yanked it out and went about my business. When I woke up the next morning (11/26) my toe was swollen and hurt like heck. I went to the doctor - he gave me a tetanus shot and an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. I hobbled around painfully for a week and by Sunday I realized part of the needle was still in there. Tuesday night I couldn't take it anymore and went to the emergency room, where a physician's assistant tried to get it out in the office unsuccessfully and referred me to a podiatrist. My podiatrist turned out to be awesome - he's a great doctor! But he couldn't get it out the next Thursday (12/6) because since I'd had xrays at the emergency room on Tuesday, the needle had moved. I had surgery with a live xray and sedation to take it out on Friday. All this trouble over something so stupid!! Now I have to wear a surgical shoe, I'm on my third round of antibiotics, and the doctor says I only have a 5% chance of losing my toe. My mother in law offered to bring over the sewing machine and teach me how to make doll clothes but I had to say no thanks - it sounds like it is probably too dangerous for me.

I recently started trying to hand-sew some outfits for Esme's dolls. I was inspired because I found a Bitty Baby at our local flea market for $1, and I thought she'd like to have some clothes for her to wear. This photo is the beginning of the first nightgown I made all by myself! I took photos to get advice from a friend on how to do the neckline.

I visit my gargoyle friend once a year in October.

I am currently a second grade teacher! From a couple weeks ago til the end of January I have my very own class in my first ever long-term sub assignment. I am so lucky that it is at one of nicest schools in the district I work in! I am so lucky to work with super supportive teachers and an awesome para too! I never thought I would want to do a long-term gig, but this one is definitely a great fit.

I am currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and not getting much scrapbooking done! I am toying with the idea of entering HOF this year, but I'm not sure I could ever actually get all those assignments done while working every day, so I might just save my good ones for MMM this summer.

I finished The Red Badge of Courage. I am not surprised I was not motivated to read this book in high school. I found it very unsatisfying. Henry Fleming had difficulty holding my interest even as an adult. I can say begrudgingly that I was somewhat enlightened on how it felt to be a soldier in the Civil War, but overall I can't say I liked the book very much.

I also just finished reading a new book (against my current policy of reading classics), The Wreck of the Medusa. The story of a nineteenth century shipwreck wouldn't normally catch my interest, but this book told the very interesting story of the wreck, the after-effects on the survivors, the life of an artist who did a famous painting of the life raft, and French politics of the time. It grabbed my attention right away and kept it through the entire book! My description does not do it justice. It was a compelling story and I finished feeling a little more educated about art and French History. If you enjoy history at all I highly recommend this book!

Have you ever visited Scraptalk? It is my favorite scrapbooking site, and I am lucky enough to be be on the DT. The message board is the friendliest one I've ever been a part of, and they have a great gallery too. If you haven't ever been, check it out.

This was a tough week for me emotionally and it culminated with an unpleasant incident Saturday night. I am so glad this is a new week and full of new possibilities. The one thing I was really excited about from last week was that my crazy altered flamingos were picked up for publication! They will be in the Paper Trends February/March issue.

My entry for Last Scrapper Standing! I printed my photo on a transparency, used a transparency for the journaling box, used a Hambly screen print, a 7 Gypsies transparency, a Heidi Swapp silhouette flower, covered a photo corner with mica, used clear buttons, and acryilic letters.

Did this page this summer - I love those polka dotted Primas!

Ethan and I have been reading a lot lately. He wanted to read Finn, so to get ready we both ready The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I hadn't read Huck Finn since college or maybe even high school, so it was such a pleasure! I had forgotten how compelling Huck and Jim's story was. I loved this book! On the other hand, I hated Finn. I knew that Pap was not likely to be a very pleasant or sympathetic kind of guy, but I found the whole book unnecessarily gruesome and violent and disgusting, and found myself unmoved, unchanged, and very disappointed in the end.

After finishing both of those books I decided I would like to go back to Mark Twain and read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which I had never read before. I loved this book also. It's a lot different than Huck Finn, but you know reading it that Mark Twain really remembered what it was like to be a young boy. It's full of adventures and was a delightful read.

Since I've had better luck lately with classics than new books, I've just started The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I was supposed to read this in high school - one of the Four Classic American Novels - but I'm ashamed to say, I never actually did. Sorry Mr. Sullivan!

So excited that my next pub will be out next month!!

It seems like so long since I have just sat down at my scrapping table and worked on some photos of Esme!! I had so much fun doing this page!

After all these years of talk I finally did it! I completed the first page for my heritage album! I doing it in 8 and a half by 11 size so that I will be able to easily color copy the pages for my brothers. My first page is one of my all-time favorite pics of my grandmother.

I've been making tags! I decided to make one for each of my Pink Lady friends at Scraptalk! For several days I've been trying new and fun things! Here are some that I've done!

We are having car trouble. Two weeks ago our "good" car starting belching white smoke whenever we started it or drove any distance. Our friend Wolfgang advised us not to drive it until we could get it looked at, and a mechanic we trust told us it sounded like a costly repair. Because summer is our very lean time, we decided to try to make the most of our older car and drive it exclusively. On my way to visit a cousin, my older car stalled and wouldn't start again. We begged the mechanic to do whatever it took just to get it on the road, so that Ethan would be able to go back to his job full time next week. Fortunately for us, they did it quickly and not too expensively, so we were back on the road again in a day and a half. Thank goodness!! Hopefully within a few weeks we'll be able to get the other car back on the road too.

I had Stephanie over to scrapbook yesterday. I hadn't seen her in a long time and it was so nice to spend an afternoon scrapping together. She has a very distinctive style and I love her pages. Esme was happy to see her too, and spent a fair amount of time with us.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn! My sweet little honorary niece is 4 years old!

We had a great time camping! We went to Hopeville Pond for 3 nights and the DAR State Forest for 3 nights. We had a party at our site at Hopeville with 17 of the people we love most. It was a good thing my mom brought some emergency hot dogs because we almost every bite we cooked was eaten! We got to swim and go out on the boat while we were there too. Things at DAR were more laid back - and a heckuva lot colder. Due to the elevation, it's several degrees colder there than it is here. The first night we had to have Esme come sleep with us and bring her blankets. Despite the colder temperatures Esme and I still went swimming two of the days we were there. We made the major error of putting the edges of our air mattress up against the side of the tent though, and on our last night there we got a bit wet. I don't mind a little moisture, but I do not like my pillows wet!! We had a great time but due to the rain we were very glad to get to our dry home. We're hoping we can head out into the wilderness a couple more times before Columbus Day!

Esme and I are on a cardmaking tear. I had no idea how much she'd enjoy sitting down with my old, unloved patterned papers and a glue stick and a little glitter. For the last few days she's been sitting at her little table and I've been sitting at mine, and we've been going to town. Here are a few of mine!

Some time ago my mom gave me an old roll of Kodak 126 film that had never been developed. I put off taking it in to be processed because I was afraid I wouldn't get anything back. When I went to get a new flash card today I finally took it in, and amazingly, got some pretty cool photos back! These are the best two - they're all very grainy and my mom isn't big on photography, but these two alone made it worth it for me! They were both taken on what I'm guessing was around my 7th birthday. The first one is my grandmother and me - she passed away in 2003 just a couple months before my daughter was born. On her lap is her poodle, Joy. The second is me with my parents - they divorced about 4 years later, and I've been estranged from my dad for about 5 years. I love two things about this photo - my dad is smoking a pipe, and my mom has an expression on her face that looks so much like my daughter.

Ahhh the last day of Vacation Bible School! I love doing VBS - I went every year as a child and I've been teaching the last three years. The last two years I've been the lead preschool teacher, and had Esme in my class! This week we learned about Obeying God, Worshiping God, Trusting God, Believing in God, and Serving. We had a water park theme so I brought in lawn chairs and beach toys, and the kid's favorite part, the inflatable boat. The best part of the week was when we pretended we are on the open seas and a storm was coming up. We used a fan for wind, flicked the lights for lightning, and had a thunder-maker. We rocked the boat so they felt like they were in heavy waves. A couple little ones were actually getting nervous, but then wanted to do it again and again. Overall it was a great week - I think a few of the lessons might have sunk in, and they kids definitely had fun singing, playing together, and doing crafts.

I am trying to ignore Ethan so he can finish reading Harry Potter, so I am getting some Pink Lady projects done! These papers go beautifully with some of the pre-wedding pics.

**THERE ARE NO SPOILERS ON THIS BLOG**
I was so glad I got to go to the Harry Potter party at the store where Ethan works occasionally. It was so fun to see all the kids full of anticipation for the new book, seeing all the people who dressed up, and just feeling the excitement in the air. The crowd counted down from 30 til the owner waved the first copies in the air. Some people went right outside and sat down on the steps to start reading!

I finished the book at about 3:30 am today. I enjoyed it very much. It was a mix of interesting, exciting, mysterious, with a little bit of obvious thrown in. The obvious bits are no less appreciated than the surprises though.

Perhaps my strangest altered item ever, these guys started with a mishap in the store that forced me to buy them, and then turned into my tribute to a fellow Pink Lady, ellymew. I used the new BasicGrey line, Infuse to cover them. I had so much fun making them! They took forever but they are so darned cute in person. Esme and I are fighting over who gets them.

The past week has been a very hard one for me. The first visit with my dad that I've initiated in five years was Wednesday, I had an emotional night with my nephew on Wednesday, as of Friday I am no longer church school coordinator at my church, and Saturday I had to take my daughter to the ER where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. It has been an emotional roller coaster and very difficult. I am glad this is a new week.

I tried out a new church on Sunday. It went fairly well. They are starting up a new church school which would be an interesting thing to be part of, but on the other hand I think what might be best for Esme is a church that already has a strong education program. I am going to try out a few before I even start to settle down somewhere, so I am going to head to a different one this coming Sunday. The one thing I have decided for sure is that I want to stay an Episcopalian.

Thanks to this quiz posted by Anilu I found out the dessert I am most like is my very favorite dessert, the brownie.

You Are a Brownie

Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are.

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

There is a thread over at Scraptalk discussing photographic self-potraits. I have to say I have often thought of myself as the queen of the self-portrait. With a husband not interested so much in photos, and a daughter just able to hold up the camera, if I want to scrapbook any photos of me I've really had to adopt at do-it-yourself philosophy. The best advice I was given was to hold the camera at an angle and position yourself at an angle. This photos is one of my recently-taken favorites.

Since my husband went to day-shift for the summer I've been getting to spend a lot more time with him. He is home nearly every evening and I have been enjoying his company so much. I am so lucky to have such an interesting, kind, and fun person to spend my life with. I wish everyone could be as lucky as me.

I was a bridesmaid this weekend in my brother's wedding! I love love love the bride and I am so happy for them! My dress was PINK! Here's a pic of me walking down the aisle with my handsome husband!

We get ready for the wedding tonight and by the time I get home on Sunday I'll have the sister-in-law of my dreams. Kim is a beautiful, loving, incredibly fun person. I have enjoyed getting to know her since they first got together, and have loved being able to watch the milestones in their relationship. She can stand up for herself and keep Charles in his place too. I am so happy that my brother has found such a wonderful person to spend his life with. I am also happy that my nephew, Dylan, will have such a wonderful stepmother, that Esme will have such a great aunt, and that Kim will be a part of my family.

Have you ever developed your own mission statement? I was reading mission statements at various churches tonight and remembered one I'd developed at the Mission Statement Builder several years ago. I decided it was time for a new one, since my life has changed so much since then. Here is mine:

I will try to use my enthusiasm for productive outcomes. I will continue to enjoy my time with Ethan and work toward our mutual growth. I will endeavor to be the best mother I can be for Esme. I will surround myself with the positive people that I love. I will look to see beautiful things through my daughter's eyes every day. I will do my best to discern and follow His calling. I will continue to make my family my first priority. I will continue reading and educating myself to stay interesting. I will surround myself with funny people because I love laughing. I will let Esme guide me through homeschooling by her interests. I will bask in my happiness and the happiness of others whenever possible. I will endeavor to follow His example in my daily life. I will not give up because I feel overwhelmed or underappreciated. I will do my best to give as many blessings as I receive.

Check out this fun site where you can make yourself in Lego! The wedding rehearsal and dinner were this evening and we are all abuzz about my brother Charles and his fiancee Kim's big day! Only a week to go!

Today is my wedding anniversary! I have been married to Ethan for eight beautiful years!

Today is the last day of school!!!! That means for just over two months....

• No students will sigh heavily when they find out I'm they're sub for the day
  
• No entire class will burst into applause when they find out I'm they're sub for the day
• No other subs will condescend to me (that happened a lot this year - I don't understand it)
• I won't be Mrs. Powers
  
• I won't have to listen to 25 recorders in a small classroom
• I will not discuss homonyms or onomatopoeias
  
• I will not be acutely aware of what I didn't learn in 4th grade math and have to teach myself things quickly
• I won't say, "Line up!"
• Chances are no one will call me before 8 o'clock and if they do, I won't be waiting for their call
• No one will ask if I have super powers
• No one will try to convince me to get certified to teach
• I will not make kids I've never met before cry

Ahhhhhh summer!

My second altered monogram - this one was for Esme's nursery school teacher. She and I share a love for purple! Now my mom wants one. I feel funny making her an E though - I'm trying to sell her on M.

My goddaughter turned nine this week. She was the first baby in my adult life and I can't believe how big she is! She is the only person that can get me to try new rides at amusement parks. She got me to go on a water one recently that I'd been too scared of before. Luckly for me it wasn't too bad - just the right amount of thrilling. Thank goodness she's still too little for the really big roller coasters.

Sophia posted a challenge on 2 Peas today to blog what inspires you.

There are two women I go to church with who both inspire me all the time. They are both named Joan. Joan D. is a super powerhouse. If anything needs doing for our church, she does it. If you need information about the church and Joan doesn't know it, you might as well give up because it doesn't exist. She has a very busy life but finds so much more time to give. She was the first person who ever reached out to me from this church, right after Esme was born.

Joan S. is not only an amazing person who has devoted uncountable hours to her community and her church, but is incredibly generous and helped me even from her bed in a long term care facility. Plus she is an extremely interesting woman who I feel I have a lot to learn from. I feel enriched every time I have the opportunity to be in her prescence. I feel so lucky to know these women and I am inspired by both of them!

I can't wait to get this book into my hands. It contains my second published page, and I heard from a few scrapping friends that the book is really good.

Tomorrow my baby will have her last day of nursery school. And at least for a while, it will be her last day of "school" because we are about to begin our homeschooling adventure. I am both excited and apprehensive. She is very much looking forward to learning to read, but asked me yesterday if I will still read books to her.

EDITED TO ADD: The book has arrived! They did a beautiful job and it's definitely a book worth looking at! My layout is on page 109.

Three years ago I taught high school for half a day and decided I never wanted to do it again. During the last few months I've been giving it some more thought and after successfully keeping 4 to 11 year old in control for these three years, I decided I would give it a go. Today I taught my favorite high school subject - history. And I survived! Hooray! Lucky for me I had mostly honors classes, and those kids are the most studious. I am going to do Health on Wednesday.

Today is Kim's shower and I made my first altered clock as her gift.

Life has been crazy the last couple weeks!

End of the year subbing is not so fun. Lots of hot, cranky kids do not want to be in school and some of the teachers are getting fussy as well. Last chance to earn an income though so I am trying to work as much as possible. I am even giving high school a chance next week. I usually only do elementary and I am likely to be eaten alive - pray for me on Monday and Wednesday. I love my job in September. Not as much in June.

We have been out on our little boat a couple times now. Went once to the Mount Tom Reservation and once to Hampton Pond in Westfield. Bray Lake at Mount Tom was fun, but Hampton Pond was wonderful. That is my new favorite place. Unfortunately on Memorial Day some teenagers threw a bunch of fireworks into the pond and killed a bunch of fish, and the poor dead fishies are still washing up on the beach. It's gross and sad. Won't want to swim there for a while yet.

I finished reading Robinson Crusoe (love Defoe, loved it), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (very good story of a young girl growing up in Brooklyn in poverty in the early 20th century), and Fun Home (a cool graphic novel with very strange family relationships that I identified all too well with) since I last updated my blog. I was talking to a lady at church who said she isn't much of a reader and I said I have to be to stay interesting to my husband. She told me that was a very smart way to think about it. Actually Ethan and I have been reading a lot of the same books lately and he is very interesting to me! We read Treasure Island together and he just started Robinson Crusoe.

My baby's last day of nursery school is this coming Thursday. I have very mixed feelings about this. I am so sad that she is leaving school and won't have the fun little kid experiences I had. On the other hand I am extremely excited and hopeful about staring our homeschooling together.

I am off to worry about the last details that I am responsible for for my sister-in-law's shower. It's tomorrow!!

I just finished altering a big wooden letter for the first time, and I had so much fun doing it, I think this might become one of my standard gifts. I used Anna Griffin supplies for this one - I loved how the one pieces paper was both pink and black and white. It's a gift for our church secretary, who I have come to realize has had a pretty thankless job these long months that we haven't had a rector. I really appreciate her and sympathize with her, so upon the new rector's arrival I suggested a staff appreciation week. It's so important to tell workers how much you value them - a pretty crummy job can get so much better with just a small thank you. Hopefully I'll get to chair up the appreciation committee.

Just finished this page for one of this month's projects at Scraptalk. This is my first time using Crate Papers and I loved them! And with this page I am celebrating! Esme and I have had great difficulties at bedtime since I starting putting her to bed, and as of tonight I am OFF for the summer! Hopefully in the coming months Ethan can get her back into a good routine and teach me how to do what he does! I would be so happy to leave that drama behind us.

On Saturday I got a big box of my grandmother's photos. There are some amazing things in this box, including one this one, which is one of my favorites. The happy couple coming out the door are my grandparents. I am so love photos of people I love, and old photos of my ancestors are one of my favorite things ever. I am my family's historian, and I feel so lucky to have this gift.

I survived two weeks of teaching the gym and science class! Phew! I am not used to working full time and I am WORN OUT. Even though I love that class i am so glad it's over. Now onto my busy weekend! Tomorrow I'll go see my mom and Sunday Esme and I will have the day all to ourselves.

Our new rector has finally arrived! I was on the Search Committee for over 18 months and I was thrilled to go to her first service on Sunday. Then I got to have a church school meeting with her on Tuesday, and I got to go out for a night on the town with her on Wednesday. She is a very nice woman and a pleasure to be around. I am so looking forward to working with her!

Just completed this layout - my first one for my second Pink Lady term! I am loving these Creative Imaginations patterns. I need to find a store that sells this line and buy it up.