Gifts 41 - 60
41. Monitors to hear sweet voices as the girls wake up
42. Being unplugged and really listening to those around me
43. Stories of people's lives
44. Spectacular Southwest views
45. That my girls get to grow up knowing their cousins WAY better than I got to
46. Hearing Keeley say, "Huse me, I bup" after every hiccup the other day...
47. $5 play houses that ROCK
48. New Skin
49. Sausage balls
50. The wonderful feeling of getting to clean out/donate even before the New Year
51. Simplifying an already simple lifestyle
52. Knowing that I can live in the freedom of not being a slave to sin
53. Airplanes
54. Southwest's "Plane Crackers"
55. My steadfast marriage partner
56. Hot showers
57. Obedient hearts
58. Kleenexes
59. Organic options
60. Avocados

Multitude Monday

Gifts 21-40

 

Hmmmm... I'm not quite hitting this on Mondays am I? Oh, well... I had the post done over a week ago because I knew that with traveling for Christmas I may just want to be unplugged. And that's exactly what happened... However now that we're back and unpacked/rested/starting new projects, here's my next batch of gifts!

21. Dishwashers

22. Winter blooms

23. Cell phones

24. The "hard" days when I'm forced to rely only on Him

25. Learning from my girls

26. Forgiveness of sin

27. The color aqua blue

28. Cars that work

29. Computers that work

30. Christmas lights

31. Old friends

32. Belly laughs

33. Airplanes

34. Contacts (as in vision correction)

35. Todd's job

36. Salty foods

37. Cook books

38. Parents

39. Grandparents

40. The days getting longer...

1000 Gifts...

I am excited to join (and not use January 1st as a beginning, though that is usually so motivating to me...) the Gratitude Community and friends Carrie and Amber in making gratitude even more of a habit in my life and pushing dissatisfaction farther and farther away...

I am so thankful for...

1. That Jesus loved His creation so much to die for it to save it...including me.
2. The gift of a humble husband who shows me Christ's patience and grace daily
3. A family that is healthy
4. Little girls who show me what innocent faith is...
5. Coffee
6. The beauty of the outdoors
7. The mind of an engineer
8. Sleeping in
9. Comfortable shoes
10. The smell of newborn hair/heads
11. A warm home
12. Glittery nail polish
13. Movie nights
14. Thoughtful friends
15. The ability to capture memories with a camera
16. Computers
17. My pillow
18. Really great hugs
19. People who are good with numbers
20. Snuggling with my love on movie nights

Yup, Another Wreath

I think I may be obsessed with wreaths. Not totally sure why, but this year they have been the focus of much of my creative juices...

"Harvest" wreath made out of corn husks...

Found this for a good price at JoAnn's

NOT made by me, but great for fall/winter...

Took the corn husks off the wreath form that I got at the dollar store and wrapped it with the garland I found at the Target dollar spot, put a few ornaments on it from our ample supply and voila! A newly decorated bedroom door for super cheap!

Just finished this one last night and wanted to try out the blue Christmas tones... I toyed with the idea of trying to go with blues/silvers/white/pale greens next Christmas, but taking a look around the house pretty much eliminates that option unless I totally redecorate. The walls, curtains, pillows pretty much everything is warm tones and would look weird if I tried to bring blues in. So...the only place to let my blues shine is our master bath!

There are probably many places where this has been featured, but I got inspired by a blog that I follow, It's the Little Things... Now I just have to figure out how to store it after the decorations come down!

Woot!

(Caution a tad bit of jubilation over good deals....)

104 Christmas Cards - (74 FREE making them $.20 each!)

Christmas Return Address Labels - 140 FREE 

+ stamps (obviously not free) 

+ some shipping thrown in

Grand Total for fun (and cute!) 

Christmas Cards when they are sent?

$.63 each!!!

Luuuuuuuuuv it!

A Good Problem to Have

So you know you're spoiled when... 

...you have the "problem" of having some fun photos to share with good friends and family during Christmas and you have too many cute Christmas card designs to choose from! 

That's exactly what I'm dealing with this year... 

Sniff, sniff, I know... =)

2009

The dilemma in years past was trying to figure out how (or even IF) to send out Christmas cards (which I adore receiving) and doing it: 1. without breaking the bank during an already tight time of year for the budget 2. doing it in a way that I feel is still personalized, but without writing in 80+ cards 3. still making it fun and not take a loooong time. Solution for this year? Shutterfly. Shutterfly has a very cool promo going on right now where they're offering 50 free cards for blogging about their Christmas Cards! Uh, yes! I'm in!

Last year I liked our cards okay, but I put too many images and too many words together. So, my criteria this year is less is more. Simple design and only two pictures. That helped me navigate the pages and pages of super cute designs. So far I think I've narrowed it down to a few. This one or this one, and possibly this one... Does that seem like I'm staking my claim? Maybe I am! =) One year we did send out the design that we also received back on quite a few other families' cards... Pretty sure that won't happen again this year..

Granddads & Grandmoms, Nanas & Papas have all received their calendars in years past - a great way to incorporate all the pics from throughout the year in all the different seasons...

Todd and I have really enjoyed the prints we've put on the stretch canvases we have in our home and I definitely have one more in mind coming up soon...

No sneak peak of the picture here... Gotta wait for the reveal coming soon to a mailbox near you!