Christmas Eve at our House

The fun has just begun... here is installment one of Christmas Eve! The stockings come next. :)

"Christmas is a feeling in your heart." -Johnny Cash song (not so theologically correct, but funny none the less).

Ham ham ham ham ham ham ham! That was for you Dad!

Cheesy potatoes!!! They aren't on the diet, so we took a hiatus from the diet for one meal. Corn!!!! (Not like Jim and Phyllis's, but still great.)

POP! :) Diet Dr. Thunder to be exact. :)

This next part is simply uncalled for but hilarious. The cat kept meowing and so I pulled out the chair because that seemed to be what he was wanting. Before we knew it we had a table guest. I might add that he sat there very politely and quietly throughout the rest of the meal and meowed mournfully when we left the table to do dishes. Our cat is insane... and we probably are too.

STOCKING TIME!!!

Smoke Signals...

Okay, so our apartment smells like smoke. Our downstairs neighbors are smokers... no... CHAIN smokers. I have a lot of tolerance for smokers as long as they don't smoke near me or my things. They have a right to smoke. I have a right to breathe. So lately (since July) we have been smelling their nasty bi-product on a daily basis in the bathroom and occasionally the living room, but it just crossed the line last night when it intruded into the bedroom too. So I have been struggling with anger today. It doesn't help that I was by myself all day since Marc was at work. I just feel out of control and taken advantage of. We tried to call the management but they are on vacation for Christmas. So then I checked on my emails and got this from Henri Nouwen.com.

"Life is unpredictable. We can be happy one day and sad the next, healthy one day and sick the next, rich one day and poor the next, alive one day and dead the next. So who is there to hold on to? Who is there to feel secure with? Who is there to trust at all times?Only Jesus, the Christ. He is our Lord, our shepherd, our rock, our stronghold, our refuge, our brother, our guide, and our friend. He came from God to be with us. He died for us, he was raised from the dead to open for us the way to God, and he is seated at God's right hand to welcome us home. With Paul, we must be certain that "neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39)."

It is humbling and a good reminder despite the fact that I am still very angry. I feel frustrated and yet amidst the craziness I am reminded of the joy of those who have no home at all. Having seen what we have seen in Kenya it is hard to reconcile my anger over our situation with reality for so many individuals.

A Break from the Craftiness

So I have been crafting up a storm in the last 24-48 hrs, but I decided to take a break and tell you about some great music you probably already know about (because I am always the last one to hear about great artists out there). I am currently loving (click and you can listen via YouTube):

1. Leslie Feist

2. Madeleine Peyroux

3. Eisley

4. Jem (no not from the 80s cartoon - although I thought of that too) :)

Here is a picture of the 80s cartoon for those of you who are confused. :)

Please do not read if you don't like cats... or at least Oscar

Today we recieved a Christmas package from my parents in the mail and opened it. Don't worry, the presents inside were wrapped. However, they were packaged with some lovely brown packing paper which Oscar immediately took a liking to. Please see the following videos to watch Oscar enjoying his "Christmas present." :)

So this was only part one. I know... *groan*. Part two was the discovery of the comfyness of the packaging material itself!

So, on behalf of all of us, Merry Christmas from Texas: the land of the paper-loving cat.

What I Do For a *ahem*... Living :)

So I may be on a grad student paycheck, but I do a lot of fun stuff at my job. And I thought you should know about it! One of my biggest jobs that is "solely" mine is Welcome Weekend. Welcome Weekend is the time when new transfer students and occasionally new freshmen, enter campus as new students in the spring semester. We have a mini-Welcome Week for them called Welcome Weekend. It is a weekend of fun and bonding to get them connected to the campus. My office also puts on Spring Orientation which immediately precedes Welcome Weekend. This year Welcome Weekend is January 11-13th, and I have been working on it since early October!

In an effort to get students more involved in the weekend activities we decided to do a newsletter to send out to new students to encourage them to attend Orientation and Welcome Weekend and to let them know about various campus resources for transfer students. So this job fell to me! Here is the finished project, my "baby." I hope you enjoy!

Random Vacation Thoughts

Okay, so I have a nasty sinus infection (i.e. my mind is mush). That being said, our house is less than clean and neat right now. I just haven't felt like cleaning... or getting out of bed for that matter. However, I am now on a lovely little thing called antibiotics and feeling much more lively. So in an effort to inspire myself to clean our pile of nastiness called an apartment, I went looking for online tips on cleaning--okay, it may have simply been my unique way of procrastinating. Now I have a renewed appreciation for people who actually like to clean (do they really exist?) and a renewed inspiration for attacking my own little pig sty. Oh, and I came across a great tutorial on how to fold fitted sheets (sorry I never learned it from you Mom). Click on the picture below for the tutorial!

Now for the random thoughts.

I hate how USF still sends us stuff addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Marc B. Anderson despite the fact that we have told them that is somewhat offensive to people raised in our "liberated-feminist" generation. Besides... I graduated first (not that anyone is counting...).

I found out that over 10,000 people have taken the pledge to buy homemade for Christmas. The very same pledge I took! And the pledge was featured in the New York Times magazine too!

Which reminds me! I love my in-laws! They sent us a gift card for a Christmas present so Marc can use it for getting me a sewing machine! I think I will ask Marc for the Brother BC1000 because Singers are just not what they used to be according to most websites. I have heard nothing but good about Brother's however, if you have a different experience, speak now. :)

I hate it when you blow your nose and your ear pops.

We got a Joel Osteen "30 Thoughts for Victorious Living" pamphlet in the mail. God bless him and his prosperity gospel.

We are watching our friends house over Christmas... I should note that this basically means we steal her cable and hang out there every night. I am loving Jon and Kate Plus Eight on TLC!

My hubby left a cute post-it note on my pillow last night. I love him so much. :)

I slept in until noon and stayed lazing in bed until almost 3:00... wow... I am told by friends who have kids that now is the time to stock up on these experiences because once we have kids they will be few and far between.

Is anyone still reading this? I swear this is like a stream-of-consciousness exercise. :)

Anyway... I am loving making your Christmas presents (and I promise to disinfect them before I give them to you)!

Get ready for the Craftiness!

Okay, so after finishing my work like a boring old grown up, I took off for my wonderland: Goodwill. Here are my findings!




I am so excited with what I am going to do with them. You may even be the joyous recipient of one of my handmade goodies. But look closely at the picture because when you get it alterations of gloriousness will have occured changing these homely treasures into first-class Christmas gifts... just you wait! :) I get possession of the sewing machine today... not that I'm excited or anything. :)


Last night I embroidered this (warning: I need a good close-up camera...)




Oh, and if you are interested in my work at Baylor, here is part of what I do: http://www.baylor.edu/welcomeweek, just look for Welcome Weekend!

What I made for Rese!

This is Theresa... Isn't she gorgeous?

I made this checkbook cover for my bff's b-day a few months ago. I just wanted to put pictures up so you can see! It was a big hit! :)

Sewing Woes...

So I just took the plunge and did the pledge. I am truly a real crafter now my friends! So I have a few projects up my sleeves that I would like to try out. Unfortunately, just in time for the holidays my trusty 1946 Featherweight Singer pooped out on me. The bobbin spinner is way to fast for the rest of the machine and it causes tangled threads.

Although they seem to love it!

Whilst I wait for the use of my friend Mel's machine on December 14 (12 days away--not that I am counting...) I will be dreaming of fabric and zig-zag stiches. Which reminds me. If any of my thousands (ha!) of readers have an extra sewing machine lying around that they would like to give me I would take it!

So, if you want to be cool like me and take the handmade pledge go to http://www.buyhandmade.org/. This site has lots of great stuff for sale from great crafters just like me who need to sell stuff to support their habit. And a lot of it is very eco-friendly which is even more cool! What can I say, I'm becoming a crazy, liberal, recycling Texan!