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November 2011

Frog Christmas!!!

It just occurred to me that I COMPLETELY forgot to get my frogs something for Christmas. I'm going to have to do that. And now I have to convince myself that nothing good will come from searching 'Christmas Gifts for Frogs' on Google.

I'm going to do it anyways.


Dunkin' Donuts!!

My SS got me a Dunkin' Donuts gift carrrddd! Yaaaayyy!!!


November 30, 2011

I'm procrastinating. I promised my Science class I'd look up stuff about the Radioactive Boyscout (which is really cool, you should check it out) so I got onto the computer to do so and ended up on Swap-Bot and then ended up here. Which leads me to my next point, I figured out where all my visitors are coming from: Swap-Bot! Yay Swap-Bot!

Went running last night and, naturally, my leg started acting up again. Same time (about 12 min) same place (about 1 mile or so in). I stretched it out really well and then iced it with frozen vegetables (corn and peas!) so it doesn't feel as bad today as it has in the past but I'm still having problems with stairs and getting into my Jeep. I'm going to have to get a doctor's appointment which means I have to actually go to the doctor. Funny story about that, while I was in Mexico my family randomly changed doctors to this guy named Dr. Frese (pronounced freeze) and he's been my doctor now for about four years but I've never seen him and he has no idea who I am. I didn't know who my previous doctor was either. lol I never go to the doctor. This leg is bothering me enough though that I'm willing to make the sacrifice. I just want to be able to run without hurting. Understandable, right?

Eh, anyways. For your reading enjoyment (and learning), here is a link to a really good article about The Radioactive Boyscout which you should definitely read if you are planning on building a homemade nuclear reactor in your spare time. Really fascniating stuff, if I do say so myself. lol. Have a good day!


November 28, 2011

Ugg. So, so sick. Of all the times, Thanksgiving break. Had THE WORST headache last night but, fortunately, it went away while I was sleeping. Now I've just got a stuffy nose, congestion and this weird out-of-it feeling. The kind you get when you know you're sick but have to go on anyway. The worst kind. I'm pretty sure singing is going to be a huge flop this morning, my throat is not feeling up to it but the good news is that I legitimately feel much more rested now after the break. I even woke up before my alarm clock (and went right back to sleep) this morning.

Anyways, four weeks until Christmas break, YAY! Yes, there is a countdown, a whole advent calendar actually, with verses. I'm going to try to convey to my class the concept that the entire Bible is about Christ coming and dying for us and how, since the beginning of time, everything has revolved around Him and His death on the cross. I'm starting with when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and going from there. We'll see how it goes. It may require some tweaking. The cards are pretty sweet though. I'll show you some later. That starts on Thursday, the 1st of December.

This Saturday is the New York trip which I'm feeling a bit of trepidation about if only for the fact that I've got to spend a whole day in New York. Fortunately Jon and Veronica will be taking bus visitation so the only thing I have to do in advance is my Sunday School lesson.

There is some other stuff that is going on this week but, for the life of me, I've forgotten what it is. That's probably a good thing. See y'all!


November 26, 2011

Part of me wants to adopt a dog. The other part of me (my mother-ish side) says that she hates animals and will kick me out of the house if I bring one home. I don't know. I might not really want a dog. Usually when we get dogs the dogs end up really not caring about us and this one probably won't be any different.

Yeah, I probably won't be getting a dog.


November 21, 2011

Well, they've blocked the little message thing over there ---->. Mr. Farrell, understandably, doesn't want his students chatting with each other during computer class. Alright, I get it. It works out because now I can't see that no one is leaving messages. I'm getting visitors but no messages. :(

Talked to two people about my leg and they both said the same thing. Two weeks. This is much easier to deal with than a year, to be sure. It still means that I'm down until Saturday which is the last day Tim is going to be here. And I'll probably be in pretty bad shape by then because I haven't done ANY cardio except for brief periods of running around outside because it's cold. Blah.

Went exploring in D.C. on Saturday, found an Anthropologie which was quite amazing. I love that store, not necessarily the prices, but the store is awesome. Bought some small presents for my mom, Steph and my SS (and myself).

Gyuh. More high-school drama just came up. I'll see you all later. :P


November 18, 2011

It's Friday!!! Four days until Thanksgiving break! Yay!! My leg still hurts. I got out of bed this morning and felt it. I've been stretching and being careful with it and such. Everything I read about how long it takes to heal differs. I've heard as little as 72 hours and as much as a year (!!!!!!). Obviously the year-long option is a huge no. And, on the flip side, the 72 hours didn't work either. I never iced it and didn't wrap it so that might have been what happened. I'm going to talk to a friend of mine who is a therapist and see what she has to say about it. Then I'll talk to another friend who is a doctor. lol. It's good to have friends. I really, really want this thing to go away.

Made three cards last night and completely forgot to take a picture of one before I sealed it up. It was for my SS so maybe it'll work out. It was a nice card but not one of my best. Not that either of the ones I am about to show you are the best. But they're cute.



I made this one for Steph's baby shower tonight. Obviously my niece is going to be named Grace. It's a bit (a lot?) off center but somehow it works out. The letters are stuck onto the ribbon with glue dots (<3). It's cute. I like it. Sorry about the sideways-ness. The iPhone is smart, but not that smart.

This one is my favorite of the evening. I sent it to Brittany. The edges of the tag and the card itself were inked with Distress Ink using a little makeup sponge. Instead of buying those expensive ones at Michaels I just opted to use the cheaper sponge. It worked out pretty well except for on the tag where I accidentally got some ink on my finger and grabbed the tag. lol. The paper I used is another one of the Queen's Ink 6x6 pages that were, like, $.45. I LOVE paisleys.

So there you have it! In lieu of doing lesson plans (which I usually do on Thursdays) I forgot and went home. lol I'll have to stay later tonight. Oh well.


November 17, 2011

Just found out I ran my first 5k in 32.12. lol. That's almost two minutes faster than I thought I did. XD AND that was on a bad leg. Now I REALLY want to go run but my leg is still bothering me (almost a week later! Grrr!). Seriously though. It's raining outside, nice and cool, perfect for racing down the road. C'mon already leg!!!


November 16, 2011

Alright!! It's Wedesnday! Only a week away from Thanksgiving Break! Six days, actually, not counting today or next Wednesday.

I just looked up, saw my bulletin board and now feel very, very guilty about not having anything up there on it. And...one of my students just handed me a container of REAL SPANISH FOOD so now I feel even more guilty for being a terrible teacher. lol. I'll get that done ASAP. I'd do it this morning but we have program practice. I had to take it down originally because teenagers with pens are dangerous. lol. I have no idea what I'm doing to put up there now.

Now one of my students is wearing earrplugs. lol

Anyways. Made two cards last night. One for the fun of it, one for my sister's secret sister. See if you can guess which is which:




If you guessed that the Hola card was made for the fun of it, you're absolutely right. Because Hola is awesome. I'm going to put it on everything. And the Give Thanks card is for My sister's SS (!!). It's pretty sweet. The camera sort of destroyed the color but the card itself is awesome. That little flower really makes it.

Anyways, nothing going on today. Hopefully something interesting comes up. Like an adventure or something. I wouldn't be opposed to being kidnapped or swept away on an impromptu plane ride. Discovering lost treasure? Anyone?


Food that = Good


November 15, 2011

It has recently occurred to me that, contrary to popular belief, I am not the greatest person in the world. This realization is largely due to the fact that I've been under a great deal of stress recently and haven't been taking it very well. Oh, I haven't been taking it badly per say but I've been taking it...immaturely. You know how it is, you get all busy, nothing is easy and your time is all taken up and you fall into the trap of thinking, "If I weren't here, nothing would get done!" Or the infamous, "I do everything around here!"

I was thinking that way recently and making myself very, very miserable as a result because I wasn't focusing on the job but rather on the fact that I was doing it. And all of these things compiled in my head and I've just been a bit frustrated.

Then it occurred to me. Compared to someone like, say, Mr. Davies or Mrs. Norris or my dad, I'm hardly doing anything around here. So then THAT made me feel even worse because here I was, obviously managing my time very poorly because I was so busy and hardly doing anything. I started feeling guilty about doing anything other than church or school-related things and the result was even more frustration! So then I got mad at God. "Why am I here, God? What's the point if you're not going to do things for me?" Well, that's a fantastic attitude. "Why am I here God? I'm leaving unless you make it better or give me such and such a thing!" Heh. "I'm done! I'm leaving! I'm going to Wyoming!" "Fine! I'll stay here if I have to!" "Whatever. I can't do anything else than just work here for the rest of my life."

Each of these thoughts went through my head at some point in time over the last two months. I know they aren't good thoughts, I know they reflect a very poor attitude, I know, I know, I know. Anyways. I was sweeping out the lunchroom (for the umpteenth time) today and it occurred to me that God is obviously preparing me for something different and even more obvious is the fact that I am not ready for it yet. I may be able to do all sorts of things, I may have great talent and even a good training base but I'm not ready to go on to the next step in my life, whatever that may be, because obviously I'm not prepared for even greater stress or responsibility. It's almost like being able to tell the future. This is not what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life, there's something else out there, I just don't know what.

I'm not the first person who has had to wait a very long time for God to reveal His will. Look at Joseph. He spent how many years in prison? What about Noah? How long did he build that ark for? Ruth. Esther. Abraham. The Israelites. I'm in good company here. God never really moves quickly I don't think. I mean, I know He does on occasion but in cases where great things happened He waited until the person in question was absolutely ready. Then, and only then, did He move.

God knows how prepared I am for whatever is coming next. He knows what I need to learn, see, do, and experience before I take that next step. Knowing this, I can do one of two things. Take matters into my own hands and decide to go off on my own, solve my own problems and choose my own destiny (as it were) or wait and see what God is going to do next.

Knowing this does not solve my issue with impatience. It makes it marginally easier, knowing that something is coming up, but doesn't help the fact that it seems so very far away. But I'm young. I have time. I'm not even at the age where most people take me seriously yet. I make A LOT (yes) of mistakes. I'm too brash, too reckless, too selfish and much too impatient. Maybe that's why I'm working with teenagers. lol

Anyways, I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world dealing with that issue right now. Just remember that time IS still moving forward, God IS still directing your life and that you SHOULD NOT take matters into your own hands. Look forward into the future to what He's going to do next, learn whatever you can from your current situation and wait for the blessings. They'll come. I promise.


November 14, 2011

Alright! Monday morning, back to school, eight days left until Thanksgiving break which is fantastic news. And you're probably wondering how I managed to get eight days instead of nine or ten and that's because we don't count today (Monday) and we don't count Wednesday (the day we officially get off of school). So Tuesday through Tuesday is eight. I cannot wait to sleep in for a decent amount of time.

So Saturday. Was great. Woke up insanely early and then got really, really lost on Ft. Meade. I'm already scared of driving around on there and I was running low on gas (due to a lack of desire to spend money to fill up the tank) so it was pretty nerve wracking. It didn't help that I was already pretty nervous to begin with. But I finally found it, parked and grabbed my number. We also got an awesome shirt!!


This is probably the worst picture of a shirt ever but it gives you a pretty clear view of it. I haven't worn it yet. It's a little bit too big.

The race was good. I did it in about 34 minutes which is pretty much what I was expecting to run. Antoine did it faster than I (I don't know how much faster) and Mr. Farrell beat all of us, running 3.1 miles in 24 minutes. I re-tore whatever I had hurt in my leg previously and by the end of the race I was in a lot of pain. It didn't help that it was FREEZING outside and the muscle kept getting cold. It feels better now but Saturday was a nightmare. I'm glad I did it though. I'm going to do it again come next Spring. As for right now I'm not running for a week in order to get my leg feeling better. I need to be able to run when my brother gets into town.

So the fun didn't stop there. After the race I went home, showered, changed and then went on bus visitation. Since my leg was killing me I opted not to go to D.C. because I didn't want to walk all over creation (that was my excuse anyways) and instead went to a bunch of craft fairs that were ALL ON THE SAME DAY. One was at the middle school on base, one was at the fire department and the other one was at the church next door. They were all pretty good and I purchased some stuff but the best part was meeting the lady at the fire department. She was pretty much the only dedicated papercrafter I could find. Other people had made cards and such but she made all things with paper. Which I love. It is an obsession of mine. So we got to talking and it turns out she lives right up the road and, perhaps it was my personality, or maybe it was the fact that I was limping like all get out, she gave me her address and told me to let her know if I ever wanted to come over and use her die cutter. XD How about that?! A complete stranger inviting me over to use her die cutter! BUT IT GETS BETTER! We started talking about paper stores and I told her about Great Scraps, that store over in Millersville and she told me about The Queen's Ink, a store in Savage which I had never been to. We were like, so uber excited. I didn't buy anything from her (because I am callous like that) and instead went right to my Jeep to go to Savage because I had nothing else to do and it was like, noon.

Finding the store was the hard part. Apparently no one was thinking of the future when they built Savage. All the roads criss-cross like crazy and the ONE road you take to the actual stores is a random almost 360 degree turn up a hill around a corner. But I found it and I'm pretty impressed with the area. There is a lot of stuff there. Outdoor lasertag and a ropes course, just to name two of them. Inside was a whole world of arts and crafts. Beading, pottery, woodwork, framing, painting, fabric.... If you make it or want to make it, they have the materials there. The Queen's Ink is FABULOUS!! But by the time I finally got into it my leg was killing me again because I'd been standing on it for about a half hour. The longer I stood on it the worse it felt. If I would sit down for about fifteen minutes it felt better but who wants to do that? So walking around the paper store I could hardly fold my leg. I looked like I had a wooden leg. I think everyone took pity on me because I was talking to the cashier (after I FINALLY managed to remove myself from all the paper and embellishments and die cuts and stamps and ink...) and SHE GAVE ME HER PHONE NUMBER and TOLD ME TO COME OVER WHENEVER I NEEDED TO USE HER DIE CUTTER. I don't know what it is about die cutters but apparently they're things you share. I can't remember what I did with that particular piece of paper (stuck it in my pocket or something) but she lives up in Crofton which is a short drive from here, up near the Altman's house.

When I finally managed to limp back to the Jeep and drive home I watched Zach play Uncharted for about an hour (while stretching my poor leg) and was inspired to make some cards with Nate Drake's picture on them. I'm just too, too obsessed. So after I finished my Sunday school lesson and picked up donuts for my bus kids I went home and made these awesome things:



Just so you all are aware, these were meant to be funny, okay? I in no way put effort into them and didn't even use good paper, just scraps. And I'd never actually send this to someone who just lost a relative or anything. How callous do you think I am? It just looks as if he's crying, that's all. So it matched well with the deepest sympathy stamp. lol

This one was my favorite but also the most difficult one to put together because Drake's head IS SO BIG. lol. Actually, I wasn't thinking ahead and I cut it wrong so there was no room for the sentiment. That's why it's crooked up on the top there. It doesn't really fit anywhere else and hardly there. The picture is so cute though. lol. I think that's from Uncharted 2 because it isn't 3.

This one was intended to be a birthday card but I couldn't get the letters to fit anywhere so I abandoned that idea and just embossed the sentiment, accidentally making this one actually look like a legit card. Which it isn't. It's cheesy. lol

The moral of the story is this: I have three cards which I am never going to be able to use but that I would like to give to somebody. So, if you would like to be the proud owner of THREE, slightly limited edition Uncharted 3 cards starring Nate Drake, please email me your name and address. First person to do so will be the one to get them. It's as easy as that. Oh, and for further ease of applying, my email is: lshafer@ocs1.org. All I need is a name and address to send them to. Make the subject of your email: Card Giveaway #1 or something similar so I know what you're referring to.

After all of that craziness I settled down and actually made a nice card with one of the dies that I bought from The Queen's Ink. It's a Tim Holtz die and it makes pretty letters. Since it was my secret sister's birthday I went ahead and used the Happy Birthday letters that I was originally going to use on the Nate Drake card #3 on this pink and gray masterpiece:



The paper is adorable, isn't it? Once again, The Queen's Ink. They sneakily placed a whole rack of 6x6 paper near the cash register and I fell for it. Hard.

I like the card and I seriously hope my SS isn't reading my blog these days (she hasn't been known to, fortunately) or else she's going to know exactly who I am. XP

This is really a long post, isn't it? I'm glad you stuck around for the ending. This was probably one of my busiest weekends in awhile. I don't have much coming up except for Thanksgiving, the Cantata, Christmas, various Thanksgiving and Christmas programs and...that's about it. Yep. Thanks so much for reading! Leave a message please!!! Thanks!! Adios!!


November 13, 2011

Whoa! So, busy, busy weekend. I'll write about it tomorrow because I have pictures and everything. Let's just say that running a 5k, pulling a muscle and then walking all over creation isn't exactly the best idea I've ever had in my life. But it all worked out, found a new store, met some new friends, ran pretty fast and had a good time as a whole. Plus new cards for you and a giveaway because I have some stuff that I don't know what to do with. Plus people are VISITING BUT NOT LEAVING MESSAGES so I want to see who is doing what. ^^

Hope your weekends were as good as mine! I've got to go home and get to bed so I can start again tomorrow! Ciao!!


November 10, 2011

I'm wearing six colors this morning. So. Awesome. Pink, green, white, gray, brown and red. Despite my best efforts I still manage to match somehow. I'd post a picture but I don't want to. It's Thursday and I ate cookies for breakfast. Lemon cookies. From Austria. Someone left them on my desk which makes them mine. So I ate them. Quickly, before anyone else could get ahold of them.

It is so obviously Thursday. All the teenagers are a bit stir-crazy and tired at the same time. Officially two weeks until Thanksgiving (which makes me wonder how I managed to get 11 days on my countdown. Something's off there.) One of them shaved his hair off yesterday. It is now the talk of the homeroom. He put lotion on his head and people tried to rub it. That's almost pretty funny.

No cards last night. I stayed up to watch Psych which was pretty worth it except for the fact that it was about baseball. Tonight I get off early but I need to put in some facetime at Dunkin' because I haven't been there in....weeks. lol.


November 9, 2011

There have been a lot of new hits recently. Three last night as far as I can tell. If you're reading this, please leave a message so that I know it's not just robots or NSA people visiting. (I'm pretty sure they do. lol)

Signed up for the MOST AWESOME swap yesterday and went all out on it. Well, as all out as $10 allows. I've got plans though and this thing is going to be epic. The swap is a Zombie Outreach letter and you're supposed to send at least three journal pages that look as if they've been ripped out. The first entry is something to do with the beginning of the apocalypse, the second entry can be pretty much anything you want it to be, how you're holding up, who you're with, what you're doing, etc, and the third entry is basically a 'If anyone finds this...' sort of entry. I'm SO EXCITED. I went out and bought a little journal that I'm filling out with all sorts of fictional entries and then I'm going to leave it outside in the rain and mud. Then I'm going to set it up to look like a confidential file from the NSA or CIA or something. I've got a month to get it done. Seriously looking forward to seeing what I get in return. This being a swap, someone out there is doing the same thing I am in order to send it to me. ^^

Oh, saw the most ironic thing this morning. I spent the night somewhere else last night and had to drive into work (which I truly enjoyed) and as I was driving I had to stop next to a Gold's Gym up on Route 3. I looked over and there were people running around the building! Really. They'd paid a monthly fee only to show up and have to run laps around the gym building. I just thought that was hilarious.

No cards today as I was not at home last night. Hopefully I can get some done tonight. I'm supposed to make another Thanksgiving card for my sister's secret sister (...) but I'm completely uninspired when it comes to Thanksgiving. I have no turkey stamps or even anything that says 'Thankful' or 'Give Thanks'. Fortunately, as far as the other 'Thanksgiving' card I made is concerned, the person who got it rated me as a '5' so that's a nice feeling. lol

Alright, other things have come up that I have to deal with. People things. You know how it is. lol


November 8, 2011

Well, due to lack of sufficient time I'm pretty much giving up on NANOWRIMO. I mean, really, I'm supposed to be up to 8,000 words right now and I'm at around 2,000. Maybe eventually I'll have time to do it and I feel really bad about quitting but there's just no way.

I have learned two things in the last two days. One is that justice may take awhile but it sure feels good when it finally comes around. The other is that once something is started the hardest thing to do is stop it mid-action. If you need people to stop doing something, wait until they're mostly finished. Then tell them to stop. Chaos ensues if you try to stop people while they're in the middle of doing something, no matter what it is.

Finished three more cards. They're pretty awesome. If I may say so myself.


I really, really like this one. I had actually purchased the flag stamps awhile back but never managed to use it until just recently. But now that I've done it I'm going to use it a whole lot more. The flags are incredible and come in a lot of sizes. The only tedious part is gluing them onto the jute. But even then it isn't too bad. The 'Congrats' is from Papertrey and I embossed it because the letters weren't showing up enough.

I made this one just to have an excuse to use these AWESOME GREEN FLOWERS!! They're from Etsy and I love them to death. I also picked up some blue ones while I was at it. They're incredible. The only thing is that I hope I don't get charged extra to mail it. :p

Eehh, this one is just okay. I don't know what to put on there. I just wanted to try out the die I got with the Sizzix. Now I know what it does. lol

I learned two things in the last ten minutes. One, you cannot leave a blank piece of paper and some markers lying around and ask teenagers to write on it. They'll write stuff you really don't want to see. And the other is that I'm going to have to take my bulletin board down. D:


November 7, 2011

I'M WAY BEHIND ON NANOWRIMO!!!

I'm so far behind that I shouldn't even be updating OF! And every spare moment I have HAS GOT to be dedicated to the CANTATA because it is due by FRIDAY and here I am, wasting time writing HERE!

Point taken. See y'all later.


November 5, 2011

I've come to the realization that the best way to cope with everything that defines adulthood is to have a routine. You don't necessarily do the exact same thing every day (like some people) but you do accomplish a particular task on a particular day. For instance, the reason I am at school on a Saturday evening is so that I can complete my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow, get bus route things together and clean the disaster area that is my classroom. I've also changed out my big bulletin board for November. Thursday is the day that I stay WAY LATE and get all of my lesson planning done for the coming week. Sunday afternoon is the time that I buy dinner for the military ministry (affectionately known as milmin in honor of the military's penchant for shortening things). Tuesday is my running outdoors day. Wednesday is just insane. Monday after six is pretty much free, as is Friday on occasion. It is only a recent thing for me to have gotten everything under control. And even then I occasionally fall off the routine bandwagon and flail around (figuratively) until I get everything back under control. This weekly schedule leaves me with enough free time to say that I have some but also get a whole lot done. Kinda.

Anyways, it's almost eight o'clock and I'd like to get home soon. So I'm going to leave you hanging and do my SS lesson, write a little bit for NANOWRIMO, pretend to work on the cantata, feed the frogs and go home. Have a great evening!!


People I'd Need on a Deserted Island:

November 4, 2011

NANOWRIMO is going badly because I keep finding all sorts of other things to do. Things that HAVE to be done as opposed to COULD BE done OPTIONALLY. That's one of the things about growing up. You have a lot of OPTIONS that you WANT to do and a lot of REQUIREMENTS that you HAVE to do and you can't do them both at once and you have to choose. Sometimes you choose the options, other times you choose the requirements. Sometimes you choose the options and then have to scramble to do the requirements. Right now I'm choosing an option (updating OtterFiles) and am going to have to scramble to do a requirement (write two Spanish quizzes). Good people choose the requirements. Real people choose the options.

Got the swap-bot card sent off this morning, completely oblivious to the fact that I was supposed to include the name of the swap in the card so, on my first swap, I failed to follow the instructions. Whatever. It was my first swap. I've also been informed that I need to fill out my profile a bit more. So....need to get on that.

As far as cards go, I had a pretty productive night last night (in between lesson plans and Dunkin' Donuts).


Here's the Thanksgiving card I sent out. It's not very Thanksgiving-y and I said so in the card. lol. I really, really don't like using paper that looks like a musical score but for some reason I'm always drawn to it at the store (possibly because it seems like something I should be drawn to) and this is my latest attempt at using it. It isn't my greatest card ever. The buttons make it look a little cheesy but I like the ribbon. Actually, for the first time, the picture makes the card look better than it really is. I sort of feel bad for my exchange partner. She's getting this bizarre-o card that looks like a child put together. I'll do better next time! I swear!!

THIS one would have been a good one to send except for the complete lack of anything remotely autumnal. (Autumnal = Thanksgiving, brown, leaves, pumpkins, turkeys.) The Happiness tag was actually supposed to go on the Live your Life card from a few days ago but it just didn't fit. So I stuck it in a lampshade (where all good people store their unused tags) and forgot about it. Then, last night, when my new set of diecuts from Etsy came in I pulled it back out. Used the Sizzix machine to make those awesome swirls and distressed the tag with Distress Ink. The brown paper in the background is from the S.E.I. order, the flower came off of Etsy as well as the star. The button is from that Bag of Buttons I bought at Hobby Lobby. The tiny bits of ribbon you see there are from Great Scraps over in Millersville (where I have to go again tonight to pick up an embossing pen.) I really like this card. Better than the Live your Life card. In fact, I kept this one and sent that one to Tim. lol

This was a random one I put together that I was going to give to the guy at Dunkin' Donuts who supplies me with free donuts for my class. He gave me FIVE DOZEN last night and the majority are sitting here next to me. It's a good thing I didn't give him the card because turns out he's getting married next month and this is the last month he's working at Dunkin' Donuts (which turned out alright because he has this assistant guy who said he'd continue to give me the leftover donuts) so I have to make him a whole different card. lol

Alright. I SERIOUSLY have to write those Spanish quizzes. And make copies of dialogues. And go to music class. The requirements have caught up with me. -sigh- I'll be seeing you all later. Adios!


Things Happening Next Weekend:


November 3, 2011

Started NANOWRIMO yesterday, only got about....700 words done. Which means I'm going to have to scramble to get the rest of the words done today. Plus today is my stay-late-and-get-ready-for-next-week night and I'm in the middle of writing the cantata (which I'm procrastinating on, btw). Fortunately, knowing everyone at Dunkin' Donuts has its perks and I'm going to get all the stuff I can done at school then head over there for some good ol' writing with coffee (well, not writing WITH coffee, I'll be typing. But coffee will definitely be there by my side). Have to lug the laptop around though. Gyuh. Seriously need a new one. But I never take it anywhere, ever, except during November so do I really need a new laptop just for one month out of the year? Something tells me no.

Speaking of Dunkin' Donuts, everyone should go see if you can convince them to make you what I am dubbing a 'choffee' which is a mix of hot chocolate and coffee. Right now I'm experimenting with 1 part coffee, 1 part hot chocolate but I think I'm going to have to divide it up differently like 2 parts coffee and 1 part hot chocolate because right now all I can taste is hot chocolate, no coffee. But you get the same kick of caffeine. It's wonderful.

So Zach was a sweetheart and bought the collector's version of Uncharted 3 (because, personally, I think Nate Drake is the most amazing person ever) and gave me the little replica ring that came with it (with strict instructions that I do nothing to destroy it, as if I would :p). We haven't been able to start playing it yet and he is showing great restraint in waiting for me (because the bugger-head goes home at ELEVEN THIRTY every day and gets to PLAY AROUND) in order to do so. I'm thinking probably tomorrow because he has class today. That or he might just start it today and restart later on when I have a chance to be there. Also coming out this month is the new Assassin's Creed which I have little to no interest in except for the fact that the same guy who voices Nate Drake also voiced a character in Creed but the part was minimal and, as far as I am aware, is no longer around. So...myeh.

According to the whiteboard countdown there are 19 days left until Thanksgiving break. That's almost nothing. Almost nothing because it IS still 19 days. Which is 12 school days. We were discussing what everyone is bringing to Thanksgiving dinner last night around the fire (cozy) and it turns out I'm bringing Macaroni and Cheese (my idea), string beans and a relish tray which will largely consist of olives and those little crunchy pickles because that's all that anyone ever eats off of those things. Oh, and a little bit of cauliflower because, unbeknownst to me, my dad loves cauliflower. I was unaware of this fact until last night. So there y'go.

One last thing before I go. There's this website called Swap-Bot which pairs you up with someone for a swap of your choosing. It's pretty cool. I'm participating in a Thanksgiving card swap which needs to be sent out by the 10th (goodness, EVERYTHING is happening next weekend!!) and a random stranger is going to be sending me a card. It'll be epic. I'll let you all know how it goes. But you should just go try it out anyways, even if my swap goes badly. You never know, it might be fun.

Alright, music class time. I'll be seeing y'all. Leave a message!! KTHNXBAI!!!1!


Marc Anthony is NOT FROM SPAIN

My Spanish 1 students did not do their homework last night. They're all scrambling to find famous people from their respective research countries. Marc Anthony, for the record, was born in New York. Not Spain

Spent about an hour last night with all my new paper stuff. Pretty sure I didn't mention that it ALL FINALLY ARRIVED! And, while I wasn't too thrilled with the time it took to ship everything, the Papertrey order is great, I think I'm going to make another one (so that I'll have it in...five weeks or so) and the S.E.I. order is absolutely AWE-SOME!! The die cutter came in as well and it's so, so helpful. I need to get more dies for it though because all I have right now is a set of labels which is nice to have but...limited. The next Papertrey order is def going to include some dies.

Anyways, here's what I came up with:


I had this whole green and blue thing going on yesterday and figured I'd deviate from the traditional Christmas red and green just to see what I could come up with. This is the result and, while the two blues don't really match (you can't tell in the picture but they don't), the end result is nice. I embossed the greeting in bright green and attached little pearls to the snowflakes (<3).

I absolutely ADORE this one. Black and white is one of my favorite color combinations EVER. When in doubt, go with black and white. I was thinking snowflakes don't actually HAVE to be white and I had seen something similar to this while perusing Google looking for cardmaking ideas. The words are embossed (I was practicing, can't you tell?) and came out very sharp. It's a Papertrey sentiment and it turned out so well I really think I'm going to have to get another set of them. They're nice and crisp. Anyways, the first time I saw this all put together last night tears welled up in my eyes. lol. I was really tired.

And finally, this lovely. You can't tell in the picture but it is absolutely GORGEOUS. Brown, green, blue and ORANGE!! I bought more distress ink last night (in blue and green, haha) and went at it with one of those big tags from Etsy. The ribbon is from one of those Jars o' Ribbon by PaperStudio which was on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby last week (I bought like..four jars of different colors). The flowers are from Etsy and those awesome little gems are from Michaels (TEACHER DISCOUNT - 15%). I don't know what brand they are though. ANYWAYS, love this card and really don't want to send it to anyone. I've got to part with it though or I'm never going to get any better. I'll prolly send it to Tim or Brittany. Or maybe Ang. Gaahhh...decisions decisions!!

In other news, got winter tires installed on the Jeep yesterday. Let's just say it's a whole lot sweeter to drive now. And safer. Everyone I talk to is calling for what they happily term a 'hard winter' which, depending on who you're talking to, means anything from snow all the time all over the place or lots of big snow storms spread out all winter. Personally I want lots of snow all the time all over the place but I'd go for lots of big snow storms as well. Since I'm going to be spending a lot of time indoors I'll have lots of time for tea, running and card-making. YES. That is what I call an ideal winter.

Alrighty then. I need to either buy something from Papertrey or start reading the Runner's World magazine that Mrs. Stover just kindly handed me. I pulled something in my left leg on Monday (while I was running six miles -coughcough- -brag moment-) and am pretty much laid up until, hopefully, Friday. The 5k is on the 12th and I really can't afford to not run at all. So Friday is the day I'll just force myself to go three miles. Yeah. Anyways. Have a great day! See y'all later!!


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