Weather Updates

Well, I am going to sound like an old person and talk about the weather, but I figured why not, since that is what has been going on lately. We have had quite a bit of crazy weather in the last few weeks. About two weeks ago, we had an ice storm. It didn't do much damage, and only got us out of a few hours of work, but still not my idea of fun. I don't drive very well in bad weather, and I particularly do not like the way others drive in bad weather. I literally saw a car spin around three times across the interstate and just barely not hit the side rails. This was just after he passed me going about 60 mph compared to my 25 mph.

Here are a few pictures.

Then, last night there was severe weather across most of Oklahoma. Luckily, by the time it reached our area, it had weakened and we had no tornado warnings in our area, just really heavy thunderstorms and lightning. There was one area that did have a really bad tornado near the southern part of Oklahoma (we live in the north east corner of the state). I'm sure it must have been on the news, even all the way in SC, because so many friends and family checked on us. We appreciate that a lot. :-) I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that the actual tornado season is a long way off (or just inactive this year!)

You're Invited

If you received an invite from me, its because I decided to make my blog private to only people I have invited to read it. After reading another blog that the writer shut down because of what she called a dangerous situation to her family, I thought this was a step I should probably take. I don't think many people read mine, much less strangers, but it still made me worry.

Sorry for the extra step in reading this, but I figured its worth it.

Thanks for reading!

My Jewelry Shop

I have started a little jewelry shop on the Etsy website. This is where people sell their handmade items. I only have one item so far, but I hope to add more as I go along. My hope this year is to make and sell some jewelry at different places, since I had a lot of fun selling at our office Art Sale. I ended up making $150 which was super exciting for the first time selling!

My jewelry site is listed to the right of the blog if you're interested in looking. :-)

Christmas Wrap Up

Well, we are back in Tulsa after a great two weeks in SC. We managed to drive to SC in one day (19 hours!). At the time, it seemed to be neverending, but looking back it wasn't too bad. The DVD player stopped working just a few hours into the trip. There was no way we would make it the rest of the way without it, so we stopped at good ol' Wal Mart and picked up a replacement. Big James did 99% of the driving and little James was very well behaved, so it was much better than I could have expected.

The two weeks went by so fast and were so busy, but were very well spent. It seemed like almost everyday we were preparing to celebrate or celebrating something - Christmas Eve, Christmas, Birthdays (my own and others), New Years Eve, New Years Day, etc. - but I wouldn't have wanted to be that busy anywhere else!

We started out with a visit to the Festival of Lights, the drive & walk through Christmas light display that has been around for years and I just love! Every year it seems they have added something new and exciting so it doesn't seem like the same old things every time. Here are some pictures from the marshmallow roast - the little boy that is not James is my very cute nephew, Miles, who is about a year and a half younger than James. These pictures look similar, because of the coats and stuff, but one is me and James and the other is my sister in law and Miles. The similarities made me laugh!

Christmas Eve is when James' family does their big exchange. And I mean big! It is always a lot of fun, with lots of good food and the inevitable paper fight. Little James even got in on the action this year! Here are pictures of the tree before the gifts were distributed, the paper fight, and the not so small indoor jump castle. I wish I had gotten on camera all the hard work it took James to get this thing blown up! Poor James didn't make it in many pictures because he was busy doing all the daddy work! Keep in mind that at this point we were only a 1/3 of the way through with opening the gifts we would be traveling back with. We still had my family and Santa.

Christmas arrived with more gifts from Santa and my mom. Santa also brought a very cute, but somewhat unwelcomed gift, which was more enjoyed by Miles than by James. I have a video of James' reaction to the puppy - insert screaming - but it makes me too sad to put it on here. We are hoping he will start warming up to her soon! We named her Caroline to remind us of home. :-)

Then there was my birthday (29! ouch!) and New Years and then the weeks dwindled down and we got packed up and headed back. The return trip was a little more exhausting, what with the puppy, gifts, and the boat we decided to bring with us. Again, I should have taken a picture! We ended up staying the night about half way. Due to the boat, James did 100% of the driving and thanks to the very addictive Twilight series books, I was fully entertained! Of course, we didn't get to see everyone we wanted, and didn't spend enough time with those we did see, but we are thankful for the time we did have. I am still not unpacked and organized, but glad that the trip was safe and fun-filled!

Happy New Year!

Warms the Heart

On a super cold day like today, nothing warms the heart like the spirit of Christmas. This is a picture of one of the conference rooms in the building I work in. Wall to wall presents doesn't even describe it! The agency I work for has an Adopt a Family program to help families who are in need due to domestic violence situations. I believe we had about fifty families adopted. This means very generous people giving of their time and money to lift up total strangers and their families.

I literally had tears in my eyes when I saw this room for the first time. The picture doesn't even do it justice.

I am trying to keep this feeling in my heart when I am feeling that Christmas stress creep up. This is what it is all about.

My First Jewelry Sale

I think I mentioned briefly in my first post that I like to make jewelry. I am pretty inexperienced, but have a lot of fun with it. There is so much to learn and it can get pretty overwhelming to want to know how to do everything I see. I kind of get lost in what I can do and what I want to do and then I'm left sitting there with a bunch of projects I need to work on and don't know where to begin. I am just trying to pace myself and just improve on the little things and learn new things one at a time. I really had no clue how much there is that can be done with handmade jewelry.

Monday will be officially the first time I've tried to sell anything. A few people I work with also make jewelry and other things for hobbies so we decided to have a little Christmas shopping sale at work for the staff. I'm half excited and half nervous about puttting myself out there like that, but I'm going to do it anyway. A percentage of what we make goes toward the United Way which supports our agency. I have a random selection of things from beaded ornaments to keychains to bracelets.

Here are some pictures of my things:

Here is a picture from a Bead Show I went to a few weeks ago - talk about overwhelming! This is just one of MANY tables. Those are all strands and strands of different beads.



Wish me luck! I doubt I'll be quitting my job anytime soon or anything! :-)

A Wonderful Weekend

Of all the things I am thankful for, being back at work today is not one of them. I am normally the type of person who enjoys some time off, but am ready to get back to routine. Not this time. I had such a wonderful four day weekend. We did so many fun things and I am just wishing I could stay at home all the way through Christmas. We leave for SC in less than three weeks and I am super excited about that. It usually takes me a while to get into the Christmas spirit, but this year I am already there. It must be that little blonde haired boy who is so excited about all things Christmas.

Thanksgiving day was really nice and James and I were really proud to have conquered our very own Thanksgiving meal all on our own. I made plenty of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes and then there was the very stressful, very expensive, very TASTY turkey. We decided that we wanted a fried turkey because we wanted it to be a very southern meal and James makes a great fried turkey. So I bought the turkey and all the marinades and rubs and peanut oil. I knew that we didn't have the propane tank because the movers couldn't pack it, so I bought another one. Well, the movers didn't detach this very necessary hose from the tank so it was in SC too. No problem, I bought another one. Thanksgiving day arrives - big problem - the hose doesn't work with our fryer. Insert trip to Wal-Mart number one, in which James returns with a second fryer. Then there is not enough oil to cook what I thought was a small turkey, but apparently I was wrong. Insert trip to Wal-Mart number two for more oil. Next problem, the propane tank valve won't open. After much frustration, James is able to get the valve open and a little later we had this amazing turkey! We have also had since then very good leftovers too!

I set out Friday morning with my shopping plan a little before 6:30. I pretty much got nothing that I planned for because I didn't get to any place early enough. I guess I am not a very good Black Friday shopper. Friday night we took James to see Christmas lights at a big local church, which he loved.

On Saturday we made this lovely Gingergread House.

We also got the outdoor decorations up and Sunday I got the indoor things set out. All we have left is the tree. Oh and shopping, and cards, and traveling, and.......

All in all, it was a great weekend (minus the GIANT loss by Carolina to Clemson) and I am really looking forward to the Christmas activities to come.