Well, I know it's not quite 2008 yet, but it is New Year's Eve, so it's close enough.
The Mighty Hunter has killed a doe, with Mary Beth along for the ride. She texts me that she will not watch them as they "do whatever it is they have to do to get it ready" because it is "too sad."

The deer chili that Mighty Hunter will make is not gonna be sad, neither are the deer hot tamales!
Yummy Yummy.

I am scrappy today because I have to do SIX layouts in order to reach my goal of 365 for the year.

Tomorrow I am going to have Sarah or Mary Beth draw for the ephemera package. Then I will get it postal on the 2nd (which happens to be the day Mary Beth gets her braces off)! Oh, happy day!

Time for a Give-Away!

Well, I have had a fun, scrappy day so far. Actually, I have fiddled around on the computer and internet more far more than I've scrapped, but who cares?

Before Christmas I promised to round up some ephemera goodies and give them away to a lucky reader. Here they are: unique vintage postcards,
a vintage notecard (the yellow with the flower),
some hole reinforcers, hearts made from Prima paper,
hearts made from a page out of a book,
the word MERRY cut from a page out of a children's Christmas book,
part of a page from that same book,
a bit of red BoBunny Double-Dot paper from A Scrappin' Friendsy,
three novelty buttons,
and a cool vintage photo envelope (well, a piece of it, anyway).

These are very unique items and would make great elements for a scrapbook page or wonderful ATC's. Post here if you are interested, and I will pick a winner some kind of way!

Now I am going to go get some more of my Christmas Cookie coffee, which I am drinking out of my TallyScrapper mug!

Christmas Day 2007

Well, we are having a wonderfully quiet day here at my parents' house! Just my family of four, plus my folks and my niece and nephew. I haven't taken that many pictures, which is really a shock. I usually have a TON! Been playing with my new Cricut (yes I know Cricuts are old news, but I have wanted one for a few months now, and Randy got one for me) while the kids have played video games, Scrabble, and Rook.

We had a wonderful non-traditional lunch of my dad's home-made lasagna. After that we have just been nibbling and enjoying the quiet.

While checking out my friend Rachel's blog
I saw this cool link to a reading level "checker." Her site is college-level, and mine is:

Cool! And I haven't even put any math problems on here yet!

So, for now I am saying goodbye Merry Christmas to the five people who actually read my blog! Love you guys!

Counting Down to Christmas!

Yes, I am counting down the days! Have been winding up school, grading exams and entering grades. Shopping for Christmas presents and wrapping said presents. And the saddest thing of all? I made Martha Washington balls (which isn't so sad) and ATE them! Tons of them! They are soooo good.

Melt a stick of butter, stir in a box and a quarter of powdered sugar, a can of condensed milk, a can of coconut, and a cup and a half of finely chopped pecans. Chill, then roll in balls and dip in melted chocolate. That is the recipe in a nutshell.

Tomorrow I am going to make cranberry fluff. I'll have to let you know whether it is any good - I've never made it before.

I haven't finished putting together my envie of ephemera to give away. Tomorrow is looking like a good day to piddle around and get some goodies together and take a picture. Right now, the kids are home from the mall. Consequently, my quiet moment to post on my blog has vaporized. They are now twirling the wrapping paper, arguing over who has more presents, and whose are bigger, and talking about decorating the gingerbread house (I don't think so!).

So I will leave you with this peaceful scene from my living room (hah, doesn't look like that right now!). Merry (almost) Christmas, everybody!

I just love....

a nice hot shower when it's cold outside. You know, the kind of hot shower that you just can't make yourself leave until the water starts getting lukewarm and you know you're gonna freeze if you don't hurry up! What things like that do YOU love? Leave me a comment!

Today will hopefully be a joyful day as my Key Club students get their gifts ready for some area children in need. We have bought lots of things: scooters, shoes, bikes, dolls, CD players, stereos, clothes and more! We will stay after school today and get it all together for the big party on Saturday. I NEED to be finishing up my own Christmas shopping, but this is WAY better.

And there is my BABY (who isn't a baby anymore) dressed up for the Christmas dance at school. Can you tell she didn't want me to take a picture? Evil kid. Doesn't she know it doesn't matter what she wants?!

Here is my other evil (I mean, sweet and loving) teenage daughter, in the show choir's recent concert. I totally adore my children....just love teasing them. I actually do my students the same way, completely and totally because I love them. I think they know that about me. I hope they do.

Do you ever take pictures of the fire in your fireplace? Very cool.
We totally love our fireplace!

So, does that make you warm if it is cold where you are? I hope so.

It might make you warm and fuzzy to know that I am putting together some envelopes of ephemera perfect for scrapping, card making, and ATC's! I will send them out after Christmas, as soon as I figure out HOW to decide who gets them! Any good ideas for me?

A Scrappin Friendsy DT Call

A Scrappin Friendsy is searching for two new design team members.
Could you be one of them? Each member will serve a
six-month term on ASF.

Requirements:
- Newsletter - One layout or project per month, and a write up of
the project that includes products used.
- Newsletter - select “Hot Picks” layouts and provide
RAK prizes once during your six month term.
- Challenge Rotation with other DT members: create and
post one challenge every six weeks.
- Challenge Rotation with other DT members: during
our challenge weekends, at least one challenge (these will happen
every three months).

All projects completed for ASF will be yours to keep; however,
you will need to scan and upload your projects to a private album
in your gallery by the deadline prior to newsletter release.

You must have an active gallery at ASF. An active gallery is
considered one that has projects other than DT assignments.

You must maintain an active presence on the ASF boards.


Incentives:
- While you are a member of the ASF Design Team, you will
receive a 20% discount at the store (online or brick and mortar).
If you order product and choose to have it shipped with your
assignment products, postage will be paid!
- You will receive products free of charge to complete your
Design Team assignments.
- You will be given recognition for all projects that are
uploaded to the Design Team gallery. You will also be featured on our
Design Team website with a photo and small informational section
about you.
- Your layouts/projects will be yours to keep.
- Design Team members will also have input in the assignments
and running of our online community.


If you are interested, come join the A Scrappin Friendsy forum at
www.ascrappinfriendsy.com. Upload a layout that best shows your
style to the ’08 Design Team Call gallery. Then answer the following
questions and send them to the moderator
at moderator@ascrappinfriendsy.com


Name:
Username at ASF:
Other usernames:

1. Describe your scrapbooking style and list your favorite products
and techniques.
2. Tell us a little about yourself (interests, family, favorites, etc.).
We'd like to get to know you!
3. Please provide a link to the online gallery where you are
most active. Please include your username at that site.
4. Are you currently, or have you in the past, served on
another design team? If so, when and where?
5. What will you contribute to our DT and, more importantly,
to our site and store?

All applications are due by January 10.
The new DT members will be notified by January 14.

First Thoughts on my new Blog

Truly my very first thoughts are that I don't have time to blog! I won't lie about that.
But, then I think that EVERYBODY blogs, and I hate to miss out on anything fun. I am
such a "joiner." So I will figure it out and find my "blogging place" in the world.

I hope to mix my personal thoughts and happenings with scrappy happenings and also with
math happenings. I teach Algebra I and geometry to high school students. I will post math
questions for fun and learning. Well, mostly for learning. I am always looking for
questions, especially good multiple-choice questions, that I can copy and paste for my tests.
I have a lot of experience writing, reading and editing MC questions for personal use and for
high-stakes testing. Maybe, eventually, math teachers will make their way to my blog and be
able to use these questions with their own students.

I am really into scrapbooking, and will probably end up talking a lot about that hobby on this
blog. There are a gazillion scrapper blogs out there, all better than mine, but I am joining in.
I can hardly believe it. And on that note, my next post has exciting news in it!

Slideshow of Some of my Scrapbook Pages