Swap Sweets!

I've been waiting with anticipation for my swap gifts and as I opened the door, this is what I saw.

My swap mate Cas http://eastcoastjesses.blogspot.com/ rocks! We had exchanged a few emails, just trying to get a feel for each others taste. Well, let me tell you, this lady is GOOD! She knows me oh so well like we were meant to be friends!

So I open my package and this is what I see...

OMG, my eyes can't even focus! I see pink, I see cookies, I see toile. I can't breath... has a magic fairy been spying on me and given in to all my hearts desires???? Well YES, her name is Cas and just look:

Beautiful, delicious sweet treats, a pink and brown sash that I am gonna use as a belt, a ribbon ornament and a star bath fizzy. Oh, there is more :

Yep, that's right, toile file folders. I heart toile, these exactly match my window treatments! I also love to file. I file everything. I just had to go to the Mart to get a box of 100 boring, icky Manila file folders. On black Friday Hubby and I went out and got me an antique 18th century hand carved desk that has a file drawer into which I will all my gorgeous toile file folders.

Oh yes, there is more:

Do you see that snowman tassel? Good Grief, I just may pass out! That beauty went right up on the light fixture in my living room! It is lush and gorgeous and I adore it! Check out the sparkly red boot and tree. They are so glittery, they make me smile! I put them in my foyer and they pop on my table. Do you see the ribbon just above the card? It has Fleur DE Lis on it. Another obsession of mine. I know just what to do with that but I can't tell yet...

This is Cass's sweet card. She is fabulous and got me every single thing that I told her I loved. Can you imagine opening a box full of things you adore? Well, leave Cas alone, she is my swap buddy and we are gonna keep our swap alive. Next swap, Valentines Day! YIPPPEEEEEEEEEE, I only hope she likes her gifts as much as I love mine!

Did I mention the toile file folders? They are so pretty that I don't even want to use them! This was my very first swap and Oh how fun. I can't wait for Cas and I to do it again! I am in heaven. Thanks Cas, go meet her at her blog but remember, she is allllll mine!http://eastcoastjesses.blogspot.com/

Tip Junkie (http://tipjunkie.com/shopathon/) Is having a super fun give away. Run over to the site and enter. They have hand made items too! Have Fun.

Run, Go Organize Your Pantry

I love when things are neat, tidy, organized and clean. Well, ever since we moved into the new house things have been the exact opposite of that. I have organizing block AND decorating block. Two things that I am so good at I can't seem to do at all now??? Maybe it's because this is our last house, the one we will grow old in and have our grandchildren in. I want it to be perfect, so if I can't do it perfectly, I just don't do it. Smart, right? WRONG...This place is a wreck and because it is bigger than our last house we don't have nearly enough furniture in it to unpack our things "just the right way". We have a list of priorities of things to fix, furniture to buy, decorating idea...etc. It is slow going because of lack of money and energy but I am going insane.

So, any little step in the right direction makes me intensely happy. I am a lover of Blogs. I have "met" the nicest people and learned so much from reading them. One of those is called MeckMom. The site is www.meckmom.com (I can't make my computer do a link for some reason but here is the URL to:

http://www.meckmom.com/2006/06/08/control-your-pantry-mess-for-under-30/

Go check it out, it is fabulous! She has organizing tips, crafts, downloads, the works! One of her brilliant ideas is for organizing your pantry. Well, I jumped right on that. I already had a ton of matching plastic totes so I printed off her labels and emptied my pantry into the designated tote and OOOOHHHHHH, is it nice (well until DH unloaded groceries and junked it up) but that is the beauty of this system, even if it's thrown into the totes, it is still organized! There is a tote for each category like soups, desserts, snacks, dinner, lunch, breakfast... I made two totes for some categories. Hubby just went grocery shopping so we opened the pantry and put each item in its respective tote. It was so fast so I wanted to share this wonderful blog so you all can do it too. Here is a picture of what your pantry can look like:
Isn't she pretty and SO efficient! MeckMom even lets you download her pretty labels for the totes. I laminated mine and attached them with Velcro dots so if it gets messed up or I change the label I can just Velcro on a new one. This makes me happy. Thanks MeckMom!

I Heart Tassels

OK, so last night I made my first tassel and I am hooked. I am searching the house for things to turn into tassels. I'm a crazed woman. Help me. Send me tassel supplies quick! I made two Fall ones and then this green beauty to match my bedroom. I hung it on my bed. Now I want to clean my messy room so my pretty tassel has a nice home...I'm going to make more!

A Mess and A Tassel

I am the lucky owner of TWO Susie Harris Tassels! I love her and her art work. Not only is she talented but so sweet! Well, tonight I tried my hand at making my own tassels and I am hooked. It started with a bunch of shopping for materials. Then, because my craft room is not ready yet, I set up a make-shift craft table. Then the mess...

Oh, and this mess too...

BUT, after an hour and a ton of hot glue gun burns and a huge metal acorn, here is my tassel...

Not too shabby, I am happy and I want to make MORE. I know what friends are getting for Christmas!

Veterans Day...

Dear Daddy,
I miss you more than words can say, not just today on Veterans day but every single day! I miss you calling for your daily "Lilly Report", I miss you making such amazing things out of wood and cry as I look around my house at the things you made and cry. I miss your calmness and rationality during stressful situations. I miss you decorating Woody for every holiday. I miss watching you play with Lilly and talk to her in your special way. I miss all of your stories about when you were a boy. I miss your army stories and you calling cadences to Lilly and I in the kitchen. I miss your annual Christmas story about "Scooter" and Once or Twice Upon A Time. I miss you so much I can hardly breath.
Daddy you fought for our freedom and you are my hero. I can't believe it has been over a year since you have gone to heaven, I still forget you are gone and want to pick up the phone to talk to you. I remember your last year and how sick you got. We tried so hard to take care of you but you just kept getting sicker. We never got tired of taking care of you Daddy. Not even when you stopped walking and were confined to the hospital bed we moved into your living room where , once, a Christmas tree stood. I never minded sitting with you all day and cooking your favorite food and running all over town to get all of your 'stuff'. I still can't listen to the tapes we made together, the ones when I interviewed you about your life and you loved to tell the stories but then you got so sick you couldn't remember anymore. I didn't even mind when you forgot my name...I always loved you and I always will.
You are a good man who worked hard for his family. You never let us go hungry or want for anything. You came from nothing and joined the Army to make a better life for you and Mom and eventually us kids. You did it Daddy, we had a great life. I'm so lucky to have had you even though you died so young. I am lucky my daughter got to know and love you like I do. I can't imagine another holiday without you.
You served in Vietnam and died from exposure to something that has made us all sick. We had to watch you die every single day for a year and had to stand helplessly by while you were in such pain. The rest of us are still sick and I am left to wonder who will be next.
I'm proud of my soldier father. I'm proud of my mother who is an Army wife. I am proud of my brother and I for moving every 2 years during the hardest years in a child's life. I am proud of every soldier and their families who all serve our country and fight for our freedom. I am a proud American and so was my father. I found a picture of you kissing Lilly today and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. Tonight I watched the service at Arlington Cemetery where you Rest In Peace and I am crying while I write this. I love you Daddy and I am so proud of you. I miss you...we all do.
Happy Veterans Day!

To Do...

I am a list maker. Good thing too, otherwise nothing would ever get done! Tomorrow's list:
Get Princess up, dressed, fed, walk to bus stop
Clean Kitchen and 3 bathrooms
Pick up new kitchen table
Move old table to Formal dining room
Iron table cloth and chair covers
Go to gym
Unload minivan (went Christmas Shopping tonight, almost done!)
Hide Princesses gifts
Finish "Thank You" cone for teacher
Fold a literal mountain of clean laundry
Shower, dress, makeup
Make Princess clean her room (AGAIN)
Dust
Drop off books at library
Meeting tomorrow night
Cry because there is no possible way I can do all of this in one day!