be AUDacious

ladies and gentlemen, let the shopping begin!

Wow, it's almost that time, right? I've never been one to head to the mall bright and early the day after Thanksgiving -- that madness is just too much for me. We haven't done much of our shopping yet -- we've bought a few gifts, but we at least have a pretty good idea of what we're getting everyone, so that makes the process easier. The hardest part, of course, is finding the time to go shopping without the girls. Not to mention that we just finished birthday celebrations for them (Cami turned 7 yesterday!!!), and Chris and I both have birthdays coming up. (Mine is the 23rd, and his is the 26th of December -- how's that for holiday planning, eh?)

If you're a digital scrapbooker (or even if you just dabble in some digi goodies for hybrid layouts), you should stop over at {wst} today for PTT -- we've got some great items marked down for just $1 each!

I've got three great products listed:

Plus, there's so many great new products that'll be hitting my store on Thursday, including 5 new fonts, 2 self-paced journaling classes, and 2 word art packages. Plus, I've got more goodies in the works (classes, alphabets, kits, collabs, and more!) so you won't want to miss it! Not to mention, there's an incredible {wst} collab and sale starting on Black Friday, so dust off your Paypal account! Here's a sneak peak at the new collab (these are just my pieces, btw) and my sweet nephew Oliver, too:

where have I been?

I know, I know, despite all my good intentions, blogging has slipped to the bottom of my to-do list.

How about a quick update?
The weather has been wickedly cold for our area -- highs in the mid 40s and lows in the low 20s for most of the past two weeks. Before that, we had some gorgeous fall weather, with temperatures staying in the upper 70s for quite a while. I thought at first that the leaves just weren't going to change, because of the drought and unseasonably warm weather we'd had, but then the maples got into the act around the first of November and it's just been a riot of blazing color here. I love this time of year. Now the leaves are falling furiously -- most days, you can sit outside on the back porch and just watch them swirl to the ground in quick succession. It's so peaceful and calming to watch.

The girls have been in birthday mode for the past two weeks. Cass turned 12 on the 12th -- where has my little girl gone? In all my recent pictures of her, I'm struck by this sudden "teenage" look that she has. She's always been pretty self-possessed and composed, but this is a totally grown-up aspect of her that has recently shown up. And Cami, Cami will be 7 on the 24th, and that's totally got me in a flurry. Because 7 is big. BIG. There is no little girl left in 7, it seems. For some reason, there is a huge gulf between the ages of 6 and 7, with 6 being on the shore here in little-girl land and 7 being over on Big Girl Island. Not ready for things to move this quickly.

Listmania has gone well; it was a learning process, as all projects are the first few times around. So happy that 30 ladies came out to play and pick up some journaling techniques and just generally focus on getting their stories told in new ways. Speaking of journaling, we've got a great giveaway going on over on the {wst} blog -- leave a comment and you could win a copy of Michele Skinner's new book, which is fantastic, I should add. I'm really enjoying my copy. Lots of great stuff to take in.

Need to cut this short -- so much more I could share, but just no time right now. Hopefully things will slow down soon. Take care!

a lovely day

The leaves have finally started changing colors, and it's simply a magnificent day to be outside today. Of course, I'm in my office, with no windows, unable to see outside at all right now. But I rode my bike to work, and I plan on riding across campus to a little local diner I enjoy for lunch, so that should make up for lack of an autumn view. We've had some really unusual temperatures for this time of year over the past week -- highs in the upper 70s, in fact -- but a storm system came through yesterday and chilled things down considerably. I think we're looking at a high in the lower to mid 60s today -- much more appropriate fall weather.

I'm quite proud of my family this week. Wanna know why? We (um, that means me and Cassidy, basically) are notoriously picky eaters, but I've been working hard to introduce better food into our diets. We've been eating organic when possible (and affordable) and also trying to hard to include more seasonable fruits and vegetables into our menu. It does take some planning, but it really is worth it. This week, for example, we tried two new dishes: a crunchy cereal-coated chicken dish with a broccoli and cheesy noodle side dish and a one-pan pork dinner with stuffing and potatoes. All of those are things that we'll eat in some form or another, but not necessarily in the form these new recipes called for. The chicken and broccoli meal only got an "eh" from us -- we'll rework those recipes -- but the pork dinner was great.

I started this whole process by tearing interesting looking recipes from magazines and then using a magnetic clip to post them on the refrigerator. Then, on Sunday afternoons, we all gather around the table and look through them. This is when we do our menu planning. We've found that if we have a written menu posted on the fridge door with all the ingredients available, we're much less likely to skip cooking and order out. This not only helps our health but helps our pocketbook too. Our goal is to try two new dishes each week. So like I said, we plan out what we'll eat for the week (we do try to plan for Monday through Sunday, with lunches included), as well as tossing in a few easy options in case something comes up through the week. Then we make an ingredient / shopping list, gather my coupons (have you seen this site?  I saved $25.00 on my groceries last week!) and then I go grocery shopping on Sunday evening, around 7. I like going at that time because there's hardly anyone in the store and it doesn't end up taking long at all.

In other news, we're heading to Memphis tonight to see our newest nephew, Oliver, who was born Tuesday. I can't wait to hold him, though he's a tiny guy (6 lbs 9 oz) compared to the 10 pound chunky monkeys I gave birth to. I'm so happy for Eric and Linda and can't wait to see them and share this wonderful event with them.

One more thing: if you haven't signed up for Listmania yet, stop by our store and do so! I promise, it will definitely be worth the $10.00 -- and we're going to have so much fun with it! Class starts Sunday, November 9th, but you can continue to register through the 15th and get access to the course materials.

vote!

Proudly sporting my sticker as I type. I didn't have to work today, and the girls didn't have school, so we slept in while Chris got up and went to work. An hour later, I heard him come in the front door. Turns out that someone/something knocked down a utility pole in the small town where his office is, and there would be no power all day. So he came home and is working from home today -- stopped by and voted on his way home.

The girls went into the voting booth with me today. They've been talking about the election the past two days, since they had a mock election at school yesterday. I am amazed at the absolute nonsense they've shared, rumors and half-truths and just plain lies told to them by classmates and even by teachers. It's just ridiculous. And while I fervently believe that learning about democracy and our government is very important, I also believe that it is equally important that a teacher's own personal stance on the election should stay OUT of the classroom, especially when we're talking about a classroom of first graders. Cami's teacher was telling them things like "If Obama becomes president, he's going to change our flag and change our pledge and....." Stuff that was guaranteed to make a group of patriotic first graders react in a kneejerk fashion. If she wants to support McCain, that's great. But I honestly don't appreciate her telling my daughter a bunch of unfounded conjecture in the guise of education. Of course, Cass came home from the middle school reporting that another kid was saying that if Obama becomes President, he's going to legalize meth and cocaine. There's nothing better than kids who go around repeating what their parents say. *eyeroll*

Okay, rant over.
Go out and vote, make your voice heard. Even if you think it doesn't matter in the scope of "big government", there are local elections and local issues that are depending on your vote.

And while you are out, stop by {we are} storytellers today and check our PTT sale: a 50% off coupon! It's a great time to grab all those digital kits and elements you've been eyeballing!

Don't forget to sign up for the Listmania class, too! I really think you are going to enjoy this class, and I can't wait to get started! Class begins November 9th, so reserve your spot for only $10.00 today!