Down with Wasteful Packaging!

For the past few years I have made the majority of my Christmas gifts. I have had my "summer" in October or November and have had the luxury of time. But it wasn't always like that.

A few years ago I got my cousin two doll house sized Cabbage Patch dolls. I was excited to get one that looked like Riley and one that looked like her newly adopted sister Amanda. I imagined them playing sisters with the dolls. Visions of sweetness were dancing in my head.

I was flying to Florida that Christmas and taking the gifts with me. To save space in my suitcase, I decided to take the dolls out of their packaging and wrap them in smaller gift bags.

Thank Goodness! Have you tried opening a toy lately? Homeland Security has nothing on toy packaging!

My Christmas fantasy was tarnished by an hour long battle with wire ties and stitched up hair. I thought I was going to loose my mind teasing through the tiny stitches that held the hair perfectly in place on a plastic card. And, I was only opening two gifts! Imagine what Santa has to go through! I was so thankful the rug rats weren't hovering while I tried to free the dolls from their plastic prisons.

Today good news came across my Google Reader!

Consumer Reports to the rescue! This year they have launched a campaign along with Amazon.com to reduce the packaging in all things gifty. Down with those nasty (and sharp) clamshell packages! Down with wire ties and sewn doll hair! Down with unnecessary packaging clogging our landfills!

You can read Amazon's open letter to manufacturers here and can turn in the worst offenders of packaging abuse by nominating them for the CR Packaging Hall of Shame here.

Fall Freedom

After much celebrating we are done for this half of the year! Our vacation starts now!!

Oh Happy Night

I was nervous while watching the polls and speculation earlier tonight. Since nothing calms my nerves like a little crafting I decided to get a cutting and a gluing.















I told the Crayons that we would have a "Planned Academic Experience" no matter how the election went. I worried that I would jinx myself by getting started too soon, but when PA went for Obama... I thought "think positive." I was sure it was going to be a long night.















Still, noting could have prepared me for the surprise. They declared the election 4 minutes after the polls closed here.














And hours before the cupcakes were done!




















It's a new day!

Win this Table Runner

I just recently set up a Google Reader account to keep track of all the blogs I read. For better or for worse, I have added tons of new blogs to my daily reads too.

Simply This That and The Other is a new (to me) blog that I am now reading. Imagine my delight when I saw this red and white table runner. Peppermint perfection!

It's a giveaway too!

Just pop on over and leave a comment for your chance to win.

Sick or Treat

"Sick or Treat"

by Charles Ghigna

From Halloween Night Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems

I got a lot of treats tonight
And I just ate them all.
From candy bars to bubble gum,
My taste buds had a ball.

But now my stomach's doing flips.
Oh what a Halloween.
The biggest trick from all those treats?
I'm slowly turning green.

This is the last Halloween poem I will share with my students Monday morning and I think it sums up a month where I ate (ahem) more than one bag of candy corn. Yikes! Scary!

This delightful book is on sale now for just over $5. It's worth getting and putting aside for next year. As for me, I am thrilled to be past the Halloween milestone. I now have only *5* days until my "summer" vacation!!

Happy Halloween & Skull Votive Candle

My Crayons inspired a last minute craft project.



They were so freaked (in a good way) out by the MRI images I shared with them. Previously, I had looked at those films with both relief (I didn't have anything wrong!) and curiosity. The Crayons saw skulls! Scary, spooky skulls!

Ahh ha! I had been looking for an opportunity to use this tutorial for months! I had the votive holder, the clear contact paper and a photo copy of the MRI. It was an easy peasy ten minutes! Next year I plan to make a dozen to stand guard on my table.

I hope you had some spooky fun today too!

Who Says "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?"

Actually, I do. Quite often in fact. And, sometimes I am proven wrong!



Last week we had fully planned to help our dear friends pack their moving van. Then Cliff broke his toe and we ended up more or less watching them pack their moving van.

To make up for our lack of help, I volunteered Cliff's services to go trade their CD's in at Ameoba records. Wouldn't you know he got over $100 for them! That is much more than any garage sale would have netted.

Today I went to "work" their garage sale. I do love me a garage sale! I was thrilled to help, hang out and people watch all day. I also went to shop. I had set aside a few things to buy, when our sweet friends gifted me with the one thing I really wanted most- Nipper!



I have always wanted my very own RCA dog! It's been on my "Someday I will find one at a price I can afford" list for ages. What a perfect companion for the allergic-to- dogs-dog lover and her husband the music enthusiast!

What is on your "Someday I Will Find It" list?