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So Thankful #9...

Oh today...darn Monday...I am getting nowhere near done in relation to what needs to be finished around here.

However I stood at the kitchen counter for 10 minutes and turned last night's dinner rolls into breadcrumbs to freeze. 

It's probably silly to be grateful for breadcrumbs, but it goes beyond that. I'm grateful to have a kitchen I love (even with it's 1976 tile countertop)...I'm grateful that I really enjoy every aspect of cooking...and I'm grateful that I have domestic tasks like this that help me be productive when I'm avoiding writing a fifteen page paper about domesticity and feminism.

Paper plates...

Since Friendsgiving was on a Sunday late afternoon we opted for paper plates to make clean up on a school night so much easier...we joked with our friends hoping they would still show up considering we were being so tacky. 

Despite the easier paper plates I still got out the cloth napkins and made some napkin ring place cards on Saturday night...

And we now have a tradition of making a CD for everyone with the music played during dinner...

 

 

Last night made me look forward to Thanksgiving even more...just have to get through some major schoolwork before I can start crafting for it.

So thankful #5-8...

So I have been a little busy this weekend and am behind in recording my thankfulness...

#5 Having a house full of groceries...since the beginning of the school year I have taken ov er the grocery shopping on Thursday so we don't have it hanging over our heads on the weekends...I've been reminded I really enjoy it...trying to get the most for our money (I always send Sean a text announcing our spent/saved ratio) and planning meals...and wandering the aisles just a little...oh and reorganizing the kitchen when I get home. I'm guessing I'm just a real nerd.

#6 Having Sean to commiserate and problem solve with...for instance when we're thrown challenges like his district canceling all of summer school (that he always teaches) or finding out that I wasn't enrolled for the spring semester at CSUF since I was supposed to be done this fall.

#7 Walking into the men's shoe department at Nordstroms and watching Mac get the Vans he's wanted forever. It is extremely tricky to fit him for shoes with the brace he has to wear because of his cerebral palsy. He has always required two different sizes and Nordstroms is the only store that will split sizes for us. It has meant he was limited in the children's shoe dept. and has only been able to fit into their small selection of Converse shoes. Now that he's officially into men's sizes they had Vans that worked (after the amazingly kind and patient salesman helped Mac try on at least a dozen pairs to get the right fit) Mac was beaming over those shoes.

#8 We had our annual "Friendsgiving" (here's 2007 & 2008) dinner today and all the preparations went really well...it is always such a relief to confirm that the turkey (23.76 pounds) is cooked just right. And I was especially grateful that Mac helped me with the gravy...which will make him the fourth generation contributing to obsessive gravy making...my grandma and mom taught me so it was really neat to tell Mac about it as we carefully stirred the concoction together.

I'll share the little bits of crafting I did for Friendsgiving tomorrow.

Gift Tag Class...

 

Two weeks from tonight I will be teaching another holiday tag class at the Scrapbook Oasis...all the details are on their blog and you can reserve a spot in the class here (or purchase the kit if you can't make it that night)...you can also call the store at (949) 756-2729.

I will not be selling any tag kits in my Etsy shop until November 23rd and I will not be able to offer a kit anywhere near this large so if you would like it all (and the Catslife Press stamp too) it's best to purchase the kit through the store and they will be happy to ship it out to you.

I'm working on the kit right now and am very happy with how it's coming together so far...lots of fun holiday details.

Hope I will get to see you at the class in a couple of weeks! :)

Starred...

  

1. kitchen, 2. Dining, 3. Little Bouquet, 4. halloween flags | hambly, 5. diy packaging., 6. lovely package, 7. ( it's my bag ), 8. guest room now, 9. autumn smells, 10. Cozy in the Corner, 11. Untitled, 12. Hexagons, 13. Dream in progress... part 10, 14. x mas tree, 15. our banner, 16. kitchen, 17. snippets of color..., 18. snippets of color..., 19. snippets of color..., 20. olive's garland..., 21. dusting & rearranging..., 22. garlands and trees..., 23. hot pads, 24. autumn, 25. boj, 26. livingetc 2-09 pinkmod3, 27. Untitled, 28. wood type, 29. Saturday morning picks, 30. number the tea cups, 31. Untitled, 32. 017, 33. leaves for fall, 34. making sauce, 35. paper feathers., 36. Garland

Time again to share new favorite finds...

• Considering I am an official dishcloth crocheter this caught my eye...then I went to the esty shop and hit the motherlode of inspiration
• signed up for e-mail's about my very favorite holiday
• my wandering led me to check out this year's new holiday postal stamps which makes me look forward to making cards (oh and back to Thanksgiving look at these!) am I a nerd for loving postage stamps this much?
• Found some good information to put to use when using cleaning tasks as a way to procrastinate on schoolwork
• Or I could reorganize things around the house instead of writing papers
• This has been a goal lately so I was happy to read about it
• I want to try this recipe and this one too 
• Oh do I want to scrapbook or just layer paper or make cards and a wreath too 

So thankful #4...

That I got to spend a couple of hours today having fun with these three people...

And I'm grateful that my mom had the great idea to get the kids throwing leaves so I could get some photos.

So thankful #3...

Today was a great day, but by far the aspect I am most thankful for is that my big group project on Masculinity went really well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the activities we planned (like taking time to write favorite quotes from the readings and responses from the first activity all over the walls) and there was so much discussion around the room that every minute of the class was packed. Just walking around the classroom I was reminded of how much I want to teach...it reignited my desire to lead college classes and reminded me what I am lucky enough to be working for.

Ready...

Now that I bought an obscene amount of wrapping paper I have all the Christmas wrapping supplies out, organized, and ready to go. (keep in mind that I have already shared how I have a shameful amount) 

A couple of years ago I invested in a few drawer boxes to store everything in. All of my holiday wrapping supplies stay organized from year to year and when they are not in use I just tape the drawers shut, cover them in a garbage bag, and store them in our attic.

So as I get started on wrapping some gifts I thought I'd share two more pages to help you keep your giving organized this year.

A list to brainstorm ideas for everyone...

Download Planner--Gift Ideas

And a place to keep track of what you give this year...

Download The Gifts We Gave

I still have some covers available if you need a place to keep all these lists together. 

So Thankful #2...

So thankful for productivity today...finding a green mouse on sale (only $14) at Target and getting it set up on the netbook I got a couple of weeks ago. Wrapping Christmas gifts since I knew that would help me generate ideas for tags and then getting to work on them. Grateful to go to bed knowing a crossed a bunch of stuff of my long to-do list for the week.

Important stuff...

November will be full...very, very full. Lots of double booking on the weekends, more schoolwork than I want to think about right now, a ton of crafting and preparations to teach a class in a few weeks and then there's all the fun stuff.

Speaking of that fun stuff I indulged in one of my addictions today...

Holiday wrapping paper (actually all wrapping paper is an addiction)

Between The Container Store (and my 20% off coupon) and Hallmark (which had a buy one roll get another for 99 cents deal) I was able to get way more than I needed. Oh am I ready to wrap now. :)

One of my other fun plans for November is keeping track of daily thankfulness since Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. I am cutting out leaves for a little tree project in our entry way and I have a goal of posting daily on here with the various things I am so thankful for. I foresee a lot of quick posts with iPhone photos, but I am eager to concentrate on the little things as I tackle the important stuff.

Therefore my So thankful #1 is having so many great things to look forward to this month.