I Wish It Were Christmas Today...

Merry Christmas!

DIY-Christmas Ornaments

When I was a child my mother started a collection of ornaments for my siblings and I so that when we left home we would have our own complete collection. Over the years the collection has grown and every Christmas I look forward to decorating our Christmas tree. I love pulling out the boxes of ornaments and each one has a special memory.

For that reason, I love to give ornaments as gifts. I like to give them to friends when they have a new baby. I like to give them to teachers as gifts each year. We give them to special family friends along with some yummy baked goods every year as well.

I am always on the look out for a new ornament to make and give as a gift. I have made many ove the years but this one is my tried and true favorite.

You will need:
Clear glass ornaments (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby)
Scrapbook paper (double sided works best)
ribbon

You can add other items of you desire such as feathers and flowers. I have also printed song lyrics or sayings onto vellum paper and put them into the ornament as well.I always get so many compliments and people always want to know how to make them. They are so simply and inexpensive.

Say "CHEESE!"

When I started blogging again I imagined my blog full of beautiful pictures of my family and all the fun crafts and cooking/baking that I enjoy. It turns out if you want a colorful pretty blog you need a decent camera. I have not had a decent camera for some time. I have been depending on my phone and iPad for pictures. Well my phone and iPad take terrible pictures. Therefore my poor blog is not colorful or exciting.

BUT...

I received an early Christmas gift from my parents. A new camera...a camera that I have been lusting after for several years now, a dSLR. I am over the moon excited. I can now take clear pictures of my children and cool action shots during football games and cross country meets. I am *so* very excited. Did I mention I am excited?

And now I give you my very first picture with my brand new camera.

There are no words

All day I sat here trying to think of something profound or meaningful to say about today's events. But really, there are no words.

Just yesterday, my 12 year old son mentioned to me that they had practiced a "lockdown situation". I was thinking about how sad that made me, that my children have to practice "lockdown situations". I live in nice gated community. My children attend "good" schools in the most sought after school cluster in my city. We have had made huge sacrifices for the kids to attend these nice safe schools. But I suppose, it is never enough. You just never know.

My heart hurts. Life is not fair.

Pray for Newtown, CT.

You too can be a SAHM if you just prioritize

Yep folks, it is that easy. Just prioritize and budget and you too can be a SAHM (stay at home mom).

Can I tell you just how much I hate it when people say that? While I definitely think that is the case for some people that is not the solution in every family. I know that is not the answer for my family. I am home temporarily with my baby but it is temporary. In fact I have been job hunting and applying for jobs lately. I cannot afford to be at home full time, at least not if we want to eat.

We are already budgeted down to the bare minimum. We do not have cable. We drive used cars. We bargin shop. There really is nothing else we can cut out. I do not want to put my baby in daycare but I really have no choice. That is my reality.

Overall, I do not mind working except that I suck at being a working mom. Some people find that being a SAHM is really hard. And it is hard. But for me, working outside the home is a million times harder. I just really suck at it. I have heard that your home stays cleaner when you are WOHM because no one is home. Somehow, it is the opposite experience for me. I get really stressed out keeping track of everything...football practice, cooking club, parent-teach conferences, field trips and the list goes on. I just really suck at organization I guess.

I guess the thing that really rubs me the wrong way is that when you work outside the home you are seen as lesser of a mom. People view you as a part time mom. This weekend I ran into someone I have not seen in a few years. She was asking about my children and the new baby. I explained I was home with the baby right now and she said, "Good for you. You are a good mom to stay with your baby." When I go back to work I will magically become a bad mom? Is that how that works? Wow.

Many mom's truly have to work. And they are not working for fancy vacations and name brand clothes. They are working to cover insurance and put food on the table. They love their children just as much as that mom's who are fortunate enough to be home with their children.

I suspect if it were just as easy as cutting out a few extras and changing priorities there would be a lot more SAHM's.

Working Girl

A couple months ago I took on an evening and weekend position at a large retailer. Over all it is a pretty easy job. I work when my husband is home (no daycare costs, woo-hoo!) and bring in some much needed income.

I have quite a bit of retail experience so it is a pretty easy job. The tricky thing is that they stuck me in the jewelry department. I know absolutely nothing about fine jewelry and was given very little training. I can't even really fake it. I am not one of those women into jewelry. Not even a bit. I personally can not wrap my mind around spending my money on jewelry. But I do not begrudge others. I get it, I really do. It is just not my thing. I am just as happy with cubic zirconia studs as I would be with real diamond studs. Although, funny story... I once bought a pair of cubic zirconia studs from Target. I wanted a pair of earrings I could wear daily that would match everything and I would be able to sleep and bathe with them in. I wore them all the time and never took them about for a period of at least 3 months. One day as I was styling my hair I noticed one was missing a stone. Who knows how long I walked around with a stoneless earring. Ha ha, I guess I should have sprung for the real deal!

Anyway, I digress.

I am excellent at customer service. Truly, I happily go above and beyond. But I suck at the jewelry knowledge. Want to know the difference between saltwater pearls and freshwater pearls? Couldn't tell you. Want to know November's birthstone? No clue. Want to know if 14k gold is better than 10k gold? Huh, are they different? I am terrible. Sometimes customers will ask my opinion on jewelry and it is so hard to give my opinion because I just cannot get over the price most of the time...$2000 for a pair of earrings?! Sometimes customers comment on how hard it must be to work in jewelry and not spend my entire pay check on jewelry. Actually, it is pretty easy. I am am too busy spending all my money in the infants department on Carters and Chaps for the baby!

So for the time being I am retail slave. It is not the best job but I am glad to have it. It is buying me some more time home with my baby. For that, I am thankful.