Festival of Trees

Ah, last night I was a volunteer at Santa's Workshop at the annual Festival of Trees here in Pocatello.  After a long day teaching, my dear friend Steffanie, fellow teacher and I braved the crowds as children came to the workshop for fun crafts.  Totally awesome teens from various service groups helped too.  Steffanie and I were the supervisors and the teacher in us came to the forefront to help the little kids create.  We had a ball.
We were across from who else...?   Santa, in the flesh!  I got such a kick out of the serious expressions lil' guys had as they mounted his knee in utter confidence, requesting only what was really at the top of their  lists. 

Like a dork I forgot my camera and didn't get one picture of the trees.  I spent all day trying to recreate a tree I saw with lots of natural elements.  I mean all day- between laundry and sorting through Etsy stuff that is scattered from one place to the other in my small abode, I spent an entire day doing and then redoing.  To my dismay, I ran out of lights at the bottom of the tree.  I had the last strand on and then saw a bare wire- Oh my!  Corrected the problem, plugged them in and suddenly the outlet wouldn't work.  So for now, I have a half-@#$* tree  and a bright orange extension cord running the full length of the living room to the nearest working outlet.  Let us pray that I get the tree finished and take a decent picture to post... 

Wishing you a fantastic weekend.

Fantastic Wreath Giveaway

A fellow blogger, Lee La La and Wintersteen Farms are having a special wreath giveaway for Lee La La readers.  
A little REAL greenery would be lovely and just in time for the holidays!
 Wintersteen Farms, A family owned business in Oregon creates the most beautiful all natural wreaths. 
The link below takes you right to their shop.

 http://www.wintersteenfarms.com/

        They are also having a special sale on wreaths so hop on over to 

http://lindsay-thelees.blogspot.com/

to check it out.

And Then It Snowed all Day

Getting Ready for Cyber Monday on Etsy

Hi there all!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I did.  Just one thing,  I can't eat another piece of turkey- anything.  Went shopping at midnight with my girls and thought we had a pretty good plan of attack at WalMart.  They cut the ropes and "wow!"  Ugh, I had the cart and lost everyone in the crowd.  Thank goodness for cell phones.  It was too crazy and crowded and I don't think I will do it again (I have read about a lot of you not having a really good time too).  Talk about impulse shopping... whew.

With a little bit of shopping done,  and this quick post, I'm off to Etsy.  I want you to know that I take time to read your latest posts and drool over the lovely pictures and decorating ideas.  Your blogs are truly are my sanity.  Now,  I on the other hand, have been so busy that I haven't posted as much as I would like to.  There is so much to tell;  stories about squirrels, all my appliances breaking, what I replaced them with, drips, leaks, really cold weather, a kitty, babies growing and changing right before my eyes, and lastly how I have neglected my Etsy store.  So, do you know what I'm doing today?  Listing, listing and more listing. Do you think I should start another Etsy store for clothing?  Here are a few of my favorite things just listed in hopes they sell on Cyber Monday.

Can't you just see the orange vest paired with the shorts, along with a cream turtle neck and tights.  Add some brown lace up boots, a funky scarf and wow, wish my bottom half could fit into size 4.

Low Cal Snack

I know we are all really busy and sometimes just grab something to eat before really thinking of the overall effect that 15 chocolate chip cookies in one day might have on your health meter.  One cookie as you race to the grocery store, one in your lunch, two at work and so on...  I have been really working on finding low calorie snacks that are quick and easy or the make ahead and store type.  Wouldn't you know, my garden yielded a delicious snack and my friend Amber turned me on to spray balsamic vinegar.  Here's the funny...  I kept waiting for my tomatoes to turn red since I had to pick them all (early frost) and had them in my kitchen window sill, well everywhere really.  The bigger tomatoes just wouldn't turn red.  Then I remembered that I had planted a yellow heirloom variety and they were really ripe!  My yellow tomatoes are the best because of their flavor, they hold up to slicing, and are very meaty.

Just slice

and spray on the magic

sprinkle some sea salt and pepper and yum!