Just some stuff....

I have apparently inherited a racoon family. Every evening around 5:10, this one little guy comes into the driveway right outside my home office window. He sits and looks around, sniffs the ground a little and saunters (yes, nonchallantly saunters like he has no care about being seen) across the street to a little tree on the corner. As soon as he safely crosses, he stops and looks back this way then 3 more little guys cross over to meet him. None of them scurry or hurry. They just act like they are on a field trip. They climb up this tree and sit for about an hour or so then leave the way they came as soon as it is completely dark. Adorable, but strange. Does anybody know what kind of tree this is with all the little "ball" fruit on it?

My hubby is not one to do any decorating for the holidays. He loves the decorations. He just likes to let me get the joy of decorating. But the other day, he found my candy canes in the cabinet that I use for hot chocolate. He stuck them in this white bowl (which is his absolute favorite bowl we have) and sat it on the counter so I could get to my canes easier. I thought it looked really cute since it is a plain white bowl and the red and white canes look festive in it. Simple, yet elegant. I may have to hire him when I decorate next year.

Speaking of peppermint....I took my peppermint candy Kisses I got from my secret sister and put them in this Ball jar. I added a white lid that I get in a pack at Walmart for these jars and tied on a little silver string and wah-lah...a new candy dish. Wouldn't this make a cute idea for a quick "thinking of you" gift for any occassion. Just pick their favorite candy and tie a string or ribbon to coordinate the candy wrapper and you have a cute little gift to stick down in a gift bag. By the way, the jar lids are plastic and reusable and only cost around $2.50 at walmart for 12. I also keep one in the fridge filled with either water, chocolate milk or juice. Everybody knows it's my glass and if I want a sip of something cold, I just open it, drink a sip or two and put it back in the fridge. Saves me from dirtying a glass every time I want a drink.

Our poor little tree. It has been barren of gifts. But yesterday, I got started on my wrapping. I got one done. Don't worry, I'm wrapping tonight while I watch Christmas movies and munch on some goodies. This one has to go with hubby to work for their Christmas party next week and he wanted me to wrap it for him. I am not a gift bag person so almost everybody gets wrapped gifts from us. Except if I give any of the little candy jars above as gifts, they will be in a bag. 

With all the Christmas stuff going on, I haven't had a chance to visit my favorite website, Thirty One Gifts for a month or more. I saw a post at Jeremiah 29:11 about her favorite Christian establishments to shop at and it reminded me I hadn't been to Thirty-One in awhile. I went and clicked on the specials and OH WOW! They actually are having a sale on a new product that will be in the Spring 2012 catalog. I have got to have this new Cinch-It-Up Thermal Tote. I love the one in Aqua. How adorable is this?

They have their other thermal lunch tote on sale as well and it showed just a touch of one of the new patterns for spring called Flutter. Very appropriate name since it is butterflies. I have loved butterflies for years and years and have a lot of decor with butterflies. I am sure when the new spring catalog comes out, I'll be buying something in this pattern. Time to plan my spring party I guess. (Blurry because of the low res, but you can see the pattern).

We had our monthly meeting for WMU at church last night and Ms. Janet had us a little goodie bag with this neat desktop notepad and holder. Isn't it precious. There were some miniature candy bar goodies in their as well, but hubby and I went on a snacking binge before bedtime so....no more goodies.

This reminded me that 2012 is just around the corner. I'm already accumulating new things to kick off the New Year when it gets here. I posted my new planners the other day that I got a Dollar Tree. Well, I went back with my daughter Saturday and found this pretty pink calendar for my wall.

I have had this notebook for several years....bought it just because I liked it and in case I ever needed it. Well, I think I finally have found a use for it. As I surf the internet, I find things I want to purchase in the future or things I want to do later on. I also get blog ideas that I want to work on at a later date. But I'm not very organized with a follow up system. Saving to favorites doesn't work because I forget to go back. So what I am going to do is when I see something I want to buy, have a thought, or want to print a craft pattern for later use, I'm going to print it out and put it in my little 3 ring binder. That way, I can flip through it when I want and remember what I wanted to get or do.



How are things are going on in your world?