It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Ah... the stores are covered in spider webs. Shoppers browse in fear that they might set off a decoration that will shriek, moan or thunder. It's like Christmas songs for the demented and disillusioned folk like me who treat All Hallow's Eve like Christmas morning. I think it's the costumes... we all know I lurve a good costume party...  but I also think it's the excuse to continue living out (your most adored) part of childhood, much like Christmas is. This year will be our 4th annual costume party - my friends are such good sports! I'm already finding it difficult to make the invites different than previous years. Last year I went all out but too late in the season and the invites I discovered (too late) were too large to send in the regular post. This year I kept it simple. Last year's My Mind's Eye stamps, this year's American Crafts Halloween line (clouds) and some printed craft paper (including Beetle Juice inspired stripes). The clouds are really a sleeve that slips up to reveal the details of our shin-dig. I've used this so many times but I'm too busy to judge myself right not. The dorky stamps make it all better :)

Five Minute Card

So I set my timer again yesterday; this time for 5 minutes. I made a simple birthday card for my soon-to-be BIL. I thought it was cute to use the little boy patterns for his 28th birthday... why not? A quick post for an even faster card.

Mac at his Finest

Finally getting back to some crafting. I've actually been desperate to craft but I've had the craziest week at school which included supervision every lunch hour, the swim team starting up (before and after school practices, one of which included one of our students being saved by a lifeguard), staff meetings, tutorials, the list goes on and on. But, I just sat down, set the timer and got to work. I managed to "finish" this page. I'm not actually sure it's done but the timer rang out and I didn't know what else to do. I'm off to complete another timed project instead of doing school work... I just can't bring myself to get to work just yet.

You can tell that I was inspired by the post of Lisa's.

Thoughtful Gift from a Beauty

My darling Lisa, how wonderful are you?

Lisa bought me the most thoughtful (double entendre) belated birthday gift. Not only was it so elegantly wrapped and perfectly suited to my personality/personal tastes, it was also a great tester for my literary knowledge. I will not pretend that I am as well read as my beautiful friend but I did pretty well. (I have not yet brought myself to tote any to school for fear that a student may get their grubby hands on them and they may never return.)

Speaking of reading, I did manage to get a few books read this summer. A very few for me but one stunner stood out from the rest: Room by Emma Donoghue.

Now I definitely only judge books by their covers; books, not people. Promise. I DO NOT read the back/jacket of books. I like to let them unfold as the author intended, not with my own preconceived notions or expectations. Room (based on the cover) was a no brainer. I had heard that it was a dark book. I had also heard that it was a story of hope. I had also heard (from April who lent me the book) that many nouns were capitalized and it annoyed her :) I found the proper names given to everday objects clever and necessary. (We disagree about writing style again Apes :)) It spoke to the human condition and the determination of the human mind to create meaning in the (seemingly) meaningless. I really enjoyed the authors style and there were few artistic liberties that bothered me. April and I both agree that this book was excellent and, I speak for both of us, would highly recommend for an easy but powerful read.

Remember Me?!

You know I was just starting to get the hang of this blogging thing finally and then I had to go and get a job! I'm so grateful to be working in this economy and the state of our school board this year but I really did enjoy my summer. I've set several "goals" for myself going into this new school year. Simple things like laying my clothes out the night before, packing a lunch in the evenings, etc. The next one on the list is obviously to build some time into my schedule to craft. I have so many projects on the brain and I'm really excited for them all. They are all very simple but do-able - hence my excitement.

Oh, yeah, my beautiful sister and her man got engaged!!! NBD. Wahoo!!! We went for a celebratory dinner at the Creperie... om nom nom. I had scallops, perfectly cooked scallops... and Flirt cupcakes for dessert back at Mom's... my blue jeans will thank me later. Anywho, in the car ride between the two epic food adventures I decided to conduct some self-portraits. A unique passion of mine, guests at our home will often find such spectacles on their cameras several days post party. What can I say? It's a gift. Perhaps they should also put a distracted passenger bylaw into effect to prevent such disastrous occurrences... but then you couldn't laugh at this. Remember me?!

A teacher at school once told me that I reminded him of Jenny McCarthy. I asked if that was because I was beautiful. He replied: "No. It's because your face seems to be made out of leather rubber. How do you make all of those faces?"

These are actually not my finest work...some are just too similar. It was hard to give them all a name. Any suggestions for the last, most nostrilly one? (Or I would love some hilarious renames!)