Hen Party

"Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people--your family, friends, coworkers and even strangers you meet along the way." --Barbara Bush

Last night was my office Christmas Party. We gathered at Angie's house to eat, chat and exchange ornaments. Within our group, several co-workers have retired, new ones have joined us and unfortunately a couple couldn't join us because of health problems (we missed you, Candice and Rita). But, the fun that we have together has not changed a bit! There was plenty of food---with salads from Superior's (yum) and sweets from Jane. Laughter filled the house as we stole clothespins (okay so that's a whole story in itself) and fought for the prized Christmas ornaments. Since three of our "J's" are all on a Mardi Gras Krewe, the Mardi Gras Santa painted on a cypress knee was definitely in high demand this year!(by the way, who DID end up with it???) Once again this year, all the ornaments were so wonderful that there were no losers in the pirate exchange! I brought one of the ornaments that I crafted myself--one with a watercolor angel on it and received a Santa ornament that is now hanging on my tree. We come from all different walks of life and our ages range from the 30's to the 50's. We have a variety of interests and we don't always agree on teaching methods or organization of our desks, office or the mounds of paperwork. Yet, we have a mutual respect for each other and never let our differences come between our friendships. When we get together to visit and enjoy each other, I am reminded of how very lucky I am to work with such a great group of ladies.

Put Up The Tree----Check!

Well, in my long list of Holiday preparations, I finally have a few accomplished! Most of my Christmas gifts are ready now and I've almost finished the ornaments for the swap. And now my tree is up! YAY!

Last night, I pulled the tree out of the storage building and attempted to put it together and set it up. One of the large bolts was missing from the tree stand so instead of standing up straight, it tipped severely to one side. In fact, it eventually ended up like this. I tried to "fix things" with tape and pieces of mat board under that leg, but finally resorted to going back outside in the cold with a flashlight to search for the missing bolt. Luckily, I found it and the tree stood up on its own.

This morning, I put up the small tree that I purchased a few years ago to hold my Swap ornaments and had fun thinking about each one as I placed them on the tree. Unfortunately, that tree is very interesting to Emmi, too, (yes she is actually trying to eat the pretty felted wreath ornament) and I've had to place a barrier of boxes around it to keep her away. Not so pretty, but maybe she'll learn to stay away. I'm going over to Monroe and Ruston for the night, so it will be interesting to see what I find in the living room when I get home tomorrow!

20 Days until . . .

Wow, this year has flown by! I can hardly believe that there are only 20 more days until Christmas. Fortunately, I have almost finished my Christmas shopping. Of course, that's about all that I have completed. I have yet to decorate the house, complete the ornaments for the family swap or finish making my Christmas cards. However, I have begun receiving ornaments from the swap.

My aunt Jerri sent this felt boot that she sewed using bits of lace and buttons. And today, I received this great little pouch from Jana,filled with a tiny Christmas journal. So cute! I've been busily working on my ornaments. For some reason, I decided to attempt yet another completely "new to me" craft. Maybe it was the Art Tour in Ruston that I recently attended, or maybe it's just the fact that I've always wanted to take watercolor lessons, but I am using that medium in my project. I just hope they don't turn into a complete mess! Without divulging any secrets, here are a few photos of the beginning stages---hope to get them in the mail Monday morning.

What I Did On My Thanksgiving Vacation

Remember in elementary school when you had to write a paragraph about what you'd done on a recent vacation? While I didn't travel, I had a vacation from work. So, here are a few of the things I did on my Thanksgiving Vacation:

--Cleaned out my closets
--Taught Sunday School
--Helped Callie clean her bedroom
--Gave Emmi and haircut and bath
--Took 2 car loads of stuff to Goodwill
--Shopped for Christmas presents
--Made Christmas presents for my co-workers
--Visited with my brother and his family from New York
--Shopped for paint and supplies
--Painted the hallway ceiling and walls
--Walked/ran the Turkey Trot (3 mile race on Thanksgiving morning) --Ate Thanksgiving Dinner with my family at Shreveport Country Club
--Played Mad Gab with family --Took family photos
--Watched a movie I would have never watched on my own!("Run Fatboy, Run" with Jana, Rob and my niece, Leslie)
--Mudded the wallpaper seams in my bedroom and sanded them (the girls and their husbands painted them)
--Took Jana shopping for dress pants
--Cooked a big pot of chili and invited the Jamar side of the family over---lots of fun and laughter
--Hugged Dan "good-bye" --Hemmed 5 pairs of pants for Jana and Callie
--Hugged Callie and Jordan "good-bye"
--Hugged David, Leslie and Laura "good-bye"
--Constructed a set of angel wings and halos for a skit at church
--Wrapped Christmas gifts
--Chased Emmi down the street when she got out of the front door
--Hugged Jana and Rob "good-bye"
--Cleaned up my new, fresh bedroom
--Took a nap

Now, it's back to work and regular work schedule.

Extreme Home Makeover

As part of my birthday present this year, Jana and Rob offered to help me paint my bedroom. Any of you that know me know that it has been on my "to do" list for a number of years. But, after tackling my small bathroom and discovering what an overwhelming job THAT was, I just never could seem to get started on my bedroom. I've re-done every other room in the house at least once, but because the bedroom was wallpapered, I knew that it was more than just a simple paint job.

This week, we began tackling the project!! And my hallway, too!! After a couple of shoulder injuries, painting ceilings is just not something I can do easily anymore, so they decided to help with that as well. Jordan and Callie came over to work, too, so the five of us were quite a team. While Callie, Jana and I painted woodwork and cut in corners, Rob and Jordan painted the ceiling (no easy task when painting white on white without the hallway light). My little niece, Laura, who is visiting from New York, helped by babysitting Emmi.
Next step was covering all the furniture in the bedroom and mudding the seams. Watching my height-challenged daughters try to get the drop cloths over the armoires was pretty humorous! But finally we were able to get that part of the job done, too. With only a break for pizza, we worked for about 8 hours on Wednesday!!!This morning, while Jana and Rob hit a few Black Friday sales, I sanded all the seams. Unfortunately, my small Shop Vac won't turn on, so I've got to borrow one from a neighbor before we can begin painting again. We still have one more day we can work (tomorrow), and then the rest will be up to me. Of course, since I can't even get to my bed or my clothes, there's a lot so incentive now to get it all finished!!

Christmas Crafting

Today felt like Saturday. Not that I'm complaining---after all, I didn't have to work today and that was great. I slept in a little bit with the rain falling outside and then when I got up, I was able to take my time getting ready for the day.

I'd intended to do some more house-cleaning today (Callie and I did some major work on her bedroom yesterday). But, as is usually the case for me, it is always a lot more fun to make messes than to clean them up. So, I did some Christmas crafting.

Last month when I went to Canton, I found this and bought it for inspiration: Personalized hand sanitizer for $4.95 (excuse the blurry picture):I bought some these at Dollar Tree (2 in a package). . .some stickers at Hobby Lobby. . .and made these! (total cost about $.55 each)
At the same booth in Canton, there were some really cute personalized fingernail file holders made from grosgrain ribbon. I didn't buy one of those (I think they were $9.95), but I did purchase some ribbon for about $.50/yard at a nearby booth.I monogrammed the ribbon on my sewing machine, folded and sewed and filled them with files (also from Dollar Tree--2/package).

Voila'! (cost---about $1.00)So for Christmas this year, each lady in my office will get a set!----for about $1.50 each!!!NOW, I still have a good bit of tidying up to do and I need to get clean sheets on the bed because Jana and Rob will get here tomorrow night! Hooray!

Five - Oh!

My birthday was this week . . .a big birthday . . . a "milestone" birthday! Yep, I think that I now qualify for the senior discount at some stores (now that's pretty scary)! Some people really dread those milestone years, but I don't really think about it too much. I don't feel old, so it doesn't really matter to me what the numbers are. And though my hair is sprinkled with a large dose of "gray", I feel like I've earned every one of them and have decided not to cover them.

So, when my birthday rolled around, I looked forward to a quiet dinner with my Dad and step mom and was thrilled when I learned that Callie and Jordan would also be joining us! I got worried momentarily when she insinuated that there were lots of surprised coming at dinner, but after I got there and realized it was just us, I assumed it must be coming in the form of waiters singing to me, etc.

Throughout the day, I'd had several emails and phone calls wishing me a happy day--more so than on previous birthdays---but, again I assumed that was part of the "surprises". Needless to say, I was completely caught off-guard and overwhelmed when I received my birthday presents! My dad and step-mom gave me a cash gift along with the most beautiful James Avery ring!! (something that I truly love, but probably never would have splurged on for myself!!) And Callie and Jana presented me with the most amazing thing I've ever seen---the "50 Wishes Project".

At first glance through the notebook that Callie gave me, I thought that they had gathered good wishes from 50 friends and family members; and that was great! But, upon reading the opening pages, I realized it was so very much more---and the tears began!

I just couldn't believe what I was reading! They set up a website and asked many of my friends and family members (via email mostly) to participate in the project in a variety of ways:
1. Posting a birthday wish for me
2. Posting a picture on the website
3. Making a donation to the "Linda Jamar Scholarship" for children in Juarez, Mexico to attend school.
4. Post a wish for the children of Mexico.

There just couldn't be a more perfect gift! My heart has been deeply affected by my visits to Mexico and I am especially touched by the children I meet there. I was touched beyond belief that people had responded and that at least 10 children would now be going to school because of their generosity!

And the birthday didn't end there! The next morning, I began receiving phone calls about 6:45 a.m.---friends who were so excited by the project and were checking to see my reaction to the whole thing! And the phone calls continued---that was almost as much fun as the initial gift!

I have amazing daughters---girls who care for others and see the need beyond their own homes and respond! Thank you, Jana and Callie! I love you!!!