The shop is FINALLY set up!

Check it out...of course, I have no products up yet. But I WILL. :) And it will be glorious. I set up the account two months ago, but just finally got the money to set it up (yes, it's only a dollar, but that's a lot these days!). Anywho, without further ado...

http://celestesbestbuds.etsy.com

Check back frequently as I have some flowers here that I'm hoping to make into masterpieces soon! :) But even if you don't want to buy anything, oh well. :) Just enjoy the flowers themselves.

Countdowns...

I have recently been amusing myself with countdowns. A friend of mine (a few, actually) are leaving for their missions next month and are counting down the days on Facebook. I laughed, remembering "only yesterday" when they were trying to mentally calculate exactly when their mission calls would even come in the mail. Then I remembered my own countdown to our wedding, and the various countdowns of friends' babies, birthdays, and other big events. When I was a little girl, we had a Christmas Countdown calendar every year (often of our own making).

What is our obsession with time, with looking forward? And what do we do in the meantime? The few countdowns I remember, on a personal note, were not all that pleasant. Time stretched out the more I looked forward to something, and especially when those somethings involved a lot of planning on my part I became easily overwhelmed...my excitement only made me more irritable. I know you know what I mean. It's an almost universal phenomenon, I see it all the time, and sometimes I wonder why we torture ourselves with all the anticipation. Either we are all of us masochists, or there is something about looking forward to "better days" that we need like we need air. Or maybe both. Without a dream, and without an almost tangible timeline to follow as we realize it, maybe something in our cosmic DNA withers and dies. Even though I know better, I countdown to many things.

My question is, what are you looking forward to right now? What is on your countdown?

I really just love my job.

Life is full of surprises. :)

Kinda sorta work...it's money, anyway

I didn't quite get the job that I applied for at the Daycare, but I am going to work there part-time for the next few weeks until school starts and their regular teachers come back. I'll be a sub, so to speak, filling in wherever they need me, whenever they do. It's long and tiring work, playing with a classroom of 2 year olds, but it'll be SO fun, and, hey, it's money. We could use some of that right now. So even though it's just for a while, I'm grateful. It'll do for now.

I'm still looking around, though. I've gotta work in the fall, or we won't be able to pay bills! :)

Picture Books & New Traditions

Paul & I thought up a few fun traditions related to picture books, and I thought I'd put them down in writing so we don't forget.

The first one has to do with birthdays. When I was little, one of my favorite books was "Happy Birthday, Moon". Imagine my surprise when I found out that Paul's favorite book was the same thing! So we've decided that on the evening before our birthdays, and our kids', we're going to read the book to them as we tuck them in, and we're going to have a top hat just like Bear has in the book, hidden somewhere in a fairly conspicuous place to find around the house, with one small "first and best" gift under it to open on Birthday Eve. I'm stoked.

The second is a Christmas tradition. I love Christmas, and I love picture books. So I've compiled a list of my 25 favorite Christmas picture books, and each night of the 25 days of Christmas I want to read a different one aloud as a family. Want to know my list?

1. Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg)
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss)
3. The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry & P.J. Lynch)
4. Christmas Oranges (Linda Bethers)
5. The Little Match Girl (Hans Christian Anderson)
6. Children Around the World Celebrate Christmas (Susan T. Osborn & Tangvald)
7. Brown Paper Teddy Bear (Catherine Allison/Scholastic)
8. A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree (Colleen Monroe, ill. Michael Monroe)
9. The Crippled Lamb (Max Lucado)
10. Wenceslas: The Eternal Christmas Story (Geraldine McCaughrean)
11. The Nutcracker: A Young Reader’s Edition of the Holiday Classic (E.T.A. Hoffman)
12. The Littlest Angel (Charles Tazewell)
13. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Robert L. May; ill. David Wenzel)
14. The Little Drummer Boy (ill. Ezra Jack Keats)
15. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Kellogg/ Coots & Gillespie)
16. Silent Night: The Song and its Story (Margaret Hodges; Ladwig)
17. St. Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend (Julie Steigemeyer; Ellison)
18. The Legend of the Christmas Stocking (Rick Osborne)
19. The Legend of the Christmas Tree (Rick Osborne)
20. The Legend of the Candy Cane (Lori Walburg)
21. The Night of Las Posadas (Tomie dePaola)
22. The Legend of the Poinsettia (Tomie dePaola)
23. “B” is for Bethlehem: A Christmas Alphabet (Isabel Wilner; ill. Elisa Kleven)
24. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Clement C. Moore)
25. The Christmas Story: From the King James Version (Gennady Spirin) (OR Christmas Story by Val Chadwick Bailey...I haven't decided yet)

NOW, I just have to buy them all!

The 5 things on my mind right at this exact moment:

(1) I just finished my sister's birthday present! Unfortunately, since there's a slim chance she'll see it if I post anything about it right now, I can't. I'll show you and tell you all about it in 2 days. But suffice it to say, for having zero dollars to my name, this present pretty much rocks.

(2) I am already planning Paul's birthday party (and it's not until October 18th). This shows you how *sick* I really am. I love party planning, especially parties for OTHER people. I love making homemade gifts that you can't get anywhere else and I love surprising people. I also love familyfun.go.com, where I get a lot of ideas from. Moms, check it out! That's what I've been doing all week!

(3) I am waiting to hear tomorrow about a job I interviewed with on Thursday...I'd be working with another "teacher" and 8 or 9 2-year-olds for 10 1/2 hours on Fridays at a Christian Child Care. I really want this job, and if not this one, something like it. Mostly, though, I just want A job!

(4) I am really hungry. I might have to eat some chips 'n' salsa after this. We got the cheap brand of the black bean & white corn salsa, and it is scrumptious. Just sayin'.

(5) Today, and really all week, has been an emotional roller coaster in the private places of my heart. I think I am ready for something...I don't know what. I just got a new calling in our new ward, one that I wasn't really planning on, and maybe that's the first step. I probably just need a new challenge. Usually when things seem hard it's because (a) they are, (b) you're not doing something you should be, or (c) you're ready for new challenges. I feel pretty good overall about what I've been able to do and to be lately, so I think I pick (c). :)

Yearbookyourself.com

If you have a few minutes to spare, check out this website! (http://www.yearbookyourself.com/) It's hilarious! You upload a pic of you (or whomever you wish) and stick their faces onto yearbook photos from decades past. If you have a Facebook account, you can send them directly to your photos. If not, you can either save them to your computer or email them to yourself or someone else. Anywho, here is a sampling of some of my favorites. :) My friends Shean & Audrey.

My BFF Lindsey, rockin' it out!

Almost all the Watson clan.

My dear husband...

And me!

Attention All Moms! (or teachers of young children...)

I recently discovered a neat up-and-coming website that features short (5 minutes or less) virtual field trips for kids, by kids. There are interviews with authors/illustrators, field trips to observatories, museums, and music halls, and contest winners for things like poetry month, holidays, hobbies, and "the most interesting person I know". Even cooler, you can have your own kids make and send in a video to be put on the site! It's still new so there are a lot of features under development, but under each video is at least one link to another website related to that subject, recommended books, and questions/links written by educators for extended learning. I'd STRONGLY recommend checking it out when you get the chance:

http://meetmeatthecorner.org/

Have fun!

Our New Pride and Joy :)

This is the piano that Paul & I won on ebay for $25. I have to admit, it was an amazingly SWEET deal. The previous owner was just some guy who happened to have a piano lying around in his garage for the last 5 years, and he was going to just leave it on the side of the road, but he figured if he put it up on ebay he'd make a few bucks off of it. Unfortunately for him, that's ALL he got. But WE WIN! On Saturday, our good friend Nathan Utt drove Paul up to the Chicago temple (he had to work there for 5 hours), and then the two of them drove Nutt's truck down an hour or so south of town and wound up in a surprisingly nice neighborhood, where they exerted their superhuman strength and moved the piano all by themselves. A big shout-out, too, to the guy in the apartment above us who helped get it from the truck to the inside of our apartment.
This is the small centerpiece I made for it, mostly to cover up the book that we're using as a weight for the lamp until we can find something better. I used the leftover wedding flowers (and STILL have more to go!).

So now the quaint old piano is in our apartment and we look at it much the same way new parents admire their children--part wonder, part shock, part amusement, part love. It feels like a little miracle in the midst of a lot of hard times, and holds the promise of progress and happiness ahead. And while there's a low B key that buzzes and a high C key that's sharp, for the freedom it gives us to explore and express ourselves and the independence from the "someday" promises of BOTH our parents' pianos, this beauty'll do. :)

Caida's Update

Caida is back at home as of yesterday, and is doing much better. Time will tell as far as the medicine she's on, but Cerene feels that she's in good hands with the doctor there. We'll see about the neurologist appointment getting moved up or not...but either way, the immediate danger is gone for now and I am so grateful! Thanks for any good thoughts or prayers sent our way.