Rerun: The E-bay "It"

This was originally posted on December 9, 2006 ...


Two gifts made tonight ... I am going to be participating in 2 grab bag gift exchanges. I love exchanges but yet they are hard to buy for because you aren't quite sure who exactly is getting your gift so it's hard to personalize it.
I was trying to figure out what to give ... gift certificates seem to be the best idea because most people can find some use for them. I joked with dh that it was too bad they didn't make e-bay ones, and lo and behold, paypal does give gift certificates! So that clinched it - I'm giving "it" for Christmas this year and a 25 dollar gift certificate to help pay for whatever "it" is! =)


Added now -
This might be a great way to add a little flare to a gift certificate you might want to give. It was pretty easy to make as well ... I just got some of the crayola model magic and some wire. I simply shaped the clay (the t with the curve was the hardest part). You can see most of where I used the wire (between the dot of the i and the i, and to put the i and t together). I also used the wire to attach the cross part of the t (although it's hidden). I'm not sure if they would have stayed stuck together without the wire through them, but I had plenty of wire left to do this.

Anyway, although the gift certificate is not handmade, the little it adds a nice personal touch to the certificate. I will say my it was a hit last year and if I hadn't already used it, I would do it again! LOL!

So, if you are looking for a quick, easy gift ... I suggest this one!

2 new reads, a break, and an apology ...

First of all I've finished two more books this week (which in fact does mean that the insomnia is back and although I love reading, I don't frankly, enjoy it enough to feel tired).

Anyway, the finishes are Night by Ellie Wiesel (for Fall Into Reading) and Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (For TBR 2007 challenge).
I recommend them both.

Second, I'm taking another "break." Next week, no internet for me (aside from things over at The Motherhood because, well, that's my job (which I might add it's still weird for me to say I have a job and not mean the kids and I like that LOL!)) So no posts. It's the holiday weekend, and we'll be busy and I need to step away again.

Also, I haven't been reading hardly any blogs lately. I really haven't been commenting. I'm sorry. But after my break, I will be back, reading, commenting, and posting (between all those Christmas presents I need to be making LOL!)

Anyway, with all that said, I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Books ...

3 finishes for me this week ....

First In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in an Unknown Country by Kim Barnes.
Good book. Glad I read it. Quite interesting. I didn't have a lot of the same experiences as the author, but could relate to some of how she felt at times - and isn't that the lure of coming of age stories - to see how similar they are to our experiences? Anyway, a very interesting book for me to read.

Number 2 - Lucky by Alice Sebold. Tough, tough book to read for me. I had to take numerous breaks in it just because I needed to get away (if only she had the ability to take breaks right? I know but it was tough). Anyway, nuff said about that one for now.

Number 3 (which I just finished and am feeling a bit raw from) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I enjoyed the book truly. I HATED the ending. No, really, I just hated it. And because of that I will never forget this book. The book tore at my heart strings - what would I do if I was the mother? What if I were more like the father and my dh had to be like that mother? What if my sister was dying and I could help her? What if I couldn't? What if I were the sick one? None of them had that great of choices really. But, the ending. Yeah, I'll be pissed about that one for a while. And really - isn't that what makes it a good book? A book that makes you feel and think and have emotion? Yeah, so even though the ending was gut-wrenching and made me cry (yes, I cried!) I still think it was a good book and I'm glad I read it.

On a sort of side note, I thought I had read the book before. And I couldn't remember the ending of it and never understood why everyone talked about it, because if I couldn't remember the ending then I thought it must not be that bad. The beginning I remembered very well, and then I hit a page with a bookmark in it and realized at that point, I had merely started the book before and never finished it. Of course now I get why people want to talk about it all the time LOL!

As another side note, all 3 were part of my Fall Into Reading Challenge!

Photos!

I've been working over here on some good Christmas gift ideas. Of course, I have nothing finished yet, but I have lots of things half-way done. (mostly because I need to go buy things to finish everything up LOL!)

First up to show you ...

A table runner I am making. I need to buy the backing to put on this and then quilt and bind it. It turned out pretty well I think, and I might possibly make a second one to give to someone too. I just don't know if I have enough of the all the fabric and I don't have much else in the stash that is holiday-ish. We'll see.





Second, a bag I'm making ... okay, I know it doesn't look that great now, but I think it will be awesome when it is done frankly. I need to get the pieces for the strap and a snap/button for it as well. I am trying to make an adjustable strap, and this will be my first adjustable strap ever. So that will be fun to do. The plain red is the outside, the flower fabric is the inside.



Third, I am making a paper doll set for a little girl I know. Today I printed out most of the dolls (but I ran out of cardstock and really want to make sure it's all on cardstock) but it hit me that I had nothing to put these dolls in for her to store or whatever. So, today I whipped up what I am calling paper pockets (because I don't know what else to call them LOL!). Then after I purchase a binder, I will cover it in fabric that has embroidered on it "My Paper Dolls" (well, I'll probably put her name on it truthfully) and then I'll stick these in with the dolls in them for her. The whole time I was working on this my 8 year old just kept saying over and over how lucky this other girl is and wow, what a great present - little does she know, she's getting a set as well! And now I know how much she wants them! But today, I just made 4 of them for the other girl. They were around and although the idea won't be a surprise, I want to surprise her with the pages inside - if that makes any sense at all.
And FTR: I am NOT looking forward to cutting all the doll and doll clothes out frankly. But sometime I'll plop down in front of mindless TV and cut them out.



I'm currently trying to get as far as I can on all the projects I have lined up so that I can have a comprehensive list when I go shopping instead of going 20 times between now and Christmas. Also, we are now going to St. Louis Thanksgiving weekend which will give me about 12 hours in the car so I can get a lot of the handwork done and/or knitting done in the car.

Tomorrow will be a day full of running around and not getting anything done at home and this weekend we are gone Saturday and Sunday. But I need to get more work done on these gifts. I'm feeling better about it all though - I have some good ideas and good energy flowing and I just might be able to pull it all off! =)

Today ...

Today I got a haircut. A much needed haircut. Not quite all the hair I wanted taken off (I really only truly got a trim with a few layers built in).
But truthfully, my hair has looked more like a mop on my head than anything else. And I've felt pretty not pretty lately. I put on a few pounds over October and with this blob of hair on my head that looked about 5 inches too long, I NEEDED this haircut people.
And my stylist (whom I found this spring) did wonders again. She trimmed about a 1/2 inch, put in some layers, and I will tell you I bounced out of there feeling pretty again. Of course I also had to go get an outfit for big party this weekend. Okay, I didn't have to. But I wanted to, and we budgeted for it, so I went shopping. Of course, to target where I got a great skirt (on sale 10 bucks I'm pretty proud), nice shirt and cute shoes. Yeah, I'm happy right now.
Really, the haircut did it for me. The haircut really, truly did it for me.
I was also talking to them about hopefully being back in February for the big chop for me and my girls (we are growing out our hair for Locks of Love and I'm currently at 10 inches, one dd is at 9 inches and the other is about 9.5 inches and yes I am anxious to cut it off and I do measure every week just in case we all have huge growth spurts ROFL!) Anyway, the ladies there are all impressed with my oldest daughter for having this idea (because it was truly her idea after she heard it mentioned on the news). They told me to call when we are all ready for our cuts and they will see what they can do for us - I'm hoping buy 2 cuts get one free maybe ROFL! She also asked if I had her permission to alert local media about it to run a piece in a local paper to spotlight my daughter (and I'm not dumb, they'll put their salon name there too and I'm okay with that). We'll see what happens. I think it would be great to have to put in my children's baby books someday, but if that doesn't happen, I don't care because that's not why we are doing it.

Anyway, it was a great day overall. Hopefully tomorrow some book reviews and some photos to show you. Also, I have a great Christmas idea growing in my head. I just need to order the correct things and I can NOT wait to get those here and to show them all. Also, dh got a new print cartridge for us and so I can start printing up all the paper dolls I need so I can start cutting them out (okay, I am not looking forward to that part) and I am going to try to rig some binders up to make them paper doll piece holders, but I'm not sure if the ideas in my mind will come to fruition.

Anyway, I'm bursting with ideas and lots of energy and some good positive vibes. Now I just have to get working on it all! =)

(Wanted to add: these are the people I am waiting for and I hope to make them look something like this after they get here.