Christmas Decor

My Christmas Decor

I purchased these advent votive candle holders from the Pottery Barn last year in January. The were marked down from $39.95 to $3.95!!!! No lie!!! I love them...I got those battery tea lights for them...

Look at all the white...I hate it. I want to paint, but I can never decide on colors...

Our tree...

A closer look. I decorated with just color lights, ribbon, and matchbox cars!

Christmas is Crazy

Yeah, Christmas makes us all busy. And for some reason...this year I can't get it together. My house is a mess, I have what feels like a million gifts to wrap, I still need to get Jenny, Jessy, and Kyle's gift mailed...

But...I finally put up my tree. And yes, it is my Matchbox Car mess. Pictures to follow soon. My husband has made ALLLLLL sorts of comments about the ribbon mess on it...

Anyway. I've been meaning to blog about this:



Better World Books
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

This is a great site to be aware of for Christmas gifts....basically they sell used books with all profits going to fund various literacy campaigns. Plus, best part, there's NO SHIPPING COSTS for the US. Most used books are in the $4 to $5 range, and the site often has a 5 for 15 bin.


For those parents out there: they have 34,000 children's books in the Bargain Bin (5 for 15). This includes board books...ya know, the ones your kiddies can't destroy as easily as the paper page books...sure, maybe some of the books have scribbles in them from others, but let's face it, your child will probably only add to the artwork as well....

Merry Christmas!

Shopping for Black Friday

Yay! it's almost Black Friday! The following site is one of my favorite Black Friday sites. They post black Friday ads early so that you can strategically plan your Black Friday Shopping. Also, if you set up an id/username with them, you can click on what you want from each ad and they'll keep it on a master list, so you can print it out and be prepared. (They also send you emails when a new Store ad is posted to the site. But beyond that, I've never gotten any extra "spam" emails.

www.blackfriday.info

Other Black Friday sites:
http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/
http://bfads.net/


And keep your eyes on these sites for deals, discounts, and printable coupons:
http://slickdeals.net/
http://www.wow-coupons.com/all-printable-retail-coupons.php
http://www.thesavingdepot.com/print.html
http://www.flamingoworld.com/retail
http://www.couponcabin.com/printable-coupons/index.htm
http://www.dealcatcher.com/view/printable/coupon/merchant
http://www.thokalath.com/coupons/free_printable_coupon.php

Also, this site will direct you to all stores current circulars (not black Friday circulars, but current, which is handy during the Christmas season):
http://www.sundaysaver.com/

Some Girl Named Melanie

Our church is currently going through various sermons on generations. Meaning, has your beliefs in Christ been pasted down through the generations and are you passing it down to the current generations.

As a person who has my BA in History and who *hearts* anything to do with my family’s genealogy, this sermon series is right up my alley.

Although some girl my mother went to high school with will never know it (at least until we get to heaven), she’s had a profound impact on my family’s Christian walk.

When my mother was 16, this young African-American girl of around 16, introduced my mom to Christ by warning my mother not to attend school one day, b/c there was to be a race-based riot, and my mother had been marked as a target.

My mother did not attend school that next day, and there was a riot. A race riot so severe that it closed the school for a few days.

When my mother went back to school, she questioned this girl about why she would warn her, when she doesn’t even know her.

The girl’s reply was something along the lines of “because I follow Christ, and He would not want to see you hurt.”

This girl introduced my mother to a different God than my mother’s Catholic faith had shown her. A God who loved her, a God who was personal, and a God who cared for her. My mom shortly there after gave her heart to God.

7 years later, my mother had a little girl and named her Melanie, after the girl in high-school.

This girl, by being courageous and allowing God to work through her, impacted my family in a way she does not know. And, she gave me my name.

My family's Christian history shows me that it's not always a blood relative who takes care of forwarding the Gospel to the next generation.

Budget

Budget.

It's an ugly word and I hate it.

Do Bill and I have a budget? Yes. We've had one since the day we got married.

Do we stick to it? Yes and No.
Yes, Bill does.
No, Melanie doesn't.

Boo.

But, I'm happy to say that Bill suggested a few things to help me stick to it...and so far, for these two weeks, I've stuck to our budget.

So was I buying cloths? Shoes? Makeup?
Nope.

I was buying food. I would go to ShopRite on Friday and Sat and spend my "Budget" for food. That's good, right? BUT then on Tuesday driving home from work, I'd be exhausted and not want to make what I bought, b/c it would take time and preparation. So my lazy self would stop at ShopRite and buy a quick meal, like a bag of Bertolli's.

Well you know what happens then...I'd walk out with a bag of Bertolli's, a bag of chips, OJ, cheese (cause it was on sale), etc...

So Bill's suggestion was a simple as it gets. I now take out the $80 cash for food shopping, and when it's gone, it's gone.

The surprising benefit of this, is that I'm learning to throw together a meal from random ingredients in the house. So, go me.

Now, I know it's only been two weeks of staying on budget, and it sounds like it's too soon to be excited about it, but I don't care and I'm rejoicing in my(and God's) accomplishment!!

Beth's Wedding

So where have I been??? Mostly busy with a new job and helping a friend with her wedding. Beth was a absolute JOY and a breeze to work with, but I've decided that I'm retiring from wedding planning/coordinating. I will only come out of retirement for Jenny, Jessy, and Betsy. The whole thing was entirely too exhausting.

For the Church....

Entrance when walking in. Table with the Signature Book.
Backdrop: 2 pieces of Lattice at $5.76 each, 3 can's of Walmart spray paint at $1.00 each, vines from church, fabric from church -for behind it, zip ties and staples, white table cloth from church, borrowed wedding flower arrangement with candle (thank you Kathleen W.)

Stage - White back drop. (Okay, purple is a nice color for church, but not so nice for weddings. Especially when the shade of purple matches McDonald's friend Grimace.) Used church's white fabric. Bride purchased runner. Purchased 10 yards of blue to match the bridesmaid's dresses and cut it in half length wise for two 10 yard pieces at about $25.00, Brown ribbon $4.00, vines from church, Zip ties for $7.00, borrowed flower arrangements, candles from Ikea 12 for $9.00, strait pins for $2.00, white tulle from church, and vases from church. Ivy and ribbon as aisle markers for family rows from church.

Regarding all the fabric: Friday night, when I finally went to bed, I barely slept as I was filled with fear that I was going to walk into the church on Saturday morning, and all this fabric would be collapsed on the stage, all on top of a very broken drum kit. Luckily, God was good, as He invented a thing called "Zip Ties" and this was not the case.

The reception was at the American Legion in Perry Hall.

Centerpieces:

Pots, paint, ribbon, stones (bought from home depot and spray painted with a glitter-mist), card holders, flower foam blocks, music sheets stained with tea to give them an antique look. Table's were named after songs the bride and groom loved. If you look closely, you can see that over the song name, the songs are also in braille for the guests who were vision impaired. My favorite table was "The Theme from the Office." All of the groom's co-workers were seated at it.

Backdrop behind the head table:
Cost: 2 pieces of lattice (2' by 8'): $5.76 each, 3 can's of Walmart spray paint for $1.00 each, 4 five foot garlands of ivy and white flowers which I picked up at a 75% sale at Joann's for $3.95 each after the discount, zip ties(which I'm now in love with) and staples, and a sheet from Ikea for $10.00.

Covering up a BUTT - UGLY plaque, priceless.
(the hanging plants were already there)



My schedule for the week of Beth's wedding:

• Weeks before: Gathered materials.


• Sunday: Painted 4 Lattice's


• Monday: Stapled flowers to two lattice's


• Tuesday: Met with bride, her mother, and Jen B. at the Hall with a representative to go over everything/itinerary.


• Thursday: Megan Weber and I prepped the decor at the church from 6pm to 8:30pm.


• Friday: Led the rehearsal at the church from 5pm to 7pm. With the help of Jen B. and Melissa V. decorated the church from 7pm to slightly after 10pm.

Saturday - The Day of the Wedding:

• Woke up at 6:45am, showered, packed the car up, applied makeup, picked up donuts, went to hall to hang backdrop behind table. Many thanks to Jen B. (who ALSO brought donuts) and all the other unsung heros who helped decorate the hall.


• At 10ish, I left the hall to head to the church, first stopping at the hair salon to catch pics of the Bride and her Bridesmaid's getting their hair ready.


• Arrive at church at 11am. Added some finishing touches to the church decor (ivy and ribbon pinned to the 1st three rows to designate seating for the family), signs on doors directing guests, etc...


• 12pm Wedding Party and vendors start to arrive


• 2:30pm the wedding


• 3:45pm pics at the church - men start to break down chairs


• 4:30pm Me, and 3 other lovely, God-Provided women, break down the decor.


• 6:00pm Reception


• 9:30pm Reception Hall Clean up


• 11:00pm I'm dead ASLEEP in bed.

A special shout out to Jennifer Bartlebaugh who was my unseen help. Basically, if I was unable to accomplish it, Jen took care of it!!!! I could have never have gotten through the wedding without her!

And FINALLY:

Congrats to Beth on her marriage to Jared!!!! May you have many happy blessed years!!!

Meg (Beth's sister/Maid of Honor), Beth, Betsy(friend), Jess(friend), and Cole(Ring Bearer) and Maya (flower girl).

Aunt Lori's Mural

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, but it's b/c I got a new job and have been adjusting to that...

SO....As a blog filler, I thought I would post pics of my Aunt Lori's mural that she painted. She's amazingly talented. Nothing on this mural is done with stencils...everything is HAND PAINTED!!!

She occasionally has done murals for restaurants and businesses in South Jersey, this particular mural is in her own home. It took a few months to complete, as she did it as she had time available. Aunt Lori mostly does painted portraits as side work (you give her a photo, she paints it).

The mural work is above her staircase. She trash-picked the window frame, and painted on the glass to create the "interior look".

Same portion of the mural, but the pic is taken from a different angle... Can you see the air vent? (Hint...it's painted over.)

A closer look, so that you can see that there's no stencil work.

Amazing! I love her work!!!!!