forty-one

Tomorrow I turn 41. Will carry these words with me as I celebrate and am blessed with another year of life...

Open your heart to the world around you
Open your eyes to the wonders of life
Open your heart to those who love you &
Always be true to yourself  

                                                                                                                                                                  Donna Davis

                                                                                         

the holiday season

The holiday season is finally upon. I have a mental list of what I want to give the kids for Christmas, but I haven't bought anything just yet. I'm one of those last minute shoppers. I plan to start getting stuff by next weekend and be over and done with it before the real rush at the stores kick in. Forget spell check- Jazzy is sitting here beside me while I type this and correcting my grammar. What a girl. Very nosy, yes she is.

As for plans for the holidays, I am scheduled to work on all the stat holidays - Christmas day, Boxing  day and New Year's day .... KA-CHING! Sounds great but all these days are within the same pay period which means the taxes will eat up some of those dollar bills. We'll probably do dinner with family on Christmas eve. It should be lovely.

Watching Ellen and wishing I was in her audience right now to receive the 12 days of Christmas giveaways.....

kid notes:

Aliyah wants to get her eyebrows done. I am still thinking about whether or not to allow it.

Darius is loving anything to do with Kingdom Hearts 

Jasmine is still sitting beside me.

Aiden's hero is Darius.

kokeshi

Thought I'd share my kokeshi doll collection...

Always on the look out for these during trips to local thrift shops.

When I grow up, i want to be...

...just like Martha Stewart. Well, not exactly, but to live in loveliness as portrayed in the Martha Stewart Living magazine would just simply be wonderful.  Yes, I know she has a whole team behind her thinking up all these pretty projects and lovely products. My dream job would be to actually be on that team and work on anything that had to do with the magazine.

And speaking of her stuff, I bought these binders along with various sheet protectors at Staples. I have been meaning to organize all the kids' school records (ie. report cards, school photos, awards etc.) and thought these would be pretty and perfect. I may change them out and get the red ones when and if they go on sale (I can't see myself spending 10 bucks on a single binder!)- the reason being,  I think Darius may feel his binder to be too feminine what with the floral pattern. But in the meantime , I am happy with these and am feeling better that things are in order. Thank you Martha!

relaxing mondays

Mondays tend to be my not so happy days. No, I don't regularly work on Mondays however because I am working on Tuesdays,  I am usually grumpy on Mondays. Fortunately I work part-time. Unfortunately, it's not a job I love with a passion. So even with just a couple of 12 hour shifts a week, I still kind of dread going to work because I don't know what I'll be up against until I actually arrive on my unit. I won't deny there are good days such as the last couple of weeks when the ER was shut down due to a flood. Empty beds meant less patients and therefore a lighter workload. Ahh, it was really nice. But today they will be reopening the ER and everything will be back as it was. BUSY! Nursing is a tough job both mentally and physically and after my 2 day work week, I am seriously exhausted. I don't know how the full-timers do it. Oh well, gotta pay the bills right?

I've decided to try to relax on Mondays. I usually feel anxiety that I need to get so much done because I am working the following day. Must change that mind set beginning today. I just plan to take it easy, do a few things here and there but not stress out too much. Easier said than done...

the notebooks

featuring self-portrait by Jazzy K

Found these notebooks at a closing out dollar store sale and wanted to give them a makeover. The covers are dreadful (to me anyway) and since I've got tons of scrapbooking paper to spare, thought I'd use some to make them prettier.

 What I'm going to do with all these notebooks, I have no idea. Homework perhaps?