About Me UPDATED...

After writing about my week last week, I thought I should give a quick update.....

1. After being in serious tooth pain for almost a week, I found out I needed a root canal and had it done on Thursday. The pain on Thursday was BAD...but Friday came and Saturday...and now I actually feel pretty good (with just a bit of pain left).
And..I didn't eat chocolate or soda for 6 days!!!

2. I've tried some new ways to style my haircut. Here it is before church this morning:


3. I put up the Christmas tree yesterday. I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving...I just am really excited for Christmas. And, since it is only 40 days away, I thought it should be given some time to shine. I tried to take a picture in the dark, but the flash went off and it got fuzzy. Oh well.


4. Happy Birthday MOM! It's been a while since I have seen you guys. All the more reason to be excited about Christmas. Here you are in July:

All about me

Some things you may or may not know about my week:)
*I've had a bad toothache for the last few days. I thought it was a sinus infection, and went to the doctor...but the pills aren't helping, so I think I will go to the dentist tomorrow.

*I got a haircut.
I'm not smiling much because my tooth hurts.
Here is before:

Here is after:


*I had an awesome time grocery shopping this week. I saved 86% on one of my transactions. I got all this for 13.53:

You can see more about my deals this week HERE


*I love having people over. My brother and a friend came from Denver for supper. We ate, played Pictionary, and I hooked him up with some groceries from my deals. Because we live out of town, I feel bad inviting people over because it is a bit of a trip for them. BUT with gas being 2.12ish a gallon, I will probably invite people over some more.

*I'm really excited for Christmas this year. I started playing Christmas music in my house already, and I love seeing the displays in the stores. I think I am most excited about Christmas this year, because I get to see my family. ONLY 46 DAYS!

Costume Party

One of our friends had a birthdayween bash (it was her birthday on Halloween). We got dressed up and attended the party. They were dressed as..
Rainbow brite and the gang:

Here is what the gang actually looks like, in case you forgot. These homemade costumes were GREAT!


Then there was Juno:


The Magic School bus lady:


Peter Pan, Wendy and the lost boys (I never actually got a picture of Wendy (sorry Kelly))


There was also Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy, a Nudist on Strike, Miss South Carolina 30 years later...and some other fun costumes.

John was a cop. (notice the awesome mustache)


I was a state prisoner.


Here are some photos of our evening:) (click on the picture to make it bigger)


We played Guitar Hero world tour most of the night:


John had the "manliest" costume of the guys.


The turkeys and hot dog mummies (in the background) were a yummy.


Here are some more pictures of John:

My attempt at creative "cooking"

I saw the cutest thing on a blog the other day. One of my "deals" blogs posted about some of her favorite other blogs. I got the idea for the candy turkey from HERE.

I think they would work great for Thanksgiving, but I decided to make them as a "fall" treat:)



I can't wait to bring them to the party Friday. Oh, and be on the lookout Saturday for pictures of our Halloween costumes:)

My attempt at recycling

So...I have been pretty lax about recycling my whole life. I saved the pop cans when I was younger...because we got money for them!
When my sister and brother-in-law came to visit in July the "challenged" me to recycle more. Basically I started feeling guilty for not recycling. Since they charge quite a bit for a SMALL container of recycling in my town, I decided not to participate in their recycling service. I have been saving all the weekend newspapers I get (mostly for the coupons) and I have been saving all the cans and plastic water bottles too.

My next inspiration for going "green" was when I won a free reusable bag in an online contest. I was so excited to use it when I got it in the mail. I have acquired over 8 reusable bags for $0 with contest, store deals, and back-to-school teacher appreciation days. I use them most of the time on my shopping trips. Here are just a few:

The next thing I did was use coupons to get Dawn Direct Foam. This stuff makes the bubbles last a LONG time, and you don't have to keep filling the sink and washing dishes when there is only 5 of them to wash. I definitely think I am saving water. (Also notice the water bottle in the background that I use to stop wasting plastic water bottles)

Tomorrow, I am bringing all my saved up recycling to the place in Fort Collins (about 30 miles away). Here it is, sitting in my garage. Good thing I have a nice big area in the back of the xterra to fit it in!
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I know I am still not at all on the "green" bandwagon...but I don't plan on driving a Prius, composting my extra food, or even planting a garden anytime soon, so this is my small contribution:)

Happy Birthday Camille!

We remember when you were so little. It's great to see your personality shine!
We had a blast with you on labor day.

We love that you are the calm, even if behind you there is craziness.

We love that you like to hang out with us.

Thanks to Davina who put her pictures on our Laptop:)

My MiddleSchool Photoshop class.

This year I am teaching a Photoshop (Elements) class to middle school kids. We do a lesson every class period, and if they get finished early, they can create/edit in photoshop.
This past week I was sick of getting NEGATIVE political flyers in the mail, so I asked my students to create a POSITIVE flyer about America. Here are some good ones:




I didn't have many pictures for them to edit at the begining of the year...and the majority of photo sites are blocked with our school filter, so I grabbed some pictures of my family (nephews and neice) and let them edit those.
It ended up a little crazy.








Once I had gotten a few pictures of thier classmates, I included them...and this happened:

now they can only edit people if they have permission from those people:)