Raising a loving girl

I was packing up my oldest daughter's room yesterday, and found this letter folded up in her room. In case you can't read her handwriting, this is what it says:
"Dear new owner of this house or resident of this room,
By the time you are reading this, me and my family have probably moved out. But I have something to say. This room is no longer mine, but whoever is living in here has to do one thing for me. I know this room isn't living, but it was my best friend when I needed it to be. So please, take good care o it. That is all I ask. Thank you. I don't know if you'll take me seriously, but thank you for listening."
I was so touched that she feels so secure and safe in her room. This has been a very difficult time for us, and as this letter shows, our kids feel the same way. But I'm glad to know that we have created a loving home for our children and as long as we're together, wherever we are will be our home.

Merry Christmas

Getting ready to go spend some time with our family and my very best friend, but I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Packing up

We are now two and a half weeks away from the move, so of course I'm packing up anything and everything I possibly can that we can do without for a couple weeks. Unfortunately, that means that my craft room, while essential to me in every way, is something I technically can live without, so I had to start packing it up. It's amazing too, with how small the room is, that I have so much stuff. It took me about three days to pack up all the stuff in the room, and I still have a few bits and pieces out (I figured I could leave out my copics to practice with since I'll go stir crazy without something creative to do and they're not huge, so it will be easy to pack up later on), but the majority is ready to move. And I'm discovering that I'm going through a little bit of withdrawal. I'll start thinking about something I want to make and then remember that I can't. So I guess it will be a few weeks before I can share anything new, but I did want to post my finished Snoopy card. They were a ton of work, and I don't know that I'd ever make anything so elaborate again for that many people (well, until next year when I find an idea I just have to do), but I'm so in love with the cards. There were a few more things I wanted to do with them (like adding lights or stockings to Snoopy's house), but for fifty cards, it was just too much work. The good thing about these is that since we finalized our move before I sent them out, I was able to change the inside to include our new address, so they doubled as moving cards.

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

This year, I decided to make caramel popcorn for our local friends instead of cookies or brownies, things that I normally make. I thought it would make a nice change of pace for me as it was easier to whip up a couple batches of this instead of baking for days, so it won't take too much of my time away from packing. I was trying to incorporate the recipe into the tag so that if someone liked it, they could make it themselves, but it was just too large to fit into what I had in mind, so I thought I would post it here. I took a couple recipes I found on allrecipes.com and incorporated them together so that I had what I wanted, so I don't really know who to credit for the recipe, but here it is anyway.

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn
Makes: 20 cups
Ready in 1-2 hours

Ingredients:
20 cups popped popcorn
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup margarine
½ cup corn syrup
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 bag of chocolate chips
Directions:
Heat oven to 200F
Place popcorn in a large roasting pan and set aside. In 2-quart saucepan, combine brown sugar, margarine, corn syrup, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a full boil. Continue boiling without stirring until candy thermometer reaches 238F or soft ball state. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Pour over popcorn; stir until all popcorn is coated. Bake for 20 minutes; stir. Continue baking for 25 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately place caramel corn on waxed paper to cool. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, dip wooden spoon into chocolate, then shake the spoon over the popcorn to get a drizzled effect. Let harden; break apart and store in an airtight container.

Knowing where you're going....priceless!

Many of you know that we were planning on moving towards the end of the year, but we didn't know where. There was a lot of speculation on our part about where to move. We really wanted to cut Jason's commute shorter and there was a lot of draw to the Peoria/Glendale area for schools and just how much there is to do out there. The entire process of finding a place to live has been very stressful for me, I've lost so much sleep stressing about where our family would call home, so I was really anxious to figure it out so I could de-stress and enjoy the holidays. While we've spent the last two weeks looking at properties, we've seen all kinds: houses that are very nice but too small and houses that are huge but in really poor condition. Well, this week we found what we were looking for, and yesterday we were approved, so we finally know where we're going. We are staying in Surprise, so for those of you who are local, we're not going anywhere. In fact we're moving to Sarah Ann Ranch which is just a few miles south of where we are now. So we're not improving Jason's commute or moving to Peoria school district, but we are getting a beautiful house to live in, and as the cherry on top, it has a swimming pool, so at least we can stay in our own yard when we want to cool off during our hot summer months. It's a bittersweet time for us as we're so sad to be leaving our home, but we're excited for what's in store for us at the new place. And once we're settled in, we'd love to have visitors!

Black Friday starts early and ends late!

For my Stampin' Up! customers, this year our black Friday sale begins today and goes until Tuesday, November 30th. With free shipping and awesome deals on products (like 50% off of My Digital Studio), this is a great chance to get what you want for Christmas this year. I also offer gift services so have your loved ones contact me to take advantage of my free gift wrapping and still be surprised this year. Visit my store and shop now!

A labor of love and a contest

Every year around this time, I begin working on my Christmas cards and searching for design ideas. And every year, I promise myself that I'm going to work on them early so they can be mailed out on time and that I'm going to do something simple this year so that it's easy to make the 50 that I need. Well, this year I half succeeded. I have actually begun to make the cards this year, which is really early for me. I don't usually begin to make them until December. I think last year I wasn't able to begin making them until mid December because I had to finish my Anatomy class first and couldn't study and make cards at the same time. However, I have to laugh at my design ideas this time because I have really got myself in deep this time. I found an idea from another demonstrator, Carrie Gaskin, and the moment I saw her card, I fell in love. The theme of this card is my absolute favorite Christmas character. For our Christmas decorations, we have two of the big blow up decorations, one to represent both my and Jason's favorite Christmas characters. Well, Carrie came up with a card that incorporates my favorite character. In fact, when I showed the idea to Jason, he even said that I had to do it. So I have been working all week on the cards, and this is what I have so far:
                                  
As you can see, I didn't exactly choose a simple design of the card, each piece of the house is individual and then inked and put together to make up the house. But, I'm thrilled with the look so far, I think these are going to be my best cards yet.

So now, here's the contest. I will send a little something to the first person who comments with the correct character. And now I have to get back to work. :D

November card making class

 True to form, I'm behind again, but I'm finally finished with the samples for this Friday night's card making class. Class begins at 8 pm at my house and is $10. Please let me know if you want to attend or if you need directions. Hope to see you there!

 This one that follows is fun and functional because it is perfect for a gift card. It is smaller in size (and therefore I don't have envelopes for this one), but it makes a great gift.

 The inside where the gift card fits.

Craft Fair Success

I had a lot of fun yesterday meeting new people at a local craft fair. The people there were super nice and I had a lot of fun talking about stamping all day. For my booth, I had a door prize to give away and I figured I would announce the winner here. Congratulations to Stephanie Bustillos! I will be contacting you tomorrow to get your prize to you. I'm looking forward to seeing some new faces at my card class this Friday night, and I will be posting the samples here by tomorrow. Let me know if you are interested in attending.

Celebrating Lindsay

With three children, we decided early on that our kids didn't need to have a birthday party every year. It would be too much time, effort, and money to throw three parties a year, so each kid gets a party on an even birthday. For Lindsay, this was her year, and she was super excited. But, with her in soccer, Cole in karate, all three in church activities, and on top of that both J and I playing for two softball teams each, we had to push back her party a bit this year. She was also having a hard time deciding where she wanted to go for her party, but after changing her mind a dozen times, she finally decided on Build a Bear workshop. She helped me make invitations and we invited five girls to come along with us. Then she got all dolled up and waited anxiously for her friends to arrive (she even let me fix her hair and put bows in it and everything!).

Finally the girls arrived and the celebration could begin. They began by checking out all of Lindsay's toys in her room (and dumping all of the Littlest Pet Shops out all over the floor under the guise of admiring her collection).

Then it was time to gather around the table and sing happy birthday to the birthday girl (notice Bailey at the table, but Cole was MIA for the home festivities. He did not want to be around so many girls and even gave up having cake and ice cream to escape).

She also had a hard time choosing her cake, but she ended up with a Tinker Bell cake that she was really pleased with.

What a goofy smile!

Then the girls piled in the car with me and Bailey and Cole piled in with J.

 

Cole continued to have a hard time being around all the girls, and the girl running the party was trying to get him involved. So when Cole refused to rub his bear's heart on his muscles so it would be strong, she had all the girls rub their hearts on his muscles so they wouldn't be scared when he was around. Needless to say, Cole was extremely embarrassed and we were laughing.

 Both Cole and Bailey had fun celebrating their sister's birthday and both ended up with animals that made them very happy. Bailey named her hippie bear Rayne and Cole named his....Anakin (shocking, I know!).

I'm not sure what all the girl's named their animals, but they sure did have a good time.

Best of all, Lindsay had a great time, and that's what was most important to us. Being the youngest, I think she sometimes feels like she has to remind us to not forget about her--as if we ever could. But I know that having a special day just about her is one of her favorite things in the world. She's such a special girl and we love being able to show her how much we love her.

New address

Hopefully I won't lose anyone by doing this, but I needed to change the blog address so that I could line up all of my business things under one name. It was hard telling people to go to three or four address, so I'm trying to make everything easier to find under my name. So thanks for staying with me.

FYI

Next week the address to my blog will change. I'm trying to have everything line up the same so all my addresses everywhere are the same and make things easier for me, so next Sunday I'm changing the blog to www.jessicamauss.blogspot.com

The love of my life

Recently J was talking to a woman he plays tennis with about the slow pitch softball league we have here in Surprise. Turns out that this team she plays on needed more women for their team, so I was invited to join their team. I went out the first week, had a little fun, but I miss really playing ball. Slow pitch just isn't the same. As I'm trying to dust off the cobwebs, I decided I needed to find some batting cages nearby so that I can work on not popping the ball up (a sign of being anxious in the box and swinging just a little too early as the ball is coming down). As I searched for cages, I came across a park in Glendale that is not city owned and they have their own leagues. The first thing that caught my eye about this website was one of my favorite words: fastpitch. As I'm reading over the information on the website, I'm getting more and more excited--they actually have a women's fastpitch league, something so rare and precious I can hardly believe it. After poking around on their website for awhile, I found a place where you can post as a free agent or find postings for teams that need more players. So this past Wednesday night, I spent a couple hours doing one of the things that I love most in this whole world: playing fastpitch softball. As rusty as I am, I was able to contribute defensively and offensively, so I had a pretty good game. And I found that my muscles seem to remember how to do most of this, even if they don't do it as fast or as well as they used to. So now I'm working on getting out there and clearing out the cobwebs, using muscles that have been dormant way too long, and trying to get competitive again. And all the while, having so much fun that I don't care how far I have to drive to get there (40 minutes one way), or how sore I end up after. It's all worth it to have re-discovered my life-long love of the game.

Wish I knew what I was getting myself into

Sometimes I really wish I knew what I was getting myself into before I say yes to things. At the beginning of the year, the kids always bring home all the paperwork from their teachers. And I think that I was bummed that the last few years I haven't been able to help in their classrooms because of work, so I pretty much said yes to everything. Well, Lindsay's teacher has a great thing going in her room, she has no pencil sharpener for the students to use. She said she was tired of the second graders always breaking the sharpeners, and I know how much time they can waste sharpening pencils, so I really like this idea. However, what that means is that she sends pencils home to parents who are willing to sharpen pencils. So when I checked the box that said, "Yes, I will sharpen pencils", I had no idea what it really meant. Lindsay came home the second day of school with an industrial electric pencil sharpener for me to use for the year, and I do a load of pencils a few times a week. Really, I am thrilled to be helping the teacher, and if I can free up some of her time, I'm happy to do it.

In love with a template

So I found this new template for a box which is the perfect size to hold note cards, and I am in heaven trying it out. I have to say this one is my favorite:

This one I like, but it was my first one and I learned a lot doing it, but it's just not quite as cute as the other one:

To give credit where credit is due, I didn't come up with this template, it's one I purchased from a much more creative demonstrator, Ilina Crouse. I'm sure this isn't the last time I will go to her for inspiration as she has talent in areas that I am definitely lacking, so I'm grateful for the inspiration.

Etsy Holiday Boot Camp

I get regular emails from Etsy about how to be successful in running my shop, but I really liked the one this week. They are encouraging sellers to work hard to be successful this holiday season and in doing so, they are going to set challenges each week. I'm game in trying to increase my business and add more holiday items to my shop (I added some Halloween items today that I'm really proud of), so I've decided to participate. I'll report back when they issue a challenge (starting next Thursday) and see if I can't increase traffic to my site. In order to participate, they've asked each of us to make a pledge on our blog or website, so here's mine:

I, Jessica, pledge to participate in the Etsy Success Holiday Boot Camp to the best of my abilities. I vow to check in every week, do my homework and support my fellow Holiday Boot Campers. I will read the weekly newsletters and blog posts, check in on the weekly forum thread, read the weekly blog post, check off the checklists and salute the mascot. I promise to share what I've learned with those who need it, support my fellow Etsy indiepreneurs and, most of all, have a positive and persistent attitude. I understand that together we can spread the word about our handmade and vintage goods, making this holiday season a more unique and meaningful one to gift givers and give-ees everywhere!

Wish me luck!

The baby of the family

I'm jumping the gun by about a half hour here, but tomorrow is a very special day for Lindsay. Eight years ago Lindsay had to be coerced into joining us (as she was very content to stay snug in mommy's womb), and she has made her presence known from the start. Never content to be put down, I think I carried her everywhere for a year and a half. She was also the child that liked the middle of the night, so I don't think I slept until she was at least four, and then when she was finally six, I put my foot down and told her she had to stop sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night every night. However ferocious she may be, this girl definitely has spunk and I've always said she's the one I worry least about peer pressure--no one can talk her into doing something she doesn't want to do.

She's also the quickest to hug and cuddle with me, the first to greet me when she walks in the door, the last to say goodnight (five or six times). I don't know what my life would be like without her, and we're so grateful that Lindsay chose to join our family. I love you, sweet girl.

Halloween Decor Class

I just finished preparing the projects and details and I'm excited to share with you about my upcoming Halloween class. This class is on Saturday, October 2 from 5 pm to 10 pm. We will be making all five projects and the cost is $25. Details on what is included in that cost is included under each picture. In order to attend, you must RSVP no later than Wednesday, September 29th so that I have the time to gather necessary supplies, and of course seats are limited. If you are unable to attend that day, I will have kits available for purchase separately. Please let me know if you have any questions.
For this cute treat box, you will need a strong adhesive like our sticky strip or double sided tape.
I will provide everything you need for the candy bowl.
For this spooky tree table decoration, you will need to bring something to fill your vase (I used black jelly bellies) and the vase. If you have taken a decor class with me before, your vase works perfect. If you would like me to pick up a vase for you, please let me know when you RSVP, they are $5 and we will use them for just about every decor class I do.
For the candle, you will need sticky strip or other double sided tape.
Finally is my favorite project, the Halloween countdown calendar. You will need some adhesive such as sticky strip. I will provide glue sticks for the paper portion, but you will need other adhesive if you don't want to use glue sticks. I'm so excited for this class and anticipate it selling out, so book your space today.

Crime & Punishment

We've been having a really difficult time teaching Cole the importance of a good night's sleep. When he was younger, we discovered that he would set his alarm for the middle of the night so he could wake up and play video games. We've gone through a couple of phases like that since then, which always results in us taking away whatever it is that wakes him up at night. Recently, I've begun to suspect that he's been up again, but we haven't been able to figure out what is waking him up (his alarm clock currently resides on my bedroom floor). Well, things came to a head Friday night when I sent him to his room to write an apology note to someone in his class. I came to check on him five minutes later and found him dead asleep. He ended up sleeping through karate, something he would never do willingly, only waking up for a late dinner. So when I sent him back to bed that night, he kept doing things to keep himself up, so I finally made him go sleep on the floor next to my bed. Over this weekend, I have caught him getting up in the middle of the night almost every night (apparently he's not using anything to wake himself up, he just wakes and instead of turning over and going back to sleep, he decides that it's time to play). So, until he earns back the privilege of getting to sleep in his bed, this is his new sleep spot:
Just to give you some perspective on where this is in our room, basically, Cole is sleeping with the dog:
Charlie isn't too thrilled with the arrangement as it puts someone in between where he sleeps and where mom sleeps, so we've had the dog getting up on the bed more often than he usually does in the summer. Over all, I have to say that this whole experience is exhausting me. Of course it's happening the same weekend that J is totally sick and can't help, so I'm the one that has to patrol nighttime. He's told us he's already sick of sleeping on the floor, so I hope he earns his bed back soon.

On a side note, I thought my title especially fitting because, as weird as it sounds, one of Cole's nicknames is Crime. :D