Merry Monday: Deck the Halls

I am having one of those weeks.  Thank goodness I had pre-done most of my posts for this past week, because I was in no mood (or health) to deal with them!!

First, my kids coughed throughout last weekend and, even with extreme precautions on my part, it's my turn.  Apparently Colorado is in the middle of a whooping cough epidemic.  I don't know if that's what we have but it's a cough that's deep and nothing seems to help.  On Wednesday, my son's high school had their highest absence rate in their history.  The very worst part of it was that I missed a gathering of my favorite Colorado crafters.  I was planning to go until my husband gave me that look and asked if I thought the crafting group would ever forgive me if I spent the time coughing on them.

Second, the good news is that my husband is painting my bathroom and hallways (WAY overdue!)  We are having a large gathering of friends in my home next Tuesday and the house needs to shine.  (My house isn't a shiny kind of house so it takes a lot of work!)  I am sitting downstairs, coughing, being upset that I wasn't crafting with my friends, when I hear a thump, thump, thump and then extreme swearing coming from upstairs (very rare with my husband).  I cautiously went upstairs to check it out, and I see paint everywhere. The paint tray had slipped off, bounced down all the carpeted stairs, spewing paint everywhere, and landed upside down on the freshly shampooed family room carpet.  Bummer.  (I think I should have gone to cough on my crafting friends because I ended up scrubbing carpets!)

The final straw was our attempt to make the outside walkway look a little nicer (in advance of the Tuesday party).  We live in the country and anything we plant gets eaten by deer and rabbits.  Plus we have a dog that digs.  So the front walkway, with its supposed landscaping, has begun to look just a little trashy.  We decided to do a xeriscaped rock-garden.  Clearly, the whole xeriscaping part isn't going to happen before Tuesday - but since our guests are coming after dark, we thought some rocks and mulch and a couple of miniature pines would make it look like it would be a beautiful garden in the spring.  We spent two hours at a landscaping materials place (never, ever go rock-shopping with a geologist).  We finally picked a one ton palette of boulders.  Not small rocks - but boulders!  They weighed it, we paid for it, then it occured to us to ask when they could deliver.  Guess what?  Their truck is out of commission.  So guess what is in the back of my Suburban waiting for my men/boys to wake up and deal with this morning - half a ton of boulders - we'll get the other half on Monday!

Are you bored with my drama yet?  I'm so glad my life isn't boring - it seems to change daily - but I am blessed by the fact that every little drama is something on which I can look back and laugh!

If you've made it this far in my story - say a little prayer for my Tuesday gathering.  A church in trouble, so much so that many long-term members including my family had left. After a year many are still feeling hurt and lost, now a new interim pastor with a sincere desire to meet those who left - thus the gathering at my home.  We will need prayers.

Now...for what everybody really comes here for - a card!  Here's my attempt at this week's Merry Monday challenge.  There were a lot of requirements on this one and I carefully checked them off as I went - stripes, red and chocolate, stars or hearts.  Whew!

I realized a few weeks ago that I had absolutely no ornament dies.  I looked around and found this set just called Christmas Ornaments from My Favorite Things.  It has a coordinating stamp set too but I just got the dies.  They come with toppers and other decorations like holly, poinsettia and a little tag.  They are a good size - you can see how nicely three ornaments work on this card.

Since I was using My Favorite Things dies, I pulled out some NBUS sets - the newly released Cheerful Christmas Greetings for the sentiment, then I saw the row of stars in another Christmas set LLD Holiday Subway Art (I'm not sure inking up just the row of stars qualifies as truly using Never-Before-Used-Schtuff so you'll be seeing this set again!)

I have most definitely typed enough (can you tell that I'm avoiding the cleaning in front of me the next few days!)  Thanks for making it to the bottom.

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Christmas Greetings, LLD Holiday Subway Art
• Paper: Papertrey Dark Chocolate, Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Bo Bunny Elf Magic stripe, shiny silver and gold from my stash
• Ink: Papertrey Dark Chocolate, Stampin' Up Poppy Parade
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Ornament dies, Hemptique white twine, Studio Calico Sequin Stars