December To-Do List

Wow wow wow.  December 1st!  Already.

I don't know about you, but December is shaping up to be a busy month!  It always is, but this year I feel like I have added a dozen more things to my normal list of tree trimming, gift buying, and partying.  Anytime I start to feel overwhelmed, it helps me to sit down and write out a list.  If it's on paper (or the blog) and I can see it and check it off, I feel better about it.  So, here's my list for the month of December...

• Buy 12 gifts for Sami's 12 Days of Christmas Swap.  It's been a lot of fun getting to know my new found bloggy friend Lisa...she's one cool chick! ;) I have 4 down, 8 to go...I'm stressing a little over the $50 limit.  How the heck do you buy TWELVE gifts for $50 or less?!?!  They have to be mailed to her by the 12th!
• Going to buy Eclipse at midnight this Friday!
• Going to watch my hometown play in the 4A High School Football Championship game on Saturday!  Also, my beloved Sooners will be playing in the Big 12 Championship on the same day...at the same time!  Go Bulldogs and BOOMER SOONER!
• Meeting Impulsive and our friend Mona at Hideaway next Friday night for GNO!
• The RHOK is getting together on the 12th or 19th to take pictures for the Cube Project. Have you heard of that? It's really cool. You should check it out!
• Also getting together with The RHOK for a Christmas party. Date is still undecided.
• Christmas Play w/ my kiddos at church. We have 2 more Sundays and 2 more Wednesdays to practice. Our Christmas Play is on December 19th.
• A birthday party for Jesus at church after the Christmas Play.
• I still have Michael, Isaiah, my Granny, and a few small friend gifts to buy.
• Angel tree gifts to buy.
• My kiddos at church and I are working on a Christmas package for a church in Paraguay.
• I need to wrap most of my gifts. I only have a few wrapped and under the tree right now.
• The Christmas Party for Isaiah's class is on December 17th. We're going to set up centers and have the kids rotate. So, I'm planning on 3 craft stations, 1 coloring station, and a hot chocolate and cookie decorating station. I've got to finish planning all of that. I haven't even started on the crafts yet!
• Christmas Party at the American Legion. We usually have about 50 kids and I have to think of a craft for our craft table and make sure my cousins will come down and sing some carols with the kids...oh, and I have to secure a Santa Clause!
• I'm in the middle of planning my cousin Lindsay's baby shower for the day after Christmas...it's going to be a Winter Wonderland theme. I can't wait to show you guys what I have planned!
• I'm also planning Isaiah's birthday party.  It's January 5th and I have to get it all together before Christmas.
• On top of all of that, I have baking and a few gifts I'm wanting to make...some photo books to put together...Christmas cards to mail out...and I'm sure there is something that I'm leaving off the list. 

Needless to say, I'm going to be busy.  How about you?  What sort of things are you busy with during this holiday season?

Here are a few of the pictures I have taken recently, all courtesy of my iPhone because someone left their camera at their Granny's and keeps forgetting it everytime she's down there...we won't name any names.

Thanksgiving @ Isaiah's school

 Black Friday

 Our Christmas tree and a few other decorating pics



Hope you all are having a great week so far!

~jennykate♥

I'm linking up with Sugarplum Creations

P.S.  Wanna exchange Christmas cards?  If so, email me your address (jennykate77(at)yahoo(dot)com).

Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash - Christmas Tree Pics

For the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash we are supposed to link up with pictures of our Christmas Tree(s)! I love Christmas trees. I would have a hundred of them if I could squeeze them into my home. The twinkly lights and glisteny look of ornaments dangling ever so gently on the green branches...it's magical. Here's a glimpse of my house and a few of my trees:

One of my fav ornaments...she's just so whimsical, plus she resembles me in the mornings with that crazy hair and I would love to have a flippy red tu-tu and some red, white and green stripped leggings!

I went red and black this year on my main Christmas tree. I really love it!

My lime green tree in the bathroom...looks so cute with my red birds!

Since I went with red and black on the big tree, there were some of my favorite ornaments that didn't have a home, so this little tree holds some of my cherished ornaments and is so so cute. (It's so hard to take a good pic of a Christmas tree with a point and shoot camera.)

I also really love these little red trees lit up in my kitchen.

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is just sit in the house with just the Christmas lights on. It's the best feeling...so cozy. Can't wait to see your Christmas tree! Be sure to go link up on A Baby Changes Everything (or click on the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash button at the top of this post)!

Hope you guys are having a terrific Tuesday!!♥

A bunch of blogging randomness...

I don't even know what to call this blog post, that is how random it is going to be...you've been warned.

A little weekend review...

I did work on my HOT MESS, but it's not really back to an organized and clean state...just yet. I had a few road blocks over the weekend, like my washing machine being on the blitz. I was right on pace, starting a fresh load of laundry on Sunday morning. I had put all the dirty clothes into nice neat piles (at least something was nice and neat). Had it all planned out...a few loads of laundry before church, then finish it up when I got home while cleaning and organizing in the rest of the house. DIDN'T HAPPEN! I ended up spending two and half hours and an ungodly amount of quarters at the laundromat. Not my idea of fun. Isaiah thought is was fabulous. Wish I was 5 sometimes.

A current concern...

If you know me well, you know I can have some slight anxiety from time to time. I just start thinking about things TOO MUCH and freak out a little. So, as I'm scurrying out the door this morning, late again for the umpteenth time, I start thinking about Isaiah going to kindergarten next year. I have had the luxury of taking Isaiah to school at whatever time I get there. He goes to a private preschool and they are really flexible about time schedules. This morning as I'm driving Isaiah to school, it dawns on me that he'll go to kindergarten next year and they just might have a different outlook on being tardy to school. Could he get kicked out of kindergarten for being late everyday or every other day? I casually ask the director at preschool this morning, "So, you know...Isaiah will go to kindergarten next year...do they kick kids out for being "excessively" tardy?" She starts laughing at me. "No, Jen, that's one worry you can check off your list." (she knows me a little too well) I'm just double checking...he can't get kicked out right? However, I'm totally planning on correcting this little tardiness issue ASAP!

About my bathroom re-do...

Just so you know, I'm X'ing the vinyl photo shower curtain off the 'maybe list'...thanks, Christy for bringing it to my attention that it just really isn't that cute. See, sometimes it takes other people's opinions to bring things to light. Also, thanks Melissa for all your wonderful ideas and linkies. I'm either leaning toward the tree shower curtain from Urban Outfitters or the floral one from Pottery Barn. Thanks to Lori for the pics and ideas. I love your framed pieces...great idea!! I also love your shower curtain! It gave me an idea to stencil red birds onto the tree shower curtain...maybe...we'll see! I really appreciate all the ideas and feedback.

Hope everyone has a great Monday! ☺

A Fresh Bathroom

I don't know about you, but I LOVE, like L-O-V-E love, a fresh clean bathroom. It is the first room that gets scrubbed down when I clean house. If you read my blog from yesterday, you know that I am ridding myself of a HOT MESS today...and the bathroom is the first thing to get done! Above all else, I have to have a clean bathroom. The counter may get a bit cluttered during the week from crazy-gotta-be-out-the-door-in-five-minute make-up ventures, and there may be toys on the floor by the tub; but at least in my mind, I know it was just scrubbed down and sanitized only a few days prior.


I think that the decor in your bathroom must stay fresh and clean for it to feel FRESH and CLEAN.

In December, as I was preparing for Christmas, I decided to hang a new shower curtain in my bathroom to help that fresh feeling and to give it a little change. It's a way cute shower curtain purchased from Kohl's. It has little snowmen and little birdies...cute. Now that Christmas is over, I don't want to take the shower curtain down. I just love the change so much. This leads me to a new project. I'm going to redo my bathroom. My inspiration comes from my winter shower curtain...those little red birdies just speak to me. I'm on the hunt for a cute/chic shower curtain w/ some sort of red bird motif (not a cardinal, nothing against the bird itself, but DH is a HUGE Cubs fan and Cubs fans do NOT like Cardinals...that wouldn't go over good). I'm also dreaming of putting a real tree branch in there on one of my walls w/ a like-real birds nest and some little red birdies, w/ some robin-egg-blue eggs in the nest. I want to bring a little of the outdoors in. Incorporating red and robins-egg-blue is essential to the redo.


I found two shower curtains at Urban Outfitters. I guess they could work, but I'm really hoping to find THE ONE...the perfect shower curtain...your shower curtain can be the mood setter for the bathroom, so I want it to be the right one.

I could use this one and find some cool snapshots of birds and nature...it could be cool, there's potential.
I could also use this one...but there's no color...no red birds. I really want red birds. I ♥ red.

I bought some of these little red birds at Starbucks (go figure) when they marked them 75% off last week. Not sure what I'm going to do with them just yet, but they are sooooo cute! (Just the birds, not the deer...not that the deer isn't cute, just not for my bathroom).

I also saw this cool vinyl decal on Etsy. I like it too...a lot, but there again, no color. It could work though.

I guess the feel that I'm going for is a Pottery-Barn-Meets-Urban Outfitters kinda feel. So, if you have any ideas, send them my way. I'll be keeping you posted and up-to-date on any changes.

Stay tuned.

Enjoy your weekend!

♥jenny

~beauty is living a life you love

Witches Shoes and Pumpkins

I still can't leave the Halloween decorating be...I have a million ideas running through my head and I've been jumping from craft project to craft project. Working overtime last week really put a cramp in my style, if you know what I mean?! So, I was able to finish a few things I've been working on and here are some pics...

More pumpkins with ribbons...love these!

And a pair of witches shoes...


I've got a few more things I've been playing around with. I'll post some more soon.

ta-ta for now...

Oh, speaking of ta-tas, everybody knows this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so be sure to do your part...eat some yoplait yogurt and save the lids, go get a breast exam, do a self breast exam, join a walk or marathon! Get out there and save the ta-tas!