September, October, November and December!

Winter Break is FLYING by!  I noticed I hadn't updated the blog since SUMMER Break, so here's what's been going on since returning to work late August!

We had another health scare with Bill in October.  As you may recall from a few posts ago, Bill went through surgery to biopsy some swollen lymph nodes.  We may have figured out the reason for the swollen nodes...

He started experience a TON of pain throughout his body.  He was diagnosed with Bronchitis and then Pneumonia.  He was put on steroids and started feeling a little better - however, blood work was showing issues, so he went for more scans.  Lymph nodes were still swollen but the radiologist said he did not suspect cancer - and the spot they saw on his lung was stable - THANK GOD!  However, he was still in pain and could barely function.  They finally ran additional blood work and saw that his rheumatoid levels along with his inflammatory level were extremely high!  (Normal range is under 13 - he was at 499).  Although there was a three month wait to see the specialist, they were able to get him in within a week due to his numbers.  He started on medication to try to control the flair up and keep the disease under control.  He's been doing much better and has had a follow up this week.  His level is at 348 and although he still is experiencing some pain it's not as intense as it was.  They've changed his medication dosage in hopes it will help  - follow up is at the end of February.   March will be his last follow up with the orthopedic surgeon regarding his knee replacement. (Beside his yearly check up!) Fingers crossed he is released from workman's comp.

We celebrated my dad's 75th birthday in October

I wanted to make a personalized gift to go along with the other store bought gifts....

 (a shadow box picture frame)

Halloween Pumpkin Projects...... These are made from SWEATER SLEEVES!  I saw them on Pinterest and had to try it - and add my own touches - I LOVE how they turned out!

Thanksgiving projects - Hershey Candy Bar Turkey Wrappers

Ryan got a "new to us" car! A 2002 Acura TL 3.2 

I made four different Christmas Cards 

These are gate fold cards - which were my FAVORITE.

Ryan's new 2017 Christmas Tree Ornaments for his collection 

Another Pinterest project.... These are made from tree slices (and some Fleece)

More Candy Bar Wrappers for Christmas

I saw this project on Pinterest too!  Except they were made from a rectangle piece of wood.  I went to JoAnn Fabrics and collected 18 empty fabric bolts and covered them in fleece and created these adorable reindeer from empty fabric bolts!

 We put the Christmas Tree up about a week before Christmas (and took it down TODAY)

  

Before opening gifts....

After opening gifts...

I talked the boys into a quick family picture before heading over to celebrate with family!

Anyone that knows me - knows this is my favorite Christmas Gift....

48 GIFT CARDS!!!!

Here are my latest Skecher gym shoes that I have added to my collection....

 Happy Holiday and here's to a happy HEALTHY 2018!

So Long 2016......

I realized when starting my Christmas post that I never posted pictures from October and November (accept for my new Skechers purchases) so I'm doing a little catching up!

October 11th was my dad's birthday!  Since David and Erica's wedding fell a couple days prior - we celebrated the following weekend with a "tailgate" party!

I created some pumpkins out of mason jar lids.  Each lid is covered with a strip of scrapbook paper - The turned out adorable!

 They turned out sooooo cute, that I created a bunch to give as a "treat" for Halloween at school!

Gotta love Pinterest!

I attached this gift tag to each pumpkin!

These cute little buckets were created by using my pumpkin face punch and a printed tag for the lid.

Each bucket had different types of 100 calorie candy bars!

I have always wanted a glass block scarecrow. So, I gave it a try.

SOOOO cute!

I also saw these "cupcakes" on pinterest.  It's made from a 1/2 Styrofoam ball, a TON of flower diecut punches stuck on with white balled straight pins and topped with an adorable little plastic cherry!

The bottom is a paper cup cut in 1/2 and a scored piece of cardstock. 

You attach the top by hinging it to the cup, so you can place a "surprise" inside!

Each Friday, Erica, Dave, Bill and I try to go out to dinner.  We've been trying some new places and ended up at Uncle Julio's!  Check out this dessert!

It's a Chocolate Pinata filled with Churros and Fruit! YUM!

Now that I'm caught up - Here's our Christmas 2016!

This year I made two different Christmas Cards.

In the past, I've made several designs and find that I always have a bunch left over.

Family picture from this year (Thanksgiving)

I mailed out about 40 cards. Each year we receive less and less

so I may rethink Christmas Cards next year!

I started wrapping in early November at my brother, Dave's house where he lets me store my "stash".

It's hard to tell from this picture, but this was about 40 gifts or so wrapped the first week.

In the end, I wrapped well over 120 gifts!

Each year Ryan receives an ornament or two that coincide with something that occurred or something he was interested in that year.

This year we recognized his Associate's Degree!

This is a two sided metal ornament - allowing for an actual picture of the degree on the reverse side.

Ryan and Ashley put up the tree this year! They did an awesome job!

These are my Lightboxes the night before Christmas!

Before.....

After.....

And now that the holiday has past - here a a couple of gifts I created for friends and family.

 Julie's Metal ornament from Shutterfly

Dave and Erica's Ornament 

A new ornament for our tree 

And an ornament for Ashley

These are the new desk calendars from Shutterfly.  They sit in a wooden block and you change out the picture/calendar each month.

Here's Ashley's Calendar

and I made one for Erica with wedding pictures

This one was ordered a little late and should arrive any day - It is for my friend, Julie!

As you can see from my summer posts - I began sculpting books for Christmas presents.  I needed to make a few more "name" books to give to teachers I work with (that I didn't know I would be working with during the summer).

Bennefield

Blessing

Wegrzyn 

and then I created one from my chiropractor: Dr. Tronolone!

I wrapped each book in cellophane so they would be able to see the book, but also protect it during transportation.  It did take two people a day to figure out the book was actually folded to their name!

Here are some of the books I had to transport to school.  There were actually more, but I had to give one early and some were for neighbors and relatives.

Here are some of my Christmas gifts!

Of course, my number one gift(s) were my favorite GIFT CARDS from some of my favorite places!

Last but not least - Here is my newest pair of Skechers! 

New Year's Eve / Day is sneaking up quickly - hoping 2017 is a little bit better of a year for us!  Hoping Bill's knee is fixed soon (we have a doctor's appointment coming up on the fifth) - it is looking more and more like a total knee replacement.   

I still have about 1 1/2 weeks of Winter Break and hope to continue cleaning out closets, purging and organizing.....and maybe using some of those gift cards!