Web Developer??

It has been like the Frozen Tundra outside for the past month! Snow, ice, freezing temperatures - I can't wait for winter to be over.

One of the teachers that used to work at Brookdale contacted me and asked if I would be interested in creating a blog/website for her husband's accounting business. He wanted it up and ready to go for tax season. I learned so many new things in creating his blog and was so happy with how it turned out. It was my first "official" paid blog - he was very happy with it and has said he's gotten inquiries on who developed it and wants to refer some of his clients to me! If you are interested in seeing the site you can visit it here: http://www.dlynchaccounting.blogpost.com/ . All the custom graphics, forms, design was all my doing!

Since I did some research on incorporating TABS on the accounting blog, I have implemented them on my own blog. Under the header you will see TABS that you can click on and it will take you to a separate web page coinciding with that category.

Ryan just received his report card for the first semester. We are very proud, as he made the honor roll.

Ryan's been making a small fortune shoveling the neighbor's driveway! He's probably the only person in the Chicago area praying for snow everyday! Although, she did hire him to be her lawn service for the summer. Ryan's SIXTEENTH birthday is right around the corner - hard to believe, isn't it? I designed a card to send out in order of his birthday: 

Here is the front of the card

The inside of the card:

....and the back of the card:

I also found this service on Shutterfly called WINK - they have a feature where you can design and "old school photo booth" picture card. I made one to try it out on the back of the card it reads:

"It used to be I looked at you and saw traces of the baby you once were - Now I look at you and see glimpses of the man you will become"

Ryan will not be able to get his license for his 16th birthday - he hasn't had his permit long enough to take the test - he also needs a total of 50 practice driving hours and 10 of them need to be night time driving - at this time he has about 30. He's not in any hurry - either are we...........I'm sure our insurance will more than double with a boy teen driver!

Bill's birthday came and went - it's so hard coming up with ideas when his birthday is only one week after Christmas.....Ryan and I decided to get him a variety of gift cards from his favorite places to eat.

We had this event at school where the students sold gift wrap. If we sold over our goal, they got to duct tape a teacher to the gymnasium wall - of course, I was asked to photograph the event!

This week I need to attend a meeting at the district office for a class I was asked to teach during institute day. I will be teaching the teachers about using blogs in their classroom to communicate with parents. I'm not sure how many teachers signed up for my class; but should get numbers and the classroom assignment. I will be teaching at Ryan's high school! At first, I didn't think I wanted to do it - but they came back and offered me triple my salary and decided to go for it!

Last, but not least- I just finished designing my Valentines for the kids. I put all their names in conversation hearts around the edge of the cards - it turned out so cute:

Thanks for stopping by!

2 More School Days Until Winter Break!

We FINALLY got the Christmas tree up tonight. This week has been very busy. Last Friday I went to the staff holiday party held at my friend, Mary's house. We went on the Naperville Trolley as a group and saw all the top notched decorated houses throughout Naperville. Then back to Mary's were about 35 of us gathered for a catered dinner. I'm so glad I went it was a lot of fun! Although I was careful on what I ate, I did have the worst glucose reading I've ever had!!  Then on Tuesday I went to dinner (Front Street Cantina) with some of my former coworkers from GOGO. (At 10:15 we realized the restuarant must be closed; as we were the only ones in there and they started turning off the lights - we asked when they closed and they said 9:00!!!) Listening to all the garbage they are dealing with right now makes me sooo happy I'm not working there!

I was asked to make a DVD for a teaching assistant who will be moving away during Winter Break after working at Brookdale for 12 years! I've put in close to 12 hours making digital scrapbook pages with "shout outs" and staff and student pictures - I am very happy with how well it turned out. If you'd like to take a peek at it - you can do so here: http://vimeo.com/17944864

I am SO close to being done Christmas shopping and wrapping. I have purchased 143 items to be wrapped- for a total of 26 people (plus 23 students) The 143 items does not count the items I am giving each of the students. With those items for each kid (pens, candy, personalize bookmark, etc... - it is a grand total of 237 items! Here is a picture of where the presents are currently stored - However, this picture was taken before I had everything in there!

(The gifts in the plastic bags to the right that are sitting on the floor are the gifts that need to be placed under our Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve after a certain someone goes to bed!)

I did allow Ryan to open one gift tonight - it was this year's ornament for his collection.  He really liked it!  I'll post a picture of the tree and him hanging his ornament in my next post. (There is a picture of the ornament in a previous post.)

Bill was off work today and it looks as if work is going to slow down until the end of February.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that something will come up........it's going to be a long winter. WINTER YUCK! 

(This was our backyard about a week ago)

Ryan was excited to see all the snow because shoveling the neighbor's driveway can be very profitable!

Until next time.................

CHRISTMAS LEFT OVERS!

Well, Santa made it through the ice and snow to deliver Ryan's gifts! Here is a before picture:

And here is the after photo! If you look closely you'll see many Transformers. Ryan is still a big Transformer fanatic. (This picture also has some gifts that belong to Bill and myself.) Over all Christmas was a complete success. Keep in mind, these are only the "Santa Gifts"!

We then headed over to my brother's house where Ryan received more gifts! The boys were extremely surprised by their final gift that suddenly appeared out of nowhere! A Wii Gaming system from Grandma.

The weather has been very "wintery" lately. Ryan has been making a small fortune this winter with his "new business" of shoveling!

Along with the snow it's been very icy. Everything has been covered in ice, making it difficult to get out and about. Thankfully we haven't had to travel too far!

Bill continues to be "off" work. This week he is painting my brother's house which gets him out of the house! We keep hoping that things will turn around very soon! Anyone looking for a good painter????

It's hard to believe winter break is 1/2 over.........one week from today were back to the old "school routine" again! UGH!

This Year's Christmas Ornaments

Each year, Ryan receives an ornament that represents something significant that happened in his life that year. This year he received two ornaments. I designed an ornament with his high school emblem on one side and the football mascot on the other side.

The other ornament is a Transformer ornament from Hallmark. This entire year Ryan has discovered the wonderful world of YouTube and has been creating "stop motion" videos and uploading them to YouTube. One evening, while on the computer, I located the ornament on sale at Kohls. So at 11:30pm Bill and I headed over to purchase THE LAST one! It was hidden and we nearly left without it - but I spotted it tucked away! Since the store closed at midnight, we didn't have time to search or try to locate it at another store. It was nice to avoid the crowds so late at night - we were in and out in 10 minutes!

Notice the shoveled driveway and sidewalks below??? Ryan has started a little "business" and has been shoveling neighbors driveways and sidewalks. He's been doing very well and has been putting most of his earnings into the bank for his "dream" car! (2010 Mustang) Yesterday, while driving past some million dollar homes - he says: I think I'll start putting 10.00 a month of my allowance in the bank because I was thinking I'd like a house like that someday! I guess he still doesn't realize how much big ticket items cost!

While at the mall this week, Build-A-Bear had elf crowns similiar to the Burger King crowns. I was able to get enough for the entire class and they were very excited to where them all day on Friday!

~Lisa~