Paperless Christmas Newsletter

Just incase you're not priviledged enough to be in our innermost circle of lucky friends (those who receive a Christmas card from us), here is a link to our annual Paperless Christmas Newsletter which was advertised through our Christmas card earlier this month:

http://paperlessnewsletter.blogspot.com/

Actually, to tell you the truth, it's the inner circle friends who don't get a Christmas card from us. Typically it's only the people who live far away, never talk to us, and probably hate our stinkin guts that get a lovely Christmas card from us. About 1% of them send a card back. Figures.

What I Got For Christmas

Did I mention that my "todo" list and I are in separate cities right now? Yeah, that explains this meticulous display:

A funky windshield scraper, an awesome hoodie, a toothbrush, hairbrush, Last Supper plaque, deoderant, communion cups (for mixing epoxy), soap, pulsating toothbrushes, recycle craft book, digital picture frame keychain, peach rings, photo of the Bennets, shaving cream, razors, beads and stretchy cord, peach jam, delicious homemade salsa, Michaels gift card, barrets, shampoo and conditioner, contact solution, money in the form of a check, Golden brand liquid acrylics, and nailpolish. Unpictured: A pwecious wittle puppy wuppy dawggie!!

DANG! I am one lucky girl!!! Now I'm gonna go buy a canvas with my Michael's gift card so I can start using my paints tonight.

Doggy Seamstress

Before you label me as a wacko, remember that I am staying at my parent's house right now and really don't have many responsibilities or even access to things that are productive. Although I have been doing a lot of reading and TV watching, today I spent the day making Friday sweaters to wear, because he gets cold very easily. Friday thought that trying on all those sweaters in one day was very exhausting, but was a pretty good model anyways.
The sweaters on the left, I made out of fleece (Roxanne insisted on the Curious George fabric). The two on the right, I made out of cheap sweaters from the ARC, which I though was very innovative of me.

At My Parent's House

This is something truly freaky that I found in a junk drawer today at my parents house- proof that my mom really doesn't ever throw anything away. I must admit that it was something I remember crafting at around 4th or 5th grade. I am sorry if it scares you.

Coincidintally, my father and I have been watching a deformation marathon on TLC (The Learning Channel). Last night we watch The Mermaid Girl, about a darling 9 year girl who has her legs permanently fused together. Then we watched A Life Half Full, about a lady who appears to have no body from the ribs down, but most certaintly lives a life more than half full. I was so enthralled that I found her on myspace and sent her a message expressing my admiration for her. Then we watched a show about a lady with a 200 pound tumor. That one was a little more sad.

Third and Final Advent Painting

This is the third and final advent painting for this season. The ending is supposed to have a surprising twist to it, however, I don't think it is as apparent as I intended it to be. When it comes to me painting for the big man, He makes sure I have enough skill to be able to get the important points across, but not so much skill that I am pleased with the outcome and therefore, feel prideful. He also makes sure there is no cops around when I have to unexpectedly speed home from church to retrieve my paintbrushes and then speed back again.

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Wrappity Wrap Wrap Wrap!!!

Around here, I have been wrapping things up before Christmas- both figuratively and literally. This is definately the storm before the calm. I really wanted to show pictures of what is inside the presents, but then if the recipient read my blog, it would give it away... then again, none of my family ever really reads my blog, so it probably wouldn't matter anyways.

I actually wanted MY gift wrapped this way- with the Toulouse-Lautrec icon, but I'm probably not getting any Christmas presents, so I decided to wrap Matt's with it even though he probably won't appreciate Jane Avril as much as I would (I found the picture in an old National Geographic magazine.) I also wanted my present wrapped this way, but again, I don't have any presents, so I wrapped Luke's present with the Rockstar packaging. He will, however, appreciate the Rockstar theme, because we are fellow Rockstar addicts- it must be something genetic I think. Oh, and there is a K and an E on the other two sides of the box, so all together it spells "KELU". Presents for Juliana and Chloe- they like this sort of frou frou stuff. There is also some very frou frou stuff inside. And one for the man again. I could probably tell you what's inside, again, since no one reads my blog, but I won't just incase.

AhHA!!! I tricked you into seeing another picture of my doggy! And my shoes!! I thought about starting a blog JUST about Mr. Friday, with just pictures and stories about him, but then I thought that absolutely no one would read it (even less than the no one's that read this one), so instead, I have to trick you by tagging it onto other posts. Do you feel ticked at me?

A Poem Just For ME!!!

It seems Sarah B. has taken to writing road trip poetry- and she's quite good at it too! This morning I was delighted to find a poem on her blog dedicated to me and my upcoming roadtrip to Colorado Springs (which is about 1 hour away, so I don't know if it really counts as a roadtrip, but I didn't want to be left out of the rest of the family anyways). I feel so loved!

For Naomi by Sarah Bennett
Pray they don't get run over by a reindeer,
Drivin down from Denver for Christmas fun.
You may say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for Rocket and Roxanne, they believe!
She'll bring her new dog Friday
and we beg her to leave Ruby!
She'll leave a cat named Necklace,
but she bring the fam we know and love so much!


But for the record, Rocket and Roxanne, don't believe.... I've raised them better than that! But Ruby still believes.

Church Christmas Program Pictures

Traci sent me this picture of Roxanne that she took during the Christmas program that the kids did a couple weeks ago at church. I think she looks like such a darling in the picture! I was too far back in the crowd to get a good picture.

Just so you know, Roxanne refuse to speak to me the entire night for doing her hair like this... but it was worth it.

And here is both of the dorks posing for me after the performance.

Friday's First MondayTypically, Monday's are a very productive day for me, since both of the kids are in school. Today was supposed to be particularly productive because I had a lot of Christmas baking to do, but as I found out, baking in the kitchen goes much much slower when there is SO much adorableness hanging out with me! After such a social weekend, this pup was worn out and did a lot of sleeping, but that still didn't keep me from being extremely distracted.

OK, ok, ok... before you start to think I have become an annoying completely obsessed dog owner, I won't post about Friday anymore.... unless he does something like, really really, cute or something.

Water For Christmas Party Wrap-UpI really had no clue how many people would actually come to my party to help raise money for charity:water/water for Christmas, but I was hoping that after all the work I had put into planning it, we could raise at least $500. At the end of the fun but exhausting day, Matt sat down to count out the money, and the total came to just below 500. I was satisfied. Then, after putting the kids to bed, we left my mom to babysit the puppy and went to our neighbor's house. They had just finished a party of their own, and we were both bummed that we couldn't come to each other's parties, so we all had a glass of wine or beer together, and relaxed after all of our long days. When we came back home, my mom asked me who Jenny Smith was, and after thinking a while, I said I had no clue. Then she said Jenny Smith had come by and dropped off a donation check, but didn't want any gifts wrapped. The check was for $120! I really don't know who she is, but because of her, we surpassed my goal of $500, almost hitting $600! It was such an encouraging and unexpected end to the night.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Here are some happy customer's displaying their wrapped presents:
Stacy and my mom tirelessly wrapped around the clock. We estimated that we wrapped around 100 presents.
Jolleen and my mom wrap a gift for Jame's wife, Dawn, as James and Friday watch. Later James went out front and juggled! Later, after James had left, James' wife, Dawn showed up with the most difficult to wrap present of all! Next year, James will be juggling out front on the unicycle. Stacy and I wrapping away.

This boisterous group was, quite honestly, almost asked to leave the party. Thankfully, they all got the itch to built a snow man, and left volluntarily. Notice my son in the bottom corner.

Sweet Friday

I am 95% sure that I am going to name my little puppy Friday. Everyone loves Fridays; he looks like a Friday; and I adopted him on a Friday. No, I haven't seen the movie Friday yet, but I do plan on renting it soon.

Matt had said that he didn't want a dog but, from the looks of it, I think he has fallen in love with Friday. Who couldn't?! I was doubly sure that he loves this puppy earlier today, when he voluntarily cleaned up a poopy accident off the carpet.

Roxanne spends most of her time following Friday around and telling him how much she loves him. Yesterday, when he fell asleep, she drew this picture of him and then hung it on the couch next to him.

Friday has been very interested in Necklace from the start. This may be because Necklace is the same size and color of Friday's biological mommy. Necklace has been very interested in Friday too, and keeps a close eye on him, but quickly swats him if he comes too close. When Friday sees Necklace outside, he usually cries at the window.

Friday thinks it's too cold INSIDE our house, but was quickly ready to go back in after seeing how much colder it was outside the house. As soon as we take his sweater off, he starts to shiver. I may have to get him a few more pieces for his wardrobe for Christmas.

Advent Painting #2

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Early Christmas Present:Today I recieved a darling darling Christmas present from my mom, and I love him so much.After his first trip to Walmart he was exhausted and fell asleep in the basket at at Sam's while we shopped for yummy food to serve at the party tomorrow. By the end of the day, he'd had so much attention, that he was pooped!

The only problem is, I can't think of a name. He is a little boy miniature dachshund. I have already vetoed the names Chuck, Sweetie Pie, Max, Cleotus, Weiner, Hotdog, and any names inspired by Denver Bronco players. Roxanne suggested Hundley, after the dog from Curious George, and I am considering that one. If you'd like to meet my sweet doggy, come to my party tomorrow!

Live Advent Painting

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to do a series of live paintings at church during the advent season. This year I decided to paint on plexiglass, so that I wouldn't be in front of what the people are trying to look at. Ofcourse, that requires me to paint in the reverse order that I normally would, which feels very unatural- like painting with my left hand. This is the first in a series of three. Tune in each Sunday between now and Christmas to see the entire piece evolve.

Cassie directed me to onetruemedia.com to make this little video. I think this site could be addicting.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Blowing Sparkles

During the jewelry modeling session yesterday (teenage girls LOVE to model, BTW), we got a little sidetracked, and did this. There is glitter all over my house now.

"Fresh Bling: Wearable Pop-Art by Naomi"

Typically, I only sell my "Fresh Bling" at Boutiques who buy it from me and then double the price to sell it to other people. But, on the 13th, I will be making an exception, and selling my bling to you, at my Christmas wrapping party!!! The entire cost of any jewelry sold at the party, will go to Water For Christmas, including the cost of the materials. All jewelry that doesn't sell at the party, I will probably sell later, and keep the money for myself. You wouldn't want that to happen would you?!

Here is a small sampling of the jewelry I will have for sale at my partay! Don't miss it homies!

Leather cuff bracelets:

Washer Pendant Necklaces:

Acrylic Pendant Necklaces:
Beaded Necklaces:

Here, our lovely model, Jackie, models three necklaces:
Now, our totally hip model, Juliana, models three of the leather cuff bracelets: And Juliana herself will also be selling her very own necklace design which you see below. These are super trendy "Pick Jesus" necklaces made out of beads and a guitar pick!


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