Goodbye 2011..

Today is the last day of 2011.  Hard to believe how quickly the year flew by.  So much happened to family and friends (and us) this year!  Marriages, births, miracles, new beginnings with school for some of us, meeting new people, learning a new language.....wait....let's rephrase that....learning to conjugate French verbs is more accurate.  Have I mentioned how the E-N-T-I-R-E semester was spent conjugating verbs. That's it. Hardly anything else. Nada. Nil. Ne rien. Can I just tell you how utterly boring that class was?!  Thank God it is OVER.
If my fairy godmother magically had me wake up in France tomorrow and I wanted, say, bacon and eggs and toast with jelly for breakfast, I don't know if I could accurately ask for what I want...like, actually name the items.  I'd probably have to point to pictures in a menu or something crazy like that......if I'm lucky enough to find a menu with pictures, because I'd totally be up a creek without a paddle if I had to (eek!) ask for a menu with pictures!!
But I'm damned sure I could conjugate the verb vouloir, which means, of course, want.    I could literally conjugate want to the waiter or waitress and let him/her know that I, he, she, it,  AND they want.  But that's it.  I seriously doubt I could relay to them "what" everyone wants.
Yup.  I'm sure glad I'm not like (heaven forbid) majoring or minoring in French.  Can you imagine? (!)
It's too bad I had that experience with this class, because I LOVE the language,  it's beautiful and I could never get tired of listening to it, but could never in a million years subject myself to the torture of another semester of conjugating verbs.  GA!
Ok, nuff said.

2011 definitely had it's very good memories for me, but sadly, it also was the year we lost our beloved aunt Connie.  May she rest in peace.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, my health and the health of my family and friends.  My beautiful kids.  The fact that I sleep in a warm bed every night.
God is good.

I'm definitely welcoming in the new year with open arms and looking forward to what 2012 brings.  I read somewhere online that 2012 is going to be a fabulous year for Taurus people.
Fingers crossed!

Wishing everyone a ridiculously happy and SAFE New Year's Eve!!  Please do not drink and drive.

Oh, and I'll tell you tomorrow about those crazy resolutions I've got in mind (: 

Letters from Santa!

I hate to admit it, but I got so behind on my normal Christmas activities this year with school and all.  I know....it's a lame excuse, but it's the best excuse I have.
So, immediately after finals, I got busy and did some sewing.  I've done some awesome projects that I'm really proud of and I'll be posting them soon, but my absolute favorite so far is this one:

I figured, since Santa didn't receive the memo to send my kiddos a letter this year, I would just make them one.  And this is, in my opinion, so much better than actually receiving an actual letter because the kids can use this awsome pillow to watch TV or perhaps they can use it on car trips!  They wouldn't be able to do that with a standard-sized envelope...right? (:

If anyone wants the tutorial, I'll be happy to oblige.  It really is simple but since I had no idea how it would turn out, I didn't want to try to make a tutorial...  I'll know better next time an idea pops into my head!

God bless!

Just call me Toucan Rosi (:

Those of you that know me personally would automatically know that I am very sensitive to smells.  And I don't mean a little either.  No siree!  I could probably bet money that you have never dealt with anyone as annoyed pissed off as moi when I get a whiff of some disgusting odor.And I am not talking about smells such as toilets, dog poo, a sick child's vomit or anything yucky like that.  Nope, I'm talking about supposed "good" smells, such as lotions, some cleaning supplies, laundry soaps, etc.  I promise I am telling you the truth when I say that I would never work in the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store.
Not even if they paid me one billion, gajillion, fafillion, shabadubaludshakilamazookdfkdijfidu-illion dollars. (What movie is that from?) HA!
Not kidding.  I dislike can't stand HATE it that much.  The only smell I can tolerate in things such as PineSol is the lemon one.  That is my ONE must have for cleaning the house.  It cleans everything from toilets, sinks, floors, I mean everything.
My kids and I have exzema, so for years, I've used these:

Yep, our laundry soap AND Downey are free of perfumes and dyes.  Our skin has never been happier!  Or my nose!  Another plus to using these laundry necessities has to be that when you do put lotion or perfume on, guess what?! You only smell the perfume! It's awesome.

My intolerance to those smells the other laundry soaps have is so bad that I have actually ran back inside the house (many times!) if say, I go outside and one of our neighbors is doing laundry and that God-awful smell impregnates the air outside!

 I also cannot stand to have to walk by someone at a store who smells like they washed with Suave (like every. single. scent. available!), then put on some clean clothes washed in a combination of all of these:

Then proceeds to apply some Musky scented lotion,  and tops it off with Dollar Store perfume.  And I don't mean, you know, just a little squirt from the perfume bottle, I'm talking about the ones that literally douse themselves with it!  GA!
(I am almost ready to throw up now just thinking about it!)
Ok, I had to say all of that to get to the point of this post.  Recently, the Stryker Institute (where I received my awesome scholarship, in case you've forgotten or did not know) hosted a Christmas party for all of the Stryker ladies. It was almost Standing Room Only! Everyone took spouses and kids and we all had a good time.  There was tons of food,  in fact, we gave Golden Corral a run for their money!
I got to see all of the Stryker ladies and it was a lot of fun.  Oh, and we also had a gift exchange. (:  I know the easy choice for most would be to buy a scented candle.  Well, any candle I would gift would literally have ZERO smell, that wouldn't work, so I decided to DIY for the gift I was taking.  And since I've always loved pillows. Big, small, round, square--I don't care, I love 'em all.  So I didn't struggle with "What to take."  Everyone like pillows, right?!   Especially the ones you DIY because those, in my opinion, are the best!
Well, I was on Pinterest a few weeks back and fell head-over-heels in lOvE with this pillow made by Donna from Funky Junk Interiors:

I found her blog by chance, and let me just tell you that you will need something to catch the drool when you see all the beautiful creations this talented lady has!  She is incredible.

Anyway, I wanted that pillow.  Bad.  So I followed her example and used the hand saw to make the buttons.  I already had the twine and the fabric, so the only thing I had to buy was the stuffing-stuff. (:
I made two pillows and here they are:

What do you think?  I am very happy with the results (; The "envelope" pillow is by far, my favorite.  And they were so fun to make!
And since I gifted them at gift exchange, I must now make another set for myself.  And my mom also wants a set for her home.  She said "Only if you have time."
Well, Wednesday is my last final at school before I have a whole month off, so yes, I will have time. Wow, I'm excited!
Today was my final in French (that most definitely deserves it's own post.  This is the professor that HATES me ever since she fell, remember?)

Technically, I set this time aside to study for tomorrow's final, so I will write more later in the week.

God bless!