ABC Scrapbook

If you are getting to this page and it is now 2008 you may need to try bookmarking my blog again at http://abbett2.blogspot.com/ go to it then go to your click on favorites and then click on add to favorites. Thanks, the post you are looking at is my last post for 2007, I have posted in 2008 so if you want to see those you can also go to the side bar, under blog archive and click on January.

Last night I finally finished a scrapbook that I have been working on for 6 months!!!! Our neighbors moved to Colorado and I made this ABC book for their son, whom is the same age as Ashley. Here are a few photos of it. I am so happy it is done, Ginny if you are reading this it will be in the mail soon I hope.

Christmas Vacation Photos

Becca on carousel at Chuck E Cheeses, Nana's front yard, pics of Megan, Becca and Ashley, teaparty in Nana's playhouse, Nana and Grandpa with their grandkids.

Into The Wild

My Book pick for this vacation is:
Into The Wild this book has really been keeping my attention, it is a very interesting read. Most people know that the guy dies and I like how the author doesn't try to hide that fact right off of the bat, instead he does just the opposite. I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to see the movie after I read the book. The craftcast lady talks about the movie in one of her podcasts, she is so funny, she says something to the effect of thinking about going into the wild and taking her wireless laptop with her!!!! I think a lot of us can relate to that! Click on this link to go to the movie website: http://www.intothewild.com/ Click on this link to go to CraftCast: http://www.craftcast.com/ It is her Oct. 16, 2007 podcast where she talks to Wendy Rosen, in which she initially talks about the movie.

Leaving On A Jet Plane...

Well today is the big day, DD is sooooo excited to go to an airport and be in a plane! I can't wait to see my nieces I haven't seen them in almost four years! We made it. Had one VERY hurried connection in Detroit and they de-iced the plane there too, that was interesting, A. slept on the second leg - yahoo.

As promised...

My Christmas Present from DH was a.....

For those of you whom aren't familiar with this; it is a crafters dream machine, it die cuts letters, shapes etc. in different fonts and has many other capabilities. I had to figure out how I was going to adhere the letters on the pages because some of them are too small and skinny for a tape runner or a glue stick. I found a great product at JoAnn's is is called a Zig two way glue pen by EK Success and it is a fine tip, like a marker, pen for gluing - very cool and works like a dream. Although I haven't had much time to play play play I did get that figured out so I am ready for next time. This machine has so many capabilities for card making and scrapbooking I am really looking forward to what I can do with it.

The guy in the big red suit....

As close as my dear daughter would get to the man in the big red suit.

Placemats

IMG_1490
Originally uploaded by lauraabbett

My mom or my aunt made a set of these placemats and napkins to match a few years back. I love them! I get them out every winter and use them. You may not be able to see in the pic, but there are snowman recipes listed on them - so cute. In the background are my three "Crazy Mountain" Snowman, love them!

Candy Canes...

This is the photo I am entering on Polka Dot Creations, red color challenge for this month. I have never entered a contest before. I am still working on how to take photos of my work, I am not sure if the photo does it justice or not. The Polymer Clay Candy Cane Ornaments are made with of all things a cane, the stripes are from a cane I made. My Candy Cane ornaments go well with my gingerbread ornaments, see them at this post: http://abbett2.blogspot.com/2007/12/gingerbread-man.html

Luxury item, for me going on a flight and trip is a luxury especially with the cost for a family of three, especially when DD also needs her own seat. I love to travel, I love to people watch, I love going new places and this is all going to be happening over the next two weeks. We will be in three different states, Kentucky, Indiana and Tenessee. We will be visiting DD's, nana and grandpa and great grandma (my husband's side of the family).

How am I going to keep my two (almost three) year old busy on the plane trip?

• the excitement of going on a plane (she doesn't remember her first trip at 10 months old)


• DVD's on laptop (Wiggles of course!)


• Her My First Leap Pad (Wiggles book)


• Coloring book and crayons


• starfall.com (can we get internet on the plane?)


• pack snacks lots of them (peanut butter crackers, popcorn, pretzels, apples, juice boxes)


• That reminds me I need to get bottled water for all of us, the snack bag is already getting really heavy! I am starting to get real excited about this trip, we haven't technically been on a real vacation in about a year and a half. (other than our land and that doesn't count, although DH says it does.) I can't get too excited just yet as I am still wrapping up work related things on my end...

What have I been doing work wise? I have been writing six letters of recommendation for my student teachers, my taxes - yes I file quarterly for my Polymer Clay business - did I mention I have a bonifide small business in that jobs post? I don't think I did. I got work scanned and out to my sponsor teacher and student teacher (which accidently uploaded to snapfish and they both got an email saying go visit me at snapfish to view the eval. Woops.) Apparently my scanner and HP and snapfish have a connection that I didn't know about. I promptly fixed that - gotta love technology. I graded a paper, a Reflective Practice Portfolio to be exact. I did two Family Celebration write ups for my museum job today. I also made phone calls for the same job. I still have five letters to write, but I try not to think about it like that, or it gets overwhelming, I am trying to do one a day. Of course I may have gotten more done today had I not decided to lay down in my bed in the afternoon, sure is quiet here when A. is at daycare! Lets put it this way I crashed. This working from home stuff is hard, seriously it is. Too many temptations.

LOL Funny

Laugh Out Loud, funny. At breakfast this morning we, were having hot cocoa and toast. A tradition from my husband's side, is to dip the toast in the hot chocolate. As DD was dipping she announced "This is my exercise." In other words her having to dip her toast in the hot chocolate and bring it to her mouth was her exercise! LOL

Bloopers and Blizzards

This was an ominous sun in the middle of the day, I took it through the window so the screen is showing. They are forecasting a MEGA amount of snow for tomorrow (Sunday). People are going nuts at the grocery stores here today!! I didn't have to go to the grocery store today, however I did have to go to the Post Office (lucky me) and no it wasn't to mail Christmas Cards, it was to mail work stuff. I think I was the ONLY person in line, not mailing something for Christmas. The line was crazy long, but it wasn't too bad about a half hour or so. They are saying BLIZZARD like conditions for tomorrow. I am glad I got my work stuff mailed out so I don't have to travel on Monday.
Did I mention that we celebrated Christmas today with A. and with my family? This is a picture of A's loot. Blooper: A. was opening a gift from Santa which was a book for the LEAP Pad and well, I said "Wow, mommy put a lot of tape on that!" Daddy gave me a look and I realized my blooper, I was laughing, so the book turned out to be from Mommy and Daddy. Ya know Christmas is where you hang your hat. Even though it wasn't technically Christmas Day, with all of our traditions it felt like it. It was nice.
Cool pic, I got my Mom in the mirror and my daughter looking at my Mom's Christmas village. My Mom is showing her which house is which.
Decorating a cookie for herself, that red bottle was GONE after about three cookies. Note: She has her pirate dress on again.

Still to come.....drum roll please......in a future post I will tell you about what I got for Christmas from Dear Hubby. It is a crafters dream.

Gifting

Have you ever watched two, two year olds exchange a present? My DD (dear daughter) and her DF (dear friend) exchanged a gift today. My DD is about 8 months older than her DF and that makes a difference when you are two. My DD hid the present behind her back, which she has picked up somewhere lately that this is what you do when you give a present, you hide it behind your back. Then she attempted to give it to her DF whom didn't grab it to open it. Her DF started walking away from her so, she decides to open it herself! (what a trip!)

Have you ever played hide and seek with a two year old? That is a trip too!

Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas in the morning and afternoon with our family. Our favorite book lately to read to DD is Froggy's Best Christmas Ever. (Click on the title to go see it at Amazon.com)

Let it Go, Let it Go, Let it Go....

Sung to the tune of Let it Snow....
Ladies, this goes out to all of the Moms and women I know whom are trying to get ready for the holidays. As you know this family had a rough November, it was two steps backwards for us with having a sick daughter. So needless to say I had to prioritize, I was behind in my work and that had to be a priority, I wanted to get up at least some of my decorations for Christmas, plus we are going away for Christmas, so getting presents ready, wrapped and shipped, the shipped part and some of the wrapping hasn't happened yet. AND I will probably not be sending out my Christmas Cards this year, which is very unlike me, however a few years back I also didn't send them out and well to be honest with you it is a good way to get crossed off of other people's lists, so next year I won't have to do as many - you should try it sometime :-). I see tons of creative projects online that I would love to try however now, it just is not the right time for me. My advice is to all of the women that are stressed out right now.....just....let it go. Your health and your families health is all that really matters. Be thankful for that. Plus did I mention that my house isn't as clean as it normally is, oh well. If I get my work done I can relax more when the Holidays do arrive, so that has to be a priority for me right now. Happy Prioritizing to you and Let it Go!

Well knock me over with a polymer clay blade!

Well knock me over with a polymer clay blade! I just got my schedule line up for my classes in February, I am estatic, estatic, estatic. Here is my line up of classes for the Cabin Fever Clay Festival:


MON. 8:00AM
ROCHE
MON. 1:00PM
KATO
MON. 6:30PM
SHRIVER - 8
TUES. 8:00AM
PICARELLO - 6
TUES. 1:00PM
SEGAL - 7



If you don't know about Polymer Clay, these are some MAJOR names, T.V. personalities in the Polymer Clay world, the best of the best the cream of the crop. I was lucky enough to have been taught by Nan Roche at Bead and Button two years ago. I can't wait to take another class with her and the others. I can't wait to meet Donna Kato, she has her own line of clay folks! Also everyone says how nice she is. Well I could just be knocked over with a clay blade right now, I really have something to look forward to!!!! Yahooooooooo!!!!!

Poly Clay earth tones

Remember this barrette I made for a customer whom wanted earthy tones? Well don't worry she has the barrette in her hands, however this is the other one I made, and well I am falling in love with this color scheme, there is just something about it! There is one color that is mixed out of the four and that is the green color, the others were used straight from the packages.

Here is the recipe for this color scheme, I mixed Sea Green with Alizarin Crimson (not the Raw Sienna, I couldn't remember how I did it when I wrote the card and then I tried it).
I am using this sheet to cover salt and pepper shakers. I could see these going really well in a warm, earth toned kitchen with a warm wood cabinet color.
I am working on taking better pictures of my stuff. The lighting is tough to deal with.
The final four colors. I made more to extrude, that is how much I like this combination. Still to come pictures of my final projects made with these colors. The salt and pepper shakers are in the works.

Timber...

Luckily our tree didn't do that today. We had a great day! We didn't go to church today. We decorated our tree in the am. We cleaned and did laundry for the week ahead. I recently got a sizeable travel check and John and I have been kicking around ideas of what to do with it. Technically it should have gone on the credit card. Well I suggested to John that we go to Target with it and get everyone a special early christmas gift and some other stuff that we just plain needed, like socks. So we went and Target is a great place! I got my Allison Krauss CD and I already listened to it, it is great, her style is so unique and relaxing. Ashley and I got new socks and Ashley got a new Christmas Dress to wear during our celebrations, it is so cute, I love having a girl when it comes to clothes and dressing them! I wanted to get Ashley a new DVD of the Wiggles but Target didn't have any which surprised me, however they did have a musical CD of Wiggles music so we snacthed that right up for her. She has already listened to it twice!

This year I thought I would help out by putting the lights on the tree, usually John does this for me. I tested all of the strands and each worked, of four total. I put them all on and plugged it in and sure enough one of the middle strands was out!! Don't you just hate it when that happens? Well, John was able to fix it, as he does most things around here. I don't know how many times I've said to A. during the day, Daddy will fix that when he gets home.

Above are pictures of Ashley putting a star on top. It was entirely her idea, we usually put an Angel on top but I liked her I idea and I think it looks nice, so we'll keep it. The other picture is our refurbished frosty, he has been a snowman twice. He is now on stilts. :-)

Laura's Jobs Explained

A lot of people don't get what I do for my jobs. So this may take a while to explain but I am going to tell you or attempt to tell you what I do to contribute to society and my family. :-) So now I can say, go read my blog. :-)

Job #1 - I am an adjunct professor for two colleges Saint John Fisher and (SUNY)Potsdam College. Potsdam is also my Alma matter, thus in one part, kinda sorta, why I have the job with them now. A lot of people don't get how I can work for a college that is FOUR hours away, I have been asked if I commute, I have been asked if I drove all the way down here (meaning to Rochester), people don't get that I work remotely for them, sometimes even after I tell them they don't always get it. Now what exactly do I do for the colleges? I am a SUPERVISOR of student teachers. I get a new group of student teachers each semester, the following is a link to the website address for Fisher which lists all of my responsibilities, http://soe.sjfc.edu/studentteach/collegeSupervisors.asp then times that by 2 for both colleges and that is what I do. However you should know that both colleges do have some variations in the assignments and requirements of what student teachers need to do and grading varies too. For instance Potsdam uses an online program called TaskStream in which students submit papers, lesson plans and so on and I go online and grade their work. So I also keep that all straight too. If you don't want to read the link above which is the comprehensive list (which I wouldn't blame you, its kinda long) Here is the shorter list of what I do:

• Eight visits for each student teacher per a semester, 6 out of 8 are formal observations (a write up and meeting with the student teacher each time, plus four visits with the sponsor teacher and student teacher to go over a mid term and end term evaluation of the student teacher) Each student teacher has two placements a semester, one in a high needs school district and one in another school district if they are lucky.


• Seven (2 hour) seminars for Fisher (not Potsdam here folks, I don't go up but I have once)


• Meetings at Fisher for Supervisors Training


• Read Journals via email, read lesson plans via email, (the student teacher needs to hand these in each week)


• Grade Unit Plans, and other papers that show a student teacher is capable of understanding a student's work and analyzing that work.


• Post Grades on TaskStream (Potsdam only)


• I get paid by the student teacher, so the more I take on the more I make


• I do get reimbursed for travel from both colleges
  

Job #2 is I work for the Rochester Museum and Science Center as a Technology Mentor. I help support Science Linkages' "Co-Explorers Everyday" program, designed to engage childcare providers and children in fun, high-quality, inquiry-based science, math and technology activities, however I only work as a Tech. Mentor, so I am involved in the tech. part of this program. I mentor 6 NYS licensed in home daycare providers, I make approximately 4 visits to each home, I work with children and the provider. I attend three all day workshops with all of the Providers where we train them in The Basics, The Internet and Software, to use in their childcare program. As part of the program they earn a refurbished computer from Micrecycle (another very cool program and resource I might add). They provide computers at a discounted rate to people who would like one. This is a contractual job.

So I currently have 6 daycare providers X approx. 4 visits each might be 5 = 24 plus

I also have 6 student teachers X 4 visits = 24 visits.

The semester if four months long, Sept. to Dec. 24+24=48 visits

Job#3 - Which I don't really count, but I'll throw it in for good measure because I do get paid for it and it takes time, I work at JoAnn Fabrics in Webster, I teach craft classes in jewelry making and polymer clay, I teach classes for kids and adults. This is a contractual job.

Job#4 - Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, House Cleaner, Menu Planner, Grocery Shopper, Chef in kitchen, Friend, Polymer Clay Guild Member, Church Goer...

Elvis Salt and Pepper Shakers

This is one of my all time favorite custom orders that I made for a friend of mine whom has an Elvis theme in her kitchen. All four sides of each shaker have a picture of Elvis that is photo transferred onto the clay.

Gingerbread Man....

"Run, Run, as fast as you can, You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!!!!" OK this is one of my best sellers from last years craft season and this years. There is a funny story that I need to tell you about my DEAR Daughter from today. We went to the library tonight after I picked her up from daycare. She has recently picked up from http://starfall.com/ the catchy Gingerbread Man, song. If you go to starfall.com click on the Gingerbread Man and follow the directions, he does the song and dance at the end. We sing it and run around the house and I chase and catch her, well that IS VERY FUN at home. However tonight she decides to do this on the way to the check out in the library and she runs past the electronic entrance singing the catchy tune, too loud for the library, I might add and well, I can't catch her because I have the big heavy bag of books and DVDs (Five Wiggles ones to be exact!) and I can't run past the entrance or the alarm will go off. Hmmmm....what is a mother to do? Well I got out my teacher look and my finger and motioned for her to come to me, plus she was going to hand the library card to the lady for me. Luckily she complied. By the way if anyone needs any more ornaments, I have a few left, I also made candy cane ones too and they are the same size.

Also I am putting a call out for you to let me know if you have a good, fast, easy gingerbread cookie dough recipe to share with me. I have always wanted to try making them. Thanks in advance for sharing with me.mailto: mailto: labbett@rochester.rr.com

Winter Wonderland...

You know you live in Rochester New York when the National Weather Service puts out a message that says "Hazardous Road Conditions" and everyone and their brother gets up the next morning and goes to school and work. (he he) After all we DO live in Rochester people and we are New Yorkers through and through and well hey, we have things we need to do, places we need to be, and things that need to get done. :-) I personally found it ironic that north of the Thruway was supposed to get pounded and I think some areas did, however it was SOUTH of the Thruway where schools were closed this morning and they didn't get as much snow as we did. However it was very windy.

Windshield Wipers: I have been having a problem with my windshield wipers making this horrendous noise, which has been really annoying since I drive a lot for all of my jobs. For 20 minutes at least the wipers were making this loud rubbing on the windshield noise, even when it was wet. Plus they were smearing right in my field of vision - don't you just hate it when that happens! So I literally slid into the parking lot at Auto Zone (in the middle of my busy day I might add) I went in and told the guy my two problems. I also explained that I had bought wipers not that long ago, or so it seemed. So he helped me pick out blades and he helped me pick out different ones than I already had, he suggested the ones that are treated with RAINEX. So I said my husband will kill me if he has to install these tonight (it is a pain in the rear to install these) So, they had someone do it for me and it took him less than two seconds to do it, since they do it all the time. I went out and started my wipers - it was HEAVEN, no more noise and no more smearing in my field of vision. YAHOO! I highly recommend the Rainex wiper blades.

We Missed You...

We missed you Jeffery!!! Over Thanksgiving since Ashley was sick we had to cancel our plans to see our old neighbors whom were in town visiting all the way from Colorado! What a bummer that we missed them. It may be a while before they come back this way. Here is a pic. of A. and J. whom are the same age.

Going Green...

In an effort to "go green" I purchased the black canvas shopping bags that Wegman's now offers. There is only one problem, remembering to bring them with me to the store! Does anyone have any suggestions to help me remember to bring them to Wegmans? If yes please comment, thanks.

Menu Plan Monday

There is a trick to my meal planning this week, if you can figure it out leave a comment, its not that hard.

Monday: Meat night for John, DH, Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and a Veggie

Tuesday: Taco Night (I love Taco Night)

Wednesday: Waffle with Fruit Night

Thursday: Turkey Pot Pie for John,

Friday: Frozen Food Night

Saturday: Soup Night

Sunday: Stir Fry