Productive Day!

I've had a great day! I thought you might enjoy seeing the projects I worked on today. The towels are for grand nephew Levi. There will be tons of pics in a few days of him!
Gift, I appliqued the "P" on a purchased fleece blanket and made the pincushion to match.
These pincushions look like candy! I have made several of these for gifts this season, these are the only ones I've been able to photograph as I'm usually doing this at the last minute.

xoxo Theresa

Merry Christmas!

Grandma & Grandpa Burton

Christmas 2007

Mom(Theresa) & Dad( Greg) Burton

Christmas 2007

Chris & Ashley

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls turned into cinnamon rolls with butter, sugar and cinnamon added. YUM! Breakfast casserole was also a tasty Christmas morning brunch.

Adam, Ashley & Andrew

Santa always leaves one last gift hidden and they each have to follow the clues in order to discover the prize. These Ty Bears represent Scotland and are named William. A Subway gift card was attached. It was fun!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

xoxo Theresa

Next Generation

Ashley's appliqued blanket

Her blanket and a blanket she made for Chris's mom

Upstairs bath. She made the shower curtain! It is beautiful!

The shower curtain fabric is "chocolate lollipop" by Anna Maria Horner. The bow is Amy Butler fabric and Michael Miller.

I have waited 12 years for this moment. Ashley and I spent the day doing exactly what my own mother and I did when I became an adult and we would get together. When my mother would come for a visit she would have sewing projects she would want me to do for her and she would clean my house while I sewed. It was a GOOD THING! Ashley learned to sew today and made several beautiful projects, I cleaned house around her. Merry Christmas! Adam has arrived! All of our company is now here. We are settling in for a beautiful Christmas Celebration.

Pink Nail Polish

Pink nail polish. Beautiful when painted on finger nails, or toes. Especially, when it is a bright eye-catching pink. Unfortunately, it is not beautiful when the bottle falls off a counter top and hits a white tiled floor. Yes, that was one of my many experiences today. Actually, it was at that point that I was in tears and ready to go back to bed!

My husband and I enjoy entertaining, especially during the holidays. With our hectic schedules it is imperative to us that we schedule time to invite friends and co-workers to our home to enjoy food and fellowship. Tonight was one of those scheduled events. The office and ministerial staff from our church were all invited to our home. Their anticipated arrival time was 5:00 p.m. The nail polish incident happened at 3:30.

Naturally, all of the "helpers" had other appointments during the day which left the burden of last minute cleaning and cooking to yours truly. I had mapped out my day in such a way that even "Martha" would have been proud! Swiffer those dust bunnies, set the tables, prepare a yummy cake, make two crock-pots of soup, take a shower, have quiet music playing, and a smile on my face to greet my guests. Oh, don't forget to straighten the cookbook shelf which is above the desk area in the kitchen and find a hiding place for the piles of junk that have accumulated. Yes, including the famous bottle of nail polish.

CRASH! I thought I was seeing things. How could such a small bottle of nail polish break and leave gallons of bright pink enamel on white tile? It was at this point that I lost it. I was so mad at myself for waiting til the last minute to clean house. I know better! I really do! I have had years of experience doing exactly what I did today, why I was in a tither makes no sense. But, lost it I did. I cried and then called my hubby and mentioned he might want to pick up a large bottle of nail polish remover on the way home. He was my hero! He arrived just before 4 with a huge bottle of remover and went straight to work with cotton balls. Happily, other than a very close look at the grout the pink nail polish is now only a memory or chapter in my book. LOL


I think our guests had a good time. We had supper and then all went to the movies to see "National Treasure". A very good movie. The first I've seen since school has started.
Company is coming tomorrow. I have to "work" on the upstairs. Sigh! The work is never done. Good night!

2 hour delay

Applique Blanket


dance shoe bag



Christmas Stocking



This has been a great week! Snow day yesterday and a 2 hour delay this morning. Thank you for snow. I had computer headaches last night and didn't post those pictures that I had mentioned. I'll try again.

xoxo Theresa

Snow Day!

It snowed in the mountains! I knew when I went to bed last night that I wouldn't have to get up for school this morning. Wouldn't you know it, I woke up wide awake at 5:30. I tried staying in bed, then finally got up and came to the couch. I fell back asleep and enjoyed the rest!



I fixed a crock-pot of chili this morning. It was so nice to have a hot dinner tonight. Ashley and I had a very nice day Christmas shopping. The stores were not too crowded and we were able to find most of the things on our list.



I sat down at the sewing machine when we got home and finished a few projects. I thought you might enjoy seeing them.

Snow flakes

The possibility of a snow day for tomorrow is high on my list of wishes. Here in Kingsport the snow is lightly falling, but not yet sticking. My prayer is that the snow is mounting in the mountains and I will have a break from school tomorrow.



I finished my "great" nephew's Christmas stocking on Friday. I'm trying to complete his mommas so I can get them in the mail tomorrow. I love sewing gifts for Christmas and always have a ton of ideas floating around in my head. The dilemma comes when I run out of hours and the gifts are not finished. That's why a "snow day" tomorrow and Tuesday would be really nice.

Tonight is the night for the Choir Christmas program. I hope you are enjoying the church activities of the season. God Bless!

Field Trip

Today FCCLA and FBLA members went on a field trip to the National Guard Armory. 38 students worked diligently to prepare 650 small food boxes and 100 large food boxes for needy families in their community. They had the opportunity to deliver the boxes to 50 residents in an assisted living apartment complex. Students shared with me stories of how the residents invited them to come back for cookies and visit. As the bus pulled away from the apartment complex the residents were standing in their windows waving good-bye. I observed students waving back and thought to myself, "this generation of young people have a heart of service." That's a GOOD THING!

I have a couple of sewing projects to be working on. I'd better get busy.

Prayer

The last week of school before the Christmas break is usually filled with exhaustion and craziness. Today seems to be a perfect example of that. Several students are out of school due to illness. I had one report of a student that is in the hospital with kidney stones. While I have never had the displeasure of such discomfort, my hubby has and I understand it is horrible. I wish her well and a quick recovery.

A friend of mine, received a phone call from her sister this morning. The sister was at the hospital and had just been told she has breast cancer. Please pray for this family. Pray for wisdom and strength as they face this new challenge.

It is finals week for my two youngest children. They both assure me that all is well. I remember finals week and I'm happy I am past that. For those of you taking final exams, remember to study and rest. Your brain needs sleep in order to function well. Speaking of sleep, I think my pillow is calling my name.

Yes!

I am sitting in the living room and looking at our decorated Christmas tree! I am so happy to have it decorated. We had the living room painted last week, which has caused us to play catch up for decorating the house. Hubby and I put the lights on the tree before we left for the dinner theater at church. Ashley and Chris placed the ornaments on it when we returned. It is so nice to have young adults in the house. They did a great job! Thanks.

The dinner theater was wonderful. The youth and children in our church are very talented. We were blessed.

Ashley wanted me to make a Christmas stocking for her roommate. As this is the last weekend before they go home for Christmas break I had to work on it today.

Nothing like last minute gifts. LOL Ashley's friend loves pink and the polka dots were perfect. I did the embroidery work by hand and really enjoyed doing that this morning. It was relaxing.

Tomorrow is Andrew's big Christmas concert. We are so excited to hear him in the college choir. The Christmas season is in full swing.

My bed is calling my name. Good night.

Event Planning

My Family & Consumer Science class and the Spanish class went on a field trip yesterday. What fun. We integrated the lesson plan in order to involve more students in the understanding of different cultures including their own. Both classes created ornaments to place on a tree for the public to view. If you happen to be in Elizabethton you can stop by the Festival of Trees located by the Sycamore Shoals Hospital to see our creation.


When I arrived back at school I went into my classroom to see how the day had gone. The guest teacher was full of praise of my classes. I knew I had the BEST students! What was so amazing to me was how they had continued to work on their project. I had one student to greet me at the door to show me that she had made cloth napkins and denim placemats for the event they are having next Thursday. I was so proud! They are beautiful and I can't wait to show you the photos of this event. I also discovered that another group had taken the time to embroider their monograms onto their cloth napkins. The attention to details amaze me! I am blessed to receive a paycheck for what is so much fun.

BEAR 2

I'm not sure how many black bears live in these mountains, but I know there are now 2 less. Coming home from school today I saw another pick-up truck with a bear in the bed. I can't help but think of the poor wife of the hunters. Can you imagine, "Honey, I got a huge, black bear! Where are we going to put it?" My thought, take it back!

Drive

I saw strange things on my way home from school today. A wild hog(I assume it was wild, it was black and rooting in the ditch) and then a pick up truck with a real black bear rug (actually, I think the bear had just met his demise) tied to the bed. His eyes were looking straight at me! I'm glad I made it home.