don't take your keyboard for granted!

hello there- how is everybody?

i am doing much MUCH better now that i have a working keyboard again! i spilled the slightest amount of water on my other one and it fizzled out. uugh. so i thought i was going to have to drop $50 on a new one but my mom had an extra one! you know what that means? now i can start my christmas shopping since i dont have to spend that money on a new keyboard! yay!

tonight i went over to my parents house. i stayed for dinner- my mom made chili (the old way, not the "new" way) and i was so happy so be able to eat a meal at "home", especially one that i remember loving as a kid. you know how you have memories from when you were a kid, the ones that just stick out so much and you know will always be with you? well, i remember when i was about 6 or 7 and we had the dining room table in the living room for some odd reason (maybe new tile was going in the dining room.) well anyway- i remember sitting at the table when it was in the living room and thinking about how much i loved those little red beans that my mom put in chili. i asked her what they were and she said that they were called kidney beans. i remember thinking that it was so funny that a bean was named after a body part. so now i love that chili recipe because it reminds me of when i was a kid.

after dinner my dad and i talked about property. for those of you who dont know, my goal is to move into a house that has at least 10 acres of land so i can raise and breed alpacas and i really would love to have a tree farm as well. the thing about buying property is that the land around here is mega expensive- about $150,000 for 1 acre, without a house. now, we could just move to a part of the country that has a lot of property to offer on the cheap, but the thing is that joe has an awesome job and we want him to stay with this job. so, we are hoping that with his next promotion he can transfer to middleton, which is right by madison, wisconsin. well, the problem with this is that the property there is super expensive as well.

SO i have been looking into property in baraboo, which is about 35 miles away from middleton, and its decently priced there. not the cheapest, but i would be willing to purchase something out there. this is all planning ahead- not happening in the next couple months or anything- but you can never be too prepared. the cool thing about moving there would be that u.w. madison has an awesome printmaking department, which would be so so great. i am thinking about enrolling in classes here for next semester, i've been wanting to for a long time but the time is never right. but really now, when IS the right time to go to school? i really dont think there is one.

tomorrow is december first and i am really happy because joe and i have decided to celebrate a 25 day countdown till christmas by doing a holiday related thing each night. here is my list so far, if you have more ideas let me know!

1. drink eggnog (with a little captain in it!) we've never had 'nog before.
2. sip tea and listen to holiday songs.
3. drive to the ritzy neighborhoods and look at the lights on the houses.
4. bake cookies.
5. go out for flavored coffee and muffins.
6. watch a christmas movie like rudolph or frosty.
7. bundle up and go to lake geneva. or a little town like it.
8. make and eat these cookies. (this recipe looks awesome!)
9. make nutcracker sweets (these things ae so so sooo good- another favorite from when i was a child)
10. make decorations.
11. put up the tree!
12. wrap presents
13. write out our holiday cards
14. drink hot chocolate while looking at a big book (i have a huge m.c. escher book that i love)

okay so that's my list so far. if you have any other ideas, please tell me! i'm trying to avoid baking toooo many cookies.

today i was featured on the front page of etsy. this is the second time (that i know of) and it is so exciting. i got a lot of new hearts today, which is really neat. i'm almost to 400!

here are my newest things:

cardinal ornaments

new journal

cardinal art

they are all up for sale in my shop right now. i plan on adding a lot more journals throughout the month of december. i just sold this one, it was so hard to say goodbye to it! i still havent made a journal for myself, but i'm thinking about making one similar to the one i just sold (the beetle one.) i have to order some more paper soon. it's so hard to pick which paper i want! at least i dont buy printed paper, that narrows it down a ton. well- i do buy some printed paper, but not a whole lot. i design almost everything that goes onto a journal cover, with some printed paper to accent here and there but it's not often. although, if i did use more printed paper, it would make my journal making a heck of a lot quicker! hmmmm...

okay friends, i am off to go post comments on your blogs since i havent been able to in a couple of days. take care!

OOOH HEY!!!! GUESS WHAT! i just realized that today is my 1 year blog-iversary! yay! wow, thats so cool! i hope this thing is still around in 30 years so i can see it then too!