Elf on the Shelf

I first heard about Elf on the Shelf (or maybe just paid attention to) during Christmas last year. I wasn't able to do it last year, but I have kept it in mind for this year. The only thing was that I couldn't hardly swallow the $30 price tag. A couple of weeks ago Barnes and Noble had an online flash sale and they were selling the girl Elf on the Shelf set for $13.69. I snagged that right up! When it came in, I read Chloe Jo the book and explained to her that every morning she would find the elf doing all sorts of things. She named our elf Dora and we have had fun doing Elf on the Shelf!

Day 1: Dora rode in on a reindeer with a letter she wrote just for Chloe Jo!

This is the letter. Chloe Jo thought it was great and it now hangs on our refrigerator.

Day 2: Dora was found driving a van through the living room.

Day 3: Dora and Ken went on a movie date!

Day 4: Barbie was not happy about Dora and Ken's date.

I've been having just as much fun setting up these scenes as Chloe Jo is finding them!

Back in the Game!

Hi Peeps!

I finally had a good block of time where I sat down and really tried to figure out how to get around my picture quota problem. I knew I didn't want to have to pay a monthly fee for a limited amount of space and I knew I didn't want to delete old posts to free up space. Well, my sister and I were talking about my blogging issues a week or so ago and she mentioned that she resizes all of her pictures before posting them. I decided to try to figure out how to do that in my picture editing program.

And WAH-LAH! My problem is fixed. It does add an extra few steps to the process, but I'm really okay with that as long as I can still blog without paying a monthly fee.

So, the last post I did (besides my troubleshooting and Kiev, Ukraine Journal entries) was about the window I purchased that I had big plans for!

So I started out with this window, which I paid $5.00 for. I flipped the picture on its side because the window is supposed to be horizontal.

It was a shabby, old window that had seen better days. The glass was broken and it had obviously sat outside as one end was rotted.

But, that really didn't matter because I was able to get the glass out in *almost* one piece. I then took the window to my Dad's shop to see what he recommended for the side that was rotted. He gave me a specific tool to use to file the rotted parts off. After a good sanding, I primed the window with primer that was left over from painting my craft room and CJ's room.

I bought a can of Banner Red Krylon spray paint and painted the window frame and another smaller frame that just needed an upgrade.

I carefully measured and marked 7 spaces on the bottom side of the top and middle rails. I then drilled a tiny hole at each of the markings and twisted a hook in. I bought a set of ornaments that I strung on ribbon and hung them on the hooks.

And it ended up being a lovely piece of decor for the season! You can't tell very well in the picture, but the ornaments are very glittery so they sparkle when the light hits them.

I don't do much repurposing of furniture and decor that I have to sand and paint, but this project turned out so well that I may have to start doing it more!

So happy to be blogging again. I have a whole list of topics to post about!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-4-1996 and 3-5-1996

This entry begins our 1996 trip.

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

March 4, 1996

This is the big day! We woke up around 7:00 am. We did everything we needed and got in the van that VB drove us to the airport in around 8 o'clock on Monday morning. We had to wait two hours and thirty minutes to board the plane. We landed in Memphis about two hours later. Jeremy and Shawna were waiting for us at our terminal. They stayed and talked with us for about forty-five minutes. After we said our goodbyes we all boarded the plane to Boston. We were fed only peanuts and coke. None of us had eaten scince this morning around 7. Chelley hadn't eaten at all. The flight to Boston took about 3 hourse. It was not fun. I sat there and had an earache to whole time. We got to Boston around 6 o'clock. We left Boston at around 8 o'clock and headed for Amsterdam. The flight attendants brang around supper shortly after we boarded. It was the most disgusting meal I think I've ever had. Then we watched this stupid movie about a lady who died and left a chest full of stuff about an affair she had with another man. It was one of the dumbest movies I've seen in a long time. :-)

P.S. There was snow in Boston.

March 5, 1996

We woke up at around 6:00 A.M. by the flight attendants handing hot wash rags to use. Shortly after they gave us those they served us a fairly good breakfast of orange juice, a strawberry yogurt, and a banana. It was actually the best plane meal I've ever had. Usually they are totally disgusting. We arrived in Amsterdam at 8:00 A.M. We waited to board our plane to Kiev for about an hour. It wasn't that bad. But, when we got to Amsterdam there was an army dude that was dressed in a spiffy blue uniform holding a machine gun. I didn't feal very comfy around him. We arrived in Kiev at 3:00 P.M. C came to pick us up at the Kiev National Airport. He hired a van to drive us to our flat. We then saw D and R. After they left and we got settled in to our flat K2 and S came over to get some things that we had for them. They stayed and talked to use for about 15 minutes. That's about all that happened today. :-)

Still no dice

My blogger issues have still not been resolved. I am so frustrated about this! I have been blowing up Facebook with all of my pictures lately, but I really want to get back to blogging. I was unable to figure out how to get the HTML codes for my pictures of Flickr so that didn't work out like I would have liked. Anyway, I sent feedback to Google tonight so hopefully soon, Peeps. Hopefully soon.

Kiev, Ukraine journal - 11-29-94 and 11-30-94

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 12! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

11-29-94

Today was our last full day. Mom had English in the morning. The kids made us paper airplanes and paper hats. R came over around 5:00, too. Then around 7:00 we had a pizza party. The Ss, Cs, and the L's came. S was a little brat! A was as cute as can be. The pizza was alright. If it didn't have the huge globs of onion. I gave S all my mushrooms. She ate them gladley. We had chocolate, fudge, and some other kinds of chocolate stuff that I did not know what it was. It was good though.

*This is my last journal entry for the 1994 trip.

11-30-94

It's the day. C came and picked us up at about 1:30. We went through customs at the airport. When we went to our gate the gaurds closed us in with chairs and gaurds. There was a window wall looking into the floor below us. Mich and I saw C & J down there. We didn't have there address so we threw a wad of paper down there. They borrowed a pen and threw it back up. People were staring at us but I did not care. We then boarded and flew to Copenhagen. We stayed at the Park Hotel at the night. Copenhagen is really pretty. All the shops were closed though.

Picture Quota Update

I just wanted to give a small update about my picture issues. Apparently many other people are having the same problems. I have been searching Blogger Help for answers and I came across this message from Blogger:

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Some users are reporting that they're hitting unexpected image quota limits when uploading an image from Blogger. We're investigating the issue and will report back when we have more information to share.

It seems as though this problem really is a glitch and they are aware of it. Hopefully my blog will be back up and running soon.

Also, one person commented and said that you can upload your pictures into Flickr!, copy and paste the HTML into your blog and it will work that way. I'm in the process of joining Flickr! so maybe I'll have a real post up soon!

Help Please

Hi All!

I am having an issue with Blogger uploading my pictures. It says I have reached my Picasa storage limit and will not upload any more pictures for my blog unless I buy more storage. When I click on a link that says "learn more" it shows that I have 1 GB storage in Picasa and I am using 100% of it. But, it also says I have 5 GB in Drive and 10 GB in GMail that I am using 0% of. It also says that if I use all of my storage in Picasa, it will automatically start uploading photos in smaller size.

Can anyone explain why I am unable to upload any more photos if I have storage space in other places available or why it isn't uploading the pictures in a smaller size?

Kiev, Ukraine journal - 11-27-94 and 11-28-94

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 12! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

11-27-94

Today we went to Left Bank. After class we had a diner. There were these yuck minnows for lunch. People were tearing there heads off and eating them raw. We also had this yuck bread, too. It had square peices of fat on them. It was disgusting. Then Seargae took us home and we had a real lunch. Our lunch was a good healthy lunch without raw minnows. Michelle and I then took a nap. Mom kept waking me up because she said I wouldn't sleep tonight. I slept like a log.

*Apparently I was unimpressed by the Ukrainian cuisine.

11-28-94

R called us early this morning to see if we wanted to spend the night. Dad said we couldn't because we had to go to Bogdon and Maria's. We had to eat supper there. Instead of sleeping over we spent the day (until around 7) with R. We left R's around 5:00 and met mom and F at Levo Bereshna at 5:30. We met the guys at Poly Technique institute around 6:30. The JL took us to their house. For supper we had rice and bread and meat. It was pretty good. Then Bogdon, dad, and I all had paper airplane fights. We went home and went to bed after that.

*"Levo Bereshna" and "Poly Technique institute" are both metro stops in Kiev.

Kiev, Ukraine journal - 11-25-94 and 11-26-94

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 12! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

11-25-94

Today we got up early to go to Gedro Park with the Cs. We got to ride two rides only because it wasn't open and the gate was open on those two. We rode the cage and this other silly little kids ride. Then we went back to the Cs and R put my hair up in a bun. I looked exactly like a Russia she said. We stayed over there until thanksgiving dinner with all the Americans. It was at our house. It was really good. We had turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, gravey, ham, and corn. It was almost like Americas except that we weren't in America. R then spend the night.

11-26-94

Today I went with R to babysit S and A two American kids. They were alright I geuss. A was the best probably because he is only 9 months old. S is 3. She is a major pain. She ate her bowl of cereal and wanted more so I gave her a tad bit more, then she said she didn't want it, so I ate it. Then we had raviolli for lunch. It was all right. S finished and she started to color. Then she got up and started biting A. I almost spanked her then. But I just took A. He would cry every time I sat him down. Then dad, mom, Chelle and the Ls came and picked me up. That's all.

*I always wondered why no one wanted me to babysit for them....

From Vintage to Modern

During Christmastime last year, Home Depot aired a commercial about redoing an old window frame into a Christmas decoration.

 I loved the project from the first time I saw the commercial and I really wanted to do it last year. I had one problem, though. I had no idea where to get an old window.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was looking through Craigslist for an old, vintage church pew (for our front porch) and came across a listing for a store in Tulsa called Home Accents From Vintage to Modern that had old windows. Um, yes please. I called the store and they are only open Thursday through Saturday, but the lady was supposed to be doing some work in the store today so she was so kind as to set up an appointment with me so I could come by and look at her windows.

And I found a window! I know it doesn't look like much and that it isn't exactly like the one in the commercial, but it was priced right at $5.00 and I think it will work.

I am really looking forward to this project!

Kiev, Ukraine journal - 11-23-94 and 11-24-94

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 12! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

11-23-94

Today we got up early to go sovonier shopping with C and R. We bought one barret out of about 4 hours. R had to go home early though. She had to babysit for A and S. Then we went to the Church at Centre. Mom taught the lady's class. She taught about the Shunamite woman. R is a baby-hog, ha, ha. She held A all through the lesson. Then we were giong to leave with K2 but she couldn't find K, so K2 and us just left. She said he could find his own way home. I hope he could. I have full confidence in him, maybe. Ha, ha.

11-24-94

We went with mom to English. I got a bunch of homework.

What I'm Loving Wednesday and Oh, How Pinteresting

It seems like it has been forever since I linked up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday! I so need to get back into the groove.

I'm loving that the presidential elections are over for another 4 years. I do get tired of all the political bashing, articles, posts and whatnot that election time brings.

 On that same thread, I'm loving this Facebook status one of my friends wrote this morning:

"My guy didn't win. But I marvel @ the process every time. 120 million people decided in one election cycle whether to retain a government or replace it. While driving home from the polls, I didn't see any dead in the streets or witness any fire fights in the pastures and fields. 30,000 people have died in Syria the past year trying to accomplish what we do in 1 day of voting. Just some food for thought."

Good thoughts whether your guy won or not.

I'm loving that I have an online shop for my creations now! You can check out my store, Lisa's Little Lovelies on Facebook or on Etsy!

I'm loving the 2 new shirt designs I did this week. I have one more shirt that needs to be outlined and then I can start on some more new designs!

Floating in the Sky Shirt

See Ya Later, Alligator Shirt
Or as I call it: My Lacoste Knockoff

I'm loving that The Children's Orchard came through for me again. I've been looking for a white sweater and a jean skirt for Chloe Jo for a couple of months now and found both there on Monday.

I'm loving Halloween clearance! I bought these pettiskirts for Chloe Jo's birthday. She is going to invite a few little girlfriends over for a Princess Teaparty. I know it is way early to start planning (her birthday is in April), but Halloween clearance is right now so we went with it.

I'm loving this sweet girl. She makes life so fun!

 I'm also going to link up with Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting!

Source: thegoodstuffguide.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I'm really loving this pin. I thought it was a great idea for kids just in case we go out and we get separated somehow. I made one for Chloe Jo and for Brianna. I just hope they will never need it!

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I think this is such a cute skirt! Wouldn't it be adorable done with handkerchiefs!

I got a kick out of the next few!

Source: forums.theknot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: repinly.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: someecards.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Link up here and here to play along!

Happy blogging and pinning everyone!