I must confess... I'm starting Christmas (!)

It's not a secret: I'm not a seasonal decorator. Not in the least.

Last year, our little Christmas tree didn't even make it out of the box. On the years that it does have a reprieve from its cardboard confines, it usually stays up until Easter. I do redecorate it in that time: as an anniversary tree in January, a Valentine's tree in February, a St. Patty's tree in March, and then an Easter tree in April.

BUT this year, my child will actually maybe care about Christmas. At least enough to pull the lights off the tree. So, I am determined to have at least a touch of festive decor around so that you can actually tell in the photos that it's Christmas morning instead of... any other morning.

I know it's not even October yet and I still have Halloween and Thanksgiving before Christmas. But if I start now, there's a chance that the Christmas decor will make it out of the shed this year (Halloween and Thanksgiving don't even stand a chance at this point).

Craftbits is helping in this endeavor. They have a great section of fast and easy (and kid-friendly) Christmas gifts and decorations. This winter clothing garland will be perfect for my stair rail:

Or maybe this bon-bon garland would be better... I just can't decide!

A string of these little Christmas light plushies will be perfect for The Mr's classroom!

 And I'm saving my juice lids to make these snowmen for gift toppers:

In addition to these and other decoration ideas, Christmas Crafts at CraftBits has card ideas, tree ornaments, wreaths, and more. The instructions are easy to follow and the crafts are simple and cute. I think the only thing that could improve the site is more pictures of the finished and in-progress projects -- pictures are always better!

So, there, I've said it... I'm already gearing up for the Christmas holiday season. I may have even beat Walmart to the punch... or maybe not. ;) When do you start thinking about Christmas decorating? playing holiday music? or, if you're like my husband, practicing your Bah Humbug? ;)

Questing at Housewife Eclectic

Just my regular little note to let you know that I'm questing (for a blog button) over at Housewife Eclectic again today, finishing up creating a blog button in Picasa. And, yes, questing is actually a word. I thought I was making it up! Apparently quest is also a verb. I certainly didn't know. My ignorance may be due to the fact that the English language is dead... or  that I was up late making this little ensemble

because, that's right, my baby turns 1 today! Gah, where has the time gone?!? And, simultaneously, has it really only been a year? I'm vascillating between sentimental because "I just can't remember our family without him" and tired: "I could swear he's stressed at least 3 years off my life..."

Just a year ago, he was this little guy in a basket and now he's a not-so-little guy pulling all my fabric stash out of the same basket

and consequently getting stuck half-way tipped over, unable to sit up and unwilling to just lie back. That's my sweet boy :)

A CraftGossip Christmas Wishlist

The good folks over at CraftGossip are hosting yet another fantastic giveaway: win your own Christmas gift. Anything from anywhere, up to $150 purchase and $20 shipping. Woohoo!

So... what to choose? Well, remember how I'm a runner? I'm kind of a slow runner. I'd like to be faster, but that requires some training, running timed intervals to increase my pace and such. And that training would go so much more smoothly if I had one of these:

link to purchase @ Sam's Club

It's a Garmin Forerunner 350. Say what? It's a fancy-schmancy portable GPS watch unit for runners. It will do just about everything a runner needs, except for tie your shoes. (Although that feature may be included in the fancier, schmancier 450 model... for only twice the price.)

Once you've gone through the intense work of tying your shoes, the 350 takes over from there. You can run or bike indoors or outdoors and it will track your pace, compare your pace to your previous excursions on the same route, and even alert you if you drop below or go above your targeted pace. It can also monitor your heart rate and tell you how many calories you've burned. And then it will scrub your kitchen sink.

So... that's what's on my Christmas list. At least the electronics section... ;)

Some Monday blogstuff

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had three exciting things happen this weekend!

A new addition:

Her name is Thelma. She's a 1TB Iomega external hard drive.

Thanks to Thelma, I no longer wake in fear every morning. Fear that my computer is dead and all my photos gone to their digital grave with it. (This has happened to me before. Sad day.) I have been living with this fear since the spring when we filled up our other external hard drive and had to wait until the fall for a paycheck substantial enough for even a small investment like Thelma. And her 1TB capacity means that she and I will be together a looong time before she's full and I move on to some younger, better looking external hard drive.

A competition honor:

Yes, Elephant and I made the top ten of the Iron Crafter this round! Woohoo! Now the winner is determined by the popular vote, so hop over to Fireflies and Jellybeans to cast your vote for your favorite cardboard craft!

A blog award:

Gwen from Gwenny Penny was so kind as to pass along the One Lovely Blog Award. I'm so flattered that she thought of me!

So now I get to practice bloggy karma and pass the blog award along! Here's how the award works:

1. Accept the award. Post in on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 5 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

And here are the lovely blogs that I've chosen to pass the award on to:

• On My Side of the Room: Cute and easy crafty inspiration! Check out Kendra's Recipe Card Birthday Calendar -- you'll never miss a birthday again!
• Those Northern Skies: Again, awesomely crafty ideas! I love Melissa's flower wall art from recycled lids.
• The 30 Girl: More creatively crafty ideas... can you tell I like craft blogs? :) Katie turned a crib bumper into a portable nap mat. How awesome is that?!?
• Oopsey Daisy: I love Oopsey Daisy for many reasons, but my favorites are Alison's Mommy School lesson plans. What she plans for a week I can maybe accomplish in a month with my kiddo! :)
• We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ: I've stopped by intermittently, but what really drew me back and committed me was Jocelyn's month-long celebration of the family. She's invited some amazing guests to share some phenomenal ways to strengthen families.

I'm glad that I had such a fun weekend because my to-do list this week is topped with mending. The Mr has a couple pairs of pants that need some work, so I'm tackling my whole overflowing mending basket:

 Wish me luck!