Christmas Stuff Show & Tell

For Show & Tell this week, I thought I'd share some of my favorite Christmas decor items used to embellish my home with Christmas flair each year. (If you're feeling "Christmased out," I understand---skip it and I'll catch you next time.) :)

I bought the snowman trio below the first Christmas DH and I were married. I like the "crafty" look of this set. I remember being thrilled at the low cost as we didn't have a lot of extra dough those first few years.



Growing up, my sisters (and sometimes parents) each got a new ornament every year. Usually they were all the same theme. When I was in 5th grade I LOVED rainbows and unicorns. I remember shopping with my Mom and being SO excited to find cool unicorn ornaments. To top it off---we found one that was rollerskating, one of my favorite pastimes! I remember we had a tennis playing unicorn and skateboarding unicorn also on the tree---I don't remember which sister had which. But MY rollerskating unicorn is below. One of my favs to unpack each year. :)



I helped Em make this abstract Rudolph this year. It's framed in a cool red-metallic frame I found on sale at T.arget. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out! On the green paper is a poem I found online:

This isn't just a reindeer as you can plainly see.
I made it with my hands which are a part of me.
It comes with lots of love especially to say,
I hope you have a very, Merry Christmas Day!

Scooby-Doo has been my favorite cartoon since I was a small child. I have many Scooby ornaments I've received over the years. The Scooby-in-a-chimney below is one of my favorites.



Snowmen are my decoration preference. A few years ago DH's bro and sis-in-law sent us this awesome snowman who pays homage to our Alma Mater, Ohio University. He's one of my favorites from my snowman collection. (Go, OU!)



We only have a few ornaments that belonged to DH when he was a boy. The candycane below is signed by DH and indicates that he created it in the 2nd grade. Aww!



I have a set of 8 snowmen ornaments that are an "Around the World" set. Each snowman is dressed in traditional garb from the country he represents, and is holding a flag from his country. I LOVE this set...it is one of the first I purchased after DH and I got married. The Irish snowman below is my favorite from the set.



Another ornament from childhood. One year all of my family members got a reindeer from this set. My "Dancer" is below.



In December 2003, the year I became pregnant with Emma, was the only year DH's Mamma and Aunt visited us in Florida for Christmas. Mamma bought the star-shaped Santa ornament for me when we went shopping while she was here. It's always been one of my favorites, but has special meaning since Mamma died 2 years ago. We still miss her!



The best present I've ever received from a student. 3 years ago when I was still teaching at my prior school, Cory H. and his grandma made this reindeer family set for me. I LOVE them!


Another view...


My senior year at Ohio U., I bought this Santa. He's one of my favorite pieces!


So there they are....some of my favorites. What do you think?

To see what others are showing, click HERE to visit Show & Tell as hosted by the wonderful Mel.

Show and Tell--Dress Up

On this, the last Thursday of summer (teachers go back next week for pre-planning week, then the 1st day of school for students is Aug. 24th) I am reminding myself to HAVE FUN! This summer I was able to unwind and "get rid of some cobwebs" (my Dad's words) emotionally. I was able to reminisce with childhood friends (I saw childhood neighbor friends Kristin S. and Amy B. when my family went to a motorcycle parade in my hometown. They both looked super and it was awesome to see them!) I was able to laugh until I cried, play S.crabble and board games, and have family time with my parents and sisters. I was able to be me!

Last summer my Mom set up an amazing play area in her basement for Emma. This year she added a "Dress-Up" corner complete with a mirror, hats, jewelry, shoes, purses, and lots of dress-up clothes. Show and Tell this week is a photo from my 2nd night of my family vacation in Ohio. Em was being cranky and didn't want to partake in the fun...but that didn't stop my Mom, sisters, and I from dressing up anyway. What a hoot!



Mom, Lal, Chel, and I


3 sisters: Me, Michelle, and Laurel (Also my sister Michelle's 2 dogs. She's holding Pixie, and Dylan is seated at her feet.) (For the record, one of my absolute all time fav pics of us! SO cheesy!)


Can anyone come up with a witty slogan to use if this were a photo on Christmas cards this year?

To see what the rest of the class is bringing to Show&Tell, CLICK HERE to head over to Mel's blog.

Show and Tell--Crooked Pinkies

I inherited "crooked pinkies," (as I call them) from my Dad's side of the family...

My Dad's uncle had crooked pinkies on both hands. However his brother (my grandfather) did not have them.) My Dad does not have crooked pinkies. Yet, my Dad's younger sister, my Aunt Nan has crooked pinkies on both of her hands. But, none of Nan's three daughters have crooked pinkies. I'm' my Dad's only child who has the "crooked pinkies" and I have them on both hands. I passed this on to my daughter...but she only has a crooked pinkie on her right hand. Guess she's trying to change the gene-dynamics after all these years?

This is a totally weird and random Show-and-Tell, but I guess I'm photographing our pinkies for future generations. (Yeah, that's it...)




At first glance, not so different, right?







Em's crooked pinky on top of mine...



Em's right hand (not nearly as crooked as mine, but still more so than her left hand.)



My crooked pinkies side by side.



Just to show how crooked and short my pinkies really are, the piece of paper above indicates where the top "knuckle" on my ring-finger is. This is the location where the top of most people's pinkies hits their ring fingers.

I knew my pinkies were crooked, but I didn't realize how significantly SHORTER they are as compared to the norm, until I took acoustic guitar lessons a few years ago. When I was having difficulty stretching my fingers to reach an F-chord, my instructor was awed by the short span between my pinkie and thumb. Interesting, hey?

To see what others are bringing to Show and Tell this week, click HERE to visit Mel's blog.

Show and Tell--Perverted Cartoon?

Those who know me well know that I am a HUGE Scooby-Doo fan. I've loved the show since I was a young girl...

Part of my Scooby love carries over to its creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. I spent many a morning back in the 80's watching cartoons. Part of what made weekends special, was because the cartoons were ONLY available on Saturday mornings.

A few years ago I read, My Life In Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century, an autobiography by Joe Barbera. I loved reading the story of how he and William Hanna teamed together to create a plethora of cartoons. I enjoyed the trivia (They chose the name "Scooby-Doo" after hearing Frank Sinatra's scat "scooby-dooby-doo" during his "Strangers in the Night" song. Neat!)

I loved reading about the amazing quantity of cartoons that the Hanna/Barbera team created: Tom& Jerry, The Flintstones, Captain Caveman, The Shirttales, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, Richie Rich, Yogi Bear, Hong Kong Phooey, etc. Including my beloved Scooby-Doo, this amazing team spearheaded over 50 original cartoons.

One of my joys as a mother has been watching my daughter grow to love some of the cartoons I loved as a child. Em loves my Scooby-Doo boxed-set as much as I do! She has recently been VERY into "Cartoon Network" and many of the 1980's cartoons I mentioned above. One of her recent favorites is Wacky Races, (wherein 11 characters race across land and sea for the coveted "World's Wackiest Racer" title. )

I HAD to "pause" and take a photo when she was watching Wacky Races this week. Good ole Hanna-Barbera...I wonder how many other perverted things are contained within their cartoons and went completely over my head as a child. The pics below say it all....they had humor. And I love them for it!




Picture of the character Penelope Pitstop, driving her car in Wacky Races.

Upon being chased, by "Dick Dasterdly," she had to use a gadget within her car in an attempt to out-race her opponents...




Photo is of the dial on Penelope Pitstop's dashboard.

ROFL. After selecting the "vibrator" option, a large strap popped out of her seat, and surrounded her as an extra seatbelt, while her entire car then bounced up and down vigorously. TOO funny. I never knew there was "adult humor" within Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I'll be keeping an eye out now... :)

Show and Tell--World of Nations

The first weekend of May, Em and I spent Saturday attending the "World of Nations Celebration" held in Metro Park in downtown Jacksonville. Metro Park is quite large. There were over 35 tents/booths set up representing different countries from around the world. At each booth, there was art work, food, and items for sale that were native to the country represented. In addition, many booths had dancers and/or music native to their country.

Free with the $5 admission, was a small "Passport" book. At each country's booth, people could receive a sticker of the country's flag to place in the book. Em loved this!

Unfortunately my allergies (which I didn't know I had!) kicked in, so I skipped Show & Tell the week we attended because I spent the remainder of the weekend in bed.

Pics from the World of Nations are below...


Entrance Sign


Passport Book


Stickers inside our passport book.



Em loved playing the drums at the South Africa booth



Cool entrance to the Cambodia booth



Tower display in the middle of the park



Em was super excited to pose with this Troy and Gabriella cutout from High School Musical 3 (at the Radio Disney booth.)



Puerto Rico reps had a small parade


Em saw this woman dancing in the Thailand area. Em ran over to the stage area, sat down criss-cross-applesauce on the sidewalk and was mesmerized by the dancing. So cute!


Later she posed with the Chad and Taylor cutout. Em LOVES the HSM movies.


At the Duval Co Foreign Languages booth, Em was spending such a long time coloring a Spanish tile, that the workers asked her if she wanted to come behind the table and sit down while she finished her art work.

It was blazing hot, but we had a great time! :)
To see what everyone else is bringing, check out Mel's Blog.

Show and Tell---Wicked

Last night, DH and I had our first "date night" in several months. We dropped Em off at DH's parents' house in the late afternoon. She spent the night with Nana and Papa while DH and I went out to dinner (at the Outback---yummy!) We then went to see the musical, Wicked. I LOVE Wicked---I enjoyed the book (mostly), love the music, and saw the musical in Ohio with my sister last summer (Thanks, Lal!) We were worried because sometimes the theater opportunities here in Jacksonville aren't all that great. (We saw Phantom of the Opera a few years ago and it was awful!!) We ended up being very pleasantly surprised...the lead singer who played Elphaba was very good. The orchestra was super. The set was spot-on to the high quality I had seen in Columbus last year. Great show! Great time! Yea!

Pics from my cell phone are below...


While waiting in the lobby of the theater, we had fun entertaining ourselves with the attire of others. I pretended I was texting, when I snapped the photo of the hooker lady with a very short dress above. She kept tugging the dress down, because with each step she took it would ride up even HIGHER than in this photo. I commented to DH that I didn't know how she was going to sit down without exposing herself. Ick!

My favorite was a woman who was wearing a tight black long sleeve dress. She had a floral BIKINI top OVER the dress, and a matching floral skirt ON TOP of the dress. WHAT the heck? As DH said, "I just couldn't decide if I was going to go to the beach, or the theater." I tried to get her pic, but it didn't work. Rats!



There are many lovely artistic pieces throughout the theater lobby area. DH made me giggle when he said the sculpture above reminded him of "Han Solo in carbonite." Hehee!



Self portrait after we were seated and waiting for the show to begin.


My sweet DH. Is he a charmer or what? :)


Me with playbill. We had a great time!

To see what the rest of the class brought for Show & Tell this week, head on over to Mel's Blog.

Show and Tell--Mall Sign

Today we went to the mall. While Em was playing in the play yard, I figured out the perfect thing for Show and Tell---the sign below is posted in the play yard. Cracks me up every time I see it.




I think the sign is funny, but I also like the disclaimer at the bottom:
"Puppies and espresso will not actually be given. Please monitor your child."

It always makes me wonder if someone ever actually tried to cash in and try to get a puppy and/or espresso.

I took a photo of the sign today on my cell phone. But then found a clearer photo of the same sign I apparently took last year...I don't remember photographing the sign before. But since it makes me smile, I wasn't surprised I had already photoed it.

Check out Mel's Show and Tell to see what everyone else is showing off this week. :)

Show and Tell--A Girl and Her Dog

A Girl and Her Dog...

Our dog Viggo ("Vee-go") is 6 years old. He is a nearly100-pound mutt. When we take him on walks, many times people cross the street to avoid passing us on the sidewalk, because he is large and intimidating. Little do they know he is so very tenderhearted and sweet.

We got Viggo when he was just a pup. Knowing we wanted to one day have children, we would tug on his ears and tail, and snatch his food while he was eating. Don't get me wrong---NOT in a painful, abusive way...but training him for the element of surprise that kids often incite. 2 years later Emma came along. Her first night home, I was rocking her in her room. Viggo came in and was sniffing her---checking out the new baby. When he began licking the top of her head, Em turned her head, LATCHED onto his tongue and began sucking. EWWW! They've been the best of pals ever since.


This pic taken nearly a year ago is one of my favorites.

I took the pic below a few nights ago. I was doing school work on the laptop in my bedroom. Em came in and asked me to "tuck her in" for the 100th time that night. I told her to go back to bed and I'd check on her soon. Instead of complying with my request, she lay down on the floor in my room. Soon after, Viggo joined her. She fell asleep on one of Viggo's legs, then he put his other front leg around her for a full cuddle...of course I had to get the camera! :)

To see what everyone else brought for Show & Tell this week, visit Mel's Blog.

Show and Tell--Birthday Letter

Click to see what everyone else is bringing to Show & Tell this week.


As I didn't ask his permission, I hope he doesn't mind...

For this week's Show & Tell I have cut/pasted an email message my Dad sent me on my birthday. This year my birthday happened to fall on the Monday after spring break. (As you can imagine---any "Monday" after an extended break from school is a real pain in the butt treat for teachers, as we try to get our students back on track. Much of the day was spent reviewing "rituals and routines" with my 8th graders.)

I am sharing the message below because I am honored to have such a wonderful man in my life. I pray that DH and I are as "effective" and marvelous at parenting our sweet Emma as I truly feel my parents were for me.

What follows is my Dad's sweet message...



Subject: H B D 2 U

Date: 4/6/2009 12:33:24 P.M.

From: Dad

Dearest Alana,

As you return to the classroom, hopefully refreshed by your Spring Break, I know that you are looking

forward to that day, a couple of months from now, when you'll commence a break of a longer duration.

If today's students are anything like those of us of comparable age in the late 1950's, I'm certain that

today was anything but routine. It was probably more like a come-down day, trading the warmth and

sunshine of the out doors for the for the closeness of the classroom. By the time you read this, that

portion of your day will, hopefully, be behind you.

I expect that your little Miss is somewhat excited regarding your "Big Day," but that her enthusiasm

isn't the off-the-wall high she attains on September 17th.

As your Mother and I have an out of town meeting tonight, depending upon the time we return, we may

not be able to call before tomorrow. Rest assured that our thoughts are with you as you celebrate the 34th

anniversary of that wonderful day when we first gazed upon your pretty little face, noted that you had the

recommended number of fingers and toes, and had the pleasure of holding, cuddling, and kissing the

precious bundle of joy we'd been waiting so long for.

I hope that your evening is special, with an adoring daughter, on her best behavior, who fully cooperates

at bedtime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and much love,

Dad

Show and Tell--Interesting Tree Stump

I have not altered this photo, nor these trees in any way. I didn't post this last week, because I didn't want to take away from the seriousness of the location. However, as Em and I were leaving Kingsley Plantation, I spotted the tree above. Maybe I am a lunatic too perverted...but is it me, or does the stump on this tree look like a man whom is humping hugging the tree???? Really odd, yet cool.


Click the box to the left to find out what others brought to Show & Tell this week.

Show and Tell--Kingsley Plantation

ICLW: This is my first time participating in International Comment Leaving Week. It's only the first day, and it's already been a really neat way to meet other bloggers. :)

Show and Tell:
Two weekends ago, when DH had to work, Em and I visited Kingsley Plantation. Located on nearby Ft. George Island. The plantation is from the early 1800's and was the home of Zephaniah Kingsley, his wife Anna, and their children. I thought it was interesting that Anna was a slave whom Zephaniah ended up marrying. She had much envolvement in the management of the plantation. The primary crops grown here were cotton and sugar cane. It was neat to view this part of history. I'd love to bring my students here for African American History month next year. (Though with budget cuts, we'll likely not have many field trips next year...)


Front of the plantation home. I wish I took a photo of their amazing view. 100 feet from the front door is an amazing view of the Ft. George River


Rear of house


Remants of the slave quarters.

The wooded lane leading to the plantation home.

Click the rectangle above to see what the rest of the "class" is bringing.