First, alittle catch up: After a wonderful weekend alone with Dwight in Galena, IL, it is already Thursday & I’m still not caught up on laundry, etc.!!! Not only that, but now it’s time to finish raking the leaves, winterize our trampoline, bring our hoses & grill into the garage & turn our attention to re-finishing our basement!

Work has been painfully slow this week. I’m thinking that the economy finally caught up with our business too. I think people just want to stay put for awhile & see what happens. I’m sure the next few days will pick up since the Property Mgr. is on vacation, and that IS Murphy’s Law!!!

I’m feeling the Craft Bug biting! I get this way every time I get one of ‘Lowe’s Creative Ideas’ magazines in the mail! I really want to transform a room in my house into a Craft Room. I also want to create a lot more homemade gifts for Christmas this year. I better get going – I only have 6 weeks!!!! YIKES!!! Anyone out there have any simple craft ideas to share? I’ll share one that my kids have done in the past:

Pinecone Ornaments

First, find some pinecones in your yard, or take a walk & pick some up. (It’s better to get them free!) Clean out any of the seeds &/or cobwebs from the cones. Next, get a loop of ribbon, any color, and hot-glue the ends to the bottom of the pinecone. This is where you’ll hang your ornament. Now using acrylic paints, paint the pinecone any color you want, but make sure that you color all the sides of the spikes in the cone. Finally, before the paint dries, sprinkle on an abundance of glitter. Voila! Ornaments the kids can make almost by themselves (minus the glue gun!)