Today is December 31st and tomorrow begins a new month and a new year. January is National Get Organized Month, so today is your last chance to be disorganized! Skip picking up after the kids for the 337th time this Holiday break, keep the vacuum cleaner in the closet one more day, procrastinate just a bit longer on finding a place for all the new Christmas gifts and ignore the things that are moving in your fridge. Goodness knows how long those leftovers have been marinating in the fridge. Did we eat that on Christmas eve? What day IS today?
I know I have high hopes of clearing out clutter in 2008, re-organizing files, organizing photos, deleting at least 2008 of the 3547 messages in my email box. But, for today, I am going to just rest in the knowledge that December begins with a "D" for a reason..."disorganized". With kids home from school and late nights with relatives and friends, pjs are the clothing standard till at least noon and not a lot of things are getting organized. I am sure January starts with "J" because when 7:00 a.m. rolls around tomorrow on the 1st of January, I am going to be juiced to get things in order, although, the kids are off until January 3rd this year. I may just have to procrastinate another day or two. I will get it together and I promise you, I will pass on all the organizational tips I can. Just so you know, when you get out of your pjs at noon today, like me, don't frantically rush to The Teachers' Lounge. We are closed today, 12/31/2007 and tomorrow 1/1/2008. The doors will be open at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, just in time to help our teachers get their classrooms organized for January!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are having an incredible day wherever you are! I'm understanding the palm trees and pink flamingos display down the street now. I am in St. Louis but the warm weather makes me feel like we are celebrating in L.A. My youngest son and I are already dreaming and hoping for a white Christmas next year! Hope your day is magical and filled with all that you hoped it would be. Enjoy it all and know that you are making memories that will last forever...

After our last holiday concert last night, we treated the boys and Grandma to Ted Drewes, picked up our balsam branches and checked out Laura's recommendation for Christmas Light viewing. The lights on Murdoch street are the best! If you can not get yourself in the Christmas mood, this street will do it. Thanks for the great tip Laura. I also heard that Grant's Farm is putting on a great show too. Now that the snow has melted and the weather is milder, a ride on the tram and a walk through the park would be perfect! School is out and there are so many choices of fun things to do with your kids. We have decided to make a list of the top three things we really want to do over this break. Besides all the running around, I would like a day to relax and catch up on some great holiday movies! Any favorites that you would suggest?

My daughter came home from school with the cutest homemade Christmas ornament! I wanted to pass the idea along to those of you looking for last minute gifts because this project is so simple.

The teacher used a dark blue glass ball ornament. She had the children dip their hand into white paint and put their handprint on the ornament so that thier palm was on the bottom and their fingers were on the side. Then she used paint markers to create snowmen out of the fingers! She strung a silver pipe cleaner through the top and attached a poem that reads:

"These aren't just five snowmen
As anyone can see,
I made them with my hand
Which is a part of me.
Each year when we trim the tree
We'll look back and recall
Christmas of 2007
When my hand was just this small."

Thanks to Mrs. H for this clever idea. She is always doing terrific projects with the kids at school. We will treasure this ornament for years to come.

Can you smell Christmas in the air yet? We didn't get a "real" tree this year and I miss that wonderful Christmas smell. I'm hoping to make it to the tree lot to gather some balsam branches for the family room. Every one of our senses wants to experience this season, don't you think? We love to look at the lights and the decorations, smell the trees and spiced candles, taste the yummy cookies and desserts, listen to the carols, and feel the crisp air on our cheeks.
It's getting close, isn't it? The actual day of Christmas? At our house, the rush is on to finish up all the shopping, wrapping and special projects we started. The boys just want to get out of school and have the whole day to do what they want! There is always more to do than time to do it in, no? One of our customers told me this week that she was finishing up making an afghan 15 minutes before she had to wrap it for a Christmas party on Monday. I'm hoping to lessen my expectations of getting it all done and to just slow down and enjoy the moment! Hope you can take some time for you in all the hustle and bustle. Instead of thinking of the perfect gift and running all over to find it, create an experience for someone. Give them some time with you or a chance to eat at their favorite restaurant or shop at a new store. Gift cards are a hot item this week at The Teachers' Lounge. It's a gift and an experience!

After all of the fun, before all of our little guests were out the door, we remembered to snap a picture of part of our group! Story hour friends are the best. What a fun morning we had, reading about the Gingerbread baby, making Gingerbread friends, searching in the store for all of the hidden Gingerbread people, having a snack and then being surprised with a Christmas fun treat bag! We hope you can join us at our next story hour in 2008! The Teachers' Lounge will be closed on December 24th and 25th and again on December 31st and January 1st so our Monday story hour will be postponed until January 7th! I will miss our little friends but I know they will be having a great holiday! I hope Santa makes all your wishes come true! Can't wait to hear your stories about your Christmas!

We have been wanting to drive around to look at Christmas lights, so we bundled up the kiddos last night and went for a ride. We found two great streets that you have to see this year.

First on our list was Troost Ave. (which is just off of Heege road near Fortel's Pizza Den). Every house on the entire block is decked out in lights, and each one is better than the next. There is also a special treat at the end of the block. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I'll give you a hint. Look at the lone house without any Christmas lights hanging and think about the movie "The Christmas Story." Scott and I were laughing hysterically and wished we had thought of their clever decoration.

Then we hit Murdoch Ave. (near Ted Drewes) which is better known as Candy Cane Lane. Every single tree on this block is wrapped in red and white lights to look like candy canes. All of the houses have tons of lights and you may even spot the man in the "light suit" handing out candy canes.


Our last stop for the evening was Ted Drewes. We were so close that we just had to stop for a treat! It was a great family night. Be sure to visit these two terrific streets before the holiday is over.

How fun to wake up and see a snow covered lawn. I was hoping everything would be cancelled today so I could get all the batches of cookies baked. The weather man was a bit off on the accumulation numbers though so the mall concert and the middle school basketball game took the lead over the cookie baking. The boys and I did manage to squeeze in a few dozen cookies late this afternoon. Holiday baking is so fun with the kids. They love to chop the pecans, roll out the dough and crack the eggs. I think the majority of my cookies went running away like the Gindgerbread Man story. Not that the cookies had legs of their own! They had a little help from my eleven year old son. I'm sure looking forward to Monday's story hour at The Teachers' Lounge. I will be reading The Gingerbread Man at 10:30 a.m., helping our little guests make a craft and surprising them with some yummy holiday treats! I hope you can join us this week. Just give the store a call and reserve a spot so that we are sure to have enough supplies!

So, who else is out on their driveway looking for the paper? Why is it when you really want the newspaper to be delivered, they always come late? I'm remembering my garage sale days when my boys were toddlers. I would grab the paper and map out my route to all the great bargains. What great stuff we found! Who doesn't love a great deal? You would think I am really a lounge lizard with nothing else to do. Truth is, I just finished putting up more Christmas lights and pulling more decorations out of storage. There is always something to do. Hope you enjoy your coffee in the morning and make sure you have your scissors handy! Check your Christmas list and stop by the store for those last minute gifts for the kids or their teachers and enjoy saving some Christmas cash. (If you want more bargains, check out the new clearance section in the back corner too. You gotta love it!)

Hi! It's Kat the Lounge Lizard. How awesome that my first blog entry is just in time to tell you about one of my favorite things- a bargain! I was one of those out at 6:00a.m. the day after Thanksgiving (4:00a.m. was a bit too much for this non-morning person!) but give me a coupon or something free and I'm all over it! Well, check out the Call or the South County Times for the first ever coupon at The Teachers' Lounge. The Call arrived in your mailbox yesterday, at least it did in mine. I plan to look for the "little red paper" as I call it on the driveway tomorrow morning. There is something at the store that you will just have to have and with 25% off one item, this is the time to buy it. I love a bargain and I am so glad to tell anyone about one too!

We are all ready for the holiday season at The Teachers' Lounge... the decorations are up, the Christmas music is playing, and our team members are gift-wrapping like crazy!

Parents and grandparents... be sure to stop by this holiday season. We have tons of toys and games in-stock that would make terrific Christmas gifts for all of the kids on your shopping list. We also have many great teacher gifts to choose from as well as gift cards.



Teachers... our seasonal display is brimming with the latest and greatest Christmas/Winter items for your classrooms. Come in and check out our seasonal bulletin board sets, stickers, and accents. They are sure to fill your classroom with holiday spirit!

Teachers... are you tired of getting the same things for Christmas every year? Are you hoping to receive something that you could use for your classroom? Stop by The Teachers' Lounge today and fill out a Holiday Wish List. We will keep your list on file and will share it with anyone who stops by looking for a special gift for you.