Thursday, December 21, 2006

Christmas Program

We had our Christmas program for the preschoolers today. It was amazing. My husband and I laugh at our boys' programs, because their music director keeps explaining that simple concepts (like tapping rhythm sticks in time with singing) is a REALLY DIFFICULT concept. Well, if it is than my preschoolers kick butt!

They were all dressed in their most special clothes. They sang their hearts out! It was wonderful! They began the night with a boisterous version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, second they recited a poem with actions called "I am a Christmas Tree," then I led them in the Mele Kalikimaka (sung better than most adults by the way!) After that they recited another poem with actions called " Gingerbread boy/girl." This was followed by the song "Ring the bells" which they played music too, and for the finale they sang the most rousing version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas I have ever heard!

I had plans on getting pictures, but I was far too busy, and my hubby didn't think of it, so it is again a picture-less post, but it was a fabulous night! I am so proud of them!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

My ball has arrived!



My swap partner has received her ball. I'm very glad it got there safe and sound.




I made a felted bag, with the broach on it. I made a kleenex holder, and I made a mini journal.

I also made an amish puzzle ball pincushion
Here's the rest of the things I included
4 balls of super soft yarn
2 darning needles,
4 mini cookie cutters,
sourpatch kids,
sweet tarts,
burt's bees lip chap
mini purple scissors,
post it notes,
striped knee high socks,
mini sharpie,
polka dot pencil,
2 bags of organic pepermint tea,
a fimo covered crochet hook,
some special edition hershey kisses, lindor truffles, and christmas nougat
I think that's everything.
And here it all is rolled up and ready to send. She said she liked it, and is crocheting it out right now!
This was such a fun swap!

Monday, December 11, 2006

S'more Swaps

Well, I had 2 swaps, and both are sent out. Both are out of the country, so I don't know when they will arrive. Hopefully they don't read here, or I may spill the beans just a little.


The first one was an unconditional swap. She requested a circle scarf that looked like this one. Not my personal favorite scarf, but if everyone liked the same thing, the world would be pretty darn boring. So this is what I made for her.












It took longer than I had anticipated, but I think it looks similar to her wish.








The next swap is a magic yarn ball swap. There are tons of these around. I am in one that is through craftster.org. If you don't know what a magic yarn ball is, basicly it's when someone has a ball of yarn that the other person would like, then they re-roll the yarn adding gifts inside the ball. Then as the recipient you get all of these wonderful, hidden, surprises as you unroll your ball. I won't show all of the things I included yet, but I will show you the whole thing rolled up.





If you look carefully you could probably pick out a few things, maybe not. After she receives I'll post everything that I put into the ball.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Naughty Blogger!

Well, I'm a pretty crappy blogger. I haven't been on much. For that I am sorry. Here is a big update on pretty much everything I can think of.

Well, my dad had surgery.... it got infected.... he got better. Now he's fine!

Levi's teacher gave him 2 weeknights to do an assignment that is crazy. He has to make a 3D model of the skeletal and muscle systems. He has to show on it the 3 major types of muscles, cartilage, ligaments/tendons, and the 3 major types of joints and how they work. You can not purchase a model, it all has to be from scratch. She assigned this on Tuesday, it's due Thursday. We have church practice tonight, and she doesn't want too much help from the parents!
WHAT?
Ooooh, she's beginning to drive me insane.

Liam is doing really well, he's been reading a lot, which has never been his strong suit.

Lore is fine, a happy little pain in the butt sometimes, but other than that he's great!

Tim has been working away a lot more, which is hard. But he was gone for over 3 months last year.... I can't complain about a week here or there this year.

I am fine, busy with work, and our upcoming programs. We have one this weekend, and we have another one on Thursday, December 21st. I am teaching all of them how to sing Mele Kalikimaka, which is really fun. We're going to make grass skirts out of crepe paper and flower leis too!

Thanksgiving was great, we spent some time with Tim's mom for the meal, then we went over to her sister's house. We had about 20 different types of desserts there, and then we went home too full to move!

Tim finally talked me into buying a fake Christmas tree.... This is really a long story, so I'll try to post about that tomorrow.

I finished a swap scarf that has taken me far longer than I wanted it too. It was what she asked for, not really my thing, but it's what she wanted. I'll have to post pics on that tomorrow too.

We have the Hanging of the Greens program at our church this weekend, so we are busy practicing for that. It's our church's annual big thing. The kids decorate the sanctuary and explain what the different decorations mean, and where they come from. It's neat to learn the different origins.

That's about it for now. I'll try to be a better blogger!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Babies Babies Babies!

I can't believe how many people are having babies right now. There are at least 3 women pregnant at the day care, (the ones who work there, not just general moms.) 3 more for sure are trying. (We only have about 12 women total, and 2 of us are for sure not trying or getting pregnant again, and 2 are in highschool, so I really hope they aren't.)

My husband's step-sister and her husband just had the most adorable little boy. His name is Evan Michael. I meant to get a picture of him with the boys this weekend, but he was too cute and I was too busy holding him to remember to bring out my camera.
We also found out that my husband's cousin who just got married, is also having a baby in July.
My neighbor is pregnant.

I really need to get to work on baby gifts as soon as the christmas stuff is all finished.

My 2 youngest nieces just had birthdays this last week, I made Ambrosia the cutest ball, I am hoping to get a picture of it and post it. If not I'll be making more because it is a great gift for babies and younger kids.

And finally my baby, Lore, is turning 6 years old today. I can't believe how big he is getting. I am making a cake right now, and it should be all ready after he gets done with school. What a great happy celebration of life and health!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Halloween Came and Went

Well, Halloween at our house is HUGE. There is no bigger holiday for us. Tim & my anniversary is on October 31st. We were married 9 years this year.



We didn't get nearly the decorations out that we wanted to, but we worked really hard to get some things out. Including a new crypt we had built to house our FCG (flying crank ghost,) named Moana. Well, it was heavy and wonderful and we were so excited. We set it up on Saturday, so a few people had mentioned how great it was already.... well, we had TERRIBLE winds on Monday night until Tuesday. And at about 7:00am Tuesday morning, as we were getting ready for work and school (running a bit behind already.) We heard a huge BOOM and looked outside to see what hit the house. Our big, heavy, wooden crypt smashed against our house and nearly hit the neighbor's house. So Tim and I had to quickly move it so it didn't blow into their house. The blacklight we had mounted inside blew up, so there was glass everywhere. And a big hunk of siding fell off our house also. We quickly picked all of that up. Got our costumes and stuff on and headed off for work/school. Sad in the knowledge that we were definitely not outdoing ourselves this year. (This has happened before 2 years ago our things got hit by a tornado, and last year we had 50 mile per hour winds with bigger gusts.)



We still had a great year. We had nearly 450 trick or treaters even though it was very cold out. (Not bad seeing as our population is only about 900.)









I started off my preschool where we had a great little party. The kids were so cute, and they had a great time bobbing for apples, playing pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, frosting and decorating pumpkin cookies, and such. We then went for a walk to all the local businesses. It was an adorable parade where we got quite a bit of candy, and tons of "oohs and aaahs". After that I scooted home to meet Tim for lunch and then we went to the boys' school where they were having their parade. We watched the whole school walk around the gym. We quick ran to a nearby town and grabbed some supper, and dashed back just in time for Trick or treaters to arrive. My wonderful step-mother took the boys trick or treating so my husband and I could spend some time together handing out glow bracelets to the kids. We had so much fun! Here are a few pictures of my costume, and the boys' costumes. Tim and I also had different costumes for a party we went to, but I don't have those pictures back yet.



Here's a group picture of the boys. I was holding them back for a picture. They wanted to get trick or treating.



Levi was Luigi from Mario brothers. He didn't care for the mustache, but I think he was pretty recognizable anyway.





Liam was a "Men in Black". Obviously he just ran after some aliens because he is a bit disheveled. And he's about to use his flashy thing on us.


\

At school the party was way more important then the makeup, but Lore is Fester Addams. He has a magic light bulb that lights up, but you don't see it in the picture. (none of the kids in his class knew who he was, but parents and teachers did!)



Here is a less than attractive picture of me, but you can see the whole costume here. I made everything except the white shirt, simply because I ran out of time.
Here's a close up of my face. The twins in my preschool class did not like the facial hair! They were a bit freaked out by it. None of the adults in the school knew who I was until I spoke, so I would say the costume was a success. I made the wig out of yarn, beads, and panty hose. The scarf I bought also on sale for $.75!


Last but not least are my boot-shoe covers. I had to do a lot of walking in the parades and stuff, and couldn't find comfortable boots, so I made these covers for the illusion of boots. I pinned the top to my pants, and there was elastic on the bottom to hold them down. They were wonderful! I've had to make quite a few of these in the past, but I'm beginning to get the hang of it. All in all it was a great year. The kids are already talking of next years costumes, and Tim is trying to talk me into letting him put concrete in the front yard for anchoring down props. (That won't happen)

Room Pics.... Where are they?

Ok, so I am a totally terrible person. I never get the pics up when I mean to.

Here are a couple of pictures of the room before hand.


Here is a progress pic. We couldn't go with black for the walls, as it's a really tiny and fairly dark room, so we opted for grey. It is a gorgeous shade of grey, far better than this picture is leading it to be.


Really the room is still quite a bit like this. Not much has been done since. We had a bit of family stuff come up, but I will be adding more pictures as it gets finished more. I am hoping to work on it some more tomorrow on my day off. (My dad had surgery today, so if he needs me I'll go by him, if not I will work on the room some more.)

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Mario room beginnings

Well, today is Levi's 10th birthday, and for his birthday he wanted his bedroom decorated. The boy has been obsessed with Mario Brothers since birth I swear! Well, when he was thinking of a theme he didn't have to go far. He wanted Mario.
So last night we took everything out of his room. This morning so far I have washed down all the walls. Now, I am taking a small break to let things dry, and then I will start taping. His room was originally 2 rooms, but before we bought the place it was converted into one, it's a small room, and sort of weird shaped, and a sort of cruddy "closet" in there, but he likes it as is, and the paint alone was quite expensive, so we are just painting and ignoring the weirdness, hoping that it will add to the mario cuteness! After my little break, I will go up and take some before pictures. Then on my next break I will try to post them. It's been a while since I've painted a room, I'm excited, but already exhausted!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Not a happy post

Sorry, this isn't a happy post again. I haven't been on in quite awhile. My sister has gone into the hospital again. She has epilepsy and has for quite a few years. Now a little background, my sister and I have never had a good relationship, for many many reasons. Last year I had one of her daughters living with us (for almost a year.) The other 2 girls have a different father, this one's father is a terrible man, so she wasn't going to stay with him, and my sister was choosing to not take her medication, so she would keep having seizures. Not a safe place for a 1-2 year old! Anyway, she was finally taking her meds, getting her life back the way it should be. Then last week, she had 4 grand mal (spelling is probably off, but basically really bad seizures!) in about a 2 hour span. She went to the hospital and the did some tests, her levels were good (meaning she's been taking her medication!) but she has huge lesions on her brain. (NOT GOOD!) The doctor's first thought was that she has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but it could be other things. So we are waiting on that. She is now finally out of the hospital, with no idea why she had the seizures, and no idea what the lesions are from. All we can do now is wait. So I have been very busy trying to help with anything I can. I have also been extremely busy at work, and trying to get my swap package out [LATE! =( ]
So that's about all I have to say. And I feel terrible because I was working so hard to get my swap out, that I didn't get a picture of the apron or the dishcloths or the pot holder or anything.

I am hoping that the next post will be much more fun and happy.....

Monday, October 09, 2006

Yippee my machine is back, and I'm so far behind!

I am glad to have my machine back. I got him back Friday night, unfortunately I was gone all weekend, and I have SOOO many projects that were already supposed to be out. I feel terrible! My swap package was supposed to be out over a week ago, and I'm not totally done with it. My niece's birthday presents aren't finished yet. I have 2 orders on different bags, that aren't complete yet. My kids put off deciding on their costumes, but FINALLY have, so now I have those to make. I am working all day at the preschool, I have to work after that for a few hours at the other school. When will I get everything done??


Ok, vent is done!


Liam had his soccer tournaments this weekend. That's where we were. It was GORGEOUS weather. Last year it was windy and snow, so I won't complain about low 70s and sun! He won his league in first place. He won his tournaments in first place. So he got 2 medals and a cute trophy, (which he forgot at grandmas's) so I'll post pictures of him with his stuff after he gets them back!

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Crocheted Soccer Hat

My son wanted a soccer hat to wear at his chillier games. (Of which we have had many lately.) His soccer shirt is gold and black, so I tried to stick with that color theme. I can't seem to find a decent picture, however, I have been feeling sort of bad about not posting my own projects as frequently as I really would like to. So here is a not so great shot of my son's hat.... I'll try to get better ones later, but for now it will have to do. My youngest son wants a football hat, I haven't quite figured that one out yet. He may just get Green and Gold, for school colors, as foot ball is only for 2 more weeks. And I don't know if he'll be in it again next year.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I got a bag!!

I asked for a tote bag to bring to preschool as one of my wishes on the Unconditional Swap. And thumbkin answered my wish and then some! I have an amazing bag!


Here it is in my bike basket! Doesn't it fit wonderfully!?!


Here you can see the whole thing.


Here is a shot of the inside. It is fairly full, but I took a few things out of my bag to take the pictures!


And here is a close up of the amazing fabric she used. It is perfect!
Thank you so much Thumbkin!

Monday, September 25, 2006

My poor baby!!!

My poor baby is sick. I don't know what is wrong with him. He's sluggish, and loose, and makes a clunky sound. My sewing machine is at the doctor right now. I have a swap in the waiting, that I am desperately trying to get finished, but there is no way I can with out my machine. I am hoping I can get him back tomorrow. We'll see.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Aaahhh, Payday!

I haven't had an actual payday of my own in so long. It is a nice feeling!

Now, if only I could go blow my first check on something fun........

Well, no, I am saving up to get a nice bike for myself. I haven't gotten a new bike since I was about 8. It's time! So now I have to look and find one I love, because it will probably have to last me forever!

I will probably get a few craft supplies. I am working feverishly every extra second I have (which isn't many) on my suzy homemaker swap. I am way too far behind! I never found the "perfect fabric" so I had to settle. I hope it will still all be nice. I'll post pics as soon as I'm done with that.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Lunch Lady Tab

Have you ever heard Adam Sandler's Lunch Lady Land? Well, as of Wednesday, I am helping out in the daycare's lunch room... ok, I'm there lunch lady now. So Tim, has started singing this lovely song except instead of "Lunch Lady Land" it's "Lunch Lady Tab". It was cute and funny, we all had a little chuckle. Well, now the song is totally stuck in my head. Tim said that I was humming it in my sleep. Do you ever get a song so stuck in your head like that. I do for weeks sometimes. Anyway, I guess there could be far worse songs stuck in my head right!?!

Well, I FINALLY got my yarn order in, so I can begin making some things for my Suzy Homemaker swap on craftster.org. I have been waiting and waiting for it. It was back ordered. I just hope I can get everything made by sendout date!
I also can't find any fabric that I like for this swap. I found some, and ordered it, but then they told me it was discontinued, and they forgot to remove it from their site. GRRR. Anyway, so I am sort of still looking. I found something that would probably work, but it's not exactly what I had hoped for.

I made a soccer hat for Liam, since it is starting to get colder. He'll probably wear it tonight. He has another game. It is sunny and nice, but a little chilly. Anyway, that's it for now. I get to do a hearing test at school tomorrow, so another "day off" gone =) The things we do for our kids!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Boo Hoo Canceled Game

Ok, they canceled my son's game last night, so I didn't get to go. It's still raining. It's really feeling like fall. I love the crisp cool weather. The damp can get annoying, but it's still nice. Well, since I don't have anything else really special to post today, I thought I'd throw in another pic of my baby looking like a real soccer player!

Here's Liam.

And for equal fairness.... my other babies playing baseball

Here's Lore looking all serious.

And here's Levi on their final day with their medals.

Thank you for indulging my mommy pride.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Soccer in the rain

I love watching my son play soccer. He's average at playing, but loves it. This is his first year, and he looks like a pro some times.

We have a game again tonight, and it's raining! I love the rain, and watching my baby kick the ball and get down and dirty, is so much fun. Plus all the woosy mom & dads sit in their SUVs. So all us serious soccer parents can really enjoy the game a bit more.

Back to work tomorrow. So I won't probably post much til friday.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

I'm a working girl

Well, I have finished my first official week of work. It was ok. I am not home nearly as much as I'd like, and I really hope no one gets sick. But other than that it was really nice. There are some great kids in my preschool class. Some are a bit young for the program, but most are opening up nicely. There are only really 2 boys that I'm not sure about. The say they like it by the end of the day, but they spend the rest of the time crying.
There seem to have been a lot of deaths in the town lately, because yesterday, our second day of preschool 2 teachers were gone from school for different funerals. I ended up staying late and doing a lot of things I haven't had training for. Yesterday was really crazy.
I do like the other teachers though alot.

Today I got to spend the afternoon after work with Lore's class. We went to computer lab, and the teacher needed a parent helper, so I volunteered. It was lots of fun, Mrs. Grade is wonderful with the kids, and she has a great sense of humor. And way more patience than I could ever imagine. It was fun to see some of these kids going online for the first time. They had so much power and they knew it!

So far the boys all seem to really be enjoying school. Levi really hasn't had any homework yet, so we'll see how much he loves it when the 2 hours of homework kick in. Liam is in a split 2nd & 3rd grade class. He's with Mrs. Trew. I know a lot of people don't really care for her, but I like her. I think she's good with the children, and focuses on the importance of reading and getting down basic facts.

Our camping trip went well, we didn't take a single picture. Too much fun, and I didn't really want to take out any electrical type devises, which a digital camera is. So I'll have the kids set up the tent and take some pictures and fake it for you all =) It was perfect weather, the kids were great and all getting along. Couldn't ask for more!

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Harry Potter Kids Swap What We Sent

Well, our partner received their goodies, so we can now post the items we made. The boys worked very hard, and we are glad they like the stuff we sent.
Here's the group shot. The "H" Crest is a drawstring bag for the tic tac toe. There is a red & yellow swirl hat, gryffindor stencil shirt, and potter puff pillow & activity books. I made all of that. The boys made hemp/bead bracelets, bead rings, zipper pouches, "lightning bolt coins," and a dementor shrinky keychain, and another shrinky dink key chain. (I forgot to take pics of those.)


Here's a closer look at the Voldemort VS Harry potter tic tac toe. The blue thing is a drawstring bag for the marbles/pieces.
We had so much fun making all this stuff. It was really a great swap!

Camping Preparedness

We are going camping over Labor Day weekend. Now, I love camping, we used to go all the time when I was a kid. My husband on the other hand has NEVER been camping. Now I have always wanted to take our kids camping, but I wasn't so sure about doing it with little kids, fire, and a hubby who hasn't got a clue (as far as camping is concerned.) So we've been waiting until they got bigger. Well, they have finally gotten bigger, so we are going this weekend.
This will really be my first trip as an adult. I've been the kid, where someone else does most of the set up, cleaning, planning, cooking, frustrating, etc... but never the one in charge. In fact, my dad was always the single guy when we went camping, so he never even dealt with the food, all the other families did, and we brought all the wood. So this has been quite an experience. I was hoping that we would have been able to go earlier this summer, but Tim's work schedule has been nuts, so we haven't. Now our first time camping, is going to be with friends of ours whose priorities and camping ideals are certainly different than ours. The meals are far more extravagant than I would have chosen. The disposable dishes that they are bringing and exclusively using are definitely not my idea of camping. Things like that. Plus, they have now told us that we are bringing one of their kids with us... well that's ok since we do have a van, but we were hoping to take out the front 2 seats so we could move up the back bench and have lots of room for taking our stuff, well with one of the front seats still in, we have a very tiny "trunk" area. I have no idea how we are going to get everything there. Ugh, these posts are getting more and more venty aren't they. Sorry about that. I'm just worried about it. I'm also really excited too. The boys in the fresh air running around, exploring. NO TV! It's heavenly.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

HP for our kids swap

I received a wonderful package for my boys today. It is from ScrapperCL on Craftster.org the boys were giddy with the contents.

(They were playing in the backyard and didn't want to stand still for the picture, so that's why they all have goofy faces.) She made them each a shirt, the detail is amazing! Lore's is Harry Potter, Liam's is a Hippogriff, and Levi's is Dumbledore. Her eldest daughter (14) knit them each a Dobby Hat! Which the boys won't take off! Her other 2 daughters (9 & 7) made the boys each a monster notebook and a quill pen. The boys have been drawing and writting about the magical creatures they are finding in the yard. She also made them the Hogwarts Library Bag! It's amazing, here's a closer pic of the hogwarts symbol.

I will try to get a better pic of the shirts when they take them off. This swap was so great! I hope they like the stuff that we sent them. I will post those pics when she receives so she doesn't see it before hand.

Girls Visit!

Here are a couple of pictures from when the girls visited.
Here they are in the backyard. Alia is the taller one, she's just turned 9. Alyssa is the one with pigtails, she is almost 7.


Here is the bunny in a hole that Alyssa embroidered! Didn't she do a GREAT job. It is a picture from Shel Silverstein's Runny Babbit book. She did it on and off in about 3 hours. We made it into a little round cushion pillow. The other side is embroidered with her name and year. She was so proud, and she should be. Alia did a turtle from the same book. I haven't gotten her picture taken yet, since we haven't finished the pillow yet. She just finished the embroidery when it was time to leave, so I have to finish the pillow and get it to her at one of the soccer games.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Girls Girls Girls!!

Well, 2 of my cousins have now had baby girls in the last few days, and our best friends also had another girl! It's just baby girls everywhere!

Also, 2 of my wonderful nieces are visiting us today, they stayed over last night and enjoyed a heck of a storm. Now they are playing outside with my boys. The youngest one, Alyssa, has asked to learn to embroider, so that is probably what we will do later on, since it is supposed to storm this afternoon too. I will try to post pictures of their creations either tonight or tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I got a job?

Well, the plan was, that now since the boys are all in school full time, I would have a chance to get a lot of work done around the house. We aren't unpacked totally, there is a lot of clutter, rooms need rearranging, etc... this was the plan. However, a friend of mine runs the local daycare. She called me up the other day and asked if I would be an assistant for their new preschool program. It's 3 days a week, from 8-11 am. I thought this sounded perfect, a little extra cash, and it's hours worked well. So I said yes.
Then the boys' school called, and they called asking if I could help out on Fridays, I thought about it, sure it's only one day a week, no problem. Well, that is for the office at school, that's not helping out in the kids' individual rooms. I haven't signed up for that yet. Which with 3 kids will probably take my Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons after work. This leaves me Mondays... that is generally try to catch up after letting things go over the weekend day. So, wait a minute, where is my time at home to try and make things to sell, or clean and organize my house.... oh, wait, did I mention that I am coaching a DI (Destination Imagination) team again this year? When will I find the time for that, and making meals, and ugh! So I have a little part time job, and I will still have no time at home =(

I really am excited, and I hope this will work out wonderfully, and be lots of fun, but I am really going to miss having this time that I was making plans for all summer. I will HAVE to find more time somewhere for crafting though!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Swaps Made, Destroyed, & Made Again

Well, I promised this post would be more upbeat, but I have a mini vent first.... stick with me I PROMISE this will be a positive post.... and if you're good, I'll even flash a picture!

So I was in a wishlist swap, and I claimed someone to make her a sleep mask. I had it all planned out. I got pink satin, pink flannel, black elastic, etc... . I painted the satin using some lace as the negative parts, (really neat, I don't think I'm explaining it well, basicly I tacked the lace down then painted with black over the lace, then I removed the lace and it was a great lace look painted onto the pink fabric,)
I assembled the sleep mask, loving it really. Planning on making myself one. Laid it all out went to get my camera, when I heard "Mom, Levi won't let me pour my own Pomegranite juice, he thinks I'm a baby!"
"No I don't, I just don't want you to spill... hey, get the juice out of the living room. Gimme That!"
"No, Mom will let me pour!"

[Quiet pause]

"You're going to be in SOOOOOOO much trouble!

Moaaaaaaaaaaahm, Lore spilled Pomegranite juice on the chaaaaaair!"

To this I said, "Please tell me it isn't the chair that my swap stuff is on...?"

To this Levi replied "Oh, you know it is!"
At this point I didn't even care about the chair, I ran into the bathroom and rinsed and rinsed the juice out of the mask, but I stained, immediently! I can't get it out, I have tried EVERYTHING! So I was supposed to send out the next day. I have a stained mask and a REALLY stained chair and carpet. (And 2 children who for awhile I kept seeing a bullseye on their butts [I'm not saying I spank them or ever would, but the fact that they were fighting over juice in the living room where they weren't supposed to be with the juice at all.... well, I was fuming to say the least!])
I remaid the mask, the lace didn't happen the second time, since I didn't have time to let it dry properly and send nearly on time.

But my WONDERFUL husband, took my kids to work with him for awhile, ( not an easy task for him either,) then dropped them off at the bus for swimming lessons for me. And I was able to embroider a "Do Not Disturb" on the front and make a new eyemask with out much interuption, ( ok, the phone was a bit annoying, but other than that,) So I don't love this one as much as the last one, but I'm still really happy with it. I added some shrinky dink papers and some Amy Butler Fat Quarters too. I hope she really likes it!
Here's a picture of the front of the mask


Here's a picture of the group I sent her.


AND
my baby Lore, the evil spiller child, has been asking to start embroidering. Now I realize you can't see what he's embroidered so far on this picture, but he was REALLY proud. He's half way done with the outside of the bat, from the batman logo. It's his first project. So here he is with his embroidery.

So it started out not great, but it definitly ended wonderfully!




Monday, August 14, 2006

Busy busy busy, really a vent.

Ugh, summer is too busy! now my oldest is in Peer Mediation training. Great to be in, but that is all morning, I have to pull him out a bit early so that he can QUICK eat something and be on the bus for swimming lessons. We have soccer 3-4 times a week, dance is probably not going to happen this year, since they changed EVERYTHING about it. I'm trying to get things ready to do Destination Imagination this year. It just seems like run, run, run.

We looked at a few campsites this weekend. We're hoping to go camping at least once before Labor Day, and at least 2 more times in september. We'll see if that happens.

This has left me little to no time for crafting. I have swap stuff I need to make, but my mind has sort of turned to mush, and I'm stuck on what to make them. I have tons of ideas, but we're a bit short on cash right now (all the above has fees!) So I would like it to be with things in my house. Which I have TONS of supplies, just nothing is jumping out at me. Anyway, so that's my vent. Sorry, next post will be more upbeat I promise!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Alto Fair! Yippee

Ok, the biggest little fair.... or so it's called.... The Alto Fair!

Well, my little demons were in the fair. Pulled in a wagon by my father in law. He sells old tractors on the side. My step-mother-in-law sells crap too, it changes all the time. So they are in the fair hockin their wares. Here's some pictures.


Hubby and boys



And hubby's aunt Carol (she's the greatest!)

My sewing machine hates me!

I don't know what happened, I love my machine. Sure, he can be tempermental, but who doesn't get a bit cranky every now and then? I did some applique using wonder under, and it gunked up my needle, and made me skip stitches, and was darn right a mess. So I muttled through it not really loving it, but it did give the bag a charm. I cleaned up my machine, changed my needle, started sewing again, and it still isn't working. I've adjusted my tension, etc.. nothing seems to be helping. It is sewing lines, but the stitches are looking loose on top. Like the bottom thread is coming up through the top. I don't know what to do. Sometimes when I leave him alone he behaves better in the morning. I sure hope so. Anyway, this is the bag I made for a swap on Craftster.org. It's a grocery tote. It's nice and big. I want to make some for myself.


Here's the whole bag


Here's a close up of the veggies. We've got a tomato (ok, yes EVERYONE knows it's a fruit, yet know one cares!) an ear of corn, a baby brussel sprout, (there is a reason for this I'll share later,) a carrot, and a celery. used fabrics for all the pieces except the corn tassel and the carrot greens. The faces I like some more than others.

Ok, brussel sprout story, I hate brussel sprouts not so much the taste, but the smell. I can't eat something that smells like feet. Anyway, since I don't like them I don't make them, since I don't make them my kids had never had them either. Well, one day we were leaving school, and my youngest son, Lore, says to me, "Why don't you ever let us have brussel sprouts?" To this I sort of chuckled, and looked around seeing all of the weird looks on people's faces. I explained to him " I don't really like them, so I never make them" Then he starts to whine a bit (very uncharacteristic of him,) and says, "THAT'S NOT FAIR, I WANT BRUSSEL SPROUTS! PLEASE make me brussel sprouts!!!!" Now I had people looking at me with such confusion. NO child ever BEGS for brussel sprouts.
Well we went to the store and all 3 of the were giddy with their bag of brussel sprouts. We got home and they had to try them right away!!! They took one bite and looked at each other and said... "wow they taste ok, but they smell horrible!" And now they won't eat them. I find it really funny..... maybe I'm the only one.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Craft Room Clean Up

Inspired by the "Share Your Mess... Then let's clean it up" post on craftster.org. I have decided to post pictures of my horribly messy craft space. I'll be honest, I'm really embarrassed to be posting this, as it is filthy!



Here is my craft room, you can see tons of Halloween storage, fabric, gifts, boxes of costumes, yarn, etc...



Here is the closet in my craftroom, filled with school supplies, teacher thank you gifts, alginate & plasters for mask making (along with my husband's plaster head) And tons of miscellaneous. I am truly hoping to work on this and get myself more organized! Tips are welcome!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

We're having a rainbow heat~wave

Oh my, it's hot in here! Most people who don't live in Wisconsin seem to think that it's always cold here. Really that isn't true. I mean it's no tropical paradise, but still. Right now it is 103F on the thermometer across the street. That is before you consider the grotesque humidity that is here right now. We have heat warnings right now, so honestly the kids and I are locked up tight in our air conditioned downstairs. So I've been trying to get some sewing done, I got a bit further on my square quilt. I have given in to using same fabrics more than once, but I'm still only using swap fabrics, so I am further than I could have been. I still desperately need more squares, especially purple, red, yellow, and orange! (If interested please pm me on craftster.org my username is Ezri_B)
Also, I did find my camera, so yippee I have pictures!!! Well, ok, A picture, of my one nearly finished panel of quilt....

It's between 5.5 & 6 feet long right now. I have a little more to go on this one, then I can begin the next one.
I'm so excited about this. This is really the first thing I've made for me, that I didn't NEED. Plus it is so neat getting all these wonderful fabrics from all these amazing crafters all over the world! It's this awesome friendship quilt from people I've never even met. What an amazing concept! I am going to love having this bright, beautiful quilt on my bed (my bed has never seen a quilt, I've never made a quilt that has stayed in my house, they've always been for gifts!)

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Stuff N More Stuff

Ok, so for some reason my camera seems to be missing. I'm not exactly sure where or when I lost it but I did. I unfortunately have been putting off posting because I wanted to post pictures. But since I can't find it I will have to just post words (boring I know.)
Baseball has finished for the boys. I'm really quite glad of that. They both did really well, and I think they had fun, so that's what's important. I don't know if Levi will want to play next year. The age group he is in now is really quite competative, and he's really into it more for the friends and fun. Lore wants to be in it again next year, but the Squirt league that they had this year was really a joke, (they don't call any kids out, even if they are out they still run. Everyone scores, etc...) so if they make changes we'll let him be in it.
Liam's soccer starts up soon, so he's excited about that. I don't think he understands how much running is involved, but he's excited none the less.
Dance sign ups should be soon, but our dance teacher had to quite and get a full time job since her husband's job (teacher) was severly cut along with all of his benefits. So we're not sure if we'll have a dance instructor or not. I really hope so. We have the fairs, and swimming lessons coming up. Then back to school. No rest this summer I guess.

As far as crafting goes. I have a nice strip of my little postage stamp squares. I am really excited about this quilt, but I need more squares! Whenever someone is sweet enough to send me squares and I receive them in the mail, my husband announces. "You got more crack in the mail" because I just get excited and drop what ever I'm doing to sort through them and put them in their color catagory. It's like crack to me. Plus, every extra time I have I'm cutting all my scraps into little 1.5 inch squares. I am really trying to limit quilt to 1-2 squares of the same fabric, but I may have to break that if I don't start getting more fabric. We'll see.

I have been waiting for my next swap to begin. I'm very excited, and now there is only one day left to sign up, which means that the Harry Potter for our Kids, swap will be starting soon. I can't wait to get crafting! Craftster only seems to have specialized harry swap going on right now, so this one is a little more general which I like.

Well, that's about it for now. Wish me luck on finding my camera so you can see pics of my quilt and such.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Where has the summer gone?

You know that summer has flown by when we haven't gone camping at all, none of my major summer projects have even been started, and the summer library program is ALREADY DONE!
Where went the summer?
School supply sales are already on, we have had the lists for quite some time (we get them before school lets out,) but we were sent a second copy already. UGH, I'm not ready for fall, I have too much to do!

Though I much prefer the crisp fall nights to the steamy summer ones. And Halloween is coming, and the kids will all be in school all day, so I should have more time for getting things done during the day. So I guess I can't complain too much, but I only get my babies home for a few months, I'm going to miss them.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

CrispyTabberTots

Well, we went to the Dells this weekend with some of my in-laws. We had a pretty good time, but we did get a bit sunburned. My dad has always called me TabberTot, so he thinks it's hilarious to call me Bunt TabberTots. It irks me that I NEVER used to burn when I was a kid, then I went to California for the summer and I got quite severely burned, and now I'm white (I was always very dark skinned,) and I burn. It sucks. We put sunscreen on all the time, but yet I still got burned.

Crafting wise I didn't get much done, I did make a decision though. I changed my mind a little bit on the postage square quilt. Not a lot, still rainbow in effect, just instead of wider diagonal strips, I'm going to do a bit narrower diamonds. So I ripped up all my finished squares. And now after I move my living room around (I got bored with it,) I will start sewing that together again. I'll post pictures soon. That's about it.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Liam HP Card Monster

Well, my middle son Liam and I were home alone on Saturday. This is a rare event. And he kept showing me his Harry Potter cards, but as he pulled them out of his pocket, they sort of flew around all over the place. So I suggested a case to put them in. I told him we could make it. He responded by telling me no, only if a cool monster could hold them, would he want a case. Well, the boy asks and the boy receives! So this is what he and I put together on Saturday. He did most of the sewing, while I did most of the cutting.
He calls him Super Blue, and you can't see it, but he has a clip on the back that can attatch to Liam's belt loops. He loves him

Here's an open shot with the cards in.

Postage Stamp Quilt Beginnings

Well, I've begun piecing my squares together as I receive them from the craftster swap. I thought I'd show you what I've been doing. I'm going for a rainbow type pattern. My sons have been helping me, so I know there's one for sure I will have to repiece, it's seams are too narrow, but the rest they've been doing pretty well. I do need to trim them a bit though.

A group shot of my pieced pieces.

A little closer

And the others closer.
Now this isn't how I'm going to really place the, I just wanted them together for the shot. I need LOTS more to even get the pieces set up right. But I love the look so far!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Crochet Swap Squares

Well, I finished my squares for my Blankie Square Swap on Craftster.org. I like them a lot, I hope she does too. She asked for 9X9" squares, she said she really likes sheep in squares, she really didn't care about color, just no neons. And she wanted a picot edging around. So these are the squares I came up with.

Here's a picture of the collection. These are all pre-blocked.

Here's the lamb square. I just sort of winged it while in the van on the way to Ironstock. I used a light blue for the background. Black for the head and legs, and a boucle in white for the wool.

This is called the Fisherman's Ring. I made it in a soft acrylic in Dark blue

This is a knot type square that I made up. I was inspired by a friendship ring square I had seen and made for a different swap. The colors are the same blue I used in the fisherman's ring square above, a soft grey color, and a deep red/Burgundy color which on here looks sort of orange, but it's not. I REALLY love this square!

So that's what I've been up to. I hope you like it. It's been a long time since I've posted pictures and for that I am sorry. Enjoy!