Farewell

I haven't posted on here for quite a while. I won't be anymore either, I've outgrown this. If you would care to see my new blog please go here.

Meet The Greens

I stumbled on this. I think it's got great potential. I like to spread the word. Hopefully it's good and lasts!

This is a little something it said on their website to explain them;

"THE GREENS: a cool kids' site about looking after the planet @ MeetTheGreens.org
THE GREENS: a cool kids' site about looking after the planet. MeetTheGreens.org is produced by the award-winning kids team at WGBH Interactive in Boston.
MeetTheGreens.org is a new kids' guide to looking after the planet. Kids can watch THE GREENS' cartoon adventures and discover related green games, news, downloads, a blog, action tips, links, and much more. This innovative, Web-only project comes from WGBH in Boston, the producer of shows like ZOOM, ARTHUR, Frontline & NOVA."

New Camera YIPEE!!

I got a new camera (thank god for tax returns!) I love it! I am still learning all of the fun stuff. I didn't get to take any fabulous shots yet. I only got it last night. Here is really the only one I have so far, but I'm quite sure there are many more to come as I start to learn all the bells and whistles!





I give you....


TIM!





He's so cute with his hair way too long and his facial hair,( which I dispise!)
He wants me to cut his hair so badly, but I think it's cute all curly so I've been putting it off. Now that it's getting warmer he'll make me do it. Anyway, this is my muffin!

Craftsters are the best people in the world!

I was having a really really bad day today. I have been dealing with a lot of junk since my sister passed away, and it's been coming to a boiling point the last few days. Today I broke down and started crying at work. Now for some that's ok, but I don't like to cry in front of people. It really bothers me, I don't know why. Well, I did break down at work, and then I broke down at home. I have just been having a really really terrible day. We have an appointment tonight with a psychiatrist for Jorden tonight, and I'm really not looking forward to it. Well, my sons came home from school and my middle one Liam said, "mom, there's a box out here for you." I haven't ordered anything in awhile, my swaps aren't sending out or anything yet, I have no idea what it could be.
I look at the box and immediately recognize the name and address is from one of the women I have swapped with a few times. I had no idea what could be in it.

I open it up and there is a lot of fabric with ribbons around it. And on the top is a note from Cheryl (zenochka on craftster.) In the note she explains that many of the ladies in the Fat Quarter Swap that I had recently organized got together and made me a fabric care package to cheer me up. Now I know you can't see this, but I am having a hard time not crying my eyes out now, can you imagine what I was like when I opened it. I honestly really haven't had a chance to do any crafting since my sister died (minus painting Jorden's room.) The fabrics are lovely and I can tell that a lot of thought was put into them, because they are perfect for me.

Here I organized the swap, and these wonderful (which I can't think of a big enough word to describe how fabulous they are,) women organized this. I can't possibly thank them enough. This has warmed my heart and helped me so far on my darkest day.

Thank you zenochka, BlondGirl, nixkisses, iheartsushi, igobylorib, stacysews, & moilulu

Craftsters really are the best people in the world! Thank you all so much. Now I had better go before my tears short out the keyboard.

My Camera is Toast

I am so upset, my lovely, darling, children have in fact broken my digital camera. Funds do not allow me to get a new one. So unless we get a lot more sun so that I can use my son's flashless camera there will be few pictures for a bit.

However, everyone around us has gotten the flu and we seem to have been missed. So we have our health!

Fun, Fun, Fun

We recently took the kids away for a bit, and I thought I'd share some pics. We went to a local year long indoor funpark thing.




Here's a group shot, goofy guys, they can never take a decent photo together.









Here's Jorden dancing. She's singing along too, but you can't obviously hear her.








Here Jorden & Tim are playing a ball tossing game together.








Liam is deep in concentration, trying to get a ball through a moving target.








Here you can see Lore in the bumper cars and Liam in the background.



Not a great picture of Levi on the bumper cars, but he seemed to be avoiding my camera that day.

Bedroom makings!

Well, I'm still working hard on trying to get Jorden's new bedroom cleaned out. It has really dingy white walls, so I think I must paint. I'm not sure what my gut says brown and pink and orange.... but this will be the boys playroom too, so I must pull that urge back a bit. I have kicked around tangerine orange, robins egg blue, or lime green. It's a small room, but it needs color! I think any of these would look nice with dark brown. I think I will have to keep the trim white, but the door panels and such can be brown.

Please don't mind the mess, like I said I'm still trying to clear it out. There are 2 doors one to the living room, and one to the basement (VERY well locked!) There is one window and a small "closet" cabinet with shelves.

I really want to do something fun and funky in there. I'd love to use some found or recycled materials. I think I'm still too overwhelmed to have any creative juices for the moment. The paint will need to be done soon, the other stuff I can do a bit at a time. (Oh it's really ugly brown carpet, but it will have to stay for a while.) Any help would be great! Thanks

Funday Monday!!

Monday was a pretty good day! Jorden and I made a snow man
Jorden with our snowman.



Jo and the boys posing after school with the snowman


It was beautiful with the fresh falling snow. We're working on cleaning out my craftroom, so she can have a bedroom. The contracts came and it looks like she will be living here nearly full time for 8 months. Her dad will gradually get more visitation so they can get to know each other. Once she does go to her dad's full time (next fall) she will be coming here for daycare when her dad and step mom are working. So at least I will get to see her. We are busy trying to make her a more permanent spot, a place of her own. My craft room/storage room will move upstairs and her bedroom will go in there. After she moves out it will turn into more of a playroom for her and the boys.


Here's where she's been staying until we had a more permanent place. Plus she was close to the bathroom and VERY close to us so if she needed us we could be there. Obviously it's not ideal, so we need to remedy it.

Swap Goodies!!!

I organized a fat quarter swap, which I have been horribly neglecting because of recent happenings. They have all been wonderful and patient! I received what was supposed to be 6 fat quarters yesterday, and it was SOOO much more!
Here is a group shot of all the wonderful goodies she sent! You see the 6 Moda!!! fat quarters in the middle. A gorgeous nest pin on the left. 2 sets of handpainted candles! A very touching card. And that cute pink purse on the right is for my niece Jorden!





As you can see Jorden loves it! She slept with it last night, she keeps her treasures in there, and has a picture of her sisters and mommy in there. The girl loves to accessorize! Thank you so much sewinglori!!!

Too much

Ugh, we had to get away this weekend, it was just too much. Too many people stopping by with food. Too many people calling with condolences. Too many cards.

Obviously the out pour of support is amazing! I don't mean to minimize it at all. We really appreciate all of it. We just needed to breathe. We disapeared this weekend. We have some amazing friends who let us stay at their house while we just breathed for awhile.

Now we are back at home. Life is beginning to get back to normal. Today would have been my sister's birthday. It will be a hard day.

Sick Kids

Well, after the funeral, everyone got sick. Alia & her step brother Austin have strep throat. Alyssa has an infection, my niece Ambrosia has pneumonia, and so does Alia and Alyssa's Step-mother Tiffany. Lore has diarrhea. I don't know what Jorden has but she has been sleeping alot today and she's had loose poops and just not herself. I really hope that she'll be feeling better soon. She was supposed to have a visit with her dad tonight, and I feel really bad that she won't be able to go. She's very confused, and misses her mommy very much. I'm very glad that she has been able to come stay with us. She lived here for awhile and is quite comfortable with our family and our house. She thinks of the boys as brothers (almost.) I love to see how happy she is when she's here. She's been a little apprehensive everywhere else. There have been so many people at the funeral home and the church for the funeral, it is really great to just see her smile when she feels safe and comfortable here.

My little sister passed away yesterday.

Candace, age 26, died yesterday. She fell in the bathroom and broke her neck. It shouldn't have happened, however, it did. She has 3 young daughters. 2 will be living with their father and his wife, both wonderful people. The other used to live with me for awhile, and hopefully will again. She hardly knows her father. There is a lot of other stuff surrounding her placement, I expect it to get quite messy and ugly. Can't really think about it yet, still thinking about the funeral and other stuff. One of the girls is staying with us tonight. It's surreal. We really never got along, but the last few months were good ones. She was trying so hard to get her life together. The last thing I told her, the last time I spoke to her, was that I was proud of her.....

Edited to add: the coroner's report says she did not break her neck. She has had epilepsy for some time and had landed in a coma about 2 years ago. We didn't think there was any way for her to survive that. She did though, but her body never fully recovered. We believe that she had another huge seizure and passed away because of her body being unable to take it.

Alyssa's Birthday

Well, I don't know how happy I am with what I'm doing for Alyssa's birthday gift, but the boys helped me decide. And I realized that if they would like them, then the girls might too. So they talked me into a birthday crown with her name on it. We bought her a jewelry making kit (that I hope she will be able to make.) I'd like to make her something else too, but I'm not quite sure what.

I love my boys, but.....

I've about had enough! It has been bitterly cold here. Crazy cold, so cold that school has been canceled because of the cold. Monday it was 35-40 degrees below zero, Tuesday was the same. Today was also cold. These kids haven't been able to play outside for over a week. Even at school during recess it's indoors. The kids are getting cranky and on each other's nerves, and to be completely honest, they are absolutely on my nerves!
Now they have a half day of school tomorrow and off on Friday and it is still supposed to be super cold. Not only can they not go outside, but they are cooped up in the house. My house has gotten quite messy, just from being around. I am going stir crazy and they are too. I think Friday we are going to just have a crafty crazy day. We'll get our Valentine's done and maybe some decorations and maybe even some baking too.

I'm a terrible aunty!

My niece Alyssa is turning 7 in just one week. Somehow with being sick and the cold, and DI, and other things, this had simply left my mind. Now I'm in a mad hurry to craft something for her, and I am having crafters block!!! I have no idea what to make for her. She's wonderful and spunky and likes red, and I still have nothing!

I considered either a pillow or a reading pillow (with straps to hold down a book.) But they don't seem right. I'm super stuck. Anyone out there in blogger land have any ideas I would be so grateful to hear them!

BRRRRRRRR it's cold

Well, school was cancelled today. It is -35 degrees farenheit. So we are still hibernating in the house. I think we are all getting a little pent up. The kids are getting on each other's nerves, and mine too. The cold is also making us all feel lazy too. They don't want to bake or craft or anything. It's supposed to be this cold all week and into next week. I hope "they" are wrong!

Ugh, I'm back

Well, it seems the entire world got really sick around my birthday, and I haven't had much time to do anything. Well, so far everyone seems back to their old selves, and the weather has turned bitterly cold. So, you'll probably see me making up for lost time as we snuggle in at home.

My birthday was wonderful, I did nothing which was the goal. Tim's mom took the boys (they had off of school, and she had off of work, everyone was happy!) I watched some soaps (believe it or not, I totally caught up.) I took a long bath, painted my toenails, drank tea, watched the snow fall, read a bit from a book I enjoy, Tim brought home some Chinese (my fav, he hates,) and we did absolutely nothing! It was so nice!

I received some wonderful gifts from a craftster birthday swap. I got a neat crocheted fairy.

I received a whole package full of crafting goodies!

Also, I received my One Tiny Thing Swap item. It is a beautiful knitted wristlet. I know I need to get better at my picture taking techniques. I'd love to blame my old camera, but I really think itis more user error. Here it is and the picture doesn't do it any justice.

Well, that's fairly caught up.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, today is my father's birthday! We'll be singing the birthday song by the beatles to him later tonight. And we'll be taking him out for brunch on Sunday. But until then

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!

Scrabble Scrabble

Tim and I have always loved Scrabble. I never played it when I was a kid. It was something we sort of picked up together a short time after we met. I had a dream that I painted a room like a scrabble board. I don't know if I have the patience to do that, but it would be really neat! Anyway, boredom and avoiding doing my homework I found this.

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 12. What is your score? Get it here.

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 15. What is your score? Get it here.

Yep, Tim's name is worth more points than mine!

My first birthday present!

Well, my birthday is coming up on Friday. I turn 29 this year. (Or 29 for the first time, depending on how I feel next year.) I was very excited to get my first birthday present today. When actually I have received a few now! My first one came this morning, a friend of mine has been busy writing a crochet book, and I have been helping her out by proofing her work. Well, she sent me a gift this morning. It's all wrapped up in pretty paper, and I am refusing to open it until my birthday (we'll see how that goes.) Then, this afternoon, I received a package from a craftster birthday swap! I know it is a tote to carry my crochet projects in, but I'm also going to wait to open it until my birthday. Lore painted me a picture for my birthday, which I may have framed it's so cute. My mother-in-law is taking the boys on Friday so I can have a day to myself! (Excellent gift, since they have off on Friday!)

I sat down and just thought today about where I thought I'd be at this age, and surprisingly, I'm NO where near it. However, I am really happy, which I don't know if I ever really thought I would be at this age. So many people go through life getting through it, and I think at the ripe old age I am, I have finally realized that looking around is so much better than coasting through. I am so blessed! So I guess if this is what getting older is, just appreciating everything more, then I guess.... BRING IT ON!!

Rainbow Notebook Cover

I watched the color craft-a-long last year, and hoped to participate this year. Then I saw the quilt challenge this month (both on craftster.) And had a thought. I always use tons of different notebooks to make tons of lists. It's a horrible habit of mine. I then almost always lose the particular notebook or list before I really need it. So I bought myself a 5 subject notebook, thinking that I would have one subject for different aspects of my life. Meal planning, crochet, quilting, gift doodles, other.... you know what I mean. Anyway, the cover was so ucky and looked just like any other notebook. I figured even though it's bigger, I'd still find a way of losing it. So I again remembered the challenge and craft-a-long, and came up with a quilted notebook cover in rainbow (which was January's color.) So here it is. I love it, and haven't lost it yet, but I don't think I will!

Here's the outside cover. You can see I used a wide piece of elastic to hold the cover closed.

Here's a shot of the inside cover. I can keep my pens and pencils in there. (At the bottom you can see that the elastic is tucked on the front of the cover because it is open.)

Here's a not very good closeup shot of the quilting.

Tree Of Life Pendant

I am not a jewelry maker. I've dabbled in throwing some beads on a string and making book thongs, I've made a few row counter bracelets for friends, but never actually making jewelry. Well, I saw a pendant similar to this the other day on craftster, and I just had to make one. I did my best, and these are my results.

I am really quite proud of it, and would like to wear it, however, I can't figure out what to wear it on. I know in the picture it looks like copper wire, but it's really more of a brown. I have tried it on gold, silver, and copper chains. I didn't like any of these. I tried it on 2 different sueded leather cords and didn't like those. I have it on a black cord right now, and it's ok, but not really as attractive as I think it could be. Does anyone have any suggestions?

No matter what I am extremely proud of it, and I think I may make more of them possibly for Christmas ornaments next year.

Christmas Gifts

I didn't do the greatest at taking pictures of the gifts I made for everyone this year. However, I did manage a few shots, so here they are.

This is an Amish puzzle ball that I made for my new baby nephew Evan. He's only about 2 months old, so he didn't care a whole lot. It has flannel dinosaur fabric on the outside and red on the inside.

For my 2 youngest nieces I made monkey finger puppets. So they could act out the 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. Here they are all together.

Here is Jorden posing with 2 of her monkeys. She didn't really care for her picture being taken.

Here is Ambrosia with her favorite monkey. Her favorite color is orange, so her favorite monkey was the one with the orange bow in her hair. They played with them all night together, it was really cute!

Ambrosia's mom, Terri, is my sister-in-law. I made her this scarf. I caught a quick picture of it right before I wrapped it. It is rolled up tight around some wool socks, some iron-close teabags, and some fabulous lipchap! She loved it. It looks similar to Neapolitan Ice cream.

These next 2 I didn't make, but I had creative packaging, so I thought I should share. My mom's boyfriend asks for beer every year, so that's what he gets, but since it's the same thing, I feel I have to be creative with the wrapping. It's 2 of Santa's toy bags in the sleigh, which are being pulled by 8 tiny ReinBeer. It took about 15 minutes before we went to my mom's house.

A close up of the ReinBeer Antlers

The last picture I remembered to grab was a scarf for my grandpa. He wanted a scarf for dress, and church, so I came up with this one. This is rolled up around Old Spice (His choice not mine,) some lottery tickets, lip chap and some grenadiers (cigars that he likes.)

Merry New Year!

Oh, I have been having some difficulties getting into blogger, but I think I may have figured it out, so I'm back now.

I had a wonderful holiday season! I hope everyone else did too.

I was wonderfully lucky to have Tim off of work the whole time that the boys and I were off of school! We got to spend a nice week together. Much of the time was spent with extended family, but lots was just the 5 of us having fun together. We played lots of games, and just got to know each other again, it was fabulous!

We went to a hotel one night, that had a bit of a water park, so the kids could just have fun. Here are a few pictures from then. (Unfortunately they are a tad dark, sorry.)

A picture of my hubby on a little water slide. He's such a dork!

Here's a picture of Liam on the same waterslide.

Levi just finishing the waterslide.

Levi again, looking a tad creepy!

And one last pic of all the boys right before going to the room for supper.