So super yummy!!!!

Have you guys tried these wonderfully scrumptious cookies?!?!?!?!  Wow, are they good!!!  Don't expect me to share though.  Jake had the nerve to find my hiding spot and helped himself to a few....WHAT!!!!!  How dare he.  What was he doing looking there anyway??  Then he managed to make it worse by uttering these blasphemous (do you like that, Beth??)words, "Shea, I'll give you two cookies if you eat your asparagus. "  Wouldn't the cookies cancel out the health benefits of the asparagus?  How could he take my precious cookies away from me?  What have I done to him??

So, with my hiding spot sacrificed and some of my precious cookies gone, what am I to do?  Right....get over it and get to finishing some of my Christmas presents I'm making........right after I find a new hiding spot!!

Now I just need a peppermint mocha coffee, and I'll be in peppermint heaven.  It's a real place, ya know!!!

I'm Baaack!!!

Where to begin!!!!!
It looks like I wasn't up to the challenge.  I never made it past day12 of the 30day challenge.  I'm such a slacker!!  Well, I'm not really a slacker, just with my blog.  I have been busier than ever with work.  They have forced me to switch over to TV.  I dragged my heels as long as I could, but they won.  I'm so thankful that I don't know anyone in North Carolina, Orlando or Oregon that will be watching my captions.  It's not pretty sometimes, but I'm getting better every show I caption.

I just finished up the kids' advent calendar......yes, on the 8th day of the month.  What can I say, I've been busy.  I still need to Mod Podge the clothespins, but I really like the way it turned out....so does Shea, just as long as there's chocolate in it.

I'm thinking of making another one, but knitting little stockings instead.  The kids can't really be expected to share advent calendars, now can they?!?!?!?!?!?

Here's my new favorite coffee mug I fancied up for Christmas with vinyl.  I'm loving the vinyl.  I have several other ideas in mind.....now if I could only find the time.  Where, exactly, does the time go??????

Jake just came back after two weeks in Arizona elk hunting.  We're headed down to Tucson next week for a couple weeks for Christmas...YAY!!!!!  I can't wait!!!!

Here's a picture of my cuties from Halloween.  They had so much fun.  The weather was great for being out.  Van Meter Parks and Rec has a get together at one of our parks before Trick-or-Treating with hot dogs, hot chocolate and treats.  It was fun.  A big group of us ended up Trick-or-Treating together.  Shea and her friends ran crazy throughout the neighborhoods.  We would just see a flash of their glow sticks every once in a while.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Christmas is right around the corner....is everyone ready?!?!?!?

Day 12 - 30 Day Challenge

Something you are OCD about -

I'm not really OCD about anything that I can think of.  Let me dig real deep.  I'm thinking, thinking, thinking.  Nope, can't come up with a damn thing.  I'm not OCD about cleaning, although I sooooo wish I was (Yes, Beth, I want to be more like you...really).  I don't plan things well in advance.  I don't have dinner planned out every night.  I don't make the kids take a bath/shower every night, although it's a terrific idea.

I've got it.....I'm OCD about procrastinating and not putting plans into action.  I knew I was OCD about something!!

Now I'm off to go start cleaning!!

Day 11 - 30 Day Challenge

A photo of you recently -

This one was hard.  I'm always the one taking the pictures, not in them. 
Here's one of me holding my neice's new baby, Lindsey.  I was in Tucson in July for my high school reunion and got a chance to go see her at the hospital.  She was born early and had to spend quite a while in the NICU....such a sweet baby!!  She was so tiny that Shea was afraid to hold her.  Poor thing, she had been waiting all day to hold her but then chickened out.

I look just as young as I did in my last post from my wedding, don't I!!!!  I'd twist all of your arms to say yes if you were anywhere near me.

Day 10 - 30 Day Challenge

A photo taken of you over 10 years ago -

I'm looking for a specific picture but can't seem to find it.  This will have to do in the meantime.  This is from our wedding (duh, obviously) 12 1/2 years ago.  Doesn't Jake look super young???  I swear he's my age. Well, he's six months older to be exact.  Oh, to be young and skinny again.

Here's one of my brother, Beau, and I.

 

Day 9 - 30 Day Challenge

A photo you took -

Well, 99.9% of the pictures I take are of the kids.  I really should branch out more.

Here's my little sweetie a few days ago.

Day 8 - 30 Day Challenge

Photo that makes you angry/sad

Well, I don't really have a photo to post....sorry!!  There are plenty of pictures that make me sad but none that make me angry.  Here's where I get all deep and everything.  The pictures that make me sad are either ones of the kids when they were younger....oh, how I wish they wouldn't grow up, or they're ones of me when I was younger, say 5-20 years ago.  They make me sad because of all the things I thought I'd do but haven't done and probably never will. 

For instance, I was positive I was going to move to either Boston, Vermont or Maine.  But where did I end up??  Iowa!!  How in the !@#$ did that happen???  Have you guys ever been to the Northeast Coast?  It is so crazy beautiful.  Without letting you all into my crazy mind, I'll just leave it at that one example.

On the other hand, how can I be sad for what I haven't done/accomplished when I'm surrounded by the absolutely most beautiful accomplishments ever.....my family.  So there you go, I'm sad and happy at the same time!!!

Oh, on a side note, I finally finished Shea's quilt today....WOO HOO!!!!  I'll post pics tomorrow.  Shea absolutely loved it...exactly what I was going for!!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Day 7 - 30 day Challenge

A photo that makes you happy.

Well, of course it's going to be of the kids!!!!

I have so many favorite pictures of the kids.  I wish you could zoom in on this one.  If you look real close you can see Shea's hillbilly front tooth, the one that took absolutely forever to come out.  I'm so happy it came out the week before school pictures. 
It seems like almost all of Drew's pictures are in this shirt.  I promise you he has other clothes. 

Day 6 - 30 Day Challenge

20 of my favorite things -

1. My family, of course!!  They're all so wonderful, including my dog, Ruger.
2. Heated floors.
3. Coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer.
4. Working from home.
5. Watching Shea run.  The girl LOVES to run and run and run and run!!!!
6. Having funny kids.
7. Dancing With the Stars.
8. Pretty fabrics.
9. Working on my 1st quilt.
10. Listening to Drew talk.  He no longer sounds like Curious George.
11. Fall weather.
12. Being pregnant.
13. Listening to Shea sing....just not Justin Beiber!!
14. Pillowtop bed.
15. The Tennis Channel.
16. Shea telling me about her day when she gets home.
17. Drew getting into bed with us in the middle of the night.
18. Tasty Taco.
19. CHEESECAKE!!!!!
20. The color green - lime green to be exact.

I really have about 50 million favorites, who doesn't!!

Have a great day!

Day 5 - 30 Day Challenge

Favorite Quote -

Where there's a will, I want to be in it!  

There are some good quotes out there, but this one is definitely the best, don't ya think????

Day 4 - 30 Day Challenge

Your Favorite Book -

This one is a tough one.  There are so many books that I love from the Harry Potter series to the Kay Scarpetta series to the Prey series.  They're all great.  However, my all-time favorite book is The Elephant Man.  It is such a tearjerker.  Oh, oh, I totally loved The Lovely Bones....so super good.  I've keep a journal of all the books I've read since 2002.  There are a ton of books that I want to read, it's just so hard to find the time.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Day 3 - 30 Day Challenge

Your Favorite TV Show

This one is easy, Dancing With the Stars.  It is the only show I get to watch other than kids' shows, seriously!!!  I try to catch The Office, which I think is hysterical, but I don't have much time for TV.  I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of our dish and switching to Netflix.  My friend Beth has done it and hasn't had any regrets.

I have to admit that I do love watching Phineas and Ferb with the kids.  It is such a funny show.

Day 2 - 30 Day Challenge

Favorite Movie -

There are a lot of movies that I love, but I think my favorite would have to be The Princess Bride.  The movie is hysterical.  I can't wait until Shea gets a little older so that she can watch it with me.  I just know she'll love it.  It's right up her alley.

Have a great day!!

Day 1 - 30 Day Challenge

My friend Kaylan tagged me to participate in a 30 day challenge from here.  I can't promise that I'm going to do it every day.....come on, we all know how horrible I am about updating my blog.  It sounds fun, so here I go.

Day 1:  Your favorite song.

This is kind of a tough one.  For those that don't know, and if you don't, you should, The Beatles are my all time favorite band..EVER!!!!  I'd have to pick either Let it Be or Daytripper, but there are so many good ones.  Meeting Paul McCartney is on my bucket list after all!!  I did get to see him in concert a few years back.  He was super awesome!!  Lately I'm totally loving Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.  Carrie's coming in concert in December.  It sure would be super cool to see her.

Bass bowling

If you ever get the chance to go bowling at the Bass Pro Shop in Altoona, IA, I highly recommend it.  It is super fun!!!  We went there when my parents were up visiting last month.  The whole bowling alley is like you're underwater.  They even have part of a sunken ship sticking out with a mermaid on the front, which Shea thought was super cool, and it was.  The kids had a total blast.

I guess Shea's not afraid of sharks!!! 

This is our lane...cool, huh!!

                                             Jake showing us all how it's done.......showoff!!
                                    

Okay, I'm not sure why my last pic is wacky....aargh!!!



On a different note, the kids are having their very first babysitter tomorrow (other than family).  Shea couldn't be more excited.  She absolutely LOVES the girl that's going to babysit.  She already wrote out an agenda for what they're going to do while the babysitter's over.

Jake's going to a wedding and I'm going to get a facial.  The wedding is for one of the producers that Jake freelances with.  He's now helping film the wedding and reception, so rather than go and be by myself, I figured some time at the spa was a better way to go.  Actually, I have to give Jake the credit.  He got me a gift certificate to Sahar's in May for our anniversary, but I haven't found the time to go and get pampered.  He figured that was going to be more fun for me than the wedding.....good thinking!!!  They couldn't get me in for a massage to go with it, so while I won't be relaxed, I'll totally be glowing.  Well, that's the idea at least.

Have a fantastic weekend!!!

Let me introduce myself!!!

Hi, my name is Stacey.  I have abandoned my blog.  I'm a blog abandoner.  I promise to get better.  There's no one else here in my blog abandoner support group except me, so I'll be doing all the talking today.
I can't believe it's been THREE months since I've blogged last.  I've done tons that's blogworthy.  I went to Tucson for my 20th high school reunion and my mom's retirement, Drew turned two (yes, I can't believe he's two, and yes, I'm having the itch to have another baby), Shea started 1st grade, my parents came up to visit, got some devestating family news, gained a few pounds, etc. etc. etc
I'll start from the present and work my way backwards.  Yesterday I took the kids to the playground after school for a while.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, and we had to make the most of it.

This week is homecoming week at Van Meter, so all the kids get to have fun dress-up days this week.  Monday was cowboy day.  Tuesday was super hero day.  Today is pink day.  Shea is head to toe pink today, totally decked out!!!  Tomorrow is pajama day, and Friday is spirit day.  You wear your Van Meter colors.  How fun is that.  We never had that growing up, did we????
I'm putting the first coat of paint on a growth chart I'm making for the kids.  I've had all of the supplies since March....yes, March!!  It's so much easier for me to find the time to buy the supplies than to actually get the project done.  This is going to be a fun one.

Have a great day!!!!

Puppy Dog Relays

A couple weeks ago Shea had Puppy Dog Relays at school.  She had a B.L.A.S.T.!!!!!!  The kids get to go around to different events and compete.  I volunteered and helped run the gunny sack station.  It was super hot out that day.  The poor kids were sweating like crazy and had to get into these itchy, hot burlap sacks and race.  They all had a great time.  I got sun burned pretty bad.  It's not like I grew up in hot, sunny Arizona or something where I'm used to needing sunscreen.  Sometimes I'm not too smart.  This first picture is of Shea and her friend Maya doing the gunny sack race.

Jake was able to be there for a while to take pics of Shea at the other events......you know, before he got pulled away for something really important.  He just HAD to leave to go fishing.  Anywho, Shea's no longer a Kindergartener.  She's now in 1st grade, and she'll let you know it every chance she gets.            

Today was supposed to be her last T-ball game, but it got rained out.  We got lots and lots of rain.  She's been having a blast in T-ball.  Oh, to be six again and play T-ball, play Puppy Dog Relays and listen to Justin Beiber.  Have I mentioned Justin Beiber yet....what?????  I haven't??????  I'm so sorry.  Let me talk about him as much as Shea does just to make you all sick of him too.  Here's the scoop:  Shea has a super cool busdriver.  If someone brings a CD, she lets them listen to it on the bus.  They usually just listen to a country station, but one day she comes home singing a song about when she was 13, she had her first love.....totally rocking out like anyone would to good ol' JB.  Her cousin made her a JB CD, and that's all she wants to listen to now.  I somehow always find a reason not to pop him in.  Is this how my mom felt listening to Wham when I was younger????  I know it could be worse, but come on, the girl's only six.  She should still only be interested in listening to our Disney soundtracks.  Next thing you know she'll be jammin' to Slipknot.  Until then, she's still my super sweet JB fan.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!!!

           

Anniversary

Jake and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary earlier this month.  Well, I can't really say that we celebrated.  Jake was down and totally out with his back and Shea was on her death bed with strep.  It wasn't a real festive day in the Rhodes household.  Drew and I had fun though.
My father-on-law just couldn't stand it that we weren't going to be doing anything for our anniversary, so he came over that night with flowers and a cake.  Check it out.

Did you notice how the genius spelled *anivesary*......nice!!!  We got a good laugh out of that one.  For those of you that don't know, Jake's name is really Chris.....it's a long story. There's no interesting witness protection program story or anything.  He's not in hiding.

Shea is finally having her first t-ball game tonight against Adel....YAY!!!  Her first game got rained out.  Her second game was supposed to be this past Saturday but got rescheduled to tonight.  She is so stinkin' excited.  It should be fun.

Oh, yeah, I finally bought clay so Shea and I can get going on my pottery wheel.  Shea is so excited.  Maybe we'll be able to find some time to get started on that this weekend..

Hope everyone's having a great day!!

Mother's Day and my madness

I've finally kicked myself in the butt and gotten over my pity party.  I'm really back this time.  I've been overwhelmed, overworked and super stressed.....totally not fun.  I'm super sorry to all of you that I've blown off lately through messages and FB.  Honestly, I wouldn't have been all that much fun to talk to.  It's all been in my head, so the kids haven't been suffering from my craziness....well, no more than usual.

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best kids in the world!!!!  They spoiled me on Mother's Day, just like every mother should be.  I hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day!!

Here's a picture of something Shea did at school for me for Mother's Day.  I hope you can read it.  It's pretty funny.

So, apparently I'm really old, really tall and super skinny.  Jake and Shea made me these flowers.  Who knew that Jake had a crafty bone in his body.                                                                                     

Then they got me another apple tree.  Pretty sweet day, huh!!!  Well, yeah, until later when we were at my in-laws' house and Drew had a little, okay big, accident and hurt his face.  My poor little guy biffed it on their deck....OUCH!!!!  Nothing a little snuggling with Mommy couldn't fix.  This picture actually looks good.  He  looked like he got his butt whooped in a boxing match for  few days.                                                                                                                                                                                                

            

                                                                   

He's now into accessorizing his outfits himself.  Sweet getup, huh!!!!!  He's got the baby monitor that's his phone.  He keeps talking into it to Daddy, but Jake never seems to talk back to him.                                    

Hope you all are having a great week so far.

I'm Baaack!!!

Have I really been gone from posting for over a month.....Yikes!!!! To say that I have been stressed out and have my mind on a million other things is an understatement, to say the least.  I'm not usually a stressed person.  I hate being stressed.  The last time I was this stressed was back at AIB trying to pass a take.  I know you AIBers totally know what I mean.
I at least managed to have one stress-free day.  I took the kids to the park this past Sunday and had a picnic.  It was the most beautiful day.  Jake had to work all day and Shea has been dying for a pinic, so that's exactly what we did.  I decided to forget about the gazillion other things on my mind.  We went to Raccoon River Park.  The kids had a great time.  We did our picnic then played on the playground.  I totally forgot that they had a lake and beach.  The kids would have stayed there all day.  Next time we'll have to plan better for the beach.

I'm pretty sure Drew was checking out the cutie swinging next to him in this one.

I hope everyone's having a fantastic week.

This and that

Hello everyone!!!!
Okay, so I have this huge blank space by my kitchen that's just begging for a new flatscreen TV to fill it up.  Until it just drops into my lap, I'm going to need to figure out something else to put there, and I think I have it.  I did a little one to see how it would turn out.  I love it.  I took a canvas, painted the eges, then attached a pic.  I'm going to do a 24"x48" collage for my bare space.  I'm hoping to get it done this weekend.  I always have hopes of getting things done over the weekend and it never happens.

The picture above is going to go on a shelf like the one here.

Super cute, huh!!!  I bought the materials about a month ago to make a few of these.  They seem easy enough.  Jake is abosultely bored when he's at home, so I told him to make me one.  Simple enough, right???  Wrong!!!  He said we didn't have the right tools.  WHA?????  We have a saw, miter box and tape measurer, what else do you think we need??  Apparently we need some table saw, electric thingy and an airgun.  You're talking a few hundred dollars.  I'm saying we get them, because I N.E.E.D. like eight or so of these shelves.  Who's with me?????  Plus, I have big, big plans for furniture to make from Knock Off Wood.  I daydream about the cool furniture I could make from her blog.

Here is another blog you just have to check out, Cake Wrecks.  It's hysterical.  I'm warning you though, only look at it when you have a lot of time.  It's hard to pull yourself away.  They do show some beautiful cakes, but most are wrong for many different reasons.  Make sure you read the blogger's comments.  They're the funniest part.

Anywho, here's a pic of how it's looking here today.

No, I didn't take a bad picture, it's just that crappy out.  A little sun would be nice.  At least I'm starting to see the ground.  Could it be that Spring will actually come to Iowa this year????  I'm not holding out hope.

Have a great day!!!!

What I love about Iowa

Hmmmmmm....what do I love about Iowa???  The constant snow this winter that is driving me stir crazy?  No, that's definitely not it.  Being away from my family and missing them in Arizona?  No, that's not it either.  I L.O.V.E. the people, and I have the best story to back me up.
So, I'm needing to finish Shea's quilt.  I needed a walking foot to be able to quilt it.  So what do I do?  I go to my favorite quilting store to see if they can help me figure out what I need.  They needed more info about my sewing machine, so I called them back when I got home.  I spoke to the nicest lady named Pat.  She told me what she thought I needed and that they didn't have one in the store.  Pat told me she had one at home that she doesn't use anymore that she would lend me to see if it worked on my machine.  I kind of hated for her to do that for me, but you would have totally said yes too while talking to Pat.  She was so nice, it was like we were already friends. I said okay and thank you before I even realized that I didn't know her and she didn't know me.  Yet here she was letting me borrow her walking foot.  How freakin' nice is that!!!!!!  It totally saved me from having to order one online and hope it worked.
I called her back yesterday to let her know I had picked it up and it works wonderfully.  Since she no longer used it, I was going to see if she wanted to sell it to me.  It helps me and it helps her, right???  Before I could offer to buy it from her, she said, "Great.  I'm so glad it worked.  It's yours."  WHA?????  I told her no, no, no.  I would love to buy it from her if she didn't need it anymore, but she couldn't just give it to me.  She insisted, and so I now it's mine.  She did tell me that I needed to pass it on and do something nice for someone else.  Damn, I knew there'd be a catch!!  
Believe it or not, that's the short version of the story.  How super nice of her was that?!?!?!?!?!
So, I think this calls for a chalk plate to be made for Pat in appreciation of being so awesome.

Here's the kids in Drew's new Sesame Street jumping castle thingy he got for Christmas.  The kids just love it. Shea thinks it hysterical how staticky (it's the right spelling.  I looked it up) her hair gets.  Yes, Drew still uses his pacifier.  He's got them stashed all over the house.  That is going to be my big battle with him.  I'm mentally preparing myself for the battle of a lifetime with him over his pacifier.  It's not going to be pretty.  One of us might not make it out alive.  Shea was easy to break of hers, but Drew NEEDS it.

Hope everyone's having a great day.

Chalk plates anyone?????

I know the people back East are not enjoying this weather, but I totally am.  Since 99% of my work is for the Federal Government in Washington, 100% of my work for them has been cancelled....oh, yeah, and I still get paid for it.  Get paid for not working, now that is my dream job!!!!!  Not bad. 
It's been a pain in the butt for the kids and school.  Shea's not complaining.  She got out at 1p yesterday and had the afternoon with me.  What did we do?  Well, of course, we challenged each other to Super Marios Brothers.  My thumb is seriously hurting today from pushing the buttons on the Wii remote.  Dumb, I know, but we had a lot of fun.
Assuming it doesn't get cancelled tonight, Shea has her dance performance at the boy's basketball game in Van Meter.  She's so excited.

I have to admit that I'm totally getting addicted to the chalkboard paint.  I chalked up a few more plates and a couple coffee mugs.  I totally love how the coffee mugs came out.  Here's the problem though, I don't drink my coffee very fast.  Who has time with two little kids running around in the morning?  I'm thinking the mugs wouldn't do too well in the microwave, kind of like putting tin foil in the microwave.  I might just have to try it out to see if anything explodes.

I'm loving the chalkboard paint so much that I'm thinking of doing the whole outside of the house in it.  I mean, come on, what's better a chalkboard house or the baby blue paint the crazy people we bought the house from painted it??? 

Here's the cute snowman Shea and Jake made, hula skirt and all.  Shea's not too crazy about the snowman though.  She doesn't like that the mouth is straight.  Can't say I blame her.

Have a great day, everyone!!!!!!

Photo Wreath

Here is a super-stinkin' cute wreath that I made.  Totally cute, huh!!!!  It was sooo stinkin' easy, too.  The picture totally doesn't do it justice.  I've been going upstairs and staring at it ever since I finished it.

I saw it HERE and had just the perfect spot to put it.  Shea's going to be kind of ticked though.  I did have to take down one of her Care Bear pictures she had colored and has A.L.L. O.V.E.R. the place to put this up.

Shea has been giddy the past week or so.  She gets to practice with the Van Meter Dance Team for a few days and then perform a routine with them at one of the Van Meter Boys' Basketball games next week.  She has been so excited she can hardly stand it.  This is totally up Shea's alley.  Any of you that know her know that's she's not shy at all.  If any of my pictures turn out good, I'll post a few.

We're supposed to get another storm this Thursday/Friday.  That ruins my day off on Friday.  I was planning on meeting up with my friend, Beth.  But, noooo, I'm a sissy and can't handle the fun Iowa winter weather. 

Have a good rest of the week everyone!!

Valentine Fabric Wreath

So here's the deal.  What do you do with a five-year-old when there's an ice storm and school's cancelled????  I could have let her play the Wii all day, but I don't think so.  I could have let her watch movie after movie after movie.  Tempting, yes, but I don't think so.  Instead, I had her work on a fun Valentine craft.  I can't remember if I saw this idea on a blog or in a magazine. 

You get a foam heart, fun fabric, a sharpened pencil and glue.  This takes only about a gazillion 2"x2" squares of fabric.  I had to go back to the fabric store twice to get more fabric.  Put the pencil in the middle of the square, right side up, dip in glue then push into wreath.

You would think that this would only take a few hours, at the most, right?????  Wrong.  This little booger took forever.  Not counting needing to get more fabric, it still took a couple of days, which doesn't work too well with a five-year-old's attention span.  She had fun though.  You can't tell how cute it is from the pictures, but it really is.

I saw these HERE and thought they would be fun and fairly easy to make.

I think I would not have mine be so busy.  Kind of a little much, huh!!

Favorites

Coconut creamer, coconut M&Ms and my favorite Valentine mug

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate covered Espresso Beans and Cranberries

We don't have a Trader Joe's in Iowa.  These, alone, make me wish we did...YUM!!!!!

Drew playing hide-and-seek

Shea and her new mermaid doll

Smashbox lipgloss......the BEST!!!!

Pomegranate candles from Gold Canyon

Polka dots.....I would have them everywhere and on everything.  Love them!!

Black Raspberry Vanilla from Bath and Body Works

Our heated tile floors...oh, yeah!!

Peppermint Mocha Frappuccinos.  You can get them all year round, not just Christmas time.

I have never been one to really get into Valentine's Day, but ever since Shea was born I love it more and more.  It's so fun seeing her get into the holidays, even dorky ones like Valentine's Day.  We're finishing up a fun Valentine wreath we made.  I want to make these for Shea and Drew, but I highly doubt I will get to it this year.  Oh, well, might as well add it to my list of a million other things I want to make

Aren't they adorable!!!  I found them HERE.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend :)

Hello from Down Under

In honor of the upcoming Australian Open, I thought I'd send you all a message from the place I want to go visit more than any other place in the world.....Australia, of course.  Right now would be nice since it's summer there.

You can't tell from the picture how super cute this alphabet it, but I promise you that it is.  I made these for Shea so that she could practice her words and reading on our long, long, long drive to Tucson for Christmas.  I cut out letters on my Cricut machine that I love so much, put them on a magnet sheet, cut them out then Mod Podged them so they'll stay on nice.  They didn't get used much on the trip though.  I guess watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Up a gazillion times is much more fun then practing words...go figure!!!

I totally want to make one of these super cool magnetic boards http://craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com/2009/11/beadboard-magnetic-board.html for Shea to put her alphabet on. Yes, I STILL haven't figured out how to put a link up that doesn't put the whole damn thing up...Grrrrrr!!!!

It's finally warming up a bit here.....hello 20s and 30s.  Isn't it sad when it's in the 20s and 30s and you think it's a heat wave!!  I'll take it while I can get it.
Enjoy your day, everyone!!

I knit, therefore I am!!!!

I l.o.v.e to knit!!  I crocheted for way too many years because I was intimidated by knitting, but I wanted to knit sooo bad.  Well, enough of that, I told myself!!  I signed up for a knitting class and have been hooked ever since.

How cool to make something out of a skein of yard.  Above is my first felted bag.  I had never felted anything before, so I felt like a total knitting genius when this turned out so good. For once my husband was impressed with one of my projects too.  I made one similar for my mom for Christmas this year except hers is a blue-denim color.  I use it ALL the time,for everything....library books, yep...extra diapers and sippy cup, yep....knitting projects, yep!!!

I usually have 2-3 knitting projects going on at a time, but right now I only have one.  What's with that????

Oh, yeah, I just finished the top to Shea's quilt...big woo hoo!!!  Now comes the anxiety of finishing it.  I have to figure out how to bind it and quilt it...YIKES!!!  That also means that I have to make friends with my sewing machine...great!!

Girlfriends!!!

"Isn't that the most?  To say the least?"

 -Patty Simcox ( Grease)                                                    

                                                

I had the MOST fun visiting old high school friends while in Tucson, to say the least!!!! The time went by way too fast. It was so much fun to chat and see that everyone is doing good and are happy.

B-Cindy and Kristi

F-me, Rachel and Jessica

Rach and I were best friends in high school. I totally miss hanging out with her. Is there a funnier person in the world??  I don't think so.  We had drama together, played basketball together, she came to as many of my volleyball games as she could....good times!!!  Of course we had tons and tons of other fun times!!  We were inseperable. She turned me on to the Beatles, who are still my all-time favorite band.  Thanks, Rach!!

Cindy and I met my freshman year of high school, our first week, our first school dance.....no, we weren't dancing together!!  We've been friends ever since.  We have managed to stay in contact all this time.

Kristi and I played volleyball together.  Those were the days, mainly because we kicked @#$!!!!!!  Seriously!! 

Jessica and I met, I'm almost positive, through our friend Val.  We also had a stat class together at the UofA that totally kicked my butt.  I have n.e.v.e.r worked soo frickin' hard for a grade and still not understand half of what was taught. 

Rach sent me the best message the other day and brought up my pottery. I totally need to get back into doing my pottery. My pottery wheel and kilns are kind of ticked at me that I haven't used them for so long. I'm pretty sure they'll forgive me and let me make some beautiful stuff again.....soon, hopefully!!! Remember how I'm going to start making time to do the things I L.O.V.E.......well, my pottery is definitely one of those things.

Too too cute tutus!!!

These are some tutus I made for Christmas presents for my neices and my friend Michelle that has a sweet baby.  I never did get around to sending her anything when Kennedy was born, so I just had to make her one of these tutus.  Yes, this is another project that I got from a blog that I don't have a link to.  I'm pretty sure I have it written down somewhere, so when I find it, I'll post it.  Shea is wanting one that is rainbow.  No sweat, these are super easy!!

I just had to try one on Drew.....he'll hate me for it when he's older.

He.did.not want to take it off!!!