Posts from the ‘Love’ Category

May 9

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Love: I Love Energy

10 things I love about my precious son.

I love watching my son play with wild abandonment.
I love the intense look on his face when he plays video games.
I love his scrawny chest when he goes without a shirt.
I love how thoughtful he can be, when I least expect it.
I love watching him sleep.
I love watching him walk through the door after school. I can immediately tell if it has been a good day or a bad day.
I love the pleased look on his face when he brings home 100s.
I love how he eats.
I love watching TV with him – especially our favorite shows.
I love PJ.

I will be proud of this young man when he grows up.

May 1

Love: Cody Lundin Style TeePee

Our family is huge fans of Dual Survivor. My son watches and learns. This weekend at Blackwater State Park, he decided he needed shade, so he build a Cody Lundin style teepee. To see a larger photo, click here.

May 1

Love: Blackwater State Park

PJ, Max and Harry playing in the sand at Blackwater State Park.

May 1

Love: Blackwater State Park

Today my family spent the day at Blackwater State Park. Blackwater River is on of the purest sand-bottom rivers in the nations. We had a good time and plan to go back next week.

Jan 26

Precious Toy Dolls

When I was in middle school, my entire grade trekked to Six Flags in Atlanta, GA. My parents, who were poor most of my childhood, gave me walking around money. For a souvenir, I purchased a wooden dutch lady sitting in a wooden swing. She was made in East Germany and had a brightly painted full skirt and stick arms. She would swing back and forth when I gave her a push with my finger.

I had (and still have) a very active imagination. I would hold her and enjoy the smooth tactile feel of her wooden skirt while daydreaming. I’m still a daydreamer.

Fast forward to adulthood. An acquaintance brought his children to my home. I was devastated when one of his children broke (on purpose!!!) my little doll. I kept my cool and hid my distress, after all kids are kids. Right?

I couldn’t bear to look at my broken doll, so I packed her away. Out of sight…

Ten or more years later, I found my doll and her swing packed away in a box of memories. I displayed the pieces in my china cabinet, but was broken-hearted each time I passed by and saw the broken doll. My little doll ive in my china cabinet for another year.

Last week, I glue and patched my little doll. After a 5 minute patch job and 24 hours of drying time, I had a perfectly fine wooden doll to enjoy – AGAIN!!!!

Lesson. If something is broken, but can be fixed; fix it right away. Years of distress and anguish over nothing is silly.

Dec 18

Merry Christmas to Mom

Could you resist this?

My dog, Dash, is begging for… food. He loves people food. He is a very fat Italian Greyhound.

My Cricut experience

Yesterday, while shopping in Walmart with my hubby, I noticed the Cricut machines were on clearance sale. I kinda want one and kinda don’t. I looked at the box (priced at $198 from $225) and decided I didn’t want one (for that price).

This morning, I checked my emails (the whole family is still asleep and I am cherishing the quiet!). I received a weekly newsletter from one of my two favorite font addiction site (Lettering Delights) (The other is ScrapNFont). I really liked the graphics they were selling, but what the heck is an SVG file? I’ve purchased some digital scrapbook elements (just to play with), so I clicked the find out. I was intrigued by the “cuttable” option and clicked a tutorial to find out more. I landed here. Of course, I was intrigued (and starting to want…). Then, I clicked over to the Make the Cut software site. Software was on sale… Bazinga!! (I love Sheldon and Big Bang Theory) I can see the power of converting jpg and other file types to SVG and then cutting them out (which I currently do by hand….). I have tons of font, too. If I could cut fabric with a Cricut, I must have it. A quick google search lead me to this thread. Within mere minutes, I ordered the Cricut (Walmart site to store for $175) and the software. Merry Christmas to me. I can’t wait to appliqué… everything. Just like my embroidery machine.

My Cricut will be delivered to the store next week. I can’t wait!!!!!! I ordered green. hehehe

Don’t tell anyone, but I also ordered 4 new hoops for my embroidery machine. Shhh

Aunt Dee

Do you remember the lovely quilt my mom and I made for my Aunt Dee. Sadly, Aunt Dee passed away. I hope she could feel the love mother and I pouring into the quilt. Dee’s funeral was the most beautiful funeral I’ve ever attended. I want communion at my service, too. Dee, I will miss you.

Machine Embroidery

I want to purchase this embroidery collection for a shirt for my Dad. The designer recommends using a 50-70 wt thread. Not knowing anything about thread weights, I looked up Coats & Clark . I prefer to embroidery with XP thread, as it is not as lint-y (compared to Guttermann). I didn’t find what I needed, so I called customer service. A very help lady pointed me to this page. It lists the weight of all their threads. I hope you find it helpful, too.

Curls & Swirls Blog

I wanted to recommend a friend of mine, Rachel. She is an artist and she has the cutest blog, Curls & Swirls. Rachel paints the cutest pictures for teachers. Rachel painted a super cute picture for Mr. Simmons’ Pirates. If you adore your teacher, you might want to order one too. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped it. Boo

Twinkle Toes

Have you seen this gals pedi? I must have twinkle toes , too.

Homemade Oreos

My dear friend Tammy’s son is allergic to eggs. As a result, he has limited food choices. His favorite cookies are Oreos. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them. http://www.kitchenist.com/cooking/sweet/blast-from-the-past-homemade-oreos/609 I am hoping me and Tammy can have a baking day. We haven’t spent time together in ages. Busy, Tammy?

Future Writer

?Yesterday, I found a blog post by my daughter from over 2 years ago. It was full of angst over a boy. I could feel her pain, but I could also see a great writer. I encouraged her to start writing again (She had a very popular NeoPets blog, back in the day). This morning, I awakened to find this gift.

She wrote a story about her brother’s excitement for Christmas. Very nice job, Olivia. Thank you. Keep writing. I make a good living by writing and you can too.

Crafting

You know I can’t go a day or two without crafting something, right? My kitchen table needed… something. Flowers would look nice, but I have bad luck with Poinsettias and my life is too busy to upkeep fresh flowers (who wants to cut stems and change water, when you can be sewing?). I remembered the tissue paper flowers I’ve seen on the internet and whipped up a few. I’m not in love with the pinecone. Today I will remove it and add one more flower. I think I will add fake snow to the vase, too.

Don’t they look real? I used this tute. I love this blogger’s idea, too.

Christmas Ornaments

Have I showed you my Shiny Brites? I found these at the Thrift Store (my fav) in the original box. I have six. They really add something special to my tree.

And here is the ornament PJ made in school. Beautiful, yes.

He also made this one. Not sure what to think.

Dec 14

Christmas Band Concert and other highlights of my day

I had the pleasure of attending my daughter’s band concert tonight. The band sounded great.

My daughter is behind the kid in the red Santa hat. I could never get a photo with her in it. Dang hat.

But, here is my sweetie after the concert. These photos were taken at my Mom’s house. Do you like her Florida Christmas Tree?

And here:

Isn’t she pretty? Just like her Ma.

At the concert, I saw this lady with an awesome Christmas blazer.

Here is a close up of the fabric.

I bet you anything she made that jacket. I wish I had one. Maybe not as bright, but just as Christmassy.

A few weeks ago, ALL YOU magazine sent me a sample of Quaker Oats to sample and survey about. My sample did not arrive until after the survey expired, so I was unable to participate. Good thing, too. Because my sample was way too sweet. I could barely stomach it. At Target this weekend, I purchased a new (at least new to me) flavor of Instant Oatmeal, Apple Cranberry Almond.

It is so good. I can’t wait for breakfast, so I can eat it again. Doesn’t this morning breakfast look yummy?

I have a work desk, but for the past few weeks I’ve worked at the kitchen table. Not sure why…

This picture is to prove I do cook… sometimes.

And, I cook Oatmeal nearly every morning. Does that count?

Remember my cheesecake pillows from yesterday? Dash is the only male in my household who likes my pillows.

This weekend, we ate at our local Chinese buffet. Gimme a break. We had a Cub Scout Christmas parade and I was too tired to cook. I know fortune cookies are a bunch of hooie, but take a look.

If my sweet boss is reading this, Keep Calm and Carry On. I’m sure it’s a fluke.

Photo from Mad Maydel

Dec 7

Getting ready for Christmas

I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. I love the holiday, but hate the prep work. I enjoy making gifts, but I hate the perfectionism that comes with crafting. I love dreaming of the perfect gifts for my family and friends, but hate that I can’t afford the perfect gift. Um, I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.

for the past month, I’ve been sewing my fingers to the bone (and wishing I could post pix here and that would spoil the surprise) and my list is FINALLY whittling down.

Back during the summer, I purchased a clear glass lamp and linen shade from Target. I had visions of filling the lamp base with holiday goodies. Right off the bat, I made a mushroom scene and…. Never changed it.

It was time to replace the mushrooms with a winter/Christmas decoration. This is what I came up with.