Because I must.... that's why

I have decided that I must start updating my blog more often. See that's the easy part, to decide to do something. Its the getting the blog updated part that I struggle with. Well, here is what I have been up to since my last blog post.

Halloween- The girls went as Ariel the Little Mermaid, Cleopatra, and a vampire. I went as Vampire Snow White and David went as Vampire Victim Prince Charming.


My favorite Halloween Decoration


In November I taught my Together album class, here is the front cover:


I also was able to visit with my new niece Kendell Michelle Carter, such a cutie face! This a few photos of her and her mother(my sister-in-law Karali) and my nephew Tyler.







And Finally, on December 8th I am teaching my Gingerbread Dreams Album class here is the covers:


I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I will be back before Christmas.

Updates & more

Crafting update:
This beautiful fabric is what I am planning to use for the purse I am going to sew in October. (Thanks again Aunt Debbie for the fabric!)














I am working on 4 scrapbook classes right now that will be taught over the next 4 months. My favorite classes right now are a family album made with Basic Grey Lime Rickey paper and a Christmas Album made with American Crafts Merrymint paper (See below.) Don't you just love the reindeer and the gingerbread people. (You can't see it in the photo but they have lovely metallic elements on the paper.) I finished up 6 scrapbook layouts that have been sitting on my desk forever, it was nice to make room for other projects.




















Mandy update:
I started allergy shots this month and so far its not bad; hopefully after doing this for a year I will start to see some relief. I have been working with an Advocate the last two months, she is helping us with our problems with the school district regarding the classroom supports we feel our youngest daughter needs to be truly successful in school. I have run the gamut of emotions regarding this; I have been angry, sad, depressed, hopeful, and content. I believe that all of the work I have been doing with our daughter's teacher and the advocate will pan out for us in the future. I have gained the strength I have needed to get through this from my family, friends, and the Lord. I have appreciated everyone's support and advice.


Here is what my children have been up to:
My oldest daughter, Lela, is continuing with her horseback riding and has enjoyed going on several trail rides that last two months. We are excited to report that my parents ( Lela's grandparents) horse is still pregnant and we are hoping for a successful birth next year so that Lela will finally be able to see "her" horse. Lela joined the CARE Club at school; its a club for 5th and 6th graders; they do fund raisers and participate in school/community activities. Lela was also selected as one of 60 kids who will compete and interview for 3o spots for a special Mission at the Challenger Space Center near our home. We are very excited for her and we hope she gets selected. We will let everyone know if she makes it.

Our middle daughter, Cora, returned to her singing troupe, Shine Your Light Singers, this month and is enjoying making friends with the new girls in the troupe. According to Cora's teacher at school, she is one of the most popular children in her class. Usually I don't put much stock in "popularity" but in this case I was happy to hear it because the teacher said she was popular with the other children because of her kind and compassionate behavior toward them.

Our youngest daughter, Anaya, is enjoying Kindergarten very much. Anaya has been telling me all about the things she does at school and the friends she is making. I have to keep asking her who everyone is because she has so many friends. We feel very blessed that Anaya is doing so well in a regular Kindergarten class. When you have an Autistic child you worry if they will connect well with other children their own age that don't know about or understand her condition. Anaya is working hard to overcome the challenges she is facing each week as her school work becomes more difficult for her. We are hoping that in the next few months the classroom supports we have been asking for will become a reality.

David:
David is busy as always with work, he took over some projects that another person on his team was doing previously. When he has free time, David plays chess and helps his grandmother work on his family's genealogy.

That's what we have been up to since my last post, hopefully I didn't miss anything. I love you all and miss those of you I don't get to see regularly. Happy Fall to all of you who get to enjoy the changing of the leaves this time of year, just know I am a little jealous of the beauty you are surrounded with.

2009-2010 School Year has begun

Sorry I have been MIA for awhile, getting the girls ready for school and learning how to function with all my children being gone has taken some time to get used to. Here is the "First day of school" picture. I promise to post more often. I have a scrapbook project and sewing project I am going to tackle in the next month or so. Stop by soon to see what kind of good stuff I am up to.

I changed my Blog!

Okay I messed with my blog, I parsed code, and cursed blogger but for now this will do. I am working on a very personalized template: i.e David has to program it. So this is my look for now. In the process of changing things I lost some information like most of my friends blogs.....ladies & gentleman I need you to give me your blog addresses again. I also sent everyone e-mails as well. Up this month: New scrapbook mini album class, a new purse, and photography experiments!

June is here!

While my kiddos are watching Saturday morning cartoons I thought I would run over here and give everybody and update. I can't believe its already June. This week we celebrated our sweet middle daughter's birthday she is 7 years old. (Hair, make-up and cheesy photo shoot with mom was in order.)



This Sunday I turn thirty-sexy; that's according to my husband (for the rest of the world I will be 36.) I know too much information. We are just hanging out in AZ in June no real vacation trips yet but stay tuned we have stuff coming up in July. I will be teaching a class this month at Scrap Happy Sisters. Other than that things are pretty quiet around here.

Summer Fun

This is how we spent our Memorial Day. The girls love to swim so we go as often as we can. We are also doing the Summer Movie program and going to the library as often as possible. Not much crafting is going on right now but hopefully I can get some scrapping done soon.

Preschool Graduation!

This is our sweet youngest daughter who graduated from preschool today and will be going to Kindergarten in August. I was crying my eyes out because I cannot believe my baby is going to be in Kindergarten, I am just not ready for her to be so grown up!

Its Done!

I have literally been trying to finish this album since February. As you all know, life has been interesting for the last few months so scrapbooking has been delegated to a lower priority up until now. I am hoping this album will be my next class, if all goes well. I have to finish up a few things and then take it into the store. I still do not have my scrappy groove back to where it once was but I feel like the inspiration is there again. I hope everyone had a great International Scrapbook Day.

Happy International Scrapbooking Day!

Hey I am scrapping today and I hope to have some stuff posted later today. I hope all my scrappy friends are getting their groove on. I will be blog stalking today to see what everyone is doing. And on a unrelated note I will be making some changes to my blog the next week so dont freak out if things are different its still me. Have a great day!

First Sewing Project Completed!

I am so very excited to show off my first completed sewing project. I finished it today! I really needed at new purse because I got a new/bigger planner that did not fit in my existing purse. This was a great project because it got me sewing and got me a new purse to play with. The headband is not done yet but once it is I will take a picture. And yes, that is me modeling my new bag. (Sorry no close ups today.)

Computer down time/First born daughter to arrive home

Well, after I finished my last blog post I told my tech support person (Mr Dave my husband) that I have was having performance issues with my PC. Well, after he worked on it for awhile I was informed that I have some problems with my registry and that my operating system may need to be reinstalled. I was not happy about that. We have more computers than family members in our house so I still have access to a computer. I can still get on the internet and check for new e-mails I just can't access my files or print. So, I am kinda of going through withdrawl right now because I was in the middle of two projects that require my computer.

My oldest daughter arrives home this afternoon after being gone for two days, I am very excited to hear how her trip went. I am also looking forward to having her disposable cameras processed to see what pictures she took. I will report back tomorrow on all her fun.

I hope all of you have a great day. I am going to kick off my bunny slippers and try to get back into my computer-less day.

First Q & A Session

Okay I had a few questions come up the last week in my comments and e-mails so I thought I would answer them.

Question #1: The first question is about the fabric I showed at the end of my April 2nd blog post.
What is the name of fabric you are using to make your bag?

Answer:
I bought this fabric at a great local store(35th Ave Sew & Vac) my mother and my aunt shop there frequently. The fabrics are by Westminster Fibers, the collection is Park Slope, the names/numbers of the fabric is Poppy Dot flower #EM02 and Flower Field #EM3, and the designer is Erin McMorris.

Questions#2: What kind of bag are you going to make?


Answer: I had this lovely pattern below by Amy Butler that I picked out when I bought the fabric. I just love the idea of having the bag with a matching scarf I could wear as a headband. The bag is reversable so that you can decide which fabric you want to show. I was thinking of adding a strip of giant hot pink ric rack that I have in my ribbon stash, it's super cute!

But then my mom brought by one of her quilting magazines and showed me another pattern that would allow both fabrics to be seen. I will try to scan the original article in the quilting magazine so you can see it in color it is VERY cute too. Once I get the bag done I will take a picture.

Question #3:What kind of sewing machine do you have?

Answer: My machine is a BabyLock, I cannot tell you what model it is but its a very basic machine.

Question #4:How long have you been crocheting and kniting?

Answer: For many years. I was taught both crocheting and kniting in the 3rd grade by my wonderful teacher, Mrs.Ingber. She was a very crafty teacher. I think she taught us all because it helped our fine motor skills, what a smart teacher! I have been primarily a crocheter for many years and just recently picked up knitting again after seeing some fabulous patterns I want to try out.

Question #5: Do you sew/quilt a lot?

Answer: No not reallybut I am going to be trying to do it more often. I come from a family of sewers, my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother all sewed and quilted. My first memories of sewing were my grandmother and my mother at their sewing machines; I could always tell where they were by listening to the hum of their machines. My grandmother made my sisters and I dresses and other clothes when we were little. I also love to admire my great-grandmother's quilts.

That's the end of my first Q&A session but I did want to address some other comments that were made.

Crocheting is not really difficult to learn, I truly believe this because I learned as a dsylexic 8 year old. If I can learn to do it, anyone can. There are lots of great websites that have step by step instructions with photos that you can follow to teach yourself and their are of course several good books. I happened to like the instructions at www.lionbrand.com and www.crochetspot.com . Lion Brand is a yarn company, they offer online instructions in knitting as well. There are several websites out there that offer patterns for crocheting and knitting; my favorites are: www.crochetpatternscentral.com, www.lionbrand.com, & www.bernat.com I like the websites that the yarn companies have because they often have patterns for the yarn you have choosen. I like this because I often buy yarn without having a project in mind, its hard for me to pass up a good sale on yarn.

Well that's its for now. See you tomorrow.

First Born, First trip from Home

This my first born girlie, she is off for the next three days and two nights on an Outdoor Education trip with her entire grade. She will be away from home for the first time in her life without any family members. I am proud of her for earning this trip and I hope she is having a good time. (I think this is the first time I have posted a picture of her with her glasses on, hmm or maybe I just cannot remember. Oh well.) I miss her laid back personality, her wicked sense of humor, and how good she is with her sisters. I know she will enjoy all the learning opportunities that will be presented on her trip. I hope that she does not have her mother's luck and manages to come home unscathed.
(Trust me when I say I am no good at camping or being around nature. It never ends well.)

Firsts

I meant to post this yesterday on April 1st but hey with all that I have been going through lately I am just glad I had time to write this today. So I am sharing some firsts with all of you this month.

My first "first" is this picture of my first niece (she is the oldest grandchild on my husband's side of the family.) She just turned 15 years old this last weekend. Yep, she was born 3 months after I married her uncle my sweetie. I love being an Aunt! The other photo is of my girls and two of their cousins, my nieces from my husband's family.



My next "first" is something I have been promising photos of for awhile. My dear older sister, Holly, (who rocks by the way) sent me some very exciting yarn to make her some hats and scarves to keep her warm in the cold weather of Northern Idaho. So the first hat is what I call the Sherpa Hat, its the first hat I have crocheted that had ear flaps. The other photo I choose to put in because the yarn was kinda of funky.



The next "first" is really a two part first. The first part is that the wonderful squares of fabric you see laid out on my kitchen table is my first quilt. (The fabric is by Moda it's Basic Grey Sultry, ha ha ha who said I couldn't use my scrapbook taste in other crafting pursuits.) The quilt is for my sister-in-law who is having her first baby girl, she has three boys already so you all know I am thrilled out of my head that she will now have a daughter. When its all done I will take another photo.


My "first" new sewing machine, I just had to prove that I was actually using it:


My next "first" is my first knitting project, yes it's a scarf for my sister. Did I mention its really cold in Idaho where she lives?



And last, but not least,is this beautiful fabric I bought that I am hoping to turn into my "first" swing bag (it's like a purse.) I promise that once I get that done I will photograph the final product.


There will be more firsts in the up coming weeks so stay tuned.

It makes you think....

Yes, I am alive but things have been very busy. After I survived dental issues my middle daughter ended with a sty in her left eye (Yeah! Another trip to the doctor.) Then I had to get caught up on some things like: the scrapbook project I was trying to finish (no it's not done), gathering up all the stuff for our taxes (that's not done either) and the usual laundry, dishes, and cleaning.

Just when you think life is beating you down you have an experience that reminds why all that other stuff does not matter as much as you think it does. A week ago my husband's grandmother had her 4th mini- stroke (TIA is the medical term). We were very concerned but she was lucky she did not suffer any permanent damage as far as the doctors could tell. This was scary for us because not only were the doctors worried about the stroke, they were worried about her sky high blood pressure, her heart, and her kidneys. They wanted to do a procedure to clear some blockages from her heart but had to postpone it because of her kidney issue. My husband and I took turns visiting the hospital, calling, and being with Grandma throughout her hospital stay and during her recovery at home. My husband's Aunt is taking very good care of Grandma and we are thankful that she is recovering.

I spent two days with Grandma this last week helping her do things around her house, cleaning, grocery shopping, making follow up doctors appointments, etc. I realized several things during this experience. First and foremost, how much I love my family. I have a wonderful husband who took time off work to stay home and be with our children for two days while I helped his grandmother. He cooked, cleaned, did laundry, worked on homework with our daughters, dealt with potty training accidents, and tried to keep our house running while I was gone 10 to 12 hours a day. Each night I would come home to my dear husband and I could tell that being "mom" was hard on him but he did not complain he gave 110% and that is the best gift a wife can get. Second, I felt blessed, I did not have the opportunity to help my own grandparents during the many health crisis that they experienced over the years because I was too far away from them. I feel blessed that I was able to spend time with Grandma and help her. My heart ached for what I missed with my own grandparents but knowing that I can make a difference with Grandma has helped ease my heartache some. Third, I realized that I really needed to start taking better care of myself now. Many ailments that plague people in their senior years started when they were younger. I have not been taking advantage of that knowledge these last few years. When I tucked my daughters in bed tonight I thought about what it would be like for them to have to take care of me. I realize that will happen someday but I want to try to be healthy so that hopefully they will not have too much to worry about. Like everyone else I figured I had "time" I am "young" I can still do what it takes to get healthy. But time never stops it just keeps moving and I am closer to 40 years old than I used to be and I have run out excuses for not doing what I need to. Does this mean I will be making some changes, yes it does, but its been a long time coming. I will write about my efforts from time to time to share my progress and hopefully my successes. Its been a week of reflection in many ways. So much else is going on but I will have to share that another day.

My friends and family please take care of yourselves. Give yourself the best chance at a good life; only you can do that for yourself.

Sweet Technology

We are celebrating a little ray of sunshine that came into our life recently in the form of David's bonus at work. We didn't think he would get a bonus so it was really nice. I have been trying to save us money on groceries and in other ways so it was nice to spend a little money on us for us change.

David got this: An iPod Touch Generation 2 16 GB its silver, very shiny!

Its totally awesome and I could blab about all the awesome things it does but I won't. Don't get me wrong I want one but then....

Hello Lover! Sweetness and Light! I love this camera!

(The picture of my new camera was taken by my old camera. My old camera was not happy so the photo is not that great. I promise to take better picture of my new camera with my new camera.=)

Yes, its true...I am now the proud owner of this amazing camera. A Canon EOS Rebel XS 1000d with a Zoom Super Wide Angle EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Autofocus lens. Don't ask me if its the 40d or whatever, blah, blah. blah, I don't know.... just let me enjoy this moment. {SIGH} I have been waiting a very long time for this camera, it is like a long lost friend to me. {I will stop hugging camera now, will not sleep with camera next to me in bed.} As part of the package I bought I also got a 2 GB High-speed SD Memory Card, SD Memory Card Reader, a tripod, a deluxe camera case, battery charger, LCD screen protectors, a lens care kit, and huge manual I need to read. I took a few pictures on the Automatic setting which I will do for awhile until I can get a handle on this baby and then I will take the plunge and go manual and see what I can do. I am also studying my Adobe Photoshop CS2 book like crazy so I can start making my photos look awesome with all the free action packs I have been downloading off cool Digital photography websites. Wish me luck because I will be dragging you all along with me in my journey.

Here is the first picture ever taken with my new camera. Yes, it all starts with a man somehow doesn't it?

Thanks Mr. Dave we love you!

Well...when it rains it pours {figuratively}

So again I have been M.I.A. that seems to be my permenant status these days. So what have I been up to well this going to be long and a little whiny but you still like me right????

Different family members including me had colds, then my oldest daughter who didnt get the cold had pneumonia. My oldest daughter doesn't get sick all that often but when she does she usually gets very sick and this worried me. You see my oldest daughter is my dependable one, I count on her to be...well....her...she is smart, independent, quiet, and lots of help around the house. My oldest daughter is getting to the point where I won't be able to "take care of her" like I do my younger daughters, I am not ready for that. So I rented her movies and took out to run errands with me when she started feeling better. I am not ready to let go my oldest "girl" before she becomes a young lady. Then my youngest daughter got a cold again which you wouldnt think would be bad but a drugged up on cold medicine 4 year old is dangerous thing, its like a bomb...you just dont know when she will go off.

After everyone got well one of my teeth went super-massive-blackhole (I suffer from particularly bad genes when it comes to teeth) and I needed to get a root canal. I was in total agony the night before I went to the dentist, in fact I did not sleep at all for about 48 hours. I got in to see the dentist Tuesday, he prescribed pain medication. Well pain medication is great.......when you are not allergic to it.....yes....apparently I am allergic to Codine....at least that's what the hives attested to. So my Dentist (who by the way is 2 years younger than me, wow I'm old) switches me to another pain med, which by the way still had Codine in it......yeah more hives....I returned codine filled pills to pharmacy....got another prescription (Wednesday).... no hives....was able to sleep about 6 hours.....Limped to the dentist today(*see my story below as to why I was limping)....dentist says"Hmmm your tooth is dead"......."what????" says I....."Yes," says the dentist, "and its all infected in there." (Flash backward two days ago when dentist said, "NO you dont need an antibiotic is just a broken nerve you need pain medication.") Okay I didn't say much more after that since I was nice and drugged up on novacaine and had a dental dam stuck in my mouth. My dentist was nice to me and gave me a pillow for my head and a blanket to keep me warm while I spent 2 1/2 hours in his office getting my root canal. He even gave me another shot of novacaine before I left so that I wouldnt be in pain later, he was truly penatent man.

*Before this lovely trip to the dentist I was cleaning the ceiling fan in my family room. I needed to move the chair I was standing on to get at the fan from a different angle but then my youngest daughter decided to "help" me, well, the chair ended up whacking me on the front of my left ankle...yes, if you recall that is the ankle I broke in two places about 2 years ago. So its swollen and will probably have a huge bruise tomorrow.

Tuesday was also memorable because it was the day my daughters 5th grade class was supposed to be given "the puberty talk." Well, since my daughter didn't go to school for the entire week before (because she had pneumonia) no permission slip came home and somehow it slipped the minds of her teachers even though I was in e-mail contact with them all week long. So of course Tuesday morning when the school called to get permission so she could go to "the talk" I wasn't home. So she had to sit it out and I will be going over "puberty" with her.

Then today after I lived through my dentist appointment my middle daughter says her foot hurts. Apparently she stepped on something with her bare feet yesterday at our neighbors house and either she is allergic to it or its infected.

I also have a scrapbook project due for a class I am trying to teach that I have stopped and tried to work on about 20 times in the last 10 days and its driving crazy that I am either: too tired, in too much pain, too distracted, or its too late at night to work on it because I need to sleep at some point.

This evening my dear husband looked at my swollen face and swollen ankle and recalled with me all of our difficulties in the last two weeks and he handed me some chocolate and hugged me and said, " We just have to figure out how to keep you from hurting yourself." Poor diluted man doesn't realize its my karma and he is married to that karma. Its a good thing he keeps me in chocolate or I just might not make it.

Hopefully I will have good news tomorrow. Thanks for letting me vent, I love you guys I really do.

Stressed and Blessed

Sorry I havent been around, things have been a little intense lately so I haven't had time to post. So what's been going on:

1)I joined Coupon Sense and have been shopping and saving like a mad woman. I have also been recruiting everyone I know to start using coupons, its not as hard as you think. I saved $500 just this month on my groceries and I will probably not have to buy some of my staples for the next 4 months. If you want to know more e-mail me. =)

2)I donated blood a two pint donation, yeah for helping people! I will be donating again in May when I am elligble again and I encourage any of you who can donate blood to do so when you can.

3)A week after I donated blood I got a head cold along with David and my middle daughter. My other two daughters never got sick, go figure.

4)I have been preparing for my class on Saturday, I am very excited to teach this month its such a joy I am so blessed to have students that sign up for my classes on a regular basis.

5)I have been learning to knit and will have pictures soon. Thank you to Holly my older sista for getting me the yarn and needles so I could start knitting, I love you shorty!

6)Now to my stress, yesterday at church I was told that two of my friend's husbands who work for the same company as my husband were laid off. We have all known for months about the layoffs but with each new round of layoffs we have all been on edge. I was so sad for my friends but thankful that so far my husband has not been told he will be laid off. I am feeling stressed today, I know the company plans more layoffs but right now we do not know which departments will get hit next. If you are reading this whether you know me or not please pray for my family that no matter happens we will be okay. No I am not asking for you to pray that my husband won't get laid off I know that whatever happens that I will be blessed. Thanks to everyone for you support, I am feeling better already just getting that off my chest.

Well, I am off to clip coupons! Happy Monday!

A quick note on my class

I am teaching at Scrap Happy Sisters on February 7th. We will be making this adorable heart shaped album. Here are a few pictures.

PS. I promise to try to get photos of my crocheting, knitting, and scrapbook exploits posted soon.

Crochet hooray!

Okay I promised pictures of some of the crochet projects I did for Christmas, most of these are the ones I gave my daughters. I have made other projects since then just haven't photographed them yet.

I used Caron yarn for this hat and scraf combo; it was so soft and cute!

I used Lion Brand Fun Fur for this scarf.

I used two different colors of Lion Brand Suede yarn for this hat.
Again I used the Lion Brand Fun Fur, she just had to have her dog in the picture.
My oldest daughter likes funky hats so I made her this red and cream hat with Lion Brand Suede yarn.

This is also I Lion Brand yarn but I don't remember what its called but its got the Fun Fur and Slub yarn mixed. I made two pink and blue like this one.
This was the beginning of a shawl I made for my husband's grandmother; its made of the Lion Brand Suede yarn. I made a purple shawl for my mother-in-law and I combined two shawls to make my oldest daughter a poncho. Since Christmas I have made 2 more scarves, 2 ponches, and I have another scarf in progress right now.

Now here's my secret of the day: I bought knitting needles today, watch out I am on a roll. But don't tell my hubby yet, he cannot handle another craft craze right now. He, he, he.