Blog break

OK, you've probably already noticed that I'm taking a blog break for the month of December. I just have too much to do, and really so should you. December is the most wonderful month of the year because you get to share joy and love with all of the important people in your life. Be an elf. Make cocoa. Even better- make cocoa with someone cute and small. Give handmade gifts to the grandparents & teachers. They'll appreciate them more than other stuff anyway. And find a way to squeeze in something for those in need. Today I made a gingerbread man for the United Way. It was a $2 donation, small & almost insignificant...except it was so significant because I did it for someone else. Even people like me, who are not in the best financial circumstances, can still do something for others.

OK, off my soapbox and back to the blog break.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thankfulness

This week I'm especially thankful for:

- my children, and their good health
- my family- I had a wonderful party this weekend, and I had such fun being with them. My family is the best. So supportive and loving, and I couldn't be luckier there.
- my job- OK, it's not my dream job, but it's A job, and I'm thankful for the flexibility to work and still be home at almost the same time my kids hop off the bus.
- my sister in law- for letting me borrow Twilight & New Moon. By the way- I've finished New Moon already, so tell your friend with #3 to get moving on the reading :)
- my friend from Switzerland- my swap box arrived this weekend and I promise photos are coming soon but I totally made out! Wait till you see the lovely goodies that Kristin sent to me!

This time of year is so busy I sometimes forget to tell people how much I love them and how happy I am to have them be a part of my life- hopefully this post will remind me of my good fortune in the weeks to come!

Have a great day!

Friday Fill In

I saw this on my friend Kristin's blog, and thought I'd do the "Friday Fill In" http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/ so here goes:

1. The last band I saw live was _____________.
Don't laugh too loudly, but I think it was "The Wiggles". We took our oldest to the show about 4 years ago... and I think that was more recent than "KISS" (the Psychocircus tour) which is the last big concert that I went to...

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is _________.
Playing "pin the feather on the turkey" with my little ones. My oldest made the feathers and turkey a couple years ago, and it's become a tradition. A goofy one that I look forward to!

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is __________.
Going way too slowly- because I'm planning on a fairly handmade holiday, and haven't had nearly enough time for handmaking anything!

4. Thoughts of _____________ fill my head.
Sewing and crochet projects... the handmade holidays again!

5. I wish I could wear ______________.
I have to agree with Kristin on this one, I wish that I could pull off pretty dresses. Sometimes I wear dresses to work, but generally I don't. I love the look of long floral dresses that are floaty and pretty, but really they don't fit into my lifestyle at all!

6. Bagpipes ________.
? Bagpipes aren't exactly in my daily life, I've got nothing here.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

Tonight I'm going to go to Twilight with my sister-in-law, tomorrow it's laundry, cleaning and crafting, with a little birthday cake thrown in for good measure, and Sunday I want to relax, but instead I'm taking my kids to church. This is something that I do every week, even though it is not like I actually get to pray or even think about the Lord. Instead I say "Shhh!!", and try to get them not to argue about whose turn it is to sit on my lap, and please don't kick the pew in front of us, and oh yea, could we get that chuck of breakfast out of your hair?... I'm like the sideshow at mass!

That's it for my Friday fill ins. Hope you have a great weekend!

Five today!

SO, today is the big day for my middle baby! I finished sewing up her new pants last night, and then I went all super mom and added a headband to match (from the Little Birdie Secrets tutorial) She was quite pleased. This morning we had the ultimate breakfast- Pillsbury's Cinnamon Buns- with lots of gooey frosting. Then she opened Aunt B's card- it was so cute and even better than last month's card for my son. Of course my oldest said "I can't wait until my birthday to see what kind of card Aunt B. makes for me!" (get working on that big sister!) More posts with pictures of the pants/headband ensemble coming tomorrow :)

Have a great day!

Weekend Update

Well, I didn't quite make it to the level of most of the blogs that I read- I did however work on a bunch of really cute craft projects this weekend! No photos yet- I'm so lame- but I worked on the baby quilt for Stephanie & Gerry's baby (she came 9 weeks early, so I was completely unprepared!). The quilt is coming along though and it's going to be adorable! I have 2 of the 3 strips pieced, and I need to just sew them to the middle strip and then the top will be finished. This could realistically be done tonight! I also made a pair of pants for my middle daughter. She is turning 5 this week and she wants to wear them on her birthday, so I'll get photos then. I also started the tote bag for my oldest's teacher's Christmas gift, and continued work on the "Mrs. D Scarf" that I designed for the Kindergarten teacher. Whoo, that's alot of crafting!!

After reading a lot of blogs, I've got to come up with some cute blog names for my babies. I don't want to put their real names in this- it seems quite unsafe even with only about 3 readers of my blog. So, friends, any good ideas? The 3 people who might read this know my kids pretty well, so I bet you can come up with cute names for them... I'll also work on it.

More posts soon- have a GREAT day!

Just some random thoughts

I've been lurking around blog-land for awhile now, and I can only say that I'm feeling a little, well, lacking. I mean, there are all of these amazing women out there who not only DO the crafts projects that they are dreaming about, but they photograph them and write up tutorials too. So, today I was feeling a little bit depressed because I just dream of doing all these projects, but my "finished object" pile is much much smaller than my UFO pile.

So, instead of focusing on what I'm not doing, I'm taking a minute to write about the things that I am doing, and to remember that they are the important things. Today baby boy told me he loves me 16 times before I went to work. The first words he said to me- "I LOVE you Mommy", and 15 more times before I dropped him off for the day. Oldest daughter went to school with a smile, and she didn't complain once all morning. Middle daughter gave me the world's best hug when she woke up, and snuggled up in my lap for a full 3 min. before running around like a normal kid :) They may not be the best dressed, or have the most expensive toys, but they are loved and they are happy, what more could I ask for? And who knows, maybe this weekend I'll actually finish unpacking their toys, and all the other stuff that is sitting in the basement... maybe I'll even do a little sewing which is what I'm dying to do... but instead of making the teacher's christmas gifts I'm thinking that it's time to make those girls a little present- and their baby brother too!

Swaps are so fun!

If you are curious about my swap with Kristin (my "friend from Switzerland" that I keep talking about). Check out Kristin's post and you can see what I sent her for her scrapbooking hobby. http://kristinreinhard.blogspot.com/ I really love blog land. One of these days I'll put links to the blogs that I read up here. I feel like I should be making the rest of my friends crazy like me :)

Also, if you are in love with the idea of swapping, and want to get started making some friends of your own, I highly recommend Swap Bot www.swap-bot.com there are about a million swaps going on and they are FUN! If you join one, please let me know how it goes...

Have a great day!
C.

Photos from Albany

The view from the tea room:

The barn at the horse farm:

View from the inside of the barn:

A cute covered bridge that Mom wanted a photo of:

The little pottery shop:

Mom & Kitty inside the pottery shop:

My goodies from Kitty (and the little dish from the antiques store):

More goodies from Kitty:

More from Kitty: (aka the most generous woman in the world...)

Yarn goodies from Rhinebeck:

After I came home, I was reading Doris Chan's blog, and it turns out that she was at the same festival that I was. I could've cried when I read her post! Note to self- be a better stalker next year! For anyone who is not a crochet person, Doris Chan is a CELEBRITY. She is a designer that is just AMAZING, and she's also a bit older and that makes her even cooler when you see the things that she designs, anyone can wear her stuff - old or young, big or small. She is one of 2 designers that I would recognize their designs by sight. (the other is Lily Chin, and I haven't looked into it, but she was probably at the festival too...) Anyhow, Doris Chan was doing a book signing on Sunday, and if I had known ahead of time I would've been first in line. Kitty, Maryellen and Mom are probably breathing a sigh of relief that I didn't know she was there and force them to stay all day on Saturday until I found her. (And lets face it, if she knew about me Doris herself would be grateful that I didn't track her down... she was shopping on Saturday, and probably wouldn't want crazy fans finding her)

So, that's the scoop from Albany- Part I. Next week I'll be posting about Albany Part II- the visit with my sister.

Have a great weekend (oh yea, Happy Halloween!)

C.

just a little

I have had such a great couple of weekends, and there are lots of photos to come. My first weekend in Albany was WONDERFUL! It was so nice to be with my mom for a few hours without any kid interruptions! And that was just the car trip there... once we arrived, we went to one of Kitty & Jack's friend's- a horse farm. It was so amazing! The terrain is completly different from home, even though it's just a couple hours away. Wait til you see the view from the stable- hills and trees in all their fall colors- so beautiful. We also went to a tea room and that was just lovely. I really enjoyed visiting with Kitty & MaryEllen. It's hard to believe that I'm a grown up now, and my mom's friends are also my friends. As predicted, Jack made fab dinners and provided lots of chips and dip. He is a great guy to come home to- Kitty is very lucky! When we were done playing on the farm we came home to wine and chips, then a lasagna that was so yummy... should've taken a photo of that, but I didn't. Just imagine ooey gooey goodness and that would be right. On Saturday I shopped til I dropped at the sheep festival. It will take til next year to use up all this yarn. But it was totally cool to find things that I don't usually see. We also stopped at a little pottery shop and antiques store. The pottery shop was actually a little shed on the potter's property. It was too adorable. The antiques store was also a little out building - probably a garage before it became a store. We all found lots of treasures, though I may have been the only one to buy anything- a little depression glass plate. Of course, Jack didn't disappoint that night, as we came home to cheese & crackers and a Chicken al orange that was amazing. (The only thing that I can say about it being better not to have a Jack - I'd weigh at least twice my current weight if I had a guy like him to come home to!) On Sunday morning we had a wonderful time going through a box of vintage trims that Kitty didn't want anymore. Maryellen hardly took any of them, and I ended up with a lot of fun things to play with. My christmas presents will be much cuter than originally planned! So, that's the write-up, and photos to follow hopefully tomorrow. Then more write-up and photos on the weekend with my sister, neice and nephew- all of a sudden it seems like I have an exciting life! Oh, and I almost forgot- I'll have to get photos of the built ins in Jessica's room. Her room is just so cool. Probably the window seat will be done later this week!

It looks like it will be awhile...

I wish that I was posting more photos today, but I'm not... and since I'm going away for my first ever girls weekend tomorrow- looks like I won't be posting for awhile. I have to say, I'm really excited for this weekend. Antiques shopping, yarn shopping, shopping, and probably lots of potato chips and french onion dip too! I'm going to Albany with Mom, and we are meeting up with Kitty & MaryEllen. So, I'll spend the weekend with 3 ladies who love me - what could be better? Oh, and Jack- Kitty's husband will be there too- and I hear that he cooks for these girls weekends, so all in all, it's pretty exciting stuff for me! Hope your weekend is as fab as mine- C.

A quick post

What a great weekend! I got to go out to dinner, and do some shopping, play outside, plus do a whole lot of organizing. I love that our toy room is all set up. It's so great for the kids! I didn't take any photos though. I'll have to get some but for now, here's a photo of the server in my kitchen. This is the one that I bought a few years ago and Daddy totally refinished it for me, adding the tile top. He hadn't done tile work before, and he did an AMAZING job (no surprise to anyone who knows my Dad!) Next big project- make the kitchen curtains with Mom. I can't wait, the fabric is green and white stripes and the border has picket fences which have flowers on them.

Have a great day!

It's my first post!

Hello family & friends! I'm starting this blog to share photos of the new house. I thought it would be more fun than emailing a bazillion times. Today I'm going to share the bedrooms.

First, my son's

Next my middle daughter

Last, mine (ignore pile of stuff not yet unpacked)

I don't have a good photo of the oldest's room yet... but I'll post one after this weekend.

I want to take the opportunity to mention that without my Daddy this house just wouldn't be anywhere near this nice. THANK YOU THANK YOU to Daddy, and Mom, and Kenny and my in-laws for the help both physical and financial. We are truly blessed. I hope that everyone who reads this knows that I am the luckiest girl in the world to have my 3 kids, and that giving them a home to grow up in is the best part of my life right now. More photos and commentary on my very blessed life to come!