Mantle wallhanging on its way....

I'll be showing the mantle hanging tonite...I am almost done binding it! yay....

I finally made a Miranda!

I started making my Miranda bag on Sunday evening...and after numerous interruptions...it's done. AND I LOVE IT! The pattern was super easy, the bag is big (which I love) and it has pockets in it...I had a little difficulty with the handles because I couldn't decide what I wanted...but I like the ones I made, just have to do some tweaking for the next one. YES, there will be a next one and probably many more! Lazy Girl Designs...go see! and then make one or two...






.....and I am wearing my apron today!

Cleaning in style!

My apron came from the Sassy Summer Swap!! It's awesome. I LOVE it!

Mellissa A made it...it was her own design...it is reversible...the fabric is too cute.
It has a towel loop and 2 of the sweetest pockets ever...AND Rick Rack...oh, how I love
rick rack. Thank you Mellissa!!!

Sassy Apron Swap and other stuff...

I got my package from my partner Saturday...it was here after we got back from BBQ'ing...we had a busy weekend planned and I knew I wouldn't be able to send my part of the swap out until Monday...SOOOOOOO, I haven't opened it yet...and I won't until I get hers in the mail today...and I can't stand waiting...BUT I don't want to open it with hers still here....Kris...yours goes out today and tthen I'll open mine...I know I am going to just love it! I really hope you like yours too.

After our hike up Crowder's Mountain yesterday in 90 degrees!!!! I came home pooped...but the hubby fixed steaks on the grill and after dinner I started a Miranda bag.....I hope to show that this evening too...so far, it's so easy......

The big kids (Patrick, Steph, Kaylin, and the twinseys) found a house already and will move in 3 weeks...WOW...15 minutes from the beach....I KNOW where I'll be ...I don't want to be the in-law they hate, but they really shouldn't move to the beach and expect me to not visit (for loooong periods of time...bwahahaha)....

BBL

With much gratitude

On this Memorial Day, I have taken the time to reflect on my family members and friends who have served my country. I always wonder what makes a person choose this life. I wonder no more. They are born to it....like others are born to be the opposite. Our paths are all different, but we must follow our path for our own peace.



I have 4 sons. A Marine that will be back at Camp LeJeune within the month. He has been to Iraq once and knows he will be going again. He has a beutiful wife and 3 daughters. He was born to be a Marine. I have a National Guard son. He is still in trainng. His best friend leaves in January for a tour in Iraq. My other 2 sons have not chosen their path yet (young) but they will and I hope whatever they choose it will be with much conviction. My grandfather fought in 2 wars and has passed. My uncle was an Air Force fighter. Many friends of mine have sons and husbands and brothers who have fought the fight.



I honor all service men and women today. They make my life liveable.


THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

http://www.warriorsthefilm.com/Movie.html

It's a beautiful 'thang'

...when a friend says do a pattern and it turns out as easy and cute as she said it would be!

Sandra at http://suddenlysandra.blogspot.com/2008/05/hexagon-star-tablerunner.html,

go look at hers...they are so neat. The pattern is Hexagon Star tabletopper from the Jan/Feb issue of Fons and Porter's "Love of Quilting". Mine is not bound yet and I had a hard time right at first...BUT it was BLONDE error. Once I saw my mistake it was a breeze and cute...I just used some fabrics that were in my scrap bin...I may make some matching potholders and gift it!

I finished it ... now to make a few potholders to go with it.

My reason for being...Happy Mother's Day

Having 4 boys has been a hoot

(and still is, especially when they are all together).

In HS, one of my BFF's wanted 10 kids, another

of my BFF's wanted 2, and I wanted 0 (nada, zip, none).

I had big plans, I was going to move to NYC and be a

working girl (I was into drafting), I was going to walk

my dog in Central Park and meet a ton of cool guys

and say NO to them all and break their little hearts.



Funny how things work out. I wasn't the first to get married,

I DID do the 'break their hearts' to a few guys...BUT then one

got me and yep, I was taken...I'll tell that story another time.

I do have more kids than my HS buds and I do enjoy being a

MOM...more verbally than my HS and college friends...and

they still find that hilariously ironic and amusing.



So on to Mother's Day....this pic is the 'best' professional pic of

the family boy pics we have, IMO...because hubby decided to surprise

me with this one...I had gone to a training thing for work and he

had this done while I was gone. He had a PLAN...all in jeans and reds,

what he didn't plan on because he wasn't aware of the 4-boy dynamic,

was the time and energy, coaxing, and pleading it would take to

get one good pic (he thinks it never came, I do). Apparently this took

4 HOURS to get...they were fussing, and picking at each other and it shows

...that's why it's my favorite. Patrick looks defeated and surely wants to leave,

Jamey has given way to giggling, Mike was (and still is) always smiling,

and Zach was having a rather good day...he wasn't sleeping.

I so LOVE these guys and this is who they are! So different, fun, and wierd.

!!%%**@@**%%!!

my main toilet just overflowed...egads, I hate that...got that up and mopped and cleaned the whole bathroom, went to kitchen to make dinner, pulled my ceramic roaster off top cabinet shelf but a rubber footed bowl stuck to it (I'm short and didn't see it)...roaster shattered into a million pieces and I'm barefoot...cleaned that up, did supper, went to put all icky wet stuff in washer...washer is acting funny....

...came to sit and spill my guts...

I've been bit in the butt because I unnecessarily went off on the 2 boys...well, they should have been quietly told what I needed to tell them, but I let their snarly teen attitude turn my demeanor into a raging warpath warrior...and payback is messy and dirty.

I'm going to park my self into the rocker and watch tv. all night.

2 NEW Books for Me

I made my menu plan..and grocery list, I will

be trying out Sandra Lee's crock cooking this week...

And then thanks to JEN http://cre8tivequilter.blogspot.com/

I have an awful 'itch' to make bowls...lol. Altho she and her mom

are just zooming thru them, I hope she will be on call if I get

STUCK...are ya listening Jen?

I did start and make most of this in 2 days last week..then

I had an idea about the back...but didn't work so I am

going to try and get this finished tonite. It is to go over

the mantle in the den...the colorless (brown) room. I did

a lot of out-of-my-comfort-zone stuff with this and altho

it's nowhere near perfect...I LIKE it and I will be happy to

put it on my wall (maybe that's why they used to be

called the'rumpus' room) in the den, the comfy room.

A Do-over, please

I made some Adorables ...aren't they sweet?
Lazy Girl Designs http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/


I was going to tell you that I did not forget to blog....but I well, ....I forgot to blog. I have been working on different projects this week and I have them all over the house and just when I get on a roll and KNOW I will finish 'this' one today, I don't have what I need to finish...so I move on to something else, happened to me all week. (insert appropriate curse/frustration word here)





These are the meatball subs I made for dinner Tuesday night...they are HUGE
and this is only one plate of them, made on French bread...and the two bites I took
were DELISH....and then....I felt pain like I have never felt before...
I had broke a tooth or something because I was instantly dieing!!!! My mouth
went crazzeeee and I felt my blood pressure go up and away....the Burn didn't
know what to do, he thought I was having a seizure! I ran for HOT water with salt and swished my mouth for 30 minutes trying to get enough relief to be able to tell him
what was going on...finally I can go look in the mirror and one of my back bottom
molars had lost it's filling...now mind you, these fillings have lasted YEARS...my mom was a dental freak and I was at the dentist before I had teeth so believe me when I say
these were some GOOD fillings. But I forget how old I am and my new dentist never mentioned they might someday need replacing and all because I chowed down on some of the best meatballs I ever made. I will not be having meatball subs for a long time, if ever!



And now for 2 of my favorite things...it has gotten really hot here
and Jiffy the Cat decided to snooze under the flower pot, while
I went in to take a shower with the ever refreshing Candy Cane
shower gel...oh, how I love that stuff and I am on my last bottle until
it comes out again next Christmas....

...such a rambling posty...but it's been a rambling, awkward, frustrating
kind of week.