A project for the New Year

Not long before Christmas, Jennifer mentioned "Project Life" to me.  She had mentioned it before but I didn't think much about it.  This time I asked her to tell me all about it.  After she did and she explained that it could really be easy and not as time consuming as scrap booking, I told her I wanted that for Christmas.
She took the request hint and that is just what I got. 
She got me the kit with the cards, the pages for the year and the album.
I was so excited to read more about it and look at it on Pinterest, blogs, etc...
And I was very ready for Jan. 1st so I could get started.

Here are some sideways pictures of my cover page and first week I'm still working on...

 

 

 

 

 

and a text between Jennifer and I

 

She has taken us to the crafty side for the new year with her....

Cookies and time, they both go fast...

Well, it's the middle of Dec. and the shopping isn't close to being done and the crafty present projects I have started are also not close to being done...
The cake balls Katie offered to bring to a class party on Wed. aren't even started yet... guess I'll be fitting that in between hemming the choir dress and the choir concert tomorrow...
I need just a few more hours in the day... for several days...
But, I love this time of year. 
I love the projects, the shopping the baking, the Christmas lights and all that goes along with it even though it means being a bit busier than usual...

I had friends over Sat. to make our second annual batch of snowman cookies for the staff at school.
What is better than time with friends, baking, Christmas music, good food and good conversation...

What you can't see good in this picture is the brown sugar sprinkled on the snowman... they are Lubbock snowmen after all...

we also started a little craft project before everyone had to go...

Elvis loves a crafty day...

This weekend I am having a little cookie party...

I need several extra hours this week...

If you find them let me know...

I hope when my girls are in college they will be this sweet

We have a sweet college intern working with the youth at church that I just love.  She is sweet, thoughtful and very, very good with the youth.
She asked me to take some pictures of her and her brother for her parents for Christmas.  She also brought along a little girl who is her "sister" since she is in Big Brothers/Big Sisters... what a fun time. 

She showed up with a sweet gift for me for doing this and it was then that I realized she was really supposed to be in my family...

It was beautifully wrapped box with this cross inside... and she wrote a sweet message on the back.

Of course before the day was over my friends at school and I were planning on when we would get together and copy the cross...

It took some twine, some hot glue and just a few burns.

See that center part, when you are pressing it into the right spot, that is when you'll get the burns...

I did this one for part of a wedding gift... see the little "cherish" tag? 

Fun, easy craft...

Thanks Kelsey for such thoughtful gift, it made my day and provided a new crafty thing for me to copy!

It's been a while

It has been a while... I've been busy and then my computer cord quit working and kept me from the internets for several days...  This is my 3rd computer cord by the way... not sure what we do them...

I've been working on the summer 'to do list' and being at the girls beck and call having fun!

Elvis has been having some hip issues and he can't jump up on our bed anymore...
this is not a bad thing!  He is a bed hog...

He has a bed but likes the chair better...

Mike thought he needed a new bed... he loves his new bed but still moves to the chair before we get up in the mornings...

I painted the side board in the dining room...

then I painted the table (even though I really want a new table)

\

Then I found a china cabinet on Craig's List for a bargain and they even delivered it...and of course then I had to paint it...

Katie's BFF's grandmother brougth this over with pound cake on it and told me she that she knew I had a new china cabinet and wanted to give me this china platter...

it coordinates well with some mismatched pieces that I have of my aunt's...

and I was excited to line the shelves and drawers with a beautiful, smell good paper a friend gave me...
I've wanted a china cabinet for years and years... I'm pretty excited about my little antique one!
Now I just need to get the chairs painted...

I painted the girl's bathroom

and did one little wall chalk board paint!  I'm loving it!

There is already a "call for a good time..." message posted on it...

There has been a lot hot weather...

A little picture taking...

Tons of friend time...

Some donkey visiting time...


And random other fun...

What have you been doing?



A few projects

The last week has been busy but I'm not sure what with... it feels like we always have something...You know if I'm off I have a big list of things I want to do or work on, I didn't get much checked off but it's a start...

• I did make time to work on a baby gift (copied my sweet neighbor's idea)  for a friends shower this weekend....

• I'm also smocked a sweet baby gown to go with it...

• I started sanding and painting my dining furniture...
• yesterday I had a crafty day with the work girl friends and we made our new calenders for the year...

Kim had her house all fixed up for us, it was like being at the scrapbook store... there were tables with all the fancy equipment laying out, even trash cans by our chairs... It was great!

I brought lunch but the hit was the dessert...

Peach Blueberry pie in mason jars.

Here is the finished calendar for the next school year...

and this isn't really much of an accomplishment but it sure makes me happy (copied from Pintrest)

Peach Blueberry pies in Mason Jars

1 bag frozen peaches
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Almond extract
1 pie crust dough

Tear off small pieces of dough and press into jar to cover bottom and about 3/4 up the side of the jars.
Place peaches in skillet, add brown sugar and almond extract and simmer approx. 10 min. stirring freq. till sauce thickens.  Stir in blueberries.
Spoon into jars with crust in them.  Place jars on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for approx15- 20 min. till crusts brown and filling bubbly. 
Optional - roll out dough and cut circles to fit in jar.  Bake on cookie sheet till brown.  Top pie in jar with them after removing from oven.
Serve warm topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

Summer is here

School got out for the kids over a week ago but I had to work a few extra days to finish up since the trip was right in the middle of school ending...
Since the kids have been out it has been the usual beginning of summer fun...
Anytime Katie is home there seems to be extra teens here... and they eat A LOT....
She did go out of town with her bestie and Kellie was thrilled to be an only child for a week... the house was much more peaceful that week I have to say...

I may have a sligth addiction to Bahama Bucks snow cones... Where can I get the ice shaver they use???

I may also be developing a little Lemoncello addiction... I brought a bottle back from Italy and have sipped it, poured it in and over things and looked up recipes with it...

I saw a cute flip flop idea on Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures  and decided we needed to make them...
We went to Hobby Lobby for the trim and then went and got the flip flops themselves...

A little E6000 and it was all done

cute, cute...
I need a new project now...
And speaking of addictions and new projects...
have you found Pintrest.com?  I did this week and love it!

Securing my position

My long term goal is to one day be the leader of all things crafty at a lovely assisted living center...
I feel like I have to continue to broaden my crafting horizons to be properly trained...

I have a sweet neighbor having a baby in October and we were talking about all the cute little crocheted hats out now for babies...
So, I googled it, watched some you tube videos and made her a sweet little pumpkin hat...Of course I failed to save a picture of it...

Needing a mother's day gift for the mother in law, I decided to do an Afghan...I quickly learned that you can buy a nice blanket cheaper than you can buy the yarn for one...
But, it turned out cute as crocheted Afghans go...

Lucky for me she's cold natured so maybe a blanket in May won't seem so crazy...

It never fails...

I didn't have school yesterday. 

Because the girls are in a different district from where I work, they did have school.  Kellie was very very mad about this... so much so that she tried to talk me into letting her stay home... she wanted to spend the day with Jennifer and I...
she kept telling me she was going to be "sick"...
Well, she did get sick.  She wished up a sore throat... or maybe she caught it when she was checking out a dumpster while we were taking pictures...

But of course she wasn't sick on Monday when I was off, but on Tuesday when I needed to work and Mike is out of town!  He seems to always be out of town when I need him to take a kid to the Dr....
And even though she is old enough to stay home alone when needed,  I stayed with her... I had to take her to the Dr. and she felt really bad so I hated to leave her home alone...

I enjoyed napping with her this morning and then she rested while did a lot of needed chores...

I did three jobs that I had been asking Mike to do for a month, in less than an hour...

He has spent more than an hour making excuses for why he hasn't done them yet...

I was all ready to tell him he needs to be careful because I really can do everything without him...

Until...I found a dead bird in the back yard...

I could do it ...I could take care of disposing of the bird if I had to...

but, when he has to move the bowl I put over it and scoop up the dead bird, he'll know I really do need him after all...
and I already have a plan if he makes excuses and doesn't do it in a timely manner...
I have a friend who had to pull a dead deer out from under a house...if she can do that she could surely take care of a dead bird don't you think?

Katie and I finished painting some things for her room after school...

and a new little something for the bathroom...

Rocking Chair

When I think of my grandfather, I picture him sitting in his wooden rocking chair in the living room of his house.  He was very tall and filled up that rocker completely.  My little grandmother had a comfy rocker next to it...I feel warm and cozy when I think about that living room. 
Maybe because the space heater was always on...or the lack of air conditioning running...
But still, I loved it there.  (minus the sweating)

When my granddad died no one else wanted the rocker so I took it.  I couldn't imagine just giving it away...
It wasn't pretty, just dark wood except on the arms where his hands had worn the finish off...

I've rocked two babies in it...

Recently, it's been in the basement until I wanted a chair for my bedroom.  I put it in there but just didn't like it.
I decided to paint it black and see if that helped...

I felt really guilty when I started painting, covering up those worn areas that were from many a day of Granddaddy rocking in it...but while I was painting I started think about him...

He loved to tinker around the house.  He had a little work shop full of old tools and thought he could build anything...

He cut up two of my grandmother's brooms to make a rail up the porch steps when he decided they needed one...she was mad and it wasn't exactly professional looking....he painted it an odd color of green.

He decided to build a little room on the back of the house... I'm not sure it would have been up to code...
and he painted it the same odd green...

He built a wagon with tires off of an old lawn mower to put the trash on or other heavy things to move them around...and again, green....

He decided his old car needed to be painted...he used a can of a paint and a brush... guess what color he chose?

So, as I painted over those arms of that chair I realized he wouldn't mind a bit me painting it, but it he might like it better if it was green...

Wonder if that's where I get the need to make random stuff out of old junk???

Of course, tonight I couldn't find a picture of him in the rocker without digging...so, all you get is that after pictures...

I do like it better painted....