Saturday, August 18, 2012

Trying My Best.....

I've been swamped with papers. Probably ten years worth, all scattered in drawers, boxes, and tucked into corners of the house. My goal? To turn this mountain of paper into a cohesive, organized filing system. Hmm, let's see. I can tell you that I've been at this for about a week now, and I have shut down the shredder numerous times due to overheating. Goodness. I've taken out bag after bag of papers and shreddings to the garbage. Shreddings.... is that even a word? What do you call the tiny little pieces of paper that the shredder makes?
So originally, I thought I could get all this paperwork done before I went back to work. Maybe even start cleaning around the house a little. You know, in my spare time. 
Yea. I know. A girl can dream, can't she?

I start back to work in a week. And I'm tired. So, so tired. I'm hoping that being around the kids will give me a much needed spark. And hugs. Lots and lots of hugs. I work with special needs children, mostly kindergarten and first graders, and there are a few that love hugs. This year we will have 12 in the classroom. Lots more than last year. Lots to keep me busy at work. Luckily, we are pretty relaxed the first few weeks of school. We're pretty protective of our kids, and those first few weeks we do lots of bonding, so they know they are safe and loved, and that school is fun.
Special kids are..... Special. There's no other word for them. I thank God for each and every day they are in my life.
      

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Sunshine And Roses Interrupted

Normally, I only say happy things on this blog. This is sort of my sunshine and roses spot. I have another place that I give news of a more serious nature, but here I like to keep it to more of the stereotypical happy place. Today, however, I feel like putting something up here, and decided to tell you what has been happening in my life for the past year.
So, here I am. Outside, eating watermelon, drinking wine, and waiting for the quiche to get out of the oven. And thinking. Thinking about the past year, and about trying to find our, "new normal."
Just about this time last year, my dear darling hubby started having health issues. After about a month, he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, a rather nasty form of skin cancer. He was given 4-6 months, and surprised all the docs by living over a year. Alas, all things must come to an end, and my hubby of 28 years passed away last week. So, here I am. Outside, eating watermelon, drinking wine, and waiting for the quiche to get out of the oven. And thinking. Sigh....

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

My New Purse!

So, I'm still here....... just haven't been blogging for awhile. Lots of things going on, yadda yadda. But, I wanted to show off my new purse. Not just any purse, either. This is a CHICKEN Purse! 



Anybody that knows me, knows that I love my chickens. I have all sorts of chicken stuff in the house, and now I am the proud owner of a chicken purse. Want to know the story??? I have this friend. (Yes, I have a friend!) She's totally into sewing, and quite possibly the most talented person that I know. She's also very sweet. So sweet, in fact, that when she saw this purse, she thought of me, and got it for me, and then mailed it to me. Yes, she did all that! And you want to know something else?? When she mailed it to me, she timed it so that it arrived on ....... are you ready?? It arrived on my 50th birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I immediately changed purses, and hubby and I went to dinner at a stylish restaurant. There I was, decked out in rolled up carpenter jeans, sporting my new chicken purse, celebrating my 50th birthday. My new chicken purse is just too cute for words!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day

On this day, I would like to wish all my friends a Happy Mother's Day. May you have peace and tranquility on such a beautiful day.
 
I was thinking about all the moms that I know, and the women that have added to my life. From my mother, to grandmothers, sister and sisters in law, and the many women friends I have. Each one has given something to make my life what it is now. Whatever would we do without them?

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Bending To Peer Pressure

I don't always do what my sister tells me to. Mainly because I'm more than just a little stubborn. But this time, she must have caught me in a moment of weakness, and I totally caved. I told her I would show the picture of me and my Minnie purse, and now I have to post it. This was the best background I could come up with on a rainy, yucky day. I didn't even look at what was on the floor, and to be quite honest, I still don't know what that is. So, here we are..... Minnie and me. In all our glory!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

A Guest Post

My sister noticed it had been awhile since I'd posted anything on my blog and suggested she do a guest post for me. Wasn't that sweet of her?? I thought so too! Soooo, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about her. She's older than me, although not by very much. I think our parents were romantic little lovebirds in their youth. (Ewwww! Our PARENTS??) What a thought! Anyway, back to my sister. She loves animals, especially horses. If there was any way that she could spend her entire day with horses, she'd be the first in line. Well, maybe right after her daughter! And she sews. Boy, does she ever sew! Wedding dresses, bridesmaid and prom dresses, and smocked things that are professional quality. I just look at them in amazement. Girlfriend is good!!
I'm happy to say that she and I live about a half hour away from each other, so we do a few girl things together regularly. I hope you enjoy Linda as much as I do!
~~Lori

Hello and welcome to the guest portion of Lori's Blog. I am Lori's sister Linda and am guest writing for this segment. Fasten your seat belt.............................

So I am, like Lori, a sewer. But I sew clothes, machine embroider and quilt after a fashion. Lori is a better quilter, but I do manage a quilt on occasion. I also am a smocker and heirloom sewer, which is weird in California. But I digress.
I decided that over Lori's Easter break I would go up and help her celebrate her vacation by sewing with her. We both are trying to sew up our fabric stashes (stop laughing everyone) and I had a cool pattern that I bought off of Etsy from Sew Spoiled called the Cabrio Tote. I had made one and felt that it needed a tweak or two. (Like Lori, I cannot leave a pattern or recipe alone. My apologies to Sew Spoiled-Ido love it though.) Anyway, Lori had some batiks that she thought would make a cute purse. I have a Brother sewing machine with built in Disney characters and some Disney cards so we planned a day of sewing and dessert. We started with the fabric and then picked out a large Minnie Mouse to put on the body of the tote. Then we let the machine work its magic:

I am not stoned. Lori took the picture and like the paparazzi only sent me the dorky one. It is her blog after all. Honest we had not been drinking. But we had made this:



What is this???? Straight from Ree Drummond – The Pioneer Woman and Tasty Kitchen Blog hostess it is Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn. Tweaked of course. I am me after all. The original recipe called for white chocolate and white cake mix (Yes, there is 1 and ½ cups of cake mix in this recipe, totally shocking I know.) Me being the chocolate lover that I am I used dark chocolate chips and a chocolate fudge cake mix. We made it festive with the red, white and blue sprinkles supplied by Lori since I forgot the sprinkles. Let’s hope that my post makes Lori as famous as Ree. I am sure that we can convince Geoff to wear chaps for the cause.

Meanwhile, here is a close up of the completed Minnie Mouse embroidery for Lori's purse:
How cute is that?
We originally sewed early in the week that Lori had off and on Friday she had the purse finished. (Not to mention the popcorn!!!)
Can we just say, “How cute!!!” The main tweaks were we made the tote overall larger. We decided that just making the top band and bag body bigger would have been sufficient. Lori and I both get lots of complements on our bags and we are enjoying using them. Sew Spoiled has no idea that I exist except in that I bought the pattern and Ree is also blissfully ignorant of my existence. Lori however, is neither blissfully ignorant nor unaware of my existence. We had a fun day and used up part of both my stash and Lori’s. A huge coup in the world of sewers, who love having “someday” fabric. I find that it is harder to keep the stash to manageable levels than it is to decide which project to make next. I also am looking forward to your comments and hope that we both have inspired you all to shop at home for your next project. I am amazed what I find on occasion.
Cheers and best wishes, Linda
P. S. We also checked in with the hen that I took up to Lori and her chick that is now a teenaged chicken. How cute she is and how big. It was fun to get to see her again and to figure out that we are pretty sure that she is a hen.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

My Weekend Was Filled With Shopping

My sister and I got together this weekend to go to a quilt show. We had fun. We had lunch. We had quite a few laughs. And we shopped. I was the one that brought home the most. Does that make me the winner?? Here's what I bought:


A really nice, "Jelly Roll" of batiks and a batik fat quarter. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but they were screaming to go home with me, so how could I refuse? That was all I bought at the quilt show, but then we went boot shopping.

Aren't these sweet? I've been wanting some lace up boots for quite some time, thinking that they would be perfect for work. Unfortunately, when you wear a size 12, you can't always get what you want, even if you special order. These, believe it or not, are men's. Not sure how many men buy purple boots, but I'm not complaining!


Here they are again, just in case you want a bird's eye view. Then, as if that wasn't enough shopping for this anti-social girl, I went shopping in my sister's closet. She wanted to get rid of some of her clothes, and I just happened to be right there, raising my hand! Here's two sweet little shirts, just waiting to be worn.



I was able to grab 4 pairs of capris and 2 jeans while she wasn't looking. Score!


All in all, it was a fun day. It was nice to be able to spend the day with my sister, and I think we both needed a day off.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Mama and Baby

My sister loves animals. In fact, all animals would be welcome in her life if she had the room. Unfortunately, she doesn't have space for all of the world's creatures. But that doesn't stop her from finding happy homes for wayward creatures that happen to cross her path. I received a phone call from her recently with the news that she had a displaced hen, and could I provide food, clothing, shelter, and education for this little girl? Of course, nothing is quite so easy as that! It turned out that the little hen had an egg she was sitting on, and unbeknown to my sister, had hatched probably a day before they caught the hen. Which, by the way, was a circus in itself. It was dark, the little hen didn't want to leave the freedom she was enjoying, was worried about her baby, then the baby chick got stepped on. All that happened before they could be moved to the dog crate into the back of Linda's car. Oh, do you know how much a little hen can poop in 20 minutes? Enough to stink up the car by the time she got to me.
Anyway, everybody is happy now; the little hen, her baby, my sister, and me. Here they are, their first family photo, just chillin', mama and baby.





And here's the little baby, doing just fine. Luckily, there seems to be no permanent damage from being stepped on. We are all hoping it's a girl. Still haven't figured that one out yet, since home hatched chicks never come with pink or blue ribbons.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

My Beautiful Hubby


We were at the airport, waiting for my in-laws flight to get in. I forgot to bring anything to read. I was bored. I had the camera. He was a good sport.
The End.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Beautiful Morning

I was on my way to work yesterday, and this is what I saw on the way in.



Want to know something funny? Yesterday was an awesome day for me. I wonder if this is why?

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Farmer's Market

It's been unseasonably warm here in the Sacramento Valley. Hubby and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather by working outside, cleaning up around the trees, and this morning, we went to the local farmer's market! It runs year round, rain or shine, and has local produce of all sorts. Our favorite apples are from Noble Orchards up in the foothills. We eat about 10 lbs of apples each week. Can you believe that?? They're so yummy.


I can tell the weather is starting to get nicer, because there were pots of flowers, just waiting to go to a new home.


Masa Organics is where we usually get brown rice. I think next time we'll be getting the 25 lb. bag. I like to mix it with barley and keep some made up in the refrigerator to mix in with stir fries, or in my veggie omelets on the weekends.


This year, we discovered pomegranate balsamic vinegar..... Oh, my. It's so good, I think I could just drink this stuff straight. It's made right up the road from us. Who knew??


I look forward to our trips each week. We see lots of colorful people. And baskets. Lots and lots of baskets.


Sunday, January 8, 2012

It Was Free!

Hubby needed to run into town this morning for a few things. Look what he saw on his way home!

We have a big dehydrator 2 miles down the road from us, and they had tossed out 2 big prune boxes. They would be perfect for a series of big compost piles that Hubby has been planning lately. All he needed was...... can you guess?? The wood! Anyway, fast forward 30 minutes, and we unloaded first one prune box.....


And then another!
Maybe, just maybe, the compost bins will be finished next weekend.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Early......For Me, At Least!

One of the great things about working at a school is we get 2 weeks off for Christmas. It's a much needed rest, and everyone is happy to get the time off. But after the 2 weeks is up, I'm excited to get back to school. Back to the routine. To the classroom. But most of all, back to our kids. Anyway, this morning I was all atwitter thinking of the kids, and I got up bright and early to greet the day. This is what I saw out of the kitchen window after a half hour or so.


Pretty cool, huh? Normally, I'm not up this early. I've always figured if God wanted me to see the sunrise, He would have made them later in the day. So, if you are another person that doesn't normally get up before the crack of dawn, this is what it looks like!