Ready for Thanksgiving!

I've finished everything that I needed to do before tomorrow. And that banana pudding in the fridge is screaming my name! I must resist.

I finished up my Mother-in-law's quilt today. I don't think I'll get the tote bag finished like I had hoped, but if I can stay awake I'll work on it. I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow--not looking forward to tears that I'm sure will flow.

I'm calling the quilt "Hold my Hand"



















And just because it's so yummy...here's the pudding that I made for tomorrow.

Comments welcome

Hey...see that little comments button right below this writing. It's neat. You click on it and then you're allowed to leave a comment on anything I post. I love reading comments...

Thought I'd share

Just a sneak peak

I'm working on a special gift for a special woman in our lives. I'm rushing to finish it before Thursday so I can give it to her at Thanksgiving dinner with all the family around. It was a spur of the moment decision this past weekend to work on it and it's coming together nicely. Can't wait until Thanksgiving!

Here's a sneak peak of it...

It's getting to be that time

Well, Christmas is nearing and the lights are going up. It's such a fun time of year (besides the crowds in the stores of course).

We met up with the Tapley's last night for a hayride through Lights of the South and drank hot chocolate and saw Santa. I got to meet Joe's grandma for the first time and LJ got to spend time with his other grandparents. I really enjoyed the evening.

Halloween Block Party

Thanks to the McDuffie County Chamber of Commerce we all went and enjoyed a halloween party tonight. Lots of games for the kids and trick or treating. They even had a haunted house.

Just a few of the pics I took while we were there.






Trinity (Hannah Montana)





Alyssa (Rock Star)





LJ (Firefighter)













This slime looked really nasty!

LJ starts school soon

Well the time has come. The little monster gets to go to daycare. He's gone to an in-home daycare this week and he's done fairly well but we will be needing to find him a center full time. I think it'll be good for him for the social skills before he starts real school next year.

Now to find a good center. There aren't many to choose from here in the country.

Almost complete!

I wanted to share the pics because several people have asked to see them. I've got to paint the small bookcase next to the twin bed white and make a picture for above the full bed. Alyssa has requested a horse or horseshoe so I'll be working on that tomorrow...my plan is to have everything finished before the birthday party on Saturday.

Pics of the progress

Just finished one thing so far for the girls' room. A peace sign clock. These are super easy to do and fun to match to the decor of the room. (I had to take the picture sideways because of the glare I kept getting from the flash)




Then I got a mini wallhanging done that says "LJ's Room". My very first quilt binding ever and I'm wondering why I always thought it was difficult. I'm no longer afraid of quilts now that I realize how easy the binding is. Maybe I'll finish that quilt I started a few years ago and quit at the last step...the binding.

I also made 2 pillow cases for LJ's bed. Regular size pillow and an accent pillow. I found a cute embroidery design and I didn't want to spend the $5 on it so I put my own together using letters I had and the train embroidery. I like how it came out and it was free! I already had the pillow form around the house. So far LJ's room re-do is costing me $40. And I'll hopefully get the pillows, curtains, wallhanging and quilt out of that $40. I love bargains.













Adding more! I just finished up the valance for the window. It was easy but time consuming doing all that hemming. Thank goodness for my serger though...shaved off a good bit of time with it.







I told LJ to close his eyes in the model pic and he kept rolling his eyes..so I told him to hide and this is what I got! Silly boy.

Getting a start

Today was moving day. Furniture moving that is. I switched the kids' bedrooms. I had ordered several yards of Thomas the Train fabric for LJ's room decor and I was trying to figure out how in the world to make the best use of what I had to make him some sort of quilt and kept thinking how easy it would be if he had his toddler bed still. So I decided the girls could go back to each having their own bed but only if they were in LJ's room because there is one full usable wall in that room and not in their room. So the furniture got a swap and now they have new rooms. I'll be putting the shelves and everything in the girls' room next week along with painting the walls and their dresser.

I made a pillowcase using the Thomas fabric tonight and I'm working on an embroidery for an accent pillow right now. I plan to use the same design for a wall hanging that says "LJ's Room" with a train. I'll post pics as soon as things are moving along. I need to get some coordinating fabrics for the quilt but it should be fairly easy to do. I'm planning a strip quilt for ease and simplicity. And because I'm scared I won't be doing a binding...instead I'll do turn and topstitch to finish it. I really need to do a small baby quilt and practice with a real quilt binding. I don't know why it scares me so much..something about hand sewing that really freaks me out. LOL

Gotta get back to the embroidery machine. Got lots of ideas pouring out tonight and I'm taking full advantage of the creative spirit!

Ready to redecorate!

Isn't this a beautiful bedroom?







When I win the lottery I'll spend the $5,000 it cost to have it! But until then I'm going to borrow the idea of the bookshelves around the bed and make my won. I'll buy 2 shelves from Walmart and paint them white then attach a shelf between the two going over the bed. I'm excited to see how it looks. The girls are ready for a more grown up room so we'll be redecorating soon. I think I'll do it next weekend for a surprise...they'll be gone to their dad's.

I'll post pics when I'm finished with the room. Gotta find the right color paint too. I'm thinking turquoise blue.

Dinnertime Fun

I went to see Julie and Julia the other day with my little sister and got the urge to cook new things....so I searched high and low online for new recipes. I found a few. Tonight we had Quick Fix Beef Burrito Skillet from the Kraft Foods website. Quick and yummy. Alyssa didn't like it because of the beans but everyone else liked it. LJ and Trinity had seconds!





Last night the girls cooked pizza for us. Prebought cooked pizza crust. They spread the sauce and added the pepperoni and cheese. They ended up with a little too much cheese but it was still good.

What is wrong with this world?

I heard about this story today and thought I'd look up the article to read it. A woman handcuffed a child (I believe it was her nephew) to a table and beat him with a belt...UNTIL THE BELT BROKE IN HALF! A neighbor heard the child screaming and called the cops...when the cops got there the lady was going to find another belt because the first one broke. Why? Because he was misbehaving at school. Seriously? The woman should be handcuffed to her jail cell and let the other cellmates go at her with a belt.

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/59466077.html

I just wonder what wired gets screwed up in their heads..these people who do awful things to other human being..especially innocent children. That poor little boy...imagine what he'll go through now because of this...thank goodness the neighbor heard him and called the cops.

It's been a while since I posted last...not that anyone reads this. I have been keeping busy with little Ike running wild. He's been quite a handful lately and has really been pushing my buttons.

We're trying to get him to sleep in his own bed now so I've ordered Thomas the Train fabric to make curtains and pillowcases for him and we found a huge floor puzzle to put together and hang on the wall. Hopefully the Thomas things will make him want to stay in his room. He's a Thomas finatic. Last night he slept in the girls' bedroom because he wanted to watch his movie he rented (Alvin and the Chipmunks) and his tv doesn't have hookups for a DVD player. He spelt for a while in there but before the night was over he was in the bed with us. Hopefully it'll just take some getting used to and he'll be back in his bed for good.

I've been looking for new recipes...I'm in a cooking rut. I just haven't been in the mood to cook because it's always the same old thing. So I hunted the world wide web and found some yummy looking recipes so I just gotta make a grocery list and get to the store. I'll use this as an excuse to find some new cookware too. I've been wanting some new pots and pans for a while now. Mine are looking pretty rough after 10 years...they don't make things like they used to. I'm also looking into Once A Month Cooking. I'd spend an entire day or weekend cooking and preparing dishes and then freeze them so all I'd have to do is remove from the freezer and pop in the oven after work. That would make dinner so much more enjoyable since I wouldn't have all that preperation after a long day at work.

Speaking of dinner...I better go decide what I'm cooking tonight. I'm thinking Baked Tilapia and sweet peas.

He's finished!

Isn't he cute? I put my glasses on him to see what it would look like. I can't decide whether to make him a young puppet or an old puppet. The glasses and the white hair make him look old. I'd need to find some old glasses to use though if I go that route. So for now he's just got his eyes and his red nose. I didn't like the sweater he was wearing until I decided on the red nose now it all goes together. Tell me what you think? I like comments you know. hint hint. hehe

What he looks like now


With glasses


With glasses and white hair

My new project

I don't have everything I need to finish him but I thought I'd show a progress picture anyways. I'm excited. Tried one before and he came out all wonky so I gave it another go. Glad I did! Isn't he looking so cute?! I see a family of puppets in the works for the kids. They'll be great to use with LJ for his school lessons.




I gotta the rest of the supplies I need. Eyes, nose and a tongue and then he'll need some hair. I don't like the sweater he's wearing all that much so a trip to Build-A-Bear for a snazzy t-shirt is in order too..maybe even a cool hat or sunglasses. I'll take him in the mall with me to try on clothes! Won't I get cute looks? Hehe

The kids have started school

All 3 of the kids have started school now. They started Friday. The girls in public school and LJ homeschooling. LJ wanted to go into school with his big sisters so bad but he won't start public school until next year for PreK. This year we're doing homeschool for him to continue his OT and get a head start on learning.

Here are some pics of the girls' first day at school.






And here are some from LJ's lesson today. He got to paint a picture of his house. He had a blast painting and wanted to paint more but we had to get the table cleaned off for dinner. The girls got in on the action too and painted ocean scenes.







LJ's artwork


Trinity's artwork


Alyssa's artwork