Merry Christmas...are you ready?

Finish making christmas items, wrap gifts, send out cards....oh CRAP---I never had christmas cards printed. Yep, I failed to organize this year and I didn't get christmas cards out.

Well, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!



I was excited that I actually got LJ to stand in this picture! It's the best I'm going to get without getting a pro....of course even then I'm not guaranteed a good picture.

I enjoyed sewing the outfits for the kids. Alyssa didn't like her dress that much because she didn't care for the paisley print. I think it's adorable and I already have more spring colored paisley print for dresses for both of them!

Stress level lowered

After my horrible, no good, very bad weekend....I'm getting caught up. I embroidered inserts for 5 travel mugs and put together hot cocoa mix for the kids' teachers and finished up two adorable reversible apron and oven mitt sets for a co-worker.

First I set these on the counter and they spelled out DAME...so I did some juggling and thought it appropriate to spell out MADE since I made them. Yes, I know..I'm a dork.


This one is different because the 2nd grade aide is a man and I thought this font was more appropriate than the fun funky print I used on the others.


And this is what each teacher got. The letter is the first letter in their last name


And the apron sets. Aren't they adorable?









All items shown here are available for custom order. ;) Email me at avdesigns4u@yahoo.com for more information.

Time for Change

With the new years comes change. I've decided it's time to pull myself out of the rut I've been stuck in. I'm getting a new look, new job and getting back into church. No more excuses. I can't fix my hair because I am too busy in the morning...nope..getting a new do! I can't go to church because it's during LJ's naptime and the only day I can sleep in..nope..doesn't matter..they have a nursery and I can nap after church. And the job..well...I'm sick of driving 70 miles a day to work and home and spending an entire week of pay on gas. And I'm tired of getting home an hour after I clock out for the day and still having to worry about supper and housework.

I'm looking at short hairstyles. I'm thinking a cute little bob..very short in the back and a little longer in the front? I want something not too difficult to style, but cute. I'm searching online for pics...got any suggestions?

And church..I visited a church last Sunday and I'm looking forward to next Sunday. I enjoyed the service. I'm going to go to the Christmas Eve service as well. Hopefully LJ will be good..or maybe they'll have the nursery open for babies.

OK..almost quitting time..better run my days end reports and get the heck out of here. Head back home to BF Egypt....in the dark since it's 5:30 now.

My baby girl turns 8!

Well, it's officially September 24 and my baby girl is turning 8 years old today (in just over an hour!) She wanted her name painted on the rock outside of the school and was sad when she thought it wouldn't get done. Well, Joe just got home from painting the rock...yes...it's after midnight!










The black and white face the road for all to see and the red faces the school. Joe almost ran out of spray paint. She'll be psyched that she now owns both sides of the rock.

Finally learned!

Well, after so many of my friends were learning how to knit and knitting beautiful longies I was determined to learn. I tried umpeen times and couldn't get past the 2nd row of the ribbing. It frustrated me horribly. So, I picked up my crochet hooks and whipped out 2 hats. Wow..crochet is easy. I gotta finish the second one up and I'll have the girls model them both. Then after that, I decided I'd give it a shot again. I got out my circulars and cast on 88 stitches. I knit for several inches and did the correct math (woohoo) to begin my decreases. I knit until I couldn't go anymore...switches to homemade DPNs (total bomb!) and messed up. I started knitting but they looked like purl stitches so I must've turned my work somehow. So I finished it off. Well, it was waaaaay too short but it was lots of good practice.

So, I got a larger needle and started again. I cast on 80 stitches and successfully completed the ribbing and started knitting the hat up. Got it to where it needed to be and started decreasing. Again doing the math right!! I've gotten down to k2k2tog...and I need my 12" circs. I'm going to do a little thing my friend said she does. She switches to a 12" circ. needle and knits a little more and then ties off. That'll work for me until I figure out DPNs. I think I need someone to show me those in person. I'll post my pics of the hat when I finish. It could be a week or so and it's going to drive me bonkers. I'm ready to start another hat, but I can't yet..my needles are tied up.

So...in the meantime I'll make pretty stitch markers. After all..the scrap piece of yarn I was using just wasn't cutting it. So...this is what I came up with. The pink ones are my favorite. I need to swipe some beads from my mom. I know she has tons! I want to make some and offer up for sale.





ETA: my completed hat. Much thanks to Jamie for being my adorable model.

Alyssa gets braces!

Well, yesterday we had a 2nd consultation appointment with Dr. Trotter. He had models of Alyssa's mouth and he was going to go over treatment plan and cost. Well, he finished that up and asked if we were ready to get started. Alyssa wasn't ready at all, but I wanted to save a trip and time off work and school so we went ahead. She now has braces. Only partial though. Right now she has 5 brackets on the upper anterior teeth and in 3 weeks she goes back and they'll put the last bracket on the tooth that they have to move into place (#7 for those dental people.) She wasn't happy at all. I had just bought her a bag of skittles before the appointment and she was upset that she wouldn't be able to eat them. So, I let her eat 1/2 of the bag before they put them on. LOL. She was so funny and all the girls at the office were amused by her silliness.






Alyssa was invited to her very first sleepover birthday party last night. Her friend Caitlin was turning 8. Trinity was a little upset that she didn't get invited. She kept telling Alyssa to stop talking about the party because it was making her mad. Well, it turns out that Caitlin's aunt let Trinity stay for the party too. So both of my girls had their very first sleepovers last night. I was worried that Trini would want to come home, but she did fine. They both frowned when they saw me pull up to pick them up. They weren't ready to come home.






And while the girls were at the party and I was getting supper cooked, LJ had a yogurt. He's had yogurt before but I've always fed it to him. Well, I gave him the bowl and spoon and let him have at it. And boy did he! He was a mess. He started off with a shirt on, but after he dropped a little bit I figured I'd take it off. Glad I did!

Craft Corner

Geesh..I keep forgetting to keep up with this blog. I have too much going on.
I have been determined for several weeks now to learn to knit or crochet. SOMETHING with yarn. Knitting finally defeated me, so I picked up my crochet hooks and made it through an entire project. Granted, you can tell it's my first project, it is wearable. I made a hat and Alyssa likes it. I'm working on a different pattern right now and I like the way it's turning out. I can see these being made for christmas gifts.

I also defeated the zipper. The dreaded, scarey, intimidating zipper! I followed a tutorial on sewing mama's and I made a small zipper pouch change purse size for Cearra's birthday. Then I made a cosmetic bag for Dr. D's birthday.

Cearra's party was at the skating rink. Yipee..An excuse to go skating. I LOVE skating. So, we get there and get our skates on and I decide to take Trini around first. We get the entire way around and start again when her skates hang up and we both hit the ground. I landed on my left knee. HARD. It looks awful now. And still hurts almost a week later when I bend it or even barely touch it. It hurts to put my leg over the baby gate at home when I have pants on. And it's starting to turn all yellow and nasty looking. Eewww.

I gotta get some better pics of my crochet projects and I'll post them later.