SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shabby Apple Amalfi Coast Swimsuit Giveaway

Shabby Apple Amalfi Coast Swimsuit Giveaway

Planet Gear $50 Giveaway

Planet Gear $50 Giveaway

Poppin' In

Hello all. Thought I'd just pop in to say that I haven't completely abandoned this blog (again)! I just don't think I've been doing anything all that interesting lately. It seems that I tend to go into unproductive phases every now and then which last longer than I'd like. But now I've got plans, and lots of 'em! Here's some things I'm thinking of doing (not necessarily in order):

1. Sew a couple flannel robes for family members that I promised them at Christmas. Now that the weather is warming up they'll be quite useful ;)
2. Make a couple Kindle cozies that I had also promised at Christmas. I think I'm going to use felt and do a reverse applique/embroidery design and line the inside with a material that won't scratch up the screen.
3. I've promised the girls that we'd paint and redecorate their bedrooms this summer. I don't know whether to do it all at once or spread out the work and do it over a period of time. I'm inclined to just bust it out over a weekend though. We'll see...
4. I really want a vegetable garden this year as well. It's high time I've gotten onto that!
5. Make Easter dresses for the girls. Five dresses in 3 weeks? We'll see about that too...
6.  Work on my scrap granny square afghan.
7. Learn Tai Chi. Random, I know. But it is so fun!

Well, there is a lot more I'd like to do. But I need to start small, take baby steps, and quit watching so much Netflix! (I'm not a little addicted to British dramas ;) I'll post my progress and pictures as I tackle this list.

How about you all? What kind of projects do you have going or are planning to do? I'd like to know what you're up to. It's always fun to get new ideas. Ta-ta for now!

R.I.P.

Poor thing, not even a day old. The little guy was hanging out by the fence and our neighbor's Doberman tunneled underneath two fences to get to him. Grabbed him by the tail and drug him under kicking and screaming. Lily witnessed the whole thing and is pretty traumatized. She's upset because she couldn't do anything about it and had to stand helplessly by. She was very scared of the dog. Our neighbors came by when they got off of work and found him in their yard. They were so sorry and embarrassed, I felt bad for them and told them not to worry about it. They're going to fix the fence, but I have it blocked with large rocks for now.

*Sigh* At least my children are learning how to deal with sad things. That's important for when they grow up and learn that life isn't fair and never will be, that is, until Jesus comes to take us home. Then all things will be made right. God is good and He has a plan and a purpose in everything that He allows to happen to us. We may never know His reasoning until we see Him face to face, but we can trust Him to see us through the trials He gives us.

Busyness

Well, we've been keeping busy around here! Hope had her 5th birthday. She told Ginger that she was 15, and on our way to church she informed us that she doesn't do bad things like interrupt conversations anymore. I have no more babies in the house! :( If I had kept on at the rate I was going at in this past decade I should have had three more babies by now. I miss them a lot, but I am starting to enjoy my big kids more. I also like having a little more freedom to be able to sew, which is a good thing since I forgot to get Hope a birthday present. When we got home from church I raided my pink fabric stash and busted out a sparkly dress in record time. She loved it! Thank goodness little girls are so easy to please.

Sorry it's fuzzy, she couldn't stand still!

Let's see... oh yes, last week Faith and I had an opportunity to volunteer to help train Chico and Sacramento police horses not to freak out when confronted with a noisy crowd. It was a lot of standing around but was also pretty fun. The riot police even trained with us. Faith was so ecstatic!

Earlier that same day Abi and Lily got a chance to attend a free cooking class for kids put on my the Galley, a local kitchen supply store. The instructor had the genius idea of giving the kids plastic lettuce knives to cut the soft veggies with. They're sharp enough to cut soft things with, but not sharp enough to cut little fingers. He gave us one ;) They loved it so much they want to sign up for the next class.

Last but not least, Violet finally birthed her babies! Sadly though I'm pretty sure they're both boys. We'll have to sell them. Violet and Daisy are different as night and day. Daisy is a loud, pushy pig who will eat herself sick; and Violet is a timid, gentle sweetheart who will scrounge for Daisy's leftovers. Daisy moaned and yelled LOUDLY all night during the birth of her babies; Violet was so quiet we didn't know she had her babies till the next morning. I had to separate Daisy into a different pen because she was jealous of all the attention Violet was getting and kept on ramming her and trampling her babies. The good news about daisy is that her milk isn't sour anymore and we can drink it now without getting sick. I think she just ate something that disagreed with her last time we let her out to graze in the yard.

Well, I guess that's all I'll post for now. Things are happening all the time around here so that I can hardly keep up! Now this is what home schooling is all about! I love it!

This Chick Rocks!

New Dress A Day

365 Days. 365 New Outfits. 365 Dollars.

 

Marisa takes totally horrible Thrift Store bargain bin finds for a buck, then mends and alters them into super cute garments (mostly). She's a bit more artsy and flamboyant for my taste, but she certainly has guts and a style of her own. I'll have to try some of this action myself, she's got some great ideas! ;) Warning: her blog rates a 10 on the addictive scale. Seriously, I stayed up till 2 am looking at all her before and after pics.