The Girls in their NEW Sewn By Me Duds!! :)

Okay, ignore the clutter and mess of the house...I need some new photo shop software...couldn't edit! But check out my girls' new duds! They actually got up this morning and WANTED to wear them! They took a nap and woke up and were STILL clothed! We classified this as a minor miracle, lately we have been finding them naked as a jay birds when we go to get them out of their cribs, (Hoping this is just a phase!)

Early to bed tonight to make up for last night's late night festivities.

God is good. All the time.

Just to prove him wrong!!

I took my DH to Joann's today, which was a not so smart move on my part! He wandered the aisles and gasped at the prices, (especially when he went to check out the serger I had mentioned earlier in the day)


Everything I touched he had a comment for "What do you need that for?" "How much does that cost?" "You don't even know what to do with that stuff!" (I swear, he is a great guy...really!)


However, his most irritating quip (as I ohhhhed and ahhhhed over some adorable sundress fabric, and fantasized about making adorable sundresses) was something along the lines of "Well, at least I know this is just a phase...you never stick to anything...it's not like you have any real follow through....."


Now before any of you out there start giving me referrals for good divorce attorneys, please refer to the second paragraph and also note that I am a good Christian wife!


At that moment, I decided I would have to prove him wrong. When we got home though, he had to go help out some friends of ours who managed to short out their electrical box this afternoon, so I was left alone for the evening. (Just in time to cook and serve dinner, give much needed baths to the five kiddos, and get their school things ready, and get them into bed!)


I then dragged out all of my sewing gear, and became more determined than ever to sew something that would knock his socks off. (That will be the only piece of clothing removed in my presence at least for a day or two...I am holding a grudge!)


Anyhow, just as I settled down to sew, I realized I was out of Diet Coke so I quick ran to the store, got some caffeine, and finally at 9:07 looked nervously at my sewing machine. I think I heard it mocking me....I was quickly longing for my BF to be here to support me. I had flashes of bobbin failure, user error, and wrecked fabric...so I put my Michael Miller away. (After stroking it a bit)


Then I heard him say it again..."just a phase.....no follow through......blah blah blah"


So I got out my new pattern for twirl skirts and got to work. Here are my results....

They are really not as crooked as they appear here, I was trying to put them on a diagonal to be cute. Guess it didn't work! Oh well...my next hobby will have to be photography! Ha ha ha.... They actually turned out very cute, and I am very pleased. The second set is better, as I added even more for the seam allowance, and remembered to sew the first fold of the elastic holder. (opps....)

So...needless to say, it is waaaaayyyyy past my bedtime for a school night, but I am happy and pleased. Just one more pic....

Hmmmmm...maybe I should tell him I need a toddler sized dress dummy!

God is good. All the time.

The Birthday Girls....

Happy 17th Birthday to Alyssa, and happy um......happy uh......happy 39th birthday to my mom.

Here they are on Christmas together. Yucking it up as they always manage to do. :)

Top 17 things I love about Alyssa....

1. She is ours...no matter where she lives!

2. She is a great daughter.

3. She is a good sister.

4. She goes to church without me nagging her.

5. She has a great laugh.

6. She is an excellent friend.

7. She never gets dragged down by peer pressure.

8. She is smart.

9. She is silly.

10. She is fun.

11. She is good at math....a quality I admire, especially since I am NOT!

12. She is good at science...(see above)

13. She is willing to try new things...sorry about those dance lessons in 4th grade!

14. She is getting to be a pretty good driver...ditches and all!

15. She will defend her friends, and family.

16. She is an excellent role model.

17. She is Alyssa... nothing less, a unique, amazing, adventurous, carefree, confident, silly, serious, and loving person... I love her and miss her. We all do.

Happy Birthday Sis....

I can't even begin to list all the things I love about my mom. I am glad to be my mother's daughter. I see, feel, and hear myself becoming more and more like her as the days pass, and my own life leads me to shriek "Waaaauuuugggghhhhhhh" as dogs wrap leashes around my legs, children throw up on me, someone takes off a poopy diaper and carries it across the room dropping turds on the floor, or anything else unexpected happens. It's an unusual sound, but it gets the job done. I am not as skinny as my mom though....hmmmmm maybe that will give me something to look forward to as I get closer to um....ah....39.

I hope Noah never reads this and wonders why I didn't list my top ten things about him on his birthday. To be honest, I just thought of it. (Sorry Noah....) I'll post the best 11 things about you next year. I'll dedicate a post to you my bud after the chess tournament.

God is good. All the time.

I hate today...

In Loving Memory of Briona Hope Boyer

10/18/02 - 01/14/03

Every year I hate today. Actually I hate tomorrow, but today is the reminder that tomorrow is coming. It's almost worse. I torture myself wondering what I would have, could have, should have done differently. Maybe that is why we never know when our last day will be. Too many what ifs, too many regrets. It's an awful gut wrenching roller coaster.

This year seems to be especially difficult. Perhaps it's because Briona would have been in kindergarten this year, and I spend many a day wondering which of my students would be her friends...would she be in dresses or jeans, a girly girl, or a tom boy....would I have even been able to let her go to school, or would I be a basket case spraying Lysol on random strangers and enclosing my house in a giant germ free bubble.

Those of you that know me and my pathetic attempts at housekeeping, I want you to know that I can hear you snickering from here. I firmly believe that the good Lord would have given me the gift of creating a germ free environment had she gotten to come home. I would have given her my own heart if she would have been able to come home.

It's hard not to wonder who she would be today. Watching my two little girls now and seeing how my girly girl likes to wear multiple layers of mismatching clothes from her brother's closet, while pushing a stroller full of baby dolls, and my tom boy needs "pretties" in her hair before putting on her custom boutique clothes to go play in the mud with her brothers makes me wonder how Briona would fit into the mix. God is so good to have given me three more beautiful children since we lost our baby.

Although I am feeling sorry for myself today, I do fully realize how blessed I am. To have been the mother of such a beautiful, feisty, and truly angelic little girl. I still remember Dr. Bove telling me that she had the wisest eyes he had ever seen, and he thought that she was an "old soul". Perhaps that was his way of telling me that she was just mine to borrow for a little while.

I am truly a better person for having known Briona Hope. My dear friend Kacie lost her little boy Kane within days of Briona's passing. I know that those two, (and not our mutual love of Days of our Lives) have had a hand in us managing to maintain our long distance friendship. I'll be lifting her up in prayer this week...especially since she is expecting again!

God is good. All the time.

The Party's Over.......

Uggggghhhhhhh!!!! Back to school in the morning! As you can see I am procrastinating, which I will likely regret in the morning. I've laid out the boy's clothes for the week to make up for the fact that I've gotten used to sleeping in until after 9:00 every day.

6:00 is going to feel awful early!! Thank goodness for coffee!

Starting the Special K diet tomorrow...eating cereal twice a day and a normal dinner (although their normal and my normal may not really jive....) seems possible. We'll see. You are supposed to be able to lose up to 6 pounds in two weeks. That would be a great way to get some weight loss started...Meems...you'll have to let me know if I look skinnier (ha!) when I come to visit over the MLK holiday.

Bought my first fabric on Ebay tonight. Sharks for my Squishy man....hoping to make some cool jeans/ lounge pants/ or an appliqued shirt or something. We'll see!

I told my husband that if he really loved me he would build me a sewing room like some super hubbies I know of....so I can sew with joy.....he's not buying it. Could be something to do with the fact that the machine is still in the box. He's such a pessimist sometimes!!!

Need to go to bed now. Only four more posts until I'm half way to 50!!!

God is good. All the time.

Let the Sewing Begin!!!

Woo hoo! Santa was good to me this year! This was a total and unexpected surprise! Yes...it's only a Singer, but for someone who has NO CLUE on how to sew, I won't feel as guilty if I decide that I am sewing loser and go back to begging my dear sewing abled friends to sew cute frocks for my kids!



Yes... you are also looking at my STASH of BLANKS up on top of the as of yet unopened sewing machine! Target was having a clearance sale, and I stocked up on BLANKS (do you love my sewing lingo???) to applique! Now it's off to Joann's for some fabric and some fusible interface! MAN...I sound like a pro already!



The holidays were wonderful here! Santa was good to the whole family. We got a Wii, and the kids have enjoyed playing on it. Our current favorite family game is the Ravin Rabbids (or something like that....) it involves a lot of silly mini games like throwing toilet plungers at angry rabbits, or tossing cows....sounds terrible I know, but it is SO MUCH FUN to play, and to watch others play!



In case you are wondering....here are my New Years Resolutions.....

1. No more selling on ebay...too costly. Especially when you factor in the ebay fees with the paypal fees. I was feeling like a Ebay genius until I got 87.00 bucks sucked out of my account the day before Christmas and overdrew my checking account. (Whoops...hope DH doesn't read this post!) I can't say I won't buy...I am a sucker for boutique clothing, but I don't think I will sell. It' s much easier just to cart things off to the second hand store, and if I take store credit, I probably come out ahead!



2. No more medicine... I've been taking anti depressants for a long time. Time to get off of them, and make myself happy without depending on drugs to keep me calm. This resolution should also serve as evidence in a court trial in case I go off the deep end and hack up aforementioned DH...ha ha...just kidding....I guess this could now be used as evidence for the prosecutor....good thing that so far it is going well. :) I guess I should say again...hope DH doesn't read this post!



3. Learn to sew...I may need to depend on the skills and patience of my dear friend, but I plan to try and figure it out. :)



4. Exercise...which I believe will be good for me both physically and mentally. It would be nice if I lost some weight, but my love of food will inhibit any diet that I attempt for more than a week or two. (Who am I kidding...maybe a day or two!) I plan of joining Curves again, with a friend of mine. Hopefully we will encourage each other to go and get into some semblance of "in shape" my current "blob like" figure isn't cutting it for me. To his credit, DH doesn't seem to mind! I don't need to be a model, but something in between Pillsbury dough woman and model would be good enough for me!



5. Live for today, and enjoy the people I love...quirks and all! Life is too short too worry about tomorrow, or what others think. I am so blessed in so many ways, I plan to appreciate my blessings and not long for things that others may do, have, accomplish, etc...


It is late, and time for bed. How am I ever going to get back into the groove of getting up at 6:00 and getting off to work??!! Does anyone know how many days until June 6th???







God is good. All the time.