Happy Halloween

P.S.

Update on my Biggest Loser Challenge - I am down another 4.5 pounds! Whoo hoo! I am a bit frustrated with myself as I did not exercise at all last week with the kids being sick and I was sick. So IF I could have exercised last week, I am sure I could have added another 2 pounds to the loss... Oh well. I guess this week I will have to kick up the pressure. I only have 4 weeks left in the challenge. I think so far I have lost around 15 pounds. Not bad. Not bad.

Monday Madness

It was a busy weekend. Not that I mind. Bella had a birthday party on Saturday morning and Friday night she asks me to make her little pal a crown to throw into the present. What could I say?? OF COURSE I will make yet another crown. Okay - now that makes 6 that I have made... And I have enough felt left to make another 2 or 3. hee hee I finished Ethan's vampire cape. It looks awesome! It is black outside and red inside. Very dramatic. And I made it extra long so he can wrap it around himself. Again, it took me close to 2 hours to make it, but heck I did a good job and this cape will last through the wars!

We also bought Ethan a new bed this weekend. I have been thinking about this for a while now. Ethan is big - I mean close to 100 lbs and 5'2". His old mattress was not cutting it for him. And he has been having trouble sleeping these past few months. After determining that there is nothing psychologically wrong, it was suggested that he probably is not comfortable. Duh. He has had his mattress now for 7 years, and it wasn't top of the line when we bought it all those years ago. My bad. We got an awesome deal on the set, but it is coming down from Kelowna, so delivery is not until this upcoming weekend. I am excited for Ethan to finally have a really good bed and maybe get back into a good sleep pattern.

And to add to this the kids were in a Primary presentation at church on Sunday. It was great. Very sweet and very spiritual. I was very proud of all of the kids for doing so well with their talks and speaking parts and memorizing all those songs to sing! And after that I hosted dinner for my parents at our house. I was kind of glad to go back to work this morning actually. It was a "rest" from the weekend! How sad...

I now have a new project to start and finish. We have a Primary craft day coming up in two weeks and I have 60 kits to make so the kids can make snowman ornaments. Ya. I am all sorts of crazy.

Ciao all.

I DID IT!!

 

I said I was going to make a cape and crown for Bella, and I DID IT!!

Okay, so instead of resting and sleeping like a normal person would do being sick at home, I decided to get crafty busy! I sat down yesterday and decided that I would make the cape and see how that went. It rocked! I even made a lined cape -light pink inside and dark pink outside!! Mind you, it did take me close to 2 hours to make a simple cape. BUT in my defence, that is the first thing I have sewn since Home Ec in Grade 9! No joke. Sewing on layouts for scrap booking does not count! So coming off the high of sewing the cape, I decided to tackle the felt crowns. Victory! I am in LOVE with felt. I not only made one crown for Bella, I made 4 crowns! I made 2 for Bella and 2 for my niece Emelia. She is going to go crazy when she sees them. They are super cute and really have a great home-made look/feel to them. Really quite satisfying, I must say! And I have the wondrous Internet to thank. I found the pattern online and followed it and modified as I went along. Voila - cute crowns!!

So now I am going to tackle Ethan's vampire cape. I have black and red material for it. I may even try to attach a hood to his cape! YES - I might try!! Whoa, I think I am getting carried away now... ha ha

Ciao all. I think I may go and make a few more crowns for the dress up box!

SICK

Ethan, Bella and me -that is... We went to the doctor this morning. NOT H1N1, which I knew, but needed to hear anyway for peace of mind. But we do have some weird hybrid virus - half cold/half flu that has attached itself to our bronchials - hence the fever and coughing. So everyone in on meds now and on the mend. See you in a couple of days.

Stay healthy all.

Ciao

WHAT has come over me!!

I have the urge to sew! I have NEVER wanted to sew anything! And now I have it in my head that I am going to sew Ethan a vampire cape and Bella a princess cape and make a crown for her - Halloween costumes... I blame this urge on a few gal pals from church. On Wednesday night I hosted a cooking circle in my house and taught these gorgeous gals how to make REAL Alfredo sauce. As we cooked and talked, the gals told me that they are all learning to knit. I was jealous. Totally jealous. One had this groovy pair of mittens on that she knitted. And they were talking about scarves... I just felt the urge to create. So fast forward to this weekend. I was surfing online and came across this sweet crown above (from Etsy). Did some more surfing and actually found a pattern posted online for free that was basically the same. Now I want to make this crown for Bella for Halloween. I think I can do it... IF I am successful, I think I will make a few of them for Bella's dress up box and my niece Emelia. She would totally get a kick out of wearing this on her head!

Of course I also found a free online pattern for a cape. Seems easy enough. I guess next weekend I will be spending time in the fabric store. Yikes. New territory to me! This should be good for a laugh. I will post my final creations - good, bad, or ugly.

Ciao all.

So tired of hearing about...

H1N1. Bella came home today from school saying her chest "hurt" when she coughed. And now has a fever... Sigh. Is it H1N1?? Is it just a chest cold?? Is it just the regular flu?? Who knows. And so for the weekend I guess we will be home just doing nothing and making sure NOT to spread whatever it is that Bella has. Gee, wish whomever gave this to Bella had had the courtesy to stay home and not share!

Happy weekend all.

Thankful...

 

IT IS NOT JOY THAT MAKES US GRATEFUL, IT IS GRATITUDE THAT MAKES US JOYFUL.

I have much to be grateful, and joyful, for. Some things - serious and not:

1. My family. They are the best. Seriously. My kids are gorgeous and intelligent and funny and loving and kind. My husband is brilliant and compassionate and passionate and patient. My mother and father are so generous and supportive. My sister goes out of her way to be helpful and she is the best shoulder to lean on and always lends an ear and is so funny. My mother and father in law are good, salt of earth people. My brothers in law, all three of them, are always willing to lend a hand. My niece and nephew are just joys - loving and full of spice and life!

2. My home. I love it. We have worked hard to get it to where it is. There is much to do yet, but I am thankful that the home is MINE and the potential is endless.

3. My education. I have a good one. It has served me well. No matter how much I say I hate my "job", I love my education and what it has given me and what it will continue to give me.

4. My health. More to the point, that I am taking my health back and it is good.

5. My style. I like that I have style. Sorry, not to boast. But I know what looks good and what does not. I know what you should wear and what you should stay away from. I know quality and I know my brands. I know what to buy to get the most bang for your buck. And I know what to splurge on. It is a gift. It is not a talent I honed. Although I have worked hard on it for the past 20 years...

6. My OCD. I love it. I would not be able to survive without it. It keeps me going when I want to give up. It keeps my house organized and food in my fridge and my kids' clothes clean and pressed and my husband's stuff organized and my floors clean and my toilets spotless...

7. My faith. I have great faith. It has been tried and tested and has survived.

8. My obedience. I am a good girl. I do what I am told. And when I know what I am being told to do is for my betterment, I listen and I don't question. It saves me hassle and headache.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

Ciao.

So Proud...

 

Of Marc! He is just an inspiration. Education is a good thing - at any and every age!!

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Ciao.

Natural Decorations...

 

Another reason I so enjoy Fall. I get to use natural decorations. Nothing is better than a pumpkin. And now they come in all shapes, sizes and colours! Add a bit of moss, twigs, candles, etc. etc. and you have a first class vignette for your front porch! Or yard. Or balcony. Or whatever space you have!!

Enjoy all.

Ciao.

Sunday Creative

I am thankful for General Conference because it allows me to sit, undisturbed for 2 hours at a time, and concentrate and create. I was able to get these layouts done and finally off my mind. There is too much up there already fighting for air without these "creative" ideas clogging up the system. hee hee

I have to say, though, that I am not enjoying the scrapping process like I used to. I don't quite know how to explain it... I scrap right now out of guilt more than anything. I started these amazing books for the children and I have to keep going. I just HAVE to! I can't stop now!! Ethan already has 10 years of memories captured for him, and Bella has 6! I don't really have that many more years with the children where I can scrap for them... What a shame to let it go. But having said that, I am not enjoying the process. And to make matters worse, yesterday when I headed out to my local scrap store, I found that they had moved!! Really!! I KNOW it has only been a month since I was there last! And they moved!! So now I have to figure out where to. It frightened me to pull up to the store and see the sign gone and notice the huge fluorescent posters in the windows saying MOVED. So that put me off my creative game. We will see where this goes. I still think I need to enroll in a class. I think it is going to take something challenging to get the juices flowing again.

Have a good week all. We are preparing for Marc's Convocation (yeah!!) this Friday and then a big Thanksgiving celebration (x2). It's all good.

Ciao all.

October... WHEN did you get here??

Where did September go?? Didn't we just get the kids back in school like yesterday?? I really need to start paying attention to where my days go. But having said that, I am happy to see September leave and October arrive because that means Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and that is my absolute favourite holiday! I love hanging out with my family. I love my mom's turkey and stuffing. I love my aunt's pies. And since I have been doing the P90 challenge, I have lost a fair bit of weight and so I won't feel guilty for eating this year! I have issues with food. I love food, but food does not love me back. It goes beyond just self esteem issues. I have actual physical issues wherein most foods (or combinations thereof) will make me sick. Gotta love gettin' older... But as I said above, the daily psychotic exercise is really helping and I have not had any food issues in this past month! Promising. So I am extra excited for Thanksgiving 2009! Now I have to find a good veggie dish to make. That is my contribution to dinner for 27...

We are off to Cubs. Ciao all.