Woo Hoo!!!

I just spent a couple of hours at Joann Fabrics and oh my goodness, did I have some fun. I had a nice gift card from Tresa for Mother's Day and I used that and then some. I got all kinds of awesome, awesome fabric for aprons and I cannot wait to work on them all. I won't know which one to do first because they are all so darn cool! There is brown with pears, and pink with birds, white with flowers and lady bugs, a lime green with brown and aqua, a black and white, a pink, black, green and yellow one, a blue with white polka dots that I think is going to be my craft show apron and a fun watermelon one!!!
fabric,
I am just finishing up one from the original batch of fabric and all of this has to be washed and dried, so I won't start these until next week.

I also will be mailing in applications for two more craft shows....one is an outdoor one in July and the other is an indoor show in September. I already got in the indoor one in October. I still haven't found anything for August and I'm undecided on November.

Can you tell I am buzzing right now....kind of high on life I guess.

I am also going tomorrow to buy a tiny flat iron for this very short hair. I used mine on it, and I'm not as upset with the cut except that I really don't understand how I ended up with what appears to be bangs....when I said nothing about bangs. I never have bangs. I don't like bangs. How did I end up with bangs????

Well time to get in my jammies and go read for a while. I need to settle my brain down a bit. Chat with you soon!!!

One New Apron and One New Haircut

I'm sitting here taking a little break from a new apron I'm working on and eating the carrot cake from Outback that I didn't finish last night. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a new apron pattern so I have some different options to choose from. I think cutting them out is worse than making them! Could they make the tissue paper any thinner????

This is the apron that I finished yesterday. I really like the fabric and the pattern was nice to work with. I can't say the same thing about the new pattern. Grrrrr.....


I'm not sure how I am going to photograph my aprons for MyOtherShop though. Some people model them and others use forms. I don't have either available to me, so I might have to wait for Bernadette to stop by after I get a few done, or go buy a form.

I also got my hair cut this morning....short! I told her that I wanted it short, but whatever she did with the sides...I needed to be able to get them behind my ears. I hate my hair hanging in my face when I'm working. Well.....it is short, but it comes no where close to being able to be put behind my ears. UGH!

By the time I got home from the salon, all of the hair on the top of my head was flipped up like lovely little "wings". It was not good. I flat ironed those out, so now I have straight sides and curly back. That isn't going to work. Don't feel like playing with it now, so we'll see what I can do with it tomorrow. I'm sure it will be fine....except now there is no long hair to hide all of my wrinkles and extra chins behind! HAHA!!

First Homes

Michael and Bernadette are looking for their first home. We went last night to look at one they liked when they saw it last week. It made me think back to purchasing our first and only house! We have lived here for 36 years now. :)

We had been renting a little apartment that was the upper level of Irv's sister-in-laws mom's house. It was tiny, but cute and we were thrilled. We were twenty years old and felt pretty grown up being married and having our own place. We had both lived at home prior to getting married.

Irv's dad had been looking for small houses to fix up and sell and came across one that wasn't what he was looking for but thought it would be great for us. We had no intention of buying a house at that time, but we went to look. The house had been a summer home for an older couple from Chicago. It was cute. The price tag was a whopping $17,500! It was a whole 660 square feet.

In order to get our mortgage, the bank made me sign a paper saying that I did not intend to get pregnant any time soon!!! HAHA!!! Can you believe that? What would they do if I had? Force me to have an abortion or take my kid so I could keep working? I still laugh every time I think about that one!

In the fall of 1981, when our first two kids were 7 and 1, we added on another 300 square feet to the back of the house.We added our third child two years later and raised our three kids and at least a couple dozen pets of varying sizes and shapes in this little place we call home.

It has served us well over the years. The house was built in the 50's and craftsmen took a lot of pride in their work back then. The photos are of the front and back of our house in 1972 when we bought it, starting the addition we put on, and the front and back of the house today.

I will cry uncontrollably when we leave here one day....the cool thing is that even though the house will stay....all of my wonderful memories will come with me wherever I go.

The Pond

I have a 40 minute commute to work and every day I pass this "pond". The water comes almost up to the road and it's really kind of an eerie looking body of water. It's very rustic and surrounded by brush and trees. There are trees that have fallen into the water and the water is muddy looking. I'm not sure if you can even get to it from the adjoining forest preserve park or not. I have never seen a person in the vicinity.

The area happens to be very attractive to the herons and egrets...the great big awesome birds. I can't even begin to tell you how much I LOVE those birds. I practically run my car off the road if I see one flying overhead because I want to watch it until it is out of sight. If I see one standing by any body of water I drive by, I just want to pull over and sit and stare.

I'm not sure where my love of these big birds came from, but it is probably just an extension of my love of animals.

If you have never seen a heron standing in it's nest it is quite a site. These gigantic birds have nests in the very top of the tree branches and I always wonder how the little branches can handle the nest and the bird standing in it. It's quite a site to see in the spring before the trees have leaves. There are dozens of nests in the trees, just like in the picture to the right. I wish I had a good camera so I could take pictures of them. Today's pictures are courtesy of Wikipedia.

Back to the "pond"....a couple of weeks ago I was driving past the pond and I really did almost drive off the road! There around the shore of the pond were at least six gorgeous herons and two beautiful egrets. It was as though they had convened for an important meeting or something. There are days when I might see one, maybe two along the shore, but eight amazing birds at one time was quite a sight to behold!

The wonderful birds took my breath away. I actually got choked up and almost cried. It was just the most amazing thing to see. I wanted so badly to pull over and just sit and watch them all, but there is no shoulder on that road and traffic is heavy in the morning....so I was forced to drive by.

I had to share my story with someone, but not many people I know would be moved by the things that move me. I e-mailed Irv as soon as I got to work to tell him because I knew he would at least say that it was cool, and then I e-mailed Matt because I knew he would understand...and he did. He told me there are times when he is walking home from work that he will see something that strikes him like that and will almost bring him to tears.

The picture is sketched into my brain and it is something I will never ever forget.

The Aprons Are Coming

I went straight from work to Joann Fabrics yesterday only to be very disappointed because all of the patterns I wanted were out of stock! UGH! It took me 50 minutes to get there with the traffic and a wonderful slow-moving semi. On the way home I decided to go try a fabric store that has been in the town next to mine for 3 years that I didn't even know was there! Hancock Fabrics. I found it online. I felt so stupid. 3 years!! I just never go that way.

Hancock had the apron pattern I wanted and then the search for the perfect fabrics started. I found four that I really loved and then had to drag myself out of the store. I could have stayed for hours just looking and touching. I love fabric. The colors, the prints, the texture.....talk about overload...but in a very positive and happy way! I'm sure you love the materials you work with as well. It's just so awesome, isn't it?

I washed and dried the fabrics since aprons will get washed...a lot...and I don't want them shrinking or getting out of shape at all. Now tonight I will be cutting out some aprons and getting to work on them.

I guess MyOtherShop is going to go from "things for the home" to "things for you and your home". I just can't help it. I am really into the sewing right now and there are so many things I want to make.

By the way, I don't wear aprons...because I don't cook. HAHA! Personally, I think every guy should have a nice fitting apron...don't you? I plan to make one for Irv! :)

The Gift

I woke up this morning feel a little bummed. It's a work day. It was so nice having the three days off, and I long for retirement, but it's so far away. Then I remembered that I am trying to have a new attitude about life and about living and I quickly snapped out of it.

Life is a gift, each day is a gift, my job is a gift and I intend to treat them all with the respect that every gift we receive deserves. Old habits are hard to break, but reading Eckhart Tolle has taught me that I need to stop wishing my life away. I can't live each day wishing it were the weekend, because each weekend that passes puts me closer to the end of my life and why on earth would I want to wish for that?

The neat thing is that I am able to very quickly remind myself of those facts and the negative mood turns into such an uplifting and positive one...just like that! I have come a long way. It's such an awesome feeling.

So, now I need to finish getting ready to head to that job that truly is such a gift and I am going to have one heck of an awesome day! After work I am going to Joann's to buy a couple of patterns for some new things I'll be adding to MyOtherShop!

The pictures are some flowers from my yard. Have an fantastic day everyone because life is oh so good!

I Need Another Day Off

What a wonderful day it was. The weather looked "iffy" for a while, but it ended up being pretty nice. The kids came over in the early afternoon...we ate, and chatted, and laughed, and ate, and chatted and laughed and ate some more. The perfect holiday I would say.

Tresa and Chris are doing well. We listened to stories about Casey, the kitten from hell! I just laugh. I never thought Tresa would have any pets, and now she gets one that likes to terrorize her. Too funny!

Michael and Bernadette found a house that they might put an offer in on. It needs some MAJOR updating, but has great potential. It's in a wonderful area and if they can get it for what they would offer, it could be a nice first home for them. It will need lots of wallpaper removal, and the kitchen and landscaping need help, but it's a cute house.

Poor Irv bent over to pick something up this morning and tweaked his low back. He's been hurting all day.

Man, I ate way too much. I didn't even finish what was on my plate, but about 45 minutes later the desserts came out and I didn't hold back. I had to have it all. Now I feel like crap. Right after we ate, everyone was comatose and ready for a nap! Including Wrigley!

Wish we had just one more day off.......

Oldies But Goodies

I was going through pictures looking for something that had to do with holiday parties. Our house was party central from the time we were newly married until the kids got older and left for college. Now a party is when the kids come over! HAHA! That will actually be tomorrow...it will be a party of 6 and I can't wait! At the grocery store this morning you would have thought I was shopping for a party of 60. My groceries didn't fit it my 6 reusable bags (two of which hold about two paper grocery bags full each), and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the bill! Oh well....it's a party!!! Woo hoo!

Anyway, when I was looking for pictures I came across some that just made me laugh and brought back some great memories. I thought I would share.

The first one is Tresa, being Tresa at the ripe old age of 6 with her little brother Michael, when she still thought he was pretty cool to have around!

Fast forward about 6 years and you will see what kids in Illinois do to entertain themselves in the winter. Tresa was always great at entertaining the boys. Michael doesn't look amused, and Matthew looks proud as all hell!

Next are my two charming boys in Epcot. (Irv was given a trip to Florida by his bosses for going above and beyond when they moved their company to a new location.) Every country we walked into, the boys donned hats and we took a picture. I was laughing so hard. Man we had fun on that trip. I would love to go back again! Don't you love Matt, the Viking?

The last picture was taken at Michael's graduation from St. Mary's in Winona, MN back in 2002. I can look at each of us and know exactly what we were thinking. I was pretty happy that another one of my kids graduated from college. Irv and I never went to college, so it was cool to see the kids accomplish that. Michael was extremely happy to be done with college. Irv was wondering how many years until we will be done with this college stuff. Tresa was doing well and was pretty happy with herself and Matt....oh, those were "rough" times. Can't you just see it on his rebellious little face? What fun!

Anyway....see my hair in that picture? That is my naturally curly hair. I am thinking about getting it cut like that again this week. I love my hair longer and straight, but my hair is so tired of the drying and the flat iron. My younger sister, the one in the last picture with me insists that short hair makes us look younger. She said that is why she is shaving her head next time! So longer and straight, or shorter and curly? What do you think? I don't care about looking younger, I am looking for easier and kinder to my hair!

Have an awesome rest of the day and have a wonderful holiday!