Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Heading to Cleveland....

I've been working since last weekend trying to get some orders done before we head to my parents' house, outside of Cleveland, Ohio. One of my husband's friends wanted some covers for his old Atari computers. My husband has all the covers, but I had to create patterns out of each cover. I spent a bunch of time over the weekend working on the covers and today was the first day I've during the week I've really had to time to get back to them. It's taking some time to tweak them so they fit each computer just right, but they are coming together. I also did my first digitizing job....the Atari logo for the covers. I'm quite pleased with myself that I figured out the digitizing software I got for Christmas from my in-laws. I definitely have a lot to learn, but the logo turned out nice and my husband said it looks good (and he's quite picky, so yeah for me!!). Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the covers and get the logo stitched on them!!

So, Friday morning we are heading out mid morning, hopefully around 10:00 a.m. and should arrive at my parents' house around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. I'm really looking forward to the week. Hopefully I'll get to see some friends, spend time with my parents and I'll get to see my aunt and uncle who are visiting this week and then my older brother and his kids are coming in as well. It will be a house full for the weekend, but then everybody leaves except for me, my kids and my niece and nephew (and of course my parents will be there). There is no set agenda for the week, only next weekend when we go camping and visit the flea market on Saturday! I'm so looking forward to a week without having to accomplish anything!! :-)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Design Girl

The Design Girl is having a giveaway for reaching 500 followers. She is giving away 5 pre-made blog templates. Check out the giveaway, http://designgirlblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/500-followers-giveaway-yes-another.html.

Happy 1 year anniversary...

As of today we have been in our new house for one year! We had a brutal awakening this morning around 8:10 a.m. when the smoke alarms went off....now we need to figure out why they went off!! One screaming 4 year old wondering what the sound was and why it was making the horrible noise, a 2 year old still laying silently in bed and mommy and daddy trying to figure out why the alarms sounded for just seconds!!

It's been a great year in this beautiful house. We finally have some nice grass growing in after spending lots of money to hire somebody to add top soil, till and grade the property (two acres) and seed everywhere. We've added some more seed in some areas and will surely have to add more in other areas as we figure out where the patches are going to be. I'll be happy when the grass in nice and thick throughout the entire yard. We finally got some good rain the last couple days, so I've had a break from watering duty for a couple days.....time to get some laundry done!! Expecting more rain on Saturday and praying we get a nice shower again!!

I'm patiently waiting for some fresh tomatoes and peppers from our garden. We will have large tomatoes (not sure exactly what kind they are since the neighbor brought over the starter plants), grape tomatoes, green peppers and red peppers. Yum, yum....can't wait!! Next year I'm planning on a full garden with many more vegetables. This year everything is in temporary gardens because I wasn't planning on a vegetable garden until my neighbor brought over a bunch of tomato and green pepper plants he had left. Since the yard was still in the process of being finished I put the plants in the gardens around the house that I was working on setting up. Looking forward to a full garden next year!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Questions from a 4 year old...

Yesterday my 4 year old son was full of questions. I can't remember all of them, but I do remember a couple.....

Why did God make me a boy????

When can I get my ears pierced?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Big Giveaway

Do you love giveaways? They are always fun to participate in and you can win some fun things. Found this blog through another blog I read daily. Check out the big giveaway, http://designgirlblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/big-giveaway.html. The giveaway ends today, so hurry on over to see what they are giving away!!

Baby Gift

One of the doctors at the chiropractor's office I go to had a baby in June. The office purchased a personalized tag blanket from me and because I love making and giving baby gifts I made a few things as a present from me for baby Ava. I love when people are so grateful for handmade baby gifts....the family loved the gifts! I made up a bib and burp to match the back of the tag blanket, a softie owl (an in-the-hoop design from Digistitches, www.digistitches.com) and monogrammed and added the date of birth to a blanket I had in my stash (not pictured).


Pretzel Jello Salad

Also known as Raspberry Jello Salad.
This is one of my all time favorite jello salads.

Note: also good with strawberries or cranberries

Crust:
3 cups crushed stick pretzels
3 tbsp sugar
1 ½ sticks margarine

Filling:
2 cups cool whip
1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese
1 cup sugar

1 large box (6 oz) raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 – 12 oz) pkgs. Frozen raspberries

Crust: Put pretzels in blender on grind until they are of crumb consistency. Mix crushed pretzels, 3 tablespoons sugar and margarine together and pat into an 11x13 pan. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 10 minutes. Let crust cool

Filling: Thoroughly mix the cool whip, cream cheese and 1 cup sugar together and pour over cooled crust. Chill.

Dissolve jello in boiling water. Stir in 2 packages of frozen raspberries and continue stirring until raspberries are thawed and jello starts to thicken. Pour mixture slowly over chilled cream cheese layer and refrigerate until set.


Start here with your content. Replace this paragraph, and everything down to AND INCLUDING the word: STOP. DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE THE CODE BEYOND THE WORD STOP BELOW! This has been the most requested theme, so I hope we have a record turnout. Please put up a post with your favorite recipe, or if you don't have the recipe, a photo of your favorite dish and a description. Here's a sample post I did for you: http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/2009/07/mcklinky-blog-hop-for-july-21-2009.html Also, be sure to submit your recipe here too: http://www.mcklinky.com/recipes.asp! I WILL CREATE A MckLinky RECIPE BOOK, AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO ALL BLOG HOPPERS FOR FREE! ...STOP
MckLinky Blog Hop

Monday, July 20, 2009

Bit of Whimsy Dolls Giveaway

This week Bit of Whimsy is have a Christmas in July giveway. Each day she will be giving away something different. You can be entered into the drawing by leaving a comment on her post. Check it out....http://www.bitofwhimsydolls.com/blog/2009/7/20/giveaway-day-one.html?lastPage=true#comment4870257. She has the cutest patterns for making dolls, lots of different dolls!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Question of the day....

My 4 year old asked me today if he would have a big head like Daddy when he grows up????

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Larger picture of outfits...

Here is a larger picture of the outfits since I can't figure out why the pictures don't open up larger when you click on them.


4th of July outfits

I planned on making the kids some matching outfits for the 4th of July and finally got around to it just a few days before the 4th. The 4th was so rushed I didn't get a chance to get the kids in the outfits, but still wanted to share. The owl on the shirt and the dress is from Sewing for Sarah Embroidery (http://www.sewingforsarahembroidery.com/). She has some really cute designs (which I have a ton of!!)!! My son wore the owl shirt with a pair of jean shorts, but my daughter had to have a totally matching outfit. The dress is my own design. I took the top of an a-line dress and added two layers for the skirt of the dress. This was the first time I've made this dress, but I'm sure I will be making more! :-) I also made some matching bloomers to go with the dress, which I LOVE! I really like these bloomers (they are longer than the other bloomers I've made) and plan on making more! Please excuse the wrinkles....I just got pictures today after they came out of the dryer. I'll probably have the kids in these outfits tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some cute pictures of them!