another project

so, I had to wait until the gift was given to show this.....it was another project that I worked on at the scrapbook retreat a couple of weeks ago.....

the embellishments say: "always", "now and forever", "seize the day", "just the two of us" ...... the a & k are for adrian and kelly -- and R is the new last name

it was my first mod podge experiment and I must confess, it was a success! so easy and so fun.....

Burp Cloths

My friend Erin at work just had her second baby girl....she asked me to make her another set of burp cloths for miss Caroline.....so, here they are!

























I love these froggies!!




















Erin picked out this sock monkey fabric -- it is too fun! I bought extra so that I can make more of these in the future.

I must say a HUGE thank you to my friend Jaime for revolutionizing the way I cut out my fabric. She is a quilter and was working on piecing during our scrapbook retreat a few weekends ago. We talked about using the rotary cutter and mat for me to cut my fabric! I hadn't thought about that at all. I had been pinking the edges which probably wasn't doing as much good as I thought, plus it about killed my thumb - and I couldn't cut a straight line! So, this time around I used my rotary cutter and it was fantastic! So much better. So, thank you, thank you, thank you Jaime!!!

Smiles

Look at this happy girl!!!

Catching up.....

For the past two years, my neighbors have infrequently edged parts of my yard, but there have been spots that have never been edged since I bought my house. And with St. Augustine grass, that makes for a messy sidewalk or driveway.


So, I finally broke down and bought an edger. And did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

What I've done so far today:

• put together the edger
• mowed
• weed eated (is that really a word?)
• edged
• used my vacuum/blower to suck up all the grass mess from the initial edging

Still to come today:

• Henry's 4th birthday party at Pump it Up
• hanging my fire extinguisher in the garage so it is at the ready, just in case
• Kelly's lingerie shower

~~~~~~~~

In other news, I casually mentioned something about painting my front door when I was home for mom's surgery. The response from my family reminded me that I never posted pictures! Also, I finally found something to hang to the left of my kitchen window (WAY on sale last night at Kohl's).

So, here is a look at the (mostly) finished front porch. Still would love to have a screen door -- and in my spray painting, I didn't tape off quite enough of the trim, so I'm trying to figure out how or if I want to touch that up. If I do get a screen door, I think that would camoflauge most of that issue.

Safety Advice for Moms and Dads

At work each month, we have a staff meeting. Over the past few months, we have started each of these meeting with a "safety moment" highlighting some particular topic of safety.

The one presented today was a great idea and I thought I'd pass it on to you.....we were talking about children getting lost at the zoo, mall, etc. A mom has come up with temporary tattoos that are personalized with your cell phone number that you can rub on your child's arm before you head out. That way, if you are separated somehow, there is an instant way for contact with you. The website is www.safetytat.com. It also has several different options for identifying food allergies, autistic/non verbal children, etc which could prove very helpful in situations where your child is not well known.

Another idea mentioned was to take a photo of your child as you are entering the amusement park or whatever (on your digital camera or phone - which you all carry all the time, right?!) so that you have exactly what the child looks like that day and what they are wearing (because really, do you remember what clothes you put on your child each day?)

One last item of note was to somehow mark or label your stroller -- so many look alike and it could keep you or someone else from just walking off without looking closely that it is your child in the stroller! We label our suitcases when we travel, but many strollers probably don't have any sort of identifying marks on them or contact info for you.

All these things would be meaningless if someone was maliciously trying to take your child, but could prove very helpful if you are accidentally separated!

My Sweet Emily

Got this in the mail this weekend......isn't she just too cute?!?

Home Again....

Daddy said they made it home about 10:00 this morning. When they got ready for Mom to go home, they moved right along!

So far, all is well. Mom has a prescription filled for pain pills and she's supposed to eat what she feels like eating, but probably will be a soft diet for the next few days until her throat recovers a bit (she was intubated for the surgery). She has a few restrictions - no driving, no lifting anything over 10 pounds (= a gallon of milk!). She will be able to hold Emily though, as long as she doesn't lift her, so that is a good thing!

Thanks so much for all your prayers.....

Update

Mom's out of surgery....the doctor called and said they did what they planned to do -- two fusions, I believe......anyway, things went fine. She'll be in recovery for and hour-ish and then will go to her room. Thanks so much for all your prayers.....continue them for her sanity during recovery!!!

Blogland prayers

Friends - in about 12 hours my mom will be going into surgery to fuse vertebrae in her neck.....please be praying for the surgeon as he performs his delicate task. Be praying for the rest of us as we wait through the surgery and for the six+ weeks of recovery to come....

Project photos

My mom asked for photos of the piano bench -- so here they are:

before:



















after:



















a lovely gift of sunflowers from Brent & Kimberly at my dinner party on Saturday night:


























and the finished, furnished cabana in my back yard. still trying to decide what to do with the lawn mower, so for now, it stays.




















and my grill -- fully functional! I cooked out the other night with dismal results....guess I just need more practice!

eHarmony vs. chemistry.com

So, for the past 3+ years, I've been a member on eHarmony.com......bottom line is I've had lots and lots of matches, but very little communication with any of those matches. Several friends have been matched with their "perfect" person, but so far I would say I have not had success.

My cousin found her husband on match.com......which now has a component called chemistry.com which is supposed to compete with/mimic eHarmony.....

Just wondering if I should continue with eHarmony (my subscription is up the end of August) or if I should try something different......

Any thoughts???

Back in the game

After several crazy months of home renovation projects, my niece being born and just plain busyness, I finally hosted another dinner party tonight! It was March 31 (which was the second party for March) the last time I had anyone over. And looking at my calendar for August, it was high time for me to get something scheduled, seeing as how there is only one other weekend I'll be in town this month - and I already have 2 things on the calendar for that Saturday!

So, tonight I enjoyed having Brent & Kimberly, Mat & Shanna and Holly over for a yummy (easy) dinner of taco salad and strawberry shortcake. It was fun to hang out and visit - Brent & Kimberly just got back from living a year in Paris (yes, France!), so they had lots of stories to tell. And I really enjoyed showing off the completion of all my projects! Especially since Kimberly is the one who helped me buy the house - I really wanted her to see all I had done!

Since dinner was pretty easy to put together, I didn't have a lot on the agenda for today. I had plans to paint the legs of my piano bench someday soon - and decided to do it today! My friend Kelly is always doing last minute projects/redecorations right before a party in her home and I felt like I was channeling her a bit today. I usually make sure all the projects are completely done and put away before I have folks over!