Some of my projects...

The following are some of my sewing projects that have been keeping me awake at night.

Bed skirt.

Two of these pillows and four of the orangey ones.

Brown pillow, supposed to look like the one from Drew Barrymore's office, (doesn't). I think I'll add a center large button to help these guys out.

Two floor pillows for lounging on and looking otherwise chic.

Lily sitting on my time-out chair. :)

The sewing closet where I've been living these days.

The fabric on these looks way better in person, it's such a fun happy color.

The lighting the time of day I took this was terrible, but they are brown valences. They are a very simple tailored look. The difficult part about these were they were 12 feet long. The even more difficult part was getting them 24 feet up the wall to their spot. As Chad and I carried the borrowed ladder from our neighbors house, Chad asked a curious question, "whose getting up there to hang these." We got home put the ladder up and Chad promptly forbid me from getting up the ladder and said that there was no way in he** he was going to. So, enter Hugo (my nice painter). It took him and his son, four hours but here is the final result.
A look down from upstairs at the room, I've been working on sprucing up. I made the brown curtains from the same material as the upper valences. Incidentally this is also the launching pad for many unsuspecting toys.

This isn't a sewing project but my nice neighbor gave me ONE geranium and I split it into two pots and here it is. Now the challenge is to not kill them as, she can see them from her front yard.

Lily is seriously teething, but doing it so cutely.

I like this picture.

Here we are at the breeder's house. Our puppy is the tiny one at the back between the boys. If Chad lets us get it. He's convinced that a boy needs a boy dog and the most perfect puppy is a girl. We love her and want to call her Lucy. She is tiny, mellow and practically perfect in every way, please daddy, please daddy.

Aweee, Lucy!

Person and Item of the week

Person of the week...my daddy :)

I know it's been a while since I've done these, but I just haven't gotten to all the people that I wanted to get to. So this week it's my dad. Anybody who knows me knows that I am a crazy hard working fool. I'm not totting my own horn but it's very true. I get this quality from my daddy. He is hard working and just can't seem to sit still. I think the only time he sits is if he's asleep. My dad worked very hard to support all six of us kids.


I have so many memories from my childhood of my dad but they are all along the same vein. Work. We were always working growing up; whether laying seed on our two acre lot to building the house we lived in (we really did). My dad even took us out to sell potatoes door to door so that we could go on vacation. At the time I didn't realize what a gift my father had given to me and my brothers. Even though he had us work in a way that I never resented him for the jobs we had to do (at least I don't remember resenting him).


I have a memory of my dad that the older I get the more grateful I am to him. I can remember when I was in middle school (I think) times were pretty tight. We were building our house, and my dad was beginning his now really successful international business. I remember going into a gas station with a friend late at night and seeing my dad working there. I didn't even know that he was working there until I unexpectedly went on the way home from a school function. He was teaching at the local business college during the daytime to make ends meet while he began his consulting business in Russia. Looking back it must have been very humbling for a man like my dad to talk a job like that. But he did and didn't complain or say a word, he just did what was necessary to get his family by. This is just one of many examples of seeing my dad do whatever was necessary to succeed.


Mickey Rooney put it well, "but in the end, hard work is the true, enduring characteristic of successful people." I am grateful to my father for instilling in me the value of a good hard days work.


Another thing that is great about my dad is he would give you the shirt off his back. And not only to his family. My dad was always bringing home people that were hungry. He would feed them and offer many of them jobs on his farm. Dad is the eternal optimist too, he always looks for the best in people and situations. I'm very grateful to my dad, I know he would do anything for me. Love you dad!

Item of the week...my sewing machine

I will post pictures later but I've been sewing up a storm over here. Drapes, pillows, valences...

I like grandma more

Today my child asked me if he could live with his grandma. He explained that he liked her a lot and that I could come and visit, if I wanted to. I'm so glad that he loves his grandma so much but a little hurt that he doesn't even care if I come to visit!@!

I just thought this was a great picture to depict Lily's future. Both brothers pulling on her, poor thing.

They just love her too much. :)-

And here is Owen trying to talk Luke into giving him the rest of his cookie.

It didn't work.

Where was I you ask, oh just at BON JOVI~~~~~~~~~!

4:00 CST: Offered Box seats to Bon Jovi concert with friends.

4:01-6:26: Desperate search for babysitters

7:00: Babysitter showed up, (possibly would have left with or without babysitter procured)

7:30-11:00: Rocking out...

Jon and Richie trying hard to impress me with their superb showmanship. Both fighting for who will win my heart.

Sorry Richie, Jon wins. Man! That guy still has got it!

Valerie, Kathy and I posing. Chris Daughtry opened for Bon Jovi and I've never heard his stuff before but he was great too. One of the best concerts I've been to. Excellent, excellent. I even had a dream about it that night...not that kind of dream! You make me sick. I dreamed that I was a rock star but halfway through my song I forgot the words.

OMG(gosh) ! Isn't she perfect!

Your attention please...

We have some fantastic news!!!!!

The CP80 Foundation has finally come up with a way to reign in the pornography industry and keep it zoned out of a child's eyes. The internet as we now know it is NOT a safe place for kids to surf, and it gets worse every day. The very best filter only filters 92% of unwanted adult content. That leaves over 300,000 sites unblocked!!!!!

We are writing to announce that there is HOPE and you can help! We expect Senator Kyl from Arizona to announce his sponsoring of new legislation, The Internet Community Ports Act which would open up another port for internet use. Currently we all use basically one port for our web surfing, the HTTP. With two ports to use, the internet could then be appropriately zoned. One port (the open port) would be the same as we now know it. The other (the community port) would be WITHOUT the adult content. For practical home and community use, you make your choice with your server and they simply flip a switch.

This simple easy change would protect schools, libraries, governments, businesses, and homes with children or any place that did not want access to pornography; it would give all these people a safe place to search the Internet. It is a brilliant, well designed solution. It NEEDS political backing! There is a rather large ground swell. The plan right now is two-fold: we are going state by state, gaining ground support, and asking each state legislature to pass a resolution, requesting the federal government to change the internet to further protect children and businesses. I have attached a sample copy of a resolution that other states have passed. (please insert your own state information) And of course, to gather federal support downtown around Senator Kyl and his efforts. We keep working and asking our legislators until they agree to support our efforts.

What can you do? Well, I was just hoping that you will support this new Internet Community Ports Act in any way you can. Will you let your colleagues know the exciting opportunity we all have to protect ourselves from this filth? Will you write to your local government leaders and tell them you want your state to protect kids online? Will you send an email off to your federal legislators asking them to support the Internet Community Ports Act this spring? Below is a sample letter you could send them.

The brilliance of the plan is that it gives everyone their freedom of choice. Those who still want pornography will have it available to them. Those who want a safe place to go without it, will finally have that place. (I personally prefer that it was made illegal, but since the courts have ruled otherwise, we still CAN zone it in its own place!)

I probably don't need to tell you how intrusive the porn industry is, how they actively try to invade any kind of filter out there, how they target our thirteen year old boys, how they are not simply offering a product, but are spending billions of dollars to find ways to get in where they are not wanted. How it is destroying children's lives and ruining families. How the sex crimes in this country are spiraling out of control. How the next generation of lawmakers and parents are becoming addicted to it! Enough is enough!

Thanks!! Please check out their website http://www.cp80.org to read all about it and the national and international coalition that is growing. There are currently 25 states on the move with this and 10 or so countries. Let's add yours to the list! And add our influence to help those on the Hill!

Thanks again!!! I know you are already busy but I also knew you would appreciate the CP80 Foundation's efforts. It really is a cause we can all stand behind.

Spread the word!!!

Owie's growing up...

Friday I decided that Owen was way too old to be still using training wheels. He thought so too. We went into the backyard and practiced without them on the grass. Ten minutes later this is what happened...

We're so proud of Owie! We take walks now and I have to sprint to keep up. He feels about ten feet tall too. :)

New family member

Everyone, meet Geronimo (Chad named him)! We met Geronimo on Saturday at the Petsmart, and just had to bring him home with us. You may remember our history with kitty's...but Jerry (my nickname, I'll call him Geronimo when he is in trouble) is turning my cold cold heart to love kitty's. Jerry cannot stop himself from loving, he walks up to everyone (including very excited children) and immediately is purring and puffing. Jerry likes to be right by me and is so loving, if he sees you he will walk up and bonk you over and over and over again. He is six months old so he's still a teenager and loves to play too. We're so excited to have Jerry in our family, I think Luke is the most excited though.

P.S. He slept by me last night and not Chad! Ha! I win!