Wish I were HERE!!!

I seem to be on a break, I will return! Hopefully, I can get my mojo back!

Letter from an excellent boss

Dear Employees:




As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.



To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%. But since w...e cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead.



This has really been bothering me since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.



So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lots and found sixty 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change...... I gave it to them.



I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.



THE BOSS

My Weekend...

I spent Saturday working on the yard, I pulled weeds, then I dug holes. I moved shrubs, and I divided perrenials. I worked on a brick walkway going in on the side of the house. Then, on Sunday, I could barely move. SO...

I brought out my crochet hook, and tried something new.

I LOVE HANDMADE DISHCLOTHES.

I have several that I have used for YEARS!

and now, they look so ratty disgusting, that I should find more.

SO... Emboldened by my success with hats, I decided to try my hand at making a dishcloth.

My first attempt. I used too large of a hook, and this is almost the size of a towel...

BUT

I followed a pattern. Yep, all of the sudden it made sense, and I could follow written instructions.

WELL,

I did call my mom to clarify something, but it was an easy thing and once I was past it, it was smooth sailing.

SO,

I bought LOTS more yarn and made this one in about an hour...

And followed instructions again...

Then, I googled how to make a granny square and made this one.

WOW! Just over an hour because I kept taking the border apart. I see a goof, but it is for me, so I am leaving it alone. If I were selling them, I would be ripping that baby right apart again.

NOW

I have two more sides to finish on this one.

SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!!

Hmm, another income potential!

THE LIST

First of all, this week held a monumental day for me!

Cannyn turned 15!!!!

Far cry from the teensy weensy 6lb 6oz baby I brought home!

I chose to share that picture because it ties into the List!

Boy is going to ROTC Leadership Camp in less than 2 weeks.

He came home and gave me a list of required items.

REQUIRED!!!!

Not anything that we owned...

7 BLACK shirts both long and short sleeved.

Black "Beanie" or knit stocking cap.

Thermals or Under Armor.

Sweat pants and Sweat Jacket, Black

Flip flops

Black coat / Windbreaker

Flashlight,

Lipbalm

Laundry bag

Laundry detergent,

First Aid kit,

Insect repellant

Watch,

Water bottle or Camel back.

Actually the list is longer, these are just the things I had to buy.

Happy Birthday son.

You got your list of required items for your birthday.

Isn't life grand?

Oh, and since it is already spring here, and all the winter stuff is gone, it wasn't an easy task to find long sleeved shirts and a black beanie.

So, Mommy gave him a ball of yarn.

BUT

Yesterday, said ball of yarn turned into this....

And he LIKES it!

Instead of throwing parties this year, I decided to spend all the birthday budget on the boys. So, after he opened his "presents", we went to Red Robin for dinner and had them sing to him.

At first, he said he wanted to do Subway for dinner that night, (my wallet was rejoicing...) But at the last minute, changed his mind and we went to Red Robin... Do you know how much it costs to feed 4 MEN at RR?

Now, I am off to get my hair done...

Have a great weekend!

Cleaning!

I found this great cleaning product called "Clutter~B~Gone. I was so excited to use it, especially on my living room.

I am afraid the kitchen and dining room needed another product called BLEACHITALL.

And the combination of both products worked wonders in the master bedroom.

Well, of course I am kidding. If it were really my house, all of the accessories would be purple! While I was immobile, I found a blog that kept drawing me back. I think the author is a native Spanish speaker because the older posts are all written in Spanish, then as she grew, she started writing in English. There is a google translator so her other followers can read it. There were 40 some odd pages of images of unique homes and castles and the interiors ranged from Swedish white to Colorful  Country. I LOVED all the eye candy! (All of the above images are pulled from her blog.) If you check this blog out, make sure you have some time, because it sucks you in...

Have fun! (You may want to start dinner before heading there)

Yes, I am alive.

After the flu ran through me, then life got hectic. I finally have a handle on some of the messes that grew while I was down. BUT

I need to ask for prayer for one of my little girly people.

Nae is 13.

And she needs you to lift her up.

And her mommy too.

Because someone else is interfering,

And causing terrible damage

And they are being torn apart!

Thank you,

Karyn

I have been sick.

So, I appologize for my lack of postings.

I do want to send you over to my mothers blog to see some of the most beautiful aspects of living in the PNW.

(and a little bit about our family.)

If you have never been here (Northwest Washington), you will want to after seeing these pictures.

Here is on little teaser...

If you visit, tell her Daughter #1 sent you...

Karyn

http://yestheyareallmine-mom.blogspot.com/

Do you want to play a little game?

I found this fun little blog while blog hopping. I love her name, Trash to Treasure Decorating. Oh, I love her real name too....

Michelle

Michelle has a little Idea gallery where she posts a picture of someones decorating delimna and asks

"What would you do"?

And this week she has one of my treasures on her blog asking you for ideas.

So, Click on over, visit Michelle, and give her your ideas.

What is she featuring this week?

Michelle also features one of the linky parties I like to hook up with, so when I know what to do with this, it will probably end up there too.

My Repurposed Life: How to make a faux window

My Repurposed Life: How to make a faux window
Gail is giving away a black and decker jigsaw...
With a line finder, and all the bells and whistles.
I am only telling you this to get another entry.
Because you are too busy to go there anyways.
And you know I want this.
So, stay away!

You know you are simple people when....

A coupon book from Target offers your family hours of enjoyment!

I am considering requesting a second coupon book so I can actually spend the coupons!

I have a WINNER!

It is 9:00 p.m. here on the West Coast. I have been at the High school since 1:00 p.m. I worked the concessions, watched the show, then we tore down the entire set. The kids ROCKED the show!!! This was Darian's 4th year in the program. 5 shows per year, so this was his 20th time performing in this venue! He is so famous, he even does AUTOGRAPHS!!!

I did manage to get him to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule tonight to help me with one teeny tiny little project...

O.K. This is actually funny. Therese found me months ago! She is a follower and friend of my mother. When I started my blog, she kindly started following me so I would have a reader. She became one of my bestest bloggy friends, Always uplifting, and positive! I am actually quite jealous, because she has 3 boys, AND a brand new BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!  She is only blogging on Sundays for lent, and hurried today to get her entry and blog about my giveaway.

Therese Has a blog called The Musings of a Mom. Where she blogs about all the things that happen in a family of four kids.

Therese said....I blogged about the giveaway...I also am a follower...I would love the large shopping bag!!!

Thank you to all that entered.

And passed the word. I really had fun logging on late at night to see who had been here.

Not that life gets back into the groove, I hope to have some new projects to finish soon...

Darian want's to sleep for a week.

They go into competitions next.

Monterey California next.

Pick yours!

That is right, I said pick your plastic bag creation.

I am ready!

On Sunday, March 7th, I am giving away one of these plastic bag baskets. (or shopping bag).

To my faithful followers.

and / or commenters.

Here is how to play.

1. Blog about my giveaway on your own blog. (I am sorry, I do not have a fancy button.)

2. Tell me if you are a follower. (Followers prior to this announcement have been noted, and are already entered once.)

3. Tell me which creation you would like to win.

One entry for each of the three above rules.

Large shopping bag.

Medium girls purse.

Small (Easter) basket

Small black and white basket.

Or the large tan, white and gray basket.

Don't forget these....

I decided that since I have two already, I am sending you THREE of this cannister!!!

I may be throwing in a few other special little thingamajigs.

(To recap, That is your bag of choice, AND the three cannisters!!!)

Have fun!

See you after the Sunday performance!

(Yeah, I need to be gone that long!)

Please make sure I have a way of contacting you!

If your comments are not linked to your e-mail, then make sure you leave a blog address.

(I try to answer comments, but some are to noreplyblogger.com)

Karyn

Edited: March 12, 2010
To all of my new visitors from remodelaholic, I am so sorry, but the giveaway is over. Please consider following me so you will know when I have another. Therese at Musing of a Mom won and she chose the large shopping bag.
Keep coming back.
Karyn

A fun giveaway that I don't want you to enter.

You can visit Troy at  I Refuse to Recede to see what he is giving away, but remember, I want it! It has been a long winter and I need to get back to the garden part of CanDarBry Garden, so let me win this fabulous prize! (PLEASE).
Just kidding, but he is a gardeny thrifty kind of guy, so you should visit him anyways. Karyn

Busted my budget.

Those of you who know me in real life know that I am coo-coo for anything Princess House!

I fell in love with it several years ago. My sister in law invited me to her Princess house party where I saw the Fantasia design for the first time. I bought a few pieces. I hosted a party. I became a consultant. I figured I wanted more Princess house, I would let Princess house buy it for me. Because I loved it so much I figured everyone I know would too.

I am not a sales person. I love doing parties, but I loved giving my stuff away too. I never made any money since I was giving away as much as I was making. Anything else coming in from Princess House bought me more princess house.

Are you familiar with them? Everyone was buying it in the 70's and 80's. Fantasia is a made up flower which looks sort of like a poinsettia. The pieces are pressed glass, canisters, dinnerware, bakeware, service pieces, drinkware. I LOVE IT ALL!

Well, with the turn in the economy last year, no one was having parties, so I let my business slack.

But I still love princess house.

SO - When I see it, I buy it, whether I really need it or not.

The other weekend I was at a Flea Market in Stanwood.

I wandered around trying not to let my disgust show on my face.

I really am a terrible snob.

Then, from across the room, I saw something. I hurried over to the booth, and found 4 of these...

Yeah, Fantasia cannisters. They are an older design, probably about 25 years old. They have not been making the cannisters in the square shape for several decades.

Then, when I was scooping these up, I also saw this.

More fantasia. That price tag says $2.00 Yeah, that is right! I got all 5 pieces for $10.00!!!!!

Now that it is all home, I decided I don't need all 4 canisters since I have all of this...

So, I think I will keep a few and send a few to some lucky blogger. I am trying to put my giveaway together in the midst of this hectic week. and I know two is an awkward number of canisters, so I will see how many you get.

The rest of the budget busters I found while junking at that time...

This mirror which you saw peeking out on the pedestal makeover post. It got the same treatment as the pedestal which I purchased on the same shopping trip but at different stores. Mirror, $25.00, Pedestal, $15.00

The mirror now....

Only this time I brushed it with gold, cream and white craft paint after I painted it with the purple and white latex paints.

Ignore the wall please, obviously it is time to paint them again.

BUT WAIT, there is more!!!!

I came home and started working in the garden, I stopped to talk to the neighbor who was cleaning out her garage and ended up bringing these two beauties home.

and this...

But they don't go together!

I am looking at the harp like this...

Do you have any ideas for me? I would love to hear them. She wants to be in my living / kitchen / dining area.

Karyn

Linking up at...