Busy hands

 While I have not been blogging, I certainly have not been idle. I ended up taking Bry out of school last year and homeschooling through the public schools extension program. It was necessary for him to be removed from the middle school environment before he was eaten alive! The public / home school extension has teachers on staff who teach classes, you can put your child in the classes part time, or full time. I chose part time. I had him in his math, science, and reading classes. Parents are required to be on campus during class hours, so I had to cut my hours at work. I don't sit still very well, so I found a way to occupy myself.

 As I worked, I found that I really enjoy making bags that are not like any other you see on the internet. If you google Plarn or plastic crochet, you get Plain Jane plastic tote bags that are made without much thought to design or colors. I put out the word that I needed peoples plastic bags, and they came to me by the hundreds.

  Most of my bags sold as soon as they were completed. I even took in several special orders. This kept me busy, and made up a bit of the lost income (just a tiny bit). But most importantly, it was a portable expression of my "artistic side". I barely made it out to the gardens this year, so My weeds grew like a garden! I did manage to completely rework the front yard and side beds before winter though.

Yes, I actually moved all the plants that had been growing for several years, and totally rearranged the front yard. My idea was to close in the front from the sidewalk and afford a bit more privacy. I actually did it because I cannot stand the HOA president here, and maybe, just a little bit of me wanted to see if they would write me up... (They had written me up because my gardens needed to be weeded)... 

Well, they had a special meeting because my husband had removed a tree that was dropping nasty sap all over our cars, but had not replaced it yet. I received a call from a friend on the board who said the HOA president was actually filing a complaint with the city over it. Well... The city told my husband that there were no rules about there HAVING to be a tree there. BUT if he planted one, he had to use the root barrier system to keep the roots from buckling the sidewalk. Of course there were none there to begin with with the original tree. I did get a beautiful little dogwood out of the deal. My husband said he could deal with trees that drop flowers much better than those that drop sap.

Of course it will take a long time to reach the size of the original tree. I had been nurturing it for the last 11 years since buying the house. Mine were the tallest, fullest and prettiest on the street (IMHO).

I saved the best for last. 

I QUIT SMOKING!!!!!

my last cigarette was Sunday, August 7, 2011.

I have had to learn how to "DEAL" with life all over again.

I have been medicating myself with nicotine for 26 years. 

This is the hardest thing I have EVER done. 

EVER

Seriously!!!

I thought I would kill someone.

 Or die trying.

BUT

 We survived the hardest part.

Every day I make the decision not to smoke

several times a day.

I hope it gets easier.

Oh,  My sister is on her 17th round of Chemo this time. We don't know how many more. 

She did radiation first, and they did a surgery between, and it almost killed her.

But she is amazing. She keeps fighting.

Here she is "modeling" a hat and scarf I made her. 

Funny girl.

What Happened?

All that time, energy, and devotion just disappeared. I don't know why! So much has happened over the last 1+ year, and I don't even remember half of it! Those of you who follow my mom at http://yestheyareallmine-mom.blogspot.com/ know our family has been thrown around a bit this last 7 months. We are strong, we are being taught by the smartest woman I have ever met as to how to deal with this terrible beast. Kris, my sister is sick again, this time, cancer is all over her body, and yet she is dealing with it so much better than those of us who are well.
Darian went away to college, did extremely well, came home for summer, went back for fall, but our finances will not allow him to go back for winter, so he will be changing course for awhile.
Cannyn is now well over 6 foot. He has started dealing in coins, and has made several partnerships that appear to be quite profitable.

Brystan is also 6 foot tall, and is in his freshman year at High school. My how time flies! I will be back to catch you up soon, I promise I will not make you wait another year and a half!

Would you drive 3 1/2 hours for this?

Chelan WA, Slide Waters

Yep, they named thier water slides

Slide Waters!

3 1/2 hours each direction.

I slid on 3 slides, banged every bone on every curve, then did this...

But really, the drive was so beautiful.

We didn't really care that it took so long to get there...

It was going home the same day after playing at the waterslides for 8 hours that killed us.

Oh, and the mountains were on fire...

So, to recap, 7 hours of driving, and 8 hours of sliding.

And this is what I saw in the morning....

Ahh, Summer!

Going on a Rant here...

Where the HELL ar the parents when thier littl sweethearts are out pouring paint all over my yard furniture?

Toilet papering my car?

Egging every car on the street?

What mother doesn't miss an entire cardboard tray of eggs from her refrigerator?

Hmm?

Happy Birthday (18)

To Him!

Another project completed

This was an unscheduled project. It started with an odor.

The odor would not go away!

So, one day I took up the linoleum.

That worked....

For one day.

Then we took up the subfloor.

Which meant pulling out the toilet and cabinet.

Since we had to put in new flooring, I insisted on tile, so in goes the concrete backer board. Then the project became larger than Jon or I were capable of. Not because we are incapable, but because we are two very stubborn people who really should not undertake something of this magnitude together. So, We called in reinforcements. Enter My DADDY! Once we got the pattern and spacing worked out, He and Jon worked great as a team and cut and placed the entire floor in just a matter of hours. The next day, Jon took on the wall behind the toilet. With great confidence having been successful at the floor the night before. Look what a great job he did!There were a few bad paint choices on my part. Not willing to spend any money on paint, I shopped the garage and my parents paint supplies. The wall color was a taupe, but in fact, It turned out to be a purple. The cabinet was painted using the leftover paint from my parents kitchen cabinets. Beautiful, but unfortunately, it looked terrible with the tile. So I repainted everything. The cabinet got another coat using the brown color of mom and dads kitchen island. The walls, a green from Mom and Dads garage. I think it is in the front upstairs bedroom. It looks so much better now!I still need to do touch up paint and hit where we caulked around the tile, but This is what it all looks like today!

Just proving I did some of the work, This is my painting shirt! I actually have several of them since I often forget to change before jumping into a project.

Some of the things we have accomplished this spring,

Darian started driving...

And Graduated High School.

Since we are going to need lots of money for college, I have been cranking these babies out! I designed a new look, It is more of a book bag than a grocery bag. Thinking about college age people you know...

I got the yard cleaned up, The weeds were growing like a garden!

My brother installed my oak stairs.

And we threw a party!

With a few of his besties coming to celebrate with him!

It did not rain on the party, but it was cold, so that beautiful fire pit came in handy!

I have more catching up to do, but it looks like this post is all about graduation, so I will leave it at that.

I hope you are well!

Sorry I abandoned you all spring!