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.

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!

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

Trashing the camp!

JAZZIN AROUND THE WORLD, OPENING NIGHT!
I hope you enjoy the video, That is Darian in the short green shirt, dark hair. Front and center in this shot.
Karyn

Finally putting my giveaway together for you!

Are you a follower? Some of you are regular visitors, but not followers, some of you are followers but not visitors. I am going to choose one of you soon for my first ever give away. Don't miss out. Tell me if you are both a follower and a visitor. Including on my facebook followers. By being a Pre-giveaway follower/visitor, you get an extra entry! So far, this is what I have for ya!

I am going to be kindof scarce for a few days. Darian's program is all consuming. It requires parental involvement to get a show of this magnitude to run smoothly. In the mean time, If you are a frequent visitor, consider becoming a follower. Then start leaving me comments. I am going to just print, cut, and pick when I have the "prize" all together!
Karyn

Jazzhands everyone--------------

A Quickie

I ended up not having any clients today, so I grabbed one of the treasures I found while out junking this weekend...

I have always loved these pillasters, and when I found one at one of the thriftiques that was not outrageously priced, I decided to go ahead an buy it. (I was really hard on the budget this weekend.)

But, It was DIRTY,

and dinged up, and had a curly cue that had been chipped off. So, I grabbed some tools, and...

Went to work on it. First I cleaned it then I used the vinyl spackle to fill cracks, nicks and build up the broken curly cue...

Then I painted every single nook and cranny with my artist brush...

PURPLE of course!

(don't worry, I haven't lost my mind!)

Using a regular paint brush, I painted it white, leaving the purple to peek out from all it's little hiding places. BUT being one who could not leave well enough alone, I went and rubbed silver craft paint all over it to see if I liked it...

NOPE! I don't... Another coat of white over that and TA DA!

This was the broken curly cue.

I am loving my peekaboo purple! Speaking of peekaboo....

Something in the corner is trying to peek into todays post... It is another treasure I found this weekend. But it is just going to have to wait it's turn before you get to see it...

I am thinking it wants to live right here....

Well, maybe it wasn't such a quickie because now it is time to make dinner.

This weekend is the opening weekend for Jazzin Around the World.

Which is my oldest son's Jazz group doing every genre of music with dancing and acting and it is a 3 hour show...

So, If you live in Western Washington and want a really fun evening of music (They are phenomenal!)

Let me know, I will e-mail you info on how to get the tickets. This is Darian's 4th and last year doing this show.

It is truly a professional quality show... Come and see it!

What a Man!

Be still my Heart!!!

A very Cake weekend

My weekend was full of Valenitnes. I had my adopted neices again this weekend. I had planned on making cupcakes with them for Valentines day. I bought a cake mix and frosting and colorings and let them decorate thier cupcakes and eat it right away. I had the added bonus of a little man who stole my heart and was one of my favorite Valentines.

Our weather was slightly less than pleasant on Sunday, so all the running, jumping and squealing that happens with two five year olds and a seven year old, two thirteen year olds, and a fifteen year old all happened indoors. The boys complained all weekend long about the noise, but didn't mind antagonizing the girls into squeals whenever possible.  Monday was bright and beautiful, so all the noise went outside. I even had time to mop the kitchen. Three loads of muddy clothes and several baths kept me busy even though all the commotion was outside the best part of the day.

We decided to have dinner together with Mommy and her boyfriend. So, I told Jahnae shou could make a dessert. She perused the cookbooks and settled on a white cake with cream cheese frosting. Then she got really creative.

Her little sisters were telling her how to do it...

It is a "President's Day Cake"

Jahnae made this from scratch and all by herself! Pretty good!

(And now you know why all the laundry and baths.)

Am I the luckiest auntie in the world or what?