Another picnic mat

All weekend I worked on another picnic mat, I have to admit the thing was a bear to make, it was huge, the batting wasn't as wide as the fabric so I had to overlap it and stitch it together, ack, ever tried stitching batting ? It's not a fun task. Add to that all of the fabric being fed through my machine there was a lot of not so nice words flying and a lot of "I'll never make one this big again." but in the end I think it was all worth it and the fact that I made it as a gift for a friend to give her sister for working out on and having enough room on it for her sweet little newborn, (who will be arriving now in just a few short weeks makes)to lay on while Mommy is getting back in shape again makes it all worthwhile.
The day was very dreary and rainy so I couldn't take pics outside but you can get an idea of what it looks like here.

A girl needs money

Yesterday while getting ready to take all 3 kids on a wild and wonderful shopping adventure, (actually it was only wonderful for Ben seeings as it was him we were going out to buy for , but who's keeping track right ?) Reagan ran back upstairs to grab her purse, Ben asked her why she needed it and her response "A girl needs money when she goes shopping Ben." OMG, I thought I was going to die, she was so incredibly indignant. So he went on to ask her what she thought she would be buying and her response "Maybe I'll buy some candy or a new lipgloss." The child doesn't own lipgloss, she's 4 for crying out loud, she is going to be trouble for her Daddy or some poor unsuspecting boy thinking that the cute little redhead will be some pretty arm candy one of these days. Can we say 'High Maintenance' ?

Total alone time ?

So what do you do when you want to be alone for more than a few minutes ?
A couple of times a year I go through a stage where I need to be completely alone for a day, no children, no husband, just me. Now is that time, in fact the last 2 weeks have been that way and now I'm at the point where I need to go somewhere or do something this weekend alone, providing Marc doesn't go out of town.
I love my kids to pieces but I don't want to hear about anything High school drama'ish, any talk of skateboarding and skateboarders and not one thing about Webkinz, the Naked Brothers Band or where to buy a Hanna Montana hairbrush, I'm in burn out mode and my brain is overloaded with all of this useless information, I need the equivalent of a colonic for my brain but I've not seen a Detox diet for that yet, have you ?
So all ideas would be greatly appreciated, a weekend away or a day at a spa are out of the question, it needs to be cheap and cheerful.

My creative juices have returned

So after wondering if my creative juices were ever going to return again they have come back to me with abundance, I have become one of those people that now sleep with a notepad and pen on their nightstand because I am dreaming of things to make.
Here's my latest and it's all 100% my design,I think I may have come up with the perfect picnic blanket, the one pictured is small because I wanted to see how it would turn out and I have to say I'm pretty darned pleased with the finished product.
The backside is made of the same material as light raincoats, making it waterproof, so perfect to sit down on grass that is damp, in each corner is a pocket to insert a weight or flat rock, this holds the blanket down even on a windy day, it works, it was windy here today and the blanket stayed flat, there's batting between the gingham and nylon making it a little more comfy and I've quilted it to add a little more dimension, add to that some handpainted ants who in this instance just happened to march into the shape of an S and you have a mat fit for, well, a picnic.
Here are a few pics,click on the picture and you will view it in all its glory. I will be listing them in my store and am taking orders for them now.

WOW !!

Today I received an Email from a gal telling me that she chose my Etsy store as one of her faves of the day for Mothers Day gifts and listed it on her blog along with some other Etsy stores. Check it out, I'm listed at the bottom. www.hairbowdiva.blogspot.com
Got to say I'm feeling pretty good about things these last few days ;-)

This gave me a little lift

It always makes me feel a little special when I log into my Etsy Store and see that someone has either labelled me as one of their favorites or that one of my items has being tagged as a favorite.
Yesterday I listed a little 1/2 apron I'd made with some vintage fabric that I found a while back, have to admit it wasn't my favorite and Reagan didn't care for it either so I shared the fabric with a good friend of mine and made this little apron to sell. Not 24 hours later and someone has already tagged it a favorite, now it would be nice if she'd buy it, but just knowing someone likes it that much just gives my heart a little lift.

She almost fooled me

Reagan will tell anyone that is willing to listen how much she dislikes babies, however had you seen her with our friends little boy on Saturday you would beg to differ.
Just now I was reading one of my favorite blogs and scrolled past a picture of her 1 month old baby girl, Reagan suddenly squealed "Awww, go back to that picture again." Shocked, I obliged. When I got to the picture again Reagan gushed "Look how cute that kitty is on her shirt, I'd like one like that."
Maybe there is no hope.

Family

A friend sent me this today and I just wanted to share it with all of you.


F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.

He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'

We were very polite, this stranger and I.

We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,

How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.

'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.

I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,

'While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,

You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,

you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'

By this time, I felt very small,

And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;

'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said.

'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'

He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.

I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'

I said, 'Son, I'm v ery sorry for the way I acted today;

I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'

He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'

I said, 'Son, I love you too,

and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'


FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company

that we are working for could easily replace us in

a matter of days.

But the family we left behind will feel the loss

for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more

into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?


So what is behind the story?
Do you know what the word FAMILY
means?

FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

Edamame

So while strolling the produce aisles at the grocery store today, I started craving Edamame, the only time I've ever eaten them were straght from the pod and they were awesome, today I bought them already shelled and in a plastic container ready for my consumption, and oh dear Lord, who knew that a little green bean oozing full of goodness

could smell so incredibly rank. I sprinkled them w/ a little sea salt and managed to plug my nose and eat a few but then that smell would invade my nose and I had my own little gaggle fest.
So instead of a wonderful nutritious lunch I delved into a bag of Doritos, nowhere near as healthy but they sure smelt a heck of a lot better.

Brrrrr

It is freaking freezing here, I fear that my toes may become icicles before the end of the day.
Outside I see blossoms on the trees, daffodils bobbing their pretty little heads and birds playing the dating game, so I see the signs of Spring but oh how nice it would be to have sunshine and warm temps to go along with it.

What a great start to the week

And I really mean that.
After a busy weekend Reagan is still fast asleep in bed, it is now 8:00am, for her to sleep beyond 6:30am is almost unheard of.
Ben and I have sat down here visiting, talking about how he loves the school testing that is going on now and telling me all about Cheetahs... Did you know they don't roar ? I'd never thought about it until he said that, hmmm a little trivia to start your day.
When it was time for him to leave he gave me a hug goodbye and told me "Tell Reagan I said, I Love You .... What a sweet boy, he makes my heart want to sing.

She cracks me up

Reagan is a hoot.
Today Ben was talking about different Webkinz creatures and telling me how cute the panda is, apparently Reagan doesn't agree, she put up her hand, pushed Ben out of the way and said " He's lying, Ben, just let me do the talking." SNAP !

A couple of minutes ago Reagan came to me and told me that she is all packed for the trip this weekend " I packed Mommy, I have clean panties, clean socks, 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops, my swimsuit and my PJs."
Holy crap, all of this was done without my prompting, she just knew it needed to be done, if only the other 2 were more like this.

Random thoughts

So my little mind has being whirring today with lots and lots of thoughts, some good, some not so good.
Here goes.

Some people truly SUCK !!, The wench that signed a buyers contract on our house in MN, lied her ass off, long story short, looks like we'll be foreclosing on it..Thanks Bitch. That gets me to wonder how many people truly think of their actions and how they may effect others ?

Reagan needs a bath really badly and I don't want to mess with it *BLUSH* when she gets sweaty her hair gets super curly, people think she looks so cute w/ "All that curly hair". HAH, don't going putting your nose near those curls... PEEW !!

Ben talks non stop about skateboarding and skate boarders,I know just about everything you need to know about what boards are the best, what wheels you HAVE to HAVE, the type of bearings you have to buy to put in those wheels to make the wheels go smooth and fast. Still with me ? I know what trucks you have to attach to the bottom of the board, to attach the wheels to in order to ride fast, w/out trucks, you only have a piece of wood, oh and the grip tape that goes on top of the board has to be the best quality, w/out it your feet will slip and it just doesn't look cool.
Holy shit ! What happened to a piece of wood and a couple of roller skate wheels ?
Oh and Tony Hawk, Mr Skate himself holds the key to Ocean City, pretty cool huh ?

Victoria is a good driver, but she has to remember that when you move into the passing lane, it means you need to pass those in the other lane, why does she feel the need to move over and slow down all the way to 45 when the speed limit is 55 and every other moron on that stretch of road is doing 70 ? She's going to give me a heart attack if she does it again, I swear. Teaching a teen to drive really speeds up the aging process.

Tomorrow is Marc's family reunion, Marc being Marc decided to leave me and the kids w/ people we don't know or haven't seen in 10 years while he plays golf w/ a cousin, I decided to go up later after Reagan has had soccer pics made, that way Marc will be done playing by the time we get there. Tonight he called, it's going to rain tomorrow, golf is cancelled and now he's lonely... Karma, gotta love her.

I need to take pics of some items I've just made for my store, but my lighting sucks right now, maybe I should lay a chocolate bar next to everything, chocolate makes everything better right ?

I need to learn to say "No" A work associate of Marc's is looking after Winchester this weekend, she lives next to people who own a gorgeous German Shepherd, they don't care for her and don't want her, they leave her out in all weather and never pay her any attention. She and Winchester made a love connection through the fence posts, she cried for him when he walked away, AWWW, she loved on Reagan's hand when she pet her through the fence, Victoria just about climbed over there to pet her. She would be a wonderful companion for Winchester, we have a large fenced in yard for them to run, she would sleep inside, not in the rain, she'd be fed so you could no longer see her ribs, she's a love bug and she deserves a good home just not this one, I don't want another dog, we already look after the cat the previous owners of this house left behind, we have a psychotic cat who pisses on and in everything but the freaking litter box. I have a hard enough time looking after a house a yard, 3 kids, 3 cats and a large dog as it is, I don't want another dog to add to the mix, No, No, No.

It's getting late, I still have laundry to do, pics to take, packing to do and seeings as I'm too lazy to bathe Reagan now I'll have to do it first thing in the morning, at least she'll be squeaky clean for pictures though right ?

Special thanks go out to my friend Heather who took Reagan for me today for 4 whole hours, in that time I got my house spotless, I may have been up to my elbows in dust and kept finding traces of cat pee where you would simply never imagine, I filled up a whole vacuum cleaner bag with dust and debris .. ICK !! and I received a blister on my finger from scraping pet hair out of the crevices on the stairs, but my house smells awesome, if you haven't checked out Green Works cleaning products, you really should.
Anyway, Heather will not accept payment of any kind so join me in giving her a standing ovation, she rocks !!

Beginning to feel like a new woman

What an awesome feeling it is to be feeling well again or at least better than I had in several months.
After several trips to the Dr, a lot of blood work and an Echo on my heart it was determined that I have Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrom. You have no idea what a relief it was to finally receive a diagnosis and some meds to help. There are a lot of diet and exercise changes that need to be implemented for me to be symptom free and gradually it is getting easier and easier to do.
I only drink caffeine one time a day, it would be better to be caffeine free but baby steps right ? I no longer eat or drink anything that has been made w/ white sugars,I can't remember the last time I ate a cookie,the times I have really craved something sweet I have reached in and grabbed a plum or some strawberries.
I no longer have wine w/ my dinner, I am completely alcohol free and my diet is pretty much vegetarian. The nice thing is that I don't feel like I am being denied anything and just keep looking at the big picture. My biggest challenge is getting back to exercising, before I was running at least 3 miles a day and at least 10 on Saturdays, then all of this started and I was getting out of breath and experiencing palpitations just walking up the stairs. As I am feeling better and feeling the meds kick in I can feel my energy increasing and finding it easier to take a brisk walk.
As much as I would like to think I'll be able to do another 1/2 marathon this year and receive my Duo medal for participating in 2 Rock N Roll marathons in a year, the reality is it won't be happening, that makes me sad, but I have to think of my health first and realise it's nothing that I did it's just shitty genes. I am however going to work towards completing a couple of 5Ks, there are several going on in the community in the next few months, each raising money for a very good cause, I'm hoping the kids will join me.
So as I said in a post a little while ago, Madonna will be back, she's just under the surface now folks, so be warned ;-)