The "bag lady"

I have completed two more handbags for my christmas project. It's becoming a bit of an obsession...but I'm having fun doing it. :)
The first one (pink - see previous post) took the better part of 2 days to finish. But, now that I am getting in the groove of making them, it only takes me a 4-5 hours from start to finish. Just one more to go and this project will be complete. I already have the materials and hope to have the final bag finished by next weekend.
What to do next.....?

Back to the crafts...

I've decided to be crafty for Christmas this year. Yes, I'm thinking about Christmas already because I'm OCD like that. Besides, if I'm gonna be making my gifts, I'll need plenty of time to complete them.
Anyway, I thought that I might make little handbags for each of my nieces this year (there are 4 of them ages 9, 8, 7 and 4). Here is my first attempt. I think it turned out pretty well...all pink and pretty with a bit of silvery bling in the middle. I'm planning to make each purse the same style but with different material to "personalize" them for each girl. It's a really simple design, but the girls are all quite young, so I think they will be happy with them...especially if auntie throws some $$$ into each purse before she wraps them up! :)
On to hand bag #2!

Garden update...

I thought I'd brag a little about my garden. Okay, so there's really not much to brag about...gonna be a really small crop this year, but a crop nonetheless.

The tomatoes are just coming in - probably have about 6 so far and another handful in bloom.

We got 3 cucumbers so far - all delicious!

Not a whole lot of luck with my yellow squash as yet...but it looks like maybe one is trying to grow.

Same with my Japanese eggplant...some blooms, but no fruit as yet.

But the shining star of my garden in my Basil plant. It was only an inch or two high when I planted it, now it is over 3 feet high and almost as big around. Here is a picture of it after I trimmed ~1/3 of it off last week. Anyone need/want any fresh basil? Just call!

The boys are back...

So, today was the first day back to school for my boys. Bryan is starting 5th grade and Nate is moving into 2nd grade. Last night was filled with preparation: labeling everything with their names, rinsing out their new water bottles/lunch bags, sorting out their school supplies, sharpening 48 pencils, laying out their clothes for the next morning, etc... Our morning was still a bit chaotic, but I got them there on time, found their classes, met their teachers and sent them off to begin another year.
On a good note, I was pleased to find out that my friend, JV's, daughter and son were able to transfer to our school at the last minute. JV's daughter is actually in Nate's classroom, too! It will be nice to share the 2nd grade experience with them this year! :)
Here's to the beginning of a great year, I hope!

The Craftiness Continues....

Well, somehow I have managed to continue my crafty activities for another week. First I made this simple knot blanket for a friend's baby shower. She is decorating the nursery in ladybugs - so cute!

Then I finished a project my boys started several weeks ago. We bought these latch hook rugs, and I promised them that when they were finished with them, I would turn them into pillows. The boys worked so hard on these projects and had so much fun doing them - they have both already started a second one. I think the pillows turned out pretty good and the boys were thrilled. The pillows were immediately put to use last night when they went to bed. :)

Nate was so proud of his pillow, he insisted that I post a picture of him holding it! :)

Of course, now I have opened the flood gates and the kiddos are begging me to make them more stuff - especially Nate who says he really wants a pair of jammie shorts like I made for Bryan last week. Guess that'll be my next project...

Keeping up with the crafties....

So, lately all the women I know have been gettin' down with their crafty selves. Baking...sewing...wall art...where do all of you crafty b****es find the time? :)

Anyway, not to be outdone, I finally broke out the sewing machine myself this weekend. It had about 15 yrs of dust on it, but amazingly, it still worked and I still remembered how to use it. I started simple...a pair of flannel jammie shorts for my birthday boy, Bubba. Ok, so they are REALLY simple, but I think they turned out good for my first crafty project, they fit Bubba perfectly and he loved them - ran around in them all weekend. So I am finally on the board with one crafty point! My next project: A simple baby blanket for a friend's baby shower coming up this weekend...to be continued...

Traveling to the frozen north...

Last week my family and I actually took a vacation - sooooooo long overdue. Our last vacation was over 1 1/2 years ago. Anyway, we drove up north to visit with my big sis and her family in San Fran. First though, we stopped for a few days at their Lake Tahoe cabin. It was so beautiful up there...

Unfortunately, the overcast weather and my cheap little point and click camera didn't do it justice, but you get the idea. It was just so nice to do nothing we didn't feel like doing for a week - oh, and the kids LOVED the snow.

Here's Bubba sledding down the hillside -

NaNa and Eugene speeding down the mountain -

What I learned that day: Sledding can be dangerous (high speeds mixed with trees, rocks, etc.) BUT, just watching people sled is just as dangerous, maybe more so.

My big sis and I were sitting "safely" off to one side taking pictures and almost got mowed over several times.

Here was a near miss shot:

NaNa and Eugene were literally no more than 1-2 feet in front of me when I took this as they zoomed past.

Later, some stranger's kid - a little girl probably ~4yrs old actually did plow into us. I immediately ran to get out of her way, but my sis was worried that the little girl might get hurt if she hit our chairs and tried to move them out of the little girl's path. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and the little girl hit both the chairs and my big sis. I guess I should have helped move the chairs, but my instincts just said "Run, woman! Run like hell!" (besides, it wasn't my kid gonna get hurt right?) Anyway, everyone seemed okay, just a bit bruised.

After the "sledding" injury, we opted to head back to the cabin to indulge in much safer activities like drinking and sitting in front of a fire watching old movies. :)

After a few days at the cabin we traveled down to SF for the rest of the week. We were hoping to do some touristy-type sight-seeing, but the weather was less than cooperative. We did manage to snap a few pics at the Golden Gate Bridge in between downpours:

That was about all we were able to do in the freezing wet weather. Still a great time was had by all!

3...What a magic number

Ok, I know it's been forever since I last blogged. I'm not even going to discuss it or make excuses this time. So...moving on...

I have always been a believer in the superstition that good and/or bad things always come in "threes". Case in point this month:

1) Two weeks ago my ceiling fan was broken while being dusted. It was a freak event which I still cannot explain. Basically, one of the blade arms snapped - not bent, just snapped in two. It almost looked like a saw was used to cut the metal (yes, metal) arm. Anyway, we were thankful it didn't come flying off and decapitate us while we slept, but so weird...

2) On Monday, my flat iron, which I had had for years and dearly loved, fell off the shelf in the bathroom and broke. The ceramic plate on one side actually completely snapped off (snapping again, I know...). Such a bummer.

I mentioned these events to my husband yesterday and we were wondering if the third bad thing had already happened or not. I thought maybe our hot tub cover would count as we had to replace it last week also. The hubby said, "No" because the cover had been slowly falling apart and didn't really fall into the "3-bad event category". Jinx.
If he only would have let it count...

3) Last night the hubby's car got hit while it was parked at his work. He got a call from the office while out on his route to let him know what had happened. I haven't seen how bad it is yet. All I know is that he didn't feel good about driving it home because the fender is pushing in too close to the wheel...great. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Anyway, superstition proven yet again. Everything happens in 3s.