Krystal = key to my heart

Isn't this cute :) My friend Kimberly in Georgia made it and it's part of the Krystal Design the Box Contest. To vote click the above photo to take you to it and just above it on the webpage, click on the 4th star to vote. :) You can vote once per day. Also don't forget that votes on your laptop will be counted separately than your work computer or desktop computer. Thanks!

Love from Texas!

Mmmm!

Hey Nora... Whatch doin???

"Just washin all these grapes Momma! :)"

What are these crushed up Butterfinger Bars for??

To pour on top of this later after it's chilled overnight or a few hours...

Hummmm what's it called Nora???

"GRAPE Salad and it's GREAT! "

You should try it! :)

GRAPE SALAD:

2lb. grapes

8 oz. sour cream

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup sugar

5 mini Butterfingers candy bars

Mix sour cream, cream cheese and sugar together. Make sure it is mixed well. Pour over grapes and stir until all grapes are covered. Chop butterfinger bars and spread on top when ready to serve. YUMMY!!!

Love from Texas!

Wordless Wednesday - 1/26/11

They requested that I "WUAaaaP us like BURritos Momma!"

Love from Texas!

I'm so proud of my Daisy Girl Scout!

This is Nora's first year in Girl Scouts... and also her first year to sell cookies.... and I'm so proud of her!! Not only did she exceed her goal of selling cookies "to FIFTY people" but she also was the most successful in her troop... YEAAH :) Way to go Nora!!! That's my girl! :)

Love from Texas!

COF Round Robbin Group

Isn't this one of the cutest quilt labels? This Round Robin's center had a "BEE Theme" and I just had to take a photo of this label that Ambher made and share... also to remember where everyone in my group was from :)

I can not share or show any other photos with my blog readers until after the Circle of Friends Retreat this April.... but I will say that each quilt I worked on was one of a kind. ;) A variety of styles and colors... lots of fun.

This was the block I sent off to become my Round Robin... I've always loved quilts I've seen made using batiks but have never created anything for myself using them - so this will be quite a treat! :) I just hope I have enough room in the sewing room to hang it up! ;) I guess I'll find out in late April...

Love from Texas!

my girls ready for bed

After bath time tonight Nora asked if she could get something out of the "Happy Room" aka sewing room.... When I unlocked the door she dashed in and grabbed up these two quilt cutups rabbit and cat. I found them at a yard sale long ago for only a DOLLAR! For both of them!

So letting her have them to sleep with totally made her heart happy and isn't that what life is all about?! :) Little sister, Olivia is clutching onto her "Chocolate Pillow" 1 of 4 throw pillows for the sofa that she la,la,loves to rub on while sucking "chocolate milk" out of her thumb.... so she tells me...

Thank goodness we have 4 of those pillows... 1 for the den, 1 for the van, 1 for her bed in the twins' room and 1 more to keep in Nora's bedroom for the occasional nights she wants to sleep with her big sister in the BIG BED. :)

And speaking of the Big Bed - aren't they cute... all snuggled up and ready for books and prayers.

Love from Texas!

A Pink Project

Can you believe I did NOT have enough Pinks.... so a trip to Joann's was in order... I do have some pinks in my stash but most of them have been claimed by my 6 year old daughter... which are strickly OFF LIMITS to me! :P

A church friend recently approached me about making a prayer quilt for a friend of hers who is battling cancer. She assured me more than once that she'd pay me to make it but I'm not really interested in being hired to do a job.... at the time I told her that I was way behind on a commitment and couldn't start until that was mailed off...

So we'll see... I know that she needs it ASAP so at least now I'll already have the fabric on hand here at home when I get ready to begin. ;) It also helps that I already have a pattern in mind too..... I will get to use something that hubby gifted me with for Christmas... so you'll just have to wait and see. ;)

Since they want to tie the quilt as they say prayers I'm thinking of makin the quilt top then sewing it to a blanket right sides together and then "Birthing it" turning right sides out and then probably basting with large stitching to hold it in place while they tie it...... any thoughts on that? suggestions??

Love from Texas!

Just how much...

I already knew that I was addicted to blogging - more so blog hoppin, readin and lookin than blog posting... but taking this little test (click the pic below to take the test) I realized that I'm more of a blogaholic than I realized! I do think about what would make for a good blog post when I'm away from the computer.... even while taking a shower, and cleaning up after the kids, and even while trying to go to sleep at night! When not blogging, I'm thinking about blogging!

77%

I know...WOW... so if I'm 77% addicted to blogging, then how come it's been like 77 days since I last posted!!?!?!#&*?$!@ I knew that was your initial reaction. Was I right? Would you believe me if I told you that I do have over 77 posts that are pending to be posted... saved as drafts!??!!

Really I do.. and one day I'm gonna get caught up and you'll have lots to scroll down and read. ;) Pinky Promise!!

Well today, like most days, I was visiting my top 5 favorite blogs to check on daily... give or take a few more 20... and saw where Bonnie Hunter posted today about Blogging Addictions. Have you already seen/read it? She offered a challenge:

So! I’m offering up a challenge weekend! This weekend…let’s see what we can sew away from the computer. Let’s try to find a bit of balance. The computer will be here Monday --- are you up for it? Really! Any posts you missed will be here Monday too, you just have to scroll down the page to find them!

Click Bonnie's name above to take you to the whole post... but that challenge was her ending... and you know what - today is the beginning to LONG WEEKEND here at our house. Nora was out of school today and will be out again Monday for MLK day... so I'm logging off the puter for the WHOLE WEEKEND plus Monday!

Yep. I'm really gonna do it...and this includes facebook too - a whole 'nother addiction!! *sigh*

No more of either for the whole long weekend. Just after I add a photo to this post and then go update my status one last time over on fb....

SEWING MACHINE HERE I COME!!!! :) I have to get this project wrapped up SOON b/c a friend has asked to hire me for making something very special for her dear friend...

Happy LONG WEEKEND everyone & Love from Texas!

How do you make Jello?

Step 1 - Buckle up children into strollers and bundle up...

Step 2 - Have friend help secure baby onto your back if you have an infant...

(my friend Heidi in the red and Cathi in the black)

Below are Heidi's #2 Eli and #3 Ella... her first is in school....

Step 3 - while friends are securing infant take photos of the other children

Above is Victoria, my other Hero Mom friend Cathi's #4 also! Her other 3 are all in school. And thankfully Cathi had an extra jogging stroller for my 2 to use... you can tell they're very relaxed and comfy!

and the baby on her back is #4 Jessie! Yep Heidi is a Mom Hero!

Didn't I tell ya they were cozi! PT sawed logs while we walked!

So what's this got to do with making JELLO?? Well after 4 miles of bustin your chops trying to keep up with your power walkin friends, you get back to the starting point and unload kids and reload into the car seats and then sit down, and my legs felt like JELLO!!

I wasn't even sure if I could lift my right leg to apply the break pedal to start up the van. No seriously I did feel tired but it wasn't until about 8 hours later that the real HURT set in and I had to go to bed with 2 Tylenol! I pulled muscles I didn't even know I had. lol

Love my little man asleep in the photo behind me.... :)

Love from Texas!

Is the box better than the toy??

Well according to Olivia, playing while INSIDE a box ranks up there pretty high too! :) Santa brought her this VeggieTales SweetPea Beauty DVD and play castle and she's spent many hours playing with it the last couple weeks. Perhaps being in the box protects her from her brother's random hit and run episodes? ;)

Click the link to see a youTube preview of the movie! It's truly a great message for girls of all ages - that teaches of what true beauty really is... We checked it out from our library many times and have bought it for birthday presents for the girls in Nora's class at school... I'm so happy Santa brought us our own copy to keep!


Love from Texas!

What's Under Your Needle?

Just a little something I worked on today... guess who's joined Girl Scouts? ;)

As I was sewing them down it made me think of an idea. "What's Under Your Needle?" Perhaps bloggers could take just one simple photograph each week and post and share?

I know JudyL already has a design wall Monday weekly post... and other groups do similar... but this could be as revealing or not as revealing as you wanted it to be... kinda like a sneak peek... ooough "Sneak Peek Sunday" that's sounds catchy... although I like the "What's under your Needle?" too.

oh, never mind me and my ideas - just typing as I think. LOL I can't wait to see Nora dressed up tonight in her uniform for the first time! :)

I'll also share with you that I had to fight back some tears as I rounded those curves and stitched... (rather blink hard and look straight down so they'd fall to the floor) This is one of those times I'd give anything to call my mother up on the phone and share with her about what's going on. She did the same for me, sewing on many badges that I earned in Girl Scouts years ago....... bitter sweet ya know?

Love from Texas!

They say that somewhere out there it's SNOWING

Snow?? REALLY??? S*N*O*W ??? You mean almost everyone else in the country has some SNOW except for us??? That's not fair! Even with temps in the high 60's, we'll just put on our scarfs and hats that Mimi gave us and pretend it's cold! :P

Don't cha just love how little brother is tippy toeing beside his sister. :) and he's still short.

Before I was at the entrance of our neighborhood I looked in my mirror to find Olivia already fast asleep! and Take a look at little "Nora Look-alike!" Especially when he's looking down...

and I'm glad Nora wasn't with me when I checked the mail today - look what was returned. :( I was sure that the postal workers would see this and forward it on...

Love from Texas!