Good Little Things

You and Me

Today is the birthday of one of my most favorite people in the world. Not just because she made it possible for me to be alive, but because she is my best friend. Of course during my teenage years this was not so, but I have grown to be quite like her.

 She taught me to sew and cook and to be kind and forgiving (even though I didn't always deserve it).

 She is one of the most beautiful people I know, I always secretly wished that I had blue eyes like hers, but I was given what I was given, and she always made sure that I knew she thought I was beautiful.

 I have learned from her that I can do anything I want to if I put a little time, and effort in to it. I have memories of her single handedly remodeling bathrooms and gardening a huge garden, shoveling snow in the winter and putting up very large real christmas trees. It's amazing to me all that she did when we were growing up with little or no help from the peanut gallery.

 Its funny how these lessons our parents teach us, they teach us by just being, somehow they seep in to our personalities with out us knowing it. On the other hand, the things they actually try to teach us seem to go in one ear and out the other or simply stay with us through repetition or otherwise known as nagging. I wonder what things my kids will take with them in to adulthood and insert in to the lives of my grandchildren. 

Thank you Mom for being My Mom, I wouldn't trade you for anyone else.

I Love You and Happy Birthday!

"Oh, Tannenbaum...

Ringtones, and some other ramblings

Rick has some ringtones up on our my lulu.com shop. I am not sure how you get them on your phone but there are there for $.99 if you know how. He creates them on Garage band. I will have a couple of posters available there too if I can figure it out.

Another thing I have come to discover, if you know me then you know I love chocolate, I really don't care what form it comes in. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Silk chocolate milk is awesome! And the kids even like it. You can't even tell its soy. I am not the kind of person that will eat or drink something that tastes horrible even though it is good for me. I am in no way affiliated with Silk, by the way. 

Tomorrow we are going to make some cookies with my sister, ahem, there will be 7 children helping. So I am not sure how edible or pretty they will be, But we will try.

Baby, its cold outside

This is one of my favorite songs of the season, I have no idea why. Maybe because it makes me want to cuddle up with my hubby in front of the Christmas tree, Which hasn't been put up yet, But it will before then end of the week, or maybe on the weekend.
My last day of school for the semester is tomorrow. Phew. I love learning about art history. I find my self really looking forward to my next class. I am also looking forward to having some time off so I can finally start making my christmas gifts and send out my christmas cards. I figure I will need to make at least one gift a day.
 

I am very pleased with some of my newbie attempts at adobe illustrator. I think I may turn a couple of my designs into cards or posters. I really need to talk to my friend Mera about the possibilities, She is a whiz with the paper. I love paper almost as much as I love fabric but I don't work with it as much as I'd like to. Maybe its the practical side of me. Something makes me afraid that if I make something paper, its going to get thrown away unless it can be used for something, But not in my house since I have packrat-itis.
Actually I just thought about an Idea for christmas ornaments we can make out of those cards.  Some string, and a hole punch, and voila!. 

2 things I am wishing I could sew right now- 

1) gloves

2) socks

Bye for now

Entering uncharted waters

One of the things that I love about our family is that we make a lot of decisions together. We have been talking a lot about switching from public schooling to homeshooling and have finally decided to jump in and do it. Rhea and Alex are super exited to start and we will be starting in January of this year. 

We plan do do a combination of things to ensure that they will learn and also enjoy it at the same time. They are both bright and naturally inquisitive people and I can't wait to start on this journey with them. 

I will be journalling here about our experiences. 

I love wool

I am starting to really love making things with wool. Wool is like a wonder fabric, it is warm can be very soft and doesn't fray. I made a couple of baby sleep sacks for the shop today. I am also going to make some slippers for the kids for christmas, and I think with the smaller sweaters I have I am going to make those ear warmer things that are like head bands and tubular neck warmers, I like those much better than scarves. 

gingerbread house

Before thanksgiving the kids and I created this little gingerbread house from Trader Joes. That store is one of my favorites. They have great stuff for kids that I don't feel bad about when I let them eat it.

Speaking of bad things to eat, have you ever watched Two Fat Ladies? I swear, I would spend a fortune in meat if I cooked like them, I think one of their recipes contained rabbit, chicken, bacon, and pate all smooshed together in a sort of sandwich type thing and thrown in the oven. They are, however, very funny and fun to watch.