Quilt for Charity #1

I've talked of my fabric stash, but have yet to take a picture of it. Well, someday I will, just not today. This quilt was made from fabric from the stash.

A somewhat close up of one of the blocks.And finished. I think it needs some sashing around the outside. It measures 30" x 35".

And one more somewhat close up.

The second one is started and I’ll show pictures later. AmandaJean is having a Baby Quilt week. She's making one quilt top a day all week. I won't get that many done, but I hope to get the second one finished.

Look out kindergarten....

the first of the Snow boys arrives this year. He's anxiously awaiting the first day. A little upset because I had him moved from afternoon to morning, which means no bus. But mom is working 3 afternoons a week in an after school program through church and no one will be home to pick him up. It works out best for all of us!!!

In a few short weeks, we'll be celebrating his 6th birthday. Here's to great new beginnings!!

A steal of a deal if you ask me...

How much did you spend on those??? That is the question I was asked when I came home with all of these flowers. 2 dozen roses and some spring/summer beauties. Last year, I frequented the Farmer’s Market almost weekly and would spend $12 on 3 beautiful bouquets. This year, I have not been able to frequent the market as much. Why? Work on the house and to be honest, it was getting to be too expensive to take the kiddos. 3 bags of small popcorn, some produce for 1 maybe 2 night’s meals, flowers and bread for one meal, was costing $40-$50 dollars. That is half of my grocery budget for the week. And I know I could have done without the flowers, but they were just so pretty and every room needs some flowers and I just couldn't say "NO". Without the kiddos, I could have spent less and will probably go a few more times before the summer is over to try to get some of the fall bounty when it comes in.

Anyway, I digress; I was in my local Aldi’s on a Thursday morning just before lunch. They sell fresh bouquets of flowers for $2.99, you can choose from a dozen roses or whatever there mix is for the week. On this Thursday morning, the bouquets were marked down to $.75, yep, that is 75 cents for a bouquet. I bought 2 for me and 1 for my brother-in-law to take home to his very pregnant wife (which he kept forgetting so I ended up putting in a vase). I was very happy that I picked up 2 dozen roses for $1.50.
The flowers lasted for about a week and then were discarded. But I will be on the look out at Aldi’s for the extremely cheap flowers again (and if I just need a pick me up $2.99 is not so bad either).

Homemade Samoas

My cousin came up for a visit. She was "home" for a little vacation (I can't wait for her to be closer to "home"). She and the kiddos came to visit us and she sent me an email that said, "When I am there we have to make these". I headed over to Not Quite June Cleaver and thought sure why not!

So while the kiddos played: we went to work...Let me start by saying, these should have come with a WARNING! You must not make these on a hot and humid day when the air is not on (because they were smoothing the walls in the basement, creates a lot of dust). You must also prepare for a bit of time, as they are time consuming. With all of that said…..They were AWESOME!We used semi-sweet chocolate instead of dark chocolate. We also had to resort to the refrigerator to get the chocolate to set up, only because it was so hot & humid. We also decided that if we were to make these again we would dip the bottoms in the chocolate before we put the caramel on top; maybe it wouldn’t be so messy, but then if the air was on and it wasn’t so hot & humid they may not have been messy. And as the baby slept we continued working.

The day after we made them, they were perfectly fine. The humidity had dropped and the heat had dissipated. I was able to put the cookies into a container with wax paper between and they did not melt.I highly recommend trying the recipe! I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Stronger

I love Jewel, her music, her poetry and just her honesty. I am intrigued by the song "Stronger Woman". There are many days that I struggle, I sometimes feel I'm not a good enough mom, wife, daughter or friend. This song, to some, may be interpretted as a woman leaving an abusive relationship, but for me, this song represents that any person can find the inner strength to overcome whatever hurdles they have been presented with. The following is the chorus:

I'm gonna love myself more than anyone else
Believe in me, even if someone can't see
A stronger woman in meI'm gonna be my own best friend
Stick with me till the endI won't lose myself again, never, no
'Cause there's a stronger woman,
A stronger woman in me.

For me the song represents leaving the depression behind and pulling myself up off of the bottom and finding myself all over again. At times I feel lonely, sad, miserable and just rotten. The past few weeks have been a turning point, I told myself, the house cannot take care of itself, the babies NEED you to be STRONGER. I started digging myself up from the ground. I also need to take care of myself and "be my own best friend". Life gets in the way of the things that we love, life tries to take over and sometimes you just need to take a step back and say "Wait a minute, is this going to make ME HAPPY?" and when the answer was "NO" then I chose to decide to do something that makes me Happy.

My house had been turned upside down for 9 weeks, can you believe that 9 weeks! In that 9 weeks, what have I done. Not a lot except pouting and feeling sorry for the way my life is. Is the end in site....you bet it is, my list is made of the items that need to be completed before my big guy's birthday and we have a house full of people. A few things each day will get the job accomplished.
Over the past few weeks I started to take control again, I tackled the laundry, dusted (and the drywall dust just keeps coming back), mopped the floor, cleaned the windows (it's so nice to have the sun shining in clean windows). I have taken small steps, but I'm going to continue to add onto those steps until this HOUSE feels like my HOME. Ever since we moved in I felt like we were living in someone elses home. Not any more. It is finally starting to feel like HOME. The paint is all US, the dining room I can't wait until it is done.
And ultimately this well help me dig myself even further from the hole that I feel I have been living in. Here's to happier days, lots of sewing (in my new sewing space) and a renewed feeling of who I am!!!

(PS The random photos are of the kids working in the demolition of our basement)