My....OH MY!

Well, it seems that my impending birthday has had a profound affect on me. I'm running down the hill towards the next decade! Am I really bothered by it??? I suppose not. Am I proving that? NO WAY! I've lost weight, am having my hair cut and colored today (not anything unusual for me.... but still), I've been exercising, listening to music again (I have been listening to books on tape only for years. I've even begun to use the mp3 player DH bought me and then promptly began using himself), bought new shoes (heels!) and last week was obsessed with this fabric and making purses. It was raining cats and dogs...a deluge... and I forced my friend to drive with me 45 mins. away to buy this fabric. I then made furious trips to all the craft stores for the proper handles. It was worth it!!!!!

The large bag...frontBack........................

The small bag.....Front
Back....................

The cowboy bags are mine.

The medium bag.....I made one for each of my girls....

Now I don't know if it is a warped sick mind that designed this fabric or a warp sick mind has spent and entire weekend creating purses from it!!!!!!!

My girls reply to their new purses with hunky construction workers on the outside and leopard print inside? "MMMMMOMMMMM!"

To answer questions.....Does DH mind me carrying these? No. He said that everyone will just understand that he was the inspiration for the fabric.....He does have a great sense of humor! Is it hard to carry a purse with a hunky, half naked guy on it? Yes! I'm just a bit uptight and it is almost out of my comfort zone but I'm going with it! Does carrying a purse with a hunky, half naked guy make one on the downside of a decade feel better........Hmmm........In an odd, warped, weird way, Yes!

One obsession down.....

I finally finished all of my fruits and vegetables. If you look back here you can see the beginning of the obsession...Well, after three sets of placemats, two watermelons (pictured in the linked post), and the following, I think I've finally worked through this obsession. It all started with the carrot.

Last year the Quilts N' More magazine had this carrot table runner. I fell in love and imagined all the other vegis that could be made. Time got in the way and I never made the carrot let alone everything else in my head. This year the magazine came out with the watermelon. Again my imagination ran wild. But instead of just thinking, I actually pulled out the fabric and went to town, First I made the watermelons. Then I sized down the pattern and made placemats....3 sets! After the placemats I had to make the carrot.

Then the parsnip...

Again I sized down the pattern and this time made a radish. I am calling this a radish. It looks like a strawberry but in my mind.....it's a radish!

But could I stop there???? No! I made a turnip next.

I think that just possibly I'm finished! I don't want to hear the suggestions that I make a round pattern and make a tomato, onion or any other vegi!!!!! I've moved on to purses..........Stay tuned! They are dooseys!

Beauty

Beauty, physical good looks that it, is such a strange thing. In the eye of the beholder, individual, unique. Isn't it odd how when it comes to beauty in people, even the oddest looking person becomes quite attractive once you know their personality. Many, many years ago a "friend" told someone that my then fiance' was "ugly." I on the other hand thought he was quite handsome. Our inside person somehow projects outward to influence our physical being. (No my husband is not odd looking. The sentences just followed one another!) How many times have you met an outwardly attractive person only to discover that their physical beauty fades once you know the inside person....and visa versa. Maybe if we all believed that we were beautiful and stopped getting caught up in the physical; hair, nails, body size, we could more readily project our inner beauty. But more importantly, when we might believe in our inner beauty and let the outside shine!

Nature on the other hand lucky. Beauty just is. A vase of blooming flowers. (No, DH is not being romantic! Heaven forbid! LOL! These are from a student.)

Fresh tomatoes? Beautiful! Tomatoes that taste sweet and luscious. A dear friend gave me these yesterday and mmmm......I haven't had fresh tomatoes since living in Ohio.

Mango's growing bigger daily. Just a gorgeous sight. The promise of the sweet fruit. Hopefully they won't all fall off the tree during the bad weather that is projected to be here this weekend.

Beauty has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Inside and outside, physical vs. internal beauty. No conclusions, no profound findings. Just that you have to believe that you are beautiful to actually BE beautiful.

SCHOOOOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

Ah! I'm as bad as the kids! It feels great yet sad to be done with this year. This was my last year as a teacher with a single class. Next year I start a new chapter in my life. I will be running the Judaic program in our school. Instead of having one class, I will see every child in the school. I'm so worried. I'm not afraid that I can't do it. It's just going to be very different. More on these anxieties over the summer!!!

The assistants in our building are very young. Last week I told one of them that I was going to go home and listen to Alice Cooper (School's Out for Summer. I wasn't really going to listen to Alice Cooper, I was just trying to reference to the song!) She said, "Who's Alice Cooper?" AHHH! I nearly died. I did something that only a mom, dad, grandma or someone much older can do! I made a reference to something that was way before her time! I told her to Google the answer! Luckily my own children, who are the same age as the assistants, knew who Alice Cooper was, what he did for a living a the song I was referencing! I felt somewhat mollified but with my birthday being next week, I was feeling extremely old!

It WORKED!!!!

Sheesh! It was so simple. A matter of putting http://www.google.com/ in my internet options! I was there a million times but didn't realize what webpage to enter! Thanks to Amy,Floribunda, & Pam for simultaneously sending me the answer. It is so much nicer to not have to log in each and every time!

Here's a picture of Ms. A! Does she look happy or what!?

(I could have beaned her. She forgot to order all the paraphernalia that was supposed to go around her neck. Yes, I'm bragging....she worked nearly full time, had no family around her, was in two wrecks, a terrible relationship and still managed a 3.9 GPA!) She had a job interview today and called me. "Mom, I think I got a job." What do you mean "think" I ask. "Well, he gave me a W4." Yup child. You got a job! Actually, it's a second job. She will be interpreting for two services. Interpreting for the Deaf that is. She is still uncertified but hopefully she has pass her English proficiency test and will then be able to take her certification test. For all of you with teenagers that are wondering if it will ever end....it does. They come to their senses and all is well in the world.

School is out tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished! : ) Wish I was Finished! : (

I finished my guild challenge! I made it over sized and then trimmed it down after quilting. I was a bit disappointed because I then lost all the quilting!! The size you ask? 3"X4"! The challenge was to make a finished quilt that fits into a name tag! I lost my tag so I called the organizer of the challenge. She measured the empty tag and told me 3"X4." After I finished the tag, quilted, cut and bound the thing to the exact measurement I found my little plastic name tag thingy. Guess what??!! It IS 3X4 on the outside. In order to fit a quilt inside it needed to be 2 7/8 X 3 7/8. Oh it fits inside the tag but the tag doesn't lie flat.

I figure that the rules never said anything about it needing to be flat. It just needed to be inside the tag! I would love to win!

I wish I were finished with nightmares. I have what I call nightmares. They can happen in the daytime or nighttime. Mostly it's just a thought. It's always the same. It can be so bad that I refuse to go back to sleep. During the day I nearly hyperventilate if the thoughts cross my mind. I'm not going to go into what it is that sets me off into overdrive because this is not the forum. But, I wish I could just sleep at night without waking up so scared and ready to scream! It's the most difficult when DH isn't home and I wake up nearly hysterical. Although I rarely wake him up if he's home, I know he's here. But when I'm alone it is just that much harder to re-gain control. It wakes me up from a perfectly good sleep to haunt me. Usually that's when I get into trouble and eat. If I'm sleeping well, I can lose weight so much faster! So, it's 3:30 and tomorrow (or today), is our end of the year party. I must clean my room and get it almost completely shut down before I leave school, be nice to parents as they will be at the party and have slept 2 hours! Plus I look so lovely after 2 or 3 hours sleep. Fun!

I'm gonna hit publish post and try to sleep just a bit longer. If I can sleep, two more hours can't hurt.

Sunday Morning Stuff

I've tried and tried to figure out how to stay logged in to blogger. I can't seem to find what the problem is. I cleared my history and cookies and set the computer to accept them...didn't work. I searched the blogger help...didn't work. Any more ideas? I find it so cumbersome to need to log in 3 times a day. If I close the internet, I need to log back into blogger. It is very, very annoying. This is the main reason why I don't always comment. I just read a blog or two and go back to my work. Problem is I don't remain logged in so.........no comments.

School is out on Tues. and I've been crazy trying to get everything finished. Not much quilty or computer wise going on. I did get upset about something at school and went to Joanns to "drown my sorrows" in fabric. Much more satisfying then drowning my sorrows in alcohol! It worked too. I bought 20 great fat quarters and the world is a much better place. Let me finish this school year and then I'll be back and "a postin!" Two more days!

Mother's Day

I really don't like Mother's Day. It was always the one holiday that was so filled with stress and anxiety. I mean I was a mom but always spent the day shuttling between DH's mom and mine. Where was my mother's day {whine, whine}. Plus the added stress of staying 5 minutes too long at one parent's house vs. the others. Both of our parents are/were normal reasonable adults until it came to holidays. They then reverted to the pack animal/survival of the fittest mentality. For the past 11 yrs. we've been away from our parents. That means Mothers Day is all mine. I still feel like Mother's Day is a bunch of hype. I mean if you love me, you'll show me all the time, not just one day out of the year. But recognition is a nice thing so I concede to the masses. I don't want diamonds from my husband, he is not my child. I don't want diamonds from my children, that's just absurd. A nice card, a quiet afternoon, all suit me just fine. Well, this year was the best Mothers Day ever. My girls sent me flowers! To some that may seem passe' but I am thrilled. No help from Dad. No prompting. Just flowers for mom with a wonderful card that brought tears to my eyes. Mrs. S then rented a movie and spent the afternoon at our house. We saw Ms. A last week as she graduated, as she put it, "from the first leg of her educational journey." It was a thrill for all of us.

On a quilty note, I have nearly finished my obsession with root vegetables! I have the carrot, parsnip, turnip and radish table runners nearly complete. What am I going to do with them you ask? Why decorate my classroom next year during Sukkot , (this link was the easiest explaination to understand). Plus, I finished two more sets of fruit slice placemats. I think this obssession has finally run it's course. I'll post pictures as soon as they are all done.

Questions, questions, questions.

First, I would like help. I just love the header some of you have. I have tried to follow directions to do my own and can't seem to get it to work. Can someone p-l-e-a-s-e help.

Second. Why do you use Picasa in conjunction with blogger?

Third. How do you get that really cool flickr thing in the side bar? I do have webshots and it doesn't play nicely with blogger. I would love to have something that would link my blog and photos.

Fourth. Well, I think one two and three reveal enough ignorance for one day.

Fifth. I need to make a name tag that is 3"X4". It must have borders, be quilted and finished. A reeeeel challenge. Any ideas? I can't find a pattern online that fits the criteria. I want to WIN this challenge. One girl has already hand pieced a single grandmothers flower garden block. Everything I find requires multiple blocks to make a pattern appear. All this agony and the prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to Cracker Barrel!

One more question/comment. If my little weather pixie strips down to such a sexy, rexy swimsuit when the temp is 84 degrees, what in the world does she have in her closet for 95 degrees??? I laugh every time I see her in her white swimsuit...it looks like undies!

My weekend haul

Gotta Love Half Price Books. It's one of those things I would miss if I moved out of Texas. They may be in other places but I know they are concentrated in Texas and college towns. Half Price is a huge used book store. They also must buy poor sellers or last runs or something because they also have a large selection of new books at reduced prices...well, half price. I love it when someone cleans out their closet and then I get to buy the books for next to nothing. The magazines are old but they were .50 each so I don't mind. The books are great . I love the Judy Hopkins book. How many times do you want to size something up or down. This book has directions for cutting many multiple sizes of the same block. There are directions for hundreds of blocks in the book. The strips and borders book is okay but it does give a few ideas. By far my favorite is the fat quarters book. How can you pass up a book that has this quilt ...

.......and this.....I bought all of those books for less than the cover price of one of them! Add to that my teacher discount and I am happy, happy, happy! Now I only need to finish the 57 things in front of these projects. I really need to quit work so I have more time to sew.

BLOGGER!

Why can't we actually sign in on the comment page? All of the correct information is there! They ask for all the info. But it doesn't work! Why is there a "remember me" box? Hmmmm....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I find it so irritating! Am I too stupid to understand how to sign in? You wonder why people don't leave comments. Well it can be so irritating to sign in over and over again in a day. Sometimes it is just too much of a bother to sign in and comments have to wait. I hate to rant about a free product but if something is unavailable, don't advertise it! Tirade over.

Six Month old pictures

I realized that I never posted pictures of my Mrs. S's wedding. It was a simple, lovely day. It is hard to believe that she has been an old married woman for 6 months now.Left to right are Ms. A, Me (thought it was about time to post a picture of myself) Mrs. S, Mr. Fancypants (he got his name after he found my blog, with no information, in about 3.2 seconds!), and DH.

Is this a happy bride or what. This is the face that convinced me that getting married was the right thing for this child to be doing. I've never seen her glow like this before. It was magical !

I just found this photo and love it. It is so hard to let go of our children. She said that she wasn't nervous or anything until we left her at the end of the aisle. You can see that I am holding her visibly, but her dad is holding her too. He is still holding her hand. Just like us. Mom, loud, visible, holding tight. Dad, quiet, steady, solid and always there. Not nearly as visible but every bit as necessary and balancing. Lovely shot. (If you look at Mr. Fancypants head you can see one of the million kippot that we made. They match the chuppah.)

I used to wonder what in the world I would do with my children once they were no longer toddlers. I've found that I love "having adults." Once in a while they revert back to children and I go back to being Mom, but for the most part they are...gulp...my friends. I enjoy being with them and the strangest thing is they enjoy being with me!! Strange, wonderful, delightful feeling. Mrs. S. and I watch silly American Idol every Tues. and Weds. It's where we bond! We talk on the phone after every performance; critiquing, making fun, praising...then quickly hang up and listen to the next singer. Sometimes the performance is so fantastic or horrible that we don't even make it through the song before the phone is ringing again. One week neither one of us called the other until half way through the show. I finally called her and she said, "Gosh, I thought you were mad at me for something! Why didn't you call?" I love being friends with my girls. It is a part of parenthood that I never considered or expected. I never thought beyond their childhood. That was probably why I had such a difficult time with my empty nest! Now that I've discovered that my nest just has annexes...all is well!

Clarification

Just wanted to clarify that the group we started is a part of the Heartstrings quilt project. I re-read my post and it read like I created this group. NOT! We are just doing our little part. Click on the Heartstrings logo for more info.

Heartstrings

We have been talking and planning. We started a group called Strips and Strings- A Heartstrings Project. We've actually met once or twice but still didn't finished a thing! We meet once a month at the Jewish Community Center to work on charity string quilts. We decided to work on one quilt at a time. As the quilts are finished they are assigned to a member and she has the choice of where to donate it. She is also in charge of the backing, batting and quilting. After many delays and slow starts we finished our first top today. WHoo HOo! Since it is mine, noone may see it until it is quilted! Because we are being housed at the JCC I needed to abide by some of the suggestions made by the director. She wondered if we could open it up to crochet and knitting enthusiasts. I told her of course as long as they commit to donating their project to a worthy cause. So far the only ones participating are my own friends but hopefully the community will come out and help us to create and donate quilts. I'm looking forward to practicing machine quilting on this quilt! First I need to finish the bazzillion fruit slice table runners and placemats that I've started.

I managed to get pictures of two ....cutting and ironing. The sewers were working too hard to take time out for a photo!

The fence is nearly finished. I took a picture looking through the patio to the saw horses. I wanted to show "work in progress" but the guys kept walking back and forth. I had to jump into the doorway really quick to snap a picture. Sometimes we look like nuts getting just the right shot for our blog!!!! Those pickets are the last of them (along with the open space) to be attached. It looks great and hopefully they will finish tonight! HEE HAA! No more broken teeth fencing!