Shabby Apple.

Have you happened upon this great website yet? It's full of gorgeous kid and preteen clothes.

As well as great accessories, so many options!!!

They have such gorgeous dresses in all sizes, as well as maternity and fitness clothing.

So go ahead, you know you want to click on the banner to the right of my page and check out some great things. :)

I'm in love and would like one of everything please!!!!

Best Creative Writer.

 

Mackenzie's first year of public school is coming to an end this week. She's had a few goof ups along the way but she's ending the school year on a good note. She was even awarded Best Creative Writer of her entire 9th grade class by her English Teacher. How proud is this Odd Duck now? I was hoping one of my kids would get their mother's writing genes. :)

Stylin'.

I got a new hair cut, I love it! It's fun, easy and I like how I can choose between the look below and a messier curl if I want. I also like how my owl necklace is peering out from the top of my shirt....lol.

Evan Grace

I posted some good pictures of Isaac the other day and now it's Evan Grace's turn.

Cuteness all over even with the squinty eyes.

And of course she had to give me a goofy picture.

My favorite!!!!

Cookie Bear was lucky enough to make it into this picture. (I got a lot of mulch caught in my curly hair for this picture!)

I hate that Mackenzie wasn't at the park with us. I'm going to have to take all the kids back next time and get some shots of Mackenzie. It's only fair right? ;)

Isaac

I love it when I get a couple of amazing pictures of my kids. Isaac is especially hard because he refuses to look into the lens of the camera. He'd rather look down or off to the side.

Be still my heart, I can imagine him at 15 standing just like this.

How perfect is this face?????

This picture was the most fun for me to take. We both crawled into the tunnel on opposite ends. Handsome!!!!!

The tunnel was full of holes, and I love how one of the holes framed him perfectly on the other side.

Such a stud for 7 years old. :)

Never Too Young...

...to fix the family scrambled eggs. She looks older than 5 in this picture doesn't she? Oh, and the eggs were delicious.

Muscles and Marshmallows

Evan Grace, always the clown, never ceases to make me laugh. My sister and I caught a movie together the other night while the kids spent some time with my mom and dad. When I made it back home to pick them up I found Evan Grace marching around the kitchen island with homemade dumb bells. At first I wasn't sure what she was doing or exactly how she had made her weights.

My mom informed me that while eating her snack of colored marshmallows Evan Grace shoved a bunch of them on straws so she could work on getting some muscles like her Pawpaw. Keep in mind, when I first saw her weights they were covered in marshmallows from tip to tip, she started snacking on them later.

I'm not certain but I think maybe her efforts are paying off. Have you ever seen such a fit 5 year old? lol.

A Not so Typical Friday.

Friday started innocently enough. The kids and I woke, ate breakfast and while they caught up on some Disney channel I set about picking up the house. Dishes, laundry, a little vacuuming. Harmless right?

Then I sat down around 12:30 to eat lunch with the kids and my left forearm started itching. Nothing usually at this point. But the itching got to the point that it was driving me crazy. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, so I casually pulled up my sleeve to see if I could see a bite of some kind, some source for all the itching.

What I saw was not a bite, my arm was swollen, red, and hot to the touch.

My first though was allergic reaction, but from what? I got the kids ready and headed to the doctor.

A few hours later my arm was wrapped so tightly the pain was radiating up my arm and I was pretty miserable.

I've had tendinitis in my left wrist for years now and though I'm not sure what I did Friday, I ended up ripping a tendon or two. My doc explained that often times when tendons rip the body will release histamines and that was probably what caused all the itching. So now I'm on heavy anti-inflammatory drugs for the next 20 days and I have to keep this puppy on for at least a week. After I explained to her how much I had been sewing lately (repetitive motions and all) she thinks Contessa and my large stash of fabric was the culprit. I'm sorry Contessa!!!!

But how ugly is this bandage? Super ugly right? I'm not the most trendy of people but I didn't want to walk out of the house wearing this gross thing. So I cut one of the sleeves off a sweater I no longer wore, cut and hemmed a hole in the side and voila! a super cute cover up fingerless glove.

Now I don't feel so bad having to wear this wrap for as long as it takes to heal. (Which can be up to 6 weeks depending on how badly I damaged my arm.)

Coming your way.

I love this picture. Though if you actually used a needle threaded like that you'd never get your first stitch in, let along a seam. :)

I've been sewing like crazy the past few days. I'm taking pictures so I can post tutorials here, but it's going to take another day or two before I'm ready for that. 

I'm still here, I'm still sewing!

As soon as I finish up the two projects I'm halfway through I'll be back to posting.

Until then, go back and have another look at the cool picture above. :)

Am I missing something??

I introduced my blog buddies to my stray cat, Ganesh, back in September. This is how she came to us, tiny, scraggily, and undernourished.

Her name comes from one of the Eastern religions (no I’m not a Ganapatya, no worries there!) It means Lord of Obstacles. I liked the name and it seemed royal enough to fit her.

This is Ganesh today.  A little more filled out and so very sweet. But this cat has a weirdness about her.

A weirdness you say? Surely not, look how nice and beautiful she looks, you tell me.

Are you seeing what I’m seeing? I was busy cutting out fabric for a quick scarf idea I had, I got little work down when she happened on the scene.

Here it is again.

Ganesh: Will you rub my head? Maybe my tummy?

Ganesh: Please, just a scratch or two?

Ganesh: Well then I’ll just take a nice nap on your foot until you’re ready.

Ganesh: Wha…why did you move your foot? No bother…*yawn*…I’ll just…keep…sleeping.

I mean, I don’t’ think this cat can sleep any other way but on her back?!

Whooo’s Taking Over?

It’s no secret I’m in love with Owls, but as I was cleaning house the other day I was kinda surprised at how many owls I seem to have acquired.

There’s the Marble owls I use as door stops.

The little family of owls I made two years ago. I love the little fat baby one.

Then there’s the wicker basket kind of owl I found at a thrift store for $2.

Let’s not forget the very first owl given to me by my mom that started the entire owl addiction.

And here’s a handcrafted owl given to me this Christmas by my Aunt. Such pretty colors.

Speaking of Christmas, I had 6 of these pretty owls hanging out in my Christmas tree this year.

Check out this handsome stud of an owl. He’s heavy and cold to touch but he looks very impressive beside one of Isaac’s dragons.

We can’t forget about the owl pillow that is always lurking somewhere in my bedroom.

I even have one made out of tiny little seashell’s. I’m just as surprised as you are that this delicate thing hasn’t been smashed to bits or lost in the chaos of my house yet.

Even my books are slowly being invaded by owls.

Even my picture frames aren’t safe. (Yes, that is my Boy Toy the Reverend)

Who can forget the owl Mackenzie made me from a Hollister bag for mother’s day last year. It’s one of my favorites.

Last, but not least, one of the most important ones of all has to be the one adorning my skin.  

Owls….I love them…..what more can I say.