Getting crafty...

So in a moment of boredom (while waiting for training today) I did some web surfing including hitting the only blog I follow (so far)...  and ended up on the blog for the green bag lady http://greenbaglady.blogspot.com/  and found my inspiration.  This woman (and her volunteers) make and give away fabric bags to reduce the number of plastic grocery bags being used.  They have made over 18,000 fabric bags.  So.... since I have been doing more sewing lately I made a green tote bag tonight.  A Thanksgiving bag upcycled from an old table cloth.  I've just been waiting for a good excuse to cut it up - guess I found it.  Going to continue cutting it and making bags to give away - I think everyone will love them..

I also made 2 of the girls their own lunch box out of empty juice pouches. 

And a Halloween costume or two... a cowgirl's vest, skirt and spats for her boots - AND a skirt for my favorite fairy.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!

-J

I cannot believe another month has passed.  Of course, it's been busy... and now we are moving into the holiday season.  So a recap...

Enjoyed watching the girls play their sports.  Slowing down a bit now, course tonight is the first night of Volleyball districts and with Kyla having been moved to Varsity it is very exciting to see how far the team will go.  Basketball is around the corner and I know Coach Casey will continue to work with the girls in some capacity.

Halloween was fun this year.  Raygan was a cowgirl and I really enjoyed the challenge of creating her costume.  Bailey was a purple fairy... never thought I would tie a childs hair in knots, but it was the cutest thing ever.  Kyla decided to go gothic for the night - good thing it was only for the night, cuz I couldn't sit across from that at the dinner table every night.  The girls in the office decided to embrace their inner princesses and wore tiara's.  I put my wedding dress on when I got home and went out with Bailey for a little while - with our fairy mutt-mother, LOL!

Scrapbooking has really taken a back burner this year.  I have done more sewing this year than I have in the last ten years.  I created a halloween themed bread basket liner for the bread basket O'Malley made us for Christmas last year.  I made both of the little girls costumes; the skirts for the wedding; headbands for the girls and the volleyball team; and a lunch bag for Kyla out of Capri Sun pouches (and Bailey wants one too.)

Looking forward to getting back to the gym once volleyball season ends.  My goal is to go at least 2x per week and work out once a week with miss Bailey on the Wii.  It's also that time of year when we need to start thinking about Christmas presents.  Got some things in mind, but also think it will be scaled back some this year.  Thanksgiving is three weeks away - guess I need to put some hussle into Christmas cards too!

Well, I guess I will try to post some pics of my current projects.... until next time

-J

Slacking... or really busy

Busy, busy, busy... that is how our life runs.

So, I discovered - as evidenced in the previous post - that I should have one folder dedicated to all pictures in my blog AND not delete them, lol.

I've been keeping super busy lately.  Work has been okay - little bit of training travel and some to come, but mostly in the office.  Keeping up with the kids is always a source of busy-ness (probably not a word, but appropriately describes it, LOL!)

Been working on some new headband for the girls - hence being able to cross off "sewing" on my 35x35 page.  Took in a MSU volleyball game for Kyla's birthday - that was fun, looking forward to doing that again. 

Helping out with Kyla's volleyball team - pain or pleasure, maybe a little of both.  It has been so much fun watching/helping the girls improve their skills and not just by sitting in the bleachers cheering them on.  Actually getting out on the court with them and helping them learn the skills has been fun and somedays physically painful - so out of shape.  Course at the same time, I miss time with the rest of the family.  I will be sad to see Kyla's season end, but I miss the evenings with Bryan when he is home and I so look forward to spending time with Bailey and using the wii with her until her basketball season starts.

So for now, back to the grind!

- J

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!!

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!! (CLOSED)

Super cute skirt and fast... might have to try to make one.

Monday Monday

Welcome to Monday, where over the weekend you forgot everything!  So totally forgot that I have to leave work early today - oops!  Got it covered at least (thankful for my mom who saves the day again.)  Forgot to send pictures as promised yesterday morning.  Have to take care of that when I get home.

So a recap from the weekend...  Friday night went to volleyball practice with Kyla - the girls are really looking good.  Should be a great season.  Then took the girls to their dad's for the weekend with a quick stop for ice cream on the way.  Finally made it to Relay for Life shortly before 10:00.  I added 4 miles to the teams 245+ miles - GO Team Fabulous!

Saturday Bryan and I went out for my favorite breakfast - Country Chef.  Then we checked in on Team Fab... seems as though the rain was a bit of a damper, maybe next year will be the year of no rain?!?!?  A slow mosey over to Stanton for the Stanton Old Fashioned Day parade and an ELEPHANT EAR =)  An evening at home and supper at the bar rounded out the night.

Sunday I went to see Mel's new house.  So jealous =)  My sister has a beautiful new house.  I hope they are happy.  We went to the mall to get some new clothes for Bryan for the wedding this weekend.  He should be all set on dress clothes for a while (hehe.)

It's just the begining of a busy week!

- j

Slacker

This is the only term I can think of to describe why I haven't kept this up

So a recap of what has happened...

• May - a full month
    Honors Band, AAU Volleyball practices, Band concerts and banquet, Tulip Festival - a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to work on photographic skills and meets some new people, Dance Recital for O'Malley, a trip to the U.P. for Memorial Day weekend and Kyla participating in the Mackinaw City Memorial Day parade with the band.

• June - a busy, rainy month
    Spent a lot of time wondering if we were going to have softball games due to the rain, State Volleyball Tournaments for Kyla, a successful Trading Days - a first for my brother-in-law Mike, the Washington DC trip - I can only hope that Kyla enjoying this time together as much as I did (we did so much there should be a whole post dedicated to it), Virginia Beach for me to enjoy time with my mom and dad, Grandma and Loren, and to be a part of Mike's retirement and Derek's graduation, and my first opportunity to do the training portion of my new job.

• July - WOW - hot
    A weekend away with Bryan, Mike and sis - Mel, in the U.P., our first camping trip of the season in Elsie for Dairy Festival, had a nice dinner with Sue and Linda -my work buddies, Denniston reunion was a great opportunity to visit with some relatives I hadn't seen in a while (Paul, 16 years - really??) and took some family pictures to hone that skill set, summer school was a new experience for Raygan, another great trip to the U.P. (which also deserves a full post by itself) rounded out the July family vacations, a week of band camp with Kyla being named co-drum major and a work trip to Muskegon pretty well finished up the month.

• August - so far so good
    We started off the month with more camping with the family at Leisure Lake Campground in Sumner, Bailey has been camping all week with Nana and Papa (wonder if she will be home at all this summer), Kyla has started volleyball practice - should know soon if it will be JV or Varsity, O'Malley has started cheer clinics as well as volleyball practices.

A little bit of summer left, and hopefully some more timely bloggin!  Until next time...

- J

Positivity

So, I decided it would be a good time to make some changes. So here are my changes....

1. I started a new job on Monday. Still continuing to do the work at the old job - with overtime - until we can hire to replace retirees and get them trained.
2. Lent started yesterday and friends have decided to make sacrifices - I decided to be more positive. Well, I can try anyway. Think twice; speak once. It's worth a try.
3. Health... I have started walking. 3 days in a row now = 8 miles. If I can keep this pace up I should be able to walk DC without any problems. Maybe I will do the Trading Days 5k this year, even if I do just walk it =) I also started watching my diet again. I think losing between 40 and 50 pounds would make life alot easier - and I'd look better too!

Kids... Basketball is done and so begins volleyball. All of the girls are doing so well with the extra hours I am working. I have to give kudos to my girls for picking up the slack and to Kyla for watching the younger ones while we work (and so I can get my walks in.)

DC trip... and the fundraising continues. Candy bars are still selling. I hope we have a good weather day soon so I can take Kyla door-to-door. I have to say that I am VERY proud of Kyla. She took initiative and did the candle fundraiser all on her own. She raised $110. WAY TO GO!!

Until next time....

-j

HOW time flies!!!

I cannot believe it has been a month since I have posted. So much is going on...

Fundraising. I decided to sell candy bars at work. Have been at it all month. Last night I had to buy my 4th box of candy bars. If all goes well we should see nearly one hundred dollars profit from that. Supposedly still going to have one more "organized" fund raiser. According to the last report, we have nearly paid for one trip - with a payment due this week. Just keep plugging away.

Crop coming up next weekend. Fundraiser for the Auxiliary and Rescue. Just can't seem to get excited about it. Really need to get some organization done for it. Guess that will fall to this weekend! At least I have candy bars to take with me ;-)

Super busy with the kids. Basketball and volleyball and mid-winter break. I was thinking it would settle down some soon.... but soon keeps passing me by.

Photography!! College classes keep getting cancelled. I am so disappointed. Two classes I signed up for this semester were cancelled. I guess I'm not supposed to be in weekly classes right now. I do have a couple of workshops scheduled - really looking forward to them. I need to work harder on my online commitment to facebook challenges. Supposed to be doing one and looked at another. AND I cannot believe I forgot to enter my photos in recent contests - 1 online and 2 club meets. I had the perfect entries for this months competition and I blew it. Oh well, better luck next month!!

I guess that about sums it up for this round... until next time.

-j

New Year...

Well, I guess it really isn't the new year any more. We have now completed 3 weeks of 2011 - and they are just flying by.

Fundraising update... We just finished selling Little Caesars Pizza Kits. We did well. We sold a total of 25 kits and at a minimum of $5 each, we have earned $125. Sometimes I wonder if I should actually buy the item or just donate the cash. As an example... we ordered 3 kits to the tune of about $50 which means a $15 deposit for the trip. Would it have made more sense to just donate $50 directly? Probably, but pizza sure will taste good, LOL!

We still have a long way to go... just shy of $900 left to raise and there are only 2 more organized fundraisers. The last 2 were not as profitable as I had hoped - earning less than $200 total. Maybe we'll still do okay as we continue. I am saving my popcans to the tune of about $3.00 a month - not much, but better than not. We are also saving them at home, but last month it was only $5.00 there. But I guess $8.00 times 6 months is close to $50. If anyone would like Kyla to return their pop bottles for them, she is willing to do so if you'll donate them to her trip. I am also going to list some items on ebay and earmark the money for the trip. Not sure that will work, but who knows.

On other fronts...

• Bailey is playing basketball. She is really enjoying it. First games this weekend. Should be fun.


• School... I signed up to go back to college. Going to pursue a photographic technology certificate - class cancelled. So I signed up for 2 workshops and a half semester class. No credit for any of them, but I think it will get me into the swing of classes, assignments and structure.

Road trips...

1. Family trip to Ludington. Finally picked up the print I won from Todd and Brad Reed Photography. You should check them out - absolutely amazing http://www.toddandbradreed.com/


2. Weekend away with hubby. We went to the UP for some hockey and photography. Lakers beat the Spartans in a shoot out. Good times. Whitefish, Iriquois, Paradise and Tahquamenon Falls on Sunday. Oh yeah, and a flat tire. Sunday night in St. Ignace with a room overlooking the Mighty Mac. Monday's trip home included Alpena and Presque Isle lighthouses. And did I mention a new scrapbook store in West Branch.

Thanks for stopping by.

-j