Sun shining

Poor Paige has a terrible blister on the back of her foot so I dug up her flip-flops and added some Fun fur to them. I know this is not a new idea but my older daughter loves that these "fluffy" flips-flops don't give her sores between her toes. (Maybe we are just a little wimpy when it comes to our feet)

Here is Paige modeling her fancy footwear at her swimming lessons.



And close-up (yes... I know I need a pedicure..)

I received another wonderful package today! My buddy Erin Vaughn (who I will snail mail a TY) sent me this fun package of knitting notecards, Post-Its, a neon pink pencil bag (great for notions) and some exquistie stitch markers. I couldn;t get a good close-up but they are a beautiful sparkling blue and mutli-colored glass. So generous!!!! Thank you so much! I've never had knitting notecards before! :)

I've been marked!

I am so excited! I received my first set of markers today from the Marker Mania swap.

These beauties came from Cathi in Colorado. It does feel likes it's my birthday or something... She sent these creative fruit markers as well as a snowflake and London charm. How did she know London is someplace I have always wanted to visit? I think that will be the first one I use as my little tribute to the victims of the bombings.

Now what shall I knit? Decision, decisions ......





Thank you so much Cathi! I love them! Thank you also for the extra goodies like the green notion bag and perfect pink box ( I know the picture makes it look red but it really is the most beautiful shade of magenta). I love these from The Container Store. You really brightened my day!

Stitches from the Heart

I always get so rejuvenated when I go to my mom's Stitches meetings. (No, these are not Stitch & Bitch) but meetings for volunteers who make things for Stitches from the Heart. My mom loves this charity so much she decided to run little (well, now not so little) meetings at her house once a month for poeple to gather, share ideas and patterns, get inspired, etc.

There are so many different types of women at the meeting and I wish I had more time to talk to everyone. They primarily make baby items which are then donated. Some of the talent is remarkable! There was a lady named Bebe there who has had a stroke and crochets with sight in only one eye. Her work was beautiful!

I painted Paige's bedroom this wonderful pale periwinkle blue. It makes her eyes sparkle. All of her furnishings are white andI have created my version of a Pottery Barn kid's room. :)

It's frickin' hot!!!!

I have been trying much harder to cut down on the cursing. Can't you tell? Frickin' is my replacement for the F word because I cannot bring myself to say "fudge" or "fudgin'". Just doesn't have the same impact I want! I know it's a terrible habit especially for a mother of three but come on now, my dad was a Navy Seal and he cursed even when he was happy! I know more curse words than my hubby, I think..... (not that I am proud of that)

Anyway, we (with my best buddy, Tamara, and her kidlings) escaped to Seal Beach today. It was lovely, wind was blowing quite a bit but that kept us from sweating!



Sarah and Emilee



Maddie and Paige (they are only one week apart in age) . Maddie knows there is nothing better than eating watermelon at the beach!

Are these glasses funny or what?




Wanted to also post an update on my One Small Thing project:



This is taking me longer than expected because it is so FRICKIN' hot!!!

Nature centers are fun

Since I have been playing with the kids so much this summer I have had little time to work on projects. I did start assembling squares for my One Small Thing blanket. (Progress report tomorrow) .

I got some really nice comments from my Marker Mania buddies! Emily, Renee, Minnie, and Erin. So glad they liked them and that everything arrived safely!

My mom had never been to our local Nature Center so we took a little field trip. We needed to let the lizard go even though he was very helpful in ridding our house of flies.




It was a beautiful day!




I got the kidlings to stand still for a minute. Mike's good buddy Grant (far left) was with us.





We took a rest by this pond to have a snack.



A VERY BRAVE squirrel decided to join us and eat our cookies that fell on the ground. It was quite funny to see all of us standing on the benches afraid of the squirrel.



All in all a good day....

Leaving the IKEA Costa Mesa store after buying cookies jars for Togo's. I couldn't resist this because they were skipping.... Note: Wish I was as tan as Sarah.

Am I wierd?

This morning when I woke I had no idea so many interesting events would occur.

Few of my family members (including myself) are early risers so today was a little tough because the kitten, Daisy, was due to be dropped off at the vet to be spayed (or neutered, I never remember boy or girl terms) and we had to get her there by 9 am. Anyway, I went out into the garage to get her carrier and Dakota, the dog, was making some crazy noises and beckoning towards the garage fridge. I look up (half asleep, I mind you) and I see a little rodent face peeking out between the garage ceiling and wall. I couldn't believe what I was seeing since a wildly acting dog SHOULD scare any kind of small creature away. The rodent (whom I have named Scary) peeks at me at least three more times. I feel like maybe we are playing "Chicken". THEN, as if in a final challenge, Scary decides to come out of its hiding place just to show me how big of a rat he/she is. Scary walked calmy along one rafter, hoped down onto a pipe and starting traversing over the pipe that runs over our laundry area, very close to where I was standing. I don't know where Scary went next because I ran hysterically out of the garage convinced I was being attacked by a monster rat at 8 am. Dakota was useless BTW.

My husband has convinced me he will take care of Scary, but I am striking against doing laundry until such problem is finally resolved.

After we dropped off little Daisy (who gave me some very nasty kitty looks as they took her away), I decided I was in need of caffeine. I headed back to Starbucks prepared for a substantial wait through the drive-thru. I pulled up at 8:30 on an overcast morning and THERE WERE NO CARS! I was the only one in line! It was a little unnerving since that had NEVER happened before to me in the four years it has been in our neighborhood.

John decided to take a break today (since he has worked so many doubles) and took the kidlings to run errands. Ah, freedom!! What do I do? I go to the post office, drug store, fun things like that! It is nice to do errands sans kidlings sometimes. I can let my mind wander.

I did stop at a big Joann's because I had a coupon and again, no kids. I was in the way back checking out cotton yarn and this cute young girl comes out of the ladies room with a very sad face. She walks by me yelling," Mom, there's a FROG in the bathroom!" I peek my head into the bathroom since I am standing right there and sure enough there is a creature, but not a frog. It was a little lizard with it's tail missing (I can understand the frog confusion). The employees were not exactly thrilled to have this creature so they gladly gave me a box to take it away. I went and got a Creature Carrier and decided maybe we could observe him for a couple days before letting him go. Not your typical fabric store find!


I learned from the internet, he is a Western Fence Lizard. Very common. Sorry my picture is so bad but he has the coolest blue waddle thingy under his head.


Here is what I got at Joann's. Cool new colors of Lily cotton. plus a lizard named "The Lizard"


Am I wierd that I want to kill a rat, fix a cat and save a lizard all on the same day?

Sunday afternoons

I finished some squares for my One Small Thing project and I am still deciding if I like them. I have definitely been in the mood to make granny squares to I feel a little creative as far as the piecing and colors go.

Usually, Sunday afternoons are suppossed to be leisurely, restful types of days where everyone plays quietly, reads books and doesn't scream at each other. I guess only in my dreams. Today was productive in that I took down Paige's bunkbed, and put up her new white headboard and footboard. I am planning on painting her room avery pale periwinkle blue. I think it will look nice with all the white furniture.

I reviewed my partners for the Marker Mania. All I can say is WOW! I looked at everyone's blogs and they are so amazing! I greatly admire their talents. I hope my markers will suffice.... I don't want to say who I have in case it is supposed to be a secret!

One Small Thing

Well, I was looking for inspiration and I got it today reading Ro's idea called One Small Thing . I decided I am craving to work with some fabulous bright and cheery colors, so I decided to make a cheery blanket for a child in a hospital. I am very blessed that my children are healthy and they love their "blankies" so why not make some more. I know many more generous crafters will sign up as well. Ro put it so well in her description of crafting for charity.

My kidlings will not stop bickering (this is really the first summer of this) and it is driving me CRAZY!! Sometimes I think my hormones are raging and I keep getting these mild headaches. Everytime I talk to someone it the same answer, "Well, you ARE a mother of three!" I guess I was asleep the day they said that more than 2 children means you will be a mess. Maybe it has something to do with the odd number, I don't know. Maybe it's their ages (10, 7, and 2) that makes them incapable of leaving each other alone. It's the classic "Mooooooooom(trying to emphasis the whine) , she's touching me!!!!!" I think I'm going to invent some Mommy earplugs.

Happy Independence Day!

Hope the holiday is fun for everyone! I am going a little crazy with the kidlings since they will not stop bickering and John has worked like a 5 doubles in a row. It's only the first week of July and my creative brain for summer activities is dwindling. There are only so many things a 10 year old boy and a 2 year old girl will like to do together. Sarah (7) likes to do everything so she is really not a factor. Maybe our neighborhood will light up with fireworks and that will bring some excitement to our day....

Here's Dakota

Here are some pictures I took while messing around with the digital camera. Our kitten, Daisy and our dog, Doakta