My precious...

Oh my dear sweet Sanity,

Hold fast dear friend. I know, the little one is doing all he can today to break us down. He has up-ed his game, he's brought out stuff from yester-year when he could really throw-down. I know, I know, he thinks we will crack before the beach... that we will get hauled off in the paddy wagon and left to graze on some far away hill where all the other mommies and sanity's have been sent when their little Snookers did just the same thing.

But dear Sanity, I beg you to maintain... I promise to reward you handsomely once we've reached our destination in just a handful of days. Just think, the one thing that you've waited months and months for... knowing how much better it is there, it shall be yours! OH the beer you will get to enjoy... hang tight, we will survive!

(I may be losing my mind...)

Hurry up already!

That is my current line of thinking... what needs to hurry up... VACATION! We head out next week for our annual beach vacation. I'm so pumped, I'm so ready, I'm so... thirsty... I'm usually quite thirsty when we are down on the coast :-)!

As I sit here and type (and ponder), I remember the first time we took the boys. Boy, that was nerve racking... getting everything packed, making sure everything was where it needed to be, and that all three were where they needed to be. I was nervous! We had been on one road trip prior to the first beach trip... and to say it didn't go well is a HUGE understatement. Snooker had meltdown after meltdown (mostly in the car of course, where you can get way from the very loud crying). Honestly I don't really remember the ride down (or back for that matter)... so either it was uneventful, or it was exactly the same as previously and I simply blocked it (not uncommon :-). The beach itself was, um, well, Snooker didn't like the beach... it was quite overwhelming for him. Bobcat was sort of not sure about it at all, but was perfectly happy to play in the sand, Bubba... oh sweet little chubby Bubba... the apple of his Daddy's eye... was out in the waves hanging on to Daddio and waving for the camera!

With every passing year Snooker makes head way (he will go in the ocean but much prefers to build in the sand), and Bobcat got over his fear of the water and goes exploring with and with out his brothers, usually looking for cool shells or hunting down coconuts... Bubba, sweet Bubba... he's out in the surf. He likes to boogie board and heck even body surf (I guess that's what you call what he does), but he's always having fun way out in the waves.

The car rides? Heck, those are nothin' now! We are a car trip family. Everyone gets comfy, shoes off, pillows adjusted, and audio book begins as we pull onto the hi-way.

You would think that Daddio and I would be stressed going into any trip due to our personalities (or number of kids who need meds, Celiac disease, dogs, blah blah blah)... we both like to plan things out, we want to organized, have everything just so-so... but when it comes to heading to the coast (or camping) we are a well oiled machine. The only uncertainty is how early will Daddio wake up that morning... he cracks me up... sometimes it is 3 or 4am and he is up and READY TO GO! (No, we don't need to leave that early... he's just that excited!). When it comes to the unexpected... well, it happens, we know that better than most I think... we've had dead batteries, the beast had a smashed window (broken into)... shall I go on??? We roll with it! And we've gotten really good at that (thank you Holy Spirit and Mother Mary)!

Nearly all the prep work is done: newspaper put on hold, mail stopped for the week, dogs have been booked at the boarding house, sunscreen bought in bulk, new suits for the little boys and mommy (yeah for losing weight), beach umbrella borrowed (it is so cool that Daddio's friend let's us borrow it... it is AWESOME)...

Oh... I'M READY!!!!!! Unfortunately... I have to wait... because it's not quite time :-(

In the hopper

Fabric... I LOVE IT... but I've never had it organized the way I want it. In a perfect world I would have a room dedicated to sewing... I would have open shelves all over the place with perfectly stacked fabric towers... my sewing machine would be ready to use at a second's notice... and I would have everything I need right at my finger tips!

I DO NOT LIVE IN A PERFECT WORLD :-)... Instead I live in a great world... I live in a cute little house that is filled with many wonderful people and all the rooms are spoken for... so ALL of my crafting wonderfulness is stored in bins... here, there, and anywhere one might be able to stack a bin!

I've wanted to do something about my fabric situation for quite some time, but because I wasn't able to see past the awesomeness in my head of a perfect room... 'throw it in the bin' was my how I dealt with it. Well, yesterday I set to work on making behind the seat hanging organizers (that would go in front of each of the boys for our vacation)... I needed to pull out my fabric bin and sewing machine. I knew I had plenty of fabric to make what I wanted, but getting my fingers on all of it was a frustration. So I decided NO MORE (well... actually I told myself that once I finish the organizers I would deal with it once and for all... or until in a miraculous event this house suddenly has more stories and more rooms :-).

I was able to cut all of what I needed yesterday for the organizers, and finished one completely before it was time to retire for the evening... this morning I woke up with a dozy of a headache (thanks allergies... stupid wind keeps blowing EVERYTHING FROM EVERYWHERE TO RIGHT HERE!)... and sitting at my machine was really not an option... so I thought... I planned... and decided that I could fold and iron with a headache.

It started out a little like this (this wasn't all of it, I already had started the sorting process when I decided to photograph it):

I worked on getting everything to my room where I could fold and sort in relative darkness (just using the light from outside, thank goodness it wasn't sunny or this would not have happened). After folding and ironing, each fabric was put into a bag. If I knew the info for the fabric I made a little card to put in with it (just in case I ever decide I really need more, I might be able locate it online with those details).Once it was all done, it was put back into the bin it never all fit into before... it's amazing what a little ironing can do!


I'm really happy with how well it all worked out. In the very near future I will be getting a real sewing cabinet, and having everything organized will make my dream of sewing whenever the mood strikes me (which is ALL THE TIME REALLY) a reality!

What's to come?

A sneak peek at my latest project... I'm really excited!

A new addiction

Ok, I haven't been all about blogs in the last year. I pretty much whittled down my reads to just a few, and even that was very irregular.

Well, that was until last weekend when I went looking few a few craft patterns and I stumbled across a few new sites that I've never seen before... and out came an addiction...

So here they are, in no particular order:

Someday Crafts

Craftaholics Anonymous

Craft Passion

The Girl Creative

Tip Nut

Tip Junkie

If you enjoy any sort of crafting... you are in for a real treat (or addiction)... if there are things you want to try, one (or all) of these will tell you how to do it!

*If you have girls or babies... prepare yourself to want to drop everything and get to work on a multitude of projects!

You are welcome :-)!

Just something different...

Last night Daddio hosted his men's group, Miles Christi, here. The group meets once a month, and rotate among their homes for the meetings... and this was the first time they all came to our home. I was thrilled to have these men over, I'm a sucker for hosting... it means I get to bake :-)!

And bake I did... banana nut bread and an apple caramel crumble cake thingy (super tasty).

But that isn't why I'm writing this post... I'm sharing this because of the men who came over. This group is made of husbands/fathers who are growing in their Catholic faith... doing the homework to be the husbands/fathers that God called them to be, and to me that is a beautiful thing. And it just so happens (not even on purpose) their wives all happen to homeschool in this group.

As each man arrived they made their way to the kitchen (where I was surviving up ice water... it was 97 degrees outside)... and every single one of them greeted me with generous complements on our home and the decor (which I thought was kind of funny, they all commented on the paint treatments). They all thanked me for preparing food, asked how I was, and even asked how the school year was going...

After joking around with them, I finished setting out all they would need, then I slipped off to my room to watch a little TV and work on a new project... I thought to myself just how lucky I was... how lucky their wives were. Here were these men... MEN... manly men... doing what they needed to do spiritually to be the head of their homes and arm themselves for their lives outside of the home... they weren't out at a bar watchin' the game, throwin back brewskies... no, they were here!

I'm a blessed woman for having a husband who loves me so much, and our boys are so lucky to have a dad they can look up to... a dad who is the kind of man that they can aspire to be one day!

Finished project

Ok, I'll admit it... when it comes to crocheting I love to start projects... but don't finish them (quickly). Sure I've knocked out a baby blanket in a weekend, but generally speaking more important things come up and the project gets set in my unfinished yarn basket.

Anyway, I needed to get motivated... this weekend is my niece's birthday and I wanted to come up with something great for her. I knew she wanted earrings, and that's fine. I found a great set of six pairs for a rather modest sum... but I wanted to do more. She is a girl after all, and I have very few of those to make things for... so to my yarn/idea basket I went (yesterday, Friday... nothing like last minute :-).

Here's what I came up with:
It is the cutest little bag! Perfect or a notebook, colored pencils, books, and an electronic game! It cost me NOTHING! I had all the yarn, and the adorable fabric that I lined the bag with... plus I added some stiff fusible interfacing to give it a little body. The outer yarn is a really soft dark blue (if you can't tell)... and no, I have no idea of the details on it. I've had it for years and the wrapping is long since gone (as it is with the other colors!)

I am super pleased with how it came out... and already have tons of ideas for more of these sorts of bags! (Don't worry I will finish them :-).