Winter is here

at least that's what the Weathermen are predicting. We are supposed to be hit by a big storm tomorrow and into Sunday. They usually are wrong this time of year.... I think it makes them feel important to do the chicken little forecast. I try to be ready no matter what, so today I ......

strung lights and hung our wreath.

Easier said than done. I don't want to relive the experience by telling you the gory details.

This jobbie is 5 feet tall and can be seen down our long driveway from the road.

I saw a green wreath with a red lit bow years ago and had to make one.

I then got the chickens outdoor run sealed up and new roosts. Fixed their broken back door.

Then was rewarded with....

these beauties!

Friday's pizza night

We stacked the wood pile last week so I had one less thing on the list.We usually lose power during an ice storm so I do like having a warm fire.

Lets hope for the best.

Pants

Since my last big show I had suffered from a little creative/sewing burnout. I have been paying more attention to my poor neglected home. So many big room changing projects that I have been wanting to do for quite some time but with craft shows looming, I put off until now. I'll eventually show photos but not yet.

I did get the itch to sew so I have been mending my sons jeans. He likes the holes but doesn't like the skives showing. I just patched on the underside with a sacrificed pair. They still look mangy but not indecent. I feel clothing and hair are a mild way of self expression and if he wants long hair and scuzzy jeans then who am I to say no. It is actually a great $$ saver.

Speaking of saving $$, someone gave me these jeans that didn't quite fit. I've chubbed it up a bit since becoming a mom and am actually ok with it. So instead of sending these jeans to a good home, I turned them into one of a kinds that only I own.

I took the seam ripper to the outer seam, it took quite a bit of time because there were 3 rows of stitching per side. Good tv time. I cut the waistband. I then measured approximately how much fabric I'd need by holding them up under the crotch and gave a little more because I didn't want them tight. I hemmed some thicker weight fabric at the top then stitched most of the length down. I then hemmed at the right length at the bottom in case the fabric stretched some while sewing (it did) and finished stitching. I ran down the length 2 times to make them stronger. If my serger was working I would have given them a cleaner edge but I figure who is going to see the inside. One tip: make sure you pay attention to the pocket rivet. Please don't judge them by the photo, I had to stand on a chair in the bathroom and shoot it into the mirror.

I LOVE THESE PANTS!

Now I feel the need to raid the back recesses of my closet and fashion a whole new wardrobe.

Value World love

On Monday my son slammed the zipper pull of his coat in his locker door squeezing it just so as now it wouldn't fit on the zipper. My hubbie (very manly) tried to pry it open and the whole thing broke in two. Luckily its a coat with snaps as a smart back up plan so still use able. My mom called last night to tell me they are having a big sale at Kohl's and coats are 50% off. I luckily was in possession of an additional 15% off coupon so's I figure I may as well take my semi annual trip to check out the sitch. My sis wanted to go too, I love her.

I get to Kohl's and head on over to the Mens department. (My 13 year old son is bigger than me and it has been only since his birthday in June so I'm not used to it yet.) I pass the leather jobbies and go for the good winter coats with hoods (requested) and the cheapest coat is over $150. What the? Half off with another 15% tacked on equals still too much for a coat for a boy who sleds, shreds, and breaks zippers! So I find a Polly pocket set 40% off + coupon for a niece, a belt for my girl 50% off +, find my sis, throw her stuff on my tab so she can save too and get the heck out of there.

We hit the grocery store and head to Value World to look for a coat. Now I don't want you to harbor bad feelings toward my sister but she claims she doesn't like Value World. I don't know what is wrong with her, she is wonderful in every other way. So she follow's me in reluctantly. Well if my son was an 80 year old flamboyant man I may have been successful finding a coat for him today, but it just wasn't the case. The pickins were slim.

So we headed over to the linens.

I found this heavenly soft, beautiful pillowcase. Also about 2 yards of this candy stripe fabric.

I figured perfect for Holiday gift bags.

The true treasure is this apron. Well used (loved) and needs just a minor repair at the neck but oh so purdy. The photo doesn't do it justice. All three items for $2.23! Thrifty love.

My sister actually found one of those generic green aprons (like at Starbucks) that she ended up buying. No accounting for her taste but at least we aren't in competition for the same things. I'm just glad she found something and oohed at a couple other things. I may convert her yet!

random musings

We woke up to snow. Yay! It actually started snowing on us last night as we were finishing up the before mentioned shed which really cracked me up. The time change makes it dark here by 5:30 not dim light but VERY dark, we had just a little bit to go and couldn't see a thing. Luckily the cordless drill had a light attached but the battery was fading fast, so was the light. So I have this emergency kit in my Monster Truck (no flashlight though). It has an old, half melted candle and matches. The winters in Michigan can be fierce and we sometimes travel the road less traveled and I want to always be able to start a fire. Any who, so I am walking around with this very waxy melty candle so we can barely see to finish this never ending job and we are getting pelted with snow. I found the situation so hysterical, I couldn't stop laughing. My hubbie who had to do most of the job without gloves wasn't as amused. (In spite of that we are deeply in love) I did thaw out my keester in the tub so all is well.

I have been loading stuff on my etsy shop but I don't know shortcuts so it takes FOREVER.
How do people load stuff up so fast? I'll see different stuff from the same artist all in a row on the home page. With loading the photos, shrinking the photos, writing a "witty description", measurements and all it takes at least 10 minutes for me.

Enough about that:

I am very penny pinchy. I like to pinch pennies on everything. Especially food. No matter what you eat or how expensive or cheap it is, it's all going to eventually end up in the same place. Sorry.

We went to my mother in law's for Turkey day and I have 3 sister in laws on that side. They divvy up the food afterward. I never take the leftover turkey but always get dibs on the Turkey carcass. I get the looks every year but just smile and smile at my treasure. They may get a meal or two from their share but I get MORE! There is an amazing amount of meat left on that bird if you don't mind getting a little messy.

Here's what I do: Friday I picked as much meat off as I could. Turned it into Turkey salad sandwhiches and made enough for 2 lunch meals for my family.

Then boil the bajeebus out of that bird till the bones and all come off. Sift through the mess after it has cooled. Saturday my daughter made a batch of soup out of some of the broth and meat. meal 3

I made more soup from the same broth and meat today for lunch and have leftovers for another lunch tomorrow. meal 4

I scoop about a cup of broth and meat and put it into freezer bags and label to use as home made turkey soup starter. (I'm not a canned soup fan) In the middle of winter or cold season just add the bag from the freezer, one cup of water per one chicken bouillon cube in the amount you want. Boil, add noodles and veggies of your choice and you get more soup. I made 3 kits today. meals 5,6,7

I have quite a bit left and it will become turkey and dumplings for dinner tonight. Meal 8
I didn't even mention the scraps that my dog loves. My hardworking pup deserves treats too!
8 meals for one family of 4 that would have otherwise gone into the trash makes me proud that with a little work and messy hands I can provide tasty home cooked meals for my family and have a small food budget. I have been taking the turkey carcass for 20 years now. One Thanksgiving I got Three! Lucky me.

We put our tree up over the weekend. It's a 9 foot tree and we load it. I'm too lazy to get the ladder so the top is sparce. Last year we had company over who have themed trees and made comments on my " Mom tree". I'd never heard that phrase before. I guess thats when you "let" your children help decorate the tree. I didn't know you weren't supposed to.

They were Bitches anyway.

We like the tacky lights and have got them at after holiday sales and garage sales.

We aren't choosy.

We have light up bunnies.

And carrots.

Cinco de mayo lanterns.

Horses.

Now who wouldn't love the Hulk shining brightly over their Christmas?

I am SO in the Holiday Spirit.

I also wanted to give a shout out to my Dad and Stepmom who are celebrating their 31 wedding anniversary today. If there is one couple out there who I would choose to follow their example it would be them. I love you both dearly. Happy Anniversary!

Warning

In life and on this blog I try to keep my complaining to a minimum, I try to save up for the doozies in life. So just consider this a public service about what you can avoid so you won't have a Holiday weekend like we did.

If you ever have a rental property with no garage and rent it out to nice nice people, and you want to give them a shed to store their out side belongings in, and you happen to be in severe penny pinching mode, so you get the cheapest but still nice metal shed in a box, and it comes with 80,000 nuts, bolts, screws and washers (I am only slightly exaggerating that number) and it happens to be a albeit sunny weekend, but the temperature is in the 30's and pretty windy and there is a warning about winds in the very poorly illustrated instructions and they say nothing even to suggest it will take at least 12 hours, 4 people and get hypothermia in the process to finish this lovely shed.

The positives are we did save a lot of money going this route, make a big lazagna like I did the evening before because a nice home cooked meal waiting for you is heaven, we ended up with a nice shed for a very nice family, and reconfirmed that our kids are the best helper kids in the world.

Scotopic Sensitivity

I am thankful every day for my family. I don't need a Holiday to remind me how good I have it. One person who holds a huge chunk of my heart is my daughter.

She is funny with a quick wit, strong willed, loves animals, a sporty tomboy with a major girly side and beautiful, inside and out. She makes friends easy. I got her permission to talk about her so maybe she can help some other kids.

Some history. When she started school she liked it but would come home stressed, worn out and usually had a headache. She would need to lay down on the couch for at least a half hour before doing anything. As she got older, she had difficulty reading and we had her in the schools reading groups. Other things were tough for her. Times tables and tests.

She had a wonderful 4th grade teacher who knew she was trying hard but not able to focus for long in class and had to say her name to get her attention. We had her tested for ADD. Some things fit, some didn't. She didn't qualify as having ADD, her score was just above the clinical level.

That summer between 4th and 5th grade we took our annual trip up to the family cabin and that year one of my aunts and uncle came up. For some reason my aunt, step mom and I were talking about my daughters difficulties and my aunt said after we get home come to her house and she can do some tests.

I didn't know what my aunt did for a living but knew she helped my cousins son who has Autism get these special glasses. I didn't think anything would come of it but the kids and I love going to her house so I figured worst case scenario is we would have a nice visit.

She asked me tons of questions. Asked my daughter tons of questions. Had her look at various white papers with black lines, describing what she saw. Fluorescent lights on and off. The things my daughter described what she saw were strange. My aunt had a picture of these 4 dolphins of various colors and my daughter could only see one and a couple of fins.

She then had this foreign language sheet and had my daughter look at one word and put these colored overlays on top and asked her what felt better. She narrowed it down to this rose color. My aunt then had her read from this 4th grade reading sheet and my daughter got stuck on the word "shell" and couldn't say it. Almost like a stutter. My aunt put this rose overlay over the top and my daughter started reading like I had never heard before. She then gave her 5th then 6th grade reading sheets with the overlays and my daughter was reading like a pro. I wanted to cry! My aunt told my daughter she was just showing off now and my daughter was beaming.

Just going back and remembering that moment makes me cry all over again.

So my daughter was diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome ( named after the woman who figured it out) it also is called Scotipic Sensitivity. 10 to 12% of the population has this and most of us have never heard of it. Basically it has nothing to do with vision, just perception. Kind of like a dyslexia but affects people differently. Fluorescent lighting makes it worse, what school doesn't have that kind of lighting? Glossy white paper with black letters is horrible, every textbook out there is like that. Headaches in that kind of lighting is common. Looking back when my daughter was young, shopping wasn't easy for her, stores all have that horrid lighting. I know fluorescent lighting is GREEN, but they have no place in our home.

Luckily there are solutions. You can use overlays on textbooks, have the teachers use different colored paper. We went a different route since we felt you cant overlay the world. Traffic signs, stores and such all are tricky to cover. We had her fit with these tinted lenses. We had her vision checked and it was fine so we bought glasses frames, had my aunt test her for the right tint (took hours) which is hugely important. Sent them to the Irlen institute in California to be tinted. Two weeks later she got her glasses and within 24hours, my girl read an 125 page book!So now she has these pretty subtle green lenses she wears at school. She always has a visor on (except at home) to help block the light.

End result, she has some learning issues to catch up on, but loves reading almost never has headaches and now is getting all A's and B's (with her hard work). I am so proud of her.

This syndrome is usually hereditary and my has never liked to read husband put on her glasses, looked at a book and exclaimed " I can see the whole page!"

If you have a child with classroom or reading issues it may be worth looking into. You can go to

http://irlen.com/

to find out more and to locate a diagnostician near you. I feel it was fate that had my aunt at that cabin that year other wise we may never had found out.

Happy Thanksgiving and Blessings to you all!

give away

Over the last few years I have made quite a few polymer clay buttons for the bags I sell. I have a lot. I am thinning my craft supplies and have been loading them in my etsy shop.

I want to give this 3 pack away.

They have 2 holes and can be used on a garment or sewn on as a decorative item.
If you would like them please leave a comment and if more than one of you are interested,
I'll draw names. Pardon my blurry photos. Maybe my eyes are tired.

# 4 was drawn I'll do my best to try to contact you and get your address,

my computer knowledge is not the best so if you don't hear from me try to contact me.

no pics

House cleaning today. I am having a hunting widows party tomorrow.

Us wives and kids with dads out of town need some fun. I think I'll bake something too.

Ok, how great is it that Chuck and Olive are friends now. (pushing daisies)

I love that show!

I have horrible computer skills

It took me soooo looooong to get some pics from my new camera onto this post. I'm still not sure how I did it. My only professional computer work was back in the late 80's when I worked for an airline and I carried around this big folder with all of the computer codes in it. Black screen with green letters. Marriage and babies don't require much computer time. Now I get my 13 year old to help if I cant figure it out. Too bad he's at school.




Changing subjects. When my hubbie goes off hunting I usually do these big projects and plan months ahead of time. I do them while he's away for a few reasons. For one I don't want his opinion. If I tell him, he lacks my vision, can't picture it, and gets worried. A few years ago if I had told him I planned on painting our kitchen walls like blue jeans, he would have put a halt to it. So instead he gets home from a relaxing week of hunting, sees the kitchen and loves it. For two, the rest of the house can go to h3ll and as long as the clean up is done before he's home, then he's not inconvenienced. For three, the kids and I eat easy meals when we feel like it, not necessarily at dinner time so I can get more work done. I also like to surprise him.

This year I had my big show plus the 2 previous shows in the 2 months prior. So no big plan. I have been wanting to re-arrange the basement. It was a tv, couch, and heap of toys. I want it family friendly. I don't like sewing in my Hovel (previous post), we need a craft area other than the kitchen table. Here is what I've done so far.

Sewing space with bright walls and light!

Scrapbook supplies easy to get to.

Ignore the artwork to be hanged/hung? in the bottom right corner.

Plus a scrapbooking/craft/snack table! Look at that sunlight streaming in. The Simpsons pinball machine was too heavy to move so it's staying put.

That's it for now. I'll post more after I cute it up a bit.

Thanks

First of all thank you for the b-day wishes.

My hubbie bought me a new camera. Its a Fujifilm FINEPIX Z. I love it! Hot pink and about the size of a deck of cards. I wanted a small easy camera. It even takes movie clips and many other features that I may never learn. I am probably the second to the worst person as far as computer skills but I actually installed the disk and got this picture. I'm kind of proud.

I did well at the show. I was worried ahead of time because Michigan is in a major economic slump right now. But I topped my sales from this show last year. Yay! And my hair actually looked kind of good. I don't spend much time on my hair and it shows.

The customers were so nice. One woman who bought one of my bag lady bags last year(they were wacky), came and bought my Bikini Model Skull bag and one of my Holiday bag lady bags with the poinsettia hair. I love repeat customers. She said she got so many compliments on her bag from last year. I also sold many tissue packs which I wasn't selling last year. I sold a lot of skull bags. It's funny, people either love them or they just don't get them and think I need therapy. One lady bought two! I had another lady grab one, call her sister gushing over it and her sis had her buy it for her. So nice!

I am not the best business woman out there. I hate the pushy hard core sales people. If you want my bag great! If its not for you that's fine too. I put a piece of me in each bag and I want it to go to just the right person. Yes I like money and could use the cash but that is not the reason I sew. I have been giving away home make goods for years and I'm trying to help my family financially now that my kids are getting older. Mom also needs her own interests.

So speaking of business woman, I took some I OWE YOU's. Some people thought I was nut's. One woman is a friend of the family and wanted 10 tissue packs, had no cash or check, so I told her to mail it me. One really nice lady was there with her teen granddaughter and only had plastic so I gave her a business card and told her to send it to me. She was there with bag in hand, the granddaughter loved it and I didn't want to mail it to her after I got a check. I don't know, I trust people that way, maybe I'm just lazy. It was a $15 bag and I haven't been hosed yet. Another was buying a bag, didn't have enough, so her friend was going to give it to her, I told her just to mail the difference and as I gave her my business card we found out she just lives on the next road over from me. So I have $80 floating out in the world going to eventually come my way. Do you think I'm nuts? I just get this euphoria at craft shows. Compliments and sweet ladies, I was also in a room where they were roasting almonds and the scent was intoxicating. Craft shows are just so much fun to be in, I am happy for days after.

I do have a lot of bags left so I'm going to load up the ol' etsy shop. I'm going to knock $5 off per bag since I don't have to pay much rent to sell there. It takes me awhile due to my poor computer skills and my house is in serious need of cleaning and organizing. I'm a hunting widow this week so I have extra time. It's funny how much time one man can require of you. (In spite of that we are deeply in love.)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

My next show isn't until March so I get a nice break over the Holidays.

It's my Birthday

I wanted to give all two of you a quote I love:

The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. - Thomas More

I'm ready, I think.

I have my new bags logged, tagged and priced. All the bags are packed. 120 of them! That doesn't include the 109 tissue packs. I am actually tired of sewing, which always happens right before a show. Now tomorrow I just need to load the Monster Truck and get change from the bank. Tomorrow eve is the show set up and my hubbie and kids are going to help. I love them!

Speaking of love, I got my first birthday card this year from my grandpa. He's actually my hubbies grandpa, my kids great grandpa. I have been with my hubbie since 1985 so I claimed him as mine years ago. He was born valentines day in 1920 and is the sweetest man. Grandma (his wife) died a few years ago and she was the queen of sending cards. She sent cards for eeevvvveeerrrryyy holiday. Even holidays you didn't know were holidays. When she died he took over. Can you believe that? What man does that? I haven't sent Christmas cards out in quite a few years because I just seem too busy and this man is remembering birthdays and anniversaries, etc.... So I not only get a beautiful granddaughter card but he sent a $50 dollar check too!

I am lucky and thankful for my grandpa.

B & B

Bread and Bags

I made more bread. I get this natural high after eating warm

bread with butter. I'm chubby but happy.

I got 2 boy scout shirts at a church rummage sale.

Three new bags.

I made one from the smaller shirt.

Two from the bigger shirt.

I made this little bridal purse last night from a pillowcase.

More sewing

I finished 3 more skull bags today.

I made another tote using a vintage pillowcase I got at the thrift shop. I used the rest of the pillowcase as the bag lining and a piece of the lace edge for an interior pocket.

This was a 50 cent find. Such a treasure.

I hope someone at the show loves this one as much as I do.

4 days untill the Big Show

When I have a lot of work to do I need comfort food to get me through. I have been making bread for the past week and I end up eating half a loaf during the day for lunch. I luuuv fresh baked bread and butter! We then finish it off at dinner. My daughter wanted some for her sandwich for lunch so I made 2 loaves today. Depending on what kind of hogs we are tonight, there ought to be enough for tomorrow.


The big show is Saturday but Friday (my birthday) is the day we set up. So I really only have 3 more days of work. So I may as well type some of my time away because that's how I roll.

I did make a new bag today and have 3 more halfway done. This one is called Maid of Honor. Ain't she purdy. I sold quite a few skull bags at last years show, I only had 3 left for this show so I figured I'd better get crackin. Plus they are fun to make so I don't get as burnt out when I'm having fun.

I did a post about the show last month but in case you missed it I'll put the web up again.

http://www.salineshows.com/

If you are local, I'll warn you the show is huge! 249 vendors and last year close to 10,000 people attended. There are shuttle buses to take you from the old Ford Plant. Also it slows down just a bit around lunch time. It's $3 to get in. It's a juried show with a huge wait list to get in. Nice quality items and a great start on the Homemade holiday shopping.

I'd better get back to work. If I don't post for a day or two, it's not because I don't love you.

Quick

Just a quick note, I have a busy day and weekend. I wanted to give a shout out to Felicia from Fluffy Flowers. I ordered one of her softies (I can't say what or include photos in case the certain somebody I am giving it to reads this). Let me just say her stuff is even cuter in person, and she included extra goodies. I LOVE GOODIES! If you want to shop homemade this Christmas, she will not disappoint!

Oh what a night!

I told myself I couldn't turn on the computer until I finished one new bag.

I sold quite a few skull bags last year at the show, so I'm making more.

Halloween Night!

Halloween, when I was a kid, was costumes and trick or treating.

Now for our kids its a party on wheels.

It's a group effort but it's mostly put together by my brother. He's awesome!

Even the dogs get involved.

With the time change delay, it took awhile for the full light effect.

Our wagon was definitely #1 and that 9 year old on the "rich wagon" wasn't even on a wagon at all and was shooting us daggers when she saw ours. Is it wrong of me to have a feeling of glee.

Sixteen of us all pile in but the kids spend most of the night walking from house to house while

we grown ups get to hang out. Works for me!

My Hulk of a man had a great time pulling the wagon with his 54 Ford tractor.

I can't wait for next year. Now I have to get back to work.