Friday, June 25, 2010

Boys + water = BLISS!

What is it about summertime and water that just make a good day better? My mom and I babysat all 4 grandsons this morning while their Mommys spent some much needed time off. I love seeing them all play so nicely together.


My cousins all live in Europe, so I didn't grow up with them. I can remember watching the Waltons on TV (in black and white of course) and dreaming of a big family one day. Now I have 4 grandsons and our children say they are not done yet! God is so good to me!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Rekindled Romance...

I'll admit it....my love for sewing has not been my focus for quite a long time. My craft room has become quite the scrapbook supply warehouse and I am only a part-time scrapper. I have even dabbled in jewelry making for a while. But my first love would have to be sewing! My newest grandson will be 1 next week and my daughter in law told me that he needs clothes. She also told me that most baby clothes don't fit very well because she uses cloth diapers on him and they are quite a big bulkier than disposables. So because my grandson carries around "big cloth diaper junk in the trunk" I decided to make him some rompers with a bit more "wiggle" room :) So this is the first one I finished yesterday. I can't wait to cut and sew the other 2 but I have to wait and see if the one I made fits him first. I mean how cute is the pastel camo fabric and the blue fabric with the cars? There's something so wonderfully satisfying about taking a flat piece of cloth and turning it into something cute and useful.











Monday, June 21, 2010

It was all about the boys!

Yesterday was such a wonderful day! Sometimes I tend to over-think "special days" and expect things to go a certain way and sometimes everything just unfolds into a beautiful series of moments that become lasting memories. Yesterday (maybe because I've stopped over-thinking everything) turned out to be a really lovely Father's Day. The last thing that my husband said to me before we drifted off to sleep was "Thank you for today. It was really awesome." I am so blessed in my life to have such a loving family! God is so good! So here are the pics of the Father's Day card I made for the hubby.



He's a major Star Trek fan. Not the kind that dresses up in costumes and goes to the conventions (although I'm sure that if I went with him, he'd love to go but I have to draw the line somewhere). Anywayzers.....he's a fan of the "Captain Kirk" era as well as "Captain Piquard" next generation era. I think it came out pretty good. He loved it and kept picking it up and laughing.

We had a yummy lunch after church and then we all went out into the backyard so the boys (big and little) could play with their water guns. The only sad part of the day was that my oldest grandson was struggling with his asthma and couldn't really run amok as he normally would. Good news is that he's doing better today.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Thrifty Treasures!

Even if I'm not feeling well and haven't had much sleep the night before and I'm on my way straight home to rest and eat lunch, a large red sign that SCREAMS 50% OFF in front of the Thrift Store is more temptation (obviously) than I can bear! So here are my new treasures:
A beautiful glass cake plate - $2.00 ( I love clear glass serving pieces because they match everything) A darling red with hearts flower pot - $1.50 (my mom's kitchen is red with hearts and she's leaving for Germany again in July and when she comes back I always stock her fridge and put fresh flowers on her kitchen table the day before she comes home to welcome her back) A super cute Giant dominos game for my grandsons to play with - $1.75
A wooden spice rack - $2.00 (I'll be painting it white with red cherries to use for small embelishments in my scraproom and I'll post the before and after hopefully next week) A large cooking pot - $5.00 (I've decided to try my hand at canning my own sauces and salsas and I needed a large pot. All in all it was a great trip. I'm still sore and tired, but Thrift Store therapy should count for something....right?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

For the love of x's

I have always loved the look of cross stitch but never had the patience. I would buy really cute kits and take them to my mom's house and ask her to make them for me. (She is an excellent stitcher). So I have these fantastic heirlooms that I can one day pass on to my children. I don't know what happened to suddenly make me want to cross stitch myself but I have to say I am totally hooked! My wonderful husband is a movie fan so his idea of a good time relaxing is to watch a movie on his big screen (preferably something with John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or at the very least something where everything blows up and everyone dies ) anyhoo.....I found a hobby that I can do sitting next to him on the couch while he escapes into his movies. Most of my work has been given as gifts to others, but a few pieces adorn our home. I was at a Thrift store (another passion of mine) and I came across a stack of old Cross stitch magazines and one of them had a pattern for this fabulous little Russian doll. I quickly came home and went on ebay to find copies of the 2 other magazines that had the other 2 patterns in them. (It's a set of 3 in different sizes). I knew my mom would love them! So I made one for her for Mother's Day. I'm working on the largest one right now to give her for her birthday in October. I'll give her the final one for Christmas. Right now she has no idea that there are 3 dolls. She only has the one so far and takes it with her all over the place and shows it to all her friends at Bingo and the Senior center :) She named it Katushka, which is my name in Russian. I don't have to worry that she might see this because she has absolutley no idea what to do with a computer.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Breakfast of the Gluten Free Champions!


About 3 months ago my daughter-in-law found out that she has Celiacs disease. In her research she also recognized that 2 of her boys are also gluten intolerant. She passed along alot of great information about the condition and how so many people probably have an intolerance to gluten but are never diagnosed. I am Hypothyroid and suffer from Fibromyalgia (thrown in just for fun) and these are things that were mentioned as conditions that could benefit from a Gluten Free diet. So in May I began my personal Gluten Free journey. It was also important to me to make sure that I always had foods and snacks available to my family members when they come to lunch here every Sunday after church. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that difficult. My daughter and son-in-law have also greatly benefited from going GF. So this morning's breakfast consists of Rice Chex, fresh strawberries and Vanilla (super yum) Almond milk.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Looks like he liked it!!!


A Slight Detour


Yesterday as I was working on my hubby's Father's Day card I glanced to my left and saw the fabric that my adorable grandson David had picked out (at a recent fabric shopping trip with his mommy) for "Nan Nan" to sew him a shirt. And since I was plannning a trip out to Irvine to see the little guy today I felt a slight detour from card making was in order. So here is the little t-shirt I made yesterday. It took about 30 minutes to sew and cost less than $1.50 to make. The fabric is so cute it has cement mixer trucks and dump trucks on it. David LOVES trucks! There is a very cool discount fabric store close by called M & L yardage. I didn't have the ribbing I needed for the neck so I "recycled" the black ribbing from a t-shirt of my own that I never wear. Like my oldest grandson always tells me...."Nana, we need to recycle".

Monday, June 14, 2010

And so it begins.....

I guess you're never too old to learn some new tricks. Today, at the ripe age of 49 I am jumping into the world of blogging. I have been so inspired by so many truely talented and wonderful women who are willing to share their lives and talents with the rest of us that I decided to start a blog of my own. Whether or not anyone ever reads it besides me is yet to be seen. I'm hoping that perhaps my ramblings would be interesting to my grandchildren one day. I would have loved to know what my grandmother did and thought about. I'm working on a Father's Day card for my hubby this afternoon, so when it's done, I'll post a photo.