Finish number Five for April!

Spring to Finish total is now FIVE!

and since I'm working on the last night of April that's gonna be my final count.

Shew! Thanks so much to Jacquie for hosting this motivation party!





Oh yes, it's Sugars' "Easter" dress....well it isn't for Easter anymore, but here it is all the same. There is an apron that goes over the skirt that I haven't made yet, but since the dress is wearable I'm calling it finished and the apron as an extra! heeheehee.

You'll notice the eyelet lace ruffle at the bottom. This is what the apron will be made from also. This lace came from Stephanie. Apparently someone gifted her a mattress dust ruffle (or bed skirt) made from this beautiful eyelet lace. Well, you should know I am a SUCKER for eyelet lace!! So she generously sent a bunch of it to me. And what better to use eyelet lace for than a little girl's dress, I ask!! So, repurposed and fun and pretty as can be for a girl who spends most of her time wearing her brothers' hand-me-down T-shirts!!


I love putting little details in my clothes....if you look closely you'll see a decorative stitch at the sleeves and neck, this same stitch is on the sleeves and neck of my dress too.

I believe it's these little touches that make a thing look "finished" or "polished". And they make me smile.

In God I trust?

Should we leave in God we trust in place??

Read about it here, and follow Diana's link to vote!

Dear Children

If you want me to be moved by your crying you must learn to stick out your bottom lip. Making it then quiver would help your cause too. I realize that you might find it frustrating when I give you acting lessons while you're trying your very best to garner sympathy that you can then use to get your way....sorry about that. It's just that I've spent way too much time around toddlers to fall for the poor me act, and if you're going to put such tremendous effort into your farce I might as well help you to make it look convincing. After all, my darlings, I'm not getting any younger and my retirement plan has dissolved. It's up to YOU to earn enough money to support me through my many, long golden years. Let's nurture the talents that you're so fond of practicing to good use. But remember, as your Dad and I are constantly telling you, they don't give Oscars to toddlers!




why can't you see her face?? answer here!



and yes, I know it's been forever since I wrote a Mommy Chronicles post...or even anything funny. Been under a dark cloud from about Feb through Easter...tis passing. I caught myself singing "Zipp-a-dee-doo-dah" in the med-room at work last week and sighed to myself "I'm back!" Remember folks, all things in this life are cyclical. When you find yourself at low tide just hold your nose and sit awhile....sooner or later the tide always comes back in!!

Watch for it!

Coming this September!



This is written by my "favorite friar" Fr Philip Powell. Who's blog I've been reading for almost a year now. He posts Sermons/Homilies as well as commentary on current events from a conservative Catholic viewpoint. He is a Dominican Friar currently studying in Rome.

I'm looking forward to enjoying a new devotional book!!

Please go read about a Great Hero who has passed on.

Friday Fragments

SMILE! The Pediatric Dentist we take the boys to is way cool. Not only does he have flat screens on the ceiling with kids movies playing, but when you're done you get a BALLOON and a sticker! I wonder if he'd take care of my teeth??


Sister'd make a great politician! She's learned to count, "one, two, five, six!"


It is terribly frustrating when yahoo says you have 1 unread mail message....but every time you pull up your inbox they've all been read. And it continues to say there's 1 unread mail there....SOMEWHERE!! I've decided that someone sent me an email typed in invisible ink and that if I wait long enough then hold the monitor over a light bulb I'll be able to read that new email.

K.I.T.

going back to work after 5 nights off is hard.

I wonder what it will be like after 6 weeks off??

Surgery date is coming up...May 7th. I'm still trying to get all the kinks worked out of my Leave of Absence and Short Term Disability Pay.....

I've got her dress all cut out. Sat night I'll get it sewn together. My goal is to have my sister's quilt pieced, basted and ready for quilting before I go in for surgery...that'll give me something to do in the hospital. I also want to get some music onto my ipod to take with me. :-)

Quilt Festival

To see about 300 other quilts in this festival click on the picture above. Thanks to Park City Girl for hosting this fun even!






This is my and my grandmother's quilt.

Back when I was first married my Grandmother decided that she couldn't do any more quilting and gave me about 5 large boxes of all her material/scraps/quilting stuff.

In it I found all of her "tester blocks" and 7 blocks plus a lot of extra fabric for a lap quilt she didn't get finished.

When Sonshine was a baby I was going to my Grandparent's house about every 3 months. About 2 weeks before one of these visits I decided that I just had to make her a quilt. So I took all those tester blocks and the unfinished lap quilt and made them into same sized blocks then put them together with sashing to make this quilt. Due to how fast I needed it done I tied the quilt instead of quilting it. Then I took it to Grandmother.

Later, she replaced one of the blocks that "didn't match" with another one, and she went back and quilted the whole thing, taking out my ties.

From all I've been told this quilt was very special to her, when she became hospitalized due to her strokes, she asked especially for them to bring it to her.


Many years ago when I was about 11 or so she had me trace templates and cut them out...then start piecing blocks. That quilt never did get finished, sorry to say...but we did get this one made together.

:-)

YES!! Another Finish.

Spring to Finish total is now FOUR!

Anyone remember those curtains I was supposed to hem??

ayayayayayay! look at the DATE on that post!!

Well, hubby decided he has enough things on his plate without learning to sew and wanted me to just go ahead and take care of the curtains without him.

FINALLY! I got them done tonight.
Pictures will be posted after hubby has rehung the curtains.



I'm still working on the girl's dress......

Please Stand By.....

Am busy sewing that girl's dress....will return shortly

In the meantime here's a better pic of us Sat night.

Pam, no that was a video I found on youtube. I don't know who they are but they did a great job with that song. Subvet, is 6'3 and I am 5'5...so the answer to your questions about our height is yes. I don't remember what we were laughing at...probably trying to keep the kids OUT of the picture while Sister was climbing on the sofa trying to get in front of Mimi saying "Cheese...Cheese!....CHEEEESE!!"

Stephanie, I'm glad you liked the fabric. It is actually inspired by the fat quarter you sent with the eyelet lace. I thought those two would make a great dress for Sister...but the fat quarter wasn't enough. You'll see what I had in mind once I get her dress finished.

Lori, nope, not a last min idea. We keep our doors locked at all times and had left the keys in the lock after letting Mimi in the door as we would be leaving shortly. The Olive Garden was wonderful....but we had to keep telling the waiter to SLOW DOWN!! We had an hour and a half to kill and enjoyed every minute to it's full 60 seconds' worth.

Harry, I sew and blog at night. I work 3 nights a week and my schedule has been so scattered lately that I just stay on nights when I'm off....gotta do something QUIET while everyone sleeps don't ya know. I've changed my schedule to have my 3 work nights in a row after surgery so I'll spend more daytime with the kids/hubby...which will probably impact my blogging and productivity....we'll see.

Steph, can't go wrong with horsey themes! I loved those poems you wrote.

Diane, we talked about home schooling but in order to really give the kids the socialization they need we'd then have to enroll them in a socialization therapy for autistic kids....which is kinda like group therapy. Wouldn't be any cheaper or easier.

Harry, there is an advocacy group that is specifically designed just to go with parents of autistic kids to the ARDS and help the parents get just what they need for their kids. Always good to have someone there who's ONLY in your corner and who knows the ropes and what's available. Sometimes you have to ask just the right questions to get the needed answers.

Lisa, we hadn't thought of those two specifically thanks. I pray to St Gianna, my confirmation saint, St Joseph and St Monica and BM Mary. When I have specific needs for the family. As well as my Grandma and the whole Host (I throw em all in for good measure frequently!) I'll add the Thomases to the list. More folk yelling in God's ear for us the better!

The answer was "Hope Floats" a sweet little movie about taking life as it comes at you. If you get a chance to see it I recommend not letting it pass you by.

Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers. As is my way with things, I sat and had a good cry for a day or so after that meeting at their current school....then got busy taking care of business and looking for the humor in the situation, I'm still looking for it, which is why I seem matter of fact (Pam) but I know the humor is there and it'll shine through here after awhile.

One of the things I learned from my Grandma: "Life is a grindstone and whether it grinds you up or polishes you up depends on what you're made of."


As we used to say in Marching Band.

Heels TOGETHER
Stomach IN
Chest OUT
Shoulders BACK
Chin UP
Eyes TO THE SKY!
Forward MARCH!!!!!


:-)

a new adventure.

I've written here before that life is an adventure and I am NEVER bored!!

Well, our adventure has taken another twist these last 2 weeks.

The private school that the boys've been going to has told us they can no longer meet Sonshine's needs. We spent about a week exploring private schools that specialize in kids with autism. The running rate for these schools is $16,000.00 per kid per school year. (laugh, folks...just laugh....it's better than crying, so laugh).

Next option was finding a public school district that would take us as "out of district tuition". Meaning we pay a fee and don't have to go in the district where we live. Ah well...apparently everyone thinks they're too overcrowded to take any out of district kiddos.

The downside of living in the sticks is that there are about 3,000 kids in our entire school system and there aren't a lot of options/services for the special ed crowd. Mrs 4444, I did find out that it is no longer as bad as what I'd told you initially. As of now they have pulled out of the "Special Ed Co-op" and only contract out certain services. So I guess they have hired more special ed certified teachers.

We are hoping that Sonshine will be able to start regular Kindergarten next fall "with support" which in lay terms means that he goes to class with all the other Kindergarteners, but will have an aide to help him stay on task and may have his assignments curtailed to what is feasible for him to accomplish.

For now we are having to be good show horses and run the track and jump every hurdle in our path in order to get him signed up before the teachers/therapists flee for the summer.

"[Momma] says that beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will... ."

Can anyone name that movie?

So it's Tally-Ho and onward into this new adventure! Should prove interesting.
:-)

Finishes!!!

Spring to Finish total is now THREE!



Looky! Looky!!

I got 2, TWO more projects finished!! Yeehaw!!

These are baby blankets for my two pregnant friends at work.

Next goal is to get Sugars' "Easter" dress made. Since she wasn't going to church for Easter (yes, Lisa, Mimi saved the night!) and since my dress took me so very long I decided that I'd wait on hers and get it done this week~~hopefully. That's my only goal for next week.

Diana, once hers is made it will more or less match...in that it's made from the same material but not the same pattern. And hers has an apron which is perfectly adorable....but I was afraid would just make me look ENORMOUS (even more than usual) if I tried to add it to my dress.

Thanks to everyone for the compliments. If I could just lose some more of this weight I'd be glad. That dress took a LOT of altering before it fit me right. It stinks to have your top half be 2 sizes smaller than your bottom half. But I have a solid center of gravity you might say.... ;-)

Here you go.

All dressed up for Easter Vigil Mass Saturday night.

It was a lovely service! But I have to say the best part was having 6 hours with my hubby's undivided attention!! :-)

oh good grief

Well, I guess that's the LAST time I try to do THAT!


My intent was to go black for Good Friday. As darkness descended upon the world for 3 days so should it also descend upon my blog.

Apparently it was a bit obscure.

Sorry about that.

The header pic and pics of my EASTER DRESS!! Will go up tomorrow night. :-)


Happy Easter Everyone!

be sure to stop by and see my new look!

join in the fun!

Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio is having a fun "get-ur-dun" April.

We're trying to FINISH as many projects as possible between now and the end of April...there's some hint about prizes too!!

click on the picture for full details!

Palm Sunday.

Look what finally decided to bloom! 2 years ago I moved them to a place with more sun.....we've been in this house for 6 years now and I didn't even know what color these were!!





So, our dishwasher went out. We are now washing all dishes by hand while we're waiting on the part to arrive so that Super-Hubby can fix it!

For some reason this morning as I washed the breakfast dishes I decided this was a good time to teach the boys about Palm Sunday. It being Palm Sunday and us getting ready for church and all....

So I work on telling Sonshine how Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem...how all the people had a parade for him and how they put palm leaves on the ground for his donkey to walk on. I then went and found a children's Bible (we have several) that had a good picture of Jesus and the donkey walking on the palm branches and read the story again from the Bible. Later, as we're sitting in our pew with our palm leaves waiting for Dad to show up from dropping the hooliganette off at the nursery I notice Sonshine sitting at the end of the pew "messing with" his palm. I haul him closer to me and get busy wrangling Gator for a bit. I look back at Sonshine...he's back at the end of the pew...his palm on the floor...in the aisle.




After a few minutes watching him it finally hit me what he was doing.......he was putting his leaf down on the floor for Jesus to walk on.


WHOA. some days that kid's just amazing, and a little scary.



So, what did YOU do with your palm today?

Friday Fragments and Thesaurus Thursday

From Mrs 4444's site Half-Past Kissing Time... Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.






Well, due to my rather hectic schedule and your lack of participation the last month or so I'm going to put Thesaurus Thursday on hiatus for awhile. I'll bring it back once things settle down....and absence makes the heart grow fonder (which I'm hoping translates into more comments!) ;-)

Last Week's Definitions were:

eidolon - 1) an unreal image; phantom; apparition 2) an ideal

eidetic - pertaining to or constituting visual impressions recalled vividly and readily reproducible with great accuracy






20 minutes of instant QUIET cooperation..............

special thanks to Miss Whitney, who gave us this game when she cleaned out her classroom last month just because Sonshine loves to play with it so much!







child magnet:






Girlie-girl!


Had her 2 year check up this week, She's 90-95th percentile for height and >95th for weight...big surprise!!





Charming Stinker!

had his 4 year checkup this week......he survived.

pretty close....

You Are Baseball Games

You like old fashioned things. You're one of those people who values tradition. You enjoy a slow pace of life. You believe that life is all about enjoying every moment. You love the changing of the seasons, and you look forward to what each season brings. You are smart and a bit obsessive. You become very immersed in your interests.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Gone on to Glory

Please remember these two ladies and their families in your prayers:

Nicki Dolci, my cousin, age 33


Gretchen, aka AirborneMomma, Pops' wife, age 53

Both these ladies lost their lives to cancer yesterday.
Thanks
Sarah