Cutie Patootie!

Here is the whole reason for the name of this post –

 

Isn’t he THE cutest little guy??? That is my 2nd cousin Liam and he is an absolute doll!!! He is wearing the Day of the Dead pants that I made for him! 🙂

 

 

 

 

I made them a little big. I had the measurements for shorts because that is what I had planned on making BUT I waited so long to actually make them that I made pants instead… LOL  But, I figure they will shrink a tiny bit and then he will just be able to wear them longer. 😉

 

I have Bags of Hope and Love news!! A GINORMOUS thank you to Regena!!! I want to show her what her donate bought! 😉

 

THANK YOU!!! And the boys and girls that get the bags that this stuff will be in thank you, too. AWESOME!!!! May God bless you!!!!

There are 3 shampoos, 4 body washes, 4 shaving gels, 2 pks of hand sanitizer, 3 note pads, 3 pks of snacks, 2 pks of drinks, 1 pk of razors and I think that’s it! LOL

 

Job search news!!! The Hubby called the guy back at the place in GA that we visited last week and gave him a salary number. The guy said it didn’t sound unreasonable and he would get back with us by Friday. I have to admit to being a little downcast. I know I should be happy and thankful, and I am, but I am also very, very sad. I don’t want to leave my church family and I don’t want to leave Jacob. He has said over and over again that if we move he won’t be going with us. This breaks my heard into a thousand pieces. I know he is 19 and he would be leaving us sometime in the near future anyway, but he will be SOOOOOOO far away!!! I can’t even imagine what it will like to not see his face

and hear his voice everyday. I know I will be able to talk to him on the phone but I won’t be able to hug him. SIGH….. Y’all pray for me, OK?? I’m going to need them. Just sitting here typing this has me fighting back the tears.

I guess I will need to see if I can find someone that can take over Bags of Hope and Love at my church. I will start another chapter of it if/when we move. I guess that’s good, right? Spreading it even farther??

Ok, enough of me blabbering… Let’s see if I can find some funny pictures to lighten the mood!

OH! That reminds me!!! Tomorrow I will have a VERY SPECIAL post…. Hee hee hee!! You don’t want to miss it! 😉

LoL by: Unknown (via Sofa Puzza)

ROFLOL!! I LOOOOVE THIS ONE!!! LOL

 

LoL by: Unknown (via Daily Picks and Flicks)

 

 

LoL by: TuckerBentley

 

 

LoL by: jennybookseller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, I feel a little better now. 😉

Praise God! He is good ALL the time! He loves me ALL the time! He hears my prayers ALL the time! He will be with me, sustaining me in my sadness and in my joy.

 

BUSY BUSY BUSY

My goodness! Busy, busy, busy! That’s me! LOL I had a list of 7 errands that I had to do today! YILES!!!! And then I had to !#$%^ up the dining room… 😉  Then I made Philly Cheesecake Brownies! YUUUUMMY!!!

I dropped off 6 more Bags of Hope and Love this morning! YAY!! They were very happy to get them. Now, it’s time to get busy sewing more bags!! LOL Speaking of Bags of Hope and Love, I want to say a great, big, public THANK YOU to Regena! You are SO AWESOME! I will be picking up a gift card that she sent to the church to use for Bags of Hope and Love! I am SOOOOOOO excited!!!! I will be hitting Walmart and the Dollar Tree tomorrow to get the things we need! THANK YOU, Regena!! You are a blessing!! And may God bless you in return!! 🙂

It is so wonderful to see how many loving, caring, generous people there are still in the world today. We usually hear too much about the bad people and never enough about the good ones! I have been so very blessed to know so many of the very best people! And most of you know who you are!! 😉 I am very honored and blessed to know you all!!!

We are still debating the move to Georgia… Now there’s a new horse in the race… A place in Mississippi (Hey, Judy!) wants The Hubby there. LOL WOW!  It’s wonderful that we will have so many choices. Pray the good Lord directs us to the one we should pick! Apparently the place in Mississippi is only 15 minutes away from where The Hubby’s very good friend lives. So much to think about. So much to pray about!!!

In sewing news, I have my very first CLIENT!! WOOOO HOOO!!! My friend wants me to make her son a Snoopy costume for Halloween. I went yesterday and got all the materials. 🙂 SOOOOOOO excited about this! I have a client!! Hee hee hee hee!! LOL

In more sewing news, I now have all I need for Cailey’s Tinkerbell costume and Colin’s dinosaur costume. I started cutting the pattern for the dinosaur today. For Cailey’s I am going patternless. 😉

Here is the one I am using for Colin-

McCall’s M6185

I’ll be making the view with the camouflage dinosaur, only his will be yellow and blue, thanks to Hancock’s remnant bins! LOL His whole costume will cost a total of $7!!! I got so lucky with that!!!

Cailey’s will also be a cheapy. 😉 Hers will cost a total of $5! Gotta love those remnant bins!

Jacob’s very good friend from way back in the 3rd grade is now off to college for pre-med. She is such a sweetheart! She came to visit us a couple of months ago. Anyway, she needs a laptop sleeve so I am making one for her. I guess I could do a tutorial for that! Why didn’t I think about that??? LOL I already cut the pieces!!!

In book news, The Hubby bought me a copy of “The Casual Vacancy” by JK Rowling. He said it was so he wouldn’t have to hear me complain about the marathon driving… Uh, huh… Well, I told HIM that I would take the book AND still complain. LOL 😉

We missed church on Sunday. 😦 Cailey wasn’t feeling very well. Thankfully she seems back to normal now!

Time for youth!

SEW Busy

Well, I have definitely been sewing up a storm. And I have to thank my friend, Eileen. My tooth has been driving me CRAZY but today I took her advice and got some Aleve.  My tooth has stopped hurting!! Praise the Lord!!! Thank you, Eileen!!! And yes, I know… I should have listened to you sooner… LOL

ANYWAY…. 😉 I have been sewing like crazy! In the past few days I finished up the pattern testing, made something for a friend (SHHH), made little Liam’s Day of the Dead pants, finished another bag for Bags of Hope and Love AND have another bag halfway finished.

I still have a couple more bags that I want to finish up this week and then I will be moving on to a couple more presents. After that I plan on diving into my pattern stash and sewing up some fall clothes! OH!! Wait!! Before I do that I will be making some Halloween skirts!! I can’t wait! They are going to be sooooooooo cute!!! 🙂 Well, at least I HOPE they will be. LOL

I have been commissioned by a friend to make her son’s Halloween costume. It’s going to be SNOOPY!!!! In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I LOOOOOOOOOOVE Snoopy!!!!! I mean, not just a little bit.. A LOOOOT!! LOL And it goes way back! Check out this pic.

 

Can you see the Snoopy that I’m holding?? LOL I was such a dweeb last year when we went to King’s Dominion! LOL I had my picture taken with SNOOPY!! AND I got a Snoopy cup to take home. I was more excited than a grown woman should be over seeing a fictional dog…. LOL

So, you can see why I am so excited about this!

Gosh, I miss my Grandma. She was SUCH a wonderful, caring, loving LADY. I was her little Stacy Annie. LOL My grandparents played an ENORMOUS part in my life, more so than most grandparents. I actually lived with them for years!! My grandparents were such special people. I can remember seeing them sitting on the couch together and Grandpa would be sweet talking Grandma. LOL Amazing love. Amazing people. I miss them both so much. My Grandpa showed me what a man was supposed to be like. How he should love and care for his family. My Grandma showed me how a true lady should be, always thinking of others, always caring about others. And love, always love from both of them. The world needs more people like them.

 

Here are a few more pics from today.

 

 

Bonnie sleeping on the fabric for the Bags of Hope and Love… I hope none of these kids have cat allergies… SIGH.. I could never get all the cat fur off! YILES!!!

 

 

5 Bags of Hope and Love ready to go!!! 🙂

 

 

 

A really cool spider web.

One day I would love to own a REAL camera. LOL I love take pictures but you just never know how they will turn out with a cell phone.

 

Another great sermon today at church. I just don’t know what I will do if we have to move and leave this church behind. I know that God has plans that we can’t see or even imagine, but …… I love it here. And if we move, our oldest son is talking about not going with us. This breaks my heart. I can’t imagine not being able to see him everyday. I know that this is something that I will have to get used to but it doesn’t make the hurt any less. I am trying my best to bribe him into going with us. LOL So far it isn’t working….

 

OH!! I have to share this with you!! A little bit ago I was complaining to Deanna that I wasn’t able to write up my blog post because Jacob had my phone and I had forgotten to upload my pictures. She looks at me and says, “Umm, isn’t that a first world problem??” Umm… yes…. Yes, it is… And I was definitely put in my place! LOL So glad that she is able to see those types of things for what they are! And may God help me to always put that kind of stuff into proper perspective. 🙂 If we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food to eat, we are more blessed than SOOOO many others in this world.

 

Speaking of dirty dishes, Deanna somehow conned Cailey into doing the dishes this evening. I wonder how that came about!! LOL

 

We are taking next week off of homeschooling. Since The Hubby will be on nights my sleep schedule will be all out of whack again. I think that played a HUGE part in how cruddy I felt last week. Sooo.. we might do a few crafts here and there and maybe some science experiments, but other than that it will be a free week! OOOH!!! More time for SEWING!!! LOL I just thought of that!! No, really! I did!

OH!! And I wanted to put this out there, too. I received some more donations today for Bags of Hope and Love!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!! :)) AWESOME!! However, there are still quite a few things that are needed, in case anyone wants to help out in any way.

Needed-

Body wash/soap

Razors – boys

Journals

Shaving cream – boys

Snacks

Hair doodads

Books/magazines

Shampoo and conditioner

We have Bibles, combs, pens, toothbrushes and toothpaste covered for now. And I think we are good in the deodorant department as well.

 

 

Lions, Thailand and Matter! Oh, My!

LOL I love that title.

I am about to share with you how we do lapbooks. It’s the “normal” way. 😉 It just goes to show that there are sooooo many ways to homeschool even if you use some of the same methods. LOL

This post is going to be VERY picture heavy but I tried to tone it down a little. I had taken over 30 pictures… LOL

Here is some of how our lion lapbook looks like.

 

 

Some, but not all, of the lapbook components came from Homeschool Share, others came from DLTK Kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are familiar with lapbooks then you have noticed that we do them differently than most. LOL We make a book from construction paper and staple it all together, making a book. If you are NOT familiar with them, here are a few pictures of how they are usually done.

 

 

This picture is from Hands of a Child. They have reallllly awesome lapbooks.

Most people use 2 or 3 folders and attach them to make a lapbook. You can find more pictures here from Successful Homeschooling.

I know others that use a piece of poster board for their lapbooks. ANY way works. Make it your own! 🙂

 

Here are the books we will be using for the lion lapbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be doing 2 other lapbooks this week. One for Ancient Rome and one for Thailand. I have NOT put the Ancient Rome one together yet. The scissors make my hand hurt something terrible so I have to space them out and take my time.

 

Here are some shots from our Thailand lapbook. Once again, some of the components come from Homeschool Share and other come from all over! LOL Some are from Dover and Crayola.

 

 

That is the only book our library had on Thailand. BUT Amazon had a great Kindle freebie a couple of days ago!!!! We will definitely be using that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love to add in real pictures along side the coloring paged and mini books whenever I can.

We also have the Thailand Little Passports that we will be using.

 

 

OH!!! And I found some soap from World Market that was made in Thailand! LOL

 

 

I realllllly love using things from World Market with our country studies. Sometimes it can be hard to find something, though… That’s why we only have the soap… LOL We were ALL set for China last year…

 

For science this week we will be using Young Scientist Club’s Kit 5, states of matter.  We had signed up last year for the club and then realized that we could get them A LOT cheaper through Amazon. LOL There you get 3 kits in a set for about the same or a little more than one kit through the club. We paid $17/month for the subscription and got 1 kit per month. At Amazon right now set 2, which has three kits in it,  is $17.81. Yeah, I think that is where we will be getting them….. LOL  The great thing about these kits is that they come with everything you need. Well, except things like water! LOL The Magic School Bus science kits are great, too. I will have to dig up the pictures of the kits we did last year. The Cs LOOOOVED them!!

 

In sewing news, I will be sewing up bags to take to social services on Friday. I have 3 full right now and want to make 4 more. Then I will start on my first pattern testing for Squiggly Twigs Designs!! So excited about that. I printed it out today and I know exactly what fabric I will using. Look for something for fall. 😉

Bags of Hope and Love news–

I was greeted with more donations Sunday morning. God is really working here, y’all! It’s just so amazing! We will be able to reach so many children! I am so thrilled!!!

Check out these pictures!

 

The bags and the box are filled with items that go in the bags. But don’t worry! If you want to donate we still need more items!

Here is a list of what is needed the most right now:

Journals

Razors for guys

Shaving cream

Body wash or soap

Snacks

Socks

Blankets

We have Bibles covered. Our pastor ordered 50 New Testaments geared toward teens! They should arrive this week! That is SOOOOO exciting!!!

There is a lady in her 90s at church that has been crocheting mini blankets to go in the bags. She donated 5 Sunday!

 

Isn’t it great???

Look at all the fabric that has been donated to make the bags!

As the pastor said last Sunday, give God what you have and see what HE can do with it. Jesus feed the multitudes with 5 loaves and 2 fish. What more could He do with what YOU have to give??? Let Him use you and find out!!! We all have SOMEthing we can give; time, talents, money, whatever…. God has given these things to you, now give them back to Him to use for His glory!!

I started an online Bible study this morning through Good Morning Girls. I signed up with a group on Facebook that will be going through it together. Anyway, this was the first morning and I read something that really struck me. Let me see if I can find it so I can share it with you.

Here you go-

There is no better evangelism in all the world than a church whose hope in God is so strong that they gladly deny themselves in order to meet the needs of others. – John Piper

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love! It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope. – John Piper

God does not call us to sit around on our rumps. We are to get busy doing His work! Get out there and minister to the people. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. Spread the love! That is the true meaning of being a Christian. Spreading Christ’s love.

I want to share with you 2 of my favorite Bible verses –

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

Matthew 25: 34-46

(NIV)

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fireprepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

Sorry I have been lax in posting the past couple of days. I have been dealing with major headaches. Hoping they are behind me now!! Just when I would think they were gone, back they would come again. SIGH…. Keep me in your prayers, please!!

 

 

 

 

A Yucky Couple of Days

BLAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH…………… GROOOOOOOOOOOAN…………….. SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH…………………

Yep, I am NOT feeling very well. FMS has been kicking my rump the past couple of days. I have been having one heck of a flare up! I haven’t managed to do much more to the shirt I am making for Colin BUT I did get another Bag of Hope and Love done! A friend stopped by the other day and begged for another bag. LOL She already took one to fill and wanted to do another. 🙂 YAY! I promised I would have one for her tomorrow.

OH!! Speaking of…. I dropped off 10 bags yesterday! YAY!!!! The ladies at the Dept. of Social Services were THRILLED!! WOOO HOOO!!! I hope to have at least 10 more in a couple of weeks. 😉 And the lady I spoke with said that we could put Bibles in them! YIPPPEEE!!!

My oldest son, J1, went with me to help carry the Bags of Hope and Love and a small box of school supplies. On the way back we came upon an accident that had just happened. We jumped out the van and ran to see if we could help. It was awful. There was a young lady trapped in her vehicle. It looked as if it had flipped several times before landing on the driver’s side. The young lady was unconscious at first. When she came to she started crying for her mother. It was awful. It seemed to take the ambulance FOREVER to get there. She spoke very little English so it was very difficult to get her to remain calm and still until they got there. I managed to pray by the side of the road for her and then several times throughout the day. I can’t help but wonder how she is and it has been weighing heavily on my heart. Remember her in your prayers, please.

My friend is still in the hospital with a broken back. Apparently they have found a lump on or near the adrenal gland. She has been keeping her spirits up but it has been tough since that found that. She has to have another MRI to check that out. Keep her in your prayers, too, please.

I have actually been getting some reading done! I am loving “It Takes a Witch” by Heather Blake. I am about halfway through it. I love that Darcy and Harper are new to the village so you are learning about the world right along with them. I can’t wait to see what happens. I have NO clue who the murderer is and I LOVE that!!! I want to be surprised! LOL I don’t like it when I can figure it out from the beginning. 😉

 

OOOH! I just found out that Heather Blake is also Heather Webber!!! I ❤ her Lucy Valentine series!

I am still no closer to being prepared for the start of school next week! YILES!!! I think what we will do is start off slowly… LOL The first week we will just do the basics, math, language, reading, Bible and possibly some science. I have NEVER been this ill prepared for the school year! Shame on me!!!

I have Pinned several sites that will be helpful with the Cs’ Bible lessons! YAY! All free!! :))

For Cailey in science we will be starting off the year with the Young Scientists Club measurements kit. I have a couple of free units Pinned to help supplement.

Deanna has decided to not do lapbooks this year. She said she would rather do unit studies and notebooking. I need to check and see what I have and what I might need.

Cailey on the other hand wants MORE lapbooks! LOL And Colin doesn’t want to do any school at all… That’s gonna be a toughy. 😉 But I think he will change his mind when he sees all the cool kindergarten packs I have Pinned. 😉

Joshua has always been more go with the flow and likes to mix it up. A unit study here, notebooking there with a lapbook thrown in every once in a while. LOL

I think the biggest thing I need to do is get started on the printing… LOTS and LOTS of printing.

Oh, and I reallllllly need to move all my files to flash drives! I have 2 I just need to get busy copying the files. I have way tooooooo many files and it would be a disaster if I lost them. Most of them were free at one point or another but aren’t free anymore. Then there are the ones that I bought from Currclick and Hands of a Child.

Meanwhile my list of Want to Sew is getting bigger and bigger…. I WILL get those Packers outfits finished before Wednesday, darn it! LOL Then it’s on to some gifts for friends. THEN a few more bags. THEN I will finally get to the dress that has been floating around in my head for the past couple of weeks!! 😉 Stick around, I may have a tutorial for the rest of the Packers outfits and definitely one for the dress. 😉

I am still sticking with the D-I-E-T. BLECK! 😉 I have managed to lose 5 whole pounds! YAY!! It would probably be more but I have hit that ummm….. hormonal… ummm…. portion of the month…… Yeah… So, all bets are off for the next few days. LOL

 

The Hubby Is a Cheesehead

I finished Colin’s Packer’s pants! YAY!!! The Hubby is very happy about that. LOL Now I need to do the shirt…. I have been thinking about this most of the day and sketching different ideas… I *think* I know how I want to do it but I have never done an actually button-up dressy type shirt. You know, with the back yoke and fold down collar??? Yeah…. So, I cut the front pieces. So far so good.. And then I drew out a pattern for the back yoke. Now I’m nervous. LOL I haven’t actually cut the fabric for that part yet. I bought 2 yards of the Packers so if I mess up it should still be OK, I should still have enough for Cailey’s skirt.

 

 

 

I did a little cuff on the ends here. I left a LOT of room for growing, both in the legs and in the elastic casing. 😉

 

Remember the other day how I was saying I wanted to take 10 Bags of Hope and Love to the Dept. of Social Services?? And I was a little upset because I didn’t think I would be able to make 4 more?? Well, I got a call today from a lady at church. She had 4!!!! bags made!! YES!! Exactly 4!!! LOL I really think that God is at work here, people. She dropped them off to me this evening and I am SOOOOO thrilled!!! They are the CUTEST bags and I just LOVE the way she did the drawstrings!! I am going to have to study that.

 

 

Colin decided to photo bomb…. LOL

 

 

Aren’t they just so cute????? I love them!! 🙂

 

 

I love that!!! I wish I had thought to do the ends that way!! There will be no fraying on those ends!! 🙂

 

SO, I will have 10 full bags to drop off Friday. Umm… TOMORROW!!!! YILES!!! Where has the week gone??? That means I only have a few more days to get everything together for the start of school!! YILES!!! I need 2 more of me!! LOL

 

Oh….And only a few more days to get both Packers outfits completely done… YILES!!!!!

 

New Bag and Other Stuff

WOW… I can sure pick titles…. LOL Oh, well.. I can’t be witty ALLLLL the time. That wouldn’t be fair! 😉

No pictures of the new dress. When I went to put it on for church yesterday morning I discovered caramel ALLLLL done the front of it.  The kids had apples and caramel last night. WAH!!!! So I wore my owl skirt instead.

I made a new bag for Bags of Hope and Love ❤! 🙂

 

I LOVE that one!! I think it’s my favorite so far. The Hubby thinks it might be because of the Steeler’s colors. Could be… LOL 😉

 

I have 2 more bags that I want to make before I start on something else. I would like to be able to take 10 full bags to the Department of Social Services on Friday. I have 4 full bags now so if I don’t get any from anywhere else, I need to make 6 bags before Friday and fill them. I have all the stuff to fill them and make them so I guess I need to get busy! 😉

I am sticking to my D-I-E-T!!!! I am very proud of myself. LOL It’s been 4 days and I haven’t cheated! AND I’ve lost 3 lbs!! AND even better than that?? I FEEL BETTER!!! This morning when I woke up my neck didn’t hurt!! It has been over a year since that had happened!! I think all the processed foods might have been aggravating my FMS.  I’m still having pains but no where near as bad as they were!! YAY!!!!!

Our new kitty, Cloud, is fattening up nicely! LOL She is still sooooo sweet and starts purring as soon as someone picks her up!

 

Aren’t they sweet???

I am going to try to have a new tutorial up before the end of the week. I have an idea that I am itching to get started on but I’m not sure how well it will go… Hopefully it will turn out the way I hope! 😉 My inspiration is this dress-

No, I’m not going to be doing formal wear. 😉 But it did inspire my idea. Oh, please, oh, please let it turn out right!!!

And I still have a few projects in mind for a couple of friends. I’m hoping to get to them soon.

 

D-I-E-T…..HELP!!!!!

Yep…. I’ve decided to go on a D-I-E-T!! Pray for me, people…. I’m gonna need it!! I have zero willpower. ZERO!! Right now there are brownies in the kitchen calling my name. WAH!!!!! But I have decided that I want to be more healthy, the weight loss will just be extra. Oh, who am I trying to kid…. The HEALTHY will be the extra! LOL I have finally gotten myself to the point where I am ready to try again. I now know what were my biggest downfalls the last couple of times. Now I know I have fibromyalgia. Now I know WHY I have been craving sweets sooooooooooooooooo much. I have gone vegetarian! And I am eschewing sugar altogether. GULP!!!! I figure if I put it all out here than it will be harder for me to fall off the wagon. LOL I HOPE it will be harder anyway… LOL

I am ALMOST finished with the McCall’s M6553. If life would stay out of the way I will be able to get it done! LOL I should have already finished it.

Here is what I have so far……..

 

I am SOOOOOO glad I decided to go with the 2 shades of blue! And wouldn’t it look great in grey and pink???? LOL Ohhh, black and red????? OMGosh!!!!!  I need some more fabric…. LOL

 

When I got home from doing the grocery shopping I found 3 boxes waiting for me. 2 very good friends sent stuff to make and stuff to fill Bags of Hope and Love!!!!!!! Aren’t my friends AMAZING??????? THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I am hoping to make my first drop off at the dept. of social services on Tuesday!

I am going to be sewing away on some more bags this weekend!! 🙂

 

Ancient Rome and My Little Pony

What a title. LOL  I have been planning away today! I almost have things planned out for the Cs for the first couple of weeks. Yes, I know…. I said I was thinking more along the lines of unschooling…. I find that I am not able to give up that much control yet. LOL That being said, they will have a lot of areas that will be completely led by them. Our animal studies, for example, will be based on whatever animals they are interested in at the time. 😉

SO, Ancient Rome. That will be our first history theme. Here are the books I am planning to use:

Holy Cities: Rome by Saviour Pirotta

DK Eyewitness Books: Ancient Rome

World History Encyclopedia by Parragon Publishing

History in Stone: Ancient Rome by Philip Steele

The Life of a Roman Soldier by Don Nardo

Magic Tree House Research Guide Ancient Rome and Pompeii by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce  (I will be getting “Vacation Under the Volcano” from the library)

The Time Warp Trio: See You Later Gladiator by Jon Scieszka

A Child’s History of the World by Virgil M. Hillyer

Will we also be using 2 different lapbooks mixed together. One from Homeschool Share and one from Dynamic2Moms. I will be sharing all our crafts and stuff as we go along. 😉

For science I have a whole bunch of kits from The Young Scientist Club that we will be going through. The first one will be on measurements. If you are looking to buy the kits they are MUCH cheaper through Amazon than the monthly club. You get 3 kits for a little more than one kit.

For math Cailey will be using Saxon Math 3, Colin will be playing games and Joshua (J2) and Deanna will be using Khan Academy along with their text books (Saxon for D and Bob Jones (?) for J2).  They LOOOOOVE Khan Academy!! And so do I! LOL

For Biology D will be using Abeka. She LOOOOVES their science books, they are all she has used since we started homeschooling. J2 will be starting physics! YILES!!! He will be using Khan Academy and HippoCampus.

My goodness, it’s gonna be a BUSY year!!! LOL

Now, for the My Little Pony! 😉

Cailey has a skort that she LOOOVES but it has gotten entirely too short for her. She was getting tired of having to wear it with leggings so I decided to fix that for her. I had a small remnant of My Little Pony fabric that I pick up for next to nothing so I made a big ruffle out of it and attached it to the bottom of the skort! All fixed! 🙂 She loves it! YAY!!!

I am sloooooowly making progress on the McCall’s M6553. SIGH…. I wish I would hurry up already! LOL

I want to thank everyone that commented yesterday. THANK YOU!!!!! You all are AMAZING!!! 🙂 THANK YOU, again!!! I have the best readers ever! 😉

OOH!!!! I have WONDERFUL news!!! A friend of mine will be starting a Bags of Hope and Love ❤ with her congregation!!! YAY!!! Isn’t that GRRRRRREAT!!!! Let’s just keep spreading the hope and love as far and wide as we can!!! Let’s see how many kids we can reach!! WOOO HOOOO!!!

Linking up at http://littleschoolhouseinthesuburbs.com

A Question for My Readers

I was reading a post at another blog this morning (You Know It Happens At Your House Too) and it got me to thinking. 😉 What do YOU as my readers want to see?? I know that tutorials are a HUGE factor. In fact when I do a new tutorial my views go WAY up but when it has been a while since I have posted a new tutorial my views go WAY down. *sniff sniff* And I am at a loss as to what to write if I DON’T have a new tutorial. Does that make sense??? Sooooo, what DO you want to see?

Do you like it when I post about the crazy things my kids do? Like what Cailey said at church on Sunday that almost brought the house down?? LOL

I know Carol likes to see my cats. LOL 😉

Is just talking to you enough or should I make a bigger effort to always include some sewing/crafting/homeschooling??

Does my blog look OK?? Or should I look into changing it up some? I know the “look” of a blog can make a difference sometimes.

I am soooo new to all of this that I just really don’t know. So I thought it would be best to put it to the experts, YOU! You are the readers, you know what you want to see and read, so let me know!! Seriously, I LOOOOOOVE comments (as long as they are nice to me LOL). And even if you are criticizing me, as long as it isn’t ugly, I want to read it!! Talk to me, people!! LOL

 

If you DO want to read about what’s going on in my life, please proceed past this point. 😉 If not, you can stop here. LOL

 

For 2 Sundays in a row I have stood up in front of church to talk about Bags of Hope and Love ❤. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not a good public speaker…. Now, that being said, it would probably have been better if I had known BEFORE hand that I was going to speak. Well, OK, maybe not… I am THAT bad of a public speaker… LOL

Anyway, my pastor has been doing a series on missional living. So every Sunday he has been inviting different groups within the church to speak about their mission services. Last Sunday the GAs were invited to speak. They had just had a sleepover at the church where they packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child and then made breakfast for the church the next morning. The girls went up on stage and were supposed to sing a song they learned the night before. Well, they started out just OK… Barely singing… Sort of mumbling… You could only hear the leader of the GAs really singing. So when they were finished the pastor asked them to try again and to really sing this time. So, they started again.. More mumbling, barely singing. Then the pastor joined in! When they finished he said something about how they should sing louder or something like that, just picking at them, mind you. Then Cailey pipes up and says, “I thought were doing just fine until you ruined it.” Oh, brother!!! If everyone didn’t already know that she belongs to me I would have tried crawling under a pew!!! LOL But our pastor is used to her…. ummm…. outspokenness??? and he thinks it’s great that. SIGH… I just never know WHAT she’s gonna say next…. Afterward everyone commented about how good it was that she keeps him on his toes! LOL

 

We had to take our pool down. WAH!!!!!! We were unable to get a compatible pump and it turned neon green!!! YUCK!!!!! So, we took it down and will try again next year. I’m a little sad about that. I LOVED the pool!!!!

 

We are gearing up to start school week after next. WHAT??? WEEK AFTER NEXT???? YILES!!!!! That’s …..um…..SOON!!!! Good grief! Where has the summer gone??? And more important, can we get it back???? PLEASE!!!! I guess I need to solidify some real plans, huh??? Usually by this time I have all their planners filled out for at least 6 wks. I am SOOOOOO behind!!! I did try to talk the kids into doing a Jan-Sept school year but they all declined. 😦

So, note to self : GET BUSY PLANNING!!!!!! YILES!!!!

Anyone have any fun plans for the long weekend??? As far as I know we only have a Birthday party to go to Saturday. I’m going to try to talk The Hubby into cooking out at some point. Gosh, we are sooooo boring! LOL

I’m a little bit miffed… I just saw that Craft Wars didn’t tape to my DVR last night!!!! GRRR!!! Instead it looks like The Hubby taped a bunch of  UFC stuff…. GRRRR!!! I was sooooo looking forward to watching today!! It’s the only thing that makes waiting for Project Runway on Thursdays bearable!

Yep, I’m definitely booooooring….. LOL

In sewing news, I have actually started on the McCall’s M6553, and it looks GREAT so far!! I am so glad I decided to color block the front!! It’s going to look awesome!!!! After that I will be working on some things for fall from my sketches. SO excited about that!! YAY!!

 

So, that’s what’s up with me. What’s up with you?? And PLEASE answer my questions!! I reallllllllllllllllly want to know!!! 🙂