Sewing Machines

I am thankful for my sewing machine and serger and my ability know how to use them. My dad bought me my first sewing machine for me when I was 16. It's an awsome sewing machine and real heavy duty but I bought a new one about 8 years ago because I wanted more functions. Then I bought my serger. Although I rarely make clothes for myself anymore like I did in high school, I do love having my machines for other projects. Like the Annie Dress I made for Aubrey, the blessing gown I made for Mollie, the bedspread I made for myself and now for the doll clothes I am making for Aubrey's Christmas present. I got her a doll from Costco that looks like the "American Girl" dolls. I went online to buy some clothes for her and all those outfits are over $25 for one outfit. Even the off brand doll clothes are in excess of $12 per outfit. I bought a pattern and some fabric and so far have about 8 outfits and a matching nightgown for Aubrey (of which she picked out the fabric for) for less than $40 and that includes the patterns for both Aubrey and the doll. I've already made two dresses and two pair of leggings for the doll. That took me less than 2 hours to do. I did buy some shoes and a pair of stockings online because every party dress needs a pair of black mary janes.

Swings and things

I am thankful for baby swings. Without this swing, Mollie would probably cry all day. Everytime I hold her, she screams. She refuses to take a bottle and so she starves while Kim goes to work. Most of the time, Kim works 4 hrs, 4 days a week but with the kids being off track, she has decided to work 2 eight hour days. Poor little Millie Mac only has her fingers to console her and luckily, this swing.


I am also thankful for Papa's that are willing to take two of the kids out to play. I thought it would be great fun for him to take them to Bounce U. Unfortunately, they only operate at certain hours. I didn't know this when I sent them out the door. When they arrived there, Zach and Aubrey told Brent he could take them to Chuck E Cheese instead. Brent called me and said, "What do I do?". I told him to just take them to McDonalds and get them lunch and let them play there. Well, nearly three hours later, I knew it wasn't McDonalds!. Looks like they had a blast at Chuck E Cheese!

Furry little creatures

I am thankful for furry little creatures; in particular, CATS and DOGS.

Paisley Jo Daisy has been with me for 7 years now. She's a pretty little calico, ver mild tempered and rather petite compared to most other adult cats.

Taz Maniac (aka Dusty) has only been with me for a couple of months. He is a very handsome siamese and extremely high spirited.

IS IT LOVE OR HATE? You dedide...

Silhouette

I am thankful for my Silhouette. I am talking about my digital craft cutter. I absolutely love this little machine. It's hooked up to my computer and I can cut any font I have on my computer to use in my scrapbook or cut vinyl lettering and shapes to put on my walls, the hottest craze nowadays. I no longer have to search for the right style of font of stickers, only to find that I don't have all the letters needed. Now, I just cut any style I want and whatever letters I need for whatever my project calls for. I can even cut swirlies and flowers if I want.

Photo printers, Scanners and Digital Cameras

I am thankful for my photo printer. I know, it sounds stupid but I love my photo printer. I can print a picture anytime I want without having to go to the store to do it.

I am thankful for my scanner. I can scan in an old picture and crop it and then print just the subject to put in my scrapbook without having cut up an original that I no longer have a negative for. (I was way too organized at one time and decided I didn't need any negatives of my children growing up).

I am thankful for my digital camera. Aren't dital camera's the best? Now, I no longer have to figure out how to store all those negatives that you can't really tell what or who they are anyway. Simply insert the carmera card right into my computer, save them to my file, delete the blurry ones and even print the ones I want to scrapbook in a matter of minutes. It's sad though that my camera is a 6.0 megapixel camera and I paid about $450 for it about 3 years ago. Now, you can buy a namebrand 14 megapixel camera for $150. Oh well. That's how it goes.

Weekends and Schedule Changes

I am thankful for weekends.
Many of you may think that working from home is a piece of cake but it's actually no different from going to an office to work (with the exception of the commute and I don't have to wear a bra to work; however, I still shower and do my hair and makeup EVERYDAY). So, why am I thankful for weekends? The same reason anyone else that works full time outside the home is. After working all day long, I am too tired to do anything else like clean my house, do crafts, laundry, shopping or anything that requires me to get off my butt. I have so much energy on the weekends that as of right now, I have finished about half of my Christmas shopping. And NO, this year, no one is getting anything from QVC, my favorite place to shop!
I am thankful for Schedule Changes
After 4 years of working the graveyard shift, Saturday night through Tuesday night (4-ten hr shifts), Brent has gone back to day shift. I am so relieved. He's been with this company for 21 years now and the graveyard shift was his choice to take. One of the men that had it, passed away (on the job) from a heart attack and Brent wanted to get away from the politics on the day shift. They call if "Graveyard" for more than one reason. On his days off, he would have a difficult time switching his body to be awake in the day and sleep at night, yet while on work nights, had difficulty sleeping during the day. Saturday's were the only time we had together and even then, we'd only have the morning until around 2 in the afternoon because he would have to get some sleep before going to work that night. I would have to vacuum either early in the morning before he got home from work or just before I went to bed at night so I wouldn't wake him. Now I think we are back to normal. He will still be working his 4-ten hr shifts, Sunday through Wednesday and have Thu, Fri and Saturday off. Now I can hang out with him all day on Saturday and still do my house work and errands on Sunday. I hope this change will also help to make him feel a little better now too.

Sparkley Balls

I am thankful for pretty, sparkley bowling balls and having MY OWN shoes (The accents on them are purple too). I can't even imagine wearing rented shoes anymore. Last year for Christmas, I bought myself a pretty purple sparkle ball. It weighed 12.3 lbs. After about 5-6 months of using it once a week and my hand still hurting and my score never improving, I decided it was really too heavy for me. I bought a new purple, swirley, sparkley ball. It weighs 11 lbs and it really has made a difference. My hand doesn't hurt anymore and I think my scores are actually improving. I love my new bowling ball.

Weekly Scores:
Brent 127 / 119 / 141 / 158
Terrie 136 / 86 / 128 / 151

PS on RLS

My RLS started about 10-12 years ago. Even sitting and watching TV, my legs would become so restless that any type of stimulation like walking, running around or stretching didn't help. I went to several different doctors and even a neurologist. One doctor told me it was just shin splints. One doctor told me it was in my head. A couple others even told me that if I would lose weight, it would go away. (That's when I went on Phen Fen and lost 45 lbs and NO, it didn't go away.) Finally, after a year of watching the commercials about "creepy crawlies" in the legs, I asked Brent's doctor about it. Without hesitation, he gave me some samples of Requip. To my amazement, it really worked... for about 4 years at the maximum dose. So, about a year ago I switched to Mirapex at double the maximum dose. And, for now, it's under control. By the way, did you know that Requip is what they give to patients with Parkinson's Disease?

Pills

Today I am thankful for sleeping pills. I know, it sounds real stupid to be thankful for sleeping pills but since I couldn't sleep last night, I would be thankful for them, for allowing me to fall asleep when I have those nights once in a while where I just can't seem to get to the sleepy point...had Costco not been out of them. I am also thankful for the pills I take for my restless legs. Bedtime was horrible for several years before they finally realized that RLS is real and people really do suffer from it.

Four Seasons

Today, I am thankful for the four seasons. No, not Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, though I like them too but the WEATHER.

Spring: Because it reminds me of "new life". The tulips and corcus popping up out of the snow, the blossoms on the trees and the beginning of warm weather.

Summer: Because I love the warm weather.

Fall: Because I love the colors of fall and that the days are mostly somewhat warm for about a month anyway.(there is snow on the ground as I type this)
This is Battle Road in Massachusettes. I took this picture exactly 7 years ago when Brent and I were there for our anniversary.

Winter: The ONLY thing I like about winter is snow for Christmas. I've never lived in a climate where there isn't snow for Christmas and I cannot imagine Christmas without it. If I had a fireplace, I think I might like curling up next to it in the winter though.

OK, so this was a dumb post but just because I agreed to post daily this month, doesn't mean they will all be great posts!

31 years ago today

31 years ago today, I married the love of my life. You may remember my earlier posts about how we met, etc. If not, check back to the beginning of my blog.

About this time on a rainy Saturday morning (my mom always said that rain on a wedding day is a sign of good luck), my cousin Inge was decorating my wedding cake at my house. It was the first cake she'd ever decorated before. She wasn't sure how to make the frosting smoothe on the cake so I helped her with a few tricks I had learned. We ended up going to the store about 3 times to get more powdered sugar to make more frosting. The batch didn't make much and it was hard to judge with the size of the cake. Her son had made the roses. I think the cake turned out beautifully.

Brent called me a couple of times to check in on me. He wanted to know if I was nervous. I wasn't, not in the least bit. I can't remember now if he told me he was nervous or not. He can't remember either. I tend to think he was a little because he did call me more than once to make sure I was OK. The time I got a little nervous was as I was walking down the hall on my dad's arm. People were talking and I was afraid they would not be quiet and I wouldn't be able to hear the Bishop. They did quiet down and the ceremony went very well except when it came to the part where I put Brent's ring on his finger. I couldn't get it over his knuckle so he had to help.

Our wedding was planned and carried off within two weeks. The only mess up was the paper on the invitations. I even made my own dress (and yes, I still have the pattern); nothing fancy as you can see but I loved it.

Wow, 31 years of marriage, three terriffic kids and 4 adorable grandkids. It sounds like a long time when you say it but it seems like it was only yesterday when it all came to be. I love you Brent! You are the love of my life, my heart, my soul and my world.

Count your Blessings

Since it is Thanksgiving this month and I have committed to post everyday, I will post about the things that I am thankful for. Obviously, they are going to be in random order since my brain doesn't work any other way.

I am thankful for FREEDOM.
Today is the day we are priveledged enough to have the right to vote. I am thankful for this right and to the many men and women who have served this Country over the years to allow me that right. Some may think their vote doesn't count. I am not one of those. I am going to vote. It scares me to think what the outcome might be but I have to cast my vote so that I can say I did my part, no matter the outcome. I refuse to allow those that have served this Country to have done so in vain.

More decorating

I had Brent go through my boxes of decorations in the garage to look for one specific item. A metal pumpkin. I was going to put this on my kitchen table. He found the box that had the "fall foliage" in it that decorated this metal pumpkin but the pumpkin was no where to be found. So, I went to Tai Pan Trading in search of another one. No luck with the same one but I did have success in finding other and similar "stuff". Here is just some of the stuff I found at Tai Pan. The more I walked around, the more I just couldn't do without. This place is dangerous.

Holiday Decorating

I read on my neice's blog that November is National Blogger's month and that anyone who has a blog should post daily. This would be quite a challenge for me since I typically only post once a week but I am up to the challenge. Since I didn't post yesterday, I am a day behind so I will post twice today. My bowling scores for yesterday and today I will post about holiday decorating.

When I was much younger and my kids were at home, I used to decorate for all the holidays. I painted ceramics for every holiday. Halloween and Christmas were always the biggest of course. I was taking a craft class with Jenny earlier this week and she mentioned to her friend how excited she was for Nov 1st so she could decorate for Thanksgiving. Truthfully, up until recently, there haven't been very many cute decorations for Thanksgiving. I think that is one of the reasons I haven't decorated much this time of year.

Here is the outcome of the craft class Jenny and I took. It says: "Thankful"

Weekly Bowling Scores 11/1/08

Brent 109 / 132 / 168 / 178 I think he got tired of me beating him.
Terrie 112 / 135 / 114 / 139 At least I broke 100 on each of my games.