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Sunday, June 8, 2014

Midas touch = gold, my touch seems to = total chaos and crap

So...I've spent the majority of the day trying to do nothing that would end up with craptastic results.  Got the Girl Scouts in a tizzy because, since I'm doing the cake for the awards ceremony, I gave them a deadline to get a headcount to me....guess what....ceremony is on Friday and email JUST went out yesterday....I can see this might not be good {sigh}. I  have decoration designs and most of the colors I need for tinting frosting, so that's all good, but what size cake??!!???

In addition to all that (by all that I mean the frustration from last minute notification, no head count, etc.) one of the leaders decided to resign because of comments made on my post venting my frustration about not knowing when and how many people.....yeah, people she didn't even know were stating their opinions and such and she decided to use them to quit the troop....then again, I saw her maybe 2 times the entire time Rebekah and I were there (and we joined late in the year, so I don't know how many meeting she actually showed up to overall).  Oh, and then I tried to get some information from our bank...but they had to talk to Ken because the information I wanted was in his name only, and...well, it went rapidly downhill from there.

SO.....because of the fear of screwing even more things up, I have pretty much done nothing all day....other than pick up dog and cat food and price the additional colors I might need to do the decorations for the cake....once I know how big the cake is going to be.....may have to re-size the decorations, but we shall see....blah

SO....Friday I finished and listed one of my quilts....and yesterday I got borders added to a quilt top that I've been staring at for several weeks....here's the quilt that was finished and listed on Etsy:

Front:

 Back:
Pattern is Summer in the Park and was perfect for yet another Jelly Roll that I had in my stash.  Now I need to finish one that is just shy of being a twin-size bed topper and 2 baby quilts, and I can finish up the 4th, which was actually made to go to Soldiers' Angels....it needs borders as well, so it will take some thinking since the entire quilt is red-white-blue.....thinking solid borders....just have to figure out what color/s I want to use...obviously red white or blue, but.....

Saturday, June 7, 2014

School's Out For Summer........................

Yeah yeah, borrowed from Alice Cooper.....however, this is a celebratory post...

DS, 14yo, finished his 2nd year of online classes (8th grade) with 4 As and 2 Bs = average of all classes = 92%!!!

DD, 10yo, finished 4th grade with ALL As on her report card and a maxed out score on her math SOL (highest available score is 600 and that is exactly what she got)!!!!

We've already received notice that the text for DSs first class as a high school freshman is on it's way and should be here on the 10th, and he already has access to his high school account (completely different ID, login, and password from middle school).

HOWEVER.....they have next week reasonably free, barring the scheduled doc appointments and such, and then he'll start the following week when DD is at the summer enrichment program - full day program for a week, 2 classes with lunch in between, and both the classes she got are art classes...happy girl

Then come her swim lessons....need to figure out something for DS because he needs some more practice and hopefully can pass the BSA swim test....argh....sensory issues can really screw things up sometimes......

First week of July is BSA camp for DS - day camper 830a-8p (give or take), and the week after that, they are both taking classes at the community college....pottery and Lego Robotics.....then nothing for the rest of the summer....but....during all that, there is summer school at home, sewing, gardening, day trips, farmers' markets, DD wants to start her own quilt....

So....we'll be busy, but we'll be taking care of things around the house....woohoo!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

5+ month vacation from the blog = .....

So, my last post was at the end of January.....guess I should catch up with all that's happened since then.....

Starting with the most recent - DS has officially finished 8th grade with mostly As, 1 confirmed B and his electives were either As or Bs (they remove the class from his online sign-in once he has finished all of the work).  SO....now he has a bit of a break and then he'll take a 1 semester elective as a 9th grader over the summer to get a head start on his freshman classes.  DD is pulling straight As in 4th grade and is looking forward to her last year in the elementary school (but public school doesn't let out until Friday).

I have started branching out with homemade spice and seasoning blends and managed to get my first 2 listed in my Etsy shop:

I have 8 more available choices, but just need to sit down and get all the information uploaded and ready to sell.  These will all be made when ordered to insure they are the freshest possible....

Let's see...DS will be having his wisdom teeth out, DD managed to give herself a concussion a few months ago...summer is rapidly filling up with activities.....

In the meantime, I'm working on finally finishing off the garage ceiling and few sections of wall that need sealing, and in the process clearing the entire area out and organizing it.  I'd say I'm a bit more than half finished with clearing everything out, but there are storage totes of papers and pictures and such that seriously need to be culled through...one step at a time...officially I gave myself until the end of the month, so that gives me 27 more days to get this all completed....I'm up for the challenge!!

SO....that's where I've been for the past few months...of course that doesn't touch on things like the leaking kitchen sink that we haven't been able to fix, or other various little unexpected things, but suffice it to say that just when we get back to being balances, something comes and knocks us off kilter....but I'll get back to blogging on a regular basis soon....

Sunday, January 26, 2014

rudderless in a sea of fabric

So...haven't posted anything lately because it's been one thing after the other and my motivation to do much beyond have my morning cup of coffee has pretty much disappeared.

Let's start with home school - oh ah, how lucky you are....yeah, ok, time for a reality check.  Home school + teenager = NOT fun at all!!!  Add that the teenager is a boy who also happens to be on the autism spectrum and things go from crazy to downright stressful.  We've had over 2 weeks of attitude, books being thrown, me being yelled at, meltdowns and then not remembering what caused the meltdowns, arguments with Dad, fighting with sister, incomplete assignments, oh...and the best....turning in a test after being told to have it reviewed by Dad so he could explain where T  missed some steps (Algebra 1, don't even get me started on this).....so, while he still has a B average in the class, that one freaking quiz dropped him from a little over 85% to barely 83% and he's slowly sliding lower and lower - mainly from simple mistakes.

Ok....so there's that - and I'm  not even his actual primary teacher!!!  He has teachers assigned for each class...I'm really just a support staff member.....whatever

Then add in no sunlight and sub-freezing temperatures, which means no going outside for fresh air and creative replenishment....not even the OTT light was helping.....well, there was no creativity going on at all.....I *had* been working on a flannel shirt for my son, but after consecutive days of being treated like the dog crap he wiped off his shoes, I decided I wasn't doing anything for someone so ungrateful and disrespectful....so the shirt is still sitting in pieces on my ironing board.

All this led to feeling like I wasn't doing as much as I could to help with the family finances - I pay the bills and buy the groceries, but all I see it as is me spending the money that my husband earns from his job....I know...that's not really all, but that's what happens when you have seasonal depression and no outlet to make yourself feel better.....

Well, I ventured into JoAnns yesterday after nearly a year of completely avoiding it due to the rudeness and incompetence of an employee who actually had the audacity to leave another customer to come and YELL at both me and the manager that I was speaking with!!  This time was completely different (even though that particular employee was there, I didn't have to deal with her at all) and I found LOTS of inspiration that just started the artsy fartsy creativity flowing again......woohoo!!

So far...just from 10am-1pm, I've made 4 quilt tops...need to decide on the borders for them, but other wise they are ready for layering and quilting....AND, I'm working on a 5th in a totally different fabric, print, and pattern.....yay me!!

Laundry was caught up, have 2 shirts that need ironing for DH, dinner is leftovers because there's no space in the fridge, most of the Girl Scout cookies have been delivered with more being delivered tomorrow afternoon (please let there be school...one whole week of no school makes for a more than slightly insane  momma!!)....even more to be delivered Tuesday....then I think I'm all caught up with house stuff and can play around with more fabric....woohoo.....