V and Co: back at work

sorry so silent over here!
yes yes! we have a winner i'll announce her at the end of this post. :)
my mother left earlier this week and i had a few things i had to get done.

i've been hard at work over here.
for months now i've my little graph pad next to me at all times. i have had a couple of quilt designs come to life on paper and it is quite exciting. i am now ready to start testing the designs with real life fabric...it makes it just that much more wonderfully exciting. i hope they look as great in real life as they did in my head. usually they come out better. sometimes i have a flop but that's just a learning experience. :)

i love the creative process.
it truly is a wonderful experience and i am grateful for my love of it. :)

i have been also working on a few holiday projects, and working on finishing up the final tweaks on two new patterns that i'll release later this week. (ahem, yeah i know that means today or tomorrow or the next day, so look for it soon!)

it's taken me a little bit of time to figure out working from home.
but i'm getting the hang of it. i think.

again, it's all about scheduling out time to do certain things on certain days.
just like the chores around the house, work from home, i believe, needs to be broken down and scheduled out each week. only difference with work is that it needs to constantly be looked at to see what deadlines and things need to be done. and adjust accordingly the tasks that go with it.
sadly blogging got swept aside with all the catching up needed to be done.

a schedule does help me with the overwhelming feelings of running around and not getting any one thing done. :) so for now it works.
i've gotten emails to see my schedule. sure. okay if you wanna see it i'll post it in the near future, but like i said it's still being tweaked so that i get my grove just right...i bet i'll get it just right, right before school ends for the summer time. :) cause that's how life is.

husband photo bombing

these last two weeks  has been great to have my mom here. and no we didn't do any pandevonos (colombian cheesy bread) because we drove all over eastern iowa looking for a hispanic grocery store that would carry the ingredients we needed and couldnt find them. bummer. my kids were so SO bummed.

husband looking in the back ground like he has his tail between his legs after i scolded him for prior photo bombing

we had a blast with granny, she made my life easier with helping to keep up with laundry and getting my almost completely organized in my basement storage area. soooo close i am!
but mainly her love of my kids was much appreciated, and now i have to detox my children of all the granny spoiling...but i hear that's the job of a granny.


okay! so are you ready for the winner of sunday quilts?
thank you for all your suggestions of turning back the clock. laughter. seems to be the most popular suggestion. yup, i think we have that one nailed. :)
there was a whole slew of vitamins, and exercise and positive thinking. yup, i'm working on it. :) thanks ladies it was nice reading all the fun stuff you wrote!
okay, OKAY i'll give you the winner:

VickiT said...

I posted to Amanda Jean's blog. I've been a follower of her blog for quite awhile. And yes, I have had her book on my wish list since she first released it. I just love the cover quilt.

vicki has already been contacted through email. thank you all for playing. 

okay now i'm going back to work cause i've got some new patterns to show you! :)

V and Co: making baby gifts

i've been busy making things baby gifts this week for a baby shower i was invited to. i made a few different kinds, this one is a simple ruffled ombre flower one.
and well, might as well show you how i made it and the other ones right? :)
so next week watch for how to's on baby onesies and a decor to go with it. i've had fun with it, and experimenting with the dye.
have a fantabulous weekend.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: last hurrah at Saint Joseph, Lake Michigan

our family has been trying to create new yearly traditions.
and since we find ourselves in a totally new location in the united states, we will have to try to find new places and things that will be a part of our yearly traditions.
it's kind of fun and exciting.
as you know:
i grew up at the beach. i love everything about it.
the warm sand in between your toes, the sound of the waves, seagulls, and fun excited yells from kids. i love building sandcastles,  i love how my hair becomes a big cotton ball frizz fro, no wait i don't like that... i love running back into the water to "wash off" the sand so you can eat some watermelon. i love the smell of salt in the air and the ocean water mixed with surf wax. i love watching the sunset over the water. there is so much i love, that i think secretly i decorate and pick things so i feel like i'm just a jaunt away from the surf.
i miss my ocean.
i've not lived next to the ocean in over 5 years.
yet, i can still close my eyes and hear, see, and smell it.
it is still very much my "happy place" in my mind.

this year jake decided after hearing for a year now, so much about "the beaches of lake michigan" he decided that we would give it a try and see what all the fuss was about.
he misses his ocean too.
so much that the old glory days of surfing with his brother are getting kind of sad for us to talk about because it brought so many fun and sometimes funny memories that it just makes us miss it even more.
sigh.
but then we list and remind ourselves of all the wonderful things we have going on in our lives, how happy our children are how well we are doing, and of all the new and fun things we get to experience being in this neck of the woods.

so for our last hurrah and our attempt to find new places to create reoccurring family events, we packed up and headed out to saint joseph, michigan.
 the kids were excited, jake and i were going in with level headed excitedness. we knew it wasnt the ocean, and we werent pretending that it was, but we didn't know what we were going to get.

what we got was this:

just a few of our pictures i've managed to go through (mainly my instagram!)

sheer happiness, nostalgia, relaxation...for everyone.

the husband, when we visited the surf shop (yes they had one!) was given the run down on the best time of the year for surfing the size of the waves and yadda yadda yadda...for the area. he had stars in his eyes, and a huge grin on his face.
throughout the week we played at the beach, walked the cute strip with little shops and restaurants next to the beach which totally reminded me of the stores and cafe's i would walk past on my walk to the beach in my san diego town.
we visited neighboring areas and did some sightseeing and tried out a few different beaches. but by far i think the saint joseph one was my favorite.

i think it was at the end of our first day that jake turned to me as we watched the sunset go down into the lake that he said "i think this is going to be our best new yearly tradition isnt it?"
yeah i think so.
as we were packing up to head home the boys and katie were already talking about "next year when we come back, can we..."
yeah, this was a good new tradition.
lake michigan makes for a great fake ocean, big frizzy cotton ball head and all. till next year saint joseph!

V and Co: crash and burn baby

 this week i had a very exciting, sad, weird, fun, happy marker come true for me.
i sent my last child to school.
after 12 years of having at least one small person in my home i now have 6 hours where all my minions/noisemakers/things i call my children are in school.
i thought i was going to have a super hard time with it.
then i didn't.
and then the third day came and then i did have a hard time with it.

on wednesday i went and got a pedicure, shopped (where i FINALLY after TWO WHOLE DANG YEARS, found my yellow cardigan i've been searching and searching for. i found it at old navy and funny the color is "nebraska corn". the dress was found there as well on clearance for $9.99), and then went to lunch at a sit down restaurant with another mom that was celebrating "the last child going to school" marker as well.

so yes, that day was fine, i even sang "it's the best day ever" song by spongebob.
then thursday we had an eventful time of going to joann's getting something's i needed and trying to figure out exactly what project i need to work on first, and had a couple of fun visitors (hello ladies!)...went to lunch again...and then had the kids show up from school.

again. no missing them, and feeling like: "uh wait didn't i just send you out the door? i kind of really like this no having to deal with kiddo things for 6 hours straight!"

then today happened:

and well poor buck and i aren't handling our new found freedom as graciously today as we thought we would.
i guess i'm doing okay...
i'm feeling just mildly disoriented...nothing a good written out schedule wont fix...so i'll be fine, give me a couple of more days of wandering around in circles, finally getting a schedule, and then rejoicing in the fact that i actually have the opportunity to miss my children.

 but the dog, he's really missing his best friend.

he naps, and hangs out in her room most of the day, and when he's tired of that, he sits and stares at me until he realizes i'm not going to put bows, or fabric, or sunglasses on him, or play dolls on him, as the little girl noisemaker likes to do when she's around. he either then just lays down near me, or goes back to her room. poor guy.

or maybe he's like totally okay with it and is like "dude, finally, MY room all by myself with no stupid bow on my ear! i'm just going to relax."
yeah, i don't think so.
maybe i'll rent a kid to sit on him for a few hours a day while she's gone.

or maybe i'll find him a yellow cardi and a cute dress so his third day crash and burn isnt a repeat on monday.
k, that's it, target, old navy, tj maxx, lunches with friends,  and sewing....yeah, that's what i'll have him do so he can see how awesome this new chapter in our life is going to be! :)

winner and nostalgia

my view this summer has been of this. (and yes i've purposely cropped my legs so they look like they last forever and are not short tater tot looking legs.)

and other pools in the area, and the parks, and behind the wheel driving to and from camps and what not.
i don't think i've stopped in the house for too long, except to do our morning routines.
sounds about right for this family. that's the way i like it. busy but not over scheduled, just simple, boring, busy.
i really love summers.
like
a
lot.
last summer i didn't get to really fully enjoy "our summer" because of all the moves and selling of houses, and trying to figure out where we were going to live, and then stressing over the move across country when we did decide where we were going to live, and then having to say goodbye to everything we ever knew...but...
...BUT...
whenever you go through something really hard, and trial-some, it gives you a new sense of happiness, and peace when you leave unrest, and rocky waters behind.
i have been feeling immensely blessed, can you tell?
i feel like i need to keep knocking on wood.
we are approaching our first anniversary living here in iowa, and aside from the weird garage sales starting on wednesdays instead of friday or saturday, and well some driving things (did you know they still have 55 mph here on the freeway?!) i can't complain.
i got a mild first winter.
i've re-found my love of hats again so my hair doesn't look like a cotton ball on my head with the humidity, and i've learned of mineral based powder and makeup...when i wear it in the humidity so i don't look like alice cooper anymore.

life.
is.
beautiful.
and i love my boring summer of wondering if we should grill once or twice or every night. and i love that my children have friends, they bug me to call to see if they can come to the pool with us, and i love that my husband loves his job, that his practice is doing well, and that i get to enjoy my very normal boring life.
i get to wake up.
we get to do our chore routine.
then i get to go somewhere with the kids to waste a few hours.
so that when we get home it doesn't feel like forever before dad gets home for dinner.
yes, i love my normal boring life.
i'm in a blissful happy place.
oh we miss our old happy place, that small middle of nowhere town that i still can imagine living in, but we are very happy that our new happy place will be a good place to be as well.
and hey, that little town and the people in it is one the ONLY reasons i keep my Facebook account open, so that i can feel like i still live on my little road, just around the corner from the first house we owned (with the cows those stupid swear word goats) and just a few blocks from everyone we knew.
yeah, i miss you little of nowhere town, please know you will never be forgotten, but that we're doing okay. :) till we meet again right? ;)

now for a winner of that book i was talking about last week:

winner of the more take 5 book is:

~ Julie ~ said...

My plans for the fall are to make my neighborhood Christmas gifts! I just know I'll be on top of things this year and get everything for Christmas done early so I can enjoy the holidays without the pressure of last-minute gifts! (Yeah, right!) I have some snowman fabric already bought to make some cute mug rugs for everyone's hot chocolate mugs! Thanks for the opportunity to win such a great book! :)

thank you all for playing.

i'm sorry its been a little on the quiet side on the project front, but i'm really enjoying living life outside and with my family. i'll be throwing in a project or two perhaps if i so fancy. the girl noisemaker is starting to bug me to do more sewing, so perhaps we will...or maybe we'll paint. we shall see how it goes.

all i know is that this is a wonderful time in my life, and i can do a lot of working when all 4 of the kiddos are in school this fall. (ahhhhh! the day has come when i have no kids home during the day? what?!)
so for now, perhaps i'll babble of silly things. like how ridiculously happy i am with boring, and normal. :D

V and Co: what our summer looks like

please excuse the fact that real life paper does not have spell check and i spelled vacuum wrong :)

last year our summer was all kinds of crazy and no schedule was had. i hated it. i am reminded that work well with schedules, and the best way for me and my children to keep to a schedule is to write it down and have it up and accessible for all to see and to be reminded.

so this summer we are incorporating what we've done summers past:

a pretty scheduled summer.

oh now don't roll your eyes at me and say "yeah, well, what if you can't stick to a super tight underwear up in a bunch kind of a schedule? i mean life happens!"

yes, i am the first to say " i KNOW life happens." oh man does it. like at least once a day if not once an hour life happens.

so here's the secret to my success:
i only stick to a super tight (well sort of tight but not really) schedule everyday, monday through saturday UNTIL 11 AM.
yup, after that its pretty much free for all.

but i try to be smart about it.
after our chores we have lunch...and then  because after lunch i kind of want to keep all the work we just totally did for the day still reasonably done longer than say .5 seconds after i say we are done, i pick one thing that we will do for a few hours away from home.
 like for example i buy a summer pool pass, make sure i stake out all parks (maybe even take a bike ride to the closer ones), and check out the free things going on during the summer that happen AFTER 11 AM.
oh and of course
and i threaten my children that if the chores on the schedule aren't done...no free time later on. oh and they know i will make up "crap work" just to keep going, that only had to happen one time for them to know i was serious. it.sucked.royally. (for all of us!) for a whole day. 

most of my kids are still in the age that i can totally rule over them (ie. none of them can drive and if they want anything i still am the ruler of their world muwahahaha.) and because they are all reasonably young (12 and younger) they totally still are excited to go places, like parks, and pools, and places with friends. normally i have just one that likes to throw a hissy (the oldest one, but he's been like that since birth, and pretty sure he'll be like that for the long haul) so i'll keep this going and adjust it as they get older.
but that's how i do it.
that's like the #1 thing i get asked: how do you schedule your summers?
then the second one is: how can you eat so much chocolate?  the answer to that one is a mystery. i just really like chocolate, and the darker the better. hmm. maybe i should get some right now. :)
happy sigh.
i do in fact have plans to sew. maybe today. but first we need to get past our chores, then go to the pool (YAY ITS OPEN!) then, maybe i'll get some sewing done when we get home and all the noisemakers are tired.

so? you think you can follow a schedule like mine? i swear it works for us. but maybe you have something that works better for you? please share. i'm always open for more ideas.
k. we'll talk soon. :)

V and Co: happy makers

this last week i got three separate things in the mail that made me super happy.
seriously i don't get a ton of mail.
no, well now wait, i do.
but it's bills, and junk mail, and an occasional Micheal's 40% off coupon but even coupons are email based these days. (which is cool and cuts down on the paper organizing needs)

so correction...it's not that i don't get mail, it's just that i don't get cool happy mail.

what makes for cool happy mail?

well, sometimes its really nice to physically flip through pages in this fast digital world.
yes, i think magazines make for happy mail.
getting to look at pretty things and then add a little "oh look there's my project" into there and i call that a pretty sweet awesome "happy maker" mail.

yeah, that's the kind of mail i got and what i'm talking about.

the beginning of the week i got my Stitch, Craft, Create magazine. and well, first things first i quickly flipped through the pages, quickly passing what looked like a lot of SUPER cute christmas ideas and projects...but i was on a mission.
can you spot on this page (up above) one of my projects? hint it has a # 82 by it. :)

oh yeah, there you go! my shaggy pillows were featured in this season's magazine. you will get step by step instructions to my pillows, and so many other beautiful projects as well...

which by the way i finally checked out after i found my project...um wow. i'm so happy i have it, and can't wait to try out some of the ideas. LOVE this packaging spread!!!!

so after i got my fill (but not yet done with) of flipping through the magazine pages...the next day this wonderful book by martingale publishing called "Sew the Perfect Gift"  that i was asked to be a part of came and made my day. :)

again i totally bypassed all the other cool projects to make as gifts...to check out mine first.
my spray painted pillow made it into this idea book along with 24 other awesome projects by super talented designers.
and then of course i went back and flipped through the book and checked out the rest.
totally cool by the way.

one project i want to make asap is this adorable re-usable lunch sack (oh and a couple of purses, pillows, and ah!!! no time!)

i thought that was it for the week, i mean i was feeling pretty happy...oh but NO wait! one more MAJOR HUGE MILESTONE HAPPY MAKER arrived on my front door step.
dun...dun...duuuunnnnn:

it finally came...


it's official...

my first bonafide PAPER PATTERN.

and stocked in my shop.
and hopefully in a fabric store near you soon as well. :D <-- that's a huge smile by the way not just a normal smile.

so wow. one big post all about ME. well sort of.

and to celebrate all the wonderful physical mail i've gotten this week, i want to give someone a happy mailbox too.
so
one lucky V and Co reader will win all three of these vanessa "happy makers".
all you have to do to get a chance to win...is leave a comment.
say whatever the heck you wanna say.
(just make sure you leave me an email address at the bottom of the comment. and only one comment per person)

have a good rest of the week. i'm leaving for sewing summit tomorrow morning. will try to take pictures of the weekend (i get to room with this gal...yay me!) and if you are coming to my class: i'll see you there. :)
see you next week.

V and Co: cookbook for a cause

with all my crazy going on this summer i meant to blog about this weeks ago...BUT better late than never!

how does she says:

After seeing the devastation in Japan, several top blogs teamed together wanting to somehow make a difference. More than 50 blogs donated one of their favorite recipes to be compiled into an incredible cookbook designed by chickabug (design talent was 100% donated as well). Basically a lot of people worked really hard to make something extraordinary. Now, it’s in your hands to make a difference.

This one-of-a-kind cookbook was originally only going to be offered as an E-book for a $10 donation. But after receiving feedback from readers, we realized that many of you want a physical copy. We approached our favorite publisher, Paper Coterie, who was willing to donate 100% of the supplies, and 100% of the cost of printing for this amazing cause

The E-book is for sale here for a $10 donation.
The hard cover cookbook is also available, (wait for it…) for only $10.

um ahem...btw i'm one of those contributors.
so seriously, go and get one, it'll be one of the best $10 donations you and your family will taste! and yeah, it's for a great cause.

it makes me happy to know i was a part of this great cooking book. thanks ladies for all the hard work that went into this book!

hey ps: monday we're having our first "i'm back at blogging" giveaway. here's a hint...it's fabric, it's a bundle, it's solid, and it rhymes with "SKONA" if you can't figure it out well you might want to come on monday anyways because the rest of you that guessed it, know it's pretty sweet. see you monday.

yesterday

yesterday i was going to blog about what i did on tuesday. but then i got the flu. yes i did. and did you know that when mom throws up so does the house all around you? no kidding, the laundry threw up all over the floors, the cupboards threw up all over my counters, even the kid's back packs threw up take home papers all over my kitchen table and kitchen floors, not to mention that my bed looks like it had a hang over with how bad it looked after me just rushing back and forth from the bed to the bathroom and then being the hub (after i quit throwing up) for kids to come and check in just to say that so and so was doing so and so, and what was i going to do about it...
so if ever you want to feel good about the things you do all day everyday, just don't do it for a day and see the disaster you don't let happen. i'm just sayin.

okay so onto what i did on tuesday before all hell broke lose in my stomach, i made little gift tags for family members using stamps, paper doilies, and a sewing machine. super easy and kind of cute and totally dirt cheap. my kind of craft.
my absolute favorite one is this doily one. i can just envision it on light brown plain paper wrapping and cut long strings of fabric. or if i get around to it buying some of this baker's twine
totally plain and simple.

that's what i'm going as this year's christmas motto, plain and simple.

we as a family we decided (okay it was me and jake and we told the kids this is what we were doing) that this year only one toy was going to be given to them by us, one from santa, and the rest of the presents under the tree were going to be needs of clothes for the rest of the school year. my kids who already, i feel, know the value of a dollar because i make them pay for their own wants through out the year, were totally okay with it and don't think it's wrong that they are only getting the one thing that we all went to the store together and each one of them picked out that one thing. they also saw how much it was. we got thanked for actually spending the money on that one want. that makes me feel like i may not be a total failure of a parent. now some of you may think i'm harsh when it comes to making my kids pay for things throughout the year...but i personally feel like my kids need to have some kind of knowledge about money and what it takes to actually have things they want and to see that there are a lot of needs that come in to play before those wants can come into play. and mainly i want them to have knowledge that even if the bank account says you have money...that doesn't mean it has to be spent right there and then. and especially not on wants.
now don't get me wrong, i know i have a lot of things. i know i do, but we don't get into debt for them. we council and hmmm and haa over our purchases every single one of them that we feel is more of a want. we've had this mentality since the first day we called our lives "together". and i hope to instill this feeling about money into my children.
am i really wrong for being so tough with them on money?
so i'll get off my soap box now.

okay a few things:
some of you have asked me where i was getting my polaroid looking pictures...new found obsession turning my pictures into polaroids using this site.
give it a shot it makes a lot of your plainer not so cool pictures look kind of cool.

some of you want to know of homemade goodness for christmas:
check out this site for a whole workshop of homemade goodness for the season.

some of you keep pestering me to show you more of the new house. okay i will but just know that i've not really done too much to it as i've moved into a bigger place...and well...i've been saving pennies for things i would like to add to walls and such things. but just know that yes more pictures to come.

okay with that. katie and i are going to sew a little bit more. yes, katie and i. she's been in my lap every single time i've been on my sewing machine when she's around. she's actually getting kind of gutsy and saying "i do it by myself now, mom." okay maybe i'll let some of the control issues go aside and have her make her own thing.
comments closed

sneek peek: office slash sewing room

well, it's official.
i have my very own first EVER bonafide sewing slash office slash lets see how much sewing and crafting crap i can cram into a room all to myself.

we signed papers on wednesday and we officially recorded as sellers of our last home and as owners of our new home on friday at 1:34 pm.
all hell broke loose when we got word that this domino effect of selling and buying homes was really going to happen... everyone was approved and well on their way in playing musical homes. i had no idea that when i decided to put our home on the market at the end of august...less than two months later i would be freaking out trying to figure out how we were going to do everything in fast forward motion.
but here we are.

and well, welcome to my own little space in our new home.
i even got new to me but real retro furniture (for FREE) to go it:



a friend was showing me her basement and when she opened a door to one of the bedrooms i nearly fell over in envy when i saw the dresser and desk in this room. i told her i hated her for having such a cool dresser. she stared at me like i was smoking crack. the words "you can have it if you want it" came out of her mouth and i started jumping up and down ecstatic. then she added "you can have that desk too." i immediately stopped jumping and stared at her. i swore i must of heard her wrong. "you don't want them?" disbelieving i kept staring at her. she started laughing and said "are you kidding me? you're helping me by taking it." i continued to jump up and down and up and down. she was re-assured at that point that yes in fact i had to of been on crack due to my response and uber excitement of my new digs for my office.
the desk will be my sewing and computer desk. i will move the screen off the desk while sewing.
the dresser will be where i will keep a lot of my fabric but lets be completely honest, it wont even touch a fraction of what i call my fabric stash. so the closet will we used for organizing fabric as well.
i love it all.


and well i think someone else does too.
but please don't let this optical illusion of a super organized no clutter area fool you...

the other side of the room still looks like this.
and well, lets be honest, so does the rest of the house.
oh heaven help me.

i'm happiest when

our weekend was spent together as a family.
i can honestly say that i'm happiest when we, as a family are working together.
i guess if you are talking love languages mine would be acts of service.

yes, yes, i am married to a marriage and family therapist...can you tell? we talk about this crap all the time.
and no he doesn't analyze me and everyone all the time.
but yes he can scare the crap out of our children with his army interrogating skills.
pretty sure no boy will ever get close enough to date katie, as he will probably be polishing his hand gun as he asks the boy what his intentions are with his daughter.
and pretty sure he'll have some pretty good follow up questions to "We're just going out dad." when our boys are of age and want to go out for the night.

yup, being married to a marriage and family therapist has it's upsides...being the kid of an interrogator for the army has it's downsides.
anyways i digress...our weekend.
it was good.
there were some downtime at times, so the boys of course took the situation at hand and turned it into a clone wars battle field and made, in this case, big huge branches into weapons to save the day.
seriously give the kids anything and this is what they do. katie on the other hand can hang with her brothers, no problem, but in the middle of a "war scene" she'll break out in song about princesses and pink kitties and snakes.
drives her brothers into hysterics at times with some of her songs.
it's her proudest moments when she makes them laugh.while the kids were saving the day in the clone wars, and while the husband was being all manly and using a chain saw...
i went exploring and saw some sage-y looking bushes.
i thought i should pick some up and see if there was anything i could do with it later...it is currently drying in my kitchen.
i still have no clue what i will do with it.
it may just sit there for all i know...
we shall see.
all in all it was a great labor day weekend.
close to home.
working hard.
together.
sometimes my heart is full and i feel really blessed.
we'll talk soon.

the perfect day

in attempt to simplify my life i've decided that having a cleaning schedule that starts from the minute we finish breakfast till about 10 am everyday would be a great start to tackle the house simplifying part. this summer i finally got back to it. it's a routine i've done for years (and yes i've started to right a few posts on it...i just have to keep typing out the ideas as i get a few minutes here and there, so expect that sometime soon) but as of late it seems to of taken the back burner as other things and needs kept getting added more and more in my life.
but like i said, i'm getting back to the basics.
so we've seen our household chores actually getting done and not only that, but because we get the daily chore and the everyday stuff done by 10 am mon thru fri...we've actually opened up the rest of the day to do whatever we want.
yesterday was the epitome of the perfect day for me.
*chores were done at record speed. so we added a few unexpected chores.
*the weather was in the high 80s low 90s. that makes my crankies go away for sure.
* went to the pool most of the day. tired children, clean house behind, awesome situation.
* appliqued while kiddos swam themselves tired in the pool. that means i'll be able to do a shop update in the "near sometime" future
*got to talk and laugh with other mommies at the pool. so i don't forget how to talk to adults.
*it was thursday so it was pizza night...i didn't have to cook.
*10 year old got his webelos. holy crap the kid is getting old
* on our way home from scouts i took this picture of katie. i'm going to frame it.
sigh...i love summer.
this weekend looks like it's going to be a promising one as well. i'll make sure to take pictures.
who knows i may even get some more appliqueing done while the husband we watch a guy movie.
i'm such an awesome wife.

have a great weekend.
we'll talk soon.
;)

happiness is...

#3 noisemaker aka "outside-voice-only" child's feet yesterday morning.

• sleeping in till almost 9 and then having all your kids in bed with you watching sponge bob.
• having all your kids want to do a craft with you and have it turn out cute!
• daylight savings time so the family can play baseball with dad when he gets home from work.
• reading The Lightning Thief to the boys at night (i love it too!)
  

#3 and #4 noise maker enjoying each other's presence by the sprinklers

• going to the pool or playing in the sprinklers every day it's sunny and not too windy.
• having my kids getting along...85% of the time.
• having them cleaning the bathroom as a consequence of the 15% percent of the time they don't get along. (makes for a clean bathroom)
  

#2 #3 and #4 noisemakers with man's (and #4's) best friend

• eating otter pops for breakfast on your back porch. (don't worry mom they get cereal too)
  
• having my husband on the same continent and knowing he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
  
• having my peonies bloom without any assistance from me. because lets face it, if they needed assistance from me, the husband would have to install a drip line, of nutrients, and water that would run on a timer. he's the green thumb not me.
  

i've been trying to recoupe ever since my unfortunate events posts it seems.
shortly after i got home from that trip i've been battling some bad sinus thing. i didn't even sound sick i just felt (and feel) horrible and run down and my whole right side of my head felt like it wanted to explode and run away somewhere. literally my teeth felt like they were going to fall out. went to the doc they got me on three weeks of antibiotics, and some nasal stuff and blah de blah...anyways it's not getting any better...well it is, but it's not...now i just throw up in the mornings (NO I'M NOT PREGNANT!) and have major headaches, am dizzy and my ears feel like they have cotton in them and they hurt. but i can't stay sleeping all the time, thank heavens for tylenol sinus meds, so that i've been able to take the kids to the pool and we've been crafting kid crafts...but that's about it. i'm hoping this goes away soon because i'm suppose to go to girls camp next tuesday. i've lost count of how many times i've gone, and i've lost count of how many places i've been. but i love it. i just don't want to do it dizzy....and hurting.

thanks for all the link ups. i'll be checking them out as i get ready to leave and when i come back i'll do a rap up of a few faves as well as a few faves from the flicker group! hello look at you guys go!
keep it up guys! i'll be doing the measurements for the little star with a game plan for the quilt next week as well.
take care.
we'll talk soon!

my head is still spinning from market

so it's over.
market that is.
now i'm home.
but my head is still spinning.
what a whirlwind of events
and yes, no pooping of the pants happened.
okay a fast run down:
dana and i finally met in person. we knew we would hit it off. but it's always fun to get to know each other outside of the cyber world.


first dana and i stood in line so that we could get our grubby little hands on fabric that is due out later on this year. i mean i've heard of the sample spree and i've heard rumors of how things go in there. but really just experiencing it was a hoot and holler of a good time. i got me some fat quarter bundles of camille's bliss, oliver +S city weekend, and momo's its a hoot.
we, after the fact went out and got some super healthy snacks that consisted of chocolate and good n plenties at the super cool bi-level target in the downtown area. (camille would be so proud!) we awaited our third roomie cyndi. who happens to be one of the nicest strangers to room with. we walked away from the weekend being good friends.

i got to meet, shake hands with some amazing women (and men) in the fabric/pattern industry. i got to admire wonderful booths. i got to meet in person people that i have an online monthly, weekly , and sometimes daily relationships with.

from left to right top: angela yosten moda home mom, anne sutton bunny hill design
left to right bottom: carrie fresh cut quilts, jocelyn fat quarter shop


anne sutton and her best-ie anne won first place for their booth. i thought it was cute that they were both named "anne". so i started calling them "anne squared". they thought i was quite humorous. as a matter of fact they kept laughing at my jokes. i instantly fell in love with anne squared. :)

picture of me holding my bag courtesy of FQS

i was working on "stuff" (this bag being one of them...pattern coming soon) before i went to market with the lovely "it's a hoot" line by momo. i love this line i think it's my all time favorite line by moda.

on friday one of the most surprising things happened. i got a tap on my shoulder and a "V? Vanessa?" i turned around and because i've only seen her picture like once and she was in the background of that said so picture...it took me a second to realize that i was staring at the smiling face of THE crazy mom quilts. to which i jumped and gave her a bear hug. sorry amanda. we talked and shared pictures on our cameras and talked some more...and then some more and more. gosh, i wanted to pack her in my purse and keep here there just so i could pull her out and talk to her some more.

at one point i got to meet fellow blogger and only male moda bake shop chef quilt dad, kate spain (moda fabrics designer extraordinaire) and fellow blogger (from canada!) kaye prince.

the #1 comment i got when people met me for the first time was "wow, you are a lot shorter than i pictured you." then i would take off my heels and the jaw's would drop. yes, i'm a 5 foot 1 inch girl on a good day.
the #2 comment i got was "hey! i saw you dancing last night." to which i would of liked to respond "no you didn't. you didn't see anything."

dana and i had a few ventures out of the convention. we met up with another fellow mom craft blogger anna of noodlehead. she is just one of the nicest girls. and i'm pretty sure i embarrassed the hell out of her when before we left the quilt market and to meet up with dana we ventured over to amy butler's booth and i couldn't stop talking a mile a minute to THE amy butler.

me nervous=me talking really fast and kind of high pitched.
with a bunch of arm and hand movements. pretty sure amy butler was like "you need to slow down on the speed....like as in the drug speed."

also i've noticed this last weekend i say "fabulous" waaaaaaaaaay too much when i'm nervous. sorry amy fabulous butler...next time i'll stand behind the nice mid western girl (anna) who will just say you are great and keep walking by.


after embarrassing of myself at the amy butler booth we headed on out to some warehouse type of place where no joke from floor to ceiling were just rolls and bolts of fabric.
i got overwhelmed and ended up buying only three sets of buttons. yup i did.
at some point we found our way to great mall america. i think the facts on it was like it was 4 miles long or something like that and one amusement park inside of it. wonder if my small town would look into getting a great mall america.
by the end of the weekend and after saying our goodbyes to new found friends. i found myself at the airport staring at traveling families and their kids. i missed my husband and kids. and not to mention my bed.
okay off to bed. aka avoiding mountains of laundry and 200+ emails.