sad, sad day...

sad news..my thirteen year old daughter Aliss's cat Pumpkin died this past week. My oldest daughter and I had an Art Festival Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning Aliss told me he didn't come for food the night before or Sunday morning.
Pumpkin was around 13 pounds....he never missed a meal....and loved us so much so wouldn't wander far from home. He had the most beautiful personality...since he was a baby kitten he would sprawl out on Aliss's belly with his legs straddling her belly and lick her cheeks. He and she loved each other so much. As he got older he fit the whole torso of her....he thought he was still a kitten. It was so funny because he was so large but had the smallest squeak for a mew.

The children gave him the most beautiful memorial all saying sweet things for him. Even their friends from the neighborhood came and put flowers on his grave. We really thought someone stole him off of the sidewalk because of being such a beautiful cat. I thought for a second maybe he got one of the strange quick cat illnesses but didn't think too long on it because of how healthy he seemed. Well, a friend of Tessa's (my oldest daughter) called and said he was partially under her house dead....what breath I had was sucked right out of me. Still have a sob caught in my chest because it just cant be true. We were going to put up thirty flyers with a reward tomorrow


My oldest daughters old cat went missing a few months ago too....having this sad occurence today with another beloved family pet has broken her heart all over again too.
Life is so precious......

Apron Strings

A few years ago Strawberry Shortcake came back on the scene.
My two youngest daughter ages 3 and 5 at the time were so excited with the cuteness of her and the sweet upbeat songs on the show....
I remembered watching Strawberry Shortcake growing up but this was a little different.
It wasn't until I went to the grocery store and found one of the original movies from when I was a young girl .... 1970's that I seen how different it was.

Well....this past winter I found a sheet at the thrift store that was the original Strawberry Shortcake.
The panels on this fabric were soooooo cute!

A few weeks a go I cut and cut the the Strawberry Shortcake sheets and made lined aprons for my three younger girls.
Even my 12 year old wanted one. ~smile~
They turned out so cute....

made extras for my Etsy shop,
I have taken them to the last two art festivals and all the woman and girls love them!
Speaking of craft fairs I will get some pictures from the art festival we went to last weekend up soon.

thrifting......

The van decided to die yesterday when we were across town so we made lemonaide out of lemons and walked two blocks down and did some thrifting. ~grin~
My 16 year old daughter found this great suitcase for our trip East in October and the shoes are brand new.
Good girl!!
The inside of the suitcase is so vintage...we love it! She also found the crafty iron on stuff. We sure looked like something leaving the thrift store and walking the two blocks back to van with my five children, myself and the little boy I babysit...luggage and all! ~grin~

My ex-husband took mercy on us and replaced the coil and fuel pump in the van....so far so good. It sure makes you think realllllly thoroughly about if every trip is really needed if you arent sure the vehicle will start back up after you turn it off.

Have a GREAT Day!

Update

childs vintage stra... lissilulu $9.00	teapot cozy lissilulu $24.00
smile lissilulu $8.50	uptown bag lissilulu $38.00
Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade lissilulu.etsy.com

when it rains it pours...

My oldest daughter and I took some great pictures of all of my collection to get it in my Etsy Shop.
We were soooo excited.
Kodak Easyshare is having some sort of fit on our computer....it shows an error with a very long number attached to it.
The pop up asks if you would like to go to their online help section...well, yes I would thank you.
I go to the help section and sift through numerous pages of other long error numbers....nothing, nada, zilch.
So I now await Monday morning to call the help phone number so we can get pictures of my purses online so you all can see them.

Fast forward to today after church. Myself and the little guy I babysit (my kids are camping with their dad) stop off to drop off some movies at Blockbuster and for me to use a free movie coupon to watch by myself tonight.
We come out and the van wouldnt start....turns over like a top but doesnt *fire up*.
So I figure I will treat the little guy to a cheeseburger McDonalds style across the parking lot while we give my nerves and the van a breather.
Come back and it still doesnt start.
hmph!...
i call his mom to see if I can bum a ride.....been an extremely long time since I have had to do that.
Come home and figure I will calm myself by shampooing my out of control supposed to be cream berber livingroom carpet while my kiddos are out of the house and i can open the doors on a sunny afternoon.
set about pretreating the spots ...... got the shampooer all set up....no suction...tear it all apart...nope not gonna work for me.

When does a girl call it quits and just go sew?......
Right about now. ~grin~

oh!...my exhusband picked up the keys to the van and went across town to check it out with all of the kids with him......it started up for him....
i should have known.....

I left it there for now..until he is with me when I try to start it...no more frustration for me today thank you....

Red Queen Me

I keep my budget in a spiral notebook...I guess I am still as technically challenged as I was when the computer came into our home 8 years ago. I still find it relaxing to write each item down on a line with the amount to be paid....
Last night I got a treat when my youngest one asked if she could draw on the back of the page...with it being late I figured it would be a small drawing.
I left to tidy the kitchen a quick minute before bed and came back to the beautiful portrait she said is of ......ME!
Wow....to truly be as beautiful as this fair lady...although I have to say the hair is quite accurate except for the coloring.
My oldest daughter dressed up the artist earlier in the day using a tank top and a piece of sparkly fabric...Sophie picked the *jewel* for her beee-u-tiful necklace from my pursemaking supplies.
She is a gem to me.

Friday night home-made goodness

Mmmmmmm...what a yummy night we had here. I am still stuffed. ~grin~

I finally had my act together to do the traditional at our house homemade pizzas to go with the sleep downstairs-movie night.
My 12 year old daughter (13 this Sunday) makes a triple recipe for the dough...my 16 year old shreds up mozzarella and cheddar cheese and tosses it with parmesan.
The two littlest of my family as seen below butter the pans and their fingers and help spread the dough on the pizza pans.
Off the dough goes in the oven to precook while my son cuts up the black olives...I probably get about half the can cut up and back on the counter after all the little fingers sample them.
I guess there is enough quality control in this home!

Hannah(almost 8) and Sophie (5) got their wish this time to make a yummy creation out of left over dough...and with those little faces who wouldnt make sure there was dough left over for them?
Hannah spread her dough just right and covered it with brown sugar...Sophie made a ring of dough around the edge of her pan, smothered it with brown sugar and stuck fresh blueberries in it.
They both turned out waaaay too yummy.
The girls LOVE to put on the Strawberry Shortcake aprons I made them out of a vintage sheet I thrifted....soon there will be some in my shop.

After seeing the yummy things the girls were making the boys wanted in on the action.
My son is the one licking his fingers (brown sugar) and you can see the chubby little four year old fingers of the little boy who has become like a family member because I have started babysitting him so much....wouldnt bother me one bit to have him here forever. ~grin~


I could tell right away that the little guy had never had a chance to smear a pie pan in butter let alone his own fingers...he wasnt quite sure what he thought of it...but he wanted to make what he saw the girls make bad enough and pretty soon he was really liking it...he stretched the whole process out to about 15 minutes.



mmmmm...the pizza exceeded my expectations.....mmmmm...good food, good memories.