i L-O-V-E college...

I went to my first day of classes today.
I dont take a full day of classes but I am taking a *full load* which is 12 classes.
The first day was pretty much just them telling us what we will be doing and then being released early. I had extra time between classes and went to the library......oh...Love!

I had forgotten how much i love having my own textbooks and homework...i know...silly for some to hear that but i love it.

also getting up earlier than i normally would has gotten my day off to a good start and has made me get organized in ways i havent been made to that i needed to.
i have planned out a weekly breakfast menu for my 13 and 16 year old daughters to make for the three younger children and themselves while I am gone.
i am very proud of my children as we start out this journey......you know having a vision for something really gives hope and direction.

The Word says Man perishes for lack of vision....very good word.
lori

kitchen valance...

Since I sit here incredibly bored with not enough time to really get into a project or cleaning before I go pick up Tessa from work I thought I would post a random picture.
I had a piece of yellow fabric draped across my window for the longest time...you know with the swoop in the middle and ends trailing down the sides....very traditional.

While going through my newly acquired fabrics from the furniture store that gives them to me I found some favorites.
You cant tell but these are barn red and normal red, orange, lime green (well not quite lime) and a teensy buttersctoch.
I love it.....i also love polka dot and stripes mixed.
so it is cheerful for me.
the window framing has since been finished into a caramel color too.

There's my random post.~grin~
lori

Welcome 2008!

Last night the kids and I had our Snowflake Party. We started out about 5 years ago doing it as part of our Christmas Advent chain of fun things to do before Christmas. Last year I bummed out and did it after Christmas though (can't remember why) and this year I thought it fit better on New Years Eve.
It did.


We string lights all over the dining room ceiling and turn off the main lights, listen to Christmas music, and have stacks of white paper all over the table for snowflake cutting.
This year we tried out hand at having the scalloped scissors for the cutting too.
Turned out cute.


I also bring in hot cocoa and sugar cookies on a serving tray with Christmas napkins to the kids.
Presentation is everything right? ~grin~

We talked a bit about why people get so excited at the thought of New Years.....
* some people have had a hard year and the prospect of starting a new year is hopeful to them.
* some people have had a good year and are excited at the thought of another year like it.
* some people dream about wonderful things to come.
* some people just like to dream......

I wish you all a wonderful dream-filled New Year.
lori

wallets...

I couldn't believe my eyes today at Ross when I saw this wallet. Brown is a plus first off...even though there was a similar one in black that I hemmed and hahhed (is that really how you spell that word?) over. I loved the soft feel of this one and it didn't get smaller at the top.


also it being green inside was an added bonus. The price tag was $6.99. I almost yelled across the handbag section out of pure excitement to Tessa but contained myself til she was at least 15 feet from me.
I have already shown my trophy to my best friend...told her that now I feel like a *grown up*.
After looking at these next few pictures of my old wallet you will see why.


scrolling down to give you a chance to not look....hideous wallet warning.....



okay, i warned ya....




woa....how come I never seen it was this bad? This must be what they mean by really seeing something.
The other day I pulled Tessa and Aliss's pairs of fluffy slippers (which weren't fluffy anymore) out of the dryer.
Since they just got a new super fluffy pair from Suzanne for Christmas you wouldn't have thought it would be sooooo hard to part with the old pair....nope...there were almost tears.
I told them to look at them as if someone else had outgrown them and was trying to give them to them looking like that.....would they take them? ick. out they went.




So why didnt I see my wallet?
I dont know but I sure did when I saw the new one.....ahhhhhhh.



And don't ya love the chipped nails on my *grown up fingers* to go with my *grown up wallet*? ~snicker~ sometimes it takes awhile.
lori

quiet night at home

after meeting a new online friend who crochets beautiful, timeless pieces of clothing I have decided to redo my blog to a calmer more peaceful template. I love chocolate brown, buttercream and barn red the most of all colors. Her blog is chocolate brown.....ahhhh soothing for me.
i thought i would try out the buttercream background.....i like it much better than my old one already.

when my oldest daughter Tessa is back home tomorrow I will have her do her magic with the banner size and a new picture in it too then it will fit much better.
I would much rather sew for 4 hours straight than to try and figure out how to get a picture out of hp pictures into a rectangle at the top of my computer screen.

i have been cleaning out the sewing/computer/kids craft room tonight.
i am at odds with myself and am not sure i am just being too uptight....the kids stuff is mutating and taking up more and more of the room....mostly the floor.
i had their Dad make a cubby space for each of them for crafting (because I like to encourage them that way--craziness) BUT there are five of them.

you get the drift.

if the floor could be kept cleared and at least their cubbies a little cleaned (you know how creative types are) i dont think i would feel so trapped in.
ANYWAY...i sit here feeling much better after clearing the floor, half of my sewing desk, cutting out a custom handbag that my massage therapist ordered and having built a castle out of foam alphabet pieces with my 5 year old daughter Sophie.

Air1 is cranked on the computer so the atmosphere is upbeat too.
you know how atmosphere is half the battle.
lori

love and stuff

There are so many things to say all fluffy and lovey at Christmas Time isnt there?
I have just had my fill on some of my favorite blogs with beautiful pictures of food and crafts and thought boy, I havent had a Christmas post yet.
What a ham!
So to all of you who read my blog-

Merry Christmas


We have a beautiful tree all trimmed with childrens things, red and gold ornament balls and lights glistening.
The underneath of the tree is filled with some pristine wrapped gifts and lots of rumpled ones that little hands have wrapped in love.
We did our yearly trip to the Dollar Tree for each child to buy gifts for everyone else.
There are homemade gifts and gifts from relatives far away.

We made Sugar cookies for the first time in several years and the night before last we stayed up waaaaay too late for little people doing our huge amound of chocolate painted pretzel logs.....Sophie did some serious sprinkles on them this year. Wow!
The make a wonderfully quick breakfast for Mamas too. ~snicker~

All of that to say, I am hoping you have family around you this time of year or have some that you can have as family.
Relax and realize it isnt about presents and hurrying but instead about time....time well spent with a child and a book or a loved one over a cup of cocoa (better yet flavored coffee with whip cream and all) just spending time.

See you in the next few days!
lori

since the storm

Since the storm-
got my laundry and a good friends laundry all caught up.
:then the washer broke

got a loaner washer while mine is being looked at and almost got all the laundry caught up again (washer had been broke for a week)
:then the dryer broke

two children have cut their heads, one had the flu.
dog decided that the arthritis could have its way ( looked up natural treatments) who would have known that fish oil supplements could work so quickly for him?

went to the college and took placement tests for admissions.
:was at college level for reading comprehension, one level lower for sentence structuring and a level lower than that for math. Not too bad for not being in a classroom for almost 20 years.
Although I am in an unstructured classroom with my babies every day here at our house.

Got some really neat gifts for my children for Christmas because of my church being so wonderful and giving me a gift certificate. I hadnt said anything about the hardships we have been through recently. ..the whole area we live in has been through financial difficulties from this storm.

We are expecting another storm tonight and through the rest of this week at around 65 mph winds.
They say we could have more power outages because of the soaked ground from the last storm and trees being susceptible from it for falling.
soooo we could be without power again...good thing we know what to do from the last one.
I feel so badly for the folks in Kansas who had freezing weather in the middle of their extended power outage.

speechless..

my children and myself just made it through a very scary event.
we in the pacific northwest thought we were facing 50mph winds ...we have had those before.
we ended up with a nightmare.

i am still digesting it.
the power came on about 20 minutes ago.
i fear i am a bit traumatized.
to be a woman alone watching your carport roof flapping in the breeze like a piece of paper in front of a fan and know your children are upstairs sleeping.
very scary...very scary.

we made it and found out we are stronger than we thought.
in the next few days my daughter will upload some of the photos she took and i will share them with you.

at this moment i am overwhelmed at the time lost for our finances from my sewing.
i dont know about our bills coming and how that will play into how much of a Christmas my children will experience this year.
time will tell...

photos to come...
lori

thankful for electricity...
thankful for woodstoves that work...
thankful for neighbors and friendly conversation...
thankful for no trees crashing through my house or floods forcing me to evacuate....

so very thankful.