Crochet*Project~ Basket

Working on a very cute crochet project.  

I started it on Sunday.  About half way through.  I plan on trying to make a PUG Face on it instead of an Owl.  :)

~Brenda

Good Vibrations!!!

My new bike arrived last week!  The day the UPS driver dragged the box up to my front porch felt like Christmas Morning to me.  I was so giddy!

Bryan quickly got to work putting it together.  Did not take much time.

I took it for a quick trip around the block before getting back to school work with Bug.  :)

It is very comfortable, and I can see myself riding it frequently with my family.  We have done one family ride so far, and I hope for many more.

~Brenda

Teacher Thank You Gift

Public School is winding down and I have been searching the internet and Pintrest to see if I can find a cool but functional Thank You gift for Ladybug's Kindergarten teachers.  She has two so double the work but also double the cuteness.

I came across this one blog called Laura Kellys Inklings.  She had this really sweet handmade stationary idea. She does hers all by hand,.  To much work for me so instead I started to brain storm the idea of using free downloadable fonts and doodles.  I quickly began to search for what I was looking for and came across Kevin & Amanda fonts for peas.  They have so many amazing, and  adorable doodle I had to stop myself or I would have clicked and saved them all.  ALL So Super Uber Cute!  Got me brain storming ideas for other kinds of uses for them.

After saving the doodles and font I wanted to use I used word to make a template and added the name of each teacher and then added the doodle at the bottom of each page.  I got four on a 8x11 piece of paper. I then printed a master of each stationary, colored it in and printed them so I would not have to color each one separately.  I do love to doodle and color but not all 50 sheets.  Here are the 4 different doodles I picked out to put on the bottom of the stationary.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Next week is the last week of school, but I might drop them off at the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast this Thursday morning.  Have not decided yet.  

So, if you like this idea or want to try your hand at fonts and doodle on your computer click on the links I provided.  I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did.  

Have a GREAT Day!~ Brenda

*way to busy* UPDATED!!!!

I have had a very busy September.  With Bug starting Kindergarten and my church responsibilites and MOMS club responsibilites I have been one busy BEE! 

I was able to attend the new Sewing Club that my MOMS club is starting up for the group and was able to learn how to sew a cute simple peasant top for Ladybug.  I love how it turned out!  *LOVE IT*.  I have more fabric to make a few more with a little different sleeve lengths.  *CUTE*  And I want to learn how to make pants, skirts, more, more, more.  *giggles*

Here is a picture of the finished top.

I still need to get a picture of her wearing it.  We went to tumbling this morning and she wore it but I forgot to grab my camera.  It looks cute on her!

Here is the link to Little Bean Workshop (my friend Amy's blog). She shows how she made the top and she was the one who taught how to make it.

Also check out these two other blogs for tutorials too.  Amy refers to both of them.  They helped me too a few times.  :)

Prudent Baby and Our Dish

I think I might be hooked on the sewing thing.  *hmmmm*  ;)


UPDATED!
11/30/2010

Here is a picture of Ladybug wearing her new top I sewed for her.  She loves wearing it!  This picture was taken in September, but she is still requesting to wear the top.  I am layering it with long sleeve tops now.

*what do you love?*

I love watching my baby girl sleep.  It doesn't happen often because she is a very light sleeper, but when I get the opportunity to sneak into her bedroom and stand next to her bed I let my senses soak in all that they can. My eyes scan her features, my ears listen for her soft breathing, my nose smells the soft baby lotion smell of her skin.

I love taking pictures of nature, flowers, animals, trees.  I am wanting to do this more.  My current camera is a compact digital camera.  I have begun the journey of learning about Digital SLR cameras.  I love the idea of taking pictures with out a flash and still having them look beautiful.  We don't go around with those minor hats on our heads to see our world. Our eyes are amazing organs.  Mine can see the shape of my babygirl sleeping in the darken room.

Wish me luck on my journey.  Searching, and saving and exploring.  Trying to find some joy in the journey.

Got this picture from Here.

I found this website and it has been a huge help getting me started. 

Mini Photo Shoot

Couponing???? New Hobbie???

I have been trying to save money on grocery bills for quite awhile. I have read several blogs where ladies were saving tons and tons of money by using coupons or rebates. I felt overwhelmed and didn't know where to start.

Over a year ago I did sign up on a website called The Grocery Game.com and it was very informative but I still found I was not saving the same amount of money that so many other ladies were. I felt frustrated and disappointed. I also felt very overwhelmed with the number of coupons that I had accumulated and didn't know the best way to store them. I would get frustrated when I went to look for a coupon and could not find it. I felt like I would spend hours trying to go through the list that the site generated and find my coupons and then to arrive at the store and prices were different or items were no longer on sale. I found out after I dropped out of the program that the list was generated on Sundays when the news paper comes out with the coupon circulars and the stores sales are from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. So this ment that I could only shop from Sunday through Tuesday (3 days) before the next weeks sales started. This didn't work well for me. So I ended up dropping out of the game.

Several months year I met my friend Jamie and she told me about a site she uses. It is called Pinching Your Pennies (www.pinchingyourpennies.com). I have to be honest, I was kind of skeptical about it and thought it would be the same as the other site. But there were a few things that I quickly realized where different. First off it was FREE! This was a huge thing. Also, even though I live in the state of Washington I was told by my friend to go to the forums that are in Utah. I thought this was strange but did as she suggested. And lastly, the list was generated on Tuesday the day before the sales started on Wednesday....so I would have the full 7 days to shop. I thought it was a nice enough site but didn't do to much with it. Last year, I was kind of busy being pregnant and didn't want to do to much in regards to food. The thought of it kind of made me sick. So I had not looked at the site again until last Thursday.

Jamie was leading a lesson on Couponing at the Enrichment Meeting that my church puts on for the woman in the church once a month. It was last Thursday and I decided to attend because Bryan was home for the evening and I could go. Jamie explained the site again and how she goes about saving tons of money each week on groceries for her family. I was excited to give this another try.

So I went on the site and looked at the list for Albertsons in Utah and created my shopping list and found all my coupons (all printed on line) and headed to the store prepared to see if I could make this work.

I am not going to go into great detail of the prices of each items or what I bought, because that would just be to much to type and you all to read. But I am going to share how much I saved!

Here it goes:
Shopping at Albertsons
I bought several of the following items
Cheerios snack mix
Cheerios cereal
Chex Mix cereal
Totino Pizza Rolls
Toaster Strudels
Fruit snacks
Curves Granola bars
Chex Mix bars
Cresent rolls
Hamburger helper
Progresso soup

My total before coupons/preferred card savings/and General Mills savings special:

$106.98

Savings were the following:
General Mills had a special for every $20 you spent on a group of products listed in the weekly ad that you would get $5.00 off instantly.
I got 3 General Mills Savings making this a savings of $15.00

I then had $15.75 in coupons for the products that I bought.

And finally I received a savings of $37.48 in Preferred card savings.

$15.00 + $15.75 + $37.48 = $68.23 SAVINGS!

So you take my total before all the savings and subtract the savings and you get (drum roll.....)

$106.98 - 68.23 = $38.75! (This is what I paid!)

That is a 64% Savings!!!!!!
Can you believe that! I can't! I am sure someone who has been couponing for a long time might not think this is great but I am new at this and happy with finally understanding how this system works.

I wish that I had taken a picture of all the items I bought...but I totally forgot. I am hoping to do this again and share pictures. I think I might be hooked....I think.

Free is good.

I finally got my check in the mail for the items that I sold at the Just Between Friends Sale back in April. I am very happy with how much I made. I guess others would have thought it was not much but when you take in account that it covered all the clothes that I purchased at the Pre-Sale the day before it opened up for the public, I think I did GREAT! I had actually not ment to spend to much and thought I did really good at keeping my price down but when I got to the de-tagging table and they took off all the tags and then I went to the register and they rang up the tags I almost fell over back wards. LOL. I must have looked funny, because the cashier asked me if I was ok. I quickly gathered my composure and reasured her I was ok, just that I was tired and needed to get home to bed. I think it was 9:30pm by the time I made it up to the registers. I kept thinking as I was driving home, "How am I going to explain to Bryan that I spent more than I had planned. But that I had SOOOOO MUCH FUN doing it!!!" I really needed to buy clothes for this baby. I needed it more than I had realized. Not that she really needed clothes because I had already been collecting clothes for the past 3 years, but because I emotionally needed to feel attched to this baby.

After getting my check in the mail for what I sold and finding out that it covered what I spent on clothes for both kids, I was very proud of myself. I infact went to the bank myself to deposite the check. I didn't feel guilty anymore for spending more than I had planned.

So I basicly got all my kids clothes for free. *smiles* Baby and Bug both have so much clothes that it is CRAZY! I love going through the clothes tubs and organizing them. I have a tub of winter clothes for Bug that is over flowing. But I fear that he will need more pants when the time comes. I think he will (well hoping I guess) grow taller over the summer. And as for Baby, well I have two tubs of clothes ready for several months after she is born. I have no idea how fast she is going to grow. I guess you never know even if you adopt your child. Bug grew so FAST! He was wearing 18 months clothes when he was 12 months old. Yes they were long but he was so solid that he needed the room around his chubby arms, legs and belly. We rolled up alot of the clothes.

It feels so good to organize them. I now that when Baby arrives I will not have as much free time as I do now so I need to enjoy it while I can. *smiles*

Pricing, tagging and pinning....oh yeah!

I got up early this morning after having a REALLY hard night sleeping. My left hip is killing me and the pain runs down my left leg, making it very difficult to sleep at night. Bryan was a great help last night....because when he got home from work at 12:00am (midnight) he saw how uncomfortable I was and offered to go buy me some tylenol. I didn't even have to ask him he just wanted to do it. I was so happy. And with in 10 minutes of getting the medication I was finally asleep! YEA!

Oh I was saying....I got up early to got to Walmart (uggg- can't stand this place but they do have really low prices) and buy ink for the printer. I have been busy pricing, tagging and pinning and am almost done! I have 78 items that I am selling so far and I think there is another 30-40 items left to do. I am so excited to almost be done! Now here is hoping that everything sells....because I don't want anything back! I am pricing things really low. Well what I think is cheep. Most everything is $2.00 each but there is a few items that I have gone as high as $4.00 because it is new and never been worn or it is from Children's Place and still in really good condition. But nothing is higher than $4.00. Like I said...I want this stuff to sell, and I don't want any of it back. So wish me luck!

Just Between Friends Sale is coming!!!

The Just Between Friends Sale is coming to Spokane April 11th-13th!!!
I am excited because this means that all my old baby boy clothes that I have been holding on to will finally be GONE!!! I will be free! I have been spending the last few days hanging up the last few items on hangers and bagging up the baby socks, and shoes. Today I did about 3/4th of the pricing. I would have finished it but my printer ran out of black ink! So I will be off tomorrow to buy more ink so that I can finish pricing.

I also want to hang and price and bag all the winter baby boy stuff in the next month as well so that I will be done with that and can just sell the items in September. I am assuming I will be pretty busy with the new baby that I will not have time to work on that in August. Just thinking and planning ahead. :)

Check out the Just Between Friends website and see if you have one going on near where you live! They are really cool. Consignors get 70% of the sale price of their items. I plan on shopping for baby girl items while I am at the pre-sale on Thursday night before the sale starts on Friday.

Not sure....

I usually don't watch American Idol. I did watch when Carri Underwood won. But other than that, I have not been interested. But this season. I am hooked...and you might be asking why now. I have been asking myself the same question and I think I have come to the conclusion it is because of the two following singers.

David Archuleta and David Cook. They are both so good but in different ways.
I love David A.'s sound because it sounds perfect and I love the way he makes you feel like you can feel the music he is singing.
I love David C.'s sound because of the hard rock sound. I can't help it, but I love the guitar and his husky voice singing. *smiles* If they both were to make it to the finals it would be very very hard to pick. They are both perfect with the type of music they each play. They are both so different.

2008 Book Club

I went to my monthly Book Club last Tuesday night and got the list of all the books for the year. I thought I would post them here for you all to see so that if you want to read them too you can, or if you have read any of the books you can leave me a comment and let me know if you liked the book or not.

February: Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
March: Oh My Stars - Lorna Landvik *
April: How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie *
May: Eight Cousins - Lousa May Alcott *
June: Twilight - Stephenie Meyer (Already finished this book and got New Moon but have not started it yet)
July: Blink - Malcolm Gladwell *
August: Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
September: The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
October: Life of Pi - Yann Martel *
November: Crunchy Cons - Rod Dreher
December: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

I have checked out the following books with the * today at the library to try and get a head start on reading them. I have seen the movie version of Sense and Sensibility but I am hoping to find this book at the library too to review it. We will see if I will get "The Count of Monte Cristo" read before the baby is born. I do have the movie version of this book and I might just watch it before book club.

Report on the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, February's Book.
Book club was great. Susanna was the host and she made the best Heart Shaped sugar cookies with PINK frosting! YUMMMMY. Good to see all my friends, and as usual we didn't start talking about the book tell about an hour or so after everyone arrived. I was not able to get this book to read before the book club, because I am still waiting for the book at the library. I think I am currently in the 20th spot. LOL When the ladies did start talking about the book I realized that I do want to read this book. It is about one woman's spritual journey. I think it will be a good read for me. So I am still on the wait list for the book.

I ended up leaving at 10pm and I guess the rest of the ladies stayed tell about 11pm. I miss staying up with my girl friends and chatting. It was always my highlight of the month. But now that I am pregnant, I just can not stay up late at all. I was surprised that I stayed up tell 10pm. The drive home was kind of tricky, but I kept the window down a bit to keep me cool so that I would not fall asleep. I only lived about 7 minutes away, but I was worried that I would fall a sleep.

Wish this was what I was looking at out my window...

Took this picture in May of 2004. I wish that I was looking at this out side my window right now. Snow Snow go away!

Love this Video!!!

love the song....love the dance!!!

The first time I saw this video it was more like 3 minutes long...and I can't find it now...so this will have to do...

And I found Josh Rouse in concert LIVE!! performing the same song. It is called "Come Back"





enjoy!
*smiles*

Disappointed....

Well after my last post I have done a bit of research on the idea of taking some type of dance lesson....and I kind of have hit a brick wall.

Funny that on Monday I received the Catalog for the Community College. I took a look in the catalog to see if they offered any classes. They did but the times do not work for me. They only offer them on Thursday Evenings....and you must have a partner. Bryan works on Thursday nights...and so I don't have a partner, and at this time....I can't aford getting a baby sitter every week...so I was disappointed....but then.....

I emailed the lady who I knew at Church who had called me several months back about her husband and her wanting to start up a dance club in their basment. They had finished their basement and had a dance floor and all...but when she had called me about it months ago...I told her that I would love to, but Bryan worked on Friday Nights. This was the day she was thinking of havinng lessons and maybe getting several of the couples at church to come too. It just didn't seem like it could ever happen...for me so I let it go...but now....I just can't seem to shake this feeling that I WANT to DANCE!!!

So....I emailed her...to inquire about her offer and what I might need to do to possibly get this started...but I have not heard back from her...and I am yet again disappointed.

Waiting.... I guess I should pick up the phone and call her.

Sitting Waiting....and dancing my dance inside....

Secrets

I have had a very interesting week....been on the computer way to much. But I am having a good time. :) That has been why I have not posted much. Sorry to my small group of readers.


I have a secret to share....I have a passion for Dancing!!! I loved going to dances when I was in High School. The music and the people and it all. But I was usually the girl sitting in the corner who no one would talk too. In fact I do recall, at one dance a guy came up to me and took the string to the blinds that hung on the windows in the Cafeteria windows and put it around my neck. I asked him what he was doing...and his reply was "You look like you need something around your neck because you are being a 'WallFlower'. I left the dance at that point. This was my first HS dance. Little did I know that you had to have a date for HS dances unlike Junior High where everyone just went and danced with everyone. I didn't have the out going personality that you need to have to get out there on the dance floor and let go and be free. Plus, I was pretty homely looking...with glasses, and braces!!! oh my goodness, I remember hating wearing those GLASSES! I would only wear them when I had to look at the chalk board in class, and then would quickly take them off when the bell rang. I am very surprised that I didn't run into more walls when I didn't were them....because I am baslicly BLIND as a BAT!!! I am very near-sided...and can't see more than a few feet in front of me with out having to squint...to see things. Come to think of it I probably looked like I was squinting all the time...and that can't be a pretty thing to look at hu? Maybe that is why I didn't have any boyfriends in HS....(oh I did have a couple short spurts with a couple guys towards the end of my Senior Year- I can write more about them later)

So I have this passion for dancing....but when HS ended it pretty much came to an end. I was not the kind of person who went to dance clubs and stuff. So I stayed pretty much at home most nights and weekends. My sister and I were roommates at the time...and she would be gone with her friends all the time...and she was the more social butterfly than me. :)
Then things changed for me....about a month before I met Bryan, I had gotten this great new job working for an Eye Glasses Store. People would come in with their eye prescriptions and I would help them pick out frames for their new glasses. I think I met Bryan on my 3rd day working at this new job. I helped him find frames for his glasses, tried really hard to act like I new what I was doing and talking about when he asked me questions. I didn't want him to realize that I was new and only 3 days. The next week I and another new employee went to a trainning for new employees in Southern California. After the first week we took our tests and aced them!!! We both were so excited! She talked me into going out to the bar / dance club across from the hotel that we were staying at. I wasn't sure but she seemed like she and I would have a great time. I am so glad that I did. I had such a good time. I let loose and had a good time. I figured I would never see any of these guys again, and what is the harm in dancing even with a bunch of your (new) friends. It was the BEST night I had in a LONG time! Dancing!!! Go figure hu?

I am seriously thinking about taking Dancing Lessons. Bryan probably will not be able to attend because of his work...and I don't really want him to do something he doesn't really like. He can continue taking me to Live Plays and that will be fine for me. *smiles*
So I just need to get the nerve up to call someone about Dance Lessons. A new friend advised me to check into East Coast Swing!!! So wish me luck.

I think it will be good for me to get out and do something fun! I use to go Scrapbooking with my girlfriends a few years ago, but after Bug came I just didn't want to do it much anymore...and now that I could go back the thought is just not doing it for me...but thinking about taking Swing Dancing Lessons does...so we will see.