Something No Mother Should Ever Have to Go Through

Cancer strikes again. Please read Ezra's story. It is just heartbreaking. I don't know this family personally but a friend of mine does. Please help spread the word. Also, from now until the end of July, proceeds from sales at Goble Warming on Etsy will go to Ezra's family. Please see her shop announcement for more info.

Look What Wandered Up

So if you don't live around here and haven't been watching the news ... it rained here for like 10 days straight. Maybe even more. It was ridiculous. I'm blaming the turtle incident on the rain. That's really all I can think of. While it's true that we see all kinds of wild (and not so wild) life around here, a turtle I have not seen. And well ... it just seems odd. Check out what wandered up our driveway ...

Mowgli's Birthday Dinner

Birthday Girl!


Pork Chop Dinner


Icing the Cake


Peanut Butter Carob Chip Birthday Cake!

Rain Soaked Boy & A Birthday Dog

Today is Mowgli's 12th birthday. She's already gone for a ride (taking Houston to school) and will get a nice pork chop dinner tonight. The boys and I are also going to bake her a birthday cake after Houston gets home.

Are You Angry?

Maybe you should try knitting ... John Glover Knits

I promise this will make more sense after you read the article.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Well the good is that my latest tooth issue is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The bad is that my jaw is really flared up again so I was put back on the anti-inflammatory/muscle relaxer cycle. The ugly is that the $1,200 I didn't have to spend to fix another tooth now has to be spent on our air conditioning in the house. It developed a leak "in a really bad spot". I guess there's a silver lining to it being so cold in Florida in the middle of May ... we haven't needed the broken A/C in a few days. And speaking of the cold .... WTF???? It's Florida, yes? It's the middle of May, yes??? So why in the world did I have to send my kids off in sweats this morning?????

And just a side note ... not sure what is going on but my Etsy shop sales have really picked up here lately. Is it a sign that the economy is getting better or just a fluke? Only time will tell I suppose. I actually sent off my very first international order today. Two hanks of pencil roving are on their way to Australia. Squeee! :)

50's Day

Today was 50's day at Houston's school. Isn't this just the cutest?

Mother's Day Pics & Crazy Hair Day

Can you tell they were thrilled about taking pictures?


It's homecoming week at The Blake School and today was crazy hair day.

Socks!

Yarn: Rocket Yarn DK Superwash Merino Sock Yarn in the Plasma Dip Greens method
Pattern: made it up as i went along, toe-up magic loop two-at-a-time, 3x1 ribbing and short row heel

Why I Love the Month of May

The 3/50 Project

Great idea to pass along. You can read all about it here: saving the brick & mortars our nation is built on

Houston's First T-Ball Game

He did so good ... hit it on the first try. Today was the jamboree so they only played one inning. Regular games start on Tuesday.

Little Rocket Roving

Go check the shop blog to see what the boys did last weekend.

Easter Pics

We had a great Easter this year. Good food, great weather and the kids had a great time. I've been meaning to post these but I've been super busy getting ready for my booth at MADD Fest.

Etsy Treasury

I was lucky enough to be able to put together an Etsy Treasury yesterday. Please go check it out and comment on it. I want it to be a "hot one"! :)

Spring Green for Earth Day Treasury

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone! What are you going to do for Earth Day? Plant a tree or sew some seeds?

Today is also mine and Brett's 10 year anniversary. Craziness. That's almost a full third of my entire life.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Last Thursday was the Literature Fair at Houston's school. His class put on a production of Snow White and they did an awesome job. Houston played the part of Dopey the Dwarf. Too cute!

Here are the dwarfs before they go off to work!

Rocket Yarn

Here's the yarn and fiber I dropped off to Hanks this past week. We've been so busy around here lately that I haven't had much time at all to spend on the yarn and fiber. It was nice to finally find some time to dye up some stuff.

Track & Field Day 2009

Brody and I went to school with Houston for Track & Field Day a week ago. It was a lot of fun. Houston ended up with six ribbons ... three second place and three third place. We seem to finally have found a sport that he enjoys and excels at. The kid can run!

Brody joined right in and thought he was one of the class that day. He ate lunch and did some lessons with Houston. He had a really good day and now just can't understand why he can't go to school with Houston yet.


This is the school relay. This is the entire student body from preschool to high school seniors. The school is split into white knights and blue knights, hence the different colored PE shirts. Each quarter they do a different sport and the winning team gets the trophy and the loser gets a medal. Track & Field Day was a lot of fun because they gave out medals and ribbons in each event and each age group. Houston is a White Knight and so far he has two trophies, one medal and his six individual event ribbons. If the White Knights win this next quarter then they will win the Camelot Cup.


Look at Houston run!


Getting ready for the long jump.


Lunch time!


At the awards ceremony.

The Boys Room Phase 2: Wall of Shelves

I thought I had pictures of the shelves filled and the dresser in middle cubby but I can't seem to find them. Oh well ....

Just a Little Something

Linky-doo: Living Crafts - fun stuff for the whole family and free craft ideas online

A Quote for the Day: Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we are here we might as well dance!

My Next Knitting Project

Soap Bubble Wrap

I'm so in love with this pattern!

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day

What are you going to do today that you have been putting off? :)

Discovery on the Launch Pad Yesterday

Tub Hair!

Mmmmmmm ... yarn!

Coming to a Hanks near you .... ;-)

And Now for Some Good News ...

We had a couple of anniversaries last month that I never posted about ...

February 12th marked the one year anniversary of Crews Engineering Services, LLC. I'm happy to report that our first year in business was a very successful one and the second year is shaping up to be even better. Not too shabby for a down economy, huh? In honor of our first anniversary I finally took some time to spruce up our website a little bit. I still have some work to do on our portfolio (now that we have one) and hope to finish that up tomorrow. I think the website looks much better now. I can't believe how long I left the old one up. It was done in haste, as were a lot of things this time last year but looking at it before I changed it today I was almost embarrased. Oh well ... it's better now and will be even better tomorrow, hopefully. :)

February 22nd was our 6th wedding anniversary. I really don't know where the time goes! We celebrated by going to a Sister Hazel concert a few days before that was amazing, as usual. They never dissapoint! It was a small venue (Freebird Live) and we were right up by the stage, about ten feet from the band. We even got to meet Ken Block (the lead singer) after the concert. He signed our CDs and I got to tell him the story about how I saw him and Drew play on the patio at TGI Friday's back in '94 when they put out their first album and have been a fan ever since. :)

Coming up next month, April 22nd, will be our ten year anniversary together. That's almost an entire third of my lifetime. I guess that whole grow up, get married and have kids thing really does happen. Things certainly have changed in those ten years too. I wish I could say I still felt that like care-free outgoing college co-ed Brett swept off her feet but the years have definitely taken their toll. I keep reminding myself that I'm only as old as I feel. Actions speak louder than words though, as they say (whoever "they" are) so I'm finally taking some action on my own behalf. I haven't wanted to post about it for fear of jinxing myself but I feel i've made enough progress that I'm out of the woods, so to speak. I had a sit down with myself at the turn of this year and decided that this was going to be the year that I got myself straightened out. Not saying I was unhappy but I wasn't happy either and it was all because of me, not because of anything else in my life but in the way I was reacting (or not reacting) to my life. I'm happy to say that I now:

• have and keep routines so my house is cleaner and we are all less stressed because of it
  (thank you FlyLady, and Karena for telling me about FlyLady)
  
• actually make a weekly menu so I don't have to think about what's for dinner after the end of a work day and we are eating healthier because of it and also spending less on groceries
• am finally losing the baby weight i've carried around since Brody was born almost three years ago (down 15 pounds since November, slow and steady)
• am doing a little something for myself every day, even if it's just 15 minutes of knitting or reading
• am finally really learning to play the piano! (than you "the piano guy")
• smile a whole lot more :)
  

And speaking of the weekly menu ... I'm off to cook dinner. :)

Read Across America

Today is the NEA's Read Across America day. Go check out their website for some fun free downloads and take a few minutes to read to your kids today. :)

A Song I Heard ...

So I went searching for a song I heard on the TV show House this week. Turns out Hugh Laurie actually composed the darn thing himself. So much for finding the sheet music! You can check it out here. Maybe one day I'll be good enough to listen to it and figure it out myself. I'm so envious of people that can do that.

The Boys Room Phase 1: The Floor

Our latest project has been a major overhaul on the boys bedroom. This is something I've wanted to do for quite some time now but we didn't have the envelope for it yet. Thanks to Christmas gifts from Papa & Nana and Grandma Hearne we were finally able to fill that envelope. Phase 1 was to remove the carpet and put down vinyl flooring. I really wish I had taken pictures before we moved all the toys and clothes and dresser out but oh well. You really can't even tell how icky this carpet is in these pictures. It somehow looks cleaner than it ever has in person. We're not sure what the deal is with this carpet. It was supposedly an "upgrade". Yeah right! I've never had a carpet hold dirt and yuckiness like this stuff. Our carpet in Texas had three muddy dogs run on it more often than we would have liked but I was always able to clean it up in a jiffy. This stuff leaves much to be desired. So far we have removed it from our bedroom, the living room and now the boys room. The only room left with carpet in the entire house is my craft room ... and that's just gonna have to stay that way for a while.


The carpet is almost gone.


We laid the vinyl outside and made some initial cuts for the closet and trimmed everything down to make it easier to work with once we got it inside.


Our little helpers.



And here it is! I took these pictures before we put the floor trim on but you get the idea.

All this went down the same weekend as the rooster attack and my broken toe so I got a little distracted about posting this. We actually finished Phase 2 yesterday. I'll post about that sometime soon. It involves "the wall of shelves" and I'm very excited about it. :)