Missing you!

my little friend.

Whilst sitting down to sew Sunday (why does this sound like a Dr. Seuss book already?) I realized my lil' friend was sick.  The handwheel had extreme difficulty turning.

Sew, I turned the machine off and gave her a good cleaning.  Didn't help.

Yesterday was the first day I've had to take her to the doctor sewing machine dealer I bought her from.

We've been together almost a year.  She came home with me last April to help me applique and quilt a quilt for my mom to take to chemo treatments.  The white, sterile blankets they heated up to help her keep warm just didn't seem good enough for my mom.  (my thoughts, not hers-she never complained)

I loosely followed the "Midnight Garden" pattern in

and is the cover quilt for the book.

I used coins instead of HST with the rows of appliqued flowers.  I also changed the color scheme from black background to white and the coins and flowers were done in happy, bright Florida colors to remind her of their snowbird home and sunshinier days ahead.

I also spaced teal colored cancer ribbons in the rows of coins and quilted words of encouragement and hope on the ribbons.  Love.  Courage.  Strength.  To name a few.

Unfortunately, this was before blogland and I have no pictures.

Well, I'm machineless until next week.  I have a Singer that my mother in love bought me as a gift one year, but I've found it too isn't quite healthy and probably needs a checkup.

Hurumph.

Sew, yesterday the family room got a thorough cleaning (you know, the one I'm stripping ghastly wall paper from the 70's from--shuddering still), I caught up on my ironing (2 pairs of pants, and about a brazillion shirts for hubby sweets and Javi), stripped three beds and washed the linens and went covert in the boys' room.

I now know why C-man and hubby have no clean socks.  A dirty sock pile the size of the Great Pyramid at Giza was behind the bunkbeds.  When C-man ran out of his clean socks in the sock drawer, he turned to hubby's.  Did you know that apparently dirty socks that are thrown in between the beds and the wall will not magically walk themselves (ala Fantasia) to the hamper? 

And when you interrogate them and threaten torture

they will tell you where all the chocolate is hidden (in the side slats), where all the hardback book covers that have gone AWOL are congregating, and where all the waterbottles for night time ops are buried.

What dirty socks won't tell you is why there is a battery, aluminum foil and wires in a pile next to a Webkinz Pug named Puddles.

Or what that icky, squishy, orange gum looking substance is that's attached to the wall.  Or why there are footprints on the ceiling?

I'm pretty sure when I'm done with this stage of parenting, I will have seen and cleaned just about everything!

Note to self:

buy paint rollers

check cans of paint to paint the walls in their room

ask C-man if he's ready to learn to paint ceilings

ask C-man if once ceiling is repainted, he can keep his dirty, smelly, icky piggies off the ceiling where they really don't belong

ask Isobel to watch the kids so I can go fabric shopping

OY!

The latest, greatest adventure happening at our house is

Parkour!

Parkour (sometimes also abbreviated to PK) or l'art du déplacement [1] (English: the art of moving) is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment.[2] It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, as if moving in an emergency situation. Skills such as jumping and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves are employed. The object of parkour is to get from one place to another using only the human body and the objects in the environment. The obstacles can be anything in one's environment, but parkour is often seen practiced in urban areas because of the many suitable public structures available such as buildings and rails.

Parkour requires... consistent, disciplined training with an emphasis on functional strength, physical conditioning, balance, creativity, fluidity, control, precision, spatial awareness, and looking beyond the traditional use of objects.

Parkour movements typically include... running, jumping, vaulting, climbing, balancing, and quadrupedal movement. Movements from other physical disciplines are often incorporated, but acrobatics or tricking alone do not constitute parkour.

Parkour training focuses on... safety, longevity, personal responsibility, and self-improvement. It discourages reckless behavior, showing off, and dangerous stunts.

Parkour practitioners value... community, humility, positive collaboration, sharing of knowledge, and the importance of play in human life, while demonstrating respect for all people, places, and spaces.

 

As you can imagine, hubby and I are thrilled the boys have taken up this intense, new sport.

Last time they were both taking Tae Kwan Do together:

I'm sitting at our lovely, oak dining room table.

Peacefully preparing lesson plans for the next day.

I hear strange, bumping and thumping noises upstairs.

I'm puzzled, but "Hey, I live with boys."

Then, the brass chandelier starts swaying like a warm Caribbean breeze is blowing through.

Only, it's November.

And we don't live in the Caribbean.

Javi and C-man having a full fledged have at 'em in the upstairs hallway.

Practicing katas.

Last night, I witnessed C-man climbing a wall in the gym we rent for basketball practice.  It was pretty impressive.

This requires superhuman strength, endurance and discipline.

They're doing pushups, pullups, situps, crunches, and heaven only knows at Uncle Bo's house with those scary vidoes of traumatizing and painful Xtreme workouts.

Lord.  Can we talk?

LOL

 

In Love!

Girlfriends!

 

You must simply click over to the

freshest, prettiest, happiest place on the internet!

And then, head on over to Jamie's blog!

I'm in love and I'm in heaven!  I think Jamie is secretly channeling my heart's desires for my quilts and projects!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sigh.

Oooooooooooooooooh!

'Bout all I can say.

Fabulous Friday Finish and a Giftaway!

 Sew, this is my first Friday Finish Sew & Tell in a while.  I think since before Christmas.  I can't imagine why I haven't been getting anything done lately, can you?

LOL

I am so amazed at the women who share their finishes!  Most of them have families, jobs and other situations going on their lives that require so much time...and yet, here they are with spectacularly beautiful and inspiring projects they've finished up for Amy's "oh so creative" idea of a virtual Sew & Tell every week.

You can see too, too many incredibly talented and gracious ladies when you visit Amy's blog!

My Friday Finish got used last night by my alter ego, Isobel (who also caught a cold!).

Isobel slept on the downstairs couch to keep her poor, stuffy, lil' head elevated.

She slept like a princess!

Ok.  Maybe not sleep since she was sneezing and wheezing and taking small sips of water for her poor, parched and sore throat!

The Sunny Dresden Plate Pillow. 

Jen from Little Scraps of Happiness asked me if I free handed the sewing around the petals.  While the evil side of me would love to say "Why yes.  I did.  It was sew easy."...No, sweetheart.  I did not.  LOL

This is stitch #55 on my Janome Quilter's Companion!  In yellow to boot!

Stop over at Jen's blog.  She is the sweetest friend and blogger!  And check out her Modify Tradition blocks that blew my socks off when I saw them!  I'm still not sure which one is my favorite!  They're wonderful!

On the machine in the picture above, I'm performing reconstructive surgery on the other Dresden Plate.  Hee hee.  I have this butt ugly pillow that I wedge between my pillows, the mattress and the headboard of our bed to keep all of my other pillows from falling into the oblivion between my bed and the wall.

It's ugly.  Have I mentioned that?

Too ugly to traumatize you with a picture.

You're welcome.

Sew, brilliant Isobel (brilliance likes this gal and follows her around like a puppy.  me...it runs from.  I like Isobel because she has such great ideas!) came up with the notion of splitting the other Dresden Plate in half and sewing it onto more of the much loved, waffle weave, left-over pillow sham fabric and covering the yucky, nasty, scare you so bad you can't sleep pillow with happiness and sunshine.

That just might be next week's Friday Finish!  I hope.

I wish I could describe how soft the repurposed pillow sham is.  Like sleeping on a cloud!

In other news,

Terri of sew-fantastic was having a blast over on her blog to celebrate her one year blog-iversary!  She graciously and incredibly gave away twelve of her favorite bloggy things.  Way cool prizes, and I was secretly hoping for the chicken...

but, while perusing the posts on the giftaways and their winners,

up pops my name!

On giftaway #5!

"I always wanted one of these. The lighting is wonderful, practically crystal clear to me. I keep this great light right above my sewing machine for a nice clear view of my stitching. Most of the time these lights are way out of the price range I wanted to spend on one. Until I found a sale of course. I bought 2 of them so I am passing on the love of a good light to one lucky reader.

Of course after my purchase, I do realize that the cost is justified. This truly is a great light, especially for sewing. This was a purchase at Joann's fabrics. I am sure there are many other places to get this very cool item. This is by far my favorite item on my desk, after my sewing machine of course.

The Lucky reader who wins this light is....DEE."

I think the Lord knew I needed more "light" in my life...sunshine, kind words from friends, prayers, my pillow, and now this! 

I'm wondering if He's expecting me to finish more projects now?

oooh!

Sew, ladies, go visit Terri's blog and see what an amazing lady she is!  She made my heart so happy yesterday by being willing to gift to others things that brought her happiness and joy.

I'm challenged now to look for new ways to share and give back to others all the support, encouragement, love, joy and happiness that being a blogger has brought me!

Happy, happy weekend to us all!

ps.

Leslie from Fluff & Nonsense won the chicken!

How fun is that!  Her kids will love it!

Congrats Leslie!  Hopefully, he won't eat much!

Thank you all for your words of comfort and encouragement.

I spent the day praying...and some of the night and early morning today as well.

It seems standing in the cold the other morning, waiting with my next door neighbor Dee (how weird is that that we live next to each other! our kids call us Miss Dee when they're talking to us...it can get confusing! and you should see it when our husbands hollar out the door for us when we're outside working in our yards!) while the fire department was putting out the fire and airing out the house, let whatever bug I thought I was beating...win.

Stuffy nose.

Tender tummy.

Sore throat.

True story from my past of how blonde I am.

One bad, winter night while driving home from my parents' house (out in the middle of nowhere...sorry, Mom and Dad, but it is!), I came upon a just happened accident on the highway.

A semi truck had hit a small pick-up truck.

The semi driver was stunned, but unhurt.

The pick-up driver was badly injured and his side of the truck was crushed.

The driver's window was gone and it was a cold, blustery, nasty night.

The driver had severe head trauma and was going into shock.  I knew I shouldn't move him, but wait until the EMT's got there.

So, I stood in front of his window and blocked the wind, rain and snow from getting to him as best as I could.

The EMT's arrived, took my statement, and since the boys were in the car and I hadn't actually seen the accident, they sent me home.

I ended up with the flu and one of the worst colds I've ever had.

While recovering, I called hubby's (please-be-careful-driving-today) work and got the secretary.

Who said she'd heard I'd been really sick and asked where/how I'd gotten such a nasty, persistent bug.

I explained what had happened and ended up telling her I had gotten sick by "breaking wind" for someone else.

Dead silence on the other end of the phone.

And then laughter such as I had never heard.

I have a reputation wherever I go.

I can't help it.

I try.
And I am a trrripp on medication!
I needed help yesterday in the self checkout line at Meijer's.
Oy!

Today, I needed some sunshine.

My friend from yesterday's post has had an awesome and inspiring blog I would visit.  The papers have published its address and she's put it on "invitation only" status now.

They printed her address and showed a reporter at her home, knocking on an unanswered door.
I can't even imagine and I don't want to go anywhere near thinking about things too hard right now.

I tend to go into "Scarlett O'Hara" mode when things I can't change or affect happen.

I tell myself "I can't think about that right now.  If I do, I'll go crazy.  I'll think about that tomorrow."
But, lately, tomorrows have been as bad as todays.

There are times you just want Life to stop...let you catch your breath...assess the situation and form a plan of action/reaction.  But, that doesn't seem to happen.

Sew, all day yesterday...while praying, while teaching, while cleaning, while doing laundry...praying...praying...
I worked on some sunshine.

My Dresden Plate pillow was stitched closed this morning.

Such a pile of fluffy softness to rest on when you're blue.

I repurposed an old sham for the cover on the chair...hoping to use the bedspread to help recover the couch in the family room as well.  I like the way the waffle-weave of the sham fabric (I also repurposed some of the leftovers for my Dresden Plate pillow) plays against the quilt fabric.  I pieced together leftover strips for the outside border of the pillow.  It's very cushy.  A necessity for me.

The boys are all home today.  Public and private schools were cancelled due to icey road conditions.  So, homeschool will be closed too.  Which is just as well, because the teacher is sick and I'm pretty sure she can't find a substitute!

Please continue to pray for our friends and their families.

Thank you.

Sharing my thoughts

because they are a jumble.

I have a friend.

She's caught some rough breaks in life lately.

She lost her mom.

One of her twins had long term medical procedures to correct a birth defect.

Her husband left her (with no/not enough support).

She has 8 children.

One of her children just underwent major surgery.

An infant left in her care, died of SIDS.

Her father died.

Another infant she cared for died in her home yesterday.

This is a woman I have known for over 10 years.

My children have played with her children.

Gone to school with her children.

I have laughed with her and cried with her.

I loved her mother like a second grandma to mine.

Her son and my son are friends.

My husband called this morning with the news.

I've been praying all morning.

He called back.

The infant that died is the son of a former co-worker of his.

I've laughed with her and cried with her.

She is from China.

She and her husband left a child there with family so he could come here and teach.

While here, they had two more children.

They wanted to stay in America.

If they had returned to China, they would have had their other two boys taken away.

She had their fourth child in the fall of 2009.

Another boy.

I remember we shared stories and advice because she also had three boys.

They were so excited.

And now...

there are two families suffering.  Two families where life will never be the same.

And I don't even want to think.

Or question.

Or hear.

I don't understand.  I don't know how to feel, or what to feel.  I am at war with myself.  Trust, belief, faith and confidence battle with fear, confusion, mistrust and disbelief.

I ask that you pray for these families.

Their friends.

The investigation.

The investigators.

The public.

In times like these, when I don't know, I try to leave it with the Master.  He knows.  I can't ever really know the truth of what happened.  But I know their pain.  And I know that it is hard enough when it is private, but when it is paraded in the public, it is a living hell lived in front of all.

Fire! Big News x's Two!

First of all, no I'm not expecting twins.

Thank you, Lord!

LOL

Secondly, I'm not even expecting.

Or hoping to.

Or wanting to.

Wait for it...

This morning between 8:00 and 9:00, our doorbell rang urgently.

I was still bedheaded and pajamed.

Our next door neighbor needed to use the phone because she smelled smoke!

Up came the firetrucks and her policeman hubby...

they've lost their upstairs bathroom and there's massive smoke damage to the upstairs as well.

The investigator just left...

Minutes later now.

Some towels caught fire next to a light fixture.

She had been on her way to babysit her granddaughter, but came home from dropping her kids off at school to start some laundry.

If she hadn't come home, they would have probably lost the entire floor.

God is good.

Okay, now the exciting news!

Javi-man got into the college he wanted!  With a Presidential Scholarship to boot!  Plus, he made Honors College!

I'm so proud of him!

4 years of hard work and studying!

He wants to do something with computers and we're looking into all kinds of other scholarships for him.

Way to go Javi!

I opened a letter from a smaller, private Christian college all ready to decline, and saw a $24,000 scholarship had been awarded to him from this college.  So now, we need to really think through our plans and pray for direction.  What opportunities he's been blessed with!

C-man (from 2008's trip to Destin) is playing JV basketball this year.

We went to an all day tournament Friday for JV teams (mostly homeschool and Christian teams from around the state) and look what the man helped deliver

Third place!  Woo Hoo!

First time a team in our area has advanced so far!

C-man, as some of you know, plays keeper for our homeschool soccer team as well.

Guess what he does best on defense?

LOL

He gets in there and steals, steals, steals!

He took a lot of charges in that day's tournament and the next day's Junior High Division.  He's co-captain of their team and I couldn't be more proud!

Here are my other boys

Marquis, Dae-Dae, Petey, Ty, Randy, Chianti, Leo, Cameron, Aric, Cassidy and Luke.

I'm so proud of all of them!

Sew, not much sewing, but lots of fun and excitement around!

Never a dull moment!

When Life Hands You Lemons...

last week, Leslie from Fluff & Nonsense (an aweseome blog you need to go check out!) awarded me the prestigious and much sought after

Lemonade Stand Award.

The award is given out for bloggers that show great attitude and gratitude.  I want to congratulate Leslie for winning this award.  An Army wife, a mommy, a homeschooler and a quilter.  Our family thanks her family from the bottoms of our hearts for the service and sacrifice she and them have given through the years to keep our country and its citizens safe.

She loves her children and it shines through in everything she does!

On the quilty/crafty side of things, I found Leslie because of this quilt.  Which when finished, looks like this!

I am humbled and amazed.  LOL  If only she knew what went on on the inside of my head and heart sometimes.

But, thank you Leslie.

God is good!

These are the rules of accepting the award.

Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.

Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.

Link the nominees within your post.

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

My nominees are (in no particular order):

Amy from amylouwho

Corrie and Des at quilttaffy

Rene' over at renecreates

Dorrie from simplycotton

Randi at ihavetosay

Penny from sewtakeahike

Dolly at dollyshome

Joan from wishestrueandkind

KT who lives at ktquilts4fun

Stephanie found at a-ditchin-time-quilts

Jen from littlescrapsofhappiness

Leslie hanging out at shesewsandscraps

Corinnea at corinneas-chaos

How many people do you know that are people who can take the lemons Life hands them, and make lemonade?  These women are just a sprinkling of those out there who are making a difference one lemon squeeze at a time.

To all of these women...you are blessings and I'm so very thankful you're my friends!

Let's Do the Timewarp Again!

I'm tellin' all y'all...Tuesday I was movin' so slow...

How slow were you movin'?

I was movin' so slow,

the zoo called and said someone had reported their missing sloth was wearing my pajamas!

I was movin' so slow,

Middlest stuck a mirror in front of my mouth just to see if I was still breathing.

I was movin' so slow,

the neighbors called 911 because of all the vultures circling our house!

Huge, huge, ginormous thank you to all of you for your encouragement about my friend.

Hubby snookums and I had a long talk about things, and I'm feeling more better. (can I write that and get away with it?  sure!)

I do ask prayer for D, she is having the maximum amount of chemo drugs for the maximum amount of time.

She's lost her hair.

She'll have a double masectomy and a hysterectomy.

But she will survive!

Pink ribbon to add to my teal one.

Because I am such a wuss, I'm bringing this morning's gorgeous sunrise to you...from inside our front windows!  It is only 29 degrees people! 

Good morning!

This is leftover energy from yesterday.

Do you ever have those days when nuthing...nuuuuuuhhhhhthing...gets done?

Where you drag your carcass cross the Serengeti just to irritate and disappoint the vultures and hyenas?

That was Tuesday.

Wednesday.

Good Golly Gracious!

Unless someone slipped something in my Raisin Bran...I was on fire.

Fire I tell ya!

LOL

Or...maybe it was working with such happy, soft, delicate, girly, spring colors and fabrics!

This is the finished plate.

Which I love.

Which is totally too big to fit the Moda pattern!

LOL

Scratching your head.

Just standing there contemplating.

Cocking your head to one side and just staring...

only gets people worried about you!

It does not shrink the plate, stretch the 10 3/4" piece of fabric the plate will be appliqued to or get you a comlink to the desinger to ask her questions that have immediate answers.

Sew...I got off my cheap, conniving, scheming, weasely butt and ordered the 18 Degree Stack n' Whack Fan Ruler.  I had tried to finnagle the angle (gosh, say that five times fast!) and make my own template...which is where the pattern went wrong...but the love is still there!

And of course, what do you do when you've screwed something up once, and are too impatient to wait for shipping to kick in and the proper tool to arrive?

You make...

he he he...another one!  LOL

shaking my head because no, I never learn, but I was bored and wanted to keep playing with the pretties!

These will be pillows. 

When the Stack n' Whack (I love saying that...stack n' whack, stack n' whack!) 18 Degree Fan Ruler a-rrives...well, just sit back, buckle up, and keep arms and legs inside the ride at all times!

As if this wasn't enough for you to read, last night, I got bored.  And restless.  Kids were entertaining themselves and not attempting to tie each other in a brazilliion different knots...sew...

I started playing with scraps in my buckets, boxes and bins.

One of my favorite little "pieced togethers".

"Babies" that KT had gifted me...teeny, tiny triangles in feed sack.

Creative piecing on the diagonal.

All day tomorrow and Saturday
basketball tournaments.
Oy!

A Prayer for Haiti

Just tears.

No words.

Attila the Hygienist, Yoda, Breast Cancer and Rats!

Guess where I went today?

Twice a year I go to be tortured my wonderful dentist.

I love, love, love, love, love him. (he gives me as much happy gas as I want! she doesn't let me actually pass out...)

It's her I hate!

LOL

Attila the Hygienist.

Who is rough.  Who clicks her teeth.  Who makes me bleed.  Who smears crappy stuff from my mouth onto my glasses when she sprays rinse water and doesn't aim the sucker-up-thingey just right.  Who made me watch ESPN today!

Good news: no cavities!

(cookie for me!...no, no evil side of Dee...remember, the Force with you it is!)

Bad news: Attila still works for my dentist and still gets me every visit.  I've asked to have a different lady gauge, rake, poke, scrape to clean my teeth...but what we have there must be a failure to communicate.

Or listen.

Or care.

They did offer me popcorn when I left.

I declined.

(cookie for me!...no, no......)

Master Yoda decided to not only guard the cookies, but the cookie jar...he is.

So, Yoda...found this little treat and thought it looked like you an awful lot it did!

And...ate it I did!

really, it was a snickerdoodle from Subway...don't tell!

As I was on my way home, an old friend was pulling out of her driveway and I stopped to say "hi".

Schmuck that I am, I haven't called her or talked to her since this fall.

I asked what she was doing home since she teaches school.

She said she didn't feel that great and was on her way to a lunch date with a good friend.

I said "So, you kinda taking a personal sick day?" with a laugh in my voice.

No.

She has breast cancer and needed some down time and time with a friend.

I am such a schmuck.

I told hubby I was a $#!% weasel the other night because of what a bad mommy I know I sometimes am.

and yes, sometimes is a bit of a downplay, just ask them...I've raised them to be honest at least!

Today, I'm an ever bigger $#!% weasel.

Because I didn't call.

I didn't drop by her house.

I didn't send her a Christmas card.

I didn't intuitively know this once "close as a freckle" friend was sick.

Pray for her, please.

Pray for me, please.

I apologize for the schizophrenic post.  In case you haven't caught on, I use humor to help get me through difficult times.

You should have heard me when Mom (love you!) was going through chemo and they told her she couldn't take a bath.  She (and through genetics, I) is a bath person.  She was missing her soak and really wanted to take a bath.

So I gave her permission to take one and asked her "What's it going to do, kill you?"

It's a good thing my mom knows me, loves me (I think) and has the same sense of humor!

Where do rats come in after all this and if you're still reading...bless you!

I've screwed up my inspirational wall hanging...and it's only day two of working on it!

LOL

But, I shall persevere...

National De-Lurking Days! Come Out and Say!

Apparently, January 10-12 are National De-Lurking Days!

Lurking is to exist "unobserved and unexpected".

Lurking is the very common practice of reading an online or e-mail discussion without taking part in the discussion. Most visitors to discussions on Web sites, Usenet groups, e-mail discussion groups, Internet Relay Chat channels, or bulletin board systems understandably spend much more time reading or "listening" than writing or "speaking."

Sew, today...if you are lurking, de-lurk and let me know you're here!  Who you are, where you're from, do you have a blog I can come lurk at and what you like/don't like about my blog.  (well, maybe I really don't want to know what you don't like...that's a little scary...like a commitment issue...if reading about what you don't like bothers me, am I obligated to change?  hmmmmmmm)

LOL

On the redecorating front:

When I found this house, I knew it needed some TLC.  It is a work in progress.

This is before I started.  The house was done in '80's wallpaper and colors.

I'm proud of myself.  I did get all of this little section cleared off and thought "Thank You God that they actually sized this wall before they papered it!" (other walls, they didn't and that was a nightmare getting icky wallpaper off!)

Easy Peasy!

Until...

Gasp and gag!  Another layer, and it's...1970's second grade, patriotic, bicentennial celebration decor from hell!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I just know you're all screaming with me!

When we moved in, the downstairs bathroom had similar themed wallpaper in it...only gold.  And vertical stripes.  It's not a big room, but you know what they say about stripes and small rooms...eeks!

Anyway, whoever put the wallpaper up in there, put it in slanted.  To the right, or to the left, I was never sure...but sitting on the...well, you know...doing your...ahem...business...staring straight ahead of you, you actually got ill!  LOL

And found yourself leaning to the side to try and make the slanted wallpaper straight.  And sometimes, if you were in there long enough, you were on the verge of falling off the...onto the floor.  If you don't believe me, just ask KT, she'll tell you how dangerous it was to go in there!  The necessary accessary hung on a holder across the way on the wall...reaching for it only made the vertigo worse and you wanted to toss your cookies.

Chips anyone?

Me, Myself and I

have occasional talks together.

Wednesday, Self and I ambushed me in the hallway.

Self said, "It's so dark and dreary in here."

I added, "And you know you just hate spending time in the family room because of how horrible it looks!"

They're right.

Here are some hallways and ideas I just love!

Are you getting a feel here?  A theme?  Happy.  Cheerful.  Open.  Airy.

So, this morning, Me, Myself and I are taking Middlest to Lowe's for paint tape and swatches.

In the meantime, while he's doing algebra and the laundry is sitting in the washer and dryer (I do not hear them calling my name 'cause I've changed my name to...um...well...something very romantic and mysterious...um...Isobel...so take that household drudgery!  Isobel does not do housework!  She is a spirit of air and light and all things pretty!)

...where was I before I had this little mental breakdown?

Oh.  Yes.

Here are some pictures of what I want to do with the funiture

and more ideas can be found here.

And, darn the torpedoes...full speed ahead!

I'm going to make a wall hanging to inspire me.

(for those of you who remember my quasi resolution not to start a new project, that was Dee talking, not Isobel and she hasn't made any such stupid resolutions and is free to create at will!)

Predominantly in yellows with other colors thrown in at will!

Ta Da!