Our Summer Plans

Our school year is over, and it's time for a break! We are more than likely going to be starting back in July, so I wanted to make the most of the time the kids have off. There are going to be library visits every week (they enjoy it, I swear! ), slip n' slide action in the yard, disc golf with Dad, aaannnnd.......Weird Side Trips! What better way for our weird little family to celebrate summer, than with The Summer of Weird! I love this book, and have the Weird U.S. one as well. We've actually been to a couple of the places in here already, but there are so many more that I'm dying to see! I mean, WE are dying to see,that's right, all of us.....

So, over the summer, the blog will consist of pics and stories (hopefully!) of all the weird and wonderful places we've discovered in our home state. If the kids look a little less than happy in the pictures, don't worry about it, they are probably just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the things we are finding. Stay tuned!

Ramble on...

Things have been pretty boring around here, actually. Not too many adventures in the Electric City, thanks to my lazy butt!!

The kids are finishing up their school work, thank goodness!! This last half of the year has been rough, and seems to have gotten worse now that we are at the end! Next year will be sooo much better. We have begun doing research on some curriculum, and I'm going to try and plan better before we start our school year this time. I bet that will help alot, don't you!? LOL!!

Allergy season has hit us full force! I am miserable. I keep forgetting to take my medicine bottle with me when we run errands so that I can get my perscription refilled. I'm paying for it, too. We have Park Day today, and I am not looking forward to the aftermath. I wonder if I have any Clariton left over? I'll have to rummage. The kids have been sneezing and snotting as well, so I know it's bad out. I seem to be the most sensitive in the house. Looks like we'll be picking them up some meds. soon, too. Of course, they are kids, and I'm a wuss, so they are dealing with it sooo much better than I am!

Mother's Day was busy. I spent most of the weekend with my parents in Ga. I haven't been down there to stay the weekend in forever! My loves took me out for my MD dinner Saturday night, since my favorite is Sushi. We took my Mom in law to lunch, and my Mom to dinner on Sunday. My glorious hubby got me, my mom in law, and my mom gift certificates to the spa!!! I am sooo ready to use that puppy! Massage and pedicure, please!!! I'd get a facial, but my face has become extremely sensitive over the years, and the last time I tried one, I broke out in a rash. It was not a pretty sight, believe me.

I have dyed my hair a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. The first was supposed to be Aqua, but since the blonde in my hair is more brassy than true, it turned slightly more green than blue. No worries, it actually looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a dye that will stay in my hair more than a couple of days and keep it's color. So, I got some Manic Panic Pillbox Red to try out. It glows under a blacklight, don't ya know, but I haven't been able to try it out yet. I dyed it over the fading green, and it's awesome. Again, it's fading pretty quickly. There is another dye I've heard of that I might try out. I think I might need to leave it in longer, too. I want to go and get my hair bleached true blonde, so that the colors will come out the right shades. We'll see.

I've gotten two of the six embroidery projects for the kitchen done! It's going to be 3 girls and 3 boys. They are retro patterns, and I'm wild about retro! I do think that I'm going to have to redo the first of the girls. She was one of my first ever projects, and I'm not too happy with how she looks now compared to the others now. Oh well! I am really enjoying embroidery, and have a couple of other projects in the works. I bought some fabric this weekend to use as a background for one, and my Mom has asked me to do one for her house. And then there are some patterns that I'm dying to get from Sublime Stitching! I looooove Jenny Hart's stuff!!! I'm hoping this summer will be productive in the craft area, LOL!!

Busy, busy...

Ooo, I've become one of those people, haven't I? I get the blog going, then ignore it completely...sorry! We have been pretty busy lately, though, if it's any consolation. Let's see...

We had our church's Easter Egg Hunt.

Went on a vacation, thanks to hubby's job. We went to Hilton Head for the week before Easter. I like it better in the off-season, but we took what we got.
We stay on HH so that we can go to Savannah, which I looooove!

We took the kids to Bonaventure Cemetery. It's my favorite place in Sav.

Then it was Hunting Island State Park. We have a thing for lighthouses, and last year, we missed going up by 10 mins. So, we had to do it this year.
I have some brave kids, people! They love going up and seeing the view. Although, poor hubby has a thing for heights. I've been very proud of him this year. He made it all the way around the top without having his back plastered up against the wall! Yay, hubby!

I'll be back with more soon! We are off to a Meet & Greet in Greenville today!

Funny Story....

Okay, so here's the funny story about the topiary. But, you know how some stories are funny to you, but then you go and tell them to someone else and they look at you weird? This might be one of those.

As you heard in the last post, I tend to craft quite a bit, and I like to spice it up. What happens to all of those crafts you ask? Well, I tried my hand at the craft show circuit, but that was a major eye opener (not to mention a blow to my self conscience!). So, most of the stuff is either up in the attic, at my Mom's, or in the heat of a hissy fit, thrown out. I know, that last one isn't very adult of me, but us artists are like that. Oh, right, the story..I'm getting there.

The hubby and I were up in the attic this past fall, doing some cleaning, and I came across these really pretty topiary's.

"Oooo, these are really pretty, I should put these out!", I say.

"Hmm.", says hubby.

I look at them some more..they really are nice.

"Where did I get these, honey? Why aren't they downstairs?", I ask. My memory ain't what it used to be, you know.

There is silence from the hubby, so I look up to see why he isn't answering me. He is staring at me like I've grown another head.

"What?", I ask.

"Really?", he says.

"What?", I repeat.

"You made those, honey. Don't you remember?"

I am shocked. He must be mistaken, I don't make anything that looks that good.

"I didn't make these, these are nice."

He stares at me. "Honey, listen to me, you made those, I promise. Look at the bottom, you probably signed them."

I did, and I had.

I figured out that what I see, and what others see, are two totally different things. Weird, right?

P.S. the picture isn't one of the topiaries in the story, I can't find a pic of those. That is one of the floral arrangements I've made. It was the closest thing I had, sorry!

A little crafty-ness

The hubby says that I have crafters ADD. I have tried lots of different crafts, but have not settled on one. Maybe I'm just looking for THE ONE. Maybe I'm just trying to prove to myself that I can do them? I don't know. I do know that I love crafting, whatever it is I decide to do that day!


Let's see....I've tried decorative painting, mosaics, floral design, decopauge, wire jewlery, scrapbooking, faux stain glass work, stamping, wooden box purses, took a sewing class, made faux topiaries (there is a funny story with that one!), stamp carving, paper mache, wool felt applique, and my newest adventure....hand embroidery.


Okay, so that does seem like alot when you put it in print. Hmmm, maybe the hubby is right, but don't tell him that!

I have taught myself almost everything I've done, with the exception of a One-stroke painting class, and the sewing class. The hand embroidery is by far my favorite. I think that it might be because it sort of links me with my Maternal Grandmother and my Mother in a crafty way.

My Mom's Mom quilted and crocheted, and my Mom did Cross-Stitch for as long as I can remember. Oh, I've cross-stitched as well, so add that to the list! I don't care for cross-stitching (sorry, Mom!) because I can never keep my place counting all those little colored boxes on the patterens! Ugh! I'm too much of a spaz to work the sewing machine, and hand quilting just seems like it would take too long. And with the emboidery, you can do anything you'd like. I have done two drawing that my kids did for me, a regular pattern, and I just finished my very first portrait! I need some work on my satin stictches, but I am very proud of how it came out.

Don't eat the ants!

Here is a funny story for you guys! But first, a little background, hmmm? We got a Mini Schnauzer pup last weekend, and although he is a cute little thing, I worry about him. *rolls eyes and twirls index finger near temple* And, he isn't potty trained yet, so that means I'm taking him out constantly (which doesn't guarantee that I won't find a surprise). We named him Chewie since he chews on everything! Soooooo.............

I take him out for the umpteenth time this evening (in the rain..ok, drizzle, but still) and he immediately begins to chew on stuff. I look away for 2 seconds, look back, still chewing. Okay, he really needs to do his "business", so I call him to get his attention. He looks, and I notice he has red clay on his muzzle. "Are you eating dirt?", I ask him. Oh, yes he is, but not just any dirt, nooooo. Extra Special Boy is eating ant pile dirt. And there are ants on his face. Holy........ I snatch him up, rush into the house, throw him in the tub, yell for the hubby, and start hosing him down. Ants are flying down the drain like they are on a water park ride, he's trying to escape, and I'm getting bitten! Add to that my hubby and two kids trying to squeeze into the bathroom for a look, when said bathroom is the size of a closet. There was some yelling going on, I will admit. There doesn't seem to be any emotional scarring, but I reeeeally hope that he learned his lesson!

Dang Leprechauns!

This St. Pat's Day, was the first time we'd ever been visited by Leprechaun's, and boy are they boogers! They toilet papered most of the ceiling fans and my plant. Along with a couple of the kids' favorite toys. They left green pencils (can you tell we homeschool?!) hidden all over the house, and filled our "treasure box" with chocolate gold coins and rolo's. They also turned the toilet water green, and left little green smudges (from whatever they used to do the water) all over the place! The kids thought it was hilarious, and can't wait to put the box back out next year! Hopefully, the little boogers will be a little more creative next year!

I was a bit under the weather for a bit last week, and boy did it suck!!! I had to be on antibiotics that didn't want me drinking caffeine! Ack! I thought I was dying from the withdrawl. I had already decided, before having to be on the meds., to stop drinking soda's. But, my morning coffee was something totally different. I wasn't giving up that! Well, show's what I know, cuz I did it for the last 6 days. I WILL be having coffee in the morning, that's for sure! I was so tired the first day, I alsmost dozed off helping my youngest with her math work. It felt like someone had drugged me. Then, came the headache. I had that puppy for two and a half days straight! Blech, I am so glad it's over. Although, now the allergies have kicked in. Things are blooming, which is pretty for the eyes, but not so much for the nose. Looks like it's time for more medicine!

I was also not supposed to be in the sun for long periods of time on the meds., and Saturday was a M & G in Greenville for the Greyhound group. All the rest of them had been inside, so now worries! WRONG!!! We were outside, with no cover, for 2 hours or so! I got a slight sunburn, and then worried all night about what might happen, thanks to the vague threats about prolonged sun exposer on the bottle. But, we did get to hang out with Sadie's Grey friends, and talk to alot of nice people. So, it was worth it in the end.

I'm getting excited about next years curriculum for school. We went to our local homeschool bookstore.....man, I could stay in there for hours!....and looked at some really cool stuff. We are having a curriculum fair at our Round Table meeting next month, so we can see types of curriculum some of the other families use. It's all hands on, and the families will talk about how they use it, pricing, etc. Hopefully, I'll be a little more organized next year, too.

Here are some pics. from the M & G. I know you guys are just dying to see those!

Sadie and her Foster Dad having a cuddle

Lovely Quinn ( 3 weeks off the track, I think ) who is petite, but a bit taller than Sadie, and Extra Large Orlando.

Quinn getting some lovin'. This little one was soo cute! He did not want to leave!

What lovely Greyhounds they are!