End of this school year and AI

This has seriously been the longest week eVeR!  For starters, this afternoon marks the beginning of my kids' summer vacay.  I think I'm more excited than even they are!  You see,  I was finished with school a long time ago.  Well, in reality, I've been finished with the Spring semester for about 20 days now, but with my kiddos still in school, that meant getting up early to drive them to school.  Twenty days of staying up very late either sewing or scrolling through that damned Pinterest...
So that means that tomorrow, I can finally sleep in....although, that would be Friday, which happens to be

garage sale day...

Ugh!

Oh, and yesterday was also the finale of American Idol and Phillip Phillips is our new idol:

Emotions took over and he couldn't even finish singing his song (which I love, by the way), and he walked to his mama for a hug.   I wish him the very best in the journey he's embarking on.    I was rooting for Joshua Ledet, but you just can't help but be happy for Phillip.  I sincerely wish him a very long and successful career.   I wish that for all of the contestants that made it so close to the finale!
By the way, I think it is very mean and disrespectful for people to post mean comments if their favorite didn't win.  I will never do that.
I will say, however, that the two hour finale of AI was just a bit too long for me.  I don't like being in suspense any longer than necessary, but I loved the tribute to Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.

I don't know what on earth I'm going to do on Wednesdays and Thursdays now that AI is over since that is the only thing I ever watched on TV (:

And totally off the subject, I'm getting a haircut tomorrow.  It's definitely not an option anymore, but rather a necessity!  I'm hoping she doesn't have to chop too much off.  Fingers crossed!

That's it for this post....heading to Pinterest bed.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday!!

Memory Lane

**Disclaimer: I had to edit this post because Blogger apparently had some technical difficulties that caused the post to be "published" almost every time I hit the enter key.  I was pretty P.O.'d by the time I finally got it to cooperate somewhat (!)  I finally gave up and posted it "as is."  Oh, and the pics and videos are via Google and Youtube.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s was absolutely awesome. I'm so very blessed to have been born when I was and all I got to experience. I wouldn't trade my childhood for any other era. My tween and teenage years were awesome because I grew up listening to the very best music EVER. I've talked about it in previous posts and I'll say it again: The music from that time was music. Those of you lucky enough to have grown up listening to music from the late 70s and 80s know what I mean.
Even now, whenever I listen to most any song from that era puts me right back to the carefree days of my youth and more often than not, I can even remember what I was doing, or where my mom and I were going, or even where my best friend Eleanor and I were hanging out. The good 'ol days, that's for sure.
One of my absolute favorite bands from this time was of course, The Bee Gees.

Awww...I remember you literally couldn't pass by a radio on the dial without hearing one of their songs blaring from the speakers. I remember I bought every single 45 I could get my hands on. I played each one about a 18 million times each. True story! For those of you that don't know what a 45 is, I'll spare you the trouble of looking in the history books:

I had all of these and more.
Who could forget their hits, such as Too Much Heaven:


Or Night Fever:




Or Stayin' Alive??:



Love You Inside and Out is another great one:




More Than A Woman:



The Bee Gees were brothers Barry Gibb, (the one in the middle, who, by the way, I used to swear I was going to marry him when I grew up..), and twins, Robin on the left and Maurice on the right. I was also a huge fan of their younger brother, Andy. And my bedroom was full of 45s. If any of my 45s were to get scratched, or say, melt in a pot of boiling hot gravy (this really happened and it deserves it's own post someday!), I immediately bought a replacement.
The Bee Gees' music will always be very special to me and I was beyond thrilled when Barry and Robin sang some of the Bee Gees songs on American Idol a couple years back. My neighbors probably remember that day because I turned the volume ALL the way up!
I was shocked to learn of Robin Gibb's death yesterday. I knew he had been in the hospital but I had kept up on his progress and he actually was improving. Unfortunately, his health deteriorated again and he passed. And I am so very sad.

But thanks to the internet and Youtube, their music will live on forever.
May he rest in peace.

Chenille baby blanket

During the last week, there were actually times that I felt normal enough to get some housework done, spend a little bit of time on pinterest and even work on a few projects.  Not in that particular order, but you know what I mean (:
These times were few and far between, but I still welcomed them with open arms.    Now, just to clarify, my "normal" times were due to being on a vicodin-induced stupor (stupid wisdom teeth before being extracted).
I even felt well enough to not just have started, but actually complete my first chenille baby blanket.   And I love it!  (sorry, the pics aren't the greatest..)

 I read the tutorial on pinterest and started it up.  It wasn't hard, and I actually loved doing it.  The only "boring" part was the cutting.  Definitely not my favorite part of the whole process.

 I only used two layers of flannel and I was happy with the result, but maybe next time I'll try it with three layers.

 

You have to wash and dry your finished blanket to see the chenille magically appear.  It's pretty awesome.

Beautiful blanket, huh?!  I think so.  If you want to make your own, you can get the tutorial here.

I have some beautiful fabric to make another one, and I even found the flannel on sale!  How awesome is that!?  I'll post pics of that one when I finish it.

Have a wonderful week!

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's day weekend was awesome.
My mom stayed with our kids Saturday night and the hubs took me to the casinos in Black Hawk.  It was fun.  We got home very late and slept in on Sunday.  Sunday mornings, I woke up to my babies standing next to my bed calling my name and I opened my eyes and they were standing there with breakfast!  They made me (all by themselves (!)), scrambled eggs with a fried hot dog cut up like pennies, a glass of orange juice and a danish.  It was so sweet.  They sat next to me and we shared it (:

Then, we lazied around before we headed to the gym and the pool.  I wasn't in the best mood for about 30 minutes because 1) I wasn't feeling great because I had heartburn x100, 2) the dog for some reason decided to relieve himself on the stairs before we left and 3) I had an ingrown toenail that was throbbing and I couldn't find any of our nailclippers... 
After we left the gym, I was feeling much better.  We went to my mom's to wish her a happy mother's day and to drop off her gift and then we all headed to our house for a BBQ.  The hubs really did a great job grilling.  Everything was delicious!!

The hubs surprised me with this awesome Michael Kors handbag:

(via Google)

The one he bought me is kind of a grey color and I L-O-V-E it.  He did very good!

Hope your mother's day was awesome too (:

Brain dump

A whole lot has happened in the last week.  A big thing is that I somehow got through finals.  I'm not sure how I pulled that off with an epic toothache.  My head literally felt as if it were being split in two and my neck was so stiff and sore.  Friday couldn't get here soon enough: that's when I finally got the last tooth pulled.  The finals I had at the beginning of the week were very difficult because my tooth was hurting pretty bad and I hurried through them.
During Thursday's final, I wasthisfrickinclose to turning my final in incomplete because I was in such incredible pain, even after having taken three ibuprophens right before the final.  I managed to stay until I was finished, but it was bad.  Very bad.  I was close to tears when I left and I didn't really care what my grade would be.  Let me rephrase that:  I did care, just not at that moment.  The final was super long and I could not wait until I could go home and have some more meds.
Happy birthday to me, huh?

This was also my baby's birthday, but we celebrated Gabriella's birthday on Saturday. She made off like a bandit with her gifts, by the way!

Miraculously, I did awesome on my grades and I finished the semester exactly how I wanted.  I ended up with A's in my other classes.  God is good.
Thursday's final was somewhat more stressful than my others because I tested for the class during the Christmas break, and depending where you scored, determined which level you would place at.  I ended up placing pretty high, and if you ended the semester with an A or B, the credits were retroactive, meaning you would get the credits for the lower level classes you didn't end up having to take.  It was actually two classes rolled into one, and since I ended up with a B+, I ended up with 26 credits instead of only 6.  Pretty cool, huh?!  I think Yes!

Since getting the last tooth pulled, I just wasn't feeling better.  I finally asked the hubs to take me to the emergency room late last night and apparently, I have an infection.  I left with a prescription for antibiotic and vicodin.  The nurse was kind enough (or maybe she felt sorry enough for me) to give me a dose of both before I left.  Needless to say, I slept well last night.  My mom stayed with my kiddos while we were at the hospital and they were fast asleep when we got home.  I appreciate my mom so much.  She's always willing to help in any way she can.

Something else that was awesome was that the hubs was salesman of the month for April.  He kicked butt and  I'm proud of him.  He really did an awesome job.  He literally left the other salespeople in the dust. (:

Another thing from the last week is that I've started an awesome project, but havn't been able to work on it because a) I've been sick, and b) well, my sewing maching has also been sick.  I'm taking it to the shop tomorrow and hopefully, I'll get it back in a few days.  Fingers crossed!  I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Thanks for putting up with my big-time antibiotic and vicodin-induced brain dump.

I hope your day is absolutely beautiful! 

Birthday letter to my beautiful Gabriella

May 3, 2012


Dearest Gabriella,

As you know, today is the third day of May, my birthday and I thank God for today and all I am blessed with, because it really is plenty.

I'm not going to talk about my age, but suffice it to say that I've had a few birthdays.  Some birthdays have been lame, for lack of a better word.  Others have been ok, and still others have been downright awesome.

You know how some birthdays stand out more than others and they are just off-the-charts on the awesome scale?  Well, one birthday in particular stands out in my mind and I remember every single detail from that very special birthday.  It was May 3, 2000.   That was the year I received the most beautiful and special birthday gift imaginable:

You.

My scheduled C-section was scheduled for May 17, but you, obviously, had other plans (:

I would pray for you every day and I would talk to you every day and you would respond to my voice and it warmed my heart so much.  I remember staring at all of my ultrasound pictures and try to imagine how you would be and what your voice would sound like.  I remember whenever I would see the one above, I'd think "Wow, your feet look big!"  I never imagined that by the 3rd grade, we would be sharing shoes.

You are everything I ever wanted in a daughter and more.  You have always made me very proud and I am truly honored to have you call me Honey, or mom.  You still call me both.  Not sure why, you just do.

I loved combing your hair for school.  You don't let me do that too often anymore.  I understand..becoming independent is part of growing up..

But I sure do miss it (:

I remembered after seeing the picture below, how I thought you would look like this always and maybe even on your wedding day.  Remember how your two front teeth took like five years to grow back?!  Well, almost...

Today you are 12 years old.  Wow.  Where did the time go?  Just yesterday, you were itty-bitty.  Now, you are a young lady.

As the baby of the family, you are the one that everyone should take care of and help.  But you decided at a very young age that the roles would be reversed and you would be the caregiver.  You have always been wise way beyond your years and you always step up to help and take care of everyone else.  You truly are my right-hand.

These pictures are in no particular order, they are just pictures that are very special to me.  And yes, I have wiped a tear or two while writing this.

You followed Marko around all the time.  Trying to do everything he did and becoming so frustrated when you couldn't because you were too little.

This picture of you and daddy is one of my absolute favorites (his too).  It was at the North Pole and it was such a fun day.

You took my breath away when I saw you in your First Communion dress.  So beautiful.

You definitely got daddy's eyes (:

I have lots of "favorite" pics of you, sweetie.  But I think this one tops them all.

You never cease to amaze me with everything you do.  You are the perfect daughter, the perfect birthday gift and you will always be my favorite little girl in the world.

My biggest birthday wish for you is for you to slow down and enjoy every single minute of your childhood.  You deserve it.  There will be plenty of time to be an adult.
I wish happiness, health and success for you always, and may God bless you today and every day.

I love you my baby girl!

Happy Birthday.  I hope all your birthday wishes come true.

XOXO,

Honey (mom)

Pillow Talk part 2

I went to TJ Maxx a few weeks ago with my mini-me (Gabriella) and I soon found myself in the pillow section.  I've told you how I love pillows.  Well, Gabriella certainly took after me in that department because that girl loves throw pillows just as much as I do.
We both saw a pillow we loved, but I put immediately put it back because it was pretty pricey.

And I'm cheap.

So what's a girl to do?
Make her own:

It was pretty easy.  I just cut small squares of felt, pinched them in the center and sewed them on in a row.  This looks like a lot of rows, but it's only three rows total.  Then I just sewed the back to it, turned it right-side-out and stuffed it.  Easy Peasy.

The TJ Maxx one was made from some silky material.  I didn't have any that matched Gabriella's bedroom, so I improvised with some felt I had.

 I actually like the felt better because the curly thingymajiggies (really is a word (!)) stand up better than the silky one at the store.

And more importantly, my mini-me loves it. (: