Thursday, August 30, 2007

Pucker, Pucker, PUCKER!!!

Argh! It's 3 am and I just finished up a complex alteration on a wedding gown for a customer. She wanted an A-line dress turned into a straight dress. Well if you sew you know that's a bit tricky with grain line being off and all, not to mention the side seam PUCKER. Yes, I'm screaming pucker... god help me...I will not do alterations again. Please remind me of the pucker if I ever decide to take in work again.

But better news...WW weigh in was this morning. I am officially 5.2 lbs lighter this Weds. compared to last Wed. Oh yeah, Oh yeah. (Doing the Daphne dance from Scooby Doo) Wait, is that less jiggle in my badonkadonk??? Naw, but I am very upbeat and positive about getting healthy. I made my 3 workout goal for last week but will have to work out Th, Sa, M to make up for waking late this morning. Bought myself some new socks, always a treat. New socks and clean crisp sheets are two things that make me practically giggly with joy.

Well off to bed, off to bed. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow's fitting goes well with the bride in her straight dress.

blessings all!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Painting and Bruchetta


Bruchetta Pizza
1 pc bacon, chopped
2 TBS premade bruchetta sauce
1 small tomato, diced
5 green olives, chopped
handfull of sliced red onion
1/4 cup feta cheese
1 flat out multi grain bread
Combine first 5 ingredients, spread over flat out ( I prefer to toast my bread first to make it extra crispy) Crumble feta on top. Bake at 450 until feta is soft and onions soften...approx. 8 minutes.


sigh...can girls develop angst at the tender age of 8??? Poor d8 has been wanting to paint all day but wasn't allowed due to me having a customer come for a wedding gown fitting just before dinner. Paint, white wedding gown...not a good mix. I could just see paint making it's way into the dining room where I do fittings. Well, you'd think I had told d8 she would be locked in a box the rest of her life. She has been moping all day. Perhaps we'll take a day this weekend for just me and her. Maybe that'll lift her spirits.


exercised today...30 mins on the treadmill. Sweet dh left out knee supports for me...Thanks babe!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

# 1 Threatdown!

Bears!
Gotta love the Threatdown. We spent a fun afternoon up in Mackinaw City. Here the family poses outside of Jim Wehr's new outdoor store.
There was a corvette car show and a craft show too...double fun! Here are d8 and s4 posing next to their favorite car at the show. There were a few super nice ones there.
d8 and s4 pose in the veterans park. hmmm...seems like we're always climbing on cannons!

s4 was really hamming it up for the camera. He had to get his "pothse" just right. I think he succeeded.

Another great day for our gang. The leaves are changing already and the kids delight in pointing out any red leaves. Too soon they'll all be gone and we'll be enjoying really big snowflakes.

Big Hit!

No Bake Apple Berry Crisp was a big hit tonight. Dessert is a rare treat at our house. It's so fun to pull something out of the fridge after dinner and see their surprised faces... a little bonus for my day. Then the compliments..."you made this?" sweet husband inquires incredulously. This same sweet man, who I've been cooking for for 10 years, is also always surprised when there is hot food waiting for him after work. "what, for me?" as I hand him a plate of food. Shhh....don't tell but the crisp is only sliced apples, strawberries, lemon chiffon yogurt and crumbled graham crackers... I want them to be properly impressed each time I slave over a dessert ;-)


I've been wanting to make Ken a kilt for the longest time but have been daunted by the pleats and the cost of quality wool tartan. So, I decided to do a trial run on a little girls one first. All in all it wasn't too difficult. The pleats were very time consuming but turned out very nice. I love how they swing. It is a wrap around and very adjustable. I made it a little fun by adding a pink ruffle and a keyring holder which I'm going to hang a little drawstring pouch on. Below is a pic of the back. I'm going to make up a pink satin blouse and little cap sleeve jacket to go with.


Exercised yesturday...30minutes! Woo hoo for me. I even jogged. Abi decided to join me in the weight room while I was on the treadmill. She did lunges and jumped rope. She's going to be my exercise buddy. I did feel for her though as she was behind me while I was jogging. Luckily she hasn't lost her sight from her retina's being burned out by the horrible site of my jogging buns! Tomorrow is another workout day, which I'm surprisingly looking forward to. I always forget how much better it makes me feel.

Blessings to all!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

A winding drive with a visitor...

Ken's mother, Nancy, is visiting us for a week or two. We took a long scenic drive down many winding roads with names like...Tunnel of Trees and Devils Elbow. Along one side we kept seeing glimpses of vast Lake Michigan. While the drive was gorgeous the kids became a little restless after 2 hours so we stopped for ice cream and tag in the park...









Here's d8 in her flattering duro dress made with Heather Ross horse fabric...gorgeous!




Nancy and the kids pose for a quick pic.



After our drive and play in the park Nancy treated us to a delicious dinner out...I was able to enjoy a "grown up" drink and some yummy mango salso salmon. Thanks Nanc! Tomorrow we're all heading over to my mom's with our telescope to watch the Perseid meteor showers. We're all very excited.





I love pics of Daddy's holding their children's hands...this one is super sweet of Ken holding s4 and d2. d8 skips along in front...old enough to be trusted not to make a dash straight into a speeding car ;-) Sorry the pics are fuzzy...having digital issues.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Kiddie Tractor Pull!

I had such a great time watching the kids do the kiddie tractor pull at the fair this afternoon...




First up was my nephew,4, with a whopping 24 ft!




s4 wasn't too slouchy with a 21 ft haul...



Nephew,8, gave it all his might...
d8 just wouldn't give up...
and walked away with 3rd place in her age group! She won a package of 4 tractors which she generously shared with the boys. She has such a generous heart. She's always been a kindhearted child but today she just radiated warmth, generousity and kindness of heart. She volunteered her balloon to her cousin after his popped and she offered words of encouragement to a friend who was feeling disheartened about not doing well in a contest. I love my gal!
They each received a super fancy tractor ribbon.So fun!
We also received good news from d8's dentist today...it looks like we may be able to avoid years of dental work if we pull a couple teeth now and put in a spacer...Yay!Hope everybody is having a great day too!
hugs,
Missy

Monday, August 06, 2007

Another ride...more pics





We spent the afternoon at my mom's. She and my dad cooked us a fantastic dinner of steak, pork kabobs, steamed broccoli and parsley potatoes. DELISH! Ken practically gets giggly when he finds out we're having supper at my parents...my mom is that good of a cook! We spoke of our exciting homeschooling plans and which language we are going to start with...German, Spanish, Italian??? Then we took another beautiful ride down Black River. We saw swans, a cormorant, geese, a crane and the loons. They were in the distance so we didn't get to hear them. We had enough time to travel around the lake today too. The kids loved going fast across the lake. They took a quick dip with Ken then we zipped back. D2 snuggled up with her Nonni and slept the whole trip back to the dock. I got to snuggle Dozer the dog and enjoy riding in the bow. All in all another blessed day.

S4 and d8 love the thrill of a fast ride!

Dozer, my sister's dog, goes for his first boat ride.

Ken walks on water!

Seagulls perch like little sentinels atop every buoy in the channel.

And we're blessed with another glorious sunset for our ride home.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Loads of Photos...

It's been a busy photo week...here are Ken, D2 and S4 playing our "new" piano...a very generous gift from my mom. Thanks Mom!


Ken spent most of the afternoon trying to make a dent in this 10 long cord of wood. We, I use "we" very loosely here, still need another 20 long cord before winter. There's D2 sporting a new nightgown made from a thrifted sheet.



Ds singing her heart out...it was very hard for me to keep a straight face as she really got into singing, "baby, baaaaabyyyyy, baby, BABY!"




We've taken a couple of boat trips this last week at my mom's. Another one planned for tomorrow. We get to see so much wildlife and we all enjoy it tremendously. Here the girls swing their feet while we wait for daddy to bring up the boat from down the river.


Here's daddy!!!

Nonni (my mom) enjoys the open bow with D2.


We saw a group of 3 loons and also a beaver and several dams. Here is one of the loons. I didn't realize they could swim so well under water! They would dive down from nearly 50 yds away and then pop up in from of the boat and give us a start when they called in fright at our boat.



S4 learns to drive the boat. He was so proud of himself.


Our return up the river with this gorgeous sunset...thank you Father!


Wonderful memories to cherish!

Friday, August 03, 2007

Let the Wind blow in...



is what I should have said! Being a clothesline newbie I didn't realize wind is much better than sun. Now I get giddy when I hear the rustle of the treetops. We live in the woods and the rustle is nearly constant. Today was the perfect day to wash and hang the fabulous vintage sheets and fabric I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of weekends ago. They are destined to become new nighties for me and the girls. I only have a pillowcase of the fun butterflies so it'll be split between the girls nightgowns.





This sheet is all mine though :-) Isn't it beautiful? You can't tell in the picture but the bottom is eyelet and the print is a border one.



My new jammies are a reward for cleaning my sewing room. I'm about 1/2 way through my fabrics and this is how my closet looks so far. I LOVE fabric...sigh.


But.... this is what I still have to do...sort patterns. YUCK! I much prefer to sort fabric. But I just keep thinking about sewing some stuff for me as my reward.



One of my favorite things are acorns...look how cute that is with it's little hat!
Off to finish my fabric sorting and dig into my patterns. I'm hoping to be able to start our nighties by tomorrow morning. Wish me luck and I'll post pics when they're done.
oh, I need to post about our fabulous boatrides we've been taking on my mom's river...we even saw loons and a beaver! Pics to come of that too.