Check out this....Primitive Echoes - Treasures of the Past Giveaway

Primitive Echoes - Treasures of the Past: My first Giveaway: "I think it is about time I got in gear and did my first giveaway. I keep saying to myself, 'do it tonight' but then life sucks me in and I f..."

Hair nets and aprons..

Well, it has been a day or two since my last post..As is touched on in my last post, I got a job as a 'cooks assistant' at the Middle School here and absolutely love it! Yes, I'm a LUNCH LADY!!! But a nice one I So I don a hair net and apron everyday.  I have been busy sewing aprons for myself since I didn't have but one and they don't supply aprons that are cute!!  Only dull white one!!! So I have made myself four new aprons and have two more that I ordered but aren't here yet ... gotta try and look good, even with a hair net!!  lol . My BFF Tanya sent me a cute pattern and a book full of aprons patterns so I need to try a couple of them out too!! Thanks Sis.. love you most!!.. I work with three other very nice gals and I am really enjoying it.  I only work 4 1/2 or 5 hours a day, I don't have to go until the kids are on the bus and am off before they get home, so it is perfect for them and me!!  I won't have to work in the summers or any vacation or other days the school kids have off!!  I sure won't get rich but it's a little spending money and some well needed ADULT time for me.  I do miss being home and my routine here, but it has been good for me.  It helps I like the ladies I work with and the kitchen mgr told me today she sure was glad she picked me!! Any vote of confidence it a good thing. I am having to get used to being on my feet so much, but it is getting better, I sure do sleep good at night!!  I do need to get busy sewing a special order for a friend of mine, but she is being so great and not rushing me.  It snowed here today so it will be a good weekend to do some stitching!!  I'll get them done Bonnie!!! tee hee.

I hope to be know as a nice lunch lady not like this gal!!! LOL... I did have a student tell me he liked me because I'm nice to them and don't yell all the time!!!  So I guess I'm doing okay!! :O)

Well, it's Friday night so I get the night off from cooking..so I guess I'll head to town to get some dinner!!

Have a good night... 

7 Things About Me!!

One of my best friends EVER, Tanya of Bead & Needle tagged me on  her blog, so I’m playing along, it just took me a few days to figure out 7 things about me that you might actually want to know.  I live a simple, kind of quiet life with my kids and my Trucker hubby, he isn’t very out going and I on the other hand an VERY outgoing, so how we got hooked up in beyond me.  So over the past 12 years instead of him coming more of his shell, I just don’t go like I used to, some because I don’t like to go alone and maybe more because of financial boundaries!!  It’s not fun being poor!!  But I am rich in many more ways so it’s all good.  Okay now the 7 things I thought maybe you wouldn’t necessary think of when you think about me.

1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE antiques, my house is NOT full of them but I wish it was.  One of my best days last summer was when I finally got to meet Tanya and we just spent the day at an antique mall in Denver, we had the best time and it felt like we had known each other forever and it was just a nice,nice day and I can’t wait to spend more time with her this summer!! LOVE YOU!!

2. & 3. My trucker husband tells me all the time that I should be the truck driver in our family, I am a night owl, but also an early bird.  Don’t know why, but I don’t require a lot of sleep.  Maybe it was all those years of shift work but I can go with very little sleep.!!

4. I’ll admit it, I’m a big ole cry baby!!!  I cry at the weirdest things,  commercials, soap operas, greeting cards, or just kind words, I’ll cry at the drop of a hat.  Not a good trait I admit and it isn’t one I have outgrown as I have gotten older!!

5. Yes I was cheerleader, nothing like the ones in the picture above but none the less I wore the skirt and sweater and cheered for the Prairie Mustangs.  I can from a very small school and it was one of those things that if you didn’t partake in most of the groups then there wouldn’t be a group.  I graduated from a class of 14, so that should give you some idea the size of the school!!  I think my senior year there were 180 students and the was K-12!!  But I loved it, we were one big family!!

6. I love, love, love volleyball.  I played in high school and college and on several city league and intramural teams.  If it weren’t for my knees hurting so much I would still be playing as much as I could.  I played when I was preggers with Brandon and Ash, but since then I  haven’t played much.

7. I really like hearts,  I made the banners in the pictures for my Ash, she said I didn’t have enough  Valentine’s decorations.  But hearts have always been a favorite of mine.  Our wedding cake was even heart shaped, and I have them worked into my décor  in most of the rooms of my house.

Well there you have it, 7 things about me that you may not have know. I think I am suppose to pass this on to ten other bloggers, but I’ll leave that up to you…. If you see this post and want to play along , do it and let me know and I’d love to come read 7 things about you!!  Thanks Tanya, this was fun, I did think of a couple other things but didn’t want to get to carried away.. lol

Love you girl, I hope to get to going on some sewing so please keep checking  back to check out my things, I’m going to really try to get some things on ETSY soon..

Oh and I just got a job too!!!! I’m going to be an assistant cook at the Middle School here, not a lot of pay, but great hours.  I only work 4.5 or 5 hours a day, so I can still get the kids on the bus and be home when they get home and I will be home for holidays and in the summer!!  Perfect for them and me for now!!

Birthday, Bowling & Basketball!!!

Seems like forever since my last post, I guess I've just been busy!!

Ash had her 7th Birthday on the 19, it would have been my Grandpa Kings 107th!!! She had a great day, besides having a bout with the flu bug and missed some school that week, but she got her cowboy boots she wanted and I made her a Tiger that she requested and then on Saturday we surprised her and took her bowling for two hours.  Just the four of us!! It was fun and the kids loved all the bowling they got to do in two hours.  Brandon is playing basketball so we have been busy!!

Ash and the tiger I made her. She named him 'HUGGY' because she said he looks like he is going to HUG you!!

My beautiful kids. Ash now 7 and Brandon 11 !!  LOVE  YOU!!

She wanted to wear this so she wouldn't see where we were taking her for her 'surprise'.. I hope no one in town saw us, they might have thought we were bad parents!! lol 

My Trucker bowling for the first time since he was 11 or 12, we won't say how many years that is!!  He did great!!

Brandon waiting for that strike!!! He had a basketball game first, so he got a good workout that day!!

Such pretty shoes!!! 

Ash trying out this day glow orange ball!! 

Now he's getting the hang of it!!  What a fun day we had!!

Heart & Flowers

In my last post I had some fabric all set to make a special order lamp for my friend and good customer, Judy, in Florida and after a few unexpected delays..moms perm, me being sick, and on and on...lol... I finally got it done today and I must say I do like it a lot.  I wasn't sure about the greenery at first but now that is is all together I just love it and Judy approved to it will be headed to her kitchen in the morning. 

   

My trucker man is finally back to work, but still up in the air about his truck so I think all the stress of him not working and just no money in general has me sewing, I think mainly to keep my mind off things and I also go two sets of this Valentine's Day heart garland done today also!! My daughter, Ash didn't think we had enough decorations for Valentine's Day, I think after all the Christmas pretties, my sparse heart decorations weren't quite enough, so I made these up today just for her!!!  She was excited and said she loved them all and couldn't pick her favorite one!!  I also got a call for a quick mending job today so I made a little spending money today which is always a good thing!!!

   

Well, now that I'm back in the sewing mood, I need get busy and try to get some things on Esty and give that a try!!!

Shades of Blue and a splash of red....

I need to get to work....on something... I haven't sewn anything for a few weeks and I'm getting the itch do get busy.  I am struggling with what tho.  I have a special from my friend Judy in Florida.  She is a great customer and needs a lamp for in between Christmas and Easter.  I don't want to make it to much of a Valentine's Day theme, I want her to be able to use it all year not just for a month of so.  So I found this pretty blue floral print and am going to make some hearts out of it and then apply a smaller heart in the middle out of osnaburg using a blanket stitch.  It's for her kitchen and it sounds beautiful...navy blue and cream with a touch of red and barn wood floors, and a big rag rug...I'd love to see it in person.  So I'm going to add just a touch of red in this piece possibly with the bow or the container I use.  I haven't decided on that yet, wanted to make the hearts and go from there. I hope she approves of my choice of fabric.. with only ONE fabric store in town and no funds to travel or shop on line I had to do with what I found here.  I love it tho and think it will make pretty hearts and I think I may makes some Easter Eggs with it also for a shabby chic look!!  What do you think.. What do you buy??  I need to make items to sell and that is the key word... TO SELL... I need to use my time on things that will sell for me.  I need the income and would like your opinion on what you look for, I'm up for ideas and suggestions I got a couple from the ladies in my eBay group and they reminded me of things that have sold well for me in the past and I will get started on those too, so throw something at me, I may just run with it!!! :O)

I also have some great cutter quilt pieces that will make great prim eggs.... oh my, the wheels are starting to turn again....

Okay now I'd better get to it!!!

~~~ HAPPY NEW YEAR ~~~

Happy New Year!!??!!
Will it be, can it be??!!
Well we had a really wonderful Christmas, the kids were happy and my Trucker man really outdid himself and got me more than I asked for or feel like I deserved.  I got a net book, so fun.  I'm typing on it now!!  But still learning how to use it.  It is super fast and so nice to be sitting in the living room surfing the blogs and FB instead of in the basement.  Problem, trucker and kids want on it too!!!  So I share..:O) And we did finally got some much needed snow!! Yes I said much needed...it is so dry here, we need to moisture that comes with it.  But  bitter cold along with it.  It is so pretty but can warm up now!!
Now for the "New Year" and the bitter pill we are having to swallow, already.  Actually the "old year" didn't end the best after Christmas.  The trucker has had the demons with his trucks the past couple of years,and he finally found one, we thought, that was going to be a good truck for him and it went down on him and it isn't just a 'small fix'.  It's a 10K fix, many more K's than we even have.  He is just sick about it and really has been lost the past few days.  He hasn't worked since Friday of Christmas Eve.  We took the truck to a shop on Tues hoping to get news that is may only be a minor problem but no such luck, it's major!!!  He has only had this truck about 3 weeks, and only bought it because was told that he had a complete overhaul,  well people aren't honest and now we are no better off than we were three weeks ago with no truck, because basically we have still have no truck!!  And he as tried call some people about renting or leasing until we can get this one fixed or replaced but haven't had much luck there. They guy he bought it from wants to try to help, he wants to do a quick bandage fix, not the fix it needs to get going, but we know that bandages come off and it would soon need the major fix and it would be all on us then. So frustrating and sad.
I did very well at my shows but used that money for Christmas, if I would have known I would have rat holed some of that money to help out, but he was working and so excited about this new truck.  It was running so great!!!  Talking about taking some time to go back to Illinois for Easter to see his mom, but now we are just lost and trying to keep our spirits up for the kids sake.  They just play so well and are such happy kids.   It breaks my heart to see my husband like this.  He works hard and is honest as the day is long, so for someone to NOT show him the same really tears at his heart and soul.  
We will make it but we were really looking forward to a New Year of new hope and things turning around for us...but it's early....!!! 

~~ Cookie Art ~~ My Tree ~~ Simply wish~~

The kiddos are home now!! Yay... I LOVE my kids being home with me.  Yesterday we tackled making some sugar cookies. Well, let's say we ALL started and I finished them up.  But it was fun.  I'm no Martha Stewart but they did turn our pretty and they are pretty yummy!!

 We tried to be creative, Ash was handling the white frosting part of the time!! 

 The ones above are trees, the one on the far right is her tree.

 To the left....Most of the finished product!! 

Left: This is Ashley 'Lion', why a lion??  Don't really know, but I can see it....don't you??  

The days are growing shorter when the paper will be flying, then just as quickly as the moment is there it will be gone and it will be filled with empty boxes and torn paper and bows.  But the LOVE that will fill the room is,for me, the best present ever and the best part of the day!!  I didn't ask for anything from my Trucker man, I just told him all I cared about was that we were together and the kids have a great day. 

I thought I'd share my tree and some of the pretties one it.  My 'sis' Tanya, Bead and Needle, shared hers one her blog.. so I'm copying you girl!!! lol... Love to see all the trees!! 

 

There is no more room under this tree!!! 

Ash made this for me.  So simple I love it!!

Buzz....love's Christmas...to Infinity and Beyond !!!

Glass Santa, I have about 5 of these all in different outfits and colors.

Swirly...

Tin heart... Love it...

Merry Christmas my dear blogging friends.

My Simply Wish for you is that I hope this Christmas is filled with joy and laughter and LOVE, three things you can't wrap and put under the tree but in your heart!! 

I couldn't be more proud...

"I already have enough toys.."

Out of the mouths of babes. My son Brandon makes me so very proud everyday, but last night was a very proud one for me.  He was having a tough day anyway.  He was asking about a new jacket for Christmas and I asked him why he wanted a new one when he had his 'red' one...

Now the story..

He had left his 'red' jacket at school sometime ago and I told him to make sure and get it out of the lost and found box, well as things go, you forget or don't think about it again because the weather has been cold enough that he has had to wear his heavier coat.  Well so when he asked about the new jacket for Christmas, I asked if he didn't get his out of the lost and found box.  He said he looked and it wasn't there and that another boy was wearing it now.  I then asked him if he asked for it back and he said he did but the boy just told him he 'bought' it.  Well if you know my son, you know is a bit of a tender heart, not a baby, just very sensitive AND the last thing he ever wants to do is get anyone in trouble or to be called a tattle tale or teacher's pet.  Kids at this age can be so mean and the last thing Brandon wants is to not have someone NOT like him.  He's a little insecure about that,  but we want him to stand up for what is right and for himself.  So we told him he should have told a teacher or us when this happened so we could get it taken care of, he just started to cry and shook his head "no".  I felt so bad for him because he just doesn't want to get any kid in trouble, even one that stole from him. So I've emailed the teacher and called the school but haven't heard anything back yet.  I just wish things like this didn't happen and if that boy wears that coat home, what has he told his parents where it came from?  If one of my kids came home with a coat I didn't buy I would sure be finding out where it came from, but maybe they don't care and that is why he thinks it is okay to keep it!!  Sad world we live in at times.  So we get past that trauma and I was looking in Brandon's planner and there was a note from "Santa" saying that all the kids at school need to write a letter to him and the best letter will win a prize.  It was due today so I asked him if he had written it at school and he said no and still through the tears he was shedding from the coat thing, he told me that he wasn't going to write a letter because he already has enough stuff and that some other kids might need new toys... Okay so now I'm in tears too, but I did talk him into writing the letter and telling Santa what he told me... here is part of his letter!!

"..there are kids all over the world that don't have toys and I have lots of nice things, so my wish this year for Christmas is for you give the gift you had for me to someone else because they need it more than I do... and please don't forget my sister Ashley, she wants a guitar!!"

Thanks and Merry Christmas"

Brandon Locke

Brandon and Ash... my heart and soul!!!

I must say I have never been more proud that I was when I saw what he had written!!!  The true spirit of Christmas lives in my son's heart and has made my heart swell with more love and pride that I could ever express!! 

Merry Christmas Brandon... Mommy loves you!!! 

Oh I may have to try these!!!

Okay, I'm being a little lazy today and letting Jen of Dangerously Domestic handle my blog post, but when I saw these trees I just had to share her tutorial with you!!! She is so creative and there are so many pretty ones, it's very hard to choose a favorite!!! 

Go check her it out.. Humm, I'm thinking this would be a fun swap gift for next year, it sure would be fun to see what my girlfriends would come up with!! 

Have fun looking, I sure did!!! 

Go look there's more!!!!