worth moo-tioning...

Happy 70 years to our Grandpa!  :-)

i'll be back soon...

I just told Rick this morning that I'm starting to feel a bit bored and a bit more energetic.  The troops have been busy while I am convalescing -- so I need to get busy taking some updated photos of the basement project.  In the meantime -- here is a photo from 2003.  This photo was taken during the renovation in our old house.  Everyone helps during a renovation -- even little Sofia who is only 2 years old in this photo!

next...

Insulation is done.  The "work crew" is looking pretty happy about this!  Note:  Sofia did not participate in the insulation part of the project -- I just thought she might make the photo a bit cuter! 

Rick is definitely getting better at calculating how much we need of certain supplies.  There are only some remnants left over from the insulation.  I'm certain that this part of the basement is better insulated than the rest of our house.

Let's see how he does at calculating sheet rock :-)

have you ever had this nightmare...

Oh, my gosh...  This is one of the scariest real life photos that I have ever seen.  I have had this nightmare -- mostly when I'm feeling overwhelmed.  Where do you run when something like this happens?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/massive-7-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-japan/

when you're 10 years old...

You dress up in a birthday outfit that you picked out at the store all by yourself...

You eat your favorite pizza for birthday dinner...

You listen to everyone singing an out of tune rendition of "Happy Birthday to you" while holding your new Blythe doll...

You fall asleep on a special rainbow birthday pillowcase and dream about all the good things that happened to you today...

Happy Birthday and sweet dreams to my baby!  :-)

this is what I'm up to...

There were some free listing days over on the "evil bay" -- so I dug through the piles of stuff -- and found a few things to list -- and they found new homes :-)  The "piles" are really not smaller, so, I am hoping for a few more free listing days... In the meantime, I am taking these over to the post office and picking up tomorrow's birthday girl at school.  :-)

another project...

Here is the beginning of a project that I started this weekend.  To continue with my "use what you have" for March, I decided to dig way down in my stash...  These are fabrics that I purchased before Sofia was born --   now that would be going on 10 years.  If you're wondering about the colors -- they are supposed to represent  the colors in Nicholas' Lego Bionicle collection.  I was going to make him a quilt -- but then Sofia happened... :-)  Anyhow, I found a pattern over at the ModaBakeShop blog courtesy of KarrieLyne from freckledwhimsy.com (such a cute name).  The pattern is easy, but makes a big visual impact -- so I thought I would give it a try.

Here are the fabric strips that I cut.

This small square is made up of 15 separate pieces sewn together.

And, of course, something for Nicholas just wouldn't be right if it didn't have a little bit of red added to it!

It doesn't look like much, yet, but I only gave myself 2 hours on Saturday afternoon to play with this.  Now, that I have the idea in my head, I think the rest of it will go a bit more quickly.  This will eventually be a pillow.   I would like to also make a matching quilt for Nicholas -- but that will have to wait until after the quilt for my bed.

to be cont'd... 

hey, watch out...

There's lots of air traffic here this morning.  Where is everyone going?  Hey, maybe there's a sale I don't know about!  :-)  Click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better view of what's going on way up there...

use what you have...

I am in the middle of a challenge for myself.  For the month of March I am cutting out "frivolous" spending.  I decided that I need to do some serious spring cleaning.  This is a necessity in the basement,  my sewing room, and in the arts/crafts supplies.  So, my challenge to myself is to only use what I have.  At the end of the month, if I haven't made at least a small dent in the pile, then I will think about doing the same thing for April...May...June...  Well, you get the picture!

What's my inspiration for this challenge?  Our basement project, of course!

This is the view at the bottom of the steps looking south. I am standing in the front "unfinished" area looking towards the back of the house.  The beams at the right side of the photo (before the freezer) belong to the framing for a pantry closet.  The freezer is now sitting under the stairway (you can see one of the steps above the freezer).  This was my old "secret" closet.  Rick pulled out the entire door and frame, but left the sheetrock that he installed to create the closet (you can see this to the left of the freezer at the beginning of the framework).  Beyond the sheetrock  is the framework for a wall which will enclose the furnace area (the furnace cannot be seen in the photo.  It is to the right of the framing.)  At the left side of the photo is the framework for my new "secret" closet.  I love looking at how neatly Rick has framed in the duct work (top of photo).  Now, let your eye travel down the yellow/red/blue path (on the floor), towards that single illuminated lightbulb, into the area that will eventually become the art center (currently filled with toys, toys, and more toys).

Here is another photo of Rick's beautiful framing work.  For this photo, I am standing at the end of that pathway in the previous photo -- but now I am looking towards the west side of the house (the single illuminated bulb is (south) to my left).  Rick was thinking about moving the waste pipe that he enclosed with the framework -- but that may have caused problems we don't need.  So, we opted for the soffet (sp?).  This soffet is not on a focal wall, or in an important area of the room, so it's fine.  Beyond the soffet is the framing for one of the two closets in the art center.

To be cont'd...

Questions? or Comments are welcome! 

being green...

What?  You didn't know that I am Irish?  Well...I used to be -- but since I turned 40, I'm not anymore...long story better left untold...

Anyhow, as me olde Italian grandmother, Mary, used to say -- "everyone is a wee bit Irish on St. Patty's day..." So, this year I decided to add a couple of St. Patrick's day flags to my collection.  Rick said okay to these because they have Snoopy and Charlie Brown on them -- otherwise he is thinking I'm going a bit bonzo...  I promised not to get too carried away with the decorations -- but, I don't have anything for my front door (which I always decorate).  So, I decided to cut out a few shamrocks with my Cricut.  Only thing is -- I don't have a cartridge with a shamrock shape.  Now, do you think that would that stop me?  Of course not.  To create the shamrocks shown in the photo I used 3 heart shapes plus a rectangle.  I "welded" them together, expanded them to 8" and cut them out.

I'm off to take down the snowflakes and put up the shamrocks.  Maybe I'll see a rainbow ... :-)

jumping for joy...

Simply because it's March 1st! :-)

Hmmm...think it's time to change that background photo?