Early July Morning, Cocoa Beach, Florida

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE DANCE



My daughter teaches at several dance studios; one of which wants her to do a contemporary piece. So, just the other day, she choreographed a piece and I would like to share it with you. This is during a rehearsal at the studio.

Monday, May 28, 2012

The Start of Summer 2012

Today is Memorial Day. Usually, on this day, our family is doing family stuff. I know my extended family in Colorado are going to all the graves and decorating them. Did you know Memorial Day use to be called Decoration Day? I guess it's because people go around decorating graves of loved ones.
 Colorado, close to where some of my family are buried
In past years on this weekend, we have been on cruises. It is the first weekend that everyone is out of school, and the last weekend before the rates go way up. It is warm, but not excessively warm like it gets as the summer progresses; a perfect time for a family cruise.
This years is a little different. I guess we are pretty much homeless. We sold and moved out of our previous home, and can't get into our new home for about a month. Bill's parents have been nice enough to let us crash, three big kids, a dog and Bill and I. It sure is nice to have great in laws!
Scott in Tennessee on the Carter property
This Memorial Day is pretty quiet. Bill went canoeing and fishing with his cousin, and the boys went out to the creek. It's just me, Sox and Bill's mom and dad. To be honest, I am enjoying the quiet. Last week was so chaotic, that a few days of peace and rest have been a welcome sight for me.
 
 One of many creeks the kids like to go
Tomorrow begins another week. Being a Tuesday, it will be a short week. Bill starts back to work, and Scott goes in for some testing and interviews before he starts his summer job at the plant. I think Benjamin, Sox and I will be headed up to Kentucky to scope things out. Probably join the YMCA, get Benjamin registered for school and then meet the inspector at our future home. Not sure how long we will stay, all depends on if Scott has to work the weekend. For the next several weeks, our lives will be played by ear. That's kinda hard for a gal who likes to make lists and plan....

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Reminiscing

Terry 13, Tammy 9, Tracey 5
1973
This is a picture of my sisters and me getting ready to go to my 8th grade graduation. That was a long time ago. Looking at our "stylish" fashion and interior design, you can probably figure this took place around the Brady Bunch era. Sure glad the fashions and decor have changed! jesh!


As I look at this picture, it reminds me of the time when my family first moved to Florida. It was summer, 1967, just before my 8th birthday. We moved from Huntsville, Alabama. My dad had landed a job as a NASA Engineer at Kennedy Space Center, working on the Apollo program. Yes, we grew up in the middle of the early Space Program. At the time, it was no biggy, but looking back on it, they were exciting times. Sure wished I would have realized it then, but what child really understands these things?


Back in 1967 in Central Florida, the school system was having some issues. Seemed like there were constantly some sort of teaching strikes, so even though we were not Catholic, my parents thought it best for us to go to St. Mary's Catholic School. We weren't the only ones going to St. Mary's that were not Catholic, but the majority were. Most of the teachers were Irish nuns. I can still hear that Irish accent, LOVE IT! 

Funny things is, my youngest sister really had a weird accent, between living in the south, the Irish nuns, parents from Colorado, and many of her friends that were from New York, Tracey had quite the accent. Eventually, she grew out of it, and pretty much just sounds like someone for the West, with a little Southern slang here and there. 

 What a fun picture this is. These are some of the neighborhood girls that I hung out with. My best friend was not able to make this birthday party, but most of the rest of my friends were there. It really doesn't seem that long ago. I wonder what ever happened to these girls. Only one of them I sorta know about, but the rest? Who knows. Kinda makes me sad. If you can't guess, I'm the blonde in blue, second from the right. I think I was about ten. 


Those were the good ole days. Bike rides around the neighborhood, and everyone over to our house for a nice swim. I am grateful for a nice childhood!









 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Moving Day

Well, I have survived day one of moving. We have done this so many times, you'd think I would be use to it by now....NOT!
Originally, I was told they would come Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to pack, and then load the truck on Thursday and Friday. Everyone was such busy little bees today, that it looks as if they can be out of here early Thursday.
Ut ooooh! That can't happen. Bill can't be here 'til Friday....late afternoon, and I only booked a motel for one night. I guess they are going to have to not work so hard.
This is one reason I hate moving. Everything is such a mess!  So far these movers are great, though. They came in introduced themselves and started to work. First they put padding on all my nice hard wood floors, then they padded the pole we have in the dining area. Then they put protection on the carpet. Sox was so funny, she was afraid to walk on any of it.
Today, they packed the kitchen, two of the four bedrooms, laundry room, living room, and garage. All they have left is the master area, and on other bedroom, plus some miscellaneous boxes I had in storage. Like I said, these people were busy today!
Well, tomorrow at 9a.m. I will be back up ready for another busy day...but not too busy....

Sunday, May 20, 2012

It's Finally Here!



Tomorrow is the day.....there will be a lot going on. The packers are finally coming...at 8 a.m.  The next three days will be busy packing, packing, packing, then the next two days after that, we will be loading up the truck. Everyone keeps asking me if they can help, but really, all I will be doing is watching everyone work. Now on the other end....that is when I will need the help! I am the luckiest woman in the world, because my mom and dad are coming up from Florida to help me clean and get my house in order. I. am. soooo. EXCITED!!!!


The only thing I'm a little worried about on this end is holding up. I've had this cough for several weeks now. I got a chest xray Friday, and was suppose to get results back that day. No such luck. I am assuming all is well. Even though I sound as if a am a heavy smoker (never smoked a day in my LIFE!) Cough, Cough, Cough, Cough, Cough. I will have to say, I am a bit annoying. 


The other thing is too, my husband was scheduled to go to a class in Idaho this week, so it's just me and the kids. Kids? Well, my boys are bigger than me, and are going to be a lot of help. But, you know, it's just much nicer to have Bill around. Even though all my kids are adults, I still feel the weight of everything on my shoulders. I guess it's a Mom thing. By the time Bill get's here, we will be all out, and the truck will be long down the road. I guess he will make it in time to do some of the cleaning....maybe?


Well, anyway, all week long, I've been pulling out all the stuff we are taking with us. Clothes, camera, lap top, shampoo and other bathroom stuff, the kids video game stuff, important paper work, cleaning supplies, are just a few of the things we have set aside in specially marked closets for the packers to leave alone. Sure hope I haven't forgotten anything. Oh well, guess I can do without it for a month or so. That is how long out stuff will be in storage. Fun, right?


Well, not sure when I'll be back on my blog. The next few weeks will be one of those hit and miss on the computer. I'm sure though I will be taking a lot of pictures, so I can tell you all about our move.





Thursday, May 17, 2012

THE INSPECTOR

The inspector came while we were looking for a house in Kentucky. This guy has a reputation of finding dumb things, like "replacing all exterior windows with child proof ones." Never heard of that one. Since we knew about him, there were a few small things that we knew needed to be fixed, so we left them for him to find; for example, the light under the stove vent was broken and the cover missing. We knew where the cover was and the light was easy to fix, so we figured he might find that. He didn't.   


Instead he found one of our toilets had a small leak. No biggy. Not sure how I missed that, I guess that goes to show you how small of a leak it was. Then he found that our Rinnai hot water heater didn't have a certain pipe. The plumber said he had never seen this particular pipe on one before, and that the inspector was being picky. One other thing the inspector found was that our gas fire place was installed improperly. Good thing we never decided to use it! The plumber told me he didn't know how it had passed the builders inspection. I agreed and wondered how it also passed inspection when we bought the house almost five years ago. 


The last thing we have to do, is have all the outside doors and windows caulked. Again, we think the inspector is being a bit picky. The new owners even told us not to worry about it, that it was a bit over the top; BUT, since we are dealing with a relocation company, we have to have EVERYTHING on the report fixed. 


So, tomorrow afternoon, the guy is coming to caulk, and we will finally be able to sign the house over to the relocation company. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Things I Will Miss In Monroe

Now that the contract is in progress, my thoughts turn to all I have to do before we leave. I knew once we got the contract, everything would go fast! It always does.

As I reflect on these past almost five years in Monroe, I realized there is a lot I am going to miss. 
Monroe has some of the most beautiful Springs
Some of my favorite restaurants

Louisiana has GREAT food!


I will miss
the cotton fields,
my neighborhood,

our garden, 
our library and all the fun activities we do,
the culture,

the landscape


my morning walks with my friends,
Black Bayou
all the bayous around here!
I'm also going to miss our little church family, especially the youth. They will always have a special place in my heart. 
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/26575_370954064590_155478249590_3502023_4676375_n.jpg


There are many other things that I will miss, and I know as we move to another chapter in the book of life, there will be more people to meet and adventures to look forward to. 

Monday, May 14, 2012

Button Clock

Here's the tutorial on my button clock I was promising
I went to our local fabric store and got some burlap, lace, clock mechanism, 

and an embroidry hoop. I already had the ribbon on hand.

I knew what buttons I wanted to use for the main numbers. I had a Cameo button from long ago that I wanted to use for the 12. When I got these nice buttons from my SuzQ, my button swap partner, I knew I wanted to use these for the 3, 6, and 9.
You know how some clocks don't have any other numbers on them. Well I debated whether or not to do that, and decided I needed more buttons. So, I dug around in my stash, and laid everything out. 
First I measured out my burlap to fit the hoop and then measured where the numbers should go and sewed on the buttons. This was the hardest, as the clock mechanism did not have a templet. I just had to use another clock and eyeball it. It's not perfect, but pretty close.

The next part was pretty tricky. Adding the clock component. There were no instructions so I had to play around with it. I poked a hole in the middle of the burlap, and poked the clock through, and added the hands. On the back I tied the component to the hoop adjustment on the top, looping some ribbon for hanging. I had to play with it a little, but eventually, I got the look I wanted.

After sewing on the buttons, and making sure the clock was in place, I made sure the fabric was in the hoop straight and smooth. I then trimmed the burlap some more, hot glued the lace to the back, and tied a bow around the adjuster on top of the hoop.
There you have it. Like I said, the hand are too small, so I will be looking around for some bigger hands. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I did spray paint the hands black so they would show up better.  Other than that, I love it, and it will go very nicely with the headboard I painted from 
ugly brass
to black.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Button Swap

Some time ago, I got myself involved in a button swap. This has been a fun and challenging event for me. I was so excited to get to be involved since the button bug bit me. I have made and posted all sorts of things I've made with buttons, now is the time to reveal my creations from my button swap.


First let me introduce you to my Button Swap partner and show you what she sent me. Cindy Wimmer is the host of the Button Swap. My partner is Sue Hamel of SuzQ who is talented in quite a few things. You need to go check her blog out, she has some really nice looking greeting cards there, among other things.


Here are the buttons that she sent me
I was a little overwhelmed as I got quite the stash of some really nice buttons. The two silver ones caught my eye first and I thought I could make some earrings out of them. As I started to work on the earrings, I had some difficulties, but alas, I came up with a cute pair. 
I wore them around a little, and didn't like when they turned because you could see that they were buttons, so I added some lace and ribbon. I now wear these earrings quite often.
The Pinterest fan that I am, I have pinned a couple of clocks made from buttons. I really wanted to make one, but wasn't sure what buttons to use. When I got these nice buttons from Sue, I thought, "I should just make my clock."
Here it is. I plan to blog about how I did it on a later post. The only thing I do not like about it is the size of the hands. I plan to look for some bigger hands. The "3", "6", and "9" are all buttons from Sue. The rest of the buttons, I just took from my stash. I can't wait to get moved and hang it up...I know exactly which bedroom I will put it in.


I have to say my favorite button from the stash is this butterfly. 


Funny thing is, this time last year, we were in full wedding mode at our house. I was up to my eyeballs in turquoise and yellow roses and butterflies. My daughter chose them for her wedding and you can read about it here and here.
OK, now what? I have more buttons, but have ran out of time to do anything with them. I hate to make excuses, but for the last eight months, my husband has been ten hours away working at his new job while I've been down here trying to sell our house. Finally, we have a contract and now I am off finding a place for our family to live, so I did not get to finish.

Just a reminder of the nice buttons I received


These are some I haven't done anything with
Two of these I still need to do something with.
Just one of these I have left over, and it is really pretty!


I sure hope you enjoy everyone's creations. There are a lot of very talented crafters out there and I'm sure there are going to be some really cool stuff. Take your time and enjoy the Button Swap Blog Party. The following are the participants. 


 Kim Roberts and Partner unable to participate at this time.
Pam Ferarri and Stefanie Teufel (will share their reveal on a later date)
Stefanie Teufel and Pam Ferarri (will share their reveal on a later date)