Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I hope everyone has a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving! 

*video taken from here

Work in Progress

Just for the record, this is a project that was on my unfinished project list.  It is not a new one.   I’ve just been working on it.  You know, trying to get it done in time for the holidays.  It is going to be a wall hanging like the Witch I made for Halloween.

Jazz Game

We went to our first Jazz game of this season last night. What a heart breaker of a game. The Jazz lost (at the last second) to the Chicago Bulls: 101 to 100.

It was so intense!

3 seconds left on the clock. Bulls have possession of the ball. Bulls take a shot and miss it. The crowd goes wild! The bulls rebound and throw up a jump shot with 1.2 seconds left. Swoosh! The crowd goes silent. Time is up. End of game.

What a bummer.

I still had fun! There is always the next game.

I’m sure Keith would have loved this game but he would have been just as disappointed as I was that they lost.

New Family Photos

 

Awe – We are so adorable, yes?!  We went and had new family photos taken since it has been a few years.  My mother-in-law took these and then I did the editing on them.  I’m super happy with how they turned out.   The one in the leaves is my favorite.

We also did a photo shoot with my mom and sister, so this is our family on my side.  These two photos were taken by Amanda, but we didn’t get them on a cd or anything so these are the best scans I could get of them.   I love this picture of all of us.  It is the one I put on the picture block I made.

Act surprised if you get one these in your Christmas card this year – ok!?

Happy Birthday Chardell!

Happy Birthday to my older (but not old) sister.  You definitely are my favorite sister (even if you are my only sister, you’re still my favorite)!  Lots of loves! 

- Thanks to Marc for posting this photo on Facebook so I could swipe it for my blog!

Back In Business

Congratulations to Britten who guessed 40 unfinished projects between me and my sister. This was the closest guess. It is kind of embarrassing to say but we have 38 unfinished projects between the two of us. Maybe my New Year’s resolution should be to finish some of my unfinished projects?

I got my bandage off on Monday (Yay!) and now I just have a really ugly looking finger that is mostly healed. But hey, it works (it is still really sensitive and I can hardly use it, but I’m trying). Which means I’m am back into the crafting mode!

I purchased a Klutz Glove. Yes, you read that correctly. A Klutz Glove! I don’t think they could have come up with a better name for this glove. I tested it out last night and it works like a charm! I want to keep all my fingers from now on so I’m going to be wearing this every time I use my rotary cutter. I highly recommend it.

*I've also had a few questions regarding the receiving blanket tutorial that I did a while ago. I've tried to answer them on the post (here). I hope it helps.

One Year Blog Anniversary!

I can’t believe that I have been doing this blog for a year (I’m just celebrating early, it actually isn’t until the 16th!). It goes by so fast.

I love all of the projects that I have completed during this year! I especially love that I can say that I actually completed projects. These are some of my favorites from this year of blogging but I really do love all the stuff I make.

In honor of my 1st year of blogging, I’m doing a giveaway! YAY! My sister Chardell is the talent behind the prize so you can thank her. *Thanks Chardell, for the giveaway prize*

She made this adorable crayon roll. It is done in girl colors with pink and white stripes on the front and purple flowers on the inside. It also has a monogram letter on the front cover. Chardell said she was willing to switch it out to whatever letter you would like. Right now it is an “N” but that is just for show. Unless you want an “N”, then it is perfect. It comes will all the goodies inside – crayons and a coloring book (Elmo!) – so it is ready to go! It would make an excellent Christmas present.

Now that you've seen this great prize, I’m sure you are dying to know what you need to do to enter.

First, tell Chardell “thanks” (just say it in your comment or send her an email if you know her in person).

Second, thing to do to enter is answer this question.

Between me and my sister, how many total projects (everything is included in this number with the exception of scrapbook projects) do we have that are unfinished for this year? This includes projects that we have started and not completed and projects that we have purchased stuff for but not started (and obviously not finished either).

That’s it! That is all you have to do to win this great prize. Leave your guess in a comment on this post before Monday the 17th and you will be entered to win. Whoever gets the answer to the question correct will win. Unless no one guesses correctly, then it will be the closest guess to the correct answer. Good luck to all!

A Very Busy Weekend…and I even had time for crafts!

Oh my, did I have a busy weekend. But it was well worth it, especially since I had lots of time to get some crafting done (with the hurt finger and all)!

On Friday, we had a craft night at my church. I was on the committee to help plan this all, so I’m glad it is over. It went really well. They made lots of things, but I choose to just make these blocks with pictures on them. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way they turned out. They were super simple. I just might make some more. Anyone want to get together for a craft day to make some?

I made one larger one and one smaller one. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of them but the camera batteries were dying and this was the best I could get. They are just wood blocks, about 8x8 for the large one and 6x6 for the smaller one. I matted a few pictures on cardstock to help give them a little pop! Add some ribbon, and done! Super cute!

It was a long night and I didn’t get home until 11:30 (which for those of you who know me, I’m an old lady and this is WAY past my bed time.) I then stayed up to make a poster to my sister-in-law, Karianne who competed in her first Triathlon on Saturday. Tell you what…Amazing! Props to her. I’m really proud of her for doing this.

Run – 3 miles

Bike – 10 miles (this included hills!)

Swim – 6 lengths of the pool (I don’t know how much that it, but it looked tiring.)

I made her this sign to hold up while we cheered her on. I hope it wasn’t too embarrassing! I had lots of fun. My father-in-law kept suggesting that the whole family do it next year. I volunteered to make a sign for everyone who did it. Someone has got to cheer them on, right?

After that, my mom and sister came over for Craft Day! We made more of these wood blocks with the vinyl lettering. Mom made the tan “give thanks”, I made the “harvest” one. Chardell was slacking and just made a ribbon.

Teasing! She made a brown “give thanks” and “let it snow”. She made it double sided. Perfect because you can use it for more than one holiday and all you have to do is swap out the ribbon. I cut out a “let it snow” for the back side of mine, but didn’t get around to putting it on.

TA-DA!!!! This is us, so proud of our blocks. Dustin was such a sweetheart and made sure to compliment us on our wonderful achievement that took us all day to make. He is such a wonderful hubby! He even brought us warm cookies and milk while we were busy working.

My sister also made these cute letters for Anna’s room. She tied ribbon and put little flowers on them. She thinks they need something else. I don’t. Any opinions/suggestions?

Stay tuned, a giveaway is coming!

I’m A Small Town Girl

Every morning, I go downstairs and open the blinds in the living room window for Sophie so she can look out at the bird feeder and dream of catching a bird. The other day, I came downstairs and went into the kitchen and got my breakfast ready. I forgot to open the blinds for Sophie. After about 5 minutes I could hear her trying to get in them. I walked in the living room to open them and said to her (yes, I talk to my cats),

“Sophie, I telled you not to get in the blinds before I open them.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. Rolled my eyes. Then tried to correct my grammar. Who am I kidding? I’m a small town girl, and my bad English is my proof.

Some times, I really miss the small town. Sometimes I don’t.

I grew up in a small town of about 2,000 people (most likely less) and that number included the five small surrounding towns. We don’t have a stop light in our town. I had 95 people in my graduating class.

I liked that I knew everyone in my high school by name and who their siblings were. I hated that my mom would know stuff that I had done before I could get home and tell her what I had done. I liked that we had nothing to do so we had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. I hated that all you could buy at the (one and only) grocery store was Western Family brand. I loved the smell of stinky dirty horses. I hated the smell of branding cattle.

Some times, I miss the small town. Sometimes I don’t.

Whenever I start to miss the small town, my mom can somehow sense it. So she sends me the latest newspaper clippings to cheer me up. These are a few of my favorites.

(All of the following examples were taken from the Millard County Progress. If you like what you read, go here to subscribe to this paper)

Example #1 - This is a real life ad from the Millard County Newspaper.

“None of your dang business” is an actual phrase heard in our small town very very often.

Example #2 – The Holden Happenings (For those of you not in Millard County, Holden is just outside of my town and is included in the population count above. This town gets their own section in the newspaper called the Holden Happenings.) I’m posting this only because they printed it in real life, so I’m guessing it is fair game. Sorry about this images. They were taken from a scan of the newspaper.

I don’t even know where to start. So many things made me laugh in this article. I guess I’ll start with my favorite part. “It seems like people are dying nowadays that never used to die before.” Now there is a sentence you don’t hear everyday. Or perhaps Ever!

And then the author end this by saying “Actually I don’t really mind dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Well, Okay. I’m at a loss for words.

Secondly, ”the State Wrestles”. This part, I didn’t get at first. I had to ask my mom what was wrong with it. But in our small town, the wrestling team is called the “Wrasstles”. I guess it is a grammatical error that I was not taught in our small town so I didn’t pick up on it.

The other funny part about this is that the “townspeople who were waiting in their cars at the north end of town around 9:00 pm…and followed {the team bus} up and down Main Street.” This really does happen. I’m serious. Anytime a sporting group or dance team does well at a competition, when they get home the team will ride the fire truck up and down Main Street so everyone knows how well they did. People follow the team down Main Street in their cars honking the horn and hollering. We would stand on our porch and flash the porch light on and off (Yes, we really did. We were showing our school spirit!) But I think this is mostly funny because it was 9:00 pm. The author makes it sound like it was so late at night. If it had been any later people might have gone home and went to bed! And I’m serious!

Example # 3 - Another ad from the paper. I don’t know what “Goose Gazers” are, but they are welcome in our town.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my town. I love all the funny quirks. I love the smallness of it. I love the people. I love the smells (we have a mushroom farm that turns fertilizer like twice a week and it makes the whole town stink. You get used to it). I love the sunsets. I love that seeing a tractor (or fork lift from the lumber yard) drive backwards down Main Street is normal. I love the small town grammar that is part of me.

These newspaper articles make me miss the small town. And then they make me laugh.

I will always be a small town girl at heart!

I Voted!

I voted in the early polls… and waited in line for THREE hours just to vote!  Talk about dedication!  I’m proudly wearing that “I voted” sticker on my bag.  Next time I don’t think I’ll be so giving of my time if it is going to take that long.   I hope everyone finds time tomorrow to go vote.