A Great Giveaway

is going on over at a bee in my bonnet. but that's not the only reason i want you to go visit her.

just look at her garden...

this is just one picture from her garden tour.

i love the bike!!!
and...she's a quilt designer

so much talent!!!

It's My Life

it's that time again!

if your new to it's my life (a family history project) go here for the details.

if not, welcome back!

here's the list of this week's questions.

1. Was yours a religious family? we weren't a religious family but we were raised Catholic as young children. After my parents were divorced we didn't attend church anymore. It wasn't until my mid to late 20's that I started going back to church. Were Sunday's spent together with family? not for religious purposes, however, the weekends were often spent with family and friends.

2. Did your family take vacations? As young children, we spent many family vacations with my grandparents. We would go camping in Grandma & Grandpa's camper and go fishing. We (my sister and I) would always get to ride on the top bed of the camper while driving (something we would NEVER do now!) Did you go to the same place every year? We often went to the desert (almost every other week through my teenage years) my granparents, uncle and many friends spent these weekends with us. There were many wonderful memories made. Many years after my parents divorced, my mom remarried Tom and we all continued camping in the desert. Halloween and New Years Weekends were my favorite. Poker runs, spending all day in the pool, lounge chairs with sprinklers, driving my dad's truck, racing the boys and beating them, Blow Sand, Bomb fires, warming our buns with coals under our chair, the Bone Yard. I could go on and on, what wonderful memories. I remember hoping that we would be able to create those memories with our children. About 5 years ago, we bought our first trailer and began creating them. The desert has changed, the people are different and my children don't wait in anticipation to see the Hell's Angels like we did, but the memories will be there and that's what matters.

3. Do you remember any special stories your grandparents told you? Did you sit on a lap when you heard these stories or did you hear them when you and your granparent would walk hand-in-hand, taking a stroll? Do you tell any of these same stories to your children? I don't remeber any particular story, but I do remember walking Oscar (grandma & grandpa's dog) around the block every day while we stayed with them. We would pick up pinecones, talk about the gardens, talk about the neighbors. My grandparents were always very interested in what we had to say and always listened. They taught us many things. Grandpa loved his garden and Grandma taught us the right way to clean a house. If we didn't dust well enough, we did it again. The same went for vaccuming and making the beds. Grandma, to this day, has her morning routine. Coffee, breakfast for Grandpa and then making the beds. I particulary remember Uncle Chris's bed. It would smell so bad in the morning when we had to go make the bed. I hated it! One time for April's Fools Day, Grandma let Suz and I put snail shells in his bed. (I kind of got off subject, sorry...)

4. Did your grandparents live nearby? They live in Encinitas. How often did you visit their omes? It was a second home to us for much of our childhood. Did the house have any special smells? I don't remember any special smells, but Grandma is a great cook. Tacos were a family favorite and my Dad stills talks about Grandma's lasagna. My all time favorite is the chocolate pie she'd bake for my birthday and baking Christmas cookies a tradition now shared with my kids. What did their couch feel like? Oh, the couch! We slept on it a lot. It was a rough tweed I think. Grandma always put a sheet down for us. We would all gather in the living room to watch The Lawrence Welk Show. We would eat our ice cream (Grandpa's favorite was mint & chip, Grandma's was praline's & cream and I loved Burgandy Cherry. All from 31 Flavors of course. I would lay on the couch and Grandpa would tickle my feet until I went to sleep. Great memories!How big was their kitchen? The kitchen wasn't to big but it was big enough for us all to gather in and that we did often!

if you'd like to participate, sign up with mr. linky and link back to this post on your own.

i enjoy reading your answers and getting to know you.

Telling the Kids

that i'm pregnant is something i try to do creatively.
when we found out i was pregnant with the happiest baby i gave each of the kids a piece of cardstock with a word written on it. when i was ready to take the picture, i had them turn the paper around and read it.
i captured a great picture.

this time i thought we'd make it a family home evening night.
we'd been wanting to take the sprinter to the pier, walk on the beach and get a bite to eat at ruby's that is at the end of the pier.
so that's what we did.
we took the sprinter, the younger kids LOVED it.
when we got to the end of the tracks, we realized that the walk was a bit farther than we expected
(we should've brought a stroller)
when we finally got to ruby's there was a bit of a wait and the older kids were getting impatient
and the little princess was being a pill.
dinner was good, the baby was not and we hurried through our meal.

after dinner, we walked on the beach. i walked ahead quite a bit under the guise of "photographer". when i got a good distance away, i wrote "4 + 1 = 7" in the sand. when the little princess got close i asked her if my addition was right. she wasn't sure what to say and asked bub. he said "no!" i told them that they were wrong. of course 4 + 1 = 7. bub got a bit frustrated and began to cross out the 7 and correct my error. sissy, by now was catching on and i quickly explained to my kids that 4 isas + 1 baby = 7 isas. it took bub a minute to catch on and in the right center picture, sissy is laughing at bub's "lameness". it went well and the trip home was a mixture of emotions.

bob and i were wondering (after taking the usually happy baby to dinner) what in the world we were thinking when we decided that 5 would be great and when in the world would we be able to go to dinner with the family again.

the little princess was so happy and kept making sure that i really was pregnant and that i wasn't teasing.

bub wasn't too sure, he's sick of sharing a room

sissy was on the fence, she would be leaving soon and is afraid the baby won't know her.

life is good. happy monday.

Farmhouse Fabulous

is a great way to describe cheryl's home.

a couple weeks ago i went by to deliver a quilt and she let me take pictures to share with you.

(click on the pictures for a larger view)

this is her kitchen, family and dining room.

a living room that i could definetly live in.

and bedrooms that i would never want to leave.

and oh, the yard, i love the porch and her backyard.

thank you cheryl for letting me share your beautiful home!

when my home grows up, i want it to be just like yours!!!

seriously!!!

More Yard Sale Goodies

and an explanation for this picture...

about 5 years ago, we decided that we needed a bigger home so we came up with several options and one by one those options were eliminated for one reason or another.

a little over 2 years ago, my in-laws decided that they were going to split the current lot and build a smaller home next door to their current house. they wanted to keep the family home in the family and asked if we wanted to buy it.

after much thought, we decided that we would.

they built this house when bob was 11. we've all grown up in this house, including me. bub is so excited because he will get his dad's room. it's a great house, not to mention 3 times the size of our current home. we have big plans for it. we can't wait to build our own family memories and i can't wait to decorate it and make it our own.

one of the first things we are going to do is paint the exterior and bob's going to build a porch rail where the existing porch is. when he's done the house will look something like this.

creamy yellow exterior, white trim, midnight blue accents and lots of white rose bushes. (all the tropical plants are comin' out...)

so, the explanation...

there was an old garage on the property in which they are building and i always said to those who asked about the progress, "when that garage comes down, you know something is happening". well the garage is down and that means progress.

progress, no matter how small, is good, very good. i'm actually ok with the slow progress because i'm going to really miss my house. we've lived here for 13 years and i've grown to love it. i'll miss the front yard parties, the back yard that is always under going change and the inside of the house that is forever being updated. i'll miss the memories of the neighborhood (we have a great neighborhood) and i'll cherish all the memories.

now that i've relived that, let's get to the rest of my fabulous treasures that the little princess and i found yesterday.

i found these baskets (the jars were from a previous find)

the vintage milk bottle holder is a favorite, love the utensil holders that never end up holding utensils and the pumpkin mini muffin tins will make cute fall treats.

the fabric was from dianne's yard sale. i got it to re-upholster the leather chair that currently resides in my living room. it will get a make over when we move to go with the planned family room decor.

the books are also from dianne's. higdon camp from blackbird designs and an old jan patek book 'twixt garden gates'.

so there you have it. the weekends around near are never without some fun.

take care!

What do you see???

nothing!!!

yippee!

it's gone...the old garage is gone!
do you know what that means?



it means we are just a little bit closer to moving into this.




and guess what i got today!
remember that fabulous yard sale over at dianne's?
well, i went back this morning to buy some fabric and a book
that i was dreaming about and i bought this to go into the above said house.

it was a great, great day!

Quilters

have the BEST yard sales!!!
i woke up at a very early hour to arrive at a most anticipated yard sale.
to my delight, i found exactly what i was hoping to find...

fabric, tea stained and 10 years old!

loads and loads of scraps! (have i told you that i'm a scrap-aholic)

the bags were filled with old brushed cottons. if you love cheri and brannock & patek then you know what i'm talking about. here are a few of my favorites...

and speaking of brannock & patek, look what i found! panels to make pillows!

oh, and look at this fabulous find...

and this one!

all this for less than $40.

what fun and boy did nancy & i enjoy going through everything!

i wonder what treasures the little princess and i will find tomorrow on our treasure hunt!!!

What'cha Doin' Wednesday

another school year has past and it was time to update my 'mom' book. a couple years ago a very organized and creative friend gave this organizing tip. if your like me, you always have a ton of papers and calendars and stuff that forms great piles, but doesn't really have a place. my mom book has remedied all that. in fact, bob has one too, for all his receipts and misc. stuff that is always lying around.

inside my book i have dividers for myself, each of the kids, family and friends and a misc. category. i use the pocket dividers and cd holders come in handy.

i use business card holders to store small pieces of papers like bob's dress shirt tag (i can never remember the size) and little notes like this one from the little princess.

in each of the pockets of the kids category i have their immunization record, birth certificate, etc.

in the family and friends category, i keep announcements and notes that i don't want to lose.

in the kids section, i put the papers from that school year, such as, report cards, awards, notes, drawings, pictures, etc. and at the end of the year i transfer it into it's own folder. since i can't keep up with the scrapbooks, this is the next best thing. this is the little princess's preschool folder. i also keep calendars, phone lists, etc. in there for easy access and so i don't lose it.

it works for us, maybe this will work for you.
i also got this wall hanging quilted for my cousin.

and i got this yard sale find loaded for mardi.

i'll quilt it tomorrow as soon as i run to la mesa for more thread...

bob got done with work early and he and the baby worked on preparing the side of the yard for our square foot garden. he moved the gate back to make more room and cleared the disaster that had made itself at home there.

the little princess made soup. doesn't it look yummy!

i took pictures

and nancy watched from the sewing room...

i hope you had a great day!