A Rabbit and Busy-ness

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook this is not news but I am so happy to tell you that my dear Brittany has an amazing new job!
In January she began working as the Events Manager/Organizer for Google Fiber in Provo! She was growing restless at her old job after having done the same events over and over for four years. She yearned for new adventure and dare I say, more $$? The people at the offices in Provo have been amazing to her and she is enjoying it very much. Change is good but often hard. She's nervous abut getting it right, of course and wants them to like her. I know she will do a great job for them. They just had their big kick-off week and everything went so well. In case you don't know what Google Fiber is you can check out this link. I wish we had it in our end of the valley! Provo is only the 2nd test city in the nation and Miss B is honored to be part of something so great in it's beginning stages! We are pretty proud of her and how hard she works at whatever she is doing!

 I love their cute bunny logo! It certainly is fast fiber-optic service!

Along with her new job, Brittany was in need of a new place to live, closer in to downtown Provo. She found a great place and two very nice roommates! This means I got my sewing/guest room back!! I have been kept busy moving all of my sewing, scrap-booking, and crafting things downstairs. I am working on the mess, trying to organize and I'll show you some before and afters sometime soon. I have managed to get a few orders done amongst the chaos! Here are the latest aprons hot off the sewing table. They were a custom order for Melissa, Rachel's friend who is giving them to her Mom and mother-in-law. Sweet girl! These are the first aprons I have made that I did not choose the fabric for. Didn't she choose some pretty prints?

I hope those Moms use them and love them!

I have also finished a crocheted dolly for a friend in Washington. She wanted brown braids and a blue dress. Didn't this little gal turn out so cute?

I also had a bit of fun with the whole fox craze going on right now! I looked at a photo and made up my own pattern for this guy. What DOES the fox say, anyway?

That's what I have been up to. How about you?

Halloween Over, Bring on Thanksgiving!

I have never been so excited for a Thanksgiving in the Little House! Nick, Diana, and our Little Lucas are coming!! It's going to be a busy month. I feel the need to get the house ready for an irrepressible, perpetually moving/exploring little one year old! There is a lot to move and secure. Under the kitchen sink is a veritable poison stronghold! We are going to pull out some of Richard's old toys (yes, I still have them, don't mock!) and clean them up as well.

I between then and now I have a trip coming up myself. It's one that took me by surprise and I am so excited for it! I am going to Toronto to be with Dr. Sarah when she receives her Doctoral degree!! She has gone to school up there for 6 long years and we have never been able to go see her there. We found out just two weeks ago that everything checked out with her dissertation to put her in the November convocation. Many prayers were said for the funding to appear so that at least one of us could be there with her. It is really unbelievable how prayers are answered. I have my airline ticket ad am waiting anxiously for my passport to arrive. You pay through the nose for a rush order so they had better get it to me! I'll be gone for a week and be home on the 20th. Just in time to get Thanksgiving ready!

Halloween was her usual fun night with the help of my amazing kids. I am not much of a costume, decorate the outside of the house kind of gal. They do it every year and it is a lot of fun to see the end result. Nothing too fancy, but we got lots of compliments! Spooky music and blinking ghost light, spider webs and a growing skull in the candy bowl that some cute kid tries to take as a treat every year. Here's some of what went on this week:

We spent an evening at Cornbelly's. Lots of fun and only a little bit cold, maybe in the 40's.

Britt and Richard decided to climb the rock wall. Richard looks all spidery here!

B reached the top first ( her side was easier!)

Richard reaches the top!

  My two youngest went on a terrifying monster truck ride!

 Next came Dee and I. He's a scary driver!

 He made it all better with a smooch though!

We have to throw these in to gross-out the kids, you know!

Then we were off to watch the darling pig races! This is a favorite of mine. But that darn Dusty asked the crowd who had the prettiest Mom there. Rachel made the most noise and I got the prize for my beauty...I got to kiss a piglet!

It was a side/European type kiss so Little Piggy kissed me too!

Then later Dee kissed me in the same place. When I pointed it out I thought he might die! Picture Lucy in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" after Snoopy kissed her!

My girlies at home were very creative this year. Britt was Fiona from Adventure Time! Rachel hand made her Steam punk outfit from the aviator cap all bedazzled with gears, to her blouse and skirt. She did this in two days and it is really a fine job of sewing! Take it from one who sits behind a sewing machine nearly every day, she is amazing!

 They had a hard time getting baby brother to dress up. He's just a bit too cool for that. They wanted to go out to "Slurp" a local Shaved Ice and beverage joint and wouldn't let him come unless he joined them in their costume fun. He came downstairs with his Dad's rabbit fur hat from Moscow and a grim look on his face. Perfect!

Here we are behind Slurp where you park. Don't they look like little Trick-or-Treaters?

Slurp is one of the many businesses that has sprung up in the old houses on Main St. I love that these places are being preserved and that we get to go inside and enjoy their craftsmanship. Look at this lovely window!

I did my part inside of the Little House on the Corner. I love the older "vintage" style of pumpkins and black cats. I'm starting to collect them a bit at a time.

Love my Disney candle holders from or trip in 2006!

This cute scarecrow has been around for a long time. She was a gift from my mother-in-law!

Brittany made the jumbo candy corns. They are so cute!

Rachel was responsible for the spider attacking my cute little birdie!

So, now it's over, clean-up has begun...on to LUCAS!!!!!

 Hide the pens Gramma!

Busy, Busy!

So, I have been missing in action lately. I have been keeping up with all of you and your blogs but to actually sit down and have time to write anything of my own has been a challenge. I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive and have been very busy doing this...

The Farmer's Market at Thanksgiving Point is why I have been sewing like a crazy woman. It's been a busy, complicated summer and I don't feel as prepared as usual. My inventory is low but my little sewing machine is working her heart out. Last week's market was fun and successful. I hope to do about the same today. If I sell as much this week as last I may have to take a week off just to build up the supply again! Not such a bad this though, is it?

Oh, Hi! I'm Back!

Where have I been? Um...right here. Sometimes I feel like my little Roxy doggie running around in circles, not sure where I am going to get off of the merry-go-round. I thought my life was busy when my kids were small and all under one roof...OH FOOLISH WOMAN! Older children have places to go, timelines to follow, jobs to get to. Put a cap on my head and call me a cab driver. (and don't forget the tip!)

Things will be slowing down now. Richard's three week prison term in summer school English classes ends in two days. That is two trips a day to Lehi High School gone! Nicholas finally has his own big-boy transportation to work each day. That is one less trip to the far east side of American Fork. That leaves Rachel. She is working two jobs right now. One at the good old American Fork Fitness Center and the other way in the heck out at Thanksgiving Point. It is my fondest dream to find her her own mode of transportation. My greenish mini-van is nearly paid off so hopefully by the end of the summer when I am nearly insane with road-rage we can find her some wheels!

Speaking of the Blueish-greenish Town & Country...remember how it got T-boned by a nice Asian man a few weeks back? It was in for repairs and came back to me shiny and new. I was happy. Until I started driving it again. The noise coming through the "new" door sounds like a window is open. The automatic locks on the rear doors don't respond to the locking buttons. There are scratches on the body panel way down under where nobody can see unless they are Nick looking for the bent door frame that he did indeed find! This means another trip up to Sandy to drop the car of at Larry H. Miller collision repair to have them do it right this time.

Speaking of repairs...remember that nice new Brother embroidery machine I got for Christmas? In the height of my sewing season for Farmer's Market it has decided to erase its computer brain. You know how people are described as having a blank stare, like the lights aren't on upstairs? That is my machine! The LCD screen lights up but there is no memory. That means a trip to drop off the machine and a wait for it to be done. AAAAAAHHHHH! But hey, if I cannot sew that gives me more time to drive people around, right?

Maybe I can catch up on a few projects I have started and are lying around undone. I'll fill you in!

I wanted to tell you that this guy is very happy! He is settled in to his new job at BYU and loving it. He comes home smiling, he is light-hearted, and he even looks rested. There are some in the local swimming community who are saying some pretty nasty things about him. Look folks, all he did was find his dream job. For the last 30 years he has gotten up at 4:30 am to come and coach your kids before school. Then he has taught school all day long, a full day of high school. Then he has gone straight to the pool to coach your kids again until 6:00 pm. He came home worn out, tired, and stressed by all of the politics involved in high school and club swimming. He worked every Saturday morning of his life and missed out on all of those Saturday fishing outings he wished for. He graded papers and tests and wrote workouts for your children on his own time with no extra pay. His health was declining and his family was worried.

Now he works one job in one place for only 8 hours a day...imagine that? He works in a place that he loves and has wanted to be at for a very long time. He is in a professional environment where he is respected. He comes home HAPPY. He loved your kids and killed himself to make them the very best athletes they could be but he cared more about the kind of adults they would become. He did not abandon the team. He set up the transition so that it would be as smooth as possible. Immediately some were freaking out and jockeying for position. They are saying some horrid things that they know are not true. They are surprising me. I thought they were friends. This is a man who has given his time and talent to make the youth of our community better people. For once in his life he put himself and his family's needs first. It's about time! Get over yourselves and grow up.

There. I feel better.

Maybe I should spend some time hanging upside down like Miss Roxie does.

She seems to be perfectly happy all of the time!

It's Making Me Crazy

Waiting is hard...yes, it IS!

Life goes on all around me in spite of wanting to know a certain answer very much. I have a new little nephew named Montgomery. Isn't he cute?! Congratulations to Dee's sister Alicia and her husband Doug. I am busy with my new machine making something for this little guy.

Speaking of the new machine....I have finished three new aprons this week. Here's a sneak peek.

 These little egg guys are what I have been working on for Easter.

Someone we all love was very sick on Wednesday. Life is rough when you can't keep anything down! I spent much of Tuesday night and most of Wednesday with my carpet cleaner out, cleaning up the aftermath, as well as doing lots of laundry! When he wasn't "losing it" He was sleeping soundly. Poor little guy! Poor Mom. I am tired, still. They really are just like children!

 He is recovering today all curled up in front of the heater while I sew.

Wishing you a warm and cozy day too!

Sending love your way!

Still Waiting...

As the title suggests, there has been no news concerning my prior two posts. I am learning patience, by force!

On to my distraction these days...my Christmas gift! I told you all in late December that my family had given me a wonderful surprise.

 A beautiful Brother sewing/embroidery machine!

I was so surprised! It sews like a dream and has a mind of its own. See the little screen? It tells me just what it is going to do, or what I need to do. The other day I was sewing along and the machine stopped cold. It startled me so I pressed my foot down again and then I noticed a little message showing up on the screen. It said, "Bobbin thread nearly empty". Why, how thoughtful! How many times have been chugging along on a long hem only to realized that I ran out of bobbin thread abut three feet back! The lever on the front is a speed regulator so I can sew slowly by force when I need to be extra careful.
This charming new friend of mine back-stitches with the touch of a button even cuts the thread for me when I tell it I am finished!

The most fun feature is the embroidery function. Wow! I have a lot to learn on how to work this thing but so far my son-in-law has helped me find and create a "Little Bird" logo which I will now include on every apron I make.

 

Cute!

I am getting my spring line of aprons ready to put up on the blog so I'll let you know when they are ready for viewing. In the meantime, keep those good thoughts coming for my husband and I'll return the favor for you. So many of you are in my prayers right now.

~Love to you all until next time!