Key Chains

I meant to post these before I went away for 5 days but that didn't work out. So, here are the key chains that I made for a Blogger Barter with Bobbie. It only took me a few days to complete them and I had a lot of fun creating the designs.

Edit: Dana asked about the sturdiness of the keychains in her comment. Good question! All the keychains are made with a double-length of wire. The wire ends are then fed back through the top beads by 1/4 - 1/2 inch, depending on what the design allows. After I was done with each keychain, I pulled and twisted for everything I was worth, trying to ensure the strength. (Granted, I had to redo one in the process...*giggle*) As a disclaimer, I will say that these are not toys and should NOT be given to children to play with.

Harry Potter 7

First, you shall get no spoilers or specifics out of me for at least a week! From my page, I will feel that you need a little more time. Especially if you have kids, work on weekends or have things that pop up unexpectedly.

I will say this -- Wow. Whoa. OMG! NO WAY! BUT...! NUH UH!!! Awww... YES! *tears* *tears* YAY!!! NO!!! Oh, MAN! *sigh*

Okay, I have gone through a bit of the emotions that I had to deal with. Top that off with that fact that I read this aloud to my husband and kids (if the kids happened to be in the room), and I sound a bit hoarse this morning. It took me until Sunday night, around 9PM to finish it. If any of you are reading the book, or have read it, we still have the movies!!!

I would also like to say that I have the best husband in the world! He sat in line for 6-1/2 hours at the store to get me this book! He was the first in line, there. I would have been with him but my nephews were spending the night and were having a blast playing here at the house.

Aunt Martha, thanks for giving the boys HP1 & 2, so many years ago. It opened a fantastic world for all of us!

Happy reading!!!

Rockin' Girl

I was nominated by my SIL, Dana. She, herself, is an amazing woman...oh, excuse me...Rockin' Girl! Hehe.

How do I nominate 5 wonderful, Rockin' ladies when I mostly keep to myself? Simple. I don't. I just nominate those I know, that are absolutely wonderful. So, in the spirit of the event, here they are...even noting that some may have already been nominated.

• Aunt Martha - Anyone have that one relative that you just love to visit? You know the one...they always have something neat to show you, something cool to do when you go to their house. That's Aunt Martha. She is an awesome person to be around. The stories she and her sisters (one being my mom) told us kids when we were little kept us laughing (Yump, Yonny, yump! I got a bwanket!!) The miniatures she taught us to make and the crafts she showed how to do kept us learning. Aunt Martha is such a fantastic influence on my life. I never have to be anyone but who I am. If things keep going the way they are, maybe we will see the same therapist for our camera addiction -- although, her DH says that we would just take pictures of therapy, so why bother!?

• Dana - I know she has already been nominated but she's more than worth it! Dana is married to my younger brother (which can be an adventure in itself!), is an amazing mom to two beautiful boys, works full-time, and still squeezes in the minutes and hours to work her magic with paper and brads. I am in awe of all that she does. She is such a unique person, finding joy in everything around her, championing the causes that many of us are too afraid to touch and giving everything she is to family.

I know that it is only two but I truly keep to myself. In person, I would know your mother's maiden name in about 20 minutes but online I am a bit more introverted than I really am. Weird, huh?

Harry Potter

So, the family went to see the new HP movie this weekend. DH and I talked ALOT about whether or not to take Little Pirate. Knowing how much darker this moving was going to be, we were concerned. In the end, we did take him. He only sat in my lap once and that was for about three seconds. After that, he was peachy!

Over all, the movie was good. Having read all the books, I feel they could have done better. That leaves room for Director's Cut versions, though! YAY!

Breaking from tradition, I have not read aloud the entire HP series to my husband in anticipation of the new book release. Isaac's graduation, my migraines, VBS and family obligations have prevented me from setting aside whole days for nothing but reading. Then, too, I do like having a voice to talk with. In preparation for book 6, I managed to sound like a dying frog when I was finished!

DH is letting me off the hook this time, reading Book 6 on his own. On Friday, he will go to the store around 11 p.m. and get in line. I get to stay home since my older brother's two boys will be staying the night that evening. What a fun night that will be! Burgers and fries, movies, popcorn, maybe chase the kids until they collapse from giggles! Sounds good! They should sleep soundly. Hehehe! Yeah, right! Four boys under 10-years-old? No way!

Still here...just busy!

So, here's a quick update.

Oldest started classes a week earlier than we thought, the 16-year-old had uniform fittings for band, I have had two migraines that snuck up on me, Saturday involves a Band Car Wash and a military funeral Mom is officiating, I have four jewelry projects that I HAVE to get done...what else?...oh, yeah!...I GOT A CALL BACK FOR A JOB!!!! YAY!!!

As I said, this will be quick! So, the job is for a church here in town, as their Wedding Coordinator. I have been doing this stuff on a volunteer basis for 10 years for my own church and I love it. When I get the chance to return to college, I plan on also taking accredited courses online for Wedding Planning/Coordinating. I don't just want to hang a shingle and say I can do this. I want the experience, yes, but I also want the credentials to go with it. I will say this, life can't be replaced by the classroom, sometimes.

I don't have the job, yet. The pastor (who is also my mom's supervising pastor) wants to meet with me again to go over the separation of responsibilities. That way I know what my job is and what his job is. I already know, but he is worried that I may try to take on his stuff since I worked with older pastors that weren't able to do as much and took on more tasks than traditionally necessary for an in-church coordinator. Hey, each church is different. They run it their own way. With well-established churches, such as this one, they have the weddings down pat. They just need a referee, basically. PICK ME! PICK ME! *insert jumping up and down here*

On a lighter note, I finally got my husband to play with my camera a little bit. He is the one who took the picture of me that is now on my profile. It took him 30 minutes to get that picture! I have all the rest to prove it! The shaking, the blurring, the bad focus...oh my. At last, he just put the camera on a stack of books, set the timer, and went about trying to make me laugh! We had fun. It all started, actually, with me wanting him to take pictures of my hair for my hair journal. I am getting it reshaped next week and wanted pictures just in case something went wrong and I had to get it severely cut!

Hey, this is the longest I have had my hair since I was in Kindergarten and gave myself a haircut! Besides, my younger brother's hair is long, too. Only thing is, his looks shorter but when you pull on those corkscrew curls, boy does it get long!!! Love you bunches, G!

Okay, the quick note has turned into a longer one. Just wanted to let you all know I was still here.

Quick Wedding Tip: To keep the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer in place during the wedding, (i.e. standing in one spot!) tape a Gold Dollar to the floor! Tell them that if they keep their foot on that coin the entire wedding, unless they HAVE to move, they get to keep it! After the ceremony, have the photographer take pictures of them on their hands and knees with the bride and groom getting the coin off the floor. Make sure that each child gets a copy of the picture as a keepsake. I have kids from 5 years ago that still have their dollars and their pictures! They loved the memory it made. The bride and groom loved the personal touch the pictures created.

A Family's Fourth of July...

Moms, dads, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends...and RAIN! (the one in the red is Mr. Rebel)

It was wonderful! No lightning, no thunder. Just a nice gentle rain that allowed for the kids to still play and have fun. Thankfully, all of us are 'old hats' at this and bring extra clothes for kids.

Aunt Martha and I had cameras going, to capture the joy of the day ( and to later use as bribery material! LOL!) So many things happened! We had a cow that blew bubbles, a cupcake flag cake that turned you blue if you ate the wrong cupcake, and a Harry Potter Conference! LOL!

The popsicles turned out beautifully! The Pied Piper (Aunt Martha) gave the kids a treat this year...they got to help retrieve the frozen goodies! Everyone had a blast with them. The green ones (can't remember the flavor) tasted exactly like watermelon Jolly Ranchers©! The chocolate pops were a big hit, even though a bit messy, but I don't think anyone was complaining! (oh, this is Little Pirate!)

The County Fireworks celebration was nice. Last year's was a bit more entertaining but then the trees were also shorter last year! LOL! Every year, we all sit in the yard/field between the two family homes and watch the fireworks from the fairgrounds. I remember years ago we were able to watch from Grandmas front yard! Then the trees started getting too tall! I did get some really decent shots, though.

The family fireworks were wonderful! We had the Passing of the Lighters this year! Yep! The younger generation got to play with fire around highly explosive gun powder. Aaahh, the joy! LOL! Seriously, though, they were very careful and adults were there for help and supervision. Since it had rained for a good part of the afternoon, we didn't even have to get the hose out to wet the ground on either side of the walk between the houses. That was one less thing to try and put away in the dark!

We all had a wonderful time. Although, I did miss the rest of my family (Happy Belated 4Th, New York!) I knew that they were having a good time of their own. And, Dana, can you send me your recipe for Salt Potatoes? I think I would like to try them.

New Picture!

I drove Mom to her churches on Sunday. Since we left early enough I was able to stop and take a few pictures. I added my favorite to the bottom of my blog as a page element. I hope you enjoy looking at it, maybe dream a little, too.

Crafty Weekend and Messy Monday

This weekend I made the four keychains I am bartering with a fellow blogger. I won't post them until after she receives them. I don't want to spoil any surprises so I will most likely get the pictures up by this weekend or early next week.

The knew pastor for the church called this morning. After talking a bit about different things in the church office and where they would normally go, I decided the easiest thing to do was to go the church myself. For the next 4 hours, Pastor April, my mom, and myself cleaned the church office and pastor's study. It was in a bit of shambles due previous events. I had been itching to get my hands on it anyway. When I was secretary at the church I don't think I ever had my office looking like that. Oh, well. Things happen to all of us and we move on, get over it, and start over. The office looks wonderful, now. The pastor's study is coming together fantastically. There are only a few more things for Pastor April to put away on the shelves and then she can move her things in.

I know some may ask why it wasn't cleaned beforehand but I really couldn't say. I haven't attended church there regularly in a while. I go on occasion (mostly when I can't get out of singing for my Aunt Nancy - choir director) and then also to volunteer for other events such as VBS or dinners that my husband will cook for. So that is why I have no idea why the church offices were not cleaned in preparation for the new pastor. Hey, we got rid of a bunch of unneeded junk, though! Yay!

Once we were done at the church, Mom and I headed to the store. We needed to get bleach for Pap to finish power washing the front porch and to look at beads. Yay! Beads!!! LOL! Anyway, Mom wants my to try and make a bracelet for her to give to each of the ladies in her Red Hatter group. I think I have a good pattern in mind. We found some purple glass beads a few weeks ago and I have been eyeing them ever since. They remind me of a set of dishes Mom had years ago. They are the same color and opaqueness, too. (pardon the spelling) The only bad thing about the dishes...I broke them...ALL of them. It was my turn to empty the dishwasher and the bottom plate in the stack was still a bit damp. They slipped. Dad only yelled at me once and that was to stay put! I was in bare feet amid millions of tiny shards of glass. After I was rescued from the kitchen, I cried. I loved those dishes. Mom never yelled at me. I knew she was sad. Those dishes came from home. They were Viking Glass from New Martinsville, WV. We lived in Louisiana when I broke them. (Mom, Greg broke one first! Remember the hotdog in Bastrop?!) Oh, well. We'll see what I can come up with.

While at Pap's dropping off Mom, she spotted a nest in the tree by the driveway. You know me, camera always close at hand.