Stupid Blogger

I don't know if it was my computer or blogger but it hasn't wanted to let me post in the last several days. I have managed to persevere somedays but others I just decided it wasn't worth it. Today after several tries I got in but I don't have much to say. I spent the day outside yesterday for the most part. I played with our dogs, I'm almost certain Tink is with puppy but I love puppies so I don't mind. My darling dearest had a concert last night at the city park but it was so stinkin cold that things did not really go well. I felt bad for my brother in law because he stayed for the whole thing and it ended up being a 5 and a half hour long affair. Blech. We came home after they played and watched Dan in Real Life. I had seen it in theaters but enjoyed watching it again. The combination of Juliette Binoche who is a beautiful person and Steve Carell, a wonderful comedian and actor, was nice for a quiet evening in. On a disappointing note, my digital camera seems to have gone MIA so I'm going to have to call the hotel where we stayed in Florida to see if they found it.

Sproing!!! Sproing Sproing

No I'm not completely mental, just a little bit. I'm just happy because spring seems to finally be showing its little head around my house. I went outside today to check on my babies and as they were running and jumping after I let them out of the fence I decided to investigate my bulb plantings. And I am ecstatic to say that many of them are grinning up at me from above the ground. There were hyacinths, lilies, irises, and grape hyacinths along with the ever present wild garlic all topside now. No actual flowers but lots of green that wasn't there two weeks ago and the hyacinth is even going so far as to have buds showing. I'm absolutely in heaven because that is definitely one of my favorite smells in the whole world. Jasmine, roses, wisteria, hyacinths, irises, freesia and gardenias all make me smile for hours. On a stranger note, I'm beginning to be a bit suspicious of Tink's marked weight gain over the last few weeks. I can't say anything for sure but she seems to be getting wider and I'm a bit nervous that the increase may mean puppies. I'd be happy but Jarell maybe probably would not. Little Pepper is getting bigger but I realized the other day that she's the same age now as Tink was when we got her and only about half the size. This may not seem that odd, but Tink only got a little bit bigger and is a very diminuitive Labrabor by most standards. I'm hoping this means that Pepper will be small because big dogs are a little harder to contain. She might be Beagle which Jarell would like. We'll see I guess. But thats enough about flowers and puppy dogs for now. I'm off to do something productive.

Home but good and mad

Well we're finally home and I'm so happy to be here. I am not however happy with the last movie we watched this evening. We watched "The Mist" and I'm livid over the ending. The movie was mediocre at best throughout the whole thing, but when you get to the end and I'm not going to spoil it for those of you who still want to see it, I was about as pissed off as I can get. There is a character who, fortunately gets whats coming to her, but before hand she goes all hypocritical bible thumper on everyone and even goes so far as to incite a crowd to murder before she's finally shot. But the fact that the movie ended the way it did absolutely disgusted me. I've never been a King fan altho I have enjoyed a few of his movies, but this really upset me. Thats all I have to say for tonight as I am exhausted.

The purse of wonders

I just felt I needed to document this. My husband called my purse the purse of wonders. Now for some back story. My husbands side-- My MIL, G has a thing for purses. She loves them to be large, leather, and overstuffed. When we flew to Florida she brought 4 and bought one more when we got here. She was dragged almost forcefully from another at Target a few days ago. I really and truly do not understand how she fills them so quickly but I have seen her pull food and drink from her bags on many an occasion and I've also seen her add those things to her bag. Its frightening for me and embarrassing for her children but as she puts it, "I have to have a place to put my medicines." (This is another long enduring argument--- in her mind natural supplements are indispensable and the more she has of each kind the better) Needless to say all these things add up to seriously annoy my husband and its just one of the things that has become a pet peeve of his because of her.

My side of the story--- I had a large purse when I was in high school because when I went on choir and band trips I didn't want to take a whole backpack with me so a large purse carried a book makeup and sometimes even a pair of flip flops for comfy shoes. When I graduated one of the first things I bought was a small purse that couldn't gather too much crap in it. I bought a large one recently for all the traveling I've been doing and when we came down here it came with me. I have been uncomplainingly carrying water bottles, sunscreen, aspirin, pens, cameras and much more for the extent of our stay and today I got my recognition. The delivery guy came to the door and Jarell needed to sign a receipt but neither one had a pen. I told him to bring me my purse and I'd get him one. When handed it to me he said, "We need to get something for this that says 'purse of wonders.'" I had him repeat that as I was amazed and knew I had been paid a very high compliment from my darling dearest. For him to not only be pro purse but to give it a name is a Big Deal. I know this sounds really dorky but sometimes you just have to appreciate those simple things that the people you love do for you. It makes partnerships so much better because you focus on the positive things. I need that sometimes because I have a tendency to take out my anger at the things I can't change on the one person who means the most to me. Sad but true. And I'm not the only person I know who does this. In fact most people do at some point or another. That all said, I will be returning to my little purse when we get home because I tire quickly of being the person who has everything, does anything, and never says no or complains. For non crafters out there, don't buy it cheap because it needs to be sewn unless you can sew it yourself. Just because I can doesn't mean I want to. And if you want a bottle of water, carry it yourself. I don't want to be a human basket. I need to learn to say no, but you need to learn that I'm not here to do everything for you. Well for Jarell the breadwinner, I want to but not his mom, siblings, sibling in laws et cetera.

Almost back home

Well no not really but we'll be going home the day after tomorrow. We're going to Seaworld today maybe which will be fun but if we don't I'll be okay with that too. I'm happy because yesterday I went to a bead store called Black Market Minerals and got a bunch of beads including some really cool magnetic beads. It'll fun to play with them and I already have a design for a choker planned for some of the shell beads and teardrop pearls. They had sets of 10 magnetic beads for sale as clasps for 4.50 and they had whole strings for sale of the same beads for 4.50 so needless to say I bought the whole string. I'll try to post pictures later but I'm not making promises because I've procrastinated before :) Until later,
Me

I'm such a bum

I didn't do a single crafty thing today and I'm a bit depressed about it, but to make myself feel a bit better, my husband bought me a couple of delightful books today at the border's outlet next to our hotel. One is on stamping which is something I've always wanted to do and the other is about on candle making another particular interest of mine.For now they are to do projects because it costs quite a bit more than I have to play with to buy the supplies but they're eventually books. I often dream of being set loose in a craft store without a price limit but the odds of that ever happening are slim to none and so I settle for trying to make my addiction pay for itself. I really wish I could get feedback on my projects from strangers because I honestly don't trust my family to tell me straight. My husband comes closest but because he's a guy its still hard to tell. Ah well c'est la vie n'est ce pas. Maintenent je vais a dormir mes chers invisibles. Now I'm going to sleep my dear invisibles.
Au demain

Lazy days

I spent the day yesterday doing mostly nothing which was absolutely delightful. We did go baby shoppin for a while with my inlaws but that was alright. I enjoyed petting the furry things while the expectiong parents got the remaining necessities. I did stitch a flower patch to add to my jeans pocket. It gives them a bit of color which is nice. I really don't have much else to say tho. We're going to see Cirque Du Soleil this evening which I'm really looking forward to. I'm making both my parents jealous on this trip-- blue man group for my dad and cirque du soleil for my mom ;) I'll have more to tell later I'm sure.

Inspiration

I asked the other day what inspired you me to do the things that you now love to do and so now I'm going to give my answer to that question. I realized that there were many influences on my artistic side. Musically it was my parents and grandparents. To say they are musical is like saying that fire is hot-- a major understatement. There was always singing and instruments being played. On the art side, I watched my mom draw and my dad create things with his lathe and jig saw. Hanging on my living room wall is a sandblasted plaque that they made together. My maternal grandparents dumpster dived and frequented garage sales, thrift stores and people's large useable "trash." I had a child size antique doll due to a broken arm that my grandpa fixed with a very large bolt. Charlotte may have had a slight resemblence to Frankenstein, but she was beautiful to me at 5 years old. My grampa also made miniature working violins working from pictures in books. My gramma sewed beautiful quilts and dolls and many other things. My paternal grandparents had their own specialties. Gramma Betty crochets and sews dolls clothes and people clothes too. She still makes her own clothing. My grampa makes crazy quilts out of double knit polyester and does woodworking that still amazes me, making puppets and cars that rolled, furniture and so much more. My stepmom finds all sorts of unusual obects that start off separate and plain and somehow turns them into wonderful works of art or toys for her family while still managing to save money. I have taken all of these skills and woven the parts that I am good at into my own particular style. I am constantly seeking out new challenges because of the wonderful people in my life that tought me so much. And this list doesn't even begin to scrape the top of the barrel-- teachers, my brother, aunts and uncles, my husband--- I've watched them all and learned so much from them. They all have talents that I envy and I am so thankful that they have been there in my life. For those of them who read this, thank you all so very much. I would not be able to do the things that I do today without your examples.

Just let him pee on your leg. That always works

No this is not some kinky porn blog that no one should read. We had a blast today. We drove to Cocoa beach and I was like a kid in a candy store picking up awesome shells all over the place. No stingy Nor Cal beach was this-- lots of whole shells and several of them were rather large. Then J14 and I built some sand tunnels and a large wall and waited for a while to see it fill up with water. While we waited for the tide to get that high, we played in the waves with the wake board and in general had a lot of fun. All of a sudden I saw a jelly fish headed toward J12 and I yelled to him to watch out for it. I walked towards him about 2 steps before feeling an excruciating pain on both my legs-- kinda like getting stung but 20 bees all at once. So I hobbled out of the water after offering up some choice words and whimpering a little but laughing a little too. I had drool and snot running down my face which is as you all know wonderfully attractive. And then my husband says, "I can pee on it for you if you want." No thank you honey. So that pretty much ended our day at the beach but fortunately we'd already been there about 3 hours or so.

Just a quicky today

I just thought I'd share a couple of sites that I absolutely adore. If you're like me you often have multiple tabs going on the computer (the better to absorb as much information in as short a time as possible, right?) and so I like to keep one to read and one to learn. Here are two of my favorites. www.ithinkwereallbozos.com and http://craftchi.com/blog/?cat=8&paged=2 The first being the laugh and the second something to do. Have fun and explore further from both these pages.

Another long day with lots and lots of pictures and very little craftiness

Well yesterday we went to the Magic Kingdom-- the sappiest err happiest place on earth. It had some cool stuff but in reality I was more impressed with Epcot. I did enjoy the haunted mansion and the river ride but everything was just too stinking crowded. We did stay to watch the 10 o'clock fireworks and they were beautiful but I really preferred the Epcot show. But thats alright because I got to watch a guy making those awesome blown glass bowls and vases and now I swear I have a new purpose in life-- burning myself on glass :) I was absolutely so fascinated that I forgot to take pictures. My brief moment of crafting was culminated by helping to finish applying the skull and crossbones to J11's hat. I bought a couple of overpriced charms that I may do something with and got a great deal yesterday on a huge pack of scrapbook paper so I should have lots of fun when we get home. Oh how I can't wait to go home. I'm tired of being dragged around amusement parks where I'm bored and not getting to do anything I want to do because its boring. On a high note we may be going somewhere very interesting today but more on that later. So til then I will leave you with a project. Think of something you enjoy doing that is something you've loved your whole life and tell me how you got started on it--specifically who got you started on it. You may be surprised who was inspiring. I know when I thought about it I was. Just post it on your blog and leave me a comment about it.

worn to a shred

Well we went to Epcot today and it was incredible but my oh my am I dead on my feet. We got there at noon-ish and went thru the whole park and finished in time to watch the closing fireworks. That started at 9:00. 9 hours walking or sometimes riding. One ride called "soarin" takes you on a virtual hang gliding tour of California which was incredible despite the fact that it triggered a small panic attack for me. I cried a little but a big part of it was missing California myself. Its been two years since I was out there last and I haven't seen my mom in all that time. I never realized how much California was home to me until I went so long away from it. I may soon beg my husband to go out there and also to Michigan to see my grandparents as well. But back to Disney. The fireworks were absolutely the MOST incredible I've ever seen. I had goosebumps by the time it ended and the music was the perfect accompaniment. None of this is crafty for which I appologize. I made a patch for my sister-in-laws hat in the shape of a skull and cross bones to cover a goofy marlin that was embroidered on the side. So that was my craftiness. I will try to get some pics posted soon but can't make any promises. Ciao bellas

Off we go into the wilde blue yonder

Hey all its me again. We're headed off to Florida and I'm sitting in the terminal waiting for our plane. The free wi-fi advertised all over is not functioning on my computer so I'm using my trusty fall back plan of my cell phone. I love being able to take my internet with me and can only hope I get good signal at the hotel down there. We're staying at some Buenavista Resort and Spa-- sounds fancy huh? But the 8 of us will be in a 3 bedroom condo thingy so its gonna be a little cramped. I can't promise anything too crafty while I'm down there but I did pack a very small sewing kit and several different scraps of fabric and if you've seen my babies, you know thats all I really need. They'll be hairless and unstuffed but I can embroider them. Thats my "just in case Melissa goes crazy in Florida" emergency stash and I really plan to just kinda take a break. I will however be keeping an eye out for lots of crafty stuff to bring back with me. I made sure to leave extra room in my bag ;). I don't have much to leave you with but I'll take a quick pic of my current project and post it here later.

Last day in Missouri for a while

Well my husband and I will be heading down to Florida for an uncertain amount of time starting tomorrow. My brother-in-law and his wife are having their first baby and my MIL is paying for us to go down there with her and the youngers. It'll kind of be a honeymoon for my husband and I and our anniversary is on Friday so that will be nice. I was sitting here reading a weight loss tip that I get as a newsletter every day and today's was about turkey. I read it and I realized that altho the word "gobble" is synonymous with turkeys and eating quickly, that really makes no sense. Turkeys aren't necessarily voracious eaters and so I wondered why the sound they make would become a word used to describe piggy eating. I could understand "grunted" altho saying someone grunted their food down would take some getting used to. I think tho that I'll try it. Now for some on topic info. I finished the baby blanket for my sister-in-law. (the one you didn't know about) And now I'm working on an abstract mother's angel for her. I'll put some pics up on this post when I finish it but as its rather last minute, I should really go for now and work on it.
Arivaderci my invisibles,
Melissa

Devil in Disguise

I got up this morning and worked on my little demoness that I showed you the other day and boy am I glad I did. Today she finally decided to introduce herself. I had been worried that she might be shy but as it turns out she's just a little stuck up. (In a good way I promise.) Her name is Lolita and she's a regular little siren. She started singing Elvis' "Devil in Disguise" and explained to me that she was the muse behind that song. She was down south and thought she'd play a few pranks since thats what demons do. She really didn't plan to be a muse but word got out about her after that song was written and she went into seclusion for a while forsaking all thing corporeal. Recently she decided that most of the hubbub had died down enough to come back to this world and so she sneaked into my head while I was showering one morning.
She will be for sale in my etsy shop at www.whitecoralbelles.etsy.com. Go check her out.

Mixed Emotions

I had a very hectic day today. We got up about 10 til 8 which has become a habit for me lately. Got ready for heading to my nieces party. This includes showering, digging through my clothes putting on one dress and doing my hair and makeup and deciding that the dress showed too much cleavage for a niece's party and a memorial service, digging some more, putting on the skirt I wore to our wedding reception, realizing I needed a nice shirt, going to wal*mart, coming back home and deciding on jeans and my new shirt. And that was all before 10. We picked up my stepmom and brother and drove for a very long time. Got to the party local and soon were over run by 10 children, 8 0r 9 of whom were screaming 6 year olds. O mon dieu! We finally achieved quiet after invoking the quiet game while promising ring pops to the winners. From there we returned to my parent's house and then to the memorial service. It was well attended by many of the people who loved Frank. But it was long and now I feel drained. I think my niece liked the doll but its hard to compete with barbies and a nintendo DS. I don't think I'll make something for my older niece because she's gonna be 10 and well.... Anyway I'll probably start something else tomorrow but tonight I'm ready for bed. Maybe my little demoness who now has a face I'm proud to say. Au revoir mes amis.

I am so very happy

I know I know this is post number three and to answer your question, no I don't have a life and no I don't have anything else better to do. So sue me. I'm just so happy because my etsy shop just had its very first sale today and I'm jumping up and down (inside anyway that would be bad to do while typing) about it!!!! Thank you Faith so very much! Oh and the monkey bread was mmm mmm delicious.

Running with tweezers

Just thougth I'd share this since I'm getting ready to go make it myself. It looks delicious and my husband has recently become addicted to other forms so I thought I'd try it.

MONKEY BREAD
4 cans refrigerator biscuits (about 40)1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon1/2 cup butter1 cup white sugar1 cup brown sugar, packed1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut, if desired
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.
Add biscuit pieces, several at a time; shake to coat well.
Place pieces in a buttered tube or Bundt pan until all are used.
Sprinkle layers with nts, raisings or coconut.
Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in saucepan. Cool 10 minutes, then pou over tp of biscuits.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.

Early mornings pass so quickly

I got up this morning about 8 o'clock and went almost immediately to finish the dolly that I showed yesterday. I painted the blonde's face (I don't like that one near as well and unfortunately it showed when I did the face- droopy eyes and a large and ungraceful mouth) and even made a carrying bag for her that snaps shut and resembles a pillow case. I have a feeling that a childs size pillow would fit in it and she could take it all to granny's house. I came out of the back room and checked on the time and lo and behold, it was 11 o'clock! Holy cow where did my morning go? I'm still in my pajamas and sitting in the living room. One of the older J's picked up the younger ones because she and my husband and I switch off watching them. So now I'm left with a nice quiet albeit messy house and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself today. I was ecstatic to see that several of my seeds have little green sprouts now and I went over each egg carton checking to see which plants were up and if any more showed signs of saying hello today. I was not disappointed. I also saw the prettiest cardinal couple out the window of my sewing room and made a mental note to mention them as these are really the first signs of birds we've had. I knew my ant was a sign that spring was on its way. I feel rather brilliant now even tho its supposed to be cold all week.

On a sadder note, I've got a memorial service to go to for a very dear family friend tomorrow night and I'm not sure what to wear. When my grandmother died, I wore jeans and the brightest red sweater because those are happy colors and my gramma wouldn't have recognized me in something else. That was with family who understood my eccentricities tho and I'm not sure Frank's family will feel the same. I met this man when I was 4 or 5 years old tho and he was like an uncle to me. Again, I was always in jeans when he was around. I'm a daddy's girl and a tomboy and when Frank was over I was usually working outside with him and my dad so pretty clothes had no place in my life. I've never been good at this stuff anyway.

Frank was one of the last of a dying breed. He had family connections to the mob and of course that means he was Italian. I remember debating with him over whether or not you could make manicotti with cottage cheese in place of ricotta. I'm anti-ricotta for the most part and to him that was close to sacrilegious. Thats just the kind of guy he was. But always very upbeat and sure of himself and where he stood with life. He smoked who knows how many cigarettes a day but contrary to our expectations that wasn't what got him in the end. I'm really going to miss seeing him around and this is yet another reminder to me that I should stay in touch with the people I care about because you never know when they won't be around any more.

Hello Again

Hello my darling invisibles its me again. I was up at a (for me anyway) ridiculous hour this morning because I'm so close to finishing my flip flop dolly for my niece whose birthday was yesterday. Fortunately for my inherent procrastinator self the party isn't till Saturday and I did finish the hair yesterday and one of the faces. I just have the blonde to give an identity to now. I must say that as much of a pain as she was to make, ( I hate hate HAtE sewing shirts for dolls because I never can quite get them right) I'm rather pleased with the end result. I've been trying to figure out a way to make a male version of these for my etsy account and it just came to me that I can make trench coats or wizards robes for them! How brilliant. With the world being all about Harry Potter right now and being a huge fan of him myself, it just might work. Not that I care what the world thinks, because they're my art after all aren't they? I will post some quick cell phone pics of miss dolly here because I didn't get any of the apron I made for my dad whose birthday was also yesterday. It was an inspiration if I do say so myself. Darling husband has a thing for guns and growing up with a former military father, I always enjoyed shooting things too. So I made a barbecue apron for my dad and was stumped for what to put on it. I couldn't use spongebob like I did for mine and Jarell's aprons because.... well just because. Then on our way to get groceries I asked Jarell what he thought I should use and he said, "Kill em all and let god sort em out," to which I replied, "not for an apron goofball." Then he thought about it for I swear 2 seconds and replied, "Cook em all and let your guests sort em out. And put the little skull with the cross bones wearing a chef's hat." And I was hooked. I changed the cross bones for crossed spatula's and the rest as they say was history. It was really pretty cute and I'm thinking of making a matching grill tools tote thingy for father's day.

Tiptoe thru the tulips

Its me again because as I went out for my walk today, (self-enforced exercise regimen that I avoid as much as possible) I was reminded that I meant to talk about my first sighting of the true messengers of spring. I'm not speaking of the bluebird or the robin. I'm talking about the ant. Inside my house in my bathroom on the floor and although he was only a scout I'm sure he's planning on inviting all his family and friends to join him soon. It was a combination of chills and thrills for me because I hate having my house overrun by the six legged kind but knowing that spring is finally almost here is a wonderful relief. I have lots of hopeful egg cartons full of starter mix and herb seeds that I check daily to see if there's a sign of green. In a fit of future ambition I will start some vegetables too. Its my yearly ritual and only once have any of these starts actually made it into the garden so I've got my fingers crossed. I was also ambitious enough to order a bunch of trees from Burgess my favoritest of all times seed and plant catalog so I have my work cut out for me. Just thought I'd share this random info with my invisibles.

I have pictures today

As promised I have pictures of one of my most recent projects today for all of my invisible readers :) The first one is of a little guy from my new line of hellesbelles (and beaus) and his name is Mickey. Here's his story.

This is Mickey. He who works for a little company you may or may not have heard of called Stryptogram. That’s right, you guessed it, Mickey sings for his supper (literally) while delivering stripping telegrams. Mostly to lonely middle-aged women. Its sad because most of them send the telegrams to themselves and thus have very little to say. However, Mickey’s secret dream is to perform his one man…er…demon act on a real stage instead of someone’s front porch. Ever since he saw the episode of Drew Carey where they did a satire of “The Full Monty,” he’s been hooked. He plans to call his show “The Full Mickey.” Mickey’s not very creative with names. Even so he knows he will get rave reviews and he’ll get to be a huge success just like his idol, Britney Spears……
The End

He's still a work in progress and he's actually a creation of my sister in law J11. (My husband and his siblings all have names that start with J so this is a handy way to keep track of them.) My little girl who may or may not be Mickey's big sister is unnamed as of yet but here she is in all her unfinished glory.

I'm becoming rather fond of these little demons and it won't be long before they'll start hanging out in my etsy shop causing all sorts of trouble. I find that sometimes its easier to wrestle your personal demons when you have something concrete to get your hands on et voila these little fellows were born. Each will have their own story that they tell me as I'm working on them. Mickey told me his when I was working this little lady and he wouldn't even let me leave the room to get paper. He just started dictating while I ran around looking for something to write on and fortunately for me he was willing to start over when I finally found an old sketch book. He swears I got half of it wrong but now that its in print he rather likes it. Ah well such is the nature of demons. Anyways, I must be off now because my stomach says that breakfast should really be soon. Happy crafting!

New to this site

I'm new to this blog but thought I'd give it a shot since none of my myspace friends seem particularly interested in hearing about me melting plastic bags a la etsylabs or about my little dolls scrapbooking etc. So I will try for a new audience and see what happens. My name is Melissa altho thanks to a clever random comment from my mom I have taken upon myself the moniker of HellesBelles. In other places I am known as littlesongbird17/86 or songbird86 or more recently whitecoralbelles but since there are so many names that amuse me I find it hard to choose just one. Its similar in my real life where as a newly wed of almost a year I'm still receiving items in my maiden name along with things to my married self. Its really quite confusing but c'est la vie, n'est ce pas? I have an etsy account that I'm still a bit uncertain about but its a work in progress. Its located at http://www.whitecoralbelles.etsy.com/ if you should happen to be interested but bear in mind the earlier stated work in progress comment. That said allow me to introduce myselves. I am a young female living in what is possibly one of the most meteorologically diverse states in this nation, Missouri. It was 75 on Sunday followed by a brisk 22 on Tuesday and today I haven't seen the temp but its neither one of those. I have two and a half dogs since a) one is technically not ours she just resides here with a temporary permanancy and/or b) one is a 9 0r 10 week old puppy of unknown origins. They choose to be named Missy, Tinkerbell, and Pepper and are the queens of this 70 acres on which we live. I am as I mentioned earlier a newly wed and in fact our anniversary is on the 14th so we've almost made it through a whole year. Hooray! I have two younger brothers, two step-brothers, one step-sister, and 16 brothers and sisters in law. Yipes! My husband is the middle of 14 children and since his parents are currently in Mexico for their business we are taking care of the younger 4 kids ages 12, 14, 14, and 16. It is I must say a strange feeling being a semi surrogate parent to teenagers having been one myself not so long ago.
Crafts
When it comes to crafting, anything goes. I sew, scrapbook, draw, paint with acrylics on several surfaces, knit, crochet, and do strange things with random bits and ends when I find them. I can never say for sure what will catch my eye next but I often liken myself to a magpie who has tumbled into Aladins cave of wonders--- so many of shiny objects, so little time. I won't post any projects today because the kids are starting to microwave frozen burritos and that does not count as a healthy meal in this house. I must go make my copycat panera bread cheesy brocolli soup. Yum!!