Hello!

HELLO to everyone from lovely, wonderful, warm, sunny, and fabulous Florida!

We made it last night at about 10:45 into grannie's driveway. I won't lie - the driving was awful. My mom and I took turns but it was rough. At one point yesterday we were going to just stop and get a hotel room - but we kept going and going and going and going and going ... well, you get the picture ... but we are talking 22 hours on the road. It was HARD.

The kids, well, the kids were just AWESOME on the drive down. They didn't ask "are we there yet?" "how much longer?" or any questions like that. They barely whined (which they don't normally go 22 hours without whining that little at home LOL. I think though, they were all pretty tired and just didn't have the energy to complain much. But they were such good little travelers ... awww, I have such awesome kids.

Today we didn't do much. Unfortunately my little guy got sick! His fever is hovering around 101 to 102. He asked me today to take him to "daddy's house" which I assume means home since daddy isn't with us and that was all he could think to say? He mostly stayed attached to me all day, but we were able to go on a few walks and just sit outside in the nice warm wonderful weather.

I'd show you pictures, but I haven't taken any yet :x Not a single picture. I was so sure I'd take hundreds each day, but nope, today was a day for holding and cuddling little man and just trying to take care of him. Tomorrow we will venture out to Sanibel Island (assuming little man feels better otherwise all others will go without the two of us).

But really? The sun and warm weather is enough. I needed this. I just really needed this right now and it is making me feel so wonderful inside. Oh! I almost wish we lived down here so we would have this niceness all the time, but for real? I don't want to be here.

Anyway, I'm off to crash, but I needed to record a bit about the trip so far, so you all get to read it ;-)

Wedding things ...

About 6 weeks ago I mentioned I was asked to help with wedding things for my cousin. And well, I had good intentions to sit down and get it all done right away (I even started putting things together) but then so much happened and it got lost in the shuffle and I just wasn't into doing it.

Well, they are meeting again next Saturday - when I'll be in Florida which means I needed to get things done before we leave!
Yesterday I made two centerpieces for her to look at (we went to try on bridesmaids dresses and can I just tell you something? The dress she picked is just absolutely gorgeous. I am actually quite excited to wear it!) Anyway, this is what I was able to whip up yesterday afternoon:

choice a:

choice b:

(for this one, the candles are floating candles but since I had to drive with it, I did not fill it with water)

Today I made a few wedding invitation samples for her that I'll drop in the mail tomorrow and they only need to travel about 30 minutes so I hope that they get they within a week - and I'm pretty confident that they will

In some ways they are all pretty similar but I don't know. I hope she likes some of them or at least one part of each of them or maybe someone else will bring ones she likes better.
Anyway, I personally like almost all of them (one I just like the front of but the inside is sort of plain). I don't want to bore you with individual pictures of each card, but if you want to see them, you can look here.

And can I just say, this card is my favorite ... roses are a big part of the wedding so the paper is just perfect I think!

All that aside, I have everything for the kids packed up. Most of the stuff for the car packed up. I just need to towels/bathing suits and pretty much everything for me. And of course, food for the drive but I won't do that until tomorrow night. I am feeling more ready than I thought I would tonight, but it also still feels like I have a million and one things to do! =)

Blah ...

In approximately 48 hours I will be leaving to go to Florida. Yes it is 10:18 at night and yes we are leaving around 10:18 pm on Saturday night. But we are driving there. From Chicago. About 24 hours. And we plan to not stop on the way there ... so we figured if we left late Saturday night the children would sleep for the first 10 hours of the trip. But maybe they won't sleep. Maybe they'll be cranky and crazy. And maybe we'll be too tired to make it. Well - if that does happen, we are agreed to stop and take a trip.

I am anxiously looking forward to this trip, but I am also completely dreading it. My darling husband will not be coming with me. And I am going to fiercely miss him. I hate, hate, hate being away from him. Plus I'm going to be 24 hours away from him with our three children. Thankfully my mother and one sister will accompany me so I won't be all alone.

We will be visiting with granny for the first part of our trip. I am excited to see granny. The kids are excited to see granny. I can't wait to see granny. And well, since it snowed here today, I can't wait to be down in sunny Florida soaking up sunshine and warmth and not wearing 72 layers in an attempt to stay warm.

Friday we will wake up extra early, hug and kiss granny goodbye and drive to Disney World to visit there for two fun-filled and jam-packed days. The best part, Disney is completely allergy/intolerant-friendly and so I won't have to worry about how to feed my darling daughter while we are at the Magic Kingdom. The kids are also very excited about this part of the trip too.
We come home Monday night. And Tuesday I take yet another trip that I am extremely excited about - I will fly to Pittsburgh to meet some incredibly wonderful women (Emily, Cooper, and Nervous Girl) Except I am incredibly nervous about it. Seriously, if we had extra money, I'd be buying a whole new outfit, getting my hair done, my nails done, new shoes and a cute new bag to match. Except, we don't and so I'll be going in whatever is clean when I arrive home late the night before with the same old purse I've had for ages and unpainted nails - but maybe a yes to the new shoes thing because I actually really am in need of a new pair. My current pair is ready to to be put to rest.

Anyway, all of this is to say, I will be MIA for a little bit. I'll pop on when/if I can. But in the meantime I need to procrastanate just a bit more on the packing, cleaning, laundry, cooking, baking and 23,480,157 things I need to accomplish prior to 10 pm Saturday night!

Easter Egg personality test ...

This might have been better if it was done, you know, before Easter? But alas, it wasn't so here it is now:

What Your Easter Egg Says About You

You are a deeply spiritual and passionate person. Easily moved, you feel emotions strongly and clearly. You are compassionate, loving, and kind. People feel inspired by your strength and convictions.

The Easter Egg Personality Test

Interestingly enough I wouldn't normally think this egg fits me, but I think for tonight, it is perfect.

Not what I planned ...

I had planned to come here and pour my heart out to all of you - which I know you would have been supportive but when I typed it all up, it just felt too depressing and too sad and I just couldn't convince myself to hit publish.

So instead, I bring you two pieces of information.
Kate Jacobs, author of Friday Night Knitting Club (which I raved about here), is coming out with a new book called Comfort Food. Somehow I was alerted to this by her publisher who sent out a mass e-mail to her fans and I can NOT wait to get my hands on this book. Truly, I have high hopes and I do not doubt for one moment this author will live up to my expectations!

Now, it gets even better - she - Kate Jacobs - is coming to a book store near me for a book signing! Woo-hoo! Guess I am buying a copy of FNKC (which I originally read from the library). Here is a link to where she will be visiting soon. Now, a while ago, I got an e-mail from her publicist letting me know when she started to go on tour for her book. At that time, she was not coming to the Chicago-land area and so I wrote back saying how much I loved the book but to please let Ms. Jacobs know that her fans in Chicago would like her to come visit us - and now she's coming. I'd like to think my one e-mail prompted her to come to the Chicago area, but I'm gonna guess that since it's a major city, it was probably already in the plans and not yet released. But regardless, I am thrilled and I will be there.

Sigh ....

Two little people come to our house and our lives turn quite chaotic!
So far we have had twice the normal grocery bill, we've had more fights and tears then ever before, bedtime keeps getting later, we had one almost trip to the ER for a cut on one child's head (seriously, i would have gone at the time but dh said to wait it out and she seems okay but since it wasn't even our child who cut herself, I wanted to be over-cautious and just go), my husband hurt his back very much, I've done more luandry in the last 5 days than I've done in the last month I think, my house is a disaster - I can't keep it clean no matter how hard I try, I've hardly had any time to get online, I've been exhausted by the end of the day and have had much less trouble sleeping, I am a sucker and have eaten out three times since last Wednesday and bought a new movie yesterday in order to entertain them last night.
::sigh::
But I have to say, we've had a lot of fun, a lot of laughter, a lot of giggling and overall a pretty good time. It's just been busy.

In the midst of all the busy-ness, we did manage to do something fun for the girls yesterday ...

Can you tell that they have earrings in their ears for the very first time ever! They were so brave and did such a good job and I am so proud of them (I know, I never understood before yesterday how you could be proud of a child for getting their ears pierced, but I get it now!)

Amongst all the crazy, busy, mostly good times - I did received some sad news and it breaks my heart. I don't want to say too much because, well, I just don't. But please, if you have a moment send some prayers out to friends of mine who is going through some very sad times right now. I am positive that even with that little information if you pray, God will know to whom and what you refer too. Thanks you very much.

A worthwhile watch ...

I encourage you to watch this. It's VERY good. It's a tad under 20 minutes, and I really think it's very very worthwhile!



More here

Welcome Spring!

Today is the first day of spring. Except, apparently Mother Nature did not get the memo and we are under a winter weather warning. And supposed to have 8-11 inches dumped on us between late tonight and Saturday morning. According to the weather.com it will snow for approximately 18 hours straight.
But, really? I'm not holding my breath. And I wonder if it's all hype and will turn out to be a 15 minute light snow fall. Because we live in Chicago. And we have Lake Michigan. And the whole lake effect apparently throws off a lot of predictions.
However, just in case, I went to the store tonight and bought lots of food. Too much food. And I spent a lot more than I intended. Yet, we have 2 extra kids staying at our house until next Saturday (as in like 10 days away next Saturday) and even though they are not monsters, the thought of taking my 3 plus those 2 to the store, leaving me with a 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 year old, frankly does not appeal to me in any way shape or form. Nor do I feel like dealing with "wow! Are they all yours?" which annoys me, but has to be even more annoying if the answer is yes because why do people even care?
Anyway, we are now a 7 person household. And there is a lot of laundry that appeared in the last 24 hours in my house (the two extra persons appeared last night into the 1000stitches house).

The good news is that all the kids are behaving pretty good and there wasn't too much talking after bedtime last night - which is amazing since 4 kids slept in one room - and that's good. But 5 kids - aged 2-8 - are REALLY loud. And they all woke each other pretty early and the two extras are missing their family (who left for Florida this am, just in time because they didn't want to deal with the spring winter weather warning) and so that's been a little tough.

Anyway, I am rambling. I will either not post until the 2 extra persons are gone. Or I will come post every 5 minutes to update you on how life is going with 2 extra persons. I'm not sure yet.

Hope you are all enjoying the first day of spring. And I hope you are not dealing with floods or too much snow. And if you are, stay safe and be careful!

Old Book, New Book

Yesterday I finished A Ship Made of Paper. I don't recommend it. I don't know why I finished it. I didnt' like it. And I didn't much enjoy it. Except it was on my To Be Read list (which now has 535 books on it - I will NEVER finish LOL) and I am trying to make that list smaller. I started it over a month ago I think. Put it down and didn't have any desire to finish it. But then I feel guilty for not finishing it, so I picked it up yesterday and told myself I would not read any other book until it was done! Other people have liked it though, so don't take my word for it. Read some reviews and then decide if you'll like it. I just, eh, it wasn't a book for me!

Then last night I picked up Affluenza and started to read (mostly because Crunchy Chicken has been talking about it - actually doing a book club about it - and I wanted to read it based on what she was talking about!). Yeah, I'm hooked on it. I'm sure I will probably fly through it and read it quickly because it has sucked me in. I highly recommend you pick it up and read it and then hey, maybe discuss the book? She just posted questions today for chapters 19-21. I'm only on chapter 9 though, so I have a bit of reading to catch up ... but it's really good and if you pick it up, let m eknow what you think! =)

We've been busy!

Folks, we have been busy around here! Going and coming and going again!
But it's been good and it's been nice. And we've all had fun doing everything but man, I'm ready to stay in for a few days and rest - I know I've said it here before but I am not the kind of mom who can always be on the go, go, go, go!
And, I also have a HUGE desire to go sit and sew or knit or scrapbook or something - which is so nice to have that back. Of course, we've been much to busy for me to actually sit down and do anything LOL
Wednesday I get to take in 2 extra kids and they will be here for about 10 days. It will actually be a good thing because they will play with 2 of my kids and help keep them busy. So I am hoping to get lots of projects done and things accomplished!

Anyway, just saying hi and stopping by real quick! And hoping to have lots of pictures to show you next time I stop in!

Live Blogging ...

today I am live blogging from McDonalds. Yes, it's true. We ate at McDonald's!
I know, I know, it's so not healthy for us and it's not good food, etc, etc, etc ... but sometimes, well you gotta do what you gotta do!
We took Miss M to preschool and the McDonald's is just down the road and I need to update my budget forms for February and March (I've been slacking big time). And so I had two choices today:
leave the house at 11:35
get to preschool at 12:00
walk M in and drop off at 12:10
arrive back home at 12:35
leave the house at 1:30
pick her up at 2:05
get back home at about 2:35

That's a lot of driving and not a lot of time to be home.
So instead we went to the farmer's market, drove right to preschool, went 5 minutes down the road, got lunch, kids played, mom did budget sheets, checked e-mail and I even have time to fire off a blog entry to you! =)

So, not much to really tell you today. The farmer's market was good, but they were out of potatoes. Bummer. They had the really good carrots though so that was cool. My husband booked us on another weekend away at the end of April. This is definitely going to be our year of travel because he also wants to go away for another weekend! All these trips are to visit family and most will simply be the gas to drive there - but given the price of gas, that will be a lot of money anyway. I though, have a feeling come a year from now I will NOT want to travel at all. Or I'll discover I really do love it and want to keep on traveling. Who knows?

Anyway, it's time to go pick up Miss M from school. Hope you are all having a great day on this Thursday - which by the way, it's finally starting to feel lke spring in the Chicago suburbs and it really is helping my mood a lot! =)

If you have a blogger account ...

Seriously, do THIS! If you don't want to click the link, I have c&p'd the directions she gave here:

Go to your blogger dashboard.
On the right, under your photo click edit profile.
Here you will need to fill in the blank to provide an email address and check the box that says show my email address.

This does not mean your email address will show up when you comment for others to see. It only means that when you comment I can hit reply and send and email right back to you. Really, it's so much fun for me to do that.

If you've never added an email to your blogger account then you should. Set up a separate account on gmail or some other place just for blogging. Then provide that address on your blogger account. It will make my life so much easier. And yours too!

Why is this important? It means that when you send me a comment, I can respond right back to your e-mail. And I have received so many LOVELY comments lately - for the past few weeks when things haven't always been so great around here, and I just want to be able to reply to everyone's lovely comments!

Crazy 8's

Hyperactive Lu tagged me for Crazy 8's which. I might add, this was tough to think of 8 things for each category. I think I would like it better if it were crazy 4's! LOL

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Travel to Europe (which might be hard since I'm terrified of flying and boating)
2. Get out of debt
3. Cruise with my husband
4. go back to college and get a second degree
5. learn to golf
6. own my own business - maybe someday?
7. get back into volunteering
8. hit the highest level in WOW LOL

8 Things I Say Often
1. Oh man!
2. No way!
3. Dude
4. You're kidding right?
5. <2> Don't throw that!
6. love ya!
7. Hey!
8. Okie Dokie Mr. Pokie!

8 Songs I Sing Over and Over Again
1. Twinkle, twinkle, little star
2. A song from Thomas that I don't know what it's called LOL
3. High School musical songs - with my girls
4. Hannah Montana songs - again with the girls
5. A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton
6. I was made to Love You by Toby Mac
7. Walking Her Home by Mark Shultz
8. Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables

8 Things I’m Passionate About
1. My family
2. blogging
3. changing the food we eat to better, healthier, etc.
4. my faith
5. making things with my hands
6. reading
7. learning
8. the planet

8 Books I’ve Read Recently
1. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
2. The Year of Biblical Living by AJ Jacob
3. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
4. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
5. All Five Spiderwick Chronicles Books
6. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
7. I'm half way through A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer
8. and halfway through Green Living

8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends
1. humor
2. zest
3. honest
4. not always trying to be perfect/being real
5. can put up with my kids
6. I don't feel like I'm constantly defending myself when our opinions differ!
7. Accepting of imperfections
8. just being nice!

8 People I Think Should Do Crazy 8’s

Oh, who ever wants to do this can do it .... if you do it though, please let me know! (Although usually when I say this no one actually does it which is fine too LOL!)

Post Oprah stuff

Okay, I really meant to type this all up yesterday, but well, it was a long day nad I was EXHAUSTED (and I was trying to read ultimate blog party posts instead of being here).

Anyway, we made it downtown right when we needed too. I was doing okay, despite the fact I hadn't slept. I think I had a huge rush of energy. We got in, had to fill out 3 questions, and then we sat. And sat. For a little more than an hour. After about 20 minutes, the exhaustion hit me full force. I felt SO tired and SO worn out. The room was SO loud though. All the chairs were filled and it seemed like most people were talking a LOT. Finally, it was time to enter the studio. Apparently we were not dressed pretty enough because we were not called for the best seats in the house (which the fill based on your appearance). When we finally came in, we had pretty good seats anyway.
Then a nice woman came out and got us all worked up and the energy rushed back. We were dancing, clapping, laughing, etc, etc. Finally Oprah came out (about 2-3 minutes before the show went live). Well, she didn't so much come out as she stumbled out walking really funnily and then told us that her shoes were TOO small and she was ready to hit the lady who dresses her! She talked a little bit to us. I learned a few things - Oprah is funny. I mean, really funny. When she talked during commercials and breaks I laughed at almost anything she said. She also does really great facial expressions! It was hilarious.
Anyway, the show was live - at least in Chicagoland it was. My understanding is that in other parts of the country it does not air live - which I didn't know before.
Anyway, if you watched it Monday 3/10 the show was about the Big Give that aired the night before. Charlize Theron was on there as the big guest. Which, by the way, Charlize complained her shoes were too big during a break - so apparently a lot of people were having shoe issues yesterday. The show does seem to fly by and I'm amazed at how much you can say in 30 seconds (I know because the director would say 30 seconds left during the breaks and we'd still get a good story from Oprah.
Anyway, some good things, if you watched it, you say Charlize say that dress was between a 6-8 and Oprah was telling her no way and Charlize commented that she has meat on her bones, is not a small woman, and has junk in her trunk. When she left (and during break) Oprah let us all know she hates when skinny people say they are fat. She told us she was once an 8 and even then her thigh wouldn't fit in that dress. She also couldn't understand why you would lie about your size like that and if she were a size 4, she'd have it plastered on her butt. It was kind of funny. And as an aside, after the show (someone must have looked it up) they confirmed that the dress was in fact a size 4, so sorry Charlize, I don't believe that you are a size 6/8! LOL

We did a few questions/answers after the show. Oh, I should mention the minute the show ended, she put on slippers and took off her shoes. Someone shouted from the audience saying she would take the bad pair and we were told they were a gift from Jessica Seinfield. Kind of neat.

Oprah then left and a guy came out to tell us about a show they are hoping to tape in the future (the info is here if you are interested). Although, he described it a bit differently than the materialistic aspect - he said they are looking for a family who would use the least amount of energy possible and create the least amount of waste for a week. I wiggled in my chair and and raised my hand because I wanted my family to be that family. Except he wasn't looking for us to wave our hands around like that LOL So after we left the studio, I walked up and threw our name in the hat (along with about 10 other people). [more about this later]

Then we crossed the street and shopped at the Oprah Store. I was so good. Even though I wanted a lot and it was all very nice, as you can imagine having Oprah or Harpo or just the little O on things greatly increases the sale price! But my mom was nice and bought me this shirt
I thought about splurging on the book club tote, but seriously, it was way too much money for me to consider getting it really. In the store I did talk to Shelley to let her know how I was amazed at how much she did for her friend and how just amazing it was! Maybe it was odd, but I found myself standing next to her at one point and just wanted to let her know how great it was. I also talked to someone else who asked a question after the show. I ended up giving her my e-mail and blog address, so maybe she's here now reading and might say hi!

After all that excitement, my mom and I went and had a nice lunch together. Then home to do things. Although I was pretty beat by then - I was able to get a nap.

I also watched the tap show. I do not show up on camera at all - they didn't even have a shot that was close to me. Oh well. I was there. It was exciting. It was full of energy. I would completely go again if they invited me LOL! =)

Yikes!

4 am and I am awake. This is so wrong. Because 4 am is when I need to wake up. And I haven't been able to fall asleep yet! Can you hear the whining in my voice?
But in an hour my mom will come pick me up. We drive to Chicago. We will go to the Oprah show - I think it might be live today but I don't know. And there they will talk about The Big Give (I know because they called and told me and asked to watch last night's show so I'd have a clue what was going on). Which I'm kind of excited about because I love Nate, and I so hope he's there today LOL! =)
Anyway, I need to go get ready. But I kind of want to fall asleep right now.
Oh well.

Fashionably Late ...

I am fashionably late (okay, so I'm just plain late, but doesn't fashionably late sound SO much better?!) but I'm here ... and it's time to party!

I joined in the fun last year, and had a blast. I even ended up adding like 200 blogs to my blogroll because of last year's party! =)

For those coming for the first time, welcome to my blog! I'm Brandie. I live in a chilly suburb of Chicago. It is lightly snowing out right now, but a hint of spring is in the air! I'm married to the best guy in the whole world. Proof - as I types this he is helping my baby sister with a school project, which he had to interrupt cleaning the blinds in order to help her and he started to clean the blinds while I was still in bed sleeping because most weekends he allows me to sleep in). See I told you, I am married to the best guy ever! I stay at home with 3 kids (2 girls aged 8 and 5 and a son who is 2). In my former life I went to school to become a teacher, got my degree and decided to stay home with the kiddos! But we also homeschool, so I kind of put that degree to use =) One of the projects my 8 year old and I started was Book Reviews For Kids By Kids. I am so excited to be helping her do this, but we really do need a few more kids so that we can add posts more regularly (so go check it out, and if you have someone who might be able to help us, please please let us know! and even if you don't know someone, go check it out LOL!) Right now, I am blessed enough to be involved with things over at The Motherhood - which is another fabulous site I'll encourage you to go visit!

This blog is where I attempt to chronicle all the fun things I like to make! I have too many hobbies, which include, but are not limited to: sewing, knitting, scrapbooking, making cards, cross stitching and reading. Okay, I can't make anything from reading, but I really do love books and they are a big part of my life so they get thrown on here as well. If your lucky, I'll even talk about life at my house. ;-)

To welcome you to the party, I have prepared a VERY yummy dinner for you. (Confession time: we really made this Friday, but I really intended to write this Friday, so we'll just pretend it's Friday LOL). Tonight we'll be having:

Beef stew with carrots and potatoes
Mixed green salad
Homemade Hearty Nut Bread

Look how yummy it all looks:

Now grab a chair, here's your plate:

We left you a spot at the end of the table ... the kids are saying "Come on over! Party Time!"

This meal was quite a cause for celebration in our house because it was our first attempt to have a completely local meal. Although we didn't succeed 100% - the meat, romaine lettuce, carrots, potatoes and butter were all from local farmers and growers. And the although the bread ingredients were not found locally, it was technically baked in my kitchen, so we'll count that as mostly local as well! This is a big deal because we are trying to make changes at our house - and buying food locally is one of the changes we are trying to implement! We were so excited when we discovered last weekend we had an indoor farmer's market not far from here! I've just started another blog to write about what we are doing and why we are doing it and you can check it out here. What did you ask? Am I addicted to blogging? Well, maybe just a bit! LOL

I hope you enjoyed your stay here. And if you liked it, please come back and visit us again =)

For more Parties to visit, hop on over to Five Minutes for Mom and look at all the fun you can have here!

PS - tomorrow I'll be at the Oprah show - so come back and read all about it. My Oprah journey began here, when I went the first time!

Edited to add: I didn't even realize there are PRIZES to be won! Great things people! Go here to see the prizes yourself.
My favorites, in no particular order, are:
8 — 50 Nights of Family Fun, 15 — $50 gift certificate to Kids Magical Wonder, 18 — Wrap-N-Mat and Chico shopping bag, 24 — Blog Design, 32 — Living The Dream Mom T-Shirt, 39 — $20 Gift Certificate, 45 — Custom Blog Design, 58 — Customized 6 Week Fitness Plan, 59 — $25 Cash, 60 — $25 Gift Certificate, 63 — $50 Gift Certificate, 67 — Blog Makeover, 72 — Webcam, 117 — $25 Gift Certificate, 128 — Book and DVD: Yoga For Christians, 129 — $15 Gift Certificate, 136 — Knitting Goody Bag, 140 — $20 Gift Certificate, 143 — Inspirational Novels

If I had to limit the list to 3, I'm nto sure what I would pick! I think 15, 72, and any of the blog makeovers. But, really, ALL the prizes are great - so go look and see what you can see!

Live Blogging ...

From my local Barnes and Noble (courtesy of my cell phone - which when plugged into my computer, allows me to access the internet which my darling husband discovered last week for me when we researched ways to get the internet while I am traveling).

Anyway, I am at the store because today was NOT a good day in any way, shape, or form. And frankly, I needed to leave my house. It was so bad that even my 8 year old said "yes mom, please go out and relax because you had a bad today." Which I think she said to make me feel better about leaving, but instead made me feel worse :-(

Oh well. I am out of the house. I am supposed to be relaxing, but man, I feel all wound out and I'm not the kind of person who can relax in a few moments and then feel all better. And I'd like to point out the B&N is freezing! I'm gonna pretend they just want to reduce the amount of heat they are using to be more eco-friendly, but really? It's FREEZING in here. And. They don't have outlets anywhere for me to plug into. Which is sort of annoying because I can't plug the computer in. I know, I know. Isn't it enough that I have a laptop I can bring out and a cell phone that gives me internet access free of charge when I am away from home. And my lovely family encouraged me to come out and get a break? Nope. It's not. Because I'm in a mood. And when I'm in a mood - well, really nothing is good enough! LOL!

So, anyway, I'm here. And I'm still whining. I guess that means I didn't get the point of getting out of the house to relax and enjoy myself.

I did do a bit of shopping. Except one book I wanted to get doens't come out until April 1 (no wonder I couldn't find it when I looked around). And I can't remember the other titles I was hoping to get. Bummer. [except the beauty of the laptop is that I just went to amazon.com and checked my wish list and saw the title of the book. ::phew:: Seriously, how did people live before computers?!]

Anyway, I am getting two things. Bend the Rules Sewing book because I've heard nothing but good things about it and I've been wanting it for a while. And The Green Guide magazine. Which raises an interesting question - if I wanted to go really green, would I buy a magazine? Well, I'm buying it to check it out and then if I really like it, I'll decide to subscribe to the digital version or the paper version. But I wanted to check it out first, and buying it seems the way to do that.

Oh well. I'm going to sign off now. And I'll try really hard to stop whining and get into a better mood. Tomorrow should be a good day - I am going to check out our local indoor farmer's market (Which I just discovered over the weekend) and I can't wait to see what good things I can find there! =)

Life ...

Life can be crazy sometimes. It can take you on many different twists and turns - some you can plan for and others are just surprises!

I feel like life is crazy around here and we are twisting and turning in some unexpected ways. I suppose that is a normal feeling when you've lost someone you cared about - because it hurts and it reminds you that someday, your life will come to an end as well. A few months ago I envisioned a care free spring, one in which the snow would melt, the green grass would peek through and we would spend more time outside playing and hopefully have three worn out kids at the end of each day.

Of course, we will probably have all of that, but it will be different from the last few springs because we won't be anxiously waiting for grannie and grandpa to come home from Florida. I will actually begin working weekends in about a month. We have planned a trip, just a week ago, to go to Florida in one month. My 5 year old is going to preschool 3 days a week. We have a desire to move - except it's not to New Hampshire anymore.

And through all of this, I have still not reclaimed my desire to sit down and knit, or sew, or cross stitch, or work on a scrapbook, or make a card, or ... well, do anything. Which is unfortunate because I have piles of things that need to be finished, a pile of things that need to be started and just a few short weeks ago, I couldn't wait to do so many projects.

I know this will pass. But I hate feeling like I am in funk. I hate knowing I have things to do, things to make, things to try out, and yet, not being able to get into the work and do it. And I hate not having pictures to show you and to share with you. I hope soon it will come back. Perhaps the weather will get nicer and my mood will lift up with it. Perhaps something so exciting will need to be made that it will rush back to me. Who knows, but I do hope it happens soon! =)

My new "project"

I've started another blog! Yes, one might argue I am addicted to the. But, this is something important to me ... so go check it out. Feel free to say hi over there and start reading it as well! =)

The Green Sheepie