Karma Bracelet

I have a really simple style when it comes to jewelry, and when I saw some Karma bracelets on Etsy, I fell in love.

 They are incredibly easy to make. You only need 4 things:

 

About 2 feet of waxed Irish Linen (I used olive green)
1 Silver Ring (mine is a 1/2" hammered sterling silver ring)
Scissors
Ruler

First thing you need to do is cut 2 pieces of the waxed Irish Linen to about 10.5".

Next, fold one piece of the linen in half.  Thread your silver circle onto the linen, then thread the loose ends through the loop.

Pull tight...

And repeat on the other side.

Now all you need to do is tie it on!

I have several extra sterling silver circles left. I also have 7 different colors of linen, so I'll get some kits put together and put them in my shop later today or tomorrow.
**Kits are up in the shop here.


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Tute Tuesday
You're So Very Creative
Making The World Cuter
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One Project At A Time
Tuesday Glam Party
Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays
Tutorials & Tips Tuesdays
Tuesday's Treasures
Take A Look Tuesdays

Thank You

 Thank you

Time to recoup

Last night was a blast! Everyone had so much fun, and there was NO drama (the lack of alcohol probably helped keep the drama away)!

I set up a photo booth, and that kept me (and everyone else) pretty busy. We had frames, mustaches, hats, wigs, pirate eye patches & earrings, funny sunglasses, and leis. We ended up with a lot of hilarious pictures.

We got home kind of late, so we're all pretty exhausted this morning.  Well, we've only been up for about an hour, so it feels like morning.  It's actually 11:00, so I guess it's still technically morning, but not by much!

Par-tay!

J's uncle Bill turn 60 this month, and tonight we are having a party to celebrate.

Bill is a wonderful guy. He has 6 brothers and 7 sisters. When Grandma J passed away a few years ago, a lot of issues between siblings were created/brought to the surface. Some haven't spoken to each other since the day before Grandma J left.

Everybody is coming together for Bill's birthday. He's a special needs guy, and all that drama and BS is just wasted on him. He loves everybody and everybody loves him.

We could all learn a lot from those we put in the "Special Needs" column.

Just what I need

I love you mom
Your note on back

You have been a good mom
Just what I need

Thanks, Awesome.  I love you, too.  You have been a good son.  Just what I need.

Thursday

The sun finally came out today. It made me so happy! While I love how beautiful everything looks after a nice rain shower, I can't stand to have cloudy skies and rain on a daily basis.

We went outside and enjoyed this beautiful weather. My newly planted daisies and poppies are doing well. My lilacs are blooming, and the rose bush that I thought had been killed last year has come back.

I need to do some research on my hydrangeas, though. They bloom every year, but they also re-start from the ground up every year. I'm guessing I probably just need to cover them in the winter.

Tomorrow, baby E is having surgery on her stomach, and I pray that everything goes well. She has been fighting an uphill battle, but she's winning!

RAID!!!

I live in a small farming community. We are about the size of a corn field, and there are fewer than 300 residents. This little town of ours is a nice little town.  We are a quiet community, for the most part. We do have the "Porch People" who get semi-regular visits from the county law enforcement for various reasons, and we all wonder why on earth they still have custody of their 4 youngest kids.

Tonight, we had a different kind of excitement. It was a scary kind of excitement, especially since it was so close to us.  The house circled in blue is ours.  The house in red is where the excitement happened (the porch peoples' house is caddy-cornered from the red house).  The house is the building in the top right corner, and their garage is just below the house in the pic.

Our town is so small that we don't have a local pizza place, but the Little Caesar's from town (a town about 15 miles away with roughly 25,000 residents) comes out on Wednesday nights.  They hang out at our gas station for a little while, and we can go get pizzas off their truck.  Tonight, we wanted pizza for supper.

Just as I was getting ready to open my front door (which faces the red house), I noticed about half a dozen men and one woman from various law enforcement agencies lined up against the neighbors garage with their guns drawn.  In addition to those with their guns drawn, I saw a guy in one of those bomb suit things with a giant riot shield, and the K-9 unit was there.

Luckily no shots were fired, and nothing blew up.  But, our neighbor was arrested when he got home, and left with the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) guy.

Most importantly (according to my kids), we were able to get our pizza before the pizza lady left!

Organization

We live in a small house. There are two adults, two kids, two dogs, and 3 fish squeezed into roughly 1,000 square feet. Can I tell you how difficult it is to keep things clean and organized?

There are things that simply get moved from room to room because we just don't know where to put them.

This summer is going to be full of purging and organizing. What tricks do you use to keep the chaos away?

Reading Material

I'm running out of books to read...any suggestions?

Generation Kill

A marine friend of mine who has spent time in both Afghanistan and Iraq was telling me about Generation Kill, a 7 part mini-series that was on HBO in 2008. 

I finally got around to checking it out from the library, and I have to say, it was a pretty good series!  It doesn't hurt that Mr. Yum-a-licious is in it, too!

Busy Day

This morning, Bug and I were finally able to plant my daisies, poppies, and some other flower my mom picked up for me. The rain teased us a few times, but we got it done. I can't wait till my flower beds turn into daisy and poppy fields!

This afternoon, I took the boys to my in-laws' house. Baby E's brothers came home with my MIL for the weekend, and they couldn't wait to see Bug and Awesome. I'm not sure if we were entertaining them, or if they were entertaining us!

All in all, it was a pretty decent day. We all needed that.

Being Judged

There's a Facebook page that I "Like" for Just Ask! about Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. Yesterday they posted a question asking if you'd be willing to shave your head to show support for a friend who lost her hair due to chemo. Almost everybody who responded, did so with an absolute YES.

I did not. And I explained why. Within the first 20 minutes of my response, I received almost a dozen messages from women I have never met, chewing me out for being a "superficial, heartless bitch", as one woman put it.

I have mentioned an amazing woman several times before here on my blog. Over 23 years ago, we lost my grandmother to ovarian cancer. This is a woman whom I loved and who was almost as much a part of my life as my own mother. If shaving my head would erase the last 23 years and bring her back into our lives, I would do it in a heartbeat.  My hair is pretty, but it won't bring back the dead or cure cancer.

Many women who go through chemotherapy fear losing their hair, and genuinely mourn the loss of it if/when it happens. Chemo patients lose their hair as a trade-off for saving their lives. Many times, the hair grows back once the chemo treatments are over.

Alopecia is different. My grandmother was completely bald by the time she graduated high school. It came back before she met my gramps, and she had her own, full head of hair for a few years after that. She was completely bad again before she turned 30. My mom started finding bald spots when she was 23. They would come and go, sometimes getting so bad she'd have to wear a wig. About 10 years ago, she lost ALL of her body hair. While she likes not having to shave her legs or armpits, she would still prefer not to have to wear a wig.

I'm 33. My hair is still a bit thick, but it is also noticeably (to me) thinner than it was 5 years ago. About 6 years ago, I noticed that my hairline had receeded about 1/2 an inch. While I have not had any bald spots, yet, I do have my hair dresser check every time I go in.  Until you are faced with the very real possibility of losing your hair, and having it never come back, you will never fully understand why I am so unwilling to part with my hair, and you have absolutely no right to judge my decision to keep it.

That being said, I do what I can as far as my hair is concerned.  I grow it out until it is at least 12 inches below my chin.  Then, I get it cut and it gets sent off to Locks of Love.  I grow it out again, and donate, grow it out, donate, etc.  But, I will probably never shave my head bald.

The End is Near

Today is the last day of school for my boys.  In about 2 hours, my days of solitude will come to an end for the summer.  I think I'm excited.

We had hoped to pull some weeds and plant my flowers this afternoon.  But, it's rainy, so maybe tomorrow, after grocery shopping, and after we all get to sleep in!

Let them eat cake

Last night, we had the boys' Cub Scout Graduation. Bug is excited that this will be his last year as a Cub Scout - he'll be an official Boy Scout at the end of February 2012. Awesome was excited till he learned he would no longer be a Tiger Cub, because the tiger is his favorite land animal.

There was cake left over, and it was sent home with us. This morning, the boys ate cake for breakfast.

Sometimes, it's the littlest things that can make a kid's day special.

Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lbs frozen hashbrowns*
1/2 Cup melted butter
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 Cup milk
1/2 Cup chopped onion*
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese*
2 Cups cornflake crumbs (optional)
1/4 Cup melted butter (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In 9x13 greased dish, pour thawed hashbrowns.  Mix butter, onion, salt, pepper, soup, milk, sour cream, and cheese together.  Crush cornflake crumbs and sprinkle over the top, then dribble 1/4 cup butter.  Bake for 1 hr - 1 hr 15 min.

*Notes*
I like the Ore Ida Country Style hashbrowns.
I like the onion taste, but don't like the crunch, so I replace the chopped onion with about 1 1/2 tsp minced onion.
Sometimes I use shredded cheddar, other times I use the Kraft Pizza cheese mix (I think it's Mozzarella & Cheddar).
I have also added bacon bits, about a tablespoon or two.  I have found that I have to use more of the generic brand bits than the name brand bits.

Linking up here!

Monday, Monday

I've had a migraine almost all day. My head hurts, laundry needs to be folded, floors need vacuumed, and dishes need to be put away.  But, my head hurts, really bad, so I don't much of anything will be getting done today.

Sunday

I don't have much to say. I'm tired. My nephews (baby E's big brothers) were back yesterday, so we went to MIL's house so Bug and Awesome could entertain the little guys for a while. Then, we ate supper before bribing all the boys (including J and my FIL!) with ice cream to get their hair cut.

Today feels more like late fall than mid-spring. I have a meeting this afternoon, but until then, I'm going to curl up with some hot chocolate and a book/Kindle!

And, since today is Sunday, I'll leave you with a song that I have loved since the first time I heard it.

Baby E Update

So, my adorable new niece is still in the hospital.  Still no word on when she'll be able to come home.  We do have some good news, though!

She's been breathing on her own since Tuesday, and her chromosomes are normal!  Hopefully she'll be home soon! 

Updated update:  Baby E has been on a feeding tube, and when you couple that with her cleft palate, she hasn't really learned to suck very well.  They're going to give her another 7-10 days, and if she isn't able to bottle feed well enough, she'll probably go to the Children's Hospital to get a G button so she can at least (finally!) go home.  Then, her mom and dad can work on her bottle feeding.

This has been a long few weeks for everyone.  Baby E has two brothers, M is 4 and O is 2.  M&O have spent more time with my MIL than their own parents lately, and they've been coming back here quite a bit lately, too.  This whole ordeal has been taking a toll on them as well, so it'll be so nice for everyone to just be under one roof again.  With any luck, they will be in 2 weeks or less!

Retail Therapy

So, I lost the post I wrote yesterday, and about half the tutorial for my Mother's Necklace, along with the comments, during the maintenance.  Grrr...so frustrating!

You know what's not frustrating?  Shopping for beads, from one of my favorite sources.  I used her pearls for my necklace, and there's plenty to make a bracelet and earrings!  This is also the place where I bought these to make this.  If you're interested in buying some beads, you should really check out Carla's facebook page first.

Blast from the Past

Even though today is the 13th, I'm going to date this as the 12th. Before the Blogger maintenance yesterday, I had written and published a post talking about a video I came across on YouTube. It's a video for a song that was popular when I was in high school. I wrote about how this song makes me laugh, and about the memories is brings to mind. I also mentioned that 16 years later, I can still do the dance that goes with the song. I can do the dance in pants and I can do it while wearing a wedding dress. This song makes me laugh.

I wanted to embed it, but that has been disabled for the video, but you can still find it here - I hope. YouTube has been giving me problems today...

Mother's Necklace

I have admired this necklace by Lisa Leonard for a while, but the $48 price tag doesn't appeal to me.  I realized that I had everything to make this, except the blanks (little disks) and an extra necklace chain.  That little problem was solved when I used a couple of 40% off coupons at Hobby Lobby, and was able to make this very necklace for less than $10.

Supplies:
9mm round stamping blank
6mm Pearl - 1st Choice, 2nd Choice
1 Headpin
Open Jump rings (you'll need 1 for each blank and 1 for the pearl) - I used 6mm because that's what I had on hand, but will probably pick up some smaller ones later to replace them.
Necklace chain - mine is 18"
1/8" Letter stamps - I got mine here
Hammer
Fine point black sharpie
Charcoal colored stain/glaze (optional)
Round nose pliers*
Chain nose/Flat nose pliers*
Side Cutters*
*You can also get tool sets at Wal-Mart for $10-$15

First, prepare your blanks.
Stamp the initial into your blank.  I did mine on a non-carpeted floor with some scrap fabric between the disk and the floor to prevent scratching (both the disk and the floor).  With your sharpie, trace the indentation left by the stamp.  I wanted mine too look a little more aged, so I dabbed some charcoal colored glaze on a paper towel, and pressed my blanks into the glaze.  Repeat for each initial.  Add a jump ring to each blank, and you're done with this part.

Next, you'll make your pretty little pearl embellishment.  Using your pearl, headpin, and tools, you will want to use a wire wrapping technique to create the little loop with the headpin.  I can't really describe wire wrapping, but I found a couple of videos here and here that show how it's done.  Add the wire wrapped pearl to a jump ring and gather up your blanks.

Now all you have to do is thread the chain through the 3 jump rings,  and you have yourself a brand new necklace!

The great thing about this necklace is that it is incredibly easy to add more initials, if needed, and you can make embellishments out of colored pearls or gemstones, and switch them out to match your outfit!

May 10

Awesome woke up giggling this morning, and after whispering in Bug's ear, they were both laughing their ornery little laughs. When asked what was so funny, I was told, "You're a turd in a tree today!"

Yup, today is my 33rd birthday! I plan on being a vegetable today. I'll probably sit out on my bench to read this book and admire my Lilies of the Valley that are blooming beautifully for me today.

At some point, I need to figure out where to plant my daisies and poppies that the boys got me for Mother's Day & my birthday.  I tried setting them out where I had planned on putting them, but they wilted. :(  Oh, well...I have another area in mind, but I need to make sure it doesn't get too much shade...

Hope you all have a great day!

Pinterest

I have folders upon folders on my computer filled with inspiration photos.  Then, I found Pinterest.  I love it.  I can save pictures to my account, along with the link to where I found the picture, and I don't have to use up more memory on my computer!

Need an invite?  Just ask!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had plans for today...I was going to get up early to plant my daisies and poppies, then work on some pillows and a baby blanket.

Instead, J and the boys let me sleep in, took care of lunch and supper, and let meread in peace almost all afternoon!

Happy Mother's Day to you all, whether your a mom, stepmom, or furry mom!

Soooo tired!

I'm so tired, I almost forgot to post tonight! We spent a good portion of the day shopping - Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, & K-Mart. I'm super tired right now, so the pictures of the fun things I picked up will have to wait till tomorrow!

Rainbow Halo

Today was the track meet at the boys' elementary school. They both did well and had a great time, but the most exciting part happened just a little after 1:00. Bug's science teacher happened to look up. I glanced up to see what she was pointing at, and this is what I saw!

I have never seen a rainbow circle around the sun like this before!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Reading Rainbow

Do you remember that show? I loved it, and rarely missed an episode. In fact, I can still sing the theme song from memory!



I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books, and I have to say that I'm slightly in love with Eric.  Part of that may be due to the fact that I've seen a couple of the TrueBlood episodes, and Alexander Skarsgard is quite yummy!

I'm off to read a little before going to bed.  The boys have their school track meet tomorrow, and it'll be an all day event.  The lower grades (including Awesome's class) will be in the morning, while the higher grades (Bug's) will be in the afternoon.  Saturday, we'll be doing our Home Depot thing, and I can't wait till Sunday.  I've been on the run every day for over a week, and I am so looking forward to having one full day at home!