sewing and such

Tilapia

2010-03-17T14:05:00.001-04:00

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! Although it seems harder now that we have gone “public”. Why is that do you suppose?

I was thinking of posting some of our new favorite recipes and then my friend Lisa asked so here you go:

We eat fish about 3 times a week and usually just throw it on the grill, but I wanted to do something a little different and this seems to work out very well (i.e. easy)!

4 fillets of white fish (I use tilapia)
1 cup of wine (optional)
1 can of spaghetti sauce (I use Hunt’s with garlic and herbs)
½ box of cooked pasta

Simmer the fish, wine, and spaghetti sauce for about 10-15 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Serve with a veggie or salad and you have a meal! The kids always ask for seconds on this!
Variation: instead of spaghetti sauce, use a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies and add minute rice instead of the cooked pasta.

Feeling good!

2010-03-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

Wow almost exactly a year!

It has been a milestone week for Rick and I, so we had to finally share! Rick has lost 50 pounds and I have lost 30.

I started last January by exercising more and joining a volleyball night at the YMCA. I had to keep exercising and stretching so that I wasn’t to sore after volleyball. Then over the summer I started running! I have never in my life been a runner so I started with ¼ mile and worked up to about 2 miles, I try to run 3-5 times a week (depending on the weather). Sometimes it is hard to drag myself outside, but a lot of the time I can’t wait to put on MY music and just go. This is truly something that I am so proud of myself for, because it is something I could never do. Sometime this year my goal is to run a 5K. Through all the exercising I lost about 15 lbs but I didn’t really change my eating habits until this past November when Rick came on board.

Rick started losing weight when we got back home after Thanksgiving, I remember him saying he was tired of always feeling stuffed. So he started by bringing salads to work and eating fruit for a snack and cutting back on his portion sizes. It has actually been easier for me to make dinners because I know how much to make. We always have a huge salad in the fridge and lots of fruit around, I have stopped buying lots of snacks like chips and granola bars and have bought more raisins and nuts that you have to shell. Rick has had amazing willpower and I am so glad he helped all of us develop better eating habits. This week he put away all of his old jeans because they were huge.

cooking

2009-03-16T18:05:00.000-04:00

For the past few weeks I have wanted to try some recipes in a cast iron pot. My plan is that when we go camping this summer I will do most of the cooking in a cast iron pot, so I want to try some things to see how they will translate to a campfire. I bought a 5 qt. Oval dutch oven for $30 (which I am told was a good deal) it is big enough to hold a chicken but yet small enough that I don’t feel like I am feeding the five thousand. This weekend I made Mexican shredded pork that I put in pie dough and turned into empanadas (turnovers). The meat turned out so tender and flavorful, I was surprised at how good it was. I got the recipe from “Cook’s Country” magazine that a friend had given me, it starts with soaking raisins in coffee and goes from there. It is one of the most ambitious cooking projects I have done. (I usually prefer to bake, I mean you add enough sugar and anything tastes good). I was very pleased that everyone seemed to like it, and Rick said I could get a new pot anytime I wanted to. Tonight I am making a chicken with veggies in white wine sauce, it sounds good, but we will see. I usually start new recipes with the idea that we can always call for pizza, which has happened a few times. (Note: anything that calls for 2 cups of soy sauce is probably a misprint, YUCK)

facebook

2009-03-02T18:35:00.002-05:00

Just when I get the hang of blogging I get to figure something else to procrastinate about.

I started this blog because I saw my sister in law, Karin, had a blog. Well, Rick and I now have facebooks pages thanks to the encouragment of my s-i-l. Now if she mentions something about a bridge I might have to decline.

So far things are very cool and I am having fun looking up people.

Bad puns

2009-02-09T16:00:00.003-05:00

I love bad puns!!

There is a girl I work with and we try to outdo each other with bad puns. I tried to help her get rid of her snail infestation by telling her to "assalt" them. Then the other day as I was walking by her with the glue gun she pointed it at me and said "Stick 'em up".

Well she sent me an email yesterday and I just have to share.

CREATIVE PUNS FOR "EDUCATED MINDS"

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur ' s round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to
be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a
weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his
work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it ' ll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8.. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum
Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking
into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the
other, ' You stay here; I ' ll go on a head. '

14.. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ' Keep off the Grass. '

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ' No change
yet. '

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at
large.

20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned
veteran.

21. A backward poet writes inverse.

22. In democracy it ' s your vote that counts. In feudalism it ' s your
count that votes.

23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

Muffin?

2009-02-04T17:43:00.002-05:00

I have read this before and think is to cute. I stole it off my friend Leanne's blog. She posted something about me the other day, check it out!

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.So she'll pour herself some.The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.She'll wipe it up.Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.She'll remember she has to do some laundry.When she puts the laundry in the washer,She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.She will get out a pound of hamburger.She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of Hamburger.)The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.She will look for the checkbook.The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.She'll smell something funny.She'll change the two year old.While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)Her five year old will answer it and hang up.She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on Friday.Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.She will pour herself some.And chances are,If she has a cup of coffee,Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Written by Kathy Fictorie Based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

The family that reads together-is very quiet!!

2009-01-24T08:54:00.002-05:00

Yesterday after the kids got home from school, we all sat down in the living room for 2 hours without tv or video games. And it was so quiet tat we were getting annoyed with the geese flying overhead and making so much honking noise. We have Jeff Kinney to thank for that! This week the latest book in the “Wimpy Kid” series was released, the boy has been waiting for this. The boy has never been a great reader of books (although, he will read any sign anywhere, I think it is an attention span thing), but this past summer I picked up a “wimpy kid” book off the Costco book table and figured we would give it a try. He loved it! It is written with little cartoon drawings and some “handwritten” text, perfect to keep the boys attention. So yesterday when I was at Costco (my favorite store), I picked up the newest book “The Last Straw”, the boy was yelling “YesYesIhavebeenwantingthisthankyouthankyouthankyou!!”
How cool is that!

As for me, I had visited the library and signed up for the book club, a neighbor and I are going to try it and see how it goes. I am not sure if it is going to be one of those clubs where the women get together and just gossip and complain (I have a therapist for that) or if we will actually talk about the book. I really enjoyed the book (yes, I already finished it), it is called “Twenty Wishes” by Debbie Macomber. I really love to read and when I get my hands on a book it goes really quick, I heard someone say they inhaled books-yeah, I know what she means. Of course I have to enjoy the book and I really like for things to have a happy ending. It is an escape when I read and I don’t like to be sad (no more Nicolas Sparks), so the only non-fiction I read is cookbooks, I love mysteries and I like the sappy romance too (I can’t believe I am admitting that). I have lots of favorite authors and I love series books, Janet Evanovich, Jeffery Deaver, Nora Roberts, Tess Gerritson, Lee Child, etc. Although I have a new favorite, Jen Lancaster, she isn’t really fiction, but she so funny that I find tears running down my face from laughing so hard. A little disclaimer, she uses some language in her books, so if you don’t like hearing the f-bomb or variations of the f-bomb then maybe you should stay away.

As far as the girl is concerned, anything she can get her hands on she will read. And she will read for hours, if I don't give her a specific place to stop she will continue reading until I find her at midnight saying "Just one more chapter?". Her favorite genre is fantasy, anything with dragons and good vs. evil. One of her favorite books is "Inkheart", it was just released as a movie so we might go see that tomorrow. We'll let you know if the movie is anything like the book.

Things that make you go hmmmm!

2009-01-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

We had a really relaxing time over the holidays. Rick had a few days off here and there and then a lot of shorter days, no more than 2 days off in a row so we weren’t able to make any trips north to see my family. If the weather is decent then I plan on taking the kids next weekend to Saratoga.

I did not have to work this past Friday because we don’t have anything to do. It is always slow in January and February, we will see if things pick up again. In the meantime I am enjoying the extra free time. So on my impromptu day off one of the ladies I work with asked if I wanted to go into Philly to the fabric district, it is no fun going alone and it is best if you go with someone else who likes fabric. We had so much fun! It only took about 45 minutes to get there and traffic wasn’t bad at all. We had lunch at a little deli and I ordered a corned beef special, there must have been a pound of meat on this thing. Needless to say I brought home leftovers.
Today we are a having a little bit of snow so the boy has been outside for 2 hours now. I gave him a spray bottle with water and food coloring and therefore we have some pictures to make you say EWWW!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T22:23:00.004-05:00

I sent out an email with this link to people who might not have seen my blog yet. So if this is your fist time visiting, welcome!! This is nothing fancy, just everyday stuff to keep in touch with people I don't get to see enough. I am posting some of my favorite pics of the past year, at least some that I haven't already posted. Also, for those newbies, I don't usually use the kids name, (it just seems a little bit safer) I usually just refer to them as "the girl" and "the boy". Hopefully you can figure out who is who!!

Dates

2008-12-20T08:25:00.006-05:00

Rick and I had a date last night. We got dressed up and everything. I wore makeup and pointy shoes (I even shaved my legs). We got a babysitter. We should go on a date more often. Rick had a Christmas party for his work at a very nice restaurant in King of Prussia (PA), so I got to meet some of the people that he complains about, I mean works with. It was a very good group of people and we enjoyed ourselves. It helped that we sat at the table with the PR man so he was good with keeping the conversation flowing.

Another important date today, the boy turns 8. Wow how time flies. I love that he still likes to cuddle and just jumps and hugs me and says "I love you". I think it is cute that he thinks he is a rock star, but that he is very excited about taking a yoga class at the YMCA. For his b-day breakfast we had choco chip pancakes with whipped cream.

He has been asking for this:

My husband works for a Bimbo!

2008-12-10T19:45:00.002-05:00

The company that Rick works for was just bought out by Bimbo. Here is a link to the article. We don't foresee any changes at this end, as far as we know it is business as usual. The fresh bread market is a pretty localized thing.

Bimbo is a major company in Mexico, therfore a big sponsor of sport teams. This is a pic of the boy when we visited CJ and Ross a couple of years ago. The shirt still fits him.

I would like to take this time to thank.....

2008-11-21T07:06:00.007-05:00

So much for getting the rest of the leaves! We woke up to this:

Very pretty! In case you were wondering this is the view of our back yard from the kitchen window. It is just a dusting of snow and it will probably be gone by this evening. I know that if we were in a southern state the town would be shut down, but in PA this barely even registers.

I think I am going to stay home and be cozy with our new pellet stove! My folks came this past weekend and installed the stove, this is what my dad does for his real job so he knew what he was doing. I love this thing, you dump a bag of pellets in every couple of days and it works off of a thermostat, so I bump it up when it is chilly! There was no heat in the basement, and since this is where the computers, toys, and sewing machines are we do spend a lot of time down here. Last year we tried a little space heater, but every time we turned it on the lights went dim. THANK YOU DAD!!!

Notice next the the stove there is a book shelf with a set of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, the kids love them. Even the boy has started reading them. Since our very wonderful relatives in Seattle are downsizing, we put in a request for them. I know it was difficult, but THANK YOU CJ AND ROSS!!!

Today I am playing hooky from work. Although in my defense I really don't feel that great, scratchy throat and dizzy, I don't want to give it to my lovely co-workers. My plan is to make some pies or at least make the dough so it can be refrigerated (it rolls better cold) for next week. We plan on spending Thanksgiving with Rick's other wonderful aunt and uncle in Maryland. THANK YOU NITA AND TED!!!

Come on over!

2008-11-08T21:27:00.009-05:00

I never got around to posting more pics of the rooms in our house. I posted the girl’s room and the boy’s room, so without further ado…the dinning room!

I know very bold, even for me. The color is gecko green (loved the name) and I picked the color because it goes with my depression ware. I only have a few of the green pieces, but they are displayed on this shelf. I wanted a very narrow plate shelf and I was too much of a cheapskate to spend $30 a piece. This is a piece of molding from Home Depot, it cost about $10 and I also needed a can of spray paint $2. So my really great shelves cost $6 a piece. (So that means I could have spent $60, but only spent $12, now I have an extra $48 to spend on something. See how the calculator in my head works? Rick doesn’t get it either.) I put the shelves up with “L” brackets and my plan is to paint the brackets white so you don’t see them, but I haven’t done it yet. Anyway, you get to see my great grandma’s pretty dishes.
I also have a full set of depression ware in yellow (these were also my great grandma’s and I remember many Thanksgiving/Christmas dinners eaten on these plates). One of my memories when setting the table was using old wallpaper samples as placemats. It made each place feel special, and I loved the older designs from the 30’s and 40’s. I have the dishes displayed in this corner hutch that was given to us by my Aunt Evette and Uncle Jack. I would like to paint the hutch black with white on the inside, but I really hate to paint furniture because of all the furniture refinishing we have done. Since the color of the plates blended in with the pine wood I cut posterboard to give some contrast. It seems to work and I don't have to worry about painting the wood!

Over the past few years I have started to collect vintage tablecloths. I store them under the side table and change them out by season or whenever I feel like it. My favorite thing about them is the bright colors. I usually find them at yard sales and never pay more than $10, usually I get them for $1. I am still waiting to score one with strawberries and/or cherries, but they are highly collectable and I am not willing to shell out the big bucks.

My favorite color for accents is this bright orange. These candlesticks are the older fiesta wear that supposedly have some radioactive glaze (only the orange colored stuff). Rick always wanted to take them to work to see if they registered on his meters, but I don’t think he ever did. Just in case you were wondering, yes, those are Horlick Jars! They also came from my great grandma, so it is anybodies guess how they made it from Racine, WI to Saratoga Springs, NY. It must have been fate!
Everything centers around the table. It is from the 1940’s and has a porcelain top, which is so very easy to clean. The table pulls out and extends to add extra seating. I love this table! I purchased this while in high school, and we used it in our family kitchen until I got married. Just think of a 17 year old handing over $150 for a table. I guess I was a little odd! (The boy likes the camera!)
We did change the chandelier, but that is the only thing that we really changed about this room, except color of course! I did get a general idea for this room from a book called “My Perscription for Anti-depressive Living” by Johnathan Adler.

I love our town!

2008-10-30T16:49:00.004-04:00

We are in a rather small town, our Main Street has an ice cream shop and liquor store. All of the essentials! Anyway, tonight is the holloween parade, the kids walk the route and then at the end there is cider and pretzels and a live band, they also have cash prizes for costumes. We went last year and what impressed me most was the variety of costumes, a good portion of the costumes were home made. Their was a kid as a robot with dryer vent arms, and so many other great ideas. This year we are going to walk with some of our neighbors. It will be a great group because the 2 neighbor boys will be Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper, which goes very well with Peter's choice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I told them there was a truce for tonight. Anna decided to be "Will" from a series of books she has read called W.I.T.C.H. I told her nobody would probably know who she is, but that was fine with her. She will feel like she has a secret. I love the dress up and make believe part of holloween. The kids get so excited about picking out what they want to be and then we figure out how to make the costume. We don't buy costumes, because I like to see the creativity (and use up some of my fabric stash). Also, I am a cheapskate!

I actually like my job!!

2008-10-18T09:18:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a very awesome at work! I know that is something people usually don’t say, but I am definitely lucky to have found this job. For those of you who don’t know (or don’t remember) last October, I started working at a drapery company. It is a small company, only about 10 employees, and we make custom draperies. Our slogan is “Workroom for the trade”. Which means that we mostly do work for designers and design stores in the Philly area, we also ship a lot of stuff to New York City. We just finished a historic house near Williamsburg, VA (supposedly Thomas Jefferson slept there), and the rumor is that the magazine, Architectural Digest, will be doing a spread on the house. I will certainly keep you posted. Anyway, over the past year I have really learned so much, it has been a humbling experience. I was an apprentice in high school to a woman who had a drapery workroom and while in Connecticut I had my own business for a few years. When we moved to Pennsylvania (summer ’07) I didn’t have a customer base (no friends to spread the word) and I wasn’t sure where to begin. So I saw an ad in the paper and called for an interview. They asked if I could come in right away and offered me the job before noon! So I was feeling pretty cocky! Yup, they wanted me, not just wanted me, but also needed me, Oh I was like a pig in slop. Fast-forward a year and I can’t tell you how many times I needed to redo things, take things apart, do things differently, sew the seam straighter. These are things I thought I knew! My supervisor is very sweet and has a nice way of telling me to redo things without making me feel like crap. She certainly has the patience of a saint.

So on to why I had an awesome day yesterday: One of my favorite parts of the job is going out on installs. I get to use power tools and see the fancy houses. Yesterday I got to climb a ladder!! What is so great about that? Usually we just use a little stepladder, but yesterday we had to install panels and a valance that was 20 feet high! That is 2 stories! This is big for me because I am not fond of heights. I had to climb the ladder with a loaded tool belt, drill gun, and a valance that was 16 feet wide. My boss had a ladder on one side of the window with one end of the valance and I had a ladder on the other side. It wasn’t that heavy, but it was bulky. We got it all together and it looks so great.

Doing something I never thought I could do: Priceless! (Although I won’t give back my bonus check!)

We also did 2 other rooms in this house: the big tv room, and the ludicrous tv room!

Diagnosis

2008-10-14T21:08:00.002-04:00

Someone sent me this in an email, I just wanted had to share.

"But First"

Sound familiar? I really think many of us may be afflicted with this syndrome.
I have recently been diagnosed with the "But First Syndrome." You know, it's when I decide to do the laundry, I start down the hall and notice the newspaper on the table. OK, I'm going to do the laundry....

BUT FIRST I'm going to read the newspaper. Then, I notice the mail on the table. OK, I'll just put the newspaper in the recycle stack....

BUT FIRST I'll look through that pile of mail and see if there are any bills to be paid. Yes, now where's the checkbook? Oops......there's the empty glass from yesterday on the coffee table. I'm going to look for that checkbook....

BUT FIRST I need to put the glass in the sink. I head for the kitchen, look out the window, notice my poor flowers need a drink of water. I put the glass in the sink, and darn it, there's the remote for the TV on the kitchen counter. What's it doing here? I'll just put it away....

BUT FIRST I need to water those plants. Head for door and........Aaaagh! Stepped on the cat. Cat needs to be fed. Okay, I'll put that remote away and water the plants....

BUT FIRST I need to feed the cat....

End of day: Laundry is not done, newspapers are still on the floor, glass is still in the sink, bills are unpaid, checkbook is still lost, and the cat ate the remote control.... And, when I try to figure out how come nothing got done all day, I'm baffled because....
I KNOW I was BUSY ALL DAY!!

I realize this condition is serious........and I'll get help!.........BUT FIRST..............
I think.... I'll check my E-MAIL!

Enjoying the quite

2008-10-06T16:44:00.005-04:00

Everything is great! Dare I say boring. I tried to sit down and write something over the past week, but I can't come up with anything interesting. I had some time (4 hours) to myself on Saturday night, no kids and no husband, and I kept trying to think of something exciting to do. I don't really like to shop and I didn't want to waste money on a movie. So, I stayed home and painted the stairway and then read a book. I really enjoyed myself. While I painted I put on some music, stuff that I don't play when the kids are around, and turned the volume up. Even at 32, I feel rebellious when I crank the music loud. So am I boring or just easily amused?

The kids are doing well. The girl has joined 4-H and is doing a lot of sewing with them, I am not able to help out because the boy is to crazy to stay in 1 room for 3 hours. I figure I will be able to help out in a couple of years. Although, I know that she is learning more without me hovering.
The boy is really loving his guitar lessons, he is actually able to play a few cords.

Rick is in Wisconsin for a few days. There is a conference and a tour of their Oconomowoc plant on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was able to get a few days off before the conference to spend some time in Racine with his dad. Sounds like he has been catching up on his sleep and spending time with family! Can't ask for more than that. I had made some curtains for dad and shipped them last week so that Rick could install them while he was there. I will try to get some pics.

What's Happening!?!

2008-09-18T20:56:00.003-04:00

What’s been happening!

The kids started school a few weeks ago and so far they still love it. The first week was a little difficult, but we figured out a schedule and everything is working well.

The boy started guitar lessons and he is more excited about his lessons than he was about going to Six Flags. That is pretty amazing!

The girl celebrated her 11th birthday this week. It is amazing how time flies. We did not do a big party, just took her and a friend to dinner, which was a wonderful thing. Everybody enjoyed it! We got her a digital camera, so she is taking pics of everything. The cat is getting pretty frustrated.

Our tv died last week and since we are a 1 tv household we knew we needed to get another. So we got a 32” flat screen!! So that means we had to move the living room around for the proper placement. Well, once you start moving things around you realize the furniture is falling apart, then you need another size stand for the audio equipment, and so forth and so on.. Reminds me of the kids book “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”. So anyway, we just got the tv and we will wait on all the other stuff.

I got a new cell phone (it's purple!). I have been using the camera on the phone to take pictures recently. So all the pics of the stuff I just wrote about is on my phone, and I can't figure out how to get them to the computer without getting text messaging charges. I guess I should ask my resident genius...Oh Rick!!!

almost forgotten post

2008-08-31T20:19:00.002-04:00

I did not realize that I could not compose a post on one day and post it on another. So my new post published here.

Vacation

2008-08-23T20:39:00.004-04:00

We were on vacation this past week and we had great time. We went to Six Flags in Lake George, NY with my brother and his crew. The kids went on their first roller coaster rides, albeit not the same coaster. The girl was terrified on the "Comet" which is all hills and very fast, but once she was safe on the ground she decided it was fun, so we did it again!

The boy said he was to scared to go on the "Comet", but later in the day he really wanted to go on the Steamin' Demon, which not only has a loop, but two corkscrews. He was a little scared going up the hill, but when we got off he was screaming "That was awesome!" The coaster is behind him in this pic.

While we were in Saratoga, we also went to the race track. This is what Saratoga is famous for, but even though I was born and raised there it was my first time going to the track. We have a friend that works there and she walked around with us for a little bit and showed us how things work. I did place a $2 bet, but of course I didn't win. It was still cool to see the horses. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pics to share.

We came home on Monday then took off the for the beach on Tuesday. I was able to snag a decent deal on a hotel in for one night in Ocean City, NJ (about 2 1/2 hours away). The hotel was 500 feet from the boardwalk and the beach. This was our first time going somewhere that had a boardwalk, lots of junk shops and lots of great places to eat. Of course most of our time was spent on the beach, we borrowed a neighbors boogie boards and did some belly surfing with them. The boy spent most of his time digging holes and then letting the surf fill them in, very funny to watch. The girl found lots of shells and then spent time reading. Rick and I played with the kids and did some reading. It was a very nice experience.

regularly scheduled programing

2008-08-15T23:16:00.008-04:00

You see how it is? I write in spurts.

So, back to our exciting summer!

We spent a week in Racine visiting Ricks family and some friends whom we haven't seen in quite some time. One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Renaissance Faire with dad and Lainie (dads sister, which would make her Ricks aunt, whom the kids call Aunt Zainy, for obvious reasons) oh so much fun. During one of the skits, the Swordsmen, they kept throwing out one-liners and jokes so fast, we had trouble catching our breath we were laughing so hard. It was great! This is a pick of Rick and the kids talking with Dead Bob, he was really funny for a dead puppet!

We always try to get to the beach and fly kites. Believe it or not, this year we couldn't get enough wind to get the kite high enough. Oh well! So we tried for a while then we dug in the dirt and waded in the lake. It was a pretty warm day, but as soon as you get those feet in the water, WOW!!! Talk about chilly!

As always, we love to sit and talk with grandma and grandpa and hear all of the stories. My favorite story this time was hearing all about their criminal history. Actually, I think grandma said she hasn't even gotten a speeding ticket, but grandpa had some stories to tell. You'll have to ask him about it!

DEAL

2008-07-13T14:53:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I make a deal without realizing what a deal it is!!

With the price of gas and the need for more exercise, I have been trying to ride my bike more. This has been a difficult task considering I haven't had a bike in about 15 years (hee hee). So step one: get a bike, when looking for a bike the most important thing I consider is the size of the seat (considering the size of MY seat). Comfort while exercising makes it much more enjoyable, yeah right!! Anyway, my parents were not using their bikes so I asked if we could borrow them and so they gave them to us. That was very nice of them considering the bikes were only about 5 years old, so thanks mom and dad! (They had also upgraded the seats to the extra large padded gel seats, very nice indeed!)

So the kids and I have ridden to town a few times (about half a mile). Our town is very much like Mayberry, Main Street with an ice cream shop, post office, and small library. Also, we have the advantage of having the Perkiomen Trail go through town, so biking is a very great thing to be able to do. One of the problems with a bike is the lack of storage, the girl has a small basket on the front of her bike and I use a backpack but after a trip to the library they get a little full and then I get thrown off balance (which is shaky on a good day). So I have been on the lookout for a big basket for my bike, there is one at stuff-mart that detaches from the bike and is very nice, but I wanted to see what else was out there. While yard-saleing in the neighborhood today (on our bikes) somebody was selling a couple of old 10 speeds, one of them had a huge double metal basket that goes over the back tire. Since I didn't need the bike (such tiny little seats-ouch) I asked if he would take $5 for the basket, sure, no problem!! Excellent! Well, I did have a little difficulty getting the basket home since I was on a bike and the huge basket was not attached to my bike yet, but I made it. The basket fit nicely on my bike and will be very useful! Out of curiousity, I checked out ebay to see how much something like this would go for, this is where I found out what a deal I made. The listing was up to $43 + shipping, and mine is in better condition. I just love a bargain!

Funny

2008-07-10T10:34:00.005-04:00

I was just in the process of blogging about a recent trip when I hear the boy come in crying. He had fallen off his bike, a little scrape on his knee and his hand, but mostly just scared. So I clean him up and put bacitracin and a band-aid on everything (I go through a box of band-aids a month-cheap therapy). Anyway, I am explaining about the first aid ointment and how it cleans out the cut to make it heal properly. He then asks me, with a tear streaked face, is there second or third aid?

What a great question!!

A different Faire

2008-07-10T09:45:00.009-04:00

At the end of June we had the opportunity to attend the rennaissance faire, which is located in Lancaster, Pa (about 1 1/2 hours away). They were having a special Celtic Fling and Highland games, which included lots of fiddle music and plenty of hammer tossing along with the requisite best legs in a kilt and most freckle contests! Let me explain about our interest in Celtic music, a few months ago I got in touch with a good friend of mine from jr. high, Sarah Knorr (now Reed), turns out she was going to be visiting the area for a Celtic music festival, so we decided to meet for breakfast and go to the festival. This was one of the kids first experiences with so much live music, and there is always something about live music and seeing people playing all sorts of different instruments, the festival had a bunch of different bands playing on a few different stages and we just had a fantastic time. In May, Sarah and Cara (a friend of Sarah's) came to visit for a Celtic street fair, and the kids and I really enjoyed it! So we planned to go to the faire in June. Their was a big concert on Friday evening with Gaelic Storm and Scythian. Then on Saturday it was all day concerts-Sarah, Cara, the kids and I had a blast. One of our favorite groups to perform was Screamin' Orphans, I just loved the different personalities of the girls in the band. This is a pic of Sarah (with glasses), Cara (green dress), the kids and the band, I had to take the picture.
I did end up making the girl a dress for the faire (everyone dresses up) because I figured I didn't have to many other opportunities to make her fancy dresses. And I knew she would love it! While we were there, we went into a little shop that sold "dragons" . The girl was hooked, you know how she loves dragons! We adopted Gwen, who has since traveled to New York and Wisconsin with us. Since the "dragon" survived those trips we decided to get a better cage and add a friend. (You can get green anoles at any pet store.) So we now have Gwen and Zookie and the girl is loving them!

My mom's birthday.

2008-07-06T21:31:00.003-04:00

We spent this past weekend in NY with my family. My sister-in-law, Amy and I planned a surprise party for my moms 60th. It all went very well and we had a really nice time. As one of her gifts we put together a video for her, Amy did all the finding and scanning of pictures, my nephew, Alex worked the computer while Amy and I gave him directions. The song is called "Heroes" and was written and performed by my grandfather, Tracy Purcell, who passed away last month. I am sharing it with everyone because I am so proud to be a part of such an amazing and talented family. One of the most important things my mom taught me was to respect and cherish my heritage. It was never a hardship to spend time with the Purcells. I deeply miss grandma and grandpa, but I enjoy the times when I see the rest of the family.

Brighter Days

2008-06-09T08:14:00.004-04:00

The month of May was one of the busiest times I can remember. There was something going every weekend and a few things every week, I am not used to doing so much.

I don't know if I had mentioned that the boy played baseball this year. I was very skeptical because I know how sports challenged my family is, I figured we would go to a few practices and then he wouldn't want to do it anymore. Well, we just finished the season. A lot has to be said for the group he played with, this was a coach pitch league, 3 innings, everyone got to bat (10 pitches by the coach then they hit off the T"), most important no outs or scoring. There were no losers. I understand that it is important to teach the kids about winning and losing, which is something they will obviously need to learn in life, but for a bunch of 7 year olds just learning the rules this approach seems to work very well. The boy far exceeded any expectations I had for him, he enjoyed the running bases and hitting. You should have seen his face when he hit the ball for the first time, that surprised look, then checking to make sure Rick and I saw it, then realizing he is supposed to run. We had a wonderful coach who worked a lot of one on one with the boy, there is some question weather he does better with his right or left hand. We will get that figured out, I am sure. The whole baseball thing has been great for him and he can't wait for next year.

Another update about the boy, he has been tested at school for extra help with Physical Therapy and with Occupational Therapy. The PT didn't think he needed services, the boy has been doing a lot better since he has been playing baseball, so we will see if I need to push the issues next year. The great news is that he did qualify for OT, which will help him deal with "trigger" issues. For example, instead of getting upset (basically shutting down) at not having a specific pencil or crayon, try to get him to deal with the issue before he shuts down and can't function. Also there will be help with his hand writing and "sensory issues". This will all start at the begging of next school year, seeing as this is our last week of school.

My grandpa

2008-05-22T21:13:00.003-04:00

My grandpa, Tracy Purcell, passed away last week. The kids and I were able to make it to NY so we could say our goodbyes. I don't know if it is easier or harder to be able to say goodbye. Here is a link to his obituary in the The Saratogian and an article in the St. Petersburg Times.

2 wheelin'

2008-04-25T10:15:00.002-04:00

The boy has been happily riding around with his training wheels, not showing any interest in his "big bike". (Yes, he is the lucky owner of 2 bikes only because I found a cool "big bike" at a yard sale for $5.) Since the weather has been nice I have noticed him watching the older boys in the neighborhood on their 2 wheelers. It is pretty cute to see him try to mimic the older boys, he makes motor sounds while peddling and he "screeches" to a stop. A couple of weeks ago the boy said to Rick that he was going out to ride his 2 wheeler, we didn't make a big deal out of it just said have fun. About 20 minutes later, Rick looks out the window and sees the boy riding down the road, by himself, doing just fine on his 2 wheeler. (We have a dead end road in the back of the house, so it is safe.) He just did it! It was pretty cool and the boy was so proud of himself.

Clay

2008-04-05T17:26:00.002-04:00

The kids got some new clay. Well, actually the girl won a set of clay in a raffle at bingo last night. This morning the kids spent a couple of hours at the table making creations. What is so cool about this set is that it came with eyes, mouths, ears, and noses.

This pic is the girls creation of Grandma and Grandpa Green, you can tell by the mustache!

In a galaxy far, far away...

2008-03-20T22:29:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday we all went to the Franklin Museum in Philly. There is currently a huge Star Wars exhibit, which has original costumes and props. All very cool! Here are some pics:

Hans and Chewy!

The boy trooper!

The girl on the sky bike!

Doe, a deer...

2008-03-12T17:28:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the van inspected. The garage fixed my right turn signal, which had not worked for over a year. I was so happy to have my turn signal working again. Today I took Rick's car in to be inspected so he took the van to work. When I talked to him later in the morning he asked me how much I liked having my signal working. "Um, uh, why?" It seems on the way to work a deer ran into the van, he insist he did not hit it. Guess what got smashed? Of course, the headlight and turn signal. He was fine, the deer ran away, and the van seems fine (except for the turn signal). With some sidewalk chalk and some sarcasm from the kids and I, this is what our driveway looks like:

I"m an aunt again!

2008-03-09T21:56:00.003-04:00

Meghan Claire Green was born today, March 9, 2008. She was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 21" long. Congratulations to my brother Chip and my sis in law Amy. I will visit them in upstate NY this coming weekend and will then post some pics.

My kids have next week off from school and Rick and I are planning to take the time off also. Ricks dad will be coming in from Wisconsin for most of the time and we will all get to do the tourist thing in Philly. We might also try to get to Lancaster (only about 1 hour away).

Things are progressing with the boy. We are just about done with the paperwork for services, now we are waiting on one more evaluation. I really hope we will get started before the end of the month.

The girl started her "enrichment" class this past week and found it completly amazing. The class is working a mock crime scene and they are collecting evidence (nothing gory), analizing, doing experiments, etc. Very, very awesome. We received an email from the teacher after class saying how well the girl did and how wonderful she is to have in class. It is always nice to be reminded what a good kid she is, I have a tendency to forget.

In other news. I haven't bitten my fingernails in 2 weeks. Wahoo! This is a major accoplishment for me.

What a kid!!

2008-02-27T19:51:00.003-05:00

We recently purchased an older model PlayStation. It actually came in the mail a few days ago along with a car game. The kids have been having fun with it and Rick has been enjoying it also. Well, Rick comes home from work today with a goofy grin on his face... Guess what he bought?

He had a chance to try the game at Christmas time at my brothers house. Their game had two guitars and Rick and Chip were definitely channeling their inner rock star. It is very funny to watch.

Thanks

2008-02-27T08:23:00.003-05:00

Getting ready for work, but just wanted to thank everyone for their support regarding the boy. Thanks Karin for all the input, it really helped calm me down and put things in perspective.

I realized that sounded like an Oscar speech, well, tis the season.

Per request

2008-02-25T16:13:00.003-05:00

Actually I am feeling a little gloomy right now. Had a talk with the school psychologist today, seems the boy isn't showing a lot of improvement is school. Academics are fine, actually reading and math are above average, but there are some behavior issues. There is a lot of clumsiness and when he gets frustrated he just shuts down and will not talk or anything. We have been working with his teacher and tried some things, but there just isn't a lot of improvement over the past few months. The psychologist used the word Aspergers. It freaks me out when things start getting labeled. There are a few other things that we are trying before we even discuss the screening process. He is going to be starting Occupational Therapy in the next few weeks to help him with his writing and fine motor skills. And we are trying to get started with Physical Therapy to help him with his coordination. Hopefully that will start within the next month. The school has some great programs in place for OT and PT. We will see how things go.

The psychologist and I also discussed the girl. She has been accepted in the gifted program. On the standardized testing she came back in the 99 percentile. I just need to meet with the gifted teacher to discuss what is involved with the program. But the girl seems to be excited.

I usually try to keep my posts happy and I don't write about "heavy" things, mostly because I don't feel like I can put my thoughts and feelings into words (at least nothing logical). Right now things with the boy are so much on my mind I can't think of anything else.

One of my favorite things..

2008-02-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

I just love the fashion sense of 7 year olds. Notice the big red rubber boots (they have pirates on them) the sweatpants with extra gym shorts, the shirt that says "I am a llama", and to top it all off a coon hat!! Of course he thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think he is the cutest thing and that I have one more photo to embaress him by later!

A girl and her violin.

2008-01-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

Anna did an amazing job at her concert. We forgot the camera so we did not get a video of the performance. I have some people who said they will get me copies, so sometime in the near future I will post a video. Of course I was in tears, it is times like this it amazes me that she is now 10 and is becoming her own person. You can't see it in this pic, but she does have a violin pin on her right shoulder that belonged to her Grandma Sharon. After everything, Anna was very excited and proud of herself, you could tell by her smile.

I guess everyone can tell by the pic, but the girl got glasses. She says she can now see the power point during class time. Gotta love technology!

Another month, already!

2008-01-15T16:37:00.000-05:00

The past day I have had some extra time (what is that you might ask?) so I am getting caught up on some emails and a new post.

The reason for the extra time is that I was fighting off a cold yesterday and stayed home from work, then today I got a call from the school that Peter wasn't feeling well. So as the boy takes a nap I am at the computer, uninterrupted. That includes no kitties jumping around and getting into mischief, the reason for that is they are at the vet (getting fixed). I hope they will calm down a bit (and stop peeing on the throw rugs).

We all had a very wonderful Christmas spent in New York with extended family. Thanks to Amy (my sis-in-law) for doing all the cooking. Of course it was all fantastic! I am going to get her a sash that says Ms Hospitality!! I think it would go great with the baby bump!! We are planning on going up to see everyone this weekend as it is Jakes' 6th b-day. For those wondering Chip (my big brother) and Amy have 4 kids (Alex 14, Kaylee 7, Jake 6, and Katie Beth 18 months) with one due in March, just imagine a St. Pattys baby with the last name Green.

Tomorrow is Anna's winter concert and she is very excited about it. She will have a violin solo, so we will try and post a video.

seniorita loco

2007-12-09T20:40:00.000-05:00

The handsome Hansens'

2007-11-29T17:00:00.001-05:00

The 4 generations of Hansens'!

Thank you to the Comforts for a wonderful Thanksgiving! There are more pics of the kids on Paul's blog.

The boys room

2007-11-18T12:02:00.000-05:00

I have seen this technique done before, but this was my first time actually doing it. All that is needed is some painters tape (I used 1") and a tape measure/level.

The before picture.

In this pic I have measured out the lines and placed tape along the wall, windows, and doors. When I marked the lines I just used a chalk mark so that it could easily come off. The other important part of this step is to use a roller of some type (rolling pin) to go over the tape so that all of the edges are sealed.

I did the black stripe first, just because I had the most patience at the beginning of the project so that I could cut in (paint) around the moldings without masking all of the edges.
Next was yellow, so that it wouldn't matter if I dripped on the bottom half of the wall.
Then orange.
Finally, remove painters tape and decorate. I scoured my parents back yard for old hub caps and licence plates. I found the Nascar stickers at the craft shop. And you can see the headboard and dresser from a previous post.

The girls room!

2007-11-13T16:32:00.000-05:00

I have been having so much fun decorating the house. Anna's room was the first room that we did. She picked the color scheme, she was going for a funky retro look. The hardest part about the room is that it is only 9X9, which is pretty small. But she already had the bed (which I got a few years ago for a great price!), which made the small room work well for her. We did have to put up a bunch of shelves for her books, their are still some more stuck in her closet.

We started by painting one wall in the bright touquoise, then I added some squiggly mirrors from IKEA. The chair was rescued from the free pile at a yard sale and spray painted. I made the valances out of scrap fabric and the lime green sheers were found for $5 a piece.
With her bed we just changed the knobs (they were pink) with some cheap wooden knobs that my dad had lying around. I let the kids paint them one afternoon. The "L" shaped book shelves came from IKEA, and I found the squiggly shelf for $7 from a craft store, we just used the leftover wall color to paint it. The disco ball was only 50 cents from a yard sale.
I did make the comforter from lime green and tourquoise fabric (it's reversable). We needed something smaller than a standard size comfortor so that it wasn't bulkin over the sides.
The girl did the mural all by herself, she just sketched it in in chalk and then painted it in with whatever paint we had in the house. She is in a phase were she really likes dragons, when she outgrows it we will just paint over the dragon and do something else.

I had a lot of fun doing this and it was great to let the girl have a hand in things. Pretty cool for a 10 year old!!

A girl and her horse.

2007-10-29T17:51:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of the girl at her horseback riding lessons. She had a wonderful time!!

A Job for me!!!

2007-10-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

For the past 4 years while we were in CT I have been doing decorating for people, going to their homes measuring, designing, fabricating, and installing. My favorite part of the whole process was fabricating, i.e. making the pattern, sewing it and putting it all together. Well, 2 weeks ago I noticed a job in the classified section needing a seamstress for a drapery company. I was curious. I called to find out more info and after hearing about my background they wanted to see me right away. I went in for an interview that day and they offered me the job on the spot. (It is nice to be wanted for my mind!!!) {I can't believe I just wrote that! and that family will read it! But it is to funny to delete!} After talking with Rick about it over the weekend, we decided to give it a try.
This company was very accommodating working around the kids school schedule, I work 9-3 Mon thru Thurs and 9-1 on Fri. The kids don't even realize I am gone.
I just started my second week there and I am loving it. There are 2 other women on the floor that I work on which is the "creative floor". That means that we do all the fun stuff like swags, valances, shades, and cornices. There are 3 other floors: the basement is the workshop where all of the boards are cut and the cornices are built, the main floor is the retail shop that sells fabric and has the offices, and the 1st floor which is has the cutting room and where another group of people make panels (which is something I always hated doing). So I get to do everything I enjoy doing and I don't have to do the things I don't like to do. How perfect is that.

Pics

2007-09-24T09:06:00.000-04:00

Here is a pic of our wonderful and adorable kittens. We have decided that their names are Miss Daisy (the white one) and Senorita Loco (the gray one). This picture was obviously taken during the day because they are sleeping. If you wanted to see an action shot I would have to wake up in the middle of the night to get one. They are really so much fun, I should figure out how to put up a video.

Also, belatedly, here are the kids on their first day of school. They are doing very well and seem to be enjoying school. Their teachers are just wonderful and seem to be able to deal well with each kids personality.

Starting Over...

2007-09-08T12:35:00.000-04:00

We have started over with the cat situation. We have returned the sick kittens to the SPCA and I found another set of kittens through another organization. These new kittens are so wonderful, they are so much fun to sit and watch. But the best part is they are healthy and litter trained. I don't have the camera set up yet, but I will try to get that done soon so I can get some pics up.

Now that I don't have to worry about cleaning up after kittens I have been able to spend my time painting and decorating. I started with Anna's room, which is turquoise and lime green. The dining room is cream and green with black accents (Zebra curtains)! The kitchen is red and gold. And I am getting ready to paint Peter's room, orange, yellow, and black. I am so excited! I promise to get pics up soon.

Issues with frustration

2007-08-23T06:24:00.000-04:00

What a title, huh? Well, we did end up getting two kittens. I thought it was great to teach the kids about rescuing them from the animal shelter, having sympathy for them and all that. That sure worked. My kids have too much sympathy for these kittens. Each kitten came with their own set of issues, one seems to be blind because she keeps running into things and is always hiding, when you go to pick her up she hisses and scratches. Both Rick and I were bleeding pretty badly after the first night. Anna’s kitten on the other hand can’t get enough love, the only problem with that is one of her issues involves the back end. The vet says it doesn’t seem that she has any feeling in her butt and tail. Hence the droppings all over the house. We got medicine for her and the vet says if she doesn’t improve within a week, we will need to put her down or live with the mess. I have to draw the line somewhere. Anna is such an emotional girl, she just holds the kitten and cries, and of course she is looking at the cute little face so I tell her to hold her the other way and see if she changes her mind. If it was up the me I would have brought them back to the shelter after the first few days, but that would have been way to much for the kids to take. So we will see what can be done over the next few days that way the kids will feel that we have done what we could and they will have a chance to say their good-byes. Anyway this whole experience with kittens from the shelter hasn’t been a very positive adventure. The kids are frustrated because they want to hold, cuddle, and play with the kittens, but you will either end up bleeding or covered in poop. I am giving the kittens till the beginning of next week before we start this process of getting some other kittens. At least this next time I will have some more direction. My aunt is in charge of the humane society in Athens, Tennessee, and she has said that she has so many healthy kittens that she will bring us whatever we want. So we will see what happens. I am just very frustrated that these little creatures are messing up my new house.

Movin' on up...

2007-08-02T21:55:00.000-04:00

Things are going very well, we moved in this past Saturday. It was very nice to have movers, they packed up the house in Danbury and then when they got here they put all the boxes in the rooms where they belong. We are doing well with the unpacking and placing, basically we just have the basement left to do. I went to IKEA the other day to get some shelves to put my sewing stuff on. I love that store!! Even though Schwenksville is a small town, we are pretty close to everything. The grocery store is only 3 miles (they have free babysitting while you shop, I told them I would see them everyday!!) and is in the same plaza as Target, Staples, AC Moore (craft store), and Petco. But if you want to drive 25 minutes, then their is Ikea, Costco, and anything else you can imagine. So I am all set with the shopping arrangements.

Talk about culture shock!! Within the first couple of days, we have had half a dozen neighbors knock on our door and introduce themselves. Some brought homegrown tomatoes, another brought zucchini, and another brought some fresh picked flowers in a mason jar. I have meet more neighbors here in the past week than in 5 years in Danbury. It has been so nice.

We were having some problems with the cable and internet, but I think everything has been worked out. As soon as we get the other computer hooked up, I will email everyone with our phone and address. I will also try to get some more pics up.

We are planning a visit to the animal shelter tomorrow to see if they have any kittens who would like to come home with us. The kids are going out of their mind they are so excited. So by the weekend we will probably have two new family members!!

By popular demand...

2007-07-19T09:12:00.000-04:00

It has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks. Rick was offered the position of Plant Engineer at Stroehmann Bakeries in Norristown, Pa. He has already started the job this past week and it seems to be going very well for him. Although he asked me what it means when his new off ice has a bathroom with a shower and a kitchenette, I said as long as the couch didn't pull into a bed we were ok. He doesn't need to spend that much time at work.

So our family is preparing for a move. We have already purchased a home, which is why I am posting so that we can show off some pics. Since Rick is staying with the same company, we are getting a relocation package. Which means the company will move us (packing and unpacking) and pay for motels, meals, and some closing costs. Pretty sweet deal. The family is very excited about this move. The kids can't wait, I bribed them with the deal that after we move in we can visit the animal shelter and pick out 2 kittens. They are going to miss their friends, but they are at the age that cats trump friends. Although Anna has said she would give up her kitten if she could have a horse. Hmm. Since we have been renting our current house we were unable to have pets, and for the past 5 years all the kids have wanted were pets.

As for the house (which is why I am so excited) It is a 3 bed 1.5 bath colonial on over .5 acres. It is about 1400 sq. ft. and about 50 years old. Within the past year just about everything has been done. New windows, siding, heating, kitchen and water proofed basement, also the floors have all been refinished and walls have been painted. The only thing we need to do is buy a Fridge. Even though the bathrooms haven't been updated, they are in great shape and I don't mind working with the funky colored tile. The upstairs bathroom is turquoise with peach and the downstairs is gray with lime green. I see a retro theme!!

I do plan to take over the basement for as my workroom and continue to do decorating. I already have my first customer. I worked on her house here in CT, but she just moved to NJ which is only about an hour away, she said she was would pay for my travel time. Excellent!!

The movers come next week and we should be in the new house by the beginning of August. I will email everyone our phone number when we get it, although if you need to get a hold of us our cell phones will still work.

Miss me??

2006-12-11T20:06:00.000-05:00

So much has happened that I don't know where to begin. I can't believe I let the whole month on November go by without a post. The highlight, of course, was our trip to Mexico. Rick and I and the kids spent a week with Caroline and Ross (Rick's aunt and uncle) at their other home ;D in Aijijic, Mexico. What an amazing and wonderful experience for all of us. We did plenty of shopping and sightseeing, and we even drove to the coast (about a3-8 hour drive, depending on which way you go). The kids got to jump in the waves of the Pacific; my favorite comment from the boy was "I am swimming with my butt". I want to get some pics up before I go to bed. I have so much more to say and I will get to it, eventually!

Just Desserts..

2006-10-31T20:42:00.000-05:00

Well the boy had to stay home from school because he was sick. HMMMMM! Maybe it is one of those life lessons. I guess not, he was feeling good enough to go trick-or-treating. Although he definitly did not eat as much candy as he could have.

Sticky situation...

2006-10-30T09:25:00.000-05:00

Guess what GB had for breakfast?

Hutch Pics...

2006-10-24T20:11:00.000-04:00

The black milk can next to the hutch was actually used by my great great grandfather, Samuel Archer, when he had a farm. The farm was on the property that is now where my parents live, and the hutch came out of the kitchen from the farmhouse.

The little rocking horse was my mothers when she was a child.

The inside of the sliding doors. We were very lucky to find most of the original inserts, like the spice rack (in the center), the flour bin on the left, and the sugar bin on the right (which tips out to fill). The only thing that is missing is one of the spice jars, there should be 7, but we only found 6.

A pic of the bottles on top of the hutch. The Saratoga bottles are new, but the other large jars are Horlick Jars. These jars were in my grandmas cupboard when I was growing up and I never paid attention to what they said. Soon after Rick and I got engaged I realized they said Racine, Wis. USA. I thought that was pretty cool (Rick grew up in Racine).

Almost...but not quite

2006-10-23T22:19:00.000-04:00

See, I almost missed my Monday blogging attempt. Rick and I just finished watching a movie: "Romancing the Stone". I had actually never seen it before, and I am sure I found it funnier than it was supposed to be (the man getting his hand chomped off by an alligator...hilarious). But it was a great way to spend a Monday evening.

We did an install today of 5 Roman shades. They turned out very well, the only thing was the fabric was really lightweight and the shades didn't want to go all the way down. I am going to add some weights to the hem and see if that makes a difference, if not, well I will cross that bridge later. I will post some pics over the next few days, when I have some more time to tweak them.

I will also try to get some pics up of the hutch. It has been finished for a few weeks now. The final thing that needed to be done was the sliding doors. There were 52 individual strips of wood that had to be stripped of paint then sanded, stained, and pollied. After everything dried I had to glue the wood to strips of canvas, very much like a roll top desk. I am very happy with the whole project, it has turned out to be very functional too. Of course that was its original purpose.

Pictures tomorrow, sleep now. Good night!

update

2006-10-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

Has it really been almost a month since my last post? Wow time flies. I have had so many blog worthy happenings that I am not sure where to begin. The girl has started violin lessons, actually the school is providing them and then Rick helps her at home. She is loving them.

When we bought her violin we went to the East Coast Music Mall which mostly has guitars, well; the boy was in awe. He seems to want to play the electric guitar or the drums, which he was able to practice on in the store. All I can say is that anything electric should come with headphones.

DQ and I have also taken a painting course at the craft store. It is a "one stroke painting method" which is actually very easy, even I can do it. It was fun for us to be able to learn something together.

My business is doing well, I have measured for a new customer, and I have an install next week. So things are staying busy.

It is late and I am tired so I am going to sit down and watch a movie with Rick. I will try to stay current on the blog; maybe I will blog one day a week. Mondays sound good, I will try it and see if I can stay to a schedule. (I can hear everyone laughing!!)

What a Boy!!!

2006-10-01T18:30:00.000-04:00

http://www.freecycle.org/Here is a pic of what the boy accomplished today.

I went out this morning to pick up this track that I got off of freecycle, Rick has spent most of the day setting it up and fixing it until it was fast enough for the cars to go spinning off the track and across the room. It is really a lot of fun to watch. I really got the track for GB, and he is having fun now that it is working, but Rick enjoyed the set up. He had to take the little motors apart and glue some stuff together and then he had to sand all of the electric connectors so that it was fast enough for the cars to go through the loop. What fun!!

DQ had a really great week. We received a note from the school saying that she will start violin next week, so we got her a violin. She was so excited!! The same day she got the violin she also got her ears pierced. (She had them done a while ago, but it didn't work well so we decided to try it again.) She loves them.

Done

2006-09-27T09:26:00.000-04:00

I finished the little girls room that I have been working on.

This is the room with the canopy over the bed in which I had made to short so I had to fix it. I ended up adding extra fabric to the bottom then putting on some cording to cover the seam. It turned out great.

The valance was made a couple of months ago then sent to a painter. Here is the finished results. I have signed up for a painting course at our local craft shop just in case I ever want to attempt another valance like this.

Also I slipcovered an ottoman that was in the room. The ruffle along the bottom was from the crib set from the little girl.

I know I keep saying "I", but I should really say "we". Rick helped so much with the canopy, he made the framing and he did the installation (which was a nightmare). Although through this project we realized that a different stapler would make things so much easier.

Lots of stuff

2006-09-23T09:44:00.000-04:00

We will start with DQ's birthday! She turned 9 last Friday (as in 9/15). We all went bowling for her party on Sunday. She had a blast! After the party we came back home and opened her gifts, She ended up receiving a lot of craft kits. One of her favorite was a bedazzler, she is having so much fun with it. Rick and I got her a sewing machine, which she is enjoying. She had been using my mother-in-laws machine, but I could never get it to work properly, and DQ kept using my machine. It is great to have 2 machines in the house because my machine needs to be serviced, but I have been putting off taking it in because I can't do without it. ( I wonder if there is a group for those dependent on a sewing machine - SMA - sewing machine anonymous).

I didn't crop the pic because I thought it was to funny to see my husbands legs. Most of the pics have his legs in them. Lets see who comes up with the funniest comment about that!!!

I have more to post, but I need to have another cup of coffee first. If you couldn't tell, writing is NOT my first love!!

fun stuff

2006-09-11T09:05:00.000-04:00

The boy has lost his first tooth. He has been asking for a few months when he was going to loose a tooth, he even asked the dentist when we saw him this spring. For the past week he has been wiggling his tooth and reminding us every chance he got that he was going to loose a tooth. It didn't happen till late last night and he wanted to wake up his sister to show her, but I told him to wait until morning. Well, he slept in and the girl was off to school by the time he woke up. The first words out of his mouth "Where's DQ?" He was very disappointed not to show off for her.

The other fun thing that happened yesterday was that I made a special dessert. Hot dog and french fries!

It was very easy and the kids couldn't eat their dinner fast enough because they were so excited about the cake. I found the idea on a website; they have some other very cool ideas. I think for April Fool's Day I can make a meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting and hot dog cake for dessert.

We go back today and try to hang the canopy, will post pics if it turn out!

An interesting week was had by all.

2006-09-03T11:38:00.000-04:00

The major event of the week was the first day of school, which all went very well.

DQ started 3rd grade.

GB started Kindergarten.

I didn't have so many mixed feelings this year, with the boy being in a preschool program last year I was used to seeing him being a bit more independent. I used to always wonder if they were going to be learning enough and what they were learning. Usually the first weeks of school I would always second guess myself and think I should homeschool again. But every day the kids would come off the bus shouting "I LOVE SCHOOL". DQ would always say some facts or something about science that I would just have to nod my head and think, "Wow, I never knew that!" So the kids are enjoying school and doing very well, and I am doing OK with letting them be a bit more independent. (They are still my babies!!)

We have also been dealing with a bug that has been going around. It started last week when the boy was sick on my birthday (I spent a good portion of my bday scrubbing the bathroom and changing his sheets). Then a few days later I caught the bug and spent the day in bed, DQ was a huge help with making lunch for her and the boy and coming in and giving me a hug every once in a while. She is truly a sweet heart. Next it was Ricks turn; he actually had to call in sick. In his whole working career he has only called in sick 2 times! Speaking of calls, I got a call from the school nurse on the second day of school, DQ needed to be picked up! The bug got us all!! We are now all doing a lot better, still a little weak, but pretty much back to normal.

Just before Rick came down with the bug, we were scheduled to install a job that I had been working on. This job is one of my favorites because it is so different; it is for a little girls bedroom and is done with a lime and purple stripe fabric and a lavender check. I started with a valance with solid white on the front and pleats in the different fabrics, the white is there because an artist was hired to paint lilies on it (the little girls name is Lilly). I actually finished the valance in the end of July and gave it to the customer so she can get it to the artist (I was asked if I could paint it, but I know my limits and I am not an artist). So I have a picture of it hanging off the side of my sewing table, just ignore the bright blue square fabric, that is the curtain on the side of my table.

I made a full size ruffled bed skirt out of the stripe fabric which turned out cute. But the problem lies with the major piece in the room. I had to make a canopy to hang on the wall over the headboard. Rick was the genius he normally is and made a plywood frame with braces that would screw into the studs, it was awesome. Then I come along and cover it with batting and fabric. The fabric makes it almost impossible to find any screw holes and then it bunches up under the screw and, well, it is just a mess. So we spent almost 2 hours at the customers' house trying to figure out how to get the canopy up, we cut back any fabric around the screws holes and then screwed it in the wall. Well, it seems that the studs were not were the stud finder said, so we had to mark the holes so we could put in the mollies. As soon as we finished marking all the holes I realize that something wasn't right. The panels that I had stapled to the canopy did not reach the floor. Well it turns out that when I had originally taken measurements I transposed the numbers, so instead of having panels that were 98" long I had panels that were 89" long. (insert muttering and cursing). We just stopped, cleaned up, and came home. Now I need to add some fabric to the panels and then we need to go back and install everything again. Whenever it gets done it is going to be very nice.

30

2006-08-25T17:59:00.000-04:00

I have officially been ushered into the 30's. My bday was Wednesday and I actually had a party, for me. Wow!! I can't remember the last time I had a birthday party, I guess I had one for my 21 bday, but that was actually a baby shower for baby #1 seeing that she was born a month later. Anyway, I just had a few ladies over and we sat on the back patio and had chocolate cake. It was a nice time!! My sister-in-law, Amy, came over from NY and was a big help with getting things decorated and everything. Rick was home from work early and ran to t he store for the last minute items that I forgot. For my present, he got me a new set of pans. Very nice pans, I almost want a rack to hang them on, maybe we will make one.;D

Back to the grindstone.. I have a big job that is scheduled for Monday, so I started working on it today. Nothing like giving myself enough time. Oh well, it is turning out well. I will post pics on Monday.

Hutch

2006-08-19T20:42:00.000-04:00

I did finish what I had of the hutch. I talked to my mom and she said there are some more metal pieces to go inside. So we are going to visit them tomorrow and I will pick up all of the stuff that she has. I did need to get a new latch for the bottom door because the original was to rusted, but I haven't put it on yet because it looks to new. I am going to try and rough it up a little so it is not so shiny. I am very happy with how things turned out, the color and grain of the wood is just gorgeous.

While at my folks this weekend I am going to look around for more things to refines. I enjoyed doing the hutch so much that I want to do more. In my spare time of course!! Speaking of spare time I did just measure for another job! Maybe we can afford a cleaning lady!!!! (I can dream, right?)

Fair.

2006-08-19T18:55:00.000-04:00

I took the kids and a friend to the Bridgewater Fair. I always love looking at the exhibits and animals, but the hightlight for the kids was the motorcycle stunt show. It was VERY cool. Especially to a 5 yr old boy.

DQ and her friend had a blast.

My favorite pic:

Progressing and cleaning...

2006-08-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

Things are progressing very well on the hutch. I was able to strip, stain, and poly all of the small wood pieces and doors. Also with all of the tin pieces I was able to use my new handy dandy wire brush drill bit and get most of the paint and rust off, then I repainted them with an ivory spray paint.

I know some of you are wondering Why did she take off all of the paint just to put on more paint? All I can say is genius is a work in progress!! Actually I had to take off all the paint to get a smooth surface so the new paint would look good. I wasn't planning on re-painting anything, but after stripping things down I realized that originally the inside of the top had been painted. So, I decide to keep it that way. Although I still need to strip off all the old paint to get a smooth flat surface.

I have really been enjoying doing all the work on the hutch, I love working with all the different tools and seeing how things turn out. The only down side is that I don't spend anytime inside cleaning. When I say cleaning I mean basic stuff, like cleaning off the dinner dishes so the kids can have breakfast. In my perfect world I would have someone come in and clean for me. I don't wish for a big house or fancy cars (although I LOVE the new mustangs), I just wish someone could come clean for me. Then I could spend all my time in my sewing room or working with power tools. Oh well, I am going to get off the computer and start the dishes and mop the kitchen floor, which I am only doing out of necessity, because you can't walk through with out sticking. :D

Ramblings about stripping..

2006-08-06T22:40:00.000-04:00

We had a productive day today. Rick had the day off and we took the top of the hutch apart so we can start to refinish it. It took almost 3 hours just to take everything apart, we had to remove the back of the hutch because the veneer was warped and peeling, but we will replace it with 1/4 inch plywood. We took a lot of pictures today mostly so that we will remember how it goes back together! The hardest part was removing the tin flour hopper, it was nailed into a wood frame which made it tricky to get out without bending it, but I don't think we did to much damage. We were again able to save the hinges and latches, they just needed to be soaked in stripper and cleaned with steel wool and some silver polish. There is still a little rust on them, but I think it adds to the character. It seems that the inside of the hutch was originally painted a beige color, so we will probably take off as much paint as we can then repaint it. When we took off the back we found some old recipes and a little booklet that had fallen. The booklet is a "Sun-Maid raisins" recipe book from 1921, how cool is that?

This is what the top looked like this morning.

This is what it looks like now. You are looking through the back to the front, also it it upside down. To get a point of reference look at the strawberry wallpaper.

The back of the doors. There are 2 spice jar holders and a paper holder (I think). Everything is original, except the color.

The flour hopper (upside down). and part of the back panel. I love how functional this piece was, Grandma Hansen said she had one in her kitchen growing up and that her mom would make cookies and her famous noodles on the it. I always love the stories that go with the furniture. I forgot to mention that on the bottom section of the hutch (look at the previous post) the tin top pulls out to a large work area. Also behind the door is a pull out cutting board and 2 shelves that pull out. The 3 side drawers are actually tin with a wood front.

The recipe booklet from 1921, there are about 30 pages and 92 recipes. I might actually try to make one, the raisin-ginger bread sounds pretty good.

Stripping...

2006-08-05T20:20:00.000-04:00

Over the past week Rick and I have finished the bottom half of the hoosier hutch that I took out of my parents old house. There were at least 6 layers of paint that I saw: 2 layers of white, pink, yellow, green, and black.

The trickiest part was the pullout tin top, which had 3 layers of paint. I couldn't use a metal scraper because I didn't want to scratch the tin so I ended up using stripper and a special scrub brush. It came out pretty good, I still need to shine it up a little with polish, but I will get to that.

Beware of color!!

2006-07-28T21:26:00.000-04:00

I had to post a pic of my sewing room for kim (my sister in law in law in law or SILLY for short).

It seems we both like the same colors. Since we are just renting I didn't want to put the time into painting the walls, but my choice for wall color would be a buttery yellow. With maybe a purple accent wall!! (Just kidding - maybe)

I also redid our bathroom in the bright turquoise. Can you tell I like color!!

Perfect Baby…

2006-07-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

Ok maybe I am a bit biased, but she is just adorable.

My new niece arrived on July 17th. Katherine Elizabeth was 7.1 lbs. and 20" long. Right now we are all calling her KatieBeth, but as she gets older we might go with Kat or Kit. (I did get permission to use her name on my blog.) My brother, Chip, is doing well and was actually present for the birth this time. Usually he just sits in a big chair in the hall and waits. If you are not aware, Chip has a thing for fainting for the big moments in his life, he only made it about 8 minutes into his wedding before ending up on the ground. Amy is doing very well, she was very glad to deliver during the heat wave because she was able to stay in the nice air-conditioned hospital. Silver lining!! Big sister Kaylee, who is 6, was the one to cut the cord, she had taken a class so she knew what to expect. Alex and Jake were elsewhere, but were excited about their new sister.

The perfect day..

2006-07-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

Today just seems to be a perfect day. Rick has today off and we were able to sleep in till 9am (I know that is a miracle) When the kids got up they watched TV for a while until they saw mom and dad start to emerge from hibernation. Then DQ helped me set the table and we had choco chip pancakes with choco whipped cream, eggs and bacon. Then GB helped pick up the table and even helped load the dishwasher. So we have a clean kitchen (another miracle). Next the kids went outside to play (after they made their beds and folded their pjs) and Rick and I sat down and read the paper while having our second cups of coffee. Now Rick is sitting at the piano playing some new music he got for his birthday (Greig and Bach) and I am in my sewing room reupholstering a sectional I got off of freecycle.
Days like today are rare so when we have a "perfect" day I just feel the need to share. It is usually easier to complain about the bad days and not enjoy the "perfect" days because I am waiting for the kids to start acting up. So I wanted to write this while the kids are still being good.
Yesterday was a cleaning up day. DQ's room had gotten so bad, mostly cloths strewn allover. I usually shut the door and ignore it, but it I couldn't even walk in there anymore. My solution: I gave her a list (1-pr jeans, 2 pr shorts, 4 T-shirts, 1 skirt. 1 sweatshirt) and told her to put it all in her suitcase. She kept trying to guess where we were going (insert villainous laughter). Then I put on a movie for the kids so I had 2 hrs of uninterrupted time in her room, and I put all of her cloths in plastic bins and put them in the basement. When she came in her room, she was amazed because it looked so good. I then gave her suitcase and told her if she could take care of those cloths she could start to earn the rest of her cloths back. She was actually pretty happy with everything.

Everything

2006-07-11T13:26:00.000-04:00

Whenever I check my blog I am always surprised that I haven't posted in so long. It amazes me that all of the posts that I compose in my head never end up published. (The public wants to know my thoughts, [insert hysterical laughter]). Oh well, I know that I need to update everyone on our very exciting and busy lives. (1 out of 2 isn't so bad.)

Lets see, I will start with Rick in honor of his 33rd birthday yesterday!!! We were at my folks in Saratoga and celebrated on Sunday evening. We had steamed clams, crab legs, and corn on the cob with Boston Crème cake for dessert. It was all very good!! We spent the time with my brother and his family (well Amy stayed home and rested because she is ready to have the baby and minute), my folks were there and my grandpa Green from Virginia was visiting. So there were plenty of people to sing off key for Rick. After the food my parents kept the kids and Rick and I went to the Drive-in (yes there is still an actual drive-in near Saragtoga) and saw Pirates of the Caribbean, all I could think of is how scared any kids would be if they were watching it. The next day we went swimming and got sunburned and had a wonderful time. Rick is trying to take it easy because last week at work he hurt his knee (same knee he messed up in high school) He is going to be fine, just a little sore. This spring he got a promotion at work and he seems to be enjoying things. I am not sure of his exact title but one of his bosses calls him "the resident genius".

We have taken a few family trips over the past weeks. We took a long weekend and visited Ted and Nita (Rick's aunt and uncle) in Cumberland, MD. Had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. We all went to the movies and saw "Cars" and "Over the Hedge". It was a big thing for us to go to the big theater, because I am such a cheapskate, but I had free movie bucks that I saved from Pepsi products and we were able to see both movies for free. (Thanks to dad Hansen for emailing me his points). Another thing that we are enjoying as a family is our new radio. For Father's Day I got Rick an XM satellite radio, it is so great because are really lacking any good radio stations in this area. Rick gets to listen to the 80's station and I can choose from 6 different country stations. There is a cute kids station and some comedy stations, but in the car I play the songs from the 40's and the kids really like it. How cool!!

Speaking of the kids, they are doing well. DQ graduated from 2nd grade and is excited about taking swimming lessons at the lake this summer. Also we are going to start her on music lessons this fall, we are going to wait and see what she would like to play. She is still sewing a bit, mostly just making up her own things like quilts and doll cloths. As always we can't get her nose out of a book, she has already read over 20 books in the past 3 weeks. We are keeping a log for our library program and she is eligible for prizes and stuff.

GB is just being a boy. Playing with trucks in the sandbox, running around like a madman, and eating just about everything in sight. He will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and it seems he is looking forward to it. He will be able to take swim lessons at the lake this summer and he is excited about that, he just loves the water. I cut his hair a few weeks ago:
What do you think?? He thinks he looks like a dinosaur.

As far as me, I have been busy with a couple of jobs. Usually I don't have anything in the summer, but I have at least 2 houses that I am working on. It is fun and I get paid. Taking care of the house is a never ending battle, I am happy if I get the dishes in and out of the dishwasher in the same day. If I made enough, I would definitely hire a cleaning person. To me that would be AMAZING!!! Of course I would probably still sit around on my lazy butt reading the latest books from the library. As if I didn't have enough to do this summer, I have given myself 2 other projects to do. The first is to recover a couch that somebody gave me. I have never done this before so I figure it will be a fun mistake. The second project is to refinish a Hoosier hutch that I took from my parents old house. This is something I have wanted to do for a while, although I don't know what possessed me to try it this summer. This is what a Hoosier hutch is supposed to look like (I took this picture at a museum):

This is the top part of what I am going to be working on, I have counted at least 6 layers of paint.

Girls day out..

2006-06-13T17:43:00.000-04:00

First I will apologize for my lack of posting, I can give you plenty of excuses, but mostly I am just a lazy bum.

Anyway I have to write about yesterday: Once upon a time this past December, there was a terrible morning were my little Drama Queen and I had a "conflict of interest". It ended with her walking out to the bus in tears and me being so mad I was boiling. I know it is hard to believe this about my sweet little girl, but I think it comes from me seeing too much of, well, me in her. From that time on we have developed a schedule and a routine that works VERY well. She has started earning an allowance and has taken on some extra responsibilities, and I keep to the schedule and try to keep things running smoothly as possible. Through all this I see my little girl maturing and thriving on the responsibility, and learning to save her money for something special. Over the past 6 months she has saved enough to purchase an American Girl Doll. She already had Kirsten from her birthday 2 years ago, and enjoys her so much. I love the fact that most of the dolls are historically based and come with books with complete background stories. (I also love that even though she is almost 9, she still loves to play with dolls). So yesterday my mom, DQ, and I took a train into NYC (about 1 1/4 hours) and went to The American Girl Place. Talk about a little girls fantasy (I need to stop saying little, she is almost up to my shoulder). All these dolls and accessories, it was really amazing. Now we have a new member of the family, Jess. Her story being that she lives in Michigan, but travels with her family to Belize. So we are learning a lot about Central America right now. (How cool). We had such a wonderful and special time.

Sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away....

2006-05-25T13:16:00.000-04:00

I stole this from Kim. Although I see myself more as SuperGrover!!

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times.

You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained

You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun.

How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

No interest..

2006-05-13T19:21:00.000-04:00

I am sorry, but I haven't had much interest in writing anything. Things are pretty normal around here; the kids are doing great. They are excited about their summer vacation coming up. We plan to take swimming lessons at the lake again this year. Rick's schedule has changed again; just his days off have changed, although his hours seem to be longer. If they seem longer to me I can't imagine how he feels. Poor guy, but one of the necessary evils in life (his work not him). My business seems to be busier than usual. I have about 4 houses that I am working on right now. I need to bet busy sewing, I just always feel guilty because the house is usually a mess. I should probably do something about that, maybe hire a cleaning person. Who knows?

Well, another update on the not so exciting (but that's just fine) life of the Hansen family.

Time flies..

2006-04-30T20:34:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post. We went to Wisconsin over Spring break and had a great time with Rick's side of the family. One of my favorite things is sitting and listening to the stories that Grandma and Grandpa tell. The kids really enjoyed themselves, especially going to the beach and the zoo. On our way back home we stopped in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. What an amazing place. I think everyones favorite was touring the German sub exhibit.

Before we left for our trip I spent a week organizing my sewing room. It is so clean I almost don't want to use it and mess it up. But alas, there is work to be done. I have a couple of installs this next week.

Finished

2006-04-04T14:07:00.000-04:00

I have a terrible habit of starting projects and not finishing. So that means I have to give myself something to look forward to when I complete a project. Kelly is very good at giving me new ideas and she just issued a new challenge which I am very excited about. But before I begin, I needed to finish my quilt. So I completed it today!!!

I am very excited about how it turned out. I ended up tying the center squares and machine quilting the borders. The finished size is 102" X 102", which is a king size.

Now I can't wait to get going on the puzzle quilt.

Keeping crafty...

2006-03-28T08:34:00.000-05:00

We tried to enjoy the decent weather this weekend. It was in the 40's, so it was a little chilly, but not to bad. I had gotten some clay pots and some paints, so the kids could have some crafts to do.

Actually, I wanted to keep them busy while I was painting GBs dresser. This dresser has been around, it was in Rick's bedroom when he was growing up (painted a lovely shade of advacado green). We painted it beige and dark green and used it for the past few years, but since GB has wanted a racecar room I decided to paint it again. I painted it a bright, shiny cherry red and added new handles so it looks like a toolbox. The handles are just a length of pipe I got in the plumbing section of Home Depot (another of my favorite stores) and Rick made some brackets to fit the pipe. He used 1X2 and drilled a 5/8-inch hole. It worked very well. The boy thinks it is very cool.

I also covered his headboard; he already had a wood headboard we had gotten from a neighbor. I just covered it in foam and batting, then stapled flame fabric on it. Very easy, very cute. In the picture you can see the shelf I made last week. It is just a 1X3 with 1/4 round trim. I painted it white then used 2" tape every 2", then spray painted it black -hence the checker board pattern. I left the top of the shelf solid black and put on little white lines so it looks like a road. It is perfect for his cars. My favorite comment the boy made was when I had put all of his cars on the shelf and he looked at me and said "Look at all the traffic!!". Too funny.

Some things I am grateful for…

2006-03-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

The 45-minute pj pants. I found this adorable flannel fabric in the remnant bin at the fabric store; I ended up paying 88cents for 1 yard. Quick and cheap - (I am afraid that is becoming my motto).

But, I realize that the 45 minutes only works for me because I am very lucky to have a permanent set up for my sewing machine. There would be no way I would ever do anything if I had to pick everything up when I was done.

Here is a picture of my "sewing room". It is actually a part of our family room that consists of: computer, TV, kids toys, treadmill, etc.

I have a regular sewing/embroidery machine (Pfaff 7560) and a serger (White 2000ats). A few years ago for Christmas, Rick made me a table; this is not your ordinary sewing table. It is 5ft X 8ft, and I covered it in a waterproof, heat resistant, heavy-duty fabric (actually I got it from a boat shop) so I can iron on it and the steam from the iron won't make the padding on the table mildew. There is a ton of storage under the table for fabric. As you can see in the picture I am not the most organized person. I have great expectations that I will get the fabric organized, but I just don't seem to have the time. Maybe when the boy starts kindergarten next year.

We have survived....

2006-03-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

...our first emergency room visit!!

(note to dad Hansen: don't panic everything turned out just fine, read with caution)

This past Sunday, GB fell over in his chair (insert annoying parenting voice: "How many times have I told you NOT to lean back in your chair!!??!!"). He probably would have been fine if his skateboard wasn't lying in the middle of the floor (again: "How many times have I told you to pick up your toys??!!??). So his head hit the edge of his skateboard and he got a small cut. The only thing with a small cut is you don't realize how small the cut is because of the amount of blood. (Insert Monty Python voice: "It's just a flesh wound!") Of course I wasn't in the room when this happened, so I walk calmly (reality check: fly into the room almost breaking the door in the process) into the room to find a screaming child with blood dripping off his head. I do believe that a mother can perform amazing acts of strength when her child is hurt (insert line from The Incredible Hulk "I was lifting up the car!!") I scoop him up and carry him upstairs and try to calm him down so I can assess the damage, of course he won't let me get near him. I figure with the amount of blood and the way he is screaming it has to be terrible. So I drop DQ off at a friends house and take the boy to the emergency room. Rick was at work so I was keeping him informed (I have a love/hate relationship with cell phones, that day it was a love thing). Of course by the time we get to the ER the bleeding has stopped and the boy has calmed down. But since we are there I figure the doctor can at least take a look. All of the nurses thought that GB was adorable, he kept telling everyone his life story and how brave he is. Truly he was very brave (I on the other hand was calm on the outside and a basket case on the inside). Once the doctor (Has anyone noticed how much younger they're getting?) cleaned the wound we could see how tiny it was. It did require 1 staple, but they didn't even need to numb the area first. Kind of anticlimatical (is that a word?), although I am very glad that things were not worse. Through it all the boy was wonderful, talking up a storm and telling everyone about the new hole in his head(insert laugh track). He was very excited to get his own pair of "doctor (latex) gloves" and a hospital bracelet. He definitely had the best "show and tell" at school the next day!! When we got home I was completely exhausted so we all took a nap (reality check: the kids watched a movie while I laid down. One of the many bad parenting skills I have picked up over the years.) So, all in all things worked out, we have a new story to add to our list, the boy learned he was very brave, and well, I hope we never have to do that again.

Great minds think alike..

2006-03-08T13:52:00.000-05:00

If you read the comments on my last post you will see that the next craft I want to do is a "book purse". Kelly suggested using a Readers Digest condensed book, well little did she know that I had already raided the local Salvation Army (one of my favorite stores) and completed my "book purse".

I used some old fabric that I had from my mother-in-law, it is green check with fuzzy Donald and Daisy Ducks. The orange bias binding holds on the handles and forms a loop and knot closure. It was fun to make, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Kellys' Dancing Stars...

2006-03-05T17:27:00.000-05:00

I have been obsessing about quilt blocks recently. What I mean by obsessing is that I go to the library and take out about dozen or so books at a time. I have been doing this for the past month, just waiting until I had some "free" time to get started on a quilt. What I look at in the quilt books are all the different type of blocks, one of the books I got had over 5,500 different quilt blocks. That is quite a bit, but even with all the books that I looked at I decided on what I have termed "Kellys' dancing star". Kelly is my sister-in-law-in-law and I have been lurking on her blog for a while now. One of the first posts I read on her blog had a quilt block that she had designed. I remember really liking it because it wasn't like all the other quilt star blocks that I had seen; this one actually had 5 points. So over the past few days I have been piecing a quilt top together (I had to wait until I didn't have any jobs, so my table was clear). The finished size will be 102" X102" which is a king size. I still have a couple of borders to put on, so what is pictured is 68" X 68".

No sudoku for you!!!!!!!!!

2006-02-28T08:38:00.000-05:00

Ok, one reason I haven't been blogging is that I have been playing way to much sudoku. If any one is not familiar http://show.websudoku.com/?
Last night while watching TV, (can Trump be anymore obnoxious?) I finished a couple of puzzles and asked Rick to print me out some more. His reply was.."No sudoku for you." Of course, I almost ended up on the floor from laughing so hard. Sudoku Nazi. If you don't understand why that whole incident was so funny, then watch some "Seinfield" reruns.

We are just waiting for spring to get here, it has been extremely cold the past few days.

Rick had last week off and the kids had a long weekend so we went to a few museums. The kids enjoyed the Science Center of Ct, mainly because they were doing an exhibit about snakes. I try not to project my fears onto the kids, so I braved the display of snakes. If there is one thing I can't stand is snakes, give me big hairy spiders any day, but I can't even look at a picture of a snake without getting wiged out. I was glad Rick was there to sit with the kids while they did a live demonstration with a python, I browsed the gift shop.

I have a big install coming up if a few days, I will post some pics after. I guess I never posted pics of my previous project so here are some. Rick was amazing in that he wrote a computer program for me to calculate the width of the spaces and pleats for pleated draperies. This is usually the most time consuming and frustrating process, and now thanks to "Tracys' magic panel calculator" it takes just a few seconds. I knew I married him for a reason!

Snowing and such...

2006-02-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

Kind of a busy couple of weeks. Not necessarily had a lot to do, but had a lot on our minds.

We are glad to hear that grandma is home from the hospital and doing better. We are planning a trip out there in April, and look forward to spending time with her and grandpa.

Also, dealing with the "loss" of our nephew. (see Karins' blog) DQ is the one that is taking it hard, she just loved spending time with him at Christmas.

The kids are home from school today. We got a huge storm yesterday, I think the final total was 26" of snow. It took me 3 hours to clear the driveway. Of course as soon as you clear the driveway a plow comes by and buries you again. The snowbanks at the end of our driveway are almost as tall as me.

I have another job that I am working on, some pleated valances, roman shades, and pinch pleat panels. Will try and get them done in the next week.

I have been dealing with some heath issues. Had a bunch of blood work done and everything came back fine. So maybe it is all in my head. I am just extra tired. Rick and the kids have been very helpful, so that is nice. I am feeling better than last week so I think I am getting better.

Rick has some time off next week and the kids have a few days off of school, so we might do some family things. We were going to go the the Bronx Zoo, but with 26" of snow on the ground it might be more trouble than it is worth.

Well, I need to make some lunch for the kids.

Something else to waste your time

2006-01-19T09:41:00.000-05:00

Just in case you have some time on your hands, http://www.jigzone.com/.

Things have been going well around here. I have a job I need to get done I just haven't been motivated. It not a very creative project just panels. So it entails a lot of sewing long seams with lots of fabric, now if I had an industrial machine (Rick - hint, hint, wink, nudge!) I could whip through it much quicker. I actually have an industrial machine at my folk's house; it just doesn't work well. It leaves a trail of oil along my stitch line. I guess I need to look into fixing it or trading it in. It is just that it weighs a ton, and is huge, it isn't very easy to take to a shop and I haven't found a sewing machine repairman that makes housecalls.

We just had family pictures done last week; it has been 6 yrs since the last family picture. We figured since we were going to get passport pics we would go ahead and get family pics done as well. I will be getting them out to family soon.

Nightmares and shoes

2006-01-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

We have recently been having some issues with the boy having nightmares. So we have removed anything scary from his room. Well, it so happens that he thought his curtains were scary (they were bright colored frogs, I guess it was something about the eyes). So that means I get to redecorate!!! For some the word "decorate" fills them with fear, not so for me, any excuse I can get I will decorate. I took GB to Wal-Mart and let him pick out the fabric of his choice, he choose race cars. Very cool!!! For less than $20 we have awesome curtains. And best of all, no nightmares for the past few days.

While I was out shopping today, I happened upon some clearance sales. One of the things I have discovered about kids is that their feet grow at an alarming rate. So when I see shoes on clearance I try and get what I can.

Let me say that DQ has owned at least 4 pairs of "ruby red slippers". I thought they didn't make them in her size, but alas I found them for $6. Cute and cheap, what more could I want. As for GB I couldn't resist these "race car flag" shoes, they were only $2. He thinks he is the coolest!!

Seattle

2006-01-05T17:17:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a wonderful time ion Seattle, it is so good to spend time with extended family. The traveling part of the trip left something to be desired. Lets just say that the only way I am flying "American Airlines" again is with the voucher they gave us. You know it is a bad trip when a $1000 voucher doesn't seem like enough. But we are all safe and there is something to be said about that.
Enough of the bad.

It was great to see Karin and Mike and their "boys" (boys is used lightly because they are almost men).

Rick's dad made it out from Wisconsin.

We stayed with CJ and Ross and their dogs, Bob and Slick.

While in Seattle we visited the Science Center,

Pike Place Market,

and DQ's favorite "Queen Mary's Tea Room".

Leavin' on a jet plane....

2005-12-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

Now you will be humming that for the rest of the day.

Anyway, sorry for no recent postings, we have been trying to fight off some colds and trying to get ready for our trip.
Our trip begins tomorrow, YEAH!!! We are flying out to Seattle to visit with the Hansen side of the family. I love being able to get from one coast to the other in a matter of hours, but I get freaked out about flying. Something about being slightly claustrophobic, I am sure I will get squashed in the middle of the plane in the middle seat with screaming kids all around (wait a minute that would be MY screaming kids). Hopefully the boy will stay occupied with playdough and a few new matchbox cars, the girl will just sit and read the whole way. I do have a supply of Benadryl in case they are "feeling stuffy". Naps for everyone!!!

Can't wait to see everyone, and I will post when I get back. (eventually)

2005-12-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

I just love his cheesy grin. He certainly inherited that from his father!!

2005-12-10T19:26:00.000-05:00

The boy had a wonderful birthday party. This is the first time we have had a "real" party for him, of course this is the first year he had friends of his own to invite. He loved having all of his friends to play with, and he loved all of the attention on him.

2005-12-09T10:59:00.000-05:00

When we woke up this morning DQ made a "Friday Snow List". I just had to share.

2005-12-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

The girl with Mr. Tree. The face is made of resin and attached to the tree, there is another face on the other side of the tree that actually glows in the dark. SPOOKY!!

2005-12-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

With all of his clothing it was hard for GB to move around.

2005-12-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

"Swinging in the snow, just swinging in the snow" (to the tune of "Singing In The Rain")

Snow days...

2005-12-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

Well, no school for the kids today, we have about 5 inches of snow and it is still coming down. I love how everything looks so fresh and new, I also like the fact that Rick has today off of work!!!

The past month

2005-12-06T13:31:00.000-05:00

I feel guilty that I haven't kept up with my blog over the past month. It seems that so much has happened that when I sit down to write I just feel overwhelmed. I have never felt that I was very good at writing, it has always seemed such a chore. But I love being able to share everyday stuff with those I don't get to see very often. My father-in-law is the one I remember telling me "just write, don't stop for spelling, that's what spell check is for, you can always edit later." So ignore the grammatical errors and erroneous (I can use big words with spell check) spelling, and I will "just write".

It seems I left off with Thanksgiving. We had an absolutely fantastic time with extended family. There was a Purcell family reunion at my folks place in Saratoga, NY, we had family from Florida and New Hampshire that came. (The Purcells are my moms' side of the family.) What a crazy bunch of people, there was so much laughter, a few tears, and some amazing music. Let's not forget the food!! My sister-in-law, Amy, was in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, and she is so good at planning for a huge meal, she had lists and time tables and just … well, everything was delicious. Also, there were 24 pies, pumpkin, apple, pecan, peanut butter, chocolate cream, banana cream, and some others I am forgetting. It was awesome. Who can't have fun with that much sugar around!?!

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to about 4 inches of snow. Those that had come from Florida hadn't seen snow in years, so it was just perfect. Of course my brother and dad had to pull out the snowmobiles, it was great to see my dad driving my grandpa around on the snowmobile. Believe it or not, I had never driven a snowmobile before so of course I jumped right on. It was fantastic!! I gave the kids a ride and the boy kept yelling "Faster!! Faster!!" It was so awesome!!

On Friday the 25th, Rick and I celebrated our 10-yr. anniversary. It is amazing how quickly time has flown, but when I look back, it is amazing that we have packed so many wonderful times and memories into just 10 years. I am very thankful for Rick and how we have grown and changed over the years, and just what a wonderful (and handsome) man he is. I will stop now before this gets too mushy.

While everyone was visiting, we had a little remberance time for my grandma, Harriet Purcell, who passed away 4 years ago. It was wonderful listening to some poems and songs that were written about her. I hope I can get my grandpa to record "Where Has the Magic Gone". I was in tears.

Now we are back home trying to adjust to a new schedule change with Rick's work and planning for Goofball's 5th birthday and Christmas. I also have a few houses that I need to sew curtains for in time for the holidays. Pretty busy, but it is fun.

We are going to be in Seattle for Christmas visiting Rick's side of the family. We haven't seen Karin and her family in 5 years, so it will be great to see them. I have been trying to get gifts wrapped and shipped so we don't have to lug them on the plane.

Anyway, all is well and wonderful in the Hansen household. And I will try to be better about updating the blog.

Busy, Busy,Busy....

2005-11-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it has been a while, so very sorry to my faithful readers. (insert emoticon) It has been a busy month, after not having any work over October, I seem to be making up for it in November. We had 2 houses to install before Thanksgiving, I say we as Rick is my installer. I make everything and he helps me put up the curtains, it just gives us an excuse to buy power tools. I am still waiting for Craftsman to come out with a cordless stapler. The tools I use the most (besides my sewing machine) are my glue gun and electric stapler. The drill and chop saw are the next busiest tools in the house.

The curtains were installed in a living/dining room and kitchen.

There were 5 windows in the living/ding room that I made a simple valance. I know it doesn't look simple, it is basically a long piece of fabric with tapered ends that is tacked at the top and threaded through a decorative rod. What makes it look so rich is the trim (at $12 yd it better do something special).

The kitchen is make out of a check silk with gold silk inverted pleats and burgundy covered buttons, it is all stapled onto a 1X3 board and installed with "L" brackets.
It all turned out very well, and the customer kept giving me a hug saying thank you. I am still amazed that people pay me to do this.

2005-11-04T11:28:00.000-05:00

It is so much easier to post pictures and not write anything. So......

What crazy kids!! I wonder where they get it?

Somebody sent this to me and I thought is was pretty funny:

Don't try this with spell check!)
Olny srmat poelpe can. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I wasrdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearchat Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in awrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed itwouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteterby istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Attention all Hansens!!!

2005-10-20T10:06:00.000-04:00

Does any of this look familiar?

These sweaters were made by mom Hansen (Sharon) for Karin and Rick when they were a bit younger. Thanks to dad for saving everything so that we can compare pictures.

I believe that Rick was 5 in this pic and Karin was 10. If that info is wrong please let me know.

Today is school picture day for the kids so when I get the pictures back I will post another comparison.

Pumpkins and costumes

2005-10-17T16:26:00.000-04:00

The local Agway is having a coloring contest for kids ages 5 - 12 (so GB can't enter, not that it matters to him) and everyone who enters gets a free pumpkin. DQ finished her picture and we picked out a little pumpkin this afternoon, of course I also had to buy a big pumpkins for our front steps. For decorating we had theses wooden sticks with shapes to make a cat, bat, or witch pumpkin. They really turned out cute, very easy and no mess!!

Of course this got me thinking about halloween, I only celebrate it for the fun of costumes. It helps that the kids love to dress up, and I keep a good stock of dress up stuff around. (I find things really cheap at yard sales). Thes year I found a wonderful plush grey wolf costume for GB to wear so that now leads to DQ being Little Red Riding Hood. She has a Dorothy dress I made for her 2 years ago that still fits, so all I need to make is a red cape. I might see if Rick wants to be the woodsman and I can dress up as granny, but that might be a little much. My favorite costume I ever made was last year for GB. As most know, he is fascinated with Thomas the Tank Engine, so I had to see what I could come up with. I started with a couple of cardboard boxes which I ducktaped together then spray painted, it still was little flimsy so I made a wood frame on the inside out of 1 X 2 which I screwed to the boxes with metal L brackets. I cut out windows and added a smokestack (2 liter soda bottle that I spray painted) then I printed out the face and decals on the computer and glued them to the boxes. The whole thing fit nicely on our wagon so the boy could actually sit in the train and look out the window. I made GB an outfit like Sir Topham Hat (the head of the railway), but when it came time to wear it outside GB just wanted to be an engineer, so I raided his closet for overalls, his train hat and a bandana. VOILA
It sounds a lot harder to make than it actually was. Now when anyone visits they get to ride on Thomas. Very Cool!!!

Rainy Days

2005-10-11T07:57:00.000-04:00

It has been really rainy the past few days. Because of it we had to cancel our adventure to the pumpkin patch yesterday. But we found something else to keep the kids occupied on Columbus Day, we went to the library book sale. I went last year and got a lot of wonderful books, everything from Jeffrey Deaver to Dr. Suess, the only problem was carrying every thing to the car. This year I was a bit more prepared, I brought a rolling duffel bag, and boy did the kids and I stuff it full. The sale was going on all weekend with Monday being the free day with $1 admission, of course I went on the free day. DQ was just in awe, the sale is held in a huge gymnasium, the other day she told me that she wasn't sure if she wanted to be an author or an illustrator when she grew up. I was impressed she used the word illustrator. Oh my genius children, (I know it comes from the Hansen side of the family) :D.

The kids have Thursday off of school so we might try the pumpkin patch then, it would be nice because Rick has that day off and he could join us. Anything were there is a tractor and hayride is just perfect for GB.

I actually need to get some sewing done today, nothing to exciting just a table runner and some embroidered blankets. Maybe I will take a picture and share.

Some pics

2005-10-08T15:24:00.000-04:00

OK, I know that I am long overdue for a post. I am trying to think of a really good excuse, but really I am just a lazy bum. Anyway here are some pics of Disney.

The prerequisite "Picture with Pooh".

DQ was in awe of all the princesses.

GB couldn't believe his eyes.

I got close with Mr. Incredible.

My mom "Singing in the rain".

We got to meet up with family: my grandpa, Tracy (whom I was named after), my Aunt Debbie, my Mom, and my Uncle Paul (my moms brother). You can figure out where GB and DQ are.

Today I am trying to pick up the house, I actually moved the sofa and vacuumed behind it. Talk about an adventure, I gave the kids 2 minutes to pick up whatever lost toys they found before I put them in the trash. How many times did I hear "I wondered where that went"!!

Last week the furnace was replaced. YEAH!!! We found out how bad it was last year when our smoke detectors went off, that was exciting. Anyway, it took 3 guys a good 3 hours to dismantle and remove the old furnace, it was huge. So now we have a nice little furnace that is sooooo much more efficient. Sometimes renting has its advantages, like not seeing the bill for a new furnace.