crochet rug

I crocheted my first rug.  I LOVE it.  It's so pretty!!!  I can guarantee this is not the last rug I will be making.

East Coast Vacation 2010

It's hard to believe that it was almost two years ago we took this vacation.  It was one of the most fun things we have done.  When we were stationed down in Atlanta, Georgia and just before PSCing to Seoul, Korea we took two weeks to drive up the whole east coast of the United States.  We saw so many of our great American landmarks.  I had this framed art made to hang in our house so we can remember the good times every time we see this.  

Frankfurt, San Francisco, Seoul

When I put away our Easter decorations I enjoyed setting out some things in a new way on the furniture under the tv.  

Before moving here I knew I wanted to hang clocks with different times ticking from places we have lived.  Both kids were born in St. Louis.  We were stationed at Scott AFB for 2.5 years just long enough for me two pop out our two kiddos.  But when Madi was 6 weeks old we left for Germany.  Last summer we moved here to CA from Seoul, Korea.  I wanted to label the clocks with cities that the kids have lived near or in.  I am so thrilled over the way they turned out.   

Ben and Steve lucked out finding $10 tickets to the Sacramento Kings/OKC Thunder so they are out enjoying some NBA tonight.  Madi and I enjoyed staying home cleaning up the house and watching movies.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies & Laundry

I made the MOST DELISH orange creamsicle cookies. The middle school is having a bake sale today so that was the reason for making such a wonderful tagged treat. For extra cuteness I put them in a fun cake box my friend Amber turned me onto.

I think I have the cutest laundry room. It makes going in there to do laundry almost a pleasure. I was on Pinterest today and sweet Shannon from Bless Our Nest had pinned this perfect printable and I pinned it off of her...so thanks for finding this Shannon.

My Red And Aqua Bathroom

Oh yea baby...my downstairs bathroom is RED AND AQUA! The main part of my house is very warm. It's painted a total California golden color and I like it very much. But red and aqua are my favorite. Remember my laundry room is painted a baby blue with beautiful red front loaders, but that wasn't enough so I did a blue/aqua in the bathroom with red accents downstairs.

I leave the door open and the little recessed light above the sink on because I love looking in there anytime I pass by. I am always keeping my out for some new red pretties to put in here.

Winter

My WINTER dinning room. I love how simple and easy to keep clean it is.

Remember my big beautiful pine cones I picked up at Lake Tahoe over Thanksgiving. I love them so much I think they may stay out all year.

Steve got me this HUGE picture of New York City. NYC is our favorite city in the world...over Vancouver, Canada, Tokyo, Paris... I just love this picture of the city with the clouds and the colors. It's on the Brooklyn Bridge and you can see the Empire State....it was only 18 months ago when my family went to the top.

I moved my subway art into our family room. It's one of my favorite things too.

Another new kitchen towel. It's just a cheap flour sack towel with pretty fabric sewn to the end and I did a cute running stitch for extra cuteness. I started another on last night I hope to finish today. I want to make a pretty stack for my kitchen.

"My Room"

Yes, I have my own room and I love it. It's full of all my favorite stuff and even complete with an HD flat screen...I can spend all day in here. My room is also home to the PS3 so often times the rest of the fam keeps me company. It's a regular thing to have the kids ask me to go in the craft room with them...they like me to craft and watch them play at the same time.

This fun print is what welcomes you when you enter my room.

We have only been stationed here 4 months but I sure feel like it's home sweet home.

My Polish Cheese Lady

Isn't she a beauty? I absolutely love her to death. So when I found a stitchery pattern to make I thought it would be so fun to make a pretty towel for my kitchen.

I have TONS of polish pottery. It's all I bake in. It's the best and so beautiful.

My first trip to Poland: was back in April 2003. It was right after the Shock And Awe we had on Iraq. We were living in Germany. My husband was an Air Force Weather Forecaster attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division...who was among the first to drive from Kuwait to Baghdad. 1 week before Steve left he said if I wanted to go to Poland I better just go because the military had no idea how long they would be in Iraq. Steve was on a waiting list to ship to Kuwait...it took way over a week to to send everyone. So at lunch that day I mentioned I wanted to go to my neighbor and she said "lets go!" We made plans to leave that night or the next morning around 3 am. Well we were having so much fun that evening making our lists of what we wanted to get and picking up lists from a few of the girls around us that at 10 pm we were wound up and didn't think we could get to sleep. So we decided to shower and leave. OMG...my neighbor didn't want to drive but said we could take her van. I still laugh. I jumped in her Japanese made van with the steering wheel on the right. Now I lived in Japan and knew I could easily get back in the swing of driving like that but the kicker was the roads, German roads are like USA roads you drive on the right. So I drove around the block 3 times to get a feel for the crazy ride and then we hit the autobahn. So after being up all day taking care of my two babies all day I drive ALL the way to Poland in a Japanese van on the autobahn. We were so delirious by the time we got there. But boy did we shop!!!! We filled that van up! After shopping all day we started feeling sick. To top it off we got lost...they had closed the main road to get back to the border so we had to drive through neighborhoods. It is 3rd world and people were herding their goats. We were almost out of gas. We found a gas stationed with 10 or more cars in line. It was a gas station that looked like something in the ghetto in the 1950's with only 1 pump. The locals were starring at us. I remember I felt so sick and was so hungry. After crossing back into Germany we stopped in the town of Dresden to eat at McDonald's. We did make it home before dark that next night. Steve was so nice and had some food waiting for me so I could eat and he carried in all my boxes of pottery and tucked me into bed.

This little lady makes me happy so she is serving as my centerpiece.

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

My house feels so warm and cozy all dressed up for Christmas.

When we were over at Lake Tahoe over Thanksgiving the main thing I wanted to get was the beautiful HUGE pine cones they have all over the place. I put these in my German dough bowl but still have more...any ideas on what I could do or make with them? I LOVE them.

We have this balcony that over looks in to the living room, that is how I took the picture above this one.

Madi's Christmas shirt. I just cut 3 triangles and stacked them...EASY! Of course we got some red & aqua in there but check out the gingerbread trunk.

My favorite Christmas pillow I made all the way back in 1999...I dated it. I need to do that more often. I like looking at my things and remembering what was going on in my life then.

Christmas From Around The World

My favorite thing the military has given to us is the chance to live/travel the world. Steve's mom is still here and together we made this "forest". One tree has my old german ornaments I picked up at a flea market in Germany. The smallest tree shelters the most precious Korean ornaments I got on a fun shopping trip in Insadong, Korea. The big tree has lots of flags from countries we have visited. And I made the ornaments that say New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Paris, Prague...I just love it. Ben and Madi want me to make some that say Atlanta, Philadelphia, Orlando and something else but I don't remember; so I guess I can make a few more. Steve's mom leaves tomorrow. I love the way she cooks for us, cleans up after us, does the laundry for us....we can't wait until she can come back.

Dinning Room & Cranberry Sauce

Finally, we hung something on the walls in our dinning room. The fact that my mother-in-law is coming for Thanksgiving was the push I needed to get things done. I love the peg rack look and it only cost $12. Now I can even change things out for holidays or seasons, fun!

For my centerpiece I have a small quilt I made with an antique dough bowl I got from a flea market in Germany. I remember the older women I bought it from said it belonged to her mother-in-law. After the Berlin Wall fell the family went over to the Dresden area to clean out the house and bring it all closer to Wiesbaden/Frankfurt. I have my German treasure filled with white pumpkins, crows and one of my stitcheries.

This is my first time ever making my own cranberry sauce. LOVE IT! Not only is it the prettiest thing I've seen jarred but it tastes so good.

Aunt Bonnie's Cranberry Sauce

Wash 3 cups fresh cranberries removing stems

Sir together 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar in deep saucepan

Heat to boiling; boil 5 minutes

Stir in cranberries

Bring to boil and boil rapidly 5 minutes.

Cool and place in jars-refrigerate 8 hours

The other day was my cousin Michelle's birthday. Bonnie sent out these fun throw backs to start the celebration that morning. Here I am with Michelle and our stunning Aunt Bonnie.

This was the same day. We were going to a wedding. This is my cousin Michelle and I with our Great Grandma. Ha I am the one with the hat and purse...oh my. Next I need to make some of my Grandma's mustard pickles!

Hats And More

I finished my black hat. I love black.

Madi wanted a purple one -done. And now I am spoiling her with a red one. In a few weeks I think Madi and I both with have hats in every color imagine able.

I am also stitching names of a few of our favortie cities around the world we have been to for a project later.

I am in love with this HUGE black H. I added a few other H's in the mix too. I am getting really exctied about getting ready to decorate for Christmas.

Season Of Thankfulness

Maybe it's because I am getting older but I enjoy everyday in November. Celebrating Thanksgiving was just on that day. Now I like having the whole month to contemplate on all the things I am thankful for. Today I had the chance to set some Thanksgiving decorations around the house. That tree on the bottom of the fireplace is our Thankful tree we made a few years ago. I love reading the ornaments: our cat, caprisuns, football, our dad being safe, soccer, food... I am thankful we made that a few years back.

I am thankful my dad was able to come spend Halloween with us.

I am thankful for good memories. Look at them, they are separating the candy. They made lines of twix, butterfinger... We had a great time trick-or-treating. All our neighbors went together so the kids were with all the friends. And holy cow our neighborhood was lite up in orange lights, so festive.

Steve had to work late Halloween, until after 8pm...he missed all the fun. But we are thakful he is here with us rather than being deployed.

The kids are thankful for their dodgeball teams, they have a lot of fun. I must say it's very entertaining to watch. There must be 50 boys and 5 girls and look at Madi, she is still in the game after that line of boys had already gotten out.

I am thankful for Madi and her new little boots too.

New Laundry Can And A New Hat

I needed a laundry basket. I have been looking. They are all so expensive and I never found one I liked either. My hair salon in Georgia had painted a metal trash can white for their trash inside and I thought it was the cutest idea. Then last week I saw the same idea online so I knew it was meant to be. The cans are $24 but I like it painted red in my laundry room. I am having so much fun decorating my new house.

For years I wanted to crochet a hat but I thought it was hard...NOT. Now I can't understand patterns well so I just started crocheting and it worked. I am so excited! I have already started another.