Adjusting to a new schedule....

A. on her first day of preschool. 1-2-3- PICKLES She came up with that and thought that it was the funniest thing in the world!

At Playdough station at preschool.
John has finished his blue guitar, at least someone is getting some crafting done around here! As for me, it has been about adjusting to our new busy schedule with A. going to daycare two days a week and preschool two days a week. I am waiting for the substitute teaching to kick in, haven't had a job yet. I suppose it is too early in the school year.

The Plate....

Ok so in real life the hair covers the ears......It was A's idea to do the cheeks. Tomorrow is the first day for both of us, I am an aide in the room on the first day. I get to see all the kiddos in their cute little first day clothes!
Gift from Nana in the mail,,,it's a boat to build and paint with DAD!!!
You can do it Dad!
Camp Abbett, last weekend we had some friends out to our land. Balloons are no fail entertainment for the kids! in the background above that is our outhouse that we built. Below two cutie pies. In both you can see our fenced in garden which has pumpkins growing in it. By the way you wouldn't know it by looking at this picture but A got stung by 7 yellow jackets just a few hours earlier than this. Luckily we avoided the hospital and I had Children's Benadryl in the camper.

September in "High Gear"....

Wow whenever I realize I haven't posted in almost a whole week it always astonishes me how time really does go by so fast. I knew September would bring me to kick it in to high gear, however we were thrown some curve balls this week. The week got off to a rough start but now all is better. So with that said I will fill you in on the fact that I have finished A.'s first hat off of the knitting loom. She loves it! I will post a pic as soon as I find my camera and unload the memory card which is currently full. A is preparing to go to my alma mater pre-school, I am SO proud of her - he he he he. We are excited her first day is next week. It is a cooperative preschool so that means two things one I will be working frequently in her classroom and that also reduces the cost of tuition. She has homework to decorate a plate to look like her face - OK I am ALL over that one!!! Also next week my MOPS group is starting up too, we will be doing Shrinky Dink name tags which the MOPS magazine suggests that we do. Nikki over at WhiMSY LOVE did the same with her MOPS group and her site helped me in planning. This week was a little more serious than last week's birthday week, so I've changed my sidebar music some to reflect this week. OH I am teaching at my clay guild this Saturday too. Plus my Etsy shop is now empty, I AM VERY happy that someone bought my one and only bracelet but I have to kick it into high gear now with my inventory! Especially if I am going to do my regular list of fall craft shows as well!

Knit One, Pearl...

Uh, I mean loom two (he he). A friend of mine from my MOPS group gave me a knitting loom for a birthday present and I LOVE it. I LOVE this thing. Does my friend Wendy have my NUMBER or what!? OK here are a few great things, I can take it to my daughters drs., the museum etc. and knit and watch her at the same time, it is great. I just got it yesterday and I got a ton done already. I am making Ashley a hat. I don't totally know what I am doing yet but I will figure it out as I go.

Birthday Festivities.....

On Thursday night I had thrown myself a birthday party. I had some girlfriends come over and we did a make up make over with my friend whom does Mary Kay. Then we went to my favorite restaurant of all time Proietti's. Then we came back to my house to sit in my hot tub.

My before shot above which I kinda like, it is hard for me to smile without teeth! :-) Below is my after shot. I went for the "Dramatic" makeup look. It is definitely a bit more than I would ever do but it was fun. Everyone looked really good!!!

Here is a picture of all of us! Look at those fabulous faces! That is me bottom right. The girls surprised me with paying for my dinner!!!!
OK something happened when we got to the restaurant but NO I wasn't parked illegally it just looked like it.

Then last night I went out with the girls again, we saw Mama Mia and closed down Starbucks. I thought Mama Mia the movie was good, however I also saw the show in Toronto which I LOVED!

I also went to Starbucks last Tuesday night with my book club and closed down Starbucks. So I got to get out THREE times in one week with the girls!!!! Wahooo.

Tomorrow is my real birthday and we are going to our land. It has definitely been a great Birthday week. Thanks for all of my cards and well wishes. Stac you get the award for the funniest card!

Plus I got a KICKIN' B-DAY present from Dear Hubby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned and I will tell you more in an upcoming blogpost.

Quick FYI...

My free GPS came in the mail the next day. I was impressed. It is nice and fun to play with too. I want to go to all of the Mexican Restaurants in the area that it lists. That would be fun.

My FREE GPS....

It's in the mail folks..... This was in my email today:
Dear Laura, Your Discover Card has been activated and your Garmin Nuvi 200 was shipped on 08/25/2008. Your package will be shipped by Amazon, via UPS under the company name Credit Offers Network.

How cool is that????? :-)

I had some skeptics out there, that I could apply for a credit card, get it approved, use it and then get a free GPS. Well it worked! It said to wait 6-10 weeks and I did. 6 weeks to the date, I got this email. If you are interested go to
http://www.mygpsoffer.com/?cid=61134&affid=free%20gps::free%20gps
This is the link I used and it worked, you just have to be patient.

Sheriff encounter...

I bonked heads with a Sheriff today! I am not kidding, it is true, this really happened. Now you are probably wondering how, no I wasn't pulled over (I've never been pulled over in my entire life!) I stopped at a Fire Department for a free Car Seat Safety Check. Two Sheriff's were working with me and filled out paper work, they made sure the seat wasn't recalled or expired. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I was secretly hoping they would give me a new one for free, they were giving free ones away. That didn't happen, when A. gains five more pounds I have to get her a different one. So they made me install the seat after they showed me how. And they were both in the back seat and the one was leaning way in the car and when I leaned forward our heads bonked! Ow! A.wasn't with me so they gave me a doll about her size. Then a third Sheriff came and inspected the seat and said I did a really good job. Well I had the hurt head Sheriff help since my right hand is still gaining strength back. :-)

Have a nice weekend everyone. We are not going to our land so it will be an "at home" weekend for me. I will be going to preview day at JOAnns tomorrow, the classes are on sale this weekend! 25% off.

I was wondering what I was going to be able to do crafty wise after my CT surgery. Well one part was necessity since I taught my Jewelry 101 class at JoAnns, and the other part was wanting to give a gift to a friend. So jewelry making it is. I am also jumpstarting my Etsy Shop over there on the right. So here it is one of my first bracelets since my surgery...
Need a gift for under ten dollars??


OK I suppose I'll share his latest with you.

This latest project is a Semi-Hollowbody guitar. It has a solid block of maple in the middle running from the neck to 3/4 of the length. The rest of the body is hollow. It's curly maple with blue dye that is fade to dark blue on the edges. It's finished with 5 coats of Nitrocellulose lacquer (So far). It still needs to be sanded, and buffed to get that 3d gloss for the maple. It has to dry 3 weeks before I can do that.

The electronics get installed through the "F" holes in the front. I have to pre-wire everything and fish them through. Without dinging the finish. Should be interesting. The hardware will all be gold color, including the frets.

This was a fun project, it took longer to build then the solid body guitars.

-j

Party Pics...

A. with the pink sparkly guitar her Dad made for her.
A. waiting to put her new fish in, note the pink gravel. :-)
Introducing Collotta a SHE fish but we call her a HIM. DD made the name Collotta up. DD with her new guitar, with pink sparkles.
Playing some tunes! When she opened the amplifier she said "Daddy, it must be for you!"