ED information available here.

So sorry about that on my last post comments. I exercised my right to delete the offending comment this morning, but we were out of town all weekend and I never turned on a computer so I was unaware. If any of you were helped by the links left by anonymous in my comments, you are welcome. I have no idea why I am being spammed by those kinds of comments. The phone call to the man at my address was equally funny - I asked him if he was researching medications for this particular male problem on my computer. Boy was he pissed. Maybe because the conversation went like this.

Me: I have a question.

The man: what - in that tone that means he "knows" a fight is about to start.

Me: Do you have a need for long term erec*&%)? Are we having a problem that I haven't been made aware of?

The man: WTF?

Me: Is there some sweet young thing needing more from you?

The man: WTF?

Me: I've been spammed with adds for drugs to help with such problem. Though I would forward links if you need me to.

The man: WTF? Ah: No: Damn: Stammer --- stutter --- freak out.

Me: I'll take that as a you don't have a clue ---- Bye.

I know he is shaking his head and still wondering what this phone call was about.

"Poor ol' Charles" -- that would be one of the phrases to insert here. It has to be awful living with me at times.

Now for real stuff.


Spoons - for the Artist Market.

If there is frost on the grass, it is too cold for softball. Each afternoon was stunning though. Two days of watching girls do skills drills for college coaches. Sorry - this was boring for mom. Dad enjoyed it.

I did however really enjoy the few minutes we spent listening to this gentleman, Bill Lightle, read from his book Mill Daddy: The Life and Times of Roy Davis. We happened upon an authors show in the park in Dahlonega, GA on Saturday and sat and listened to Bill read from his book and give additional anecdotes about the book. The Man was bored to death with this little show, but since I was being drug to this sleepy mountain town against my will for the weekend, I played the "you are gonna do this" card and so we listened. You can insert "poor ol' Charles" here too.

I also bought 1 tiny bag of buttons ($4.00 total) and passed up one item I really, really wanted (still do). The antique store we were in had a pharmacy spindle full of old prescriptions. I didn't have $100.00 to spend on papers to look at, so I passed, but only after returning several times to the booth to drool.

Got in a little exercise (walking) and worked hard to eat right. I have managed to lose those few pounds that I had put back on.

I can't believe that we are searching for the right fit on a college for my baby. Seems like just yesterday she was keeping us up all night as a baby. Now she is driving herself and getting ready to leave my nest. Where did all those years go?

Have a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday - Mr Charles

Yesterday was The Man at My Address birthday. So a large group of our friends decided to meet at 6pm yesterday and throw him a party. Just so you know - they threw the exact same kind of party for our anniversary this past Monday ----

Last night I took pictures.



This one above is of Bryan - operating the hose from the sewer pump truck.



Not real sure who chose to show his arse. This hose is attached to a shop vac.

There were water games and mud wrestling activities. Several folks did participate.

Not real sure what those gloves are for - he is standing in 4 inches of mud and water at home plate. Damn - there's that arse again.

This was scene of the party --- this could go on for hours.

Yes -- for the third time -- this crew had to move LOTS of water off the softball field. There is no maintenance crew for this. Parents, coaches, players, all have a role. We are fortunate that one of the girls' dad owns a pumper truck business. There is no drought in our area any longer.

Tonight - we play two - hopefully we will win both and be done for a few days.

MaggieGrace has been sick. Early in the bed sniffling, sneezing, sore throat, cough, fever sick. I have avoided all contact with softball girlios - even my own - trying to keep all of them healthy for the Sate Tourney Finals next week.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sparkle the wonder dog!!!!!

My studio mate. Poca. Oh, she looks nice and subdued in this picture. But in reality, she is a terror. She has discovered an open box of ribbons within her stretching reach and she helps herself and out the door she goes - I find myself running out and rescuing ribbon from the front yard. Wonder girl here thinks it to be quite the fun game.

Oh well - she is only three months old and is learning how to behave a little more each day. She sure is pretty. If you look closely right now, she sparkles. So do I. So does the floor in the studio, the counter too, the path to the house and the floor there as well. Why sparkles???

I bought theses kits who knows when. This is why there are sparkles everywhere. I don't care how careful you are with glitter, it gets everywhere. These kits are wonderful - of course they are - Martha endorsed them.

A closeup of a finished bird. The kits come with some glitter colors, but being the crafter and stash builder that I am, I had even more to pull from and use. The way these work is amazing. To minimize cross contaminating colors, I label individual sheets of paper and work each color off it's own sheet.

Here I am getting ready to add red to these birds. These are peel off die cuts. You peel the release paper and sprinkle the glitter on the super sticky adhesive revealed. You repeat each color as needed. Once glittered, the backing peels off the same way.

The card edging has the same kind of adhesive. Glitter gets everywhere. I worked for hours and completed 16 of the cards for the art show. (Remember I have to add ribbon rescue missions to my time factor) I'll have 15 to sell - one has the butterfly upside down. I was tired and not paying attention. I'll be using that one for myself, because I have friends who will find that particular mistake very funny.

This tray of goodness will be this weeks project. I had all the spoons already cut, so early Saturday morning I deburred them and bent the spoon bowls. A word of caution if you are deburring - DO NOT CHECK THEM THE WAY I DID.

I would take each handle or spoon - work on it with my dremel drill and a sanding stone bit - then drag it across my lower lip to check for burrs. The result of an entire morning of this activity - a fever blister looking open sore on my bottom lip. Did not even realize how bad I was scratching my lip with these until hours after it was over. Actually, I was at the grocery store with my mom when she said "what is wrong with your lip?" Took me several minutes to figure out what happened.

After deburring - I polished and polished. Starting by hand and then working with the dremel polishing kit. Ending by hand washing them and letting them air dry.

Some of these were almost black with tarnish when I started. You can see how filthy my hands are after working with the polish in this picture.

Anyway - I had a highly productive weekend.

Oh yeah almost forgot -- Softball Princess team is 8AAAA Region Champ -- the first region championship in school history. Win record right now 26-2. State playoffs start tomorrow at 3pm. More softball mean more crochet time for mom. ------

Have a wonderful day all --

Happy October

An antiques store find. Scanned for you. Had to have it. Going to print these and use some for soldered pendants.

I will also be emailing this to a lady that this reminds me of.

Went by Tuesday Morning at lunch. They had a huge stack of cardstock in 12x12 and 8.5x11 sizes for 1.99 per pack. A great buy. Yes, I stocked up.

Tonight we will be watching a GPB broadcast (see Danielsville info) tonight at the high school media center. Our softball girls have just been ranked (tied with another school) as one of the number one academic teams in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. (we are listed as Madison County High School). For those of you who have athletes in your home, you know what a challenge it is to keep up with practices, games, and schoolwork. We are so very proud of our girls. This is the 2nd year they have been ranked. (#3 last year) They finished their regular season play last night - record 22-1 - Region play begins Monday - hopefully we will advance to state.

I'll have a crochet project on the hook - I really, really don't sit still well.

After that - a little time in the studio.

Have a great afternoon.

Days 12 and 13

Lots of crochet - it's portable and mindless. Sitting at the ball tournament I managed to finish three long skinny scarves. The one pictured below a hand dyed wool that I bought on clearance. This is a color departure for me. But I like it.

There was also a solid black one and the muted softer toned one in the picture below.

Remember this picture from April 2008. A volleyball dad snoozing in the bleachers. This is Chris - his family owns a bank in this area. A great guy. Obviously not the best chaperone - LOL.

This is my friend Margaret - Boot Camp friend. You can see what she is doing - this was late saturday afternoon. Ready for the funny part - Margaret works for Chris (pictured above). I may start a collection of snoozing in the bleacher shots. But I do know that I am emailing both these pictures to her. Looks like being a good chaperone is not on the bank job description.

One last weekend picture. We went undefeated through the tournament - beating 5 schools - 3 are powerhouse schools. We beat Greenbriar (a mental win that boosted us right on through) and the number one ranked school in the state (Lowndes -Valdosta). We have a hugely full week of ball this week and another tournament next weekend.

Softball Princess perched to listen to coaches' closing remarks. Take a look at that left leg. One very nasty contusion - it looked early Saturday morning like she might not be able to play - but she did. Her shoulder is banged up too - so coach took her out of the batting order and she played defense only - most of the day.

Got home LATE Sat night and then was kinda lazy Sunday. I did solve my tech problems on those three journals - pictures to come tomorrow.

I have a beautiful life.

day 10 and 11

we are in columbus, ga playing in a ball tourney. I have the crochet hooks and yarn with me.

Softball Princess is a little banged up. A collision at first base left a huge (like softball sized) bruise on her right shin. being tall and skinny means it is really obvious. we play today (saturday) at 10, 12, and 4. then headed home.

be back to normal on monday.

i have a wonderful (but action packed) life.

Day 9 - and a winner

This image is not mine - it is from ETSY - was researching pricing and found myself here. I like the graphics on this one and I have several old newspapers that have already been cut, so there will be some with this feel. Input on pricing please - I am thinking around 5.00 -7.00 for the journals - only the front covers are altered. Many of the ones on Etsy are front and back and start at 13 -25 dollars. Please feedback on this.....I need to sell this stuff, to pay for my habits.

I did get to the barn last night, but I am still struggling with the same journals. I made progress but am not ready for pictures. I wound up with a migraine and gave up and went to bed. My day yesterday was filled with stupid little accidents - all mine and all my fault. We are trying to gain some control over pup and I have had to swat her with a rolled up paper. In doing that yesterday morning, I managed to cut the knuckle on my middle finger of my right hand (one of those aggravating places because it bends). I then proceded to slam the utility room door on the same knuckle - leaving it swollen and bruised (insert appropriate cussing here). Then last night, AFTER giving the Man at my Address a hard time about his driving (we do not ride well together), His buddy agreed with me and I proceeded to drive home from Athens. No accident but I did miss a turn - much ribbing to take from that one. After a day filled with such stupid little incidents, I was almost scared to get sharp objects out in the barn. I did my 15 minutes and came in the house.

Softball Princess leaves today for Columbus, GA. We go down in the morning for the weekend. My list for today includes ironing dragonfly transfers onto some of those dish towels so that I have a travel project for the weekend.

Boot Camp and weight loss update - going again tonight - and I have lost 28 pounds of my 60 pound goal. I have lost a generous pants size - whoo hoo shopping in the back of the closet time. I feel so much better.

Now for the real news -- The winner of the cookbook. I took the names (only two) and put them on a coin and flipped it - literally. Congrats to Lannae. I put the book in the car - thinking I'll see her in the nex few days. But Darla - I also have a small unadvertised surprise for you as well. (please email me you address privately).

I have a beautiful life. - Hope you guys have a wonderful day.

I'm from earth - how about you.

I parked beside this truck yesterday. Beat up and battered, but the handpainted lettering was still visible. I fell for the the location - TAMPA.USA.EARTH. Yes it was that green. I am betting this person was a little eccentric.

Certainly looks like MaggieGrace is doing nothing. I am slowly building inventory - but the puppy, working out, and the highschool softball stuff have put a damper on things. I'll get back on track eventually.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll be at the Leadoff Classic Softball Tournament - Danielsville Georgia USA Earth

eta: this is post 800 for me ----- wow may need to plan a giveaway. look next week

My real name is Mom

eta ----- Holy shit ya'll go look at this.

If you have been here, you know what the Softball Princess does with her time. This - lots and lots of this.

She plays ball for the school - she plays ball for her travel team - she practices with both - she hangs out with these teammates - she eats, sleeps, and breathes softball. All of these girls do. It is a year round occupation for us all. She also plays Basketball and soccer for the school - but - in her words- those are just conditioning sports. She wants to play college softball and there is a great chance that will happen.

This post is not about the game of softball.

Abby and all of her teammates are also good students. A little of a rarity in the athletic world, these girls are quite disciplined and academically adept as well.

The following two photos were taken last night at about 8pm. I dropped her off at school at 7:45am and she has not been home yet. School - then practice - then team dinner - then this recognition - then home for homework, shower and bed. The life of an athlete requires time management and discipline to get everything done. But we all know that busy people are the ones who get things done.

This weekend, the girls play in the State Level playoffs. Last night they were recognized at our local board of education meeting, not for making the state level, but for a National Award.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association lists our little rural Georgia high school softball team as the 3rd highest GPA in the nation. With a non weighted average of 3.734, these girls desreve this award.

Softball Princess is the 2nd from the left. The way cool thing about this is we are a public school and the two teams that beat us out are private schools. This makes MCHS Softball the number one academically ranked public school team in the nation.



Go Raider Softball - beautiful, well coached, competitive, smart, respectful, wonderful young ladies. You should be very proud of your accomplishments on and off the field - we are.

Have a wonderful day --

I can do that

eta - I received a note about the polyvore collages that the links in mine are not working properly to give credit to the appropriate people ( i think i need to go back to school on this one) I respect the all of the inspiring people out there so much that i will be deleting all of the collages until i can figure out how to fix the problem - I apologize to anyone who may have been offended. And I want to thank Jude at spirit cloth for letting me know there was a problem in such a kind and gracious manner. Please go see her beautiful work.

Friday - yes it is Friday. A tough teenage week. She is 15 and she knows everything. I can't send her back. I have to keep her. Grades, boys, sports, homecoming dance attire, you name it we have probably argued about it this week.

Anyway - I have collected these links of "I (you) can do this" items to play with. GO ahead and visit. You will enjoy it.

http://www.quiltingartsblog.com/ they are giving out the details for the 2009 rock and roll art quilt challenge. Go ahead you know you have danced the night away to some rock ballads in the past.


http://averymarydesign.blogspot.com/2008/09/freebie-friday.html --She has a bracelet giveaway. Go - sign up. She makes wonderful things. You will become a regular and take it from me - she is so worth reading.

http://averymarydesign.blogspot.com/2008/09/think-pink-thursday.html -- Another MaryAnn giveaway. Punchy things for you paper whores like us. I love this lady so much and I am so fortunate to call her my friend.

http://jennydoh.typepad.com/crescendo/2008/09/around-the-quilting-block-the-handbag.html A part of Somerset Studios family, Jenny gives detail on an art quilt challenge. Go to the magazine site for even more opportunities.


http://annhovsepian.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/contest-guess-how-many/#comment-486 Another of my friends, this is another easy giveaway game.


http://www.operationnice.com/ I love this site and as a result of reading here, I have increased the number of Guerilla Craft things I just leave around the places I go. Why - BECAUSE BEING NICE REALLY DOES MATTER.

About the collage at the top. Look at the heart, click on the collage and look at it closely, It is made from those string tails that you cut off projects. (just one more reason to save everything.) I love the bedding - mostly in that picture I love the alphabet shams and that red ceiling - just how wonderful is that.

See - I find all this and think "i can do that"

Tonight will find me cross stitching on that top secret project. Maybe revealed next week???? The Softball Princess will be attending her firist Homecoming Dance - we met THAT BOY (real name is Cody) last night. Seems nice enough. We will see.

Tomorrow - softball concessions, then 2 volleyball matches. (((MOM PLEASE BRING ------)))

Sunday - Church - lunch - volleyball .

Anybody see time for a nap in there???

Have a great weekend.

fun stuff

We had a few minutes to kill on Saturday and spent that time in an Antiques Mall. I was not really all that impressed with the place. Much of the material was not marked with prices and the few things I asked about were way over-priced by the man at the counter. Needless to say - no money was spent.

I did however find some things that caught my eye.

Like this table - sorry about the glare from the overhead light. This was a handmade coffee table. Simple construction and lined with just folded fabric inside. I spotted it from across the room. Full of rocks - how weird.

Then I cruised across the area to get a closer look. They were rocks. Lots of rocks. Big ones - small ones - medium too. Each one labeled - a record of travels for someone. Somehow this makes me sad to see an artifact like this being sold insuch an impersonal manner. I loved the idea of the table. We gather items when we travel too. Postcards. Ornaments. All kinds of things. The kind of things that someday will find their way to the dump or a junk store like this. Sad.

Maybe that is why I adore the idea of reusing and breathing new life into items. Seems to keep that discarded feeling from continuing with an item. I know - deep thoughts.

For more in this line of thinking go to see the old barns at this site. I found this through Rachel Ashwell's new blog and I love it. I'll be back to look at this presentation again and again. Be sure and go through all the pages.

THE OLD WEATHERED BARN

Softball Princess picture from Saturday - doing what she does. She has suddenly caught up with the college freshman as far as her height goes. Tall skinny girls.

Hope this finds all of you having a wonderful day.

My weekend

div>I had great plans to post photos, but the dang cable is at home.



The College Freshman is getting a tiny bit of playing time. She is working hard and learning a significant amount about the theory of time management. I can't post the pictures here, but you can link over to the school website and look. (she is uniform #2)



volleyball

As you all know the Softball Princess played ball in Columbus, GA. at The Shaw Invitational. This is a well run tournament and one we look forward to playing every year. It is also a heavily recruited tournament for college coaches. Look at the promo photos of the softball complex.

It is a massive complex and the softball area is only a small part of the overall complex.

The very first view we had of the place looked like this.

Very well maintained - a beautiful location - well below the gnat line though.

Hot and humid - it is the south. Being from small town rural north Georgia, the girls were a little overwhelmed on Firday night. See we won all of our games on Friday and finished first in the gold bracket. These preliminary wins gave us the priviledge of playing in the Stadium on Saturday.
The entrance to the Stadium - this looks like a college campus to me. Ticket windows instead of table at the gate. Multilevel entrances. This is High School Softball in the big leagues.

Take a look at the players'view from right field. Nice.

The girls played well on Saturday morning, but the tournament was not finished because of a weather front bringing some serious storms. We were there ALL day on Saturday and played one game.

It was kind of a relaxing trek for me. We car pooled with some friends and Bryan drove. I got to create, visit with Rebecca and just sit back and rest. I did get to cruise through an antiques mall on Saturday - Pictures tomorrow.

I also have a belated birthday greeting for Miss MaryAnn - ya'll go tell her Happy Happy Birthday. I am trying desperately to finish the top secret project for her. Lucky for me - she has decided to go with the Vallen plan of a birthday season.

Ya'll have a wonderful day.

On coming home.....

Karen - over at Junking in Georgia - left a comment about the organized state of my studio. Local Best Friend thinks that is one of the funniest things he had ever heard. See he has seen both the studio AND the house and organized is far from the truth. He said that I need to confess to selective vision focusing with my camera and let you all in on the truth. Well there will be full confession next week, but not today (Abby has the camera and she is gone to Columbus, Georgia) Just know the deep - dirty - truth will be revealed here sometime next week.

Molly comes homes and brings laundry. We get home and crash after all the other parts of our life. Last night it was close to 10pm. We are hardly ever there.

The video shows where we spend many an evening and weekend. I have decided the house may become clean when the softball princess finally leaves. The video is from Abby's first game back and I am just glad I was not the official on this play. Let me know what you think.

I'll be gone tomorrow through the weekend.

Have a great one !!!

A blatantly stolen idea

Over the last year, I have been reading the Pink Roses blog. I started reading when I happened across it and realized that Suzanne is from my neck of the woods. I kept reading because she is so creative and wellspoken and she's a mom.

Suzanne now has two kids in college. An accomplishment I cannot imagine. But the idea that I stole from her was one she was doing for her daughter when she went off to college. Every week there was an encouraging card sent to her daughter. A handmade card. Her daughter displayed them all in her room and this was special for the two of them. I decided when I read it that it was something I wanted to do for my girls.

Sorry about the picture, I snapped this just before I dropped it in the mail - so I can't retake it.

These are flat cards - not quite postcard sized. I just threw together bits and pieces on the front - and a personal message on the back.

The one I sent last week was entirely different, but I put it into a handmade envelope that my friend Ann-Margret made.

This is a fun way to send her just a few lines of love from home.

We have an unexpected night off here - softball cancelled because of RAIN - desperately needed rain - so no complaints. I'll be cleaning - you know you are too busy when you look forward to a night just to clean.

You all know how I feel about sports and the good things that kids get from participating. God knows we are involved with our monsters and we support so many other sports in the area. We are in a small rural area of north Georgia, yet our softball field complex was ranked nationally. Quite an honor for small town America. How did this happen? With a ton of community support and the parents hard work. We cut grass, paint dugouts, hang netting, and anything else that needs to be done. We rely on donations for supplies, transporting the girls - feeding them - equipment. On and on - and all of these donations are so appreciated.

Having said all of that, I believe every sports program is worthy of that kind of support. One of my Very First blogging buddies was MaryAnn over at A Very Mary Design. She is the Very Mom of a Very Special young lady, who is a competitive swimmer. Again being from a small town, they need a little extra support for their team and facilities. The Very young woman is asking for help with some of the fund raising. If you can spare some loose change, or a few dollars, please consider sending it her way. I got my envelope addressed to go.

I do hope all of you are having a wonderful day.