Just Because I Haven't Posted in a Bit

I have a few posts in progress that just aren't ready yet, and I'm feeling a little frustrated that I haven't posted in a while. It's just that... it's Spring Break. I have been dying for Spring to arrive! I love hearing the birds when I wake up in the morning, but I don't think the neighbors think it's fun to hear the dogs chase the birds at 5am. "BARK BARK BARK BARK.." "Shhhhhhh!!!!!!" repeatedly until I give up and say, "GET IN HERE!" at the loudest whisper I ave.
What did I do on Spring Break? I got to hang out with some great ladies! Just by luck I got to socialize with some of the Girl Scout moms without the girls! Occasionally with girls, but not to the level we usually do. It was so fun getting to know these ladies better and I am so blessed to have them in my life and the life of my daughter. I'm thinking that our girls will be so empowered by these AWESOME mom's that they will be able to accomplish anything!
Ooooo!!!! I also did my first over night retreat at Karmen's place, Lone Star Retreat Center. I had SO much fun! Met a great new friend who just made me smile. Theresa - you can sit across from me any time! It was so nice to be able to stay awake as long as I wanted, sleep as late as I wanted, eat junk and not have an 8yo drooling over it or a 5yo saying "Can I have some?". It was so nice being on my schedule! I also learned how to rent movies from Red Box, and watched them on my computer while at the retreat. Loved plugging in the head phones, watching a movie, and getting in a crafty zone! Sorry ladies that will be a repeat performance. I got 39 cards completed that weekend - that included 20 cards with fussy cutting. I do apologize for the scarcity of clothing on my birthday lady, but what better way to celebrate your birthday than in your birthday suit :) I was one of those things where I was lifting the card from a sign I saw at the craft store. I got to coloring the image and went "OH MY GOSH!!!! THIS LADY IS HALF NAKED!!!!!" It worked out though. You don't notice it right away.
Monday started my mission for the week, Buy a new car. Decision was made by Tuesday evening and car bought by Wednesday evening. I am the proud new owner of a Hyundai Veracruz!

In the midst of car shopping I had several sewing orders going on. I try to stay away from special orders when it comes to my crafts, but some days you just have to. It's nice when others inspire you! Funny thing is that I hadn't really done any major sewing on my new machine yet and wasn't exactly sure how it would respond to my madness. It did beautifully! I went to a "How to use your new machine" class on Monday and was highly disappointed in the class. Looking at taking classes else where. I made a really cute first birthday onesie tutu.

See that headband? A decided she HAD to have one too!! I added the little clip on poof to it for spice, but that can be taken off and used as a barrette too. Versatility is the game :)

Then worked on a surprise for the Daisy's first sleep over.

I also worked on a car seat canopy for a friend of mine (another post). In the pile of to do's I'm also working on these really cute packages for my cousin's card making shop. I think it will be FANTASTIC!
I finished up Karen's Senior pictures. Loved the ones at the Ag farm! I love capturing where people are in their life right then and not the crazy fake stuff. You can do great stuff with people in natural environments.
Got another 38 cards shipped off to Operation Write Home. I had a pile of odd sized cards that needed separate shipping from my usual stash. I have learned that stuffing the voids with tissue paper is a great idea. When the 8yo drops the box 10 times on the way to the post office a little extra padding is AWESOME! He was doing better this fall with his coordination efforts, but he's sliding again. Dropping food, putting clothes on backwards, trying to grab things wrong and then dropping them. Oh well. At least he's been sleeping a bit better this week.
I didn't get to spend a whole day reading - which was on my agenda - but I did read some. My school librarian suggested I read a book called Grimm Legacy. Here's the deal. I have a LONG list of books that I'm trying to read right now. My half of under the bed is FULL of books that I can't wait to read. They are on my night stand and the floor surrounding my night stand. I did not need another book added to my stash. I tried to just hold on to it for a couple weeks and then return it without reading it, but curiosity got the better of me. I decided to read the first chapter and see if it interested me. I LOVED IT!!! So now I'm hooked and have been reading it between things. Maybe would have read more if I hadn't learned how to rent movies online.
Of course the week wasn't void of Z having to work on homework. He had to work on his QUEST project. I was so impressed with his product idea, and his execution of the product is looking fantastic! Z decided to design and make his own cheer uniform. Last night he worked on sketching out and coloring his design. Today I showed him how to look for a pattern and get the measurements for yardage. Then we went to Jo-Ann's where he picked out fabric and had it cut. He spent the afternoon cutting out pieces and parts. I gave him a quick lesson on how to applique, and he did FANTASTIC! We set up a time line to finish his product since it's so complicated. He hopes to present his design to the head coach at Cheer Station for some feed back and maybe to help them pick next years uniform for guys.
I was able to make a little progress in our library and getting it cleaned out. My friend Marliza took some of the books we no longer needed. I know she will read them and pass them to another person when she's done with them because she's just AWESOME like that.
It was such a fun spring break!