Cruise Day 1

The first day we boarded the Monarch of the Seas. We had lunch and hung out poolside while our closet/room was made ready.

The weather was beautiful as we sailed away.

The boy got a tattoo- sort of a vacation tradition with the family.

We had to wait a while for our luggage to get to the room.

Daddy had some old friends to keep him company! Things were all good at this point......

Later on the ship started rockin' and rollin' and it was not from music! The boy missed dinner, he fell asleep and did not feel like eating. We ate dinner and had an early evening!

We're Back!!

We had a good time, but are glad to be home! We took 456 pictures so I'll pick a few favorites after I get my land legs back!

Blackberry Time

This week I was working at the Victorian Porch Tour warehouse (Yes, we are already working on Christmas) when we noticed blackberry vines out the back door. Now the vines around our house have very few berries and most get eaten by animals. There were more berries on these vines than I have ever seen. Youngest Son loves them - I knew he would never believe there were so many! I picked a few to prove to him that they were not a figment of my imagination. After school we went to see them. In about 15 minutes we picked this salad bowl full! Enough to eat all he wanted and 4 cups to make a cobbler! He admitted he did not believe me when I told him how many were there! The vines were growing up in cracks in the pavement. It is a locked fenced parking lot. We could just sit in one place on the pavement and pick without even moving. I made a delicious cobbler using a recipe I found in a vintage cookbook I found at Goodwill last week "The Carter Family Cookbook" - President Carter that is! The cobbler did not last long- wish I had taken a picture before the boys got hold of it!

I'd love to go back and pick more. Do they freeze well?

Thrifty Thursday

This Thursday I am sharing a cute idea I saw while Blog hopping a few weeks ago. I really wish that I could remember where I saw it! So, please if you know who showed this idea---thank them for me! I was crazy about these and I already had most of the supplies!

My kitchen is one of the unreclaimed parts of my house. Until we can do it right - we have left it alone. I have done a few minor things since we moved in 9 years ago. This spring I had to work on it a little. We had a computer desk here that we only used to pile things on- mail, newspapers, laundry.... That went to #3 son's apartment and I moved a little wooden cabinet down for storage.

Now I need to fill up some empty wall space. Here is where the Memo Board/Old Window comes in.

I bought this old window at a consignment sale. It was decorated in red, white and blue. The plan was to hang it in youngest boy's room until I thought better of it. I had a vision of wild boys and broken windows..... so it went into storage. Until now-

I sanded the frame to knock off the loose paint and the USA writing. I sprayed the windows with Simple Green and the flags, stars, etc pealed off.

The first panel is part of a burlap coffee bag. I covered a piece of foam board and glued it to the glass pane. To fill in the gap I crocheted a chain of jute and glued it in. The little tin pail holds the chalk and rag for the chalkboard and thumb tacks. I had to buy the iron hook.

The next panel is made from part of an old feed sack jumper.

A cork board for this panel and a C with thumb tacks on the back .

And the final panel is the only one where I used the glass. I primed it and used chalkboard paint.

So in the end I spent only about $4. That's thrifty! Check out the other thrifty gals gathered at Leigh's place!

Mother's Day

I'm a little behind, but I have a good reason! I got a new laptop for Mother's Day! With me there is a technology learning curve and I am still feeling my way through! All the kids (except those in Alaska) came by to hang out poolside Sunday afternoon. Alaska girl was on the phone listening to her brothers splash in the pool! No pictures were taken for 2 reasons. I forgot to carry the camera out to the pool and I have poison ivy- until that heals I will be camera shy! I didn't get any Mother's Day hugs.... I will also be exempt from yard work for a while!

And speaking of Mothers

one of our friend's- a certain beautiful red head- is having a baby girl. In hopes that the baby has Momma's red hair I made her a dress. And since Big Brother had to have a matching outfit - I made him one! These are for next year (since she is not even born yet) !

When my job was making kid's clothes- it got very old!!! Now I only do it once in a while - I really love to do it!

Thrifty Thursday

This Thursday I am showing off my very thrifty fabric flower necklaces! My total investment is about $1 per necklace!

I wrote here about these dresses I have made out of thrift store tank tops and fabric scraps. The next step has been to accessorize the dresses with these bib necklaces that I have seen around the Blog World!

This dress is made from a $1.99 tank top and the denim from one of my old teacher jumpers! The necklace is also from the denim scraps!

This necklace is a burlap-type loose weave fabric.

And these flowers are from some organza scraps.

AM should recognize this fabric- it was left over from Emma's pants!

Here are some quick directions for the organza flowers:

Cut out flower shapes- 4 larger and 4 smaller. Singe the edges of the shapes with a candle flame. This will keep the edges from fraying and curl the petals slightly. Keep a bowl of water close by to put out any flames- I only got the petal too close once!

Stack all 8 shapes - alternate each one.

Tack with a few stitches in the middle.

Sew or glue gun on a button.

Arrange flowers in a V shape. Glue ribbon or cord on the flowers first. Cut a felt shape the cover the ribbon - but not too big - you don't want it to show from the front! Glue the flowers securely to the felt!

I have seen some that have beads, broaches and all kinds of bling added to the flowers- be creative!

These flowers were made from strips of fabric - twisted and glued in a rosette.

And these were made from torn strips of denim. I gathered one edge with my sewing machine and glued in a rosette. I cut more scraps in a fringed circle for the center and sewed on the pearls!

These may only hold up for the summer, but it's a really cheap way of dressing up these tank dresses or t shirts!

Be sure to check out other Thrifty ideas at Leigh's place this Thursday!

Tug of War

Every night before bedtime we have "Tug of War" or "Pug of War"??!!! These two seem to enjoy the competition immensely! Which ever toy one picks the other HAS to have! It sometimes ends with me breaking it up before we have bloodshed! Usually one gives in and picks another toy!

Tonight Bitsey was defeated.....

The victor with the spoils of war! Chug brings out the inner puppy in Bitsey. Eli ignores them most of the time!