Tolentreasures

Finished one at both places. I finished this one tonight, other than the varnish for Little Miss Kendall. How fitting, in honor of her being one month old and actually due today. The way I look at it, had she been born today we would have just found out her name today and looking at it that way, I am way ahead with getting this done. Logical? I have had this sign waiting for me for quite awhile. It has actually been on the procrastination list. It is done with sign paint and the paint is oil based and gives me a dreadful headache. Officially, this is my last sign painted with that paint. It is just not worth it to feel unhealthy for a sign....priorities! I am really glad to have this done though, why do I put these things off when it is such a good feeling to finish them, and collect the pay!

Cleaning and Organizing can be so therapeutic and EMBARRASSING! In the midst of the clean-up, I found this "gift" that I had started for a friend's granddaughter. It had slipped my mind completely about making it. If only I could stay organized! I also ran across this ATC that I had made while my friends were here visiting in the spring. You see, they are into making and trading these little cards and I "humored" them and made one also. They are sneaky little people though, they got my hooked. I kept thinking about this little card and the concept of the trading of them and then it sort of got buried in the rubble of my painting area and the rubble of my mind. Well, over the weekend I found it and while I was cleaning I saw the empty Cheerios box sitting there. Then I found a deck of cards and I remember Les keeping her blanks in a card box. THEN, I found the tote bag full of paper STUFF that I had been making ornaments with last year. It just kept ...

The before for this pic was the lazy susan that was in the last post. and the before for this was in another post titled A Big Mess. Now on to the rest of the clean-up. Before After...not a whole lot better but at least I now know what is in there. Before After Before After Before After

Yesterday was the annual pilgrimage to the Yard Sales of the Rich and Famous as we like to call it. Actually, I think it was my SIL who first said that and the name has stuck. These yard sales are in a housing development about 35 miles from where we live. It was the 23rd year this year for them and they are so popular that they turn the streets to one way and have police directing traffic. They are beautiful homes and I enjoy the walking and looking at every one's landscaping as much as the yard sales...well almost. This was Kendall's first yard saleing trip and she did wonderful! How we are training this new generation! So here are some of my finds. Three wool coats $5 each Wool sweater .75 Set of four suitcases $3. oo for the set. Two teapots .75 each Lazy Susan $2.00 Shutters $3.00 Typewriter $1.00 Left handed golf clubs to be cut down for Logan $1 each Silver pitcher $1.00 Divided box $1.00 Tray on these cute little metal legs $1.00 Book and music pla...

And here I am reading blogs. My day yesterday started at 6:30 at work..trying to get the work done for the week, great progress was made in the first two hours...then... Briefly: Jenn shows up for work with both boys, Nana was not up yet to watch one of them. (The fact that my 70 something MIL watches one of them for the day is actually amazing anyway, she deserves a little extra rest) I take both boys to the post office, bank, and the gas station for their treat. Deliver one little boy to Nana's Back to work, work work, Tyler on the extra computer "working" on Playhouse Disney. (what a great babysitter that is and he is learning!) Phone ringing, printing, signs Lunchtime and Tyler wants the baby pool brought here...home to get the baby pool. Fill the baby pool, toys, squirt guns and spray bottles, I am wet now. Customer Phone call Customer Naked three year old running through the shop Dress the three year old Where did his mother go? Sunscreen from home, she lathers it o...

NO pics today! If there was one it would be of the every three weeks hair coloring that I put myself through. Is it really a blessing to have healthy hair that grows so fast that I have a stripe of gray every 2 1/2 weeks? I try to perform this process when no one is around as it is not my most flattering look! The man that is staining our deck is to be here this morning and I am really hoping that I get this rinsed and back to normal before he shows up, I wouldn't want to scare him away on his first day! As a side note, we have always stained our deck ourselves, but there is no time to do that this year. I have always had a problem hiring anyone to do anything that I could do myself...this is a struggle! If only we could buy time...literally! Home remedies: This section should come with one of those warnings; This part of this blog post is graphical in nature, please skip to the next paragraph if you have a weak stomach. Well really it is not that bad. I have had this funky looking...

On most/some Monday nights we have a knitting night, just four friends (and sometimes a daughter) get together and knit and gab. We have been having this for less than a year and it is very unstructured and we are finding that during the summer it is going to very sporadic. Last night was Tina's turn to host and I was the only one that ended up going. We started out the knitting night by floating in the pool for awhile and gabbing...very relaxing! After dessert and looking at all her new stuff, yard sale finds and other craft projects we sat down in her living room to wind all the t-shirt yarn that I had broght along. You see in that big mess, previously posted, there were a LOT of t-shirts just waiting to be made into yarn. Now I am ready to make a rug! Well there are still quite a few t-shirts that need cut up and cleaned off the floor, but it is a start. At least this much is ready for winter and recliner time. I had not seen my friend since her birthday so this was her...

This is the mess on my sewing room floor. I would not have shown anyone this but hubby insisted that I take a picture and post it. I suppose that he thinks that messes like this would gain sympathy for him for putting up with my messes, but in truth...this is the results of him cleaning out his closet. We found someone to take all the good clothes and these are the t-shirts, jeans and sweatshirts. I am cutting, after wading in, all the t-shirts for t-shirt yarn and keeping the designs on a lot of them to make motorcycle blankets for the boys. Anyone with any pointers on how to make those blankets? Please let me know! I really am going to get it cleaned up! I finished these two projects this weekend and another that is a birthday gift for a friend. I will see her tomorrow to give it to her so I can post the pic after that. Have had this watering can sitting around forever. Another piece out of my painting room!

I am thankful that VBS is done for another year. I love it, but it is so tiring for John and I. We just get out of work, hot and tired and then race home, hope to fit in a shower and off to the church, only to be hot all over again, drop into bed only to be back at work before 7 the next morning. Could they have it in January when business is slow? Thankful also that people in the church supply a meal every night for the VBS workers or we would be starved on top of tired. There is no time for a meal between work and VBS! I am REALLY thankful that Tyler, in his first church performance last night, did not rip off his shirt in a dancing frenzy the way that he did in practice. If the Baptists can frown on dancing, I am sure that a three year old Chippendale dancer would get excommunicated! Although as a side note, his performance on video tape might win some money for his parents even without the stripping! It was hilarious! Thankful for a job where I can slip some $$$ in my jeans p...

Questions of my week. 1. Will I really remember how tired I am this week when the Bible School Director asks me next year to be the Recreation Director? 2. What in the world is all over the windshield of my car and just smears everywhere with the wipers on? 3. Is the car charger for my phone buried in my car somewhere under all the mess of baby pools, beach balls, and pool noodles? 4. Can I really start laundry tonight at 9:00 or would it be easier to just start turning the dirty underwear and socks inside out and wear them that way? 5. Should I clean the dead ladybugs off the fuzz on the last three remaining lights that are lit at my bathroom sink? 6. And on that note, If I replace the burned out bulbs over the sink, will it show the bags under my eyes and the gray roots of my hair even more than it does now? 7. Where the heck did Tyler get the word exquisite that he used to describe his root beer float treat at Bible School last night? 8. How are the few flowers that I have planted t...

Iwould like to say that this picture is my house this year but it is not...it is last year and I searched for a picture that would describe the last 2 1/2 months but there was nothing! It would have to look like this crazy jumble, like a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle just tossed everywhere. When is it all going to slow down? My step-daughter, Dianna said that they are buying a more comfortable motorcycle so that they can go on longer trips. She thinks that they have a real small window of time before she gets pregnant and then the statement that caused John and I to choke, "After I have the baby I'll be tied down for the next 18 years." "EIGHTEEN YEARS" we exclaimed simultaneously...try the REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!! We tried to explain that real small window of time between four adult kids at home to four spouses and four grandchildren and how our motorcycles are trapped in the garage behind a play set for the first set of grandchildren and it is way past 18 years ...

I did manage another finished project over the weekend. This plate/candleholder was very close to finished and somewhere in the chaos I managed to basecoat the back of it. It was another item from Shelby's Goodwill stash that she had left in my car about a month ago. Did I not teach her better than that? How could she give away such treasures? My weekend starting Thursday AM was pretty much a kid's weekend. When I tallied it up at 3 on Sunday when Gracelyn left...I actually got teary-eyed when she was waving to me from her car seat as they pulled out of the driveway...anyway at that point I had not been without a child under the age of four for 3 1/2 days. John and I settled into the recliner and he promptly fell asleep and I watched a movie...well almost, the phone rang and Tyler and Logan were at my MIL's and wanted us to come and visit them. When they saw us they raced out of the house running to hug us and Tyler said "I am so happy to see you two!" Honestly ...

I finished this rug during nap time yesterday. Believe me it works up fast and I was almost done because Gramma had to nap also. Thursday morning started with Tyler (3) at work with us all day and in the afternoon, Kendall's (2 weeks almost) first visit to the shop, after hubby and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at the local restaurant, we arrived home and Gracelyn (1) was here ready for her weekend stay. Friday morning was spent at Jenn's watching the Tyler and Logan (2) and Gracelyn while Jenn worked, then back home for Gracelyn and Gramma (51) to nap. After naps we went to Walmart because Gramma (still 51) is the Recreation Director (as well as the Sanctuary Decorator) for VBS...as she has been for the last few years, and had to get all the supplies for the week. Gramma (feeling tired, 51) thinks that someone in the church (preferably 30 or under) should take the job as Recreation Director next year...for any of you fellow church goers that might read this blog, but ...

This somewhat organized mess of hardware is what is needed to put together a playset for the boys that the family all went together and bought for their birthdays. John has been working on putting it together in his spare time which, with long work days and trying to get all the mowing done in between rain showers, is not abundant. He is pre-assembling it in the pole building at our shop and if you look close..... You will see what is trapped BEHIND the playset. What happened to our life? How it has changed! Gracelyn arrived here last night for her weekend stay at Gramma and Papa's. Her Mom and Dad have a wedding to attend and be attendants at in Baltimore this weekend. After all the kisses and waves and tears and anxiety, from Shawnee that is, we, (Gracelyn and I) started my long awaited weekend with her. You see while a get the boys regularly alone, I usually see Gracelyn with her Mom....is it so wrong to want her all to myself?

Yes this would be me in this position and several other positions that have (thank goodness) not been photographed. Good friends at least don't get your bad (behind) side. You didn't right Molly? After seeing this picture I realized why I might be hurting a little this evening. This is the backdrop for the play for VBS next week. I had great help this year! Usually I end up doing these alone. Thanks to Herb, the church carpenter (is that actually a job in the church) who made a new backdrop for us this year. The old one had so many coats of paint on it that it was getting heavy. It also was only two 4 x 8 sheets and this one is three and looks so much better at the front of the church. Big, huge thanks to Molly for helping me out! And we "built" this fireplace out of a cardboard box. Not bad for two rookies in cardboard and packing tape construction. We decorated all the windowsills in the church also with "campy" things. I'll get pics of t...

These items were in various stages of completion on my painting table so yesterday AM, they all received checkers and vines. and a few stars. They all need varnished and I bought some of those little tealights for the one on the left and need to get some rosehips and a few cute little bowl filler thingies to finish it off. I haven't painted any of this prim stuff in quite awhile. It was fun to do again, so quick and easy. Now to find homes for them. Etsy has not proved to be a good outlet for me. Any ideas?