Happy Friday!

Hey bloggers!  Another week has flown by.

Still haven't made anything, but I did make a trip to the thrift shop today and found a great deal on some good-looking fabric.  A big bag of it for just $2.19.  Some of it looks VERY promising.  I'm seeing tissue covers, key fobs and lanyards in my future.  Stay tuned.  (But please don't hold your breath, okay?)

While you're waiting (ahem) I thought I'd share four of my summer time favorites.

My two favorite kids and my two favorite veggies.   My youngest son looks like he's being attacked by the Killer Tomato plants....honestly, they have gone crazy with all the rain and humidity we've had.  Typical weather here in Indiana...what can I say?  Now...if all those hundreds of little gems would ripen, we'd have a heyday (and a tummy ache too).

Enjoy your weekend!

At the lake

Although I don't always have time to make something, I seem to have time to surf the web to find things to make.  Anyone else have that problem pleasure?  One of my favorite places to shop is Etsy.  You're no doubt familiar with it.  I have a (almost empty) shop on Etsy.  [Note to self:  MAKE SOME THINGS TO SELL!!]

I came across this shop and have ordered a few things.  They have a great selection of Japanese fabric and pattern books.  Yes, the books are written in Japanese, but if you know anything about sewing, you can pretty much figure out how to make the items in the book.  Just use some common sense and a ruler that has centimeters on it.  :-)  The books that I have are loaded with great illustrations which really come in handy.  And the photography is first class. 

Nate finished his first week of Band Camp and we're ready for a weekend at the lake.  It was really hot this week.  And we are behind on so many things.  Getting ready to go on vacation is a major deal.  And getting back from vacation is tough too.  We are very thankful for neighbors who kept the flowers watered and the grass cut.

School starts in just a few weeks.  The boys go back on August 17th.  I hate it.   Summers are just to short and it makes me sad to look at then calendar and see that July is pretty much over.  Seems like when I was a kid, the summer lasted forever.  I guess it's true: the older you get, the faster time goes.  Okay, enough of the sadness. It's Friday and I'm going to make the most of it.

Hope you have a great weekend.

P.S.  Sorry for the rambling....

Sometimes....we just get too tired to put our things away.

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

GCC Rocks!

Saturday:

• Cleaned up the yard again. Those leaves are still falling and blowing around.
• Whipped up some new tissue holders to put in the shop (watch for an update tomorrow morning).
  
• Had lunch: turkey sandwiches and soup. Yummy.
• Made a trip to Woodwind & Brasswind. Mr. Teenager is going to switch from Alto to Tenor saxophone. Bought him an early Christmas gift. (He LOVES it!)
  
• Went shopping for poster board: Little Guy is doing a project on John Dillinger next week.
• Stopped at McDonalds for a quick snack.
• Went to church. The current series is on Relationslips. As always great content. Fantastic music and media. Last night we had a special guest. She is awesome.
• Had dinner at Culver's. Good stuff and easy on the budget.
  

Granger Community Church

Now we're off to a cousin's birthday party.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Family Photo Op

Hey bloggers....Wow..three posts in the same week.  That might be a record for me!  LOL!!

We were at one of our county parks the other day for a little outing.  Unfortunately, we had so much rain the past few days the walking trails were so muddy it was impossible to use them.  Fortunately, the sun was shining and I had my camera (never leave home without it).

A little bit of editing via Picnik (I really like that program) and voila, we have a photo:

Crafty Dad, Crafty Mom, Riley,
Mr. Teenager and Little Guy

Here are a few more:

Hope you're enjoying the Autumn season.

Take care!

See what happens when you get REALLY busy???

You keep thinking, "Geez...it's been forever since I've written a blog post."

Yes, it bothers me that a whole month goes by without a post.  There's tons of stuff I could tell you, but to have the time to sit down and DO IT.  That's the problem.  After all, TIME is a four-letter word.  Some days it ranks right up there with the "S" word and on REALLY bad days, it's comes close to the dreaded "F" word.

But hey, enough of the self-pity ranting already.

Behind the Eight Ball!

The past several weekends have been filled with Saturday Band invitationals and contests.  Mr. Teenager's band is on its way to Semi-State this coming weekend.  Congratulations to him and the rest of the Blazer Brigade.  They have done a fantastic job this season.  Braving the cold, rain and wind...they are fantastic!  We've been dropping Nate off at the high school at about noon and then driving to various performance sites.  Crafty Mom, Little Guy and I have driven to Lafayette,  and Ft. Wayne (twice) Indiana to cheer them on.  Their performance times have been late in the evening and we don't get back home until well after midnight.  Wow....it's a long day for everyone.

On top of that, Matt (my Little Guy) has been in YMCA Soccer and has soccer meets on Saturday too.  We've been stretched a bit thin trying to make it to both boys' events.  Yes...it's been somewhat wacky the past few weekends.  Oh, and we had to bring the golf cart home from the lake.  And...we had to 'close up' the park model for the winter.  And. (yes there's more) Nate called me from school last week.  He said he did something to his neck and he couldn't move his head.  Great!  Crafty Mom and I high-tailed it school to see what happened.  Seems the 70 pounds of books that he's been carrying around in his backpack (every day since the beginning of school) has taken a toll.  Crafty Mom took him to the doctor.  A pulled muscle for sure.  Rest and some muscle relaxers were ordered.  And...he had to miss a few band practices, much to his dismay.

Soccer is over now so we will have a little breathing room this weekend.  The band travels to Indianapolis to perform in the ISSMA Semi-State contest.  Yes...we're headed south.    We're planning to plan our schedule so we can take in a bit of shopping while we're there.  It's been a while since we've been to a Trader's Joe...so that's No. 1 on our list if we have time.  Too bad they don't have one are here.  [Note to self:  You would think with the University of Notre Dame here in South Bend, they would have a TJ's.]

So....what's up with you?

Just Checking In ...

Yes, I'm up a tree and wondering where to go from here! (Kidding of course, I mean I'm kidding about the 'up a tree part'). I'm always wondering where to go from here.

Riley says "hello".

As always, it's been a hectic time. Work has been extra-full of challenges. But..I'm happy to have a job. Don't get me wrong, okay?

We're off to a soccer match (Little Guy's first one of the season). And, Mr. Teenager has a band contest 2-1/2 hours away. He has to be a the high school at 10:45 this morning and (get this) won't get home until almost 1:00 A.M. on Sunday. THAT's a long day. And he (we) get to do it all over again next week. Wow!

The marching band is looking good. I got a little choked up watching them perform at last night's football game. They are good, very good. It's not the marching band that my wife and I were in when we were in high school. No no no. It's very different. But they look good and they sound good. Hope they do well when they perform for the judges tonight under the lights in Lafayette, IN.

BTW: both my boys were elected to Student Council yesterday. This is Little Guy's first year (he's pretty psyched up about it).

Have a great (safe) weekend bloggers!

First glimpse of Fall. A leaf on the shore at the lake.

P.S. In case you haven't notice, Fall is right around the corner.

Friday Wrap Up

Oh, yeah...I'm still here. I swear: I tell myself that I'm going to do better at keeping the blog posts coming...and I fail. It's crazy.

Here are a few things that happned since my last post:

• The boys started school (Little Guy is a 4th Grader this year; Mr. Teenager is a Freshman in High School).
• The new dishwasher was installed and is working like a charm. It's not as quiet as I thought it would be, but that's not a big deal. It does a great job of cleaning and drying. Love it.
• Riley Roo is growing into his long, lanky legs. The puppy stage is still at 100%: chewing, etc., is still full-force. He is not fond of water at this point. The boys took him into the lake last weekend and he did the dog-paddle stroke like a pro!
• I decided to re-teach myself how to knit. Wish me luck on that one. I've been crocheting for many years and I find it very difficult to use two pointy sticks after using one hook for so long.
• I downloaded lots of Cast-On podcasts to my iPod. [If you're a knitter, you will soon become a fan of Brenda Dayne. Check out www.cast-on.com for more info. Brenda is a hoot and her podcasts are full of hooty stuff. [Not sure if "hooty" is a word, but let's go with it, okay?]
• Joined Ravelry (feel free to become my freind. My username = craftydad) Go figure!
• Joined the forum at KnitPicks.com (my username = craftydad) Go figure, again!
• I crocheted two wash cloths using 100% cotton yarn (Peaches and Cream brand). Photos? [Insert hearty laugh here] Hmmm, perhaps later.
• A nasty storm came through the area the other night....we needed the rain..but tornados were not on our wish list. We lucked out: no damage at all. The town west of South Bend (where I work) didn't fare so well. Big-time damage there. Why is it that bad weather happens when it's pitch black outside. [That's a rhetorical question....I don't need any scientific answer. Unless you really want to...then that's okay too.
• I got my new sewing/embroidery machine from Ken's Sewing Center. I have only had a few minutes to play with it. From what I can tell, it's a great machine. Does a lot of nice stitches. Has needle up/down setting (a very big 'plus'); has auto thread cutting feature (never had that before...I like it!)
• Lots of medium- to large-scale projects have launched at work (yes...I have a day-job like many of you). I dream of doing this full-time; but I don't think the salary is high enough to support my family and craft lifestyle. [Donations welcome :-) ]
• I've taken a few pictures.
• I sent off the photos Mr. Teenager took during his trip to Washington D.C. back in June.

Here's the Brother sewing/emboridery machine that I got:

So...what have you been up to?

Tonight is the first home football game at Mr. Teenager's high school. Mr. Teenager plays alto saxophone in the marching band and will be performing at half-time. Crafty Mom, Little Guy and I will be there cheering him (and the rest of the band) on. I'm praying for a nice, cool, breezy, DRY evening. You know: sweater weather.*

Oh...almost forgot: next week I'll have a Freebie Friday giveaway going on. I'm giving away a really nice book I found at the thrift shop. Of course I can't remember the title...it's on the nightstand at home. But...it's a nice, hardback book with the words "Seasons" and "Farms" (i think) in it. It's a Country Living book and I think the winner will be happy to have it.

Next week peeps!

Stay tuned for the second Freebie Friday




That's it for now. Have a great weekend.

*Edited to add: Oh, it was sweater weather alright. And rain poncho weather too. Just as the band was taking the field for the pre-game show (National Anthem and School Fight Song), the rain came down. Not hard, but nice a steady, get-you-all-wet kind of rain. Crafty Mom was smart (as always) and brought along sweatshirts, weather-proof blankets and umbrellas. Let's hope Mr. Teenager's saxophone pads aren't all stuck when he goes to play it on Monday (his horn is spending the weekend in its band locker). Oy!

Just Another Manic Monday

Hey bloggers! Welcome to another week of fun and excitement (well...I hope so anyway!)

We spent the weekend at the lake. Nice weather. Warm days, cool evenings. Perfect. I'm just having a really tough time dealing with the fact that it's August and the boys will be going back to school on the 18th. Bummer. They don't seem as bothered about it as I do. I guess that's what happens when you get older. Oh. Well.

The new sewing machine is really nice. I've not had a lot of time to test it out, but so far, so good. Very nice machine. Has a great needle-threading option (great for aging eyes), has a needle-down option (always a good thing) and also has a thread cutting function (very cool!). I'm working on a tote bag with a musical theme. It's a vintage-ish piece of fabric I got from a sweet, little old lady in Michigan. She's closing down her sewing business and is going thru the de-stash process. Bless her heart! She didn't have too much for me to choose from, but I found a few things. I'll share a photo of the bag once it's a little further along.

My wife found some wild raspberries at the lake and suggested I take the boys berry-picking. So...berry-picking we did. And the camera went along with us. Here are some shots from our little nature walk.

Until next time, have a great day!

Wonderful Weekend!

Hey...hope you had a great weekend. We certainly did. Spent Friday and Saturday nights at the lake. Weather was a bit iffy, but pretty much okay. We're still dealing with bare floors in the kitchen of the park model. The estimate to have it replaced was enormously-large a bit more than we expected, so we're going to do it ourselves. (Oh boy!)

Son No. 2 went swimming while Crafty Mom and Dad sat in the sun and looked at magazines. Which just happens to be one of my favorite things to do. It is total relaxation for me. And the wife and I needed some of that. My wife cooked chicken over the open campfire and it was EXCELLENT. As she was tending to it, Grandma and Grandpa Cook (no relation to either of us, but two of the nicest people we've met at the lake. My kids have 'adopted' them and we call them Grandma and Grandpa) pulled into our site on their golf cart and gave us some wonderful chocolate dessert. Not sure what all was in it, but it had a yummy crust with pecans or walnuts...chocolate pudding and Cool Whip. It was g-o-o-d. Along with chicken, we had green beans, a baked potato and a very simple (I like simple) salad of Romaine lettuce hearts.

Sunday was the family celebration for Son No. 2's birthday. He turned NINE. (Holy cow, where does the time go? Famous parental question, right?) This fall we'll have a high school freshman and a fourth-grader living with us. Geez. He got lots of greenbacks which (I'm sure) he'll spend on baseball, football or basketball trading cards.

The family get-together was a hit. The weather cooperated so we spent the afternoon outside on the patio. The kids played on the swings, kicked a soccer ball around and had a great time. The grown-ups sat around and chit chatted about all the things grown-ups chit chat about. Then it was time for ice cream and cake. Son No. 2 is a big Colts fan, so the cake was white icing with blue trim and a Colts emblem on it. He loved it!

Here are few photos from the weekend:

[Click on the collage for a larger version.]

1. Rose bush that's LOADED with blooms this year.
2. A peony bush...almost all done with blooms..but still pretty enough for a photo.
3. Up close and personal: peony flower.
4. Sleepy boys on Sunday morning at the lake.
5. Crafty Mama's open-fire chicken (YUM-O).
6. Grandma Cook's chocolate dessert (also YUM-O).
7. Son No. 2 in the pool.
8. Salsa, chips and some other goodies.
9. Simple: Romaine lettuce (love that stuff).

A Perfect Peony

Peony bush in the back yard.

These are not the big, double peonies that you might be familiar with. These are a simple,single-type of flower. But simple is good. And since they only last for a few days, I thought I'd take a few shots of them. Then...I uploaded the photo to Picnik and played around with it. I'm a Premium Member so I get some spiffy extras to use.

I used the Fancy Focus tool and highlighted the three blooms. Notice how they stand out from the rest of the picture? Picnik is a fantabulous tool. And the really cool part is, the basic version is free. You can do some really great things to your photos. You can use the 'auto correction' feature, crop photos, put all kinds of frames around them, make collages, put text on them. There are digitial 'stickers' that you can put on photos to make photo greeting cards, etc., etc., I use Picnik to fix up most of the photos that I use in my Etsy shop. Go check it out! But beware: it can be addictive. OH...and you can link your Flickr photos to it too.

Oh, by the way, Son No. 1 is back from his Washington DC trip. He's pooped! Crafty Mom and I are so glad that he had a great time and returned home safely. He took TONS of pictures and I'll try to get some of them posted in the next few days. He's just like the old man: put a camera in his hand and watch out!

A Busy Easter Weekend

It's early Sunday morning and it's already been a busy day. Crafty Mom supervised the traditional Easter egg hide (the Easter Bunny did all the work, you know). And then it was chop the vegetables (for our lunch guests, NOT the Easter Bunny). I love the smell of fresh cut celery. Something about it.....smells like home. It's a comfort smell (if there is such a thing).

Here's a sampling of what we've done so far.

{Click for a larger view}

The lamb cake turned out nice. This is the first time I've used the star tip to decorate a cake. I should have practiced before I frosted Lamby, but he turned out okay. His jelly bean eyes and nose almost makes him too cute to eat. You can see the two-piece cake mold filled to the rim (yes, it ran over in the oven and made a mess). [NOTE TO SELF: put a cookie sheet under the pan next year to avoid a house filled with burnt cake smoke.]

The boys colored eggs last night after we got back from church. It was a great service. Great music, great music and a good time to celebrate the whole reason there is an "Easter". Upper left-hand corner is a shot of some bunny and egg candies I made. I was going to make lollipops, but didn't have any Springy or Easter-y molds. These turned out just fine.

Enjoy your day!

Son No. 1 Brings Home a Baby

Oh Lord no....not a real baby! It's his weekend project for the HomeEc class all the 8th graders have to take. His name is Samuel and he's a cute little guy. He 'came to life' late this afternoon and was very hungry. DS1 says, "When is he going to stop eating? He's been eating for, like, twenty minutes." LOL! I replied, "Hmmm, babies are like that. You'll just have to see what happens." DS1 rolls his eyes. I'm lovin' it!

Baby Samuel. DS1's Weekend School Project

I think this is an excellent way for teens to find out what a TINY slice of baby care is all about. DS1 has to feed it, burp it, change its pants (that'll be a good one!) and make sure that Samuel's head is supported. Samuel has his own car seat and a makeshift ugly diaper bag.

Baby Samuel after his first feeding.

Ahhhh, I remember those days.

DS1, DS2 and I have a barbershop appointment in the morning. We will have to take Samuel along for the ride. I can just see the funky looks on the old codgers' faces at the barber shop. DS1 is going to be red-faced with embarrassment for sure. But...life is tough sometimes, you know? Me: Oh, I am looking forward to this weekend project with great anticipation. Really, I am. :-)

I'm sure that DS1 will be a great dad.

Football Cards For Sale

 

Hey bloggers!  Just a quick heads-up:  Little Guy (my 8 year old) is going to be putting lots and lots of football cards up for sale on eBay.  He will have some 'sneak preview' pictures on my blog in the next few days.

Gather your kids and grand-kids around so they can take advantage of this great opportunity.  Prices will be great and shipping will be more than fair.

Hope you can stop by.

Thanks!

For the Love of Babies and Baby Bibs

Hey....I have another reason to make baby bibs. My cousin Amy had a baby girl justa few weeks ago. Her name is Mya (that's A-M-Y with the letters re-arranged). How cool is that?

Here's my Little Guy holding Mya at the

birthday party we attended on Saturday.

And this is "Mr. Teenager" holding her.

It's great to have a new baby in the family and it gives me great pleasure to make some itty-bitty baby bibs. Here are the three that I made and gifted this past weekend.

Hearts, Frogs and some Japanese Fabric bibs.

A closer look.

Trader Joe Loot

Hey bloggers!

We were in Indianapolis the weekend right after Christmas. As a last-minute gift, my wife and I surprised our youngest son with tickets to a Colts game. He is an AVID fan of the team and has been begging to see a game. So....we were going to be in Indy that weekend anyhow. So yeah, we bought tickets. And yes, we sat in the nosebleed section, but we had a great time.

While we were in the capital city, we also went shopping at a couple malls and found a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. We are pretty much in love with the Trader Joe's store. The closest one to us is in Chicago. That's about two hours away. That's a little bit too long of a commute to get groceries in my book. It would be great if they'd open a store in our neck of the woods. I've heard about the store, and have read several blog posts about them. Their stuff is GOOD.

Take care!

Busy Weekend

Oh, it's definitely the Holiday season. In addition to the obvious (Christmas songs playing on the radio and all the decorations in the mall) it's the rush-rush-rush of our schedule that tells me the big day is not too far away.

Friday night was the middle-school play. Son No. 1 had the lead role in Who Poisoned His Meatball? It was a hoot! The audience was laughing the entire time (oh, and it WAS a comedy by the way). The kids did a fantastic job. Crafty Mom and I were especially proud of the young man who had the role of Luigi.

Middle School Play - "Who Poisoned His Meatball?"

Take a bow! You did a fantastic job kiddo!

Saturday Son No. 1 spent the entire day at a rehearsal for Honor's Band. He was selected as a top musician from his school to join 17 other area schools for a concert on Sunday afternoon. It was phenomenal. Those kids played their hearts out and played music that was at a skill level that .... I don't know. My wife and I were in high school band back in the late 70's and we never played music like that. They did a great job and received a standing ovation.

Wow! An Actual CRAFT Project

Yesterday was Hannah's 11th birthday party.

My latest craft project.
The Cricut and I had fun with this one!

Some scrapbook paper, cardstock, a few white buttons

and a little bit of pink thread turned into a fun project

And...(I didn't tell you, but last month, on the 22nd, was MY birthday) I used my new toy (cough, cough, I mean TOOL) to help me create a birthday card. Yep, I bought a Cricut and I LOVE it. What a fantastic little machine.

Hannah is a big, big fan on Hannah Montana and she was ECSTATIC when she tore the gift wrap off the Hanna Montana Back Stage Pass book from Disney. Wow...that girl was jumping up and down on the sofa like a kangaroo. She devoured every page.

Inside the book was a door hanger. I told my oldest son that I should have one like that for my cubicle at work. He rolled his eyes (he's 13, so that happens frequently these days) but he did assist me in the photo op. What do you think?






And a very yummy chocolate cake too:

Hannah's mom cut out a paper plate and decorated the top. Pretty nifty, huh?

I was good: only one piece of cake and one scoop of ice cream.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Soccer Star

Ready for another match.

The team members received their medals after the game.
Excited? Happy? Proud? You betcha!

More Vacation Stories

The first night of our vacation, we spent the day at the Toledo Zoo and spent the night at the Hampton Inn at Toledo/Maumee, Ohio. It's a nice motel with an indoor pool (a requirement if you have kids that LOVE to swim as much as our boys do.) We've stayed at this motel on other trips and I highly recommend it. Their free continental breakfast is a tasty perk.

Hampton (owned by Hilton) has done a great job on their signage.
This is the room we stayed in.

My water-bug boys. As much as they are in (under) the water, you'd think they would grow fins and be able to breathe under the water.

Day Two of our vacation was spent on Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. It's a popular summer spot located on Lake Erie. We rented a golf cart and went all over the place. The Chicken Patio is a great place for lunch. It's our traditional eating spot and this year was no exception. Wine-basted chicken cooked on a grill is the best.

Perry's Victory and International (US and Canada) Peace Memorial on Put-In-Bay Island.