Today I was going to work on the craft room, but...

my husband had other plans.

He took off work early and invited me to lunch at Zaxby's. Yum.

Afterwards I did a little shopping- more on that later.

When the girls' got home from school, he took them to do a little errand and came home with these:



I can't yet tell who is who, but they have all been named. Carly, Shelly, Penny, Leonard, Raj, and Howard. And yes, Shelly is short for Sheldon. We love the Big Bang Theory around here. I'm afraid Carly is of iCarly fame, named by one of the twins.

Hubby is busy at work on building the coop:



I have wanted chickens for eons, so I am thrilled. I am afraid the Homeowner's Association will be less so. We didn't know we were part of a subdivision when we initially bid on the house and were dismayed to find out before it closed that we were officially, even though we are actually on the outside of the subdivision. Well, hopefully we won't start a war, though small battles have been going on since we moved in.

While the girls are busy driving both the chicks and my husband crazy, the teen is busy working on projects for the end of the year.



My shopping consisted of more yarn for shell afghan, embroidery thread to start embroidering panels for the quilt for the craft room bed, and some clothing. Since aquiring my mostest favoritest shoes of the decade:



I have realized how very little red I have in my wardrobe. I have realized that in order to wear these shoes more often without clashing horribly, I need to add some more red tops, or at least tops which go with red shoes, to my closet.

I have also found that while I did put a bit of weight back on since my massive (46 lb!) loss last summer, I am either too small or too big for most of my bottoms.

So I bought some bottoms, a red top, a red purse and wallet, a red mini-lap bag to tote this thing around, some red flip-flops, red headbands, and some tops for the girls. Not thrifty at all, but very fun! I think I went a little crazy!

Totally wondering if I could make something like these... myself

Available at the. for $95- a bit out of my price range...
Hopefully I can manage a trip to the thrift store and Michael's sometime this weekend to come up with some supplies to do something of the sort.

Found via Allsorts.

Love to start, never to finish...

I am always starting something new- scarves, blankets, banners, etc., but rarely finish anything unless it is for payment. So in that tradition, I start a new blog. My older blogs all felt very specific, as though different ideas should go in their own blogs. One blog for work, one for art, one for family. This blog, hopefully, will attempt to combine all of my life into one cohesive reading and writing experience.

Hopefully this will be a fresh start for me in many ways. I am trying to make some changes overall and perhaps a new blog will motivate me towards a new me.

Now, about me: I'm a 40 year old mom to 3, one teen boy and twin preteen girls, wife to one fabulous hubby, fur-mommy to two cats and one Yorkie-poo. I work part-time (supposedly, ends up being more full-time mostly) as a 4K preschool teacher/director at my church. I love to crochet, paint, read, sew, camp, hike, and generally do anything crafty. I love children and would have 20+ kids if my husband would agree, as evidenced by my job and volunteer work. I used to be a Musical Theatre major in college and love to sing and dance. My dream job would either be a librarian or an artist. My favorite thing to do is to dream up new ideas. I am better at envisioning things than following through with them. I tend to be a jack of all trades, master of none. I have a propensity to be a workaholic, though nothing seems to ever get finished.

Current projects I am working on:

Weekly Bible Study: Sacred Romance



Bible Study with Girls: Self-made study on fruits of the spirit, this week we are starting on "love/agape". I found a great website that allows you to look up the original language for any verse, then find verses that use the same word. Helpful, since there are multiple words translated into "love." The website is www.searchgodsword.org.

Crafts with Girls: Both are learning to make potholders on a loom- they are finding this thrilling. Twin2 got a sewing kit which has pre-punched felt with yarn for sewing. It is actually on her level, though she finds the loom more fun right now.

Crocheting: I have started 2 afghans for my craft room. Afghan1 is a ripple using a pattern called "Warm Waves" from this book-


I am using the pink, blue, yellow, and green colors in this yarn-

Afghan2 is in brighter colors and uses a shell pattern from the same book.

I'll try to get pics up later.

Reading:

I just finished The Forgotten Garden. Some say it is overwritten, but I love her flowery, descriptive prose. The story itself was interesting, and the multiple timelines made it unfold in a way that heightened the mystery. It helped that I read it while we camped, so there were very few distractions.

Meal Plan for the week:

Tonight- Chili (canned with added ingredients made by hubby while I was hosting auditions for the children's play at church)
Monday- Homemade Chicken and Dumplings from scratch from Southern Living January 2010. New recipe for the week...
Tuesday- Leftovers
Wednesday- Mini-Meatloafs, Cheese Grits, Salad
Thursday- Grilled chicken, pasta, and a green vegetable
Friday- Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (hubby cooks!)
Saturday- Chicken Tortellini Soup from cooks.com
Sunday- Hamburger Steak (hubby cooks!)