Day 2 of Nanny Time

My messy nest
Back in working order

Christmas room after, everything is inventoried and stacked neatly in the corner. Not sure where I stored the photo's of the before shot but trust me it was a big old mess.

I'm on day 2 of my Nanny time off, little by little I am whittling down the list that takes a full sheet on a legal pad, stupid crazy list! Yesterday I tackled the scrap/sewing room along with lots of small been putting off projects. I did a quick check on quilt kits (I make up my own) I have a grand total of nine kits ready for some TLC. Also a pile of fabric that will eventually be "Project Linus" quilts over the winter The quilt kits are for next years Birthday gifts for our big girls, a couple of quilts for some friends and 2 that I hope will be ALL MINE!! I also checked my scrapbook stash and realized I need some supplies to make a gift as well as 2 custom orders. I gave up my CTMH business back in the summer so I ordered from a sister consultant, can't wait to get my hot little hands on the new stuff. I haven't bought any scrapbook supplies in so long I can't even remember, I'm thinking 8 months or longer. I have added Jennifer's blog to my blog list if any of you are interested in CTMH products. I know I still have some customers that like to place orders now and then. The rest of the day was spent working on Christmas stockings for the little girls while enjoying some college football. :( can't believe Bamma lost.

Today I finished up in the Christmas room, what a mess. Did inventory on what we have on hand and questioned my sweet husbands sanity, once I dug into the bags of Christmas gifts he brought home last trip. I did a little on line shopping this AM and made a list of what I know we need to purchase, still waiting on our big kids wish lists, they are on notice they better get one to me soon or they are SOL. Hubby will be in town next weekend I get him for most of the day Sunday so we can knock out a little Christmas shopping together. He can no longer Christmas shop without an escort!!!!

Sunday dinner tonight will be out to eat. Daughter #2 boy friends Birthday was Halloween, since he lives out of town we had to wait until this weekend to celebrate. I'm throwing the budget out the window and letting someone else do the work. Then it's back home to work on another pile or two of stuff before I hit the uncomfortable chair to work on Christmas stockings. I WILL finish the little girls stockings this year. I am gonna have to figure out some sort of prize for myself when it comes time to do the bead and sequin work, I so hate that part!!!! "Baby Bubba" may or may not get his stocking this year. I was smart and bought a pretty simple kit for his, after looking at it yesterday it seems familiar. I'm thinking it might be a repeat of one we have for one of the big boys, please don't let it be so Joe!!

Off to get dressed for dinner, my girls frown upon my Nanny wear, gotta take it up a notch so the babies have something nice to wipe there drool and runny noses on.

Nanny time

I did it, I declared some me time! Son-In-Law #2 ended up not having to work today so I am on my own, instead of going out last night I decided to stay in and get caught up on some badly needed rest. Today I will be off to use up some of my rewards points, coupons and GC. If the deals are not to be had I won't be spending anything extra, I need to hold on to our cash for Christmas!

Before I venture out I WILL get the scrap/sewing room back in order, when I say it is a HOT MESS I mean it!!! Having the sewing machines downstairs is working out great as far as the creative deal goes but I end up throwing stuff in and pulling stuff out of my room but never going back to clean up. When I work out of my room I keep things neat and tidy, disorganization makes me nuts however I am more productive sewing in the kitchen. I have way too many unfinished projects setting around and a few things that I need to get started on soon, this few days OFF I hope to get back on top of the mess.

I am also itching to get my "Quilt of Valor" cut out so I can jump in on the piecing for Veterans Day next week. The Christmas room is once again in a mess after hubby unloaded his goodies in there, I need to do some rearranging and updating of our gift list. Last but not least the house could use a little TLC. I have been keeping the doors and windows open a lot on days its not to cold, thus the layer of dust is getting mighty thick. The little girls and AJ are hard on the floors, they are getting as sticky as the Waffle House, time to get the place cleaned up!!

My plan for Sunday is to set up a Christmas stocking area in the family room so I can spend the day relaxing while working on the little ones stockings. I'm wishing I would have held on to my old crappy chair, it was perfect for beading and needle work :( Do you ever have so many irons in the fire things seem become overwhelming? Ya I think we all do, for the next few days I hope to overcome that mistake!!

Check this out!

Carla over at 1/2 dozen daily is hosting a benefit to buy a family the farm animals shown above. I made my donation this morning, want to do a good dead for the day to start your weekend off right? Check out her post, what the heck, maybe we can by more than one!!!! But I better be winning the oh so cute apron!!
http://halfdozendaily.blog.com/2011/11/04/help-me-buy-some-farm-animals-win-a-handmade-retro-apron/

75% off deals!
Christmas cards in the making.

First off I apologize for all the misspelled words in yesterday's post. For some reason blogger didn't save the changes I had made :(

Before I finish packing up the very little decorations I had out for Halloween I wanted to share the deals I picked up at Williams Sanoma.

Set of 4 plates regular price $29.95 sale price $6.99

Pancake molds regular price $ 19.95 sale price $4.99

Spatulas regular price $12.99 sale price $2.99

I ended up buying 4 of each item to put back for gifts. Since we are not home on Halloween these days I like to leave a little gift for the boys next door ages 1 and 4, this year I made up a bag with the spatula's and pancake molds then left them on their front porch. Mom called back the next day to let me know they used the molds for dinner that night, the boys were very impressed with the fancy pancakes! I originally went to the store to pick up some super hero cookie cutters to use on Halloween night, my sister gave me a GC for my birthday that has been burning a whole in my pocket, walked out with 2 bags full on goodies and only forked over $12.88 after tax. I love GC and sweet deals!!!!

I started diligently working on components of our Christmas cards yesterday, 18 done, 20 more to go. The little girls are a bit wild today so I won't be getting anything accomplished until they head home this afternoon, then I will get back on task. I REALLY want my cards ready to go December 1st so all I have to do is add the family photo when "baby Bubba" arrives.

I also need to get my ducks in a roll at nap time today for a shopping marathon list. I have lots of coupons, customer rewards and such that need to be used before they expire, also have a nice stack of GC that I could use if need be, some are only good for this weekend. As much as I hate to shop or be out at night I figure tonight will be better than fighting the crowds tomorrow along with the fact I have Ms. Kara again tomorrow. I SO NEED to get back to a good working schedule I seem to be running here and there but so many 1/2 done things are starting to pile up again, grrr. Next week looks to be another crazy week with voting on Tuesday, teachers workday Thursday and Veterans Day Friday. I am considering declaring a Nanny holiday so I can get things back in order, as much as I adore our big kiddo's and grands I need some me time to get back on track.

Are you up for a challenge?

My Vetrens Day project

Are you up for a challenge on Veterns Day this year Friday, November 11th?

Each year for the past 10 years or so (maybe longer) I have been spending Veterns Day making cards for our troops. Sometimes I can get freinds together for the day other times I have run a card class where 1/2 the cards made are donated to our troops or I might just be home alone making cards. This year in celebration of my new sewing machine I will be starting a "Quilt of Valor". I picked up the fabric back in the spring when one of our local stores was going out of buisness at 50% off with this project in mind, since that time the quilt keeps being moved to the back burner. NO MORE, THE TIME IS NOW!!

I picked out the pattern way back when, it states "easy", well see. I'ev been advised by the insturcters I have taken classes from that my quilting skills are way above beginner so I feel confadante I can pull off the quilt, the real intimidation is keeping a journal durring the process. I'm still looking around google to see what others have put in their journal, it seems trivial to me to write about the everyday happenings around the house when these men and woman are putting their lives on the line each day for all of us.

So here is my challenge to all of you. In some way be it large or small, please do something on Veterns day to support our troops. I know for many the kiddo's are out of school so taking the day off from our normal activities will be a real pain, others might want to get in on some of the Veterns Day sales but each and every one of you can do SOMETHING!! I have a list of charitable orginzations at the end of this post to get the wheels turning in your creative minds or maybe start budgeting to make a donation to one of the very worthy causes.

Leave a comment or send me an e-mail amber25@roadrunner.com of what you did on Veterns Day to help our troops. I will be giving away some blog candy the Monday after Verterns Day as a thank you for helping out. I'm not sure yet what the blog candy will be, I do have some things in mind but haven't landed on the projecit (it will be good, I promise) Time to get busy around here!

http://soldiersangels.org/scarves.html

https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org

http://www.uso.org/uso-operation-phone-home.aspx

http://www.operationwritehome.org/

http://www.qovf-um.org/

http://scrappingforsoldiers.com/

Exciting Day

Hot rolls and cinnamon buns, hey their made with fresh milled wheat so they are sorta good for you right?

Halloween sugar cookies, used 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat flour

The sugar cookies went FAST

I'm so stinkin excited!! I took the Harley quilt to the free arm quilter today for a consultation (I think that's what its called) I was so nervous that she would reject the quilt since I am such a newbie to quilting.... heart racing, sweating bullets, face turning red. She LIKED it and complemented me on what a nice job I had done on the piecing. I am floating on cloud nine, she gave me the price for the batting and quilting, now I have to piece the backing then return next week to turn it all in so she can get started!! Ya me, the quilt will be ready for Christmas morning.

I received Deborah's buisness card from my favorite quilt shop "Sew Much Fun", they were very complimentary over her work as well as what a nice lady she was. Were they ever right, her work is amazing!! I didn't pick out a design for the quilting, I am leaving that up to her, she after all is the expert in the deal. Here is the link to Deborah's blog "deborahsquilting.blogspot.com", she is new to blogging but already has lots of super cute quilts posted. She also quilts for Amanda Murphys designs, check out her blog on my blog roll for some sewing inspiration.

AJ the beagle and I have our feet up, snuggled under our picnic quilt, I am working on my never ending to do list, AJ is snoring away. AHHH, quiet nights in the fall are such a blessing.

Cozy and Warm

PJ set for a buddy of mine
How darn cute is this fabric, and it's flannel to boot, should be nice and warm this winter.

Why is it that men can sleep like logs? This whole menopause thing stinks, if I can get 5 hours sleep at one time I fell like a lucky girl, hubby however has no problem getting in 12 hours each night !

I had an e-mail requesting I post photo's of the gift I sent out to a friend last week, had to make sure she received it before I posted the photo's. Happy late Birthday once again Jackie! I was waiting until I took the PJ class to learn how to do french seams before I made these PJ's but since the class was a bust I had to go with regular seams. I did at least finish off the seams with a binding stitch but still... maybe someday I will take the time to watch a u tube video and figure french seams out. The pattern calls for an elastic waistband but I am a good enough friend to NOT ask my buddies what size their waist is so I went with a draw string instead, she can always add elastic if she wants. I picked the tee shirt up on sale at Kholes then added a few embroidered cocoa cups to match the PJ bottoms. It would cost 2 or 3 times as much to make a tee shirt at home!

Hubby is headed back north today but only for a short time!! He will get to come home in 2 weeks for some some meetings and maybe even be done with the project and get to have a normal life for a period of time. I'ts going to be odd (in a good way) to have someone else around the house when he returns. After a week or 2 we both adjust pretty well. I have a ton of to do's that I need to get back to this week. Hubby has been doing a bit of Christmas shopping while he has been away, the progress I have made in the Christmas room is no longer noticeable when he unloaded his bags. The scrap/sewing room is upside down (nothing new) and I am beginning to get low on a few things in the pantry, time to start collecting coupons again and stocking up.

For our family Halloween seems to be the kick off of the holiday season, from now until Christmas things will be non stop. In all the riping and running around we will also be meeting our newest member very soon, Daughter #1 sees the OB once a week now, we expect he will want "Baby Bubba" to arrive before the end of November. Time to put it in high gear!!!