Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Amelia's Art - God


Amelia started PSR last week and they were to draw a picture of whatever they wanted on the front of their folders. Amelia said she saw this hanging on the wall and drew it. Once again her art makes me smile, she captured the crucifix perfectly. Jesus's leg is folded over the other, he has a sash and a frown. She does have her "d" in God backwards but that's to be expected for a first grader. Lovely work Amelia!

Monday, August 30, 2010

what the ? - 1980


Sturp pants... I wore these in 7th grade with a neon yellow oversized sweater.

Acid wash denim rolled tight at the ankle, I wore this in 8th grade.

Hammer pants... thank goodness I can say
I never wore or owned these style pants.
But I did LOVE my black parachute pants!


You would think I found these photos google searching the 1980's. But NO... I was browsing through GAP online. These are currently listed items you can buy right now! Sorry GAP I just can't do it, I won't!




Friday, August 27, 2010

Safari Cake

Amelia turned 6 in July and I am finally showing off the cake I made for her party. I was so pleased with how it turned out, but my hand paid the price. I used the Wilton tip #234 to make the grass, which took so long! I had to stop several times to give my hang a break. I used the #21 tip to do the water. We already had the animals, I just gave them a good bath first. I flipped over a cookie sheet and covered it with freezer paper and Brian wrote happy birthday on it... much easier than me trying to write it in icing!

The birthday girl loved it!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Corners of my home - Singer

This is my new old toy, isn't she pretty!

A dear friend was moving and gave me this vintage Singer machine in a neat art deco style cabinet. She had given it to me when Amelia was about age 1 and it sat at my Mom's house (3 years) until last year when Mom wanted it out. It came to my garage and sat there until this summer when I thought I would give it away, but then I read up on it and found it to be a nice sturdy machine to have.

I deiced to keep it and took it in to be rehabbed, the cording crumbled when you touched it. But other than a good tune up and rewiring this heavy beast was back in my hands. Studying the manual I got the thread set up and took it for a spin.

First thing I noticed it was soooooo quiet compared to my modern machine, plus it turns on a dime, but my favorite thing is it can sew through anything... leather and layers of thick felted wool. This 40lb baby is a keeper! The only down side is there are no fancy stitches on this machine. Just a simple straight stitch which is what I use 90% of the time, so not a big deal.

Plus it makes me feel a bit nostalgic sewing on this machine made between 1939 - 1941. My house is made in 1941 so they make a good fit. It makes me happy to bring her back to life and I think she is smiling.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Aunt Tracy


Yeah... I'm going to be an aunt! Actually I am already an aunt nine times over on my husbands side of the family. But this is my only brother's first child so it's extra exciting! My girls are hoping for a girl, my Dad is hoping for a boy to carry on the family name... "Olde" It is a pretty rare surname, pronounced with the "e". They will find out the sex of the baby in a few weeks.
I wonder baby Cosmo (in utero name) what are you?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Corners of my home - the blue photo

Which one of these look like the other, which one of these isn't the same?

These are a grouping of photos in my upstairs hallway right by a window. As you can see 3 of them have a blue tint to them. They were once black and white photos but over the past 6 years have turned blue. Why you ask? The "blue" photos were printed by a local photo chain store and looked great but over time with natural light nearby they have faded. The photo of my sweet dog Bud was a printout from a laser copier and still looks great.

So keep this in mind when hanging photos near a window. I suggest making a photocopy and hang that or just know that you might need to replace the images every few years. I will reprint these, laser this time. I can't forget those wonderfully sweet first few days with my Amelia!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Quotes... Destiny

"But what destiny does not do is home visits.

You have to go for it."

-Carlos Ruiz Zafon




Photo: Amelia and Tracy in Marvel Cave at Silver Dollar City

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Summer over?

I can't believe school starts in a few days. I remember worrying about the summer and how would I keeping the kids busy and get my work done (I work from home as a freelance graphic designer). Well, the end of summer is here and we made it.

We kept busy with my Terrific Tuesdays (fun outings around town that I planned with friends). We went to Grammy's pool every Thursday to swim. The girls went to one camp, safety camp, which they loved! We took two small summer trips one to Metropolis IL and Branson MO. The girls took gymnastic class over the summer, we saw a few movies, the circus, the church carnival, bingo with GG. Amelia played softball and we did our first Mom & Me Girl Scout camping.

I would say we kept busy and had a great summer creating lots of fun memories.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Anna - isms... Totally!

Setting: Dinner table

Brian: Did G.G like the bingo box you made her?

Anna: Totally!

Tracy: Totally? (laughing that she used that word)

Amelia: Anna you sound like a guy on the beach... a surfing guy.


I guess the 80's are really back... like totally!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Anna's Art - The Incredibles

Anna did a great job illustrating the "Incredibles" family. Don't you love Violet's hair and little Jack Jack? Pretty good for a 4 year old.

At bath time Amelia always styles her hair to look like Violet's hair, covering half of her face. She says she want to be Violet for Halloween and I should be the Mom, elastic girl... no way am I putting on a red spandex super hero costume!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Yummy!

What is best way to start a 4 hour car ride home from vacation... a giant rainbow sucker!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

What the ? - Aqua Blast Hopscotch

Amelia got this for her birthday and the Mom who bought it did tell me don't be surprised if it's smaller than it looks on the box. I said yes I know some companies have misleading packaging.


But WOW this one is way off! I could tell by the bad photoshop work that the kids were added into the photo and so was the background. But the kid to product scale is so off! Look at my kids feet in the square compared to the box image. I also noticed there are no measurements of the product anywhere on the package... sneaky.

The girls did have fun playing with it, but they did notice on their own that is was smaller than on the box and the water spray did not go as high. I would advise anyone to avoid products from Banzai or expect it to be half the size you see on the front of the packaging.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Silver Dollar City - 2010

We just went to Silver Dollar City this week and when you are in Branson you have to get the standard cheesy olde time photo taken with the family. The last time we were in Branson Amelia was 9 months old and I was pregnant with Anna. So whenever Anna sees that photo she asks why she is not in it.

So the first thing we do at SDC is head to the photo shop, Amelia was soooooo excited to get dressed up. But when we get there Anna did not want to get her photo taken, I'm not sure why. She told me she did not like the flash, she did not like to play dress up and that she already had a pretty dress on. Ughhhhh! This is from the girl who wants to wear her fancy England flower girl dress everyday!

After 30 minutes of trying to talk her into the photo, bribery and all... no luck. Brian and I would have said forget it but Amelia had her heart set on doing this and why should we let Anna mess that up for her. So here we all are... minus my little stubborn Anna.

Have a good chuckle at it, it is very cheesy. But Amelia loved it!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Memory Monday - 1978 Pixie

This is a photo of me in 1978 in my Girl Scout Pixie uniform. This was take on the front porch of our Bissell Hills house in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo, I lived here until 2nd grade. I always love girl scouts and have many fond memories. At this age I remember playing games and making crafts. I remember making a shellacked bagel with a little mouse on it that hung in our kitchen for years and an egg carton Christmas angel that I think my mom still has. I still have the GS pixie pin I am wearing on my shirt. It's stored away in my pink ballerina music box along with other mementos from my childhood.