Ballerina Puppet progress

Here's what I've done so far on the Ballerina Puppet pattern from Laura's Left Hook. The head and both arms are done, plus the little finger hole thing that goes inside the head. One half of the body is finished here. I still have to do the other half and the legs. Then put it together and finish off with the hair. The little ridge on the body is where I'll attach the tutu.

I think it's going to be so cute! It's a little smaller puppet than I had pictured, but it will be perfect for my granddaughter's little hands. :O)

Ballerina Puppet - Beginning

I'm testing a pattern for Laura's Left Hook of her Ballerina Puppet. I just love this pattern! She did a great job of writing it and it is very easy to follow so far. :O)

Here's where I have started the head. The yarn I am using is actually a slightly more creamy looking off-white than the picture shows. So far, I'm not overly happy with the Red Heart Soft Yarn. It splits too easily while crocheting, but it was the closest to flesh-colored yarn I could find.

I think my granddaughter will end up with this puppet. She's in a little preschool dance class and wears a little tutu... and looks adorable! (No Grandma bias here.... yeah, right! Ha ha!)

I'll post more as the project progresses...

This picture is similar to the pattern I'm testing for Laura.

My 'Happy Tears' Mother's Day!

I wanted to share with you just what a wonderful family I have! Yeah, yeah... I know... we moms ALL say that, right? Ha ha! But, I'm bein' fer real! *wink* Take a look-see...

First, here's what was ordered for me for my garden. A Chinese Empress Tree and a Sungold Butterfly Bush, I can't wait for them to arrive!

Next, here's a lovely Azalea from my oldest son. Azaleas don't seem to like the spot I picked near my driveway, so I'm going to find a better spot to plant this one.

The card from my Granddaughter. And my oldest son's CRAZY card to me. LOL! We both know what this card means and we had a good laugh with it. :O) Oh, the challenges of parenthood. Ha ha!

Next, this is a really big card made by our two teenagers (13 & 14.5), with a little help from Dad. :O)

The smaller picture (from the top center of the big card) is a note from my younger son (the 14 year old). It says, "You are a cool Mom! Keep doing that ASL ~ Love Chris" (I love being called a "cool mom") I've been learning American Sign Language. I didn't even realize he was paying that much attention! Ha ha!

This is an envelope taped to the bottom left of the big card, which said "To the Best Mom". After opening it up, it said, "If there were a billion ways to say 'I love you' then we'd say them all. But since there's only one, then we'll say it a billion times!! WE LOVE YOU, MOM!!"

This was the bottom center part, using scrapbook letters and some letters that my daughter did herself beautifully in Calligraphy (the really fancy black letters cut from white paper), which says, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Chris & Taylor 2009" The other picture is from the top right; a note from my wonderful husband. :O) It says, "To the Dear Mother of my children. Happy Mother's Day! 2009 John"

These were across the center of the big card. They say things like, "Dream" "Cherish Family" "Celebrate Together" "Treasure the Gift of Friends" "Mom"

The drawing is from the bottom right of the big card. Such a cute & sunny scene! I love it! The other is the note from my daughter (the 13 year old). It says, "Mom, I love you so much. No matter how many times we fight, or get mad at each other, just know that nobody on this Earth has a better mom. You are the Best!! I will always love you! Love, Taylor"

God has surely blessed me with a Wonderful family! And I had a blessed Mother's Day, with happy tears!

God Bless!

A Contest for My Daughter

My daughter Taylor is in a contest and needs people to view her video. The more views, the better her chances of winning. :O)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FHb3-PCIJw

A big thanks to the wonderful firefighters at the Margate City, NJ fire house who graciously let us video in the firehouse and helped with moving trucks out and holding the ladder. (I think they thought we were crazy. Ha ha!)

Please take a look and then pass it along.

Thanks!

Cheeseburger Casserole Recipe

No, that's not me in the video. Ha ha! But, this is my recipe! :O)

This is so cool. Amy is such a sweetheart and she was so kind to feature my recipe on her YouTube channel, USAFireAndRescue. She has such great, easy recipes, too! Be sure to check it out!

Ya gotta try this one. It's so simple and I remember my Mom making this often when I was growing up. It was also a favorite of my Dad's. And now my kids love it too. :O) My mom calls it "Goulash" but I like my name better. *grin* She used to make Hamburger Stew, and with the leftover hamburger, she would make this casserole the next night.

Thanks Amy for the little plug to my YouTube channel (which has very little on it yet. Ha ha!) God Bless!

Bunny Blanket Buddy Completed!

First, I hope you all had a very Blessed Easter! We were with family on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and we had a very nice holiday weekend. I thank the Lord for this holiday we can share and be thankful for what He has done for us.

It's finally finished! And just in time to give to my grandaughter for Easter! Yeah!

Now, I have to tell ya what happened with the eyes (things happen for a reason)... I mis-read the bottle of fabric glue (which I was going to use to attach the googly eyes) and would not have had enough time to glue them on and have it dry to give to her. No problem, I figured I would simply crochet some eyes.... Nope! My case of crochet hooks was nowhere to be found (it was hiding from me, I just know it! Ha ha!) So my daughter Taylor came to my rescue and said, "Mom, how about if I make you eyes with my plastic canvas?" "Yes!" I said very excitedly. (Can ya picture it?)

So we cut it to size and she got to work on them. I figured I would just whip stitch them on and add tiny eyelashes. Mind you, this was all happening on Easter morning. I would see my grandaughter early that afternoon! Yikes!

Anyway, all things worked out and here's the finished blanket. I'm so pleased with this one! And I like these eyes so much better. :O)

Notice how I attached the ears? I used really big buttons! I saw in a magazine an amigurumi bunny and the ears were attached like that. I thought it looked so cute, so I decided to do these ears the same way. Like a lop-eared bunny.

You can see one of the hand pockets here.

Here she is trying it on! I think she really liked it. She didn't say much though... I think she didn't quite know what to do with it. Ha ha! That's her daddy (our oldest son) with her. :O)

Okay.... maybe not? Ha ha! Don't ya just love that face? LOL! I'm sure though that she'll get plenty of joy out of it. Nothing like snuggling up in a comfy play blanket. Ooooh, I just wanna kiss those cheeks!

The hand pockets were my own addition, and were not in the original pattern from Vanna's Afghans A to Z. Also, changing the ears and using the stitched eyes instead of the googly eyes was a change from the pattern. Finally, instead of 38 rows around the blanket, I stopped with 35 rows, and it was still plenty big enough for her! I'm so happy with how it turned out. :O)

Bunny Blanket Progress

Here are the pieces before being attached, or stuffing the muzzle. I also haven't gotten the googly eyes yet. But I wanted to share the progress so far. I have today and tomorrow to get this done! Yikes! This is for my grandaughter for Easter.

The ears & muzzle are just put in place on the hood, but I wanted to show how the ears are white on the inside and pink on the outside, so I turned one the other way. The original pattern shows the ears attached to stand up, but I like them laying down, and I think they would fall kind of down when it's on her head anyway. :O)

Here's both ears as they will lay when attached. Also, I changed the ears slightly from the pattern. I thought the pattern's ears were too straight, so since I'm making these ears lay more like a lop-eared bunny, I widened them a bit towards the bottom, which you can see with the ear on the left. I like them much better. :O)

I've also added hand pockets to the two side points of the blanket. I plan to make it so my grandaughter can pretend to be a bunny with this blanket! I'll post pictures tomorrow (hopefully) of the finished blanket. This blanket pattern was from the book Vanna's Afghans A to Z.

I've got a few more surprise details to add. What are they? Well.... you'll just have to wait till my next post to find out! Ha ha!

A Little Miracle from God

Now, here's a post with no pictures or videos! Ha ha! It seems strange........

Wow, I haven't shared this one in a long time! It's been nearly 6 years since this happened and I love reading it again and again...

_________________________________________

This letter was sent by my husband to our pastor on July 30, 2003, the day before our 10th Anniversary, relating a couple of very special days in our lives in late July, 2003.
-----
I have a remarkable story I wish to share with your congregation. Under normal circumstances, I might have come in and shared it personally, but as you know I recently had major surgery and am still recovering. I would like to thank you and your church members for all your heartfelt prayers and support, particularly for the children who have needed it at this time. Since Laurie would simply turn beet red and nearly pass out at the thought of relating this in public before the church membership, I ask that you read this email in my stead. For while I doubt this epistle will be worthy of being canonized, I do certainly think it is worth sharing.

No day beats a day when you know God is in your life. This past Tuesday, Laurie and I and our family had just such a day. Prior to my going into the hospital, we knew that the transmission in our car was slowly going. However, with all the medical bills and the extra insurance we had to purchase, acquiring the new vehicle seemed out of the question. So, we hoped and prayed that God would preserve our transmission or see us through in another way. The weekend before my operation, my mother saw a car for sale locally. We called and found out that the owner was an old friend of my father's he had gone to high school with. And since I was my father's son, he practically cut the cost in half making the car affordable to us in cash.

Now, the car is a 1988, and if you can just picture your "father's station wagon", you have the image perfectly. Not exactly the sexiest vehicle on the lot, however it had a sturdy V8 engine, a good transmission, and it would serve in an emergency if I were in the hospital and our car broke. Laurie and I discussed it and prayed, and felt that this was too visibly a gift from God to be turned down in our time of need. It was certainly a relief to my mind going into surgery knowing that my wife and children would not be stranded somewhere without means of transportation.

Being so close to surgery, I asked Billy, my father's friend if he wouldn't mind driving the car over to my mom and dad's and settling the paperwork with them, as I would be going to the hospital the next day. He did so gladly and as I drove up to the hospital the next day I noticed the car in my parent's driveway and was comforted to know that it was there for the day when our transmission went. And who knew what day that would be.

Well, apparently God knew... and Tuesday we found out also. Laurie and I went down our street heading toward her parent's house to pick up our children. As we approached the White Horse Pike, we both noticed how heavy all 4 lanes of traffic seemed to be. Now, understand, in 12 years we almost never go the back road way to Laurie's parents. It was only 5 minutes by the Pike, and though we might come back home using the back roads, again, we almost always use the Pike to get there. But looking at the traffic, and then at each other, we agreed we were in no particular hurry and felt we should just turn around and go the back way. So Laurie made a u-turn and drove another 20 feet and an invisible hand touched the hood and said, "stop now". And it did. If we had pulled out onto the Pike, we would have been across 4 lanes of heavy traffic, a woman and her husband only a week out of surgery, stranded out in the middle of South Jersey summer traffic on the White Horse Pike. As it was, the car broke down about 5 yards from where we wanted to park it and put a "for sale" sign on it anyway. And to prove that God is a God of detail, [our street] slopes upwards from the White Horse Pike, so all that needed to be done, was to let go of the brake and coast it into the parking spot, saving me the trouble of rupturing my incision trying to push it off the road. Laurie and I got out and walked the 100 yards or so back home smiling. Certainly, the happiest people to have ever dropped a transmission you have ever seen.

And lest you think this morning of minor miracles ends here, let me continue with all haste. When last we tuned in, our station wagon "ace in the hole" was parked at my mom and dad's. So when we got home, I called my mom. I caught her just as she was going out the door. She was heading to her bank to do her weekly banking. When she heard our story, she said it would be no problem, her banking could wait till the next morning, and she would run the paperwork for the car down to us. She happily agreed to watch over me while Laurie set out on her adventure to the DMV. About 5 minutes later mom arrived. Using her dad's car, Laurie set out on her way, and mom and I started driving back to her house. On our way, we met 2 cop cars screaming from the direction of her bank, followed by a third, then a fourth and a fifth. I joked to my mother that either there was one heck of a "blue light special" at Dunkin Donuts, or those were men on a mission with a purpose.

When we got to my mom's, we flicked on the police scanner to find out what all the hubbub was about. A bank had just been robbed ... my mom's bank. If the car had not broken down, and she had not come down to get me, my 62 year old mother, with a heart condition would have been in the lobby of that very bank when a desperate man pulled a gun, forced everyone to the floor, and demanded the bank's deposits. My mom looked at me and though visibly shaken, we were all relieved and thankful that again, God was watching over us.

I wondered what God would do in the afternoon for an encore. I was sure there were some ponds and streams in South Jersey that hadn't been parted if he wanted to do an oldie but goodie. But I personally, was extremely thankful for the little miracles he had worked in my family's life that morning. It is comforting to think that two weeks ago, God knew exactly what our needs would be that Tuesday. It is humbling to reflect further, that since time eternal past, since before the first star burned in the sky, God knew John and Lauren would need him that day, and God planned accordingly. All we had to do was listen.

I ask that your church say a prayer of thanksgiving for me and my family, and encourage them to keep the faith. No day beats a day when you know God is in your life.

Your brother in Christ,
John

ps.. if anyone needs a grey '93 Oldmobile without a transmission, please see Laurie. She knows where you can find one cheap.
____________________________________________

MY God is an Awesome God!

(I've GOT to learn the sign language for that! Ha ha!)

My Daughter and Her Flute

This is my daughter Taylor playing Lovebug by the Jonas Brothers on her flute! She was practicing and I heard her and went into her room and asked her to play it again so I could video it. :O) We both love this song. ("I dropped my pencil!" Ha ha!)

Now here she is just being random with her flute teacher Bethany. Bethany is wonderful, very talented on the flute (you'll hear her play solo in the video) and is just a fabulous teacher for Taylor. Taylor just loves her! They were being goofy in this video, dressing up and playing their flutes. They played together and separate, and Taylor played Lovebug by the Jonas Brothers on her flute as well. (See? I told ya she loves that song! Ha ha!) The first song they play together is what they call the "Awesome Sauce Song". Ha ha!



See? They're crazy, right? Ha ha! But we just love Bethany!

Our Little Ewok!

I thought I'd update ya on our little Shih-Tzu, Beans that came to us on Christmas Eve. I posted about him when he first arrived, when his hair was really short. Well, this is now, 3 months later. :O)

Beans

Now look at him next to a picture of an Ewok...

Now tell me Beans doesn't look just like a cute li'l ol' Ewok!

Cuter even. Or maybe even a baby Chewbacca in that bottom picture! Ha ha! He's such a sweetie too. And spoiled rotten! Ha ha!

Jonas Concert Tickets!!

My daughter and I snagged some great concert tickets for the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009. We got seats 5 rows from the stage right by Nick (Taylor's favorite Jonas).

Going to the concert is her birthday present and she is thrilled! Here's her random video she made showing her excitement. Ha ha!



We're going on July 24th and it'll be a blast! The website for the venue even showed us a virtual panoramic view from where we'll be sitting. So cool!! Although since the Jonas Brothers have designed a cool new stage, the view will be different, but Hey! With seats 5 rows from the stage, we can't go wrong! Ha ha!

Free Highlighted Bible on CD

We interrupt this blog to bring you a word from our sponsor...

Okay, I'm going to add a shameless plug here. Ha ha!

My husband's ministry, Eternal Answers Ministry (EAM) is releasing our King James Highlighted Bible in PDF format on CD for FREE (with just $3.00 shipping.) We have had it available for download, but the file size was a bit large so we're now offering it for free on CD. Those of you who have a slower internet connection will love this!

Here's the little blurb from our shopping cart:

"Our Highlighted Bible is an annotated King James Bible with notes and commentary from our own Christian scholars as well as other contemporary and historical commentators on a vast variety of subjects, such as Science in the Bible, Spiritual Truth in the Bible, Biblical History, and much more! We've even included some photos! Currently produced in PDF format."

It's color coded and cross-referenced, and it even explains where we get the Bible and which translation is the most reliable and why... (and yes, there is a difference!)

Here's a link so you can view a sample PDF of the first few pages. You will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the Highlighted Bible. It's a free download and you can find it HERE.

To find out more about our ministry and order the CD, click HERE or click on the link in the right hand panel. For right now, our cart is only set up to ship within the continental USA. (If you live outside the 48 states, email us to find out about shipping costs.)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog... *wink*

Jonas 3D Movie Promotion!

My daughter Taylor made this video of what she did to promote the Jonas Brothers 3D Movie.... with a little help from Mom LOL!





This was SO much fun! I can't wait to take her to see the movie. I may make me a T-shirt with "Moms 4 Jonas" on it. LOL!

Surprise Tickets!

I surprised my daughter Taylor with tickets to see the new Jonas Brothers 3D Movie at our local theater on February 27th. She knew we were going, but she didn't know I had already bought the tickets.



She was VERY excited! Since we are picking up the tickets at the theater when we go, I did a video of the confirmation screen on my PC, and I also printed it out to show her. I'm looking forward to going with her. It should be a Blast!

Jonas Bros 3D Movie!

My daughter and I are getting ready for the Jonas Brothers new 3D Movie! This is a widget to buy advance tickets and we can get points for posting it.
Soooo......






Oooh, and we get points for this one too! LOL!



There ya go! LOL
It's gonna be fun and I can't wait to see it with my daughter. :O)

My Daughter Elf-ed Herself Jonas!

Our daughter Taylor is a HUGE Jonas Brothers fan and she "Elf-ed" herself with the Jonas Brothers (and their little brother Frankie.) This was so cool! LOL!

This was from ElfYourself.com where you can add pictures that are made into elves faces and they do this really spectacular dance! She purchased the little video that was created so I'm adding it here so you can see it. It's a riot!

The quality is better on the original. Uploading it to the blog cut the quality. Sorry. But you get the idea... LOL

It was a very Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was so special this year. We spent it with just our family - just my husband, myself and our kids... a nice quiet day enjoying the blessings God has given us, and the wonderful gift of family. Our oldest son also visited with our grandaughter and she was just a joy!

We had a special addition to our family this year - a precious little doggie who arrived on Christmas Eve. His name is Mr. Bean and he is a little 4 pound Shih-Tzu. Mr. Bean is 4 years old, is very shy and needs lots of love and attention which he is getting and adapting to quite well. :O)

He is such a loving and special little soul, and seems to have become my little shadow. LOL! You can see he's wearing his little DOG SWEATER I designed and crocheted for him. It fits him quite well!

My husband gave me a special gift as well. It holds balls (or cakes) of yarn. With this yarn stand, I can have up to 6 different colors at my fingertips while I crochet! My father-in-law helped him make it. I came up with a much smaller idea, but I didn't expect this! I LOVE it!

I need to add a rubber washer in the middle of the dowel to keep the two cakes separate. This will go well with the Scripture Afghan pattern that my son gave me, and the vintage-type sewing basket from my daughter. My mom used to have one of these when I was a kid and I always thought it was so cool. And I can't wait to try the Scripture Afghan! :O)

Our kids requested that we go nowhere for Christmas day and we gladly granted that wish. We had such an enjoyable day. Just spending time together, having fun and making probably the best Christmas dinner we have ever had! LOL We made a surf-n-turf dinner and it was wonderful! We played some new games and just had a great time! My daughter had a very Jonas Christmas. LOL She was given several gifts of Jonas Brothers items which she loved!

Oh, and my two youngest kids also got me jars of Elderberry Jelly! I love the stuff, and have only been able to get it from Lancaster, PA when someone takes a trip there. So, it's a very special treat for me. :O) Ya know, Smuckers used to sell it in the grocery stores when I was a kid. I miss that. lol

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too! Now, I've got to get started on more crochedting. LOL

God Bless!

I Am Santa Claus!

Okay, it's settled! My husband always says I'm Santa's Chief Elf, but I've got news for him...


Christmas Character by QuizRocket.com

So there! LOL

A Very Merry Christmas to all!

My Life "Stitches"

Okay, I'll periodically update this to keep it current. Here's a little bit about me & mine....

My passion right now is crocheting. I say 'right now' because it used to be decorative painting! I did love to paint, but I've suffered from "burn-out" and just really needed to simplify things. Crocheting seems to fit that bill for me. I've been spending quite a bit of time in and out of hospitals & doctor's offices with my husband who is Diabetic and suffers with chronic pain from Diabetic Neuropathy, as well as other complications from the Diabetes. So, I've found that the crocheting is easy to grab-n-go! And it's so relaxing for me! Taking my crocheting along is a great way to pass time while sitting and waiting. I couldn't do that with the painting.

I'm married to a wonderful man, my hubby John, who is a Christian Apologist. We have a website that features a downloadable highlighted Bible with commentary, pictures, quotes, and more. It's cross-referenced and color-coded by subject matter, such as Science in the Bible, Spiritual Truth in the Bible, Biblical History, and even shows you where we get our Bible and which translation is the most reliable (and yes, there is a difference!) Right now it's in PDF format and the file was getting too large, so we're now offering it free on CD for just the cost of shipping. You can find it here. We have seen so many blessings through this ministry and every day God gives us both the strength to do what He wants us to accomplish. Check out my article, A Little Miracle from God about a very special set of circumstances that happened to us, and was so clearly the hand of God working in our lives that we just have to share it!

We have 3 children; 2 boys and 1 girl, and 1 granddaughter. God has blessed us with a wonderful family and opportunities to pursue His will in our lives. Our oldest son, and daddy to our granddaughter, is 27. Our second son is 14, and our daughter is 12. We homeschool the two youngest. Every Friday night we have "family night" where we watch two old sitcoms (such as The Honeymooners) followed by a good family movie, or once in a while a movie that has to do with what the kids are studying. For instance, we just watched The Right Stuff since they were learning about the 1960's and when we began space travel, the Apollo missions, etc.

Our daughter loves crafts, art, reading, writing and plays the flute quite well! She also is a HUGE Jonas Brothers fan. I enjoy their music as well and we share a lot together through this interest. She will tell you that I'm obsessed (LOL), but I'm not. My "Jonas Brothers" was the Bay City Rollers in the 70's. Both groups have similar fun, pop/rock kind of music that I really enjoy. Okay, okay, I WAS obsessed with the BCRs at the time - literally wallpapered my room with their pics and posters, had every album, knew every lyric, knew all the facts about each member of the band, etc. Oh boy, what fun I could've had if we had the internet and YouTube back then! LOL! My daughter and I both keep track of JoBro television appearances and fun, new videos of them that we send to each other. I have to say, I enjoy that the most - the fun that we share together with this music. When I was a teen and into the Bay City Rollers, I wasn't able to share my "obsession" with my mother since my mom wasn't at all into that kind of music, so she really didn't get what I was so excited about. Now though, my daughter and I can share that fun! I love it! And I totally understand her excitement. :O)

Our 2nd son is very much into military aircraft, paintball, and medieval weaponry. Wow! Hard thing for me to get into, but I do try. He's also into 3D animation and computer graphics and has created some amazing things! My husband understand's that stuff better than I do... I think it's a 'guy thing'. LOL! I do love to watch the aircraft; we live near an airport (though I don't at all want to fly in one, they are fun to watch.) Our son amazes me that he can look at any plane flying in the sky and immediately tell me what kind of aircraft it is! He knows his stuff! And speaking about the Bay City Rollers, I had the chance to totally embarrass him in the grocery store the other day. LOL! Well, isn't it a parent's prerogative to embarrass their kids once in a while? *wink* The song "Saturday Night" by the BCRs came on over the loud speaker and I, of course, got all excited and started to sing along (quietly) and dance (a little). He just wanted to crawl away, but I grabbed his shirt sleeve so he couldn't go anywhere. LOL! Gosh, I love those moments.

Our first son, and oldest, works in sheet metal. He is a wonderful daddy who loves to go snowboarding and sometimes paintball. We don't get to see him as much as I would like due to our conflicting work schedules but we talk on the phone regularly. He has blessed us with an adorable little 2 1/2 year old granddaughter who is just such a joy! She was actually quite fascinated with my crocheting the other night! Cool!

So, there's a glimpse into some of my life "stitches". So, the blog's not going to be *all* crocheting, but I will include a lot, along with little peeps into our lives.

God Bless!