In my mind this post is potentially long, we will see what happens in reality:) I am going to rant and rave a bit, and show some fun photos. I try to keep the blog a happy place, but some things just need to be written.

I think I will start with the ranting and end on happier thoughts.

Another reason I hate word press, is the endless amount of spam comments, I get about 60-100 a day. I have also accidentally marked real comments as spam as they were in the middle of the million spam comments with no way to get them back. SO annoying.

I sent out a custom order today, and did not photograph it before I mailed it . UGGG You will have to use your imagination. My client ordered two vintage quilt wreaths for her double front doors, and she requested red bows. They turned out really cute. You can click here to see the vintage quilt wreaths I have in the shoppe.

****

This is the part that may get long. About two weeks ago Gabby came home with a opt out permission slip for a survey they would be taking in Health class. The permission slip said there may be questions about sex, drug and alcohol use. So, we decided she did not need to be exposed to these types of questions and opted out. We have talked about sex and answered her questions, she is aware there are drugs out there and she is aware of alcohol as we partake.

Last Friday night she informed me that her teacher forced her to take the survey. WHATTTTT?? She said the teacher told her she turned in the permission slip to late. As far as I am concerned up to30 seconds before is not too late. She also raised her hand and said her parents did not want her to take it and the teacher stuck her hand out and basically said too bad.

To say the least, Chad and I are furious. On Monday Chad wrote a letter to the superintendent of schools MO GREEN. I am going to go off on a tanget for a moment. Mo Green is new as the superintendent this year, and he started a campaign “Mo wants to Know”. He asked to community to email and ask questions or state problems and he would address them. The beginning of October I wrote him an email because I found out that he thought he would cancel all holidays in the schools. The kids only get a spring and a winter party. NO HALLOWEEN, Christmas, VALENTINES day, St. Patricks you get the point. I am so upset, who doesn’t remember making/buying valentine cards and passing them out to your classmates. I guess I understand not celebrating Christmas since we have to be politically correct. The point being he never wrote me back and Chad never heard back from him.

Chad then wrote the principal of Gabs school an email. He has been emailing back and forth for most of the week. The principal talked to Gabby and the teacher. The principal has apologized numerous times, but this does not change the fact that our daughter was exposed to unnecessary information and the fact that we her parents we treated as if the teacher has more say then we the parents do. Chad got a copy of the survey sent home with Gabby.

Here are some of the questions my 11year old and other 6th graders were exposed to.

Have you ever seriously thought about killing yourself?

Have you ever made a plan about how you would kill yourself?

Have you ever tried to kill yourself?

Have you ever tried cigarette smoking, even one or two puffs?

Have you ever had a drink of alcohol?

Have you ever used marijuana?

How old were you when you tried marijuana for the first time?

Have you ever used any form of cocaine, including powder, crack, freebase? OMG-

Have you ever sniffed glue, or breathed the contents of spray cans, or inhaled any paints? Introducing a behavior she new nothing about.

Have you ever had sexual intercourse?

How old were you when you had sexual intercourse for the first time?

With how many people have you ever had sexual intercourse with? ( Making it seem ok to have multiple partners.)

Have you ever vomited or taken laxatives to lose weight or keep from gaining weight? ( Once again introducing behaviors she knows nothing about)

Here is one of the responses Chad received, Bureaucracy at its finest:

Mr. Smith,

Regarding the question about the Youth Risk Behavior Survey:

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is administered approximately every two years by the State Department of Public Instruction in school districts across the state of North Carolina. This survey is also used in other states across the United States. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was administered to all the middle and high schools in 2003. The School Health Advisory Council recommended to the Superintendent and Board of Education that the survey be administered again locally to all middle and high schools. The Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation provided funding for the survey via the Guilford Education Alliance which is overseeing the project. The data that is obtained from the administration of the survey is used by various community agencies/organizations and school system staff when developing and updating programs. Thanks.

There is so much more to be said on this topic, but this post is way too long all ready! Chad is thinking about writing an editorial to the local paper. This incident will be notated in the teachers file. BIG DEAL!

*****

On to other happier topics.

Autumn is done here, there are only a few leaves left on the trees. We have officially moved on to winter with temps in the 20’s-30′W. we woke up this morning to snow. Not a lot, but enough to delay the start of school for two hours. I took a photo of the front yard before it all melted.

May not be too exciting to a lot of people who have lived or live where it snows. But for me the CA girl it is neeto. The girls were outside in it this am,they are hoping for a real snow so they can sled down our hill.

I made this quilt. It turned out fine, not exactly how I wanted. Last year I saw a quilt just like this but cuter on Sarah’s blog, I loved it and knew I needed to make one. I love the colors she used. I used what I had laying around.

I just added some vintage flinch cards to the shoppe. They are a bit different than the ones that are all ready there. You can find them in the emphemera category.

Another new item in the shoppe, vintage bingo cards- 10 pack. Check the ephemera category.

Off to knit and relax.

********************WARNING***************************** There are a lot of photos on this post!

Let’s start with things that are bugging me. 1: I decided not to pay for Premium shipping services for my Shoppe, it was an additional fee on top of my web hosting fees. I thought it was not worth it,now I am thinking it may have been. Every order I have received since I canceled this has had goofed up shipping. I thought I fixed the problem and apparently not. If anyone has wanted to place an order and the shipping stopped them, contact me and I will get it straightened out, plus you will get an extra goodie for your troubles. I hope to get the shipping under control in the next day or two.

2: I lost my cell phone:( On Halloween and keep hoping it is going to turn up. It has not, so I have been using Chad’s old cell since then. UGGGG So if you don’t have Chad’s old cell number, email me and I will give it to you! I hate using his phone, it has a dumb ring tone, it is not pink and it has a LA Dodgers screen saver:(

3: Still can’t get the Cache to clear, I found the tab at the top under tools, and I clicked on clear cache and Nothing happened. UGGG Still can’t upload photos on Flock.

I thought there was something else, Hmm.. can’t seem to remember though!

Ok, on to some fun stuff.

Thank you all for the crock pot recipes and the crock pot web site. I am excited to try them.

ATTENTION PINK CHRISTMAS SWAPPERS!!!- Just wanted to make sure everyone is taking the time to get to know their partners. The send by date is November 25th. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

There was a garage sale in my neighborhood over the weekend, so I popped in. The lady who’s house it was at was a crafter and quilter, and a vintage quilt collector, it was heaven.

This is a terrible picture, but this is a whole shadow box full of vintage black glass buttons! Love them!!!!!!

1 skein of verigated eggplant wool yarn, and half of a vintage chenielle comforter. Since this one is all ready cut up I am actually going to use it for crafting and not as a pretty decoration.

One more vintage quilt for my collection! She had about 20 for sale and I would love to have had them all, but this one was cheap and the others were not!

I got this one also, it is a small lap size and was super cheap!

Is this not the cutest vintage rocking horse, I got it for 3$ it looks adorable in Grahams room:)

This is a swap I received for the Pay it forward swap. I love everything, I am so excited about the mica flakes!

I made this neck warmer for my swap partner for the Seceret Santa Fat Quarter Swap. I made myself one and I LOVE it!

Here are all he goodies I sent to my Fat Quarter swap!

This is Grahams idea of an outfit to go outside in! Mind you it was freezing out. The girls and I were cracking up!

Here is Gab jumping into the huge pile of leaves. She hates this picture, I love theat she is in mid air! My girls were a bit hesitant to go in the leaves at first, but they got over it.

Playing in the trees!

Leaf head!

Leaf piles are so much fun!

My three G’s in a pretty red tree.  They are in their grubby clothes, but I love this picture!

Miss Gwen jumping in the leaves. I love the look of joy on her face!

I made these heart ornaments out of a vintage quilt.  I am taking them to the craft fair I am going to and if i make some more, I will put a few in the Shoppe.

I made these trees before Halloween, they are not done yet, I need to fancy them up. Sarah wrote a great tutorial on how to bleach and dye trees.

I made this bunting before Halloween, and I had it hung out front, but it would not stay up. So inside it came, I don’t love it here, so I may relocate it again.

These two were both made before Halloween, this picture doesn’t show how sparkley and glittery it is.

I made these ornaments for the craft show. There is a tutorial somewhere online and if I can remember where I found it I will let you know.

I made this ornament the other day, I am planning on selling it, even though I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE it!  Below is the back, it is vintage wallpaper.

I knitted up this scarf the other night, I am not sure what I am doing with it, it will probably be a Christmas gift!

Sheesh that was a long post!  Making up for the lack of posting lately.  Off to bed! XOXO Jen

The day before Halloween I decided to make some play dough for the kids.  I mainly was making it for Graham thinking the girls would not want to play with it.  I was wrong.

Graham played with it for a long time, he did sample it a few times! Thank goodness it is edible.

Gwen also played with it for a long time, I think she enjoyed it more than Graham.

I got up Halloween morning and made the girls bat shaped sandwiches.  Later when I looked in the fridge this is what I found.  Gab had made it while she was eating her breakfast and snuck it into the fridge.

The girls each had a friend over after school.  We were trick or treating at their house later that evening.  I not only had to get my whole family ready, but the other girls wanted their makeup done and one needed a updo.  I managed to get us all out the door by 5pm. We had to trick or treat the 4 neighbors in our court. We were going to the other neighborhood because we have no street lights, no sidewalks and the houses are really far apart.  Our neighbors are all older people other than my neighbor Robin.  The neighbors were so excited to have trick or treaters, they said it had been 20 years since they had any.  This is the girls walking up our neighbors driveway.

My cute cowboy walking down the street after visiting the neighbors.  He did not want his picture taken, as you will see in the picture I tried to get of the three of them together.

I KNOW this picture is blurry, Chad would not stop walking.  I think it is cute anyway.  I made Chad’s faux boots at 2pm, I almost bought some at the party store, but they were 10$.  I knew I had enough of the fabric from Grahams costume leftover to make his boots.

I just wanted ONE picture of the three of them together.  This was the best one.   Graham wanted to run around since he was out side, not pose for pictures.  Maybe next year:)

Every year I think I am not going to dress up.  Every year on Halloween, I can’t stand not dressing up and I pull something together at the last minute. Chad had been a pirate last year for the girls father daughter dance for Girl Scouts, so I decided to be a pirate with him. It is not the best picture of either of us, but it is the ONLY one we got.

Trick or Treating

Leading the pack. He ran from house to house for much longer than I thought he would.

I decided I needed to take photos of the beautiful trees I am staring at out my windows.  Look at the trees behind my house.

I had to go to the party store on Halloween to get Graham some guns for his costume, and found these grave stones.  They were 75% off, so they were only $1.50 each. I will be super excited to put them out next year.

These are the trees I see out my family room french doors, they are sooooo pretty.

I see this one out my kitchen window.

It is really beautiful here right now, the trees are so amazing.

Have a great Sunday!

XOXO Jen

Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch, it was a beautiful day!

Graham with all of our goodies!

Me and Graham.   Gabby took this photo.

Trying to get a good photo of three kids is always a challenge. This is the best of a ton that I took!

We got home about 4:15 and had to be at the carnival at Grahams school at 5:30. Gwen got ready quickly and only needed me to put freckles on her face. Gabby was originally planning on being goth, but we decided it wasn’t appropriate for the church carnival.  So we dug through the costume totes and she decided to be a fifty’s girl. She got dressed and then I did her makeup. I also dug out my old Minnie mouse costume for Gabs friend Emily. After I applied Gabs makeup I did Emily’s. I then had ten minutes until we were supposed to be there. I woke Graham up and got him in what I thought was going to be his costume.  He was going to be a Train conductor. I was planning on him wearing his overalls.  Well, they were about 3inches short, so he looked like a huge dork!  The freaking out began. I have totes full of little girl fluffy tutus and costumes, but no boy costumes. YIKES!  He ended up wearing the cheetah costume as it was the least girly.

YIKES- the water mark got HUGE!!!

He only got called a girl once!

I made this costume for Gab when she was 4, and Gwen wore it when she was 5.  Graham is not even two, yes it is a little big but still.  Big ol’ boy!

Gwen, Emily & Gabby.

I made & wore the Minnie skirt when I was 19.  I made the poodle skirt for gab when she was in kindergarten, I had to pin it so it would stay on her then, now it fits perfectly.  She has now decided to wear this on Halloween.  She said to me” I wish I could wear poodle skirts every day, maybe we can start a trend”.  That’s my girl!!!

Pretty girls!!

Gab & Emily our neighbor.

Emily needed a costume so I lent her my fifty’s outfit.  I made the skirt and the sweater is vintage!

Tonight we carved pumpkins, Graham was funny. He kept saying EWE!!!

Goof Ball!

Not clear on the concept son, you are supposed to take the seeds out not put them back in!

Gab helping Graham!

Busy girls!

Yummy!

OOOH!

Sweet hands!

Happy pumpkin week!

XOXO Jen

Artsy Mama is hosting an Autumn Gathering party today! You can click on the button below and on the right side of her site is a list of all the participants. I can’t wait to see everyones amazing decorations.

For the Autumn Gathering Party I am going to show some of my decorations and some fun photos of Graham at the pumpkin patch at his preschool.

I actually exist in a photo, it is a miracle. Graham goes to preschool at the Jamestown Methodist, they have a pumpkin patch and hayride on the premises. On Monday it was his classes turn to visit the patch. Here we are on the hayride. The kids loved it.

He looks all sweet and innocent, HA. Two seconds after I took this picture he decided the pumpkins needed to be kicked like soccer balls!

Having fun walking through all the pumpkins.

One of the many pumpkins he sat on.

More pumpkin photos!

Look at my pumpkin!!

I may have posted this before, but I made it and I LOVE IT!!!

This is my vintage printers drawer, I decorate it for every holiday.

Trick or treat sign! Look at the black spider web, I made it and have them in a few windows.  They were really easy to make.

Here is a close up.  All you have to do is take some black puff paint and put it on a no stick cookie sheet in a spider web shape. Let it dry for 24hrs, peel off carefully and stick where ever! I saw this in a magazine, can’t remember which one though!

Here is one view of my foyer!  Not that anyone ever comes to the front door. Everyone comes through the kitchen, NICE!

Both of these were from Martha Stewart Living last year.  This year you can buy the bats all ready made.  I love the thing above the door, it took me forever to cut out! This is the door way into the living room off of the foyer.

These mice were also from Living magazine last year.  This is the stairway off the foyer.  I think you can buy these now too.

These are also in the foyer. They are on top of my hall tree.  These were from Country Living last year or the year before??  Super easy to make, not as easy to store.

One last corner of the Foyer.  I got this shelve a few years ago at a yard sale for 5$.  Usually it is full of girly pink things.  I made the black flowers a few years ago out of tissue paper.

I love this wreath, I got it a few years ago at good old Target. This is on my front door!

Built ins in my family room.

Close up!  These will stay out until thanksgiving.  After Halloween I will take down all the Halloween decor and put up more fall goodies!

My Grandma framed this picture of Gabby and I. I have been putting it out for the last 10 years, I love it, she was so cute!!!

This is in the family room also.  I made the cross stitch at the top.  Gwen drew the witch when she was really little. I think it is the cutest witch ever!  She critiques it because it is not perfect, now that she is older!

Gwen also drew the owl in the foyer next to the shelf!

PHEW, this is the last one.  This is my dining room table.  I will be adding more after Halloween. There are  quite a few more decorations in my house, but this post is long enough.  Plus I was suppose to have it up this am, it is almost 1pmEST! YIKES!

Happy Fall!

XOXO Jen

Today we went to the Harvest Festival at Gwen’s School. We had a lot of fun. Afterwards Gabby said “Graham had the most fun, I had fun with him”. I explained that is what being a parent is like.

As you can tell, Gabby was less than thrilled to pose for this picture!

BOO!

My water mark is miss spelled on this one-NICE!

Gab was not too cool to put balloons on her head:)

Bounce house fun!

I asked Graham if he had fun and he said “YEAHHHH” loudly. Then started crying when I put him in the stroller.

Playing on the playground.

The first time I put Graham on this and stepped back to get a photo he decided to say “three” and jump off. His version of 1.2.3! That is why the girls are cracking up because he was “threeing” again.

Big kid slide all by himself. This slide was very tall, I though he might be scared- NOPE!

Big fun!

THE END

Tomorrow I will be posting my answers for the VPC Swap.

Yesterday I made the girls each a pair of PJ bottoms.  I am going to make the little dude some PJ’s as soon as I find a pattern I like:)

Here is miss Gabby in her new PJ bottoms.  I made them from a pretty vintage sheet. I love how they turned out and am thinking about making my self a pair.

A close up view.  I asked Gab if she knew what the fabric was from and she said “no”.  I told her they are vintage sheets.  EEEW- they probably have wrinkly old people cooties on them.  I told her as I was giggling- I washed them silly goose.

Here is miss Gwenzie Lou in her new PJ bottoms.  They are super soft flannel.  I love the ruffles at the bottom.  They were super easy too.

Close up view.

This is now in the Shoppe.  I have two more that are a bit smaller, that I will be adding to the Shoppe this weekend.

While my in laws were here last week, we went to old Salem . I took this photo in the children’s museum.  Gwen and Grandma Bonnie.

Mr. Graham practicing riding a horse at the children’s museum. Not a great photo of him because he really wanted to get down and try other things.

Don’t the girls look happy?  I made them try on the clothes that were replicas from the 1800’s in old Salem.  I made them do it because they didn’t have the grown up version for me to try on.  Yes, I still love dress up:)

We kept the girls out of school last Friday and went to the zoo with the in laws.  We had such a great day!  This was one of the few pictures I took while we are there because I forgot to check my camera battery before we left. Are they not so cute holding hands, it lasted long enough to get this picture.

Here they are playing in the children’s area at the zoo, I had to drag Graham away. There was also a really cute play ground that Graham loved, no photos though:(

ALL Boy!!

Now I am going to grab some knitting and a blankie and watch Thursday night TV.

Have a great night!

XOXO Jen

Let’s start with books, I read The Woods by Harlan Coben. It was a good suspense/mystery book, I had a hard time putting it down. If you like a good mystery, then this is a good one. I had not read one of Harlan Coben’s books before, but I enjoyed his writing style a lot. I am currently reading a book Called the Isle of Palms, which is set right here in the south, South Carolina to be specific. It is a great book and gives me an insight into what true southerners think. I will be done with it tonight and I have had a hard time putting this one down as well.

Next order of business is: Graham went to preschool yesterday!! He will be going every Monday to the Jamestown Methodist Church preschool program from 9-12. I was worried that he would cry being that he is hardly ever away from me, but he was fine when I left. Phew, nothing is worse than when they cry every time you leave them, Gwen was the WORST. Apparently Mr Graham did well until it was time to go outside, he wasn’t to sure about leaving the safety of the classroom. However once he got outside he was FINE, and then when it was time to go back in he cried again because he DID NOT want to go back inside because he loves to be OUTSIDE! It should be interesting to see how he does next week. It was great for me, I got a ton done yesterday and the best part was that he was tired when he got home, so more time to accomplish things.

Goof ball all ready for his first day of preschool.

I received a swap for the group I am in where we swap Fat Quarters, the theme this time was for Halloween. I love the goodies I got. I still have to finish getting together the one I am sending out, I have it about half ready, it is not due until the end of the month. Also due at the end of the month is another Halloween Swap I am participating in. It is called the Very Vintage Halloween Swap- Hosted at Foxglovesfabric&folly. My partner lives in Southern CA, I have started making things for her, I will post photos of these later in the month.

Isn’t the vintage inspired fabric so cute, I can’t wait to make something out of it.

I finished a baby gift for one of my very dear friends Jenny Mccall. If you are reading this Jenny, stop here and come back after you open the gift!!!! I am so sad to miss being there for the shower and seeing the baby when he is born, because for SOME reason my friends in Napa can not figure out how to send me photos!!

This is my second knitted baby blanket, I love how it turned out. The yarn is a super soft cotton, perfect for cuddling up with.

Here is the whole gift. Blankie, matching newborn hat, burpie and wrapped around it is a navy pacifier clip.

While I was at it I made a burp cloth for the Shoppe. I started making these when I was pregnant with Graham and they became my favorite. My favorite use to be cloth diapers, but these are way cuter, they wash really well and the Chenille is super absorbent. I also decided it was time to get back to making tooth fairy pillows, I started making these a few years back and they were quite popular. So, I decided to get back to them and I am really happy with how this one came out. I will be making more, hopefully this week. You can find this one in the Shoppe under Little Ones.

I love this vintage inspired fabric.

The square vintage doily on the front is actually the pocket for the tooth.

Here is the back!!

North Carolina has introduced us to more nature than I have seen my whole life. Saturday Chad called me outside to look at something, and that something was a SNAKE. EEEEK I said to him that does not look like a good kind of snake, its markings made me think of a rattler. I knew it was not a rattler because there was no rattle. Chad had all ready killed it, so Gab and I took some pictures and the girls went and got our neighbor Brad. He said” I think it is a Copper Head.” YIKES. I ran in an and Googled copper head snakes and sure enough our friend was a copper head. OMG they are not good snakes and Chad being the nieve city boy could have been bitten while he was trying to kill it with the shovel. Apparently he missed a few times, so he was lucky. I am now freaked out about snakes running rampant through our yard. I could barley go to sleep last night, because I was thinking about the kids playing in the yard and getting bitten by a poisonous snake. Welcome to country livin’.

EEK, Yikes, Creepy!

Yesterday I used the rest of the peaches and made a peach crisp, it was gobbled up in less than 24hrs. Tonight I made apple turnovers with more of the apples. I love that they look like the ones you buy at the store. I still have at least 3 dozen apples left. I have no idea what I am going to make next??

Yummy!!

That about sums up the last few days. I guess I should go clean or sew or something while the little dude is napping. XOXO Jen

Today I spent all day in the kitchen, other than the two trips to the grocery store. I started by making apple sauce, then moved on to peach jam. There was still so much fruit left over that I decided to peel and slice a bunch of peaches and freeze them for winter. I then moved on to apple pie, YUMMY!!

Here are all the goodies I made, for all the work it doesn’t look like much.

Here is all the left over fruit, yikes. I am going to make turnovers later in the week.

I am one tired girlie!

XOXO Jen

The reason I haven’t posted much this week is because I was sick and now I am finally feeling normal. Today Graham and I met up with a local Mom’s Group for the first time. We went apple picking at an apple farm in Reidsville NC. All the moms were really nice, and they have a lot of fun things planned. This will be my third time joining moms groups. I was just thinking about the first one I joined when Gabby was a baby, the other two moms were in their late 30’s, I thought they were sooooo old and not hip at all. I am now in my early 30’s and in another moms group. The funny thing is I don’t feel sooo old and unhip. Maybe I am in denial. The funny thing about today’s group is I am pretty sure I had the oldest children there minus Graham. These ladies were about my age some a little older, I think most of them went to college and started their family later. I on the other hand started having babies when I was young. Enough about that, lets get on with the apple picking. Graham and I had a fab time, it was nice weather, no sight of tropical storm Hannah. Here are some photos of our adventure.

Graham is all ready to start picking. I got a good work out pulling my 30lb child in a wagon up and down grassy hills.

He kept picking the ones off the ground and saying ball and then throwing them. Everything round is a ball to this boy. He kept calling our baked potatoes balls last night.

Clearly he knows what to do with this “Ball”.

Can’t remember the types of apples, two of the four types were kinds I have never heard of and maybe they are some native to NC. The other two were red and golden delicious.

Aren’t they sooo pretty!

Here are our apples and peaches waiting for me to make some yummy stuff. They give you this big basket and tell you to fill it up and that when you are done it is 21lbs of apples. The best part is it only cost $8.95 and they are fresh and yummy right off the tree. The peaches were in a basket for $5.50 and there are a ton of them. I am waiting for my Grandma to call me back with some recipes for jam and apple sauce. The girls and I will be busy this weekend making all kinds of yummy things:)

So pretty!!

This is completely unrelated, but I had to share one of the knitting projects I finished recently. Gab wanted fingerless mittens, so I got to work even though she can’t wear them quite yet. we both love how they came out. She said to me yesterday, “I can’t wait for it to be cold so I can wear my new mittens, my black puffy vest and one of the beanie hats you knit for me.” I am almost done with my first sweater, it is for the little dude and it is turning out great, one more sleeve to go.

Off to play with my apples.

XOXO Jen