I have read a few books lately so I will give you my review of them. The first book I finished was Miss Julia Strikes Back by Ann B. Ross. This is the 6th or 7th book in the Miss Julia series, I have read them all so far. They are easy reads, the nice thing about them is they are very sweet and innocent. Miss Julia is an older lady with very high moral standards, which makes the stories comical.

The Next Book I read was Three Weeks In Paris by Barbara Taylor Bradford. This wasn’t a book I would normally pick to read, but I had it in a box of books and thought I would give it a try. It was ok, I wouldn’t go out and buy it.

The last book I read was Blood Memory by Greg Iles. Chad got it from our neighbor and he put it on my nightstand, and I avoided reading it for a while because of the title. It sounds like a gory book, but it wasn’t too creepy. I actually couldn’t put it down, it was a great mystery.

I actually finished a book while waiting t0 finish this post which I started over the weekend. My Grandma gave it to me to read while she was here. It was set in the mid to late 1930’s and was an interesting story. It is Atonement By Ian Mcewan. It was a good historical fiction, I liked it but didn’t Love it. For some reason I can not add the book photo. Oh well.

On to the next topic: I received a blogger award! Yippee! Mary at Now Entering Momville so nicely gave me this Blogger award. Mary is such a sweet gal and she has a ton of great give aways.

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I am having trouble inserting photos right now, not sure why.  The Shoppe is having a back to school sale, most items are reduced.  Check it out and tell a friend.  Hopefully I can get the intended post up tomorrow with photos of all the goodies from the Estate Sale last weekend.

XOXO Jen

Yesterday went better than Sunday, we got to Gabs School around 11:15-that would be me and all three G’s.  We turned in the paper work AGAIN and  she checked to see if Gabs file was there and guess what it was. So someone messed up at the middle school and I am pretty sure it was Gabby’s counselor because I think she was the one who called me to verify that Gab was attending the school. Then the receptionist lady tells me the counselors will not be back until later today.  What- the lady last night told me they would be here all day.

So we marched out of there not very happily and we went to the main office and asked to speak with the principal or vice principal.  The principal was not there so a very nice vice principal took us into the conference room and I nicely explained the situation.  He felt terrible and was super nice, he gave us a very nice tour and we met a few teachers.  We got done about 12:15 and we decided to wait for a bit to see if the counselors showed up.  FINALLY at 1:00ish she showed up. We walk into her office and she says I remember you from last night. EEK- it was the lady I wasn’t very nice to.  I ignored her comment and went on with the process of getting some classes for Gabby.  It ended up working out good because she got into a PE class with three of her friends and on the same team as Carly.  We also made sure she got classes in the main 6th grade hall and not outside in the bungalows.  We finally left at 1:30. Graham had not had a nap so he went home had some lunch and went straight to bed. We got our cookies made and Gabby’s bag made despite all the time spent at the school.

Last night was terrible though, Graham has a cold and he is the BIGGEST wimpy boy on the planet.  I got 2.5 hours of sleep last night. The worst part was I had a 24 hour stomach flu that started Sunday night when we got home from the orientation.  I didn’t throw up at least.  I feel better today minus the lack of sleep.

Here are photos of the girls on their first day of school.

My big girl off to her first day of middle school. 

A better view of the bag I made her yesterday.  She had to have black and a peace sign. I let her pick the fabrics and then I whipped it up.  It is not what I would have chosen, but she loves it. I cut both of the girls hair a few nights ago, Gabby loves hers, again I would of chose a different style, but it is her hair.

My third grade girlie:)  I cut her hair really cute and she had to wear it in a pony tail. UGG

It was raining today but she had to wear her shorts, fortunately it was not cold. Shes not stubborn at all:)

They both had a good day today.  Gwen had two friends in her class and made a new one.  Gabby made two new friends and is excited to go back tomorrow.  Which makes me happy.  It was also a very peaceful morning because the girls leave at different times so there was no fighting.  Yeah for me:)  Graham and I laid about like lounge lizards and we took a few naps.  It has been so yucky out I haven’t been able to get decent photos of the estate sale goodies from the weekend.  Hope I can get them taken soon.  Off to knit and relax.

XOXO Jen

I had a different post I was working on, but I just had to vent about our experience today.

Today was Gabby’s middle school orientation.  We got a sitter for the other two G’s and excitedly Chad Gab and I went to the school.  We arrived at 4:02, it started at 4p.  The gym was packed and people were standing in the hall outside the gym.  So there we stood while the teachers were introduced and the principal talked and we could hear NOTHING!  When that was over everyone piled into the gym and the kids stood in line to get their class schedule.  Chad and I sit on the bleachers waiting patiently for Gabby.  She comes back a bit later empty handed and says”they don’t have a schedule for me.”  WHATTTTTT!!!!  They also told her to go back upstairs and talk to the lady in the black dress.  So we stand in line and wait to talk to the lady as the line behind us grows HUGE.  We were feeling thankful we got in line when we did.  It is finally our turn and she looks up and down her paper and says, you are not on the list. WHATTTT!!!  They called me a month ago to verify that Gab was going to be attending and I confirmed and they said everything is ready to go.  Apparently not!  At this point I am panicking, not registered now what.  So, as calmly as I could manage I asked the lady how this is possible and she had no clue. Especially since the elementary school Gab attended is in the same district and they transfer over the records and THEY CALLED ME ti verify enrollment, you would think this would not happen.  So the lady proceedes to tell me that we have to register and fill out a mountain of paper work and show proof of residence, birth certificate and imunization records, and come back tomorrow. A little less calmly I ask her how is she going to know where her classes are, she was going to get to meet her teachers and who knows what else.  The lady pretty much said SORRY come back tomorrow!  I turn around and walk off, mad as can be.

Chad suggests we go back down to the gym and double check to make sure they didn’t miss her schedule and check under Gabrielle instead of Gabby.   Down we go back to the gym, we get to the lady and she checks and re checks and NO schedule, she apologized, not that it is her fault.

At this point I am internally hysterical on the verge of tears, which for me is rare.  I am not a crier, maybe at a sad movie, but normally I do not cry much. Chad is trying to keep the peace and suggesting that we go look at the classes, nope I say, there is a line to get in the 6th grade hall a mile long and Gab had all ready done a tour with her elementary school, so she knows where the 6th grade hall is. At this point I put on my sunglasses so if I do burst into tears I can sort of hide it.  I am walking out of the gym ahead of Gab and Chad at a super speed, and of course at that moment Gabby sees her friend Carly walking towards us with her mom who I have met once.  I could not talk to anyone at that point so I just kept on going like I didn’t see them. I am sure they think I am a raving B***H!  Gab and Chad chatted with them for a minute. I waited upstairs, holding back tears.  They find me and out of the building I storm, straight towards the car, Chad and Gab in tow. They though I was furious which I was, but I was mostly trying not to cry in public.  We get into the safety of the car and her come the tears. I tried to hold them in until we got home so Gab didn’t have to witness it, no such luck. I just wanted her to feel comfortable, here we moved her all the way across the US and she has to go to two new schools in 6 months. I was by far, more upset than she was, I know how hard it is to start at a new school and know no one.  All you mother’s out there know how badly you want your child’s experiences to be perfect and when things don’t go right you want to do whatever you can to protect them from hurting.

Tomorrow we will go back with our paper work and I will have to take all three kids, which will not be fun because Graham is a wild toddler.  They will be giving us a full personal tour and we will be meeting all of her teachers!  I will try to remain calm, Chad is much better in that department but he has to go to work!

If I have time tomorrow between registering, making chocolate chip cookies for the girls lunches for the first day of school Tuesday and finish making Gabs book bag, I will try to get my original post done.  I hit an estate sale over the weekend.  Off to bed!

XOXO Jen

Today is my little sisters 30th birthday, it is the first time in her whole life that I have not been with her on her birthday.  Except one year a few years ago the girls and I had the stomach flu.

Here we are in Santa Cruz at the boardwalk last summer.

Happy Birthday, I really miss you!  I hope you have a good  birthday. PS you are getting old-Love Gabby

Happy Birthday, I really miss you so so much!!! PS you are not getting old like Gabby said!- Love ya so much!-Gwen

Graham helped make his sign:)

Had to put this one in, I love Grahams scowly face!

Sister-I hope you have a happy day.  We miss you terribly and wish we could be with you to celebrate this big day. You are my best friend and the best sister ever, I hate that we live so far apart.  Maybe someday we will live near each other again:)  Welcome to your 30’s!!! I love you!!

XOXO Jen

I have been meaning to address this for a while. There are all these bags, t-shirts &stickers out there with the saying go green- live simple. Green living is definitely not simple, who comes up with these slogans??

I realize this on the third trip hauling all of our recycling down our long hilly driveway, then rinsing our indoor recycling receptacle to start the process all over again. It is way easier to use the store provided bags than remembering to bring your reusable ones. I could go on and on, but lets not.

I feel like we have made some good changes towards being more “green.” I made reusable shopping bags and actually have been using them. I immediately put them back in the car after unloading them, or I will forget them. The really awesome thing is my grocery store gives out Green Points, you get 50 points per bag you bring with you. You can then redeem the points for items, I have redeemed my points for a free gallon of milk, a box of butter, juice, bread and a few other things. I love this program. On the rare occasion that I forget my bags, I ask for paper because I can use them for my newspaper recycling.

We have been using the cloth napkins I made, we leave them in the napkin holder on the table and use them just like we use to use the paper ones. We still have to use paper once in a while, but we have had the package of paper napkins for twice as long and there is still a quarter of a package left. I throw them in with the laundry I am doing daily anyway and we pretty much always have clean napkins. They look cute too:)

My Mom and Grandma use to watch the girls when we would go on trips, and when I would get home, they would tease me about the amount of products in my bathroom. I had a large tub with this two foot deep shelf, it held A LOT. Bubble bath, shampoo, conditioner, body scrub, bath salts and many more. The sad thing is there was more than one of each item. I also had two medicine cabinets with hair, body and face products and under my side and part of Chad’s side of the double sink. What is the point of this you ask? I moved almost all of that stuff, minus a few that were just icky across the US from CA to NC. I decided that I am using it all up before buying more. I am also recycling the containers if they are recyclable. I have made a dent in the stash, however it may be 2009 before I use it all.

I am also trying to buy organic and natural cleaning products whenever possible. There are a lot of great ones out there. My grocery store has a line called full circle, and they make a great window cleaner. I feel like this is not only better for the environment, but better for the health of my family. I have yet to see a cleanser that is natural. Maybe it is out there and I haven’t found it yet?? Anyone found any great products, I would love to hear about them?

I know you are suppose to recycle batteries, where on earth do you take them??? I had a bag full of old yucky batteries sitting on the sink for about a week and Chad was freaking out- He says “These are a fire hazard.” I say “I want to recycle them.” This pacified him for a few days then we had to leave for vacation and he made me throw them out.

I have been recycling my paper towel rolls, which leads me to thinking about toilet paper rolls. Should I be recycling these? Probably. How is this living simpler?? I don’t mind doing it, I just think the saying is funny! I am now getting my bills online to reduce paper, hope I can remember to pay them:) Actually my bank has an automatic bill delivery system, it works out great.

There are a few things that I have going against the whole Green thing, that I can not give up. I have a big ole gas guzzling SUV. I also use diapers from the store. Although they go back and forth about which is worse the diapers in the land fill or the energy used to clean and dry the diapers. There is no way on Gods green earth I could deal with cloth diapers. My hats off to all you moms out there who have and do use them! Another is my air conditioner, I know it uses a lot of energy, but I have a ten degree comfort zone(according to Chad) and if I am really hot I am USELESS. The according to Chad references the ten degree zone and the uselessness is a fact. I’m sure there are more, but it is getting late and I want to show you a few photos.

I made this today, it is yet one more attempt to be GREEN. It is a lunch bag for Gabby. It is made out of oilcloth I had in my stash. The nice thing about oilcloth is it is super durable and easy to clean. Last year Gabby was too cool to carry a lunch pail, so she used brown bags. We have been getting ready for school to start next week and I asked her if she wanted to make a reusable one and she loved the idea. I let her pick the fabric of course she chose the black and not the cute pink with the strawberries. The really cool thing is, while I was sewing she asked if she could make some reusable napkins for her lunch bag. I said of course, pick out some fabric you like. she picked out 6 different fabrics and tomorrow she is going to serge them. Fun for her and earth friendly.

This is my brown bunny Gwen, she got the good olive skin from Chad and not the pasty WHITE skin from me! She is making a funny face, guess it is the age. She is sporting her new school bag. I, in the old school term call it a book bag, they have no idea what I am talking about when I say this. We made this yesterday. A friend in Napa had given me a ton of old jeans a year or two ago and being the saver of everything brought them across the US. It pays to save things! I say this because Chad goes CRAZY with my- lets keep it just in case.

We decided this would be another way to be GREEN, by not buying another back pack that gets thrown away or given to the good will at the end of the school year. We are both happy with how it turned out.

I let her help design it, which was fun for her. She had enough ideas for about 10 bags. I started with a pair of old jeans, added some vintage barkcloth to the bottom, ironed on a cute birdie that I got from a swap buddy, sewed the belt material and ran it through the belt loops, I then made the little charm thing from some discarded jewelry, I used part of the cut off leg for the straps, I lined it with a vintage sheet, I used denim pockets from another pair of jeans on the inside and pinned a flower to the back pocket.

Close up of the birdie and the charm thingy. The cool thing is we reused a pair of jeans, a sheet, some old jewelry and fabric from my stash.

Inside view. She actually chose the vintage sheet for the inside:)

Rear view.

Now miss Gabby and I are going to come up with a bag for her to use for school. She wants skulls and black and crazy designs, we will see how that goes.

I know this was a looooong post, however as soon as I get in bed I will think of something I forgot to write about. If you have any GREEN ideas, I would love to hear them.

XOXO Jen

We arrived home yesterday after a week at lovely Holden Beach, NC.  The weather was great except one day it rained all day.  The rest of the week it was perfect, high 80’s and the water was about 85 degrees. My grandma, Carl and I put together five puzzles over the week.  Gwen got stung by jellyfish two different times, and a mosquito bit her eye and it practically swelled closed.  Despite it all, she had a great time and was sad to leave.  Gabby also got stung by a jellyfish, not nearly as bad as her sister.  We visited the beautiful Wilmington, NC, where we took a horse drawn carriage ride through the historic district.  I love Wilmington, it is so pretty.  We also visited the Battleship North Carolina.  The girls surprisingly really liked it.  Chad was in the Navy way back when he was 18, so it was fun for them to ask him questions.  I enjoyed it too, other than when we went down into the bottom of the ship, I got terribly claustrophobic and hurried back to the top.  **************Warning there are a lot of photos.

This is the kind of family photos I get, Gwen has a swollen eye, and no one but me is looking at the camera. Oh well!

Graham and my Papa Jim looking at the boats in Wilmington.

Gabby and Graham walking in Wilmington! I tried to get all three together, it didn’t work out so well.

Gab & Gwen in the kitchen of the USS North Carolina.

The little man thinking he is hot stuff.

Hubby and two of the G’s on some part of the ship.

Miss Gwen

Gabby peaking out of a port hole.

My mom, Grandma and Graham relaxing on the beach.  You can also see Gwen in the background.

Graham & Papa Carl.

My Dudes- I have no idea what they were looking at, but it seems pretty serious.

I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked, we were too busy.

XOXO JEN

We worked on the girls bathroom over the weekend. Chas worked really hard to get the floor and the painting done. Unfortunately the before photo is not so great, the Realtor took it.  I thought I had taken a photo before he started the work, but I didn’t so you will have to look at the poor one from the Realtor.

Here is the before.  The floor was HORRID.

Gabby decided on a Paris theme, so we went with black and white floors and pale pink walls, with the pretty blue tub and toilet.

We still need to paint the cabinets black. I also need to make a window treatment. The girls and I are going to project the Eiffel Tower on the wall to the right that you can see better in the photo above.  It would be great if we actually finished a project all the way. Oh and a new faucet.

One more view.

We got a lot done before the fam arrived today, so we feel pretty good.  Now we can go relax at the beach:)

Off to bed since little man didn’t sleep at all last night.

XOXO Jen

Just a quick little post to show you what items I have added to the store.  Only two new ones for the moment, many more to come!

The lovely vintage formal is now in the shoppe.

Fun vintage handbag is also in the Shoppe.

I am still cleaning and getting ready for the fam, they arrive tomorrow!!  The yarn store no longer has the yarn I need to finish the sweater I am knitting for Graham, so now I have to order it online. UGGG I really wanted to finish it:(  Now I have to start another knitting project.  Not sure what though.

I need a good book to take to the beach next week, any suggestions???

Back to housework!

XOXO Jen

It’s going to be a short one today.  I am frantically organizing and cleaning for my family’s arrival on Thursday.  Chad has been busy installing the bathroom floor upstairs because the old one was rotten.  If I get a chance I will take a picture.  I got all the stuff out of my living room, so it looks like somewhere you could actually go sit.  Today I need to deal with the entry way and dining room, make curtains for the guest bedroom and the upstairs bathroom, go to the grocery store, and finish laundry.  Yikes it is 10:10 all ready.  I just got up a few minutes ago because Graham had me up all night because he has a COLD, ugg terrible timing.

I may have to go to the yarn store today also.  I am making Graham a sweater, it is super cute and I only need to finish the sleeves.  But I ran out of yarn, hence the trip to the yarn store. I really want to finish it, not that he is going to be wearing it anytime soon.

You know how I hate a post with out pictures so here are a couple of my funny little man.  He had just woken up from a nap and had to bring his nigh-nigh with him.  In this one he decided it would be best to store it on his head while he played with his toys.  I made Graham about 6 different blankies and does he choose one of them as his favorite??  NOOOO, he chose the one Chad’s aunt made him.  She made him a blankie and a pillow case to match and we use the pillowcase as back up nigh-nigh, it works well for wash time.  I am pretty sure this is the pillowcase.

Here he is giving nigh-nigh big loves, too cute.  Hopefully my mother in law will see this and let Chad’s aunt know to check it out, because it is always exciting when someone really LOVES what you make.

Last item for the day is:  the sheets I got over the weekend.

I threw these vintage sheets in the wash as I do with all vintage linens.  I thought they seemed larger than others I have and decided to look at the tag.   They are KING sized.  My bed is a queen double pillow top, so they fit great, YIPPEE.  The top sheet has plenty of room to tuck in, which can sometimes be a problem with the double pillow top. I happen to love them a lot, so for two dollars I have a really nice set of sheets.

Have a great day!

XOXO Jen