Saturday Morning Photos

These were meant to be Friday Night Photos--a week ago!--but better late than never. Most of the photos I have on my phone are of recent projects I've worked on. I'll put those in a separate post though. I've been really into sewing lately, and it's been so cold outside (we had frost on the ground yesterday!) that I haven't been motivated to work on outdoor things. I *need* to clean the garage; during the winter, we just toss things in there to put away in the spring.

It's been an emotional week. Last weekend, just a few miles from me, a woman was driving drunk at about 3:00 in the afternoon and drove her car right into the side of a boat clubhouse. Where there was CHILD'S BIRTHDAY PARTY happening. She hit and injured 15 people and two kids died--siblings, ages 4 and 8 years. An older sibling and mom are still hospitalized and there was a candlelight vigil at the boat club last night.

Doesn't that just rip your heart into pieces? I have ZERO sympathy for that woman and I hope she rots in prison (she is currently out on $1.5 million bond). She has taken no responsibility and has shown no remorse. She was going so fast through the parking lot that she went 25 feet INTO THE BUILDING before her car stopped. And that was after she'd hit a parked car shortly beforehand. I am simply devastated for those kids and families that not only were injured, but there to witness it! There is no coming back from that kind of trauma. 

Okay, I've thought about it so much this week that I need to move on for now. It's horrific and I can't stop thinking about that poor mom who lost two of her kids and now has a huge recovery ahead--both her and her 11-year old son had severe injuries.

I thought I had a lot more photos than this, but that's probably because of all the photos I took for the baseball team. Speaking of baseball, Eli decided to leave the team. He'd been playing baseball since he was three years old! However, the varsity coach kind of sucked all the fun out of the game for him (and several other kids) and he decided he'd rather spend the time at work to save up for a car. Eli said it had been on his mind non-stop and he put a lot of thought into whether he wanted to continue playing; once he made the decision and told his coach, he said it felt like a huge relief. He seems happier and his mood is so much better! I didn't realize how much it had been affecting him.

Anyway, here are a few photos that have been hanging out on my camera roll...

When Luke and Riley were at Brian's one weekend, we went over there to see them. They have this play equipment that hangs in a doorway (a swing and these rings below). I was trying to describe to Riley how she could probably do a backflip with the rings and I wasn't doing a very good job explaining... so I decided to demonstrate for her, hahaha. I hadn't tried it since I was a kid, and I had no idea if I was going to fall and break my back, but I managed to do it. And it was so fun! Riley took this picture of me while I was hanging upside down.

The kids were leaving the following day for Texas (just a short trip with Brian) so there wasn't time for me to take them to Barnes & Noble for Luke's birthday tradition. I am going to take him the next time they are here, but in the meantime, I had gotten him a book that I was planning to buy since before he was ever even conceived. It's a book by Dr. Seuss called "My Book About Me" (Amazon affiliate link), and it's a fill-in-the-blank book for kids to fill in. My parents got one for each of my siblings and me, which we filled out when we were about six or seven years old. Luke just turned seven, so I thought it was a good time. (This is seriously a fantastic gift for a 5-7 year old! I still have the one I filled out. Maybe I'll dig it out and post some of it.)

Here, Luke was starting to fill out the book. I noticed he was writing with his left hand and I said, "Luke, I didn't know you were left-handed! Do you always write with that hand?" and he said, "No, I can write with both hands" and he switched to his right hand and continued. BAHAHA.

Meanwhile, Riley took each of us (Jerry, my mom, Brian, and me) upstairs individually to 1) style our hair, and 2) make us a name tag. I wish I had gotten a picture of my hair! She put a lot of spray-in conditioner in it and slicked it down on my head and put a bow on top. It was... not my usual look. Ha! Usually, when I tell the kids I have to leave, Riley jumps in my arms and asks me to stay longer. This time, I said, "Riley, we are going to have to head out in a few minutes" and she replied with zero hesitation, "You need to take out that bow!" The kids are SO funny; I wish they didn't grow so much between each visit.

Jerry and I went to Goodwill one day and we shopped around by ourselves before meeting up at the checkout area. I saw this Friends mug (what an awkwardly shaped mug!) and I knew I *had* to buy it for Jerry without him seeing it. I tucked it under some clothes in my cart and then totally forgot about it until we were at the checkout. It went something like this:

Jerry: "You got the mug!"

Me: "What do you mean?" (realizing then that I meant to hide it and forgot)

Jerry: "I was going to buy that Friends mug and hide it from you!"

Me: "That's what I was doing for you!"

So, we had each seen it and Jerry just left it on the shelf until he could go back for it without me seeing. When he went back, it was gone. Because it was in my cart, haha. I think I'm going to plant some cat grass in it.

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? ;)

Could Duck look any more evil?

Jerry was DYING to get his hands on one of these ghost trap popcorn buckets from the release of the new Ghostbusters movie. As soon as they were available, he drove to a theater about an hour away in order to buy one. Then he went back two more times to get the smaller sized ones to send to Luke and Riley. They sold out super fast, but he managed to get them.

Jerry, Eli, and I went to see Ghostbusters. Unlike Star Wars, I actually do like Ghostbusters (nothing like Jerry does, but I think it's a cute nostalgic movie). 

My dad asked if I'd make a pecan pie for Easter. I've made them a million times--my dad loves my pecan pies--but something SO ODD happened this time. I have no idea why, but it puffed up during baking(?!) and the texture was totally off. I am a self-admitted terrible baker, but I make a killer pecan pie; this was so strange! My dad said it still tasted good though.

I finally made something with the Friends fabric that I'd gotten. I had planned to make Jerry and I matching pajama pants, but I thought this would be more fun. These are backrest pillows and they're SO comfy. Jerry and I don't have a headboard, so they are nice for sitting up in bed (usually we just stack a bunch of pillows on top of each other). 

I've been on a really good sleep schedule (lights out at 9:00 pm) and it's been working out great, BUT I wake up way too early. I honestly think my body only wants six hours of sleep because it's practically impossible to sleep longer than that. So, I usually end up waking up at around 3:00 and I try to stay in bed until 4:00. So, I've started reading my Kindle before I even step foot out of bed.

Way back in the late 90's, I read a book called "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin De Becker (Amazon affiliate link) after seeing him discuss the book on Oprah. It was SO fascinating to me and I carried a lot of the into with me throughout the years. The book was partly the reason I chose psychology for my major in college. I don't know what prompted me to want to read it again, but I started it and was sucked in immediately. It's about listening to your intuition and how the tiniest details can predict someone's behavior. I highly recommend that everyone read this--especially women.

When Jerry and I were at Goodwill, I saw a pair of pants with this tag and I thought the tag was so cute! I've been saving some tags to put on a bag one of these days, so I've been paying more attention to them. I didn't want to buy these just for the tag, so I at least took a picture.

I made some serious progress putting my jeans quilt back together. I finished the quilt top and I love how it looks. However, I started quilting it and it looks terrible now. I am just not cut out to be a quilter! I thought the hardest part would be sewing through the thick layers but that wasn't a problem at all--I've sewn through much more than this before. However, the quilt top sort of bunches up while I'm sewing (even with a walking foot) and after reading about it, I think it's because the backing was too taut. So, it's going to look homely, but that's what I love so much about denim--I think it looks best when it's kind of messy. So this quilt is going to have character! ;) I'll post a pic when it's totally done.

When I was feeling sad after hearing about the drunk driver, I looked at a bunch of "eye bleach" memes (basically, really sweet and wholesome memes/quotes to make me smile). I really liked this little story:

I took this picture of Chick yesterday--he was SO out of it. He's so chill; the polar opposite of Duck, who has as much anxiety as I do. Peas in a pod, me and Duck.

Duck was digging through some things I have in my night table, and I grabbed my phone to take a video of him. As soon as I started it, he sensed I was there and then leapt toward me to check out my phone. It shows his "curious" look very well.

I found this neck tie at Goodwill and I loved it. I bought it in order to use the fabric on something--haven't decided what yet--because it was too unique not to. I love that a 13-year old boy designed it for the Save the Children Fund organization.

That's all I've got for now. Have a great weekend! xo