My Latest Project

Okay... Here she is... my latest finished project (I have several in the works). This little girl is entirely crocheted and is 21 inches tall. I'm not perfectly happy with her facial features. The pattern said to sew the mouth and nose on using ribbon, which is what I did. I just think something needs to be different. Maybe I'll figure it out before I make the next one. You should be able to view a larger image by clicking on the picture.

I have some other great news!! My dad goes to his first day at Head Start on Tuesday of next week!! I'm SSSOOOO proud of him and happy for him. I'm sure he'll get along just fine with all the other kids. Seriously... Dad is the new cook for Head Start in Houston. I think he said there are 19 children who attend school there and they're all three to four years in age. I just know he'll like it. He's so good with kids and they absolutely adore him! Congratulations, Daddy!!

I cycled a couple of nights this week, but still haven't ridden as much as I need to. The weather is supposed to be fabulous for us tomorrow (sunny, slightly breezy, and a high of 84 degrees), so I'm going to try to ride somewhere between 60 and 80 miles tomorrow. There isn't an organized ride due to the holiday weekend, so I'll just be riding a 20 mile loop that I ride very frequently.

I'm going to close for now. I have a couple of cards that I need to get finished (I guess I need to start them before I can finish them) before I go to bed. TTFN!

I finally got a training ride in!! WOO-HOO!

I managed to get a 21 mile ride in this evening. It was a little more difficult than the last time I made that trip because I've been slacking the last several weeks. Time to crack down!!

I also made a card when I got home tonight. This is made using the "Booglie Eyes" stamp set with card stock in Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum, and Wild Wasabi. The characters are water-colored. Aren't they just adorable?

TTFN!!

Not Doin' Much...

I haven't posted in a while because I really haven't been doin' too much. I really need to be doing more cycling than I have been in the last several weeks, so I'm going to get REALLY serious about it again... tomorrow. I PROMISE!! I'm going to load up all my gear and my bike tonight so that I have no excuse when 5:00 PM rolls around tomorrow. The best places for training rides are on the farm roads outside of town. By riding those roads I eliminate all of the stops that have to be made in town and can really get some speed up.

I have really enjoyed the wildlife in our back yard this week. We have recently had several hummingbirds frequenting the feeders on the patio. I know there are at least two males and one female because all three of them were at the feeders at the same time yesterday afternoon. Despite the squirrels being a nuisance in my garden this year, I did enjoy watching one sneaking food from the bird feeders outside the dining room yesterday. I had just filled the feeders and the birds hadn't discovered the food yet. It doesn't take those squirrels long to find anything. The pictures didn't turn out very well, but I think they look fairly good for pictures that were taken through a tinted window with a screen in it.


These next pictures are some of the cards I've made recently. I can't take the time to list all the supplies used, right now, but will try to come back later and add that information.

I talked to my brother, David, who lives in Dekalb, IL (suburb of Chicago) on Friday morning. I had seen the severity of the storms that had moved through that area Thursday night in Friday mornings news. Unfortunately, they were one of many families evacuated Thursday night due to flooding. The water was waist high, at one point, inside their house. They are trying to salvage some of their belongings today. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. They have friends to stay with, but I can't imagine how stressful and trying the whole situation must be for them.

Short (But Sweet) Trip

Well, I'm back from Chicago and we had an AWESOME time! Sue and I spent the weekend at David and Karie's. Eric and Alysia were there, too. I absolutely adore the two sisters-in-law, whom I've met, and I'm sure I'll love Tiffani when I have the opportunity to meet her, as well. Saturday afternoon we made a trip to Lisle, IL to visit my Uncle Len and Aunt Gail for a cookout. The hospitality and the food were fabulous and there was never a second when I didn't feel like family. I was also able to meet my cousin (second cousin, I believe), Bob and his wife, Lynn. After dinner, we all moved to the living room where David, Bob, and Uncle Len entertained us by playing the guitar and banjo and singing. I enjoyed talking to everyone SO much and really wasn't ready to leave when it was time to go. David cooked breakfast for us on Saturday and Sunday and he is an excellent cook. I also met my Nephew, Caleb, and he is SUCH a cutie! It was just a great weekend filled with fun and family. I am so blessed!

Here is a link to pictures from the weekend. Some of them were taken without a flash because I was trying to "sneak" them, so they're pretty grainy. Most of them turned out okay, though.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nos1qyw.afsd4fxk&x=0&h=1&y=290e5t

If you would like copies of any of the photos, please e-mail me at jegoslee@sbcglobal.net and I'll print them and mail them to you. Please indicate which photos you'd like to have. You can also order them through my Kodak gallery. TTFN!

United Way Day Of Caring

I spent the day, yesterday, with two of my bestest friends - Christy and Joni. We volunteered to participate in the United Way Day Of Caring and were assigned to paint at the Family Violence Center here in Springfield. We painted one bedroom and then were assigned to apply Kilz to the front entrance area of the building. I was amazed by the number of volunteers who had donated their time for this cause. I had fun working with Joni and Christy, but I think we all had headaches from the paint by the time we finished.

Well, I'm off to Chicago. I will be meeting my uncle Len and his wife and spending time with my brothers, David and Eric. Sue and I are driving up together and will be leaving within the next half hour. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get back and let you know how things went.

Have a great weekend! TTFN!

Doin' What I Love Best

Sometime yesterday I decided that I wasn't going to do anything last night except what I love the most... being creative. I didn't cook, I didn't eat, I didn't cycle, I just created. ...And thoroughly enjoyed myself while doing it. I came up with three new cards. This first card was made using the "Pick A Petal" and "Hugs & Wishes" stamp sets. I really like the way it turned out.


These next two cards are a result of trying to come up with ideas for a class where we'll make halloween items only. This card was made using the "Home is Where the Haunt Is" and the "Party Punch" sets. The cat is the only image from "Party Punch".

...And this card was made using "Booglie Eyes", which is probably my favorite halloween stamp set. The "BOO" letters were cut using my Cricut (I LOVE that thing!!).

That's all I have for now, but will post more later. I will be out of town this weekend, so you may not hear from me until the first of next week. TTFN!

I'm Pooped!

We had a super exciting day today. Part of my family was here today for a cookout. It dawned on me, not long after everyone left, that I didn't take any pictures. No one else did, either, so I don't have any pictures to post. Actually, I've noticed a pattern to my picture taking and I'm going to have to make a conscious effort to change my ways. If the get-together is not at our house I ALWAYS take my camera and take pictures. If the get-together is at our house, I never even think about picking the camera up. HHHHHMMMM.... I'm going to have to work on that! We had 11 of us all together and would have had 13 but my brother, Philip, and his girlfriend, Jamie, were unable to be here. Our visitors included my mom and dad; my brother, Derek, his girlfriend, Tammy, and Tammy's daughter, Anna; and my Uncle Paul and Aunt Marie. I attempted to grill burgers outside, but we had a small grease fire incident and I moved it inside to the George Foreman grill. That slowed down the cooking process tremendously since it took about 5 minutes to cook a burger as opposed to the 30 seconds it took to cook skeet in the grease fire. Everyone brought something, which really helps out and I think it makes it more fun since we get to sample everyone's cooking. Mom and Dad brought potato salad, macaroni & cheese, and homemade pound cake with fresh peaches. Marie and Paul brought "Marie's Scrumdiliumptious Fruit Salad" (That's what I think I'll call it from now on... and YES... I made that word up) and homemade pies. I was so stuffed after dinner that I couldn't hold any pie, but I know it's good because I've had her pies before and loved them! Derek and Tammy brought chips, buns, and other hamburger and hot dog accessories. I made baked beans and sliced up all the veggies. It was a REALLY good meal, but I'm REALLY wishing I hadn't eaten so much!!

Other than our cookout today, the weekend was fairly quiet. The kids chose to stay with their mother this weekend, with the exception of a few hours today. I spent yesterday cleaning house and putting another 7 quarts of green beans and 5 quarts of squash up. Between that, cleaning, and grocery shopping, I really didn't have much time to do anything else. That really irks me, too, because I got a big Stampin' Up! order in last week and haven't had time to play with any of it yet. The anticipation is about to kill me. I just hope I can find sometime this week to play with it.

I was in the garden earlier today and it appears that the green beans are about to croak. That one seed packet produced over 14 quarts of green beans (I know we ate at least 3 quarts of fresh green beans in addition to the 14 quarts that I froze), so I'm happy with how my first gardening experience turned out. The squash, tomatoes, green peppers, cantalopes, and cucumbers are still producing and are still looking really healthy.

I hope you all had a good weekend and I'll try to post some new SU projects this week! TTFN!

My Profile Photo

My friend, Christy, keeps telling me to change my profile picture because she doesn't like the one I've had out there. Here you go, Christy!! Hope you like this one!! Tee-Hee!

Almost Halloween?

I've been trying to come up with some project ideas for Halloween and these are a couple of the items I've been playing with. I'm going to be doing a class where we'll make several 3-D projects and some cards. I may throw in a scrapbook page or mini-book, as well. My halloween paper from Stampin' Up! has not come in yet, so these items were made using some scraps I had laying around from my "pre-SU days". I'm sure they'll be MUCH better once I use SU products. I think I'm going to change the buckle on the shoe to gold since the black buckle doesn't show up very well against the black cardstock. Let me know what you think.

Stamps, Friends, & Chocolate... What More Could A Girl Want?

Well, today is the second Wednesday of the month, which means it's the crazy Stampin' Up! ladies night!! We all met at Vanessa's house tonight where Gwen had organized a couple of make and takes. One of the items was this cute little gift basket...

Here are some pictures of the girls. We had a great time, even though I was feeling a little puny. I donated blood this afternoon and it drained me!! :) I've just been extremely tired and a little light-headed ever since. Someone had provided chocolate for our little get-together, though, so it's all good!!

This is an anniversary card I made for our cousins, Tim & Lori. Their 25th wedding anniversary was on the 7th and I'm afraid I mailed the card a day late. Sorry, Tim & Lori!! I hope you enjoyed the card, anyway. We were thinking about you even though the card wasn't there on time. We went out for ice cream in your honor!! :) The background of the card is made using Soft Sky and Whisper White cardstock. I used the 'Baroque Motifs' stamp set to stamp the swirly background with Whisper White craft ink. The flower was made using the 'Doodle This' stamp set and markers in Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink. I then used a glue pen to appy Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The center of the flower is a pink sequin and I applied three of those same sequins to the bottom of the card and used the 'Happy Anniversary' stamp from the 'Hugs & Wishes' set. Across the center of the card, I placed a piece of pale pink ribbon to finish it off.

I haven't cycled in over two weeks and will be participating in the annual Tour De Cox this weekend. It's a 60 mile route, so wish me luck. I don't think I'll have a chance to ride between now and then and really don't know if I want to unless it cools off and the humidity decreases.

Catching Up

Okay... I have a TON of catching up to do, but I'm going to keep this short and sweet. The 2007 Stampin' Up! Convention in Denver, CO was AWESOME!!! Gwen and I had a great time, which can be proved by almost 600 photos that I took and approximately 1,000 that Gwen took. I'm not going to share those photos just yet. Most of them are ideas for future classes/workshops, but as soon as I can get them sorted I'll try to post some of the other pictures. Unfortunately, convention didn't leave much free time for sight-seeing. Since we arrived the afternoon before convention started and left before it was over, we really didn't have time to explore. I saw just enough, though, to know that I want to go back to Colorado for a vacation sometime SOON!!

Curtis and I made a trip to Independence, MO yesterday to pick the kids up. They had been staying with their Ye-Ye (Grandfather in Chinese) and Nai-Nai (Grandmother in Chinese) in Iowa and we met up with them at our Uncle Jim and Aunt Helen's in Independence. Nicole and Tony (Curt's sister and her husband) were also there with their three kids (Rachel, Allison, and Jason) and traveled from Iowa with Ye-Ye and Nai-Nai. We had a "mini" family reunion at lunchtime today. The other attendees were Uncle Don and Aunt Rosalia; Crystal (Curt's cousin and Uncle Don and Aunt Rosalia's daughter) and her son, Christian; Mary Jane (Curt's cousin and Uncle Don and Aunt Rosalia's daughter-in-law) and her son, William. While sitting at the dinner table, I think I counted 12 adults and 7 children. It was a great time!! Uncle Jim and Aunt Helen are always SO gracious to allow us all to visit them - especially at the same time! I would say that they are, by far, the nicest people I have ever known, but I think I'd have to say that about Curt's entire family! I have included a link to the pictures I took this weekend below. If you would like copies of any of these, please let me know and I'll try to get them in the mail to you. The last three pictures are quite humorous. Ernie rode in the back seat with the kids and all three of them were snoozing. Ernie had his head resting on Lauren's leg and his other end was up against Branden's bottom side. Cute!! We got back home late this afternoon and I think I'm ready for a vacation from my vacation!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nos1qyw.82jzwd0o&x=0&h=1&y=-kj1r4l

I almost forgot... my latest creations!! On Saturday, I was waiting for Curtis to get home from work so we could leave for Independence. It was the middle of the day and I was exhausted from my trip to Colorado, but I didn't want to take a nap for fear that I wouldn't want to get up when he got home. I had some memo pads left over from the swaps I made for convention, so I made one for each of my neices (Rachel and Allison) and my nephew (Jason). This is what they looked like...