Phone Call from Santa

I have to tell you.... This was SO much fun.

So in our quest to homeschool, I read a lot of educational/preschool blogs. Alot of them have been having giveaways of one sort or another this month. I only enter the ones that I think look useful or fun. (In other words, I don't enter a giveaway just to enter.)

One of my favorite blogs is ABC & 123. They always have the cutest ideas that make learning fun. And then they had a post about Santa Speaking and how much fun their daughter had receiving a phone call from Jolly Old Saint Nick. And of course, they had a giveaway that I just had to enter.

Let me tell ya... from the ordering process (which was fast and painless), to the personalization (which was a test on how well I knew my 4 year old), to the actual phone call (which was fun and bouncy), to the mp3 recording of the call (really???)... This company is top notch and professional and it has been a pleasure to use their services.

If you have a young child who believes in the magic of Santa Claus, you still have a little bit of time to head over to Santa Speaking and order a very special phone call for them. And if not this year, then maybe next year. :)

Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Melinda

New homeschool trick

How do you get a fifth grader to enjoy math? Make it fun, of course.
Thank you to the makers of UNO for inventing Cinq-o, my newest "trick"
for getting Sweet Pea to enjoy multiplying. o_O

Sent from my iPod

Play-Doh

I have decided, and this may not seem like a big decision, but when
you have OCD tendencies, then yes, it's a HUGE decision. I have
decided to allow the mixing of play doh colors. To allow the freedom
of expression.

I may regret it later, but today, Little Bit is happy.

Hugs,
Melinda

Wow, I'm behind!

Well, I haven't been on my own blog in so long. My goodness. We've
been fairly busy with school, and other things. This last week, I've
mainly been sick.

So, I've been trying to figure out if my blog has a purpose or not.
I'm still trying to decide. I guess that's the real reason I haven't
written anything in so long.

Well, I don't have much left to say.

Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Melinda

I have decided...

I have decided that this year for Christmas, I will do all of my shopping at Target. "Why?" you may ask. Or if you are more like me, you would ask, "Why are you talking about Christmas when last week was Halloween?"

Therein lies the answer. Last week was Halloween. Thanksgiving is in 3 short weeks. THANKSGIVING, people. NOT Christmas. Christmas comes in the month of December, NOT November. And while some people like Christmas and enjoy it, I like Thanksgiving. I WANT MY THANKSGIVING!

So back to why I'm going to be shopping exclusively at Target. The answer is simple. Out of the 40 or 50 commercials I watched last night, only one was for Thanksgiving. Target. Everything else.... and I literally mean everything, was for Christmas.

Thank you Target, for giving me my moment of sanity in an insane world of commercialism. (Although, after going to your website to link to in this post, I almost considered not posting, seeing how you have Christmas ads all over.)

Bah Humbug,
Melinda

Halloween Pictures

So, I've been hearing good things about a little photo editing software called Picnik lately. Then Mrs. Fussypants decided to host a little contest after you try the stuff out. A contest and pictures? Count me in.

Here's me in what would have once been a dream come true. (I used to read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles all. the. time. I read Bram Stoker's Dracula in one night. At midnight of course. Silly me.)

And then, because I love my husband so, I decided to do our wedding pictures as zombies. I don't know that it succeeded too well, but it was fun to try.

If you like playing around with your pictures, let me remind you to always save your new creation as something other than your original photo, or else you will have a true nightmare on your hands. (Trust me on this. I'm speaking from experience.)

Happy Halloween!

Hugs,

Melinda

Handel's Messiah

I am singing in the KC Symphony's 93rd performance of Handel's
Messiah. You know, "Hallelujah. Hallelujah."

I haven't sung with a choir/chorus since the spring semester of 1995.

Boy, does it feel good. :D

Hugs,
Melinda

Sent from my iPod

Jack-O-Latern

I carved our pumpkin yesterday. Special thanks to Family Fun magazine for the idea. I couldn't get over how easy this pattern was.

Here's our scared pumpkin with the lights off.

And a picture showing WHY he was so surprised.

And a close up. I love it.

It was so easy to do. I love Family Fun magazine. They always have great ideas.

Hugs,

Melinda

Cooking rules

Yes, there are cooking rules. Heather at Home-Ec 101 is having a giveaway for a book that explains the reasons behind some of those rules.

My example would be.....

And I lost it again. Pardon me, I'm having one of those kinds of day. Go here for a chance to enter.

Melinda
(who is ready for a nap. or some chocolate. or to go back to bed and start the day over again.)

Testing

I'm trying something new. If this works, I may remember to post a
little more often.

Hugs,
Melinda

Sent from my iPod

Fabric Giveaway

There's this fabulous giveaway on Pumpkin Patch Primitives. You have to post about it in order to win. I haven't had a chance to look too much at their site yet, but it looks like another fun fabric place to look at and dream about. :) I do know that the giveaway fabric looks yummy. :)

Good luck to all entrants!
Hugs,
Melinda

ETA [My mistake. I thought it was a quilt shop, but in reality, it's a blogger. It's still cute though.]

Music

So I seem to go in spurts when I'm posting. I don't mean to. It just ends up that way.

Music. It soothes the savage beast. It calms a baby, warms a heart, moves you in ways you never anticipate. Some say the universal language is math. I say it's music.

I am participating in a production of Handel's "Messiah." If you ever have the opportunity to do the same, you should. I have been so out of practice, and it's been really nice singing in a choir again.

But to the real point of this post. My friend Jeff is in the middle of his Master's capstone project. As someone who was always involved in music in school, you wouldn't expect his Master's to be anything less. Today, he "released" 3 of his songs.

They are amazing. Simply amazing.

Not only has Jeff's voice matured over the years, his lyrics are extremely thought provoking. His style is a little bit of everything I like rolled into one, and I'm actually shocked that I didn't remember he plays the piano as well.

Go to his blog, read the lyrics, listen to the music. Be prepared to be moved.

Hugs,
Melinda

P.S. I put a music player up in my sidebar. Hopefully it works. ;)

Thought Provoking

Please watch this video.



The title of this video is a James 3 Story. I had to look the passage up, because I couldn't remember what it was about.

How many of us are guilty of this exact thing? Please tell me I'm not the only one who gripes at her husband, then gripes at her children, and then goes to church and puts on a plastic smile.

Verses 9 and 10 of James 3 say, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be."

I am convicted. I will be working on my tounge today. And this week. If I can get through today without griping or "cursing" my children, who were most certainly made in God's likeness, then maybe I can get through tomorrow. But for now, for today, I will work on my tounge.

Something to think about.
Hugs,
Melinda

Guild Challenge 2009

Last post today... I promise.

The challenge for the guild this year was called "Quilter's Paradise." We were given a piece of blue fabric and told to interpret the theme however we wanted. Pretty much no limits.

Quilter's Paradise for me means my mom. I would love to have my mom to quilt with again. But interpreting it into fabric was difficult. I had the challenge fabric for over 4 months and couldn't figure it out.

Here's my quilt. The saying is "Happiness is a good friend and a finished quilt." The blue fabric is the challenge fabric.

So how did I translate my mother into fabric? Simply used her fabrics. These bright fabrics around the challenge piece were all her fabrics. In fact, the only fabric that is "my" fabric is the white and black in the smiley face eyes.
Of course, I also had to use her picture. This is her, maybe in her mid 20s. She was so pretty. She was always pretty. But she never realized it.

This picture is a special memory for me. My mom found a poem called "Pennies From Heaven" sometime during my senior year. Shortly after she passed away, we found tons of pennies. My dad and I were sitting there talking about how many we had found, and just jokingly said, "Momma, if you're there, we really could use some quarters." I think in the next week we got about $4 worth of quarters.

Last week, I was sewing something else, and feeling very down. I said, "Momma, I need some pennies. Say 3 of them?" The next day, I found these three ... in a row.

My mother taught me to sew and to quilt. My mother influenced a lot of my fabric designs. She was my teacher, my encourager, my confidiant, my best friend. This might not be the best quilt ever, but it means so much to me. And that is my "Quilter's Paradise."

Hugs,

Melinda

Study of Cells

One of the things that Sweet Pea has been excited to study in our homeschool is the Human Body. I want to study things that she's excited about, because I think it will help in the long run. But I also felt that we needed to study about cells before we study more about the body. We started our study of cells this week.

By making a 3D cells out of jello and candy.

Here's Little Bit's animal cell.

Here's my animal cell
Here's Sweet Pea's Plant cell.

And no, we don't have it memorized. One of my goals for this year is simply to inspire the love of learning, to bring back her excitement of living. We're getting there... we're close. See the marshmellow? That's her idea. :D

Hugs,

Melinda

Surprise Party, Pt. 2

So as I said, Melody thought she was having a Pampered Chef show. Here she is with her niece who is also her assistant. They are setting up for the show. They are at the sink prepping the apples for the Taffy Apple Pizza. Her niece is in on the secret and is getting called back to help deliver the balloons and cakes. Melody still has no idea at this point. Here's Tiffany explaining that "Surprise." It's a birthday party, not a Pampered Chef party.
And here's Melody blowing out the candles. I don't think it still had sunk in at this point.
All in all, it was a good night. I think everyone had a lot of fun. I do know that Melody really appreciated everything. It was fun to surprise her. Now... who can we surprise next?

Hugs,
Melinda

Surprise Party, Pt. 1

So last week, my friend Tiffany had a Pampered Chef Party. Only it wasn't a Pampered Chef party. It was a Surprise Birthday party for the Pampered Chef consultant. I got to make the birthday cake.

Chocolate, of course.

A yellow cake for those of us who don't like a lot of chocolate. The colors come from the plate that this cake is sitting on. No one knew her favorite color. LOL More detail practice photography.
But I saw something I wanted to try to photograph. See the salt and pepper shaker? They are from my mom's china collection. This shot makes me happy, but I'm not sure I can explain why.
These are the cakes on Thursday, before Tiffany came to get them.

Hugs,

Melinda

Visitor

I finally caught a picture of my front porch visitor. I would be sitting at the computer, and all of a sudden he would pop his head up. He was normally eating.

Isn't he funny?

Hugs, Melinda

Vaile Mansion

There are a group of quilters that meet at my church building. This group had been asked to take some of their quilts and display them in the Vaile Mansion in town. Just for the record, this house is AMAZING! It is so beautiful and antique and gorgeous and jaw dropping amazing.

I got to take some of my quilts too. I thought it was sort of neat to see my contemporary type pieces displayed among the Victorian furniture. LOL So here's my collection of quilts at the Vaile Mansion.

The patriotic signature quilt I made for Dale while he was deployed. It's underneath the blue and white one. This is the "water tower" room. It was used as a sort of breakfast nook.

The Waffle House Challenge from my guild in Georgia. I thought it went perfectly on the cast iron stove in the kitchen.
A close up shot of my Waffle House quilt. We had some good lighting that day. This piece is called "Tighten the Tension." Francie, the unofficial leader of the group told me that one of the ladies who leads tours in the mansion called her after we got through arranging everything to tell her that there was a piece falling off, and she was sorry that she may have damaged the quilt already. I had a good laugh. That's the way it's supposed to be. :)

This is a quilt my grandmother made.

This is the very first quilt I ever finished. Doesn't it just look darling in the "red parlour?"

This quilt is also in the red room. Marie and Sarah and I did this for a Christmas project one year. I would like to try it again sometime.

Irony: Having your own version of "Crazy Quilt" put in the fancy shmancy music parlour where it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Momma's English Garden Window quilt got put under a fancy bowl. It looks good from this angle. (In case you don't know this, I'm always practicing my photography skills.)

This is my Stained Glass Window Quilt. This one has the honor of hanging in the very front entryway, so the sun can shine through it. It looks really cool there, I think.

A close up shot showing how you can see the backside of the stained glass when the sun is shining brightly.

My Storm At Sea. I still love these colors.

It got placed on the dining room table. It's odd, but it felt like it belonged there.

My Baby Blue Rails Quilt. Another one of my first quilts. Doesn't it look gorgeous draped over that wonderful comfy cozy chair?

This quilt deserves a post of it's own really. This is the Blooming 9 Patch my mother made. It is probably one of the last full size quilts she completed. She made several others, but the quilting wasn't finished or the piecing isn't completely done, or the backs are not put on, or the binding.... This is my quilt now. This is one of the only times I've had it open all the way to display, and I knew it needed a bed to be on.

The room is perfect. I love this room. I want to live in this room with this quilt and this lamp and these curtains and shutters.

A different shot. You can see the king size quilt on the full size bed.

Natural Lighting.

Flash Lighting.... I think I'll stick with Natural light. ;)

Anyway, those are my quilts. If anyone comes to town before the end of October, I'll take you to the Vaile and I'll show you all my quilts in person. :)

Hugs,

Melinda

Life....

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting lately. Life has just simply gotten in the way. Between homeschooling (or trying to), helping my dad with his website, the guild website, the guild quilt show, the church pantry, the church media room, menu planning and grocery shopping... I'm BUSY. Plus, I'm a mommy and a wife, and that comes first in all things.

However, I have some pictures to show you. Some of our butterfly garden flowers, and some of the "art quilts" I finished yesterday.

I hope you enjoy.

Hugs,

Melinda

Chocolate Ice Cream

Strawberry Ice Cream

Sunflower that stood almost 5 feet tall

Second Sunflower

Pink Butterfly Flower

Curriculum Clean-Out (ie, GIVEAWAYS)

This is for my fellow homeschool bloggers. Jolanthe is hosting a Curriculum Clean-Out Carnival. Several people are linking through. They are having a giveaway of their gently used curriculum. Considering we're broke and don't know what we're doing, I'm entering as many as I can (or should). You get more entries if you blog about it, so... this is my blog post.




Hugs,
Melinda

Homeschool Peeps!

Check this out.

I may not have anything to give away this year, but I can certainly look. ;)

Hugs,
Melinda

Evendar

I have mentioned before my recent obsession with an itouch/iphone game called Kingdoms Live, and how I live in a realm of my own creation. The name of my forest is Evendar, and my elvish name is Miranna. A group of my friends from this game have decided to set up an inn to tell stories and share more about our characters, since the game only allows 500 characters at a time. If you're interested in some creative and fun tidbits, you really need to visit The Mare & Thistle.

We have so many talented people in our group. We have a story teller extraordinare, who is really the brains behind M&T, who is also creates these beautiful wood pieces. We have a professional artist. We have a professional singer, who also happens to be writing a book. (I can't tell you what it's about, because I promised, but I can tell you, it's GOOD!) All in all, we have a good time inventing this world for each other, and playing our parts in it.

I have been itching to pick up my paints again. So when I discovered that we were adding an artwork section, I had a good excuse to do just that.

This is my first painting in so many years, I'm surprised it looked this good. This is without a fan brush.
But I knew I could do better. Let's just say, I learned alot from the first picture that I applied in the second picture. Especially after a trip to Joann's for a correct brush.

Much better, don't you think? I know I still have a lot to learn, but I've had so much fun painting and mixing colors. My next idea is to take one of my lily pictures and somehow paint that, but something like an extreme close up. I don't know. I know I will have fun though.

Hugs,

Melinda

10 years ago

July 8, 1999. 4 months after my precious Sweet Pea was born. I felt horrible. It was the worst case of bronchitis I have ever had. NyQuil was not taking care of the fever that kept creeping upwards. I felt like I couldn't move. So I resorted to going to the doctor.

I was probably one of the last patients he saw that day. He agreed that it sounded like bronchitis, and wrote me a prescription. Except.... he wanted me to get a chest x-ray just to make certain.

We went, took the x-ray, and the technician told us to wait until we were cleared. So we waited. And waited. And here came, not the technician, but the doctor, who says, "you don't have bronchitis, you have an enlarged heart."

There began a whirlwind of an experience. They did an ultrasound scan which shewed my heart wasn't enlarged, but that I more than likely had pericarditis, an infection in the lining around my heart, which was causing the pericardium to fill up with fluid. I was immediately admitted to the hospital and a specialist was called. He said I needed this certain procedure that he could perform better at his hospital across town.

So they called the ambulance. At this point, while we are all waiting for the ambulance to come, the doctors are taking turns listening to my heart. I seem to remember that they were listening for a certain sound. But you start to get a little anxious when 3 doctors are standing around you.

It took forever for the ambulance to get there and to get all the paperwork filled out. In fact, Dale took Sweet Pea to a friend of ours and beat the ambulance to the other hospital. (ROFLOL)

Then there was the procedure. I remember being put on a cold metal table and my hands restrained. They took my glasses off, but I still saw the needle. A very large needle. If you ever meet me, I'll show you. They inserted the needle, and I could feel it. AND. THEY. DIDN'T. BELIEVE. ME. But they gave me an extra shot of sedative just in case. I still felt it, though.

They drew off 1100 cc's of fluid. You know the 2 liter coke bottles? Roughly half that. I know, because I saw it. And I saw my husband's worried face in the doorway. And then I conked out from the sedative.

I was in Cardiac ICU for four days. I had an amazing nurse that wasn't even supposed to be there, but was.

There is so much more to this story, but I've already written a book. The point of this story is that I came very close to death 10 years ago, and I am still here today. I try to live my life to the fullest, and I try to live the way God wants me to. I know I fall short quite often, but I am very thankful that he gave me a second chance.

Okay, I have to go teach school now.

Hugs,
Melinda

Baseball!

Guess what? I like baseball. I don't know how it started. Maybe it was playing t-ball and softball when I was a kid. Maybe it started with the first professional game I attended with a now gone friend. Maybe it started with my mom's love of the Cardinals. Maybe it started with the Cards winning the world series the summer she passed away.



Regardless, I like baseball.



I have asked and asked to attend a game ever since we moved back to KC. 3 years in November. One game a summer, is that too much to ask? So, Dale surprised me with tickets to the Royals for July 4th. I was excited.



We had good seats.

It was Little Bit's first game. (But in hindsight, she should wait until she can sit still before she attends another one.)

This is DeJesus at bat.

He really didn't seem to do so well this game. Can you see the ball flying in this picture?

Little Bit loved all the sights and sounds. She even loved Slugger. But she couldn't sit still.

Oh yeah. It was Sweet Pea's first game too. :D She seemed to really like it, but she got hot and tired. This picture is at the end of the game when she is pooped. I really enjoyed explaining the little I know about baseball to her.

The best part of the game? The Royals won. :D
Hugs,
Melinda