What a fun day with my Dear Daughter

Keeping with my crazy schedule and the need to get the Pointe shoes before Monday Jan 24.  I allowed Madison to stay home from school on Tuesday.  We leisurely got ready and traveled down to the "uber" cool and swanky part of St Paul known as Grand Av in the Highland Park area.  Our first stop was The Tea Garden to get Coolers with pearls (tapioca balls).  Madison had never heard of this before let alone taste it.  But in the end she was thinking I was really cool. Oh Yeah!

She must have tried on a good 12 pair before the very knowledgable owner selected the Bloch Balance in size 4 XXX.  She then got pads for the toes.  I opted for the sewing kit the waxed ballet pink thread and "special" needles inside a neat little container.  I guess before this outing, but having seen the  Black Swan, I thought the expensive Pointe shoes came with the PRETTY ribbon and elastic.  UMMMM Not so!  We will be given a lesson in this next Monday on how to prepare these costly little gems. 

One of the instructions is NOT to put these Pointe shoes on at home.   There is a very good and logical reason behind this rule.  To prevent injuries and not damage the shoes in case your Ballet instructor does not like the ones you so painstakingly chose.  Like clock work the first thing I said when we got home..............Madison Jo let me try them on.  Yep I did!  Unfortunately I have Fred Flintstone feet and they were too wide.  I almost felt like Cinderella's ugly step sister trying to cram my stout little foot into this beautiful slipper.  Wasn't gonna happen. 

We had a wonderful day together.  The Tea with Balls, Pointe Shoe fitting, Salad Bar.  It was another expensive day.  But the memories and laughs were certainly priceless!

Saturday is my Friday

Oh At last!

We have an odd schedule here at the RCECC (Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center).  I work a Rotation of 5 days on and 3 days off for 4 weeks, then a schedule of 4 days on  and 4 days off for 3 weeks.  In the center we call it .............on my 5's or on my 4's.  We work 10 hour shifts and mine happens to be days (0630-1630).

This week has been a long one because of overtime and snow.  When it snows it isn't just getting to and from work but it is dealing with all the emergencies during the shift due to snow also.  But for the most part, like usual clockwork 75% of our calls are from people with little or NO common sense.

Normally I would have something planned for a Saturday night.  But not this one.  I reserved 2 movies (Social Network & Night and Day) and dinner is going to be something along the way home this afternoon.  I'll do the grocery shopping, cleaning and crafts tomorrow on my off day. And yet again more snow is forecasted for Sunday Afternoon.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Pattern of Friendship

I wanted to quickly post this card I had made over the weekend.  It is a Stampin' Up! set called Pattern of Friendship.  Way back when it came out and I was still a Demo for SU,  I remember thinking to myself, "cute set but it really doesn't have many options for use".  So I passed the pre order purchase up.  Well that was in 2006.  Amazing how your styles and opinions can change in just a few short years.  When I discovered I was going to be participating in the "Happy Homemaker Tag" swap  I knew that I wanted this set for 2 reasons.  First one being..........the images are small enough to incorporate onto a tag .  And the second reason being was that it was sooo retro looking.  Boy, now if I had a fraction of the patterns I passed up at garage sales  I was fortunate to come upon these 4 patterns in a lot being sold on the evil EBAY! 

Are they not the most awesome?!

Here is the Card

Pay no attention to the stitching ....My sewing machine was acting up.

  I really liked how it came together.

  One of the nice "fringe" benefit of having teenagers is.........they are way into technical computer/electronic stuff.  So I asked that darling daughter of mine if she would take a couple of pictures for me.   I like how she arranged them in the photo box but she didn't use flash or the photo box lights so here is her photos.

This is all I have for the day.  I'm looking forward to lounging clothes and the television tonight.  New TV show Off the Map on tonight but I bet I dont make it that long 4:20 am comes awful early.   I'll get something else posted here in the next couple of days for your amusement.  But keep in mind my next off day is not until Sunday.  Which reminds me that it is Picket Fence Gals occassional sale today through Sunday.  Sunday's you get an extra 10% off.  I'm for sure going.   I'll post the pictures from that outing. 

Until we meet again enjoy your day and tell someone you love just how much you love them!  ( I just told my BFF Julie)

As Promised...

It took me all day to get to this point, but alas I'm here and I'm ready, willing and able to share with you all of my details with the Happy Homemaker Tag Swap.  Dear Elizabeth put out the challenge details.  Ten pieces of 12x12 paper (our choice), We were to make all of our supply purchases only once.  Make 2 identical 6x3 Tags each month (my bad,  I made mine 6 x 3.75, I'll do better next month).  One to share, one to swap at the end of the year.  We could chose our own theme.  I racked my brain continually and had a hard time.  I did not want to be the one that said My theme is Happy Homemaker..........I wanted to be clever, unique and edgy.  I thought somemore.......Still nothing.  

I went away this past weekend with 9 other women on a Scrapping/Stamping retreat.   It was fun, relaxing and quite enjoyable.  On Friday night as we were all busy with our noses deep in our work I asked the group what they thought my theme should be.   After I gave them the details and showed them this piece of paper

My Theme is a

Year in the Life of the Swanson's

My wonderfully funny girlfriend Misty (in her most appropriate "Fargo" voice) helped narrate the story however this was truely a bunch of crazy girls with a story to tell.....Here goes

Meet the Swanson's.  We have Margie (Margaret) age 26 and Neal age 30 along with their children Suzie age 6 and Johnny age 3 with a Birthday coming up.  The Swanson's live at 2573 Meadow Lane in the town of Red Bud.  (We couldn't decide on a state).  The house is a Colonial Revival and was given to them by Margie's Grandfather as a wedding gift 7 years earlier.  Neal was a football star in College and after graduating landed a job as an accountant with Ford Motor Company.   He takes pride in his lawn and in his spare time enjoys woodworking.  He bowls with College buddies every Thursday night.  Margie enjoys all the frills of being a stay at home mom.  She loves cooking, sewing and decorating and general crafts.    On Monday mornings she attends a Bible study class at St Marks Lutheran Church.  Suzie attends 1st grade at Pinewood Elementary and her best friend, Julie lives directly across the street.  Johnny will start Preschool

next year at St Marks Lutheran Church 3 days a week.  The Swanson's have one dog and his name is buddy.   If your curious what happens tune in next month and see what this "Charming" family is up too!

My paper choice is October Afternoon's Modern Homemaker.  I have 2 lifetimes worth of stuff.  While I could have done without a paper purchase I couldn't resist this line by OA.  So I jumped at the opportunity and the rest I will just figure out as I go along.

Happy Homemaker January Tag Along

Good Afternoon Ladies ............I'm so delighted to share with you all of my thoughts behind my Tag this month and my plans for the year.   However, I just returned home from a weekend away and need to quickly get out the door for our Bowling night.   I promise tomorrow to give every last detail involving my Happy Homemaker Tag but for now please enjoy the picture.

Out of Sorts.

That's how I kind of feel today.  I've got a pain in my shoulder.  My checkbook is sad and rather pathetic looking.  And a conflict with another that has been brewing for some time now.  I left home knowing that I was going to stay late at work tonight on some OverTime, but by the time we get out of rollcall  at 0645 we are in need of filling a PSD (public safety dispatcher) position from 4pm-9pm.  The pool to choose from is not that large.  Think of it like the checkbook thing.............always robbing Peter to pay Paul!

Now,  I do NOT like when I feel this way.  Not ever!  So the only immediate thing to do is PRAY and list 10 things that I am grateful for............

1.  My Kids
2.  Having a good paying Job with benefits
3.  A home
4.  My friends
5.  A very mellow good natured Husband.
6.  Medical Insurance
7.  A totally cool Dentist
8.  Having the love for "Vintage"
9.  Loving GOD
10.  My Health

You see when you look at life after creating a list such as this.  You get to put things into perspective and realize that other stuff is just peanuts compared to what really matters.

On a way lighter note.   My daughter is going  Pointe at the end of this month.  I am so very proud of that one.   She excels at everything she does.  (She is a "Messy Marvin" though).

I didn't even realize.....................

Oh this really wasn't the way I wanted to start out the New Year.   I wanted to desperately post a craft item and have it on display for all to see.  But alas,  it didn't happen.  So here I am at work with no access to any of my recent crafting items. 

I will then post about this up coming weekends get-away with the girls.  Ten in all.  We are going to Lake Place Lodge in WI.  We have food, games and all sorts of things planned.  Most of all I will be working on my Happy Homemaker Tags for January and a Valentine for Elizabeth over at Creative Breathing. 

 Doesn't it look inviting?