December already??

No way, that is what I can't believe. Where has the time gone. We had a great trip to Colorado to visit my mom. This time around we didn't focus to much on sight seeing as we have in the past but stayed and visited with family. My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer last year, in fact one year ago exactly is when I go the call from her. Anyway, she is fine and only had to have a lumpectomy not a masectomy. She had radiation for about 8 weeks in the spring of this year. She is fine now but she gets tired easily so I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her as one never knows how long God is going to keep them on this earth. Also, she worked so hard to get the kids a date for their First Holy Communion. We had a great time and it even snowed on Thanksgiving day and the kids had a blast in the small amount of snow that did fall. It was hard to say goodbye but my mama promised me she would come to visit us next spring. I hope so, I'll need another mom fix by then. Here are some pics from our trip.

First hand at embroidery

While Daph played with shaving cream I sat outside and stitched my first embroidery project. I think it's cute. It's a mouse I use to draw as a kid and seemed like the perfect simple first project. In case you don't know what it is it's a mouse.

Shaving cream fun

So today I decided to try and work with Daph on her multiplication facts using shaving cream. It was fun but later turned into backyard fun too. She had a blast for a long time and it was a beautiful day to do it in.

What a face!!!

New clay items

I met a very crafty lady one day at Michaels and we chit chatted in the polymer clay isle for a bit. We exchanged phone numbers and have become very close, she is like my substitue mom since mine is so far away. We have been crafting polymer clay for several weeks now and have a lot of fun together. I have even take Daph with me to craft and to my surprise she has a great talent with clay. She came up with these designs herself. She gave me the rippled (lower left) and I wear it everyday to show off. I am so proud of her and artistic side. Here are the clay hears she made. More of her latest projects to come soon, they are being glazed right now.

Maker Faire

The Family and I went to the Maker Faire this past weekend. The Maker Faire is run by Craftzine magazine which always has awesome crafts. It was even more awesome than I expected. I took video of the kids doing stuff but no still pics, I need to upload them first which will take some time. We saw so many neat things but one thing that was my favorite was a man who had an entire car covered in yarn. It was the coolest thing, he has had it for 3 years and has to re-do the yarn often. We also saw an artist who draws on car windows with the sand, he was making Willy Nelson when we were there. There was also a huge livesize working mousetrap that only took seconds to finish but worth seeing. Nicholas loved all the electronics and anything that had LED in or on it. Daph got the hang of spinning wool into yarn so I have to have her teach me how to do it. lol I think even hubby had a better time than he expected. There is so much to say about the event but if one ever comes your way I recommend going.

Life around here has changed so much in the past couple weeks. First of all Daphne is now being homeschooled as of a couple weeks ago. I had to pull her out as she was not being taught appropriately and a boy was harrassing her to the extent she had to defend herself and was the one getting in trouble. I had enough of that business so I pulled her out and have been teaching her myself. It is amazing how the schools have no concern but $$ in their eyes and will pass students just so they don't lose money. I am having to go back to square one with Daph and build up her foundation of math and grammar skills. Thank goodness she can read and reads very well but everything else is lacking especially math. The schools focus to much on the TAKS testing and not math in general. I have also become suspicious Daph may have dyslexia and maybe we can have her tested in the future. She's a smart girl but has trouble retaining what she is taught.
Nicholas is doing great in school, no problems there and in fact he has a high 90 average overall for the first 6 weeks of 6th grade. He started playing the trombone in the band and seems to like it quite a bit. Baseball is finishing up this weekend but he is going to be starting a program at school for trac skills. He is a fast runner and this will hopefully teach him skills to increase his speed.

Our puppy Sadie is doing great and is cuter than ever and just makes the Family complete.

I went to my Endo last week and my recent blood results show I have a spillage of enzymes in my liver. My test results have always come back great so now I worry about what is going on with my body. I have an appointment with my primary doctor which is what my endo wanted me to do so hopefully we can figure out what is going on with me. I'm sure my doctor will do some more bloodwork to be sure that those results I had were accurate, I hope they are wrong and all is well. It's scary to have something wrong and not know what it is.

New Blog name

I changed the name of my blog and I'm not changing it again. . I am never happy with the title but this time I am sticking with it. The reason it's called Sags Bags Wrinkles and Clogs goes way back to when I was a kid. When I would look tired at night my mom would tell me I had bags and sags under my eyes and that is why she knew I needed to go to bed. Mom also use to complain about having wrinkles b/c she was getting older. I also had this facination with clogs, it was the 70's and everyone had some but me. lol Then, one day I woke up from a nap and for some reason I walked up to my mom who greeted me after I woke up and I mumbled I had "sags bags wrinkles and clogs" and she thought that was funny so from then on we always talked about my sags bags wrinkles and clogs. I have been racking my brain for the perfect name of a blog and it came to me yesterday so I have changed it again and this time it's not changing.

Happiness is a Pink Skull Purse

I finally made this purse, it was all cut out and waiting for me to finish for months. But yes, finally it is complete. :) I did a couple different things to it that I had not done before to my purses like a serged edging to the top of the pocket and I made two large pocket areas instead of one. I am now in the mood for more purse making. Yay!
Diaper making is coming along but is frustrating as the girl I am making them for can't make up her mind how she wants them to be made. I turned in a really nice one I was proud of and she doesn't like the width of my stitch line at one spot and tells me it needs to be wider. So, I take home the next batches and try my hardest to widen the stitch space and the fabric just won't get caught in the line of sewing. More ripping and sewing. ugh! So, when I get to her house to turn in the un-finshed ones that she will finish for me I see the other lady sewer there and I look at her diapers and what do you know, her top stitched seam line is exactly how mine was. double ugh! I tell her that is my frustration and she says I say you use a 1/8 " seam allowance and you can use your personal judgement. It's like she is setting me up for failure and is never happy with what I produce. That is what is so frustrating, not the diaper making but the inconsistencies of the boss lady. We'll see how much longer I can do this, I'm just not sure it's for me and I will go back to making my own things to sell.
Well it's Sunday so we are off to do Sunday things. :)

I have a new job

I started working with an at home company making cloth diapers. This company is taking off and I'm starting with it at the beginning stages, it's such an awesome opportunity. These diapers are amazing and well designed. I am considered a "sewer" and there are other people doing the "cutting" and other parts of the process. It's like an assembly line in different houses that makes it all come together. I am going today for training and will eventually be able to do my work at home and get paid. Yay! It's an opportunity I have been wanting for a long time. Yay me!!! Check out her site if you are interested in cloth diapers or know someone who is interested in Going Green. I know the price of each diaper is a bit much when you first see it but if you were to add up how much you spend on diapers over 3-4 years including potty training you litterally spend about $3-$4 thousand dollars in the time frame. If you buy these re-usable diapers you only spend several hundred dollars and you are not filling up the landfills with diapers.

Two scooters and one bike STOLEN

Yes, that's correct. Nicholas' new bike of 3 months was stolen from our front porch yesterday morning. Two scooters were also taken as well, one of Nicholas' and one of Daphs. Both kids were supposed to be locking them up with bike chains but had gotten lazy and weren't doing it. Some thief had the nerve to just pick and choose what they wanted from our front porch. They didn't take Daphs bike or Nicholas' Power Wing which cost more than the bike. That was the 3rd bike we had bought for Nicholas in a years time. The other two broke, if you can imagine that. So, now he has no bike and we are not running right out to buy another one. I am not bothered by the scooters but more the bike. I also can't believe our big ole dog didn't bark up a storm and let us know. She sure has a bark fest when the squirrels come in our back yard.

What do I want to do?

That is the question I keep trying to figure out every day. I get so swept up in all types of new crafts and have tried so many and yet I can not decide what I like the most. I have so many different craft supplies in my house that I literally have a craft store. You name it, I have it. So why do I keep searching for the one craft that I will love and stay focused on? I wish I could and I'm sure my hubby wishes the same. I see so many talented people who can make the most gorgeous knitted items or beautiful lampwork beads. I get hooked so fast on new things and do that until something else strikes my fancy. I want to do one thing and stop flip flopping around. I have been working with lampwork beads and I do love it but a person has to spend hours upon hours to perfect that craft. I don't have hours and hours, I have a family to take care of no time to be on a torch for 6 hours. I bought a new book the other day on ceramic clay jewelry making. It looks like fun and simple enough to do, I have made quite a few things with polymer clay so how different can this be. Well, not to much difference except the cost of a high priced kiln to fire them in. Why does every craft have to involve hundres of dollars just to produce one item. Why is crafting so important to me, I ask that everyday. I don't get it, it lives inside me, I think about things I want to make everyday but go many weeks w/out making a thing. I spend more time running around town picking up all the ingredients to make the crafts and then there they sit in the bags for weeks and never get used. What is wrong with me. You know how some people have eating disorders and eat when they are sad or something? I do that with craft supplies. I'm not sad but just trying to figure out "what I want to do" with myself. I know I am mom and wife and daughter and sister and aunt but I want to be something else besides those things. I want to be someone that has a talent. All my life I have had no talent, I'm just me. I have no unique distinct qualities to myself, I'm just me. I want to be something interesting. I have no imagination despite what my mom thinks but moms always say nice and inspiring words to their children. I can copy most things I see but I have yet to create something of my own. So, today another day I sit trying to figure out "what I want to do and who I am" besides mom, wife, daughter, sister and aunt.

Been busy

I've been busy so far this summer with the new puppy and the kids keep me pretty busy. Our little Sadie pup has been such a great thing for our family. She is just what we needed around here to perk things up. She is almost housebroken but still not perfect, but she is trying. :) She is doing so much better on walks too, she isn't pulling as hard as she was before. We take her out every evening and I think that helps her to get use to the leash more and more each day.
Today was such a hot day, we are looking at 100 degree weather for several days in a row without a chance of rain. Our electric bill for june doubled from what it was in May, we need to conserve our energy so next months bill doesn't double. I can say since we have lived in this house for 9 years we have never had a bill this large. I also got our June water bill and that one was almost doubled as well. We told Daph she can't use the sprinkler out front anymore to jump in to cool off unless we are watering the yard. She and her friend were using the sprinkler almost everyday so that makes sense why our bill was so high. We have to tighten up with everything since food is high, gas is high. *sigh*
Let's see, I started taking another lampwork bead class for shaping and control of bead makine. I am getting better but still no pro, that is for sure. I'll keep trying, I won't give up, I really enjoy making beads. Oh, that reminds me, I went to an estate sale today and the lady happened to be one crafty lady and I scored a small kiln. After I bought it realized this thing must have been made in the 1960's. Oops! I can't find any information about it so I am hoping the glass bead store will be able to help me with how to use this new thing. If not I just bought something I can't use. I will have to save up for a new one unless I come across one that is not vintage. lol
Daph's birthday is this Wednesday and we are not sure yet what we are doing but it will be fun.
Eric has been working on the front yard, tearing up the stretch up by the sidewalk that has been a pain to keep the grass green. He was out there with a pick ax digging out that large limestone rock. That was a tough job. Now we have some sun tolerant plants and it looks great. I'll have to take photos of his awesome work.
Guess that's about it for now. I'm trying to keep things updated as best I can.
I wanted to add some recent photos of my bead work from my recent classes.

New Puppy in the house

We got a new puppy. If you had told me a week ago that I would have a new puppy I would have laughed so hard at you. But, we have a new puppy and she is a mini-Doxie Piebald. Eric has always wanted a weenie dog so he is super thrilled. The way I got her was when I went to get my haircut last Saturday a customer came in and said she was giving away her puppies and I jumped on that one right away. These are AKC registered pups and they were free, it doesn't get much better than that. We had talked about a dog but didn't want to spend big bucks to get one so this seemed like it was meant to be ours. The kids absolutely adore her and she has bonded so well with them too. Actually nobody had any idea I was getting her, I surprised them all and boy were they surprised. So, it's all good. Take a look at our new furbaby.

Cuppa Frogga

We have new residents at our humble abode. I should have taken a pic but for awhile I had a garden ceramic high heel shoe in a pot outside on my front porch and when it rained it would fill up and a frog would stay in the shoe, it was adorable. Well recently we planted hydrangeas in those large grey pots and removed the ceramic shoe. One day I noticed the frog was back and living inside the grey pot under the leaves of the plant. How cute we admired and we would look out for him everyday. We also have a bakers rack on the front porch with some small potted plants sitting at the top. One day Eric was watering the small plants and discovered the frog nesting in one of the pots. We ohh'd and ahh'd on how cute it was to see him in his new abode. I was curious how he made his way all the way up to the top and into the plant but I guess those guys have sticky enough little paws to do it. This morning I went out and sure enough, he was back as he was missing yesterday. I said my good mornings to him and went about my way. Later when Eric was going out for a bike ride he discovered that there was now a second fron living in one of the other small planters. We now have a second resident. I hope they don't go telling all their frog buddies to come over as we only have one more plant left. I suppose they could make it a time share. lol Way to cute and the kids are loving the whole thing. Here are some cute pics of our new friends.

Lampwork bead class

I took a class on making lampwork beading yesterday and it was so much fun. I felt very comfortable with the torch and making the beads. I can't say my beads look so great but I can work on that part more. I wanted to learn how to put dots and stringers on the beads so I practiced that and found out it is a lot harder than it looks. I also wanted to make a heart bead so the teacher showed me how simple those are to make. I bought my own kit so I can start practicing some more at home but I also might rent torch time at the studio since their torches are hotter than my kit torch. These are my beads and starting from the left is the bead I made first which is the black one and progressing over to the heart which was the last one I made in class. I am pleased.

Wow, it's been a long time

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here but life is busy right now with school getting out and the kids having school projects. Summer is around the corner and that means the kids being home and me finding lots of fun things for us to do. They are both signed up for sports camp already at that is at the beginning of the summer. We have a new city pool that opened up so we will be riding our bikes to it often. We have no summer trips planned as of yet but who knows what we will end up doing. Nicholas wants to go see the Alamo and so we may do that and go to Six Flags.

I made lip balm for a swap I was in recently, they are orange dream flavored and remind of an Orange Juilius. An Orange Juilius just opened at the mall and I have been in heaven ever since. Yum!

Lets see, Daph reminded me in a cute way I need to dust more often. She drew smiley faces on the tv speakers the other day. lol

My kitty was helping me do laundry last week, she is a great help as you can see in the picture.

Daph was working on a report of Sacagewea and their school did a wax museum of all the reports. The kids had a blast and there were so many great "famous" people in history. Here is Daph in her costume I made for her and her tri-fold report. I made every part of her costume down to the faux mocassins.

This weekend will be a busy one too. Last night we went to a Round Rock Express game. They lost but we still had a great time and we got to see the Friday fireworks, they were just beautiful. It was super hot but bearable. The kids can't wait to do it again and now that Nicholas plays baseball he was all eyes on the game. I was able to get a pic of the kids but using our phone so the quality isn't the best.

Tomorrow we will eat the inlaws and then on Monday we are cleaning out the other side of the garage. We have lots of house projects in the works. I will try to fit in making some soap and more purses. I need to finish working on my e-pattern that I hope to sell soon. I'm out for now.

Oh ya, giving a shout out to Melis, I hope you are having a great time in Florida. *waving*

Today is Nicholas' birthday

Happy Birthday Nicholas!! I can't believe you are 11 already, I remember when you were born and I held you in my arms for the first time. You made me a mama. I hope you had a great day.

Here is the cookie cake I made for him. I was not going to spend oodles of money on those expensive cookie cakes from the mall so I bought a tub of cookie dough and some disposable pizza pans and made two cookie cakes for him. I took them to school and the kids devoured both of them in record time.

Busy sewing me

I've been busy the past few days making things like crazy. I made a new purse today. I just love this fabric, it makes me happy to look at it.

Swap apron

I made an apron tonight, this was my first one ever. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, it came out just as I imagined. I'm so excited, I hope my swap partner likes it. Now I'm off to bed, enough posting for today.

Williamson County Candles and Red Poppy Festival

I had a chance to finally make it to the Red Poppy Festival this year and didn't have enough time to fully see everything it had to offer. I went to see my candlemaker friend who was selling candles that day. I bought two new scents, Pipe Dreams and Warm Vanilla Sugar.

If you are on the search for the BEST candle I HIGHLY recommend these candles. I love love these candles. Did I mention that I LOVE them? I first discovered them at Cabbages and Kings when I bought an Iced Tea and Coconut Lime Verbena a couple years ago. I was blown away by how good they are and continued buying strictly these candles. I am on a few message boards and one day I find out that the girl who I buy candles from was part of the same board I frequent. I had no idea b/c her name is different then her business name. A friendship is born and we have gone to a candle conference before and stay in contact via email. She has become a friend to me and my favorite candle maker. I don't promote her candles just b/c she is my friend but b/c she is truly a wonderful candlemaker. She has been written up a couple local newspapers around town. Here is her website if you are interested in where to purchase her candles. If you do get some tell her Angelique sent ya. ;) http://www.williamsoncandles.com/

My roses

I tried to post pics this morning but like I mentioned before I couldn't get photoshop to open but it's all fixed now. It's great to have a computer savy husband. :) This is just one pic but when the other rose bush on the other side of my house blooms I'll take a pic.

Sunny Monday

What a beautiful day this has started off to be so far, the sun is out and it's a bit chilly but that won't last for long. I have a few crafts to finish up and get them mailed off to my swap partner this week. I am enjoying this swap, it is a letter "A" swap and I send my partner things that start with the letter A. I have some great things planned, I just need to put them in action. I'll post them once my swap partner get them in her hands. Today is a busy day.

I tried to post this earlier with some pictures but I couldn't get Photoshop to open so hubby has been scanning our computer for viruses. So far things are fine but he is doing so maintenance so I can't post some pictures I had wanted to.

A week ago

Last Saturday the 19th I took a class on fabric jewelry. The class was given by Jennifer Perkins who is the host of the DIY channels show Craft Lab. It is my favorite craft show and it is not on the air currently. I hope they bring it back soon, I am missing my daily doses of crafty shows. Jennifer teaches a couple different classes and the one I took was on fabric jewelry. I had so much fun and learned a lot. I had to get a picture of Jennifer and I, it made my week. To me I am more excited to meet craft celebrities than the ones on regular tv shows and movies. Crafting is so dear to my heart. Here are the pictures of the bracelet and rings and yo yo's we made in class and of course a pic of me and Jennifer.

Another day another purse

I made a new purse, I've had a dry spell and haven't made one in months. This one was a bit harder than most I have made in the past but it is all worth it. I really like the way it came out. I did not add a pocket like I normally do, I was just tired and wanted to be finished with it. lol I've been busy the past week with a sick kid and then I picked up the bug. I'm feeling better now and getting back to things.

Over and out for now.

Oops, I haven't posted. :(

Okay, I've been busy as usual but there is always so much going on around here and making my self use my brain and write words is sometimes hard to do. lol I got a new haircut today, it's still about the same but a bit different and it feels great and still easy peasy to take care of when I'm in a rush. It's short but I can pin back my bangs for exercising. I bought some new fabric today for our couch cushions. I have a couch thingy that covers it and then I take the three large cushions off and cover each one of them individually with co-ordinating fabric. I like to put the cushions on top of the liner instead of tucking it into the couch crevices because it always comes out and looks messy. This way the cushions hole it down and it add some extra color and texture to the whole look. I'll post a pic maybe when it's finished.
Okay, off to take care of Daph, she hurt her foot at Nicholas' game last Saturday night and she is home recovering. It's an ugly owie.

Busy day

The kids were home from school today so there was lots of things to do with them. We didn't get to make anything fun but we still plan to this weekend. I'm tired, not much to say. It's late and time for bed, a busy day is ahead for tomorrow. G'nite. zzzzzzzzzz

Day 2 and I'm here again

Woo-hoo!! I did it, two days in a row to post. I added some music and a slideshow, this is getting easier and not so frustrating.

Today was a busy morning. I was off early to see my personal trainer to help get me in shape. Then after my workout I had some strength to make it to Joanne Fabric to do some fabric shopping. I am in a letter "A" swap on a message board so I had to pick up some things for that even though I have no idea who my partner is. I have to send only things that begin with the letter "A", so this will be fun.

Now I am home and have showered and ready for lunch and the kids will be getting out of school soon. They have no school tomorrow so we will have to do something fun. Maybe we'll make it a craft day and sew stuffed animals from this cute book I bought recently. It's called 'Cute Stuff' and they are simple enough for the kids to do. I bought Daph a sewing machine for Christmas last year so this is a project up her alley and of course Nicholas is cool with sewing too. (just don't tell his friends).

Some soaping

I love to make soap. Did I mention I love to make soap? lol I have made several batches lately, it takes time to cure and be a nice hard bar for using in the shower so I made a lot of batches to last a long time. I am not through yet but still have more to go. Here are some pics of what I have made lately. I still have 3 batches I need to take pictures of and post.