little green monsters in my head

So the Mr. Tolen pointed out that I had multiple errors in my post yesterday. Apparently you shouldn’t blog when you have the green mucinex monsters floating in your head. I will fix those typos soon 🙂

Mandi

The day the music died

Yesterday we lost an icon in the technology world. I have loved Apple from the time I could hack Oregon Trail on the schools Apple IIe in the 7th grade.  I have owned an iMac, taught teachers how to use their Macs in the classroom, have multiple iPods, an iPhone, and iPad and I use a Macbook at school.  Jobs’ story is inspirational for me and I’m sure for others. He was a creative genius!  My hope for the Apple company is that they can find someone who can view the world as Jobs did, so the music won’t die with him.

source

baby Z is here

He was born on Sept 4 (yes, this post is a little overdue!) and was 8 lb. 14 oz. and was 21 in. long.  Look at that cute shirt (Easter project) and blanket (from the baby Z post) he’s sporting. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a baby in the family so I’m looking forward to some baby projects!

This was the day he came home from the hospital, isn’t he super cute! I can’t wait to hold the little guy.

renew

Isn’t that what vacation is supposed to do, renew, relax and refresh?  It was fun, with some training for me in the middle, but catching up with everything since we got back has been hectic.  We returned Saturday evening to launch into bible school the next day.  Here is a picture of T4 in the taxi I made for our Big Apple Adventure.  I had the going to be 3rd grade class and it was tons of fun.

Now that VBS is over, it’s time to think about school again.  I and the Mr. T have to report back on Aug 12, (sad face) , but that gives me a little time to finish some crafties and home projects.  The basement gets carpet Monday (YES!!!!) but that means everything has to be out of the basement by Monday (boo!!!) It’s going to be awesome when it’s done and it will be a great area for our kids and their friends to hang out.

I did make a little travel hipster type purse to take on vacation so I could leave the leather purse at home (the theme parks tend to have water rides ya know.)  I used a left over strip from Sweewater’s Sunkissed line and that’s where I got the renew idea for the front of the purse.  It was great on vacation and I it’s big enough to use for papers and such if I have a light day of grading.  🙂

I used duck cloth for the outside for durability.

The inside is a fun fabric with a zipper pocket on one side and two pouches on the other.  I also added the key holder on the side.

I have some other things from before vacation to post, including T1’s first engagement photo shoot.  Check back soon or subscribe to email updates.

Sharing creativitiy at :: Boogieboard Cottage :: Sew Can Do :: Skip To My Lou :: Singing Three Little Birds :: Embellishing Life ::

Vacation

I haven’t forgotten about my dear blog, I’m just on vacation with the fam/conference for school. Blogging should return soon. In the meantime, enjoy a view of the Atlantic.

Happy Independence Day

I didn’t decorate for the 4th this year.  Loved my summer colors and couldn’t bring myself to take them down.

I do want to take this time, as the sun goes down and the fireworks begin, to thank all of our men and women in the military for their service for our country.  The picture below is of my cousin Scott serving right now in Afghanistan. I hope he doesn’t mind that I stole his pic from Facebook, but wanted to honor him today. BTW, he’s pointing at a sign that says MINES!

Thank God for our freedom, say a prayer for our military, and have a happy Independence Day!

Pick Your Plum Giveaway

Somewhat Simple is giving away $75 in Pick Your Plum goodies.  Head over to Somewhat Simple and get in on the action.

A corkboard for the craft room is coming later today (I HOPE!)

Pick Your Plum – Vinyl

Today’s Pick Your Plum deal is outdoor vinyl, 3 sheets for $1.  Go quick, they’ve already sold almost half of the stock.

Tolen Family Fun on Facebook

I added a Tolen Family Fun page on Facebook.  Head on over and like our new page.

 

 

GNO

a.k.a. Crafts & Spirits 🙂

My friends and I had a get together last night with good food, good crafts and good wine.  We started by etching our wine glasses with a saying from our teaching escapades. As we ate, we looked through the scrap bin and found paper for our washer necklaces.  We put the dimensional glue on our washers to dry and moved on to the giant scrabble tiles.  We only made two sets, as the other two of us couldn’t decide what to make.  We finished our washer necklaces and laughed and crafted until 1:00 in the morning.  I love nights like that.

I took pics of us working, but they are blurry 😦 much like the last photo.  Oh camera, how I miss you!  Next GNO planned for June. Woohoo!