Crafting Party! And another new leak...

So the good news is that I had some sweet ladies over today for a Crafting Party and we had some yummy munchies and creative activities! But before they even arrived I had found another new leak! So I had my son running in and out, turning the water on and off, for the afternoon...then my dear brother came and found the cracked "no freeze" pipe. No freeze pipe. I guess its not "no heat expansion and crack" pipe, though. But at least now it has been found and it will no longer be ruining the floor of my bathroom. And on that front I am in for a full remodel! But I love my bathroom... :( Well, I'm sure I'll love my new bathroom too, whenever we get to put it in, that is. Being a full-time student my funds tend to be cyclical in nature so...but anyways back to the fun stuff! I actually remembered to take a few pictures today! But I don't think I got any pictures of the other ladies completed crafts...boo on me, right? Heehee...well here are the ones I got: First up are a few of the 8 personalized invitations...

 Here is the first lady ready to get crafty! And what do y'all think of my redecorated living room, or what you can see of it, anyways? The loveseat is normally all covered so you can't see the hideous floral pattern underneath...and the furniture is all re-arranged for the party too.

 Actually see that pink flower barrette in the back of the hair of the girl walking away? That was one of her and her mothers creations from this afternoon! This next picture was homemade chocolate cake and chocolate frosting and it was good. Sooooo good! And the dear lady on the right in the picture above made it. She crocheted some covers for hangers and another lady used the same color of yarn to "sew" them onto hangers. I received one as a nice thank you gift!

 Here are my craft projects from the afternoon:

 I used an assortment of materials some purchased, like the Prima Flower centers, but some like the tulle were cut and gathered by hand. The first flower has a silk ribbon ruffle that I stitched up on my sewing machine. All flowers were hot-glued to pins that also have gator clips for flexibility in wearing options, which is almost fancy talk for saying they can be worn in your hair as a clip or on your clothing as a pin or clip. It was so much fun we are hoping to be able to get together at least once a month! Hey, why don't you go get YOUR craft on! :)

So I've heard...

So I've heard that when it rains it pours, I also heard when it pours its rain...thankfully only a few shingles were torn up from another storm we had the night before last and I was able to get my dear brother to come over and hammer them back down, which if it didn't involve climbing on top of my roof I could totally do myself, right? ;) But then last night before I went to bed I heard a funny sound in the vent in my bathroom...sounded like water squirting onto metal...and guess what? That's just what we found when we, and by we I mean my son, crawled under the house today to investigate. Yes, we have another new leak! It seems the people who owned my home before us weren't well, to put it kindly and mildly, let's just say they weren't too handy with the tools. But, in their defense, pipes are under a lot of variable pressure and, much like people I guess, they can just break loose at times and stuff from the inside goes shooting everywhere. In my homes case it's water, but in my personal case it tends to be built up frustrations, like the dirty clothes all over my son's bedroom floor. I can only stand it for so long, ya know? Anyone else have any building frustrations they would care to share before an explosion happens? Just leaving the forum open here for ya...just in case you need it. ;) Hope y'all have a good one! And my brother is coming over, yet again, to fix my newest little problem...here's hoping it's the last leak for a long, long, long time! :)

Keep calm...

So last night we had to stay, or rather I should say we were able to stay, at my mom's for the night. A severe storm blew through the area and though it mostly stayed south of where I live it blew down enough power lines that my city and several of the surrounding towns were without power for the evening, overnight and into the day a bit as well. So after a few hours of toughing it out at my house, with no A.C. or T.V.(two of the most important abbreviations in the English language, right?) we beat a hasty retreat to my mom's, since she lives in a little town that was blessedly unaffected by the widespread power outage. But around midnight or so consideration for the fact that we could be days without electricity and concern for the fresher, more perishable, foods in my refrigerator prompted me to get the bright idea to buy a few bags of ice and put them in my fridge, like they used to do it in the good old days, y'know? So I stopped at a gas station swamped with refugees from my powerless city and purchased a few bags of ice, to go. And now we finally get to the point of this post...Well, whatta ya know! I can make a short story long. :) Anyways, the silence I noticed while driving into my storm darkened but moonlit city was downright eerie. I could see little beyond my headlights and the thought that there were other people out there who could be looking right back at me and I wouldn't even know it...creepy. Really. And I am not the type to see a scary movie and then have nightmares. But the silence and the darkness just felt unreal, like they were a bad dream. It made me think of the harder times that are coming and how we will face them. It will take incredible faith, faith last nights simple power outage made me doubt I have. I mean is it really faith if you have this sneaky looming fear of the unknown? That just smacks you upside the head when you least expect it...If the power goes out and you almost immediately get ravenously hungry thinking you may not have a hot meal for who knows how long? Faith, relaxed faith...well, I guess I can just say I am thankful for last nights power outage as God showed me in the darkness that there is still plenty of room for the growth of His light in my life. Not sure that makes much sense but there it is. Have a good one y'all!

S'monday...

Got my fall text books ordered today. Returned one of my summer book rentals. I'm holding onto the other for a bit longer since it has all these fun diagnose-yourself quizzes in it. I'm not done picking my brain apart, in other words. Started "Family First" by Dr. Phil, it's okay so far. Bought some gorgeous Prima handmade flowers for embellishing and I'm thinking I'll make a necklace and some shirt snazzies with 'em. They are sooo pretty! Used my 40% off coupon too. ; ) I've spent the last few days trying to stay off my feet to let a small wound on the bottom of my left foot heal and I've been antiquing some really cool vintage images that I plan to use for embellishments also. But not on clothes, since they are paper. Anyways, I'm really excited about how amazing they look. So vintage and charming! I want to eat them up! Really! Some are food images... :) Speaking of eating...I lost another pound today(for an official -31!) and began to wonder what my style in clothing will be like when I lose all the weight I want to lose...when I was last the size I'm looking forward to I was so young I just wore jeans and t-shirts but I don't think I'm a jeans and t-shirts kind of lady now...I love skirts but I live in the windiest state of all so most days the weather is just not conducive to skirt wearing. Ditto for dresses. I heart capri's, or shorty-pants as my niece calls them. They don't flatter my short legs though. But its not like anyone's looking ; ) so I'll probably opt for familiarity and comfort and stick with capri's and maybe more fitted shirts, but not plain t-shirts. I don't know, I'm just excited to be losing weight and getting to buy new clothes all the time! : ) Or remake some of my fav old things...hey, maybe I'll take some pictures and post them. Or not. Whatever, huh? Well, bye for now and ya'll take care!