Top 8

I saw a link to this blog, on which the author is providing topics for people to respond to with lists of 8. I wish I'd caught it a few days ago, but today's is fun, too. :)

Without further ado, 8 things I love (in no particular order):

1. Jesus

2. Matt


3. My family: I have to lump them together, or I'd go way over 8 between my parents, my siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, niece, nephews, and then Matt's family, too! Whew! We are blessed with lots of wonderful people. :)
Here's a shot I *love* of two particularly wonderful people :)


4. Samantha


5. Strawberry lemonade (especially from Chili's)

6. The beach


7. Our friends (again, lumped together ya'll, sorry!)
The picture currently still on the hard drive that included the most friends in one shot :)


8. Successfully making something and it turning out the way I pictured in my head :)

Gifts and Samantha

We are expecting the arrival of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, in a little over a month! I have had a couple little projects in mind for her, but I was holding out until my order of the Husqvarna 4D embroidery software came in. Well, now it doesn't look as though that will happen before I go back to school. So, I decided to go ahead and sew some steps of the projects, and I'll have to go back and embroider later. Isabella's nursery is decorated with sweet ladybugs, so I made a coordinating set of burp clothes to go along with that theme.

You'll have to stay tuned to see what I embroider on them (eventually.... when my software arrives!)

Secondly, Samantha received a really fun gift from my parents. :) It's a huge black bear stuffed animal--only it doesn't have stuffing (except for the head) and it has a squeaker in each leg and its head!

We were sure she would have it torn open in a matter of minutes. But she's never had a toy this big before, and she's been treating it very differently! Sure, she shakes it and bites at it sometimes. She looked like she thought she'd REALLY caught something when we first gave it to her. But now it's like it's her buddy!

We just might need to come up with a name for it with the way she's keeping it around! :) Such a sweet puppy. :)

Some Outside Shots

Here are some more recent pictures of the yard, and Samantha. :)

A flower that popped up last week out of nowhere! :) So bright and happy and PINK!



GRASS IS GROWING and filling in the bare spots! We are SO excited! Matt's vision for a GREEN backyard might actually come true!
Praise the Lord for cleaned up yard debris and especially for much needed rain!


The hanging planter I filled with clippings from the yard (fern, ivy, elephant ears, etc.).
Still going and still growing!


Sammy surveying her yard.


Samantha hunting for lizards among the logs and sticks (from a dead tree we took down). The sticks used to be a neat stack, but the stack was the FIRST place she would run when we let her out. In her attempts to wrangle a lizard, she has managed to completely dishevel Matt's hard work! But BOY does she love to hunt lizards. :) I think she would literally spend hours in that one spot if we let her. Only, it's made her slightly neurotic. Now, even if a stick moves because she paws it, she is *convinced* there is a lizard there and stands guard, pointing, just waiting to make her move. It's pretty cute to watch. :)

One More Day!

Tomorrow is the LAST day of school!! I can hardly believe it!


I can't wait to join Sammy as we recently found her.... sleeping in, here I come!

Yes, Virginia...

...Matt & Becca DO have grass.

Errr, well, okay. Matt & Becca have grassy spots. :)

On Sunday we ate lunch on the lanai (which I cleaned on Saturday while Matt picked kumquats). Sitting out there and having the lanai all cleaned up made me wish the yard was cleaned up too. After lunch I decided to begin raking. You might think "palm tree" when you think Florida, and while we do have a palm tree, we live in the more northern part of Florida where you have plenty of pines and other coniferous and some deciduous tress as well. When I saw year yard nearly 2 years ago for the first time, it did not send the message "days' worth of raking and bagging leaves." Oh, but it does now. :)

While Matt picked more little orange fruits on Sunday afternoon, I raked and bagged 7 bags worth of leaves and pine needles. Seven. That might not sound like a lot to people with large lots, but in Florida? Small lot, palm tree Florida? I'm not kidding! And that was less than 1/2 the yard! I won't admit how long the leaves had been piling up (I don't know the last time I raked, but I DID mow last year.... does that count?) , but I had just had it. This afternoon I raked and bagged 5 more bags. The whole back yard (except for the little corner outside our window, which I left because it was dark/for comparison's sake in the photos/due to blisters, has been raked and bagged! On Sunday I also used the blower to get leaves off the driveway and to blow leaves off the yard and into the natural area in about 1/3 of the front. Whew!

Now onto pictures to prove this amazing feat! :)

Part of Sunday's bags

Looking to the right from the palm tree

I know it's blurry, but look! You can see GREEEEEEN grass!

More GREEEEEEN!!! :)

This is to compare... this is the side yard (and a crazy pooch) still covered in leaves. The whole yard used to look like this.

PLUS, I cut out as much of the seam allowance as possible in the thumb of the oven mitt and cut a slit in the wrist, and it's actually functional! I'm not going to give it as a gift, but right now it's on display on top of our fridge. It's a great hubby-swatter. :) Hehe

If you're tired of the cold, come visit! We are in bloom already!
(this one obviously "coming soon")

Lastly, we recently received this in the mail.
I already asked off for it, and I can't wait to come home in May! Not only will we be coming HOME, but we'll be come HOME to CELEBRATE and REJOICE in Ruthie getting hitched!
I can't wait, I can't wait! :)


Ooops... lastly (for real) you can never have too many Sammy pictures. :)

Friday Night "Therapy"

After a particularly tiring week, I decided to let the creative juices flow. A teacher at my school is getting married the beginning of April, and we usually have wedding and baby showers at school. I was trying to think of something I could sew for her, and first I thought of an apron. I emailed Joy, of course, to ask if she thought that would be too hard for me. She pointed me in the right direction, and off I went!

After waiting a long time at JoAnn's (a story for another day), I got my fabric cut and was on my way. This particular teacher is very fashionable and seems to be quite fond of the bright pink/bright green combination you see around. So, I found some fun fabric in those tones and set to work. I started probably around 5:30 or 6, stopped to get dinner with Matt, and then I finished up around 10. Without further ado, I present the apron...

This project included several firsts. It was my first time using the pom-pon trim (at least for me, I had to be particularly careful not to let the strip the pom-pons dangle from show through). That required thinking through right sides together and wrong sides out and turning and whew. I almost had a brain cramp, but I figured it out!

I also made the apron reversible... since I would be lining it anyway, why not make it fun?

I would also like to make her a matching oven mitt. I just need to get some plain fabric for the lining (or dig through my stash, but I don't think I have anything).

I've also considered making a 9x13 casserole dish carrier (like the brown, flowered one Mom has). I think it would be really cool and perfect for a new bride! :)

I am a little nervous--do you think they're good enough to give for gifts to someone outside the family??

We hope you have a great weekend and get even a smidge of time to do something fun you enjoy, too. While I don't want to wish this one away, Mom and Dad will be here next weekend!! :)

Love,
Becca

P.S. This is what your dog does while you are sewing. Isn't that nice? It's one of the shoes I bought for E's wedding... oh well... goody thing I don't wear heels much. :-( :-(

P.P.S. Here's Samuel's very belated birthday present. I just need to hand-tie it and send it in the mail!

More Valentine's Photos

Here are some more pictures from around Valentine's Day...

The weekend before Valentine's Day...

Tyson flew down to visit us. On Friday night, we broke out the Star Wars edition of Monopoly for the first time. Matt dominated (see below). JUST when I thought I might actually do well (the last time I played I was a little kid and my brothers let me play along, but I ALWAYS went bankrupt first as a kid), Matt turned on us all.

This is how he looked...

This was Tyson's reaction to dishing out the dough to Darth Matt...

This shows Matt's pawn crushing Tyson's pawn

And Darth Matt desperately wanted a picture to capture all his "hotels and motels" for posterity. He says he'll never do that well again.... we'll see.

My only consolation is that I DID have all the railroads for a short time...

Valentine's...

For Valentine's Day, I got Matt tickets to see Cirque Extravaganza. Here we are dressed up for a evening of entertainment and dinner out.

And a picture of me with my new necklace (though it's hard to see in this one)

Odds & Ends...

Here is Samantha being a NUTTY DOG on the couch...

And yes, Charis, unforunately, Sammy "made a mess" again!

You Know the Saying...

"With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Well, how about "with windows like these, who needs doors?"

Another Sammy Funny

I had Charis in mind when I snapped this picture. I'm told she still finds Sammy's "unzipping" and "de-stuffing" the couch cushions adventure quite amusing.

So, when I realized Sammy had snuck through a gap in the gate today and heard her clonking something around in her mouth, I wondered what today's adventure would be. Apparently she decided to gank a LOLLIPOP from the bowl of leftover Halloween candy that was in the living room. I started to go after her, and then with Charis in mind I grabbed the camera (if that isn't the sign a true blogger and auntie, I don't know what is). Below you will find your very own picture of Sammy dog chewing and slurping on a cotton candy flavored dum-dum lollipop!

What a crazy pooch!


p.s. I tried to bribe her with 2 milk bones, but she swallowed the lollipop (and stick) before I could get it from her!

Eek!

Hey Mom, here's what I found when I walked around the corner into the den after we got off the phone...




THANKFULLY, she just managed to unzip the pillow's zipper (I was afraid she chewed a hole).


Here is where she is currently serving out her sentence.

Finished

Well, I WAS going to post a pic of Sammy in some UT garb and cheer on our team, but Ainge just got picked off.... we're tied with 5:35 left in the 4th quarter. :-( When Matt and I finished dinner, it was UT's game to lose (we were ahead 21-0). As so often happens, it seems UT is choosing that "losing" option. :-(

Either way, here's Sam in a UT scarf Gracie (Matt's sister's dog) sent her. :)


Also, I finished my secret project. Here's the glimpse you already got...

...and here's the complete project.


It's a pumpkin made of leaves! I originally envisioned a red and white gingham ribbon around the stem, and I was SURE I had some, but I haven't uncovered it yet in my ribbon stash. I think this red with do nicely for now. :)

I received the fabric I won from Sew, Mama, Sew! I can't wait to find a pattern and turn it into a new handbag!


And after much searching, I found the red berry wreath I'd been wanting. I never found any at our Target, but we found a couple (most were banged up pretty badly) in Ocala when we went a few weeks ago! Hooray! Here it is brightening up the stove top area.


On that same Ocala trip, we also bought this picture for the dining room. I also want to find a buffet for in there.


While in Ocala we also bought a K (our original reason for going)... but its final project location is not yet complete. So, stay tuned!


Lastly, I decided to take advantage of the pine cones our neighbors' pine trees are dropping in our yard (we don't have any pine trees ourselves). Here are some ways I found to use them...

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