Fair well 2010

All in all 2010 was no so bad. It was actually good.

I moved into a large house, with lots of space to spread out all my crafts. It was awesome. The reason I moved was not so awesome, but this year Every cloud has had a silver lining.

Moving Again

I managed to be on an airplane for 5 hours almost 6 - quite and accomplishment for a Claustrophobic person! And went to Hawaii with about half our family. There are tons of post in July about Hawaii.

Hawaii

I also Joined, participated and completed the ProBlogger 31 Day Better Blog Challenge. I learned a lot of stuff about blogging I just had no clue about. I'm still trying to incorporate it all into my blog. Just so much information. Day 31

So much that just a couple days ago I purchased Simple Blogging Less computer time, Better Blogging by Rachel Meeks. From a Review Katie did over at Articles From Addington, to see if I can simplify it all, because extra time I do not have but would so love to turn this blog into the blog that's in my head.

The greatest and most wonderful thing that happened in 2010 is my husband did not attempt suicide not once. It wasn't all peaches, there were more than a few lows of hiding the blades, the meds, the toxins, and all manner of previous attempts. Plus not letting him out of my site not even for 2 seconds while he went pee. Until the low low low was over. But after 5 years of 3 to 4 attempts every year. A whole year of no attempts, ER's, ICU's, Hospitals, then Behavioral Health Centers - No attempts Was the greatest Part of 2010!!!

Also My mom almost made it through the year unscathed. She was doing good recovering her mobility and started walking on the walker. Then a loss of Mobility, but after a short stay in Rehab she came out better than when she went in - I'm telling you nothing but clouds with great big silver linings this year!

Oh 2010 had some bad moments, My daughter didn't go back to college, Work was harder than usual to cope with, I felt trapped in all the day to day responsibility, I'm being sued by a Credit Card company, My Truck was broken for 2 and half months. Yet, none of those were anything I couldn't ignore or surpass by drowning myself in a good Craft project, and I now love the fact that I can share those with you, You had no clue they were coping mechanisms did you???

Last New Year's Eve all I could think was Please of Please God let me survive the coming year! Well I did, and all the better for it! As I've said before New Years Resolutions are not my thing, but Every year I do pick a few short term goals, I haven't finalized those yet. So I'll see you all in the New Year.

Happy New Year's!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Big Bro: "You hold it, I'll help you."

Christmas 2010

I haven't cooked in a long time, I used to cook. I can't say that I liked the day to day cooking, making a grocery list, figuring out dinner every night, and all the other hard stuff that goes along with that. But there were some things I like cooking.

This year I made Tamales for Christmas Eve and cooked a Ham for Christmas Dinner. Yes, we ate a lot.

My Sister and I making Tamales:

My Mom and My Sisters family came over for Christmas Eve Dinner, Tamales, Beans and Rice:

Don't ever leave the camera next to a bored child, My Stephanie:

We woke up Christmas Morning and opened the gifts under our tree:

I got a cool pair of boots I've been wanting for several years now, Yay! Everyone else got stuff they wanted also. Funds were limited so the one gift had to be a good one.

We then walked next door to Mom's and gave her her gifts. My family dressed up as the three wisemen/women. Keegan and lexi showed off what there Tio Rigo had given them, Slippers and a Hello Kitty backpack, They had much more I'm sure, but that's what they were showing off.

Then My little sister and her family came over for Christmas Dinner, Glazed Ham, potatoes and veggies. Aren't they just adorable.

And here is my husband teasing the dog with Red Velvet Cake:

We had a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas also.

New Shoulder Bag

I really like sewing the City Girl Shoulder bag Pattern. It allows me to play with different fabric combinations. So now I've pulled out tubs of fabric to pull those smaller than one yard pieces that I've been holding on to.

I love how this one came out, but I'm not a white person - so I made me one in black with the City Girl linen print fabric. oops didn't photograph that one. This one is available for purchase in our etsy shop. Sorry I'm Bored (waiting for Christmas, is it here yet?) Shameless post.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Soniaymonica

Quick Gift - Decoupage Notebook

I have 5 nephew's and 2 nieces. and it seems that every year we are more broke than the last. So the Christmas Gift budget for the extended family keeps getting smaller. So for a couple of years now I've been only giving gifts to the kids. Last year I made then crayon rolls from Skip to my Lou that I embroidered there names on - loved her tutorial.

This year I think I've hit sonic speed in how fast I was able to make all 7 gifts. I made them Decoupage Notebooks. I wrote a blog post early this year about my Decoupage secrets. I had to move my project to my cutting table because my scrapbook table is a mess!

For these 7 I bought kids wrapping paper one for the boys and one for the girls. The wrapping paper was very thin so the first few had way to much Mod Podge. I then used letters for the boys initials and I had small letters to be able to do the girls names (the short versions of there names).

If I do this again in the future I think I want to write something up that might inspire them to keep a journal and put that note inside.

Digital Christmas Scrapbook page

My little niece comes over to my house almost everyday. She escapes from her Mom that is next door taking care of our Mom during the day. I work from home. My little sister walked in on this one day:

And said 'You should take a picture.' I said I had. and she replied 'I never get to see those pictures.' Which is sad because I have some wonderful pictures of her two little one's. I do post some here every now and then when I don't have anything else to talk about, but other than that they reside on a memory card or on my computer.

Well here's a page for you Monica - I promise I'll make more, and show you how to print them and put them in a book.