Monday, March 30, 2009

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Last Thursday was the Literature Fair at Houston's school. His class put on a production of Snow White and they did an awesome job. Houston played the part of Dopey the Dwarf. Too cute!

Here are the dwarfs before they go off to work!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Rocket Yarn


Here's the yarn and fiber I dropped off to Hanks this past week. We've been so busy around here lately that I haven't had much time at all to spend on the yarn and fiber. It was nice to finally find some time to dye up some stuff.

Track & Field Day 2009

Brody and I went to school with Houston for Track & Field Day a week ago. It was a lot of fun. Houston ended up with six ribbons ... three second place and three third place. We seem to finally have found a sport that he enjoys and excels at. The kid can run!

Brody joined right in and thought he was one of the class that day. He ate lunch and did some lessons with Houston. He had a really good day and now just can't understand why he can't go to school with Houston yet.


This is the school relay. This is the entire student body from preschool to high school seniors. The school is split into white knights and blue knights, hence the different colored PE shirts. Each quarter they do a different sport and the winning team gets the trophy and the loser gets a medal. Track & Field Day was a lot of fun because they gave out medals and ribbons in each event and each age group. Houston is a White Knight and so far he has two trophies, one medal and his six individual event ribbons. If the White Knights win this next quarter then they will win the Camelot Cup.


Look at Houston run!


Getting ready for the long jump.


Lunch time!


At the awards ceremony.

The Boys Room Phase 2: Wall of Shelves




I thought I had pictures of the shelves filled and the dresser in middle cubby but I can't seem to find them. Oh well ....

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Just a Little Something

Linky-doo: Living Crafts - fun stuff for the whole family and free craft ideas online

A Quote for the Day: Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we are here we might as well dance!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My Next Knitting Project

Soap Bubble Wrap

I'm so in love with this pattern!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day

What are you going to do today that you have been putting off? :)

Monday, March 09, 2009

Tub Hair!



Mmmmmmm ... yarn!




Coming to a Hanks near you .... ;-)

Thursday, March 05, 2009

We Surround Them

Are you as aggravated as I am about the direction our country is headed?

We Surround Them

And to find a location near you go to We Surround Them Map

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

And Now for Some Good News ...

We had a couple of anniversaries last month that I never posted about ...

February 12th marked the one year anniversary of Crews Engineering Services, LLC. I'm happy to report that our first year in business was a very successful one and the second year is shaping up to be even better. Not too shabby for a down economy, huh? In honor of our first anniversary I finally took some time to spruce up our website a little bit. I still have some work to do on our portfolio (now that we have one) and hope to finish that up tomorrow. I think the website looks much better now. I can't believe how long I left the old one up. It was done in haste, as were a lot of things this time last year but looking at it before I changed it today I was almost embarrased. Oh well ... it's better now and will be even better tomorrow, hopefully. :)

February 22nd was our 6th wedding anniversary. I really don't know where the time goes! We celebrated by going to a Sister Hazel concert a few days before that was amazing, as usual. They never dissapoint! It was a small venue (Freebird Live) and we were right up by the stage, about ten feet from the band. We even got to meet Ken Block (the lead singer) after the concert. He signed our CDs and I got to tell him the story about how I saw him and Drew play on the patio at TGI Friday's back in '94 when they put out their first album and have been a fan ever since. :)

Coming up next month, April 22nd, will be our ten year anniversary together. That's almost an entire third of my lifetime. I guess that whole grow up, get married and have kids thing really does happen. Things certainly have changed in those ten years too. I wish I could say I still felt that like care-free outgoing college co-ed Brett swept off her feet but the years have definitely taken their toll. I keep reminding myself that I'm only as old as I feel. Actions speak louder than words though, as they say (whoever "they" are) so I'm finally taking some action on my own behalf. I haven't wanted to post about it for fear of jinxing myself but I feel i've made enough progress that I'm out of the woods, so to speak. I had a sit down with myself at the turn of this year and decided that this was going to be the year that I got myself straightened out. Not saying I was unhappy but I wasn't happy either and it was all because of me, not because of anything else in my life but in the way I was reacting (or not reacting) to my life. I'm happy to say that I now:
  • have and keep routines so my house is cleaner and we are all less stressed because of it
    (thank you FlyLady, and Karena for telling me about FlyLady)
  • actually make a weekly menu so I don't have to think about what's for dinner after the end of a work day and we are eating healthier because of it and also spending less on groceries
  • am finally losing the baby weight i've carried around since Brody was born almost three years ago (down 15 pounds since November, slow and steady)
  • am doing a little something for myself every day, even if it's just 15 minutes of knitting or reading
  • am finally really learning to play the piano! (than you "the piano guy")
  • smile a whole lot more :)
And speaking of the weekly menu ... I'm off to cook dinner. :)

Monday, March 02, 2009

Read Across America

Today is the NEA's Read Across America day. Go check out their website for some fun free downloads and take a few minutes to read to your kids today. :)

What a Couple of Weeks ....

There was some good, some great and some really bad. Don't have time to post about all of it right now but there are some things I want to get out.

Yesterday marks the one year anniversary of my cousin Stacey's death. I can't believe it's been that long already. That also means the one year anniversary of my Uncle Ken's death is this week. One day last week I was looking ahead on the calendar to see what birthdays and such were coming up in March. As I was doing so I thought about Ken and Stacey and the fact that I had almost made it an entire year since anything really crappy happened. Should have knocked on wood because not more than four hours later I got the phone call. We had another death in the family ... another suicide actually. Seriously people .... suicide is not the way to go. Whatever hell you may be dealing with I promise you that you will put your family and all the people that loved you through so much more. Your problems do not die with you. They are still here for others to deal with. Just sayin' ...

John Parker while not technically my uncle because he and my aunt never married, was still an uncle figure for as long as I can remember. From what I remember being told, he put himself through law school by driving a taxi in the city. Whenever we would go up to CT to visit and wanted to go into the city (NYC) he would get us wherever we wanted to go and in a hurry too. You know those movies where the taxi driver is trying to get somewhere in NYC and they drive on the sidewalks? Yep. The last time he drove us into the city to go see the Statue of Liberty I remember feeling like I was on a ride at Disney or something. I always really liked John. We always had good talks and he was always there if any of us needed legal advice. I can remember like it was yesterday standing in my Aunt Audrey's kitchen before Stacey's funeral and talking with John about life and our new business and the kids, etc. It never occurred to me for even a second that I might never see him again. And Good Lord already!!! Honestly ... my Aunt Audrey is the strongest person I know if she can make it through all this and still manage to get dressed and leave the house. After losing two kids and now John ... although they were no longer together, they were still close and he was there for her to deal with all the things that went along with Stacey's death. He dealt with a lot of things for her so she didn't have to. He also spoke at Stacey's funeral and I thought he did great given the circumstances. Well ... enough about that for now I suppose.

I was going to share some of the good of the past couple weeks but now it doesn't seem like a good thing to mix it with this post. Stay tuned for happy stuff later on ...