Hi to all who still read this! I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted or talked to an of my friends. I miss you all so much.
I have been so busy. And I still don't hve a computer because I'm poor (not ashamed to say that since a lot of people are having it rough right now). I refuse to go to the rental places because by the time I would be done paying them I could have bought 10 computers.
Right now I'm at my mom's. I'm taking care of my sister, she got in a car accident last week. She broke her right foot in 10 places- had to have surgery, and she dislocated her other foot. Poor kid is miserable. Didn't help to have crappy hospital care.
We are still slowly but surely working on the house we bought. We don't have the extra $ we'd like to put into the house, but we're taking it one thing at a time. It's still overwhelming, but it's getting somewhat better.
The girls are doing great. They are growing so fast. Megan is quite the handful still. Some recent examples....pouring a whole bottle of elmers glue all over her carpet and then rubbing it all over her like lotion. THAT was a fun one to clean up. Almost as fun as when she dumped al my seed beads out!!!!
Anyway just a quick hello to all my long lost and much missed cyber pals. I hope all is well and that you don't forget me!!!

Posted by Jessi at 10:00 AM
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See? I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, really!!! Been without computer and internet, and ouch does that hurt. Don't realize how much you use it till it's gone, right?
So...what's been going on with me? Let's see.....I'm sure most of you know that I got into Crochetme!! That was really cool, I got really happy, and then hit a slump. I have these often. I make something I really love or something that takes a really long time and then I have to set down my hooks for a time. I have not spun, haven't really did anything bead-y. I made snowflakes for Christmas, and I made myself a hat. I started to make a snowman but I left him disembodied (sp?) probably till next winter. I did make a lot of crafts with the girls, like picture Christmas ornaments and such, and they loved them. But really, that is all on the crafty front. Pathetic, I know.
But it's ok, because I've been hangin out on the net again, checkin out Crafster and all the new things people have been hookin away at and I got bit by the crafty bug. Not crochet first though. I really wish I could figure out why I can't make links work on this computer because I would link you to a thread on crafster that grabbed hold of me. I want to make soldered pendants! They look so neat. There is another thread there that uses stamps in the pendants and I love those too. I want to make a charm bracelet. I've been hoarding supplies, waiting for a few things from Ebay and it's a go.

On the homefront, we bought a house. It's long, drawn out stressful story.
Short version?
The house belonged to Tony's family, we wanted to buy it, ran into a TON of bumps along the road, wanted to give up, got the house, closed on it, couldn't move in it for irritating reasons I won't go into, and are now in the process of cleaning up all the crap that was left in it before we move in. We got ourselves into a home that needed more work than we realized and I'm a bit overwhelmed. But hey, it's ours now, no more landlords and we can revamp it how we want. And revamp it we will 'cause it's trashed.

The girls are all doing good.




2 littlest have some head cold thing and have passed it onto me, of course! I found out Megan (my 2 yr old) is anemic and while that might not be too big of a deal, it worries me because we had such a bad time with Gabrielle having the same problems and then others and needing a blood tranfusion. But we caught Megan's before her hemoglobin dropped too low, and the Dr. is awesome and on top of it, so that makes me feel 100% better of course. But Megan is going through her terrible 2's or something because she has just been meaner than ever, telling people to shut up when she gets mad, and biting her sisters, arguing and all. I know she is sick, and the move has been a huge change, so I'm trying to have some patience but at the same time I have to let her know it's not ok.

Gabrielle is enjoying Kindergarten and has her first crush. She's adorable with it. Gets this goofy smile around the kid and then tries to hide it from everyone. But it seems that this kid is the heartthrob of the whole class. Everytime I talk to a mom they say all they hear about is this boy. They had a field trip in December, we went and saw "Happy Feet" and then the kids got to see Santa. The news channel was there doing a story about "Kris Kringle" and they filmed the kids. We watched that night, and they showed Gabby sitting on Santa's lap, and even though it was only for a few seconds, she thought it was so cool.




You can get some pretty funky mall Santa's but this guy looked like the real deal. He even had a red velvet cape over his suit. I loved the way this Santa looked!

Erica is boy crazy at 10 yrs old. She is something else. She also has a huge crush, but that's nothing new with her. The kids in the neighborhood had a snowball fight today and she had a blast nailing the boys on the block. Here's her and crazy cousins.





And last but not least, the new addition to our family. Has it been 9 months since I've been offline???..............


Joking. Just Joking!!!! LOL.




This is Buddy. He's a mutt. They said beagle/terrier mix, and I agree however I think there's some Weiner dog thrown in there and who knows what else! Remember I was fostering animals? Well, he was in Ohio and they gas dogs there, had no room in the shelter. He came up with 4 others to fosters. He was sick as can be, and we nursed him back to health and put some weight on him, and then decided we wanted to keep him. He's such a dorky looking guy, and he's a little crazy, so I guess he fits right in ;) Erica "wanna be a vet when I grow up" has him spoiled rotten. Anyway yea, he's ours.

So that's all my news for now. Hope you all are doing great. I've missed talking with everyone and seeing all your crafty goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Jessi at 9:09 PM
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Well, another week has gone by. Where does the time go?

I've been on a never ending job hunt, still ongoing. I don't understand the reason I haven't been called back. The only thing I can think of is that my previous boss is being a bitch and doing what I was told they aren't allowed to do - talking shit about me when called. I'm getting more stressed about working, and more angry at myself because it's my own fault, and no one else's. Enough whining.

Tony left Wednesday for Georgia, he'll be back late tomorrow night. I've been hanging with the girls, cleaning house, doing laundry, etc. Yesterday we went to Erica's t-ball game, they lost by one point. They've put Erica on 1st base, it's a good position for her. She got a lot of outs yesterday, and was happy because she was playing against 2 of her classmates!! She has 3 games left. The only downer about the games is that Erica's dad's girlfriend has infiltrated herself where she isn't wanted. I can see coming to the games when Erica's dad comes, but yesterday she came with just her daughter. Erica had an attitude with her. I hope that it isn't a reflection of my attitude towards her. I am trying not to make it evident that I can't stand the woman but kids are smart and in tune with you even when you think they aren't. Anyway I made nice as much as I could stand to without puking. How immature that sounds. Ah well, it's the truth anyway.

Hooking? No, not much. I tried working up the Seaside Espadrilles from Interweave Crochet but the jute wasn't playing well with the dry skin on my hands. I've been smoothing on some of Deneen's Whipped Shea Buttah to help. It's interesting of course to work with something new, but I am having a rough go of it. I can't get my stitch counts right for the soles and I haven't much motivation to sit and figure it out. I've been working up a tank top for Gabrielle using Paton's Katrina that I got on clearance sometime last year. It's a pretty blue color. I don't have too much further to go, but who knows when I will finish it. I will try to tonight though. I want to finish the Shell Trellis Bolero I started. I first did it to work along with my testers and now I want to finish it, making it short sleeved, to wear to my cousin's wedding next Saturday. My grandma is going to be there, and I haven't seen her in about 7 years. It would be nice to make her a shawl or something for her to take back with her...even though she lives in Arizona, she still gets chilled. Getting off track though.....

Tank Top WIP


  


This is, pathetically, as far as I have gotten on the Espadrilles. I gave up after the 4th frog, and put it away for a bit.


  


Hopefully by the next post there will be FO's. I am positive that the hotter than sin weather has had something to do with my lack of crocheting. Yesterday brought clouds and rain in, it isn't supposed to rain again, but it is supposed to be cloudy and cooler. We'll see.

Kari and some others have taken to putting up a picture of beauty they appreciate. I really like that idea, taking time to pay attention to some of the best things in life. A baby Robin fell out of it's nest this morning, I assume it was trying to fly. Anyway Erica, the Vet at Heart, came a running to take me to it.


  

We've been watching out the window and sure enough, a few mintues after we came inside they flew over to the baby. They've made a hiding spot in the overgrown Iris flowerbed it fell near. It hopped on in there and they've been hovering around the area, the mom has been taking worms in there. It's so cute and so neat to watch them. I can hear them chirping out the window right now. That's my beauty for the day.

I'm going to leave you with my Foodie Friday recipe. It comes courtesy of the Southern Living Cookbook. I just recently got this, and I'm loving it. I've made 3 things from it already, all great. I'm going to make the Fresh Peach Pie tomorrow for my brother in law's graduation party. Anyway here it is. It's pretty quick, the kids love to help make it, and everyone loves to eat it.

MONKEY BREAD BITES

prep: 10 min Cook: 21 min

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (we tested with Pillsbury Golden Layer Buttermilk Biscuits)
1 (6-ounce)can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
12 extra large foil muffin cups*

Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Cut biscuits into fourths, and add to sugar mixture; toss to coat. Set aside.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar; cook 3minutes, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and pecans.

Arrange 5 coated biscuit pieces in each greased extra-large foil muffin cup; place in a muffin pan. Repeat procedure with remaining biscuit pieces. Sprinkle evenly with remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Drizzle with pecan syrup.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until browned. Yield: 1 Dozen

*You can use standard-size paper muffin liners. Place 4 coated biscuit pieces in each greased paper liner. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 mintues. Yield: 15 servings.

~ I only used the 12 oz can of biscuits, for me and my kids. The leftovers don't taste as great re-heated. Also, my kids don't like pecans, so I left them out of the "syrup" and sprinkled them over a few servings for myself. I kept the "syrup" warm and drizzled a bit more over the bites before serving. ~

WARNING: These could be addicting :)

Posted by Jessi at 12:16 PM
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FOODIE FRIDAY!!!

My first entry!


PASTA PRIMAVERA W/ SHRIMP

8 oz Angel Hair Pasta
1 C Broccoli Florets
4 oz Asparagus - cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Small Sweet Red Pepper - cut into thin strips
1 Small Yellow Pepper - cut into thin strips
3/4 oz Parmesan Cheese
12 oz Shrimp (I also add the same amount flaked Crab Meat)
3/4 oz Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tsp minced Garlic
1/4 Tsp each Salt & Black Pepper



Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli to pot about 1 minute before pasta will be done. Remove from heat and reserve 3/4 cup of the cooking water; drain pasta and broccoli in a colander.


Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Saute shrimp until just cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes; transfer shrimp to a plate.


Heat remaining oil in same skillet. Add peppers, asparagus, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute until tender-crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in reserved cooking water, shrimp; cook to heat through, about 1 to 2 minutes.


Return pasta and broccoli to pot. Add shrimp mixture and cheese; toss to mix and coat well. Serve immediately. Yields about 1 3/4 cups per serving.

Posted by Jessi at 11:45 AM
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Wow what a week and a half it has been since I posted last.

First let me say that I am so sick of pathetic two-faced people. While I was off-line, a forum not to be named had some sort of alien life-force take over, and it's so drama filled and IGNORANT that I can't even stand to think of it, let alone go there anymore. So when a group of people leave a board to avoid immature spineless fakes, they should leave said people the hell alone. Who would contact the owner of a different forum and pretend to be a friend and someone to be trusted, just to get in and share info of what is talked about there? Someone who doesn't have a life, and who is a coward. Someone who is just what these group of people were trying to avoid.

Are you people really that insecure of yourselves and that bored with your life that you have to send in some sort of double agent just in case your name or your board is mentioned? Do you really care THAT MUCH what we think of you? In all honesty, since you probably haunt the blogs of the new forum also, you should know good and well what is thought of you.

I'm done now. Really, it didn't even deserve that much of my time, but it pissed me off.


The job I was complaining about? I quit. I won't go into too much boring detail, but my boss was messing with me. In a hundred different ways, being a bitch. I can't take crap from people for very long, and I'd had enough. I also didn't like the way she was running the home and I think she was stealing the clients money. My boss's boss wouldn't listen to me. So I did a no call no show on the 4th of July which would have thrown my boss's holiday vacation for a loop. In my job, the person who works before you cannot leave until you show up, since we are taking care of people who can't be left alone. The girl I was supposed to relieve is my boss's pet, and I didn't care for her either. So since both of them were screwing with me, I screwed with them, on a holiday. Immature I know. I don't care. I went to a bbq instead and spent time with my family.
I quit like this because I thought I had a job waiting for me. My friend works for another company and I was supposed to fill out paperwork and start after the holiday. Then her boss decides to give an employee a 2nd chance and there goes that job. So I got my kick in the ass for quitting the way I did I guess, because now I'm job hunting, and it isn't going so great. So I'm having a freak attack and have been for the past week. We don't have savings we can fall back on, and it's my fault we'll be short on rent in a week.

Haven't even thought of picking up my hooks since I've been in such a funk, and have been job hunting. There's things I'd like to make, but don't have the yarn or the money to buy yarn. I put some Dazzleaire up on ebay and it's going pretty good. Probably put my acrlyic up although I don't expect much from that.

The whole testing/designing thing has gotten me discouraged. I just think that if the kids eren't screaming in my ear all the time I could figure things out better and be able to write down exactly what I did so that others can understand it and do it also. Seems like such a simple thing, but really, it isn't. So I haven't gone anywhere with that either.

This past Saturday Tony and I actually had a babysitter for the kids. We went to the Taylor Summer Festival and saw Emerson Drive and then Chris Cagle perform. For free, can't beat that.


  

And let me tell you that after seeing these 2 bands perform, I like them even more now than I did before. They both put on high energy, entertaining shows, and they sounded awesome. Chris Cagle did a moment of silence for a Michigan soldier that lost his life in battle, and offered a meet and greet with autographs in return for a donation for the soldiers family.
The concerts were follwed by fireworks, too.


  



  

It was a good stress reliever. We met up with some family and just hung out.
Then we came home and crashed :)

This week I've been job hunting and cleaning house. Whoopie, huh?! Sorry about the boring post, folks. Just figured I'd update and let you all know I haven't disappeared again. Lol. Now I'm off to catch up on blogs since I've been such a hermit. Have a beautiful day!

Posted by Jessi at 12:50 PM
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I finished another bolero. This one is done with Caron Simply Soft in Victorian Rose. Man I can't wait to get some yummy yarn to work these last patterns over again with. Anyway, it went pretty quickly, and I love the stitch pattern. I am really happy with it. I'm not sure whether I want to add an edging to it or not.


  

The wind was blowing like crazy, so ignore the hair. The kid shoving the O-r-e-o into her mouth would be Gabby. The next picture makes it look like it's bunched in the back above the drawstring, but it's not, so I think I was moving or slouching when my mom snapped the pic.


  

Yes, that is my mini-me besides me. What do you think? Of the bolero, not my mini me. Or both. Lol.

So, the weather, summer vacation -code for- too many kids, my job, and a bunch of other stuff has me just stressed out to the max. Gabby is going through this mega whining stage and it just grates on my nerves. I am more scatterbrained than ever and I can't remember anything. I've messed up on the pattern that I'm having tested just from brain farts, silly things. Sheesh. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

We did end up getting the foster dog I mentioned in the previous post. Here she is.


  

She came with the name Gorgeous and although I don't like it I'm not sure I have the right to change it being the foster mom and all. Anyway she has finally started warming up to us. Today she was wagging her tail at me; which is nothing short of a miracle because when she came I for sure thought someone had glued it between her legs or something. It never came out. She is also eating and drinking better, and she actually took 2 Scooby Snacks from my daughter. That would be the dog treats, not the...uh...other stuff. Yea.
So I have high hopes for her. I am so happy that she is starting to feel safe in my home.
Oh goodness. I think that is all for now, because I can feel that I will start to ramble soon. I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and *boiled as an owl* 4th of July!!

*I could not resist linking all my pals to this website that I came across. Go peek if you want to understand the boiled as an owl thing. Tell me, is it enough to keep you from tipping back this holiday? Or will it be just a nice ice breaker over a round of your fave poison? I think I'll take the last option.

Thanks so much to all those who have before and those who continue to fight for our freedom. Including my cousin Jeff.

Posted by Jessi at 4:15 PM
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Well, so far absolutely nothing has come of the work situation. I got there and she just said that she had faxed the report over to them and we would see what would happen. She also said she would have to write me up. So far I have heard nothing else, and also have not even gotten a write up. A girl that has worked there for 3 years told me not to even worry about it, because most likely she is lying, and did not do anything. I'm like...well, why did she call me on my day off and freak me out like that telling me all that crap? I guess the answer is because she's a bitch. A med error is a serious issue. So if I did do one (which I already said I didn't) and she did report it like she said, I would most likely be suspended pending an "investigation" and definitly get a write up. So...whatever. I don't know what to think/believe when it comes to that place anymore. Except that I need to get out.

Now, on the lighter/crochet side of things. Another bolero.


  



  



  

It came out a bit longer than I wanted, but it's cute.


Gabby's Tank Top


  



  



  

I like it. Only the top (sc) part of the tank is buttoned. The bottom part of the tank is "open" to the breeze. It's really cute. Now I just need to weave the ends of the straps. You can kinda see them sticking out of where I tucked them. Lol.

I'm on a roll, really. I have crocheted more in the last 2 weeks than in the last 5 months. I am going to make another Shell Trellis Bolero that way I can work along with my pattern testers in case something comes up. But I am also working on another "design" that I am pretty happy with so far. I am going to put that on hold in order to start the Trellis bolero but I will probably be working on both at the same time in order to get the new design done. That way I can get that tested and sent in to see if I can get it published. I'm really hoping things go well.

And, some summer fun.


  

Um, yes this is the biggest pool we have right now. Lol.


  


I may foster a dog! I have been browsing Petfinder (for some reason blogger won't let me add the link. grr. it's petfinder.com). I saw a pretty Shepard mix girl that needs a foster home. I would like to add the link so you could go see her but blogger is messing up and won't do it. Anyway I will find out today. I would have her here until a permanent home is found. We'd participate in the adoption events that they have at stores and such. It'll be fun. I got sad reading about all the animals that are put to sleep because there isn't any room for them at the shelters. They said if they have more foster care homes that wouldn't happen. So we decided to volunteer.

Anyway that's about all for now. I hope you all have a great day!!

Posted by Jessi at 9:58 AM
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