Homecoming........

Homecoming in our small town is a big event. With powderpuff football, band, dance, and oh, of course school....quite the busy week. The parade is fun...she was in homecoming court this year and thrilled to ride in a car instead of marching in band for the parade.
Bringing the team through town in a semi truck.

The girls dressed up for the dance. The dance is themed each year and the kids have a blast dressing up. Disney was the theme this year. Here we have Zenon Girl of the 21st Century, Kim Possible, Meg (from Hercules) and a Cheetah Girl. Kim Possible should have been the easiest costume ever, but my sewing machine kept wanting to eat the knit that shirt was made of....so I ended up backing it with some paper......and then picking the white paper out of the stitches on that black shirt. And of course I had waited until the night before.......
At the dance. They looked like they were having a blast.

Painting....leads to glazing....leads to roofing.......leads to

rewiring! Well, we simply want to get the front (and maybe the side) of the house repainted this fall. You can see how worn and peely and mildewy the paint is.........it's 10 years old on this side. So Joe has been scraping and washing and painting. The part over the porch is starting to look purty nice, don'tcha think? I actually got up there and helped one day even though I am deathly afraid of heights. Then of course the glazing on the windows needs to touched up before you can paint that. And the porch roof was in baaaad shape, so he ripped it off and while we've got the roof off.....we might as well run some new wiring so the porch light will work again.......and put one outside the door while we're at it. Hmmmm this is a bigger job than we thought. Such is life in an old house.
Here's my cute boy........all grown up and a working man. I can hardly believe it.
Saturday I had a special treat. A fellow blogger came in to my shop. Judy has a wonderful blog called Midlife Bliss. She is so friendly and sweet...and she has 11 kids.......doesn't she look great?! Now I have to tell you though, that when I saw this pic of me, I went straight to the hairdresser that night. I told her to give me a cute haircut and take 50 pounds off.
She only did one of them....so hard to find good help these days!

Thank You.......

Heather Bailey! Aren't these beeeyoutiful fabrics?! I won them over at Heather's site when she posted a contest. She's such a talented lady. I can't wait to make something out of them.....I don't know what yet, but I'll think of something special. I should have posted earlier, but lately I'm so far behind that I think I'm ahead. Thank you Heather.

Game Time

I was reading the very talented CalamityKim and she posted this cute game. I'm game. If you are, consider yourself tagged and leave me a comment directing me to your blog.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet,current car) Spice Lincoln
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Peanut Butter Kiss (not too tough a gansta!)
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) J Col
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Dawn Honolulu
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Col-Jo
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)The Blue Diet Coke
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)JamieBob
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy), Obsession Meltaway
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ), Argo Lee
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Ring Richmond
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Apple Pantie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Cherrio Willow
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Drawing Tornado Tour

Can you get a new living room for $152.50?

You can if you are into thrifting! I thought I'd share my newest finds with you. I went to a garage sale and found this sofa....only 2 years old and the same King Hickory brand as my old one. It was on it's 15th year and still going strong, so I thought I'd better not pass up the chance to replace it with a "new" one for just 150 dollars. And it's in really great condition.

This little chair I just picked up at an auction on Saturday. Now, I guess I must be the only one who thinks this vintage stuff is soooo cute, because I was the only one who bid and I won it for 2.50. It's so much brighter than our old recliner and just as comfy. It's really clean, and look how well it goes with our vintage ottoman!

OK, I know it's not a whole new living room for 152.50 dollars, but it is two big pieces and it feels like a new room to me. As a bonus, I sold my old couch in just a few days for eighty dollars, so I suppose you could say this really just cost 72.50! I know we thrifters are kind of odd...always bragging about not spending much!

Biking and Garden Junk

Today Joe and I took a bike ride on the Fox River Aqueduct Trail...which wasn't so great because it's still pretty muddy from the flooding last week. I fell and got myself all muddy.
We tried to stop in to eat at this little deli, but they were closed for the holiday. Don't they have great garden junk?! I don't know what all this stuff is. It was a cheese shop and deli...and I think some of this stainless stuff is dairy equipment.
These begonias look cute in the old coffee pot.

We ended up at the river..the water is mesmerizing. This was just an ugly bridge pier reflecting in the water, but it sure looks pretty with the sun on it.

Pins and Needles

While I was at work the other day I made this little needle case out of my felted sweaters and suits. I only had the supplies for making the key chains at the shop, so I used a vintage tablecloth to line it and hide the back side of my embroidery. I probably would have done the lining with the sewing machine if I was at home, but since I was at the shop I just carefully included it and the ribbons in the blanket stitching.
Somehow this little doodad just makes me happy. Kind of like the pincushion. I love the way the wool feels and how the thread sounds coming through it...how you can cut it up and get these great little pieces that don't unravel. Very satisfying. Sometimes the simplest things can make me happy.

Pray for Your Schools....

Yesterday we had a scare in our school when several kids were arrested with handguns. It really can happen anywhere folks. I know none of us are perfect parents, but please take time to stay in touch with your kids. Get the computers out of their rooms and into a family room where at least the kids are with other folks. They may think you're lame, but they'll know you care. Sometimes if things aren't going well at school, their connection to family will be what gets them through a tough time. I'm just rambling here...they don't know what happened in this case, but there has to be some hurting kids on all sides of this issue.

Keychains

Here's one side:

When I saw Magda's key rings on her blog I knew I had to try making some. I don't have a supplier for wool felt around here, so I used some that I had made by washing and drying thrifted suits and sweaters. I like how this worked out because the extra thick felt really makes the little embroidered piece feel substantial. I also used all six strands of the floss--gives it a really bold look I like. I think these would make nice little secret pal gifts.

Here's the other side:I like them all except the little house. I want to do a house, but I'm just not crazy about how that one turned out.

"New" Car Excitement

It's been an exciting week around here for the kids. Both of them got new used cars. Colleen's is her first...and she looks so happy because she's been sharing a car with me for the past year. I promise you I look that happy too! It's older and has a lot of miles, but I think it's going to be just right for a high school student. She put a little sticker in the window that reads "It's a blond thing."
And Mike bought a truck that pretty much looks brand new. If he keeps up this polishing the dirt and dust won't stand a chance!

New Mural in Town

Pontiac is getting a new mural painted by Diaz Sign Art. This mural celebrates Route 66 in Illinois and is being painted on the building that houses the Route 66 Hall of Fame, Livingston County War Museum and Old City Hall Shoppes. Fun for me because I get to watch the progress every day when I get to work! It's sure to be a wonderful addition to our town.

Meet Me at the Fair

After Harvest Days we visited Grandpa and went to the Lake County Fair in Indiana. It's such a nice county fair...lots bigger than ours.
We all had to play the mouse game...which was grandma's favorite.


We admired the horses and watched the mail races and flag competitions. We admired the livestock. This is my neice the budding photographer.
And my nephew who likes my favoite fair food almost as much as I do.

As we were walking, I spotted a standard poodle and talked to the owner. Later Joe spotted him and this is Joe (in the yellow shirt) moving in to get a poodle fix. We miss Louie. Maybe we'll have another before too long.

LaPorte on Dwellable

Superman, Band Camp and Dinnerware

Yup, those are the subjects of this post. Colleen has been trooping off to band camp every day in this heat. Monday was superhero day....
Apparently the flute section has been kicking butt at camp. Go flutes!
And this is the dinnerware...we are carrying Feed on the Word dinnerware at the shop now. Each piece has a different scripture. I love the idea of having the word before you at each meal.

PS. Our hearts go out to all in Minneapolis...such a tragedy happening there.

New York, New York...

No, I didn't get to go.........but Joe went to attend some classes for work. They tried to fit in as much sight seeing as they could in the evenings.
There he is talking on the phone to me! We're used to Chicago, and love it, but he said New York is a whole different animal.
He made sure he visited some things he knew I'd like...
And some people we love. This is Mary Jo and Steve, Joe's cousins who live in New Jersey. They gave him a whirlwind tour one evening and fed him the best ruben sandwich he's ever eaten. We'll be back guys, I want to come too!
He didn't forget to bring me something he knew I'd like! Raspberry M&M's and New York colored M&M's. You can see which is my favorite!

New York City on Dwellable

Our huge album...

This is something I've wanted to get done for eons. I cut all the mat board a couple of years ago...selected and got prints of the pics 6 months ago......and finally this morning I put it all together. They are all pictures taken up at the lake, and over it hangs a sign my sister gave me with the lake name. Our old house has tiny closets and had no closets downstairs until we built this one in one end of the kit/family room. We decided to use the French doors after seeing a webfriend from Great Impressions do this in her daughter's room (thanks JanH!). We really like it better than a bank of bifold or sliding doors. And let me tell you, having a place to put coats and shoes really does make a difference in how neat you can keep your house! Not that you can tell that today...seems we have shoes all over this house right now.

Playing at the Lake....

A little painting...

cousins goofing off.......
summertime reading (what better than a Luanne Rice story!) ....
And some garden junk.... Lifevests waiting for a ride..
not wanting to get out of the water!
Common lilies in the sun... It was all so nice and relaxing. Joe got to go with us for the whole week and he and Mike and our brother in law Doug and his son Adam mountain biked until they couldn't stand almost every day. I'm going to have to try to get pics of that favorite activity...but I'm a little afraid to even see what they are up to out there!