September 9th...

Okay... I looked... **gasp** September 9th was the last time I posted. That's almost 2 months ago.

TWO MONTHS!

May I beg your forgiveness? Plead, perhaps?

In my defence, a LOT has happened since September 9th!!!

Namely... WE BOUGHT A BUILDING!!!!

A GI-NORMOUS building!!! In fact... At home, we had our candle stuff in several rooms. The combine sq. footage of those rooms was approx. 800ish. Want to know how big our new building is??! OVER 10,000 SQ. FEET!!!! Lots and lots of room to grow!!! No more carrying 60 lbs. boxes of wax dooooown the stairs.... And no more carrying the finished candles uppppp the stairs! We're all on one level and can roll pallets of stuff around... Back around to the back door and load the truck right there... It's fantastic!

We'll have a storefront where we can sell our candles, my JUNK, ect... (It is in the process of bring completely gutted and redone! LOTS of fun but I'm supposed to have it done by the weekend before Thanksgiving! Besides pouring thousands of candles! TONS of fun... but... YIKES!!!)

A WHOLE room just for my workshop and beloved tools! Yeah baby!

WE'RE EXCITED AND LOVING IT!!!!!

More details to follow! :o)

P.S. Sorry Rachel.... I know I said I'd post last week, but my computer charger diiiied!

Just got it fixed! YAY!

I'm back!

After a brief reprieve... (And not one that I wanted... the camera just wouldn't upload the pictures for me! And who wants to read a blogpost of mine without pictures??!)

Want to see a bit of what Caleb did for the fair??

Remember these bottles?

Well... Caleb made a "bottle bug!"

Isn't he cute??! Oh what you can do with a bottle... a little copper wire... and a few beads!

And... Do you want to see what he made for the "Recycling" class??!

The thing that got wow's everywhere it went??!

The thing that the judge said was the most creative thing she had ever seen entered in the class??!

The thing that won RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION??! (Yay Caleb!! 2nd year in a row, baby!)

Prepare to be amazed here people!

So what do you do with...

A spindle....

A cast from an unfortunate event this spring...

A very thick medical book, drill, gorilla glue...

And a sock and some stuffing?

Why, with a little imagination and work...

Make a LAMP of course!!!! :o)

Way to go Caleb!!

Oh, what I'll do for my brother and a few bottles!!

Okay... So Caleb and I have spent the last 2 days getting ready for his 4-H fair. He's been brainstorming and coming up with brilliant ideas! Well... a few of his projects involve bottles. Oh yeah... bottles. I love bottles!! :o) (I know, I know... call me weird!)

Anyway... He found this spot down by the creek last fall where someone dumped a bunch of bottles. So we got the brilliant idea to got get some. I didn't account on 2 things.

Mosquitoes and nettles.

OUCH!!! By the time I got down the creek bank and was looking for them, I didn't want to go back. So... I thought I'd just keep going. That was a mistake! As much as I love bottles... It wasn't worth it!!! lol! By the time I got back, I was itchy all over and had over 50 bug bites!

But that all said and done... Caleb and I found 48 bottles. Some are cooler than others... But oh the memories we'll have of them!

And yes... We got them all cleaned up... They look so much better now! :o)

I'll post pictures of what we did with them later! :o)

I'm a faaaaailure!!!

Okay... okay... I know I haven't blogged in forever... and I'm well aware of the fact that I always say that.... But if you don't know about it already, let me tell you about bloglines. Go to www.bloglines.com and you can make a free account. It let's you type in all your favorite blogs and will let you know when they update them! Cool, huh? (And now I can be a sporadic blogger without a guilty concience! Nice!!)


Now that we have that covered... Here's a very quick overview on what my life has entailed lately!

My cousin, Zachery graduated last week and I got to do his cake! Yay! :o)

It was a 2 layered white cake with raspberry filling in between! Yum!! And in spite of neither layer coming out very well, it turned out not looking too bad!

Last weekend was the Omaha Ren Faire... Always way too much fun. We did our consessions and stuff... Florentine Snow (Shaved Ice)... Ye Olde Cinnamon Glazed Nuts... Faerie Floss (Cotton Candy)... King's Court Slushies (Wild Island Drinks)... Fruit Smoothies... Cappuccino Freezes... and more! Alatheia had an outfit to die for! It was SO cool!!

The mad Scotsmen we there again this year! I love those guys... They are absolutely hysterical!!

We had a baby!!! The most adorable little fellow you ever did see! Doesn't have a name yet, any ideas, y'all?

Aaaanndd.... Mom and Caleb got turkeys... Goodness, they're ugly little things! I'm not even joking!! But Caleb's enjoying them, so we'll see how they survive! :o)

There's been more going on around here, so I'll just have to blog here more shortly! Like redoing the dining room floor... and re-painting the walls... and giving the ceiling fan a mak-over... and well... I'll be back! Honest! :o)

Wondering where I've been?!

Hey y'all!




Have you been wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth?! Well ALMOST!!! It's NCHEA time! (Nebraska Home Educator's Association)


As most of you know, I have been homeschooled since 1st grade. Growing up, mom and dad always went to the NCHEA conference where they had a curriculum fair, speakers, ect... They always either had to leave us kids with Grandma and Grandpa or only one of them would go.


Well... The past 4 years now, we've done a "Kid's Conference" that runs concurrently with their conference and it's a TOTAL blast! I am one of 8 core staff that spends from about Sept-April planning and organizing this amazingly fun weekend! We had over 250 kids this year!!! It's been absolutely AMAZING to see it GROW!

This year's theme was "The Legacy," in which 5 orphan children travel throughout Europe to find the inheritance that their parent's left them during WW II.

We had 4 countries represented... Germany, Holland, Italy, and FRANCE! I was, of course, the one in french attire. :o)

Boy, was it fun! (Besides the fact that I've developed a hatred for heels!!!)

Been watching everyone else's blogs for pictures and here's what a few of them posted!

• Here's a slideshow that my brilliant cousin, Ruth put together!

• My AMAZING photographer of a cousin, Bethany has the storyline of the drama in pictures as well as some other fun pictures of the whole time! How many pictures did you take, Bethany?? 941?!

• A good friend from church, Anna B. (AKA "Louise") posted a few pictures too!

• UPDATE: Another family from church, the Grady's also posted some fun pics!

• UPDATE: Another friend that I've know from CYIA forever, Kristin T. has lots of pics too!

• UPDATE: And ANOTHER friend from church, our own AMAZING Alatheia: Props and Costuming Coordinator, has more pictures!

• UPDATE: The Ulmer's also posted pictures! We've know them for years and years!!

I'll add other's names once they post any pictures too! (It's a popular theme this week, it seems!)

Of broken legs and Easter...

Been wondering where I've been?


Well... We've been busy!! Besides getting ready for the Petersen Easter get-together on Saturday... It started with Caleb...

Just in case you're wondering...

Roller shoes...

and...

Skateboard ramps...

DON'T MIX!!!!!

Of floors and cake...

Wondering what I've been up lately? Well... Near as Dad and I could figure out, I've been some weird cross between a "Becky Homecky" and a "Bob the Builder!" :o)

The floor is really coming along!! I'm about half done now!!

Was hoping to finish installing it today and have it all stained and varnished be Wednesday, however I caught a seriously nasty bug from Caleb and Mom and I'm out for a while... Bummer!!!

Isn't it looking nice?! I'm SO excited!!! I'm really sold on wood floors now!

And.... the Becky Homecky part! I made lots and lots of cake!!

This was the one for my Aunt and Uncle's 25th Anniversary party...

This one was for my Aunt Sheryl's 50th Birthday party!

This one was my favorite! It was super fun!

It looks kinda little girl-y, but that's what mom wanted for it! :o)

Anyhoo... That's what I've been up to!

The ceiling!!!

Okay ya'll...

Are you ready for this?!

Remember this pile??

Well.... Someone's been hard at work with me here!

And slooooowly.... It's taking shape!

Despite a few bad boards... and minor setbacks... it's really looking great! It gives so much character to the room! I'll be posting pics when it's done! Really done!! YAY!!!

I'm in love!!!

Yes... Yes... You heard me! I'm in love! L-O-V-E!

This new paint in the livingroom is beautiful! Absolutely and completely perfect!

I had a hard time getting pictures as we hadn't had a lot of natural light lately... But... It's kind of a light sage green. Very pretty!

We'll have cream woodwork, so I think it'll really pop in there! That gold fireplace thingy.. what do you call it?! Temporary mind block... Ummmm.... Okay.... Now I'm just sounding silly! But... yeah. That gold fireplace thingy is being painted black as we speak! Yay! I have something against shiny gold "house bling." I prefer the rust, puter, ect... patina. (Aren't you impressed that I not only knew that word... But I also knew what it meant? And even used it in the right context? Nice, huh?)

Look! Look! It's my human stud-finder! I mean... My cousin!

Kristin-my-cousin-who-goes-to-college-far-away-in-MO-but-is-home-on-Christmas-break came to stay a few days with me, and I of course, talked her into helping me out with the livingroom for a bit.

I'm planning on putting in tongue and groove planks like Kim did at One Woman's Cottage Life. I loved how it turned out, so decided to give it a go too! :o)

But what is Kristin doing up there? Well... It seems our studfinder wasn't doing a very reliable job at figuring out where the studs were. So we had to intervene. In other words, we had to cut through the ceiling from one end of the room to the other. Whew! I'm wiring in 2 lights anyway, so it all worked out. But out shoulders were SORE! :o)

Anyhoo... I know it seems I'm running about 4 days behind in blogging! Ahhhh! Before... I didn't blog because I had nothing to blog about. Now I don't blog because I'm to busy to blog! There's no winning about it, is there? lol!

Well... Whatever the case... I'll try to be more faithful in my bloggin'! :o)

I'm ali-i-i-i-ive!

Hello Ya'll!!

Yes! I am still alive!

I know you haven't heard from me since last year... But it is only January, so that's okay! ;o) lol


The reason I haven't blogged? Well... I just haven't done any blog-worthy "stuff" lately! But finally, I am! Are you ready for the news? The really, really, really exciting news?

**DRUMROLL PLEASE**

See all this stuff?? It's going to be used very shortly! How exciting!

These are the chosen colors! Sage green walls... Cream woodwork... and red accents!

I've been planning this room ever so long! Now the wallpaper boarder is coming off! Caleb's such a good helper!

The almost 60-year old carpet is torn up... Yes, I did say almost 60-year old carpet. And let me tell you... it was horrifically disgusting! Wait... that would be an understatement! Revolting? Repulsive? Sickening? Filthy? Nauseating? You know... I don't think there's even a word for it in the English language as we know it! Let's just stick with, "it was GROSS!!!"

You know how carpets have like... shag? This one didn't. It was just the mat. I mean, it got so bad... That when our vacume cleaner gave up the ghost last year, we've taken to sweeping it! And get this... It actually worked!

Halelujah!

I love progress!!!

The cracks... are all puttied... Just a bit of sanding and we're good to go!

The ceiling is ready to be redone...

Have you guessed which room I'm working on now?!

Yay!!! The livingroom!!! Oh joy!

I am going to resume work on Monday... So come back soon for updates!

YAY!!!

Another Tasty Tradition!

All right... I know, I know...

Why is it that most of our traditions center around food?

Well here's another one!

This is one of my very earliest memories!

We simply take an orange...

Squeeze it around in our hands for a while to get it nice and juicy inside...

Break both ends off a peppermint candy cane...

Stick one end into the now, very juicy orange...

There are very tiny holes in the candy cane, so it's kind of a straw.

It's very yummy... and brings back many fond memories!

It's definately one of those traditions I will do every winter someday with my own family!! :o)

So... Now that you've heard a few of ours...

What are some fun memories and traditions you have?