A LITTLE ABOUT BRITTANY (BRAT)

MY BRAT, MY BRITTANY, IS A  FIRST YEAR TEACHER

AND COACH.

SHE WAS ON HER WAY TO SCHOOL

LAST WEDNESDAY, THE 9TH, 
AND BECAUSE OF THE ICY ROADS

SHE LOST CONTROL OF HER CAR.

SHE CROSSED OVER INTO THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC.

BUT, MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT

BECAUSE THIS IS MY 3RD POST ABOUT BRAT

AND ABOUT THE ACCIDENT.

I THOUGHT I'D TELL YOU ABOUT SETTING UP

HER FIRST CLASSROOM LAST AUGUST

BECAUSE THAT WAS A REALLY FUN DAY.

WHILE SHE ORGANIZED

I DECORATED.

WHAT A SURPRISE.

ABOVE ARE PICTURES OF ONE OF THE

BULLETIN BOARDS.

BRAT STAMPED THE MUSLIN TRIM.

(I'D BE IN TOTAL DOO IF I DIDN'T MENTION THAT)

WE TOOK SOME OF THAT STAMPED MUSLIN TRIM

AND TAPED IT ANOTHER WALL

FOR THE ENGLISH THEMED BANNER TO HANG.

IT'S FLASHCARDS I MADE

WITH ENGLISH TERMS.

SHE TEACHES 9TH GRADE ENGLISH IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

I COVERED THE FRONT BULLETIN BOARD

AND THEN (THIS IS OUR FAVORITE PART)

I USED MY SEWING MACHINE TO GATHER

BLACK CREPE PAPER FOR THE BORDER.

OH, YEAH.

THERE WAS THIS BIG  BLANK BACK WALL

THAT WAS SCREAMING FOR SOMETHING.....

SO I CREATED A BULLETIN BOARD.

WE'RE HOPING THAT THE SCHOOL

THINKS THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN ONE THERE.

THIS IS WILL, BRITTANY'S FIANCE -

HE WAS THERE MOST OF THE DAY.

HELPING.

HE PAINTED THE HONKIN' HUGE WALL

CHERRY RED, THE COLOR OF MY CONVERTIBLE.

IT LOOKED SO COOL.

FOLLOW MY LEAD....I. SIMPLY. ADORE. HIM.

HE IS AMAZING AND I'M GLAD

MY LITTLE GIRL IS MARRYING HIM.

DID I MENTION THAT HE'S A LOT OF FUN??..............

AND, HE PUTS UP WITH ME FAMOUSLY.

MEDICAL UPDATE ON BRAT:

She is healing.

After she gets her pain under control

and starts eating better,

she is going to be moved to a rehab facility.

She'll probably meet some famous athlete there.

She's different than me - she'll know who it is.

Will is still off shore but will be home in about 3 weeks.

And, this part makes me sooooo happy.............

TOMORROW I'M GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE HER.

I KNOW!!

I'm going to spend the night in her room and will come back

home on Tuesday. (Remember, my mom is still here:)

I'm just so excited to be able to go now

even for two days!

Then, when I get back from up north (mom has to go back 'til next time:)

I'll be all Brittany's!

That's after April 11th, but the time will go by quickly.

And, there's phone calls, text messages

(you should see me text - I'm lightning quick.),

emails.................

I'm so grateful that she's healing and that she's going to be alright.

I love her so much.

She really is my little girl.

In my heart.

In my soul.

I feel her.

WE HAVE A WINNER!

The good, no wait, the GREAT, news is that we have a winner of the "S-P-R-I-N-G" banner from my June/July blog giveaway!

The sad, oh, so sad, news is that if you haven't received an email
from me telling you that you won, then someone else did:(

I know, I know, I'm sad for you and I'm sad for me (I have to send it away!)

BUT, I'M SO EXCITED FOR TRACY FROM LOVING PRETTY THINGS!!!!

She's the winner and she seems like such a delight! I would like to invite you to visit her blog and see her preciousness - she uses words like "cankles" and "guy liner" - my kind of girl! She has a very cute blog!

The next giveaway is in honor of my 56th on a Psycho day/24th on a Barbie day BIRTHDAY and will be on September 1st or sometime that week. Mark your calendars to check my blog!!

Oh, heck, just make my blog your home page and then you'll not only NOT miss THAT giveaway but all monthly giveaways, priceless art and irreverent humor...
Thank you, everyone, for entering my giveaway and for those of you that signed up to follow my blog. I'm now over "100 followers" so the September giveaway will celebrate not only my birthday but this huge milestone, too! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO - put on your party dress and get ready to enter another fabulous giveaway!

And, to all lurkers that became commenters - I'm as proud as a mother!

xoxo, Jan

MY HUGE BLOG GIVEAWAY

If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you remember that in June I promised two give-aways in July because I just couldn't get it done in June! It was a crazy month!

So, as I've been thinking about what to offer, what two items, I decided that instead it would be a lot of fun to give away ONE REALLY COSTLY ITEM. . .

Meet the SPRING BANNER, retail cost $68.00 (includes presentation and postage).

It measures 36" across *not counting the ribbon for hanging*, each flag is 5" x 8" and, the flags spell out the word "SPRING".

You will love this banner!
It's light and sweet and each flag is a delightful piece of art in it's own right!

There are glittered pastel yellow and green eggs hanging by different trims between each flag. And the ribbon stringing the flags is pale pink satin.

Pay attention to the detail put into each flag including sewing, scalloped edges, etc.

I hope you like my choice.

I absolutely love this banner.

THE DEALINE FOR ENTERING

THE GIVE-AWAY IS

SUNDAY, 10 p.m. CST, AUGUST 2nd.

All I ask that you do to be eligible for this drawing is

1.) leave a comment and be entered ONCE.

2.) if you're not already following my blog, I would love

for you to - if you sign up to follow, let me know that

(and let me know if you're already a follower) and

I'll enter you in the drawing TWICE.

3.) And, last but certainly not least, if you post on your

blog sending your readers over here to enter, let me know

that and I'll enter you THREE times.

You must leave me your blog address so I can visit it.

Gosh, this is so exciting for me! I've never given away anything worth so much nor do I remember ever asking for more than a comment in a give-away (I'm relying on my memory - ouch).

A special shout out to my loyal readers that I can always count on to keep up with me by regularly reading my blog. I think y'all are absolutely the best!

And, a shout out to my lurkers...I know you're reading, just not commenting, because I am able to keep up with my numbers. Y'all are shy, but really important to me!

Today I ask you to consider stepping up and start leaving a comment when you read my blog - it makes me feel very popular. heehee

XOXO, Jan

YOU'D THINK I HAVE NOTHING TO DO!

Oh, my gosh, you'd think I have nothing to do! I've spent most of the morning creating a mosaic of some of my work. It's in my photostream on Flickr, it's in the right hand column of my blog and now I'm posting about it.
You'd think I have nothing to do.
No laundry, no crack house, I mean studio, to finish cleaning up, no Easter dinner to prep, no searching my closet for something cute and pastel to wear to church tomorrow....that fits, no packing to do as I prepare to leave for Michigan on Wednesday, no weeds to kill *Round-up is my weapon of choice*, no bird feeders to fill and bird baths to fill, hummer's bottles to fill........well, you get it.
You'd think I have nothing to do!

But, I think it's just really cute!

And, while you're here I thought I'd show you my first Marie Antoinette piece! It's a Marie themed cake banner.

I had made this *the most amazing* carrot cake for a ministry party last Friday and I thought, at the last minute, of course, that it needed a banner! A Marie Antoinette banner!

This is what I came up with....

This is the front:And, this is the back of the banner. . .

I've decided that I like these so much that I'm going to make more of them and will even try some different themes. What do you think???

Well, that's it for today. My hummingbirds are wondering if I'm going to fill their bottles or not so I best get busy!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post - leave a comment if you will:) And, to all of you, Happy Easter and praise our Lord as we celebrate his resurrection!

XOXO,

. . .Jan

JUST ONE MORE POST AND THEN I PROMISE!!!....

Oh, my goodness, now don't get upset with me.
Feel sorry for me.
My computer made me cry today.
Well, it wasn't exactly the computer that made me cry; it was the stupid new software I bought, Photo Explosion Deluxe.
The word "deluxe" should have been a clue.

You see, I had to get a new computer. Frank Two Pies' computer crashed and since his computer skills are *shhhhhh* laughable, I told him that I would get the new computer and he would get mine.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
I have/had Vista on my computer and hated it and was so excited to get a new computer with XP.
Ahhhhhhhh, XP. No more Vista.
Well, no more "I know it like the back of my hand" software program either - it couldn't be transferred because going from Vista to XP is going backwards in the world of Bill Gates.
When you really think about Vista, however, you realize how stupid that sounds.

But, alas, I couldn't take my Microsoft Picture It 9 with me so I had to buy a new program.
An easy program simply for fixing the photos of my art for my shops, that's all I wanted.
I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 (don't ask) but I don't have six weeks to learn it.

I needed a software program that I could use NOW.

So, I wasted all day yesterday trying to find a store online and in San Antonio that had my baby.
Nowhere to be found.
So I buy the new software program thinking to myself, "How hard can it be to learn??? It's only 40.00". And by bedtime last night I was in tears.
And, then this morning found me crying, trying to make it work.
It's a stupid program. Don't buy it.

Then, tonight, my over-used, very decayed, not-all-there, brain kicked in and I remembered,

DER - Picture It 9 is still on Two Pies computer!!
YOU IDIOT.
YOU OLD, OLD WOMAN.

So, I've taken some pictures of what I think would make lovely Easter presents and simply must get them before you as Easter is but a few days away! I need to get them listed in my shops, and I will, but first, my blog.
And then..........................THE NEXT GIVEAWAY! Why, I've already got the post ready to go - just want to give y'all a few days to buy up all of these banners I've made (Just leave your email on your comment telling me which one you want and I'll catch ya later. Don't dally - they're going to go like hot cakes. LOL).

Here ya go - my labors of love...............

A close-up of "R and I" to give you a better idea of what it looks like. Those are glittered eggs hanging between each banner flag - so darling!

And, "N and G".

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OH, MY GOSH!!! Am I seeing this right??? Have I not looked at this picture a hundred times?

Did I not make this banner?

Do I not know how to spell "NEST"??? ROTF!!

It will be fixed tomorrow, I promise!! *still laughing and shaking my head!A couple of close-ups so you can see how the banner would look with just two letters. hahaha

Okay, I'm off to bed. I'm obviously fried.

I love all of you, my sweet readers!! That's the only reason I can post such a mistake! LOL

.

XOXO,

. . .Jan