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.

YOU'RE INVITED TO THE REHEARSAL DINNER. . .

***Once again I am unable to upload all of the photos that I have taken, cropped and 'fixed' in my software program, uploaded to Flickr for protection, and am ready to post on my blog with, of course, my running (on and on and on...) commentary of the event at hand.
WHY?? Because ever since blogger changed their "it worked perfectly" photo uploader, it turns 'only some of' my photos sideways and causes old people (me) to be reduced to tears simply because I want to share with you something important in my life.
Shame on blogger.***

So, you are cordially invited to share in Craig and Jana's rehearsal dinner (and see how I spent all of those wondrous hours in my studio after so many, many months away) through the photos that you will find in my photostream on Flickr.

And, following the rehearsal dinner, won't you please stay for the wedding and reception?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/

(remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it and see the details)

As a side note, I want to tell you that I LOVE my daughter(in law). Yes, she's my DIL, but I like to think of her as my new daughter.
She loves Craig so much, that is very evident.
Craig loves her so much, you can see it in the way he looks at her.
And, after getting to know her I have found myself "in love" with her. I see us having a lot of fun in the years to come!

Please help me welcome Jana into our family by viewing the pictures that I took of the weekend and come back here and leave a comment - I would love for you to welcome her to our family with your comments.

Blessings to you all and I apologize that you have to jump through hoops to see the photos of the weekend.
I will miss telling you about everything, but until blogger fixes what wasn't broken, I have no recourse.
Even T.P.'ing Mr. Blogger's yard has had NO impact on this issue. I don't know what I'll do next - I'm leaning towards dog poop in a bag on the front porch, set on fire, ringing and running.

Have a blessed day,
         Jan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotbarn/



EARRINGS, EARRINGS, LOOK WHO'S MAKING EARRINGS

Hi, y'all! Believe it or not I'm stepping up and posting the first two pairs of earrings that I've made.............. ever.............. before.................. posting them for the entire world to critique.

I think I've lost my mind. But, I decided a bit ago that I needed to get back into jewelry making.

I have made grunge pendants in the past, about three years ago, and some charms for an Art-n-Soul retreat (a swap) several years ago.

Then, this last fall, my BFF, Molly Alexander, asked me to be in a jewelry swap. Actually, she didn't mention the word "jewelry" until I had said that I would love to be in a swap! She knows me well - if she would have mentioned "jewelry" I would have run for the hills!

Once again, God paves the path he wants me to go down. I am now making jewelry again and have started with some earrings. It's only fair that I share them with you - when I get them perfect *which they're not yet*, I'll list them in my Etsy shop so y'all can fight over who is going to get to buy them.

This top pair I made because I just loved those square turqouise stones. They have a light brown border which makes them look vintage to me. And the round stones I did some wire wrapping. I used silver wire with a copper center that should 'tarnish' with time which will give the earrings more of a vintage look. I also made the ear wires myself. They need to be shaped a bit more so they're exactly alike. I'll get right on that.

This pair (above) was made with beautiful flat round black obsidian stones *they really are so gorgeous* and a clear red glass bead that I just love. In between those two pieces is a small Petosky stone which is the Michigan state stone. 

Really. Michigan has a state stone. Odd, but so cool, because when we were kids we would go to Lake Michigan with the "diddy bags" my mom had made all of us kids and we would walk the beach looking for Petosky stones. When they're shined up or under water they have the most amazing markings that you can see. (When I found these stones at the bead shop on sale I was so excited!) So, anyway, that's the smallish tan stone between the two larger stones.

I also made the ear wires - wire wrapping and all - do I rock or what? heehee

Thanks for taking a few minutes and reading about my new adventure.

If you want to leave some CONSTRUCTIVE critizism, I welcome it!!

Happy New Year, y'all!! I hope that 2010 turns out to be even better than 2009!

God bless you,

Jan