JulieK | Embrace the Everyday

Thankful Thursday September!

September 8, 2011 By JulieK

Happy Thursday!! It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks, from Band Camp through the beginning of school… I’m so tired!! We had a good opening, despite the sudden, unexpected loss of a teacher at my school late in the summer… Just horrible… Young (my age, and I’m still young, well, at least young enough that these things shouldn’t happen), athletic, outgoing, really… a big loss, if you can spare a prayer or 2 for his family, I’m sure that they would appreciate it… But, despite that… school is open, we’re getting into the swing of things and starting to settle in to the routine.

The kiddos started school this week, I don’t have any first day pictures yet, Mike does the “morning” and he hasn’t yet sent me the pictures… OMGosh, how is it possible that my “babies” are in second and fourth grade?? The year has started on a positive note for both, they are thrilled with their teachers, and the friends in their classes (there’s only 2 classes in each grade, so even if they aren’t in the same class, they see all their friends regularly). I’m just thrilled to see them so excited for school (I know… before I know it it will change… but I’m enjoying for now :)

OK… Got stuff to copy and get ready for the day… Hope everyone has a wonderful day… Count your blessings :)

Thankful Thursday 8/25

August 25, 2011 By JulieK

Wow… Just got home from another wonderfully successful band camp!! I teach the color guard for a high school marching band… It’s exhausting, but wonderful! I am so thankful to have a group of girls that practically run themselves! They take direction so well, and are always willing to try really hard (even if they are gonna be totally jacked on just the right arm!! Sorry girls!!)… I’m also particularly thankful for this year’s freshmen boys… and their chaperones… Who, because their cabin was small, invited Sean to be an honorary member… He participated in their Olympic events, and their variety show (and they won 2nd place in the variety show!!!). He had a blast!! I was a little worried because there are other younger girls there (the nurse’s daughter and another chaperone’s daughter) for Kathryn to play with, but there’s no other younger boys… It was really nice for the “big” boys to include Sean like that…

Here’s a few pics I took this week (just on my phone, I didn’t take the big cameras)…

The kiddos playing ping-pong while the big kids are up marching… some much needed down-time for them :)

The little “chapel” area right by the water… So beautiful!

Sean in the Olympics… The Sheet relay… notice the ball on the ground :) they had to run back to the beginning…

While Sean was participating, Kathryn made this “monster” out of pine needles and sticks…

Thankful Thursday

August 18, 2011 By JulieK

Well… So much to be thankful for this last full week of summer vacation… Mainly… The GIANT limb that fell DID NOT hit the house! It did briefly close the road… but didn’t hit the house… here’s the story…

Saturday, we spent the morning and afternoon at the Bolton Fair (I’m very thankful for fair season… We love agricultural fairs). While we’re on our way home, I check my phone and see that I’ve missed a text from our across the street neighbor (and babysitter) who I rarley get texts from… It says “Hi Julie my dad just told me that a tree fell in your yard and knocked down the cable and power but they are fixing it right now. Just thought you would like to know!”

Wait, what?? It’s not stormy or even breezy?? AND, what tree could have possibly fallen down?? We have many huge and beautiful trees, and with one exception, they are all in great shape… It must have been the hollow one in the front yard, it’s close to the power lines, it’s not huge, and it’s hollow…

Nope… It’s a huge arm of our wonderful Silver Maple… the arm is as big around as the tree that we thought it might have been… It completely covered the road, but our neighbor (the dad of the babysitter) pulled out his chainsaw and helped get it off the road before we could get home… We called our trusty tree guy… Collings Tree Service, in Wilmington MA… Walter is a stand-up guy, and will tell you straight… I was really concerned about the other arm where the split was because that piece hangs over the house… He said that the whole tree didn’t need to come down (yeah!) and the other arm would be OK until he could get his crane guy here… He came Sunday morning and cleaned up all the debris from the first part, and then the crane guy came today… Man… We went out, but Mike was here and said it was amazing to see that crane in action!!

Here’s pics of our tree saga… Here you can see the trunk of our wonderful 100+ year old tree and the giant piece that fell off laying in front…

Here’s where that huge arm used to be… Notice the broken back piece that’s leaning directly over the house, and the same size as the piece that fell…

Here’s a view of the part where it broke off… Notice all the construction “stuff” in the background… I’d like to formally lodge a complaint against the construction people for causing my beautiful tree to fall apart… The house literally shakes all day with the construction “stuff” going by constantly…

Here’s a quick phone pic of the view of the tree this morning from the front stairs before we left to visit friends…

And here’s the same view after… notice the huge arm missing on the right side… They did a beautiful job, you’d never know that they were even out there… didn’t leave any sawdust even… but there hasn’t been sun on the front side of the house in 80 years… It looks so bare out there, and we love our trees and shade…

Even though we lost lots of shade, no one got hurt, and the tree is all fixed up… Happy Thursday!!!

Made for Monday

August 15, 2011 By JulieK

This Thursday evening, I’m teaching this super fun Zutter book at Ink About It in Westford, MA… Take a peek, and call the store if you’re interested in taking the class!!! It uses the 8×10 clipboard wood covers, and is in a “Smash Book” kind of style. How adorable are those Fancy Pants patterned papers???

Here’s a preview of the cover…

And one of the inside pages…

The only thing that’s a little bit tricky to see, is that the long strips are folded in half, then wrapped around the page, leaving a little tab hanging off the side. Then the long strips are added to the inside edge of the page.

Thankful Thursday (on Friday… Again!!)

August 12, 2011 By JulieK

Only one more Thursday of summer vacation… How is that possible??? I have next Thursday free… Then we go to Band Camp… then school… I have to say, today… I am VERY thankful for summer vacations!!! It’s been so fun to NOT have to get up at 5am… I’m not a late sleeper anyway, but still, I don’t have to get up, ready, and out the door at that ungodly hour… It’s been so nice!!

It’s also been nice to be a stay-at-home crafter the last few weeks!! I’ve lost count of all the quilt tops I’ve made in the last couple weeks… I made one this morning too, and am halfway done with another one this afternoon… I am Obsessively Crafty, and I’m OK with that :)

Here’s a preview of some of my latest projects… The quilt tops still need to be quilted… but at the moment I’m just having so much fun piecing them together… Quilting seems like a job for winter :)

So… First up, a super cute bag… We were at a quilt shop, and Kathryn said “I love this bag” and I looked at the instructions and it only needed 3 fat quarters to make… So, I bought the pattern, Kathryn picked out her fat quarters (she does love bright colors)… and an evening later, here’s what it came out as…

and, I picked out fat quarters of my own… I added a tab and will close it with a fun button, just need to get the covered button kits :)

Here’s the view with the handles…

next quilt top is for the Downy Quilts for Kids program… Hoping to get this backed and quilted in the next week or so…

I bought 2 charm packs of Moda fabric called “Grace” and just love how this one came out… I bought a BEAUTIFUL red flannel for the back…

Moda’s “Lil Rascal’s” fabric for this cute little baby quilt…

Moda’s “Spirit” is featured in this Stacked Coins pattern quilt…

And, this one is also Moda fabric… “American Primer” It had no purpose, I just wanted to try out a pattern, and happened to have this Layer Cake… Love how it came out, and when I laid it out on the dining room table I thought it would make a really pretty table cloth in there… Tea Green walls with the navy print area rug… Just have to check the size now that it’s all pieced… It looked so nice up against the early-American style dining table and chairs… We’ll see :)

So, that’s what we’ve been doing this week… Well, that and, this weekend is Drum Corps International Championships… Last weekend we drove to NJ and the New Meadowlands to see the “Tour of Champions” and this week saw the Prelims in the theater… All I’m gonna say is… Team Angel and Team Demon… Go Cadets!!!! The Angels and Demons show is the best I’ve seen in years… They won last night, but Blue Devils are right there… Don’t get me wrong, Blue Devils show is technically excellent… I just think it’s blah compared to Cadets… Fingers crossed for the Angels in this one…