I love the peacefulness of simplicity

But I'll make an exception for our little boy's art and crafts :)

The Crafty Mama

Being someone who has always been inclined towards the arts and crafts, I'd always told the hubs that if only I had one of the ( littler ) portable sewing machines, that I would be more productive in the, er, sewing/mending/craftiness department.

I could get it up on my desk when I needed to use it, and put it away when I didn't.  Our house is so little that space is quite the commodity, and I needed a sewing machine I could pick up and store away when not in use.

So, a few months ago, the hubs picked up a Singer 6160 sewing machine for me at Walmart.  It was on sale, so the frugal me didn't complain too much.  I have to confess, it DID sit in its box until a few weeks ago, when I started on some projects for the little boy ( that's for another post ... ), as well as a pillowcase for the hubs' little living room pillow.

 

My grandmother was a seamstress who made a lot of our clothes when we were growing up, and before that, was just about the main breadwinner in the family with her home tailoring business. So she had some serious mad skillz. Her sewing machine was one of those that came with its own standalone console thingy with the pedals and several drawers on each side, and she had her own little sewing station by the front window of our rented house in our home town.


I, on the other hand, only WATCHED her stitch and sew when I was growing up - she lived with us, so that was handy, lol... I spent a lot of time watching her use her trusty black Singer and making/cutting clothes patterns out of newspaper and all like that, and I suppose some of that information is retained somewhere in the recesses of my mind... but when I got the Singer out of its box, I had no idea how to even thread the danged thing.

I've sinced used it a few more times, each time getting a little less intimidated, and learning more about it. :) I know that I will never be as good as my grandmother was, but hey, I have those genes in me, and who knows what I could do with some practice and perseverance, aye? :)

Alphabetic Clouds

Being that we are so immersed in the ABCs and 123s right now, it was a real treat to catch this as we were driving out to town one day.

In case it doesn't look entirely like the letter "F" --- In my defense, in the time it took me to get my camera out, the leg and foot of the F had gotten substantially stumpier.

I still erroneously call it Chick A Fil

So I saw on my Abilene Reporter News RSS feed that there were over 100 people camped out at the new Chick A Fil that was due to open ( well, it has opened today, but that's beside the point ) on our end of town.

 

Apparently, if they managed to stay on site for 24 hours, they'd get a year of free food.

 

When we dropped by Walmart later that evening for some supplies, it was like a party down there at Chick A Fil :)

 

Read more about it HERE and HERE

July 4th 2012

As in years past, our 4th of July started at church, with the Hillcrest Church 4th of July Parade. 

By the time we got to the church parking lot and found a place to park, there was already a bunch of people there, most of whom were comfortably settled in under the big shady trees either on the church lot or across the street, where some church members lived.

We had arrived a few minutes early, and so the little boy got some time to romp and explore before the parade started..

I know that some might think, "oh, been there done that" when it comes to things that come around annually, but especially when you have little ones, there is always something new and fresh every year. Besides, just the sense of community and camaraderie is a wonderful draw :)

Of course, then it's time to get into the multipurpose room for some homemade ICE CREAM and COOKIES!

We had planned on grilling some food for dinner, but it was soooo hot outside, I decided to whip out the indoor grill and save us the time doing the coal and all the logistical nightmares challenges that come with trying to grill something outdoors.  It turned out really good :) We had grilled sausages, shrimp and a variety of vegetables.

We capped the day off with a trip to go watch the fireworks.  The little boy got to sit in front with mummy to watch the show :) and we were out way past his bedtime, but hey, it's once a year :)

Adventures at the Mall

We don't usually go to the mall much, but a couple of Fridays ago, we needed to go over to Best Buy to purchase something.  As we were nearing the mall entrance that was closest to the store, the little boy suddenly perked up and went, "CHUCK E CHEESE'S! MUMMY I WANT TO GO TO CHUCK E CHEESE'SSSS!!!!"

The hubs was amazed that the little one knew what Chuck E Cheese's was to begin with ( I blame Nick ),  but we were both more amazed that we had thought that it was Chuck E CHEESE all this time, but the little boy knew that it had an apostrophe s to it, and kept correcting the both of us. LOL!

Anyhow, while the hubs browsed Best Buy, the little boy and I had several mini adventures at the mall. I realised too late that I didn't have my trusty camera with me - I know, *gasp*, so I had to trust my cellphone to do its thang.

Our first stop was of course, C.E.C's, where the usher person stamped our hand with some kind of invisible ink thing before he let us in... made me feel like we were going into a club or something.

 

Anyway, it made me smile to see the little boy's face light up as he went from game to game in the arcade part, having just the grandest time, even though we didn't get any credits/tokens/whatnots to actually play the games with.  I know.. next time I'll actually get some of them credits/tokens/whatnots and then the little one can actually go crazy in there :)

Next, we stopped by the soft play area.  I noted that the height restriction ( which gets just blatantly ignored a lot of the time - makes me want to rough up the parents who allow their rough, obviously over-sized and over-aged kids in there ) was 42 inches.  And the little boy is just about 41 inches now. *sigh*

Last but not least, we stopped by Books-a-Million, browsing and hanging out at the "lounge/reading" area, and the little boy, who loves books and stories, had a blast :)

And THAT, was our adventure at the mall. :)