Birthday Present

I just finished these for my sister's birthday tomorrow. I am ashamed out how ragged my cutting board looks. It didn't hold up well. I guess it means I use it a lot.

I bought this fabric a long time ago and just love it but haven't found the right project for it. I think this will be good for fall. I hope she likes them. I have a lot more of this fabric and always envisioned it making the cutest apron.

I keep meaning to make these coasters for myself. So I decided each time I make a set for someone else I will make one extra for myself. I kept the lumpiest looking one of this set. I will only have one for now but that will work. I will use it by the side of the sink for my cup so that DH knows to not put it in the dishwasher.

Two towels and four double sided coasters.

Journal Jar Question for Tuesday

Do you remember a special birthday party you've had, given, or attended?

Once I did a special Birthday party for DH, I think he turned 28 and he had graduated from the Master's program in Education. I had each of the attendants bring a one word description of Scott written on an apple. I assigned each person a letter of the alphabet. It was fun. He didn't really care about the party but it was fun to celebrate being done with school. Now he is going back to school in the fall for his Administrative license, he is going to be really busy and really stressed. Yay for school!

When I was 16 my parents and friends planned a surprise Birthday party for me. I started suspecting something was up when my family was frantically cleaning the house but didn't ask for my help. Then later all my friends came down the road in a big caravan towards my house honking their horns. We lived out in the country so you can see the roads for about a 1/2 mile in any direction. That's a great memory.

When I turned thirty my husband planned a surprise party and my sister and her family drove to Boise Idaho and back to bring my other sister over for a Sister's weekend. I was really surprised because they had told me they were going to the beach for the weekend. I was pregnant with Ballerina at the time so it meant a lot to me. We went to the beauty school and I got a face massage. I enjoyed that more than any body massage I've had.

This last February my sister and I bought my Older Sister Staci (from Boise) a ticket to come over for our second Sister's Weekend, which I have blogged about previously. We decided we need to do Sister's weekends every year.

First Annual Sister's Weekend February 22nd to the 24th, 2008

I wish I had taken more pictures. For my oldest Sister Staci's birthday Jenna and bought her a plane ticket to fly over from Boise. The fares were so cheap we just couldn't resist. We had all arranged with our husband's to be around to watch our kids. Friday morning I picked up Staci at the airport. We met up with Jenna at her work then we went to lunch. We had sushi. I only ate mostly to fully cooked items but it was really good. The restaurant was really fun. Even Ballerina and Em enjoyed it. After we took Jenna back to work Staci and went to Value Village. She found some great deals. I chased the girls around the store. Ballerina figured out her shirt had snaps and took it off and ran around the store topless for a while.

We went and picked up my kids from school then we went home until Scott got there. We picked up Mom and went over to Seldie's Salon where she was working. Mom got a trim and I got my eyebrows waxed and a trim. The wax didn't hurt that bad so now I want to keep doing it. I want to get my lip waxed but she said that one really does hurt bad the first time.

After that we went to The Graze at the church to sample foods and get recipes for food storage. That was really fun and we got so full. SIL Brenda met up with us there. We went over to Jenna's afterwards and chatted and Seldie gave us pedicures. I stayed up till about 1:00 am but Staci and Jenna stayed up till almost 5:00 am. They were so tired the next day. I was more tired then they were but I figured it was because a few days later I got a bad cold.

Saturday morning Jenna drove her Land Cruiser and we all piled in. Brittany went with us even though she really wasn't feeling well. We went to the beauty supply store which is in the pictures below. Jenna was the driver for our Saturday outings. She was sporting her 80's hair for fun. She usually has it straight but she looked really cute with it wavy.
Mom gets the cutest outfit award for our Sister's weekend.
Seldie provided the great deals on hair supplies. And she gave us all great advice and what to get for our hair.
Staci has the greatest smile and her hair always looks perfect, even when she wakes up in the morning.
Here is a group shot of us at Ikea. Left to right: Seldie, Me, SIL Brenda, Mom (Tanya), SIL Brittany, Staci.
We spent many many hours at Ikea. Some our group got lost and kept going in circles. Ikea can be soooo overwhelming. Brittany had to go home after that, her cold had worn her out. We went to this little restaurant by the truck stop. There were very few people in there and the food was not great but the waitress was really good and we could talk and be giggly and no one cared.

Sunday Staci went to Church with us. Then later Jenna took Staci back to the airport. We all had such a good time. We are excited to see what we can do for next year.

Christmas Party Loot

Tonight I went to a Christmas dinner that was followed by your classic White Elephant exchange. The largest gift was a tire. The oddest one was a large Indian dagger. The cutest was a Santa suit apron. I am really excited about my gift, I had to steal it. I got a hardcover copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns. I had it on hold at the library but that was going to take forever. I have already read The Kite Runner so I am excited to read this one. I don't know when I will get to reading because I am reading 3 books right now; The Miracle of Forgiveness, Harry Potter (#2 Sorry I can't recall the name, this is the first time I've read the series), and The Zookeeper's Wife.

I was very careful about not eating too much at the party and I am proud of myself because I am still making up for all I ate over the Thanksgiving weekend.

My DH got a stack of lined paper and he was super excited because he needed it for his classroom. He is a 3rd grade teacher. He got excited about paper but I don't blame him because my loot is paper too, just more interesting because it has words.

I am going to finish a movie I started called Breach. My older sister J reccommended it to me. It's slow and quiet, sometimes that's just the perfect movie for me. Last week I watched Jeremiah Johnson and except for the music I really enjoyed it. We don't have regular TV so we just watch movies we get from Blockbuster in the mail. My Q is pretty empty so if anyone has any movies they love, send it my way. I do not watch rated R movies.