Facebook!!!

Well, I did it! I am now officially a member of Facebook! It will take me a while to find my way around it. Hopefully I will get lots of friends, that I know or are aquainted with, from either here or in my past. This should be fun!

Food, anyone?

I figured that since I collect recipes and cookbooks I might as well share them with you. It took me a bit to figure out how to do it, but I did it!

If you scroll down you will see on the right hand side a list of food dishes. I will be adding more here and there when I get more time. Probably tomorrow between loads of laundry. lol.

Anyway, I hope this will go good with my blog. You never know, you might actually find something to fix for dinner, a great dessert, or even a snack. Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Rain, rain, don't go away......

Well, from one extreme to the next. Our family barely made it through the hell of this past weekend, barely, only now to be confronted with possible severe thunderstorms and rain. Just as long as it is cooler I am happy. We do need the rain after the scorcher we just had. I love rain! I also LOVE thunderstorms! Over here the temperatures usually drop with the rain. In the next few days we are supposed to have temps in the mid 70s to the low 80s. Nice! Nothing scheduled for the next two weeks as well! Really nice! Ah, the end of summer...I like it!

In the fiery furnace

Ok, who ordered Wenatchee to feel like the fiery pitts of HELL!?! Sheesh! At the moment it is 96....and holding.....but tomorrow, oh yeah, tomorrow it will be 102. Followed on Saturday with 104. Remember my last post about the Back to School Giveaway? Think about it.........yup. HOT! Then on Sunday it will be cooler.......100. We plan on going to my church's BBQ that day. Thank goodness it will be at a park near water.

Barely controlled chaos!

Wenatchee has a wonderful group made up of many of the churches in our community called "Serve Wenatchee Valley". Their business is run like a charity. They help out people that need food, clothing, furniture, etc, by taking in gently used items from the community who are willing to donate them. One thing that they have going on each year is a Back to School Giveaway. It is held each year at the First Presbitarian Church on Western Avenue. They have a drive to collect as much children's clothes as possible. Other businesses, like Payless Shoes, donates shoes in multiple sizes or whatever the business that participates sells. There are stylists/barbers from the local cosmetology school who donate their time for free haircuts. Tons of stuff going on!

Well, it usually starts at 9:00am and ends at 12:00pm. The problem is......if you don't get there at least an hour before it starts......you won't be able to get through the whole thing before they run out of stuff. I went last year for the first time and got there at 9am and by the time my spot got to the front of the line to get it it was almost over. Talk about running through. I think I broke the record for the fastest time through there......LOL!

Ok, here's the deal. The way it works is that there are different stations set up with different things at them. One station is clothing, one is shoes, one is haircuts, etc. When you get there you go to the back of the main line, wherever that may be, and wait. Yes, wait. Standing. In the sun. Waiting. At least every once in a while someone working there will come by with donated cookies and offer you one. I don't remember if there were any drinks offered. Anyway, by the time you get to the front of the line for your turn, you are bitchy, hot, tired, and ready for a fight. Now, there are also about 500 other people there in the same predicament. To state the statistical type of people there........

80% Hispanic
19% Caucasion
1% Other

It can get crazy! So, in my insanity, and desperate need of help with school clothing, I am going again this year. I am getting there an hour earlier this time.....LMAO! I'm also bringing drinks and my husband........poor Tom. He doesn't do well in crowds. I guess I'm just evil that way.

It also feeds my love of people watching. The diversity is amazing. You will see just about every type of person there. It will be held this Saturday. Good times........

School starting soon!

It's that time of year again and so I need to start thinking about what all needs to get done to be ready for it. Clothes to be gotten, supplies to be purchased. Thankfully, we have a bit of supplies left over from last year that the teacher didn't need, so we don't have to buy as much. As for clothes, we usually go to Goodwill on the east side of the river where it seems like they carry more namebrand stuff. It's in an old Fashion Bug store so it even looks nicer.

I am also looking forward to it starting because being in an apartment all summer with a 7 yr old gets aggrevating after awhile. The time while Emma is in school will be nice, quiet, and relaxing. Things will get done easier around the abode and I can actually watch what I want on TV and get a break from Nickelodian, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network......YAY! With all my time spent at home, though, it gets pretty boring, too. I do volunteer at Emma's school at least once a week and plan on continuing that this year. It is rewarding and I also get to see how Emma gets along in the school environment. I always give my time for school outings and field trips because I want to have fun, too! LOL!

Emma will be going into 2nd grade. She does pretty good with math and the other stuff, but her best subject is reading. Emma is reading at a 3rd grade reading level. Her teacher last year was so proud of her! So were we! We shall see if she excells at any other subject this year. We don't expect her to be great at everything, just try to make an effort. We don't know who her teacher will be this year. Whoever it is will be fine.

Crayon Transfers using sandpaper

Colorful Crayon Tees

Supplies
Crayons
T-shirt
Sandpaper
Iron
Cardboard (sized to fit inside T-shirt)
Aluminum Foil

Instructions

Using crayons, draw a picture on the rough side of the sandpaper. Make sure you press hard when drawing so there is a thick layer of crayon. I used a pretty rough grade of sandpaper which gave me the pebbled look. You can also use a fine grade for a more even transfer. *** Remember if you are writing words, write the word and letters backward so they will be correct after transfer.

Cover your piece of cardboard with aluminum foil, being careful not to create creases in the foil. This will help color adhere to shirt.

Next, insert the wrapped cardboard inside the t-shirt, to protect the back side of the shirt.

Lay sandpaper with drawn design CRAYON SIDE DOWN on front of t-shirt where you want the picture to be.

Heat iron to the warm or rayon setting. When ready, apply heat to the the back (the smooth side) of the sandpaper. Hold iron on each part of sandpaper for approximately 10 seconds to melt the crayon design onto t-shirt. It really does transfer that quick. Allow t-shirt to cool before peeling back sandpaper.

To keep vibrancy of the color design, wash in cold water and hang to dry.

From www.momready.com


My daughter made t-shirts similar to these at Vacation Bible School 55 this summer and they turned out great!
I love the way the image looks when 80 grit sandpaper is used. It gives the image a wonderful stippling look. Play around with different sandpaper grits to see what you like best.