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Michigan Trip

I not only went on a Mission Trip but I also went to Michigan and spent a week on Lake Michigan.  If you live lots of water but not the salt then going to Lake Michigan is the absolute best.  I felt like I was at the ocean and got to lay out on the beach and play in the sand with my niece but without the salt water and the wild life.  This was a great trip to have right before going back to school.

                                Miriam decked out in her Guatemalan Backpack and Dorthy red shoes

 

                                          Ducks, Ducks, Ducks.  Miriam's favorite animals

                                               We went to a petting zoo and it was a blast.

                                                
   We also went blueberry picking and that was fun.  Even Miriam got to help pick (and eat lots) of blueberries

Busy Summer, Back to Reality

I realize that this is now August 25 and I have not updated my blog for quite awhile.  However, I do have good excuses and I will make up for it in the next few blogs that I post.

I went to Guatemala the first full week in July and let me tell you if you have not gone out of the country then I highly recommend it.  I love to fly and even though I worried about my luggage weighing more than 50 pounds (which much to my delight it was like 43 pounds on the trip there and only 46 pounds on the way home so I worried for nothing) I had a great time.  This was my first trip out of the country and I am very pumped about doing it again.

I went to a girls home called Prince of Peace in San Cristobal.  This place is awesome!  The girls are great and the people who help run it are very giving and should be commended.  These people take care of these girls by keeping them safe, teaching them about Jesus Christ, and they also help these girls to get an education so that they can take care of themselves and their future families.  I had such an experience that I bonded with three teen age girls.  I am a preschool teacher and the only kids that I usually bond with are under 6 so it was a huge shock to me that I got along with those teen age girls so well. 

I also got to get to know 19 people from my church a whole lot more than I ever have by sitting next to them during church services.  I now have lots of funny stories about these people :)  I think that God really wanted me to go and I really learned a lot about myself, another country, and about people in my church.  I am very blessed and I hope to go back.

Small Projects before Trip

I am heading to Guatemala tomorrow morning and I just wanted to post a few last minute projects that I have gotten done before I go.

Modern Art:  I had a couple of canvases in a closet that I have been meaning to do something with for a few years.  I got the idea of doing a little modern art using the canvases, paint chips, and modge podge.  Here are the results.

 

Another project is a wicker cube ottoman that I have had for years and my cats love to sharpen their claws on it so I decided to wrap it in carpet (which I may change the carpet that is on there for a smaller berber but I just went for what I had right now) and then put foam and fabric on the top.

 

The last project is my niecie who hadn't made it to my niece and nephew wall.  I got some pictures of her from my sister and scrap booked these pictures into a frame and now Miri is on my picture wall.  Yay!

 

Hope everyone has a great week and if you think about it throw up a few prayers for safe travel, life changing experiences, and good health for my mission team while we are in Guatemala.

My tattoo and the road to a new beginning

I have always wanted a tattoo ever since I was younger.  I just never had the nerve to jump in and do it.  After my divorce I was determined that I would get one just to be a visual reminder to me of a new beginning.  I made the decision to get one now I had to decide what to get and where to get it.  I played around with a few places and a few ideas and decided that I wanted a daisy on my big toe.  Next step was to find someone to do the tattoo.  I work with a lady who in her forties started getting tattoos and so she recommended the lady who did hers to me.  I emailed "The Tattoo Lady" and asked if she would do mine and my little sister's.  "The Tattoo Lady agreed and told me to send her over email a copy of what we wanted.  Joi wanted a Celtic knot on her lower back and so we found one and sent it to "The Tattoo Lady" who said she could do it and so we scheduled a day and time.  I told her I would bring mine with me because it was small and I had drawn it. 

The big day came and we were both nervous.  Neither one of us had ever done anything like this and even though we were excited we were both a bundle of nerves.  Joi decided to go first since hers was bigger and more elaborate than mine.  Plus she told me later that if I had gone first and had acted like it was painful she would have chickened out.  After lots of encouragement, hands nearly being squeezed off, and lots of leg twitches Joi's tattoo was done and it had taken almost an hour.  It was my turn.  "The Tattoo Lady" created a stencil/stamp of my daisy and she positioned it on my toe.  Then she started.  It was slightly uncomfortable but it took less than 5 minutes.  Yes, you heard me less than 5 minutes.  I couldn't even act like it hurt at all because Joi had spent almost an hour in pain and I refused to look like a wimp.  I did just get an outline and that is why it did not take very long.  "The Tattoo Lady" said that it was the smallest tattoo she had ever done:)  We both went home with promises of touch ups and fill ins if we decided to do so.

Here is what my tattoo looked like that day.  It was not flip flop weather yet but I spent the day walking around in flip flops just looking at my toe.  I was in love.

Several months went by and I decided that I would get it filled in.  I love my tattoo and at first just wanted the outline but I just went back and had it touched up and filled in by "The Tattoo Lady" and I am very happy I did.  I have one more appointment to get another layer of color because white can be difficult and hard to see.  Here is what my tattoo looks like now.

Did I mention that I love my tattoo:)  I am very happy with the results and I have a daily visual reminder that new beginnings are possible and although painful can have a beautiful result.

Uncompleted List

This summer has been crazy busy and I have been enjoying all of it.  My list for this past week was the following.

 

1.  Help Crystal get as prepared as she can for her daughter's upcoming birthday party.  Shopping, creating, and staging are all part of that and I am a willing helper.  I need to help her stay calm!  I have a few projects that we have to have done for the party and you will see the results of that next week.

Well, we made it through the party and it was a lot of fun.  Crys and I went and got everything needed to finish Meggie's armoire and finished that up Thursday evening.  We also made puff balls with tissue paper and got a few things prepared for the party.  Then the big day came and we decorated, got food ready and presented, and set up the different areas for the kids to visit.  The party was a success!!  It looked awesome and very colorful.  Nothing lasted too long or was rushed.  The food was delicious and the weather gorgeous.

 

Here is a picture of before and after of the armoire that Crys, Tim and I all contributed to for their lovely baddy head Meggie May :)  You can see more of this over on Crystal's Blog Ordinary Days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Family Time - Go and spend time with my niecie and my little sister.  My other sister is coming down over the weekend and it will be a time to spend with more family.  I am doing all of this because on July 2 I leave for Guatemala for my mission trip and I would like to see all my family and hang out with them before I go.
  

If you have been reading my blog you will know how important my family is to me.  I love my nieces and nephews.  I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like to but I will take all that I can get.  I went to see my little sister Joi and her baby Miriam.  Miriam is 15 months old and a total crack up.  When she looked at me and said "Yee-Yee" (cute talk for Lee-Lee) for the first time I about melted into the floor.  We visited, shopped, played, and went to this really cool play place and had a ball.  Here are just a few pics of my adorable niece and her awesome mom.

 

She wore the red shoes and the tutu almost the entire time we were at this cool play place.  She had fun and Joi and I had fun as well.  Good times.

3.  I have several smaller projects that I would like to get done this week.  I have a mirror to paint, a Giggle sign to paint, and a couple of wooden candle sticks to paint.  I will also have new pictures of my niecie that I am going to scrapbook into a frame to hang on my niece and nephew wall. 

 

I did absolutely none of these smaller crafty things.  I spent a lot of time working on Meggie's armoire but I did embellish some flip flops for my cute nieces and I finished a bucket and started working on a wicker cube that I am redoing.

           Found these cute little flip flops at Michaels and had to get them for Miriam. She loves ducks so I was super excited when I found these duck buttons to put on the top.

Cute little shoes on cute little feet!

 

 "Oooo Duck-Duck"

Then not to only do a pair for Miriam but I made a pair also for my niece Morgan and am still in the process of making a pair for my niece Gaby.  Gaby's are similar to Morgan's but the flip flops are a different color.

Here is Morgan proudly sporting her new flip flops.

Here is this weeks list :

1.  Get my stuff packed and ready for my trip to Guatemala.  I leave early Saturday morning and will be gone a whole week.  I have never been out of the country and I have only riden on a plan once and that was several years ago and I went to Vegas with my ex.  I am nervous about my bag being heavier than 50 lbs.  I want to make sure that I have everything I might need but not to exceed the maximum weight.

2.  Clean my apartment from top to bottom so that I can come home to a clean house.

3.  Make sure my cats have enough food and water and toys to keep them occupied the whole time that I am gone.  I have never left them for this long and I worry about them.  Crystal is planning to come over and check on them while I am gone and for that I am extremely grateful.

Linking to:  Make a list Monday