Just a Bag

Okay so I got a great new camera for Christmas. It is a Canon Rebel.

I want a camera bag but it is unbelievably hard and complicated to find the "right" bag.

I found a bag for me, it is custom made and beautiful. It actually looks like a purse. But the lady that makes them doesn't take orders, you have to watch Etsy and hope you like what she made and order it before anyone else does. If I had the time to design a bag like that, I would... it is big business.

So I thought I would buy a bag for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas by getting a camera bag for my husband because Men's bags are easy to find.

Wow! The options are unbelievable but not what I am looking for.

I just want a bag that doesn't scream " I am a camera bag".

Why is this so difficult?

Never Finished

My Mom and I are very different. I like to start projects and usually have a few going at one time. While my Mom can only have one project going and can never juggle more then one craft.

I am currently working on a block of the month quilt that I thought would keep me on track because you get the fabric to complete 4 blocks a month for one year. At the end of the year you should have 48 blocks, sew them together and "voila" a quilt. While it sounds really good in theory but a lot of things happened this summer, like moving, and I am a few months behind.

I also made curtains for the family room in our new house. They are up on the wall but need to be hemmed. My Mom has threatened to come over for a weekend and hem them for me because it drives her crazy that they are not done. I just turn them under and they look great.

I also started curtain panels for our bedroom. We have 4 windows, so 8 panels of curtains need to be done to finish. I am almost half way done. I need to cut and sew the lining into the curtain.

I have a quilt that I am working on for my husband for our second anniversary, since the gift for the second year is cotton. It is a quilt made out of all hand dyed fabric. I made him go to Amish country with me a couple years ago to go fabric shopping and he fell in love with the quilt that was hanging on the back wall of one of the quilt shops. The quilt shop had the pattern and said they got the pattern from this lady that dyed all of her fabrics. Well after much searching and google, I tracked this lady down in North Carolina. She has a website but no contact information. Well, I bought a piece of fabric from her site via paypal to get her info. The next day I got a note from her apologizing that she sold out of that fabric. I didn't care because I just wanted her contact information. Long story short, I got the hand dyed fabric to make her quilt. Oh my gosh it was a lot of money, but beautiful. I need to have it done by September to get it to the quilter so I can get it back in time for our anniversary. And some how do this without my husband knowing that I am working on it.

I have also been working on making these great dish mats using some cordinating fabric and an old terry cloth towel. They are great for putting on the counter and setting dishes that aren't quite dry from the dishwasher or for the dishes that you hand wash. While I have 2 of those in process.

I am making a quilt for one of the girls at work that is having a baby and we are having a shower in a couple weeks.

I sure I have more started that I am forgetting but that is how I operate, I never finish.

The Jersey Shore

So we are going to the Jersey Shore this summer for a week with my family. We are my dad's 60th birthday . We originally planned on going to a resort in Maine for a week but it is just too far to drive. So my husband was charged with finding a house that will take dogs at the shore.

After many phone calls we found a house that is right on the beach! But before we could rent it we needed to look at it first.

So what day to we pick to go to Jersey? Saturday. The weather forecast said a dusting to 1 inch of snow. Well...

Jersey had a lot more snow then that, maybe 6-8 inches.

We left our house at 11 a.m and it would normally take about 2 1/2 hours to get to the shore. We got there around 3p.m.

We checked out the house, which is perfect. (Sorry I don't know how to move the picture down here yet, but the above picture is looking out at the ocean)

We were leaving the shore and decided we better take main roads home. But before we could leave my husband wanted a slice of pizza on the boardwalk. (Does it look like we could find pizza on the boardwalk? second pic above)

Anyway we left at 3:30 and didn't get home until 8 p.m. I quick trip to the shore for 10 minutes of house hunting took about 10 hours. Good thing we both are used to spending a lot of time in the car.

(If anyone knows about how to move the pictures, please let me know)

Shower, Everyday

My dog loves the shower!

We moved to our new house in August and for the first time, he has a shower with glass sliding doors. My dog goes into the shower every night. We can't figure it out. What does he do in there? I wake up in the middle of the night because I hear him in the shower and his nails are clicking against the plastic bottom of the shower.

I thought I could get a picture of it last night but as soon as I grabbed the camera he left the shower. The photo opportunity was priceless, he was looking up at me like "What?"

My husband decided that he like the coolness of the shower bottom on his belly.

I have decided he is just weird and likes when we ask him "Tux, What are you doing in the shower?"

Delete, Delete, Delete...

I just deleted 23 subscriptions from my Google Reader. I have a number of blogs in my reader that I just don't enjoy but I feel so obligated to read just because it pops up as something 'unread'.



In an effort to be more focused on my tasks at hand, they are gone.



If feels kind of weird. Did I just tell a friend I don't want to be their friend anymore? That's what it feels like.



Who would have thought 10 years ago that it would be this easy to break off a "friendship"?

Vegas Baby!

Our trip is set for Vegas in March!

We have our room booked! Finally last night after a painful hour and half of trying to work out the best deal on airline tickets, we are booked.

I had a free ticket and my husband had a credit from a previous flight. Why does it have to be so difficult to make all of that work into an actual flight?

Anyway, I have never been to Vegas and can't wait!

Now if we just hit big while we are there, it will really be a great trip!

Also, any thoughts on getting married when we are there? My husband really wants to get married because he thinks it would be fun. I believe that we are already married (and we had to do it twice the first time) why do it again.

Following the Pack

I spent a number of years in my career working from home. It was nice. I could get my work done and balance my home life all at the same time. Some days I was on the road wearing a suit, other days I was in my pajamas all day because I never took a break to shower and get dressed. About 3 years ago I was forced into an office job that requires me to be in the office all day everyday. Quite honestly, it sucks. I wish I could go back to the "old" way of working. Being in the office makes me feel like a caged animal. I don't do very well being focused on the same thing all the time.

I wish that I could work from home again, even just a couple days a week.