quick hello

i'm still here.
thinking.
too much.
wondering.
questioning.
being me.
i drive myself silly.
i wish i could just say... ok.
this is the right thing.
just do it.
i really want to want to.
with no hesitations.
at all.

my husband on the other hand.
he's confident.
bold. daring. adventurous.
proud.
borderline egotistical :)
depending on the situation.
i admire him for that.
his faith.
that eveything will be ok.
that we will make the right choices.
we've done ok so far.

it will be fine.
everything will happen just how it is supposed to.
even if it requires a small leap on my part.


ok... enough of that poetry style writing.
just had to get that out ;)

i'll be back.
when my mind settles down.
and i feel rested.
and caught up.
ha.

have a great weekend :)

Happy Vday and THANK YOU!!

Happy belated Valentine's Day to you all :)

I am addicted to this sugar cookie recipe.

I made hearts for Lilly's class.
I made bowling ball sugar cookies for a bowling party today :)
If there is a reason... I will make these sugar cookies!


A HUGE thank you to everyone involved in making the Tarapchak auctions so successful!

I am so excited as to the results!!
I'm waiting to tally our entire earnings towards the children's fund until the donations/winning bids start coming in, because these are the kinds of surprises that I do like ;)

Have a great week!!

Raq Quilt auction!

It's here!! and I am SO very excited...
The Tarapchak Family Blog Auction Weekend!!

Right here... up for auction is one handmade, custom rag quilt including an embroidered name, intials, or monogram. (custom... as in, it hasn't been made yet, because it will be made JUST FOR YOU!) 100% of the proceeds from this auction will benefit the Tarapchak kids!

Please read the following information before placing a bid.

-The winner of this auction will get to choose the gender/color/theme of the quilt according to the fabrics I have available. (Photos of available prints shown below)
-I generally use 9 patterened/printed fabrics, and 4 solid fabrics.
-The size of my typical quilt is approximately 44 x 42 inches (9 squares x 10 squares)(This can be adjusted per winner's request)
-The winner may choose to have one name/monogram/intials embroidered onto a square of the rag quilt

Here are some photos of a few rag quilts I have made, to get a sense of my 'style'.

Here are some more photos.

And here are the available prints :)
(I have most solid colors to coordinate, so I did not include photos of those.)

FREE shipping within the United States.
Auction will end at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard time, Sunday, February 15th.

Staring bid... $20.00
Bidding increments of... $5.00

Place a bid by leaving a comment to this post.
Cash, check or money order will be accepted.
PayPal will be accepted, with additional PayPal fee charges added on. I MUST have a way to contact you in order for your bid to be valid.

Please email me with any questions!
jenfinh@yahoo.com

I will contact the winning bidder the evening the auction is done! Payment is appreciated ASAP. At that time we will discuss your rag quilt preferences :) These do take a while to complete, but I would hope to have it in your hands within 4 weeks.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my auction!!
Please check out the master list of all the Tarapchak auctions going on this weekend... the image below will take you to the page with links!!

Happy Bidding :)

Now go hug the ones you love ;)

photo tagged!

Arminda tagged me to post the 4th photo, in my 4th folder of pics.

I've been wanting to be tagged for this, so here I go... off to see what the photo is!! I'm even going to surprise myself, I'm going to add a photo by the jpeg name, not the image :)

ok, it got a little tricky, cause i have folders in folders in folders, but here is the surprise pic!

ha!

i couldn't really tell you much about this picture besides it came from the april 2008 folder, it's in our kitchen, and it's lilly... hamming it up... true to herself :) looks like she has her pants rolled up and is sockless. VERY lilly :) and looks like the little man is drinking juice and having a snack. VERY cohen :)

now... i tag... erin, ali, denise, mary, and anyone else who just wants to!

and don't forget! the auctions are this weekend :)

entertainment.

besides music of course... here are some things we do for entertainment in our frugal home.

game entertainment: besides the Wii which we usually play at night and on the weekends, we've found a few 'new' games that we love to play during the day while the little boys are napping.

The Ladybug Game.
VERY fun and cute.
I would HIGHLY recommended it to any pre-schooler :)
i believe i got it on sale at Target for $5 a few Christmasses ago, though it's not too costly even at full price :)

War.

who doesn't LOVE a game of war?

great for learning number/face card values.

TV entertainment.

Desperate Housewives
House
LOST
My Name is Earl
Kath & Kim
The Office
Grey's Anatomy
Friday Night Lights

(throw in a little American Idol and The Biggest Loser... if I have time to sit around)

mind you, we have regular old cable.
no tivo. no DVR recorder thing. no hi-def whatever... so our Thursday nights involve taping (yes, VHS taping) The Office while we watch Grey's. Then we watch The Office on Friday before Friday Night Lights comes on. (Unless I go to bed very early on Thursday, in which case we watch the rerun of Grey's on Saturday)

Movies entertainment: As in... "it was on TV, we got is as a Christmas gift, we rented it with gift cards, or we checked it out of the library" movies. We've been out of the movie loop for so so long. I do miss movies. We did start a little movie watching spree over the holidays, but we are back out of any movie routine at the moment. Here's a list of what we did watch...

The Chronicles of Narnia:The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

High School Musical

High School Musical 2

High School Musical 3

Tinkerbell

Batman Begins

The Dark Night

I now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry

Pineapple Express

ok... so what movie(s) do we need to put on our list of movies to see??

i really do have a list of 'movies to see' up in a kitchen cupboard :)

happy week to you all!!

this time next week.

this time next week...

will YOU be there??

1. Hosting and auction?

2. Shopping and bidding on auctions?
3. Spreading the word so that others can help with the above 2?

I'll be doing my part ;)

Here is my fabric stash for my rag quilts (I'll be auctioning off a custom made one!)

And luckily, there is a nice little sale on this fabric through next weekend. And I have gift cards :)

Little Bean will be giving away a set of goodies too...

Dave too!

Ali has a post up.

Erin as well.

Arminda!

Check out LeAnne's adorable tote!

Just added... from Mimi, Jenny and Krysty!!

Thank you to everyone who has already committed to hosting an auction (there is still plenty of time to do this!), or who has already posted a link on their blog, or who has spread the word in their own way :)

Have a great weekend :)

randomness.

a random post.
because i love reading the random posts of others :)

1. i got my hair cut a few weeks ago (thanks to my sister who spoils me!).

2. after taking pictures of my new hair and seeing once again the lovely shade of my teeth... (here's a closer up for for your pleasure, though it still isnt a great portrayal of how bad they were, im not going to show you a full on frontal grin)

i finally let myself fix that issue :) (see pic below)
so happy that i did :) it's so nice to feel good about your smile.

3. i've been doing lots of cleaning/decluttering. im tired if being that kind of person. it's amazing how a clean space can make you feel :)

4. we got our vents professionally cleaned!! 1st time since we've lived here (which i won't say how long that's been, though some of you can figure it out... too long to not clean your vents). let's hope that helps the dust issue. and the sneezing issue.

5. we had friends over for a Wii party and food eating yesterday. i said i wouldn't post pics :) lilly took most of the pics, so im sure you can imagine how those are.

6. went to a chuck-e-cheese bday party with lilly last night. that place is wild. here is the bday girl's gift.


7. worked on a custom embroidery order this morning.

8. sorted and sent to order our Dec. and Jan. pics. need to save them and get them off the camera.

9. listening to my hand me down from dave ipod. it's on shuffle. my music taste is hilarious. so many different types. love it all. the earbuds hurt my ears though. lol. my ears must be a weird shape or something. ha.

10. updating the LBE site and LBE blog. pink totes are back in stock and i have red now too!

11. just some pics of a few of my favorite little people :)

12. Go here and check out the master list of auctions! A few of our auction hosters have given sneak peaks as to what they are auctioning :)

Happy week to you all!