Happy Easter!

I hope each and every one of you had a fantastic Easter! Today I didn't get to go to church but I had a good day. I actually slept in until 10:30am! It felt good! I really needed it. I got up got dressed and located an I-HOP and had a very late breakfast. Afterward I went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and spent the day riding the roller coasters. It was terrific! It was much better than yesterday. The lines were awful yesterday. I spent three hours waiting to get on one Roller coaster and an hour on another. That alone tired me out. Today I got a chance to ride the other roller coasters offered at the park. The lines were much shorter than yesterday! I simply ran and got on the rides today or I had a very short wait of about 20 minutes which was fabulous! Yesterday some of the roller coasters were not open. Today they opened them all but the latest called "Goliath". I really wanted to check that one out but it doesn't seem ready to run. Anyway it was a great day! I rode The Poltergeist, The Boomerang (again), The Roadrunner, Superman, Der Twister (another wonderful ride not a roller coaster) and Die Fledermaus ( the swing). It was a good day! Today was a bit cooler than yesterday so I didn't consider riding any of the water rides. I didn't want to be wet and get a cold.

Here are some photos I took at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There are these beautiful man made waterfalls in the park. I really thought they were great photo opportunities. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of me. Maybe next time!

This is one of the really cool rides I found by the Superman roller coaster. It's called Das Fledermaus (wave swinger). It was really fun. The ride spins around and the total rides goes around and around while its spinning. I screamed the whole time (but I do this on all rides LOL!).

The whole Six Flags experience was made possible this weekend due to me using my coin savings. I don't know about you guys but at the end of each day I empty my pockets of change and I put them into different banks per coin( quarter, nickels, dimes and pennies). When I fill a bank I use the money for fun things. I filled my quarter container and I ended up with $135! I was too happy! I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the money. I like going to the amusement parks and I also wanted to visit more water parks (which I love). Since Six Flags has both I decided to buy a season pass. I will not take a personally funded vacation, so I figured I would take some time to visit the water park and amusement parks in Illinois, St. Louis and Texas. A friend of mine told me her daughter purchased her season passes in other places besides Illinois because they were cheaper in other states and they could be used in Illinois. I checked and the prices were cheaper (by at least $20) here in Texas. So I used the money to buy a season pass and I also learned you could purchase a parking season pass too. It cost $15 to park at Six Flags! Not cheap with even with a season pass. I checked and you can use them at other parks too! The cost of the season parking pass was $45. So Voila! I bought the season pass and the parking pass with my quarter savings! The total cost was around $115. Woo Hoo! I feel good now! I also spent money earlier in the week to purchase a Couture sewing book from Barnes and Noble. I am very satisfied with myself! I have a tendency to try to buy mostly needed stuff with found money (I get teased sometimes) So this feels so good!

I was wondering if any of you have a system for saving money. If not you should consider it. I simply empty my pockets of all change every time I come home. I separate it by coins and I spend the money only when I fill the container. I never fill all the coin containers at the same time. The dimes take the longest (maybe I need a smaller container (tee hee)). I am not sure how long it takes to fill a container but I think I will slip a piece of paper into the bank so I will know when I began my saving. If you need change you can always make your change and slip a few dollar bills into the bank. Find a system that works for you! It's nice to have some money to spend on whatever you want.

It took a lot of will power for me to not purchase anything for my hobbies. I already spent enough money and I have a serious collection of things already. This is what kept me from going crazy with those expenditures. But I am very satisfied with the way I used my money. I should get a lot of pleasure from the season pass this summer. I can't wait!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Smooches!

San Antonio

Well, here I am in San Antonio, Texas enjoying the weather. It's a wonderful seventy degrees and I am having a blast. I spent the day at Six Flags Fiesta, Texas this Saturday and I road two rollercoasters. What fun! I love rollercoasters but I think I am getting too old for them! LOL! I rode one called the The Rattler which is properly named. I felt rattled when I was done. There was a three hour wait to get on this ride. I loved it until the end when it jerked to a stop. You see I had to go to the bathroom (due to the long wait in line plus a bottle of water which was much needed due to the heat) and I almost had an accident! Luckily I didn't! After that I decided to eat and rest a while because I was pretty dizzy. The next ride I tackled was called The Boomerang. This was even better than The Rattler to me! It went upside down twice and then went backwards! Too Cool! I was dizzy and queasy after this ride. This was the last ride I did while I was there. I thought I better stop while I was ahead. Besides I was only interested in the rollercoasters. I bought a season pass and I plan to go back tomorrow to do some of the other rollercoasters I didn't do today. I didn't have enough time to do them all anyway unless you bought the fast pass card which is too expensive in my opinion. It's like buying another ticket to the park.

Yesterday I went to the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. It's very pretty there! It even smells really nice because of all the flowers blooming on the paths. I went to the mall and walked around then I listened to South American band who played native instruments. Then I decided to take the boat ride around the Riverwalk to see what was there. Many shops, restaurants, bars, statues, landscaping and landmarks were to be seen. I used this ride to plot the areas I wanted to visit. But because I went on a Friday night it was very crowded and I spent most of my time trying to find someplace to eat which wasn't too crowded. I wanted to eat outside on the actual Riverwalk but that didn't seem possible without a very long wait. I found a restaurant close to the mall I started in and ate a sensible dinner of friend catfish. Yum!

Here are some wonderful pictures of the Riverwalk with captions

The boats on the Riverwalk offer a wonderful guided tour. The ride is easy and last about 25 minutes long. All the landscaping along the river is beautiful.

This is a hotel which was a school before. The architecture was beautiful. I thought how wonderful it would have been to go to a school on the river like this.
O.K. I have a funny story about this statue. It's a statue of Saint Antonio donated by Portugal. As I stood in front on it about to take a picture I noticed something going on behind it. There was a guy behind there taking a leak! I he said excuse me and ran off! I was standing there with my mouth wide open when this guy patted me on the back and laughed. I guess I had the ultimate look of shock on my face. Geez! What are people thinking! It's a saint for goodness sake! There are bathrooms close by!

Excuse my photo. I was trying to quickly take a picture of this mariachi band serenading this couple on the Riverwalk. It was just starting to get dark. There were many roving bands on the Riverwalk Friday evening. The aviance was wonderful!Here is the famous Alamo. It's located in downtown San Antonio not too far from the Riverwalk. It's very impressive and beautiful. There are many markers of historical significance around the site. I didn't get a chance to go because it was late but I am glad I got a chance to see it.

Well that's all of my photos of San Antonio. I have been working all week so I didn't go sightseeing at all. I just waited for the weekend to enjoy myself.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!

Toodles!

An Update from Houston

Hey! I am in the Houston area for work. When I arrived Sunday it was 70 degrees! A big difference from Chicago! I drove to my hotel with the windows down like I wanted but I had to roll them up and turn on the air conditioner! It's a nice break!

Anyway I wanted to update you on my week. I had an unfortunate death in my family. My Aunt's husband (uncle by marriage) died last week. He had leukemia. It's very sad and a big loss to the family. Please keep my Aunt and cousins in your prayers.

As I mentioned in my last entry I had a pretty full week. One knitting/crochet meeting and three scrapbook meetings. It was very nice. The knitting/crochet group was small but very nice. I met three wonderful ladies. We worked well together and I can't wait to meet with them again. I worked on my sleeve for my cardigan. I got a lot done. I actually brought it on my trip to finish. I just completed using the last of my skein of yarn and I left the rest at home. I have about 10 rows left before I am finished. So when I get home I plan on finishing the skein then I will sew it together and have it completed by the end of the month! SWEET!

The scrapbook meetings I attended was fun. It's always a great time to get with friends with similar interests. Better yet I didn't spend too much money too. The first night was at Archivers with my meet-up group. I was able to put my page kits together for my Orlando trip. I also did this at the other meetings I attended. I am hoping to start working on my scrapbook pages next month. I would prefer to have many more kits ready when I get started. Wish me luck.

After work yesterday I found a scrapbook store called Scrapbook Junkie. I went in and browsed around. Very nice store. I found another nice store today. It's funny how I find these stores. I am just driving along then BOOM a store! Some of these stores are in small towns but they have lots of merchandise. I have been really good though. I have impressed myself. I have spent no money! I hope this lasts! I read the yellow pages and I found four stores in the area of my hotel. I think I will only visit two! LMAO! I don't want to push temptation.

Well I hope to update again this week. But do not expect photos. I left my digital card reader at home!

Smooches!

Enjoying the holiday

I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy the holiday. I am relaxing and trying to do a few things around the house personally.

This weekend was a busy one for me. I ran errands and did some cooking on Saturday. Then I went and got my hair done. It's really cute! I like it has grown out some. Look for some new pictures. My brother also came home for the weekend so I spent the night at my mother's home. It was nice.

I am also proud to say I have completed one sleeve of my cardigan I am making. I started the next sleeve and I do have a ways to go. I do hope to have it finished by the end of the week. I haven't however started my chenille cowl yet. I really wanted to focus my efforts into finishing the major portion of the cardigan. I think I will work on my cowl when I go to Houston for work. I think it will be perfect for waiting in an airport for my flights. Wish me luck on that one.

Tomorrow I will meet with a new knitting/crocheting group. I am kind of excited! I can't wait to find more crocheters/knitters in my area. When the organizer first started the group she had the meetings in the early afternoon. Many people could not make it so she is trying to find a happy medium. I do hope this works. I had joined a sewing group back in November and I was very excited to find other sewers who were willing to get together. The organizer for that group has some personal issues and we never had a meeting. I was very disappointed. I was really looking forward to meeting some other sewers in my area. But what can you do right?

I also have plans to go scrapbooking at least three times this week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening. I am quite happy. I have many page kits and I cannot wait to work on them. I want to have some pages completed before I leave for Houston. I have spent a great portion of the day sorting and getting things ready for my scrapbook evenings.

Well this is just a little taste of my crafty life this week. I hope to have some pictures to share later!

Toodles!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just wanted to say "Happy Valentine's Day" to everyone out there in blogland!

HAPPY

VALENTINE'S

DAY

Smooches to everyone!

GREAT NEWS!

Great news! Remember that ticket I received on New Year's Day for driving through the stop sign without stopping (which was not true!)? Well yesterday I went to court and I pleaded not guilty. The judge threw out the case! The officer referred to his ticket book when the judge asked a question. This isn't allowed. He should have known better according to the judge that he could not review notes during testimony. So she threw it out and scolded him. No fines! WOO HOO! I was very pleased. Those tickets were $105! I of course did not want to pay that price! I am one satisfied woman!

Well I guess I will move on to more good news. I have had a crafty good time lately. I have many photos on this entry so beware. The first group are cards I made at a Close to My Heart Seminar (CTMH). These are nice cards. Only one has a theme which was "Thanks". I guess I can make the others whatever I want.

Here is a nice representation of the bunch! These are all made from CTMH products.

I also went to a CTMH scrapbook workshop too. I like these pages. The black and beige pages are my favorite. These are all made using CTMH products.

I learned something this weekend that made me gasp. I went to Michaels' and I was browsing the book area (which was hard because I really wanted to buy a book). I saw the Cherish book by CTMH in the store. There was only one. I thought maybe someone left it there by mistake. Then I went to another Michaels' and I saw many more. I was so confused! I didn't know they sold CTMH idea books at Michaels'. You could use your 40% off coupon and get it at a really good price. This book along with their Imagine idea book is a big hit with my friends. One had already purchased the book and I told her. She e-mailed our consultant and learned CTMH will be selling their idea books to broaden their market at Michaels'. They are waiting at least a year after the book is released. Isn't that something! I was totally shocked! Now my poor friend is a bit upset she purchased the book at full price. But what can you do right?

This is an 8 X 8 layout I made for one of my mother's friends. She is a very wonderful lady. She had a party last summer and honored me. She is so sweet. I made this to put into an album I made for her last year. I want to add pages for her now and then.

Well, lets move on to the needle arts. I was in Michaels', JoAnn's, Borders, Barnes and Noble and finally the library. I really wanted this book. There is this beautiful sweater called Icelandic I want to make. I found it at the library! Whoopie! I am adding this wonderful pattern to my library for sure!

This is the Quick feminine scarf I made this weekend. I found this pattern in the "At Home With Crochet", its a Leisure Arts Publication. I really like this pattern. I will make more and give them away as gifts. I did find some flaws in my scarf but it still looks great. I plan on making one for KimT who joined my "Play It Forward" post. So Kim if you are reading this get ready!

This is the scarf stretched out. It's really cute! I am pretty proud of myself.

O.K. I know you guys remember the cardigan I have been working on forever. Well my completion of this sweater was stalled. I ran out of yarn. I bought more but the color was off. I couldn't match the dye lot. I thought I bought more than enough but the sweater is turning out to be much larger than I anticipated. I decided to make the sleeves and trimming of the sweater out of this solid blue. It's the best I could do. I am a bit miffed at myself for running out of yarn but it happens. I do hope to get it finished soon though. I need to do both sleeves then sew it all together and od the trim. Wish me tons of luck on this one!

First, please excuse the blurry photos. I really tried working with my camera but it was late. This is a simple shrug I found in the Fall Interweave Crochet magazine. I thought it turned out wonderfully. I wore it to church and I received many wonderful compliments. I will definitely make many more. This took me about a week to complete.

FRONT VIEW

BACK VIEW

I bought yarn for my KCAL (knit crochet along) with the Ebony Elite group. I found a crochet pattern I wanted to do with the group and I am too excited for words.

The pattern is called Chenille Cowl and I found it in my "So Simple Crochet" book by Melody Griffiths for Creative Homeowner. I am so excited. I hope its as easy as it looks. I would love to make more for gifts.

After I complete this pattern and the cardigan pattern I will then move on to the Icelandic cowl pattern. I am so inspired by this pattern. I will post a picture of it later. I think I have enough pictures on this post already!

Cheerio!

Pay It Forward

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this Pay it forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment, you’re on. I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make for you.

Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I got mine from Barb's Card Creations and Other Stuff. If you read my previous post you will see what she sent me. It was very nice. I will try to make something appropriate for the people who sign up for this. Please continue the fun on your blog. I will not promise your gift will come quickly but I will send it as soon as time allows. Possibly within a month.

Let the fun begin!

Smooches!