A short catch up

Well, I have had a sick son since last Friday. Thankfully, he finally woke with no fever so he can go back to school tomorrow!

It's been a really, really hard and emotionally draining week. I've had several nights of passing out around 9:00 just from the emotional exhaustion of life stuff.

Yesterday as the first day in months that I had a pajama day. I knew I couldn't go anywhere with Sam sick so I stayed home all day in my jammies. I was finally able to shift my thoughts and got a lot accomplished. I got several things organized in my bedroom and hung pictures on my walls, etc... Still have several pieces to hang but I'm making decisions about them.

Tomorrow, my friend, Lynn, is suppose to come over and help me make class kits for some of my upcoming classes! I love spending time with her. She makes me think and she makes me laugh.

Today has been another emotionally draining day and I can't wait to get kids in bed so I can go to sleep! Sorry there isn't much to talk about for a catch up!

Desert Botanical Gardens

I HEART the Botanical Garden!!!

Make sure to click on the photo so you can see it large and really grasp the beauty of nature... and see the close up shots of the bees and bugs in the blooms having pollen parties! :)









Check out the bee suspended over this artichoke plant! Cool shot!













I love how you can see all the detail of this butterflies face and eyes!


I promised some photos so here are a few of my favorites, although it was hard to choose favorites! Yes, the Chihuly exhibit is still there but I've seen it twice and seriously, the blooms at the garden rival Chihuly any day. Such amazing beauty amongst thorns!

I had a nice hike up North Mountain this morning and then had a long day. I just ate a piece of pizza with hot wings sauce drizzled on it and it's almost 10:30! Eek! Need to get to bed!

But first, I wanted to tell all of you locals who read my blog, I am going to be offering a basic book binding class in my home/studio 3 different days this month. This will be a class where you learn to gut an existing book, reinforce the spine, and bind new pages into it while adding beading on the outside spine! It's a great one-of-a-kind book and would make a great gift item if you could possibly bear to part with it! Here's what one of mine looks like... I used an old encyclopedia. I will have a lot of books to choose from.

If you are interested or have questions, e-mail me at princessburninghair@cox.net.

yoga shoulders

OK, I've always loved the look of cut muscles but know how much work it takes to get them. I've always had a tendency to lift weight to see muscle definition but I bulk up pretty fast. I've not been lifting weights but am starting to get, what I call, yoga shoulders! YIPPEE! Hard to see in a bad picture from photobooth though! Just got back from hiking the mountain and have to get ready for my day. I went to the Desert Botanical Garden yesterday and took almost 130 pictures and some really great ones. I'll show some later.

Sweet Morning

This morning was a light brunch for the leadership of Women's Bible study. My dear friend, Billie, always opens her home to us and it's such a neat time together. This morning, while we ate yummy yogurt with homemade granola and berries, we affirmed each other in what we saw God doing in us this year. What a special time! The food was yummy and the company even better. Here I am with two of my favorite women on the planet! Lori and Martha have been my team members this year and have been a powerful influence in my life. I love these two so much!


Billie always serves food in such beautiful dishes! This is Marcia, one of the key Women's Ministry leaders.
W got to drink out of Billie's vintage green depression glass! :) She has an amazing collection!

Pedicures were offered for those who wanted to get a pedicure as a gift from the head of our leadership! However, I don't do pedicures so I passed. Here's Lori enjoying her pamper time! Isn't she beautiful?
We had a wonderful morning. I ran to the grocery store for a few things before starting kid pick up. Now both boys are home and I need to pin them down for homework. Then we will make tacos, homemade salsa with chips, and homemade guacamole for dinner! I'm guessing Max will be my main helper. He really enjoys activities and helping with stuff. He's been begging to make this stuff for weeks! I finally remembered to buy all the ingredients! I can't tell you how much I have been enjoying my time with my boys. I am a different mom now than I was two months ago. Very different.

What a weekend!

It was such a busy weekend. I was suppose to be having my bathtub resurfaced on Saturday but they guy came on Friday instead. This meant I had to quickly make plans to stay elsewhere because the fumes are severe. The apartment manager allowed me to give Kenzy his own apartment across the way since it was vacant! He was not so happy though, poor baby. I went and spent the evening with my mom and Fred. They took me out to eat Mexican food and it was so good! It had been months since I'd gone out for Mexican.

Fred and I got up at 5:00 the next morning to head back to my place for my yard sale... finally. Only to have almost no one even come and I made all of $8.50. I'm serious ya'll! It was so sad! Although while packing up car seats I had for sale, the gal across the apartment from me katty-corner, bought one of the seats so that was a little more money but not much! I loaded almost everything up in my van and took it to someone else's house for a yard sale next weekend. I refuse to store all that stuff and do this again! It felt good to just get rid of it! I did, however, meet a couple of neighbors and found out that my kids could ride the school bus! We're so close, I had no idea the bus would run but the stop is directly in front of our apartment! Since we are almost finished with this year, I'll continue driving but am seriously thinking of the benefits to the bus!

Yesterday, the fumes were still really strong in the apartment so I went for a slumber party at my best friend, Fran's house! Her husband is out-of-town speaking at some Dr.'s conference... or something... so I went over and we caught up on life stuff and she treated me to Thai! YUMMY! It was so fun catching up with her. She'll be leaving for Italy next week and gone for two weeks! Italy has always been my dream trip (along with Greece) so I can't wait to hear all about it when she gets back.

Today was church and then I found out that there was a huge Croc warehouse sale so I ran over after church and got the boys new crocs for summer for only $10. per pair and myself a new pair as well.... different style. They also had t-shirts and socks! Got the boys each a new shirt and myself some socks. GREAT, smokin' deals!

I ended up getting the boys back early today as well so, some of my plans just didn't work. I still have a lot of cleaning up to do in the apartment and I still didn't get my checkbook balanced. maybe tomorrow....

Fabric postcard sample #2

Here is my second sample for my fabric postcard class. The green elements are pieces of paper/fabric fused with Translucent Liquid Sculpey clay and then cut to use as elements in the composition. This piece also has beautiful black handmade paper... hand and machine stitching.

What drama.. get ready for a laugh *SPEW* alert

Well, I have had the most dramatic morning with my 7-year-old Max. Look at this mischievously cute face and imagine the following but first let me set up the background story. Max is a head strong child who fights sleeping every night and is like death getting up every morning. He's also VERY particular about his appearance spending a lot of time on his hair making it "just right".

So, I have been telling him for years how unfair it is to Sam every morning when Sam gets right up and dressed in 5 minutes to then is tardy because Max won't get ready and makes them both late for school. When Chuck and I were living together, I would often take Sam to school on time and go back home to get Max and allow him to be tardy and deal with those consequences. We lived just around the corner from school. I was trying to honor Sam in doing that but it really wasn't helping Max at all because he could care less if he's on time for school. Well, for several weeks, I have been telling him that I was having a "leaving time" and however ready he was for school at that time is how he goes to school. So, if his hair wasn't brushed, he would just have to go with messy hair. I knew the time was coming to dig my heels in and prove my words. Yesterday, he put his socks and shoes on in the car while trying to convince me that it was against the school rules to go with messy hair. Uh... I'm thinkin' not. I also just purchased a small alarm clock for them on Monday so I thought that might help.

So, this morning, the alarm went off, Max doesn't budge. I start going in every few minutes trying to get him up. He's not moving. I started singing "Raindrops keep falling on my head" while misting him with a spray bottle. All I got was a whiny "stooopppppp" while covering himself with a pillow. At least there was movement. Well, We have to leave for school at the latest, 7:35. At 7:30, he was still laying in bed. I told him he'd better get up and move fast because we were leaving and he would go "as is". I walk out of his room and leave him to get dressed. At 7:35, he was no longer in the bed, but laying in the floor! OK, so I'm not feeling so sweet now. I knew THIS was the morning to teach him a BIG lesson. I got him to put clothes on and I then said, "That's all you have time for. Take your shoes and socks and get in the car. " He goes hysterical. I told him in a calm but very stern voice, "If you do not get in the car on your own, I will carry you. If I have to carry you, there will be consequences for you when you get home from school." I started pulling his hand and he was grabbing on to doorways, doors, furniture... anything he could grab, kicking and screaming. I picked his little butt up and hauled him to the car in hysterics. By now, he's coughing and choking with snot streaming with tears. I calmly handed him kleenex and then told him that if he were so concerned about these school rules about hair (which are bogus), then I would imagine he'd take extra care to get up and have his hair done in the morning. And so, he broke a family rule with me in getting to the car, he was disrespectful to his brother's time, disrespectful and disobedient to me, so there will be consequences. And if he has, in fact, broken a school rule, then he will have to deal with those consequences as well. He was NOT liking me.

So, we leave for school and I apologize to Sam for allowing Max's behavior to continue making him late for school so many times and promised I would not allow it again.

We get to school and Sam jumps and runs like a bolt of lightening. Max was still hysterical and would not get out of the car. Now mind you, I am in a "drive thru" drop off line with cars backed up behind me. I had to physically remove my child and his belongings from the car and put them on the sidewalk. I told him that I love him and cannot allow him to act this way any more. He kept trying to get back to the car so I ran and locked it. As I was pulling away, he's hanging on to the door handle of the car screaming and crying in bare feet with rat nest bed head. I left. But I didn't go far. I parked around the corner and walked back over hiding behind a wall so I could watch him. He tried to cover his head with his backpack while putting on his shoes and slowly but finally, walked into school... heading to the bathroom to do his hair, I'd imagine. I also imagine he missed breakfast because hair was more important and that too, is part of a consequence of his choice. It hurt my heart to do this yet felt liberating all at the same time.

I'm thinking mornings will change in my household from here out. Don't ya'll? My only regret is that there was no one to video tape this scene. It was a doozy and I wonder what all those parents in cars behind me were thinking of this scene! It doesn't matter... I learned something about following through, loving well, and my child learned that I mean what I say. No more games.