In honor of Queen Victoria

In honor of Queen Victoria and my day off I sewed. I made a maxi skirt and matching mini, 2 baby blankets (totally in love with the bird one), made a maxi dress. I will be putting away the sewing machine for a while so glad I finished some things sitting on the pile.

This makes me happy ;)

I found this old ikea footstool awhile back at used furniture store. I recovered it and then I goes a puppy who enjoyed chowing on it. It was starting to look a little dirty and needed to be refreshed. So I found some material when I went to Montana over spring break and it became this weekends project. The end result makes me happy and I love the end result. So here is the progression:

The life of a teacher;)

This last week of teaching was hard! But I think that's why I think the following moments were great, and boy did I need them. (Every morning my class has circle/ carpet where they get to each tell me one thing, thats when usually the best stuff comes)
Story 1- Student "I'm so excited today we get to have our choir party at lunch" me "is the music teacher feeding you?" (Thinking they were having pizza or something) student "no I'm feeding myself" (my thought: I'm glad a student in grade 3 can feed them self while only myself and a few students get the irony of her statement)

Story 2- student "Ms Easthope can you guess theme music from cartoons?" I ask for clarification "like if I hum it can you guess it?" He starts to hum the most random of notes. Me (while no other student even has a guess either) "sorry I don't know that one" student "it's pink panther" (thought... I would never have guess that but funny how kids think we have all the answers)

Story 3- student "Ms Easthope I got a new battery for my scooter, and its not the one that you stand on and push with your feet, it's like the ones that you sit on" after some clarifying questions I find out it is just like the ones older people ride with mobility issues. (Thought... I really want to see him riding around millwoods on that scooter, maybe he will let me go for a ride?)

Story 4- my students get really excited about the most random things. I come in from lunch and the excitement over one of my students getting new glasses is more than they can handle. I ask said student to put them on so I can see how smart they look. After noticing that the glasses are quite large for his face I ask who helped him to pick them out. He then tells me that they are not new they are his teenaged brothers old ones but don't worry they have the same prescription. (Thought...nothing wrong with being frugal)

Story 5- this one is a few weeks old but I don't want to forget it. As a student is walking into the classroom in the morning she tells me "I'm wearing my moms underwear today, and they kind of fit" (thought .... Students tell you everything)


My thought to end this post.... Only 6 more weeks, please provide me with some other great stories;)

Give me a new niece or nephew I'm ready!

Here are my baby blankets in waiting... Just waiting for someone to give me a new niece or nephew and they will be yours! To my Montana road trip friend: you have a chance for them to be yours as well!! I'm also pretty excited for the tags my mom got for me.

Maizy is 1!

Why not be the lame dog owner and make a list of her one year accomplishments... This is what happens when you don't have kids!
Maizy at one:
-almost has lost all of her puppy black hair... Just a little left on the ears and on her tail
- she has destroyed her panda bear friend (last week I put it on the table so I could throw it out, a little while latter Maizy sat by the table whining till I gave it back to her)
- she is obsessed with her best friend Andie...even when she hers her voice on the phone she will come running
- she loves daycare and going to Melvin and Kay's house.... She will whine when we come within a few blocks of either one
- the only person she will come running over to and want to be picked up by is grandma
- she no longer uses her crate and sleeps in her dog bed until sometime during the night when she sneaks onto my bed
- she is house trained at my house only... Lame
- loves the dog park and when another dog comes to say hello she is always the submissive one
- can get intimidated by large dogs, especially when there is more than one
- got to visit my class, they loved her, she not so much (a little over whelming)
- remembers anyone who has said hi to her, especially in the condo building, and will go crazy until they acknowledge her
- weighs a whopping 9.2lbs
- has already cost me a bit at the vet... Maybe I over react a bit but she is all I got
- definitely has lost a bit of her puppy behaviour... And cuddles way more

And a year ago who would of thought Melissa would have ever got a dog?

Happy birthday Maizy girl;)

The reason you should never move away

Reason 1. I need a way to update my Facebook profile picture

Reason 2. I need someone to make gingerbread houses with

Reason 3. I rather send emails to my dad with your kids giving the messages than the birding details of my life
Hi Grandpa

Reason 4. Maizy will miss her best friend Andie Lynn

Reason 5. I love your kids too much to only see them once in a while


Thanks for the fun weekend Andie and Bennett!

I needed something for the wall

I had some canvas sitting in my house for many months waiting for inspiration for the spare room... Pinterest wasn't giving me what I wanted so I heading off the Michael's and bought some paint and a stencil. For an ameture they didn't turn out too bad.

Thanks Mira and Robyn;)

My friend Mira made me a fantastic board for my spare room that perhaps she should go into business making! It helped me finally put up the Christmas present my old roomate Robyn gave of pictures that spell my name. I also
Made a sewing machine cover with material Mira gave me. It all came together nicely.

Closet redo

I am in love with the closet doors in my spare room! I just bought some contact paper (the stuff you line your kitchen shelves with) and stuck it on the plain white closet doors. The great thing was that the pattern was so busy that you can't tell when the paper didn't match up. Here are the before and afters:

Chair re-do!

I love when find provides me with a good deal. I got this chair for $5 and am very happy with its transformation. Here are the before and after shots:

Milestone day!

Two major this happened today. Maizy lost her ability to have future children. She is handling it pretty well just cries a little when she forgets she can't jump off the couch or play with Tucker like she wants to. She has to wear a cone for 10 days! That's going to feel like for both of us I'm sure.
The second milestone of the day was when during the 3am wake up with the major storm we had last night I decided I was going to get my ears pierced for the first time in my life. I told my friend Mira of my plan and she was there to make sure I did it and followed through.

I might pay someone next time!

5 hours later (multiple breaks) and a trip to the pet store, Maizy got a haircut (a hack job at that one). She doesn't have any black let on the top of her head I'm hoping it evenly turns tan like her dads! Here are the before and after shots:

Always make doughnuts at someone else's house

I called up Kay on Wednesday and asked it I could come over and make some doughnuts that I saw on pinterest at her house. Mostly because I didn't want to have them all at my house to eat and really wanted to try making them. The we're so easy! Just got some pillsbury biscuit dough cut out the center and deep fried them. Kay did a great job at mixing up the icing. Success!!

Surprise Jenn (because I think you secretly read this)

Just finished skyping with my nephew Benson. We had a very important conversation about the game he is playing, his wake up dry chart, and the snowman in his backyard. He asked me very important questions like: why do you live in Edmonton, is your tv on, and do you have any little boys.
All I have to say is it's about time you got Skype so we could have important conversations like this because I like the a lot!!

They grow up too fast

Took Maizy to the vet this morning. She weighs 5.8lbs and is doing great according to the vet. Funny thing was when he asked how house training was going I said really well just as Maizy let out a little on the table, way to prove me wrong girl. She took her shots like a pro.

Clearing off my pinterest board

I have some exciting news!  I almost cleaned off an entire pinterest board in one weekend.  Pretty productive I say.  Here are some of the things I accomplished.
-Made a new blanket for Andie

-Made a trip to the local value village to pick up a t-shirt to make a dress for Andie

Here is the before and after... thanks Kay for the picture!
http://kojo-designs.com/2009/08/kojo-tutorial-a-jcrew-y-ruffle-dress-from-a-tshirt/

-bought an extra large mens dress shirt to make into a dress as well...  (Please excuse Maizy she wouldn't let me take a picture without her.)
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/cool-idea-little-girls-dress-from-dads-shirt/2009/03/27/

-I bought this towel at the dollar store and made it into a travel case for toiletries ....
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85900364/terrycloth-toothbrush-and-paste-travel

-I made another baby blanket for a friend having a boy in June.
-Made some banana cookies
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/banana-cookies.html
-Made some honey chicken
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/slow-cooker-honey-sesame-chicken-recipe.html


Now I guess I better get pinning so I have something to do next weekend...

Maizy Fern Easthope

So far so good. We have made it through night one with success. She slept in her crate with little whining. She even did well meeting her dad..

Snowblowers make my life difficult

Well with recent dump of snow Edmonton received, ment I needed to shovel the mailboxes. When I pulled up to one of the mailboxes I found this! The community snowblower had nicely cleaned the sidewalk for its residents by blowing the snow in front of the mailbox (which we all know already had a foot of snow in front of it). Luckily it wasn't multiple mailboxes or I would have been there all day;)

Bennett meets his cousin

I finally finished

This is one of those crafts that took me a while to finish. Not because it was lots of work or took lots of time... Well here it is.