Busy time of the year: lovely birds, Honor Society Induction, secret anniversary party, French rock star, and more!

I want to sing from the highest branch in my nascent cottonwood tree that I LOVE SPRINGTIME!!!  

"Le ciel est par-dessus le toit/si bleu, si calme/un arbre par-dessus le toit/berce sa palme/La cloche dans le ciel qu'on voit/doucement tinte/un oiseau sur l'arbre qu'on voit/chante sa plainte..."

As a high school world language teacher (I teach French and Spanish), this gorgeous time of the year comes at a price--the end of the school year madness.  It is almost time for seniors to leave so they will need to take the final early, then comes graduation, then comes finals for everyone else, then comes training for our new Apple products in my district.  I haven't even mentioned the fact that my two nieces are graduating from high school themselves and will have parties and ceremonies, as well as the children of friends who are graduating or getting married.

I want to go out, and with the help of Zyrtec and Flonase, enjoy this:

or this:

But this past week almost did me in with all the preparation I did for the induction of 34 students into the French National Honor Society, for the first time ever at my school.  I was the sole planner and organizer.  If you know me at all and have seen the area around my desk, you will know that planning and organizing are not traits I was born with and have yet to fully develop.  So I was stressed out beyond belief.  I didn't even get any photos of the ceremony but I hope to get some from my friend Connie whose son was inducted.  I must thank Connie and our friend Amy, who both did the shopping, layout, and clean up of the refreshments after the ceremony.  They are awesome ladies who will be duly rewarded with a Bordeaux soon!

And speaking of Bordeaux, a rock star from that lovely city on the Garonne visited my school this week.  Pierre, who has become sort of my French nephew (je m'appelle tatie d'Amérique--well, that's how I think of myself), raised a ruckus among the frenzied girls in my high school.  And all he had to do was walk through the halls, visit a couple of classrooms, and speak with a French accent.  He had no idea he would have such an effect on these youngsters.  I hope he doesn't get any ideas to start a cult because he would be a very successful leader.    :)

Voilà Pierre:

Très beau, non?  Et extrêmement gentil et patient avec les élèves.  Bravo, Pierre.  Tu es la nouvelle vedette rock and roll, et tu ne le savais même pas! 

And now I must leave soon to attend a meeting to plan for a secret anniversary party for a certain couple reaching a certain amazing achievement of 50 years together.  This couple is not online (it costs too much) so I am not worried about letting the cat out of the bag, but I'm pretty sure they know what is going on because it's hard for 100 people to keep a secret like this. 

So, have a lovely weekend and take time to smell the roses, or lilacs since roses haven't bloomed where I am yet.  And I hope someone as awesome as Pierre makes an appearance in your life soon!  If not a young Frenchman then maybe a pretty cardinal or a fragrant flower.  Because as far as I'm concerned, all these beautiful things are rock stars!  

Soap Giveaway!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free product from our shop!  

Our giveaway link

New soap and Angers!

Hello, folks!

I cannot believe it has been more than a month since my last post.  Time flies when you're working a lot, right?

Here is a soap we just packaged and listed in our Etsy Shop recently.  It is a lovely sweet and tart smelling pear scented soap, Crisp Anjou Pear.

 Anjou also happens to be the area of France where I was fortunate enough to study way back during my college days. Angers is the biggest city in that region.  Check out some photos I found of Angers on the internet (I didn't have a digital camera back in those days so I don't have digital images of my own to share!)

Boulevard Foch now has trams?  They sure didn't have any when I was there.  I had to walk everywhere!  :)

Tu me manques, Angers!  

New soaps this week!

Finally, I have found the time to label, package, and list all the soaps I made last month!  I have eight soaps going up for sale and I am very excited.  It's funny how making soaps hits me in waves.  I hadn't made anything new for several months and then last month I got 3 random orders on my Etsy shop and bam!  I was inspired to make several batches right then and there.

It takes at least four weeks for soap to cure and that time has finally arrived.  Getting all these soaps packaged up and ready for sale means there will be more room on my curing rack.  It will be time to make new soaps soon!  Good thing Spring Break is coming up so I will have a lot more free time, at least for a while.

Here's a peek at the soaps available this week:

1.  Dragon's Blood

2.  Lime Mint

3.  Verbena

4.  Very Sexy for Men

5.  Sunflower

6.  Tangerine

7.  Vanilla

8.  Fresh Ginger Lime

 I will try to find the time to blog about each soap all this week.  See you soon!

Here is a link to Our Etsy Shop.

Birthdays, sewing, and fatigue

Hello, folks.

It's been a while since I've written.  We've had lots of birthdays this month and things have been crazy.  Today is my son's 15th birthday.  How is that even possible when I am only 21 years old?  It must be a birthday miracle!

My own birthday was yesterday and I received a Brother SE400 combination sewing and embroidery machine.  I began using it last night while making another bag, this time with the Scrumptious line by Bonnie and Camille by Moda.  It is so stinking cute!  Here's a link to the charm pack at Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Me and my new machine

This bag is simply Scrumptious!

I ran out of time to finish it yesterday so I probably won't get it done until next weekend.  I'll try to work on it during the week, but I don't seem to have a lot of time after school plus I am so fatigued, it's not even funny.

Here's a pic of me and my wonderful son at dinner tonight: I can't tell you what a thrill it is to spend all day with teenagers at work and then come home to another teenager, plus his sister who only acts like a teenager most of the time.  Probably one of the major reasons I am so truly tired.

Happy birthday, sweetheart!  Je t'aime! 

And I will end this post by sharing a pic I got from Facebook:  lovely Kit Harington.  Looking forward to seeing Pompeii but even more so, Game of Thrones in April.   You know enough, Jon Snow!

New project--Jelly Roll Race Quilt

If this had truly been a race, I would have lost for sure.  Sewed the wrong way and had to rip out lots of seams, ran out of thread a couple of times, had to watch the video over and over, etc.  I have part of the quilt top finished.  Now I need to attach a border,batting, backing, and binding and I'll be all set.  Easier said than done, huh?  I have a feeling I will have lots of quilt tops that will need to be made into quilts this coming summer.  And that's only about three more months away...

The gorgeous fabric I used was High Street by Moda from Lily Ashbury.  It is truly breathtaking--I am loving the color combinations so much!  The colors truly speak to me!

I made this with a jelly roll bought at my favorite shop, Missouri Star Quilt Co., of course!  I also have a charm pack and this fabric by the yard, called Sage.  I can't wait to many make more beautiful items!

Bonne nuit!  

Snow Day #3 in a row--making cards today

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!  Luckily, the snow stopped more than 24 hours ago but the temperatures are frigid here on the Great Plains.  School was cancelled again in the Kansas City area so I took advantage of the opportunity to make some cards with Close To My Heart's February stamp of the month--Wild About Love.  What adorable little foxes!  I decided to use the Lollydoodle paper packet because the colors and designs just make me happy.

Here are a few cards I've made so far.  I hope you like them.  Happy stamping!