The perks of chicken-sitting!

Have an EGGcellent day!

JoAnn's BIG Adventure!

This country girl took off to Dallas for a weekend...

no husband, no kids, 

no looking back!

My "BIG" adventure!  Get it?

The purpose of my trip was to see a Broadway show of Pippin and reunite with my dear high school English/Drama teacher. 
I also had the added perk of meeting up with the lovely ladies pictured above. We all went to high school together, but it wasn't your typical high school experience...

Here's a little fun fact about me, I'm an orphan.  

I don't know if anyone uses that term anymore, but I grew up without parents.  My mother died when I was three and my daddy died when I was eleven.  I was placed in the guardianship of my dear aunt and uncle.  They loved me VERY much, but were up in years and really didn't want to start over with a young child.  They found a wonderful place for me to live called, 

The Masonic Home & School of Texas.

Campus of The Masonic Home &School of Texas

"The Home" as we like to call it, was a place of refuge for hundreds of kids over the years.  Everyone there had a story, and none of those stories were good.  We all came from broken homes, and sometimes we, ourselves, were broken.

But at The Masonic Home & School of Texas, we had a HOME.  

I felt more at home there than anywhere else on earth.  

Chapel 

God placed some mighty wonderful people there 

to take care of us all.

My old room is now an office.

And the other kids that were at The Home with me,

well, they're more like family.

We were together year round.  We lived in dorms together, ate together, went to school, played sports, got in trouble, and yes, sometimes fought like cats and dogs together!

The dinning hall

 I look back on my time there now with such emotion and love, but at the time I was there I absolutely hated it!  

On my graduation day, I vowed NEVER to come back!

And I didn't for 28 years.

Masonic Home high school

But with my dear teacher's invitation, I ventured back.

I'm so glad I did, and I wish I had done it sooner!

I thought it would be weird seeing them again, but it wasn't.  We picked right up where we left off and being with them was comfortable and easy.

  

Touring The Home again, not so much!

It was very emotional and sometimes overwhelming.

  

 It now belongs to a wonderful group called, All Church Home, and they are continuing the same work as the Masons in caring for abandoned and troubled children. 

Now for the rest of the story...

Dinner and drinks!

My sweet former teacher is now part of the theater guild in Dallas.

They provide support for the touring companies, like feeding them lunch in between shows on the weekends.  We got to help out with that and meet the cast (who are all AMAZING, by the way!!)

Mr. Colley and the cast of Pippin

I also got a brush with celebrity,

that petite lady in the white robe towards the back of the room is Adrienne Barbeau!

I served her fruit salad,

so yeah, I'm kind of a big deal

and this is my lame attempt at a "selfie" with her!

We finished off the weekend with this incredible show!

If you have a chance to see it while it's touring, you MUST.  As a matter of fact, it's coming to Houston in October and Doug promised to take me to see it again...soooo excited to share that with him!

On the long five hour drive home I had lots of time to reflect over the weekend, it was very emotional for me.  Seeing my childhood home, visiting with people who I consider family, and finally seeing Pippin...a play about a young man who is struggling to find the purpose of his life.  Pippin finds that in being ordinary, he becomes extraordinary.  

I never pursued my love of acting. 
 I just became a wife, mother, and nurse...nothing special.

But sometimes, the most ordinary things can be made extraordinary...by doing them with the right people.

Thank you for teaching me yet another lesson, Mr. Colley!

"Rivers belong where they can ramble,

Eagles belong where they can fly.

I've got to be

where my spirit can run free!

Gotta find my corner of the sky..."

~Corner of the sky, PIPPIN

Mother's Day

Wishing you and yours a beautiful 

Mother's Day.

Impromptu Beach Day!

Doug and two of our boys got ticket to the Astros game yesterday, so I decided that I would take JP and MG to the beach for the day.

 BEST decision I've made in a while!

Iced tea in hand,

toes in the sand,

watching my babies play until the sun set.

Best therapy on earth!

The Coiled Rope Bowl

The ladies at Maya Made and Soulemama have been making these wonderful rope bowls for weeks now.  

I finally took the plunge and made up one myself.  

I have a feeling there will be many more in the works!

These wonderful bowls are so simple to make!  

All it takes is some cotton braid clothesline, a spool of thread, 

and your sewing machine.  

I found this clothes line at Walmart for just under two bucks.

Begin your bowl by coiling the rope around itself and begin stitching using the zig-zag stitch on your machine.  Just keep coiling and stitching, lining up the rope edges in the center of your presser foot to make sure your stitch catches both edges of the rope.

When the bottom of the bowl is as big as you like, start tilting your work up a bit.  The angle of your tilt will shape the bowl.

Just keep sewing until the bowl is your desired shape and size.

You can add handles, a loop for hanging, 

change thread colors, even dye the rope.

There are truly endless possibilities in crafting these beauties! 

I will not stop until I have a basket for EVERYTHING!

Confirmed in the Spirit #2!

Last week our second son, Kyle, was blessed with

 the Sacrament of Confirmation.  

I didn't let him wash his forehead that night because the chrism smelled so heavenly!

We are so thankful to our beloved Fr. Ty, the Confirmation class teachers, and most of all Kyle's grandmother who was his sponsor.

Our Bishop retires this year (at the grand age of 75!),

so we were very happy that Daniel and John Paul 

were able to serve Mass for him.  

He's been the only Bishop they've ever known 

since moving to this diocese seven years ago.

It is (an old) Catholic tradition that the Bishop give the Confirmand a slap to the cheek after his blessing to remind them that they should always be ready to suffer anything, even death, for the sake of Christ.

Two boys Confirmed and neither one of them 

received a good smacking!

I'm thinking I might need to take this tradition on myself.  

Watch out, John Paul, your next in line!

Seed starting on the cheap!

I'm always looking for ways to garden on the cheap.  This year, I've found a fabulous way to start seeds without having to buy those fancy peat pellets and containers...

Reuse the plastic rotisserie chicken containers you get from the grocery store!

Just poke a few drainage holes in the bottom and fill with potting soil.  Plant your favorite seeds and water lightly.

Label the lid with what you've planted and seal it up.  

You now have your own mini greenhouse!

Set the containers outside in the spring sunshine, and when the seeds sprout, remove the lid and let them grow until time to transplant!  You can still use the lid at night to protect the seedlings from lower temps or winds.

Happy gardening!

Fabric Art America

I was looking for some kind of art piece to go in our computer room.  Hobby Lobby is usually my "go-to" place, but everything I liked was out of my budget (even with their 40% off coupon!) so I set out to make something of our own.  

I was inspired from Pinterest to make a fabric art project of the continental United States.

This project is super easy but a bit time consuming.

First, round up all your scrap fabric

 and print THIS MAP of the U.S.

Cut a square of Heat and Bond and a fabric patch roughly the size of the state you are working with.  

Iron the Heat and Bond to the wrong side of your fabric. 

Next, cut out a state, pin it to your fabric and cut it out.  

Peel off the backing and iron it onto your base fabric.

I actually printed out two maps!  

One to cut up and one placed under my muslin 

to make sure the states were lined up properly.

It was really fun!  

Kind of like putting a puzzle together.

A colorful, fabulous fabric puzzle!

I'm thinking of finishing it off with some hand stitching and a little embroidered heart right where we live.  

I'm also thinking I need to take Geography 101!

My knowledge of the states was pretty pitiful!

I *heart* crocheted hearts!

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I wanted to make something fun and whimsical to decorate the house with.  I found what I was looking for in these sweet little crocheted hearts:

I followed this very simple tutorial on YouTube, 

and before I knew it, I had dozens made!

They've found their way onto garland:

The door wreath:

And precious little red heads:

Make a few for your sweetheart today!