I bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth!!!

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I have updated my blog! It might take me all night to catch up, it has been a busy busy summer!

My disappearance all started with a trip to St. Louis with my sister for a bead show. She was interested in making some jewelry, and hey, I am game! We headed to the bead show on Friday at the Hyatt, where coincidentally George Cloony was filming a movie! How exciting! We really didn't see him but don't tell, everyone else thinks we had lunch with him!hee hee

I was so fascinated at the bead show, I had never been to one before and it was like being in a candy store! I came out of there with a huge stash of beads and lots of ideas. I have one sister that lives in the St. Louis Area and she had just had her 30th birthday so we stayed the night at her house and had cake and margaritas! It was great fun.

Right after that Adam was in a basketball tournament with some of his friends. Mike coached the team and it was a lot of fun.

The end of April was Erica's confirmation.

She is growing up so fast... I am starting to panic a little about it all!

Of course May brought baseball season and softball. Lots of games and lots of running around but also lots of fun! Adam was the pitcher this year and he did really good. Erica plays 3rd base and summer ball for her is with the high school team and is just for fun and practice!

And of course there was prom! Erica bought a vintage designer dress off of ebay.....it was just stunning. It was from 1950 and still had the tags on it! She had her hair done at the salon and I did her makeup for her. It just made me cry to look at her, she was just so beautiful. This picture is of her and my handsome nephew Aaron!

This is the whole group of friends that went together and Erica with her friend Daniel.

Erica had her 17th birthday! She also had a stalker follow her home trying to get her to pull over! It was very scary. Especially with her driving that old truck that is sometimes not very reliable! Sooooo, Mom had to put the ultimatum to Dad....either get the truck running right or I was getting her a new car. Well, the new car won out! She got a 2004 SS Monte Carlo. It was owned by an older couple, loaded to the max and well taken care of....it looks like it was just driven off the show room floor. We got a good deal on it, she loves it and she is paying for it herself so it is all good. Now if we could just get her to sell the truck!

Adam competed in the Russellville Track Meet with his classmates! He got a 5th place ribbon! I got a new camera so I have been taking lots of practice pictures and trying to learn how to use my photoshop program! Adam thinks this picture is really COOL!

Then it was on to graduation! My oldest nephew graduated and turned 18 this year! It is just hard to believe that he is all grown up now! His parents had a great party for him and I made and decorated the cake! He had to leave early from the party because he qualified for state in high school golf. He had a great season and even broke and tied a couple of our school records! He is planning on following in his fathers footsteps and joining the National Guard in the fall.

The end of May brought a relaxing Memorial weekend at the river. The kids got to go tubing and fishing and I got to relax for the whole weekend. It was great!

June was cram packed with ball games, birthdays, get together's for father's day, more birthdays, lots of swimming and great new neighbors! I also had an attack of my inner ear. I woke up on June 12th in the middle of the night with the room spinning, I just couldn't get my bearings, I couldn't tell where I was! I was so dizzy it was making me sick to my stomach. I couldn't even get out of bed! A couple days later I ended up in the urgent care center. Of course they were not able to do anything for me but give me some medicine that makes me too sleepy. It is better, but I am still battling dizziness when I lay on my right side, look up, look down or try to move too fast. It is just horrible and I pray every day that it will go away soon!

July we celebrated the 4th at home for the first time in a long time! I watched one of my little ones, Mike put some chicken on the grill and we swam in the pool all day! It was nice for a change. July also brought more birthday's, we hosted Mike's Dad's 66th birthday and my nephew Ethan turned 3! We took him to the pool where Erica is a lifeguard on his birthday and to his favorite place Pizza Hut!

I also spent some time making jewelry for the kids. I love to make the bottle cap necklaces and I think just about every kid I know has several! I did them for Adam, all his friends and the ball team. I even made one for me to wear to Erica's games! I did sell a couple and I bought 1000 more bottle caps, I am sharing them with my sister so I guess I will be making a bunch more!

Now we are relaxing! I have been cleaning out my work area, it looks so nice. I am ready to start up some painting again. I have some great things ready to go so it is just a matter of getting back to it!

I also wanted to mention a dear friend of mine, Jody of star*spangled*pretties. You may know, in December my husband lost his job of 23 years. We are doing ok, I am sure there are many others in far worse shape than we are, but it has been difficult. He did recently take a job at a local pet food factory but he works nights and it is low pay and he really doesn't like it at all. But it is at least a job until something else comes along. Well, anyway, being the sweetie that she is, Jody sent me a care package to cheer me up. It happened to come right at the time when I was fighting the vertigo and was such a blessing! It just amazes me that I can have so many friends that I have never even met and I sure cherish them all! In the package was one of her awesome dolls, a prim candle, some prim fixins and a prim kit with all kinds of goodies in it. It was just the sweetest thing for her to do and I appreciate it so much! Here is a picture of the doll! I am so lucky to have one of her creations!

Wow, writing about the last few months seems like writing a book.....and I am sure there are many things I left out! Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things and get some painting done. I may be selling some bottle cap necklaces on here too!hee hee Not to forget that somehow I am going in the cookie business this week too! I had a gal call me and order some of my sugar cookies for her son's ball team party. Just another venture I guess! I will let you know how that turns out!

Thank you all for following my blog and for your emails and support. I appreciate it so much! Please keep watching, I will be coming back soon with some great stuff!

Blessings to you all!

Chris