I was involved in an auto accident

I Was Not Injured!

I had a bit of unexpected excitement yesterday. Crashed straight on into the side of a little 2 door Toyota Celica. The other driver ran a red light. I was so sure the other car would be worse than it was. I wish I had photos of the other car to share. Thankfully no one was hurt.

My bumper/fender, whichever you call it, is now smashed up against the body. It tore my front license plate and it's frame completely off. I've got cracks here and there and the grill and headlight mounts are shifted a bit.

The Toyota has what looks like a tire tread skid mark all the way down its drivers side. It's dented in a bit and his window shattered but nothing like the impact felt it would be. God was watching over us for sure as earlier in the day there was an accident near I-70 in Grandview Plaza. One driver died and news of the others condition has not been released yet. Pray for their families as I will. And give gratitude...pray thankfully...that I and the other couple were uninjured.

Oh and if you are looking at buying a 1990's Chevy Astro van, go for it. This baby with stood a good mighty impact and is running just fine.

I wrote an article about the accident and posted it on my AC site here. Feel free to read it when you have time.

Blessings to you all and

please

Drive Safely,

Tess

Good Morning

Good Morning to all of you wonderful people.

I hope you all had a grand weekend. We went to the circus on Saturday and

then shopping on Sunday. I'll have picks of the circus to show on another post.

~~~

My granddaughter is just growing up way too fast.

What is it with these manufacturers. We had a terrible time finding training bras

without padding. We finally had to settle for racer back sports bras.

Hint: Use a tape measure instead of just guessing and have her try them on.

We gave her a pair of her birthday jeans early and had to buy her a belt.

Too big in the waist but fits the thighs and she loved them so we opted for to keep

them and buy a belt. Growing room!

It's rained here every night over the weekend so I got no yard work done.

It's too wet. I think I'm cultivating my own jungle. Gees!

And of course it rained heavy again last night. Makes for hot and humid days,

the kind I hate.

Well no pics today, I'm running late, must get to work.

You all have a glorious week,

Catch ya' later,

Tess

A Picture Show from Sharon

Meet Sharon

(she can be shy)She sleeps along my driveway.
And awakens to greet me each morning.

Sometimes I call her Rose.
She has many friends...

I love my Rose of Sharon bush more and more each year.

It's been hot here, real hot. But Sharon doesn't seem to mind....

I've been suffering with migraines for days now. Have had to resort to the pill bottle, didn't help much. I finally am feeling relief from the pain today.

I've noticed I hit 100 posts with my last one. Wow! I'll have to come up with a special giveaway or something. I'll think on it this weekend.

Have a Happy TGIF day,

Tess

4th of July weekend

A wonderful 4th of July Celebration and new bands I'd never seen before.

July 3rd, 2009

This is Youth Gone Wild.

These 15 and 16 year olds are from Kansas City, Missouri and have been playing together for 4 years. Their concert really rocked.

See more photos of this band on my AC site here.

Wildstreet
This was a New York hair band, or so I am told. I'd give them an A for effort but they weren't to my liking. Many audience members were enjoying them though (younger sect).

The Amazing Rock Show was my favorite of the evening.

He portrayed Bruce Springsteen and he did a fantabulous job! WOW!!
I love his choice of footwear!



More later.....
(I'll be publishing more pics of this band on AC too!)

Hope you had a great weekend and a good start to the new week ahead,

Tess

Positive Affirmations - Uniquely Me

I want to be unique,

I am unique.

I want to be original,

I am original.

I want to be articulate,

I am articulate.

I want to be creative,

I am creative.

I want to be artistic,

I am artistic.

I want to be poetic,

I am poetic.

I want to be me,

I am me.

By Teresa Mahieu
April 20th, 2009
*Submitted for AC poetry challenge

A surprise in the mail.....

This cute little card came my way from Anne Gaal of Gaal Creative. Isn't it ever so cute? What a lovely surprise to come home to after a vacation. I love Anne's blog and her cards and such. She gives very detailed instructions too. I wish you could feel the texture of the background on this card. It's raised and feels so delightful. Anne wrote such a nice note inside. Now I am thinking on a card to make for her. Oh but how will I ever make a card as lovely and professional looking as hers is and are? I'm sure though that she would love whatever I would make to send her.

Maybe an ATC instead of a card?!

Do stop by her blog and say hi.

Oh and I have to share this tidbit. When I entered her name into my search engine today to bring up her blog I did something wrong and found a wonderful surprise. Anne makes fabulous cards and she is a wonderful photographer.

You must! go by and see her photography site. That was the surprise.

I had never seen her photography site before. I so enjoy her blog I guess I just never ventured further. She photographs awesome views of nature and wildlife, with such vivid and true to life colors. I wish I could buy a print of all of them. My walls would be completely covered. LOL!

We've been having a bit of thunder and a light rain here after a scorching hot day with a 100+ heat index. The outside temp is down to 77 and tonight's low is suppose to be 74. Not much relief but much better than 90's and above. We had a booming power outage for a few seconds earlier so I guess I had better get off of here before it happens again as I am hearing yet another round of thunder.

Hug the ones you Love,

Tess

I'm back home and it's hot outside...

We're back....

and yet another year of summer camp is behind us. This was our 7th year at Camp Hansen. A week that started out with a heavy rain storm on Sunday night. The rain was so bad that the cooks had trouble getting to work because the road leading into camp was under water. But being scouts we are always prepared and not only did they get them into camp but breakfast had already been started and was on time.

This is the gate leading into camp.

There is a lake nearby and many are able to take fishing, motor boating, canoeing and kayaking merit badges. No swimming is allowed in the lake. The camp provides a swimming pool. It's cleaner and affords easier access for aquatic merit badges.
This is Richard, he is from Chapman, Kansas. The black head band signifies he is on silence as he was tapped for Golden Eagle. One leader and 4 boys made it to camp from Chapman this year. A first for all of them.

This is Cody, he is from Chapman also. Cody was registered to attend camp his first time last year and a few days before he was to leave the tornado hit. Of course mom and dad needed him at home and he understood. This year he finally made it to Camp Hansen and said he had a wonderful time. I've known and followed this young man since he first joined scouting as a Tiger. I hope to one day see him earn his Eagle rank.
Nature at it's best. I love the rolling hills and the native prairie grasses.

The native flowers are pretty too, even if many are considered noxious weeds. We have to teach the boys to stay away from this thistle. I couldn't resist taking the picture though.

The drums were sitting near the staff quarters garage so I lined them up in the
grass for a picture.

These two are brothers and Ranger Rex's sons. Rex was the camp director this year and his oldest son worked as the camp ranger. They were preparing a surprise for the campers and their parents.

I'm not sure what mom and dad thought but the campers loved it. I think they looked great and love that they are following in dad's footsteps. ("No, dad doesn't have a mohawk".)This was done on Friday and there is a big camp fire with skits and such to signify the end of the week and celebrate the weeks events.

This is the climbing tower. I never did make it over their to take pictures so I snapped this one from afar.

The heat here since returning home has been awful. We've topped 100 degrees with a 70% humidity. I just want to sleep when the weather is like this, but alas,

back to work tomorrow for me. For those of you experiencing high heat please, please remember to drink plenty of water. Remember sodas, teas and coffee don't count to prevent dehydration.

Hope you all had a fabulous week last week, I know I did!!

More later,

Tess

We've been seeing lots of these lately.

Sometimes I see things in the clouds.

Do you see HIS hand? I do!
We're leaving for our working vacation tomorrow. We'll be in the woods at a Boy Scout camp for one week. I enjoy the other staff members, the boys, the activities and the communing with nature that takes place. It's fun teaching them and learning from them.

My daughters will be "camping" at our house to watch the place and our cats.

In 2005 I made a book after camp to remember the fun had that year. I wanted it to look old and have lost of colors from nature. I chose to use scraps of leather. I did a lot of hand sewing and added lots of beads.
I used a lot of paint to muddy and dirty-up the pages. I then painted on photo paper before printing to it.
I added tags and stickers and other such things along the way.

These are photos of the tribe of the Golden Eagle and just a few of the pages in the book. It's a camping organization withing Boy Scouting at Camp Hansen. To respect the true Native Americans we do not apply paint to our faces. We design our costumes as we like. Some chose a specific tribe to emulate and some just dream up a design of their own. Many do all of the work on their costumes by hand. i made my dress and leggings as well as my head band. The boys (and adults as I did too) have to go through a day of silence and a day of service. It's a lot of fun and teaches so much such as respect for self, others and nature. I hope we don't see any or many rain clouds this next week. If so, we will be fine. Remember our motto is:

Be Prepared!

Have a great week,

Tess

A sewing experiment in toy making...

Bobbie wanted a soft toy for a 2 month old grandchild of a friend. I had some cute baby fabric scraps from a yard sale and thought why not?! I freehand drew a shape on the back of the fabric and cut it out and then sewed around it with my machine. (Hint never sew when you have a foot cramp.)Is it a bear?

Or is it a bunny?

I think it's a bunnybear!

I have no idea why the second picture is larger that the rest. Anyway this was a fun experiment. One ear, or is it foot, had to be stitched by hand a bit as I pushed the stuffing too hard and found the seam was too close to the edge. I think it gave the bunny bear more charm. I also think I need more practice and another experiment is taking shape.

Thursday is almost over and then it's

TGIF!

Smiles,

Tess

My Spring Art Swap Item Arrived

A while ago, during Spring, I signed up for a Spring Art Swap. I was paired with Wendy who lives in Melbourne Australia. She has a cute blog and loves to blog about her adorable little boy. She's really into sewing and is part of a block swap. I enjoy checking in now and then to see what new blocks she has received or come up with. Her Oscar is a year old now. I'm sure she'd love comments from other mommies of young boys or artists that love working with fabric.

This is the wonderful Art piece she sent me for our swap. I love the Native American quote she included and the many beautiful swatches of fabric she used to frame it.

She even sewed her business card right to the back of her artwork. Isn't that a clever idea. I love the design her free flowing stitches made.And this is the pretty card she made and sent with it. I love the shimmer of the sheer fabric covering the flower. This scan really doesn't show how lovely this card is.
And then to top it all off she sent me a little bundle of fabric squares all tied together with a pink ribbon. I love them all and was so excited to see one of them had words printed along the edge "Hand Printed by Prints Charming Sydney Australia". I loved seeing that. I plan to find a way to incorporate the wording into whatever I make with these fabrics.

***

See the fabric with the little hands? It so reminded me of Lori Vliegen of Elvie Studio. I know she would love this fabric. Just a small square but enough to really see how beautiful this fabric is with a heart inside the hand. Whenever I see this symbol now I think of Lori. And now I'll think of Wendy in Australia too.

Wendy thank you so much for all of the wonderful things you sent along to me. I love the quote and the way you framed it within this beautiful piece of your art. I will have it framed as soon as I find the perfect frame to showcase it.

This is the art I sent to Wendy. I made it by sewing and gluing lace to a piece of canvas and then I started painting over it all. As it was a Spring Swap I wanted to incorporate blossoms or flowers of some sort. I found this wonderful sparkly ribbon and since we were suppose to incorporate the colors red and yellow I decided to make my own "flowers".

I used a lot of glitter paint also. It is a clear paint with glitter already added. It was fun and easy to use.

The butterfly is a stamp I purchased designed by Jessica Rose of vol25

This is a better view of the stamp. I thought it stamped pretty well considering I was stamping on lace.
I found a good use for some of the rickrack I found in my stash and some of the paper beads I made long ago. I added glitter to them too.

When I thought I was finished I decided it needed a stiffer base so I glued in to a piece of cardboard and then extending the painting out onto it. This piece was fun to make and I sent off a couple ATC's with it also. I have not participated in many swaps except for postcards and I must say the swaps can be a lot of fun. I really enjoy getting things in the mail and seeing my Mr. 's expression as I open it ever so slowly. Hee Hee!!

Well this is a rather long post, sorry about that. If you are still reading I sure do appreciate it. Do go by the 6oclockstitch blog, she is the one that started the spring swap. I enjoyed this swap so much that I've now joined the artful penpals swap. There is still time to join in on the fun. I found out about this swap through Shelagh's Alice in Paris... blog.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I did. I went out for the day on Saturday and played in the woods / helped out the boy scouts. It was hot but not a drop of rain and a nice breeze. Perfect weather for camping even if I did wimp out and not camp out!

So what swaps do you know about coming up this month?

Catch ya later,

Tess