Begin Again and Again and Again...

Aka, the big one got away!! (actually the all got away) Sunday was a beautiful day!! Sami was camping with friends and Kenzie was playing with her friends, so Mike and I took Katie and her cousin Haley fishing. We had fun, but let me just say that after casting and casting and untangling line and casting and casting and not catching anything, we were a tad discouraged!! So needless to say, if you are in Wisconsin, this fish are safe from this family!! (Katie is in the plaid shorts and green shirt.) So as not to make them jealous of their sister and cousin's fame, here are my other two beauties!! :) trish

Yikes! Have you ever taken a little blog vacation only to realize it has been MONTHS since you posted anything? There's been so much going on. Too much to go into this late on a Sunday night! Let me just say that there have been birthdays, planting, prom, crafting, living, working, hiking, reading, spending lots of time with family and outdoors... and much, much more!! I've like to let you know about my Etsy shop. Everything in the shop is buy one get one (of equal or lesser value) FREE!! Stop in and check it out!! Shameless self promotion, I know, but hey - its my blog ;) I hope everything has been going well for all of you and I'll be visiting again soon! Trish

Woo Hoo !!! I love this. I think the idea of paying it forward is awesome!! I seriously think that especially in this day and age, receiving a little unexpected treat in the mail is beyond... well, you know what I'm saying here! Anyway, if you are like me and love to give as much, maybe more than receiving, this is for you: And here's how it works: The first 3 people who leave a comment on this post saying you want to play will receive a handmade item from me sometime in the next 3 months. Just one day, out of the blue, at no cost to you, a special something will arrive in your mailbox. The turnabout is that you must choose to participate in this round robin of giving by giving yourself and posting the "Pay It Forward Challenge" on your blog. How fun is this?! Just leave a comment and I will get in touch with you to get your name and address. Have fun! :) Trish

So, today, I am shivering, not wanting to go outside, put my head under a blanket and stay there cold. BUT, saturday was Beautiful!!! Mike and I took a walk alongside the wonderful Wisconsin River... relaxing... gorgeous... fun. But, today... ugggh! This wonderful Dairy State of mine has more mood changes than I do!! Oh... did I mention that the two little girls are sick? So, I'm looking at our pics from Saturday and daydreaming of summer!! Please send warm thoughts... and Vitamin C!! ;)

Ok, I know some of you have seen Jenn's website (or Etsy shop), Noodle and Lou . Well, head on over to Raven's blog, Dirty Pretty Things and you can win some Noodle and Lou goodies!! Not to mention check out Raven's very cool blog. And she (Raven) used to model!! (I'm only a little, teensy weensy bit jealous) ;)

~ Vegas Baby~ As I'm sure you've gathered from my last post, we're home!! Vacation was wonderful, but it is sure nice to be home. Vegas was amazing! I can't wait to go back. Fun, fun, fun!!! Here we are hanging with some of the locals ;) And having taken pity on us, our picture taken by the wonderful doorman at the Wynn. (We were trying to take it ourselves, but kept cutting out half of our heads!) The view from our hotel room As promised here are a few pics of my gorgeou s niece Greta.

Helga of Artchix , has a weekly art challenge on her blog. You can find her here . This week the challenge was to "have a cup of tea and make a collage with the packaging." I took it one step further and used not only the packaging, but also the tea to make my entry! I used kool-aid and food coloring to dye the watercolor paper. Thanks for the fun, Helga!