Wow, ladies, You are amazing! My last post "Pay It Forward", received many comments and emails. I wanted to share a good story that touched me that night, but I realized that by sharing that story, I received more from you guys. I read all your comments and emails... some of you were recipients of kindness, some of you shared how you made someone's day a little brighter. They were all wonderful stories!!

It is so wonderful to know that there are so many nice people out there looking out for others. Those who shared your stories, Thank you so much! If you haven't had a chance to read the comments, I highly recommend you do so. They are sure to brighten up your day. :)

There is someone I want to highlight who is already doing Pay it Forward acts. Alida L. needs your help making a fabric covered journal for people who lost their husbands at war. She said that keeping a journal while going through tough times will help broken hearts. She posted a wonderful tutorial on how to make a beautiul journal by using a plain notebook and some fabrics (inexpensive too!).

If you want to do something and don't know what to do, please go here and find out why she started doing this. It is a very moving story.

I have been doing small things here and there... I love to be nice to others. Although as a mom I have another motive too. I really hope that I can be a good example for my children.

I thought I would have a slow week this week. BOY, WAS I WRONG!!! I have been so busy with so many things and needless to say, my progress on my projects is s l o w. I am posting something fun tomorrow night, so don't miss out on it!

This is a true story that happend to me and my family last night, and I really need to share it with you all. It is kind of a long post, but I need to discribe the situation so you get the feel of it.

Well, the kids didn't have school since last Friday, and since Christpher has been sick, we couldn't go anywhere. It was the last night of the 4 day weekend, so, my husband and I decided to take them to IHOP (for those of you who live outside of the US... IHOP is a big chain restaurant that specializes in pancakes).

We got there, and as we were going in, an older couple came in from the parking lot. My husband, held the door open for them, and we exchanged smiles and we sat at our booth.

If you have been reading my blog for a while might guessed that since I love thrift stores and garage sales, I LOVE COUPONS. I had and ad for IHOP with coupons saying, "Buy one entree, second one free". Also, on the add, it said, "kids eat free with purchase of an adult entree". I was thinking, "hmm... which route will save us more money?" My math loving husband helped me calculate everything and came to the conlusion that if he and I order something for 12ドル or less each, two of the kids meals will be free and additional kids meal would be only 1.99. It is cheaper than, doing "buy one entree get second one free" and buying three kids meals at regular price. We were discussing this at the table.

Everytime we go to IHOP, not that often, we always get the same thing. We had nice chat with our waitress explaining that and wanted to try something new. We pointed out what we were looking at and got her opininons. We decided to go with her suggestions and try the new entrees.

I also asked her if I could exchange the buttermilk pancakes for sweedish pancakes. She told me that it will cost me additional 1ドル.59, which would put my entree over 12ドル. I said, "uh! no, I will stick with the plan, buttermilk pancake is fine."

While we were waithing for our food, as we always do, we talked, we laughed, and sometimes, we had to discipline our kids. For example, "Hey, cover your mouth when you cough", "Sit straight", "Don't kick your brother under the table". During this time we had a friendly talk with the older couple(wife) who sat the booth next to us for little bit too.

The wait was quite long, the kids were getting restless, but our food finally came. By this time the older couple, had finished eating and were ready to leave. The lady stood up and leaned over to us and said,"You have such well behaved children. You are doing such a wonderful job." the husband had very warm genuine smile on his face too. This was unexpected and caught us by suprise, we said, "Thanks" and smiled. Then, they left.

Wow, that is so nice of them, I thought. We try to raise our children to be nice, polite and cuuteous people, but as a parent, you never know if you are doing a good job or not. Perhaps, maybe, until they are all grown-up. It was so nice for this everyday worrier mom to hear. My husband and I talked about them how nice they were.

After a short while, our waitress came to our table, she had our bill in her hand. She said, "Well, your dinner is all taken care of."

"......."

My husband and I were looking at each other and didn't say anything. Well, I couldn't say anything. Later we conformed to each other, what went through in our minds at that moment.

I was thinking, "What? Did she just say what I just thoutght she said? (English is my secound langage and I can make mistakes) Maybe I heard wrong."

He was thinking, "What? What did she just say? Did we win something from IHOP for being like 100,000th customer or something? Oh Crap, We should have ordered more!"

Because we were frozen and didn't say anything, the waitress had to repeat like two or three more times. "Your dinner is all taking care of. Another costmer paid for it."

Wow... she never said who, but my husband and I felt that it must been that elderly couple that sat next to us. We were speechless for a while and that doesn't happen in our household... ever. My eyes starting to tear up. That was such a nice gesture.

It is easy to be nice to someone you love and know, but to be nice to a complete stranger takes a special kind of person.

I don't know why they decided to pay for our dinner, perhaps they felt bad for this coupon using couple and the wife who didn't even go for sweedish pancakes or maybe, they just love to hear our convasation and wanted to do something nice. We will never know.

But, they definately left an implessinon on our hearts. After what happend to us I have been thinking about "pay it forward". Because they did something nice to me, I will do something nice to several people, and hopefully, they will do the same. Not eveyone can afford to pay for someone's dinner, but small things like holding the door open for the people behind you or even just a smile and saying hello could lighten up someone's day.

If this chain of Pay it Forward keeps going, can you imagine how many people can be uplifted?

It may sound corny, but I like corny. Doesn't Pay it forward sound nice? Perhaps I should start with me.

Wow! Thank you so much for the many comments on the tutorial post at Ucreate and for this giveaway!! I feel so relieved and excited that the tutorial got great response from many of you.

I can't say this enough but I really appreciate your readership and comments. They are like fuel for me to keep creating and posting. I would love to give the prize to everybody but in realty...I can't. I have to pick one winner.

OK... the winner is...



Congratulations!! Contact me with your info so I can ship the kit to you.

Those who didn't win, don't get discouraged, There is a sponsor giveaway coming up this month, so check back for a chance to enter!

By the way, there is a story I want to share with you all. I will post it either tomorrow (if I have time) or Wednesday. Don't worry, it is a good story, and a real story that happened to us today. I was really touched by this and have to share it with you all.

Meanwhile, I am really tired today...I am off to bed. I hope everyone had a nice start to the week.

Before I start this post, let me give a big THANKS to all of you who have left comments on the Ucreate guest blog post and on the giveaway! I felt much better after seeing some of the comments. If you haven't entered the giveaway, don't forget to do so, you still have time!

On the day of the post, my kids didn't have school, so I put them to work and we all cleaned the house. Christopher washed the windows, Michael vacuumed and mopped... Rachel, age four will sometimes make things more complicated than actually being helpful, so I gave her baby wipes and asked her to wipe the walls and the baseboards. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about chemicals or things getting damaged. They all did a wonderful job!!! What was I doing? I was sitting in front of the TV and eating Bon-Bons... NO, I washed all of our bedding on top of the regular laundry (6 loads!!), and did more micro-cleaning that I usually don't have enough time to do.

A clean house feels soo good! The kids were so proud of their work, and after that we had a fun time together.

After they went to bed, I made special cards for each one of them. They are titled "Fourteen Reasons I Love You". I thought about their good qualities and wrote them down. I am going to give them the cards with some special treats on Valentine's day.



Of course I have one for Mr. Tea Rose Home too.

If you are allergic to quarkiness, I advise you to stop reading here. Because, I am sharing the fourteen reasons why I love him below.


1. He makes the best scrambled eggs
2. He is knowledgeable
3. He is smart
4. He can play with the kids like he is one of them
5. He is very involved with the kids education and activities
6. He is very loyal and caring (How many times have I been in the hospital and surgeries ever since we got married?)
7. He is optimistic
8. He still thinks I am attractive. His eyesight is fine, just for the record. (It doesn't matter what others think, his opinion is the only one that's important!)
9. ...and he treats me as his wife, rather than the mother of his children
10. He is such a hard worker, always providing us with a roof over our heads and food on the table and beyond.
11. He happens to like my cooking. Thanks.
12. He is very supportive of the things I am interested in.
13.He has been keeping the promises he made when we got married to make me smile everyday of my life. Even the hardest days he manages to do so, it is amazing.
14.He has a big heart. Because of him I can be myself and not worry about the tiny things. He keeps inspiring me to want to be a better person.

There is more, but I guess I will save them for next year. I love Valentine's day. It is the day of love, I think I am going to spend quality time with my family.

Do you have "fourteen reasons" for your loved ones? Once you start thinking about them, it makes you feel happy.

Have a Happy, Happy Valentine's day.

In my last post, I mentioned that I would have a special post today... You all might be wondering, "What is the deal?." The surprise is...

I am GUEST BLOGGING on UCREATE today!!! Yea!!!


This is a very big deal for me, I feel like I was invited to the Martha Stewart Show or something. I came up with a special tutorial for Ucreate, and I am going to do a "kit" giveaway so the lucky winner can make the exact same thing that I did.

I am soo excited and nervous at same time. Please head over to Ucreate and check out the tutorial and enter to win the giveaway item here. I will post the winner on Monday night.


The Rules are simple:

1. Leave a comment on this post (you will get one entry)

2. Become a follower on my blog and show me your beautiful face on my side bar (second entry)

3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog and link back (third entry)

I think when I see some blogger love notes, I can swallow my breakfast better.

I hope you will enjoy the tutorial. Thank you so much for your support and keep coming back to read my blog...

Have a wonderful Valentine's weekend!!

Aren't they beautiful colors? When I did the ruffle shirt tutorial by using a Down East wonder shirt, a couple of readers gave me a info for the Down East warehouse. Thank you for watching over me Melissa and Madeline P!! I had no idea that such a thing exsisted, so, of course, I went there to check it out!!

The warehouse was smaller then I imagined, but I was able to find several shirts. A few of them were from JCrew, and they were only 2 for 5ドル!! Some of the shirt I bought had small cuts, but I am going to cut that part anyways, so I didn't mind. I already have some ideas of what I am going to do with them, and of course, I will post the pictures in a future post (after I finish all the projects I am currently working on).

Lately, I have been busy with so many things. The progress on my projects are slow... but I have a special post coming up on this Friday...I sooo, want to tell you what it is... but I can't!!!

Come back for sure to find out on Friday morning. You won't be disappointed!

Hi there! I realized the Valentine's day is just around the corner, and my house isn't decorated for the occasion at all. I am not big on decorating for each and every holiday, but I wanted something for my front door. So, I created a wreath with things I found around the house and some of my fabric stash. The beauty of this wreath is there is no sewing, no glueing and the whole thing took me about an hour!! This is a very fun last minute Valentine's project.

You will need:

1 wire hanger
1 yard of red thin fleece(that is what I had, but you can use regular fleece too)
Cotton batting strips (I had lot of left over strips from my quilt projects)
Ribbon or fabric strip to use as a ribbon

How to:

1. Use a wire hanger as the structure. Pull it and make a circle. It doesn't need to be perfect.


2. Cut the top part and bend. You will have an instant hook.


3. I made several long strips from my leftover cotton batting. They were about 3-4" wide. Wrapit around the wire circle until it get to your desired thikness.


4. I had 60" W X 1 yd of thin fleece like fabric. I cut 4- 2" X 60" strips. As in step 3, I wrapped it around the wreath.


5. When you are done, simply fold it in.


6. Cut 1" X 10" strips from all the rest of the red fabric. Tie around the wreath 2 peices at time. Tie them sporadically, so you will have enough to cover the whole thing, and fill in the open areas. If you want a fuller look you might want to add more strips.


7. I cut flannel fabric (3" wide), and I had made it into a bow. I love how the wreath looks on my black door!


One of my new year's resolutions is to be more resorceful. I am happy that I made this from things I already owned.