MadBags :: handmade bags & more!

I am a true fan.

3 years ago, our church offered a marriage class based on the His Needs, Her Needs book and we decided to take it.  It was wonderful and we learned alot about each other.  One of the things that we had to do during the course was go through a LONG list of activities and check off what we like to do together.  It was a huge disappointment when we realized how little we both actually enjoy doing with each other. 

A week later I had an epiphany (sorry if that is spelled incorrectly).  Paul was watching a football game and I had plopped down on the couch to watch it with him.  About halfway through the game, I screamed- "I like watching football with you!".  It hit me that whenever he was watching football I was drawn into the room.  We were so excited about finding something we like to do together and from that point on he started explaining how the game worked. Then he said, ok, now you have to pick a team.  I had always like watching Peyton Manning play, and after a few games into the season, I decided I really liked the Colts.  Can you believe that was the year they went to the Super Bowl and won?  It was pretty cool. 

Paul was raised in Nashville and is a huge TN Titans fan.  It's always been a ton of fun when we play each other because we do a ton of trash talking and really get into the rivalry.  Our birthdays are within a month of each other and instead of getting normal gifts, we bought each other tickets to the game Titans vs. Colts at Nashville. 

Sorry this ended up to be such a long story, but well, as you can see, it was a big game.  We stayed with the fam and went shopping as soon as we got into town for gear- 

  You think we got enough?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are all geared up and ready to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive over...

 

 

The field!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

86 minutes until kick-off!!!!

 

 

 

 

And sadly, at the end of the game, we lost 21-31.  As you can see, I was sad while my husband was not.   

 

We had THE BEST time though.  I hope we are able to do it again next year.

 

 

 

Ooh la la! My creative sister

I think I've mentioned in the past that I have a creative sister.  She has taught me a LOT of what I know about sewing and one day I hope to be as good as she when it come to sewing.  She asked me to post a few pes files she created so that anyone can have them for free.  She tried to post them somewhere else and had a little trouble and then thought she would give me a little bit of free advertising posting it here.  Of course, how can I say no to that??? 

If you monogram, you will love these designs!  Here is a picture of her daughter, (my sweet niece), wearing an outfit she put the designs on. 

I just wish they were .art files so I could use them!!! 

Download bistro_chair_left.pes

Download bistro_table.pes

Download bistro_chair_right.pes

Download eiffel_tower.pes

Download eiffel_tower_bush_left.pes

Download eiffel_tower_bush_right.pes

Download ooh_la_la.pes

Download shopping_girl.pes

I made a nap mat!

I was up until 3 am this morning working on this little number. I know that sounds crazy but once I start a project, I HAVE to finish it. Maddie has to  have a nap mat for school and now that I have the tools, I wanted to make her a special one! When I showed her this morning, Jaden asked why he didn't have one like that? See he had one of those ugly red and blue plastic ones and I had to explain that I didn't know how or the stuff to make one back then. Mainly he likes things to be fair. He's all about it. This time I just had to remind him he gets all kinds of cool stuff too from time to time when Maddie doesn't and he seemed satisfied. After we got past that, Maddie wanted to inspect it, hold it, and fold it back up, oh and of course, lay in it.

I think she likes it! I'm glad too because it was a doozy to make! I didn't have a pattern and I have never used binding before but I'm very pleased with it and I didn't have to pay $60-$99 for it either. I was so surprised when I first started looking for one at how much they cost. There is a lady about an hour a way that makes them for $30 but they are all either character prints or fabric that fades when washed. I don't like character prints and I wanted something that would look great even after several washes so I decided to just make one myself. Upon close inspection you will see that the binding is not real pretty, but it looks great from far away! And also, I'm not fond of using batting... you out there who quilt are amazing. I never get out all the gaps. The bias tape binding was a little easier once I watched this funny video from The Angry Chicken. She is a hoot. (Carla I bet you will laugh a lot when you watch it since you sew.)

Oh, I almost forgot! I made a little adjustment to the normal mats I have seen. I made a small pillow that can be taken out when washing the mat. This way the pillow fluff won't get all yucky and lumpy after washing.

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You can see how excited Mad was about it. And of course it has her name on it, which she loves.

Short video...

Here is the video I talked about in the previous post!  Something was bothering her on her neck, not sure what it was...

I don't know if you can hear the music or not but it's the song "I think I'm Paranoid".  For the longest time she would sing I think a paranoise.   We finally convinced her otherwise. 

We rock. Seriously.

Because he loves me...

The last few weeks have been crazy and definitely gone by really fast!  First we left for vacation down to the beach and then as soon as we got home, Paul left with the kids to Nashville for their annual fishing trip.  I really don't like to fish so I stay home and get to have "me" time.  You may wonder, what do I do during this time?  Well simply put, whatever I want. 

I had big plans to sew and sew and sew, but well, I didn't sew one time.  If you are waiting for some toy boxes to be listed, you will have to wait a little longer.  Sorry!  I just couldn't make myself enter my sewing room let alone get in there and sew.  I read alot while they were gone, had a garage sale (one not worthy of my time I may add), traveled to a larger town close to us for some shopping with my parents, and did some Spring cleaning, moved furniture around etc.  I also took lots of long baths.  I love to do that and it was nice not having to worry about anyone knocking on the door every 2 minutes wondering when I'll get out. 

My best friend and I went to the opening night of Sex and the City too.  We got all dressed up for our girls nite out and had so much fun!  We went to Harvey's for dinner and then onto the late movie.  I have watched all the episodes on tbs and thought the movie stayed true to the characters.  I suppose it stayed true to the HBO format too.  I'm glad I never watched it on HBO too because it's way too graphic for me like that.  The characters are what pull me in, not all that other stuff.  Here is a picture of us before we left-

I read two books and finished one I had started before we left on vacation.  I am a sucker for trashy romance novels.  Some of my favorites are Linda Howard, Kat Martin, Carla Neggers, and recently Lisa Jackson.  If they would get rid of the foul language, they would be perfect!  Once I get started on these, it's really hard to put them down.  Carla, I have a ton to pass on to you if you want them.  I bought two bookshelves for my bedroom and made a place for all mine and Paul's books.  Mom, you are welcome to get any you want too :)

About the title.  My husband can be really romantic.  They got home from Nashville on Tuesday and on Thursday he brought me roses and a sweet card and tried to cook me a steak and shrimp dinner.  He didn't realize I had already told the kids we would eat and swim over at my mother's so we postponed the dinner until last night.  What did he do that for?  Well just because.  The steak and shrimp were soooo good and perfect since we will be eating camp food all next week.   yuk.  We leave on Sunday for church camp so I won't be able to post until after that.  I'm sure I'll have lots to say after that!

dance recital videos

Finally got the videos from Maddie's dance recital uploaded onto youtube.  Click on the links below to view the videos :)  There is also a video of Dalton accepting his diploma too.

Dalton's walk of fame

Dance #1 "While you were sleeping"

Dance #2 "Shoo Fly Pie"

Dance #3 "Momma, I'm a Big Girl Now!"

Tip:  Make sure you click "Watch in high quality" under the video to see it more clearly!