Long Time - I know

I know,

I have neglected my blog.  It wasn't intentional.  Really.  Every weekend in May was brimming with birthday celebrations, graduation activities and end-of-school deadlines. 

I only had 24 hours in a day. :(

These beautiful young women have been a part of my life for four years!  I am blessed.  Yes, I was a little teary eyed when I took the photo.  I am so proud of the women they have become and am excited to see them venture out on a new journey.  Yes, we will be keeping in touch.

I brought home "Emme". Emme is the name I gave the beautiful, professional embroidery machine I was able to acquire for my FACS program.  She has been a frustrating, aggravating, annoying and enjoyable addition.  The company that made the transaction, failed to mention they were going out of business just weeks after her delivery.  Thank goodness for research skills, internet resources and "youtube".

 After many hours of trial and error, learning from my mistakes and basically, not giving up, I can say Emme is no longer the frustration device she once was. 

My daughter has had several bridal and baby showers invites. Her designs and my labor have produced unique, much appreciated, gifts.  :) 

Lest, you think I have nothing to do, the young couple below will be saying "I do" in less than 14 days.

Save the Date!

July 1, 2011

Pigeon Forge, TN 

I have many more projects to do. 

I will try to do better on posting.

XOXO

Theresa

Summer Sewing

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer! I know I am.

I always set sewing goals for myself for the summer time.

This is a project I began a few months ago. Unfortunately, as with a lot of my "projects" it got put on the back burner.

A sweet baby was born in our church this past spring. I wanted to make her an outfit. When I saw the lady bug fabric I knew this was IT. Hopefully, you can tell from the bottom photo, the top is a halter, type. Instead of using a button to keep it in place, I chose to use red ribbon. I love red ribbon on babies!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to sew for babies. Actually, it is a lot more fun now, I don't have to sew while the babies are sleeping. LOL

I think I am going to invest in ribbon tags.

I've been using the fabric paper that you run through your computer printer and then iron onto your projects. While these have served the purpose, I think I'm ready to invest in my new adventure.

I have several projects I need to finish.

It will be time for school to start before I know it!

God Bless!

OXOX

Theresa

FCCLA PICNIC

We had a wonderful time! While the weather was a little cooler than I would have liked, it ended up being a very nice day. The above girls are some of the kids I spend my days with. They are smart, creative and a group of kids I can count on to get the "job" done. We have participated in several community service projects this school year. Thank you girls!
Seniors.

The red rose is the official flower of FCCLA, each senior was given a red rose in appreciation of their service to our organization this year.
Left to Right

R.B. - quiet, hard worker, will succeed in all she sets out to do-

K.G. - sweet, funny, a joy to be around

R. W. - she's been my right arm this school year. Great organizational skills, and a "take charge" attitude when one is needed. Indispensable!

M. E. - Very determined, goal setter, sees the "big" picture, this is truly a gift!

E.A. - bright, enjoys life, willing to do the jobs others won't

J.K.- Calm, creative, poised beyond her years

S.J. - patient, finishes all tasks, reliable, easy to work with

A.B. - Creativity at it's best! Ability to think outside the box and to have several projects going at once.

E.W. - Focused, great memory, willing to do the "work"!

D. N. - unassuming, sweet smile, kind and generous

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent
guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS

Dr. Seuss

Each of these young ladies make me proud to have shared a few minutes in their lives. Thank you! I wish you the best.

Funny photo.

We really did have a good time.

Thanks to M. G. for opening her home to us. She saved the day! When the best made plans don't go the way you think they should, it is great to have someone in your life say, "Let's meet at my house" and mean it!

"MOCK" Wedding Event

Speakers.

Innocent looking, until you find out they are due back to the rental company at noon and you had planned to use them at 1:00 p.m. That was the news given to me yesterday.

These young ladies saved the day. They put together an incredible work crew and had it all up and ready by 10:00 this morning. Thank You!

The "event" was a collaborative project among 7 teachers, one minister and several administrators. The cosmetology department at our school did hair and makeup; business did the invitations and programs, English

provided poems, parents, and flower girl, math did the math to determine the cost of this production, Agriculture helped with floral arrangements and stage set up, my foods class did the reception, my adult living class provided most of the "cast".

Wedding Cake. Good Job! Yummy!

Groom's cake. He is one of our football players. Appropriate themed cake. Creative!

We wanted a third cake to make sure we had enough for everyone. We did!

My DH donated his free time to speak to my classes on the responsibility and readiness for marriage. He then made a 2nd trip to our school to perform a very sweet, civil wedding ceremony. His participation gave the students the opportunity to participate in a "mock wedding" without making a "mockery" of a very special ritual that is common to our culture and customs. Thank you honey! You did an AWESOME job!


The wedding party. The flower girl is the daughter of one of the English teachers here. She was adorable!

Cutting the cake. Everyone had a great time and I am so pleased with this collaborative production. Thanks to all who made it possible!

CTE OPEN HOUSE

This is the display of a few of the projects my students have done this school year. It was difficult for me to display only a few. I wanted to show everything they did. Can you tell I am proud of the kids in my classes?

They are the best!

We had a nice turn out by parents. I was thrilled with their willingness to stop their day and come by to visit their child's high school.

I have found the neatest website! It is http://www.joyofbaking.com/ I highly recommend you visit this site. All of the recipes my Foods class prepared for today were from that website.

The above tray is banana bread, no nuts, pecans are $9.00 a bag! Notice the filled strawberries in the back tray. I can't EVEN begin to describe to you how wonderful they tasted! The recipe called for mascarpone cheese. It is a little pricey, but ohhhhhhhh, it was worth it!

A close up of the strawberries.

Mimosa punch

I developed the above recipe. Honestly, it really wasn't a recipe, I just added things until I thought it tasted the way I wanted. It was 2 cans of frozen o.j., 1 large can pineapple juice, 2 cans apricot nectar, 1 box frozen sweet strawberries and ginger ale. It really was the perfect drink for all the bakery goodies.

I am so sorry that I did not get a close up of the apple tart. That's it between the banana bread and the pound cake. Because we only had one spring form pan in the foods lab ( I actually bought the last one at the grocery store just before this lab), we only had one of these. It went quickly and I have been told was absolutely the best. Recipes were requested, which is why I shared the above website. If baking is in your future you should check it out! We are going to try scones tomorrow.

All in all, today was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect, parents and administrators were complimentary and much was marked off my to-do list.

I do think it is early to bed for me tonight.

XOXO

Theresa

Rain Forest in the Mt's of TN

I am always amazed and thrilled how creative students are when given a challenge. Their creativity is an inspiration!

There are two rooms that make up the FACS department. The Foods Lab and then a Textile Lab room. For our teacher luncheons the Textile Room is transformed into a dining room.

Having a separate dining area serves two purposes, one, the teachers have an opportunity to sit and eat lunch in a pleasant, non-classroom setting, while being served. Two, it allows the students that are working in the kitchen, the opportunity to prepare food, clean up, and have last minute instructions(yep, by me!) without interrupting those that are dining. It's a Good Thing!

Today's luncheon was a success!

Students worked diligently to set the rain forest atmosphere for the dining room and the food that was prepared was tasty!

Do you see the monkeys that are hanging from the grapevine? They brought in stuffed animals from home for this design.

I think it's beautiful!
On the menu:

Bleeding Chicken

(BBQ chicken)

Safari Burger

(Sloppy Joes)

Jungle Mush

(potato salad)

Monkey Beans

(baked beans)

Jungle Juice

(sweet tea, lemonade)

Volcano Cake

(made from scratch chocolate cake, with home made fudge sauce and a scoop of ice cream)

YUM!

The students came up with the names of each of those food items. I hope I am remembering them correctly.
Next week we are having an open house. It is an opportunity for the CTE Department to show off the talents and skills of our students. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, drop by on Wednesday from 9:00 to 11:00.

I'm sure you will be impressed with all the hard work.

I know I am.

Enjoy your weekend!

XOXO

Theresa

Loved and Tired

I know it has been a week since I've updated this post. Our week in Nashville was so much fun! The young ladies below were the two students that participated in competition. My darling H. gave last minute instructions on "How to give a speech". I am so proud of them!

This picture is from the next day for the award ceremony. They received a silver medal! I think they were more nervous having to go up on stage in front of approximately 1000 people than they were the actual competition.

There was a formal banquet that night. They are so beautiful!

Both inside and out!

I am blessed to have a job that allows me to work with these young people.

This week at school we have been working on a teacher luncheon, which is tomorrow. I was extremely busy today, when I happened to look out my classroom window.

This is what I saw!

My darling angels left me a message!

I had to give them the camera to take a picture. LOL

I'm not sure if you understand the spelling of my name. The young man on the left the very first day of school this year, asked me if my name was theres a burton? He was serious! I have gone my entire life with my name spelled THERESA, this year I have a complete new pronunciation.

It really was funny!

They did clean off the toilet paper before they left school today. I drove through the car wash to get that chalk washed off.

It didn't work.

I had to get out the towels and window cleaner when I got home.

I feel loved! Thanks!

Our theme for the luncheon tomorrow is "Rain forest".

They chose this theme because last week while we were in Nashville, we ate at the Rain forest Cafe. I can't wait to show you how cute the tables are.

I'm headed to the shower and then to bed.

XOXO Theresa

ORGANIZATION

A dear friend of my m'n'l passed away this past summer

and she left a tremendous amount of sewing notions. Because of my love of sewing and creating my m'n'l passed the sewing beauties on to me. I was determined to organize before adding them to my sewing room. I always have good intentions to organize but never seem to find the time. LOL

For the first time in my adult life I finally have a room to call my own! I did let my oldest son sleep in there when he was home for Christmas but otherwise it is all MINE! I have been inspired by the beautiful studio rooms I have seen on the web. Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey and Portabellapixie are three of my favorites. I have listed their blogs on the side. If you haven't been to these sites yet, you should go! They are creative and inspiring young women.

Ribbon is always a dilemma for me. I want to see it but have yet to find a creative way to organize those beautiful spools. Upon observing the above mentioned studio rooms I thought I had found the perfect wrought iron piece at Hobby Lobby a few hours ago. My hubby was with me and he didn't find the piece nearly as ideal as I. We were looking through a magazine while there and no, the above picture is not what was shown in the magazine, but it did give me the idea of what I could do. This is my solution to organizing ribbon. I purchased enough materials to make two of these, but have discovered I need at least two more. I bought 2, 1/4" dowel rods for .39 each and a pkg. of wooden disks to place on the end. Now if I were really creative I could paint them, but for the time being I think they will stay simple. Those ribbons look gorgeous and ready to become a project.