"...moderation in all things..."

For the past several months, I've pretty much had my nights to myself. Ty has been hitting the books pretty hard core, bless his heart, for his upcoming board exams. Several of you have been congratulating us on our completion of dental school, so I think we need to clarify. These are his 2nd year board exams. He has another set of board exams at the end of his fourth year, and that is the end of dental school. Then he goes on to a specialty program (oral surgery is still the top choice) which will be another 4-6 years. So pretty much, we've only just begun. But it's cool. Money is so over rated anyway...

So what in the world have I been doing with my oodles of time you ask!? Well, I am now a regular at the Brighton Library. Almost embarrassingly so. I borrow a stack of movies (usually about 4-5) and then I'm back 4-5 days later, to get my next stack. I'm sure the librarians think I am a pathetic lonely mother with a strange fetish for old musicals. I'm pretty much a Fred Astaire aficionado now. I must say he is much more believable as a leading man/love interest paired alongside Ginger in his earlier films than he is in such movies as Funny Face and Daddy Long Legs, (although he is pretty cute in those red cowboy boots). No matter how good of a dancer he is, it's kinda hard when he is 70 and and the girl is 19...but no matter. He is still "smarvelous!" And does anyone know how An American in Paris turns out? The library copy is scratched, so I couldn't see the ending! I don't know who Lise choses. Jerry? Or Henri? It's keeping me up at night.

I've listened to 3 books on tape, watched Pride and Prejudice (the long version, and the short version for that matter), Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (Check out those links. I thought I had a lot of time on my hands!?).

I've made bows for Mckinlay and as gifts. I've completed one scrapbook for her and started on a second one. I finished a mystery gift for someone I love so very much (which can be revealed later). And did what any other girl with a lot of time on her hands would do, I made stuffed animals for Mckinlay, duh!

It all started with Francis.
I found the pattern here. After I made this Ty and I thought, "How easy/fun would it be to make more of these little guys?" So we drew up some patterns and I made some more. Many more. Maybe too many more. I turned into a stuffed animal machine!! I couldn't stop. It got so bad that there was a talk in church about doing things in moderation and the words "stuffed animals" kept running through my head! There was some serious guilt going on, I'll tell ya! But look how cute my, I mean, Mckinlay's new little friends are!?
We have Winston the Beaver, Erma the Cow, Beatrice the Mouse, Henry the Gorilla, Penelope and Dot the Kangaroos, Maxwell the Frog, you've already met Francis, Bernard the Monkey and Arnold the Pig. Ty calls them my hoard. But wait, they get even cuter. Look at the Gorilla bum. I mean seriously folks!

Lest you think I'm a complete animal hoarder, I did make a few gifts. Not that is was easy to part with them...but they went to good homes. So those of you who received these gifts, know they came with a whole lot of love!
It's a good thing Mckinlay likes playing with them. This all started because she has a little University of Utah bear that she received as a gift (don't worry, she still bleeds blue) that she loved. I made Francis as a replacement for it. Ty hated that she loved that bear so much. So really, you can blame the U for my stuffed animal obsession. Dang Utes!