Christmas Time is Near

We are just under one week out till Christmas Day!!! We actually had our family get-together with my inlaws today and it was a really nice time. I even got stitching stash and a gc for our needlework store!!! Can't beat that:)

I did get a few ornies done/done, as in not only stitched, but sewn/glued into actual ornies:) Pretty good for me. So this is the first batch for this year. One for my sil, one for my mil and two for me!!! Hopefully in the next few days I will get the next batch of ornies all sewn up.
And this is my Christmas tree. Dd was all excited to get this up and then it took a week with it up before I could get her to decorate it, and we've only turned the lights on a couple time, LOL. Oh, well:) We really wanted to get a new tree this year, but just can't bring ourselves to spend the money on something that is up (and in our way:) for one month a year.

And finally, here is a pic of my 15 new year projects (actually this is only 14 new ones and several WIPs and UFOs). Need to pick one more out and get it ready - though now that I got 2 new projects for Christmas, I may need to do a couple more than the 15:) Hmmm, wonder about doing a new project for every day of the month, LOL!!! Okay, maybe not:0) I will start listing the projects (both new and old) as I show them on my blog. Will be trying to get on here everyday until I go through all the projects and then posting at least twice a month on my progress. I am trying to finish at least one of my WIPs up until then now that I have all my ornies stitched up for the year.

I will be going to my LNS for their end of the year sale in a week or so and I will post pics of whatever I end up getting from that:)

Daybook Entry 12/8/10

Been a LONG time since I've done this, so here it goes...

Outside my window-Last time I posted this I said it was too hot, now I'm thinking too cold!!! LOL I'm one who doesn't like the heat or the cold, so I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to the weather. Actually we haven't had it too bad yet, only a few days so far when the high was around freezing or just under. Nothing like last winter (or at least not yet), so I won't complain... right now;)

I'm thinking - mostly about Christmas and the 'get-togethers' that are coming up. Also thinking about some friends of mine that are going through a really hard time and trying to see if there is anything I can do to help them out.

Out in the garden - Well, not much going on in the garden this time of year. *We* (and by this I mean dh:) did get the garden cleaned up but it still needs tilled a time or two yet before spring. I would also like to get the area around the front porch cleaned up as it has been a while and we have some dead weeds and toys and cardboard boxes (?), and some etc. Really need to get that cleaned up before it snows and then I can't find it all!! : )

In the kitchen - Not much going on there either. Dh has really gotten into cooking (grilling) and is doing most of the cooking for us now. I'm not sure I even remember how to cook (not sure I care to ever remember either:). He has done everything from fahitas to pizza to baked beans to grilled fruit deserts, and he had dd even grilled cookies a couple of weeks ago that turned out great!!! It does help that he has a nice propane grill and a nice pellet smoker grill too:) The last thing that was in my oven was fabric that I was coffee dying!! :)

Creativity this week- Unlike the other catagories in this post, I do have lots going on in this one!!! I am almost always working on something. I am working like crazy to get some ornies done for Christmas, just got one done yesterday in fact. Though I can't post a pic of that one, it is for someone that just might peek in on my blog, I'll post a pic after our Christmas get together. I also started a small lap quilt a few days ago. We have a total of 3 people in this house, and a total of about 3 blankets:) So when a certain young monkey of a girl spills her dinner on my blanket, then we only have 2 clean ones:) I guess I could go out and buy some more blankets, but this is more fun!! I'm also really excited to get started on my 15 new stitching projects!! I think so far the hardest part of that challenge is to wait until it starts!!!

In the barn - We really have dwindled down the number of animals we have out here. We got rid of the chickens last summer (?), and a few months ago took the cows in to slaughter. So now we only have the dogs (2), the cats (8), and the guinea pig. Dd is wanting to do bucket calf for 4-H this year, so we'll be getting a couple more calves around the beginning of the year, and we are all really wanting chickens again, so are planning on those sometime around early spring. That should help raise our animal numbers back up again:0)

What I'm reading - Nothing for me right now. Dd and I have been going through some missionary stories lately though. One of them took us only 2 days to get through:) It was really good, about the missionary Ida Scudder (1870-1960, missionary to India). So reading those and a few other things for her school (science and history).

Okay, so two posts in a week!!! I'm doing so good:) hehehe

It's been a long time:)

Well, I never did promise that I would be good at keeping up with blogging (or anything else for that matter, you should see my laundry pile!!! :) However, I am going to try to do this once again. I'm pretty sure no one reads here anyway, but even if not, it is fun to go back and read what I have written and it makes me feel that I have actually accomplished something to go back and see pics of my stitching and other things.

So I have a few pieces to show off. I'm pretty sure I've finished a few other small ones as well, but I can't remember now (SEE? I should be doing this more often, if for no other reason than to help me remember what I have done!! :) hehehe.

These will all be made into ornaments as gifts for Christmas. Once I get them all sewn up, I'll put another pic on here. This first one is from Brittercup. I did this one for an exchange, but did another just like it (though half the size) for my dd as she really likes it too. She has a mini tree for her room and so the ornie needed to be really small.
This one is from Blackbird Designs and can be found in the 2009 ornie issue of JCS mag. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this one for myself:) Oh, and I hand-dyed the fabric on this one and the next one!! The fabric looks different in these two pics, but it is really the same color and both look closer to the first pic IRL.

And this one is by The Victoria Sampler - Designs by Cathy Jean. I started this one thinking it was for me, but after my mil saw it, and said she really liked it, it became hers. Now, I am thinking I need to stitch this one again for me:).

I am also signing up to do a internet stitching challange. The challange is to start a new project everyday for 15 days, starting Jan 1st and blog about those projects over the course of the year, until they are finished. I WILL FAIL this challenge (at least the last half of it, I do have 15 projects to start), but it will be fun anyway. I have already picked out my 15 charts and have most of them kitted up (though I need a few fibers and fabric for a couple of the projects). I will need to wait until our LNS has their sale at the end of the year to get the few things that I need, but I am almost ready as it is. I think I will also add my older WIPs to the list as well, so that they don't become lost and forgotten!! After counting the WIPs I already have (and that I still would like to stitch. I have several that I just don't like anymore), I will be adding 8 more projects to the 15 new ones:) Well, like I said, I WILL FAIL, but that is okay, I really like stitching:)

Daybook Entry for 6/23/10

It's been a while since I've done one of these, soooo....

Outside my window.... It's HOT!!! Even in the mornings, which I didn't expect this early in the summer. This is pretty normal for August, but not June. I guess after such a cold winter we had it coming:) We did buy dd a new stock tank to swim in . She loves the water had been 'swimming' in an old cast iron bathtub that the in-laws had laying around, but she can't hardly move in it. So we moved her up in the 'pool' dept:) She is loving it and I have even gotten in there with her once. It had been a long time since I've swam in a stock tank!!!

I'm thinking....Well for a while after school was out I tried thinking as little as possible:) I haven't even looked through curriculum for next year yet even though I bought it 3 weeks ago. Usually I only wait about a week, if that, and am then digging through it all. Too much going on I guess, but I do feel as if I'm almost ready to tackle it. Really it's not very hard as all the lesson plans are done for me (THANK GOODNESS!!!) but I do like to have an idea what will be coming up and to loosely plan for at least the first couple weeks.

Out in the garden...It needs tilled, but the rows of veggies are mostly weeded (except the okra, still need to do that row), which is a HUGE improvement over the past few years:) We have tomatoes, lots of peppers, green beans and okra. Yes, a big scale down from what we've tried doing in the past (though the whole garden is planted, so while we didn't do the veriety that we've tried in the past, we have the same volume of plants:).

In the kitchen....I've been working on canning some, though not from our garden yet. My father-in-law loves to grow a big garden, though he and mil eat very little of it. Instead they seem to give most of it away. Works for me!!! So we've already gotten lots of peas (my dd loves to shell peas:), green beans, cucumbers, onions and potatoes:) And I didn't have to plant, weed or pick a single bit of it, LOL. We ate peas until we were sick of them, so I have 3 batches in the freezer. We're not sick of the green beans yet, but I had too many to use, so I've canned 5 quarts of them and have more in the fridge that we need to use tonight.

I'm also back to working on GF cooking. It's too hot to work on baking very much, so I'm thinking of playing with flatbreads. I started looking for recipies and it's kind of fun to find that each area of our world has their own verson of a flatbread. There is the popular pancakes (which I made this morning) and tortillas which I am most familar with. And I've had pita bread before, though very rarely. So those are a few that I might try, but I also want to look into chapita, naan, paratha etc, of India and see if any of these will work for me too:) Pizza crust and focaccia are also considered flat breads, but I have to stick to those without yeast and as I said, I also don't want to turn on the over if possible:0)

Creativity this week....Mostly working on things with dd. 4-H county fair is coming up pretty soon and she has several projects that need working on:) She wants to take 4 entries for Foods, 4 entries for Arts and Crafts, 4 entries for Photography, and 4-5 entries for Gardening/Plant Science. HMMM, we better get busy:)

My reading indulgences....I have a couple books that I'm reading through, one quickly and one a bit slower. The slower one is 'One Million Arrows' by Julie Ferwerda and is about how to raise our children to live their lives for GOD. It's been good so far, just a little slower of a read for me as I want to absorb it instead of just skimming. The other book is 'Boys Without Names' by Kashmira Sheth. It is about a family in India that has to move to the big city, looses the father and then out of desperation the oldest boy goes looking for work only to be sold into slavery. It is really good and though not a true story, it is based on what really goes on there everyday. I started this 300+ pg book yesterday and am 2/3rds of the way done with it:) That is why I won't do a post about how my house looks now, cause I've been busy with other things:) hehehe

Okay, I've made this long enough now, so I better go and actually work on my mess of a house;)

Animal update

Thought I would give an update on our animals around here:) Here is the only kitten that survived the first round of kitty litters (round #2 is soon to come). We had 4 born (2 different momma cats) but one momma wouldn't take care of her's so we didn't get very many this spring. My dd brought this one inside to me as I was cleaning out this table, so I stuck him in there and he really seemed to like it:) We gave him this 'seal' toy which he really likes, you have to keep your fingers back or he'll get them too:)
Here is a couple pics of our boys. I'm not sure how this happened, but a couple weeks ago my dd was playing outside and called us out to see this. Seems like he was playing with the bucket and got it stuck on his head, LOL. Took my dh a while before the bull calf let him get close enough to pull it off it's head:) It was pretty funny as the calf was rubbing the bucket all over the ground trying to get it off:) The other guys didn't seemed bothered by it at all. hehehe

We also got rid of our chickens. It was kind of sad as we really liked having them here, but they were pulling up our garden and as they kept eating things they shouldn't, we weren't eating their eggs anymore either (we gave the eggs to the cats). Next time we will pen them in, hopefully 'chicken tractor' style so they can still eat naturally but not be so 'free' ranged. This will help us to know where the eggs are too, instead of having a year long easter egg hunt:)

Next week I hope to post an update to our garden. Since dh is doing a good deal of it this year, it is weed free enough to post pics:)

Daybook Entry for 4-30-10

Outside my window... Cloudy, cool and wet. But we've needed the moisture. Last night some storms went through and we had some hail with it. One of our dogs does not handle storms very well and at about midnight she (our 75 lb. yellow lab) jumped into bed with my dd:) Dd was a little surprise, hehehe. I finally had to shut all the bedroom doors to keep her out as she just would not stay still and quiet. The other dog (about 80 lb chocolate lab) did just fine and would have slept through the whole thing if the other dog would have stayed calm:)

I'm thinking...about getting our garden in. We finally went and bought our plants last weekend, but haven't gotten them in the ground yet, and after the storm last night, I'm glad we hadn't. It's time though so hopefully the garden spots will dry out enough to allow us to get some planting done.

In the kitchen...I really need to try to make some gf bread again. I tried 3 different times in one day a couple weeks ago and each time failed!!! I used to make our whole wheat bread, but this is so different from wheat/yeast breads and I just need to keep trying. I REALLY want a sandwich:) Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend, besides the garden;)

Creativity this week included... Worked a little on the crocheted bag but mostly worked on a stitched bookmark for dd's 'Secret Sister'. I'll post a pic soon as we will be giving it to her today and dd gets to find out who her 'secret sister' is today.

My reading indulgences... I've begun to read through the Bible following a one year plan. I'm doing pretty well so far, but I mostly skimmed Genisis as I've been through it by myself twice in the last 2 years and once with dd for school, so I pretty much knew it:) I am also reading a V.C. Andrews book from the library. I haven't read any of her books for years (probably about 10 years). It's okay, but a little weird.

Around the house... It's a mess, again, or still, not sure anymore;0) DD and I have been gone so much this week that only the most necessary things have gotten done (like enough dishes to eat off of and enough clothes to wear). She has had 2 skating parties - one for Awana, one for Enrichement class, had her Awana program, a play date with friends, gymnastics/library day, and today her homeschool group has their last 'Secret Sister' party. Hopefully we'll be home this weekend:) Next week is much better as Awana is done for the year, no parties, etc. Just gymnastics and a 4-H meeting.

Project updates

Got a few minutes by myself right now. DD is just about done with school and so she is taking a break outside right now:) So I thought I would finally update with some of the projects I've been working on lately.

Here is a pic of our Passover table. The cute little lamb in the middle is to represent the 'Passover Lamb' since we've never cooked or eaten lamb before, we used this instead:) We kept things very simple, just mostly going over symbolism of things from the first Passover and how Jesus became our 'Passover Lamb'. (and yes, that is a big map on the wall:) We have a small house, so our living room is our dining room is our school room, is our computer room... you get the picture:).
Here are the scarves that I did. I really love the yarn (100% cotton), and how it had all the colors twisted together. They were really simple and quick to do, too:0)

Here is a little bigger project I've been working on off and on for a while. These are pieces of what will go together to make a blanket. Most of it will be brown with strips of cream and green. This is the softest yarn I have ever felt too, it will be so cozy once it is done.

I started this just playing with the extra yarn I had from one of the scarves, not knowing if it would work or not. I think it just might though. I'm making a back like this front and the red will form the bottom and sides to give the bag depth. I'll post a pic when it is done, if it works;).

I still want to do a post on our animals soon and I have a couple cross stitch projects that I've been working on that I'll post about once I get them finished. Oh, and pretty soon we've got to get the garden in so I'll post about that soon too (if we do much this year, we are trying to take it a bit slower in hopes that *I* don't get overwhelmed with it and just give up. Like last year, and the year before :).

Daybook Entry for 3-29-10

Time for another 'Daybook Entry' :) This does seem to help me post more. I never have anything big to share on here so this lets me share little things all at once.

Outside my window... It is beautiful today!!! Even this morning during animal chores, I only needed a sweater. I LOVE SPRING!!!!

I'm thinking... About Passover today. Tonight starts the beginning of Passover and we are doing a Passover dinner and going to read the symbolism of the first Passover vs. what Jesus did for us on the cross. Really excited about this:) This will be the first time we do Passover (it is part of dd's school curriculum with the study of Old Testament times) but after reading a lot on it, I'm hoping it can become a new tradition for us.

I am thankful for... Jesus. I don't usually talk about my faith much, but I need to. In not doing so I'm showing my family, friends and others that I don't really value it much. This needs to be what is on my tongue most all the time, not just when it comes up. I truly want to put Christ first in my life.

In my kitchen... Going to be doing some cooking and cleaning today. In the Bible, leaven is used to sybolize sin and for Passover the Jewish people clean out their homes of all leaven (yeast, baking powder and soda). While we (as Christians) believe that Jesus now cleans us of our sin, I thought we'd use this as a 'hands on' way to show getting rid of our sins. It'll be a good excuse to buy fresh 'leaven' in about a week and to get my cabnets clean:)

Creativity this week included... Mostly crochet. I finished my mom's scarf (just in time for spring!!! LOL) I forgot to get a pic of it done though. I also made another scarf in the same pattern, but different yarn and am working on another in a different pattern and yarn. Should be able to get this last one done tomorrow and I'll take pics soon:)

My reading indulgences... Still about Passover mostly. I really don't read a whole lot for myself, mostly because we read so much for dd's schooling. We almost always have a book on tape going in the car (this helps when most car rides are at least 20-30 mins long). We are finishing up 'Rainbow Garden' by Patricia St. John - all of her children's books in this series are wonderful:). We are also reading on the ancient Greeks, mythology and their gods/godesses. And we have daily Bible reading as well. I think dd is actually in the middle of reading two different books for herself as well:)

Around the house... Vast difference from the last post;) It is a mess and I have a lot to do today to get ready for tonight's dinner. I need to at least find the dining table, LOL!!! Probably will need to clean the kitchen some so I can make the dinner;) Okay, so time to get off of here, I guess :)

Hopefully I'll have some pics (if I remember) of tonight's Passover dinner and some of the scarves, and maybe it's time to do an update on all the animals out here as we have some that have grown and some that are new:)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Some pics (and a SNAKE!!!)

Well, I am finally getting to posting some pics (and at the end is an explanation of WHY I am actually getting to this). This is what I've been up to the last couple of weeks...


This one is of my limited embordery scissor collection. I've had more scissors than these, but I loose them pretty quickly:) And look Marianne...I've still got the ones you gave me for Christmas!!! LOL Actually I keep pretty good track of those being that they are my favorite:) Notice that they are all 'wearing' their 'fobs'. I have NO idea why they are called scissor fobs, but I guess that is what the pretty beading is called:) The top one on the right side (the green and blue one) was made by Monique of 'My Mark Designs' and I won it through a give-away she had on Facebook. It is really, very pretty and goes with my 'Rose Tudor' scissors perfectly. The rest, I made and I love working with the pretty beads to make up things to match my scissors. The one on the bottom left hand side actually goes on the zipper of my purse. It doesn't have scissors that it belongs to (YET anyway;). This one is a project that I started at the beginning of the year. A 'new year' project:) I'm about half way on it and it is another part of the 'Saltbox Scripture' series from Little House Needleworks. This one is "Blessed are the Merciful".

Here is a pic of a scarf I've been working on forever!!! I made my mom a blue scarf for Christmas and she really liked it. Said it was the first scarf she's had that didn't cause static, so she wanted another, but pink this time. Well, since I'm still learning how to crochet (I just used double crochet stitch in the first one) I thought I'd try something different. I've tried a couple different ways and I pulled them all out. They were okay, but just not what I wanted. So I'm now doing one row with double crochet and the next with triple crochet. It is finally working for me!!! :)
Here is the surprize I found this morning!!! My early morning routine is to get up with dh a little after 4:00 to make his breakfast/lunch and see him off. Then I stitch/crochet for a short while and then go back to bed. When I got to my room, this guy/gal was climbing out of a (rather large) hole in our wall. I didn't think to get a pic then (as I was freaking out!!!). But after he/she crawled back through the wall (hissing at me the whole time) and I called my dh and started looking in the basement to see if it went there, I did manage to calm down enough to get a picture. Our basement is one of those that you don't like to spend much time in and we've had to pull out most of the sheetrock because of mold, so that's why it is such a mess. Aparently that is exactly what this guy/gal likes!!! Well, I couldn't just leave it there, so I grabbed a couple broom handles (that my dd likes to play with - no broom, just the long handles;), and pulled it down into a trash can and put a box on it. I knew that wouldn't hold him though, so I put it into a cooler....

Do you think this will hold him? LOL :) I know they are pretty strong though, so I keep going down and checking to make sure it is still in there (I did unplug the drain hole in the cooler so it would have air). I have looked on-line and I think it is either a Kansas Glossy or a Western Rat Snake. Couldn't tell the difference between the two and wasn't going to open up the cooler to get a closer look. I know it isn't poisonous. It was trying to mimic a rattler, but I got a good look at its tail and there isn't anything there:)

Well, you now know why I couldn't go back to sleep (and why I may NEVER be able to go back to sleep!!!) and so I was up to put a new post on here!!! :)

It's already 8:00am here now anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter anymore that I couldn't go back to bed;0) I hope everyone is having a great day. Time to get something done for the day!!!

Daybook Entry for 3-19-10

Okay, I'm going to try something new for me in an effort to actually end up posting once in a while:) I stole this off of someone's else's blog and she called it 'Daybook Entry'. Not sure what I'll call it yet, but an update is an update, right? :)

Outside my window...It is cloudy and cold again. In for a snowstorm tonight and tomorrow, hopefully that will be it for the year!!!

I'm thinking...That I need to get off the computer and actually get something done today.

I am thankful for... The weather the last couple of days. It was beautiful yesterday!!!

In my kitchen...Not as messy as usual;) I do need to finish up the dishes and maybe try (again) to make some gf bread. I've not had much luck with that yet.

Creativity this week included...Cross stitching, as usual, and some crocheting. Working on an exchange for a stitching group on the cross-stitch and working on a blanket for us with the crocheting. Pics to come.

I am going...to our LNS tomorrow!!! At least I will be if the weather holds out.

My reading indulgences...Mostly reading on Passover right now as that is coming up soon. Also started reading another Amish fiction series.

Around the house...Not too bad. Spent most of yesterday cleaning. Need to finish up a few things, but it is realitively clean. The house is never clutter free though as it is so small and not enough room for what we have, but it is what we have:)

Well, enough for now. I'm hoping to do one of these once a week and may have a picture post once a week as well to help with keeping up:) We will see.