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.

Updated pics

Finally getting around to putting up the pics from the last post:) Here are a couple pieces I've been working on. I love the bird, though I did change several of the colors to ones I liked better.

This one was done as a Christmas ornament exchange. I think this is the first ornie that I've finished and I like how it turned out. If it hadn't been such a pain in the hiney to stitch (it was stitched on 32 ct, over one) I might think about making another for me:)

Here is a pic of my crocheting basket. Just various beginner projects, none of which I have finished.

This is the colonial style dress I made as a play dress/costume for dd. It is a little wrinkly here and it turned out too big on her, but it is cute and worked for her 'enrichment' class dress up day. This was quite a project for me as I hadn't made more than a skirt since high school (and then I had a teacher to tell me what the pattern meant:) Other than the zipper (which I could go back and fix, but won't) it turned out pretty good.

Lastly, this is one of our new cows. We have four, but I couldn't get them all to pose for a picture at one time:) This one was the closest and the best picture. They all have slightly different markings, but are pretty much the same. This one is named 'Spot' (for the spot on his rump). There is another that has a spot on his rump too, but has a black face and there-fore is named 'Black Face'. Another has a pure black back and is named (wait for it, we are so cleaver with naming cows;), 'Black Back'. And the last is named 'T-Bone', first because we are mean and second, because he has a big white 'T' mark on his back. We only name them because we need a way to tell them apart when they are little and get sick (that way we know which ones to watch and which ones need meds). We don't have enough to go to the trouble of tagging yet, so for now naming them will work:)

Nothing much new going on around here other than getting ready for Christmas. I am actually going to get Christmas cards sent out this year and got new pics of dd too:) I am also stitching some ornies for gifts and something for dd too, though she doesn't know about that yet.

Hope everyone is staying warm (we AREN'T!!!) and having a good holiday season:)

Been a long time:)

Okay, I know I said I'd do better and blog more;) I usually am waiting until I have pics to share before I write and well, I'm not good with remembering to take pics, and so I don't post.

Today, however, I'm going to just write a post with no pics so that I will at least get an update on here.

I've been busy, busy here lately, but for the next couple of weeks it looks like things are slowing down, which I really like:) I'm very much a 'home-body' and so lots of running makes me a little crazy:)

I've been sewing (a costume/play dress) for my dd, running to lots of activities for her, learning to crochet, doing a bit of stitching and looking at all the fun Christmas crafts I *might* get around to doing at some point. We also have taken our Jersey bulls in for slaughter and have 4 new (about 3 weeks old) Holstein bulls. They are really cute and I will get a pic soon before they get too big. I had forgotten how much work the little ones take though, as they get sick pretty easily when they are that young and aren't with their mommas. Between making sure they are all happy and well and bucket feeding a couple times a day (not to mention the 'clean-up' they require), they alone keep us busy.

I've also started helping out at our Awana meetings in the 'Cubbies' group (they are all the 3 and 4 year olds, and are so very cute:). That has been a lot of fun and as I'm already at the church with dd, it helps the time go by quicker too. Our Awana meeting is about 20 min away from home (as it just about everything else:), so it doesn't work out for me to come back home during the meeting. And this is much more fun anyway:)

Hopefully I can get some pics taken of some of the projects I've been working on and can then post them soon. No promises though:) hehehe