A pictoral goodbye to 2008

that's not to say that I won't be posting more about 2008 in January...but here are some pics which require little commentary, and a far past-due for posting.





































There you go, knocked out all of October and November with one post! Whee!


Happy New Year!

12 days of Christmas

well, yesterday was another flurry of last minute Christmas crafting. and I have managed to take photos of all but one of the gifts I made this year...

But that's not what this post is about.

we're trying to keep up with the momentum of Christ-focusing we did during Advent, and so are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. We've been reading about the magi, La Bafana/Babushka, and continuing to listen to Christmas music.

One of my new-favorite Christmas songs is by a band I've never heard of before...Downhere



I love their sound! I want their whole album now. They have a Queen sound, as well as maybe the Killers...yay! What fun!

The song is just so full of the true meaning of Christmas. It's awesome.

Happy 4th or 5th day of Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas!

We've had an incredible winter wonderland going for the past few days. I love snow! I hate driving in it, but it's fun to be stuck at home.

My brother and his wife are staying with us to avoid being stuck at their cold little place, so it's like an extended holiday.

Maybe on Christmas I'll have time to post some crafty goodness and some Otters in the snow pics as well. We'll see.

I hope you all have a joyous Christmas, remembering what Christmas is really all about. God loves us so much!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Husband!

Hi all,

I really have a ton to share, but, as usual, no time--no time to upload or edit pictures, and certainly no time to blog. Expect lots of Christmas stuff during the 12 days of Christmas, when things slow down a bit.

In the mean time, Tom, my dear and wonderful husband, is doing a great job (along with his brother) at keeping new content coming on their webcomic. So, go check out The Legendary Boys Of Floyd, and wish Tom a happy birthday--and vote too!

Craft Addict Give-Away

I am usually too lazy to blog about other bloggers. (Although, please check out my ever-expanding blog roll, to the left and down, lots--and I mean lots--of great blogs on there)

Despite my laziness though, I thought this Craft Addict Give-away was such a great give-away, I had to share it. Not so much because of the stuff, although that's cool, but because the requirement for entering is to comment there about our favorite charity.

In addition to Easter European Outreach, my other favorites include The Mobility Project, Alpha Counseling--a local christian counselor that saved my marriage, but has no website--and, just this year, Advent Conspiracy.

Click on the give-away links above to enter, or even on the title of this post, or, on the graphic, kindly provided by Craft Addict herself (I'm a new reader of the blog, so it's an assumption that Craft Addict is a gal, I hope I'm not wrong! ha ha)

Happy St. Nicholas day-eve! (which we *are* celebrating--maybe over-kill since we'll still have Christmas day present-opening as well. *shrug*)

Christmas Prep

Well, I'm actually aching over not taking advantage of cyber-monday free-shipping deals. It hurts. BUT, I don't really need to buy stuff. I don't.

Plus, I don't have my own credit card anymore, so I couldn't even hide it from Tom until the bills arrived. He'd know, and then it wouldn't be a surprise, not to mention us not having the money for that sort of thing.

So. There you go.

Yesterday, Eve was bored while I painstakingly crafted an advent chain for her. I look forward to the days when she can wield the scissors safely and effectively. But, she really really LOVES the advent stuff.

So, we made green paper hand prints and "built" (aka taped to the window) a hand print tree. On this will "hang" (with tape) the little coloring project jesse tree ornaments

We made a no-staples, no glue*, paper advent chain. Half of one anyway. I ran out of time, and needed to pay bills after the kids went to bed, so the rest will have to happen tonight or tomorrow or whenever--hopefully before we run out of the chain as it currently stands.

*The chain itself uses no glue, however, for Advent, I glued the devotionals to the inside of the links. Now you see why I ran out of time before I ran out of crafting duties.

Our first day was yesterday. She colored a small picture of a stump with a shoot coming from it, while I read a bit from Isaiah (11:1-2). The devotional was about David and how God has a plan for us.

She wanted to read the "story" (the devotional) again, right away. Instead, I read to her about David from her beginners bible.

I'm really looking forward to Advent.

Now I have to decide--really quick--if we're going to do St. Nickolas day.

I'm strange

As I was deciding on a title for this post, I also toyed with the idea of "Obligatory I'm-sorry-it's-been-so-long-since-my-last-post." When I settled on "I'm strange" it occurred to me that the content of this post is certainly not the only strange thing about me. It's possible "I'm strange" will become a common posting subject.

I think this particular oddity about me probably has it's roots in psychosis of some sort.

I am a collector. Interestingly, I don't collect anything that can be proudly displayed. I'm not into knickknacks or even all that obsessed about shoes. Once upon a time I tried being a stamp collector, then a collector of carousel horse music boxes, and lastly a barbie collector. I still have the dolls, and someday, Eve can have them. I never managed to maintain my ardor for any of those things, and I can't say I've ever bought myself anything to add to my previous collections. I wasn't that in to it.

My collections are more utilitarian in nature.

fabric, vintage textiles (to use as fabric), vintage buttons...

Boxes, salvageable Christmas and birthday wrapping, including tissue paper, gift bags, and ribbon.

Boxes? Okay, maybe that's not strange. You wanna know what is?

I can't use all this. No, I don't mean I have no use for them, I mean...I can't use them because then I would no longer have them.

Need to mail a package? Maybe there's a recent box in the garage, because the ones in my collection are very unique and I might need those dimensions some day, and the thing I'm sending can very well fit in any old box.

Need to wrap a gift? I can't just go out and get all this pretty wrapping I've saved--it's, at this point, 10 years old! It's precious. Irreplaceable. Where's that new roll of paper from the dollar store?

If I don't have to cut the salvaged ribbon or wrapping paper and the recipient of the gift will be opening the gift in my home...then maybe I can use it. After all, if they're careful, I can get the ribbon and paper and box right back--ostensibly to dispose of it for them. Yeah, right.

Fabric? Well, that I'll use if there's plenty of it. But once I get down to the last half-yard, I can't very well use it on this project, after all, the recipient of this sewn gift wouldn't possibly value this lovely fabric as it should be valued. I'll save it for someone who would, if such a paragon exists.

And Fabric fat-quarters? Those lovely squares of fabric sold pre-cut to be used by quilters? They just happen to also be the perfect size for little bags, head bands, etc. But I might as well not even buy these--and lie to myself that I'll use them--because if you only start with a quarter of a yard, you can't use it for anything and expect to have any left over. Come on!

Buttons? Oh dear, these are worse than boxes. No chance of getting them back if I incorporate them in a gift. So, although this green Bakelite button is the perfect shade and size for this project, I'll have to find something a little more common, because, as usual, the recipient couldn't possibly know how special a little green button is, right? Right.

Ribbon? Perish the thought! This stuff doesn't grow on trees you know. How often to you get a gift wrapped with a fabric ribbon? And do you have any idea where one could buy such ribbon to replace this scant yard of lovely chocolate raspberry top-stitched grosgrain? No? Well then, don't expect to see it leave my trim box.

Sigh. What is wrong with me?!

There have been a few instances in which I've used my beloved boxes, buttons and ribbons. Because, I know it's not healthy to constantly collect and never use any of it. And then I must bite my tongue to keep from gushing rather inappropriately about this or that.

As a smile, my heart says, "I'm very glad you like it. I did spend a bit of time making it. It's made from my favorite ever wool coat...I wish the coat was still wearable. I've had it forever! There's not enough left to make anything else. Isn't it the best fabric ever? Just look at that color!! And did you see that cute little button there? I've had it for 6 years. Found it at Goodwill, can you believe someone just gave that away?! I know!! And um, that box. Did you notice it actually has a magnet in the lid to close it? and the board is so substantial! Not to mention I didn't have to wrap it, since it's covered in silver paper and there's even a bow on top! I had not trouble wrapping your gift in it because I actually have another at home! I can have my cake and eat it too. Please don't throw it away. If you might, perhaps you should just give it to me. It's really a great box. Even if you won't throw it away, unless you really love it, maybe you ought to just give it to me anyway. You don't need that thing lying around your house, right?"

Talk about obnoxious. And insane.

Are you strange? Share in the comments (or link to your own blog) so I can feel slightly better about this. And laugh at you. ;)

Embroidery

A few baby onesies, and even a few gifts for some grown-up friends. I really enjoy grown-up gifts, as I'm usually stitching on woven fabric rather than knitted t-shirt material...fun, fun.

Child Labor

The darker side of why my house is always spotless...

The Swallow days

The Swallow days occur for a short period of time--usually 3 days--here at our little lake in late August or early September, when the Swallows, en masse, begin to head South. They take a small holiday from their journey right here, literally at our very house. They snack on bugs and fly around in such large groups as to look like swarms of bugs themselves.

I took some photos of them which don't do their beauty, agility, or sheer numbers justice, but serve to give you a small taste of those things.





In addition to Swallows, this is one of the few times each year we get to see a Falcon close up. This one was, no doubt, waiting for the right opportunity to thin the flock. No better time, certainly.



I can't help but be happy and energetic on these days, as the life and activity of these creatures fills me with joy. I feel so blessed that my home is right in their path.

They serve to remind me, as so much of my life these days, that God is the great provider, and that I ought not be anxious for anything. These birds aren't concerned about tomorrow, they simply take what is given today, and let tomorrow worry over itself.

Eve and I, and even Israel, spent a lot of time gazing out our windows, leaving chores undone in order to enjoy the spectacle of such natural entertainment.

Thank you, Lord, for such pleasures!

Confessions of an Elimination Diet Dropout

Well, not really a dropout. Let's just say "We're on a break" the Elimination Diet and I. She is a cruel mistress.

To date, I have discovered that I am quite strongly allergic to rice, of all things. Additionally, I can say without a doubt, Soy and I are not friends. However, after that, things get fuzzy...is it tomatoes that are causing my problems, or chocolate? Or perhaps Millet, or Teff? Or could it be Cane sugar? Winter Squash? Maple Syrup? Honey?

And so, I have to go back to a strict diet of lentils, Mung and Adzuki beans, veggies, and a few mild fruits. Then, I have to painstakingly "challenge" things as innocuous sounding a Millet and Squash.

But Saturday night I had Pizza! And Sunday I had Candy Corn and Coke and fried chicken and Ranch dip and steak and mashed potatoes and jojos and PIE! And today, I've had a sausage breakfast sandwich, a donut, and a mocha!! Wow...so fun. On the other hand, I don't feel quite so healthy as I've been feeling. So I definitely don't want to make this kind of indulgence the norm.

I'll begin my Lentil penance on Wednesday after I restock my pantry with Elimination Diet vittles.

More on Voting

Well, if you're not too upset with me for going all political on you for a moment, let me ask for you vote on behalf of my husband.

His and his brother's Web Comic, Legendary Boys Of Floyd, is plugging along and growing in readership.

Go check today's post and give him a vote.

Thanks!!

Interesting?

I came across this video, regarding the current financial crisis in the US. I thought I'd share it with you and get your thoughts. Please keep discussion civil.

Kid Pics

Well, due to the annoying situation of all my photos not being on my computer, I don't have pictures of everything I had planned to blog about. There are embroidery projects galore, and Wildlife on the Lake to share...but I don't have those pictures. Very bothersome.

Instead, here are some summer pictures.

green frosting fingers...or toxic waste? You decide



Peanut's first birthday cake, take 2



I gave Eve her very first pedicure (sans polish), and she was looking ever so grown up.







Israel, practicing his "Blue Steel" Zoolander pose. He's a kid who want to to learn to read and do other things well.



Other happenings at the company picnic. Eve had a great time doing the scavenger hunt, and helping my boss verify the collected items of others. Not to mention eating stuff that made her face really messy. That's one of her favorite things. It's such a cute face though.





Just too cute not to capture







Playgroup at Abby's.



Eve, helping daddy with his Legendary Boys of Floyd web comic stickers.





Playgroup at the park. All I wanted to do was get a picture of her in that outfit...it's such a good color combo on her...and all day, I was getting these looks.





Blue eye shadow, glittery lipstick, and blush, applied by glamorous cousin Ann.





Playing in cousin Levi's Shark tent







I do have a few pictures of a few embroidered things...up next.