Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Project Life 3/19- 3/25



S

till working on Project Life here.

Each week I find myself amazed at how quickly another week has passed, and so grateful that I captured tiny glimpses of life here....

::Friday 3/19/2010
Timmy, "Mommy, Mommy! Look!" I can't begin to tell you how excited he was to have found his very. own. um.....
worm.
You would think we had no other pets or toys around here the way he treated that poor worm! I *love* Timmys "take" on life~ it's all totally new and exciting to him. Even worms!

::Saturday 3/20/2010
The first full day of spring here arrived along with 12" of snow! Wow! Abbie said, "Come on Mother! Let's take our cameras out in the woods and take a walk!"

::Sunday 3/21/2010
5 month old Great Dane puppy "Dude" finds great delight in taking mittens and hats from little boys who are sledding. We finally had to make him stay indoors for a while so the boys could sled without the stalking and tackling Dane. Timmy thought it was really funny to show Dude his mittens and hat through the window. Dude was trying as hard as he could to "grab" the tempting mittens from Timmy! So funny!


::Monday 3/22/2010
ok, I know, Timmy is in almost every picture this week. I really didn't plan it that way.... honest. This one simply *had* to go in the album for Monday though~ it *so* captures Timmy's personality. Love it.



::Tuesday 3/23/2010
The electric company crews were on our street today trimming the trees to keep them away from the overhead power lines. The boys were totally entranced by this.... what's not to like? Men climbing 60+ feet up into trees while holding chain saws~ I'm sure that several of the boys have new career paths planned out...


::Wednesday 3/24/2010
Remember the peanut butter jars? It turns out that the lids make great wheels! Josh and Jon had a blast creating these cars for their Playmobile men. Love their ingenuity.

::Thursday 3/24/2010
Caleb found this tiny airborne seed floating on the breeze and captured it, insisting that I photograph it. *Love* God's attention to detail! (and my son's growing awareness of that beauty as well!)


Enjoying His myriad of blessings here~ praying that your week is blessed as well,


Linking up with:



Saturday, March 27, 2010

Chapter 46



T

he chapter in which she began to do that which she knew she should.....


What if we could read our lives like a book?


What would the Lord have your next chapter include?



'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'
Jer. 29:11


What will your next chapter include?  I'd love to hear.....





Thursday, March 25, 2010

Be still my soul....

::::Edited: For some reason, this whole post isn't showing up from my home page here. If you want to read this post in it's entirety, you will need to click on the title and then you will be able to see all of the photos and text. Sorry!

S

ometimes the Lord slows me down.

Last Friday it was a bike wreck.  I'm so grateful to have received a phone call yesterday that my wrist/hand was not broken.  So I'll be back at it soon.

I was just bruised, scraped and yes, forced to slow down for a while.  (Plus I ended up getting a taser to carry when I bike ride out of the deal.  That's what happens when you are married to a policeman and someone threatens you. LOL!  Most bicyclists are nice... just not the one who sideswiped me.)  

That was Friday (when it was almost 65 degrees).  Saturday it snowed 12" here.  


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Project Life 3/12- 3/18



B

ack again with another installment of photos that will go into our Project Life album this year. Basically I am taking a photo-a-day and slipping it into an album. What an incredible slice of life I have saved that way already this year. So much that I most certainly would have forgotten entirely.

::Friday 3/12/2010
~ Some ominious looking clouds~ spring must be coming. We just ended up getting a little rain, nothing worse than that.


::Saturday 3/13/2010
I usually try to avoid shopping on a Saturday, but I couldn't get out of it this week! So today I went to purchase animal food (note the bale of hay in the back of the minivan~ the pickem-up truck is on the fritz), to Sams, Aldi, the library and even the hardware store. Yea baby, power shopping! I took three of the little boys along to be my special helpers ~ and they were a great help. Of course they know that shopping is a priviledge... if they get the "gimmie hands" they won't get to go along next time. I sound tough, but they know I won't have disobedient helpers along, so then we have fun together!


I also saved this photo of the car... thought it was so funny how Josiah buckled in the large box of eggs from Sams. (I wish my laying hens would get busy this spring!) The buckling did work... no eggs were broken in my zeal to return home from shopping. I actually sized this photo so it would fit into one of the journaling card slots. So I have two Saturday photos this week.


::Sunday 3/14/2010
Playing around with my camera before church. Mirrors are such fun. I took a bunch of pictures but this was the only halfway decent one. I'm still learning about taking good pictures indoors without using a flash or tripod.

::Monday 3/15/2010
Tom, and our two oldest boys at home left for a fabulous trip to Arizona! They were able to visit the Grand Canyon, do some hiking etc with my parents. (Abbie and I get to make a little trip out there in a few weeks~ yay!) I'm praying that we can take the whole family out there next year. I am planning on making a two-sided 8 1/2" x 11" photo spread of pictures from their trip to AZ to slip into a page protector and add between the main pages for this week. Love that I can do that with this album. I've really be inspired by Ali Edwards to use a variety of sizes of page protectors in one album.

The weather was relatively nice today, so I went out to play with the boys. Some moms have the problem of their children running away when the camera appears. Not me! "Mom! Take my picture! Mom! Look at me!" So funny.

::Tuesday 3/16/2010
OK, I'll admit it. I only included this shot because it makes me feel like Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman!

What do you think?

We raise Nubian Dairy goats... mostly so we have the good milk for our family. They seriously think that they are pets, not livestock. When I went out to take photos today they all had to check out the camera. There could be something good to eat there, ya know? Gotta' check that out.

OK, enough goat noses.

:: Wednesday 3/17/2010
We are thick into the mud season here so when the boys get tired of playing swimming in the mud, out comes the Playmobile and blocks.

::Thursday 3/18/2010
Another favorite indoor activity this week: dominos. No, not the "real" game, the "see-how-many-you-can-line-up-before-your-little-brother-knocks-them-down" kind of dominos! Aaah such fun! Just joking (mostly!)~ actually the boys really do have fun together most of the time!

The days pass so quickly, don't they?

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Psa 90:12

Linking up again with:

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pineapple Coffee Cake- GF and "regular" ~ edited and *corrected*!!

H

ere's one of our favorite breakfast recipes!  I'm going to give you both the original and the gluten-free version.  Trust me, you won't even know it is GF!



Pineapple Coffee Cake
yield: 1 9"x13" pan


1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. brown rice flour (I accidentally omitted this when I first posted it~ so sorry!)
1 tsp. guar gum (only if baking GF)

Combine all of the above dry ingredients and mix before adding the following liquid ingredients:

1/2 c. oil (I like to use olive oil)
1 c. honey
3 eggs (fresh brown ones are the best!)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple


*optional: for an especially yummy treat, stir in 1-2c. frozen blueberries!

Add the liquid ingredients, mixing until combined.  Pour into a 9"x13" sprayed pan.  Then prepare the topping..

Topping

3 c. freshly ground pastry flour (or for GF, use brown rice flour)
1/2c. sucanat (or you could use brown sugar)
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. rolled oats (for the GF version, be sure your rolled oats are certified GF)

Combine the topping ingredients, then sprinkle on top of the batter in the pan.

Bake at 350 for 35 min or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.



Hope you enjoy this...

Have a blessed Lord's Day, friends!

susan

Saturday, March 20, 2010

"Seams" like spring, perhaps?

T
om and the two oldest boys were out of town this week, so I gave the littlest children a light school week  (the older ones do work independently) and I used a little of this.....


 and a little of this......


to make this



and this



The skirt is reversible! Such fun!  Here it is, reversed...





I used Sabra's idea here.... with some modifications.  I made my skirt longer and I lined it because calico is a little see-through in direct sunlight.  Basically this is a really big skirt... the top is sewn together through the bias tape binding far enough that the skirt can still be pulled on, then wrapped and tied.  

You can then untie, open the skirt, twist it 180 and retie for a reversed skirt!  So clever, Sabra!  Thanks!  (and thanks Cinnamon, for cluing me in to this idea!)

I'm really looking forward to warmer weather so I can wear this with some cute flats and a T.  Love!
The other tunic top is the "Amelia Shirt Pattern."  It is super-easy and can be found here.  It is a PDF pattern.

Also Abbie cut out another tiered skirt like this one found here.  Hopefully she'll be able to get it sewn up today.

In the "flop" category, I worked on these pj's... really cute pattern and Cindy Taylor has the *best* directions!  However, the size I chose ended up being *way* too big!  Not like, "comfy big," more like "swimming in it big."  Bummer.  

Next up: I want to design/make a bag for my camera, a few lenses, and room for cell phone, billfold, etc.  I have a few trips coming up this spring and I'd love to have a cute/practical way to carry those things.  I am using this as a possible idea.  (*WAY* out of my price range!) or perhaps a backpack like this one with divided areas for the above-mentioned things.   Anybody have any ideas?  I'd love to hear them!

We are getting a tremendous amount of snow today... so once I'm done with lesson planning and other necessary work, I am looking forward to some more working-in-the-warm-house creativity!  (I would go out sledding with the boys~ which I love, but I had a little bicycling "incident" yesterday, so I am nursing a bunch of bruises and scrapes....)  

Had to bring this little guy in to rescue him from the First Day of Spring blizzard here...

One more good sledding day will be fun for the boys and the snow can't last long this time of year, right?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

susan



Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Operation Central

A

fter many requests.... (you know who you are!~ wink) I am going to give a little tour of my sewing/craft/homeschooling-in-the-winter room. Whew!

My situation is a little unique in that my "command central" is in the front room in our house. I really like being out in the midst of everything that is going on, but I try to be careful not to leave "works in progress" strewn about the room for too long. Actually, come to think of it, that may be good as well!

I was tempted to put off this post until I could finish several things here, but in the interest of being "real," I'm going to go ahead and post.

Tom and I have always been committed to doing things when we had the cash, so this has been pieced together over the 24 years we have been married, acquiring some things here and others there. Definitely a work in progress.

When you enter our front door, to your right, this is what greets you: my little office/studio! Welcome!

I am in the midst of several sewing projects right now, so you are seeing "real life" here. I have a little closet in the hall that I store my sewing machine and serger in when I am not using them, but today they are out and humming happily away, that is, when I put my camera down.

Also, I hate it when people appologize for photos, but I'm going to anyway. I can't help myself. Sorry it was so cloudy again! Not a good day for photos, but I'm doin' it anyway! So there, cloudy March day, take that!

I just painted the big chalkboard area behind the counter... so fun! I used magnetic paint first (did you know you could purchase that at Home Depot?), then coated it with chalkboard paint! The chalkboard is ready to be "seasoned" by rubbing chalk all over it, but I haven't decided how to frame it in. Am I going to paint on a frame or purchase trim boards and nail a frame up? Decisions, decisions.

Anyway, I'm lovin' having favorite black and white photos up there and am envisioning some favorite Bible verses and/or quotes, and perhaps even some crafting "to do lists" there as well. As I said, "work in progress..."

On the opposite wall is one of the first pieces of furniture that Tom and I have ever purchased (just last year!). So funny, but true. We've been married almost 24 years now and finances simply wouldn't allow me the luxury of even garage sale shopping for most of our marriage. We haven't had to sit on the floor though! My parents have generously handed items along to us as they have replaced them, as have other friends, etc. I'm totally fine with waiting on the Lord and enjoying His provision in His time.

This red hutch we did purchase though, at an amazing price from the same company that made our kitchen cabinets. I love this piece of furniture! The red color, the distressing, the shelf space, all of it!


I should have stepped back further when I took the photo, but there is a nice space under it which you can't really see, that I would love to fill with big baskets at some point. Big balls of yarn in one, etc.... I'm sure I will find just the right thing to go there when it is time.


On this side, some rubber stamps, ribbons organized generally by color, a few favorite photos....

On the other side, my parents wedding photo, my thread, again organized by color, markers, colored pencils and a basket that I keep my Bible and pens so I can easily grab it and go any time.




To the right of my red hutch, I have my dressform which I purchased at a black friday sale a few years ago (it was the only thing that could tempt me to brave a "black friday" sale... but that is another post entirely!) and my calico fabrics organized in cast off drawers turned on their side, again, by color. Under the fabric are photo albums and sewing/crafting books.


Then there is this corner of my room... my computer is here, plus the printer/copier that I use for school and a photo printer. This "L-shaped" countertop was one of my first acquisitions... we found this mis-cut piece of kitchen countertop for $15... probably almost 20 years ago now. I originally had two-drawer file cabinets under each end and a sawhorse under the back corner, but gradually we were able to replace those. Still it is missing some trim and certainly isn't perfect, but I really, really like having all that space to work on!


Did you see my button jars on the shelf up there? You guessed it, color coded! Love these buttons... many are from my great-grandmother, some from yard sales, and some I have added through my 25 years of sewing.


And here is a view looking back toward the front door. Looks like little Tim is ready for bed! He's playing a song for you on the harmonica!


Did you see the three drawer plastic cart? I don't leave it out, but it is nice to store the sewing projects that I am working on there. I roll it into a hall closet to put it away, and can easily pull it out when I am ready to work.

I have a great way to store sewing patterns which I'll share soon.

Here's that same area, when I'm not sewing there... ready for school work. I do have an actual homeschooling room, a finished basement room. We heat with wood though and it stays, like 47 degrees F. down there most days since the wood stove is in the front room here on the main floor. I'm much happier up here by the woodburning stove, so the children who work one-on-one with me simply bring their schoolwork up to me and we work here most days.

I actually like working up on the main floor because it is easier for me to pop in the kitchen and tend to some cooking, plus be sure that everyone is "profitably occupied," if you know what I mean!

Remember my Scrabble magnets? The children and I had fun using them to label the black and white photos that I put on my magnetic chalkboard.

There you have it... one of my favorite rooms in our house! I love all that goes on in this room... investing in my chidren through teaching them, and the creativity that happens here. What a priviledge it is to serve my family through sewing and creating a home for them with the things we have. A rich life, indeed!

Thanks for stopping by~ I *love* having you visit here!

susan