Current Craftiness

It has been a long spring. With a lot of snow. We finally seem to be in the clear *knock on wood* here's what's up at our house lately.

We put an offer on a house and have yet to hear anything. We are practicing patience....not awesome.

our friend the tomatoes are now as tall as the window in the dining room. We even have a couple pea sized fruits starting to grow. It would be great if we knew where our yard was going to be so we could put them into the ground, but again, patience. Arggh. That's our new garden gnome-or as Angie would say "norm" We have been toying with the idea of naming him Norm Swagger, but it sounds a lot like an imported beer. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing : )

Also, to use up all of this pent up energy I made my first quilt. This is for Nick and Joanna who are onto baby number four. They are due in July. Sorry about the crappy phone pic. but it's the best I could do. Hard to tell but the little circles have pictures of farm themed items. Eggs, chickens, and wagons. We don't know if they're having a girl or boy so I tried to make it androgenous. Wasn't too bad to make, actually. It's inspired me to take on a bigger one now. A king sized one for our own bed! Hopefully my sewing machine is up to the job, I'd love to give it double batting for a really lush feel. Yay!

Grow Baby Grow!

The windows are filling up with greenery. It must get warmer soon...

Peas, and tomatoes, and broccoli.....oh my!

Goodbye ugly couch!

What do you do get when you inherit a brown, gold, and green plaid couch? You get creative. Winter sheet sets were on sale at pamida for a measley $15 so I snagged a chocolate brown pair and whipped them into slipcovers for the cushions. I still need to line the frame but overall it is a LARGE improvement. Total cost to reupholster a couch, chair, and ottoman $17. Woohoo!   Pics coming soon...

Stress Test

I feel kind of like life is giving me a big stress test lately, just to see how much I can handle. These are some of the wonderful things that are keeping me going. (excuse the bad phone pics)

I made a $4 banner for my birthday using felt squares, ribbon, and tacky glue. So cheerful!

Seedlings are coming up strong, good because I'm getting sick of buying tomatoes and broccoli.

Shot my new shotgun out at the range. Crocheted a market bag and used it at coborn's - thanks for the

pattern mom. Insert theme song of the day "high hopes, we've got high hopes. high in the sky apple

 pie hopes!"

For Auld Lang Syne

So I'm reading up on folk tunes for all my little chitlins at school and I found a quip about Auld Lang Syne. Turns out there are more words in it than that, but who really sings them anyways? What WAS cool that I found is that in Scotland where the song originated they stand in a circle to sing it holding hands crossed. So the right hand would cross in front of you and hold the hand of the person on you left. Anyways, at the end of the song they uncross their hands and turn around so the whole circle is flipped outward and ready to go into the new year. What a perfect way to symbolize the changing of the year.

I was talking to momma Haggenmiller and we decided that this year we just had an awesome Christmas. And while I don't have any specific goals for 2011 I know it will bring even greater ups and downs. More love and hope and joy! One thing I picked up from my sister(inlaw) is the brilliance of an ereader. And while she swears by her Kindle, I went with the Nook for myself. See pic of the fantastic machine below:

and I've been reading...

Watch out Ernie and Berta, you are about to be dog whisper-a-fide.

Have a wonderful day!

Monday, Monday

Nose is runny, body is tired. No time to take a break right now. I already have to take tomorrow off for a dance workshop, so not going in today is not an option. Especially with a concert in a couple of weeks. On the positive side, I love getting up at the same time every day. Six o'clock rolls around and I am ready to go. Ernie is too, thankfully. We get up, have some chow (he has puppy chow, I have coffee) and watch the news on the couch. Then he goes back to bed for 5 hours while I work. What a rough life : )

hmmm. what should i chew up today?

I need a little Christmas Vacation!

So three weeks until my big winter shows at school and then the world is my oyster. I'm thinking we all need a little adventure in our lives and next on my bucket list is a road trip with my hubby. So no, it probably won't be this Christmas but soon. as soon as possible. and maybe if not a road trip- perhaps just bunjee jumping, or snorkeling, or I know Tim would love a hunting trip somewhere wild. So what's the best way to save up for vacation? Money in a jar, or stick with the savings account? We need something highly motivational to keep us on track. Well, I'm off to Bing to get some ideas for a trip. Once we decide on a place we can really get the ball moving. If the world is our oyster I sure hope there's a pearl inside!