It's Sunday morning and I am not at church. I have sick children. I am also waiting for my oldest sister to come by with my oldest son on her way to drop him off at school. Complicated eh? LOL. Friday my oldest sister who lives in Northern Virginia came down to Lexington to visit a friend then she was headed down to Stuart to our youngest sister's oldest daughter's high school graduation. LOL, don't worry my husband says it's a Southern thing. She kindly picked up Lt Col. and dropped him off here. Then yesterday we went down to Stuart to the graduation and he stayed with his aunt and cousins for the night and today my oldest sister is kindly bringing him by to pick up his clean clothes and stuff and drop him back off at school on her way home. Makes perfect sense to me. LOL.

I haven't sewn since I embroidered those shirts Friday morning. I worked outside Friday and then went to the store. Of course Saturday I was gone all day. I did have something sewing related happen Saturday. My niece's graduation party was a combined party with her friend at her friend's grandmother's house. The grandmother has a pool. I had never met these people and so when we got there I noticed a quilting machine in her basement. I ask and found out she teaches quilting. She is such an artist! She gave me a tour of her quilts in her home. They were amazing! It was so inspiring. So I enjoyed that!

Today I may clean my sewing room. Our little bee keepers last fish died and so they cleaned out the fish aquarium and moved it to his bedroom in preparation for his getting new fish. Now, I have more space in my sewing room and I might try to get some of my stash out of the closet and find a way to see it better.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I had a slow start to my day. I thought I just wasn't going to get much done. I seemed to get distracted and interrupted. Finally, I did accomplish something though. I got two loads of laundry done and hung out. The wind was blowing just enough to dry them fairly quickly. I vaccumed the living room, bathroom, and kitchen floors. Lessons were completed. I embroidered 4 more patches, and worked in both gardens.

This morning I have already finished embroidering four shirts for two ladies. So, this day is starting on a better foot.

This is a picture at the upper garden looking down on the house. I live in SW Virginia. Everything is up hill! You can't see from this photo, but down on the right is the other garden. If I had my way I would plant the whole yard. I think the General would like to plant the hills so he wouldn't have to mow them!

Sew Long for Now!

We got the upper garden tilled and almost all planted yesterday. I still have two rows of beans to put in. This picture is of Captain Kitty with her feet buried in the soil. My children love to play in the dirt, even my older children. You would have thought we were having a party in our backyard this week. When we worked on the gardens we all went out and we did as much playing in the dirt as working. We all commented at one time or another how much we love the smell of fresh plowed dirt. I guess it's those German and Scottish farmer genes in our ancestory. We had as much fun together doing this as going on an outting some where!

I still haven't done any sewing since Monday. I haven't done any laundry since Monday! I haven't done any house cleaning since...since last week. I am not talking everyday tasks like making beds, washing dishes, etc. I mean the ceiling fans need dusting and the floors need mopping kind of stuff. They house is straight just needs some extra tlc. Hopefully, I will get some sewing in this afternoon. Off to hang out laundry and check the gardens.

Sew Long for Now!

Picture taken by Captain Kitty overlooking our valley

I feel like I am on that ride at the park, you know the one, that is round and has bars radiating from the center. You and several others get on it and beg your Mom to push you faster. It spins you round and round. I really never liked that ride growing up so I definitely don't like it now! I just want it to stop and get off, but who ever is doing the pushing thinks it is funny and keeps pushing me faster and faster around.

Life this past week has been a series of days of running around. I just want to hide in bed and never get up. I don't like all this running around. Everyone knows I don't. I thought today I would finally get to stay home. Noooooo. I have to take the van in to get new tires installed this morning. I have to go with the General to his swallow therapy appointment. What about my sewing? What about my laundry? What about the rest of my garden I need and want to plant? I keep telling myself that God never gives us more than we can handle. I can do all things through Christ. This is the Lord's day and let Him guide my steps.

Sew Long for Now!

We live in what is called the Star City. The nickname comes from this huge star that sits atop a local mountain.

Saturday afternoon our Sunday School class had a picnic up on this mountain and I took this picture of our city from the overlook. I actually live more towards that hill in the middle of the photograph between the city and the mountains in the background.

It has been busy here the last several days. Friday the General picked up Lt Col Cool from school. His first year of college is over. He survived. Today I take him back, summer school starts tomorrow. So about six more weeks and then he will be home for about six weeks and he is going back for his second year.

We bought plants for the garden this weekend. We bought a new tiller. Then it rained and showered and rained. So the plants are not in the ground yet. I will get my herbs in today.

Right now I have to leave to take Captain Kitty to play practice. Tonight is her play. If you have time stop by her blog and read the great poem she wrote.

Our little bee keeper got his first bee stings this weekend. I was so proud of him and the way he handled it. He was adding to the water jar and blew on the bees to move them. They didn't take that well and he got about 5-10 stings. He said he learned that you don't blow on bees. I bought him the coverall part of his bee suit yesterday and the General is going for the rest tomorrow.

Sew much more, but no time so I will try to talk to you later.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday we were expecting rain, but the sun came out until the afternoon. I was able to hang out my dish clothes and tea towels, which I had soaked over night. Then I hurried and washed two quilts and a fleece blanket to hang out. I made two pairs of jeans into capris for Captian Kitty and I made some patches for 4-H. I had some pain in my arm so I didn't finish my embroidery. I ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon because I forgot last night was Bernina club. Since it is every other month I have tried to go to that. I was so thankful I went last night. They covered how to use the ruffle foot. I bought one last year on sale and have never taken the time to figure it out. Now I don't have to! She showed us how to use it. She also showed us a great technique for using a tailors tack foot and putting fancy edging around two pieces of material you butt together. I have one of those feet and I don't ever remember using it so that was useful information.

Today Lt. Col. Cool comes home for a little break between the end of the school year and the beginning of summer school. I have to finish the embroidery because the shirts are being picked up today. I am not sure what else I shall do involving sewing. I have so many ideas I want to work on though. I really need to spend some time and clean up my sewing room. I have neglected it lately. We don't do lessons here on Friday because it is one of the General's days off so I might have extra time in my day, I am very tired though. Even taking a nap when you only sleep for 5 hours it catches up with you, so I will probably take a 1/2 hour nap sometime today. Tomorrow I have to stay up late again. I am not good with messing with my sleep pattern and this week has been so out of wack with the beginning of next week not promising to be better. By about next Wednesday I should be good and teary and cranky.

Sew Long for Now!

No exciting sewing pictures. I did embroidery four shirts yesterday and I took one of the pair of pants we bought for Captain Kitty at Goodwill and made them into capris for her to wear last night.

This picture was taken last Thursday when they added the rest of the parts to the hive and they checked the bees. I got a laugh yesterday about the bees. We have a jar of sugar water sitting on the landing deck of the hive. We put it there to help them out until they become established and find enough nectar. Since added the other parts to the hive the bees have really hit the water. They are working hard to fill those other supers. When the General came home from work he needed to add water. I fixed up the solution and he brought me the jar to fill. When he went to put it back on the bees were pretty mad that he made them move to put the jar back and he got chased down the hill. teehee. I just thought that was funny, I guess I shouldn't laugh.

Last night was awards night at Awana. Our little bee keeper is our last child in Awana and so I took a nap yesterday and stayed up to see him get his award for finishing his book. Next year will be his last year and he will get his Timothy award if he completes his book. I got a little teary eyed watching all those cubbies and sparks then thinking that I have gone through this for all these years and after next year my last child will be moving up into junior high. It seems so unreal, sometimes the years seem to fly by. A friend of mine had her last child, her fifth, finish Awana last night. All of hers started out as cubbies and went through at least the sixth grade. I thought about this young man as they mentioned this. In the last year I have noticed how mature and kind he has become. He has grown up so much. I was thinking how I hope that our little bee keeper will also go through this metamorphis. He's a great guy already, but I see so much need for maturity in him. Another friend wants him to go to summer camp with her son. She doesn't want her son to go this year by himself because this will be his first time. We usually make the children wait until they are older before we let them go away and spend a week without us anywhere but Grandparents. We let Captain Kitty go a few years ago, she was so much more mature at that same age than him. The General said he couldn't go. He needs to mature and start living on our planet before we felt comfortable. He just seems to be off somewhere else all the time. He never remembers if he has been somewhere. He doesn't remember the names of the children in our neighborhood he plays with. He is very bright, but his thoughts are usually on dreaming up something to build or some fantasy world he creates. These are not bad things in my opinion, but they do make you have second thoughts about letting him do certain things. My friend was not happy about our decision and insisted she would talk my husband into letting him go. I have to laugh again. She doesn't know my husband very well!

Today I am going to embroidery little emblems on the backs of those four shirts. I am also going to make two more pair of pants we bought into capris for CK. I need to work on more patches for 4-H. Off to sew!

Sew Long for Now!

I wanted to join Little Jenny Wren in her day in my life post.

My day started at 2:15 a.m. today. I got up hoping the papers would be on time, but of course they were not. I packed the General's lunch and did some reading. Finally about 3 a.m. I got the little bee keeper up because he was going to help me this morning. The papers arrived at 3:30 a.m. and we hurried as fast as we could getting them out. We did great because we finished and were home by 6:15 a.m. The little bee keeper went back to bed and I talked to the General before he left for work at 6:30 a.m.

I came on the computer to do my paper work and read e-mail and blogs next. About 8 a.m. I started laundry. At 9 I got Captain Kitty up. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed and when I saw what a bad job she did of her evening chores it didn't help my attitude. She sat down at the table to eat breakfast and read a book. I was sweeping the living room and kitchen. After I calmed myself I sat down to talk to her about her work ethic, which caused a great amount of tears. Sigh, I don't like moodiness. Finally, after getting her to calm down and talking to her about what was expected she went to get dressed and I ate my breakfast. During this time the little bee keeper got up. I got the first load of clothes on the line.

After breakfast both children began their lessons for the day and I got the second load of laundry on the line in the midst of cleaning the stove and oven. I do not care to clean the oven. It is suppose to be a self cleaning oven, but in the 17 years I have owned it that feature has never worked. Since I dislike this task I had put it off for too long and it took a while to get it clean. I don't use oven cleaner. During all this I would stop to help with lessons so that prolonged the job also. Also during this the little bee keeper took a break between studies and checked on the bee hive. Ants had decided to descend on it and he felt I needed to do something about it. I try to avoid working with the hive. I like to leave it in the hands of the General and him. At his insistance though I called the General who ask me to put some ant deterant around the hive. We don't own any protective gear yet. The General is going next week to get some, he has to drive to another city to visit the store. So I sucked in my feelings of fear and went to do the task. Of course the little bee keeper shadowed me and was flicking the ants off the hive while I put the stuff in a circle around it. The bees buzzed around me as I did this, but the little bee keeper told me to just walk calmly and not make any sudden movements. I was glad when this task was completed. A customer stopped by with four shirts for me to embroidery. The children finished up their work about 1 p.m. and I got ready and ran to the store. I hurried home because I needed to take the little bee keeper to his piano lessons. While I was at the store Captain Kitty and the little bee keeper helped me out by cleaning the bathroom. On the way to piano I stopped to pay a bill and then after piano lessons we came home and I made supper. Captain Kitty helped me bring in the laundry while supper was cooking. I made a tuna casserole, baked a sweet potato for me, and made a salad. I don't eat much meat and try to avoid pasta. While I was setting the table for supper the General arrived home with more bee hive equipment that a friend had given him. After supper I packed the General's lunch for today, the little bee keeper cleaned out the van from the haul of dirty bee hives, and Captain Kitty cleaned up the dishes. I put away the clothes from washing and by 7 p.m. I was in bed. Everyone else stays up later than I, so they all settled down to watch tv.

Sew Long for Now!

Good morning, here is the hive with all the parts together. This picture was taken last week. The weather has become overcast and chilly again here. I have no sewing pictures today, because I did no sewing yesterday. I took Captain Kitty to her drama practice. While she was there I did lessons with our little bee keeper in the car. Afterwards we went to Goodwill because CK had no shorts or capris. We found some great buys. I found her 4 shirts, 3 pair of shorts, and 4 pair of pants. On the way home we stopped by the library to drop off and pick up books. When we got home she had to do her lessons and then the General was home and supper had to be fixed and the day was over. Time just seems to fly on some days. Today is our little bee keeper's piano lessons and usually the General takes him, but some one found out we started a hive and invited the General to come by after work and have his pick of his bee keeping stuff. This man is no longer keeping bees and was going to throw the stuff away. I told the General I would take him to lessons. So add that into other things I have to do today. At least I only have one customer order for sewing right now. It will all get done, if not today tomorrow, or next week. This last picture is of our little bee keeper smoking the hive last week when they put the rest of it together. He just jumps right in and does what ever needs to be done. Amazing.


The weather today is suppose to warm up. I am so glad. I don't really like hot weather, but I would prefer not jumping back and forth either. I am ready to plant my gardens.

Sew Long for Now!

It's been a busy weekend. I finished the table topper for the present. Aren't Momma's wonderful? She didn't notice any of the flaws. I finished embroidering the shirts and jacket. I also hemmed three pair of pants. Friday was the General and I's 22nd wedding anniversary. We never celebrate because two days after our third anniversary, on Mother's Day we gave birth to our first child. This year though we actually got to go out to eat together, alone. Said child, who turned 19 yesterday, was off in the woods playing survival games. Of course Saturday was spent at my parents with some of my brothers, sisters, and nieces celebrating Momma's 74th birthday and Mother's Day. Sunday I had a horrible sinus headache and went back to bed when I came home from the paper routes. I missed church and spent the rest of the day in my p.j.'s. I went back to bed early. The children were great and I got two beautiful cards and lots of attention. One card included a coupon for ten free hugs (this was from a teenager!) The other card, from my little bee wrangler, was in the shape of a honey comb. On the back it said I was the "qeen bee and sweeter than honey." Awwwww! They can be so cute and sweet. You just gotta love em!

Sew Long for Now!

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on my present. I sewed all the strips I had cut out into five sections of eight fabrics each and then I cut them into triangles. Today I have to get these triangles sewed together. I only have today and tomorrow to finish this project. I also have three shirts and a jacket to embroidery by tomorrow. I also have to go to the store, the cupboards are bare. I also promised last week to meet a friend today for a play date at the park. I also have to be home by the time the General gets off work because he and his friend will be here to put the rest of the bee hive together. I also have to pick up a cake for our oldest because his 19th birthday is Sunday and tomorrow morning he is going back to school for a week and so we will not see him on his birthday. I am calm, I can do this. Well, I can do it if God wills it. I just have to trust Him and let Him have today. The day so far hasn't been going the way I would have chose. The papers were late and then within the first fifteen minutes of starting to deliver them I developed a flat tire. I had to call the General at 4:30 a.m. this morning to come help me fix the tire. We got home in a reasonable time though for all the trouble.

Yesterday our little bee wrangler took 40 more pictures of the bees. He got quite close for some of these pictures. We don't have a telephoto lens! This is just one shot. I ask him if the bees didn't mind and he told me they didn't like it, but they let him. Sometimes I am just amazed.


Sew Long for Now!

Today's post is filled with bee pictures. This first picture is of the main body of the bee hive that now sits filled with bees in our back yard. All of these pictures have been taken by our 10 year old bee keeper. He spent most of yesterday "checking" the bees. He is not afraid to get up close and personal with them as these other pictures will atest to.

He began a journal yesterday. He is going to write the temperature morning, noon, and night then write entries about the bees activities. I need to order some bee suits if he is going to keep wanting to be this close to the bees! This is becoming such a great learning project. He is practicing his penmanship and outlining also. Oh, and don't forget photography.

Besides the buzz about the bees here, (sorry I couldn't resist) I embroidered 3 shirts yesterday and cut out all the strips for the birthday/Mother's Day present. I was thinking about what I write. You know I do a lot more things in a day than I write about. I often do not include the simple tasks I do in a day. Just some of the things that stand out. I have been reading a blog of a homemaker in Tasmania and one day a month she writes everything she does in a day on her blog. I love to read it. I like to see what other homemakers do. If I were to write out what I do in a typical day what would it look like? How about yesterday?

I got up at 2:30 a.m. and got dressed. I packed my husband's lunch and copied things on the family calendar that I hadn't written. The papers were late so I got our daughter up around 3 a.m. and we left to deliver papers. We finished delivering papers at 5:45 a.m. and came home. I fixed some toast and talked to my husband until he left at 6:30. At 6:30 I came down and did my paper work, read and replied to e-mails, and read blogs until 8:00. At 8 I hung up my first load of laundry. When I came in I dusted the livingroom, opened the windows and curtains, swept the living room and kitchen. At 9 a customer came and dropped off sewing. Next I pulled out our bill file and sat down and wrote out bills. Around 10 I helped our youngest with his math, language arts, and read from The Life of St. Augustine out loud to him. At 11 I woke our daughter and hung out a second load of laundry. By then our oldest son was also up (he's home on leave from school for this week.) I made pancakes for lunch. Next I wrote out a list and gave our oldest some money so he could run to the grocery for me. After this I worked on my sewing until 3 when my husband came home. I talked to him for a while before he took our youngest to piano lessons. I went back to work in the sewing room. About 4 I stopped for the day and went to begin supper and check our daughters school work. Our daughter and I worked on supper together. She had already brought in the clothing and folded it for me. We had supper around 5. After packing my husband's lunch from supper leftovers I went outside and sat in the rocking chair while he and our youngest checked on the bees. Another customer showed up about 5:30 bringing me pants to hem. At 6:30 I popped some air popcorn and watched 1/2 hour of tv. I went to bed at 7. LOL, that's a typical day. I love my unexciting life.

Sew Long for Now!

Yes, I did find material in my stash for the birthday/Mother's Day present. Yes, that was all I basically got done yesterday. Sad isn't it. Today I must do more. With that I am off to start the day!

Sew Long for Now!

Efforts for Sunday afternoon card making. I used a simple idea. I also made all the cards the same since I needed 6 thank you cards and two Mother's Day cards. Mondays are a strange day around here lately. Captain Kitty is in a play this month and for the past several months we have to be out of the house at 9:30 a.m. to get her to practice. I don't get home from our Sunday night prayer group until late. So instead of going to bed early and getting 7-8 hours of sleep I don't go to bed until later and get 4-5 hours of sleep. That makes me tired when I get home from work so I lay back down for an hour or two. When I lay back down I don't get my day started or anything done before I leave the house. Everything just gets off. Add in that today the General and I are going to Lexington to pick up Lt. Col. Cool and my day is all out of whack! I don't think I am going to get anything accomplished. Maybe I will get to go through my closet of material and find what I need to make a birthday present. My Momma's birthday is Sunday, so is Lt. Col. Cool's. Since LTC has to be back at school Friday for some trip over the weekend and his last exam is today he is coming home for a couple of days to relax and to visit. It will be hard to not have him here on his birthday. This has been a year of many hard things with him. You know these days are coming, but you try not to think of them when they are little. Days when your baby will grow up and start living a life away from you at times. I remember days when he was small and played under my feet in the kitchen as I worked and now he is off with a wave and the kitchen floor is barren of cars and trucks. I know there will be more birthdays, Mother's Days, and holidays he will not be around. It's just getting used to that idea is sometimes harder than it seems on the outside. I smile though because I want him to become a man. I spent 19 years helping him get to this point.

Sew Long for Now!

Revise that list. One baby pillow half finished. One is off to be delivered today!

Sew Long for Now!

TADA! I just had to pop in again this afternoon. I finished my bag. Several months in the making and it is finally complete. That suede is hard to sew through when you get four or more layers of it together. It feels so good to have another UFO done. What's left on the cutting table? Two baby pillows half done, material to cut out shopping bags, hemming for Captain Chaos, and 3 shirts + 1 jacket to embroider for a customer. Oh, and the badges I can't forget the badges. I found a way to make them look the way I wanted. I will write about it later when I have them done and can show you what I finally settled on.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here and not a bit of sewing got done. I spent most of the day outside. I guess for some one who has to take a prescription for vitamin D that's a good thing. My body has stopped producing all the vitamin D it needs and the doctor has had to put me on an extremely high dose of vitamin D by prescription, will I ever be normal? Today they called for rain, but it is looking like another gorgeous day so I am off to do some more things outside. I don't know if I will get any sewing done today. The General commented last night that it was a perfect day, all of us working together around the house. He loves to have the children work with him on projects. We all like to be together.

Sew Long for Now!

Silver thread monogram on blue jacket

Yesterday I worked in the yard and on the wash and ironing. I did redo a digitize I set up to change the size for another project. I talked to the General about how last week I seem to get so much done and this week I just couldn't seem to. This morning I did embroider two jackets already. I need to go hang out clothes and do some house work. I hope to work on some unfinished projects I have sitting here this afternoon. When the General comes home from work I need to help in the yard again. He is mowing and I am raking some to collect the grass for my compost bin. He will bag the backyard today so that will be a little easier to get the grass in the bin. We live on a hill. Our front and backyard are steep with a few flat spots. It is hard to bag our whole yard because of the steep incline while mowing.

Oops I almost forgot I wanted to tell you about supper last night. The friends who gave us the bee hive also gave us some deer and elk meat. We have never had elk. I decided the best bet would be to mix it in something to find out the taste first. I mixed one pound of ground elk with one pound of ground beef and made spag. sauce. It tasted great, no complaints. I froze the leftovers for later.

Sew Long for Now!

I wish I could write about all the sewing I had done, but I can't. I embroidered two baby pillow fronts on Monday and tried to work on the 4 H patches again yesterday. I must be too picky. I hate the way they look. Why oh why can't I find a way to get these patches done that look decent to me? I am tired today for some reason. I guess it's the weather. This morning when I got up at 2:30 a.m. it was 35 degrees. Just a couple of days ago it was in the 60's at 2:30 a.m. I had better be off to do some things around the house.

Sew Long for Now!

Pictures of our bees. They have been put in the hive and the queen has been added. We heard they are taking to it well. They will be here soon.

This is our queen being added.

Showing our bees working building honeycombs on our supers.

This is a picture of the bees before being added.

Captain Chaos has really gotten into this idea. He is getting excited to see the bees. I checked books out of the library on beekeeping and he is devouring them. He keeps telling me what he is learning. I love to see a child so interested in a subject. Especially this child who sometimes tends to live in a fantasy world of Star Wars and Bionicles. To see him take to this real life adventure makes my heart soar. Now this is what makes homeschooling so great, I can give him the time and space to develop this love. He can study bees to his hearts content and doesn't have to be stopped because they are not on the SOL's. He can learn the history of beekeeping and not get behind in a mandated history curricula. He can learn about a bee's anatomy and that their sense of smell is located near their stinger, their heart is shapped like little hot dogs put together where most things spines are and not worry he has science he hasn't done. He can write a paper on anything about bees he wants and it will count for his English. Do you get the feeling I love hands on learning. My greatest dream of homeschooling would be to study history by being able to visit all the historic spots in the world as we do it...sigh. I would love to go to Rome to study the Roman Empire, travel the Oregon Trail to study the history of pioneers moving west, or visit the battle fields of Europe to study World War II. Wouldn't that be the ultimate learning?

Sew Long for Now!

Sunday after church Captain Kitty and I made some cards together. I needed some thank you cards and she made some generic cards for us to use as needed. I used to make cards a lot more often, but lately I seem to never find the time or strength to get out all the supplies. I was dreaming how nice it would be to set aside Sunday afternoons between church and when the General gets home from work to card making. Maybe we can make it happen?

These delightful "bee" cards are for the folks who helped us get our beehive together.
These other cards are thank you's to customers who have given us a tip this month. This first card is one I colored. Sometimes even as an adult I enjoy coloring. Isn't it nice it can be something useful so I can excuse my childish desire!
A little fun with flowers.

Sew Long for Now!

Just popping in briefly this morning waiting to get ready for church. Yesterday was a great day to get things accomplished. I put two zippers in, embroidered a hat, repaired a hole in a skirt, made four pillow cases out of an old sheet, cleaned the bathroom, swept the livingroom, ironed, did a load of laundry, and other assorted small tasks. Wow, it felt nice to have a sense of accomplishment.

This is a sweatshirt some one brought me and ask me to cut the center and put a full zipper in.
Here is another one the same person wanted only a zipper half way down the front in.
This is four pillow cases I made out of a white flat sheet. I paid like $4 for the sheet for our oldest son for college. He ended up not needing as many as the list said so he brought me the extra. I love recycling.

Sew Long for Now!

Stacey at Your Sacred Calling has put into words what I have been struggling with.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday our bee hive was delivered. The General is so excited. He refers to himself as becoming a bee wrangler. LOL. It's nice to see him excited about this. I took Captain Chaos, who has not been so chaotic this week, to the doctor yesterday and he has strep. I found time to embroider four more shirts and hang out two loads of clothes. This morning I have already embroidered four more shirts. Captain Kitty has a violin recital tomorrow so I am trying to get caught up on things. I am hoping the General will mow this weekend so I can rake the yard and put some of the clippings in my compost bin. Yesterday I took the kitchen bucket up and emptied it. I ripped up some newspaper and mixed it in. We were going to put the garden in this weekend even though our area still has chance of frost until May 10, but with extra music lessons today and recital tomorrow we are going to wait until next weekend. We usually buy most of our plants already started so it shouldn't hamper growing season too much.

Sew Long for Now!

picture found at Allposter.com

Yesterday I embroidered four more shirts for a customer. I also hung out two loads of laundry. I did most of Captain Chaos' chores since he was sick. In the evening while cleaning up after supper I noticed the shadows through out the house and took some pictures to share. The above picture is of a pitcher sitting beside the kitchen sink. Isn't it beautiful with the shadow falling on it? Oh, and I looked down CC's throat-white splotches. Today he is feeling a bit better but we are going to the doctor. Strep maybe?

late afternoon sunlight streaming through a kitchen window.

afternoon sunlight peeking through the living room window.

Sew Long for Now!

The sun's come out today! It has been rainy for several days and I am so glad to see the sun. Yesterday I got a good amount of sewing done. I repaired a pair of jeans our daughter had ripped riding a bike and I embroidered four shirts. I also did the dreaded task of going to the grocery store. Today I hope to get some more shirts embroidered, some clothes hung out, and what ever else comes up. Captain Chaos is ill. He has had a fever and soar throat for three days. I made him do his lessons the first two, but the General said he could have a rest today and lay around all day.

I thought about writing something concerning my overwhelm when reading mommy blogs around the blogsphere. I can't it's too depressing. I just am not worldly savvy as other moms and I don't think I want to be. I read one mom's post about how after staying home for six years she feels unchallenged. Sigh, 13 years of being a mostly SAHW and I somehow never find time in my day to contemplate those type of deep thoughts. I seem to be always challenged. I am challenged to climb the mountain of laundry everyday. I am challenged to clear the mountain of dirt every day. I am challenged to find something to feed the family everyday, and not make the boring same things day in and day out. I am challenged on stretching our thin finances even further these days with the rocketing prices. Some days I have even more challenges then I want when I have to deal with a sick child. Sorry world that I don't have time to worry about whether CNN.com has been banned from China or not. I don't know how these women do all their home tasks and have enough time to keep on top of worldly finance, politics, religion, etc. It makes me feel guilty for not being able to.

Sew Long for Now!

Good morning!

I don't know about celebrating earth day as a one day holiday, but a reminder never hurt any one. We, here at our house believe God gives us the earth and all that's in it to be stewards of. We try very hard to be good stewards. We try to live eco friendly every day, not just one day a year. Some of the things we do here is of course grow our own veggies in the summer. We never use any chemicals when we do, we never have. Like last year this year we will have two plots in our yard. I would love to one day have some fruit trees and strawberry beds. Last year I found tons of wild strawberries growing in our yard and tried to cultivate them, but they didn't work so very well. We recycle. We have always recycled some paper and plastic, but a while back I found out our city takes even more types of paper and plastic and so we had to ask for another bin because I started to add more. This spring we started a compost bin. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but never made the time. My goal is to see how little garbage we can put out weekly for pick-up. Another project we are starting this week is bee keeping. We starting talking about having our own hives this past winter. Last year the honeybee population was so down where we live that it was hard to get pollination for our garden. God made a way for us to get started. A friend of the General's from work is a bee keeper and he offered to help us get going and gave us the info on how. We have friends at church who are bee keepers and sell honey for a living. I mentioned to them this past Sunday that we were going to start a hive, but it would probably be next spring before we could afford to buy all the gear. I got a call yesterday that this family is giving us a hive! I just cried because of the generosity! Thursday they are setting up the hive and the General's friend has already secured us bees! God is good. I wanted to get some chickens also, but that might be too many new projects in one year. We buy a lot of our clothes at the Goodwill, we also donate all our outgrown things to either friends who need them or the Goodwill. We buy a lot of our things second hand. My eliptical machine we bought used at a store in town that sells used sports equipment. One thing I have not done yet, but have been wanting to is bring my own bags to the grocery. Hopefully I will get some made soon. In the meantime I have a coupon for a free bag at Krogers and will redeem that today. We do not use convience foods very often. We usually cook from scratch here. We buy a lot of fresh foods so there is not a lot of packaging. I hang out our clothes when ever possible. It is not so hard to make these simple changes in your life. Go for it!

Sew Long for Now!

The past two mornings the moon has been just awesome. About 5 a.m. the moon has been so big and orange. As I am driving along it gets to this point right before it drops below the horizon when it seems to sit on the mountains. At times like this when you see the handywork of our Lord I don't mind getting up at 2:30 a.m. every day.

Yesterday I put the invisible zipper in the prom dress and embroidered two shirts. Yeah I got everything I planned done. That maybe it for sewing until Monday. I have loads of other stuff I need to do, but I also need to do some family things also.

Sew Long for Now!

I took a picture of the box of finished aprons, but that picture is boring. This picture of the VMI bagpipes is more exciting! Don't they look handsome? Thirty aprons are embroidered and delivered. I started another set of patches for 4H yesterday, but didn't have time to finish them. Today I need to put an invisible zipper in and embroider two shirts. At least that's the plan for sewing. The housework plan is more extensive with cleaning and laundry that needs attention. The weather forcast is for a nice day so I am off the enjoy it.

Sew Long for Now!

This first picture is to make you smile. This is on my husband's table saw on our back porch. When I walked by it the other day all I could think was this is a man's version of a table center piece! Isn't it cute.
Here at Castle Verde I love green, inside and out. Most people know that almost every room in our home is a shade of green. Yesterday, as we were out and about, I breathed in the nice spring air and looking around noticed how green it was suddenly getting. The leaves are starting to appear. The air is at just that right stage at this time of year that the sky is that gorgeous shade of blue. This is a tree in our backyard. Isn't the sky lovely, isn't the tree beautiful!
This morning as I hung out laundry (with my gloves on because it got cold last night!) I was looking at the grass and noticing it turning green. I saw the sunshine and shadows from the line and thought what a beautiful scene. It's warmed up now. The day is progressing nice. I am getting housework done, lessons with the children are moving right along, my sewing machine is humming away beside me. Oh, it makes me joyful and thankful when I get to do the things I love. I am finishing up the aprons today. Next up is putting a new zipper in a prom dress for a young lady.

Sew Long for Now!

An embroidery I digitized and completed for a customer. I have been getting some sewing work done. Brrrr, it has gotten chilly again. I prefer 70 degrees and sunny!

Usually when I go to the grocery store I buy a lot of groceries at one time. Yesterday while Captain Kitty was at drama practice I dropped into a Krogers near where I was and picked up two items. One of those being six Roma tomatoes. I had a lot of change and had figured in my head approximately how much it would cost. One item was 69 cents and then 1 1/2 lbs of Romas at 1.79 a pound. I figured around $4. I had that much change. When the cashier finished ringing me up he said $7 and something. I did a double take. He ask if I had a Kroger card and I had forgot to give it to him so I handed it to him and he swiped it, but it didn't change my cost. I told him it was wrong. I said those Romas were 1.79 per pound. He told me I hadn't bought Romas I had bought vine ripe tomatoes the sticker said so. I being a some what knowledgable gardener laughed. I told him no they were Romas (different shape you know.) He (being about 18 and not seeming to know his tomatoes) told me I was wrong. I told him if I was wrong I didn't want those tomatoes. I spotted the produce manager and ask the cashier to double check with him. He took my bag of tomatoes over and spent a few minutes arguing with the produce manager. Like the produce manager nor myself knew what we were talking about, the sticker was the final say! It seems the produce manager won the debate and the guy had to come back over and change my price in the register. There is a moral to this, not just to show my knowledge of tomatoes. Always check your receipt when you go to the store. I buy lots of produce and it makes me wonder how many times I have been missed charged. One time I spent a long time in line because I bought zucchini and the young man (another young guy cashier) couldn't figure out what code to put in. He kept asking me what they were. He didn't know and he couldn't find zucchini on his list. I suggested he look under squash. Sure enough they were listed under squash-zucchini. It also makes me a little sad that young people don't know vegetables. Maybe it's just here, I do live in a sort of large city.

Sew Long for Now!

I don't often include pictures of myself because I am the one usually taking the pictures. The General took this picture Friday when we went to VMI to pick up our eldest son. This was right after the parade. Our son plays the tuba in the VMI band. He just learned this year. He wanted to learn the bagpipes and has a chanter, I forgot to ask him how that was going. He took guitar lessons growing up and taught himself to play the base guitar. I hear he played the clarinet for a while in the band. All my children have a musical gene. It skipped me, but my grandparents were very good musicians. I have encouraged them in learning music. Even if they never do anything with it I think music is a great skill to have and enjoy.

The weekend has been nice. Friday and Saturday the weather was good. I got oodles done. Friday I embroidered three burp clothes for a lady, and four more aprons besides the trip up to Lexington. Saturday with all my guys here they helped me build a compost bin and I hung out laundry. The wind was blowing nicely and it was a perfect day to hang out clothes. They dried rather quickly. That is the first time I have used the clothes line since last fall. Today the weather has gotten chillier and they are calling for flurries in some parts.

I have been reading Patty's postings about being in the moment over at Morning Ramble and it hit me while hanging out laundry on Saturday that some time (most of the time) I am always hurrying around. I work a part-time job 7 days a week/365 days a year, I sew for people out of our home, I homeschool our children, I take care of all the indoor housework, gardening, and finances of our home. I do this for lots of reasons. My husband works a very physically demanding job and up until December of 08 he worked two physically demanding jobs. He had to give one up because he has now been diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. I do whatever I can to make his life easier and I want to do that. It's just that at times I feel overwhelmed. So, back to the clothes line. As I was standing there hanging clothes, feeling the warm breeze, and watching the guys putting up my compost bin it occurred to me that I could rush off and go do one of the thousands of tasks that needed my attention or I could stop a minute and watch them. Take a minute to walk up the hill and join in. I could enjoy the moment of having my two sons and husband together. Something that doesn't happen all the time these days since our oldest is growing up. I did. It didn't take hours out of my day and I still was able to come down to the sewing room and work on projects after. It made me think I need to do that more. I guess I need to pay attention more. Pay attention to the people around me. Stop a minute. I thought back and realized over the past several years how many times I spoke to my children while doing a task. I have a bad habit of thinking that I have to always be working with my hands. I guess it is from growing up with the saying, "idle hands are the devils workshop" drilled into me. I still think they can be, but sometimes especially when your children hit those teen years they need your to stop and just be with them more than doing for them. Sigh...will I ever learn things in time before it's too late.

Sew Long for Now!

I feel so much better these days. I have changed my sleeping pattern so I get 7-8 straight hours of sleep each night. I have changed my eating pattern so I can eat more raw and healthy foods. The only thing I was struggling with was getting exercise. Yesterday I made myself find time for a 20 minute walk. Last night the General took my to a local store that sells used and new fitness equipment. I found a used elyptical machine for a reasonable price and we brought it home. We live in a fairly small home so it will be in the way at times, but our health is worth the sacrifice of home beautiful. This morning I began learning to use it. I made it five minutes. Five minutes and I was out of breath and my body felt wobbly. I am going to give it another five minutes this afternoon and work my way into 20 minutes of straight use. I feel so much better because I have actually been getting some of the sewing done that is piling up. The picture is of the aprons I am embroidering for a local church. They have a full time kitchen there and wanted 30 aprons embroidered. I am slowly getting through the pile. I also finished digitizing both the designs I was working on and one will be sewn out this weekend on the finished product. I have also found time to work on my bag. It is almost complete. I need to rip the bottom off and re-work it, but it is nice to see it coming along.

Life seems nice right now. I have been smelling honeysuckle as I work. I love the smell of honeysuckle. Last night while delivering papers I caught the scent of wild onions and newly mowed grass. I love smells. I don't know why. They trigger memories in me. Well, off to sew and then to VMI this afternoon to watch the parade and pick up our son for the weekend.

Sew Long for Now!

I chose a picture with a view from my parents back porch. It is so much more inspiring than a picture of what I have been working on, a computer screen. I have been digitizing two designs this week. I am so excited the first one sewed out with only a slight change needing to be made. The second I will sew out later. I am afraid I am still working on the patches. Sigh...I just can't get them the way I want them. I also haven't got to the pocketbook again, either.

On the bright side, lessons have been completed every day and I finally got my kitchen floor washed this morning. I feel I have accomplished something. In just a little while the General will be home so I must be off to finish things so I can be available for him when he gets here!

Sew Long for Now!

After almost a month of not sleeping and a major melt down for me I had to give in and change my routine drastically. I began last Thursday going to bed at 6:30 P.M. It was so heavenly to sleep for 8 straight hours. I hadn't done that for a year. It may take a while to get used to this new schedule and so I hope to get back to getting more sewing done. I haven't been able to lately because of exhaustion. On Friday we spent the day up in the mountains for the General's birthday. Spring is playing peek a boo with us here.

Sew Long for Now!