Sold!

It's finally sold! We had a this old circa 1970's Traveler trailer parked in my front yard for almost a year...ok 6-7 months now, and finally it's gone. I put an ad in the local paper advertising it for sale. Someone came out today and took it! YEEEEHAAAAW! I don't have to mow around it anymore. I also got $500.00 cash for the thing. It was in good shape actually, almost like new. It was just dated and in the way. My husband's grandfather bought it years ago from someone who had it parked in their backyard. Then, it sat parked in his back yard for years and finally he GAVE it to us. (Gee thanks, just what I need, more STUFF!) We knew we would not use it so we decided to sell it.

But as it comes, so does it go. The $500 will go to clothes for the kids. LOL My oldest needs sweats, underwear, jeans, button downs and he wants a few really "cool" ties, oh, and dress shoes. My oldest daughter needs some nice winter "church clothes", boots, undergarments and maybe some jeans. The middle child needs jeans, boots and undergarments. My youngest needs jeans, jeans, jeans and, oh, did I mention jeans? LOL 8 year olds are tough on pants! Believe it or not I need some slacks and maybe a couple of skirts for this winter. But I really don't need as much as the kids.

So far, no painting has happened yet. It turns out my husband's partner and his family will be out of town until Sunday, which means hubby has to watch over the rehab project. Good thing too, the crew did not understand that the stairs were being resized and would have completely messed up the second floor of the house. My husband had the hardest time trying to explain it to them. He finally had to walk the foreman down and show him what he meant. That is the one of the drawbacks of having a Mexican crew. That language thing is hard. I speak some spanish but I don't think I could have helped to explain over the phone. LOL Anyway, after a while the foreman said, "AHHH! " and started lining out the men. They do excellant work. Unfortunately, they did not show up for work this morning so my husband started on other things. Which BTW, he said was actually a good thing. It would have been difficult to work with the crew as they would have been trying to literally work over the top of each other. On the other hand they get upset with him at times. My husband's partner is not a carpenter. He gets in there and helps but he is not a professional. My husband is a 4th generation carpenter and knows things they don't teach in the Carpenters Apprenticeship Program at the Union Hall. So, if they don't show up, the partner just shrugs his shoulders and goes on with his day on another rehab project. My husband comes in and if they don't show up starts working on whatever needs to be done, often times THEIR project. He just smiles and says, "If you want to be paid, then you need to show up and work. I can't wait for you, I have a deadline to meet." He's got a point. So anyway, that is my round about way of telling you that, he's THERE working on the project and not HERE working on my project, again. LOL

That's ok, it will get done soon and then I can get to decorating for Christmas. I have this dread about Christmas this year. Last year I was able to contribute to Christmas and it was great. The kids got a lot of really great stuff. But now that I am not doing the soap and personal care products anymore, well...there isn't the extra money. I am not sure what we'll do. I just am putting faith in God and I keep reminding the kids; Christmas isn't about recieving, it's about what we can give to others. Just as God gave us his Son that none should perish but have everlasting life. Can I hear an Amen?

Well, I need to get something done around here today. I have been a major slug all day and the house looks it. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great weekend! See ya Monday probably.

katcha

You Glow Girl!

LOL, yesterday was fun for the girls and myself. I had to take my oldest daughter to the allergist and the youngest daughter to the Library to pick up her panda collection she had on display.
We stopped at one of those Sally Beauty Supply houses to get some thinning shears. (My husband cuts my hair!) While we were there, they had little bottles of nail polish for sale on a display. Buy 2 (.99) and get the 3rd one free. I told my girls to pick one each and then one for me. It took them forever to pick a color for me but they finally agreed on a pretty lavender for me. My girls on the other hand, picked up 2 bottles of glow in the dark nail polish! They could not wait to get home and paint their nails. My daughter finally talked me into taking off my precious apricot nail polish (my all time favorite) and letting her paint the glow in the dark stuff on. We applied 3 coats and tried to expose my toes to as much light as was available.
We watched "Biggest Loser", don't ask who I am pulling for because I like them all and think Suzy is cute as a button. Afterwards, we read Proverbs and had prayer with the kids before they went on to bed. After the good night kisses and hugs were given out, hubby and I watched the telly for a while. After the 10:00 News we went to bed. I waited until he got all nestled in good before I turned off the bed side lamp. I pretended to be reading a book. Finally, lights out it gets quiet for a moment and I say, "My toes feel funny. " Pull my feet out from under the covers and hold them up in the darkness. "OMGosh Tony! Look at my toes!" He peers up into the darkness to see 10, glow in the dark spots floating about. "You have been waiting all night for this huh?" I started giggling and said "Yup! Your daughter was the one with the idea." I kept giggling and he said "OK, put your feet down and get to bed...you nut." Never a dull moment...poor man.

Today is cold and beautiful. I made homemade cranberry sauce this morning and am fixin' to put together the pies. Pecan and pumpkin. I LOVE Sweet potato pie, but since I started making my casserole everyone says they would rather I make that instead of pie. Here is my killer recipe:

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups boiled sweet potatoes (canned is fine)
2 beaten eggs
1 cup sugar
1Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter

Topping:

1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix casserole ingredients and spread in 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle topping ingredients evenly over potato mixture. Bake @ 350 for 20 - 30 minutes. This recipe can be doubled.

I am also thawing Mr. Butterball now. I don't stuff my turkey, I always do the dressing seperately. I make Cornbread Dressing not regular stuffing. Since I first ate Southern Cornbread Dressing years ago I have loved it. My midwestern family doesn't like it, but my goodness, what's not to love about it?!

I am also making my own rolls this year. I am pulling out my cookbooks now to find the perfect butter roll recipes. Better than the brown and serve kind from the store. These will be the nice round kind. So here is my Menu for tomorrow.

Turkey & Cornbread Dressing
Gravy
Corn
Green Beans
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Suace
Deviled Eggs
Relish Tray
Homemade Butter Rolls
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Real Whipped Topping
Ice Tea

I think that is it. We'll be eating leftovers for a while! LOL Well, I have some housework to do and cooking yet so I will post now.

Happy Thanksgiving! Please make sure to take time and give thanks to the One true Living God who gave us the ultimate gift of salvation thru the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
katcha

The Census Bureau

Today I was visited by the Census Bureau. A tall man in his late 40's and smelled heavily of cigarette smoke came and asked me all of the "usual" questions. The house was in "a state" because I had just stripped the last of the wallpaper and school work was all over the table. He didn't seem to bothered and completed his survey in about 15 minutes on a lap top. He drove new a white convertable Mustang. Sheesh, being a Census taker must be a swell job huh? He shook my hand, thanked me and was out the door.

My children are scrambling to meet their deadline for Christmas break. December 13 and they should have all of their books done for the semester. I have a marker board for them and wrote out how many days they have left and how many books they each have to have done by then. My youngest daughter freaked. She did not like that she had to do 8 pages of work in each book a day. Yes, that means 5 books, 8 pages a day equals 40 pages a day. Too much? No. She raised a big stink about it, but there are days she will do six or 10 pages in each or a particular book depending on the difficulty. LOL Here she was crying when in most of the books, all there was left to do was 2 more pages for the day + she wrote a book report, accomplished all her housework and still had time to go to her friends house to play. Can you see momma rolling her eyes? She is probably the best student of all of them when it comes to working dilligently. She has 8 more books to complete. That means she could be done in 2 weeks and she has 3 weeks to finish. Her siblings have 9 books, except big bro, he has 6 more to go, but he has higer math and that takes him a bit longer. All in all it will be ok, it will push them (hey, as adults they we all have deadlines right?) and they will be rewarded with Christmas off from the 13th to January 3rd.

I say they have time off, but in reality I have projects for each of them to do. I asked each one to decide on something inexspensive but new and challenging to do. My oldest wants to build a scale model of a city. (Like Gotham in Batman) So, that means research, drafting, math, design, function, 3 dimension design and sculpting. My oldest daughter hasn't decided yet. My youngest daughter wants to learn to sew. She already has fabric and pattern ready. My youngest son still is deciding what he wants to do. It will Keep me busy but that's ok. I have my own projects to work on as well.

My wool that I dyed is being so slow to dry. Everytime I try and mess with it, it has damp spots. I am thinking I should put it down by the wood burning stove to dry it. LOL In fact, that might not be such a crazy idea after all. Hmmmm...I will ahve to work on that.

I ahve a whole mess of stuff to do before we leave for Cub Scouts tonight so I need to post and go. Hope ya'll have had a wonderful day and see ya soon.
katcha

Cold, cold, cold...

Well, it's cold for the south anyway. I have the woodburning stove downstairs going and that will knock the chill off this morning. The kids want the house to be so warm they can walk around barefoot and dressed like summer. "Its cold mom." My reply is always, "Hey, if your cold, put some clothes on!" I finally had a talk with the kids the other day. "Look," I said, "This winter gas prices for propane is going to be sky high from what they tell me. We are going to have to learn to dress warmer and get use to wood heat and not use the ventless gas unless it is freezing and I mean FREEZING outside." They got the message.

I love cool weather. I love wearing jeans, a sweater, cozy socks and slippers. I don't like a wet cold, which is typical here in Mississippi. I like the crisp dry winter air like in my home state. It also means extra moisturizer but to me that's a small price to pay. The word is, that the temps will be 10 degrees colder than what is normal for us here this winter. Last year we had snow for Christmas! Which is so totally weird! The chances for snow are likely again this year. I mean, come on, running the AC on Thanksgiving Day does not lend itself to the whole Holiday feeling, you know what I mean? LOL Speaking of Thanksgiving...

I went shopping yesterday for our groceries and I got a lot for my money! If you have an ALDI's anywhere near you, GO! Sure, they won't have everything you normally get but they come pretty darn close! There is no way I could have bought all the groceries I did yesterday at the regular grocery store or Wal Mart. Anyway, I got a huge turkey, 15 pounds! All the fixins, plus our regular groceries. I am hoping that we have leftovers for a day or two. Who doesn't love turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce the next day for lunch?

Today, we have to take my youngest to a campout for Cub Scouts. We are not spending the night, but he will take part in all of the activities. I have to lead 2 hikes and prepare the campfire ceremony for my husband when he comes later. So, I need to get dressed and ready to go @ 10:00 this morning. Fun, fun, fun! I actually would rather stay home and strip the last little corner of the living room! Wooo Hooo! Our project is to paint the livingroom over Thanksgiving! Then it will be done. Now, there are some minor touches we want to do but they can wait. Like, 2 new cieling fans, revamp the mantel on the hearth and eventually put down hardwood floors. I am hoping (but not confident it will happen) to paint the dining room as well. We'll see.

Well, I need to get some things together before we leave for the day. (I'm waiting for my jeans to get out of the dryer - can you hear the Jeapordy theme music playing?) I hope everyone has a splendiforous weekend!

katcha

Thursday Already!?

This week has flown by again! I haven't been able to sit well since my fall, but yesterday I had to drive to town to take my youngest son to cub scouts. OY! I dropped him and his big brother off and then headed over to the Tire Store. I have had a slow leak in my right, rear tire for ages now. I know, my bad. I finally had them look at it and plug it. I never did find out what exactly was wrong with it but, they fixed it and the guy, "Jeremy", told me my van was ready. I stood up to pay him and he winked and told me to go. "Are you sure?" I asked, he just nodded, winked again and shooed me out the door. I have all my mechanic work done there so I figure plugging my tire was not a big deal to them. All I know is, I was thanking Jesus for not having to pay or that it was something major. I really couldn't afford to dish out a bunch of money for a new tire at the moment.

I am doing better after my fall. Still a nasty bruise, my hip is sore, but I can sit down, g-e-n-t-l-y. LOL!

I have begun to reteach my oldest daughter how to knit. She had begun knitting lessons about 3 years ago, stopped and is now wanting to learn again. It took her a bit to "cast on" but she did it after about 3 trys. Meanwhile, I have begun to wash and dye some more wool. Blue and greens. Maybe purple today. I am going to set up some screens outside on the saw horses today, right in the sunshine. Hopefully they will dry quickly. In the meantime I am using some "store bought" yarn to work with. I am making a scarf and hat for my girl's best friend up the street. It is really pretty yarn of varigated colors. It is lavender, baby blue and a mint green? Cool, pretty colors that will fit Alesha's personality very well.

It's cold here this morning. 27 degrees when I got up this a.m. I am sure it has warmed a little since the sun is now out. Brrrrrr...I will need the boys to bring firewood up under the porch for the wood burning stove, which reminds me! Please, if you are using wood heat (which is typical around here in MS and TN) make sure your Homeowners Insurance covers it! We have had the same insurance for about 15 years or more (American National) and they dropped us because we have wood heat! Yup, I was shocked. Apparently, they have had some new underwriting done and of course the underwriters are in California. They have decided that wood burning heat sources are evil. So, we were dropped. The insurance agent said it was killing her business. She was not happy, so now we have a new insurance company (Travelers). Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I passed that along.

I finally have gotten my FILaw to take some of his furniture back to Arkansas! Woo HOO! See, we have had this HUGE, monster of a book case here along one wall for 7 years now. It held our encyclopedias and videos. (Now I have a new dilemma...where to put them now?) I will probably buy some storage containers and store them for a while. Anyway, so now, I can finish stripping the last of the wallpaper! I am so close to having it all down. This is like, HUGE for us. It means FINALLY having the livingroom done! Ok, well, I have plans for the mantle over the hearth and hardwood floors need to be put down, but hey, I am thrilled. Yes, I am going to attempt to strip wall paper today. If I can get it done and scrubbed we can get it painted, soon. I am then going to repaint the dining room. I am hoping to have everything painted before the first week of December. That is when hubby's dad and wife will be back down for a visit. It would be so cool to have it all done by then. Here's praying for a miracle on that.

Well, my 15 minutes are up to BLOG. I ahve myself on a timer. LOL Now I have some housework to do. I set a timer, pick an area and work until the alarm goes off then move onto something else. It works for me, so I need to get at it! Later, taters!
katcha
P.S. > Ola! to you as well "mariaperdida". Como este?

P.S.S> hello drummerguy!

Help! I've Fallen and Can't Get Up!

Yesterday afternoon, I was talking to my husband on the cell phone. I have the hands free so I can walk around, do housework, knit or whatever while talking to him. I decided to go outside but upon walking out the back door I noticed leaves had been piling up on the back porch. I grabbed the broom and quickly swept the back porch off. I turned around and looked at the back patio, all the time chattering on to hubby. I thought, "hmmmm...I think I'll sweep the back porch too." I started down the steps when it happened. The steps were slick from the misty rain we had been having and without the leaves for traction down I went. I slammed down on my right butt cheek so hard it rattled my teeth! Then I slid the rest of the way...whump! whump! whump! on down with a final thump on my rump! Sounds like a line from Dr. Suess doesn't it?! LOL The whole time I am gasping for air and making "OH! OUCH! ACK!" sounds and my husband is asking,"What's wrong, what's happening? Are you OK?" I finally caught my breath, stood up as quickly as I could and thru bared teeth groaned, " I just fell down the stairs on my butt." Of course he asked a barage of questions about what hurt, how did I fall, was anything broken, but I could hardly breathe to answer the pain was so intense. He asked, "Sweetheart? Try not faint...your not going to faint are you?" I answered between deep breaths, " No, I am not a fainter...that would be your sister. I get sick to my stomache, so right now I want to hurl." I never did but I felt like it.

So now today, all kinds of muscles are pulled and sore all down my right side from bicep to the back of my thigh. I have a black bruise about 6 inches long running across my right butt cheek and my hip hurts...badly. So, really it is about all I can do to sit at the computer but I can't lay down on my left side all day, standing hurts, walking hurts and I was going crazy! LOL

I guess I'll go and see if I can get in a spot comfy enough to knit. Sheesh, I am such a klutz! I'll write again tomorrow. Have a great day!

katcha

Following in My Foot steps

I really stepped out on a limb here this morning. I let my son have his own Blog. He is only 13, but he has such a...creative mind, he needs an outlet. LOL
I still get to be his editor, so that is pretty cool. The interesting thing you will notice, is that a lot of times we post about the same things, but each having our own perspectives. It's pretty funny to see what he is thinking about the same things. It is a good read if you don't mind reading a 13 year olds Blog. Who knows? He wants to be a Movie Producer and writer. Maybe this will help him to find his niche, hone his creative skills and focus his ideas.

Anyway, check his Blog out when you get a chance. He is just starting to figure this all out so he's not in his best "form" yet but he'll come along in his writing and I think you will enjoy it.

http://goodtimetoday.blogspot.com/

katcha~ proud mom of a 13 yr old boy...LOL!

MOTHRA!

I remember watching all of those old Godzilla movies on Saturday afternoons as a kid. Do you remember Tarzan, Francis the Talking Mule and a host of other "oldies" that filled many a "boring" Saturday when you were young? My own children have missed out on those and trying to explain it to them is well, just not the same.

On my computer desktop is a beautiful autumn scene (provided courtesy of Windows XP) and nestled there on my monitor is a moth. He wanders about now and again then sits, right in the middle with his wings outstretched. I don't have the heart to kill him, and every time I try to "shoo" him away, he returns. Is he drawn to the brightness of the monitor, can he, like bees, detect color mass? Or has he been sent to irritate the snot out of me?

Yesterday marked the 90th birthday of my husband's grandfather. Another "oldie", I guess you could say. The family (ie. his sons) put together a birthday party for him at a small club house nearby. It was the usual thing, family came out to wish him well, birthday cake and "memories shared" of how he "touched peoples lives" and humorous stories too. Everyone had a good time and there were plenty of eats, but like any other celebration there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that preceeded.

First, was the fact that only one of his 3 sons really planned the party as well as dished out some major bank for the birthday party. When the one brother called the youngest to ask for help with the costs, the youngest replied with a stutter, "Well, well, couldn't you just ask everyone to bring a covered dish like pot luck?" LOL! This guy is so tight with his money you can hear him squeak when he walks, "OIL CAN! OIL CAN!" The oldest brother lives out of state and said he could help with the money but couldn't help set up or decorate. So, guess who was called in as a back up to help clean and decorate? Times up...if you guessed a short brunette with glasses and a southern lilt to her voice, you would be correct.

Thursday after lunch I got the phone call. "We're over here at the club house and we really need your help." I was reluctant to go, it had been a busy week and I just wanted to be able to chill out at home and not have to be obliged to anyone or anything, but that was just not going to happen.

I spent the next 3 hours, pressure washing folding chairs that date back to 1935 and the gum underneath was probably just about that old. They had dead spiders, webs, egg sacks and dirt daubber nests on the under sides of them. My husband's uncle was shocked and distressed at the state of things.

Excuse me while I shoo MOTHRA here from the middle of my screen again....

Now, to give a little insight. This club house is the one at the neighborhood association I work for. We have monthly meetings here and my husband's uncle is ON THE BOARD of DIRECTORS! I guess he just never paid attention to the club house itself. Needless to say, he is now a bit more aware of the needs of the clubhouse and why no one wants to rent the place.

Anyway, I helped with the chairs, vacuumed and pretty much did whatever was asked of me, but in the end I felt like I had not really done much. It just took a big ole chunk of my day. I heard a lot of griping while I was there and a lot of whining. His wife was not pleased but like any woman would (and this is no slam to men) she just did what she could with what we had and went on with business as usual. At one point during one of uncle's whining sessions, I turned to his wife and asked, "Wow, should I have brought some cheese to go with his wine?" She agreed with a, "I'm telling ya!" LOL He gave us that look and went outside.

Ok, MOTHRA needs to move again....go on....

Then there are those relatives that want to gripe because they were NOT invited. I mean come on, you are expecting 35 people to show up as it is, how many more do they expect? Yes, one cousin even called up from out of state, all put out and asking, "AND WHY wasn't I invited?" Heck, she had a broken hip! She could not have come if she wanted! She wasn't going to come anyway, she just wanted to be invited!

Saturday afternoon came around and I got another phone call. "Would you help us decorate?" I made a second trip over and helped with that, again, I felt like I didn't really do much. Anyway, the next day came and at 2:00 in the afternoon, the festivities began. No one even had a clue as to how ugly or dirty things had been only a few short days before. Nor, did they realize the dollar amount that was spent on the food, drinks and professionally printed invitations. All they noticed was the deaf old man sitting at the table asking, "Are they talking about me? Are they saying something about me? What?! Speak up!"

So, maybe I am trying to make a point here. If you turn 90, you well deserve all the accalades and attention you can get. Face it, you're only 10 years away from being celebrated by Willard Scott for making it to 100!) Who could have known you would live this long? So, if your children want to spend $500 and make a big "shin dig" for you? Let them. It's the least they can do for you. Just make sure you wear and turn your hearing aids up!

katcha~

Just Keep Spinning...

I always sing that like Dorey from Finding Nemo.

I have 3 bobbins full and working on a 4th. I will ply the red with the orange here soon. I am thinking about taking it by the Yarn Shop in Memphis and seeing if the woman wants to sell it in her shop. That would be cool. I need a little extra cash right now. LOL

I am very excited, because then I can move on and wash and dye some other colors. Blues, greens and purples are on my agenda. I am having my doubts about plying the beads with the yarn though. I am just not sure I can make it work. I will play with it and see. I can envision it, achieving it, is another story.

Well, I need to get back at the laundry now. With all the running around and "business" we have had so far this week, well, the house needs a bit of attention.

Have a great day!
katcha

Out of Memory?

OK I am going to try this again. 3rd times a charm right? The stupid blog keeps saying I am out of memory? It has never done this to me before and trust me, I have written some looooong posts. In fact the post I wrote is small. Maybe a paragraph or 2.(short ones) *sigh* Let's see what happens.

If you like FREE (I personally love FREE) here is a sweet deal for FREE YARN from Bernat. They choose the color. (I got Mr. Brown; a lovely coffee brown color) It is called DISCO and it is super soft and "fringey".
http://www.bernat.com/getdown

Have a great day! ~ katcha

Preparing

I am preparing my wool now for spinning. I carded it up on the drum carder and have some more yet to do but there is enough for me to work with now if I want to. Plenty. So I have a little something different in mind.

I have been on some spinning boards where the topic has been on adding beads to handspun. Many thoughts, ideas and ways to do it so far.

Here is how it works. You handspin your yarn as usual. Then taking thread, you string the beads of your choosing on the sewing thread. Next, you ply the yarn with the threaded beads, working slowly. You arrange or space the beads how you like. Next you take another ball of handspun yarn and ply again. Sounds simple enough, but I am sure it will end up being a headache. LOL But it is something I REALLY want to try. I think it would add a whole new dynamic element to my work. I love the sparkle, texture and magic of beads. It must somehow appeal to the woman's love of gems; for I know of no other element that will make a woman gasp with delight when she discovers beads on a garment or textile.

I once did a batik in college of Mayan gods on a teal blue silk fabric. It was pretty in and of itself, but then I made it into a blouse and sewed tiny seed beads of silver to just the eyes of the little Mayan gods that patterned it. The effect was quite awesome and I gave it as a gift to my Mexican Art History teacher. She was in love with it but what really got everyone's attention, was the sparkle of those tiny little seed beads. The beads were not added as an after thought to try and save the fabric, design or color; it was carefully planned out before hand. I NEVER use the added elements as an after thought. I don't look at the finished product and say, "It needs help, I know! I'll add beads." LOL

Well, again it looks like I have a busy week. The next 3 evenings will be Hunters Safety for my 2 oldest children. Wednesday is Cub Scouts for my youngest son in the afternoon then church. Friday is my husband's birthday (he'll be 41) so he'll be taking the day off. My oldest son has an ortho appointment, then we have to drive to Memphis to pick up my daughter's friend. She will be staying the weekend with us while my hubby and son go on a camping trip for scouts to Shiloh, TN. I am praying that during that time I can get plenty of spinning and carding in. I want to wash and dye some more wool too. I want to dye some green and purple wool. Blue too. I have beads strung and ready to ply.

I will be giving some lessons and demonstrations in December for the Home School Group. There is a wonderful program called Keepers at Home. It is an idea from the scripture Titus 2:4-5.
Titus 2:4
"That they may teach the young women to be sober,to love their husbands,to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste,keepers at home, good,obedient to their own husbands,that the word of God be not blasphemed."

Ok don't get all feminist on me about this... it does not imply that women are to be abused and subservient and the men to be bullies. Look up Ephesians 5:25, 28-29
Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave of himself for it;"

5:28 " So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord of the church:"

Translation? Though the husband is supposed to be the authority, the focus moves to the supreme responsibility of them loving their wives with the same unreserved, selfless & sacrificial love that Christ has for His church. A Christian husband is to care for his wife as he would himself, even more so, since his self sacrificing love should cause him to put her first!

So, as I was saying (before that become a sermononette), this program is really wonderful and they have certain things that they do to earn merit badges or charns for the girls. They learn Bible verses as well as life skills. This is a "hands-on" type program that teach a child those practical skills not normally learned as academic endeavors. Yes, this means sewing, cooking, baking bread, handspinning and a whole lot of other things.

Apparently, when they discovered they had a handspinner in their midst, they decided to go with that subject. LOL I told them, if they could hold off until December 13, I could help them out. Now, I need to brush up on my drop spindeling. I guess they each need to spin 16 oz. of wool. That is a pound! That is a lot. Where are they going to get that much wool for that many kidos? I guess I need to give my friend Patty a call. LOL She raises wool sheep so I should be able to purchase it from her. (I hope, anyway.)

Well, I have to go and take care of some friends animals while they are out of town. I am "goat sitting" LOL! I just have to make sure everyone has hay and water, dogs fed and chickens have water and feed. Ahhhh...reminds me of when we had our small farm. I guess I need to get over there.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Creative License

At last, all the data entries are done and the books finally reconciled and correct! Now, I can have a clean slate on the Association's finances etc. I still have work to do, but it shouldn't be so hard now. I have some things to do today or the next couple of days, but all the same, not a problem. The biz meeting went very well and we were able to get out in short time. The next couple of months we won't have meetings and it will be very slow. Not a whole lot can or is done in the winter months here.

NOW, I can concentrate on other things; our rehab house, housework (LOL), and my spinning. I can take a deep breath now and RELAX.

My friend got her scarf yesterday. She LOVED it and will be wearing it to a Craft Show she's going to this weekend. She said she would take the label and do a little advertising for me. I told her that was fine but you know? I like to create for the sake of creating. I guess it the artist in me, but I like just making these designs without any pressures or deadlines. I don't want to have to be under pressure to have 20 scarves done by a certain date and having to market, transport and worry about making my money back on the materials plus profit. No, if someone likes a scarf I have made and it sells, well then, good. But, it is not going to be a business. I want to have my freedom for now.

After I get a bit of housework, paperwork and bills done I am going to have to make out our menu for the following 2 weeks. My oldest has an orthodontist appt. @ 1:45 then grocery shopping. ACK! All I want to do is card this wool I have dyed here. *sigh* Oh well, next week or this weekend maybe?

I hav e bunches to do before this afternoon so I'll sign off for now. Have a great day everyone and God Bless.
katcha

It's On the Way

I mailed off my friend's scarf yesterday. The ladies at the P.O. were jealous and told me to bring any other scarves I make from now on for them to see. (I might actually be able to sell them!)

Alas though, the Associational Board meeting is tomorrow night and I have to do a LOT of work on that. So today will be spent doing MORE data entry and tomorrow will be the financial reports. I HATE this job and am constantly having to remind myself, it pays for the childrens school books. ACK!

I want so badly to card up the rest of this dyed wool I have and spin it up. Then I have a bunch more I want to wash and dye. So I am hoping that I won't have any more pressing matters to have to contend with. My knitting skills are getting better, I have learned how to increase stitches and decrease. I want very much to learn how to do the Fair Isle knitting, but will wait until I have improved my other skills. There are so many stitches to learn yet, such as yarn over, cable stitches and more.

One great designer that I really admire is Kaffe Fasset. He designs embroidery, knitting & quilting. His work is bold, colorful and rich. He has a line of fabrics out for quilters; makes me wish I quilted now. LOL, but his knitting is incredible. He also paints, designs rugs, etc. He is the Surface/Textile Designer I only could dream of being when I was a young design student back in college. To learn more about Kaffe fasset and see more of his work check out these websites below.

http://www.kaffefasset.com

http://www.gloriuscolor.com

Anyway, I was lucky and found a beautiful book at the library on his knitting and embroidery work. He was younger in this book as well. LOL His designs are nothing short of eye candy and his talents are watering over into bed linens, tableware (found at Neiman Marcus) and even costumes for The Royal Shakespeare Company. Amazing.

Anyway, what was interesting to me is that he bought some wool and knitting needles and on a train going back home he learned to knit (a passenger taught him). That piece of knitting was the featured on the front cover of Vogue Knitting magazine!

I see where he will be doing lectures and a Book signing tour in the US but it will all be in Minnesota, Michigan, Boston and NY. All up in the North. I guess talent like his wouldn't be appreciated in the South? Oh well.

Well, I have a lot to do today. I best get at it.
Have a great day!
katcha