Category: Pictures -

Hello Again

11/10/2015

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. I promise! Its just been a little crazier than usual. October basically did not exist, as I had a concussion at the beginning of the month. Apparently I knocked my head a bit harder than I thought, because post-concussion syndrome is a bear! I also applied and got accepted into a Nutritional Therapy program, which starts in February 2016, but I've been trying to get a head start on the homework. And our neighbors who were letting us pirate their internet server moved, so we no longer have internet at the house. So in between trying to catch up on everything I fell behind on while laid up, relearn how to study, hosting various friends who have visited, make sure I'm cooking descent food for my husband while he works one.overtime. shift. after. another. , helping him prepare/pray for a mission trip that he's trying to go on but that keeps getting postponed due to political issues, AND travel all 3 blocks to the library to use the internet....

I haven't really been in the best of blogging moods.

On the one hand I hate not having internet at the house, (especially since I still have a flip-phone and so feel like I'm not at ALL in the 21st century) its been kind of nice because its not nearly as easy to waste time on Pinterest or Facebook. I miss out on a lot of drama on Facebook, which is always good! But it also a reminder that I have GOT to be more proactive about some things. Like making a weekly schedule and making portions of time solely dedicated to studying... not Pinteresting.

Anyway. That is why I have abandoned you once again, poor little blog. I really will make a post about herbs one of these days. Promise! But in the meantime, I am going to log off and walk home from the library in this delightfully sunny, gorgeous Fall day. Kentucky Fall's really are the bestest!

Girly moments and thoughts

2/28/2015

I keep forgetting how busy this month has been and then I go through my camera and realize that February has been B.U.S.Y! I was kind of complaining to my aunt about how I spend more time away from home than I do at home and she reminded me that it won't always be like this. In fact I'll experience seasons in which I wish I could just GET OUT of my house! So I've been trying to keep a healthy perspective on things and not only go with the flow but enjoy it as well.
Kyle took me on the first DATE we've been on in a while last week and we had a lovely time. I got to get all dressed up and wore only pearls for jewelry for the first time since we got married. Its a little thing and they were fake pearls but still I felt very elegant. We saw a Riverdance-like show and were out late. I told Kyle I felt like we were dating again because we were both kind of trying to impress the other with how we dressed and both felt very carefree and happy. Which was a little sad after we thought about what kind of reflection that cast on our day-to-day life, but I guess that's why you have to keep going on dates after you're married: to put perspective on things!
Wednesday night kids have been abnormally human and behaved in my department, which is good because the Youth group has gone a little ape-crazy and I've had to step in and help out on a few things which I don't mind... but its nice to not have things hit you on EVERY front sometimes!

The youth minister asked Kyle and I to babysit his kids overnight the other day so he and his wife could have a date night. We've done it before so its no biggie. The kids enjoy us and we enjoy them and their parents enjoy them and each other again after the break. Plus its great training for my single-child husband who has never been with an infant overnight before the youth minister & his wife had a baby and started asking us to babysit for them. In addition to that the superstitious part of me is hoping that we're somehow securing the same kind of treatment from some unknown person in the future once we start having kids and need overnight breaks ourselves...
We had a great time as usual. Kyle's dad came over and he and Kyle took turns playing dress-up with the five year old and I kept the 8 month old entertained. In the morning Kyle went to work and I had a tea party for breakfast with said 5 year old who was overjoyed that we were having REAL tea just like the tea parties at church! I didn't realize that the tea parties I'd hosted at church made such a big impact on her but apparently they did!
Later on in the day her mom texted and asked if I wanted to go shopping at half priced books and a new yarn store that just opened up. I said YES and we spent the day browsing isles - sometimes together and sometimes apart. When we rejoined each other after the apart times we would both commiserate about how large our pile of wares had grown in our arms and would help talk each other out of overspending. We'd help the other think through if we spent so much at the bookstore we'd have less to spend at the yarn store; and then once we got to the yarn store if we spent less at the yarn store we'd have more to spend at the grocery store later this week! Or we'd play devils advocate and use the 'just whip out the credit card!" excuse with a knowing twinkle in our eye. Then the other would laugh and put the desired item back on the shelf where it sat lonely and overpriced.
Its been hard to figure out who to shop with. I didn't grow up 'going shopping' with friends. I never had the money to do so and mom thought it would teach me unhealthy materialism to drive me to the mall and drop me off to just window shop. I didn't have credit cards and knew better than to call mom and dad up for extra money when I had overspent myself or run out of spending money. I never really thought about it at the time or all the 'experience' I was missing it was just how things were. I didn't quite value what Mom had done either until the last year or so when I was, for the first time in my life, able to go SHOPPING with friends. I had done it a few times in college and proactively stopped when I realized that I would very quickly run out of funds I desperately needed for school fees and class books. I didn't realize when one agreed to go shopping with friends one was making a COMMITMENT to purchase something with said friends, or else they would feel bad that they had bought when you hadn't. I didn't want to make anyone feel bad, but I also didn't want to fail classes because I couldn't afford fees or books! (and yes I do realize I could have borrowed books from friends or libraries and did so for most of my classes. However some books needed to be THOROUGHLY studied, which meant they went everywhere with me and I didn't want to run the risk of ruining a library or friend's book).
Now that I'm married and have a husband and a budget, I've begun venturing back into the world of shopping. But I've realized that I still have to be careful. Its odd how we women feel obligated to talk each other into overbuying. We KNOW there are groceries to be bought, bills to pay, husbands to be reckoned with. And yet we still do it.
So all that to say that my fun relaxing shopping trips are limited to only 2 or 3 friends. I'll do other things with my other friends, just not shop with them. Its not worth quoting Dave Ramsey loudly in the mall and by explaining my current financial worldview accidentally shedding light on how abysmal their financial logic is -and causing mass embarrassment and sour feelings.

But I had a lot of fun this shopping trip. And I've only gone shopping with the youth minister's wife once or twice, so I think we've agreed to be shopping buddies again.
In other news, I got everything in the picture below for $30. Yay halfpriced books and new yarn stores!!! Beats mall-shopping anytime! Which I STILL don't like doing...

9 books and 100% Merino hand dyed hand spun yarn - all for $30!!! Am I good or WHAT!

Socks, budgets, & apple pie

2/2/2015

I haven't blogged a whole lot since the holidays began, and altho I keep telling myself I"m going to get better it doesn't look like that will happen in the near future! I've also been very adamant to myself that my blog will not be a place where I vent or shed light to the cyberspace world about personal griefs or dark issues I'm struggling with. However since holidays are the perfect time of year when all those things crop up, its been a little hard to keep true to that goal. And the New Year has given me plenty of opportunities to break that goal as well. There's been lots of things i want to say but I'm afraid of writing them down and publishing them as they are still too raw and have too much emotion attached to them still.

(And then there's the fundamental fear of mine that it won't matter how eloquent or passionate my plea, or how sincere my entreaty; I will simply continue to be disregarded or ignored or judged or shunned. i have no tolerance for lies or hypocrisy anymore and I'm trying to prayerfully learn how to cope with those things when the come roaring back into my reality.
So there's a very very brief summery of the dark and twisty turns my mind has been traveling through this year. See, aren't you glad I haven't dedicated more posts to such things?)
On a brighter topic, my husband and I have finally cracked the Dave Ramsey code of a budget! This weekend we sat down - me fortified with coffee and tea and him with every modern form of a writing utensil realistically acquirable - and hammered out a budget. I never thought I would be so relieved or happy to have one!
I have also been making socks. Why? Well, I have a whole wall upstairs of good, quality yarn from my great-grandma, and I really need some good quality socks for winter. I found a pretty easy pattern that I like, and am slowly learning how to read the yarn type, needle size and guage in the pattern so that I can accurately plan on how large or small my socks will be. All the socks in the picture above I made myself.

I've also been trying to get back into a groove of cooking again. The holidays were either feast or starve as far as our household went. My husband's birthday was last week and I had a REALLY fun time planning out the menu and completely awing him with unique delicacies. Kroger had Granny Smith apples for sale a few weeks ago so we've been eating apple pie again regularly too... which may not be good for the ol' waistline but it sure is amazing for the soul and tastebuds! I've been pulling out my Grandma's old cookbooks she gave me for some more mealtime inspiration. My trouble is I learned to cook from Eastern European peasants, so its all very flavorful and heavy - or its birdfood as my husband calls it. Finding a happy medium is still a challenge but one I'm gladly rising too.

So thats what is new in the cheerful update department! :-)

My first DIY post!

1/17/2015

Well my last post was a bit of a rant, and I need to reread it and edit it. In the meantime here is a refreshing bit of creativity! I did one and then started kicking myself for not taking before and after pictures, and then realized I had another picture/frame that I COULD do before and after pictures on! So this is my way of apologizing for posting an unedited rant previously. Hope you enjoy!
I scrapbooked growing up, and unfortunately only have one of my old scrapbooks; which is unfinished. The rest were destroyed in my parents housefire several years ago. It sort of took the wind out of my sales as far as investing in scrapbooking supplies etc. (its NOT cheap!) and honestly the styles have changed so much from what I grew up with. Instead of the papers and stickers simply embellishing the pictures, the pictures are kind of the final pizzazz one adds to this glorious art piece of paper, stickers, fibers, beads, etc. SO I just haven't messed with it much and moved on to other hobbies. But when I saw these frames a year or so ago my creative wheels started turning and here is the end result.

1. Step One: Pick your piece of art that you are going to embellish

I bought mine at Garden Ridge while they were having one of their glorious 90% off sales. I think this cost me about $1.50 or less. SO that includes the frame, glass, and artwork.

2. Step Two: CAREFULLY cut a slit in the brown paper backing.

If I were a professional crafter, I would say pull out your crafter knife. However, this is an old blade of my husbands that he gave me for gardening... and its rusty. Very professional, eh?

3. Step Three: assess your art piece.
What I mean by this is notice how the art is attached to your frame. I thought originally the art pieces were on paper backed by cardboard. Instead, the art was glued to the cardboard, the cardboard was then tacked to the frame, and then brown paper glued over the whole thing. I was disheartened for a few moments but then grabbed a pair of needle-nosed pliers and got to work.

4. Step Four: detach art from frame

Yay for needle nose pliers! I did break a nail on these suckers on the first frame. But with the help of the pliers they were surprisingly easy to extract.

Now you may be thinking that this is an AWFUL amount of work to put into this thing. But if you are saying that then 1. you clearly don't remember scrapbooking and 2. remember this is a BUDGET project. And I've found that what you don't pay upfront in $$ you pay down the road in time and effort. SO it just depends on what trade off you want this particular day.

Remove the art from the frame and see if there is any damage you need to clean up. Mine came out of the frame a little rough so I polished up the edges with stickers or planned to cover the rough areas with pictures so they wouldn't be noticeable.

5. Step five: pick which photos you are going to add to the artwork
Now we leave the technical aspect of things and get into the fun artsy part. This is really where your scrapbooking experience will kick in, because at first glance the pictures and art are either not compatible or don't fit. You'll have to use your imagination and plan out how you will make everything fit.

6. Step Six: Crop your photos
Maaaan I was shocked at how out of practice I was! I used to grab a pair of scissors and snip away at a picture without a second thought. Or we had those lovely templates that you could use to draw onto the picture with a special acid-free pencil and cut over the lines... or those dear swirly swoopy templates that cost a fortune and a half with the little razors that fit into the grooves with all those warnings about how children could cut off limbs with those teeeeeeeny blades... aaah the good old days. Oh well... freehand it is these days!

7. Step Seven: Attach your pictures onto the artwork
If you are on top of things, super organized or are inclined to dash off to the nearest craft store and purchase some, I supposed the special acid-free tape that also cost an arm and a leg and the promise to name your first child after the the manufacturer is what one ought to use. Or if you're like me you'll grab tape leftover from Christmas gift wrapping and double it over on itself and not bother with double sided tape even. :-) I may be doing a trendy DIY blog post but I refuse to portray myself as one of those ladies who blissfully has all white furniture and a house that is ALWAYS immaculately clean. Seriously. DIY means do it YOURSELF, for real people in the real world. None of this white-couch nonsense. While I'm on this particular rant, let me take a moment to say that yes, you are seeing correctly that this craft is being done on the floor or on my lap. I have a craft room upstairs but it is currently being used as the, "Oh crap company's coming quick hide the mess!" room.

8. Step Eight: Reinsert the dolled-up artwork and retape the brown paper to the frame.
I didn't bother with retacking anything... I was afraid I would hit it too hard with my hammer and shatter the glass. And yes I did take a picture of me taping the back of the frame. Everyone takes closeups of their nails, why not me? :-)

9. Step Nine: Hang up your piece of artwork and enjoy!

Flowers

9/30/2014

This is the third time i've written this blog post, because the blog server keeps deleting what I've written each time I add pictures! I guess it might be the Holy Spirit giving me plenty of opportunities to rewrite what I've written and reevaluate what I've said, so here goes. Third time the charm, right?
This last weekend was very intense. Friday I drove down to the inlaws where my husband was staying so that his commute isn't so long during Firefighter training. Saturday we both made ourselves beautiful and drove to Toledo for my cousin's wedding. Sunday we had breakfast with the Grandparents and then after bumming around Toledo and getting a few patches and visiting Corporal Klinger's beloved Tony Packo's, we drove to Dayton. There we had lunch with assorted family members and then drove back to the in-laws so that my husband wouldn't have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to drive back to training and arrive on time at 7am. I got up and drove back home to shop for the rich lady and get some of our own grocery shopping done, then had dinner with one of my best friends.
Then I FINALLY got home.
Whew!
So today I have: done two loads of laundry, read some of the Orchid Books my Grandpa gave me, repotted some of my orchids after learning new things about their needs, and passed several levels of Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.
See along with all of the traveling - which would have been intense enough, there was basically every emotion imaginable experienced in the last four days. So the reason why I have taken such joy at exploding jewels on cyberspace is because I've been doing a lot of processing. I had several really amazing conversations this weekend which really needed to happen. And there were some conversations that didn't take place that I really wish would happen and to be honest that kind of hurts. BUT as I have said before this blog is not a place for me to vent my sob-story so instead of writing any further about that I shall focus on what the title of this post says: Flowers! I have been exposed to several AMAZING flowers and flower arrangements this weekend and I am going to share them with you. So enjoy!

I knew by the time I got home these would have all died or wilted, so I picked them for my mother-in-law

One of the hanging arrangements that lined the entryway to the little alcove of plants where my cousin got married

I love roses but haven't mastered growing them in my own garden. I think I'll finish learning about orchids before I invest in any more roses for my garden. So I enjoyed these ones at the zoo!!

The table settings were GORGEOUS. I really wish I had thought to grab some of the succulents before I left because I'm afraid they were all thrown away after the wedding!

AAAANd now for you to see my absolute favorite parts of the wedding:

I don't know what was said but apparently it was funny and concerning all at the same time!

My Uncle having a 'Pirate's of the Caribbean' moment

Us behaving like ladies

us tickling each other and trying to hold our pose at the same time

Sea shells sea shells

8/29/2014

I have always collected seashells. I don't know why, there is just something fairy-like and magical about finding a beautiful shell just washed up by the surf, all sparkling and shiny from the saltwater.
My passion for such things led to me accidentally bringing home a live sea snail once, which Grandma found in the laundry basket... learning moment all around!!!
My husband had only been to the sea side once or twice before he met me, so the need to bring home pockets full of sandy, smelly shells was one which I had to educate him on. He did grow to the point where he would help me find them and feel elated himself when he would find a whole shell not broken to bits washed up onto the shore.
It got to the point where we had a whole shoe box full of shells, which Kyle fit into the car under the condition that I DO SOMETHING CREATIVE with them once we got home. Along with the nice little window display you see above that is in my sea-themed bathroom, (made up entirely of shells we found ourselves. Not one of those over-priced 'made in china' souvenirs!) here is what I have come up with:

Its not finished of course. I'm thinking I will do some kind of mixed media on the wreath; perhaps a cross-stitched mermaid, a knitted fish or two, and little collages of shells - or flowers with shells in the middle...
The burlap is made up from centerpieces from our wedding. I like the tie-in: the burlap from our wedding, the shells from our 1 year anniversary :-)
I guess I can afford to be fancy with this because its definitely a summer-themed wreath, and summer feels like its about over. So it will give me something to look forward to all winter once the Christmas present projects are done and I don't feel like working on my Nativity cross-stitch.

In other news, today is my sister's birthday! If you are reading this today, dear sister, I hope your day is work and stress free, full of friends and laughter and happiness!! Happy Birthday!!

Garden goodness

8/26/2014

Its been unseasonably wet this August, which has been a blessing with all the traveling we've been doing. Even though I have been beyond negligent towards all my garden beds, they are still producing! The only vegetable that has been less than satisfactory in its production are the tomatoes, but I think that's because our neighbors with whom we share the garden got the good ones first while we were in Chicago. But the fennel is producing tall feather stalks and huge juicy bulbs at the center, the basil is bushy and sending out thousands of the tender, aromatic leaves, the jalapenos are exploding with their little peppers that will be turned into delicious queso, and my one lonely squash plant has given me about 6 acorn squashes before shriveling up and surrendering to the pumpkin vines. I pulled the last three turnips and am thinking I'll make a big pot of veggie soup to give to friends (pretty sure if Kyle didn't call one of our friends to come 'hang out' so we can feed him on a consistent basis he'd starve) and then make a tomato-squash soup. As I said I really don't care for acorn squash - it was a volunteer from the compost pile from one squash I threw out last fall from the Veggie Box - but my aversion to wasting is greater than my aversion to acorn squash at this point. So I'm just gonna try to disguise it reeeeeally really well.
In other news, the gourd plants have also been loving all this wet weather. Observe:

Ayup. That puppy is growing onto our roof!!! Now here's the irritating thing about this plant: THERE ARE NO GOURDS ON IT!!!! Its covered in flowers but they simply shrivel up and die!! The vines are going crazy - we set up a stick tepee to extend the banister of the back porch and its disappeared under all the vines within a week - but there's no actual gourds on it. There are two gourds growing on the vine on the chain-link-fence, but just two. They are growing big and gorgeous, so they'll be fun to play with during the winter to see what I can turn them into. However I was kind of wishing I'd have more produce after all this showiness!!! My husband and I are trying to decide if we should cut down the back porch vine since its not producing anything... See we're torn. Its impressive and awesome to look at... but its grown over the back door while we were gone and we had to cut our way back into the house... so its kind of ridiculous... but we also feel kind of like we're living a Grimm's fairy tale by leaving it up....

But anyway that's the latest news from the Garden.

Our week between trips

8/15/2014

For having just got back on vacation, we have been BUSY this week. Saturday I cooked food for us to eat (my fridge had n.o.t.h.i.n.g. in it) and made a peach pie, which we took to some friend's. We haven't seen them at all this summer and I'd promised them multiple times I'd bring them a peach pie so we could catch up, and our schedules just never lined up. I guess that's what we get for both being interesting people! Sunday we went to Church and I taught Children's church, and then we went to see some friend's who are moving tomorrow. I'm taking over the wife's job of grocery shopping for a very friendly yet wealthy lady, so she showed me how to navigate Kroger and Whole Foods in under an hour. I was a little out of breath (we kinda ran through the places!) so we collapsed at her apartment and ordered pizza and watched Princess Bride.

Monday the in-laws came for dinner, and we also had a couple over who met at our wedding as he was a groomsman and she was a bridesmaid.... and now they're talking marriage too! Dad-in-law had made a beautiful 1st Anniversary gift for us - one of the roses from our wedding ceremony centerpieces dried and arranged in some fabric I had used as decoration and all put tastefully in a shadow-box! And a signed copy of the picture of Kyle and I and Mr. President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter with a personal message from the former president! So that was pretty cool.

Tuesday we babysat for the youth minister's wife. Youth Minister has been in Iowa for two weeks for military training, and the poor mama was going stir crazy in the house with a 4 year old and a 3 month old. So we entertained the kiddo's while she went and grocery shopped and enjoyed the peace and quiet. After that we came home and tried to get the house clean (home for 2 days and already the kitchen is trashed!) and put away stuff from our trip. We went to some neat spice stores and international grocery stores while we were in Florida, and I had a LOT to put away! The good news is that I have at least a year's supply of Cardamom, Sumac, Paprika, Basmati Rice, and hot sauce. And at least two weeks worth of Ahmad Cardamom tea!! (can ya tell I like Cardamom?

So there's the update. We also have had dinner at two other friend's houses in the meantime, have seen "Austenland" (which, for those of us who grew up on Jane Austen is H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S!!!! - if you don't mind a little crassness here and there; but it is a good satire commentary on our times vs. the Regency era and how they are similar/different) done some stuff around the church, and are getting ready for another quick trip up to Chicago to see my dear little Great-Grandma who is 98. Then Kyle starts his new job and we buckle down and start acting like boring responsible adults again with their nose to the grindstone. Ha yeah right. The thing I love about the life God's given me and the husband God has blessed me with and the calling He's put in front of us is that: Even in the mundane, life is an adventure! There is beauty in the ordinary and joy in the routine, and the adventures make us treasure the regular and visa verse!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

8/3/2014

In a nutshell: Florida wildlife, amazing food, educational and fun aquariums, gorgeous sunsets, silky sand beneath our feet, and perfect surf making us wave with the ebb and flow. So relaxing and perfect for making us realize how much God has blessed us this last year!!!

Summerness

7/24/2014

I'm trying to polish off all those chores and things on the to-do list that I've been procrastinating on, but REALLY REALLY need to do before we leave for two weeks! The poor garden has had a few huge weeding ventures, but this is the first time I've gone through and HARVESTED.

The results were surprising and exhilarating - although I wish I had known that the seedlings sprouting up in my compost pile were PUMPKINS instead of squash and zucchini. I only have one acorn squash plant - and I must confess that while I've grown to love summer squash and zucchini in a variety of dishes, the only way I can stomach acorn squash is to disguise it well in my tomato soup. While I was out int he garden I had a visitor from a little fairy who threw "farkles" at me (sparkles) and then took a picture of my dusty, sweaty, sparkly self. Its nice to have a four-year-old kindred spirit for a neighbor!

The best part of the garden is how many people we're able to bless with it. We've given veggies to several friends who are really struggling financially right now.
In addition to all the glorious outside work, I've been trying to get the house clean. I've deep cleaned the bathroom and living room (and discovered that our front windows are apparently where june bugs and flies go to die) and after this blog post is finished and I scarf down some food am gonna deep clean the dining room. The kitchen I have tried my best to deep clean but we have this awful habit of eating - and that keeps messing it up. The whole 'clean as you go' thing only works when the both of us aren't dashing about like mad, trying to cram as much life into the day as possible. Its wonderful and adventuresome, but the poor house suffers.
We also got my office cleaned of all VBS stuff and switched my office to a different, smaller room in the building. Hopefully that will cut down on people mistaking my office for a storage closet or a place to sort all the daycare's leftovers. We'll see though - I remain skeptical.
I can't tell you how excited I am to be getting ready for a VACATION! We're going to Kyle's family reunion in Alabama first, and then going on to Florida for our FIRST ANNIVERSARY EVER!!! I'm gonna take him to Venice, where my Grandma always used to take me, my sister and my cousin when we were kids. Did I say I was excited? I can't wait to feel the salty waves swishing the sand between my toes!!

The brown dolphin I made for my grandma when I was a kid. The jewelry box on the far right I bought in Venice FL as a kid, and the other three dolphins were gifts. The marble whale was from California when I was REALLY young!