In Which We Have Family & Pets

Earlier this month my brother, his spouse and their children came to visit from Vermont.  We took them to our favorite places, climbed rocks and visited for a long time.  The older cousins had a sleep over and what sleep over isn't complete with ice cream, mint oreos, and all kinds of potato chips?!

My daughter and my niece forged a wonderful new friendship.  What loveliness to behold!  The last time they saw one another, my niece held my daughter who was 5 weeks old!   They've changed just a little bit!

Snuggling with my 2 little nieces and Biscuit.  They absolutely loved him!

My brother and his spouse just trying to find someplace to sit after the cousins' sleep over.

While they were here, I finished the toe of my 2nd sock (just 20 stitches) while listening to the glorious hustle and bustle of little ones in my house again.

Finished in about 10 minutes!  I love the colors.  I have some from each of the 2 skeins leftover and I was thinking of making a small wrap, so we'll see.  If anyone has a suggestion for one, I'd love it! 

And, after the family left, our newest family member, Gus, needed a bath.  He was shivering after his bath, so my daughter wrapped him in a fleece blanket and took a couple pictures of his cute-ness.  :D

And another one...

And my youngest, who is over 6'2" tall, with our kitty whose name is Pickles.  :D

Playing around in the living room. 

Doggie nap time...life must be "ruff."  Whew!

As you can see, we've been busy with family, school (although I didn't mention school above), and pet training.  I love seeing the progress of my kids with their schooling, understanding achieved and them working diligently with the animals to get them trained.  Just today my youngest son make a "Kitty Hotel" underneath my buffet table.  He has put Biscuit and Pickles in there together to sit and "make friends" but I heard some funny kitty and doggie noises of protest in there earlier.  LOL

What a funny boy!

Disjointed Catch-Up Post

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." 

(Rom 8:26-28)

When young folks are not feeling well, we can do all we can, holding them, nurturing them, to help them feel better.  When they have concerns, we need to talk them out, showing them their options, helping them choose their words wisely in a variety of situations.  When it comes to the ultimate Healer, there is a time to give Him the concerns by praying with them through each of their concerns.   

Sometimes their concerns are far beyond anything we can fix.  Sometimes we have to lay down our own pridefulness and give our children to God in unfathomable ways.  

We have done just that in this past year.  The gut wrenching experience is one that I do not care to repeat.

Now, we've established a new normalcy, complete with different expectations, different day to day activities, and lots of appointments for all of us.

My day to day activities remain the same, but I struggle to gain a semblance of order.  Without getting enough sunlight, and beginning the cloudy time of year, I know my Sensory Affective Disorder is going to kick in soon.  I work to try to find a way around the symptoms by exercising, going on walks--even on cloudy days--getting enough nutritious foods, but I struggle to get enough sleep each night without waking through the night for whatever reason.  Keeping things in check depends greatly on getting enough sleep.  Six hours, sometimes less, of sleep each night isn't enough though.  It is work to get enough sleep.  (Go figure!)

Through all of this, we are beginning to thrust ourselves in to getting ready to move to Georgia.  I would love for all the work to be done when I snap my fingers, but it won't.  We will be downsizing, purging, decluttering, pitching, selling, and eventually giving thing away so we don't have to move them.  We only keep things that we absolutely treasure and things that are absolutely necessary.  We will definitely have many yard sales beginning in May.  To begin, though, I am selling some of our home school books.  I am taking them to our local home school group meetings to sell a little at a time.  

It is amazing how much junk one accumulates! 

We've added a puppy to our home recently.  His name is Gus.  Before Gus, by about a month, we added an adult cat whose name is Pickles.  He's a good kitty who will make sure to take care of our mice problem.  We got him because the mice were getting smarter.  Now we have 4 critters to keep each of us (almost) company.  Biscuit has enjoyed sitting on my lap while Pickles goes with my husband, Gus has taken a very strong liking to JL and Rustie enjoys getting attention from anyone.  He is getting older and will probably be facing his final time through this winter.  That's why we have Gus now.

We've canned quite a bit more this year than we have last year and the year before.  This year we've made 2 batches of salsa--over 20 quarts--sauce, stewed tomatoes, and hot peppers.  We are looking at pumpkin next and whatever else we can preserve.  If we haven't eaten all of it by the time we move then we'll take it with us.  We plan to put in a garden next year just in case our house doesn't sell.  

Last week our kids participated in the Clarion Autumn Leaf Festival with the Civil Air Patrol.  JL is holding the rifle in the left front, HJ is right behind him holding the banner, and DA is right over her shoulder in the back.  They did a phenomenal job!

Now we concentrate on schooling.  I struggle with getting much in, so I'm working on that as well as the many other things mentioned above right now.  If you don't see me around for a while, that is why.  I may document my purging journey in all its glory--messes and everything.  In order to purge, you need to make a mess, right?  We've lived in this house for 9 years, so I'm sure the mess will be huge!

~Until next time~

God Bless,

Our Changing Life

I absolutely love spending time with my family.  I love going for walks, hiking, swimming, playing games and just having fun.  This year has been precariously balanced for us, where we've held our breath, cried oceans of tears, screaming out to God "Why?!", and working so very hard to help our kids.  

To be certain, this year has caused both Mr. G and I to not just cherish our family, but willfully and deliberately work to spend time with each of our children.  

Yes, changes are certain.  We've gone through the wringer this year and it has hurt our hearts and spirits beyond what we knew we could handle.  We've functioned purely from our knees because that's the only place we could function from.  God gave us more than we knew we could handle because He wanted us to move closer to Him.  He needed our humility.  

For those of you who know more of the details and have been praying for our family, thank you!  For those of you who do not know what's gone on, rest assured, God has taken care of us.  Please continue to keep us in prayer as we work on repairing the hurt, forgiving, and  moving forward.  

God Bless,

Regina

In Which Life Changes

We've added  quite a plethora of "staff" to our home and daily workings.  We have therapists, a case manager, rehabilitation folks, and Lord only knows who else will join our plethora of folks giving our family aid.

We are on the road to recovery and acceptance of the changes in our lives.  Please, if we come to your mind, keep us in your prayers.  This is hard as we muddle our way through, finding healing. Forgive me for being less than "chatty."  I apologize that I cannot give more details.

God Bless,

Regina

When Dark Times Come

I would love to share with everyone about our lives right now, the underlying difficulties, struggles and gut wrenchingly tumultuous situations that have been thrust upon us.  I am not able to currently, however.  I don't have permission to share publicly the details.

I would like to share how we are moving on.

Today I have hit the depression stage although I have a mixture of other stages in there, but I can feel the depression slipping in.  I know these stages have to be gone through to get to the other side, but I am doing some things today to help it along.  I'm going outside to work on my flower beds.  I'm doing this because I need to get the work done, but also because the fresh air, digging in the dirt, progress, and sunshine will help me.

This morning when I let Rustie outside, I went out to look at my clematises.  I straightened the vines, the trellises and just took stock of what stage they were in.  I realized that I needed to get out there and just do something.

I have been so overwhelmed with paperwork and arranging everything known to mankind that I've reached a point where I can't do any more, but surrender.  Now I need to make peace and allow myself to grieve and let God handle the situation.  

Dreaming of...

It is no secret that I've been dreaming of when my hubby is able to retire, moving to some (more) property out where we can have animals.  Why?  I know many who read my blog would wonder why.

I love animals.  I've loved them for a very long time.

Horses~

Sheep~

Cows~

Pigs~

Chickens~

Goats for milk~

I love the thought of keeping animals.  The thought of knowing where my food comes from is ever present, but not obsessing-out-of-control-needing-to-know-every-single-ioda, kind of thought that affects my life in many ways.  My husband has stomach sensitivities when it comes to dairy-sitting-out-too-long and so he cannot enjoy any kind of dressing, eggs, meats, etc sitting out on a salad bar when we go out to eat kind of thing.  We have to be careful to make sure he eats a french or vinegar and oil based dressing at those times.  There are also issues of food poisoning that we've had to deal with, not because the restaurant is not "up to par", but just because something sat out too long for my hubby's sensitive tummy.  Seriously folks, this just simply means an extra 5 minutes in most cases.  This is how sensitive he is.  And I, not wanting to put a damper on a nice evening out, try everything within my power to make sure he has good food when we go out that I know doesn't matter if it sits out--like a baked potato--past 5 minutes.  

We have canned food for years, as did our parents before us.  The tradition continues every year with a variety of plans to make more spaghetti/pizza sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, jams and jellies, beans, pickles, and other items to save the harvest for the winter.  I've planned and planned for all sorts of things only to come up short due to this or that blight.  My salsa has been something that has been greatly missed due to the blights from the past couple of years as well as omnivorous critters invading our garden.  

This year, we plan to put up a fence shortly after tilling the ground to keep the critters out.  We also plan to do our normal crop rotation making sure to put the beans and peas where they haven't been yet.  We try very hard to companion plant, but sometimes it just doesn't work.  This year I've purchased a book to pour over about--don't laugh--The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost, and other amazing techniques for saving time and money, and ... most flavorful, nutritious vegetables ever.!  Hooray!  Yes, you can laugh...go ahead.  LOL  Rest assured, I will not be delving in to humanure!  Yuck!

My composting quest has been ongoing for years now.  The only problem with it is that it isn't in a container of sorts where it is easily spreadable after it's decomposed.  I'd like to purchase a compost bin like this one: Good Ideas 7-Cubic-Foot Compost Wizard Jr. and get it producing good soil for our gardens, herb, and flower beds.  I'm one who tries to work with the Lord and His creation to grow things.

My Plans

Ha! Ha! Haaaaaaaa!  Isn't it laughable!

I have a daily planner that I love.  My husband bought it for me for Christmas this past year.

So far, I write my daily exercise in each day because it changes daily.  The other items I write in are breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Those are non-negotiable for us, whether we're on the road or at home.

The next things that get written in are Home School Group, Civil Air Patrol, Bible Study, Church Activities and Youth Group functions.  Those are things that are important.  The next items that get written in are doctor's appointments because they change and they vary by day and by person.  Then we add in Civil Air Patrol activities.  I don't plan my days, my days plan for me.  

I know I can plan to stay home on this day or that day, but whether that happens or not is another story.  I planned to stay home today, but we needed eggs and cheese at the store.  Then my Mr. G forgot his work boots, so I had to run them to his work for him.  When I arrived back at home, Daniel was making pizza dough and needed sugar.  I haven't had white sugar in the house for months.  I asked him to find the honey, but there was none.  Then I gave him a choice between raw sugar or Stevia to use.  He detests the taste of Stevia, so the only other logical choice was raw sugar.  Yes folks, that is how badly I really wanted to stay home!  

Needless to say, the pizzas were made from the kids' pizza dough, and I tried a new to us cauliflower pizza crust that turned out so very yummy!  It is from the Trim Healthy Mama book and I am so very glad that I made it!  It is so very filling, healthy and yummy!  

I have to look at our week and plan what to make when so that we have plenty of items on hand for my hubby to have his favorite PB&J.  He needs a little more help in the diet department because his fasting sugar numbers are not getting better.  

Tomorrow my plans are to follow what the Lord has for me.  I hope to get some pan bread made for my hubby in the afternoon, but that is up to God to decide if I'll do that.  

I have lots of crocheting to do too, so my days are filled with lots to do.  

My plans?  Ha!  No, I don't have any plans.  The Lord gives me my daily plans sometimes a day or so ahead, others it is moment by moment where I can only see what is right in front of me right now.  Regardless, the Lord is in charge.  Yes, as I write that, I need to tell it to myself because I have a rebellious/selfish "I want to do this" streak about me....but don't we all?  

God Bless,

Surrendering

In the past 9 years, the Lord has been teaching me more and more about surrendering.  Many times the song "I Surrender All" has been sung or played in a variety of ways during times when I have felt helpless and alone.  The Lord is like that.

Now, with the new "semester" of Bible study classes resuming, I'm finding the course is hinging upon not only "Surrender", but obedience as well.  Both of those go hand in hand I think.  I'm pretty sure I'm entering a growing season.  It is time, once again, to surrender to the potter's hands even more, and obey.

In Him,

Our Valentine's Day

Such an "original" title, huh?!  LOL  Well, our day was anything but ordinary.

In the morning, I dropped my daughter, HJ off at our dear friends' house to babysit her 2 youngest while she ran some errands.  I ran errands and grocery shopped to my heart's content before the snow got worse.  While I was gone, I looked for Valentine's Day gifts that were not pink, lace or polka dots--just to make sure my guys didn't get a girly gift.  Heaven forbid!  I usually get my hubby a pair of silk-y boxers, but this year they didn't have his size, unfortunately.  So I did the next best thing!  I bought him a warm fuzzy hoodie!  As I looked around, I found 3 more hoodies that were wonderfully warm too!  I decided to go practical and unconventional for Valentine's day and get everyone clearance hoodies.  LOL

I arrived home and everyone hustled and bustled getting the groceries unloaded, put away, and all the bags & boxes in their rightful place.  Everyone loved the practical hoodies, red velvet cupcakes (which I had only one bite of), and chocolate.  I love lavishing practical love on my family!

Later, a friend of mine came to pick up the kids for a night of "hanging out" at her house with her kids while my Mr. G and I went out and had the house to ourselves upon our return.  I grabbed a quick snooze, then changed into some nicer clothes to go out to a local winery.

 [Now, just to help you understand, I'm not a wino! (no judgment, please!)  I like sipping a glass of good wine about 4 times a year.  And I can only sip one glass, not two because my stomach gets sour at that point.  I don't have any problem whatsoever with moderation.  Besides, wine is a wonderful drink from the Bible, so I have no guilt in consuming a glass of wine 4 times a year.]  

The local winery did not have a restaurant, so they had dinner catered just for Valentine's day.  What a wonderful prime rib dinner it was!  My husband made reservations for this place in advance--when our original plans were derailed by a snow storm--and it was just what I needed!  It had a rustic-outdoorsy-bistro feel to it.  I loved not only the decor, but the owners were absolutely lovely and the LIVE music was wonderful!  The older gentleman played early 70's-ish music from John Denver, The Eagles, Bobby Goldsboro and other similar tunes.  We both loved it!  What a lovely idea this was that my husband had!  We had our dinner out on their back deck--yes, outside--where they had a huge torch heater and the entire porch was encased in plastic, white Christmas lights, and burlap curtains where you could see all the snow and the woods!  The atmosphere was friendly and inviting!  We'll definitely go back!

We enjoyed our time away from the hustle and bustle of responsibility with the kids, but they were just 5 minutes down the road.  LOL  Yes, a good friend who takes my kids even when they have the sniffles and they're coughing up icky stuff!  =0D  We don't go out as often as we should, so this was quite a wonderful treat for us.

What's next?  Planning for our 24th Anniversary!  


God Bless,
Regina

My New Felted Lined Purse

Beginning with leftover variegated wool that I already had on hand.

Almost finished on 11-23-13

What did I do?  How did I do it?

I formulated this purse in my mind before I began casting on stitches for the bottom.  I thought about it for 2 weeks or so, tossing ideas and how I wanted it to be over and over in my mind.  I love my current purse.  It's nice and roomy, holds all the things I need to carry, and it is functional.  So what's wrong with it?  I'm glad you asked!  It's made from plastic and it is starting to crack and peel in places.  I figured I'd better take action and get another one made before this one fell apart.  

Why not buy a 31 or a Miche purse?  I'm beginning to "shy away" from automated manufacturing types of things.  I'm finding that things that are hand made withstand the test of time much better than one made by mechanical methods.  Yes, the store bought purses and things are wonderful and functional for a little while.  But, I've found that felted bags withstand much further wear and tear due to the durability and strength of the materials.

What did I do?  First of all, I made a rectangle of garter stitch for the bottom.  Garter stitch is just knitting, turning, then knitting again.  Very easy, very straight forward.  

Once I made the rectangle big enough for my own liking, I picked up stitches along the sides and joined all of it "in the round" with these needles:

The ones in the packages with the metal ends attach to the cable in the package to the far left.  The larger free standing needles are straight needles.

Once I joined everything, I counted stitches on the long ends and made sure the  numbers matched, then did the same thing with the shorter ends.  If they didn't match, I increased stitches in appropriate places so that it would be even while I knitted those areas.

Once I had everything knitted and all the stitches even on each side, I knitted a couple rows and began increasing every 10 stitches so that the purse would be fuller.  I did this twice with 4 rows of straight knitting between them.  

Once I made it to the end of my variegated yarn, I had to put it down for a couple of days until my new wool order came.  I wanted the yellow to be the more predominate color in the bag, so I striped the bag with that in mind, simply taking artistic license--just because I can.  LOL  

After doing a couple sets of stripes, it was time to drastically decrease and make the top of the bag smaller.  I began by decreasing where the sides of the bag would be and decreased evenly every other row.  

Once I finished the last row of yellow, I decided that I would use dark burgundy and do a ribbing stitch all the way around, binding off and keeping the handle stitches on my cables to work those in a stockinette stitch until the length reached what seemed to be a good amount.  I didn't predetermine this length.  

[Note:  At the time of writing this post, the length of the handles are not completed.  I currently have them almost half way done.  From this point on, the plans for the bag are as follows.]

After casting off, the tails still need to be woven, then the bag felted, and blocked.  11-27-13

After joining the handle with the other side of the bag, I plan to make a flap by picking up stitches along one side and knitting those with a stockinette stitch.  I plan to add a couple cable stitches when I do the flap just to add some interest and artistic flare.  [As you can see in the above picture, I didn't do the cables.  I figured they wouldn't show up very well and I was right.  I decided to continue with a regular stockinette stitch and it worked well.]

Once the bag is done, I'll put it inside a pillow case and wash it with some jeans or heavy bath towels until it reaches the felted stage that I'm looking for.  The more you wash it and agitate the wool, the more the stitches disappear and the material becomes one piece of felted fabric.  At that time, it will be about 1/4"-1/2" thick and very durable.

After the bag reaches that point, I'll lay it on a box the same size as the felted bag.  Not the same size as the prefelted bag because the size will decrease as it felts.  I let it dry for a couple of days in this fashion so that it will take on the shape of the box.

[In this case, because I increased at the bottom to make room for the things I need to carry in my purse, I had to use rubbermaid dishes to push the sides out because I couldn't get a box inside.  The top is more slender so as to keep "prying eyes" out of my purse (in theory).]

A close up of the felting.  The pins that you see sticking up are holding the flap in place after it has been stretched and "blocked" to dry.  

Once the bag is dried, I'm going to take it to Joann Fabrics and try to match material to the colors of the bag as well as get 2 zippers and some thread to make the pockets for the inside.  I'll also pick up some invisible thread for adhering the liner to the felted bag.

This should take another 2 days or so to finish knitting, but it will be 2 weeks before I had to Joann's (planning trips to do more shopping where that store is to save in gas usage.)  with the sewing taking only an afternoon.  I hope to have it done by the 7th of December.  I'll post updated pictures after I'm finished.

In the mean time, here are some other crocheted felted bags I've made:

This one was crocheted with Icelandic Wool.

This one had some Icelandic Wool in it as well.  

  

I'm finding that crocheting wool bags is just as sturdy as knitting, but the stitches are still visible.  The differences between the two are amazing!

The finished product. :)