This Old House in New Liberty

Around the house…...

2012-02-07T08:05:00.000-06:00

We have been a little busy around the house lately! We are working on our Laundry Room and I will reveal that by the end of the week... but when Mark was cutting bead board and there wasn't much for me to do.... I have been decorating and working on our staircase FINALLY and it is looking nice! I will take some more shots of that when I am finished but it is looking awesome (if I may say so myself)! Have an awesome Tuesday!

Dining Room Table Centerpiece!

Strawberry Crush Soda!

Valentine's Mantel

My little Kitchen Display

Isn't this little Owl a Hoot?

Of course Valentine Marshmallows in a jar!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THE STAIRWAY!!!! I LOVE IT!

Is it Spring yet?

2012-02-01T17:09:00.001-06:00

I don't know what the weather has been like where you live, but here in Iowa we have had a rather mild winter! High 50's is just a little strange in January, coming into February who knows what we can expect? Whatever we get we certainly don't have any room to complain about it! At least I hope I am not complaining! I for one enjoy each season, although I could do without 100 degree temperature in the Summertime, but I take it as it comes! I really do like a good snow storm, so call me weird if you want! I think hot chocolate, fireplace, curled up on the couch knitting! Oh to dream!!

But now where have I been hiding you might (or might not) ask? I went visiting last week! I went to see my Mother, my two sisters and their hubbies, and last but not least my daughter and her family! I enjoyed my visit with everyone and even enjoyed a chinese dinner with an old friend! (Oh yeah Pat I know I am older than you! But you are one of my longest friendships!

I even had a chance to see Anne from my old coffee shop in Robinson, although now she is enjoying being a Stay at Home Mom to this adorable little guy! When I knitted this owl hat I had Rhett in mind and hoped it would fit him and that it did quite perfectly!

So now what am I doing? Well, I have several hats to get done for some orders... which by the way I am giving all the proceeds to Amber to help with the expenses of adopting a baby boy from Bulgaria! $25. is the fee so if you are interested shoot me an email! The pattern is my own creation! Yay, first time for me on creating my own pattern!

Tomorrow I will post some pictures about our latest project here in This Old House!

Happy Wednesday to all of you!

Nancy

Still Organizing

2012-01-18T08:44:00.001-06:00

I feel like my craft room is a continual work in progress... Upon reorganizing the last few days I decided some attention was needed in the pattern area! In other words I had so many loose patterns that I had gotten online or had copies from Knit Shops... So I bought a binder and page protectors and now can find any pattern with ease! I finally finished my little owl hat... what do you think? I kind of like the little guy and think he would be cute in numerous colors! I actually came up with this pattern on my own!

May God Bless each of you on this cold Wednesday!

Nancy

Before and After shots of the Craft Room

2012-01-16T15:54:00.002-06:00

I discovered that my original post of my renovations of my craft room had disappeared from my blog so as I was taking pictures of my newly organized craft room. Which is a bummer because in it I had described everything we did to this room! So since it had disappeared I decided to repost the before with shots I took of what it looks like today! Hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~ Click on Pictures to enlarge~~~~~~~

You cannot read what this says on the bottom but the last person whom wallpapered had written on the wall in pencil how much wallpaper you needed to buy for the walls and dated it April 19, 1956! Wow that wallpaper was on a very long time and it was soooooo lovely! I am sure someone thought it was lovely back in the day!

I decided to hang the wreath I had made back in the summer on the door to the Craft Room.... So come on in and enjoy!

Yes, I have lots of stuff..... I sold Stampin Up! for twelve years... and I have way too much stuff. Plus all of the yarn!

I have been busy the last few days, organizing my craft room, which is a craft in itself!
I know I have just overloaded you all on pictures, but thought some of the close ups would help you see just how I have stuff stored.....

I think the pictures pretty much explain themselves! If you have any questions ask away!

Happy Monday to all!

I linked up to Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

I also linked up to one of my favorite Blogs Shine your lights Before and After Party

My personal Review of Yarn Shops and umm reorganizing my STASH!

2012-01-13T23:16:00.001-06:00

The Craft Room hasn't been feeling too crafty lately....
WHY you might ~~or might not ask~~? Because I have accumulated just a wee bit too much yarn! How could this have happened? I love Knit Shops! You walk into a shop and hopefully you are warmly greeted by a smiling face, hopefully this shop is a place that makes you want to just pull out your latest project and start knitting! Most Knit Shops that I go to are just that way warm, friendly and inviting!

One of my favorites I found a few years ago and I occasionally stop there to see what's new is in Morton, Illinois "EweNique Yarns" is a neat shop, and on any given day you will find Grandma, Daughter and Grandaughter all there working on some neat new project! I love the variety this shop carries!

Of course back when I lived in Robinson, I loved to frequent "River Wools" in Terre Haute, IN and there you would find Martha always willing to help you find the perfect yarn for your project! I miss going to that shop and all the classes they offered....

Another shop I love here in the Quad Cities is "Serendipity" in Muscatine, Iowa ..upon entering this shop you will find a really unique building in the Pearl Plaza with old wooden floors and lots of fun fibers! You will be greeted by Francie or maybe Marie depending on which day you might go in the shop, but you will always feel a warm welcome to sit down and join in knitting at their large table! If you feel the urge to have your favorite brew or a sandwich you can go to Elle's just behind the shop for something delicious!

Then onto Eldridge, Iowa you will find "365 days on a Farm" Knit Shop you will be instantly welcomed by Tammy or maybe her partner Scott! What a sweet gal she is and so willing to help you with anything you might be thinking of knitting! They are striving to carry only American made yarns, and they have lots and lots of wool, alpaca and spinning supplies galore if you have not checked them out you need to! They also have a couple of knit groups, one on Wednesdays from 3-5 and Thursdays 5-7... and lots of specials nights on their calendar for all to enjoy! While you are there you might want to go next door to the "Buzz" they have a great latte!

One of my other favorites is "Sit and Knit" in Knoxville, Il just past Galseburg! Maureen is one sweet gal and talk about a ton of yarn, you want it she has it! She is quite helpful with her ample supply of yarn and knowledge! If she doesn't have it in stock have no fear she will order it for you! She just makes you want to knit something! I make frequent stops at her shop coming to and from my daughters house in Fairview!

Another shop that I like is in Galesburg, IL "Knit 102" is a warm and friendly place, the owner Sally is quite helpful and if you are looking for a sewing bag she carries "Namaste" which I consider the best! I bought a Red Hermosa and love it! Her prices cannot be beat!

I was thrilled to find out this week that there is a new shop opening up in Bettendorf, Iowa at 3359 Devils Glen Road, " The Knit & Knot" their grand opening is coming up this Tuesday, January 17th. The shop is on the north side of Devils Glenn in a strip mall by a Family Credit Union and near the Coffee Hound. I happened to stop in the other day and Joy seemed like a real sweet gal and I wish her the best in her new endeavor!

Okay so that is my review on my favorite shops that I sometimes frequent!

When we are traveling in a new area you can just bet that I am keeping my eye open for a Knit Shop, I love seeing the different things that each one carries on their shelves! I found one in Myrtle Beach that the minute you stepped in the door they were introducing themselves to you and inviting you to come on in and make yourself at home.... they certainly had a way of giving everyone who came in a warm fuzzy feeling, Julie was with me and I am surprised they didn't pursued her to start knitting!!

So is there any doubt why my stash of yarn has grown, I go into these awesome shops and before I know it I am walking out with a bag of softness just waiting for the right project to come along to use it on!

Without further ado I will show you some pictures of some of my organization.... maybe before the weekend is out you will get a full tour! :~)

I had previously had most of my yarn sitting in baskets, but I decided my stash was probably collecting too much dust that way and decided only the yarn that I could see all the time (from my desk) would be out in the open for me to see and to touch! I think this will make me a happy and I will be really happy if I can complete this organizational project this weekend!!! Hope you have a good one!

Nancy

Knitting is one of my Loves.....

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, I love to knit and I am trying to get some things knitted up to sell to benefit my daughter's family as they embark on the adoption of a baby! So here are some pictures of my latest projects!

This scarf is made from Katia Rizos yarn a fun ribbon like yarn with loops at the top!

This chunky scarf is made on size 35 needles with Berroco Link yarn! I love the muted colors!

Nancy

Sweet Sweet Baby!

2012-01-09T20:28:00.001-06:00

Can you just tell from these pictures just how happy they are to be home with a healthy baby? His name is officially Jamen Cade..... a change in spelling! In these pictures big brothers were still napping and big sister was getting in some serious loving on her baby brother... she wants to take him to preschool with her! So cute! I think she will be the protector of this little one! Thank you so much for your prayers!

Nancy

A new life has been added to my family!

2012-01-06T07:38:00.002-06:00

We have had a new life added to our family! My daughter and her husband had a baby boy Jamon Cade pronounced "Jaymen" on Wednesday January 4th! The delivery went pretty smooth after all it was her fourth! They all have "J" names! No they are not trying to imitate the Duggers! :) which I actually like the Duggers! Oh sorry back to my new grand baby..... Jamon Cade weighed in at 8 pounds and 9 ounces with a head of dark hair! He has had some difficulty breathing as he was born with some fluid in his lungs... as of last night he was still in a isolette in the nursery. Please pray with me that this will clear up soon! It is hard on Mommy and Daddy when they cannot have the baby with them to hold and to love on!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T12:46:00.002-06:00

The decorations are put away, the cookies are almost all gone, the house is somewhat back to normal, all of our Christmas Celebrations have taken place, and we are now in a new year! A year that I hope brings much health, happiness and joy to all of you! I am anxiously awaiting the birth of my 7th grandchild! Seems like I went from One to Seven in no time.... well it did take a few years they are all under the age of 5 1/2 not all in the same family! Jala is about to have child # 4 sometime tomorrow (if it doesn't come before) and Jala and John's four will all be under the age of 4 1/2! His name is to be Jamon unless the sonograms are all wrong then who know what J name she would get!

We just had our Christmas celebration on Saturday and had a really great day and I do believe we were all sad to see the day end!

If you have a chance to say some prayers please pray for a safe delivery for Momma of a healthy baby! AND while you are at it say some prayers for a dear friend of mine, Charlie who is going for a second opinion tomorrow! They would sure appreciate your prayers more than you could possibly know!

The following pictures are from our Christmas gathering on Saturday

Jagger is opening his gift of "Percy" Pillow Pet and you can imagine what he said.... Percy doesn't quite come out right and the following pictures are of hysterical laughter! I thought sure it would throw Jala into labor! I love it when my kids have a good time together!

Wishing you all the best!

Nancy

Merry Christmas to all of Blogland......

2011-12-24T07:19:00.002-06:00

Wishing you all the Merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year....

I hope you find the Joy of Jesus this Christmas Season!

Nancy

Jaxton didn't think too much of Santa.... Smart Boy!!!

I lost a dear friend.....

2011-12-13T21:30:00.001-06:00

I lost a dear friend yesterday.... Crystal was an extraordinary friend.... she had a heart of gold, even though her physical heart was weak! She had to have to the world's record for the most stints that I have ever heard of 29 at the last count! She went in for a knee replacement surgery on Monday the 12th and came through the surgery and passed away! Crystal was only 52 and leaves behind a loving husband and a son, two brothers, a sister in law and several nieces and nephews and an aunt... and many friends! Crystal was an amazing women who reached out to everyone! She was loved by all who knew her!

Crystal and I met on the internet! ( I seem to have a habit of that ;~) ) Our common bond in the beginning was we were both Stampin Up! demonstrators and were on a chat board called Sisters in Stamping... when in late 1999 I found that my husband was being transferred for his job to the Quad Cities... she responded saying that she lived there and I told her I was looking for a Baptist Church and she said "well my husband is an associate pastor at a Baptist church and I think you might like it"! While we were living at the Radisson waiting for our belongings to be moved, she called me several times and we did visit her church! Ron was a little skeptical of our friendship in the beginning since we had met on the internet I believe he thought I might of been an ax murderer but Crystal assured him that we were ok, my husband was a Warden and we were Baptist! :)

While we were preparing for our move to our new home, I was painting and she called me and she and Ron brought supper over to us... Well to say the least the four of us hit it off and became friends... I cannot even begin to say what their friendships meant to both of us, we were in a new place far away from family and friends, but we didn't have anything to worry about they were steadfast and true. We faced some very difficult days in the next three and half years... six months after moving to this foreign land Gary and I lost our fathers six days apart and six months later found out my sweet husband had renal cancer! Ron and Crystal were with my family through some of the darkest days of our lives and I honestly don't know what I would of done without their friendship. Through Crystal getting us to go to Wildwood we made many friends. We continued to share our love of stamping. When I moved away we still stayed in contact and I was glad that I had the chance to come back and be able to see her more the last couple of years. While now I have many regrets that I didn't get to see her as much as I had liked, You can't go back! Wouldn't it be nice if we could...

We traveled together many times to SU conventions and events.. She was my first flying partner, I had a horrible fear of heights! She was always so much fun to be with! Crystal was the finest example of how a christian should live their lives she truly walked the walk! I know she is now basking in God's Glory and singing with the angels!

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

This Old House In New Liberty!-Large.m4v

2011-12-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

Here is a tour of the downstairs decorated for Christmas! Imagine you are listening to Christmas music as you watch! I had Jewels - Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer playing on the original video but when I published it to You Tube I found that was illegal... so here it is in silent mode :(

Nancy

I linked my tour up to The Inspired Rooms Virtual House Tour...

Love, Love, Love these white trees..... Making a Christmas Mantel!

2011-12-08T18:56:00.001-06:00

****** Updated to add some more pictures!******

Somehow December brings out the best of the crafts! I love making things and Christmas decorations are no exception!! Today I made these Christmas trees! The two tall ones on the ends are covered in a bumpy, stretchy fabric that is sold near baby fabrics in Joanns... (fleece type), one is covered with little white ball fringe and two are covered with fake snow! I added a few more snow globes and some lights, put some snowflakes on the mirror... and hung some snow flakes below the ledge.... I think I am done with this part but we will see! Right now I am loving how it looks! Hoping for snow soon!!!! What are you making???

Now some daytime pictures.....

And Finally below is the finished product!!

Stay Warm! Nancy

I linked up to

Show and Tell Fridays

French Country Cottage

Home Parties A-Z Christmas Mantel Party

Snow Globes

2011-12-08T04:59:00.000-06:00

Yessiree, I jumped on the "make me some snow globes bandwagon"!! These were so much fun to make! Even the grand girls loved making them!

A legacy of crafting lives on in each generation!

Of course before screwing the lid on you put in about 2 tablespoons give or take of snow, I even added some extra glitter to the mix! I must warn you though that you may be wearing the glitter for a few days!

Where did I find the ingredients you might ask? The trees I got from several different places, Hobby Lobby in the aisle for miniature houses, Dollar Tree and Walmart for the figurines, snow came from Walmart. Jars came from an collection, (I have tons of jars)! Glass Candle holders came from Dollar Tree... Wooden spools from Joan's!

Hope you find some time to make some snow globes too!

Nancy

Knitting....

2011-11-30T14:53:00.001-06:00

A little Herringbone project.... while knitting on a little sweater project I switched gears and whipped this scarf out... Now I must say it was a little tedious getting it started and I ripped it out at least 6 or more times... ~~so frustrating and I actually lost count how many times it got ripped out!~~ I stayed with it and switched from my slick Addi's to wooden needles and that seemed to help a lot! The yarn is REALLY soft it has mostly baby alpaca in it so it feels really nice!!! I think I might just keep this one for me!

Have an awesome Wednesday!

Nancy

A little Christmas project!

2011-11-27T16:55:00.001-06:00

I have had these glass block for several years and have just not had the time to make these lit beauties! What do you think? I like them! Still thinking of tweaks to make to the next ones!

Nancy

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

2011-11-27T16:30:00.001-06:00

Or something like that! Sorry I have been missing but as usual I have been really busy! We had a granddaughter's baptism to go to, a Sweet little grandaughters 4th birthday party, and I have been working on an early Christmas present for one set of grandkids!

Caitlyn Grace

So here is a review in pictures!

My Sweet little Capri turned 4!

The little girls got to make bracelets!

candies

Capri!

The early Christmas present was making a playroom for the grandkids that live on the farm!

Putting together IKEA Shelving!

John giving me a hand!

The kiddos checking things out!

A place for everything is our goal!

We are not finished completely with the playroom I will take pictures and post them when it is completely finished! With a 4th baby on the way very soon, this momma needed somewhere that the kids could play, be safe and not cover the enter house with toys! There are gates on the two inner doorways and Daddy was working on some locks here! See the cute polka dotted rugs from IKEA? We duct taped them together to make a runner!!! Stay tuned for the final pictures!

Nancy

White Pumpkins....

2011-11-10T17:18:00.001-06:00

Yes, I can't help it I like white pumpkins!!! I bought some to set around in fall arrangements and ugh they are already turning brown! To fix that dilemma I bought a couple of packages of fake pumpkins on sale at Joann's and a can of creamy colored spray paint! ( Robert, I just couldn't paint them silver!) and oooolaaaaaalaaaaaa I have white pumpkins that will last year after year!!

Any suggestions on how to camouflage my pretty painted window for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season so it doesn't look like Summer mixed with Winter? I thought about putting vellum over each window pane?

So here are the before and after pictures of the pumpkins!

I covered the stems with painters tape!

See the real pumpkins by the arrangement and how they are already turning ugly?

this is the window in question! How do I camouflage the summery flowers???

It sure got cold quickly and I have already seen the first snow fly although it didn't last long!

I hope you are stopping to think what all you have to be thankful for! My list is a mile long!!!

Nancy

Cousin Get Together

2011-11-03T22:49:00.002-05:00

Tonight we had a little get together at "This Old House" Mark's cousin Karen and her husband Jim were here from Reno, so it was a time to reminisce about days gone by! I fixed Baked Potato Soup, White Chili, and Pumpkin Soup along with cornbread. I think everyone enjoyed the visit! We sure enjoyed having them all here!

Karen, Terry, Sylvia and Vivian (Sylvia was the oldest of 3 girls and her sister Retha was the mother of these ladies)

Mark looks a little tired, he had a short night last night!

Hope you have had a great day!!!

Nancy

A little project

2011-11-02T18:22:00.001-05:00

I finally cleaned out the front entryway so I could make some hangers for coats, hopefully soon I will get a bench built in there also for some storage, but for now I am happy with a spot our guest can hang their coats!

This is inside our front door....

Mark will be surprised when he comes home! Yessirree I used the electric saw and did it myself!

Nancy

A drive back in time!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

When we were out for a drive on Saturday we drove over by Illinois City where Mark's maternal grandparents lived on a farm for many years! Mark had not been by his grandparents old home for a number of years! The family who lived there had actually bought it from Mark's grandparents Lawrence and Garnett Brookhart and have lived there for 20 years, while it had changed a lot, some old buildings replaced with new ones and a recent new deck and lots of other improvements to the outside, it still held a lot of wonderful memories for Mark as he recalled many great memories of his trips to the farm!

Hope you are enjoying the pretty leaves!!

Nancy

The Beauty of Fall!

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

After arriving home from being gone for almost a week, Mark and I decided to take a drive up the Mississippi River to enjoy the leaves! Palisades State Park overlooking the Mississippi was pretty although the leaves were said to have peaked the week before!

Overlooking the Mississippi

See the train winding around the bend?

Gotta love the timers on Cameras!!!

While I was sad to leave, Mark was certainly glad to have me back home again!!

Blessings!!!

Nancy

Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jigg!

2011-10-29T20:14:00.000-05:00

If you have been reading my blog for very long you know my middle name is GO.... I am continually on the GO..... In order to see my children and grandchildren I have to be on the GO!!!

I started out stopping to drop some things off for Jala and got to see Jilane model her awesome witch outfit that her Momma made for her! (She is a talented seamstress)

Click on Pictures to enlarge!

After stopping by Jala's I headed onto see my dear friend Kaye and spend the night, she had a wonderful meal ready and we had a great visit! On Sunday morning after eating breakfast we headed over to Rockville, Indiana to the Covered Bridge Festival and I am proud to say I didn't buy a thing..... but since we left my car in Tuscola we did do a little shopping on the tail end of our trip before I headed on South to Robinson! A bad stop for a Grandma on the way to see Grandkids!!!

Sunday evening I then headed onto Robinson to see Amber and family! I had a great time with all of them and wish I had taken more pictures, Abigail was at school and I didn't get any of her except on my cell phone!!!

The Three little ones were enjoying there evening drive!

One of the days I was babysitting little Miss Capri twisted my arm and persuaded me to make some cookies!! AND she wanted to help so I measured everything and she dumped it in the bowl, (well it mostly went into the bowl!)

AND yes Otto wanted his fair share of cookies!!! He is a Momma's boy and by the 3rd day he was doing pretty good at not crying when his Momma left him with me! Unfortunately he is growing up with me not living nearby as his sisters did! BUT oh he is a sweetie pie!!! I love them all to pieces and it breaks my heart when I have to leave to go home!

I had a great visit with some dear friends there also that I do not get to see very often! :(

Have a Great Weekend!

Nancy

Chilly Monday!

2011-10-17T12:54:00.001-05:00

I am being kind of a bum this morning, or YIKES in looking at the clock I am into the afternoon!! I woke up a little late so didn't make it to my water aerobics this morning! So I decided to be a bum for part of the day! I am on the GO so much that I relish some days of just doing whatever I WANT!!!

I decided I had a couple of things sitting on my knitting needles that I just needed to get it done!

yes FINALLY and I still need to wash and block the stocking!

FINALLY the Potato Chip Scarf is finished!!!!

So now I think I will go shower and get dressed and tackle this cool Monday!!!

Blessings my friends!

Nancy

Why I am still Blogging....

2011-10-15T17:52:00.001-05:00

I have several times lately wondered why I am still blogging! In the beginning I actually started blogging so the kids could see the progress we were making on "This Old House" ..... but I also felt like it was more than that.....

I know I will lose some of you about now! I prayed and hoped that maybe somehow "my story" might touch someone and even if it had an influence on just one person it was well worth it! Well low and behold this week I received the following email that affirmed that yes, someone saw my life, that I had survived by the Grace of God losing my dear sweet husband.. and that yes my life has gone on. Yes, I have had many rough days, weeks, months and years and I was always thankful for the awesome support I received from family and some awesome friends! It is hard losing your spouse/best friend to say the very least! I really never imagined that I would remarry! It doesn't mean that Mark and I don't miss our late spouses because we do, we are so thankful that we have found someone else to love and to share our lives with! We serve an awesome God who knows our beginning and our end and we know that he is sovereign over our lives!

I do enjoy blogging and have made some friends in doing so! Alright I stalk their blogs and think they are my friends!! :~)

I know I probably bore some of you at times, so thank you Linda for your sweet email!!!

Dear Nancy,

I don't recall how I came across your blog but I check it often. I have been reading it for a while. We have many of the same interests and hobbies and I am thinking of starting and etsy store too.

My husband of 36 years died in January 2010. I found you at a time when I needed encouragement and reassurance. Through sharing of yourself, you have been a great help to me. I am sure that God led me to you. Thank you for helping me see that life can go on.

Linda

Today was a very windy day outside, so we got some "outside work" done today!!! I put together a pot of Pumpkin Soup for supper!!! mmmmm if you have never had it you should try it!!!

Here is the recipe just in case you might like to try it!
:
Sautee 1- 1/2 Cups of mushrooms & approx 3/4 C of Onions together with 4 T of Butter till softened, then add in 2 1/2 T flour and gradually add 4 cups of Chicken Broth, cook over medium heat until it becomes somewhat thickened.. Add in 1 (15 oz) can of Pumpkin, 2 T honey, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t ground nutmeg, 1/4 t pepper and 2 cups of milk (or 1 can of evaporated milk) ENJOY!!!

Have a Blessed Weekend!

Nancy

Embedded in my mind forever

2011-10-12T07:11:00.003-05:00

Yes, some days are just like that, embedded in your mind forever!! 37 years ago today I married Gary Wyant.... God blessed us so richly with an awesome marriage and two beautiful daughters! I often think of what we would be doing now if God had not called him home 8 years ago! I am so thankful that I have the memories! I know that some people go a lifetime and don't experience the awesome relationship that we had!

Don't you just love the Bell Bottoms? No this is not our wedding picture it is a picture of us at a family gathering a month or two before we got married!

I am also thankful that God has blessed me again!

Nancy

October.....

2011-10-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

October is here and I just want to knowWHERE did the summer go?? It flew by way to quickly! I certainly didn't get all the outside projects done that I had good intentions of doing!

I have once again been on the road a lot lately! We had a fall family gathering deep in Southern Illinois at my sister's place! I was determined if at all possible I would get my mother there.. Mom has been in a Nursing Home since last fall and had not been out yet. My mother was the best mom there could ever had been, she had five children, all of my mother's life the love of God, her husband and her family which she absolutely adored is all that ever mattered to her. So how could we possibly have a family gathering and she not attend? I didn't think I could live with myself if I didn't try and I had some rough days trying to decide what to do, but through much prayer and tears I knew it was the right thing to do! If something had happened while we were there that caused her life to end, she would of at least have died being happy, and besides a wise man (Gary) always said "It is never wrong to do the right thing"!

My Mom was a stay at home Mom, I always knew where my she was.... she was either cleaning, cooking or sewing and caring for her family in some way! No matter where we lived my mother had the knack of decorating and making our home look nice! There were always cookies in the cookie jar after school and a bountiful meal awaiting us for supper!

We went to the Nursing Home on Friday evening and visited with her for a couple of hours, she always loves looking at pictures on my IPAD and is always curious about it! I did take Mom to the family outing and Mark and I were able to get her in and out of my car without much trouble at all God is Good!... Mom was so happy, on the way to my sisters both of my girls talked to her on the speaker phone and she just kept telling them how beautiful it was outside. Mom so enjoyed the day and seeing all five of her children and their spouses, and a few grandchildren that were able to make it! So what if she didn't remember the next day, oh what joy she had for the afternoon! I hope to be able to start getting her out even if just for a ride in the country when I go down to see her!

Back row Shanda & John, Me (yes I look a little windblown) Jim, Pat & Dave
Front row: Jean & Dennis, Mom, Mark, Donna

My favorite picture is of my sweet niece Kim holding Mom's hand!

We drove seven hours down on Friday and came back home on Saturday evening! Then on Monday morning I headed to Spencer, IA to help out at Mike and Jill's house! They have a 4 1/2 year old and a new baby and what new mother can't use some help? I enjoyed being there and getting to love on Caitlyn and Christian! Poor Christian is confused as to what to call me! So I pretty much answer to anything! Aunt Nana, Grandma Nancy, Grandma Nana! One day a while back when he was visiting at our house he said "Aunt Nancy you married my Grandpa didn't you?" I still laugh at that one! I took my Cricut machine with me and cut out some letters for the kids rooms, do you think I remembered to take pictures? Of course not! Maybe next time I will remember!

I have a lot of stuff to catch up on this week!

Hope you are enjoying the awesome colors that are all around!!

Nancy

Fall is Here!

2011-09-20T18:56:00.000-05:00

It seems like it was just summer yesterday! It was, wasn't it? I do love the FALL, I love the briskness of the cool evening air! I love a wiener roast, apple cider, Pumpkins and yes that includes Pumpkin Pie! Of course my favorite is the colors of the leaves as they turn! I actually love something about each of the seasons! I always think of God as the Great Artist, Wonderful Creator of all the beauty around us in each of the seasons. BUT the FALL is my favorite of all! Don't get me wrong, I love how in the Spring everything comes back to life, and how in the Summer the flowers are so beautiful, and then of course the FALL, and you know what follows FALL? Winter and I love a good snow storm! Call me crazy I can handle it! Maybe part of the reason I love the FALL is Gary and I were married in October! So each FALL we had something to celebrate! I still love the FALL and the wonderful memories I have!

I stayed home today, I cleaned the downstairs pretty good, got out my fall decorations, spruced things up a bit. I have been gone so much, I have been trying to get caught up on the laundry today! I was gone last week to play "Super Nana" to three of my grandchildren while their parents were gone! I so enjoyed my time with them!! Nope, don't even have a picture of that to post! I was toooooo busy! One of the things I like to do for my kids is if I am at their house for whatever reason, I like to give them a hand at doing something! Whether it be just doing the dishes, or doing some laundry... it is just something I like to do. Who wouldn't like to come home to everything done up! (I sure do!)

Mark and I started a project a few weeks back! We (I) found the plans on Knock off Woods for a Kitchen Island, now mind you I didn't exactly have a large space in which to put one so we cut the pattern down the dimension are 36 inches long X 18 inches wide and counter top height and the two of us got busy and made it! I just now got around to taking some pictures of the finished product! I also took some pictures of my fall decorations I put out today! So If you are bored with pictures sorry!

I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful FALL weather too!

Nancy

Yes, I need to put a candle in this!

Welcome Little One!

2011-09-10T06:07:00.001-05:00

All Life is precious but there is just something so very special about a new baby... This week we had a new life added to our ever growing family! Caitlyn Grace was born to Mark's oldest son Michael and his wife Jill! We drove up the day she was born... Jill had a C-Section scheduled for Friday but as you can see this baby had a mind of her own and arrived a couple of days early weighing in at 7 pounds and 8 ounces. This is Mark's second grandchild but first granddaughter! To say the least he is quite proud of this little beauty. She went a couple of days without a name so we are just learning to say her name!

So bare with me as I once again show off a precious grandchild! While she is not mine biologically I am still proud of her and will love her just like the rest of them! It is hard when a new life is born not to think of our loved ones that are not here! I have with each of my grandchildren that have been born gotten teary knowing just how proud their Papa Gary would of been so as I looked at little Caitlyn and I couldn't help but think how proud her Grandma Robbin would be having her very first granddaughter so I felt quite guilty even having my picture taken with her.... ( sorry it is so hard to explain, guess you would have to be me to understand!)

She certainly is a precious gift from God!

Caitlyn's is our 8th grandchild together. Number 9 will be here in January!

Without further ado here is little Miss Caitlyn Grace!

To give credit where credit is due the music on the video is Eva Cassidy singing What a Wonderful World and the the pictures are mine!

One of my favorite pictures is with the hands of four generations and how she is grabbing her great grandmother's finger! How very precious is that? Girls have not happened very often in this family line... I believe Megan (Mark's daughter) was the first girl in 5 generations!

Hope you enjoy the video!

Nancy

Thursday is here.....

2011-09-01T08:37:00.002-05:00

I was really trying to be better about blogging, ummm maybe next week I will have more to post! :)

Finally the new roof is on the apartment! We had to take out the sunlights in the back entry :~( due too leaking.... the front entry roof was also redone! Now maybe I can do some landscaping especially since it is getting a little cooler!

Mark and I are working on a little construction project I will soon be posting about....

Had some visitors here yesterday! Bill and Cindy Kemna came to visit and it was so nice to see them!

I have not started an Etsy Shop yet have decided not to launch it until after Spoon River! Jala and I have been planning for some time to have a booth there at the "Barn" so I have been saving my crafting stuff for Spoon!

Here is a glimpse of some of the headbands I have done for "Spoon".....

Just put another shelf for some egg baskets full of yarn.... Amber if you are reading this I have one for you!

LOVE IT when this room is CLEAN!!!

SERIOUSLY someone has a BAG PROBLEM!!!!!

Hope this finds your week going great!

Once again a Labor Day that I will not make it to the festivities in Palestine.... NEXT YEAR it is on the AGENDA!!!

Hope you have an awesome fun filled, safe.... Labor Day Weekend!!

Nancy

Excuses, Excuses

2011-08-23T11:41:00.004-05:00

Excuses? You want them I have them!

Where have I been? What have I been doing? Well last week was the week of guests here at this old house and we love having guests, hint hint! All of Mark's kids were here at some point last week, no special occasion, a college break for three in Grad School, and a business trip for another! So lots of cooking and visiting was done throughout the week...

If you have followed me for long you have followed all the house remodeling... well we still are not FINISHED!

We still need to:

Finish the stairway

The Stairs come down into the Kitchen and into the Front Room, We just need the time to get this project completed! Really just a couple of days should take care of this project!

Then there is the woodwork (picture below) that needs finished AND the radiators that need painted and put back together! The radiators should be a quick project and the woodwork well, we need to hire someone to just come and do that ~~Mark is a perfectionist and it would take forever~~! SOON! I am ~~being really patient~~ trying to be patient! ~~I am so not a patient person when it comes to projects around the house!!!~~

This past year we have worked so hard trying to get this all completed.... and have come so far! We really don't have that much more to do on the two main levels of the house!

The BASEMENT is on my list... We have really gotten all the big items out of there and now just need to spend a weekend cleaning it up and organizing it better!

The THIRD FLOOR is another project... to start with Mark and I just have STUFF we need to go through and get rid of ! We may actually need another dumpster for that project! Megan went through a ton of stuff when she was home and took a car load to the Goodwill! We just need to DO IT! If we ever decide to move from this place it will be a nightmare with everything we have up there!

The ROOM IN BETWEEN (between the apartment and the house) we need to gut the pantry and REDO that whole room which is out there! BUT we also need to get the flooring all pulled up so we can lay the new flooring and paint the room!

OK, So we still have a lot to do... when I get discouraged I just sit back and admire everything we have already done!

I had been planning to head to Jala's this morning but it was storming so bad I didn't want to leave! Ahh the sun is actually shining right this second!

Since it has been a rainy day here (the power was off for several hours this morning) and I am home for a change which is kind of nice, I should really tackle a project! Sounds good doesn't it?

Think I will play in my craft room today instead. If I do anything remotely exciting (make something cool) I will post it!

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Nancy

Catching Up!

2011-08-17T17:19:00.002-05:00

We rely on technology and when it fails us, we are lost! Or at least I am! My computer is still sick in the Computer Hospital with little hope of restoration unless I can come up with the original disks that came with it.... hmmmmm I have moved and there is a lot of water under the bridge since that purchase. So I went out and bought a new one, and at the moment I think it is a good fit! See Dude in the chair in front of it? How dare he think he might use my computer!!

Last week I visited in Robinson with Amber and her family! There is simply never enough time! The little ones are never ready for me to leave! We celebrated Amber's birthday while I was there and it certainly doesn't seem possible that Abigail is off to Kindergarden at the end of this week!

We also drove to Southern Illinois to see my mother in the Nursing Home and you can imagine how thrilled she was to see all of these faces!!! Makes me sad that I cannot see her more!

Mom and I

Sick Computer

2011-08-13T04:08:00.000-05:00

So sorry for the absense of posting on this blog.... my computer was attacked with worms, viruses and trojans. It is still in the hands of the "Geek Squad"! While initially they told me it would be finished in 48 hours it has now been 12 days! For the money I gave them up front, "oh yes, they convinced me I needed a 2 year service plan which included a 2 year virus protection" and then an addtitional external drive for all of my pictures. The latter I knew I needed to get! My virus protection was not up to snuff which resulted in the attack on my computer! So as soon as I get my computer back I will resume blogging as usual!

Nancy

Knitted Necklaces

2011-07-30T12:04:00.000-05:00

If you are wondering if I have actually launched my ETSY SHOP the answer is no not yet! I wanted to have "enough stuff" on there to actually start it! I am working on downloading pictures and getting prices in order! I will have my ETSY GURU my niece Aaron (no I didn't spell her name wrong! :) ) who has Mudpies and Marigolds, she has been at it long enough to give me some advice!

But here is a picture of what I have been doing in my spare time!

Ear Rings, Bracelet in the center and the necklace!

Add caption

RAGBRAI

2011-07-30T11:50:00.006-05:00

RAGBRAI, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 39th year, RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world. Des Moines Register Media has been the title sponsor of RAGBRAI since 1973.

If you are a bicycle enthuist you have probably at least heard of RAGBRAI! Since it was passing nearby we decided to head over to Durant, Iowa this morning as these amazing bicyclers were headed onto Davenport, Iowa on the last leg of their journey! It started last Sunday!

Here are some pictures I took this morning, and I might add that they were a friendly bunch even though they had some very warm weather to travel in this week!

Yes, these guys would be the cheeseheads!

This guy has a lei ? sp? around his neck and a bouquet on his helmet!

They keep coming over the top of the hill!

none too young for the experience!

Lots of crazy get ups!

Lots of Tandems

They just keep coming! This highway will look like this till late afternoon!

And Yes that would be Mark talking to the lady to see if she needed some help!

2011-07-21T20:17:00.005-05:00

I just linked up to:

and to:

Lunch for the Ladies!

2011-07-21T16:41:00.004-05:00

I guess you have gathered by now I kind of like to entertain! Today I had my "Suddenly Single" gals out for lunch! What does Suddenly Single mean? We all lost our husbands.... Yes, I know you might say but you are remarried, they know the pain I have felt and they still claim me! (The pain is for a lifetime)

These gals have cried with me and laughed with me and cheered me on when I announced I was getting married!

Today we had my famous homemade chicken salad, on whole wheat buns, Strawberry-Romaine- Salad with poppy seed dressing and chips, with some awesome Blueberry/angel food cake (a weight watcher recipe) for dessert!

We had a good visit and some of them had not been out to see our house yet! Sylvia joined us too and she enjoyed visiting with the ladies!

Did I ever mention that I love my chalkboard I painted onto the wall?

I also love my canning jar holder, I can decorate it for any season!

Kathy, Sue at the top, and Dianna, Nancy and Donna (Kathy's sister who is visiting)

Kathy, Sue, Dianna, Lucy and Donna

Donna and Me!

Monday Monday

2011-07-18T11:52:00.002-05:00

I have been in craft overload lately! I have been wanting to make a Subway Art Sign for the Family Room for what seems like forever! I bought the art canvas many months ago but something always got in the way of me doing it! I used my "Sure Cuts A Lot" program for Cricut Machines on my computer which made it super easy to make the letters the correct size before cutting them on the machine! I used my vinyl and in no time had them cut out and pressed onto the painters canvas! This morning I took it outside and sprayed the whole thing black and then spritzed white paint onto it to make it look a little more worn. NEXT time I will use plywood and will be able to roughen it up with sandpaper! So here are some shots I took as I was doing it including what the screen looked like on my computer!

the letters are all stuck on!

This is the board all painted black and of course you cannot see the letters!

and as I peel each letter off!

Ta Da!!! So if you are looking at this, The Illinois towns are all the ones I have lived in since birth! So which town do you know me from? :)

Nancy

Craft Maniac

2011-07-16T11:53:00.001-05:00

Yes, Yes, sometimes that would certainly describe me! I have had so many crafts over the years! I just love to make things and love to make things for other people! My latest knitting project includes beads lots of beads 185 to be exact on each necklace! These are so fun to make! I plan on making earings and bracelets to match! BUT..... this morning between cleaning my craft room and playing I am CLEANING up my mess and working on starting up an Etsy Store! When I create I always make a mess!

So here you go ... some pictures of the beaded necklaces!

Thanks for looking!

Nancy

And the Trees come tumbling down!

2011-07-15T12:51:00.002-05:00

I hate it when OLD TREES must come down! We had a HUGE Maple tree in the front yard and another on the side of the front yard, one was half dead, and the other really hollow and losing limbs with each storm we have had! So the guys FINALLY came yesterday to take them down! What a mess we have left behind... Since our chain saw broke last summer in our bush cutting escapades we were going to have to go out and spend a chunk on a chain saw besides use time on them we need to use elsewhere, when outside looking it over last night one of the neighbors offered to take care of everything for less than what we can purchase a new chain saw big enough to handle it!

The tree cutter, found a nest of baby raccoons in the tree!

So here is what it looks like in the yard today!

Craft Binges

2011-07-14T07:14:00.001-05:00

Yes, I go on crafting binges, do you? I have had some free time this week (I know that sounds strange coming from someone who is retired) so I have a couple of projects I am working on! I am working on making sequined headbands with flowers and feathers (they are great for photo shoots) and I am working on vinyl lettering! OH and I am really thinking of starting an Etsy Shop... seriously my grandkids can only wear so many of these and Lord knows they have tons of headgear!

As you saw in my previous post I have finally gotten some scripture up on my soffet in the kitchen but I am also working on a Subway Board with all the names of towns Mark and I have ever lived in! I am about half done with it but keep getting interupted with other things and then something sparkly catches my eye and I am off!

Today I am headed down to a shop to learn how to knit a beaded necklace and then on down to Fairview to see my little ones (and their momma)!

Here are some pictures of my wares from yesterday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nancy

Vinyl Letters

2011-07-13T10:47:00.002-05:00

Last evening I used my Cricut machine and finally put up some words in the kitchen... I had been pondering for months as to what to put up there... and a Facebook friend posted some scripture yesterday and it just seemed like that was what I was supposed to put up there! Thanks Janet! So I got busy and started cutting them out! So here are the pictures!

Thanks for looking!

Nancy

A few of my favorite pictures

2011-07-12T08:56:00.003-05:00

I love decorating as you all well know by now! Here are a few of my favorite pictures taken lately inside this old house!

Here is our little coffee shop area in the kitchen! Stole this idea from Amber! It puts all the supplies for coffee right at your fingertips and puts my Longaberger shelves to good use!

That is it for today, a major little craft project is in the making and I will be sharing that soon!

Thanks for looking!

Nancy

Bad Blogger

2011-07-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

If there were an award for bad blogger I would certainly be a nominee for it! Sorry the summer has pulled me away and I have been busy and figured that mostly what I had to post would probably bore you to pieces! BUT just in case you need some easy reading and some pictures to go with it here you go! I have been a might busy with traveling and all! Just finished up a weekend of entertaining! Megan (my stepdaughter) and I had a baby shower for Jill (my stepdaughter in law) this weekend! It sounds so complicated doesn't it? I never thought I would be a step mother I always tended to think of them as being wicked as in Cinderella and hope I never fit that bill! Thought I would show you something I made for the newest to be baby girl in the family.....

I used a picture frame (a rather large one) sprayed painted it... took a piece of foam board and cut it to size, then I covered the foam board with batting, and then a pretty pink fabric, and glued that together and then place ribbons the length of the foamboard to hold barettes! What you don't see is that after this picture was taken I (Mark) drilled 7 holes in the bottom of the frame and screwed in cup holder hook already painted white to hold head bands! I also hot glued ribbon on the back to hang this on the wall! I made the new baby girl about 6 head bands with some really cute flowers and I forgot to take a picture! I hate it when that happens! So you will just have to take my word that they were cute!

Megan made the diaper cake which was really cute and loaded with lots of things for the new baby!

Here are some pictures of Jill opening her presents!

And here is Jill showing us her talent of making a beautiful flower out of tissue paper!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! It was a small intimate shower but I think everyone enjoyed the morning brunch!

Nancy

Weekend of Travels

2011-06-27T14:24:00.002-05:00

We took a trip south over the weekend, first to see my mother who is in a nursing home and secondly to see the birthday boy who turned one! I did get some knitting done while we traveled!

I took some pictures of something we put together for my mother, she loves looking at pictures and really doesn't have much of a place to put them... so my sister in law Shanda came up with the idea of making a big poster board with a flower pot on it and to put flowers with everyone's faces in the center of the flower! I had some paper flowers for scapbooking that I use and I also attached slips of paper with names by the pictures. Mom still knows us and oh how her face lights up when she sees you coming... it always makes me cry.. I just feel so badly that she has to be there... She sadly doesn't know much different. Most days she really doesn't know where she is! I guess in some ways that is a good thing. Mom has always been a good natured person, so she goes with the flow pretty well. The staff always says she is so nice to be around. Doesn't really make me feel that much better though! Thanks to Shanda for the idea and getting it started with the making of the flower pot and stems and to Jean and Pat for attaching the flowers to the flower pot! Mom has really enjoyed looking at the pictures!

Otto turned one and he is just the cutest little thing! He has two big sisters who absolutely adore him! He wasn't quite sure what to do with his cake! I don't think he really ever got into the cake part just ended up with icing all over him and when he was done he was done! My grandkids brings such joy into my life, it is undescribable! Capri and Abigail came squealing "Nana is here, Nana, Nana" when they saw me and their cousin from the other side of their family was with them and they wanted to know if I would be Elizabeth's Nana too? What could I say? Of course I will! She hugged me! :) She of course has her own grandmothers but evidently not one called Nana! I laughed! What they don't think of!

Wish I had pictures of Jilane and Jagger they were Flower Girl and Ring Bearer in a friend's wedding on Saturday, Jagger bailed out on them and wouldn't go down the aisle, but I hear he looked adorable! I hear Jilane performed her duties without a hitch and looked as pretty as a princess! Jala made their outfits so I hope to get some pictures of them soon!

Here is the finished vest for one of the boys!

Waiting to be knitted!

Absent without Leave!

2011-06-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

I guess I have been absent from this blog for the past week! We have been so busy the last month moving two of our children, one just across town in Missouri and the other from here to New Orleans! Then in between that we have been visiting children and grandchildren here and yonder! I have one more trip this weekend!! Little Otto turns ONE and we cannot miss that! Little Jilane and Jagger are going to be in a wedding and I would love to see that one! Hopefully Momma will get some pictures! Hopefully I will also get to visit my mother since we are heading south!

In all of that the only crafty thing I have accomplished is knitting in my travels! So here are a couple of projects in the works... A vest for whichever of the boys it will fit, then I will have to alter the pattern to fit all the boys between 4 years and down to 9 months! I would like to get those all done by fall but you also know I cannot just work on one thing unless I am working on a hat! I am also taking a fairaisle knitting class so that should be a fun project!

SOON I will have some house projects to show you! Can't wait for those!

In the meantime here are some knitting pictures to bore you with!

Back of the first Boys Vest I am working on! It is a tweed green!

Dropped stitch scarf made with a ribbon type of yarn. Not sure I will do one of these again, although I love the teal colors in it!

Potato Chip Scarf or Ruffled scarf (Pattern on Ravelry) because they claim you cannot knit just one!
The yarn I am using has sequins in it and it gives it a little sparkly here and there!

Hoping you all have an awesome week!

Nancy

Jilane turned 4!

2011-06-09T10:12:00.001-05:00

The big 4 for Jilane meant that she could now chew gum! Her mommy made her wait until she turned 4 to chew gum and guess what that is the first thing this girl wanted to do on her birthday! When asking what she wanted for her birthday she would simply say gum! I thought she needed a new bicycle complete with a basket and a purple horn! The kids just kept blowing the horn until Dad or Mom stuffed it with a hanky! ;~)

So yes I am going to bore you with Birthday pictures from Miss Jilane's party!

Aunt Amber came to spend the weekend with the kiddos!

the 3 Princesses had a ball playing together! Jilane got the coolest wardrobe to store all of her Princess attire from her Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

Thank you Jilane for the magic wand!

Girls just want to have fun!

Blue eyed Otto is a doll~

What's a princess to do on her birthday?

Capri

Jagger after jumping on the trampoline!!

Capri showing some attitude!

Abigail

Dancing Girls!

2011-06-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

Abigail and Capri had a Dance Recital a couple of weeks ago and I went to see them! What fun!! I took a video but for some reason I cannot download it here! They have only been doing the dance lessons since January, they also did Tap.

Here are the little cuties themselves.....

Capri and Abigail

Capri

Abigail

Traveling

2011-06-07T08:58:00.006-05:00

Traveling again..... This past week we moved my stepson Robert and his girlfriend Michelle to New Orleans.... So I will be posting about our trip...

Tuesday ... May 31, So far we are behind on our schedule! First on the agenda we took all three dogs to Almost Home to board and get groomed. We tried to convince the dogs we were taking them to a spa for a vacation! Not sure they bought it Dude usually has his feet firmly planted at the door of the boarding place like he is not going to go on in! Pretty funny! We are caravanning (is that a word) down the interstate or we will be soon as we had a couple of detours we had to make dropping off my car at Jala's.

Later in the day.....

We stopped at Lambert's in Sikeston, Mo for supper! Home of the thrown roll! If you have never been to Lambert's it is an experience but you best be really hungry if you go there! There are three locations Sikeston, Missouri.... Ozark, Missouri.... And Foley, Alabama! Now back on the road headed for Horn Lake, MS.

We stayed in Horn Lake, Mississippi just outside of Memphis on Tuesday night. The next morning we got on the road shortly after 8:00 am. Thankfully we have had good traveling weather! We stopped outside of Jackson, Mississippi at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch... Might we just say we could here arteries clogging as we approached the building!

June 1,
Traveling down the highway we saw quite of bit of flooding.... later in the afternoon we drove across the longest bridge crossing swampland Lake Ponchetran... when arriving in New Orleans the heat was ...ummmm stifling especially for the guys hauling stuff up to the second floor apartment. Their apartment complex is awesome, gated, gym, swim pool and spa, they have their own "Subway" and "P.J.'s coffee" it is like their very own community.

By Thursday we had everything unloaded and started the day off at P.J.'s for coffee and breakfast.. then we walked a number of blocks to the trolley and went to visit Tulane University where Michelle will be a student in the architecture program. Then walked back to the Trolley and rode to the French Quarters and found a place for lunch.. The humidity and heat was pretty much stifling... we were not really impressed with the FQ it seemed dirty and sleazy! We then walked all over creation and I did find a knitting shop to stop in to visit. I found some yarn I like but opted not to buy it ... rather pricey $95 a skein! YIKES!!!!

After showering and relaxing a bit after sweating our socks off.. oh wait I didn't have socks on, not sure what I sweated off, I seem to have everything! hahaha ... The highlight of our day was dining at Emeril's on Thursday evening! Nice atmosphere, good food, nice experience. It is rather expensive but we don't do that everyday!

While in New Orleans we stayed at a guest apartment in the apartment complex, very nice! We will stay there again!

June 3, Friday morning we went with Robert and Michelle to Target as they were getting a few essentials they needed. We then headed to the Amtrak station! Mark and I had decided to take Amtrak home for a unique experience! We boarded the New Orleans Special at 1:30pm ... because we had a deluxe sleeper car we felt like we were treated like royalty! They send you to the front of the line. We had our own "hostess" Dorothy.... she took care of anything we needed! The sleeper car itself while small was quite efficient we had our own bathroom complete with a shower (although I think you had to sit on the toilet to shower)... :)

We had dinner reservations at 6:30 and had a wonderful meal... when we returned to our room the air conditioning had gone out and it was HOT... so they moved our entire side of the car to another section where we almost froze to death! We really did enjoy the train other than the "new" room was teeny tiny and we couldn't really sleep, because of freezing. I know it sounds like I am complaining but we are planning to try it again. It was fun!

We arrived in Champaign, Illinois our destination at 6:04am and we knew we had a several hour wait for my daughter Amber to arrive with her kids in tow on the way to my granddaughter's birthday party! The worst part of that was that most Amtrak stations are also bus depots and oh my you really see some strange characters there!

It was a crazy bittersweet week as another child leaves home. Robert had already moved into an apartment over a year ago, but was close by. He and Michelle came out for frequent visits! We will really miss both of them to say the least! This will be an adventure for Robert with lots more opportunity in his field of work in the film industry and for Michelle at Tulane University!

Edited to say that Amtrak ROCKS!!! They are sending us a voucher for $365. Which is how much extra it costs to have a deluxe sleeper room... so now we will try it again sometime in the next year!

Here are some pictures of our highlights of the week!

Mark in our room...

checking out the flooded Lake Ponchetran

Looking at the endless bridge from Amtrak

Hope you have an awesome week!

Nancy

I have grandaughters what can I say?

2011-05-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

I have 3 grandaughters at the moment and my daughter is a photographer and likes props.... I keep saying I am going to start an etsy shop, but I really just like doing it for fun and giving for gifts! Here are the ones I have been making lately....

I did this group for a baby gift for little Payden....

Oh and this is what our sky looked like last night! Really strange clouds that looked like cotton balls, marshmallows? Just thankful the bad storms didn't hit us!

Hope I you have an awesome Monday!

Nancy

Friday...

2011-05-20T23:28:00.000-05:00

It is Friday, I remember when my girls were little and I would be driving them to school on my way to work and we would be singing the Friday Song F.F..F .....R..I..... , D...D...D ...A...Y, F- R- I ..... D-A-Y .... FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY.... Well it is Friday and it has been quite a sad week, sweet friends at church lost their dear son... while they know they will see him in Heaven, it is so sad to know the pain of grief and suffering that these dear souls will be facing in the days, weeks, months, years ahead.... Thanking God for his saving Grace, thankful that we have a hope in Jesus Christ! Let not your hearts be troubled you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's House are many mansions, if it were not so, I would of told you, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 This young man loved the Lord and had wanted to be a missionary since he was a young child, and the very thing he loved took his young life... he had taken a drug for Malaria to go on a mission trip and had a horrible reaction and had suffered for 2 1/2 years... but even in his death he is such a witness for God! He was also an organ donar and more than five people received life saving donations this week! David loved Jesus and loved people too! While working in a homeless shelter a few years back, he came across a man who had no shoes, David gave this man his new pair of name brand sneakers and walked home barefoot! Jesus has another angel in his midst! If we could all love others like David did we would all be better for it!

This really was not what I was going to post about tonight I was going to post about my hairbows I just made but somehow they don't seem so important right now.

May you Rest in Peace David!

Nancy

Catching up!

2011-05-18T08:07:00.003-05:00

This is a busy time of the year for us! Over the weekend we moved Megan and Kevin from one apartment to another in Kansas City! The old place was a loft and the new place ...well, it is just really nice! I guess if you are going to be in Grad School you might as well live in style!

Pretty Nice, huh?

View out the back of their apartment!

Nice Kitchen with a laundry room off of it!

The King of packers and they got it all in!

CoCo is thinking "you really aren't going to make me ride in here are you?"

He fell off the truck and is still smiling! Thank God he didn't really get hurt!

So we have a couple of weeks to rest up and get some things done around here, (go see my kiddos, both near and far and also get to see a couple of little girls in their dance recital!) before we help Robert and Michelle move to New Orleans! We are riding the Amtrak back! Mark has always wanted to take a train trip, so this will either make him really like trains or not! I hope the train is not late as we have little Miss Jilane's Birthday party the day we get back!!!

nancy

Cooking

2011-05-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

You guessed it, we had dinner guests last night! I made chicken and long grain rice, brocolli and cheese, chinese cole slaw, home made garlic pinwheels, and peach pie! ~~Back to the diet today~~!!!! I was a little worried about it being hot in here last night for our company but Thankfully it cooled off and was fine! Because it was pretty warm in here yesterday during the day and I WAS COOKING!!!!! Good news is an Electrician is coming tomorrow to put a special outlet in for a humongous window air conditioner that should take care of the downstairs.... we have window units for the upstairs.. Last year we did some investigating to putting central air in and they wanted an arm and two legs to do it! SO since I have not been without central air for ummmmmmm a very long time this will suffice quite nicely! Aren't old houses nice?? Don't know how they did it back in the day with no air conditioning!!! ~~maybe the ladies didn't have hot flashes?~~ I want to be calm, cool and collected!!!!

every baker wants to see this.... their product rising!!!

I should of turned the pie around so you couldn't see the "brown" side. Or maybe not even of taken a picture of it because it was not the prettiest pie, but it sure tasted good!

still love my canning jar center piece!

Hope you have an awesome Thursday!!!

Nancy

Happy Mothers Day!

2011-05-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful Mothers out there! I am thankful for my wonderful Mother! She raised me in a Christian home, I never heard my mother say a curse word of any kind in her life! As a child we were not even aloud to use the word butt it was our bottom! haha My mother never worked out of the home, she cleaned, cooked, and sewed all of our clothes! I am the youngest of five so yes I am the baby! My mother will soon be 89, she took a really bad fall last year and she is now in a nursing home, she still remembers all of us, she just doesn't recollect what happened 10 minutes ago! Nothing puts a smile on her face like when she sees one of her grandchildren or one of her five children come for a visit! Bless her heart... I love you Mom!

Happy Mother's day to my daughters, Jala and Amber you both mean the absolute world to me! I made mistakes as a mother (WE ALL DO) but I did the best I knew how and I think you both turned out pretty great! Sure you can look back and see things you would of done differently, but you only have one shot at it! I think you both are wonderful mothers to my beautiful grandbabies!

Jala

Amber

And these six little guys and gals below have brought such joy into my life! They are lively and fun to be around and have made me laugh till I cannot laugh anymore!

The SIX !!!

I went to Jala's on Friday and Jilane and I made Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Cookies! Jilane had fun, and at one point I said "Hey Babygirl" and she informed me she was not a baby she was a "kid" !

She was so proud of herself for making her snickerdoodle into a chocolate chip snickerdoodle!

This girl loves cookies!!!

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Nancy

Stenciled Napkins

2011-05-06T08:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was busy preparing for company! My Ladies Small Group (CARE) from church were coming out for supper at my house! I had bought some fresh flowers for the table and decided to make some new napkins! I had wanted some monogrammed napkins, and had some napkins on hand so I stenciled them! Yes, I could of made the napkins but I have been buying them at Walmart 2 for $3.00 and they work great and not expensive either! I kept busy from early morning until they got here! I got the house completely clean and my laundry caught up! We were missing two ladies and hope they are feeling better! We had a great time! This group has been together for a long time, studying God's word and sharing our lifes when one leaves they replace her with another, while some go away and come back like me! These ladies are very special to me, they walked with me through some of my darkest days, we have gone through births of grandbabies, deaths, weddings, surgeries, sickness etc. and just everyday happenings so we have cried and laughed together many times! They are an awesome group of ladies that I am proud to be a part of their lifes!

Have an Awesome Mother's Day Weekend, and be sure to tell your mother how much you love her! I miss not being able to call my mom anytime since she is in a Nursing Home! I had the joy of visiting with her last weekend not realizing that this weekend was Mother's Day and since it is a LONG drive I will go down another day to visit with her!

I know, I know the title says Stenciled Napkins and I talked more about my Care group! Scroll down and you will see the napkins!

Nancy

Kathy took the picture so she is missing in the picture!

I used black acrylic paint!

Last week's Pictures

2011-05-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

Goslings at the Smith Farm!

Little Miss Jilane modeling her poncho!

Isn't this little guy the cutest?

Can you tell he is being ornery, he stole his brother's pacifier!

Blogiversary

2011-05-02T07:13:00.000-05:00

Where has this year gone? April 30th was my first anniversary of blogging! When I started this blog, it was so our kids could see what we were doing at "This Old House"! As I look back I cannot believe we have accomplished all that we have done! I know, I know, here lately it has become my crafting blog and not so much my renovation blog! We got the major things done and we still have some things to do! I figure all that I post happens in the life's of those living in "This Old House"! We have come along way in the past year! Two floors have been completely transformed! I actually got moved in!

We still have a list going of " Things to Do"!

1. Finish the stairway (this one has been a while in the making!). We have the metal work and have started it! Maybe this coming weekend will be the weekend we can work on it! ~~How many times have you heard me say that?~~

2. The 3rd floor needs to get organized so we can figure out for sure what we are doing up there! There is a working half bath but we would like to put a shower in also, replace the flooring and I would like to make it a nice guest suite!

3. The basement, well it needs cleaned out!

4. Landscaping needs all the old bushes pulled out so we can start new on that!

5. The roof over the apartment needs replaced and the guys should be starting that by the end of the month.

6. The exterior either needs painted or replaced with vinyl siding...

7. The "room between" ( I never know what to call it... it is the back entry area into the house and separate the apartment from the house) it is where the laundry area will be but we need to finish getting the flooring down and get that area painted.

8. The pantry needs to be gutted, we have some water damage there!

Geesh the list is shrinking! A year ago, there were days I thought we would never be done! ~~I know that in an old house you are never done there is always something to work on!~~

So bare with me as I keep on crafting and doing other projects around here! I only have 22 followers, which is those that actually admit to following and then I have lots and lots of lurkers!

Hope you all have an awesome Monday!

Nancy

Remembering Gary Day!

2011-04-26T07:15:00.001-05:00

Word of Warning... post may bring some to tears......

Now this picture brings back some memories!!! This was taken in 1974 right before we got married!

Saturday, April 26, 2003 11:40 am the moment my life changed forever.... the day my dear sweet Gary died, my husband of 28 1/2 years, the father of my daughters, the grandfather my grandbabies would never know. I can go back to that time in a blink of an eye, I have a video in my mind I can replay from the day we learned he had cancer, till the very day he died... I loved him with all of my being, he was a good, kind and loving husband and father.... With each grandchild that has been born I have wept, because they would never know him, with each milestone made in each of my daughters lives because he was not here! Yes, Life does go on (and by the way do not tell a grieving person, life goes on or it will get better, they do not want to hear that, trust me) .... but it is never the same when you lose someone so very dear to you! Oh... YES I also have a video that I can replay of all the wonderful memories we made together, how proud he was of his daughters, how he delighted in hearing their voices and sometimes giving them lectures on the phone (even though he sometimes knew they really were not listening he kept talking anyway!)

Since I have remarried... some may think I do not care anymore.. but that is the farthest thing from the truth! There is not a day goes by that I do not think of Gary!

Lonliness is a horrible thing to endure.... So just let me say this... if you have someone in your life that has lost their mate and they are alone... take them to lunch now and then... take them to a movie, take them to Sunday Dinner....Call them! See if they need help with something they would not of ordinarily have done... And still while you are doing all of this with them and for them they still feel ALONE in the world.... I am so thankful for my family and friends who walked through the valley with me. I am thankful I have a Savior who Loves me and Comforted me when no one on this earth could! I HAVE A HOPE in Christ that I will see Gary one day in Heaven!

Nancy

Benefits of being a passenger!

2011-04-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

We just got back from a road trip, and besides enjoying the visit with family I enjoy being a passenger and knitting as the miles pass by (and on a 5 hour trip you can sure get a lot finished)! I finished a poncho for Miss Capri, my other purple lover and also made a newborn hat! I did get some slippers done for an old friend and mailed them off to her (she wanted some slippers like her grandmother used to make)! So here are my pictures of all of the above!

House Slippers for Donna ( I mailed these out last week!)

Another View an old pattern I had not used in years, it was actually the first pattern I ever used way back in the day!

A hat for a newborn prop for my photographer daughter

Jilane's Poncho after I steamed the edges... it looks so much better!

Capri's Purple Poncho!

a newborn headband!

That is all I have for today!

Nancy

More Knitting......

2011-04-22T07:34:00.002-05:00

Just finished a Poncho for Grandaughter #2 Ms. Jilane and she is normally a purple lover but this time she requested Red! This was an easy knit and the pattern was free on Ravelry! This was a fun knit and rather quick! I may steam the edges..... it is supposed to have a ruffle effect on the bottom but it kind of curls up along with it!

Flower was done with a little I-Cord maker!

some New Scrumptious Yarn for baby hats! It is Soft and from Muench called Big Baby... ordered this from Yarnmarket.com

It is Easter Weekend and so very thankful I serve a RISEN SAVIOR!!!

Nancy

T A X DAY

2011-04-18T16:34:00.002-05:00

Just put my taxes in the mail.... well at least I think I did.... they already closed when I got there at 3:55 so I put them in the mailbox outside which is supposed to be picked up at 4:15 but who knows? If not I will get a notice and will be sending our wonderful government more money!

I think the government should hire Dave Ramsey as a Financial Advisor although he just might pull the rest of his hair out!

On a more pleasant subject check out this awesome yarn I got last week....

Doesn't it look YUMMY???

hand spun wool.... not as soft as the baby alpaca below... but it will make a pretty felted purse!

This is baby alpaca and it is so incredibly soft! I should of gotten 2 skeins of it also!

Hope you had an awesome start to this week! I spent the morning cleaning....

Nancy

Wednesday... Crafts and Technology

2011-04-13T11:23:00.001-05:00

This week is passing by soooo quickly! I have been busy... I got a new toy over the weekend although it is a toy with a purpose... I need to start taking notes at a monthly business meeting and from my past life as a secretary and having gone this route before, I could never read my notes later! So I knew I was looking for a laptop and had been eying the I-Pad for a long time ~~pun intended~~... I ended up going with the I Pad2 3G.... and you might ask "how are you going to take notes with that?" Well I bought the cute little wireless keyboard from Apple it ended up being cheaper and more portable than what I was looking at and for 9.99 I downloaded Pages which is Apple's form of Word.... So now that I am all set for the minute taking.... I needed something to protect it and the Smart cover took care of the front and not the back.... and hey I dont' want to scratch it all up in my purse! So I have searched and searched online to no avail... and I had bought some material and really stiff interfacing to put a lining in this.... (and knew I had bought a little extra fabric)

This is my latest knitting project a "Project Bag" This is before the felting .. I will show a finished product when I am done!

But now to the project at hand... I made an I-Pad sleeve this morning which I really like... I used some of the extra material for my felted bag! I will do a tutorial later, I made it up as I went! It will serve it's purpose quite well and it saved me money.... I may just have to open an Etsy shop after all and make some of these to sell!

and oh yes that is my toe sticking in the picture!

One of the neatest things I have downloaded was several different Bible's, (NIV and Message) and when in WiFI I have access to zillions more! I did download a few games but don't tell my grandkids! Ha Ha!

Now onto the rest of my day.... gonna go give my husband a hand down at the shop, then onto the Knitting Nook in Eldridge, Iowa and to the newest knitting shop in the area "365 Days on a Farm Knitting shop and Boutique" right next to the Buzz in Eldridge where the knitters meet every Wednesday!

Hoping you have a good rest of the week!

Nancy

Flowers, flowers everywhere!!

2011-04-08T12:22:00.002-05:00

I got my craft on this morning! ........Why is being crafty so messy?? Remember my clean craft room from a few weeks back? Well I will spend the afternoon cleaning it back to its pristine condition! ~~Maybe I am just a messy person!~~ I spent the morning crafting I must be craving spring flowers because flowers were on the agenda! For those of you always asking how I do the flowers here are pictures to show you how I did the following flowers!

this was done with felt I folded in half a piece that was approximately 3 1/2 inches wide and 14 inches long and cut on the fold until you have it all cut.

Then start rolling it up!

glue the back with a hot glue gone and oohh la la you will end up with flowers like these!

Another flower is cut 7 circles out of felt or fleece 1 3/4 inches

put a little dab of hot glue right about here.

pinch it right where the glue is!

start gluing them onto one of the circles which will be the back of the flower

ahhhh there you have it

add a button in the middle!

another flower almost the same as another one above here but this one is just one piece not folded over it is about 2 inches wide and about 12 - 14 inches long, start cutting into the fleece but not all the way to the edge!

roll it up and the back will look like this so then you will glue it

these are headbands for newborns.....

oh when I am craftin I am craftin.... took a straw wreath and wrapped yarn around it... have seen these all over blogland either done with yarn, twine, burlap etc....

I then wrapped the wreath with a contrasting yarn....

My daughter led me to a site that this really clever gal actually has craft classes and are making a wreath quite similiar to this one.... if you live in the Peoria, Illinois area you might just want to check her out! She is quite talented! Whoa Nellie Crafts

and added some flowers and lace....

oops another headband.... this was done with really wide ribbon that I put a gathering stich through one side and pulled it to gather it into this cute little flower and added a button...

another necklace

more headbands...

and more

Now onto the cleaning I'll be doing the rest of this dreary afternoon? Yikes I really made a mess!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend....

Be Blessed!

Nancy

A little crafty project....

2011-04-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

A certain someone requested a flower necklace and so I got right to it and had to give it a try.....

Since my other post was all of my grandkids I thought I should show you something crafty I did this morning!! Since I love making these flowers anyway it wasn't a chore!!!

nancy

A little getaway to Celebrate a 5 Year Old girl!

2011-04-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

Headed south last weekend for Ms. Abigail's Chinese Birthday Party with family and a few of her friends... Amber went all out and had an Etsy shop make the girls kamona style dresses that were adorable and the decorations were awesome!

The Birthday Girl!

Wow her feet have grown!

Capri

Cousins.... Jilane and Abigail

Jagger and Mark

Otto

Jaxton

Chinese and Pinatas do go together!

Hope you have an awesome week!

Nancy

Felted Bag!

2011-03-30T10:00:00.002-05:00

I love knitting! I finally got around to finishing up this bag! So here is the before and after pictures! You knit with wool and when completely finished you wash it in the washing machine with hot water and a few things to help "agitate" it! It works most of the time... sorry Megan yours didn't! You will have to try again!

Before Felting!

After Felting!

So it wasn't enough just finally felting the bag but I lined it this morning and prettied it up some more by making my favorite shabby chic flowers!! NOW it is finished!

even made a few pockets for the purse

Have a an Awesome Day!

Nancy

I just linked up to a party over at House of Hepworths...
http://www.houseofhepworths.com/

Our latest little project!

2011-03-29T08:13:00.003-05:00

We finally got around to replacing the basement door before our party last weekend so here is the before and after! OK so this is WAY before, but couldn't find an actual picture of the old door!

looks soooooo much better!!!

We still have to do the stairway.... We are waiting some ironwork is being done to support the bannisters and then we will get going and get that project finished!!

Have a GREAT Tuesday!

Nancy

Birthday Celebration!

2011-03-28T12:02:00.003-05:00

Today is my mother in laws 85th Birthday! We decided to surprise her with a Birthday Party Open House Saturday afternoon! She was suspicous that something was up just not sure what we were up to! Since she lives in an apartment attached to the house, we had to be careful that we did things when she wasn't coming up since her grandkids had already arrived the day before! It went off without a hitch we had a houseful of people... we tried to be creative so that not everyone showed up at the same time and sent out two different invitations, half said from 1:00-3:00 and the rest said 3:00-5:00 although at one point we had people standing EVERYWHERE! I think she was pleased to see so many people! She had nieces, nephews, cousins and a lot of greats and a few great, great nieces and nephews too! We were happy to do this and show off the house at the same time! She didn't believe she had ever had a Birthday Party before and on Friday Megan her only grandaughter and I took her for a Pedicure and to Lagomarcino's for lunch so she had several "firsts"! Thanks Kevin and Megan for all of your help!

Happy Birthday Sylvia!!

The Surprise!

The first to arrive was a childhood friend and her daughter!

Church Friends!

Two "old friends"! Sylvia and Carol

gathered in the kitchen

Sylvia for a number of years has driven to Bennett schools and had the children read to her, so some teachers and children came to honor her!

AND they keep on coming!

more church friends!

Theresa her special friend that gives her rides to church!

Sylvia and Shirley have been friends since Sylvia moved here! What a Blessing they have been to each other!

Megan and Hunter

Sylvia's nieces Vivian and Terri!

Jill holding baby Payden while Christian looks at how tiny she is! I love the hot pink head band and socks that matched!

Sylvia with her Great, Great niece!

And Robert he just gets the biggest kick out of giving me a hard time!

Christian and Matthew ( I think they are Buds!) Thanks Matthew for playing with Christian! He loves you!

And I believe that sums up the day! Today it is noon and I am still in my pajamas!! So thankful for everyone coming to honor Sylvia!

Nancy

It is time for Spring Cleaning!

2011-03-21T14:05:00.004-05:00

Every now and then I get the wild idea to clean a room, now I don't just mean run the vacuum, and dust! No I mean REALLY CLEAN as in tear the room apart! Well that is just what I started on Friday and finished today! I tore my favorite room in the whole world apart! My ~~Crap~~ I mean Craft Room/Office! I hated the way it seemed so cramped in there and it had become a mess! Of course I could go to clean to mess in no time flat! When you have creative juices flowing a mess is always in order! Since this is a real life blog here are the real life pictures of the mess and the awesome looking room it is today ~~and is going to stay that way!!!!~~ and I am going to work really hard at keeping it looking this way! I am trying to get rid of some of my stuff I haven't used in a few years... I got rid of my 12X12 paper racks (sold them to another stamper) I really didn't have enough 12X12 paper to warrant taking up that much room in my beloved closet! So without further ado here are the pictures! The floor is a painted wood floor in case you are wondering!!

Yes I know it looks horrible and needed cleaning!! It was a dumping ground!

mess, mess, mess

mess mess mess

AHHHHHH IT is CLEAN and BEAUTIFUL!

Where I THINK!

I moved the island over and moved my cubicles into the closet!

Want to take bets on how long this stays cleared off?

Doesn't that look sooooo much better?

My awesome painted floor!!!

Thanks for stopping by today I hope that all is well in your corner of the world!!!
Nancy

Friday's Happenings!

2011-03-18T11:04:00.001-05:00

I have been busy this week..... Knitted a few hats.... went to the Knitting Nook at The Buzz in Eldridge, Iowa met some wonderful people there and was quite pleased to learn that they are going to open up a knitting store!! YAY!!!! Yesterday I drove down to the Fairview Farm..... and played with Jilane and Jagger all day while Mommy and Daddy ran errands with Jaxton! What Fun!!

Today I am going to clean up my craft/mess room! I am actually going to rearrange it and get it better organized so I will soon post pictures of that!

Tomorrow I am going to a Scrap Event at my church and spend part of the day! I am also looking forward to going on a Yarn Cruise next week! (Driving to 3 different Yarn Stores) That should be fun!

Please continue to remember my nephew Matt and his family in your prayers he lives in Sekura, Chiba Japan.. They were not harmed but shaken... literally... Please pray for all of Japan! I cannot even imagine what they are going through!

Three more newborn hats going out in the mail today to Amber for her Photography Props!

Have a Blessed Friday!

Nancy

Still Knitting!

2011-03-15T12:46:00.006-05:00

I don't know if I have ever told you the story of how or when I learned to knit! When I was in grade school I am thinking about the 5th grade a group of girls from Madison Park in Litchfield, IL started going to the Knitting Shop after school.... we would sit and drink a coke and these two very patient ladies would teach us to knit.... Evelyn Russell lived next door to the knit shop and worked there and a german lady by the name of Brigetta Strope owned the store... how these ladies had the patience to deal with a bunch of giggling girls is more than I can imagine! Oh how I would love to thank them for their patience and love for the art in which they taught us!

I earned extra money by delivering orders for the Fuller Brush Lady... Mary Stefani.. I and my siblings did this after school or on Saturdays and Mary was a teacher of life herself "oh the things we learned" hahaha... I learned to drive her car sitting next to her while she was getting out the tickets... you see she would let people run a tab for their Fuller Brush products and she would send us up to the door to collect on their debt.. She taught us how to count money back to the customer (something no one does now days they just say you have so much coming and hand it over).. When we were finished for the afternoon Mary would always take us somewhere and buy us a treat... like the Dairy Queen, A&W Root Beer stand or even Mix Grocery Store. I don't remember how much we made but it seems like it was under $5.00 for an afternoon and we thought we were rich!!!

The only sweater I still have that I knitted so long ago is of this one I made when I was in the six grade!

I know you are wondering how these two stories tie together... I used my Fuller Brush money to pay for my knitting escapades! The first thing I ever paid by installment! I knitted sweaters, houseslippers, vest's, mittens oh the list goes on.... But what they taught me has stuck with me all of my life!

When Gary was in Mayo Clinic facing two major surgeries back to back I went out to the local Walmart and bought a pattern for a baby afghan and bought pink yarn... while I had no idea who this blanket was for I knitted and I knitted, I prayed while I knitted for God to perform a miracle in my sweet husbands body, you see he had renal cancer and we knew that we were grasping at straws removing the cancer wherever it popped up... I of coursed prayed it wouldn't return, so many tears were shed as I knitted and knitted on this blanket. I kntted in waiting rooms, I knitted as we drove to an fro.... I knitted going to and from Texas many times while he was doing treatments in Houston at Baylor Medical.... I finished this lovely pink baby afghan about one month before he passed away.... and low and behold not quite 3 years later our first grandchild a agirl was born and this became our Papa Gary Blanket... you see I was living in the Quad Cities and had the chance to retire "young" and moved back to Southeastern Illinois to babysit for my first grandchild, you got it a sweet baby girl named Abigail... Abigail will soon be 5 years old.... and I have in the last year married and moved quite far away from them... But when I think about knitting I think how therapeutic it was for me to knit that precious blanket, I looked at it and saw all the tears shed and prayers said while I worked on it.... I so felt when I held Abigail and wrapped that blanket around us that Papa Gary was there with us. We did that day after day... I wouldn't change that time for anything!

Abigail wrapped in her Pappa Gary blanket! Photo by Katie Kunzelman

Not sure what got me off on that today other than it was exactly about 8 years ago that I finished that blanket and it always comes to mind this time of the year...

The last couple of days, I knitted 3 bear hats for newborns, one pink one is for Amber who has a few newborn shoots coming up and I had already made her a couple of little brown bear hats, and the other two for my niece Kim who is getting ready to take picture of newborn twins. I guess we have photography blood in the family because we sure have a lot of family members that can sure take some awesome pictures!

I hope you are not bored with my reminiscing about knitting.... sorry if I made you cry too!

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Nancy

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jigg!

2011-03-12T22:10:00.004-06:00

I have been out of town this week! I headed south on Monday and stopped by to see Daughter #1 and my precious grandkids (they are all growing so fast) as I headed south to Robinson to stay for a few days with Daughter # 2 ...I so enjoyed getting to see them all Baby Otto is now 8 months old and crawling all over the place! I had the pleasure of hearing him say "Momma" for the first time! Capri wanted to wake me up each day so sometimes I would go back to bed and pretend I was asleep so she could come in and say "Time to get up Nana look outside the sun is up!" I got to watch Abigail and Capri at Dance lessons (how cute)! Thursday afternoon I left and headed further south to see my Mother who is in a Nursing Home.... She was so thrilled to see me, makes me sad that I cannot see her more often! I then had a wonderful visit (and supper) at my sister #1's house and then stayed the night at sister #2's house and left for home on Friday morning after my brother in law fixed us breakfast! On the way home I stopped off at Daughter #1 and visited some more as I was on the last leg of the trip..... It is always nice to go and visit but it is always nice to go home! As Abigail said as we walked into the house after a shopping spree to Terre Haute "Home Sweet Home"! I chuckled when she said it! Amazing that an almost 5 year old is glad to be home too!

Mark and I have been on an entertaining roll since we have things mostly finished in the house and today we had my dear friend from long ago over for supper!! We had such a nice visit with she and her husband! It is always nice to see her we always pick up right where we left off! Life has taken us down many different roads but the one thing that has remained constant is we are friends!!! Love you Deb!!

As I am looking at this picture I realize I have put NO make up on today!! Oh well, my friend didn't care!!

Do you have a friend who is tried and true? Nice isn't it???

I have a nephew who lives in Japan with his family.... the last news I have heard is that he is safe! Please keep them in your prayers!

Have a good rest of the weekend! Be Blessed my friends!

Monday Monday!

2011-03-07T08:30:00.002-06:00

Welcome to Monday ..... this will probably be the only post this week! I wanted to share with you what I have been busy doing.... I painted the half bath behind the kitchen on Friday and got it spruced up! We also had a couple of visitors from Kansas City, Missouri for a few days and I must say Megan has become quite the knitter and I even have a picture to prove it! She has knitted numerous scarves, washcloths, a shopping bag and found a neat pattern to make bracelets, and is making them upon requests!!! Hey I want one of them too!! We had our Bible Study group from church out last night for supper so our house has been a buzzing with guests!

This will be our next project to finish up! The stairway it goes up from both the kitchen and the living room! It sits beside the fireplace!

A few of my favorite things!

The sheet music was actually from when my mother in law was in the Marching Band!

Megan knitting with CoCo's assistance and Michelle who had knitted a few years back and she picked it up like she knew what she was doing! :)

Hope you all have a Blessed Week! Spring is coming soon and I cannot wait!!

Nancy

Tuesday's Toot......

2011-03-01T22:04:00.008-06:00

I feel like when I am not posting you all are thinking.... What is she doing? Sitting around and watching soaps and eating Bon Bons??? NOPE I never was much of a SOAP person! I am usually busy doing something! Oil change yesterday, a little shopping I needed to get done.... will post pictures of that later! Today I had a Bible Study on "Ruth" a really wonderful study, lunch with a friend, came home and gave some wonderful ladies a tour of what we have done around the house..... and tomorrow back to the dealership to get some new brake pads... when you drive as much as I do...... it happens quickly.... My car just turned "2" and I have 74,000 miles on it! I know it is a lot of miles but I figure those wheels were made for turning and I have to travel to see my family!

THAT was not what I planned on posting what I intended on posting was...... blog hopping to other wonderful sites can be detrimental to what you were actually trying to accomplish!

One of my recent blog hunts found this awesome paper rose ball so thanks to Claire over at Bless My Nest for yet another project .... because you know I had to make one!!! This is actually just like my rosettes that I have done in the past I just hadn't done it with paper...... Shabby Flowers I made I am not done yet but I have been trying to make about a dozen or so flowers anytime I come into "the room"! So here you go.....

Cut circles and tons of them~ this is out of old sheet music and quite fragile.... about the size of a CD

Cut it into a spiral

start winding and glueing making the center a little tighter....

You end up with a little circle on the back I glue the twirled up part with my glue gun and the stick the back to it....

the backside

And there you have it.... but you have only just begun if you want this......

I covered a styrofoam ball with strips of the sheet music

and put into my 3.99 pot from TJ Max

Hope you have an awesome Wednesday!

Friday... Friday.... Friday!

2011-02-25T15:41:00.011-06:00

I have been very busy the last couple of days! Our leather love seat was delivered on Monday.... and I have been pondering how to arrange the "Study" we have an awesomely warm fireplace in this room! The front of the house is like one long room, but we have made half of it the dining room and the other half "the study"... So yesterday when I went to town, I stopped by Sofa Mart and checked the back wall for dings and scratch items! I was looking for an end table and a chair, and was looking for something cheap! I hit the jackpot! The end table had some scratches on it and was marked $78. and I got him down to $50. for it and the chair was down to $178. and I got him down to $160.!!!! So I scored both for $210. plus taxes! So this morning I made a slipcover out of "Osenburg" fabric, (Thank you Aaron) kind of a mix between a linen and muslin and burlap.... I then made a couple of ruffled pillows and then I had this huge frame I spray painted black, and a huge letter "B" from Joann's... that I did a painting technique on and made some shabby flowers out of some left over material! I now have what I think is an awsome look going on in my new room!!!! We had dinner guests last night who got to see our new furniture and I think they approved! I fixed Beef Stew, (in my new cast iron dutch oven) and salad, cheddar cheese/garlic biscuits and a low cal dessert of angel food cake with lime jello and a hint of sour cream... with fat free cool whip! Hope you enjoyed the evening Robert and Michelle as much as we enjoyed having you out!

So now it is time for me to bore you with some pictures!

Wishing you a fabulous weekend full of God's Blessings!

Nancy

My awsome bargain.... with a little ding I will fix!

you can hardly see it! I will fix it!

and the chair!

looking from end of dining room into the "study"

My new look!

It is getting there!

I love it!

My crazy ruffled pillow that I had no idea of what I was doing!

another ruffled pillow!

my new looking ottoman!

What do you think???

The ottoman before the slipcover!

A picture tutorial of the slipcover making! I laid the material over the ottoman then took pins and pinned the corners that are draped...

see the pins?

I cut off the excess material and stiched it up!

I then tried it on my ottoman inside out.....

I took my acrylic measure board (whatever it is) and trimmed it all to the same heigth....

I then cut an appropriate length piece of material for the ruffle and hemmed it up before it was ruffled!

Ta Daaaaaa!

My huge frame which was free it was a bright gold so out came the black spray paint.... and the B that I distressed!

My favorite flowers to make .......

I just linked up to....

and

and

http://www.wildflowersandwhimsy.blogspot.com/

Cool Rainy Days!

2011-02-23T18:41:00.003-06:00

GUESS WHAT? The Love Seat has arrived!!! YAY! Now I have to work on furniture arrangements and some wall decorating before I take some room pictures!

And this is what being retired is all about! I stayed in my jammies today and knitted till noon!! I got the baby hammock done (pictured below) I have NEVER knitted on such big honkin needles before! Size 35! I know you are asking WHY I knitted a baby hammock? My daughter the photographer had me knit it for her for photo props for newborn babies! Maybe she will share a picture with me?!

And then go to riduculously small as in below, I am knitting socks two at time from the toe up! If I get these done I will frame them! I wouldn't dare give them as gifts.... (if I ever saw or heard of them being put in a yard sale.... hmmmm I would croak!) I may never finish them! The needles are size 2! Yikes hard on this gals eyes!

And moving on to something much more enjoyable!!!!! The sock monkey hats! Won't these look adorable on a set of twins!!!! I have to do one for big sister first then they will be off in the mail!

Hope you had an awesome Wednesday and found some joy in your day!

I am linking the monkey hats up to....