Lillies Abound!

Thanks to my good friend Frugalmom, the lillies abound in my flower beds this year. So, this photo montage goes out to her. She'll be getting some back this fall and her beds will be beautiful next year. And much more organized than mine!

Llama Love

Recently my friend Frugalmom mentioned she's got some llama love. Soooo, today I got to experience some llama's up close and personal. They were definitely more calm then the alpacas. And they for sure let you know when you are making them uncomfortable. I think I'm going to have to take our boys for a visit soon. They also had a few other animals: Silky chickens, a Guinea pig, a french lop rabbit to name a few.

They had demonstrations on spinning, dying, wet felting and needle felting the llama fibers. Way fun!

This is Sunny, a male llama, he was the friendliest. I think being a little older he was more used to people. He's for sale if you are interested. $500, I think.

They let us watch them shear Sunny. He was pretty cooperative, he seemed a little ticklish in some spots. LOL

This is Astra, she's saying I'm not sure about you, leave me alone!

If you're interested she's also for sale. $350

This is also Astra, she's saying I'm thinking you might be alright!

This is a young alpaca, there were three of them in the pen, this one was the friendliest and you still pretty much couldn't touch her with

out her making a warning noise. BTW, I say she but I really didn't notice the gender.

No turning back now

This is our youngest with a new to us piece of furniture. My Aunt gifted us a piano. She knows the desire that was already there for me is intensified by this instrument setting in my family room. So, she's soon to get at least one new to her student in exchange. The boy decided to pull his recliner up to the piano since there's no stool. I believe he's interested as well in learning how to play. I'm just not sure if he will actually want to put in the time to practice, etc.

Seed Swap Swag

I recently did a seed swap over at Down to Earth My swap buddy was in New Mexico and she sent me an assortment of seeds, as well as, a nice piece of material for me to make something with. It was great fun and now I'll have plants in my gardens to always remember my New Mexico buddy. Plus all the seeds are heirloom, so I will be able to continue saving the seeds and passing them on. What a great thing!

Chicken Doors?

K, We have a roof on, sorry no pics yet. We have started discussing the windows and ventilation. For those of you who don't know, my husband is an engineer. Nuff said? It has been a long process designing this coop. Does anyone out there have any advice on coop windows, ventilation and chicken doors? Anything you've done, anything you wish you would have done, anything you would change, anything you've seen that you thought was totally cool? Please advise.

Failure To Launch

Once again the eggs have failed to hatch. Could it be inconsistent temps, or maybe the rooster just lost his juice? Who knows! It's okay, it's all good. My uncle tried and would probably keep on trying but I think I'm just going to order me some chicks. So, now I'm trying to decide how many and what kind. Any thoughts?

Hair

Well, I decided to cut it. I love it! Picture one is straightened and picture two is au naturale.

A Big Box

What a gorgeous day. No rain until around 7pm. So, this happened.

No progress

No progress on the coop. It's been raining here all week pretty much. It's supposed to clear up by Saturday. Sooo, hopefully we will be able to work on it more then.

As much as I want it to be dry for the coop build, I love the rain this time of year. Everything is in technicolor. All the spring colors seem brighter with the rain. The grass and the leaves are a beautiful shade of green. The dead leaves and soil radiate a special kind of brown. My little purple iris' simply glow their color. It's just gorgeous!

Hair today, gone tomorrow?

Sooo, you may have noticed I finally put a profile pic up. But here's the thing, that's not how I look right now. My hair is actually much longer and less stylish. I like it all right, but when I see pics of me with short stylish hair I get the itch. Those of you out there with short hair know what I'm talking about. It's the same itch I get sometimes when my hair is short and I want it long except it's a lot easier to scratch when the itch is for short hair. When I'm itchin' for the long hair it takes months and months to get there. So, what do you think? Short or long?

The start of something exciting

Can you guess what this is going to be?







Can you say CHICKEN COOP?

A sad day

Well, here goes.

I haven't mentioned it but I've finally been getting really close to getting those chickens. I've gotten my husband on board and my Uncle was determined to get me some chicks. So, on April 7th he got some fertilized Barred Rock eggs and stuck them in an incubator. He's been very dedicated to turning them a few times a day. Today I asked how things were going and I got an e-mail back stating there had been a power outage on Tuesday for three hours and the incubator had gotten down below 70 degrees for about ten minutes. He kept turning them hoping they would be alright. But this morning when he went to turn them they were starting to smell. I almost cried when I read the email. So, now we've got to start over. It's a sad, sad day here. *sniff*

The beginning of something special

Mmmm, most of these are my tomato plants. This is a first for me so I'm holding my breath to see if it actually works.

I didn't have a light I could move up and down so I'm moving the plants down as I need too. Don't you just love my fancy set up. LOL

Braggin' It Up

My first pair of handknit socks. I'm so proud of myself!

I want some

I love these, I want some. I wonder if they are comfortable?

A taste of summer

My love and I just got back from a trip to Florida, may I just say oh my. Most days it was in the lower to mid 80's. It was beautiful and warm. We ate fresh seafood and ate outside for almost every meal. It was wonderful.

This tree was beautiful, if we had been here a week or two before it probably would have been covered in these huge red blossoms.

One of the many sunsets we saw.

Us our last day there.

Vacation

My DH and I are getting ready to go on a little trip. Someplace really warm. I can hardly wait, especially since it snowed yesterday. No real accumulation but, still it just sucked. I'm so looking forward to just hanging out all day, knitting, reading, sunning just a little, I'm a fair skinned redhead, I've got to be careful in the sun. So, I'll be thinking of all of you and sending warm weather thoughts your way in hopes that it will be above 50.

A touch of Spring

I would have to say that my favorite flowers are Gerbera Daisies but, these orange tulips are making me smile everyday. Here's something else to make you smile there's a contest over at Happy Handwork. She's giving away some yummy yarn so, go check it out even if you're not into yarn go check it out, you can always give the yarn to someone you love, hint, hint, nudge, nudge! Happy Spring.

Get Well Soon

Just a quick note, anyone reading could you please send healing thoughts and prayers to frugalmom. She's quite ill with a flu type virus and could use the positive thoughts and prayers. Thanks everyone.

My God

I don't talk about my faith or my belief system much. But it is a big part of me an I will be sharing more of it from here on out. I stumbled on to this video a while back, before the darkness came. I went looking for it again today. What I saw was me over the last year struggling against something and crying out to God. It was so powerful for me. I hope it touches you, as well.

Self-care

That's what I've been concentrating on lately. Not actually putting it into practice, so much as, figuring out how to do it. My counselor and I have been discussing it. It's what she suspicions is behind the depression. So, my homework was to make a list of ten things that I could do, that would be "self-care" for me. It was hard for me to come up with ten things but I did and here it is.

1. Exercise- I know that I feel so much better when I get into a routine of this-I just need to do it

2. Read a book- Sounds simple, right? But for me just taking that time for myself is hard

3. Take a knitting class- this is tough because I have to go out of town to take one and I have to come up with the money to take it

4. Piano Lessons- this one I really want, because it is absolutely just for me. So, we are trying to figure out if we can swing it within our budget

5. Manicure/Pedicure- I've not actually had either before but it seems very indulgent to me
6. Massages- I love these

7. Raise Chickens-This one is tough on two levels, first I have to get everyone on board with me, i.e. Husband. Second it costs money!

8. Crafting- I love to craft-knitting, stamping, making cards, sewing, beading. Love, love, love it.

9. Knitting for me-I hesitate to knit things for myself. I tend to knit for others

10. Buy fresh flowers regularly-Especially in the winter months

The hardest part of this is that I'm supposed to do these things even when I feel like I'm not doing my stuff around the house. So, what do you do for Self-care? And how do you feel about doing those things if you aren't fulfilling your other responsibilities?

Aahh, I can breath again

Thank the Lord I am feeling much, much better. I feel like myself again. That dark cloud seems to have vanished. After so long of it being here I kind of catch myself looking for it. But I feel free now. I can tell everyday things are better. Just little things I catch myself doing that I haven't done for so long. So, for me meds aren't the answer. At least not this time. Counseling instead. I'm a talker, go figure. So, maybe now I'll be more active posting? Maybe.......maybe not. LOL

Healing

So, I went to the Dr. for this crazyness, tried some meds and once again(I've tried anti-depressants in the past and not been able to take them successfully)have not been able to take what was prescribed without feeling horrible. So, I went to church on Sunday, I didn't want to go but went anyway. And guess what, the sermon was great and so was communion and it was like God whispered in my pastor's ear and said this one needs to be for Mindy today!

I feel so much better. The whole time I've been going through this I've been praying for help but not letting go, not handing it over to him. Some how thinking that I could fix it, even though it was obvious that I couldn't. So, now I'm walking in faith that everyday is going to be better. And so far so good.

Where oh where have I been?

It's been over two months since my last post. I just haven't had that much to say. I've been fighting that blue monster again. I'm trying to break free of it. Maybe soon?

And the winners are......

Michelle at Heart of the Prairie won the Meditations for New Mothers book and Teddy bear.

Laura at Laura Williams' Musings won the Preschoolers busy book and Mr. Teddy.

Erin at Just Some of My Scrap won the Great Craft book.

Eden at Once Upon A Dream won the knitting book.

Congrats to all. This was the first giveaway I have ever done. It was fun, once I figured out the most efficient way to draw names.

Halloween '07

My Boys- A hobo and a Nascar Driver
Baby Bunny Boo
My Crazy Nephews- An exectioner and an Evil Wizard
Baby Ladybug Sophie

Handmade Inspiration

Here's a nifty site. Lots of inspiration for holiday gifts here.

I wan it I wan it I wan it

K, this is my second go round of trying to win one of these babies. Go check it out there's only two days left.

Fall Y'all

It's finally fall here in the Midwest and I thought I would join in a giveaway that's goin' on. So, here's how it works: If you live in the lower 48 and would like to win something please leave me a comment before 10pm CST on November 2nd. Please state in your comment if you want entered in all 4 drawings or which ones you are interested in. All items are new. Good Luck!

Here's what I'm giving away:

1-a new Meditations for New Mothers book with a nice cozy bear for baby

2- The Preschoolers Busy Book with a great Mr. Teddy

3-Great Stuff craft book

4- Knit Ponchos Wraps & Scarves book

Almost 3 months!

Me and Sophie, she's almost three months now. She's lovely.

BOO!

He's here, Benjamin Oliver born October 18th. He's a sweetie. Congrats to my sis and her hubby.

Bring on the fall!

I'm lovin' the cool mornings. I am ready for the days to be a little cooler too. Maybe next week.

With the trees changing their colors and losing some of their leaves it's got me yearnin' for a change on my top as well. So, tomorrow I'm going to get a cut and color (and a wax of the ol brows and facial hair) Here's what I'm taking in for her to do:

Not quite this short. I've been letting it grow ya know. So a little longer version of this. Lots of choppy layers and great color to accentuate those layers. I think it will be a great autumn change. If it goes well I'll post a pic of myself with the new do.

I don't know if I'm brave enough to do a before and after.

Now if there was just some way to make my face and body look that young and tone with out breaking the bank. Oh and with out scary surgery. Yuck!