the end is near

You know?

I think I may really 

actually

be able to finish this thing.

Probably not for another month or so, though, mind you...

Linking up with Lee and Work in Progress Wednesday :-)

~

For those who are curious:

I'm using DMC Perle cotton, size 8 for the hand-quilting,

and Aurifil 50wt (of course ;-) for the machine.

(I recently found this perle - which, on sale, is an excellent price. I admit that I prefer the aesthetic of the little balls of DMC, though)

I mark my quilting lines with a hera marker.

So far, my preferred needle is a straw (milliner's) needle from Foxglove Cottage.

I've tried the chenille needles (or maybe they were crewel?) that lots of people said were best for perle cotton thread, 

but I really didn't care for them. 

At all. 

I could only get 2 stitches loaded before having to pull the needle through;

with my foxglove straw needles, I can load as many as 6.

I can only assume those people haven't yet tried my favorite needle...

Oh, and I sew by the light of this lamp. 

It's not pretty, but it gets the job done, and it's ever so much less expensive than an Ott.

(A full spectrum lightbulb in a pretty lamp would work well, too. But that did not occur to me before I made my purchase.)

so long {sniff}

We're ball-parking it at 9-12 years ago,

 but none of us can really remember when we bought it.

Only that it was much loved,

and it came from Kohl's,

and for a flannel shirt, was kinda expensive, (though, of course, on sale)

but it was sooo soft, that it was worth it.

That shirt quickly became Tyler's favorite.

And I've been known to wear it on more than one many occasions.

(In fact, I was the one that got a little bit of yellow paint on it when we built the  kid's kitchen

when I was hugely pregnant with Lex'.

I always felt bad about that. Sorry, Hon'.)

When Luke and Lana got married,

Tyler and I spent hours looking for a comparable flannel shirt for Luke, for Lana to steal.

We finally settled on one,

but it wasn't as soft and comfortable as Tyler's.

I patched it a time or two,

but time and over-use had its way with it

and today, it went rather unceremoniously into the trash.

brand-new, almost...

Goodbye shirt. 

Thanks for the memories.

low carb italian cream cake for one (or two)

I don't know why I bother saying, "I'll be back soon with a recipe."

Whenever I say that,

it's like I jinx myself and then take extra long to get back

with the recipe.

Anyways.

Here is my version of somebody else's version of somebody's (?) recipe.

I should note, that while this is a recipe for one,

I almost always make just one for Tyler and I to share,

and it's always plenty.

The two times I've made one all for me - I have been stuffed.

It can also easily be quadrupled (just use a 1/4 c measuring cup in place of the tablespoon measure)

and baked for 20 ish minutes in an 8x8 pan at 350

and makes 8 or 9 nice sized servings.

Italian Cream Cake for One

Into a large mug or very small baking dish,

I was thrilled to find a set of 8 of these 1 1/2 - 2 cups baking dishes for $3!!
They are easier to wash than mugs, plus - they are great for making buns

crack 1 egg and beat it a bit with a fork

(In the summer time, I would put my Tbs of coconut oil in first, but since it is winter,

I stick my little bottle of coconut oil  in a container in the sink and run it under hot water to melt a bit.)

thank-you, chickens, for my lovely eggs!!

Then grab just a few pecan halves, and crumble them into your mug/bowl

Then add 1 TBS each:

low carb baking mix

shredded coconut (unsweetened)

vanilla protein powder (if you don't have this, use another TBS of the baking mix - it's actually a nicer texture that way)

xylitol (or erythritol, or truvia, or a bit of stevia...)

By now, your coconut oil should be melted enough that you can pour off a TBS,

so add that too,

and mix it all up real well.

Stick in the microwave for about 1 minute and 11 seconds.

Obviously microwaves will vary - you want it to just barely be done (no more shiny).

While it's cooking,
 mix up 2 Tbs of cream cheese with a bit of powdered xylitol and a drop of vanilla

(It is a bit of a splurge, but I buy the package at Sams that has 50 - 1 ounce tubes of cream cheese. It's the perfect amount)

After your cake has cooled a bit, spread your frosting.

If you really want to get fancy,

add a little whipped cream and a sprinkle of pecans

and enjoy!

for ease of copying - with no commentary:

Italian Cream Cake for One

1 egg

1 Tbs coconut oil

1 Tbs low carb baking mix

1 Tbs vanilla protein powder OR baking mix

1 Tbs xylitol or equivalent no/low carb sweetener

a few pecan pieces

mix all ingredients in a microwave safe mug or bowl and cook a little over 1 minute

Lily's purse

Here are the photos of Lil's purse that I mentioned:

Take 1 - which like I said, wasn't bad,
(it was actually one of her better  projects)

but wouldn't hold up to use

(not entirely sure what exactly I'll be doing with it, though...;-)

And then, her remake - after trimming the fabric a little more neatly,

she sewed with right sides together and used a stitching line guide,

and folded down the top and then top-stitched using a specially selected color thread

And a few more photos,

just because :-)

Lily ~ Momma is so proud of you for choosing to be teachable. I love you, my girl!!

the long weekend

When Tyler went out at 6 am to start his car yesterday,

and couldn't even get into it,

he decided,

for the first time in 19+ years,

that he was taking a snow day.

Or rather, an ice day...

And just like that, our weekend was extended an extra day :-)

(and now I am feeling rather behind, because I keep thinking it's Monday,

only to remember, again, that it is actually Tuesday.)

~

We got to go to The Lego Movie on Saturday.

And get popcorn!

It was the first time we have ever all gone to the movies.

Everyone enjoyed it

(and I said to heck with it - I'm eating some popcorn, too! :-)

but honestly,

at $72.50

for 7 people to watch a matinee (in 2D) and share 2 tubs of popcorn & 2 waters,

it's not something we'll probably ever do again.

~

Before we spent a small fortune at the Malco,

we also spent a (larger) small fortune at Dillard's.

My friend, Nancy, texted me on Thursday

 to tell me they were having their awesome 40% off of their clearance price sale,

so we wanted to be sure to see what goodies we could find.

We got a really nice Ralph Lauren jacket for Brandon

(which we had to talk him into, as usual - he never wants us to spend money on him.

A few years ago, he was in desperate need of a winter coat.

The coats in the boys department were all too small,

but the coats in the men's department that fit him,

were, 

well, 

men's coats.

They just looked wrong on a 12 year old.

We finally found a coat (also at Dillard's, oddly enough. On sale, but not awesome sale...)

that we thought suited him.

But it was $70.

Tyler and I were so thrilled to find a coat that was suitable, we didn't care how much it cost,

but it nearly killed our sweet, tenderhearted, generous Bubsy.

He stood there in the store, tears just seconds from spilling all over his cheeks,

arguing with us 

about how many other ways we could use that money.

We bought that coat. 

And it's held up fabulously. And was most definitely worth the money we spent on it.)

We also got Tyler several more shirts for work,

and Lily a pair of boots for next year, which she needed, since she managed to melt (ahem) this year's pair,

and a pair of shoes for Lexi,

that she really didn't need at all,

but she is maybe a little bit spoiled.

And they were very inexpensive.....

But the thing I am most tickled about - is what I bought.

Not because I am totally self-centered ;-)

but because 

I found these shoes in July,

but wouldn't buy them, because they were

$90.

I had been looking for about 2 years for a pair of nude pumps.

I wanted them to be leather,

and I wanted them to not be shiny.

And of course, they needed to be comfortable.

I spotted them the last time I was at  the 40% off of clearance prices sale,

but they weren't on clearance.

They weren't even on sale...

I almost talked myself in to them anyways; I had been searching for them for so long.

But I just couldn't bring myself to pay that kind of money...

As you can imagine, 

I was so, so tickled

when the first thing I saw

 when I looked at the rack of size 7 1/2 clearance shoes,

was my nude pumps!

Right there, 

just waiting for me!

For $20.73, tax included.

:-)

We tried, again, to find Brandon some jeans, but still came up empty handed.

I'll need to order some, I guess.

~

Just about the time we were going to bed (11ish) 

(after watching 3 episodes of Leverage - we had to watch the 2nd, 

because the one before it was a to-be-continued. 

We had to watch the 3rd, because the second was the season finale....)

Josiah woke up.

I could tell he was going to have a rough time falling back asleep, so I called him in, 

and asked if he was up for a game of Rummy.

He was, 

so I drug my sleepy butt right out of  the comfy bed I'd just sunk into.

He won the first 2 hands, so I wasn't about to go easy on him.

I was winning when we had to stop playing around 12:15 'cause the old girl just couldn't hang any longer.

We talked a little bit about strategy 

and he kinda surprised me with how much thought he put into the game.

More thought that I would have at his age, for sure!

He climbed in bed with us sometime after 1:51

after wandering about the house in the dark.

~

Sunday was, of course, church,

followed by a lunch of roasted chicken, radishes, carrots, and for the kids, potatoes.

(I almost forgot to start it - but fortunately, I remembered in time).

I had plans of getting comfy under a quilt (while stitching on it)

but Tyler wanted me to work a little with Lily;

She  has been sewing up a storm lately,

but has been extremely reticent to receive any instruction.

I would try to offer up occasional help, such as,

"Hey, Lily, if you'd like, 

I can show you how to make it so your stitching and the fraying fabric ends don't show, so you have a neater finish."

To which she would reply something along the lines of, "No thank-you. If I want your input, I'll ask."

Not really.

But she really didn't want me to show her anything.

I didn't want to force anything on her, or ruin her creativity or anything,

but at the same time, I knew she was capable of better work.

Daddy thought enough was enough.

 Lil' needed a little lesson - both in being teachable, and how to sew a little less willy nilly.

So we had a sewing class.

(and she has since thanked me several times for teaching her this or that)

We took a picture of a little purse she'd just made for me

(which is what prompted the whole thing)

and then, after I explained a few things about the hows and whys of sewing a certain way,

we took her purse apart

and she remade it.

(Which, I'm sure you'll agree , was a brave and big thing for her to do!)

Then we took a picture of that one, and she compared the two.

I made a point of telling her there was nothing wrong with her first go at it,

but it wouldn't hold up to use like the remake will.

She decided that she did like things a little neater, after all ;-)

and was quite pleased with her 2nd version.

I'll refrain from telling you about Tyler coaching me on how to teach her.

;-)

Then, we got started on a quilt.

~

I don't remember the rest of Sunday,

and I am suddenly very tired, remembering how worn out all that made me.

I much prefer sewing,

over teaching.

~

Monday,

as soon as Tyler made the decision to stay home,

I crawled back in bed,

where I slept until he woke me up hours later

with coffee.

(coffee that he made in the Kuerig that he and Brandon found at a yard sale Saturday morning :-)

We (Tyler and I) played backgammon. (I lost 2, won 1)

We (Tyler, Brandon, and I) worked out in the gym

I made them laugh (and I'm fairly certain, swear under their breath to never, ever, take me to a public gym ;-)

(but I bench pressed 115#!)

(I don't know if that's good or not...)

Tyler worked on his house model.

I did loads and loads (and loads!) of laundry.

Commiserated with Lily when her 'design wall' fell off of the wall.

We (Tyler and I) ran to the farmer's co-op to buy a month's supply of chicken feed.

The kids had waaayyy too much screen time.

Oh, I tried the THM tomato soup recipe. It was actually quite good!

(I really didn't expect it to be.

I mean, when store brand tomato soup can't touch Campbell's, how could I?)

And I managed to get some quilting in while Bran and I watched a movie

(Next. decent movie; lousy ending)

while Tyler was at a meeting.

And then, our nice long weekend

was over.

Lex's farm

(Why yes, I do have children other than Lexi - but she's five. 

And five is just full of stuff to remember...)

So.
Lex has started playing mine-craft. (sigh)

The other day, she was telling me all about her farm:

"I have sheep for wool,

cows for milk,

and pigs for 

*a brief pause* 

What are pigs good for?" 

"Sausage. Bacon. Pork chops. Ham." I answer.

"But what do they give you while they are still alive?" she asks.

"Umm. Nothing. 

Baby pigs?" I say.

And without missing a beat, she continued,

"I have pigs for looking at..."

(In other Lexi news, she accidentally deleted my entire texting history with Tyler.

Which means, she essentially burned 3 years of love notes.

Which makes me cry.

I don't suppose the action can be reversed??? )

coming along

I may have whipped out an outfit really quickly, 

but the quilt is coming along much more slowly.

I have all of the machine quilting done, except for the very center of the stars,

and I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do there.

We didn't watch much of the Olympics this year,

so I haven't gotten as much hand-quilting done by now as I had expected to.

(I'm maybe 1/5 done?  hard to say...)

I told Tyler the other day though, that I was actually at a point that I could bind it,

and he could start using it while I finish.

(I'll just have to make sure and stick the needle in my pin cushion every night ;-)

I'm not sure he's going to go for that - he prob'ly thinks I'd never get it finished...

I've already got over a hundred hours in this thing ~ this is one long work in progress ;-)

Linking  up with Lee

signature style

My Friday / Saturday sewing? I know ya'll we're just dying to see it ;-)
Here it is:

I don't really consider that I have much of 'a style', but if I do,

this is it.

Fitted  knit top, mostly plain, but with a little something special,

and a comfy skirt,

plus

cute, but comfortable, footwear.

I guess you could say, comfort is my style ;-)

The top,

made up in a dreamy fabric (either this or this - I think the bamboo) purchased on sale from Michael Levine, 

is made from the bodice of my tweaked and re-tweaked Lady Skater dress pattern,

(that I still haven't managed to get to fit just right in the shoulder/underarm area - or blog about...)

lengthened, and then widened at the hips,

with a sweet little bustle added.

(a fabulous idea I got from the extremely talented Anna) 

The sleeve length was determined entirely

 by the fact that I only had 1 yard of fabric,

but I quite like it.

Long enough for warmth, but not so long that they get in the way when I wash dishes.

The skirt,

is a fun knit print - also purchased from Michael Levine,

made from my Alabama Chanin pattern, but sewn entirely by machine.

I underlined it, because the fabric was super thin.

To keep my fabrics together, I used my trusty basting spray

which worked fabulously!

(but was a little trickier than basting a quilt, since both fabrics were slickery)

I did 3 rows of stitching on the neckline and hems, for added interest.

I love my bracelet from Rahab's Robe!

And here, let me show you the hem on my skirt...

Oh, wait!

You can't see it - it's a blind hem.

har har har :-)

~

So.

There you have it.

My comfy, signature style.

me - all classy with my heels sunk down in the dirt ;-)  typical.

Linking up with Project Sewn

~
I updated my last weight-loss progress report with a side by side comparison photo - which is, at once, both dis, and en couraging.

the lesson on the way to the woodshed

I never really want to go out and take care of the chickens first thing in the morning

when its cold (or even cold-ish) outside,

but I always feel a bit refreshed when I do.

This morning, as I was slipping my feet into my boots

(ugly boots - but cheap :-) 

I was thinking, 'I wonder if I'll find any gifts like Mary Anne does.

She gets the prettiest skies."

I'd already forgotten the thought when I walked out the door.

Good thing, though, 

because it's downright gloomy out, definitely no pretty sky today, and I might have had a little jealous pity party.

I was already bummed about missing out on the day's plans, after all.

I wasn't really looking around - just walking the familiar path to the chickens

and I stuck my hands in my pockets because it was a little chilly.

(it was actually the lesson on the way to the chicken coop, 

but I thought 'woodshed' sounded better ;-)

In one pocket (it was Tyler's coat) I found a glove

and in the other, some plastic.

I wondered if I'd found Tyler's missing glove, or if this was the one he knew about.

I hoped it was the missing one!

And I wondered if that plastic might just be a bag - because if it was, I could use it to carry eggs;

I'd forgotten to grab a bucket

and I was pretty sure we hadn't gathered eggs yesterday.

I pulled it out, and what do you know? It was a bag.

While stuffing the bag back into my pocket,

I heard a rustle at the pond.

I looked over, just as the blue heron was lifting off.

I watched him (I don't know why we always call it a him) fly off until I could no longer see him.

And that's when I got my lesson.

I should have been looking for gifts.

If I had gone outside, expecting to see something wonderful,

I surely would have.

And I would have been able to watch the heron on the pond,

instead of merely watching him fly away.

Now, I do try to look for goodness and beauty,

but I think maybe I need to purpose to look a little more.

grand plans

Tyler was going to a men's retreat,

and I had grand plans for the weekend.

I'd do some sewing on Friday evening,

then Saturday was going to be all about the kids.

We'd go shopping at Penny's (they were having a sale, you know ;-)

and then we'd go to the real theater (not the cheap one)

and see the new Lego movie.

The boys and I had discussed it, and we decided to see it in 2D 

instead of watching it in 3D - we were a little concerned it might overwhelm the girls.

With the money we saved from not watching 3D,

we were going to spring for popcorn!

(I was already going to spring for popcorn, but they didn't know that ;-)

I felt absolutely horrible, after the fact, that when I took the kids to see Turbo - the girls' first movie theater experience - I didn't buy popcorn.   We never get popcorn; it's ridiculously expensive, and going to the movies should be treat enough. Lily had asked were we getting popcorn? And I fussed at her for wanting more. For not being grateful with what she's given. But she didn't know that popcorn wasn't just part going to the movies. Whenever you see, in movies, people going to the movies, they eat popcorn. She thought it was free.

 Can I just tell you - I have wished and wished for a do-over for that one! Sometimes, being thrifty isn't the right call. And I blew it. So - by golly - we were having popcorn!)

Depending how much the popcorn set me back, we might even go to McDonald's for dinner.

(That one was my little secret)

Then, on Sunday, 

they (the retreat people) were asking the wives to come to the church where the guys left for the retreat from,

for a little 'welcome home' celebration when they come back.

It's a bit of a drive, but my honey's worth it, so I started planning.

I figured, since we'll need to be in Rogers at some point, 

we may as well drive up in the morning

and surprise my mom and go to church with her and Bill and Gramma Joyce.

So Bill and I texted back and forth a bit,

and I managed to get a lunch invitation, too :-)

TJ was going to come with us also.

:-)

Since we'd have some time in between lunch and picking up our Pop,

I was cooking up a plan to get together with a childhood friend who sells essential oils.

She has access to a little gizmo that tells you what e.oils your body is most in need of.

Ever since I heard of this tool, I've wanted to get scanned.

Maybe this would be my ticket to healing...

Then, we were going to surprise Tyler, by being in Rogers to pick him up!

(Only, we weren't going to be making any posters like the retreat people had mentioned,

because, 

well,

that just seemed a little silly.

I mean - they're only gone about 2 days total....)

~

My Friday sewing went well;

I made a shirt and a skirt.

(technically, I made the skirt Saturday morning, 'cause my eyes started burning around 10:30 Friday night,

so I decided against any more sewing) 

I'm quite tickled with both.

The shirt doesn't fit as perfectly as I'd like, but Lily says it is adorable, and it's certainly wearable.

The skirt, however, is perfection.

in my obviously not very humble opinion ;-)

Saturday, noonish,

we'd gotten a good bit of the house picked up and I was quickly moving boys through my haircutting station,

(high and tights with a 2 & a 4 for all of them)

when Lexi declared she wasn't feeling very good and she might throw up.

We convinced her that maybe she was just really hungry

(nobody'd asked for breakfast since they were all engrossed in their various screens - so nobody'd eaten)

and Brandon got her to eat some scrambled eggs.

She said she felt better.

The boys and I breathed a sigh of relief.

We finished picking up the house, showered and got ready to go.

Everyone even had their clothes picked out already for going to church with Gramma,

so we could have a relaxed evening once we got back home.

We went to Penny's and started the search for jeans, any jeans, sized 31x34, 35, or 36.

We didn't find one single pair.

Lexi was complaining of not feeling well again, so her Bub was holding her.

We thought maybe she was sleepy,

I had let them stay up really late. I was sewing, ya'll...

We were going to head to Aeropostale  (I may have totally butchered that) to look for jeans there

when she said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up."

We decided to head outside,

while having the 'are you sure you're sick, because if you are sick we can't go to the movie' conversation.

She thought she needed to go home.

And things just fell apart.

Jeremiah started crying.

"I've been wanting to see the Lego movie ever since it came out" (what, 2 weeks ago?)

I fussed at him.

We weren't not seeing the movie, we just weren't seeing it today....

And he was being selfish.

(actually, I was too, cause I was really bummed about not getting to spoil my kids. Or surprise my mom!)

And then, right there in the middle of JC Penny's,

Lexi threw up.

All over herself, Brandon's back,

and the floor.

And all of our grand plans went right out the window.

And we went home. 

Without even a Redbox movie as consolation.

progress, at a snail's pace

If you're counting,

(and I doubt seriously that you are ;-)

it's been 5 weeks since my last fitness/weight-loss update.

I have maintained my daily-except-Sundays workout schedule.

But I gotta admit,

there are days (many days, actually)

that I would have just skipped the dang exercise altogether,

if it weren't for the fact I'd have to confess my failure here.

It's hard to keep going at it

when the outcome doesn't seem to be in keeping with the effort.

The trampoline.

It has helped tremendously, I think.

My heel only hurts on grocery shopping days (whereas it had gotten to the point it was hurting every day).

My knees still hurt pretty much all the time,

but they don't hurt extra while I'm exercising, like they did before we bought the trampoline,

so that is a huge blessing.

I've started rubbing DMSO and wintergreen e.oil on them several times a day

and I think that's helping a bit.

Except, now I smell like an old person.

I am beginning to see some muscle definition in my arms and shoulders, so that is nice.

Although, when I mentioned it to Tyler, he said, "Where?" 

So, maybe there is not as much definition as I thought ;-)

In his defense, he thought I should have been flexing,

whereas, I think 'definition' means you can see the muscle through normal movement, without flexing.

Anybody can flex and get a little bit of a bump....

Sadly,

most of my 'definition' is still hiding under layers of fat.

sigh.

Weight-wise

I lost 1.4 lbs.

in 5 weeks.

Ya'll.

It's downright discouraging.

My friend started her husband on THM (only, we're calling it Trim Healthy Man ;-)

and in the first week, he lost 7.

7 pounds. A pound a day.

I may just have to kick him in the shins when I see him.

Measurement-wise.

I just don't even know what to say.

Except for my hip measurement, which remained the same,

every single measurement increased.

Increased!

Even my neck.

Now, my previous tape measure, a special measure-by-yourself jobbie, broke (with a little help from Lex')

right after I'd finished measuring last month,

so I can only assume that my current tape measure

is wrong.

Because...

I bought a pair of size 10 jeans this week! 

TEN! :-)

And it wasn't an anomaly,

because I tried on lots of pairs of 10's in various brands 

that fit.

And,

I even squeezed into an 8.

But they weren't flattering to anything except my pride,

so I left them at the store.

I really needed that bit of encouragement,

because I'll be honest:

this is hard!
And if I weren't so sick of being fat - I'd have given up by now.
I'm 4 days away from 6 months of THM,
and have been exercising daily for 4 months and 3 days.
I really expected to have made a lot more progress by now.

I had my appointment with the naturopath, which I mentioned a few weeks ago.

I finally got in all of the supplements I'd ordered

and have been taking them for 2 weeks now.

So far, I'm not noticing an improvement, 

but she did tell me it could take quite awhile for me to see big changes,

because I have been in this depleted state for such a long time.

Moving forward,

I'm just going to keep up with my daily workouts,

always adapting weights and movement, to keep my body guessing,

and I'll keep eating as well as I can.

I'll keep taking my supplements

(which also helps me drink plenty of water ;-).

And now that the sun is shining again, 

I'll do my best to soak up some rays on a regular basis, too.

~
edited 2/25 to add:
After my photo shoot for my latest outfit - I compared pictures from my 1st update, exactly 3 months ago.

I lost 3.8 lbs in that 3 month period,
during which, I may have mentioned ;-)
I worked out every single day, except Sundays (and maybe 3 days off around the holidays)
The difference is subtle.
Very subtle.
But it's there.

It's going to take about 4 times longer than I was expecting, but I'll get there. Eventually...

newsflash

Lexi

(who just turned 5 one day less than a month ago)

rides a bike, too now!!

And she pretty much taught herself,

although the boys did work with her a little over the past couple of weeks.

She came in Tuesday around lunch time and told me should could ride with her feet on the pedals.

And that's pretty much what she could do - she couldn't actually pedal,

she could coast, with her feet on the pedals for a few seconds.

But she kept working at it 

and by evening, she was actually riding!

She may be cursed with overconfidence, too;

Today, she tried riding with no hands...

Sunday snippets

The boys and I made a quick trip to the library Wednesday

before heading to FSM for dentist appointments.

Ya'll.

I'm just not sure its gonna work.

I didn't know if there were no Fancy Nancy books,

or if I just couldn't find any...

I actually picked up a book for myself while we were there;

I was grabbing some Clive Cussler books for Brandon, and one caught my eye.

It felt kinda wrong to be reading a paper book,

after I'd just been given a Kindle.

But I don't want to take the Kindle anywhere without a case, and I haven't figured out what I want yet...

I found a new-to-me blog recently, a photography(ish) blog.

(once you visit, you'll know why the 'ish'. There's so much more than just photography)

The blog is quite different from Alicia's,

but it's another one that I like to save for last, to really savor.

I especially like her posts about her husband.

I am not nearly as eloquent or poetic, but I feel exactly the same way about Tyler.

He is so so good to me!

(and for me)

T came down for the weekend;

he ran a 5K yesterday 

and got 3rd place in his age group!

Speaking of T - I bought him a couple of herb plants for Valentine's.

He put them out on the porch to get some sunshine today.

Later when he and the boys were going out to shoot some guns, he called,

"Mo-om! The chickens ate my plants!"

Sure enough, those little rascals thought he'd put out a fresh buffet just for them.

I don't know if I've mentioned it,

but we are trying out a year-round schedule this year for school.

We do 6 weeks on, and then get a week off.

(we'll have a bigger break in the summer, just not 3 months)

Brandon and I were calculating how behind he was in math the other day

(turns out he isn't behind at all :-)

and I got to thinking that we must be about due for another break.

I checked my calendar yesterday.

Hallelujah! 

We get next week off!!

I'm pretty tickled about that, if you couldn't tell.

I haven't told the kids yet,

but I imagine they'll be pretty pleased, too.

Tyler may even take a day off this week also :-)

I'm slowly making progress on the quilting.

I'd make more progress though, if I wouldn't decide that I needed to rip out over 200 inches of stitching...

Speaking of math,

Lily is almost finished with her 1st grade math

(5 days left)

and Josiah has already finished his 3rd grade book.

They're both just moving full steam ahead!

Lexi let Jack in our bedroom in the middle of the night.

She said she thought I'd 'appreciate him'.

I did not.

But I did appreciate very much that my love got me up with a hot cup of coffee this morning,

right before they headed out to Sunday School.

(He takes the kiddos to SS, and leaves me home to get ready by myself.

Bliss, I tell ya! 

So much better than when he used to go to SS with the big boy(s), 

and leave me home alone to get a bunch of little ones ready.)

Since I didn't have to pee,

having already gone a few hours earlier, when I promptly took Jack out of my room,

I just reached over and grabbed my Kindle,

without even getting out of bed,

and read, while I enjoyed my coffee.

'owl' always love you

So.

Several weeks ago, Kacy texted me and asked if I'd seen her pin.

Which set off a series of texts and messages

 and online shopping 

and about 8 hours of sewing

over the past few weeks,

and resulted in this:

A wallet, made especially for my li'l redhead :-)

I didn't want any owls upside down, so I made the outer panel be 2 pieces instead of one.
(I'm kinda surprised this wasn't part of the pattern, actually)

That was a ton of layers to stitch through. I broke a needle (a denim needle, at that!) before deciding to turn the wheel by hand

I thought the pocket looked a little boring inside, so I (after making it, of course)

decided to add an owl

as a fun little surprise.

Then I added a heart to the owl, to remind Kac' that 'owl' always love her :-)

After I finished, I told Tyler I needed to put a little bit of ribbon on the zipper,
'cause it was just a tiny bit tricky to grab when it was completely shut.
He said, "I wasn't going to say anything, but I thought maybe a little owl or something on there would be cute."
Which I thought was an absolutely perfect idea (and so much better than ribbon!)
so the girls and I spent 45 minutes at Hobby Lobby the other day
picking out just the right one.

Happy Valentine's Day, Kacy;
your wallet is on its way :-)