Yarn Along

Hooray for me!  I actually finished my orange scarf and book last week!  That is a rare occasion.  Rarer still, is having the yarn, pattern and new book lined up to begin.  I started The Happiness Project 4 days ago and yet only made it through the first 2 chapters this morning.  Now that is usual progress.  :)

Too many other things on my To Do List to stop and comment much more on this post today.  Plus, I've gotta have time to knit...or read...now if I could just get better at trying to do both at the same time.  Yes, I have done both simultaneously, but only if it is a basic stitch I'm working on.

Yarn Along

Every bibliophile I know would say that they have books that have become friends to them, or perhaps just books in general are friends to them.  Merging that thought with the poem that says that we have friends for a reason, a season or a lifetime applies to our relationship to books too, I think.  Last week I popped into our small, local library.  Normally we borrow books from the bigger library in Noblesville, but last week I couldn't find a book for one of my boys and I thought I'd check closer to home.  No luck on his book, but I did find a book I'd been looking for about a year.  It is Daring Greatly; How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brene Brown.

I'd seen a TED video she'd done and decided I wanted her book.  Who knew I'd find what I was looking for last week?  Well, I think God did and that is where the idea of reason, season, or lifetime comes into play.  I won't go into the details of which category or why that category here, maybe that is for another blog, another day, but I will say that I find that this book has been helpful.  Reading it has revealed some things in myself and given me sympathy and perhaps even realized some empathy for others.

To whet your appetite, I'll give you the passage from a speech that Theodore Roosevelt made that gave Brown her inspiration:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how strong

man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face

is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who

does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,

the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,

and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...."

I checked out one other book last week too.  (It is highly abnormal for me to get more than one "reading" book at a time, as I rarely have time to finish more than one in my 3 week period before the due date.)  Coincidentally (yeah, right) I picked up a book that was in a different section of the library, but mentioned many times in Daring Greatly.  Maybe I'll write about how that one is connected with this one later too.  I'm getting ready to learn!

The project I'm knitting is a scarf.  I started it in the car on the way to Ohio to visit family over the Mother's Day weekend.  I will give it to the Heavenly Hooked group at church to give out as needed, but I find myself hurrying through it now because I received some really nice and new yarn from Mom for my birthday last week.  Maybe I'll have a new book and a new project to show you next week.  :)

Ceilidh

When I get so far behind in my blogging, it is difficult to decide where to begin.  I suppose it doesn't matter where I begin.  What matters is that there was a lot of living done in the gap.

Today, I'll show you some pictures of the Ceilidh and Scottish Games some friends of ours put together for 150 of their closest friends this weekend.  Frankly, I was more than a little intimidated the more information came about the games.  They requested we do research and limber up for the games.  Scores were going to be kept and awards presented.  Serious stuff these games.  Clans were formed and rivalries started on our Facebook group before the games even started!  Perhaps you'd like to do some investigating of your own.  We had heavy and light games.  Heavy games included the Caber Toss, Hammer Throw, Stone Put, and Sheaf Toss.  We were sent instructions and rules and links to videos on YouTube.  Light games included Tug-of-War, an original game created by our Clansman Mr. Blair called TriBall, which is a version of soccer played by a 3-3-3 system instead of only 2 teams, Cornhole, Watermelon eating contest, Cherry Pie eating contest (the winner found her cherry in a pile of whipped cream in just over 1 second), Clothesline Contest (hold a "phone", "baby" and hang laundry while answering questions in the shortest amount of time).  As you can see, some games were more challenging than others.  No one HAD to play, but your team was awarded participation points if you at least tried.

Opening ceremony.

Points awarded for war paint!  Many had open hands, B thought it fun if he went for a fist.

Are warriors supposed to smile?

Caber toss

Hammer Throw

Sheaf Toss

 Our boys weren't able to attend this year since they were on their way home from Scout camp, but we are all looking forward to next year's Ceilidh.

Springtime Sewing

Cotillion is this Friday.  I finished the alterations to everyone's clothes this week.  The boys' tuxedos needed the length in the legs shortened.  My dress was a little long in the back.  It has a bustle with a lace edge all around the bottom, so a simple hem didn't seem to be an option for me.  While my mom, sister and mother-in-law were here for Easter last week, I tried on the dress and asked for their suggested solutions since I could not see the back of the dress while wearing it.  The common idea revolved around adjusting the bustle near the top.  I searched online for some technical help, but I've found that the more technical the fix is, people only provide pictures and it doesn't help the novice in the slightest.  Instead, I improvised and used my noodle.  Overall I knew that fixing the bustle at the top would put strain of the entire dress bottom in only two spots, potentially causing tears, and it potentially would hinder the zipper down the middle of the dress.  I opted to take up two lower points and pinched fabric and tacked it in place to create two extra bubbles near the bottom edge of what was already there.  That didn't cover the entire length of what I needed to adjust, so I also measured out 4-12" lengths of matching ribbon, tacked those in place about 12" apart so that I could have adjustable bustles near the bottom/side that would blend with the dress.

The tied ribbons are normally hidden in the folds of the bustle, but I've pulled them out to show how it works.

This shows the difference of length if the bow is tied as short as it will go.

After the "have-to" of Cotillion sewing was over, I turned to a project I found on Pinterest.  I like the idea of taking something I don't use anymore and turning into something useful. The pattern is for a washable Swiffer pad.    I have some old towels in the top of my closet that are begging to be used again.  This project seemed like a perfect match!  I cut out a pattern from wax paper, cut my towels, everything matched.  The sewing machine groaned under the load of the heavy towels, but managed quite fine and I took it slow.  I got to the point of fastening it on the Swiffer itself yesterday and discovered a problem.

Pattern pinned to cut towels.

Sewing

Do you see my obstacle?  My pattern is for a Swiffer withOUT the Wet Jets!!!

I improvised once again after pinning my pad to the mop to mark the buttonholes.  I marked places for the jets too, thinking that I could just make large buttonholes for them.  Well, my machine doubly didn't like making buttonholes through the towels.  The feed dog just wouldn't carry the towels.  I was too afraid to manually move the material and it was too difficult to mark the edges of the holes with pencil on the terry cloth.  I put the cart before the horse and cut first and reinforced with stitches later.  Viola!

Ugly cuts for jets

Finished pad

I've put the machine away.  Maybe I'll get it out again next Spring.  :)

Springtime Sprucing

 Our week ended like the photo on the left.  The kids received upgrades to their phones.  Mr. H has a "real" phone now.  So they sat inside and moved favorite apps from one device to the next.

Mr. C also had the guys over this Friday to wrap up his birthday celebration.  We all enjoyed toasting ham and cheese sandwiches in the pie irons over the fire.  Another treat?  S'mores!  Then the boys slept in the camper--another upgrade since they can have a fridge, heat, real beds and TV!

We have been spoiled by having church services on Saturday evenings.  We can work/play all day and then go to church without feeling like our productive parts of the day are interrupted.  Evening services also make it feel like we are having a night out on the town.  Yeah, our church is THAT fun.

"Fruit" of my labor was putting in a few veggies.

The two younger kids followed me around at Lowe's after church on Saturday to pick out vegetables and herbs.  Miss K talked me into a couple--Mr. Stripey tomatoes and chocolate mint.  I tried some of the mint in a tall glass of iced green tea.  Fresh!  I snipped some chives for baked potatoes last night with no takers!!!!!  I don't eat baked potatoes, but having the chives almost pushed me over the edge.  Instead, I took a pinch to munch.

Standard SkiDoo

The Lake has been of no real use to us these last few years since it is so shallow.  The island is growing and has officially been declared a wetlands now, which means we have no real hopes of a dredging project directly behind our house.  We found this week that just 3 houses down to our West, will have the dredging.  The most we can hope for now is a community dock or some sort of swapping of wetland areas.  (Too long of a story to include in the blog.)  The SkiDoo is our best bet of getting out on the water.  The problem has been that (another long story) since it doesn't idle, it needs to be towed to deeper water, but since we cannot get the boat out now, B had to break out the wrenches and standard parts to exchange the racing parts.  B and C worked on this together.  A good, while not necessarily in the enjoyable sense at all times, experience for both.

Next project????  Chickens!  We've gone in with another family to raise 30 chickens this year.  The chicks won't come to our house, but will stay with them.  I'll try to get photos when the chicks arrive!

Resurrection Weekend

My daughter asked why we should call it Resurrection Weekend if it was really Easter.  Good question.  Calling it something different is new to me too, but I was able to explain that we concentrate on Jesus' coming to the earth for a reason, how it was fulfilled, and it wasn't fulfilled in "just" one day.  Maundy Thursday.  Good Friday.  Resurrection Sunday.  He is Risen!

This makes me want to break out in song:  He lives!  He lives!  Christ Jesus lives today.  He walks with me and talks to me along life's narrow way.  He lives!  He lives!  Salvation to impart!  You ask me how I know He lives.  He lives, within my heart.

I'm not sure if I'm a bad parent for not getting the coloring kits and futzing with all of the vinegar or wraps and the cardboard rings to hold the eggs, which always tear when getting them from the box so they are not useful anyway.  I gave them markers and set them loose.  They made Marvel Comic eggs, a Precious LOTR egg, and a couple Humpty-Dumpty eggs (they were already cracked).  I made the one Easter themed egg with the flower.  Maybe I should just be thankful that my kids still like to decorate eggs, even if it is with markers instead.  They said they preferred it since they could draw whatever they wanted.  (I reminded them they have always had the option to use crayons and then dip in dye all those years, but they didn't know what I was talking about. Sometimes I find teenagers have hormonal brain lapses just like me.)

Speaking of teenagers, I am the mother of a 16 year old as of Sunday!  Yikes!  Since the weekend was busy enough with church and family, he invited "the guys" over this coming weekend for a cookout/campout.  Pray for good weather.

Yes, it did take him THAT long to blow out all of the candles.  And NO they were not trick candles.  What happens at 17?  Or 40?

My sister is a culinary genius and she makes the most creative cakes.  This nest is her latest creation which she shared with us on Sunday.  I think she could turn this into a wonderful catering business.  I've already begun the advertising!  (Remember the pumpkin cake?)

Miss K is busily adding more to our Fairy Garden.

She used an egg nog carton, cut a hole for the door, painted it and added tulip leaves for the roof.  We'll add it to the garden later.  (I've said we may need to rethink the roof, but she wanted to give this a try.)

Hope you all had a memorable weekend.  I did.  Thank you for letting me share!

Springtime Fun

The two younger kids and I have had some fun out playing in the sunshine this week.  Here are some of our pictures.

H made a friend

Glad he kept it outside.  They also found a goose egg, which they named Sheldon, but I don't think he'll make it.

Someone DIDN'T want to be friends while we shopped for plants.

Miss K working on our Fairy Garden.