Monday, June 30, 2008

I haven't written in awhile so this might be kind of long.

Last Friday Jacqueline, Becca and I went back to Shep-town and Shaharazades.  Jacqueline decided it was high time she got to go too and everyone was more than happy to go back. :)  Especially since last time I didn't get to photograph the scones.  We ordered the tea service and it was really nice.  Here are some photos.

Look at the teacups we used.
The table beside ours.
The tea service.

This past Sunday was my great grandmother's 100th birthday.  She still lives at home and this past winter she fell outside her son's car and got a bruise.  She didn't break anything, she just got a bruise.  I'm glad I have those genes!  We don't live down there and aren't close to my dad's family so I don't have any pictures of her.  But I thought I would mention it here.

Today is my Mom's birthday.  She is turning 50.  I don't have a picture of her here yet either, but I probably will before the day is out.  I'll just have to edit it in. :)  Mom is gluten intolerant so Dad came up with the idea to make her a candy cake.  We bought a lot of candy and a foam brick and covered it in tin foil and then hot glued the candy (wrapped of course) to the tin-foil covered foam brick.  Or I should say I covered it.  Dad just gave instructions on how he wanted it done.  Jacqueline captured the action on my camera, lol.
Hard at work.  Dad's a slave driver!

Happy 50th!
Have some diabetes!

I'm leaving for Texas on Wednesday.  We leave here probably around 5:30 to get there by 7 something.  Our flight leaves at 9:40.  I am a little nervous.  Whenever I have to fly it seems like the TV has some kind of show about plane crashes and last night on Dateline the show was 10 Scariest Escapes from Death and we saw 6 and probably 4 of those 6 were related to airplanes crashing.  Planes catching on fire, engines blowing out, hijacking, etc.  But they escaped so that was a positive thing.  I'm mostly excited.  So I probably won't be on here until after I come back.  Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to show when I come back.  That is if I can find my camera's battery charger!
Talk to you guys later. :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

You know that 5K we talked about???

I did start training.  For 2 days.  I ran or jogged from the beginning of our driveway to the end of our street.  And it probably took all of 3 minutes.  And I was exhausted.  That was a couple of weeks ago.

I just can't run for 15 minutes straight (which is what the first plan recommended) because I'm not that tough or strong.  Then Becky sent me an email with this plan.  Maybe I can still be a 5K runner.  Someday. :)

Monday, June 23, 2008

This bird is winging it. :)

This bird was sitting in a tree and kept lifting his wings up alternately and...I don't know...letting the rain wash it's birdie armpit? It was funny. You can't see it very well here, but that is just it sitting there with one of it's wings sticking up in the air. My camera doesn't zoom in so well so I cropped this and it is a little blurry so sorry about the bad quality of the picture.

cooking up a storm...


You don't believe me? You should have seen the stack of dishes that had to be done!
Chicken Casserole and Ice Cream Cake for Jacqueline's 22 birthday!
Mom made me get in the picture. I still don't understand why unless it was to make Jacqueline agree to be in the picture. :P

I finished some more projects!

Yes! I finished some more projects. Aromatherapy bags (heat them or freeze them) and some coasters. I know coasters are kind of boring, so I quilted these with all different designs. You can't really see the designs though unless you look really closely. It was fun. I have some more blankets cut out that need to be sewn together, and I still want to do some aprons too with my new book. :) It's a cool book.

I will take pictures later. :)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Block

I have a big block in my brain. I can't think, I can't come up with ideas or put the ideas I've already had into use to make anything. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I am not doing anything productive. When I'm not busy I feel lazy and like I'm wasting my time. I get so frustrated when things don't happen they way I think they should. I know that is an immature and kind of bratty attitude and I'm trying to get over it.

I read in a devotional that I'm doing with Court that whatever you are waiting for is what you're living for. So if you're waiting for a spouse, family, promotion, job, degree, move, vacation, adventure, etc., then that is what you are living for. The book goes on to say, or ask I guess, if we are waiting for the second coming of Christ because that is what we should be living for.

It seems so far off. So easy to push to the back of our minds. We don't know when He is coming back. Some of us don't like to think about it because the idea of "the end of the world" is scary to us. But in all reality, isn't that just what the disciples and apostles and early church did (live for the 2nd coming of Jesus that is)? They lived just like Christ was coming back. Suddenly hobbies and vacations and having the perfect career didn't matter so much and living for Christ was the most important thing to be doing. And isn't that the kind of life and church we want today?

I get so wrapped up in little piddly things like school. Most of my frustration is that I am going to probably be going back to Blue Ridge this fall to finish my last 5 classes so I can get my 2 year degree as long as the house doesn't sell. I'm dragging my feet at the thought of it. But I'm so close to finishing and it would be WAY cheaper and easier to go back to Blue Ridge than anywhere else. Plus, I don't have any other opportunities showing themselves that would make me feel like it's no big deal to just forget about school again. And then I wonder if God really wants me to put a lot of stock in an education and a career that I don't really want especially at a school I really...devoutly...very very very strongly dislike. And the whole time I just forget to trust God to show me what to do and ask Him to give me the life He wants me to have.

Anyway, in a nutshell, I am really getting myself down about the idea of going back and losing sight of the big picture and trying to get over it and be optimistic; that is what this post is about. I'm done. The end.

Now lets talk about something more fun.

Like this book. I got it at Borders today to try and get me over some of my crafting slump. I've been wanting to make aprons to sell on Etsy, but I can't come up with anything I like so I got this book and it's pretty fun. It gives a lot of ideas and basic instructions on how to put together a simple apron and a lot of the aprons in the book are vintage-y so it's fun to get ideas from it. I'm looking forward to trying some of them out.

I also picked up The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (I love the clearance section!) to read on the plane while we're going to TX. I read Ember a few years ago and really liked it and never found the sequel (now there is a third). They're making it into a movie that's coming out in October. I want to see it. I know I already mentioned that on here somewhere.

I'm going to go look through my book now. Talk to y'all later~

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Strawberry Pickin'

We (Holly and I) went with Jacqueline and Sharon to pick strawberries at a farm nearby. It was hard to find good berries because most of them were picked over, but we managed to find some good ones.

Holly and I teamed up and worked together. :)

And played together.

A lot! :)

And worked a little more.



We had smaller buckets so we finished quicker, so we just sat around and took pictures for awhile.

Holly tried to teach me how to make a whistle by placing a piece of grass between your hands a certain way and blowing through the gaps. I couldn't figure it out.
Jacqueline got in on the picture fun. :) She put my little Sony camera to shame with her fancy Nikon D80.
Here is proof that we actually did pick some strawberries.
It was such a nice day!

Hank


He just looks like he's laughing at something or someone. He's a goof. :)

What I've been up to lately...

Today we had the Hunter family over. Jamie Marrs was staying with them and she came too. It was great to visit with them. They are special gals. :)Here's what I've been working on...


Pot holders...and baby blankets.
I will post these on my other blog and write about them there. I set up an Etsy account! My other blog is named after it and once I set up my "shop" I will start blogging about all the sewing stuff there. It's been fun working on these projects. :)

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Scrapblog fun!


Check out this website.  It's fun. :)  (It's easier to hit view full size.  It takes less time to download or upload that way.)

My Goals for Summer 2007

Yes, I did mean to say 2007. I found this list while I was cleaning my room (which is totally clean now...except for my unmade bed and pjs on the floor). Last summer when I finished school I made list of goals for the summer. Here is the list:

  • Get a job. (Bingo! I worked at Country Treasures for maybe a month [awful place...yuck!] and then on August 16th the dentist office I did my radiography clinicals at called me and offered me a job. Whenever I was frustrated at work, I would remember that I could still be at Country Evil and I would suddenly become grateful for my job...frustrations and all.)
  • Get my license. (Yes! Thanks to my Dad and my driving instructor, not to mention the nice old guy from the DMV who took me on my road test, I got my license sometime in July...I think.)
  • Read a really good book...maybe a Tolstoy or Steinback or something like that. (Actually, that is on my Goals for Summer 2008 list this year and I'm reading War and Peace...so no I didn't do that one.)
  • Do some scrapbooking. (I think I did, but because I used cheap glue it was falling apart and then I pulled it all apart and now it needs to be redone.)
  • Sew skirts or bags or both. (I did sew at least 1 skirt.)
  • Plan get-togethers with friends before they all move or go to school in the fall. (check!)
  • Study my Bible...try to be a more godly person. (How does one measure that? I don't know how to chart that kind of growth, but I will say that this year I am more confident in the fact that God is in absolute control and He loves us and provides for us, even [or especially] when we go through hard things. I don't think I really believed that last year.)
  • Work out more and eat healthier and lose weight. (BUZZER: wrong! I worked out quite a bit and did eat a little healthier, but didn't accomplish this one.)
So I guess I'll post my goals for this summer here:
  • Study my Bible more.
  • Get a new job (ha ha, how much will this resemble my last list?) since I was laid off at my other one.
  • Start an Etsy shop and use up a lot of my fabric.
  • Finish War and Peace.
  • Finish my nutrition course.
  • Start training for that 5K.
  • Spend more time with the people I love.
  • Learn to cook *I can cook I guess, but I want to cook healthy food and be good at it!*
  • Go to Texas and have fun and take a million pictures.
  • Get into school in the fall unless God shows me something different.
So next year I'll have to see what I accomplished here. :)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

"Frankenfoods"...

What do you all know about genetically engineered or modified foods?
In my nutrition course they have a section about them and they're pretty scary! Makes me want to grow and make all my own food, only that would be really hard to do right now. Still, it does inspire you to know what is in your food and pay closer attention when you are shopping to buying organic and natural foods. And if you are going to plant a garden, make sure you buy organic seeds.
In my book they gave a website to look at that tells you which foods are genetically modified. You can check it out here at http://www.truefoodsnow.com/.
The course has been really interesting. A lot more interesting since I finished the anatomy and physiology section of the book. Well, I still have to finish the coloring book and quiz, but I finished reading the material.
I want to try and boycott these foods to the best of my ability not just because I don't support the companies that are doing these experiments and all, but because the foods they are tampering with can cause serious health problems.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Hey Jacqueline, guess what I found?

I was cleaning my room (so what's new right?), it is like the more I clean it, the messier it gets. Or maybe it's just that every time I clean it, it gets messy again.
Anyway, that's not what this post is about. I was cleaning my room and I was going through one of the boxes I packed (probably why my room never gets clean...I keep pulling everything out) because I was looking for a cd and I found the old Donut Man tapes. I want Dad to put them on CDs for me and then you can have a copy for Hope. I put then in and listened to them and was thinking we should really insist on playing the one about Peter and John healing the crippled man at Bible study since we just covered that recently. :) It made me remember being little and listening to those all the time.
Well, that's all. I miss you. Can't wait to see you this weekend. And I loved your blog post about New England! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip and seeing your pictures!
Love you guys~
Gracie

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Rainy days



A view from our porch today as the sun was going down. It was raining, but you can't tell it is from these photos. It was thundering and raining and Holly came out with her ipod and speakers and played Enya's song Wild Child. Here are the lyrics. It's a pretty song.


Ever close your eyes
ever stop and listen
ever feel alive
and you've nothing missing
you don't need a reason
let the day go on and on

Let the rain fall down
everywhere around you
give into it now
let the day surround you
you don't need a reason
let the rain go on and on

What a day
what a day to take to
what a way
what a way
to make it through
what a day
what a day to take to
a wild child

Only take the time
from the helter skelter
every day you find
everything's in kilter
you don't need a reason
let the day go on and on

Every summer sun
every winter evening
every spring to come
every autumn leaving
you don't need a reason
let it all go on and on

[ Lyrics accessible from http://www.rare-lyrics.com ]

Adam came out and told us we were dorks for listening to it in the rain, but he pulled up a chair and joined us. :)

It's been so hot lately. Upper 90s and humid. The heat is supposed to break a little bit and go back to the mid-80s. I'm so thankful that it will be a little cooler! Even the evenings have been really warm and humid.

I finished the Anatomy and Physiology section of my nutrition course! Woo hoo! I'm so happy. I have to finish the coloring book and the chapter review (almost done), but then I'm on to more interesting material.

Not much else is going on. Adam and I have been applying to Word of Life Bible Institute, but I think we were a little late in starting the process and haven't been able to plan finances so it probably won't end up working out this year. I really want to do something as I don't think I'll be getting back into school this fall. Especially since I don't know where I'm going to be. Will we have moved? Should I get back in if we are still here? I just don't know what to do. But I truly believe that God loves me and has a plan for me and that if this didn't work out, it wasn't what He wanted. Or not right now anyway. So I will just have to wait for God to show me what He wants me to do.

Oh, and Jacqueline and Matt (and of course, Django),
I miss you guys. I hope you are having fun on vacation and have a save trip home this weekend. We are all looking forward to seeing you again.
Luv you!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

You know those squatters I was telling you about???


Well, here is another. Only this one was evicted.



I felt awful today. I went to Walmart with Dad this morning around 11 and we took the wagovan and yeah it was really hot. I was soaked by the time I got home so I drank a large mason jar full of water and got a really bad headache and started to feel sick because I had put those alkalizing drops into it before I drank it. So I ate a piece of candy and the headache got SOOOO much better. It's weird how you can neutralize the basic and acidic levels in your body like that. I just put it under my tongue and laid down for a minute and was much better.

Are we the only people who take weird health stuff like MMS and alkalizing drops?

Don't answer that! Ha ha, :)

We've got squatters!












Upon first inspection, it looks like an ordinary plant.

Look a little closer and you'll find a little surprise!

There has been a mama bird hanging around this plant for awhile and when we took it down to water it this is what we found.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Here is what I came up with. It is not very good, and it was thrown together, but it was fun. The blue thing is supposed to be sort of like a pond. And everything else is just flora, lol. Except the clouds. It was a fun project. I might try to make others for fun and see if I can make them better.

I finished some stuff.

Here are pictures for you to see.
One of the commissioned skirts. The other is not finished.

The newest wrap skirt prototype. It looks tiny, but it's actually got 5 panels and provides a lot of coverage. I like wrap skirts but hate wearing them anywhere on an even mildly windy day for fear of immodesty. This one should put those fears to rest. However, I think I am giving up on wrap skirts for awhile, because I cannot come up with a good pattern for one. They are harder to make than I thought and I can't find the "pattern" I had when I made my first ones that turned out alright. If I can find it then there may be some wrap skirts in the future. I'll keep the 2 I made so far and try to alter them and figure out how to make them wearable. I like the fabrics too much to throw them out. I'll just focus on some other stuff right now.
And this is a little peek at my sewing basket. It's a real big mess. Like everything else under my supervision right now. Holly put together the G in the pincushion for me so I took a picture of it.

I'm beginning to have second thoughts on this Etsy idea. I really want to do it! But I am having a hard time coming up with stuff to make. I'm having a creativity block. :( Maybe in a couple of days I will have some more stuff done. I have lots of ideas of things I'd like to do, just no idea of how to put it all together. I think I'll try to work on more stuff this weekend.

I think we're going to go to the park. So I'll end here for now.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk...

well, not really. Julia told me that's actually a myth anyway and showed me in her book. That is a very cool book. I would have most likely loved it when I was younger. They have a Boy's Guide and Pioneer's Guide too I think. Pretty cool. :)

Anyway...today I met Courteney and we did not set up a blog because she didn't bring her computer. But we had a lot of fun anyway. We got coffee and did some shopping and got lunch at that Asian Gardens restaurant. That place is awesome. It was really hot today. I was driving Jacqueline and Matt's car today and it doesn't have AC. It drives nicely. It was kinda fun driving a different car. I felt like I was driving a safari jeep or something. It was that hot outside. Every time we would walk in and out of a building one or both of us would say something along the lines of, "Ugh...it's SO HOT!" And it's supposed to stay hot for awhile too according to the weather.

I've been working on some craft stuff and will hopefully have something to show for it soon. :)
Like, hopefully by my next post!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

It was really stormy yesterday!

We were under a tornado watch or warning until 8:30 pm.  We didn't get one here, but there may have been one in another county.  We did lose power for a few hours before the electric company came to our rescue.  Thanks electric company!  You make our lives brighter.

It was kinda funny actually (in hindsight anyway) because my sister and I were doing these chocolate facial masks right when the storm came in and we were supposed to leave them on for 10-15 minutes and then wash them off.  Well, shortly after applying these gooey masks to our faces we lost power and our well pump shut off.  And I didn't have enough water to wash the mask off.  So we have a very dirty face cloth that we are afraid to put in the washer in case it bleeds brown face mask into the other laundry.  As it was getting closer to evening and getting dark my mom asked me to find a few candles and light them.  So I did and after I lit a few I went into another room to search for some more.  At that moment the fire alarms went off and scared me to death because I thought I'd set the house on fire.  I hadn't.  What had happened was the power had come back on and when it did it set off the fire alarms.  Yay!!!  So now we have power again and life is good.  I don't think I'd survive very long if the power permanently shut off everywhere, forever.  Sorry but that's the truth of it.  I'd like to think otherwise but I'd probably die pretty fast.

Today I woke up with a sore neck and it has stayed sore all day.  I think my sewing posture is getting to me.  If it's not better by Monday I'll probably go back to the chiropractor.  And he will probably know that I haven't been doing the neck exercises he told me to do.  :(  And I will probably get a tongue lashing. :*(

On a lighter note, I went to lunch today with the girls at the office I worked at.  It was Gretchen's last day of work.  She is moving to Germany for 3 years so I'm glad I was able to see her before she left.  And it was really nice to see everyone else again.   I'm actually going to be covering for one of the ladies on Monday so I'll get to see them again then. :)  

That's all for now folks.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

stuff in the works.

I once saw a blog...um...thing I guess and it was called "Self Portrait Tuesday" and since its Tuesday I went ahead and took a self portrait. That is just to explain this random photo of me.
Simplicity 3835. My project at Sewing Extravaganza III. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our time together while I was there. :( But it was a great time, as always! Becca helped me figure out the pattern. Pattern-figuring-out seems to require a group effort! A good excuse (if one is needed) to get together. I need to do some alterations in order to make this shirt actually look good on me. It was "simple" though as the brand implies and fun to make. I plan to try to make a few more of these in different types of fabrics that aren't so stiff. I have a jersey material and a more drapey fabric. I don't know what exactly it is though.
Operation skirts: my wrap skirt prototype. Not quite finished yet. I have some ideas to make these skirts easier to wear and I want to come up with a better pattern. The first one I made didn't sit really well. I want to try to make a few of these along with some other stuff and put them in my Etsy shop that still doesn't exist yet. :)
I did finish the commissioned skirt and I think it came out pretty well. Its owner seemed pleased so that was good. Thank you for the commission new skirt owner (I didn't want to name any names)!!!

What else happened today? Well, I had a wonderful chat with my dear friend Courteney. She was the first friend I met when I moved here. We've been friends since 7th grade. We are meeting this Friday so I can show her how to set up a blog. Yay!!! I've been nagging and begging and pleading with my college friends to start blogs so we can keep in touch better during the school year and she is the only one who is humoring me and starting one. Talking with her made my day better because she really encourages me in my walk with Christ. I think that is one way to measure a true friend when they encourage you to trust Jesus and live for Him. That's the kind of friend I want to be. She is also one of the only people who I can talk to on the phone for an hour and not realize a whole hour has gone by. And it's funny cause we both have a fear of talking on the phone.

I haven't been doing my "counting my blessings" posts lately so I'm going to pick it up here.
I am thankful for:
  • Having fun sewing yesterday with Jacqueline and Becca.
  • Spending time with my siblings.
  • Finishing some projects
  • Staying safe on the road when I'm out (not just me but all my friends and family).
  • the phone call from Court this morning
  • All the rain we've had and all the sunshine too.
  • the Bible study I'm going to tonight!
I hope everyone else is having a nice day and week.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Goodbye May...

Hello June...

Not much went on this past week/end. I've decided I really want to do an Etsy shop. I am hoping I will have some stuff to go in by the end of this week. I was "commissioned" to make 2 skirts for somebody (you know who you are...) and I need to finish them before Friday. One is almost finished...the other has not been started.

Tomorrow we are going to Becca's house for the third installment of Sewing Extravaganza. :) We wanted to go back to Shaharazades for tea and scones since Jacqueline hasn't been there, but they are not open on Mondays. So Becca has generously offered to host at her place. Hopefully there will be pictures of the fun we had and finished projects. I bought Simplicity 3835 to keep up with the trend here in blogland. I think that is going to come with me tomorrow.

So this weekend has been pretty rainy. Last year we had a drought but this year we've already had quite a bit of rain. Hopefully it will stay pretty green around here. Last night I went with my sister and brother-in-law to a park in Maryland and took all those pictures from my last posts. Today we had Bible study and have been hanging around watching Casablanca. I had never seen it before. It was pretty good. I don't usually like sad movies, but I think it ended well. The only other "sad" movie that I really like is Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. That movie is so good but the ending is so sad. At the end I felt like yelling at the screen, "abdicate your throne and marry him!" I guess I got a little too involved in that movie. I love Gregory Peck's voice.

Ahem...anyway, other than that I've been looking up schools and filling out applications for schools and trying to figure out what I'm doing this fall. And summer. Should I get a job? I'm thinking about it. Not because I really want one, but because I feel like I may need one pretty soon. We shall see I suppose. It is nice being off work for awhile, but I don't know how long we will be here and maybe I should do something work-wise until we move. Or I start school if that happens. Decisions, decisions...

The Texas trip is coming up! First week of July if all goes well I will be in Texas for a week! I'm so excited. I loved Texas so much I'm willing to get back on a plane for a few hours to get there. But boy do I hate flying. I am a big sissy when it comes to planes.

I hope everyone else has been having a good weekend. Talk to you later. After Sewing Extravaganza III!

xo~