HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..........

I straightened and cleaned out some of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen today.  Lots of stuff will have a new home after Thursday!  Namely the thrift store!  From there, who knows!  But one thing I found that I didn't get rid of was a hummingbird feeder that I had bought before moving from Buffalo.  I also found a jar of the nectar and the hanger with suction cups to hang it on a window.  The question was what window to put it in as most of the ones that we would view the hummers from were in direct sunlight most of the day.  So, I opted to put it in the back of the house out from my computer room.  I'll hopefully be able to take pictures of our visitors soon............I have never seen any hummers around, but I've not had any nectar hanging out for them, either!  I sure hope the feeder is even big enough to attract them if there are any around!

While I was out taking a picture of the feeder, I noticed the chimney swifts were out in full force.  And I also noticed this beautiful sight out past the church.  Love the pinkish orange!  What a magnificent painter the LORD is!

Monday, Monday, so good to me......

Monday, Monday
by the Mamas and the Papas
Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be..........

Now I can't get that tune out of my head!  And, I did it to myself!  :D  BUT, today WAS a good day!  Lots accomplished..................


Those of you who have experienced the sound of the 30+ year old dishwasher know I am NOT exaggerating when I say it sounds like a jet engine preparing for take-off!  Plus, the door is rusty and leaks water so that you have to lay a towel down in the floor underneath the edge of the dishwasher to catch all of the water that leaks out during the cycle.  Well, lately, I think more water has been running out than stayed in to wash the dishes!  When the church approved the purchase of a new stove they also approved the purchase of a new dishwasher!  However, we brought a portable dishwasher with us when we moved from Buffalo.  So, we decided we would use that instead of spending church money to buy and have installed a new dishwasher.  Calvin, the church's all around go-to maintenance man, came in last Saturday after cutting the church grass to check out the new stove.  While he was in we asked him how much trouble it would be to get the old dishwasher out so we could park ours in that spot.  He insisted that we did not need to be dragging our dishwasher back and forth every time I did a load of dishes.  So, he volunteered to convert it to a built-in.  So, at 10 am this morning the process began.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour process, but he gotter' done!  So, I fed him some Taco soup for lunch (my new favorite soup, btw!).

Voila!  Sure looks nicer than the old one!  Did you notice that something else is missing now?  Yes, we moved the HULK of a microwave over to the fellowship hall.  The only thing we used it for was storing chips in, anyway!  On a very rare occasion when everyone is here for the holidays or a visit would I use it to reheat something!  I like having the open space!

OK, this is a little version of a Cuddle Blanket pattern I had.  The original pattern was to be about twice as big and was a rabbit.  But, as scary as it is, I made a puppy dog instead!  Maybe baby Jones won't notice how scary it is!  :D

 And, last but not least, I'm about half way finished with the baby carrier blanket I am making for baby Jones.  It is made with double strands of yarn and there ain't gonna be NO air get through it!  The measurement at this point is approximately 24" wide and 12 1/2" long.  I really don't want it to turn out to be square, and I think I will have enough yarn to add another 22 or 44 rows to make it longer than it is wide.  That's the plan at this point!  Can you make out the basket weave pattern?  Each pattern is 22 rows.  That's why when I add more to the length I'll have to add either 22 or 44 rows, depending on how much yarn I have left!  I really like this pattern, but there is a lot of counting stitches so it takes longer and you have to pay attention!  But, it will be very nice when done!  I'm thinking of using this pattern for a blanket for our bed!  YIKES!  Did I just say that?!  I didn't say what year I'd have it done, however!  :P

Our Week +

It has been a week since I posted here.  I've been busy designing kits for the store at Faith Sisters for September.  I haven't done any real designing in a couple of months, but I got lots done this week!  That is the main reason I have not posted anything here.

So, on to the pictures of our week + in WV to Cincinnati to WV to NC.

As you recall we were headed to a Bible Conference near Flatwoods, WV on August 18th, so that is where my story in pictures begins.  Actually, I'll begin by showing you a picture of the sky the day of Hurricane Irene.  We were under clouds most of the day.  Finally, at approx. 5:15, we got a heavy down pour which lasted about 15 minutes and that was the extent of our weather "problems" from Irene.

Thursday, Aug. 18 - The Bible Conference we were going to supplies the hotel for those who come from long distances.  And, on Saturday and Sunday of the conference they supply the noon meal.  Dinner is on your own and breakfast was at the hotel.  So, knowing this, we tried to conserve on the food buying as much as possible.  Even though we did not need gas, we made our regular Wytheville, VA stop, only this time it was for a $5 footlong sub from Subway.  I had packed chips and snacks and drinks, so the sandwich was all we needed.  We ate in the car.  For dinner, we went to KFC and bought a bucket of chicken and sides to last us for our evening meals.  The hotel had a microwave in the vending machine area right across from our room!  And we had a fridge in the room, so it was a perfect deal!  We even had chicken, etc left to take back to Liz's and share!

Saturday, August 20 -  The Bible Conference was very well attended each day.  And the messages were wonderful!  This picture was taken Saturday of the preachers that were present.

 This church is out in the "sticks."  Very pretty setting!  To the right of the church you can see the fellowship hall where we they served the lunches.

 This is to show you that the church sits up on a hill and most people had to park down along the road.

 Sunday, August 21 - The "white-out" in this picture is where I was trying to capture the fog over at the Flatwoods shopping area, but the sun was too bright.

 But, I did get a good picture of the fog from that morning, in the hills beyond the shopping.

 On Sunday, Tim preached at Grace Baptist Church in Buchannon, WV.  It is a mission work that we support monthly.  Since we were at the conference, the pastor invited Tim to stay over and preach on Sunday.  This is a picture of the church.  The plot of ground shown on the left of the church is going to be purchased by the church.  They own the land around it and behind it already.

 I snapped this picture during the closing prayer.  We were on our way next to the pastor's house for a church dinner.  Normally after that would be the afternoon service, but the Pastor was going to have to leave at 2 and travel to Ohio to preach, so we traveled on over to Liz and family's house to go to church with them and spend the night.

 Monday, August 22 - Hannah is ready for school!

 They sure love their baby sister!

 Hannah wanted me to put her hair in pony tails, which is a task mommy just can't get done these days (wonder why?)  :D

 Precious baby feet!

 Ryan playing with his moon sand.  Love his sweet smile!

 I sure miss living close to Liz!

 We left at 8 am to travel to Tim's mom's house to fix her computer.  She had accidentally hit a combination of keys with the control key and her screen went blank.  Tim took it back how it was at the factory, then he had to update everything.  Five hours later, he had everything working.......except her printer.  And we headed back to WV.

 It took me forever to get a half-way decent picture of a hummer feeding at Tim's mom's house.

 Mom and son.

 Tim wanted to get food to eat on the go, so we stopped at White Castles in Batavia.  It had been FOREVER since we had eaten one of their sliders!  I thought for sure that it would give me heartburn!  But, I'm happy to report that they did not!

 Wednesday, August 24th - The new stove was delivered today............with a dent!  So, the store gave us $100 off if we would keep it.  Good deal, Lucille!  Especially since it turns out that the dent is up next to the cabinet and won't be seen, anyway!  Thank You, LORD!

 Thursday, August 25 - I found this car seat cover at the thrift store for $2.99.  Jessica said JJ Coleman Collections, which is what it is, was a good brand.  I looked it up on line and see that it costs $39.95.  I would call $2.99 a GREAT, FANTASTIC deal!  And baby Jones will be nice and snuggly warm in his car seat this winter!

OK, that's it for me.  It's bedtime!

Bible Conference

We left the house at 10 this morning to travel to WV for the Voice in the Wilderness Bible Conference near Flatwoods.  We stopped at the usual place in Wytheville, VA for gas and got a $5 sub to split from Subway and ate in the car.  We had our own chips and drinks, so with the sandwich we were all set!  Our favorite sub is the Spicy Italian on Italian Herb and Cheese bread.  Tim adds tomatoes to his half and I add banana peppers to my half.  We get lettuce, onions, pickles, pepper jack cheese on all with sweet onion sauce and oregano, salt and pepper sprinkled on.  YUM!  I think my favorite part is the bread!  :D  So, it was 12 when we stopped and gassed up and ate.  It was 3 approx. when we arrived at the hotel in Flatwoods.  The conference didn't start til 6 pm. Before we had to leave, we went to KFC and got a 12 piece meal with 3 large sides so we could put left overs in the fridge in our room and eat again tomorrow night before the services.  The church is going to take care of lunch and we will be free for the afternoon tomorrow.  No evening services.  We are staying here Saturday night, too, because Tim is preaching for our Missionary in Buchannan, WV on Sunday.  There will be the morning service, lunch and then the afternoon service immediately following lunch.  Then we will be on our way to Liz's house to spend the night.  Then on Monday we will travel to Cincinnati area to Tim's mom's house to work on her computer, travel back to Liz's Monday evening, spend the night and then come home on Tuesday.  That's the plan, man!  Busy and lots of miles on the car!  I have some pictures, but I didn't bring the cord to take them from the camera to the computer.  I'll have to post them after we get home!  So, if I don't get a chance to post anything else you know what we are doing!  :D 

A New Stove

We did our usual thrift store stops and lunch, then we went to Lowe's, Sears and H.H. Gregg to compare pricing on new ovens.  Hard to believe, but the parsonage oven has only one working element and the top burners have always given me fits!  You cannot have 2 on HI at the same time!  So, when the bottom oven element died, Tim brought it before the church and they OK'd the purchase of a new oven.  Boy, am I going to miss the 40" stove with 10" of storage along the side!  Oh well!  It really isn't safe anymore.  The insulation is gone and I'm surprised it has not caught the cabinets on fire!  So, I had looked on the internet at HH Gregg pricing, so I had a general idea of what it was going to cost.  HH Gregg said they would beat their competitors' price.  Best Buy had the oven for $594.99 vs theirs at $599.99.  So, in order to beat their price, she took $15 off of $594.99.  She gave us the electric cord, which is $14.99.  Delivery is $69.99 and they haul away the old stove for a $3 NC disposal charge.  The $69.99 will be sent to us as a refund on a visa card that we can use anywhere!  Here is what will be delivered next Wednesday when we get back from the Bible conference and Tim's mom's house with lay-overs at Liz's house!

Description:

Whirlpool 30" Smoothtop SteamClean Electric Range

(Model:WFE371LVQ)

Range features the AccuBake® temperature management system to monitor oven temperature for consistent cooking results. SteamClean option spot cleans your oven interior in less than 30 minutes. Hidden bake element creates smooth easy-to-clean surface.  I believe it has a self-cleaning feature, too, which is the high temperature cleaning method.

Baby Blues

I don't have the baby blues, but I do have some baby blues!  :D  I finished project #2 for the November baby!  Sorry!  Couldn't figure out how to rotate it!  Until tomorrow...............

Another Day and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Well, today I have NO pictures!  I got the sleeves done on the baby sweater, but they are not sewn in place yet.  I decided to work up a hat using the same yarn, so I worked on that some.  I also printed out a pretty pattern for a baby blanket that I plan to knit for the baby.  I also have a new girly pattern to crochet sometime that I found on the internet today.  Tonight Tim and I were invited to dinner at the house of a man and woman that attends our church.  They have attended there for lots of years but have never joined.  I pray the LORD leads them to join.  Back to knitting for awhile, but first..................


HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet Hannah Banana who is 7 years old today!  I do have a picture that I would like to post after all.  This is our sweet little birthday girl when she was almost 5 months old, taken January 14, 2005.  Look at those eyes!  Reminds me of Elisabeth's eyes when she was a baby!

Productive Day

My goal today was to make salsa from the remaining tomatoes Tim brought in before pulling up the plants.  I got that done and also got lots of work done on my 2nd project for the new baby coming in November. 

I actually began work on the 2nd baby project last night and was up until I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer!  :D  I guess it was about 2 a.m. when I finally got in bed.  I got almost done with the brown section when I made myself call it quits because I was making mistakes!  When I got back up this morning I worked until I got this much done.  The sleeves will be inserted in the slit area.  So, what you see here from left to right is Left Front (LF), Back and Right Front (RF).  What I have done here is to "block" the work to the shape and size I wanted.  I will be working on the sleeves after I tell you good nite!  :D  The size is 0-6 months and I added a little bit to the length.

Just to give you a little explanation of how I "worked" the sweater thus far, here are my "diagram" notes.  In order to make sure your project turns out to be the size the pattern says it should be, the first thing you must do is check the "gauge."  That basically determines the number of stitches and rows needed to obtain the proper size the pattern gives you.  In the stitch pattern for this sweater, the "gauge" told me the yarn and needles I use should give me 17 stitches and 24 rows to equal a 4" square.  So, I worked 17 stitches for 24 rows with the size of needles the pattern called for to check the gauge of the yarn I wanted to use since it was different from what the pattern called for.  I kept track of my rows in the top left hand box shown below.  Without boring you much more, the next thing you do is start following the pattern.  This pattern had lots of things to do throughout, so I kept track of the number of rows and a slight description when the row called for something different, like the button hole row.  Color A is the brown which was worked first.  Color B is the green which was worked second.  Color C is the blue which was worked third.  Since I am using bits and pieces of skeins of yarn that Tim's mom gave to me, I got nervous that I wasn't going to have enough of the brown for the sleeves, so at one point last night I stopped working on the sweater and started working on the sleeves.  That's why I already have some details done for the sleeves.  I had plenty of brown after all was said and done, but better to be safe than sorry!  :D

 After I stopped working on the sweater, I began working on the tomatoes.  I sure hope this salsa is good because it took me 4 HOURS to cut up all the ingredients!

 I had to go to Walmart to get some tomato paste before I started cooking it.  While I was there I bought some canning jars with lids and rings.  I wasn't going to buy any since we don't do much of a garden to speak of, but I decided to get a dozen since they were less than $8. 

 After cooking for 15-20 minutes, you skim 2 cups of the water off the top, add the tomato paste and simmer for 10-15 minutes longer.  In the mean time I washed and boiled the jars and lids.  Then filled the jars and VOILA!  4 beautiful jars of salsa all sealed and ready for the cabinet!  The recipe was for 7 pints, so I'd say that is about what I got!  This salsa is different than the recipe I fixed previously.  I'll let you know how it turns out!

Until tomorrow....................

Knitting for Baby

Before I share today's post, I want to take care of the guessing game from yesterday.  :P

If you guessed that Ryan's shoulder strap is not in place you are correct.  And if you guessed that Michael's shoulder strap is not in the right place you are correct!  If you guessed Hannah was not wearing a seat belt........wrong answer!  Sorry!  There were no winners!  I think everyone said Ryan didn't have a seat belt on, when he actually had the lap seat belt on, just was out of the shoulder harness...........bad little boy!  The really bad thing about this is that I "had my eyes on" Ryan and Michael just about the entire trip because they wanted to pick at one another just to irritate!  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!  So, while my eyes were on them, they obviously were oblivious to the seat belt issue!  Here's the picture again, just so you can take a closer look now.

Now that summer is officially ending for me with the kids having spent the week and school is about to start, it is time for me to begin my projects for the new baby that will arrive in about 3 months!  YIKES!  So, yesterday I decided since I would be sitting in the car for 4 hours that would be a good time to begin the first project.  This is a Baby Cuddle Sack.  Of course Rosa is my model again!  LOVIN' that little doll!  :D  Anyway, for those of you who know about knitting, this project was done using 2 strands of yarn and size 13 circular knitting needles and is worked in the round beginning at the top and ending with the bottom.  To close the bottom all I had to do was take some yarn through the last row of stitches and draw it up and tie it off!  To finish the top off and add a little bit of the contrasting color, I crocheted a row around the top with the green.  I couldn't stop there.  I had to make a little hat.  So I found a pattern to get an idea of how many stitches wide to make it and just started knitting.  Voila!  First project completed!  How do you like it?  I'm not keeping these projects a secret because I figure Jessica will probably not be having another shower for this baby.  If she does, she can act surprised!  OK, Jessica?!  :D

Doesn't Rosa make a nice model?  She sure looks good in all the outfits I fix!  :D  Until tomorrow..........

A Few Tears Shed is Allowed.....................

All of the little munchkins are safe and sound with family once again.  Alas, the summer is gone and school begins Monday, for some!  When I finally have to say our last goodbyes for awhile, I always get teary-eyed.  I know, Liz..........don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened..................I'm smiling through tears, OK?  :P

So far I haven't found one thing that I forgot to pack up!  Unlike with Kara last week, nothing major forgotten, but still forgotten!  But I worked all day yesterday trying to make sure I didn't forget anything!  The kids all slept on the floor in the living room last night so Tim and I could have OUR bed back as I washed the bed linens of the guest room.  We sleep in the guest room when we have the kids over so Tim can go about his daily business and the kids can sleep longer.  When Tim got up at 7 this morning, I was awake with a headache.  I got some excedrine and laid back down, but could not go to sleep, so I got back up 10 minutes later and got my shower and began the final packing of the kids' bags.  Perfect!  All clothes cleaned and folded...........except for the pjs that Hannah was wearing.  The boys always just sleep in their underwear.

We left at 10 to drive 2 hours to meet Liz, Brad and Abigail in Princeton, WV at Bob Evans for lunch.  Then it was back home to do some more laundry and straighten the house and get ready for SS tomorrow.  Enjoy the pictures!

Now that I'm looking at this picture, I see 2 things wrong........can you pick them out?

 First thing Ryan wanted to do was give his baby sister a kiss.  So sweet!

 First thing Hannah wanted to do was hold her baby sister!  So sweet!  They both sure love that precious little girl!

 LOVE this picture!

 Abigail is such a cutie!

 She loves the little Elmo I gave her, probably because he is BRIGHT red!

OK, Liz!  This one is for you.  Wanted you to see the HUGE stuffed dogs Hannah and Ryan picked out at the thrift store this week!  The brown one is Hannah's and the blue one is Ryan's.  Ryan really wanted to take his home but I told him he was too big and he needed to stay here where he would have him when he came back to my house.

OK.  That's all Folks!  Sure is quiet around here!  :D

The Party's Over..............

Well, this certainly was a quick week!  You know what they say...............time flies when you're having fun!  It is always great to have the kids here.  I want to create the same memories for them as my mom did for my kids.  I hope they can look back and remember the fun times we had together.  I know they probably expect to be able to get away with "murder" while they are here, but grandma has rules, too, that they are not too thrilled about and are surprised when I keep my word............for the most part.  Like tonight when Ryan didn't want to finish his chicken and he kept "dropping" the pieces on the floor.  Everyone else had finished and he announced he was full.  He hardly ate anything.  I told him he could get down but he was not going to get a snack when everyone else wanted one.  Do you know that within 1/2 hour he was asking for a sandwich?  I told him no.  Later when we started talking about snacks and he wanted one I told him no again.  He cried.  I told him it was all his own fault.  But, when the rest of us got a sweet snack, I gave him a banana.  I told Tim I was a softie!   Here's today's pictures.

I spent most of the day doing laundry and organizing the kids clothes for taking them back home tomorrow.  So, the kids played by themselves during the morning.  We had decided to take them to see the new Smurfs movie.  The showing started at 12:30, so at 11:30 we started eating lunch.  This is Hannah and Ryan who tried to sneak up on Michael "under cover."

 After the movie, we came back home.  I started working in laundry again and working on dinner.  I already gave you the story of Ryan not wanting to eat.  Anyway, while I was cleaning up the kitchen after we ate, I spotted the Putt-Putt ticket Liz had left with us 2 summers ago that had 5 free games still on it.  So, I asked Tim if he wanted to take the kids and use up the coupon.  So, that's what we did.  We drove about 20 minutes to High Point where the putt-putt coarse was.  Michael started out doing really well, but got worse as the game went on.

 Tim made par with just about all of the holes.

 Ryan and Hannah were finished before we got half way through and were basically just running around.

 Hannah at one point took her ball to the 18th hole when we were on about the 5th hole, so she had to get another ball since hers wouldn't come back.  Didn't look like the putt-putt lanes had been swept clean for a while as you can see by all the flower blossoms.

On this shot, Hannah and Ryan decided to make a tunnel for papaw to shoot through.

Here's the boys messing around at the 18th hole.

 The whole time we were at putt-putt, the wind was blowing and the clouds were rolling in.  There were even a few rain drops.  I didn't mind it at all!  At least it was better than being out in the hot sun!  It started to rain when we were almost home.  I started doing more laundry when we got home.  And in between loads, we played Go Fish.  Ryan lasted one round and then he went to watch TV with papaw.  Hannah lasted a couple more rounds and then she was gone.  Then Michael and I decided to play Kerplunk.

 Even though Michael was pretty good, it was I who won both games!  :D

Here's a short video of the first game Michael lost.  The object is to end up with the least marbles.

And then it was time to read a book and get ready for bed.  I've enjoyed reading to the kids at night time this week and last week with Kara.  So, I guess I'll have to wait til next summer to read them books again!  We will meet Brad, Liz and Abigail tomorrow to get the kids back.

Michael, Hannah, Kara and Ryan.................I enjoyed having you spend the week with me again this year!  I love you all very much and thank God for each one of you and am praying that you will one day put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior!  If the LORD tarries, one of these days I will have a few more siblings join us!  Until tomorrow!