Living, Loving, Learning

We had a nice weekend around here. The plan was to keep pretty low-key, since I had been sick...but you know what they say about the best laid plans. It looks like I am going to have the opportunity to sell my wares at a party here in town on Oct. 8. With that day quickly approaching, I took the opportunity of a rainy Sat. afternoon to drive into Evansville to stock up on some new fabric. By myself....2 hours in the car....with a fabric shopping spree.....it was like the best day. Ever. I came home and made up my Grandmother's recipe for chicken n' dumplings, from scratch. A great meal for the first few days of fall. This time Griffin was excited to help and really stuck with it, even helping me make a salad and set the table! On Sunday, after a lazy morning, Griff and I went to see "Cloudy with a side of meatballs." It was super cute, and we both really liked it. Unfortunately, I was a bad Mama and did not monitor his M&M intake and I think he ate li...

This is Happy Fish. He came to live with us on Friday. He is Griffin's reward for being chosen as "Student of the Week". I have started a little tradition on Fridays for Griffin. We get a big folder on Fridays with Griff's behavioral report, quizzes and worksheets from the week (I love that it comes home this way and not a few papers shoved in the bottom of the bag every day!) If his behavior was good, he has good quiz scores and I can see his handwriting and coloring has improved he gets a treat on the weekend. Sometimes this is just a smoothie at the Sonic, sometimes it is a trip to a special park or the zoo on Saturday (often something we already had planned that conveniently doubles as a reward), and just this once because he had an especially good week despite my horrendously bad one, a fish. I know some are rolling their eyes, thinking that I should not bribe him to succeed in school, and I totally see your point. I really don't look at it like bribi...

Sorry for the silence over here. I have literally been knocked onto my backside by a terrible case of strep throat. UGH. It has been ugly around here. Luckily, Bruce's work was super flexible and he was able to be here most of Mon, Tues and Weds to take care of the kids. It got kind of scary a couple of times, I don't remember ever being that sick. It reminded me of my c-section recovery - that tells you something!! The worst point was when the Dr. said she thought I had the swine flu - that was really scary. Thankfully that test came back negative!! And, it is a new day and I feel a bit better. Bruce is going to work the full day and I hope to get a few things cleaned up around here. I'll try to get some pictures posted at least by the end of the weekend. Hope you are all healthy, happy and enjoying fall, wherever you are!

So...I haven't done a crafty post in awhile. I have been sewing a ton, in fact I have finished 3 quilt tops this summer! Now the only problem is not being sure what to do next. I don't want to show you the tops yet, I'd rather wait till I can show you the finished product. So, while I am trying to secure some lessons on hand quilting to finish the tops up, I have, of course, started a new quilt. I previewed the first block on facebook, but I wanted to share it here too. This is going to be a queen sized quilt for Bruce (our bed actually, it is so hard to come up with ideas for projects for him!!) I am using a wide assortment of colorful batiks all with the same midnight blue background. I am really happy with how the blocks are turning out. There are many different size blocks in the quilt, 20" all the way to 2", which I think will add even more pzazz! Here are 2 that I did yesterday. This project is turning out to be SO MUCH FUN! Hope you spend a few ...

7 years of wedded bliss! And boy oh boy, did we celebrate this weekend. Wine, jewelry, flowers, romance, what more could a woman want? Bruce and I hired our first non-family babysitter since Lucy was born and headed out for a wonderful meal at a little Italian restaurant here in town. It was so good, surprisingly good. We will definitely be back. I got to try a beef carpaccio (they are always carpaccio-ing something on our favorite show, Top Chef!!) which was delicious! Ohhh, and a delightful bottle of Querceto Chianti reserve - YUM. Then to a movie (just ok, really confusing, should have read the book first, The Time Traveler's Wife) and back home. After Bruce walked the babysitter home we lit a bunch of candles on the front porch and enjoyed another glass of wine on the porch swing. Ahhh, the moments I live for. We had a family fun day on Sunday. We drove into Evansville and stopped at a really cool nature center there. The kids loved playing on the playground with both their pa...

Cousins!!! Lots of fun times with our cousins last weekend. We got up at 4 AM on Saturday morning and headed north about 6 hours to a campground in Monticello, IN. There we met up with Bruce's folks and the Swanks. The campground was a wonderful place. So great in fact, it looks like Bruce's folks are going to be living there. Here is an inspirational tale for you about dreams coming true. When I first met the Gast's about 9 years ago now they were still in the dreaming of retirement stage of life. They told me that their dream was to work and live at a remote fishing camp. They figured that Steve could manage the outdoor part and Lee could manage the indoor part and they would spend their free time doing what they love, fishing and making new friends. Here we are 9 years later and they are semi-retired and now are going to spend their summers managing this campground and their winters traveling in their RV, seeing the country. They are so commited to making this a reali...

and I really could not be more pleased with the result. An interior decorator, I am not, but this suits us very well. We are off for a camping trip, leaving at 4 AM tomorrow. We will be spending the weekend with Bruce's family. I am sure I will have many cousin pictures to share next week. See y'all on Wednesday! Peace.

We just put Lucy's room back together after the floor was fixed from the flood. This quilt was hung up in it's rightful place of honor. It is so beautiful and it really pulls the room together. Thanks again, Jessica!!

Someone found the ribbon box!!

Griffin's play is becoming so much more intricate. He will spend a half hour in his room beforing coming out to urge me to, "Come see!" "Look, they are in a diamond!"