2019 & it's February now!

How can this be??!! We're already 1-1/3 months into 2019?? Time really does fly by quickly.

However, last month when I was doing long-term 6th grade English Language Arts Subbing at Vernal Middle School, the days seemed to drag by oh so slowly... and as I was beginning to fear that no teacher would EVER be hired, they got one, and I went home for a short rest (I thought) before subbing again in a few days. Haha! The very day that was my last day of Subbing for that job, I started getting sick (on Feb 1st), fast forward 9 days and I'm still in the midst of coughing/no voice/ickiness.... the really strange thing is that I had flu-like symptoms, then 4 days ago I woke up with no voice, starting coughing & sneezing.. so it's like I've had two consecutive illnesses. :( I got to watch snow fall like crazy (for us, as 2-4" is a LOT, and we got 10" from those storms!) last week too.

January is the month of birthdays in our family, myself, dh & Ellynn -- she turned 6. Also on January 6th, our Katelynn was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! So proud of her.

Back to 2018: December... we got a dash of snow for Christmas; we celebrated the birth of our Savior on Christmas Day; I subbed a bunch in the weeks prior to Christmas vacation, and I also sewed 5 Rendezvous-style shirts for my friend's boys for their Christmas... I sewed Christmas dresses for my girls during Christmas break. I broke a toe on right foot when I ran into dh's heavy wooden trunk early one morning -- did not make for a fun holiday break, especially with all the sewing I needed to complete.

November, we stayed home for our Thanksgiving dinner... good thing as I was sick for the Whole break. :(  Joseph got his driver's license in mid-November, a day or so after Fall Trimester had ended. We encouraged him in the weeks prior to bring up his grades so that we can afford to have him on our insurance (Good Student Discount is a real thing, thank goodness!), and he made Honor Roll for that Tri too. I subbed LOTS this month too.

October saw us jogging along to all our usual activities. I, the mom, did my best to Sub as much as I could (trying to get enough money made to have a decent Christmas for children), while still keeping my head above water and not get burned out on "tending" other people's teenage children for their teachers. Joseph turned 16 and began getting anxious for his driver's license. I REALLY enjoyed General Conference, even with ALL of its new changes!

September  couldn't decide if it was warm or cool, but it was a slower month for me in Subbing because of Hurley-the-dog spinning out on my left-foot pinky toe and breaking it on August 22nd.

August was the month when we crammed everything in, trips to family reunions, Cole's 14th birthday, start of school & many other things.

Summer was crazy, and I  had no vegetable garden due to dislocating my left shoulder in April, so no weeding in mornings for meditation time. OUr dryer died, but due to intense summer heat, our clothes still got dried, baked is more like it.

What's for dinner this week?

This week's menu (though not everyone will eat the same things due to dietary needs, more below).

 So... Here it is:

• Monday Nov 13: Meatloaf, rice or quinoa, steamed veggies.
• Tuesday Nov 14: Venison & gravy over rice, mixed veg
• Wednesday Nov 15: Deer sausage Spaghetti over GF noodles
  
• Thursday Nov 16: Soup (i think chicken & veg or noodles)
• Friday Nov 17: Tacos  
• Saturday Nov 18: Fajitas 
• Sunday Nov 19: Ham & potatoes

So people needing a different diet... hubby gets to have a colonscopy so he gets a special diet for several days this week.

What's for dinner -- last week

What we had for dinner last week, going from Sunday to Sunday (I think I have these right).

Yesterday, Sunday, Nov 12:
     Roasted Venison, roasted carrots, & mashed potatoes. 
Saturday Nov 11:
     Broiled Thin-cut Pork Chops & steamed mixed veggies
Friday Nov 10:
      Homemade Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Thursday Nov 9: 
      Hot dogs (tube steak)
Wednesday Nov 8:
      Ham & Potato Soup
Tuesday Nov 7:
      Baked chicken  thighs, steamed cabbage & carrots
Monday Nov 6:
      Venison & quinoa stew
Sunday Nov 5:
      Leftovers

 

GF Dinner Rolls

These are my favoritest ever GF dinner rolls.They consistently turn out well, AND best of all, they TASTE GREAT!!  When I make them so hubby can have some, I simply use flax eggs to place all the chicken eggs, and there's no problem with his eating them. 

A flax egg is 1 Tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 Tablespoons of boiling water, then let sit for 5-15 minutes. Sometimes I microwave my water/flaxseed mixture to speed up the gelatinous process if I forgot to start them when I set the yeast to proof.  ;)

What's for dinner tonight?

I never, well rarely ever, know what I'm going to make for dinner at night.  Several years ago I started a Facebook group called "What's for dinner tonight," and for awhile that helped me feel encouraged to post weekly menus but I have fallen off that wagon again.  SOOO.... I'm thinking that if I follow my friend Jackie's example, and work at it, that I can post menus again.

Today, however, I'm just going to go back and post what we had for dinner for the past week or two.

Week One:
First off, Tonight's dinner will be Venison Cabbage-Butternut squash stew, maybe with GF dinner rolls. 11/3/2017
Last night's (Thursday) dinner was GF Mac & Cheese, tuna, peas & carrots.
Wednesday's dinner was Baked Potatoes (w/ bacon crumbles, green onions, cheese, butter, sour cream, and leftover chili).
Tuesday (Halloween 2017) night's dinner was chili at the church Halloween dinner.
Monday night dinner was Pork chops.
Sunday night dinner was Chicken Enchiladas at ds#1 request for his birthday dinner.

Week two:
Saturday Oct 28 dinner... can't remember (gluten makes sure I rarely remember anything).  :(
Friday Oct 27th dinner was  GF spaghetti made w/ venison sausage for tonight's dinner. (According to ds13, we had Spike-etti. 😀)
Thursday Oct  26 dinner was personal pizzas on pita bread rounds for the family, and I ate a GF sandwich.
Wednesday Oct 25 dinner was Pork Fajitas.
Tuesday night dinner was leftovers for kids, and Mcd's for hubby, dd4 & I.
Monday night dinner was Hot dogs.
Sunday dinner was Roast Beef, mashed potatoes, & corn.
Saturday's dinner was Chicken ramen for kids, and leftover GF Chicken veg soup for hubby & I.

I'm going to try to keep my weekly dinner meals posted here each week, either as a review like this, or an actual list of dinner menus for each week. Hopefully I can keep types of meals rotated well enough that my family doesn't think they are eating the same thing each week.  I do tend to lean toward making casseroles and soups/stews in colder months.

For now, TGIF!!!!  The little kids get out of  school in a few minutes (Fridays are early-out day for  Elementaries here), then they have a playdate at 2pm, and I hope to use that time to knit or sew.

I found it!!!

Besides *FINALLY* remembering to post here again, what did I find??!!

Well I found my B.S. Diploma!!  Now if only I could figure out a way to scan it in that doesn't pop up as a picture.  Hmm....

In meantime, here's a picture to prove to myself (if none other) that I did find it.

And hopefully in the future I can remember to find my way here again to post more often.  ;)

Baking GF and egg-free

No sorry, its not a post about some new recipe...  :(

However, I'm excited because yesterday I found a blog called Fresh Love Homestead where the author has egg, dairy and gluten allergies.  So.... I can make yummy foods that both hubby and I can eat (me with my Celiac Disease/gluten issues and him with his egg allergy).

I LOVE FINDING RECIPES LIKE THESE! (Yes emphasis was meant) Because it means that I don't have to spend extra hours tweaking recipes to taste good and to pass visual inspection.

Here's the link so you can go check it out yourself!  ;)  http://www.freshlovedaily.com/

Happy Saturday everyone!

Baking the Paleo way

Hubby has decided that he wants to eat Paleo in 2017 again (he did it in 2012) in the hopes of losing weight.  So I've been doing my best to come up with Paleo-acceptable foods. Last night it was banana bread made from coconut flour and no eggs.  I'll go add more details from my desktop computer plus a link to the recipe.

Here's the mixed dough, it was very thick.

EDITED 1/14/17

Well I found  out that I cannot post pictures on Blogger directly from my iPhone, though I know it is possible as I did it 3 years ago.

So... when I get pictures uploaded from my phone, I'll be back to update this post with pictures and more details.

Bye bye 2016, Hello 2017

I've doing really badly at this blogging thing with no posts in 2016.  However, in 2017 I hope to do better, with at least one post each month.  I have plenty of hopes and desires to have occur in 2017, but will have to write about them later... time to get Taw from school.

Edited:
So hopes and desires....

I've got a list taped to my bathroom mirror reminding me of my daily things I need/want to accomplish (prayer, scriptures, brushing my teeth, taking vitamins, hugging my children, etc)... Yes I do need to write them down because courtesy of my gluteny problems (aka Celiac Disease), I often cannot remember that I need to do things, even easy things, and sometimes to do them at a specific time of day.

I have a list of to-do's for Jan-March 2017 that are bigger (ex: save $10/wk - disciplining myself; clean bedroom closet, throw away unneeded papers/receipts, clean under bed, declutter -- throw or give away X-amt unused things per month, etc.) and require more time spent on them.

Then I have a mental list (which may soon end up being taped to bathroom mirror too) of things I want accomplish throughout the year, such as: learn to knit hats, mittens and socks; show more love to my family; eliminate gluten COMPLETELY from my home; reuse/recycle 1 thing each month into something else, etc.

December 2015

Its almost Christmas, WOW!  My boys get out of school tomorrow for the rest of the year!  LOL!  I can't believe that I have let this whole year go by without posting anything.  So much for my posting every month plan.  I should be sewing on the skirt for the tag I picked off my ward's Angel tree, but I came online to looks at soemthing, then decided to peep in here to see when I last posted... OOPS!

Lets see if I can remember enough to do a month-by-month recap... my memory isn't so good... more on that later.

JANUARY-- I turned 40 on my birthday (Jackson turn 39, Ellynn turned 2), and I remember thinking that I thought I was doing pretty good for being the age I was.  Jackson teased me about being middle-aged, I think that my reply was along the lines of "I'll be middle-aged when I'm 50 or 55, because I still feel young!"
I continued to knit on the dishcloth pattern that Emalie Jones-Peel (Daddy's 2nd wife) taught me to do on Nov 8-9th 2014.  I'm finding that my day seems to go better if I can knit some each day too. Perhaps its just my imagination? I do like to knit though.  ;)
Also in January, I discovered Norwex, and bought my first Household package (Enviro-cloth, Window cloth, and Dusting mitt).  Jackson was working in Holden & Delta (Utah) during the week then, and I pretty well pretty well turned those cloths almost black from using them so much, I think I cleaned on my house between 2-6 hours each night. I was hooked!!
Sometime in very early January, I realized that I needed to cut sugar out of my life.  It made me sooo sick, even a small piece of candy the size of a Spanish peanut.  It didn't hurt me any that my ward's R.S. was having a health challenge along this time, and you'd get points per day if you didn't eat sugar... good for me.  ;)  I kind of struggled at first, but skipping the gut-ache and all-night-on-toilet-diarrhea that came with eating candy or having a single teaspoon of sugar in my mint tea, well all that mess is so much better avoided.  I decided to learn about alternative forms of sweetener, I think that Agave nectar and Coconut Palm sugar are my favorites, though molasses and honey are sometimes fine too (honey still kind of makes me a bit ill if I have it straight, but in a baked good its okay).
I also had my first mammogram (I'm writing all this stuff down, as more of journal entries for me, than trying to catch up each little detail) in January; it wasn't as bad as I've always heard -- certainly not a fun thing, but not like the "being slammed in a door" that I'd always heard it called. Maybe its in how the technician does it? This lady was very gentle.  I did have the mammogram because of an email that I received from my sister Amelia in Dec-early Jan, because of some suspicious spots she'd found in her first mammogram.


FEBRUARY -- Coping with having my hubby gone 5 days of each week had begun to turn into a trial almost, so I began to go to the Vernal LDS Temple each week, either on Wednesday or Thursday nights, and alternating the ordinances I did as well.  That seemed to give me enough of a spiritual boost to help me get through my week until hubby came home on Friday nights, and I got a another "spiritual jolt" on Sundays.  Because of him being gone, Valentine's Day was just another day to me, and I chose not to be upset by it. I'm just grateful that he had work.

MARCH--  Taw had his 7th's birthday on the 7th; that really tickled his fancy, and he went around the house singing that he was turning 7 on the 7th.  I tried not to grumble over the incessant noise (sometimes his happy cheerful sounds border on annoying), because I remember turning 12 on the 12th on what seems not-too-many-years-ago.
 I celebrated my 15th wedding Anniversary this month, on the 11th. Sometimes it seems as if we just got married, and sometimes it seems like we've been together soooooooo much longer. ;)
I also joined with Norwex this month, it was Free Sign-up Month, so I did.  ;) I've not been sorry yet that I joined either, tho I've stressed over it some.  If you are curious about what Norwex is, go here to check it out:  www.gaylejackson.norwex.biz   -- I give a 15% family and friends discount.  ;)
I went to a baby shower for Kacia, Robert's wife (my nephew), at Sarah's (Robert's sister) house in Kaysville I think? I stayed the weekend with Emalie, and we drove up there together.
I noticed this month that Ellynn has been growing a lot.  She seemed to really pack on the weight, but I think it wasn't really that much (maybe 3-5 pounds), in just a few months. She did go from a size 2 diaper to a size 4, and seemed to jump from 6-9 and 12 months clothes into 18 months clothes for a short while (then right into 24 mos/2T clothes by June).

APRIL-- Signs of spring all around us, and Jackson was able to stay home again during the week come mid-month. YAY!!!
I started planing for my summer garden, but was struggling a bit.  You see, for years now (but the 6-12 months leading up to Spring 2015 were especially rough for me), I'd been struggling with a number of health problems (racing heart, forgetfulness, irritability, coldness in my limbs, depression, hair loss, severe exhaustion, extreme lack of energy, difficulty breathing, insomnia, lack of desire to eat, and a few others that I can't recall [did I mention forgetfulness?] ).  Some days it seemed like all I could do was feed and care for the girls during the day, and get dinner on the table at night.

MAY-- Mother's Day weekend saw me with a fresh supply of yard and garden plants, its kind of my annual Mother's Day gift, only the colors and types of flowers vary.
I got my veggie garden started with some early veggies, though not as much as I would have preferred because it seemed such a hard task just to plant a few seeds.
About the time that the kids got out of school (school ended May 22nd), I called to Roosevelt to Dr Staker's office to find out who he recommended for Internal Medicine (he's the kids' pediatrician but also is a Dr of Internal Medicine but was no longer seeing adult patients), then I got an appointment with the recommended Dr Garcia as soon as I could.  I was tired of being tired and not having any answers about why I felt the way I did.
I also gave blood near the end of May, I felt that I had to do my bit to help others, though I doubted that maybe me feeling ill that maybe I shouldn't have -- I did it because I had a strong feeling that whatever was wrong with me, wasn't hugely life-threatening, at least not an immediate thing.

JUNE-- Kids are out of school, I had planted my tomato plants, beans, first few rows of corn, onions, potatoes (and what else? I cannot recall) last month, now I'd go weed a row or two each morning after Jackson left for work at 5-6 am. I enjoyed being alone with early morning sounds, it felt so good.
I had my first visit with Dr Garcia, then got to undertake a large quantity of blood tests -- the Lab lady pulled out what seemed to be a HUGE amount of blood, but that she said it was really less than 1/4 cup.  There was just so many little tubes she was filling, i'd say 15-20.
Joseph had signed up for summer Marching & Parade band practice during the summer, in the mornings.  I was happy that he was enjoying playing his trombone and wanted to continue to do something with it during the summer.  Near the end of the month, he went up to Oregon to stay for a few weeks, he rode up with Jackson's brother William & Mom "Grandma Ila," to stay until we came up in mid-July.  It was a good experience for him in some ways, and in others...  well he was bit mouthy after that for awhile.
I kept on with my knitting, working in the garden, playing with my children, sewed a little, did housework, worked on my Norwex, enjoyed the warmer weather, took life slowly, napped most afternoons as my energy seemed to wane sharply by 1-2pm, and did what I could to get by -- which some days was very little.
Dr Garcia always seemed to be busy while I was trying to get the results of my blood tests and to get back in to talk to him.  His nurse did call to say that everything came back normal, but I wasn't willing to let everything go quite so easily.  I did finally get an appointment in July with another Dr in his office, a Dr Kent Smith... very nice person, who had returned a few months prior from an LDS mission.  ;) A good starting point right there.
***********
Okay, I've been typing long enough, 6 months is going to have to be good for now, as I need to feed and myself lunch, then run to town to do some errands.  Then I must WORK ON THE SKIRT -- ;) If I "shout" the words, will I be able to remember better? I hope so.

Thank goodness for leftovers, we had lots of our homemade Mac and Cheese left from last night's dinner, other wise, I'd probably be eating a bowl of quinoa with sliced bananas.  Oh I could make a Kefir smoothie too, its only 24 hours old, just right YUM!

Oh and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ADREANN today!!!  ;)

Happy 2015 -- a late start

Happy 2015 Everyone!!!

Wow, I'm just a wee bit slow in getting this post going, but considering that I haven't posted in about 3 months, well at least I'm here now, yes?

A short recap of all that has happened since I last posted goes something like this, in no particular order: my Dad's death, funeral and a niece's mission homecoming; an accident, several migraines, a Mom trip to ER, a baby E trip to ER, J's 12th birthday, Halloween, a broken arm, Thanksgiving Day (USA), a visit from my brother for T-Day, K's birthday, Dad's first birthday since his death, my 1st trip to a chiropractor, Christmas, my 1st making of royal icing and discovering that rolling out cookies can be fun, the WHOLE family but one being sick at the same time, New Year's Eve and Day, and last but not least, discovering using essential oils is Wonderful!!

Yes, essential oils are great, and the many things you can do with them is practically endless.  I now own a diffuser, and I run the thing almost every day.  I think my house is better for having it on too. Right now my diffuser is running with lavender, tea tree and "sick mix" oils, and it smells great.  LOL, sick mix is just what I call it, but every brand of essential oil distributor has their own version, DoTerra's is On Guard, Butterfly Espress is Deliverance, etc.; they all have mostly the same oils included that have anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties that if used properly, they protect against illness. I have been reading a lot of Jillee's blog posts about essential oil uses, and have even tried out a few that seem to work pretty good.  She uses Spark Naturals Essential Oils, but I don't love having to pay shipping for something that I can buy here in my own town at several different locations.

Well, I have babbled on at length already. I will come back another day not too distant in the future, and write down my desires/wants to do or have happen this year.  LOL, I am leery of the word "resolution' because I typically don't resolve much, and I often lose track of my plans after a few months (weeks?).

Happy January 6th Everyone!  May you have a good evening!!  I sure wish we could get some more snow, a large quantity in fact, would be lovely; more than the 1-1/2 piddly inches we have thus far received this winter!!!

Tomorrow my friend Ivy has invited me to her house for a Norwex party.  I've never heard of it before, so am going to satisfy my curiosity. 

Its almost Halloween, and I want summer back!!

Good morning everyone!!

Hmmm.... that sounds way more cheerful than I feel.  Actually I do feel fairly cheerful, just also chilled, but I am sitting by the window.  It's 31 degrees (F) outside and that's just too cold for me, I WANT SUMMER BACK!!  It's still fall, but there's very little warm about this weather.  Okay enough whining on cold temps, as I know there are many people who live in far colder places than me.  ;)  Right Jackie?

Maybe I'm feeling whiny because Dad loved this time of year, and well, he died on October 9th.  He fought a good fight, but in the end, that cancer got him.  3 years ago in November was when his Drs found the first cancerous lumps in his lungs, then it metastasized to his spine, then in late May or early June it was Everywhere.  He and Emalie had a good life for 8 years, she really made him happy and he was much more lively than I had seen him in a very long time, since before Mom died.  Speaking of Mom, the 10 anniversary of her death is next month, on November 27th.

It's October 30th, the in-between day for us.  In-between, because yesterday was my son Joseph's 12th birthday and tomorrow is Halloween.

We are going to have a good-sized birthday party for Joseph on Saturday November 1st with several of his friends and their families.  Anyone want to come along? Lasagna, green salad, bread sticks? and cake, lemon sponge cake to be precise!

I still need to get sewing on Taw's costume, he wants to be a Jedi Knight like Joseph -- as he says, he wants to be Joseph's helper.

Well time to go get girls into clothes really fast & get boys to school.

Ya'll have a good day!!  I will try to keep posting here, at least not let so many months go by without blogging again.

=) Gayle

To succeed in life

I was reading in a Church magazine this morning, and I found some steps or suggestions that could help you follow the plan which God has for you.  Some of them may not apply to you, but most will cover everyone's life.

1. Establish principles to guide your life -- in all ways.

2. Don't make exceptions to your standards - Satan knows your weaknesses, don't rationalize your actions "just this once."

3. Be loyal - to all of your loved ones.

4. Live so that God can guide you - to be where He wants you to be and to serve.

5. Serve others - sharing with others will bring you happiness and joy.

6. SMILE - a good sense of humor will help you greatly; everyone has problems, just yours aside and smile.

7. Don't complain - Life isn't always fair, but it contains marvelous opportunities if you know how to find them.

8. Always have a Church assignment - be connected with the things of God and the ways to serve Him.

9. Worship in the Temple - It will keep you spiritually in tune, will allow you to remember the most important things in life, and will encourage you to give great service to others.

10. Use Jesus Christ as your example for life - use his teachings as your handbook for life; never make exceptions to them.

**Taken from an article by Elder Richard G Scott in the February 2014 Ensign.

Crochet Hat Pattern

I've been looking for an easy crochet hat pattern that can be tailored for many sizes, but now I don't have to do all the work.  This free crocheted hat pattern has all sizes from adult to infant.  When I finish crocheting my purple wool vest, I am going to use this hat pattern to make a matching hat before I box them up to send off to Wool Aid to warm some cold child in a poor chilly part of the world.

Making these hats requires that you know how to do the Adjustable Magic Circle, so pay Crochet Spot a visit and learn how.  Lol, I just had to go there myself for a reminder course.  ;)

A picture:






Doesn't seeing these make you want to make 1 or 5??  Wouldn't these hats look gorgeous with a crocheted flower on the side too?  I thought so too!

=) Gayle

Crochet Mitten pattern

No it's not mine, but I did find this apparently easy Women's Mitten Pattern , and I hope to give it a try soon.  I like easy patterns as my mind seems to get bored after awhile with more complicated patterns.  LOL, or maybe I am just too easily distracted, hmm?

Here's a picture of those pretty mittens too:




So go on, crochet up a pair for yourself and maybe one for your favorite charity too!

=)  Gayle

Edited to add:  I think that I need to make up a pattern book for all these great crochet patterns I am finding a printing off.  Just something simple, like say a 3 ring binder with page protectors.  Though only 1 page protector per pattern as I am too poor [lol, well maybe too frugal is a better description] to have enough of those clear page protectors for each page of pattern.  I have been printing off LOTS of patterns.

Crochet hook conversion chart & Ravelry

I just found this crochet hook conversion chart , its useful to me because of the Tunisian Crochet hooks I bough came with only sizes in mm (1, 2, 3......10mm) and I will now be able to use the right size for my USA written crochet patterns.

If the link above doesn't work for you, try going to:  
http://www.freshstitches.com/crochet-hook-size-conversion-chart/

Besides that, i think that her website looks to be a fun one that I will explore when I have more time.

Today though, i have been racking my brain for an easy dinner idea (tonight is not only Cub Scouts Pack Meeting, but also the PINE WOOD DERBY!!), but I got caught up reading old emails and then going over to Ravelry to see what I could see on the Wool Aid group there.  I have been busy crocheting a purple wool vest to donate to the Wool Aid, as per January's project guidelines on the [Yahoo Groups] All Crafts for Charity (AC4C) group.

Oh yes, dinner tonight will be my version of Italian chicken Braid;  any way I make it, my kids go crazy.  If I have time, I am going to grind some wheat, and use that to make my dough with -- better for us all around.  LOL, that is if I can figure out where the bucket of wheat got put, it used to be behind the back door to keep it from slaming into the wall, but since Christmas, things got moved around.  Guess I'll have to go looking.

Happy January 22nd everyone!!  It's sunny here today!!  Though I'd be happy with some snow too, its melting too fast here, I saw 2 feet of bare ground in front of the house earlier.

Purple afghan pictures

Okay, I never did figure out what was going on with my phone and posting pictures, but I was able to upload them okay to Google+ and just discovered that I can post them on here.  So without further ado, here are the shots of the purple and cream afghan I am making for when K moves into E's room.

Just looking at the above picture, I think that I'm 1/6 to 1/7 of the way finished with her afghan.  Good news to me.  ;)  I have to tell myself things like this to keep me motivated or it will join the rest of my UFO's in the basement.

Someday i will make E her own afghan to go on her bed too.  Oh my, I've got to get back to working on her afghan, just realized that i haven't worked on it in over a week, maybe more like two weeks?  Lol, I should also come through here and fix my typos, please forgive me I have no extra time just now as I need to get bread going in my machine for dinner.

Happy January and 2014 want-to-do's

Hey everyone!!

The sun is shining and it makes me feel happy even if the temperature makes me feel cold and the several times I was awake in the night make me feel exhausted.

So have been thinking again of "resolutions" for the new year, maybe more like want-to-do's though some are need-to-do's.

In 2014, I want to:

• make at least one sweater -- maybe more.
• make one project a month for my charity crafting group (well 12 items for charity this year), it's a Yahoo group called All Crafts For Charity or AC4C.
• do more with Tunisian crochet
• make a quilt for each child (if I finish the binding on the purple quilt for E, I will count that) -- strip piecing would be quick and easy.
• toilet train K,
• do my Physical Therapy faithfully no matter how much it hurts.
• open last of boxes from moving in -- lol, we bought the house 4 years ago, it's long past time I did all this.
• save money to buy bookcases -- very badly want to get my good books up higher above K, T, and E's reach so keep them from being torn up so much.  I do enjoy reading books and I would really like to see what we have.
• hang pictures on the walls -- I'll do it myself this time if I have to.
• Did I mention that I need to de-clutter a bunch of "stuff"?  Oh yeah, I've got to go through everything!!  Get rid of some fabric and yarn (oh heaven forbid), plus heaven only knows what else around the house.  Some of those glass items-still-in-the-boxes from my what my Mom gave me and wedding gifts that have never been used, well they can go too -- perhaps I shall list them on the the online yard sale places on Facebook.
• Move K into E's room, maybe do a bit of light decorating to show that girls live in there.
• Get my boys and hubby to help me more with the garden, and then with canning this summer & fall.  Last year taught me that I really cannot do it all alone.
• lol, and  ... well bickering kids helped to forget whatever it was.
• but maybe do more baking from scratch yet again.

Well, that's plenty.  I have already begun to do some of these things.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

It's now 2014, January 2nd to be precise and my boys are going back to school today.  I miss them! We actually had some fun together during this Christmas holiday break.

But now I have been thinking and doing some reading online this morning, apparently most people who make resolutions don't keep them.  I know that to be true of myself, though mine is from procrastination.  I'm very good at procrasinating!  ;)

Anyhow, I was thinking that I won't make resolutions, but there are some things I would like to learn how to do, or to do better.

These include:

• learn how to knit better -- need to figure out how to keep my edges smooth and even.
• Make a sweater, or several -- but at least one.
• practice crocheting socks, I want a pair of handmade socks.
•  Continue practicing to make thing with Tunisian Crochet, learn more stitches.
• And those other 2 or 3 things that I only seem to think about in the middle of the night, such as get my Etsy shop back up and going! 
• Maybe make some slippers too -- I found a cute pattern called Birchbark slippers (through www.crochetpatterncentral.com, Tunisian crochet).

Also I have things I need to work on in regards to my family,

• Be gentler and more loving with ALL of my children, not just my baby -- its always been easier for me to be nicer to the babies than to the older children.  And with first son going through puberty, well its becoming more difficult some days to be gentle and loving with him. However since I love all my children, I need to work more on this.
• Read my scriptures more on my own, and
• Keep up on my personal prayers, AND
• Try to attend the Temple at least once a month -- it will be hard with my baby and my 3 year old, but I'm still going to try to do it.
• I also need to plan if not weekly, then at least 2, dates a month with my husband.  Something more than movie & dinner each time, or some variations on it. 

Oh hey, I get my lovely red leg cast off next Tuesday, January 7th at TOSH in SLC.  Then I get my "walking" cast on and will likely start doing physical therapy around then too.  I will work up to full weight on my foot, 25% a week at a time, but it's progress.  I will also be able to bathe with both feet in the tub!!!  I am really looking forward to that one!! Until then, we have some super cold weather coming up, I think I'd better make myself a toe sock for my cast.

Purple afghan and baby sweater

Okay so I promised I would post pictures of the purple afghan I am making for Miss K and the purple sweater I am making for baby E. I am amazed at how quickly the sweater came together, but I have had lots of time to just sit. So here they are:

Ok something funny is going on. I'll try later to post pics of the afghan from my phone. Lol. Maybe thAt's my problem, I'm posting from my iPhone.