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. 

Gifts for men [Christmas or anytime]

One thing that I struggle with year after year is finding or figuring out some nice handmade gifts for men -- whether they be my hubby, my brothers and Daddy, or my nephews.  This year I am back to the same old thing and I have turned to the internet for help as usual.  Now, I am not going to post exactly what ideas I like just so that those whom I give to this year  don't figure out things ahead of time, but I am going to post links to the pages whose ideas I like best.  Then after Christmas, I will post what I did for this year... lol, if for no other reason than to remind myself next year.

So.....   here, and here and here and here and here  and here and here and here  and here and these are ones kids can make here

I hope I didn't duplicate any but if I did its because I was just so excited to share the great links I found.

Happy Gift-making.  I found lots of ideas.

Oh and last year (my reminder to myself), I made aprons for my brother L & his wife, a duffle bag for their son (I think), and cute skirts for their girls. 

This year I give to sister S & her family.  I've pretty well figured out the females, but the males.... well that is the reason for this post!  Enjoy!

Another Chilly December Day

Yay!!  Another post from me today.  I have been going through some of my posts and adding pictures in, and reading though old posts.  So that got me to thinking, I think I will make baby E some fleece pants, either from this pattern here




or from another pattern that I've got roaming my brain.  But since it has been so cold outside (did I mention our nights have been in the negatives? It was -7 degrees F this morning at 7 am), I have noticed that her little legs and feet are cold after crawling around (oh yeah, she's been crawling about a month now -- she may be walking before me).  So instead of making myself wide-leg pants to fit over my leg cast, as I discovered last weekend that my boot-cut jeans fit just fine over it, I may make her some fleece pants from the yellow and black fleece pieces I have.  Booties too, if I can get her to leave them on, otherwise I'll have to put feet on the pants.

I am moving slow though my brain is zipping along.  I have decided I want to make all of my children "car blankets" in the "quillow" pattern so that they will have something to keep them warm during car travel and they won't need to denude their beds -- these I do hope to finish before Christmas.  Easy part of that will be the sewing, the hard part will getting my hubby to take me shopping for fabric. 
Here's a pic of the pattern you can follow the link to:



May you'll want to make some for your family for Christmas presents too.  ;)

Happy December Days

So its been 3 weeks now since my foot surgery, and I've done little except sit for all this time.  I did go to SLC last Tuesday, yes in the midst of that horrible snow storm (we got about 18-20 inches from it & the following storms), and get my permanent cast put on my foot, bright red for the season (and because I didn't like any of the other choices available, no golden sunflower yellow, sad for me).  Here we've been so careful for weeks and all that day, then when we got home (only 12-1/2 hours of driving for a normally 5-6 hour trip), I slipped and fell in the garage in melted snow water -- oh the pain, crying, bruises, etc that followed; I took pain pills for the first time since Thanksgiving night.  I actually ended up crawling into the house that night.

My bright red cast has also been decorated with my children's names, we promised them they could do this.  Lol, I must admit, I don't see many people with a cast on anymore that has been written on, has this become an old fashioned idea now?

However, I have started an afghan for my Katie's bed for the day she moves into Ellynn's room using this pattern (imagine it in soft  medium and light purples and cream), though my color scheme is a bit different.  I will take a picture when I have more done on it so you can see what I mean.  I have played with the pattern as I have been crocheting on it so some parts don't look exactly as shown here.





Then I got thinking about making Ellynn a sweater, and went looking for an easy pattern this morning.  This one is what I found, I had  actually read it before so I hunted until i found it.
 
















I will use the same colors of yarn for it as for Katie's afghan.  I sincerely doubt that I will complete either item before Christmas, though maybe the sweater as it looks to be easy.  I really like this version of the hexagon sweater though with its' cute ruffles so may do it instead of the basic one.

I am thinking of making 2 sweaters actually if the first one turns out as easy and cute as it looks, then will use this cute baby hat pattern to make matching hats, though without the stem and leaf.  She has a free downloadable pattern in several sizes, I really like that as I don't have to figure out my own then.  ;)



I think I will also start making flowers again for my Etsy shop, which has been in 'vacation mode' for over a year now, ever since I started fainting while being pregnant with Ellynn.  I may also make more flower (or other different motif) bookmarks too.  Lol, if not for me to sell, than for Ellynn to carry around in her mouth as she crawls -- it seems to be a favorite thing for her to do with mine.

I also need to figure out a few easy handmade Christmas presents too... but better not mention my ideas here (until later) just in case any of that family happens to read here.  ;)

And someday soon, I hope to get my children's pictures from Halloween posted here.  I am rather proud of the costumes I made for both Joseph & Katelynn (aka Katie).

Should I not post again until 2014, may you all enjoy a lovely (and warm -- it's been in the negative temps here already) Christmas and a Healthy Happy New Year too.

=) Gayle

Christmas 2011

Perhaps I should have put this post first before every other one I've written today, but my mind runs in circles sometimes.

So we had a great Christmas, sadly I neglected to think about taking any pics until AFTER everything was cleaned up!  *smacks forehead*  What was I thinking??  Oh yeah, nothing apparently!

We had a great Christmas though my kids thought they'd die.  I told my boys ('cuz really Katelynn didn't really care) they could ONLY get into their stockings on Christmas morning but NOTHING else until after Church. LOL, thank goodness we had the early block, yup 9 am church, but the last one for a year, yay!  I knew we'd not get to church otherwise, and I really wanted to go because it was only for an hour and I was pretty sure it was going to be mostly music.  ;) 

So stockings only, then breakfast, Church, then home to change clothes b4 opening presents... which we did quite well, all the while smelling that delicious ham cooking!!  Yum!

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas & a fun-filled New Year's Eve/Day!

=) Gayle