Blessed...

I am a very lucky person to be blessed with all that I have.  And I am very thankful for every one of those blessings.

My family.

My friends.

My home.

My life in general.

They are the most important things to me.

~*~

On a different note, I finished my king size quilt yesterday afternoon.  Finally!  I couldn't wait to use it, so I was remaking the bed last night after it came out of the dryer.  Better pictures to be shared later as I just couldn't help but share a smidge of it.

A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

~*~

Gathering up supplies...

     After a morning of running around for important errands, it was back to the house so I could get a start on a very important project.  After a quick little lunch, I was scurrying around gathering all the components needed to work on the BIG quilt.  Quilt top, quilt back, batting, fabric for binding, a huge pitcher of ice tea, bits of chocolate, 300 or so safety pins and my trusty iPod and headphones.  Pinning took a bit but the music cranking in the ears made pinning a more pleasant task.  This quilt is massive.  It took up the entire dining room area just to be able to pin it properly. Now a teeny break is needed to stretch the back out and get dinner cooking.  I'm being patient enough to wait to start quilting it until after dinner so that no one has to sit on the floor to eat.  I think that is very generous of me, being that it is so hard to wait until then.

~*~

kar

First snow...

          The first snow of the season greeted us with all its beauty during the night.  I can't think of a more wonderful thing to see first thing in the morning, at the moment.  What a treat.  The sleepy head of the house was the first one up and out of bed just so she could get the "first touch" of it.  Who knew it was that easy to get her out of bed.  I wonder if she would catch on if I get a snow making machine and used it through out the year just to get her up in the morning.  Hmmmm….

     The first snowman was made.  Leaves did not dull the moment.  It was still exciting for her.  And snow ducks were made.  Mommy and baby.  Apparently they are just as important as a snowman.

     Now that Miss B is back in the house, warming up, I am headed down to start on the plan of the day.  Tea, sewing, iPod cranking and lounging around in pj's for as long as I want.  Perfect on this snowy, blustery, cold day.

~*~

kar

Morning light...

What I woke up to this morning.

Beautiful way to start the day.

~*~

kar

Reconnecting...

Taking time to reconnect with things that soothe the soul.

It was a very good day.

~*~

kar

Sock yarn...

I love sock yarn.  There is no doubt about it.  I love all the colors mixed together, the softness, the squishiness.  I love it!  

I found some that I had bought a while back, a couple of years ago in fact.  Having the urge to work on something simple during last weeks chilly days found me going through a bag of sock yarn stash to see if there was anything that called out to me.  Thankfully there was.  But socks were not what I was thinking about making.  Something a bit more visual.  Something that did not want to be hidden underneath jeans and inside shoes.  Something that wanted to add a splash of color during the gray days that are sure to be ahead in the next few months.  Something with a bit of style.  Most importantly, something that was quick to make.

Scarves.  It was the only logical thing to make.  Once Em saw the one that I had finished for Miss B, one had to be made for her.  Two beautiful skeins that she picked out long ago, finally made into something she loves.

And once Em's scarf was finished, two more skeins came out of the bag so a scarf could be made for myself.  Love the colors that were in my two skeins!  So perfect for Fall and Winter with all that gorgeous color.    The scarves may have already been worn several times since being finished.  Just can't help myself.

This is what we saw this morning after opening the curtains.  Apparently I was wrong about the last day of the year for balloon sightings.  It's nice to be wrong about things like this.

~*~

kar

Busy week...

This past week was plenty busy for all of us.  Just when I thought we could slow down a bit after our project, life came at us full force.  

It started out slow.  Waking up last weekend to the sound of what might be the last hot air balloon of the year.  We never get tired of seeing them.  Such a nice way to start the day.  The temps are changing quickly now.  Leaves are showing all their gorgeous colors and the trees dropping them quite fast this year.  I'm still partial to the red and orange leaves.  Nothing like seeing those fiery colors throughout the neighborhood.  Fall is absolute, most favorite time of year hands down.

Pumpkins were bought and carved, costume preparations were finished and the candy bought.  The girls were very pleased with their choices of carvings this year.  A vampire bunny and owl.  The adults passed on carving this year just because we were burnt out on the whole painting thing.  Couldn't add anything else to our plate.  A special blanket was delivered to our friend Nate for all the help he gave us during this past project.

The weekend came about with open arms since there was absolutely nothing that had to be done.  What a welcome change.  Sunday morning we woke to the sight of a dusting of snow everywhere.  It was gorgeous!  I couldn't help but sit on the bed and watch the little flakes come down ever so slowly.  The girls made Glenn and I a anniversary breakfast.  27 years.  Where has the time gone?  So glad those years were with the special guy I have.  French toast and bacon.  Such a wonderful way to start the day.  After filling our tummies with all that yummy food it was declared that the day was going to be a full on lounging day.  No leaving the house, no errands, no nothing.  Just sit around and relax.  We did just that.  Everyone stayed in their pj's the entire day.  Lots of reading, crocheting, movie watching happened throughout the day.  I pretty much stayed in my room, crocheting and watching the ever changing weather as it happened outside my window.  Snow, gray clouds, blue skies then back to clouds, little bursts of wind.  Watching little birds fly into the tree outside my window while working on a scarf made from sock yarn that was started a while back and never finished.  The girls found their way up to my room before lunch to just hang out with me.  A knitted elephant was finished by one and a library book was started and finished by the other.  No one left the room until it was time to make a big pot of soup for dinner.  Then back upstairs I went to finish off my project and start another.  Finally the light outside disappeared and the curtains were closed.  I found myself in the living room working on the second scarf until it was time for bed.

I couldn't have asked for a better ending to the week.  

~*~

kar

And it is done...

One evening towards the end of summer, while out in the front yard looking at the house, a thought came to me about how great it would be to paint the house.  It was looking a bit tired.  Unhappy in a strange sort of way I thought.  I even thought how fun it would be to do it ourselves and even save some money.  Who really likes spending tons of money on painters and then just have to go behind them and re-do things any way, right?  

Sometimes I shouldn't think about such things. 

Paint colors were tried out on the side of the house.  It only took me nearly a month to decide.  Back and forth, back and forth.  It was really sad how the one side of the house looked during this time with all the different colors it had on it.  We finally picked two colors (the two in the middle) and the trim color.  A very fast trip was made to get all the paint one afternoon before I even had a chance to change my mind and go into the debate mode again.

It was the middle of September and I was thinking the weather will be perfect.  Not too hot, not too rainy.  Just perfect for painting.  It will only take a couple of weeks with us doing it ourselves.  I was so excited!

The first couple of days were fine.  Then the rain came, the temps dropped below 50.  So not perfect.  The house was looking all patchy from all the starts and stops we had to do because of the weather.  Awesome.  Our friend even came over to help Glenn with some of the high parts of the house.  Didn't seriously think I was getting on a tall ladder?  That's funny.

But that is when all the fun started.  Our friend used to build homes before the big crash.  He knows things.  He sees things.  He saw things that we have never noticed before.  Things that really should be fixed and not left alone.  Things that were never done right when the house was built.  So we were buying more than just paint.

Awesome, again.

Fixing, painting.  Fixing, painting.

So much fun.

Then we did the whole window thing.  Which really was awesome!  I can't help but smile still when I look out that wonderful new thing.

But after all the scraping, priming, painting, cutting lumber, nailing, bracketing, etc., this little place is looking happy and spiffy again.  I smile when I pull into the driveway again.  All the work the last month and a half was well worth it for just the smiles alone that it gives me.

I even picked out a new color for the front door.  Happy just can't explain how much I like it.  An aqua front door!  Totally out of the norm for me and I'm loving it.

Even the back door got a new spiffy color.  Loving it too!

Long story short:

Comments (by the neighbors) were made about a joking suggestion on the back door color.  I was happy to paint it white like the trim.  Glenn was up in the air about it.  He didn't really care either way.  But after the said comment was made, the door definitely went Crush Orange.  Glenn had no choice in the matter.  I was nearly tempted to paint that whole side of the house orange because of the above mentioned comment.

Even the deck got all spruced up, shored up, etc.  It will be tough deciding where to sit outside when Spring comes around again.  Hate decisions like that.  The only thing left to paint is the ceiling of the back patio.  It will wait till Spring.

It was lots of work to get everything done before the weather turned.  I didn't think we were going to make it.  So well worth it though.  I won't have to go behind anyone anytime soon.  We saved money even with all the little fixes here and there.  And I have become friends with everyone down at our local hardware store.  Even more so than before.  So much so that they when they found out who built our house (not their favorite person in town) they made sure we got all the supplies we needed fast.  Kind of felt like they felt sorry for us and needed to help any way they could.  Free delivery for all the big stuff is a fabulous service they have if you live in town.  I walk in the door now to get every day type of stuff and who ever is up front calls out my name.  I kind of feel like Norm from Cheers.  Strange.  Needless to say I will be delivering a big batch of cookies down there in the very near future.  They were a BIG help during this entire project.

Now I'm just going to sit back, veg out and enjoy the weekend and all its first Fall storm weather it will be bringing us.

Now that's awesome!

~*~

kar