I Promise

I promise to do better on the blogging. It is fall gourd time, MY FAVORITE, and they will be popping up on here. But, I do have a good excuse; the end of summer and lots of kids and back to school. I had 200 beautiful trees to inventory and analyze. These trees added 17k a year in value and saving to the property. Amazing! and we went to the lake and as if I didn't have enough to do, we switched and painted and rearranged rooms then went through clothes and got ready for school. So a better, deeper post later. I Promise.

Want a Peak

My bedside table starts to collect things that I really like. Wanna peak before I clean it off again and start over? It is an antique chest that I can't remember life before it. Really, it has been around my mom and dad's house for as long as I can remember and now it lives at my house. On top of the chest is my reading lamp, cause I looove to read. On top of the lamp is Dum Dum's bird (that is the new nickname that John gave to the kitten) I got the bird at a garage sale. It is vintage and made for craft projects. It has landed on my lamp and the kitten lives to hunt it. I have a wooden box with my favorite necklace. Two jars of my favorite homemade lotions. My creamy body butter and the leftover chocolate peppermint lip balm. Yummy yarn, look at those beautiful balls of color and texture. The self striping sock yarn has the cutest knitting needles with cupcakes on the end sticking out of the softness. There is a hairband from flipping it out when I am done with my ponytail at the end of the day. Also, a can of spray pain reliever because I have had poison ivy all summer and wake up with burning arms. Then books and magazines. Can't get enough! I haven't read all the books yet, but the magazines I have memorized. Borders Books just had a tent sale so the pile is kinda high. There is soapmaking, knitting, living simple, fantasy books, country living mag, and aromatherapy. So that was a little peak into my bedroom and my head.

Summer of the Boy

We are a Re-Tread, a combined family, the real Brady Bunch. He has 3 kids and I have 3 kids. Then we got married and their were 8, four girls and twin boys. The first three years we had all of them full time except for an occasional JC weekend (Joint Custody or Thank Jesus Christ) but as they grow and become self obsessed, dramatic......I will stop before I say too much, Tweens, they start to try living at Mom's or spending more time at Dad's. So, needless to say, summer time is a weird schedule with the kids. The oldest girl is in Boston visiting family and keeps in touch by twitter and facebook. Weird I tell ya. The youngest is Grandma's buddy and flitting around to all her social events, and the middle girls are with their mom doing God Know's what! I won't even get into that. Lately I have been outnumbered by boys; John (Hubby) and Cale and Brennen (my twins) and the neighbor boy is staying with family up the street for the summer so he has joined the fun in bringing dirty boy stuff to my life. Super Weird!

So this weeks pictures have been outdoor boy fun. Playing on the slip n slide they won for reading 5 books. I know! Already! I am so proud. The bucket of crawdad's making noise in my kitchen. Don't they live outside in a creek? Do they suddenly need air conditioning? And the great Bass tournament. Well, three boys on a big pond with fishing poles and a canoe. I have been told to stay away so they can be boys and mom doesn't go nurture them. Me? Do That? Well, at least I'm going to pack them snacks and a water jug.

Marriage Secrets

I don't know the secret to marriage. I am probably not very good at it compared to my parents. They have been married forever and I don't remember ever seeing them have a blow out. When I was younger age 4-10 my parents did competitive trail riding. They would take their horses my brother and I and compete in a 50 mile trail ride and me and my brother would get to explore amazing places. When I was 10 this is all I could think about. I was now old enough to compete in the junior division and it was all I wanted to do. As I got into it more, my mom competed less. I didn't understand. We had 3 horses. I remember asking my mom one time why she wasn't going to compete this weekend. I was early teens now and she said she didn't really enjoy it that much. It was such a shock. They were a team. She was so happy doing it. She told me she did it for Dad so they could have a hobby together. I think that is one of the smartest marriage tips I ever heard and I wasn't even at an age I thought I would use it.

That is why I have a picture of a fish today. My husband likes to fish and we have a fishing boat and more fishing poles than I have knitting needles. He is at a time in his life that he feels guilty fishing, that he should be working, but sometimes I encourage him to get away. If you knew me before you would be surprised to hear about me fishing. I did it in the pond growing up, so I am not a total NEWBIE. And I have my own conditions that make it more enjoyable for me and make me wine less. I don't tell him this. Just like my mom. I take my knitting and a small battery operated light, a pillow, book and I have my own fishing pole and it is Pink.

He likes to catfish so that is night fishing in strange places. Saturday night we drove an hour and a half to Warsaw and fished by the dam. All night. Except I have a pillow, so I throw my line out, knit a little and go to sleep. I woke up around 5am and it was beautiful and quiet and my husband was sleeping restlessly. So I gave him my spot, oh yeah, I also pack a collapsible camping mat and my down sleeping bag. So he moved into my spot I covered him up with the soft sleeping bag and he slept on. I sat in the chair and watched the cranes and the fish flipping. There were so many that I couldn't stand that we hadn't had a bite the night before and the lake was going crazy now. There is one more thing that I bring that makes it better. I fish with worms. He doesn't think they will catch much, but that isn't my goal. I can put worms on my hook by myself and not bother him when he is in the heat of it. So I put my worm on and cast my beautiful pink fishing pole. Every time I cast it I would get nibbles and have to put another worm on. It was fun. Then I caught one. That woke him up, kinda. So to show my commitment to this marriage I even took the baby catfish off the hook by myself so he wouldn't have to get up. My first time. And this cute little guy swam off happily. Thanks mom.

In the Bag

I worked today, hard! Almost as hard as I worked yesterday in 96 degree heat. So, when we were finished trimming trees I snuck off. I took a shower first because, like I said, I worked HARD. So I earned this bag of yummy yarn. I worked that hard. My favorite yarn shop is closing on Saturday so I had to go one more time. It is bittersweet. I love the deal I got on this soft, beautiful, collection of colors and textures, but this is where I learned to knit. These are the women I knit with and knit and drank wine with. I don't even have projects for this yarn, but like Julie said when she was ringing it up; you never want to be caught without sock yarn. Oh, and the picture of the baby is her realizing that there is an outside world and I was in it and she was not.

Sensitive or Red Flag

When I met my husband he had a couple of very curious things. Well, beyond being a single dad of 3 girls in a small town with mom nowhere in sight. He couldn't do ponytails or iron, and when I came over from work in a skirt and high heels, they would sink in his yard and he would push things off the chairs for me to sit down. He owned a huge pressure cooker for canning. I'm talking 40 quart jars. I know! and a very cool commercial type dehydrator. He had me at....little girls, but the pressure cooker was a very cool surprise.

The picture; his climbing helmet with a brim from a gardening hat because the sun in Louisiana was so hot while trimming live oaks. His Sensitive Side. Ahhhhh

Lilac

I am in housecleaning mode and since I am a granola girl who prefers to go organic I mixed up some carpet freshener in a mason jar and sprinkled it on. It consists of; 1 box baking soda, a handful of dried lavender flowers and a handful of dried peppermint, then a tsp full of grapefruit essential oil. I shook it up and sprinkled it on my carpet. It is sitting there and I am in bliss. My house isn't completely clean, but from where I sit at my computer screen in the parlor, it sure smells like it is Perfectly Clean!

So, since I am soothed by the lavender and we just did a roll call for the KC Etsy Team, let me share some of my fellow artisans purple pride.

Round Ball Style Handmade Felted Wool Beads in Bright Fuschia
By; Shalana of the Funky Felter


Heart of Inara Serenity Necklace
By; Thyme2dream


Flower Sparkle Hair Pin Vinyl Barrette in regal purple
By Annebvinyl


Bird of Love Incense Burner
By; Glazedearth



Purple Dragon - ACEO Original Watercolor - Cute Dragon By Allison Stein



Purple Birdies Tote Bag
By; AuntJune