Another New Hobby – sigh

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Beading my first necklace

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My beautiful daughter and I went to a Relief Society meeting this last Thursday night (it was her birthday by the way :).)  A sister taught us about beading.  Oh my, this is another hobby that I could get into but alas it is kind of expensive so I will just do things once in a while.    Being from the desert southwest, I love all things Turquoise & Silver, so that is what I made (not real Turquoise and Silver tho,  just a facsimile, but pretty never the less.)  I’m still working on it, I have to get a clasp on it.   It was very fun to do.

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I’m working on some 1 yard aprons  for the Activity Day Girls (girls ages 8 to 11) that I help teach in my ward.  This month is our Pioneer celebration month to honor the pioneers that treked from MO, IL and IA to Utah, most of them on foot with just handcarts.  I am pre-sewing the aprons, except the pockets which they will whip stitch on.  Teaching some of these skills that were well known to our ancestors is one way to help the youth connect with those who came before, helping them to understand the way they lived, and hopefully helping us appreciate the things we now enjoy that they did not have at that time.  I personally am really fond of my car, sewing machine, computer and ipod ;P. 

I’ll put a picture up in a few days with one (or more) of the girls wearing her/their apron(s).  Just depends on how fast they sew :P.

Happy 4th of July

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Happy Birthday USA!!!  How thankful I am to live in this free country.  May her flag forever wave.  (Sorry there is a little overlaid google ad that shows on the video, just x out of it.)

CD Spindle

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Spinning with a CD Spindle

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I finally got the rubber grommets I needed to make a CD Spindle this past Saturday.  So I went to Lowe’s and picked up some dowels, which Lowes was nice enough to cut down for me, and some cup hooks.  My current employer told me I was welcome to use their older CDs if I would make sure that the information would not be usable – so I used sand paper and sanded the underside of the CD.   Free is always good :). 
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Another look at the yarn

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The ball of yarn is one that I did with the same “waste not want not thrum“.  It had a bit more turquoise in it than the rest of the thrum.  It was spun on my spinning wheel and I’m spinning some on the spindle now.  It has come out as a novelty yarn because of the bits of yarn that was mixed in.  It’s soft and a fun spin.  I’m spinning it to show a friend that is having a hard time getting even yarn, that thick and thin is ok :).

Wedding Pictures

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click for larger image

Daughter's Wedding

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I promised pictures of my daughter’s wedding.  She finally got them and here were my favorites.  She waited several years, saving for this and it went flawlessly.    They are both very happy.

My daughter’s youngest two children are 2 years and 1 week apart.  They had their birthday party together last week end.  Her daughter (now 4 years old), loves movies.  She was easy to shop for, I got her Kung Fu Panda (one of my favorites). 🙂  Her son (now 2 years old) loves music.  Music plays and he dances, so I found an alligator that sings and moves as it sings.  He loved it when I gave it to him and then I showed him it would move and sing.  He backed up and was moving to the music but would not hold it again.  When it quit singing I showed him how to push the foot to make it sing again.  When it was time to push it again, he would not, he grabbed my arm and made me push it again.  I was laughing because he loved it but was afraid of it because it moved!!  He’s fine with it now, wish I had gotten a video of that for when he gets older. 🙂 Little ones can be so funny.

I’ve found two patterns to chose from for the shawl I want to knit.  The High Effect Feather & Fan Shawl or to make a shawl from the Concert Scarf in Alison Jeppson Hyde’s Wrapped in Comfort.  I’ll try to make a choice by the end of this coming week.  I’ll have to spin some more baby Alpaca because I only have one skein spun and I’ll need probably at least 3 skeins.  But first I need to finish the pastel blue and lavender wool that I have on my spinning wheel.  I’ll try to work on that this week, it has a special purpose and I need to finish it.

I hosted a friend in my home this week who’s daughter needed surgery for an ovarian cyst.  It was really good to see her (she lives in another state).  She’s always been there for me and I’m glad I could repay some of her kindnesses to me.  Still it’s always good to get back to the regular routine.  It makes me realize that I have come to like living alone (or perhaps it’s just a comfortable routine), something I didn’t ever think I would want.  It would seem that some of the curves life throws at you find some permanence in your life.

One Month Today

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Son & Grand Daughter

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It’s been a month since I lost my youngest son.  This picture was taken about 2 weeks before his loss.  There is much upheaval in the family with my other children as they wonder if there was something they could have done, if they could have reached out more, feeling guilty because they took him for granted, etc.  I want them to understand that I too have the same feelings.  I need them to know that there was nothing they could have done.  I want to tell them that maybe taking him for granted will help us all as we go forward to remember that life is fragile and we should relish all our relationships.  I wanted to thank them for their help with his funeral arrangements and the financial support they are giving for that purpose.   That shows me how much they loved him, and it speaks volumes, because I know their financial situations are as precarious as mine.  Life is short and we shouldn’t put off spending time with those we love.

Patriotic Dishcloth

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I have started to spin a little bit again, and  I’ve been working on some dishclothes during my lunch hour at work, I’m too tired to knit when I get home from work – I’m not sleeping real well.  This is the last one I finished.  You can’t really see the pattern very well because the color obscures it.  The yarn is Sugar N’ Cream Stripes and I thought I remembered where I got the pattern but I can’t find it at the moment.  If I’m able to remember it, I will edit this post and put a link in.  I’m working on a different pattern now, that will end up being a smaller kitchen towel, but I’ve had to frog it twice already.  I’ll get it done, it’s not hard, my thinking is just not always on task at the moment.

The Loss of a Son…

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8-20-81 to 5-12-10

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It is with great sorrow that I acknowlege the loss of my son.  He leaves behind a daughter, Leena (who was his pride and joy), a sister, two brothers, grand parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and me.  He was preceded in death by his father in 2008 around this same time.

I miss you sweetie.

The loss of my son is devastating and he will be greatly missed.  How grateful I am for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice and the peace and hope it brings.

Ebbs and Flows

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My grand daughter

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This last week end, my daughter had her wedding reception.  She got married on the April 15th (hoping it would take the sting out tax time?) in Las Vegas and had the reception here.  The picture is my youngest son’s daughter.  He lives in state but about 4 hrs away so I don’t get to see him or my grand daughter very often.   But I got to see her and him as we celebrated his sister’s wedding.   I promise to post a picture of the wedding as soon as I get one ;P.

While my daughter celebrates wedded bliss, my son is going through a divorce and this sweet little girl is caught in the middle with the divorce and custody upheaval.  She wants to spend more time with her daddy but in IA the dad has little say in what happens in custody cases and unless it is pre agreed, full custody usually goes to the mother with the dad getting every other week end.  My personal feelings are that in all states there needs to be automatic joint custody for the sake of the child unless there is found to be abuse.  A child needs equal access to both parents.   But no matter what happens we just need to patiently get through the hard stuff. 

I’m still working at my long term temp job.  It is a fun job and I actually enjoy going in every day. 🙂  I hope I can find a permanent job that I will enjoy as much.  Working temp jobs is a bit stressful because you never know, when that one is done, how long it will be before the next job and if it will be something you will enjoy or not. 

I am doing a little knitting on my lunch hr, the rest of my life has been a zoo lately and I haven’t gotten much done on the spinning or knitting front.  But I plan on spinning some today so I can relax.  I think I will take my spinning wheel out on the balconey and enjoy this cooler spring weather today. 🙂  Hope all of my friends haven’t been hit too hard by this crazy spring weather that has been churning up all those storms.

Officially Spring in Iowa

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Click on picture for larger image

I thought because most of the pictures I had taken were of snow this last winter that I would show you that Iowa really does have spring, it just seems forever to get here!  The leaves are starting to come forth and the robins have been here for a couple of weeks now.  But I know it’s really spring because the Magnolia buds are starting to bloom!  I don’t have a picture of that because I don’t have one close to my yard and I didn’t have my camera with me when I saw one yesterday.  We got pretty warm a week  & 1/2 ago, then late last week it got cold again, freezing at night again.  That is typical here tho, I can’t really depend on the warmer weather to stay until May. 🙂

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Spinning wilton dyed superwash merino

I have been spinning slowly on the wilton dyed superwash merino.  I’ve been busy with a temp job (which should last until mid May), my car wasn’t drivable for a couple of months and I had to rely on others to get around for errands, getting to and from work, church, etc, I caught a cold from my grandson 2 weeks ago and tho I am feeling better there is still the coughing thing going on (a wonderful repercussion from my asthma).  I’m gearing up for the spring cleaning in the house and (now how many excuses have I listed? :P).  Anyway, I’ve started spinning on it again, and it really is lovely.  I wonder what it will look like when I have enough to ply. 

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I have my car back again!  A friend and his wife, from my church, helped me get the steering rack and brakes fixed.  He said it still needs axels (they are ok for a while so we will do that this fall before winter comes) and the carborator needs a kit to rebuild it and he’s going to find a new handle for my passenger side front door (don’t even ask how that got broken – don’t want to embarrass one of my sons because he really is such a sweetie :P), and it needs a tune up, and the  jets for the windshield wiper fluid have never allowed fluid to come out, but it’s getting fixed little by little, the more important things first and hopefully all by the fall.  It’s just so nice to have it back and drivable and be independant again!!!!

Happy Easter

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Happy Easter!!

 I wish you all a very Blessed and Happy Easter!!

I am a Primary  teacher in my church, the Primary children are from ages 18 months thru 11 years old.   So I get to hear all the wonderful Primary songs the children sing.  The one below is one of my favorites.  After watching the youtube video below so you are familiar with the words, please click on the link below it and listen to the version sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – it is breath takingly beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNjHs3-EyzU

Spring at Last, or is it?

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1st Day of Spring!

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The weather has been in the 40’s and 50’s for a couple of weeks and our snow was mostly melted off, except some of those huge piles from the snow plows.  Then on Friday it got cold, in the 30’s.  Saturday was the 1st day of Spring and this is what I woke up to, and yes it’s already melted off and the weather is back into the 40’s and 50’s :).  I never take warm weather for granted here in IA until May and sometimes Mid May, we’ve been known to have snow in early May.   Hopefully that will not be the case this year :). 

 
 

Slippers

Here are the slippers that I’ve been working on, they are at knitting on the net.  As you can see on their site they have a pompom on the front decorated as a chicks head.  I chose not to put that on, my grandchildren would have those torn off in nothing flat :P.  I’ve only had time to knit at lunch and these are actually the 2nd pair I’ve made.  The 1st pair was a blue pair for my grand son and I gave them to my daughter before I got a picture of them ;P.  These are for my grand daughter.  She will get them in the morning when my daughter picks me up to take me to work :).  Hopefully my car will be repaired soon, being carless is so not fun!!!