media free...continues!

well, we thought the media free week would be horrible...kids shrieking, parents swearing, utter frustration. and, well...nothing. the kids were great. made great art, played pretend like nobodies business. we got organized. did taxes. cleaned house. life feels good and sane here. so we're keeping it up sans rules. we just don't turn on the tv anymore. its not a thought. we play games. read books. write. draw. paint. knit. rip. knit again. (more on that later). so...i'm figuring out how to keep the blog going, while not visiting the computer as often. i have things to write about...i just haven't sat here to do it! i'll get on that.

and thank you to ann krestene for the bread recipe. yummy! we have been loving the zojirushi...is it normal to go through a 5lb. bag of flour a week??? yikes. we are gonna get chunky around here! (hope not, really...just sayin' we're eatin' a good amount of overly delicious bread as of late!)

well folks...i hope to write a more interesting (both verbally and visually) post very soon. just wanted to say...i'm here again!

xo

happy birthday to me! (and a week of media free)

yep, that's right...a skating party was planned on my behalf by my very dear daughter and cooperative husband! this party was the grand finale to a weekend of birthday fun!

saturday, we packed up to go to my parent's house...where we dropped off the kids for an overnight stay...somewhere! i had no idea what was in store for me! we headed off to central pennsylvania, to a small town called columbia. it's about 40 minutes south of harrisburg on the susquehanna river. we went to a local market/bizarre thing to browse around. we met two really nice women selling their handknits/handspun and they had wheels with them...so i was all ga-ga over them. we left there and went straight to the pharmacy across the street. totally old fashioned place: a diner in the front with locals staring as we walked in. odd toys and bits for sale amidst balm, toothpaste and remedies. i purchased a small schleich lamb...to put up for inspiration to one day own a real one! we walked around the town a bit, then drove a bit to hike over to chickie's rock. a really beautiful view of the susquehanna(didn't take my own photo, so here's a borrowed one). from there, we drove north on 441 to harrisburg for a great tapas dinner at suba. YUM...loved every morsel. we high-tailed it out of there to lancaster, for some possible contra dancing, but finding ourselves a little on the tired end, decided on coffee and dessert at the prince street cafe. (ps-we even saw our friends' son's photo on the wall - christopher burkholder will be playing there in march!) (pps-the contra dancing WILL happen next month!)
so, not knowing where we were staying, i started to ask questions...and little by little realized we were heading to the exact same place we stayed on our wedding night! this AMAZING bed and breakfast that has a detached spring house - 3 floors, fireplace in the living room, cozy bedroom and roomy bathroom...and the breakfast is soooooo good! it was all too much! i was beaming from ear to ear!
we awoke to snow falling lightly...ate the amazing peach-french toast breakfast and went back to the spring house for fireside coffee, bible time and knitting. oh, it was good!
from there we headed to shillington...to skateaway! when chris asked stella what she wanted to do that was "special for mama" she said, "we HAVE to go roller skating!"...so we did. my parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews, and friends, loren, rich, milja and iona all joined us! hilariously fun. (and kinda good in the workout way) SO memorable. we ended up back at my sister, lura's house for pizza, cupcakes and icecream...and gifts! can it get better? oh yes it can...in addition to some girly gifts from my sister and a neti pot from loren and rich, my parents, sister, husband and in-laws all went in on this for me:

a zojirushi home bakery supreme! holy cow! all ingredients are in now for honey wheat bread now, timer set to have freshly baked bread at 6:30am! oh yes!! this thing is amazing...says it can bake all sorts of breads, prepare doughs, create a sourdough starter/bread, make jam, make a meatloaf miracle (love that name), and create your own recipes. this is ridiculously exciting for me!

i am a blessed woman!

so...what a weekend! and i do have some photos for sharing...but will have to wait on them, as it is getting late! however, dear friends, our family has committed to something BIG this week.

we are having a Media-Free Week. no tv. no dvds. no videos. no computer(gulp). no blogs/blogging. no googling. no facebooking(like i do it anyway!) we need to reclaim some peace and quiet in our lives, so this is a big step towards that. we'll see if chris and i can agree to possibly on posting photos of the weekend...but i can't promise it! i do have to much to catch up on, too...some sad, some wonderful...but it will all wait until after next sunday. so, thank you all for the well-wishing on this day, and i hope you have a lovely week. we'll be eating lots of bread. and maybe some jam. and possibly a meatloaf miracle. i'll let you know. next week.

my new obsession

a golding spindle "learn to spin" kit gifted to me on christmas morning from my loving hubby, chris. spindle. fiber. book. hopefully, soon, yarn.




well, there is a little "yarn" i made christmas day. i haven't done much since, as i am trying to wrap up some unfinished projects. stella's sweater has been on the needles since (gulp) october! hopefully finishing that this weekend. and a little project i've been making up. see how that goes...hopefully by the end of this week! then its onto another february sweater for me (last year was the hourglass and i have NO photos of it!)...and then, spinning!

celebrating 10 years in 10 months

*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*
the passionate shephard to his love
by c. marlowe

come live with me and be my love
and we will all the pleasures prove
that hills and valleys, dale and field,
and all the craggy mountains yield.

there will i make thee beds of roses
and a thousand fragrant posies,
a cap of flowers, and a kirtle
embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

a gown made of the finest wool
which from our pretty lambs we pull,
fair lined slippers for the cold,
with buckles of the purest gold.

a belt of straw and ivy buds
with coral clasps and amber studs:
and if these pleasures may thee move,
come live with me and be my love.

thy silver dishes for thy meat
as precious as the gods do eat,
shall on an ivory table be
prepared each day for thee and me.

the shepherd swains shall dance and sing
for thy delight each may-morning:
if these delights thy mind may move,
then live with me and be my love.
*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*

chris and i will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary this october. in a way, that's a very long time. in another, a flash. in that time, we've changed dramatically, broken and rebuilt. with these most recent hardships in the past, we decided it's time for a BIG celebration. i thought of a spin on the 10 x 10 project...just this one will be 10 IN 10 - 10 handmade gifts in 10 months to celebrate 10 years! we are going to give a handmade gift to each other every month until our anniversary! the gift day will be anytime within each month (since its much more fun to surprise!). so...you'll see little snippets of what i'm making chris each month here!

this month, he's getting a hat. he needs one...and i haven't made him one since BEFORE we were dating! yikes. this one has a little secret stitched in the lining...and that will be kept secret! hee hee! i finished it up last night just in time for some snow and ice this morning.

pattern: (altered) whitney's 70s ski hat from the purl bee
yarn: all from my stash! finally!
main yarn: filatura di crosa zara, merino dk, brown, 1 skein
stripes: more zara in green (barely any off the skein!)
and plymouth yarn baby alpaca dk
lined with the alpaca, secret message in more alpaca...
details found over on ravelry!

a little dress

stella had a violin recital this weekend and earned her "twinkle certificate," meaning she successfully completed all of the twinkle variations and theme in the suzuki method. we were very excited and proud of her, as she has worked very hard, practicing so much (even on vacation!) i felt she deserved a new dress for the occasion, especially since lately she's been growing like a weed and the ones she has are a bit short! i've been hoarding this great linen print i had grabbed from superbuzzy for awhile and planned on making up a dress to be similar to the girls dresses on the fabric. this is what i came up with on saturday night before the sunday recital. maybe one day i'll make a pattern or give some kind of instructions. it was fun to just make it up as i went along. love my little girl...

the fabric...

the front...

the back...

the faced hem...

the performer...

the awards - twinkle certificate and mcdonald's coupon for listening contest...

the little guy who wants to be just like her (on the american girl violin!)...
this last one was taken today amidst toys, blankies and pjs. unfortunately, after an amazing recital, we tried to celebrate at friendly's but spent an hour in their bathroom with stella throwing-up in the trash can. eli followed suit in the car...so today is a sick day at home. thankfully, we're all on the mend!

HA!

PLEASE! for the love of all that will crack you up, PLEASE go read this!

visions of sugar plums

**edited to add more photos...

::::be forewarned:::a TON of photos follow:::::



the night before christmas,
when all through the house,
not a creature was stirring......

oh, yeah, sure! the kids would NOT go to bed. so at 11:30pm (i'm totally serious!) we closed the door and said a stern - stay in there! we heard racket, but ignored it as last minute assembly took place. after everything was ready to go for the morning, i checked in on them and found this...snuggled together in stella's bed!



we were so excited for the morning. thanks to all of the "santas" in our life, we had this abundantly gifted tree and a glorious overnight-stuffed-french toast prepped (recipe from mrs. slaboda in georgia...thank you!!). i wish i could draw arrows to each gift and show how each and everything came from someone else's gift to us...again...THANK YOU! we are still overwhelmed by God's providence and grace and kingdom and family and......

the morning arrived, much to our delight. we tortured the kids by making them wait in our bedroom or the kitchen, doors all closed, until grammy and boppa arrived. promptly at 8am, the big moment came. love the look here!


eli was a more subdued sort of shock. i didn't have just the right photo to show his quiet joy...but this one is close. the soft haze, the cookie on the arm of the couch (he nibbled it slowly throughout the morning) and his satisfaction with this little dinosaur...he's a grateful boy.
a monster montage. he loves these toys so very much!

and his parking garage, from plan toys.***see note at bottom about this company!***

mamma eeked out one handmade gift this year (as opposed to last years craziness)...this puppet theatre. greatly inspired by this book, but improvised based on what i had in my stash. the only things purchased for this, were 50cent dowels and a $3 tension rod! chris and i had a blast with the puppets...super eli and princess stella, of course!

this from grammy and boppa...eli can truly wail this ball across our yard!

and for stella from grammy and boppa, furnished by aunt lauren and uncle chad, with extras from mamma and daddy (via our santas!) (this is another plan toys gift...seriously love them!)


the BIG gifts were bikes...the gravel blaster!

and the schwinn stardust...

*note about the lack of helmets. we are ardent in our use of helmets; however, they were yet to be gifted from nana and papa, and well, we had to enjoy one short ride with the new bikes. we were very careful and will not do it again. promise!

**note about the shoes on stella...yep, go ahead, zoom in if you can! love these hand-me-down converse gingerbread men!!! we had some fun holiday attire thanks to my students!

***note about plan toys. oh man. this company. we got eli the roadway system last year and love it. all wood. all green. safe and fun and very cute. so we got the parking garage this year. the little elevator had a broken piece (very small and minor). since we bought it online, we were having some trouble exchanging it. plan toys offers replacement parts on their website. so i filled out the info and emailed it in, hoping to buy a new elevator. i receive an email from their customer service rep saying that part is unavailable in the usa, so they are sending us an entire NEW parking garage and to please donate or recycle this one! it's 3 weeks old! and played with everyday! i can't believe it! so we HIGHLY recommend this company...for so many reasons!

*******so thank you to all of our friends and family who gifted to us so very generously and deeply from their hearts and wallets. with all of this, remember that you also met our daily needs. you paid our bills. our necessities were met thanks to you. and we know that ultimately those gifts from you were truly from our Father. and that you would want everyone to know that too. the new year has already promised to be a year of blessing and abundance to us. look forward to another post of crazy generosity and abundance coming soon-ish. *******

i could keep on going, but this is already too long. i'll save the rest for another post. xoxoxox